Nonek

Severance: Blade of Darkness. Why hasn't anybody made a fighting game this bloody good? Stick a deep Obsidian plot and setting onto this fighting mechanic and i'd give up the missus and bairns to play it. Admirredly that's not saying much, i'd swap them for a few ounces of fine pipe shag.

Well i've got no idea how Diablo 3's auction house holds up, not having acquired the game, but that seems to cover certain similar ground as well as the gifting service of digital distribution services. Seems eminently do-able, and mayhap somewhat profitable.

Yes i've still got all my old Ultima feelies and maps, they're rather a part of me. A lot of games on Steam i'd be more than happy to give away for a pittance however, still I understand your point. Is that Kerr Avon? If so much respect sir.

I think what the gentleman was trying to say was that they wouldn't be interested in selling on the product if they were completely happy with it, so if they are selling, then by extension they believe themselves to have paid too much (and are trying to reimburse themselves somewhat.)

I'm in total agreement with you there Orogun, the publishers have been making all kinds of nonsensical moves for a long time, and are still hung up on piracy being the real enemy. However i'd not ask for a change in pricing, merely a change in what percentages of current prices go to whom. Of course I realise that publishers and retailers would fight this tooth and nail, as it infringes on their profit margins at a time of market instability, and no doubt try to pass price rises on to the consumer. Still it seems the right thing to do.

Fair point I admit, if i've purchased a product then it's mine to do with as I wish in theory. Barring certain copyright infringements. However I still think that developers should be accruing some form of compensation for older titles that are still being sold, GOG and Steams back catalogue includes many classic games that the publisher must have been re-imbursed for. A percentage of profits form these transactions should surely be going to the actual creators. As well as retailer re-releases and value lines. Seems a trifle unfair as it stands.

With the recent judgement by the european court of justice on gamers rights to own and sell on the property they purchase, i'm left thinking that though good for clarifying a buyers rights and actually challenging all the restrictive articles we see in EULA's, it may prolong or possibly exacerabate the poor treatment developers recieve from publishers and retailers. Publisher take a financial risk in developing a game, this cannot be argued but to say that developers do not is ludicrous, surely both parties should be re-imbursed to some extent for every sale AND re-sale of their intellectual properties. Thus i'd propose a system somewhat like the royalties used by music publishers, so that re-sales are not just enriching retailers but actually putting a little financial assistance in the pockets of the creators. Obviously this would be an enormously complex undertaking, but it seems rather prohibitive for this portion of the entertainment industry to be so prohibitively ignored. What are your thoughts?

What might have been interesting about such an ending is the potential ramifications, those reapers who are not in the Sol system are forced to withdraw from council space by the suicidal actions of the vermin, and re-assess their strategy. Cue areas of the milky way becoming forbidden space, mass relays closed down and a galactic cold war springing to life. Indoctrinated agents sowing seeds of chaos within council space, an intensive militarisation of the organic species and a search for alternate sources of technology. Organics are desperately seeking a means of survival while the machine gods, viewing time through the lense of immortality are content to plot and intrigue over centuries.

Would have made saving the human colonies in Mass Effect 2 a far more important achievement too, the future of mankind is amongst the stars and whatnot.

Imagine a boot stamping on a human face forever, and stitched into its lining will be the brand name "freedom." I'm more convinced every day that left or right the radicals want to make the future of Warhammer 40k become a reality, hail to the cynical moderate.

Might be worth replacing the ms32.dll file anyway, I copied the file from the first kotor and dropped it in the main directory of kotor 2 as I remember, and the game started working after that. Hope this helps.

Are you running Vista? There's a few hints on how to get the game running in the top stickied thread of this forum. http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/41038-kotor2-technical-faq-statistics-mod-info/

Bloody hell, it's Lexx the game.

Is Cyberpunk the one where you have a humanity statistic that degenerates as you acquire cybernetic augmentations? If so I wonder how they'll deal with that, seems quite punishing for the average completionist minded rpg fellow. How would you represent such a loss of humanity? Poor social skills, lack of empathy, getting a job at EA.

Well not that my opinion is worth tuppence ha'penny, but the binary nature of the adherents of the force and the fact that Kreia is seeking to end that very struggle by slaying the impetus, would suggest to me that she's neither jedi or sith. Though her philosophy has certainly been informed by seeing and experiencing both sides of the force in action, Kreia is Kreia i'd say.

All this talk of cloud gaming always makes me think of that Kate Bush song Cloudbursting that had Donald Sutherland in the video.

