Tigranes

The Nightshape has Spoken, clearly all routers in the world have no problem with Steam. I agree that it's great that Valve has made Steam as opposed to some other possibilities, but that shouldn't blind anyone to the fact that Steam very very clearly and obviously has a long-term strategy geared towards getting more Steam exclusives, making Steam a necessary part of every gamer's computer, discouraging Offline Mode, making Steam the one-stop shop, etc... in other words, exactly what Games for Windows Live wanted to do but wasn't as good at doing.

You'd think a project like the Hobbit would be glittering in gold and guaranteed to do good, but I think the unions saw that too and thought, hey, here's the best vehicle/chance we have for pushing our agenda. I'm sure amongst that there are some legitimate grievances - the creative industries are never that good for employees - but it is quite amazing. Jackson would have been the best person to mediate it all but I hear from people in Weta that the relationship between Jackson and some of his NZ partners are becoming quite strained.

Always PM'd, for obvious reasons.

(To clarify: Day date stuff should be posted here, not PM'd. So we can all see.)

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/10/19/magicka-...uary/#continued My favourite video game hype, ever.

Update 1 I apologise if the game seems a little odd or confusing at times - as you expect it's the first time an Obsidian Dating Sim has been played and there will likely be small issues. But now it's Day everybody will have more things to do, and it is more free-form... All Single Men awake this morning, alive and unharmed. It is now time for them to truly play the game. As you all know, each day you will all be introduced to a particular Single Woman and with a specific challenge or context. Today our first Lady is Gwyneth Higginbottom. She is British, late 20's, Single, Working, and reasonably educated. But most importantly, she hates men. She hates men with a burning passion, derived from when she was 7 and the neighbourhood boy gave her 27 wedges in a single day. She believes all men just want sex and she should have nothing to do with them. It is your job to convince her otherwise, one way or the other, if you want to win the Date. To this end, you must describe to me your Female Action Plan (which I will not shorten into an acronym): 1. You must open conversation with a pick up line. What is your pick up line, and why will it win Ms G. Higginbottom over? 2. You can choose to bring her a small gift at the start of your date. What will you bring, and why? What will you say to her as you give it to her? 3. How will you show her that she needs to get over her clearly unreasonable hatred and get with you rather than any other Single Man? 4. Will you make fun of her bumpkinish name? (Yes/No) After waiting for your answers, I will give Gwyneth Higginbottom's responses and select the Winnar of the Date. Remember that the winner is immune from the voting that takes place amongst you immediately afterwards - the voting that determines the first Single Man to be eliminated. Make sure to check the original post for current POS levels & changes! It is now Day 1. Participate in the thread's day date.

Clearly, there goes my PhD. I expect half the universities will keel over and play dead for 5 years.

Stand alone

24 hours until I return from conference - send in your night action by then or I will assume you have nerves of steel and simply sleep through the night. Then will come the day date.

I've just arrived at Hamilton for a conference, on the cheapest motel with humane conditions I could find. I'm pleased to find they have free wi-fi, but for some reason, it doesn't work indoors! Take literally one step out the door and it does.

Curry is awesome. No, Butter Chicken lovers do not count. They are scum.

Update 0 All the role information, with their special perks, night actions and/or items have been sent to the players. The 3 RFID players will know each other's identity. It is now Night 0. Some night actions (specified in PMs) aren't available, but others are. Take this opportunity to test the waters with your fellow Single Men, use night abilities if you like, and prepare for the first Day Date. The abilities you have been given are the only 'special' actions you may take during the game, but nothing stops you from being as creative as possible during the day dates - even if it is not specified, playing your archetype will be the best way to be successful. I will be away on conference for the next 48 hours with little to no internet, but hopefully this lets us get started. Check the updated original post for everyone's starting POS and PM-links. It is now Night 0. Send in your night actions.

