This is not a BFx fanboi talking, but what in the hell did ET:QW do to pick up such a cultlike prerelease-stage following? You guys are hyping this game like people hyped TF2.

I'm seriously uneducated on ET:QW...but its going to be on a modified version of id's engine for doom3, yes? Wasn't multiplayer support for that engine virtually nonexistant? Educate me so that I, too, can praise a game that hasn't delivered anything yet. My main concern is that the game will be overhyped and overbitched once its released and people are let down by their Godly expectations.

Wait! I know what it is...they got "that guy" to narrate their trailer! (the one with the raspy voice that narrates 95% of movie trailers and television shows)

EDIT: Is it because it's related to Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory? Which, might I add, was a fantastic game. Might I also remind people of what Tribes:Vengeance did to the Tribes legacy.


This comment was edited on Mar 21, 21:16.

Yeah, this does all make me even more happy that I didn't purchase the booster pack.

I wonder if this is the response EA/DICE expected this PC Gamer sneak peak would get? I'm sure they have someone reading the larger news sites getting feedback, and potentially ideas for making the product successful.

I'm going to jump on the bandwagon and agree that I have no expectations of them delivering this game by Fall 2006 -- not unless its basically a futuristic mod of BF2 with no graphic or gameplay enhancements whatsoever.

...I'm sure it'll probably be an alright game, disregarding any bugs, but it just seems way too close on the heels of BF2. Without more gameplay modes I think I'll find it hard to play it for more than a month or two without becoming bored.

Cause its letting you know that yet another game in your future will look exactly the same as the rest?

relative to all the crap they have to go through to do a retail store release it is instantaneous

Are these the friends that make the game fun?

The files are appropriately in place on the EA FTP server now if you haven't downloaded them yet.

You're so melodramatic...

I'm not "pretending" I'm a better person -- I said I enjoy games, too. I'm merely admitting that dedicating obscene amounts of time to gaming is unproductive and wasteful.

I also refuse to believe that many people come close to realizing their full potential. It doesn't take an Einstein to be successful, but merely someone who puts in the required effort -- our(U.S) education system is a total joke, and from day 1 your potential is belittled and underchallenged.

Am I telling people what to do? No, but if someone recognizes that they need help (or that their child does) then they should be able to get the information they need and I think educating people of this fairly common addiction is certainly not hurting anything.

This comment was edited on Mar 10, 03:20.

As for your overall statement, it seems like you are saying that games are a waste of time. If you don't feel that games are meaningful, perhaps you should look into another hobby.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy games as much as the next guy, and certainly play more than I should. My point is -- look at the man hours that go into various online games per week, and instead imagine those man hours going into things that could better society(scholarly research, community service) or better that person's way of life even(get out and exercise, get a job).

I don't think the act of playing a game is meaningful, no, but it is there to entertain. I think entertainment is an unncessary want, not a necessary need. In general, I see putting that much time into entertainment as a selfish act.
I don't have to think games are meaningful for me to enjoy playing them -- they're that bowl of icecream after dinner, that day you laid out of work cause you wanted to, that night you had a little more to drink than you should have, that shirt you bought that maybe you shouldn't have -- life's simple indulgences that can be overindulged.

You don't have to agree with me because its just my opinion, but if nothing else maybe you'll think about it for one second.

Disregarding the "violent" part of their concern -- I do very seriously believe there are a large number of people who having an online gaming addiction. I feel sorry for these kids (and adults) who play games like BF2, CSS, WoW, etc. 20-50hrs/week -- because one day they're going to look back and realize the many other more meaningful and productive ways that time could have been spent, and the many relationships that it can compromise (both platonic and not).

I think my main concern is that sure, you make some relationships through these games, but in 20 years do you really think you'll know most and/or any of these people? There's something to be said for being able to call up that childhood friend and reminisce over your childhood. Well, when 1/4 to 1/3 of your week (and therefore your life) was spent glued to a screen playing with people you'll never really know I find it hard to believe you'll form those relationships.

