Originally posted by Plxix I'm playing it right now. It's not so bad, especially now that Tulga is gone.
Tulga aren't the ones denying unsecure credit servers, listed as "unpursuable" by the BBB, and under the close scrutiny of the Atlanta Attorney Generals Office, now are they? No, that would be EI, the newest crop of inept thieves in the mmorpg world. But you enjoy playing the game
Originally posted by Effect Wow, MMORPG really should host and feature that article. If one of the mods or staff are reading could that happen?
I generally agree, it should be hosted under a couple of conditions: First, get the original author's permission. Second, change all the names -- not only to avoid liability issues, but because this is more of a lesson in big-time game development and the unseen difficulties than a commentary on the current state of Horizons. In television terms: "The story you are about to see is true, the names have been changed to protect the . . ."
Originally posted by Zorvan Only desperate fanbois and the clueless (see above you)
2 reasons not to play the game:
1) If you have misgivings about the company running it 2) If the game doesn't appeal to you.
1) People who still play are aware of the billing problems and therefore they make sure that they are not billed incorrectly. When they are satisfied that the billing problem is fixed (at least for them) it is a matter of personality how much they are influenced by the mudslinging between Tulga and EII fanboys that goes on in the forums.
2) As long as they take pleasure in what the game offers (and as long as no other game can come close) they'll continue playing it.
Originally posted by Plxix I'm playing it right now. It's not so bad, especially now that Tulga is gone.
Tulga aren't the ones denying unsecure credit servers, listed as "unpursuable" by the BBB, and under the close scrutiny of the Atlanta Attorney Generals Office, now are they? No, that would be EI, the newest crop of inept thieves in the mmorpg world. But you enjoy playing the game
Actually, TG got issues of complaince right before the sale. Under such circumstance EI get to work on correcting the issue wihtout charges filed against them. Call the Atlanta Generals Offcie and ask for yourself.
Originally posted by Plxix Originally posted by ZorvanOriginally posted by PlxixI'm playing it right now. It's not so bad, especially now that Tulga is gone.
Tulga aren't the ones denying unsecure credit servers, listed as "unpursuable" by the BBB, and under the close scrutiny of the Atlanta Attorney Generals Office, now are they? No, that would be EI, the newest crop of inept thieves in the mmorpg world. But you enjoy playing the game
Actually, TG got issues of complaince right before the sale. Under such circumstance EI get to work on correcting the issue wihtout charges filed against them. Call the Atlanta Generals Offcie and ask for yourself.
Read what I said. Yes, Tulga was responsible for alot of shit before EI bought Horizons. My comments were for the here and now. EI is listed as "unpursuable" by BBB, EI denied the unsecure servers while full well knowing they were there, Ed Andercheck is the arrogant asshole who tells customers to basically get fucked when they do manage to track him down, and the fact that the Attorney General gave them time for compliance in no way says they won't be filing charges.
Yeah the game is dead all thats left out now is someone putting it out of its misery,... EI has totally driven a sinking ship under the waves for good, and a resurfacing in any form is extremely doubtful. Bad management and complete blundering ham handed staff at EI make this game basically un playable and the billing woes are far from over or settled. Stay away from this dog it bites!
Originally posted by Zorvan Only desperate fanbois and the clueless (see above you)
2 reasons not to play the game:
1) If you have misgivings about the company running it 2) If the game doesn't appeal to you.
1) People who still play are aware of the billing problems and therefore they make sure that they are not billed incorrectly. When they are satisfied that the billing problem is fixed (at least for them) it is a matter of personality how much they are influenced by the mudslinging between Tulga and EII fanboys that goes on in the forums.
2) As long as they take pleasure in what the game offers (and as long as no other game can come close) they'll continue playing it.
Nothing 'fanboy' or 'clueless' about it.
Horizons was rushed into launch incomplete due to financial pressure. Now it's true that ALL games, especially MMOs are not 100% ready at launch, but some are less ready than others. HZ was vastly incomplete, and as such suffered immiediately. Repeat subscriptions from players are the game's blood and HZ starting haemorrhaging from the very beginning due to the lack of so much that was promised to be in at launch.
(It has served as a lesson to develoers, but some have not learned; DnL for example, and even SOE who released EQ2 too fast to match Blizzard and suffered for it, and have spent two years revamping the game to make it right.)
From the beginning HZ was dying as sub numbers fell and players left enmasse. Any business minded person could see that such a state could not be sustained. But a fanbois is often "in love" with their game and refuses to listen to reason, hence why they sound "clueless" in their responses. Back then the fanbois were great in number.
