So are we going to see a Warcraft 4? More specially, can we have a Warcraft 4? More directly again, is it possible to produce a Warcraft 4 while World of Warcraft is current?
Where would it fit in? Would it show you events that are also played in the MMO in a new view, or would it take you onto a seperate storyline unseen running concurrently? Would it occur in place of an expansion and in the MMO have mentions of something like "well, after that huge series of events and battles that you didn't see here but the results of which are clearly visible..." or would the MMO community cry out in bloodlust about how they were being forced to buy another game and how it should be part of the MMO instead. You know, forgetting that expansions also cost money and that trying to expand story and universe via other means should be explored so as to not become stale. The books do well, after all.
Heck, why not - Take the books and construct a Warcraft 4 around that, or a seperate story entirely unconnected. Or as of yet unconnected. After all, with Burning Crusade they had said that there's the chance of other portals leading to other places and that these may be something looked into in the future. Which hasn't happened.
When the world is vast and as deep as the imagination, who is to say...
Yeah, not a huge thought today, but I had to get it out while coherent enough in my cold/'flu raddled state.
Bit like the new Minecraft video...
Sunday 25 September 2011
Saturday 10 September 2011
Comic Musings
I've never been a huge comic book guy. Still, when it was found that the town we were in had one I felt the need to accompany my friend Scott with him on his next journey.
Amazing Fantasy, as it is called, was fairly small, but substantial for what I assume was a starting business. Not being a Comics guy, I had seen things on the shelves never imagined, from themes unexpected to established franchises I'd not even thought would have branched into a comic book run.
And of course at the back a couple bookshelves of manga. This store is how I'd gotten ahold of much of GTO.
It was a few times later I had picked up a couple Lenore comics. They were different and dark but with a self-knowing humour to it. If that's the right way to put it. Take a vampire which is reincarnated into a stuffed toy, much to his annoyance. There was even talk of a movie, and Sony commissioned a whole load of animated shorts.
Anyway one afternoon my eye had been caught by the a small poster as the till. "Coming Soon," it teased, with a funky looking poster.
When it arrived I picked it up on a whim. I certainly dug the art in it, and for that alone I had thought it a good purchase. I'd passed by much of the dialogue so was not going to be familiar with it when I started. Now, hold on for a moment, but to sum very quickly the main character, Serenity Rose herself; she's a goth, a lesbian (as far as it's mentioned), a big sister, and a witch. It's certainly not trying to bond with the reader in a "you must like goth and be angsty and dark to like this" so if the above has scared you then worry not.
I mean, I'm none of those things and I was anxiously waiting for the next one to show up on the shelves. It was recently re-released in bookform with the original run in book 1 and more in book 2. And you can read it now FOR FREE. A 3rd and final book out is in October. So that's nice.
I even went for the Silent Hill comics, again drawn in by the art and eagerly waiting to see what twisted portrails of the psyche it could display for us. It was short, and not quite what was expected. But okay.
Anyway when I had stopped by a couple years ago the store had closed and was dark and so sad in it's little side-street. I had felt sad about that, and reminisced about the times spent there and the good things it had brought us. Thoughts of over how the internet and the invention of the JPEG, followed by the Kindles and iPads of the world, had taken from us another bricks-and-mortar store where care with collecting and collating prints items in their plastic sleeves on their displays had a quality to it which was lost to time and how digitisation with convenience may have bred a society of throwaway entertainment where he time and effort spent on something was now void of value.
Of course when writing this I found out it's still around and has a website and internet ordering and everything. So bugger that.
Amazing Fantasy, as it is called, was fairly small, but substantial for what I assume was a starting business. Not being a Comics guy, I had seen things on the shelves never imagined, from themes unexpected to established franchises I'd not even thought would have branched into a comic book run.
And of course at the back a couple bookshelves of manga. This store is how I'd gotten ahold of much of GTO.
It was a few times later I had picked up a couple Lenore comics. They were different and dark but with a self-knowing humour to it. If that's the right way to put it. Take a vampire which is reincarnated into a stuffed toy, much to his annoyance. There was even talk of a movie, and Sony commissioned a whole load of animated shorts.
Anyway one afternoon my eye had been caught by the a small poster as the till. "Coming Soon," it teased, with a funky looking poster.
When it arrived I picked it up on a whim. I certainly dug the art in it, and for that alone I had thought it a good purchase. I'd passed by much of the dialogue so was not going to be familiar with it when I started. Now, hold on for a moment, but to sum very quickly the main character, Serenity Rose herself; she's a goth, a lesbian (as far as it's mentioned), a big sister, and a witch. It's certainly not trying to bond with the reader in a "you must like goth and be angsty and dark to like this" so if the above has scared you then worry not.
I mean, I'm none of those things and I was anxiously waiting for the next one to show up on the shelves. It was recently re-released in bookform with the original run in book 1 and more in book 2. And you can read it now FOR FREE. A 3rd and final book out is in October. So that's nice.
I even went for the Silent Hill comics, again drawn in by the art and eagerly waiting to see what twisted portrails of the psyche it could display for us. It was short, and not quite what was expected. But okay.
