Plano Skywalker

that is, indeed, ONE of its fundamental flaws. under such a system, the guy who makes 6" nails makes them whether there is a demand for them or not, thus taking up warehouse space, etc. of course, the same could be said for unions...they generally want to define what it is that they do (and will do and even HOW they do it and under what circumstances) regardless of the business requirement.

I think Sony is betting the farm on this one. No one really has any idea how it will turn out. Meta is right, though, this is not just about gaming anymore. This is about who will put a "content device" in your living room. This upcoming gen does not take us all the way there but it is a step closer to full integration of entertainment systems. The price point is the dilemma and the curious question: will Sony offer a price that people will buy into? (and thereby take an enormous loss leader up front) or will they price it relative to what it is and does and, thereby, price it into a niche high-end market? and further complicating this is the whole standards war for next-gen DVD players. my sense is that they will end up with a low price point but will not really manufacture enough units....basically, there will not be enough units to go around. PS3s will sell on eBay for higher than the suggested price point (for a long time).

absolutely right. the reason why the "Russian mafia" appeared so suddenly after the collapse of the Soviet Union is because it was, for all practical purposes, already in place. people in power using their power to better themselves and using patronage, bribery, etc to accomplish it. the condition of man does not allow for such a system to exist in fact.

I went out and bought Season One (w/the miniseries included), watched it and ran out and bought Season 2.0 (the last half of Season 2 is not yet available on DVD apparently). This show is, simply put, some of the very best television I have ever seen. I, also, was surprised by the fact that the show has so much sexuality in it and yet, somehow, it does not seem taudry or cheap...it just works as part of the story. So many things about it I like: guns shoot bullets (not plasma or rays), nukes are still the strategic weapon of choice, etc and I like how they incorporated the whole Terminator-style looks-like-a-human thing. But where it really shines is the characters. Everyone from the unlikely President, to the fatherly Commander, to the trouble-making prisoner negotiator, to the curmudgeon doctor who always has a cigarette hanging out of his mouth, the drunk XO who can't command but at least he's not doing something else kind of guy. And I agree that Starbuck was very well cast. I also like how the homewords are still very much in play even though they have abondoned them militarily and are looking for Earth. I like how the planet Kobol makes a relatively early appearance in the storyline.

absolutely right, they are such time sinks...even the ones that have a decent story...way too much time involved IMO. the good thing about MMOs is that they usually introduce gameplay enhancements (such as mounts and clothing dyes) that the public gets used to and, thus, it becomes harder not to offer those things in single player games.

lol, when I say "no excuse", I'm speaking in the abstract (not necessarily blaming the devs). however, if they do have more time next time, more options for the PC, more control of appearance and clothing, and more PARTY MANAGEMENT would be on my short list.

more "Calo Nord" enemies...in other words, foes that you defeated but did not kill and who appear when you least expect it. more and better waylay attempts...foes that will regroup and reattack on other worlds if it makes sense to do so. and more overall non-lethal solutions for the LS player. and at least 1 in-space boarding scenario.

I suspect a BioWare MMO would be somewhat like Guild Wars (maybe not the actual business model, though) in that there is definitely a "main story" that you can follow. Some MMOs (I understand) do not really have that. This would also be a good outlet for them to explore rideable mounts and the Z axis.

I want to be "able" to get arrested and go to jail. If I use a banned weapon such as a disrupter rifle, then I want there to be a chance that I will be confronted by the police about it. perhaps on a world like Nar Shadda, I would have the option to bribe my way out of trouble, etc....

exactly. I mean, if they wanted to use bloodlines (your father, uncle, etc was a force sensitive/Jedi/fallen Jedi/etc) as backstory, then fine. but if your genetic makeup has NO BEARING on the story/backstory, then it is simply not excusable to not have that choice. Jedi Academy allows you to play a non-human as PC. It is probably the first Jedi game to do so.

I think I'll wait till it goes Platinum Hits....after all, the Xbox version does have some premium content (that would, presumably, be included in a Pl Hits version).

