X-COM was a fairly open game but the progress you made and the end goal was always the same. I thought the claustrophobic and dark mission design was actually quite good. The only problem it had was a bug concerning difficulty level. It was always too easy. Terror from the Deep had that bug fixed and the difficulty increased to a level that it was a very hard game.
The first really heavily scripted game that gave the impression of openness was Wing Commander.Kilrathi spawned at the appointed time. Side scrolling shooters also quite often had enemies with no AI and a fixed path. So, FMV was not such a new thing, no. But todays FPS are so scripted that they feel more like the original Rebel Assault than anything else. But that also is hardly a new thing.
No, my complaint is more that the FMV sequences now are so elaborate and gameplay and player action is so inconsequential that I openly accuse studios to have fallen prey to the misconception they are actually making a movie instead of a computer game.
To me skripting in games is the antithesis to openness. They need to be in balance. I got lost in Daggerfall, got bored in Oblivion, loved Ultima Underworld 1&2, Ultima 6&7, loved the Dungeon Keepers and love Master of Magic, Master of Orion 2. Of the recent games I love Bastion, Orks Must Die and funnily Kingdoms of Amalur(even if employing Salvatore was the predictable waste of money).
If you can see a pattern in my taste then please point it out for I can see none.
I'm sure I will fund an effort sooner or later, but I'm not yet interested in anything that's been offered. But when I do, I will follow the whole thing from start to finish and rather enjoy the soap opera since I basically payed the admission fee.
I THINK the makers of Legend of Grimrock found the right balance between maintaining their vision and taking in fan suggestions. Which is irrelevant here since they weren't funded by kickstarter. Now imagine what would have happened if Bastion had been funded by kickstarter. I guess they'd been inundated with donor's advice(some of them insisting to be investors and DEMANDING meetings so their concerns could be heard) and it would not have been able to maintain clarity of their concept.
In know I just made this up but that is my main concern with kickstarter. Donor who don't know the difference between a donation and an investment hijacking the design process by sheer noise generated. A bit like a big publisher, but less well groomed and mannered. Kinda defeats the purpose.
I know that's irrational but that's my gut feeling about the whole thing.
Well, if everybody doesn't see the difference betwen a donation and an investment, then no. People won't praticipate in crowdfunding anymore.
But it is just a matter of time before torrents of QQ wash us all into the sea so it might be wise not to spend money on kickstarter but build an arc instead.
I'm mulling over what it'd take to make me send disposable cash to a project. There are some things but as of now, I'm not seeing it. But what I do see is the level of expectation that rides on the two-digit donations. The sense of entitlement that seems to be a common theme is the hugest risk to the success to any of these games. If the studios listen to their benefactors then they will end up with a design by comittee problem and that's the main reason why I'm not too enthusiastic. I've yet to read from any of those who were lucky to get funding through kickstarter how they want to keep their fans out of the design process.
The decline was already there in the 90ies. Remember the FMV interactive movie fad? Only GK2 and the Tex Murphy games pulled that one off convincingly. IMHO that lead exactly to the heavily skripted 12GB games we have today.
Also at a time there was a huge RTS fad. I tried Warcraft 1 and found it to be Dune 2 with orcs. Nothing new added gameplay wise. Same with Command and Conquer. In that already crowded genre only Total Annihilation stood out.
Or the FPS fad? I played Doom 1 start to finish(had tried Wolfenstein3d before that but it made me motion sick after about 15 minutes). Doom2, Quake, whatever was just more of the same just with a better engine. Nothing to it. Boring. Thief stood out in the 3D genre, but it wasn't exactly a shooter.
Now where did that all lead us to? Syndicate redone as a heavily skripted 3D shooter. X-Com was one of the first franchises to get the first person treatment and it won't be the last.
I'm awaiting Ma2ter of Magic: The Smiting. You are a wizzzard(spelled thusly), trapped on Myrror who has to shoot your way into Nodes so you can tame A BIG SKY DRAKE to ride on(QTE when mounted) and scorch all other wizzards(they only got one extra z cause they ain't as elite as you). You can regenerate health when taking cover but you can only wield two spells at a time. But it has realistic fog of war. As in, you can't see stuff when you are not there. That should shut the fanbois up, eh? As DLC you will get skins to dress you up as Lo Pan, Merlin or a squad of hammerhands.