Then came the inevitable bancruptcy as the financial backers decided to cut their losses and stop funding the game. The merge, staff cuts, legal trickery to have a former AE employee pose as a buyer/ new owner, the cutting off of the European player base should have been warning enough, but the fanbois remained adamant that HZ would emerge like a pheonix from the flames.
I waited too, through the merge, up to Xmas '04, but my hope faded as the promises to new content failed to materialise. I stated then that, regardless of new content, promises and visions, HZ would die without increasing it's player base, and turn a loss making venture into a profitable one. The downsizing did not stop the loss making since subs continued to fall, due to the now slow rate of development. But the fanbois insisted that an upturn would soon occur as the promised content went in and players returned, and new ones started, with the starter island revamps.
Some months later their were far fewer fanbois, but those that remained were more hardcore than ever. They continued to insist that HZ was NOT dying, but in fact subs were up. No proof was offered ofcourse, and I posted again that unless HZ began to make a profit the game would fail, since the current investor would eventually pull out. No amount of new content, optimism or new advertising would save HZ if subs did rise high enough.
Well, the finacial backer that David Bowman secured during the bankcuptcy has finally sold out, with EI taking over. HZ has NEVER made a profit, and without that it must inevitably die. Only a fanbois would fail to see this, and to deny it is to appear "clueless". Then you have the biggest clue of all, the massive levels of incometence shown by EI, combined with their arrogance towards the remaining, dwindling, fanboi customer base and most loyal suppoerters, including former CS/forum reps.
Yet the fanbois STILL play, hoping for better, not wanting to accept that HZ is now close to death.
Finally we have the latest news, "Pixel Magic Aquires EI"
I played on one of the EU servers, for 9 months. My char is now lost forever. I'm glad I did not contiue to invest time into him, and in fact decided not to return to HZ because I did not believe my char would survive with the long running despute between Tulga and GN. As early as Nov '04 I knew this was a dead game walking, and stated as much, only to be flamed by blind fanbois, with "clueless" comments.
I expect pretty soon that HZ will be shut down and it's assets parceled off, then YOUR char, and your 3 years of input, will be LOST forever. So:
2 reasons not to play the game:
1) If you have misgivings about the company running it
Only a fanois would still trust EI.
2) If the game doesn't appeal to you.
True, but many people play to be with friends, or because they have invested too much time into their chars, even in games like WoW. I've read the complaints from loyal players, stilling playing, but appealing for more content.
Others reasons not to play.
3) You like the game but content is too slow in coming. (Me)
4) You want to play but Tulga stopped supporting your server through it's legal wrangle with GN, so you don't want to feel like a second class citizen, and DON'T want to start over on a US server. (Me)
And 5) As much as you love the game, and your char, and have invested a sizable chunk of your life into it, you realise that HZ with soon shut down and it's time to move on.
Actually, TG got issues of complaince right before the sale. Under such circumstance EI get to work on correcting the issue wihtout charges filed against them. Call the Atlanta Generals Offcie and ask for yourself.
I've been in communications with Jim Hammill of the Montana AGs office since the unsecure billing server went up on August 1st..
The Montana AG gave them a 'grace period' to "get their act together" (actual quote). However, with the recent sale being nothing more than a shell game devised to reduce liability and credibility from the mistakes made over the last 4 months, the Montana AG is not amused..
Actually, not amused is putting it rather lightly.
The Montana AG sent EI a letter on the 20th of this month, and the sale happened on the 28th.. While Mr. Hammill didn't go into any details as to the subject of the letter, I don't think it was good news for EI, and I betcha that is why they rushed this sale and acquisition out the door, and quick.
Pixelmagic Entertainment was established in 11/14/2006.. and when they incorporated, they created 75,000 shares (probably 25,000 each) at US$0.00 par value.
Needless to say, Pixelmagic Entertainment is nothing more than a shell.. a company created by Mr. Andercheck in order to buy EI and thus reduce the risk of being held accountable for the past 4 months. By closing down EIs offices in Butte, MT, they are effectively trying to get out of the legal jurisdiction of the Montana Attorney General. And furthermore, with Dr. Rask's departure, accountability for past mistakes could be blamed squarely on him, as he was the CTO and Director of Operations.
In other developments, it was finally announced that Amadan had left EI some time ago (some players with inside info say he left a week ago, others said it was much longer than that). With the departure of Amadan, EI now has no one from Tulga, and no one on payroll that is even remotely knowledgable in Horizons development.
