Steamships Ahoy: SiN Episodes: Emergence

The SiN Episodes Website has word that Emergence, the first installment in Ritual's episodic shooter sequel series, is now available via Steam:
Emergence, the first in a series of episodic games, casts players as HardCorps commander John Blade, stepping into the living world of Freeport City to defend humankind against Elexis Sinclaire, a beautiful and ruthless scientist out to remake humanity according to her own twisted vision. The law has failed to bring Elexis and her SiNTEK empire to justice, so you and your allies, the secretive hacker JC and fiery rookie Jessica Cannon, must bring down Sinclaire and her mutants before she can set her deadly plan in motion and forever alter the shape of humanity.

The Sin Episodes series is built on Source, the same engine Valve created for Half-LifeĀ® 2. Source offers state of the art graphics, physics simulation technology, an advanced character animation system and more. In the creation of Emergence, Ritual has taken the award-winning Source engine into new realms. As an example, the game adapts and tunes itself to each player's skill level and play style through the Personal Challenge System, which measures player's abilities, behavior, and reactions to the game world and then adjusts the gameplay and enemy prowess to match. Ruthless foes such as jetpack soldiers and mutants will thus evolve as you fight them, adapting to challenge the strengths of skilled players while seeking not to overwhelm inexperienced gamers. In addition, Emergence features advanced AI where enemies cooperate with each other, highly interactive environments that allow players to set traps, location-based damage, and fast-paced vehicle combat.

Providing a complete game with 4-6 hours of gameplay for players of all skill levels, Emergence's self-contained story fits into an overarching story arc populated with strong characters driven by believable motivations that will be further revealed in future episodes. Featuring the new Context Look System, thoughtful players can choose to dig into the deeper aspects of the story while players who want to enjoy the destruction can charge ahead with only the 'mission critical' story points, advanced through choreographed sequences.

"SiN Episodes: Emergence provides a high quality, immersive experience in a compact and affordable package that is accessible to players of all skill levels," said Steve Nix, Ritual CEO. "Emergence is a true step forward built on our ten years of growth and learning at Ritual, and the structure of SiN Episodes allows our team to continue to create gameplay innovation and evolve the storyline as the episodes continue."

SiN Episodes: Emergence for the PC is available now for $19.95, and carries an ESRB rating of "M" (Mature). For more information, please visit the game's official site at www.SinEpisodes.com.
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144 Replies. 8 pages. Viewing page 1.
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144.
 
Re: Just got back stateside
May 18, 2006, 22:44
Re: Just got back stateside May 18, 2006, 22:44
May 18, 2006, 22:44
 
A $49.99 game is $53.98 after sales tax where I live, but a $17 game through Steam is still only $17.
Since you are being a stickler on the effective price of games at retail, you need to realize that the pre-order price for Sin Episode 1 was $17.95 which you wouldn't have been able to purchase if all you had was $17, i.e. the pre-order price was effectively $18 just like the price now is effectively $20 not $19.

As with all product, the SiN episodes are likely to drop in price after they've been out for a while.
That has yet to happen in the history of Steam. All Valve has ever done is scale back the offering to get lower price points, and it has even been slow about doing that. Hell Ricochet is $9.95 on Steam. That pretty much says it all about the high prices for Steam games versus retail.

Probably not as far as poor selling overstock in a megastore
Since Sin is also on retail shelves, that is where any price drop will occur, and given the game's apparently poor sales thus far, I expect retailers to mark it down precipitously to get rid of it.

This comment was edited on May 18, 23:00.
143.
 
Re: Just got back stateside
May 18, 2006, 12:30
Re: Just got back stateside May 18, 2006, 12:30
May 18, 2006, 12:30
 
And he said it in response to my comment about AAA games running $50-$60. As noted elsewhere there are periodically PC titles that run upwards of $60 on release (like some id games)and many retailers discount new releases for the first couple of weeks to maximize sales (driving a $49.99 title down to $39.99), but the nominal retail price of a new title is about $49.99. A $49.99 game is $53.98 after sales tax where I live, but a $17 game through Steam is still only $17. Unless you live in the same state where Valve is incorporated you don't have to pay taxes on your Steam purchases. You do on purchases at your local retailer.

