Volourn

"I'm not suggesting that. Volourn is upset that someone else is obtaining an exclusive license, and not upset at EA. That's hypocritical." No, it isn't. The point you are missing that outside my obvious sarcasm, I'm not annoyed at Take Two getting exclusive rights. I'm annoyed that the one with exlusive rights is likely to make a crappy game with it. If Take Two would actually make a good baseball game it be a different ballgame (r00fles!). Do you see the not so subtle difference between the two situations? Once again, comapring child molestation with exclusive rights to a game is just plain silly.

That's right. Comapre molesting kids to obtaining exlusive rights to develop sports games. LMAO Where do people come up with this crap they try to pass as logical comparisons? R00fles!

"I beat the game, in 12 hours. I love how you call it 30 hours of gameplay, BTW." I like how you misquote me. I said it was 20-30 hours. I simply don't believe you completed in 12 hours unless you played on super easy and skipped every single conversation and extra quest. Period. "I have no explanation for these pauses other than there may have been turns under the mechanics." You just explained it yourself. It's the speed of the attacks. There are, once again, NO TURNS in JE espicially in comaprison to the other BIO engined powered games using the Aurora, Odessy, or IE. "And plenty of people have argued that KOTOR was pure real-time with pause. They'd be wrong as well." Yes, they'd be wrong. Then again, KOTOR runs on the '6 second rule'. JE does not. That's why JE is RT, and KOTOR is not. Huge difference in how their combats are run.

"Volourn defends EA, and yet calls the business practices of someone else obtaining an exclusive license to be stealing. Take note!" Eh. That's because I like EA's sports games. I'm not a big fan of Take Two's. <> "I agree with you that MVP Baseball is the best baseball game, but I really suck at pitching. I need to get better at it." Heh. I'm really good at the pitching aspect. I'm not so good at the batting aspect. I easily score the least runs amongst all the different teams. Hekc, my first season I had a stretch where I got shut out 8 TIMES IN A ROW. WTF!!! As for NCAA Football, meh, I'll pass. I'll stick with the professionals.

No. "Honestly, the whole game reeks of Aurora." Now the game literally smells? WOWSERS! " The way you target someone is identical to targeting in KOTOR." LMAO I guess it is similar to many games including the IE, FO, and a host of others. Afterall, you point at the monsters and click. R00fles! " Inventory is very similar." R00fles! Inventory is not even close to being the same. Heck, JE's inventory and its difference from Aurora/KOTOR is one of the more controversial issues. Some think its too simplified, some likely its refineness, et.c. It's inventory not very similar. Not even close. You might as well say it is similar to FO, BG, or heck G2. "The whole menu interface is identical." No, it has simialrities; but identical it is not. " Dialogue is exactly the same." No, it isn't though the set up is. Then again, might as well say the dialogue is similar to BG, FO, or any other RPG. Go figure. "The controls are very similiar." Not even in the same stratosphere. "Combat is honestly the only thing that seems different on any level, yet Jade Empire seems to be turn-based made real-time." That's nonsense. JE is 100% RT. There's nothing turn base about it. The Aurora (and the IE) are tb combat made into RT. JE is not. "Have you ever noticed that you press an attack and it goes off instantly one round, but sometimes the attack won't go off until "it's your turn?" Error error error alert! Error error error alert! There are no turns in JE. None, zilch, zero, nadda. It's RT. Did you play the game?

Geez... We are discussing some of the most easy examples in another thread. Come on, people. If we are all gonna post a lot and go over the same subjects over and over again for the privlege of the newbies at least pay attention and use common sense. Thank you.

City size DOES matter. I never said it was the ONLY thing that mattered; but it is important. This is a fact? Why? 'Cause the large the city the alrger the teams' potential customer base which means more likely that tickets will be bought. Afterall, the NY market has a lot more potential customer base than, say, KC. This is factual by the number facts. Basic econimics, really. Learned in Kindergarten, afterall.

Uh yeah. It happened like a week or two after EA got the NFL exlusive rights. The punks at take two have the sole rights to MLB sports agmes and its gonna suck so they ain't gonna legally steal my money for the 'privlege' of playing their trash.

