Kalfear

2. Actually Dell 20" LCD for c.

Could be why they had trouble reaching them for comment... <{POST_SNAPBACK}> LOL, wouldnt have mattered what city they called. November 11 is Rememberance day and whole country is shut down! But yes, Bioware offices are located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Thats true Wals, but the question is how many people (that play games) TRUELY are employed in an industry that requires them to use their home computer for work? I know I NEVER use mine for work when I was licenced as a financial Consultant. always used work computers as they were linked to the proper databases. (course also cant say I met a whole lotta gamers in that industry either) Freind is a teacher and he uses his home computer for work but fully admits if it wasnt for games he would never have to upgrade as all the programs he uses for work could easily run on a old 486 with 64megs ram and a printer. Anouther freind manages a restraunt. All he uses his computer for (regarding work) is spreedsheets (again, no need to upgrade). Hell my brother is a programmer by trade and my gaming system totally blows away his home computer on every aspect. Why? because he doesnt game. Sure there are proffessions that do require constantly upgraded home computers but by and far I dont think they are as abundant as some posters on this board make them out to be. average joe (who doesnt game) could run a older $200.00 system with a internet connection and a printer and get by easily with no troubles what so ever.

Totally agree with yas on that Wals Any given problem should have multiple ways to work it out. Im replaying KotOR1 (and then 2 later) right now and ran across the side quest where the hunter was traped by his droids. You could sit and figure out the mathimatical problem (I did but I always loved math), or you could just repair them (if you had enough repair parts), or you could blow them up intentionally killing the hunter, or you could just leave him (in which he suicides anyways). Thats a somewhat simplistic but still good example of what I think your talking about. Not everyone will be a math wizz or even for that matter be interested in spending the time to figure out the problem. Multiple pathways to solve a quest/problem in a game should be mandatory when designing it.

Id disagree, of all the computer users I know over th e years, only a handful ever built their own. 90% easily purchased off the shelf or online. In fact Id go so far as to say the only folks that did build their own came 1) from my programing classes back when I was in school (number of years ago now), or 2) DIE HARD (Talking total adicts) Gamers. Folks I worked with in restraunts and then later in cust service, and then finally in financial industry did NOT build their own system. So gotta disagree on your assumption, Ill agree building your own the best way to go, but its not the most common by a long shot.

I can't seem to find any variance information. ... <{POST_SNAPBACK}> variance <{POST_SNAPBACK}> 1) We agree, controller or keyboard doesnt make a game harder or easier. 2) While you might run at 16000 im sure most people in general do not. How do I know this? I just purchased a 60" WS HD TV (huge money) and it cant acheive anywhere near what your saying. Since computer monitors typically cost MORE then its TV countermarks, Id say the AVERAGE person is not spending 4k on a 19" monitor that can acheive that type of resolution. I finally bought a new flat screen monitor for puter last year and it was $1000.00 and cant come close to the resolution your suggesting. $1000.00 is pretty steep for a computer monitor from everyone I speak/spoke to (but I spend a good portion of day in front of it so extra cost justified). So yes there is better computer monitors out there, doesnt mean they are at all common place on peoples systems though. Altenatively, wide screen tvs with hd ability are becoming more common now as their price drops and reachs affordable levels for families and people. 3) Yas know, Im tired of this "Console Games cost more". Jade Empire (limited edition) on its first day of selling costed me $71.00 after tax. Civ 4 a week after release costed me $56.00+tax (15%)... so thats $64.40. A grand whooping diffference of $6.60. So lets see, typically I only buy 3 brand new games a year. So your arguement is the $1000.00+ EXTRA cost of computer and equipment is equal to the $19.80 extra in console games had I purchased the PC version? Sorry but im not following the math here. 4) As for adding content, I fully admit that WAS a issue. But since XBox 360 COMES with (FREE) the ability to DL patches and or content and chat online (just cant play online, need to purchase the gold membership for that), your content arguement doesnt hold water. Heck there is (as you know) regular xbox and PS2 games that already have extra downloadedable content. So again not following the thinking here. Downloadable content will but up to the developers (so I guess they can choose not to offer any like Obsidian did for KotOR2) but doesnt by any stretch mean its not available or wont be available. Chances are D/L content will play a huge role in the new PS3 and Xbox 360s.

