No, it's not the latest entry in the Twilight series, but rather a very impressive looking 4X space-themed TBS game.  Anything that draws comparisons to HOMM gets my attention, and I've seen a couple glowing reviews.  $6.99 is a little steep, but it looks awfully interesting.

Has anyone given it a shot?

I've tried multiple times throughout the last couple days to access Perfect World's system to purchase "Zen".  I was mainly just curious to see how much real world money some of this stuff cost.

I have yet to not have their website time out or give me some sort of error message.  I've tried both at home and at work today, on both IE and Firefox.  Most of the time it simply times out, but I've also gotten about 4 different error messages.  Not exactly the way to make someone comfortable with dropping real $$ on their game.   

I've noticed Tucker and Dale, but the little Netflix summary makes it sound like the worst thing or the best thing ever. And often when I roll the dice, I end up with stuff like ATM and The Frankenstein Theory. If you guys swear by Tucker and Dale, perhaps I'll give it a try.

I typically don't enjoy horror movies at all, but was thoroughly entertained by Tucker and Dale.  A strong cast combined with the sheer absurdity of it all make it an absolute blast.

Wondering if I should just pony up the $60. If it came with a bag I might have done it already. Why the $200 and $20 packs come with a bag and the $60 one does not is beyond me.

Well...crap.  I thought I read this morning that the $60 pack did come with a bag. 

Looks like a couple of notables made it on to Netflix:

Cabin in the Woods...

Nice. Been waiting for that one.

Same here.  I've steered clear because I don't typically enjoy horror movies, but might make an exception for that one.

Ah...yeah.  I really don't understand the pricing model of digital content sometimes.  I can usually find much cheaper hard copies of movies.  You'd think the lack of any overhead beyond hosting the content would make it cheaper to buy in a digital format.  

For some reason, animated shows seem to be the worst culprit in terms of pricing.  I really liked "Ugly Americans" and wanted to watch the second season, but they split the season in half and were asking something like $28 per half of the season.  Metalocalypse was also around $30/season, and those are far shorter episodes.  Not sure why they're so crazy expensive.

So, I kept watching Venture Bros in the hopes that it would click, and it finally did around episode 5 (the Bowie references totally won me over ).  Will finish up Season 1, and am seriously considering dropping the $$ for Season 2 on iTunes.  

Seasons 3 and 4 are crazy expensive though...$30 and $37, respectively.  Not sure I'm up for that.

Even the boxed dvd sets?  I remember getting them for around 20 bucks each, if I recall correctly.  Or are you stickin' to digital content only?

Trying to do digital, as 90% of my TV watching is laying in bed with the iPad (no TV in the room). 

After spending all weekend with the game, I think NW is pretty much exactly what I'm looking for.  Fun action oriented combat, something I can play almost completely solo if I wish, lots (hopefully) of good user generated content with great stories (a la Tilt's modules), and something I can log onto for either 1/2-hour or 4 hours and still feel like I'm accomplishing something.  Party dungeons, PvP, crafting, constantly needing to scour an AH...that stuff's totally lost on me. 

I'm seriously considering dropping in for the $60 Founders Pack.

So, I kept watching Venture Bros in the hopes that it would click, and it finally did around episode 5 (the Bowie references totally won me over ).  Will finish up Season 1, and am seriously considering dropping the $$ for Season 2 on iTunes. 

Seasons 3 and 4 are crazy expensive though...$30 and $37, respectively.  Not sure I'm up for that.

@skinypupy9

Just got to level 10, really having fun.  Tilt, I just played your "Hidden Blade" quest.  Nice work man, that was lots of fun.  Haven't done any others to compare it to, but I'm sure it's up there in quality.  I keep seeing notices about "skirmishes".  Are these instances that require a party?  RvR stuff?  Not even sure where to find them, so I'm a bit fuzzy on what they are.

Is there an auction house that you can sell items for gold, or is it all those Astral Diamonds?  Also, am I the only one confused by the number of currencies available?  Zen, Diamonds, Seals, Bounties, and a couple others I'm sure I haven't encountered yet.  Haven't been able to wrap my brain around all of them yet.