Through my conversations with many of the devs (Tulga) who worked on Horizons, before and after the sale, I can say that there is no way EI has the necessary knowledge to make any kind of patch, or update to the game. While they have Simdoc (the main editing program used with the Horizons server and database), they were unable to get an alpha test server set up (known as a "Genesis" server), and thus there is no way for EI to create the necessary "Deltas", or patches, and properly run them on the live shards.
The last Delta that was applied to Blight was totally in shambles, and according to Amon and Smeglor, it was completely unsalvageable. The bugs on Blight are so numerous (many spawns of creatures needed for quests.. game-breaking bugs, etc) that blight has been empty of players, and one blight player remarked on the official boards, quote "You do not want the blight delta patched over to the live shards!"
As of this point, it is pretty safe to say that Horizons will not see any further development. I say this with certainty. Amadan was the last person they had who had any knowledge with Simdoc, and Amadan was no programmer, only customer service. While he did manage to make a miracle for the fall festival, it could not hold a candle to earlier Tulga-run events. Still, with what Amadan had to work with, and the short time he had, he did do a pretty admirable job.
Now.. EI has no one, and if they have any hopes of making any updates to the game, they would need a development team.. Hiring a full dev team is not easy.. and certainly if you want developers who know what they are doing. Even if EI was able to hire developers, it would take lots of time to disassemble the codebase, and try and figure out how things work. For an excellent team of programmers and developers, it would take bare minimum 6 months.. considering EI didn't pay one of their developers (their check bounced to the server tech), I doubt they will be able to find even a single programmer worth their weight in salt.
Dead? Not yet.. but with the way things are going, it won't be too long. The question here is, will Mr Andercheck and Dr. Rask be held accountable for all that they have done the last 4 months, or will they walk scot free?
There is a German proverb that states "Those pronounced dead shall live longer". This seems to be the case with this game and I'm of course glad about that for I enjoy playing it.
It lacks a lot of appeal in certain respects -- fighting and quests and graphics are much better in other games, I don't doubt that -- but while I like quests I dislike fighting and the graphics aren't that important to me. I like crafting, I like to see dragons fly (player dragons, not some senseless mounts forced into transport service), I have a lot of fun finishing structures on other players plots as a surprise gifts and generally I have a good time.
So I hope this 'corpse' will haunt the gaming world for a long time yet.
"Nothing is ever truly dead, so long as it is cherished in the hearts and memories of others..."
I tend to think of this one more. I love Horizons.. I enjoyed the crafting, and I enjoyed the community. I played the only Flame Disciple in game, and you probably know how broken monks and disciples are. Even with the bugs, and spells and abilities that had no special effects.. and the fact that a level 60 shadow spider had more dexterity and evasion than me (and I was lvl 100, with over 1000 evasion and dex), I even did enjoy the combat.
I have a lot of friends who are still in game, and unfortunately, I cannot spend time with them.. not cause I do not want to, but because I cannot.
I took a stance.. not because I wanted to see Horizons dead.. I stood up for myself and others and made it known to EI that the fradulent billing was wrong. I made sure that they knew that the unsecured billing server, and not informing their customers that their financial and personal data was in jeapordy, was a very bad mistake.
I thought EI had learned their lesson.. and so did those at the Consumer Protection Division for the Montana Attorney General's Office. It seemed that Nagafen was communicating with people, and board moderation was beginning to become a little lax. Email addresses were put up for people to cancel their accounts if they wanted to, and eventually, they did succeed in negotiating a contract with PayByTouch. You now have a 1-800 number you can call to cancel... that's a lot better than what I, and many others had available when we were getting billed over and over and over again..
However, people are still getting billed, many repeatedly, by EI.. NOT by PayByTouch.. but EI themselves. It's still going on, and the Montana Attorney General sent EI a letter on the 20th.. The AG gave them a couple months "grace period".. basically "Shape up or ship out"... EI didn't seem to listen, or seem to care.
And now with the sale, it's become apparent to those that are investigating EI, that Mr. Andercheck was not just trying to buy time.. but he also is doing what he can to evade them.
Now on one hand, if EI gets away with what they have done, and the Montana AG is unable to pursue them, then all those people who registered complaints.. who were robbed and swindled, without consent.. will get no kind of restitution. And everything we all did to get EI to do what was right, will all be for nothing.
And as a result, Horizons will still remain up. While to the players still playing this may be a good thing, I don't think it is fair, let alone morally right, for you or anyone to be gleeful that you can still play, considering many people were thrown into debt by numerous bank fees and overdraft charges, because of EIs actions.
