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[Got the Shakes]

Poetry.

So did Amazon sell out of BL2 Season Passes already? It's a shame you can't buy 'em and wait for the key to be added later. I wonder if they'll add more before the sale is over tonight.

I was able to buy one 15 minutes ago.

 

[nexen]

His son asks before bed, "Can I be anything I want, Papa?"
Tears welling in the corners of his eyes, "Son..." he trails.
The pillow flips and the struggle is over.
He could have been Serious Sam 3. He couldn't take that chance.

Spoiler

What's funny here is that I am actually a published poet. Not a joke.

Did he just ... smother his son? Dark.

 

[JaseC]

I think the discounts are given to people who own other Bit.Trip games as well. Although I got 2 coupons while owning 3 Bit.Trip games.

Ah, that would explain it.

 

[Joe Molotov]

His son asks before bed, "Can I be anything I want, Papa?"
Tears welling in the corners of his eyes, "Son..." he trails.
The pillow flips and the struggle is over.
He could have been Serious Sam 3. He couldn't take that chance.

Spoiler

What's funny here is that I am actually a published poet. Not a joke.

Can I get permission to republish that in my 1200 page doctoral thesis turned major novel "Serious Sam 3: Why It's So Awesome"?

 

[nexen]

I missed out on the first 4 pages
What did I miss?

AoE II unlocks in an hour.



2K loves money though.

I have a feeling we will see them take a similar direction with Infinite. Farm out the assets and engine to another developer so they can turn around a cheap sequel.

It doesn't really make sense from a narrative perspective, but from a publicly traded corporation perspective? It makes perfect sense to a suit.

Meh, I'm ok with this. Whatever keeps them putting out content like Bioshock 1 and Infinite.

 

[Nabs]

I was able to buy one 15 minutes ago.

Yeah, before it sold out.

 

[Sober]

Come to think of it, I still need to finish Just Cause 2; if memory serves, there are only 2 or 3 areas that need completing. Blanketing a town with explosive charges and watching the resulting chaos from a distance as you "slingshot" yourself out of the area never gets old.

Wait, you can finish JC2? I thought there some intro missions and then you just blow shit up for as long as you want!

Spoiler

story missions were boring for the most part

I missed out on the first 4 pages

2K loves money though.

I have a feeling we will see them take a similar direction with Infinite. Farm out the assets and engine to another developer so they can turn around a cheap sequel.

It doesn't really make sense from a narrative perspective, but from a publicly traded corporation perspective? It makes perfect sense to a suit.

I thought Marin did a fantastic job with BS2. Plus they kept far away from touching on Randian themes and focused on something a bit more personal but also got to flesh out the world a bit more. And then Minerva's Den came in and blew BS2 and the first game out of the water.

Infinite is good, but I'm hoping some of the Levine DLC isn't crazy time-travel/multiverse bullshit and more like Minerva's Den or even BS2 themed and stay away from trying to comment on ideology since that didn't go so well with BS1 and Infinite after their opening hours.

 

[morningbus]

Did he just ... smother his son? Dark.

Surely you mean provocative.

Can I get permission to republish that in my 1200 page doctoral thesis turned major novel "Serious Sam 3: Why It's So Awesome"?

So long as I get a percentage of the t-shirt sales.

 

[legacyzero]

Why do I buy games I'm never gonna play?

 

[FloatOn]

I honestly feel that BioShock 2's combat is a vast improvement over BioShock 1's combat.

Everything else is about the same, except the narrative which is worse.
The main issue with BioShock 2 is that it feels so unnecessary. It is like the gaming equivalent of a run-on sentence.

if combat is what turned you off from BioShock 1, you might want to give 2 a spin.

Bioshock 2 combat is best Bioshock combat. Being able to use both hands at once and the big daddy weapons were so great. Rivet gun and drill hand all day.

The story itself is hugely underrated, I really dig what it did with the intro giving you a glimpse of Rapture before shit hit the fan and then picking up years after the event of the first game.

It kind of did what Resident Evil 3 did for part 2 of that series.

I'll give you that Sofia Lamb isn't nearly as interesting as Andrew Ryan but offers an interesting counter argument to his philosophical perspective.

Also, playing as a Big Daddy gave some unique insight into the relationship between them and the Little Sisters.

I played through all 3 Bioshock games in the span of a month for the first time and it was an amazing ride.
So to sum up I feel like Bioshock 2 fleshes out the Rapture experience in a really great way.

