Games for A1 / AOS4

[amiga_boy]

Although Hyperion have Sin waiting in the wings when the new hardware and OS are released, I think we need something a little more exciting to show off the new technology. A few games I would like to play on OS4 are (in no particular order):

1) GTA3 / GTA3 - VC, with the up and coming multiplayer modification

Reason: Payback is good but will never quite eclipse GTA3.

2) HalfLife / Blue Shift / Opp Force / Counter Strike

Reason: Great games, particularly for multiplayer action.

3) Jedi Outcast

Reason: Great single and multiplayer game, and it would be great if LucasArts got interested in Amiga again.

4) Commandos - Men of Courage

Reason: Fantastic strategy game that even I was able to complete eventually.

Any other suggestions we can put to Hyperion and other developers?

[amiga_boy]

"So basically, you want a PC running Windows XP?" - DaveP

I already have a PC running Windows XP, what I want is a compelling reason to buy an A1/OS4, as will everyone else. Without software it will just be an expensive high tech door stop.

Games are particularly good at generating "WOW" factor, especially for the mass market. If i could play the games I enjoy on an Amiga I wouldn't need to use the PC half as much.

Just because these games exist on another platform does not detract from their appeal. The games I listed either originated on consoles or have since been converted to console. Does that mean PS2 users "basically want a PC running Windows XP"? Of course not you fool.

It would be nice to have original ground breaking software to show off the new platform but this takes time to produce, whereas a port of an existing title has most work done, minus the platform dependant code. This means lower costs / shorter development times (depending on the software houses' setup) combined with an established brand identity.

Have the Amiga developers of Doom and Quake been wasting their time? I say hell no, more please.

A few bedroom coded games and more Tetris clones will not make anyone rush for their cheque book. Particularly me.

How about posting IDEAS instead of criticism which has obviously not been thought through?

[amiga_boy]

Warface wrote:

And what about irrealistic expectations?

What expectations? I started a post asking what games users would have in their wishlist for Amiga software. And what do I get? First someone says I'm advocating the Wintel duopoly (where the hell did that come from?), then I'm criticised for wanting something decent to play if I buy a VERY expensive new Amiga.

Will you pay around £1000 just to run Amidock and MediaToolbox?

[amiga_boy]

Lisa Simpson: Dad, it's very easy to criticise.
Homer Simpson: Fun too!

I wonder why I keep thinking of that episode when I read some of the posts in this thread. I noticed that those that criticsed did not have better suggestions to offer.

Nobody seems to have noticed that the game I mentioned first (SiN) is a PC port which is already several years old and getting older. The first game available for OS4 will be an old PC port. I didn't start this trend, it's already started. Don't shoot the messenger!

To answer my critics:

DaveP - think before you type
Warface - something is better than nothing
Hardboy - I do own plenty of games, but I want bigger and better titles to play
KennyR - I have a PC, read the entire thread before posting

The world is full of negative energy, and yours is surplus to requirements. Take it elsewhere.

[amiga_boy]

SlimJim,

I agree with most of your post, particularly the point about the economies of scale in the Amiga market.

However, if we are to rely on homegrown software to start with I would hope that those developers look to the current PC market to find their target, just as Paybacks' developers did. In that sense a wishlist is a good idea.

I know that a bedroom coder has no chance of knocking out a near perfect copy of Vice City or Metal Gear Solid, but Pacman and Defender and all those other types of game have been done to death. It's time to start "pushing the envelope", perhaps starting with a port of Duke Nukem now the source is available.

Most of the games I mentioned are part of a series that has expanded or have an active mod community which means that once the base game is ported there are many more opportunities available. Putting aside the diffuculties you mentioned, once you convert Half-Life you have the chance of Opposing Force, Blue Shift, Counter Strike, Gunman Chronicles etc.

As for the OS not yet being available, OS4 does not offer many more gaming APIs over 3.9, AFAIK only amigainput and Warp3D NOVA, so work really could be underway at the moment. If speed is an issue use Amithlon.

The Amiga story is one of dreams and financial loss, look at Jay Miners accounts ot the pre Commodore days. If they had been realistic the Amiga would never have made it to market.

If we all sit down and look at this realistically, well, there is no future for Amiga is there? The hardware is underspecced and overpriced, the software is late or non-existant, the competition has a strangle hold on the market that even govenrnment cannot release.

This is the reality. The truth is that Amiga is already dead. It will take a miracle to get Amigas on sale in high streets, to get big name developers to code for this platform. We can either face up to the truth, in which case we may as well give up now, or we can dream a little.

I'm going to dream, you do what you want.

Please, no more doom givers posting here. This topic is for dreamers only.

[amiga_boy]

How about a souped up version of Seek And Destroy or Desert/Jungle Strike, with rotating 3D scenery as seen in Nuclear Strike. Although the missions basically involve going to point A and shooting some enemy, then go to point B and repeat, they were executed well enough to at least seem varied, such as escorting troops or destroying naval defences to allow troop landings.

If any coders are interested maybe the Warp3D voxel demo would be a good starting point, if the source code is available, or perhaps the Quake source.

Obviously using other peoples source code introduces licensing issues, so all the miserable gits who criticise anything in this topic can stop typing before they start.

[amiga_boy]

PMC wrote:

My gaming-dream is a Frontier-like multiplayer

Now that's what I've been dreaming about for months!  The concept of an open ended game set in a huge universe isn't new - as seen before in Elite, Frontier, and even Hunter to a certain extent.

How about a 3d Jungle Strike combined with aspects of Hunter, allowing the use of land, sea and air vehicles with hunters missions and equipment. Add in some parts of Midwinter (bribe, seduce or threaten people to get their cooperation etc). An online version for clan based warfare perhaps?