Porsche Unleashed IS the best NFS game. If you liked the early games and never played this one, you need to find it and play it. Probably cheap by now, but still kick ass gameplay.


I drive a modified B5 Biturbo Audi S4 as my daily driver that is currently sitting at 330hp and will be around 360 after my next mods. Fun with my 6 speed manual transmission and all wheel drive. I don't plan to take this particular car past 375hp because I'm looking at keeping it only another year. The Biturbo S4's are capable of a reliable 420 (or so) horse power with mods.

I love modifying cars, although I'm on the German side of the tracks (VW, Audi, Porsche, BMW, etc). We don't typically do stickers, wings, etc. I would say the majority keep their German cars clean and sporty.

Anyway, I'm not into crappy looking body kits, coffee can exhausts, stickers, colored tires, neon, shitty fitting carbon fiber parts (or fake carbon fiber as the case may be) and all that. I do respect the work some of these guys put into their cars though, even if they aren't my thing. If Asian cars are done right, they rock. Of course that's the same with all cars.

I'm a big fan of Subaru WRX STI, Mitsu Evos, Supras, Skylines and a few other asian cars.

I'm also into a few muscle cars. One of my long term goals is to build a black '69 Chevelle SS 396 with Silver paint accents.

This reminds me, I wonder if there is a new Mischief video out yet....

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BF2 Player Name: "MindTrigger"
"Sometimes I think I'd be better off dead. No, wait, not me, you."

Creston,

I agree with you there. The other bullshit that occurs when people buy their items instead of earning them, is you get all these little fly-by-night pricks with more money than brains. They come in after buying all the good stuff you worked hard for, talk shit, play the game for 3 weeks, then quit. Since they didn't really earn the items in the game, they have zero respect for anyone who has, didn't become a part of the community through playing the game, and have no clue how hard it really is to ear some items. Most of them just go in and grief people.


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BF2 Player Name: "MindTrigger"
"Sometimes I think I'd be better off dead. No, wait, not me, you."

The part that isn't in the news about the new SWG changes is how many people QUIT because their professions were marginalized, or melted together into 9 new professions. Of course when they combined professions, they completely left out the things that made them fun. The official marketing verbage I have read on this suggests there are 9 NEW, as in "additional", professions. Not that they have been boiled down to 9 from 36 or whatever it was. Typical shady BS.

For example, my favorite SWG profession: Ranger, was now combined with some other crap to make the "spy" class. What Rangers like about being Rangers was the outdoors, hunting, survivalist aspect of it. We had camps, traps, tracking ability to help people find mobs (and other people), group camoflage for protection from dangerous mobs, etc. I can't really do it justice here without telling stories, but the point is, we loved it and it was our "home" within the game. SOE simply eliminated us along with other professions after promising WHILE THIS NEW UPDATE WAS IN DEVELOPMENT IN SECRECY, that they would be revamping the Ranger class along with the others that needed work.

You could argue that this Ranger profession was not "Star Warsy" in the first place, but then you could say that about 3/4+ of the game. They had to make Star Wars fit the MMORPG mold, and to do that they had to bring in elements of the expanded universe (books), along with a little creative license. If you read any of the myriad of Star Wars books, you can find all kinds of content that is not a part of the movies.

Something else that is important to note here is that SOE set up "In Concept", "In Development" and "In Live" forums for feedback from the community a loooong time ago. Each profession had a representative on the corresponding forum area. These correspondents had direct access to people within SOE for passing community feedback, bug reports, and suggestions. SOE has made a big deal out of being in touch with the community for SWG. This was THEIR idea, and people used it. They also created "Test Center" servers where everyone could go and help out with beta testing new features. It made the comunity feel like a real part of the game's future.

It seems this latest "revamp" developed in complete secrecy, behind the backs of the current SWG community. There were no "In Concept" posts from the devs, no "In Testing" posts, or Test Center access to the new features. No community feedback (and so no uproar), etc. They pretty much burned their hardcore base right out of the game this time. A short visit to the SWG boards will illustrate how betrayed and pissed off most people are. Oh, and I almost forgot... they JUST released the Trials of Obi-Wan expansion. Everyone went out and bought it, then they dropped this revamp bomb. How fucked up is that? This is more than the simple alienation of players who will miss their obsolete professions, it was a complete fucking BURN.

