OLPC Gets It's Game On

One Laptop Per Child, an MIT driven project to deliver $100 laptops to children accross the world, has received a generous donation from EA: the original SimCity! OLPC now has a certifiable big-name game as part of its package.

Electronic Arts will donate the original SimCity city-building game to each computer in the non-profit One Laptop Per Child humanitarian initiative, which designs, manufactures and distributes inexpensive laptops to children around the world with the goal of giving every child in the world access to modern education.

Having done a fairly exhaustive project involving OLPC, I feel attached to any bit of news I hear about it. I never thought that I would be reporting on gaming-related news for the OLPC! I support the project 100% and want to take a moment to talk about it.

OLPC is not here to simply deliever cheap laptops. The laptops have a purpose and a guiding principal. Constructionism, a philosophy of education in which children learn by doing and making, really sets the OLPC project apart from other cheap laptop projects. There are plenty of other companies setting out to prove they can make cheaper laptops. OLPC will always have them beat because of their philosophy, instead of just trying to make the cheapest laptop possible.

Currently, the laptop does cost more than $100 to produce, but the $100 tagline still sticks with the project. It is a goal and I fully believe they can achieve it. However, staying under $300 will still be a great accomplishment. After all, in a world where gamers throw down $500 for the latest video card, I can't help but stop and admire what OLPC has done and will continue to do.

Elder Scrolls Online Confirmed (Not Really)

Elder Scrolls Online has been confirmed.

Bethesda's very own Pete Hines has confirmed that yes, an MMORPG installment of the wildly popular Elder Scrolls series is on the way. In the announcement, Hines also stated that the company had already put $300 million into the project

Of course this announcement was followed by the proclamation that World of Warcraft now has a contender to deal with. I guess Knights of the Old Republic Online and Warhammer Online don't count? I'm actually quite amazed by this rhetoric.

Am I the only person that has played the Elder Scrolls series of games and said to myself: "This is a lot of fun, but wouldn't work in an MMORPG."? The Elder Scroll games are great single-player fun, but outside of the character system I can't think of one thing that would translate to an MMORPG at all.

Part of the magic behind the Elder Scroll titles has been the ability to be the hero of the world, not one of many heroes which is the case with MMORPGs.
I think there are just a few too many people waiting on the "next big thing".

By the way, I'm just kidding. The confirmation was never true and has been officially denied.

Update: It seems that the original story which Jim sourced in this article jumped to more than a few conclusions. We just got off of the phone with Bethesda's Manager of PR and Marketing Erin Losi, who wanted to clarify a few things.

For one, Bethesda has not announced or confirmed that an Elder Scrolls MMO is in the works.

Oh well, who would of guessed that Destructoid would jump to conclusions and post a catchy title to spam around the Internet? Certainly not me.

Team Fortress 2 Final Thoughts

Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV

Jeff Freeman requested that I wrap up my thoughts on Team Fortress 2. So, here are my final thoughts.

Over the course of seven years of first person gaming, I have not found a game as inviting and friendly as Team Fortress 2. From the art direction, to the class-based system, TF2 has a very low barrier for entry. At the same time it maintains a competitive edge for skilled gamers offering a variety of ways to succeed.

The maps, weapons, and game modes are all well done and complete. Nothing feels like it was left unfinished, which unfortunately is not the case with many games that launch these days. That gives TF2 a feeling of being complete, which makes it a pleasure to play.

Aside from some debates on things such as critical hits, the community around TF2 has received the game well. It is a clear winner in the "teamwork FPS" category and is a shining example of what can be done when developers take the time to make a new game instead of an updated game.

Sure, TF2 is not Team Fortress: Source, and there is a ton of differences compared to Team Fortress Classic, but it delivers a solid experience that should do the Team Fortress name proud.

Players looking for a game that is easy to learn and rewards team players, need look no further than Team Fortress 2.

Another EA Studio Down

Another EA studio bites the dust.

