Hell Kitty

Yeah, no one had ever done generic FPS on PC before. God damn kids today don't know nothin' 'bout gaming.

If I can't heal myself after having my legs blown off by a cube of TNT by eating a dozen packets of soy chips I found lying on the streets it's Deus Ex in name only.

What? I'm not complaining about anything.

No. I like the idea of being able to interact with everything, but in reality it's pretty pointless. In Deus Ex 1, you pretty much could. It was the point of the gameplay, a completely reactive envirment. You misunderstand. I'm talking about junk items that serve no real purpose. Things that once picked up you either drop them or throw them, liked potted plants and trophies, or things like phones which make a noise when used but have no purpose at all. In DX you walk into a room, there are 5 objects, and all of them can be interacted with in some manner though only 2 or 3 have any real use. In DXHR you walk into a room, there are 50 objects, but only 2 or 3 can be interacted with. Take this shot for instance, ignoring the man who is about to get stabbed by mean old Jensen, you can probably only interact with the gun and the computer, and the rest of the clutter is non-interactive scenery. If this was DX1, you could probably also interact with the potted plant, the recycling bin, and the phone, but together those 5 things would be the only items in the room. DX was never about being able to pick up anything that isn't nailed down. It's not a Bethesda RPG.

You mean Rainbow Six: Vegas? There isn't a "need" for it so yeah, it's just a choice a designer made.

Yeah, like all the other modern FPS that use third person... wait, what?

No. I like the idea of being able to interact with everything, but in reality it's pretty pointless.

I'm just here for hurlie, the rest of you can go to hell.

This is what a guy from the DXHR forums who saw that game at PAX East had to say about highlighting: Frankly, I don't think it's that big a deal. Based on the gameplay I saw, the brightness and opacity of the highlighting is heavily dependent on both the player's proximity to the object, as well as the directness with which the player looks at the object, meaning that if you are across the room, objects in your crosshair have a very faint orange outline, while anything on the peripherals is not highlighted at all. Get a bit closer to the objects, and eventually the items in your crosshair are, as you have all noticed, quite bright and noticeable. Despite what it looks like on the cam video, I found that the orange glow was not as intrusive as I originally thought that it might be, and in fact it blends rather well with the gold side of the black and gold color palette. Another guy who actually got to play the game claims it's less noticable when playing than when watching. I think the reasoning behind it is because the levels are full of a lot of non-interactive clutter and they want the player to be able to immediately differentiate between stuff you can pick up and use without hovering the crosshair over everything. For example in this still from the video you've got boxes, paint cans, traffic cones and stuff, but the only item you can pick up is the ammo box on the ground. Same thing with this screen shot, you got a whole room of stuff you could potentially pick up and hurl around for no reason, but only 3 items you can actually interact with. While I'd prefer it highlight only what I'm looking at like in the original, I'll not too fussed at this point. I'll wait and see how I feel after I've had a chance to play the thing. I guess that billion dollar trailer that no game could ever duplicate visually has its downside. Eh? Obviously the real-time stuff isn't going to have the same polygons, high res textures, and other fancy effects that a pre-rendered trailer gets, but the visual style of the game is the same as the trailer. Personally I think it all looks great.

8 Minute Gameplay Walkthrough Trailer

Money well utilized should result in a good game that also looks good. Money that results in poor graphics and/or poor gameplay is not money well spent. As previously mentioned art direction is more important than tech. I think Thief 1 & 2 look a hell of a lot better than Thief 3, even though 3 probably has more technical tricks up it's sleeves. Lots of people like to say that they think looks aren't important. Like Hines, I believe that more often than not they aren't being honest. I don't think they are willfully lying, I think that like you people jump to the conclusion that "looks are important" means "looks are the only thing that is important" and don't consider themselves as having such as shallow view, but as I said before it's all too common to see people claim that graphics don't matter and then turn around and complain about low res textures and jaggies in the latest screenshots. Hines never claims everyone is lying, and the existence of people like you doesn't make him wrong. Using cutscenes don't equal neglecting interactive elements. MGS4 has more cutscenes than all other games combined, but the gameplay itself is fab and they improved on previous games. Also, I'm pretty sure you're on drugs and I'm going to have to talk to your mother about this.

Spending more money on x doesn't make x better. Well that's rather shallow of you. Good graphics aren't simply about being pretty. I've always loved the graphics in the PS1/2 Silent Hill games, but they certainly aren't pretty games. If Pete Hines had said slowtrain is lying when he says graphics don't matter then yeah, he'd be wrong. You not the kind of person to appreciate a game's graphics, but he wasn't just referring to you. How so?

