Oh, that would be interesting; I vaguely remember the old SNES iteration.
See also in this vein a comic known as The Red Star, set in a paralell present where tech and magecraft coexist quite well, thank you very much. There's a campaign setting available for the d20 Modern system if you're curious, and Akklaim had even had an action game (think a mix of Contra and Final Fight) pretty much ready to go when they folded; that got picked up by XS Games and is slated for PS2 release next month.
Now, to address some points raised in various other comments:
I was disappointed to see Imperator development frozen if not cancelled outright; the premise is certainly promising.
theStorminMormon notes that "most efforts to make sci-fi based on hand-to-hand combat come across as very contrived." Two big offenders in this department: Battletech and various Mobile Suit Gundam incarnations. Without the 'crutch' of something like 'Minovskiy physics', there's no way a mobile suit can survive any present or near-future battlefield - it's simply too big a target.
BartulaPrime wonders how a sci-fi setting explains healing, (de)buffs, etc. Well, I think Deus Ex and System Shock 2 do a decent job of it (the latter even has magic... well, psionics, actually).
it was opined by an AC that fantasy settings are more likely to have clear delineations between 'good' and 'evil' and possess epic scale. On the other hand, the murkiness of, for instance, the Cyberpunk 2020 or Shadowrun universes can be argued to provide excellent fodder for roleplaying more focused on intrigue and intercharacter reactions than straight-up action. Not to mention ample room for, in Rob T Firefly's words, "storyline, brain-requiring quests, and interesting puzzles".
It's the classes, according to MuNansen. Well, role diffrentiation exists in the sci-fi world too, even if it's not so dramatic as the difference between a paladin and a mage; a pilot is obviously going to have a different skill set from a storm commando (those units were stood up post-Yavin because the Empire recognized that they needed troops who could fight the Alliance on its own terms; the man who originated that program (Crix Madine) shortly thereafter had a crisis of conscience and defected); medics and heavy-weapons troopers might have the same basic training, but things diverge quickly thereafter. In Deus Ex, and a few other games, it's relatively easy to build out your character to suit your playing style.
MuNansen also notes the difficulty in balancing ranged and melee weapons. Well, barring special abilities (cloaking, for instance) and surprise, he's right: it can't be done. But the only thing this is bad news for is the combat portion of an RPG... and RPGs are about more than just combat, right?
someone categorized vibroswords as 'fantasy weapons' along with lightsabers. Wrong: they're simply an evolution of certain kitchen knives, hedge trimmers, and power tools we're familiar with today.
I hope they don't make them so you can't damage them, I think one of the highlights of ingame advertising is if they allowed you to defile it.
On which note, I feel obliged to (again) call out certain car companies for their severe case of 'realistic-damage-modelingphobia'... what's the explanation for this again?
Maybe one day someone will release a Jet Set Radio MMORPG and they'll let us spray whatever we like and generally have fun just kicking around to cool music.
Shortly after Jet [Set/Grind; pick one] Radio was released, I remember thinking along those exact lines. It's a great idea; cherry with the ability to customize the color scheme of your crew and import your own images to use as tags (ala Homeworld 2 and Dawn of War...
I'll have to RTFA later, but from the summary I get the impression that these 'interactive billboards' are not that much different from (parts of) certain websites, such as the aircraft gallery over on the Ace Combat Zero offical website. Worth reiterating at this point are established issues regarding static ingame ads and product placements - that is, they must not be annoyingly intrusive and must fit the gameworld. I can think of very few games where these interactive billboards make any sense... on the other tendril, some multiplayer games (the upcoming Saints' Row, for instance) have virtual lobbies where one could in theory place such a thing with a minimum of impact on the game experience.
It should be pointed out that they added the Imperial Guard with the expansion to Dawn of War. I'm just annoyed that they still haven't made Tyranids >:(.
The upcoming second expansion (Dark Crusade) adds the Tau and Necrons. The developers have no current plans to include Tyranids because they are not convinced that their engine, as good as it is, can do them justice. Although in the interests of rounding things out, I wonder if we'll be seeing Dark Eldar at some point...
Okay, let me see if I get this straight: the increasing (well, really depends on where you are) ubiquity of always-on high-speed connections leads to consoles adding features to take advantage of them (XBox Live, for instance). This, in turn, enables console games to be expanded via post-release downloadable content (Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter, I'm looking at you!). All of this is a good thing.
