SpikeTV has released their nominees and categories for the Video Game Awards 2004.  Just wondered what everyone thought:

I think they need to stop nominating games that aren't even out yet.  They did the same thing last year, which is basically blatant advertising for certain companies' (*cough*EA*cough) upcoming titles.

Here in Tennessee we use the old fashion plain type of water...mine comes from this here thing called a "well" .....no hard or soft water here...no sir ree. Feels good! Tastes good! and rinses clean away. You yuppies and your special water.  :roll:

No well water in Chattanooga

Heh I was in Chattanooga today and stopped by Fat Moes again. Man I loves those giant hamburgers.

MMMmmm.... Fat Mo's... I love 'em, but my arteries can only take one or two a year.

See where the world is headed?

A much more realistic scenario is that eventually a single standard platform for digital distribution will eventually be settled upon.

Has anyone actually played today?  Is it only the people who have played early in the morning?

Yep - I played this morning (56k), a bit around noon at work (T1), and when I got home (again, 56k).  Absolutely no problems.

oh how i wish i had a more private office instead of where i'm at.  my back is to the door and people are always walking by here, if not coming to see me directly.

Heh - yeah, my boss asked why my door was closed this morning.

So, let me get this straight...

They are surprised that so many people are interested in this game.

They were caught totally off-guard that so many people rushed to register today.

Who could have expected that  :roll:




THEY____SHOULD____ HAVE_____ KNOWN

Who says they didn't?  The problem is, until you have 100,000 people (or however many) hammering your network simultaneously, **you simply don't know how it's going to perform**.  You plan for it the best you can, but it is impossible to guarantee everything will perform flawlessly.

I have yet to see a screenshot of this "Coming February 9" deal...

I know its a pain in the ass. I'm sorry you aren't able to play right now. But this is brand new to them and I'm sure they didn't expect it to be that bad. They should of known? Maybe but this is new and with all things new there's going to be a few bumps. You will get to play your shiny copy of HL2 soon I'm sure just be patient.

Ascendent

Why should I be patient?  They created a system to make themselves more money (by not using VU for distribution) and now the consumer is getting screwed out of playing a game they legally bought.

"screwed"?  Look, it's not like they took your money, stuck it in a bag with a big dollar sign on it and are running away twirling the end of their handlebar mustache.  Everyone will be able to play eventually.

there's not much difference from the regular edition of hl1 and hl1 source.  Not everything has been converted.  You still have the same textures, but they have upgraded the water, and the walls are shiny.

The mod community is already working to replace every texture in the game though. Go modders, go!

Linkage, por favor?

Athlon XP 2800+
1GB RAM
Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB
1024x768, 2xA A, 8x Ani

Runs great - I'll probably crank up the resolution tonight and see how it does.

Woke up around 3, restarted steam for teh unlock, then went back to bed.  Played for about an hour this morning, and so far it's awesome.  I also got Halo 2 yesterday, but I have a feeling that's going to be on the backburner until I finish Half-Life 2.  I was surprised at how well it ran - I started off at 1024x768, 2xAA, 8xAni and expected it to bring my computer to it's knees, but it's pretty fluid.  Making the supporting characters have a larger role this time around was a great call by Valve - they are probably the most believable characters in any game to date, and really do add to the experience.

Oh, and I dig the upgraded Barnacles

Exclusive titles is the key.  Good exclusive titles, that is.  

If that were the case, Nintendo wouldn't be languishing in third place.  Exclusives simply aren't the big deal that some folks make them out to be.  Do they help sell consoles?  Of course.  But they don't make or break a console's success.

Yeah Best Buy selling a product customers want. What "dicks" they are.

Are they?  I always thought customers wanted a game that works.

In ~14 hours, they will have precisely that.

But not when they sold it thus Jeff's response.

Yeah, God forbid people show the tiniest bit of patience

Yeah Best Buy selling a product customers want. What "dicks" they are.

Are they?  I always thought customers wanted a game that works.

In ~14 hours, they will have precisely that.

I'm getting the dreaded Freshman 15 and need to do something about it. I wish there was some way to burn calories while in my room by myself (keep jokes to yourselves ) because I hate the gym and it's too cold to jog.

