mkreku

Portable porn is going to rock!

If we disregard Volourn's useless and fact-less stupidity and actually check out some research behind this, you'll quickly find out just WHY console games often are simpler and aimed at a younger audience. For Computer Gamers... * 35 percent of most frequent game players are under eighteen years old. * 26 percent of most frequent game players are between 18 and 35 years old. * 39 percent of most frequent game players are over 35 years old. For Console Gamers... * 46 percent of most frequent game players are under eighteen years old. * 35 percent of most frequent game players are between 18 and 35 years old. * 20 percent of most frequent game players are over 35 years old. Source: http://www.theesa.com/facts/gamer_data.php Also, by having a keyboard as default, you're never starved for control options, as is the case with console controllers and their limited amount of buttons.

Off topic but.. What is considered to be too much loot, or phat loot? I liked the amount of loot in Pool of Radiance, where magic items were kind of rare, but not impossible to find. Of course, at the end of the game I think I had two longsword +5 or something. Is that on the 'too much' side? In Wasteland there were no +5 on anything. It used real life weapons, so you could easily see what was good and what was bad (an Uzi ranks lower than an AK-47 and so on..). Is that still considered phat loot? I've never really understood what people mean by these terms. I always strive to find a better weapon in my RPG's (part of the fun for me), although I sometimes prefer to collect a full set of something, even though another, uglier piece of equipment might have better stats (see World of Warcraft).

I don't like Gamespy either (because of this review) but unless they are outright lying, the flaws in the game that they mention are severe enough to destroy gameplay completely. And, no matter the reviewer, technical stuff like the framerate going down to single digits is always a bad thing.

You'll be getting this game for sure.. http://xbox.gamespy.com/xbox/advent-rising/620476p1.html Ok, have fun with it..

Deus Ex had a pretty good soundtrack.

The Burnout series is really good, especially Burnout 3: Takedown. Also, WRC are good games, the V-Rally 1-3 are good, of course the Colin McRae 1-5 are great games too.. There are lots of very good racing games for the PS2. If he REALLY wants a challenge (and has a good racing steering wheel) he could try Richard Burns Rally, but then he really must like tinkering with the car and stuff. If he likes pop music and car modding, the Need For Speed Underground games are pretty good together with Midnight Run 1-3. If he wants to blow stuff up while racing then Twisted Metal: Black is an excellent choice, with Spy Hunter an obvious second. If he prefers realistic racing in real leagues then perhaps the NASCAR 2005: Chase For the Cup or the F1 games are for him. Then there are those games that are just plain.. assorted racing, like Shox, Pro Race Driver (even has a story mode), Test Drive: Eve of Destruction, Ridge Racer 5, Crazy Taxi (driving cabs..), Rumble Racing (muscle cars extravaganza), TOCA Race Driver 2 (another racing game with a story), Wipeout Fusion (futuristic weirdness) and so on. He will have plenty to choose from at least. Edit: Er.. I noticed the text became somewhat.. compact, but I really like racing games and I'm too lazy to fix it

I think this link explains it all: http://svt.rude.se/ It shouldn't be embarrassing, but it is. It really is. (It's in swedish but it doesn't really matter. It's kind of.. a universal language at the end)

For this thread, I just kind of chose those 91% or 92% to differentiate the games at the top. When I review for Spel2 I play the game extensively, put preliminary grades in categories like graphics, sound, controls, and so on. When all the scores have been set I calculate an average from them (and surprisingly often that average score comes very close to the final review score) and if the game is 'big' (with several review copies being sent out) I discuss my views with the other reviewers and adjust the scores if needed. If it's a smaller game I adjust the average score to better reflect my own opinions. Like for example, a game like Tetris would probably score very low in the sound and graphics categories and the average score would suffer from that. But the final review score would probably be much higher than that average since so many other aspects come into play that can make a game good.

Are you saying you're implementing this system into Vanguard? I would love to see a system where you're not restricted by pre-written dialogue responses, but making dialogue into a Magic: The Gathering-type game doesn't seem to be the right way to go. Of course, I haven't seen it in action so I'm probably talking out of my ass here.

You're probably right since you've spent a lot more time than me with this game, but from what I've seen, it's very linear, very combat oriented and the choices I've made haven't affected much. Yet.

Actually you're both right. There is, indeed, such a thing as consumer loyalty. Like how a Nvidia user seldom wants to change to ATI and vice versa. Just look up "consumer loyalty" on google. Lots of papers written about it. BUT.. Consumer loyalty might be a thing of the past. More recent surveys show that the loyalty is quickly diminishing and might soon disappear entirely. Or at least become an irrelevant factor. It's great having newly graduated economic major friends!

