Flagship Studios, made up alumni from Blizzard and the Diablo II team, are almost at the point where they want to show the rest of the world their game. Advance beta signups are available at their main account page. There’s no date listed for when the beta comes open but this is one game I’ve been waiting for some time. I can’t wait to get my mitts on this thing! Go on, and sign up today.
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InstantAction.com is a new game site coming soon that aims to offer lots of web-based games that don’t require any downloads. The new games are allegedly going to be arcade-centric and have top-notch content from some of the Garage Games team. A number of the games will be multiplayer. I’m betting that they’ll be using a new version of Flash that allows for streaming downloads of additional content. We’ve already seen some pretty impressive Flash gaming in the wild lately, but I’ll bet there’s more to come. The site isn’t live yet, but if you sign up at the main page you can be notified when the site goes live. Never fear because I’ve signed up and will let you know via this site.
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So, coverage of Sony’s news at last. I’ll do a comparison in another post about them all.
That’s pretty much it. I’ll still need to post on game news, as well as do a brief recap of E3 and my thoughts on it.
A little late, but here’s my thoughts on the Nintendo announcements.
At the Sony Keynote speech, Jack Tretton announced that Sony and NCSoft have struck a deal to create titles for the PlayStation Network:
“Let’s start with our partners games first. We’re providing them with the tools they need to develop great games for the PS3. We’re very pleased to announce that NCSoft will be joining the PlayStation camp. You probably know them from Lineage, City of Heroes, and Guild Wars. Very soon, they’ll be brin[g]ing that to the PS3 exclusively … Only the PSN can support the types of games NCSoft has become famous for.” (Joystiq)
Hmm. I see a pattern here. Let’s analyze it using the Underpants Gnomes Analogy:
Ah, Sony, can’t come up with any new ideas of your own? Still need to steal thunder from others? NCSoft became famous for making great games on the PC platform, not the PlayStation one. I know they share a capital letter, but they’re not the same thing. Yes, yes, I know. The PlayStation is more than just a games machine - it’s the holy grail of computing. Whatever.
More to the point, it seems that there’s a quantum quandary, a paradox if you will. If the PSN network can only support the games that NCSoft has become famous for, then why am I able to play the games (on PC) that NCSoft has become famous for, without having access to the PSN. Unless of course, the PSN network is already in place and I’ve been using it all along? The mind boggles. Quantum entanglement ensues. My cat is both alive and dead at the same time.
Sony once again has raised hyperbole to an art form. I’d salute Jack Tretton and Sony, but I’m too busy trying to pick my jaw up off the ground.
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Image courtesy of the Guild Wars Website.
As many know, the Mrs and I play Guild Wars. We’re anxiously awaiting the Eye of the North Expansion from NCSoft. The expansion is the first true expansion for the game and requires ownership of at least one of the previous games (Prophecies, Factions, Nightfall) and it conjoins them all in a very cool new campaign. It’s due to be released August 31st and will have the retail price of $39.99. A little steep, but it’ll be worth it.
Most people would buy it through retail. NCSoft have got in on the digital store pimping route by offering a cool incentive. If you buy an content online at the online store for the game between July 5th and October 31st this year, you’ll get a special Mission Pack Promotion which gives 4 free bonus missions that are tied to the game world’s history.
Needless to say we’ll be buying the expansions, and most likely from the store, because we love playing Guild Wars.
If you’re a GWer, then look for Daryan Banobar or Faeryn Medb (the Mrs) online on the American servers). Tuesday Night after 10pm is GW Night in the Bagder household, so we might catch you online.
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Technorati Tags: bagder, guild wars, nc soft, eye of the north
First off, here's my thoughts on Microsoft's announcements at E3 07.
What is interesting is that there's no price drop mentioned, and probably not much was said about the new warranty. Microsoft would want that out of the way so they could do promotion rather than damage control.
It'll be interesting to see what Nintendo and Sony have got coming up.
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