- Looking back at 2012, I find that gaming has not been a priority. I've spent more time reading, listening, or watching games than I have played. Between work and parenthood, finding the time and will to start a game has been difficult. But those games that have essentially forced me to play have be extra satisfying. It's time to look back at my prediction from the beginning of the year and see which came true.
- SSX - Prediction: SSX will announce another delay, but it will be a day one purchase no matter when it is released. I will enjoy the game quite a bit and make one trip through the campaign until I reach some event that my aging hands just can't get me past. It will a serious contender for my Top Five list anyway.
Result: There were no additional delays announced, but I did purchase it on day one. Unfortunately, SSX didn't click with me. The tracks were unforgiving and not a lot of fun. The campaign was annoying and the customization was a laugh. I probably could have spent more time learning the game, but life it too short.
- Diablo III & Torchlight II - Prediction: Ready for the crazy? D3 will be released before TL2! Even so, I will finish Torchlight 2 first and it will end up on my Top Five next year.
Result: Even crazier, I was right! D3 did launch before TL2. But I have never finished either game. And, spoilers, neither made the Top Five.
- Mass Effect 3 - Prediction: First day purchase of the standard edition. I will play and enjoy ME3 but I won't play any of the side games, like the multiplayer, even if some one were to ask me to. And at the back of my mind, I'll wonder if I got screwed out of enjoying the end of the trilogy because I didn't buy into their expanded vision of the game.
Result: I wasn't going to, but the pull was too strong. Day one purchase, standard edition. I did play and enjoy the single player game without partaking of the multiplayer or the apps. And it turns out that my enjoyment of the ending was not effected by the expanded gaming options at all. Amazing that.
- Guild Wars 2 - Prediction: GW2 will be a special edition preorder and first day purchase for me. I will play as much as I can, but will have difficulty finding the time to do so, straight through the end of the year. But even then, it will be a Top Five game for me.
Result: After facing a mountain of hype, I almost didn't even buy the game. I did end up with the digital deluxe edition on day one, played for a couple weeks, and then slacked off. Tune in tomorrow for the Top Five.
- Bioshock Infinite - Prediction: Bioshock Infinite will be a later purchase, either on sale or used. I will play for a few levels, but eventually get frustrated with some bit of shooting that I can't get past.
Result: Um, failure to launch this year. Will return for 2013 predictions.
- Grand Theft Auto V - Prediction: I'll end up buying GTA V at a discount due to a gift card or rewards certificate. And I will play as far as the main campaign will let me, so long as I don't run into that one mission that I can't beat. But I won't play nearly as much of the side content as I did in SR3.
Result: Again, failed to launch this year. I'm a lot more interested in this game than I was twelve months ago.
- Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning - Prediction: When Reckoning comes out, I suspect that I'll have other games on my mind. But I will eventually pick it up once word of mouth spreads about how good the game is, despite its poor sales. And I will enjoy the parts of it I play before moving on to the next big thing.
Result: Well, I did wait before buying it. But since it was so recent, I can't tell if I'm already done with it or not.
- XCOM - Prediction: I won't buy this game, and it will be a poor performer, sales wise. Expect to read a lot of "I told you so" posts this year.
Result: This one is amusing. The prediction was about the FPS version which failed to come out and may no longer exist. But then there was the new turn-based strategy game and it seems amazing. I just got it for Christmas and I'm looking forward to playing it as soon as I get near an Xbox.
- Of my predictions, the ones about my purchasing decisions were most likely to be right. At least for games that actually released. How was your 2012?
© 2012 Marty Runyon. All rights reserved.
- Tiny rant here. It will be over soon.
- I'm so glad to see that my single player game can be stolen if someone takes over my account. It's a good thing that I have an authenticator to make it harder for people to hack their way into my single player game. Good job, Blizzard.
- That is all. Carry on.
© 2012 Marty Runyon. All rights reserved.
- A few years ago, Raph Koster famously asserted that single player games are an abberation. His contention is that games are naturally a multiplayer activity and that they are destined to be so again, through the ambiant connectivity of the internet. Most console games are an alone together experience now due to achievements, leaderboards, and the like. But though his intention is not as dramatic as his words imply, there are those who believe that single player is fundamentally counter to the definition of gaming.
- One need look no further than the launch of Diablo III to see how deep the incursions are into that style of game. D3 is a de facto multiplayer game that allows you to join with just one player. You couldn't play it offline no matter how hard you tried. Yes, they have their reasons. But it primarily comes down to Blizzard protecting their revenue stream. If you're not online, you don't have the opportunity to pay the auction fees.
- Even when games are single player, most companies feel the need to bolt on multiplayer components. Not necessarily to make money from the players, though Bioware has done just fine with Mass Effect 3. No, they want to keep these discs out of the used game channel so that people are forced to purchase new longer after the game launches.
