The Geek Crew - Game Thread!

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Re: Game Thread!
Reply #210 - Jan 16^th, 2009 at 12:06pm

MediaMaster wrote on Jan 16^th, 2009 at 10:33am:

I really really wish the Wii fad would die a horrible death.

What's wrong with a bit of competition? Nintendo is really making Microsoft and Sony earn every dollar, and I'm okay with that.

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Nintendo only cares about making money.

Well, they are a business.

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They stick with safe titles that are already proven to make money.

That's not necessarily a bad thing.

One thing you have to keep in mind is that all of these subpar games bring in guaranteed cash, which can then be used to support newer, more experimental titles. Every Final Fantasy sequel pays for ten The World Ends With You experiments. Every Sonic the Hedgehog game paves the way for a MadWorld.

Besides, derivative titles can be really, really good. Take Mario Kart, for instance. The Wii and DS versions of the game are a heck of a lot of fun and sold like gangbusters. Nobody cares if they are the 573,382nd iteration in the series. As long as they continue to be unique, interesting, and fun, all the more power to Nintendo!

On the other hand, some of the new, unique, and truly interesting titles don't sell for crap. The Square-Enix DS title I mentioned earlier, The World Ends With You, is a perfect example. The developer took a gamble and made an incredibly unique RPG the likes of which I had never seen, and it paid off in terms of game quality. The title was excellent and was easily one of the best handheld RPG's I had ever played (not that I play many handheld games). It received excellent reviews and lived up to the hype. But guess what? It didn't sell for crap. It only moved 140,000 copies in North America to date.

If people choose to buy derivative games of dubious quality over truly unique games with excellent production values, why even bother? It's cheaper to license a stale property for the thousandth time, and the payoff is higher. You can't blame anyone for making that choice, painful as it may be for us "true" gamers.

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The only successful games are Nintendo released anyway. Third party Wii games stink terribly.

From NPD: "More 3rd party units were sold for Wii than any other home consoles in December for the 2nd consecutive month."

Considering the Wii has outsold the PS3 and XBox 360 combined, that shouldn't be surprising. Nonetheless, you definitely can't say third-party titles aren't selling on the Wii. You know they're selling well if they outsell third-party titles on the 360 and PS3, which don't have much of a first party market to begin with.

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Most of people i know with a wii just let it gather dust until friends come over anyway.

I know of several people with Wii consoles, and most of them play the Wii regularly. We have all three systems, and because of Meredith the Wii probably sees four or five times as much action as the other two. I'm a hardcore PC gamer, and don't touch the consoles very often.

As you've stated, one of the biggest selling points of the Wii is the party-friendly aspect. It is fairly rare that we don't turn the Wii on when friends come over. Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros. Brawl are perennial favorites.

If the PS3 can harness the multimedia friendliness and network support of the 360, or if the 360 can adopt the hardware openness and free multiplayer support of the 360, the Wii might actually get some competition in terms of overall sales. Unfortunately, neither of those seem terribly likely in this generation of consoles.

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Other than that they go play their Xbox or ps3's where the REAL games are.

...and I thought I was a gaming elitist!

Like I said, I'm a hardcore PC gamer and will take a PC port over a console port any day of the week. That said, if I have to play on a console, the 360 generally wins my vote. I abhor having to pay for multiplayer support and the ridiculously overpriced accessories (namely, the hard drive and wireless adapters) make my blood boil, but the XBox dashboard, media support, and game library beat the crap out of the PS3.

I'm not a Nintendo fanboy by any stretch of the imagination, but I think the Wii is a fun system that has carved out a "blue ocean" market for itself. I can guarantee you that Sony and Microsoft will try to grab a piece of this market for themselves as start working on their next generation of consoles.

Competition is a good thing, and so is innovation.

-b0b
(...will always be a PC gamer at heart, though!)

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MediaMaster

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Re: Game Thread!
Reply #211 - Jan 16^th, 2009 at 1:59pm

Yea I agree with you there bob, I just don't want Microsoft and Sony to go backwards as far as technology is concerned. Nintendo just put out a modified gamecube with motion sensing and a retartedly good marketing plan. I have argued with Patrick before because he loathes the wii, but the Wii has its own niche and its own style. My problem with it is that it is not on par with the other two. I don't like it being grouped with them, the wii and the ps3 and 360 and pc are two different groups, and gaming styles.

And sorry for leaving the PC out of the comparisons before, it is still my platform of choice. It's just become the work machine lately.

I guess I don't want to see Microsoft and Sony want a piece of that casual market and shift their focus at all. But like you said they will want to, as the new Xii's and that awful Home.

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"Our Constitution is designed only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for any other."&&&&John Adams&&

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Re: Game Thread!
Reply #212 - Jan 20^th, 2009 at 10:22am

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Dawn of War II goes gold, will land early
By Frank Caron | Published: January 19, 2009 - 10:20AM CT

Kicking off the year's blockbuster RTS games is Dawn of War II, the sequel to the original Warhammer 40K RTS which established Relic as a key player in the genre. The company has gone on to have a successful stint with action-oriented RTS games, and Dawn of War II looks to be the next leap for the company. Luckily for those anxiously awaiting the title, Relic has announced today that the game has gone gold and will hit stores earlier than expected.

