Don't forget that after 5-6yrs you're unlikely to be able to run older games because of changes to operating systems and such, whereas it's more likely to be updated on Steam because it will continue to be sold. So potentially you'll be able to play games longer on Steam than bought at retail.

Well, I like to think I'm a computer tech, so that isn't really a problem for me. I have a W2K partition, a hackintosh partition and an XP partition. I haven't migrated all of my DOS games over to XP yet, but I'm sure I can.

But that's not really the point. The point is, is that I have a lot of really old games that I can load up if I want to (Dungeon Master on the Atari ST?) But I don't.

I'm just saying that being tied to an online service is a gamble. Owning your own disks is a gamble as well, but at least you have them. You might not have the system to load them with (I still have 3.5inch floppy drives) and you might not have the OS (DOS 6.22) to run them, but at least you have the physical media.

Anyways, I don't care, COD4 has been a fun little romp. Very cinematic so far, and brainless. Not a big deal.

I'm just not going to invest too much money into the medium until I feel secure about it. As far as I'm concerned, the games I've bought from Steam are a write off.

The box with Might and Magic sitting in my garage isn't. I still own it.

I think I might have an excuse to finally upgrade my computer.

I have to admit that I'm more of an 'arcadey' kind of guy, prefering BF42 over BF2, EtPro over TF2, Quake Wars over, well, whatever it competes with.

Sometimes you need to sink your teeth into a cerebral game. Maybe this is it. We'll see. Perhaps gaming will get interesting again.

It's Quake 3 launchable from a browser. And it's free. What more do you want?

If you don't like it, don't go to their website.

I use it to warm up before killing people online. Often, I get absorbed and continue playing the game all night because I think it rocks. Other opinions may vary.

Wash car
Oil change
Get cat food.
Steak.
Toilet paper
Beer, smokes, rollies.
Loonie store (toilet scrubber).

[This space intentionally left blank]

I love free places to write down notes.

ow. those lying bastards explicitly stated that PC would be the lead SKU for OFP2. When you demonstrate your game using a gamepad, that pretty much confirms that PC is very definitely not your lead SKU.

As was mentioned in another previous thread, the guys that did OFP1 went off on there own and did Arma1 and are currently working on Arma2.

OFP2 is a whole new crew that has nothing to do with the original game or developers. It's a sales term now.

Eh, hopefully they improve both the action and RPG aspects for the sequel. And the sidequests. And the planets. And the dialogue system. And the plot.

I think you also missed 'Choices and Consequences', as well as 'Freedom & Exploration'.

I'll wait until it comes out in the bargain bin for ten bucks and has the DRM hacked out of it. I doubt it's that bad of a game.

In the old days we'd get bug fixes and a few levels thrown in with a patch.

Times, they are a-changing.

I suppose it just comes down to, 'if you don't like it, don't buy it'. Who cares? I don't.

If someone makes some 'DLC' for a game that I really want, I guess I'll buy it. I haven't seen anything yet though.

Then again, I'm not sure that I've bought a game that actually offers patches and upgrades for a fee.

I agree with you there. It's something that people seem to ignore even though on Blues News we constantly see the buying out or dissolution of major game studios and publishers.

On top of that we're seeing rather large companies collapse on a daily basis. But many people seem to think that Valve will never die or get bought out or change their policies.

That said, I just bought COD4 Modern Warfare on Steam. I could have bought it for around 30-40 bucks at a local store but decided to just use the convenience of downloading it and playing it 'now'. Unfortunately after the Canadian dollar conversion I ended up spending $64 on it.

Ouch. Then the download kept crapping out and it took me about five hours in total, plus trying to figure out what a stalled 'Download starting...' message means.

I used to hate Steam, as I was trying it out since the beginning, but now I don't mind it. Pay for game, click, download, play. Plus I'm always Gigabyte Challenged. I never have enough hard disk space. So I can wipe out a large game and download it later if I need to.

I don't like the idea of having my purchased products tied to an online service that may or may not exist in the future, but I don't spend a lot of money there.

I suppose it's risk versus convenience. To me the value isn't quite in line with retail, but it's a quick and painless few clicks to get a game. So I go with it on occasion.