I'm curious to see how the revamp turns out. I think SOE stuck it to their base by handling it this way. I will watch for reviews as no doubt this will be reported on quit a bit. I believe the game will be dead, unless by some miracle this update works the magic of bringing the current base back to the table, and entices lots of new players.



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BF2 Player Name: "MindTrigger"
"Sometimes I think I'd be better off dead. No, wait, not me, you."

I don't agree with the Guild Wars approach, nor do I consider it an MMORPG. As many have pointed out here... it's not an MMORPG. Once you instance that much of the game, it becomes an RPG with "online" elements.

As I said in my post below though, I think *some* instancing will be required in true MMORPGs from now on though, if we all want cinematic, epic quests. Going on quests with your friends in an open MMO is still fun. Part of the adventure sometimes is having to deal with campers/gankers, and meeting people while you are out questing or hunting is how I made MANY friends in SWG. I just don't want to deal with it all the time, and I want some of my quests to be "over the top" cool.

As for the crafting system, I think you HAVE to have it. Some players want to be involved in the game without being a part of the combat system. It's a matter of subscribers. If you limit your MMORPG to combat only, you cut out a large portion of the people out there. I agree that they should have put as much effort into the questing/combat system as they did the crafting system though. As I said before, my experience was that the people who held the most accounts, spent the most time, and were "anchors" of the online SWG community were the crafters.

I actually had two accounts, one crafter and one combat so I could play whatever aspect of the game matched my mood that day.

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BF2 Player Name: "MindTrigger"
"Sometimes I think I'd be better off dead. No, wait, not me, you."

Ray (and everyone else)..

I'm starting to see and hear about these same bugs and problems infesting every large MMORPG out there. These games are so huge and complex these days, that I think they grow into monsters that cannot be tamed at some point. Just look at SWG. Have you ever taken the time to think about how friggin complicated the resource harvesting and crafting system alone in SWG is?

For those of you who have never played SWG and have no idea about the resource/harvesting/crafting system, I won't even bother to try to explain it to you. You could litterally write a 300+ page instruction manual about this aspect of the game alone. It's not something you just walk into, and the best crafters in the game are some of the most intelligent players, not to mention the players spending the most time and money on the game.

I played as a successful Master Weaponsmith for a long time, and there were people out there that knew little nuances I never did have time to explore (because I couldn't play 8-12 hours a day), which made their crafted items better than my "excellent" items. It's insane. I have to say I was blown away by the whole system once I had a grasp of it, which took a lot of play time. Hell, they even have SURVEYING so you can go out and find the best metals, ores, gemstones, chemicals, etc for harvesting, then place harvestor machines which had to be fed money and resources themselves to operate. Want a short lesson in manufacturing process? Become a Master Weaponsmith and make some Rocket Launchers. As far as I know, no other game has a crafting system that is even close to being this deep. Experimentation? Awesome.

When I played as a Ranger, I did contract hunting. It took a ton of time and effort for me to keep track of the animal resources alone so I knew what to hunt, what the stats were, what planet it was on, which animal, what the important crafters (the ones who pay well) needed, etc. I had to keep a friggin notebook and have regularly scheduled play sessions where all I did was kill animals to get resource stats. Yeah, it sounds kinds like a "real job", but it was fun. I loved hunting. Most of the time I could care less about the PVP shit going on. Still, that was only one small PART of the crafting sytem.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, I find it much harder to jump on SOE's shit about a few game bugs than many of you do. While I agree that making retarded decisions like the new revamp coming down the line is inexcusable, I don't think ANY game developer could quickly "fix" this game. On this same token, I really have no tolerance for simplified games anymore either. SWG's depth added a lot to the experince for me, even if it created other problems.

As for longevity, some of the depth was misplaced, or not evenly distributed enough through the other aspects of the game. The depth of the questing system was a joke, and eventually that is what kills the game for me and most other players. Once the adventure/exploration aspect dries up, no amount of crafting or profession grinding will keep me interested. I'm one of those people who opted out of grinding toward Jedi because I didn't sign up for SWG just to mechanically grind levels.

