Welcome to the Jungle

“Welcome to the Jungle” - This is Jungle. It's the first portable gaming console designed exclusively for online gaming and MMORPGs.

 

“At the core is a new mobile device concept designed specifically for online gamers. We’re also working with leading online game developers to create some exciting new content.”

Panasonic is throwing their hat into the gaming device arena again. The last time was the 3DO which had healthy competition, carried a hefty price tag and was left sitting on the shelf  in most cases.

There are no details on specs and the only info we are getting is what we can see from the device. Micro USB, HDMI, headphone jack and maybe an aux jack.

This is a great concept that has been hit and miss for the last few years. Simple graphics, stand alone gameplay, co-op gameplay, Browser based but with extras. Videos, Camera, Web Browsing, E-mail, Music....Phone!

Panasonic's target is On-line gaming and MMORPG's. Is it just me or is it all in the wording.

On-line gaming and MMORPG are not essentially the same thing. Zynga products are on-line gaming, Lord of the Rings Online is an MMORPG, see the difference?

I'm not trying to bury this before it actually dies but I do have my doubts. Do people really want to play Age of Conan on the bus? Oh wait, is Age of Conan going to be Jungle friendly?

True mobile MMO? What is it going to need?

Great screen resolution: If not, then whats the buzz. Other handheld's already have a start. In order to hit the mainstream Kick Ass MMO crowd, I would imagine that it would need to run existing MMO's. If we are going to have to wait for specific MMOS to be developed then this Jungle is doomed.

Great Processing power: Along with kick ass video, one would need kick ass processing power. Okay, maybe kick butt processing power. Mid Range processor, Intel Core i5 perhaps. As an MMO gamer, to give this a second glance means running my present gaming addictions. This needs to be a Laptop that has been splashed with the latest shrinking potion, otherwise..I will just use my Laptop for any mobile gaming needed. Of course if its running Linux as an OS maybe the processing power isn't needed, but the 3G needed may. This is truly a Jungle.

Apple and Oranges: The big player right now is the Nintendo 3DS. This little powerhouse has been given great reviews from E3. Imagine 3D without the need for glasses. Given the competition is still Handheld Gaming, the 3DS offers more, of course the Jungle is On-line MMORPG games only, On-line MMORPG games only, On-line MMORPG games only. Thats how the features will be listed.

No life in the Jungle?

Without having the full details it's difficult to say where this will end up. There are several that have already sent flowers and expect a DOA device. A keyboard is what makes this an MMO device. Due to the fact that the trend is "Touch Screen" this was the only thing, so far that made sense. A keyboard and/or controller is not something that is "touch screenable" for this lifetime.

The ability to play my fav MMO's, on a hand held device, with the resolution that we have 

achieved in gaming, at my family reunion or dinner at the in-laws, makes me break out in a cold sweat. We would have arrived at the next evolution of mobile gaming., but as I try to picture my day to day MMO life in the Jungle, I cant see the Jungle for the trees.

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Shipwrecked into another MMO.....Final

My first introduction to “instancing” in a game was Everquest, Lost Dungeons of Norrath. The LDoN quests were unique, challenging and a nice addition to the, then present content. Instancing has become an expected feature in may games these days including DDO. Clicking on the entrance to one of these instanced areas, a window will pop up that allows you to set the difficulty level. There is also an explanation for each setting to give you an idea just what you are getting yourself into. Casual, Normal, Hard, Elite and Epic, I chose normal because it's not casual and it makes me feel like I'm not taking the easiest route. I'm not casual, I'm normal.

My normal cleric finds out there is an abnormal sound coming from the Heyton Family Crypt. Get out the recipe for Spooky and see what is needed. The ingredients were here but it lacked the flavor I was hoping for. I understand that this is still “noob adventuring” at this level, and school was still in session as the tutorials continued with new content, but it still seemed bland.

Sarcophagus smashing skill is maxed, no there is no such skill but if there was I would have been maxed out. The Crypt, appropriately so, is lined with Sarcophagi along the walls, one right after another. I suppose in order to find out where the strange sound was coming from one would indeed smash them. Process of elimination, two steps “Wack”, two steps “Wack”. Sometimes you would yield coin and other times a ticked off dead family member. There was enough Sarcophagi to Sarcopha-gag-me.

