Beckett Gaming

So I sat down last night to play one of the most overly anticipated games I’ve seen in years. With a few hours of evolutions under my belt, I definitely can’t talk about what the game is like overall, but that’s what initial thoughts are for.

At the beginning, Spore plays out just like the little Spore game you can download for your cell phone: you pick whether you’re a carnivore or herbivore and start chomping down on the bits of meat floating around you. Since I figured I’d play this game a little more aggressively the first time through, I picked a carnivore. As a carnivore, I swam around and munched on bits of meat. Once I “grew up,” which happens about 10 times before you can evolve and move onto the land, the little enemies who would attack me were now smaller than me (and made for some yummy chomping snacks) and there would be newer bigger monsters roaming around that try to eat you and the others your own size.

Overall, the first phase wasn’t extremely fun. It’s an interesting concept, and I like the fact that the creatures around you are always reacting to their surroundings (running, attacking, or eating other things), but trying to control your little creature was awful. Not only was control bad, but I’d spend minutes trying to outrun things, yet they still chase me instead of going after easier prey. Maybe I’m tastier than the other things down there? Because they sure drop everything they were doing to come after me. As a carnivore, the only way to get meat in the higher levels is to fight and defeat other critters your own size. This normally isn’t too hard, assuming you watch out for the sharp points on a creature, but the squids that show up about half-way through have a poison that, thanks to the awful movements and control, is impossible to avoid and kills you very quickly. The only thing that kept me going was the promise of getting the hell out of there and maybe engaging in a slightly more entertaining phase.

The second phase occurs on land and you’re trying to establish your own little nest. There are other groups out there, which you must dance, pose, sing, and/or charm (it’s a mimic game) in order to turn them into friends, or you can just kill everything around you. I decided to take the friendlier route and only killed off aggressives, but I didn’t realize at first that having other little critters with you increases your socializing.

Actually, when I say “at first,” I mean, “Frell, I’m nearly done with this level and have barely made any friends.”

The inability to climb tiny little hills was frustrating (even with jump), but otherwise I really enjoyed this phase. It’s simple, it rewards you regardless of whether you want to be nice or not, and random events occur (at night only it seemed) that make you run away quickly with your little friends in tow (such as the alien ship beaming up random creatures near my nest for their sick experiments).

My journey ended last night just as I started the tribe phase, which includes some slightly more complicated (Sim-like) features, but I can say that I’m curious about learning the features about the next phase.

Overall, I’m enjoying myself, but that enjoyment comes at a cost. It seems that things are more complicated then they should be and that a lot of time is wasted (such as watching all of those dance animations again and again…). On the plus side, it’s very cute and you feel some small amount of accomplishment for taking care of your clan. Plus, the fact that you can customize your critter with an insane number of features and colors and skins means that if you’re ever not enjoying yourself, you can take a break, spend a few points for new body parts, and redesign your critter from the ground up.

-Rebecca Bundy

Since my last post a few weeks ago, my Herald (HoX) is now 50. Leveling is reasonably swift and 2 levels a day playing for a few hours is certainly possible. At level 40 you can get your first mount which I finally got at level 48 when I could afford it. The mount has a nice graphic…the horse runs over to you and you put your foot in the stirrup and get on board. It looks like it was filmed in real life and rotoscoped into the game. You have a choice of colors for the horse at the vendor and like WoW, you must purchase a riding ability tome first.

Level 60 gets you a better one…I hope so as this guy is marginally faster than running (it seems). So far I haven’t grouped much, soloing most of the time which is fine with me. Seems like raids, etc. are at end game, level 80. It will be awhile before I get there as I’m doing dual-duty playing AoC and Lich King Beta. I do enjoy AoC, however and look forward to jumping in the game. One odd thing (to me) is repeatable quests in the Tarantia Noble area. This is an area of noble’s home which you enter as a private instance to do a quest. I think every few hours the quest is repeatable and the game recognizes that you’ve leveled since the last time you were there and appropriately raises the npc’s and critters’ levels. In IM, a guildie told me that he went to these quests 2x daily to level and get good drops. It’s a different way to grind towards 80, but the npc’s are challenging and not a push over. There are also minor puzzles, like climbing up ivy-clad walls to reach the upper levels of the houses that seem otherwise inaccessible. One other thing worth mentioning is the personal storage. Instead of buying larger and larger bags, like WoW, you get one bag as basic storage. When you can afford it, you buy one other bag, say with 8 extra slots. You can purchase larger bags as you go and the new bag will replace your extra one as long as the new one has more slots than the old, i.e. a 12 slotter purchased will replace your 8 slotter, a 16 will replace the 12, etc. At my level, the only way to make game $ is to have a lot of storage, come back to a town and sell gear you can’t use. Game $ is important for mounts and other needs as you go but not really for gear as the drops are plentiful enough for your personal equipment. I’m learning as I go and most of my questions are answered in guild or in OOC chat. I’ll come back around level 60 and post again.
- Eric Bloom, a long time gamer and the lead vocalist of Blue Oyster Cult

