What would revive the UT franchise?
- Thread starter SuicideUZI
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True, then you have Amazon.com, they seem to sell more CD/DVD-ROMs than your Best Buys, GameStops, or Wal-Marts out there, given that you get your free shipping, no sales tax to worry about, and unlike Steam, you can probably install a DVD-ROM as many times as you feel like it. That is unless Amazon goes the way of Steam, much like they did with Kindle for books, etc...
That's fine for indie and small games but it doesn't cut it for multi-GB downloads. Slow or capped internet connections, even none at all. Then there should exist a lightweight alternative to Steam, regarding DRM, authentication (hassle free offline), software client, etc...FuLLBLeeD said:
Like I said, I wouldn't be a bit surprised to see Amazon take on Steam, since they have all other downloadable media like eBooks, MP3s, Video on Demand (Unbox, I believe), and Amazon could easily do DRM-free gaming on top of those, wouldn't surprise me, and who knows? Maybe Amazon may have better pricing than Steam on top of that. I don't want to make it sound like I work for them, but I am a loyal, loyal customer to them. That's where I went to get my Unreal fix in the first place, and haven't looked at any brick and mortar store since.
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My method for reviving the UT community would be simply making a HD remake of Unreal Tournament, using the Unreal Engine 3. Keep the gameplay identical (with maybe some small tweaks here and there). Keep all the original maps with similar, but upgraded looks (but not so much it looks like UT3 maps). I'd go so far as to make the minimum specs less than that of UT3.
Then .... add a whole bunch of new content on top of the original. New maps (but not too many), new gamemodes (maybe even one with vehicles), new characters (bring on Gorge, Reaper, Anubis and such), and enough new mutators to tweak the game inside out and back again.
Finally, add the single best gore system you've ever seen in a UT game. When I shoot someone with the flak, I expect the wall behind him to get painted red! When I smack someone with a shock combo, I expect him to absolutely gib, and the mushy remains to fly off in the other direction! I want gibs to make red skidmarks when it skids along the floor, or slides down off a wall! I also want permanent decals, even if there is a short limit to how many decals are actually on screen.
Then .... add a whole bunch of new content on top of the original. New maps (but not too many), new gamemodes (maybe even one with vehicles), new characters (bring on Gorge, Reaper, Anubis and such), and enough new mutators to tweak the game inside out and back again.
Finally, add the single best gore system you've ever seen in a UT game. When I shoot someone with the flak, I expect the wall behind him to get painted red! When I smack someone with a shock combo, I expect him to absolutely gib, and the mushy remains to fly off in the other direction! I want gibs to make red skidmarks when it skids along the floor, or slides down off a wall! I also want permanent decals, even if there is a short limit to how many decals are actually on screen.
You're right, the next version of UT should be a lot more "light weight" than UT3 was...UT3 was far too heavy on resources for that type of FPS game. It was far slower-paced than its predecessors, and it just used up too much hardware to make it play all that super great.
Exactly, brdempsey69, precisely where I was going, keep the same graphics and gameplay, but make it faster-paced, and not have to bog down your hardware so much as to make the game slow down to a crawl, if not BSoD on you.
Plus, with what gades suggested, you would have server redirect files being much smaller, meaning players get them downloaded from the servers redirect much faster. This means players get connected & get into the game quicker.
You make a HD remake of UT then the filesize gets larger. Plus the characters in Ut99 aged real bad.
Have you seen the screenshot of UT3's Rankin (I am talking about the character, not the map). He is in CBP3, I think (could be 2).
During development that character looked like he belongs to a UT of 2009.
After he got into the game he looked as bad as most other characters in UT3. The textures changed a little and all that bloom and desaturation didn't work for him too good (again IMHO).
EDIT:
This is what a UT3 should have felt like visually, IMHO:
http://utforums.epicgames.com/showpost.php?p=25815636&postcount=152
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The only thing that would allow for the revival of the series is if all current fanboys would stop talking about how much their variant is superior to any other version and play the damned game.
Besides ... the modern gamer tends to jump ship after a few months if it isn't in the top 3 of most played games within a week after release. And most will jump ship regardless as they'd rather play a new game where they can "pwn the n00bs (tm)" instead of one where they are more likely to lose as average player-skill improves.
