Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures breaks all the current s..

john.dsl RemoveThis @verizon.net (John Lewis) wrote in news:4814e9b4.5985016
@news.verizon.net:

> From the Fileplanet subscription beta:-
>
> Actual Download size: 12.5 Gbytes
>
> Actual Install size: 23.5 Gbytes
>
> Minimum System Requirements
>
> 32GB of Hard Drive space

Actually, when I checked the shelves at a local Future Shop the other day,
I saw a flight simulator called XPlane9 that wanted **60GB** of hard drive
space available for installation. (O_O)

Now, while I can see its value to computer users with terabytes of space, I
don't think that I'll be purchasing this game anytime soon. ^_^;

Part of me is still enjoying the fruits of 'simpler fare' like Rox, the
Summoning and Super Mario World (and wondering why there isn't a legal
editor for the latter title)

They offer deep and engaging universes in an itty-bitty file-size. ^_^

Signed,
Warewolf
who will admit to doing some 'Knytt-ing', as well.
 >> Stay informed about: Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures breaks all the current s.. 

On Sun, 27 Apr 2008 17:34:35 -0500, i own a yacht <me RemoveThis @privacy.net>
wrote:

>In comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action John Lewis <john.dsl RemoveThis @verizon.net> wrote:
>> From the Fileplanet subscription beta:-
>>
>> (This beta goes 'live' May 2)
>>
>> Actual Download size: 12.5 Gbytes
>>
>> Actual Install size: 23.5 Gbytes
>
>uh.
>

I believe the release Conan game will ship on 2 DVDs, like Flight Sim
X Deluxe ( install size = 14Gbytes for FSX DL )

John Lewis
>"(HL2) Ep2 is non linear .... multiple ways to achieve the same goals"
> -Walter Mitty
 >> Stay informed about: Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures breaks all the current s.. 

On Sun, 27 Apr 2008 22:33:49 GMT, Warewolf <warewolfmypants.RemoveThis@shaw.ca>
wrote:

>john.dsl@verizon.net (John Lewis) wrote in news:4814e9b4.5985016
>@news.verizon.net:
>
>> From the Fileplanet subscription beta:-
>>
>> Actual Download size: 12.5 Gbytes
>>
>> Actual Install size: 23.5 Gbytes
>>
>> Minimum System Requirements
>>
>> 32GB of Hard Drive space
>
>Actually, when I checked the shelves at a local Future Shop the other day,
>I saw a flight simulator called XPlane9 that wanted **60GB** of hard drive
>space available for installation. (O_O)
>

Ah, yes..forgot that - the world maps in Xplane9. If you really
wanted to install the full set of maps and have them instantly
available.

Let me modify my statement. Conan seems to be the first game that
mandatorily requires 23.5Gbytes installed to even run in default mode.

John Lewis

>Now, while I can see its value to computer users with terabytes of space, I
>don't think that I'll be purchasing this game anytime soon. ^_^;
>
>Part of me is still enjoying the fruits of 'simpler fare' like Rox, the
>Summoning and Super Mario World (and wondering why there isn't a legal
>editor for the latter title)
>
>They offer deep and engaging universes in an itty-bitty file-size. ^_^
>
>Signed,
>Warewolf
>who will admit to doing some 'Knytt-ing', as well.
 >> Stay informed about: Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures breaks all the current s.. 

John Lewis skrev:
> From the Fileplanet subscription beta:-
>
> (This beta goes 'live' May 2)
>
> Actual Download size: 12.5 Gbytes
>
> Actual Install size: 23.5 Gbytes
>
> From the V1.0 Readme:-
>
> Minimum System Requirements
>
> 3Ghz Intel Pentium 4
> 1GB of system memory
> NVIDIA™ Geforce 6600 or ATI Radeon 9800
> 32GB of Hard Drive space
> Microsoft Windows XP or Windows Vista
> Internet Connection
>
> Recommended System Requirements
>
> 2.4Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
> 2GB of system memory
> NVIDIA™ Geforce 7900GTX
> 32GB of Hard Drive space
> Microsoft Windows XP or Windows Vista
> Internet Connection
>
> This is yet another on-line game that will not be coming to your
> Xbox360 any time soon. Maybe to the Xbox720 with Blu-ray drive and
> (say) 500Gbytes of storage. With the rapid leaps in disk storage
> requirements (both 'dvd' and hard-disk) for graphically intensive
> games, Microsoft's public hope of keeping the Xbox360 alive until
> 2010-2011 is rapidly fading.... No doubt they are already actively
> designing the replacement...
>
> John Lewis
>
It will come to the 360, they'll just strip down the video quality.
And I think the 360 version will play on 360 servers so pårobably no
getting together with their pc buddies.
 >> Stay informed about: Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures breaks all the current s.. 