But I think the worst tragedy here, is that those in charge of EI, or MPE, will see that they excaped culpability. They will not think of the screwups this last 4 months as their fault.. they will not see that they were screwing people around.. Instead they will see that they were able to do all of that and still get away with it.
...And not just the fradulent billing, but EVERYTHING... The lack of communication.. not listening to the playerbase.. alienating their more loyal customers.. the heavy-handed moderation.. ALL of that!
And all the hopes of better things, will be all for naught.
But if you still can log in, and none of that means anything to you, it's all okay.. right?
While all you may care about is if you can log into the game or not.. for me personally, it is a moral issue.. and a very deep one. Even though it is $12.95, that twelve dollars is still being paid to a company run by people who are double billing others and don't seem to care if its thievery or not.
And I have heard people say "gee, what can I do?".. Let me ask you this, if you walk down a street and see a woman getting mugged by a guy, and he's trying to steal her purse, are you just gonna continue walking and pretend you never saw it?
For me, I can't do that.. I have a conscious, and I'm not going to walk by and ignore others getting hurt. It's called Honor... and Dignity.. And doing the right thing.
Granted, in this situation, doing nothing may be just fine. This is a game, and not some city street..
And also, you are but one player, and what can one person do, right?
Unfortunately, it is this indifference.. or what I tend to say "Lack of spine", that allows people like this to screw others and get away with it.
All it takes is one person to stand up and say "This isn't RIGHT!".. and before you know it, others are standing up in support.
For me, this goes beyond just a game. Truth, honor, dignity, and fighting for what is right, far outweighs time spent playing an MMORPG, at least to me.
I have no ill towards Horizons, the game.. I do not hate the community.. it was once a community that I loved to be a part of. Even with so many problems, I do not want to see that community be destroyed. Origionally, I had hoped that the Montana AG could talk some sense into EI.. make them wake up... I hoped that EI would start treating the game, and the community, a LOT better.
It doesn't look like that has happened, and worse, I've been told something today about this whole ordeal.. I know that HZ probably will not survive past the 6 month mark since EI took over. Does this make me gleeful? No.. in fact, the exact opposite.
Like I said earlier.. Nothing is ever truly dead, so long as it is cherished in the hearts and memories of others... For me, I cherish the memories from playing.. all the people I spent time with and helped out.. the fun events I participated in.. and for me, Horizons will not die.
If you can log in and play, and enjoy it, then go and play.. Enjoy your time in Horizons, because you never know when the end will come.
I wish you the best of luck, in all that you do.. May the road be straight and true, and the Goddess be the shining star that guides you and lights your path. I wish you the safest of journeys, always and forever.
There is also another saying Sam: The tungue is sharper than the blade.
So with that said, since you've gone against the Bushido by flaming, why not commit Seppaku?
What's wrong with liking a game and hoping it's not going to die. I did enjoy aspects of the game but not all. I gave it up when I felt it was right for me. Let them have their turn. At some point, every MMO goes through this phase of "how much worse can it get" before it either picks up for good, or shutsdown for bad.
Like the book the game horizons itself (at least when in development) was a beauty and given the right chance could have been a champion like black beauty.
Sadly like black beauty it had a string of bad owners and quickly started to wear down and age away.
But the sad story of horizons is worse then the horse story.It never had a brief period of a happy owner.Its father left even before it was born.
And I cannot see a happy end for horizons sadly
Goodbye to a cult hopeful and there dies the dreams of the true mmorpg players .
Unfortunatly, with the advent of Teamspeak, and Ventrilo, and whatever VOXSOFT you want to use the "Role Playing" aspect of MMORPG is DEAD... DEAD D E A D!
Originally posted by Carrara heh, good analogy. Unfortunatly, with the advent of Teamspeak, and Ventrilo, and whatever VOXSOFT you want to use the "Role Playing" aspect of MMORPG is DEAD... DEAD D E A D! Now all we have are MMOG.
/agree
New technology is not always a good thing.
"We feel gold selling and websites that promote it damage games like Vanguard and will do everything possible to combat it." Brad McQuaid Chairman & CEO, Sigil Games Online, Inc. Executive Producer, Vanguard: Saga of Heroes www.vanguardsoh
Originally posted by snickel There is a German proverb that states "Those pronounced dead shall live longer".
No wonder Germans lose at wars...
You know, I remember having real fun testing this game way back when. I really thought that HZ was the breath of fresh air that the MMORPG world needed. Look where it ends up...
It's like the Everly Bros. sung: "It's so sad to watch good love go bad..."
For far to long the developers that had it thought that a grind was a good substitution for content.
