single-player-games
Latest
MMO Blender: Eliot's online brother from an offline mother
We don't need to go online to have a good time, oh no. Obviously Massively's writers like us some online games. I am no exception to the rule. But I also started playing video games back when the internet existed only in its most nascent form. I started out by liking video games, period, and the online component came much later, with a lot of benefits, to be sure, but I still love some offline action just as well. I don't feel the need to bring every game into the online arena. There are games that just don't work as well in a multiplayer environment. But there are also a lot of offline games that translate quite well to an online space, and I'm not just talking about ones that play like MMORPGs stripped of the first three letters. Today's MMO Blender is taking inspiration only from games that do not have a primary online component. Let's see about making a nice big MMO from single-player offline offerings.
Does WoW need more minigames?
When I started playing WoW in 2006, I knew next to nothing about it. I had bought a copy to play with my boyfriend but did so while he was out of the country; it was my intent to surprise him with it when he got back. The unfortunate result of this was that I didn't really know what to do on my own and spent most of the time being eaten by murlocs. Back then, the multiplayer aspect of WoW wasn't apparent to me. I had only ever joined groups to complete a few quests and didn't know what dungeons, raids, or Battlegrounds were. Because of this, I often remember thinking WoW wasn't a very good game because it was missing all sorts of basic elements that other games had. For example, I remember jumping in a river and thinking "Awesome, this will be a quick way to get to the southern side of the zone," only to realize a moment later there was no water current in WoW like there is in Legend of Zelda. "This is so lame," I thought.
Wings Over Atreia: What's in it for me?
That does it. No more Ms. Nice Wings. This time I am just going to unleash! Let my rant all hang out. Admittedly, I am not normally one to complain; I can see the good in most every situation, and I can roll with the punches like it's an Olympic event. But even my feathers get ruffled sometimes. It's true! And sometimes you just can't bite your tongue anymore or all you will have is a very sore tongue. Now I know I am not a rant-master like Jef, but even fledgling ranters must begin somewhere. And this week, I found just such a place: immature, self-serving, can't-pull-their-thumbs-outta-their-ears-unless-there-is-something-in-it-for-them-gamers in Aion. You know the type -- those who think the world revolves around them. Those whose spoiled-rotten antics ruin groups and legions alike and who are the reason why many a block list is so full. They without whom drama would die a quick death and be a forgotten plague. They're the bane of chat channels everywhere -- they are the trolls. Throw yourself past the cut for a look at some recent Aion tantrums and sure-fire ways to minimize the effects of blatant immaturity. Careful, though -- I cannot be held responsible for any resemblance to gamers near you.
Worms: Reloaded single player trailer gets down with its bad self
You've seen quite a bit of Worms: Reloaded lately, but not any single player -- 'til now. We've got footage showcasing the many isolationist modes, but the best part of this trailer are the groovy, afro-sporting soft-bodied invertebrates causing chaos. Boogie on past the break to see what we mean.
The Daily Grind: Would you play a single-player version?
Whether we mean to or not, we get pretty invested in the online worlds we inhabit. It's a natural step to go from a single-player setting that's already gotten our emotional investment to a larger one (as proven by, oh, some game or another), but oddly the reverse happens far less often. We only occasionally see a game that takes the setting of an MMO and uses it as the basis for one person's adventure. This despite the fact that we're usually more attached to our characters than we are in a single-player game, since our avatars in an MMO are defined entirely by us. Of course, part of this is the narrowing of scope, and part of it is the difficulty of marketing to people that they can take a break from their characters online to play the exact same character offline. But for the times when you don't want to log in and deal with assembling a group or competition for farming or any of the slings and arrows of playing online, it could be a nice diversion. What do you think? Would you like to have a single-player game based off of your MMO of choice, or would you rather that the online games you enjoy not creep into your single-player time?
MMOs may not inherit the Earth after all
A lot of attention has been paid in recent months to the notion, espoused openly by Phil Harrison and quietly acquiesced to in much of the rest of the MMO industry, that single player games as we know them are going the way of the dodo. With technology connecting people to each other in greater numbers than ever before, many people see the logical end of this being the complete co-option of the traditional single player experience that has prevailed in games for so long.In a recent interview with Ben Mattes, producer for the new Prince of Persia game over at Ubisoft, Mattes rejects this notion, insisting there are experiences in a single player game that you can't reliably replicate in a multiplayer context. Players still crave these distilled bouts of fun, and will continue to flock to them in the future as long as companies keep making them. Obviously, being the producer on a big budget single player title doesn't make Mattes the most unbiased source in the world, but we have to agree with him. While the greater trend is towards connectivity and multiplayer, there's always going to be a market for a well-told single player story.
The 'high fidelity' nature of MMOs
Inspired by a few days of dedicated holiday gaming, veteran MMO designer Raph Koster offered up an opinion on the state of modern game development. Playing titles like Call of Duty 4, Halo 3, and BioShock, he notes the 'intense' nature of most of the best-selling titles this year. He then ties this in to a recent Rolling Stone article about the modern face of music. That article discusses the pervasive role of music in America today, and the resulting requirement to 'amp up' the volume to be heard in public places.He directly relates this to the loss of nuanced sound this results in, making a sly dig at the quality of these single-player experiences. IE: by being 'bold and brassy', these titles pale in the realm of quality compared to quieter, more thoughtful titles (like, say, Portal). Steve Danuser, better known as Moorgard, concurs with his assessment. He notes that Massive games in particular are arguments for broader, more varied experiences. While I'm obviously a fan of Massive titles - and very much agree that the breadth of content you can cram into them is one of their strengths - I can't help but think they're missing the point here a bit. I'm willing to agree, generally, with Raph's argument that truly single-player games will eventually be extinct. There's absolutely no reason that BioShock or Mass Effect couldn't have some sort of shared-world or co-op component (CoD4 and Halo 3 already do).That said, I bristle a bit at the notion that the big releases of 2007 have no nuance. Several of these titles, as with MMOs, have enough breadth to allow for more than just one activity. While 'shoot things' is the marquee entertainment in Mass Effect and 'stab people' is the main draw for Assassin's Creed, both have other activities in them; certainly Raph isn't going to sit there with a straight face and say the storytelling in Mass Effect is completely without nuance? Even BioShock, which is fundamentally a shooter, offers moments of quieter contemplation. I found the storytelling-via-voice-logs extremely effective, and made it a point to search out and listen to as many as I could. Where do you fall here? Are console-oriented single-player titles too much flash for you, or do you see possibilities in Rapture's destroyed beauty?