It also means that there's no reason why these sports games can't offer new rosters as downloadable content - barring, of course, core engine updates. The same could also be said about fighting games, for that matter. So if it's technically possible, why don't we see this?
Conversely, and admittedly unrelated: the availability of reasonably-priced USB gamepads also means there's no technical obstacle to having the likes of, say, Tekken 5 running natively on a computer.
I refer you over to Larry Niven's essay, "The Theory and Practice of Teleportation"...
Quite true: while expensive to set up and power, chronospheres can do nasty things to enemy units (drop tanks in water, etc.). Then you have the chrono tanks (Red Alert) and chrono legionnaires (Red Alert 2/Yuri's Revenge) - for best use, drive them in so they can jump out if they get in trouble.
Until there's a sensor that can identify me, that I'm alive and well and not in any way stressed (no gun pressed into the small of my back etc. etc.)
Heh, I seem to recall this entry technique being occasionally necessary in the various Splinter Cell games... Seriously, though, stress has many causes not all of which are nefarious in origin.
I think back to AvP, where playing an Alien and a Human are so different as to be totally seperate games.
AvP: Extinction also tries this (and a PC remake using the Dawn of War/Company of Heroes engine would seriously kick ass). Okay, so the graphics aren't A-rank, and view control can use some work (you can't rotate the camera, meaning that units can get obscured by terrain), but it had workable controls and a distinct play style for each of the three species. The inclusion of a set of tutorials and a bestiary was a nice touch as well.
This, to me, sounds like a good example of reductio ad absurdum; I for one am curious as to whether it has ever been used in public to deflate the 'games train people to kill' line. How about some spots wherein we see a clip of whichever LA senator actually said 'games train people to kill', followed by one of an Air Force officer buying up a CompUSA's stock of something like Lock-On: Modern Air Combat and explaining to a curious cashier that it's for 'training purposes'.
Onscreen caption: By the honorable gentleman's (or lady's) logic, what you've just seen this officer do makes perfect sense.
Then cut to an actual fighter pilot explaining why that is most certainly [i]not[/i] the case.
Thanks guys; this is one of the more amusing subthreads I've seen in a while. Even before we debate the difference between the TV and comic incarnations of said snake-themed organization, even as we acknowledge that both have had their interesting points.
If I recall correctly, 'bootlegging' would be more fitting a term for this particular RIAA/MPAA 'problem' than 'piracy'. Could someone please enlighten us as to how/when this misappropriation came about?
The folks at Koei have given PS2 owners another opportunity to design - and test under live conditions - the warships of their dreams. Ladies, lads, and larvae, I present for your consideration Warship Gunner 2, which arrived on this side of the Pac last Wednesday. Here's some relevant linkage:
The game they'd developed based on the Red Star comic series was practically ready to go out the door when they'd folded; a fact which disappointed me greatly. Whether or not the paralell world of that comic is a good basis for an MMOG is an excercise I leave to you fine chaps, but I hope their notional resurrection means they'll at the very least find someone to hand it off to.
The Hog had one other major problem; it's used for ground support, and not to chase other fighter jocks across the sky. The way to promotion and pay is not through aiding the ground-pounders.
If that is indeed the unofficial 'position' of the US Air Force, then something in the organizational culture needs a proverbial clue-by-four across the head. CAS might not be "glamorous" or "sexy" but it is nonetheless a vital component of combined-arms operations; here's a cold fact: airpower can sanitize ground, but those 'ground-pounders' are the only ones who can hold it. Conversely, ground-pounders with smoothly integrated CAS have better odds of success than those who don't (a fact the Wermacht had a pretty good grip on) but at the same time benefit from the strategic application of airpower to degrade the enemy's ability to reinforce (the Luftwaffe couldn't do this in Operation Barbarossa due to lack of true strategic-range aircraft, and shifting the focus from Britain's radar stations, factories, and airbases to civilian populations was a strategic blunder). Interestingly enough, isn't it these same 'ugly' CAS aircraft that proved so handy for supporting search-and-rescue work...? (A-1 Skyraiders in Vietnam, IIRC)
There's a Cold War joke about two Soviet motor-rifle division commanders who meet in Paris; one asks the other, "By the way, who won the air war?"
