TheHarlequin

So your saying then any dictator in the world we should go invade then? Because by your logic their people, in theory just like iraq, would be better off without them.

Presumably you were pleased to enjoy the BBC's 24 hour coverage of the festival? I certainly ***ing hope so, because no-one else was. Wow.. what a close minded religious hater. Your bigotry aside, there is about ~2 million folks under the pagan umbrella in north america, ~4 mil world wide*. Where in 1990 is was less then 50K world wide*. Point being not only are you inaccurate in your assessment (though you were not going for factual accuracy granted) but non-Judaic/xian religious shows, orgs and view points are simply going to continue to grow at a wild pace. Deal. *Source: religious tolerance web site

I LOVE this game. Play it all the time. In fact I'd say its much more addictive then the current civ game.

Apparently they make online browser games that look a bit like those popular Facebook games like Farmville and Mafia. Seems like he might have a bit of a reason to be biased here. I do see the subscription model changing in the near future, but I think it will always be a part of most AAA MMO's. For example, LotRO still has a very good amount of monthly subscribers, despite implementing a free to play and micro-transaction model. Also means that their opinion has less weight than that of the homeless guy who sits outside the local gamestop. a. Just because he does not make AAA games does not mean his view point is automatically invalid. b. He still works in the industry, more so then you or I. Thus his opinion still carries more weight until either of us do.

"If you look at Star Wars from EA and BioWare, they estimated a development budget of over $100m. This is an online game for many million of subscribers, so the publisher does not understand that a subscription model is not the future. With micro-transactions maybe I see the game having a chance but I don't think that EA or BioWare will ever be profitable with this game." Bigpoint CEO Heiko Hubertz on Star Wars: The Old Republic at the London Games Conference -- Interesting to say the least. Generally you don't have other game houses speaking this poorly of other games, especially those still in the dev stage. Perhaps EA being the powehouse it is has such a big target on its back its open season to take a poke at it for a cheap pop. As its always cool to rip the king of the hill. However I can't at this point dispute his analysis.

Blessed Samhain & Happy New Year to all my fellow Pagans, Witches and Wiccans

From bluesnews; Artemis Spaceship Bridge Simulator is an independently developed networked multiplayer game for Windows that allows networked PC to act as the various stations on the bridge of a starship. A playable demo is available for sampling, and here's word on what to expect: Artemis simulates a spaceship bridge by networking several computers together. One computer runs the simulation and the "main screen", while the others serve as workstations for the normal jobs a bridge officer might do, like Helm, Communication, Engineering, and Weapon Control. Artemis is a social game where several players are together in one room ("bridge") , and while they all work together, one player plays the Captain, a person who sits in the middle, doesn't have a workstation, and tells everyone what to do. http://www.bluesnews.com/s/115426/artemis-...ridge-simulator --- This so reminds me of the FASA Star Trek Starship simulator RPG back in the day. While the graphics does not seem all that impressive the gameplay sure does seem to get the job done and succeed at its main goal. The only downside of this is you need a good 3 or 4 ppl per 'ship' and getting that many people in one room with that many PCs seems more fit for a new cafe kind of setup then something one can easily logistically do at home.

From Bluesnews; In a very special Champions Online State of the Game Update, we learn that Cryptic's superhero MMORPG is following many other MMOGs in going the free-to-play route. The update outlines how they are changing advancement and content delivery going forward before going on to explain the game's new business model involving an expanded C-Store and the benefits of what will become optional subscriptions. They say a "restricted beta" for these new features will commence next month --- Seems the success of the free to play social MMO's of southeast asia is having such a impact the western counterparts are following suit. It was only a matter of time before the formula of the MMO changed (you can only get so many people with pay to play business model) but it seems this shift is happening very rapidly as of late. Much faster then I would have imagined a few years ago.

Like I did with FO3, DA and other games im going to wait for the first large patch, then buy/play it. As I have discovered a little patience goes a long way with it comes to the long term enjoyment factor in this regard.

This contradicts what you're regularly posting in the threads about Bioware games. Boo has a job to do, dangit, and it's bigger than whether a game is good or not. He is the Anti-champion of Bioware! Go, Boo, GO! I have different criteria for Bioware. Its scaled according to how good their games could be, which actually measures how close they come to BGII, which they routinely fail to do - and then I conclude that they suck. *puffs on his cigar* ...yeah LOL that is the best reply I have seen in awhile Made me LOL

I've decided to go back to Civ4 w/ the expansions. Civ5 is nice however simply the AI seems either bugged or nerfed, many aspects seemed dumbed down or removed and I don't get a sense of challenge I did like I had w/ civ4. Just my take.

The Deus Ex: Human Revolution interview on Games On Net is a Bich session with Sebastien Bich about the upcoming continuation of the Deus Ex series of action/RPGs. They discuss the console ports of the prequel, support for advanced PC technologies, difficulty levels, the story, and more. http://games.on.net/article/10478/Intervie...uman_Revolution

I never said that. May way to apply peoples opinions to the correct poster. Just saying.

Utter bs. Yes, you can have a million heroes running around. It's your personal context. Yes you can and it is, I agree. Thats AFAIK not in dispute. AoC, WoW and many others do that as you eluded too. However it really takes away from the strength of a CRPG when your not 'special'. You just one of a mass of world-saving-hero's running around. And until the magic pill is found to change that gameplay mechanic it's always going to seem like a world full of hero's and your lost as one of a mass of such. Now from a strictly MMO point of view that fine. non-RPers are ok with that clearly as its just about level gaining, OOC socializing and l33t l00t. But RPGers/CRPGers as is biowares main audience may be quite disappointed with that type of game.

