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| News Link » /news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=17370 |  Droniac (108) Sep 14, 2007 - 12:23 am
| Yes, because $300 + $450 + $500 = $1250
So obviously my brand new, $800, high-end gaming PC is more expensive... and let's also go on and ignore the plentiful patches, firmware updates and buggy games for next-gen consoles while we're at it. Of course when you use the latest Windows XP version with fairly common hardware then you'll be faced with masses of incompatibility issues, namely: zero thus far. Obviously completely inferior to their console counterparts...
Of course PC gaming is also dieing, because PC game sales have been increasing significantly this year and the lineup for the coming few months is... oh... only the most impressive yet in this millennium. Let's not forget the lower than ever hardware prices and the very reasonable costs in comparison to all next-gen consoles (not the Wii), particularly because after a few games and external devices a PC will be less expensive. Then it becomes painstakingly clear: PC gaming must be dieing!
(Just in case you hadn't noticed: that was sarcasm..)
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On FASA: After Shadowrun this really shouldn't come as a surprise. That said, I hope Microsoft still plans on using their licenses for some good MechWarrior/Mech Commander, PC, games. Flag this | Edit this post |
| News Link » /news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=17040 | Droniac (108) Aug 21, 2007 - 09:18 am » Edited on Aug 21, 2007 - 09:30 am
| Sure, because all popular games sell tens of millions of copies... oh wait, they don't. One million copies sold is a monumental achievement for any PC game, especially for a game that hasn't had much of a promotional campaign beyond 'word-of-mouth'. The Burning Crusade was plastered all over game stores and websites when it was released, so it's no miracle that it would sell buttloads. So yes, you can bet your ass that Guild Wars is popular and these stats show it.
If WoW was a measuring standard for 'popular games' then there wouldn't be any other popular games, save for The Sims. Flag this | Edit this post |
| News Link » /news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=16819 | Droniac (108) Aug 05, 2007 - 01:10 am
| Likely something along the lines of what Shadowrun (ugh) introduced for PC gamers. That is to say: controller gamers will get nifty auto-aim, kb/m gamers do not. And they'll probably change a few things about weaponsfire as well, e.g.: Shadowrun implemented insane recoil for PC gamers (although that, obviously, wouldn't work in UT3).
if that's the only way to 'balance' it - then I sure as hell never want to play against controller gamers. Why can't they just leave it as is, no auto-aim or whatever nonsense, so that console people can finally see just how much better kb/m control is and why playing FPS games with a controller is frowned upon? Flag this | Edit this post |
| News Link » /news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=15675 | Droniac (108) May 26, 2007 - 05:44 am
| I would've placed Jedi Knight 2 (that would be Jedi Outcast) in #1 position tbh. with KotOR taking second place. The multiplayer sabre battles were awesome - and definitely not luck-based if you knew what you were doing.
Empire at War's space battles were awesome and Dark Forces & Tie Fighter definitely deserve a place in there as well. It's good to see that the (horrible) Battlefront series was left out of this top 10 - those were some truly abominable shooters.. Flag this | Edit this post |
| News Link » /news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=15501 | Droniac (108) May 18, 2007 - 09:55 am
| I'm hoping for a Starcraft 2, without the hero element from Battle Realms. I don't see that fitting well in a sci-fi setting such as Starcraft's - besides the only strategy game that ever truly made it work well was Battle Realms.
Anyhow - having Blizzard announce a new Starcraft RTS would certainly solidify 2007's place in history as the best ever year for strategy gamers. Of course I don't expect whatever game they announce to be released this year, but the announcement alone would be a great addition to this year's unrivaled list of strategy offerings. Flag this | Edit this post |
| Cluster Shout Box Link » /matrix/cluster.asp/22 | Droniac (108) Apr 08, 2007 - 08:47 am
| | I found out today that some of my friends had the same problem - got them to vote for me now that it's been fixed though. Definitely a timely response on FiringSquad's part :) Flag this | Edit this post |
| Matrix Blog Link » /matrix/blog.asp/61707/429 | Droniac (108) Apr 08, 2007 - 03:13 am » Edited on Apr 08, 2007 - 03:13 am
| Writing this article took quite a few hours - I hope you all like it. Thanks for the nice ratings anyway!
One tip for C&C3 players:
Lower your Decals setting for a massive performance boost in large/long games.
The permanent terrain scarring when it's set to high is a real system hog. Flag this | Edit this post |
| Cluster Shout Box Link » /matrix/cluster.asp/22 | Droniac (108) Apr 07, 2007 - 03:56 pm
| | Actually - BellBoy - Dave dropped slightly less than I did. We were both up at 90 just a few hours ago (I played CnC3 in the meanwhile - nearing the end of the Nod campaign at last!). Ah well user voting isn't everything. Flag this | Edit this post |
| Matrix Blog Link » /matrix/blog.asp/61866/436 | Droniac (108) Apr 05, 2007 - 11:28 am » Edited on Apr 05, 2007 - 11:28 am
| Interesting entry - particularly because the 6600GT performs much worse than I had expected. It's too bad that you didn't have some more time to touch up the article, because the results in your graph are certainly interesting.