- I don't play single player games just because I can't find a multiplayer game to get into. Sometimes, I just want to experience a world on my own. Sometimes, I want to solve a puzzle without any help. Sometimes, I want to lead an army and conquer a world without worrying about how balanced that is against other players. Sometimes, I want to be the hero, and I don't need anyone around me to make that any more real. Sometimes, I want to play alone. Having the world watching over my shoulder doesn't add to my experience. And as with Diablo III, sometimes it makes it much, much worse.
- If you want a much better takedown on the topic, you should read Ian Bogost's article from Gamasutra. When you have designers like him on our side, it is easier to hope that all is not lost.
© 2012 Marty Runyon. All rights reserved.
- Let me describe last night for you.
- Surprise - Randomly remember that I could preinstall the game. Let the installer run while I eat dinner with my family and play outside with my baby girl.
- Anticipation - After watching an episode of Smash and eating ice cream with my beautiful wife, settle in front of my computer to watch Arthur Gies from Polygon prepare his livestream. Watch the opening cinematic. The log in screen floats in the background, taunting.
- It Doesn't Effing Work - Error 27 (x 100), actually authenticate and get to the character creator, character creator fails to actually create a character, accidently log out, Error 27 (x 500) mixed with the occasional Error 300008, log in again, accidentally log off again, swear quiet enough not to wake the wife and baby.
- Catharsis - Finally log in for real. The character I tried to make before I was logged out before is there even though the game told me it failed. Try to delete character and start over, but fail again. Play anyway.
- Twist Ending - Computer crashes.
- So, Diablo III is okay, I guess.
© 2012 Marty Runyon. All rights reserved.
- The craziest news ever just came out of Blizzcon 2011. Diablo III will be free for World of Warcraft players who have a twelve month subscription.
- There has been talk that the Golden Age of MMOs is coming to an end. If ever there was a desperation move in response to that decline, this is it. Blizzard is obviously trying to establish a bulwark against declining subscriptions with Diablo III. And I think it is just crazy enough to work.
- I still like World of Warcraft enough that I know that I will subscribe again. If you consider the eventual retail cost of D3, that would be an amazing deal. Actually, now that I look, I don't know what the price of an annual subscription would be. The website only shows options up to six months. Curiouser and curiouser.
- UPDATE: According to Blizzard's website, this is not an annual subscription. Instead, it is a commitment to subscribe for twelve months under any of the prior subscription options. So if you subtract the cost of Diablo III (approximately $60), the subscription cost is effectively $120 (monthly), $108 (quarterly), or $96 (semiannually). If you were already going to buy D3 and want a WoW subscription, this makes it a no brainer.
- While I'm at it, I should also point out that signing up for an annual pass also grants the Tyrael's Charger mount as well as automatic access to the next beta. Looks like I'm headed back to WoW.
© 2011 Marty Runyon. All rights reserved.
- Submitted without comment (except the one in the post title, I suppose):
© 2011 Marty Runyon. All rights reserved.
- Here are my predictions for 2011. But instead of the usual prognostications, I'm going to predict my eventual feelings for the game. This list is ordered as I thought of titles and no ranking is implied. In fact, I'm leaving them in this order just because I'm too lazy to switch it up.
- Diablo III - I was looking forward to D3 last year even though I knew it wouldn't come out. I continue to look forward to it this year. Torchlight scratched that itch for a good long time, but I'm curious what the team at Blizzard has waiting for us. Whether it will actually come out this year is a matter for debate, but I wouldn't be surprised if they get it out in time for the holidays.
Prediction: I'll play this game quite heavily for a week, then I'll get distracted some time around Act III and forget to go back to it for a couple months. Eventually I'll go back and finish the game, but I won't be adding this to my Top Five list at the end of the year.
- Guild Wars 2 - Another game on my long term wish list, I've been waiting for GW2 for what feels like just about forever. Again, I don't know if it will come out this year, but I desperately hope it will.
Prediction: I could go two ways with this, but hedging my best would be a cop out. So I'm going bold. I believe that the game will come out in 2011. I'm going to fall in love with the story and dynamic events so much that it becomes the game I log into out of habit. I'll start writing an FAQ of some sort that I'll abandon when someone else does it faster and better. And at some point my wife will wake up in the middle of the night, walk into the room, and ask if I'm still playing at 4am in the morning.
- Dragon Age 2 - To me, Dragon Age was particularly "meh." As the spiritual successor to a series that I didn't really enjoy, you would think that I would have skipped it. But when the blogging community erupted with love over the game, I got sucked in. It did not live up to the hype. Even playing on Easy, the combat was so annoying and tedious that it disrupted any enjoyment I might have received from the story. I do appreciate that the DA2 team is shaping their game a little more like Mass Effect, but I doubt it will be enough.
