Thorton_AP

Matrix games offers something similar. Do they just burn you a CD on command or do they hold stock? I wouldn't be surprised if, given time, the people that demand physical copies of stuff are left SOL. I think this is still a long ways away though.

Are mods that common. Of all the people that played Rome: Total War, how many of them actually used mods to create a more realistic experience? Also, isn't it kind of bad when games need to be modded to hell and back in order to get the desired result? I loved Rome: Total Realism, but I doubt many people truly experienced it that way (and I still considered to product to be inferior compared to the original Medieval). This is one thing I love about digital distribution.

If that's your primary criterion then you'd be far better off buying from Impulse (Stardock) or Gamersgate (Paradox) as neither associated company makes console games at all. I doubt Valve even think of PC as being a platform at all any more. The platform they support is Steam, not PC, as evidenced by the move to Mac and PS3. I do buy games from Impulse and Gamers Gate Though you do mention other pros of the Steam platform with the support of Mac and PS3. I love the idea behind allowing owners of a single title to allow it to be played both on Mac or PC.

I thought this was an interesting, albeit lightweight, article regarding the evolution of games lately. http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/v...ryone-Except-Me

Digital products most definitely does not cater well to the "I like having my boxes" crowd though. The much of my support for Steam does come because Valve appears to actually support the PC game market.

Then why did you mention Modern Warfare 2? Looks like lots of people are still playing that game. Also. What exactly do you mean by: At first glimpse it gives the impression that you think Developers can do whatever they want, as the publisher pays for it. And I'd like to give you the benefit of the doubt that you aren't drawing such an absurd conclusion.

A philosophical question since I figure we're a long ways off from it: Will people stick to their guns if physical media ceases to be made for video games?

4,000 books? 4,000 is a very, very large number...

I loved Defender of the Crown! I so sucked at jousting though haha. The music in that game was pretty awesome. Is that price adjusted for today's inflation?

I'm not sure what part of the world you live in. Where I come from people see smoking as something that can cause a type of cancer. It's in now way synonymous with anti-smoking.

That would actually be kind of awesome if that type of flexibility existed with an import. I wouldn't hold my breath haha.

I'm pretty sure the first two Fallout's just used a number for reputation. My guess is, based on your description, is that FONV does as well. You just don't see the numbers. Unless you're referring to faction specific numbers which I think is different than FO3.

The impression I got was you'd get a paraphrase with some other indication for the mood. It probably won't deviate a whole lot from the Mass Effect one, but will rather add stuff to it.

The complete game is on the CD/DVD.

Would you feel the reviewers would have reviewed it differently? There is some argument that post ME2 people would look at AP differently, but at the same time, I don't believe ME2 was this giant influential game (if you look at the sales numbers).

What about games with a physical CD/DVD that still use Steam?

Cue Yoda (ok close enough...) "It will be.... it will be..."

What I guess will happen is it'll facilitate the choices you make in a more "realistic" timeline. You can make a decision at one point in the game, and then still see the ramifications of that decision 5-10 years later.

Wasn't the dialogue wheel typically something along the lines of: Friendly is upper right Direct is right Aggressive is lower right Paragon was upper left Investigate was to the left (and opened up other conversations) Renegade was lower left Occasionally Paragon and Renegade had other options. I think that's how it was in ME2 anyway.

I'm pretty sure that's what I asked, and what he answered. I don't understand the "No" comment, but whateves.

How frequently did separate dialogue choices (at the same point) in the ME games speak the same line of dialogue? I didn't really notice, but wasn't looking for it either. Every Single Time again, that were the point o' the wheel. if there were 3 dialogue choices on wheel, at least two would have same vo spoken line. vo is very expensive, and the wheel allows 1-spoken line o' vo to be having multiple interpretations. unfortunately, from a crpg pov, this leads to funneling of dialogues rather than bifurcation. Just to make sure I'm clear here, you're stating that every single dialogue option (I'll assume you're hyperbolizing a bit, and will allow for the odd exception) in the Mass Effect games had options that you could choose different paraphrases where the PC would actually speak the same line of dialogue?

How frequently though? Because I've seen lines in DAO (and other full line dialogue games), where the same unique dialogue line you choose results in the same response from the NPC you're talking to, with no significance given to the player's decision to speak a different line. To me it seems like pretty much the same thing.

Several interviews were they actually interviewed people from Obsidian and not from Sega. Can't be bothered to go diggin through old interviews though, but here's one quote from Gamebanshee interview "GB: During the game

How frequently did separate dialogue choices (at the same point) in the ME games speak the same line of dialogue? I didn't really notice, but wasn't looking for it either.

I'm relatively indifferent between the two. The one thing about the paraphrase is that I'll usually not play with subtitles on and actually watch the conversation unfold. Which I do consider a small plus.