Wrath of Dagon

A cotract is a contract, has nothing to do with whether a game came out or not. Like she says, the publisher doesn't need the backlash when they're spending millions for good PR.

I thought you Europeans were past all that staff: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fr%C3%A9d%C3%A9ric_Mitterrand

That's the game industry for you, a few franchises make huge money, everyone else is struggling at best. There's no answer for that. It all depends on location and job position. For example it's really pricey to live in California area, less in Texas, still less in UK, even less in Finland (Max Payne, Alan Wake developers Remedy or Flatout developer Bugbear) and still less in Poland (The Witcher developers CDproject). Entry level programmer can barely pay his rent and buy food while Lead Progammer get big bucks. For example the salaries in Nightshapes linked list are way too high. If entry level progammer would ask 50k here in Finland, he'd end up with the permanent smile on his face in the nearest river. Actually Texas is a pretty cheap place to live, I believe that applies internationally among first world countries as well.

If he's serious about good games, he shouldn't be such a graphics whore. Graphics have very little to do with enjoying a strategy game after the first few minutes. I used to think good games have really dried up also, but for the past year or so there's been a steady stream of good to excellent games. Of course most of them are shooters, but still. Edit: He's right about RTW being crap compared to MTW though.

You are right by principle. But i do not see anything that will simply break this trend unless they hire a new main writer. Writers team is the same. If you found Dragon Age's writing completely uninteresting then I don't honestly see much hope for you. Not completely uninteresting, rather missed potential and underdeveloped. I am a hopeless optimist, goddammit! That can be fixed, I'm a pessimist though

To be fair, you don't know yet if the dialog will be uninteresting or not.

Wow, that whole rant was just about the voiced PC. Why do people obsess on one part of the mechanic instead of evaluating the game as a whole? Was Veilinn the one who went on endlessly about the male Shepard being used to promote ME and how that would make the game impossible to play?

At least this should keep him out of the US.

What do you mean nuttier?

The humor was nice, but the puzzles so-so.

I think you still get a summary in addition to the mood. Which is what AP should've done.

If you think the dealers are bad, wait till big corporations jump into this. "Joe the Pot Smoking Camel"

The difference is you either play for nothing or for real money, neither of which I'm interested in doing. In a game, you play for in-game money, which suddenly makes that activity meaningful. Ever play One-hit in Shenmue or Pazaak in Kotor?

For the same reason we don't ban cars even though they are resposible for more deaths than anything except natural causes. It's a question of costs vs benefits.

I love that they included gambling mini-games. I might just spend most of my playing time playing blackjack.

There are some kids who tend to get into trouble, and some that don't. I'm concerned that even that those who don't will see this as a green light. It's just like if you make shoplifting legal, it's harder to convince a kid shoplifting is wrong. As far as clearing out prisons, I think possession is already a misdemeanor in most states, and it's already de facto legal in California, all you need is a note from a doctor that you have trouble sleeping or something. And it's not like all those drug dealers are suddenly going to turn into fine, upstanding citizens. They'll just find another illegal activity to engage in.

But I'm saying it'll be an even bigger problem if it's legalized. I think you'll appreciate the issue more once your own kid reaches a certain age. No mattter how you try to bring him (her?) up, if the society is sending an opposite message you've got an uphill fight. If it's a major gateway drug, than it is a destroyer of lives. Even in limited use I believe it reduces a person's potential. If alcohol were illegal already, I would be against legalizing it, nor would I be against making it illegal.

False argument, glue is even more dangerous when abused, yet we don't outlaw glue. Edit: All that's going to happen when pot is legalized is it'll get cheaper and more socially acceptable, more kids will get hooked and destroy their lives, and society will have more problems, not less. Edit2: Also, you can enjoy alcohol without getting drunk, you can't enjoy pot without getting stoned.

Ironically, the best implementation of voiced protagonist I've seen up to this point was when I went into the Veil as Morrigan. The dialogue options gave me the clear intent of what she was about to say, while what she actually said very much matched her personality. Neither ME nor AP have succeeded as well IMO.

I can, they were fine.

Can't wait, I bet I'll have to solve some personal problems for them also.

Except in particle physics.

Good article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/matt-ridley/...o_b_630792.html I remember the 70's, it's true, it was all gloom and doom.

Beer & sandwich.

What Kotick is really saying is he'd like to be able to charge you subscription for playing COD online. It's not that they love PC piracy. Edit: What they really want to kill are not consoles, but single player games. They want everything online, to prevent piracy and get recurring revenue from subscriptions, the Holy Grail of the game publishers.