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NEWS 562 - 36 Comments
From: Radmobile Entered on: September 12, 2008 11:54 AM
Oh, I haven't played it yet.  It looks like a blast but I'm hoping to live vicariously through NickNick this time.
From: RobotSpider Entered on: September 12, 2008 12:07 PM
Ah, it was NickNick. I don't know why, but when I think 'world-domination', I think Rad.  Maybe it's because of that other thing we talked about... the... supplies...  oh... uhhhh.... I've said too much...
From: Radmobile Entered on: September 12, 2008 12:27 PM
Oh, I'm all for the world domination genre in my videogaming. Thus I'll often be seen playing "Civilization Revolut'n" (this is actually how they abbreviate Revolution) on the xbox. Dominating one map on Halo is often too small a scale for me to be satisfied. I need entire civilizations feeling my wrath.
From: NickNick Entered on: September 12, 2008 12:50 PM
It's really not about the wrath.  It's about having a society's life in your hand.  An enemy civilization's last breath as your army squeezes the life out of their still beating hearts. Just 2 more weeks and I'll be on the Spore bandwagon as well.
From: NickNick Entered on: September 12, 2008 12:55 PM
And here is access to my labs.
From: NickNick Entered on: September 12, 2008 2:19 PM
The best thing about this game is how easily it's already been bastardized by people with low IQ's.  Zilla, Bells, Bone?  This game is for YOU.
From: RobotSpider Entered on: September 19, 2008 7:13 AM
Yeah, I know, it's a geeky thing, but it was more an exercise in 'can I do it'...  I built Boba Fett's ship in Spore.  If you like it, or don't, let me know.  BTW, if it looks unfamiliar, remember that's how it flies.  When you build a ship, you build it the direction it will fly.  Most people recognize it in 'iron mode'.
From: NickNick Entered on: September 19, 2008 11:13 AM
DUDE!!! That's phenominal. In a related topic, my tribe was beat down by an epic creature that was pulled from my very own creature creator. It was one that Hunter and I made. I thought that was pretty cool.
From: Ross Entered on: September 20, 2008 9:11 AM
I got my hands on Spore, and I've only gotten to the creature stage so far, but I have to say: I'm rather disappointed.  I'm sure I was tainted by some of the reviews, but I think Zero Punctuation did a very good job of summing up my feelings so far.
From: NickNick Entered on: September 20, 2008 9:04 PM
I do have to say that listening to that douche was rather annoying.  Even if he did make sense.  The next time he wants to write a review, perhaps he should just type it out so I don't have to listen to his annoying prattle. You just have to remove those high expectations to properly enjoy the game.  He's right, it isn't the transendental life experience it was made out to be.  Still, I'm having fun with it.
From: RobotSpider Entered on: September 22, 2008 7:54 AM
He's wrong.  At least the parts I could bring myself to listen to.  It's not meant to be 5 games. And if each stage played like an entire game, people would bitch that it took too long to evolve and "why should I have to suffer through stage xxx just to get to stage yyy", etc.  He's also wrong that being a race of 'vegetarian peace activists' is harder than the alternative.  It might be that way during the creature stage, but if you come out of the gate hitting hard and aggressive, as I did my first go round, you'll find that when you get to the space stage, there are other races that have already been at that stage for a while, and are willing to make you their bitch.  I can barely return to my homeworld without getting my ship blown up by pirates, aliens, etc.  It's still fun, but you reap what you sow.  Besides, I think the true joy of the game is the ability to build your own buildings, creatures, ships, vehicles, and national anthem.  I've always enjoyed that part of these types of games.  If you're not a fan of 'editor mode', then you'll overlook one of the game's positive attributes. So far, I am very pleased with it.  Maybe I have low standards. By the way, good to see you back, Ross!  How's Force Unleashed?
From: NickNick Entered on: September 22, 2008 10:03 AM
Hey, what's everyone's "name" on spore. You can get Buddies and use their creations as themes on your world.  Mine is "DrMyers." I'm just having fun with it. I've already got 5 different worlds on my game and all of them have only made it up to tribal. I'm trying all different kinds of approaches but I have to tell you, it's so much more fun kicking the crap out of other species and driving them to extinction.