As to the actual bit about 'legislator-ready PR photo'... I can't help but remember this thread and submission...
Bravo!
As yet someone else who holds Godwin's 'Law' and its spawn in utter contempt, I tip my hat do both you and the grandparent poster for so eloquently driving stakes into its proverbial heart.
It is noted elsewhere in this thread that yes, the Russian authourities do have far more pressing concerns than the RIAA's gripes (the 'Dear USA/RIAA' letter is definitely worth a chuckle). Which leads me to yet another post which asks 'how necessary is the RIAA these days, really?'
On a related note: how many artists - as opposed to RIAA middlemen - regularly speak out against bootlegging (again, I refuse to call it 'piracy' because that word is associated with far graver criminal activity)...
This is where I dig up my commentary on ILoveYou:
I do not see what the problem with hidden file extensions is. Quite the contrary, the very fact that you can see an extension that is normally hidden (such as.txt or.jpg) should be enough to trip a mental alert.
Quite aside from wondering whether someone who apparently equates 'eye candy' for 'hard work' should even be in a position of responsbility, I suspect that somethign like 'The Spinning Cube of Potential Doom' makes an excellent persuader for such folks (see this posting therein in particular).
They're trying to defeat movie and TV spies, which don't exist in real life.
This is a reassuring statement, and probably even true. Although the flip version must be taken into account: just because you don't see them, that doesn't mean they don't exist...
And in fact, real life spies aren't even going to pick the lock, but rather throw a rock through the rear window so it looks like a burglary.
Maaaybe. Ideally, spies wish to leave no traces, so given the choice, they'd rather pick the lock than smash a window... and a properly picked lock is far less obvious than a burglary, which latter would draw an investigation sooner, which would in turn uncover evidence of espionage. Note too, that there are burglars who follow this train of logic.
To address the subthread's original point: 'it looks like a movie plot' != 'nobody'll ever do that...'
...it seems that the RIAA and co. have hijacked the term 'piracy' to mean 'the creation/distribution of bootleg copies'. They are either uncaring or forgetful the original meaning of the word, even though reminders continue to make themselves known...
Of course, what the article fails to mention is... the number of people who install them on purpose to trap an unwary spouses or their mischievous kids.
I think we, as a society, need to take a long hard look at ourselves if we seem to think it all right to spy on our own spouses or children. Really, what message is that sending?
Never mind that such spying is likely illegal in most jurisdictions.
It wasn't too hard to actually kill the guy, but it was a very strange boss battle.
Does that mean he's not particularly tough in terms of actual health, or that the fight itself wasn't as challenging as one might have expected? If you enjoyed the fight, then I'm sure you'll love Sniper Elite.
The other battle that creeped me out was the one with The Fury. Somehow a guy in a spacesuit with a flamethrower and a rocket pack in a narrow, dark hallway is bit unnerving...
Seconded. Aside from the spacesuit lending a measure of anonymity (and its rockets meaning he has a faster dash than you do), flamethrowers have always had a special psychological impact. And with all those narrow corridors, there isn't that much room to evade the streams...
That said, I'll agree with the System Shock series as being among the scariest games ever, with F.E.A.R. making a serious run for the crown. How are they doing it? We know, but I'll say it anyway: a proper mix of atmosphere and frentic action.
Slashdot Mirror
See also in this vein a comic known as The Red Star, set in a paralell present where tech and magecraft coexist quite well, thank you very much. There's a campaign setting available for the d20 Modern system if you're curious, and Akklaim had even had an action game (think a mix of Contra and Final Fight) pretty much ready to go when they folded; that got picked up by XS Games and is slated for PS2 release next month.
Now, to address some points raised in various other comments:
I'll have to RTFA later, but from the summary I get the impression that these 'interactive billboards' are not that much different from (parts of) certain websites, such as the aircraft gallery over on the Ace Combat Zero offical website. Worth reiterating at this point are established issues regarding static ingame ads and product placements - that is, they must not be annoyingly intrusive and must fit the gameworld. I can think of very few games where these interactive billboards make any sense... on the other tendril, some multiplayer games (the upcoming Saints' Row, for instance) have virtual lobbies where one could in theory place such a thing with a minimum of impact on the game experience.
