Massively Multiplayer: Gaming In The New Millennium

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My bet is, sadly, panning out. I have to admit: I've never been a big fan of Microsoft or Apple as console developers. I understand the necessity of competition, but, like IOTL, I miss when game console makers were just that, video game companies first and foremost, rather then gaming arms of massive tech giants. Still, always sad to see a good company go.
 
I expect Samsung to enter the msrket soon after expecting to see Microsoft fall off a cliff into the annals of video gaming history...

I think its more likely that Samsung purchase the remnants of Microsoft's gaming division, similar to how Apple bought Sega's gaming division. With Apple and Nintendo-Sony in the market together, I doubt that the video game industry is going to be seen as an attractive place to start something from nothing.

teg
 
And that is probably due to the cost of making and marketing a console.
Indeed. I've heard it said that's why Nintendo is so low-tech, comparatively. They need to keep their consoles affordable, both to make and to buy, in order to stay competitive. And, of course, this also means they make the most consistent profits of any game developer, and their consoles are generally profitable right off the bat, whereas others can take years to make back their manufacturing costs. They also have a tremendous rainy day fund.
 
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I just want to say this as quickly as possible...

Between this and Player Two Start, you guys are absolutely perfect guys for this website. All I have to ask is if I would still exist ITTL. To get some facts into you guys, my mother loved the Atari 2600, my father once had an original Game Boy console, like the one from 1989, and I was born in 2002. Again, I'm hoping I do, but expecting the opposite.
 
I just want to say this as quickly as possible...

Between this and Player Two Start, you guys are absolutely perfect guys for this website. All I have to ask is if I would still exist ITTL. To get some facts into you guys, my mother loved the Atari 2600, my father once had an original Game Boy console, like the one from 1989, and I was born in 2002. Again, I'm hoping I do, but expecting the opposite.

Since the butterflies really started flying somewhere between 1993-1995 I’m afraid you likely were not born ITTL. I personally barely made it in TTL since my birthday was so close to the POD.
 
2009 was the year Messi-Ronaldo emerged as the greatest of the generation - where are they at now in ATL?
Seeing as both of them predate the POD it would be interesting to see if we lost or gained any great players, maybe in this ATL Owen Hargreaves wasn't made of glass or Original Ronaldo didn't have that terrible knee injury in 2000!

Hmmm... we might cover this in next year's sports update which will include the 2010 World Cup. Best to lump all of soccer together in one post.

How likely are the Rams to move back to LA ITTL? Sooner than OTL maybe.

Quite possibly, since the Rams are stinking it up at this time ITTL.

I just want to say this as quickly as possible...

Between this and Player Two Start, you guys are absolutely perfect guys for this website. All I have to ask is if I would still exist ITTL. To get some facts into you guys, my mother loved the Atari 2600, my father once had an original Game Boy console, like the one from 1989, and I was born in 2002. Again, I'm hoping I do, but expecting the opposite.

Aw, launch failures! At the very least, can I just suggest ideas for the future?

Yeah, you wouldn't exist (at least in the same way), but you're welcome to suggest things regardless!
 

AeroTheZealousOne

Monthly Donor
Microsoft To Shutter All X-Zone Locations By End Of Year

There is only one logical reaction to this:

Brittany: And that's all the time we have for tonight's interview here on Geek Radio. I want to thank my guest, the Arcade Historian Keith Smith, and I want to thank all of my listeners for being so awesome. I'll be back tomorrow night at 8 PM, and it'll be another fun night of video games, we'll be playing all RPG soundtracks tomorrow night so if you're into music from Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, Phantasy Star, you'll definitely want to tune in. I'm Brittany Saldita, and as always, "you play like a girl" is the best compliment you can possibly get. See you tomorrow!

-excerpted from the June 24, 2009 evening broadcast of Northstar Satellite Radio's Geek Radio channel

Damn, this is nice. Why can't we have nice things IOTL like this? OTOH, there is YouTube to stream it from, but the soundtrack butterflies would probably make most of it after Final Fantasy VI or even VII would be quite different. And then there's Chrono Infinite to think about...

