The Precariously Balanced Episode [Archive]

fishbang

11-10-2009, 03:50 PM

We aspire to feature parity at the following link (http://ingamechat.net/audio/IGC20091105.mp3).

Any ground Infinity Ward stood to lose to the enthusiast and idealist backlash in recent weeks has probably reached its maximum. Modern Warfare 2 is alive and thrashing at retail, and there's nothing left now but to count the player numbers online. We may be acknowledged members of the disgruntled minority, and we've certainly never had trouble nursing a grudge, but we'd like to examine the game now on its own merits, without harboring any sort of rebuke for the men behind the scenes. We make a last pass at discussing the peaks of the controversy in this episode, and hope to make room for a practical discussion in the weeks to come.

Despite the past successes of Bioware, or the songs of devotion sung by their many fans, a shamefully high percentage of players will never experience the world of Dragon Age. It's a magnificent game filled with magnificent flaws, and it's unapproachable and impenetrable in any number of fantastic ways. It has complicated sensibilities, and its roots are clearly showing, which is why it won't be quite the thing for everyone. For my money, however, I couldn't be having a better time right now, and I couldn't be happier that the experience seems to transcend the platform of choice. A refreshing change from the divisiveness and bitter hard feelings of the recent past.

Spigot

11-10-2009, 07:04 PM

I just got a smoking hot new gaming rig last week and Dragon Age has consumed almost all of my time since I got it installed on Saturday. It brings back memories of locking myself in the basement every waking moment one summer 8-9 years ago when I did a straight playthrough of Baldur's Gate 2 & Throne Of Baal. So delightful...

I have to say that despite the controversy, which really means very little to my single-player focused self, I'm quite tempted to get Modern Warfare 2 at some point in the future, esp. given that I have a PC that can run it maxed out. I hear great things about the SP campaign and will probably wait for a Steam deal to grab the game sometime later on.

I do hope against hope that they've done away with the invisible spawn triggers in the game though. It's the one fleck of turd in an otherwise delicious meal.

nabokovfan87

11-10-2009, 07:20 PM

Any ground Infinity Ward stood to lose to the enthusiast and idealist backlash in recent weeks has probably reached its maximum................hope to make room for a practical discussion in the weeks to come.

so i was listening to the mix of the podcasts discussion of it, just going from the week one to week 3, starting with pc gamer and ending with that same group of people, and it is just haunting to experience the change in tone. on the opposite spectrum, the change of kotaku talk radio (thats the one that sounds like shit with all the people calling in), goes from a more serious note of "what does this all mean" and ends with a repetitious laughing at the situation, along with a caller who says "gamestop only had 4 pre-orders for the pc version, thus pc gaming is dead, ha... ha." and in the same breath states "i dont want to play cod4 because its too realistic, i can go down to my local recruiter and play call of duty, but i cant do that with uncharted, etc. (on the basis of gaming for escapism)".

enter actual question for the show....

it is frickin' mind boggling how insensitive people can be to their neighbors situation. all i heard for the first few days was this is a means to get map packs charged for on pc. why is it so many people cannot see pc for what it really is. why do console gamers allow themselves to pay for content they shouldn't have to. mods, not specifically, but map packs. a map should cost a dollar, not 10 (killzone 2, that means you), along with things like the iphone apps costing 10x the amount on console. from paying to play online, to paying to use features like voice chat, its rediculous that the console side cant put two and two together. why is is that console gamers telling pc people "its about time you have to pay for it" instead of telling developers "we shouldn't have to pay for minuscule crap"?

ok.... i'm done with that game, i swear!

I have to say that despite the controversy, which really means very little to my single-player focused self, I'm quite tempted to get Modern Warfare 2 at some point in the future, esp. given that I have a PC that can run it maxed out. I hear great things about the SP campaign and will probably wait for a Steam deal to grab the game sometime later on.

but this is just asking for it.... DUDE, its call of duty, my calculator can run that game on max settings.

Spigot

11-10-2009, 07:32 PM

Your calculator never met my old computer. It had trouble running Machinarium without hitches and glitches and that game is basically a VERY fleshed out flash game.

nabokovfan87

11-10-2009, 09:18 PM

james hath angered me. you said you wouldnt buy an ati card because the developer is too lazy to make a game that runs with said drivers.

1. ati is the tech leader right now, and is essentially 1/2 a year ahead of nvidia with a 1 year lead being a month away.

