In risk of beating a dead horse...
Hmm, it's been a while since I've posted anything in this forum. Firstly because I usually am horrified by the level of flames and idiocy that are exhibited in far too many posts; secondly I haven't played UT3 in months. It just stopped being fun for me, for a multitude of small reasons. But now I'm starting to crave the insane action again and from the looks of it the levels of flames and idiocy have declined to a rate that doesn't make my eyes bleed. So hey, here's my thoughts on the idea of a 2k3 -> 2k4 plan, what UT3 can do in the future, and what I think will happen.
I don't approve of doing anything as drastic as making a completely new game that replaces UT3. Epic put an amazing amount of effort into making the game (despite what some people have been saying). To remake the game, rather to overwrite the game, would require all this effort again that could be going into other projects, or more support for UT3. It would require even more effort if Epic wants to drastically alter the gameplay and yet keep it all compatible with UT3. They might as well just make a new game instead.
Furthermore, it was possible to do this revamp with UT2kx, but expecting the same thing to happen again with technology that requires substantially more effort to create quality material is not reasonable.
The future for UT3 shouldn't be its annihilation in lieu of some hasty, kitchen-sink reworking. It should be in more patching, including an overhaul of the UI (which they are still working on), and more bonus content. Mapping competitions such as the MSUC are a great idea and I applaud Epic for making such an investment for their game. Keep pulling those mapmakers into the loop! Get more content coming into the game and start advertising it.
Which brings me to another thing I think would help UT3. Advertising. Place some ads on gaming websites, letting people know the game is out and still kicking. Even after 8 months I still think there's an audience that will play, or at least map, UT3 if they start seeing and hearing positive things about the game. There are positive things about the game that if exploited more would make it worth a purchase for a newcomer. It has the most intense, frenetic gameplay of any shooter in this generation; there are hundreds of user-created maps, mods and characters to be obtained; and it has the continued support of its developers and community. Make people know there's some absolutely awesome things about this game that need mention before you start saying what is not so great.
There are great, absolutely great things about this game. Even the worst critics can find something they enjoy about the game, even if it's just the UT3 editor. What Epic should do, and I hope they are, is continue to add support to the good parts of the game. Highlight maps that are especially awesome, make frequent headlines about the game, make a community website or gloriously advertise fansites that have a great community (maybe something like Beyond Unreal
). Give people new topics to talk about. Again, the MSUC is a great example of how Epic can drive community participation and I'm glad we have competitions like these to promote the game and the people that are supporting it.
And finally, Epic should do what it's famous for: content. More maps, more mods, more characters, more more more. Keep breathing life into the game. Add new things. New is good. I personally don't find there to be enough new things in UT3 out of the box by itself, and more new things coming into the game the better.
For that matter, the biggest "out of the box idea" that I could see Epic doing is adding a new gametype for UT3. My vote would be for an actual singleplayer gametype with maps exclusively designed for it. And make it co-op! To me, that is far more new than Warfare (a replacement for Assault and Onslaught) or Vehicle CTF (something that was technically already there and eventually implemented by the community). I know I'd play an online cooperative game mode made by Epic. In fact, I already have
, it was great.
All of these new ideas would go great for a Editor's Choice Edition of the game.
So there's my wall of text for this thread. I hope it's not too TL;DR and doesn't tread over too much old ground. UT3 is a good game that I want to be able to play again by the beginning of next month. And I'll be playing with a lot more maps than I started out with