RANDOM VIDEO GAME NEWS THREAD!

[trulez]

It's pretty straightforward. After playing three ubisoft games that took me two days to set up because of 'anti-piracy' BS, and one game which simply failed to work because of 'anti-piracy' I no-longer buy ANY ubisoft games. Well done, fellahs. Way to make sales happen and protect your business.

I'm with you on that boat. Also the support for Settlers is abysmal, it's still plagued with the same bug it had from the start which makes the game unplayable on some hardware (textures flickering blue which leads to either app crash or driver crash within 5 minutes of playing, happens with both NVIDIA and AMD hw).

[Gizmo]

What about an Ilok?

 

Digidesign sells their 'game' for about 10 times the cost of an average console game; and you can install ProTools on as many computers as you wish. It runs if the Ilok is plugged in.

 

Consider if this were a Steam competitor , and that your entire Steam Library [equivalent] would authenticate offline with the Ilok instead. What if it were an option on Steam to have them set your account to either the Ilok or an online authentication; (not something trivially switched from, but still your option ~perhaps when you first create it, or perhaps a permanent transferal of titles to Ilok based authentication).

[greylord]

What about an Ilok?

 

Digidesign sells their 'game' for about 10 times the cost of an average console game; and you can install ProTools on as many computers as you wish. It runs if the Ilok is plugged in.

 

Consider if this were a Steam competitor , and that your entire Steam Library [equivalent] would authenticate offline with the Ilok instead. What if it were an option on Steam to have them set your account to either the Ilok or an online authentication; (not something trivially switched from, but still your option ~perhaps when you first create it, or perhaps a permanent transferal of titles to Ilok based authentication).

 

Interesting. I actually think I might prefer a system like that to the always online idea, but I do think the always online is probably more secure still...ah well.

 

In other news...

 

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=...;art_aid=159712

 

One part of me says...that kinds of stinks...but another part of me says...this is like a match made in heaven! Doritos and Mountain Dew AND I get game bonuses...sign me up!

[Gizmo]

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=...;art_aid=159712

 

One part of me says...that kinds of stinks...but another part of me says...this is like a match made in heaven! Doritos and Mountain Dew AND I get game bonuses...sign me up!

Expect lawsuits.... "My kid played your game and gained 35 lbs."

[Zoraptor]

It's pretty straightforward. After playing three ubisoft games that took me two days to set up because of 'anti-piracy' BS, and one game which simply failed to work because of 'anti-piracy' I no-longer buy ANY ubisoft games. Well done, fellahs. Way to make sales happen and protect your business.

I'm with you on that boat. Also the support for Settlers is abysmal, it's still plagued with the same bug it had from the start which makes the game unplayable on some hardware (textures flickering blue which leads to either app crash or driver crash within 5 minutes of playing, happens with both NVIDIA and AMD hw).

Consider that they also delay the PC versions of their multiplatform releases and it does make you wonder exactly why their PC business has declined 90% while the PC is growing overall. Unfortunately given how poor Ubi are at communicating their DRM honestly (see: From Dust, where they ended up deleting their own forum posts detailing its DRM as they'd flagrantly lied about it) it's a matter of faith even on the odd occasion when their schemes are relatively sane.

[Tel Aviv]

How did I not know about this Metal Gear Solid HD Collection? Be interesting to see if it's worth a damn.

[Morgoth]

Dark Souls review @ Eurogamer

 

9/10

[Morgoth]

BioWare says "EA doesn't tell us what to do"

[Orogun01]

BioWare says "EA doesn't tell us what to do"

Oh Bioware...we know

 

"Not that we're bound to it, but we think a lot more about the commercial elements than we used to," Zeschuk explained. "Way, way back, years ago, we didn't even consider those, we just made stuff. And some of the stuff we made, in retrospect, was kind of crazy, like MDK2 - that's just crazy!"

[Nepenthe]

BioWare says "EA doesn't tell us what to do"

But as seen in the news item, the suits are "in-house". The whole question is just another example of idiotic gamer paranoia against big publishers (hint: the small ones want all your money, too - and your soul, if they can get away with it).

[Tale]

BioWare says "EA doesn't tell us what to do"

But as seen in the news item, the suits are "in-house". The whole question is just another example of idiotic gamer paranoia against big publishers (hint: the small ones want all your money, too - and your soul, if they can get away with it).

Mob mentality will lash out at anything and blindly grope for things to blame. I envy sociologists sometimes. It all seems fascinating, if depressing.

 

In general, if someone dislikes something, the highest profile coincident will be blamed. In keeping with the human tendency to see patterns everywhere, even if they have to make one up. Then the rationalization begins.

