Zoraptor

While it has been fairly obvious it was coming: Crusader Kings 2 announced And there was much rejoicing. Inbreeding, assassination, bastards, intrigue, excommunication, madness and usurpation to come later.

Since it came through the electronic ether just a few short hours ago: Gamersgate have a preorder for those desperate for such things. I can see it so it's probably available worldwide. Not listed on Steam, though since they have its trailer it will presumably turn up there at some point.

Hint: ME1 was published by Microsoft

The combat is supposedly being changed on console too, to make it more visceral/ epic/ buzzword-du-jour, though given the amount of release/ backtrack/ clarify I'm not sure what to believe any more. That's what I figured. Where you went wrong was assuming there's a significant PC component in there. I see nothing in the numbers to indicate that. Shrug. I'll lay out the reasons for thinking so with a bit more detail on the reasoning, but it is an estimate based on available information and you'll either think it's a plausible argument or not and that's pretty much that. 1) DAO had a lot of PC cachet as being marketed for a long time as a successor to BG, PC exclusive/ PC version first for ages 2) The 'missing' 500k between the 2.2 million and the 2.7 figure likely to be PC because: 3) You'd expect DAO's third month to be low compared to ME2's 3rd month for the simple reason that ME2 was released in DAO's 3rd month providing new, and very direct, competition. 4) Most of the factors for the extrapolation from ME2 should further underestimate the PC component 4a) eg ME1 was released first on 360 so most people with both PC and 360 systems would buy on 360; and was originally stated as being wholly exclusive to 360 4b) ME2 is a sequel and if you bought the first one on 360 the chances are you would buy the second there too (for save game importing if nothing else). 4c) Neither of these factors apply to DAO 5) The market for both 'old school' RPGs and PC is far higher in Europe than the US, console penetration is less (exc UK) 6) PC sales have a longer tail than console ones due to various factors (DD, no 2nd hand sales etc) 7) NPD does not 'see' PC sales, only US console. So if an underestimate occurs it is likely to be due to PC sales or Euro/ RoW differences. I've also seen nothing from Bioware to suggest that the PC version sold poorly, just stuff which is designed to streamline production and cut costs by bringing the console/PC versions closer together production wise.

I was doubling because we have known total PC/DD/360 sales figure for ME2 at 3 months which was double that of the NPD figure at two months. Since we also have the two months NPD for DAO all other things being equal the same formula would apply. Oh please, there's nothing wrong with that statement unless you're deliberately looking for an argument. The changes being discussed, in context, are all ones where if you can do it on console you most certainly can do it on PC. The fact that they have already been done on PC in DAO (as an option, not compulsory) is fairly compelling evidence, after all.

Yeah, 1 million sales ~ 20 million in revenue, probably somewhat more for PC though, as presumably they sold a fair few copies through their online store where they would get the full $50 out of it. It would also be ~1/3 of sales, so the console versions- either 360 alone or PS360 combined- still would have sold better. The main point though is that anything done for the consoles will work on PC but not vice versa as evidenced by DAO having some fairly well known issues with the PS3 especially but also the 360 and the total lack of the tactical view on either- so it is simply more efficient to aim for the console standard.

Those sale number for ME2 are way down, VGChartz has it at 900,000 in it's first week and 1.4 mil after a month. Heh, VGChartz. There's a reason Wikipedia don't accept them as a valid source. EA's own figure was 1.6 million sold including all PC after three months, though it isn't the first time they've been caught out that way (similar thing happened with Bioshock). NPD is a limited source as well, but far better regarded than VGChartz. For What it's Worth the methodology I used to get the figure was: ME2 800k NPD (2 months 360)-> 1.6 million total sales after three months inc PC (per EA quarterly report). DAO 1100k NPD (2 months PS360)-> 2.2 million total sales after three months inc PC (extrapolation). DAO has almost certainly sold more than 2.7 million copies by February (reason: initial shipment was 2.7 million per EA quarterly report but it had shipped 3.2 million by February). That suggests PC sales of 500k + proportion of 2.2 million + whatever else has sold since = estimate of roughly a million. There are a bunch of assumptions there of course, but I'd say the 1 million estimate is a fair one.

May or may not be relevant, but I tried AP yesterday and it had stopped working too. Symptoms aren't quite the same (it loads but gives the 'grunt noise' fx in menu) but it does make me wonder if it's caused by something extraneous like a windows update as I've also got XPsp3.

Stalker: SoC or CoP Thief: TDP Not RPGs either, of course, but they're good games.

Stop the Lies, Start the Truths! DAO sales>ME2 sales FACT! r00fles etc The way the PC is being treated is a good indicator that development is being streamlined, that's all. It's more expensive to make multiple systems and as such the lowest common denominator- the PS3/360- is the one aimed for. As I understand it the PC version sold more than the PS3 one at least. 1.14 million NPD (PS3/360) for its first two months (cf ME 2 ~800k over the same period :smug:) is considerably less than its total sales. Best guess is roughly 1 million on PC worldwide- though it's based on extrapolation.

I wonder if that means that Atari has sorted its Hasbro (/Turbine, for that matter) legal problems.

They aren't identical but they are consistent- NPD gives ~800k over two months, which is consistent with 1.6 million total sales over three months (but would be very hard to reconcile with 2.8 million sales).

