Posted 09/18/2008 at 09:30:39am

I agree under one condition. That replacement disks would be free or very cheap in the event that your disk is damaged. In order to get a replacement disk you would have to turn in your old one. For registered users who've lost their disks, a replacement could be slightly higher. (ie. original purchase $50, replacement due to damage  $5, replacement due to loss $25).

Posted 09/18/2008 at 09:26:37am

At least for me...

I refuse to play a game I have to keep buying over and over and over and over...

Look, admittedly, I've been around a while. That means I have a wife and kids, a home, two jobs, lots of bills, and many other duties and responsibilities as well. I don't have the time for PC gaming that I used to. I also don't have the money to be spending on monthly subscription fees for a PC game.

Brief history here:

Back in 2003 Digital Anvil and Microsoft produced an awesome space combat game named Freelancer. The game cost around $50 to purchase. It had a good story line and action in single-player mode, and anyone could run a server if they had a decent enough connection.

It never had any updates other than a patch to help protect against cheating on a MP server. The patch really didn't do all that much. What kept the game alive was the multiplayer community.

Up until February of this year (5 years), there were hundreds of Freelancer MP servers out there, many vanilla, many others running mods of some kind or another. There were thousands of players out there. Microsoft dropped support for the Multiplayer aspect of the game by shutting down the global connect server that centralized the server selection list. Since then, all FL servers have seen a dramatic decline in new players to their servers.  Many have shut down due to the significant reduction in player population. Currently however, there are still over 130 servers online. This after five years.

I am running a FL server that still has a couple thousand accounts registered. My server has been up since 2003. It's free to access and free to play as long as you have the game CD.

What this means to me is that for $50 I got to play a game (single-player) that I enjoyed immensely, and for five years have been able to share that experience with others for a total game cost of less than $10 per year. Over those five years we've had tens of thousands of player accounts on our server.

Now, if I were to play EVE Online for example, it would cost me $15/month, correct? Over a period of 60 months it would cost me $900 to enjoy this game. Am I the only one who finds that ridiculous and unreasonable? If I wish to play EVE Online I have one server I can play on. The upcoming Jumpgate Evolution will be set up the same way. I as the consumer have no choices. If I wish to play the game but don't like the server or the community, I have only one choice. To play the game or to not play the game. This is not consumer focused thinking. This is only income focused thinking.

What I've seen over the years is a significant increase in the action and excitement of PC games while at the same time, a significant reduction in the choice of game types available. Most significant games today seem to be of the first person shooter type, or the first person role-playing type games. Where are the combat flight simulator games (Freelancer, X-wing vs. TIE Fighter, etc.), the puzzle games (Myst anyone?), the whacky/zany development games (Impossible Creatures), even the weird stuff (Armed & Dangerous, etc.).

Visual quality, intensity, excitement, has been much improved. The system requirements have also become much more. Why do I need to upgrade my Operating System to play Halo2 or Crysis? Why do I need a $400 - $600 video card (or two or three) to get playable framerates? Hell, back when I built my first PC I put a top of the line Creative Annihilator2 Geforce2-GTS in my system for about $230 bucks.

In my humble opinion, what has not been improved is the actual quality of the game and game experience. Sure, they look pretty and are fun to play but, how many other games out there are still running MP servers after five years? How many other PC games out there have captured the imagination and heart of the player the same way? As a matter of fact, how many games out there still allow the individual to set up their own server? (Most of my gaming time has been spent running the Freelancer server, so I am a little out of touch in that area). What I do know is that we lose a good number of our regulars every time a significant new game comes out, only to have them return within six months or so once the novelty of the 'mistress' game wears off. How many games or servers out there have players that continuously return to a game, even after five years?

It's my opinion that the gaming industry is focusing too much on the bottom line and 'monetizing' their product. The game is designed around making a buck rather than making a really good game with a really good gamer experience. Believe me, as a flaming right-wing capitalist pig I'm all in support of a company making money. I'm not criticizing the desire of the artists and producers of the game to capitalize on their product. I want them to create a product that has real value to me the consumer. I want them to create a product that is focused on me, the player/gamer/consumer.

The reason game consoles are so huge is, and I'm not revealing anything here that most of you don't already know, you only have to buy one piece of hardware, it's not ridiculously expensive, it works with every game written for it, you don't have to upgrade any part of it, and you don't have to worry about drivers or compatibility. For that convenience you have to sacrifice some features and visual effects/quality. Most people are fine with that as you can see in the huge increase in demand for game consoles and the significant reduction in PC, and especially gaming quality PC sales.

Until PC game companies get back to writing awesome games that will run exclusively on mainstream PCs, PC gaming will continue to die. You can't make a buck focusing on a very small part of the market without pricing your product beyond the reach of the people who are inclined to purchase it. Didn't General Motors learn that lesson with the Camaro/Firebird?

Posted 07/25/2008 at 12:05:44pm

Sorry, I'd like to upgrade to a good SATA burner, I'm currently using a LG DVD-RW drive which is working just fine. Lightscribe has become a requirement though.

 Any recommendations on a good SATA DVD-RW with lightscribe?