The game, which was originally scheduled to hit stores on February 23, will drop on February 19. The multiplayer beta will begin this Wednesday for those who purchased Dawn of War: Soulstorm and will then open to the public the following week on January 28. Changes that result from the beta will be pushed out as a post-release patch.

Though Starcraft 2 is the talk of the town, Relic's more action-oriented approach to RTS gameplay, which focuses more on using the environment for tactics and cover than on micromanagement and resource gathering, has always been exciting, and Dawn of War II looks to continue that tradition. Watch out for some impressions of the beta later this week and a full review when the game hits stores on February 19, exclusively for the PC.

Hopefully the reviews will start trickling out soon. Relic has become the masters of the RTS genre with Company of Heroes, so I've got high hopes for Dawn of War II.

Hopefully, this will wash away the bad taste left by "Soul Storm." That expansion was total crap, and it is still overpriced.

-b0b
(...w0rd.)

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Re: Game Thread!
Reply #213 - Jan 20^th, 2009 at 10:58am

This is concept art of a dark Obi Wan, from an "alternate history" of the Star Wars universe. It's from Star Wars Battlefronts III, which is "in limbo" at the moment since the developer went out of business. The game was picked up by another studio, but there is no confirmation of whether or not dark Obi will be cut.

-b0b
(...would definitely buy this one.)

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Re: Game Thread!
Reply #214 - Jan 21^st, 2009 at 3:51pm

Relic is selling the third Dawn of War expansion for 75% of through next week at $7.50. If you pick up the expansion, you can get in on the Dawn of War II exclusive beta.

I picked up my copy a couple hours ago. Both the expansion and the DoW 2 beta are installing now. I'll give you guys a quick review tomorrow!

-b0b
(...can't wait to kick some Eldar butt!)

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The_Fat_Man Wootzor von Leetenhaxor FTP Server Offline Grand High Overlard Posts: 910 Colorado Springs, Colorado Gender:	Re: Game Thread! Reply #215 - Jan 21^st, 2009 at 10:10pm We know what you really want the butt for...ya nasty sum'bitch
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The_Fat_Man Wootzor von Leetenhaxor FTP Server Offline Grand High Overlard Posts: 910 Colorado Springs, Colorado Gender:	Re: Game Thread! Reply #216 - Jan 22^nd, 2009 at 12:15pm I hear they removed like most of if not all of the base building function in DoW2. I hear its almost completly moving your soliders around now, and that a LOT of people are very displeased with this.
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Stick Wootzor von Leetenhaxor FTP Server Offline Stick is back Posts: 501 Michgan Gender:	Re: Game Thread! Reply #217 - Jan 22^nd, 2009 at 2:54pm Wes, still playing warhammer online? What are your toon levels at now?
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Re: Game Thread!
Reply #218 - Jan 22^nd, 2009 at 4:03pm

I had a heck of a time even getting into DoW 2 last night. The post-install "setup" process took almost twenty minutes. Once I got into the game, my microphone was locked open in-game even though I didn't have a microphone connected. I had to disable the "What You Hear" port on my Soundblaster X-Fi to get it working properly.

By the time I was done with all that jazz, I just gave up and went to bed. I'll jump on tonight and give you my impression.

-b0b
(...didn't think it looked all that much better than the latest revision of DoW.)

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The_Fat_Man Wootzor von Leetenhaxor FTP Server Offline Grand High Overlard Posts: 910 Colorado Springs, Colorado Gender:	Re: Game Thread! Reply #219 - Jan 22^nd, 2009 at 4:43pm No I quit about a month or so ago to go back to Everquest 2. Before I quit though I had an R40 RR53 Engineer and a R40 RR43 Warrior Priest.
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spanky Post Whore FTP Server Offline Posts: 1540 Detroit-ish Gender:	Re: Game Thread! Reply #220 - Jan 22^nd, 2009 at 5:56pm EQ 2...Lame. EQ1 all the way.
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b0b

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Re: Game Thread!
Reply #221 - Jan 22^nd, 2009 at 8:26pm

There is no point in fighting, guys. EQ1 and EQ2 are equally gay.

I finally got a chance to play a little bit of Dawn of War II tonight, and I'm even more disappointed now that I actually got the game to run correctly. I just can't get into it.

DoW2 has almost completely eliminated base building! You throw up a quickie structure on the front lines which you can "upgrade" twice to spawn more powerful units, and you're done. Each game starts with your single "base" structure already built for you.