I think you got the general idea...NPCs from other games should be seen again but they should not follow you around the galaxy. The droids are an obvious exception, although I do think we need more options in that department. However, I have no problem with the astromech droid being absolutely non-replaceable. Carth and Bastila's cameos were a good way to do it. However, I agree that we could stand to use a little more involvement than that from certain ones. Having more than one Force mentor is something that has been talked about alot. That would be one way to incorporate previous party members.

quite possibly....my point is the devs are always choosing between flexibility and strength of story....sometimes it's OK to choose strength of story.

FORCE THROW is awesome. It is worth playing the Obi-Wan game just to use that power...being able to hurl barrels and other debris at opponents is alot of fun. I know it sounds childish but it is really cool. IMO, it would also make a great addition as a UNIVERSAL POWER. also, following along that concept of using the environment as a weapon, some sort of "entangle" effect would be nice.

it is actually extremely easy to do...of course, you can always reload the game. bottom line: not every outcome is respected, nor should it be in every case. just more evidence that the storytellers are GOING to tell THEIR story.

OK, I admit, the games do try to make allowances for your choices and, since you can't export your game to the next one, it asks you. That kind of continuity is different than CONTINUITY and it is nice to respect in-game continuity whenever they can. However, the bottom line is that, unless we want extremely watered-down stories, some sort of hard coding is absolutely inevitable. here is an example: Bastila is very much a part of the ongoing story yet it was possible to kill her in K1. what more does anyone need? the designers can and will hardcode when it makes sense to do so. whether Vandar was an oversight or an intentional hardcode is a really good question, however. if it was intentional, it might suggest a desire to bring him back somehow in a future game.

let's try this again: Vandar being killed on Katarr (many months after the Star Forge battle) is NOT a continuity mistake.

it is a bonus they *try* to incorporate whenever they can. but someone has determined that only the LS ending with no mistakes must be absolutely upheld. I happen to agree with that methodology. but whether I agree with it or not, it is the case.

OK, I know this is not what everyone wants to hear BUT: THE DS ENDING DOES NOT COUNT with regard to CONTINUITY.

my point is simply that GL came up with a great "big picture" idea with the Star Wars setting but, for whatever reason, this particular idea is not extremely well implemented by him. The ESB is the only film that we have to point to that was not micromanaged by him and it is head and shoulders above the rest. The gulf between the ESB and other other films is wider than the gulf between OT and PT. Of course, this may all be an academic discussion because it doesn't look like he is going to hand the creative reigns of the SW franchise over to another producer or director any time soon.

I was going to play BG II until I realized there was no "back and forth" dialogue with party members. It is really hard to give that up. anyway, I will get NWN2, primarily because MCA is writting the companion dialogues.

part of the problem may have been the lack of a clearly-defined protagonist. SW movies are always "about" the protagonist but the prequel was also there to just give us backstory on Anakin. Obi-Wan becomes something of a "coprotagonist", in fact, he was the protagonist. But the movies also spent a lot of time on Anakin, who ended up being an antagonist. Perhaps if they spent less time on Anakin and focused more on Obi-Wan (catching the viewer up on Anakin via dialogue), it would have come together better. At any rate, the guy who played Obi-Wan did a great job IMO and held the prequels together.

the dialogue was also much more organic and the romance more believable. there were still some one-liners like "no disintegrations!" or "impressive...most impressive" but nothing overtly cheesy that I can recall.

I agree. The *problem* that some might have is that the PC is not the big enchilada because I doubt they would have the PC play Exar or Nomi or any of the other major characters. But I actually think the roleplaying opportunities are greater that way. "Zero footprint" for the PC when it comes to continuity.

those are all good points but I just think people are giving the OT a pass because they saw it when they were kids. the OT had CHEESY dialogue and BAD romance and infintile plot devices (i.e. a weapon that *vaporizes* planets). true, it broke new ground and that is definitely worth something. now that *special effects* are more or less a given, we need the writers and producers to focus on the actual plot and character development. some would say we just need to move on, why limit oneself to the SW universe? I just think that with the right kind of writing, acting, and directing, the SW universe has alot of storytelling potential.