So all anyone does now and ever has done is haul a cargo disk around or level multiple adventurer classes the same way as they always have. I mean I havent seen a game yet that has a grind like Horizons has. A totally pointless grind was well. What difference does that plot make or the lair ? what difference does it matter if you have 2 adv schools at 100 or 6 ? Nothing since the game itself has no point and never will.
The game hasent had nothing new nor interesting since Feladen was freed back in early 2004.
Is the game game dead ? with an average of 130 people visible on Chaos during primetime hours I would say yes its dead. Thats down from a high of around 300 visible under Tulga.
I'm sure the FACT that PME/EII are a bunch of crooks hasen't helped the game at all either
Comments
Tulga aren't the ones denying unsecure credit servers, listed as "unpursuable" by the BBB, and under the close scrutiny of the Atlanta Attorney Generals Office, now are they? No, that would be EI, the newest crop of inept thieves in the mmorpg world. But you enjoy playing the game
I generally agree, it should be hosted under a couple of conditions: First, get the original author's permission. Second, change all the names -- not only to avoid liability issues, but because this is more of a lesson in big-time game development and the unseen difficulties than a commentary on the current state of Horizons. In television terms: "The story you are about to see is true, the names have been changed to protect the . . ."
1) If you have misgivings about the company running it
2) If the game doesn't appeal to you.
1) People who still play are aware of the billing problems and therefore they make sure that they are not billed incorrectly. When they are satisfied that the billing problem is fixed (at least for them) it is a matter of personality how much they are influenced by the mudslinging between Tulga and EII fanboys that goes on in the forums.
2) As long as they take pleasure in what the game offers (and as long as no other game can come close) they'll continue playing it.
Nothing 'fanboy' or 'clueless' about it.
Tulga aren't the ones denying unsecure credit servers, listed as "unpursuable" by the BBB, and under the close scrutiny of the Atlanta Attorney Generals Office, now are they? No, that would be EI, the newest crop of inept thieves in the mmorpg world. But you enjoy playing the game
Actually, TG got issues of complaince right before the sale. Under such circumstance EI get to work on correcting the issue wihtout charges filed against them. Call the Atlanta Generals Offcie and ask for yourself.
Tulga aren't the ones denying unsecure credit servers, listed as "unpursuable" by the BBB, and under the close scrutiny of the Atlanta Attorney Generals Office, now are they? No, that would be EI, the newest crop of inept thieves in the mmorpg world. But you enjoy playing the game
Actually, TG got issues of complaince right before the sale. Under such circumstance EI get to work on correcting the issue wihtout charges filed against them. Call the Atlanta Generals Offcie and ask for yourself.
Read what I said. Yes, Tulga was responsible for alot of shit before EI bought Horizons. My comments were for the here and now. EI is listed as "unpursuable" by BBB, EI denied the unsecure servers while full well knowing they were there, Ed Andercheck is the arrogant asshole who tells customers to basically get fucked when they do manage to track him down, and the fact that the Attorney General gave them time for compliance in no way says they won't be filing charges.
I can't believe this game still exsists!
_______________________
Shatter Soulich
Necromancer
1) If you have misgivings about the company running it
2) If the game doesn't appeal to you.
1) People who still play are aware of the billing problems and therefore they make sure that they are not billed incorrectly. When they are satisfied that the billing problem is fixed (at least for them) it is a matter of personality how much they are influenced by the mudslinging between Tulga and EII fanboys that goes on in the forums.
2) As long as they take pleasure in what the game offers (and as long as no other game can come close) they'll continue playing it.
Nothing 'fanboy' or 'clueless' about it.
Horizons was rushed into launch incomplete due to financial pressure. Now it's true that ALL games, especially MMOs are not 100% ready at launch, but some are less ready than others. HZ was vastly incomplete, and as such suffered immiediately. Repeat subscriptions from players are the game's blood and HZ starting haemorrhaging from the very beginning due to the lack of so much that was promised to be in at launch.
(It has served as a lesson to develoers, but some have not learned; DnL for example, and even SOE who released EQ2 too fast to match Blizzard and suffered for it, and have spent two years revamping the game to make it right.)
From the beginning HZ was dying as sub numbers fell and players left enmasse. Any business minded person could see that such a state could not be sustained. But a fanbois is often "in love" with their game and refuses to listen to reason, hence why they sound "clueless" in their responses. Back then the fanbois were great in number.
Then came the inevitable bancruptcy as the financial backers decided to cut their losses and stop funding the game. The merge, staff cuts, legal trickery to have a former AE employee pose as a buyer/ new owner, the cutting off of the European player base should have been warning enough, but the fanbois remained adamant that HZ would emerge like a pheonix from the flames.