2. if you dont buy an ati card, what gives the devs any reason to care? it isnt as simple as a 10% vs. 90% lead that amd vs. intel has had. this is a much more even race, and lets all be fair to amd/ati, they need the support to show people that they matter, and as i mentioned, tech leader really helps.

3. isnt that the same as someone saying ill buy the console version because the pc one is terribly crippled.

BY THE WAY... THIS HAPPENED!

http://www.qj.net/ONN-reports-Modern-Warfare-3-in-the-works-features-hours-of-gameplay-first-footage-revealed/pg/49/aid/135835

so thats where the pc dev time went...

p.s. mario paint had mouse support, and even that game had mods. stupid mw2.

EDIT1:

piracy being blamed.... yeah, but the biggest issue is iw will come out and say "pc is dead" look at how little our game sold. and it isnt the truth. that is the biggest thing that bugs me. this whole thing is a big caper for the 3rd person cod4:mw4 down the road that sells 10 million in one day and is leaked on the xbox a week or two (mw2, i mean you). like james said with borderlands, it isnt about anything being difficult, its just sheer laziness and i hope im not the only one that sees it that way.

tacitus

11-11-2009, 05:43 AM

james hath angered me. you said you wouldnt buy an ati card because the developer is too lazy to make a game that runs with said drivers.

1. ati is the tech leader right now, and is essentially 1/2 a year ahead of nvidia with a 1 year lead being a month away.

2. if you dont buy an ati card, what gives the devs any reason to care? it isnt as simple as a 10% vs. 90% lead that amd vs. intel has had. this is a much more even race, and lets all be fair to amd/ati, they need the support to show people that they matter, and as i mentioned, tech leader really helps.

3. isnt that the same as someone saying ill buy the console version because the pc one is terribly crippled.

Thanks for covering my frustration with James' anti-ATI statement. I have had very good luck with ATI which goes a long way back including my latest a 3870, which is still more than adequate. I will probably get a 5850 in 6 months (ie when it become readily available).

I have heard that during the final few weeks before delivery nvidia folks went to the Arkham Asylum devs and "helped" them add PhysX. Pure speculation follows - who's to say that its not an intentional side effect of physx implementation. Truth be told my AA demo looked fine without AA.

I have also have a bias against nvidia because when they acquired 3dfx they stopped support of the Vodoo product line (I have a friend who was burned by this).

Spigot

11-11-2009, 07:37 AM

Hey, I'm someone who bought a Voodoo 3 for $500 about 6 months before the company went under (I was a big Monster 3D fan back in the day) and yet here I am, an nVidia fan through and through.

Let the video card wars begin!

CappinCanuck

11-11-2009, 08:15 AM

Spigot

11-11-2009, 08:19 AM

By that time, BF BC2 will be out. Skip it and vote with your wallet. Hopefully DICE earns the purchase though. Let's not forget that BF owns COD and always has. Just because they skipped a dev cycle, CODMW, and didn't put out a new BF doesn't mean we can toss out the crown.Except that I don't care about the multiplayer stuff. I loved the singleplayer campaign in the COD4 and if the second one is on par or better, I'll be happy as a clam.

Like I said, I just hope that they might have done away with the invisible spawn triggers because I'd like to clear out a room and not have anymore baddies magically appear before I move through it.

If I DID care about the multiplayer, yeah, I'd probably be willing to skip the game altogether but it's something that, at best, I'd monkey around with for a few days and then never touch again.

CappinCanuck

11-11-2009, 08:28 AM

Except that I don't care about the multiplayer stuff. I loved the singleplayer campaign in the COD4 and if the second one is on par or better, I'll be happy as a clam.

Like I said, I just hope that they might have done away with the invisible spawn triggers because I'd like to clear out a room and not have anymore baddies magically appear before I move through it.

If I DID care about the multiplayer, yeah, I'd probably be willing to skip the game altogether but it's something that, at best, I'd monkey around with for a few days and then never touch again.

Ah, I get ya. I'm 99% multiplayer and about 1% singleplayer, so we're def. mostly reversed. Nothing like getting a good clan and taking it competitive. Mmm, love to kick some ass.

It's been a long time since a new BF, let's forget 1943, came out. I just want to remind everyone what we've been missing for all these years. Also, to try and entice Spigot so in 3 months, we can go squad up and destroy some people online :D

Shazammmm:

mB8rqHmasNg

opsin

11-11-2009, 10:07 AM

Thanks for covering my frustration with James' anti-ATI statement.