Why not? Probably because he refuses to read the link I've provided twice thrice. That's also a figure consistent with other available sources (NPD/ VGChartz; may be some recursion).

Well, they had different default views and different control schemes. Different engines would be news though. EA disagrees with you (as you've been told multiple times the figure they have is 1.6 million sold after three months, 2 million shipped, the link has been provided multiple times too) and in a battle of credibility between an EA quarterly report and some random guy on the Codex via Volo filter it's, well, not even a contest.

EA bought Bioware in Oct 2007, so two years basically. WoD: There is no solid source for it that I know of- there was a lot of speculation from some very knowledgable sources though that the key factor was the feasibility of console versions. IIRC DA was left off some EA lists of upcoming games which is where a lot of the speculation came from and someone from Bio said that EA were reviewing their active projects but I may not RC and unfortunately that's the sort of thing Google is very bad at searching for. Up to July 2008 DA was still a PC exclusive game, it was announced for consoles then. While they would have been working on it for a while prior to that I see no way that it wasn't 'ported'. EA themselves ('During its call with investors, Electronic Arts CEO John Rictiello [sic] said that the [PC] delay was due to marketing' per Shacknews) said that the PC version was completed to time, since content wise the two versions were identical that leaves, well, what? as an alternative to what the extra time was spent doing. It's certainly not unreasonable to think that many of the storyline/ artists/ designers etc did not sit around twiddling their thumbs for the six months of the delay.

One other thing to bear in mind is that DAO sat around being converted to consoles for months after it was finished. No doubt some of the people involved went to DAO:A but others will have started work on DA2 pre production. At that time they would probably have expected Mass Effect 2 to sell better than DAO, which it didn't end up doing of course, but since EA apparently considered canceling DAO as being too oldschool it seems very likely that was their expectation. As such, making a 'Dragon Effect' would at the time have looked like an eminently sensible idea as well as most of the changes saving money.

US patent office issues vague and overly broad patent, news at Basmati Rice and Yellow Beans are unique American inventions and people in Mexico and India need to licence the crops they've been growing for centuries. I'd suspect it's specifically related to the algorthym used to identify computers, a hash generated from the MAC address of the network card plus the assorted hardware- and about the only way of actually doing so. No mention of Tages so I'd suspect it's one of those patents that gets laughed at by Euros; SecuROM (SonyDADC) is named though. Uniloc made the DRM on Alpha Protocol.

There's a greasemonkey script (template?) floating around that will purge replies quoting designated users as well if you want a Volo free browsing experience, ignore doesn't cut it, and if you have Firefox. h8rs_gonna_h8_.gif facepalm_montage_.gif

I think a number of people would argue that the changes to DA2 are basically making it Dragon Effect/ Mass Age* which is hardly something different- consolidating everything into the Mass Effect Model 'RPG' and going from two fairly distinct products to one gestalt line. *hoho, the second one is a euphemism for prostitution I'm unintentionally witty, haha.

Sheesh Volo, are you in a 'who can be more disingenuous competition? 100+ employees across 2 and a bit teams and the source for the 700k figure was provided not just in the first post, but directly on the first page. Ah, the internet, where stating something as fact, having a red user name and sounding authoritative is enough. Faaaaaiiiiiled. It's always specified which is being used as it's a legal obligation to be accurate with things that affect share price for publicly traded companies. EA q3 reports "ME2 shipped 2 million copies to retailers" EA q4 report "ME2 sold through 1.6 million units on 360, PC and digital downloads" Personally I think he's right in this case (on balance of probability) but he's nowhere near being as authoritative as he likes to appear. Definitively non definitive.

Perhaps the average AAA next gen game costs $25 million to develop, but there aren't many of those a year. I'd be surprised if AP cost anywhere near that amount. Bioshock cost around $25 million to make and it was 4 years in development and had three studios working on it for the last of those years. Bioshock 2 had four. Sauce? The Japanese translation of the figures gives a rather less than useful "units sold", and a standard disclaimer. A shipped figure seems sensible to me, though that makes the Iron Man totals small given it was shipped to five platforms.

The moon? A planet? Something in space? Dear god please let it be in space.... Seriously, that is probably the safest bet that could be made 11/08/99 System Shock 2 released ... 11/08/10 ??? announced

Yep, that's her.

no it didn't thank god. I suspect you skipped some relevant bits- Triss and the other read head healer chick (funny I can't remember her name either) were 'romances' at least as much as anything BioWare has done, albeit romances from outside the setting of a party. You didn't have to choose either of course, but then you don't have to romance anyone in Bioware games either. Most importantly (hohoho), you got two booby cards for the one you romanced.

While the amount of military activity would make it a 'target rich' environment it would also make it very hard for the North to get a submarine into position. For the love of... You do not need contact for it to be a mine. That is not supposition, it is not inference it is simple fact and has been for seventy odd years. As you appear unable to go to the nice Wikipedia link I handily provided here is the direct quote: Even in the initial report- yep I actually bothered to read it- the only thing which they state is definitively torpedo is the wreckage they found and everything else they state is consistent with a torpedo (they certainly imply a lot of other evidence as being exclusive but that is standard PR practice in, well, everything). It wouldn't have to be old. It could also be recent, a malfunctioning 'friendly' one, one from either side that has broken its mooring or numerous other possibilities.