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Role Playing (Games)

EQ2 Voiced By Hollywood Actors 185

An anonymous reader writes "Sony is going to have well known actors voicing major roles in its upcoming Massively Multiplayer Online Game. Christopher Lee is doing the voice for the Evil Lord Sir Lucan D'Lere, leader of the city of Freeport, and Heather Graham is doing the voice for Antonia Bale of the good city of Qeynos. An interview with Christopher Lee is also available on the Sony site." It will be interesting to see how this affects the fight between EQ2 and World of Warcraft, which are rumored to be coming out on the same day.
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EQ2 Voiced By Hollywood Actors

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  • EQ2 (Score:5, Informative)

    by Ziak ( 807893 ) * on Wednesday October 13, 2004 @12:26PM (#10514419)
    I'm in the beta, so I don't want to go and break the NDA but the game is simply amasing all the NPCs have full voice and it really makes a diffrence because it feels more like your there, the graphics are simply stunning and after playing both WOW, and EQ2 I'm having the feeling that sony is gonna keep getting my money....
    • Simply stating that you're in beta is a violation of the NDA. Now fork over your Station Id so we can get you banned and free up a spot for us!
    • How often do the NPC's repeat themselves? IOW, do they have a large or small vocabulary?
      • Re:EQ2 (Score:3, Informative)

        by genrader ( 563784 )
        I got to play the beta at a friends house, he is leveling characters 24/7 and he said he has not heard ONE NPC repeat anything yet, and from what I played I would think it would be that way. It is simply amazing. The graphics are superior to 95% of all games out there, his p4 3.2ghz 2 gigs pc4000 and overclocked 9800 pro cannot run it higher than low-medium settings.
        • "his p4 3.2ghz 2 gigs pc4000 and overclocked 9800 pro cannot run it higher than low-medium settings"
          That's not a good thing imho -- guess I'll just have to take my P4 3.0GHz, 2GB RAM system and slink off to another game I can run well in shame.
          • by Ziak ( 807893 ) *
            no way my computer runs it on high and its only p4 3.0 ghz with 1 GB of pc 4200 ram with a 600xt PCI express video card, and it runs the game with ease.
    • Re:EQ2 (Score:5, Insightful)

      by WWWWolf ( 2428 ) <wwwwolf@iki.fi> on Wednesday October 13, 2004 @01:53PM (#10515034) Homepage
      all the NPCs have full voice and it really makes a diffrence because it feels more like your there, the graphics are simply stunning

      ...and the immersion shatters the second anyone utters anything about phAt l00t. Thanks, but I think I'll pass. MMORPGs have this nasty habit of being really cool until you let the other players in =)

      • Re:EQ2 (Score:3, Funny)

        by blueZhift ( 652272 )
        Heh Heh! That gives me an idea! Wouldn't it be cool if an MMORPG had a roleplaying speech filter that would take whatever speech the player entered and convert it into game world appropriate speech! That way phAt 100t might become "much coveted gil" or some such. Of course the real fun would be watching what comes out when players inevitably try to subvert the thing. Yeah, that's the immersion shattering you're hearing!
      • I think there's a misconception about EverQuest style "role" playing games. They're not play-acting fantasies for would be Broadway actrons. They're not even for people who played paper and die D&D games and pretended 'they were' their character. They're also not MUDs.

        They're role playing in the same way a football player has a role (block, pass, catch, run, etc.) and plays his role to the limit of his capabilities. Phat Lewt is a means to an end, without it you can't take on the harder bosses (which d
    • Earth and Beyond also had full voice. Its not anything new. However, they were forced to toss it after the beta because of massive funding cuts by EA and the liquidation of Westwood.
  • Older news.. (Score:3, Informative)

    by Thomas Charron ( 1485 ) <twaffle@@@gmail...com> on Wednesday October 13, 2004 @12:27PM (#10514425) Homepage
    This is relatively older news, really..

    Unfortionatly, these features are making the game itself HUGE..

    In the beta right now, the client download is like 3 gigs..

