Quote from KungFuSquirrelThis is relevant for this thread: http://aliceandkev.wordpress.com/
It is awesome. Read through the whole thing from the beginning.
I only fiddled with the first Sims game, but reading this makes me want this one.
Well shit. Now I'm going to buy Sims 3.
":292cxdvw]So, question... is this worth a try?I have to admit i spent countless hours in Sims 1, but sims 2 was way too girly.
I haven't bought it yet but from what I've heard Sims 3 has been oriented to be a bit more gamey, you have goals and objectives based on your sim's personality and actions that are constant, instead of hopes and fears that change day by day. Like you could make a nympho sim, and your playing would be all about the fucking and getting as many different other sims in bed as possible 
http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/06 ... pc-launch/
Sims 3, despite being released to almost no enthusiast press fanfare, despite being leaked to the internet like a month ago, despite not having any DRM at all, has sold 1.4 million copies in it's release week, becoming EA's most successful PC launch ever.
This is exciting stuff, and I'm sure this'll have some really significant effects on future EA releases at least, maybe other companies as well.
Sony/Securom must be PISSED.
I wouldn't see a problem with it if there was limbs being ripped off realistically. I've personally yet to see a game, even Manhunt, come remotely close to the level of violence I've seen in movies like Day of the Dead or pretty much any war movie, and since there's no evidence that seeing virtual violence in a game has any greater effect than seeing FX violence in a movie, eh.
You know what I think crosses the line for that sort of thing? I bought a "Horrorfest after dark" movie at Walmart the other day. It had a trailer on the disc for a different movie from that series of releases, about med students haunted by their dead hooker cadaver, and at the end of the trailer the announcer claims "The first movie to use REAL HUMAN CORPSES" 
Quote from 2d-chrisI'd agree with this bill if it meant violent games like manhunt and stuff like we've seen as a trophy kill in AvP and limb cam in Hells highway was banned. That is crossing the line IMO and should not be allowed.It all depends where the line is drawn.
What line is it crossing?
Also "limb cam"?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
I think it'd be even bigger than that, new environment means tons of new textures and props, all new models and textures for all the zombies for the setting and new gore system, plus all the other stuff. I would be surprised if L4D2's total size isn't bigger than L4D1 (not counting the included L4D1 content, at the very least the textures and models since they promised that L4D1 custom campaigns will work in L4D2).
I think that's something like L4D2 would be too much content for a DLC download on Xbox Live or something, I dunno. Personally, considering it has more content alone than all of L4D, I don't see why it needs to be DLC at all. All of what I've heard about the new stuff they're including sounds like a damn good deal to me. 
Quote from SkjalgI'd expect better of you being European, claiming 80% of the market is consoles!
90% of all online gaming in the US is PC according to an NPD report last year, and L4D certainly counts in that group. It's far bigger in Europe, more and more the further east you go.
Altho I highly doubt those numbers (from both of you), then I think you two need to differentiate between online games and SP games. If you want to make SP games then you can't make em for the PC (exclusively) anymore unless you want your economy to get warezed to death.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20 ... nation.htm
I enjoy statistics and PC gaming. They go well together at times Ignore the negative overtones of the article (I dunno what's up with that) and focus on the facts listed.
72% of Americans polled say they play videogames. 42% say they play games online.
90% of those who say they play games online, do so through the PC.
Here's some more interesting stuff: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2008/11 ... thodology/
http://pewresearch.org/pubs/953/teens-v ... and-civics
Also nothing has ever in the history of mankind been warezed to death. The closest that's ever come is the music industry during the consumer backlash over the lawsuits and Sony BMG rootkit etc., but I've never once seen any proof of piracy hurting the real sales of a videogame. Most pirates aren't consumers, no matter what the situation. They're teenagers and "Information wants to be free" cyber hippies and people from third world countries buying bootlegs, not first world adults with cash to spend and a willingness to spend it on videogames but only if they can't pirate it.
Anyway, Left 4 Dead isn't a SP game and it's nowhere near as good if you can only play it offline. The bots can't even throw molotovs after all.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
Quote from 2d-chrisIf you want your favorite developers to be around in 5 years you shouldn’t curse consoles, making great AAA games these days usually takes allot of time and money, without 80% or so of the possible market buying your game it’s hard to justify the outgoing cost. At least you still get a PC version
I'd expect better of you being European, claiming 80% of the market is consoles! 
90% of all online gaming in the US is PC according to an NPD report last year, and L4D certainly counts in that group. It's far bigger in Europe, more and more the further east you go.
I personally didn't buy L4D because when it came out I didn't have a computer capable of running it. Now, with the rumors that L4D2'll include L4D1's campaigns, I probably won't ever. 
Man, Fable really did have a good soundtrack. Very fitting for the world it was set in.
Quote from kleinlukaIt just goes to show you how Germany's politicians still live in the 80s in their minds.
More like the 40's (zing)
":3mb1s4nc]They would just warez it! lol
It's what they already do anyway, because the alternative is censored versions
Rock Paper Shotgun just linked this in an article on this topic.
Longer version:
When I was 12 my older brother shot me in the ass with a paintball gun out of nowhere. It hurt 
Have Germany also banned lightguns yet? Or arcade booths with guns?
Quote from 2d-chris
How many other devs make violent shooter games in germany? Crytek and ...
Didn't Crytek get raided for using pirated copies of photoshop or something a few years ago? I'm sure you guys are used to developing... outside teh law
Hitler was a gamer.
Firefox crashed while I was watching the video 
Quote from SkjalgMaybe valve is doing this because they are hurting (because of the economy etc) as everyone else is, and they are just trying to survive?
I seriously doubt it, they're a private company and bow down to no publisher, and their games are all selling fantastic, and they sell other people's games. If Valve is hurting from the economy than this is officially Great Depression 2 and I expect to see stock traders jumping out windows any day now.
According to the RPS interview with L4D2's project lead, it's because L4D was mostly made by Turtle Rock, external to Valve, but the internal Valve guys really loved the concept and wanted to expand on it, make it their own work, but there wasn't much time for them to do it. They had so many ideas and so many different directions they wanted to go in that the total of the ideas was far past what L4D entails, so they approached Gaben and asked him to OK a full sequel, and he reluctantly said OK.