EA Chicago has gone down for the count. I can exclusively report that EA is closing the studio effective immediately. Word is that EA is working hard to place many of the 150+ employees at its other studios around the world. What does this mean for the future of the Def Jam fighting franchise and the forthcoming Marvel fighting game? I'm still looking into that, but it sure seems like those games won't be coming anytime soon.

This doesn't mean very much for the Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning fans, but it is another sign that change is occurring within EA. How all of the recent changes fit together is unknown officially, but it is definitely leaning towards the idea that EA has maybe grown a little too big for it's own good. Which, may be the best sign of all, as EA begins to specialize a bit more and produce a higher quality product. EA has franchises that have kept the company going, and where they don't have great game franchises, they are buying studios that do.

Hopefully they are buying and shutting down studios for the right reasons, and not just to perform a major manpower shuffle while snagging all the new intellectual properties that come with companies like BioWare and Mythic.

The Return

I am officially dubbing my return to Dark Age of Camelot, The Return: Heartless Pwns Noobs. This morning I ran into the newbie RvR dungeon, Demon's Breach, and proceeded to lay waste upon the scum of Albion. Then I killed a lurikeen. Yes, they really do exist. I killed so many newbs that I gained two levels! What!? Players can gain levels by killing people? The ability to gain experience from killing other players is one of my favorite aspects of DAoC, and it is even greater now, netting almost three times the normal experience rate.

However, I did all of this without playing the class I had originally planned and researched for. My initial character was going to be a Norse Warrior, but I quickly found out they are slow to level, constantly out of endurance, and pretty much no fun for a returning player. Also, Warrior's are expensive to get started. So, I chose to play a Kobold Bonedancer. Let the LOLs begin.

The Bonedancer is a very strong class for someone that solos a lot. The more I thought about it, the more I justified to myself that it was the right thing to do, regardless of the fact that Bonedancers are an easy-mode class. I don't care! I am here to have fun and kick ass. Not only does a Bonedancer allow me to do both, but it also allows me to easily farm to support other characters like my Warrior.

One of the coolest things I discovered during The Return, was the fact that players can receive their first horse at level ten by simply completing a "go get the saddle" quest. Before I knew it, both my characters were galloping across East Svealand wasting away precious grinding time.

I am having a ton of throw away fun, and that folks, is the reason I returned to DAoC.

What EVE Could Do to Bring Back Players

I hold no reservations about EVE Online. It is a very well designed game, albeit owned by an otherwise poorly run company named CCP. EVE is like a good wine, aging well and accruing value with every passing year. If that sounds conflicted, it is. I am still conflicted over the game.

I enjoyed my time playing EVE, but the game is inherently punishing towards it's newer players. Also, I spent more time researching things outside of the game, than I did playing. My first character was completely gimped and without a delete and restart I would have spent months catching up. I stopped playing, but kept paying to advance my skills. Eventually my two cents kicked in and I canceled my subscription. Just in time fortunately, as my corporation's leader decided to dump the corporation in classic EVE form: by stealing all the ISK, kicking all the members, and stealing every last BPO and ship possible.

So, what spurs me to post about EVE today? First off, CCP, invited Richard Bartle to speak at a recent panel for the EVE Fan Faire. Bartle told them that their plan to democratise the player to company interactions would fail.

The panel I was on this morning is now over. As insulting your hosts go, I think I did well (sigh).

Basically, CCP (the EVE Online developers) want to democratise their virtual world because they have so many players that they're being overwhelmed by suggestions for ways to change or improve their virtual world. They want a council of players to put the best ideas to them, with the council-members decided by popular vote. I told them that this wouldn't work because CCP still had the final say (they're gods, not a government), so the players actually had no new powers at all. However, using the word "democracy" would give them the impression they did have power, so it would all end in tears when they discovered that they didn't.

That sums up my opinion on the matter fairly well. Honestly, the whole move smells of marketing to save face for numerous past misgivings. CCP needs to concentrate on improving the experience it provides to the average player, not spin political mumbo jumbo with a few hardcore elite.

