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After 10 years, I've finally accepted that 'Half-Life' is dead
Ten years ago today, Valve released Half-Life 2: Episode Two. It was the second of three announced games that directly continued the story that started in 2004's heavily lauded Half-Life 2. Episode One and Episode Two were released in 2006 and 2007, respectively, with the second ending on a major cliffhanger. Unfortunately, this is where the Half-Life universe ends. The first Half-Life and its sequel had endings that wrapped up the main story in each game, though both games left players with plenty of unanswered questions. Episode Two, on the other hand, had a very Empire Strikes Back ending that begged for resolution. Throughout one full game and two episodes, protagonist Gordon Freeman is accompanied by all-around badass Alyx Vance, who has worked with her father, Eli, to help humanity resist the aliens that have enslaved the species. At the end of Episode Two, Freeman, Alyx and Eli experience a temporary victory, closing a portal that traps the Combine aliens on Earth and giving humanity a last shot at freedom. The success is short-lived, however -- two nightmarish aliens capture and kill Eli and are about to kill Freeman and Alyx until a last-minute rescue leaves them safe but devastated as the game fades to black.
Massively's Best of 2014 Awards: Biggest MMO disappointment of the year
Massively's end-of-the-year awards continue today with our award for the Biggest Disappointment of the year -- not exactly one of the more coveted awards, admittedly. For this category, we focused on single games rather than concepts, and every MMO that launched in 2014 was eligible. All of our writers were invited to cast a vote, but not all of them chose to do so for this category. Don't forget to cast your own vote in the just-for-fun reader poll at the very end. The Massively staff pick for Biggest Disappointment of 2014 is...
The Daily Grind: What big reward was a big disappointment?
It's taken months of farming in City of Heroes, carefully storing up Alignment Merits and Merit Rewards and Mission Architect Tickets and that all-important Influence. You've had to get into annoying price wars on the auction house, you've had to use up a couple of Veteran respecs, but you've finally done it. You've fully slotted your powers with the best of the best, the most spectacular Invention sets possible. And after all that work, you feel... well... just bored. As it turns out, reaching the apex of power was actually kind of a hollow goal after all. We've all spent a bunch of time climbing toward something only to find out at the end that it really wasn't worth it. Maybe it was assembling a full set of best-in-slot gear in World of Warcraft, or maybe it was just trying to get the perfect cosmetic armor set for your Warden in Lord of the Rings Online. When have you earned a big reward that felt like a massive letdown? When has all that hard work felt like it was in service to a goal you no longer cared about? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Breakfast Topic: Has Cataclysm let you down?
This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. After all the anticipation, all the build-up, all the hype ... Cataclysm is here. For all intents and purposes, Cataclysm has delivered on much of what was promised. However, as with all change, there is good as well as bad and things that left us without the enjoyment we thought we would have. Some still complain that offering only 5 levels isn't a full expansion; whether level cap really effects all that much other than being an arbitrary number at which max-level content is at remains to be seen. Others complain about having to find the instance portals to queue for those instances, but it does make sense that you should have to know where you are going to go there. There are numerous moments I found epic. The Uldum quest chain with Harrison Jones was great, but at the same time, the fact I had to go back and find those couple of random quests that begin by killing animals to finish my Uldum quest achievement kind of annoyed me. Another disappointment was the length of the Vashj'ir boat phasing scene, at least for Alliance -- and after this nearly 10-minute snorefest, it bugged, did not give me credit, and I had to hearth to Stormwind and repeat the awful process. As an herbalist, the fact Azshara's Veil is only in Vashj'ir was also disappointing. These small, annoying little issues are trivial, however, and only show small flaws in an otherwise great expansion. So what things in Cataclysm have disappointed or annoyed you -- or have you been completely pleased? Or are you in the small fraction of players yet to get Cataclysm?
Google Wave development discontinued, Waveboard sinks
After much public and private debate over its actual utility, Google Wave, as you've probably already heard, is dead. Google posted a notice yesterday announcing that, due to a lack of public acceptance for the realtime collaboration platform, they are halting development. "We don't plan to continue developing Wave as a standalone product," states Google, "but we will maintain the site at least through the end of the year and extend the technology for use in other Google projects." Very few people are surprised by this news, and Wave has been roundly criticized for being poorly executed. Many (including myself), however, are disappointed. One Mac developer, in particular, is saddened by this development. Dirk Holtwick, author of a Wave client called Waveboard, got the news while on holiday this week. It goes without saying that a developer with commercial applications for Mac, iPhone and iPad which rely on Wave is disappointed by this announcement. Holwick shared with TUAW his own criticism of the "buggy first experience" that Wave provided most users, but also his admiration for technology that was "great, and ahead of its time." Read on for more.
