alanschu

There's something about controlling a powerful Tiger Tank that just makes my day

You don't need KOTOR to play KOTOR 2. It's not an expansion pack.

Search your feelings, and you will know. Quick...easy the darkside is...more seductive.

Love them or hate them, Electronic Arts is THE big name player in today's video game world. Gamespy has an interview with him about his take on the video game market as it makes the transition into the upcoming consoles. Check it out I couple of things that I noticed: While I like nice new graphics as much as the next person, I'm a little cautious about this statement. He states matter-of-factly that "more pixels will make more people want to buy more games." I fear this supports my suspicions that games are going to have even more graphical focus, which is going to require huge art teams and require big bux! Hopefully the smaller developers don't get left in the dust. As a boon to the PC side, I think niche markets are easily exploited in the PC market, which is where I see smaller developers allocated more of their resources. Again, I see "I'm a graphics guy." As someone that greatly values gameplay over graphics, this worries me. With increased focus on graphics, production values are going to climb even higher. And here's some interesting stuff that I bet Epiphany would enjoy, given a previous discussion. It relates more towards the PS3 and the XBOX 360. Now I'm sure some people will go on about conspiracies and how EA is in bed with Sony, but I honestly cannot see why EA would have any vested interest in playing Sony's marketing hype game for them. But then you could say "Entis is just a suit, he doesn't know anything." But I would assume that given his position at the largest video game entity on the planet, the man is probably a little smart. I would suspect that his opinions about the power of the processor would be reflective of the people that report him's opinion. This line is actually part of the same paragraph as the above, and actually immediately follows my previous quote. I guess this is a bit of a "payback" of sorts, but I just thought I'd mention that floating point can help with AI. It's not just logic, especially when a robust AI is going to be utilizing statistical measures of its probability distributions to help determine a likely, yet dynamic course of action. The distributions are utilized to determine the probabily of n events, and the dynamic nature of this means that given the exact same situation, the AI is not going to be bound by the same decision. As the game state changes, the distibution function is going to have to fluctuate to accomodate the changes. This is all a stastical analysis and will require floating point calculations. Given a large amount of units that all have independent AIs, it's possible that it might even take a sizeable chunk of progressing power. Anyways, rant over. Discuss what you think about the interview, or if you don't care to read it, just your views about the evolution of video gaming into the next 5 years. EDIT: In related news, there's mention that EA will be distributing Half-Life 2 for the XBox.

I'm a bit hesitant that it might become a huge Jedi war. I know they are making it possible for you to use a Jedi class as a reward of some kind...hopefully it's not too imbalancing, and not too easy to do.

Hmmm, I don't mind the random loot. I never reloaded a game because I didn't like the loot that I got. The game's were easy enough as it was.

I don't know if any of you out there are WW2 fans that enjoyed the Close Combat games, but I loved them. The realistic tactics, combined with a morale model where suppressed/pinned down troops were unable to execute orders was a great idea for a game IMO. The Close Combat games featured a realistic model, where a Tiger Tank was virtually indestructable from the front, not just "requiring more hits" like in a game such as Codename: Panzers. The joy of sneaking up behind a Tiger and shooting him with a Sherman was exhilarating. I'm hoping Company of Heroes delivers the same type of experience. It has a sweet looking 3D engine, and all the terrain is deformable and can be used in strategic manner, from cover and concealment to blocking off roads and alleys and so forth. Given the realistic physics, taking out the corner of a building will cause that building to fall in a dynamic way, based on the physics engine and not some predetermined "building falling down" animation. It's still a ways away, with a 2006 release scheduled, but if you want you can check it out. Here's the homepage. It's not to in depth however, given the game is still a ways off. IGN has an indepth preview that was a pretty good read. Gamespot has a few videos and an interview if anyone is interested. EDIT: Watching the Official Gameplay Footage at Gamespot gave me the impression that a shot soldier is down, and I saw a Tiger shoot a tank and it just blew up. Finally a game where it's not just about getting down the HP of a unit? :ohpleaseohpleaseohplease:

