You can pop this link open in Windows Media player and enjoy a clientless in-world tour of one of the FFXI servers. I’m not sure which one; I’m not sure they’ve ever said on the site, but it’s definitely a live server and not a looping video. Just another reason I really love FFXI.

During business hours US is primetime playing time for Japanese players, so I’ve always had a ‘good show’ when viewing the feed. Back when I was a cubeguy doing cubeguy things, they played the music that was associated with the zone as well (thought it doesn’t appear they do that anymore). It was great background music, with the added bonus that sometimes I’d be talking to a manager and a combat would break out on my desktop.

I lament the fact that no-one else that I know of has adopted this little toy as a fun thing to put on their website. I’m not a programmer, so I couldn’t tell you if this is trivially easy or actually kind of challenging to put together … but it doesn’t *seem* like it would be that hard.  Wouldn’t it be great to be able to stream Azeroth to your desktop, occasionally catching glimpses of newbies running through the barrens or watching the scrum of bank-top barkers in Orgrimmar? Good stuff.

This week was a great one for MMOGs, as not one but three online games went live. Probably the highest profile is the much-awaited sci-fi experience from Richard Garriott, Tabula Rasa. General British has a thank you to everyone who has played the Beta so far. Last Friday, players got a chance to try to kill him (in-game, of course) and there’s a lengthy write up of the end-of-beta event at IGN. Next Generation has an interview with the man himself on what it took to get TR released.

“Tabula Rasa was very different from how I approached Ultima. In Ultima I came up with a series of virtues and tried to explore those. I wasn’t aiming for a system that was “the truth” or the truth of ultimate reality (though I think they make pretty good guides to live by) but they allowed for exploration and that was the key. So (when making Tabula Rasa) I took a step back and said to myself, ‘what was the point of that system, why did I do it in the first place?’.”

Meanwhile, Producer Starr Long has chat with Gamespot that tackles what the future might hold for the game.

“We plan to do yearly large expansions with other planets and all the creatures, missions, etc., associated with that. Between those times, we will be adding content to existing systems, like player-versus-player and military surplus every few months.”

Lead Designer Paul Sage has a few words about the game’s development from a more technical standpoint.

I would swear that when I looked at the game on my gamerscore list a while back there wasn’t anything listed, but now (sure enough) there are a bunch of ’secret’ achivements attached to the game.

I guess I do still have something to complain about: these things are ridiculous! Getting max level with your character class is cool and all, but wouldn’t have been kinder to give a massive point bonus for hitting 75 with ONE class? That is hundreds and hundreds of hours of gameplay right there.

Anyone know if these are recent additions? Or do I just have some kind of disfunction?

I find this interesting, because there a couple of other questions to account for on the Wii besides friend codes. I’m going to assume off the bat that motion control is out of the question. You’d almost be requiring players to use a Wavebird or classic controller. What about the Massive game down the line where motion control is an option for the Wii? Aside from the obvious and illicit ideas that immediately come to mind, there are a number of awesomenesses that come to mind there.

The most obvious one, to me, is crafting. The usually incredibly dull experience of creating an item (I’m looking at you EQ2) could be eliminated via motion-control minigames. Instead of doing a puzzle to fire a kiln and shape a bowl (or whatever) you could actually do so, using the controller to pull the clay to your desired form. Just as with MMOGs on the DS, I think Nintendo has a lot they could offer Massive gaming … if they’d ever get off their collective arses and get with the program.

During the holidays, when the games themselves change to reflect the season, it’s a great chance to reconnect with what makes them fun to play. It’s not the raiding, and it’s certainly not the epic loot. The reason we play World of Warcraft or Star Wars Galaxies is the same reason we travel home for the holidays: We need to connect with people that can make a difference in our lives.

Thankfully, the realities of blogging means I can bring you the parts of the article The Escapist didn’t pay for. If you’d like to read the full version of my article, go ahead and open up a tab to the piece on the site: Going Home for the Holidays. Then, read on below to get the rest of the article. I hope you enjoy this ‘writer’s cut’ of the article, and are looking forward to a good Holiday season yourself. :)
Fair warning: This never got an editor’s attention. Russ and Joe are some of my favorite peoples, because they make my writing better. I wish I had a little editor right here on my desk, to help me out all the time.

Here’s how to read the article in its entirety. Read the first paragraph, then start reading below:

Popping open my games folder, I had several options to begin with; almost by instinct, I chose to begin in familiar stomping grounds. City of Heroes focuses on the shining streets of Paragon City, and has always had a soft spot in my heart. More than any other game to date, I’ve primarily stepped into the tights of my Electricity Blaster surrounded by real-life friends. When the guy in the purple suit, or the chick with the fire aura are people you know personally, it’s hard not to take such memories seriously. Perhaps I’d hoped to log on and find them there, frozen in the game world as they’d been all those months ago.