Prediction: Everyone falls in love with DA2 but I successfully ignore it for several months. At least, up until Steam has a big sale and I buy it despite myself. Which I will eventually regret.
- Mass Effect 3 - Mass Effect 3! MASS EFFECT 3!!!!
Prediction: I will buy, play, and love the hell out of Bioware's next masterpiece. But some idiot will post a spoiler that ruins the ending for me and I will always wonder what my experience would have been like if I discovered the big ending for myself.
- Torchlight II - I really enjoyed the simplicity of Torchlight, enough to play all the way through to the end. Once. Since I lost my save game during a hard drive failure, I haven't given the game much attention since then, but I'm looking forward to what Runic adds to the new game.
Prediction: I will preorder TL2 and play when it launches and have a good time doing so. It won't feel like the second coming for the action RPG, but I will see it through to the end.
- Dawn of War II: Retribution - I liked DoW II even though I generally dislike real time strategy games. Probably because it was such a hybrid game that it was much more manageable for me. That said, I didn't get into the expansion at all, having stopped playing after I finished the first campaign.
Prediction: I don't see myself buying Retribution. At least, not this year. Or unless it goes on some crazy sale next Christmas.
- LA Noire - I learned a whole new appreciation for Rockstar after playing Bully and Red Dead Redemption this year. Considering how much I love post-war Los Angeles (thanks to Raymond Chandler), my expectations are unreasonably high for this game. The technology looks awesome, but we haven't seen much of the gameplay yet. If the game leans on its story and the gameplay is good enough, I'm expecting to love it.
Prediction: I'll buy LA Noire within the first week of launch and then play it through to the end. It won't be my game of the year, but it will make my Top Five.
- The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim - How many Elder Scrolls games do I have to buy before I learn my lesson? I liked Daggerfall a lot, but that was the last time.
Prediction: Skyrim will come out on the expected launch date and I won't care. Ever.
- Portal 2 - You've heard of Portal, right? This will be more of that. And I really, really want to play more Portal.
Prediction: I will buy and play Portal 2, but not at launch. I'll be much too busy with other games. But when I get to it, it will be a lot of fun, even if it feels a little too long. I will never play the co-op campaign.
- DC Universe Online - With the glut of fantasy MMOs on the market, you would think that I'd be happy to see something launch from a different genre. The only problem is that I don't care for the DC Universe at all. (Well okay, I like the new Batwoman, but that's mostly love for Greg Rucka.) I'm sure this game will be okay, but the license is enough to turn me off.
Prediction: Although the game will launch early this year, I will not be playing it.
Bonus Prediction: Very few of you will be playing it either.
- Rift - Speaking of hype, there is no way to avoid Rift-mania right now. It wasn't on my radar until everyone started waving their beta tester credentials in my face. Nonetheless, it sounds halfway interesting and I'd like to see more.
Prediction: I'll get caught up in the hype and jump in at launch. I'll play long enough that I get bored and stop playing within a few weeks. Then I'll forget to unsubscribe and accidentally pay for a month that I don't use. Shame on me.
- Tera - So, there is this other MMO coming out, right? The one with the half dress women? (Oh, that describes most of them. Sorry.) Action based sounds interesting, but is it doing anything else to differentiate it? Don't know. Maybe we'll find out more when the hype curve slopes up.
Prediction: Tera will come out this year and I will barely take any notice. Maybe I'll think about trying it out, but only get as far as looking at the stupid box price and never touch my credit card.
- Star Wars: The Old Republic - And finally, we come to biggest game on the horizon. (I admit, I moved this one to the end, but I really did write it last.) SWTOR promises to be the most talked about game of 2011. Assuming, of course, that it actually launches.
Prediction: Because my brother is a fan and will expect me to play with him, I will pick up a copy a couple weeks after launch. We will play a few nights together. Eventually, I will grow dissatisfied by the gameplay and the story will not be enough to keep me interested. He will keep playing without me. I'll drift away, having only rolled a single character, and cancel my subscription before the month in the box is up.
Bonus Prediction: I will be spending a lot of time this year reading tweets and blog posts from SWTOR fans. Each time I will have to restrain myself to replying with snarky comments. Right up until the community turns on it and declares it the worst game ever. Then I will start in with the "I told you so."
- This weekend, I was one of the several thousand people lucky enough to spend a bunch of money to get tickets to BlizzCon in Anaheim, CA. Thankfully the money was well worth it and now I'm going to rub how much fun I had in all your faces.
