Izuno

hey guys...sales data through NPD aren't available yet. it might actually be a another week or two. as soon as i get my hands on it i'll let you know.

funny, now that I am further into the game I am really seeing how repetitive the gameplay is. While I am intrigued by the story, I can't stand killing imps over and over again. And where are the rooms of like 50 enemies all shooting at you at once? Maybe they'll come soon.

I don't think EA's control system will be the same as Gearbox's. I don't have confirmation but that's just the vibe I get.

I give it a high score because they delivered on exactly what they promised, no less, and certainly no more. There are things I don't like about the game, but I forgive them not because the developer is id, but because they achieved what they wanted. It was nice to play some throwback gameplay with pretty visuals. Eventually, when the graphics of all engines and future games gets closer to doom3 standards, we'll expect deeper and more elaborate gameplay. For now, I forgive the game design as it's the first of a new standard in graphics power. Hence I really can't wait to see what Doom3 mods come out.

http://ducttape.glenmurphy.com/

i thought i saw another video on PHL where a guy did it in like 45 minutes...but i could be wrong. i watched one...totally blew me away.

i don't recall seeing any shooter games with stupid jokes like that recently. i liked it, too. it warmed my heart for the old doom.

i guess i'll just say the obvious here: the people who want to blame video games for that kid's murder, for columbine, etc aren't really interested in "saving the children" or doing good for society. the lawyers who are trying to "destroy Rockstar Games" aren't trying to make society better. all those people are in it for their own greed (especially the lawyers). see, what we all know but don't say is that those people are simply looking for an "out"...it's easier to blame video games and demonize developers/publishers/esrb than to swallow the fact that some people are just screwed up. some people get physically, sexually, mentally, and emotionally abused as children, and that screws them up for life. in a rare instance, those abuse victims go crazy and go on killing sprees in places like Littleton, Colorado or they stab a kid at school in England. it totally sucks and no one wins. but because western legal systems tend to award lots of money for loss and pain and suffering caused by such events, greedy, sleazy people try to take advantage. like that laywer trying to take down RockStar over this killing in England. Only someone who has been an abulance chaser all his life would say he's going to "destroy Rockstar games"...plz. it says something about western culture (mainly capitalistic culture)...the cost of the wonderful freedom (more or less) we enjoy in western societies (as opposed to living under a dictator, a fascist or extremist regime, or Communism) is that members of such free societies are free to try to exploit any angle they can find to make money. i'm not saying it is frivolous to sue rockstar necc, but it reminds me of people who commit insurance fraud or pretend to slip on something in the supermarket and then sue everyone about it. it's like these people sit around and wait for a reason to sue just so they don't have to take responsibility for their lack of success or happiness. so back to the topic, wanting to ban video games and destroy rockstar and etc all comes from people with deep seeded issues that keep themselves from being happy and successful. rather than take responsibility for their lives they simply blame anything they think they have a chance at profiting from. it's one of the nasty sides of capitalism and western culture, particularly american culture, that we have to live with to enjoy the otherwise great freedom we have.

keep in mind the poll is for first week sales.

Erm...yeah i can get that...but it's a pain with NPD's system because it doesn't aggregate over all years, plus some products, such as Half-Life have multiple skus and it doesn't know how to group them. So don't expect anything soon (honestly I wouldn't have time to crank that out but I will eventually need that for some other competitive analysis.

no worries, Zaph. in one way or another i've been on both sides so i know how much bullshit goes around. id does have a very very favorable relationship. technically activision is the "distributor" and not the "publisher". In other words, id's cut of the profits is much larger than activision's other studios on their other brands. but that's because id/carmack have incredible brand recognition and clout. back on topic.....erm...thanks for replying!!! can't wait to see the numbers myself.

Some sample data for the North American market only. It is estimated at 100% of the NA market and accurate to +/- 10%. Title-------------------Date Launched----------------Life-to-date Units Sold Battlefield Vietnam-----March 2004-----------------------273,000 UT2k4-------------------March 2004-----------------------185,000 City of Heroes----------April 2004-------------------------169,000 Far Cry------------------March 2004-----------------------146,000 UT2k4 Spec. Ed. -------March 2004------------------------57,000 Painkiller----------------April 2004--------------------------43,000

I can hopefully get week 1 sales results from TRSTS (NPD Group's game sales database) by early next week. It might be raw scantron data, but the algorithm for estimated total market is pretty good. Only Activision will have the exact numbers.

got it yesterday at the office...plays a bit better at home (6800u@home vs 9800pro@office) but on my analog flat screen at home it is 'too' dark. areas of the game that i don't think were supposed to be pitch black end up completely black. as a result at home i found my self diving out of my chair like a little girl...ok maybe not but still I think they accomplished something. play it with headphones or good surround speakers. ppl at the office are meh on the 4 person multiplayer, but hey, props to id for delivering on their promise for the most part. bring on the mods! PS klein: WOOT MONTREAL!