I was very much alone, though, when my avatar stepped out of the shadows of Talos Island. The Gamester holiday event was in full swing, with packages strewn everywhere, but the relatively low-level zone meant that there just weren’t that many people around. I decided I’d participate over in Atlas Park, because there at least I’d be assured of some company. A few superjumps and I was there, soaring over the statue of Atlas to take in the newb-cluster below. The conversation in the public chat centered around the inanity of the holiday gift, a free jetpack. I hadn’t realized we’d gotten a freebie, and immediately pulled it out to give it a try.

It was white and green. Festive green, and it had sparkly snowflakes coming out the back. As soon as I’d put it on, music had begun playing, a sort of jaunty wordless tune that tried to capture Christmas and mostly made me think of shopping malls. It was also considerably slower than my super jump, and so I stuffed it back into my utility belt with a sigh. The packages tempted, and I was all set to see what the ‘Gamester’ had left me for Christmas. I ran up to a cluster not too far from the newb-gathering beneath Atlas, and clicked on a well-wrapped package of green and gold. Instead of a gift, I got a beat-down. Snow-beasties leapt up out of the ground, all of them level-appropriate for me, and laid into my fragile Blaster hide. Surprise and my lack of recent experience with CoH’s controls quickly saw me splayed out on the ground, and then rezzing in a Hospital. I asked around, and found that there was a chance you’d get a gift, and a chance you’d get a creature. Essentially, this was an even less-entertaining version of the 2004 Halloween event, which featured a number of creatures popping out of the trick or treating doors. That realization killed the holiday mood the event had for me, faster than a sour batch of eggnog. With a last look at the very sad-looking SuperGroup list, I closed out the CoH client.

With many hours still to go before my wife got home, I didn’t want to call it a night yet. Everquest 2 was not something I’d played a lot of at the time, so I decided to take my half-elven mage for a quick walkabout in Qeynos. Even if there wasn’t anyone on to talk to, at least I’d get to check out the decorations. As soon as I’d logged on, I noticed the cheery Christmas changes the Norrathians had made. There were some beautiful decorations up, and the new music was most definitely not something you’d hear in a mall. I’d heard there were some interesting quests to do, but after taking in the scenery I realized my time here would be relatively short. My entire (admittedly anemic) friends list was dark. Nevertheless, the spirit of the Frostfell Season beckoned, so I made my way to the clock of Ak’anon to snag my avatar a gift. I came away from that part of the city with snowballs, a stocking for my apartment, and a grin on my face at the forced good cheer the developers had injected into the game world. Once again, though, I found myself alone in a holiday state of mind. Once my stocking was hung up, my pet dragon had been patted, and the upkeep on my apartment had been paid, there wasn’t much left for me to do. The Everquest 2 client closed out even more quickly than City of Heroes had.

Once you’re done there, read through the Warcraft section of the published article. When you finish the paragraph that ends “… just too depressing”, read this:

When I came back to my desktop, though, I’d received an instant message from someone I hadn’t heard from in quite a while. A former member of the first World of Warcraft guild I’d been in, this guy had headed back to the verdant fields of Vana’diel and Final Fantasy XI . While the guild’s incompetent management had torn itself apart, he’d been forming a strong linkshell group and gaining levels like crazy on his Galka Samurai. I had gone to the shell with open arms after the split, and managed to push back my frustrations by pulling down massive XP with my little Taru Taru Black Mage. The message was kind of rambling, but it made me crack a huge smile. He’d been playing again recently, and wanted to know if I wanted to hop on for the Starlight Celebration. I responded by logging in, and my super-short arcanist stretched his arms for the first time in months under the Windhurst skies. We hooked up, and it was just like old times again. Bumming around the beautiful surroundings in the Taru Taru home city, we caught up on recent events while trying to figure out what we had to do for the crazy Taru kids. We’d gathered that we had to give presents to the younglings, but when they started offering to teleport us to other cities we became very confused.

We understood the gist of the Christmas card quest, though, and quickly compared to see which one had the more annoying hunt on their hands. Each card we were given was addressed to a character with a specific job and in a certain level range. His had him looking for a White Mage in the 40s while mine wanted me to track down a Ranger in the 60s. An hour or two passed as we hung out by the Auction House, talking and emoting while we kept an eye on the passing crowd. I was always surprised by the number of people that can clog up the Auction Houses in FFXI, and we spent as much time commenting on passing players as we did catching up. He’d just recently had a kid, and I’d just recently gotten married. Some mutual acquaintances were moving to new parts of the country, some had new jobs, and one had apparently quit massive games altogether. We laughed at that last, and made bets on how long it would be before he succumbed to the lure of ‘just one more level’. We eventually caught up with a White Mage in her 40s, who was delighted to accept the card and help my friend complete the quest. With at least one mission accomplished, my former party leader made his excuses and logged off for the evening; his wife had just come home from work.

Then pick up with the paragraph that starts “Back to the desktop …”.