    But I gotta admit. The end result is simply amazing compared to EQ itself..
    • The old news is that there is voice acting.

      What's "new" about this new develeopment is that they are using Christopher Lee and Heather Graham as opposed to their brother-in-law to do the voice acting.

      Christopher Lee -> Saruman in LOTR, 'nuff said. (plays Lucan, the bad guy in charge in freeport)
      Heather Graham -> Hot chick from Austin Powers. (plays the good chick in charge in qeynos)
      • I am sorry, but the "Bad Guy" is in charge of a place called "Freeport" and the "Good Chick" is in charge of a place call "Qeynos".

        That goes against everything we know about Fantasy world villain leaders and good people leaders...

        Villains are supposed to come from places with hard to pronounce or oddly named places, like "Qeynos" and good people are supposed to come from places like "Freeport"...

        This flies in the face of conventional wisdom. I for one do NOT welcome our convention thwarting ov
      • Heather Graham -> Who needs the voice acting, show me the body and I'll preorder tomorrow.

    • I don't mind a huge install, but what worries me is that it's going to restrict new content.

      In the old days, SOE could push a new quest live and it was a small DL. With all NPCs having associated audio files for voice, pushing a quest live could mean a pretty hefty download.

      Fortunately, it's unlikely I'll be playing EQ2. Ever since I quit EQ a couple years back, I've decided that I enjoy having what little life I have...

      I'd get back into MMORPG gaming if someone would get a clue that you shouldn't have
      • Re:Older news.. (Score:4, Informative)

        by Oliver Wendell Jones ( 158103 ) on Wednesday October 13, 2004 @03:32PM (#10516278)
        You should try a different MMORPG, like Asheron's Call: Dark Majesty. Turbine has done almost everything possible to make the game enjoyable without the need to give up your 'real life' and stay in the game 24/7. The graphics are a little antiquated (a new graphics engine is due out next year) but the game play is still going strong, and you don't have to constantly pay for expansion packs ($20-30 extra every 6 months) as Turbine adds new content (dungeons, monsters, weapons, etc) in every month's patch. And it has player-owned housing, something that EQ still has yet to provide... I have a nice lake-side cottage up in the mountains.
  • Sorry. (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    No amount of voice acting is going to get me to play evercrack 2.

    Especially when Sony is behind it. Ugh. I just have problems giving that company my money. I used to respect Sony... No longer. Their actions in the past few years have not been good.

  • Actors? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by imsirovic5 ( 542929 ) on Wednesday October 13, 2004 @12:30PM (#10514452)
    Does anybody really want to hear actors in a game? I personally think that money could be spent in a better way. I would rather see that money go toward physics engine or graphics or anything else. Or maybe, they could just give that extra money back to us in terms of lower game pricing? Do other people think that paying actors will add that much value to the game?
    • Re:Actors? (Score:5, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 13, 2004 @12:32PM (#10514461)
      I would rather *see* Heather Graham in a silent movie than *hear* her voice in a video game.

      Unless that voice is saying "Harder, big boy" while panting heavily.

    • Re:Actors? (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Every once in awhile actors can improve the gaming experience. It was fairly well-done in the latter half of the Wing Commander series, for example. The first couple of games in the series just had pictures with animated mouths and subtitles. It was kind of cheesy, and didn't really immerse the player in the plot. I have 3 and 5, and they added a plot to the game (Hey, kids! It's Mark Hammil! *Applause*). Otherwise, it would have just been a series of flight sim missions. Privateer 2 falls under this
    • If you want to know the value of good actors, just look at the GTA series. They have outstanding voice acting, and it really makes the story very cool. Its the same reason big stars are so good in animated Disney films...they just bring the characters to life even if it is only their voice. I like to compare it to Metal Gear Solid 2, which in my opinion has the worst story and voice acting imaginable. Its almost baffling how bad it is. I think a good script and quality voice actors are really important
      • What about the heavily anticipated XBox CRPG Sudeki?

