Another one bites the dust. [ Games ]
Posted on: 2005-07-22 11:04:42, by talam
I had read a couple of weeks ago that Valve, the creators of Half-Life and Counter Strike, had finally gotten out of their contract with Vivendi Universal Games. I also read somewhere about them having issues with VU over cyber cafes, but was not all that interrested. I have my copy of Half-Life 2, the new expansion set for release later this year is probably going to be digital only, so who cares? Right? Well, maybe.
This would be a good time to mention my views of Electronic Arts, or EA. I am not sure if I have even mentioned them here before. They are evil. I had been fine disliking them, but still playing some of their games for awhile. I am sure you can understand as most people hate Microsoft but still use Windows. In many ways EA is like Microsoft in that they buy some companies who have innovative products and do their best to crush the rest. But it was not until they went after Sega Sports that I realized how evil they were. Sega had released the 2005 series of their sports lineup, all with Franchise rights, for $20 a pop. All were solid games, all got good reviews, and all were supposedly as good as their EA counterparts. Seeing an equivilant product for less than half the price of their own games, dropped the price of their games to match. But they did not like having to drop it and lose all the extra cash they would have been pocketing, so they started buying sole rights to the professional sports franchises to make sure it would never happen again. (I don't think the NBA signed up, but I know the NHL and NFL did.) Sega sold off their Sports division to a Take-Two subsidy and will never make sports games again...because of EA.
Now, back to Valve. They have now signed a multi year contract with EA for distribution of the future releases of their games. It is only a matter of time before EA assimilates Valve into its collective of over marketed crap. I don't buy or play EA games. Hell, I can't even fire up Half-Life 2 now without getting a bitter taste in my mouth so bad I have to stop. Oh well, guess I can't play games all the time.
One down, way too many to go... [ Games ]
Posted on: 2005-06-23 15:06:54, by talam
They say timing is everything, so lets see if they are right. I jumped on the 14 day trial of City of Heroes (CoH) a few days ago. Since playing, I have of course become very addicted to it. Addicted to the point of no even logging on SWG to check my harvesters and do maintainance on the houses. So today I canceled my SWG account...Erin's will follow as soon as I finish this post. I pulled all the harvesters, cleared out all the houses, and somehow managed to fit everything in the free space provided to the two chars. My account dies either tomorrow or the day after, and Erin's will die in about a week. I still have a little moving to do between the chars, but that should only take another hour or so.
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MMO crazy. [ Games ]
Posted on: 2005-06-20 05:03:39, by talam
I ran over to mmorpg.com to see where StarWars Galaxies ranked with other MMOs. I knew it was not in the top five anymore or even in the top 10, but I had no idea where it was. It came in 15th, which is not too bad giving the fact that it is really dying and we just came out of the CU where I would guess 30% of the accounts were dropped. I was insanely amused that Puzzle Pirates came in 6 spots higher than the the Matrix Online. It is funny that a kids MMO puzzle game ranks that much higher than a more adult game that was based off a fairly successful movie series.
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Distracted as usual [ Games ]
Posted on: 2005-06-02 08:36:18, by talam
I have made zero progress on the rantfest since my last update. I am going to do some work today, but I doubt I will get much done. I really don't feel like doing anything. I am seriously thinking that sitting up is too much effort for me right now. I feel weak right now. You know, it feels like the the kinda weak you get the day after spending 20 minutes violently throwing up everything you ate for the past couple of days, don't rest, and eat anything to refil that huge void until the next day. Yeah, that weak. Not sure why...except I did all that. Speaking of, I am gonna go get food...brb
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SWG Publish 17... [ Games ]
Posted on: 2005-05-27 14:03:03, by talam
Yesterday marked the launch of Publish 17 for StarWars Galaxies (for the uninitiated, SWG Publishes are either HUGE patch days or where they implement new content or play systems.). This one added quite a few nice features. My favorite, which I have been expecting since the recent Combat Upgrade made the combat system like EQ2, is how aggressive NPCs won't attack you anymore if they are grey to you. This is insanely important since a small group of things 20-30 levels lower than you can still kill you. This one little addition has made some of the dumber zones from the new Rage of the Wookiees expansion playable without drugs...the real life kind. Instead of spending 30 minutes to go tear through zones that force you into combat with invisible walls, you can actually play with the content. This and possibly the couple of new space quests they added are the only things I really care about in the patch.
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No one but wookies where harmed in the making of this post. [ Games ]
Posted on: 2005-05-05 15:03:29, by talam
You know, it is funny, the first thing I did when logged in was to see what I sold last night, not run to the planet of all that is evil and start killing things like crazy...WHAT THE HELL WAS I THINKING? Oh well, made about 5.03 mil last night. The 5 mil was from one sale (more money that me and the wife have had combined at any point in time) and the .03 mil was from about 10 other sales. Looks like I can afford the 2.3 mil for a good set of Imperial Scout armor now.
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SOE is just odd. [ Games ]
Posted on: 2005-05-02 11:10:30, by talam
I have been invited to beta test the new StarWars Galaxies expansion...that comes out on the 5th. The name of the new expansion is Rage of the Wookies...and it comes out on the 5th. While beta testing, I will be under a nondiscloser agreement until the game until it comes out on the 5th. So, I will not be able to post about it until it comes out on the 5th. I just feel it is terribly odd that I get to beta test a game for less than three days, you know, until it comes out on the 5th.
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How much SWG can I cram in the next 12 hours? [ Games ]
Posted on: 2005-04-25 23:51:22, by talam
So, the Combat Upgrade goes into effect tomorrow at noon. The world is gonna change and the sky is gonna fall, so I want to get a lot of playing done before the server comes down tomorrow. Of course, I am already tired so I probably won't get more than an hour or two in. Oddly, it is perfect timing. I am going home tomorrow and will be there a couple of days. With any luck, I will miss the horrid crap that happens, and things will be working when I come back.
Ok, so I played for 20 minutes and got bored. I don't do well under pressure.
Sometime I love forums. [ Games ]
Posted on: 2005-04-15 12:57:39, by talam
Ok, so I have been spending almost as much time letely in the SWG forums as I am playing SWG which means I am either going to quite outright soon, or be completely revitalized. Either way, it is amusing to bounce back and forth between thoughtful posts and, well, not so thoughtful ones.
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Team Speak + OpenRPG = ?? [ Games ]
Posted on: 2005-04-11 23:44:03, by talam
Ok, so me and some friends have been looking to start yet another DnD game. I have a feeling that it is going to be more a hang out session with periodic die rolls much like I associate with DnD. Basically what we are going to do is try to fail, as a group, at another game just like we did with EQ, SWG, and EQ2. This is gonna be fun. :)
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