- The thing you always read about BlizzCon or any other convention is the panels, so I thought would try to catch as many as possible. What you don't read about is all the other cool stuff that is going on. That's what I really ended up doing. I did sit down and hear the Diablo III Gameplay panel. It was, um, interesting. That's an appropriate descriptor. In retrospect, it's much more interesting to read about the panels on MMO-Champion or the like.
- Instead of panels, I spent a lot of time waiting in lines. Lines seemed to be the primary attraction at BlizzCon. There were lines to get to the demos, lines to get into the stores, even lines just to get into the building. There were several lines I didn't even have the time to stand in, the place was that crazy. It was almost anticlimactic to reach the end of a line and find myself ushered to sit in front of a computer to play some demo. But since I could spend all my time in lines, I decided to try a few things out.
- The first demo I got into was for Wrath of the Lich King. What I took away from this is that I need a better computer. It was really beautiful and played really smooth. I started a death knight, hoping to get a sneak peek at the opening zone, but all the characters were autoleveled to 80 and dumped at a random point in Northrend. Since that wasn't how I wanted to spend my time, I rerolled as a mage. Demo time was short, so I didn't have time to do much more than fly around, ooh and aah at the beautiful environment, and kill a few beasts. I did find the mage quest to earn the Portal: Dalaran spell, so that was my demo goal. All the creatures I faced were level 71-73, so I didn't have any problems and was able to complete the quest. Yay, me! If there was any question whether I was coming back to WoW from WAR, this demo definatively answered it.
- Even better than that, however, was the demo for Diablo III. Again, we only had 15 minutes to play, but there was a set goalline and cooperative multiplayer was encouraged. Three classes were open to play so I took a barbarian (having not played a melee class since the first Diablo), my brother grabbed a wizard (having never played Diablo at all!), and we got matched with a witch doctor, so we had all the bases covered. First and foremost, the game played exactly like a Diablo game should, which is as big of a compliment as I can make. Yes some of the systems have changed and will continue to be tweaked, but it felt just right. I had been worried that going 3D might hurt the visuals, but again they've captured the look of the earlier games and even expanded the possibilities. I particularly enjoyed the destructable environmental bits, and that they didn't skimp on the wooden barrels. The three of us rushed through Tristram and the catacomb below them and finally took down the Skeleton King just before our 15 minutes were up. We had a great time and I'm really looking forward to playing more when the game comes out.
- Funny enough, the thing I was most looking forward to this weekend was the early preview of the World of Warcraft Miniatures Game. I have a weakness for board games and miniatures, so this seemed like a perfect fit. I bought a starter and a booster as soon as I hit the show floor the first day (without benefit of waiting in a line) and signed up for a starter tournament. Then I walked off for a couple hours and forgot to show up for the tourney. Yeah, I'm not that bright. The Upper Deck folks were cool enough to put me in another round, though they did tease me a little bit. As for the game, it is really cool. The base set seems nicely balanced even with four very different characters, making for a close match. Adding a booster and building a team in the second round was a lot of fun, and that round was just as close. Luckily for me, I was able to win both rounds, so I walked away with an extra figure. They also gave out a vinyl Tanaris map as a door prize, and my partner in the second match and I both won one. It was a great experience all around and well worth the time. Kudos to Upper Deck for a fun game and a great event.
- As much fun as I had, two days was plenty to see it all and live to tell the tale. I'd definately go back if the oppotunity arose, but my feet are glad it will be a full year before the next one.
- Thank goodness for Blizzard because the MMO blogging illuminati have been way too civil lately. Syncaine (of Hardcore Casual) and Keen (of Keen and Graev) have decided to lay into the company for their intention to open some form of microtransactions in World of Warcraft. As this announcement falls hard of the heels of for-pay downloadable content for Diablo III and the trifurcating of Starcraft II, you'd think the effing sky was falling and Blizzard was going to mop it up with piles of cash.
- First, can we please get over blaming Activision for everything that Blizzard decides? Mike Morhaime is a big boy; he can take it. Also, people have been complaining about their decisions since before Activision came into the picture. It's not like Blizzard has gone all Edward Hyde on us.
- Second, you people don't even know what you're talking about. I know irrational ranting is the foundation our community is based on, but this is downright strange. If Blizzard does end up selling gear or attunements or anything outside of cosmetic changes, go ahead and turn on the flamethrowers. If they decide to offer the equivalent of horse armor in Diablo, blast away. If Blizzard delivers any less than than three full games of content of Starcraft, you might have something to complain about. Until then you all look just a little silly.
- Third, thanks for giving me an easy blog topic today. Ranting about ranters ranting is about as Ouroboros as you can get, but what can you do. That tail is yummy.
- If anyone wants a real rant, go check out Scott "Lum the Mad" Jennings's posts about Warhammer, both the good and the bad. The man is an OG of MMO ranting and he knows how to do it right.