One appealing aspect that was introduced in this dungeon was the puzzle. I personally like the puzzle as long as it's done well. This puzzle was not difficult, it was...normal. Certain artifacts found in the Crypt, not in any of the 275 Sarcophacrap along the walls, but found in rooms is what allowed you to advance. Finding a way to get past the magic doorway, which was locating the items to place in the Sockets, added that little bit of mystery. This is much better than just entering the room for your final encounter.




The puzzle and the ambiance of the final room was the best parts of the this dungeon. I guess after I had to destroy crates and boxes for money when I first entered the game, I should have expected that all my coin drops would be similar.

Pillaging the Crypt made sense by busting up the Sarcophagi but I think a few would suffice. This was the part that seemed to outplay or overwhelm the reason for the adventure. It sadly dwarfed the cool puzzle and became very mundane. Speaking of Dwarf, my Cleric will be off to other adventures when time permits and hopefully as we progress, so will the puzzles and I am sure plenty of random stuff to break, smash and crush. 

Trivial as it may sound, the ability to keymap movement is critical to me. A player should not be limited to how they can move their avatar. Having the left mouse button preset and unchangeable is unnecessary.  The Free to Play option doesn't make me feel obligated or committed and makes it worth the space on my hard drive. 

Shipwrecked into another MMO.....part 2

Where I ended my last post, my Cleric made it into Korthos and of course a Tavern would've been the appropriate first stop, at least that’s what my Cleric was thinking, really..he told me. Entering into Korthos, and I mean just as soon as you zone in, it's Randall.

Good 'ole Randall standing cross-legged and waiting for all of those newly shipwrecked adventurers to guide them on their way. This is usually where I get in trouble for not following the path that is given. I am sure that Randall had some important and very informative things to tell me, but being the overzealous noob that I am I just clicked through the dialog so I could explore the village.

Korthos was familiar. The usual starting area I have seen in other games, Merchants, Trainers, quests to continue the story line and a mob of other noobs just like me. I was running around checking out all of the buildings and characters to interact with when I noticed something amusing. Every player running around, was swinging their weapon like it was a battle for their soul. It got to the point I kept turning around to see who was fighting. I ran to a merchant and a player was there hacking at the air just before he left. I came up on a trainer and another player was swinging at the wind.

When I first entered the game and began to get the feel of the controls, it was awkward. I am not used to the W-A-S-D to move my avatar. I'm not sure when the change took place because my early days of gaming, the WASD keys were the key, so to speak. These days I use or configure both mouse buttons to move forward and control the camera, it's much easier for me to navigate. Unfortunately with DDO, a player can't map the mouse buttons this way. I was able to use the scroll wheel to help create my perfect mode of movement, which brings me to my point.

So far, everyplace or person I have approached, I was swinging my mace. I run up to an NPC and turn to look at a quest, “Swiff Swiff”. I run up a ramp and adjust my camera angle “Swiff Swiff”. I wanted to make sure to get this corrected before I entered an open zone. It's embarrassing to be milling about doing your odds and ends in town, and the whole time you're swinging your weapon like someone swatting flies. It's like that Jumper syndrome that some have. You know the ones, they jump all the time, jump, jump, jump. You are at a merchant selling your wares and the whole time some Pally is jumping non-stop, It's just annoying. But if everyone is jumping....? With everyone running around me swinging their weapons wildly in the air I felt right at home, I guess there's a lot of people not used to the WASD keys.

Even with all of the running, “whooshing” and “swiffing” going on, we all paused in silence when we saw it.

Yes there it is....a Tavern. 

“Onward Lads we can do some “whooshing” in here.”

Full Flavored MMO

Whatever happened to the days of grabbing your sword and shield for a good old killing spree.

It was bumped for a job.

I have killed 20 Bugbears, completed 15 Quests for the Mayor, saved a small village from certain doom all before noon. I'm bored, guess I'll go stand around in the center of town. It's like the game developers thought there just wasn’t enough. In fact, they thought about it to the point of creating jobs.

Image via Wikipedia

For me it all started with a box, or crate in Everquest. I would combine certain components to make Fish Rolls. It's not good enough that I had to quest all day to buy rancid water and bread, now I have a trade, I have a job. I made......fish rolls.

If that wasn’t humiliating enough. 

Not only did I have to craft things I could use,

I eventually had to go get the resources myself?

“You mean I need a pick, a shovel and an Axe?”

