Solo

Any comments from the team about this podcast? Agreed about the knowing what the devs think about consoles and other aspects of gaming.

Or maybe he has a system that runs NWN2 well enough to not have had any problems? Guessing on that one. But some were lucky and some were not as to how NWN2 worked for them. But I have heard a lot of PC NWN2 users that their first run of it was pretty rough. I have had some hic cups here and there but for the most part so far so good. Anyway back to the topic at hand. We want our next fix for BG!

Well Rhomal for the most part the mods as in fan made mods do work. Thus Pool of Radiance Remastered which is at NWN2 Vault works great. But since, as pointed out, that many of the PC users do have one or both expansions that when they use the tool kit it seems that ceratin elements are needed. However Pool of Radiance works with the original as well as the expansions. It's just the matter of what requirements you put on and in the game. While I can understand the point you brought up there are still mods out there that can still be used by the original NWN2 game. Granted by now they're harder to find but yes they are out there. Just really have to look. And while some say we are small does that really matter for a fan made mod? If everybody could enjoy your mod wouldn't you be happy? Not to sound like I'm singling you or anybody out but if the rest does not matter then why bother at all then? Sorry ranted a bit there. Now it's really not the fault of the fan mod builder but of another compnay Asypri that is dragging there feet about helping to level the play here. Once some issues are resolved you should see a difference and enjoyable experience on the rise. The main reason I think that Linux and Mac NWN2 owners will face is the new overland map function. Since that is in SoZ and Macs only have the 1.12 patch that game will not run right. Thus my saying that such a move would put a damper on things, mainly us pure Mac users of NWN2. But if they could do what the people did for PoRR then maybe we would have a chance. But it depends on the goodies the mod makers are putting in. So I don't think it's a moot subject. (Noticed I said I think. ) So here's hoping for the best. And Rhomal keep stopping by and pointing anything out. I may have missed something.

Judging by the posts there it would seem that they are still working on it. The biggest problem I forsee will that many Mac and Linux users may be leftout if expansions are an issue to run it. Other than that, I am very eager to see this happen. Perhaps they could set up as Pool of Radiance was done? That mod did not need any of the expansions to play. Might drop a comment to the team later on about it.

I agree and support the idea of a Shadowrun game. Here, here. I can say that on here, right?

So is that a vote for yes or should I continue to hold my breath? Wait! Holding my breath is still a good idea right?

What's wrong with that? Unles they have bozookas?! *Sees people staring at him* OK. Bad joke. Bad joke. Anywho. Originalty is always good. Though I still would like to see Shadowrun along with Star Frontiers come to life more. Would T&T be bad to bring back? You know the game from Flying Buffalo Tunnels & Trolls? Yes, I'm that old of a pen and paper player. I've always been a fan of sci-fi and fantasy. But can't forget about the flavor of a little western thrown in like The Galaxy Rangers. That could work out well in a cross between Star Frontiers and Shadowrun. If I can contact a friend who was in the Navy there is a game that he alone, well his wife helped too, made that was really good. Before Wizards of the Coast took over TSR he thought about having them look at his idea for a new game system. Mind you this was pen and paper but TSR wanted to own all the rights to it. So he gave up on them. But we played it in the Fleet Lounge on Yokosuka Base. The blessive days of gaming. Would the Obsidian team be willing to look at such a game idea? If so, let me know and I'll try to track him down or reley your interests to him and let it go from there. I would say more on it but I don't want to without talking to him first. I have copies to his whole game system that he originally designed and would love for his dream, idea to happen. So weather or not it goes to computers, consoles, or the good old fashion pen and paper, just seeing his game reach others would be a very happy moment for me as well as him. I'm off topic aren't I? Well better cool down now.

That's a good question. I'll have to look. A friend of mine did say that he saw NWN2 for the PC here that was in Japanese. The next time I'm in the stores I'll look to see what all makers are there. I do know that bioware and MS can be found as well as some Blizzard games. But as for Obsidian can't really say because until NWN2 came out I never really knew that they were a company. I thought they were fan based people joining together to make mods or expansions. Sorry about that guys. But since I know a bit better about them I can keep a better eye out. Solo

What about Grey Hawk? You had so many neat worlds Living Grey Hawk, Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms. Didn't get into Blood rite/right? and there was another about middle Earth or something about the sun. My memory is so bad. But yes, something needs to be done besides updates to the AD&D books. Think I'll pull out my Tunnels and Trolls books.

A blade runner game would be really cool. Maybe that would be a worthy new project to tackle there guys? Though some may cringe at this, if Shadowrun sounds good as well as Blade Runner, why not try Star Frontiers? I miss playing that game.

I hope this idea takes off from the ground. There are so many wonderful ideas that could be aired and then could be posted here as feedback on the issue that was brought up in the podcast. Not that such an idea couldn't happen here on the board like that but the podcast would and should be able to reach more I would assume? It was only by dumb luck I found this place. So here's hoping for the best on this project idea.

