Niten_Ryu

EA seem to want Bioware to build hype on 3 games at the same time. Then again, SWTOR is being build by Bioware Austin and Dragon Age might be ready soon. Teaser didn't give much info but I bet we'll see more in near future. There's at least lecture by Bioware's Corey Andruko (Project Manager) and Dusty Everman (Lead Technical Designer) at the Game Developers Conference. It's called The Iterative Level Design Process of Bioware's MASS EFFECT 2. Go check it out if you managed to con your boss to get tickets

Have to agree on many of those. I was hoping to see long time writer for Rockstar games, Lazlow Jones in the list (Radio channels dialogue is great). But I guess Dan Houser got the spot in the list.

GTA Lost and Damned is available only for Xbox360 and only via Xbox live marketplace. I didn't expect MS to allow this but I'm happy that they did. Now all we need is digital distribution to become even more mainstream. Probably won't happen during this generation of consoles but maybe 2014 and beyond.

Have to agree that's it's most likely because US is the largest market for games and not many developers want to risk it. Personally I still can't belive how much discussion every GTA, Mass Effect or God of War still generate in the US and in various boards. From european perspective it's almost surreal. Let's look at your average CRPG. Before the end of the game you have done amazing things, have enough money to run your own little kingdom, have reputation of a modern day superstar but you still can't get a relationship working beyond holding hands (with one person). It's like getting stuck in some horrible nerd-archtype nightmare. Some developers have said that they don't want Harem type of events but you'd think having several mates at the same time would be the more tame then many other things that you can do in CRPGs. Sandbox type of games like Sims and GTA's give option for that and I hope to see it in CRPGs too. Especially if Obsidian allows James Bond type of character in Alpha Protocol

That's not the idea of Prima Nocta. It's to allow local rulers to have sex with bride before the husband. After that the young couple is "free". Of course the humilation and the fact that first born child might be from a different father make sure that there's plenty of hatred towards local lords and laws. It's disputed if there ever was an actual written law about this in medieval times but it's known to happen since the written history.

God of War, GTA San Andreas, Manhunt and even Oblivion were tuned down to M rating because major retailers (like Wal-Mart ect ect) don't allow AO games to be sold in their stores. Console manufacturers are very much against AO game and don't allow 'em to be released untill AO content is cut out of game complitely. Thus only EU release or digital distribution of PC game are only real alternatives if some developers want to do AO rated game.

I don't think it could be said better then this I rarely get angry about silly story and I've read some extremely horrible books and seen some real crappy movies but damn... It's hard to imagine worse way to botch Assassin's Creed storyline then to tie to crusader era to "near future". And to do it with something as stupid as "DNA memory". I wonder who's idea it was to think - "Hmmm. I don't think story about arabic assassin during the crusader era is interesting enough. We need to spice it up.. the teh MAX !!!". I wonder if John Romero, Brad McQuade or some other hack was visiting Ubi that day.

Main problem in this whole situation is the fact that there's 2 different ratings for about same age group - Mature and Adults Only. Those two should be merged but it's not likely to happen in US where it's more ok to show graphic violence then nudity. Maybe situation with AO games become bit better if some big digital distributer begin to support 'em. This would benefit most of the RPGs (The Witcher almost got it right) and sandbox games like The sims or GTA series.

There will be next generation console but not any time soon. I wouldnt be suprised if we see PS3 and Xbox360 to last till 2014-2015 as top end consoles. Strangly enough, this doesn't really help PCs as consoles will remain as main development platform because of huge userbase. PCs will get quick and dirty ports similar to current GTA4 and Saints Row 2. Personally I'm fine with this as PCs will get more powerful each year so even those ugly ports will work ok in future. And maybe we get bit higher resolution, better textures and AA

I'm not sure if it's fair to call 'em idiots just because they'd like harder difficulty option. It's not like you can just forget what you've learnt over the years. Genre is 17 years old and most FPS are relatively similar. Multiplayer option in modern FPS will increase play skills even more. Most modern FPS are designed for both consoles and PC but only PC has keyboard + mouse combo as default. This advantage alone makes many FPS feel too easy if developers don't add several higher difficulty levels. From game mechanics point of view it's easy for developers to add higher difficulty settings to FPS then to many other genres of games. AI is always stupid but mobs can have higher health, faster movement or do more damage.

This has to be easiest FPS I've ever played. I selected hard (as it's highest difficulty available) and enemies barely got dent to my armor, let alone health. Only time my armor went to zero is when I met that laser mob. I didn't really get "scary" parts of the game where ghost appeared in front of me. If it was way to waste short burst of shotgun slug, job well done. If it meant to scare me... I'm not sure how that could even work in FPS where your main job is to eliminate just about everything that moves - or doesn't move but look like it could be destroyed Maybe in few years I could buy this from discount bin or Steam

Remember to check movie L.A. Confidential from 1997. I wouldn't be suprised if police from game would be very similar to ones in the movie.

ME had best combat I've seen in any game for awhile. Actually fun combat and combat mechanics were to sole reason why I started new run after I finshed the game. And good thing I did, as 2nd and 3rd run opened up the world aspects better for me. Actually DeusEx, Bloodlines and now ME (with best combat system out of all) were all excellent for me who find just about all real FPS too easy. Sure it's fun to rocket jump and bunnyhop from time to time but it's also fun to drop enemies from great distances with gimpy sniping rifle and aim that wobble around the screen. To get perfect shot under those conditons is really rewarding. On 3rd run (insane difficulty), I even had to use my companions in some situations to create tactical advantage for me. Sure it always didnt work and NPCs didnt always duck and cover correcly and got gunned down. Then again, sometimes it worked great. I loved KotOR's world (as I like Star Wars universe before the movies era) but combat was definately one of the worst aspects of the game. To have KotOR with ME's ranged combat (and abilities with pause for those who need it) and Jedi Knights II melee... Perfection for me.