Those of you who bitch about instancing really need to think about it for a moment. While I do NOT want the majority of the game to be instanced like Guild Wars is, I do think a certain amount of it is going to be Required from now on in order to make the adventure aspect of these games actually fun (and gank free). LOTRO is going to be about 10-20% instanced when it comes to quests, and I think this is a great idea. It allows the game developers to make the adventures much more exciting and scripted. It keeps the camping gankers out of your fun. There is a place for non-instanced quests, and I would never suggest they are completely removed from an MMO-RPG. The truly cinematic and epic quests we all want to see in these games will HAVE to be instanced though.

Any way you look at it, MMO games are doomed to either mind-numbing simplicity, or uncontrollable chaos until they figure out a way to manage these gigantic projects better.


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BF2 Player Name: "MindTrigger"
"Sometimes I think I'd be better off dead. No, wait, not me, you."

I really, REALLY enjoyed the year+ I played this game, but the lack of compelling content eventually bored me out of the game. Once the adventure and fresheness ran out, all that was left was the social aspect. As much fun as I had with my friends on there, I wasn't down for paying for a glorified chat room.

I'm keeping an eye on it, but I don't have much hope for it. Especially since they took my favorite profession out of the game in this next "revamp". I loved the hunting, tracking, camping, aspect of being an SWG Ranger. Now Rangers are no more and they have dumbed down 40 or so other professions to 9. No thanks, SOE.

On this same subject, it's no secret around here that i HATE Fantasy based games, MMO's included. However, since there are no decent sci-fi (or any other type) of MMO's coming out in the next couple years, I decided to keep an eye on LOTRO. It actually looks very cool, and it's not the typical gayed up version of Fantasy in my opinion. Seems to be much more like the movie in look and feel, which I am down for 100%. I hope it turns out to be a good game, I just may play it.

LOTR, especially the recent movies, have a "different" feel to them in my opinion than all the other Fantasy crap that is around. I can't put my finger on it, but my allergic reaction to elves, dwarves and wizzards seems to go away when I am immersed in LOTR content.

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BF2 Player Name: "MindTrigger"
"Sometimes I think I'd be better off dead. No, wait, not me, you."

(In the style of a Geico commercial)

"Lost another engine license to Epic"

Looks like a couple companies that relied on engine sales (id, Valve) missed the boat this time around.

The downside of this is that I'm going to be sick and friggin tired of seeing the Unreal 3 engine after a very short time when all these new games come out.

I didn't really care for the cartoony look of previous unreal based games, and I could spot the engine EVERY time when I picked up a game. I know this engine is better looking. I hope it can be made to look "different" in each game though.

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BF2 Player Name: "MindTrigger"
"Sometimes I think I'd be better off dead. No, wait, not me, you."

Holy Shit!

I've seen VRML 3D websites that look better than this game!

Effin' A Cotton, Effffffinn Aaaaaaa!

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BF2 Player Name: "MindTrigger"
"Sometimes I think I'd be better off dead. No, wait, not me, you."

damn. I might be in a bad mood tonight... lol

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BF2 Player Name: "MindTrigger"
"Sometimes I think I'd be better off dead. No, wait, not me, you."

What did they do Steal the Tribes engine? Also cracks me up that they couldn't make a sci-fi without putting some elf looking bastards in it.

Come on now.. say it with me.. "crap".

in an unprecedented move Codemasters has announced that fansite creators will be given preferential access to the BETA as spaces remain

The only thing unprecedented about this is that they actually announced it. Every game I've ever played has done this.

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BF2 Player Name: "MindTrigger"
"Sometimes I think I'd be better off dead. No, wait, not me, you."

Just checked out D&D Online (yet another gay ass fantasy game). What's the deal? Is it a prerequisite of MMORPG development that you make the graphics as shitty looking as possible? This game looks no better than SWG does and SWG is a 2-3 years old now.

I guess they figure the peter puffers who would play a game like that don't really know what good graphics are, so why bother. I mean if they are willing to choke down another Fantasy game, they will like anything.

How bout a WWII Fantasy alternate universe? What the hell eh? Lets pork the last drop out of those two abused subjects.



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BF2 Player Name: "MindTrigger"
"Sometimes I think I'd be better off dead. No, wait, not me, you."