Yeah, if a bunch of people go a guild I'll join. Just send me info. I am lazy.

Same here.

I know it's still in beta, but a 4-hour server maintenance that starts at 9:00pm on a Saturday?  C'mon now...

So was this misleading demo ever used again after E3?  Was the same demo released to the public?  Did all the marketing materials, advertising, screen shots, video previews, etc. reference back to this particular demo, or was this a one-off thing created for E3 then shelved?  Asking because I honestly have no idea.

Without taking a stance on the merits of the lawsuit, I can say that yes, advertisements for Colonial Marines were using footage from the E3 demo rather than the actual game for weeks after the game's release.  Here's an article about the UK's Advertising Standards Authority addressing the issue, and I personally saw my share of ads here in the US.

-Autistic Angel

Thanks.  That makes this far more of an issue then. I was under the impression that this was a one-time demo used at E3.  If they still continued to use it post-release, then yes, I'd agree that's a significant problem.

I'm on.  Stromos Tharbane (Guardian) on Mindflayer.

Impressed so far...reminds me a lot of NWN.

Held accountable for people's bad puchasing decisions?  Last I checked, no one was holding a gun to anyone's head requiring them to pre-order something.

Is that what it would take in your world for a game to be considered to have false advertising, or are you maybe just making a point that isn't relevant to the discussion?

You and I obviously aren't going to agree on this one:

-  You think it's blatant false advertising and the developers should be held legally liable (side note:  to whom are they liable?  People who bought the game?  The publisher?  A particular individual?  Just curious what your thoughts are.)
-  I think it was an E3 demo cobbled together from half-baked ideas early in the creative process, oversold by the developers (like they all do), and that people should have waited to see reviews before purchasing the final product.  I also think it sets a very damaging precedent for the rest of the industry if the lawsuit wins.  Why would publishers ever release another demo/preview video/etc. if they could potentially be sued over it?

So was this misleading demo ever used again after E3?  Was the same demo released to the public?  Did all the marketing materials, advertising, screen shots, video previews, etc. reference back to this particular demo, or was this a one-off thing created for E3 then shelved?  Asking because I honestly have no idea.

I loved the first one, the second was 'meh', and MiB3 has the honor of being the most forgettable movie I've ever seen.  It was so bland and so dull that neither Mrs. Gratch or I could have told you a thing about the characters, plot, set pieces, etc. within a day after we saw it.  Honestly, the only thing I remember about it was that Josh Brolin did a good TLJ impression. 

Can't say I'm terribly excited for a 4th entry.

But, when we are surrounded with messages harassing us to "Pre-order now!" and we make that purchasing decision based off a demo that isn't even indicative in the slightest of the final product -- the people involved should be held accountable.

Held accountable for people's bad puchasing decisions?  Last I checked, no one was holding a gun to anyone's head requiring them to pre-order something.

To me, this whole fiasco simply reinforces the fact that we should become smarter consumers and wait to see what a final product is before plunking our cash down for it.   Being pissed off about it is fine.  But unless gamers never want to see another game demo (because the publisher could be held legally liable if it changes by final release time), we may want to rethink the lawsuit angle.

Well, third time is the (not) charm with HOMM VI.  God, some of those scripted missions are awful.  Putting in 2 hours then finding out you've backed yourself into a corner...I just don't have patience for that shit anymore. 

I would kill for a RMG for this game...but since it doesn't have one, off to the uninstall button I go.

Did you see that crap earlier this year about how King was taking 'Slayer' on the road in Europe this summer... without Lombardo, without Hanneman, and without Tom Araya either?  Pretty sure that's not Slayer.

  I missed that one.  King's done a lot of ridiculous shit over the years, but that one may take the cake.