It’s possible you haven’t heard of this video, which was released about a month ago:

http://www.vimeo.com/1211060

Matt travels around the world getting people to dance. It’s simple, it’s lovely, and it makes you forget about the fact that there are some really ugly things going on in this world (well… sadly I think the Demilitarized Zone says a lot… ). When it comes down to it, people just love to dance.

It’s also done to some very lovely music and watching it will put a smile on your face. It’s chicken soup for the heart (that sounds really cheesy, but I’m saying it anyways).

And in case you’re wondering what this has to do about gaming? Matt is a HUGE gamer. He gives us all a good name. He also reminds us all that we should get off of our couches and chairs and visit some of the places we explore in the games we play.

-Rebecca Bundy

There are certain series that I don’t mind losing sleep over in order to be one of the firsts to see it (namely, viewing 12:01 screenings): Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and the most recent two Batman movies.

Before I begin, I do want to mention that the crowd I was with, while very energetic, was not the best 12:01 crowd I’ve been in. The group behind us, while nice, was drinking a LOT of alcohol that they snuck in. Ever been to a concert where you get a contact high from all of the people smoking marijuana? That’s what it smelled like, but with alcohol. It didn’t help that the guy who ended up sitting next to me reeked like he’d smoked 10 packs of cigarettes that day.

But at least people were enjoying themselves, so once I got over the whole breathing issue without getting sick, I could sit back and enjoy everything with them.

If you’ve never been to a 12:01 show, you really should try it once. People don’t passively watch the movie… they laugh, gasp, cry, and jump (when startled) all at the same time. Generally too, people are not obnoxious either… those types don’t last long, since people who’ve been waiting 3-6 hours to see a movie will very quickly grab a manager and have them removed.

As for The Dark Knight itself? The praise and wonderful reviews are right on the money. Never once did I think about how the actors were acting… I was simply watching “real” characters as their plots and twists unfolded. The entire cast was superb (thank goodness they dropped Katie Holmes like a bad habit). But great actors like Christian Bale and Michael Caine were overshadowed by Heath Ledger (Joker), Aaron Eckhart (Harvey Dent/Two-Face), and Gary Oldman (Gordon).

Both Gordon and Harvey Dent evolve as characters slowly throughout the movie, reacting and adjusting to the events as they come crashing down upon their life. Two-Face, though a bit farfetched with the damage done to his face (this is based on a comic book, after all), was leaps and bounds better looking than the “half of my face is covered in melted wax” look that’s plagued many past Two-Faces. The look also plays into the “I’m only half dead” aspect that Two-Face carries with himself in the later part of the movie. Gordon as well proves that he’s got a few aces up his sleeves, and towards the end, Gary manages to pull off the intense tension and desperation in a very real way.

What can I say about Heath Ledger’s performance? I’ve been a fan of his since his American debut (Roar), and have seen the vast majority of his films (both the incredible and terrible). I always knew he had greatness in him, but even I was amazed by the skill and art that he brought to the role. He blends a child-like insanity with the viciousness of a rabid dog and manages to dance between both sides wonderfully, and quite naturally. Physical abuse and near-death experiences are met with a laughter that’s hauntingly like the type one makes when they’re on a really fast and scary rollercoaster. But for all you know, the next moment he could turn around and snap your neck… just because he feels like it. Plus, I must say that he’s got the best magic trick I’ve ever seen anyone pull off… seeing that leaves a mark on you that carries with you through the entire movie.

This isn’t a perfect movie though. Scarecrow was really just a throwaway character, and while I know they wanted to give more time to Joker and Two-Face, I really wish they had wrapped things up better with him.

I also wish they had done more with Bruce. Sure, there’s obviously the conflict between doing what’s right and doing what you have to do to get things done, but I felt that he, and Batman, were simply reacting to the things thrown at them and that very little was accomplished as far as character development was concerned.