And what happened to my clicky crate? Now I have to slave over a hot stove and watch closely so that it doesn’t get to hot, or I fail. I remember people in EQ2 getting dead working at a forge. Too many reactions that didn’t get counteracted and you end up taking a dirt nap, that was harsh but the Forge got a "Ding".

The endeavor to make games bigger and better, more immersible and bring that “something new” to the masses, have really put the Mass in Massive.

“I am a Cleric of 50 seasons and a candle stick maker.” ..and I thinks it's cool.

It's opened up alternatives for all gamers. I've known several that spent more time harvesting and crafting than adventuring, because its what they liked to do. Of course those are the people to be friends with if you don't have a job. They have 6 character slots and each one has a trade, that person is their own store.

I know there are many debates on the need or if there is a true benefit, but in the circles I've traveled over the years craftsmen were always needed. Its just another facet of the MMO that can be enjoyed. I know myself that after a hard or long day, harvesting can be relaxing. All is good in the world. We have adventuring, crafting and harvesting. One could almost be self sufficient making their own food, armor or weapons. It seem to be a healthy balance, until someone wanted to parley,

“Parley what?”

Image via Wikipedia

When Vanguard Saga of Heroes shared their “Spheres” with the public, Diplomacy was their new, never before attempted without a safety net, show for the gaming world, one more Job for the player. I don't believe that diplomacy achieved all the goals that were set, of course there were a lot of goals for Vanguard that fell short. 

On a side note here, Vanguard was just short of perfection for what I wanted in an MMO, performance issues shortened my time there, it has so much potential.

Image via Wikipedia

The beginning concept of diplomacy was unique, and for me, very enjoyable. This was just another road to travel for the gamer along with everything else, crafting, harvesting and adventuring. We have the perfect world now, complete with work and recreation.



Friday night I am going to run a Dungeon with the guys and Saturday I am going fishing, but first a little diplomacy with the Missus.




What more can a gamer want in their fantasy world.
I know...how about some personality.

Image via Wikipedia

Curtis Johnson, one of the designers on Guild Wars 2,  gives us a little insight.

In Guild Wars 2, we’re going even further to make the out-of-combat experience a role playing experience by introducing “personality” as a player character role. How you respond to other characters develops and changes your personality over time, letting you affect how the game treats you. Personality is your character’s attitude toward others; it grows and changes as you play through your personal story and as you adventure in the persistent world

Read more of Curtis's Blog here

Okay, now we're complete. Personality is the piece that my world was lacking. I now have character for my character. Curtis does say that there are some rewards but the adverse effect doesn’t make you an outcast. If you are honorable there will be perks, if you are a jerk you will just have to pay a little more for service or they will spit in your soup at the Inn. It's really not an issue on how big a role personality will have, but more of how will the world react to you. I do remember the feeling in my early EQ2 days on how I was approached depending on my faction. It was nice the day I was saluted entering the Freeport Militia House.

There isn’t the pot of gold or a major end game advantage, it's just another, rather cool, facet of the game to work with. I do understand the benefits of crafting, harvesting, diplomacy and I am sure personality will have its place as well. I simply see this as being another choice or option for the gamer to advance as an individual in our wonderful world.

Adventure awhile, craft awhile, harvest awhile, then negotiate a night at the tavern with the Missus and cash in on your Karma. Now that’s a day at the office, if we can get them all into one MMO.

When your character comes to life

We grow very fond of some of our creations in MMO's. It is an odd thing that we grow so attached to an in-game avatar that it borders on the “unstable”, especially when it comes to losing them.

In times past I have added certain elements to the game itself by writing story lines on a guild forum and playing out parts of those stories in-game. I would tell a tale of woe complete with detailed descriptions of areas in the game. I would then give clues to an on going puzzle that would be played out in character.

This would be on a set day and if you could discern from the story where I would be found you would see another clue play out before you, in character. This would continue from written story too in character play and everyone seemed to enjoy the added element.

I had an opportunity some time ago with a Radio Station I was volunteering for to bring my characters back in play, but this time it was audio more than in game role playing.

Mapus and Hegwin have been with me for several years, being created over and over depending on what fantasy MMO I was enjoying at the time. Halfling twins that I have grown very fond of just because I am unstable that way, came to life once again and it sure was fun listening to the trouble they got into.

Hegwin and the Bow.mp3

What are we looking for?