I waited too, through the merge, up to Xmas '04, but my hope faded as the promises to new content failed to materialise. I stated then that, regardless of new content, promises and visions, HZ would die without increasing it's player base, and turn a loss making venture into a profitable one. The downsizing did not stop the loss making since subs continued to fall, due to the now slow rate of development. But the fanbois insisted that an upturn would soon occur as the promised content went in and players returned, and new ones started, with the starter island revamps.
Some months later their were far fewer fanbois, but those that remained were more hardcore than ever. They continued to insist that HZ was NOT dying, but in fact subs were up. No proof was offered ofcourse, and I posted again that unless HZ began to make a profit the game would fail, since the current investor would eventually pull out. No amount of new content, optimism or new advertising would save HZ if subs did rise high enough.
Well, the finacial backer that David Bowman secured during the bankcuptcy has finally sold out, with EI taking over. HZ has NEVER made a profit, and without that it must inevitably die. Only a fanbois would fail to see this, and to deny it is to appear "clueless". Then you have the biggest clue of all, the massive levels of incometence shown by EI, combined with their arrogance towards the remaining, dwindling, fanboi customer base and most loyal suppoerters, including former CS/forum reps.
Yet the fanbois STILL play, hoping for better, not wanting to accept that HZ is now close to death.
Finally we have the latest news, "Pixel Magic Aquires EI"
http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/loadNews/6732/HorizonsPixelMagicAquiresEI.html
I played on one of the EU servers, for 9 months. My char is now lost forever. I'm glad I did not contiue to invest time into him, and in fact decided not to return to HZ because I did not believe my char would survive with the long running despute between Tulga and GN. As early as Nov '04 I knew this was a dead game walking, and stated as much, only to be flamed by blind fanbois, with "clueless" comments.
I expect pretty soon that HZ will be shut down and it's assets parceled off, then YOUR char, and your 3 years of input, will be LOST forever. So:
2 reasons not to play the game:
1) If you have misgivings about the company running it
Only a fanois would still trust EI.
2) If the game doesn't appeal to you.
True, but many people play to be with friends, or because they have invested too much time into their chars, even in games like WoW. I've read the complaints from loyal players, stilling playing, but appealing for more content.
Others reasons not to play.
3) You like the game but content is too slow in coming. (Me)
4) You want to play but Tulga stopped supporting your server through it's legal wrangle with GN, so you don't want to feel like a second class citizen, and DON'T want to start over on a US server. (Me)
And 5) As much as you love the game, and your char, and have invested a sizable chunk of your life into it, you realise that HZ with soon shut down and it's time to move on.
The Montana AG gave them a 'grace period' to "get their act together" (actual quote). However, with the recent sale being nothing more than a shell game devised to reduce liability and credibility from the mistakes made over the last 4 months, the Montana AG is not amused..
Actually, not amused is putting it rather lightly.
The Montana AG sent EI a letter on the 20th of this month, and the sale happened on the 28th.. While Mr. Hammill didn't go into any details as to the subject of the letter, I don't think it was good news for EI, and I betcha that is why they rushed this sale and acquisition out the door, and quick.
Pixelmagic Entertainment was established in 11/14/2006.. and when they incorporated, they created 75,000 shares (probably 25,000 each) at US$0.00 par value.
All you have to do is look at this to understand why: http://www.laughlinusa.com/whynevada.asp
Needless to say, Pixelmagic Entertainment is nothing more than a shell.. a company created by Mr. Andercheck in order to buy EI and thus reduce the risk of being held accountable for the past 4 months. By closing down EIs offices in Butte, MT, they are effectively trying to get out of the legal jurisdiction of the Montana Attorney General. And furthermore, with Dr. Rask's departure, accountability for past mistakes could be blamed squarely on him, as he was the CTO and Director of Operations.
In other developments, it was finally announced that Amadan had left EI some time ago (some players with inside info say he left a week ago, others said it was much longer than that). With the departure of Amadan, EI now has no one from Tulga, and no one on payroll that is even remotely knowledgable in Horizons development.
Through my conversations with many of the devs (Tulga) who worked on Horizons, before and after the sale, I can say that there is no way EI has the necessary knowledge to make any kind of patch, or update to the game. While they have Simdoc (the main editing program used with the Horizons server and database), they were unable to get an alpha test server set up (known as a "Genesis" server), and thus there is no way for EI to create the necessary "Deltas", or patches, and properly run them on the live shards.