The Mog Log: How Final Fantasy XIV will crush our hopes and dreams
It seems only appropriate after last week to continue turning things on their ear. Fans of the column (I could probably just write "fan" there) have probably noticed that I talk about Final Fantasy XIV in a way not entirely separated from a child discussing their idol. I seem to maintain faith that the game will include every wonderful system ever, that it will take story and gameplay to an unheard-of level of connection, that it will be beautiful and vibrant and living, that it will bring food and water and smite our enemies. But I am not alone in this, and we are all so painfully wrong. If you have played Final Fantasy XI (and if you're reading this, odds are good), you know that Square-Enix uses hope in much the same way that Lucy uses a football. While I spent last week talking about how the old game deserves more love than we give it, this week I'm going to list five reasons why we'll be disappointed when Final Fantasy XIV arrives. (And tune in a few weeks from now when I am still not anywhere near getting into the beta. I'm a slow learner sometimes.)
Insomniac Games took negative Resistance 2 fan feedback to heart
In a display of candor we rarely see from video game industry figures, Insomniac Games community manager James Stevenson recently poured his heart out in a VideoGamer.com interview. He admitted that although Resistance 2 garnered fairly good reviews, negative feedback from devoted fans of the series' first installment "weighed" on him. He went on to add, "the hardcore fans of Resistance 1 were maybe a little bit disappointed. Those folks consistently expressing that - especially GAF - it was like your dog turned on you." Stevenson continued the analogy, stating, "you had this dog that loved you. You loved the dog, too, but they expressed all this affection for you. And then suddenly the dog bites your hand and it's that feeling of, ooh, ow, that really hurts." We can only guess how disappointing negative fan feedback must be for a developer -- however, couldn't this be seen as your dog telling you they're disappointed, and suggesting ways to do better in the future? Oh, like that adorable, illustrated anti-drug dog! We love that little guy.
WoW Insider Show live today on Ustream
Today on the show, it's an all-star cast of WoW Insider folks: we'll welcome Alex Ziebart and Adam Holisky both on the show to talk about the latest news from the World of Warcraft. And as usual, Turpster will join us with his own brand of silliness (don't miss our newest feature, Turpster's Tips, in which he tells you something that may or may not help you play the game better). And what is the latest news, you ask? Why, it's our interview with Tom Chilton (featuring mentions of dance moves, new Druid forms, and player housing), that legendary mace and who it's for, whether the Bloodlust love should have some spreading around, and Alex's general disappointment with the game world lately. The show starts up at May 9, 2009 3:30 PM EDT var date_span = document.getElementById("date"); var date = new Date(date_span.innerHTML); var monthname=new Array("Jan","Feb","Mar","Apr","May","Jun","Jul","Aug", "Sep","Oct","Nov","Dec"); var weekday=new Array("Sunday","Monday","Tuesday","Wednesday","Thursday", "Friday","Saturday"); var year = date.getFullYear(); var day_of_month = date.getDate(); var month = monthname[date.getMonth()]; var day = weekday[date.getDay()]; var hour = date.getHours(); if (hour > 11) { if (hour > 12) {hour -= 12} am_pm = "PM"; } else { am_pm = "AM"; } var minute = date.getMinutes(); if (minute < 10) { minute = "0"+minute; } date_string = day + ", " + month + " " + day_of_month; date_string += " at " + hour + ":" + minute + " " + am_pm; offset = -date.getTimezoneOffset()/60; if (offset >= 0) { offset = "+"+offset; } date_string += " in your time zone (GMT"+offset+")"; date_span.innerHTML = (date_string); over on our Ustream page.And we've got a full schedule in the coming weeks as well: next week, we'll be recording the show live on Wednesday, May 13th at 6pm Eastern, so those of you who aren't usually available on Saturday will have a chance to listen in. And then on the 23rd, we'll be back live at the usual Saturday time, not only with audio but with video, as we present our video show, to thank you all for boosting our Twitter page up to over 9.000 followers. We've got a lot of fun stuff planned -- trust me when I say it'll be a cavalcade of guests and jokes and good times.And then after that, we'll be welcoming on a special guest host. Brigwyn's charity auction raised a whopping $2,500 for Child's Play this past week, and some awesome, caring fan paid almost $480 to join Turpster and I on the podcast for a week. So stay tuned for that. We'll have them on soon, and they can disagree with me or argue with Turpster or do whatever they want for the whole show. Should be a lot of fun.
Wii Warm Up: Downloadable regrets
There was a lot of temptation on the Virtual Console and WiiWare this year, but not all downloadable games live up to the high standards of your heart. Did you end up with any real lemons last year? Maybe you bought a game you skipped many years ago, or something on the recommendation of a friend (or perhaps a trusted gaming site) that just didn't turn out to be quite what you wanted? If so, we want to hear about it.
DS Daily: Disappointments
Sometimes, you look forward to a game for months and months, because you just can't get enough. You watch the videos. You play the flash preview. You soak up the screenshots. But then, once you finally get it, and you tear off the plastic, stuff it into your DS, and get moving, you learn one horrifying thing:It sucks. It's boring, or poorly-made, or just doesn't work for you. As depressing as this is, it happens to us all. But has it happened to you with a few DS games?