Just a couple of months before launch they will announce the FANTASTIC news that Mast3r of Magic: Ascendance will be released a year later. After conquering Myrror you find a mysterious tower that takes you to Arcanus which adresses the common complaint that Ma2ter of Magic was too purple. Also the FoV has been narrowed from 45 degrees to 30 degrees since your dragon's sphincter now has 30k polygons in the QTEs when mounted. The publisher's CEO will tell the shareholders that they plan to release one game per year in the Master of Magic franchise until the customers tire of it. The franchise will then be continued as Magic of Master.
And this is where I definitely start to ramble on and on and on...
If your pre-ordered thing doesn't get delivered then you won't be charged.
For sanity's sake consider it a risk and write off that money spent. If something comes out of it, rejoice. If not, find another worthwhile project. But for heavens sake don't feel entitled but to the anonymous glory of being one of the thousands who backed a thing when the big publishers would not.
I beg to disagree.
Since the big publishers are unwilling to take risks, the customers do. Besides, this will not put the big publishers out of business. Somebody needs to make Uninspired Shoot3r as much as somebody has to shovel burgers down the gullets of the punters. Resurgence of quality TV will also not eliminate Reality TV shows.
The thing is, burgers, big publishers and reality tv has fanbois. They don't do sympathy.
Daikatana was cool for about two months. It was reviled even before that infamous ad. TO me personally it was a matter of supreme indifference right from the start. There were quite a lot of FPS at the time it was announced whereas Romero made his name when it still was a novel thing. I hadn't even noticed him before he became infamous.
I'm still mad at Jane Jensen. GK3 was another nail in the coffin of adventure games. Remember how you needed to get cat hair for a Mosley outfit so you could rent a scooter AT A SPECIFIC TIME? Granted, The Last Express was also very guilty in that repect but most of GK3 was an exercise in frustration. They even tacked a Lara Croft style jumping puzzle near the end. Mostly Grace's segments were fun, the rest was a bit crap. Which is a pity since the mixture of 70ies popular conspiracy theory and GK worked quite well storywise. But the execution was utter BS.
What's with adventure games and cats? I'm looking at YOU Day of the Tentacle. Cats don't work that way. Hamsters on the other hand do.
LL1 has already been remade as VGA/256 colours if memory serves me right. I do distinctly remember that Space Quest 1 got remade in the Space Quest IV engine.
The thing is, I don't think LL1 needs to be remade. The EGA original had its very own charme and high-definition propably won't be able to add anything to it. Besides, a 1:1 remake will propably be lost on the current generation of gamers. It's a tale of an idiot clinging to late 70ies stereotypes which will be lost on anybody born past 1960.
I played it as a 14 or 15 year old kid and it took me a couple of years to see it wasn't a portrayal of a good dating approach but a parody. LL1 is only funny when put into historical context otherwise you'll get only half of the references. The other half will stay hilarious forever.
Also: how do you explain to a 14 or 15 year old kid in 2012 the concept of payphones?
No, LL1 is a true thing of the past, a historical moment and should be portrayed on the canvas that was available at the time.
There will be a backlash when people first relise that giving money to kickstarter is an investment without ROI. And that they don't have too much say(hopefully) in the project. Indeed, it's not even certain the projects will yield anything.
You don't buy shares of the project.Your money may be gone. If you value your money and common sense then stay away from kickstarter. There's going to be a backlash, yes. And the charge will be lead by the usual Blue Meanies and other assorted grey and featureless men of equal noisy insignificance.
I see kickstarter funding as a downpayment for the chance for your rose-tinted nostalgia to make a comeback. As such once the project takes the hurdles and your money is gone, you've already got what you payed for.
Personally, I think this is a brilliant concept and it nicely bridges the gap between indies(of various size) and the big publisher funded studios.
The current model of too many middlemen has stifled creativity for a very long time. The resurgence of smart indie titles and crowd funded A games is an indicator of that. there has been a void for at least a decade.
