Blarghagh

As i said, don't bother with these kind of announcements. Rumors about KotOR MMO have been for a while know, and this agreement just strengthens my suspicions. Even if it was something else, i would find it unlikely that Lucasarts would approach Bioware with something that wouldn't be Star Wars. Indiana Jones? Maybe, just maybe. Howard the Duck MMO?

No, on my ass.

Bioware didn't make the KOTOR game franchise, or the NWN game franchise. They made 1 KOTOR GAME, and a game does not constitute as a franchise. As for the NWN franchise, that franchise started at least ten years before Bioware made their game, and honestly, are you really saying NWN was better than NWN 2? NWN is the only Bioware game I've played that I've never finished because it was just so bland and uninteresting. And while I guess that's just my opinion, you're still not being fair anyway. After all, Bioware is an established company, whereas Obsidian has released two games and an expansion. One that was inherently buggy exactly because a Bioware engine was used. The second was the company's first own engine, which has since been fixed and spawned an expansion that has been getting better reviews than any Bioware game ever did. Besides, Bioware had apparently chosen not to use other people's intellectual property anymore (like Star Wars or the Forgotten Realms), and the ONLY other company really qualified to continue these franchises is Obsidian. You should be thankful rather than scornful. And finally, I would like to say that "I feel it insulting that Bioware makes a great gaming franchise like KOTOR or NWNs, only to handball it to obsidian who even with good intentions never do the original game any justice" is just about the most misleading comment I've ever read, which I feel insulting. You write this in a way where the ONLY instances of this are used as examples of something that has happened dozens of times. And even more, you give your own opinion as fact. Obsidian definately did justice to KOTOR as far as time-constraints and the engine allowed, and none of these matters are Obsidian's fault.

Sorry, I already did Rocktober.

You know, Kotor 3 was probably going to suck anyway. It seems to me that it was all written into a corner.

I hope it works out for you guys, Feng. Seriously, I do, because my extended family is filled with similar histories and situations, and at some point it just became so bad that I had to seperate myself from them. And that was just extended family, I can't even imagine how much it would suck to have a situation like that in your immediate close family.

I watched the whole Star Wars series. Prequels and originals. I gotta say, I still don't understand this backlash against the prequels. The only one that's substantionally better in the original trilogy is The Empire Strikes Back. Not only that, but the worst movie in the Star Wars series is STILL Return of the Jedi. Personally, from good to bad, I would rate them: The Empire Strikes Back -> Revenge of the Sith -> A New Hope (would be above Revenge of the Sith if it wasn't so very, very dated) -> The Phantom Menace -> Attack of the Clones -> Return of the Jedi. Although many people will probably disagree with me most on me putting The Phantom Menace above Attack of the Clones. This is probably because I don't hate Jar Jar. I mean, he's not funny, but I'm not annoyed by him either, unlike many other people. At least he's no Ewoks. Plus, "annoying sidekick" is also, to me, less bad than "completely uncompelling narrative". I don't care how many battle-robots and recognizable elements the climax throws at me to try and make up for the boring stretches and excruciating courting. Yeah, I have this too now. It's like these movies get worse with age... The good scenes are less interesting and the bad scenes are more glaring. When they came out I was a HUGE fan, but now... not so much.

Not consciously, maybe, but you definately hid things. Sentences like "go back to your roots of creating quality products" hide the underlying statement of "your products now are simply bad". You're making it seem like you're providing constructive criticism while you're actually not. It works very well in spoken word to manipulate like this, but not so much written.

There is like... barely any info on the game out? Judging by the fangirls he has, Carth did his job. Plus, Carth wasn't really that bad a character, I think. Just the darkside ending was so inconsistent with his personality throughout the game...

