Hamma and Jenny - now that you are home from SOE..

[EVILPIG]

Now that you're home, I'm sure you are tired and all, and I know you have a ton of footage to edit, but before all that could you give us your thoughts? At a glance.

How populated were the fights with just SOE staff?

What were your impressions of Infantry combat?

Vehicle combat?

Air combat (and what did you use)?

Base layouts?

The Mission System?

Outfit Menus?



Just some initial impressions, without going too in depth.

Would love to hear from Jenny as well.

[The Kush]

I would love to hear at least some background basics. At least put my fears to rest and tell me the game still feels like PS1 haha

[FINALCUT]

Also,did you happen to wander into any secret meetings and overhear anything about when Beta starts,or at least get a lock of Higby's hair?

[Stardouser]

where is part 2 of totally biscoitus' videos to tide us over while we wait on the PSU coverage? We're 3 days into next week already!

[Shott]

Christ, can we give them a day at least without hounding them?

[Gonefshn]

Exactly, just tell us this feels like the sequel to Planetside. Tell us your stoked on the game so far!

[Purple]

Christ, can we give them a day at least without hounding them?

No! We love them, but they have INFO!!!

[Toppopia]

The only important info we need is did you ask my questions? :p

[EVILPIG]

Did you guys use the bathroom at SOE? They have some very nice facilities.

[The Kush]

Exactly, just tell us this feels like the sequel to Planetside. Tell us your stoked on the game so far!

^

[Furber]

Tell us about how weak the Terran Republic felt against the mighty New Conglomerate!

[Baneblade]

How many caps did you drop into the Jug?

[Xyntech]

Be honest Hamma. You are loyal to the TR, but being in TRay's presence makes you want to go VS a little, am I right?

I can't wait til next week.

Speaking of which, where's the rest of TB's footage? I'm jonesing.

[Graywolves]

Speaking of which, where's the rest of TB's footage? I'm jonesing.

He posted a video recently explaining why nothing new has been uploaded yet. Youtube seems to be having issues with multiple users right now in that uploaded content becomes contaminated/buggy and some other videos end up being removed for no reason.

[Xyntech]

He posted a video recently explaining why nothing new has been uploaded yet. Youtube seems to be having issues with multiple users right now in that uploaded content becomes contaminated/buggy and some other videos end up being removed for no reason.

God damn it google, don't fuck with my PS2 videos!

Damn it :cry:

[Lonehunter]

If Hamma doesn't give us secret info in an hour we should impeach him

[KTNApollo]

How'd they get home so fast? Thrustpads?

Higby let them borrow a pair of Flashes and they boosted off the roof of SOE, clearly.

[DOUBLEXBAUGH]

He posted a video recently explaining why nothing new has been uploaded yet. Youtube seems to be having issues with multiple users right now in that uploaded content becomes contaminated/buggy and some other videos end up being removed for no reason.

He posted a video saying he cant post videos?

[Graywolves]

He posted a video saying he cant post videos?

http://youtu.be/HWx-wCeSJSU

yes

[Hamma]

Honestly I am kind of stuck along with Jenny until next week.

What I can say is that this game definitely feels like PlanetSide wrapped in a newer modern shell. The engine is truly a thing to behold in the flesh and the variety of combat locations as compared to PS1 will make for some crazy battles the likes of which we never saw in PS1.

I had the opportunity to drive and fly just about everything (including MAXs). My plan is to try and articulate it better to you guys on AGN than I ever could in text, but I will certainly write up something to accompany our video interview next week.

[Xyntech]

lmao

Brilliant.

Now can't he just post like 30 videos of that length? Put that shit on a playlist.

What I can say is that this game definitely feels like PlanetSide wrapped in a newer modern shell. The engine is truly a thing to behold in the flesh and the variety of combat locations as compared to PS1 will make for some crazy battles the likes of which we never saw in PS1.

