Silver
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Posts posted by Silver
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Well, I'm surprised to say the least about this huge announcement.
I guess I kind of forgot how key Age of Empires was to Microsoft's entry into the gaming industry. They've become so big and moved on to XBox that you forget their origins but they obviously did not and want to re-enter the PC gaming market which is still large and lucrative.
$20 is a reasonable price-point. All the stuff I see in here and on the various gaming media websites looks good.
I honestly never thought I would see the day they re-released AoE1 when they ignored it with the HD stuff. I can't believe they announced the same treatment for AoE2, AoE3 and the creation of AoE4. That's a big move and a big gamble. I hope it pays off since I'm a huge fan of the time period and RTSes.
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I think what's interesting in that article is the theory (it was proven through analysis I think) that the two plagues this one and the one in medieval time - arose independent of one another. In other words it's theoretically possible we could see another plague today especially in some of the poorer, crowded cities of the world.
It's a slightly scary thought but from where I'm sitting - I think the hygiene in Western cities and many other cities is good enough that the chances of another plague are probably low. I'd be worried for people living in slums in say Mumbai, India for example.
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I don't particularly remember any game - I just remember The Zone, that 'hack' to get a cooler game/lobby title and info, joining different clans over time and switching from Random Map to Deathmatch (for Age of Empires 1 and Rise of Rome).
One map that really stands out would have to be that Age of Mythology map where it's just the giant trojan wall across an empty map. Two teams of players, one on each side. You started with ridiculous amounts of resources so it was essentially a 'super' deathmatch since you didn't really need villagers after creating housing, military structures.
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A bit late to this but I enjoyed it and I hope it does well.
The RTS genre has been suffering for quite a while so it desperately needs a boost. I'd only been playing the odd game of League of Legends up until the AoE II HD release.
I can't say it's blown me out of the water since I always preferred the original AoE but it's a nice enough distraction.
I haven't explored 0AD since the early Alpha that was barely playable. Real life can really squeeze almost all your gaming time. Hopefully over the next month or two if it's available, I'll try it out again.
Although it's 19.99 for basically nothing (I can barely see the difference on a 1920x1080 screen) graphics wise - it revives the multiplayer.
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I felt Age of Empires struck the right balance...
I guess if I had an unlimited budget, I'd want an incredibly detailed, living representation of either the Roman period, the Italian Renaissance period (along with right before it) or the Greek period. Not really a game in the traditional sense but kind of like Second Life - you 'play' as someone in the world, you interact and it changes things in the world slightly. If you want to work towards something - your goal can be to become a general, a ruler, a wealthy merchant or whatever.
The main reason I enjoyed RTSes aside from competing against others (unfortunately the quantity just isn't there to have lots of fun in multiplayer anymore) was the history and getting me interested in the history. I took history classes in University because of Age of Empires for example.
It's also why I like period dramas that aren't accurate like Rome, The Borgias - they're exciting, they get you interested and looking in to the actual history.
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The game was rushed to market in my opinion. It's like the higher ups at Microsoft told the developers and community PR people "We want Age of Empires gameplay combined with Farmville and World of Wacraft" and then they wanted results and money too fast for the time put in and the 'dream' of what the game should be like.
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You are comparing apples to oranges. RTS games (and other games with multiplayer capabilities) aren't a 10 hour affair. I have not played a PC game in over 10 years specifically for its single player campaign. I'm a multiplayer gamer. I played Age of Mythology, an RTS game, online for 7 years. It cost me a total of $80. Now, for AOEO, you've shown a pricing plan that could cost me $100 every 6 months for the same level of gameplay and enjoyment I got from AOM for $5.72 (average) every 6 months (or 3p per day).
AOEO is not a good value compared to a lot of (better) RTSs. Ain't gonna do it, cap'n!The flip-side is with the ability to charge over time, the campaigns can be expanded on, updates can be made to 'balance' PvP so the expected life of the game would far surpass a normal $60 RTS from the store. It also allows you to not spend the $100 - just spent $20-60$ unlocking your 1-3 favorite civilizations if you're not interested in the questing and making your city look beautiful.
I could be wrong though... I don't have a great understanding of their price models and what the various prices offer.
Edit: Thanks Pureon for mentioning Anno 2070, I'm going to follow that game closely. Looks like fun, I've always liked RTSes and to a lesser extent world building/shaping games so I'll probably end up getting it.
To address Mythos Ruler about not buying a game any time soon - I kind of agree. There's one definite buy for me GW2 but that's about all I can see myself getting now. Unfortunately the trends in the gaming industry seem to be moving towards the Phone/Tablet APP games and other games for casual audiences. The Wii sold huge, iPhone/Android App games sell well, Facebook and other social networking games seem to do well.
Maybe we're just being caught at a bad time in the history of the gaming industry - the casual gamer is driving the market. The upside is there's only so much further casual gaming can go, the Wii is out, Microsoft put out their motion sensor thing and there's not much more to expand on in terms of App and Browser games. Maybe in 10 years (or less) - we'll see a return that blends some of the new stuff technology that has been refined and perfected (motion sensors) with the 'hardcore' (all relative when compared with App games) games.
