You're basically completely correct, however PA doesn't have Jeremy Soule doing the musical score, and that is a fucking slap in the face to one of the best composers of the last hundred years. Soule has done every single Total Annihilation and SupCom game save for SupCom 2, and we should all be happy he didn't touch SupCom 2 since it was such crap.

I want to be able to create my own soundtrack to PA. I'll just take music from TA and SupCom1 and replace all the crap with great stuff.

Fortunately not, it's brought on similar to clinical depression in that it's a genetic condition resulting in an imbalance of brain chemistry that can be seriously exacerbated via PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) and other issues inflicted during childhood or otherwise.

So you're safe. Just...just don't touch them or breath the same air...you know, to be on the safe side.

This comment was edited on Aug 5, 2009, 16:40.

Derek Smart doesn't have fans. He does, however, have lesser sycophants. They cluster in extraordinary small groups and feed off his ego, since they aren't as sycophantic as he is.

This comment was edited on Aug 5, 2009, 16:34.

Surprise! Bill Roper is involved, so you can choose to pay 200 bucks upfront, and then watch the game shut down 6 months later! Act now folks, this chance to be ripped off by Bill once again is only available for another month!

I thought the asshole who ran that Phantom deal was a fucking scam artist, but he's small fry compared to Bill fucking Roper.

You're a fucking idiot, seriously. You honestly believe ONE MAN is responsible for all the shit that went down in regards to Hellgate? The game was FORCED TO LAUNCH by its Korean shareholders months before it was ready to go out the door. You think they WANTED to release a bugged game before it was ready? You think Bill said "FUCK THOSE GUYS, WE HAVE THEIR MONEY NOW WE CAN SCREW THEM OVER BAHAHAHAHA!"

Seriously, you and everyone else that thinks Bill Roper is solely responsible for the Hellgate fiasco are fucking idiots, and continually spouting this idiocy is nothing but pure and complete ignorance. You're so fucking uninformed on the subject but have such strong opinions about it, it's amazing. You're sheep. All of you. It's pathetic.

This comment was edited on Aug 5, 2009, 14:56.

* REMOVED *
This comment was deleted on Aug 4, 2009, 20:35.

Is this game any good?

Well it's a game from Derek Smart's infinitorium of worthless shit so what do YOU think? Has the man EVER produced a game that wasn't terrible? The answer is no, he hasn't. Every game he's made has been horrible. I'm rather impressed by the man's ability to sucker in idiots to provide him with venture capital hoping for some kind of return considering his horrendous track record.

TL/DR = No, the game isn't any good.

Additionally, I realize Derek will no doubt be popping his little head in here sooner or later to defend his shoddy business practices and lack of talent YET AGAIN, but it doesn't matter, since I won't be paying any attention. Good bye.

While I hate to diminish any sales Capcom might make on releasing this game to the PC, the majority of these comments are aboslutely correct. Bionic Commando is...not a good game. I bought it for $20 new, and I'm convinced I was effectively ripped off. It's a $10 game, if that.

GRIN actually implemented gameplay mechanics that are DESIGNED to frustrate, anger, and otherwise antagonize players. For example, every level has several collectible objects the player can go out of their way to pick up as well as challenges they can meet to receive rewards to their weapons and health, but if the player dies, the collectibles/challenges are RESET, making the player go back and get them again if they want a 100% completion rating. This is compounded by the player character being a complete pussy, with hardly any health throughout the majority of the game.

The swinging mechanic works but is also very weird. Your character maintains the same velocity during the scope of each swing, but at the arc on either end, it's like the character hits a wall of air, and slows to a stop in half a second. Then you swing the other way, and stop again. It's like they wanted to provide the player with freedom of movement, but not too much freedom! It also doesn't help that the levels are all essentially long tubes of terrain the player is allowed to traverse, but if you venture too far in any direction, you're quickly killed by "radiation", which is their convenient excuse as to why the game doesn't feature an open world - the city you're in was hit by a nuke, see.

