Monte Carlo

My CoH2 digital CE is pre-loading right now for the retail release. I've also just got cheap copy of bonkers but oddly addictive ARPG Sacred 2 (Gold Ed). The original Sacred was a hidden gem of an Eastern Euro Diablo-clone which I enjoyed loads.

^ Hey, I'm really happy you enjoyed it. Another convert!

About UK£ 400.

Hello Obsidian Forum Community. I have recently started playing Diablo 3 again, just over a year after release. You know what? It's great. Much better than the May 2012 iteration. Loads of stuff to do, fine-tuning, tweaking and listening to fans. I'm playing my level 60 (4) Barbarian on Inferno with a smidgeon of Monster Power and it's a stack of fun. Of course, some fans say "why didn't you listen to us in the first place?" Sure, but as anybody who's done something worthwhile will tell you there are three sights on a weapon: the foresight, the rear-sight and the hindsight. Only a wanker criticizes via the hindsight. My point? Now we take automatic digital updating of games more or less for granted via Steam and so on, are games *ever* really 'finished?' At what point, for example, should a game be released? Should alphas get booted out at a discount so early adopters become willing guinea pigs who become a crowd-sourced QA / balancing mass? Let's discuss. Cheers MC

Just pre-ordered 2 x PS4. Will sell one of my pre-orders during the Xmas stampede for a modest profit and keep the other. Monte Junior and I are looking forward to playing Diablo 3 co-op on it. Assuming Diablo 3 is on the PS4 of course.

There are plenty of non-violent games. Loads of them. I don't know what the fuss is about.

Obviously, the best way to ensure social justice, love, happiness and an end to tyranny is to rail about beweb armour on the BSN.

The elite SockPuppetgruppen have been deployed!!!

Too cunning for a load of middle-management suits.

Because I go online and offline.

Metacritic. LOL. NV is an excellent game, I really think they should make another and give it time to grow.

^ A deal-breaker for me too, am pre-ordering a PS4. I want a games console, not a digital lifestyle belief system.

and here's Deus Ex design doc by comparison: Wow look at all that 1990's office tech in the background! And *gasps* a tape cassette!!!

As long as every other word isn't a Lovecraftian tongue-twister full of consonants and apostrophes then I couldn't care less.

D&D licencing war, D&D licencing war never changes...

If you are going to be creative and put stuff out there you need to take criticism. Gaider used to be able to do this, now he can't. *shrugs* What he does need to do is man up and take himself less seriously. And learn not to reply to fans so much, of course. I am one of those people who believes in consistency. Change things but keep a recognisable aesthetic. Bioware failed to do this is Dragon Age, maybe because they've put themselves into a creative straightjacket with so much of their content (sappy, romance-based drama-lite soap opera) that they feel the need to go BIOWARE! F**K YEAH! on other aspects, like art direction. For me, as someone who liked Dragon Age: Origins, DA2 was a sad example of Bio cutting its nose of to spite its face. Like after the BG series promising much and... delivering NWN. However, this time I safely assume we can blame EA, but that's a whole other story. As for Alan's point about schadenfreude I agree. I am guilty of this. I find Bioware's smug hubris about their success and fanbase annoying. I dislike their games. I am beginning to dislike them less nowadays as I feel their influence slipping, there are genuine alternatives and we all know that EA will take them for a walk in the woods with a .45 and a shovel soon.

Calax, the consensus at the moment is that the soviets are OP. Those big six-man weapon teams and the fast turning time of the Sov HMGs heavily mitigates the cone of fire. Plus, those ZiS field guns get direct and indirect fire ability. @Indira - enjoy the campaign before you step into multiplayer. MP is brutal! I think the campaign mode will be awesome, though. Enjoy!

They use marketing aggregator programs and dedicated marketeers to generate reports and forecasts that reflect views across social media. They then hold *lots* of meetings based on feedback, trust me this type of data is becoming crucial in modern product development / marketing across all industries. MS' marketing partners would have said "whoah, guys, we see negative feedback all the time, but it's part of niche markets 'a' 'b' and 'c' but this has upset core markets 'd' - 'z' too! Of course, a development like this gets signed off at the very top. I think that the direction of travel MS is on is the future, whether we like it or not. I just think that they were too premature, and the always online / steam-console type future is destined for the next turn of the wheel. They need a 'soft landing' where it's optional, and those who opt-in get their tummie's tickled. A lack of strategy at the M$ puzzle palace perhaps.

Fair play to Microsoft.

Could you make a ranged paladin that stands back a bit, generating auras and buffs, while plinking away with a crossbow? I think making classes that you can tinker / theorycraft is good, even work against the grain for fun. Like the melee demonhunter I saw in D3 that kicked ass.

Welcome back jackalmonkey!

I agree with the Paladin's barking orders idea... and sure it can be floating text doesn't have to be voiced. The sheer awesomeness of potential dialogue excites me greatly. Your paladin's orders could be decided by your voice-set. for example 'Gentle Human' could issue motivational encouragement ("one more sword swing... that's *brilliant*) whilst gruff human might bark "call that a swordswing you tree-hugging bag of turd? HARDER!!!" OK my examples are crap but I'm in a hurry and I'm not MCA.

Fixed it, looked like it was the UAC in the registry...

Hi. Can anyone possibly help? Would be v grateful. Steam won't launch. I get the little window saying it will... then it doesn't. Have tinkered with antivirus, have played with UAC (am on Win 7) and have deleted stuff using Regent command. It still doesn't launch, and the online solutions I've tried haven't worked either. Cheers MC

Please, just please, have a Full Metal Jacket-type Drill Instructor paladin NPC.