You had recently expressed some concern over some of the changes we have been seeing. Can I ask in vague terms if some of those fears were put to bed? Or if you didn't see enough gameplay to convince you one way or another on some of those possible problems, despite having an overall positive impression of the game?

[Hamma]

Are you referring to Jump Pads I would assume? :p

My concerns were put to bed in that regard there really are not that many of them around. Additionally its one of those things I think more people in beta will help us to if its a good idea or not.

[NCLynx]

Honestly I am kind of stuck along with Jenny until next week.

What I can say is that this game definitely feels like PlanetSide wrapped in a newer modern shell. The engine is truly a thing to behold in the flesh and the variety of combat locations as compared to PS1 will make for some crazy battles the likes of which we never saw in PS1.

I had the opportunity to drive and fly just about everything (including MAXs). My plan is to try and articulate it better to you guys on AGN than I ever could in text, but I will certainly write up something to accompany our video interview next week.

That segment better be called Hamma (Story) Time, or something like that.

[PeteHMB]

Honestly I am kind of stuck along with Jenny until next week.



O RLY?!!

[SKYeXile]

O RLY?!!

yup sounds like a big marketing push or something soon...how timely of them, its almost like there's a big game convention coming up.

[PeteHMB]

yup sounds like a big marketing push or something soon...how timely of them, its almost like there's a big game convention coming up.

Heh that was a semi-sarcastic "O RLY?!" but yeah I'd say big marketing push right before E3 is a safe bet.

[SKYeXile]

Heh that was a semi-sarcastic "O RLY?!" but yeah I'd say big marketing push right before E3 is a safe bet.

and my reply was semi sarcastic too!

they did say that they we'll doing a pig push with maxes...we have seen afew recent tweets and PS2.com has been inactive for sometime. classic calm before the storm.

[Higby]

Hey Hamma, we've got your jaws FedEx'd to you, it took us a while to dig them out of the floor to send back too yall!

[SniperSteve]

lol Higby.

[SKYeXile]

Hey Hamma, we've got your jaws FedEx'd to you, it took us a while to dig them out of the floor to send back too yall!

As self proclaimed supreme commander and player representative of the Vanu...can i get a tour?... also plane tickets to America.

[capiqu]

Hey Hamma, we've got your jaws FedEx'd to you, it took us a while to dig them out of the floor to send back too yall!

Thank the SOE staff he really wouldn't have look the same at AGN.

[Artimus]

Honestly I am kind of stuck along with Jenny until next week.

What I can say is that this game definitely feels like PlanetSide wrapped in a newer modern shell. The engine is truly a thing to behold in the flesh and the variety of combat locations as compared to PS1 will make for some crazy battles the likes of which we never saw in PS1.

I had the opportunity to drive and fly just about everything (including MAXs). My plan is to try and articulate it better to you guys on AGN than I ever could in text, but I will certainly write up something to accompany our video interview next week.

Thats all I needed to hear ;)

[Gogita]

Hey Hamma, we've got your jaws FedEx'd to you, it took us a while to dig them out of the floor to send back too yall!

Hamma better paid for the damage, we wouldn't want our precious development money not going into PS2 :O

[Xyntech]

Are you referring to Jump Pads I would assume? :p

My concerns were put to bed in that regard there really are not that many of them around. Additionally its one of those things I think more people in beta will help us to if its a good idea or not.

Groovy. Just wasn't sure how specific you could be.

So far, everyone who has seen the game first hand has been pretty taken with it. So considering how cool the devs have been, I'm going to keep not worrying much about some of these details. Shit will get ironed out in beta.

Thanks for the info Hamma, and I look forward to more. Awesome to have one of our own get such a close look.

Make sure to put that jaw on ice.

[Roy Awesome]

Are you referring to Jump Pads I would assume? :p

My concerns were put to bed in that regard there really are not that many of them around. Additionally its one of those things I think more people in beta will help us to if its a good idea or not.

EVERYONE CALM DOWN Hamma is okay with them.

:P

[Toppopia]

EVERYONE CALM DOWN Hamma is okay with them.

