I wonder how much all of this coverage of GalCiv2 has helped their sales. I could imagine that there are quite a few people that would buy the game, just because it doesn't have Starforce, just to help make a statement. I wonder how many other people have discovered the game, because of this coverage.
Lets see:
Rainbowsix Lockdown
SWAT 4: Stetchkov Syndicate
Star Wars: Empires at War
Battle for Middle Earth 2
And, those are just the ones that I can think of, off the top of my head. Jan was an ugly month, but Feb was a great month.
Actually, the job I was doing 5 months ago, got outsourced. What I was making in the dotcom boom, was pretty low. It wasn't even half of the 80k cisco cert someone mentioned. I made a decent wage. Right now, I am a sys admin, taking care of mission critical servers, support the network, do some web design when needed, as well as workstation support, for less than 30k/year. When I was laid off, in 2001, it was because of the general economic down turn. I worked for Albertsons at the time, and they just cut 10% of their workforce at that time. I keep seeing that there are all these great jobs, but I just don't see many of them pop up, day to day.
I am glad to hear there are more jobs... but then, why am I making 25% less than what I was making 5 months ago? Hell, when the dot com bubble burst, and then I got laid off in 2001, was the highest I have been paid in my life. It was not a lot of money, but I wish I could make that much again. There may be more jobs, but I think that there is a flood of people taking them that are not getting paid as much. I have over 10 years experience, and struggle to find any decent employment.
My first computer was a Model 100 from TRS. My parents bought it used for me. I had a lot of fun with it, but, it was pretty limited in scope for me. I wanted to play games, and it only had 1 game available... I DID play the heck out of that game, though.:-)
http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c =233
Will we be having the guy pop up in the middle of our games and lecture us to "GET REAL" and get a higher score, don't quit, and other psychobabble like that? Will we get more than 3 colors, to accent the room the console is located in?
This is what split the Deamcast/PC version of Quake 3 Arena, REALLY fast. The PC Gamers were turning off the DC players in Droves. The Mouse/keyboard has yet to be ousted as the #1 controller for FPS games.
There is a LOT to play with in the Stargate world
on
Stargate MMO Announced
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· Score: 1
This could be very interesting. I think there may be more "content" that can be exploited than in a lot of the current sci-fi settings. The Stargate "world" is a very rich tapestry and I am very interested in seeing where this goes.
They have even destroyed the once great Sierra name. VU has hurt the gaming market for many years. They have bought out some of the best game makers, and then destroyed them through layoffs and "restructuring".
There were booth babes, there were really there just to get attention, and then there were booth models. The one they had for Laura Croft a few years ago, was Perfect. She was a model, and actress, portraying a character. She had the looks, and the "attitude". There was also ones for the DOA models, Bloodrayne, and others. I, personally, think they add to the atmosphere, and do not have a problem with them.
On the other side, though, you have the "booth babes". They use flesh to get people to come over. They usually look bored, or harried, and really do not add any content to the booth. When I was covering games, I wanted to find out what the game was, what it was about, the meat. The models, well, you went around them to find the PR people that usually had something of a clue. If you were LUCKY, you would find a developer, and have a really good conversation about their game.
I remember SEVERAL years ago, seeing a poor, lone guy, flying around in space. I went over and talked to him, and found out that he was one of the developers of the B5 flight sim. He got really into showing me these technical details that I didn't fully comprehend, but thought looked awesome. The gentleman was kind, and very informative. Those are the few gems you truely find at E3.
One of the problems, though, with something new, is that people may not want to play it. Remember Battlezone? IMO the best FPS/RTS game ever made. (better than BZ2, which had much more leanings to RTS). It was something new and different. It did poor. They came out with a BZ2, and the franchise died at that point.
Look at Tribes. Adding jetpacks, command points, custom loadouts, vehicles, outdoors... back then, all of those were new things. Battlefield has ripped out much of what made Tribes cool, and got people to think it was brand new and innovative. *sigh*
You don't think that it is just that new games are not all that great, do you? There are a few good ones, but some of the PC's top franchises are being dumbed down, and released on consoles. IF they release a PC version, it shows its console skew. Heck, Ghost Recon 2 never made it to the PC, and Rainbow Six Lockdown is just finally arriving, after it had been on the Xbox for several months.
I am really getting fed up with being a franchise tester on the PC, and if it does well, port it to the consoles, and ruining the franchise.
Why does everyone have to get their news from TV? Radio is still free, and a lot of stations do news at the top and bottom of the hour.
I don't see how TV is a right... the government should not subsidise this. What's next, subsidised XM radio so everyone can hear Howard Stern?
I, personally, really like Atlantis. It gives a bit of a fresh, new feeling to the genre... though, having the spaceship nearby to shuttle them back to earth is kind of annoying. I kind of wish they would have been able to go 2 seasons without being able to really contact earth. Maybe a ZPMs (or whatever they are called) low on power to send a message or two... but I liked the isolated part. I DO like concentration on the ancients, though. That is an aspect I have always wished they put more effort into. Actually, that aspect of Atlantis and the new SG1 episodes, I really like.