The above link TrueNeutral provided does seem rather frivolous, however i've often wondered whether multiplayer providers would have a duty of care to their customers, say upon the hacking of ones account (especially if the autenticator software has been taken advantage of). Seems to be a far more logical approach to challenging one of these behemoths judicially, however one suspects that the likes of Activision could tie up such a motion in numerous counter claims and appeals until hell freezes over. I suppose one could argue that the sale of goods act has been breached with the various challenges to accessing single player content, but that seems a little too nebulous, the fault may lie with internet providers or the pc. Be interesting to see what develops when this real money auction house rears its head. On a side note is there any mention of the Unseen in Diablo III? Currently creeping through the halls of the blind in Diablo I, and the core concept seems very effective; if poorly executed. Wondered if they'd brought them back for the third.

Opted to dig out the original Diablo, due to the tremulousness of me internet connection not likely being conducive to the third iteration. By crikey sirs, this is one damnedly atmospheric beastie. Down in the catacombs, and I swear i'm occassionally hearing a sprog crying, rather disturbing. Quite a good looking game as well, i'm thoroughly enjoying myself.

I've never particularly minded being punished for timewasting so long as i'm made volubly aware that my punctuality will be an issue, I thought the latest Deus Ex handled this well with the first quest. It gave me a choice and a consequence, which i'm always in favour of. I know i'll not be the only player who replayed Fallout because of my own meandering progress dooming the hub and other locales, that might have been rubbed in a little more in the ending slides however. Flagellate the player with guilt a little more.

It all began with the singing, the harmonious and mellifluous crooning of the native sons of Cymru, it dug itself into my brain and would not let go. That such aural beauty could exist seemed to mock my own crude and ill formed attempts at song, I fell silent as a youth and grew bitter and strange, divorced from my kith and kin. They had neither the ears to hear or the eyes to see what a farce our crude lives were, I despised and pitied them. A madness took me and I slaughtered my kin and feasted on their flesh, their souls would live on in me so that they might hear at last what heaven sounds like. I now stand shaved, free of the farmers marks on my fleece, pretending to be human and as yet no one has caught me. Jones the psychopathic sheep.

Just finished my second playthrough, and i've got to say they've improved things rather dramatically since it first came out. Also quite impressed with the endgame state I reached on my Mr Iorveth's playthrough, the amount of differences (minor and major) as compared to my previous playthrough are very defined. Also got to say it's damnably refreshing to not be railroaded into a bossfight come the denouement. The UI's still crud compared to the first games however, still these things are sent to try us.

Egil Skallagrimsson was a famous poet according to his saga, he'd oft make use of kenning poetry. That is elaborate metaphor that challenged the listeners knowledge of saga and history, that would seem nonsensical to the casual listener. For instance the sea could be the whale road, a sword might be called a woundweaver and a warrior might be Tyr's first son so we have something like: Across the whale road Tyr's first son ventured, the oaken Fafnir steady under his feet. At Stamford bridge his woundweaver rose one last time, and of saxon heartwine it drank deep. A warrior went across the sea on a dragon ship, and shed saxon blood at stamford bridge. Really rather wonderful form of description if you ask me, Egil was a violent man who killed his first opponent at the age of eight supposedly and yet he was also a fine poet and a runemaster. Contradictory fellow.

Always had a slight hankering for the viking era, when men were berserk and monasteries were nervous. Seems to be an age of strange contradictions, the northmen were undoubtedly vicious foemen but they had equal rights for women, divorce, freedom of religion and a flourishing interest in poetry and verse despite being virtually illiterate. In many ways they seem to have had more freedom than the majority of christendom, and yet they took thralls and had great markets for the slave trade such as the old settlement at Hedeby. Strange beggars.

To be fair those corpses are probably more lively in the sack than me ex wife.

I sometimes wonder whether there is a place for surreal romaticism in fantasy games. Luxurious and sumptuous epics that wallow in idle contemplation and dream like monotony, before soaring into the heady thrill of action and rushing sensation. Beautiful and illogical mindscapes that defy all physics and twist Escher like through limitless skies, an impressionistic foray into beauty unbound by reality. Yes album covers brought into being, Michael Moor****s prose given interactivity and progressive rock given a graphical medium. Something truly fantastic and otherworldly in our fantasy, startling and at times disturbing imagery that hints of metaphor and philosophy while maintaining itself as a viable experience with its atmosphere and gameplay.