I expect that COD4 is a throwaway game anyways. I got ripped off for it, but we'll see. At least I understand the gamble I'm taking and am not too concerned about it. If I had 73 games on my list, I would be buying a stack of blank DVD's and doing a lot of burning.

As to real world physics, read 'Protector' by Larry Niven. The space combat takes years at near light speeds. Great book.

That's awesome. I was going to buy that game off of Steam a few months ago but never got around to it. Now I just have to figure out where to buy this cheese, I've never heard of it before.

The plugin downloads fast. You can access the game from any computer and play. I think that's the point.

They did remove the gibs, which annoyed me but I got over it quick. I wish there was an option to turn the gore on but I can live without it.

I used to be a Q3 addict and I thought I'd just login once in awhile to warm up before going off to play something else. But I often find myself playing all night. I think it's a lot of fun.

I'm sewing my jacket then suiting my wine producer, gun manufacturer and drug dealer. They all need better clothes according to CNN Entertainment.

I actually got my Quake 3 Live beta key a couple of weeks ago. Still a great game. If nothing else, instagib is a great warmup before you go into you're regular killfests. Actually I often don't leave, I get stuck playing CTF on all of those great maps.

Wish they would update BF42 with some new graphics. (The new console version doesn't count).

You're probably the guy I sold muppet acid to and got paid in quarters.

I was replaying HL2 last night and when I quit, their popup was there, saying "LFD Half Price Sale Extended, click to find out more". Of course, I'd had Steam running for a day or so, so I missed the popup deal.

I played the demo before it went retail and wasn't impressed, but like many said, you have to play with real people online. I'll wait for the next free weekend or maybe gamble twenty bucks on it the next time I notice a sale. (And am not too busy playing another one of their games and miss 'the sale').

Q: What game are you most jealous of?

A: Currently? GTA IV. Big ideas, clear vision, and gets the little things right.

I haven't played IV yet (I'll wait a year until they fix it) but the previous incarnations were extremely fun and often challenging games. I'm not surprised that he's jealous.

Q: Tell us one of your recent professional insights.

A: 'Fun' does not mean 'challenge.'

That sort of explains Oblivion (I haven't played FO3 yet). They removed the challenge. Even with the few mods I used, the game still became very dull after several hours. If there's no story and no challenge, that only leaves exploration, which became too repetitive to entice me to continue playing.

Doesn't the core of every video game present some sort of challenge? Tetris? Pong?

Q: What's the biggest challenge you see facing the industry?

A: That it will pigeon-hole itself. I'm worried the Wii is getting stuck with quick-buck games aimed at children who don't know any better, and the 360 and PS3 are all about M rated killfests. As an industry, we have to make sure the world knows that gaming is for everyone, and not just kids or thirtysomethings who never grew up.

Or pidgeon-hole yourself into making big bucks, which is great, while making dull, unchallenging, killfests, which might appeal to kids (who don't know any better) and thirtysomethings who never grew up, but not people who might enjoy a little more depth and maturity in their gaming experiences.

This short little interview seems to explain very succinctly why RPG's or any games for that matter are so mediocre these days. I keep wanting to upgrade my computer but I don't see the point anymore.

It's because of game developers like these that want to remove challenge and cater to everyone that we're not getting any good games anymore.

Eventually it'll even out I suppose and we'll start getting games that are profitable enough to appeal to all kinds of niche markets (like me), but I didn't think we'd see such a long, boring drought.

I liked the movie. It wasn't too bad.

Cutter might be an okay guy.

Escape was very nice. Extreeeemly nice that Valve liked it, and as someone else said, didn't sue the fuckers.

They put it up on their billboard. You can't get kudos better than that? Can you?

Cutter, if you ever come to Cowtown, you are welcome.

Same with you other fucktards.

Sincerely,

CreamyBlood

Piranha Bytes had nothing to do with this. It was outsourced to some Indian developers.

Complete bummer. I still play BF42 several times a week.

I would have been happy with a graphical update, but I can live with the original.

It's rather sad that after seven years the best they can do is gimp the game. In life you should always progress, or at least move side-ways, never backward.

As someone mentioned, infinite ammo and regenerating health are considered cheats to most of us. Now they're 'features'.

Limit it to twenty four players and drop the maps to three. Three maps?

Pathetic.