        Man, the game looked awesome from all the previews. But whoever did the voice acting needs to be shot, and I'm not even making that up. It's more than painful. Every review of the game mentions the terrible voicework. The game would have been about 3 times better with only subtitles. You have to skip all the cutscenes and ignore all the dialog just to manage to get through the whole thing without vomiting all over your couch--- it's that bad!
    • Good Voice Acting (Score:3, Interesting)

      by SeanDuggan ( 732224 )
      Honestly, yes, I do think having actors in a game is good. Voice acting, when done well, brings you deep into the game, immersing you because the audio cues are all there. Bad voice acting... yanks you out and bitchslaps you with the fact that this is just a game. There's nothing like having the princess in peril open her mouth and say, in a disinterested valley-girl voice, "Oh wise prince save me." to make you realize that these are just pixels on a screen. (Although a close second involves badly programme
    • From the post:
      It will be interesting to see how this affects the fight between EQ2 and World of Warcraft, which are rumored to be coming out on the same day.
      Because if the multimedia revolution in gaming has taught us anything over the past decade, it's that celebrities + gaming = quality. Oh, and huge profits, too. ;)
    • Re:Actors? (Score:3, Informative)

      by hai.uchida ( 814492 )
      I've worked in animation for quite a while and I can tell you that acting and doing voiceovers are two different things. Some actors are good at it, but many aren't-- it's a very different set of skills. But I do see why game companies shell out for big names. It gives legitimacy to the product, perhaps not to consumers necessarily but within the entertainment industry. It does help the process of video games being taken as seriously as any other form of entertainment.

      As for the money... It just doesn
  • by Anonymous Coward
    15 Months Ago: omg swg is just eq in space with teh wookie and ewoks. sux

    5 Months From Now: omg eq2 is just SWG with teh elves and count dookie as Sir Lucas!!
  • I mean seriously...wouldn't it have been more fun if they were voiced by Bollywood actors?

    Who's with me here?!
  • Wasted money (Score:4, Insightful)

    by FiReaNGeL ( 312636 ) <`moc.liamtoh' `ta' `l3gnaerif'> on Wednesday October 13, 2004 @12:39PM (#10514500) Homepage
    I just don't say myself saying "But it has voice acting made by Christopher Lee! I MUST buy it!".

    In my opinion, it would have been money better spent elsewhere. Like reducing the horrible monthly price they ask for this. And I don't even talk about the time investment required to 'do good' in these games... I saw numerous friends lose their life (job, wife, friends) to EQ1, playing 6pm-3am everyday. For 20$ (CAN) by month, I'll pass my turn, thanks.

    Of course, if he (they?) did it for free (which I doubt), then I have nothing about this...
  • Is this a good idea? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Aash ( 130966 ) on Wednesday October 13, 2004 @12:41PM (#10514519) Homepage
    What if they need to record new dialogue for this characters at some point down the road? It's not going to be easy (I would assume) to get celebrities back into the recording booth just to do a few lines every now and then. Then again I suppose they could just hire people to do impressions of the celebs, but still... seems kinda stupid to me.
    • I'm sure that with a little editing work, no one will know the difference. [moviewavs.com]
    • EQ2 is *not* the first game to feature voice acting Earth and Beyond had voice acting fro the major "Quest" characters and it was amazing, it was one of the things I liked the most about that game.

      The problem was E&B started advancing the plot very fast and the voice acting and dev cycle got out of sync.. about 3 month or so into the game they dropped the voice acting, it was really sad because at the time it was one of the things that set E&B above and beyond the rest of the MMORPG's out there...

  • I mean EQ2 is just the same as EQ except it has prettier graphics. They obviously need *something* to get people to buy it.
    • Wow.
      Apparently you haven't read the (limited) info Sony has released on the game!

      EQ2 will NOT just be EQ. It has a whole slew of features which will fix problems and enhance gameplay not only from EQ1 but EVERY MMO out there so far ...
      Fixed Battles is as far as I know an original idea.
      Instancing dungeons, although done in a couple other MMO's (COH comes to mind [what a horrible game!]) will be a fantastic feature as well.

