Great game, when it came out.

Hobbes: BFF for life (and death!)
Luke Skywalker is coming to pew pew pew you!
Wishing somebody would remake the series with a modest budget,
Ray

I hate to say it, but I'm certainly intrigued by D4 at the moment. The attendees at QuakeCon tend to act like religious zealots, but a number of the press members that were there also came away with positive impressions of what they saw.

It sounds like it's going back to being a faster-paced game, it's bringing out the classic monsters and weapons, embraces gore and demonic imagery, is giving the player a number of movement/control options, and going back to the older gameplay style (no regenerating health, access to all the weapons, etc.) In a lot of ways, at least initially, this sounds like it could be a sequel to Doom and Doom 2.

We absolutely need to see the video that was shown along with the general gameplay, but other than maintaining the art style from D3, I really like what I've read. I'm hardly a fan of id, but I am certainly intrigued by Doom 4.
Here is to hoping that removing the cancer of Carmack makes a good game.
Still wanting a sequel to the original Quake,
Ray

It's okay, but nothing special. It's Skyrim lite with online chat. There are a number of contrasting design elements, inconsistent design issues, and a developer that is asleep at the wheel. Their idea of content is playing PVP endlessly or literally playing the game three times over - you complete one faction's story and then it casts a spell on you so you can play the other two factions' stories, just with a lot more grinding and less character leveling.
The game died in month one with buggy quests, spam, and bots.
Wait for free to play.

Surprised by how single-player focused this "MMORPG" is until the end-game,
Ray

Ehhh...why all the hype for yet another F2P title? A strange turn from the guy that brought the industry all things overly beefy and hunkering behind walls.
Can I just pay somebody $60.00 for a good, deep game?
Really hoping this is more than F2P trash,
Ray

Yes, please. Where do I hand my money over?

This and Doom really got my excited for PC gaming, back in they day, and this is one of my most beloved franchises. If they can make a good follow up, I am absolutely about this.

Wanting my System Shock sequel afterward ,
Ray Ownership rights be damned, I can always dream...

Quinn wrote on Jun 29, 2014, 20:07:
Go on and buy the shit side-scrolling degenerate bullshit titles that sate your jaded spirit. I'm not one of you, however. Go Deus Ex. Go Divinity. Go The Witcher. All that arcady non-story sidescrolling shit --> leave me alone and take all your customers somewhere else for heaven's sake!

Quinn, try being a gamer. Have fun. Try different things. Let people play what they like. Encourage them to try other things, especially different genres or more advanced, robust titles in genres they like.
Don't hate people for playing a wider range of games than you do...
Playing on a PC so I can get the (generally) best versions of varied games,
Ray

Women - the majority of the population, but woefully under-represented in gaming.

It was somewhat telling while watching the E3 presentations; my wife would routinely comment on all the male-focused games that were being presented. Who'da thunk it? I mean, coming from an industry that is often afraid to even put a female NPC on the cover of a game...
Comments in this thread are proof enough of the industry's issues.
Wanting a diverse selection of good games,
Ray

I did fine on my first playthrough, but the second one was painful - I didn't play for very much longer. As for this game, I wish it wasn't being designed for release on the "older-gen" systems and I'm not sure wonky physics and oxygen management are things that I would make a priority to add into the game.
Too much emphasize on weapon stats than player skill or gameplay.
Otherwise, this doesn't seem to change things enough (other than adding weird/annoying components) to justify a $60.00 price tag. I'll likely wait for amazing review or a Steam sale.

Wondering if HL3 will finally be confirmed next week,
Ray

Yes please!

I really liked Bastion, I'm intrigued by the design and gameplay of this game, it's only $20-$30, and the reviews are generally positive (~90%.)
Hard to justify $60 for Wolfenstein as yet another generic shooter.
Buying this and Mario Kart; not sure how Watch Dogs will turn out,
Ray

The early review seem fairly mid-range, 8/10 type of fare. There are many other exciting games I could be playing or all sorts of indie trash that is far more deserving of the money. Even for a generic Wolfenstein game, we have a number of those released already.

