Xydonus

Bit of a disturbing trend developing here, hmm Vamyre? ... ...

Not surprising, its how the industry is at the moment. Hell, who was the developer that got caught out boosting themselves up in Metacritic, by having staff pose as new users? Can't remember the name of them, but they were fairly big. In any case, reviews to a game developer is like honey. A good review will attract the bees to feast upon the delicious honey ... While a bad review will naturally cause the bees to go elsewhere. Sometimes developers like to perforate the honey with artificial meddling. It happens far far more often than one would think. Friends, family, associates in the business, certain brown envelopes stuffed with money making their way to prominent reviewing establishments... Regardless, I'm not saying that the Gone Home devs are in anyway up to no good, just stating that it's a common thing within the industry. A good review does wonders for a game's sales.

^ Meh, a 6/10, perhaps. I'd give her one anyhow ... < Want's to give Pancakez a rather large swiss army knife, so she can protect herself against Footmuffin and co. when they go shopping v Is addicted to forum games

I agree. I miss that feeling. Miss going to Game in the mornings, fetching a bus to the local shopping center, queuing up and buying my game. Then on the way back on the bus, ripping the seal, opening it up and reading the manual only to be more excited! Shame those days are long gone now, with the void filled in by digital distribution. Unfortunately, PC game distribution is on the decline. You walk into any game shop these days and you'll see endless shelves of console games, and perhaps a small teeny weeny corner somewhere dedicated to PC games. It's how the market is currently, and its not going to d-evolve any time soon. Edit* Actually, now that I remember; majority of those were console games I was buying! Back when I had a playstation and that. I'm actually a relatively early PC gamer, having only started using a PC around 2002-4.

"Your nicked, pal ..." And again: If you were a changeling, what would you be and why?

^ Very true, but I'm not going to tell you what I use as a guitar... < Plotting world domination, is a member of the secret order of Mu v Goes around in a pink shirt

^ Is killing you softly, shhh, now, shhh ... < Best mates with a famous celeb v Doesn't wash his hands after using the loo, ya dirty dirty bastard!

Tayto ... Hmm, Tayto. Yum. If you were a changeling, and could change into anything at will, who/what would you be and why?

I hear what your saying, and I agree on some parts. Digital data has its disadvantages, it isn't all rosy dosy in the digital world and having a physical copy can ensure extra security and ease of mind. However, you have to look at this from the developer point of view. For an indie studio, physical distribution is very rare. There's a reason for that; cost. I have no need to explain the sort of financial burden developers have to endure with physical copies as that's been explained further up. From a business point of view, TIS will only ever consider such a thing if it benefits them financially. If they feel that the risk is too great, and not worth it, well, they won't do it. I strongly disagree on the quoted part. I've been a victim of digital mess from EA having lost games via their service and being told that they can't find the games and there's nothing they can do. Burnout Ultimate Paradise, BF2 Bad Company and BF2 disappeared completely from my EA account. Also, things like Impulse getting taken over by Gamestop is another example of the murky waters that is the digital world. What guarantees are in place for them to continue the service? How strongly are your digital rights protected? I would argue the digital protection laws are weak at best, with many loopholes. Take Steam for example. Now, it's been reported before when the question was asked about what would happen if Steam ever went out of business, as highly unlikely as that may seem. While I don't have the exact quote, Gabe said on the lines that all customer assets would be protected and that the games will be programmed to function without Steam. That's nice. Except that's nowhere within the Steam Eula (unless this has changed recently) and the word of the man in charge doesn't translate to law nor does it provide a guarantee. So no, regardless of what you may think, having a digital copy does NOT mean you are guaranteed to have that game forever.

Screw it, I bow for no one! *Kicks Nasko's sack through the posts* SCORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *Takes a dump down his neck*

Ahah! Delusional, am I Enigma? My great detective skills (which involved looking further down this section of the forum) have discovered why Nasko has a sudden change of color in his stride! I see... Normally I'm not one for ass-kissing, and normally I would say the only thing worth doing with an Overlord is kicking his sack through a pair of American goal posts while chewing gum... But, since Nasko also controls the user titles, and I would rather not get stuck with a silly embarrassing title name, how low should I bow, dear sir?

Interesting. At first I thought you were talking nonsense until I looked it up. Reason I find that intriguing is because it might explain my rather mysterious run-abouts and screaming I did as a child after having a set of the same repeated dream for a few months that literally caused me to go bleeding bonkers in the morning.