Point 1: They've released only two games and one expansion as Obsidian? Seriously, finding a balance is hard. You're also exaggerating a great amount, plus, the concensus on their latest, Mask of the Betrayer, is that it's one of the best CRPGs in history. I guess that means that they finally struck that balance. It's not like their products as interplay weren't inconsistant. In fact, I'd reckon they're doing a much better job here so far. Point 2: Why would they drop the influence system? It's basically the most celebrated and unique feature from Obsidian's games so far. I've read very few Kotor 2 reviews that didn't mention it as a plus. While I think it's definately not being used to it's full potential, it sure brings new elements to the game. As for having a big negative number jump up on the screen, well, personally I don't care about numbers either way (bad roleplaying), but it's what people bitched about when it wasn't visible. It wasn't clear enough. Seriously, you may be part of "us (your customer)" as you say, but "they (way more of your customers)" beat you to the punch with the exact opposite demand. Sorry. Point 3: I don't get this point? It means they're involved in the community, like to keep us up to date, and while you may not be interested in it, I know a lot of other people are. What your proposing is a terrible, heinous marketing move anyway; would you become more involved if it's a fun, warm company or a cold corporation? It makes me feel a lot better about this company that they like telling us about the things they're trying to improve. Point 4: NWN 2 has been out for LESS than a year, and with the new patches and/or expansion out now it works fine. In fact, they brought in a load of programmers just to fix the engine. You make it sound like it's a business descision to make ****ty technology. The KOTOR engine was just as buggy when it came out; in fact, one early PC release version of that game made it impossible to use computer terminals in-game without crashing, making the game impossible to play. Your other example, World of WarCraft, is also flawed. World of WarCraft is a modified version of the WarCraft 3 engine (barely modified at that, it's possible to make WarCraft 3 play like World of WarCraft with the WarCraft Map Editor) which had already gone through years of extensive testing AND was built on older computers (which is why it runs good on them). Also, Blizzard didn't have a standard deadline, whereas Obsidian did. Thanks to Blizzards success with earlier games, they can afford to throw as much money at their games as they wish. NWN 2 being Obsidians SECOND GAME with a deadline and their first own engine didn't give them that luxury. Seriously, I realize that you have different opinions than mine, but you don't seem to be all that well informed about your complaints. Plus, some of these things Obsidian barely had a choice in. No, honestly, you're trying to tell Obsidian how to make their games with arguements that he thinks are flawed, why isn't he allowed to say so? This is not an attack, this a critique. The same thing your first post is (and remarkably similar in tone, though yours tries to hide it).

Both descriptions fit the program.

Yes it should. Anyway, I used to use this program, but I've never had that error. I will say that even when it works, the program is so inherently horrible and terribly programmed that you'd be better off just getting rid of the damn thing and getting another music player. Thankfully, I found this out while I could still return it (I used the excuse "the software is incompatible with my sensory applications", by which I meant THE DAMN THING IS A PAIN). EDIT: Although I have read somewhere that the program will sometimes not open correctly if iTunes is also installed on the same computer. I don't know why or even how that happens, but that's what I read. Maybe it helps.

Finished a school project.

To put this into perspective, this would be (in my estimate) about 2000 novels worth of text.

Dude, XP1 just came out.

KOTOR 1 did it. If you played the dark side. But then you're just an evil guy who turns out to be more evil than you originally thought you were. Has there been a game in which you go through thinking you're doing good but are doing evil instead (that isn't simple i.e. Bioschlock)? Often, I would do good until the point I got to the temple, and then I would go darkside. It's so much more pleasing to destroy your companions if they shouldn't have been able to see it coming from miles away.

If this were the case, I would have played some NWN2 instead. Oh, Khelgar!

I went to the house of a fellow animation student who is giving me extra lessons in 3D modelling. I made a pretty good human face in 3D, but now I can't do anything with me because my 3D Studio Max 6 can't open the 3D Studio Max 9 file. I visited my girlfriend where we procrastinated doing our respective school projects (which are actually the same, though I am doing it in 2D and she is in stop-motion claymation). Procrastinated nekkid. I also baked and ate potatoes with her and watched one the Jeff Dunham DVDs I bought (Spark Of Insanity). Then I went home, booted up my computer, and checked my webcomics while listening to Modest Mouse' "We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank", and finally I came here out of boredom.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uwOL4rB-go Ventroliquesm with dead guys is funny!

I bet they're going to make a new slasher horror monster based on him so they can use the phrase "Based on a True Story".

I don't really want to get between mkreku and taks in this argument that can only be described as an on-topic flamefest (mostly on mkreku's part, who seems to be holding a grudge because someone doesn't share his opinions), but doesn't this go against established scientific conventions about proving and disproving? I can't be bothered to look up what it actually was, as I haven't actually cared about science for years, but I believe it went something like this: "you can't prove a non-entity".

See, I was thinking a half-orc Bhaalspawn with a full plate speaking in third person and ending every court session with "HA! Good fun!"

I finally got around to watching Clerks, which I have decided is one of the most overrated movies ever. I cracked a few smiles, and chuckled a few times, but that was it. Cleverness and irony as humor just doesn't do it for me. I recognize it, I am amused by it, but it's just not THAT funny. Especially because you could see every punchline coming from a mile away.

Hah, here in Holland, Mein Kampf is the only book that has been banned. Anyway, I'm re-reading Lovecraft stories. Always fun-filled with adjectives.

Magic is a crutch for a bad story? So, you're saying magic, which is a plot device which can be used for almost anything, is bad for storytelling? Every plot device is only as good or bad as the writer is. Seriously, this is a really dumb generalisation. Like, "all opinions of this person on storytelling should be discarded" type dumb.