Tag Archives: PlayStation 3

Aug 30 2012

Eve Online – The Biggest Game You’ve Never Played

There’s something about far-off galaxies, giant spaceships, inter-factional warfare,  and integrated economies that make the dial on my geek radar spin out of control. After spending countless hours in the single-player X-Universe, I’d grown weary of waiting for the two new X games coming out this year… So I decided to try something I’d only heard of, EVE.

I don’t know what it is about my sci-fi games, but apparently the more complicated  a game – the more it appeals to me. If you’ve never played either universe (X or EVE) then you’re probably asking yourself why anyone would spend hours playing two of the hardest games on the market… And my advice would be to run, as quickly as possible, in the other direction… Save your social life, your relationships, and your friends respect for you…

Not afraid? Don’t heed warnings well? Looking for an excuse to alienate your friends and family? Or just feel like an epic challenge? Then read on…

You’ve been warned.

Eve Online is what’s known as a player-driven, persistent-world MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game). In English, it’s a sandbox. There’s no single-player, no storyline, no pausing, and no retries… I repeat… NO RETRIES. If you lose your ship in Eve, it’s because another player sitting in front of their computer somewhere in the real world, has taught you a lesson about where it’s safe to fly, or who it’s safe to mouth off to.

And this thing is big… I’m talking huge. The day-to-day of Eve depends on what your profession is (mining, pirating, military defense, entrepreneur, etc) and where you’re located in the fictional galaxy of New Eden. Most of the time the action takes place in local solar systems, each with planets, asteroid belts, space stations to land at, and plenty of npc (or “rats”) bad guys to deal with. Now multiply that by 7,500. Yes I tapped correctly, 7,500.

There are over 5,000 individual solar systems, and 2,500 discoverable “wormhole” systems, inside the Eve universe. They are all linked by “jumpgates” that players can fly through, they are all individual systems with unique characteristics, and they are all tied together by one massive, fluctuating, and completely player-driven economy. What that basically boils the game down to is what I like to call a galaxy simulator. The creators have made a completely immersive experience, where if you want to buy a ship, somebody, somewhere, has to mine the minerals and then build the thing before it ever reaches whatever market you are in… And players can insert themselves into almost any part of that process…

I’m a newcomer, I’ve been playing for just under six months, and my character is the Vice President of a nice little mining corporation situated in a “quiet” corner of the galaxy. Game time, for me, is mostly made up of constant mining for minerals I need to build products for market. I set out in my mining barge with a buddy and sit on an asteroid belt while they ferry the valuable ores back and forth to our headquarters… Then I take those minerals and combine them with blueprints I’ve purchased to make things like ships, weapons, ammo, and equipment. Some items I sell for cheap, some items for millions of dollars, some for tens of millions… those are the money-makers there. I also spend a lot of time answering questions for people who want to join the corporation, or for people newer than I. Whether by “Evemail” or by the in-game live chat, someone, somewhere, always needs something. Life is busy for a Vice President… And the name of the game in Eve, is money. “ISK” is Eve’s version of cash. Ammo can be bought for a few isk each, or giant spaceships can cost billions… The most expensive item I’ve ever bought was a blueprint for a Mining Barge, which gives me the right to produce ships I can off for $12.5 million each. I can charge more, but I’d have to move my ass further out into dangerous territory to compete with whoever was building them in the area.

My path in Eve is so far wrought with corporate intrigue, failed alliances, and a few of those “where it’s safe to fly” lessons I mentioned earlier… But all in all, the attraction for me is the fact that it’s more than just a game… For a few hours a day, if I suspend my disbelief just a little, I get to transport myself to the future. A future full of epic space battles, pirate-hunting, making money, and that doesn’t even touch the community aspect of the game.

Cause if there’s one thing I’ve learned in Eve, is that the more friends you have, the better.

CCP Games, the makers of Eve, are also prepping a massive free-play extension of the game that reaches all the way to consoles this fall: Dust 514. Dust is a break from the space-faring norm of Eve, and comes in the form of a first-person shooter game that is directly connected to the economy and on-goings of Eve in real-time. Connected in the sense that in the game of Eve, you can set up planetary “colonies” on almost any planet in order to mine raw materials, refine other minerals, or produce products – depending on your abilities… And it’s those “colonies” that are the actual battlefields in DUST 514.

Think on that for a second… A First-Person-Shooter PS3 game that is plugged into the living, breathing economy of a PC Space game… It’s an entirely new way of integrating games. When I say linked, I mean live, as in you can contact (from the PS3) players in Eve (on PC) and have them effect change in DUST 514 itself. Need orbital artillery bombardments? Need new supplies? New weapons? New vehicles? No problem. DUST 514 takes place on the actual planets that are scattered all over the galaxy in Eve. That means if you want to take over another person’s “colony” you hire mercenaries (in DUST) to do the job. Depending on the outcomes of matches in DUST, you can take territory and assets in Eve.

There’s never been a game like this before, that is spread across two different devices (PC and a PS3). Because while DUST is a separate game, it really isn’t. DUST is just an extension of Eve. A really, really cool extension. The thought of being on my laptop raining down fire on actual people on the PS3 is so cool my geek-radar is just spinning out of control… Or the thought of being in a losing FPS match on the PS3 and be able to turn the tide by flying to the planet on my PC and bombing the hell out of the other team… Yeah that’s just neato, I don’t care who you are.

