VirginWorlds MMORPG News Host: Brent VirginWorlds is a weekly news podcast covering Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs) such as World of Warcraft, EverQuest, Guild Wars, City of Heroes, Eve Online, Vanguard, Lord of the Rings Online and many many more. The VirginWorlds MMORPG Podcast is the flagship podcast of the VirginWorlds MMO Podcast Collective found at http://www.virginworlds.com
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VirginWorlds Podcast #57 - GDC 2007 - Day ThreeThu, 8 Mar 2007 08:26:00 GMT [download/play]
Day three at the Game Developer's Conference.
Mark Jacobs from EA Mythic granted an excellent interview to
VirginWorlds today. We started with no real agenda and ended up with
some fantastic insight into EA Mythic and Warhammer Online. Afterwards,
I spent some quality time with Monty Sharma from Vivox who showed me the
latest and greatest in MMO voice communication. Colin Dwan and Lee Hammock from
Icarus Studios took me on a tour of Fallen Earth, the post-apocalyptic
action-MMO. The day was wrapped up neatly by a panel populated by the
kings of the MMO world. Don't miss this show!
VirginWorlds is a weekly news podcast covering Massively Multiplayer
Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs) such as World of Warcraft,
EverQuest, Guild Wars, City of Heroes, Eve Online, Vanguard, and many
many more. The main site can be found at http://www.VirginWorlds.com
'Thank you' by Melski Submitted on 2007-03-08 04:14:24 CST I'd just like to say thank you for devoting so much time and effort to your podcast, especially while you are at GDC. I have found the first two days to be wonderful, exciting and informative. Great work, and thank you.
I am very impressed that you have actually spent the time to collect information while you were there and report it that very night. Very enjoyable.
'I second that' by Dathmar Submitted on 2007-03-08 07:22:37 CST I would also like to say thanks
Its a shame you do not have a donate button on your site as funding this trip must be hard on your wallet.
'Wow...' by darrenl Submitted on 2007-03-08 08:01:53 CST Listening to it right now...
That interview with Mark is simply gold. Awesome job asking some questions I certainly had about the game.
Great job Brent.
'Wish I was there' by scytale2 Submitted on 2007-03-08 08:30:53 CST Wonderful stuff.
You can see why the guy from Mythic was given that job. I'd certainly be interested in hearing him again (as he offered), perhaps talking about what he's going to do with the MMOs that he inherited e.g. Ultima On-line. Bear in mind they must have all those assets that were lined up for the cancelled Ultima X?
Good luck to the voice people (Bevox?) - they've a mint ahead of them, if they can market their product to all the developments that Raph was talking about in "Future of MMO" section.
'Best yet!' by tdous Submitted on 2007-03-08 09:37:26 CST That was my favourite VW episode yet. I don't know if it was the big name interviews, the whole dynamic of the "live" recording or the overall layout of the show but it was awesome.
Listeners to your show and readers of your blog should know already that you are an intelligent guy and a thoughtful communicator and that really shows in your interviews. This isn't only in the questions you ask but the way in which they are asked and this clearly seems to impress and coax good and honest answers out of the interviewee, with obvious reference to the Mark Jacobs segment.
Excellent job, and as above, thank you so much for your hard work!
'scriptable UI' by Burro Submitted on 2007-03-08 15:27:36 CST i think scriptable ui is a huge part of wow's success, i looked at some scripting for asherons call and it was stupid complicated. Maybe WoW's ui is like the $1000 computer, or the model T, but in this case it's not the affordability that brings it to the masses, it's the useability. Frankly I quit wow after my one button masher macros broke. Just been dinking around with my aquariums and playing lords of the realm 2 from 1995 since mid december.
'Tabula Rasa' by twistah Submitted on 2007-03-09 02:11:30 CST Great stuff ! Im reloading the iTunes podcast list many times a day to check for updates now. :)
I liked what I saw in the Tabula Rasa GDC Trailer. Will there be any news from those guys at the GDC ?
