Grizz
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On another note. Looks like the Sabres have come up with an interesting way to bring folks back to the game.
http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20050723/1062349.asp
The bumper sticker the Buffalo Sabres mail out today says it all: "The Future Starts This Fall."The Sabres are skating into a new era, made official in Friday's long-awaited announcement that the National Hockey League returns this fall after a yearlong absence.
That new era features a salary cap to restore competitive balance among teams, rule changes to open up the game, a new partnership with the league's players and a new marketing wrinkle being launched only in Buffalo:
A variable-pricing ticket plan to maximize revenues and increase attendance at HSBC Arena. Season ticket prices also will be slashed for the arena's two lower levels.
The Sabres are entering giddy times, following a tumultuous three years that included the franchise being taken over by the league, going through bankruptcy, searching for a new owner and enduring a season-long work stoppage.
"This is the birth of something that will be significant," Sabres managing partner Larry Quinn said of the team's new era. "We're opening the door a crack to look to our future."
No longer, Sabres officials believe, do they have to wonder day-to-day whether they can survive.
"In theory," Quinn said of the new NHL, "it makes this franchise viable - a franchise that can stand on its two legs and last forever."
A centerpiece for that new day will be the way the Sabres market their tickets.
Almost identical to the price structure the Sabres unveiled last July, the new ticket policy will see season ticket prices slashed between 12 percent and 28 percent in 100 and 200 Level seats.
"You have to treat your season-ticket holders as your best customers," Quinn said. "We didn't treat them right. We were a lot like the airlines: We took our most loyal customers and made them pay the highest price."
The new pricing plan is designed to protect season ticket holders. None will sit next to someone who got a box office ticket at a cheaper price. And the 100 Level season ticket prices are lower than when HSBC Arena opened in 1996.
"To me, the most telling thing is you can be in a center-ice lower-level seat for $49 (for a season ticket)," Quinn said. "That seat would cost upwards of $200 in Toronto or New York."
Sabres officials have no idea how much fan resentment over the season-long lockout will continue. They do believe they can build up their season ticket base, although that may take a while. Fans have put deposits on more than 7,000 such tickets.
"A good NHL franchise ought to have 12,000 season-ticket holders," Quinn said. "Ultimately, we think Buffalo can support that figure."
The Sabres are believed to be the first professional sports team to offer variable prices for box office tickets - based on the opponent, the day of the week and the time of the year. No one knows whether other NHL franchises will follow suit.
Here's how variable pricing will work: Each of the Sabres 41 home games - no Rochester game has been finalized - would be designated Gold, Silver, Bronze or Value, depending on how desirable the game is.
So a person buying a box office ticket for a Gold game, say against Toronto, would pay anywhere from almost double to more than four times the price for a Value game, say Carolina on a Tuesday night in November.
For example, a 100 Level III seat behind the goal would cost $80 at the box office for a Gold game, $47 for Silver, $32 for Bronze and $29 for Value. That seat would cost a season ticket holder the same $29 charged for a Value game.
The variable pricing is designed to lure more fans who can't afford top prices. For 33 of the 41 home games - all but the Gold games - customers will pay less at the box office for lower-level seats than they did in the 2003-04 season.
Sabres officials emphasized that the lower season ticket prices and the variable pricing are designed to increase revenue, not to downsize under the league's new leaner economic system.
The team is relying on basic supply-and-demand economics. If the Maple Leafs, with their huge fan base, easily sell out HSBC Arena, it makes sense to increase that ticket price. And if Nashville draws a sparse crowd on a fall weeknight, it makes sense to offer a lower price that can fill many of those empty seats.
A family of four could attend a Value game for $40 or $68 in the least expensive areas of the 300 Level, a cost Quinn compared to going to the movies.
With the NHL schedule expected to be released next week, the Sabres know they will play four home games against each divisional rival, two more against the other conference teams and one each against Pacific Division teams.
The team has opted for eight Gold games, 12 Silver, 12 Bronze and nine Value games.
"We're going to go out to our fans and ask them for input to pick those games," said Daniel DiPofi, the team's chief operating officer.
In other efforts to reach out to their fans, the Sabres will:
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Why play by someone else's rules. Even in the games where I have played d20, the group usually ends up making minor tweaks. It seems to be like that for most game systems.
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I just see this as another stepping stone for gaming as an industry. The music biz went through this with the PMRC and now the gaming industry needs people like Frank Zappa to step up and put these people back in their places. If they push this Sims 2 thing much further maybe Wil Wright will absorb them all into his mega brain and spit them back out.