On Mon, 28 Apr 2008 01:34:01 GMT, Ykalon <ykalon RemoveThis @msn.com> wrote:

>John Lewis <john.dsl RemoveThis @verizon.net> wrote:

>> This is yet another on-line game that will not be coming to your
>> Xbox360 any time soon. Maybe to the Xbox720 with Blu-ray drive and
>> (say) 500Gbytes of storage. With the rapid leaps in disk storage
>> requirements (both 'dvd' and hard-disk) for graphically intensive
>> games, Microsoft's public hope of keeping the Xbox360 alive until
>> 2010-2011 is rapidly fading.... No doubt they are already actively
>> designing the replacement...
>>
>> John Lewis
>>
>It will come to the 360, they'll just strip down the video quality.
>And I think the 360 version will play on 360 servers so pårobably no
>getting together with their pc buddies.


Yes, I did notice that the FAQ on the Conan website did talk about a
Xbox360 port sometime in the future.

At the same time, I also noticed in the same FAQ the PC screen
resolutions stated for decent performance for each of the systems
specified. Here is the information replicated in its entirety:-

What sort of PC is required to play Age of Conan?

Minimum configuration:
(1024x768, detail reduced)

OS: Windows XP Service Pack 2 or Windows Vista
Processor: Intel Pentium 4 3Ghz or equivalent
RAM: 1GB
Video card: NVIDIA GeForce 6600 or better
Video memory: 128MB
DVD-ROM: Quad-speed (4x) DVD-ROM drive
HARD DRIVE SPACE: 30GB

Recommended configuration:
(Up to 1280X960, most features on)

OS: Windows XP SP 2 or Windows Vista
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz or equivalent
RAM: 2048MB Dual Channel DDR2
Video card: NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GTX or equivalent
Video memory: 512MB
DVD-ROM: Quad-speed (4x) DVD-ROM drive
HARD DRIVE SPACE: 30GB

Shades of Crysis again..... ? Indeed !!

Those with high native-resolution LCD monitors will not be pleased.
I suspect that a minimum of an 8800GT will be needed
to give satisfactory frame-rate for the 1600x1200 or 1980 x 1080 LCD
crowd, besides a moderately-fast Dual-Core processor.

Regardless of the general adoption of Dual Core processors, the number
of active PC MMO gamers (such as those currently playing WoW) with the
sort of rig required for Conan is still likely to be in the <5%
bracket.

Unless this game has truly-addictive gaming substance under the
"glitz", it will have a minority following and die a painful death. In
fact, sufficient substance for prospective players to invest in
massively-upgraded hardware besides the monthly fee. I shall be highly
interested in the public reaction to this game 3 months after release.


Blizzard have been very cunning with Wow. They have concentrated their
graphics glitz in the areas that matter - the visible characters and
kept the polygon count low elsewhere. Hence, modest system
requirements while still looking great and the huge number of players.

John Lewis
 >> Stay informed about: Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures breaks all the current s.. 

Warewolf wrote:

> Actually, when I checked the shelves at a local Future Shop the other day,
> I saw a flight simulator called XPlane9 that wanted **60GB** of hard drive
> space available for installation. (O_O)

That's because it has the whole world rendered in fairly high resolution
satellite terrain data. How much is FS selling it for? I might buy it. I
think I have 60gb spare.
 >> Stay informed about: Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures breaks all the current s.. 

John Lewis wrote:

> Let me modify my statement. Conan seems to be the first game that
> mandatorily requires 23.5Gbytes installed to even run in default mode.
>

That's still less than Vista takes up.
 >> Stay informed about: Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures breaks all the current s.. 