Pål
Norway
'So much' by Brent Submitted on 2007-03-09 03:24:48 CST So many things to say, but for now I'll say, thanks for the nice words, and no, I'll not be having much on Tabula Rasa, but I know another podcast that will have some killer video content on Tabula Rasa... wonder who? (MOGArmy, stay tuned with them.)
'YOu get to go to all the best places..' by Jarod Submitted on 2007-03-09 03:55:02 CST Just wanted to say your podcasts from the GDC are excellent. (but then all your podcasts are!)
Thanks for taking the time to gather and then letting us all know what is happening at the Conference. Lots of good stuff happening...
'Great brent' by ErMurazor Submitted on 2007-03-09 11:07:12 CST Keep up the good work. This is exKeep up the good work brent. This is so excellent work it almost feels that I am at GDC. The other major news site falls in a deep shadow compeered to yours news coverage of GDC.
ErMurazor
form Sweden
'Warhammer' by kain Submitted on 2007-03-09 15:10:24 CST I have to say the interview scared me furthur away from Warhammer. He did not say it would be far from wow. He spent time saying every MMO takes from Every MMO. Sure this is true but the question was how are you different from WoW. Now it seems that it is a WoW clone.
Also just because GW signs off on something doesn't mean its 'right'. Why wouldn't censoring one of the most evil IPs in the fantasy world change the game? He seems to underestimate it.
he did not mention PvP. This was the one thing I really hoped to see from this game. It seems to be secondary now. I am saddened by these things, but eh money makes the world go around.
All this has told me is there arnt enough CCPs in the world.
'Re- Kain's CCP comment and Warhammer' by scytale2 Submitted on 2007-03-09 15:15:20 CST God help us, if all we had were CCP clones:p
I agree slightly with the Warhammer comment, but he did say that there was a great deal more in the history of Warhammer to bring in than there was from WoW, which is very true and hinted at a game a little more interested in its lore than say WoW, which is inventing new lore, because it has used all its lore up already:)
'Re: 'Re- Kain's CCP comment and Warhammer' by scytale2 ' by kain Submitted on 2007-03-09 16:12:03 CST Well thats part of my point. They are restricting their 30 years of lore with the teen raiting. He made it seem like the only thing missing is the gore but if you have ever done anything warhammer you will notice that its lore is very graphic.
Now if you think about it does teh T raiting to the title justice? No it doesnt. no matter how much he wants to say that GW oked it. Its still retricting the lore that we love the most.
Also I like how he segragated the people who want M by saying they are the minority. I think the people who want M are the people who want to play for teh warhammer lore.
So he is alienating Warhammer IP fans by appealing to the 13 year old majority. Think about that. Why have an IP at all? Why not just start your own game? Well because those 50 dollar box cost are not as good as the 15 dollars they get if you keep playing but its far better then 0. Warhammer fans will try it but many of them (being older seasoned players) will dislike it. Sadly eh is grabing for people who love WoW not people who want something different from WoW.
'RE :: 'Re: 'Re- Kain's CCP comment and Warhammer' by scytale2 ' by kain' by tdous Submitted on 2007-03-09 16:48:53 CST I don't know a lot about Warhammer but, since this rating system seems to as subjective as the recent political climate requires at the time, can you explain with examples what they will not be able to do from the lore as a result of the rating?
I'm just thinking of Ryan's joke in the MOG 'robe' show on Supreme Commander - you can nuke like Hiroshima, E for Everyone. You can run people over with tanks, E for Everyone.
'Great Shows' by kain Submitted on 2007-03-09 17:08:52 CST Brent your coverage is top notch. All of these shows have answered many questions. By far the best coverage of GDC. Stick to what your doing because its magical. The only thing your show is missing is the SOE head apologizing to me for the CU and NGE.
To the question above by tdous:"Titles in this category may contain intense violence, blood and gore, sexual content and/or strong language." Every one of those things define warhammer. And I dont even mention the overtly RACIST fiction that the universe is built upon.
