Common Paradox Tech Blog

Seeing Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland” on its opening night was a surprisingly illuminating experience for me. For one, I learned that – in my case, at least – introspection and trying to not get trampled by an ocean-like mass of 200 some-odd frothing, cosplaying fans are activities that go hand-in-hand. But as I watched/avoided becoming a doormat for a bunch of Wonderland wannabes, I realized something else: these people didn’t brave the cold (and the dark corners of their parents’ closets) because of their undying love for the timeless tale of Alice and her oddball companions. They did it because Tim Burton’s name was attached to the film. It could have been Tim Burton’s “Barney the Dinosaur” and they’d all have donned purple dinosaur costumes in a heartbeat.

I highly doubt that Infinity Ward’s planned not-Modern Warfare 3 project would’ve been received with such open arms. And evidently, so does Activision.

After all, former Infinity Ward bosses Jason West and Vince Zampella felt so creatively confined as to allegedly defy their contract with Activision and start making eyes EA, so clearly someone wasn’t exactly gung-ho about the Call of Duty creator’s bold new direction. Knowing Infinity Ward, though, regardless of the form the new project took, it probably would’ve been a fantastic game. So what gives? Well, at this point, I can only speculate, but money talks, and it’s telling me that Infinity Ward’s mystery game simply wasn’t a guaranteed mega-hit like Modern Warfare 3’s destined to be. Activision, in case you’d forgotten, likes money quite a lot.

So, what’s our Hot Topic-friendly pal Tim Burton have to do with all of this? Well, like many other big-name directors, he’s a commodity all on his own. Fans flock to theaters to see his movies – regardless of whether or not they’re associated with a well-known brand. Generally speaking, the same cannot be said when it comes to gamers and triple-A development studios. Hell, I’d wager the majority of Modern Warfare fans don’t even know what an “Infinity Ward” is.

Which is a problem. A big problem, in fact. So long as gamers see Infinity Ward as “those guys who make Modern Warfare” and, say, Bungie as “those guys who make Halo,” publishers like Activision and Microsoft will be able to push them around. (Hell, Bungie was even forced to buy back its freedom from Microsoft in order to finally work its way off the never-ending Halo assembly line.) We can ramble on-and-on about how much we want innovative ideas and original IPs until we’re blue in the face, but money will always have more wind in its lungs.

And sadly, even execs who seem to stick their fingers in their ears and scream “lalalalala” can still hear what gamers’ money is saying: “More of Big-Name Franchise X! More, more, more!” Need evidence? Look no further than Call of Duty, whose development changes hands every other year, yet its sales never miss a beat. That development strategy works because we let it work. Or rather, because we add fuel to its fire.

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Believe it or not, game developers are very creative people. Many of them are chomping at the bit to push boundaries and forge new paths, yet time and time again, they’re stuck working on the same franchise for five-to-ten years at a time. And while it’s easy to point the finger at corporate greed and save your conscience from a little heavy lifting, the reality remains that we’re in a position to do so much more than that. If we start paying more attention to who’s making the games we play and less to what those games claim to be, we’ll be much better for it. After all, the wolf claimed to be Little Red Riding Hood’s grandmother, but that didn’t stop him from swallowing her whole the first chance he got. It’s not the name that matters; it’s the person behind it.

By only judging our proverbial books by their covers and not reading further into who created them, we risk allowing quality to suffer as well. It’s simple logic, after all: if you can spend less time and money on a project but still reap just as large of a profit from it, why go the extra mile at all? For that reason alone, it simply doesn’t make sense for us to ignore people in favor of brands, yet for some reason, many gamers do it anyway.

So, what happens when gamers actually start valuing creative talent? That’s when we get developers like Valve, Blizzard, and BioWare. When these developers dive headlong into a “risky” new project, gamers’ fears of the unknown take a backseat to reassuring utterances of “Oh, it’s Valve” or “BioWare’s never let us down before.” And lo and behold: those developers are dishing out some of the most interesting, innovative games in the business, and we’re eating them up. Dragon Age and Left 4 Dead are two of the most successful new IPs in years. And believe it or not, at one point, World of Warcraft was a tremendous “risk” on Blizzard’s part. Just look how that turned out.

It’s a mutually beneficial system, you see. We get better games and developers get to move forward, unconstrained by demanding publishers and fearful investors. Of course, right now, Valve, Blizzard, and BioWare are exceptions to the rule. It remains to be seen, then, if this particular exception can become the rule. Oh hey, would you look at that? Is that a ball? Did it just bounce into your court? Well, that’s some excellent timing. I had this big concluding paragraph prepared, but the improbably convenient ball-court symbol’s so much more effective. So I think I’ll just leave it at that.  

Wait. You read that headline and still chose – of your own volition – to read this article? Either you really love us or your fun radar needs a good tune-up, but either way, we like you more than we like all of our other readers.
 
