Vader Visits The Troops And Other Tales 41

Posted by Zonk on Sunday March 06, 2005 @06:45PM from the a-day-long-remembered dept.

Bungie will be making a lot of changes at the home office, doubling their staff to ramp up for Halo 3. Changes for fans of the City of Heroes comic are coming as well, as NCSoft announced early this week that they were signing Top Cow publishing to take over the book. There will be plenty of announcements next week at the Game Developer's Conference, where Nintendo will be discussing their plans for Network gaming. MMOGs are, of course, the most networked of games and there is lots of MMO-related news to share this week. Final Fantasy XI players have a new Vana'diel Tribune to peruse, and if you'd like to share some stories the folks over at videogamestudies.com are interested in your characters. Not a new story, but one worth sharing is the republishing of The Big Scam. The Eve Online tale of real-life scammery and backstabbery is well worth a read. Sharing online tales is fun, and 1up.com has excellent journals about their online adventures. Warcraft Stories, My Life in Vana'diel, Memoirs of an Urban Vigilante, and Hooked on Evercrack were all updated this week. Finally, Corpnews has a bright note from the world of Star Wars Galaxies to share as Lord Vader took some time to visit the troops in the field. Update: 03/07 17:18 GMT by Z : As CapeMonkey pointed out, I had the wrong barnyard animal in talking about the CoH Comic.

Vader Visits The Troops And Other Tales

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The Big Scam... (Score:3, Interesting)

by sailforsingapore ( 833339 ) writes: <sailforsingapore@gmail.com> on Sunday March 06, 2005 @06:49PM (#11861534) Homepage

...Really should be taken with a grain of salt. While a great piece of writing, its factual content is questionable. Perhaps it has accidentaly created a new genre: gonzo games journalism, just as its elder counterpart gonzo journalism split from the new journalism movement.

- The Big Scam is the First Great MMORPG Folk Story (Score:5, Interesting)
  
  by superultra ( 670002 ) writes: on Sunday March 06, 2005 @07:55PM (#11861905) Homepage
  
  It doesn't matter if it's true.
  
  Despite a few articles claiming the article is gaming "journalism," nowhere in the document does it ever claim to be "journalism." Rather it's important because it is one of the first widely read MMORPG folk tales, ala Bunyan or Ichabob Crane. It meets the criteria of a folk story: like authors of all folk stories, this writer knew enough about the subject matter to make it sound plausible. Secondly, he (or she?) is addressing several major concerns with the game. For example, the studio's involvement is portrayed as hurting the honest players in the game. The player starts out wanting to play honestly, but then discovers that it is nearly impossible to do so. "The Big Scam" also paints the biggest power players in the game as arrogant and aggressive, but easily duped. And finally, it shows just how easy people think it is to scam innocent players in the game.
  
  There's a lot of themes running through this story, and whether the actual facts are true or not isn't what makes this important. The issues the article addresses - and the resulting discontentment - are true, and that's why this is an important document. Plus, it's funny as hell.
  
  - Good story (Score:1)
    
    by captwheeler ( 573886 ) writes:
    
    I just read it and having played eve-online, it's plausible, and made me remember some of what playing it felt like. Boring mining, anger at being killed for no reason, and the strange feeling that you would cheat anyone, just for a challenge.
- Re:The Big Scam... (Score:3, Interesting)
  
  by C0rinthian ( 770164 ) writes:
  
  While some of the small details are questionable in "The big scam" I don't think it's fake. I've played Eve since a month after release. Those kinds of scams DO happen.
  
  Older players may remember the Morbor investment scheme which ripped off over 300 players. Now THAT was entertainment!
Open Source MMORPG News (Score:5, Informative)

by QuantumG ( 50515 ) writes: <qg@biodome.org> on Sunday March 06, 2005 @07:03PM (#11861622) Homepage Journal

The Planeshift [planeshift.it] project continues to produce commercial quality MMORPG fun with an average of 100 check-ins a day.

Launched this week was the free art project LessShift [freeartfoundation.org] which allows anyone to run a Planeshift server that users can legally connect to (the Planeshift art license prohibits players from connecting to "non-official" servers with official art). We're currently in need of artists with 3ds max skills and/or Blender experts who can revive the Blender -> CS export tools. 2d artists, musicians and Quake/Halflife mappers are also needed.

All contributed art must be in the public domain or under a public domain compatible license (eg, x11, creative commons, GPL). Everyone is welcome to use the art bundle for any purpose (including developing other [once.net.nz] MMORPGs).