Should point out im speaking about normal users and not folks that building their own PCs. You can save a bundle if you build your own but thats in no way the normal or standard route for gamers. Some have the knowledge and interest in doing so, most just go with what they can afford though off the shelf. Definately agree with you on the gotta have it now thing Ati. I also have learned to curb my desires. Currently I have the old Xbox system and am waiting at a minimum of a year till I look at buying the XBox 360 (probably 2 years) so the price drops. But a new game shouldnt fall into the same catagory as a new system or new upgrades for a system, its a game after all. For later poster that said Consoles and PC same price. Stated this before and feel free to look it up (you will see Im correct). A console system typically runs you the same cost as a PC's high end vid card. So there is a huge difference in price between the two. Buy a console and a game and you can play. buy a vid card and a game and welp, you now have a vid card and a game on your shelf (still need the computer, ram, ect). There is a huge price difference. Just outta curiousity, I took a look at the obsolete computers for sale on Dell today (the lowest priced ones available). They cost the same as a brand new xbox360. Yet the come with 64-128 ram and low end vid cards. So if you payed your $600.00 for a xbox you could play any game on that system immediately. If you bought the PC, you could only play out of date games. In 2+ years you still could play any new game on your Xbox, on your PC you would DEFINATELY have to upgrade PC hardware before looking at new purchases. As for email and that, hey im not saying PCs are not usefull (not at all). I still use my PC for web surfing, email, other non game programs, ect, (and civ 4). Its PC games that cause the upgrades sadly. a low end PC can do cutting edge graphic design, can allow you to program in any language, allows you to write reports and all that. It still has many uses. But as a gaming machine, its just not worth the financial obligation anymore. Even graphics no longer a issue between console and PC. With HD TVs, consoles can reach the same resolution as a PC does. In fact probably higher in many cases. Ati pointed out SWG as a game he/she had issues with. I also played SWG and even though I had a Geforce 4 256 card, I still was forced to play the game at 800-600 resolution. Now take a gander at some of the new screen shots for Xbox 360 games and P3 games, those are running at 1100 resolution and running with out lag. *disclaimer* above example not meant to suggest you can play SWG on Xbox or P3 ... you can however play FFXI on P3, so relation is there.* Long and short of whole issue is really, for alot less money you can have the same or better experience today with consoles and the peace of mind knowing your system will preform as advertised for at LEAST (a minimum...probably longer) 4 years.

What is your laptop? I'm planning to buy Civ4, but I don't know if it happily runs on my laptop. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Fujitsu Siemens Amilo A1630. It's a P4 3.2Ghz, with a Radeon 9700 mobility, 1Gb RAM. So, you'd expect it to run the game just fine anyway. The same laptop had some difficulties with Everquest 2 and Star Wars Galaxies though. Also, my boyfriend's brother's laptop, which was only a few months older, pretty much couldn't run either game. The recommended spec for Civ4 says: 1.8Ghz P4/Athlon 512Mb RAM 128Mb video card with directx 8 Directx 7 compatible soundcard Supported O/S: Windows 2000 or Windows XP. I was expecting some issues with Civ4 on the laptop as I've read there are some ATI related bugs...which would be a pain since both my desktop and laptop have ATI cards - all fine so far though. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> See Ati, thats the point tho Your system might be 3 years old but 1 gig ram was not the standard 3 years ago. Heck, most computers now adays dont come with 1 gig ram yet for that matter. So you payed extra back then rather then upgrade later when needed. End result though is you still had to pay extra. When I bought my system 3 years ago I upgraded my ram order to 256 (it sold with 128). Year later I was buying anouther 256 megs. Year after that was new vid card. My system is P4 3.2 gig, 256 geforce 4, 512 ram, and civ 4 runs slow. Its playable but its obviously slow. IE: Even though I meet and beat the recomended standards for civ4, its still taxing my system for all its worth. Just a vicious circle far as PC games go in todays markets.

Ender, didnt see it in list or last page of this thread. Mass Effects Bioware XBox 360 no release date yet

Hmmmm Wals, question for yas on this statement? What "Quality" games have there been in recent memory that had a couple of guys only working on them? Back in the C64/128 and Apple 2e days this would definately been true but today "QUALITY" PC games require full teams and massive manhours to design/code/debug/ect. I guess the key word is quality. For myself I dont care for the java based games and such. I like my KotOR, JE, Civ series games and those definately were not produced by a couple of guys. Sure you can download games on the net but if the quality not there, why bother? Just making counter arguement here, honestly dont think it requires any more or less funding or manpower to make a PC game or a Console game. Both require alot of dedication and upfraont overhead. I understand what your saying here but for myself I look at it this way. Compare KotOR1or2 console and PC games. Do both have the same amount of text/story? Yes. Do both have combat? Yes. Both are identical for all intencive purposes of each other for components offered. So the question comes down to " Does hitting a "A" button make you smarter or dumber then hitting the "Enter" key? Frankly Im a long time PC player but I dont see the diff to be honest. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The one thing I do see thats different is the mods available to PC users. Some are great BUT some are damaging as well and mods create as much trouble as they do supply entertainment (speaking the legit ones, none cheat crap). So while mods availablitiy is a nice bonus for a PC game. Speaking formyself, its not missed in any fashion or sence. Anyways, I do think consoles will take over in regards to gameing when compared to PCs. Just a few years ago I would have steadfastly denied that btw. But I sure dont think they dumb down games. A,B,X,Y key on a controller really is no different then a Alt, Enter, F1 key on a keyboard, you still need to push them to get a responce! And with the automatic inclusion of live chat with xbox 360, even communication is not hindered.

