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A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Moving forward after City of Heroes
Last week was painful, not just for me but for a lot of you was well. I'm touched by the number of comments I received on last week's article, and I can understand why a lot of you thought that this was curtains for the column as well as for the game. It was a sad ending, with a note of hope almost buried by all of the crushing emotion. You and I lost a friend that's been with us for more than eight years; it's hard to be optimistic. But I'm still here. And I'm still the same person I was a week ago, if somewhat diminished by loss. And now it's time to move along. I've written the last word there is for me to write on the subject of City of Heroes, but as it turns out, I still have a lot more to say about the genre. This probably doesn't come as much of a surprise to regular readers. I'm a guy who loves superheroes, and losing a home hurts, but it doesn't mean I'm hanging up my cape. It means that I need to find a new home. And I'd be remiss in not asking anyone else along for the ride.
The Soapbox: The classic Dungeons & Dragons problem
Disclaimer: The Soapbox column is entirely the opinion of this week's writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of Massively as a whole. If you're afraid of opinions other than your own, you might want to skip this column. Older tabletop roleplaying games are a mess. I realize that some our readers may not have had the unique pleasure of getting introduced to gaming via a handful of dice and a pencil, but let me give you the very short version. A long time ago, a game called Dungeons & Dragons was written, and it was the first roleplaying game. Since then, we've seen a lot of other roleplaying games come out with different ideas and different themes. We've also seen a lot of other roleplaying games meant to intentionally hearken back to the days when Dungeons & Dragons was the only game in town. This is almost never a good idea. Nor is the idea unique to tabletop games. In fact, we're seeing the same thing in the MMO space. There are games that market themselves by promising to be a return to the days of Ultima Online or points related, a throwback to the old school of gaming. I'm pretty sure Vanguard was the first of that movement. And while I understand the sentiment, it pretty much always ends in tears for some very good reasons.
Apple adds submission histories to iTunes Connect
iPhone developer Brian Stormont pinged us this morning to share the news that Apple has quietly updated iTunes Connect with a great new feature: Status History. Appearing near recently reviewed items, this option opens a detail table showing how your application has worked its way through the App Store review process, and on to the shelf. Stormont details this update on his site. This option does not, at this time, appear to be universally available. When I checked my personal apps this morning in the iTunes Connect "Manage Your Applications" screen, I was unable to find any Status History links on any of my application listings. However, I was able to confirm this feature with other iPhone developers. Another new feature appears to be that the amber-bubbled status messages have been extended. In addition to the standard "In Review," iTunes Connect now offers a "Waiting for Review" status for newly uploaded material. If you see any further interface changes or new status messages, drop us a comment and let us know. So what does this all mean? In my opinion, this is all great stuff, helping move Apple towards greater developer feedback. No, it's still not the full ticketing system that a lot of us are hoping for but it's definitely a step in the right direction. Thanks, Maior