On the idea of podcasting here. Would people from other countries be allowed to converse on the show? Like ask a question or would we submit them in before hand? I'm in Japan and the time difference is really hard depending on what time a live cast could be done to be actually able to communicate live.

I can see your point there. But as long as they only put the bare amount of printed materials and nothing else then a thin case should be the step to take. The idea of adding maps and extra gaming materials would be great if one could role play such activities in a pencil and paper(old days of RPGing) and on their computer. Or how about a DM set that would help make the toolset more easy to work like a flow chart of what it is game world creating you want to do and then added in the game? Maybe I'm jumping ahead of myself here but could such a idea be possible?

That's great. Wish all countries would use less materials. Some items can't be helped like materials that include the paper manuals as in Lightwave and or Poser. But when the manuals are in PDF on the disk and or can be viewed on line then the packaging size can be reduced. Thus making more floor and shelf space.

True the size of the product does play havoc on the shelf space. Thus yes, in America they still have the really big boxes that holds the thin case that holds the DVD. But again, if the shops are not willing to let the other platform games be displayed then what is the point? Let me shine the light this way. How many rows do they have for the PC that are double copies? Then when and if a Mac section is there, you normally see only one of a certain type of app. But when consumers see the rows of software, it does look massive for the PC side while the Mac really looks small. Again, shops are setting up the displays to not draw attention to the Macs. Most of the stores still put the Macs in the back. I think I have said this before and if so, sorry to repeat it. But that's my take. But yes I am aware that PC titles are still more than the Mac at this point. But it is also not as small as the setup the shops have. Maybe it's to do with their supplier and or area of shipment. But clearly some may understand what I am trying to say. No this is not a consperacy notion just a quick take on how I feel about the layout of some stores.

And why can't Mac and Linux users be taken seriously there, Morgoth? No traps, no flame bait, or antics here. Just would like to know why you think so? Again this is useful info for the obsidian team to know the pro and con of this subject. As far cost, I have no idea but they would need the license for starters. Then get a team that could handle or know the ropes of the Mac to start the coding of the game. So yes as with all systems, cost is a factor. But if one does a half-hearted effort on their product then not many targets are you going to get.

I'd take it that the Mod Walsingham hasn't seen this thread since the last posting or my answer is not understood? I would buy for any system I own if the software title is what I want to play is good. Looking forward in knowing what you Walsingham would do on the very same question you asked me? Solo

Fair question. Let me answer truthfully. I have the Famicom, Super Famicom, Nentindo 64, and PS2 console. The hardware for computers I have 3 Macs. Two PPC and one Intel chip type. I have for games for the Mac such as Pool of Radiance (Darkness) OS 9, BG with all expanisons OS 9, BG2 with all expansions OS X, NWN1 and 2 OS X. Other AD&D titles I still have are Pool of Radiance, Curse of the Azure Bonds, Hillsfar, and Secrets of the Silver Blades that are for the Commodore computer. I also have Eye of the Beholder for the Super Famicom. So what does all this mean? It means that if I like the title I will buy it to play on what platforms that I have and can play them on. As long as the price is not too expensive, yes I will buy the same titles for different platforms so I can enjoy that game no matter where I go or am at. That's just me of course but if I like what I see, yeah I'll buy multi copies for the different systems because they all play a little differently and can be fun to see what's so different. Yes, I'm strange. But does that somewhat answer your question of curiousty? I don't have AD&D games for my PS2 because my Japanese reading sucks. I'm crawling just to play on the Super Famicom as it is. But if I can find an English version for AD&D PS2 games that'll work legally on my Japanese PS2 you're darn straight I'll buy. I refuse to buy an English PS2 console because software makers can make DVD games with language options on them.