Ubisoft's mistake was that they jumped the line by a mile instead of gradually encroaching it wearing various disguises of player benefit. Without becoming conspiratorial, look at the trajectory of Steam. It starts off as an optional service, primarily for Valve games, starts getting more and more third party games, starts becoming a one-stop shop full of various goodies and promotions, starts offering exclusive deals and sales, and now moves into Steamworks, as well as signing up various high profile games for Steam Only. This isn't tinfoil stuff - it's just a good business strategy from Valve's perspective, where they slowly cultivate more and more loyal customers to their service. The Steam Only policy now works great, because everywhere you look, every time someone complains about this, there are 20 posters who voluntarily defend Steam. Literally. Go to ETW forums, FM2009 forums, discussions of FNV, Civilisation V, etc - you will get people who tell you "I like Steam so I dont' care about your whining", "stop whining everyone uses Steam now anyway", "It's cool I don't mind cause Steam has cool sales". Zero brownie points for working out why none of those arguments are logically sound in any way, but that's how the market works - Steam has enough reasons for people to like it or tolerate it. Anyway, the point is, if Steam continues in this way and racks up brownie points and consumers, if we use a crude example, how many people would quit Steam cold turkey if it made its DRM more cumbersome, or slowly retired Offline Mode (i.e. by adding various functionalities that require Online, making everyone use Online anyway, then after a couple of years, cutting out Offline)? Not many. It's always about gradual changes in what bull**** the customer will put up with, so in fact, arguing that "it's the reality now, stop whining" is simply playing into that - it's actually more parochial than 'longing for the good ol' days'.

I know. But if someone wants to send them a cheque it's their business. Of course, if a thousand people emailed OBS cheques saying they pirated FNV, maybe, but.. You realise the faster everyone stops crying about it, the faster that "new reality" will change, right? It's not as if it'll stop at Steam. Look at DLCs.

Why would Obs get in trouble? Not that a lot of people would actually go that far and send them a cheque anyway.

Don't make me go rules lawyer on you people. Forced steam doesn't benefit a single customer and is a horrendous policy (as opposed to optional steam, which is fine), but piracy is not the answer people. Was a very close thing for me, but playing the game and giving Obs a sale is (just) worth dealing with the idiocies of Steam.

Turn-based, since each day & night will likely take at least 24 hours for everyone to respond. Monty I'll think up a side role for you and PM soon.

Keep on pickin', we're still waiting on Kaftan and a couple of others, we can give it a day or so.

Apologies, I had left one out - the Conspiracy Theorist. Feel free to scramble again...

