Well that would definitely a big thing.
Indeed - but EA even messed that up with the F2P Generals they planned.....*sigh*

Yes. One of the many great series that was destroyed by AAA publishers....

Seems to be. It sounds like a very strange game. Bought it based on that uniqueness.
From what I've heard, it's a buggy, unpleasant mess above and beyond it shredding the story of the previous games.
They certainly do have a knack for taking good things and destroying them.

Right. Command and Conquer and Red Alert can be placed next to all the series that have been wrecked by their respective companies' stupidity.
The sad thing is, I just had the thought of, "Well, at least EA didn't destroy the series for the sake of making pachinko machines like Konami did with Castlevania and Silent Hill."

Yup. And the series they're making money with are highly iterative (although i must admit that i actually bought Fifa 16 for PC)...
And there are quite a lot series that ended that way.

True...but don't get me started on Konami. I originally planned to get PES 2016 this year after a few years of not having a soccer/football game on PC and from PES 4 onwards i always preferred PES over FIFA but what they've done with the PC version this year which looks like a last-gen version is unacceptable. Oh and i read about a Metal Gear packinko machine as well. So i guess we should HIT THE LEVER then.....

It's all just a big mess. But companies like that will keep on going until people finally get tired of it en masse.

More like rip the lever off and beat the soulless executives in the head with it.

Well they're doing fine. They have their annual CoD, ACs and Battlefields and as long as people are buying that they don't have to change anything - well they could act with foresight but that usually means reducing the immediate profit....

That's better :)

Hey Crow - I've seen you mention burning stuff for friends and family before - mind if I bug you with a music burning question? I haven't burned a CD in like a decade and this one is showing only "Track" files that are really small (like only a KB) and nothing else. Wonder if you have any pointers for me or if I'm screwed...

What kind of CD are you checking, and with which program?

Okay sorry for the wait (dishwasher finished ;) ).

It's a BURNED music CD being opened with the regular Win 7 file viewer / Explorer.

The printed paper jacket (just a white sheet of paper printed with the track list - looks like some random output) says "Printed with I-Tunes" - I don't know where / how the CD was burned BUT assuming it is an I-Tunes CD does that mean I won't be able to burn it on my Win 7 without an I-Tunes account / owning the songs myself?

Did someone mention Konami?

Allow me to put my pontificating hat on.

Every new generation of hardware, videogame development costs scale upwards. With budgets in the last gen, already on par with small to mid-sized movies, current gen development costs will equal those of huge Hollywood blockbusters. If you factor a market that really doesn't have much room to grow its userbase since it's almost reached saturation point, that means a reduced profit margin from video game sales. Square Enix already demonstrated this, calling games that managed to sell 5 million copies, financial failures. Failures in the sense that "we expected a bajillion dollars, we only got half that, our investors won't be able to afford their solid gold fleshlights."

So from a business perspective Konami saying, "fuck this shite, let's make pachinko machines from our IP, they only cost a fraction of what a videogame costs and the addicted dumbfucks will keep pouring dollar coins (or 100 yen) in them non stop." is financially sound.

It's also a disgusting perversion of healthy business planning and the epitome of the quick-buck cash-grab, let-someone-deal-with-the-consequences-I'll-be-in-my-private-island, corporate culture.

I take my hat off now.

No need to apologize. If anything, the apology should be from me. Just spent a couple hours making dinner for people.

Not 100 percent certain, but I thought I-Tunes had DRM so you couldn't burn the songs onto a disc. Thinking the track list got pulled from there, but not the music. (Unless I'm completely wrong.)
I've had problems with different CD rippers, the one that's been closest to consistent is Windows Media Player. It might work, it might not, but it's possible that you'll be able to rip the music from the disc with that.
I would agree with you on both points. As a purely financial move, it's legitimate. It's also one of the biggest middle fingers they can give to the customers who've elevated them to their current position by purchasing their products.
It's not a move a company would make unless they're either on the verge of financial ruin, or they just don't give a shit about anything or anyone that has to do with actually caring about the games.

Wow... Yeah, what Crow said...
Do avoid that one... I'd only play it if they gave it free... And even then just out of curiosity to give it a try...
It's a horrible mess :) You might enjoy Ultima Underworld 1 and 2, if you don't mind the old school graphics. They are quite respected games.

And Good Morning All!
Played Talisman for a bit last night. That's quite a relaxing game.
Only a bit irritated about how Steam is selling it outside of sales: about 15 euros for the base game... then there's lots of madly priced dlc. Would never have touched the game if it wasn't for Humble.

Good morning. =)

Glad to see you're liking it so much. And yes, it is chock full of DLC to gouge players for every dollar they can. I was actually interested in Warhammer Quest, but I read up and they have the same thing. It's 15 dollars for the base game, then another 15 dollars for the extra stuff that should have been in the base game to begin with.

I'm getting the feeling I should stay away from Ultima 9...heh.

How ya folks doin'?

Unless you're suddenly feeling intensely masochistic, that's probably a good idea.

Can't complain here, watching the Illbleed Let's Play again in between looking at sale stuff.

How's your night going?

If I was feeling that way then I'd probably be trying Hydrophobia: Prophecy again.

Mostly just fine here, eating some less than impressive but totally edible chips and listening to music. Thinking of trying Pathalogic again, but a bit hesitant since there is a new version dropping soon (tomorrow?), and I'm wondering if I'll be getting the actual remake for free or just another discount or no discount at all.