However, many users are still leery of the product due to the failure of Vista, and say that they'll continue using XP and wait until more reviews are in.

I stayed with XP until late 2013, then jumped to 7, and I still have a computer or two that still runs yet not hooked up to the Internet. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

My bet is, sadly, panning out. I have to admit: I've never been a big fan of Microsoft or Apple as console developers. I understand the necessity of competition, but, like IOTL, I miss when game console makers were just that, video game companies first and foremost, rather then gaming arms of massive tech giants. Still, always sad to see a good company go.

The battle is not yet lost! Don't give up hope just yet, even though 2009 ITTL has arguably been a worse year than its OTL counterpart (with Billie Joe Armstrong dead and the Great Blackout so far, but IOTL it's Michael Jackson and...still the Great Recession).

Yeah, you wouldn't exist (at least in the same way), but you're welcome to suggest things regardless!

This applies to me, being born in 2001. Needless to say, the butterfly effect means I am a completely different person in development up to the present day, if I even do exist in some form or another, and to think that in the present day you have a whole generation of people original to this world... It's fascinating in its own right.
 
Why not? You may not exist in TTL but that doesn’t stop you from making suggestions in OTL. You must exist in OTL to write these messages, after all.

Thanks for that! Now that it's settled, I think that, if I saw the Super Smash Bros. Unleashed trailer for the first time, I would assume that Mario and possibly Link would join Donkey Kong as guest characters for Killer Instinct 4. Did anyone else believe this initially?
 
Spring 2009 (Part 12) - The Seventh-Gen Online Experience
So, you're finally picking up one of the current generation consoles, and you want to know which one has the best online. Or you've already got one (or two, or all three), and want to hop online and play against people from all over the world. Which console gives you the most bang for your online multiplayer buck? We'll break it down for you and list the pros and cons of each console's online experience.

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Nintendo Sapphire

Released in March 2008, the Nintendo Sapphire is the fourth home console collaboration between gaming powerhouse Nintendo and electronics giant Sony. It's the most powerful of the three current consoles, and already features a slew of great games, from excellent first-party titles such as Super Mario Flip, Mystic, and Big Bad Hero 2, to third-party exclusives such as Metal Gear Peace and Chrono Break, to versions of most of today's biggest multiplatformers such as Grand Theft Auto II and Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

How are the games?: If you're looking for online multiplayer titles on the Nintendo Sapphire, you might be a bit disappointed. The system boasts the smallest lineup of exclusive online games, but it does have the excellent fighting game Killer Instinct 4 and the awesome team shooter SOCOM 4. The SOCOM series is probably the best and most successful squad-based FPS on console, and the fourth iteration of the game is probably the best yet, with its beautiful HD graphics and really fun and creative missions, along with excellent competitive play. For all its positive aspects, it doesn't boast quite as many players as Modern Warfare 2, but you won't have much trouble finding a game. Gran Turismo 4 is also an excellent online title if you're into hardcore racing. If you just want to smash cars up, Twisted Metal Chaos is the best vehicular combat game of its generation, and also boasts a sizable online community. And games like Modern Warfare 2 play great and look great on the Sapphire. In fact, if you want to play Modern Warfare 2, the Sapphire is probably your best bet: the game looks slightly better on the Sapphire than on the Xbox 2, and much better than on the iTwin. The Sapphire player base is also somewhat less toxic than the Xbox 2 player base, at least from what we've seen.

How is the community?: And here's another aspect where the Sapphire falls somewhat short. While Sony (who runs Nintendo's online service, at least mostly) has done a great job with Nintendo's online interface, the Sapphire online service still boasts less users than either of its rivals, and matchmaking isn't quite as quick and easy. However, it's free to play, something that Microsoft can't boast (Xbox Live requires a subscription for online gameplay). The Sapphire's online interface has significantly improved from that of the Nintendo Wave, which could often be clunky and didn't have nearly as many players as Apple and Microsoft's services, making it sometimes troublesome to find a game. That said, the Sapphire's online community does tend to be somewhat more amicable than Microsoft's. People are more mature over voice chat, for the most part, and the system also boasts robust parental controls, allowing parents to disable certain features of online gameplay for younger players. The Sapphire's online service has come a long way from that of the Wave, and Nintendo's hands-off approach, allowing Sony to run most of the online community from both a technical and social aspect, has paid off. Expect the Sapphire's online service to continue to improve as more users sign up.