The truth though is that these are very minor grievances that will not keep me from seeing this absolutely incredible movie again this Saturday. It’s a joy to see the Batman movies moving forward in an intense direction.

It’s just a horrible tragedy that Heath Ledger will not be there to see it move forward.

-Rebecca Bundy, who wrote this on two hours of sleep

Man, I am totally excited about the brand new MMO game from SOE called DC Comics Universe Online. They’re taking all of the greatest DC superheroes like Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash and many others and putting their super power abilities and storylines to work in this hot new MMO game.

Here’s the link on the Beckett Massive Online Gamer NEWS page: http://www.beckett.com/estore/news/?eskin=subMOG&a=9738&s=1

I also just heard that Sony Online Entertainment will be showing a sneak peek of the game at the 2008 San Diego Comic Con.
 Comic book fans are going to love it!

Let me know what you think of it.

-Doug Kale

I’ve been in Age of Conan (AoC) for about a week. While that’s too early (and I’m only a level 13 Herald) to comment on the big picture, i.e. everyone tells me the game comes alive after level 20, my gameplay has been enjoyable considering I rarely read forums or look for tips and just jump in and punt. The most stressful part has been technical.

I’m playing on a laptop (I play all my games on my 8 month old Toshiba X205-SLi1 with dual GeForce 8600M GT with 512MB VRAM and a Core

2 Duo T7250 Intel chip) which I would think should be able to handle this game’s hardware requirements. However, I often get prompts about my plug-ins, possible corrupt files on start-up, game lag (in Tortage) and occasional crashes. It could be faults on my end, but I’ve been to NVidia’s page and Toshiba’s and loaded the latest plug-ins and done scans and never found any corrupt files. In any case, I’m hoping these teething pains will iron themselves out. Most of the time it works fine and playing solo I’m moving forward at my own speed, which I like.

I don’t feel the pressure to get to the top level faster than anyone else and find the coolest gear (yet).

Eventually I’ll join a guild, make a few friends and get really into the game. I purposely started on the same server as our Editor so we can play together when we’re around the same level. Now, playing the Herald, a combination melee and casting character…I like it. I especially like the fighting system, better than WoW’s, using special combination abilities, touching keys in combination to create a nice attack. It takes a little trial and error (and dying a few times) to find the right combinations, but it’s a trip to finally get some screen splatter by doing it right. I imagine you eventually get some better personal storage (WoW’s seems better right now). I constantly have to dump stuff I’d like to sell later for lack of room. For those just beginning AoC, I’d say don’t buy much from the vendors in Tortage early on as you’ll pick up the same item or better from a kill. I’m just taking every quest I can find and in no particular order getting ‘em done. I’m looking forward to the bigger picture of what is touted as the ‘real game’ after level 20.

-Eric Bloom, a long time gamer and the lead vocalist of Blue Oyster Cult

The Apple iPhone 3G scores big in its first week. According to Apple, they sold over 1 million of the new 3Gs worldwide in over 21 countries. That’s impressive.  Man, I need to get an iPhone. In the same week, both old and new owners of the iPhones downloaded an impressive 10 million apps from the new Apple Store on iTunes. Many people were reporting problems with the downloads… yeah… 10 million were being downloaded!!! Now, what’s really cool are the the amount of downloads for the games on iPhone. Seven of the top 10 paid apps included the following games at $9.99 a pop: The Band, Cro-Mag Rally, Super Monkey Ball and Tetris. The Electronic Arts Scrabble game came in 12th and is also scheduled to show up on FACEBOOK very soon.

Gaming is becoming more and more portable. Pretty soon we could see a portable Xbox360, PS3 or Wii game. I’m sure the geniuses at the big game companies are looking very closely at these portable games. Wouldn’t that be cool?

- Doug Kale

There has been a recent uproar with thousands of fans of the Diablo game franchise. Fans of the first 2 Diablo games witnessed the unveiling of the Diablo 3 game in Paris, France recently. They’re complaining that the game’s graphics and characters have been upgraded to a level similar to that of World of Warcraft. The previous Diablo games have been a lot of fun to play and I’m sure the third game will be terrific too. SO, the graphics look like WoW, so what? Personally, I think that’s an incredible improvement for the game. If you’re also a WoW fan, that’s even better! I’ve seen the trailers and they look totally amazing. Fans of the Diablo series want it to be like the previous 2 games… get with the program people. Those games were great for the time they were released… 1997 and 2000. It’s eight years later and graphics and technology are light years ahead of where they were when Diablo 2 was released.