I can understand his sentiment, in that for the longest time I refused to go with anything but nVidia cards, but then buying a new card a month or three back decided to go with ATI. Partly due to the AMD buyout, meant I had more trust for them now, but also just in looking at benchmarks and the price... I could get considerably more bang-for-my-buck going with ATI.

The main reason I'd ever avoided them was a friend of mine who switched a few years back had some problems with all the cards he got, but to be honest I think that was the make rather than the chips. The drivers were my other issue, but I have to say I've had no problems with my 4850 and drivers. In fact, it's the first time I've ever seen drivers reset my card rather than force a restart! Only happened once, but some game crashed, and just as I was about to restart, it popped back into windows with a message that the catalyst drivers had reset the card.

But anyway, the fact that ATI were working with a new smaller process, less power usage and had come up with some nice RAM-wise to make the 4770 so efficient and cheap, and that the Geforce 260 was going to cost me about £60 more, given me potentially fewer FPS... Seemed like a no brainer to me.
While there's no way I ever plan to switch to Intel CPUs, I felt it was just time to consider the opposition when it came to GPUs, particularly when that opposition was run by the people I trusted to bring me CPUs for the last 15 years.

Iron Past

11-11-2009, 10:53 AM

I'll be interested in hearing James' impressions of Dragon Age after he's done with the tutorials. ;)

Maybe I'll send in some console impressions if Scott doesn't end up playing too much. By the way, if you liked the first book, I would absolutely suggest reading The Calling. I felt it was better than the first, and having played the game won't ruin it (at least not as far as I've played). It fleshes out the Wardens and Darkspawn really well, with more cameos.

Psykoboy2

11-11-2009, 10:57 AM

Maybe I'll send in some console impressions if Scott doesn't end up playing too much.

By all means...I took the role of a magic elf, got through the first part in the fade, took out the game, put it back in the gamefly envelope and sealed it up.

This is NOT my type of game at all. We'll discuss it more during tomorrow's recording, but yeah, go ahead and send in your console impressions. James, I know, is very interested in them since neither me nor Jeremy (I think) really did anything with it there.

Iron Past

11-11-2009, 11:11 AM

By all means...I took the role of a magic elf, got through the first part in the fade, took out the game, put it back in the gamefly envelope and sealed it up.

This is NOT my type of game at all. We'll discuss it more during tomorrow's recording, but yeah, go ahead and send in your console impressions. James, I know, is very interested in them since neither me nor Jeremy (I think) really did anything with it there.

I was pretty positive that would be the case, but you never know. :)

By the way, did you guys ever get that package I sent?

lucklesswonder

11-11-2009, 11:20 AM

Except that I don't care about the multiplayer stuff. I loved the singleplayer campaign in the COD4 and if the second one is on par or better, I'll be happy as a clam.

Like I said, I just hope that they might have done away with the invisible spawn triggers because I'd like to clear out a room and not have anymore baddies magically appear before I move through it.

If I DID care about the multiplayer, yeah, I'd probably be willing to skip the game altogether but it's something that, at best, I'd monkey around with for a few days and then never touch again.

I'm in the same boat, actually. I'm usually more interested in the single-player aspect of games. But then, I'm a very story-oriented person. Also, I haven't had a lot of good multiplayer experiences.

fishbang

11-11-2009, 12:59 PM

Let me take a second to clarify my feelings on ATi, and my official stance, such as it is.

I'm very far from being anti-ATi. By definition, I suppose I'm pro-ATi, as I've been using their parts exclusively since 2001. Each of my home-built machines since then has had some flavor of Radeon (all retail, no hand-me-downs), and my Macbook Pro is from the line that included Radeon mobility gpus.

I've owned a lot of their tech, and I've played through the evolution of their hardware and software design philosophies. This should give me some leeway to gripe about their driver implementation, which has been my only problem for a long time running. I don't remember my exact words on this subject, but I can assure you my issues are with the software, not the hardware, and certainly not the game developers.

I know their gpus - especially their DX11 parts - are hot shit, and regardless of my bellyaching I'll be trading up from a 4850 to a 5850 this holiday season. But that doesn't eliminate what appear to be some nagging and persistent shortcomings in driver features and performance - issues that seem to be much more common with ATi than nVidia.

fishbang

11-11-2009, 01:28 PM

I'll be interested in hearing James' impressions of Dragon Age after he's done with the tutorials. ;)

On this score... Holy Shit! I've dedicated myself to a human warrior for my first play through, and I'm 12-14 hours into that run, including Warden's Keep and Stone Guardian. I've done 4 of the 6 origins so far, and I'd like to do the other two (dwarf commoner and dalish elf) before I visit them in the course of my campaign.