John Lewis wrote:
> On Mon, 28 Apr 2008 01:34:01 GMT, Ykalon <ykalon.RemoveThis@msn.com> wrote:
>
>
>> John Lewis <john.dsl.RemoveThis@verizon.net> wrote:
>>
>
>
>>> This is yet another on-line game that will not be coming to your
>>> Xbox360 any time soon. Maybe to the Xbox720 with Blu-ray drive and
>>> (say) 500Gbytes of storage. With the rapid leaps in disk storage
>>> requirements (both 'dvd' and hard-disk) for graphically intensive
>>> games, Microsoft's public hope of keeping the Xbox360 alive until
>>> 2010-2011 is rapidly fading.... No doubt they are already actively
>>> designing the replacement...
>>>
>>> John Lewis
>>>
>>>
>> It will come to the 360, they'll just strip down the video quality.
>> And I think the 360 version will play on 360 servers so pårobably no
>> getting together with their pc buddies.
>>
>
>
> Yes, I did notice that the FAQ on the Conan website did talk about a
> Xbox360 port sometime in the future.
>
> At the same time, I also noticed in the same FAQ the PC screen
> resolutions stated for decent performance for each of the systems
> specified. Here is the information replicated in its entirety:-
>
> What sort of PC is required to play Age of Conan?
>
> Minimum configuration:
> (1024x768, detail reduced)
>
> OS: Windows XP Service Pack 2 or Windows Vista
> Processor: Intel Pentium 4 3Ghz or equivalent
> RAM: 1GB
> Video card: NVIDIA GeForce 6600 or better
> Video memory: 128MB
> DVD-ROM: Quad-speed (4x) DVD-ROM drive
> HARD DRIVE SPACE: 30GB
>
> Recommended configuration:
> (Up to 1280X960, most features on)
>
> OS: Windows XP SP 2 or Windows Vista
> Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz or equivalent
> RAM: 2048MB Dual Channel DDR2
> Video card: NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GTX or equivalent
> Video memory: 512MB
> DVD-ROM: Quad-speed (4x) DVD-ROM drive
> HARD DRIVE SPACE: 30GB
>
> Shades of Crysis again..... ? Indeed !!
>
> Those with high native-resolution LCD monitors will not be pleased.
> I suspect that a minimum of an 8800GT will be needed
> to give satisfactory frame-rate for the 1600x1200 or 1980 x 1080 LCD
> crowd, besides a moderately-fast Dual-Core processor.
>
> Regardless of the general adoption of Dual Core processors, the number
> of active PC MMO gamers (such as those currently playing WoW) with the
> sort of rig required for Conan is still likely to be in the <5%
> bracket.
>
> Unless this game has truly-addictive gaming substance under the
> "glitz", it will have a minority following and die a painful death. In
> fact, sufficient substance for prospective players to invest in
> massively-upgraded hardware besides the monthly fee. I shall be highly
> interested in the public reaction to this game 3 months after release.
>
>
> Blizzard have been very cunning with Wow. They have concentrated their
> graphics glitz in the areas that matter - the visible characters and
> kept the polygon count low elsewhere. Hence, modest system
> requirements while still looking great and the huge number of players.
>

I'm having flashbacks to Auto Assault... It had such extreme system
requirements that there was only a tiny percentage of the PC population
that could run the damn thing, and then they wondered why the initial
launch numbers on the servers was so small, and why players just
trickled in instead of running out to play... For some reason, these
bleeding-edge hardware pushing programmers don't get it into their heads
- when the genre you are programming for has "massively" in the title,
and you are expecting to be pulling in huge numbers initial sales and
ongoing subscriptions, you should probably make a program that most
computer platforms out there can actually PLAY ON! Seriously, how many
average Joes or Janes out there are going to go put a substantial sum of
money into upgrading their PC just to play a game they have to then pay
monthly for as well? If these idiots are planning on the elite gamers
to support their entire server and support infrastructure, Conan is
doomed to fail - hell, it might not even make it far off the starting
blocks. A smart developer might have realized that you don't push the
envelope on a game you want to blanket the masses with, you do that with
a game you want to be known as cutting edge that doesn't have to rely on
massive sales figures and repeat customers to survive and flourish.

Of course, when they put it out for the 360, it will run on every unit
without question. It may be softened up on the graphics, may have some
lowered technical and gameplay mechanics, but it will run. So it'll
probably be the console side that would save this game from extinction,
so long as they can get it to market quick enough after initial launch.
And we continually wonder why the console market is growing in leaps and
bounds and the PC side is stagnating...

CoinSpin
 >> Stay informed about: Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures breaks all the current s.. 

Dave Seven <notfor DeleteThis @email.invalid> wrote in news:oAfRj.227620$pM4.227448
@pd7urf1no:

> John Lewis wrote:
>
>> Let me modify my statement. Conan seems to be the first game that
>> mandatorily requires 23.5Gbytes installed to even run in default mode.
>>
>
> That's still less than Vista takes up.

All the more reason to stick with XP.

(or should that be Win98 or Linux?) 9_9
 >> Stay informed about: Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures breaks all the current s.. 

Dave Seven <notfor.RemoveThis@email.invalid> wrote in
news:BzfRj.227617$pM4.42513@pd7urf1no:

> Warewolf wrote:
>
>> Actually, when I checked the shelves at a local Future Shop the other
>> day, I saw a flight simulator called XPlane9 that wanted **60GB** of
>> hard drive space available for installation. (O_O)
>
> That's because it has the whole world rendered in fairly high
> resolution satellite terrain data. How much is FS selling it for? I
> might buy it. I think I have 60gb spare.

I believe that they were selling it for $50 Canadian.

