AwesomeOcelot

The Steam Hardware Survey shows that a majority of gamers will be able to support 1280x720 in 2014. It's almost 2013, the adoption of 1920x1080/1920x1200 is ~33%. I do not believe that will be the case for 3840×2160 in 2014. 2560x1440, 2560×1600 by 2015 might reach ~33% but only if mid range laptop ranges adopt those resolution.

I wouldn't count them out yet. Y'know how these Kickstarters tend to rev up in the last few days. It's gone up quite a bit in the past 16 hours. They still need 46k in 63 hours or so...could make it. Not that I don't agree with the reason why it's not, perhaps, getting a lot more funding pledges. They're clearly going to make it. I just hope people realize that the PC & Mac versions will just be lazy ports of the tablet and phone versions.

Yes, I still listen to it from time to time, and I haven't played the game since early 2006.

Jade Empire was made for the original Xbox, Mass Effect was made for the Xbox 360.

Not really. Some decisions are forced on by the publisher. Like that fugly skill based aiming circle in AP. So it is not everything on Obsidian. Mind you, I am also not speaking them free of all mistakes. Just in case that comes up now... You certainly can't blame Obsidian that KOTOR II is unfinished if what Feargus Urquhart said is true. Telling a developer that they have an extra year, then taking it back is a ****ty thing to do. Some of the things, like pulling out a project at the last minute, it's almost as if they're trying to make developers go under. This is why I'm supporting KickStarter projects more than published games, because publishers can't keep behaving the way they do, I'll quit gaming before I have to put up with the stuff they're pulling.

Do you like BioWare games? It's very much like other BioWare games, and introduced a lot of the things you find in later BioWare games like the Mass Effect series. The gameplay is not balanced at all, and the combat is really simple. AFAIK this is Bioware's first and only attempt at a beat 'em up, it's virtually only timing attacks. Some builds are incredibly over powered, others are extremely weak, so choose wisely. I thought the voice acting sucked apart from John Cleese, it has Nathan Fillion too (surprisingly not good voice acting). The story is typical BioWare, meaning it blows. The characters are mostly annoying animé clichés, the others are very similar to characters in BioWare's other games, bland and facile, no personality or interests beyond service to the story and player. The art direction is superb, it's a really great looking game even if the fidelity wasn't good at the time of release. The camera is frustrating and it's a very linear game, the areas are usually very narrow corridors, even outside. It's not exactly expensive, definitely give it a try unless you don't like BioWare games, even just to see the art work that went into the game.

I wouldn't even say the SNES was noticeably better than the Sega Mega Drive, they both had their strengths. The N64 was better than the PS in terms of performance, the GameCube certainly wasn't worse than the PS2, I think it was slightly better. The Xbox was way better than the PS2. The GameCube was much easier to develop for than the PS2. Nintendo was already struggling when they had hardware that was faster, easier to develop for, and didn't have gimmicky peripherals as standard. It's been 7 years since the Xbox 360 launched, that's a huge difference from releasing the GameCube a year later that's close to the PS2, the Wii is the only comparable launch. Nintendo stated they would try to encourage more 3rd party developers, they are publishing Bayonetta 2 to this end. Most Wii U ports look better than the PS3 and Xbox360, but not by much, and there's frame drop issues, it's only a 30fps target to begin with. The GPU is similar to a DirectX 10 low-mid range GPU, that's to say it should be way better than a PS3 or Xbox360. The GPU, plus over double the RAM, support for 2TB HDD (way faster loading times than the PS3 or Xbox360) could have made the Wii U a contender. Playing a game that's being rendered from the console on a tablet with Wi-Fi video at 480p is a really cool idea, as an optional extra. Having a touch screen to navigate menus on a console, beautiful, as an extra. Still pulling the same **** with motion controllers like in Darksiders 2, when will it end. Also, an update, we now know that the Wii U 1080p promises were not met. Arkham City, Assassins Creed, Darksiders 2, and Mass Effect 3 are all 720p on the Wii U. http://www.eurogamer...concern-remains Clock speed alone doesn't determine performance obviously, my 3.9##GHz i5 2500K isn't a bit slower than a 4Ghz P4 or PS3 4Ghz Cell. Clock speed, transistors, RISC, in order/out of order, power consumption, the more similarities in the CPU specs, the more closely the clock matches the performance difference. These clock speeds aren't evidence for different performance, but using developer's experience with both systems, they're having problems with the Wii U CPU, it's undeniable that if the clock was higher on the Wii U CPU there wouldn't be these problems. It's interesting, both are IBM processors, the Xenon I believe is the newer architecture, a similar processor to one Xenon core is in the PS3. The Xenon is in order so it has to be programmed with that in mind, the Wii U CPU is out of order. The Wii U has 3 threads, but the OS runs on a separate ARM processor, the PS3 has a PowerPC core plus 6 SPEs, and the Xbox 360 has 3 PowerPC cores with 6 hardware threads. http://www.eurogamer...i-u-cpu-secrets For comparisons, reports of issues with the Wii U ports: http://www.eurogamer...U&type=face-off @Hector Martin He says he doesn't know. I don't think he's developed any games or run any benchmarks on the Wii U CPU.