My point is that if you are going to focus on the cost/hour of entertainment then you need to take all the relevant factors into consideration.

And if you are really more concerned about the amount of money spent per hour of entertainment than anything else (and/or like to bargain hunt), then don't purchase a game in the first month before others have tried it out and provided more information. As with all product, the SiN episodes are likely to drop in price after they've been out for a while. Probably not as far as poor selling overstock in a megastore, but probably enough to make the cost to hours of entertainment ratio more to your liking.

Ultimately, none of the above matters if you don't have fun playing the game. So if you felt SiN sucked, don't buy the next one. Simple as that.

142.
 
Re: Just got back stateside
May 17, 2006, 18:01
Re: Just got back stateside May 17, 2006, 18:01
May 17, 2006, 18:01
 
Looking at EBGames, the first PC page has 4 out of 6 titles priced at $50 US. So either way Creston is wrong, there are plenty of NEW games that cost $50 US.

He said "more than $50."

-------------
Doomriders: the first new band worth a signature - http://www.deathwishinc.com/
141.
 
Re: Just got back stateside
May 17, 2006, 17:00
Re: Just got back stateside May 17, 2006, 17:00
May 17, 2006, 17:00
 
Where does it say that people have only been discussing US prices? Please, show me. People are always discussing price variances on Blues with regards to games, some specify which currency they are refering to (I always try to do so) and others do not. Lightbringer did not specify what currency he was refering to and considering he was refering to $50 to $60 price point then it would be logical to think that he may not be talking about US prices...or maybe he was, we dont know. But that is irrelevant. If Creston wants to slam someone regarding the dollar figure someone uses, then he should take the 1 sec it takes to contemplate that the person may not be refering to US dollars.

Looking at EBGames, the first PC page has 4 out of 6 titles priced at $50 US. So either way Creston is wrong, there are plenty of NEW games that cost $50 US. And yes of course people can always shop around and find something cheaper, doesnt mean they do.


----------------------------------------------------
Currently playing GW Factions, Day of Defeat Source and SiN Emergence.
140.
 
Re: Just got back stateside
May 17, 2006, 16:37
Re: Just got back stateside May 17, 2006, 16:37
May 17, 2006, 16:37
 
Yeh, no offense but the internet is GLOBAL. That's why if a post makes me do a double-take or I don't quite agree with something I often chalk it up to a poster from another country .

Understood.

But if there's a discussion about the price of a game in US dollars, taking place mostly between US citizens, and someone comes in and starts calling everyone ignorant for not thinking about the price in Canada... who's wrong there? The people having a conversation, or the guy that starts making accusations because other country's aren't always at the forefront of everyone's brain?


Quite frankly, this was a discussion only using figures in US dollars. He can rant about canadian loonies, but... what does that have to do with the cost of tea in china?

Nothing.

-------------
Doomriders: the first new band worth a signature - http://www.deathwishinc.com/
139.
 
Re: Just got back stateside
May 17, 2006, 15:50
Re: Just got back stateside May 17, 2006, 15:50
May 17, 2006, 15:50
 
Yeh, no offense but the internet is GLOBAL. That's why if a post makes me do a double-take or I don't quite agree with something I often chalk it up to a poster from another country .

Just because Blue lives in the US doesn't mean all of his readers do. And besides, I'm always interested in the "little things" in other countries: like how much games/movies/etc cost, how does country x view a particular social issue, etc.




"Space. It seems to go on and on forever. But then you get to the end and a gorilla starts throwing barrels at you."
-Fry, Futurmama
"Space. It seems to go on and on forever. But then you get to the end and a gorilla starts throwing barrels at you."
-Fry, Futurama
138.
 
