JosephBlowski, I agree that the auto turret spamming in XPM is lame, but you exaggerate if you say anytime someone lays a turret to protect themselves means they're a noob. Maybe they have 2 health, and need a little help. Maybe it's not his skillz he's worried about, but the fact that he's about dead, and needs anything he can get to stay alive against your full health and shields.

Same with the guns on the vehicles. Why isn't it legitimate to hop into a vehicle and use its weapons when you know you're out-matched, or low on health, or whatever? They're in the game for a reason--to be used. Now, walking 100 yards with your back turned is stupid, as you say, but even when someone hops into a veicled, you can take it out easily enough. Dogde, jump, jet pack. You can get away and take them out in XMP. Nothing boosts your score like electrocuting a jugg with a person or two in it.

Oh, and nothing is as satisfying as a gut blow, so that may be why people drive all over the place.

Yeah, Robert Jordan did a Conan novel or two.

I agree that one mistake should not destroy someone's respect, reputation, or job. How many here are perfect at their job? Who doesn't screw up every now and then, if not daily. Demanding perfection from a gaming company or an individual is not sane or fair. Time after time I see people on this board denounce companies for single incidents or single bad games. That may be the trendy thing to do, but it's probably also hypocrytical.

No one is perfect and so no one can expect perfection from others. Base things on an overall performance over a period of years, and you'll get a much better picture of whether or not a person or gaming company deserves respect.

Yeah, it does lag, although some servers seem to do okay. I play on The Factory server, and get consistently good pings, even with my crappy connection. Legend is working on a patch, with the primary goal of reducing the server load and consequently the lag. No ETA, as far as I know.

I still can't believe how cool XMP is. The more I play, the more I like it. Get on a server with 20+ people (I know, not a TON of people), and the game can get very intense if the teams are balanced. The other night I played a game on Sirroco that lasted 25 minutes and ended in a draw. Artifacts were going back and forth like mad, with some awesome teamwark going on. I even got my first gut-blowing frag. Came up behind a guy that was chasing a teammate and ran him over. Ah, such great gameplay. It makes so many other games pale in comparison.

It appears that it's not the Half-life SP. But has anyone tried it and is it any good?

If pc buyers only buy bargain bin titles and/or warez them then the stores will make no money on them and not carry pc titles at all. free market is where its at baby.

You're right. The free market is great. And luckily for people like me, the free market eventually pushes prices of older games down.

I rarely buy new games at GameStop, but can generally find deals on older games. I bought NWN there for $20 a month or two ago. I got Rune for $5, I think, and last Chrismtas I got a bunch of copies of sacrifice for my buddies at $5 each. The bargain bin is what it's all about, baby. Tribes 2 for $5, UT2k3 for $20, Unreal II (and consequently XMP) for $10, etc.

I have seen a few different buggies. I thought the Halo-like one was the original one, but that they then changed it to look different, even referring to the fact that it looked too much like the Halo one. The new buggy looked like they took a hummer and wrangler and mashed them together. See this shot: http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/ut2004/screens.html?page=35

However, in the movies they have released, I have seen both of those buggies, even in the same trailer. So I am actually quite confused at this point.
This comment was edited on Dec 11, 14:10.

Ah, I stand corrected. That'll teach me to post at work.

I don't think that Myst was meant for the hardcore gamer. From my memory of how Myst went down, the promotion, etc., it was about as mainstream as it gets. If it was meant for the hardcore gamer, something went terribly wrong.

I have a question for all you smart people. For about a year I have been using the on-board sound card with my mobo, which seems to get the job done just fine. In fact, I haven't bought a new sound card since my SB Live Value about 3-4 years ago.

I see all these fancy new cards and I wonder if I should get one. Do they make much of a difference? I usually play games with headphones half-on, so my wife can hear the TV and so I can hear here if she says anything to me. I rarely use my speakers for games, and even more rarely as loud as I would like to have them. That said, would a fancy new sound card be worth it? I am leaning toward no, but am interested to hear reasons to get a new card.

Also, my headphones are extremely lame. I have had them for 18-24 months, and it may be time for a new set. Anyone have any recommendations? I would prefer not to spend more than $50.

I only read the first half of all the posts in this thread, but I bet that I could go through this thread and pick out with 90% accuracy the people that have kids, and the ones that don't. In GENERAL, The ones that don't say anyone should have access to any game. Generally, people with kids want a more moderated environment.

I also bet that many of the people who have kids were one like the ones that don't, and once thought universal access was the desirable alternative. Life changes when you have kids, perspectives change. I am of the persuasion that there should be restrictions in place, but, more importantly, parents should play an active role in filtering media, based on the maturity level and personality of each kid. It takes work, yes, but anyone who thinks raising kids is easy or takes no work probably isn't a very attentive parent, and it will be a miracle if their kids wind up well-adjusted.

Whenever developers or past developers post, commenting on games, I am interested in learning what games they have made.

It looks like there are quite a few public servers to download it from on Fileplanet. I only waited about 30 seconds before mine started, and am getting as fast of speeds as I ever get anything. I don't see what the big problem is with FilePlanet. It's a business trying to survive, which means it needs to make money and offer benefits. If one of those benefits in exclusive downloads, big deal. I guess the people that don't like registering don't have to (and probably don't) use the service. Fine with me. It means I get files sooner and faster, and still free.

I'm with Furious. For games I only want to play for SP, I usually wait until they are under $20. Sometimes $30. The reason is that I am not in a really bug rush, and I don't have tons of cash. I have plenty of games to play, and so little time, that I see no reason to pay $50 for a game when I can have the exact same experience for $20 in a year or two.

Multiplayer games can be a different story. If want a game for multiplayer play, I will usually buy it when it is still new, so that when I start playing I am not starting out as a newb against veterans.

That said, the last game I paid full price for was Frozen Thone. Before that, it was Warcraft III. I think before that it was B&W (BIG mistake) and before that it was Sacrifice.

Any more rules anyone else can think of?

Don't get your hero killed by creeps.

Oh, wait, that was a war3 rule. Nevermind.

I admit it. I bought B&W. It is the only game I regret buying. Everyone I have talked with feels the same way. Unless there is some kind of demo that knocks my socks off, I will not buy B&W2. What I wonder is this--does Lionhead know that the people who bought B&W probably won't buy B&W2, or are they expecting all of the people that bought B&W to buy this sequel?

A post on the forum for the mod indicated that it is in the contest.

Wow. I was hoping to play this tonight, as it looks cool. But at this rate . . . . Maybe they just want to make it far for dial-up users, too?