Real-time strategy games on consoles. The mere prospect is enough to send shivers down the spine of gamers from all corners of the world. I’ll spare you the gruesome history of failed attempts and sum up the entire console RTS genre as hit or miss. Actually, scratch that. It’s more like hit or MISS, with the latter making up roughly 99.7% of the lot. The main problem with the genre as a whole is that RTS games were simply made to be played with a mouse and keyboard, and there’s really no arguing that. The complex tech trees, hundreds of units on screen, and intense strategy has always screamed “PLAY ME ON A PC!”.

Ubisoft hopes to take the limitations of the console and completely negate them by allowing you to play the entire game using your voice as the virtual mouse and keyboard. Tom Clancy’s EndWar is the first game to use voice control and expand upon it to the point where it becomes a control scheme in and of itself. An ambitious goal to be sure, but one that they have done a remarkable job attaining. Or, at least, attempting to attain. For the most part, Ubisoft actually manages to pull off the whole “voice-is-the-new-mouse” system they were going for. After a short calibration session you’re ready to use your spoken words as the ultimate tool of destruction. Using these commands in-game is just as smooth as the set-up, which on its own is an amazing accomplishment. Spoken commands are broken down into just a handful of words and the system does a fantastic job of understanding you, even if you happen to stumble over a couple of instructions here and there.

OK, so the voice control is great, the system understands nearly everything you say, so that means the units must control like a breeze right? Not so fast. Yes, the recognition system is fantastic. Yes, the tech involved here is truly impressive. That said, using your voice to issue commands is just about as vague as it can get. Making the system simple enough to recognize all the commands (and in every accent imaginable, no less) also hinders the ability of the player to be specific enough when issuing orders to really pull off some of the advanced strategy the genre is known for. The way troop/unit movement works is that the game breaks down the map into sectors. So, for example, if you want your troops to move to a sector which is currently occupied by an enemy, you’d simply say “Unit 2 move to Sector 5″. Then, once the units receive their command, you sit back and watch as they make their way over to the destination in any way they please. This might seem just fine, but in a genre defined by strategy, commands that sometimes require a bit of specificity are often lost in translation. No more sending a single unit to one side of an enemy base in order to draw attention while your big guns move in from the opposite side. This particular complaint may anger some hardercore RTS-ers, so it’s definitely something to be considered.

If you’re looking for some fun though, and feel like laying on your couch and screaming at the television, there’s plenty of fun to be had here. The units are plentiful and varied enough that it’s hard to get bored, and the game even comes with a fold-out quick-start guide so you’re never in the dark about how to best defeat a combination of enemy units. This is extremely helpful early on in the campaign and will surely be a godsend to newbies of the RTS scene.

Speaking of the campaign, that’s another area of the game that could have used a bit more attention. As the name implies, EndWar serves as a bit of a climax to a host of Clancy storylines that lead up to this point. Still, the campaign itself seems to suffer a bit of an identity crisis. EndWar tries to wind up as much Clancy lore as it can, and some familiar faces do show up eventually, but I couldn’t escape the feeling that it could have been fleshed out so much better. Yet, the story is broad enough that even if you haven’t been a Clancy nerd up to this point you’ll still get the gist of why the entire world is up in arms (no pun intended).

As far as graphics go, EndWar is a pretty game. It looks great in HD and there is a ton of detail to the troops, units and environments. Unfortunately, while the detail and technology are there, the flair is not. The whole game has a bit of a “blah” look to it, with very little personality finding its way onto your screen. Perhaps it’s just the fact that C&C Red Alert 3 has been attacking our PC monitors with bright and colorful videos and screenshots, but EndWar seems to take place in a rather drab universe. That may have been exactly what Ubisoft was going for, what with the world on the verge of ending and whatnot, but it still brings down the experience and doesn’t do a whole lot in the way of creating a world that seems fun to return to.

The online multiplayer set-up is certainly a high point in the EndWar experience. The overworld map creates a real feeling of urgency when choosing your battles and in the games I tested the connections were all rock-solid. Commanding your units works in the same way, of course, and the only real difference between playing online or against the computer is that often times the computer is far less forgiving.

Overall, EndWar is an amazing example of how voice control could really be the next big thing in the gaming scene. At its best, it’s an exciting RTS romp with a ton of online replayability and an extremely impressive control system. But at its worst, it’s a confusing and slightly frustrating example of why the genre was created for PCs to begin with. However, despite its shortcomings, EndWar is still mighty enjoyable. You’ll find ways to work around the slightly vague voice commands and once you do, you’ll find a refreshing take on a decidedly old-school genre. Give me the ability to scream at my TV over a dual-analog RTS control scheme any day. ATTACK!

