Furio

Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow

They were apparently working on this in GR Beta, or at the very least this feature existed on the Beta server, probably accidentally left in.

On a more pertinent note, I've always said that auto-teaming and random game joining would be a great way to make the game feel a LOT more populated than it necessarily is, and represents both a good way to provide constant teams to people who want that, as well as a less personal means of teaming for those of us who don't, meaning we might just team from time to time anyway. Making that a reality would be a good call.

Maybe that's what they're testing in that Beta everyone's been speculating about?

Originally Posted by TrueMetal

Meh, run off the mill, one in a million pop.

Originally Posted by Zikar

But if these are game cut scenes, surely the game itself will pay for that as they currently are? Bundling them all together won't cost all that much.

Originally Posted by Zikar

Price point is too high, but for people like me who can't get to grips with RTS games, it's kinda interesting.

Get that down to $10-$15 and we're talking.

Originally Posted by Durakken

#1. The difference between Batman's motivation and Punishers's is Punisher wants Revenge. Once he takes down who did what happened his motivation is gone. Batman doesn't want what happened to him to happen to anyone else. His motivation is never gone but merely questionable. So where Batman makes sense to keep going, but Punishr does not from what I know.

#2. There are a few else worlds where various things happen at that moment. Like in the Zero hour tie in it's not Thomas and Martha Wayne that get killed, but Bruce. I think any continuity showing Bruce as anything but a good guy or Batman is somewhat bad conceptually, because it's established that Bruce is a good kid and the Waynes are good parents that no matter what happened he'd go down the path of goodness. We also know enough about the Wayne family that they are more or less destined to be heroes, lawmen, and/or sometimes masked. Viking Batman, the founder of Gotham, the underground railroad wayne, the judge wayne, His grandfather, his father, and himself have all been one or more of the three. However, the founder of Gotham may have been a criminal and his grandfather was mildly associated organized crime at best, but never a criminal and its been shown that when his resources was used criminally he was outraged and reversed course so... yeah... It's highly unlikely that Bruce would ever grow up a villain or a bad guy of any sort.

Originally Posted by BafflingBeerMan

Meh, Punisher is even comparable to Batman in that I believe in the current history (or maybe a retconned away one) the criminal behind the elder Waynes' murder has been caught.

Punisher and Batman both continue to "fight" crime. Frank is just a blunter tool than Bruce. And, no doubt, Batman can wipe the floor with Punisher.

One can make the arugment though that Punisher is a grittier, more outwardly psycotic version of Batman. Frank didn't have the "luxury" of Bruce with time and money. So he went to what he knew: blowing people away with military tactics.

Actually, has there ever been an Elseworlds story where Mama and Papa Wayne were killed when Bruce was an adult and how that would have shaped Batman?

Originally Posted by NinjaPirate

Steam has released figures last year indicating they usually get an overall profit INCREASE during big sales. Some titles by four digit percentage figures when placed at 75% off. When they put Left 4 Dead on sale, profits jumped by 3000% over the usual numbers for the duration - without impacting brick-n-mortar retail sales numbers at all.


-np

Originally Posted by Chase_Arcanum

Now, I'm biased because I met the guy and found most peoples' negative attitudes based more on misreading or taking offense at one phrase/action instead of putting it in context, but here's my thoughts.


"That Guy" LOVES this game. It was his baby. It was a huge career leap for him and he poured his blood, sweat, and tears into it for over half a decade. It means more to him than it ever could to you or to me. Always did and always will.

He took a LOT of the flack from the players as the lead dev- and he assumed all that blame --the "buck stops here" for design decisions that were far from his alone. Many of the devs we have here today would have had design on some of the more reviled systems, but they were insulated from the hate and blame. That was OK with him, because both the change AND him taking the heat was good for the game.



Letting go of CoH to help fund other projects wasn't a decision made lightly-- and he's likely suffered more than a few moments akin to "empty nest syndrome" out of it. Ultimately, though, if Cryptic's other interests were going to make it, he had to let his first one leave home... but I'm positive he still keeps an eye on how it's doing, celebrates its victories, mourns its losses, and sometimes, like any parent, wonders WTF they're thinking with some decisions they make.

But, unlike parenting (more or less) Jack's gotta also look at what he's done and take lessons from it. What worked? What didn't? What were the strengths of the system? What were the barriers? WHAT WOULD I DO DIFFERENTLY IF I HAD TO DO IT AGAIN? He's an academic, as well, so sharing these questions and answers is part of the thought-forming process. This sometimes appears in an interview as trash talk to the uninitiated.

It isn't.

Most of Jack's wording is structured to stress that difference, but it's often ignored- the "root" message is taken out and framed in the context of a bitter rivalry that isn't there. He's saying that there are things that he'd do differently and barriers he need not worry about-- that there are market environment changes that mean that things have to change to succeed-- and he hopes his next project will be an improvement based on these lessons. That doesn't mean he doesn't love what he previously accomplished any less.





....But players tend to gather into little tribes and define each other as rivals whose hate and anger exceed extreme political rivalries. They read veiled insults where there was only meant respectful disagreement and see business changes as treasonous hatred. They assume that their devs are just as committed to the hostilities as they are, and not that they might maintain some sort of professional respect and perhaps even sometimes-strained friendship with people that they shared so much creative effort with. No matter what they say to clarify the issue, someone over at the CO boards will be cheerleading on the 'attacks' and piling on more of his own less veiled criticism... and over here in CoH-land, there will be people mired in bitterness over his betrayal.

Originally Posted by Teeko

true but man... there is a point to those examples, and sometimes should motivate people...

Aloow me to tell a small TRUE tale:

At my job we took an employee out to lunch for for her Bday. The bill was $99 and some change. So the cashier asked me if I wanted to leave a tip and i said yes, $20 should be good. And she lokoed at me like i was crazy for leaving such a large tip.

I responded that while 15% is the minimum, we preferred to give 20%. And she said "ok, but how did you know that?" I was confused. So she explained her question. "How did you know 20% of $100 is $20?" And she took out a calculator to make sure i was right.

My face was just blank. I lowered my head and just handed the credit card over.

/sigh

Originally Posted by rian_frostdrake

you have no battery operated lamps/flashlights?

Originally Posted by Dark One

I know I said this before, but you might consider putting the money that the phone would cost into your retirement fund. I'm guessing you're somewhere in your 20's, maybe early 30's. That money, IMO, would do you far more good prepping for the future than in the immediate gratification of the now.

...

Cripes...I'm an adult now aren't I?

Originally Posted by Nethergoat

A physical book is substantially more durable than a piece of consumer electronics and people will still be able to interface with it 1000 years from now.

I can't even access the hard drives I salvaged from my last computer, let alone the stack of 5 1/4" floppies I uncovered during my last move (which are almost certainly corrupted anyway).

It's equal parts alarming and amusing how people view essentially impermanent, fragile & vulnerable mechanisms as some sort of lasting replacement for physical objects. Give society another decade or so to hone its dependence on hardware and anybody with a handful of EMPs will be able to knock us over with a feather.

Originally Posted by Candlestick

So kinda of a random question.

Anyone got a good recommendation for a pair of earbuds that are good for running, and other athletic activities? I've gone through a bunch of earbuds, but it seems none of them stay in very well when I am running. All the sweat and stuff just makes them slip right out.
Would prefer to stick with earbuds over headphones, due to the smaller size, and the fact that they can fit in my pocket.