There have been numerous trailers on the net. But there is one particular one that really shows what the game is all about…. CHECK IT OUT…
I give the graphics and the game trailer a huge thumbs up. What do you think?

- Doug Kale

I recently read some big news about new high-end games being added to both the iPhone and the new iPhone 3G. This could be a wave of things to come for all cellphone users. Although playing games on cellphones is nothing new, the new attitude from the cellphone companies to include really good games with higher definition and strategies is a breath of fresh air.
There’s  a new racing game for the iPhone called Cro-Mag Rally that has graphics similar to the Nintendo DS. Coming in September, ELectronic Arts will be shipping an iPhone version of Spore! I’ve heard so much great stuff about Spore and its creator that it really makes you want to go out and buy this game.

In case you haven’t heard what Spore is about, here’s a quick summary - You receive an amoeba that you grow into a new lifeform on your own planet. Then you build starships to attack and take over other planets. Sounds incredible and very cool. I for one am anxious to give it a try.

Okay, so the iPhone will be moving up a notch for gamers who are interested in purchasing a new cellphone. I personally don’t have an iPhone yet, but after hearing the news about these games, I really want one. I have to wait until my old Sprint contract ends for me to consider another phone. Oh well.

I can tell you that the handful of people in my office that do have an iPhone, love it. They say the monthly costs are high, but you really have to see if you can afford it before considering one.

- Doug Kale

Four major cities gone and four classes gone. It’s shocking news to say the least, especially since the news was dropped so suddenly. Obviously my first reaction was shock, and then a feeling of being let down. Or relieved?

On the one hand, it’s upsetting… after all of the release dates being moved back and a strangely untimely announcement of the final class, we find out that four of the classes, two of which have been around since the beginning, are gone with nothing more than a “they’ll be released at sometime in the future.”

There’s also the fact that the tanks especially are very hard to replace. Let’s face it, every class brings their own flavor to a game, but WAR still only had six who could stand up in front of a big monster and laugh as it hits them. That’s a big blow, and it puts a lot more pressure onto the four remaining tanks to pick up the slack left by the untimely departure.

Not only that, but the Empire and Dark Elves who play in their particular zones will now no longer have tanks running around to join up with, especially when they start looking towards the Public Quests. Before this announcement, I was really looking forward to playing a Warrior Priest (I love playing DPS/Healing hybrids like Monks in games). But now that there’s no tank for the Empire, I’m not so sure anymore. What am I supposed to do now, heal the Bright Wizards while they run around pulling a boss and everyone runs after it trying to DPS it down?

I was also looking forward to trying out the Knight and Blackguard. What little I had heard about them sounded like a lot of fun. But who knows now? Maybe people would’ve been happy with a class that only plays okay (gods know I’ve been playing a Rogue in WoW forever, but I still enjoy it). And quite honestly, there are always going to be changes to classes. Players always find ways to overpower certain skills, and people will complain, and then Mythic will have to find a way to balance it out a bit without destroying the skill completely. Rinse and repeat.

Finally, the news about the cities being gone is… confusing. So what now… four races won’t even have a place to call home? Or will there be cities, they just won’t be “living” cities? What about lag issues, or imbalance issues between the two sides (at least before, the side differences would be a little more spread out)? And… what about lore?

On the other side, it should mean that there won’t be any more delays for the game. Everyone can stop playing whatever they are playing “just to kill time until WAR.” And even though it won’t be a full game with such major things missing, hopefully the stuff that is there is great and solid and a lot of fun. Hopefully they show everyone that they cut these things out for a reason, and that the quality of the game will speak for itself.

And hopefully people won’t be waiting a year or two to get back what was lost.

But is having the game now, not completely the way it’s meant to be, better than waiting even longer for these things?

I’m not sure. While it’s wonderful that a company is finally being honest and open about these things, which, might I add, was done BEFORE the announcement of a more solid release date, I wonder if it would’ve been better to delay the game a bit more. On the other hand, no game will never be fully polished. No MMO is. There are always changes, fixes, strange bugs that pop out of nowhere, class imbalance, and so much more that if we waited until everything was perfect, we’d be waiting for a VERY long time.

For now though, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see if this decision was for the best. 

 -Rebecca Bundy