+

• The game actually understands what you’re saying!
• Multiplayer can be addicting.
• Doesn’t bombard you with Clancy lore.

-

• Smooth voice control leaves you with fewer strategic options.
• “Blah” aesthetic at times.
• People playing online are probably 100X better than you…just saying.

Xbox 360 sells over 7 million in Europe originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Christian Svensson,
Corporate Officer/VP of Strategic Planning & Business Development

Link

There's a sizable audience of people who can be playing. I'm cautiously optimistic that for games like MH that Ad-hoc party is going to breathe new life into the communities and potentially into the platform.

That said, I've got no idea when it's coming Westward. It can't happen soon enough in my opinion.

• Ad hoc Party Beta launches on Japanese PlayStation Network
• A simple guide to help you party in the Ad-Hoc Party

However, sometimes the best ideas are born out of inner confusion and turmoil. Unsatisfied with the state of WAR, people have been setting their brains to the task of coming up with a number of interesting ideas to “fix” the game. Here are some of them I found particularly thought-provoking and worth a mention.

I’m not saying every one is a spot-on save the game idea… but they are very interesting concepts.

Via: http://potshot.wordpress.com/2008/11/17/can-rvr-ever-work/

I think that the war effort should be focused at all times, from all factions, to limited areas of the game. For example the NPC general of faction X says to you “Hey, we really need to go and cut off this supply train”. The opposing faction should be saying to its players “Hey, we really need to protect this important supply train”.

That’s not to say players can’t go and do whatever they want to do, but rewards would be greater for going to the directed areas. The key is definitely to direct both sides into conflict with each other. To help avoid overcrowding, you can make the number of rewarded goals at a given time proportional to the player population on the server.

Also, you should have a bunch of conceptually different tasks leading up to the player’s goal. For example, in WAR you can just run up to a keep and lay waste to it. In a more realistic world, you’d need to cut off supply lines, burn surrounding villages, maybe sneak in and assassinate some key personnel to lower morale, defend your siege weaponry from being raided, etc. In WAR it’s…. siege this keep and this keep and this keep and then unlock the zone to progress to the next area and siege some more keeps. The gameplay this way just feels too bland, keep sieging loses its special feeling.

———–

Taking the directed hot zone/objective idea further, include alternate goals that might also play to different play styles– interrupt supply lines, blow up bridges to slow down the influx of reinforcements, burn crops, sabotage/covert activities, etc. all that would aid the directed war effort.

If Karl Franz called for an offensive in Zone X and strategic objective quests were given out by a one of his generals in that zone…

———–

The problem with War is the limited amount in which guilds can gain recognition, there is no meta game to play for the natural born leaders (except petty intra guild drama and politics). Keeps just get flipped and flipped, and the rewards for claiming one are not enough for the guild leaders to convince their troops to prevent that from happening. There are not even ladder competitions to prove you are top dog.

[Ed. There are statues of the top individual players in the capital cities, but they are located in out-of-the-way places. It would be great to move these statues into the main hubs of activity. There is also a Realm War page located on WarhammerOnline.com, however, every time I have tried accessing it lately, it seems unresponsive to the point of making me not want to bother.]

———–

They have the cute trinket idea. How about expanding it so we get medals or something for every keep we capture. Perhaps the size, color and ornateness change based on the size or effort of the battle. Let me wear them as badges of honor that show how many successful sieges I’ve participated in or how many keeps my guild owns or something to show, “That’s right, I am RVR awesomeness.”

Via: http://wnw.blogwarhammer.net/2008/11/17/another-way-to-capture-zones/

So how about this idea? Holding an Objective or Keep in a zone gives Victory Points over time instead of instantly? Holding all Objectives and Keep for 24 hours give you enough points to capture the zone, and even if the other side recaptures things the points will still remain, they will just slowly go the other way.

As the zone gain VP over time all people in the zone will also gain renown and experience. This make people stay to defend and the battle and it’s just as important for others to take up the torch when you log off as when you captured the things in the first place. Killing enemies in range of Objectives and Keeps give extra renown and experience.

This also removes the possibility of capturing zone in the middle of the night. You could still do it and capture the objectives, but the zone still won’t be captured until the points have slowly trickled in.

[Ed. Patch 1.05 brought some improvements to the zone control mechanic, so we'll have to see how it pans out. If it doesn't get any better, I really suggest Mythic considers the above idea.]

