TF2! The Witcher! World in Conflict!

TF2 - Me too.
The Witcher - Heard it was so-so, not great.
World in Conflict - Heard good things, little bad.


Hellgate is not a bad game, the buisness model is and I think people blind themsleves because of it. I will admit I feel a little guilty about supporting a Dev house that is ok with ingame ads. But if you (or anybody) liked Diablo 1 or 2, then I can't see why this game is so bad, it's Diablo 3.

How did those old devs make money back in the day with such a limited audience and why is it so hard to do the same thing today?

Sticking around for a few years isn't necessarily the same thing as making money.

As to why it's harder, well, just think of the insane amount of resources it takes to really compete now. Teams are so big now it's shocking. I don't even know everyone I work with anymore; I pass people in the hall and I have no idea what they do. It's like moving from a rural town to one of those sun-eclipsing apartment towers in New York.

Of course, people are still doing it. You can still get six people together and make a game, absolutely. Hell, there was a space shooter with a long name that just came out recently, and that was made (I think) by one guy.

So the idea of small, independent development is still alive and well. But is that stuff really competing for or holding our attention? Which games get the 400-post threads here? The ones that took 100 people two years to make. Which games don't? Smaller efforts hardly get noticed or supported by the public. You can blame EA for that if you want, but I think some of it lies with ourselves, as gamers. The little guy's product just doesn't turn us on any more.

This comment was edited on Nov 5, 18:57.

You do realize that PC game sales have not gone down over the years right? They are just spread out among WAY MORE titles and I am not talking MMO's. They also look at PC install base as having grown exponentially over the years, but the PC game sales did not grow at the same pace...way too many reasons that are pretty logical, so I shouldn't have to outline them.

You cannot compare game from 20 years ago to games today. Back in the 80's gaming was new and there was a lot less to choose from, therefore it was much easier to be impressed & entertained.

How did those old devs make money back in the day with such a limited audience and why is it so hard to do the same thing today?

Full games back then could be made in a month up to 6 months. Didn't require teams of 30 to 50 people and graphics engines that cost half a million or more to purchase.

----------------------------------------------------
Currently fragging in Team Fortress 2, Episode 2, Portal and CoH Opposing Fronts.

Join the "Blues News" Steam Community Group. http://steamcommunity.com/groups/bluesnews/

Alright...Got a few minutes to wait for my son to finish eating, so I'll bite.

PC Gaming is not exactly dead. But it's not the same thing I grew up with, either. You can't look at the subscription numbers for MMORPGs and say PC gaming is dead. It's just changed business models.

Personally, I can't stand MMORPGs. I played about a month's worth of WoW and I was so bored. These days the money isn't coming from FPS and CRPGs, it's coming from subscriptions.

I guess the best question is, what happened to all of the good independent developers? It seems like the dream these days is to make a studio just good enough to be bought up by EA. How did those old devs make money back in the day with such a limited audience and why is it so hard to do the same thing today?

Is it so hard to say no to EA's money? Or is it their readily available spots on store shelves?

What can be done to rectify this?

TF2! The Witcher! World in Conflict!

What games are you playing now? Just for a reference.

Anyone who has limited entertainment leisure time will understand that with pc games, I am only interested in the cream of the crop. I don't have time to waste on average or shit that is painful to play. Hellgate london falls into that category for me.

But as mindless, violent gameplay it's not bad. An endless supply of bullets and an endless supply of zombies... sure, I can get into that.

Or at least I would if it didn't crash so damn much. I picked it up last week and I've yet to exit the program as a matter of choice.

I speak for myself here, although I know I am not alone when I say, and was fortunate enough to have played games in the 80's and 90's, on platforms such as Classic Arcade, Atari, Coleco, Nes, but namely, the Commodore AMIGA 500.

That my friends, is the holy grail of gaming, where every week there was a new game worthy of every dollar and time.

Sierra adventures (Larry, Police, Space, Kings), Psygnosis Shadow of the Beast, Barbarian, Ocean Time traveller, Ubisoft (Europe), Acclaim Test Drive, Microprose Simulators.


I guess I was lucky to have been alive then to have experienced that in my youth. No DRM's, Spyware, Infections, Havok, Fees, incompatabilities, EULA's, EA, nothing like that to worry about. Gone are those days, and so is gone, my appreciation for PC games in the state they are today. Free for all Torrent Downloads discourage the artists even more. Oh look! UT3, I GUESS THAT MEANS ONLY UT3 ENGINE BASED GAMES ARE COMING. I CAN'T WAIT TO PLAY THEM ALL.

