HG Podcast #1: The Pilot Episode
About a week ago, HG staffers Elpea & Atzy, along with show guest Cheesewiz (HG Seraph from WICH), recorded the first HG podcast. This was intended to be a test of our capabilities and logistics (how to record from Skype, how to do it when your guests span two hemispheres, etc.), and was never intended to be released. However, after getting a lot of positive feedback and learning a lot of lessons, we were encouraged to release the very first episode.
We’re working on future episodes (in fact we finished recording the second one today, but there’s still a lot of editing to do), and we would like to hear from you on what you like and don’t like—as well as ideas and suggestions for upcoming podcasts. Comments welcome here :)
So, with no further ado, here’s HG Podcast #1: The Pilot Episode (MP3, 19MB):
Show Outline:- What is World in Conflict?
- What’s going on at World in Conflict Heaven right now
- Multiplayer in World in Conflict
- Age of Empires III Mobile – Impressions
- RTSs on Consoles
- Halo Wars
- Age of Empires’ 10th anniversary contest
- Age of Empires in our lives
Addiction: World in Conflict Demo
I picked up the World in Conflict Demo last Sunday, after launching StarCraft II Heaven, to get a feel of the game while we continue work on World in Conflict Heaven, which we have just launched.
Now, I’m not an expert gamer – I’m the typical single player who goes through the single-player campaign of a game, try some skirmishes, then maybe get in a few quick multiplayer games with friends and staff over a few months, and then I’m off to play another game. I’ve played through most of the RTS games we cover on HG, and most of the games use the “build up your base, get an army, go and fight, repeat until game over” model. There were a few surprises along the way, like Age 3’s Home City / Cards, Rise of Nation’s 22+ civs/Conquer the World mode, and Rise of Legends’ surprising mix of three different fantasy genres, but most of the games I’ve played are typical of the current RTS genre. Build, Kill, Repeat.
When I started the demo installation, my expectations were low, kinda like “eh… here comes another RTS clone. Surprise me.”
Surprise me it did.
The demo came with a tutorial, a single-player map from the campaign, and a multiplayer module. The tutorial was helpful, and playing the single-player map twice helped me learn the ropes. You can play USSR or the USA in the game, although there’s also a third NATO faction in the final release.
The game changes from the traditional Build/Kill concept to someone different – you don’t build bases to build units and advance technologies… your units come in as reinforcements at a drop point you designate on the map in a limited area, and in order for more units to come in you have to wait for reinforcement points to accumulate.
Along the way you pick up Tactical Aid points by killing enemy units and destroying enemy buildings, as well as capturing areas on the map, known as “command points.” These TA points enable special abilities, such as dropping in troops/tanks wherever you want on the map (vs. the drop zones you’re limited to), calling in heavy artillery or air support, and of course, nukes. Units are separated into four categories – Air, Armor (tanks), Support (artillery and AA), and Infantry. Each group have major strengths and weaknesses, which come into play in multiplayer mode.
Speaking of which, I know from our World in Conflict Forum threads that some folks were already playing multiplayer, so I signed up for an account and added them as friends. They weren’t on, and since this was a demo, I thought to myself, what the heck… let’s give it a try.
4 fun hours and many matches (I wasn’t keeping count) later, all of which played with complete strangers, all I can say is that the game is beyond awesome. The designers behind the game are pure geniuses. Multiplayer games are short and sweet, at least in the demo’s dominion mode, the longest of which is time-limited to 15 minutes. Most matches I played were shorter than that, by the fact that the game ends when all command points are captured by one side.
Teamwork in multiplayer games is even more important – If your team communicates and coordinates well, your team will almost always win over the other team if they aren’t doing the same. To help facilitate that, the game has built VOIP, so you don’t have to setup a TeamSpeak or Ventrilo server just to have voice communications. In addition, the game has a built in menu you can access through a hotkey to call to your teammates for help by marking on the map, i.e., “I need artillery here,” “I need anti air on these helicopters,” “I’m advancing here,” etc. Best of all, you can accept your teammates’ request for help, and doing so successfully will eventually earn you medals, which you can brag to others via your profile on massgate.net, the official website portal to their multiplayer service.
Their multiplayer matching service is proprietary and does not utilize the much despised GameSpy Arcade service. It is simple, elegant, and more importantly, stays out of your way if all you want to do is play a few quick multiplayer games.
So, if you haven’t picked up the demo yet, I highly recommend giving it a whirl – play the tutorial and single player campaign a few times to get acquainted, then jump straight into the fun with multiplayer games. HG has a clan, and you can find me on the server as “AnglZen”. C’ya on the battlefield!