Random video game news... Games are the most elevated form of investigation

[melkathi]

The problem with time savers in a non-pvp game is not a pay to win aspect, for me, but the fact that the need for a time saver means the worthwhile content is postponed, with intentionally unfun content put into the game.

There is something insidious about taking what should be an enjoyable experience and removing the joy from it to get rich.

[Malcador]

1 hour ago, Azdeus said:

Not the impressions I've had of him, but ok

Easy or not, it's still an advantage that people with money spent has over those without money, to the point it'd feel insurmountable. And PvP carries are fairly common too I reckon, me and some friends used to carry other friends in PvP. People tend to learn relatively fast on how to play. Or they'll just buy a bot. WotLK 2200+ arenas were kinda nuts from what I recall.

Yah carries still exist, I disagreed with adding arena way back, but still not making WoW a pay to win, I feel.  Depends a lot on degree. Tribes Ascend was one I played that definitely was.  And WoW has put in things to drag out the experience that you can't skip anyway, time gating to pump up engagement KPIs

But people pay for these MTX and games are for money, so I really can't be worked up over it. 

[uuuhhii]

 

wartale dlc come out

hope skill system are less annoying

hope optimization got better

pc are booming when playing it

seen some horror story about this game melt some ssd

Edited December 15, 2023 by uuuhhii

[Azdeus]

17 hours ago, Malcador said:

Yah carries still exist, I disagreed with adding arena way back, but still not making WoW a pay to win, I feel.  Depends a lot on degree. Tribes Ascend was one I played that definitely was.  And WoW has put in things to drag out the experience that you can't skip anyway, time gating to pump up engagement KPIs

But people pay for these MTX and games are for money, so I really can't be worked up over it. 

I never had a problem with the concept of Arena back in the day, I had more issues with crossrealm being a thing. I called it back then that it'd kill of communities and I didn't like the arena having a separate system from the honour system. I didn't think Arena was as fun as BG's either so that sucked, but I still did it to a pretty high rank. I always prefered 5v5 which basically noone liked. Almost disliked it as much as mentioned dailies/weeklies -.-

Selling cosmetics/expansions is one thing, but blatant pay to win is something people should work themselves up against. Peoples lack of engagement against the practice is why we are were we are afterall.

[Katphood]

On 12/11/2023 at 11:41 PM, Hurlshort said:

Have you been on social media? Have you been to Miami? I am pretty sure it is mostly just butt shaking.

GTA has always been a parody of American excess, so I'd say they nailed the feel of Florida in that trailer.

Yeah, I was just hoping it would be vastly different than GTA V but it sort of looks more of the same. Ain't that bad I guess, R* is still one of the best when it comes to writing and humor.

[Wormerine]

 

[Lexx]

Watched it earlier today. Very interesting.

[Wormerine]

James McCaffrey, voice of Remedies Max Payne, Alex Casey and Trench have passed away.

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/james-mccaffrey-the-voice-of-max-payne-and-alan-wake-2s-alex-casey-has-died#comments

On a more selfish note, I wonder what it means for Max Payne's remake. Supposively Max will have to be recast now, and it's one of those castings that will be hard to replace.

[Malcador]

Are they going to be changing Max's dialogues that much ?

[Wormerine]

On 12/19/2023 at 5:18 AM, Malcador said:

Are they going to be changing Max's dialogues that much ?

This is supposed to be a remake, not a remaster. I would imagine some rewrites will take place (it is Sam’s Lake first outing afterall) but even if not I would assume they would re-record lines. Audioquality probably isn’t up to 202x standards. 

[Bartimaeus]

Anyone remember Beamdog's remade BG1 cutscenes, where they replaced the original full motion videos with their bizarre comic book-style slideshows...while also still using cut-ups of the original audio from the full motion videos? Woof: boy, that was a tough scene from a number of angles. I know the original videos were these like horrifically compressed 640x480 MPEGs and they probably didn't feel using them made for a professional product, buuut...sometimes, ya just gotta know when to let things be.

Edited December 21, 2023 by Bartimaeus

[Hawke64]

50 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

Anyone remember Beamdog's remade BG1 cutscenes, where they replaced the original full motion videos with their bizarre comic book-style slideshows...while also still using cut-ups of the original audio from the full motion videos? Woof: boy, that was a tough scene from a number of angles. I know the original videos were these like horrifically compressed 640x480 MPEGs and they probably didn't feel using them made for a professional product, buuut...sometimes, ya just gotta know when to let things be.

The slightly-animated scenes looked better than the original 3D models (rewatched the EE intro on YouTube), while also more affordable. I suppose, the audio could have been edited as well, but it was fine overall.

[Bartimaeus]

I think I'd prefer to see the original video rendered at 160x120 rather than experience this hilarious travesty of artistry...

...but I'll do me, and you'll have to do you - for better and for worse, .

Edited December 21, 2023 by Bartimaeus

[majestic]

8 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

I think I'd prefer to see the original video rendered at 160x120 rather than experience this hilarious travesty of artistry...

...but I'll do me, and you'll have to do you - for better and for worse, .

You know, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and art is subjective, but prefering this Beamdog travesty over the original is probably as close to being objectively wrong about aesthetics as you can get.

[Bartimaeus]

1 hour ago, majestic said:

You know, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and art is subjective, but prefering this Beamdog travesty over the original is probably as close to being objectively wrong about aesthetics as you can get.