 

[Dr Dogg]

To be fair on BS2 despite it being developed by 2K Marin, about 5 key members of Irrational moved over after BS1 wrapped including Jordan Thomas, Steve Gaynor, Jean-Paul LeBreton and Hogarth de la Plante. It wasn't like 2K just called the B-Team in.

 

[Tizoc]

Papo and Yo up for pre-order on GMG and Gamersgate. It's a pretty straight forward and simple adventure game with a magnificent soundtrack.

 

[morningbus]

Papo and Yo up for pre-order on GMG and Gamersgate. It's a pretty straight forward and simple adventure game with a magnificent soundtrack.

But no yerba mate drinking =(

 

[Glass Rebel]

Well, from what I can see 2K Marin was involved with every Bioshock entry so I wouldn't mind another one.

XCOM fans had to throw a shitfit about their game after all

 

[JaseC]

To be fair on BS2 despite it being developed by 2K Marin, about 5 key members of Irrational moved over after BS1 wrapped including Jordan Thomas, Steve Gaynor, Jean-Paul LeBreton and Hogarth de la Plante. It wasn't like 2K just called the B-Team in.

But it was the result of 2K wanting to cash in on the immense success of the original. I remember one GAFer getting [URL="http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?p=28536263#post28536263"]rather upset with me[/URL] when I said that Thomas had attempted to fill boots too big for his own feet. Said bloke even demanded that I show Thomas some respect... apparently for the simple fact that he, uh, spearheaded a game.

I still think Bio2 would have been better served as a game that disconnected itself as much as possible from the narrative of the original (I know I'm not the only one who was hoping that it'd be a prequel, set during the downfall of Rapture). I'd argue that part of the reason why Minerva's Den is so well-received, even among those that cared little for Bio2 proper, is that it's essentially an entirely new chapter of Rapture and not one that hamfistedly forced itself into the overarching lore.

 

[Sarcasm]

IS age of empires 2 hd just a graphics update?

 

[Grief.exe]

But it was the result of 2K wanting to cash in on the immense success of the original. I remember one GAFer getting rather upset with me when I said that Thomas had attempted to fill boots too big for his own feet. Said bloke even demanded that I show Thomas some respect... apparently for the simple fact that he, uh, spearheaded a game.

I still think Bio2 would have been better served as a game that disconnected itself as much as possible from the narrative of the original game (I know I'm not the only one who was hoping that it'd be a prequel, set during the downfall of Rapture). I'd argue that part of the reason why Minerva's Den is so well-received, even among those that cared little for Bio2 proper, is that it's essentially an entirely new chapter of Rapture and not one that hamfistedly forced itself into the overarching lore.

That would have been way more compelling from a narrative perspective.

But they would have had to significantly change a majority of the assets to make them look clean

 

[SteveWinwood]

Its the direction of how the story is told and its execution which a lot of games get awfully wrong. Bioshock Infinite really is like watching a moving painting with Oscar-caliber drama like The Tree of Life, by Terrence Malick.

wait what

 

[JaseC]

That would have been way more compelling from a narrative perspective.

But they would have had to significantly change a majority of the assets to make them look clean

Haha, you may have a point there.

 

[Stallion Free]

Haha, as frustrating as that is, my inner completionist won't allow me to ignore missing factors. I remember spending a good day or two chasing down water tanks in one of the game's largest cities -- I eventually had to painstakingly follow a particularly thorough video guide to hit 100%.

That's why I stuck to small villages to hit 75% overall and ignored the cities. They were such a mess to find stuff in.

 

[MMBosstones86]

Bioshock Infinite could be a Rip Off of Twillight Zone or every second Sci-Fi Book while Spec Ops is based on a Book. Its the same thing. While Bioshock Infinite only presenting a better Art Style. While Bioshock feels more like a COD game (Yes you can use your skills and crows and stuff to kill people) but it was actually more tense without those crow/fire stuff (makes the game even on 1999 Mode easier). So while you go into cover and blow stuff up in Spec ops you kill people with crows and guns in Bioshock. To me its only about killing people. Bioshock uses these tears that help you. In Spec ops its sand. They said you could actually go trough an area without having to battle... nope. In the end it plays nearly the same with only a bit difference here and there.

I dont wanna say that Bioshock Infinite hasnt a good story or is a bad "game". Its only overhyped. While Spec Ops presenting also a good story with bad gameplay and nobody gives it credits for that.

I'm late, but what?

