Sigh. Wasteland was in Vegas. That's close enough for me.

Yeah, docking computer...that's cool. I mean, if you needed it.

Yeah, I hear ya. Super mutants, ghouls, death claws, sentient computers, power armor, verti birds, power fists, laser rifles, plasma rifles, robots, stealth boys, incinerator cannons, Chinese stealth troopers...that's all good. But aliens?! Yeah, what were they thinking?

Nimrod.

When weren't aliens part of Fallout?

Made me think of Battleships Forever. I'm in.

I actually like Eve, even if it is all about spreadsheets and formulas. Some of the best PvP I've ever played in an MMORPG. That being said, I can't stand the fact that you need 8 alts just to think about keeping up with the Jones'.

maybe 50,000 with 6 alts each.

Guys: GET A LIFE.

Pot meet Kettle. Kettle, Pot.

I played Eve for about 3 years too. The beginning of the end for me was when I realized how horribly gimped/unfair the research system was in Eve, essentially how the T2 BPO's were distributed. Supposedly it was all a "lottery" based on how many research points you had. It was a bunch of crap. Every time I think about how much fun the PvP was in that game, I think about how much bullshit there was in the economy (a T2 BPO is literally a meal-ticket in and of itself). And, when they're all going to a couple of the large alliances with which the devs are involved, well, fuck it.

Creston,

Not the number of keys, it's the unintuitive menu structure and the complete randomness of it. If things were actually assigned to keys, that might be easier.

I've gone back and played Elite (Oolite) and it's not "Wow, was that it?" It was: "Hey, that's still fun."

Not so sure a comparison to HL2 is really all that relevant, but whatever floats your rhetorical boat.

I like most of the X3 games...in theory. The UI, however, has to be the absolutely worst ever. Usually my X3 play style goes something like this:

1) Pick up game, play game for a week and finally figure out the UI, get overwhelmed with running a galaxy and shelve it.

2) Three months later, reinstall game. Find that I've retained nothing of how the UI works, and relearn the game again.

And I even played Eve for about three years. So, I know a thing or two about messed up UIs.

The thing is, Elite was great because it was simple without being dumbed down. Ah well, you can't go home again.

The only space sim I felt ever came close was Independence War 2: Edge of Chaos. Loved that.

Cue the WizKids/Crimson Skies lawsuit.

In Geo Wars, I'm fine until I realize I'm doing well, then BAM! And it's always the first game I play. Everything else is downhill.

Don't forget Oolite (http://oolite.org/).

I see no problem with Elite 4 being on a console. Elite was on the NES:

http://www.mobygames.com/game/nes/elite/screenshots (am I allowed to link to stuff? If not, sorry!)

I'd be fine with it. The control scheme (even Frontier and First Encounters) was not complex and most of the game was menu driven anyway. I played Elite with a two button CH joystick and I think there were only about 5 or 6 keys you needed for combat: fire, missile, left view, right view, rear view, ECM, throttle. Oh, and maybe, if you were a pansy, you needed a docking computer.

Frankly, I'd be surprised if it wasn't on a console.

Bioshock called, they want their trailer back.

See, this is how a developer should handle fan criticism. I think it would be far to easy for him to say "STFU n00b, I know what's best for you!" like some other intergalactic devs. Instead, he gave a nice, calm, retort.

Besides, I like the way Diablo 3 looks now.

I hooked up a little Diablo 2 the other day. It's not bad looking, but it's hardly the colorless, dark palate that some folks think Diablo 3 should be. Some of the levels are down right gaudy.

And, in response to nin, after playing Too Human a couple times, I have done a 180 on the game. I'm now really looking forward to it.
This comment was edited on Aug 5, 20:47.

I am impressed with the graphics and sound on some of the games. The controls always seem to be problematic on things like FPS though. I think a Supreme Commander or Gal Civ 2 port would be the end of me.

Sequel: Minor Skirmishes

Nice review Jaguar, I'm a fan.


This comment was edited on Aug 5, 20:25.

The one thing I think I am missing in GTA is a sense of ridiculous over-the-topness. I'm hoping for that here.

I liked Geometry Wars Evolved. It was okay, but I sucked, and right about the time all the snakes showed up I died. A lot. My ADD would take over and shiny things were everywhere...it became too much.

Geometry Wars 2 is one of those games I think I will play for 5 minutes with and end up playing for an hour. Why? Because on my second run through of wave I'll score 800,000 and think I can do better...on my 23rd run through I'm at 15,000.