So I've been playing Batman (incredible game btw) and have had a couple of problems:

1) controls - the control for batarang is the same as the control for counter (who came up with that ridiculous idea?), so while in a heavy fight, if I don't time my counter right, I end up pulling out the batarang by mistake - very frustrating. Is there any way to fix this? The controls aren't adjustable, and I don't have an Xbox windows controller (only a logitech rumblepad, which doesn't seem to work with the game).

2) I tried the downloadable content menu item, but it said I need to be signed into xbox live to access - but I am signed in, so what gives? Also, I got the scarecrow bonus map from preordering, and it says open up xbox live and sign in, then go to the shop - what is it talking about? The Xbox live menu in game doesn't have any shop. Are they talking about the downloadable content menu?

Hmm, a closed game doesn't really help :p But thanks for the info - I actually found another game being created by ncsoft that's supposed to be in beta now (or soon) I think:http://news.mmosite.com/content/2009-05-13/20090513014553672.shtml

Not sure if it's the same type of thing though - it reminds me of twisted metal. Not really diggin the look.

Anyone others?

Anyone remember the game Autoduel from the 80s? I loved that game, and ever since I've been looking for something similar. Back in the 90s I played Interstate 76, and that was of a similar vein, but not quite the same (it focused more on the driving/battle part and less on RPG - not that Autoduel was a true RPG, but it had some of the elements). If you don't know the game, what I'm looking for is a game in which you work your way up (thus the RPG aspect) in the world doing car arena battles, jobs, etc. You can buy different cars and outfit them with armor and weapons for both arenas and out on the road. Think Mad Max Road Warrior and Beyond Thunderdome. Could be post-apocalyptic, but doesn't have to be (but I do like that theme). Time period doesn't matter too much, but I guess it would have to be sometime current give or take 20-30 years. It should have a storyline, but if the battles are fun and there's enough configurability in the cars, I'm willing to forgo that part.

Anyone have any suggestions? I've tried playing StrikeRacer (has the battle aspect) and Drift City (has the RPG, driving and doing jobs aspect) on PC and Twisted Metal on PSP (had the car battles, but just wasn't that fun), but they weren't what I'm looking for as a whole. Free to play would be nice, but if it's really good, I'm willing to pay for it. Platform must be PC, Mac, PSP, or iPhone. I tend to like isometric or birds eye view games more than full 3D, but again, if it's good, I'll try it.

Thanks!

If you liked Neverwinter Nights, what about downloading some third party campaigns (I myself am working on finishing one)? There are hundreds out there for both versions, some quite good. I haven't played any for NWN2, but I played some for NWN1 that were even better than the campaigns Bioware made.

Of course there's Dragon Age coming soon. Personally I'm also waiting for Batman: Arkham Asylum which is supposed to be coming out in August, but that may not fit into the genres you seem to like.

I also agree that a balance is good, but for me the art style/technique/proficiency is what counts. I really miss games like Baldur's Gate, Diablo, Fallout, and many of the old adventure games like King's Quest, etc. that weren't really technically amazing (well, at the time, they were pretty good, but especially now they aren't) butstill graphically beautiful. If you know what you're doing, you can make a low-tech game look amazing. But good technology doesn't make a game look better - it still requires good artists, directors, etc. to use the techonology well.

lol! wow, that is awesome - if I had Left 4 Dead, I'd do that. Thriller was definitely Jackson's best work. Sad day indeed. :(

Can anyone help with RPG recommendations? I'm looking at Disgaea, Star Ocean II, Valkyrie Profile, and any others I may have missed. They all look good and I can't decide :o I'm leaning towards Disgaea just because I've always wanted to try something from that series.

MyopicCanadian

If you like tactics games as well, try D+D tactics. D+D is of course the origin of RPGs, so you can't really miss with that (and it's done decently enough). The ending was a bit easier than I'd have liked, but otherwise, a pretty good game.

Looks great, but a few things;

- Maybe I missed it, but how does this system make it easier to construct large cities? Unless you come up with some system that can very intelligently put building blocks together to generate unique buildings, you still need someone to model each one, then copy&paste things. Same as they do now

F1_2004

First, I would assume that the company will provide pre-made buildings/objects as packages if you don't want to make your own. Then it would probably just be a matter of pressing some buttons/making some settings and letting it do its thing. Otherwise, yes, you'd have to make your own models. However, you should only have to make one of each type of building/object. Maybe not even a building - maybe all you'd have to make are the parts of the buildings (window, door, wall, floor, ceiling, etc.), and it pieces them all together. Don't know. But the idea was, just as you said, to be a system that could intelligently put the building blocks together to generate an entire city. There shouldn't be any copying/pasting involved if they do it right.

- There seemed to be no regard for the structural integrity of the building :lol: The guy perforated the entire floor of that office building (walls and everything, including the core walls that got shot up like paper) and the upper floors seemed unaffected by the drastic reduction in structural support. Seems it's basically an immovable building skeleton dressed up with destroyable wall panels, which isn't too far off from what we get in games now (other than the larger number of destructible stuff).

F1_2004

As I said in a previous post, I think the level of destructability for each part could probably be set individually (at least I'd hope so - otherwise it would look like everything was made from the same material). However, you're right - I would guess that destroying supports would not bring down the entire floor/building. It's possible they could make it to do that, but that would probably require more work to set certain parts as structural supports and then calculate all the math and physics to determine at what point and where things start to collapse. Heh, would be a cool feature to have though.

This tech. looks pretty incredible. Yes, some of the details aren't perfect (textures/shaders are not up to today's standards, destruction looks too "soft" - everything falls apart too easily, none of the buildings/items look particularly interesting or unique), but those could all be changed I'm sure with settings or updates. The technology itself is what's amazing. It could seriously save on development costs and open up an enormous amount of gameplay for users (assuming it's done right - providing the flexibility to the developers to include custom buildings/items and tweak settings to adjust how the city looks and feels).

It is a rather sad state, since PC has the best strategic games. I'm holding out for Diablo III myself and thats about it. Although I should get Diablo I and II first...-shmelo-

Heh, yeah, you should definitely play the first two first. I personally think Diablo 1 was the best, though I'm sure many will argue with me on that. I'm looking forward to Diablo 3 as well, though I'm really more interested in traditional RPGs than action RPGs (but Diablo is such a classic, and the graphics look awesome).

Also really looking forward to Dragon Age - given that Bioware is pushing it as a form of sequel to Baldur's Gate (not in story, but rather in style), there's a good chance it will kick butt.

The other game I'm waiting for (already pre-ordered), which I haven't seen anyone mention here yet, is Batman Arkham Asylum! If done well (and hopefully better than the graphic novel), that game will rock my world.

I would say the PC market is definitely not dead - sure there are always (have been and will be) piles of garbage, but you can also always find shiny gems among the garbage. In fact, without the garbage, you'd never see the real gems.