(1) the average on-line community is horrible (I won't say it used to be 'better' but IMHO it was)
It has been proven impossible to manage on-line communities, unless you make them exclusive/subscription-based (like MMO's do) and that's something an off-line gamer is unlikely to commit to.
(2) off-line play makes you feel like superman, but on-line you're going to be cannon-fodder at best ...
Co-op games are the only ones that manage this, but they tend to suffer a lot from uncooperative teammates once you go on-line.
Besides ... the modern gamer tends to jump ship after a few months if it isn't in the top 3 of most played games within a week after release. And most will jump ship regardless as they'd rather play a new game where they can "pwn the n00bs (tm)" instead of one where they are more likely to lose as average player-skill improves.
There's two problems :
(1) the average on-line community is horrible (I won't say it used to be 'better' but IMHO it was)
It has been proven impossible to manage on-line communities, unless you make them exclusive/subscription-based (like MMO's do) and that's something an off-line gamer is unlikely to commit to.
(2) off-line play makes you feel like superman, but on-line you're going to be cannon-fodder at best ...
Co-op games are the only ones that manage this, but they tend to suffer a lot from uncooperative teammates once you go on-line.
Very true...it would help if some would actually see that there's equal amounts of fun among all the versions of UT, and not just single one out over the others. I mean, I don't see any negativity in any of them, but at the same time...there are some that could have been better than the others. It's all in the matter of taste, but I'm not as picky as half of them out there. Heck, I'm still a fan of Quake 3 Arena, too, but I know in my heart that whether it be the UT franchise or Q3A, they all have their pros and cons, so I'm not at all biased if I throw in the first legit competition to the UT franchise like that.
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Yeap, exactly my thoughts. They're all good, just that different people prefer different games. Personally I play all of the games (yes, that even includes U2XMP and U2), except for UT1 since I can't be bothered to reinstall all my mods after the last reformat, but I still do mapping there, so yea.
Those are renders. You cannot compare that to what you will get in the final game. The game has to render the same mesh 100 times per second. The 3d app has all the time it needs to render the mesh.
something that might help to revive the franchise is more Content Releases links hosted at Fileworks.
I know. I was talking about the textures applied to the mesh which are much closer to the original UT (which managed that look quite well).
And thanks for telling me that a game has to render a mesh so often. How did I miss that being in the gaming industry for 14 years now.
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I don't mean to bring back something discussed earlier, but the whole thing about "Is PC gaming dead". As much as I don't want to say it - the answer is yes. Yes it is. And, anyone who says otherwise is either just unaccepting of that fact, or has played PC games for maybe like..five years or so, and that's it. I've played PC games since 1990, here are a few things I think killed PC gaming from all the years I've played it.
I blame a lot of things for the death of PC gaming. First, I blame the "end" of gaming networking sites such as HEAT.net, Zone.com, MPlayer, TEN, and even MPGN (which supported Unreal 1) as a big factor in PC gaming's death. These sites held ladders and tournaments, lobbies, a "socialization" aspect, and brought many of us together for those that remember. Remember, a lot of games back then when PC gaming was great didn't have in-game browsers like they do now. Eventually, once a lot of these sites started to die off such as HEAT, Zone.com becoming a "family-fun" gaming site, and Mplayer merging with Gamespy Arcade (which isn't great now, either - while it was at first due to the large amounts of people from Mplayer coming over, most aren't on now), that killed a lot of these games off, and typical "server browser" apps such as Gamespy and QTracker weren't valid replacements for a lot of us.
I also think broadband contributed to the end of PC gaming - back then we were all gaming on 14.4k and 56k modems. We downloaded at 1-5kb/sec, not 1-5MB/sec. Piracy HAS greatly killed PC gaming - I mean, developers are releasing games and can be downloaded now on any torrent site under 30 minutes with a decent connection speed. That's not fair to them of course, and that's not to say I hate my cable connection, but fast connection speeds nowadays means you can basically get anything you want - quick. Downloading at 5.0kb/sec back then, well - a bit different.