You are here because there is something within you that needs to be free. A strange longing that energises you yet threatens to tear you apart. Strange dreams that will not subside with the coming of day. Something primal that wants to, needs to break out. You know what I am talking about. You know you need to see this through. Yes. You need, the One True Love. It is time for The Obsidian Men's Dating Sim. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TOMDS is a group roleplay adventure based on basic mechanics of Mafia games. There is a 'day' and 'night'; each of you have a specific role; and each day, one of you will be voted out of the game. You play by posting during the day and PM'ing actions during the night, roleplaying the most devastatingly romantic Single Man you can imagine, finding out more about your competition and ensuring your survival to the very end. We, your hosts, have put together some reference material to guide you in this endeavour... TL:DR Version: Go to the bottom of the post, read the roles, and pick one. They will be handed out first come first serve. The Philosophy of Dating, by M. J. Sokratis and S. Tzu Know Thyself. All of you are Single Men, each with a specific role with abilities, items and/or perks. All Single Men are therefore unique in some way. All Single Men want, need, and must win, their One True Love. Know Thy Enemy. 3 of the Single Men are in fact Radical Feminists In Disguise (RFID). They are not interested in dating, and their aim is to infiltrate the Single Men and sabotage their attempts at finding One True Love. Single Men must locate and eradicate the dreaded RFID before they sabotage their efforts. Information is Power. You know basic facts about all Single Men, but not much more. The more you know about other Single Men, the better you can strategise your survival and romantic success. Powers of Seduction: How To Unleash The Inner You Powers of Seduction, or POS, are your primary units of competency in TOMDS. Positive POS will help your romantic endeavours during the Day, while negative POS is like walking into Fallout with a luck score of 2. Your starting POS depends on your role. POS increases or decreases depending on how well you do in Dates and what happens at Night. Date Your Heart Out Each day, a Single Woman will be introduced to the group, with their own particular tastes and preferences. A specific challenge will be issued, involving multi-choice answers and free-form responses. Single Men who come up with the most creative romantic endeavours, and those who play to the strengths and particularities of their own roles, will have the greatest chance of success. When you are this good at dating, nothing can stop you: if you win the day's date, the overwhelming sense of triumph and accomplishment will immunise you from any harm, and you cannot be voted off that day. Effect wears off by night. Other than the winner, the worst wooer of the day will also be named. This has no effect other than a crushing sense of shame. Voting and Night Actions: A Beginner's Guide Each day, all characters will be able to vote out a Single Man, by way of simple majority (of all who vote). Once voted out, that player cannot perform night actions or participate in dates, though may choose to hang around and post as a Bitter Single Man (BSM). Day Votes continue until only 4 players remain: at this point, a mega free-for-all finale date will determine the winner. Each role has its own unique set of night actions, which mostly involves investigation, sabotage / robbery and protection of Single Men. Night actions must be performed via PM (to me), and only one can be chosen per night. You may choose to Sleep it off after a healthy dose of Romantic Movies, for a small increase in your POS. And that's it, my beautiful Single Men. Hone your romantic mandibles, puzzle out the RFID sabotagers, and survive till the end to claim your glorious prize of One True Love. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Playerlist: awsomeness, the Metrosexual | POS: +5 | -- Deadly Nightshade, the Goth-Emo | POS: -5 | -- Hurlshot, the Jock | POS: -5 | -- I want teh kotor, the Video Game Nerd | POS: 0 | -5 Mkreku, the Weirdo | POS: -5 | -- Orogun, the Spanish Lover | POS: +10 | -- Rosbjerg, the Sugar-Daddy | POS: 0 | -- Shryke, the Alcoholic | POS: +5 | -- Tale, the Creepy Dude | POS: -5 | -- The Architect, the Avatar of Cheese | POS: +10 | -- Walsingham, the War Veteran | POS: +15 | -- Monte Carlo, the Agony Uncle[/url] It is now Day 1. Participate in the thread's day date.

Gothic 1 continues. It's not a very long game - I'm around level 6 and I think I've done most of the quests before having to choose between one of the camps. I suppose the length is similar to Risen, or a bit shorter. It's also not as difficult as I expected - I think playing Gothic 3 vanilla (with the stunlock boars) built up my tolerance and now even the real Gothic isn't Gothic-difficult. I still need to learn how to fight humanoids properly, though.

Gothic was all about the setting and gameplay for me - not the story or NPCs. Basically Gothic the way I like it is defined by (a) punishingly difficult combat that makes you truly appreciate the rewards you get and not just rampage all across the countryside; (b) quests where you can screw people over and end up with 'creative' solutions; © exploration where there are no invisible walls and you can always wander too far for your own good. From what you say Orchomene, and others, and the demo, I'm nearly 100% sure it doesn't have (a) or ©, and hear conflicting accounts on (b). I mean, I had a look at the map of the Arcania world and it's 90% mountains! I still might have got this, but I'm playing Gothic 1 now for the first time and the experience is absolutely incomparable to Arcania demo, so I'll hold off for now. Certainly good to hear at least you are enjoying the game though, am I wrong on the a/b/c?

Just preordered on dvd.co.uk, 21 quid including delivery is not bad at all. Forced steam is still going to suck a lot but I'll make an exception for Obsidian. We'll see how fast it gets here - Krezack and other Aus/NZers, what options are you using?

On TW2, by the way, "game delayed because you guys pre-ordered too many"? And this doesn't set off the BS radars on your heads? I mean, seriously.

GAME delivery is too expensive outside UK.