[Devil May Cry]

Not sure yet.  I'm a couple hours into the new Devil May Cry, but the somewhat ridiculous combinations of button presses you need to accomplish to actually be successful is eluding this twich-averse gamer.  I reinstalled HOMM VI last night, but for some reason I can't get the music or VO to work, which makes it all feel very dull.  If I can get that to work, I'll probably land there for the weekend.  If not...who knows.

I wish one of these devs would just make a Diablo game and make us pay for the full game instead of creating IAP gameplay.  The IAP system doesn't look nearly as bad as DH4 so far, but it's still a disappointment.

I'm a little surprised Blizzard hasn't figured out how to clone D2 over the iPad yet.  Seems like that would be a license to print money.

Yeah, he's been fucked up from the spider bite for like two years.  Shitty, shitty news.  Guy was the best of that pair by a mile.  Plus he wasn't a huge douche like Kerry King.

Yup.  King is a colossal dickbag, and Hanneman was the one with all the writing chops anyways.

I don't listen to Slayer much anymore, but it's sad to think that with Lombardo out and Hanneman gone, the band that basically got me into metal in the first place doesn't exist anymore.   

Slayer founding member Jeff Hanneman passes away at 49

RIP.   

Only played one game, not impressed, it's not bad, but not rushing to jump into another game either.

It's a hassle to play. Too easy to move someone you don't want to. The ammo thing is annoying, it gets old quick. There isn't much explanation for things either. I hate the firing a gun mechanic, you have to touch the screen when a moving ball is in a circle, but each gun is different and not at all clear in what you need to do. Like the plasma torpedoes weird build up of a bunch of rounds then you can only shoot a few. All in all I found it to be frustrating when things got difficult, which didn't take long.

And the battles can be slow too. It's either sitting waiting for guns to fire or ammo to build up, or constantly trying to deal with invasions why they blow up your ship.

I changed my mind after reading TA's glowing review...wished I'd saved myself the $3.  Lee's impressions match mine pretty closely.  There's some interesting ideas that totally fall apart due to shoddy execution and controls.  It's simply not very fun.

Yeah, everything I've read points to great ideas hampered by sub-par design.  Heard it's brutally difficult as well.

Think I'll steer clear of this one and just play Epic Astro Story instead.

I think part of the problem is that almost all games shown at E3 are shown in a barely-working way.  There is tons of smoke and mirrors, throw away work and duct tape holding things together in that crunch to get a demo ready for a trade show with a game that is still in production.  And no producer or media person is going to tell you that the feature they are touting hasn't even been started yet, or that the level they're showing off was specially made for that scripted demo, or the million other things that still need to be done before the game ships.

Differentiating that "normal" process from what Gearbox/Sega did is going to be problematic and potentially have a huge impact on the industry.

This is basically what I was trying to say...EngineNo9 articulated it better than I did.

"Losing your fans' trust is very easy thing to do. Regaining it is very hard," Yoshida said. "We believe Final Fantasy 14 is a starting point, and that players joining us will think 'oh wow, this is great, I'll see what they can do with Final Fantasy 15 or 16'.

[/quote]

What a strange comment.

This game looks like it could be really damn cool.  A mash-up of Choose Your Own Adventure, King of Dragon's Pass, and a standard RPG with a beautiful art style and unique combat mechanics.  It's got a pretty impressive pedigree of artists and developers behind it as well.

From legendary designer Steve Jackson, co-founder of Lionhead Studios (with Peter Molyneux), and Fighting Fantasy and Games Workshop (with Ian Livingstone); and inkle, the studio behind the award-winning, App Store featured Frankenstein, Sorcery! is an interactive adventure like never before.

The app uses inklewriter technology to tell your journey in real-time, shaping the story around your choices. The text itself changes based on how you play and what you do, and in combat, the action is description on the fly based on how you play.

Featuring original illustrations by John Blanche, new character art by Eddie Sharam (DC Comics), an interactive map by Mike Schley (Wizards of the Coast) and music by David Wise (Donkey Kong Country).

If the narrative is solid, I can see this one being quite amazing.  Keeping my fingers crossed.

