Hurlshort

This really is just a glass half empty, half full conversation. Troika succeeded in releasing three games. That is three full development cycles that came to fruition. That's not bad. But they definitely didn't choose to close down the doors, so that is a failure.

What's the deal with the title? The Dark Eye? Is it just a straight Eye of Sauron rip off? I would have titled it Drunkensong: The Brown Eye. Much more appealing.

I think there is a big difference between being bought out and shutting down. I'm sure the pocketbooks of the people running the companies would agree. Microprose succeeded, got bought, then went to crud. Sir-Tech actually had a long run. The interviews I read at the time made it seem like the owners were just ready to move on. The market was changing and they didn't want to sell the company off, so they shut down. I would consider them a lot more successful than Troika. I don't know anything about Looking Glass.

I just bought Medieval War 2, so I'll probably wait. I tend to get to the Total War games about a generation late.

I've been to several Marble Slabs. The toppings are great, but the ice cream itself is average. Addition: I may be thinking of Cold Stone Creamery. Hmm.. They are similar. Cold Stone seems to be more popular and more common, but I don't enjoy their base ice cream as much.

I kind of have to agree with Volourn a bit (which is always scary.) Troika was mismanaged terribly. They aren't in the same league as Sir-Tech or Microprose.

Agreed. You know you don't actually need to play the game right? If you are unhappy with the direction, your life will whether you buy it or not. There is no justification for stealing something that hundreds of people spent years of their lives creating.

Ok. It is 99 cents to play it, so I can understand that. You also get access to their full library of games for that price. But I don't work for them or anything :D http://www.gametap.com/video-games

Never forget!

I've been playing Planescape Torment through Gametap, and it runs great. Gametap runs the game through it's own browser type software. You might want to check it out.

Waa waa, my favorite game creators aren't on the list! Waa waa, some people on the list are lame! Is it working? Am I fitting in now?

You'll get to High School someday big guy.

Should we open a poll up about whether the NWN OC was good? I'd say it has been a fairly prevalent opinion here that it was one of the weaker stories that Bioware has come up with. There is nothing wrong with liking it Volourn, I enjoyed the combat in Jade Empire, but I recognize that many folks here see it as flawed.

Yeah, I thought Bigtown was one of the better quests in Fallout. It was one of the few that really made me feel like I was making a discernible impact on the game world.

I may be taking a stab in the dark here, but I'm guessing the people who feel the need to trash talk sports games were beaten up by jocks in High School.

Just because a game isn't an RPG doesn't mean it has no story.

We are talking sports, not a RPG. There is no story in football. That's a pretty ridiculous statement. Most sports games I play go like this: I create a character. I customize the avatar, I select certain skills, and then I begin playing. At first I have training exercises, or I play against easier teams. Eventually my skills go up and I face more challenging opposition. I try to accomplish certain tasks like winning awards, and if I do well I will win the game eventually. How is that not an RPG? Is it because I didn't fight a dragon?

I'll make sure the COO of EA gets that message, Volo, since it was his quote. I'd imagine he was referring to the lack of any breakout hits, or games that exceeded expected sales. Madden is a Goliath, but with business it isn't just about consistently selling well, it is about increasing profit every quarter.

Geez, I think advertising is one of the first places they should make cuts.

Yeah, but you once said: And now you are a 360 fanboy.

WoW didn't have a free trial for at least a year after release, but with their success they didn't need to right away. They'll probably have buddy passes, which I'm sure will be easy enough to get. Heck, I know I'll buy the CE edition on day one, so I have no problem supplying a buddy pass to anyone on these boards. But your best bet is probably trying the open beta, that will likely give you the best idea of what type of game it will be and if you will like it. Every MMO in the last few years has had an open beta to test the servers, so I'd say the odds are great.

It really isn't just the ignorance, it's more of the fact that "Hey, here's a thread about a list, and here's a link to the list. Let's talk about it." So if DR actually read through the list, she would learn about those creators and might actually have something to contribute to the conversation. But instead she probably never even opened the link and posted some lame comment that is a waste of everyone's time in this thread. And that really is her modus operandi, she makes one sentence posts that are a waste of bandwidth and have no humor, they don't express a particular viewpoint, they aren't even argumentative. They just waste space.

I just finished Conn Iggulden's Ghengis Khan book. It is a fantastic read, I look forward to picking up more of his work. I've read a few different variations on Temujin's life, as well as watched the recent movie, and despite the differences, it is always a fantastic story. I'll probably pick up his Roman series, historical fiction is the best.

Well, you are still paying the $50 on top of the subscription, although the first month is typically free. But you really should expect this to be a fairly different genre. While I have high hopes for their storytelling, it is still going to be an MMO, and there are certain confines you have to stay in when providing a world for thousands rather than a single player. Progress is being made to make it a more dynamic storytelling experience, for example I've heard great things about the recent WoW expansion having a unique story progression and I'm a big fan of the epic books in LotR Online. But seriously, if you are fundamentally opposed to MMO's, then this game will not be for you.

Its really mostly a shell for the eyes (they're the big green topped tube things in the transparent skull; the two opening above the mouth are actually olfactory senses, apparently). He wasn't talking about the fish. ba-da-bump *tsk*