I guess the Wasteland 2 pitch video where they pitch the idea to a kid-publisher is propably only half in jest. Syndicate has been remade as a half-arsed FPS, Fallout has been needlessly turned into a 3D person thing(it didn't add anything to the game but difficulty for the devs to avoid glitches), the point-and-click adventure game genre has been mostly limited to indies and new game ideas(or mixtures of existing ideas) are also mainly indies.
This whole kickstarter thing is viable mostly due to the nintendo generation being grown-up, middle aged and rather well off. Disposable petty cash and nostalgia drive this new thing.
Crowdsourcing only works when it gets enough momentum either by attaching big names(calling Jordan Mechner. Please respond, Jordan Mechner) to the projects. This won't work for everything. No, I reckon the AAA pap will continue to be bought, a few indies will do well due to digital distribution and crowdsourcing will fund a couple of AA titles.
On a side note:I'm dismayed Grim Fandango was considered a commercial failure. Same goes for The Last Express. And Psychonauts.
We spend too much money on those AAA disappointments. I've played more Bastion and Orcs Must Die than Arkham City, Warhammer 40k: Space Marine and Assassin's Creed: Revelations combined. Spent 30 Euros on Bastion and OMD and payed full price for the three AAA titles. If I buy the AAA games, flush my money down a toilet or use it to kickstart games makes little difference. The latter seems the best way to spend my funds.
I think the backbencher Claire Perry doesn't think that far. Her track record:
-called for an opt-out anti smut web filter
-called for Remembrance Sunday to be a bank holiday(withdrawn by her after wasting enough of everybodies time on it)
-called for an opt-out anti smut web filter again
She seems to have a Conservative safe seat and it's good to know she puts it to good use. Since she isn't that obviously such an over-the-top kook like the transatlantic ones with their big trousers, silly noses and unfortunate names I feel the need to call her out.
That woman is a bad joke. And not even a good one. Besides, Boris "Boris Johnson" Johnson looks like he could object to limiting the steady flow of porn from the internet. So she could be in real hot water ones he makes PM. Which would be a blessing since hot water washes all the santorum away.
Oh, people like Mary Whitehouse crop up every now and then. Like ebb and flood. But in between their comings people seem to forget to say
Ha-ha. Charade you are.
You don't listen to the Mary Santorums of this world. You don't argue with the Claire Santorums of this world. You don't compromise with the Rickroll Santorums of this world. You laugh them back into their churches. Two of them are (politically)dead so in that case outliving them might also be sufficient.
I don't know if Claire Perry lubes up with thoughts of the lord Jeebus like santorum does but basically they are of the same crop. Meddeling busybodies with no further insight than the rest of us.
Ha-ha. Charade you are. Bullshit has been called. Let the ridicule begin.
Oh boy, yes! The first clumsy ads caused flamewars that raged like the sun. Also remember when AOL poured its sewage into Usenet? Flamewars were had, Netiquette was cited...
Of course in those days browsers didn't know of tables and forms were not even dreamt of. Interactive web? You've got to be kidding me? What's wrong with my "under construction" sign, my blink-tags and that cool rotating green gif skull? What? Unisys did what?
Yes, bullying and mocking is exactly the way to deal with crap like this. You don't argue with them as much as you fling poo at a monkey.
You do not comprimise. This is exactly what got us in the situation we are currently in. Religion is private and it needs to stay thus. It's got no place in law. It's got no place in law making. Which is the reason why it can stay free.
There is no state sponsored religious persecution in this country since we wisely and based on experience kept state and religion apart.
They don't want to give their blessing to gay marriage? Fine. Don't let them marry in your church.
The problem is that the more clever ones of those idiots are aware they can't argue against gay marriage based on their religion. It wouldn't stick. Instead they weasel around the matter with pseudo-scientific factoids they interpret as they want.
You shouldn't argue with them because you can't compromise. And the best way to get rid of them is to bully and ridicule them back into their churches where they are free to do as they please. The separation of church and state is one of the founding pillars of the US. And they have been gnawing at it ever since. Letting them know that this is not negotiable in no uncertain terms is the only way to go. We do not want another updated issue of Foxe's Book of Martyrs written in the blood of others.
Also there's the traditional way to "help" them not to be lesbian anymore.
Interestingly the same kind of "help" is given to gay men.
