EA Announces Open-Ended RPG 96
With the success of Bethesda's Oblivion featuring so prominently in the headlines of late, EA's announcement of 'Project Gray Company' comes as little surprise. From the Gamespot blurb: "The action takes place in a massive open world where you can go anywhere you want, and the characters in this world are powered by an incredible simulation [artificial intelligence] based on the same technology used by the makers of The Sims 2. The story of the game is built around a series of Story Quests. You can choose to follow specific Story Quests, embark on a range of other types of quests, or set off on your own adventures in the massive open world environment."
Yeah, that's pretty open-ended, alright. (Score:5, Funny)
> No platform, price, or release date was announced for the game.
Yeah, that's about as open-ended as it gets.
Re:Yeah, that's pretty open-ended, alright. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Yeah, that's pretty open-ended, alright. (Score:2)
Re:Yeah, that's pretty open-ended, alright. (Score:2, Funny)
EA (Score:5, Funny)
Re:EA (Score:2)
You misunderstand. The coffee isn't actually turned into code -- it's merely a catalyst in the process. The coffee is turned into energy and urea, with the energy from the reaction used to power the hamster wheel.
It's the hamster wheel which does the actual creation of code.
Re:EA (Score:2)
Re:EA (Score:2)
Gak! I've been Grammar Nazi'd!!!
=)
Re:EA (Score:1)
If it makes you feel better, I can play the part of the Grammar Nazi by mentioning that "Nazi" isn't a verb. Toodles.
Re:EA (Score:2)
Re:EA (Score:2)
Re:EA (Score:2)
Re:EA (Score:2)
Nobody expects the Inquisition!!
From a pure chemistry definition, sure. However, our good old pal Webster's [m-w.com] has this to say:
Re:EA (Score:1)
Re:EA (Score:2)
Re:EA (Score:1)
No multiplayer! (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:No multiplayer! (Score:2)
Re:No multiplayer! (Score:1)
The correct statement should be its not an ORPG or MMORPG because there are no other people.
Re:No multiplayer! (Score:2)
Re:No multiplayer! (Score:1)
Re:No multiplayer! (Score:2)
I dont _believe_ an actor can play a role alone. If there is no one to observe an actor, how can it be judged they are playing a role? Am I playing the role of me or am I just being me? Let's not forget the multitude of roles that spawned The Method (acting). Can I troll alone? Perhaps I'm just playing the role of an annoying
FYI, I think that "Can a person play a role alone?" is a complex question without a clear answer. It
Re:No multiplayer! (Score:2)
As game AI gets better and programmers actually take that sort of thing into account, you can very much approach that sort of dy
Re:No multiplayer! (Score:2)
Oh no, it goes back even further! I played D&D RPG games on my C64. Damn you Commodore! You tricked me.
Since RPG's didn't actually exist until the late 90's, apparently. These game companies have been smoking crack 25 yrs ago to think they knew what an RPG was.
Wait, maybe they considered having you
Re:No multiplayer! (Score:2)
Re:No multiplayer! (Score:2)
Re:No multiplayer! (Score:5, Insightful)
Aaah, the age-old discussion about what is an RPG. To some people, a computer RPG is a game you play with other people where you all pretend to be in a made-up world. To other people, a CRPG is a game where, like a book, there is a clear story and a clear protagonist---the player.
The first group of people are transfers from tabletop RPGs. They don't see the point of pretending to be a paladin/ninja/timelord without having the occasional irreverent out-of-character fun or computer equivalent of drinking beer with buddies.
The second group of people are folks who want a story above all else, and usually want to be the focus of that story. They don't like OOC talk, and for them the ideal game isn't about being with other people---it's more like reading a good book.
Re:No multiplayer! (Score:1)
If I were the dead
Re:No multiplayer! (Score:2)
Re:No multiplayer! (Score:2)
There's no debate or discussion. Without other players present, in meatspace or cyberspace, you aren't playing a role - period. Decades of marketdroidspeak have caused some folks to consider a tail as a leg - but that doesn't m
Re:No multiplayer! (Score:1)
Re:No multiplayer! (Score:2)
the characters you play develop over the course of the game
the player has some control and influence over HOW the chracter develops (skills and abilities etc.) over the course of the game
That's how I define an RPG. Audience is not a consideration.
