Mark,

I had noticed that you mentioned in GameSpin that you had gotten and have been playing Anarchy Online (beta) now.

As someone who signed up to beta test this a good 8 months ago and haven't gotten anything from 'em.. how is it?!?! :) and I want details..whatever you aren't planning on putting into a future GameSpin column, at least. :)

- mike - stuck in east-central illinois -

BTW mark, are you playing omnitek or clan? i read from a poll ppl were more interested in playing omnitek! my god, ppl love the big brother. . . when i try out anarchy online im joining the rebel clans against big bro omnitek!

anyway, so how is the game!?! is it any good? better than EQ?

etc

Heh -- I've been playing the neutrals. I didn't play it as much as I planned, but so far my feelings are pretty positive -- with the understanding that this is beta. Graphics are great and the game has a nice sci-fi feel. I really like the "quests" that are generated instead of canned. I'm still fumbling with the interface, which is more complex by an order of two or three compared to EQ's.

Players have guns that shoot beams. Very cool.

I think it has a chance of being a hit game. Maybe not as big as EQ, but it might be bigger than Asheron's Call.

Negatives are crashes, clipping issues, and a kind of loose feel about interface. It just doesn't seem quite as crisp as it should be.

"I think it has a chance of being a hit game. Maybe not as big as EQ, but it might be bigger than Asheron's Call."

I don't think you are far off with this- AC hasn't really had the advertising campaign that EQ has, nor the box cover art to attract buyers. Advertising wise, I think MS goofed. Box art, I think they could have been a little better, but I'm happy they didn't stoop so low as to putting scantily clad females on the box cover to sell the game... I think that happened because they weren't originally going to sell the game at retail in a box(!).. you were going to be able to download it all (for free or for a small fee, I forget), so box art wasn't a big deal.

I also anticipate that it (AO) will have a bigger audience than AC does, but not as large as EQ..ever. AC seems, IMO, to be slipping- constant bugs & downtime causing a lot of problems for people, and with AC2 recently announced, people who would buy in are probably in wait-and-see mode now.

I'm interested in perhaps finding out how Funcom is going to release the game: Is it going to be a boxed retail thing? A direct-order/direct-download thing? Free download? I haven't really heard much about that at all.

From the screenshots I've seen and all that, the game graphics look interesting, but the interface looks pretty desolate.. Is there an interface? :) I haven't really caught sight of much of one from the bazillions of shots I've looked at.

Ah well.. just trolling for more info on it all. Sorry if I ranted on about stupid stuff, heh.

- mike - stuck in east-central illinois -

"From the screenshots I've seen and all that, the game graphics look interesting, but the interface looks pretty desolate.. Is there an interface? :) I haven't really caught sight of much of one from the bazillions of shots I've looked at."

The interface is pretty complex. There are about a half dozen different overlays you can bring up. I don't know how to use the interface very well yet.

The interface is designed so that you only have to display what you feel you need to display.

I think the thing that impressed me the most were the laser rifles. They actually shoot a beam. It's pretty neat looking. EQ's graphic engine couldn't handle that, I'm sure.