:P

We can't CALM DOWN until i found out if my questions have been/going to be asked :D

[waldizzo]

Thanks for the info Hamma. Looking forward to your summary which will hopefully lower the amount of speculative freaking out people do on these forums.







Yeah that'll never happen. :crapper:

[Mastachief]

You have to love freaking out as it's all part of the hype for this game.

[Xyntech]

Thanks for the info Hamma. Looking forward to your summary which will hopefully lower the amount of speculative freaking out people do on these forums.

Yeah that'll never happen. :crapper:

Based on the reaction to most of the new pieces of information we've gotten (TB's footage most notably), I think it's more likely there will be even more freaking out after Hamma's reveals.

What will it be this time? Who knows! But it will be a hoot watching the forums go crazy (yet again).

[Stardouser]

Are you referring to Jump Pads I would assume? :p

My concerns were put to bed in that regard there really are not that many of them around. Additionally its one of those things I think more people in beta will help us to if its a good idea or not.

Option number 2 please, let's be ready to fight against them in the beta if people start playing peek-a-boo or using them to constantly stream into enemy held portions of bases.

As for "not that many of them around", hopefully there is no jump pad equivalent outside of main bases.

[Logri]

I love how this game has me hyped up making me log in the forums and twitter whenever I have a minute to spare, watching alpha footage (TB, Highby) over and over again.
And I'm not even being sarcastic now.

I know what I think about every 7 seconds...

[Canaris]

I know what I think about every 7 seconds...
Sexy time in Planetside 2! :D

[Xyntech]

Option number 2 please, let's be ready to fight against them in the beta if people start playing peek-a-boo or using them to constantly stream into enemy held portions of bases.

As for "not that many of them around", hopefully there is no jump pad equivalent outside of main bases.

For all my talk of "it'll probably be fine" or "the devs currently know more than we do about subject x" in a lot of discussions, I fully intend to exploit the hell out of every game mechanic I can think of, and once I find a broken one I'll keep exploiting it and reporting it until it becomes well known and/or gets fixed

I just tend to give the devs quite a bit of benefit of the doubt until I see reason to think otherwise. But there's no reason that the entire community should be that way. That kind of homogeneity would be boring. But what we should all do is give each element a fair chance to prove its worth in beta, and then exploit it and expose it if it proves unworthy.

But in the meanwhile, since we don't have the luxury of hands on experience, it's more fun to pass the time with:

:groovy: speculation :groovy: speculation :groovy: speculation :groovy: speculation :groovy: speculation :groovy:

[Stardouser]

For all my talk of "it'll probably be fine" or "the devs currently know more than we do about subject x" in a lot of discussions, I fully intend to exploit the hell out of every game mechanic I can think of, and once I find a broken one I'll keep exploiting it and reporting it until it becomes well known and/or gets fixed

I just tend to give the devs quite a bit of benefit of the doubt until I see reason to think otherwise. But there's no reason that the entire community should be that way. That kind of homogeneity would be boring. But what we should all do is give each element a fair chance to prove its worth in beta, and then exploit it and expose it if it proves unworthy.

But in the meanwhile, since we don't have the luxury of hands on experience, it's more fun to pass the time with:

:groovy: speculation :groovy: speculation :groovy: speculation :groovy: speculation :groovy: speculation :groovy:

I was thinking more along the lines of raping the jump pads until people stop using them. I mean, it's going to happen when the game releases, best to get it started in beta so they can do something about it.

The only question is, can we get it started as soon as closed beta? Closed beta won't be that many people, hopefully some jump pad skeptics manage to get in.

[Xyntech]

I was thinking more along the lines of raping the jump pads until people stop using them. I mean, it's going to happen when the game releases, best to get it started in beta so they can do something about it.

Sounds good to me. Of course, that particular endeavor will probably just help the devs iron out how to keep players from getting raped every time they use the jump pads. But as you say, that's going to have to be sorted out before the game launches anyways.