The second news item that brings me to EVE: patch notes. No, I'm not going to break down all the notes. I just wanted to point out the inclusion of both a Linux and Mac client for the game. Other than that, nothing of interest for any ex-EVE players looking for a reason to come back.

However, that is the reason I am here. There is a couple changes that would definitely make me reconsider coming back at some point.

1. With an account that is 6-months or older, allow players to set skills to train without paying a monthly subscription. This will allow interested players to return down the line without having to worry that they will be years behind in training. ISK will still be a limiting factor in how much of an impact these players can have by themselves.

For some evidence that this would work, we just need to look back at the five day period where all accounts were reopened. Several of my friends reopened their accounts just to set a long skill to train with the plan of someday playing again.

2. Allow skill training to be automated. When I was playing, nothing sucked worse than losing time because you could not log in to set a new skill to train. EVE needs a skill template system where players can load a template from a website and have their training automatically set itself. I don't believe any current EVE player would argue that this would not be a benefit to the game.

Unfortunately, CCP seems far too wrapped up in political bullshit and graphical updates to care.

Team Fortress 2 Initial Impressions - Part IV

Part I
Part II
Part III

I want to take a moment to clear something up about Team Fortress 2. There is no I in team. Games are won or lost by the actions of the team. Teams that don't want to defend control points, lose. Teams that want to play defensive classes while on offense, get trapped. Teams that constantly steal ammo packs during setup, thus delaying the upgrade of sentry guns, get run over by early rushes. Teams that play together and support each other, win.

These team mechanics can be both aggravating and rewarding. Even the best solo players can have a screaming fit if their team is not working together. Nothing they can do themselves can make up for a half-dozen or more other players doing nothing. A good player could have an instant kill switch for anything on their screen, but without a team watching their back they will make little difference in the end.

However, a good player can instantly lift a sub par team that is at least trying to work together. A couple good players can almost make a team themselves with the proper classes and strategy. I can't wait to see how more organized clans and teams start doing in tournament level play.

Over all the other aspects of TF2, this is the aspect that sells the game. TF2 would be "just another game" if the developers had submitted to repeated pressure to make each class more "solo friendly". The biggest war was won when the developers stated strongly that grenades for every class were not going to be part of TF2. Grenades would have turned each and every class into a potential powerhouse, capable of soloing any situation. Without the grenades, classes now have to work together to form a team. There are other examples, but the grenades issue was the most apparent in beta and in comparisons to Team Fortress Classic.

Teamwork sells the game.

Final Thoughts

It's Over

Halloween has come and gone. For the most part, I stayed away from any in-game related Halloween madness. I was particularly burned out on World of Warcraft, so I never paid the headless horseman a visit (however, we did watch Sleepy Hollow tonight). I'm still in newbie mode in Dark Ages of Camelot, so nothing special there.

And here at the homestead, the witches, princesses, Jedi, mummies, Sponge Bobs, Supermans, Batmans, Spidermans, giant raisins, robots, and mutants are all gone. The candy dish is empty. Tomorrow, I'll pack up the skull candles, spiderwebs, and gravestones.

The good news? Halloween is only a year away!

Chuck Norris vs. The Dragon Raid

New in Linux: Graphic Card Drivers

AMD has decided to start supporting their ATI line of graphics cards with Linux-based drivers.

Video card giant AMD announced the release of new Linux drivers for its popular line of video cards today. The new drivers, Linux Catalyst 7.10, provide updates and features for desktop effects and gaming.

The new drivers provide support for AIGLX and ATI GPUs, enabling performance improvements for OpenGL games including the Quake and Doom lines. The improvements also offer support for enhanced graphic effects for supported distributions.

This is one moderate step in the right direction for Linux gaming. Graphic card support is the sore spot and hurdle that Linux gaming needs to clear. Hopefully, other companies will follow suit and give Linux users even more hardware options.