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I'd really like to see what the talented guys at Obsidian could come up with on their own rather than another KOTOR. At least for now.
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Mike Keenan is still very hands on in his capacity as GM. The Panthers need to resign Luongo and Jokkinen if they're going to make any noise this season.
Pittsburgh... Mario needs to go back to the owner's box and stop messing around with the team. He should have left Fleury in there all of last season instead of sending him down to the minors. Major shot to the kid's confidence. Hopefully he comes up big this season. I'd love to see Marty Straka back with the Pens.
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A lot of games need patching post release not just RPGs. Freedom Force v The Third Reich was in pretty good shape upon release. Not very fun, imo, but it was very playable upon release.
I think you have this problem in any genre and with any kind of software. There are just too many different kinds of set ups out there that you need to account for...
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I don't need gorey animations in my game to enjoy it. Star Wars is a license that has a broad appeal with younger audiences and with the ESRB under scrutiny it may be best to keep things as they are. Its still satisfying in the game to cut through your opponents, so they don't explode into chunks. I can live with that.
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My season tickets last go around weren't too expensive. About 4500 for premium seating for 41 games. It comes out to ~120/game which is less than I'd consume in a nice night out to dinner/drinking with the wife. (not counting preseason games and other "perks" as they call it just the 41 games... )
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"No nevermind, I don't know why I had the sudden urge to interupt you and bring the game to a screeching halt."
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I'm still holding out for Age of Pirates. This looked interesting but I no longer have my NWN discs. From what I read on other forums its interesting but short and not really worth paying for. I'd probably still get it if I had my NWN discs to see for myself but...
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I don't like d20 either. I love using GURPs and for the most part in the games that I've written for my private use I use my own system.
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Night watch might just give me nightmares
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I would really appreciate the chance to build my own crew. I think you guys took a great step in that direction with KOTOR2 by adding Mira / Hanharr and Disciple / Handmaiden but I'd like to go a step beyond. I think you guys are talented enough to be able to create a bigger pool of NPCs with just as rich of a back story as the ones given in KOTOR2 and KOTOR.
Also, take the concept of seperate games further than just performing quests for different NPCs and getting to the same end (albeit different cut scenes)...
Also the combat was a big issue for me. I don't know what exactly needs to change but the hack fest got a bit tedious by the end stage. THANKS for not including a giant droid factory crawl at the end of this latest installment. (got it at the beginning instead
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It looks like the RPGs are bouncing back a bit. Akella has a few titles I'm really interested in (Metalheart, Age of Pirates and Hard to be a God) ... Guess I'll be adding NWN2 to the list now too.
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You're Atton! You are lucky. You've got one of those scoundrel edges that Han Solo had and a cynical wit. Your past is a bit darker than most, but your future can be as bright as you want.
A shame because I intensely disliked Atton. guess I'm just not very likable.
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Thanks for the welcome and yeah, TNMT was best back in the early era. I still have a few of my action figures including the alligator who spoke like he was from louisiana.
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ESPN is the only Sports News Service, and ESPN reported this two weeks ago. It just became official however today.
The players were stupid to hold out, because now fans don't care, and the players got a worse deal now than they were initially offered a year ago.
That was actually reported by the LA Times. KFFL is usually my best news wire for sports info.
that being said. I think the lottery is supposed to be weighted after this years. I'm dreading this upcoming draft as NY, Toronto, Detroit or LA will probably end up with the #1 pick and Sidney Crosby.
Anxious to see if the Penguins are able to pick up any decent guys in free agent. Would be cool to see Marty Straka back in the Burgh.
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Didn't read the thread, here's a quick run down of my favorite 80s/late 90s tv shows. Please note that most of them are kids shows as I was a ... you know... kid at the time.
David the Gnome
Lost Cities of Gold
TMNT
X-Men (I think it was the one on Fox Kids)
Captain Caveman
Heathcliff
and there was some show called the littlest koala or something like that... all the characters were marsupials and I just remember liking it because the platypus had the coolest house-submarine.
You probably couldn't pay me enough to sit down and watch these today but thanks for the stroll down memory lane.
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POST YOUR SPECS
in Skeeter's Junkyard
Posted · Edited by Grizz
built a new rig this monday,
Q9450 (oc'd to 3.2 ghz)
8gig ram (ddr2 1066)
HD4870
Finally getting around to playing STALKER and World in Conflict this week.
PS - I grabbed a Gigabyte GA-X48-DS4 mobo. It's a beautiful board, had plenty of room for everything. Posted on the first run. I love it long time.