Why not a new Wing Commander game?

A good majority of those games have the ability for anyone with a good connect (cable/dsl/wireless) to run a server which can hold up to 32 players. It doesnt take a huge mainframe to run a game server. I know, I ran a Quake 1 and 2 server for months on an 256k ISDN line a couple of years ago. ISDN got expensive tho. Take a look at GameSpy and note all those tcp/ip servers. About 90 percent of those are running from a spare PC hooked to some LAN with a cable or dsl connect. The only cost they have to pay is their regular montly fee for the connection. It only gets expensive if you make it expensive. And game makers like ID software and Interplay made shure anyone that bought their game could run a server of their own. A far cry from paying extra fee plus your connect fee. I wouldnt want to pay extra fees on a game just to play it after spending 50 bucks buying it! Then wait on some list? Na, dont think so! But if the game is that exciting and enjoyable some may want to pay the extra fee and do the wait thing. But from my prospective, I dont see the need for added expense just to play a game. But for some, its ok.

RFBurns
 
RFBurns, I whole hearthed agree with you.
I first try to find EQ but after I found out that only the first moth was free, I stop looking.
If UO2 is going to the store at the same time as NWN (that is free) that is going to make a loss of UO2 renenues.
Perhaps EA will see that games must have a single player mode and its on WC games that need to be made, not online games that simple try to fork cash out of players.
 
A MMP game requires a *very* sophisticated server -- each of the 30 or so UO servers cost $10,000 dollars to put together, plus thousands for maintnance and upgrades.
 
That would explain the fees to play the game, all the upkeep of the servers. I can see where the game having a single or array of servers to host an online community of sorts in a game, that can get expensive and they need to cover cost. I just hope that if and when a new WC game gets published or a new Privateer type game, and both are multi capable, there wont be any fees of sorts to play it online. They should follow the examples of ID Software and others that include the server code to run a game server of your own. Perhaps pick up on the way Shoutcast servers work, where they can combine to handle more users, and the code automatically connects you to the best server location based on your point and server loads. With the speed of the net and home connections today compared to when UO first went online, putting up a server of your own is even more easier and you can get some impressive gameplay out of them! I joined a Half-Life CS server that was running from down under (Austrailia), my ping time to that server was 72ms. There were about 15 or 20 players in that game, and if any here are familliar with Half-Life Counter Strike, that game has heavy heavy graphics and lots of extras going on, which requires good connections to get decent game play. Oh the server was a p3 500 w/128 megs ram connected thru a wireless connection. I suppose a game like UO2 would require some heafty processing due to the activity going on in the gameworld. Hence the cost factor. I can imagine what would be needed for a mass multi player server with a game like WC or Privateer! And I would be one of the first camping out in front of the software store if and when it hits, but I would be very dissapointed if they set the multi play up like UO or UO2.

RFBurns
 
15 to 20 players is nothing compared to what UO has to do... a UO server has to support thousands of people playing at once, performing far more complex tasks than shooting eachother -- and it has to do so *without* the lag common to things like CS (G)
 
Ya that does make sense, just hope any future WC or Privateer game does it a bit differently, its the fee thing and wait thing that would be the pits! Who wants to wait 30-60 days just to get into the game, get blown away then do the wait thing all over? UGH! At least in a game like Quake or HL, you dont have to wait at all to get blown away again! :)

RFBurns
 
Neverwinter nights will be a online game and it does not need all that and its free, I am usure the way that it use for online but Interplay made sure that it will have a single player mode.
And there are also others games that will make in the stores at the time of UO2 unless EA delays the game.
 
By having a single-player component, you dramatically decrease the number of people who will play your game online -- 100% of the people who buy UO2 will be playing it on Origin's servers.
 
Not true, the single player is just there because it will use AD&D 3rd edition rules, so people that dont know the rules will not be in desavantage in the online, besides the game is more oriented towards modules, we can made a module and play it with friends.
 
Playing in modules doesn't require the incredible server architecture demanded by UO (G) It's just like playing Quake or HL online.
 
O.K. that is true, I am going to search other sites that are online RPG.
True NWN is not to have all people walking around since its base in a small area in the sword cast (neverwinter), and for what I have seen its similar to HL in that area of play.
 
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