Hard Light Productions Forums
Off-Topic Discussion => Gaming Discussion => Topic started by: DaBrain on January 02, 2008, 12:04:48 pm
-
You download Universal Combat for free now...
(No multiplayer though.)
http://www.worthdownloading.com/download.php?gid=490&id=13639
I could write some cruel comments about that game now, make some jokes about bad games, but I'll leave that to you...
Derek Smart kept out of the FS2 business, so I don't reall feel like doing that. ;)
-
I have a question. I could find the answer for it on my own, but since this is a Derek smart game and I haves waste enought of my time for tonight. And maybe others might like to know as well.
Is this in any way relevant to my interests as a Freespace fan?
-
The people who like his games, really, really like them.
They are not my cup of tea, a least not for relaxation. Complicated, possibly overly so.
But some people DO like them. No better way to have an opinion that is not simply parroting frantic sreaming of "oh no Derek Smart" than to find out for yourself.
Free is good.
-
When I have the time, I figure I'll try it. According to wiki, it has a huge learning curve. Sounds interesting to say the most so far.
-
Enter Jupiter with one of the carriers and then try to get out. Always good for some excitement.
-
Hmm. An 80-page tutorial? If, as Derek himself has stated, games are supposed to be fun, this must really be directed at a specific gamer group. I for example refuse to believe that a game can be fun if learning to start up your spaceship takes hours of reading several excessively lengthy manuals and such. I think I'll skip this one. But, as always, if someone likes it, be my guest. I won't criticize.
-
5.9
mediocre
This wildly ambitious simulation is torpedoed by an almost incomprehensible interface, the absence of a tutorial, numerous bugs, and many fit and finish issues, including dated production values.
Sounds pretty bad. but i might try it.
-
Free is good.
Maybe, but my time is valuable. :p
-
I like to play bad games like this, I find it fun to laugh at. I'll definitely download this for the plane trip home as well :D
-
If it wasn't a wildly ambitious game with an interesting premise that fell on it's face because of bugs/bad design/whatever, it wouldn't be from Derek Smart.
-
Well, I have to admit, I like that the games are very ambitious. They even feature some things that sound impressive.
It's only sad that nothing is done really well. The games need a big gamedesign rework, way better graphics and a lot more budget and time.
-
Bah. For Derek Smart, games are just a way to make money I think.
-
Wow, I just played that game again...I'm keeping it on my hard drive to show my friends, that is just too funny. I played a marine mission (one of the FPS parts of the game) - I started running in one direction, clipping through the various wildlife was about, and running past the low resolution bitmap trees that were at least 5 times too big. I kept getting urgent messages, but nothing on my radar was showing up, so I turned around and there, standing next to my three friendlies, were three enemies that looked almost exactly the same. They were just kind of sitting there, so I started shooting at them. I'm not sure if I was getting shot or not, though, because they'd fire at me and nothing would happen. The absence of any hit effects or indicators whatsoever (no sound/audio indicators) meant that I didn't know if I was doing anything to them until they fell over. Finally, I killed them all, but somehow ended up in prone position. I ran around like this (at the same speed as standing!), scooting across the ground for a few minutes. I then started trying to randomly press keys until I stood up, but as soon as I did so I died and the mission ended.
Chuckling to myself, I tried the space combat. I figured hey, that's pretty easy to do, maybe he didn't screw it up. Upon load, however, I was greeted with so many cryptic HUD abbreviations, flashing lights, and "Urgent messages" - (where to check those freaking things I do not know), that I had little to no idea what was going on. At the very least the radar worked, and I turned myself to attack an enemy. Not only were the speed keys NOT in their normal places, but Derek must have the smallest hands known to man, because only a pygmy would think that putting the turning keys on the arrow keys and the fire key on the enter key is comftorable at all. Soon after, however, the enemies began to shoot at me (no hit indicator whatsoever, I could only tell that I was being hit because my shield strength started dropping and some sort of mild blue fuzzy stuff - my own shield being hit - appeared around me).
