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Asheron's Call 2 producer weighs in on the revived game
It's always a sad day when a game you worked on shuts down. You shed your tears and move on, most likely wishing you could have the game back but knowing it's gone for good. But Asheron's Call 2 has come back against all odds, and while it's not yet clear what the future will hold for the dead-and-revived game, former producer Eric Heimburg quickly jumped in to see how well the game holds up in a more modern sense. Heimburg's main complaints are that the game's interface hasn't held up very well (requiring players to click through several screens just to compare item stats) and the huge world can lead to some travel issues. He also shares some insights regarding some of the strange elements of the beta, including the absence of a friend list feature. It's an interesting look not just behind the scenes of a game no one expected to return, but at the differences between a game long remembered and the game that actually existed. [Thanks to Dengar for the tip!]
The Daily Grind: Where do you go after the end of the world?
Let's say that the unthinkable -- or at least, the undesirable -- happens tomorrow. Your favorite game's servers shut down today for good, and you're left with fond memories and little else. In the ancient refrain of the bartender, you don't have to go home, but you can't stay here. So that leaves you with the obvious question: where do you go now? Some people would prefer to take a break from MMOs as a whole for a while, since the idea of investing time and effort into another one seems a bit less reasonable after you've watched one die. On the other hand, some people would like to get right back into the business of questing and slaughtering, even if they have to move back to an old standby to do it. Still others jump on to the next big thing with renewed vigor and start talking about how it'll be everything the now-dead game wanted to be but wasn't. So what's your feeling? If your favorite game went belly-up this morning, would you soldier on to a different game, start looking for an upcoming release, or just move on with your life and leave MMOs behind?