Actually, the per-pixel effects can do an excellent job. In fact, Half-Life 2 is a stellar example of this. Compared to Doom 3, it's polygon count is actually quite a bit lower. However, with their mad use of bumpmapping, I find the game actually looks better (aside from the shadows). I remember seeing some side by side comparisons of Half-Life 2's graphics with textureless polygons, and textured polygons, and you'd have no idea the polygon count was that low. So I guess I stand corrected...to an extent. I wonder if it's a good or bad thing to have the perpixel effects, combined with increased polygons?

I would think that there were many lessons learned for how to incorporate that sort of open-endedness in KOTOR 2's development, that will streamline the process in KOTOR 3. I really liked the relatively hidden way that they do it, by having natural dialogue with the NPCs dictate it. Although I wouldn't even been adverse to just answering a questionnaire before the game officially begins.

My roommate and a few of my friends love playing coop games. I was wondering what ones you guys know of. They don't have to be more than two people, but if I can play somehow through some sort of campaign mode with a friend, it usually makes the many times more enjoyable. Recent games that I have played coop are: Serious Sam (honestly one of the most enjoyable coop experiences ever) Splinter Cell 3 (an excellent take on coop mode, with the players controlling a pair of ninjas spies) Duke Nukem 3D (yes....I'll still play this one coop simply because it's coop :D) NWN IWD NOLF2 (an excellent coop mode, where you play UNITY agents that do missions parallel to what Cate has done). If something was given to Cate in a mission, it's your job to plant it there for when she comes by. If Cate has exfiltrated, then you guys go in and clean up the mess). Games on the Radar for coop are Full Spectrum Warrior, and Sven Coop 2 (not yet released) but that's about it. Any suggestions?

Nah, just bored/trolls.

I'm not saying that they don't have really nice models. But I still think we could use some more polygons

Well, I got the impression that that was just scripted, and only if you didn't have your weapons out. Mind you, I didn't have skills in awareness, so.

I think Galactic Battlegrounds did ok AFAIK. Nothing spectacular.

And could you even detect the Mandalorians on Kashyyyk anyways?

Hehehe.

I still think we need some more polygons. Polygons has always been the focus for me. I can look past jaggies and whatnot (even at 1024x768 with no FSAA, I only notice them if I'm looking for them). But when someone has a blocky face or something, then ugh.

Awareness was screaming for dialogue options. Don't know wtf it even did in KOTOR 1. Detect mines? Which isn't an issue anyways?

I'll agree. I've seen some people do some absolutely insane things with Photoshop. Some of my favourites are animated gifs of this guy that kills himself. Basically he'll be sitting at the computer screen or something, and suddenly another version of himself will come in and snap the original's neck. He'll then sit down and look at the computer screen, and the process repeats. They look damn funny. On a side note, I always love how no matter what, in TV and movies its always possible for them to use a computer to increase the resolution so that they can see that defining trait on the bad guy or the piece of the license plate to give them the big lead they're looking for.

Hehehe. I always love the look in Mace Windu's eyes in Episode III when they're in that saber lock. It's a focused, determined scowl, and I can't help but think he's thinking "What are you doing?? I'm a bad mutha ****er"

Gramps. Little kids in diaper don't have the years required to make a man as bitter as GoD

It was gold when they were usable in dialogue. I loved how my Computer Use knowledge would let me know if someone was trying to BS me about their computer skills or something.

I would think that if they were to officially "force" a sex on Revan, it'd go with the Lucasarts Canon of Lightside Male.

The beauty thing of the upgrading though, is that it isn't really essential. I loved playing with the upgrades, and it made the skills much more useful and applicable....something that was not the case in KOTOR 1.

It'd be a tight quarter battle to say the least. I'd suspect vehicles will have less than stellar performance. I doubt it'd be much different than fighting in Vietnam :D I wonder what the special bonuses of the planets will be.