Actually, I thought the combat gameplay for Arcanum to be abysmal.  I ended up cheating through any combat because it was really poor.

That said, the character interaction, gadget, magic, setting, etc... was all quite nice.

That was pretty much Troika's signature, truly inspired games that are fatally flawed.

How is the square button issue?

Actually, the main problem with the movie was that for the cost at which they produced the film, they could have just hired good live actors and made the movie that way.  It bankrupted Square to make that movie, so they had to merge with Enix, which was having troubles of its own.

While I wouldn't do it suddenly, after I graduate I'm planning to live overseas for a few years.  About a year in each country.

First Japan, then probably the UK.

Anyone know if this will have split screen coop/MP on the Xbox, or just Live?

Interestingly enough, she's got a role in the Sin City movie.

Coincidence?  I think not.

Or Obsidian.

I think the next SW thing they do should involve the whole war of the ideologies thing Obsidian set up in KotOR2.

I'm pretty sure they made her look deliberately boyish to fit in with the whole mechanic thing.

Being Vietnamese myself, and somewhat good at telling some the general (is very slight) differences between Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, etc...  I can say she doesn't have many of the normal Vietnamese features, but then again neither do I.  Probably some French blood in the mix.

My friend and I refer to myself as a mutie freak, but maybe I'm a cylon in disguise.

Oh dear, I let that out now didn't I, now I must kill you all.

Actually, there's a good reason why you, as an adult, can eat some things dropped, yet your child should not.

Adults have a better developed immune and digestive system.  Out stomachs can kill off germs and our immune system handles any that escape.

In the worst case scenario of food poisoning, an adult can recognize that there is a problem and seek help.

A child is just developing his immune system and all those chemical reactions that allow him to deal with solid food, let alone contaminated food.

Any fans of the comics care to get me started on a few of the graphic novels?

I read a lot of graphic novels, since I plan to become an illustrator myself.

The Hellblazer anti-hero story seems pretty interesting, but for such an established comic I'm not sure where to start.

Heheh, actually, the Obisidian guys are the guys that made Planescape Torment, they left the company to form this new gig.

Even as an MGS fan, I'd have to agree about the gameplay to cutscene ratio.

However, I disagree about the amount of game time.  Unless they changed things, only an absolute pro could go through the game in 3 hours of gameplay.  It'll take longer, although a good lot of that might be waiting in dark places for a guard to pass by.  

Anyone see that advertisement/minigame where you use the mouse to kiss Brad Pitt up in the top right of the site?

I doubt Mr. Pitt knows his image is being used, but for you copyright lawyers, wouldn't it be against the law to use his image in what is clearly an advertisement without his permission?

I've only caught a few episodes of this, and then stopped even trying to watch after season 1.

Then I read another post here and it basically says the show now has Vampires in it?  The show already had some mysticism in it with the whole prophecizing thing, but Vampires?

Can someone quickly sum up all the shenanigans that have been happening since Season 1?  The last thing I remember was Garner's character finding a clock and much later that whole section getting wiped out by CIA and some members moved into the real CIA office.

How the heck did they get to Vampires?  From what I remember it was a nice action/drama about intelligence operatives.

I know some are against cheating, but I didn't have time for a reloading and whatnot with a rented game, so I managed to find a conversation loop in the Xbox version that gives you as much influence with her as you want.

You will come to both love and hate Kreia.  She's such a wonderful character, a lot more passionate than many other characters you see in games.

Okay, so I think this one isn't the kid's fault.  I mean who knew drinking too much water could kill you?

However, some other deaths, were just as much the dead guy's fault as the frat.

I bet you the first mods that start appearing on the net are ones that move the square button over a bit to line it up with the detector.

If it weren't for the button problem, I would buy it at $250.  Right now, I'm just going to wait for them to fix the damn thing.  By then, it will either be $200 or have a larger selection of games available.

Any newz on whether they fixed that button issue, or is it still a problem for the US release?

From what I heard, it was an underlying circuit board manufacturing defect and they just needed to alter the board, not the whole design.

He thrashes around for a bit, then sinks slowly into the lava.

I'm not sure if he gave the thumbs up though.  I was too busy running for my life from the other one.