———–

1) Add crafting vendors to keeps that improve over time. For every hour you hold a keep, the quality of the items will improve by 10-15 tradeskill, starting at a decent base (e.g., 50). Therefore, after holding a keep for 4 hours, your vendor will sell items up to level 110 (15/hour + base). By hour 8, 170 tradeskill. And so on… Give members of the guild/alliance who are holding the keep a discount on prices.2) Decrease the cost of claiming keeps. If the maintenance cost was 1 to 3 gold per hour, it would become much more affordable. At the moment, only the richest of the zerg guilds can afford it.

————

Put level 40’s in their own scenarios …Level 28-39s are competing for renown and xp. All level 40’s care about is renown.

Via: http://www.keenandgraev.com/?p=1653

If the enemy chooses not to defend then the fight should make it to their capital city.  A city siege has never once happened on Wolfenburg or Phoenix Throne (two “very populated” servers with supposedly active RvR).  If players are going to stay then they need to experience city sieges and be faced with a truly imminent realm war.  This is a realm war and players need to feel the pressure of losing territory to feel motivated.

————-

Warhammer Online, back in November 2007, was delayed in order to transform the game to align closer with DAOC’s RvR but it forgot that one crucial element… the PURPOSE.  Sure, city sieges are a purpose but let’s be realistic - a keep is under attack in Praag… why would I go defend if it poses no threat to our city?  It’s going to take like 8 keeps, 2 fortreses, and a TON of RvR to make our capital city vulnerable.  As of right now a city siege is not going to happen.  So, we come back to the PURPOSE.  I strongly feel that Darkness Falls provides that purpose.  Find out more about Darkness Falls here.

————

Let’s face it, WAR was designed in such a way that a lot of players participating in the realm war is mandatory.  Right now, especially in light of recent mmorpg competitions’ releases, we’re seeing the populations dwindle.  Merge the freaking servers and you will improve the enjoyment of the game globally for all players.

————

I honestly hate to admit it, but I fear the game’s core design can not have open world elements tacked on to it. Honestly, Mythic should just instance the keep sieges to 40 vs 40.

The city sieges are already instanced, there is no sense in having this tiny little stop gap of open world RvR that runs absolutely horribly when twenty players get on screen.

————

Introduce more siege pad items that can variety the strategy of keep battles. The single chokepoint to the 2nd level keep lord is so boring. Obviously don’t allow for zerg rushes but hell even adding an Orc Thrower siege weapon for getting people slowly up on a battlement would spice things up. Another idea could be a siege tunnel item that lets you tunnel to under an outer siege wall (again slow access thru it though to avoid zerg rushes). Again this eye is taken from Planetside with it’s deployable items.

————

Make BOs objective provide global buffs to the zone so everyone benefits from them immediately (no need to go to the Sergeant). Makes them more valuable to everyone (even those doing PVE), so hopefully more people will want to maintain them. Even if this isn’t done, the idea is to provide a very very strong LOCAL incentive to do RVR. As you said, cities are a distant thing that have no local meaning or incentive for people.

————

I think what’s truly needed is a solid LFG mechanism. I am a frequent organizer of outdoor RvR… and I’d LOVE to be able to browse a list of ALL the people on the server either DOING or LOOKING for outdoor RvR.

That seems like a no-brainer to me.

Via: http://waaagh.wordpress.com/2008/11/17/ai/

Apart from hero and lord mobs, we just don’t see a lot of special abilities popping out of these guys. A lot of my skills are set up to combat fairly complex player behavior in PvP, yet surprising few of these moves are necessary in PvE. Spell interruption? How often do these guys cast at me? Do I ever need to root a mob to prevent their escape?

[Ed. I really think this would make keep taking a lot more dynamic, especially undefended keeps. ATM you just zerg-rush the mobs. There is little to no strategy involved. It would be a lot more cool to see this take place more often in PvE too (e.g., knockbacks, knockdowns, disarms, roots, debuffs, etc.).]

Have you seen any others I might have missed? Have any of your own you’d like to contribute?

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Not to be outdone by Capcom's branded PlayStation Network storefront, Microsoft has granted the firm a "Branded Destination Experience" for the upcoming Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix.

Similar to the PlayStation Network offering, the "Branded Destination Experience" -- which launches tomorrow -- gives fans a central online location where they can find information on the game, trailers, news and presumably purchase both the title and its peripheral items (gamer pictures, themes, etc).

"With 1080p high-definition art and graphics, and the ultimate user feature set, Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remixis the perfect game to compliment the New Xbox Experience," said Capcom's vice president of strategic planning and business development Christian Svensson.