'could be' and 'is' are two very different things. I have a real hard time comparing BioInf to a cover-based shooter or COD.

What are you basing the 'overhype' on? I don't think i've seen a bad review for the game, 'professional' or metacritic. If that's your opinion, that's fine.

I've seen plenty people here on GAF say the story of Spec Ops is pretty great...

 

[Zia]

wait what

Yeah, strange statement. BioShock Infinite is considerably better than Tree of Life.

 

[Acidote]

Looks like amazon ran out of BL2 keys :-/

 

[morningbus]

wait what

Yeah, strange statement. BioShock Infinite is considerably better than Tree of Life.

To understand it, you must travel into the very Heart of Darkness, which is exactly like the Twilight Zone except everyone shits on it and fellates the tobacco infused dick of Rod Serling.

 

[Stallion Free]

Looks like amazon ran out of BL2 keys :-/

All those victims

 

[Deques]

Looks like amazon ran out of BL2 keys :-/

Poetry.

So did Amazon sell out of BL2 Season Passes already? It's a shame you can't buy 'em and wait for the key to be added later. I wonder if they'll add more before the sale is over tonight.

They ran out of keys? I am glad I bought the season pass right after it the deal was live

 

[Dr Dogg]

But it was the result of 2K wanting to cash in on the immense success of the original. I remember one GAFer getting [URL="http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?p=28536263#post28536263"]rather upset with me[/URL] when I said that Thomas had attempted to fill boots too big for his own feet. Said bloke even demanded that I show Thomas some respect... apparently for the simple fact that he, uh, spearheaded a game.

I still think Bio2 would have been better served as a game that disconnected itself as much as possible from the narrative of the original (I know I'm not the only one who was hoping that it'd be a prequel, set during the downfall of Rapture). I'd argue that part of the reason why Minerva's Den is so well-received, even among those that cared little for Bio2 proper, is that it's essentially an entirely new chapter of Rapture and not one that hamfistedly forced itself into the overarching lore.

Oh definitely, no one could dispute that. Ken did an interview with Eurogamer back in 2011 just after Infinite was announced and was asked why Irrational didn't develop 2 and he said that 2K wanted another game set in Rapture. Obviously to cash cow it. He went on to say that he felt they had said all they wanted about Rapture and wanted to move on.

 

[JaseC]

IS age of empires 2 hd just a graphics update?

Other significant changes include the engine being rewritten in Direct3D, allowing for such features as native widescreen and multi-monitor support, and Steamworks replacing the original game's antiquated (and, more importantly, dead) Microsoft Gaming Zone-based multiplayer. I assume there have also been various bug fixes and civilisation/campaign scenario tweaks, but those more familiar with its development may be able to offer specifics.

 

[xelios]

IS age of empires 2 hd just a graphics update?

Key Highlights:

• Re-mastered for high resolution displays 1080p+
• Enhanced visual engine with improved terrain textures, water, fire and ambient lighting effects
• New Steamworks features: Achievements, Leaderboards, Matchmaking and Cloud support.
• Share user created content with Steam Workshop support

Have there been any changes made to the gameplay?

• No, it's still the same classic Age of Empires II experience.

What version of the game is this?

• You can expect the mechanics and balance from 1.0c.

Source: http://www.ageofempires.com/age2.html

 

[Nabs]

They ran out of keys? I am glad I bought the season pass right after it the deal was live

I think they got some more keys in.

Bad Company 2 is the daily deal... ha. I don't know if anyone still plays it, but I had a lot of fun with it.

 

[Deques]

I think they got some more keys in.


Bad Company 2 is the daily deal... ha.

Seems like the got keys, I can still see the buy button

 

[Stallion Free]

Bad Company 2 is the daily deal... ha. I don't know if anyone still plays it, but I had a lot of fun with it.

Damn, remember when Battlefield was fun with friends?

 

[Got the Shakes]

The "buy another copy" is visible for me again.

 

[JaseC]

Oh definitely, no one could dispute that. Ken did an interview with Eurogamer back in 2011 just after Infinite was announced and was asked why Irrational didn't develop 2 and he said that 2K wanted another game set in Rapture. Obviously to cash cow it. He went on to say that he felt they had said all they wanted about Rapture and wanted to move on.

My contention isn't so much with the game being in Rapture as it is squandering the narrative potential by making it a through-and-through sequel. Perhaps ironically, the opening and penultimate closing moments of Bio2 are those that I consider to be the high points, as they both show Rapture in its former glory and present an almost tangible "what if..." scenario -- if only for a moment.

