User comment history
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| News Comments > Fallout 3 Operation: Anchorage Interview |
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| 8. |
Re: Fallout 3 Operation: Anchorage Interview |
Jan 9, 2009, 13:15 |
DG |
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and so along with removing the game's "ending" with Broken Steel, we figure raising the level cap would allow them to do that. We plan on raising it to level 30 - but it will be a long, hard climb to get there! I still can't fathom why they're waiting until the 3rd DLC to raise the level cap and remove the ending. They're the two most annoying things to change.
I already find it that bit irritating playing through the game and not levelling. Yeah yeah it doesn't matter that much but hey it's at least half-RPG and some side quests aren't that fun, sometimes it feels like doing the grid without the levelling. Knowing the same activity would have received EXP if performed a few months later just makes it worse.
FO3 isn't that good an action/adventure game, and once you hit the cap it effectively has absolute minimal RPG element.
As it is, it looks like they're trying to get people to buy all the DLC for these fixes. They've got it the wrong way around - they should patch out the level cap and the ending now to make the DLC more interesting. |
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| News Comments > Op Ed |
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| 12. |
Re: Op Ed |
Jan 8, 2009, 13:41 |
DG |
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1. DLC
- I think they should have limited this to DLC that should have come with the game. There's good DLC, there's bad DLC, and there's DLC that clearly was planned in production of the game and should have been included.
2. Retro arcade games
- I'm looking forward to Arkanoid. I was looking forward to Joint Strike but they screwed up the implementation - it's not enough like the original. It's not like their existence means we're missing out in some other way.
3. Dashboard themes
- agreed
4. Replaying harder difficulty
- but... mostly the difficulty levels are there for different people. I don't think many devs expect people to do multiple run throughs increasing difficulty. And there are some notable exceptions, Godleneye N64 and Civ IV come to mind, lots of people do it for GoW also.
5. Unlockable concept art
- agreed I guess, never even noticed it before. I've seen "collector editions" with "concept art", like it's something worth paying more for.
6. The [Xbox 360] Elite version
- We know that with an Xbox 360 Elite you get a larger hard drive, HDMI cables and some other accessories that you can buy separately (for less money). But that’s not really why you buy it. You buy it because it looks cool. No, I bought it because I wanted the larger hard drive, HDMI cables (and other things in the bundle) which came together for substantially less money.
7. Wii motionplus & controller accessories
- I don't have a Wii, but I hear a lot of casual gamers talking about how fun Mario Kart is with the wheel, and many similar.
8. Arguing about the artistic merits of games
- that's why we don't argue about it.
9. Paper sleeve covers
- ok
10. online avatars
- me neither, but again quite a few casual gamers find them fun.
11. graphic novel tie-ins
- me neither, but someone must be buying them
12. Gamersradar
- not if they keep writing pointless and broadly shit articles like that one.
13. this post
- tl;dr
WHy don't they write something useful like "things gaming companies spend money on even though gamers don't care or even dislike it"
This comment was edited on Jan 8, 2009, 13:43. |
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| News Comments > Op Ed |
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| 11. |
Re: Op Ed |
Jan 8, 2009, 13:21 |
DG |
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I remember when PC games came in big pretty boxes and had big, well-written manuals. Sigh Civ IV comes with a DVD box, inside a cardboard box that neatly fits the DVD box + manual - which IIRC is about the same size as the DVD box (all in the local language).
IMHO that's ideal when a big manual is necessary, I like the DVD boxes and the manual can still go onto a shelf designed for DVD's. Big cumbersome PC game boxes were a pain in the arse, they never fit anywhere and would crumple & tear etc.
Personally I can't think of a time in the last few years where I have found myself wanting more of a manual than is provided (when I've bought retail). Maybe that's due to a simplification of games or the ingame UI etc being better meaning less is required of the manual, but I guess that's another debate. |
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| News Comments > On Mass Effect 2 |
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| 8. |
Re: On Mass Effect 2 |
Jan 8, 2009, 12:57 |
DG |
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I rented ME on the 360, very pleased with it bar the cookie-cutter planets (and especially the buildings on them). Combat started a bit too crappy too, took too long for the reticule/accuracy to get good enough to be fun.
