Rockstar Games Develops Connection Between Flash Gaming, Nintendo DS 61
An anonymous reader writes "It's been a long-talked-about but never fully realized aim of developers, publishers and format holders to create a game that runs on multiple platforms, but connects and exchanges assets between them — e.g. you play a game as an FPS on a console/PC but control it as an RTS on mobile devices. Now, Rockstar Games seems to have cracked it, on a small scale, with news that a new Flash game will allow PC gamers to generate in-game cash — true to form for GTA-creator Rockstar, it's through 'money laundering' — that is then transferred to its new Nintendo DS title, Chinatown Wars. GameSpy's online technology seems to be responsible for this latest gimmick, but most interesting is the idea that this could allow an interface between platforms like the iPhone and consoles as well. How long until an indie developer creates an MMO that has different interfaces for PC and mobile?"
Sounds familiar (Score:5, Informative)
Reminds me of the Dreamcast's VMU, complete with the minigames that provided in-game bonuses.
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Or any of the Fable 2 minigames that came out before the games release.
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The PC version of FFXIII had a port of ChocoWorld that interfaced with the game if you really want to play it.
Buffy (Score:2)
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How long until an indie developer creates an MMO that has different interfaces for PC and mobile?
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The Buffy MMO that's being made on the Multiverse platform is going to do this. Or at least that was the announcement... a *while* ago. As in, a Flash interface that will have certain abilities and a typical PC game interface that will have others (probably some overlapping features as well).
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Fable 2 anyone? (Score:1, Insightful)
I seem to recall a game called Fable 2 where you could earn cash on a PC playing a flash game...
Interplatform compatibility (Score:4, Informative)
Also, this kind of reminds me of that Fable 2 gimmick where you could get unlockables if you played minigames on the fable2 webpage.
Re:Interplatform compatibility (Score:5, Interesting)
That isn't a technical problem, but a bureaucratic one. Rock Band was originally planned to have cross-platform play, but neither Microsoft or Sony would allow it.
EA uses their own servers (rather than the Xbox Live servers) and I've heard that they actually have to add code to STOP players from different platforms from connecting with each other (I guess they use the same servers for all platforms).
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I can confirm this. When they still had original Xbox titles that could not connect to Live, you could not connect to 360 players or vice versa, even though it was the same exact game.
But to take it a step further, you couldn't even see people as online if they were in the game on a different generation Xbox. For example: Most Wanted. If I signed into Most Wanted OXBox, my friend playing Most Wanted 360 would not show up online, at all.
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EA? Patch their games? That's a good one.
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Likely, both companies believe that if they allow cross-platform gaming, it means that less people will buy their respective console just to play the game with friends. If so, they're missing the point that it means more people will buy the game for the console they already own, which is a huge thing for publishers.
It would gain software units on both systems, likely at a ratio comparable to console sales. Hardware units might also see a small jump; consider a person who wants to play Rock Band with a fri
New Tax (Score:3, Funny)
As soon as this announcement was made, Secretary of State Clinton denounced virtual money laundering and the democratic Congress passed a bill taxing virtual earnings in games like GTA, Nintendo's Animal Crossing, and WoW. President Obama has vowed to sign the bill, which he says will help pay for health-care for underinsured children, and fix the nation's budget crisis. Nintendo could not be reached for comment.
Rockstar is like Vegas (Score:5, Interesting)
This makes for an intersting twist, but it's a twist where a viedeo game comes closer to reality.
I work as a software engineer. How much of my work day deals with things that are 'real'? How much do I manipulate any physical things at all? Unless you include the copious amounts of fresh-ground coffe I swirl each day, the answer is: next to none. I write software that solves a puzzle presented by our clientelle.
If what I do is manipulate information used by other people, how is that functionally different than MMO video games, which are themselves a shared information experience? Usually, in a game you solve a puzzle presented by the game creators or by other players.
Sure, at work there's money attached, and the problems are 'real' in that the karma you earn (or burn) applies to your physical person and not an avatar, but the differences are blurring fast.
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Only good if your interested in the solutions the group of people typically playing MMOs arrives, at.
Maybe "Kill it" is a good answer; but you might just as easily come up with that one on your own.
