I'm with Gandhi and Dades on this. I truly hope this is a console version of Diablo 3. I have the first Diablo for PS1, it's a little goofy on the controls, but it's playable. Now days I bet they can make it sing interface wise, especially since they have a few more buttons.

But what worries me is that they may be trying to make a console client for WoW since it is already being reported starting a real decline and other online games are moving in to that area.

This comment was edited on Mar 27, 2009, 16:12.

Cyberspace real estate is a term that has been used more than once. Big fights over ethereal information and the rights to it is all the rage. Virtual property is another. Virtual items already trade for real world currency. It's only a logical step that if you were to let imagination and some savvy, well motivated attorneys loose on the concept, that a case could be made that WoW has the population of a nation, a real world independent economy, is already self governing, and deserves "Sovereignty".

I also think that since virtual goods being traded and sold is being endorsed now by the industry, that the act of condoning and even managing/profiting from item trading immediately conveys ownership of the property by a given seller/buyer. But I am not an attorney and it's all my layman's point of view. It's certainly an interesting subject to think about.

I am looking forward to inFAMOUS. It looks to try and achieve the over the top game play we thought we would get with Force Unleashed, in what appears to be more of an open world environment. It's still months away, but it does look interesting.

Yes there will be more consoles. Resident Evil will be out in 3-4 at most. PixelJunk needs to focus on another Monsters addition or better yet, PJM 2.

Damn, first the Wii and now iphone. Where's our gorgeous 1080p with Rock Band soundtrack (and our own MP3s) and yes, DJ Atomica... Based on SSX3, full mountain run with seamless loads. One game that truly still hasn't made it to the next level. I would love to see all the SSX courses of the past included along with a new mountain (ok maybe that's asking for too much on the older courses but it would sure be cool).

As the lesser of of evils amongst technology that doesn't really make an impact on the problem, this so far is the least intrusive. But still irrelevant. It also doesn't address the emerging balogney where you download most the game you need to play after purchase. It's not going to do anything but annoy people who buy it like most DRM. Especially guys under internet blackout in the military.

This frenzy of trying all these different things with paying customers is half baked and unethical at best. At worst it's killing PC gaming after already pretty much handing consoles the gaming lionshare of the market. Seriously, I don't even know why I bother responding to DRM issues anymore, as I have long moved on from PC gaming in general. All I reap in return is a response from people that belittle and act like schoolyard bullies when faced with issues. More misbehaving at best.

This PC industry is like a small child that never wants to grow up, wants to sell something and keep it too. It wants to be heard by the government (Daddy) while stepping on siblings and playmates. It wants it's way and damn anyone else that get's in it's way. Even if it hurts PC gaming. Out of control, temper tantrums, with little logic and motivated by greed and it WANTS WHAT IT WANTS, AND IT WANTS IT NOW! Misbehaving wildly in a world where many of the companies and it's citizens are wildly misbehaving as well. It's no wonder many gamers are taking shelter by choosing to console game instead. It may not be heaven, but it's not PC Hell.

@Flatline - Whether it will lead to trouble is just speculation. The environment isn't favorable for a satisfactory result. If you really must clip parts of several posts to make a point, there's really no need discussing an ancient technology like watermarking with you.

Music, Movies, and Software are all in the same mire, and they are working together to try and solve it. Not a bad thing really as long as it doesn't dictate and infringe upon reasonable use and ownership. But getting one side of a symbiotic relationship in on the issues, while barring the other is asking for trouble, and I think that's what will come of it. But who knows, that's just speculation.

Why is this so hard for some of you to understand?

Piracy concerns overstated and fanned to epidemic levels... Check!
Pirating elevated to rico like standards and allow for seizure of pirates property... Check!
RIAA rampages suing people left and right over infringement but then agress to calm down... Check!
Obama gets ellected and designates 2 huge RIAA people to important poisitions in his administration... Check!
Information industry based countries swirling in financial turmoil and looking to the US for help... Check!

I could go on and on but here are links to the "Top Secret" treaty news coverage and discussion. It is a matter of national security that this treaty is kept from our eyes according to the government.

http://www.gamepolitics.com/2009/03/16/report-video-game-biz-lobbyist-cleared-secret-ip-treaty-info

http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/03/13/1446206&tid=153

Half of it is probably pretty angering to consumers in general, but I would also think it would reveal plans, tactics, techniques, technology and methods to deter piracy. I have seen huge stings several times over the decades. It's about time for another.

Best way to avoid anything that happens, if it happens, is not to pirate.

This comment was edited on Mar 24, 2009, 22:33.

The writing is on the wall if you have been following the news stories. Pirate at your own risk.

That way, they can track *who* leaked the copy of the game that eventually became warez.

Which probably leads in to the top secret multinational treaty that is being finalized along with the obvious cabinet member appointments from RIAA. It all adds up to some serious rooting out of piracy on a large scale. Not worried here as I don't pirate nor distribute my stuff. But to me it's fairly obvious something large is planned and if it means one day I can actually buy a PC game again, cool beans. If it doesn't reach that goal then wasted money, time and effort.

