Morgoth

Who is delusional here? Bioware and EA are still two different companies, even if EA owns Bio. Bio develops ME2, EA publishes it. Two different companies. Wake up, man.

Bioware is developing ME2, not EA. Period

So, now you're becoming sober after all. But what's that crap with "EA is making ME2" then?

Encounter-based level design. That's so 1998. And they even get away with that (thanks to pretty graphics eh?). The level design in DX was years ahead, as it encouraged the player to be more creative and seek out different ways to reach your goal. Call it emergent leveldesign, or whatever you Uni type gamedesigner call it, but DX was and still is ahead of these lazy-linear-designed shooters from today. But hey, pretty graphics can fix that.

I doubt Bio is unhappy with EA. But EA let go of Pandemic Brisbane a month ago because they failed to release that Batman game. I mean wow. Set into the wild. Not shut down. Just let go. That's great if you ask me. Yes, yes, they're a division, blabla. But it's still the same company, and still the same people there working. It's not like they fired all Bio staff overnight, replaced them with EA staff and only keep the logo. That's just ridicilous. Besides, the Bio doctors are also EA vice presidents, so that means they have some say as well - OVER BIOWARE. And yes, they keep doing what they want, after all, that's what makes Bioware so succesful. They make the right decisions that benefits them (creatively) and EA (economically). BIS is a flawed comparision, as BIS was created from Interplay, and only existed as the RPG label. But Bio was formed independently. Bio is Bio. EA would be stupid to change that, and everybody knows that.

What do you mean boxes? The same pattern the level design used. Enter area with predefined cover points, release a trigger, monsters appear, shoot them into the face. Then some talk, then the same **** again. Like box after box. American design philosophy.

You're dead wrong. Bio is still fully intact as a company, and is not an internal EA studio (like the EA sports or Dead space makers), as it is not directly being managed by EA. Bio has been founded as an independet company, and is fully intact. The only change is that they're now a subsidiary of EA. That increases the revenues for EA, but being a subsidiary does not turn you automatically into EA. Bio can also let go free again if they screw up or EA get's into trouble, as opposed to the internal EA development studios. Bio is still Bio. Live with that.

I think SC2 will be ready for 2009. They're prolly announce the release date at the BlizzCon in August. Or not.

The naval battles were more fun than the actual land battle. But as usual, the Total War demos just don't really represent the full splendor of the full version. I think I'm gonna buy the full version, playing with Austria and then try to annex Prussia.

I think it was pretty clear from the beginning that Diablo 3 would hit shelves in 2010 at the earliest.

And NHL 2009 was developed by Bioware. R00fles!

That looked impressive indeed. Maybe I should give this new reincarnation a try? Never played the old version of Riddick... But I better wait for a demo first.

Little girl? She's 106 years old!

Let's just admit people that back in 1999/2000 most games were flawed and clunky. DX, despite it's weak shooting part, was still an important gem. At least critically.

There's also some speculation, mis-management, and overly-paid bonuses that fatten up the budget. Not to mention a lot unnecessary PR/marketing actions and viral marketing. (FEAR2 van with FEAR2 cats. I mean WTF?)

I *did* respond to your outrage. Indeed. I completely overlooked it, thanks to these obtrusive smileys.

DX' design was ambitious, but flawed. I prefer that more rather than some "perfectly" made Gears of War boxes that repeat themself like a pattern. In DX, there were always these little things you could discover. I miss this attention to detail in modern games.

Stop the spamming, ladies. Why does nobody respond to my outrage about the DX levels?

Is Clear Sky better than the original STALKER? I really liked Stalker for the first 10-15 hours, but then I got lost for some reason and I was too stupid to gather anything from the map. I just got stuck. Is Clear Sky in that respective a bit "Sky clearer"?

Ahhh yes, the AvP2 raping... It was a time when Monolith was still hardcore enough to make challenging shooters. Now they're doing "focus testing" with nubs, which results into nub games like FEAR2.

"...designers didn

Same with me, i just hope there will be still some indies who can make a game which is at least at half difficulty that some of the games of my youth were... nowadays i get bored by almost every game i play because they made it so unchallenging It also has something to do with the actual player skill. Back in 1999, when I played Aliens vs Predator or System Shock 2, I really thought those games were immensely hard. Today I just breeze through these same games like a wind with zero effort.

Oh and Sheppard is believed to be KIA? I already see how the introduction mission (a'la Eden Prime) works out. Play as a rookie, stumble over ol' Sheppard who is believed to be dead on a desolated planet, and then get a hug (if female), a collar-grab (if male) or some hot buttsecks (if blue alien). Anyway, Sheppard will be back again for sure.

Perhaps Alpha Protocol has been put on hold too and nobody told us! Cynic, I know...

I won't miss your trolling, but Ciao anyways.