Whether that involves removing jump pads or improving their design is another matter.

Haha, I don't think that will be much of a problem.

Considering that one poll was split pretty evenly between people who liked and disliked jump pads, even if a ton of PCGamer beta invites went out to non PS1 players, I'd say you'd still probably have at least a quarter to a third of the playerbase being opposed to them going into it. Maybe higher.

Yep, no problem.

Especially if you get a lot of players like me who like the idea but want to try to break it anyways.

[Logri]

Sexy time in Planetside 2! :D

From what I've seen so far, Planetside 2 = Sexy time :cool:

[Hamma]

Hey Hamma, we've got your jaws FedEx'd to you, it took us a while to dig them out of the floor to send back too yall!

:lol:

Nice it was pretty tough to eat meals the past couple days without it :(

[Kurtz]

Hey Hamma, we've got your jaws FedEx'd to you, it took us a while to dig them out of the floor to send back too yall!

Did it fall off when you hit him with the NDA, LOL. j/k

Can't wait to see/hear the updated info we'll get next week.

[Whalenator]

:lol:

Nice it was pretty tough to eat meals the past couple days without it :(

You could drink beer so you could place the caps in the bin, even with your jaw, right?

RIGHT?! :mad:

[cellinaire]

From what I've seen so far, Planetside 2 = Sexy :cool:

Corrected for ya :D

[PeteHMB]

I was thinking more along the lines of raping the jump pads until people stop using them. I mean, it's going to happen when the game releases, best to get it started in beta so they can do something about it.

The only question is, can we get it started as soon as closed beta? Closed beta won't be that many people, hopefully some jump pad skeptics manage to get in.

Make em destructable like spawn tubes were and I'll be fine with them. Infils + boomers and they'll be gone quickly.

[DirtyBird]

Honestly I am kind of stuck along with Jenny until next week.

What I can say is that this game definitely feels like PlanetSide wrapped in a newer modern shell. The engine is truly a thing to behold in the flesh and the variety of combat locations as compared to PS1 will make for some crazy battles the likes of which we never saw in PS1.

I had the opportunity to drive and fly just about everything (including MAXs). My plan is to try and articulate it better to you guys on AGN than I ever could in text, but I will certainly write up something to accompany our video interview next week.

Maybe you're just holding it all in atm but you seem a little underwhelmed for your first post back considering the opportunity bestowed upon you, I was expecting at least one OMFG! or an AWESOME!!. ;)

Seeing as you took the time to write down all of our questions could we at least see those in a basic Q&A text format?
Even if you didnt get a answer for some of them or didnt ask some of them. It makes it easier for the hearing impaired. And the questions that got skipped can be asked another time.

[Raka Maru]

He *can't* say anything until next week (when they announce beta), that's why he's so silent. :D

[T-Ray]

We are still cleaning up the crap out of the chairs. Lol it was a mess. Sorry. We made u do that man. Thanks for premo blend

[mefy]

watside?

[EVILPIG]

We are still cleaning up the crap out of the chairs. Lol it was a mess. Sorry. We made u do that man. Thanks for premo blend

lol

[The Kush]

We are still cleaning up the crap out of the chairs. Lol it was a mess. Sorry. We made u do that man. Thanks for premo blend

Haha did you send him home with some of those fancy Elmo diapers lol

[Raka Maru]

We are still cleaning up the crap out of the chairs. Lol it was a mess. Sorry. We made u do that man. Thanks for premo blend

Did this involve duct tape? :D

[Hamma]

:lol:

We have an interview with Higby lined up for about Tuesday next week. In addition to that the next AGN will allow folks to question me a bit and turn the tables. Up until then I will try and answer questions here and there I know the answer to ;)

[Stardouser]

:lol:

We have an interview with Higby lined up for about Tuesday next week. In addition to that the next AGN will allow folks to question me a bit and turn the tables. Up until then I will try and answer questions here and there I know the answer to ;)

Here's a question. For their....shall we say...10 year plan or even 20 year plan(and I'm sure no such thing formally exists), have they given any thought to space? In other words: Eve + Planetside for the future?

