Why isn't this forum more active?

On 31 Aug 2004 16:14:37 -0700, bdu_majorfreak RemoveThis @hotmail.com (MajorFreak)
wrote:

>I believe it's mainly due to microsoft's continual abandonment or
>shoddy support of the sci-fi space sim genre. Major case in point was
>Allegiance (dropped, according to most, because it was used as a pilot
>project for directX); Other case in point was the Star/Freelancer
>stuff (lack of joystick support for the latter).

While it might be convenient to blame MS, this is blatantly untrue.
Was it Microsoft who made Sierra cancel their Babylon 5 based sim?
Was it Microsoft who forced Particle Systems to not make I-War 3?
What about a new FreeSpace? A new X-Wing/TIE Fighter game?

In fact, it is the X-Box that got the Battlestar Gallatica game...
NOT the PC. Hmmm.

>nice thing is they do release source codes once in a while. lol.
>http://www.microsoft.com/games/allegiance/home.htm
>
>Things ARE improving though, since you've got Eve-online proving that
>this stuff does have a market...which is a HELL of a lot better than
>the days where Derek Smarticus looked to be the saviour of a dying
>genre. *shudder*

All the games you lives as being a ray of light are ONLINE games. I
tried Allegiance when it came out. It was beautiful. Controls were
nice, action was good, etc. However, the lack of a single player game
killed it for me. Playing with clueless people killed it for me. It
slowly became a game where people just wanted to dogfight, and not do
much else. Scouting, tactics, etc., we hard to find. True, you can
put in time effort to find a clueful sqaud, but that gets old (to me,
at least). And don't forget lag, latency, cheats, etc., all of which
go along with online gaming.

EVE is another online game. I don't want online. I am a space-sim
fan. I want games like the Wing Commander series, like FreeSpace 2,
like I-War 1/2, like the X-Wing games, etc. I want a game with single
player support, a detailed campaign, different ships to fly, a
Newtonian physics model, variety of weapons, variety of missions, etc.
I am in the minority.

Watch for posts from Stephen from Particle Systems. I have never seen
him blame MS for a lack of interest in another I-War game. What he
HAS mentioned is not enough people buying space-sim games to warrant
the expense of development of a new space-sim.

It is the end-user responsible for a lack of space-sims. People want
flashy graphics instead over complexity (Freelancer). They want
online so much they they are willing to give up on having a complex
single player campaign. Gamers have become to enjoy simpler,
arcade-style fluff like FPS games, console games, etc.

I mean, when was the last time a GOOD flight sim came out? I mean
complex, realistic physics, flight model, etc.? Falcon 4? What about
a good tank sim? Sub sim? Even mech sims have been dumbed down (in
this case by Microsoft), and there hasn't been a new mech sim in
years.

The problem, unfortunately, lies with the public, and their apparent
lack of interest in such complex games. Not that people would not buy
them; they would. However, it is more financially feasible for a
software house to buy the rights to an FPS engine, give it a makeover,
and release a whopping hit that it is to create their own graphics
engine, their own physics mode, etc. That is what killed the B5 game,
btw.


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-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Joe Granto Joe.Granto RemoveThis @NoSpam.Com
Senior Engineer Intel Engineering,MCI

Joe Granto wrote:

> I mean, when was the last time a GOOD flight sim came out? I mean
> complex, realistic physics, flight model, etc.? Falcon 4? What about
> a good tank sim? Sub sim?

Silent Hunter III looks interesting; as does Project Freedom.

Tara
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http://users4.ev1.net/~taragem/yager.htm