Image courtesy Capcom

Here’s the game trailer to get you in the mood.

You can pick up the at retail stores or grab it by digital download at www.station.com. The full features list for EQ2: The Shadow Odyssey follows the break.

EQ2: The Shadow Odyssey Feature Set:

• More than 20 new zones, including the new overland zone, Innothule.
• Experience nostalgic EverQuest dungeon themes, such as Najena, Mistmoore and The Sebilisian Empire, and adventure through more than 18 goal-based dungeons, such as Ruins of Guk and Befallen.
• The Achievement Point level cap will be increased to 200 to offer new achievements for class-specific lines.
• A new Dungeon Delving mission system for players to replay content with new and different experiences.
• Five (5) new Heritage Quests with unique rewards being added.
• A new, mysterious group of erudites with powerful new armor and equipment will barter for void shards earned during your encounters.
• Epic tales of the odyssey are told through battles with dozens of new creatures and hundreds of new quests.
• Two new deities have been introduced into Norrath, Rodcet Nife and Anashti Sul.
• Includes Desert of FlamesTM, Kingdom of SkyTM, Echoes of FaydwerTM and Rise of KunarkTM expansion packs, and The Bloodline ChroniclesTM, The Splitpaw SagaTM and The Fallen DynastyTM adventure packs.
• includes Legends of NorrathTM strategic online trading card game, digital starter deck and booster pack.

---
Related Articles at Gaming Today:

• EverQuest II The Shadow Odyssey Pre-Order Details Announced
• Etrian Odyssey II: Heroes of Lagaard Character Profiles Revealed
• SOE Releases Latest EverQuest II: Rise of Kunark Trailer
• New Trailer and Screens for Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow
• Sakaguchi’s Second Xbox 360 RPG, Lost Odyssey, Now in Stores

SAN FRANCISCO -- Real-time strategy videogames have long been confined almost exclusively to the PC, mostly because of the fact that they control best with a mouse and keyboard. Since the genre combines the micromanagement of a squad full of individual units with fast-paced gameplay, attempts at controlling games like Red Alert or Age of Empires with delicate precision usually fail with a console's game controller.

With Halo Wars, Microsoft makes a valiant attempt to bring the genre to Xbox 360, in a familiar wrapper. The end result, which Microsoft says will ship to stores in February, won't have real-time strategy fans ditching their preferred control implements. But playing the game at a recent event here, I came away pleasantly surprised.

Halo Wars isn't designed by Bungie. It's the product of Ensemble Studios, the creators of Microsoft's popular Age of Empires strategy games. But the battles still look quite a bit like the Halo world you know and love. Everything from the strafing fire of Covenant aircraft to the exact crunching sound of a Warthog plowing into a pack of Grunts has been replicated faithfully.

Fans of the first-person shooter games will appreciate these touches. But will they play a radically different kind of game, one that relies on strategy and unit management over fast trigger fingers? I don't know. But Halo Wars' great interface, intelligent troops and well-balanced gameplay seem to be coming together well -- in spite of the fact that you have to use a control pad.

Halo Wars, set 20 years before the events in the original Halo, tells the story of the Spirit of Fire, a massive United Nations Space Command warship tasked with finding out what the dastardly Covenant aliens are up to. Turns out, those zealots are looking for something -- giant space rings, maybe -- and the marines of the Spirit of Fire must stop them at all costs. 

The depth of Bungie's carefully created Halo universe means that Halo Wars will feel intimately familiar to fans, even though it's a real-time strategy game and not a shooter. While there are a few new units, most are recycled from the series and play the roles you'd expect: Warthogs are fast scouting units, with a knack for running over enemies. The massive Hunters are ideal for plowing through enemy vehicles, while diminutive Grunts are pretty handy with plasma grenades -- and as an added bonus, their inane banter is absolutely hilarious as they march off to die.

The pace of combat is strikingly similar as well. Covenant forces crumple once their shields are vaporized, a well-placed grenade can turn the tide of a skirmish, and Spartans can even hijack enemy vehicles. This means that players who aren't fans of traditional RTS games can still hold their own, tactically, provided they were paying close attention when they were slaughtering things as Master Chief.

Halo Wars is going to float or sink based on its interface. Fortunately, Ensemble Studios has put a phenomenal amount of attention into a number of crucial elements.