I had it in my head right away - well, right after the events of that first battle - to send you a message since we'd discussed the prequel novels beforehand. I finished The Stolen Throne before I went ahead with the campaign. Having said already how neat it was for me to see Loghain "in person", you can imagine how I felt about things just a few hours later. I mean, I spent a whole book with that guy... how dare he?

Of course, true to Bioware's form, that wasn't the first of those moments, and I doubt it'll be the last.

I have many more words on the game in general, but I'll save 'em for tomorrow night.

edit - And yes, my good man. We did get your care package. Many thanks. :)

opsin

11-11-2009, 01:45 PM

This should give me some leeway to gripe about their driver implementation, which has been my only problem for a long time running.

In which case - and I'm interested to know having only seen the majority of the catalyst stuff until this year on a friend's machine - would you say the drivers have improved of late or was I just imagining themto be much worse than they were?
I always assumed they would be unusable, from what I saw, and I'd get so annoyed with them so quickly. But as I say, I've had no problems with the current catalyst drivers... So far.

hunterx280

11-11-2009, 01:50 PM

ATI makes great cards but their driver support still sucks. I've had some weird performance issues with the newer drivers in Vista x64. The newer the driver the lower my frame rates would get. I rolled back to a version from Sept. 08 and it runs like new. Also, they don't seem to be trying as hard to get nifty little tricks like 3D monitor support, PhysX and CUDA or whatever it's called.

fishbang

11-11-2009, 02:00 PM

In which case - and I'm interested to know having only seen the majority of the catalyst stuff until this year on a friend's machine - would you say the drivers have improved of late or was I just imagining themto be much worse than they were?
I always assumed they would be unusable, from what I saw, and I'd get so annoyed with them so quickly. But as I say, I've had no problems with the current catalyst drivers... So far.

Well, I should say that their effect on raw performance has been fine lately, and they've been as stable as I could really ask for.

ATI makes great cards but their driver support still sucks. I've had some weird performance issues with the newer drivers in Vista x64. The newer the driver the lower my frame rates would get. I rolled back to a version from Sept. 08 and it runs like new. Also, they don't seem to be trying as hard to get nifty little tricks like 3D monitor support, PhysX and CUDA or whatever it's called.

Yeah, this is the kind of testimonial that seems to be so common. And that last point is one I should have made as well.

Jeremy pointed out to me just now that the issue - buggy performance of the HD 4K series in Borderlands is one example - may be similar to what we see in multi-platform titles released on 360 and PS3. One may simply be easier for third parties to work with, which results in what looks like lopsided performance. I don't mean to bring the consoles into this, it just seemed like an apt comparison.

Count Elmdor

11-11-2009, 02:38 PM

Thank you, James, for the best statement of my feelings toward IW and MW2, overall. That was awesomely comprehensive and just matter-of-fact enough to reflect my (our, I suppose) exasperation and disaffection for what IW has done with this game.

With the revelation that the singleplayer campaign is only about 5 hours long and the plethora of other great multiplayer shooters on the 360 and PC, I no longer see any compelling reason to spend one red cent on this game. I think I'll be fine revisiting and finishing up Crysis, Far Cry 2, STALKER, Borderlands, TF2, L4D(2), Halo 3, Killzone 2, any number of Battlefield games, et. al.

RE: the Borderlands PC discussion - I have almost never been so simultaneously in love and complete disgust at a game. The running and gunning and looting and leveling is all brilliant; the shit options, menus, and complete lack of respect toward the PC gamer is infuriating. Plus, the game makes my 4850 run at like 90 degrees C. WTF is that all about?

Iron Past

11-11-2009, 03:15 PM

I had it in my head right away - well, right after the events of that first battle - to send you a message since we'd discussed the prequel novels beforehand. I finished The Stolen Throne before I went ahead with the campaign. Having said already how neat it was for me to see Loghain "in person", you can imagine how I felt about things just a few hours later. I mean, I spent a whole book with that guy... how dare he?

See, I thought it was a good twist all on its own, but that's exactly why it mattered to me. Get attached to a character and then he goes and does that.

hunterx280

11-11-2009, 03:36 PM

Well, I should say that their effect on raw performance has been fine lately, and they've been as stable as I could really ask for.

Yeah, this is the kind of testimonial that seems to be so common. And that last point is one I should have made as well.