Apple iTwin

The Apple iTwin, while being the least powerful of the three current gen systems, is still powerful enough to run most current games in at least 720p, including hits like the aforementioned Grand Theft Auto II and Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. It launched with the excellent and groundbreaking Pixelworld, which continues to boast one of the biggest online player bases of any game on the market, and its motion controls and exclusive Sega franchises give it a unique edge over other, more powerful consoles. It's also the current market leader, continuing to sell at a pace slightly ahead of the Nintendo Sapphire. While it remains to be seen whether or not Apple can keep up this pace, the iTwin is certainly going to end up being the best selling non-Nintendo console of all time, a title currently held by the original Microsoft Xbox (narrowly over the Sega Genesis).

How are the games?: Depending on what your gaming pleasure is, the iTwin probably boasts the best online slate of any console on the market, and perhaps of all time. Pixelworld is a massive, growing community of players creating and destroying together, and Apple is constantly adding new content to the mix, enhancing the game even more. Every iTwin sold comes with a copy of the game, so there's no added buy-in to join the Pixelworld community. If you own an iTwin, you own Pixelworld, and you can literally spend thousands of hours on the game, probably the closest thing a console will ever get to having a SimSociety. However, if competitive multiplayer is more your speed, the puzzler Chu Chu Rockets is an outstanding and fiercely competitive game, and still boasts a large playerbase. Apple also has exclusivity to the 2K Sports franchises: NBA 2K, NHL 2K, and World Series Baseball 2K. NBA 2K is probably the best basketball franchise on console, and NBA 2K9 is the most widely played online baseball title on the market. There's also Virtua Fighter 6, a fun fighting game that, while in our opinion isn't quite as good as Killer Instinct 4, should suffice for most 2-D fighting game fans. There aren't a lot of exclusive shooters, but No One Lives 4Ever is a decent game, if a bit bare-bones in comparison to other FPS titles. Then there's Phantasy Star Online 2, a massive, sprawling online RPG universe that's not only well populated with hundreds of thousands of players at any given time, but is also free to play once the base game (which usually can be found on sale for as low as 20 dollars) is purchased.

How is the community?: In a word, thriving. SegaNet has existed in some form for the past 13 years, and continues to form the core of Apple's connected online service. Each game has its own community, consisting of a Friendster-style online message board where players can make challenges and post about their favorite games, and most of these communities are well-moderated, enough to keep out most of the riff-raff that plagues a lot of online gaming communities. These communities can be accessed from any Apple device, including the iTwin and the iPhone, and also through the iTunes service as well. It's easy to find friends and potential opponents on the SegaNet service, though it's not quite as easy to find hardcore competition as it is on Xbox Live. The SegaNet service seems more tuned to casual players, with most games lacking in ranking ladders, and tournament play also a challenge to find for most games. However, for some players, that might be a benefit, as the focus on "fun" play instead of hardcore play leads to less overall hostility toward newer players or during heated matches. SegaNet is currently the most popular console gaming community. Unlike Nintendo's service, it costs 49.99 per year to play most games, but the SegaNet subscription comes with a slew of perks, including free downloadable games and access to premium community features, making it arguably a better deal than the similarly priced Xbox Live service. SegaNet also includes family-friendly features, with robust parental controls. It's Nintendo's service, but with a lot more polish, and is arguably one of the best reasons to buy an iTwin.

Microsoft Xbox 2

The Xbox 2 was the earliest of the current generation consoles to be released, launching in late 2006. It started off strong, but faded somewhat with the launch of the iTwin, and faded bigtime with the launch of the Sapphire. It's currently the least best selling of the current gen consoles on the market, and that's counting its 16 month head start over the Sapphire. However, it's a powerful console, with about 80 percent as much under the hood as the Sapphire, and at a hundred dollars less than either of its rival consoles, it might just be the best deal out there.

