Tribes Aerial Assault (Online)

http://www.gamespy.com/previews/july02/tribesaerialassaultps2/

Some interesting bits..

Of course, the real soul of a Tribes game is in its multiplayer experience, so I soon got around to checking that out. Aerial Assault will support up to 16 players per game. Sierra will have their own dedicated servers accessible over the Internet, but the game also has built-in "listen server" capabilities so that just about anyone with the necessary bandwidth can start a server tailored to their preferences. We did just that, creating a CTF listen server and letting the two other PS2s connect to it. The PS2 that was serving had two players on it, so it played the game in horizontal splitscreen. The other two machines each had their own TVs, so those lucky players got a nice big view of the action. The server was instructed to fill out the teams with bots, so in the end we had two teams of four battling for their flags.

The last number I\'ll throw at you concerns the maps: there are no less than 35, with 53 total combinations of maps and game types. Not bad.

Liked it on the PC.. But it ran so slow so I might be getting the PS2 version..
But first comes Socom and TimeSplitters 2 ;)

Btw, I just saw a new video of Socom on a DVD that came with a mag.. AMAZING! Its gonna rule online! :)

I heard over on the Sierra boards that Sierra/Havas/Vivendi or whoever actually pulls the strings now was going to lay off the rest of the Dynamix staff and close their doors for good. I dunno if it\'s already supposed to have happened or if they\'re planning on doing it right after T2:AA comes out.. but knowing Sierra I wouldn\'t get too thrilled about this game just yet. Not until it\'s sittin on store shelves anyhow... expecially if they have a division they\'re itching to get rid of.

*Cough.. Half-Life DC... Cough.. MiddleEarth.. Cough.. Babylon 5..Cough*

Edit: I had to laugh at this..

Sierra\'s brand manager for the Tribes franchise (and all-around nice guy), explained: "We knew that [online gaming] was going to be a revolutionary step for consoles. Given Sierra\'s online roots -- remember The ImagiNation Network? -- we felt we had a good position from which to approach online console gaming.

I\'m sure not many people here really remember INN (The nation\'s first true online gaming network). And this guy should be thankful for that since...

1. Neither he or anyone in any managing position at Sierra had anything to do with their online gaming network. The company may have had experience, but all individuals and innovators involved have all been sacked or forced to resign.

2. Sierra never owned or operated INN. They owned TSN, which wasn\'t feasable to maintain given the technology (pre-internet dialup) on their budget. They sold it ATT (I believe) who changed the name to INN and just sat on the project.. then sold to AOL who promptly shut it down.

3. Even in it\'s heyday, TSN/INN was a excessively overambitious project that just wasn\'t financially feasable. Ken Williams admits this in his "The Sierra Reunion" broadcast from his new company (forgot the name) a few years back. In fact, he sees TSN/INN as one of the major factors of Sierra\'s having to sell to CSC.. the company who screwed them financially and almost put them out of buisness. TSN/INN was a complete failure as a buisness venture.

:rolleyes:

Sorry, when I see retards and spindoctors like him trying to polish this new company\'s tarnished image with Sierra\'s past glory.. it just tears me up. [/end rant]

Originally posted by SonyFan
I heard over on the Sierra boards that Sierra/Havas/Vivendi or whoever actually pulls the strings now was going to lay off the rest of the Dynamix staff and close their doors for good. I dunno if it\'s already supposed to have happened or if they\'re planning on doing it right after T2:AA comes out.. but knowing Sierra I wouldn\'t get too thrilled about this game just yet. Not until it\'s sittin on store shelves anyhow... expecially if they have a division they\'re itching to get rid of.

*Cough.. Half-Life DC... Cough.. MiddleEarth.. Cough.. Babylon 5..Cough*

Bah, that would suck.. But I dont think they would cancel T2AA. They’ve put a lot of time and money into it and Sierra could make some money of it.