From what I gathered, they are legit.  Like others, I can't confirm how good they are, but they do charge a lot of money and it seems like they have some good equipment and people there.

However, I'm a believer in getting a more general degree.  Right now I'm working on an Illustration and Animation dual major and all my instructors say not to specialize too deeply.  Job markets shift, especially in entertainment related jobs, so having as many skills as you can along with a specialty is better than.

For example, I know how to animate in 2d and 3d quite well, but since the market is tough for an animator right now, I can easily do some illustration to support myself.

I dunno, I found the squad controls too arbitrary.

For instance, there are only certain locations where you can order your squad mates to, these are glaringly obvious concrete barrier things or objectives.  Otherwise your squad just follows you around until you get into a fight.

Luckily, when you do get into a fight, your squad is smart enough to take cover in less obvious places, like nooks in the sides, or around corners, which is really nice to see.

Still, those glaring concrete blocks detract from the game somewhat, you know there's a fight ahead and can judge its difficulty by how many blocks there are to hide behind.

Whisperwind isn't as crowded as most servers, but it can get packed on weekends.

The major cities can get pretty laggy, along with some more well travelled areas.

That said, we haven't had much of the more serious problems that other servers have had.  Just small lag and population problems.

Just a heads up for those of you that were interested in Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow's unique Spy vs. Mercs multiplayer mode, but didn't want to buy the game just to try it.

Fileplanet has an open beta going on, just sign up and they'll send you a cd key for use during the beta and the download link.

http://www.fileplanet.com/betacenter/sc_chaostheory/signup/index.aspx

For those that don't remember, the Spy vs. Mercs game is one of the few stealth based MP games that actually worked.  There are four players to a server, two spies, and two mercenaries.

The spies must achieve their objectives, depending on the map, and the mercs must prevent them from doing so.

Both sides have very unique play styles, with the mercs getting the classic FPS view and some gadgets, and a flashlight to light up dark areas.  They also get rifle and various melee attacks.  They also get two special vision modes, EM vision, which can detect spies when they use their electronics, and motion detector, which detects fast motion across their screen and highlights anything that's moving quickly, even in dark areas.

Spies get SC's third person view giving them more situational awareness, nightvision, thermal vision (can see through walls and detect traps), and some other nonlethal gadgets.  Their lethal abilities are limited to up close grapples, and are quite fragile if detected.  They also have a wide variety of moves that allow them to go places that mercs can't.

Anyway, give it a try.

Edit: Oh, and a word of warning.  This multiplayer game has a high learning curve, but stick with it, the gameplay is very rewarding.

If anyone wants to, I'm willing to meet up with people online and run a tutorial game where I can coach people through the game.  They had the foresight to implement a "Tutor" server option that allows both teams to talk to each other.

Not only is she het, I'm just glad to see an Asian on one of these shows.

One that's not a token character.  

It doesn't have the same amount of content.  Just the endgame areas, which are decently big, and all the extra side games you get when you complete the game.

Yeah, the character animation technologies they used are just top notch.

I'm working with the engine, trying to use it to produce a short scifi film.

*SPOILER*
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Anyone else love that whole sequence when you finally meet the three Jedi Masters on Dantooine?  The way the music works and Kreia's monologue was all so heartbreaking.  It was the moment that established so many things, but it also marked the point where the devs ran out of time.

In most fights I switch between the Red9 and Riotgun.  But first I pop a few heads with the rifle.

The magnum I use for bosses or minibosses (those damn blind claw armed guys).  Currently, my broken butterfly has been upgraded to the point where if I land one good hit on his back parasite, he'd dead.

I finally used the rocket launcher, I even had time to say, "Hasta la vista, baby." as I blew that annoying little punk away.  It seems the rocket launcher kills in just one hit.

Right now, I'm using very little ammo.  So little that I have *gasp* too much of it.  I just fired off my rocket and the space was immediately filled up again with ammo.  So, maybe those high ammo usage guns are worth more than I thought?

Since I'm using the XL case, i can fit all those weapons, some healing items, plenty of ammo, and quite a lot of grenades.  I swear, at this point Leon is packing more firepower than Nemesis.

