Scrivener

So I got my beta copy of Star Wars Galaxies for having the game pre-ordered. Now that I've played about as much as I can stand without being paid, there's only one good thing I can say about it - Character creation is kinda neat. Galaxies is ugly, slow/choppy, boring, unintuitive, and sacreligous to all things Star Wars - the towns are more maze-like than anything out of the early days of EQ, when turning up visual settings (Which really don't help the game much, it still looks bland and uninteresting) it brings the whole ugly game down to a crawl. I kept going back, hoping it would be better the next time around... but it isn't. I guess I've invested maybe 6-8 hours into it. Am I totally wrong, or does SWG just really, really suck?

Positive, he was quite specific about it being a true Fallout3. The guy was pretty jazzed about possibly being able to work on it - I guess Interplay has been really pushing Lionheart the last few months and everyone over there is in a race to get off it (I guess it's supposed to be pretty horrible).

Between the horrible 'Gumby' Superbowl trailer and the early cut that leaked onto the internet several months ago, Hulk was looking like it could very well be DOA. Now that the movie is actually finished (There was a local preview screening recently that a friend attended, albeit under the name 'Big Smash') I can honestly say that The Hulk has the stuff to bigger than X2 & Spider-Man combined. The newest Tivo trailer + preview reviews have made a believer out of me.

I just got word from a-very-reliable-inside-source that Fallout 3 has been in the works since Marchish. So far, I don't know anything else - but word that Fallout 3 is OTW is good enough for me!!!!!

I thnk we'll see SS3 after the release of Deus Ex 2 and Thief 3 next year. Won't expect it till at least 2005, tho. I'm still bitter over Looking Glass' demise - I worshipped that company. Think I'll have to play through again with those new models, tho... they look NICE.

Need-stop-laughing... so... very... true. lol. I use a Mac powerbook for school (Multimedia Design Technologies) and friggin hate the thing. It's slow, unstable, unreliable, clunky, poorly designed, and unintuitive... but it sure looks purdy. MuchH84Mac.

Read about this one in Computer Games magazine and just HAD to give it a try. I'll tell you ahead of time that I have the uncensored european version, as the US version is T-rated only - minimal blood and swearing. So after playing for four straight hours yesterday, I've come to this conclusion: O-M-F-G!!!! Not only have they succeeded at making a FANTASTIC Vietnam War-based game, but it's EASILY the most immersive and involving FPS since Half Life. The game places a very heavy emphasis on atmosphere - like OpFlashpoint there's more to do than just shoot stuff. You'll look for booby traps with your Pointman, go on trips to local villages to innoculate the villagers... and wander around camp socializing with the other men. In your bunker you read up on mission briefs, personal records, weapon profiles, or listen to Vietnam Radio... complete with Beatles music and war updates. I can't believe I've passed this one up for so long, yet another fantastic game slips quietly under the radar. The T rated version is available anywhere, I bought the Mature Euro version from www.gogamer.com. 9.5/10

Here's another Oscar for Pixar. Although I don't know how in the world they got away with a 'G' rating. There was some pretty scary stuff in there... as a diver myself I got a little freaked out by a couple scenes. Anyway, Finding Nemo is yet another great Pixar film that anyone can enjoy regardless of age. See this one with the kids, there are some sensitive issues (Death of a loved one, etc) that parents will want to explain to young-uns. 9/10 P.S. The CG in here is absolutely mind-boggling. Although I'm only just starting to learn Maya in school, I can't even begin to comprehend how they got this movie to look so dang good. If it weren't for the cartoon-ish style of the characters, the whole movie would be totally photorealistic.

Been watching that one since it was Dreamland Chronicles: Freedom Ridge.... what's sad is that, even though DC:FR was near completion when it was indefinately postponed, when Altar bought the rights they scrapped most of that project and started over with a considerably less ambitious game (DC was to have 100% destructable environments, for instance). Nevertheless UFO should more than fill the XCom void in all of us old timers, though. Now, back to Planetside.

Play on either Markov or Emerald - name's Veraxus and I'm *gasp* a Galaxy Pilot/Engineer!

I've been puzzling over the movies since first watching Reloaded... there's some stuff that just dosn't make sense.... until it finally occurred to me... Nothing is real! There is no Matrix, there is no 'real world'... it's all a artificial! Furthermore, there's a chance (although I don't believe this quite so strongly) that Neo isn't even human.... but another program. Think about it.

I have my Tivo set up to record Enterprise, other than that I'll usually watch whatever else it sees fit to record (I'm glad I finally managed to get it to stop recording black sitcoms - your ma watches Cosby once and the next thing you know...). Big on Monster Garage and Junkyard Wars although the american JW is not nearly as good as the original british ones. Other than that, the TV usually runs unwatched set to either FoodTV, SciFi, or Fox News.