Jeremy pointed out to me just now that the issue - buggy performance of the HD 4K series in Borderlands is one example - may be similar to what we see in multi-platform titles released on 360 and PS3. One may simply be easier for third parties to work with, which results in what looks like lopsided performance. I don't mean to bring the consoles into this, it just seemed like an apt comparison.

My 4870 has performed just fine in Borderlands. I did notice that if I put it in DX9 mode it runs better and looks EXACTLY the same. I've had a couple of crashes here and there but for the most part the experience is fine.

I'm pretty much on the same page as you. I'm considering getting a Nvidia card for A) better drivers and B) interesting widgets (CUDA, PhysX, etc). Right now I can't really justify the purchase but the moment the money becomes available I think I'll do the upgrade. I'm also holding out for Nvidia to release their DirectX 11 cards.

lucklesswonder

11-11-2009, 04:02 PM

I'm pretty new to the PC gaming scene, so I don't really know what's what. However, I've had a very good time with the NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GT from MSI. Not a single problem with it, and it handles every game I've thrown at it. Lately I've been trying out the demo of Left 4 Dead 2 that Valve released on Steam. I was sure the horde rushes would bog down my system. Man, was I wrong.

Oh, I should mention my computer had trouble running Batman, but that was more my processor.

nabokovfan87

11-11-2009, 05:54 PM

Not a single problem with it, and it handles every game I've thrown at it. Lately I've been trying out the demo of Left 4 Dead 2 that Valve released on Steam. I was sure the horde rushes would bog down my system. Man, was I wrong.

Oh, I should mention my computer had trouble running Batman, but that was more my processor.

as i had said to poster # 1, cod much like steam engine games... my calculator can run them. not really, but my x800xl did.

nabokovfan87

11-11-2009, 05:55 PM

ok... how do i make text really, really big.....

DUDE DUDE DUDE!

YES!

http://www.qj.net/EA-Medal-of-Honor-core-IPs-to-be-revitalized-soon/pg/49/aid/135845

edit: stupid steam made my buy mass effect 2 so i dont have to put the disk in, and now hearts of iron 3 is finally on sale... at this rate i will never make it to a new pc.

p.p.s. you guys interested in a giveaway? i have a contest in mind and the prize would be mass effect for pc. nothing on your end except announcing the contest, its winner, and possibly emailing me with answers to win.

Spigot

11-11-2009, 07:24 PM

I was wondering about if they'd put out some prequel novels for Dragon Age. I have enjoyed the Mass Effect novels and will have to track the DA ones down now that I know they exist.

I'm just at the first big battle against the darkspawn with my nubile elf mage. I feel dirty giving her the Wilding armour...

nabokovfan87

11-11-2009, 08:46 PM

just found out... mass effect doesnt like steam/win7/vista

reason being, and this happened with hoi3 as well. they launch the game.exe file instead of the launcher.exe file.

fyi james, here is the link to get the dlc for the steam version:

thread: http://meforums.bioware.com/viewtopic.html?topic=660745&forum=125&sp=150
link: http://masseffect.bioware.com/me1/galacticcodex/bringdownthesky_pc.html

Spigot

11-11-2009, 09:17 PM

Thanks Nabokov! I was wondering about this.

So is Mass Effect ugly on my new rig because Steam isn't launching it properly? It's nasty...

tacitus

11-11-2009, 09:34 PM

just found out... mass effect doesnt like steam/win7/vista

Other than a false start seems to be working for me (Vista-64) also downloaded the DLC and it seem to see it. I did have to redownload ME from steam twice - it somehow got hosed the first time.

1. I totally uninstalled ME.
2. I redownloaded it, started my character and saved it. (This actually seems to be the most important part - I had previously played with the settings but hadn't started the game. When I later tried to start the game - it game a totally nonsensical error).
3. Did the DLC install - and I see it listed under the DLC.
4. And it still appears to run - I will see if it still does tomorrow.

nabokovfan87

11-11-2009, 10:30 PM

Other than a false start seems to be working for me (Vista-64) also downloaded the DLC and it seem to see it. I did have to redownload ME from steam twice - it somehow got hosed the first time.