I was dissapointed with NHL 2005. Not really dififuclty wise as I didn't play it much to determine its easiness or hardness just its playstyle. I don't bother with college sports games. That stuff is boring. I want the real players not the real players of tomorrow. Besides, Madden is just plain awesome though the running game for it is seriously overly tough on the higher difficulty. The baseball game for this year is lots of fun. I've almost completed 2 seasons of it now. Too bad EA no longer has the licensefor baseball which means I will stick with MVP 2005 as I'm not buying that crappy game from that other crappy company who wants to try to force me to waste money on their crappy game. R00fles!

"I would be sincerely shocked if Jade Empire wasn't built on Aurora." Just to add to this, JE's engine was built solely to make prime use of the x-box unlike the Aurora or even KOTOR which was deisgned for both x-box and PC. At most, the very basic level of JE empire *might* have some Aurora code though I'd be surprised if anything else. Seriosuly, what about JE makes you think of Aurora when playing JE? Outside of the developer that is. I mean, the graphics are completely different. The combat engines are different as JE is 100% RT while Aurora is on the 6 second rule. And everything else including character models, inventory (of course, this isn't really engine based), and mapping system are vastly different. I mean,s eriosuly, what makes you think that other than that BIo developed both... "He's under a lot of pressure to get my mods finished." Nah, I was never funny. Besdies, people only find me funny when I'm not using my non existing humour on them. Afterall, it's better to be the audience than the target. "

SPECIAL UPDATE (because I say so): Currently Playing: NWN, MVP Baseball 2005, and my module. Looking Forward To: Madden 2006, NHL 2006, Jade Empire 2, NWN2, and Dragon Age.

WOW! Quick responses here... RP wrote: "While the engine was new, wasn't it built on Aurora tech, much like Knights of the Old Republic? I was under the assumption that they've stated they used Aurora, or aspects of it, as bases for both Knights and Jade Empire." As far as I know the KOTOR engine (I forget the name they gave it) is based off the Aurora; but JE engine is completely new. At it's most basic level it might have the Aurora; but I doubt it. Endertroll wrote: "I remember when Volourn used to be funny." A. You remember wrong as I am *never* funny. B. You would only think I'm funny if I was responding to someone else. C. Stop beinga troll and making this topic about me. Let's discuss the actual issue and not silly board personalities. Posters ar enot important. Topics are. Only trolls like you think otherwise and try to make this about a user name. "Jade Empire looks, feels and plays exactly like the Aurora engine, and you're telling me it is a brand new engine from scratch?" Anyone who has played NWN or even KOTOR series than goes on and plays JE should know that the engines are COMPLETELY different. The graphics, the combat systems, the inventory (as limited a sit is, JE does have one) the two engines are different. As different as, say, the TOEE engine is when compared to the IE. "I never had any lockups, bugs or glitches." Then why try to lay blame on non existing bugs on LA? R00fles! If KOTOR2 has no bugs than any problems are 100% Obsidian's fault as it would mean any existing problems are in Obsidian's design. "KOTOR:1 overall was incredibly easy, so don't know KOTOR:2's combat. Atleast there were a few more choices with more force powers, and forms. They also made unarmed worthwhile, and made" KOTOR was easy. KOTOR2 was even easier - a task I didn't think was possible. "What inventory problems did KOTOR:2 have? I didn't notice any," The KOTOR series has one of the worst inventory systems ever created. Ever. Awful, awful, awful. Disorganized, messy, asanine, horrid, matrix style, and just plain bad. That is all... for now. "And surely KOTOR:1 didn't have those issues?" You seem to be overrating my opinion on KOTOR1. I like it about the same as KOTOR2. It slightly edges KOTOR2 out only because of having less bugs, more interesting party companions, and a better utilized twist while KOTOR2 wins out with the awesome use of skills.