Anyway when I had stopped by a couple years ago the store had closed and was dark and so sad in it's little side-street. I had felt sad about that, and reminisced about the times spent there and the good things it had brought us. Thoughts of over how the internet and the invention of the JPEG, followed by the Kindles and iPads of the world, had taken from us another bricks-and-mortar store where care with collecting and collating prints items in their plastic sleeves on their displays had a quality to it which was lost to time and how digitisation with convenience may have bred a society of throwaway entertainment where he time and effort spent on something was now void of value.
Of course when writing this I found out it's still around and has a website and internet ordering and everything. So bugger that.
Saturday 3 September 2011
The Future Ain't What It Used To Be
Deus Ex: Human Revolution. a.k.a Deus Ex 3. a.k.a Deus Ex 0. It is a prequel, after all.
So while I certainly acknowledge Penny-Arcade's experiences with jarring shifts in paradigm I had myself a near identical experience but after just one death I had found the method to ascend to the occasion and wouldn't have quite thought it too much of a deviation for everybody.
That is until I reached the 2nd boss.
Here it then becomes apparent that we've run into a case of "it appears you've got your shooter in my stealth game". True, it can incorporate a level of sneaking in order to avoid detection and pick your time to strike, but then comes the retaliation. And it comes hard, so much to the point that unless you have spent your points to tailor for it's current flight of fancy and the eccentricities which come with it along with the right weapons at your disposal, you may be up combat creek without a rifle. It did of course hint at what was to come with strewing heavy rifle ammo along the shelves in the rooms before me, along with the gentle prod of a handful of soldiers on the way supplying the prerequisite heavy rifle itself.
But we don't want it, we like our stealth sniper rifle, our combat rifle and pistol both loaded with silencer and laser sighting, and what we hope will be enough ammo that we can fit into the tiny space left. Even with full inventory space, it's never enough.
This boss fight itself brings a taste of Metal Gear Solid to the mouth, specifically the 4th for me, and why I do not think it was used as an archetype there are still flavours which, while perhaps not intended by the chef to do so, conjure up past memories in that curious way that these and sights, smells and sounds do. It's not to know what dishes you have sampled in your restaurateur days much as same as cannot pretend to understand what your mother gave you as a child. Then there is the ever present truth that all dishes must come from a set of stable ingredients from which they need to be mixed and without them it can fail to adhere, similarly where if you lack the finished touches it can simply fall flat.
You can tell it's nearly time I made dinner.
Anyway, I'm probably getting to the heart of the matter, which is the boss fights are a battle of guns rather than a battle of wits or even battle of attrition - missing a side route that is optional depending on chosen play style. After all, it's a given that this game is about choice and even more so that stealth is heavily open to you, if not outright screamed at you for occasional corridors.
For example, you get given a room of laser tripwires sweeping around and the expected small islands of shelter from which you may observe and dance between these havens to the safety at the other side. Or turn on your cloak and walk right through it all. Delicious. Please, sir, can I have some more?
So while I certainly acknowledge Penny-Arcade's experiences with jarring shifts in paradigm I had myself a near identical experience but after just one death I had found the method to ascend to the occasion and wouldn't have quite thought it too much of a deviation for everybody.
That is until I reached the 2nd boss.
Here it then becomes apparent that we've run into a case of "it appears you've got your shooter in my stealth game". True, it can incorporate a level of sneaking in order to avoid detection and pick your time to strike, but then comes the retaliation. And it comes hard, so much to the point that unless you have spent your points to tailor for it's current flight of fancy and the eccentricities which come with it along with the right weapons at your disposal, you may be up combat creek without a rifle. It did of course hint at what was to come with strewing heavy rifle ammo along the shelves in the rooms before me, along with the gentle prod of a handful of soldiers on the way supplying the prerequisite heavy rifle itself.
But we don't want it, we like our stealth sniper rifle, our combat rifle and pistol both loaded with silencer and laser sighting, and what we hope will be enough ammo that we can fit into the tiny space left. Even with full inventory space, it's never enough.
This boss fight itself brings a taste of Metal Gear Solid to the mouth, specifically the 4th for me, and why I do not think it was used as an archetype there are still flavours which, while perhaps not intended by the chef to do so, conjure up past memories in that curious way that these and sights, smells and sounds do. It's not to know what dishes you have sampled in your restaurateur days much as same as cannot pretend to understand what your mother gave you as a child. Then there is the ever present truth that all dishes must come from a set of stable ingredients from which they need to be mixed and without them it can fail to adhere, similarly where if you lack the finished touches it can simply fall flat.
You can tell it's nearly time I made dinner.
Anyway, I'm probably getting to the heart of the matter, which is the boss fights are a battle of guns rather than a battle of wits or even battle of attrition - missing a side route that is optional depending on chosen play style. After all, it's a given that this game is about choice and even more so that stealth is heavily open to you, if not outright screamed at you for occasional corridors.
For example, you get given a room of laser tripwires sweeping around and the expected small islands of shelter from which you may observe and dance between these havens to the safety at the other side. Or turn on your cloak and walk right through it all. Delicious. Please, sir, can I have some more?
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