Issue 10
Issue 10
by NorseGamer, HSM Editor-in-Chief
Social games are big, big business.
As consumer electronics and the availability of the internet have filtered through more and more of the western world’s population, the target demographics — and psychographics — for game developers have changed. What was once exclusively the domain of a fairly small socioeconomic strata has exploded into a giant industry which reaches audience numbers in the hundreds of millions of people.
Social games, in particular, have really reshaped this industry. I’m very much an old-school gamer — I love the solitary experience, and I miss the days when “multiplayer” meant either going to a friend’s house or going to an arcade — but there’s something to be said about the lure of social gaming and casual gaming. As a working adult in my thirties, I just don’t have time to sit down and commit eighty to one-hundred hours on a Front Mission 3 playthrough (as epic as that game was) — but I love the intermittent rounds of Angry Birds that I can squeeze in.
And, judging from the numbers, I’m not alone. Skyrim gets a lot of oohs and aahs, and The Old Republic is one of the finest MMO titles ever created, but their audiences pale by comparison to a Zynga game. Zynga is all over the place; Second Life, Entropia, IMVU, Twinity and others have had loyal followings on the PC for years; and Home has quietly been growing into quite a playground for social gaming on the PlayStation 3.
People are inherently social creatures, and social games are the newest evolution of video gaming.
The man on the cover of this issue, Richard Garriott de Cayeux, should be familiar to everyone. If you’re reading this and you don’t know who he is, then you are not a gamer. It’s that simple. Garriott’s alterego, Lord British, is more than just a name; it’s a synonym for quality gaming experiences that you can’t find anywhere else. So when we discovered that Lord British himself was diving into the world of social gaming, this publication — which is devoted to social gaming — had to find out more.
Mr. Garriott’s venture: Portalarium.
From their website, www.portalarium.com — “Portalarium is revolutionizing role-playing games for social media. Formed in September of 2009 in Austin, Texas, Portalarium is developing and publishing premium online games and virtual worlds for popular social networks and mobile platforms. Portalarium games maximize the fun and social play experience between friends, making it easy to find each other and play together regardless of where you are or what you are playing.”
Now, under normal circumstances, this would be just another basic business summation. But let’s not forget that it’s Richard Garriott behind it. This is the man who more or less wrote the book on how to create an RPG. This is the man who essentially pioneered the MMOG. And if you need further proof of what he intends to bring to the world of social gaming, take a look at his utterly brilliant essay on his new Portalarium “Ultimate RPG” project. You really should read that essay before jumping into this HSM issue
.
This is a man who has a history of extensively studying the things he dives into, and then creating a product which is simply head-and-shoulders above what everyone else has thought of. So when Portalarium announced its newest game, Ultimate Collector: Garage Sale — and we found out this was going to be one of many interlinked pieces which made up part of the Portalarium social games experience — we knew we had to find out more.
This issue of HomeStation Magazine is truly jampacked — it’s more like a double issue, quite honestly — and we are very grateful that the team at Portalarium, including Mr. Garriott himself, were so generous with their time. All of us here are social gamers — if you weren’t, you wouldn’t be reading this — and we think you’ll find this story exceptionally interesting. Portalarium, like Home, should be on your radar for a long time to come.
From all of us here at HSM, thank you for coming with us on this ride.
NorseGamer
Editor-in-Chief, HSM
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/HomeStationMagazine
Twitter: @HomeStationMag
YouTube: HomeStationMag
I for one can’t wait!
*looks at calendar*
Well?
Me neither!!C’mon stop teasing already!*stamps foot*
It’s coming. We just want to wait until the weekly Home update fervor has died down a bit, so the release announcement doesn’t get lost in the shuffle.
(Besides, it’s only about 4:30 in the morning, Hawaii time. Unlike myself, Norse does in fact sleep.)
Stoopid time zones.
My eys are buggin. Tends to the nub where my thumb was. Still tender. Waiting on Santa, oh wait! That was last month.
https://picasaweb.google.com/100010479152389414005/Hsm#5696404146893772914
Hey folks, like many of you, I’m a fan of Garriott’s works, mainly the Ultima series. I thought this link would be a great companion to your article. Good Old Games has a licensing agreement with the current publisher that owns the rights to the Ultima series and are giving everyone who starts and account on GOG a free download of the original DOS Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar. The best part is that they modified it to work in Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7. If any of you are curious and want to play this classic, you can download it here:
http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/ultima_4
Also, be sure to download a copy of the instruction manual and quick reference card since there is a command in game for every key on the keyboard. I’m glad the made this game playable for this generation because this RPG was one of the most challenging I have ever played due to the fact that you must balance out all eight virtues to become the avatar. This is a challenge because once you move up in one virtue, another goes down. This is an RPG of delicate choices and consequences. Enjoy
Oh…my…diety…that wasnt just a magazine issue, that was an experience! Fantastic job all around…every article, every inch of layout was perfection.
Two things which will stick with me the most: the Garriott interview was simply epic. The fellow has amazing insight, and is someone I’d love to have a mocha-chino over two hours with. The second: Betty White as Keara -- whoever thunked that up is responsible for a snotty mess I snorted up when I saw that pic.
Great, great work HSM’rs, one and all.
answer to quiz 1a, 2b, 3d 4b 5b 6b7d 8a 9c 10c 11a 12a. i hope i win, but if not enjoy whoever wins!
Answers to Lockwood Quiz, not sure if this is the right place but anyway:
1.D 2.B. 3.D 4.B 5.B 6.B 7.B 8.A 9.C 10.C 11.D 12.A
Good luck everyone
ANSWERS ARE 1.D 2.B 3.D 4.B 5.D 6.B 7.C 8.A 9.B 10.C 11.A 12.A THATS WHAT I KNOW ABOUT LOCKWOOD
id love to know who won? seeing since there was only 4 ppl who replyed with anwsers. lol, i personaly know 3 of the 4, me my brother and the one girl that didnt post here.
hmmm, country, you need to check out the other locations where answers were posted: http://www.hsmagazine.net/2012/01/homestation-magazine-issue-10-featuring-richard-garriott-online-now/
In the comments section of that thread there are a bunch of contest entries.
The persons in question have 24 hours in which to reply to the contact we sent out. If they fail to do so, we will go on to the next person.
We reserve the right to publish (or not) the IDs of the winners -- and some may specifically request that we do not -- as it sets them up to be a target for being on the receiving end of similar types of behavior as displayed above, regardless of the truth.
just checked out the latest EchoChronicles , excellent job as usual seal (: thank you HomeStationMagazine for lettings us be heard .
i love this site each issue brings somthin new out about home