How are the games?: Pretty damn good, actually. In addition to being able to play most of the current multiplatform hits, it boasts some incredible online titles such as Cyberwar 3 and Techno Angel: Immortal. And for all the thrashing it got from reviewers, The Covenant 3 is still a pretty good online third person shooter, and continues to boast a huge community. The Modern Warfare 2 player base is also the biggest of the three consoles, though the Sapphire has been catching up recently. Predator is a ton of fun, and U.S. Army Rangers: Confrontation is a splendid squad-based shooter, arguably better than SOCOM 4. If you love playing online shooters, you'll absolutely want to play them on the Xbox 2. It's still the best system around to play FPS titles on, and has some of the best exclusives in the genre. However, as for other genres, you might be better off somewhere else. There aren't any major online RPGs to speak of, and the sports games on the Xbox 2 aren't as good as the ones on Nintendo and Apple's consoles (though it does boast an outstanding Madden community). Business IS about to pick up if you're a racing fan, as Forza Motorsport 3 is coming out very soon. However, if you already have Forza 2, there are still plenty of players on that game, and so it's not quite as big a deal as the launch of a new shooter title might be.

How is the community?: For all the flak the Xbox community gets about player toxicity, it's actually not as bad as some would have you believe. There are plenty of fun people out there who just want to have a good time playing Cyberwar 3 and Modern Warfare 2, and the Xbox Live community is almost as big as the SegaNet community and probably boasts more serious players. Xbox Live's matchmaking system makes it easy to find a good, competitive match, and there are tournaments practically every day for most of the popular games, especially Cyberwar 3. Cyberwar 3 might just be the best online FPS of all time, even better than Modern Warfare 2: it boasts a slew of fun modes, has literally millions of players, and has a thriving competitive community. Even though it's trailing in sales, the Xbox 2 and Xbox Live aren't going anywhere anytime soon, and Xbox Live is probably the best place on console to find a squad you can party up with on a consistent basis.

The Verdict:

If you're buying a console strictly for online play, we'd recommend the iTwin or the Xbox 2. The Nintendo Sapphire's online community is definitely "good enough", and getting better every day, but it doesn't quite have the user base or the game selection that Apple and Microsoft's networks do. From there, decide what your favorite genre of game to play online is and you're all set. If you're looking for strictly competitive play or a good shooter, the Xbox 2 is your system. Looking for a casual or co-op experience with a wider range of genres, such as puzzle games, fighting games, and RPGs? Get the Apple iTwin. That said, online gaming on console has never been better, and will probably never be worse. More and more players are getting faster and faster connections each day, the number of online games continues to grow, and the games themselves are getting better and better. Our personal choice for favorite online console community would be the iTwin, but we might change our mind to the Xbox 2, if only it could get a good exclusive MMORPG...

-from an article on Kotaku.com, posted on June 30, 2009
 
On exclusive MMORPGs, I'm surprised Final Fantasy Online was not discussed in the Sapphire segment.

Won't be out until 2010, so they felt it wasn't quite time to discuss it.

The original Wave version IS backward compatible on the Sapphire, but it looks very much like a sixth generation game.
 
Really shows why the iTwin is doing so well. Nintendo might do better with exclusives and Microsoft has better online services, but Apple seems very close in both regards without faltering on the other end.
 
I didn't even consider how I might be different ITTL because of butterflies and such... hopefully I would be a better and more popular person ITTL than I am OTL...
 
Speaking of the Nintendo Sapphire, I have a proposal: A later model, or even the successor console, ditches backwards compatibility of all SNES-CD and early Ultra Nintendo games. Yes, this does unfortunately mean that you would be forced to purchase them on the digital service, or even hack into the system, which would be an easy task to behold if you have previously taken apart any modern TTL Nintendony console at this rate.
 
Figured this would be interesting for some of you.
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