Yes, I remember Warcraft III winning the award on 3dawards.org. The scene when the corrupted Prince Arthas returns to his father (first cinematic in Undead campaign) is memorable with the rose petals shower. I have much respect for Blizzard, don't get me wrong, but I have zero for MMO games.
'elo buddy. yep i'm still here, still lurking around. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
i have no love for mmo's either, but WoW has really got me drooling. i've viewed some trailers of it and the scenes were breathtaking. i hate the monthly fee, though. still, i understand that's how companies earn their keep for the maintenance of the servers and development of additional content. so i'll leave it at that. it's not really a question of why these companies charge but more of can gamers afford it. and judging from the activity of that game, it seems that WoW has already attracted a large following in so short a time.
i might try guild wars once it's final. i've heard it doesn't have a monthly fee; instead you have to pay for additional content. i think it's a good alternative. i hope they be successful on it.
I play-tested GuildWars. It's a rather interesting game, nice concept. It's not really an MMO as the only parts on the server are the towns: when you enter a quest, the player with the best connection of your party "hosts" the game. It works better than it sounds: I played with 8 other people battling armies and had no connection problems. The graphics are excellent, the combat is addictive and strategic, the game DOES have a compelling storyline, it seems balanced and it features in-game cinematics staring your characters. Also, if you can't wait to get in the action, you can simply take AI team-mates and head straight in the action. However it's not really an MMO. I like the gameplay though: it looks like a mix of Magic: The Gathering as far as spells go: you can have as much spells as you want but you can only have 8 ready. It means that before you head on a mission, you should sit down and seriously think what do you need and what combinations are the best with your pool. I played a Necromancer and it was fun (except when I was foolish enough to play in an all-Necromancer party). You can spawn allies from corpses, drain corpses to restore health... If there will be a demo, I'd reccomend everyone to try it.
My only gripe is that you cannot really buy items; only components that you have to bring to a crafter. It means that you have to literaly trade your body organs for that extra shell or hide in order to obtain those Bone Boots of The Walking Dead.
