BruceVC

Nice monster Baron, you have put some good thought into it

But GD didn't you predict the crash of the USA economy during Obama's second term? I am sure it was you who suggested people should get out of equities and move there money into more consistent investments like Gold? ( You see I listen to what you say ) You probably are aware that the USA stock markets have seen unprecedented highs the last few weeks and this is despite the fact the employment rate hasn't really improved. But companies are recording profits so there is money been made, real money. Obama hasn't been the Grim Reaper of economic doom some predicted, it looks like things are really getting better in the USA Oh stocks are going to go up and down always. If you are playing for short term you can do well if you get lucky. Last week was a perfect mix of of increase dividend payments by sixty or so F500 companies coupled with a rash of stock buybacks from a suprisingly large number of companies driving up stock prices over all. Don't even try to read into what they are doing that, there is too many possibilities. You notice though there was a cool down this week as investors start selling off to capitaize their gains. But if you are looking long term the biggest question mark is the strength of the dollar. Buying real assets or real commodities (like gold) are less about making big returns, although that can happen I'm VERY happy to say, than it is protecting what you have from currency devaluation. My biggest concern with the current admin is not just spending and borrowing (although that is a problem that will come to a head in the future) but their "quantative easing", which is basicly using imaginary money to buy up treasuries and bonds, and pump more cash into the market ultimately. The problem is you then have twice the dollars chasing the same number of assets which causes the value of the dollar to drop. Do it too much too often and.... you get the idea. If the dollar devaluates it does not matter how well a stock is doing if the buying power of the company benefiting from the capital is crippled. And of course if that happens the buying power of investors is hurt as well since it costs more to just get buy in life so they start selling off for the cash and the dominos start falling from there. Or they don't. If they do the folks invested in real assets are happy because investors start buying in and driving up the price. If they don't then your real assets don't go up and you probably don't make any money. But you won't lose it all because they have value in and of themselves. You've heard the old saying, gold has never been worth nothing. But I posted elesewhere I would not buy into gold right now. It's seriously over priced. It's really worth about $800 per and this around $1500. If the ecomony tanks it will go up, if it doesn't it is going to correct sooner or later. I've already sold off more than half of what I had. I would not look at stock activity as any kind of barometer for overall economic health. There are too many reasons why things happen they way they do. I'd look at the buying power of the currency because when you get right down to it, this is a market economy. When people consume and spend money it does well, when they don't it dosen't. Right now I'm not encouraged, that's why I invest the way I do. But I might be wrong, I consider myself well educated and well read but I'm not an economist by any means. Wow, we really got OT, my fault. This is just one of my favorite subjects. Thats an impressive insight into economics in my opinion. I am also not an economist but I have money invested in various funds both locally and internationally and try to understand as much as I can. Obviously everyone should understand investments like your retirement annuities and how well they are doing. Good post GD

What we can agree upon is that as fans of the golden age of cRPGs, we hope that the SoTA is a decent game (even it is a funny offline single player/MMO hybrid) and that PE and TToN kick some serious gaming a*se! Well said, I concur

I agree that you can't jump to conclusions. It's why I said in my posts: 1. There's also been claims that the game is already funded with private investment of at least 7 million. 2. It's been reported in wired quite a few months ago that he has the 7 million for this game already? My first point has the word 'claim'. It's not certain. My second point has a question mark at the end, asking a question? And I was referencing the wired news article from a few months ago. The 'evidence' doesn't look good. Mr RG (no more rat tail references, I'm feeling a little more generous tonight) touches on this in the latest RPS article. http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/03/13/garriott-on-shroud-of-the-avatar-why-he-needs-ks/ In the earlier post, I made a Chris Roberts aside deliberately. Roberts was very open about seeking funding for Star Citizen from multiple sources in addition to two different crowd funding campaigns he described chasing funding from the traditional sources: industry and finances from memory. Broadly I have no problems with RG having already funded SoTA to X million but it is a little disingenous not to disclose this in his KS campaign but instead to draw heavily on gamer nostalgia for his classic series in the pitch and to imply that are funds are vital to completing some sort of spiritual successor to Ultima (I know he doesn't use the exact phrase but it is very heavily implied). I get the appeal of crowd sourced funding: for gaming companies they get great publicity, de facto pre-orders, probably attracts co-matching funds from traditional sources or can be used as collateral for loans and importantly charges no interest and has very little legal rights in case the project falls over. All I ask is that they are up front about it; more so for a man who is seriously independently wealthy as by not doing so, they appear dishonest and attract controversy. You make some good points and I can't disagree with everything you have mentioned, the reality for me is I feel we are not seeing the full picture around funding. But I suppose the other point is "does it matter". End of the day I want to play entertaining and old school PC based RPG. I don't mind if RC has already raised additional funding for this game. I will only contribute less than $50 anyway to this project. Some people will say it does matter as its the principle of being misinformed about the funds he needs. But in this case the principle isn't that important for me. I would be much more upset if this has happened during the PE and Torment KS