Just finished the game (PC) with Ghost, so here's my professional opinion: %@#%!@!E!!!! It's sloppy, amateur, unfun, buggy as hell, hard to control, and ugly. In all 10-15 hours of gameplay (Playing through with the other character is identical except for the fact there are some slightly different FMV sequences) I can think of maybe two instances where I actually thought 'Hmm, this is kinda fun:' A test of ability against Trinity, and a fight to the death against the Head Vampiric Chippendale Dancer at the chateu. The rest of the time I was playing only to unlock another story-related FMV sequence that SHOULD have been in the movie. Remember the feeling you got when you watched reloaded... that 'did I just miss something' feeling? Well, all the vital bits of info that should have been in the movie are instead tied awkwardly and haphazardly into the game... that is, between long stretches of lame monotonous gameplay, system-wide crashes, and audio-cutouts that force you to restart. The movie isn't self-contained because they took a Pokemon mentality toward marketing this stuff... gotta catch em all. Why give everyone one, self-contained, product when they can split it into three or more individual products (Animatrix, Enter the Matrix, Matrix Reloaded) all priced at the most that their market will bear? That is, as opposed to intertwining three seperate products. Also, playing as Ghost gets you shotgun on the car-chase sequences. You hang out the window with a gun while an NPC Nirobe drives into walls. Fortunately for you, the cops are even worse and likely won't get near enough for you to have to waste a single bullet (They're too busy driving off bridges and ramming into walls to deal with you). When you get to such sequences, go make a nice sandwich - maybe pimento loaf - and come back. Nirobe will either have gotten you killed by crashing so much - or the level will have successfully ended. In either case, there's not much you can do to effect the outcome. Of course while your off making that sandwich, there's also a chance the game may crash your whole system, in which case you should enjoy said sandwich while rebooting your computer. And guns aren't fun. It's obvious the game was made for hand-to-hand - which is probably why they put so many bad guys with super-lethal weaponry in the game. Maybe it was too much fun? YOU either need to empty your whole clip just to hit someone (And it dosn't usually kill them right-off, unlike their weaponry) or use focus. But focus drains so quickly that you'll spend at least half your playtime waiting patiently behind a barrel for the health/focus meters to recharge. Like Richard Garriot's Ultima series, Matrix encourages virtues too... because without Patience your game will probably be in the microwave before you even finish the lousy sewer missions. In truth, Enter the Matrix is a very mediocre game... but that's only judging it as a game in it's own right... a priviledge it cannot enjoy because it is The Matrix. The fact that it is largely unfun, buggy as hell, hard to control, ugly, and steals VITAL scenes from the movie (Scenes that should never have been left out of the film) make this an unforgiveable mess. Aside from the OBVIOUS quality assurance issues (AI, stability, etc), making Focus an infinate commodity would have added ENORMOUSLY to the fun factor of the game. There's also a significant ammount of mouse-drift in first-person that makes certain mandatory sniping missions an uneccesary frustration (Moving the mouse a fraction will cause the cursor to teleport an inch - or when you stop the mouse the cursor will keep moving for a moment). Final score: 4/10

Here is the perfect RELOADED review: http://slate.msn.com/id/2082928/ I totally agree with every word. But rub salt in the already open wound, I've been playing the game for a few hours. Now I have to decide whether to just throw it away or maybe use it as kindling? Yes, it's that bad. Trust me, not worth more than a $5 rental.

Just got out of the special 10pm PST showing and the general consensus was not exactly as lofty as $iLk's. So, I've got good news and bad news. The good: It dosn't suck. The bad: It's really not very good. All the philosophy and complex storytelling of the first movie went right out the window. Although the series was always intended to be a trilogy, Reloaded suffers from 'nastalgic sequel' syndrom, a condition instigated by a sequel being written after the release of the first movie (As opposed to all three scripts being written as once). It's mostly a collection of fight scenes and explosions with some interesting characters and situations that progress the action. Nirobe (sp?) and Ghost are on screen for, at most, 60 seconds and really weren't necessary to the story. In good sooth, they're only real purpose is to sell the game (Which, unfortunately, is just as mediocre as the film). Yes, I know your going to see it anyway and it's worth your money at least once as it's a pretty neat action flick... but it's not worth the repeated viewings that the first flick was. Score: 6/10 Look into: Equilibreum - which should be comming out on DVD soon. Conclusion: Today sucked. Left E3 at around 2pm, as 80% of the show was VIP/Invitation only (A new E3 record) and that 80% happened to be everything I cared a hoot about (Call of Cthulhu, Greyhawk, Evil Dead, etc). Oh yeah, and Half Life 2 is going-to-effin-rock-your-world. Nintendo-note: Nintendo is going out of business. Their game lineup sucked (And that's a conservative statement) and there were no less than three other handheld gaming devices being pimped at the show, including Ngage (Which also wasn't that impressive-very, very tiny screen). Just thought I'd stop back by the boards and post that rant

Havn't gotten it in at EB... not even expecting it in (esp since there's still six or seven copies of BCM lying around for $7 a piece). I called the Gamestop right down the street near Mainplace mall and the fellow over there said they had it in... I drove down there right when I got off work but they had apparently sold out! WTF!? Which one of you bastards got my copy?

