GreasyDogMeat

No, piracy didn't kill AAA PC games, because piracy has always been problem for the PC and consoles too (for example Xbox 360 exclusive game Alan Wake was pirated more then bought and that was data from public torrent trackers - not private nor from free download sites like rapidshare or hotfile). PS3 stayed piracy free untill recently. Didn't help its sales to make a difference. One of the reasons I got a console was the recent crap being pulled with DRM like install restrictions, the lunacy involving Mysteries of Westgate etc. Piracy & the (over)reaction to it may not have directly killed PC gaming, but it sure as heck didn't help.

That is interesting to know. I'd always assumed it was done on purpose.

Huh, I thought it was one of the better comedies I've seen. Are you normally not a fan of Will Farrel? His whole pimp affect on the ladies just had me laughing, especially the way Marky Mark reacted to it. It was kind of funny at first... but they beat it like a dead horse. I either love his movies or hate them. Makes him a rather frustrating comedian for me because when I don't like his movies I usually hate them.

fixed I'm sorry, I didn't know this was a forum for aspiring game developers. I thought the point of discussions was to, ugh, find the truth? anyway, do tell me what is it that designers do... They design stuff... duh.

Again, a younger person is more likely to fall under cult like influence, which if you had read the story seems to be the case here (AGAIN the kid may be spinning a nice 'woe is me' story and again hes likely to be punished either way). The Taliban keep revisiting a school filling kids heads with promises of glorious afterlife etc. which is the real problem here. You keep bringing up this point about kids shooting up schools. Sociopaths have nothing to do with people being convinced by a charismatic voice that the sky is made of cheese and rubbing a squid on your face will make it rain chihuahuas. Or in this case strapping a bomb to one's chest and blowing up a bunch of people leading to a beautiful afterlife full of virgins servicing you.

Did you read my previous post? I mentioned that I HOPE he is sincere in his regret. You make it sound like I'm somehow defending terrorists. Reading the story, it sounds like he was indoctrinated into a cult, similar to how those stupid women followed Manson and ended up slicing people into little pieces. You can't really compare this quite the same way to a sociopath who decides to shoot up the school for a historic body count. I also mentioned that I'm not going to shed a tear if this idiot gets punishment, including a death penalty. People are still accountable for their actions. My point has been that there needs to be some sort of anti-taliban movement targeting schools in the region so the Taliban can no longer stop by the schools and spread their bs about 72 virgins etc.

Thanks for clarifying. None of the reviews really elaborated on how story mode worked. I guess it was too much to hope for to be able to play the entire story mode with any of the characters and have the cutscenes change for each one. There is still at least the ladder tournament mode where each character has their own ending.

Can you play as anyone in story mode and does the story change with character choice or are you just assigned a kombatant for a particular fight? Any choice at all?

Besides Obsidian devs like Fergus, Sawyer & Avellone I follow John Carmack of id Software. The guy makes rocket ships in his spare time for crying out loud so when he talks about gaming trends I try to listen, even though he can be very dry. Cliffy B is also hard to ignore, mainly because he is loud and obnoxious. Also Molyneux because he makes outrageous claims about games for fun to see if the press is listening. They do unfortunately listen and then his games come out and don't do half of what he said.

Even id releases cross platform now. The videos they've shown of Rage running on a 360 look great. I've mentioned it many times but part of the many reasons I finally caved and got a console a few years ago was every game company I loved was releasing cross platform, if not releasing for console first with the PC version an afterthought. The only big PC-centric dev studio I can think of is Blizzard, and even they have shown signs of interest in console games.

Prey 2 Interview. No gameplay footage, but some more info. "Game features 20 gadgets with 40 upgrades". I wish game makers would wait until within 6 months of introducing a game. My hype meter is high, but game wont be out until sometime next year. Both Mortal Kombat and Portal 2 are getting great reviews. I don't really feel either game is worth the full price tag and plan to wait until they are in the 30-40 dollar range. Most if not all MK Fatalities. First time I've seen MK Fatalities that are actually kind of... disturbing.

