deanb

I can maybe bring the game feed thing back. Though it would mean pushing up my RSS feed consumption to old levels, and I'm not entirely keen on that. Also we don't have the Portal any more so adding the RSS feed like yore will be a mite harder (though I guess it could be added below the current PXOD feed on the front page, and in a similar fashion). As far as something like the Newsfeed thing goes, I guess a nice implementation, but it'd mean a chunk of work on the site. And while one day in the future(hopefully within the next half year) I'd like to have a bit of a revamp to the site, that's not going to be for a while.

I'd like to get in and play about. It's about it as far as MMOs gone on my upcoming radar. I like that it's a one off price. Though whether I have the time for it, or if I end up going off it like many other MMOs remains to be seen.

You do realise that the move to renewable energy sources isn't just focused around the "if climate change is man made or not" right? We have a limited amount of fossil fuels, and it's running out. It's not a fucking scam, it is a fact of the world. But yes, let's just wait until the wells run dry, then kill each other over the last drops left, or a sudden scramble to find other solutions. Instead of that we are here and now building renewable energy sources, so that when the last well drips dry we go "oh well" and continue on our day, since we'd moved on from fossil fuel dependency decades before. Yante are you ignoring the economic collapse of 08 on purpose? Loads of subsidy programs ended, off top of my head the UK gov't canned the film subsidies. Does that mean films are a scam? Films maybe don't exist? No it just means that there was a global economic crisis and many gov'ts had to clam up on what expenses they could afford.

I know games are about interactivity, but taking out the game mechanics reduces it to a film where you control the camera. And even then you wouldn't always even be doing that. It's taking the game out of "Video Game". If you're wanting to "play as batman", you're not really going to be doing that if you have all the combat encounters just play out for you. It's pretty much Batman:TAS just in 3D with the camera angle behind Batman most of the time. You may as well just watch TAS itself, or an LP. If you're just wanting to look at things in Skyrim, why not just look at screenshots? You get to see Skyrim just with none of that pesky RPG stuff like combat, levelling up, stats, inventory management etc. I'm not saying you're sacrificing one part of your market in favour of another, I'm saying your'e sacrificing part of your budget and development time to appease the opposite of your market. You're developing your game to work in such a way that it'd appeal to people that don't actually want to play your game. And not in a "don't like the franchise/studio/publisher" kind of way either. They just con't care for the RPG/RTS/FPS side of your RPG/RTS/FPS game. I like Warhamemr 40K. Say I'm not someone that likes RTS titles. I'm not going to go and pick up Dawn of War, an RTS, expecting it to have some kind of "Skip the RTS parts" button. Why would I buy an RTS if I don't like RTS games? Why should Relic, a company that primarily works on RTS titles, have to cater to me, a non-RTS fan? I'd say you lose even more dignity in doing something moronic like buying a game in a genre you don't even like. I'd rather Bethesda dedicate to making their game work, than making their game not be a game.

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/40457/Warren_Spector_We_have_a_chance_to_preserve_our_video_game_history.php

Options are good, easy option is fine. As far as something like Oblivion/Skyrim goes it's potentially a quick fix with a console command. Though it'll most likely break a bunch of shit to have it so that there's no enemies. Or enemies that don't attack. Which then means going in and Bethesda dedicating their time towards making it so quests still work even if the "fight the dungeon boss" doesn't happen. Is there a market for these things? Is it worth the developer spending their time adapting their game to work in "story only mode"? Are your limited game funds going to be wasted in catering to a small section of your audience? I personally feel it's an extremely niche market. It's catered to with an inclusion of an easy mode, of which you'd have to normally go out of your way to die with. It's a bit like suggesting maybe films like Final Destination should come with a less gory video track for those that don't like blood n guts. Why are you buying horror films? Buy some rom com. In the same vein there are plenty of non-combat orientated games. I don't like horror games, it'd be absolutely absurd to suggest that frictional should have made it so we could play Amnesia without any of the scares in it. It'd require a complete re-write of the game to cater to someone that is not a fan of the genre. I'm in Bioshock 2 at the moment, the story/dialogue and the combat are not always two separate entities. Many times the combat is a plot point. Which means in order to remove the combat, which would mean, I don't know removing the splicer? (and thus a large part of the atmosphere of Rapture), or making it so your character could auto-fight or something, which would then mean coding this ability into the game. Though in which case you may as well just boot up the LP.