Flash Tank, I am pretty sure. You had a base in the middle, and 4 tanks. You could lay mines (the tanks could carry a certain #). I remember writing scripts so my tanks would all create cool minefields, around the base.
Yea, I still have a watch and a poster that Sierra made to promote it. It really was cool to see live. To fly over the space station... was breathtaking. And then they flew around some other huge capital ships... just amazing.
I agree here, as well. Activision had a problem with under-hyping several games. This was one of them. (along with Heretic 2, at the time). I think that the dev team took the wrong feedback, and concentrated on the RTS feeling for BZ2. The first one, was amazing. It was also THE game that got me to use keyboard/mouse. (In those days, I used a thing called the Assassin 3D, and unfortunately, it used the keyboard interface, which BZ1 did not support). Heck, BZ1 is the only game I have actually ever released any maps for, as well. It was really simple to create some great maps. My 3 all-time favorite games, would have to be BZ1, Tribes 1, and Pretty much any game from the Rainbow Six franchise.
I completely agree. I still think Tribes 1, was by far the best. Tribes 1, with the Base ++ mod (by one of the original developers of Tribes 1) is the purest form of Tribes. I have never found another game, like Tribes. It was terribly under-utalized, as well. Most people only played CTF. There were some great other modes that came with it, as well. They had objective based capture points, long before Battlefield 1942 made them fasionable.
Yea, I agree. Great times were had playing VGA Planets. I had/have a print out of the universe (the one we played in) laminated. I think it still has grease pin marks from the last game I played, using it.:-)
There was a little tank game that I think came with Major BBS. I spent a LOT of hours on that one.:-) I was part of the first BBS link between America and the UK, using MBBS. Great fun days.:-)
Sierra, several years ago, was making a flight sim. I got to see it at E3. It was amazing, then! I can't believe that they killed off that game, when it looked so good at E3. It is another thing I hold against Sierra.
It's fairly easy to find the books used, it seems. At least most of them. So, it has not entirely gone away. As for an update, I believe that D20 modern and D20 future has conversions for Alternity. As an added bonus, Wizards has some documentation for converting creatures from Alternity to D20. You can reach it here: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=d20modern/we/ 20031007a.
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I wonder how much all of this coverage of GalCiv2 has helped their sales. I could imagine that there are quite a few people that would buy the game, just because it doesn't have Starforce, just to help make a statement. I wonder how many other people have discovered the game, because of this coverage.
Lets see: Rainbowsix Lockdown SWAT 4: Stetchkov Syndicate Star Wars: Empires at War Battle for Middle Earth 2 And, those are just the ones that I can think of, off the top of my head. Jan was an ugly month, but Feb was a great month.
Actually, the job I was doing 5 months ago, got outsourced. What I was making in the dotcom boom, was pretty low. It wasn't even half of the 80k cisco cert someone mentioned. I made a decent wage. Right now, I am a sys admin, taking care of mission critical servers, support the network, do some web design when needed, as well as workstation support, for less than 30k/year. When I was laid off, in 2001, it was because of the general economic down turn. I worked for Albertsons at the time, and they just cut 10% of their workforce at that time. I keep seeing that there are all these great jobs, but I just don't see many of them pop up, day to day.
I am glad to hear there are more jobs... but then, why am I making 25% less than what I was making 5 months ago? Hell, when the dot com bubble burst, and then I got laid off in 2001, was the highest I have been paid in my life. It was not a lot of money, but I wish I could make that much again. There may be more jobs, but I think that there is a flood of people taking them that are not getting paid as much. I have over 10 years experience, and struggle to find any decent employment.
My first computer was a Model 100 from TRS. My parents bought it used for me. I had a lot of fun with it, but, it was pretty limited in scope for me. I wanted to play games, and it only had 1 game available... I DID play the heck out of that game, though. :-)
http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c =233
Will we be having the guy pop up in the middle of our games and lecture us to "GET REAL" and get a higher score, don't quit, and other psychobabble like that? Will we get more than 3 colors, to accent the room the console is located in?
This is what split the Deamcast/PC version of Quake 3 Arena, REALLY fast. The PC Gamers were turning off the DC players in Droves. The Mouse/keyboard has yet to be ousted as the #1 controller for FPS games.
This could be very interesting. I think there may be more "content" that can be exploited than in a lot of the current sci-fi settings. The Stargate "world" is a very rich tapestry and I am very interested in seeing where this goes.
They have even destroyed the once great Sierra name. VU has hurt the gaming market for many years. They have bought out some of the best game makers, and then destroyed them through layoffs and "restructuring".
