As you might know, this year Wargaming is celebrating its 15th anniversary. Following Slavic drinking tradition, we are going to throw parties all year round. Not that personally I'm a party goer, but couldn't resist giving this one a shot.
Preceding Russian gamedev expo KRI 2013 which we are skipping this year because of WG devcon we had a press-conference followed by party in the one and only extant Cold War underground bunker situated at 65 meters underground in the center of Moscow which territory contains an interactive museum, conference-halls, a restaurant, a banquet-hall.
Bunker-42 in Moscow
It's really deep underground, good that they have elevators. Though on my way there, I used stairs which somewhat regretted afterwards.
Floor minus 17
All communications are on the "outside"
There used to be no red carpet back in the 60-ies
Labyrinth
Wargaming eye-check
There event started with press-conference for ~250 attendees dedicated to WG anniversary. Victor K. went deep into the corporate history, starting with DBA online (first online try), great Massive Assault series which brought company some fame, but not money, and work with publishers.
World of Tanks became "all-in" project for Wargaming. The company invested all of its remaining resources men- and money-wise, so it was either win or lose. Luckily, the first. The key success factors were experience earned with previous projects, smart game concept, solid corporate culture, lots of luck, and support from East-European market at early stages after the launch. Nowadays World of Tanks covers most of the planet, probably apart from Japan, Middle East, Latin America, and Africa. The company itself saw a 25-fold increase since the start of the project and now has personnel of 1500 in 14 offices around the globe.
Press-conference hall
My spot
WoT Blitz closed demonstration was there
After the press-conference we had first closed demonstration of World of Tanks Blitz, mobile game of iOS and Android, in Russia. Even though the game is still at pretty early stage (pre-alpha), it us already able to generate a lot of fun in dynamic 7 vs 7 tank battles, even though the demo build contained only 2 maps and 9 tanks. This demo was hopefully the last one where we used on i-devices, next time will try to go for cross-platform warfare.
The main comments on Blitz were - connection requirements, beta/release dates, integration with PC WoT (practically covered in previous posts here and here)
My only concern now is whether the mobile market ready for that kind of deep and real-time challenge or not. :)
Good job Overlord.
ReplyDeleteI thin you enjoy your job even more than those guys at Top Gear.
Well, think I could swap with them. For some time at least :)
DeleteHi Overlord!
ReplyDeleteIt has become suspiciously quiet around WoWS. What happend - did the fleet run on a reef or what?
That aside here is a pretty good idea that would in a modified way improve all Wargaming titels except maybe Blitz and Generals where it doesnt fit imo:
http://forum.worldoftanks.eu/index.php?/topic/243516-no-skill-based-mm-what-about-an-alternative-method/
Folterknecht
(secretly) the game is doing very well, we don't want to focus players' attention on it just it since it is still in pre-beta state. Too early to warm everyone up.
DeleteI do support tutorials, but not restrictions.
"My only concern now is whether the mobile market ready for that kind of deep and real-time challenge or not. :)"
ReplyDeleteI think the problem isn't here, the principal problem will be:
"Hey ! I can't play with my smartphone in the street (ping is incredible), BUT I can play it with my tablet at home... (WiFi) and I already get my PC at home"
Unlikely.
Delete1. We are focusing on tablet gaming mostly. It's different from smartphone. Most of the sessions are made a) at home b) at work / while commuting
2. 3G/4G/LTE networks are getting better and better, especially in big cities.
3. We are primarily aiming at mobile players, not current ones who already have WoT on PC.
4. WoT Blitz will be different from WoT on PC.
I like the vision charts (especially the one on the right). Very clever.
ReplyDeleteWait a second, is it just me or did the spotlight go from World of Tanks to World of Warplanes to World of Tanks Blitz over the past couple of years? I'm hoping Wargaming is planning some World of Warships love for this year's E3....
ReplyDeleteOverlord i don't want to rent or troll but can i ask you give some heads up about Warships in some future posts maybe next one in your blog.
ReplyDeleteTnx in advance m8.
Don't you want to wait a bit, like for the next major gaming event ? :)
DeleteSo some news at E3? Don't tease us like that, now i can't wait for E3 :)
DeleteOk fair enough E3 is not that far, silly me should have guess it :)
Delete"My only concern now is whether the mobile market ready for that kind of deep and real-time challenge or not. :) "
ReplyDeleteMy Tablet fits in my bag, my PC doesn't. So when I'm at work... Plus also, I know it seems weird to say: I trust you better than SerB, who has a bit of an image problem in the EU.
Your extended Contact with the EU Forums has probably skewed our views though.
As to the Bunker... its bigger than mine!
http://www.armchairgeneral.com/forums/showpost.php?p=791766&postcount=15
:D
Thanks for the trust. :)
DeleteWhere is yours?
Under a Building at work. The office block used to be local government offices, so they stuck a nuke shelter underneath it so the government could survive the first commie sneak attack (:P).
ReplyDeleteIt seems to have been more of a immediate shelter, not something designed to be lived in for long periods, due to the size of the room. From doing some reading the survivors from the shelter were to be evacuated to a larger central one after the initial strike.
Some companies used to use it to test out mobile reception in difficult circumstances, and then researched ways to get around that.
Getting those armoured doors moving takes some doing, but once they moving, they're not going to stop.
Looks too polished for a shelter. More like an office building )
DeleteNice observation. Differing architecture requirements I think, most Bunkers I've seen in the UK are like that (apart from the pillboxes, but they've all been abandoned so don't count).
Delete