I was an avid gamer already back then. I played D&D on Intellivision (Cloudy Mountain), the Atari console, and I played Alley Cat etc in workplaces on the pc, and of course I played my Commodore 64 so hard, I had to get another one, before I moved on to Amiga 500. Some games were brilliant back then, and they will remain that way. Question is, does this claim work for old adventure games and CRPGs? All in all, one thing is certain, I used my imagination to feel in the graphical suspension-of-belief gaps when it came to adventure games, and it sure worked. One year I was entirely caught up in two games. I played them over and over: Cauldron II and Bard's Tale. Let's say, I've tried them today, and it's only Cauldron II, where the graphics feel a bit bearable. That actually seem true for all platformers and action games. I tried Wizball the other day, another favourite back in the days, and it's fun enough today too, perhaps because it's a soundly engineered interface system that is the game. The "feel" is still there. So, I agree with BruceVC here, there is a bottom line for graphics. I'm also playing through IE-classics at the moment, and I draw the line where Bruce draws it. Those old Ultima games with just dots just wouldn't cut it by a mile after having played, say, NWN 1&2 or Skyrim. Its funny you mention Ultima but thats exactly what I was thinking about when I made my point, I was looking at the earlier Ultimas on GOG and I just couldn't imagine playing it

It is most likely, he is after all quite a corpulent gentleman. It is most likely, he is after all quite a corpulent gentleman. Mmm, good points raised. Okay this worries me immensely. Get writing George, get writing !!

Is it the industry, or the general gaming population, that wants this? I have been happy with graphics for a long time now but I feel like I am somewhat unique in this regard among my friends. To be fair, too, there are certainly "old classics" that I have a hard time going back to due to how dated they look. Nostalgia can help me look past it, but if it is a game I didn't play at the time, it can be hard sometimes. Is it the industry, or the general gaming population, that wants this? I have been happy with graphics for a long time now but I feel like I am somewhat unique in this regard among my friends. To be fair, too, there are certainly "old classics" that I have a hard time going back to due to how dated they look. Nostalgia can help me look past it, but if it is a game I didn't play at the time, it can be hard sometimes. Same here, while I'm certainly not opposed to beautiful graphics and they can certainly add to my experience, it's hardly the dominant benchmark I rate games by, in fact it's very far down the list. Look at a game like Mount & Blade. It looks like a PS2 game, yet I think it's a fantastic game. I do ultimately think that it's in large part due to the general gaming public that TEH GRAFX seem to be so important these days, which is ironic since we've reached the point where a designer can put pretty much anything into a game and make it look believable and even have fine details. How much more is is throwing however many more shader cores and vertex pipelines and such at our games going to enhance immersion and enjoyment? In my opinion "flat" graphics are rapidly approaching maximum capacity. The next level of immersion lies in virtual reality like Occulus Rift and such. I have a limit with Graphics around what I can accept, so for example I played Torment recently and with the Wide Screen Mod that was fine. But anything worse than that I would battle with

This, for me the Game of Thrones TV series is not as important as the books. He needs to finish the books and urgently, they are the greatest fantasy series I have ever read.But why do you think he may die of a heart attack?

But GD didn't you predict the crash of the USA economy during Obama's second term? I am sure it was you who suggested people should get out of equities and move there money into more consistent investments like Gold? ( You see I listen to what you say ) You probably are aware that the USA stock markets have seen unprecedented highs the last few weeks and this is despite the fact the employment rate hasn't really improved. But companies are recording profits so there is money been made, real money. Obama hasn't been the Grim Reaper of economic doom some predicted, it looks like things are really getting better in the USA

Do you know my step-dad got the same call in South Africa, so these guys are truly international

I have never heard of it, thx for the tip

But boys they do have some stunning blond ladies. Last year I went to this music\dance festival in Belgium called Tomorrowland. We ended up meeting and partying with loads of really great people, but the Swedish girls were up there as some of the most attractive and friendliest of everyone we met . If I had to be objective I'd say the Norwegian ladies are the prettiest in Scandinavia and the Swedish men are the most attractive. While Denmark is where the fun is at. And where does Finland fit in, are they not considered Scandinavian? Do you guys share cultural similarities with Finns or not really? Stricly speaking Finland isn't part of Scandinavia. Finns have different cultural background from the other nordic countries, but being neighbors for a long time has had it effects. Okay thx. I figured you guys must have certain similar cultural traits.

Okay I agree

You don't seriously think or expect that Obsidian is going to have the time to dissect every monster in the game to the point where they "may not be evil" or " lets not kill the troll because his rampage and killing spree may not be evil" Most monsters you encounter you will just kill , like in any RPG. The game will offer us some moral choices that are potentially grey areas but lets not set unrealistic expectations

But boys they do have some stunning blond ladies. Last year I went to this music\dance festival in Belgium called Tomorrowland. We ended up meeting and partying with loads of really great people, but the Swedish girls were up there as some of the most attractive and friendliest of everyone we met . If I had to be objective I'd say the Norwegian ladies are the prettiest in Scandinavia and the Swedish men are the most attractive. While Denmark is where the fun is at. And where does Finland fit in, are they not considered Scandinavian? Do you guys share cultural similarities with Finns or not really?

