What Would Matt Do

Yeah, E3 happened this week. Weeee. I so wanted to go to the old E3, the craziness that it was. This new one…well, Diablo 3 was announced before it, Dragon Age was…updated (?) before it and Bungie tried to release some new hype, but it didn’t work out to well for them.

So at the actual E3 we saw demos of some games we hadn’t before, got some updates news, saw a lot of bad videos that told us nothing and not too much exciting we didn’t already know.

Wait you say then, why are you posting at all? The answer is because I can, it’s my site and I’ll cry it up if I want to…oh, and because game reviews only take 30 minutes on the E3 floor these days. That’s pure awesome and I thought I’d share Earnest’s review/hands on of Fallout 3 (the as of yet, unreleased Fallout 3):

If the Fallout universe were only an aesthetic, Bethesda would have completely nailed it with the upcoming Fallout 3.

Unfortunately, as my half an hour with the game a few moments ago demonstrated, all the external pieces are there, but the charm that made the series such a classic is almost entirely lacking.

He spent a total of 30 minutes with the game. 30. It’s already been decided, within that 30 minutes, the entire game is loacking in charm. Oh, and they completely nailed aesthetics. But, you ask, how could he know that in a mere half an hour of game time?

The entire world is decrepit and properly nihilistic, the characters you encounter are simultaneously dirty and pretty and every sound — from gunshots to the barking of attack dogs — sounds simply fantastic.

Oh, he somehow managed to see the entire world in that 30 minutes. Oh, well, nevermind, I’m just being silly, he’s already seen the whole game. Oh, my bad. So, now that he’s seen the whole game, the entire world, what’s the verdict?

The key problem with the game though is in the writing. It really feels like someone wrote a fanfic based on the Fallout universe and somehow got the funding to create a game based on it. Though the story and characters are suitably gritty and conflicted, none of them are terribly likeable and the entire thing simply feels like it’s trying too hard to adhere to the tenets of its predecessors.

Man, he not only saw the entire world, he saw all of the writing. This guy is fucking awesome. Why he doesn’t work for PC Gamer or The Edge (heck, since they don’t give reviewer names, he could be the one guy working there) doing every single review on his own.

Well, that settles it folks. The game is an empty hollow shell of a game. It looks good, but it’s got no charm/soul. Maybe Betheseda should just go ahead and can it at this point. I bet they feel dumb now.

Or maybe, just maybe, it’s not the makers of Fallout 3 that should be feeling dumb at this point. Maybe.

What Would Matt Do: I’d hire this guy away from Wired RIGHT AWAY. He’s a fucking super human reviewer and his talents need to be put to work for a true games mag/site, not just for Wired.

That’s a flippant way to say that their are big problems at Flagship Studios. The confirmed part is this:

Gamasutra has received confirmation from a Flagship Studios representative that the Hellgate: London developer has seen significant staff cuts.

This morning, Gamasutra obtained information from a source close to the company indicating that staff at both the Flagship development team as well as online services subsidiary Ping0 were let go. Both companies operate out of the same building.

Flagship declined to go into further detail about the layoffs, beyond stating that there was truth to the reports.

The unconfirmed part reported on a Korean blog and translated both in that last article and at Shacknews is that their creditors may be taking back Hellgate and Mythos to back up loans that Flagship took out on the respective IPs. OUCH.

According to the report, HanbitSoft said it that it intends to take full control of the property, adding that its own in-house development team will be able to "properly manage and develop Hellgate: London into a good game with proper content."

Moreover, HanbitSoft’s legal team reportedly told Voodoo Extreme that Flagship had offered up its Mythos (PC) intellectual property as collateral for a loan from the publisher to maintain operations. As revealed last March, Flagship pledged Hellgate: London for a loan from lender Comerica Bank.

"Flagship Studios does not currently own the intellectual properties to either game, which are held in separate companies subject to the security interests of lenders," said HanbitSoft’s lawyers. "HanbitSoft hopes to work with Comerica and some of the team at Flagship to see if there is a way to continue to generate content to keep Hellgate online in Asia and to finish the development of Mythos."

It’s not clear IF HanbitSoft can do that, per their agreements or if this is really happening. Flagship has officialy denied it:

Flagship Studios responded to the reports, dismissing the story as "an outright lie."