Act of War had some cool ideas, I loved the capturing of troops that are injured and surrender. The way they did air power was much easier to manage. But as Creston said, it had it's technical issues. To me the maps always felt really small due to the scale of the units (they seemed to be too big for the scale of the map and it's buildings). I still enjoyed it when it worked.

As Eraser says, this game is getting low marks. Not that I take stock in reviews enough to decide whether or not to buy the game, but it seems clumbsy controls and bad camera angles are what the complaints are about (and that does matter). Still on the fence in regards to this one as I was looking forward to it.

I think digital distribution has a place as a choice. It's 10 years (atleast) too soon to expect it to hit exceptional numbers as an exclusive primary distribution method. You can't look at consoles who have created their own hardware and markets and expect to fly as successful on a PC which is open and free, people plonked large amounts of cash and time for their rigs and don't appreciate invasion by corporate types.

On consoles I already get to buy the core game hard copy which has ceased on PC, giving consoles another advantage in my eyes and I *was* hardcore PC. I am pretty much totally out of the PC market excepts for Starcraft and Diablo 3. If and when consoles start pulling the stunts the PC market has, I will find a new hobby and play my oldies.

Military Madness. Hell yeah. Now someone is thinking. Battle Isle had a run after this. Then most folks know of the Panzer General series which I play on the DS known as Panzer Tactics. Advanced War also expanded a bit in it's own way. I am sure there are a few others using this model as well. Dai Senryaku 7 is my favorite of all time but Panzer General has the WWII thing going for it. DS7 should seriously end up on there too as I have 1 for Xbox and 2 for PS2 so they are already ready. With a name like Dai Senryaku 7, I doubt many people bought the game in the USA which makes it ripe for DLC.

This may win over guys with lots of money scared about investing at first, but it will not win over a good portion of informed PC owners. The last PC box game I bought was Red Alert on release day. The last steam sale package I bought was Jan 1st 2009.

Those dates aren't changing anytime soon. I would have bought Entrenchment on Impulse but it's digital only afaik, so I will wait for a DRM free consolidation pack if they release one, otherwise no deal.

The clear solution to this is to simply offer hard copy of the software for an additional cost and ship it a couple of weeks after the first weeks of a release and allow digital download in the mean time. You will know how many you need to order, and you will satisfy customers as well as making a small bit of profit on a minor cut of the CD mark up. I have seen this used a few other places and I take advantage of it. They don't send gold burner DVDs either, it's a production value CD/DVD.

Same thing needs to happen here and get away from selling a disc then downloading the real game. That's annoying as hell and not really going to fly with me or people like me (Dow2 and E:TW are 2 examples).

"Only 40% of Famitsu Readers Who Own Xbox 360s Actually Have Positive Satisfaction With Their Purchase."

Out the the 1871 readers who responded to this poll, only 148 of them actually were favorably satisfied with their Xbox 360.

FIXED!

I will be grabbing it for 360. However that feature list sounds dull, boring, and lifeless. It sounds like more of the same when you add it up, which isn't bad, just isn't really selling the game and creating excitement.

I just played FF12 again to completion and one of the parts I actually enjoyed was the 2.5 day quest to get Turnesol. That sword destroyed everything and it was really sweet looking. Couple that with finding Excalibur in the Great Crystal (hidden in a second chest under another chest and a rare spawn) and getting Masamune from defeating Gilgamesh 2x (have to keep your party member levels at prime numbers when you face him or you get hammered hard and steal from him at 20% health on 1st fight to get some sweet gloves). I had a rocking party (yes I chose to pass on Zodiac Spear). I could of went on to make "To Ro no Ken" (Tolo Blade) which is called Wyrmhero Blade in the US version, but it was slow in speed. That was a crossover item from Dragon Quest series. DQ2 and 3 I think. That would have been another 2 day quest as well and involved fishing while solving a complex puzzle. I want to see more stuff like this in RPG games. FF12 even had Special Ops Area 5 which as low as level 27ish you could farm up 90 attack instant KO Deathdealer swords. But the funny thing is I missed those too until higher level because I didn't know about them in time.

Simply put, give us some epic quests that have substantial rewards which are optional to the story line. Give us easter eggs that have serious firepower.

Sorry mag, "the movie" was Star Trek the movie this May, not Lost. That is what will break records. I was referencing things the article said and makes sense when you read the article. Changed the post for clarity.

This comment was edited on Mar 22, 2009, 00:34.

I wouldn't classify "Fringe" as a hit. Lost however is a different story. All this speculation means nothing until we see the Star Trek movie. If it bombs why bother. I don't mean financially, as I am sure the movie will rape the box office numbers and records, but on whether it fits in to the universe properly in the minds of fans. The guys who will Tivo it (hope people are learning about tivo ratings and remembering Firefly/Enterprise).

Yeah Enterprise had it's failings, but I still wanted more at the end.

This comment was edited on Mar 22, 2009, 00:35.