[url=http://sots.rorschach.net/Category_talk:NorthStar]NorthStar game[/url]
Notes from just the Combat section:
While there will be combat, it WON'T be flight simmy....and it won't be the be all and end all of the game.
Looking at NorthStar personal combat as being akin to fallout is not a bad abstraction at this point. In the end there will be some diffs but the general philosophy and structure will probably be pretty similar.
Perspective will be 3'rd person Japanese Tactical RPG/X-Com view.
Tactical RPG in this case means real time casual movement and exploration, turn-based combat. Characters will act on their own individual initiative ratings...be they your guys or the enemy.
Space combat will be real time though. Think of a slightly more 2D forced version of SotS where the pacing and and situations lend themselves more to maneuver and planning than a bazillion cool weapons flying through the air at once like in SotS. In situations where something damages a ship system component, repairs or replacement will also have to be done in real–time. Somewhat akin to Han Solo working on that hyperdrive...
This is not a game about endlessly buying the biggest hugest ship till you are, once again, combat simming your way through the game. Aren't there already enough games like this?
Most useful weapons aboard ship? Sawed off shotguns with buckshot and a good ol' cutlass. You may think that stabbing a guy is about flair, but in a situations were things are tight, you can be jumped from any angle at times and damaging anything by accident could mean slow or fast death...a good combat blade weapon isn't flair...its sanity. And sure, vibro knives or stun sticks are good ideas but still the same concept...keep it tight, keep it personal and keep it to your intended target.
Characters will be able to be rendered inactive without killing them.
If your ship is destroyed while the main character is not on board, then provided you have sufficient funds, you will be able to purchase another. Note that the price of even an old trading ship like the Northstar is such that they are usually only owned by Corporations and Governments.
Targeting will be specific enough to allow for limb shots to disable or stun.
The morale of individuals will be a consideration in their actions.
Space trading, Fallout-styled combat with the ability to disable people without killing them, TURN BASED??? Beam me up please!!

Pretty tasteless, to say the least. It also doesn't do much for the game industry's image when it's trying to shake the impression of them appealing to kids by using sex and violence. In fact, it only enforces it. There is speculation that the video is fan made, but Bioware still used it all the same.

It certainly threw around enough of the right names to spark my interest. It shows that they're looking to the right kinds of influences rather than saying "OMG it's going to be just like Mass Effect". That doesn't necessarily mean it will be good. But there's every reason to hope it will be at this stage.

Mafia 2
Deathspank
On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, episode 3 - it should have been out half a year ago, I'm getting a bit worried... hopefully Hothead will have time to complete it soon, now that Deathspank appears to be close to completion
Revenge of the Balloon-Headed Mexican
Beyond Good & Evil 2
Half-Life episode 3 - released with a Portal sequel, perhaps? A man can dream...

Dragon Age: Origins.
I pre-ordered, and I never pre-order.
The marketing has been crass, but the gameplay videos are much better(if you go to the website you can find combat videos and the like which show the game in a more positive light).
Diablo 3
Just more of the same really, although I'm pissed off about the new battlenet stuff.
Age of Decadence
Not sure when this will be finished, but I have high hopes. (I've not included Doublebears zRPG because they've bearly started!)
Space Quest II remake
For more info head to Infamous Adventures, they're in the bug-squishing phase, so getting close to completion.
Mechwarrior reboot (and the associated freeware releases)
Stompy mechs, what else needs to be said...
That is all!
Alpha Protocol looks too heavy on the action, though I may get it when it drops in price.
Mass Effect 2 looks like more of the same, which I wasn't bothered with, again I may buy at a much later date.
Bioshock 2 doesn't interest me at all.
Not heard enough about New Vegas to be anything more than exceedingly cautious after FO3.

Dragon Age : Origins
Call of Duty : Modern Warfare 2
Brutal Legend (360)
Assassin's Creed 2
Borderlands
Majesty 2
Batman : Arkham Asylum (PC version)
Red Faction Guerrilla (PC version)
Mount & Blade : Warband
King's Bounty Armored Princess expansion
Operation Flashpoint : Dragon Rising
Mafia 2
The Saboteur

Brutal Legend
Borderlands
Modern Warfare 2
Mass Effect 2
Assassins Creed 2
Dragon Age
Also looking forward to games like Beyond Good and Evil 2, HL 2: Ep 3, etc but as a rule I dont get over excited for games until someone gives me a release date (or at least a rough estimate of one).