SWG is not that bad of a game. I did leave it because the 'adventure' dried up for me, but I loved the game world and the people. I tried friggin EQ2, and it sucked balls compared to SWG. What else is around for someone who wants to play a sci-fi MMORPG? Eve? Please. Matrix Online? Joke.

Point is, the game has plenty of room to grow, and since there isn't another decent sci-fi MMOPRPG on the horizon, why not give them a chance? At least they were smart enough to develop a sci-fi. Think of all the fuckin asshat developers out there creating another myriad of gay fantasy based games.

Don't listen to the Anti-SOE whiners around here. If you want to try SWG, it's cheap and it's fun. If you get yourself into the right content, it has lots of adventure in it, especially if you get into a cool guild. Sounds like they are dedicated to adding a lot more to the game as well.

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BF2 Player Name: "MindTrigger"
"Sometimes I think I'd be better off dead. No, wait, not me, you."

Agreed. I played ALL of the NFS games, and Porsche Unleashed was the best in my opinion. I had some fun with Underground 2, but it got old after a short while.

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BF2 Player Name: "MindTrigger"
"Sometimes I think I'd be better off dead. No, wait, not me, you."

Maybe they are turning it into an MMORPG game so "the rest of us" don't have to play fuckin Fantasy style games...

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BF2 Player Name: "MindTrigger"
"Sometimes I think I'd be better off dead. No, wait, not me, you."

Unless there are some rapid developments, I doubt we will hear a peep about Star Trek Online until 2007.

I just can't help think about what morons game dev companies are to continue making more and more fantasy games. Sure there will always be some around... but nearly ALL of them? Get online and look at the lists of MMORPG games in development. It's like 90% Fantasy. The bad thing is, I don't see anything in the 10% I'm interested in that is worth looking forward to. Note to game devs: Not everyone likes Fantasy based games. Hell, I'd play a damn western with 6 shooters and all, and I hate country music! :p

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BF2 Player Name: "MindTrigger"
"Sometimes I think I'd be better off dead. No, wait, not me, you."

I would have been inclined to play GW, if they didn't take the social aspect of MMORPG games out by making everything instanced.

As for SONY, I don't really see what all the trendy bitching is about. I think Sony suffers from "Microsoft Syndrome" where all the little gamer kids out there think it's fun to complain about large corporations for the sake of complaining. I played Star Wars Galaxies for over a year, and I have nothing bad to say about Sony. Sure, they make some bad decisions sometimes, but so does everyone else.

As long as this "free" game isn't a Fantasy game, I will check it out. I friggin HATE Dungeons and Dragons crap. I remember when I was in high school there was this dork squad who played D&D in the library at lunch time. How many of you were in the dork squad? lol

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BF2 Player Name: "MindTrigger"
"Sometimes I think I'd be better off dead. No, wait, not me, you."

Ledge,

Valve started working on the ENGINE for HL2 right after HL1, the actual game came much later. You = wrong. Remember, most companies license an engine, then take a couple years to release a title these days. Engine dev is left to the best of the best.


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BF2 Player Name: "MindTrigger"
"Sometimes I think I'd be better off dead. No, wait, not me, you."

This comment was edited on Oct 30, 22:44.

Man, this is a real bummer. When a game slips this bad, it's bound to head straight to the bargain bin when it comes out, if it ever does.

I was really looking forward to this game. October 2006? Ghey.

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BF2 Player Name: "MindTrigger"
"Sometimes I think I'd be better off dead. No, wait, not me, you."

Tumbler,

Source feels old and obsolete compared to fucking WHAT? I have every new shooter out right now, and NONE of them look/feel as nice as source. You must have a shitbag video card or something. Fear doesn't look this good, that's for sure. Quake 4? Don't make me laugh.

What uber-game are you playing that makes source seem obsolete?? Pocket-pinball doesn't count...

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BF2 Player Name: "MindTrigger"
"Sometimes I think I'd be better off dead. No, wait, not me, you."

Why No Hell Theme??

Welcome to conservative, politically correct, religious UNITED STATES of AMERICA! Making a movie about Hell is a SIN didn't ya know?

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BF2 Player Name: "MindTrigger"
"Sometimes I think I'd be better off dead. No, wait, not me, you."