Now I wonder, what resolution did you use during testing? I always thought my X800 Pro video card was only somewhat better than a 6600GT, but these results seem to indicate that I was woefully mistaken in making that assumption o.O Flag this | Edit this post |
| Cluster Shout Box Link » /matrix/cluster.asp/22 | Droniac (108) Apr 04, 2007 - 04:05 pm
| Yikes - finally :|
Took me a lot longer than expected... many many hours went into that. Anyway good luck to everyone in this stage of the competition and to the people who have yet to submit their entries - only a few hours remain! Flag this | Edit this post |
| Matrix Blog Link » /matrix/blog.asp/61804/404 | Droniac (108) Mar 29, 2007 - 03:27 pm
| Ooooh Netstorm!!
It's been sooo long since I've played that game, but it was great fun when I did! Definitely worth downloading if you're looking for a new gaming experience - it's a lot of fun!
I didn't like America's Army much... but then I never got past the offline tutorial bit. I'm just not the realistic shooter kind of guy I guess. Many people seem to enjoy it though - and whoever doesn't enjoy America's Army is off playing Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory of course ;)
Nexuiz eh? I tried it about 2 years ago and back then it was quite horrible... but recent screenshots seemed much more promising (no more pitch black maps for one). It definitely looks pretty for a fan-made game, although gameplay-wise I doubt it can hold a candle to the actually innovative and incredibly fast-paced WarSow. I don't know any other game where you can cap a flag in 7 seconds, sickeningly high speed if you're up against good players - but that's what makes it fun (just like Painkiller). You should definitely try WarSow if you haven't already, Kessandra. Flag this | Edit this post |
| Matrix Blog Link » /matrix/blog.asp/61804/387 | Droniac (108) Mar 29, 2007 - 01:25 am
| Nice review. I'd agree with your gameplay, music & graphics values - although I've only played the demo and beta test so I can't evaluate it's replay value.
As for some feedback:
- A video card less powerful than the Geforce 6800 can definitely still run SupCom in medium detail or even high detail at a lower resolution (1280x1024 or less). You see, SupCom is a CPU-bound game - not GPU-bound. As such it'll play decently enough on a dual-core PC with anything better than a X300 in there and yet if you have a single-core machine with a geforce 8800 gtx - you're definitely going to have an unplayable experience.
- You could've said something about the, absolutely horrible, voice-overs as well. The story is pretty interesting and the way mission briefings are handled is great (just like C&C!) - but the voice-overs definitely ruin it, at least in the demo.
- If there is any game where you build up your base, get as many units as possible and charge your enemy that is not called Settlers 3 - then it's Supreme Commander. Many of the multiplayer games I played during beta erupted into hour-long slugfests between streams of units pouring down on each other in the center of the map. Sure, that's awesome fun, but it's not very engaging if you're looking for a tactical experience...
In the end SupCom comes down to overall strategy. You have to have a good pre-game plan ready and make some adjustments during play... mainly related to your economy rather than actual battles. Anyone looking for the other kind of thinking-man's game: a tactically challenging RTS such as Company of Heroes or Ground Control 2 - shouldn't buy SupCom. If you liked Settlers 3 however - then SupCom might be your cup of tea as well. Granted, it won't run 8000 unit battles smoothly on a 350mhz PC like Settlers 3 did...
After reading this review, I'd buy SupCom - if I had a decent enough PC and time on my hands to play it. Maybe after I upgrade for Unreal Tournament 3 (want to experience it in it's full DX10-supported glory) I'll get around to doing just that! Flag this | Edit this post |
| News Link » /news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=14822 | Droniac (108) Mar 28, 2007 - 01:02 am
| | Not all of the world will be persistent of course. They're still going to use instancing for some encounters - and I'd imagine they'd do so for storytelling as well. As for PvP - they'll include both World PvP (massive, hundreds of people) and more traditional PvP (probably instanced). Note: that's all for Guild Wars 2 of course, Eye of the North is still instanced as usual. Flag this | Edit this post |
| Cluster Shout Box Link » /matrix/cluster.asp/18 | Droniac (108) Mar 26, 2007 - 11:22 am
| Yeah - I'm from The Netherlands so it would take quite a while to send anything this way.