1. I totally uninstalled ME.
2. I redownloaded it, started my character and saved it. (This actually seems to be the most important part - I had previously played with the settings but hadn't started the game. When I later tried to start the game - it game a totally nonsensical error).
3. Did the DLC install - and I see it listed under the DLC.
4. And it still appears to run - I will see if it still does tomorrow.

i can get the splash screen to come up, did what steam said, and nothing worked. i think installing the dx update got jacked up, and now one of the launchers says "cannot find launcher.xml" when i click on it.

basically, steam says set steam and launcher.exe to run as admin... i get the launcher to launch to the thing that says hit play... but then play just crashes.

kyrieee

11-12-2009, 06:12 AM

I, too, bought Mass Effect on the weekend deal but I'm a bit underwhelmed (maybe tiny tiny spoilers)

I adore the aesthetics, but I have problems with almost everything else. The combat doesn't work well. You often find yourself in tight spaces and you can't directly control your dudes which makes it turn into a mess. It's a bad mix of RPG and shooter combat because it doesn't include the advantages of either one. You're not rewarded for aiming well but at the same time there's no room for any kind of RPG tactics. If I die I just get frustrated because I don't think the game allows me to fight effectively.

Also, most of the NPCs you talk to feel more like they're the character of the race they belong to rather than an individual. When I'm talking to an elephant alien I'm talking to an elephant alien and not a person. Who thought they were a good idea anyway? What a lame HK-47 throwback

The voice acting is very inconsistent and the story thus far isn't all that. It's not believable enough. Within 2 hours of the game you're a Spectre. The council makes a 180 after they hear a 15 second voiceclip? I'm sorry, but it's not believable. I don't want to belittle the people who like it but it feels like it's written for a younger audience. I want more exposition, more explanations and much more developed characters.

I love walking around my ship looking badass in my cool clothes, but at the same time the stupid bugs on the snow planet look like something out of a straight to DVD horror movie. It's just bad, and it annoys me because part of the game is so good.

CappinCanuck

11-12-2009, 06:36 AM

CappinCanuck

11-12-2009, 06:38 AM

i can get the splash screen to come up, did what steam said, and nothing worked. i think installing the dx update got jacked up, and now one of the launchers says "cannot find launcher.xml" when i click on it.

basically, steam says set steam and launcher.exe to run as admin... i get the launcher to launch to the thing that says hit play... but then play just crashes.

Do yourself a favour and what I did after many hours of frustration. Once you finish purchasing it, turn your browser to a pirate source. Grab it and all the extras with the newest crack -- and play.

Gorvi

11-12-2009, 06:46 AM

Gah, my voice mail got all screwed up, I should have known better since I was going over a bridge. The Google Voice thing was funny, though. :p A few clarifications on the Demon's Souls stuff: No, Black Phantoms can't talk, but that would be awesome. You can't get invaded in Soul form, you have to have your body. Another rather wicked thing: if you get invaded, the spell Evacuate won't work, which essentially is a Town Portal spell, so you can't just escape out of the level if you're invaded.

And no, I still haven't invaded anyone yet. I've actually had my body for the better part of the week, so I can't, and the 2 times I did I just helped people kill bosses and I was good. I still really need to do that.

CappinCanuck

11-12-2009, 07:12 AM

Who's who btw? Relating to COG nicks? P.s. Jeremy's laugh makes everything funnier.

hunterx280

11-12-2009, 07:42 AM

Who's who btw? Relating to COG nicks? P.s. Jeremy's laugh makes everything funnier.

I know most of them, I think the only one I don't know is Arjay's. I've been hunting for his Demon Soul's write up but I have no idea where he posted it and what his name is. Anyone willing to point me in the right direction?

James - Fishbang
Scott - Psykoboy2
Jeremy - Straximus

I can't remember what Dennis' is and Arjay's is a mystery.

Suave Peanut

11-12-2009, 09:07 AM

I can't remember what Dennis' is and Arjay's is a mystery.
Not much of a mystery, sir. Arjay is Arjay (http://www.colonyofgamers.com/cogforums/member.php?u=6753).

hunterx280

11-12-2009, 09:19 AM

Not much of a mystery, sir. Arjay is Arjay (http://www.colonyofgamers.com/cogforums/member.php?u=6753).

Well there ya go. :D Thank you sir!

Straximus

11-12-2009, 10:26 AM

Dennis is Samitchdoo (http://www.colonyofgamers.com/cogforums/member.php?u=16).

nabokovfan87

11-12-2009, 12:16 PM

Thanks Nabokov! I was wondering about this.

