SotSS

For games like online FPS', just let people host and moderate their own servers. Some people/clans might abuse their mod powers and ban people unjustly, sure, but going all the way back to Tribes in '99, I've never played a game with dedicated servers and mods where it wasn't a piece of cake to find at least a couple of servers with good mods who would keep the morons out and let everyone else play. In a game like DotA where there aren't really "servers" but individual game sessions, game replays can used to prove that someone is, say, team-killing, or doing other less-than-desirable behavior. Add in the ability to record audio for those times when someone is constantly shouting racial slurs, and give the ability to copy chat logs, and you can take all this information to the forums or send it to mods and there you have proof that player YooABitch is a dickwad.

The entirety of Amnesia: The Dark Descent.

Thankfully, dj isn't as big of a moron/douche bag. But otherwise, yes, it is rather similar.

Blizzard is a part of Activision. Retardation is to be expected.

I'm glad metal doesn't use the same four chords over and over.

Every bad experience I've ever had in an online game that I can remember in some amount of detail involved someone over the age of 20. On the flip side, my friend's younger brother and his friends all started playing online regularly on the Xbox 360 around 12 and they're all good team players who don't "teabag" or talk shit on the mic. Based on this, I really can't say that I care about their age; I simply observe and base my opinions entirely on their actions. Adults are no different.

I feel somewhat inclined to point out that this sounds like every other "I'm completely and totally innocent in every way and they just pushed me around and did mean and nasty shit because they're evil so I want some money" lawsuits, and how a not-so-insignificant portion of those turn out to be either partially or completely bullshit with the perfectly-innocent being exposed as lying sacks of horse vomit... but fuck, this is Activision. It's probably true. The bastards.

With a lot of games that try to be "innovative" and fail, the complaints I've seen aren't merely "they changed things; boooooo." Usually there are specific criticism regarding the nature of the changes and why they're aren't good. A few examples from gamefaqs regarding the Gambit system in FF13, for example: And examples like this are all over. They aren't complaining simply because it's different and being different is bad, but because they believe the system has some real flaws. You may or may not agree with those criticisms, of course, but the point is that there is much more than "the combat is different from FF7; waaah waah" or some such, and I've seen this with a lot of "innovative" games; the complaints are often not simply "it's different, therefore it isn't good" but more specific criticisms and comments regarding what doesn't work and, often, what works well/what would make the system better (which doesn't send the message of "difference = bad" but "this new system is broken/horribly flawed; fix some of these problems and we'll embrace these changes with open arms.")

Aside from a few problems like long wait times to get into a multiplayer game and some lag, I thought the demo was pretty fun. The full game would have to fuck something up bad to make me not get it. Also, aside from Pulse Rifle awesomeness, the Alien insta-kill moves are sweeeeeet. Makes playing them a lot more enjoyable.

Well that sucks. I hate the Gamebryo engine, or at least Bethesda's version of it. CTD's, stuttering, memory leaks; bleh. And I hope to god that the crappy animations of Morrowind/Oblivion/Fallout 3 will be a thing of the past with NV.

Well, I've been playing like crazy most the day. Awesome, awesome game, but the community from what I've seen so far blows large, herpes-infested donkey cock. I've played nothing but non-ranked games with titles like "noobs only, low psr" etc. and I've encountered more people who bitch about the tiniest little mistakes and rage quit the moment someone does something they think isn't the single greatest thing they could have possibly done in a given situation than there are atoms in the universe.

Hot damn. Thanks a bunch.

Any chance I could get an invite? privatefirstclassjeffreybisonATgmail.comI was thinking of getting back into DotA but thought I might give this try instead first.

Just tested it myself. Destructoid won't load at all, and Japanator is slow as heck.

Arsis - Sightless Wisdom Autumn Leaves - The Discovery Eternal Lies - By the Hands of the Architect Shadow - Wings of Flame Slumber - Rapture Bal-Sagoth - Shackled to the Trilithon of Kutulu Be'lakor - Venator Dark Tranquillity - Lost to Apathy Detonation - Invoking The Impact Eucharist - Mirrorworld http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fv7NGXvFlwY&feature=related Fragments of Unbecoming - Sterling Black Icon http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPNwVb4IpUo&feature=related Garden Of Shadows - Shards Of The Sphere Insomnium - Down With the Sun http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K003TNG40P8 Kalmah - Heroes To Us Mors Principium Est - Finality http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1t7IX7GalQ Ne Obliviscaris - Tapestry Of The Starless Abstract Scar Symmetry - Morphogenesis Skyfire - Tranquillitys Maze The Absence - Riders Of The Plague http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQCyQ7MAZ-c Ikuinen Kaamos - Closure I think that's enough for now.

I don't get the whole "people complaining that they couldn't find a decent server to play on between all of the cheaters, the insular communities, and huge skill level disparities that the original game's community fractured into" thing. Here's how my experience has been with every FPS I've ever played online going back to Tribes in '99 (and note that I've never, EVER been a part of any clan or group of any sort; I've always been just a "join a server and play until I'm bored/need to quit for whatever reason" kind of player): I browse the server list, join a server with low ping and a good population of players, and I join it. Roughly 90% of the time that's it: I join, play and have fun. The other 10% of the time is comprised of 1.) me being kicked to make room for a clan member while on a clan hosted server, which I accept and move on to another server which takes me around five seconds to do, 2.) dealing with a cheater/griefer, which usually lasts somewhere around thirty seconds before he is banned (and if he isn't and the cheating becomes a real problem, the 'ol "leave and join another server in less than five seconds" thing comes back into play), or 3.) I discover that the server is full of douche bags, where my old friend "find another server in less than five seconds" comes to visit me yet again. COD4 is one of the few multiplayer FPS' I've actually not played save for a few rounds on the 360 at a friends house, so the whole cheaters/insular communities/clans thing could have been a big problem with that game, but I'm inclined to believe that it was more or less unique to COD4 for whatever reason, or else I've just had shittastically good luck.

P2P FPS multiplayer... sorry, but there's no excuse for that shit. None. FPS' are (or should be) about skill. There is no skill in kicking someone's ass because you're the host, or getting cheap killed by the guy who is.

No idea where I got the idea, but whatever. Happy birthday, you apparently non-hacker/douchebag you.

Totally off topic question: who was that guy who made some ReMixes and then became a hacker/douchebag (apart from Protrocity)? I could have sworn it was Schnabubula...

This is bullcrap. I spent good money on the first game and got so little in return, and now I have to pay with my time and bandwidth just to get something that should have been in the game the whole time? Wtf Valve? Gripe. Gripe complain. Whine. Long rant on how money grubbing Valve is. Whine some more. I'm going to sign that petition that no one cares about. That'll show 'em.

Aweful lot of time travel goin on in this thread.

He was a great singer, dancer, pop-song writer and boy-touching pedophile. I guess 3 out of 4 ain't so bad.

Zoom Player v6 Home Professional (free download) has been working wonderfully for me.

Awesome. I've been playing this game off and on for the last year or so and it has yet to get old. My username is "(V)arine" (I made my account years ago and apparently I thought "(V)arine" was cool at the time... what an idiot I was) and I'll be easily recognizable as either the crazy light armored guy who skis around annoying people with the ELF/Shocklance/Whiteout Grenade combo or the heavily armored guy mortaring your base from 500 miles away with deadly accuracy.