Lets hope they don’t turn off the life-support yet

*COUGH COUGH, Half-Life DC, COUGH*

It was 100% done, fully advertised, and had the first shipment basically on the truck and ready to be shipped. They jus ditched the entire project. After all that time, and all that money, and all the people hyped up for it.. the least they could had done is spent a little extra cash to press, burn, and ship more disks. Even minimal sales of 30,000 would cover those costs.. and the rest would all go back to covering development costs... which they lost anyhow.

Sierra isn\'t quite the sharpest tool in the shed anymore.

Sierra will have their own dedicated servers accessible over the Internet

Does that mean no free online play?

I dunno about the free online play thing. I haven\'t heard anything about it.. but it wouldn\'t surprised me if they added some kind of play-per-play scam onto it.

Anyhow, I just found out about Dynamix. Sierra closed their doors in the same way they layed off the guys at Oakhurst. No warning, jus a hearty "Good morning.. now get the f*ck out". They were pushed out of their offices by the Sierra Ghestapo and the doors were chained behind them. They were told to come back in 3 days to pick up their personal items and last paycheck. AFAIK, all 98 employees were fired that day.. none were asked to return to work.

T2:AA is completely done in Bellview Washington by some other group of programmers. None of the original Tribes & Tribes2 team members are working on it. I still wouldn\'t hold out much hope for this title. I bet it gets pushed back and then eventually delayed indefinately. Jus like the other titles I mentioned.

So.. well that sucks. Unless they decide to make Adventure games again.. or at least continue their adventure franchises.. I won\'t be purchasing another Sierra made or published game again. Period.

Bye Dynamix. I\'ll make a run through Stellar 7 and kill Gir Draxon in your honor tonight. So much for that Willy Beamish sequel I was hoping for.

Originally posted by SonyFan
*COUGH COUGH, Half-Life DC, COUGH*

It was 100% done, fully advertised, and had the first shipment basically on the truck and ready to be shipped. They jus ditched the entire project. After all that time, and all that money, and all the people hyped up for it.. the least they could had done is spent a little extra cash to press, burn, and ship more disks. Even minimal sales of 30,000 would cover those costs.. and the rest would all go back to covering development costs... which they lost anyhow.

Sierra isn\'t quite the sharpest tool in the shed anymore.

But hadnt SEGA already announced that they were pulling the plug on DC? If so that was prolly the cause.

Lets hope they DONT do it this time *points gun at SonyFan*

True, but still. They spent all that money on development.. and they had to do was spend a tiney bit more to actually print and ship the disks. Half-Life DC was one of the most anticipated titles of it\'s time.. it wouldn\'t have had to be a million seller.. just enough to cover the cost of printing the game and the rest could go back into recouping the money they wasted in development. Why in gods name do you cancel a finished product? Why just waste all that time and money you put into it?

And hey, don\'t point that gun at me. I\'m jus warning you that it\'s a possibility. There\'s a good chance either it\'s going to be delayed, canceled, or turn out as an embarasment to the series. Jus watch... an go postal on the dimwit who decided to cut Dynamix loose.. not at me. Hell, I\'ll bust into the Bellview offices with ya, guns blazing.

Originally posted by SonyFan
True, but still. They spent all that money on development.. and they had to do was spend a tiney bit more to actually print and ship the disks. Half-Life DC was one of the most anticipated titles of it\'s time.. it wouldn\'t have had to be a million seller.. just enough to cover the cost of printing the game and the rest could go back into recouping the money they wasted in development. Why in gods name do you cancel a finished product? Why just waste all that time and money you put into it?

Yeah they could have released it.. Seems like Sierra (alot like SEGA) is the king of bad business decisions.
 

And hey, don\'t point that gun at me. I\'m jus warning you that it\'s a possibility. There\'s a good chance either it\'s going to be delayed, canceled, or turn out as an embarasment to the series. Jus watch... an go postal on the dimwit who decided to cut Dynamix loose.. not at me. Hell, I\'ll bust into the Bellview offices with ya, guns blazing. [/B]

Ok, Ill let you have the baretta while I take the Magnum

Naw, f uck that. You get the Magnum, I get the Tek 9.