Smallville is about it for seasonal shows. The Beauty & The Geek 2 shall be cool. I tend to spend my tv time watching certain soap operas as they are frequently the tv shows with the constantly best acting and worthwhile stories. LONG LIVE GENERAL HOSPITAL! GH > U

"Seriously, Jade Empire probably had well over 2 years, if not 3," At least you ar ebeing more reaSOnable than SP's silly 10 year notion. "and they were using an existing engine" No, they didn't. The Jade Empire is a new engine build specifically for JE. Where do you guys get these mythical notions? "and the game still came out horribly short." 20-30 hours isn't 'horribly' short. And, the only reason why either KOTOR is longer is ebcause of Inventory Matrix. JE concentrates on actual content; not stupid inventory, or unneeded mass battles. That's a good thing; not a bad thing. "During the early development they didn't even have a full team hired." Good for them. That's pretty much true for any game's development. "Most of the problems are Q/A related, and LucasArts took 3 months off that." Most of the problems are combat, story, and inventory related. KOTOR2 is a good game; but as an Obsidian fnaboy you overrate it. "Stop acting like children and blaming Obsidian for it. You're just making yourself look foolish." A. I like KOTOR2. I liked it pretty much as much as I liked KOTOR1. B. I'm blaming Obsidian for its problem because it is their fault. Theya re the dveloper so they get blamed for its weaknesses. It sure is nice of you to give Obsidian credit for everything that was done right with the game; but won't give them any blame for the wekanesses instead heaping it all on LA who seemed to have no problem QA'ing KOTOR to keep the bugs for that game at a reasonable level. Go figure. Pathetic. C. Stop trolling, and calling those who disagree with you 'children' just because they have a differing view. CHILD.

"And which games would those be?" Search button is your friend.

"That's because a lot of those fans are idiots. They sell out the building no matter how badly the teams play. Something I've never been able to understand." Well... The Rangers are in NY where there are tens of millions of people living either in the city or very close so the odds are that even if someone goes to a home game once per year they'd cover the selkl out consideirng the MSG houses 18,001 people at once. I think a city that size can manage it...

"Thats how long they were thinking of it and how long they had to come up with some sort of story concept. I pulled it off the Bioware website" Oh please. There's a huge difference between 'thinking about soemthing' and 'actual development time'. if you can't tell the difference there's a problem. "Obsidian had a little over 12 months to come up with a story, intergrate it into the previous one and make the game and you dont think thats impressive ?" Existing engine, existing story base, existing characters, help from bio, and the list goes on. No, it was not impressive. And, they aren't the first to mkae a good game in a year. They ain't special.

"Jade Empire was in development for like 10" If youa re gonna make up crap; don't even bother.

No. Not impressive. Perhaps, if they'd work with the cycle length and not against it then maybe it would work out more. Devs use 'short' development cycles as an exuse for not up to par work. Stop helping them. If a developer has 10 month, a year, 2 years, 5 years, or 10 years; they should work within that time line not against it. MANY games are made in a year or less and come out being extremely fun to play. Why? Because the devs work within the time limit, and not against it so they can use it a crutch. Go figure.

"IWD:2 was also a horribly rushed sequel that almost didn't get released from what I understand. It's not a great example of what can be done given a reasonable development cycle." Don't make exuses. KOTOR2 had a short development cycle relatively yet turned out good. "Shocking news! Hades and Volourn have been known to be bitter and critical!" A. Hades is irrelevant to this. B. All I expected was a game that was as fun as IWD1. I didn't get that. Game over.

"And I don't know if most of the teams will lower or raise prices. ESPN seems to suggest on the whole, prices will go down, where as we have one example of a team raising prices." ESPN is foolish. Why would teams lower prices. I could see them giving specials to the fans for the first month or so to woo back possibly lost customers; but overall ticket prices will go up espicially for teams thata re near guarnateed to sell out their arenas anyways. "Who is the exception?" Toronto is almost assuredly guarantted to raise ticket prices. I believe Ottawa and Tampa Bay have already said that they will be offering special pricing for fans for the first couple of months. "I could see ticket prices going down simply to win back the fans." Maybe for a little bit; but not long term and not for the teams guarnateed to have sell outs like Toronto or Ny.