Okay, let me see if I get this straight: the increasing (well, really depends on where you are) ubiquity of always-on high-speed connections leads to consoles adding features to take advantage of them (XBox Live, for instance). This, in turn, enables console games to be expanded via post-release downloadable content (Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter, I'm looking at you!). All of this is a good thing.
It also means that there's no reason why these sports games can't offer new rosters as downloadable content - barring, of course, core engine updates. The same could also be said about fighting games, for that matter. So if it's technically possible, why don't we see this?
Conversely, and admittedly unrelated: the availability of reasonably-priced USB gamepads also means there's no technical obstacle to having the likes of, say, Tekken 5 running natively on a computer.
This, to me, sounds like a good example of reductio ad absurdum; I for one am curious as to whether it has ever been used in public to deflate the 'games train people to kill' line. How about some spots wherein we see a clip of whichever LA senator actually said 'games train people to kill', followed by one of an Air Force officer buying up a CompUSA's stock of something like Lock-On: Modern Air Combat and explaining to a curious cashier that it's for 'training purposes'.
Onscreen caption: By the honorable gentleman's (or lady's) logic, what you've just seen this officer do makes perfect sense.
Then cut to an actual fighter pilot explaining why that is most certainly [i]not[/i] the case.
Thanks guys; this is one of the more amusing subthreads I've seen in a while. Even before we debate the difference between the TV and comic incarnations of said snake-themed organization, even as we acknowledge that both have had their interesting points.
If I recall correctly, 'bootlegging' would be more fitting a term for this particular RIAA/MPAA 'problem' than 'piracy'. Could someone please enlighten us as to how/when this misappropriation came about?
I'm surprised the Moonraker references (look it up on Google/IMDB/wherever) haven't cropped up yet...
- official site;
- TotalPlaystation preview and review;
- IGN hands-on; and
- Gametrailers.com video
So far, I've been having a great deal of fun with this game.The game they'd developed based on the Red Star comic series was practically ready to go out the door when they'd folded; a fact which disappointed me greatly. Whether or not the paralell world of that comic is a good basis for an MMOG is an excercise I leave to you fine chaps, but I hope their notional resurrection means they'll at the very least find someone to hand it off to.
There's a Cold War joke about two Soviet motor-rifle division commanders who meet in Paris; one asks the other, "By the way, who won the air war?"
As to the actual bit about 'legislator-ready PR photo'... I can't help but remember this thread and submission...
Bravo!
As yet someone else who holds Godwin's 'Law' and its spawn in utter contempt, I tip my hat do both you and the grandparent poster for so eloquently driving stakes into its proverbial heart.
It is noted elsewhere in this thread that yes, the Russian authourities do have far more pressing concerns than the RIAA's gripes (the 'Dear USA/RIAA' letter is definitely worth a chuckle). Which leads me to yet another post which asks 'how necessary is the RIAA these days, really?'
On a related note: how many artists - as opposed to RIAA middlemen - regularly speak out against bootlegging (again, I refuse to call it 'piracy' because that word is associated with far graver criminal activity)...
This is where I dig up my commentary on ILoveYou: .txt or .jpg) should be enough to trip a mental alert.
I do not see what the problem with hidden file extensions is. Quite the contrary, the very fact that you can see an extension that is normally hidden (such as
Quite aside from wondering whether someone who apparently equates 'eye candy' for 'hard work' should even be in a position of responsbility, I suspect that somethign like 'The Spinning Cube of Potential Doom' makes an excellent persuader for such folks (see this posting therein in particular).
Piracy? Piracy?! I think not, sir. Since when was access to a computer a requisite to piracy? Here're some reminders...
To address the subthread's original point: 'it looks like a movie plot' != 'nobody'll ever do that...'
...it seems that the RIAA and co. have hijacked the term 'piracy' to mean 'the creation/distribution of bootleg copies'. They are either uncaring or forgetful the original meaning of the word, even though reminders continue to make themselves known...
Seconded. Aside from the spacesuit lending a measure of anonymity (and its rockets meaning he has a faster dash than you do), flamethrowers have always had a special psychological impact. And with all those narrow corridors, there isn't that much room to evade the streams... That said, I'll agree with the System Shock series as being among the scariest games ever, with F.E.A.R. making a serious run for the crown. How are they doing it? We know, but I'll say it anyway: a proper mix of atmosphere and frentic action.