Ranting on the future of video games

It's been quite some time since I've posted anything on this blog that nobody reads. Mainly, there hasn't been any one topic worth dedicating an entire post to rant about. There have been quite a lot of little things worth ranting about, which I've been saving up. I felt it was time to get started again.

Big-budget syndrome

One of my lifelong passions is gaming. On the video game side of things, there's been a lot of talk about the impending doom of the triple-A game. I think there's some merit to this discussion, but I also think the death of triple-A games is still greatly exaggerated. One part of this argument that's definitely true: spending $100 million to make a game is no longer a guarantee that it will succeed. 

I want to love GTA Online.

I really do, but it's so very hard when the game seems more interested in frustrating me. Today, for example, I had just figured out how to obtain a helicopter for a mission that pretty much requires it (you could possibly parachute out of a plane, but that would require some serious precision). I had obtained the helicopter, and was just positioning myself to land to pick up my co-op partners. My screen went black, and GTA Online informed me that my connection had just timed out.

Kerbals (almost) on Duna

Kerbal Space Prorgam can be breathtakingly beautiful at times.
Pictured: one of my first orbiters.

I finally put in a serious effort in to get to Duna (Mars) in KSP. It was an epic journey that taught me a lot about orbital mechanics.

Some new parts that KSP added finally allowed me to make a decent orbital fuel delivery vehicle (kind of a requirement for inter-planetary missions). No more franken-rocket creations that ultimately fall short or wind up using the fuel they were meant to lift (if they don't blow up before either event). I now had a system that could get full tanks into orbit reliably. I still need to work on my space station's design, but that's another project for another day. Much like NASA, I'm more interested in going to Duna than practical stuff like making it easier to do so with a much more functional space station. Who needs practicality in space anyway?

Where No Greed Has Gone Before

I've been a Star Trek Online player for a while. I'm a huge Trek nerd, and just a huge nerd in general. I genuinely enjoyed it for the several months that it took to get my Federation character to level 50. That all came to a crashing halt last night when I ran into the level 50 pay wall. You see, up until now, a new ship was provided for free every ten levels. It was a pretty cool incentive, and it made me want to keep pushing to the next milestone. When you hit level 50, though, you run headlong into a wall of greed. Free ships end at level 40. If you want a level 50 ship, it'll cost you $25. Oh, there's one you can get if you've been an uninterrupted subscriber for nearly four years. Or you can join a fleet and grind. And grind, and grind. Of course, you can't just buy $25 worth of Zen (Perfect World's version of Microsoft Points). No, you have to buy at least $30 worth to cover it.

I have never been slapped so hard by the greed of an MMO's publisher. Granted, I haven't made it to the level cap in Old Republic yet, so I can only imagine what's in store there. I uninstalled Star Trek Online about 20 minutes after hitting level 50. I won't be back. Greed like this needs to be punished, severely. This kind of crap perpetuates itself because idiots are willing to pay it. Then they complain about it. Publishers don't give a crap if you complain about it... you're still paying them money, so they're going to keep doing it. STOP. PAYING. THEM.

"Next Gen" Consoles

Holy crap, it's been a long time since I posted anything here. Partly I've always felt this was for longer rants, and most of what I've been ranting about lately counts up to only a few hundred words (that and I doubt anyone actually reads this blog, other than spammers). I usually post those on Google+. There hasn't been much of anything worthy of a long rant until now. As you can see by the headline, it's about this whole next gen console thing. Which I could care less about, really. Yes, I consider myself a member of that glorious master race that are PC gamers.

From the depths of the Nakri system...

It's as if 110 million ISKies cried out, and then were suddenly silenced.

[caption id="attachment_14" align="alignright" width="300" caption="An Abaddon firing all eight guns."][/caption]

Yes, I built another battleship in Eve. Why? That's a good question.