DukeTogo

They send that mail to folks that never got to 60 and bought BC.  You have to have the game and BC to get the new expansion, so trying to foist an expansion on someone who can't go there yet is even too much for them it seems.

The reason they are currently encouraging people to get to Outland and beyond faster is because the lack of experienced players in the old content has caused most of those dungeons to get skipped.  It's not at all uncommon for a player (especially an alt) to level to 58 and head to Outland without ever grouping or doing an instance.  I'd love to see the old content get updated with new wings or Heroic difficulties with new loot, but it's hard to imagine a company going back to update old content when it involves just as much work to create something new.  No MMO has ever gone back to old content and freshened it up to my knowledge, it's par for the course that old world content gets abandond.  You could argue that bringing the old Naxxramas raid into the new content qualifies as making something old new again.  Most people never saw Naxx, so retconning it into the expansion is a good way to reuse content that will be new for most.

I'm not in agreement with this move since the results have already shown themselves in the huge number of players that dont have a damn clue on how to play their toon or what to do in a group.  Before, you learned all of that early on with all the instances you did leveling up, now that you can bypass that you've got 70's pugging heroics and Karazan that don't know basic stuff like crowd control, aggro management, and even the rules on rolling for loot.

Blizzard has made it clear that they focus on the new content with support simply because the "harcore" players are their bread and butter, so making sure there is plenty of new stuff means they'll keep playing.  The folks that are casual and play on and off don't really care what's new since they'll never see most of that content, but they still enjoy doing their thing and now they have another ten levels to work through along with more professions to play with.

it is the lamest part of the game, and gave me the most trouble, mainly because of the point-of-view.  The only reason it's even there is a storytelling rule of showing something that will be pivotal later on for reference.  Although quite honestly they could've done without both segments since they feel like cheap segments and the boss fight one is far less difficult than the training one.

It reminded me of a game that quite possibly might have served as inspiration, but it's so obscure I can't believe it's more than a coincidence, an old Mega Drive game called Psy-O-Blade.  It was an adventure game that took place on a spaceship, you were part of a crew on some mission of some sort, and people were starting to get killed.  You eventually find out who/what is doing it and so on and so forth.  It was basically a point-and-click game with detective elements, but one part of the game had you in a mechsuit shooting asteroids that were going to destroy the ship.  The mechanic was very similar to how Dead Space did it, just more Anime since it was a Japanese game.

It's basically Resident Evil 4, meets SS2, with the modern implements of Bioshock.  The story is almost identical to SS2 and even takes it a bit further.  Given this is an EA title (they own the SS brand) it's safe to assume it's about as good as it gets for a SS2 redux.

Necro post, but after playing Dead Space, I can safely say that it's about as close we're going to get to a remake of SS2.  The story and setting are taken almost verbatim from SS2.  Even the different areas of the ship and the Hive Mind plot are there - down to the basketball court.

Maybe if you didn't run through the God damned game so fast you wouldn't be left at the end wondering what happened.

I also posted in another topic that this game directly parallels the story of System Shock 2, even more so than Bioshock (that games successor).  From the setting, to the hive mind, to creature design, even the areas of the ship are the same.

This is basically the remake of SS2 EA was working on when they squashed that fan mod a year or so ago.

In regards to comparisons to Bioshock, the game has much more in common to that games predecessor - System Shock 2.

The storyline is almost a direct ripoff (not meant in a bad way) of SS2 from how the creatures came to be, how they look (generally) and what their motivations are.  Even the betrayal is there (albeit in human form) and the way you organize inventory and power up.  Even the set pieces like the ships, hanging bodies, gore and corpses, scrawled-in-blood messages on walls.  There are points  where it diverges, but it's very clear where the inspiration came from, one of the producers or designers admitted it in a Game Informer article last year.  This is as close to a remake of SS2 you're going to get.  EA owns the SS brand, which is probably why that fan-made SS2 project got squashed by them a year or so ago, because this was already in production.

Bear in mind I love the game and it's about as good as I'd expect in a modern SS game with toned-down complexity.  Just like Bioshock reduced the complexity, it had to evolve or then it's just the same game but prettier.  I do hope a sequel or similarly-themed game is planned.  A few allusions were made in the game that other Markers existed.

I will advise you to play the game first, then check out the comic and DVD after.  The game's story is much more suspenseful when you don't know what happened before you got there.  I'm glad I practiced my usual routine of going into a subject, be it game/movie/book cold, so I'm experiencing the story the way the author intended.

I was right at the 15 hour mark when I beat it on medium, but I rarely ran, explored every place I could, and paused the game several times to get up for food.  Going through it in 8 hours sounds like bullshit (easy mode maybe), and if you did, you missed any kind of suspense or ambiance the game offers just to plow through it.  I'd say if you liked the play and length of RE4, but want a dark sci-fi theme, this game is it.

CoD4 is short, but it was filled with action, and the game is far more successful for its MP anyway.

It's been known for some time that MG isn't as popular a franchise as it appears.  From day one it alienated a lot of players with it's very distinct gameplay.  It sells very well and it's arguably the only franchise left that Konami gives a damn about anymore, but it's always had an over-inflated reputation when money left pockets.

MGS4 is a good game, but it's proven that it didn't have the gravitas to sell the number of PS3s many thought it did, and the number of PS3 owners that ignored it as well only cemented that fact.

It reminds me of Metroid Prime 3, a great game that came and went, with crappy sales and the only reason being that the audience that wanted it wasn't the huge Wii demographic buying mini games.  Just like most PS3s are BD players instead of game consoles.  The fans bought it - that is - the fans with PS3s bought it, the rest looked on waiting for the next Blu Ray movie to drop.

Wow, I guess a new site means all the lame forum topics are ripe for a rehash.  I'll play along.

Panzer Dragoon Saga
Rygar PS2
Metal Gear Solid 3
Shadow of the Colossus
Prince of Persia: Sands of Time
Medal of Honor PS1
Y's series
Freedom Fighters
Castlevania series
Silent Hill 3