Oh man, I’m so looking forward to Mass Effect 2. I didn’t even know there was going to be a sequel to Mass Effect, but having read about it recently, I’m very much intrigued, although I hope they spend a bit more time optimizing it for the PC, though Mass Effect was one of the better Xbox to PC ports I’ve seen (certainly better than Halo 2 for Vista…*shudder*).
At any rate, the big news is the one minute teaser trailer. Have a look. (Spoilers abound after the break.)
This just in: playing World of Warcraft will turn you into a 400-pound monstrosity with 5 chins and a gut hanging down to your knees. So will reading, watching TV, browsing the Internet, and playing chess. All of these things will eventually make you morbidly obese.
That is, they will if you abstain from all physical activity.
A lot of people seem to miss that crucial stipulation. I’ve come across far too many misguided tirades aimed at massively multiplayer online role-playing games like World of Warcraft that claim that players of such games are nothing more than fat nerds with no life who live in their parents’ basement. Really? Simply buying a subscription to WoW adds 200 or so pounds instantly? Of course not. It’s a baseless claim made by people who want to act sanctimonious. Or, even worse, by people who were overweight WoW players and are turning a blind eye to the behaviors and habits that really made them fat, preferring instead to find a scapegoat.
Why pick this specific topic? Well, I play World of Warcraft. I’ve been a subscriber for the past five or six months. And yet, my weight is proportional to my height. I have a friend who has been playing for longer than I have, and he’s in the same boat. Guess that blows the theory that all WoW players are overweight right out of the water, doesn’t it?
So what does make people overweight? A number of things, but it seems that it’s commonly bad habits combined with lack of physical activity. In other words, if you eat junk food all the time, spend hours in front of the computer every day, and never get on a treadmill, you’re going to be horribly out of shape when compared to someone who eats junk food only occasionally, spends less time in front of the computer, and exercises regularly.
The important thing to remember: World of Warcraft and physical activity are not–I repeat, not–mutually exclusive. Sure, WoW itself doesn’t require any movement beyond your hands. Neither does reading. And what kind of insane person would suggest that reading makes you fat?
Finally, there’s the claim that WoW is designed to be addicting. I’d really like that one explained to me because I don’t see what’s so addicting about grinding and questing my ass off to gain a level just so I can do it all over again until I reach the level cap and have to kill real people instead. (Note: when I say “people”, I really mean “computer-generated avatars of real people”. Just to avoid any confusion from the crazies who think I’m advocating real-life violence as a form of entertainment.) Besides, getting addicted to WoW is like getting addicted to gambling. You played too much and didn’t know when to stop. That’s not the fault of the game, considering there are plenty of people who play WoW and lead perfectly normal lives free of addiction.
Anyone who rips on WoW players as being fat losers who never move needs to think back to any time they curled up in a chair and read a book for a few hours. Any physical activity beyond turning the page? If not, how is it any different? Spend hours upon hours reading Shakespeare’s assorted works and snacking on Cheetos and you’re going to end up the same as if you had spent hours upon hours playing WoW and snacking on Cheetos: overweight and unhealthy. Think about that.
Let me preface this by stressing that I am not a game developer. But I am a gamer, and I know that there is a right way to make a game and a wrong way to make a game, as I have played many well-designed games and many poorly-designed games.
I recently purchased the game Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts. I had purchased the original Company of Heroes quite a while ago, but I had never finished it. So, I decided to re-install the original before dealing with Opposing Fronts. After a rather arduous process of patching, I was ready to play. Upon loading it up, it seemed that the patches had installed data for Opposing Fronts as well as the original, since the menu included the campaigns from the new game. I couldn’t play them without an Opposing Fronts CD key, but I didn’t want to deal with that right then. I played the game (picking up where I had left off) and finished the campaign. Now for Opposing Fronts.
I recently became aware of a website called GOG.com. It’s brand new and still in an early-access beta (it’s due to be opened up to everyone soon, I believe), but it looks freakin’ awesome. The idea is this: you can buy and download popular, classic PC games (think Descent, Fallout, Freespace 2), all guaranteed to work on Windows Vista or XP, and all DRM free. That’s right: no DRM. I suppose that’s not insanely attractive to most people, but to the people who hate to deal with installation limits (à la Spore), CD keys, or online verification servers, it’s a real kicker. I was able to wrangle an early-access key, so I’ve been checking the place out. I haven’t bought or downloaded anything, so I can’t report on how well that works, but I can say that the interface is snazzy, the selection is great (better than what you can find in the local gaming store’s bargain bin, that’s for sure), and the prices are very nice ($10 and under for pretty much everything).
It really looks like a good deal. I’m interested to see how much the game catalog there expands and how well things work out. Also, if anyone is really interested in scoping it out, I’ve got a beta key available to the first commenter who asks. Alternately, you can put your email in at the main site and hope they send you a key.
I’m unintentionally continuing on my gaming post trend. I was watching G4 earlier and saw some stuff about a new action/role-playing game called Mass Effect developed by BioWare. It looks pretty interesting, and I’ve played games by BioWare before. They tend to have a big emphasis on story-telling, and I love games with an engaging story.
Unfortunately, the game was released only for the Xbox 360. What’s worse is that BioWare has no plans to develop the game for the PC. Another good game ruined by what I see as a lazy developer. I mean, the PC is still a good gaming platform. Why, then, do so many developers come out with games exclusive to certain consoles? I don’t want to buy a freakin’ Xbox. If that means I’m not going to buy a game like Mass Effect, then that’s the loss of the game developer. Ignoring an entire (and rather large) portion of the video game market is about the best thing you can do to get people to dislike you.
BioWare used to develop games for the PC, too. Even the most recent game they developed before Mass Effect, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic was made for both the Xbox and the PC. Before that, they were PC-only, since no one thought an RPG could really work that well on a console.
I really don’t have anything against consoles. They have their uses. I don’t want to be forced to buy one, though. I already own a decent computer. Buying something else that only plays games is a bit…redundant. And to have to pay for multiplayer? Seriously, no thanks. But it seems like PC gamers are being left behind, especially now that gaming consoles can look better than high-end PCs without costing nearly as much. Of course, if you add in the gigantic HD television set needed to fully appreciate the look of console games, the cost can go up quite a bit. Realistically, though, the PC gaming market isn’t dead yet. It’s not even close. But when good games are made for consoles and not for PC, it can be just a little bit irritating.
Dammit, that G4 review is really making me want Mass Effect. It looks like a sweet game. Curse you, BioWare! You might make me buy an Xbox 360, but I won’t like it… I know, I’m weak-willed. Sometimes.