Zul'Aman bears to disappear with next content patch
The Zul'Aman bear mount has been a popular treat -- popular enough that folks offer paid runs to get the bear mount. We already knew the chance to get the bear was going away when Wrath comes out. However, in the bad news category, Zarhym revealed over the weekend that bear mounts will no longer be obtainable when the content patch comes out. While I know a lot of folks already have their bear mounts, in my opinion, this change kind of sucks. I have a small raiding Guild who I've been working with to get our bear mounts (with a few bumps along the way). Since we knew the earliest we'd lose our opportunity would be November, all of our planning has been focused on getting the bears this month and next. And now, that's changed without enough warning to alter our plans. Heck, I can't even plan since all I know about when the patch is coming out is "soon." To be clear about it, the problem isn't that the chance to obtain the bear is going away. That's fair -- the timed event would be stupid easy after level 70. The problem is that Blizzard set one expectation (when Wrath comes out), and has now vastly reduced the opportunity without warning. That's a problem for me.
Ask WoW Insider: An early disappointment?
With all the Wrath news dropping, there's been a ton of hype around the next World of Warcraft expansion. Lots of players are very excited (including yours truly), but Charles S isn't so much. He actually stopped playing the game in March of this past year (before that, he raided as a Warlock), and he is using today's Ask WoW Insider column to ask you, our readers, if anyone else isn't so hot on what they've seen so far:I've been reading your site and the news about the expansion and my question is, is it too early to be disappointed in what I am seeing for this expansion?Unfortunately he doesn't expound much more beyond that, and I'd like to know what else he wants to see from the expansion -- we're going to get Death Knights, siege vehicles, and we're going to get to meet the Lich freakin' King, more than once. I don't know what more a Warcraft fan would want. But maybe you do -- think it's too early for Charles to be disappointed, or should he wait and see if Wrath will bring him back to the game?And if you have a question you want to ask our readers, feel free to send it along to ask@wow.com, and you might see it up here next week for everyone else to answer.Previously on Ask WoW Insider...
Point/Counterpoint: Is WiiWare a disappointment?
We've had WiiWare here in the U.S. for a little over a month, and already gamers are forming pretty solid opinions on the budding download service. Prior to launch, WiiWare was one of the most anticipated features the console had on offer ... and now that we have it, is it everything promised, or is WiiWare a disappointment? That's the question on the table between two of our bloggers today, so get ready to take sides and let your own voice be heard. plctext It burns us!
DS Daily: Give me my time back
Looking back at the DS games we've played so far this year, we're happy to say that we have yet to play a bad game. Sure, we don't get to play as much as you probably do, but to be almost 4 months in and not have played a single bad game is like a record. Hey, the DS does get better titles than any other console on average, however.What about you all? Had a DS game disappoint so far this year? Have you been expecting something to be good, only to have your hopes dashed to the ground after playing it? Let us know!
Behind the Curtain: Great Expectations
I'd like to talk about what MMOs you've gone into with expectations, and what disappointments, if any, you've had during your time there. Perhaps you paid just a little nit too much attention to the press releases, maybe you fell for the bullshot (yes, I know I've linked that comic before), it doesn't really matter. I'm going to share some of my disappointments, hopefully you'll feel moved to do the same in the Comments. Star Wars GalaxiesI love Star Wars, so when I started playing Galaxies, I had visions of TIE Fighters and Star Destroyers, running battles with Imperial Storm Troopers and making shady deals in the Mos Eisley Cantina. What I got instead was a game where all I ended up doing was taking random missions from computer terminals which invariably involved me running out into the wilderness to kill some 'malevolent' creatures on behalf of some farmers who never actually seemed to appear in-game, for a paltry reward. I spent a lot of time on Corellia – having read extensively in the Expanded Universe, I imagined a bustling, thriving metropolis with smugglers and scoundrels round every corner, and with opportunities for exciting adventures right under the nose of the Empire. What I got was a collection of buildings dumped unceremoniously in the middle of the nowhere, at times seemingly populated only by myself and the NPCs.
Wii Warm Up: Disappointment
Yesterday was a busy day. We had tons of news from GDC and we talked about the best and the worst of what the Wii had to offer so far. It's a lot to think about ... and of course, it's not all sunshine and roses. While we love Nintendo, no one's perfect, and sometimes, we end up disappointed. Maybe it's a matter of really looking forward to a game that doesn't deliver, or maybe you're among those frustrated by Nintendo's choice of channel fodder. No matter what it is, what's Nintendo done lately that you found disappointing? The key to getting over your pain is sharing it ... and remember, around here, you're among friends.
Are Wii being set up for disappointment again?
Following the news that has swept blogs recently, gaming mag Game Informer asks are we being set up for disappointment again? Citing past blunders by Nintendo in the N64 and GameCube days, Billy Berghammer makes an ample case against the house the Italian plumber built.We admit we have taken a ride or twenty aboard the hype train when it came to Nintendo, but following their utter dominance at E3 and the entertaining time we had with the Wii while in attendance, can we be blamed? Also, given the console's lack of horsepower compared to its competition like the GameCube during the last generation wars, will consumers be willing to pay for a ride on Nintendo's roller coaster come launch? Only time will tell...