The story KIND of makes sense along the way but then in typical Capcom fashion they just give up any kind of logical progression at about the 80% mark, zip you all over the fucking place to locations that aren't nearby anywhere you were with no explanation (at one point you're in the city, then in the next stage you're over the ocean, then in the next stage you're in a desert), introduce characters that do important things in two cutscenes and then never show what happens to them, and ends in a non-boss fight/cinematic. And the worst of it is, this game was developed by Grin, a third party development studio. I honestly expected them to develop the game their way and not the Capcom way, but I see that was a stupid thing to expect.

Multiplayer is fun for about 20 minutes, and then you realize it's exactly the same thing over and over and over again, just on different maps. It's a contest as to who can jumpkick the other players the fastest, and who can get to the best weapons the quickest.

The best thing about the game is the music, but that certainly isn't worth the full price.

Yeah...Ok, let's get one thing straight. Producers of creative media are not fucking steel workers, factory employees, airline drones or other blue-collar slobs. Game developing is a white-collar job, along the lines of television and film writing, and if you look at how the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike did for those people, you should come to the logical conclusion that unions are good.

Game development needs to be unionized. it must be unionized. Developers have been incredibly taken advantage of and they need a union to protect their rights as employees.

Want a list of some things a unionized game development community will benefit from? Ok:

1. Actual, real job security. These days, if you aren't working for a company that manages it's own hiring and firing practices, you can't count on any job security at all. Even in those cases, your job isn't necessarily safe. You can be a Lead Production Artist in a stressful development pipeline one day, and handed a pink slip the next. Need I remind you of the recent LucasArts layoff, in which people that had been with the company for over a decade were suddenly laid off with no prior warning?

2. Reasonable working hours. Most game developers work something around 50 or more hours a week, even when they're not on crunch time. A union would standardize this and force ALL development houses and publishers to enact a fair, 8-hour a day shift. Some companies, like Valve and Gas Powered Games, already do this, which is awesome.

3. Appropriate salaries. Grand Theft Auto IV has delivered over $500,000,000 into Take-Two's pockets. That's more than half a billion dollars! Can you guess who saw the majority of that money? Why, the corporate staff of Take-Two, of course. The people that did the least amount of work reap the benefits of the thousands of man-hours spent on the production of the game, while the developers pull in salaries that range between 30k and 90k a year. This is wrong, and needs to change. The developers should be paid a hell of a lot more than they're making. Of course, this is dependent on how well their game does on the market. Bottom line - More money to developers, less to publishers.

I could go on, but I won't.

As a former game developer who has no further interest in being an indentured slave to the game industry, I certainly hope Ron Gilbert is correct, because there is no fucking way I am getting back into that industry until my rights are protected.

This comment was edited on Jun 30, 21:04.

Other devs who you tossers do this shit to and end up losing it and vent their frustration, get fired. Either that or they suck it all up, post anon, or don't post at all. Since nobody gets to fire me nor put me under siege, I have no problems doing this until the day I hang up my mittens. I've got nothing but time.

Other developers? OTHER DEVELOPERS?

Are you insane?

YOU are the only pompous jackass we belittle, Smart. And only because you bring it on yourself. You are so absolutely convinced of your own bullshit hubris that you just don't know when to shut up. No other developer is as immature and arrogant, or unprofessional as you are. Every time you start a flame war just like this one, you only deepen the hole that is your failure and shame. Of course, with your backwards thinking you probably perceive that failure and shame as success and pride.

How the hell did you survive through preschool? I would have expected you to drown yourself in a toilet, or drink a gallon of paint in your first day away from the constant, unwavering supervision of your assisted-living nanny.

It was years ago, Smart. You should have shut your tiny little mouth years ago.

Oh please. Just get over yourself. If you think guys like me sit around giving a shit about what you - and a handful of tossers on the net think - you're even more dillusional than those who sit around being clueless, pretentious and inconsequential fools.

Wow, the man gives you a compliment, something that are in short supply for you I'm sure, and you flame him.

What a professional!

What a class act.

What a fucking loser.

You know what, Smart, even if I wasn't already absolutely sure your latest game was a complete piece of shit, your amazing behavior makes me not want to touch the demo for...whatever the fuck it's called. I can't even be bothered to click back a tab and check.

