Carmack Considers Cell Phone MMOG 78
fistfullast33l writes "John Carmack's new cell phone game Orcs and Elves, which debuted at E3 to some fanfare, has led the famous developer to think about expanding his mobile gaming presence. Carmack said in an interview with CNN that he is interested in a massively multiplayer sequel. 'I have absolutely no interest in going and competing with Blizzard in the high end of that market, but a cell phone version might be interesting,' Carmack is quoted as saying. Even more interesting is his comment in the interview that game engines really overlook security. The article indirectly quotes him as saying 'while id Software is especially careful to lock down its game engines, companies that license and make changes to those engines often aren't as focused, which could open the door to disaster.'"
Data Cost? (Score:5, Interesting)
A cell phone MMO is great and all but what about the cost of data?
Last time I checked it cost a small fortune per KB. I know you can get unlimited bandwith for a price, but that would be a price ontop of the monthly subscription price...Re:Data Cost? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Data Cost? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Data Cost? (Score:2)
I'd guess just about anybody with a 'visions' enabled Sprint phone does. I think it is like $20/mo or so, and I get pretty much unlimited web, and some tv channels. My google 'live' application was a free install, and costs me nothing extra to use when it hits the 'web'.
Hell, depending on the phone you have (some you have to manually 'unlock' [wirelessadvisor.com] [see 2nd posting down on this page]), you can use them as a free semi-broadband modem for you
Re:Data Cost? (Score:1)
Re:Data Cost? (Score:1)
Which means you can't play games on it, right?
Re:Data Cost? (Score:2)
O2 are cheapest here - around 75 Euros for "unlimited" (which means 1Gb)
Re:Data Cost? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Data Cost? (Score:2)
Re:Data Cost? (Score:2)
Really, it's no different than having to pay an ISP to be able to play an MMORG from Blizzard or Sony on your computer. In fact, $10 for Internet is cheaper than anything but the cheapest of dial-up ISP's.
Re:Data Cost? (Score:2)
Heck, I think a good old fashioned text MUD would be fun to play on a cell phone....
Re:Data Cost? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Data Cost? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Data Cost? (Score:2)
Re:Data Cost? (Score:2)
why not a PSP MMOG? (Score:2, Insightful)
If only WiFi was a little more widespread I'm pretty sure a MMOG for the PSP (or the Nintendo DS) would be a much better idea. I'd finally had something to do each time I have to spend 1 hour in the subway.
Re:why not a PSP MMOG? (Score:2)
Re:why not a PSP MMOG? (Score:1)
Re:why not a PSP MMOG? (Score:1)
We've come to think of MMOGs as giant timesinks, but they don't have to be. The long hours of grind aren't required, they're just lazy game design. All you really need is to keep the player paying every month; if Carmack makes a successful MMOG with no grind, he'll deserve
Re:why not a PSP MMOG? (Score:1)
Hmm, one world many systems? (Score:5, Interesting)
Would you like to mash a few cell phone buttons to craft yourself something nifty for your return home?
How about an opportunity to influence factors that aren't controllable through the PC, like beasts or items? For example, play a beast vs. beast minigame against other cell phone users, and the winner will recieve more power or loot in the PC world or something like that.
As an alternative input device, the cell phone has some interesting possibilities. If you consider cell phones equipped with GPS, you could conceivably have a very interesting dynamic to the gameplay based on actual location. I see many possibilities for making this a fun gaming tool rather than the minesweeper handheld it is today.
Re:Hmm, one world many systems? (Score:1)
Re:Hmm, one world many systems? (Score:2)
Re:Hmm, one world many systems? (Score:2)
Re:Hmm, one world many systems? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Hmm, one world many systems? (Score:1)
GPS I'm a bit leery of, but I think Sloppy is onto something with "one world, many systems." The phone's latency and reliability will be a bit low for realtime action gaming for some time (though Bluetooth vs Bluetooth is a very real possibility), but what about an occasional connect system? The phone loads a "mission," the player plays it (even underground on the subway), and afterward the results of the player's performance are communicated to the game server and a followup mission is loaded. There's a
Asymmetrical Representation (Score:2)
It's a huge investment, but a large company that really wants to build a cohesive brand *cough - Blizzard* could pull this off.
