phimseto

Interesting read. Props to Uzivatel in that thread: QUOTE (WILL THE ALMIGHTY @ Sep 1 2009, 11:53 PM) Obs should delay it until June/July 2010. /QUOTE Unless you have some huge IP, those months are pretty much dead. And to be fair, that was more of a thread about the game's fall release date, and what might be a better time - not a discussion about when and where the game should be released now that it's been pushed back. )

You would think that post-school *would* be a great time, but I have thought about this for a while and did some research. I can only find one game that had any kind of real impact: Metal Gear Solid 4. Except MGS4 had a few things going for it. - To start with, it was Metal Gear Solid 4. - Secondly, Sony gave it a huge, huge, huge push because it desperately needed a big, exclusive title to sell more systems at that point. MGS4 is an aberration to another wise historical trend: June and July releases underperform, no matter what the quality. Think about how many times you've seen games pushed back from spring to early fall. Production time isn't the only reason. In fact, it's probably not the real reason. It is simply not a good time for moving video games, unless you have some kind of mega name brand recognition (and even then you'll see those games in September/October/November). Yes, people will buy things if you jam it down their throat, but does AP have that kind of brand recognition or Sega the money to put out that level of press? No. And besides, why work harder when you can work smarter and latch your game onto someone else's hype machine: whether it's some counter-sports programming in August/September, the general holiday slam, or a little mid-winter heat (mid-February to mid-March). And, finally...holy s#%t, Dark Raven, a 2010 screen shot in your sig? That's pretty darn awesome. I approve.

It is regrettable if AP has to miss the holiday sales season, but I take a Blizzard view of delays: the game should release when it's ready and not a moment before. I especially appreciate this because Obsidian has been screwed before in having to push an unfinished game out the door to make a seasonal deadline (KOTOR2). But... Releasing the game in June is a horrible, horrible, horrible idea. A June release is the game equivalent of having your television show placed on a Friday night lineup. June is a transition time, with all the transitions working against you. - Kids are leaving college, and are looking to get *rid* of stuff, not pick stuff up. - Most people are transitioning out of the academic year and into the summer, and especially for familys with young kids, a lot of income goes to camps, day care, essentials. Not games. - Good weather means less time indoors, less inclination to want to start a game, much less a (presumably) fairly lengthy RPG. - Summer movies and summer concerts have all the entertainment hype, not summer games. A better time, if you are shooting for that time period, would be mid/late-August/early September. A lot of those same transitiions are in reverse, and this time working for you. The sports game hype (Madden mainly) combined with thinking about school/fall gets people back into a video game mood. There's a reason why Square owned this period for a number of years back in the PSX/PS2 days. Much like Arkham Asylum did this past August, you can own that period as the big "non-sports" title for people to think about while at the same time using that Madden hype to draw attention to yourself. Just not June, please.

Trying to play Sith Lords on the Xbox 360. I just did part one of the Onderon return mission (second party storms sith tomb). The game keeps freezing when I make the transition back to the main character. When it begins the dialogue where it says "your team is making good progress through the jungle...", the voice cuts out and it freezes on a screen of my character with that dialogue showing. My first party was Mira, HK, and Bao-Dur. Has this happened to anyone else? Is there a way to tweak the game into working?

As a long-time Fallout fan who mourned the demise of "Van Buren" and was pleasantly surprised that Bethesda pulled off such a successful franchise restart, I am *thrilled* to see the license in the hands of its creators. Although I know a lot of the original Black Isle crew have moved on, I hope the Obsidian development team will reach out to some of the old hands and invite their input and feedback. We may never get "Van Buren" but I would love to see Fallout: New Vegas be the video game equivalent of the Blues Brothers "getting the band back together." Good luck! P.S. - If you are going to do the Vegas thing, please don't forget a few Ranger-infused nods to "Wasteland." P.P.S. - Any chance of licensing FO1 and FO2 to remake them as XBOX Live games? Same style of play, just cleaned up/updated interface and looK?

I have not tried explosives yet, but the thing is that this door doesn't let you lightsaber open as it does normally for the other doors. Who knows. I'll try the explosives...

Heh. Every time that guy appears, I keep expecting him to tell me that our Protoculture stores are low and it is time for a new offensive against the Army of the Southern Cross. That's a Robotech reference for you young'ins out there, but if you know it, then you probably agree with me that the dude looks like he was lifted right out of there.

Hi guys, A few points I could use help with... For the record, I've been to Telos, Nar Shadda and Dantooine, so spoilers perhaps through those planets. No salient plot points are discussed, however. 1. In Vogga the Hutt's room on Nar Shadda, there is a door that the Kath Hounds warn you away from. There's a water bowl there that is obviously the key but darned if I can find out how to utilize it. Is the solution available to me yet? If so, what am I missing? If not, I would just like to know so I can be alert for it as the game goes on. 2. The same thing goes for the storage bin in the sub-level of the Enclave. There's a stuck door that I can't figure out how to get open. I am sure it has something to do with the shoddy protocol droids, but I haven't the foggiest how or what. Any help would be appreciated. #3. I can't get the "REDEMPTION" subquest for dantooine to finish, even though I defended the base and saved the day. Is this something that I need to wait for something later in the game to handle. One thing I noticed is that the militia captain says "I hope I can return the favor" but there's nothing I can ask of him, so I'm hopeful there's more later in the game to do. #4. The TSF bounty on the escaped criminals. I found them at Czerka corp, where they ran off (to the restoration zone, apparantly). I then killed every single person in the restoration zone, but found no evidence of them. How did I mess this up, or have I? I think that's about it! Thanks!

Well, you won't catch me disagreeing with that. I really do hope they bang out a third (again, presuming they go the trilogy route) sooner rather than later, before returning to the drawing board to design a next-gen engine from the ground up. I agree with you 100% that the newer features absolutely add some nice, new elements to the engine.

I'm tired of all these snotty reviewers knocking KOTOR II, saying that it seems more expansion pack than sequel simply b/c it does not reinvent the wheel. How often do we see such high quality games come out just over a year after the first game? I don't expect it to reinvent the wheel. In fact, presuming this is a trilogy of sorts, I want to see KOTOR III just over a year from now. Let them reinvent everything for the next storyline. For now, I am content to play these games in quick succession on an engine that works fine by me. If the choice is between a bunch of great Star Wars games using roughly the same technology or waiting six years for a sequel like Half-Life, I will take KOTOR and KOTOR II every time. So, to all you reviewers, F*%k off.

I am extremely excited that some of the guys behind my favorite roleplaying computer games ever are taking the helm for KOTOR II. One request, though - there should definitely be an XBOX/PC KOTOR I save option that allows you to port in certain information. The main thing I have in mind is the look, gender, and name of your main character so that when they are referenced or (hopefully) if they ever appear, they look like the character you played through the game with. This should be very easy to do, and I know it would mean a lot for those who played the first game. I personally hate games that talk about the nebulous "hero" or "once there was this guy who..." This is a small thing, done in games like the Suikoden series, that go a long way to really making the game experience one unique to yourself. I hope such a plan is in the works. Have the developers discussed this at all? Looking forward to following the game's progress!