Yes, absolutely. It doesn't matter how technologically advanced your engine is if you don't have the artists and direction to do it justice.

That's simply not true. Possibly it is true that all other things being absolutely equal, better graphics would make the same game better, but in the real world, with a limit on resources, all things are never equall. What? You seem to be implying that good graphics and good gameplay are mutually exclusive, which is nonsense. Maybe you've thought every game you've ever enjoyed had crappy graphics, but I've played loads of great games that also looked great. Yes, but what he is NOT saying is that graphics are the only thing that effects immersion. It's common for people to claim that graphics aren't important. Pete Hines is saying that isn't true, graphics ARE important. You're choosing to interpret that as graphics are the ONLY thing that is important. Your interpretation is WRONG. Games are a visual medium, it's ridiculous to claim that the visuals are a minor part of the experience.

No. No it's not. A good game with good graphics is better than a good game with poor graphics. NO ONE is saying that good graphics make up for a poor game. That's entirely in your head. Sometimes you've just got to listen to what people are saying, not what you have decided they are saying.

Where are you getting this? Did you even click the link? No one is claiming that good graphics make a bad game good.

That assumes 2d is the default choice, when I'd say the opposite is true.

When 3D graphics looked like this: perhaps, but today? No way. Streamlined definitely isn't the right word here. The environments were sparsely populated because the 3D technology of the time was so limited. Sure, there was a time where things like 3D and FMV were often used because they were an exciting new fad, but those days are long gone, and I'm surprised that people still think it's the case. It'd be like thinking that the use of colour in film is a pointless fad. Games like Midwinter 2 (pictured), Thief, and Deus Ex use 3D because they offer an experience that can't be replicated in 2D.

For some reason your post made me think of Wizardry.

He talks about "good" graphics, so both. I think plenty of people are lying, it's all too common to see people claim that graphics don't matter and then turn around and complain about low res textures and jaggies in the latest screenshots, but I also think there are plenty of people who just aren't able to appreciate visuals. Hand drawn 2D art beats the pre-rendered 3D of the Infinity Engine any day of the week. You're sounding an awful lot like one of those folks who just isn't able to appreciate visuals... You make it sound as if 2D is the default option in game development, but outside of casual/mobile stuff I would imagine the opposite is true. Who is choosing 3D over 2D in an attempt to "save on assets"?

I like the system in DA2 so far a hell of a lot more than the original. I'm currently in act 2, and after the sex scene with Isabela I questioned her regarding her previous relationships and eventually got the option to tell her something she wasn't happy to hear. She left looking rather sad, but the exchange scored me some friendship points, which made total sense. She brushed off the observation, but my "getting" her made her happy, even if at the time she wasn't willing to admit I was right. In DAO you tell people what they want to hear or you lose points. One moment I quite liked was when trying to help Aveline on her quest for love she mentioned me and Isabela, and Hawke just stared at the ground for about 10 seconds before deciding "Perhaps we aren't the best example".

Considering the amount of people who offer up reviews without actually being customers, instead just throwing out mindless praise or hate for a product, holding an employee who may or may not have worked on the product to a higher standard is pretty much meaningless. It's like expecting people not to **** on the street while ignoring the fact that the street is covered and paved in ****. Internet user reviews are worthless, and I'm not just talking about the fools trying to alter scores, the legions of honest opinions that are nothing more that it's awesome or it's crap are just as bad. Anyone who uses them to make purchasing decisions is a moron, or quite possibly a moran.

It's pretty embarrassing that he has been caught out, but like Ice9 I don't think this is some Bio/EA conspiracy. "Yeah, anyone complaining about internet whiners abusing metacritic user scores needs to keep in mind that there will be just as many DA2 fans inflating user scores with duplicate reviews" Yeah, in an effort to balance out the whiners. Anti Bio whiners are just as bad as drooling Bio fanboys isn't much of an argument. DA2 has received more user reviews in the past week than ME2 has received in over a year. As of right now the PC version of DA2 has twice as many reviews as the PC ME2.

The greatest blog in the history of the universe: Hyperbole and a Half

From one of the youtube comments: "I care not. I live, I love, I slay, and I am content" is a abbreviated quote from Queen of the Black Coast (1936), one of the original Conan stories by Robert E. Howard.