"We have no idea where they are getting their information from and have asked legal counsel to pursue the issue," Flagship said. "We are mystified by HanbitSoft’s conclusions and any attempt to take over the IP will be met with a strong and swift response… We are outraged that Hanbitsoft would attempt to completely tarnish the reputation of its most vital developer."

I don’t know if I’ve ever heard of a company losing control of its IPs like this. I’m hoping that Flagship is right and this is all a power play or a sham or something mistranslated.

Whatever it is, I hope everyone that is going through hardship at Flagship lands on their feet and is all right. I can’t say I was a huge fan of the five minutes I played of Hellgate, but I don’t like to see this sort of thing happen to any company.

What Would Matt Do: Hope for the best.

Update: I saw on Lum’s that he link to this with more news on it.

Update: Hanbitsoft’s lawyers got in touch:

Please understand that the facts are (1) HanbitSoft is an exclusive licensee of both Hellgate and Mythos in Asia, with rights to sublicense the games; (2) in addition, HanbitSoft is a secured creditor who has been pledged the Mythos (but not the Hellgate) intellectual property as collateral for a loan; (3) Comerica, another secured lender, has been pledged the Hellgate intellectual property as its collateral for a loan; (4) Flagship Studios does not currently own the intellectual properties to either game, which are held in separate companies subject to the security interests of lenders, and Flagship Studios’ interest in those companies is also pledged to its lenders; (5) it is unfortunate that Flagship turned down additional investments HanbitSoft offered to make that would have allowed it to keep its doors open, but HanbitSoft hopes to work with Comerica and some of the team at Flagship to see if there is a way to continue to generate content to keep Hellgate online in Asia and to finish the development of Mythos.

Note point five: "would have allowed it to keep its doors open."

Update #2: Subscription options have been removed from account areas, as has the ability to unsubscribe. On the forums, the lock-happy mods have yet to touch a fifty-seven page complaints thread that has spiralled out of control since the news regarding redundancies was released.

Update #3: The staff that still have a job have gone home for the weekend. However, we’ve been contacted by an ex-Flagship developer who has suggested that the studio is on the brink of closure and has no financial capital to fight Hanbitsoft’s legal challenge.

That doesn’t sound good at all. That’s a rough way to go down. My best wishes go out to everyone this affects.

If you’re interested in MMOs or EA Mythic or particularly in Warhammer Online, this news probably doesn’t interest you that much. If you’re a Warhammer lore geek though, I’m about to crush you with this news. There will only be two cities when Warhammer Online is released:

“we decided to focus our energies on two capital cities; one for Order and one for Destruction, and make them fabulous, said Jacobs. “Not good, not great, but fabulous.”

“We wanted to make our Capital Cities the best cities in any MMO. We think we’re doing that, but it came at a price and that price is that the other cities aren’t going in the game right now.”

Oh, and these classes no longer exist, at least not at release:

“This isn’t something that I can say that it is really a good thing for the player,” he began. “We’re cutting out some classes. I can say that we are doing this for quality, absolutely. Unfortunately, what I can’t say, and I won’t because I’ve never lied to the player base and while this would be a great place to start, I’m not going to.”

“Four of the classes that we’ve been working on, we just couldn’t get great,” he continued. “We looked at them and we said these careers are just not great… and we tried, and they weren’t coming out well.”

The four careers that are going may surprise players (and even includes one of Marks personal favorites). The list is as follows:

Choppa (Greenskin)
Hammerer (Dwarf)
Blackguard (Dark Elf)
Knight of the Blazing Sun (Empire)

This means the removal of two tanks and two melee DPS classes.

There are two ways to react to this information I think.

One, be outraged. They promised X features and are only delivering on part of them! And that means there will be less game and the Warhammer lore won’t be right and well, just keep freaking out.

Two, offer up a so what? Does this mean anything to me, the guy who has never played the game as of yet and couldn’t give two craps about the Warhammer Lore? Not at all. I’m told there are still twenty other classes and it sounds like they are cutting out the bullshit instead of including it (like the Elves city in DAOC) and trying to really deliver a full, polished experience.