      Not to mention that EQ1 is still the best MMORPG game out the
  • by 2Flower ( 216318 ) on Wednesday October 13, 2004 @12:59PM (#10514631) Homepage
    Countless times playing City of Heroes, I've wanted to hear SOMETHING other than blips and zaps and pows. Hearing the enemies call out and taunt you, or hear NPCs thanking you for rescuing them, or even screams of terror when people run around... voice beats no voice, hands down. As long as the acting is reasonably good and doesn't stand out for being Resident Evil levels of horribleness then it can add to the atmosphere in the same way great graphics do.

    An MMORPG which nails great graphics, an interactive musical score ala old Lucasarts games, and good voice acting... well, then you've got one heck of an experience. As is MMORPGs seem to focus completely on the graphics. The audio side gets third billing at best.
    • I'm an avid City of Heroes player. I thought about this issue myself, but then realized they might have intentionally left out any voice acting. Look how people talk- with comic book style voice bubbles. They're trying to give it a comic book feel, so having no voices is makes sense.
    • by vjmurphy ( 190266 ) on Wednesday October 13, 2004 @01:53PM (#10515041) Homepage
      "Countless times playing City of Heroes, I've wanted to hear SOMETHING other than blips and zaps and pows. Hearing the enemies call out and taunt you, or hear NPCs thanking you for rescuing them, or even screams of terror when people run around... voice beats no voice, hands down."

      You may thing this is true, but my experience would be different. They recently added voice into EQ: things that other players can trigger like "Follow me" and "Run."

      My wife was playing with that particular "feature" and after about 5 seconds, I told her that if she didn't turn that off, I would. It was the most annoying thing.

      CoH is a fun enough game, but they still haven't given us the ability to turn OFF specific repeating sounds (try playing with Fortitude on, and you'll know what I mean). I shudder to think of having villains and (gah) other players being able to spam me with spoken messages. I recall on the test server they had upped the volume of the "breathing while running" sound. They wisely did not continue with that.

      So, if any game has sounds, make sure they can be turned off without detriment to the gameplay.
      • Actually, most "looping" sounds in the game now fade out after a few seconds. I've got a force field defender and the whale-mating-song shrill cry of the sounds fades after activating the power.

        But when I say voice in a game, I don't mean PLAYER TRIGGERABLE voice. That can be used as a tool for griefing people. (See also CoH's boomboxes.) I mean NPCs... monsters, trainers, whatever. The world reacting to you audibly as well as visually.

        CoH is bottom barrel, audiowise. Production loop library music which o
      • I cancelled right after Update 2 at level 34. However Fortitude had been adjusted much lower in volume long before then and was completely tolerable compared to its previous incarnation. However my boyfriend's Blaster still was irritated at the particle effects of the spell in dark areas, as it pretty much drowned out everything in sight with its rosy rays.

        Now Targeting Drone they never did fix before I cancelled, I guess I should read the patch notes and see if they ever did remedy that horror.
  • C'mon. "Evil Lord Sir Lucan D'Lere" What is this, EverSmurf?

  • Rollergirl (Score:4, Funny)

    by akiy ( 56302 ) on Wednesday October 13, 2004 @01:04PM (#10514674) Homepage
    The good city of Qeynos is presided over by Rollergirl [imdb.com]?

    What kind of game is this?

  • by suso ( 153703 ) on Wednesday October 13, 2004 @01:08PM (#10514692) Journal
    I read somewhere that Heather Graham is also going to be doing a cameo (not sure how) in the game with Oliver Clothesov
  • Wow! (Score:5, Informative)

    by Dirtside ( 91468 ) on Wednesday October 13, 2004 @01:23PM (#10514797) Journal
    I'm sure that having celebrity voices will make up for Sony's historical lack of responsiveness to its players, tendency toward leaving significant bugs extant for months at a time, incredible ability to back and fill when their community representatives contradict themselves, and so on.

