JA2 was basically perfect. Obsessive compulsive chess with very funny characters. Niche game play with a hard learning curve that requires competent writing and many talented unknown/cheap actors to provide voices? I just can't see anyone ever doing it right again.

Paradox publishes a lot of interesting games, but many are unplayable, unfinished, or both at release. The Europa Universalis & Hearts of Iron series needed a sequel and several patches before they did what was expected, and Mount and Blade wasn't really functional until Warband - and I still get weird bugs with all of them! I had fun with the Magicka demo but decided to err on the side of caution and wait before purchasing it which was a wise choice. It's still something I look forward to playing eventually unlike "Call of Duty" or that other Star Wars MMO.

It would be much easier to release finished products if they forced their developers to do awful MMO's, GTA clones, Starcraft clones, or third person console shooters, but they prefer complex games in unique settings which is much appreciated by me.

That's clearly a paladin of some sort. I played the first one quite heavily but am still leery of this due to the nonsensical decision to raise the level cap.

After 5 years of not playing, the patch notes are now totally bewildering.

I've yet to see anything about this game that was even remotely appealing. The only thing that distinguishes it from the other awful wow clones is that this license has already been tried as an MMO and failed quite spectacularly.

I gave the demo a quick try and had fun. The magic system is interesting and will be prone to all sorts of fabulous disasters in MP.

This immediately seemed like a bad idea but the video shows that it's actually a really bad idea.

It's a shame since Age of Empires and Rise of Nations were a lot of fun, but those series appear to be dead now.

I remember MTV bleeping the words "whip" and "gun" from a Motorhead video, which is probably as stupid as censoring Money for Nothing.

it's the French word for town. How can they claim "trademark infringement" for a very common noun? It's like Maxis claiming to own "city" due to Simcity and suing "City of Heroes" or "New York City"!

Copying the style is one thing, but "fun" relies on the gameplay which Evil Genius got very wrong. I'd be afraid to get this without a demo or many positive comments (on RPS or Blues).

Canceling services for dead people is usually aggravating regardless of the company involved.

It's very colorful and the magic system looks good and seems to provide a fair bit of depth to gameplay. As multiple people have said, it's hard not to get value for money at that price.

The easiest solution for the consumer regarding "bugs" is to try a demo first. If the developer refuses to put one out, they're either lazy (and probably lazy enough not to test their game properly), or hiding something. Caveat emptor.

I vaguely recall seeing my manuals and jewel cases for ID and BG within the last 2 years. Presumably the discs are still inside. Loved them to death 10 years ago but not sure if I could still play them today.

Not sure why they thought reviving the TRON 'franchise' was going to be hugely successful - one movie nearly 30 years ago that was temporarily popular with 8 year old boys. At least they didn't waste hundreds of millions of dollars trying to turn it into another doomed MMO.

Despite loving Morrowind, I never finished Oblivion. In retrospect the fatal issues were the leveled monsters, moving thief skills from the character to the player, and the shallow and immediately forgettable Bioware style story. It was a big step down from the intrigue of Morrowind and Daggerfall.

Skyrim shows no indication of changing any of that for the better.

I remember building an Athlon XP machine for myself in 2002. It was replaced by a dual core machine in 2005 which was replaced by a quadcore in 2009. It's inconceivable to imagine spending the last 6 years still using that ancient thing.

I can't distinguish their 'lore' from Warhammer/WarCraft/ad infinitum. Disparate factions banding together to stop the ancient returning evil is the most overused cliché in games.

It looks like Heroes 3 will be the last game in this series I ever play.

Punkbuster + BF2 + Steam = frustration for me so it isn't surprising that it's also annoying with BC2. Disabling Steam Community in game fixed most of the problems.

Does anyone know why "Vampire the Masquerade - Bloodlines" never goes on sale? I'd love to gift it for $4.99 or less, but $19.99 for a 6 year old game that probably won't be played isn't going to happen. My guess is that it has something to do with Troika being gone, but surely other games from dead developers go on sale too.

It sounds like "Imperialism". I'll surely give it a shot eventually.