I don't think consoles killed PC gaming, though. And no, I don't think consoles are "cheap people". I'm not young- and I own a 360 AND a PC. I play BOTH. I actually think consoles have gone downhill myself. My favorite was the Dreamcast, I enjoyed it the most - and the ports from PC were halfway decent (UT and Q3A on the DC were one of the few ported FPS's from PC that were good - so it IS possible to have a decent FPs on both PC and console). The 360 is good, but I'd still rather play AFO, UT, Q3 on the DC online.
I also think the huge growth of MMO's (such as WoW) has hurt the FPS aspect of PC gaming too. Over 12 million users I'm sure, no one really cares about FPS's, Flight Sims (I remember MSFS95 and 98), racing games (Midtown, motocross, and monster truck madness series), or the small side games that were fun back then (anyone remember Ants on Zone?).
And lastly, time has killed PC gaming. Things just change over the years, which is why I just hate change and am very old school. Graphics are real as life today, and the days of "blocky" looking guns when it was awesome are long gone.
Long gone are the days of me loading up Gamespy 3d doing a search for Quake 2 servers only to come back about 20 minutes later and it be 50% still loading from all the people playing. I'm depressed thinking about it. And what's worst - most people that MADE PC gaming fun back then, are gone. They've moved on, they're married, they have kids, and have other things to do. I was in my 20's back then..here we are in 2010..you do the math. The new youth of 10 to 18 year olds are on the upswing now, and I don't think they hold the respect for gaming that a lot of us older folks did back in the early 90's.
I blame a lot of things for the death of PC gaming. First, I blame the "end" of gaming networking sites such as HEAT.net, Zone.com, MPlayer, TEN, and even MPGN (which supported Unreal 1) as a big factor in PC gaming's death. These sites held ladders and tournaments, lobbies, a "socialization" aspect, and brought many of us together for those that remember. Remember, a lot of games back then when PC gaming was great didn't have in-game browsers like they do now. Eventually, once a lot of these sites started to die off such as HEAT, Zone.com becoming a "family-fun" gaming site, and Mplayer merging with Gamespy Arcade (which isn't great now, either - while it was at first due to the large amounts of people from Mplayer coming over, most aren't on now), that killed a lot of these games off, and typical "server browser" apps such as Gamespy and QTracker weren't valid replacements for a lot of us.
I also think broadband contributed to the end of PC gaming - back then we were all gaming on 14.4k and 56k modems. We downloaded at 1-5kb/sec, not 1-5MB/sec. Piracy HAS greatly killed PC gaming - I mean, developers are releasing games and can be downloaded now on any torrent site under 30 minutes with a decent connection speed. That's not fair to them of course, and that's not to say I hate my cable connection, but fast connection speeds nowadays means you can basically get anything you want - quick. Downloading at 5.0kb/sec back then, well - a bit different.
I don't think consoles killed PC gaming, though. And no, I don't think consoles are "cheap people". I'm not young- and I own a 360 AND a PC. I play BOTH. I actually think consoles have gone downhill myself. My favorite was the Dreamcast, I enjoyed it the most - and the ports from PC were halfway decent (UT and Q3A on the DC were one of the few ported FPS's from PC that were good - so it IS possible to have a decent FPs on both PC and console). The 360 is good, but I'd still rather play AFO, UT, Q3 on the DC online.
I also think the huge growth of MMO's (such as WoW) has hurt the FPS aspect of PC gaming too. Over 12 million users I'm sure, no one really cares about FPS's, Flight Sims (I remember MSFS95 and 98), racing games (Midtown, motocross, and monster truck madness series), or the small side games that were fun back then (anyone remember Ants on Zone?).
And lastly, time has killed PC gaming. Things just change over the years, which is why I just hate change and am very old school. Graphics are real as life today, and the days of "blocky" looking guns when it was awesome are long gone.
Long gone are the days of me loading up Gamespy 3d doing a search for Quake 2 servers only to come back about 20 minutes later and it be 50% still loading from all the people playing. I'm depressed thinking about it. And what's worst - most people that MADE PC gaming fun back then, are gone. They've moved on, they're married, they have kids, and have other things to do. I was in my 20's back then..here we are in 2010..you do the math. The new youth of 10 to 18 year olds are on the upswing now, and I don't think they hold the respect for gaming that a lot of us older folks did back in the early 90's.