This certainly isn't a majority of people that I'm speaking of, but I'm sure that some of you have observed some of these people and have thought similar things.

Since you are all asking what is/isn't fixed...

straight from the *.txt file on the EA FTP server:

Battlefield 2™: V1.21
ReadMe File
February 28, 2006
================================================================================

================================================================================
Patch v1.21
================================================================================

BUG FIXES
- Fixed the Hmmwv with TOW crash on Battlefield 2: Special Forces maps
- Fixed the Battle Recorder crash
- Fixed the screen capture
- Fixed the issue with Pixel Shader 1.4 video cards
- Fixed the issue that caused heat seeking missiles to stick to oil towers
- Fixed the issue that caused heat seaking missiles to ziz-zag
- Reduced the maximum number of claymores that can be dropped to 2
- Fixed the Server Browser filter to enable search by map name
- Fixed the error in Client - Server communication causing sound, animation and other
sync issues.

...granted, this isn't to say all of the forementioned fixes were indeed fixed.


This comment was edited on Mar 9, 19:09.

I really enjoyed the game as well, but I lost patience with how long it took them to patch the rampant cheating that occured on its release. Further, even with recorded games as evidence they neglected to remove cheating players from the ladder -- even though they took up several of the top 10 slots.

Just out of curiosity but what did Valve do to screw up TFC?

To keep it really brief...

Let's just say the accuracy of Valve's port of CS --> CSS was nothing like that of the port of TF1/QWTF --> TFC

This fragmented the TF community because there were some that DID like TFC, but it is my opinion, based on the numerous reviews released at the time, that the majority of TF players did not like the TFC product...and that was coupled with the frustration at the time with TF2 not being released as a HL1 mod -- the second time TF2 had been pushed off of a platform (there were previous assertions of a release on Quake2).

I mean, why else would that fanbase die out? At its time TF was THE most popular first person shooter -- hence why Valve wanted to do the sequel. Valve wanted these players to buy their game. That's exactly why they made CSS -- they wanted a way to persuade the CS player base (now the largest player base) to buy another of their products (not that they had any reason not to do so -- everyone wanted to buy HL2).

People hadn't been waiting for a direct port of TF --> TFC, but waiting for TF --> TF2. It all looks really funny now to look back on the screenshots Valve was releasing -- especially given the level of development that never happened, even though that wasn't apparent until later.

This comment was edited on Mar 2, 19:24.

My opinion of the popularity of CS? It was in the right place at the right time. Quake1/Quakeworld TF (QWTF) was an extremely fun and popular game for its time, but broadband was not as widely available. When TFC came along valve botched up what was previously an excellent game with a large following. Then CS team came along about 4 months after the release of TFC and released beta 1 of CS, the first significant HL1 mod and a fairly substantial release consisting of 3 levels (prison, mansion, and that warehouse map...forget its name). Goose et al. did a good job of following up with releases, to a mod that had no competition (like I said previously, valve botched TFC -- a large portion of the QWTF community felt that way about it), and fixed and added features that a community wanted. The mod certainly wasn't taking competition from QWTF because HL1 had superior graphics, and this mattered to a lot of people who had looked forward so greatly to TFC (which was a replacement to the alleged and mythical TF2 that was SUPPOSED to be released for HL1...but that, too, is another rant) and had been let down by what Valve delivered. Tribes1 was also very popular at this time -- further taking from the QWTF player base.

Personally, I was bored for CS by beta 4, but that's another story...

The time was now approximately 4 years after the first version of QWTF was released and broadband was much more accessible to a large portion of the US. When QWTF came out dialup BY FAR was the most common internet connection and this, in general, made online gaming less attractive and popular. Remember the days of high ping bastard (HPB) and low ping bastard (LPB)?? When LPBs were a minority that often took flak from HPBs? Today HPBs take flak from LPBs and are kicked "for lagging the server" -- but back then a good LPB player was equally harassed and removed from servers where everyone else was HPB.

