by Jeff Woleslagle on Aug 23, 2011
A big thank you for taking some time to read the column today. Thanks also to those of you following me on Twitter . Look me up on Google+ if you feel the need for one more obscure person in your circles.
It’s not a role playing game, but it is near and dear to my heart; Age of Empires Onlinelaunched on the 16th. If you haven’t tried it, then give it a go and let me know your impressions.
Changing gears to a game I had heard nothing about prior to Gamescom, WildStar has grabbed my attention.
Sure, it’s only a trailer, but it has that Firefly feel to it. It’s “cartoony”, which means to me that in three years I won’t be wondering why the graphics look so stale. Games with that look are timeless. Ben and Jeff haven’t reported back much on the gameplay, but I’ll hit them up and get the scoop.
What appealed to me, more than anything else though was the humour. Far too many MMOGs take themselves too seriously. Make it fun, give the player a few laughs and they will come back for more. The problem with that of course is that humour is perhaps the most difficult element to add to a game. It’s a lot like a daily column in that respect. One of our Board of Directors often uses the saying, “Tell me a joke funny man!” The point is that it’s hard to be funny on demand.
So… while I don’t particularly want to play a humanoid rabbit (though Bugs did it pretty well) in a MMOG, I do like the track that WildStar is taking. The guy on the motorbike had some cool moves and the mercenary looked badass.
If you dare read the comments on YouTube you will see that many of the denizens of that service think it looks like a Disney movie. Well, frankly, nobody ‘s parents were killed in the opening scene leaving him or her homeless and destitute, so I don’t get the correlation. Somebody explain!
What titles are you looking forward to?
As always, you can contact me a number of ways:
Until we meet again,
John “Boomjack” Hoskin
Gamescom 2011 is in the record books now. We sent Jeff and Ben to provide lots of great exclusive coverage (some of which is still headed your way as they write their little fingers to the bone). Of the new MMOG announcements (like Wildstar), the news on upcoming MMOGs (including beta and launch plans), interviews, hands-on previews and more...what got your gamer blood pumping?
Tell us! Inquiring minds want to know.
We're working on a full-featured World of Warcraft database to accompany PlayerScore. For now, we've just cracked the door open to give you a peek at what's to come.
Click here to browse the new PlayerScore database!
From the 01011-Dept –
U.S. Military Testing Unit Uses Chinese Computers
From the Not-Bought-At-The Maul-Dept –
Man Arrested Smuggling Bear Paws
From the You-Thought-Termites-Were-Bad-Dept. –
Gipsies Move Into Immigration Officer’s Home