Re: Just got back stateside
May 17, 2006, 15:14
Re: Just got back stateside May 17, 2006, 15:14
May 17, 2006, 15:14
 

No one here cares about the price of games in Canada. It has no bearing on us. We're a bunch of people from the US discussing games in the US. Whether or not they cost more in Canada really means nothing to us, nor should it, as we're not buying games in America.

Stop throwing "ignorant" around where it doesn't belong. Just because someone isn't constantly thinking "how does this affect Canadians" doesn't mean they're ignorant.

Wow Beamer you just proffessed how ignorant you are as well. Anyone else want to show the world how short sighted they are? Just because it is on the internet does not mean it's the "United States".

We're a bunch of people from the US discussing games in the US.

There are thousands of readers and posters on Blues News from Canada and other parts of the world. You are truly an ass.


----------------------------------------------------
Currently playing GW Factions, Day of Defeat Source and SiN Emergence.
137.
 
Re: Just got back stateside
May 17, 2006, 15:10
Re: Just got back stateside May 17, 2006, 15:10
May 17, 2006, 15:10
 
(I figured it could use an injection of life.)

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Doomriders: the first new band worth a signature - http://www.deathwishinc.com/
136.
 
Re: Just got back stateside
May 17, 2006, 13:57
nin
Re: Just got back stateside May 17, 2006, 13:57
May 17, 2006, 13:57
nin
 


Aaaaaaand there goes the thread...

--------------------------------------------------------------
GW: Nilaar Madalla, lvl 20 R/Mo / Tolyl Nor, lvl 20 E/Mo / Xylos Gath, lvl 16 W/Mo

http://www.flaminglips.com
135.
 
Re: Just got back stateside
May 17, 2006, 12:57
Re: Just got back stateside May 17, 2006, 12:57
May 17, 2006, 12:57
 
Not everyone lives in the US, stop being so fucking ignorant. AAA titles in Canada are usually $60 or $70, with Collectors Editions and the like being between $70 and $80. The average title is usually $50

It's not ignorant, you jackass.

No one here cares about the price of games in Canada. It has no bearing on us. We're a bunch of people from the US discussing games in the US. Whether or not they cost more in Canada really means nothing to us, nor should it, as we're not buying games in America.

Stop throwing "ignorant" around where it doesn't belong. Just because someone isn't constantly thinking "how does this affect Canadians" doesn't mean they're ignorant.

-------------
Doomriders: the first new band worth a signature - http://www.deathwishinc.com/
134.
 
Just got back stateside
May 17, 2006, 11:48
Just got back stateside May 17, 2006, 11:48
May 17, 2006, 11:48
 
I was out of the country for the last few weeks so I haven't had much of a chance to play. I played maybe 5 or 10 minutes when I got back to see what it was like.

So far, so good. But I'll have to wait until tomorrow or Friday to really get into it. I need to catch up on my "Lost" before tonight's episode.


"Space. It seems to go on and on forever. But then you get to the end and a gorilla starts throwing barrels at you."
-Fry, Futurmama
"Space. It seems to go on and on forever. But then you get to the end and a gorilla starts throwing barrels at you."
-Fry, Futurama
133.
 
Re: rip off
May 17, 2006, 05:25
Re: rip off May 17, 2006, 05:25
May 17, 2006, 05:25
 
I see this argument a lot. Which FPS has actually cost more than 50 bucks

Not everyone lives in the US, stop being so fucking ignorant. AAA titles in Canada are usually $60 or $70, with Collectors Editions and the like being between $70 and $80. The average title is usually $50.

Oblivion I've played for maybe 20 or so hours and quite honestly...it's boring and fucking buggy. I've spent hours looking for mods just to fix bugs and to make gameplay less boring. How long has the game been out now and all they have is a beta patch that hardly even scratched the surface of bugs in the game. The patch comes with a big disclaimer regarding losing your save games too. They are also charging $2 for minor updates to the game, the first of which was lame as hell, and something mod authors had already made (horse armor), and then Bethesda forced websites to remove the mod. Yea now there is a company I am not going to support, I dont care how many hours of gameplay their game has potential for.
Seeing as Ive moved onto GW Factions, I dont see myself playing Oblivion anymore. SiN Emergence I've already put in probably 15 hours in between the episode and slowly replaying SiN 1...and I've had fun (cant say that for Oblivion).

