While Vince and Nick are busy with other stuff, I decided to take Titus for a stroll and decorate Teron a little more. I want to show you some screenshots of the place, and you can tell me what you think about them and how they can be improved. Before you ask, I removed the NPCs so they wouldn't distract, and to allow you to get a better feeling of the area itself.

<%G-15> Is there any indication of the size of the Overworld yet ?

people

<@TaylorFSS`home> We’re looking at how many we can cram into an overworld, we really won’t know the true number until it reaches you guys. We’re thinking 100+ will be sharing an Overworld. Also, transferring from one overworld instance to the other will require you to be in a safe area.

real human beings

overworld is what is replacing the paths betwseen cities

So why play it again? Quite simply, because of two posts I read on two different forums. One extolled the fact that someone had discovered the game about a year before and was greatly enjoying it, and the other was someone comparing it favorably against some other games and saying that the rest of us were poisoned by dealing with all of the release turmoil. So I decided to attempt to start fresh with the game.

The installation is fairly painful - there are a ton of files in the game directory rather than using compressed bulk files for most things, so it is a slow process despite being only three CD's. Uninstalling is no quicker. After installation (I'll assume the Collector's Edition to avoid the need to apply patches), you start the game and get to watch a brief cutscene of a battle between two wizards and a long slideshow accompanied by a *really* long bit of backstory that will make no sense and that you'll never remember anyway. Suffice it to say that there is some crap going on and you'll have to deal with it.

There has been a lot of discussion in the past few days on how the security requirements for Mass Effect for PC will work. BioWare, a division of EA, wants to let fans know that Mass Effect will not require 10- day periodic re-authentication.

BioWare has always listened very closely to its fans and we made this decision to ensure we are delivering the best possible experience to them. To all the fans including our many friends in the armed services and internationally who expressed concerns that they would not be able re-authenticate as often as required, EA and BioWare want you to know that your feedback is important to us.

Discover that which awaits you in the Abyss, brave Hellgaters! The Abyss Chronicles (Patch 2) is rapidly taking shape and form and we’re ready to share some of its most exciting offerings with you. As Hellgate: London’s second major content update, the Abyss Chronicles boasts an impressive and lengthy list of new features including a major class rebalance, new environments, new enemies, new skills, new bosses, and new inventory slots . Then there’s the Consignment House, Attribute Respec Vendor, item linking, achievement rewards, and lots more. Suffice to say, the Abyss Chronicle is big. Very big.

Plans are already underway for the patches beyond the Abyss Chronicles. A small content summary for Patch 2.1 has been included as well. This update will open up an entirely new side to Hellgate: London in the form of ranked player versus player (PvP) gameplay. Originally slated for release with the Abyss Chronicles, the decision to release new PvP content as part of a supplemental patch was brought about by a desire to introduce five cohesive elements of PvP in a single update: ranking, matchmaking, rewards, achievements, and Capture The Flag. Together, these features will provide a robust PvP experience within the Hellgate: London universe.

Thanks for speaking with us Al, how much involvement has Demiurge had with BioWare in moving Mass Effect to the PC?

Howdy! Demiurge has been involved in every step of moving Mass Effect to the PC. Even before the Xbox 360 version hit the shelves, we were working closely with BioWare to craft the best experience possible for the PC version of the game.

Tell me about your career as a video game composer. How did you get your start?
I started composing music for video games about 1997. The first game that I composed was Planet Academy. I got to know my agent Bob Rice at this time, and he introduced me to Interplay. I did many games for them, at least three of the Star Trek games, Icewind Dale 2, and Baldur’s Gate, Throne of Baal, and also Fallout Tactics.

This is actually where my relationship with Fallout started. I really fell in love with this kind of musical concept, which is totally different from other games. It’s totally mood driven rather than thematic or rhythmically driven. The music is basically trying to cater to a certain mood, while not using much of what you’d really expect from a regular score. It’s a little different.

