X3 has some decent dogfights, and also gives you the option to pilot a capital ship, but it's still only one game, and we used to have tons.fast wrote:Good call. We havent had a bang up space dogfight in almost a decade.
The rise of FPS's and the fall of multiplayer...!
Re: The rise of FPS's and the fall of multiplayer...!
Blizzard Entertainment Software Developer - All comments and views are my own and not representative of the company.
Re: The rise of FPS's and the fall of multiplayer...!
If it's alright I'd like to talk on about the ways that codevelopment of PC and console games has influenced both mediums with regard to the FPS. The big thing about FPS's these days imo is the death of deathmatch, though props to Quake Live for bringing it back. Deathmatch is the simplest implementation of multiplayer FPS, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with it. It is just as valid and deep a genre as class-based teamplay, so why has it declined so in recent years?
Well Battlefield 1942 really kicked off the class-based teamplay FPS. It was an excellent game, and it was radically different from the deathmatch genre in that the most valuable skills were not acute spatial awareness and precise "twitch" mouse control, but strategy, tactics and overall game-state awareness. In BF1942 it was not enough to be aware of the single moment; one had to be aware of the game as a whole. One had to think, "Where does my team need me right now?" It was an excellent game.
Here we get to the hardware. While the limitations of an Xbox or PS controller severely hamper one's ability to excel at and hence appreciate deathmatch gameplay, they leave the core skills required for class-based teamplay relatively unfucked with. And that's basically it right there. The inevitable codevelopment of PC/Console titles resulted in a proliferation of classbased teamplay FPS's (which are incidentally unplayable in a 4-player split screen scenario as the game dynamic ((unlike deathmatch)) requires two large teams who must both be kept in the ((Perfect)) dark as to what the other is doing) because it is precisely that genre of multiplayer FPS that can succeed as a game on both platforms.
And now, sadly, everyone thinks that the FPS just evolved past deathmatch, as if it was an infantile, like, pupate stage of multiplayer gaming (false). It is merely a genre which, due to market forces, has fallen into (I hope) temporary disrepute.
Well Battlefield 1942 really kicked off the class-based teamplay FPS. It was an excellent game, and it was radically different from the deathmatch genre in that the most valuable skills were not acute spatial awareness and precise "twitch" mouse control, but strategy, tactics and overall game-state awareness. In BF1942 it was not enough to be aware of the single moment; one had to be aware of the game as a whole. One had to think, "Where does my team need me right now?" It was an excellent game.
Here we get to the hardware. While the limitations of an Xbox or PS controller severely hamper one's ability to excel at and hence appreciate deathmatch gameplay, they leave the core skills required for class-based teamplay relatively unfucked with. And that's basically it right there. The inevitable codevelopment of PC/Console titles resulted in a proliferation of classbased teamplay FPS's (which are incidentally unplayable in a 4-player split screen scenario as the game dynamic ((unlike deathmatch)) requires two large teams who must both be kept in the ((Perfect)) dark as to what the other is doing) because it is precisely that genre of multiplayer FPS that can succeed as a game on both platforms.
And now, sadly, everyone thinks that the FPS just evolved past deathmatch, as if it was an infantile, like, pupate stage of multiplayer gaming (false). It is merely a genre which, due to market forces, has fallen into (I hope) temporary disrepute.
Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for me.
Re: The rise of FPS's and the fall of multiplayer...!
I'd actually take it back further, saying it started with the release of Team Fortress mod for Quake in 1996. It was a popular mod that grew and then managed to find itself hitting a bigger community with he Half Life remake in 1999, Team Fortress Classic. At its inception, TFC rivaled Counter-Strike in terms of the number of gamers playing it. Servers were plentiful and always full. One of my younger brothers had been into Team Fortress, so when we got Half Life he willingly made the jump and pulled me with him, and I never looked back. It's unfortunate that external forces pretty much killed TFC in the states, because after September 11, 2001, a good chunk of the player base switched to Sounter-Strike so they could "shoot terrorists," and TFC dwindled in popularity in the states.
Still, an amazing team-based fps was released the same year in Return to Castle Wolfenstein. A full year before Battlefield 1942 appeared on the seen, I was rushing Nazi beachheads and detonating supply depots in train yards as one of four classes, one of which could select various special weapons to further differentiate itself. While Medic was my class in TFC, I willingly played both Medic and Lieutenant in RtCW, though they had similar goals: Medics provided healing kits and revived players, Lieutenants provided ammo kits and called in air strikes. While my love for the Medic class started with TFC, my supply-side would resurface in Battlefield 2142 where I played Support class almost exclusively(and was damn good at it).
TFC is my favorite team-based multiplayer game. RtCW had the best map designs, mission-based gameplay, and that WWII tech I love so much. BF2142 was the first fps I played online with friends(usually a full squad and a buddy in the com position), and I had the needed skills I picked up over time well. We all did in that game. Our clan was made up of guys who'd been playing together for years in our gaming club, and it showed.
Still, an amazing team-based fps was released the same year in Return to Castle Wolfenstein. A full year before Battlefield 1942 appeared on the seen, I was rushing Nazi beachheads and detonating supply depots in train yards as one of four classes, one of which could select various special weapons to further differentiate itself. While Medic was my class in TFC, I willingly played both Medic and Lieutenant in RtCW, though they had similar goals: Medics provided healing kits and revived players, Lieutenants provided ammo kits and called in air strikes. While my love for the Medic class started with TFC, my supply-side would resurface in Battlefield 2142 where I played Support class almost exclusively(and was damn good at it).
TFC is my favorite team-based multiplayer game. RtCW had the best map designs, mission-based gameplay, and that WWII tech I love so much. BF2142 was the first fps I played online with friends(usually a full squad and a buddy in the com position), and I had the needed skills I picked up over time well. We all did in that game. Our clan was made up of guys who'd been playing together for years in our gaming club, and it showed.
Re: The rise of FPS's and the fall of multiplayer...!
and lets not, lets NOT, forget Tribes 2 which totally and utterly kicked ass
Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for me.
Re: The rise of FPS's and the fall of multiplayer...!
Way too many days of getting a disc to the face to ever forget that one.trdbglr wrote:and lets not, lets NOT, forget Tribes 2 which totally and utterly kicked ass
Re: The rise of FPS's and the fall of multiplayer...!
Never could enjoy Tribes.
QuakeLive, while not really my thing either, has already earned massive amounts of respect from me due to it's fresh approach, reliability, dedicated patching team, and free price point. I can't wait to see it come out of beta. I really hope the in-game advertising pays off for them. I want this model to succeed brilliantly.
QuakeLive, while not really my thing either, has already earned massive amounts of respect from me due to it's fresh approach, reliability, dedicated patching team, and free price point. I can't wait to see it come out of beta. I really hope the in-game advertising pays off for them. I want this model to succeed brilliantly.