Yuppers MK, thats all I was saying. and yes my spelling is terrible (and getting worse) now! Really Alan, welp all I can say is people need to get over it. This is a message board, lord forbid there by messages! (shakes head) If you reread my original message, I wasnt saying consoles better, I wasnt saying people should stop buying or playing PC games. Just said I was done (which is sad kinda as I have ever Civ game ever made and have played them all to completion "except 4 as just got it week or so ago"). But even Civ 4 pushing my puter limits now so the statement is relative in that manner. Love civ games but buying more ram or new vid card or what ever makes game not worth it "FOR ME". Game + hardware = to high a price IMO. Off Civ topic for a sec, just look at Eq2 (I dont play it for the record). Developers fully admit they designed game so the TOP of the line machines currently on market couldnt run it at full settings. So when a person buys that game they know flat out they will have to spend 1000s in hardware upgrades as well to get the full extent of the game. Thats just criminal IMO. Designers should design to the current systems so there can be a reasonable expectaion of ALL that they can enjoy it with out lag and comprimise! PS: MK, yas dead on. A standard lap top (that didnt include 1000s of extra dollar items bought years ago will not be running todays games properly no matter what someone says. My puter it self is only 3 years old and I have upgraded ram twice and vid card once in those 3 years since purchase. But thats what Forums great for, I could say Im playing Civ 4 on my old C64 with out reprise as no one here knows me in real life. Gotta love internet animitity

Do not pollute ANOTHER thread with an inane holy war about console versus PC, or console versus console. The only time a console has been objectively better than a PC was when the original Playstation was released in 1995, and the spec was better than the 486DX66 mainstream CPUs out there. You keep buying

Im loving civ 4, religion really making a huge difference in the game for me. Only tech issues I have had is it loads slow and occational lock up (not all the time) but figure thats just my puter to be honest. Running a p4 3.1 gig, 512 ram, gforce 4 256 vid card. Honestly couldnt imagine trying to play this game at lower specs. Far as old Civ games, my favs still are (in order) Call to Power Alpha Cent Civ 4 Civ 3 Civ 2 Civ 1 Really wish the new civ games would add the extra space tiles, other planet tiles, and under water tiles as found in call to power and alpha cent. PS: Think this might be last computer game I ever buy. Just no reason anymore to play the constant upgrade system spec game with the quality of games coming out for XBox 360. Least with consel systems the designers need to design game for the system rather then asking custoimers to upgrade system for the game!

Personally I think the Hollywood Industry is trying to cheapen the cost of the comic book movies as of late. Its obvious when you watch X-men 1 &2, Spiderman 1&2, and Daredevil they were made with decent budgets. But mixed in there are Blade movies (Im not a fan of movies or comic book), Hulk, HellBoy, Punisher (I could just KILL the director for that travesty), and upcoming Fantastic 4 (the Things rubber suit is SOOOOOOO Tacky it makes rest of movie look bad. Not to mention the actor doing the Thing is JUST A 2nd rate BAD TV actor!) who all obviously had less then stellar budgets! Its a real shame to because Xmen and Spidy proved finally these movies can make huge dollars if treated with respect. For some reason Hollywood has always looked down on them though. Well other then first Superman and Batman films. As for Xmen, Im really disappointed in what I read about part 3. Angel is one of my all time favorite XMen characters (as is Iceman) but to just kill off characters like they doing unforgivable. As for Kitty, in her early days she was connected to Wolverine (not romantically) and they had an AWSOME limited edition that really tells alot about Wolverines background (takes place in China and revolves around Wolverines one true love and the yakuza). Kitty and Collusus didnt really happen till much later. Its a shame they did that to Singer, as I personally think they should hold off on Superman till whats his name (clark Kent in smallville) and Lex from smallville age into the mature roles. Both of them are the perfect casting for those 2 roles and doubt anyone else can legitly do the roles now. But cant blame Singer if thats what FOX was pulling on him. It is a bussiness after all. PS: XMen 3 should be about the Dark Pheniox and the Sentinals! Thats where the story is suppose to go! Plain and simple!