No they're not absolutely everywhere. There are Ninja monkeys everywhere, so watch out. Supposedly the Stalker banana gun can be used like the ant-lion thing in HL2 that allows you to control ant-lions...er the Ninja monkeys. Hopefully the Ben Afleck voice over comes off right...especially with the mutant love triangle between the main character, this "hot" scientist from Chernobyl and this puffing dog faced humanoid thing. That and the Godzilla ending are my favorite parts, not to mention the contast in game advertising we're putting in. The ads will get piped in via steam and require a connection to your bank account or credit card as MP will have a $25 weekly fee. Mod support will be fee based also. Best part is it's actually not going to support any current hardware standards and only be playable on video cards released 2009. Oh one last thing, they're going to cel-shaded graphics.

They are called "anamolies"...i hope i'm spelling that right. Basically, by 2012 all the radioactive fallout and other "energies" have cause anamolous energy spots to pop up all around Chernobyl. Some are gravitational and can crush you or shoot you up in the air. Some are acidic and can burn you. Some are electrical and can zap you. Some do even stranger things. You will need to navigate carefully around them. Often they will be visible, other times you will need equipment to detect them (like a geiger counter similar to the HL hazard suit)

You will get no arguement from me on that. To date the press/consumers out there still view Stalker as a pretty tech demo, as nothing shown to date really says "wow that's good gameplay" i am working very hard with our UK office (which is globally managing Stalker) to help turn the tide. but the game is still pre-alpha and the developer is very very very very ... very secretive about all the gameplay stuff. Believe me i'm trying, but there is only so much I can do. I do appreciate your honest feedback and believe me, I will do whatever I can to make sure the "why it's cool" footage etc gets shown sometime before the damn thing ships.

August: Doom3 Sept: HL 2 Oct and Nov: Zillion console titles like Halo 2, GTA:SA, THUG2, MGS3, GT4, SW:Battlefront...plus titles like Battle for Middle Earth, CoD PC expansion and CoD console versions. In reality these titles will compete with Stalker or any other PC title. Retailers wouldn't take as much inventory of Stalker for an Oct/Nov ship date because their stores will be dominated by the console heavy hitters. Stalker would get crushed at retail if shipped between now and the end of the year. Think about it: relatively unknown developer, a publisher not known for PC games, and completely original IP (no brand, not a sequel, not WW2, not sports etc). Personally I think it is a very wise decision. Plus this will give the developers more time to fine tune the mod tools, not to mention expand the open multiplayer beta coming later this year.

hmm...i don't think this is for a shooter...i'm thinking it's for a cross platform 3rd person action game they were pitching around...but hey go interview for it someone and let us know.

as for food, it comes down to execution. it could go either way and i wont pass judgement until i see it. true, VC was an 80s Scareface version of GTA3, but that was enough to make the game much cooler to me...hence i liked it better. personally i think GTA:SA sounds even cooler with the larger area, multiple cities and more hip/hop gangster theme. i mean, at least it's different from the GTA3 and Vice. again, proof is in the playing. anyway i need something new for my PS2. other than SSX3 it's basically gathering dust right now.

I am in London this week for a global meeting on Stalker. everyone at our UK office was talking about this...the stabbing made front page in all the papers. everyone here thinks it's absolutle rubbish for blaming a game for the murder. still a tragedy though. ok...so jetlagged...one more quick meeting today then im off to tour london tomorrow before heading back to the US. cheers!

i still would have liked "Rise of the Empire" better...but oh well. I'm sure the movie will have a good script and even better acting. Let's hope the story revolves around Jar Jar...I mean he hardly got any screen time in Episode II. They should also focus on parlimentary proceedures in the senate...forget the action and lightsaber stuff. People don't go to Star Wars movies for action or special effects. They go to see animated characters with funny accents and to help them fall asleep in the theare. Star Wars Episode III: So Very Boring Yeah...that woudl have been a good title.

i like that they got packaging pics...even if those are just concept proofs.

shockingly, IBM makes some great value laptops (assuming you don't need to game) that are quite powerful, under $1600 and very reliable. i have had my 700 mhz IBM thinkpad for over 4 years now and it is still great for email and word/excel. but if you want to go cheaper/more powerful but no "major" brand name, try ibuypower, falcon northwest as suggested....look in the back of PC Gamer magazine for a lot of ads that can give you an idea of fair pricing in the market.

you may also want to try the env_model entity in Hammer.