Lord British has been busy with a new game

[dwturducken]

With all the talk of Richard Garriott a few weeks ago, and his expressed lack of interest in the MMO field, in general, it really struck me when I stumbled across this:

http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2013/03/akalabeth/

(Not sure what category this should be under, so, if a Mod needs to refile this, I'll understand.)

[BobMc]

https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/

I hopped on the kickstarter bandwagon and backed it the first day, once for me, and once for my wife.

The "not quite MMO" aspect of it is a big plus for me now in the aftermath of NCSoft killing my favorite game. I'm quite comforted knowing that I can at least run it solo at home no matter what happens to any servers ... witnessing SimCity troubles from afar brings that home too.

Back in the day, I think I had one of the Ultima games, and I absolutely had Autoduel for the Commodore 64 . It even came with a mini tool kit in the box.

[JaguarX]

https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/

I hopped on the kickstarter bandwagon and backed it the first day, once for me, and once for my wife.

The "not quite MMO" aspect of it is a big plus for me now in the aftermath of NCSoft killing my favorite game. I'm quite comforted knowing that I can at least run it solo at home no matter what happens to any servers ... witnessing SimCity troubles from afar brings that home too.

Back in the day, I think I had one of the Ultima games, and I absolutely had Autoduel for the Commodore 64 . It even came with a mini tool kit in the box.

Indeed. Nothing like a game with a good solo option even if server goes kaputz

[saipaman]

I backed this one as well.

As for Sim City, I waited to load the game until Saturday and haven't had any problems at all.  It's always best to wait a few days before jumping into these server related games.

[JaguarX]

I backed this one as well.

As for Sim City, I waited to load the game until Saturday and haven't had any problems at all.  It's always best to wait a few days before jumping into these server related games.

I like the sim city series but there absolutely no reason for me to be connected to the internet to play simcity. Since it seems to be requirement now, my days of playing the newest one is over. Oh well, still have the good but oldie sim cities.

[dwturducken]

How many games require you to be online, now? I know Blizzard was doing that, but those are games I wasn't going to buy, anyway. I have played all the SimCity games prior to this, as the first four Civ games. Now, I have to go look closely at CivV to make sure it doesn't have this requirement.

What really concerns me is the ongoing support. I still have the second, third, and fourth games of each series, and I like to pull the old ones out every once in a while. It's tricky, but not too difficult, to keep a Windows 98 machine running for the oldest ones. I just have to make sure I don't go faster than a 300Mhz PentiumII processor. The thing that I'm now worried about is the third games. I can make SC3K work in Windows 7, but I haven't gotten Civ3 to, yet. What happens when Microsoft stops all support for WindowsXP, and I can't authenticate a new install, anymore?

tl;dr version: If you have to be online to play the game, the manufacturer/distributor/publisher/etc.  has to have something on the other end. How long can we count on that being there?

[FatherXmas]

From what I've read Civ5 checks in roughly every 20 minutes while playing in single player mode.  There are reports that someone went executable diving and found a way to disable that, after EA hinted at then walked back that offline mode could be done after it took nearly a week to stabilize the game servers after launch.  Not sure if they reenabled digital sales of the game yet, they shut it down a couple of days into the fiasco.

[saipaman]

I'm afraid I'm addicted to Kickstarter.

[SerialBeggar]

I'm going broke with Kickstarter.  I was compelled to complete my categories color wheel last year  :-[ I've backed 34 projects since I joined with only 6 (I think) fail to reach their goal.  I have to sit out some of these new projects.

[eabrace]

And today they announced that Tracy Hickman is joining the team as Lead Story Designer.  This just keeps getting more interesting.

http://massively.joystiq.com/2013/03/15/tracy-hickman-tapped-for-writing-duties-on-shroud-of-the-avatar/

[Canine]

From what I've read Civ5 checks in roughly every 20 minutes while playing in single player mode.  There are reports that someone went executable diving and found a way to disable that, after EA hinted at then walked back that offline mode could be done after it took nearly a week to stabilize the game servers after launch.  Not sure if they reenabled digital sales of the game yet, they shut it down a couple of days into the fiasco.

Civ5 or Sim City?

So far as Sim City goes, then this, at least the appearance that multiplayer was a late addition to the game design, would at least appear to go counter to EA/Maxis' claim that online is fundamental to the game.  But then, I don't have the game, I'm not planning on getting the game and I'm only posting this as an onlooker with an interest in preventing pervasive always on DRM for single player games.

[dwturducken]

And today they announced that Tracy Hickman is joining the team as Lead Story Designer.  This just keeps getting more interesting.

http://massively.joystiq.com/2013/03/15/tracy-hickman-tapped-for-writing-duties-on-shroud-of-the-avatar/

According to Twitter, this has caused a bit of a bump on the Kickstarter. It's no The Veronica Mars Movie, but, with three weeks left, they've almost reached their million dollar goal.

(Also, I always forget that Tracy Hickman is a guy. I have no idea why. I mean, my best friend's father was named Tracy...)

[eabrace]

(Also, I always forget that Tracy Hickman is a guy. I have no idea why. I mean, my best friend's father was named Tracy...)

Don't feel too bad.  I only just learned that yesterday.

[Taceus Jiwede]

Also, I always forget that Tracy Hickman is a guy. I have no idea why. I mean, my best friend's father was named Tracy...

Is that why people give me strange looks when I say Tracy Hickman is the kind of woman I would like to marry?

EDIT:Quoted the wrong post.

So what exactly is this game?  I have heard about it and looked into even but I am not sure exactly what it is.  Like a MMO-Style RPG right?  I am sure it will be good, Lord British has done some great work in the past

[FatherXmas]

Civ5 or Sim City?

So far as Sim City goes, then this, at least the appearance that multiplayer was a late addition to the game design, would at least appear to go counter to EA/Maxis' claim that online is fundamental to the game.  But then, I don't have the game, I'm not planning on getting the game and I'm only posting this as an onlooker with an interest in preventing pervasive always on DRM for single player games.

Sim City 5.  Sorry, brain fart.

[Kistulot]

I met Tracy Hickman once. He is an absolutely amazing person. With him onboard, I am really excited to see how this turns out.

[Risha]

Backed.  I, too, like the idea of a game that can't be shut down.