Nappi

Naughty Dog technology interviews always leave me with mixed feelings. On the one hand, it's nice to hear that people are really pushing the technology as far as they can and optimizing the hell out of everything. On the other hand, I can't help but imagine how good the Uncharted games could look like on more powerful and/or less baffling hardware. Like on PC. I really do hope that next generation of consoles will be more similar to each other in terms of hardware architecture. I'm fed up with the PS3/XBOX360 comparison videos and all that crap.

Would they really have to start from scratch, though? Or anywhere near that for that matter? I wish my consoles could do Full HD.

Just finished this. What a great game even if it played little hard to get at first! I think this game has the best implementation of Choice™ I have seen in a video game. You don't get a halo or grow horns, and most often you don't even know if you have been "good" or "bad". Choices affect the plot in ways that you can't really predict and you just have to live with it. At the very end of the game, . Being left with a strong feeling of "what's the point either way" was actually a very satisfying way to end the game.

This is ridiculous: http://kotaku.com/5809220/beyond-good--evil-2-wont-be-out-on-ps3-or-xbox-360 WARNING: Kotaku link!

I have one on my shelf right now!

By the way, is there a way to change the order in which different items are used for alchemy by default? It's kind of annoying when the game offers to consume quest and crafting items before those that are only useful for alchemy.

How far were you in the game? I entered the Amazon pre-order code and was informed that I'll find the armor at appropriate time in the game. I hope it will be like that with the patch as well, so that my efforts to craft good stuff aren't completely invalidated. I'm all for free preorder stuff though..

I just got to act 2 and I'm completely hooked! The story got very intersting in the later half of the first chapter and I can't wait to see what happens next. Making even the smallest enemies a real danger is an interesting choice because for the first time in an RPG I actually have to really pay attention to what I'm wearing or carrying. Doing the side missions and pursuing good (crafted) items really helps with the difficulty: I beat the Kayran on my first try, for instance. Still had some troubles with the boss at the end of act 1, mainly because I'm shit at video games. The engine is a very impressive achievement! I wonder how long it took them to build it. It's also good to see that they are actively patching the game.

Oh yes! The patch even removed the DRM. No regrets about buying the boxed copy. I only tested the game for 30 minutes or so after building my PC but the combat felt pretty nice. I imagine I will hate it later. I don't know if this has already been mentioned, but if you think your computer should be able to handle the game on the ultimate settings but won't, turn off the UberSampling and leave everything else untouched.

Many people complained that Mafia II had an open world with nothing to do. Why did 2K Czech waste time and money to build a beautiful city if you can't, I don't know, play darts or go bowling with your drunk annoying cousin whenever he wants to? I think people should stop taking the developer's point of view for a second and start thinking about themselves. Mafia II, for example, benefited from the gorgeous city greatly. It was a real joy to drive through its streets, enjoy the scenery, obey the rules, turn on the radio and simply relax between the missions. Granted, there was nothing much to do, but what should there have been? A couple of side missions would have been nice, true, but I certainly didn't miss any of the minigames from GTA IV or even RDR (I rather go bowling in real life than in Rockstar rendition of it). More importantly, what would the game have gained if the open city had been removed? A more linear, controlled experience akin to Uncharted 2? Thanks but no thanks. I am yet to play L.A. Noire but I'm really looking forward to exploring the 1940s Los Angeles, even if I have to do that on my spare time. That night turning to day and people waiting for you forever thing is unfortunate and bad design, but I think I can live with that. Actually, now that I know about it, I can actively avoid breaking the immersion, so thanks for the heads up.

"Acid – They should use that to curve the world" Cool mod! First thing that actually makes me want to play Minecraft a little bit (instead of just admire the things others have done).

Haha.. Yeah, my wallet is safe for now. Shit. I was just about to buy it but now I have some serious doubts.

Luckily I don't have any feelings towards the Splinter Cell series.

Splinter Cell Weekend at GamersGate What was Idle Thumbs verdict on Conviction?

Now I know where Ubuntu gets its bizarre code names.

What. The. Fuck?

Indeed. I wonder if they did this on purpose or if it's just a balancing issue. Becoming noticeably more powerful than your enemies as you progress, seems to be a rare treat in video games nowadays.

OK. From what I gather the game might be a bit hard. How does the save/checkpoint system work? Will I need to be quicksaving all the time does it throw me to the beginning of the battle or something? Also: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/05/18/some-more-thoughts-on-the-witcher-2/ Poor design but still kind of relief.

I used to, but I have been too busy with discourse analysis on internet forums of late.

The superb facial animation and somewhat subpar graphics and especially lack of skin detail make for a strange combination. I can't really imagine it ruining the game for me. Still, very excited to play this.

This happened.

It sounds amazing! I mean, you set out to build yourself a robotic friend. How cool is that! I bet you'd enjoy it.

Heh. I'm actually way more interested in Pigsy's Perfect 10 than the base game. Oh well..

I used to look at DLC a bit like this but not anymore. Even if the DLC was developed alongside the game itself and made available on launch day, it doesn't mean that if the culture of DLC didn't exist, that content would have made it in the base game. It wouldn't have been made at all. I'm sure L.A. Noire and most of the other games with day one DLC have more than enough content in the main game to justify the price-tag. The developer decides to use additional resources to make additional content for additional profit. There is a beautiful example how DLC is not just cut out content from the main game in this very forum. Assassin's Creed II handled DLC amazingly badly, from DLC complainers point of view, with two chapters towards the end of the game "missing" and later made available as a paid DLC. If I remember correctly, Chris Remo played the PC version of the game which integrated the DLC seamlessly and had major complaints about how unnecessarily long and repetitive the ending of the game was. With the DLC included, two minor self-contained plot lines are introduced right before the finale that tie only very loosely to overall story. It would have been very strange decision to include these into the already quite lengthy main game.