Sounded like my other dislikes of the console version had been fixed for the PC, so they put crappy DRM on it instead 
Overall very good game though, and plenty scope for sequels.
FWIW I still can't see it on Steam (UK). |
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| News Comments > BioShock: The Phantom Menace? |
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| 15. |
Re: BioShock: The Phantom Menace? |
Jan 7, 2009, 15:36 |
DG |
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Got that right. Lucas shouldn't get anywhere near the director's chair, or any chair in which he gets any sort of input on the content of a film. Unfortunately he has a ridiculous amount of money and can make any film he wants, even one written, directed by and starring himself if he so chooses. GAH!! Have you seen Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull?
Don't, it's fucking awful. I kind of knew it would be shortly after I sat down and saw Lucas on the intro credits, but I still had some hope. That didn't last long, and quickly turned into surprise at just how utterly shit it actually was.
Yes yes, everybody knows how shit the film was. But it's just one of those things that is so bad I can't resist complaining warning people off it at the slightest opportunity.
This comment was edited on Jan 7, 2009, 15:36. |
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| News Comments > Steamships Ahoy - Saints Row 2 |
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| 8. |
Re: Steamships Ahoy - Saints Row 2 |
Jan 7, 2009, 15:26 |
DG |
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Hmm looks like I'll just be renting this on the 360; maybe pick it up if somewhere has it cheap before the rental arrives.
I was seriously considering re-buying GTAIV for the PC version until I heard about the DRM and bundling (GfW AND a Rockstar app?). I still consider the game over-rated too. Sure there are substantial brilliant bits, but half the story missions are boring and there's very little drawing me back to the game now that I've gone through the campaign. It's got GotY all over it except the replayability just isn't there.
From many accounts Saints Row 2 has that fun element which GTA IV is missing. |
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| News Comments > Morning Consolidation |
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| 16. |
Re: Sacred Cow? |
Jan 5, 2009, 13:36 |
DG |
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I can't see the PS3 being in trouble. Sure it's far from the success of the PS2 (still going strong!) but that's before factoring in that it quite probably is what saved Bluray, and since apparently they cut 1/3 of the cost of the unit I assume that going forward it's getting somewhere near an operating profit. There's no point in making decisions on the past losses, they're already spent and irrelevant to decision making.
PS is also a big flagship for Sony now. "Worst" that's going to happen is outsourcing the manufacturing. |
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| News Comments > Champ Manager Piracy; Price Cut Solution? |
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| 6. |
Re: Champ Manager Piracy; Price Cut Solution? |
Jan 5, 2009, 13:19 |
DG |
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"That's not just a number in the air, we can measure it and we know that there are a huge amount of pirated copies," Unless you're going to provide details to enable your audience to evaluate a controversial claim, don't bother trying to convince people it's true. CVG should have done some of that "journalism" stuff and queried the claim, either to show it's rubbish or to show that it merits publishing. As it stands it's a pointless statement.
Just on principle people shouldn't believe what they're told. That goes double when it's from an interested party, and triple when you have no past experience to judge an element of personal trust. Furthermore, historically similar claims have been blatant nonsense. So why then just say "trust us, it's true"? We've no reason to trust them and every reason not to.
If someone had a good stab at it and detailed a sound methodology we could have a reasonable picture of the problem. Since it appears nobody is intent to attempt that, let alone publish, as a consumer I have no good reason to tolerate DRM (and similarly, publishers are content to assume they are indeed losing billions in lost sales).
Surely there's a nerd somewhere in need of a study topic? Or money to be made for Neilsen?
Obtain imperial torrent tracker data, obtain imperial sales data, throw in a questionnaire (plenty sites will distribute that for you) and mix in a database of choice. Garnish with a detailed analysis of a handful of games, as case study backup. Pretty much guaranteed to be listed on /., digg and most gaming, tech and piracy websites. Month later throw up the entire DB for anyone to analyse and receive hits all over again. And then still more when people publish their analysis. |
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| News Comments > Steam Sale |
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| 42. |
Re: Pretty sweet |
Dec 28, 2008, 08:41 |
DG |
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regarding Steam pricing, I think that often Valve have no control over the prices, the publisher sets them.
