I didn't want to ruin this post so I kept my mouth shut. Anyhow games out and some will like it others won't. I will not touch it ever. I'm going to leave this post with that note. No need to add flames.

Bethsoft is no giant game publisher BTW. They are puny, which is why you get different and actually entertaining titles from them, instead of the cookie cutter crap that stems from a publisher like EA. Bethsoft takes chances on smaller publishers. Akella for example. Would EA take on a title from Akella? Never. They are too small fry to even show up on the radar screen.

Starting to get the point? Bethsoft has released a buggy title or two, but that is because they are close to an indy outfit and actually will bring out a title that no one else will. To their credit, they eventually patch it too.

I suggest you support these smaller publishers since if companies like Bethsoft were not around, I wouldn't be playing anymore games on a PC.

-S

It's so stupid to boycott games just because they have copy protection. Soon you won't have anything to play.

I boycott DRM, hidden drivers/services and rootkits based copy protection, maybe you don't know but there are lot of other copy protections than these kind of POS.
And i doubt you judging my choice as being stupid will make me change my mind http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/imag...icon_smile.gif

In other news..

I've heard that Empire Total War will force you to install Steam, even on the physical DVD version. Complete with "phone home" installation requirement and that crap running in the background.

Looks like another game just dropped off my list due to DRM. :down:

Huh?

/me wanders back to dwarf fortress, the game that is better then all games released this year.

I say good riddance to them. If they leave the PC world that would make me happy.:yep:

Newer companies like dwarf fortress will spawn up and make real PC games. Like it was done in the past. Many classic games came from beginner companies. Today these established companies are trying to condition us to enjoy crap... their crap so I say good riddance.

Let them specialize in Console games. Fine by me.:up:

Dwarf fortress isn't a game company its a guy and his brother. :P

They make a fair bit of cash just off donations though. :yep:
http://www.bay12games.com/forum/index.php?topic=26677

Exactly my point. Alot of these start ups tend to be a few tallented individuals who take a chance. ;)

As to the topic of this thread there is now a discussion going on among the Bethhaters, some people say F3 is actually not such a bad game as expected, and more comparable to Morrowind than to Oblivion. There are others who say the dialogs lack any quality, the combat is stupid (you might have seen the video of the guy that took 32 headshots), the gameworld is ridiculously compressed and offers everything on a silver plate, etc. The kind of things why many people made up their minds, based on the pre-release material and Todd Howard's rumblings.

But there is really a new tone in the discussion. I have to say that while Bethesda surely didnt deliver the game I expected, it seems the criticism was a bit too harsh. A lot of the RPG fanatics are actually playing it now, if only for the lulz, or because there's simply nothing better around atm, or because there are things to enjoy actually. Some say with mods (reworked dialogs) it might even become a game that the critics could enjoy.

The market is about to split, which is bit of a good and a bad thing at the same time. The big companies clearly want to move to the consoles, and put a chain on the neck of PC users, imposing more and more ridiculous control mechanisms, that have only one aim: in some years you will have to pay for games by the minute.

At the same time I found I can play my games from smaller PC-centric companies, e.g. stardock, ageod, matrix, .., with realism and features I expect from PC games, outdated graphics for sure. But even outdated doesnt mean ugly by todays standards: it's just a question of where you put your focus. Today you can produce nice visuals on top of licensed or opensource engines (Ogre etc), I've had my hand on these and it's possible for a couple of dedicated individuals to make really nice games without a budget of several millions.

I'm not playing Dwarf Fortress, but I already noticed it has a strong following among more discerning communities than this one. It seems to be the kind of game that offers gameplay in spades, not the boring linear formula seen in almost all major console centric releases today.

Anyway, the major step is to realize there are games outside the mainstream. You must look like a pig, but they do exist, and then it doesn't hurt so much to see that an industry that once was innovative and risk-taking is now going the way of Hollywood. There's a small independent market that is developing around the old philosophies, and some things work differently there, but there is hope.