Black & White 2

[witch]

Hey JM, here's a game you might like. EA are releasing Black & White 2. I went to look but it's about much more warfare and killing than the 1st relase, so I immediately thought of you.  This is the game where you can train a creature to be evil or good and you are an evil or good god.

Killer sims had an ad, leading to here: http://www.blackandwhite2.ea.com/good.asp

Impressive web page I thought but probably incredibly irritating to people with slow connections.

[cwieberdink]

Witch, I enjoyed B&W 1, but my computer and graphics card were not up to the task.  I got sick of hunting through the poor quality trees for things and it moved S.L.O.W.  But I am looking with interest at B&W 2.  I love the concept of everything changing.... landscape, weather, houses, etc.  based on whether you are good or evil.  Cool! 

C

[radiophonic]

Impressive web page I thought but probably incredibly irritating to people with slow connections.

Dig the hand, it reminds me of Dungeon Keeper 2.

[laeshanin]

Been thinking of getting this, and if it has any similarities to DK2 then that is definite! What a great game that is... properly panders to all my god complex.

[sanmonroe]

I will be waiting until the reviews are out and it has been released for a month. Peter Molyneaux has ass raped fans too many times.

[syberspunk]

I will be waiting until the reviews are out and it has been released for a month. Peter Molyneaux has ass raped fans too many times.

That's quite a vivid image that you've drawn up for us. But come on, stop being so coy and stop beating around the bush. Tell us how you really feel. 

No, seriously. Actually, care to elaborate, as I don't know if I've had any experience with this ass raping Peter Molyneaux. What else has he been responsible for? I'm too lazy to search on my own right now, so please divvy up a summary.

Also... off/on topic, B&W looks very cool. Although I've discovered that I mostly almost totally completely suck at resource driven type RTS games, or RTS games in general. Although WarCraft II was fun and StarCraft, I just really did not fare well when it came to acquiring resources in a timely, fashionable manner and efficiently mining those resources and building up an army or whatever. I dunno what it is, but I am just totally inept when it comes to that kind of management. *sighs* My ex-bf used to kick my ass all the time whenever we played against each other, and it was one the most frustrating humbling moments for me as far as video games go, since typically I have a knack for picking up games quickly. I guess my weaknesses are RTS games and shooters, I've never been great when it came to aiming.

Anyhew, the somewhat off topic bit that I wanted to throw out was that I am eagerly awaiting further development, news, and the release of Spore. That game seems like totally cool! I love the idea of including some form of evolution. But if the genetics have anything similar to what's been implemented in the Sims 2... well.  Plus... seeing how noticeable the bugs are in these TS2 games is also kind of discouraging. At least with the original Sims 1 games, if there were any bugs, I hardly noticed them at all. But then again, I probably didn't play enough to really notice them or even realize there were bugs, or just assumed that any bugginess was actually mistaken for gameplay.  Still... Spore could be pretty promising.

Ste

[C.S.]

Reminds me of Heaven & Hell.

[witch]

That's quite a vivid image that you've drawn up for us. But come on, stop being so coy and stop beating around the bush. Tell us how you really feel. 

No, seriously. Actually, care to elaborate, as I don't know if I've had any experience with this ass raping Peter Molyneaux. What else has he been responsible for? I'm too lazy to search on my own right now, so please divvy up a summary.

  Ditto.

Although I've discovered that I mostly almost totally completely suck at resource driven type RTS games, or RTS games in general. ...I guess my weaknesses are RTS games and shooters, I've never been great when it came to aiming.

What does RTS stand for? I can't aim to shoot either, I panic, I forget which combination of buttons, mice, keyboards and scrolling to do, I end up falling into pits, being blasted into bits and so on. I played Prince of Persia once, he's still stuck in the initial corridor 'cos I can't get the jump right to get him to the next bit, I think that was the tutorial part of the game.  After several hours I thought 'sod this' and uninstalled it.

I like management games, balancing resources and patterns, that's what I'm best at.

Anyhew, the somewhat off topic bit that I wanted to throw out was that I am eagerly awaiting further development, news, and the release of Spore.

Spore sounds like the most promising release on my event horizen. 

[witch]

Witch, I enjoyed B&W 1, but my computer and graphics card were not up to the task.  I got sick of hunting through the poor quality trees for things and it moved S.L.O.W. 

I loved the game but got nauseous at the wheeling, swaying scenery. On a previous thread here somewhere, several other people said the graphics affected them in this way too. I would certainly check that out before purchasing the game.