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As a beta tester for a very long time - it was disappointing to say the least. Hopefully with full release I can buy the 'booster packs' and try out the PvP and decide more from that... I really disliked the MMO aspect because it was so incredibly boring and grindy. Setting up PvP matches and Co-op in the BETA took some time to figure out and the quests were often repeatable and incredibly boring.
The farm quest in particular was annoying - I could finish the first 3-4 (I forget how many there were) but I had to do it OVER AND OVER - I couldn't cash in for the rewards of all 3-4 at the same time.
I am ranting here but I did take it up in the beta forums and soon after I pretty much stopped beta testing. It was a little too boring and I had real life stuff that became more pressing.
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I've seen the discussions on other forums and occasionally taken part so I'm wondering does anyone else read the books and/or watch the TV show?
I have only watched the TV show but the books seem to get a lot of praise from people I know so I might pick them up.
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Not sure if this works, but here is another opportunity to get into the beta.
Also a giveaway on Curse apparently: http://www.curse.com/keys/ but I have not tried it because I've been in the beta for a while.
I've been slightly underwhelmed throughout the entire beta but it is a beta and it is an MMO so hopefully they will continue to add and make the game more interesting to me.
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Guild Wars and World of Tanks are two games I sort of play...
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I really have no idea how I came by my username
I am in the same boat. I do know this was transfered from a game I used to play but I honestly have no recollection of how I came up with it. I got my name from Guild Wars where I was Legendary Silver because it required two word screen names.
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I have to wonder for how many of these people will this be their last post?
Probably most, I would think. Wish I had the laughing emote to display at the end of this.
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I dislike questing so hopefully the premium civilization and PvP packs let me bypass that stuff.
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I'm not shady enough to warrant an email?
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It's an interesting topic you bring up.
If you look at youth unemployment in Spain and even many other countries - stuff looks pretty darn depressing. We could 'lose' (so to speak) a generation here.
And this problem will probably be compounded by the baby boomers who did not save enough for retirement and forced governments into massive deficits. This means we're now at a point where baby boomers won't quit their jobs so younger people can enter into a professional career - they need the job to keep paying their mortgage and the benefits from the state will probably be slashed and those benefits were never high enough to maintain their lifestyles to begin with.
Another unintended consequence - can you imagine the US in a few years? Sure, they don't have the low birth rates of Europe and Japan but no one will convince me that the US economy is not going to hit a wall - when baby boomers continue to age and decide to do two things: Sell their houses en-masse and cut back the spending. They have been the driving force between a lot of the major booms and busts over the past few decades and that just won't be the case anymore. It's also important to remember that 70% of the US economy is driven by spending. If people decide they don't want the new flat screen TV, new car, etc... it could be disastrous.
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My 3 -
New Zealand - Unfortunately one of the few parts of the world I haven't visited is Oceania (Australia, NZ and surrounding islands). I would love to live there because I have only heard great things from family and friends. On the practical side - I can speak the language. I love small cities of only a few hundred thousand and a small town feel to them. On top of that there are mountains and the ocean relatively close together - kind of like living on the West Coast of Canada - even without the ocean, waking up to mountains every morning is so awesome.
Luxembourg (if it can't be that, it would be Switzerland) - I really like Europe as a whole, I spent my early childhood there - any reason for Luxembourg in particular? I've visited it before and it was one of my favorite places - the big selling point for me is the geography - like it was with NZ. I know French but I would need to learn German so there's a downside.
I wanted 3 relatively different places but I ended up wanting to make a list of 4:
I went with Argentina for my last choice but I was also thinking about Morocco/Turkey.
Argentina because of the snowboarding - it's a lovely country overall - I would have to learn Spanish but the mountains and the snowboarding would be amazing.
Of course all of this is assuming I would have a steady middle-class job to pay for everything. Canada/USA/England are off my list because I lived in those countries.
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A and B are similar premises - A certain amount of slaves mindlessly obeying your every order.
A is too many people for the earth to support. We would all run out of room, food, water etc.
B is tempting. They come with presumably better armor. But I'm not sure what "70 cores" are. I hope it's a typo for "70 scores", meaning 70*20 = 1400, which is many orders of magnitude less than A. But if it's just the core of their body or some other trick then I'll pass.
C sounds like a very lucrative business opportunity. So I will go with C.
You could just tell a few billion to commit suicide...?
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Where do you guys think criminals get guns? Gun control would help take guns out of the hands of criminals.
The problem is when you have individual states with different laws - guns are exported from the states with less control to the states with more control. But at this point I don't really think federal or coordinated gun controls would work in any significant way - there are too many guns - in particular handguns - for control to work.
Whoever mentioned Portugal with regards to decriminalization of drugs is absolutely right. The unintended side effect of decriminalizing even the hardcore drugs was that the usage rate of drugs actually went down.