    I played EQ for 2 years and while I did have a lot of fun, I was never especially happy with how they handled customer interaction. It didn't help that every single expansion they released had numerous, major bugs, and unfinished content that would get implemented months after launch, and then immediately get broken by players doing things the developers never thought of. Then they'd rebalance that content, and it would still be broken, merely in a new and interesting way.

    Then there was the incredibly variable customer service. GMs were given an extremely wide latitude about how they could do things, which led to a lot of situations where someone did X, and was told it was okay, and someone else later also did exactly X, and was warned/suspended/banned for it. I was a Guide for six months on Brell Serilis (Tovarax Two Tone, troll bard), and we had a cool GM (Hi Oribi!) but a lot of other servers weren't so lucky. Even some of our guides were anal-retentive assholes, while others were easygoing. This kind of thing led directly to the impression that EQ customer service was capricious and cruel. It didn't help that there was no guarantee that a CS person would be online at any given time, so you might have an issue and have no chance of it being resolved before you had to log off.

    Don't even get me started about the disaster that is Star Wars Galaxies. (It's not a game, it's an economy simulator with a Star Wars-themed front end.) Unless you saw it, you can't imagine the pandemonium on the beta boards when they announced that the game was launching in 9 days. Everyone thought SOE was nuts. The game was released less than half-finished, and over a year later it's still got huge problems.

    I'm sure EQ2 will be pretty and flashy and have lots of cool stuff. But I have severe doubts -- well-grounded in history -- about SOE's ability to keep things good in the long run. Certainly wouldn't mind them proving me wrong.

    Meanwhile, World of Warcraft in beta is already a better game than EQ was three years after it launched :)
    • Heya Tovarax, never thought I'd see a fellow Brell guide here (although I should have expected it... :-) Oobuk of Brell
  • by ChiefHappyWind ( 817997 ) on Wednesday October 13, 2004 @01:23PM (#10514801)
    I have been playing EQ for 5 year. I play with no sound and the lowest level of graphics detail. The reason I play with no sound is because years ago the sound could cause problems or crash. So, i turned it off, and have never turned it on again. The reason i play with the lowest level of graphics is so that i can run two instances of EQ. I have more than one account. One account runs a Bazaar selling character which is in a minimized EQ window. The other is the character I am actually playing. For best results I reduce all the graphics options to the lowest level. Also, I have another computer which is fast, and has a nice graphics board with 128 megs of ram. I tried running with all the highest level of graphics options, but ultimately, in a raid situation, it's too slow. So, over time that machine got reduced to the lowest level of graphics options. The story? What story? When i do quests i don't even talk to the NPCs. Just give my my item, thanks. I know there are some people that actually follow the story, or even try role playing. But, for the most part. EQ is not about the graphics, the sound, or even the story. It's about items, items, items, guilds, raids, items, buying, selling, items, and becoming more powerful. So, why bother with EQ2? I guess only to reserve a good name and be one of the first.
  • by RubberChainsaw ( 669667 ) on Wednesday October 13, 2004 @01:30PM (#10514849)
    I suggest james earl jones, because its true to life.

    There goes my karma.. oh well..
  • Who are Christopher Lee Heather Graham?
  • They have to add something to try and make up all that goodwill they've blown with the customer base over the years. What with snotty customer service reps and a community liason who took every opportunity to insult the players, its a wonder the game has stayed as popular as it has.

    Most people are still playing EQ becuase their friends are. They better count on enough of that carrying people over into EQ2 to make it profitable.

    These are the same people that wielded the ban stick far too indescriminately

  • Oh lordie (Score:3, Funny)

    by vurg ( 639307 ) on Wednesday October 13, 2004 @01:41PM (#10514948)
    ..EQ2 and World of Warcraft, which are rumored to be coming out on the same day.

    Anybody wants to buy a girlfriend?
  • by fohat ( 168135 )
    In the recently released expansion for the original Everquest, titled "Omens of War"( http://everquest.station.sony.com/omensofwar/over v iew.jsp ), SoE (Sony Online Entertainment) introduced a voice system where the sound files reside on the local machine. These sounds were all done by 2 people; 1 male and 1 female. There is also an ability to add your own sound with the caveat that only you will be able to hear that sound (a la Baulders Gate).