- - Re:Open Source MMORPG News (Score:3, Funny)
    
    by QuantumG ( 50515 ) writes:
    
    The hundred or so people who are on simultaniously at any time of day running around and killing stuff and not saying a word to each other might disagree with you.
- Re:Open Source MMORPG News (Score:1)
  
  by KDR_11k ( 778916 ) writes:
  
  What does Blender->CS mean in this contxt? Counterstrike (i.e. .smd) or Character Studio (.bip)?
  - Re:Open Source MMORPG News (Score:2)
    
    by QuantumG ( 50515 ) writes:
    
    CS = crystal space.
- Re:Bungie lost most of their hard core fans years (Score:2)
  
  by TychoCelchuuu ( 835690 ) writes:
  
  I think the plan was actually a revolutionary 3rd person shooter/RTS hybrid for Macintosh. And yeah, Microsoft really blew that one when they sucked Bungie's soul out through a faulty X-BOX power cable.
- Re:Bungie lost most of their hard core fans years (Score:2)
  
  by snuf23 ( 182335 ) writes:
  
  Hmmmmmmmmmmm. Bitter are we?
  FYI - um Tribes was not a gigantic hit. Yeah, I used to play the first iteration, but Tribes is notoriously difficult to pick up and start playing unless you are willing to get your ass handed to you for awhile.
  I agree that Halo is pretty generic and boring - at least to the average computer gamer. As far as consoles go, Halo was a little less common and introduced lots of people to online gaming.
  Bungie's sell out was arguably a loss for computer gamers but a boon for console gam
Slashdot is run by Imperial Forces! (Score:4, Funny)

by EddieBurkett ( 614927 ) writes: on Sunday March 06, 2005 @08:38PM (#11862135)

Sure, focus on Vader visiting the troops... I was in the town of Anchorhead on Tattooine when Princess Leia arrived to rally the rebel forces stationed there. Where's that press coverage?

- Re:Slashdot is run by Imperial Forces! (Score:3, Funny)
  
  by gl4ss ( 559668 ) writes:
  
  was she wearing gold bikinis?
Mirror Of Darth Vader Pics (Score:5, Informative)

by NEOtaku17 ( 679902 ) writes: on Sunday March 06, 2005 @08:38PM (#11862137) Homepage

Vader Arrives at Base 01 [nyud.net]
Vader Arrives at Base 02 [nyud.net]
Vader Visits Troops and gives a speech 03 [nyud.net]
Vader Visits Troops and gives a speech 04 [nyud.net]
Vader Visits Troops and gives a speech 05 [nyud.net]
Vader Visits Troops and gives a speech 06 [nyud.net]
Vader Visits Troops and gives a speech 07 [nyud.net]
Vader Visits Troops and gives a speech 08 [nyud.net]
Vader Visits Troops and gives a speech 09 [nyud.net]
Vader Visits Troops and gives a speech 10 [nyud.net]
Vader Visits Troops and gives a speech 11 [nyud.net]
Vader Visits Troops and gives a speech 12 [nyud.net]
Vader Visits Troops and gives a speech 13 [nyud.net]
Vader Visits Troops and gives a speech 14 [nyud.net]
Vader Visits Troops and gives a speech 15 [nyud.net]
Vader Visits Troops and gives a speech 16 [nyud.net]
Vader Visits Troops and gives a speech 17 [nyud.net]

- Re:Mirror Of Darth Vader Pics (Score:3, Funny)
  
  by drxray ( 839725 ) writes:
  
  I don't believe they edited me out! I was the trooper in the back row saying "who the hell is that guy in black?"
  - Re:Mirror Of Darth Vader Pics (Score:2)
    
    by bersl2 ( 689221 ) writes:
    
    Did you ever happen to feel a choking sensation, or ever remember losing consciousness or waking up on the ground?
  - Re:Mirror Of Darth Vader Pics (Score:3, Funny)
    
    by NanoGator ( 522640 ) writes:
    
    "I don't believe they edited me out! I was the trooper in the back row saying "who the hell is that guy in black?"
    
    I can't believe they replaced my blaster with a walkie talkie!
    - Re:Mirror Of Darth Vader Pics (Score:2)
      
      by Zangief ( 461457 ) writes:
      
      "who the hell is that guy in black? ...agh... I CAN'T BREATH! AGGGGRGH!
- Correct me if I'm wrong but... (Score:3, Informative)
  
  by aztektum ( 170569 ) writes:
  
  I heard around SWG forums (trying to find an opinion on if its worth playing now) that both Rebel VIPs and Imperial VIPs were going to cities "rallying the troops." I read Leia stopped by a city somewheres and also gave a "speech".
  - Re:Correct me if I'm wrong but... (Score:1)
    
    by Frodo Crockett ( 861942 ) writes:
    
    I read Leia stopped by a city somewheres and also gave a "speech".
    Was she wearing this? [leiasmetalbikini.com]
Dark Horse? (Score:1)

by CapeMonkey ( 795733 ) writes:

It's not Dark Horse taking over the City of Heroes comic, it's Top Cow. Wrong farm animal!
For a second there... (Score:5, Funny)

by u-238 ( 515248 ) writes: on Sunday March 06, 2005 @09:36PM (#11862382) Homepage

For a second there, when I very first read "Vader Visits The Troops" I thought, oh my god, slashdot really went overboard with their left leaning stance.