Suffice to say this game has little to no redeeming features to it's gameplay. It's slow, boring, and basically just everything bad we remember about Derek.
-
So from what I can see it's still better than Big Rigs, right?
-
I downloaded and tried it (well... since it's free... I'll give Derek a chance :nervous:. Only one though).
Space combat: despite having throttle set on my joystick, my joystick's throttle doesn't work. I tried if it was set on another axis, but I couldn't get it working. Also, in space you have flightsim controls (if you push the stick to the left or to the right, the ship rolls, and twisting the stick the ship turns, like on a flightsim. Usually, in spacesims yaw and roll are inverted...). Friendly ships go much faster than mine, so they kill all the enemies before I can even get in firing range.
Ground combat: I saw friendlies going and shooting everywhere, but I didn't find a single enemy. I found quite boring just to stand there and watch my friends...
Atmospheric flight: you can't control your vehicle with the joystick while you're taxiing (since, as everybody knows, Real LifeTM airplanes use a steering wheel for taxiing, and a yoke for flying :rolleyes:). As soon as I took off, I found rotation around the roll axis too slow, and rotation around yaw axis too fast. I headed for the red labels, but before reaching any of them the screen went black, saying "You've been killed in action".
-
So from what I can see it's still better than Big Rigs, right?
Nah, Big Rigs is equally buggy but looks more fun (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mB1zWEhgrLs).
-
I can find **** for free in the park.
-
But this **** is digital, dude.
-
Friendly ships go much faster than mine, so they kill all the enemies before I can even get in firing range.
Choose a faster ship then. There is no AI penalty/bonus regarding ship's status. If you fly a big carrier don't expect to get to the action faster than a fighter or a cruiser.
-
I have to play this. It sounds like a cross between PSI-5 Trading Company and Wolfenstein 3D without the fun of either.
-
BEHOLD, low bandwidth :doubt:
-
So from what I can see it's still better than Big Rigs, right?
Nah, Big Rigs is equally buggy but looks more fun (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mB1zWEhgrLs).
:lol:
The physics defying truck!
-
But this **** is digital, dude.
This (http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/3360/twistsy4.jpg) is digital ****. For five hundred thousandths the size. I'd say comparable quality.
EDIT: This at least gives you a laugh for the first half second you're looking at it, before you realize it's poop. UC just... sorts... kills you. I condone this image as a worthwhile replacement for Universal Combat.
-
I didn't click that link. I can guess what it is :doubt:
-
:eek:
This game is utter revolutionary!! I mean... this changes everything!!! It completely redefines the way games suck!!! I seriously didn't think any game could be THIS bad!!!! :eek: Why the **** would Derek Smart want to put his name on a piece of **** like this?
I hereby give this game the ranking of "Universal Combat" on "Thesizzler's Uber Scale of Fun! (http://img246.imageshack.us/img246/2962/scaleofunvq7.png)".
-
have you seen big rigs? i give that game a 4/10 because it's pretty funny to laugh at the horrendous of it.
-
I bet that game is at least playable. I mean, most of the problems with this game aren't the bugs. The hud layout is horrendous, the graphics look like it was from 1997, it runs worse than Unreal tournament 2004 did on my computer... the list goes on.
-
you had problems with ut2004??? :wtf:
that and freespace are the smoothest and most stable games i've ever played.
-
I was exclaiming my shock because that game had pretty good graphics. Actually, UT2004 only ran smoothly for me on the highest graphic setting, on the lower ones my mouse lagged, or something.
-
you had problems with ut2004??? :wtf:
that and freespace are the smoothest and most stable games i've ever played.
That may be true, but FSO is a pain in the ass to get started with for a noobie.
-
Only if you're installing it manually. I don't see how people screw it up with Turey's installer. Anyway, once you do get everything sorted out, you realize there's no simpler way it could be done.