Prof. Smart, if you really want to be more than that developer-underdog who somehow just keeps kicking (yeah yeah, I know, you're a millionaire...I get a letter every other year from publisher's clearinghouse telling me I'm a millionaire too), then you should really hire yourself a public-relations professional, assume a pseudonym (a pen-name or stage-name, whatever suits your massive ego), program your games, stay the hell out of the public eye and pray that your puerile arrogance and absurd hostility doesn't somehow seep through the user interface of the software you create.

I say this coz after reading a few of your recent posts, remembering all the ludicrous hostilities you've launched at most-often undeserving customers/potential customers, and realizing you haven't changed (ie. grown up) after all these years, I can't even bring myself to download your demo. I'm sure that makes me a complete idiot in your mind (anyone who doesn't like your games or finds your public behavior to be repugnantly offensive must, by some Smartian axiom, be an idiot I'm sure), but I'll suggest anyways that the way you act online is probably costing you business. Perhaps your behavior is an act, one that you figure gives you noteriety and thus publicity, but Mr Smart, the old adage "any publicity is good publicity" is not always applicable, most certainly not in this case.

Also, if you really are a millionaire, then hire a game-graphics specialist for crying out loud... Even if I'd never heard of you or witnessed your behavior, it would have taken alot of effort to see past the "retro" graphics (but I do hunger for something different and I probably would have tried it anyways). Does it look that way because you want it to run on yesteryear's computers or because you don't know how to program for modern hardware? I'm not saying it should tax my SLI rig, but come on!

I instantly like you, Old Geezer.

This comment was edited on Mar 19, 08:26.

So, wait, it's another crappy game from HE WHO MUST NOT BE NAMED that nobody will buy? Awesome.

18 year industry veteran. That is fucking hilarious.

You'd think he would learn by now that adding his name and his "eighteen years of industry experience" would be detrimental at this point. Does anybody really give a shit other than to, you know, laugh?

Wait, they didn't patch the beta and they're STILL releasing it?

What the fuck can they possibly be thinking?

The game has a lot of potential but if they expect to have good reviews they shouldn't be releasing the game as it is, unpatched and broken. This doesn't bode well for Petro.

Dyack's statement is quite suspect. If "a number" (which I'm going to assume is more than just his ass) of other developers have had similar problems with Epic, why have they not sued? This would be a common complaint against Epic.

I'm fairly certain this is simply Dyack attempting to divert attention from his flailing company by blaming Epic for all of Silcon Knight's development woes.

UE3 has been licensed across the fucking world, with dozens of licensees, if Epic ran their business this way we wouldn't be hearing about it just now.

They can implement all the crappy windows LIVE service they want, as long as it doesn't limit people from playing against other PC players without a subscription fee.

Please, PLEASE let this be the last one. And then that Start or Spart or Sqart or Sdart or Scart or whatever the hell his name is can finally, FINALLY fade away into oblivion, NEVER to trouble us again!

SupCom is probably one of the best RTS games ever made. It definitely does not suck.

Anyone know what the final verdict was from beta testers? The signals seemed to be kinda mixed from what I've seen. There's never 100% consensus, but you usually can get a general idea of what to expect.

As a beta teser, I can tell you that

1. The game is excellent
2. The game is really fun
3. It's going to have a huge number of mods not to mention free downloadable content (just like Total Annihilation)
4. It's the best RTS since TA and/or StarCraft (since I enjoyed both equally)

My preorder is almost paid off, and I am excited!

As someone that has worked QA for many companies for many years while in college I can tell you that FUCK NO, games do not spend enough time in QA. Most could use at least 6 more months before they launch, and if they were made by "independant" software developers like Valve they would probably get it, but EA, Sega, THQ, Activision etc don't care about bugs or the quality of their titles, they care about MONEY.

This comment was edited on Jan 15, 11:46.

Seriously, just stop reporting about JT, please. The less we know the better, and the less press that son of a bitch gets the less self-important he'll feel, and eventually he'll just go away.