So is Mass Effect ugly on my new rig because Steam isn't launching it properly? It's nasty...

no idea what your case is.

this is what it looked like for me in xp on my single core... lol... it runs crysis!!!! its hillarious how wrong people were about buying a 5k rig to play that game. my 5 year old pc can do it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ta8gINJVdmY

so yeah, mass effect. making it look less crap, make sure on your vid card everything is turned off and set everything in the game. make sure for ati cards that catalyst ai is off, it usually doesnt help me at all and just eats up 5-10 avg fps. the other thing you can do is run it in a window. try lowering the res so you can up the settings to make it look better. grab fraps or something to make a vid of what you are talking about, without an image i cant say what the issue is.

Spigot

11-12-2009, 06:41 PM

I just grabbed new drivers for my Nvidia GTX 260 and Dragon Age looks nicer. I'll have to try Mass Effect and see how things work.

nabokovfan87

11-13-2009, 08:14 PM

I just grabbed new drivers for my Nvidia GTX 260 and Dragon Age looks nicer. I'll have to try Mass Effect and see how things work.

i got mine to work. essentially you have to make a destop icon for both steam and mass effect. right click go to properties, then advanced on the first tab and select run as admin for both of them. open steam, then mass effect.

note: if you do not allow them both, the installer will stop and you will have to re-download.

to install the dlc, use the link previously provided and make sure the file you download has an a at the end.

Straximus

11-13-2009, 08:56 PM

sudo get me a sandwich.

CappinCanuck

11-14-2009, 08:21 PM

I know most of them, I think the only one I don't know is Arjay's. I've been hunting for his Demon Soul's write up but I have no idea where he posted it and what his name is. Anyone willing to point me in the right direction?

James - Fishbang
Scott - Psykoboy2
Jeremy - Straximus

I can't remember what Dennis' is and Arjay's is a mystery.

Thank you!

Doogie2K

11-14-2009, 08:35 PM

Regarding the ATI discussion, my big problem is that you can't set a temperature setpoint in Catalyst and have it work as intended. I wound up having to download ExperTool and manually operate the fan at 65% (regular runtime) and 100% (game time) to keep my temperature down around 50 C. Once I did that, though, I've had no problems, no crashes, no nothing. I've also had no problems with Borderlands, other than the UI being a bit annoying, but then I'm only 2.5 hrs in.

lucklesswonder

11-15-2009, 01:19 AM

I know everybody's been hating on Infinity Ward, and I wholeheartedly agree: they fucked up big. But I also have to say this: I just spent five hours on the single-player campaign and had absolutely no idea how much time had passed. It was a constant string of "ohshitohshitohshitImadeit!"

I'll admit, I'm not as pissed at IW as other folk. Largely because I don't really go in for multiplayer. The only reason I cared about MW2 was to see what happened to Soap and Price (I've said before, I'm extremely story-oriented). And so far I'm satisfied. I just have one more level, where I'm told Soap is the badass of all badasses.

For me, the game's great. At least, the campaign is great. I'll let other people judge the rest of the game. But I think there are at least a few people at IW who don't suck.

Zecon

11-15-2009, 08:13 AM

Great job guys! I agree with james 100% about hid MW2 comments, and therefore I am not planning on playing it. But my dumbass went ahead and listened to the giant bombcast immediately afterwords, which the first half hour was about all the awesome shit you could do.
I'm still holding out though (until i beat my brother's copy of MW1, at least)

And as for Dragon's age, well I just beat it last night and I'm probably going to send it back. In the end I ended up having to finish it on casual, Since I really dont like the injury system they have for fallen comrades. Plus the game was incredibly difficult, even at normal. I may end up playing on the PC later,(which I'm recommending to people I know who are interested in it) since the console just felt too sloppy, and only having 6 active spell slots was a bitch.

Great show guys, and keep up those epic rants James!

nabokovfan87

11-16-2009, 10:21 AM

Great job guys! I agree with james 100% about hid MW2 comments, and therefore I am not planning on playing it. But my dumbass went ahead and listened to the giant bombcast immediately afterwords, which the first half hour was about all the awesome shit you could do.
I'm still holding out though (until i beat my brother's copy of MW1, at least)

allow me to sway you, hit up the pc gamer podcast for last week, mw2 is in the news about half-way through, or hit up the link in my sig, the mw2 discussion i put together (just clips from a bunch of podcasts).

so two things you should hit up from the file i posted:

kotaku podcast laughing at pc gamers whining: 137:38 (2:17:38)

pc gamer talking about it initially/after all the news, the change is haunting: start of show/148:57 (2:28:57)

Zecon

11-16-2009, 07:45 PM

allow me to sway you, hit up the pc gamer podcast for last week, mw2 is in the news about half-way through, or hit up the link in my sig, the mw2 discussion i put together (just clips from a bunch of podcasts).