Haven't heard a thing about this at all (being away from civilization for a few days has its perks!) so just read your review in its entire form, because I usually like games like this that has a good story attached to it. Not sure how I feel about the price. Valuation in a game is very subjective. The graphics are surprisingly good for such a short game, so I wonder if that's playing a factor in the price along with the atmosphere and voice talent. Still, I wouldn't fork out 20 quid for a short novel experience unless said novel experience had an impelling story, and judging by your review, that isn't the case. So the game will be a miss for me. Won't go into any more detail about your review for the sake of Mash

Recently changed my wallpaper to this. It's from Planetes, an anime series that I recently started watching.

Except the latter bears real world consequence. When someone pirates something, there's very little risk involved, hence the appeal of it. Although your analogy is still correct. Problem with piracy, and the basic fundamental reason why people do it (even if they proclaim they do it for other reasons) is because its easy. It's easy for them to sit behind their computer, type a few words in google and get something for free. It's still wrong to do it regardless. It really all comes down to the level of risk which is the deciding factor. Know those fruit stands outside a shop? The ones that are left unattended most of the time while the shopkeeper is inside. Well occasionally you might see a kid or even an adult swipe a piece of fruit of its stand, only because it was easy with relatively little risk. If the risk factor ever went up when it comes to piracy (talking about downloading here, not uploading!) then I'm pretty sure those who pirate would think twice. If there was a lot more risk involved, then yeah the analogy of robbing a bookstore would carry more weight. Right now its about swiping fruit; albeit more expensive fruit. Personally, I don't judge people who pirate because how much blame can you place on someone if the temptation to save money is presented to them in an easy medium? The problem is access, and its incredibly easy for them to get something for nothing. People love getting free stuff, and can anyone blame them for giving into the temptation? While technically its not free, to them it is; sometimes the temptation for it is too much. It's just how people are in a society ruled by money.

Now this is Art.. I see your creativity knows no bounds, Enigma. Your like the Picasso of the gaming world.

Hope you got permission from Moira Brown first...

Well, we do have professions such as construction worker who could possibly have such knowledge. I like to think the game is about normal people, but rather people who have a broad sense of knowledge in certain area's, or the lack of said knowledge at times. It's the prospect of the player creating their own sense of identity within the boundaries of the profession they choose. Right now any player character within the game can farm, can use a firearm without training, and can simply construct a safehouse within the confines of the game. In terms of realism, the game has already stepped over that line. Hopefully professions will play a stronger role later so not just any joe-soap can become a jack of all trades. I'm not entirely against the idea of adding cement but I personally don't see what purpose it will add to gameplay for now. If professions ever evolve to be more than just predefined traits along with the game mechanics and having cement will actually serve a purpose, then sure I can see it working.

However, rather than screaming ALPHA (I hate those people...) Meh, What you just said just transalates to ... FUCKING ALPHA. Except I didn't scream alpha at him in capital letters... Several times.

No more ambitious than any other game in current development. Everything it plans to implement is feasible with current technology, only obstacle is funding.

I'm more concerned that this took place in a town called Slaughter... If this was April Fools I'd be calling it a nasty media prank. But seriously, a town called Slaughter! You can't make this shit up!

The media sure does love a good spitfire when it comes to violence in video games. This report in particular seems to be more focused on emphasizing the part in which GTA apparently had a role in this shooting, and not the part in which it should question why a 8 year old was playing GTA, let alone had the ability to access a loaded gun. http://news.sky.com/story/1132826/boy-8-kills-gran-after-playing-video-game Anyhow, not really looking to spark a debate, but thought I'd raise awareness of this particular case here considering how blatantly obvious who's at fault here.

I normally don't do this, but the urge, THE URGE! ... I'm sorry in advance -

I agree with you, on all fronts. But there has been mention of hardcore settings before that have yet to be implemented, as well as numerous additional robots including ones on rocket powered horses. However right now it feels more like your thrown into a world full of patrolling robots (oppose to having a sense of being hunted) and your simply trying to avoid the patrols. Although once you get a few latched onto you it can be quite exhilarating to try and lose them. The problem I can see this game having is that it might soon be a case of *The hunted becomes the predator* with players easily not worrying about being the prey once they are well armed. However, rather than screaming ALPHA (I hate those people...) in your face until I turn blue, I'll just quietly say that its early days yet.

And so I've just discovered its gone into open alpha. Great, another game to clog up my ever dwindling supply of Time. Precious Time.