Universal and Gore Verbinski are going into "Bioshock."

Studio has signed a deal to turn last year's hit videogame, which won numerous awards and sold more than 2 million units worldwide, into a film.

The "Pirates of the Caribbean" helmer is attached to direct and produce. "Aviator" scribe John Logan is in talks to pen the screenplay.

"Bioshock" publisher Take-Two Interactive is getting a multimillion-dollar advance against gross points on the pic. It's believed to be the biggest videogame-to-movie deal since 2005, when U and Fox signed onto the since aborted "Halo" pic, for which Microsoft got $5 million against 10%.

Hoist the anchor and hold onto the rail… There be pirates aboard the podcast! Dave, left defenseless at the helm, is unable to stop Skunkeen’s mutiny… so he joins in… will the podcast ever be the same?

Bob aka FFBJ is subjected to Dave’s rambling interviewing techniques which have been deemed torture by numberous human-rights organizations. Rest assured Bob weathers the storm and delivers an intimate look into making a world come alive.

GamePro: Sacred II is another game with influences dating back to Diablo. First off, how will Sacred II appeal to Diablo fans? Second, how does it improve upon that time-tested formula?

AE: Sacred 2 will appeal to all people who are interested in fantasy RPGs with unique designs and strong stories. The influence of Diablo is just part of the backbones, but isn't the only influence. Sacred 2 offers so much more.

So, what's the creative process like for you? How did you manage to come up with all of this?

I start somewhere (could be any point of the game, even the endings) and then sort through the possibilities that could either lead to this event or could be created by it. Then I pick what fits the most and creates the most interesting scenarios. Sometimes it comes easy, sometimes I have to play with concepts for weeks until something really good comes to mind.

How frakking cool is the Fallout 3 Collector’s Edition?
Personally, I only get a Collector’s Edition of a game if it comes with something substantial. The lockbox and duffel bag for GTA IV, for example.

So I was really psyched when I learned we were doing the bobblehead and lunchbox, similar the ones we included in the press kit for our big announcement event several months ago. That’s some really sweet Fallout swag, yeah.

"The Temptation" Business

I know by now you think are an expert when it comes to monster insects, such as the Tranchidis, in Antaloor and nothing will surprise you, but "The Temptation" will render you speechless. In "The Temptation", the Trachidis species has continued to evolve and the latest member of the family is a combination of the ant and the fly. Naturally, this one's an awful lot bigger than our tiny insect friends from which it originates. The highly developed wings of the Trachidis give it amazing maneuverability. However, since its eyes are relatively useless, it has to rely almost 100% on its remaining senses. This weakness could be all an opponent needs to take the advantage.

Fallout 3 lead designer Emil Pagliarulo from Bethesda Softworks joins Gary, Colin and producer Kris to talk about storytelling in open-ended games, bringing a hardcore PC franchise to the mass console market and other topics related to what might be the most anticipated RPG of '08. Also, we talk about the integrity (or lack thereof?) of exclusive game reviews, the dwindling purpose behind E3 and potential hardware price cuts later this year.

It's tough work. It has been a real challenge to find a way to end the series in a plausible and satisfying way and to give the player a real role in it. It is really important to me for the game to reflect that this is a large world, full of a lot of powerful people. The player gets to have a small but pivotal role in ending the war. There are heroes and generals running around. You are the agent acting behind to scenes to help one faction be triumphant. I really like this aspect of it. It feels like the right balance between making the player significant and part of a larger world.

As I said before, there are five game-winning factions. You can play through much of the game, meeting people and finding out who the factions are, and then decide which one to join. Some are reasonable. Some are pretty crazy. All provide satisfying endings to the saga.

I have done a lot of work on the interface. Geneforge 5 now supports OpenGL and will tap some of the power of your graphics card.

In Geneforge 5, you can play the game on any size of monitor and you can play the game in a window. If you have a huge monitor, you can see a huge chunk of the terrain around you. It really makes a big difference.