With that said, the StarCraft II Beta is live. That is, playable. Right now. Here’s your complimentary link to the Battle.net site where you can download the full 1.64 GB beta client and jump right into the action. Well, ok, the file’s pretty big, so you might not be jumping right into the action so much as you’ll be queuing up the action so you can maybe dive into it tomorrow after work.

Aw, who are we kidding? You’re skipping work tomorrow. In fact, something tells us a large portion of the world is about to come down with "a headache… er, a cough… and I think I might have a fever too."

With StarCraft II Betawatch levels recently being upped to code red, Blizzard’s emerged from its cone of silence. But this is Blizzard we’re talking about, so obviously, baby steps. No actual release date just yet, but here are some gameplay details to hold you over.

“StarCraft II beta testers will be able to play a number of ranked multiplayer modes, include multiplayer ladder quick match, which has 1v1, 2v2, and free-for-all (FFA) modes. In addition, testers will be able to play unranked custom matches. We are not testing the single-player campaign of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty during the beta period,” reads the FAQ.

Note, however, that – for those of you who aren’t so confident in your ability to not be torn to shreds by people who’ve been playing StarCraft since before you were born – CPU opponents are an option.

Also of note: Blizzard plans to bring more testers aboard the SS StarCraft II based on its “testing needs,” so just because you don’t nab a golden ticket right away doesn’t mean you won’t get in eventually.

Click through the link for the rest of the FAQ. It is, in fact, handy. And really, that’s all you can ask for. Aside from a release date (*hint, hint*).

You’ve watched. You’ve waited. More than once, you’ve probably lost all hope, given in to despair, and cursed Blizzard’s name while holding your beta key inches away from an open flame. Well, watch, wait, and get all melodramatic no more, because the StarCraft II beta’s been cleared for take-off, and it’s launching “this month,” according to Blizzard.

The news came during a conference call today, straight from Blizzard boss Mike Morhaime. StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, meanwhile, is still on track to release in “mid 2010.”

Is there anything more to say? You will be playing StarCraft II in less than 30 days. If you’re not leaping up-and-down while squealing like a big man imitating a little girl, you might want to check yourself into a morgue, because you’re dead.

We – as in, this particular blogger – don’t actually play World of Warcraft anymore, but we still have something of a personal stake the Lich King’s passing. Arthas’ fall – or his whiplash-inducing plunge, really – in Warcraft III still remains one of our favorite gaming stories, so it’s a bit surreal to just wake up one morning and find out that someone offed the old cold king. We always figured we’d get to close the book on what we started when we yanked Frostmourne from the ice all those years ago, preferably in some form of RTS. 

Even so, congratulations are in order. A guild by the name of “Blood Legion” did the deed, earning the title of “Kingslayer,” along with a World First achievement and – hopefully – a single night off from their assuredly rigorous raiding schedule.  This, of course, also means that Blizzard’s officially run out of drops of Lich King content to drip-feed players. Until the run-up to Cataclysm kicks-off, don’t count on any new content or real estate for the biggest MMO on the block.

But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. There are plenty – perhaps too many – fish in the MMOcean, and even the hardest of hardcore WoW players should now be able to find time in their schedules to sample them. Or, we guess you could go outside or take a vacation or something, but we hear that murdering 30 boars and stealing their innards is actually frowned upon out there. Best to stick with what you know, after all.

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty was originally thought to be a Terran-only shindig, but according to a recent Blizzard forum post, the Protoss are crashing the party. Just don’t expect the Terran campaign to be overtaken by a Zerg rush… of Protoss. Wait. We’re confusing ourselves. Please, take a bucket to this sinking ship, Blizzard Europe poster “Xordiah”:

“I won’t go into details, since we don’t give out information on the campaign of StarCraft 2, but I can confirm that there will be a Protoss mini-campaign that lets you control Protoss units,” Xordiah said. “This part of the campaign mode is of course way shorter than the Terran part, but it is very fun to have a very different playstyle to add even more variety to the game. I am sure every Protoss fan will love this part of the Campaign!”
 
“That being said, the Protoss mini-campaign will not prepare you for the multiplayer as Protoss, you won’t be using all units or getting to know buildings and upgrades,” the Blizzard employee added.

The Protoss’ main course, meanwhile, won’t be along until StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void drops. And seeing as it’s the third piece of StarCraft II’s campaign, “several years” may pass before the stars align in the ‘toss’ favor again. But hey, there are worse things than waiting to play as some crummy old alien race with all kinds of neato warp technology that we barely even care about anymore.
 
Things like denial, for instance!

Gotta say, it’s a bit ironic that a blood-soaked week of virtual warfare – during which, more than twelve million casualties met their abrupt, though most assuredly excruciating ends – is the perfect template for videogame immortality. But hey, when happenstance writes my jokes for me, who am I to complain? And so it is with Valve’s Team Fortress 2.

