WorstUsernameEver

Same. My first guess was pornstar-- really, look at that name! Well, I do remember some stories about the fact that.. uhm.. he was well-endowed... but no, that wasn't his profession. He was a damn' good artist, and that's coming from someone who's never been a fan of Type O Negative. R.I.P. Pete, the musical scene will miss you very much.

This. P.S. : Be reassured it's not Gunther.

Maybe it's just me but I saw nothing wrong with the faces shown in New Vegas screenshots. Fallout 3 Vanilla on the other hand... I don't know, it seems like they didn't care if character had inhuman proportions.

I actually think that Bethesda's tried to stay as close as they possibly could to the originals, they're just not good at designing combat systems (especially non-RT) so they focused on the exploration and the storyline (sadly they weren't good at storyline either). As for Far Cry 2, I didn't play either one, but they're both FPS so I don't understand the comparison.

IIRC there's no New Game + option but there is an unlockable Veteran modality where your character starts already with a good deal of skill points and has new dialogue options. Not sure if this satisfies you.

AP EVEN COPIES MASS EFFECT DRM!!! OBSIDIAN HAVE NO ORIGINALITY!!11!!! Sorry, but when I read that I just had to do it. Anyway, I don't particularly like this DRM scheme, but since I want to support Obsidian, the game seems one I'd enjoy and I prefer playing on my PC rather than on my brother's X360, I'll buy it anyway.

...is the only logical conclusion to be succesful these days. There was really no need to resurrect a dead franchise for a succesful FPS though, not to mention that Turn Based Strategy Game still exist and still make profits. @GreasyDogMeat : Wasn't THAT in fact, the reason why the franchise died in the first place?

Never played X-Com but I feel for the fans of the game. Changing it from a TBS to a FPS...

Music as its finest.

Comments on the preview, are, as always, mostly bad. Don't really understand why they think the gameplay is so bad when they swallowed Mass Effect though.

You brought a single, manly, tear to my eyes. A fine song indeed.

I'm actually pretty sure there were and there are headshots, but then, anyway, this preview IS bad.. I mean, hacking is a nod to Mass Effect.. how exactly?

This is unlocked by finding files dotted around the game, purchasing intel as well as hacking. Yes, hacking. Yet another familiar nod to BioWares epic space RPG.

Word is SC:C is just 5 hours long. I think I'll wait for the 2 hour movie and give that my $7 at the movie theater. You know, AP's ~40 hour length sounds all the more enticing. Apparently "the game is 8-10 hours long, the IGN previewer just rushed through while the exclusivity lasted". Not exactly lenghty but it could work, depending on the pacing.

The game has been built with the GECK from the ground up with some modifications to the engine coordinated with Bethesda if I recall what Sawyer said. My guess is that they'll release an upgraded version of the GECK at release or very soon after, since modding is really a sizeable part of the PC community of Bethesda's games (granted, this is developed by Obsidian but the fanbase is overlapping with Bethesda's).

Tell you what, I like the dungeon romp in the ending. Granted, the pacing was ****ed up, but it was mostly good fun. Then came the final boss and my reaction was ... WHAT THE HELL? I read something about it on some boards but it didn't prepare me for it

It went all downhill with Double Agent, they scrapped the next one and completely redesigned it to be Splinter Cell: Conviction. I'm not the biggest SC fan, but I don't think the old style Splinter Cells would do today. You need super polished gameplay and a slick interface. Well, from what I recall Double Agent was simply a ****ty game, so I'm not sure if it has to do with design or the quality of the execution. I can't say I'm particularly interested in Syphon Filter : Conviction...

Would it really be a risk? I mean, from what I remember, the old Splinter Cell titles sold pretty well...

Uhm, are you playing the console version? I finished Risen a couple of months ago and I remember more than one save slot...

Original concept + writing = HIS character, but ofc, that's MY definition and the point of the discussion isn't my definition . While I can see your point, I didn't mind that type of characters for games like MotB and KOTOR2.. I always perceived the Epic Level Forgotten Realms and Star Wars settings as really extreme settings, where this type of characters really works. As for Alpha Protocol, we'll have to wait I guess.

It seemed like a mostly fair preview, and the writer seems to have done his homework about the game.

Were they HIS design or he simply wrote the dialogues?

TBH I don't remember any game that ChrisA lead after PS:T except KOTORII so I'm not sure where to look when searching for MCA's characters. I think that the talking bear and the hagspawn were actually George Ziet's ideas anyway.

Coding was done in the NWN 2 engine, as were scripts, dialogues, character models and so on. The story might be detachable from the FR setting if you get rid of the names, placenames and FR or D&D specific concepts, but doing all that work and then making it fit into a new game they might be making - well it might be more viable to just start from scratch. Some ideas can serve as inspiration, but it seems unlikely to go beyond that. Designing requires time too, if you have good designs that just need tweaking before implementation, why not use it? It'd seem like a waste if the material really is as strong as Josh implied.

I agree that ME Italian was better than the original (mostly because MaleShep actually sounds like an interesting character and not like an underpaid voice actor) and I guess that the game will be dubbed but I will probably buy the UK version. P.S. : The most ridiculous italian dub I remember is probably Metal Gear Solid... pure comedy.