Normally I'd agree 100%, but this is a 14 year old we're talking about here and 14 year olds are morons in modern countries. I can't say I'll be sad if the fool gets executed considering the pain he has inflicted, that said there needs to be some sort of education going on. Don't they KNOW where this school is located? If they know where the school is located why don't they know where the Taliban is located. They are obviously in the area stopping at these schools getting recruits. You stop the flow of new recruits and I imagine you'd put a nice dent in the Taliban.

I had tried RPGs before, but they all seemed so lame (Final fantasies etc.). It wasn't until Fallout that I became interested in RPGs and Baldur's Gate shortly after solidified that interest.

"I am so grateful, because I have been saved from going to hell. I am in a lot of pain, but I know there are many people in hospital even more severely injured than me and I am so sorry for what I did and for what Ismail did. We did a very bad thing by killing children and old men and women. I now realise suicide bombing is un-Islamic. I hope people will forgive me." I so hope he is telling the truth and this isn't some rehearsed line practiced to be given if captured. If genuine it shows that this problem could be combated if all schools were targeted for anti-taliban education.

I remember that plane from the first game. You could also find a crazed survivor from the plane hidden in a compartment. They are still very loose connections but perhaps more will be revealed that are being kept hidden now. It is odd that it is being called Prey 2 in that everything that made the first Prey has been removed. Portals, gravity, spirit walk, death minigame etc. I am glad they removed the death minigame. It was a cool idea, but poorly implemented. It removed any sense of fear as death simply meant you would play this spirit shooting minigame. The problems were that there was no limit to the number of times you could die. You could respawn and get blown up over and over. Further, you could not fail the minigame. If you just stood there and watched the spirits circle you, even let them hit you, you would still respawn with 50% health. That could have made the death minigame decent, if there was actual danger and you had to put some effort in or the spirits would actually kill you. id Software has been making me very happy lately, including the devs using their engine (Brink & Prey 2).

The Other Guys. Wow it was horrible, which is a shame because the whole loser cop angle could have made some decent comedy.

The more options the better. If I had it my way option pages would look like a spreadsheet of gameplay mechanics you could toggle.

I love Japanese food and have tried to use Chopsticks, but ended up fumbling with them and sending them flying across the room. I figured I was going to put someone's eye out so I just stuck with the fork and spoon.

The game gets a lot better as it goes along. Rockstar, since GTA San Andreas have used a very slow build up in their stories. You start of low and very slowly work your way up to the big action moments. I personally couldn't put GTA IV down, have replayed it multiple times and consider it one of my all time favorite games, but I can see how some people might have a hard time getting through the early sections. I had a hard time myself with San Andreas.

I enjoyed it but you are right. There were a lot of problems with it. The Native American angle was poorly handled and seemed like an excuse to add the more 'magicy' stuff to the game like spirit walking and there really needed to be a few more enemy types. You spend most of the game fighting the standard alien troopers. I did love the whole alien sphere thing, portals and the use of gravity. Prey 2 sounds like Deus Ex/Blade Runner meets Star Wars.

Wow, I was already excited about Prey 2, but this sounds awesome!

I wouldn't. Most creative individuals want to create something new and something own. I'm sure there are some who absolutely enjoy when corporate suits give inane orders and dictate what, when and how something must be done. From financial point of view those orders from above might be solid gold but from creative perspective it's pure poison. Unless the suits were forcing them to do a Star Wars game unlike any before that didn't feel like Star Wars I'd say they had a lot of freedom. If something was dictated it was likely the time the game needed to be done in. In his tribe it is a mark of great respect. Allow me to

You do know what IMHO stands for right? Its a clear indicator that I was expressing my own opinion at that point which you may or may not agree with.

Have to say I agree with Volo. It may be a smart financial move doing a sequel to a high profile game but it also must also be pretty dang cool to work on these big name franchises. Star Wars, D&D & Fallout... who wouldn't want to work on a RPG in one of those settings? IMHO every sequel they've made so far has been superior to the original and I hope that trend continues with Dungeon Siege 3.

A lot of the complaints I hear about Homefront sound like they could have been used on Modern Warfare 2. Is the actual shooting as good or better? At least the story couldn't be any dumber... right?