Well, that's a bummer. While it was clear that something like this would happen at some point, I don't know why it had to be Garriott to corrupt the KS model. Forsaken virtues alright Well, that's a bummer. While it was clear that something like this would happen at some point, I don't know why it had to be Garriott to corrupt the KS model. Forsaken virtues alright I did not know that he already has 7M for the damned project. This is going to make me re-think my pre-existing low tier pledge as there is nothing to feel guilty about! If anything, Mr. Rocking the Rat's tail should be a little ashamed that unlike his friend Chris Roberts, he didn't cough up this info as part of the KS campaign. Guys lets not jump to conclusions, there are many reasons that they could need additional funding through KS. I want to hear the official response from Richard Garriot around this before I say his KS campaign is disingenuous

Well ME and DA still come from EA, so we don't want to deny ourselves access to those games do we?

Luridis, it was all written in good fun on my behalf, and your second paragraph here, I wholeheartedly agree with on this. As the rest of the list shows I'm annoyed that it is even considered for being a KS project. Like others have pointed out, it was already funded - it's just advertising. Also, I was, despite my age, perhaps a bit childish in feeling it stole the limelight and potential upped pledges from Torment, which I believe in a lot (too lot?). Basically, it was a statement based on emotioon rather than fact. I do get carried away sometimes, and this was one of those cases. Nah you comments were perfectly acceptable and understandable . We are never too old or mature to make comments based on emotion, this is what makes us human

But boys they do have some stunning blond ladies. Last year I went to this music\dance festival in Belgium called Tomorrowland. We ended up meeting and partying with loads of really great people, but the Swedish girls were up there as some of the most attractive and friendliest of everyone we met .

What rumours would that be? It's been reported in wired quite a few months ago that he has the 7 million for this game already? http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2012/07/ultima-forever/ "Garriott’s current company Portalarium is also developing a spiritual successor to his past work called Ultimate RPG/New Britannia. The company said this week that it had secured $7 million from investors to support this and other game projects." So he's already got the money for it. This was obviously planned some time ago to develop the game, to get investors in and then he's put this on KS to get aditional funds and more importantly free advertising. It's not really what KS is about when you have 7 million in the bank from investors for the game and the KS project goal for the game is 1 million. Okay thats a good find, and I agree. Portalarium has indeed raised $7 million dollars. I am not sure why he needs the KS, it is probably because additional funding is required. A pity no one has asked him in the various interviews?

Don't believe rumors Hiro, they will keep you awake at night in a state of profound angst. Rather think of this KS as the only confirmed funding of this game

100,000 quatloos, a video camera, a basketful of cute kittens**, and two year's worth of kitten chow. **puppies or dwarf hamsters can be substituted upon request "a basketful of cute kittens"

I don't know but as someone who works in the industry I think that Windows 8 is a solid and stable OS, like Windows 7. Now Vista was problematic. We have customers who have deployed Windows 8 to all there users (20k + users) and there have been very few issues. So I'm sure you'll be fine 697221235axzral.jpg Thats funny and relevant

We're only expecting the devs to resolve issues where we as a species haven't resolved yet. Nothing more difficult. Devs? One already said examples weren't welcome and there have been none after....beyond that there is no further issue with the discussion afaik. Some people have been really sheltered and some of the less pleasant details of reality may be shocking. And the answer to the good and evil question is that the worst thing we can possibly do is presume we know it. I find it interesting how you assert that "the worst thing we can possibly do is presume we know [good and evil]", when you present your own account as revelations of objective "reality". Seems legit. Things are what they are, nothing else. We can be wrong but reality does not change and if we pay attention, use reason and avoid assuming what we do not know it's not that hard to find a reasonable course of action based on available information....I see it as practical. This is nowhere remotely close to presuming to know all about what's good and evil.....sometimes actions that people judge as "evil" are needed.....that judgement is where they fail. Circumstances should dictate decisions not some set of silly morals and invisible power figures that you fear because somebody else told you to. I can agree that in RL there may be no real "evil" and many definitions of evil are in fact the depraved actions of mentally unbalanced people or religions trying to characterize people and events but in the context of a fantasy RPG its not that subjective. Red Dragon is evil, bugbear is evil, succubus is evil. Wizard trying to resurrect long dead behemoth is evil. Character party needs to stop this to prevent destruction of known world, this is good. There you go, discussion over

I don't know but as someone who works in the industry I think that Windows 8 is a solid and stable OS, like Windows 7. Now Vista was problematic. We have customers who have deployed Windows 8 to all there users (20k + users) and there have been very few issues. So I'm sure you'll be fine