Since the game was developed from the ground up with the Xbox 360 in mind, the controls are well-suited for the console. The directional pad cycles through your bases, groups of units and recent alerts (units being produced, recent attacks, etc), while the L and R buttons will automatically select all your forces, or just the ones on screen. Units are automatically grouped by type, and hitting the right trigger will select individual groups for a bit of micromanagement. Holding the left trigger increases the speed at which you scroll, handy for darting around a particular battle and ordering troops.

While still not up to par with a mouse and keyboard, the controls are perfectly suited for Halo Wars, thanks to the careful attention that has been paid to the size and pacing of combat.

Under the right conditions, your units will hold their own in battle even if you're not paying close attention to each one of them. No, a swarm of grunts won't last long versus a tank, but the game gives you ample time to move your cursor around and direct the action without worrying that your forces will crumple at the slightest opposition.

The drawback is that there aren't as many units on the field. While you can increase the number of units you can place on the map, I hit the limit at about 60. Every large vehicle, like a tank or a gunship, counts as three or four units. Since raising an insurmountable horde of troops is no longer an option, you'll instead need to find the right balance of different units for any situation.

Expansion and base construction is also different in Halo Wars. You can't just plop down armaments wherever you please. Instead, potential base locations are scattered about the map, and you must first capture them -- sort of like the seminal Genesis strategy game Herzog Zwei. Once you've torn down enemy or neutral bases and built a command center, you're offered five pads to erect five buildings, and four spots for turrets. Upgrade your HQ, and you'll be granted a few more pads, which means that the bulk of base construction will involve properly managing which buildings you build, and upgrading quickly.

There also isn't much in the way of resource management. The UNSC build supply pads, and the Covenant build warehouses, but both serve the same function of providing you with a steady stream of supplies. You'll find the occasional revenue source hidden on a map, guarded by mysterious Rebels, but establishing an economy mostly boils down to managing how many supply pads you construct.

The system works great for the single-player campaign, and complements the console's control scheme, but many strategic elements are lost along the way, particularly with the game's multiplayer skirmish modes.

During my hands-on time, we only played on one multiplayer map. Once I learned where all the base locations were, there wasn't much opportunity to be surprised. Both the UNSC and Covenant races had a unit that mitigated this drawback, allowing you to deploy units anywhere on the map, but it still doesn't quite have the punch of constructing forward bases, or starving opponents by cutting them off from crucial resources.

Despite these issues, Halo Wars seems to be shaping up quite nicely. I still wish there were a PC version in the works, but the way things are looking, this may actually be one of the few console RTS games worth playing.

Images courtesy Microsoft

See also:

• Halo Wars Devs Form iPhone Game Studio
• Halo Wars Coming in February
• Halo Wars Dev 'Shocked' at Studio Closing

Despite time concerns, it appears as though Halo 3 Recon will have a bit more meat to it than what we thought. According to the latest Game Informer spread on the game, Recon will feature an open environment where players can traverse the game’s focal point, New Mombasa, and take missions at will.

The new details stemming from the article (via CVG) are numerous. First of all, players will be experiencing Recon through the eyes of a soldier called The Rookie. Just like Master Chief, he’ll remain behind his helmet. Apparently, he won’t be talking either. He’ll lack shields, but not the ability to regenerate health. Basically he’s a step down from the Chief, which should lend credence to the slower paced, strategic gameplay.

The story of the game revolves around the disappearance of four squad members. Each member’s location is provided as a pinpoint on the game’s map system, which can be checked via a PDA. After getting the map hammered, players will visit the scene of a disappearance and put together clues to solve what happened. At this point, the game will put players in the shoes of the missing soldier to act out what happened in the scenario.
 
More details are included in a nifty list after the break.

Despite time concerns, it appears as though Halo 3 Recon will have a bit more meat to it than what we thought. According to the latest Game Informer spread on the game, Recon will feature an open environment where players can traverse the game’s focal point, New Mombasa, and take missions at will.

The new details stemming from the article (via CVG) are numerous. First of all, players will be experiencing Recon through the eyes of a soldier called The Rookie. Just like Master Chief, he’ll remain behind his helmet. Apparently, he won’t be talking either. He’ll lack shields, but not the ability to regenerate health. Basically he’s a step down from the Chief, which should lend credence to the slower paced, strategic gameplay.

The story of the game revolves around the disappearance of four squad members. Each member’s location is provided as a pinpoint on the game’s map system, which can be checked via a PDA. After getting the map hammered, players will visit the scene of a disappearance and put together clues to solve what happened. At this point, the game will put players in the shoes of the missing soldier to act out what happened in the scenario.
 
More details are included in a nifty list after the break.