It was probably a mistake to not have a more powerful CPU, and again Nintendo focus on gimmicky peripherals for core gameplay, pressuring developers to support them. With that install base, with that amount of pain in porting to the Wii U, this isn't surprising.

Hey buddy. Ever heard of playstation plus membership? Ever heard of psn account sharing between friends? Failure n=3. Googles Playstation Plus and the games it gives you for free. Googles psn account sharing. Checks ebay for new and used ps3 games. Processes used pc games value =0, delay 9000. Facepalm delay = 9000. Checks ps3 exclusive game library. Shuts up while *this = true. If you buy used games you might as well pirate, because the developer gets no money either way. Pretty sure PSN account sharing isn't legit either, and again, might as well pirate if you do it. Playstation Plus is a subscription service with a limited selection of games, it gives you games like Arkham City ($5 on Steam a few weeks ago) for "free" if you pay £50/€50/$50 a year.

1. Of course it's not free in terms of fill rate, memory, cycles. 2. CPU speed benefits have not close to halted. 3. Arma 2 is not a common case, its a sim, the view distance is large, the amount people. It's not the most optimized game, and it doesn't matter when the game was made (the image is posted says the benchmark was done in 2009). Project Eternity is a very different kind of game. 4. You say the quality is half-assed, but the AF is 16:1, that needs a lot of memory bandwidth. 5. The CPU is not last gen, there are 2 newer generations. 6. It's not going to be free in time and money, but you don't have to use it so the specification requirements should stay the same.

Well I hope that whole denial thing works out. Anecdotes, n=1. Looks on Amazon, randomly picks three fairly recent games, oh look Dishonored, Far Cry 3, and Assassins Creed 3 are all cheaper on PC, and I've never seen console games get as fast or as deep sales as on Steam, but perhaps you don't know what Steam or Amazon are.

VtM: Bloodlines is my second favourite game, but it's small, they sacrificed content for depth because of being fully voiced. The amount of characters, the amount of choices in dialogue, the amount of dialogue is way lower than games with primarily text dialogue, the dialogue trees are narrow. There is a trade off, it's size vs depth vs voice. Voice acting costs money, takes time, and is obviously less flexible, you can't just edit a line even the final months, you have to nail down the voice acting.

It's way more secure if you don't log in as an admin unless you need to, OSX and Linux distros work this way, Windows has been moving in this direction, making it possible to do this without the pain of earlier versions.

I don't mod too often, but what happens if you tell XCOM to not update automatically? You can play modded games on Steam by doing that, selecting "do not automaticall update this game" from the drop down menu, I have done this several times. If an official update gets released Steam ignores your settings and will update which will likely break the mod.

I hope that Valve won't lock down the software and force Steam usage, but I can't see them not locking it down at all. I think you will be able to install your own Linux distro, and run Steam plus anything you want on that, I think that's also how the OUYA will work. Valve see this as an expansion of the Steam platform, they don't see themselves as a hardware company, it's only a means to an end to get PCs and Steam into the living room. Valve will defend this by saying others will be following them, and there will be a choice of platforms for PC gaming in the living room.

That's not equivalent to the licencing fee, or instead of one, unless you think the store you buy games for your PS3 from is actually a charity. No, it's the same to all practical purposes. Most of the trad console market's sales are still retail, hence the console makers monetise retail by charging per sale. All of steam's sales are digital, hence they monetise the digital side, the only practical difference is (semi) fixed costings vs a percentage cut. If that or having two people taking a cut at retail are differences then there's a difference too between me buying locally and internationally, or method of payment. If I buy via credit card they get a slice of the purchase price as well DD/ retail vendor/ other, and if I buy something in USD then there's currency conversion andor foreign transaction fees. None of which change the cuts that valve andor console maker get in the slightest. Valve do not charge a license fee when a game uses Steam but is sold somewhere else including retail. They're not the same thing, stores take a cut from sales, whether that's retail or digital. Valve does not charge a license fee for using its platform. You're trying to suggest that just because two things cost money, they're the same, which is ridiculous. A license to use a platform is different than store charges. A charge for currency conversion is not the same as a charge for using a store, both are different to a credit processing charge. Your argument is: 1. Console makers and Valve are exactly the same, they both try to make money. 2 Having to pay for licenses and not having licenses is the same because you still get charged by the store in either instance. Well done, that's brilliant, give yourself a clap.