Oh, and yes, you find a broken butterfly, later on, so don't buy it.

Also, if you want all the cool upgrades, hunt down all those treasures.  A treasure map is invaluable for this.

Oh, and use those grenades, you'll find them at a regular rate in this game.  Otherwise, they start taking up space you could use for healing items.

What a waste of a thread.

Let's get a new topic going.

What are the guns you're using or used in the game?  Which upgrades do you have?  Have any good tips of weapon selection?

Currently, I just got the XL case extension, so I can fit quite a few goodies.

My inventory:
Red9 + stock - At first this gun doesn't seem worthwhile, but it's easily the best gun in the game.  Quite accurate, especially with the stock.  It's firepower upgrades raises its firepower quickly, saving you precious ammo.  It's main problem is the space it takes up, it's two blocks more than a normal pistol and the stock it three blocks.  Still, its final upgrade is firepower 5, so that's almost like hitting something with a full shotgun blast.

Riot gun - a good upgraded shotgun, a bit more powerful than the first shotgun you get.  I'll be sticking with this one through the rest of the game.  I checked a faq for weapon strengths and the next shotgun really only has capacity and firing rate advantages, meaning you'll be using a lot of your ammo.

Semi auto rifle - I'm still debating this purchase well after I bought it.  It's nice to have a rifle, and I know I need one around, but it takes up a lot of blocks.  I have put it to good use though.  In the end I may just keep it.

Broken butterfly - I'm just carrying this as a placeholder for the Killer7 magnum I'll get later.  I haven't used it too much, but I suspect it'll be useful against bosses where you only have a short interval with which to shoot.

Rocket launcher - Nope, I didn't buy this, I found it just about the same time I got the XL case.  It takes a massive 16 blocks.  However, the faq says it delivers 9,999 damage to anything it hits.  So even bosses can't stand for long against it.  Plus, when I finally do use it, it'll clear the spaces used.

Weapons I don't use:

TMP + stock - My friend used this while he was playing and it seemed decent.  It make short work of the cave troll whenever he had time to spray it.  Fully upgraded it's as good as the handgun.  Don't be fooled by its low firepower, as you get a large amount of ammo for it in every pickup.

Okay, I seriously need to put some sort of animation to that mp3.

*gets to work on drawing*

City of Angels.

Meg's character should have lived and they'd have to deal with that fact there's nothing else after life.

As it stands, not only is he ultra screwed by having no afterlife, he's also lost the woman of his dreams.

They turned a movie about going the distance for love and the hardships from it, to a soppy tragic ending that was absolutely forced.

You and the hundreds of others that post similar topics.  Luckily, unlike some others, you haven't gotten angry about it.

Simply put, no one game is for everyone.  Add to that the fact that you did just have an intense 3 weeks of gaming.  Perhaps it's time to slow down and enjoy it a bit more, or just play some other games to unwind from the MMO mechanic.

This is a resident evil game, I'm just glad I have any ammo at all.

My friend, a big fan of RE, (I haven't played most of them) has said that I expended more ammo in just the intro village section than he's seen in an entire RE game.

And I'm also at the barricaded house segment.  It's difficult,


*spoiler*
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What kind of effect does the flash grenade have on the alien heads?  I know they're just extremely useful for stunning groups of enemies, but do they do something more to alien heads?

I hope it does sell.  With Orson working on the story it should be a good one.

As we all know, good visuals and storytelling doesn't always mean a seller (Beyond Good and Evil).  But it seems this one has enough action to draw in that crowd.

I definitely like the "you are the weapon" aspect, where you start with all the weaponry at hand, but your own abilities begin to outclass these playthings.  

Serenity - the Firefly movie.  For those that haven't seen the TV series, rent it or buy it, you need to see it.

Hm... I've been playing lately, and pretty unsatisfied with the game now.

Frankly, multiplayer has devolved into who can build the most of their first teir units and rush with them.

Literally every single one of my 10+ games since I started playing started and ended like that.

I don't know what happened since the beta or retail, but it's just not fun to play anymore.

I'm Vanigan in the DoW multiplayer lobby.

You will only get handmaiden in your party if you're male, otherwise you get a guy named Disciple on Dantooine.