I think this will shed some light as to why we Mac users are having such a horrible time on getting games. In recent years, there has been a lot of love -- and a lot of hype -- for the Mac. Yet one aspect about the Apple personal computers is not discussed much in the media: Games. Even as sales of Macs continue to increase, and as more people who have been accustomed to using Windows PCs for several years are considering a Mac as their next system purchase, there remains relatively little consideration of them as a serious gaming platform. Aspyr Media started its business porting AAA Windows PC games to the Mac, and the company did so back in the days when the Mac was not as popular (and as well-sold in numbers) as it is now. Thanks to Aspyr, Mac users have enjoyed quality ported versions of The Sims and Quake franchises, and other popular Windows PC titles, for their computers. Over the last few years, the company has since expanded its business into developing and publishing original IP (Stubbs the Zombie for Xbox, PC and Mac), porting game console titles to the Windows PC (Guitar Hero 3 and Tony Hawk's American Wasteland), and publishing console titles (Dreamfall for Xbox). Yet Mac games will remain important to the company's foreseeable business, assures Glenda Adams, Aspyr's Director of Technology & Development. Not only does she oversee the development of all Aspyr games, she has been working in the Mac gaming field for over 20 years. So Gamasutra consulted Adams for some thoughts about the current state of Mac game development, and to help solve the mystery of why it doesn't seem to get much respect. Nowadays, what would you say is the greatest challenge in developing AAA games for the Mac platform? Right now, the biggest technical challenges are the rapid changes in video cards and drivers Apple has been releasing for the various Mac models. The release of Leopard has meant Apple's OpenGL resources seem to be focused primarily on the new OS. It's been harder than usual for us to get fixes for GL issues in older versions of OS X. This has been compounded by a lot of turnover in the video hardware included with new Mac models. It seems each upgrade to the iMac or MacBook line completely swaps out the graphics cards with wildly new cards. This puts us almost in the same position on the Mac as on the PC -- having a very broad range of video cards to support, all with their own quirks. It's been difficult for us to get our Christmas '07 Mac games, like Guitar Hero 3 and Quake Wars, working well on all the various combinations of video cards, OS versions, and GL drivers for the Mac. Overall, the bigger challenge for Mac games is not technical but sales. That is the number one factor driving what games can come to the Mac. We've had so many projects we've had to pass on over the last few years simply because we knew there was no way the Mac version of the game would sell enough to break even. And many of those were very good games, critical and sales successes on the PC. So to generally improve the status of Mac game development, is the answer simply greater market share for Macs? Unfortunately, I don't think market share is the answer. For years, that's all we hoped for -- more Mac market share would mean more game sales. But Apple has doubled the number of Macs they sell per quarter, and game sales haven't gone up. So now I believe it is more of a retail and marketing issue. There just aren't enough places to buy Mac games. Sometimes the amount of space devoted to Mac games in retail stores can be very limited. Having a well-established digital distribution service on the Mac, like Steam, would be one answer. Or, Apple selling games through iTunes would help solve some of the shelf space problem. On the marketing side, Aspyr is trying to do a better job reaching out to new Mac users and letting them know that gaming on a Mac is an option -- embrace it! We are also working with Apple and other Mac supporters to give some spotlight to gaming on Mac. How to solve the problem of why Mac users in general don't buy games is the biggest challenge a Mac game developer or publisher faces in today's market. Speaking of Steam, over a year ago, your company announced it was developing a Mac game download service, called The Gamerhood, which it claimed would function like the Steam platform on Windows. We haven't heard anything about it since -- what's the latest on this? We don't have any new news, and have had to put our internal plans for digital distribution on hold for a while. We still really would like to get our games out digitally for Mac, and are trying to find out the best way to make it happen. What would be technically needed to help improve game development? I'd love to see Apple come up with a uniform way to release OpenGL updates across all their operating systems and hardware. Similar to what Microsoft does with Direct3D -- although obviously, you have the secondary issue of lower-level ATI [and] nVidia drivers on the PC -- give game developers a good target graphics layer with stability, performance, and functionality that runs across Macs from those just released to ones that are a few years old. This would really cut our development and testing time, allowing us to get titles to market faster. Mac systems still comprise a very small portion of sales of the overall PC market. But the number of Mac owners compares favorably with that of current generation game consoles sold so far. So you would think there would be many PC game developers interested in developing original games or simultaneously for the Mac, but this hasn't been the case. What are your thoughts on this? It's all about the installed base of gamers, not just computers. Every console owner buys games for their system, since that is its sole use. But the percentage of active gamers on the Mac is so much smaller; it limits the target market considerably. I think it comes back to potential sales: If you don't think you can sell enough units of a game on Platform X to pay for development costs, it's hard to justify doing a game for that platform. What's your opinion about the way Apple itself has regarded game development for the Mac? Frankly, over the years, the company has come across as either disorganized, aloof, clueless or outrightly dismissive about the subject of gaming and game development on the Mac. I've worked with Apple and games for almost 20 years now. I've seen them in all of those phases, plus times where they were attentive, helpful, and really seemed interested in game development. But there does seem to an overall lack of strategy at Apple regarding games and the Mac platform. It's probably the most frustrating thing Mac game developers deal with -- just where do games fit in with Apple? The Mac gaming space could explode with the right help from Apple on the marketing, retail, and technical fronts. From your observation, what kind of games do most Mac users typically like to play? The first impression one might have is that casual games appeal more to this audience -- but is this necessarily true? Definitely from our experience the best selling games are more casual titles, like The Sims and Roller Coaster Tycoon 3. But there is a decent audience on the Mac that plays strategy games, like Civilization or Age of Empires. After that, I think FPS are the next largest demographic of Mac gamers. Let's say I'm a developer of AAA games for Windows and am undecided about whether I should port one of my games to the Mac -- perhaps I might want to hire you guys to do it. What would you advise me? If you are a small PC developer with a reasonably portable codebase and online sales, you probably could get a nice sales bump by having a Mac version. If you are developer doing AAA boxed retail games, sell over 500,000 units on the PC. Because that's the best indicator we've seen of what will also sell well on the Mac. So it would seem that actually many game makers would like to port the titles over but Apple should make the door a little easier to enter. And shops should be more open minded and let the Mac selection be more visible for shoppers. I have seen where they almost try to hide the Mac hardware and software off in the back and make the selection shelves look so small that many would-be buyers may often shy off. But not all stores do this but some do.