It sounds to me like we should be patting the Mythic guys on the back. They cut features that weren’t up to par, they didn’t consult with EA (always a good choice) and are really trying to bring a game they think will blow us away. I can’t really complain about that sort of thing.

I’m very willing to give Mythic the benefit of the doubt. Back when MMOs were still pretty new and WoW didn’t exist, a small company released a game called Dark Ages of Camelot. And you know what? They didn’t hate their customers. I know, it’s stunning. After coming from UO and EQ, it was a HUGE breath of fresh air to not feel like the developers were actively working against you, the enemy. It almost felt like they cared. Scary shit right there, a MMO company actually appreciating their customers. Who knew it was possible.

Because of that and the level of communication Mark Jacobs and Mythic have always given us (Tweaty/Sanya made my game days in DAOC better just by sharing the information she and others did), I’m going to share something back with them. Take a page from Blizzard’s book and quit announcing features in advance. Yeah, it’s good to hype your game, but you have to be a bit less specific about what’s guaranteed to make it in so you don’t have to do exactly what you’re doing now…announcing you didn’t get everything you wanted in for the release. Just a word to the wise.

I’m still really looking forward to Warhammer and I still like that the Mythic chaps feel the need to keep us informed and while they suck at spinning, they appear to be at least somewhat honest about trying to make a good game. Keep up the good work guys. Oh, and beware the hype machine.

What Would Matt Do: I’m going to keep wishing I was in the Warhammer beta. And wonder if they can really pull of the RvR and single player all mixed together as closely as they say it is. I’m definitely curious.

If you have no idea who/what I’m talking about, you’re probably not alone. You see, Dum doesn’t like to pimp his stuff or do it for a job (he’s turned down offers). But the good part is that he can’t stop posting new reviews..slowly. For today’s viewing pleasure, I bring you the review of Assassin’s Creed. Having never played AC (I know, I know), I now feel that I have a REALLY good idea of what’s good and bad about the game. Unlike most reviews, these are actually informative and smart and always funny. Oh, and if you look at the main site, you’ll see they don’t come out often…they sure are worth the wait though.

Assassin’s Creed Review

I included some older reviews below because every single review he’s created so far has been worth reading.

Stalker Review

Crysis Review

What Would Matt Do: Were it up to me, Dum would be hired by some gaming website and make some money doing this. But since it’s not and he’s turned down similar offers, I’m just going to wish him the best and wish he would review more.

I have no idea on the stats or even if it’s really for serious true (I saw it on Kotaku), but if you have a PS3, you might want to hold off a bit on updating to the latest version. Apparently, 2.40 is bricking some systems.

Owners of PS3s in all shapes and sizes have been reporting that their systems were loading to the initial PlayStation wave screen and simply hanging there after applying 2.40. No icons, no controller functions, no nothing, just the wave across the middle of the screen.

I also see a couple of forum posts around the web very similar to this one on Eurogamer:

Downloaded the update, installed, and it restarted itself. It made the usual start sound, and just stopped and wouldn’t go past the waves.

Didn’t show any user accounts. It stayed on the waves for a good five minutes.

I decided its already installed the firmware, so switching it off wouldn’t make a difference.

And it didn’t. I switched it back on, and it still stopped at the waves. I switched it off again, and held my finger on the power button to reset the display settings (being that’s the only thing that I can actually do) and now it just display a black screen.

Controllers don’t connect (didn’t since the beginning), they just flash red and turn off.

What do you think? Fucked?

Yeah, I’d probably go with fucked.

Kotaku also mentions that some more tech savvy users have found out that if you take the HD out of the PS3 and format it, it’ll work again after the ps3 formats the driver when you put it back in. Which means you lose all of your saved games and installs, but at least you don’t have to send it in for weeks. Does removing the HD on a PS3 void the warranty? I doubt it, but it’s something you should consider. I know it doesn’t on the 360.

Oh, and Sony? Good fucking job. Do me a big favor, be sure to publicize whatever jackass QA firm you’re using to test your updates so I never go near them.

What Would Matt Do: Being that I don’t own a PS3, I’ll just shake my head sadly at Sony and wish the PS3 owners out there well. On the plus side, you’re probably just playing Blu Ray discs on the thing anyway so maybe you won’t lose anything with the format!