Now Is The Time For A State Of The Game Address

Okay, it looks like the 80 people laid off at Mythic is being confirmed. For the people involved it’s a bloody disaster and for the game of Warhammer it has every indication of the last couple of nails being rammed into the coffin. You can’t lay off 40% of your staff and expect there to be no repercussions for the games involved. Not in my most positive frame of mind, can I possibly see this as a good thing.

Layoffs At EA, Implications For Mythic And Warhammer?

If anyone at Mythic would care to comment on the EA Layoffs (17% of workforce) and what this means for Mythic & Warhammer, that would be great. The sooner the better, since it will nip in the bud too much speculation and woe is to me behaviour.

It does say that the focus is to shift away from retail based games, which I would like to think means online games like Warhammer are good to go. I mean to savage Mythic would tend to undermine the point of buying the company in the first place.

If anyone has anymore solid sources of information, then please post.

EDIT: Please add to the 2nd paragraph … Ooops this is EA we are dealing with and they don’t seem to understand the concept of the long ball. How could I forget, Doh.

Endless Free Trial Coming To Europe

Good news is always pleasant, nothing more so than the arrival soon of the endless trial in Europe, but I’ve also got a nagging feeling that it’s not quite as good as it could have been.

So This New Trial From Mythic!

As you’re probably already aware, Mythic are going to change the terms of their Warhammer trial in the US. Tier 1 is going to be free for all and sundry. Now I’m not sure if there aren’t going to be some other restrictions, but you have to hope not, since it would mar an otherwise marvelous idea. 

Aren’t Mythic lucky they tiered the content in the game? Heaven forbid they actually planned for this strategy that far in advance. It’s a shame, I just can’t credit them with that level of forethought. I appreciate I’m being negative, but you only have to look at the 2 zone capture concept in 1.3.2, to understand my viewpoint.

So My Initial Results From The PC Upgrade

It was an up and down day for me yesterday (Saturday). I initially fell down at stupid hurdle no.1 when I constructed my cooler incorrectly, DOH!!! It probably didn’t help I was trying to watch/listen to the qualifying for Sundays grand prix. Finally sorted that out after much cussing and brought the machine downstairs to my study for the OS install. Of course there was the massive relief I felt when the machine posted.

Aaaarrggghhh

So I backup all the data, strip the motherboard/cpu and other crap out of the case. Check out the construction of the cooler, which protrudes further then the width of my current case. Deduce that the CPU needs to go into the motherboard fairly early on, before too much of the cooler is built. So I open the CPU OEM box to find NOTHING.

Off Line For PC Rebuild

Hopefully back online later with new CPU/Memory/MB. I’m always nervous before PC rebuilds, especially one that encompasses a new OS. Just going to run a 3D Mark test for an idea of where I’m currently at and then it’s another backup of personel documentation, before saying a few hell marys.

Catch you all later.

So Finally Onto The Latest Producers Letter

I know it’s been out for a few weeks, but time flies and I can’t always find time to look at these things when they initially pop up onto the interweb. So let’s get stuck in.

Initially Jeff talks about the changes Mythic have implemented in tier 1 and the proof is in the pudding, it’s absolutely buzzing down in New Emshranks, every time I log on.  The new murder ball live event, is also providing a nice addition to the action down on the beach.  Maybe in time with the proper support, it can become an olympic event.

So My New Hardware Has Arrived

So one day after placing the order, the following bits of kit arrive at my front door.

1. Intel I7 920D0 – 4 cores (8 threads) of fire and brimstone. It was a tough call on whether to go with that or the I5 750, because of it’s turbo mode and better power saving. But ultimately the multi threading and the potentially better upgrade path won out.

DAOC Scenery Running Within The Crysis Engine

For some of you this will be of interest, especially you Ex-DAOCers and it most certainly will take you back a few years. So thanks to Bluesky who dropped this golden nugget on the guild forums. When I actually started viewing the screenshots and videos, there was definitely a nostalgia trip going on, maybe even a hint of a tear in the corner of my eye.