alexl86

I preordered it digitally and the PSN download right now is slower than I’ve ever experienced before. Compared to my steam download of Shadow of War last week, it’s night and day. It took about five hours, meanwhile my PS4 has been downloading for a couple of days now, and I’m at 30 gb now.

Also, I don’t typically care for the themes on PS4. Most of them just make the text more difficult to read, but what’s with the theme only unlocking after the game is released?

I haven’t had any sound issues, but what I assume to be video sequences in Shelob memories seem to start playing as I begin the puzzle, then end abruptly when I finish it. The only other issue is when my caragor jumps down some ledges. It will walk as if on a ‘tight-rope’ for a long distance in the air, before jumping down. Had it a couple of times, but it does not bother me as such. It actually reminds me a little of backwards flying dragons.

To be honest, I detest the steam store, and it’s absolutely horrible interface which is cluttered with 99% mobile shovelware, more than loot crates. I made the mistake of looking for Shadow of War under upcoming releases during the weekend and didn’t find it until page 3. Some of the 100 “games” that preceded it didn’t even have a release date.

@bamse: This is generally true for all Scandinavian countries. However, the problem is it only looks at games in isolation. An American might balk at paying $85 for a video game, but nearly all consumer items are more expensive in Northern Europe when compared to the US. Salaries for the average worker are also on average higher.

It’s not that games are more expensive. Everything is more expensive.

I didn't say there were developers and publishers that were not successful after 2005, I said there were fewer marquee games released. Yes, Valve made more money on the PC releases, but it didn't stop them from dipping their toes in the console market, and I did not even come close to claiming that Valve would've gone bankrupt without the console releases.

There are still big budget PC releases. The Total War and Civilization series are good examples. However, there are fewer big budget PC releases today, when compared to the early 2000s.

I own about every one of these games, so I don't need a reminder of their frequency. I'm saying I know there are PC games with a lot of money thrown at them, that are successful. I'm also saying that big budget games developed exclusively for PC are fewer and far between.

@condroid: @tuxedocruise: Yes, but I didn't talk about the 90s or even early 2000s. All Valve games except DOTA have had console releases to supplement income, and they haven't made a lot of games since Portal 2 and Left 4 Dead 2.

Blizzard didn't make any games between WOW and Starcraft 2, which granted was a big PC exclusive and sold well, but not really close to what Blizzard was accustomed to.

As for LOL, PUGB, Dungeon Fighter Online, we were discussing big budget (or AAA if you will) PC only games, and I'm not sure they qualify. They make a lot of money, but I doubt they incentivize EA, Ubisoft or others to make big PC games. There are some, including strategy games like Total War and Civilization, but these are few and far between, unlike back in the early 2000s.

I agree on the C64. I played it extensively growing up, before getting a NES and I guess I misplaced it. The Amiga 500 was released in 1987 and discontinued in 1991. I think putting it in 3rd generation is fair, but Amiga as a whole can be said to straddle both 3rd and 4th generations.

Just a quick clarification:

1st generation: Pong, Fairchild, essentially pre-Atari stuff. Think 70s gaming.

2nd generation: Atari 2600, Commodore 64 and everything else leading up to the crash.

3rd generation: NES, Sega Masters System, Amiga.

4th generation: SNES, Genesis, Neo-Geo

5th Generation: Playstation, Nintendo 64, Sega Saturn

6th Generation: PS2, XBOX, GameCube, Sega Dreamcast

7th Generation: Wii, Xbox 360, PS3, Wii U(?)

8th Generation: PS4, XBONE, Switch

I'm seeing a some people thinking Atari 2600 is first generation. It's not.

@jec03: You may have nostalgia for those PC games, I do as well, but PC gaming shortly after 2005 was a barren wasteland. It's a business, and an unsustainable. The only way a developer can release a video game on PC and make money these days is if they also release on console. There isn't a big enough market on PC alone to cover the increasing budgets of games.

This has a funny consequence, because there are far more big budget releases for PC now than I remember there being in the early 00s, even if they are ports of console games, and a lot of them are better on PC, particularly frame rate.

People tend to only remember the highlights, but there was a lot of crappy shovel-ware on older consoles, all the way back to the 2600. This might also seem counterintuitive, given all the microtransactions, seasonpasses and so on, but if you take average income and inflation into account, this is the cheapest time to buy games. Games for the NES were not cheap, costing between $50-80, maybe more, in the 80s. They did standardize prices later on, but $50 in 1997 had more purchasing power than $60 today, and I seem to remember a lot of games costing $60 in the 2000s.

You may lament a certain lack of creativity in the big budget titles, but I can't think of a time with more diverse experiences than you find in the indie scene. And while the big budget games may not take many risks, at least there is a quality control far beyond what existed in previous generation, perhaps with exception of last gen.

You also have to keep in mind that we're in the middle of this generation. By this time in the previous generation, we had yet to receive Mass Effect 2, Red Dead Redemption, Dark Souls, Saints Row: The Third. Uncharted 2 would come next month and Batman last month. We still have a long way to go.

Well, reviews are generally posted around release and New Vegas had a lot of bugs which really harmed it. It sort of fits with their track record though, with KOTOR2 and NWN2, games that I think despite their flaws are better than their predecessors. Obsidian's games are usually best played 6 months after release.

So, yes. I would love another Obsidian Fallout game.

I've played all the games except Uncharted, and while I know it's not by any means fair, I just loved Arkham Asylum so much I would've picked it easily had it won. I've probably finished that game four or five times, and it was the first retail game I got all the achievements in, back when that was still a thing. It might actually be my favorite game of the generation and I feel it lost out to Uncharted by the smallest margin of any GotY yet.

Of the legitimate contenders, my Steam hour count for Skyrim is absurd (700+ if you count regular and SE), so I feel compelled to pick it. It's a tough call though, as I adore Mass Effect and Hitman as well, and thoroughly enjoyed X-COM and GTA IV, and the only reason I own a Wii U is Mario Maker. I'm not choosing Skyrim out of obligation though, I genuinely love the game, and have played and enjoyed sinking hundreds of hours into all of Bethesda's games since Morrowind.