3 weapons...all have alternate firing modes, and there are grenades, so its actually 4 weapons. This first episode doesnt need more weapons.

This arguement regarding dollars for playtime will go on forever with nothing ever being resolved. Games are of varying lengths, price, difficulty, etc, and always will be. The features available will also not always be of value to everyone either, ie: SiN 1 & mp, SiN episodes MP and the Arena mode thing will not necassarilly appeal to everyone, but will to others. People are going to have it set in their little brains that they are being ripped off, and will never change their mind regardless of what anyone else says or how many bonuses are added.

Likewise, for someone that buys a game, and then doesnt like it...they will never be happy, regardless of whether the game is episodic or not. Fact is, the majority of posts I've seen on other forums (other than Blues) has a far larger majority of people that are actually enjoying SiN Episodes. Blues News forums unfortunately just has a very large community of negative people.


----------------------------------------------------
Currently playing GW Factions, Day of Defeat Source and SiN Emergence.
132.
 
Re: rip off
May 17, 2006, 00:58
Re: rip off May 17, 2006, 00:58
May 17, 2006, 00:58
 
I agree with Creston entirely.

Like I always say, I buy games 2+ months after they come out. A list games I get for $30, anything less I get for $20. I don't see SiN going down in price that quickly.
Even if I didn't, Best Buy and Circuit City tend to discount games $10-$20 off the first week, which is more than the 10% Steam gave us.


I was fine with three weapons, though, considering it was a third of a game. It didn't bug me at all. I just wish the secondary fires had been more useful. The only one I used was the machine gun grenades, and they felt too weak.

-------------
Doomriders: the first new band worth a signature - http://www.deathwishinc.com/
131.
 
Re: rip off
May 17, 2006, 00:24
Re: rip off May 17, 2006, 00:24
May 17, 2006, 00:24
 
With retail $50-$60 FPS titles clocking in at 10-20 hours on average

I see this argument a lot. Which FPS has actually cost more than 50 bucks, besides Doom 3? Seriously? I can't remember a single one. (and I'm not counting Collector's Editions.)

Furthermore, if you take 5 minutes of time, you can find the game on the cheap. Compusa typically has 10 bucks off on new releases (I got Oblivion for 40 dollars. Sin has 5 hours of gameplay, Oblivion has about 5 HUNDRED hours), Fry's always has a great deal on new releases, Gogamer typically sells new releases for 6-13 bucks cheaper.

You can defend it any way you want to, but 20 bucks for 5 hours of gameplay just ISN'T a great deal. Wait, let me rephrase that. It isn't a great deal for the consumer. It's a fucking FANTASTIC deal for Ritual and Valve. They produce 30% of the content of a normal game, and charge HALF for it! Woot!

I mean, the whole THREE WEAPONS thing had me enormously excited as soon as I found out.

I need Crysis.

Creston


Avatar 15604
130.
 
Re: rip off
May 16, 2006, 13:28
Re: rip off May 16, 2006, 13:28
May 16, 2006, 13:28
 
Getting the exact time to complete is easy. Go into the stats viewer. In the first block they list total deaths and deaths per hour. Divide total deaths by deaths per hour to get total play time.

I wound up with 5.5 hours of play.

Also, with regards to the mini-gun baddies, use the zoom function on the machine gun. The machine gun is completely stable in this mode and accurate (at full auto) over a large distance. With the machine gun it becomes relativly trivial to drop the mini-gunners even when there are four or more of them.

As to value for play? I pre-ordered for $17 and I felt that while it was a bit short, I really enjoyed the experience overall. SiN isn't the best shooter out there, but it is certainly the most enjoyable to come out recently.