The game has a strong run-and-gun feel to it, and if you hold back and try to build up a sizable force you'll get wiped in an instant. As you guys know from Empire Earth and Earth 2150, I tend to be a bit of a "turtle" when it comes to RTS games, so I really don't like the direction they've taken. By eliminating the base building and focusing on incredibly combat-intensive gameplay, it's like they've disemboweled your girlfriend and put a pair of shiny sunglasses on her. She might look a little better at first glance, but she's just not the same.

I also don't like some of the design choices the developers made. The microphone is always on and there is no "mic button," so you have an open mic at all times. One or two players have left their mics on every single game I've played, which is incredibly annoying. The only way to block the sound is to open their "Games for Windows" profile and mute them entirely. Have I mentioned how much I hate Games for Windows?

The game is also incredibly laggy. That would be a problem for any RTS, but especially so for a fast-paced RTS like DoW2. The game displays a message if one of the players is lagging out the rest of the server, but it never does anything about them. From what I can tell, other players don't even get the option to vote on kicking the offender, ala Left 4 Dead. You either quit and look for another group (thereby screwing over the rest of your team) or you deal with it.

Hopefully Relic will get their act together before the game goes live next month, but I highly doubt that will happen. They'll likely push the game out and "fix it later" via patch.

-b0b
(...seriously, who the heck makes a game with a mandated open mic?)

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The_Fat_Man Wootzor von Leetenhaxor FTP Server Offline Grand High Overlard Posts: 910 Colorado Springs, Colorado Gender:	Re: Game Thread! Reply #222 - Jan 22^nd, 2009 at 8:55pm I told you DoW2 was gay, all the reviews said the same thing =p And EQ2 is not lame dumb ass =p I would argue that EQ2 is the most balanced, well designed MMO on the market. And I would know, actually having played all of them and not just guessing like the rest of you nubs.
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b0b

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Re: Game Thread!
Reply #223 - Jan 23^rd, 2009 at 2:03pm

The_Fat_Man wrote on Jan 22^nd, 2009 at 8:55pm:

I told you DoW2 was gay, all the reviews said the same thing =p

I'm afraid I actually have to admit you were right. I just don't understand what audience Relic was aiming for with Dawn of War II. If I just want to kill a bunch of bad guys without much thought behind the process, I'll play a first-person shooter.

Don't get me wrong, a good RTS will always offer a "shoot first, think later" option. The infamous "Zerg rush" strategy from StarCraft is a perfect example. I think most RTS players, however, choose other strategies (research, fortification, espionage/sabotage, etc.). Dawn of War has always been biased toward tactics and constant combat, but to make that the sole aspect of gameplay is somewhat retarded.

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And EQ2 is not lame dumb ass =p

Well, at least I didn't have to wait long to disagree with you again!

-b0b
(...on the bright side, at least it's not WoW!)

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Re: Game Thread!
Reply #224 - Jan 30^th, 2009 at 1:02pm

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Gears of War DRM Prevents Players from Accessing Game

Gamers who tried to play Gears of War on the PC Thursday ran into a slight snag: it seems that the digital certificate that allows the game to run expired on January 28, 2009. Basically that means if you keep your PC's clock up to date, you can no longer play the game. The official Epic forum is ablaze with complaints about this issue, as the still-kicking community becomes enraged.

"I had this problem this evening, I had to change the date and time (from PM to AM) and I am able to get in just fine," one frustrated gamer posted. "I also changed it back to the current date and time and it didn't work. Change it back to yesterday AM and it works fine... EPIC games won't be on my list anytime soon...."

Unfortunately, DRM can sometimes feel like a rug that can be yanked out from under our feet at any moment.

Epic Games is aware of the issue, but don't expect much hard news about what to do about the inability to play the game. "We have been notified of the issue and are working with Microsoft to get it resolved," a super moderator posted on the forum. "Sorry for any problems related to this. I'll post more once we have a resolution." (Microsoft is the publisher, and GoW is a Games for Windows release.)

Until then? You can either fiddle with your computer's clock or not play. Neither choice is much fun.

Did Epic assume no one would be playing the title once 2009 came around? It's hard to understand why there would be an end-date hard-coded into the title's DRM, especially one that came less than three years after the game was released. Many PC gamers are leery of any kind of DRM that must dial into a central server to authenticate, wondering what happens if those servers are shut down. Now we know—in this case, the game shipped with DRM that was essentially counting down until the game would cease to work.

While it's not rare for games to ship with bugs every now and again, it's pretty shocking when one ships with an issue that causes the title to stop working for everyone who paid. Those who pirated the game, as usual, continue to play with no issues.

I guess this would constitute an EPIC fail!

Get it? EPIC fail? No?

This is a perfect example of why DRM is so incredibly irksome. With games that require constant authentication, you're not really buying the game when you throw down your hard-earned money. You're just renting the game until the vendor decides to take down their server.

We'll see how quickly Microsoft and Epic get their acts together. Considering Microsoft's problem with the Zune 30GB's breaking on New Year's Eve, this appears to be an increasingly common issue for them.

-b0b
(....puts another notch on his anti-DRM belt.)

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