"When you get someone of the calibre of JE being part of the team, you know things are on the up and up." I like JE; but he doesn't have that impressive of a resume when it comes to actual released games. Afterall, he's one of the ones responsible for IWD2, a sequel that destroyed most everything good about the original. Heck, the best thing about IWD2 was the reasonable way they switched over to 3E. Not much else was that immpressive. His two games that looked really awesome were VB and Jefferson yet they were both canceled so sadly we'll never know if that was wishful thinking on our aprts or reality. Anyways, I'm sure JE will add a lot of the team; but people should stop treating him like some sort of Messiah. For one thing, I doubt he appreciates such silliness. He's gonna do his best, and that's all we can ask.

"The owners can't decide to stop paying you after one year if they like, but players can decide to stop playing." I believe the owners can buy players (and coaches) out for a ceratin percentage of the contract. of course, this all depends on the deal. I'm with alanshu to a point that in general contracts should be binding for both aprties. That said, there should be a way for either side to exit the contract if the relationship REALLY goes sour. In this day and age one shouldn't be forced to do something that is really detrimental to them. Afterall, I seriosuly doubt anyone here would be pleased if they were forced to remain in a job that was completely horrible. Nor should a boss be stock with a horrible employee. Example: x player signs with a team because he likes the coach. Team fires said coach afterards and hires a coach that makes things miserable for the player and so neither side is happy and all is hell. Both sides should be allowed to exit the contract. "And ESPN has been reporting that the new CBA is calling for lower ticket prices. Yet Volourn has been insisting the owners did all this so they can raise ticket prices and make even more of a profit." Teams including the Toronto Maple Leafs ahve already stated that ticket prices are likely to raise. This is coming from the Toronto owner, and the source is the Toronto Star a more reliable source than an y internet crap or US paper. Ha.

"You prefer to think that teams like New York just made money" Eh. I prefer nothing. I accepted his source as very possible. Your point, as per usual, nonsensical. Don't worry about Toronto. I'm sure the happy Toronto owners will make LOTS of money after they up the price of tickets and lay the blame for the increase on the players while their lackies the stupid fans buy their bull hook, line, and sinker. Lmao

"You're not getting a rise out of me. You should focus on other people." Sorry; but I'm not trying to turn you on, troll. "The average NFL starter makes around $2 million a year. The average NHL starter made around $2 million a year. Now Volourn is just lying. Stop feeding him." Actually, we both were lying. According to the Toronto Star the average salaries for each league is as follows: NHL - 1.39 mil MLB - 2.372 mil NBA - 4.9 mil NFL - 1.33 mil So, i was off by saying the NHL had less average salary than the NFL players. Of course, NFLs have 16 regular season games and a roster of 40+ players to pay compared to the 30 or so NHL players on a NHL team and 82 games. Bottom line, NHL players don't even come close to comparing to the big wigs. "Bull. It was a lockout from the start, yes. That's the only thing you got right (ever, probably). But the owners made offer after offer which the NHLPA simply refused to accept.. then in the end they actually DID accept almost the exact same offer, but with WORSE numbers. So oh yes, I blame the players. They put up a fight without having anything to fight for, except greed." Blah, blah, blah. It was a lockout. This is a fact. And, the players made multiple counter offers including a better version of the NHL's earlier salary cap that the NHl refused. The bottom line is that the owners locked out the players as the owners led by Bettman did not want a season. It was a way for the BILLIONAIRE owners to bully the millionaire players. Period. The only greedy people are the owners, and espicially the FANS. The fans are scum, arrogant, foolish, full of themselves, hateful, and jelaous. Pathetic creatures, really. "Source? My source is www.espn.com, but since it's you I won't bother linking directly." Other than the NFL, the NHL isn't in the same league as the major team sports as far as avergae salaries go. This is factual. My Toronto Star source is better than yours as papers > internet. 'Nough said. Besides, your source is an Amerikan media source. Hahahaha. "The NHL was losing money." No proof. And, no, the owners' word is not enough.