Big Bottom

It's a box containing Half-Life 2, Episode 1, Ep 2, Team Fortress 2 (the big attraction for most...the sequel to arguably the most fun MP shooter ever) and Portal (some kind of first person puzzle game with a gun that makes portals). If you preorder on Steam you get to play TF2 tomorrow...price is $45 right now.

I think the fact that as mods get more advanced the amount of work increases exponentially is a factor with NWN2 and other games. Compare the number of mods for HL2 compared to HL...there really aren't a huge number of high profile ones, I can think of only 3 that I would want to spend time with (PVK2, Dystopia, FF). I guess you could argue that Valve seems to be developing the mods themselves with DoD, CS and TF2 but it still isn't what I envisioned would happen when Source was released.

Man, Orange Box will be a great deal for you. I'm looking for someone to gift my HL2/EP1 to when Orange is released, I'll prolly give it to my brother in-law unless someone here REALLY wants it.

I think we should get a few games of Fortress Forever going in the Obsidian community since it's loads of fun and you don't actually have to be that great at shooters to enjoy yourself. The TF2 beta starts on Monday but in the meantime FF is filling the gap very nicely, it's pretty polished and has very much of the spirit of Team Fortress. So, anyone up for some hot Fort action? http://www.fortress-forever.com/

Manic Miner already has a sequel.

EA were one of the best back before they became so corporate.

Hey, so when's the release date?

Ditto, I was hesitant to join up given the stigma but I haven't regretted it for a minute. Fast downloads, free (good if a bit old) games and some excellent betas...wait a minute, you said all that. I also got into IGN insider for a pittance more. Edit - OK, I'm not installing the Comrade so please someone post here when the keys are released?

Unreal 3 tech is pretty sweet and seems to get some favourable framerates.

Goddamnit! I don't need any more games! Stop tempting me with your nice-sounding latest thing!

So does this update include the new head models?

Hmmm I do love me some monks....your suggestion is tempting. Thread - http://nwn2forums.bioware.com/forums/viewt...0&forum=109 Patch - http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=NWN2O...tail&id=128

The Premonition beta is out now, currently reinstalling NWN2 with the aim of getting into Act 2 this time. This is the third time I'll be playing through the first Act as I keep stopping just when the game is getting interesting...once for a new char and once because of bugs. Any ideas for a fun class to play? I'm thinking rogue as I've never done one before.

I harvested the first one and saved all the others and I got the good ending. There is so much I missed in this game, but I feel exhausted after finishing it so I'm not starting again just yet. Hard mode beckons though...

I just finished, great game...I'll be moving to the spoilers thread now.

Well you got me interested, I preordered MotB on the strength of this thread.

I'm not saying you should do anything, I'm just saying that I agree with the direction they took Bioshock.

As RPGs go, yes Bioshock is shallow. But as shooters go it's as deep as they come, that was the way they designed the game. It did start out as an RPG I guess so I understand why some are angry. It reminds me of that Simpsons quote where Homer is mistaken for Bigfoot - "he's either a below average human being or a brilliant beast", well for me Bioshock is a brilliant beast. Anyway I love a good shooter.

Well, my house could use some extra security anyway. *hammers plank over door*

Does Google Desktop have an impact on gaming performance? I ask because after installing it and the Google sidebar with a few simple gadgets my framerate in Bioshock seemed to drop noticeably. I made a few changes at once to my PC so I'm wondering if this is the one to blame. Does anyone use these things?

Added cutscenes? *hero sits down at table* "Now enough talk of the world-threatening evil maniac, there's always time for a nice drink of ice cold Duff beer."

Mus I just sent you a PM but if you read it you'll probably get very angry and want to lop off my man-bits. I thought you'd completed the game when I read that post so I asked a question relating to the spoilers I'd heard. So don't read it! And if you already have I'm very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very sorry!

I'm with you fellas, the crawls in Act I did just that....crawl. And I'm a big fan of IWD. Interestingly all the engine optimisations will be in the next patch for NWN2, which is so good they've given it a special name - "Premonition". See, I bet you can't wait for it if it has a special name. http://nwn2forums.bioware.com/forums/viewt...4&forum=109

JA2 is also available on Steam. And I'm not fully on the side of abandonware but in the case of System Shock 2 everyone should have a chance to play it. And btw you can pick up a second hand copy of SS2 for