Thanks for the info there. I'll be sorting for it soon.

Linux can be run on Live CD which means your computer can be booted from the disk that Linux is on whithout installing anything to test run it. Or you could instal it directly to your HD of choice. Word of caution is that Linux does not like NFTS formats but FAT and FAT32 are just fine. The reason is if you wanted a dual OS's Linux won't recodnise NFTS and therefore you can'T set up your partian right. Linux id free but there are some packages (distros) that are company controled. But for the most part free. I'm using Ubuntu 8.10, I think, on one system and Ubuntu UE 2.0 on another. You'll have some driver issues here and there on certain printers and or WiFi PC cards but usually an update clears the mess. If not there are tons of self help pages but weeding the answer can be a doozy for a new comer but you'll get the hang of it soon. I mainly use Macs but I have Ubuntu and Amiga OS as backups to play around with. Ubuntu reminds me both the Win and Mac interface. With Ubuntu (linux) you can control the OS much better than with Windows or the Mac OS. But you should read up on terminal use and meanings when dealing with the inners of it before you start tinkering with it. Wine is a project that allows Win apps to run naitively on other systems with needing the Windows OS to run the program you want. I have it for the Mac and it's called "Crossover" Not all apps work right but a lot do. Once more and more get on the team of this we may see a means of not needing Windows at all. I hope this will get you started right. If you have any more questions please do ask us. Solo

True that. But we shouldn't have to rely on Wine in the first place. Well that's how I see it. But yeah, GW plays very well on Wine.

Shadowrun? The only Shadowrun I know is the pencil and paper one. But to have a computer game version would be cool. If it's the one I'm thinking about. BGIII. eh? I hope so. Please let there be a Mac version of it.

Hmm..... So from the replys sofar, a Mac or Linux game would be unpopular to some of you? Not to sound trolling or flame baiting here just trying to understand feelings for games being made for systems besides consoles and Win PC computers. I wasn't a Mac user to start out with. I started on a Radio Shack MC-10 then went on to the Commodore 64, C64, and the C128. After that I had my first PC which was a 286 at the time running just dos. Yes, I'm pre windows. So at the time I was used to line commands and flow charts. But that all changed when I got my first Mac which was a Classic II. The first experience for a GUI system. But I was still used to the idea that granted not all games and software were ported to each other but at least some of the top brands and names were. Now we have the PC commanding a large lead in the market and consoles holding their own wars for turf with other rivial platforms. So the question once again is would a game being made for the computer market and not the consoles be so wrong as to make a Linux or Mac version? I can use almost any system but I like the Mac. So to all other users there, what is your personal opinion on this? And if you don't like Macs and or Linux systems and you post about it, by all means be honest. You will not hurt my feelings So this is not about which is a better machine because we all have different needs and tastes. Todays systems are not that all much different from one another to warrent such silly squalbals. (spelling?) So what say you all? This would be good for the programmers and staff of the site if we really laid out how we feel I would think?

Again I can understand the business point of it. But how do you chose then? How do you know what or which is the better market then? So Nightshape, looking at your post there and only about the info and not pointed at you how would they know then if making a game for the PC vs console is better then? What's the demographics for PS2 vs XBox vs 360 XBox vs PS3 vs Wii vs PC then? Some games are solely for that console and no other. Yes it bites. But so many other games were on the other systems as well. But now, again I say now, that all PC hardware runs mainly intel chips, what's the hold up then? If I remember correctly when the Macs used the PPC and PC's were on the intel chips there were lots of complaining that programmers had to keep changing the codes for the Macs. Because something was changed either in the update for the program or for the OS it self that many got turned off. This seems to be that if the Macs were running the same chip as the PC most of the problems would be gone then? Now the Macs run intel. Yes the Macs os keeps getting upgraded. But didn't Windows get updated too? Most of the stuff that Windows uses comes from the Mac anyway. Idea wise. So I am happy that a voices are being heard on here as well as spoken. But we are still waiting for a tech to enlighten us here. As one mod pointed out, yes the NWN2 has nothing to do with this company Obsidian. But aren't the expansions made by them? They need some kind of Windows installer to be installed, right? Now if I messed up somewhere please do correct me. So how about it Obsidian guys? Care to chat a bit?