They already set up part 3 to be the hob-goblin at the end of part 2. So Id say that would be your vililan Oer? Topher Grace as a villian? LOL, hes like Tobys long lost twin brother! What villian could they have him play? LOL, thats some weird casting! BTW: Of all the villians Spidy has had, Id love them to bring out one from the early 80s (only Spidy fans will probably remember him)... Carrion! That was one of the best 5 or 6 issue stories I saw in Spiderman and would look awsome on screen.

1) Disagree, I enjoy the graphics as is. Would rather they spend time on gameplay and storyline then new graphics. 2) Disagree, KotOR2 was a HUGE step forward as far as romances concerned. Bastila and Revan was predictable and kiddylike! 3,4,5 ) Agree Fully!

I personally quit trying the swoop races after seeing the changes Obsidian made to them. Just wasnt fun or interesting to me. I loved Swoop raceing (well not loved but was entertained for most part) in Part 1. Just a case of someone trying to fix something that wasnt broken, KotOR1 had better swoop racing. KotOR2 was still the better game over all though.

The free game servers usually run about 1 to 2 years behind the pay for game. Im really surprised to hear there is already Player run games for WoW, usually takes alot longer for the code to be broken. I know UO player ran servers didnt appear until it had been out for 2 years, and even then it took a massive amount of work to get it up and running (I downloaded the client once, you had to place all the doors, signs, creature spawns, NPCs, ect). It really was a ton of work, alot more then most folks think.

Fair enough if you don't enjoy GW, but I have to ask... How would you suggest 'dynamic storylines where players can shape the world they inhabit' be implemented in a massively multiplayer game from a design perspective? I don't see any method of actually doing it, short of going the NWN route and having player-run servers with non-developer GMs. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Im with Squidget here, I dont see how dynamic storylines that "Shape the World" can work in MMORPGs to be honest (beyond very very very slight changes). I see how dynamic storylines can work but not ones that shape the world because of the shear amount of players in game at one time. World would be changing every minute and just be way to chaotic to track. As Ive said in other posts on this topic, dynamic storylines can and should be in current MMORPGs though. There just is no excuse for them not to be at this stage of game. If you look at a number of different product and intertwine their concepts/ideas togather, you could make AWSOME storylines with in a MMORPG. You could also change to world in small degrees (just nothing over bearing). Far as quests go, lets look at that: 1) EQ showed us that intensely hard, well layed out quests that stick to a theme and tell a story will work in MMORPGs. 2) AO (and then SWG, WoW, GW, ect) showed us you can instance these quests so folks not standing in line waiting on a spawn or their turn 3) FFXI showed us you can add cut screens to MMORPG quests to build atmoshpere and immersion 4) (forget which game) showed us you can have NPCs join a person/group for missions/quests in MMORPGs which also adds to immersion and atmoshpere of mission/quest. 5) Bioware and Obsidian showed us good stories can be written for Offline RPGs, no reason same quality of story cant be put into a MMORPG. Take those 5 items, put them togather and you well on your way to finally producing material thats immersive and entertaining for a MMORPG. I personally will never understand why MMORPG companies thus far have refused to put those aspects togather. Just baffles me to be honest. Now, for world changing material, DAOC has done this the best with relics, where you take a relic for opposing realm and you get the relics bonus (5% to melle or magic). No reason other MMORPGs cant use the same principle but expand on it so its not just attained through PVP. Trick is to keep any bonus small to avoid over powering or over saturating any group of players (IE: the negative effects that RAs and MLs had in DAoC). Still could be done. As I said in a different post, imagine a star wars game where planets like Malacor V were PVP planets and on them were hidden temples. You could do like a 10 stage quest to find the temple, then you would have to conquer the temple, and only then would you get your faction (or guild/alliance) a 5% bonus in say jedi power or robotics, or what ever. BUT, it would be up to you to pay for guards to protect temple because other factions could attack at any time taking the temple from you as its on a pvp world (making you lose bonus). Then next faction would have to go through the 10 stage quest to capture temple and bonus until its taken from them. Some thing simple as that could tell a great story, be challenging to do, and offer a unique reward for doing it by slightly impacting the shape of the game your playing. There could even be a well done and entertaining cut screen movie for you when you complete the challenge. There could be like 10 hidden temples spread over a assortment of different PVP worlds (outrim worlds in my original example). Heck you could go even a step farther and have a system where, depending on amount of time each month, a guild holds a hidden temple they recieve a certain amount of pretige points. At certain levels of prestige points, new options would appear to them ( for example: new guild hall designs or what ever). Non game changeing stuff but things that seperate them from everyone else in non stat/ability ways, makes them known and/or more recognizable. LOL, SW holds so many possibilities in it to do and make To bad, for what ever reason, MMORPGs are content to only utilize a couple key ingrediants at any one time it seems.