World of ME is definately sterile and I think it's designed that way (maybe because they wanted to or maybe because schedule or resource issues). You get the feeling of small nanobots breaking down the small rubble, collecting dust particles, shining and fixing the worn surfaces. I'm not a fan of Star Trek and never been one but I've seen few episodes of various series of that show and I get the same feeling of it too. Everything is sterile, organzied and clean. While it don't make the most interesting world IMO, in some strange way it still works. I have to admit that world aspect of ME didn't open for me with one run, but took total of 3 runs (normal, heroic, insane difficulty levels). During the first run I didn't care about characters, world, environments or the writing. But because I found combat mechancs to be fun, I wanted to play more after the final encounter and thus started a new run. Slowly game opened for me and all the stuff started to make more sense. Developers probably tested the game enough and had solid vision for the game, but it didn't open for new players as easily as some other games. Level design was one of the weak spots in ME. I mean often developers were so lazy that they just copy/pasted generic_warehouse_1, maybe moved few boxes or weaponlockers around and weld down one of the doors. Maybe you could rationalize it same way as the sterile look. There was some huge corporation who manufactured standard size warehouse and living quaters. But really, that's just lazyness. For ME2 I wish more variation in level design, more interesting outside environments and total redesign of the loot system (as it's one of the worst I've seen in any game).

2008 was a good year for PC RPGs. Mass Effect and Fallout 3 both managed to suprise me with their quality. Last year wasn't bad either with excellent Mask of The Betrayer and The Witcher. I'd say PC RPGs are still alive and well... It's not as great as it was in 2000 but then again it's not as poor as it was in mid 90's (hopefully none can remember turds like Menzoberranzan or Ravenloft: Stone Prophet).

Naga Sadow did escape by the comic book but he didn't go to unknown regins of galaxy but to Yavin 4. From wiki This already has been edited with SWKOR info From offical site Ok, there's possiblity that it's Naga Sadow but most likely someone else. The spirit of Naga Sadow was key figure for Freedon Nadd in Yavin 4 and his way to the dark side. Freedon Nadd then again corrupted Exar Kun and that brings us very close to events of KotOR. I don't think SWKOR developers want to break that much continuity.

I've read the similar thing. It also said that one of the major themes of Star Wars (as setting) is the "forgotten knowledge". This was seen in original movies where only few force sensitives were alive or in prequels where Jedi almost totally forgot Sith and what they can do in about 1000 years. It's even more clear in various EU material like visiting Korriban in comics or games like KotOR, KotOR2 and Jedi Adademy. It's like Dark Ages where someone could find text from ancent roma or greece and "discover" something new. While Jedi try to collect and preserve information, it seem to get destroyed often. Sith collect information too but based on their code, might even try to keep that information secret from everyone else (as seen in KotOR's Sith Academy ex-headmaster quest). About KotOR 2

Low polygon models are must for any modern MMoG that want to get million+ subscriber numbers. Most powerful GPUs are over ten times faster then some integraded graphics chips, so it's only natural that low polygon is only real option. MMoGs also have potentially huge number of characters and NPCs in the same area. WoW's graphics are some of the best I've seen with amount of polygons they use. Aesthetics of WoW are among the best I've seen in any game or other media. It's unlikely that Bioware can do as good as Blizzard did, but I hope they can come close at least. 300 years after events of KotOR feel like bit too long time (wasn't it only 50 years from Exar Kun in KotOR2 ? ) but most important thing is still there. There are no big heroes or villains and every character can potentially be that person who defines that era. Every player can be Jedi or Sith and it doesn't mess up continuity. If Bioware get game mechanics right, I'll probably play this game for a long time.

And you're qualified because you've got first hand experience? PLEASE! You're blaming Gamebryo for bad art??? That's idiocy born of ignorance. I haven't worked with Gamebryo and thus I don't know what limitation game engine have for models and animations. From Gamebryo page

There were excellent Quakeworld Team Fortress and Team Fortress Classic before Team Fortress 2. All similar, but each game still have their fans. I just couldn't get used to no granades in Team Fortress 2 and thus still prefer older game mechanics. Team Fortress 2 will be THE capture the flag game for some (younger) gamers but Portal is the game that people will remember for a long time from Orange Box.

I really dislike Gamebryo engine that is used in Oblivion and Fallout 3 (as well as games like Dark Age of Camelot and Warhammer Online). For some reason animations and character models always look like crap. I could understand if one art team would mess it up but nearly all Gamebryo titles look like they are made by talentless hacks (maybe outside low polygon game Freedom Force). Then again, environments and inanimate objects seem to look just fine so it's bit perplexing. I've tried to keep positive about Fallout 3 but there are many things against it. Probably have to see several reviews before I buy it. Or in worst case wait till it's in bargain bin.

I think DA king is even bigger douchebag then Warcraft 3 Prince Arthas. And most likely face similar fate. Being douchebag don't always mean a bad thing in context of game characters. Both Prince from Bloodlines and Uther from Disciples 2 were great douchebags

Yes. Shepard - "Tell me about whatever" the other person - "wall of awkward text" I have to disagree on that "wall of text" part. For most of the time, Mass Effect didn't hit you with wall of text, you could skip out of talky situations fast with right side neutral option. Even if you chose to ask just about everything, there wasn't that much text. More detailed info went into codex and then it would be your option if you chose to read it, or some cases, listen excellent narrative voiceover. I think other developers should do the same and give players more options how much info they want about the world, story or the characters.

Baldur's Gate saga ended over 7 years ago with Throne of Bhaal. There's no reason to continue that storyline. As location it's nothing special and even it's brand value without Bioware is questionable. Atari shouldn't bother with it.