Can dreams come true? GDC rumors!

Grimwell has a laundry list of rumors from the Game Developers Conference.

Raph leaves SOE. Confirmed, see below.

Finally will give Raph a chance to get out and prove his theories right. He talks the talk, but needs to walk the walk.

EA is going to gobble up Mythic.

Unverified, but Mythic is small, lost a lot of money on Imperator, and is vulnerable to buyout. Lum can't tell us because he has work issues of his own so we must wait. Sounds sensible to me though.We've heard this one before. As long as EA doesn't mess with Warhammer Online!!!

The Cartoon Network MMOG. I call this almost verified. I sat in on a round table mastered buy a gentleman with MMOG experience who candidly said he was working on a MMOG for CN. Then I was introduced to a former UO dev who works there. Add in the fact that I received some 'Adult Swim' socks in my press kit and it's clear they are up to something.

Employing old MMOG devs is usually reserved for those who wish to make MMOG's. ToonTown for adults? Lots of interesting properties to mix up.Could be interesting, but doubt I would want to pay for a "ToonTown for adults". I don't like the industry shift towards "every game will be an MMORPG now so we can make more money."

SOE Loses SWG licence? Unverified. Would be a huge embarassment all things considered. Especially since the NGE went down recently, and burned the house.

Best thing that could ever happen. I've already talked about this here.

Wolfpack and Ubisoft not so friendly. Ubi dropped the price to "FREE!" and there is no SB2 announcement. Sat in on a PVP roundtable moderated by Damion Schubert and he didn't mention this, neither did the other WP friends. At the end of the day SB didn't bring the $$ on a large scale despite doing many things right for MMOG's and PVP. Possible, but not verified.

No Shadowbane 2 announcement makes me sad :( But there is plenty of other games on the horizon to make me happy. While Shadowbane was a great idea they failed on the business front. Failing on the business front almost always means failing on the game side of things.

Bioware Austin gets SWG licence. They did open that office, and there is a forum thread about the SOE loss part in which a Bio dev says to not decide either way until further data is in. Unconfirmed, but interesting. Would Gordon want to do that again? I hope they do something else like Jade Empire Online. I'd buy that six times!

Bioware + Star Wars + MMORPG = /drool!!! Grimwell may want an action-MMORPG, but I want a Bioware Star Wars MMORPG. This is almost too good to be true so I am holding back just a little.

Smedley Getting the Axe at SOE. This is a bonus entry, not from GDC. Something I was actually told last week and wanted to sit on and fact gather. At this point with Raph gone and SWG in question... it's hard to think this wouldn't be on the table.

Second best thing that could happen. That guy just doesn't "get it" and he confirmed it with his "We're going to dominate World of Warcraft" speach. I don't think this makes SOE any better, but Smedley just wasn't the man to make it better.

Those are some HUGE announcements that could be coming down the pipe in the near future and you heard them at Grimwell.com first!

Update: 15 Nov, 2009 - Edited spelling, applied labels, and removed broken links.

No Longer With Gamergod.com and Updates

Due to my real life schedule, I have decided to stop writing for Gamergod.com. With my little bit of free time, I want to be gaming. If not gaming, I want to be posting on my blog or a message board. I'm here to game and bitch about it.

Also, Grimwell is done with Gamergod.com and has reopened Grimwell Online. So, expect to see me over there from time to time.

Blog Update @ Technorati : I am now ranked within the top 100,000 blogs on Technorati.com! I suggest everyone use it to search for the truth about games, from the mouths of gaming bloggers everywhere!

Another new template? I've been thinking about updating this blog's template again, so keep checking back for a new look. Any suggestions welcome.

Update: 8 Jul, 2007 - Edited post and applied label.

I met Vice President Dick Cheney today!

Vice President Dick Cheney made a stop locally today, so I strolled on down to be part of the crowd.

Have a great Saint Patrick's Day everyone!

Fatal Flaw in Sony's plans for the Playstation 3

Joystiq has resounding coverage of the Sony PS3 conference going on in Japan. Check it out for some up to the minute updates!