Heros of Might and Magic 3 fun for awhile I always got annoyed with the confined combat areas though. Just prefer larger combat maps, where movement makes a much larger impact.

I beta tested Lineage 1 many years ago (had to run a script that allowed us to speak english in the game, all items and everything though was in Korean). While Im sure they have made many changes to the game from when I beta tested it, back then all there really was to do was PvP. Much of that granted was language barrier (I dont speak or read Korean so figureing out items was a real challenge and forget doing quests). It was a very PvP styled game even back then though. Most folks regardless of level were attacking others pretty much from the get go. Never tried Lineage 2 because Lineage 1 was just such a turn off with its FFA PVP.

I did this just because I hated Hanharr in my first DS play through. So I start LS and try to stay just slightly into the LS side until I get Mira in group then go full DS! Hanharr and goto just really bad and boring characters

I had one game where I didnt bother getting my LS until really late into it (outfitted Visas and Handmaiden first). Didnt run into any issues but never tried going whole game. Dont think there would be any issue though

LOL, no Im 39 but thanks for asking. And Garriot was a hack to me. Compared to the other games on the market at the same time (SSI gold Box games, Might and Magic games, Wizadry games) Ultima didnt stand up to them what so ever. If you havent guessed I played all the Ulitima games and didnt like them. Or better put, they were ok when there was nothing else to play. As for Garriot not being involved in UO, ummmm care to make up any more stories???? Garriot was totally involved in the design of UO and was even seen INGAME on numerous occations testing content with the Alpha and beta testers. Think you need to learn about subjects before you try and state facts about them. In fact, Garriot was involved in one of the WORST PR situations to date in UO (or MMORPGs history). Just prior to the release of UO, Garriot came in to do a public address from his castle, a player exploited the game (whioch was so common it was stupid in early UO) and KILLED Lord Brit ish. Garriot being the senceable person he is known to be threw a temper tantrum and proceeded to summon in daemons KILLING every player that gathered there for his address (rather then punishing the person who had exploited). It was a PR nightmare for Origin and numberous beta testers at that point in time cancelled any intent of buying the game because of it. Hell Garriot himself had to publically appoligize shortly afterward to clam down the players effected by his temper tantrum. But I guess as he wasnt involved in game as you state, all that was a figment of everyones imaginations! After all, you know best! Garriot was a hack! Simple as that! LOL, yes Garriot was fired or better put, REMOVED (after all how do you fire the creator....you dont!) because UO was falling fast and Garriot (and few others) were dedicated to leaving UO a FFA in all areas game (which is what was killing it btw). So fine, by the literal meaning he was removed or fired, common sence tells us though that if you intentionally cause the firing of yourself, its pretty much the same as quiting OR RUNNING AWAY WITH HIS TAIL BETWEEN HIS LEGS! And thats what he did, not to be heard from for a good long time after that either (thank god). And as you said, none of this changes anything, MMORPGs can be just as cinematic, just as exciteing, just as entralling as ANY offline RPG if the designers make it as such! As has been said over and over, just because something hasnt been done, doesnt mean it cant be done. All the requirements are there, all we need is for a designer/developer to step forth and do it.

I w asnt a big fan of the ending either but veiw it as a cliff hanger so K3 can still fix the K2 ending by continueing the story line and answering questions. However, I just wanna point out something #2 = who piloted/fixed the Ebon Hawk. These kinda complaints personally drive me crazy. My answer to them is WHO CARES!!! THEY JUST DID!! I hate when people reach for complaints rather then just letting a little suspension of disbelief happen. Its like those that complain there is to many Jedi in SWG because there is not that many jedi in the ANH movie. For crying out loud, get a life. Except this is fantasy/sci fi and not every small and minor detail will have a cut screen showing miniscual points. SOMEONE fixed the Ebon hawk, T3 and Atton did it!They got the parts from the crashed ships on planet. There, problem solved! Because otherwise everyone is stranded there and all die eventually, end of story! Just accept some suspension of disbelief and quit looking to make up issues. I personally dont wanna see a useless cut screen showing me Atton and T3 are repairing the ship. Frankly I thought the cut screen of Ebon Hawk falling after it crashes a waste of time as well but have come to understand that was important for the originally planned ending they didnt do in game. Numbers 1 and 3 are good questions (altho 3 is KINDA answered for you with current ending), number 2 is just nit picking and trying to find more fault then there really is.