I didn't say he wasn't, Valve is a business, they're trying to entice people to their platform by giving away services for free so they'll spend money there, I know what a loss leader is. I'm wondering why when I point out these differences he and the others that liked his post think that this somehow negates my point that Valve operates differently. I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this is Valve's model several times on this forum. It's still a difference to how they operate compared to the others. I don't understand this, I never claimed Valve wasn't a profit seeking business, or that they don't want to increase their market share, of course their platform is monetized. Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo do things differently, which was my point. I feel as if I'm being replied to with "Well, Valve is exactly the same because they're also trying to make money", when clearly there are differences in how they go about doing that.

I'm aware of what a loss leader is, but apparently you're not aware of what free is. A lot of PC developers do not provide the same amount of modding support, that's my point, Valve is embracing it by supplying powerful tools and a distribution platform. Having a service people want to use is not locking people into a system. Also I didn't think user generated content was DRM protected through Workshop, so how is it locking in? You could install the mods like you used to. That's not equivalent to the licencing fee, or instead of one, unless you think the store you buy games for your PS3 from is actually a charity.

That got fixed for me a while ago, when they said they fixed it. There were 2 work around solutions for this bug. deleting the login information file, or unplugging your network.

Learning curve is kind of important if you're only running into problems 20 or 30 hours in, and the game hasn't prepared you or kicked your arse, there's something wrong with the game fundamentally. The way I learned was by doing failed runs of a game (experimenting basically), later by reading websites, and even later by playing multiplayer and MMO with others. I don't think you can solve this problem without losing something, a RPG is never going to have the perfect learning curve of Portal. Then again no game really assumes that you're starting from scratch, every genre uses conventions. Holy **** buffing is boring, passive aura please or make it a single use strategical buff, at a minimum make it auto cast. I get frustrated when annoying mechanics get in the way of how I want to play, like a single teleporting enemy making my party composition non-viable or the stupid repair mechanic in New Vegas/Fallout 3. I definitely think Josh has a point about designing games around how people play games, not around how others talk about playing games.

I think the equivalents are STR and unarmed, or PER and small fire arms, I don't see why you have a problem with the speech skill in particular. And your complaints are more to do with balancing and the focus of the game. I liked that Fallout wasn't balanced, that Charisma characters were not as easy to play, it made sense in a role playing context, you can call them "gimmicky" but I think they're interesting, yeah min-maxing power gamers aren't going to care, but then that's the beauty of Fallout, they didn't have to, and there was still a wealth of different ways for them to play the game. Of course this problem could be solved by adding more depth to the speech skill/charisma attribute. For one, split it, why does speech only get one skill when you have small arms, big guns, and energy weapons, obviously Eternity can have as many skills dedicated to what it wants. Secondly, have speech skills effect other parts of the gameplay way more, have different quests dependent on them, different faction reputations only accessible through them, companions only accessible through them and ways to settle differences between companions. Thirdly, not just a "win" button but different success and failure states dependent on them, and a requirement that you have to choose dialogue options even if you have them, and the choices have advantages and disadvantages, real choices with consequences that are compatible with power gamers and role players.

No.Valve don't charge licensing fees for games or DLC, they even give their platform technology away for free, the DRM, the cloud saves, the bandwidth, and their modding platforms. Valve don't charge for updating games. Valve publish their games on PC, Nac OSX, Xbox360, and PS3. Valve believe in buying a game once, and owning it on multiple platforms, so you're not paying for the same content multiple times. Valve has strongly supported user generated content, where as Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony have only recently introduced it and only mildly. Are you trying to say that when Valve release their console: they'll introduce license fees, charge for using their Steam platform SDK, discontinue modding support, charge for updating games, leverage their games to attract users by making them exclusive, make people pay twice for the same game? I also don't seem them having a linux distro on their console, and then taking it away in an update. Well then, pretty much exactly the same.

I didn't suggest Sawyer was talking about skills in principle. Your comment however, relates to all skills, even if you were talking about the speech skill specifically. Why should attributes be more significant? Also, again, having skill caps could easily change the significance balance anyway. Not everybody likes to role play, fair enough, but that doesn't mean a game should only cater to one type of player.

Not if they're handled in a way that they both contribute to the same function but also separate functions. Yeah, abilities lose significance when there are skills that contribute to the same function, but they make sense in terms of role playing, and why is it better for abilities to have more significance? Also just because something is less significant doesn't mean it has to be unimportant, skill caps could make skills less or more significant than abilities. Min-maxing will happen with or without skills, skills aren't why we have min/max characters. The only reason why there would be a problem is if skills were badly balanced, but abilities were not, but that's not a problem with skills in principle.

There's rumours about resale being clamped down on in the next generation of consoles, games will be tied to your PSN or Live account. Also plenty of people like to own games. Most people aren't going to build custom PCs, Valve aren't even going to try to compete for enthusiast PC gamers. In terms of software there's plenty that Valve can offer, they do things differently to Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony. We don't have any of the details of the hardware yet, something we haven't seen from Valve, so we can't say anything about whether it brings anything new to the console market or not.