Izuno

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.

Doom 3 will definately sell more than 200 thousand units. Our entire Best Buy region sold out of copies of Doom 3 by five PM, soooo... that's quite a shitload. Also, there are waiting lists and such for the next shipments to come in and blah... yeah.

keep in mind the poll is for first week sales.

Izuno could you get sales information on like the top 10 or 20 selling games of all time? I tried to find one via good the other day and most lists confirm SMB, Tetris, SMB3 as the top 3. Confirm it plz

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.

ID is one of the lucky few developers that worked thier way up to becoming an established name that can call thier own shots without having to be subserviant to publishers, I wouldn't consider their situation to be on par with the average game developer.

I realize this sounds a bit strong, but it's something I feel very strongly about. Anyways I totally hijacked your thread zuno, I'm sorry. Feel free to ignore my rant.

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.

i voted at random because i dont know marketing, but im sure itll sell assloads

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!

Anomalies I just hope they aren't absolutely everywhere, making traversing the landscape a depressing exercise in quick save/load.

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.

yay friechamp loves me

but yet, relase more sexy videos like that !!! I am confused about the invisible blobs of electricity n shit, wtf is with that D!!:!~~

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)

Stalker looks pretty, but the gameplay in the videos looks to be very... dry. Of course it's hard to tell, but from what I saw it looks like a game where you run around until you see a monster, then you run backwards while shooting at it with a semi-automatic sniper rifle.

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.

I read that Brian Farrell, THQ CEO, said that Stalker was delayed because it shouldn' have to compete with DOOM3 and Halo2.

DOOM3 is gonna be released already at the beginning of august and Halo2 is a console game (for now), so I think the real reason is something else...

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.

They need to be .mdl format and then it's best to use a "cycler" entity. Then just add the path.

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

omg mazy be an ati fanboy with me Im getting my first ati card soon 9600xt .... shutup im poor.

9600xt is a pretty good value card...i think you can get the 256 mb version for under $175 now. i think you'll be ok for most of the next gen engine based games like hl2/d3/stalker/bf2

you know, it would be great if there was a universal guide to what how each card fairs with each new game engine, especially for those on a budget who want something good but can't drop 5 bills on a 6800 or X800.

I doubt a freaky monster like that has blood in him that you would want to drink

omg Zaph is becoming a vampire!

Being the lazy sob i am...is there any hand to hand fighting? there's melee right? i'd love to be able to use my greater-than-human strength to smack around some ...erm...smacktards in the game.

i think this is the first game that has me excited play as a vampire cause it reminds me of how badass Blade, and the villians, were in..erm...Blade.

does it have dual dvi outputs?

yes

excellent question.

right after E3 I was given one of our Athlon 64 machinces with the 6800 ultras for a low low price.

I love the 6800u but honestly I don't have any games that push it. I only have Far Cry on 1280x1024 (native resolution of my LCD) but with full effects (4x AA, 8x AF and everything maxed) I get at least 40 frames/second most of the time. Problem is i don't find Far Cry fun so i don't play it, plus the MP is pants.

In all other games the FPS limit on max settings seems to be the refresh rate of my monitor which is stuck at 100 hz or something...but the image quality is amazing in all aspects. Yes, it takes up to slots and 2 power outlets, so you'll want a newer rig with a 400 watt power supply. if you don't have such a rig or a can't spend the extra $$$, get the ATI.

One of the key differences between the 6800u and the X800...

the 6800u supports DirectX 9.0c. the X800 series does not. Right now there are no games that support 9.0c, and I don't think HL2 or Doom3 will have feature complete 9.0c renderers so you won't notice.

STALKER (yes we know i'm biased) will have a full DX9.0c renderer and you'll need a compatible card to see all the effects. I've seen the difference between 9.0c and 9.0b and for the most part you can't tell, but in STALKER you can in some places and it is completely stunning. The 3.0 pixel shader in 9.0c is "awesome". Remeber the Unreal 3 engine tech movie from a couple months ago? That's the quality it can do. The 6800u is the only card currently on the market than can do this stuff.

I highly doubt you'll see much performance difference between the two, or image quality for the most part unless you're playing STALKER...erm...whenever that gets released . However, the differences between 9.0c and 9.0b in the game won't diminish it that much...most people may not even notice but since we're generally more in toon with image quality we might see it.

/gets of soap box...gets back to work.

omg this is going to be the best vampire related RPG game built from teh HL2 source engine everrrrrrr!

seriously, looks very cool, and i like the real time combat--as opposed to turn based in KOTOR (KOTOR still rocked, though)

gg