Thrik

Is 5imCity what you meant to say?

Sim City was never that serious. We're talking about a series here that has featured gigantic robots and monsters stamping through its cities. That trailer has completely exceeded my expectations and gotten me almost wet with excitement. I want a game that has in-depth mechanics, but I'm not looking for a dull simulation — in fact I'd like the series to be even less serious than it was, though superheroes does seem to be going a bit far (unless they're Kick Ass-style). That power plant actually reminded me a lot of the one in Iron Man. Maxis games have always had a certain amount of fun and silliness to them and I'm pleased that this seems to be embracing that rather than trying to become too cerebral to service the die-hard simulation nuts who've presumably been waiting 10 years for this and want things to be as full of sliders and sophisticated as possible. Indeed, this game is almost certainly going to embrace what The Sims did for people — arguably Maxis's biggest series — in order to succeed, because I can't imagine the audience for serious business simulators is too big. That's the kind of tone this game is going to have, because that's what Maxis is.

http://mixnmojo.com/news/Ask-Tim-Schafer-Anything-Answers

1xXO27xUBBo

Looks like this is out a week earlier for PlayStation Plus subscribers.

Can't say that anything on there really makes me want to donate, and I love shooters. I just can't see how what he's offering is going to me much more fun than, say, Battlefield. And if I want an ultra-realistic shooter there's always things like ARMA — which I have no interest in whatsoever. It's also worth bearing in mind that shooter fans have pretty elevated expectations when it comes to production values, and what he's asking for (or even 10 times that) isn't going to go too far.

Excellent blog Wrestlevania, some other good leads to follow posted here too.

OK, I am now officially 10,000% sold on this game after seeing this: 0OWM2IUMX2E Katabatic was my absolute favourite map in Tribes 2, and seeing it reproduced (I didn't even know old maps were featured) in a pretty faithful way along with the old sound effects and everything has twigged at about a million nostalgic memories of playing this map to death in my younger days. What seals the deal is that the video doesn't show much action, but shows a flag grab-and-return that's pretty much exactly the same route I always used to take.

There were quite a lot of moments in AC2 and Brotherhood where I thought being able to hug a wall rather than just crouching as close to it as possible and hoping it was good enough would have made me feel more in control and generally better. It can also feel really awkward trying to accurately position yourself behind cover, which a basic 'snap to wall' mechanic would resolve. For example when taking out the Borgia tower guys in Brotherhood, those were sometimes relatively long sequences that involved taking a lot of guys down and navigating an indoor space — and if you got spotted it was game over. These sequences were very much MGS-esque in style, and so it makes sense to use some of the mechanics that made such sequences actually fun in MGS. I found it really frustrating sometimes in Brotherhood where I thought I was nicely concealed behind a wall, but in actual fact the AI could see me when they looked in my direction. Maybe the slightest part of my model was visible or something, I don't know. I felt cheated though, because I'm still pretty sure I was hidden. Eventually I started simulating a cover mechanic by grabbing onto the ledge of the wall I was hiding behind, which seemed to do a better job of ensuring I was in fact covered. Seems like it'd be an excellent addition to me, even if it were automated (eg: crouch next to a wall for a few moments and he automatically shimmies up against it). Not feeling 100% in control and betrayed by mechanics is the #1 that makes stealth games frustrating as fuck for me.

More shots. And yes, agreed. Lack of cover mechanics is a bit of a glaring issue in a stealth game IMO. Even Metal Gear Solid had that covered in like 1998.

Aha, didn't spot that article Toblix linked to before. Clarifies a lot of things:

I might just be having a brain fart but I'm having trouble figuring out how Desmond would be connected to Ezio and beyond that Altair, as well as this guy, without them all being on the same genetic path? Surely they all have to be ancestors/descendents of each other for this to work?

Dunno, my knowledge of the game is largely based on this thread.

Looking pretty hot in general I'd say.

When AC1 came out I remember most people not being particularly impressed by it. The fact that it was an amazing engine but didn't offer that much in the way of fun gameplay dragged the experience down for a lot of people, but of course the hype meant loads of people bought it anyway — and so a sequel had the opportunity to right the wrongs. AC2 is so much better than AC1 it's impossible to quantify. I do think AC2 is much less outdoorsy than AC1 though in that most stuff happens in urban/indoor areas, whereas AC3 looks like it might take a step back to the openness of AC1 (although hopefully with more depth rather than just a massive but pointless world).

Getting this ****** ****** right now. ****! Been on a bit of an electronica binge this month after burning myself out on rock. Here's some fairly splendid stuff of varying sub-genres for you to chew on: yJCe1xx24IM plqsUivdNLI _VutYMWIIgM ybZJj2TnsJA zif6glwJck8 AoCxJkoiDJo& 5crdJgQcR3Q e1y7J9DFoP4 lZbgyKJkHxQ nQsw5EsNINE Now give me some now you know what I like!

I'm still holding off for the final release. Apparently they recently changed loads of stuff and there seem to be almost weekly dramatic changes to weapon balance and such, so I'd rather just wait until it's all figured out.

Well, there's still Assassin's Creed 3: Supremacy and Assassin's Creed 3: Ultimatum for that.

Now a download-only title.

I can empathise with those people. I don't know why, but I find subtitles incredibly distracting when watching films. If they're turned on, I literally can't help but read them — which means I spend most of the film not actually watching what's happening, and instead constantly switching my focus to the text. I don't know why but I feel like my enjoyment has been lessened significantly when instead of observing the characters' faces and such while they're talking I'm following the text. Those who actually like subtitles tend to just think I'm being an awkward twat. This was a bit of a problem with my ex, actually. Probably why we split!

I know it's not Maxis (although I'm guessing a lot of staff transitioned), but for what it's worth I thought The Sims 3 was a fantastic game and while the whole store thing was incredibly extortionate, I was able to completely ignore it with ease and turn off anything that reminded me it was ever there. Apart from that it was a more refined, equally sophisticated, and thoroughly enjoyable game. And above all else, PC was the lead platform because they're not stupid and know that's where 90% of their userbase lies. I can't actually think of any EA games I've bought that I haven't enjoyed, and I've got a lot of them. I don't know where the impression that the fact it's EA is going to suddenly impact the quality and direction of the game is coming from. I mean, hell, we're talking about the same guys who were actually willing to take on Brutal Legend for pete's sake.

All Rockstar games do it AFAIK, and I agree it is a nice feature — especially if you're returning to the game after not playing it for a while and can't actually remember what was said recently (this has saved me from not knowing what the hell I'm doing in Red Dead Redemption a few times).

Are they? I hadn't really noticed to be honest, other than Origin which seems to have ruffled some feathers — although I've been using it constantly to play Battlefield 3 and can't say it's caused me any issues.

Limbo with a flashlight.

Why you no love EA?