Yes, It's Fucking Vendetta Again. Shut Up.

I've decided to take a break from the UT2004 mod roundup this week, to address a favorite of mine that has recently had some major updates. Sure, I've already got two full posts(check the archives) dedicated to Vendetta, but what the hell... It is my weblog after all, so if I want to cover a game 4000 times you can be sure that I will.

Anyone who played Vendetta six months ago will find a whole lot more to do than the game offered back then. Missions, both combat and trade, not only give you money but also experience which is used to pick up "licenses", granting access to bigger, better, more powerful ships and weapons. That may piss some of you off who remember the "good ole days" when you could get any ship you wanted, whenever you wanted, as long as you had enough cash to throw around. The fact that you just can't do that anymore is well balanced by the new pricing scheme on the ships. It sure is a hell of a lot easier to take when your perfect, brand new ship is blown to pieces by a way-too-hasty player with something to prove.

It sure is a good thing, though, that there is so much more to do in the game. Why? Because no one is playing this fucking game anymore! That's right, thousands of registered users(by the way, I think the beta is currently closed... sorry) and whenever you check out the active players list there are no more than 15-20 people playing at any given time. Couple this with the fact that the in-game universe has grown from a mere 18 to over 7000 sectors(no kidding), it sure is pretty damn hard finding anyone at all. That's not good news for Guild Software as these guys are talking about a summer release for this game. Um, isn't that like... now? It sure doesn't seem like good news for this game. Who the hell is going to play a massively multiplayer game that's sure as hell not massive, and barely multiplayer?

If you read my first Vendetta-related post, you may remember me having a not-so-friendly attitude towards guild software for even thinking they'd be able to sell a game as unpolished as Vendetta was at the time. Now though, I'd really like to see them succeed because Vendetta has turned into a very nice game, a very fun game. Sadly, I can't see how that could happen when only 20 people are willing to play the game for free.