SympathysSilhouette

^I was pretty much sniper + revolver as Mordecai, and sniper + shotgun as Zero. I picked up a couple of oranges along the way, but you outgrow even those after a while. The moments of 'OMG this weapon is fucking cool' were fewer than I experienced in the first game - I didn't feel particularly attached to any of them.. at least the rifles, which was a shame. Are you playing solo? The loot drops apparently get better the more people there are.. so maybe that's part of it. Plus I didn't bother investing in any artifacts that boosted the rare drops

Yes I am playing solo.

I agree that there are not a lot of weapons in the game where you hold onto for a long time.

Out of curiosity: Do you guys know if the usage of HD memory and then deletion actually permanently destroys a portion of the memory? I remember talking to a tech guy many years ago and he said that it does.  I'm not sure how it is right now.

What's free to play and the difference between optical vs. digital?

Do you like steam? Personally, I most appreciate the fact that the games are stored and can be quickly installed/uninstalled without having the burden the HD with the full weight of pre-installation files or the carrying of a physical copy.   But nowadays, 1000+ gigs are standard anyway so space is no longer a big challenge.

Other than that, the sales and the advertisement simply stimulate the hobby more than I'd like to so I uninstall both the game and steam after I'm done with it.  (play me!, buy this! buy that!) 

Yeah, everything runs on cloud computing now- I deal with it elsewhere.  It's centralized, makes it easier to manage and initially less costly, but it also puts activities and pricing power at the mercy of the supplier sometimes.

^Now you can see why the Free to Play model we've talked about before is so successful

It's interesting that the new generation of consoles were revealed to still utilise optical media - many (particularly PC minded types) expected that they would/should go fully digital. It's almost certainly the last console cycle to do so though, if they're still even around in the same form by then.

You're right about Steam.. it's funny how it and Valve are almost universally loved and revered. The very early days of Steam were met with a lot of hostility though, and it took a while for them to iron out problems and get everyone on board. You have to give them credit for their vision and what they've managed to turn it into though. EA's Origin is still the ugly cousin that no one wants to use or even acknowledge - and people (or at least, I) only use it reluctantly to play their games which are exclusive to the platform.

She can carry my luggage to the baggage drop-off.

Out of curiosity: Do you guys know if the usage of HD memory and then deletion actually permanently destroys a portion of the memory? I remember talking to a tech guy many years ago and he said that it does.  I'm not sure how it is right now.

What's free to play and the difference between optical vs. digital?

The Free-to-Play model is another thing which has come into prominence the past couple of years. Games are available to download and play for free, but users can also purchase in-game items (characters, weapons, skins, etc), either to boost their abilities and/or just to express themselves with customisation. It only really works for certain types of games, but the fact that its taken off as much as it has suggests that it can be more lucrative than a traditional or subscription model. Some developers like Crytek are planning to implement it for all their future games.

 

What's this? But aren't free games poorly designed?

No, not at all - there are some free games that are very well designed indeed, just as there are some awfully designed ones that publishers charge for. It really depends on the developer, and how it's all put together. Like I said though, it's really only certain types of game that can successfully run with that model.

Do you like steam? Personally, I most appreciate the fact that the games are stored and can be quickly installed/uninstalled without having the burden the HD with the full weight of pre-installation files or the carrying of a physical copy. But nowadays, 100+ gigs are standard anyway so space is no longer a big challenge.

Other than that, the sales and the advertisement simply stimulate the hobby more than I'd like to so I uninstall both the game and steam after I'm done with it. (play me!, buy this! buy that!)

Oh...so 'free to play' are all those no-name games that steam peddles on their homepage.  I had wondered why they devote so much advertising space to that.

What are steam's other good points and bad points?

^Most of the high profile Free to Play games aren't on Steam, except Team Fortress 2 and DOTA 2 (both massive games) which are both made by Valve. A lot of them have been very popular and successful. They tend to either be MOBAs (DOTA 2, League of Legends, Smite, Super Monday Night Combat, etc), MMOs (Star Wars: The Old Republic, Lord of the Rings Online, DC Universe Online, Firefall, etc) or competitive shooters (Team Fortress 2, Planetside 2, Tribes: Ascend, Hawken, etc).