    The voice system has been generally agreed upon as crap in t
  • Repetition? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Speare ( 84249 ) on Wednesday October 13, 2004 @02:08PM (#10515189) Homepage Journal

    Okay, so the voice actor comes into the studio one day, records fifty lines he or she has never thought about before, and leaves. They might sound good the first time around, but these will get so tired, so fast.

    First encounter at the camp: "Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more; Or close the wall up with our English dead. In peace there's nothing so becomes a man As modest stillness and humility: But when the blast of war blows in our ears, Then imitate the action of the tiger; Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood, Disguise fair nature with hard-favour'd rage; Then lend the eye a terrible aspect; Let pry through the portage of the head Like the brass cannon; let the brow o'erwhelm it As fearfully as doth a galled rock O'erhang and jutty his confounded base, Swill'd with the wild and wasteful ocean."

    The next day, arriving at the camp. "Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more; Or close the wall up with our English dead. ... " yeah, yeah, whatever, gramps

    Ten minutes later, walking past. "Once more unto the breach, ..." shut UP already

    Five minutes later, walking past. "Once more ..." mute button

    • Single Use! (Score:4, Informative)

      by Laebshade ( 643478 ) <laebshade@gmail.com> on Wednesday October 13, 2004 @02:40PM (#10515580)
      If you would take the time to read the EQ2 dev chats/journals, you would realize that for music they intend to play it once to set the mood. For example, whenever you enter a zone, it plays a music score once, then fades it out. I imagine (haven't checked for sure) they'll be doing a similar thing with voices; you hear it once, then the rest of the time is just text. That way it NEVER gets old.
  • by genner ( 694963 )
    Still doesn't beat the original Utlima Online, in
    the days before they runined it with a series of
    everquest clone patches.
    • I have to agree...

      Ultima Online might not have that eyecandy 3d-graphics or earcandy sound...but its still my favourite as well.
      IMHO it has depth and the possibilty to make real RP, the other (granted, I never played them or at least not really long) didnt really appeal to me.

      Origin made a breakthrough (I am aware, there were some before Origin) and brought MMORPG to the masses.
      And before someone just thinks about arguing that UO is only "l33t roXor wtf n00b"-stuff...there are really good Freeshards
  • I bet they cut him out of the sequel.
  • since I haven't read anything suggesting EQ2 is coming to the mac I know what MMORPG I will be buying......actually none since I don't think I'll have time to play while in law school
    *DOH*
    But if I did....it would be WoW all the way!!!
  • So what happens - he disappears ten minutes into the game and never comes back?

  • Kingdom Hearts, the big RPG collaboration between Square and Disney, has several pretty-well-known voice actors in it:

    Haley Joel Osment - Sora
    David Gallagher - Riku
    Hayden Panettiere - Kairi
    David Boreanaz - Leon
    Mandy Moore - Aerith
    Christy Carlson Romano - Yuffie
    Lance Bass - Sephiroth
    Sean Astin - Hercules
    Dan Castellaneta - Genie

    I guess this would be the first MMORPG with Hollywood actors, though. Doesn't seem like a real big deal to me.
  • by SnapperHead ( 178050 ) on Wednesday October 13, 2004 @03:25PM (#10516178) Homepage Journal
    Why ? Look at what Sony is putting there money in. Actors, fancy graphics and marketing.

    Mean while, there combat, quest system, (no PVP) are all badly under developed. EQ2 is Alpha quailty marked with Beta. This game would not be ready for at least another year and a half.

    Sony and there great ideas, have decied they are going to release EQ2 on the same day as WoW, ready or not. They don't care if the game works or not. They are going to pull another SWG.

    Blizzard on the other hand, is making it right the first time. They aren't going to release until the game is ready, end of story. So far, WoW (yes, I am in the beta) has a serious edge on EQ and EQ2. They fixed all the serious MMO problems. For example: Instead of killing the same mob all day, for 2 weeks straight in order to get 5 levels, you get most of your exp from quests. PVP already works 50 times better then EQ PVP. (I played on SZ for 3 years)

    The biggest problem Sony has is QA and customer service. It takes them 8 - 10 hours to respond to an ingame ticket. Meanwhile, Sony cuts there GM force down by half ... AGAIN. They really don't care what people think, or problems with the game.