As for what they can and will not do is:
Lore Containing Mass Violence(genocide)
Include the Racism that is the cause of the war in WAR
No graphic choas mutations (big lore since they are all graphic)
And many other things. Look at AoC and what they are doing with their freedom. The funny thing is the REH universe is a little cleaner then WAR.
'To Kain' by tdous Submitted on 2007-03-09 20:31:07 CST I see what you mean. I guess in things such as Supreme Commander, to go back to that example, when you're working at that scale you're removed from the "human level" reality of battle to an extent so mass killing doesn't have the edge that individual prejudice, experience and suffering would give it, for better or worse.
'Thank you' by Melski
Submitted on 2007-03-08 04:14:24 CST
I'd just like to say thank you for devoting so much time and effort to your podcast, especially while you are at GDC. I have found the first two days to be wonderful, exciting and informative. Great work, and thank you.
I am very impressed that you have actually spent the time to collect information while you were there and report it that very night. Very enjoyable.
'I second that' by Dathmar
Submitted on 2007-03-08 07:22:37 CST
I would also like to say thanks
Its a shame you do not have a donate button on your site as funding this trip must be hard on your wallet.
'Wow...' by darrenl
Submitted on 2007-03-08 08:01:53 CST
Listening to it right now...
That interview with Mark is simply gold. Awesome job asking some questions I certainly had about the game.
Great job Brent.
'Wish I was there' by scytale2
Submitted on 2007-03-08 08:30:53 CST
Wonderful stuff.
You can see why the guy from Mythic was given that job. I'd certainly be interested in hearing him again (as he offered), perhaps talking about what he's going to do with the MMOs that he inherited e.g. Ultima On-line. Bear in mind they must have all those assets that were lined up for the cancelled Ultima X?
Good luck to the voice people (Bevox?) - they've a mint ahead of them, if they can market their product to all the developments that Raph was talking about in "Future of MMO" section.
'Best yet!' by tdous
Submitted on 2007-03-08 09:37:26 CST
That was my favourite VW episode yet. I don't know if it was the big name interviews, the whole dynamic of the "live" recording or the overall layout of the show but it was awesome.
Listeners to your show and readers of your blog should know already that you are an intelligent guy and a thoughtful communicator and that really shows in your interviews. This isn't only in the questions you ask but the way in which they are asked and this clearly seems to impress and coax good and honest answers out of the interviewee, with obvious reference to the Mark Jacobs segment.
Excellent job, and as above, thank you so much for your hard work!
'scriptable UI' by Burro
Submitted on 2007-03-08 15:27:36 CST
i think scriptable ui is a huge part of wow's success, i looked at some scripting for asherons call and it was stupid complicated. Maybe WoW's ui is like the $1000 computer, or the model T, but in this case it's not the affordability that brings it to the masses, it's the useability. Frankly I quit wow after my one button masher macros broke. Just been dinking around with my aquariums and playing lords of the realm 2 from 1995 since mid december.
'Tabula Rasa' by twistah
Submitted on 2007-03-09 02:11:30 CST
Great stuff ! Im reloading the iTunes podcast list many times a day to check for updates now. :)
I liked what I saw in the Tabula Rasa GDC Trailer. Will there be any news from those guys at the GDC ?
Pål
Norway
'So much' by Brent
Submitted on 2007-03-09 03:24:48 CST
So many things to say, but for now I'll say, thanks for the nice words, and no, I'll not be having much on Tabula Rasa, but I know another podcast that will have some killer video content on Tabula Rasa... wonder who? (MOGArmy, stay tuned with them.)
'YOu get to go to all the best places..' by Jarod
Submitted on 2007-03-09 03:55:02 CST
Just wanted to say your podcasts from the GDC are excellent. (but then all your podcasts are!)
Thanks for taking the time to gather and then letting us all know what is happening at the Conference. Lots of good stuff happening...