AR Across Platforms [chromecow.com]
And in an even more heretical proposition, I
Re:Hmm, one world many systems? (Score:1)
network support? (Score:3, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:network support? (Score:1)
3G is where real time starts to become a reality. The company I work at (Spectrum Wired) recently developed the worlds first real time multiplayer mobile sports game [goal3g.com] (A mouthfull I know
Nintendo DS would be a better platform. (Score:1, Redundant)
Unless of course it was turn based...
Re:Nintendo DS would be a better platform. (Score:2)
Tibia Micro Edition (Score:3, Informative)
Tibia Micro Edition [tibiame.com]
Re:Tibia Micro Edition (Score:2)
MidpSSH [xk72.com] combined with just about any one of these [graphcomp.com]?
It's not as exciting as something with John Carmack's name on it, but it does have the advantage of having been around long enough to get many of the kinks worked out of the system.
Or, in some cases [furry.com], long enough to have the kinks worked into the system. Whichever.
Re:Tibia Micro Edition (Score:2)
I didn't think so, or you wouldn't have made that suggestion. Latency is really killer with SSH sessions and GPRS has enormous latency. It's really designed to serve webpages, not run interactive applications.
Re:Tibia Micro Edition (Score:2)
I would elaborate, but you seem to have already gone on with the conversation without me.
Violent games in the right context... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Violent games in the right context... (Score:2)
Re:Violent games in the right context... (Score:2)
My first thought was, "Now why didn't I think of that!?"
CounterStrike: Cell Phone Edition (Score:1)
So, I'm sitting on the airplanes toilet, 36,000 feet into the air playing CS Cell Phone Edition, yelling, "Die Terrorist Die!".
Re:CounterStrike: Cell Phone Edition (Score:2)
Very Innovative (Score:2)
Mod parent up (Score:2)
I realize it's from an AC, but it should be given it's due.
I am glad that security has become an issue for id now, as the AC has pointed out, this wasn't always so. I still remember that night the RCON exploit was discovered. As I was playing Quake the server blipped for a second. I got back on, checked Gamespy, and found that the name of every Quake server on the Internet had been changed.
Oh the fur that flew then...
Is is any good? (Score:2)
P.
Re:Is is any good? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Is is any good? (Score:4, Informative)
Check out the site [doomrpg.com] for DoomRPG, to get some idea of what it was: In short, instead of playing an FPS in realtime, it's now turnbased.
Doom RPG and Orcs/Elves (Score:2)
he's nuts (Score:1)
Can I copyright a bumper sticker? (Score:2)
I expect it to be all the rage at mall kiosks and gun shows.
Re:Can I copyright a bumper sticker? (Score:2)
The guy in front of you isn't moving, even with a green light.
Rather than get angry, you pull out your cell phone and log in to the new MMO...
...only to find the guy in front of you isn't moving because he's too busy farming a PVP title off newbies 40 levels lower than himself.
Re:Can I copyright a bumper sticker? (Score:2)
They don't have to hack your account or anything special like that...you just forgot your cell phone on a desk for a few minutes, and when you came back you had somehow given away everything you had.
security in quake 1 (Score:1)
It rarely works (Score:2)
I own and operate the online game Meridian 59 [meridian59.com]. The game was released nearly 10 years ago, and the original client used a raycaster type engine similar to the original DOOM games. (We have since upgraded the engine to use 3D hardware acceleration on the PC.) It's often been sugg
Game Security (Score:2)
CounterStrike had a bug for a short while that could be used to crash everyone connected to a server, just by changing your name to a printf string.
another smaller (non commercial) game you could gamble for credits, 1 in 3 chance of doubling your bet amount. by betting negative numbers you would gain more than lost; by betting -1000000000000 I caused an overflow that dropped a user into a shell, from whence I could read the full password list.
cell phone tie in (Score:1)
Eve for example has alot of little things that ones does not need a graphical interface for.
While I belive there is some sort of cell phone work in progress I have not looked into it in awhile.
Check my characters ingame mail and reply to corperate/guild events in near realtime. (yes go ahead and declare war, no dont use my battleship!)
check character skills and change them if need be. (eve skills are learned in realtime-logged in or not)
check/change factory bu
Wagering the Future (Score:1)
we wont even go into the engine... no. (Score:1)