twmac

That was an interesting read, thanks for posting as it nailed some of the things that have bothered me about the 'transactions' that are sex in Mass Effect, Dragon Age and Alpha Protocol. Divorced from that criticism I am still cautiously optimistic about AP, the actual combat and non-cutscene orientated stuff looks fun. Not sure it is an instant purchase but if they do some kind of day 1 discount then I might be swayed.

The trailer was pretty intense: http://www.gametrailers.com/video/debut-gameplay-bulletstorm/100171 Not entirely sure how whether it is a single player or multiplayer game from the video though.

Localisation can be pretty sweet actually. No where near as stressful as Functionality. You also tend to test better games than most functionality I've seen.

My mate worked a pretty big title that you would all know (can't say what) by merit that we were doing some other work on it and the client asked if we could help out with the sound. An email got sent around and my mate replied saying he knew how to work the programs and bam he was credited as a sound engineer. So yeah, sound is a toughy. It appears that mine and synthetic's experience is that you learn to multi-task and then make your name as a sound guy slowly but surely (whether that is by becoming a musician or developer I am not quite sure). Sadly, not everyone is Richard Jacques.

Just started palying through this game and to my surprise all of the updated features from the PC version have been added to the X360 version, this adds an extra difficulty, new boss vehicles and new small ships. This update came out of nowhere and instantly made me start playing it again. If brannigan thought it was bad before the new 'Insane' mode makes any song absolute chaos onscreen.

Hahaha, yeah I see what you mean. Almost like that time could be spent actually playing the games instead.

Ah, don't let it get you down. To be honest I've seen some pretty egregious shit in my time at work but I still love doing the job. It is hard to say whether I am one of the lucky ones who got to progress in QA or whether that makes me unlucky but honestly, short of being a full blown writer/artist there is very little else I can imagine wanting to do at this stage in my life. There are a lot of negatives but some of the people you will meet will hopefully lead to something better (if that is what you are after). After working in an off-license, car park, countless factories, QA is a hell of a lot more interesting.

Yeah, we have a number of backlog threads in the forums. Again, for formalising this process I recommend The backloggery: http://www.backloggery.com/ Which is Tanukitsune is using. I just looked at my list, I have 50 unfinished on there right now (and I have finished almost 20 games this year already)

I was going to read all oif the points that were made but I kind of started realising how much these would be the same. Seeing as I currently work where Dan used to work, I can safely say that Dan has an accurate assessment of the industry. The negatives - Just like every job no one really gives a shit about you, it just hurts more because you love video games - Promotions are far and few between, it is most likely you will burn out or be burnt out by working there, again this is like any job the difference is that you might actually care The positives - With the right people you will gain a lot of valuable experience, even temping in the industry helps you understand the process - You will meet like minded people. in the company I work at I have met a ton of long time friends. Sure we might not all do the same things but I still hang out with them because they are awesome I advise against it for the one following reason: - First foot forward, this is not a good idea, you should experience some of the shitty careers life can offer you before you go into QA

The toilet humour in me could not be contained by the 'Truly diabolical box' tag line for one of those videos. I hope that was intentional.

Sat down and had a session of introducing a buddy of mine to obscure but pretty good games yesterday (Greed Corps, You Will Die, Bit Stream etc) and got him into Flotilla. Am hoping that he will take the plunge and buy it.

thanks for the advice. For some one who works in the games industry I am the biggest technophobe

Wha?!?! Lies! I succumbed to iTunes and there is a lot more than a 10 second exert. But I can't figure out how to pause the playback.

Struggling to download this today, which is a shame as I was looking forward to listening to the cast. I get as far as Scoops telling Video Games to shut the fuck up and then it ends and I can't download any further.

Risen on the X360 is actually okay, but you would be better off with divinity 2 if you are playing it on console.

Do it! Apart from the art-wank ending the game has stood the test of time surprisingly well, in fact, the art-wank ending would have been arty and wanky even at the time. It is only about 5 hours long but I have to say that the atmosphere combined with intuitive controls were seriously engrossing.

Well, Siren takes itself extremely seriously and is an out and out horror game that is pretty linear in execution. Deadly Premonition, definitely doesn't take itself seriously has some horror elements (it fails to take them seriously either) and has an open world environment and quite a lot less polish on the graphics. So I guess... They are both made by Japanese developers? Sorry, I don't want the last post to seem defensive just that the two games share very little in common.

Well I finished Ico. Short game, pretty interesting. My girlfriend watched me play about 15 minutes of it and made me laugh when she said: 'So, basically, you have to drag that girl around all the time?'

I have seen copies in my local HMV and EB games. Miffy, if you really are interested then I am more than happy to get you a copy. Just PM me.

Condemned 1 is one of my favourite early X360 titles, it still stands up today. It has oodles of atmosphere, too much as I could only play the game in periods of 15-20 minutes before I freaked myself out and had to put the controller down. The AI is also great and reacts very differently depending on what you do. The end of the game kind of slips a bit and the last level I am sad to say I have never beaten. Condemned 2 is still sitting on my shelf unplayed, I need to finish the first. I hated Sacred 2, but about 4 of my friends played it to death in Co-Op. Huge world with a crazy amount of things to do but be warned it is buggy as all shit with a lot of crashes when you are online. Divinity 2 is surprisingly good. Again, because of the expansive world it can get a little buggy but it was definitely interesting. there are so many cool touches like being able to create your own familiar. You don't turn into a dragon until about 10 hours in. One thing I would advise is checking an FAQ first though, the game never respawns enemies so it is possible to build your character in a way that makes it impossible to complete the game.

Deadly Premonition is nothing like Siren. The controls really aren't bad, if you put up with Resident Evil 4 and 5 then you will have no problems with this. As for picking it up, it is 24 dollars new (that's less than a couple of pitchers of beer) it isn't like you are dropping 60-70 dollars on it. I actually really like the fact that this game can exist in a world where publishers are trying to focus on AAA titles or budget indie games. More and more there is becoming no place for these weird, awesome titles. Edit: Miffy, if you still want a copy I can pick one up and mail it to you. Also, that MP3 is now on my media player.

Hurrah! Someone else played it! Just a heads up it was also released on Steam on the 15th of April. PC gamers can now delight.

This list was out of my control, hence the disparity between the titles. But, yeah, 6 of them are on PC or PS2, which was directly affected by my hatred of Sony and my reluctance to game on PC.

Thanks, so far it has been pretty eye opening. I mean, to finally understand what people were going on about when they talked about the hallowed Half Life 2.

Yeah, I am in the same boat as Toblix. Never put much effort in education as I could never find anything that interested me enough to devote my time (I think people thought I was going to become a painter but to be honest that is a lot of effort with very little pay off unless you get lucky). I admire you guys, please don't take this as condescending, I just don't know where that verve comes from (yes, this means I'm envious).