derbius

You might also have mentioned the fact that the first mission in the campaign was weirdly and inappropriately a clone of the first mission of the American campaign. Charging up the beach to Stalingrad?!

I largely agreed with your extensive discussion and your disappointment with CoH2 (though I have still played a lot of it over the last few weeks). A few minor points: Relic deserves praise for releasing a AAA title that does not automatically require you to have close to the latest hardware - I have a 3 year Macbook Pro with very basic graphic acceleration and the game runs without excessive lag. The KV-I does 'exist' but only in the 1941 time period Why can't you elect to play multiplayer in a given year? It would allow for more diversity in play styles That said, as far as I can see the balance for 1941 is completely messed up - Russian T-34s and KV-I's once built are almost unstoppable when the Germans don't have 'proper' Pz-IVs or Pzfaust/shreks. This is realistic-ish (for a change) but frustrating! Can you provide a link to whatever it is you mentioned in passing that Bruce Geryk said about CoH2?

I fancied a fantasy strategy title so FYI the relevant links for downloads are: http://www.desura.co...st-of-elysium-3 (Mac, Linux and PC - free demo avail, quite cheap (£6.99) but lo res) Fallen Enchantress http://www.elemental...len-enchantress (full price, PC only) Warlock http://www.warlockma...fthearcane.com/ - PC only, mid-price http://www.gameranki...cane/index.html for reviews Eador Genesis http://www.gog.com/g...d/eador_genesis PC only $6 but there's a Steam greenlight for a 'reboot' http://steamcommunit...ls/?id=93959913

You haven't got 186 up on the "front page" either here or at 3MA... I want to know more about Bill Giddes (sp?) - sounds like an interesting character - not in the book's index? What games was he best known for influencing? It wasn't clear. Don't forget to put in a link to http://www.amazon.com/Playing-World-Simulating-Adventures-Role-Playing/dp/0615642047/

Really liked hearing from Rob Daviau - some great quotes and background about how game design works in the mass market eg "best part of any game session is opening the box" or "giving a game to players is like sending a teenager out to drive." Maybe I'm a sad academic but I'd love to see what the MIT guys who studied player reactions published about it if anything...