Nepenthe

I did the mistake of picking up Uncharted 2 first, and after that I just couldn't bring myself into buying 1 (tried the demo, seemed... jagged in comparison to 2).

Oh, I've played beyond that (after the whopping 7 minute loading screen). Though it didn't seem to improve much. And then it crashed after the cutscene of the girl saving my brother and then vanishing which apparently let the game as baffled as me what the hell was going on. But you sure as hell weren't level seven at that point. I still think you guys are drinking your own brand of kool aid here.

Per EA (a somewhat more reliable source than volo et alia parroting how ME2 sold a billionty billion copies!!! FACT!!!) ME2 had only sold 1.6 million units after three months, a full million less than DAO had at a similar time. I'd suspect either Baldurs Gate game/ NWN or KOTOR made more absolute profit even if it was distributed to a lot more parties as licenced IP/ publisher deals since the teams that made them were far smaller than those that made any of Bioware's recent games. I'm not exactly sure how BG, NWN or KOTOR are relevant to the question of DAO (probably) having had an astronomical budget? Since I get the feeling you're trying to disagree with me, but the statistics, while interesting, aren't exactly relevant from the "theories why EA is pushing DA sequel out so quickly". The prevalent ones being A) they're EVIL b1) DAO cost too much and b2) didn't work as a DLC platform. )

I'm having trouble connecting your above statement with the one from before.

The whole "the beginning is exaggerated" part seems to have been a bit too much for poor old Hassat. So far agreeing on the zoom and hawke's VO, but willing to give the latter the benefit of the doubt.

Well, the idea is that they have a core tech team (ICE? iirc), and then they have Guerilla and Naughty Dog at the very least playing well together. MoH was using the Frostbite engine for multiplayer, but I think that was still done by Dice. Not a long stretch to having the whole next MoH game entirely in that engine - I think that in the next year or two we're going to see if the "Sony model" (if there's such a thing) become more prevalent, or that tech knowledge sharing between studios of major publishers becomes more common as the industry seems to be becoming focused on fewer and fewer megahits vs. several semi-successful games.

I guess it's not even worth getting into absolute profits (which DAO and ME2 top) and relative profit ($ return per $ spent). Am guessing that the latter was significantly higher for ME2.

Dude, why do you waste your time with mere civilians like us? Ego-propping? OTOH, Sony's studios are a pretty good example of how tech sharing can work.

Maybe you should learn to use the quote function, so you wouldn't put words in people's mouths. Nobody was talking anything about losses. Costs and losses are too different things. And the beancounters like to get the best possible return for their money, no matter what the price of acquisition was.

Considering how long DAO was in development, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt this time around (as in, needing to rush out a sequel to recoup what must have been an insane production cost for DAO). If it becomes a trend... not good. DA:O was mostly self-funded as EA only stepped in pretty late in the development cycle. ... Do I actually have to explain this to you? 1) Bioware self-funds development of extensive project (DAO) 2) EA buys Bioware 3) The funds spent on the (too long) development of DAO are now, in fact, out of EA's pocket 4) Need to recoup the money spent on the development of DAO

I don't know about UK prisons, but around here prisons do give a lot of support to substance abusers. And everybody is forced to detox, of course, which means that defendants coming from the prison are often in better shape than the victims coming in from liberty.

Considering how long DAO was in development, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt this time around (as in, needing to rush out a sequel to recoup what must have been an insane production cost for DAO). If it becomes a trend... not good.

Y'know what, never mind.

I was kind of hoping it wouldn't have been that. Oh dear...

The interface looks 100 % console, which is kind of... interesting. Also looks like the A-button is tied to the barrel roll instead of basic attack.

I'm guessing they wouldn't have fit in the single disc, otherwise? Makes sense as a cost-cutting measure. Interesting to see how big it is. Brings back KOTOR2 memories... Final DRM info: http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/14...194280&lf=8

While to me, the Bourne sequels are the equivalent of the Matrix ones. YMMV. That's really harsh. I mean, ouch. In fact, I actually own the Matrix sequels, while I absolutely refuse to get either Supremacy or Ultimatum. So I was actually being charitable in my initial assessment.

While to me, the Bourne sequels are the equivalent of the Matrix ones. YMMV.

Yeah, they can implement the DRM into your hardware. Is that what you want? This is the reason for my previous "what?". The obvious step would be to combine the two, allow your computer to only run code signed by microsoft while being constantly connected to the internet. Yay.

... what?

Bingo, in consoles the security is in the machine/firmware, on the PC it's in the game.

Yeah, clearly lego are nickel and diming their player base. They are intentionally taking out minifigs from packs and selling them out later separately. It's not my fault I'm a poor student and can't afford Legos, so I occasionally download them from the appropriate sites. And don't even get me started on the draconian drm. There is no way a normal person can put those things together.

She knows that you know her? You're not a very good stalker, are you?

I'd be ok with that. Of course, I can also assume that Regular Honest Criminals will make his time in prison seem like he was already dead and in hell, so I'm ok with that, too.