ginji

Long long ago, in a land far far away.... Anyway I don't understand why software houses are starting to ignore 4:3 aspect ratio... i still can see 4:3 TVs and monitors being sold here, and to optimize a game to run without black bars shouldn't be so difficult. I mean, just zoom in and move the HUD a little! 10 minutes of work, maybe. Now that i think about it, Dragon Age Origins runs in 4:3 without black bars on both PC and Xbox 360, and it came out just 4 or 5 months ago.

Actually, lots of games still run on 4:3 (even if the number is decreasing with time). The first ones I see here are Halo 3, GTA IV, Far Cry 2, and more recently Dirt 2, Blur (Bizarre's racing game), hopefully Red Dead Redemption and almost all sports games (not that I like sports games). I would buy the game anyway, of course. Sadly I'm used to play RPGs with black bars up and down the screen. It's just, really, a curiosity

Ok, this is just my personal curiosity I'm talking about both PC and Xbox 360 versions. Will this game run on 4:3 aspect ratio without the black bars up and down the screen? I think on PC it surely will, but what about the 360?

Is there some Youtube link so I can see this, too?

You guys could be right... I really hope you're right :D It would be nice if some developer would come and post in this thread, just to say if the text font and size for SDTV is any different from that video.

Videos of Ninja Gaiden 2 or Sonic Unleashed (I'm saying the first 2 that comes to my mind) clearly showed that the text could be read on an SDTV. I can't read Alpha Protocol. Something is wrong, then. Exactly. How hard could it be? People complained for Dead Rising, complained for Banjo & Kazooje, complained for weeks with hundreds of posts for Mass Effect 2, for an issue so stupid and so easy to address. That's why I'm complaining! This. Admittedly I don't own a console and don't play games on a TV but other videos I've watched for games, even in HD, don't have the same appearance as the actual game on my screen. In any case, who's to say the settings for the game shown in the video are anything other than default settings? A person could always rent the game first and see how it looks before buying. The fact is that, if it isn't readable, I just won't buy it because I couldn't play it.

I was watching the Gamespot video interview, and since it showed some HUD I've decided to download the video (HD quality) and play it on my Xbox 360. The menus are fine, but subtitles and Dialog Choices just can't be read on SDTV! And I have a 34''! The subtitles have little too less contrast, and they melt with the background when you see the scenes from Saudi Arabia (brown on brown). Its' a critical issue for me, that I have to read subtitles since I'm not english. Even worse, the dialog choices are completely unreadable! They melt with everything, you should really set the contrast UP to make the letters stand out from the rest of the HUD. Come on! Make this thing readable, what am I asking for?

Basically, imagine you spent 70 euros a pop on the last 10 games you bought. And imagine that you could have got all of them for 40-50 euros a pop, if you got them digitally instead of in a box. The difference? You don't get the box. I can't understand paying 20 euros extra to get an extra box, do you? That's the situation in NZ/AUS, really. I've seen some of these stores, and they don't ship to your country. The situation is more sad than I imagined, so I think you're right: DD is the only way (but you always have Ebay). Don't know if you already know this, but on http://www.gamestracker.com/ you can see what online shops sell what and for how much. There is a "New Zealand" button after you click on a game, so it should be easier. I've seen something and there wasn't very much worth buying, but it can always be a useful tool.

Really? I didn't know about that! Good!

Don't worry, I hate DRM too. And I was saying that, in a certain point of view, piracy is A GOOD THING, because is the only way to bypass those DRM. That's why I'm worried about the console market. On PC you can pirate, so if Ubilol servers in 2012 explode, you can always download Assassin's Creed 2 from a torrent and play anyway. What about consoles? And what if Ubisoft, in 10 years, decides to shut down Assassin's Creed 2 servers? What should I do, then, with my useless game?