I also came into work on Monday (yesterday, which was a bank holiday) with about 70 other people and today is just a normal working day. A lot is happening, if you are anxious to find out something new about Fable 2, I suggest you make sure you've got access to the internet, next week! Yes we are planning something (quite) big-ish.

What are your thoughts on "Jack Bauer in space" syndrome (i.e. the growing trend to remove the choice between good and evil from RPGs)?

I haven't played Mass Effect, so I can't comment on the qualities of the game or the "Bauer in space" syndrome, but here is what I think about good and evil choices:

Good and evil are subjective concepts and I think that developers should never present the player with clearly marked "good" and "evil" options. Since [this is] a Star Wars site, let's use the Anakin's fall in Ep. 3. From his perspective the mistrustful and arrogant Jedi Council plotted against and tried to assassinate the chancellor chosen by everyone, the chancellor who supported and trusted him. Was siding with the chancellor and turning against the Jedi an evil act? Not at all. Anakin was given reasons to act the way he did, and that's how RPGs should be designed.

Is there any truth to some peoples' opinion--and this is a lot of the hardcore Fallout fans that are saying this--that games like Oblivion and Fallout 3 that are targeted towards a very large console audience have been, put most cynically, "dumbed down," or more positively, "made more accessible"? Is there any truth to that? Have you made concessions for the mass market?

It's funny. I look at Fallout when I play it every day, and I sometimes think that there's a lot of old-school hardcore PC stuff in there too, and part of me thinks, "God, is this too inaccessible for console players?" There's a lot of dialogue to read, a lot of just hacking computers and looking through things like "VAT." I don't know. Sometimes I think it's just the opposite. So I don't feel like we're dumbing down the franchise.

...I think we're starting to find that there is a market for [hardcore "PC RPGs" on consoles]. People like myself and some people that work here actually grew up as hardcore PC guys, and now we're older, we have kids, we don't have that much time, so we've transitioned. We're console players now.

But we still have those PC game sensibilities. Those are the games we like. So I think BioShock has a little bit of that too. You can definitely feel the old System Shock roots in that game. So hopefully there's a trend there.

What influences have you drawn upon, games? Myths? Literature?

When we populated the world of Numen with monsters we certainly used a lot of reference. There are numerous books and other resources on mythical beasts, heroes and gods. But we also did want to bring something new and fresh to the game. What’s the point of exploring if you already know all the monsters you are likely to face? So we decided to introduce, along with the things you’d expect from a game set in this era, also some unique monsters, spells and features.

The PC version of Mass Effect is going to include some fairly serious security measures that may prove to be more of a threat to the game's popularity than they are to piracy.

According to Derek French, Mass Effect's technical producer at BioWare, the game's security begins with the same SecuROM online activation that aggravated so many owners of BioShock for PC. The system allows the user to activate the game three times before being required to contact a customer service rep to have it reactivated.

Mass Effect's security goes one step further, however, by dialing in every five to ten days to double check that your current CD Key and computer info matches the data that was submitted when you first activated the game.

In countless interviews and forum posts you've spoken about "choice and consequence." Would you like to explain to our readers what that means, exactly? From here it sounds little more than a buzz word -- like "extreme" or "epic".

Buzzwords like extreme, epic, next-generation, etc. describe nothing and mean nothing. Reading that game X is epic tells you nothing. These concepts are subjective and since gaming journalism tends to attract the dumbest, you can read deep thoughts like KotOR is the pinnacle of greatness in TB RPGs or KotOR's story in fact is one of the best stories told this century.

"Choices & consequences", like "turn-based" or "isometric", refers to a very specific design that can't be interpreted in different ways. A game is either turn-based or not; it either has choices or not; the gameworld either reacts to those choices or not.

Choices are the core of role-playing. That's what separates RPGs from adventure games; instead of following a predetermined path and solving problems in very specific ways, you decide what to do (within the frame of a story and setting), when to do it, and how to do it.