Hope you enjoyed!

I really like Achievements on the 360 too, and not just because I like flashing my epeen. In a lot of ways, I see the Achievements system as a spotlight. Good Achievements lead you to places you might not have gone before, or push you into experiences you may not have otherwise had. I like to think of them as the designer shining a spotlight on a part of the game and saying ‘Hey dummy, this is fun!’ This gets into a grey area with multiplayer games, unfortunately, as a lot of the Achievements in (say) Gears of War are all about killing a whole whole bunch of people; this is purely epeen territory and is kinda boring.

But, I digress. These two commentaries reminded me of my time playing FFXI on the 360 earlier this year. I loved FFXI all to pieces during my time with it on the PC, and getting to actually play it on a console with a controller (like it was more or less intended) was a smashing time. Even if, really, I didn’t understand why they were releasing it on the 360. Something I didn’t touch on in my review, as I was aiming for brevity, was the lack of Achievements for the game. In this regard FFXI is completely unique for the 360’s launch lineup. Every other game had Achievements, and subsequent game launches have proven out Microsoft’s intention for the vast majority of 360 titles to have Achievements.

This lack, then, is glaring and ultimately frustrating. I picked back up my FFXI account via the 360 (thanks to Square/Enix for doing the right thing there, btw), and my little Taru Black Mage began waddling his way around the world again. During the course of play, I actually dinged 40 … and was very disappointed when I didn’t get that very distinctive blip and notice on my screen. I’m sure there is a perfectly good (technical) reason why your character couldn’t be linked up with the 360’s achievement system; that doesn’t mean I’m not disappointed. I know it’s a little thing, but … c’mon. I’m human! More than once I’ve lamented the fact that my time playing Oblivion was entirely on the PC. I would have loved to get some of those sweet, sweet Achievements for being an RPG badass. Anybody can frag somebody; how many people can claim to be a Dark Brotherhood Listener? I can, but I can’t ‘look back on it with pride’ because I don’t have it on my gamertag.

When other MMOGs reach the shores of the 360, this has to be corrected. It’s a requirement. Huxley, Conan … I don’t care how it is to hook your broke-ass character database up to Xbox Live, I want my gamer candy. I want a little popup for having whacked the foozles, and I want a popup for having FedExed. I’m a 360 owner, dangit, but I want my validation for camping a spawn, getting phat lewt, and not being a n00b.

I may be the only one, of course, but I may be the only one who liked the City of Heroes and Star Wars Galaxies badge systems too. At the time I left CoH I had every site seeing badge I could get my sweaty paws around. I also did the Imperial Theme Park when really the only reason to do it was to get the badge. Again, I don’t care if anyone else ever sees these things. I want to be able to look back at my badges and remember that awesome time I did the Trick or Treating missions at Halloween, or the time I helped a bunch of people find that place on Tatooine and earned myself the “Ben Kenobi’s Old Home” badge.

This is wandering off topic slightly (and has given me an idea for another post), so I’ll wrap it up with this: The 360 is going to be a platform for MMOGs. You know it, Microsoft knows it … so they’ve got to get serious with things here. As gamers we’ve come to expect certain things from Xbox Live, and if they don’t deliver we’re going to be frustrated. Given how new MMOGs on consoles are, I think it would behoove the Live team to get this part right. Make sure we get Achievements when we do cool things on your console, Microsoft; MMOG gamers need a little validation too.

My Stuff-

• Chocobo Express – A buddy’s adventures in Vana D’iel
• Star Wars Tragedies – My time in SWG.
• A Tale of Rotting Flax – ATITD
• World of Warcraft Beta Screens – See! Dwarven Mages, Night Elves on Raptors, Old Ironforge, and More!

Everquest 2 -

• just_gwendolyn’s flickr set – Some great scenery shots of Norrath.
  
• An EQ2 raid – A night in the life of a raider.
  
• mercera’s flickr set – Some great FanFest shots, as well as in-game moments.
  

World of Warcraft -

• AFK Gamer’s flickr account – That one guy. He’s a great in-world photog, actually. Take more shots, Foton!
• Joi Ito’s ‘weknow’ shots - In and out of game shots from the leader of the somewhat famous ‘We Know’ guild. Nice BC shots too.
• Downbeatjunkies’ BC set – Lots of scenery from the new newbie areas.
• PVP IronForge Raid – Caps from a Hordie raid on the center of the Alliance’s world.
  
• Mederi’s flick set – Nice raid-level scenery; Onyxia, MC, etc.
  

Others -

• Thanopstru’s FFXI flickr set – Follow him via RSS, always beautiful Vana’diel shots.
• haysophie’s Everquest flickr set – Raids from ye olden days of MMOGdom.
  
• Wizzel’s Vanguard Beta flickr set – See the shiny before it breaks.
  
• Pentadact’s CoH/CoV flickr set – Great moments from a game I often miss.