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Privateer 2 Fan Novel Printed In Germany
Deacan is a huge fan of Privateer 2, and he's written an entire novel-length story to prove it! It's probably the first Wing Commander fan fiction that's been professionally printed and bound, and the results are fantastic. Das Erwachen's cover art is especially beautiful. It features an Icarus in hot pursuit of a Heretec near a watery planet. Deacan produced eight copies at a local print shop and has posted the first chapter to the CIC Forums to give everyone a sample. The story was written in German, so unfortunately not everyone will be able to read it. You can try the Babelfish to translate, but results there are hit and miss.
I wrote a book some times ago. The story is still in German only, but I hope (!) that a few people here still speak this language and have fun with it. Enjoy!
„Das Erwachen”
Hermes. Für die meisten Bewohner des Tri-Systems war dies nur ein unbedeutender, dreckiger Planet, der das Glück hatte, zumindest von der Lage her nahe an den Metropolen Crius und Hades zu liegen. Dieses öde Stück Land war schon vor Jahren von Industrie und Handwerk verlassen worden, jetzt waren es Söldner, Piraten und andere eher unschöne Subjekte, die den Planeten besiedelten. Schmutz und Unrat bedeckten fast jede Strasse, man roch überall den ständigen Verfall der Gesellschaft. Der Tag begann und endete hier mit Tod, entweder durch Gewalt oder durch eine der zahlreichen Seuchen, die hier präsent waren. Alles in allem war dies ein Ort, den der vernünftige Mensch meiden sollte. Und all dies ging vermutlich auch jenem Fremden durch den Kopf, der erst vor wenigen Augenblicken das Cockpit seiner Maschine mit dem festen Asphalt der Landebahn getauscht hatte. Die Luft unter der Maschine flimmerte noch von der Hitze der Triebwerke, als ein Mann von der Wartungscrew auf ihn zu ging. „Sie haben da ja einen netten Vogel. Irgendwas dran zu machen?” Er deutete mit dem Kopf in Richtung Hangar. „Nein, danke.” Der Fremde deutete auf das kleine Anzeigegerät in den Händen des Mechanikers, offenbar war seine Zeit knapp bemessen und er wollte kein längeres Gespräch anfangen.. „Oh, ja doch.” Per Fingerabdruck bestätigte der Unbekannte seine Landung, dann ging er wortlos in Richtung der Dockschleusen, begleitet von den Blicken des Mechanikers. „Typen gibt's.” Mit diesen Worten wandte sich dieser wieder dem Alltagsgeschäft zu, er steuerte den nächsten Piloten an.
[ChrisReid] [# 6892] [Show comments]  
Raph Koster Talks MMOs
Gamespot has a new interview with Raph Koster, one Sony Online Entertainment's top massively multiplayer executives. Prior to his SOE job, Mr. Koster was at the helm of Origin's Privateer Online attempt. He has a lot to say about the mmo genre and how it will take shape in the future. Some of the insights provided here might suggest where POL could have gone. There is also some commentary on his time working with the original Ultima Online.
GS: The king category for MMOs right now is role-playing games. What's going to have to happen for a real-time strategy/first-person shooter MMO to come along?
RK: I think one of the key things that we definitely learned is once you start thinking of the MMO as a platform or a place, you can put in a lot of different kinds of games in them, rather than thinking of them as having to be an RPG. At the same time, I would say that we also learned that one of the big things about having a virtual place was having a sense of your virtual self and the way in which they advance and progress. With PlanetSide, you have Battle Rank. Even though we were careful to make sure it didn't take over the game, it's also very important as a marker of how well you're doing and how you relate to other people.
GS: What do you think the life span of an MMO is? Can EverQuest go on forever? Can the communities stay the same? Can I be playing with someone when I was 20 and still be playing with them when I'm 80?
RK: Well, 20 to 80… I think the historical evidence is that the games will last, right? The question is, "But with how many players?" So, there are games still running from 20 years ago that still manage to maintain this loyal core of users. Now, whether or not they can then afford to upgrade it to the latest shaders is a whole other question, right? But the persistence and the attachment of a community to the game--that doesn't seem to end.
That's something we can all confirm right here. You can find the complete interview here.
[ChrisReid] [# 6893] [Show comments]
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