    Blizzard DOES care. I get a response from a GM within 2 mins. The listen to the customers on what they would like to see. Hell, I have personally suggested at least 5 large changes that made it into the game.

    With EQ1, there are large problems with the game that have been there for over 4 years. They KNOW how to fix it, they just don't care.

    This is why I could careless about EQ or Sony. They will continue to release shit until the end of time.
  • As shocking as it may seem, there are people who don't know what EQ2 means... even ones that read Slashdot. Maybe it's because I've had a long day or because I'm part of the "games are for consoles" crowd, but I had no idea what game that is until I read some comments. It wouldn't hurt to mention it's the sequel to EverQuest in the summary if the official name of the game is EQ2.
  • Sony Executive: You were selected to do the voiceover for the new everquest game. Are you excited?
    Hollywood celebrity: Are you shitting me? No fscking way I do the voice of a troll!
    Sony Executive: Look at your contract. You are my bitch.
    Hollywood Celebrity (looking at contract): Hey, wait a... I know what I'll do! I'll change my name to the symbol "%&$()*&" and you won't own me anymore!
    Sony Executive: Sorry, this is already taken by Matt Damon. You are starting tomorrow.
    Hollywood celebrity: arrrrrrg
  • It seems every few months there's another buzz about the next big MMORPG destroying Everquest. This was said about AO, SWG and DAOC and of course WOW. So far, none of EQ's competitors have lived up to the hype. I don't expect WOW to be any different.

    In fact, I don't expect EQ2 to be an Everquest killer either, even though it is supposedly the "next generation."

    This reminds me of all the hype about so-called "superior products" that never caught on, from NeXT to the Betamax. It's more than just higher-r
    • It seems every few months there's another buzz about the next big MMORPG destroying Everquest. This was said about AO, SWG and DAOC and of course WOW. So far, none of EQ's competitors have lived up to the hype. I don't expect WOW to be any different.

      There's no need for another MMORPG to come and destroy EverQuest.

      SOE is doing quite alright at that already.

      Plat duping, rampant farming for real life cash, accounts being traded left and right (again, for cash), no customer service.

      Did I forget to ment
      • SOE is doing quite alright at that already.

        Plat duping, rampant farming for real life cash, accounts being traded left and right (again, for cash), no customer service.

        Did I forget to mention the ability to change your name for a small fee so you can buy an account, change the name on it, and then pretend it's one that you leveled up?

        Or how about that since they made travel completely free that only the highest ZEM zones get played in? Kinda removed the need to explore from EQ, didn't it? Why go visit La
    • The difference is that none of the EQ competitors were actually any good. AFAIK Blizzard was the first developer that didn't hide their beta behind NDAs before launch, and the public KNOWS the game is already more polished than EQ ever was. Those of us lucky enough to play in the stress test have experienced it first hand. Open beta starts very shortly. [worldofwarcraft.com]
      • The difference is that none of the EQ competitors were actually any good. AFAIK Blizzard was the first developer that didn't hide their beta behind NDAs before launch, and the public KNOWS the game is already more polished than EQ ever was.

        With all due respect, what a ridiculous assertion. The game isn't even in beta. There's no way to tell how robust the game is, much less how the playable the game will be once it goes public. There's virtually nothing that's been said about WOW that wasn't hyped up t
  • This whole thing really comes down to substance over style.

    Blizzard has a long track record of focusing on gameplay gameplay develo....err....gameplay whereas Sony has proven time and time again that they will throw lots of money into flashy graphics, this new voice talent, lots of marketing, etc.

    Both games will attract different and similar crowds, but I think the mature gamers will appreciate the depth of WoW whereas the younger people who have all day to spend camping and powerleveling will stick to EQ.

    F

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