Oh man, this world is so full of crap. Sanctimonious assholes like the guy way up the thread hierarchy totem pole serve the excuse for those "helpful" human shitbags. I consider them an accessory and as guilty. Roll in the mud with pigs and be as filthy like.
I ain't gonna pretend it smells of roses. No perfume is strong enough for that.
While I can't bring it to myself to use four letter expletives I will concur with my next door neighbour.
But I will call you a sanctimonious bastard and I won't argue with you. I won't quote frome the bible to you since that's like throwing poo at a monkey.
If your bastard god comes anywhere near me I'll rip his nipples off.
A silver tongue spewing crap is still part of the asshole. Knock it off, I'm not buying.
Nope, that's just OCD geeks with mod points. I'm also tempted to mod down since an on/off switch could be completely eliminated by being bisexual. It's much more efficient. Switches are just another thing to go wrong. So inefficient...
And ignore completely their saviour got nailed to a tree when he pointed ot that the thing was a bit retarded. Never piss off priests. They don't like smart people.
That's in the Old Testament if it is actually found anywhere between that books cover sheets.
That's also the thing the bigoted idiots quote most. That's also what their saviour riled against. That's why those priests that clung to the daughter-violating bits had him nailed to a tree. The whole thing is so retarded that using it to reason with them is like flinging poo at a monkey.
Sell this to somebody who is buying.
As long as the likes of you shove your views down everyones throat you are in no position to demand to be let alone.
How about this: nobody of those who you forcibly preach to has invited you to their bedroom or even their life. You people have been forcing your ass-backwards views down everybodies throat since forever.
How about this: we shut our bedroom doors and you shut your church doors. And we'll introduce a fine tradition of knocking first before entering.
The only reason why a member of such a group would buy a game would be to take offence.
This leads to awkward situations when they sit down, are perfectly prepared to be offended, lube at hand and the damn shirtless guy really just repairs the ship's engines.
Those advocacy groups are there to be offended. It's their business model. There's a group to take offence at anything. It's basically full coverage. Sure, some issues are more popular than others and the market can become quite crowded. But they provide a useful service. They are offended so you don't need to bother yourself.
Reads more like American Psycho. And also a hell lot better than the life I live.
What's the secret? Do I need a personal trainer? Also this sounds an awful lot like New York. Do I need to move there? Also this world domination thing sounds a bit tedious.
I'm having second thoughts here...
D2 is a decade old. It still received a patch 2-3 years ago that added new content. I wasn't really paying attention but I was astonished they still support it.
True, the online multiplayer only restriction is a bummer for retro gaming in 10-20 years. And it will really bite me then. GOG will be an unsustainable business model. Could I play Dungeon Keeper 2 if it had been made today in 2022? Propably not.
That being said, for the time being I'm not too miffed about the online only restriction of D3. bnet play was huge fun. Item swapping, speedruns and so forth was a real blast. In its heyday you didn't have to wait too long for your game to fill up and there were tons of fan webforums where you could organize trade. To me that was what kept the game alive. Due to the trash others didn't want you could try the weirdest character builds and due to your game filling up quickly you could count on the help of others if you were stuck.
The asshole to nice person ration on bnet was about 50:50(gut feeling). So your chances were quite high to meet someone who would help. Until fat leewt dropped, of course.
I have completed Torchlight about 2 times(with a lot of fan made maps). I had 6 characters in their mid 80ies and two in the mid nineties all satisfactory euipped in D2 in 2005. All due to online bnet play.
But that is just me. If you prefer on your own and possibly want to try a character editor to locally test weird things then you are rightfully bummed. But D3 isn't as relevant as D2 was. There are plenty alternatives. Torchlight 2 springs to mind. If ActiBLizz want to play it that way then they may lose a couple of sales. But I still predict they still will be rolling in cash.
Damn strait.
The puritan values mostly stuck because the founding myth has been perpetuated since forever. Basically the religious right have rewritten history. Too many people actually believe this stuff. Constant repetition made the meme stick like a lolcat on fly paper.
BTW, being agnostic is a lot less hassle than being atheist. Atheism most of the time turns into some sort of religion itsself.