[Oddysey]

Anyhew, the somewhat off topic bit that I wanted to throw out was that I am eagerly awaiting further development, news, and the release of Spore. That game seems like totally cool! I love the idea of including some form of evolution. But if the genetics have anything similar to what's been implemented in the Sims 2... well.  Plus... seeing how noticeable the bugs are in these TS2 games is also kind of discouraging. At least with the original Sims 1 games, if there were any bugs, I hardly noticed them at all. But then again, I probably didn't play enough to really notice them or even realize there were bugs, or just assumed that any bugginess was actually mistaken for gameplay.  Still... Spore could be pretty promising.

Ste

Spore looks so cool . . . wow. Can't wait. From the information I have currently, the genetics are basically completely user controlled. With each "generation" (i.e., new creature) you get to adjust what it looks like and buy new functional bits. It's not really a genetics simulation so much as an ecosystem/evolution tool. And, hey, it's Will Wright's project, and so far things have only started sucking once he's left. (Sims 1 didn't suck until the later expansions bugified it, and he wasn't involved with it at that point.) Well, except TSO . . . but that's a different problem.

B&W2 looks kinda nifty. Don't really know if I'll get it, as I too heard *bad* things about the original game's performance, bugginess, and management. And I prefer a nice, shiny software toy over an actual game any day.

[Dark Trepie]

RTS = Real Time Strategy.  Good examples are Starcraft and Warcraft 3.

Starcraft is still my favorite RTS.  Ahh, the feeling you get when you have a mass fleet of Protoss Carriers level an enemie's base....  Its almost uphoric.

[DuckSpeak]

I would go for starcraft over B&W1 anyday. Now Starcraft made it clear that it isn't realistic, and then stuck with it. B&W is fake in it's 3D ugliness, IMO. (Just like AoEIII - now let's be historical and zweihanders in the 1800's!  )

[sanmonroe]

Ok for those who want details. If you didn't follow the development of his last few games and the fan backlash you probbaly are unaware of how unlike the game he promoted up until release was from what came out.

Peter Molyneaux is one of the "Game gods" (Like Will Wright, Sid Meier, etc). He was the guy who made Populous, i.e. one of the founders of modern games who has continued on. He did a sequal to pop, then another sequal that was 3D and pretty good. Then the interweb became big and he became a minor celeb and ccould give interviews that people would read.

Unlike the Will , Sid, etc Peter is well known for speaking about his projects very openly. He is the opposite of Will Wright. Will only talks about things that are almost complete, rarely talks about hopeful features. If he cannot show it, he probably won't disscuss it. As with Spore, it was a complete sectet until he revealed it in a talk and had a playable late alpha version.

Peter is insane and promises HUGE things. His talks a month before a game release sound like a development wish list. The problem is, since populous, none of his games have lived up to their Hype. B&W1 was the best example. The bugs that destroyed your creature alone would make most fans cry with hate, but the fact that the game was immensly below what he was promising the month before was really bad. He siad he learned his lesson in an interview where he agreed he was "overenthusiastic" about hopes and ideas after B&W1.

He didn't learn though. Fable is another one of his games, and to be fair, fable was fun. However it was extremely short and matched very little of what he had been promising up until release.

After some fable backlash (and another interview where he promises to shut up) he seems to have learned and has barely been involved in the marketting of B&W2, so the hope is that the game will be very close to what is being advertized.

[Carmelita]

What I liked about B&W was exploring the region you were in, training your creature, completing tasks, building villiages, and converting villiagers.  I had an awesome time in the first couple of levels.  What I did not like was competing with other gods, especially when it came to sending your creature to combat their creature.  No, other god, I do not want to send my nice friendly cow to go fight your big slobbering wolf.  She gets her ass kicked every time and I'm not into it.  I spent a lot of time playing the first two levels and then quit once the focus became beating down other creatures.  Apparently it's possible to beat the game as a good god, but I'm not sure how your creature is expected to ever win a fight if teaching it to fight ups your evil levels.

The game did have a lot of bugs, but the nice thing was that Lionhead released many, many patches.  If EA is putting out B&W 2 that's enough to make me stay away, even if you guys weren't just saying that the focus would be more on fighting other gods.

[Vesca]

My son is TOTALLY into this video game called World of Warcraft, and I mean totally.  He has a fit when I tell him to get off the thing to do his homework or to eat or got to bed.  I swear he lives for this give.  I have to admit that it has some very awesome graphics, although I don't understand the game one bit.

[DuckSpeak]

MMORPGs are addicting, though I can't say it's fun. It's all about power, since your character can become more and more powerful as the game progresses. You could say money also. At a certain point you just can't handle anymore, and like I did, throw everything you worked so hard on to the ground, causing a short period in which people stop talking and loot.  MMORPGs are the curse of the gaming world.

[sanmonroe]

Well the game was supposed to WW release this week, instead it was cahnged by EA (without telling the devs) do be released starting the 4th and in parts of the world as late as the 13th.