Dance Dance Revolution?

How are you supposed to keep a working copy of the thing after you activate it?  (you know, after Valve goes out of business and you want to reload it 10 years from now in your WinXP emulator)

As Rob mentioned, there will most likely be a crack available within the day.  And I would be surprised if in a couple of years Valve doesn't release some kind of no-activation patch.

Small nitpick -

480p (which is the highest resolution of most Xbox games) is not "high definition" 720p/1080i is, but very few Xbox games support those higher resolutions.

Same here - after getting off the anti-depressants this summer, I've seen the weight come off pretty quickly.  Well, maybe not quickly, but with very little effort on my part - I haven't seriously worked out in a couple of weeks, and my weight keeps dropping consistently.  Though I celebrated crossing the 200 lb. mark last night by eating an entire pizza  

 Ideally I'd like to be around 180 again - I'm 6'1"

Excuse me, but at what point did I say anything about my like or dislike of rap or Mr. Bastard?  

I know good and well that not all rap that falls under the "gangsta" label necessarily glamorizes it, but you know as well as I do that most of it *does*, and more importantly, that is the public perception of it.  Which would explain the supposed double standard that Valael questioned.

Next time, try not to put words in my mouth, thank you.

That could be said about a lot of famous actors that die.  One of those die and everyone gets all upset.  A rapper dies and everyone says "Ha!  He deserved that!"

True, but "gangsta" rappers not only live that lifestyle, their entire career is based on glamorizing it... that's probably where most of the animosity comes from.

For those of you that have the game, how much harddrive space does the game take up?

I haven't installed it yet, but the box says 4.5 gig.

I'm assuming that's just for Half-Life 2. My steam install with all the goodies is closer to 7.5 GB.

I'm not making it sound like that.

I'm saying that this whole thing has been a fiasco, mismanaged, mis-calculated, mis-labeled, and mis-everything since just prior to the infamous code-theft incident.

But I don't think any of that has anything to do with the subject at hand. That being the early release, and non-unlocking of the game. Even if everything you said above about Valve were true, that wouldn't make this incident their fault.

What a JOKE of a company, and what a JOKE of a publisher.    Here we find yet ANOTHER instance of a company SO concerned with piracy that they are punishing honest consumers.

Screw em all, and especially the French bed wetting publishers.

Valve has made some mistakes, (who hasn't?) but I don't see them as a "joke of a company".  I must be missing out.. what's this circus you speak of? what *really* has valve done that's so bad? Saying it would be released on 9/30/03? Ok, yeah, that was "bad", I guess (er, it is just a PC game though, not a cure for cancer), but what else?

They made arguably the best PC game of all time, and could arguably top that with the best PC game of all time. They did manage to finish it, something 3DRealms will likely never do with Duke4Ever, and it will be out Tuesday. And guess what... all the Valve-bashers will be first in f**king line to play it

Seriously.  Folks, it's a *game* - find something more important to get outraged over.

That looks like a shacknews comment, and not an official statement from Valve.  THere's no mention of early unlocking in the actual press release.

Steam users are pissed because Valve said they would unlock the Steam purchases when HL2 available via Retail, even if it was early.

They did?

I wouldn't hold your breath

Half-Life 2 For Sale?
November 13, 2004, 4:57 pm · valve
If you have purchased a copy of Half-Life 2, we are sorry you are still waiting to play. This is not Valve's choice. Vivendi is insisting that the game has not yet been released, and has threatened that Valve would be in violation of its contract if we activate the Half-Life 2 Steam authentication servers at this time.

Thanks for your patience and we will update you when we have more news to share.

http://www.steampowered.com/?area=news

I doubt this game will make many waves... the original Goldeneye was so notable because it was the first really well done console FPS.  But since then Halo has more or less stolen that particular distinction, and I doubt Rogue Agent has a chance of topping or even matching Halo 2.  It may very well be a good game in it's own right, but simply being a sequel to Goldeneye doesn't mean a whole lot nowadays.

Give me 5 solid years and fade it out in the SIxth, Nintendo was still selling NES games into the mid nineties, and you could get SNES games up till the late Nineties. PSX was still heavily supported 6 years after release until the PS2 took off in 2001.