[Malcador]

Yep, they see schemes were there are none, eh ? Interesting lot of people.

[Nepenthe]

Yep, they see schemes were there are none, eh ? Interesting lot of people.

The opposite of what I said.

 

(Tale: not really. It just makes the phenomena painfully obvious, so you end up like me, the universally disliked forum guy who claims to see rampant stupidity everywhere. Which, of course, is just me seeing another pattern.)

Edited October 3, 2011 by Nepenthe

[Mamoulian War]

"Not that we're bound to it, but we think a lot more about the commercial elements than we used to," Zeschuk explained. "Way, way back, years ago, we didn't even consider those, we just made stuff. And some of the stuff we made, in retrospect, was kind of crazy, like MDK2 - that's just crazy!"

 

And that is the exact reason, why lot of your old fans liked you in the past more...

[Malcador]

Well that is one aspect of being paranoid. See EVE forums for that in spades, heh, and speaking of, this might not mean much to any of you guys, but it might be interesting - http://massively.joystiq.com/2011/10/02/ev...the-war-on-lag/

 

And a more thorough explanation - http://www.eveonline.com/devblog.asp?a=blog&bid=900

Edited October 3, 2011 by Malcador

[Volourn]

Nice try , docs, but since the two of youa re actually EA suits .. EA doe, in fact, tell BIO what to do. R00fles!

 

DA2 > BG1

 

This is fact.

[sorophx]

DA2 > BG1

I'd say they're equally awful

[entrerix]

in 20 years no one is going to remember DA2. baldurs gate will still be highly regarded.

[Orogun01]

in 20 years no one is going to remember DA2. baldurs gate will still be highly regarded.

Saved this post for use in 20 years.

[entrerix]

in 20 years no one is going to remember DA2. baldurs gate will still be highly regarded.

Saved this post for use in 20 years.

 

 

[GreasyDogMeat]

If a modern gamer is playing BG1 & DA2 for the first time then they might enjoy DA2 more. If you judge them for their time, however, BG1 was a far superior game. Along with Fallout 1 it helped save the western RPG genre and it got me into RPGs in the first place.

 

Part of the reason I'm so disappointed with DA2 is that the game dev that produced masterpieces like BG1 would produce such an obviously rushed game.

[Calax]

If a modern gamer is playing BG1 & DA2 for the first time then they might enjoy DA2 more. If you judge them for their time, however, BG1 was a far superior game. Along with Fallout 1 it helped save the western RPG genre and it got me into RPGs in the first place.

 

Part of the reason I'm so disappointed with DA2 is that the game dev that produced masterpieces like BG1 would produce such an obviously rushed game.

One can hope the reason it was rushed was because most of the team was working on stuff for 3.

[Ice9]

That is getting into evolving standards of the medium. A modern gamer would likely find either as "better" than something like Pong or Space Invaders but neither of the latter games are more important to the history of the medium than the former examples.

 

I see similar parallels in TV and movies. I like many of the old programs, but, simply put, the majority of them are technically inferior to things produced today. They can still entertain, provoke, or do whatever it is that they were trying to do. But apart from a few exceptions, even the old stuff's highlights are diminished weakness everywhere else. It's not their fault. Film making has progressed so that things like expository dialogue is a cheap shortcut, not a necessity to telling a story. Editing is much cleaner now and pacing is generally superior - audiences are much more familiar with the medium allowing the creators to create without needing to hold the audience by the hand and explain every little detail.

 

Okay, so I forgot where I was going with this post. I guess I'll end by saying that most of us around here can, from time to time, sound like our grandparents talking about how nobody has made a good movie since An American in Paris (or pick your own dated movie that doesn't hold up nearly as well today when removed from its historical context - Citizen Kane is another fine example: study film making and you realize how revolutionary it was. Watch it randomly and you'll probably be bored).

[Morgoth]

RAGE review

 

So, 6 years of work and then we get another irrelevant bland old-school shooter. I expected more.

[Volourn]

"If a modern gamer is playing BG1 & DA2 for the first time then they might enjoy DA2 more. If you judge them for their time, however, BG1 was a far superior game."

 

No. no, it wans't. DA2 pretty much does everything better. BG1 is only memeroabale to me because it was BIO's first game I played. But, tyoherqwise, DA2 is vastly sueprior to it. It's no contest. BG1 is not sueprior to DA2. That's HUGELY lauaghable. The argument can be amde for BG2 9and I'd actually agree) but BG1? Bah. BG1 is really overrated 9and I overrated too). B G1 doesn't stand the test of time.

 

I'll remember DA2 more fondly 20 years from now - more interetsing characters, better story, better combat, better C&C, better writing, better graphics, better music, better everything.