Re:No multiplayer! (Score:2)
Re:No multiplayer! (Score:2)
And as you say, saying that this is so, does not make it so.
A role, from Dictionary.com:
1. also rôle A character or part played by a performer.
2. The characteristic and expected social behavior of an individual.
3. A function or position. See Synonyms at function.
4. Li
Re:No multiplayer! (Score:2)
In this case, yes it does.
The moment someone whips out a dictionary and cites an irrelevant definition, rather than presenting an arguement, is the moment I know I'm dealing with a clueless idiot. When the follow up it up with sophmoric rhetorical questioning, I know they don't even rise to that level.
Re:No multiplayer! (Score:2)
While I appreciate your attempt at intellectual conversation, you seem to miss where I pasted all the definitions there were and invited you to pick the one you thought was most relevant. Or perhaps you think that dictionaries in gener
Re:No multiplayer! (Score:2)
I'd kill for a co-op option for Oblivion.
Don't be hatin' (Score:1, Redundant)
...And no camaraderie, no sense of accomplishing something (even if it's only virtually) with other people, no real community, no socializing, no making of real friends from parts of the country (and the world!) that you've never been to and would likely probably never have gone, no chatting about that cool quest you ran last night with someone who was there
Re:Don't be hatin' (Score:3, Interesting)
Socializing of any kind comes with the risk of "jackassery", and I would have to say it's more prevalant in MMO's than in other settings, but as you say, it's a small price to pay for the positive aspects you can gain. However, even neutral socalization can get in the way of enjoying a game, and some people would pre
Re:Don't be hatin' (Score:2)
Unfortunately it's not just a few people. It's a very large part of the population of every big commercial mud today. Where on a traditional, nonprofit mud these folks get taught better, and if they won't listen, they get banned, on the new wave of fancy commercial graphical muds, the business side gets in the way of that. Many times the jerks are even catered to, since there are a lot of them and they're putting money in the coffers.
Re:Don't be hatin' (Score:2)
You must be playing the wrong game, then. Or maybe I just happen to be playing the right ones. The one I happen to spend most of my time in is City of Heroes [cityofheroes.com], and the people there are great. Almost every person I've run across in these games have been exceptionally nice people. And, as I said, I have a few good friends outside of the games now as a result.
Are there idiots? Sure. But to say that they're all idiots (or even to imply that most of them are) is just plain wrong, and as I said, a gross mi
Re:Don't be hatin' (Score:2)
But it's not just about 'jerkhood' in the sense that some folks are just jerks in ways that are jerky no matter what the context. It's a bit deeper than that.
Different people play these games for different reasons, and different things matter to them. What one group sees as simply playing the game, another may see as exploiting, and destroying the game for them. Good mud admins work very hard to keep the various groups (4, in one famous ana
Re:Don't be hatin' (Score:1)
Re:Don't be hatin' (Score:1, Interesting)
Funny, my main complaint about MMOs is that I get no sense of accomplishing anything, period.
NPC: Please help me, PC1! You must slay the dragon and save the town!
PC1: OK. [goes off, returns] The dragon is dead!
[30 seconds pass]
[dragon respawns]
NPC: Please help me, PC2! You must slay the dragon and save the town!
PC2: OK.
PC1: Uh, didn't I just slay that dragon? Shouldn't the town be safe?
So now the only question that remains is... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:So now the only question that remains is... (Score:2)
Oh, that's an easy one! It just requires 3 easy steps.
1. Program an AI architect.
2. ???
3. 010100000111001001101111011001100110100101110100!
Dev Diary (Score:1)
Not to mention that the art screams LOTR...the orcs, the towers, good God.
I really hope to be proved wrong though.
Re:Dev Diary (Score:1)
Seems acceptable to me.
$10 says it's Madden-based... (Score:5, Funny)
- Quarterback - Needs high wisdom
- Lineman - Needs high strength
- Wide Receiver - Needs high dexterity
- TV Announcer - Similar to a "half-orc"
- Cheerleader - Basically put in for the usual "dark elf" player
it gets worse (Score:1)
Oddly enough... (Score:1, Interesting)
(+1 Informative - I'm actually not kidding.)