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Keeping in mind the market that exists for in game items I'd say that's not really a good distinction
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Keeping in mind the market that exists for in game items I'd say that's not really a good distinction
And how much value does that market produce? The distinction still holds, not between games and the real world, but between "useless" and "useful" activities.
I hate life (Score:5, Funny)
Oblig. (Score:1)
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Re:I love life (Score:1)
Except for the case where I am the one in love. My girlfriend supports my nerdyness fully. She even wrote me a love letter in hex!
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61727421
Multiple platforms... (Score:5, Insightful)
Games that don't interoperate cross platform are actually a step backwards...
You used to be able to play Quake across different platforms, i played it on an SGI against a mix of linux mac and windows users...
It seems pretty stupid to me that i can't play the same games against someone who has a different type of console.
Re:Multiple platforms... (Score:5, Insightful)
If the interfaces are the same, this is indeed an artificial problem.
But playing a shooter on a PC against a console, or even a handheld game device, is a big no-no.
Because you can't possibly balance such a game, and still make it fair.
Final Fantasy XI could be played on a console and on a PC, because the differences in the interface did not matter for that game.
But Quake on a Nintendo DSi against a full PC user... There would always someone complaining on the autotargeting and how the weaker interface has some assistance that makes them win just as often. (Because if those would not have the same chance, there would be no reason to play it.)
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that would be great, XBox vs PSx vs PC with all that aim assist crap turned off playing $FPS.
One could finally show those console fanboys how much those console controls suck and that they are not really playing a FPS but just navigating an aim bot around.
Now let me load up Urban Terror and kick some Windows user's ass.
Shooters other than first-person (Score:2)
But playing a shooter on a PC against a console, or even a handheld game device, is a big no-no.
Because you can't possibly balance such a game, and still make it fair.
To balance the game, make the shooter not-first-person. What advantage would a player on a PC have over a player on a console in a game like Ikaruga?
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No, because then it would not be that game anymore, but something completely different. You still can't possibly balance such a game. Only a different one, where the interface does not matter, as I said above. :)
FFXI (Score:1)
There's already an MMO playable on PS2, PC or 360, Final Fantasy XI. Granted, all versions pretty much look and feel like you're playing on a PS2, but they've had multiplatform support for years.
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+5 Credit where credit is due.
Also there is Shadowrun which was playable on PC and X360. I guess WoW could be considered multi-platform because you can play it on Mac and PC.
Savage (Score:1)
Savage [s2games.com] is a combination RTS/FPS with both Linux and Windows versions.
Not quite the same thing, of course, as both modes require a full-blown PC. But interesting, nonetheless.
Micromanagement on mobile devices (Score:3, Interesting)
I've often thought that lots of gaming really is something that could be handled on low-powered devices. Take, for example, X3's trading - you really don't need to have access to the 3d engine to plot trade routes etc. Of course it would still be the same game, as opposed to "gimmicks" like merely sharing a number (amount of money available).
The same goes for item auction houses etc.
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Chocobo World (Score:1)
Chocobo World was a game on the PocketStation, and you could get items to transfer to your game on Final Fantasy 8. So this concept isn't all that new, but it is something that hasn't really taken off. Yeah, many games have nearly identical versions on different platforms, but that doesn't really count.
It seems that FPS/RTS hybrids are becoming more popular. I even thought about coding one up one day, but I have too many games I want to write before that one. It seems to be along the same idea.
An Indie Developer? (Score:2)
How long until an indie developer creates an MMO that has different interfaces for PC and mobile
Why specifically an indie developer? The Eve Online guys will probably do this within a year (just speculating, from what I remember of the game mechanics it would make good sense in that game).
Waiting for the politics... (Score:2)
Hey Dan, Phil here. (Score:2)
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Final Fantasy XIII anyone? (Score:1)
Isn't that the whole idea behind FFXIII?
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No, FF13 games are completly independent games linked by a common theme. Also, the mobile title is now going to be a PSP game.
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Why Is This News? (Score:2)
Can someone explain to me why this is so difficult? Anything connected to the internet can share information with anything else connected to the internet and since consoles and portables and mobiles can all connect to the internet, then it stands to reason they can all connect to each other!
I really don't get the WOW factor of this article to be honest.
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In the past this was difficult to find. Apparently it is easier now.
Knife to a gunfight (Score:2)
Never bring a turn based strategy-client to a first person shooter-fight... unless it's Fallout 3.