Yes, I admit, there were SOME worthy PC games of mention, Diablo and Command&Conquer are my most cherished, but even those are now dead in the water with EA behind the lines.

EA, seriously, you killed the gamer in me.

Signed,
a former gamer enthusiast.

edit: let me expand on this alittle,

not because I'm older, that I take this stance, but because of the utter crap that is churned out, and the disheartening fact that everything now HAS to be 3D polygonned, or else nothing.

I find myself playing casual games from www.reflexivearcade.com on my new DOWNGRADED PC. To each his own I guess. but do play Wik:Fable of Souls, and get the word out there for a sequel.

I should also say, that the first 5 minutes of Hellgate demo, made me puke. Bill, I'm really surprised. Where is the atmospeheric presence that Diablo had? Don't tell me EA has gotten to your head too.

Want to make change? it's not to late. Revise your graphics engine for us all. Make some sense out of the 100 NPC's all standing within 3 feet of each other. Change your tutorial, that makes me feel like I have an IQ of an EMO Fallout Boy cut my wrist with a cookie cutter all of a sudden. I'll pay you $100 for my new copy of this game.

I also realise that EA cares for their bottom line, and money is afterall everthing to a corporation. Sad to know that your target audience is now those that are insulting to my taste.

This comment was edited on Nov 5, 12:46.

Until I see a console have a usb keyboard and mouse with FPS games that fully support remapping controls on them, then I don't give two shits about consoles. There are thousands upon thousands of people that feel the same way. I simply won't touch an FPS with a gamepad or joystick.

Just because you and your friends don't want to upgrade doesn't mean squat to whether PC gaming is dying or not. You are looking at a good couple of years before there are games that that don't support Dx9. By then the hardware won't have any problems running Vista, plus Vista should be patched up fairly nicely by then.

Are you going to be done with Console gaming in 3 to 5 years too? I mean you won't want to upgrade to the next console, right? Does that mean console gaming is dying too?

----------------------------------------------------
Currently fragging in Team Fortress 2, Episode 2, Portal and CoH Opposing Fronts.

Join the "Blues News" Steam Community Group. http://steamcommunity.com/groups/bluesnews/
This comment was edited on Nov 5, 11:55.

According to people like you PC gaming died years ago.

Ok... I'll be more specific... TO ME it's practically dead.

I buy a game, maybe once a year now, because great games are that few and far between. Decent games, loaded with all the BS I mentioned (Activation / rootkits, adware, blacklisting legitimate apps, subscription models, etc. etc), I won't buy either, which narrows the field even more. Since I also refuse to upgrade (if you want to call it that) to Vista, when games go DX10 only... I'll be effectively cut off from PC Gaming. (Well, buying any new games, anyway)

So, yes, specifically to me, PC Gaming is practically dead already. And talking to a lot of my friends... they feel the same way. Of course, we're old farts that grew up computer gaming on Apple II's, and less apt to accept a ton of BS with our games.

Sure thing "Space Captain"

enjoy your week Dickbag

The reviews speak for themselves.
http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages4/927136.asp

They do, and there's two 70s and two 60s...

------------------------------------------------
http://niggytardust.com/saulwilliams/menu

The reviews speak for themselves.

i take the pc gamer (US not UK) review with a huge grain of salt. these are the same guys who think that shadowrun is a fun game.

psst... soldat. you misunderstood what i said. i meant to say that there are other games that allow you to play as a group besides hellgate.

The reviews speak for themselves.
http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages4/927136.asp
Right now there are only 8 but there will be more and that will give a better indication of the quality of the game.

This comment was edited on Nov 5, 09:23.

Well, aren't you special, that must have been hard. Yup I guess you are the expert then. I mean NONE of us here grew up with video games.

yeh, you got it, thats exactly it you clueless cocksucker

i guess a brilliant mind like yours cant help but be captivated by the brilliance of hellgate - you dumbshits are made for each other

keep it real, you bad ass

________________________
music from space captain:
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/6/errantways_music.htm
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/4/invisibleacropolis_music.htm

the only pompous buffoons here are those who think they can only frag in a group by subscribing to this game.

http://www.hellgatelondon.com/underground/subscription-details
http://www.hellgateguru.com/2007/05/elite-subscriptions-995-a-month-and-other-details/

This comment was edited on Nov 5, 08:53.

I grew up on the streets with just a bfg and a lollypop

Its a great time especially when you group and frag shit

the only pompous buffoons here are those who think they can only frag in a group by subscribing to this game.