Baldurs Gate 1 : 80% (loved the freeform style, hated IE) Baldurs Gate 2 : 60% (I could never get into it) Icevind Dale 1 : 70% (I love snow) Icewind Dale 2 : 65% (Technically the best of the IE games, but lacking story) Planescape Torment : 60% (Good idea, boring game) Fallout 1 : 85% (Great game!) Fallout 2 : 90% (More of the same, only better) Vampire Bloodlines : 75% (Bugs killed it for me) Temple of Elemental Evil : 45% (Buggy and uninteresting) Neverwinter Nights : 50% (Horrible single player mode, never cared for multiplayer) KotOR 1 : 80% (Good, but console-ish) KotOR 2 : 85% (Great story, but unifinished) Daggerfall : 85% (Fantastic atmosphere, but B.U.G.G.Y.) Morrowind : 50% (Too many flaws to mention) Dungeon Siege : 30% (Technically great, but not a game) Diablo : 50% (Pointless) Diablo 2 : 55% (Good co-op brainless fun) System Shock 2 : 90% (Fantastic horror RPG, even in co-op) Arx Fatalis : 70% (Good debut game) Gothic : 90% (Best game idea ever) Gothic 2 : 92% (Like a refined and completed version of Gothic) Soulbringer : 55% (Difficult game to play and get into) Wizardry 8 : Haven't played (I think) Sacred : 60% (A buggy, but better version of Diablo) Arcanum : 60% (Ambitious) Jade Empire : ~80% (Haven't played more than 5-8 hours, but it's not a RPG) Dungeon Lords : 70% (Could have been great, but buggy and unfinished) Deus Ex : 91% (Fantastic story, combat and atmosphere) Lionheart : 60% (Not as bad as some people say) Might and Magic 9 : 30% (I had to review this.. pile of dung) Ultima IV : 90% (Groundbreaking) Ultima V : 90% (Better technically but not storywise) Ultima IX : 70% (I loved it, despite it not being a 'real' Ultima) Wasteland : 95% (The fanboi in me had to include this ))

I know this will hurt an old fanboi's heart, but.. Doom 3 isn't like the original Doom's at all! The first 15 minutes of the game are superb. Great storytelling, lots of interesting characters you want to meet again and get to know, even interesting backgrounds (and a playable arcade!) and then all hell breaks loose and it seems the game just got even better. BUT (that's a big but) from there on it's (almost) all downhill. You'll get a few scares, but since all the scares in the game are almost exactly the same you'll figure them out after a few minutes (unless you are a goldfish). After that they become tedious and predictable. Then prepare for exactly the same darkness, exactly the same spawn patterns (you'll see what I mean when you play the game), exactly the same corridors, exactly the same enemies and exactly the same weapons until you reach the end levels (where the game picked up some speed again). When I reviewed it, I gave it 79/100, but in retrospect I feel that rating might have been a tad too high.

I once entered this stupid slogan contest when I ate at a swedish fast-food restaurant called Max. You were supposed to answer the question, "Why did you decide to eat at Max's today?", and I answered, "Because Frasses [my favourite fast-food restaurant] was closed." and some other sarcastic crap like that. A month (or so) later I went to Max again during my lunch break, and while standing in line I saw this paper on the wall. It was a list of the winners of the slogan contest, and the very last name on that list was mine! It was a very bizarre feeling to actually go and claim the prize after writing all the mean things I wrote. Apparently they thought I was funny..

Maybe Yoda isn't fluffy.. but a fluffer!

Useless info: The missing members of the board are missing because when the board was brand new, it had some kind of failure (not sure if it was software or hardware) and the forums were set back a week or so (lots of threads and members just disappeared). It turned out the members were actually still here, but the member counter had been reset to a week before. That's why there's a discrepancy.

Cool.. they didn't rule out any of the next generation consoles.. I'd love to see a Bioware RPG on my PS3.

Haha, I saw the exact same program, with the two barrels in a pressure chamber Useless info: Me and Kaftan both have Discovery channel (I think it was on that channel).

Oh, I just remembered the last scene in Cinema Paradiso! That one is powerful, extremely touching and bound to overflow some tear canals. Highly recommended movie too.

In one of the threads on this board, someone asked J.E Sawyer what he thought about the two new consoles, which one was easier to write code for, which one felt more powerful and so on. But considering that this is indeed the board of an experienced group of game developers who (probably) already have a project under development for one (several?) of the next generation consoles, I thought I'd direct the question to you! So how do you guys feel about the new consoles? Rumour has it that the Xbox 360 might not be as powerful from a hardware point of view, but it makes up for it by having a well-designed developer's platform. The PS3 is supposed to be extremely powerful, but suffer from unconventional processor architecture and be somewhat of a challenge to write code for (except for the guys who make the Unreal 3 engine.. they think it's easy..). Anyone feel like adding an opinion?

Uhm.. You hang out on the board of a game developer who's supposed to be working on a game for next generation consoles, but you choose to ask a designer (?) who's posting here for fun on his spare time? Weird!

A revolution, eh? Well, no more Rogue Squadron for you then, mister! Apparently the PS3 is impressive for some developers at least..

Since you like racing games (or so it seems) and RPG's, I'd recommend a very obscure title that might be hard to come by: Road Trip Adventure. It's a CaRPG Actually, it's a very enjoyable game, once you manage to upgrade your car enough to make it controllable. When you start the game your car is so sluggish it's not even funny. After that, you'll be amazed at just how much the game has to offer. Football, golf, racing, hidden secrets, bundles of quests, pearl diving (!) and much much more. It's highly recommended by me.

There are two parts of the male anatomy that must be kept clean at all times: privates and feet. Why? Because those are the two parts of the male body that bad hygiene can really mess with. An officer's job is practically to make sure all of his soldiers are in combat ready condition. By inspecting his men, he is making sure they've all followed the hygienic standards and that they're not risking their health by not cleaning themselves properly. Also, the 'ritual' has some other, deeper psychological meaning which I'm not familiar with (or at least forgot about) but it's damn effective. This ritual is only practiced while the soldiers are out in the field for long periods of time, and not when they're back at the training grounds.