[Hamma]

We already asked the questions and that was not one of them. Regardless, we wouldn't be able to get information on the plans they have for post release just yet.

[Stardouser]

We already asked the questions and that was not one of them. Regardless, we wouldn't be able to get information on the plans they have for post release just yet.

I intended that question as a post-5 year plan issue, not a post-release issue(in other words, I asked it expecting that everyone would consider it impossible to happen within 5 years). The way you answer implies you didn't immediately judge it ridiculous to think there could be space within the 5 year plan! Very interesting!

[Kurtz]

I'm curious as to why you haven't been gushing info. Actually the silence is a little awkward and is making me think that progress is less than we perceive or you are on a short leash having signed an NDA the size of a phone book.

So my question is are they restricting you from saying certain things (like latency issues you experienced or how far along the game actually is) or releasing certain info (like screenshots of max units due to exclusives with other vendors)? And if not do you have more screenshots and videos that you may have taken and when do plan on releasing it?

[Shogun]

hamma already said before the interview, that they have the same deal as total biscuit had. in that they will be allowed to twitter from the soe building, but will have to wait for next week or something to release the majority of the footage.

[Graywolves]

I'm curious as to why you haven't been gushing info. Actually the silence is a little awkward and is making me think that progress is less than we perceive or you are on a short leash having signed an NDA the size of a phone book.

So my question is are they restricting you from saying certain things (like latency issues you experienced or how far along the game actually is) or releasing certain info (like screenshots of max units due to exclusives with other vendors)? And if not do you have more screenshots and videos that you may have taken and when do plan on releasing it?

They're under NDA for a week.

[Hamma]

It's a media embargo. ;) Pretty common among press.

We do not have additional screenshots. I have a bit of video recorded on a monitor of our playtest but our stuff is mostly developer interviews and my experience which I fully intend to share with you guys on AGN so you can all here it.

I intended that question as a post-5 year plan issue, not a post-release issue(in other words, I asked it expecting that everyone would consider it impossible to happen within 5 years). The way you answer implies you didn't immediately judge it ridiculous to think there could be space within the 5 year plan! Very interesting!

:huh:

:lol:

Over the past almost 10 years I've learned how to make the best use of our community interview time. I don't ask questions I won't get a response to ;)

[Xyntech]

Over the past almost 10 years I've learned how to make the best use of our community interview time. I don't ask questions I won't get a response to ;)

Oh good, so you didn't ask when beta would start? :rolleyes:

lol ;)

[Hamma]

Nope! :lol:

[DirtyBird]

It's a media embargo. ;)

Is the media embargo just on the game or does it include how you feel about what you saw without giving anything away? seems like both atm.
I havent had the invite yet but I prepared the following "first post back" just in case.

OMG guys it is AWESOME!, I cannot wait to tell you just how epic this will be but I have to.
I am not able to talk about the specifics atm due to a media embargo but be rest assured you will not be disappointed!!!
More next week and it will be well worth the wait.
I'll have a list of your Q&A's an interview with Higby as well as some with the developers.
I'm busting to share this with you but hold tight til next week...:D

[Logri]

How about reloading vehicles?
Drive long enough with your tank, you're bound to run out of shells eventually.

[Hamma]

I did not try that out at all.

In play testing vehicles were readily available so it's not like a live action taking of a base. I went through tanks quickly and didn't bother with having to reload. Didn't have to worry about resources or anything.

[Xyntech]

I did not try that out at all.

In play testing vehicles were readily available so it's not like a live action taking of a base. I went through tanks quickly and didn't bother with having to reload. Didn't have to worry about resources or anything.

From the looks of things, resource acquisition and vehicle costs are currently extremely placeholder (50 out of 2500 resources for a liberator?). They are probably waiting to finalize some of the other gameplay aspects before even worrying about touching that part of balance.

[Hamma]

Yea they were non existent in play testing.