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State of the Game Industry: August 26th, 2003.
(Click here to view the original thread with full colors/images)
Posted by: Jack G.
Welcome to the State of the Game Industry. I'm not sure quite yet what this article will amount to, but it's my intention to highlight pieces of game industry news that I feel are particularly relevant or important to the present and future of gaming. I wouldn't exactly call this a summary of news, nor would I call it news itself. It's more of a discussion on the direction of games and the game industry.
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First for today is the early leak of Jedi Academy. The game was leaked into warez channels around three weeks ago. This is happening more and more often, and to tell the truth, it's a sad thing to behold. For one, it is theft, plain and simple. Someone steals an early build and posts it on the net. Then the warez channels pick it up, and everyone with a broadband connection who wants it has it within a few hours. But to what end? People who download it get an incomplete product; complete with bugs, unfinished sections, placeholder art, you name it.
Who cares, you say, they are just a bunch of filthy pirates. This much is true. However, what usually happens is that opinions based on an unrepresentative version filter into the Internet subconscious. These opinions end up being passed from here to there, over many generational links of Internet posting, until, like everything else on the Internet, it becomes known as The Truth.
The same issue can be seen with official Betas as well. Players don't seem to understand the difference. They seem to think that if they can get their hands on it, it should be perfect. And then, despite all the warnings they had, they'll sit on a forum somewhere and start ranting about how crappy and buggy a Beta is. It's an unfortunate trend. It's even more unfortunate because it's impossible to stop. I can only hope that most Gamers have the good sense to stay away from early versions, unless they know what they are getting into, and realize that Betas, official or otherwise, aren't actually final games, and do actually need work.
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Next up is Ultima X, or what I like to call Ultima Online 3, blatantly misrepresenting itself in order for Electronic Arts to leech off of a long standing series in an attempt to revitalize their weak entries in to the MMO genre.
For those of you who follow the Ultima games, you know that the original Ultima Online 2 was canceled back in the hateful summer of 2000. Not only was the game canceled, but as a final insult to a promising project, most of the development team was fired. Electronic Arts seemed to think that they could do well enough with Ultima Online. Perhaps the recent failures of Earth and Beyond and Sims Online made them realize that Ultima Online was the best thing they had going.
The misrepresentation comes in with naming the game Ultima X (that's a roman numeral folks). Ultima X was to have been Richard Garriott's new Ultima, part of a new set of Ultima games not directly related to the trilogy which ended on the sour note which was Ultima IX. However, EA had long since chased Garriott away, and put an end to what was one of the best series of CRPGs ever created. Or so I thought until a few days ago.
Imagine my surprise when I saw the headline! Ultima X! Could it be? Well, no. Because it's not the Ultima you (or your older brother, or father) grew up with. It's not single player, it's not being made by Lord British, and I have no doubt that it won't live up to the name.
Poor naming aside, the game does have potential. After reading the preview on GameSpy (http://www.gamespy.com/previews/august03/ultimaxpc/), I couldn't help but to feel hope in my heart. Could it be? Is it possible that EA, of all people, are actually going to innovate in the MMO genre? Remember, these are the people whose innovation usually ends at incrementing the year number of a sports game.
Upgradeable items, a skill based combat system, private dungeons, and real goals to aspire to other than hitting the level cap? Sounds too good to be true, and I suspect that it is. They are even touting it as a Massively Multiplayer Action RPG. If they manage to make the Virtue Paths equally useful, yet unique in their approach, it could ferret out a lot of what I dislike about current MMORPGs. Add in the promise of quests with multiple solutions, and it's starting to sound almost as good as a single player RPG. Yet, the whole deal hinges on their ability to keep the action in the combat.
This is one game worth watching, my fellow gamers. Don't let this one drift off your radar.
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That's it for the first installation of State of the Game Industry. I'll aim to have one of these up every week or so, but it'll depend for the most part on action within the industry.
Feel free to post comments or start a discussion.
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