To borrow a phrase from X-Men: Onslaught: "The pollution of the Star Wars universe begins here!" What, the games being produced now aren't bad enough in the classic and Phantom Menace timeframes? Now they have to open up whole new eras of the Star Wars universe to have sucky games in?

Then again, it's Bioware...who knows. The way it is now, though, it's hard to remember the days when a Star Wars game was a guaranteed good time. Now the opposite is pretty much the case. Still looking forward to Jedi Knight 2, because Raven is doing it, but it seems like anything developed in-house at LucasArts is doomed to be mediocre.

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Bravo, I say. I hope that eventually computer games come in standard DVD boxes; be much easier to store them, on a bookcase with the spines facing out, rather than have to junk the boxes, put the manuals somewhere else (and since they're all different sizes you have to make sure the smaller ones are on top, etc.), and then put the game jewel cases on the rotater. True, DVD cases are a little thin for the huge-manualled games, but then, most games don't really need huge manuals. But wait...I write computer game strategy guides...so smaller manuals might equal less information...might lead more people to buy strategy guides...hmm, I think DVD cases should be mandatory from now on.

Ah, I don't know. Anyone remember when CD's came in those big cardboard boxes in the early 90's? They cut that out pretty quick once everyone slapped themselves on the forehead and realized that there wasn't really any point; I imagine this'll be the same situation within a year or so. Sure, Falcon 5.0 will have the same big binder deal, but I imagine most games will get with the program sooner or later. I find myself in the awkward position of applauding EA...what has the world come to?

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the ostriches of the gaming world. There's a few threads about this over on diabloii.net; I think there are enough posts to give the problem some veracity in most people's eyes.

http://forum.diabloii.net/forumwww/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=comforum&Number=243697&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=

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Why would a health pack "explode with lethal force"? Or is that the explosive-lined variety of health pack?

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Sneaking in under the wire there, Blue.

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Boy, I would hate not to be "key" employee right about now.

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Pitfall? Coolest logo ever. Hard game, though.

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"Warren Spector from Ion Storm, which created Deus Ex, a game where players assume the role of an agent in highly immersive, emotionally charged 3-D environments."

I don't see them calling it a simulation.... I think they were just talking to him because he's a smart guy, with a lot of ideas on gaming in general. Just because he's not known for creating simulations doesn't mean he can't add to a discussion on the topic.

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arm...leg...leg...body...armpit? Her neck must be a foot long.

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I have a feeling that we'll never see Grand Theft Anything on a Nintendo system. What an incredible game GTA3 is, though...

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"But broadening your horizons isn't necessarily a bad thing, and we are working with Nerve (the team that developed RTCW Multiplayer for us) on an all new game franchise that will be a co-operative focused multiplayer game."

Has this been in the news at all? I don't remember hearing anything about it.

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I remember in that big Gamespot article Kojima said that the Japanese and European versions would have all the extra stuff, and that "in this case it pays off to wait" or something like that. To which I say, fuck that! I would've waited a few extra months if it means I got the same game that the rest of the world would get, but I don't have the option to do so, because the game was rushed out in North America to hit stores before the holidays. I can't wait - you forced my hand, Kojima. The kicker is that he's not only a game designer, he's also a vice president of Konami, so he knew the business implications of releasing the game before or after Christmas in the U.S., so he decided to get it out here first so that it'd make more money. And now the other regions are going to get all the goodies, even though MGS1 was a much bigger hit in the U.S. than it was in Japan. Ah well, maybe they'll do a classics version in a couple of years, but even if they do, it'll be too little too late. The game was kind of disappointing anyhow.

But Final Fantasy X is spot on the money. Exceeded my expectations, but that's probably because I barely saw anything of it before I bought it. Hopefully Episode 2 will be the same way...I haven't even seen the trailers for it yet. Hoping to keep myself pure until May. Don't let me down, Lucas.

God, how I ramble.

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Why on earth would you encode a audio interview at 192 kb/sec?

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Wait, he did Interstate 76? Man, I remember that music...that speaks well for his versatility. He did some good stuff for the Amen game that was released on mp3.com a while back, but I don't see it on there now. Gotta love a song that's named "Escape from a Sinking Aircraft Carrier".

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To this day, the Total Annihilation CD is the only computer game I have that I can pop into my CD player and listen to as an audio CD. What's more, it's the only computer game I have where I'd actually want to do that...

http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/19/jeremy_soule.html

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I don't know; I hate to bring up console vs. PC, but console RPG's generally seem to have much more diverse enemies than the standard D&D fare found in PC games. I've been playing through FFX, and it's really wonderful to not see the same repetitive humanoid enemies over and over again. I'm not saying that consoles are better than PC's, I'm just commenting on this specific issue.

And I'm not sure what monster design has to do with helping people learn game concepts. Maybe having a dragon on the box helps mark it as a fantasy, but I still would love to see a little more variety in console RPG's. I understand the deep-rooted D&D influences, but I'd be pretty enthusiastic about a game that let the artists and designers loose, rather than making them design the standard array of goblins, skeletons, vampires, trolls, etc. It's not enough to make a good game bad, but surely the archetypes have to change sometime...

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Trolls, Goblins, and Undead? Sounds really innovative.

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There's a point of diminishing returns when it comes to the level of detail in a game. Make it fun first!

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Wow, nevermind - I just did a google search and apparently a lot of people realized this.

http://www.redbrick.dcu.ie/~melmoth/comp.htm

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Terry Brooks already wrote that last book - it was called the Sword of Shannara. But maybe that was what you were referring to. I still can't believe he got away with such blatant rip-offingness.

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