Slashdot Mirror
X-COM was a fairly open game but the progress you made and the end goal was always the same. I thought the claustrophobic and dark mission design was actually quite good. The only problem it had was a bug concerning difficulty level. It was always too easy. Terror from the Deep had that bug fixed and the difficulty increased to a level that it was a very hard game.
The first really heavily scripted game that gave the impression of openness was Wing Commander.Kilrathi spawned at the appointed time. Side scrolling shooters also quite often had enemies with no AI and a fixed path. So, FMV was not such a new thing, no. But todays FPS are so scripted that they feel more like the original Rebel Assault than anything else. But that also is hardly a new thing.
No, my complaint is more that the FMV sequences now are so elaborate and gameplay and player action is so inconsequential that I openly accuse studios to have fallen prey to the misconception they are actually making a movie instead of a computer game.
To me skripting in games is the antithesis to openness. They need to be in balance. I got lost in Daggerfall, got bored in Oblivion, loved Ultima Underworld 1&2, Ultima 6&7, loved the Dungeon Keepers and love Master of Magic, Master of Orion 2. Of the recent games I love Bastion, Orks Must Die and funnily Kingdoms of Amalur(even if employing Salvatore was the predictable waste of money).
If you can see a pattern in my taste then please point it out for I can see none.
I'm sure I will fund an effort sooner or later, but I'm not yet interested in anything that's been offered. But when I do, I will follow the whole thing from start to finish and rather enjoy the soap opera since I basically payed the admission fee.
I THINK the makers of Legend of Grimrock found the right balance between maintaining their vision and taking in fan suggestions. Which is irrelevant here since they weren't funded by kickstarter. Now imagine what would have happened if Bastion had been funded by kickstarter. I guess they'd been inundated with donor's advice(some of them insisting to be investors and DEMANDING meetings so their concerns could be heard) and it would not have been able to maintain clarity of their concept.
In know I just made this up but that is my main concern with kickstarter. Donor who don't know the difference between a donation and an investment hijacking the design process by sheer noise generated. A bit like a big publisher, but less well groomed and mannered. Kinda defeats the purpose.
I know that's irrational but that's my gut feeling about the whole thing.
Well, if everybody doesn't see the difference betwen a donation and an investment, then no. People won't praticipate in crowdfunding anymore.
But it is just a matter of time before torrents of QQ wash us all into the sea so it might be wise not to spend money on kickstarter but build an arc instead.
I'm mulling over what it'd take to make me send disposable cash to a project. There are some things but as of now, I'm not seeing it.
But what I do see is the level of expectation that rides on the two-digit donations. The sense of entitlement that seems to be a common theme is the hugest risk to the success to any of these games. If the studios listen to their benefactors then they will end up with a design by comittee problem and that's the main reason why I'm not too enthusiastic. I've yet to read from any of those who were lucky to get funding through kickstarter how they want to keep their fans out of the design process.
The decline was already there in the 90ies. Remember the FMV interactive movie fad? Only GK2 and the Tex Murphy games pulled that one off convincingly. IMHO that lead exactly to the heavily skripted 12GB games we have today.
Also at a time there was a huge RTS fad. I tried Warcraft 1 and found it to be Dune 2 with orcs. Nothing new added gameplay wise. Same with Command and Conquer. In that already crowded genre only Total Annihilation stood out.
Or the FPS fad? I played Doom 1 start to finish(had tried Wolfenstein3d before that but it made me motion sick after about 15 minutes). Doom2, Quake, whatever was just more of the same just with a better engine. Nothing to it. Boring. Thief stood out in the 3D genre, but it wasn't exactly a shooter.
Now where did that all lead us to? Syndicate redone as a heavily skripted 3D shooter. X-Com was one of the first franchises to get the first person treatment and it won't be the last.
I'm awaiting Ma2ter of Magic: The Smiting. You are a wizzzard(spelled thusly), trapped on Myrror who has to shoot your way into Nodes so you can tame A BIG SKY DRAKE to ride on(QTE when mounted) and scorch all other wizzards(they only got one extra z cause they ain't as elite as you). You can regenerate health when taking cover but you can only wield two spells at a time. But it has realistic fog of war. As in, you can't see stuff when you are not there. That should shut the fanbois up, eh? As DLC you will get skins to dress you up as Lo Pan, Merlin or a squad of hammerhands.