-
Well, there are problems when
-the Installer cannot download some files, like what happened yesterday when a new guy couldn't get FSPort running
-people try to use FS2.exe and Freespace2.exe
-people refuse to read any manuals or stickied help threads
for starters, at least. But once you get the hang of it, it's all un-****ing-believably simple indeed.
-
:eek:
This game is utter revolutionary!! I mean... this changes everything!!! It completely redefines the way games suck!!! I seriously didn't think any game could be THIS bad!!!! :eek: Why the **** would Derek Smart want to put his name on a piece of **** like this?
I hereby give this game the ranking of "Universal Combat" on "Thesizzler's Uber Scale of Fun! (http://img246.imageshack.us/img246/2962/scaleofunvq7.png)".
given that you put Conquest: Fronteer Wars in the "you might as well kill yourself" category, you're rating systems makes as much sense as 1+apple = nebraska (km/h)
-
Given that you spell "Frontier" with 2 "e"s your post is about as valid as 1 + 50294 = -3. :p
EDIT: I'm quoting you so you can't change it and be like "oh it never happened quit making it up"
:eek:
This game is utter revolutionary!! I mean... this changes everything!!! It completely redefines the way games suck!!! I seriously didn't think any game could be THIS bad!!!! :eek: Why the **** would Derek Smart want to put his name on a piece of **** like this?
I hereby give this game the ranking of "Universal Combat" on "Thesizzler's Uber Scale of Fun! (http://img246.imageshack.us/img246/2962/scaleofunvq7.png)".
given that you put Conquest: Fronteer Wars in the "you might as well kill yourself" category, you're rating systems makes as much sense as 1+apple = nebraska (km/h)
-
Given that you spell "Frontier" with 2 "e"s your post is about as valid as 1 + 50294 = -3. :p
:lol:
-
This THING (notice how I don't call it a game) ran fine on my system, but the graphics and soundFX were atrocious. It has been purged from my system, unfortunately not my brain.
-
So this game is worse than Big Rigs?
-
Yes. Both suck, but at least Big Rigs makes you laugh. Result: Big Rigs is winner!
-
Given that you spell "Frontier" with 2 "e"s your post is about as valid as 1 + 50294 = -3. :p
What does my typo have to do with you lack of taste and good senses? :wtf:
-
Yes. Both suck, but at least Big Rigs makes you laugh. Result: Big Rigs is winner!
So Big Rigs is so bad it's funny, but UC is so bad it's not funny?
-
Quite so. Big Rigs laughs at the laws of physics, which is funny, whereas UC does the goatse at the interface and functionality, which is not funny at all.
-
Given that you spell "Frontier" with 2 "e"s your post is about as valid as 1 + 50294 = -3. :p
What does my typo have to do with you lack of taste and good senses? :wtf:
YES.. ME AM SMART PEEPLE. I NO HAV GRAMMERE OR SPLLEING BUT NO GODO GAMS WEN ME CEES IT. ME CN"T SPPELL NAM GOOD, BUT ME LIKS IT.
If you had spelled that name right I might have reconsidered its placement, but I guess the people who like it aren't even smart enough to spell it's name properly. I guess that says something about the kind of game it is...
[exaggeration]
-
Normally I would ask "What do typos have to do with smarts?" but I see that question is too deep and difficult for your fragile mind.
I'll have to formulate a question that's closer to your intellectual level.
*picks up a kiddy coloring book*
O.k. sizzly, this apple is? :wtf:...Nope, it's not orange..try again.
-
Normally I would ask "What do typos have to do with smarts?" but I see that question is too deep and difficult for your fragile mind.
I'll have to formulate a question that's closer to your intellectual level.
*picks up a kiddy coloring book*
O.k. sizzly, this apple is? :wtf:...Nope, it's not orange..try again.
Behold: I am Trashman! Observe as I insult my opposition to lower his credibility, rather than using actual brainpower to formally outsmart him! It is impossible to combat this arguing technique because to do so would require that you have as little thought capacity as the person making the attack! I win again!