And the best part? FREE-PLAY on the PS3. I didn’t pay a dime.

GAME ON!

Jun 8 2011

How Did Teamwork Become Trashtalk? – A Girl’s Look into A Boy’s World

By Lindsey Asay

I remember my first gaming console….vividly. We weren’t big TV watchers in my house growing up. When we did, finding something to watch was easy, there were only 5 channels to choose from. That didn’t bother me too much though, being a tom boy (hard not to with 4 older brothers) I preferred riding my bike or shooting hoops anyways. That all changed the day I first saw the NES…in all its black and grey glory. My days of shooting impossible three pointers in the driveway considerably dwindled. Quickly replaced by days of trying to beat what seemed like the impossible. Mario Brothers and Duck Hunt challenging my dexterity and my ability to do focus on pretty much anything else.

Now in my 30’s with an “adult job” and more responsibilities and bills than I can wrap my head around sometimes …..I still find time to play when I can. This time around though, it’s not just the console that’s different. The playing field, as it were, has changed considerably as well. No longer just you and a friend in your living room pushing two buttons in rapid succession….the ability to connect thousands of living rooms together through online multiplayer games has made an individual experience into a shared experience. Sometimes sharing more than just your first person shooting skills with your fellow gamers. I’ll admit, I’m a fan of Little Big Planet and workout games like Zumba, but I also like to unwind with some serious Call of Duty time. After getting over the..how do I walk AND look around AND shoot part of it all, I found my groove and started to be less frustrated and more able to enjoy the game.

That is, until I started to listen more and more to the other players. A mix of ages, nationalities, locations, abilities….I was amazed how a game could bridge all those gaps. Nothing prepared me though, for the amount of trash-talking that came from an endless sea of assholes with nothing better to do than shout “FAG FAG FAG” or “ F-ing LOSER” for 15 minutes straight. I started to wonder about who really plays these games and what it is that makes them so easily degrade someone they don’t know. That someone who at any given time can be a 12yr old kid who just wants to get in some gaming time before he has to finish his homework. Or me…..a mom and cube jockey looking to get in a quick round or two before starting dinner. The overwhelming consensus seems to be that unless you are an expert player, the world wide community of online gamers would like you to stay the F**K AWAY. Am I wrong on this? Am I wrong to question why a group of overly aggressive, usually single and always dickish players get to verbally push everyone else around? I don’t think I am.

My NES didn’t mock me. It didn’t degrade me for only getting 6 kills in a round or tell me to mute my mike because my kid was annoying him. I didn’t start a game with the intent to bully or call anyone names. I just wanted to beat the level so I could see what came next. I couldn’t wait to talk to my friends about it, to learn the secrets from those that conquered levels before me. Gaming was a shared experience….one that offered up a neutral playing field. Where older siblings played with younger. The jock with the bookworm, all wanting and trying to get better. I still don’t know what it is about our new shared gaming experience that turns the doting dad into a hate-spewing weekend gamer…and I’m not sure I want to find out. This is what I do know. I paid the money just like you….so, I get to play – just like you. Even if I do make stupid mistakes, like sprinting around corners or severely miscalculating a grenade throw… I’m still a gamer… playing in my living room, just like you. No matter how many times you tell me I suck, I’ll keep playing… and I’m coming for you.

May 15 2011

BREAKING NEWS: The Playstation Network is Back Up and Running as of 12 am PST

After three weeks of issue-skirting press releases and Call of Duty: Black Ops withdrawals, fanboys can now rejoice as the Playstation Network is now back online after three longs weeks of waiting. If you remember: a few months ago iPhone hacker GEOHot finally jailbroke the Playstation 3, after almost 5 years of release. When GEOHot went live with his information, Sony responded with a request in court for streaming giant Youtube to turn over any IP addresses of people who had viewed GEOHot’s “how-to-jailbreak-your-PS3″ video. As Sony put the pressure on GEOHot, hacker group Anonymous issued a warning to Sony not to push the envelope too much, or there would be disastrous results.

A few weeks later, Sony’s Playstation Network was the victim of a massive hack, in which hackers stole millions of IDs from Sony’s Qriocity Music service. Sony promptly took the PSN offline, leaving many gamers in the lurch as a bulk of Sony’s games are multi-player.  As the days dragged on, Sony issued another press release stating that hackers had indeed infiltrated the accounts of millions of Playstation Network users, including areas where credit card numbers and identification are kept.

Sony was then called before congress to explain themselves and to find out why they took so long to issue a statement to users (In fact it took over a week for Sony to say a word about the incident). In the meantime, hacker group Anonymous has adamantly denied the hack, while Sony has definitely set it’s sights on them.

But what did Sony expect when they’re running 5 year old systems that support the PSN, and had barely any anti-intrusion software present at the time. Since the attack, however, Sony has employed protection giant Norton (by Symantec) to not only help them secure the Playstation Network for the future, but to investigate why and how this happened in the first place.

When I was finished downloading an update to a brilliant little piece of freeware call PS3 Media Server tonight, I found that my PS3 was prompting me to update… my heart skipped a beat when I realized what that meant. That I could scoop almost everyone with this story! To quote the mighty Wayne’s World “GAME ON!”