I would not mind if Flash would become the standard for web based games. Java is always told to have more potential, but while I was never let down by Flash so far, Java often caused issues or did not work and whatever.

I am unfortunately not a developer, but I could not stop thinking about web based games. People probably still mix them with the minigames in games that we were/are talking about earlier this month.

I wonder how long it takes till someone comes along and takes the “strategic map” of some strategy games or hybrids and adapts it to webbrowsers. HOMM online is already in development for quite some time by now, I cannot remember when they started.

Webgames could also follows Tesh’s favorite idea of alternative payment methods besides subscription or paying once for a singleplayer game.

I will be waiting for Primordiax, despite reading your blog I do not really know what it is all about!
I guess I will play Fallout 3 and/or Mount & Blade for a while and then Mass Effect, I ready too many positive reviews about it - and wonder that none of my friends told me about it.

Even the Heroes of Might and Magic series is going to become a browsergame. The market for big budget MMOs has a raging bull named WoW that not many dare to fight.

I also like the approach. As I was younger and my daddy and mommy still paid the bills for the latest generation of graphics cards, I believed that new games also need to have higher hardware requirements and supposedly better graphics. But gameplay and entertainment are not solely tied to graphics and appearance. Good graphics does not equal or even demand high hardware requirements either.

Browser games are still often rather shallow and often have browser compatibility issues - despite all efforts, each browser still seems to have issues where others work and vice versa.

Browser games can turn into a valuable lesson for game designers: Making a simple yet still complex and interesting game that does not tax hardware overly much and still have appeal in both game design, user interface and eye candy is truly a challenge. Many of the more complex browsergames often end up like an excel-spreadsheet.

WHY NOT… have a isometric 3d-looking 2D world (basically, again, Ultima Online… god, I love this game… forgive me…) with beautifully rendered tiles and player equipment? WHY does a game really need an engine that uses the latest DirectX engine of this or that kind. Are we still in the age where every game has to be “3D” for the sake of being that???

The funny thing is, the icons for tanks, infantry and hex tiles of the age old Panzer General for Windows still look acceptable and nice in 2009. But the semi-3D and full-3D models of tanks and the full 3d map of the later titles, which also sucked in terms of gameplay, besides that, are just utter crap today. Having a tile-based game world perfectly suits the capabilities of a browser game and low hardware requirements.

It is also about time that the full potential of Java gets realized or that it gets improved/replaced. Puzzle Pirates is a good example that you do not need a 3D engine and still look good. Interestingly, it has a certain style, just like WoW has its own comic-style. This is what makes a game look good, if people accept that style in particular. Without the need for a 3d rendered character that can still look awful. EverQuest II has a engine capable of spectacular graphics, but some of their shields, armors and char models are just plain awful, even if they are rendered in 4096×2048 with 16x Antialiasing.

Gamers AND developers are also still hesistant to come up with huge browser game worlds for the explorer type of gamer like me. They somehow do not believe that it is possible or worth it, somehow! Maybe Kingdoms of Might and Magic will change this, who knows!

BTW: If someone can tell me a browsergame with LEGO graphics, basically Ultima Online, and a huge world to explore where I can hack and slash and maybe something besides that, too, I would be happy.