-
Okay this is getting annoying. Break it up before the hammer comes down like Gordon Brown's fist.
-
Tsk,tsk...as much as killing you with an avalanche of insults would be fun, I won't fall to such low a level*. :p
Back on topic:
I have not played UC and I don't plan to.
Alltough I sometimes wonder if the hate for the game around here isn't also partially becouse of the hate for it's creator. Such strong emotion tend to color everything we see, shadowing the good things and making anything bad stand out in all of it's un-glory.
*It is you who started with the insults
-
*It is you who started with the insults
Moi?
-
Tsk,tsk...as much as killing you with an avalanche of insults would be fun, I won't fall to such low a level*. :p
*It is you who started with the insults
And yet their primary purpose isn't to be an insult...
I can't help if you're offended by my pointing out your misspelling, you not understanding, then my clarification. Pardon my tact (or lack thereof), but they were not meant to be insults, as opposed to me pointing something out or clarifying a previous statement. My last comment, although, I could understand how you would get insulted and I apologize. Yet I'm sure there are other people who would tend to agree with it.
-
Okay I want the hammer to come and I want it to come now.
This is making me nervous...
-
What are you talking about? Me and Trashman are good buddies! Watch:
Back on topic:
I have not played UC and I don't plan to.
Alltough I sometimes wonder if the hate for the game around here isn't also partially becouse of the hate for it's creator. Such strong emotion tend to color everything we see, shadowing the good things and making anything bad stand out in all of it's un-glory.
I would tend to agree if I hadn't played this game.
I wasn't here for the big Derek vs. HLP brawl, and I haven't read it. This would be my first Derek Smart game I ever played, so I'm pretty sure I would be a bit more objective than a lot of people here. Although I only tried the marine segments, I must say that it is that bad.
See, Snail? :p
*Watches Snail get more nervous.
-
See, Snail? :p
:wtf:
Umm... Objection overrule?
-
Denied! :hammer:
Me and sizzy here are great, big buddies - just look at our angelic faces! :mad2:
*sharpens knives and reads on human body, especially the back. Meanwhile sizzy grabs some poison and starts baking cookies*
-
Back on topic...
I tried bc3k years ago on my p133. It was sloooow. Unfortunately, it didn't run on my then new computer, but from my limited first impression, I liked it a lot (actually, I just like the premise of having your own huge starship and roaming freely around the universe)
Then when BC:M was made free, I downloaded it. It was booooring. Something Smart doesn't understand is that fun > realism. I wouldn't mind the graphics, or the crappy sound effects if the game were fun to play. But it's not. I don't want to learn how to play a game, I've got plenty of other things to learn anyway.
-
So Big Rigs is so bad it's funny, but UC is so bad it's not funny?
Big Rigs is pure ineptness in action; amusing, unintended, and nonthreatening.
UC and the Battlecruiser series are the result of sadistic detailfreakism in so extreme a form that even sadistic detail freaks find it disturbing, combined with an almost preternatural ability to be unable to communicate any concept clearly.
Put another way, this is indeed what it would be like to command such a craft...if you had no crew, no automation, and not even a freakin' Owner's Manual to assist you.
To mangle a line from one of my favorite product reviews of all time, and with my deepest apologies to Jason Sartin (not that he'd accept them): "DIFFICULT? Oh, yeah. Anyone with the force of will to play more than a couple hours of this homesick abortion of a game (without going insane and making sacrifices to sweet Azathoth for a merciful annihilation of the universe) is no one to be ****ed with."
-
I liked BC3000...ti's better than FS :D
*hides in a nuclear shelter*
-
I liked BC3000...ti's better than FS :D
*hides in a nuclear shelter*
If you were being serious I would have destroyed the entire galaxy to get rid of you if I could.
-
If you were being serious I would have destroyed the entire galaxy to get rid of you if I could.
I DARE you to try it. You will never find me. Nevah! :drevil:
-
I guess we know what the Shivans are looking for. ;7
-
Fellow sentient beings and genocidial destoyers...we must unite against our new nemesis!!!