Then again, when I checked the reviews at Amazon, the purchaser who
reviewed it gave it a poor rating. *shrug*

Caveat emptor, as the saying goes.

(And be sure that you have a DVD-drive in your 'rig' before you pick it up)

Signed,
Warewolf
who often wonders how many 'old school' universes can fit on the newer
storage disks.

(I really should stop doing that) ^_^;
 >> Stay informed about: Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures breaks all the current s.. 

*remembers his time on Koholint Island via 'Link's Awakening'*
*and takes a sip from his coffee cup*

o/` Meeeeeeemmmmmmoriiiiieeeeesss o/`
 >> Stay informed about: Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures breaks all the current s.. 

On Mon, 28 Apr 2008 08:05:53 GMT, Dave Seven <notfor.TakeThisOut@email.invalid>
wrote:

>Warewolf wrote:
>
>> Actually, when I checked the shelves at a local Future Shop the other day,
>> I saw a flight simulator called XPlane9 that wanted **60GB** of hard drive
>> space available for installation. (O_O)
>
>That's because it has the whole world rendered in fairly high resolution
>satellite terrain data. How much is FS selling it for? I might buy it. I
>think I have 60gb spare.

Beware. This program has generally poor user-satisfaction ratings and
the developers endeavor to rip you off for the full price again on
every numerical iteration. If a free demo of Xplane9 is available, I
recommend trying it out before taking the plunge.

John Lewis
 >> Stay informed about: Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures breaks all the current s.. 

John Lewis wrote:
> On Mon, 28 Apr 2008 08:05:53 GMT, Dave Seven <notfor.TakeThisOut@email.invalid>
> wrote:
>
>
>> Warewolf wrote:
>>
>>
>>> Actually, when I checked the shelves at a local Future Shop the other day,
>>> I saw a flight simulator called XPlane9 that wanted **60GB** of hard drive
>>> space available for installation. (O_O)
>>>
>> That's because it has the whole world rendered in fairly high resolution
>> satellite terrain data. How much is FS selling it for? I might buy it. I
>> think I have 60gb spare.
>>
>
> Beware. This program has generally poor user-satisfaction ratings and
> the developers endeavor to rip you off for the full price again on
> every numerical iteration. If a free demo of Xplane9 is available, I
> recommend trying it out before taking the plunge.
>

The generally bad user satisfaction ratings are usually due to the fact
that customers didn't actually do any research on the product before
they bought it... They were assuming it was just a "toss it in and fly"
thing like the MS Flight Sim series, not the hardcore fluid dynamics and
realism simulator that X-Plane was designed to be. The fact that it's
developed by a company called Laminar Research should have been the
first clue. The fact that it's FAA certified on a wide variety of
hardware simulation systems and is used by many companies as true FAA
training simulators should have been the next clue.

I've used several versions of X-Plane, and it had some really fun
aspects to it - like the ability to design virtually ANY plane and try
it out in a simulation... The backbone of the program is a highly
developed aerodynamics modeling system which is designed to give
real-world analogs to everything on the aircraft. It was interesting,
you could even modify the environmental settings - for instance, at one
time they had a Mars environment complete with reduced gravity and
realistically reduced air density, thus requiring absolutely enormous
wing area to allow for lift in the thinner atmosphere. Haven't used any
of the newer versions, don't know if that Mars scenario is still there,
but it was really interesting to experience the totally different flying
experience.

As for the pricing, that was part of the reason I stopped playing around
with it. The problem is that the developers were really sort of putting
it together for their own internal use, then decided to release it to
the public. All of the development is basically done in-house and
independent, and Laminar Research is by no means a big time software
developer or publishing mega-giant. Each numerical iteration (7.x, 8.x,
etc) is usually a complete revision and optimization of the previous
program, so there is a massive level of cost in-house on the development
side. And X-Plane is not any soft of top seller, it is too specialized
for that. So the company has to charge when they revise, it's the only
way they can keep the product alive. I can respect that, I understand
it, and if I was in a situation where I needed X-Plane (not just
tinkered with it as a hobby) then I would continue to support it. But I
have far too many other fun things to do, and a small hill of RPGs that
I still need to play and try to catch up to the rest of the world... heh

In general, I can say this flight sim is not for the casual "jump in and
go" player... There is alot more to it that takes tweaking and finesse,
and it tends to be much harder to actually fly aircraft than the
generally dumbed-down and simplified flight sims you typically find on
the shelves (hence the nod from the FAA on software accuracy). So those
folks that couldn't get it running right and zip around in their Cessna
within 30 seconds of installing the program usually were the ones
dropping bad reviews of the product.

CoinSpin
 >> Stay informed about: Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures breaks all the current s..