alanschu

If they wanted to make an emulator, then probably. I thought you were talking about just putting the disc in. But it's all just assumptions. I'm not familiar with the OS of the XBOX, nor the concerns as to why they wouldn't allow for emulation on a PC.

No, but Hell Kitty was saying that the "SHOOTER" in First-Person Shooter wasn't fulfilled. Given your lack of control over your squad, I'd say it's probably not a Tactical Squad game. The discussion involved whether or not Deus Ex is actually an FPS/RPG hybrid.

It's just a method of progressing through the game. The ONLY means of combat is using the first person shooter mechanics. It's entire combat model is based on the SHOOTER style of gameplay. Also, Max Payne is not really a First Person Shooter either. In fact, you're the first person I've seen refer to it like that. Why do you refer to it as a First Person shooter though? Because you shoot? But what about the lack of First Person?

Hmmm...perhaps that's the name of my game too! :D

The only method of attack in Deus Ex is by mechanics found in First Person Shooter games. Choosing not to attack doesn't mean it doesn't have its roots in the FPS genre. Go tell Warren Spector that Deus Ex has nothing to do with FPS games based on an all too literal interpretation of the acronym. In other news, my essay I'm writing involves the VeriChip company, of which I keep wanting to put down VersaLife. I've put VeriLife soooo many times.

I'm playing "Let's take a break from an essay." It frequently has to battle with "OMG my AI assignment is due and it is freaking hard" as well as "FFS this project is taking up all my time." Oh, and some WoW on the off chance I have some free time.

People shot at you? You suck!

Thanks!

Haha. Freudian slip I swear!

I agree that the Calder (for better or worse) is Crosby's to lose. I'm more impressed with Ovechkin given the team he plays on. As for Sundin's comments, it reminds me of when Michael Jordan came into the league. I remember reading a quote from a Celtic (I think it was Larry Bird too) about how he enjoys watching Jordan put up 50 and 60 point nights, as long as the Celtics won the game. It seemed like fans echoed his sentiments. Everyone wanted to see this new offensive juggernaut perform insanely creative moves, but still wanted their team to win. It was two for one!

"Wired?" Booooo. Meh, not that I have any wireless peripherals...just trying to steal your thunder. Anyways, break is over. Back to the essay!

Either that or programming. I prefer design though as it's a bit more creative. Bioware is a member of my University's Industrial Internship Program and they plan on taking 4 people from the program as an intern for 16 months. Given I live in Edmonton it's a natural choice. I spoke with Kevin Barrett at the "meet and greet" and had pretty good interaction with him. Apparently they are looking more for design people, so hopefully that bodes well for me. I'm currently planning an RPG adventure for NWN2, but I'm going to quickly pound out a "prologue" type demo for it with NWN to get more familiar with NWScript. Apparently Dragon Age is also going with NWScript as well, so it might be useful. Electronic Arts is also part of it, and while I've heard horror stories about "evil working hours" I'm still a single guy with no life. Given the internship has a fixed time that cannot be longer 16 months, even if it's a large workload, I have an out At worst I come out with 5 years of work experience They did express interest in me for a January placement, but it's only for 8 months so I turned them down. I have a friend that just got a job at Bioware, and he put in a good word for me, so hopefully that helps. He said that with the recent merger he expects Bioware to be hiring for the next couple of years, so I'm actually pretty optimistic. If I'm unable to get an internship at a game company though, there's plenty of other excellent companies that take part in the program. In my spare time I will continue to get familiar with NWScript (hopefully my module for NWN2 will be out by then...pending NWN2's release) as well as Unreal Script. My friend said he'd even be willing to work on an Unreal mod with me too (he made a mod for Half-Life 2...Source Racer, which pretty much got him his job at Bioware). I'm actually planning on being pretty picky upon graduation. I have an interest in AI (which Bioware said they're looking for interns to work with AI), and if I cannot get into any of the jobs that I want, I'll probably go for my Masters in Artificial Intelligence. And no, I'm not usually this planned. You should see my bedroom!

I'm still a fan of the Gravis/PS2 style controller with the 4 shoulder buttons and the 4 thumb buttons, d-pad, and start/select button. I loved my old Gravis, and the only reason I don't still use it is because it's lacking in the dual-analog. I couldn't find any and have a Saitek right now, but my best friend said he found a PS2 style controller at the local Staples so I'll probably snag myself one. The Saitek has 6 buttons with the right thumb, and it gets a bit difficult to pull off button combos when I have to bring my right index finger into the fray as well

Unfortunately, publishers will look at Invisible War and go "Deus Ex is dead" ignoring the fact that it's very different. If we started seeing some games that took charge on Deus Ex's example, it'd be better

I've heard that game development can be crazy fun, but it's not the software engineering vocation that nets you the big bux! Nevertheless I'm steamrolling right into self-induced poverty! :D

My boy Ovechkin still notched two goals! Too bad they didn't have TWO ovechkins

I added a bit to my previous post, not that it affects any of your points in your latest post. I believe metadigital has sources to the average cost of game development. I can't really look for them at the moment because I should be writing an essay instead of posting this It probably does cover the development costs. I think (also like movies) a problem with the current model is that the bulk of that money goes to the publisher, rather than the developer.

It wasn't a hand pass. Hartnell knocked it down to himself, and he was definitely outside the crease when it happened (not that he gloved it anyways).

Movies have avenues of income that go way beyond the movie theater. The majority of the money made for a movie is with the DVD sales nowadays. According to John Buchanan, the University Liasion for Electronic Arts, the total revenue of video games is more than the box office returns. But it doesn't even come close to touching the DVD sales alone, let alone combined with the box office returns. The 600,000 * $50 also only works if all copies of the game were sold at $50. On a final note, the target market of movies is much larger than the target market of video games. Their volume far far far faaaaaaaaar exceeds that of video game sales. Having said that, movies are the exact same way. A few exceptional movies carries the load of many movies that do not make a profit. It too is a gamblers market, where movies are made under the hope that they do well. Many have argued that this has been just as bad for the movie industry, resulting in increased cliches and less innovative ideas. Many movies do not make profits in Hollywood. It's just that the select few can be exceptionally successful and can carry the load. Just like video games.

Errr, I don't recall that. Privateer was a Wing Commander fan's wet dream. It basically let you loose in the universe there. It did have a story, but the most fun was just decking out your ship and messing around. The best part IMO was becoming a pirate, as it made every jump that much more risky as you could stumble upon a militia, or worse yet a confederate, patrol. You could even freelance for the military if you wanted which was neat too, as the quadrant bordered a Kilrathi zone. .

Getting a faulty console would definitely be a kick in the teeth. They better implement one hell of a good return policy :D

Is that silly french game Starflight? I loved Privateer. Though it's numerous planets you could fly to weren't much more than places to trade goods or get missions.

Yup. Every letter pretty much had a corresponding action. Look for the capital letter to know which one you had to push when you accessed the help screen!

A giant rat from the 1986 MS-DOS version: Which I feel is the biggest drawback of the huge demands for art content. It's the art content that bloats a game like KOTOR. I remember Warren Spector talking about how Richard Garriot placed every single tile of land in Ultima 6. Even then that's a pretty huge task. I couldn't fathom it today.

The one thing I notice is how fast those old games play. I can just hold down the up arrow and go from Trinsic to Yew in about a minute in some of those older games. Probably doesn't hurt having the fast computers either.