EA to release half finished game (Score:5, Funny)
"Ah screw it, call it open ended and ship it."
I'm tired of being the hero (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:I'm tired of being the hero (Score:1, Informative)
Re:I'm tired of being the hero (Score:2, Funny)
-NJ
Re:I'm tired of being the hero (Score:1)
Re:I'm tired of being the hero (Score:1)
I knew those politicians were old fucks but I never knew they were old enough to have done that.
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:GTA:SA (Score:5, Interesting)
On the other hand, I think maybe some of the Mafia type games (Mafia, GTA, the latest one being the Godfather), are pretty good at defining "evil". The games have rules like "don't kill civilians", where various penalties apply when you knock off some guy walking down the street, but hey, halve the fun is blowing people up. Its true you're not really fighting innocent cops in GTA:SA, but the drug thing is wrong. Half the missions are about taking "turf" and delivering "packages" which may or may not be drugs. They don't come out and say it, but its there. In Godfather, you're constantly shaking innocent business owners down for money. That's pretty bad insomuch as you're commiting acts of violence and tyranny against the helpless. These aren't criminals, just regular folks. You don't want to kill them, just scare them a bit, but if you need to mow down joe average to get your way, so be it. I'd say the moral scale for that game are solidly in the black.
As for the "genocide" simulator, yeah, Civ is as close as you get. But then, when you think about it, most evil dictators don't see the results of their acts right up close and personal, and definately aren't taking too much part in the direct execution of their orders.
Re:GTA:SA (Score:2)
Here's a free clue for you, (as you need one badly) - that attitude far predates either the current political climate or the current Administration. But I understand your motivation - taking cheap s
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Jumpy much? (Score:2)
I *did* read what you wrote - and replied to what you wrote. And what you wrote was wrong - it's not the current political climate, the inability to be 'truly evil' goes back decades. The curren
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Re:I'm tired of being the hero (Score:1)
Re:I'm tired of being the hero (Score:2)
was actually pretty good in that respect. It was loads of fun to erode the economies of your
neighbors and provoke wars so you could sweep in later and pick up the pieces.
Re:I'm tired of being the hero (Score:2)
Fable... (Score:2)
Re:I'm tired of being the hero (Score:1)
Re:I'm tired of being the hero (Score:1)
Re:I'm tired of being the hero (Score:1)
This it's website? (Score:1)
If its from EA.. (Score:1)
Or they could re-open old wounds (Score:2)
SQ4 ref? (Score:5, Funny)
OMG! No Designer Specified in the Title! (Score:2)
I mean, you can't just go all willy nilly with "open ended" gameplay without a Sid Meyer's, by Will Wright, or even a Peter Molyneux Presents in the title! How else will we be able to distinguish it from the thousands of other X Tycoons, Sim-X's, or Virtual-X's of the world?
A game like this...needs provenance!
Where have you gone, David Crane?
Isn't an open ended RPG... (Score:4, Funny)
"EA games - absorb everything" (Score:1)
They rely solely on abosorbing existing studios, their talent and their customer base usually driving off 25% or more of the customers.
They ruined the Ultima series, they ruined Ultima Online and I have yet to hear about any EA product that didn't have major issues at release.
F*#$ you, EA!!
My condolences to the employees you abuse, the ideas you crush and the great games that you never allowed to be because they did not meet your schedule.
Never, ever will EA get ano
Not true... (Score:1)
Re:Not true... (Score:1)
New sub-genre (Score:1)
Experience? (Score:1)
Ahem, let my try and summarise my reaction to this...
HA! AH HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAA*breath*HAHAH A HAHAHAHAHAH-*choke* *die*
I don't even have to read the rest of the article after the opening line, yes they have experience, they have experience DESTROYING THE FUCKING SERIES. anyone that calls ultima 8 and 9 "Open ended" and anything other then tra
Re:Experience? (Score:2)
Hmm may be interested (Score:1)
Oh yeah... (Score:1)