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Not sure if it counts as an easter egg, and I'm sure most people have seen them, but there's a few funny news reports on TV if you choose to watch it a few times. There's one on a study about the dangerous effects of sugar on young children, and at least a couple more that escape me at the moment.

Eh, they aren't as similar as you say. Deus Ex is a totally unique game even to this day, and while Alpha Protocol shares story elements (conspiracies, exploitation of people by large corporations, etc.), and gameplay elements (can choose stealth or combat approach), Alpha Protocol is also much more mission-based, linear, and gives you far fewer options for solving situations. It definitely excels when it comes to character interactions and the potential for shifting allegiances is there, but as far as gameplay goes, Deus Ex is far more of a role-playing game in my eyes. Whereas Alpha Protocol puts you in very particular situations and gives you clear goals, Deus Ex is all about dropping the player in a large, open environment and then letting the player figure out how to accomplish objectives. I don't think you can really directly compare the two, but Alpha Protocol definitely scratches the same itch for action role-playing. I actually came into Alpha Protocol right after my first play-through of Deus Ex: Invisible War. I'd put that game off for a long while due to all the negative comments, but in many ways it's quite a bit like Alpha Protocol - it's got both technical issues and slightly dated visuals, as well as the ability to ally yourself with different parties, often who have conflicting objectives. I think, looking back at the reviews, Invisible War probably got the sorts of scores it deserved, but only because it was a sequel to Deus Ex - had it been put out as an original title, not attached to such a famous name, I think people would have accused it of being a buggy, unplayable mess. It also makes me wonder what sort of scores Alpha Protocol would have got if it was a sequel to another successful game.

I agree that using the mouse makes it a bit harder to pick dialogue options on time. I would have preferred if we could use the arrow keys or WASD to select.

I really think that Obsidian deserve a lot of praise for Alpha Protocol. Despite what sounds like a pretty tumultuous development history, they've succeeded in making a game where story, characters and player choice aren't just interesting, but integral to the experience. Frankly, the quality of the writing on display is top-notch, and makes BioWare and other contemporaries look childish. I'm glad for once a game doesn't insult my intelligence. The voice acting also deserves a lot of praise, with characters all cast perfectly and nary a poor performance to be heard. I can't say that it's perfect, of course. There are some issues with balance and AI, and the visuals aren't stunning, but all of that stuff totally gets the job done, and all the complaints in the press about the game have been, for the most part, totally exaggerated and unfounded. I've always been a fan of Obsidian despite the problems some of their games have had, and I haven't been let down this time. Here's hoping that New Vegas turns out to be a true sequel to Fallout 1 and 2, and not a hideous abortion of a game like Fallout 3.

I had the same experience - grabbed the PC version expecting to get a bonus, store didn't have any on launch day, and the day after I come back and turns out it's console-only. Kind of a downer, but then I guess getting treated like **** by both publishers and retailers is just part of being a PC gamer these days. It's a miracle I haven't switched to online-only purchases by now, considering how good a job the industry has been doing of turning me off of gaming entirely.

Yeah, see, I don't think I should have to crack the game when I legally purchased it. I often do, to get rid of disc checks, but I shouldn't be losing the ability to legitimately play a game simply because the game decided I've changed my settings one too many times. Oh, and sorry, but a deactivation tool isn't going to help... unless I want to have the added "feature" of deactivating and reactivating every time I play the game. I'd appreciate hearing from an actual developer or Q&A team member.

Right, so I purchased Alpha Protocol yesterday and have been enjoying it quite a bit so far. However, I've run into my first major issue with the game - DRM. Although the Uniloc system seems to work okay and doesn't require my disc to be in the drive, I found that after changing my speaker settings in Windows and editing an INI file in my Alpha Protocol user directory (trying to get surround sound working), I was told to reactivate the game by entering my serial number. The game works absolutely fine after reactivating, but one question I have is: assuming that I'm going to be asked to reactivate after I make software/hardware changes, or after tweaking the game's files, does this mean that my limited installs are going to be used up in short order? What about when I install some new device drivers? Get a new video card? The DRM thinks that because of the changes made, my system is a new one, and there's no way for me to unregister the previous activations. This strikes me as both a major flaw and an inconvenience, and leaves me wondering if I'm going to end up losing the ability to play the game.