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I think that a lot of this has got to do with the general decline of the quality of pop music. People now expect to hear rubbishy 3 minute bubblegum crap on the radio that has the emotional impact of a wet lettuce. As a result, our general experience of music has been relegated to "background sounds".

The latest game that I remember with great music was Doom. Those tracks rocked. (Mainly because they were based on classic heavy metal tracks. ) But then when I eventually moved onto newer games (Tomb Raider, Deus Ex) the soundtrack was just a bit of a yawn. I can't even remember if Doom 3 had any music and what it was like.

As any experienced gamer can tell you, great music can make a really big difference to a game. But generally it's regarded as something to slot into the game at the last minute. There are notable exceptions of course - a new Wii game called De Blob was designed ground up with the music in mind. It'll make a big difference.

BTW - if you really want some good rockin' music for your game, get in contact with me :) (Some of my music is up here and here. And I've done some music for the Angry Nintendo Nerd so some of you guys might have already heard my stuff without even knowing :)

Gamers shall have the right to demand that download managers and updaters not force themselves to run or be forced to load in order to play a game.

Has anyone at GPG actually tried using GPGnet? It's easily the worst online experience I've ever had.

GPGnet really does need a massive overhaul but they're not violating the rule since you don't need to load it to play the single player campaign.

I just went through GPG's website to check if you could download updates without the GPGnet client, and unless the page simply doesn't work under Firefox, you can't.

The patches and technical support are through the publisher, THQ (I find that's common for the games THQ publishes).

Don't all GPG games come with SecureROM?

They shipped with it but it was patched out of the game. The last time I had the DVD in for SC/FA was when I installed them.

The worst launch lineup of the 'next-gen' systems is actually the Wii, which has averaged only a 71.3 over its 20 launch titles.

Tetris Worlds for the PS2 has a great handicapping feature. I've found that after playing awhile, you can set up a competitive game where you're on level 8 and she's on level 2, and she can give you a run for the money. And it's tetris. Can't argue with that. http://thq.com/tetrisworlds/main.html

I wonder if they aren't waiting for THQ to make an offer, after they saw what a great job the did with WWE: Smackdown Vs Raw.

here's something probably more to your liking

http://www.thq.com/minisite.asp?upc=4907

Its been done allready, duh!
Or should that be "Doh!"?

THQ actually did a remake of Sinistar, called Sinistar Unleashed. It was first person, lacked the cool/freaky face that tried to swallow you, and was generally a mediocre title. It was a huge disappointment, because I loved the original.

I don't think 684 versions of Tetris, each with slightly different graphics, should count as distinct games.

As far as I know, the puzzle gaming community accepts that Tetris, Columns, Klax, Dr. Mario, Puyo Puyo, Zoop, Tetris Attack, and Puzzle Fighter II are distinct games. But should six versions of Tetris with different rules count as distinct games? What about a falling tetramino game where the screen rotates, zooms, and eventually shears like a TV tuned to a scrambled channel?

And, apparently, he's actually got a real game out there based on his recent comic book work, Danger Girl

Ok, so it's not exactly Lockarm.

I wonder whatever became of that game. Does anybody know? I tried doing a search for it and the only relevant links I got were broken.

Why would you assume it can be used ONLY for Steel Batallions? Of course it's going to support other games.

Damn.. Can't wait to play Tetris with this thing....

Mirror of the one page here

Here's a mirror for some of the images:
http://ocs.thq.com/jsuzuki/sep122001/_con.jpg
http://ocs.thq.com/jsuzuki/sep122001/layout2.gif

Here's a mirror for some of the images:
http://ocs.thq.com/jsuzuki/sep122001/_con.jpg
http://ocs.thq.com/jsuzuki/sep122001/layout2.gif

Mirror:
http://ocs.thq.com/jsuzuki/Sep112001/worldtrade_pl ane2.wmv

Why is this OK? Because the expensive, rare cards in Chron X aren't signifigantly more powerful than the other cards in the game... or if they are more powerful they come with a hefty in-game cost. In Everquest, Ashron's Call, Ultima Online or Diablo II there is no in-game cost to using a very rare item or spell or whatever. And since many of the games have a direct head-to-head component, it quickly turns into whoever-spend-the-most-wins. A horrible game mechanic if there ever was one.

We actively encourage the secondary market of our products (Chron X, Star Trek Conquest Online, and WWF With Authority). We do this because we think it gives people a way out if they dislike the game -- their money isn't wrapped up into something they can't cash out of. IF they like the game and stay in it and win (or buy) extra cards, they can sell the cards they don't want or can't use.

The idea that you should restrict the sale of virtual components to a game is a fallacy. You can't prevent it. So embrace it instead. Give users good tools to use like secure trading online, offline trading (where the two characters don't need to be in the same virtual space at the same time to trade goods), and trading histories. Then make sure that the rare items have a gameplay cost and you're all set.

A Diablo II example: You could have this great, all-powerful sword but make it take up almost all of the spots you get to carry items. Now the rarer items are great but require real thought to use. Isn't this a more fair way to do it?

Some of you have most likely seen the summoner geeks movie, which uses audio from the dead alewives. But watching characters froma roleplaying game sitting around playing a roleplaying game is really funny.

--
lukas