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The Think Tank: One MMO wish for 2015
Every year when we roll out our prediction articles with anything negative (because of course something negative is likely to happen in this industry over the span of a year), a commenter invariably accuses us of wishing for the negative thing to occur. It just ain't so. Predictions aren't wishes. In many cases, we're hoping to be wrong about our suspicions and hunches and dread. We're crossing our fingers that the wind turns and statistical likelihoods are flukily wrong. Can't bet the ranch on hopes and dreams. But wishes can be fun too. That's what we're doing in this first Think Tank of the new year. This, my friends, is what wishes look like.
BioWare would 'love' to revisit Jade Empire (so would we)
Speaking to Stragety Informer, BioWare's Mike Laidlaw had some simultaneously pleasing and disappointing news for Jade Empire fans. When asked directly when we would see a sequel to the Asian fantasy RPG, Laidlaw opted for the always handy -- and always frustrating -- PR Jedi mind trick, stating that BioWare hasn't made any announcements regarding Jade Empire 2. On a brighter note, he added that the game is a "staff favorite," saying, "We'd love to revisit it at some point." He then quickly switched gears back to disappointment, noting that the company is currently focused on Dragon Age and Mass Effect 2. Dear team BioWare, you are most assuredly not the only ones that would love to revisit Jade Empire. Grab a sticky note and write that down, tuck it under your pillow and think about it. Think hard. Thanks.
Capcom doesn't completely dismiss Darkstalkers Remix possibility
We're going to be honest with you here, the real reason this post exists is because we really hope Capcom is considering an HD remix of of the Darkstalkers series (hell, even an SD re-release would be fine). That said, the company didn't actually do anything to suggest that one is in the cards. What did happen was this: Someone over at the Capcom Unity forums posted a thread asking about the likelihood of a Darkstalkers remix.It looks like Capcom actually took notice, with business and strategy VP Christian Svensson joining the conversation and asking, "Is this something people would want to see?" After a rousing chorus "Hell yes," Svennson added, "Thanks for the feedback guys. Appreciate it."Frankly, we don't find it likely that Capcom would go to the trouble of actually remaking a Darkstalkers game. After all, it took serious effort to produce Street Fighter II HD Remix, and Darkstalkers has considerably more frames of animation that would have to be redrawn. However, Capcom has proven that it's not averse to listening to fans and re-releasing ports of older games, as evidenced by Marvel vs Capcom 2.So, how about it, Capcom, can we have a Darkstalkers re-release? An entirely new entry in the series would also be acceptable.[Thanks, Bruce! Image: UDON]
Our iTablet Dreams: What TUAW is wishing for
Last week the topic of the iTablet ranged into dream territory as we TUAWians discussed this speculative post over at Technologizer. Although some team members expressed reservations about the iTablet and its possible limitations, others of us let our hopes range free. With apologies to Robert Browning, at least I think it is Robert Browning, if our dreams do not exceed Apple's grasp, then what is the imagination for? So keeping that expansive philosophy in mind, here are the TUAW wishlists for the possibly probably upcoming tablet. Erica Sadun: While I'm still hoping for a dockable, one that works as a Snow Leopard desktop when docked and runs iPhone OS on the go, I'm not holding my breath either. Today's MacBook storage and battery options prove that with a dockable tablet, I could bring my entire world with me and use that world for reasonable periods of time -- but it would take a significant engineering effort to merge iPhone's ubiquitous touch screen technology with standard Mac OS X interaction models. So, will the tablet really run Snow Leopard? Er, probably not. But could you imagine a MacBook shell, where you could slide the tablet into a frame where the screen normally sits? That would be freaking awesome. Even as an iPhone-OS-only solution, an iTablet would provide wealth of on-the go applications through App Store. Assuming no great leaps forward beyond what we're already seeing in the iPhone OS 3.x SDK, an iTablet would be ready to provide existing iPhone capabilities with a beautiful big screen to work with. If I had to pick two features that I'd want to see added, though, they would be wireless support for external keyboards and ubiquitous TV-out. Although the on-screen keyboard is fine for tip-tapping data into fields, there will be times that a tablet user might want to unfold a portable Bluetooth keyboard and use that for data entry. TV-out support is currently limited to movie playback. Extending that to general application output would help position an iTablet better into the business presentation world. It would also be nice if an Apple Remote of some kind could be used with an iTablet. Even without these features, an iTablet limited to the current iPhone OS will be a major technology leap forward just due to the increased screen real estate. I can't wait to start playing with big-screen iPhone applications!
Loot hoping, and loot whining
Cryptos posts on the forums about a subject very near and dear to my heart: loot whining. It is one of my great flaws that whenever I get close to a boss that I know drops something I really want, I can't help but share my excitement with my fellow party members, and sometimes (more often then not, unfortunately for them) my guild members. I'm sorry to say that I'm the guy he's talking about-- I'm the guy that is about to fight Murmur telling the guild, "man I sure hope my pretty dress drops." And it's a sign of how amazing my guild really is that they put up with me talking about it all the time.But then again, loot is basically why we play the game in the first place. Shouldn't I, and players like me, be able to share with our fellow players what loot we're going for, to let them in on the stuff we hope we get? Is it right for this GM to actually threaten to disenchant a piece of loot, just because someone says they want it?I definitely agree it can go over the top-- one of my pet peeves is people who join a PUG and try to "reserve" not-yet-dropped items, especially when there are others in the party who would obviously roll on it. And for my part, I've already noticed that I should keep my loot hopes to myself-- my guild doesn't really care about me getting every little upgrade I want. But good loot is the reason why many of us play this game, and so it's only expected that we should be excited at the prospect of getting it, and want to share that with fellow players.