Dragon Age: Origins
Age of Decadence (hopefully it comes to GamersGate)
Crusader Kings II (or was it Victoria 2) but I'm concerned with the engine as it's heavy, awkward to use and quite frankly ugly. I hope PDox manages to optimise it somewhat).
I'm also curious how Avernum 6 and Eschalon Book II. It'll be also interesting to see what games and projects come out of Paradox licensing the engine (along with source code and all game assests) of their earlier games (Europa Universalis I&II, Crusader Kings, Victoria, Hearts of Irons I&II). What I've read in Pdox forums, 20 projects have been aproved so far and there are more than 1000 aplications.
There's not much I can look forward to in mainstream market these days. What little good comes out are screwed with useless 3rd party apps that I refuse to install, have intrusive and restricting DRM or ,more often than not, both of them.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat
Dead Space: Extraction
I Am Alive
Hydrophobia

Oh, how could I forget about Saboteur? It looks very interesting.

I can't really think of any except for Mass Effect 2 and King's Bounty: Armored Princess.
Mass Effect was an incredibly uneven game, probably the most lopsided Bioware game I've ever played, but I enjoyed it greatly and I'm looking forward to the sequel. King's Bounty is just ultrapwn, and I can't wait to play more of it as Princess Amelie (she grew up so fast).
I was looking forward to Dragon Age until they actually started talking about it :/

I hadn't heard of the latter two before. Both look extremely impressive. Let's hope the gameplay lives up to the rest of what they're offering.
That got a laugh, just for the name. Portal 2 is actually likely to turn up sooner than EP3. They certainly seem to have a more productive team behind it. But yes, both soon would be nice.
Yeah I have my eye on that one too. And stompy mechs indeed. I'm looking forward to that one. If nothing else it looks very good. The scenery in the old games was... absent. Urban combat is a big improvement from a tactical standpoint, if nothing else.
The PC version is supposed to be fully physX enhanced. So it will definitely be worth the wait, even if you have a console. Dragon Rising looks incredible. But Codemasters pretty much never patch their games. Arma 2 is making me a bit cautious about that one. But you never know, it could well live up to every bit of its promise.
Good call. Holding your breath for Ep3 would be fatal, even for a whale.

Visually, it strikes me as a wartime Sin City. But then I'm sure that's the intention. Pandemic's games are usually good, even if they do drop the ball on occasion. So it's one worth keeping an eye on.

I still haven't played Mass Effect. Given that there still isn't a DRM removal tool for it, there's a chance I'll play the sequel before the first one.

The list looks good as it stands though. I'd stick a maybe after the third STALKER though. That one could go either way. I loved the first one. It would be great to see another addition to the series that was playable and not rentware.

Oh yeah, I remember seeing that game a while back. Either seeing it on Gamersgate or Impulse would be welcome. It's certainly a bit more interesting than yer average fantasy setting, that's for sure.

It's still a helluva lot better with a little loot than just a fugly DVD case and a disc.
I have no doubts that the Cataclysm SE will match WoW, BC, and WotLK with its contents... DA:O only seems to have a cloth map and some bonus DVD as special physical items, then there are some in-game items, the others I have no idea about, even wether they'll be offered in CE's or not, I suppose we'll see as they near their respective release dates and more information is released.
I'll go preorder that DA:O tomorrow, assuming the local Game has any preorders left.

Mass Effect 2
Dragon Age (I'm a bio-junkie)
Deathspank
Assassins Creed 2 (the first was fun but lacked variety, hopefully 2 will improve it)
The rest of Tales Of Monkey Island
Operation Flashpoint 2
Alpha Protocol
Hitman 5
Thief 4
Fallout New Vegas (Possibly for these last 3, no info on them at all yet so they could go wither way)
Halo 3 ODST (Sort of, probably get it cheap from ebay, the firefight mode might be good to play with a few friends who don't have gears 2)
Special mention to GTA4: The Ballad Of Gay Tony. That new trailer was awesome, looks like they've brought back base jumping and it looks like there's a mission where you use a heavy lifter cargo helo to steal a train car!!

I was willing to pay $20 for it once the activation revoke tool had been released, since I had been wanting to play it for a long time, but I can't blame you for skipping it.