"What if all our measurements are wrong and there's a magical infinite supply of oil, and it turns out fossil fuel burning is actually just making a black coloured water vapour?" In the choice between: We spend a bit more money than normal or; we accelerate the climates deterioration(think to the depression dustbowls. Folks've done it before), and have no development into a viable alternative when fossil fuels run out, and spewing a bunch of harsh chemicals into the atmosphere. It's a pretty simple choice as far as I'm concerned. You really wanting to gamble it all to save a few bucks now at the cost of billions, nay trillions, down the line? In fact I don't even know your viewpoint on fossil fuels(since I don't know if you 'believe' in dinosaurs), which is probably a good grounding on your view of the eventual lack of. As far as Spain is considered best I can tell they had aa pretty awesome subsidy, then with the wake of the global economic collapse they stopped these subsidies. Not exactly a "solar collapse" as a case of "not being able to afford shit any more, just like the rest of the world". "Oh no it's all a hoax cos Spain suddenly couldn't afford expenditures, just like the rest of the world". "American Space Collapse" "What if Space is all a big hoax?"

The issue is that I now have a job lined up. But it doesn't start fully for a couple weeks (I've some odds n sods to do tomorrow though) because it's kinda requiring the office to be gotten that I'd be working in. I'd be working for a small software company a friends dad started a year or so ago. Me and coding don't get on, so my friend, his dad and another friend will be doing that. I'm computer literate enough to do everything else, thus leaving them to code. (so QA, admin, reception ,research etc). So yeah this is all pretty much in the bag. So I go to my fortnightly sign-on, expecting to go "well I've a job, what's next". However instead of going to my normal guy n saying Iv'e got a job I was taken to a woman and told that the Job Centre are starting a scheme for 18-24s that involves me going to a mandatory event next Monday to watch various "job providers"(local business, army, college) give presentations, then going around their stalls and signing up with an "action plan". Then on Tuesday going into the Job Centre again to talk with another guy about the action plan I'd chosen, as well as giving feedback on this new event*. So yeah, I've mentioned I've a job lined up, and they're pushing me to sign up to another job through them, mandatory. So that's going to be fun. Even more is the bummer if I come across something interesting, the dilemma of do I go for it, turning down my friend and his dad, who have given me an opportunity where they didn't have to after I've been unemployed this long. Or turn down a potentially exciting career opportunity to fulfil an obligation to a friend. I've a feeling most members of the Job Centre would struggle to their arse from their elbows. It's all preset plans. Working off a sheet and policies. Pushing their numbers. (seriously they have something that's very much like a sales chart you'd expect at a used car shop.) *srsly, it's a new event. They've only just started on this. A fucking Job Fair. You'd think it'd be pretty much simple common sense for the Job Centre to have something like this? This is the kind of stuff I thought they did when I signed on.

The coliseum does jack shit after that tinsy cut-scene, and the clothes don't change without DLC? Wow, bull-shit. Blerugh, tad like ME2/AC in that regard, you complete the game and there's just sort of a hole missing. Sure the game could be awesome, but you're left with a deep feeling that you're missing out on something.

*Cough* Great Britain stepping in here.

So this is a topic that was supposedly mentioned many years ago but recently brought up for some unrelated nastiness. Basically one of the developers (I think writers, so maybe a bit of a biased viewpoint) for Bioware suggested that combat should be optional and skippable in games. Letting the player focus upon the narrative of the game. Cos obviously one things games suck at is good combat and really great dialogue n stories Now I've had a run in with John Walker on Twitter (who is pro-skippable combat), so I've managed to get my thoughts in line on this one. I feel that if you are interested only in story, then there's other mediums that better serve your needs such as films and books. Should you really want to "play games" (which is clear you're not keen on the idea if you're wanting to skip the game parts) then there are visual novels, and interactive fiction. Letting you make choices, while avoiding combat and game-play situations. Or you can even watch LPs. There are, I feel, plenty of opportunities for those who are only focused in the story of a game to follow it without having to cock about with the games to let folks play without the actual game-ey bits in. John reckons I'm being selfish (he did, he called me selfish straight up. Bastard *), and that it wouldn't affect me at all. However he seemingly works under the assumption games play out in a matter of combat-cutscene-combat-cutscene-combat-town-boss-cutscene, and so on. Where it would be simple to trim out "combat" n "boss" segments and leave with the story and dialogue. However in my experience a fair chunk of the dialogue happens within the combat and action. Meaning you'd either have to write the game in such a way that nothing narrative-ey happens within combat or the boss fights. Or code the game to allow the game to masturbate, while you sit back n watch n listen to the dialogue. Both of these solutions lead to detracting development that could be spent on refining other elements (like..more combat!) I feel the call for combat-skippable games is almost like the currently disease of RPG elements, which I love RPGs, infesting other genres. IF you want RPGs, there's plenty of RPGs play those. If you want just stories, plenty of those too. Just combat, just puzzles, just strategy, etc etc. We have a berth of genres for all type n sizes without needing to hijack other genres with our own preferred mechanics. Playing Portal, without having to do the puzzles. It's like bubble wrap without the air filling. So what are your view points on the topic? *http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/02/23/escape-escape-embracing-skippable-combat/#comment-922104 - we made up

