What the hell did they do? Age of Empires Online...

[Homerboy]

I'm interested in it, but only because I think my kids would enjoy it too.
That being said, show me a demo before I pay a red cent.

 

[shortylickens]

I was in the beta but stopped playing a while ago. I had a ridiculously long way to go before my "level" was high enough where I could use the better units and equipment (bonuses to your units), quite annoying having to deal with an MMO-esque "grind" in an RTS game. That and I absolutely hate GFWL.

Yeah I should think RTS is the one genre that really doesnt lend itself to an MMO at all.
If you go to bed when vikings are lurking around you may wake up to a pillaged village. Having to rebuild all that from scratch would be the end for me.

 

[badb0y]

Why does every studio want to destroy the the games I grew up with....WTF

 

[Red Storm]

I'm interested in it, but only because I think my kids would enjoy it too.
That being said, show me a demo before I pay a red cent.

It's supposed to be free to play, with most likely some form of micro-payment system to obtain better stuff, such as new civilizations (supposed to come out "this Holiday"), as well missions and whatnot. What really ticks me off is that they're charging for "custom games", which is where you can set the parameters to your liking and play (basically the normal method of play for just about every RTS game).

Apparently it will be released tomorrow, August 16th.

 

[TehMac]

Not even going to look at it. Amazing how no one seems to want to take risks anymore. Not even slightly.

 

[Homerboy]

I'll take the gamble...

 

[shortylickens]

Why does every studio want to destroy the the games I grew up with....WTF

Cuz you didnt buy 10 copies of every game they ever made. They need to expand their market to the millions of morons who buy anything thats been overhyped. Sadly this means appealing to the lowest common denominator which almost always ends up in a crummy product.


As for the above mentioned Risks issue: If you had a multi-billion dollar company that someone else built through innovation, risk, and hard work, you'd probably be inclined to not take risks in the modern market too. The problem with buying up and fleecing companies is all the tough, smart people get lost or pushed aside and the new execs in charge dont know how to grow from that point on.
They have somehow convinced themselves investing 50 million dollars in a fucking video game is a smart idea but then realize they'll need monumental sales to break even, and insane sales to make a profit so they can crap out another rotten game next year. Its kinda ridiculous that the industry is as big, rich, and fragile as what we have now. But thats how it is.

Am still hoping for the great implosion that swallows up EA and others, and lets gaming get back to basics.

 

[soccerballtux]

anybody recognize that voice from somewhere? where?

 

[shortylickens]

anybody recognize that voice from somewhere? where?

No IMDB page so I coudlnt say.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0488937/
AOE 3 had plenty of professional voice actors though. Would assume this one has at least a couple famous people.

 

[TehMac]

blah blah

 

[TehMac]

As for the above mentioned Risks issue: If you had a multi-billion dollar company that someone else built through innovation, risk, and hard work, you'd probably be inclined to not take risks in the modern market too. The problem with buying up and fleecing companies is all the tough, smart people get lost or pushed aside and the new execs in charge dont know how to grow from that point on.

I had something negative posted, but on further reflection, I kind of agree.

 

[shortylickens]

I had something negative posted, but on further reflection, I kind of agree.

I know, my post was kind of harsh but its what I believe. Most game companies are now such huge entities they really cant afford to make big mistakes. Kinda like the housing market "too big to fail" or whatever.

 

[TehMac]

I know, my post was kind of harsh but its what I believe. Most game companies are now such huge entities they really cant afford to make big mistakes. Kinda like the housing market "too big to fail" or whatever.

No, it's not even that though. There is an incredible amount of uncertainty in the market because there is a lot of innovation. The issue is that the innovation right now is focused on game engines. Once game engines become a lot more sophisticated, and the hardware is able to catch up to them, game designers and artists will be able to work on a project a lot more freely. Once this happens, development costs should actually decrease because less time needs to be spent on optimization.

The problem is that there are several questions right now which are unanswered:

As Sony and MS prepare to unveil their hardware consoles for the 3rd/4th gen, what kind of limitations will the hardware have, how can the platforms be effectively monetized, and how much scalability will the platform have?

Development costs have sharply increased in the latter half of this decade, so much so that even games that sell a million don't even recoup their losses.

The "executive" problem mentioned isn't so much one like your typical bloated companies, (except for huge companies like MS with so many departments all over the place), but one of just simple cost. As gamers demand games with higher and higher value, how do you maximize gains?

Right now, development costs are focused around optimization and game design pivots around that. So graphics are the most immediate way to gauge a game's "quality" so lots of money is devoted to that particular aspect, leading the rest of the game behind.

The market is also incredibly competitive, but all the competition sees is a market devoted to increasing graphical capacity--and getting rewarded for it