Behold! the new blasphemy approaches!
*shows picture of trashman*
*crowd of millions of terrans, vasudans, and shivans roars a battle cry*
We must fight for our way of life!!!
with the new GTVSA formed, trashman shall know no hiding place...
-
Didn't you know I'm Emperor of the universe? Your pitiful armada pales before the might of what I have at my disposal. My resources are limitless. My weapon invincible. but I have a far more dastardly method of dealing with rebels.
*hands out untold quantities of terran, vasudan and shivan p0rn to the mases + a free big screen TV for everyone. The masses turn agains haloboy100 and swear undying loyality to TrashMan*
-
curses. foiled again.
And after years of planning....
ruined!
Curse you trashman!!!! cuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurse yoooooooooooooooou!!!!!!........
....wait. But how do you know how shivans reproduce? or vasudans for that matter?
hah. beat that.
you may have rebelled the terrans and vasudans, but i think the shivans are still on my side.
hah. so i still have shivans on my side. that means i can run and get all the bosch beer to myself! hahahahaaa....
-
Didn't you know I'm Emperor of the universe? Your pitiful armada pales before the might of what I have at my disposal. My resources are limitless. My weapon invincible. but I have a far more dastardly method of dealing with rebels.
*hands out untold quantities of terran, vasudan and shivan p0rn to the mases + a free big screen TV for everyone. The masses turn agains haloboy100 and swear undying loyality to TrashMan*
*Forces every single person in existence to read Brave New World. The Masses re-join the opposite side.
-
i never read that. and since you didn't technically make me, since this is a forum and i don't know you in any way otherwise, i probably won't ever :P
-
I forced you to read that book just as much as you created the GTVSA, as much as Trashman gave everyone a bigscreen TV and porn, and as much as you're drinking bosch beer.
You see, this was a hypothetical argument, and you sucked all the fun out of it by bringing in reality. :p
Man, reality ruins everything...
-
but it also let's me cheat at such arguments :P
-
Cheating is already so simple: you just do stuff like:
*Trashman realizes his position and surrenders himself to thesizzler. Trashman gives all of his money to thesizzler and pledges to be thesizzler's slave.
When it really get's fun is when both of you do stuff like that, and in each post you have to do something to counter what just happened and to do something to the opposition.
...
*thesizzler thanks trashman for helping in the example. thesizzler revokes what he said in the previous line and gives trashman a cookie...
-
how about this:
*haloboy100 has no sense of humor therefore wins an argument by destroying it with reality so he doesen't feel more worthless*
-
*thesizzler notices how long the thread has been off topic, and agrees with mr.halo in order to move on.
I actually don't have much more to say about UC. It could have been great, but they really screwed it up somewhere.
-
any game with a 22 page PDF is bound to suck.
UC sucks so bad it's not even laughable, making it worse then big rigs.
-
Big rigs is entertaining sucks, not "wtf is happening?" sucks like UC. I actually happen to like the entertaining kind of sucks a lot.
-
ditto
-
If he throws in Desktop Commander i would download it
-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIn1_9YvGds
-
Dereks Smarts: Desktop Commander!
oldie but goldie!
that said...Hey sizzy, what's so great about brave New World? You are serioudly overestimating humanity.
p0rn >any other book
-
In Brave New World, one of the ways the world government ensures stability is by making sure everyone is happy. All that is left to say is two words: orgy porgy.
-
then it falls under p0rn category...thus I already gave them book to everyone. You plan has failed.
-
then it falls under p0rn category...thus I already gave them book to everyone. You plan has failed.
Have you read Brave New World? No. I think I understand it a bit more than you. So trust me, read that book, and if you have any proper, decent mind, you will think of Savage every single time you see someone kissing in public for at least two months.