As you’re probably already aware, last week saw Valve launch its latest update for the now two year-old Team Fortress 2. Which, in videogame years, roughly equates to dead. And a half. At the very least, you’d expect the public eye – easily distracted as it is — to have wandered elsewhere by now, leaving Valve’s wacky shooter to the vultures and tumbleweeds of the world. But it hasn’t. War, as with each of TF2’s other updates, grabbed all kinds of attention – even as newer games like Modern Warfare 2 watched jealously from the outside.

So, why hasn’t interest in Team Fortress 2 faded over the years? Well, I can’t uncover the entire recipe for Valve’s incredibly intricate immortality potion, but I can outline one of its major ingredients: presentation. When Valve gives TF2 a tune-up, it does so with style. While other developers are content to toss their DLC out into the cold, harsh world with little more than a press release to keep it warm, Valve rolls out the proverbial red carpet with comics, videos, week-long Advent Calendar-style reveals, and – most recently – in-game competitions.

The result? People notice. And in a news scene where top blogs’ biggest selling points involve “X-gazillion number of updates per day,” that’s saying something. In response to this trend, Valve has mastered the art of the drip-feed. One day, a new item, the next day, a new level, etc. Drip, drop, drip, drop. Along with comics, videos, and the like, then, Valve’s TF2 updates aren’t simply garden variety DLC; they’re bonafied events. And when people see all this fervor and excitement – partially manufactured though it may be — surrounding a single game, how can they not get a little curious? Only a few clicks later, they’re giving the game a try.

This is – at least, in part — how Team Fortress 2 has managed to keep the notoriously attention-deficient gaming world locked in for so long. And Valve’s not the only successful developer to make use of this method, either. You’ve almost certainly heard of – and probably played – a little game by the name of “World of Warcraft.” Blizzard, too, gets people talking about its updates with a slow drip of in-game events, cinematic trailers, and things of the like. Is that the only reason Blizzard’s opus is five years-old , yet – improbably enough — 11.5 million players strong? Of course not. But there’s a trend here, and it’s well worth noting.

Here’s hoping more developers decide to take a page from Valve’s book and go the extra mile with their DLC. Keeping a game alive is a tricky balancing act, and these days, what developers do outside the game matters just as much as what goes on inside it.  

Updates to Diablo II, porn star gamer dating tips and the total of taxpayer dollars going to funding the Army’s video game—all great stories you can read over on Kotaku this week:

Dead Space 2: Multiplayer, Bigger World, Space-Floating
This could be both fun and nauseating!

Ever Wonder How Much Money Has Been Sunk Into America’s Army?
You don’t want to know.

Five Steps to Total Pwnage of a Gamer Girl’s Heart
In case you didn’t have the attention span to take all 10 prerequisite steps.

Xbox 360 Game Helps You Talk To Girls
No it doesn’t.

Pokemon Teaches Your Children To Worship Satan
No no, Pokemon IS Satan.

Blizzard Patches Diablo II, Beta Test It Now
My old discs are about 5 feet away…

PlayStation Home Director Wants “Mini-MMOs” On The Service
Interesting idea.

Frankenreview: The Legend Of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
Spoiler: the reviews deem it excellent.

EA CEO: “I Think Of Pirates As A Marketplace”
A marketplace that’s just been robbed.

A story at the BBC takes a look at the use of private game servers for games that tend not to allow them. While most gamers are happy to let companies like Blizzard and NCSoft administer the servers that host their MMORPGs, others want different rules, a cheaper way to play, or the technical challenge of setting up their own. A South African player called Hendrick put up his own WoW server because the game “wasn’t available in the country at the time.” A 21-year-old Swede created a server called Epilogue, which “had strict codes of conduct and rules, as well as a high degree of customized content (such as new currency, methods of earning experience, the ability to construct buildings and hire non-player characters, plus ‘permanent’ player death) unavailable in the retail version of the game.” The game companies make an effort to quash these servers when they can, though it’s frequently more trouble that it’s worth. An NCSoft representative referenced the “growing menace” of IP theft, and a Blizzard spokesperson said,”We also have a responsibility to our players to ensure the integrity and reliability of their World of Warcraft gaming experience and that responsibility compels us to protect our rights.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

If a speed run is the videogame equivalent of a 100 meter dash, then a WoW character by the name of “Little Gray” just won the Tour De France. On foot.

The character – given virtual life by a Taiwanese power-player – completed 5,906 quests, killed 390,895 creatures, and raided 405 dungeons en route to unlocking all 986 of WoW’s achievements, effectively 100% clearing the game.

Well, mostly. Little Gray hasn’t quite bagged the elusive “B.B. King” event-based achievement, but a glitched PVP achievement still brings his grand total up to 986.

According to WoW Armory, Mr. Gray hasn’t logged-in since November 23. We wish we could say he’s finally hung up his tier 9 pauldrons and moved on to some other game, but – having spent far more time with the game than we’d like to admit long before achievements turned its addiction factor up to 11 – we imagine he’s simply started an alt.