Posted by: MURDUR 587
Posted by: SonicJohn
(mouse/keyboard versus controller = imbalance)
Well I guess you could put a heavy degree on auto-aim on the console version to make things easier, or remove all forms of auto-aim on the PC version.
Unless those things already exist then I'm stumped.
Obviously you can't force PC gamers to use a controller (without them hacking a way around it and being majorly pissed off) and you can't lauch a keyboard/mouse peripheral for consoles because not everyone will buy them, thats not the way console gamers "roll" and having to buy a peripheral to play a game the best of your ability is annoying.
The problem with adding heavy auto-aim on the console version it'll remove a lot of the aiming skill required and if you remove all auto-aim on the PC version the players can still kick ass.
It is a pickle.A possible solution is thus:
Don't make it a hardcore competitive shooter.
I see it working in a couple possible ways:
Solution A:
Have the core missions and gameplay surround AI enemies, rather than PvP. You can go it alone or team up with a party of various Xbox, PS3, PC, iOS gamers (I'm still wondering whether they'll put the full game on the iPhone or iPad. I've seen MMOs done on those platforms before, so it's not impossible). This lowers the chance of anyone noticing or caring about the differences in peripherals and makes it generally fair for all players.
Solution B:
For any PvP missions, match only console gamers against console gamers, PC/iOS gamers against PC/iOS gamers, SmartPhone versus SmartPhone, etc. This way, the imbalance is reduced and nobody cares/notices once again.
Solution C:
Have separate "Console", "PC" and "Mixed" World Servers that split up the gamers, if they so choose to be. That way, if anyone complains about the differences or unfairness, then they know that they have options.
Solution D:
Any combination of A, B or C.
Solution F:
Make the fighting gameplay turn-based. Not ideal, since it lowers immersion, but it removes the mouse/keyboard advantage.
I'd personally opt for Solution D, with a focus on A and C. Makes it cleaner. I certainly don't mind PvP stuff with Solution C in mind.
Posted by: aku
This is a bit similar to my own half-formed opinion. And since I haven't agreed with any other guesses, I'm going to go ahead and say I think you're right -- or close enough, at least.
Couple of things, though:
First, I don't think it's strictly necessary for bungieaerospace.com to be the permanent address for the Aerospace "product". This is something I started thinking about when Apoc posted his opinion on ba.com being fake (which we now know it isn't as urk has linked it directly): It's possible that ba.com will be used as a promotional site to advertise, explain, and show off the new Aerospace features while the actual product will be incorporated into bungie.net. The main benefit I see to this would be to keep Aerospace news, game project news, and company news all in one place. Otherwise we might be looking at a situation where you go one place to hear about the game and other place to hear about Aerospace; this feels silly to me, but obviously they'll handle it how they want to.
I had originally thought that Aerospace would be separate from Bnet, but what I'm implying regarding Aerospace is that it is the name of the service and a hub network and series of servers that will host the future IP. Whether or not it's on another website doesn't matter at this point, and I agree it would be awkward considering that, but I did read somewhere that Aerospace is a separate company. Also remember my previous discussion with you (in another thread) about WLID's current integration into Bungie.net accounts. Having the entire system be offsite would be hugely beneficial for Bungie in order to appeal to a wider audience as they can make it so you can set up an Aerospace account and then simply link your other accounts to it.
Second, while the proxy server idea is interesting, I've heard somewhere that the reason PS3 and XBL players have never been able to game together is that MS or Sony simply won't allow it. Now, would Bungie -- as one of the highest profile game developers around, with the backing of the largest publisher -- be able to look MS in the eye and say "You'll make an exception or Sony's going to get one hell of an exclusive"? Maybe. Personally I wouldn't count on this particular feature, though. I don't think either Sony or Microsoft are stupid and naive enough to think that this sort of venture wouldn't spark a huge amount of interest and money for them. I think Activision could (and perhaps already have) pitch it to them in ways that benefit them.
Something else I was just thinking about is the social aspect. I actually do think that Bungie is going to be taking this social somehow. I wonder if part of that would be hooking into facebook and letting you post status updates directly (even automatically) from bungie.net or in game. The advantage I see here is the fact that you could constantly be advertising to all of your friends that you are playing, and enjoying, one of Bungie's titles. That sort of thing seems pretty likely. It's part of Raptr's major success, and they've already done something similar with the social-integration buttons in the Reach files and the Bungie Blog (share buttons, etc).
Edit:
Slightly aside the point of Aerospace: I was just thinking about the new IP having factions (think UNSC, Covenant, Flood, Forerunner sort of thing...or Terran/Zerg/Protoss if you like). What if you were given missions/commendations to assassinate players from other factions. I can just imagine going prone on a hill, getting out a sniper rifle and picking off people from opposing factions from a distance. In a FPSMMO. Man that sounds awesome.
[Edited on 06.25.2011 4:53 AM PDT]