Multiplayer mania - August 7th, 1999 - Andrew Kaufmann
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this column are those of the participants and the moderator, and do not necessarily reflect those of the GIA. There is coarse language and potentially offensive material afoot.
GIA headquarters has been receiving many emails from hysterical fans wondering
why they can't reach our new community section.
Well, it turns out the problem was that yours truly forgot to update the serial
number in the zone file. Translated into English, I oopsed. Things should work
all crackerjack now, though.
| The music issue |
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Hi, I've recently heard some of the music CDs of the final fantasy
series which are not an original sound track from the game. I've heard
Final Fantasy Grand Finale, Final Fantasy Love Grows, and Final Fantasy
Pray, and I did not like them one bit. Yuck. Who makes these albums?
Final Fantasy Symphonic Suite was okay, but I couldn't really enjoy it.
So....who makes these albums and why?
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I guess this is a prime time to use a few cliches. "To each his own."
"Different strokes for different folks." "One man's trash is another
man's treasure." I think you get the idea. I personally think FF Symphonic
Suite, Love Will Grow, and Pray are great albums. Before you call me too
weird, I also like Smashing Pumpkins, Goo Goo Dolls, and R.E.M. Music is
such a personal thing, that what sounds horrible to some people is absolute
beauty to another. I listen to Nine Inch Nails, I hear noise. Others listen,
they hear musical majesty.
To answer your exact question, though, the CDs are made in Japan and done by
live orchestras. They make them because they like the music. I bet there are
a bunch of Japanese people (and American people, for that matter..) that hear
something by Hanson and wonder how in the world those losers got famous.
OK, so the Hanson comment was a little hypocritical based on my initial speech
about musical tolerance. Sorry. I can't help it. They really grate.
| A scam? |
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Dear Father,
Did you fake a letter, AK? In the letter 'Nine is enough' by Nick-bo,
Nick-bo says '9) Where my girls are Andy? Where my girls at?'. That
implies he knows who he's talking to, who is YOU, AK! Am I right? Can
I have a live parakeet whether I'm right or not?
"The black wind howls..."
-Crono ZX
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Crono, Crono, Crono. Always looking for the worst in people. That email was
dated August 1. It was a holdover from weekend when I did letters. I didn't
feel like answering it then, so I stuck it in my to-answer-later box.
| Insulting the Internet |
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Actually, there won't just be one net provider for the Dreamcast. The 'official' provider is AT&T, but you can use any service.
Also, I heard something about Sega testing cable modem use with the Dreamcast, so perhaps lagless netplay is in the Dreamcast's future, after all. Provided you are lucky enough to have access to a cable modem, anyway...
- Minion
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Well, if the Dreamcast will go over the Internet, there goes any possibility
of reliability. Even when you're on cable modem or ethernet speed, you're
going to hit bottlenecks that can really slow down an action-packed game.
The backbones aren't keeping up with the exponential growth of the Internet,
and the introduction of widespread high-speed access via DSL and cable modems
hasn't helped the backbones catch up. Good programming and minimal data
transfer is going to be very important for good performance over the Internet.
| Multiplayer games |
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Hi,
This letter is in response to yesterday's letter by ReigunRed (which was also a response to a previous letter) about multiplayer gaming.
Being an avid Quake and Starcraft player myself, I have to say that several key factors must be addressed when assessing multiplayer gaming. As ReigunRed says, multiplayer is not built on lots of people playing a large single player version of the game. Obviously, games are custom-made to be multiplayer oriented. Playing the games WELL is also ridiculously hard - if any Quake veteran sees people getting a thrill out of Goldeneye, he'll laugh heartily. Let's see what makes Quake and Starcraft so successful:
1) A LOT of competition. We have Battle.net and the PGL to thank for that. Oh, and the thing behind it all, the Internet. For these games, online play was literally out of the box. Things like Battle.net, QuakeWorld and GameSpy really helped these games take off, creating an INSTANT pool of many, many competitors. (BTW, Red is absolutely right - pAul has no clue how difficult SC and Quake are. Hardly frantic. HARDLY.)
2) EXPANDABILITY. This is REALLY important. Quake is fun precisely because it is expandable. (Can anyone say Team Fortress?) So is Starcraft - maps keep getting added, you can make your own maps and send them over to other players, and Blizzard periodically patches the game to tweak the balance between the three races.