-
Didn't I say I gave to the masses everything sex related? Ergo, they already have it. There is nothing you can offer to them. Nothing! :P
*masses worship TrashMan*
ERm...what was this thread about? Oh, yea..."the one who's name shall not be mentioned".."the cursed one", "The Lord of Dorkness."
-
"He who shall
not be named maimed."
-
Didn't I say I gave to the masses everything sex related? Ergo, they already have it. There is nothing you can offer to them. Nothing! :P
You win the "Ignoring people's posts" award.
Not once did I say that Brave New World was porn. You fail.
-
Yeah, TrashMan, you should read the book. It explores exactly what's required to keep people subjugated and content. Sex is part of it, but not all of it, not by far.
-
any game with a 22 page PDF is bound to suck.
Including Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter?
(And I believe Freespace had around that number of pages)
-
any game with a 22 page PDF is bound to suck.
Including Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter?
(And I believe Freespace had around that number of pages)
Ha, nice try, but Neverwinter and Baldur's Gate didn't require 22 pages to tell you how to play the game. They were lengthy because they provided information on the setting's background and key players, all the races, detailed the features of all the various professions, and listed all the spells, effects, damage tables, and whatnot. Come to think of it, 22 pages sounds short for those, I could have sworn they were way longer then that.
The difference of course is you could have just read the beginning chapter on how to play the game and not bothered with background and mechanics chapters, and you wouldn't be unable to play the game. Other then things like the THACO tables at the ends, all that information is in the game and you certainly didn't need to know it ahead of time.
I haven't read the Freespace 2 manual in a while, but I'm willing to bet it doesn't take 22 pages just explaining how to interact with the game.
-
Just checked... FS2 manual is 72 pages.
The difference with UC is you can play learn to FS2 without even opening the manual (as I did myself) thanks to comprehensive tutorials.
Oh, for very long manuals, check Falcon 4's one... 579 pages...
-
You win the "Ignoring people's posts" award.
Not once did I say that Brave New World was porn. You fail.
but it IS sex related...
Who cares anyway...I already know everything about keeping my subjects happy. :pimp:
-
"100. Finally, to keep my subjects locked in a mindless trance, I will give them all unlimited free internet access."
-
You win the "Ignoring people's posts" award.
Not once did I say that Brave New World was porn. You fail.
but it IS sex related...
Who cares anyway...I already know everything about keeping my subjects happy. :pimp:
Go ****ing read the book.
And no, you just piss off everyone you talk to.
-
You win the "Ignoring people's posts" award.
Not once did I say that Brave New World was porn. You fail.
but it IS sex related...
Who cares anyway...I already know everything about keeping my subjects happy. :pimp:
Go ****ing read the book.
And no, you just piss off everyone you talk to.
Who, Trashman? Reading his posts is often the highlight of my day*, especially when there's a reason to argue with it, ha ha! Everyone loves a good argument, or an argument about arguments or about how people argue, etc. Or at least I'm prepared to argue that they should**.
*Oh boy is it ever boring sitting here at work.
**I'm quite possibly not doing the reverse action of the inclination towards feeling negatively about the implementation of sarcasm in that sentence.***
***I lost track of that sentence somewhere, but if it actually means the opposite of what I intended, I'll argue that's not true, ha ha!
-
Everyone loves a good argument, or an argument about arguments or about how people argue, etc.
Terribly sorry. This is abuse. You want room twelve-A, just along the corridor.
Any excuse for Monty Python is a good excuse.
-
Every excuse for Monty Python is a good excuse.
Fixed that for ya.
That's right, no one expects the Spanish Inquisition!
-
Who, Trashman? Reading his posts is often the highlight of my day
While thank you!... I strive to make fun...of myself....you...Bush...anyone really. But mostly me.
As the old saying goes - If you can't laugh on your own account, you got no sense of humor.
-
i laugh at myself everyday...
but nobody laughs at my jokes :(
-
Man, I wish I didn't have any self-respect so I could laugh at myself, too.
-
Man, I wish I didn't have any self-respect so I could laugh at myself, too.
