If no one else does, I completely understand where you're coming from Jango. If there's something you're anticipating, but it doesn't really work out, wouldn't it be natural to have some disappointment?

Yeah, I've been disappointed by the Steam sales as well. Not a slam or discredit to Steam at all, it's simply my disappointment in not being able to take advantage of deals as [always] hoping. The Steam sales come up, and you start rubbing your hands together with a big grin on your face thinking ooh, what am I going to be able to score during this sale :)

It's just luck of the draw based on what games go on sale, your interest in those games, and how many of those games you've already own which is obviously a huge factor. This time around, I've bought two games and both of those even weren't immediate decisions. It's not a knock on the Steam sales by any means as mentioned, it just hasn't worked out as well as it has in the past.

If you want to talk specifics I was kind of hoping to pick up Homefront but more like $15-$20 (in it only for the SP campaign and fully expecting an average-quality shooter).

Not a big deal at all really though, bring on the next/holiday sale!

The quote is: "Portal 2 will probably be Valve's last game with an isolated single-player experience."

Now that can be interpreted a number of ways, but the key word there is 'isolated'. Does it mean future games will all have multiplayer out of the box to complement the single player campaign? Does it mean the 'single player' campaign will now have co-op? Does it mean both? The simple fact is that it is such an ambiguous statement that no-one can know for sure.

RobertBowen

Yeah, the statement so vague, there's also a part of the quote that states "What this all means is something Newell is still trying to figure out". So apparently Valve isn't even sure what the statement implies for games. In addition, it's stated as "probably" so there's a chance these are drawing board plans that won't really amount to much in the end.

At the very least, I don't personally think it refers to coop specifically since Portal 2 includes coop and it's quoted as the "last game".

One thing that comes to mind when I hear the word "isolated" is how in a typical single-player experience the world or environment is static/fixed/siloed/etc to it's own instance. Everyone plays in their own "copy" of that world which has no interaction to the outside. Perhaps one thing Valve could do it to make aspects of the game more dynamic by providing everyone's instance with real-time data which impacts or alters the game or parts of the game in some way, making it less "isolated". Maybe this impact could even be tied to the community in some way.

This could be kind of cool, but if they did implement something like this, I'd hope there would still be a completely offline fallback so the game wasn't absolutely dependent on real-time data (similar to the always-on DRM Ubi had).

Who knows what they are talking about.

Gog (limited titles) > Steam > gamersgate >impulse > everything else. I wouldn't use the EA store ever.

SAGE_OF_FIRE

We're thinking mostly alike man, I'd absolutely buy all my games DRM-free from GOG if I could! Regardless, they are doing a fantastic job handling classic titles providing them DRM-free and updating them to run on modern operating systems. Steam is a fine option for newer titles at some great deal prices.

I can't bring myself to use the EA store for DD. They used to charge an additional fee to allow downloading your games for up to 5 years (Extended Download Service) beyond the standard 1 year they allow. I'm not sure if that policy is still in place, however, it doesn't really matter (for me), I just don't feel confident they wouldn't return to that type of download model.

Shift 2 even at $18 isn't appealing from EA Store DD, however, that's also the price for the physical version (EA Store) which makes it much more tempting :)

Will the PS3 have split-screen?

heatfanman101

Yes. Can be found in this info Portal 2 and Steam on PlayStation3

Yeah, I saw that, so tempting! I think I'm going to stay with the PS3 (+PC) version with the Amazon promotion though -- I also get taxed at BB but not with Amazon.

Portal 2 is really getting some aggressive pricing, hope to see more of this going forward. I mean, there's a good deal for FEAR 3 ($46.99 + $20 credit + bonus comic book) right now for example, but the deep promotion for that game to move copies might be for an entirely different reason than something like Portal 2 :)

I dont get it... why are ppl buying it on pS3 just so that they can play it on PC too? What are you gonna end up playing on? Yup PC.You dont get a free copy at all.

AntiType

Really? Doesn't make sense to you? Perhaps I'm missing something but I went the PS3/PC route. I'm sure I'll be playing the game more on the PC than on PS3 but for me the $20 Amazon credit actually makes the PS3 version cheaper -- I buy tons of games and other stuff from Amazon.

With the credit and having the option to play the game on either platform at my discretion, why not? At least that's my thinking.

$54.99 + $20 Amazon credit : Portal 2 (PS3/PC)

or

$44.99 : Portal 2 (PC)

Looks like looping through the drive collection again calling the eject method will close the drive. So you could modify with something like this using a MsgBox as a "pause" in between the open and close.

Set oWMP = CreateObject("WMPlayer.OCX.7")
Set colCDROMs = oWMP.cdromCollection

For i = 0 To colCDROMs.count-1
colCDROMs.item(i).eject
Next

MsgBox "Close",0,"Disc drive"

For i = 0 To colCDROMs.count-1
colCDROMs.item(i).eject
Next

oWMP.close

You can play around with it more if you like...

[QUOTE="psn8214"]

Arma 2 is reaching photorealism. Neither Crysis 2, nor Crysis (though it is closer) are photorealistic.

kozzy1234

As much as I love ARMA2 (one of my fav games ever), its not more photo realistic then Crysis1 was imo. Even if Crysis series is not goign for a realistic look or gameplay, some of the scenary and textures are more lifelike then any other game.

Yeah, I agree.

Although I think I kind of get what psn is saying as Arma 2 is striving for hyper realistic visuals, nothing really exaggerated or over the top --- though clearly mileage will vary per gamer on how well they have succeeded.

Anyway, just finished replaying some more Crysis (image from my PC a few minutes ago) and it really is such a fantastic looking game, I can still find myself impressed!

Nice!

I missed this when it first posted. I don't care if this similar to STALKER in the least, in fact that's what makes this sound awesome and has me very interested. Though they mention they were also influenced by the Silent Hill series, Max Payne, and Batman Arkham Asylum for example.

According to the news at MODDB, the project changed it's direction, it's not going to be a HL2 mod anymore, but a standalone game developed with a new engine, although they ported the material from Source to the new engine. At first they said the new engine is OGRE, but now they stated that they're coding their own. The game is set on an abandoned city in Russia, not in Pripyat, Ukraine. sandspectre

Indeed, not sure if everyone noticed that...

Q: What is all this I hear about an engine switch? A: We are no longer developing Raindrop as a source mod. We will instead be using OGRE, bullet, a custom AI and networking subsystem and several new materials, shaders, & scripts to make a standalone game.

Right now I am playing Crysis 1 and man this game is the real deal, not just graphically, but gamelpay is top notch, so much freedom and I can play how I want. SaltyMeatballs

Yeah definitely, I think I'm on the second to last level of finishing Crysis 2, decided to fire up Crysis 1 again just for some reference comparison since it's been a while since I last played --- and man, it really is an awesome game! Loved it when it first came out, and still love it. Just reaffirms why I consider it among my favorite games of all time.

Playing the Recovery level with the tools you have at your disposal and the "playground" available to work in taking out the KPA is a blast! Someone posted this video in the PC games forum http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHv7Laj3JiM which shows a nice job mixing up techniques, if you enjoy FPS gameplay beyond the typical linear path "shooting gallery" approach, Crysis delivers in spades.

While doing some things worse and some things better, Crysis 2 is the closest you can get to the same concept and is still a very good game on it's own merits as well.