Because many of us simply don't want to be required to run yet another client just to play a title or three. Admittedly, Steam did this first - from Half Life 2 on, if you wanted to play a Valve game, it was going to be through Steam. However, that was years ago, and now Steam is entrenched.

The mentality is somewhat understandable. FFXI copied a lot of Everquest n' such - older MMOs. At U.S. launch, it was rather unforgiving and very group/grind centric. Some of us still stuck with it, but a lot of people got a bad taste in their mouth and have yet to shut up about it.

XI has the benefit of years more development, but XIV is where SE is dumping the majority of their efforts these days.

Expansion packs were usually just a case by case basis. Plenty of older games really were like 1/3-1/2 of a new game, for half the price (or less). Still some new-er ones too, Mask of the Betrayer for NWN2, as an example.

It's not a Steam only game though (which would be a form of DRM anyway). You can get it direct from CD Projekt via GoG, other online shops, or in physical form, and not have to go "through" anything.

Partly, yes. Though also relevant, as per the article, is that the system is selling well in countries where the latest and greatest might be priced out of reach of the average consumer. The system only officially launched in some countries a few years ago - Nigeria in 2008, Brazil in 2009...keeping in mind that the…

Type in Alphonse Mucha on Google Image search. Or Art Nouveau in general, as that's the style.

People have been pursuing self-imposed challenges in games likely since games existed. A one-life playthrough of a shooter. A no-heart upgrade playthrough of Zelda. Speed runs, etc.

Personally, while I noted that the game really didn't have the ultra-strong melee mobs dropped in towards the end, I didn't really miss 'em.

PS3 limitations? >____>

I think it'd be more important that the script writer(s) and director sit down with the games. The actors could watch some key scenes via a Lets Play or something, but ultimately there will likely be adaptation to make the story work well within the movie format. Better that the folks responsible for that part of the…

If the currently produced PS3 is able to run PS2 code as the downloadables suggest, then how are they saving costs? Any additional software layer needed is presumably already there.

I think the negativity is likely because the releases underscore that Sony could have kept backwards compatibility going, and pulled it so that they could eventually do this. not due to technical reasons.

The basic problem is the console focus coupled with the technology used. Carmack even said the engine wasn't optimized for close-up textures. It's using a tech he dubs megatextures, which allow for very large areas of no repeated pixels...but also take up massive amounts of space (the ones in Quake Wars were…

Bioware's in-house engines have worked just fine for plenty of other games, including ones they were licensed out to. They're just built more around a different experience than the run and gun gameplay that Mass Effect has.

The general point of using a licensed engine is to be able to polish other parts of the game rather than just work on getting it to run. The higher tech things get, the more work it is to make a bleeding-edge engine and keep it that way. Same reason you see licensed video compression tech, etc. It makes little sense…

What's sort of odd with the whole goings-on is that it's almost like a microcosm of what other articles here have indicated about SE as a whole.

FFXIV is sort-of F2P right now. I mean, you have to buy the base game, but they've not charged monthly for it yet. Essentially because they're still not confident that people would continue to play if they had to pay for it. XI had an early period where they didn't charge for it, prior to NA release...but XIV is…

It's a nice thing to have as an inclusion, but the lack of consistency is sort of a problem IMO.

The reuse of assets in ME does get brought up (and often) when discussing DAII.