I wonder what the third round will be like if it's not going to be as was announced on the description page. Flag this | Edit this post |
| Matrix Blog Link » /matrix/blog.asp/61707/308 | Droniac (108) Mar 22, 2007 - 12:30 pm
| Thanks GrapeApe and viperman5686. Apparantly I made it through round 2 in spite of lacking your voting support :)
I've yet to notice performance decreases due to SetPoint, but then I haven't actually played any real system hogs as of late (UT2004 runs maxed out all the time and NWN1 isn't the most demanding of games either). I'll give it a go with Company of Heroes and see what happens. As for the dialing home thing - I have PeerGuardian so SetPoint ain't taking up any bandwidth here - haven't noticed it trying to do anything yet, but I could simply have missed it's frantic attempts to connect to the evil Logitech servers trying to steal my UT2004 cdkey so they can organize a lanparty :o Flag this | Edit this post |
| Matrix Blog Link » /matrix/blog.asp/61804/336 | Droniac (108) Mar 22, 2007 - 12:24 pm
| Haha, I was actually thinking about including a line in that comment: "unlike WoW's music which I still had on in the background by the time I quit playing". So yeah, I guess our tastes in music differ a bit ;)
Turbine hasn't even finished filling Eriador yet, most of the map (of Eriador) is empty and will - according to developers - be filled later on by means of patches. The expansion packs in turn will introduce all those other regions like Rohan (and when you look at the world map in LotRO... there's A LOT of other regions) from the books. It's definitely a small world they have now, but it's totally packed with content in comparison to just about any other MMO. There's beautiful sights everywhere - and travel times are generally low - but the low amount of actually differing locales turns it a tad repetitive.
As for those evil races, from what the devs have been saying those weren't included because the books and the entire lotro setting is about the good guys prevailing over evil. Then it indeed doesn't make much sense to have players in the role of evil characters, because then evil can triumph over good.
My opinion would probably be swayed if Turbine surprises everyone and releases the game with all of Middle Earth, enjoyable PvP and proper Kinship systems included. It'd be much the same as ArenaNet did with Guild Wars, but in Turbine's case that seems exceedingly unlikely. As it stands they're largely emulating World of Warcraft, which they've done rather well... it's like WoW for more advanced players with a much more well known and interesting setting (imo). Flag this | Edit this post |
| Matrix Blog Link » /matrix/blog.asp/61804/336 | Droniac (108) Mar 22, 2007 - 06:49 am
| Great review, well-written and pretty much on the mark. Anyone who likes a PvE MMO or liked WoW will most certainly agree with your assessment and find it a very useful read if they're interested in Lord of the Rings Online. I myself have been beta testing Lord of the Rings Online since September (US Beta) and have moved on to EU beta earlier this year... and can attest to your review - it's spot on.
I do have some comments though... first of all, there is no Dungeon Siege Online - the name you probably meant to type there was Dungeons & Dragons Online (Turbine's previous MMO). Then you mention the solo-player instances, those aren't offline, they're online just like everything else in the game - sort of like Guild Wars.
As for your scores... I'd have done it slightly differently, but my perspective is different from yours. I come from a PvP background - and LotRO doesn't offer PvP at all (Monster Play will remain PvE with 'evil characters for the first 3 months after release). There's also no Kinship (Guild) battles or Arenas to enjoy - and worse yet, Kinships aren't really properly handled - there aren't even any visual indications of you being part of a kinship (such as banners, flags, capes, tabards, etc. - none of it is in LotRO).
What would my scores have been? (Any I don't mention would be the same as yours)
Gameplay - 7/10 : Great PvE in the beginning, which gets somewhat repetitive as you hit higher 20s and find there's really nothing to do but questing. Lack of any proper PvP support - and plays like an extremely generic MMORPG overall. The awesome details (music system, glowing weaponry, sindarin) crank the score up a bit for LotRO fans to 7.5/10.
Music - 4/10 : Hands down the least inspiring and most repetitive music I have ever heard in a computer game. This is the first and only game where I muted the music after my very first day of playing... ordinarily I keep it on for months before switching to a playlist, but this was just too horrific.
Replay Value - 4.5/10 - Add 2 points if you're really into PvE play. Overall I found this game really exciting in the beginning, but it soon became too repetitive to even play through it's PvE-content in it's entirety with a single character. Starting over on different races and classes didn't help, because the gameplay is mostly the same regardless of your class choice.
If you're into MMORPGs like World of Warcraft then this might be something for you. It's slightly more complex, the interface is at times a tad less intuitive (particular the chat screen). It won't keep you entertained for years, but it should be good for a few months at least. If you're looking for some PvP action or varied & innovative gameplay however, then this is not your game. It's essentially a non-instanced version of Dungeons & Dragons Online, with superior community and roleplaying tools. Flag this | Edit this post |
| News Link » /news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=14755 | Droniac (108) Mar 22, 2007 - 01:48 am
| | None, the expansion will feature zero new professions. This isn't a chapter like Factions and Nightfall but a true expansion, which doesn't just mean you need one of the previous games in order to play it but also that it's smaller content-wise and less expensive. Flag this | Edit this post |
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