Something caught my eye as I read through the updates. Update 11 to be exact.

Update 11: Beginning this November at launch, the PS3 "will feature community tools including lobby matching and voice chat," as well as "commerce features that includes bootable software via the hard drive." This is basically the PS3's online service, which was created with Sony Online Entertainment's assistance and will be provided free of charge--well, the "basic" service will be at any rate. "Premium" Live features, anyone? Thanks, bv, RobR, and untitled!

Now I bolded "Sony Online Entertainment's assistance" for a reason. I've been a critic of SOE for a long time standing. From the destruction of Star Wars Galaxies to the constant change of any and all of their titles I have rarely agreed with their "vision".

Sony is making a huge mistake letting the industrial machine at SOE handle their online application. While this is not a "game" per se there is definite qualities within SOE that detract from a "fun experience".

Really the only console networks we can compare it to at the moment are Xbox Live and Nintendo WiFi. Both of those are excellent products developed in house. Sony is following suit, but if you ask me they lack any sort of creative support at SOE to make this online app worthwhile.

It is well known SOE pushes hard on their projects and sacrifices both in community communication and product quality.

There is no doubt that SOE has the server technology and qualified personal to run a network, but it sure the hell doesn't have any creative minds to make this service anything but the day old stale bread of the Console Online Services. Any creativity will be shot down by suits pushing for a product that is "just like the other guys".

Let me spell it out. Sony's Online service for the Playstation 3 will be nothing but a dumbed down rip off of Xbox Live and Nintendo Wifi.

Update: 29 Nov, 2009 - Edited post, corrected spelling, and applied labels.

What I played in the new Everquest 2 : Trial of the Isle

My previous Everquest 2 : Trial of the Isle post details some of the changes in the new Trial of the Isle. Now I will share some of the fun I had with the various classes I tried.

Name: Ipad
Race: Kerra
Class: Inquisitor
Plays most like: A smiting cleric in Dark Ages of Camelot.
Comments: Basically this character starts out with a "smite" spell that you basically makes up your entire offense. You start with a basic heal and a few levels in get your second. Standard point and click heals. You also recieve a basic buff to increase attack power, but it really does nothing to help your pitiful melee. I was able to last through any fight by chain nuking and chain healing. Viable solo early on, but I would guess this is more the grouping hybrid healer.

Name: Idea
Race: Ogre
Class: Shadowknight
Plays most like: Any newb fighter class in most MMORPGs.
Comments: This was a pretty cut and dry experience. The Shadowknight starts with a minor direct damage spell that only can be cast in melee. You run around an whack things otherwise executing your simple basic melee attack. I found this character to be weak even after recieving the class specific "Dark Blades" stance. The character only picked up after recieving my quest reward two hand sword. With that big piece of metal in my hands it was a much better experience. Was able to hold aggro perfectly for the final dungeon fight on the Isle.

Name: Swash
Race: Dwarf
Class: Swashbuckler
Plays most like: A rogue from World of Warcraft.
Comments: By far the funnest class to play that I tried. Not only is the idea of being a swashbuckler cool it lead to an excellent nickname for my Dwarf. I became known as Swashy. Adding to the fun as the fact I played this character on the new RP PvP server. I actually role played for a good bit. I even started to create a small backstory (NOTE: I don't know much about Everquest lore).

/rp begin

Swashy came from a long line of dwarven pirates, but the sea had grown quiet and a pirates life became hard. Moving onto land Swashy was dishing his swashbuckling skills to the highest bidder, Freeport. He had arrived for an introduction and quickly got to work.

/rp end

The class plays very fluid and really made me feel like I was back playing World of Warcraft with my rogue. The basics of combat are almost mirrored between the games. You stealth in to get the jump, stun the target, and then move behind the target to execute a backstab style move. On top of this the swashbuckler can take a good bit of a beating. With the help of just a Defiler named Gallow I took out the final dungeon in no time.