A couple screenshots:






EDIT:  Some additional very positive feedback here

Interesting, thanks for the clarification.  I'm not familiar with anything about this game or the demo, and the article was a little vague on what the actual issues were.

I still think this lawsuit is a slippery slope though.  Using your hamburger example, a Whopper is not something that is in a constant state of creative development over a multiple year period.  Games are, and are likely to change during the process as a result.  At what checkpoint do we determine that developers are legally "locked in" when they show off a game and are then liable for monetary damages if they don't deliver as promised?  How on earth could you define that?

It's one thing for publishers and developers to be publicly shamed by the press for being dishonest dickbags about their games.  I'm fully in support of that and think it should probably happen more often when games wildly overpromise and completely underdeliver.  Being open for lawsuits because of it, however, seems to be a bit over the top.  Just IMHO...

Colonial Marines sucked bigtime...so what.

Indeed. So what.

"So what" because it has nothing to do with the lawsuit. Maybe you should have a look at what this case is actually about, which is showing off a "demo" that it turns out has no relation to the game that is released, hyping up features that would never see the light of day?

So when game features get cut due to budget or publisher time constraints, the developers should be held legally liable because they promised or showed them off in a build at one point?  I can see that if they list a feature on the box that isn't in the game (i.e. saying it has multiplayer when it doesn't, etc.), but to get sued because you promised something that didn't make the final cut or because the development team changed creative direction at some point seems pretty sketchy to me.  Should we all retroactively sue Obsidian for cutting out the ending of KOTOR 2? 

Every demo I've ever played stated that it is a "work in progress and not representative of the final product".  (I never played the demo for this Aliens game, so maybe that wasn't there.)  There were plenty of reviews that stated this game sucked.  If consumers spent their money on it anyways, isn't that just a case of 'caveat emptor'?

Sounds like they have encountered a few problems.

My expectations for this game just divebombed.   

On PC for $50. 

[Tomb Raider]

Finished Tomb Raider (which may very well end up as my GOTY) and started on the new Devil May Cry.  An all-action-game weekend was a fun change of pace.

I just started DMC tonight on PC.  Coming in completely fresh to the DMC games (my entire exposure to the series was about 20 minutes of one of the previous games), and I'm really quite impressed so far.   Combat reminds me a lot of Bayonetta (in all the good ways), the levels seem pretty unique, it looks and animates great, music is solid, and it has a decent sense of humor.

Can't wait to dig into it more this week...hoping I can finish up one more game before the twins get here.

A fantastic game from start to finish.

$30 shipped, or would trade for the new God of War or Dragon's Dogma:  Dark Arisen

And...finished.  If you would have told me a couple weeks ago that Tomb Raider would be my frontrunner for GOTY over Bioshock Infinite, I'd have said you were nuts.  However, this was absolutely a brilliant game from start to finish.  Tense, exciting, beautiful, thrilling, emotional..everything I could have asked for.  And this is coming from someone who has never liked a Tomb Raider game before and isn't really a big fan of the action genre.   In fact, I'd go so far as to put Tomb Raider in my top 5 for this entire console generation...it's that damn good.

I had a few minor gripes (the neverending waves of enemies towards the end got to be a bit much, I think they could have done more with the ending), but overall this game knocked my gorram socks off.  A+, two thumbs up, 99/100, GOTY, etc, etc.

Bummer.  Was really interested in this, but am not a fan of co-op.

I'm about halfway through according to the save (the burning temple), and can easily say that TR is the most intense video game I've ever played.  Some of the set pieces are just brilliant and literally have me on the edge of my seat as I'm playing through them.  The bridge crossing was crazy.  I love the fact that the game encourages exploration but doesn't require it to advance the story.  I've never been one who finds searching high and low for every hidden doodad and widget to be much fun.  Nor am I particularly crazy about overly complex puzzles.  The fact that both of these elements are (mostly) optional is a fantastic design choice, IMO.

The only time I get frustrated is in the large open areas.  Shantytown drove me absolutely nuts...I got totally lost because it all looked the same.

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