This bit of unpleasantness is all that happened this week. It’s too bad; I hope you got a chance to play Dungeon Runners before it was too late.

Earlier this week I rewrote my Painkiller article to be consistent with the Cheap Gaming posts we write today. Have a look.

The first Cheap Gaming post that I wrote about an MMO will also be our first Cheap Gaming post to expire. This news is disheartening as Dungeon Runners is not a bad MMO, and worse games have succeeded. Dungeon Runners game servers will be on until the new year, so treat yourself to playing before it’s too late.

The skill-based progression Cryptic is describing sounds similar to how I remember Star Wars: Galaxies’ progression to be (pre-revamp). I didn’t play SW:G for long, but I admired its skill system for the freedom it gave players to gradually shape their character’s class.

It’s old footage that wasn’t meant for public view, but I am glad to know that a sequel to The Witcher is coming, however unceremonious the reveal was.

I didn’t buy Trine for $30 because I felt it was expensive and I wasn’t sure I would have fun playing it by myself. Now, a few days before its price dropped to $20 on Steam, there’s news that it will be a part of my GameTap subscription — and just in time for my transition to Windows 7 64-bit. Score!

Just as its predecessor in 2007, Skate 2 is on track to being my favorite game of 2009. It’s definitely the game I’ve played the most, so I’m predictably glad to hear of another sequel. Some are saying it’s too soon, but the release cycle is consistent so far — about 15 months between each game (Sept. 2007, Jan. 2009, May 2010). Unless you weren’t satisfied with Skate 2′s improvements on Skate, there’s no precedent for concern yet.

• No more ads!
• We’ve added shadows to the game. You’ll notice a new graphics configuration option to control the quality level of the shadows.
• PvP is now allowed on all worlds. There are no more PvP worlds.
• All Unique and Mythic drops are now Membership Required. Kings Coin purchases are, as always, usable by anyone.

While non-paying customers lose access to some upper tier items, they’ll no longer have an ad eating up screen real estate. I logged in to get a look at the new shadows (they look great) and about half of my items were ineffectual, but I think losing the ad is a fair compromise. Besides, I wouldn’t sweat five dollars per month if I were to play regularly again.

It’s really too bad that I’ll probably never own an iPhone (or an iPod Touch… or any other piece of Apple hardware, for that matter), because I’d really like to play this game. I can only hope that Carmack’s enthusiasm for the iPhone does not translate to him being exclusionary to other mobile platforms with his games.

This just isn’t that amazing to me, considering that if you have an SOE account for games like EverQuest, Vanguard, PlanetSide or Star Wars Galaxies, you already have the beginnings of a Free Realms account. All you have to do is go to the Free Realms website and log in. Don’t get me wrong, it’s cool that people seem to be into the game (I like it, though I’ve played very little), but I thought I’d try to put things into perspective.

If you’re aching for new hints at what Guild Wars 2 will be like, look to the blog that’s linked above. These pieces of concept art shed more light on the game’s setting than anything that ArenaNet has said or shown so far.

Herein the controls for Dragon Age: Origin’s Xbox 360 version are detailed. While the gamepad controls sound cumbersome, they also sound like they’ll work fine enough. And although having to pause will probably be off-putting for most console players who aren’t used to RPGs of this type, I’m glad that BioWare doesn’t seem to have compromised on the number of spells and abilities available due to the limits that a gamepad imposes.

I have been wanting to write a post addressing certain issues for quite some time, but I could never collect my thoughts well enough to put together a case to present. So during this year’s E3 I made a point of listening to responses from both the gaming community and the gaming press via forums, comments, blogs, and podcasts.

It is apparent to me that the press is not happy about where E3 stands as an event. I haven’t been able to discern whether or not if, overall, they are dissatisfied as games journalists or simply as gamers, but I am not sure that it matters. I don’t know that they have much reason to be upset either way.

Maybe it’s because I am not the type of person who enjoys being a part of a huge crowd and a big to do, but I never saw the point of the spectacle made at past E3 events during its “glory years”. I just wanted to know about games. That kind of spectacle is obviously in the past now that the show has become an invite-only event for press, but there is definitely an outcry lamenting the passing of the old show’s format. Many complaints are from the very people that were the most vocal in wishing for a smaller, more controlled show after 2006′s event. Now they don’t see the point in flying out to LA in the first place because there isn’t a party with booze, skydivers and tits around every corner. Things like that aren’t going to exist without public attendance, and with public attendance, the press isn’t going to be able to cover games, which is what they’re there for in the first place. Remember two hour long lines to get a shot at a Wii station? I was never there, but I remember watching people over a live stream online. It didn’t look fun. Most people had lost their voices by the end of the week. I almost felt guilty for consuming the news being delivered to me over the web.

Now the show floor is docile. The press can make their appointments and get to see and/or play most of the games that are there and they don’t even sound like they want to swallow a bottle of pills during their wrap-up shows at the end of the week. Unfortunately, those shows are riddled with complaints about how Microsoft can’t decide on their target demographic. Well, guess what? they’re running a business. They want to sell consoles to anybody that they can. I personally don’t feel ignored by Microsoft. They showed me Gears of War 2. They have Halo Wars coming as well as another alleged Bungie Halo project. They even shelled out for Final Fantasy 13. I’m still being catered to, so I’m perfectly alright with them making an experimental Banjo game as well as Lips.

I hear complaints that Sony is playing catch-up with shooters, movie downloads and community features, but a few months ago I heard the same people complaining that they WEREN’T playing catch-up. I can’t defend their other business practices because frankly, I’m a long way away from purchasing a PS3 for use as a gaming system, but give them a break when they deserve it.