It's not a bad game, but I'll be skipping it until it's $20 or less and I'm not playing other more interesting stuff.
And Tech 5 keeps making games worse.
Slightly let down; hoping it was more than it seemed,
Ray

The developers are asleep at the wheel and they either...don't realize how big of an issue these things are or they are completely overwhelmed, likely because they were so blatantly unprepared, and are not communicating anything close to as much as they should be.

Were gold spammers and bots a noteworthy item in the beta, becoming a significant issue in the final release? Yep. Have the gold spammers destroyed zone chat, stopping the initial players from heavily utilizing it to form initial social bonds? Yep. Did the bots prevent players from completing the exploration dungeons? Yep. Was the guild bank duplication bug something that was reported in the beta, completely ignored by the developers, and allowed to go live in the final release, destroying the player economy? Yep. Is it hilariously pathetic how easily the spammers bypassed the developers, either jumping ahead of any half-assed restrictions that were placed on them or by simply using poor in-game systems (such as a chat window that would not let you scroll up to see the spammer and ignore them?) Yep. Was this aided by a game system that still does not let you simultaneously ignore and report spammers, instead making it a two-part process in two different screens? Yep. Are there still broken quests and events in a fairly linear game? Yep. For werewolves, are they still ridiculously weak compared to vampires, does my character's version of this ability frequently bug out, and does my wife's character's version of this ability simply not work at all? Yep. Does the game still not support exclusive fullscreen, completely preventing me from using Crossfire? Yep. Is combat based around precise timing of abilities and status of animations, but effectively broken due to the continued server lag? Yep. Are there still bugs with resetting skill points, of a character not getting all of them back? Yep. Will I have at least one in-game mail regarding gold spamming every day I play? Yep. Have I lost hours in the game ignoring and report hundreds of gold spammers and working through the clunky UI system? Yep. Is the crafting system completely out of whack with some professions being maxed by character level 15 whereas others remain woefully incomplete at the character level cap? Yep. Does the player horse frequently, repeatedly dismount you all throughout the world for no good reason? Yep.

I won't even get into the broader game or design mechanics. 95% of these items are still occurring. These morons recently posted a "top known bugs" list and it was...maybe 20 items long and had some really inane crap on it, with only one or two of the above items being addressed. Meanwhile, the botters and spammers continue on their merry way.

Regardless of anything else, the botters and spammers are killing - have killed? - the initial community and I definitely have the sense that ZeniMax is asleep at the wheel.
Their level of shock and ineptness is completel unacceptable.
Dealing with issues other games resolve a decade ago,
Ray

First off, I hate Xbox live Gold. As a multi-platform gamer, it never seemed worth the cost. I had free access to Netflix on my Wii/U, PS3/4, smart TV, Blu-ray player, cell phone, Kindle, and PC, but I couldn't access it on Xbox because I wasn't a Gold member. Also, they went out of their way to make it a difficult process to cancel.

As for Xbox 180, they never proved the worth of the Kinect, it still does not work with a high degree of accuracy, it made inferior hardware cost 25% more than a PS4. Twice now, consumers have been made fools for buying the Kinect. Going forward, if the $400.00 unit picks up any steam, they have just fractured the installed base. Though woefully underutilized, I think it was the system's single greatest advantage over the PS4.

Unless MS can buy up enough exclusives, I still don't see this being enough. For $400.00, do you want the stronger or the weaker gaming system? Do you want the one that is (currently) restricting items behind a paywall or the one that gives you easy access to applications? Do you want the mediocre paid services or that one that gives you fantastic free games on all your platforms on a monthly basis? The system that will run at 1080P or 720P?

For a single-system gamer, I would still recommend the PS4. For myself, as a multi-platform gamer, I think I may entirely skip the Xbox 180 unless it comes down to a stupidly low price or it locks up exclusives (using money to prevent better versions of games from coming out.)