Just a couple of months before launch they will announce the FANTASTIC news that Mast3r of Magic: Ascendance will be released a year later. After conquering Myrror you find a mysterious tower that takes you to Arcanus which adresses the common complaint that Ma2ter of Magic was too purple. Also the FoV has been narrowed from 45 degrees to 30 degrees since your dragon's sphincter now has 30k polygons in the QTEs when mounted. The publisher's CEO will tell the shareholders that they plan to release one game per year in the Master of Magic franchise until the customers tire of it. The franchise will then be continued as Magic of Master.
And this is where I definitely start to ramble on and on and on...
I think of it as a lot less than a pre-order.
If your pre-ordered thing doesn't get delivered then you won't be charged.
For sanity's sake consider it a risk and write off that money spent. If something comes out of it, rejoice. If not, find another worthwhile project. But for heavens sake don't feel entitled but to the anonymous glory of being one of the thousands who backed a thing when the big publishers would not.
I beg to disagree.
Since the big publishers are unwilling to take risks, the customers do. Besides, this will not put the big publishers out of business. Somebody needs to make Uninspired Shoot3r as much as somebody has to shovel burgers down the gullets of the punters. Resurgence of quality TV will also not eliminate Reality TV shows.
The thing is, burgers, big publishers and reality tv has fanbois. They don't do sympathy.
Daikatana was cool for about two months. It was reviled even before that infamous ad. TO me personally it was a matter of supreme indifference right from the start. There were quite a lot of FPS at the time it was announced whereas Romero made his name when it still was a novel thing. I hadn't even noticed him before he became infamous.
I'm still mad at Jane Jensen. GK3 was another nail in the coffin of adventure games. Remember how you needed to get cat hair for a Mosley outfit so you could rent a scooter AT A SPECIFIC TIME? Granted, The Last Express was also very guilty in that repect but most of GK3 was an exercise in frustration. They even tacked a Lara Croft style jumping puzzle near the end. Mostly Grace's segments were fun, the rest was a bit crap. Which is a pity since the mixture of 70ies popular conspiracy theory and GK worked quite well storywise. But the execution was utter BS.
What's with adventure games and cats? I'm looking at YOU Day of the Tentacle. Cats don't work that way. Hamsters on the other hand do.
LL1 has already been remade as VGA/256 colours if memory serves me right. I do distinctly remember that Space Quest 1 got remade in the Space Quest IV engine.
The thing is, I don't think LL1 needs to be remade. The EGA original had its very own charme and high-definition propably won't be able to add anything to it. Besides, a 1:1 remake will propably be lost on the current generation of gamers. It's a tale of an idiot clinging to late 70ies stereotypes which will be lost on anybody born past 1960.
I played it as a 14 or 15 year old kid and it took me a couple of years to see it wasn't a portrayal of a good dating approach but a parody. LL1 is only funny when put into historical context otherwise you'll get only half of the references. The other half will stay hilarious forever.
Also: how do you explain to a 14 or 15 year old kid in 2012 the concept of payphones?
No, LL1 is a true thing of the past, a historical moment and should be portrayed on the canvas that was available at the time.
What a farking luddite I am.
There will be a backlash when people first relise that giving money to kickstarter is an investment without ROI. And that they don't have too much say(hopefully) in the project. Indeed, it's not even certain the projects will yield anything.
You don't buy shares of the project.Your money may be gone. If you value your money and common sense then stay away from kickstarter. There's going to be a backlash, yes. And the charge will be lead by the usual Blue Meanies and other assorted grey and featureless men of equal noisy insignificance.
I see kickstarter funding as a downpayment for the chance for your rose-tinted nostalgia to make a comeback. As such once the project takes the hurdles and your money is gone, you've already got what you payed for.
Personally, I think this is a brilliant concept and it nicely bridges the gap between indies(of various size) and the big publisher funded studios.
The current model of too many middlemen has stifled creativity for a very long time. The resurgence of smart indie titles and crowd funded A games is an indicator of that. there has been a void for at least a decade.
