Kxmode wrote on Aug 18, 2022, 16:46:
No doubt, "the book is better." But plenty of series and films took liberties with the source material that turned out well. Examples include The Neverending Story, Forrest Gump, The Princess Bride, The Shining, and Jurassic Park. It's not fair to say everything that deviates from the source material sucks. GOT is an example of what happens when you try to merge two different writing styles that clash. A.I. Artificial Intelligence was another example where Stephen Spielberg's style didn't mix well with Stanley Kubrick's, and the difference became jarring, especially at the end.

I agree with your point(s) but I think the DEGREE of liberties taken factors into this a lot for more (for me at least). Jackson's Lord Of The Rings trilogy was good enough that I could overlook the few notable discrepencies with the books (e.g. Arwen sub-plot, elves at Helms Deep, changes to Faramir's character etc.). Even with those niggles, I enjoyed and appreciated what Jackson had achieved. But with the Hobbit adaptations, there was far too much unecessary made-up filler that made them more of a slog then enjoyable (and it seems pretty evident that breaking a fairly short book into three sprawling films was obviously Warner Bros milking it for all the cash they could get). I'm incredibly dubious about the Amazon show because they are trying to wring seasons of TV out of some brief appendix notes from LotR - which means most of what they'll be presenting will not only be massively condensed chronologically, but it also won't essentially "be Tolkien" because the stories they are trying to tell weren't even (mostly) written out as proper narratives by Tolkien himself.

jacobvandy wrote on Aug 18, 2022, 14:58:
Other opportunities include exploring additional movies based on iconic characters such as Gandalf, Aragorn, Gollum, Galadriel, Eowyn and other characters from the literary works of J.R.R. Tolkien, and continue to provide new opportunities for fans to explore this fictive world through merchandising and other experiences.

Ugh, this jumped out at me from the press statement too. After the unnecessarily-bloated Hobbit trilogy and the overly-expensive Amazon TV series coming up (which looks pretty enough but it's clear that a LOT of liberties are being taken), I'm really not looking forward to any more adaptations of Tolkien's work. The last seasons of Game of Thrones are arguably evidence that once you start making up your own shit for lack of proper source material, the quality of output is likely going to go downhill fast.

heroin wrote on Aug 15, 2022, 19:59:
He's the original Chris Roberts, must be their Origin roots after EA killed them. Ultima VII was great, but so was UO - for the time at least.

Let's also not forget Molyneux - another one whose best work came before EA waltzed in and screwed things up.

Meh. With no real information about what kind of game this is, it's kinda hard to muster any interest. Given Tolkien-based games have been a mixed bag ever since The Hobbit adventure game back in the early 80s, this could go either way - if it even sees the light of day (remembering Amazon's failed LOTR MMO last year).

Inasmuch as I'm almost bored to death with open world games now, I would admittedly be interested in wandering around in a Middle-Earth open world. Granted, LOTRO pretty much covers all that already but it's 15 years old and certainly showing its age.

RedEye9 wrote on Aug 14, 2022, 13:01:
Adios Elden Ring

It'll probably be back - it's vanished before then reappeared again. I'm more curious as to why the sudden resurgence of Cyberpunk 2077?

Well, what a surprise?

I guess they looked at the recent Resident Evil remakes and decided they wanted some of that pie - since, you know, Konami don't seem to be bothered about jumping in with a Silent Hill 2 remake.

TBH I fully expected this article to be about the return of Diablo 3's infamous auction house.

Has Elden Ring officially made it into the all-time Top Ten Steam Games yet?

Meh, I think I'm done with this franchise - even for free. I've finished four of the five previous games (excluding 2) and I get the general impression that 6 is the same old thing with a new coat of paint.

I see so many people asking for an Alien: Isolation sequel but it seems developers are more content to milk that Aliens license cow instead.

The first CoH was fantastic. The second....not so much.

fujiJuice wrote on Jul 8, 2022, 09:41:
A gun similar to Judge Dredd that can switch firing modes/types would be cool.

Ironically, Robocop was originally supposed to be a Judge Dredd movie but they couldn't secure the license.

fujiJuice wrote on Jul 2, 2022, 10:49:
Don't forget Tron 2.0 and Alien vs Predator 2. Monolith made some awesome games.

Also No-One Lives Forever and F.E.A.R. too.

Blood was a solid title - but not $150 worth of solid, even with all that fluff.

*gasp* No Elden RIng?!!!

Was interested in this but the word is that you need very good team co-ordination - which means playing with randoms is probably not a good idea. I don't have any friends who play it, so I guess that keeps it off my wishlist.

I still have a copy of the last Starship Troopers RTS (Terran Ascendency) which was pretty enjoyable back in the day (22 years ago!). I tried the demo for this one and it didn't really grab me. Still, I may give it a second look - reviews seem to be.....not terrible

Hahahaha. I thought I recognized this trailer back when it was originally for Dead Island 2.

The gameplay screenshots on the Steam page indicate that it's a squad-based RTS.

Never played the original so I'll probably give the PC version a look when it shows up.