There were booth babes, there were really there just to get attention, and then there were booth models. The one they had for Laura Croft a few years ago, was Perfect. She was a model, and actress, portraying a character. She had the looks, and the "attitude". There was also ones for the DOA models, Bloodrayne, and others. I, personally, think they add to the atmosphere, and do not have a problem with them. On the other side, though, you have the "booth babes". They use flesh to get people to come over. They usually look bored, or harried, and really do not add any content to the booth. When I was covering games, I wanted to find out what the game was, what it was about, the meat. The models, well, you went around them to find the PR people that usually had something of a clue. If you were LUCKY, you would find a developer, and have a really good conversation about their game. I remember SEVERAL years ago, seeing a poor, lone guy, flying around in space. I went over and talked to him, and found out that he was one of the developers of the B5 flight sim. He got really into showing me these technical details that I didn't fully comprehend, but thought looked awesome. The gentleman was kind, and very informative. Those are the few gems you truely find at E3.
One of the problems, though, with something new, is that people may not want to play it. Remember Battlezone? IMO the best FPS/RTS game ever made. (better than BZ2, which had much more leanings to RTS). It was something new and different. It did poor. They came out with a BZ2, and the franchise died at that point. Look at Tribes. Adding jetpacks, command points, custom loadouts, vehicles, outdoors... back then, all of those were new things. Battlefield has ripped out much of what made Tribes cool, and got people to think it was brand new and innovative. *sigh*
They problably just assumed no one else knew what to do with a PC, so it was safe. :-)
You don't think that it is just that new games are not all that great, do you? There are a few good ones, but some of the PC's top franchises are being dumbed down, and released on consoles. IF they release a PC version, it shows its console skew. Heck, Ghost Recon 2 never made it to the PC, and Rainbow Six Lockdown is just finally arriving, after it had been on the Xbox for several months. I am really getting fed up with being a franchise tester on the PC, and if it does well, port it to the consoles, and ruining the franchise.
Shouldn't they pick a new game, you know, one that has been published in the current millenium.
Why does everyone have to get their news from TV? Radio is still free, and a lot of stations do news at the top and bottom of the hour. I don't see how TV is a right... the government should not subsidise this. What's next, subsidised XM radio so everyone can hear Howard Stern?
I, personally, really like Atlantis. It gives a bit of a fresh, new feeling to the genre... though, having the spaceship nearby to shuttle them back to earth is kind of annoying. I kind of wish they would have been able to go 2 seasons without being able to really contact earth. Maybe a ZPMs (or whatever they are called) low on power to send a message or two... but I liked the isolated part. I DO like concentration on the ancients, though. That is an aspect I have always wished they put more effort into. Actually, that aspect of Atlantis and the new SG1 episodes, I really like.
I was wondering that, as well. I was also surprised that 4400 was not mentioned.
Flash Tank, I am pretty sure. You had a base in the middle, and 4 tanks. You could lay mines (the tanks could carry a certain #). I remember writing scripts so my tanks would all create cool minefields, around the base.
Yea, I still have a watch and a poster that Sierra made to promote it. It really was cool to see live. To fly over the space station... was breathtaking. And then they flew around some other huge capital ships... just amazing.
I agree here, as well. Activision had a problem with under-hyping several games. This was one of them. (along with Heretic 2, at the time). I think that the dev team took the wrong feedback, and concentrated on the RTS feeling for BZ2. The first one, was amazing. It was also THE game that got me to use keyboard/mouse. (In those days, I used a thing called the Assassin 3D, and unfortunately, it used the keyboard interface, which BZ1 did not support). Heck, BZ1 is the only game I have actually ever released any maps for, as well. It was really simple to create some great maps. My 3 all-time favorite games, would have to be BZ1, Tribes 1, and Pretty much any game from the Rainbow Six franchise.
I completely agree. I still think Tribes 1, was by far the best. Tribes 1, with the Base ++ mod (by one of the original developers of Tribes 1) is the purest form of Tribes. I have never found another game, like Tribes. It was terribly under-utalized, as well. Most people only played CTF. There were some great other modes that came with it, as well. They had objective based capture points, long before Battlefield 1942 made them fasionable.
Yea, I agree. Great times were had playing VGA Planets. I had/have a print out of the universe (the one we played in) laminated. I think it still has grease pin marks from the last game I played, using it. :-)
There was a little tank game that I think came with Major BBS. I spent a LOT of hours on that one. :-) I was part of the first BBS link between America and the UK, using MBBS. Great fun days. :-)
Sierra, several years ago, was making a flight sim. I got to see it at E3. It was amazing, then! I can't believe that they killed off that game, when it looked so good at E3. It is another thing I hold against Sierra.
It's fairly easy to find the books used, it seems. At least most of them. So, it has not entirely gone away. As for an update, I believe that D20 modern and D20 future has conversions for Alternity. As an added bonus, Wizards has some documentation for converting creatures from Alternity to D20. You can reach it here: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=d20modern/we/ 20031007a.