In all fairness, life would be at least a little easier if I didn't always have to be such an unapologetically massive snob. It's a difficult burden to bear...uh, for myself, and also the people who have the unenviable task of tolerating me, .

Speaking of editing the audio, they did: off the top of my head, they inexplicably took out the bit where the unnamed Bhaalspawn tries to plead and barter with Sarevok (who then punches the Bhaalspawn in the face), presumably in reference to the other Bhaalspawn that Sarevok is seeking. So on top of how cheap and ugly the whole affair looks, which already has the effect of eliminating any kind of tension and atmosphere that it had, it would seem to kill much of the intrigue/mystery that the original hinted at as well. I mean, we've all played these games so it doesn't really matter, but come on, this intro cutscene seems sadly all too emblematic of the rather sorry and misguided approach Beamdog took for the BG Enhanced Editions.

Sigh. I'd have paid more for an Enhanced Edition that offered less by stripping all the nonsense they added to the game: give me the engine improvements and bugfixes, and let's just call it a day.

Edited December 21, 2023 by Bartimaeus

[MrBrown]

I guess the logic is that old 3D ages really badly, while the kind of partially animated comic-style is kinda accepted for smaller games these days.

 

...And I have to say, personally I prefer the new ones.  Neither are that great though.

[xzar_monty]

3 hours ago, majestic said:

You know, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and art is subjective, but prefering this Beamdog travesty over the original is probably as close to being objectively wrong about aesthetics as you can get.

Off-topic, but art both is and isn't subjective; this has been repeatedly pointed out since at least the 1500s.

For instance, while you may like whoever you please and there is essentially no debate about that, if you try to argue that Britney Spears is a better singer than Ella Fitzgerald or that Ed Wood is a better film director than Orson Welles, you just don't know what you're talking about, i.e. you are objectively wrong. Something similar applies to interpretations of artistic works: there's a continuum ranging from the true but trite to the outrageously wrong, when it comes to the question of what a work of art is "about" -- so if you say that Hamlet deals with loss and deceit, you're right but your observation is meaninglessly trite, whereas if you say that Hamlet is an extended metaphor for a frat boy party in Cancun, you're just outrageously wrong. The more interesting questions of interpretation, in this case, would deal with questions such as whether Hamlet is genuinely mad or merely pretending to be so, and whether his status, in this regard, changes during the play.

[ShadySands]

5 hours ago, majestic said:

You know, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and art is subjective, but prefering this Beamdog travesty over the original is probably as close to being objectively wrong about aesthetics as you can get.

I like it...

[HoonDing]

I'm glad they didn't put Tamoko in Barrel Gate 3

[Lexx]

I don't mind the animated comic style of the video, but I think the quality of it is kinda bad. Looks like a fan made video and not something official.

[LadyCrimson]

Well, the several frames of this:

...looks fine in my eyes, although perhaps it's because it reminds me a tiny bit of the dungeon keeper 1 intro knight (haha).
The rest - well let's just say it's not for me. I'd rather watch that old pixelated DK1 intro repeatedly instead. But ... well, I guess they tried?

[Bartimaeus]

3 hours ago, LadyCrimson said:

Well, the several frames of this:

...looks fine in my eyes, although perhaps it's because it reminds me a tiny bit of the dungeon keeper 1 intro knight (haha).
The rest - well let's just say it's not for me. I'd rather watch that old pixelated DK1 intro repeatedly instead. But ... well, I guess they tried?

The image here looks just about alright...except for the goofy fast pan that happens during that shot, which immediately triggers a derisive snigger from me on account of how grossly uncinematic it looks, and then the cutaway to that hilarious face close-up doesn't help matters any. Amateur hour stuff from amateur hour developers who just couldn't do any better and didn't even seem to understand what the purpose of the cutscene was: there was definitely a way they could've done this without it being an embarrassment, but they flubbed it, because of course they did, that's just what Beamdog always does, and I'm here for it. But bless their hearts, at least they tried.

6 hours ago, ShadySands said:

I like it...

9 hours ago, MrBrown said:

I guess the logic is that old 3D ages really badly, while the kind of partially animated comic-style is kinda accepted for smaller games these days.

 

...And I have to say, personally I prefer the new ones.  Neither are that great though.

I just feel there's more artistic merit to something that even though it is definitely old and busted (no argument there!)...was nevertheless effective at the time it was made, and you can still appreciate that there was some kind of cohesive artistic vision for it, and that it was able to convey something. At least over something that...well, oh dear, oh my. But as @majestic said, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all that, so it is what it is.

Edited December 21, 2023 by Bartimaeus

[majestic]

41 minutes ago, Bartimaeus said:

I just feel there's more artistic merit to something that even though it is definitely old and busted...was nevertheless effective at the time it was made, and you can still appreciate that there was some kind of cohesive artistic vision for it, and that it intended to convey something. At least over something that...well, oh dear, oh my. Well, as @majestic said, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all that.

I just said that to not appear like an unapologetically massive snob.

[bugarup]

12 hours ago, majestic said:

I just said that to not appear like an unapologetically massive snob.

And still failed that. Ya'll here, who analyze and argue over aesthetics of some fluff piece that gets skipped 99% of time, are definite snobs. 

[melkathi]

Apella Games is winning it's legal battle against Apple.

https://cyprus-mail.com/2023/12/22/cypriot-gaming-company-wins-trademark-battle-against-apple/