The only bad things I can think of about Steam really are a) the accessibility of your games are at the mercy of the service always being online, and b) if you don't like all the promotional stuff about games/deals. I think I would cry if I ever lost access to my library somehow, but the chances of that happening are miniscule. And I really don't have a problem with what goes on on the Store page - plus you're pretty free to ignore it if you want, barring the news/updates popups whenever the client updates itself.

I think all the integrated community stuff is great, particularly the per-game 'Community Hub's - where pretty much all you want/need to know about the game is there, built up by the community. It's pretty much made the Steam website forum redundant too.

Wait, Star Wars the Old Republic is free to play?

^Yeah, although it didn't start that way (TF2 either for that matter)

Also, Marloes nude on an elephant

Rejoice! :dance:

What elephant? :Dinah:

I'm curious now,  what shoot did that pic come from?

Wait, Star Wars the Old Republic is free to play?

Ophelia Immortal used to post about that game, and even posted pictures of her in star wars costume...haha, I'm just reminded.

------

Thanks for the information, Don.   There was a lot of material in my steam program that I never visited.  I only know of Red Orchestra2/RS and COH2. Interestingly enough, for games that are played by thousands of people at any point in time- I did check forums out of curiosity and there wasn't really much there (relative to the army of players).  I checked the COh2 forum recently and people there wrote ...long posts....but still it isn't that active.  Why is that, do you think?

Overall, I can't think of another game that I will purchase over the next two years or so.  I haven't heard of anything that would interest me enough to go past youtube checking. How about you?  

----

And yeah, where did you find that video?

So I downloaded The Old Republic to give it a try and was horrified to find out that the complete game was around 30 GB!

What elephant? :Dinah:

 

I'm curious now,  what shoot did that pic come from?

Thanks for the information, Don.   There was a lot of material in my steam program that I never visited.  I only know of Red Orchestra2/RS and COH2. Interestingly enough, for games that are played by thousands of people at any point in time- I did check forums out of curiosity and there wasn't really much there (relative to the army of players).  I checked the COh2 forum recently and people there wrote ...long posts....but still it isn't that active.  Why is that, do you think?

Overall, I can't think of another game that I will purchase over the next two years or so.  I haven't heard of anything that would interest me enough to go past youtube checking. How about you?

There's a lot of upcoming games I'm looking forward to. Perhaps none more so than Watch Dogs - I posted a few gameplay/trailer videos here: http://www.bellazon.com/main/topic/46751-watch-dogs/.

The Witness is also one that I'm constantly checking in on with great interest. It looks utterly gorgeous from what they've shown so far, and is incredibly intriguing. It's made by Jonathan Blow, of Braid fame - who's a really interesting guy striving to make rather different and memorable gaming experiences. This is worth listening to if you've got 80 minutes or so to spare

And another of note, talking of DLC, is the upcoming Burial at Sea episodes for Bioshock Infinite, which takes Booker and Elizabeth into Rapture

Here's a trailer:

The noirish feel is a nice touch, perhaps that is one DLC I should give a try.

The voice actress sounds a lot different in "femme fatale" mode as opposed to "wide-eyed ingenue" mode.

 

What elephant? :Dinah:

 

I'm curious now,  what shoot did that pic come from?

It's from the upcoming September issue of L'Officiel NL.. looks amazing! Video is here -> http://www.lofficiel.nl/fashion/19/08/2013/the-big-september-fashion-issue-behind-the-scenes/

 

So Marloes, we'd like you to take off your top and ride that there elephant.

 

What elephant? :Dinah:

 

I'm curious now,  what shoot did that pic come from?

It's from the upcoming September issue of L'Officiel NL.. looks amazing! Video is here -> http://www.lofficiel.nl/fashion/19/08/2013/the-big-september-fashion-issue-behind-the-scenes/

 

Oh my...thanks for that link sir. Anyone up to ride a elephant Marloes?