Those are also three of the most popular consoles of all time - the undisputed "winner" of each respective generation.  Simply due to that fact they are going to have very long shelf-lives - they are the exception, not the rule.

You can't hold all consoles up to those same standards.  Especially now that there are simultaneously three strong, viable console manufacturers (arguably for the first time ever).  The competition is much greater, meaning there's much more pressure to phase out the current generation sooner rather than later.

I'd was initially excited about the Flashback, until they said it only came with about 20 games.  Hell, I can go buy one of those joysticks that has about that many games in it for $20.

True... I thought it was originally offered with 30 games.  Either way, you could get a real Atari 2600 + 20 somewhat common games for not much more than the Flashback:

http://www.4jays.com/atari2600.11.html

Scroll down to the Junior Special Package... It's $70, but I'm sure you could find a similar lot on ebay for less.  I'd rather have that anyway - there's just something about playing the real thing.

Left:

Ultima VII
Half-Life
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
Ultima V

Right:

Unreal Tournament 2004
Diablo 2
Knights of the Old Republic
Deus Ex

2) While a $200+ video would certainly help, I don't believe that it is required. Also, there are many places without broadband

Broadband isn't required for steam - especially if you buy the physical media. 56K is more than sufficient to authorize your copy.

Yes, there are going to be a few people who can't authorize their copy for whatever reason.  But it's a very small number - certainly not enough for Valve to worry about.

Man, part of my reason for going with Steam was so that I'd be able to play it before I had to go in to work on the 16th and start selling it.  One of the most annoying parts of working in a game store is having to spend the entire day selling the games you want to play to other people while you can't play them.  

Even better is when they come in and ask, "So, how is it?"  How the hell would I know?  I'm busy selling you your copy so you can go home and play it!

Do I sense some pent up hostility here??

Snicker  

Just because we serve you doesn't mean we like you.

Lewl... I'm going to put that on my office door

That ticks me off.  

'Here's 2 different versions of the X-Box Next but we have a third that will be released a year or so from now.  Of course if you want that version you'll either have to wait to play all of these cool games or you can buy one now and the other later.'

Double dipping at it's finest.  :evil:

Is there some reason you couldn't sell the first version? There's always going to be someone who's perfectly happy with the last year's model.  Or just wait until the penultimate one is released?

Not to mention that this is all just rampant speculation until MS actually announces something.

Use this version of BT - allows you to set your own upload rates

http://ei.kefro.st/projects/btclient/

I'm taking off the entire week of Thanksgiving, so I can wait a few days, then completely dive into it (and Halo 2, and Medal of Honor: PA, and Call of Duty: UO, etc. etc.)

It's really sad that people are willing to crucify a developer based on one misstep, despite a back catalog of great games.

That said; I think KOTOR2 is more or less stand alone, except for a plot point or two from the first one?

Yes, including the biggest plot point of them all.  

Edit: Very well Kevin - though I think the original post was more than vague enough.

I got one on Sunday....

because it break and will break I am sure everyone here has bee thru at least one or more Xbox (owned for over a year at least).

:rolleyes:

Whatever... I bought my Xbox on day 1, and I've never had a problem with it.  Not even a single disc read error.  Why don't you go to the local gamestop or EB and ask them how many broken PS2s they have returned to them?  (hint: it's a lot)

Might as well - it's already available for $10 fairly frequently,  so I doubt it'll get any cheaper.  And it was a great game for $50 - at $10, it's an absolute steal.  And I'd definitely play it before KOTOR 2... too many spoilers!

A nice gesture, but it was pretty easy to back it up even before - just go to the SteamApps folder and copy all the .gcf files - takes two DVD-Rs, and made the transfer to my 56K connection at home a lot less painful

All I can say is...Jaguar...
I dont think I will fall for it again.

Eh... the Jaguar was put out by the Atari of old.  The current "Atari" is just a renamed Infogrammes... that's the only connection between the two.

Not entirely because all this console talk is coming from Atari Labs (Atari US) which is close to the original Atari in location and several ex-atari developers do work for Atari Labs. One of the Flair II (aka Jaguar) does.

Really?  Hmm... interesting.  Hopefully there is something to the rumors.