So I am not spunking in my pants over this MMO and simply posting somewhat bitter pill news from a *gasp* news site makes me a big meanie? I'd suggest its you with the vested interest in the game that clearly has the issue with only wanting sunshine and roses to be discussed. Sorry to disappoint. *shrugs* its only a game.

Well played, Harlequin, well played! EDIT: Welcome to the dark side, Boo. We missed you. Truth... bitter pill... etc...

The article to me seems more about how Mythic failed on Warhammer than anything else. At least when the guy speaks about Mythic he knows the thing first hand. He does not know anything about TOR... only that he wasn't choose to work for it, otherwise you would not ever seen that blog at all. Assuming that the guy is for real and not fake. And I'm afraid he is clearly fake, since an article like that means: end of your career. But for some people spitting on Bioware is funnier than cheking reality off course... btw, you are the one who said that DA2 was developed by a third party company, right? And I corrected myself on that point. Wow.. not allowed to be wrong? So you have never spoken in honest error before? Must be nice. At least I post links so ppl can look for themselves... That aside your speaking to me as if trying to convince me... I couldn't care less if it crushes wow or fails completely or anything in between. But others do.

It has? How? The design goal is flawed. They want a single-player RPG that they can charge a monthly subscription for, so they inevitably ended up with something that looks like a clunky half-cRPG half-MMO monstrosity. Color me stupid but I don't see what you're proposing the problem is. MMO's share many features of single player RPGs? No, they don't - MMOs are fundamentally different than single play cRPGs because the emphasis of the game is on interaction with other players and character building rather than on moving through the plot. BioWare knows that their fanbase wants an in-depth single player story, because that's what the KotOR series is based on. However, they also need to include some MMOish aspects to justify charging people $15 a month to play it. The result is a cluster**** of incompatible ideas. Even if I liked Star Wars and was interested in this MMO this would be my biggest issue and concern. I totally agree with your analysis of what the end result will be. Well said.

1. So now being accurate is splitting hairs? 2. I know what you said. How about you reading what I say? I used that to introduce my point. 3. Nope. That's a logical fallacy. The truth isn't automatically always in the middle, and quite frankly, I would never trust someone that acts so unprofessionally and spreads gossip without proof to back it up. And quite honestly, what's so bad in Bioware being proud about having made the first MMO with full voice-acting? He's acting like that's not an achievement. 1. Did you not understand what I was referring too? Clearly you did. Again I am not following it and not sure what else to call it except that. And since you didn't correct me simply said 'you are wrong' in essence not sure what you want me to take away from it except you nit picking to boost your own ego. 2. Fair enough. 3. I disagree. Generally with that many complaints its based on something. Not completely made up for the hell of it, in my life experience at least. Do I think there may be some exaggerations and truth bending going on even perhaps some out right lies? I'd put money on it. However past the surface I think s/he has been exposed to things you and I have not seen and there is some nuggets of facts and truth. Again I would be HIGHLY surprised to find it it is ALL inaccurate 100%. I have seen people do these kind of things MANY times in my life and while they may push a POV or a agenda there is ALWAYS some amount of fact and truth its based off of. Skewed perhaps but still based in fact. And IMO RARELY is life all about 100% black and white. Its almost always a shade of gray. Little in this world is 100% one extreme, black/white, or the other. If you disagree I am envious of your life being so clear cut as it is all the time.

1. Split hairs you know what I meant... Im not following it nor couldn't care about it less. However I know others here are hence why I posted it. 2. I know.. I said it was a 'soon to be laid off employee'. How about read what I posted? Try that for a plan, generally works better 3. Like I said, the truth is generally in the middle somewhere in these cases. I HIGHLY doubt he made up all of this with no grains of truth of it. Exaggerated? Perhaps. But I'd put any amount of money there is SOME truth to his comments.

On blues news a blog by a soon to be released EA employee posts that bioware had burned though over 300mil on the star wars mmo and aside from the voice over work there isn't much to be proud of. While one can say its a soon to be laid off employee lashing out its all emotion and no facts that's just as bad as blindly swallowing everything s/he says as well. Like most things in life the truth in a shade of gray. So even if only 50% true that does imply the mmo is in trouble. Interesting to say the least. http://www.bluesnews.com/s/115064/ea-bashing

That makes 0 sense to me.. the larger you are > your world culture should be not less. But to get the Cultural Victory you need to complete 5 of the trees of "Tradition, Freedom, Liberty, Honor, Piety" etc.. and for every city beyond the first.. the total cost for each new one is increased by 15%.. So the more cities you have..the more is needed and the longer it takes... The question is where you can find the balance. I don't think you guys are quite getting his point. You're arguing from game mechanics. We all known how things work in the game. He's saying that a larger empire should have more culture than a smaller empire, simply because it's larger, has more people and therefore more creators and contributors to it's culture. If you track the amount of culture points that a given civilization has, this is quite possibly true, but as you get larger your get less benefit from each point and I think that was the main problem Harlequin had. Someone got it... thanks for clarifying my point to the others

My feelings are hurt.

That makes 0 sense to me.. the larger you are > your world culture should be not less.

Not a big fan of the new happiness model as others above me are discovering. They removed corruption and pollution just to make happiness overly sensitive where it requires a massive amount of micro managing. And you get one resource and 2 turns later they loose interest in it and want something else. Its non-stop, fairly annoying.