Self-respect is a requirement to laugh at yourself. You wouldn't be finding it humorous without self-respect, you'd be spewing "oh woe is me" all over the place.
-
Man, I wish I didn't have any self-respect so I could laugh at myself, too.
Self-respect is a requirement to laugh at yourself. You wouldn't be finding it humorous without self-respect, you'd be spewing "oh woe is me" all over the place.
You'd probably be writing terrible poetry too. If you can't laugh at yourself, you don't really grasp the concept of laughter. You should also never become a songwriter.
-
Self-respect is a requirement to laugh at yourself. You wouldn't be finding it humorous without self-respect, you'd be spewing "oh woe is me" all over the place.
:sigh: oh, in that case...
-
Man, I wish I didn't have any self-respect so I could laugh at myself, too.
Self-respect is a requirement to laugh at yourself. You wouldn't be finding it humorous without self-respect, you'd be spewing "oh woe is me" all over the place.
But there are different situations that inspire you to laugh at yourself, depending on which can determine whether self-respect is "required". 1) There is the situation in which something bad is happening to you (ie people make fun of you, you do something embarrassing) and you purposefully laugh in order to justify the situation/alleviate the seriousness. 2) There is a situation, perhaps bad like previously stated but could also encompass more things (ex your tact, or more general way you act), but the main thing that separates this situation from the first is that you genuinely laugh because you find you/your action funny.
-
What might you think then about the upcomming gametap exclusive galcom: echo squad? Personnally, I hate systems like gametap and having gametap exclusive games is bad in my opinion.
-
As someone who's had a GameTap subscription for a year or so now, I can tell you it's been well-worth my money, and I'd recommend it to anyone looking to get in on a huge game catalog for a relatively cheap price. Personally, I think services like GameTap and Steam are great for gaming, since they give independent developers a cheap and effective way to get widespread exposure. Episodic gaming has been gaining in popularity over the past few years, and I think we're going to see it increase as developers realize that it's a viable release platform. As for GameTap exclusives as a whole, I fail to see what's bad about the production of games that probably wouldn't get picked up by any traditional large-scale publisher. Besides good ol' Dr. Smart's latest project, GameTap's got the episodic American McGee's Grimm lined up for this year, the second season of Sam & Max is well underway, and they're funding my own personal stomping grounds, Myst Online. And that's not even counting some of the recent indie titles they've hosted. Sounds like good stuff to me.
As for the good Dr. Smart himself, I've been meaning to play Battlecruiser Millennium or Universal Combat on GameTap for a while now, just for the lulz, and I'll probably do the same thing for his new piece of drek.
-
But HOW can you play the games without having to pay some stupid subscription fee? How can you possess the games? I would never pay a subscription fee to play freespace. I'm perhaps oldschool, but when I pay for a game, It's to possess it in a physical way, to do what I want with it, and most of all, not to rely on an internet connection to play a SOLO game.
-
At the current moment, GameTap has close to 1000 games in its catalog. The vast majority of said games are for gaming systems that I don't own (and have no desire to), are far too old/rare to track down without great effort and expense, wouldn't work at all without some sort of system emulation/tweaking, or are titles that I wouldn't be willing to lay down money for specifically in the first place. And out of the titles on the service that I do own, several of them are in a form (specifically, the PS2) that I don't have access to at the moment. With my current plan, I'm paying $25 every 3 months (though I probably should change to the $85 a year option at some point) to access all of these games in one convenient catalog, as many times as I want and for as long as I want. An Internet connection is required? So what? This computer's always connected to the Internet anyway. And if GameTap completely folds someday, I won't have lost anything for the whole experience, since I've already gotten the chance to play several classic titles I never would have been able to otherwise. Frankly, I'm having a hard time seeing even one detriment to the whole thing.
-
Well if it's OK for you...
But personnally, I hope it will not remain eterlanny gametap exclusive. (perhaps it will be released later in, say, galcom collector's edition since bravo team and talon elite are going to be boxed).