With retail $50-$60 FPS titles clocking in at 10-20 hours on average, 5.5 hours of play isn't a terrible value at $34-$80 for the same amount of game. If you pre-ordered each episode (assuming $17 becomes the norm) your cost to play time ratio would actually be a bit better for SiN than a number of recent AAA titles. It works out even better assuming that you don't pay tax for your Steam games (I didn't have to) and do for your retail boxes.

I would have liked to see a _little_ more content for the $17 (the game was also a little too restrictively linear), but I think that the current pricing scheme is acceptable if the quality of content continues to improve and the length of play remains the same (or increases slightly).

Edit: Removed some redundant statements and fixed some typos.
This comment was edited on May 16, 13:32.
129.
 
Re: rip off
May 16, 2006, 10:03
Re: rip off May 16, 2006, 10:03
May 16, 2006, 10:03
 
So I'm stuck waiting 6-8 months for my fix.
And, honestly, that's a long cooling off period. I don't see myself being all excited that I'm finally presented with the opportunity for a fix then, I more see myself annoyed I had to wait so long and turning instead to a different FPS.

Or, hopefully by then, Gears of War.

My main problem with episodic gaming, I am just too fickle for it to ever work.


128.
 
Dagok
May 16, 2006, 08:02
Dagok May 16, 2006, 08:02
May 16, 2006, 08:02
 
The GAME isn't well done, it has many flaws. the MOD is well done.
Sure, to you it's entertaining and that's fine with me, but the 3 hours and a half of boring corridor shooting with 3 weapons, with enemy spawning from thin air, no way to tackle the enemy in other ways, small maps and boring loading system, no innovation whatsoever = another FPS.

I'm sure devs are thankful there're people who still enjoy Doom style of gameplay. I don't and I'm tired of this crap being distributed.
I guess that for 20 bucks, SiN:EE was a good deal WHEN CONSIDERING the game comes with the original SiN.


This comment was edited on May 16, 08:02.
127.
 
Re: rip off
May 16, 2006, 02:22
Re: rip off May 16, 2006, 02:22
May 16, 2006, 02:22
 
I've got to be honest - I'm really left wanting more.

I've played through twice. I found the very end tedious, with an onslaught of FEAR guys (god mode has informed me that they take either 2 or 3 point blank shotgun blasts to the face, which seems excessively high for the amount of damage they do, how quickly they do it, and how hard they are to avoid.)

But I really like the combat with the easier-to-take-out guys. Really like it. But... I have no options. Playing through again doesn't seem like fun, I've found nearly every secret. And those FEAR guys really kind of ticked me off.

So I'm stuck waiting 6-8 months for my fix.
And, honestly, that's a long cooling off period. I don't see myself being all excited that I'm finally presented with the opportunity for a fix then, I more see myself annoyed I had to wait so long and turning instead to a different FPS.

Or, hopefully by then, Gears of War.

-------------
Doomriders: the first new band worth a signature - http://www.deathwishinc.com/
126.
 
Re: No subject
May 16, 2006, 01:24
Re: No subject May 16, 2006, 01:24
May 16, 2006, 01:24
 
Now I've gotta wait 6 months before I can even consider finding anything else out

As predicted! The joys of episodic content! Aren't you glad?



Creston


Avatar 15604
125.
 
Re: Fun game
May 15, 2006, 21:48
Re: Fun game May 15, 2006, 21:48
May 15, 2006, 21:48
 
Good and innovative don't go hand-in-hand.

I can think of lots of terrible games that were innovative. I can think of lots of great games that weren't. Take, for instance, Civ 4. I adore this game and play it endlessly. But it really isn't very different from Civ 1. Those that played Civs 2 and 3 tell me it's virtually identical.

Still, in my opinion, one of the best games out there.

Or Quake 2. Didn't do anything Q1 did't. But it did everything better.

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Doomriders: the first new band worth a signature - http://www.deathwishinc.com/
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