I guess the Wasteland 2 pitch video where they pitch the idea to a kid-publisher is propably only half in jest. Syndicate has been remade as a half-arsed FPS, Fallout has been needlessly turned into a 3D person thing(it didn't add anything to the game but difficulty for the devs to avoid glitches), the point-and-click adventure game genre has been mostly limited to indies and new game ideas(or mixtures of existing ideas) are also mainly indies.
This whole kickstarter thing is viable mostly due to the nintendo generation being grown-up, middle aged and rather well off. Disposable petty cash and nostalgia drive this new thing.
Crowdsourcing only works when it gets enough momentum either by attaching big names(calling Jordan Mechner. Please respond, Jordan Mechner) to the projects. This won't work for everything. No, I reckon the AAA pap will continue to be bought, a few indies will do well due to digital distribution and crowdsourcing will fund a couple of AA titles.
On a side note:I'm dismayed Grim Fandango was considered a commercial failure. Same goes for The Last Express. And Psychonauts.
We spend too much money on those AAA disappointments. I've played more Bastion and Orcs Must Die than Arkham City, Warhammer 40k: Space Marine and Assassin's Creed: Revelations combined. Spent 30 Euros on Bastion and OMD and payed full price for the three AAA titles. If I buy the AAA games, flush my money down a toilet or use it to kickstart games makes little difference. The latter seems the best way to spend my funds.
I think the backbencher Claire Perry doesn't think that far. Her track record:
-called for an opt-out anti smut web filter
-called for Remembrance Sunday to be a bank holiday(withdrawn by her after wasting enough of everybodies time on it)
-called for an opt-out anti smut web filter again
She seems to have a Conservative safe seat and it's good to know she puts it to good use. Since she isn't that obviously such an over-the-top kook like the transatlantic ones with their big trousers, silly noses and unfortunate names I feel the need to call her out.
That woman is a bad joke. And not even a good one. Besides, Boris "Boris Johnson" Johnson looks like he could object to limiting the steady flow of porn from the internet. So she could be in real hot water ones he makes PM. Which would be a blessing since hot water washes all the santorum away.
Oh, people like Mary Whitehouse crop up every now and then. Like ebb and flood. But in between their comings people seem to forget to say
Ha-ha. Charade you are.
You don't listen to the Mary Santorums of this world. You don't argue with the Claire Santorums of this world. You don't compromise with the Rickroll Santorums of this world. You laugh them back into their churches. Two of them are (politically)dead so in that case outliving them might also be sufficient.
I don't know if Claire Perry lubes up with thoughts of the lord Jeebus like santorum does but basically they are of the same crop. Meddeling busybodies with no further insight than the rest of us.
Ha-ha. Charade you are.
Bullshit has been called. Let the ridicule begin.
Oh boy, yes! The first clumsy ads caused flamewars that raged like the sun. Also remember when AOL poured its sewage into Usenet? Flamewars were had, Netiquette was cited...
Of course in those days browsers didn't know of tables and forms were not even dreamt of. Interactive web? You've got to be kidding me? What's wrong with my "under construction" sign, my blink-tags and that cool rotating green gif skull? What? Unisys did what?
Yes, bullying and mocking is exactly the way to deal with crap like this. You don't argue with them as much as you fling poo at a monkey.
You do not comprimise. This is exactly what got us in the situation we are currently in. Religion is private and it needs to stay thus. It's got no place in law. It's got no place in law making. Which is the reason why it can stay free.
There is no state sponsored religious persecution in this country since we wisely and based on experience kept state and religion apart.
They don't want to give their blessing to gay marriage? Fine. Don't let them marry in your church.
The problem is that the more clever ones of those idiots are aware they can't argue against gay marriage based on their religion. It wouldn't stick. Instead they weasel around the matter with pseudo-scientific factoids they interpret as they want.
You shouldn't argue with them because you can't compromise. And the best way to get rid of them is to bully and ridicule them back into their churches where they are free to do as they please. The separation of church and state is one of the founding pillars of the US. And they have been gnawing at it ever since. Letting them know that this is not negotiable in no uncertain terms is the only way to go. We do not want another updated issue of Foxe's Book of Martyrs written in the blood of others.
Also there's the traditional way to "help" them not to be lesbian anymore.
Interestingly the same kind of "help" is given to gay men.