I hear complaints that Nintendo is targeting the casual market exclusively. Really, who didn’t see that coming? Cover the games for what they are like you’re supposed to; Nintendo isn’t doing anything unexpected. Everything deserves equal coverage. Just like Nintendo’s entire market isn’t just casual players, your website and/or magazine’s entire market isn’t just the hardcore. Don’t alienate our parents. You’re trying to maintain and grow a reader-base just as much as the big three are trying to maintain and grow a player-base.

Maybe I’m being too much of an idealist when I think everybody should just be happy with what we get. That we should just take it in stride. Or maybe I’m just not as offended as everybody else seems to be because I enjoy the openness of the PC platform for much of my gaming time and only visit consoles for games in very specific genres. Either way, I have to say that, as a consumer and a person who has been gaming every day for the last 18+ years, I am walking away from viewing E3 coverage very excited for the future. It doesn’t matter to me that a bunch of executives made asses of themselves on stage while trying to make their games seem fun, innovative or exciting. I’m not reading or watching to be entertained by men in suits or to see a party going on that I can’t or don’t want to attend. I don’t care how empty the show floor was or if there was little to no general public awareness of the show outside of the building due to lack of “signage”. Why would they waste money making their presence known? It’s a press event; “signage” would just attract the very public that they are trying to keep out. Maybe that causes the event to be not so worth the mainstream press’ time, but if we have to use tits and skydivers to get their attention so that we can attain some kind of artificial feeling of legitimacy, we’re doing something wrong in the first place. There’s a deeper problem.

Or maybe it really is the fault of Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo. Maybe they should cater only to the limited market that is the “hardcore” or “otaku” crowd. It has kept them afloat financially up to this point, but I’d personally rather see them maintain the balance that they’ve been struggling to hit by appealing to a casual audience as well. Let them perfect that. I want to see the market expand. That’s the ultimate way to obtain legitimacy, if that’s what we’re after.

But if we go that route, do we really even need E3? I say yes. It’s important to have a press-only event so that blanket coverage is possible. Rapid-fire coverage is a fun time for consumers. If all of the game companies’ “megatons” aren’t revealed there, that’s okay. Something always gets revealed that wasn’t supposed to. This year we had a KOTOR MMO and a new Pikmin game. No Kid Icarus? Most of the press were meeting rumors of the revival of that franchise with a resounding “meh” during the lead-up to E3. Afterwards, Nintendo is chastised for its absence. I’m willing to wager that if it had been shown the response would be “tell us something we don’t know”, just as the responses Microsoft received were due to their leaks. We have unrealistic expectations, people.

I don’t think I am wrong in saying that our own press has become a little bit jaded and that their priorities have deviated. I feel like the current attitudes are doing our industry a bit of a disservice, but I also don’t think the gaming community is helping matters much by jumping on the bandwagon. I want to ask everybody to reflect on what I’ve said here as well as our industry, our hobby, and our culture for a moment and ask yourself what you really think about where we are right now and where we’re heading.

That would be one of the main attractions to Dungeon Runners, as is the case with many games of this type: loot! Everybody loves loot, especially when it has whacky names, and loot in Dungeon Runners does not disappoint. Actually, everything in the game has whacky names. Upon entering the game from character creation you will find yourself standing in the middle of a small, forested enclave, face to face with none other than The Noobosaur! I almost wish I were making that up, but that’s the name of the small, red, dragon-like creature who helps to acquaint new players with some basics of the game. Humor is another big motivator in Dungeon Runners; most of the game is satire of the entire RPG genre. Even the city names. The first one you’ll come to is called “Townston”. From there, provided you’re on one of the two PVP servers, you can venture to “Pwnston”.

As can be expected with just about any free MMORPG on the market, there are a few catches when playing Dungeon Runners on NCSoft’s dime. However, I wouldn’t be covering this game if they weren’t completely tolerable. The most invasive imposition will be the presence of a banner displayed at the top of your screen at all times. At 1680×1050 resolution it takes up about 85px of vertical space. This will typically be advertising some other NCSoft property such as Guild Wars, Lineage or Tabula Rasa. They aren’t monitoring your activity for the sake of targeted ads or anything, and you actually get used to it being there quite quickly. I believe this is the only catch worth discussing ad nauseum, so below I will list the rest of the things that being a paying member nets you, according to Wikipedia:

• Voice chat
• Access to two additional pages in the bank for storing items, while non-paying members receive only one.
• Additional 2 bank pages (unlocked at lvl50 and lvl100 respectively)
• Stackable potions up to 10 (as opposed to 5)
• Access to all Rare (Gold), Epic (Purple) and Mythic(Rainbow) items
• Login queue list priority
• Access to the Member Only world
• No Advertisements
• 15% More Gold and Experience
• Pay less for King’s Coin items

Believe it or not, the timing of this post is actually quite coincidental, in light of recent announcements. I had been planning on covering this game for a couple of weeks. I think it worked out pretty conveniently as I am sure there are a lot of people that are jonesing for this type of gameplay. Best of all, it’s free! Provided you don’t mind dealing with a few of the annoyances I listed above. If those prove to be too much for you to deal with, the game is actually quite cheap to subscribe to. Since the client is free to download, a month of play costs you only $5. Unfortunately, there is no discount for paying quarterly or annually, but if you buy the retail box, 6 months of membership is included. I was lucky to catch it for $12.99 at GoGamer during a 48 hour sale, but it’s back up to $17.90 now. Additionally, Amazon has it for $18.99 and I believe GameStop will begin stocking it this week. Considering the cost is less than 6 months of membership would normally cost you, there’s no reason not to go with the retail box.