...a lot of ramble, but in summary -- I think CS became so popular because it was the best alternative at a time when online gaming was more feasible. If the infrastructure for broadband had been in place 4-5 years earlier, and if Valve hadn't failed to deliver TF2 and subsequently delivered a pathetic vision of "TF Classic" -- effectively pissing on a large player base, I think there would be a more cult-like following of the TF series and CS might not be what it is today. Further, if another mod team had had it together and released more closely to CS, that, too, might have also neutered CS in its early stages -- but Goose et al. were insightful and were developing the models from CS even before HL1 was released.

CS was a lot of peoples' first online game that they really got into and dumped a lot of time into, and much like other firsts in life, people have a hard time letting it go. I'll admit my "first" was QWTF, so perhaps I'm biased -- but now, 10 years later, that first has definately came and gone. I'm sure the people who started on Quake2, Tribes1, Tribes2, HL1/CS, Quake3A, yadda, yadda, yadda feel the same way about their "first" game -- they still hold a fondness for it. I just think that CS had a larger pool of people who made it their first.

CS is not a perfect game. It was simply in the right place(HL1, a game racking up awards and getting publicity) at the right time(No mod competition, broadband more widely available, many newcomers to online gaming). THIS is why all of the CS copycat mods have not been successful.

This comment was edited on Mar 2, 11:54.

So doesn't this kind of turn "Episode 1" into HL3? I can't think of many game expansions that have been standalone.

Not that I'm saying this game should be worthy of HL3 -- for 4-6 hours of playable content.

Just thought I would also post and say that I haven't been having any performance issues with the new patch -- and I play on a LAPTOP! ...but anyhow, I understand certain chipsets are having issues, and hopefully you guys will have a solution soon -- possibly from your video card manufacturers with godspeed.

As far as the gameplay changes:
- The support class does seem like it was possibly made a little too accurate or too damaging -- I think the accuracy could be considered acceptable if the damage was decreased slightly.
- I think the AA is appropriate. With time the pilots will adapt to it and, as someone else previously mentioned, the range of the AA has been significantly decreased. Bottomline -- a jeep should not be more effective at anti-air than a stinger, as was previously. I think the main problem is that people came to rely too strongly on the previously unbalanced air superiority.
-I don't think that me not being able to throw C4 or mines while jumping is the end of the world for me -- people who say such are melodramatic, imho.


I would like the TOW bug in Night Flight and Leviathan to be fixed, and to possibly see at least 1 or 2 maps added similarly to how they added Wake Island 2007.


This comment was edited on Feb 17, 01:04.

Never said it was rigorous -- just slow. Anyone who's worked in the corporate world understands that. "So what did you do at work today, honey?" -- "Oh, I checked my email a few hundred times, sat in meetings where we discussed the happenings of other meetings, and waited on someone else to get something to me so that I could do my job"

Ahhh... that sucks, I like playing Night Flight. Eliminating two maps is a big deal when you only have like 8 maps available (for ranked play).

*Commercial announcer voice* "Download BF2 v1.2! -- experience it now with 75% the previous content!"

Hopefully they'll be able to manage a server-side fix. If not it'll probably be 3 weeks at the earliest before they can go through their testing and release procedure.
This comment was edited on Feb 16, 17:37.

sponge wrote:
As for the video and domain, I'm skeptical. The video clearly says "2003" at the bottom right.

How does it clearly say 2003? The resolution on this video is terrible. If you freeze the video at the very beginning the text is most discernable due to the solid background and it looks something like 2005 09-05 to me. Here's a like to a screenshot I captured for others' opinions:
http://www4.ncsu.edu/~jesemone/blues/date.tif


original video link (posted below by Hump):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoYYUp_PXCY

This comment was edited on Feb 16, 02:01.