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| News Comments > Saints Row 2 System Specs; Will Use Steam DRM |
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| 8. |
Re: Saints Row 2 System Specs; Will Use Steam DRM |
Dec 27, 2008, 16:17 |
DG |
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our country has a Consumer Guarantees Act to protect it people we have one here in the UK too, but software is exempt.
However I completely fail to see why you can't simply say you reviewed the EULA and refused to accept it. |
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| News Comments > Game Price Cut "Warning" |
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| 29. |
Re: Game Price Cut |
Dec 23, 2008, 14:12 |
DG |
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There's a hell of a lot more "content" in games now. If you define content as art assets, lines of code etc. It takes exponentially more "materials" in the form of man hours, software tools, licensing (as in Havok etc) than back in the day. Cost of producing a game is far higher than back then.
Whether this translates into more "content" from the consumer's perspective is another thing. The problem however is that we expect more content; havok physics isn't counted as content, it's a base expectation. Shit, something which is as low-content as Quake 3 is a web browser game!
Assuming inflation rate of 4%, games SHOULD be $60 four years after they started charging $50. And they should be $70 four years after they started charging $60. In real terms, they would all be the same price. What's actually happened is games have gotten cheaper - in real terms.
Of course, that's not necessarily how it works. If the market expands they can earn the same profit, despite their inflation-increased costs, from selling more games at the old $ price (which would be cheaper to consumers, in real terms). What they should be doing is working out the price point where
(sale price - unit cost) x sales volume = maximum revenue.
Online sales should help this, publishers will have much better information and much more ability to adjust pricing to the market.
In my mind the problem for devs is that the costs of production have soared. It seems absurd that games have gotten exponentially more complicated and yet the development tools have not evolved anything like on par. Sometimes I think they moan so much about piracy because they can really see the size of it now, and it's all too easy to think of all those lost sales (even if 1:10) as the silver bullet that could turn the industry into something that could have the reliable expectation of some profit, like other industries have. Online sales should be helping out from a reduced retailer's margin, but I'm not sure that's happening (I think Steam take a big cut except for flagship games that they really want on the service). |
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| News Comments > CCP May be Forced from Iceland |
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| 6. |
Re: CCP May be Forced from Iceland |
Dec 23, 2008, 07:56 |
DG |
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If you cheat, whether in a virtual economy or a real one you get screwed. Iceland is a small country that lived on credit. Effectively it lived on money that it didnt have and which by all accounts doesnt even exist That's pretty much most economies.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_current_account_balance
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_public_debt
(not that wiki is reliable, but convenient)
Iceland's deficit:GDP is less than half of the US (according to that anyway).
I don't know much about the place but my understanding is that:
The first problem is a combination of the bank's dominance on the economy and those bank's exposure to the crisis.
The second is the way they went about the borrowing: as shown in the article, individuals borrowed in foreign currency. Usually in the west individuals borrow from a local bank in the local currency, the bank lends with money borrowed some domestically and some foreign - but the bank takes the currency risk and are generally pretty good at managing it. Situation is similar with government borrowing.
So they get hit pretty bad with the credit crunch so the currency dives, but they're so exposed to the currency diving that it dives some more. Instead of institutions bearing the brunt, individuals also directly take the hit. |
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| News Comments > Take-Two Posts Loss, Re-Signs Rockstar |
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| 5. |
Re: Take-Two Posts Loss, Re-Signs Rockstar |
Dec 18, 2008, 13:16 |
DG |
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WTF??? Losses??? What the???
Ok so they sell 710 MILLION $ worth of GTAIV and is still not making money???
Someone please tell me how this can possibly happen, without utterly bad management being the reason??
