Monte Carlo

Thinking about it, it could be a pretty cool way of playing a game and it really lends itself to RPGs. Think of it as the core game being the rulebooks of a RPG and all the DLC as modules / splatbooks. If a game was awesome enough, and the developers committed to it long-term, then it might be groovy.

I'm just a sucker for a tin collector's carton, plus I've been promised a tiny burlap pouch containing clippings from Dave Gaider's beard, a bit like a holy relic of yore. If you sprinkle the beard clippings over your keyboard whilst playing Dragon Age: Origins it gets EVEN DARKER AND MORE FANTASYIER than ever. You don't get that with your vanilla edition of the game, nor the console version. Cheers MC

I don't mind as long as the game is good and they're upfront about what you're getting for your money.

^ Just failed my Geek Lore check, what's Natal, apart from a S. African province?

^ In-game DLC, signposting optional stuff that looks heavily like progressing in the game is pretty rare. Although obvious once you think about it. In future games publishers will own your game - you'll have to buy it online, register it online, be online to play it and buy stuff online from within the game. In effect, you'll only rent this virutal product. I'm going back to hex-based wargames on a board with little minis.

It's the future, introducing MMO-style payment models into single-player games.

That's almost as awesome as strangling a bear while eating ice cream. [anchorman]"We bears are a proud race..."[/anchorman] Imoen chick, for me, is the NPC equivalent of someone running their nails down a chalkboard.

^ "You fiend!" Cool, it looks like you get to steal some artefact level l00t and slay some of the most apparently annoying and poorly-written NPCs in gaming history at the same time.

^ Lots of small things add up to big things. Having to put up with a NPC management system you might hate for 80 hours is like water torture. The drip-drip-drip of witty NPC banter, the splosh-splosh-splosh of wordy, self-important cutscenes... Hey, the rest of the game might be so cool that these things are barely noticeable. I just doubt it. Mee, I'm gonna find the least obtrusive, underwritten NPCs and just crack on because the scenery, quests and combat look just up my street. Cheers MC

In the UK it doesn't seem to affect your credit rating, in fact the bank and the credit card company constantly spam me with offers of crazy amounts of money I could borrow if I were stupid. Which I used to be when it came to credit cards, hey I missed out the time I hired a freaking yacht in Italy out of idle curiosity. That one still smarts. Cheers MC

I think the default hardcore mode is player + dog. It's the only way to fly.

*Suspicious glare* Doesn't sound very English to me. Are you sure you're English? I'm a native-bornLondoner, which is sort of English but not... quite.

I'm with gfted1 anyhow. Maybe you should get rewarded for completing key stage battles without dying, maybe there's an extra bit of loot lying around. Personally, I hate the camp idea, with these NPCs lounging around some notional campsite, following in your wake.

Yes, a friend of mine has an Amex he pays off every month and gets airmiles on, he flies for free all the time. Me? I'm like a reformed boozer who has to be manhandled past a liquor store when it comes to credit cards. I'm just better off without. Stuff I've done with credit cards: * Turned left when I got on an areoplane (quite a few times) * Bought fifteen friends dinner in a swanky restaurant on a whim * Decided that a case of champagne would be a nice treat... because it was Friday * Upgraded every hire car I've ever hired to one with a convertible roof, this one got me every time I know, I'm a wastrel. So now I'm reformed I'm zealous about being sensible with money and the bonfire of the credit cards was step one. I've no regrets, though Cheers MC

This is my third years sans credit cards. I used to have three, usually maxed out. And I don't miss them at all. I feel astonishingly virtuous, in fact I have about 75p credit on one of them. That's right - the credit card company owes me money. Hahahahahahaa!!! OK, I have a reasonably paid job but I also have a family so it's not like I'm rich. But I'm richer for not having a bloody credit card. My secret? If I can't afford something I either save for it or don't buy it. Radical, huh... it's taken me most of my life to work that one out. Discuss.

Am still playing Company of Heroes, mainly online and can't really see that changing until Dragon Age is released (which for me is 6th November). Company of Heroes is the game to which all others aspire, and I am living a more wholesome, manly life by playing it. When will some of you lot join me online for some WW2 akshun? Cheers MC

I work at CERN and currently I'm messing around with the Higg's Boson, which I've captured in my coffee flask. All this stuff about CERN sabotaging itself from the future is rubbish, OK we've got a couple of Arch-Demons cooped up in the washrooms but it goes with the territory. Top that, alanschu games developer person.

Just a quick observation.... Here in the UK there are a load of TV adverts for FO:3 GotY edition. Which is amazing, I mean straight console titles make TV ads frequently here (Brutal Legend is all over the place) but Fallout? Bethseda have successfully mainstreamed Fallout. Cheers MC

^ Unless I'm very much mistaken, Shale seems to be VO'd by Sean Pertwee. Which is a good thing, BTW.

^ Mainly because resting was so darn easy. Scenario = get out of the dungeon after a massive battle - low hp, lots of loot in the bag, just levelled up. Random encounter - you get whipped. Personally, a lot of the time I'd be happy to take that one on the chin to get on with the game.

I'm not a Deekin-hater. In fact, that and the death + loss of XP mechanic are probably the only two things in NWN1 I didn't hate.

Y'see I agree with the point about saving per se, but I also like choice... choose to re-load and play the battle or choose to take a loot / XP loss. In almost every CRPG I've played there are times where I'd happily do both. I think a lot of players would be the same. Cheers MC

What game was it that gave you an XP or gold penalty every time you died? I liked that idea.

I think Slowtrain hit the nail on the head: This is Bioware. Love their games or hate their games, scaling and difficulty is their bread and butter even if it has been at the casual end of the market of late. Played Ascension / Redemption by Dave Gaider? Before the budding David Gemmell schtick, there was a guy who knews how to write a challenging series of tactical battles. The other issue is, what's wrong with 'Casual' as a game setting. Answer = NOTHING. What's wrong with 'Hardcore / Needs to get out more often' as a game setting? NOTHING. What's the argument, there isn't one? I'm in the hardcore camp, admittedly, but I only get bent out of shape when the 'Casual' side of the house wail about how 'Screensaver' should be the default setting of all games. I'm currently playing lots of Company of Heroes. Online. And getting my ass kicked by spammers, smurfs and pros (funny how your gaming vocab expands online!). Guess what? I love the difficulty, I love learning how the works and I love getting better. Conversely, I'm rubbish at FPS games, but see the appeal. Crysis? Hell, I'd play that on casual mode all day along with your Far Cry and HALO. Couldn't care less what anybody else thinks. Cheers MC

^ People should stop bitching about 'difficulty' via the revolutionary new Options / Settings / Difficulty facility, a feature of computer games since, well, Day One.