The last Delta that was applied to Blight was totally in shambles, and according to Amon and Smeglor, it was completely unsalvageable. The bugs on Blight are so numerous (many spawns of creatures needed for quests.. game-breaking bugs, etc) that blight has been empty of players, and one blight player remarked on the official boards, quote "You do not want the blight delta patched over to the live shards!"
As of this point, it is pretty safe to say that Horizons will not see any further development. I say this with certainty. Amadan was the last person they had who had any knowledge with Simdoc, and Amadan was no programmer, only customer service. While he did manage to make a miracle for the fall festival, it could not hold a candle to earlier Tulga-run events. Still, with what Amadan had to work with, and the short time he had, he did do a pretty admirable job.
Now.. EI has no one, and if they have any hopes of making any updates to the game, they would need a development team.. Hiring a full dev team is not easy.. and certainly if you want developers who know what they are doing. Even if EI was able to hire developers, it would take lots of time to disassemble the codebase, and try and figure out how things work. For an excellent team of programmers and developers, it would take bare minimum 6 months.. considering EI didn't pay one of their developers (their check bounced to the server tech), I doubt they will be able to find even a single programmer worth their weight in salt.
Dead? Not yet.. but with the way things are going, it won't be too long. The question here is, will Mr Andercheck and Dr. Rask be held accountable for all that they have done the last 4 months, or will they walk scot free?
-Menkure
It lacks a lot of appeal in certain respects -- fighting and quests and graphics are much better in other games, I don't doubt that -- but while I like quests I dislike fighting and the graphics aren't that important to me. I like crafting, I like to see dragons fly (player dragons, not some senseless mounts forced into transport service), I have a lot of fun finishing structures on other players plots as a surprise gifts and generally I have a good time.
So I hope this 'corpse' will haunt the gaming world for a long time yet.
Dear Snickel,
There is a saying my mother used to tell me..
"Nothing is ever truly dead, so long as it is cherished in the hearts and memories of others..."
I tend to think of this one more. I love Horizons.. I enjoyed the crafting, and I enjoyed the community. I played the only Flame Disciple in game, and you probably know how broken monks and disciples are. Even with the bugs, and spells and abilities that had no special effects.. and the fact that a level 60 shadow spider had more dexterity and evasion than me (and I was lvl 100, with over 1000 evasion and dex), I even did enjoy the combat.
I have a lot of friends who are still in game, and unfortunately, I cannot spend time with them.. not cause I do not want to, but because I cannot.
I took a stance.. not because I wanted to see Horizons dead.. I stood up for myself and others and made it known to EI that the fradulent billing was wrong. I made sure that they knew that the unsecured billing server, and not informing their customers that their financial and personal data was in jeapordy, was a very bad mistake.
I thought EI had learned their lesson.. and so did those at the Consumer Protection Division for the Montana Attorney General's Office. It seemed that Nagafen was communicating with people, and board moderation was beginning to become a little lax. Email addresses were put up for people to cancel their accounts if they wanted to, and eventually, they did succeed in negotiating a contract with PayByTouch. You now have a 1-800 number you can call to cancel... that's a lot better than what I, and many others had available when we were getting billed over and over and over again..
However, people are still getting billed, many repeatedly, by EI.. NOT by PayByTouch.. but EI themselves. It's still going on, and the Montana Attorney General sent EI a letter on the 20th.. The AG gave them a couple months "grace period".. basically "Shape up or ship out"... EI didn't seem to listen, or seem to care.
And now with the sale, it's become apparent to those that are investigating EI, that Mr. Andercheck was not just trying to buy time.. but he also is doing what he can to evade them.
Now on one hand, if EI gets away with what they have done, and the Montana AG is unable to pursue them, then all those people who registered complaints.. who were robbed and swindled, without consent.. will get no kind of restitution. And everything we all did to get EI to do what was right, will all be for nothing.
And as a result, Horizons will still remain up. While to the players still playing this may be a good thing, I don't think it is fair, let alone morally right, for you or anyone to be gleeful that you can still play, considering many people were thrown into debt by numerous bank fees and overdraft charges, because of EIs actions.
But I think the worst tragedy here, is that those in charge of EI, or MPE, will see that they excaped culpability. They will not think of the screwups this last 4 months as their fault.. they will not see that they were screwing people around.. Instead they will see that they were able to do all of that and still get away with it.
...And not just the fradulent billing, but EVERYTHING... The lack of communication.. not listening to the playerbase.. alienating their more loyal customers.. the heavy-handed moderation.. ALL of that!
And all the hopes of better things, will be all for naught.
But if you still can log in, and none of that means anything to you, it's all okay.. right?