As for prostitution - I am actually for legalizing it. Sure, most women probably don't want to be prostitutes but then again I'm sure there are a lot of people who don't want to do a lot of things. Now that's not to say prostitutes aren't in a bad situation - many if not most of them have serious drug habits and maybe they would choose not to work as a prostitute if they could.
The problem isn't what someone or a prostitute wants. It's a problem of lack of choice or 'free will' for the women because they have a drug habit that has eventually led to them being homeless and forced into prostitution.
And not every prostitute has a drug problem or is forced to be a prostitute - they are rare but they do exist. They chose prostitution over unskilled labor because it pays better and the hours are better.
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Not only that, but by the WAY Sarkozy is pushing the reform through. No debate in parliament. Very quick votes. No chance for alternate reforms.
Anywho.
I would like to live in Greece for a while. probably somewhere near Argos, as I have a good friend with family there.
Wasn't the original bill in France passed without a first vote to begin with? Only a vote to ratify?
The drop from 65 to 60 years is the bill I am talking about.
Just as my own little political aside - I find it funny how the protests and unions in France are looked as left wing crazies by anyone - I mean go back 2-3 generations to when the Union movement in the USA was strong and you'll find out that while they may have been conservatives on social issues - they were left wing crazies when it came to unions and worker's rights. Edit - not to say that France doesn't have some very crazy union leaders - just that most aren't. Because there have been cases where a French union has held people hostage.
You take a look at the problems facing the states, Washington and private companies with their huge pension liabilities and most people say 'we need to cut benefits'.
That really shocks me because when you talk about it more with people - they don't realize that had the states, Washington and private companies put away a portion of their income to their pensions like they were suppose to - there wouldn't be a looming shortfall and the cry for workers to take cuts.
I'll get back on topic with this thread later tonight and post my 3 locations.
I'll exclude USA, UK and Canada because I live and have lived there - it will make things slightly more interesting for me at least...
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I don't disagree with you. I just take a really pessimistic approach to almost everything in life.
In a few years once the economy is a little better, there probably won't be any cuts or serious reduction in the budget deficits.
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Well, I consider this mostly an intellectual exercise as most of these things, not just cuts in defense spending, would be a very hard sell. Defense spending cuts are coming, whether we like it or not. Most astute Republicans, though a small minority, understand this.
Really? Obviously the defense cuts need to be made if you want to get out of large deficits but I honestly don't see any major cuts to the defense budget any time soon unless there's a complete disaster or America has an immense amount of trouble trying to sell bonds.
Out of all the issues, I think massive defense cuts would be the hardest sell - even over illegal immigration and illicit drugs.
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1. End the occupation of Iraq.
2. Bring 50,000 troops home from Afghanistan.
3. Cut the defense budget by 20%.
LOL as if the American public will ever support that. Democrats wouldn't dare touch that issue and even if they did - there's no way they would be able to sell it to the American public. Republicans would kick into high gear and the rhetoric would convince the American public that cutting the defense budget is a bad idea.
And this isn't arrogance on my part - living in Canada now, it's pretty sad to see just how much rhetoric affects a largely ignorant or stupid public - I have also lived in Europe and while it is slightly better their - it's not by much.
VAT (value added tax - Cassador - so a % tax by government on top of the tag price of a new computer you buy) - I would agree with this with some exceptions for certain products.
I disagree with retirement age ever going past 70 unless the average life span hits over 90.
I disagree with fully legalizing production and distribution of illicit and hardcore drugs. Though I agree with legalizing possession and production of small amounts of drugs -because it's a waste of money to throw some guy in jail because he has a drug addiction.
I doubt your numbers on the illegal immigrant thing - many of them pay taxes and pay into programs they will never receive benefits from so if they were suddenly able to receive benefits from the programs they paid into, it would hurt the budget situation.
That's not to say amnesty is wrong - just that in the sense of raising revenues, it's not as simple as 'make them Americans and they'll pay taxes'.
It needs to be made easier for third parties to enter the political arena.
And finally - most of the states and counties have a much bigger problem on their hands right now than Washington.
Also, I want to see the Supreme Court ruling on corporations as people with rights and the ability for anybody/anything (even non-Americans - foreign companies, foreign citizens) to donate any amount of money to a campaign.
I am waiting for Senator Exxon Mobil or maybe President Walmart. Edit - obviously I don't think it's going to happen. I just find it funny that corporations are basically considered to be people - I also don't like unlimited contributions to campaigns.
Age of Empires definitive edition [remaster]
in Introductions & Off-Topic Discussion
Posted
The video is really accurate. My experiences with Microsoft support have been amazing but some of the problems Microsoft products/billing has can be frustrating... you wonder why it happens in the first place.
It's also confusing that is has to be so exclusive right down to Windows 10 and Creator's Build update specifically. Windows Store exclusive? OK, I'm fine with that but they should be providing options to purchase it for Mac, Linux and not require Creator's for Windows 10 PCs.
It seems like you're really hurting the market for this game before you even get started.