ThunderPeel2001

To be fair, the fight in Phantom Menace is pretty aw . It was choreographed by a master martial artist, and as movie fights go, was pretty good. Certainly better than the Vader/Kenobi fight. A short fight sequence would not have been as dramatic. It's just not the movie for realism, imo. Aside: If you want to watch a passable version of the film, track down The Phantom Edit Redux - not the Phantom Edit. It's amazing what happens when you take out the crap bits... It becomes almost entertaining.

Me neither. Maybe it was a timed exclusive, like Noyb suggested?

First announcement! TFKwplDBmgg

Yep, I got paid a little above minimum wage when I was a tester for Sony.

Wow, what a crazy system MS have created... I have to wonder who published Monkey Island: SE on the XBOX then. Sucks that LucasArts couldn't do it themselves?

Thank you, Thrik, for making what I was trying to say a lot clearer! I agree with what you say, but I do think the "getting stuck" in Adventure Games is why they died out. It's just totally unacceptable for a game not to provide enjoyment for extended periods while the player tries combining every object with every other object. Games like Professor Layton always make it clear what you need to do, and you're never stuck for longer than a couple of minutes. With adventure games you can get stuck and not even know WHY. Of course, superb game design can overcome this, but that seems hard to come by. TT has certainly struggled. IMO DOTT was probably the pinnacle of great, logical puzzles, and obvious goals in an adventure game.

I feel that they haven't managed to reignite the genre. (Remember: There was a time when Adventure Games would sit atop the gaming charts.) TT has managed to sell a few, but they've not reignited the genre by a long shot, and a lot of people I've spoken to seem very down on the adventure games they have produced. Even TT seems to be moving away from pure Adventure Games now -- whereas once that was all they produced, they now are moving into other areas.

Weird. Is that really a guideline?? How did Monkey Island: SE get on there, then?

Well, here's my prediction for this adventure game "revival": DFA will be cute, fun, enjoyable... but it won't reignite the genre because it has inherent flaws that most modern gamers won't be able to endure: The gameplay (i.e. "fun") stops dead when you hit a puzzle you can't solve. And as soon as you use a walkthrough, a lot of the enjoyment of playing is removed. I personally remember thinking that Knights of the Old Republic did a great job of capturing the fun of adventure games (story, characters, some puzzles, etc.) while placing it in a gaming environment where you always had things to do. At least, that's how I recall it -- it's been years since I played it. I really do believe that "pure adventure games" will only remain a niche.

I feel like Waldorf and Statler, but, man, beautiful website.

To be fair, ICB had some awesome ideas, and a great story, too. It was only the "action gameplay" which let it down.

I was specifically talking about open source/freeware - I should know!

I don't think it was anything sinister. I remember the DF admin saying that Psychonauts was going to return to XBL at some point - I'm surprised it hasn't.

They wouldn't be touching BASS. BASS would still be there, untouched. This would be BASS 2. And it could be lovely.

I'm with you on the rest, but... GAMES testers do not earn anything like that. They are the lowest rung on the game development ladder. That said, Kingz's portrayal of them is totally inaccurate - at least from my experience. And it's one of the few jobs that I would NOT leave to passionates - It's dry, repetitive work that requires a methodical and professional mindset. Even a die hard fan doesn't do a full playthrough on LucasArts's adventures every time a new version of ScummVM is released, but that's precisely the level of testing that needs to be done.

? The games in the Humble Indie Bundles are not Freeware.

It'd be amazing if it was BASS 2.

That's a pretty bold claim. I don't think anyone really knows how much people would get, but I imagine the support for something that's freely available will be along the lines of the amount ScummVM gets in donations.

It is rather weird, isn't it? And true to form, Revolution are getting a LOT less attention. Lol.

Actually that's a pretty huge barrier. It's known as the "penny gap". As soon as something is seen as being free, it's VERY hard to get people to pay for it.

Shotdown.

That site looks interesting, thanks for sharing. Also, it's amazing that Revolution are still going. Good for them

Doing something out of obligation or guilt isn't totally bad, Rodi. At least it shows you care about the other person's feelings... If you didn't care at all, then that's bad, IMO. In other, non-Valentine's Day, exciting news... I fixed my expensive MX Revolution mouse, with Logitech had told me was unrepairable, with a bit of Contact Spray, saving myself $70

Naw. I'm pretty sure I finished FF I and II in about 20 hours each?

[Rant pants on] You see what I did there? We live in a culture where Valentine's Day means something. If you can't be arsed to do something nice for your significant other on this day, or you complain about having to do something nice for your partner, you're not making a stand against "The Man", you're being an arse. Why? Because your refusal to play ball hurts your significant other more than it hurts The Man. Just like some moaning about having to buy presents for their family on Xmas. Ugh. If I have to be single on Valentine's Day, I shouldn't have to listen to people with partners moaning about it. [Rant pants off]