so two things you should hit up from the file i posted:

kotaku podcast laughing at pc gamers whining: 137:38 (2:17:38)

pc gamer talking about it initially/after all the news, the change is haunting: start of show/148:57 (2:28:57)

Sweet, Nab, I loaded it on my zune and will give it a listen at work. Thanks!

nabokovfan87

11-17-2009, 09:38 AM

Sweet, Nab, I loaded it on my zune and will give it a listen at work. Thanks!

i seriously mean this, im interested as hell to see what you think. let me know.

hey spigot, hows ME looking now?

update on demon's souls. that game might as well change its name to "the greatest co-op game ever made". just so fun to get stuck on a level and have someone's note pop up on the floor and i run towards it. yet when someone pops up that has invaded me i turn it off. i wish there was a way to turn that off. what shocked me the most is how easy the game is. not just the fact that there are notes everywhere, but typically when you die it is because you screwed up or didnt do something right, not that the game was too difficult for you. OH YEAH, BEST BOSS FIGHTS EVER! Just about as unique as the poison ivy 3d sidescroller shooter battle. lots of fun.

Spigot

11-17-2009, 10:52 AM

hey spigot, hows ME looking now?Better. It's still not the bee's knees, but I can actually see the scar on my Shepard's face now instead of a blurry smudge.

nabokovfan87

11-17-2009, 09:41 PM

Better. It's still not the bee's knees, but I can actually see the scar on my Shepard's face now instead of a blurry smudge.

hmm... is this vista or win7? i have had issues with my pc in win7, very low memory, sometimes low enough to where certain games wont launch. turn down or even off the windows visual enchancements, see if that helps (control panel, system, performance and visual settings).

the other thing that might help is turning on vsync, or altering the filtering. i had some games where anistrophic filtering puts a sort of haze on the screen, making it blurry. that might be it.

Zecon

11-17-2009, 10:15 PM

i seriously mean this, im interested as hell to see what you think. let me know.

I really like the idea of putting together the collection of podcasts all focusing on the same discussion.

My only problem would be that all the arguments tend to sway in your favor.

Personally I don't see a big problem here, since some companies are uptight about their PC offerings such as EA with spore and Activision with MW2. Companies will run the games how they want them ran, not how we want to run them. sure, it's not fair, that much I can agree with, but there is really nothing you can do about it. Piracy is still a big hurdle for alot of PC dev to overcome, and for most it's easier for them to consolize the games in order to try to make them look better to their shareholders. MW2 was going to have alot of piracy regardless of what they did because it's a popular game, and many people find it much easier, more convenient and a hell of alot cheaper to just click that torrent.

I'm not really much of a PC gamer, but I'm grateful for the PC in the same way I am grateful to Microsoft,Nintendo, Sega, and yes even Sony for how far gaming has come.

There are still plenty of developers who cherish the PC gaming community for all the support the give and mods they create, and dedicated servers they host.

Don't get me wrong, I still think what they did was bad, and there is really no reason they just couldn't offer both, but with seperate rankings (like diablo 2's battlenet). but in the end, they are owned by activision and therefore Bobby Kotick, so would you really expect any less?

I'm still not buying MW2, but that's more because it's never been my favorite series (still prefer Ghost Recon).

Spigot

11-18-2009, 09:49 AM

hmm... is this vista or win7? i have had issues with my pc in win7, very low memory, sometimes low enough to where certain games wont launch. turn down or even off the windows visual enchancements, see if that helps (control panel, system, performance and visual settings).

the other thing that might help is turning on vsync, or altering the filtering. i had some games where anistrophic filtering puts a sort of haze on the screen, making it blurry. that might be it.Win7. I've got 12 gigs of RAM, so system resources aren't likely an issue. I'll see about twiddling with a few of the settings, esp. vsync & anistrophic filtering. I turned those on just because I could, but we'll see. The new drivers did help with sharpening a lot of the textures on a few of the games, so I'm not as worried.

nabokovfan87

11-18-2009, 12:43 PM

I'm still not buying MW2, but that's more because it's never been my favorite series (still prefer Ghost Recon).

damn strait. RS is the best! rs3 was almost as big as an rpg... well, the gold ed. was.

what i was really wanting to ask about was the contrast of kotaku's podcast vs. the pc gamer podcast change. like i said earlier, kotaku was laughing at people who cared about it and pc gamer didnt initially and at the end was just heartbroken at everything. was very chilling to listen to that podcast.