If you use about half the Nvidia cards, including the 6800 ultras you likely cannot play the game. There is a fix, download the leaked beta drivers. Don't know how they managed that one, I know ATI is on thier splash but you would think they would test with more than an NvidiaMX on an emachines.

There is a patch coming out that fixes "nothing critical" but just the bug fix list alone is a mass of game loss, crashing, etc. Who knows what is not in that list ot get EA to make a patch that is supposed to be out before the game hits shelves?

Well they screwed it up anyway. The patch is set for tomorrow, people got the game yesterday. So the patcher tells you you have an update available, but the link is dead.

Go read whats left on the forums over there. From the looks of it the Devs (Sam in specific) were blaming EA for not putting it up and that they have no control at all oer it. Then piece by piece it has come to be known that while that is true, EA cannot put the patch up until tomorrow SINCE THE DEVS ARE STILL CODING IT! Pull an all nighter for a patch that fixes "nothing critical".

Plus the patch is so "minor" that it won't let you use your prepatch save games. So you can play the bugged version, then patch and start the tedious training levels (you can skip the tutorial, but not the training levels) all over again, or never patch and wreck your game anyway.

Oh, and the skirmish mode didn't come with live. Maybe with a patch or expansion.

So, if you bought the game right away, HAVE FUN!

[witch]

Oh mate!, what a major cockup. I certainly won't be buying it.

[DrBeast]

Another bene of stupidity and greed to EA. I swear I'll think twice (and then rethink twice) before getting ANYTHING EA related in the future. And it won't be fresh products either. Let them simmer for a while until the patches are out and then get them I say. "EA Games - Challenge everyone's nerves!".

Edit: and with this post I get my first pair of ripped lips 

[sanmonroe]

Man the drama gets better and better!

EA completely locked down the UK B&W forums since they had gone out of control. On the lionhead forums one of the devs is closing tons of threads and has actually sent posters PMs saying he has added them to his ignore list since they are too negative.



Oh and the patch is still not out.

[sanmonroe]

Patch delayed "at least" one more day. It seems that making people stay up 24 hours to bang out a patch at the last minute is not a good idea since they break as much as they fix.

The solution?

ANOTHER ALL NIGHTER!!!

Drama like this arouses me in ways I know are wrong and don't fully understand.

So now it looks like people who bought it on release will lose 3 days of game play, unless they have an Nvidia card in which case they won't have been able to play at all.

 

[Oddysey]

Hmm. If the business of Nvidia cards is indicative of a trend, I may be off the hook, no matter how nifty looking a concept EA's future offerings are. I won't be able to play them, since I'm not buying new hardware for a game. Not *quite* that crazy.

On a somewhat related note: Death to all corporations! CHALLENGE EA!

And assist Google's plot for world domination. Mass open betas, the incorporation of the consumer into the design and testing, and -- behold! -- software that works! I pray for the Google operating system (Googlix). Perhaps it is time to start praying for a Google game company. At the very least, someone should check them out as a model for how to run the public relations end of a software company.

And I'm very, very glad that RTS's aren't my niche, so I'm not unduly tempted to purchase this product.

[sanmonroe]

The company you are dreaming of is http://www.stardock.com/ .

Open betas, they release the code for modders, lots of communication with the consumers from start to finish.

AND NO PUBLISHER! They ither get apublisher when the game is DONE or publish it themselves.

Their biggest hit is Gal Civ. The game MoO3 was supposed to be.

If you haven't played it download the demo of the old one to see just what a company can do when it works wth customers and focuses on makeing a great product.

http://www.galciv.com/

And you can check out the sequal, Gal Civ 2. They have beta and also let anyone who preordered play the game from late alpha to release (and as such with the preorder money can pay the Developers without going to EA, MS, Vivendi, etc.

The onl;y big corporate game company I believe you can trust in their releases is NCSoft. They have some nasty practices with competition (like what they did to the Blizzard WoW team after vivendi screwed them, which is why WoW still has no expansion when in the same time EQ2 has put out 1 major and 2 mini expansions plus a complete revamp of the game's combat engine). BUT they corelease most of their games in Japan and Korea with the US. They know to make sure thier shit is together because the markets are so nasty there, a game comes out, that game will work and be tested. Otherwise it will crash and burn. I mean hell, they released a MMO with no monthly fee and are turning a profit! Thats planning!

Stardock is the Firefox of game companies.

[Hook]

The thing I remember about Stardock and Gal Civ is that it was originally published exclusively for OS/2.  And since I was an OS/2 user at the time, I was very glad to see someone publishing for that operating system.  Even tho I never bought the game.

Hook

[witch]

Hey Hook, how do you and some others I've noticed, get flames and 'Senator' instead of ripped lips and insults?