Please don't compare Eve with E&B, that's like comparing BCM to Orbiter. Eve is in beta... and it's got a little farther to go before it's retail ready, but it's like playing a massively multiplayer Independence War 2. The universe is 3D... as opposed to Freelancer's 2D universe... we're talking vertigo-instigating 3D. It's refreshing that the developers are paying careful attention to making the game brutally realistic/believable. Got it pre-ordered and payed off... imho, it may not be BCOnline, but it's a damn fine space MMOG. Can't wait to see the theoretical thousand-ship melees in retail =)

Going through the textures (and replacing some of them with new 32bit versions) I came across a Sun.bmp in the gfxsfx folder. Since it's not in with the Skybox textures, I assume it was meant to be used along with the lense flare. I may not have my 3D stars but I'd me more than happy with a source for the lense flares. Is there any way to make the 'sun' part of the lense flare effect or at least add it into the skybox in the appropriate place?

I'm glad to see you doing business with GameStop. I just found out that EB is terminating their return/exchange policy, thus ends any business I may do with them in the foreseeable future. Apparently GameStop will give you a full refund within 7 days so long as you keep the stuff absolutely pristine. Since I buy a lot of stuff on a whim (Or against review recommendations) this is absolutely vital to me.

quote: now this sounds interesting... i loved west front, but after that, all the other ww2 TBS games were bleh... Have you ever played Combat Mission? It's not the grand strategy that Hearts of Iron is, but it's one of the best damn WW2 TBS games ever created. Unfortunately for us in the U.S. - you have to special order it from Battlefront.com. Get the CM1&2 bundle pack - it's positively wonderful!

Just imagine flying past this: http://www.cosmiclight.com/galleries/images/space/sun304.jpg More can be fouind here: http://www.cosmiclight.com/galleries/sun.htm

It's one of those oft-overlooked but subconsciously appreciated details. It adds depth... gives a sense of distance... especially if you can get close enough to see just how BIG it really is (provided you're ship is tough enough to get that close without being reduced to vapor). The stars in Iwar2, for instance, are awe-inspiring. Exploring phenomena like stars, quasars, pulsars, nebulae, and black holes are just a few of the things I've always wanted to do. And while not vital, I'd like to be able to sit on Mercury and stare up the giant fireball that fills half the sky during the day. That's a game I could LIVE in.

I've had the Marketing Beta for almost a month and managed to play the game through Mission 10, where some nasty bugs prevent you from advancing. The verdict - it's good and I'll definately buy it for the multiplayer... but it's not remotely the Elite successor it was supposed to be. Not even close. My biggest beef is the fact that the universe is flat - and looks flat - and feels flat. With a few rare exceptions, like Eve Online, most developers don't seem to realize that space is 3-dimensional. You can't even roll your ship in FS - for me that really damages the immersiveness (Isn't there a law about that?). I feel like I'm playing Combat Flight Simulator 3 with space as terrain. Plus, all the missions really just degrade into "Fly here - destroy some stuff - get paid." It's really no more complex than Dungeon Siege. What I do appreciate are details like 3D-dimensional stars and honest-to-god depth in debris/asteroid fields (Although it bugs me that they're all about the same size). True 3D stars are at the top of my wishlist for BCG/BCO - and one of the things I love most about IWar2. My final Freelancer score? 8/10 It's worth playing but go in expecting a GAME like Freespace/WingCommander - not a simulation like BC/Elite. Great multiplayer experience.

Wow, it's been a while. Took me a good long time to figure BCM out but now it's achieved Daggerfall status (I'll play it a couple times a month for the rest of my natural life). 5.99 for the MS Game Commander is a total waste of money. That thing is really just a glorified microphone, trust me. If you want a voice regonition and control system that works, go here: http://www.gamecommander.com/products/gc2.html.. They were the first and still the best. As for nifty gaming gadgets, check out the P5 Glove from Essential Reality. I can't wait to get my hands in this one, it's supposed to arrive at my store on the 21st - it's pricey but the gradual pre-order payoff eases the pain... especially since I'll be forking out big bucks to smuggle myself some Ferrets into Calif on Sunday.

*No spoilers - nothing you don't already know* I was glad that they kept JarJar minor and (More or less) quiet. The biggest issue I had with the film was Anakin. That guy simply cant act worth beans. At first I felt like I was watching a television StarWars toy commercial. Well, that and the fact that the whole romance was completely unbelievable crap. Fortunately the last 1/3 of the movie makes up for it in spades. w00t! 8.5/10 (Episode 1: 2/10)