Actually I'm from Italy (the country where everything costs more and everyone earns less) but luckily I can purchase games outside of this country, like in UK or France (when the game is multi-language of course). I don't know the situation in New Zealand, I don't know if online shops ship games to your country (some of them don't ship to Italy, for example)... I even don't know if you used a PAL or NTSC signal for your TVs (but I think Australia used PAL, right?) and if european games are good for your console's region. But seeing online shops like Amazon, The Hut, Play, BlahDvd or Game, with everyone fighting each other to give the lowest price (I've preordered and bought Sonic Unleashed for 20 Euros... the regular price was 60-70 Euros) I don't think that DD is the only way... I think (and I hope) you have a choice. As for DRM: you're getting them anyway, so at least get a box, a disc and a manual The fact is I can't understand paying more than 5$ to get nothing. But that's just me, I guess.

The worldwide publisher is Sega, so shouldn't be Sega the one that makes this decision?

But if the price of the download is the same or just a little cheaper, then what's the point? If I pay 50$ for a boxed game, i should pay 10$ for just a bunch of files (full of DRM). If you want to pay less, you should wait for the price of retail copy to drop (since the price for download is almost the same at launch and it never drops... and you can't buy used). If you want to play soon, then just take the retail, for almost the same price. There is internet, Ebay, Gamestop (yeah, those bastards), malls, other american Videogame stores I can't remember the name, dozens of online shops, forums... we're not in the '90s anymore, we have a wide range of possibilities to go cheap without having to wait months and months (actually, I usually wait months ), and the best thing gamers can do is to "buy" nothing and pay for it. It's your money, I can't and I won't tell you what to do with it. But the situation is becoming ridiculous.

A retail copy could always be found for a cheaper price... why do you all want to pay for a download? I'll never understand.

I would really like to hear the french dub for ME, now I'm curious! @ WorstUsernameEver: Lol I remember the voice acting in Metal Gear. Campbell's voice was... o dear! He was a robot! Yes-snake-you-must-infiltrate-the-enemy-base-system-error-system-error *metallic noise* @Yoomazir: Even movies are bad in Spanish dub? This is bad (since movies should be considered a serious thing).

Well, if you put it that way... But it's just because things are getting worse and worse as time passes. I would say that, the only good thing, is that THERE IS piracy on PCs. Imagine DRM on consoles. Oh well, I play on 360 anyway so it doesn't really affect me... but it worries me. A lot.

Actually, Italian dubs are usually acceptable (the one in Mass Effect 1, for me, is even better than the original... in Half-Life 2, on the other hand, was absolutely ridiculous), but I agree some langauges don't fit with everything. For example: did you ever see a love story in German? It's pretty hilarious

Probably it would be the same DRM policy that Sega used with Alien Vs Predator or Napoleon Total War. But I have no idea how bad DRM were on those games, since I don't play on PC.

I'm not hoping very much on this one, but... will Alpha Protocol be dubbed in other languages different from English (maybe Italian? )? After playing Mass Effect and Lost Odyssey without having to read subtitles is difficult to go back ^^ I would by the game anyway, obviously, but it would be indeed a nice feature.

This is very good to hear! Thank you very much for the link!

This is good to hear. Do you remember where did they say it? Not that I don't trust you, I just would like to read it myself :D I don't know... Dante's Inferno and Mass Effect 2 are completely useless if you play on an armchair from a distance. For Dante's Inferno isn't a real issue, tough, since the game is horrible (I'm joking, i'm joking...). What games do you refer to, when you say "giant text"? The only one I can think of is Ninja Gaiden 2, and I liked that a lot, personally. I don't own an HDTV and PC and Xbox 360 are too distant from each other to link them up. And I have a 34'' SDTV that still works great, no need to upgrade for now (and I can't anyway). The Xbox 360 does support SDTVs, so at least I would like to be able to read what I'm playing

Dear Obsidian, I'm very interested in this game and I'm following it from a couple of weeks now. My question is simple: will this game be optimised for SDTVs too? I'm asking this because the other big RPG came out recently, Mass Effect 2, had very little, tiny, microscopic text, and this has generated many many thread with anger and sadness on their forums (most of them have been closed or deleted, but you can still see them). This ended with Bioware saying they won't do this again for Mass Effect 3. Now, how is this game optimized to be readable on SDTVs? Does it have tiny text (hope not)? I'm not from USA or UK, i bet the game won't be dubbed in other languages, so I will ahve to read subtitles.... please make them readable. That's all. Can't wait for the game.