'Great brent' by ErMurazor
Submitted on 2007-03-09 11:07:12 CST
Keep up the good work. This is exKeep up the good work brent. This is so excellent work it almost feels that I am at GDC. The other major news site falls in a deep shadow compeered to yours news coverage of GDC.
ErMurazor
form Sweden
'Warhammer' by kain
Submitted on 2007-03-09 15:10:24 CST
I have to say the interview scared me furthur away from Warhammer. He did not say it would be far from wow. He spent time saying every MMO takes from Every MMO. Sure this is true but the question was how are you different from WoW. Now it seems that it is a WoW clone.
Also just because GW signs off on something doesn't mean its 'right'. Why wouldn't censoring one of the most evil IPs in the fantasy world change the game? He seems to underestimate it.
he did not mention PvP. This was the one thing I really hoped to see from this game. It seems to be secondary now. I am saddened by these things, but eh money makes the world go around.
All this has told me is there arnt enough CCPs in the world.
'Re- Kain's CCP comment and Warhammer' by scytale2
Submitted on 2007-03-09 15:15:20 CST
God help us, if all we had were CCP clones:p
I agree slightly with the Warhammer comment, but he did say that there was a great deal more in the history of Warhammer to bring in than there was from WoW, which is very true and hinted at a game a little more interested in its lore than say WoW, which is inventing new lore, because it has used all its lore up already:)
'Re: 'Re- Kain's CCP comment and Warhammer' by scytale2 ' by kain
Submitted on 2007-03-09 16:12:03 CST
Well thats part of my point. They are restricting their 30 years of lore with the teen raiting. He made it seem like the only thing missing is the gore but if you have ever done anything warhammer you will notice that its lore is very graphic.
Now if you think about it does teh T raiting to the title justice? No it doesnt. no matter how much he wants to say that GW oked it. Its still retricting the lore that we love the most.
Also I like how he segragated the people who want M by saying they are the minority. I think the people who want M are the people who want to play for teh warhammer lore.
So he is alienating Warhammer IP fans by appealing to the 13 year old majority. Think about that. Why have an IP at all? Why not just start your own game? Well because those 50 dollar box cost are not as good as the 15 dollars they get if you keep playing but its far better then 0. Warhammer fans will try it but many of them (being older seasoned players) will dislike it. Sadly eh is grabing for people who love WoW not people who want something different from WoW.
'RE :: 'Re: 'Re- Kain's CCP comment and Warhammer' by scytale2 ' by kain' by tdous
Submitted on 2007-03-09 16:48:53 CST
I don't know a lot about Warhammer but, since this rating system seems to as subjective as the recent political climate requires at the time, can you explain with examples what they will not be able to do from the lore as a result of the rating?
I'm just thinking of Ryan's joke in the MOG 'robe' show on Supreme Commander - you can nuke like Hiroshima, E for Everyone. You can run people over with tanks, E for Everyone.
'Great Shows' by kain
Submitted on 2007-03-09 17:08:52 CST
Brent your coverage is top notch. All of these shows have answered many questions. By far the best coverage of GDC. Stick to what your doing because its magical. The only thing your show is missing is the SOE head apologizing to me for the CU and NGE.
To the question above by tdous:"Titles in this category may contain intense violence, blood and gore, sexual content and/or strong language." Every one of those things define warhammer. And I dont even mention the overtly RACIST fiction that the universe is built upon.
As for what they can and will not do is:
Lore Containing Mass Violence(genocide)
Include the Racism that is the cause of the war in WAR
No graphic choas mutations (big lore since they are all graphic)
And many other things. Look at AoC and what they are doing with their freedom. The funny thing is the REH universe is a little cleaner then WAR.
'To Kain' by tdous
Submitted on 2007-03-09 20:31:07 CST
I see what you mean. I guess in things such as Supreme Commander, to go back to that example, when you're working at that scale you're removed from the "human level" reality of battle to an extent so mass killing doesn't have the edge that individual prejudice, experience and suffering would give it, for better or worse.
Thanks for the clarification.