Losses for the quarter 
GTA IV console release: April 2008
GTA IV PC release: December 2008
T2 Fiscal year is to: 31 October 2008
Therefore T2's fiscal quarters:
Q2: Feb Mar Apr (GTA IV console release)
Q3: May Jun Jul
Q4: Aug Sep Oct
Q1: Nov Dec Jan (GTA IV PC release)
I'm not sure whether they would record the launch sales in Q2 or Q3, but either way Q4 is going to miss most of the sales.
According to:
http://www.gamedaily.com/articles/news/taketwo-posts-15-million-loss-in-q4-but-record-revenues-and-income-for-08/?biz=1
Annual figure is apparently:
"Furthermore, while the company suffered a net loss of $138.4 million last year, in 2008 Take-Two posted record net income of $97.1 million." Actually that still looks pretty shitty. I would have thought that such a flagship title should have pushed them into sufficient profit to more than recoup the losses in the intervening years.
"signinficant softness" in 2009 might suggest either or both that GTA IV PC isn't doing too well, or it's other titles are. They should have the DLC in February (Q2 2009) though.
edit: aha; http://ir.take2games.com/
This comment was edited on Dec 18, 2008, 13:22. |
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| News Comments > Free Radical Design Closed? |
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| 6. |
Re: Free Radical Design Closed? |
Dec 18, 2008, 13:00 |
DG |
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damn thats cold, a hotel meeting? fuckers I'm guessing a liquidator was appointed (perhaps by court petition from a creditor) who saw an extremely poor accounting situation and shut the whole thing down. All employees are automatically dismissed when the liquidator is appointed; though the article also says "with multiple sources claiming that staff, including senior executives, have already left the company".
It's cold and horrible but it's done to save any more of the creditor's (including employees) money being lost. Often they'll let the employees in and the liquidator will meet with them to explain the situation and their rights, but given the way employees in this industry work highly irregular hours that probably wasn't practical - that and the company might be in such a bad financial state that the liquidator wasn't going to accrue up time (fees) doing this. The hotel meeting will be the creditors meeting.
Employees wages have preferential creditor status here in the UK. Creditors with fixed securities get first dibs on the assets, the liquidator's fees are next, then employees and everyone else divvies up scraps (if any) left behind.
If Free Radical owns any IP, any interested dev should get in contact with the liquidator ASAP.
This comment was edited on Dec 18, 2008, 13:04. |
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| News Comments > Wolfenstein Interview |
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| 2. |
Re: Wolfenstein Interview |
Dec 14, 2008, 07:11 |
DG |
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| still awaiting multiplayer info. Not at all promising that they're not saying much; not that I was hoping much either. |
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| News Comments > Legal Briefs |
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Re: Legal Briefs |
Dec 13, 2008, 21:33 |
DG |
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utterly absurd, and frankly disgusting.
Fuck, people put their whole life and millions into a patent - that lasts 20 years and is waaaaaaay harder to obtain.
FWIW songwriters get life + 70 years. No idea why.
This comment was edited on Dec 13, 2008, 21:36. |
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| News Comments > On Console Patch Costs |
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| 13. |
Re: On Console Patch Costs |
Dec 13, 2008, 08:39 |
DG |
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Other than the payment to the console maker (and what kind of nonsense is that?) to deploy the patch, Quality Control fee. Console maker tests it enough to make sure it doesn't break another game or whatever. Since they pretty much have to do that, it's better to charge the people causing the cost than to just integrate it into the general royalty fee and effectively have other people pay for your mistakes. |
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| News Comments > Steam European Currency Conversion Beta |
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| 7. |
Re: Steam European Currency Conversion Beta |
Dec 13, 2008, 08:21 |
DG |
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can you tell me what the TF2 price is when using this? it's $9.99 USD this weekend
edit: O I see, it's not one of those "you'll now have to commit to using this option forever" things. It's £6.99
Using "typical credit card rate (i.e. interbank +2%):
9.99 US Dollar = 6.820 British Pound
close enough
edit2: but orange box is £16.99? Heh TF2 alone is normally £13.99. Orange Box still better value IMO (I was given it for 360)
This comment was edited on Dec 13, 2008, 08:43. |
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1618 Comments. 81 pages. Viewing page 51.
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