- Re:For a second there... (Score:2)
  
  by TheLoneDanger ( 611268 ) writes:
  
  Heh... that was good, thanks a lot for the laugh (and the visual)... I find your lack of faith disturbing, indeed.
- Re:For a second there... (Score:1)
  
  by ReverendLoki ( 663861 ) writes:
  
  At first glance, I thought that title was in reference to Gates visiting Bungie or something...
- Re:For a second there... (Score:2)
  
  by Boronx ( 228853 ) writes:
  
  Did he bring them a plastic turkey?
I need to read, not skim (Score:4, Funny)

by superultra ( 670002 ) writes: on Sunday March 06, 2005 @10:42PM (#11862760) Homepage

I really thought that "Lord Vader took some time to visit the troops in the field" meant that George Lucas had stopped by SOE and didn't bother clicking on the link. When I saw the post linking to a dozen photos of the event I thought it was kind of weird why someone would take that many pictures of George Lucas.

Of course, who knows - maybe the Darth Vader that visited in-game was George Lucas?

- Re:I need to read, not skim (Score:2, Funny)
  
  by sailforsingapore ( 833339 ) writes:
  
  if you saw George Lucas dressed up as Vader at a game studio...you would take that many pictures, too...
The character I'm waiting for (Score:3, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Sunday March 06, 2005 @10:44PM (#11862769)

"Lord Vader took some time to visit the troops in the field. .."

Let me know when slave Leah shows up. Raarrrrrr.

- Re:The character I'm waiting for (Score:1, Funny)
  
  by Anonymous Coward writes:
  
  Now if she only had cat ears and a tail...
  YIFF! YIFF! YIFF!
  (For those who don't know what I'm talking about watch the end of "The Shining" closely or visit 4chan)
- Re:The character I'm waiting for (Score:2, Informative)
  
  by ThePolkapunk ( 826529 ) writes:
  
  Princess Leia actually does show up; she visits Anchorhead. I believe Darth Vader visits Coronet...
Pfff... (Score:1)

by JasdonLe ( 680479 ) writes:

Just for fun, look at the shadow of the Imperial Shuttle in this [img215.exs.cx]screenie.
- Re:Pfff... (Score:1)
  
  by normal_guy ( 676813 ) writes:
  
  Probably had to turn off shadow detail in order to get the shiny helmets at a reasonable framerate. ;-)
Vader vs. Darth Vader (Score:1, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes:

When I read "Darth Vader", I instinctively think Star Wars. But when I read only "Vader", somehow, I just can't help but think of Vader (Leon White) [geocities.com] first.
Dupe! (Score:2)

by node 3 ( 115640 ) writes:

This is old news. Lord Vader visited the troops something like two thanksgivings ago!

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Vader Visits The Troops And Other Tales 41

Vader Visits The Troops And Other Tales More Login

Vader Visits The Troops And Other Tales

The Big Scam... (Score:3, Interesting)

The Big Scam is the First Great MMORPG Folk Story (Score:5, Interesting)

Good story (Score:1)

Re:The Big Scam... (Score:3, Interesting)

Open Source MMORPG News (Score:5, Informative)

Re:Open Source MMORPG News (Score:3, Funny)

Re:Open Source MMORPG News (Score:1)

Re:Open Source MMORPG News (Score:2)

Re:Bungie lost most of their hard core fans years (Score:2)

Re:Bungie lost most of their hard core fans years (Score:2)

Slashdot is run by Imperial Forces! (Score:4, Funny)

Re:Slashdot is run by Imperial Forces! (Score:3, Funny)

Mirror Of Darth Vader Pics (Score:5, Informative)

Re:Mirror Of Darth Vader Pics (Score:3, Funny)

Re:Mirror Of Darth Vader Pics (Score:2)

Re:Mirror Of Darth Vader Pics (Score:3, Funny)

Re:Mirror Of Darth Vader Pics (Score:2)

Correct me if I'm wrong but... (Score:3, Informative)

Re:Correct me if I'm wrong but... (Score:1)

Dark Horse? (Score:1)

For a second there... (Score:5, Funny)

Re:For a second there... (Score:2)

Re:For a second there... (Score:1)

Re:For a second there... (Score:2)

I need to read, not skim (Score:4, Funny)

Re:I need to read, not skim (Score:2, Funny)

The character I'm waiting for (Score:3, Funny)

Re:The character I'm waiting for (Score:1, Funny)

Re:The character I'm waiting for (Score:2, Informative)

Pfff... (Score:1)

Re:Pfff... (Score:1)

Vader vs. Darth Vader (Score:1, Funny)

Dupe! (Score:2)

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