As one who loves the MMO universe I often ask myself what do the game gods ask themselves before creating an MMO. Getting the obvious out of the way, genre, what do they look at next? We know there are a million things that go into making a decent MMO.

I wonder at the little things that we sometimes pass over like in-game dialog, quests or story line. The hours upon hours of written text, “Hi I am Boomba and I sell pickles” or the idle chatter of NPC's as you pass by. It's hard to fathom that at 70+ levels we have read a few novels worth of written hints direction and lore.

How about the textures, lighting, shading and colors that bring an MMO to life. How many games have we played that we have stopped at some overlook and it actually took our breath away. The sunsets, the clouds, the rain, is it just fluff? Is it really needed? One would have to think that the “powers that be” would ask themselves, what are gamers wanting, what are they looking for.

I have seen concerns across the boards covering, Combat, death, questing, instancing, class balance, PVP, PVE, RVR all the way to “Does this armor make me look fat?” All of these are important but of course it depends on ones point of view.

Perplexing isn't it.

How do you serve the masses? I am glad that's not a hurdle I have to clear, its a high standard we place on the industry.

My expectations are almost impossible to meet I suppose, after a dozen MMO's I can glean from each to make the perfect game. I love the open world concept, the “wherever I can see, I can get to”. No boxed in zones except the game world itself. The ability to travel, at my discretion, and traverse mountains, plains, the oceans and stumble across that “easter egg” some developer left for me to find. This open world actually gives me the feeling I could really get lost. Time sink for some but immersive for others.

What a conundrum.

How about aesthetics or cosmetics, the eye candy that some crave from a game. You know the ones. Those robust games that need a Quadracore Gigamoose with a multimondo threaded taxibus type of PC that draws enough juice to dim the lights in your neighborhood. New game, new computer scenario because the new graphic engine is two bytes short of a hologram.

Okay, I'm guilty.

I love detailed graphics. Spin my character around to see even his nose hairs kind of detail. But at what cost, stability, gameplay? Would I play a perfect balanced game with great mechanics if my avatar was a stick figure? That would be a no, but there are others though that would run their stick figure to the level cap.

They bring us all together like some social club with the hopes of finding that niche for the masses. Success in some areas and failing in others but they try, over and over again they try. No game may be perfect but I still love the experience and am glad they keep trying.

Have I found what I am looking for?

Sing it Bono, just sing it...

“I have climbed the highest mountains

I have run through the fields Only to be with you, only to be with you

I have run I have crawled I have scaled these city walls, these city walls Only to be with you

But I still haven't found what I'm looking for”

Out of the corner of your eye

Peripheral Vision, which is vision that occurs outside the very center of gaze is a prime example of “Game” Forums or Sites. This is not a derogatory statement but simply an observation on my part.

There are an abundance of “Communities” that are dedicated to a game or MMO's in general, that can house the most obnoxious persona's that surf the 3 dub's (WWW).

Pick a game, pick a community and watch the “Battle of the Boards”. Not all communities harbor the insane, pro-zac smoking, retina fried, flotsam and jetsam that happens to wash up on the shore, but even those quiet “Mr Rogers Neighborhood” communities along with the “Back Alley” type serve the greater good.

The pure gold that I find in any community and I mean ANY, is the unlimited resources that the gaming industry has at their fingertips. If I was in control of a major gaming company the first thing I would do is hire, full time, to do nothing else, than to read and monitor every gaming forum as possible. Every week a full report would be submitted concerning the “State of the Gamer”.

Everywhere you look there a “State of the Game” posts and announcements. These are important and are needed. They come in several flavors, Devs explaining whats going on, where we want to be, etc, etc. Community sites reiterating to those gamers that play, but are clueless whats going on in their favorite playground. True story coming --> A player in Vanguard, never has the Chat Windows active and has played since launch did not have a clue about SOE/Sigil current events. These people need a “State of the Game” address.

11 years with MMO entertainment I have always believed the game companies were locked on to that “center gaze”, and all of a sudden, at times, something came flying at them from the corner of their eye and smacked them in the head. I would imagine hindsight was revelation to things they might have seen from the Gaming community but was lost in their straight forward gaze.

The mass of gamers that camp various Gaming sites, regardless of the Barroom or granny's house atmosphere have a role. An important calling for the present and future of all games.

Listen up gaming companies, keep your eyes on the prize and fixed on your goal, but listen to your public, we will let you know if something is going to smack you upside your head.