Comments for Agoners http://agoners.wordpress.com musings of hardcore competitive gamers Sun, 08 Nov 2009 23:25:37 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 Comment on The Curious Orange by Saving Anywhere costs you Half a Life « Agoners http://agoners.wordpress.com/2008/12/04/the-curious-orange/#comment-224 Saving Anywhere costs you Half a Life « Agoners Sun, 08 Nov 2009 23:25:37 +0000 http://agoners.wordpress.com/?p=270#comment-224 [...] anything be further from the ideal of an arcade challenge and hard-fun? In fact I recall when I started to play Half Life 2 in The Orange Box, I was shocked to discover such a mechanic, as I’d played through a good [...] [...] anything be further from the ideal of an arcade challenge and hard-fun? In fact I recall when I started to play Half Life 2 in The Orange Box, I was shocked to discover such a mechanic, as I’d played through a good [...]

]]> Comment on The Ironic Review Review by Remy77077 http://agoners.wordpress.com/2009/08/13/the-ironic-review-review/#comment-218 Remy77077 Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:08:03 +0000 http://agoners.wordpress.com/?p=699#comment-218 Insomnia takes the link from my first thoughts on this here and extends and explains the current situation to it's ultimate conclusion here: http://insomnia.ac/commentary/the_videogame_news_racket/ Insomnia takes the link from my first thoughts on this here and extends and explains the current situation to it’s ultimate conclusion here:
http://insomnia.ac/commentary/the_videogame_news_racket/

]]> Comment on Versus Flow by Chris http://agoners.wordpress.com/2009/10/09/versus-flow/#comment-214 Chris Fri, 30 Oct 2009 10:05:12 +0000 http://agoners.wordpress.com/?p=812#comment-214 There's a general problem with skill level matchmaking, namely that there are a substantial number of players who will register extra accounts in order to come in and face the general pack (and thus beat them utterly) rather than let the matchmaking mechanics deliver them to a suitable opponent. But as you say here, another problem is that not much effort is spent on this part of the online experience. It is largely left to the individual to find their own solution. As for team-based games, I don't see this as a significantly more difficult problem than matching individuals to be honest - as long as there are suitable metrics (which there always are in competitive combat games) there are ways to generate rankings. Thanks for sharing the links, and your thoughts! There’s a general problem with skill level matchmaking, namely that there are a substantial number of players who will register extra accounts in order to come in and face the general pack (and thus beat them utterly) rather than let the matchmaking mechanics deliver them to a suitable opponent. But as you say here, another problem is that not much effort is spent on this part of the online experience. It is largely left to the individual to find their own solution.

As for team-based games, I don’t see this as a significantly more difficult problem than matching individuals to be honest – as long as there are suitable metrics (which there always are in competitive combat games) there are ways to generate rankings.

Thanks for sharing the links, and your thoughts!

]]> Comment on Padding the Joystick by Sticks of Joy « Agoners http://agoners.wordpress.com/2008/08/19/padding-the-joystick/#comment-207 Sticks of Joy « Agoners Wed, 28 Oct 2009 01:06:28 +0000 http://agoners.wordpress.com/?p=41#comment-207 [...] since I’ve written about joysticks in the past too, although this has been done a lot elsewhere nowadays, I felt that this was a worthy topic for an [...] [...] since I’ve written about joysticks in the past too, although this has been done a lot elsewhere nowadays, I felt that this was a worthy topic for an [...]

]]> Comment on To the spirit of a fighter by NTSC-UK « Agoners http://agoners.wordpress.com/2009/07/08/to-the-spirit-of-a-fighter/#comment-197 NTSC-UK « Agoners Fri, 23 Oct 2009 20:55:36 +0000 http://agoners.wordpress.com/?p=577#comment-197 [...] NTSC-UK I’ve managed to get my hands on a 2nd XBox 360 – finally another USA model. As I now have two different region’s 360s, and a bunch of American (NTSC-U/C) and UK (PAL) games, I’m in an ideal position to actually test what games work across country systems etc. I wanted to publish this information up for reference, since it’s really hard to come by; only a few trusted sites like play-asia.com actually seem to publish it anywhere, and because I utterly detest the fact that region-locking still exists at all, as I’ve ranted about before. [...] [...] NTSC-UK I’ve managed to get my hands on a 2nd XBox 360 – finally another USA model. As I now have two different region’s 360s, and a bunch of American (NTSC-U/C) and UK (PAL) games, I’m in an ideal position to actually test what games work across country systems etc. I wanted to publish this information up for reference, since it’s really hard to come by; only a few trusted sites like play-asia.com actually seem to publish it anywhere, and because I utterly detest the fact that region-locking still exists at all, as I’ve ranted about before. [...]

