pmp10

That's actually a pretty good number. Warhammer online had first month retainment of around 50% and it was considered a failure. DAOC was considered a success with over 60% and we're talking first month only. If they can maintain a population of ~1 million they are bound to turn good profit.

I certainly hope that won't happen. We butcher enough history as is - alternative history is usually just an attempt to impose specific interpretations on times and events that just can't be bend enough to peoples liking.

Finishing up Tribes Ascend. I really want to like the game but the sheer amount of technical issues I keep troubleshooting makes me feel like I should be getting payed for this. Since population keeps falling I imagine I'll just finish class unlocks before the game dies. With the disappointment of Risen 2 moved up to Skyrim. So far it's predictable ES game although I just don't get the point of perk system. From what I see it's even more broken that the stats that got removed with some perks changing the whole dynamic of combat.

Sure it will - the greater good of people in that former-Soviet bloc country. This however should not concern Microsoft and frankly if we were to be satisfied with such low likelihoods we can as well abolish private property altogether. After all - you never know if the things you own can possibly result in greater good when put in other people hands.

The problem with this argument is that you want to judge whether any value was lost. Or to put it another way: If someone doesn't use their car is it okay to steal it? Surly it was going to rust no value loss will occur. Actually there are laws that allow that sort of thing. Here in the US. Adverse possession in the case of citizens taking something that isn't theirs and eminent domain for the government. Except this regards land and is instituted by law. I don't see why the same should apply to intellectual property. We make exceptions to our laws in extraordinary situations but greater good will not be served by allowing people to torrent the latest video game.

The problem with this argument is that you want to judge whether any value was lost. Or to put it another way: If someone doesn't use their car is it okay to steal it? Surly it was going to rust no value loss will occur.

My historical interests are mostly focus on impact and misrepresentation in modern culture. No practical favorite period but I tend to follow trends of appearances in pop-culture. Definitely this. Realpolitik made almost 2500 year ago show you how little our nature has really changed.

The whole 'internet is being oppressed' angle is slowly moving towards absurdity. Internet has simply outgrown the whole wild-west stage and it will get regulated. If pirates were capable of some forward thinking they would push for light regulation themselves. This way they may delay things but when they'll finally happen they will hit hard.

True but it had dodging. I hoped PB had learned the lesson of what happens when Gothic 3 did away with it.

You can only block. No dodging. Oh dear. And I suppose you still cannot block animals forcing a constant attack spam? Thanks for the answer btw.

Is combat still dodge-driven or has it gone back to gothic3-style spam? Can't find anything on it as ppl are really confused on how it worked in risen/gothic2. I really don't get how they could play those games and not use side-dodging and back-jumping.

Tribes Ascend. Technical issues aside it seems pretty fun but the team-play was poorly designed. Available unlocks/upgrades heavily encourage specialization and as a result many team-roles go completely unfilled. Unlock pricing is also questionable - almost 200$ just for all classes/weapons is a bit much.

And that is the story of how Steam made itself immune to everything. Is it a bad thing, though? I don't think so. It makes me buy games I wouldn't have otherwise bought, at a price so cheap that it doesn't matter if it is **** or if there's a risk of Steam going bankrupt and me losing all these games I thought I 'owned' (honestly if that happened I'd just hop on Pirate Bay). You could argue that it is a problem as many games sold in bundles (and at sub-5$ price range) never get seriously played. This turns the entire industry on it's head - straight from entertainment to collectibles. The end result is that we reward good sale timing far more than any actual quality. And I don't buy it that Steam/Valve is somehow beyond criticism. Maybe I just have very poor luck with them but all the problems I ran into are in no way recompensed by the occasional sales.

Don't worry about their safety. If oil barons sent their corporate assassins after every energy-technology crackpot half of the physics community would be dead by now.

That's ridiculous. My history would show that I purchased the game, why can't I use a workaround to make it run? I guess I'll just have to throw the original exe into the steam folder everytime I open steam just in case. Thanks for the heads up. By cracking/hacking a game you break Steam EULA. Moreover steam cracks often enable any DLCs and preorder bonuses available regardless of your owning them. Pretty sure the same applies to Origin.

AFAIK beta and retail versions are kept separate so it would be odd to have starter-edition in beta. Besides isn't the beta ending in a week or so?

Wait - so kickstarter dose not lock pledged funds immediately? What's the point of it then? You're expected to keep making promises even when you can't know how much funds will get transfered in reality.

There was nothing adult or mature in Doom/Quake that would not be found in Doom3/Quake4. Games have always been aimed at youth as they are by far the largest audience.

Rushed through Kingdoms of Amalur. Started of nicely but never got anywhere fun. With setting that's MMO-level of dull and a combat system which never evolves past the tutorial I wouldn't recommend it.

He just described effect of a random spawn on narrative. I'd say Levine has a far better point. Games have become so predictable in their pandering to player egomania that reversing the trend makes for a great shock.

Epic Games working on a PC-exclusive title. At this point I can only imagine that it's Unreal Tournament remade into f2p browser game.

I'm all for discussing cultural exposure but take issue with the notion that we can 'experience' cultures and events from the past by the means of any form of entertainment. The experiences we are presented are tailored for mass-consumption and as such will never make a serious attempt to present reality - it's all good to have fun with them as long we don't confuse them with the real thing. And I think the way such thing are presented is very educational in and of itself. You can clearly see our own biases and prejudices when you look at all the topics that are 'no-go' in a computer game.

The whole anti-used games rumors suggest that both consoles will feature some kind of online checks. I just don't understand how MS hopes to implement it - they sell thousands of consoles in countries that are not supported via Live. Maybe those rumors are for dev-kits only?

Pre-order bonuses? There's nothing in the game (apart from the Missing Link mission) that you couldn't get for free with some version of the game day1. In fact, in most of Europe, all preorder versions included all bonuses. So that's fine for those that bought preorder versions in Europe. The rest has to pay extra to enjoy remotely detonated explosives and automatic unlock devices. Since the former should help with badly done boss-fights and the later with absurd over reliance on hacking mini-game I consider their lack a serious omission.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Surprisingly solid despite few obvious blunders. What is worrying however is that devs felt the need to remove useful in-game items and sell them as DLC. Hopefully that trend won't catch on as it clearly impacted overall quality and balance.