New Testingstan

I think the licensing for Alpha Centauri is all tied up and the company that owns it refuses to let Firaxis use it.

I got Civ V last week.

Fuck me is that game ever fun.

It sure is. Did you get Gods and Kings with it?

I bought the vanilla version, and then G&K the day after.

Fun times.

Losonti Tokash wrote:I think the licensing for Alpha Centauri is all tied up and the company that owns it refuses to let Firaxis use it.

Are they actually trying to do anything with it?

Don't think so.

man I know they'd want to use the brand name, but surely they could just make something with the numbers filed off
sort of like how supreme commander was really total annihilation 2
even forgetting the coolness of the setting, colonising a new world in a sci-fi environment over some years is more immersive/less S-O-D--breaking than leading a small tribe from the dawn of civilisation onwards

Losonti Tokash wrote:Don't think so.

Then fuck those guys for sitting on it.

Oxymoron wrote:Also, I liked the "final frontier" mod for Civ 4 and would appreciate it greatly if some people were to "port" it to Civ 5.

That was a fun mod. Carrier Battlegroups...IN SPACE! Would've liked more variety on the unit models but eh, still enjoyable.

evilsoup wrote:man I know they'd want to use the brand name, but surely they could just make something with the numbers filed off
sort of like how supreme commander was really total annihilation 2
even forgetting the coolness of the setting, colonising a new world in a sci-fi environment over some years is more immersive/less S-O-D--breaking than leading a small tribe from the dawn of civilisation onwards

Are you telling me having legit Roman Legionaries running around as fighting units in 1950 AD is SOD breaking?

in Civ 3 (which is the only spreadsheet game that I played to any real extent), I would routinely have one or two stone-age warriors with flint axes sitting around, guarding resources somewhere, while building spaceship parts

Welp: http://www.giantbomb.com/articles/micro ... 1100-4673/

No more always online requirement
The console no longer has to check in every 24 hours
All game discs will work on Xbox One as they do on Xbox 360
An Internet connection is only required when initially setting up the console
All downloaded games will function the same when online or offline
No additional restrictions on trading games or loaning discs
Region locks have been dropped

So the consumers went up against the corporation, and the corporation backed down.

Never thought i'd see the day.

well, good for them

Iiiiiinteresting.

So if that pans out, I suppose the real difference (to gamers anyway) will be back to exclusive titles and arguing over RAM?

I think Microsoft have done the right move, but we're not really past the opening skirmishes of the current console wars yet.

And here is the official wordbombthing: http://news.xbox.com/2013/06/update

I guess this means the "10 besties can play your library" is going right out.

Big Orangutan wrote:I think Microsoft have done the right move, but we're not really past the opening skirmishes of the current console wars yet.

The right move would have been to not try this crap in the first place, this is just damage control. Fuck 'em.

All three major gaming console firms are ruthless bastards though, even cuddly looking Nintendo (with the predecessor of Nintendo's incumbent CEO/chairman having links with the Yakuza through gambling cards).

Can I turn off the camera/mic?

I don't think they've said anything about the Kinect yet. Hopefully they'll do away with that requirement, or even sell the system separate from it so it's closer to the PS4's price.

The Kinect is critical to most of the features they're selling and they want to make developing for it more attractive to developers than as an add on so probably not getting rid of it.

At any rate, it looks like I'm staying XBox.

Which system i'll get now depends on which one has the first exclusive that I want. If neither of them does for a while, i'll have to leverage the PS4's lower price and higher stats against the fact that most of my friends will now be getting XBOX ONE's rather than making the switch.

so yeah The Last of Us
the gameplay is OK: lol quicktime event fights, but those fucking clickers keep getting the drop on me. It also has the standard stealth game 'enemies have no peripheral vision' thing, but eh whatever
the atmosphere is pretty much perfect, with wrecked skyscrapers being slowly overtaken by nature and creaking periodically & filled with fungus-infested zombies. It feels kind of like Ravenholm from Half Life squared

I'm definitely connecting with the characters more than I normally do with video games. The kid sidekick isn't annoying (probably helps that she seems to be invisible to the baddies in the sneaking bits, unless the player gets spotted). The first half-hour of the game is pretty horrifying -- I could see what was coming from a mile away, but it still managed to have an effect on me

so far, ammo has been rare (I have yet to go above owning 7 bullets), which is definitely a good thing. If you get spotted while trying to sneak, and there are more than three guys in the area, then you are totally fucked

if it can keep up this quality throughout, definitely worth the price