Fatal_Papercut~SPARTA~

Agreed, and it's true for more than just shooters. There are certain IPs that have value because of the fond memories they evoke in people that played those games. When those licenses are up for grabs, I think some publishers grab them up to capitalize on what they see as a sure sale without bothering to keep what made an IP special to begin with. To me, aside from OFP, there is another perfect and recent example of this: X-COM. X-COM was originally a turn-based tactical combat game focused on repelling an alien invasion. It is now being turned into a first-person shooter that shares the same "kill the aliens" theme but nothing more. It is X-COM in name only. We won't know for certain for at least another year from now, but I'm willing to bet that Red River will be the last OFP title we'll see from Codemasters. That IP is now synonymous with "crap game" and whatever value that name once had is lost.

Downloaded, installed, ready to go. When do you play?

What I want to know is: when do I get to dust off my camera and start filming?

I think this video will be most appreciated by those over 30 years of age, minimum. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1XQ45xUVIc

@ Rooster & Viiiper: Thanks for the feedback. As this was only podcast #3, we are still experimenting with what works and what doesn't. No single style of podcast will be palatable to everyone, as is evidenced by the fact that the first two podcasts, which were very structured, were criticized for being too structured. ** EDIT: I do like Rooster's idea of summarizing what's in the podcast in the beginning. This would be easy to do in post-production, and while it doesn't provide structure, it does let the listener know what to expect. I will do this for the next podcast. ** Personally, I'm leaning towards sticking with the current, looser structure, but that may change. The reason I started the podcast to begin with was to try to capture the type of spontaneous conversations we have on TeamSpeak, albeit conversations that are focused specifically on PC gaming. I felt much more relaxed while recording the last episode, but it's difficult to say how much of that was due to the new format and how much was due to the fact that I'm starting to get a good feel for what I'm doing (I really am shooting from the hip here). Who knows? By the time we get settled in and find our rhythm, we may end up with something completely different than anything we've tried so far. We may continue to have new guests every week, or we might settle down to a fixed stable of regulars. We might continue to have regular set segments like "Playlists", or we may just get together and start talking about whatever comes to mind. (I am thinking of dropping Playlists for podcast #4, but any participant is still welcome to talk about what they have been playing if they think they have something interesting to share). Thanks for listening, and hopefully we'll figure out a way to consistently provide content that has value to our listeners.

This was great stuff! I need to wrap up all of my side projects this week so that I can get in on this stuff.

Nicely done. There's something good to be said about the first-person perspective in videos like these. I take it you are using TrackIR?

I also am having problems: I cannot connect to the servers. They fail to recognize that I am running ACE. I have tried running both 1.09 and 1.10. No joy. ** EDIT ** The error I am getting is, "You cannot play/edit this mission, it is dependent on downloadable content that has been deleted.acex_veh_stryker". It's not one of the messages I can click on and it goes away. It kicks me back out to the server browser.

Still looking for a co-op partner. The guy I started with has given up. We scheduled games the past three nights plus tonight, he hasn't shown up. I have to admit that I'm partway through it, so I know the solutions to some of the earlier puzzles.

Just finished gifting it to a friend.

We had a lot of fun with this week's show, talking up RPGs and MMOs. Sound interesting? Then give us a listen. knightsofthecatcable.com

This captures the flavor of classic Looney Tunes, not at all like the crap poor kids have these days.

Added to my QL Friends List. Anyone else?

This picture says it all: the number of servers worldwide for Breach, and the number of people still playing the game. (I have edited the original picture to show only relevant information.)

Howdy folks, Quake Live is a free-to-play version of Quake 3 that you can launch from your browser. Any machine out there can play it. Now, you do need to pay for a "premium" account that allows you to run a private instance of the game where you can invite friends. I would be willing to get an account for a month if two or more people are willing to play a few games. Hajimoto says he's already in, so, if anyone else is willing to take 10 minutes to install the client and play with us, please post your account name in this thread so that I may add you to my friends list. As always, my account name is Fatal_Papercut. **EDIT** OOps, I can't get a premium account for just 1 month. I have to pay annually, which, at $48, in NOT going to happen. But friends can still join on each other in the free version--it just won;t be a private match.

(Sorry for starting a new thread on this, but for the life of me I couldn't find the older ones) PC Gamer just released it's review of 'Operation Flashpoint: Red River' on their website. In short, you'd be better of spending your $50 to pay someone to kick you in the groin. http://www.pcgamer.com/2011/04/21/operation-flashpoint-red-river-review-2/

I saw my CO's wife once. Thank goodness he did his own work.

I've already done this. Several times. I should probably clarify: this guys call me all the time about everything, sometimes very simple things that a 6-year-old could Google and figure out. He's become dependent upon me to do all of these things for him. And now he wants to have a side-business wherein I do the work but he gets the money. LOL, if you'd like, I'll give him your phone number and you can be his business partner.

I would do so if I had the desire--which I don't. I prefer to specialize in PCs (Windows-based, and maybe some occasional Linux work). I won't touch Apple products, consoles, refrigerators, cars--these are all things that people somehow assume I specialize in because, hey, I know stuff about PCs, I must know stuff about EVERYTHING, right? LOL, I wish that were true, but it's not. If it were, practically everyone here would be a Fortune 500 company unto themselves. I help friends and family at no cost all of the time, and they do the same for me. But beyond that circle, it's a business transaction, plain and simple.

So I have this "friend" that...well, let me start by saying that I may be about to downgrade him from "friend" status. So this guy has been making a few extra bucks here and there helping people fix their Xbox 360s when they RROD. I've helped walk this person through a couple of really simple things that I've never actually done myself, and I was able to do so simply because I Googled the issue in question and--lo and behold--I get 100 hits that all have the answer. Of course, this person swears he Googled for answers as well but never found anything. Today, he is trying to help another person replace the DVD drive in their Xbox. This involves first hooking up a compatible model to a PC to flash the firmware (again, I Googled this). This "friend" wanted to bring the hardware to my place and have me do the work, but he wanted to be the one to collect the money when he delivered the repaired unit to his client. I wanted to tell him to F-off; I managed to exercise some restraint and told him that, if he plans on making money on the side doing this Xbox repair-thingy, he should probably take the time to learn what he is doing. I also told him that, from my perspective, "Every time an Xbox dies, the world becomes a better place." Of course, said "friend" is now upset because I won't do his work for him. Which is great for me. Maybe he'll finally leave me alone and Google things for himself.

I learned yesterday that there is a website that archives digital copies of "Computer Gaming World" magazine. Talk about a trip down memory lane! http://cgw.vintagegaming.org/index.php ** EDIT ** I am now reading the first article of the very first issue (and, so far, the only issue available for that year, 1981(!)). Chris Crawford writes about the future of wargames on PCs. It's a great read because it shows just how ahead of the curve Mr. Crawford was. The things he wrote seem obvious now with hindsight, but at the time, it was very forward-thinking. He was already predicting things such as RTS games before the technology to implement them in consumer PCs even existed.

Tonight (Tuesday) is not good for me as I am going to visit friends for dinner. I will be back really late, around 1 AM EST; if you're still awake then, I'd love to give it a go.

Urgh...must...resist. Must...not...buy...Minecraft. Willpower. Willpower.

Portal 2 is now unlocked. and I'll be playing it all night. Anyone one up for trying the co-op campaign?

Hilarious! And I would never buy anything from this person.