mute688

I gave it another try. I got to the Firebear mission and gave up. Chen gives you a pistol to shoot the flying creatures, but no bullets. The miner dude says he will give you a hundred bullets to kill the Firebears but actually only gives you 50. You can't make your own bullets as the gunpowder script was left out of this version. I get to the location and the 50 bullets knocked off about 1/10 of one firebear's hitpoints. As you need to kill 3 of the things, which would require about 1500 bullets, and they kill me in about 2 hits when trying to use a sword, I gave up. Bows are of no use either as they break after about 30 shots. I think I'll just give this version a miss. I'll wait until they patch the most aggravating bugs and issues out. It seems they will start issuing patches about Monday.

I played 0.53 a lot. This new version I don't think I'll be playing at all until they fix the digging. Given that so much of the game involves digging for one thing or another, you have to dig to gather resources and to complete many of the early quests, the digging has gone from being a fun part of the game to being a chore that I can't find fun in any way what-so-ever. Hopefully they fix it soon.

Star Citizen is closing in on $10 million in crowd funding. http://www.robertsspaceindustries.com/ Chris Roberts has said that if they can hit that mark he may well be able to not use the private funding he had lined up. With probably at least another 18 months until the game releases, it will be interesting to see just how high the crowd funding they can eventually reach.

A couple of beta gameplay vids for Pandora: First Contact, the SMAC (unofficial) remake. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfW1-uq4oo4&list=PLQrYLOdjwRhTk0CGCMAfGyUs0I2ssfJuG&index=1 They really need to have someone who knows how to play the game do these videos. Having a confused novice play doesn't really show the game in the best light.

A patent taken out with Microsoft as the assignee (entity who owns the patent rights). Want to guess where the Kinect is heading? http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PG01&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=%2220120143693%22.PGNR.&OS=DN/20120143693&RS=DN/20120143693

Could you let us bandwidth challenged unfortunates (me) know your thoughts on the game? I would sign up but I have about 500 mb left on this months usage.

This one also looks interesting. Buzz Aldrin's Space Program Manager. http://www.slitherine.com/games/BA_SPM_Pc

An (unofficial) Alpha Centauri remake under the name of Pandora.

Just to show how you have no actual figures to back up anything you claim, it's all anecdotal, have a look at EA's financial statement that they released for the 4 quarters of 2012. http://investor.ea.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=696991 Pay close attention. PC net revenue at 931 million, yet you claim that EA's pc sales don't come close to reaching a billion dollars. Net revenue, not gross revenue. Gross revenue would be far in excess of a billion dollars. Total mobile net revenue for the same period was 352 million, a third of the PC revenue. Yet again you are wrong in claiming that "they are the whale" compared to PC gaming. You seem to have nothing to back up anything you say apart from gut feeling and anecdotal stories.

Really? Sources? PC gaming sales hit 20 billion dollars last year, a growth of 8%, and expected to hit 25 billion by 2016. That doesn't even accurately reflect digital sales of pc games as those figures are rarely released. I'd love it if my business was dying that successfully. http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2012/07/09/diablo-3-spearheads-230-jump-in-pc-game-sales/ http://pcgamingalliance.org/press/details/pc-gaming-alliance-releases-two-member-exclusive-reports

I'm not a console gamer but I do have concerns with MS going in this direction. MS is not the largest publisher of xbox games, yet it will dictate how, when and for how much another publisher's product will be sold or traded simply because they produce the hardware that the product is played on. Would EMI or BMG Chrysalis accept Teac or Yamaha doing something similar with cd players? Would Warner or Fox be happy for Samsung to do something similar with bluray? I don't know but I'm fairly confident that the consumers would not be happy. I can only think of one reason for MS to do this. They think (rightly or wrongly, I don't care) that the used game market is cutting into their profits. That would indicate that they don't simply wish to control the market, they wish to stop it either by overpricing it into extinction or through complicated, convoluted systems. They can't allow cheap used game sales or trading because that defeats the purpose of implementing this policy in the first place. If gamers can still cheaply trade or sell new games, MS is still not making back that profit but they are carrying the extra costs associated with running the system. Will there be a time limit imposed on new games? Will new games be unable to be sold or traded for a month, two months, three months? Will MS be the sole decider or will the publishers make those decisions? I'm not saying I'm definitely right, but people aren't being childish or paranoid for raising concerns with the direction MS seems to be heading. MS doesn't have the best reputation when it comes to consumer protection. They have already faced antitrust suits, their history is not exactly littered with customer concern.

