…at least until all the people in the beta learn how to play. Until then, I’m going to be guilty of getting mad at video games.

The beta doesn’t really come with a tutorial or a lot of instructions beyond the occasional tip, so the players haven’t figured out the bits like how to lock on to other people, or that workers can deposit supplies to outposts.

Without knowing that, people can’t see some of the basic strategies of the map, like why capturing the center outpost early is important, or even how to defend it if they wanted to.

On a PC or Xbox game, I’d give people pointers over text chat or voice. The PlayStation Network hasn’t really pushed for voice chat the way Microsoft has on the Xbox, and there’s no keyboard, so I’m just sort of sitting there hoping that by concentrating really hard, the other players will telepathically figure out what to do. So far it’s not really working.

I’m sure it’ll sort itself out eventually, but until then I can’t really comment on how the game plays. Within a week of retail release, people will be doing things the developers never considered, and that’ll determine if the game is solid or broken.

The fundamentals seem to be there, like I said yesterday. But as far as teaching people how to play, the game is going to need a little more in the final version.

Well, it’s just a beta, not a review copy. I’ve got high hopes.

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