While all you may care about is if you can log into the game or not.. for me personally, it is a moral issue.. and a very deep one. Even though it is $12.95, that twelve dollars is still being paid to a company run by people who are double billing others and don't seem to care if its thievery or not.
And I have heard people say "gee, what can I do?".. Let me ask you this, if you walk down a street and see a woman getting mugged by a guy, and he's trying to steal her purse, are you just gonna continue walking and pretend you never saw it?
For me, I can't do that.. I have a conscious, and I'm not going to walk by and ignore others getting hurt. It's called Honor... and Dignity.. And doing the right thing.
Granted, in this situation, doing nothing may be just fine. This is a game, and not some city street..
And also, you are but one player, and what can one person do, right?
Unfortunately, it is this indifference.. or what I tend to say "Lack of spine", that allows people like this to screw others and get away with it.
All it takes is one person to stand up and say "This isn't RIGHT!".. and before you know it, others are standing up in support.
For me, this goes beyond just a game. Truth, honor, dignity, and fighting for what is right, far outweighs time spent playing an MMORPG, at least to me.
I have no ill towards Horizons, the game.. I do not hate the community.. it was once a community that I loved to be a part of. Even with so many problems, I do not want to see that community be destroyed. Origionally, I had hoped that the Montana AG could talk some sense into EI.. make them wake up... I hoped that EI would start treating the game, and the community, a LOT better.
It doesn't look like that has happened, and worse, I've been told something today about this whole ordeal.. I know that HZ probably will not survive past the 6 month mark since EI took over. Does this make me gleeful? No.. in fact, the exact opposite.
Like I said earlier.. Nothing is ever truly dead, so long as it is cherished in the hearts and memories of others... For me, I cherish the memories from playing.. all the people I spent time with and helped out.. the fun events I participated in.. and for me, Horizons will not die.
If you can log in and play, and enjoy it, then go and play.. Enjoy your time in Horizons, because you never know when the end will come.
I wish you the best of luck, in all that you do.. May the road be straight and true, and the Goddess be the shining star that guides you and lights your path. I wish you the safest of journeys, always and forever.
-Menkure
Here is another saying.
Fanbois never admit they are wrong. They deny the obvious. This game is dead.
There is also another saying Sam: The tungue is sharper than the blade.
So with that said, since you've gone against the Bushido by flaming, why not commit Seppaku?
What's wrong with liking a game and hoping it's not going to die. I did enjoy aspects of the game but not all. I gave it up when I felt it was right for me. Let them have their turn. At some point, every MMO goes through this phase of "how much worse can it get" before it either picks up for good, or shutsdown for bad.
Horizons reminds me of black beauty a lot.
Like the book the game horizons itself (at least when in development) was a beauty and given the right chance could have been a champion like black beauty.
Sadly like black beauty it had a string of bad owners and quickly started to wear down and age away.
But the sad story of horizons is worse then the horse story.It never had a brief period of a happy owner.Its father left even before it was born.
And I cannot see a happy end for horizons sadly
Goodbye to a cult hopeful and there dies the dreams of the true mmorpg players .
heh, good analogy.
Unfortunatly, with the advent of Teamspeak, and Ventrilo, and whatever VOXSOFT you want to use the "Role Playing" aspect of MMORPG is DEAD... DEAD D E A D!
Now all we have are MMOG.
/agree
New technology is not always a good thing.
"We feel gold selling and websites that promote it damage games like Vanguard and will do everything possible to combat it."
Brad McQuaid
Chairman & CEO, Sigil Games Online, Inc.
Executive Producer, Vanguard: Saga of Heroes
www.vanguardsoh
No wonder Germans lose at wars...
You know, I remember having real fun testing this game way back when. I really thought that HZ was the breath of fresh air that the MMORPG world needed. Look where it ends up...
It's like the Everly Bros. sung: "It's so sad to watch good love go bad..."
For far to long the developers that had it thought that a grind was a good substitution for content.
So all anyone does now and ever has done is haul a cargo disk around or level multiple adventurer classes the same way as they always have. I mean I havent seen a game yet that has a grind like Horizons has. A totally pointless grind was well. What difference does that plot make or the lair ? what difference does it matter if you have 2 adv schools at 100 or 6 ? Nothing since the game itself has no point and never will.
The game hasent had nothing new nor interesting since Feladen was freed back in early 2004.
Is the game game dead ? with an average of 130 people visible on Chaos during primetime hours I would say yes its dead. Thats down from a high of around 300 visible under Tulga.
I'm sure the FACT that PME/EII are a bunch of crooks hasen't helped the game at all either