Plano Skywalker

you are right....the soundtracks from those games amount to some really good music.

Johnny Cash -- Cry! Cry! Cry!

question: did the PS3 have any titles on display at E3 that were actually running on PS3 hardware?

here is another 360-exclusive RPG: http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/704/704069p1.html

the PC platform will not die as a gaming format any time soon.....it will, however, find its center of gravity. the PC will be the place where you play builders, RTSs, Sims, and TBSs. shooters, rpgs, adventure and action games will find their home more on consoles, I believe. this is not going to happen overnight but I think it will happen.

Starship "greatest hits"

and the whole bit about the 360 not having "true backwards compatability" is something of a red herring. generally speaking, anyone who buys a 360 is going to have access to broadband, which, along with Xbox Live Silver (free) will be able to download whatever code is required to prepared the 360 to run the legacy title. and, of course, many titles will be backward-compatible without this.

like I say, the big wildcard for the 360 is the titles. and, yes, there will be more exclusives this time around (ME trilogy, the 2 Mistwalker games, and others). the trick for MS is to have enough exclusives for the 360 while keeping the PC format a viable gaming format. we shall see what emerges....

well, Indigo Prophecy has plenty of carnage in it (which, I guess, helps with the excitement factor)....it's just that YOU are not the one doing the carnage. so, it can work when done right.

for me, it is not really a matter of exclusives....I PREFER a 32" screen over a 19" screen. I PREFER the couch to a swivel chair. the only thing you really miss out on is the toolset for certain games.

I think the day Halo 3 is released is when the floodgates open. There is absolutely no reason to get a 360 until then. you can play HL2 and Halo 2 on a 1st gen Xbox, not to mention good games like Indigo Prophecy, Fable: TLC, the 2 KOTORs, Jade Empire, Dreamfall, Pirates! and many others. well, there is one reason you might buy a 360 right now: you want to play Oblivion and don't have (or care to put together) a sufficient gaming rig for it. that is about it at the moment.

I guess I should have shed Virgil....he talks too much about what he believes is your backstory. next time, I'll shed him early on.

well, in all candor, I have tried at least twice now to get into PST and I just can't get into it. I'm going to keep trying and maybe I will see what all the hubalu is about....same thing, I guess, is at work with Arcanum....I know there are some gems in there somewhere but I haven't made it over the hump yet.

well, the power issue is one of a lack of game balance, more than storyline...I will grant that. the point is, the game is unbalanced and the story follows the BioWare formula of using the PCs own backstory to such an extent.

maybe not to the extent of PST but you know what I'm getting at.

that is a good point...even if MS only ended up with, say, 15% of the Japanese market, that would establish what they need established in that market. they don't have to dominate the market outright, they just need a plausible presence in Asia and Japan in particular.

thanks for the tip...looks like they even have it on the hexbox: http://www.activewin.com/reviews/xbox/soft...os2/index.shtml

and, like I say, RPGs are great and will help with the Japanese market....however, there are other types of games such as dating sims and board games (Go and Mahjong-type games) that will sell in Japan. they need these types of titles if they *seriously* want to sell in Japan.

it had real potential but the combat and game balance just sucked. (not to mention the protagonist is an uber-powerful pregen who is trying to figure out who he is.....ARRRRG). that, more than the magictech, made it all but unplayable for me.

MS intentionally delayed some of the better titles so there would not be a drought of games after lauch. I agree, most of what is out there now is not too impressive.

I do like the idea of a MacGyver-type game...using one's brain and trying to minimize *any* violence (lethal or otherwise)....using audial decoys and the like. however, I think this is something we are more likely to see in an adventure game rather than an RPG....phat loot is just too much a part of the RPG experience. Indigo Prophecy/Farenheit shows how non-violent solutions can work well and still be very exciting. fortunately, we are starting to see some *true* adventure games reemerging.

do you like sandbox games? anyway, if you do, there is a game known as Pirates! that, while not an RPG per se, is a really good adventure game that is all about advancement and choices. I picked up a used copy of it for Xbox yesterday and have been having a blast with it. the Xbox version is now out of production but it is available on PC as "Pirates! Live the Life". the game has been around in one form or other for over 20 years but the latest incarnation is really good.

the bottom line is we do not know anything except what the vendors want us to know...the devs really can't say anything at this time. "click here to multithread your program".....that is the real question, I'll admit and I don't think anyone here who knows can or will say anything about it. and even though there is a curve of diminishing returns (in terms of difficulty), as you say, once you start dealing with multithreaded programming, 3 is still different from 8. and the master/slave arrangement that the other poster mentioned adds even more mischief. it can, of course, be done. the question is whether developers will think it worthwhile for the time and money they have to spend on it.

I have no idea...I just saw this on another list and thought it was a blast.

>>>I wonder what consumers really think when they talk about good tools/environment and whatnot. It's not like the games code themselves.<<< think of a programming environment (say, for instance, Visual C++). you have the ability to Run the program to test it and also to MAKE EXE. but, instead of one MAKE EXE option, you have 2: (Windows) and (Xbox 360). the compiler knows what to do differently for the 360 than for PC...you don't have to reinvent the wheel. anyway, I am not a game designer but this is, apparently, out there and in use. we simply don't know whether Sony has provided intuitive, user-friendly tools like this but, the hunch is, they have probably not. >>>This is just a way for them to get you to give you money as soon as possible. It doesn't mean a whole lot really. Though you've essentially given them money for products you have yet to purchase.<<< I know it is not all that revolutionary...just that I like this idea as opposed to using the old credit card....it also means more MMO-type games will be possible with the 360.