The two factors above are important to consider when looking at console online gaming. Unless console games have ways of updating themselves, multiplayer will stagnate. And without the intense competition, multiplayer will stagnate. I think it's going to take the next-next-generation systems to really put the console online gaming market on some sort of shaky footing, and perhaps it can take off from there. The DC doesn't have a prayer. Maybe a cult following, but no sure foothold. To really drive the market a console has to be VERY expandable and versatile (and this shouldn't come with a steep pricetag) - let's see what happens.
- Leviathan
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That was a long letter. It makes some good points, though. I do disagree with
calling the Dreamcast dead in the water, however. It's too early too tell. A
market can do surprising things and is really unpredictable... 4 years ago, who'd
have seen Sony becoming kings of the video game market? Not me, that's for sure.
I thought all Sony did was make TVs. The Dreamcast has some stuff going for it,
and if gaming companies make good games for it, the system will flourish. In
theory.
| Brian Glick, Karate Kid? Hm... |
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I recently came upon an Internet rumor that popular GIA staffer "Brian
Glick" is in fact just the working pseudonym for a devastated Ralph Macchio,
still trying to find direction in his life and arise from the shambles of a
once promising career that died along with the 80s after he enjoyed brief
success as Daniel-san in the Karate Kid movies. Is this true?
Concerned Reader
|
I understand your concern. I had heard these rumors before, but this letter
prompted me to confront Mr. Glick about the allegations. He grew instantly
silent, stopping in the middle of his "hilarious" story about a rutabega
farmer that called him for tech support. He coughed and immediately left,
and no one has heard from him since.
Brian, if this rumor is true, come forth and admit to the truth. We'll all
still love you. And maybe, just maybe, we can help you get your career
back on track. I hear there's a new Lassie movie and they need a new Timmy.
| A lovely compliment |
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This letter column sucks. You are worse than Drew. You need to go dig
yourself a grave a the beach.
--Eggshit
|
Hey look everyone, it's our old buddy Eggman. He's legendary around here,
and we were kinda worried that he had crawled off somewhere and found a life.
We were all relieved to find out he's alive and well and trying to insult people
everywhere. Eggman, I salute you!
| Another thing about Internet stuff |
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Well, lag definitely will kill some of the current console title
concepts, to be sure -- could you imagine Bushido Blade on a 600 ms
ping? Still, this area has some pretty crappy, old phone lines --
sometimes I can't find a server with a ping under 400 -- and I win Quake
games pretty often.
Like AK said, a lot of it is protocol. Another big one is designing the
game with the lag in mind. In Quake, with a high ping, you're not going
to get too many direct hits -- as a result, many of the weapons are
automatic, or have splash damage (rocket launcher) or scatter
(shotgun). The only real exception's the railgun -- but to be honest
with you, on a consistent server, that's not much of a problem either.
Really, this conversation seems almost irrelevant on The GIA anyway. FF
Tactics would work perfectly over a modem. So would most ATB-type
battle engines. Zelda-like games might be tricky, but I'm sure you
could still make them work.
Basically, I agree that lag is horrendous -- but it's nothing clever
game design couldn't fix.
--Hamato Yoshi
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Man, I love it when people agree with me. It makes me feel smart. You have
a point that the GIA doesn't cover that type of game... but it's a letters
column, we don't follow the rules. Drew and I make it a special point to turn
in library books late.
| A surefire way to get a letter printed |
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Hey, Andrew Kaufmann! I love you sooooo much! You're so funny! Can I bear your children!?
Please say yes!!!!!
LuvRGrrl
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LuvRGrrl (is that your real name?), I appreciate the flaterring offer, but I really
think we should get to know each other first. You know, dinner, maybe a movie.
I'll let you choose the flick. Call me.
here's your $20 good job
Closing Comments
Well, I thought about going through and grouping the letters, and ordering them
in a meaningful way. Like, put the Dreamcast and multiplayer letters together,
then print the flame letter countered by the adoring fan letter. Then I realized
that that's too much trouble, and that it would be much easier to simply talk about
what I might have done.
Peace.
-Andrew Kaufmann
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