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Boy Howdy
Three Rings’ Bang Howdy! is in open beta now – in fact you can just log in using your puzzle pirates login if you have one AND YOU SHOULD.
I’m on as “Lum the Mad” (a suitably Western name, neh?). Looks like a nifty tactical game, more up my alley than the puzzles of PP.
Also Three Rings’ Dread Pirate Cleaver, Daniel James, joins the rest of us with too many opinions. Thanks to Raph for finding it. It’s always easy to find Daniel at a trade show, he’s the pirate!
I really like Three Rings. In fact I was mulling over dorking around with some of their tools back in the days when I had too much time on my hands and was thinking about doing a homebrew game. It’s no accident that when Puzzle Pirates was in beta it had more MMO developers per capita playing the game than any other beta I’ve seen. Good to see that they’re running a profit without doing World of Warcraft v2.4.
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about 4 years ago
yes, because there are so many mmo designers that catering to their entertainment needs is a profitable industry.
Goe, cause you made me laugh.
about 4 years ago
Do I have to forgive smaller developers for forgetting to link their about page on the front page? I had to delve through his blog to find out what the hell this game was about, other than “a fast-paced tactical strategy”.
There’s a lot of complaints about multiplayer lag and low FPS on the tech forum. I think I’ll wait until they clear that important bit up before I try it.
about 4 years ago
The lag and low fps don’t matter. The game put me almost instantly to sleep.
about 4 years ago
uh… did you actually play it?
It plays out a lot like Advance Wars. If you like Advance Wars-style turn based strategy you’ll dig it. If not, not.
about 4 years ago
What does this update have to do with Shadowbane?
about 4 years ago
Well I think it’s a cool game. I agree that it plays like something halfway between Final Fantasy Tactics-esque videogames and Fox and Geese-esque parlour games. It’s good to see Three Rings doing that, too, rather than assuming their only market is the Bejewelled crowd.
about 4 years ago
I would have logged in using my Puzzle Pirates account, but it was banned one morning after an all-night automated puzzle solving session.
about 4 years ago
A game that bases it’s business model on microtransactions and RMT? Sorry, not for me. I really really really dislike games where real money = win, and morons play ‘for keeps’ because they are in it for the money.
Tho I must admit that it fits the game concept infinitely better than, say, Station Exchange to EQ2. And they are honest about it upfront. So, props to the devs at least for that (and the nice game concept).
about 4 years ago
I prefer Project Entropia er….Entropia Universe actually, now that I’ve gotten myself hooked up with a nice Opalo laser rifle and don’t have to stand around like an idiot trying to suck sweat from monster’s backs through the air like some kind of a jedi-towlboy.
I’m even considering spending some real money to get me some more PEDs for ammo since this gun hoovers down charges like a fat kid inhaling the barbeque-sauced hotdog weiners at Izzy’s.
I blame you, Lum.
about 4 years ago
I had fun in a couple gold rush 1v1′s. Lag wasn’t really an issue except like the last 5 seconds of both games. And the graphics look great, considering how free it is.
I think this game is going in the right direction, but it’s a couple pounds of buffalo meat short of Oregon Trail Online. Which is what I’m really waiting for.
+ it runs in a window smaller than my whole screen. Which means I can AIM and switch my tunes. Ohhhhhh, how I miss UO.
about 4 years ago
I occasionally play as Tex Fosbery, and the game runs as smooth as silk for me. Well, it did, at least, before my old system died on me. Alas.
And Jarnis, I believe you may be a bit confused about Bang’s micropayment system. It’s my understanding that it will work more or less identically to Y!PP’s Doubloon Exchange system; that is, you can unlock items and other nifty bits in-game by purchasing a ‘hard’ form of currency using RL cash, or you can save up ‘soft’ currency you earn from playing the game and exchange it for ‘hard’ currency and unlock the nifty bits *that* way. That’s all for beyond beta, of course. And, much like Y!PP, there are no +50 Shotguns of Slaying you can buy for $400 and subsequently pwn everyone with. In fact, the most expensive ‘hard’ currency items in Y!PP are purely luxury kit, such as mansions and self-portraits. Ha!
about 4 years ago
Ah, that last post was mine, incidentally. Comment threads are HARD.
about 4 years ago
“Jarnis, I believe you may be a bit confused about Bang\’e2\’80\’99s micropayment system.”
Hmm, true. I studied their model a bit more based on your post, and yes… maybe I judged them bit too quickly. Definitely not a station exchange
However, I still dislike the fact that apparently it’s OK to sell ingame currency for cash to other players. Tho it seems that it’s not a major problem with Y!PP, so I guess it’s no biggy.
Damn you, now I must download and check out the game. /shakes fist
about 4 years ago
I don’t really see the ability to sell in game currency for “cash” as an issue. There’s two types of currency: gold and cash. You can (in the future), buy gold with USD. Then if you want to, you can sell that gold for cash (or vice versa) at the in-game bank on an open market with other players.
This allows players who don’t buy gold with USD to buy your gold with “cash” earned by playing the game. So if you play enough, you can get anything you want without spending a dollar.
It’s also important to note that players who buy, trade, sell, either of these two currencies have nearly no way to turn it back into USD. It would be extremely hard to set up an eBay RMT business with Bang for two reasons.
1) The currency already has a set value in USD, and it would be difficult to turn a profit by undercutting that price (with the exception of selling duped money).
2) There is no trade system in the game. You cannot give people money, and the only way to trade is on the open market. Since only the top 3 offers are listed on the market, there is essentially no way to give anything for “free” in game after payment has been made outside of the world.
about 4 years ago
Damijin, that’s an exellent describtion of how using RMT with a token allows one to side-step the all the problems of regular RMT.
After playing a couple dozen matches, I don’t see the longevity of this game.