The EU... I'm not even sure how it works. All I know is we're supposedly not keen on it at al, while also kinda running it n making it do a lot of the things we're not keen on it doing. I know it's there. I know it's bad. I know it's good. I know, or even don't know, that I can't vote in it. So yeah, EU I mostly ignore. Like the entity itself, the political thing of it. Not the body of nations.

See we have no constitution and I don't think it'd be immodest to say we've gotten very far without one. I think it provides much flexibility, thus as times change, things like the industrial revolution, the information revolution, etc crop up, then the laws that govern the land can adapt, instead of being restrictive and hold back to a "how things were back in the good old days" kind of manner. However it's my understanding the US constitution wasn't meant to last this long. That it was meant to be completely re-done every century or so, yet instead has remained largely the same with a few dabs of tippex and post-it notes on it. Which I would argue means, yes it's gotten America where it is today. But it's not going to let it go any further. But because, from my viewpoint, the US Constitution is held tightly like some holy scripture, not to be touched, almost sacred and worshipped, the idea of making a new one would be...well blasphemy. It's the 21st century. A new age. New ways that society and the world interact. It needs a new constitution. A lot has happened in US and global history since. @Yante: What are their views on the freedom of information on a global scale? The separation of work and private life. The rights and restrictions of the gov't and commercial entities to track a private citizen. etc. Technology has opened up so much.

Home+start (I mention it in the article. I don't even own one )

It's pretty much the current line of thinking of many within the industry. Though normally those with the fortune not to have shareholders IT goes with my response to you in the DLC thread. There is a ME2 GOTY edition. It's not sold by EA and it seeds at 2:1 ratio. The customer wants the product of a GOTY edition with all the DLC combined in a pain free and low cost package. It's insanity to have not had one pre-ME3 release. And as part of this ME2 "GOTY edition" leechers rise as ME3 comes and folks realise they want to "complete" the game, and EA are sat looking like muppets, and they're not even losing sales. Cos you can't lose sales on a product you don't sell. GoG, they sell the products many want. I own a few games through GoG I could have pirated. Older titles. But GoG also makes a seamless install, lots of nice goodies. Raising the value of the M$, the Good old games factor n DRM free raises your $I, and the $P is almost non-existent. Create value through a good service instead of through raw nickel n diming. Make gamers feel good about spending money with you.

https://twitter.com/#!/deanbmmv/status/172476490062118912

From my understanding he took a screenshot of the delayed error warning. He tried to take the first screenshot in the game. That's the apps/games launch screen.

I didn't know you had a uterus. I can understand men being pro-life but not pro-abortion. It just doesn't compute with me. Other's have already cover the many points, so I'll just go at this one no one else has. May I ask the purpose behind your recent phase of using different words and phrases. For examples yesterdays "Ronaldo Magnus". And now your particular choosing of the phrase "pro-abortion" when you know full well that the stance is "pro-choice". Really? This is some major issue? No, muslims are successfully integrated and made to feel comfortable in US culture.

Then Yante you would "Disagree". The whole point is for the questions to be laoded opinions, then you "agree" or "disagree".

It's DLC in the CE, it'll have been coming out on launch either way.

Jesus. H Christ. Fuck the Job Centre.

http://pressxordie.com/2012/02/23/the-surprise-killer-feature-of-the-vita/ I wroted some words on the Vita.

http://www.eurogamer.net/expo/ EG Expo tickets now up, half price for Virgin Media customers. Woot for me.