alanschu

I agree that would result in a stronger push. Curious if they'd run into any antitrust issues.

Sales in Japan skyrocket? <.<

I considered the military at several points of time in my life. Found this video last year and still enjoyed it this year http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDMzHlkB-Yg

Nah, after playing the point and click version, dealing with a text parser for the second one was making me twitch. Free remake here: http://www.agdintera...com/games/qfg2/ Although I didn't mind the brigand scene. That's just Sierra adventure game stuff. The combat itself was what I found clunky (the randomish encounters and so forth)

The original (well, remake) has some hella dated combat that is clunky as hell (I ended up just spamming attacks) which made the game a lot more challenging than it needed to be. Game is funny funny funny though (in that old school Sierra charm). I skipped the second and got the free, more modern remake instead. Though as I go through a lot of these retro games, the idea that the old school RPG was a 60 hour mega journey is less and less the case. I'm also a lot better at video games than I used to be (I remember getting stuck a lot when I played this decades ago). I beat the game in probably 5 or 6 hours.

What are your thoughts on the ones that are a result of decreased government funding?

Both sides are being defensive. That someone states there isn't enough motivation to pick up a console, however, they shouldn't have to riposte statements of the obvious that there are probably some games on the system that they would like. It's like it's completely unfathomable for someone to have different tastes. The difference here, is those defending themselves for being primarily PC gamers were demonstrating how they personally are not interested. He, on the other hand, is going around telling other people that they're wrong. One of these perspectives is non-confrontational and even perfectly okay with other people having different preferences. The other less so, and by doing so keeps the discussion going when otherwise it should probably have just died some time ago. I started out on the Apple II and the Mac, got myself a Nintendo, then a Super Nintendo, while also using the PC. Then focused heavily on the PSX and N64, until Half-Life converted me to full on PC gamer. I was indifferent to the PS2/XBox, and the only reason why I picked up a 360 was because my friends and I were on a Rock Band kick. Having owned the console, there are games I picked up that I definitely wouldn't have otherwise (since the 360 cost was sunk), I still preferred the games on the PC and in general found myself with absolutely no shortage of games to play in spite of this restriction. I have zero beef if people prefer to play on any of the consoles, and despite jokingly referring to myself as part of the "PC Master Race" you'll still see me commenting against PC gamers that talk down to console gamers too.

No, I mean that the games Volourn says he likes are probably the ones that he actually likes. He's prone to hyperbole, but since I've known him he seems consistent in which games he likes (of Obsidian and BioWare)

Picked up QfG series of Gog. Playing the first one now.

You can snag it off of Good Old Games.

Death Rally! (free steam weekend)

Every system ever made likely has some games on it that I like. You're awfully defensive, and for what purpose? Because someone doesn't typically like the games on a console so it's not an issue for them to not get one?

I'm pretty sure Volourn likes BioWare games.

I'll agree that my time on NMA during Fallout 3 was usually filled with a good chunk of vitriolic nonsnse. As you say, the NMA is not a hive mind. WHy is it surprising that someone feels NMA is rather antagonistic towards Fallout. It's not like there aren't people that were on NMA that were that way. If it was seen a fair bit (even just by bad luck), someone will attribute that to the group. Unless you're particularly concerned because you identify the group, it's neither really here nor there. NMA is a place where old schoolers of Fallout congregate. It's entirely likely that you'd get more "random people on the internet" that have those opinions on NMA.

Are you going to nitpick an easter egg comment? (that line is from the movie Die Hard)

It's more a time issue for me. In general I prefer PC gaming, and while I do own a 360 (picked it up for Rock Band 2) ultimately I find myself rarely playing (and preferring to play) the console. The only exclusive that I missed that I really wanted to play was Red Dead Redemption, but it's not like I was ever at a time where I felt "Oh man, I don't have any games to play at all."

Find issues earlier in development is usually a cheaper process though, so it can't be neglected. And that's the programmer/designer in me talking, not the QA. Depending on the level of QA embed, sometimes you just need to be a part of the creative though process and read documents/plans.

The post seemed rather tongue in cheek.

Well, it was also aimed at a wider audience on different platforms to boot, with less foundation to build upon. Mass Effect also had a similar critique, but since then more games and iteration has occurred and when people see year 2000 game mechanics they tend to go "buh?" Soapboxing on the internet has gone up too, in my opinion.

Not entirely - it's a matter of expectations. Planescape as a fantasy universe comes with a set of expectations that it almost immediately breaks as it turns out not to be Tolkien inspired. This leaves players free to approach it without preexisting bias. Assassins Creed creates expectation of a historical setting which it fulfills for a good while but then suddenly it moves into the direction of a poorly handled sci-fi. In the end AC was always doomed to become a mess story-wise as you cannot make a long-running series work with conspiracy theories. You either need a new bigger mystery for every revelation you make or simply never resolve anything. You saw this with Alpha Protocol as well. People just see "modern day spy game" and once the game had stricter RPG style rules, it was "The gunplay in this game is crap!? WTF I can go invisible!? BLAM THIS PIECE OF CRAP!"

Or different tastes I suppose.

Voting results has seen an ebb and flow, however. In the 30s, Democrats were crushing with 500+ electoral votes. Then Ike was in as a Rep for a couple terms, then it went back to Dems with some big wins, then Reps dominated for a decent chunk of time, with Clinton ruling the school, the Dubya, followed by Obama now. Yes people vote according to issues that are relevant to them. The issues that are in play at any given election are not static, however.

From a writing/dialogue aspect it was quite a step up from Morrowind/Oblivion in my opinion. I'll agree that it's strengths are things I didn't so much consider strengths in the original games (wandering the wasteland without a necessarily specific purpose), but I still sunk a lot of time into it. I fast traveled everywhere in Oblivion, but not Fallout 3. Plus, what I thought they did very well, was the idea of telling a narrative without using any words. Walknig into a burnt out house and being able to piece together what it must have been like before the world went to **** was pretty well done IMO. Never did finish main narrative. FONV though has 160ish hours invested, and is basically the typical iterative process (with some excellent creative design behind the process) of keeping what I liked about FO3 and improving on all the stuff I found lacking.

I wouldn't be surprised if Matt and Trey are the $$$$$. It sounds like they approached Obsidian, after all. I hope the game is absurdly successful though. I'm really looking forward to it. I'm not too worried about THQ's stock price, or even their financial situation. Worst case, distribution rights get sold off, and someone else takes the low risk plunge to buy it up and basically print money because they game is effectively done.

I really should spend more time keeping my programming sharp (just for my own amusement) in off times. Gets tough to find motivation though :\