So what are the benefits still remaining for console over PC gaming now? I've been told console gaming is easier, you just put the disk in and play. Not any more. The process is the same as PC now, you have to install to HD and activate the game online. PC games are cheaper than console games at the moment. Unless console games will now drop in price with the crack down on used games, PC will still be cheaper. The argument that a console is cheaper than a PC is less of an argument now that both Sony and MS have said they will stop subsidising the console hardware. The price difference between console and PC is bound to be less now. As for backwards compatibility, I can still play pre-windows games on PC, but both consoles are not going to support backward compatibility, at least until Sony implements it's game streaming service. As for the games themselves, console hardware may have played a bit of catch up with current PC hardware, but 12 months from now it will once again start falling behind followed by the resulting 5 or 6 years of stagnation. Are there any compelling reason for a console purchase over a PC upgrade anymore?

Seems as if BruceVC already has a copy so if you are still interested Raithe, I can send you the steam activation code.

I have an extra copy of XCOM if anyone wants it.

http://www.formspring.me/GZiets/q/414930203056307948

It's also funny that most publishers argue that they are selling a service, not goods....right up until the moment you want them to act as a service provider. Then they treat your purchase as if it was goods, not a service.

If I buy a dvd version of a movie I expect to have to buy it again if I lose the disk, it's scratched beyond repair or I want to upgrade to the bluray version. Why? Because the movie publishers acknowledge that they are selling a product and allow me reasonable access to the product I have purchased and it is my responsibility to maintain my possessions in working order. With games, on the other hand, publishers want me to believe they are not selling a product, they are selling me a service, that service being access to a game. I'm not buying the game, I'm buying access to the game. If this service was like most other services you purchase where if for some reason I am unable to access that service, the provider offers a way to re-establish access in a reasonable time frame then I would agree that the best way to access your game would be to contact the provider (the publisher). Unfortunately, the service providers in the gaming industry do not provide a resolution in an acceptable time frame. In most cases you are required to email or phone the publisher, wait an indeterminate number of days or weeks to receive a reply and then meet unrealistic demands for proof that you are in fact entitled to access that service. Game publishers are trying to claim that they are selling a service but treat that sale as a sale of goods. They need to get their act together and decide whether they want to sell a service with speedy problem resolution, or they are selling a product where it's the buyers responsibility to keep those goods in working order. Just my opinion.

Ahhh, Wikipedia explains all. I was wronger than you.

Aren't The Avengers, Thor and Ironman all Marvel and Paramount productions? Avengers wasn't. Hmmm, my bluray version has paramount on the credits, not Disney. I'm soooo confused!

Aren't The Avengers, Thor and Ironman all Marvel and Paramount productions?

EA Labels president Frank Gibeau speaking about SimCity always online, A rose by any other name... Do EA think people don't realise that their "online service" is still just DRM despite the relabeling? http://www.shacknews.com/article/78444/eas-gibeau-drm-is-a-failed-dead-end-strategy

PC gaming software sales reportedly hit 20 billions dollars in 2012. http://www.shacknews.com/article/78421/report-pc-gaming-software-sales-reached-20-billion-in-2012 Why would they want to attract younger gamers? We older gamers have more disposable income and our money is just as good as anyone else. Are they expecting a sudden die off of over 35's? Should I be worried?

I was excited....until I read this, I'm not a fan of facebook type social games. I prefer my gaming solo and until a few more details come out, it sounds a lot like it's a game that requires a constant connection to play. Edit: Oops. Link: http://kotaku.com/former-homeworld-developers-are-making-a-new-sci-fi-gam-5870674

Actually, Susan Wilson put up a youtube video of her daughter talking about the project....well, attempting to get her to talk about it. She spent the entirety of the 10 minute video talking about her love of Naruto, and she showed no interest in the game what so ever, despite constant prompting from Susan. She took the video down very quickly, but it has been re-uploaded by others. Just as an observation, her daughter looks much older than 9.