The Kinect was the system's greatest strength, but also the systems' greatest weakness, if never utilized. In that regards, MS just cast a vote of no-confidence on the Kinect. From here, E3 better blow me away because I have no idea why I would want to buy the system...
And I bought a damn Wii U after all.
Wishing the PC market wasn't so constrained by the consoles,
Ray

I finished the game and am glad to be done with it. Overall, the game lacks a sense of freedom or creativity and seems to be missing focus - it's too small, linear, and constraining.

I will say the last 2-3 missions opened up a little bit, once or twice reminding me of the original games, but the game was such a chore to play.

The small levels, the AI bugs, the deflation of the looting experience, the bad story, the poor implementation of the hub system, the limited improvement in the engine, animation glitches, the massive quality disparity between various missions, the random platforming sequences, etc. There are hints of a better game in here, but the final result is a mixed bag; I blame either the developer or the tortured design process.
R.I.P. Looking Glass Studios.
Asking Eidos to stop "fixing" much better games,
Ray

Hey everybody, we know that the title just experienced a significant, last minute delay...also, the new media looks scaled down from what we previously presented...but, yeah, if you could just go ahead and give us your money, no questions asked.

That would be totally great and help us out of this bind!
It will be some really easy money, too, if you don't ask questions.
Curious as to how it actually plays,
Ray

Count me in. If they manage to hit their design targets and make a well functioning game, I will definitely buy this.
With or without panties!
Waiting for releases that come only to the PS4, X180, and PC,
Ray

It is worth $10, but it did not blow me away. It has some great melee combat, but the levels are small, linear, and there is not a lot of variety.
It wants you to build up combos, but the abilities slow down combat.
Finding little reason to use anything other than the sword,
Ray

Early reviews seem to be fairly positive. I think it screams out for a deep single-player game or some massive online component, but it's obviously "the next step" in the online deathmatch games such as CoD, BF, etc.

I'm curious to see if the bough exclusivity helps turn things around for the Xbox 180...

Waiting until later to buy it for PC; looking for more,
Ray I'm obviously not the target demographic.

I may have to see if the wife wants to do a second round of co-op. I tried selling her on the fun of the game initially, but it ended up becoming a total bore and we laughed/cursed at how we only ever got upgrades for one another, most of which were blatantly inferior to even the cheapest items on the auction house.
"We just beat the game. You said there would be fun."
Thinking the level variety was a bit bland, too,
Ray

I'm glad to know when new books/albums/movies are on the way.

Meanwhile, the gaming industry is full of liars and borders on being a payola news system.

I admit there is some weight to expectation control, but I wish the industry would stop treating me like a degenerate. I love this industry more than any other and praise the audio-visual products it creates, one that also gives gamers direct control over the fantastic worlds that are created.

But yeah, let's keep on lying...because that totally makes me want your product even more or like your company even more...
In a lot of ways, the industry acts like it dislikes the end user.
Not sure I would give Gabe such high marks for communication,
Ray

Listen, you son of a...just kidding.

I went back and edited the post. I'm not mad with anybody liking the game, but I worry about those that see no failures, weak points, or significant room for improvement.

Even more troubling are those that seem to be outright lying or that were completely dismissive of people's initial concerns, telling them to wait until the game was out, and then, having confirmation these items are in the state that initial concern was expressed about, immediately turning around and saying those items don't matter.

Anyway, wah wah, these are all problems of the first world. I don't think this game ever planned on being a true sequel to the first two games, but the inconsistent design issues (which I attribute to the developer and/or development hell) and acquiring the weak architecture of current-gen design (small environments, linear levels, confining gameplay, etc.) really frustrate me when playing this game.
R.I.P. Looking Glass Studios - 05/24/00.
Wishing I could play SP: TSoT on the PS4 with my wife,
Ray