Oh man, this world is so full of crap. Sanctimonious assholes like the guy way up the thread hierarchy totem pole serve the excuse for those "helpful" human shitbags. I consider them an accessory and as guilty. Roll in the mud with pigs and be as filthy like.
I ain't gonna pretend it smells of roses. No perfume is strong enough for that.
While I can't bring it to myself to use four letter expletives I will concur with my next door neighbour.
But I will call you a sanctimonious bastard and I won't argue with you. I won't quote frome the bible to you since that's like throwing poo at a monkey.
If your bastard god comes anywhere near me I'll rip his nipples off.
A silver tongue spewing crap is still part of the asshole. Knock it off, I'm not buying.
Nope, that's just OCD geeks with mod points. I'm also tempted to mod down since an on/off switch could be completely eliminated by being bisexual. It's much more efficient. Switches are just another thing to go wrong. So inefficient...
Oooooh! That would be choice. We are not pro-choice!
And ignore completely their saviour got nailed to a tree when he pointed ot that the thing was a bit retarded. Never piss off priests. They don't like smart people.
That's in the Old Testament if it is actually found anywhere between that books cover sheets.
That's also the thing the bigoted idiots quote most. That's also what their saviour riled against. That's why those priests that clung to the daughter-violating bits had him nailed to a tree. The whole thing is so retarded that using it to reason with them is like flinging poo at a monkey.
Sell this to somebody who is buying.
As long as the likes of you shove your views down everyones throat you are in no position to demand to be let alone.
How about this: nobody of those who you forcibly preach to has invited you to their bedroom or even their life. You people have been forcing your ass-backwards views down everybodies throat since forever.
How about this: we shut our bedroom doors and you shut your church doors. And we'll introduce a fine tradition of knocking first before entering.
The only reason why a member of such a group would buy a game would be to take offence.
This leads to awkward situations when they sit down, are perfectly prepared to be offended, lube at hand and the damn shirtless guy really just repairs the ship's engines.
Those advocacy groups are there to be offended. It's their business model. There's a group to take offence at anything. It's basically full coverage. Sure, some issues are more popular than others and the market can become quite crowded. But they provide a useful service. They are offended so you don't need to bother yourself.
Reads more like American Psycho. And also a hell lot better than the life I live.
What's the secret? Do I need a personal trainer? Also this sounds an awful lot like New York. Do I need to move there? Also this world domination thing sounds a bit tedious.
I'm having second thoughts here...
D2 is a decade old. It still received a patch 2-3 years ago that added new content. I wasn't really paying attention but I was astonished they still support it.
True, the online multiplayer only restriction is a bummer for retro gaming in 10-20 years. And it will really bite me then. GOG will be an unsustainable business model. Could I play Dungeon Keeper 2 if it had been made today in 2022? Propably not.
That being said, for the time being I'm not too miffed about the online only restriction of D3. bnet play was huge fun. Item swapping, speedruns and so forth was a real blast. In its heyday you didn't have to wait too long for your game to fill up and there were tons of fan webforums where you could organize trade. To me that was what kept the game alive. Due to the trash others didn't want you could try the weirdest character builds and due to your game filling up quickly you could count on the help of others if you were stuck.
The asshole to nice person ration on bnet was about 50:50(gut feeling). So your chances were quite high to meet someone who would help. Until fat leewt dropped, of course.
I have completed Torchlight about 2 times(with a lot of fan made maps). I had 6 characters in their mid 80ies and two in the mid nineties all satisfactory euipped in D2 in 2005. All due to online bnet play.
But that is just me. If you prefer on your own and possibly want to try a character editor to locally test weird things then you are rightfully bummed. But D3 isn't as relevant as D2 was. There are plenty alternatives. Torchlight 2 springs to mind. If ActiBLizz want to play it that way then they may lose a couple of sales. But I still predict they still will be rolling in cash.
Muggers are propably the stupidest criminals you'll ever meet.
Damn strait.
The puritan values mostly stuck because the founding myth has been perpetuated since forever. Basically the religious right have rewritten history. Too many people actually believe this stuff. Constant repetition made the meme stick like a lolcat on fly paper.
BTW, being agnostic is a lot less hassle than being atheist. Atheism most of the time turns into some sort of religion itsself.
Hail Eris full of mischief.