OXM has Jade Empire demo and review (9.4)

[Andrew Mallon]

This month's OXM has a demo for Jade Empire on it. I won't get to try the demo until Sunday, but the review gives the game a 9.4:

+ Inspired Designs and great looking characters
+ Side-questy (sic) goodness for everyone
+ Replay Value? Yes.
+ Real-time combat and fighting styles = innovative and good times
- Occassionally janky framerate
- On the short side in length
- More voice actors, please
? Open Palm. Closed Fist. How about the Scissors if we're going for a Roshambo trilogy of philosophies?

They also give Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory a 9.9 and call it the definitive Xbox game and the zenith of the platform.

[Driver]

I got my copy this afternoon.  The demo is a lot of fun, and you can try out all the character's fighting techniques.  It's really a lot more fun than combat in Kotor.

[gwartok]

Sounding good. No demo for me though and I really wanted to try and do that move the Bioware guys did in the Gamespot interview that caused their opponent to explode.  :twisted: Guess I'll just have to wait until next month.

[Calvin]

Im going to go buy the mag tomororow. cant wait to try this.

[Eco-Logic]

SC got a 9.9?!  Woah.

I am looking forward to both of those games.   Great month  


Getting married in 3 weeks...

[Devil]

Congrats on the wedding!!!

Demos sound good too!

[Bullwinkle]

What other demos might we find inside?

[Driver]

That's it - except for the hidden demo., which I think is Tron.

There are five downloadable gametypes for Halo 2.

[Fellow]

Now, when they say 'on the short side in length', just how short are they talking about, I wonder?

[Ralph-Wiggum]

Now, when they say 'on the short side in length', just how short are they talking about, I wonder?

I read in the new EGM that the game is expected to be around 20 hours. Not necessarily short, but not as long as past Bioware games.

[Elenkis]

Got the demo from a torrent site... The combat system seems very cool, but damn that was short even for a demo.

[mytocles]

grrr, why does every magazine subscription provider seem to screw their subscribers?  my OXM is still not in the mailbox today... that's not much of a reward for subscribing! :evil:

[dandylife]

What, is the cheaper than retail price for each issue not enough of a reward?

[Chrisoc13]

Well, I like my magazines to get ot me before they hit store shelfs. This is the reason I stopped getting OXM. They are very late in shipping out the magazines.

[Qbe]

Now, when they say 'on the short side in length', just how short are they talking about, I wonder?

I read in the new EGM that the game is expected to be around 20 hours. Not necessarily short, but not as long as past Bioware games.

Sounds good--if it's that short I may even finish the game during my lifetime.

[dandylife]

Well, I like my magazines to get ot me before they hit store shelfs. This is the reason I stopped getting OXM. They are very late in shipping out the magazines.

Me too.  That's why I don't subscribe.  But (mytocles) if I did, I wouldn't complain because I'd be paying less than retail.

[mytocles]

well, i pay less - obviously for less... but it's a free country and i'll whine if i want to!  :wink:

actually, i thought the magazine companies wanted you to subscribe - isn't that the whole idea?  if i had to go to the closest place that carries them, i'd probably pay less even than i pay to subscribe, bcz i'd pass on a lot of them for that price, and i wouldn't likely get there every month, either.

that leads me to another question - does the local store get a cut?  you'd think they'd have to - so how much does the mag company get from me, vs. from the store?  anyone know?  maybe they really should be treating me better...

[Chrisoc13]

well, i pay less - obviously for less... but it's a free country and i'll whine if i want to!  :wink:

actually, i thought the magazine companies wanted you to subscribe - isn't that the whole idea?  if i had to go to the closest place that carries them, i'd probably pay less even than i pay to subscribe, bcz i'd pass on a lot of them for that price, and i wouldn't likely get there every month, either.

that leads me to another question - does the local store get a cut?  you'd think they'd have to - so how much does the mag company get from me, vs. from the store?  anyone know?  maybe they really should be treating me better...

Yeah they should be treating you better, because subscribers is what they make their money on. I buy one a year now since I havnt had a subscription. They get much much less money from me now then they did when I was a subscriber. They get alomst nothing. The last one I bought had PGR2 as teh demo. Its a shame, if they had just delivered on time I would have had many more.

[Calvin]

well, i pay less - obviously for less... but it's a free country and i'll whine if i want to!  :wink:

actually, i thought the magazine companies wanted you to subscribe - isn't that the whole idea?  if i had to go to the closest place that carries them, i'd probably pay less even than i pay to subscribe, bcz i'd pass on a lot of them for that price, and i wouldn't likely get there every month, either.

that leads me to another question - does the local store get a cut?  you'd think they'd have to - so how much does the mag company get from me, vs. from the store?  anyone know?  maybe they really should be treating me better...

Yeah they should be treating you better, because subscribers is what they make their money on. I buy one a year now since I havnt had a subscription. They get much much less money from me now then they did when I was a subscriber. They get alomst nothing. The last one I bought had PGR2 as teh demo. Its a shame, if they had just delivered on time I would have had many more.

How short is this demo? Not  worth getting?

[Driver]

It's a couple of larger fights and a cutscene, but not a long demo.  You do get to play as all the characters though, and see their different fight styles.  I've gone through it twice and I think the full game will be pretty fun.  Maybe repetitive, but the story should help that.

[dangerballs]

well, i pay less - obviously for less... but it's a free country and i'll whine if i want to!  :wink:

actually, i thought the magazine companies wanted you to subscribe - isn't that the whole idea?  if i had to go to the closest place that carries them, i'd probably pay less even than i pay to subscribe, bcz i'd pass on a lot of them for that price, and i wouldn't likely get there every month, either.

that leads me to another question - does the local store get a cut?  you'd think they'd have to - so how much does the mag company get from me, vs. from the store?  anyone know?  maybe they really should be treating me better...

Actually, the magazine makes very little money off of subscriptions.  Most magazines even offer free subscriptions many times just to get their subscriber numbers up.  Magazines make most of their money from advertisers.  The more subscribers they have, the money they can charge for ads.

Local stores "buy" copies of the magazine at deeply discounted prices and then sell them to you just like any other of their goods.  Magazines that are not sold have their cover ripped off and are thrown away, or are sent back to the publisher depending on the magazine's policy.

[Arkon]

At EB all magazines are destroyed at the end of the month and are not "in inventory".  Most EB's sell very few copies of magazines.