]]> Comment on Challenge me Angel! by Versus Flow « Agoners http://agoners.wordpress.com/2009/09/30/challenge-me-angel/#comment-196 Versus Flow « Agoners Fri, 23 Oct 2009 17:19:45 +0000 http://agoners.wordpress.com/2009/08/17/challenge-me-angel/#comment-196 [...] difficulty and challenge level when it comes to the technical execution required to play a game (as previously discussed here) and the overall “solo” experience in a game is one thing, but for multiplayer [...] [...] difficulty and challenge level when it comes to the technical execution required to play a game (as previously discussed here) and the overall “solo” experience in a game is one thing, but for multiplayer [...]

]]> Comment on Challenge me Angel! by Remy77077 http://agoners.wordpress.com/2009/09/30/challenge-me-angel/#comment-195 Remy77077 Thu, 08 Oct 2009 15:52:47 +0000 http://agoners.wordpress.com/2009/08/17/challenge-me-angel/#comment-195 I just picked up on a couple of really interesting articles from Gamasutra about difficulty in games, which are interrelated to all of this: http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=25040 http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=25421 To clarify my point in relation to those articles - what I'm saying is, fighting games are so far towards the "difficult & inaccessible" side of gaming (an SF tournament is even used as an example in the first link), they could really do with a nudge towards the other direction, even if it's purely with the execution of moves; there is still a huge amount of 'hardcore' gameplay beyond that pure execution barrier. I just picked up on a couple of really interesting articles from Gamasutra about difficulty in games, which are interrelated to all of this:

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=25040
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=25421

To clarify my point in relation to those articles – what I’m saying is, fighting games are so far towards the “difficult & inaccessible” side of gaming (an SF tournament is even used as an example in the first link), they could really do with a nudge towards the other direction, even if it’s purely with the execution of moves; there is still a huge amount of ‘hardcore’ gameplay beyond that pure execution barrier.

]]> Comment on To the spirit of a fighter by Challenge me Angel! « Agoners http://agoners.wordpress.com/2009/07/08/to-the-spirit-of-a-fighter/#comment-194 Challenge me Angel! « Agoners Wed, 30 Sep 2009 19:44:53 +0000 http://agoners.wordpress.com/?p=577#comment-194 [...] whilst I’ve not yet signed away my soul to the Spirit of a Fighter, I’ve already surpassed my personal goals. Perhaps I set my sights too low, and sometimes I [...] [...] whilst I’ve not yet signed away my soul to the Spirit of a Fighter, I’ve already surpassed my personal goals. Perhaps I set my sights too low, and sometimes I [...]

]]> Comment on The Tiers of Time by Challenge me Angel! « Agoners http://agoners.wordpress.com/2009/01/22/the-tiers-of-time/#comment-193 Challenge me Angel! « Agoners Wed, 30 Sep 2009 19:18:51 +0000 http://agoners.wordpress.com/?p=458#comment-193 [...] in SF2. And I would bet that this theoretical character in any fighting game is very probably low tier. It sometimes makes me think I really ought to go and play a good competitive turn-based game [...] [...] in SF2. And I would bet that this theoretical character in any fighting game is very probably low tier. It sometimes makes me think I really ought to go and play a good competitive turn-based game [...]

]]> Comment on Hardcore you know the score by Challenge me Angel! « Agoners http://agoners.wordpress.com/2009/08/26/hardcore-you-know-the-score/#comment-192 Challenge me Angel! « Agoners Wed, 30 Sep 2009 19:16:47 +0000 http://agoners.wordpress.com/?p=618#comment-192 [...] how I describe myself as being a fiero-seeking nutjob sometimes the challenge just seems too much, or too far away from my core interest in a game, even [...] [...] how I describe myself as being a fiero-seeking nutjob sometimes the challenge just seems too much, or too far away from my core interest in a game, even [...]

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