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Microsoft Clears MechWarrior4 Free Launch
Vamman writes "If you've been following the drama surrounding the free release of MechWarrior4, then you're probably aware that the initial announcement, made last summer, was a bit premature. Now, nearly a year since that announcement was made, MekTek Studios has announced that Microsoft Legal has given clearance for the free release of Mechwarrior4. This move by Microsoft Games couldn't come at a better time for the community, as the owners of MechWarrior are attempting a reboot of the franchise."
Microsoft is evil...but mechs are soooooo cool(and impractical).
Yet Microsoft is evil...
But mechs are really, really cool.
*head explodes*
People replying to my sig annoy me. That's why I change it all the time.
No, Microsoft is still evil, but this certainly helped their karma
my karma will be here long after I'm gone
You need to check out this mod, it probably better than anything MS will ever kick out the door. http://www.mechlivinglegends.net/
Releasing the one-before-last as freeware seems a pretty sensible move for anyone marketing a franchise (yes, I know that MS aren't the ones pushing the new MW to market, but this is still relevant).
Releasing Bioshock 3? Put Bioshock 1 out as freeware. You're not going to lose any money, the people who were going to buy it won't wait 3 years just to get it free (especially when you've already released 2). All you do is potentially pull more people into the game who will take a look at it and think "hmm, if I like this one that's 3 years old, maybe I'll like the one they're about to release".
Developers are starting to talk about not wanting to release demos, and instead going with payware. This would allow multiple tiers of demo-type experience for the consumer. For example, with Mass Effect 3, it could work like this:
Tier 1: Freeware of ME1, released onto BitTorrent or equivalent to minimize distribution cost
Tier 2: Payware demo from the current release (perhaps including a full-access version of ME 2)
Tier 3: Full-cost version of ME3
This may be the way forward. I might be okay with losing demos, if I'm going to be able to see previous versions of the game in freeware form.
"So is Microsoft no longer evil? I'm sure some slashdotters will find a way of turning this nice move by Microsoft into something sinister."
We all know this is part of the Microsoft agenda to convert human souls into Mechwarriors.
That little prick Gates is behind it all. His smug smile and endless charity all a guise to cover his plan for world domination.
Open your eyes people
Not many publishers do so, and Sierra and LucasArts still after ~20 years send cease & desist letters to abandonware sites if they distribute their old games.
I think Microsoft Games was the most sensible part of the company anyway. Age of Empires, Midtown Madness, Motocross Madness, Flight Simulator.. I have great memories of those. It's a shame that division isn't what it used to be, but are only working 360 and such now.
(posting as anon as someone used their 15 modpoints to burn my karma and posting ability for the day. when will slashdot fix that?)
How's it feel to be strapped into a 45 ton walking nuke reactor at 6am?
Damn fine, that's what. Damn fiiine.
Science advances one funeral at a time- Max Planck
For now, there's Megamek.
That's the source code for mechcommander 2 not mechcommander, still very neat but if it was the first game I imagine it would already be ported to linux.
It makes little sense to classify a company as evil or !evil over an extended period of time. They are a company, run by an often-changing group of people. They have no sentimental ties to their previous behaviour, and as such, they can turn on a dime. Microsoft releasing mw4 today doesn't mean they won't sue Linux contributors for patent infringement the next (I know, bad example).
You know, there is a difference between trolling and pointing out the flaws in your reasoning. Just saying.
You know how good people have mistakes and accidentally do something evil?
This is the same thing only reversed.
Oops! my bad!
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Probably because Sierra and LucasArts are still exploiting their back catalog via rereleases on Steam and elsewhere.
Benford's Corollary to Clarke's Law: "Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced."
Are you guys *still* doing the "Microsoft is Evil" bit? Man, get with the times. Microsoft is harmlessly wandering in the desert. Now, Apple is evil. Facebook is evil. And Google is under evaluation...
No, Microsoft is still evil. But they've been evil so long that it got boring. Now they have company.
Adherence to the truth is a form of disloyalty.
And they're both members of that very rare and elite group, 'companies that have been around that long.'
Vintage computer games and RPG books available. Email me if you're interested.
More companies really need to do this to older games! Starcraft sort of did it by including a no CD "crack" in one of their updates a few years back. Dungeons and Dragons Online went free to play after several years of falling $15/month subscriptions. Now I think they have more players than they did at the peak of their subscriptions! Newegg included a free copy of Rainbow 6 Vegas 2 in one of my orders just labeled "free gift" and I totally love it! It made me seriously consider playing other versions (until the reviews said they sucked). There's no better way to get someone involved in a series of games than giving them an older version of it for free. It reeeeeally makes them wonder how awesome newer versions of the game are.
Google's Super Secret Search Algorithm: SELECT @search_results FROM internet WHERE @search_results = 'good'
yes because Bushwhackers with absolutely no armor loaded down with nothing but medium pulse lasers should be able to cripple Atlases and other Assault Mechs with ease.
Speaking as someone who's been at the top of the attrition and team attrition rankings at the ends of months and not just at the beginnings, once you get good with lasers, this is totally reasonable. That's why energy weapons are so very desirable, and why Battletech probably ought to have had even higher heat penalties, or lower damage, for all energy weapons save possibly PPCs, which are at least slightly challenging when you consider the long recycle time. I guess that's another option that could have been explored.
The way to defend against 'mechs like that is to have a good assortment of long-range heavy weapons. My favorite tank is the dieshit with the 6 ER LL; if you fire them one at a time, and you are good, and the lag is low, then you can watch to see when the opponent's torso has swung in your direction, and you can ding them on the arm on the side that they're turning towards, which causes them to be facing way past you. With 6 of them your recycle rate is such that you can do this more or less continuously. Another option is to stack 5 LRM15s onto something that can actually mount that many missiles; if you are a good enough gunner you can stay to long ranges and keep their cockpit full of fire nonstop to where they can barely see you.
I really loved playing Mechwarrior, as compared to playing Battletech with miniatures (I think I still have some minis here somewhere) because it's about skill, not rolling dice. You're as successful as you are good. There's a real sense of achievement when you climb to the top of a stat ladder of thousands or even tens of thousands. Even if it was on the points-for-damage and not the kill board, I don't think I ever topped destruction but I acquitted myself well enough there. And CtF was also great fun in Mech IV, the Shadow Cat is your friend. Put one AC10 or a couple AC5s on it, make it go fast, max the armor, give it jump. I am so eager for this release I can almost feel the joystick. Er, wait...
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
No, it wasn't, and no it wasn't. The best of the series was either MW2:Merc or MW4:Merc, depending on who you ask and how successful you were at trying to run a late-DOS game on Win9x and above, and MW4 was quite good actually, though like MW2 its "Mercenaries" expansion overshadowed it in all aspects.
No problem is insoluble in all conceivable circumstances.