 

[morningbus]

Damn, remember when Battlefield was fun with friends?

I didn't know the Battlefield franchise was that old because it must have been from before I was born.

 

[Stet]

I wish you could batch add keys to Steam for Indie Bundles.

 

[Stallion Free]

I didn't know the Battlefield franchise was that old because it must have been from before I was born.

Ice cold.

 

[Dr Dogg]

My contention isn't so much with the game being in Rapture as it is squandering the narrative potential by making it a through-and-through sequel. Perhaps ironically, the opening and penultimate closing moments of Bio2 are those that I consider to be the high points, as they both show Rapture in its former glory -- if only for a moment.

Well as Grief said, it's all about them assets. Like when a successful film gets a straight to dvd or tv sequel using the same sets. I think it could be argued that while developers have got a good workflow to get gameplay to a high level on a short time scale writing an effective scenario, plot and script in a short space of time seams to elude most.

 

[SteveWinwood]

Yeah, strange statement. BioShock Infinite is considerably better than Tree of Life.

okay this is a way bigger wait what

 

[Sober]

I wish you could batch add keys to Steam for Indie Bundles.

Let me tell you about the time I bought all the Crusader Kings 2 DLC on Amazon and had to punch them all in one at a time ...

 

[Addnan]

Is pre purchase for GRID 2 up in any region yet? Don't want to buy from GMG after their key issues with Bioshock. Wanted to buy it today before I spend money on something else.

 

[Blizzard]

I think they got some more keys in.

Bad Company 2 is the daily deal... ha. I don't know if anyone still plays it, but I had a lot of fun with it.

Yup, Bad Company 2 was fun back in the day. But maybe it's hard for me to split "games that were fun" from "games that were fun because I played them with friends".

 

[Stallion Free]

Well as Grief said, it's all about them assets. Like when a successful film gets a straight to dvd or tv sequel using the same sets. I think it could be argued that while developers have got a good workflow to get gameplay to a high level on a short time scale writing an effective scenario, plot and script in a short space of time seams to elude most.

Wtf wtf wtf. Why is BS2 now being compared to a straight to DVD sequel. You haven't even played the game!

 

[Dr Dogg]

Let me tell you about the time I bought all the Crusader Kings 2 DLC on Amazon and had to punch them all in one at a time ...

Ugrh Shogun 2 Complete Pack had everything as a separate key. It was 13 individual keys. As someone said the other day if it wasn't for that delay when your key is being checked it would be sooo much quicker. 10 seconds every flipping time at least.

Wtf wtf wtf. Why is BS2 now being compared to a straight to DVD sequel. You haven't even played the game!

Hahaha no sorry that would be rather rash of me. Especially for a game I've barely managed 3 hours of. Just commenting on that in my brief time playing said titles that they do share a lot of the same artwork (seen that Sander Cohen 1958 New Years poster a lot) and relating that to a cost cutting measure seen in other mediums. Oh bollocks to it I should hush my gums until I've finished it.

 

[MRORANGE]

Is pre purchase for GRID 2 up in any region yet? Don't want to buy from GMG after their key issues with Bioshock. Wanted to buy it today before I spend money on something else.

Not yet but Grid 2 on GMG is like nearly £20 if you can wait for the key.

 

[morningbus]

Wtf wtf wtf. Why is BS2 now being compared to a straight to DVD sequel. You haven't even played the game!

People actin' like Bioshock 2 is:

When really it is:

 

[Nabs]

Damn, remember when Battlefield was fun with friends?

Man, those were the days.

 

[Addnan]

Not yet but Grid 2 on GMG is like nearly £20 if you can wait for the key.

yeah I saw, but kinda scared to buy from them right now after the duplicate key issues they had. Once they get that sorted out I will start buying again.

 

[JaseC]

Well as Grief said, it's all about them assets. Like when a successful film gets a straight to dvd or tv sequel using the same sets. I think it could be argued that while developers have got a good workflow to get gameplay to a high level on a short time scale writing an effective scenario, plot and script in a short space of time seams to elude most.

I'd be inclined to agree, but development was split between five developers over a period of at least 2 years.

 

[The Broken Ska Record]

Bioshock 1 was a great story and atmosphere, but pretty meh combat.

Bioshock 2 is great combat, but lacking in atmosphere and story.

Still haven't played Infinite.