From: The Bone Entered on: September 22, 2008 10:52 AM
DrMyers - what a coincidence! That's what the girls call me when I make them wear the nurses uniform.
From: Ross Entered on: September 22, 2008 11:40 AM
The Force Unleashed is good, but not great.  The best thing about it is the storyline, which is set between episodes 3 and 4 - you play as Vader's secret apprentice, and there are plenty of twists along the way and classic characters that makes it very interesting. The gameplay, on the other hand, is hit and miss.  I'm a very harsh critic when it comes to control schemes and how much control you can exert over your character's movements - this game gets a C in that department.  You can execute quick manuevers, but for one thing, you can't execute a block quickly enough to block anything more than about a second in advance.  For another, you can't target very easily with your sweet force grip power, so it lessens the sweetness quite a bit.  Also, the few times when it goes into platformer mode and has you jump from one precarious spot to another, it's maddening, as you just don't have the kind of control you ought to for that type of stuff.  On the other hand, the force powers are fun, as is the lightsaber combat, for the most part.  But given the annoyances in the gameplay, it actually makes the game way too hard, and I'm not usually one to complain about a game's difficulty.  So as a result, I'm playing on easy mode so I don't drive Heather nuts with my cursing.  Mild thumbs up.
From: NickNick Entered on: September 22, 2008 12:37 PM
The Bone said: DrMyers - what a coincidence! That's what the girls call me when I make them wear the nurses uniform.  Right Bone. Like you have to make these girls do anything. You've pumped them full of enough GHB to make an elephant cooperative.
From: The Bone Entered on: September 22, 2008 2:11 PM
Bert - is it anything like Jedi Academy? I kinda liked that game. Nick - I'll be honest with you, I usually have to turn down sex just to get a break.
From: NickNick Entered on: September 22, 2008 3:07 PM
Yeah. I have the same problem.
From: Ross Entered on: September 24, 2008 9:40 AM
RobotSpider said: He's wrong.  At least the parts I could bring myself to listen to.  It's not meant to be 5 games. And if each stage played like an entire game, people would bitch that it took too long to evolve and "why should I have to suffer through stage xxx just to get to stage yyy", etc. He's not the only one that feels that way:
From: Jackzilla Entered on: September 24, 2008 11:42 AM
Hey!  I had Populus on my old Atari computer! Hey!  I'm old!
From: NickNick Entered on: September 24, 2008 12:46 PM
I just had your Boba Fett ship come and visit my planet, Spider.  I'm glad your ship didn't abduct any of my tribesman or I would have taken it very personally.
From: RobotSpider Entered on: September 24, 2008 3:17 PM
Ross said: He's not the only one that feels that way:   They're both wrong.  I understand their point, but a large part of the gaming industry is built on reworking/updating/spinning previous implementations.  I don't think they misrepresent what Spore is or was supposed to be.  Would anyone complain that Halo3 is too much like Quake2?  What is the actual complaint (rhetorical, I have read the complaints) here? "I don't like Spore because it has similar game mechanics to other games I've played" ?
From: RobotSpider Entered on: September 24, 2008 3:22 PM
NickNick said: I just had your Boba Fett ship come and visit my planet, Spider.  I'm glad your ship didn't abduct any of my tribesman or I would have taken it very personally. Uh, that's just the advance party.  You might want to start researching the anal lube technology in preparation for the, uh, science team's visit.
From: Ross Entered on: September 24, 2008 3:28 PM
I don't think that's the point, Spider - the point is that it's the game mechanics of 5 different games, each has been done before, and better.  That's the essential criticism I've read from different reviews.
From: NickNick Entered on: September 24, 2008 8:19 PM
The Barbie factor on this game is phenominal.  I don't think that Spore needs to be done better than those individual games.  Those games had the entire game to work in specific elements.  Spore needed to save some space.  If each indiviual segment ran as complete as Alpha Centauri, you'd have 5 discs and the game would cost an astronomical amount.
From: RobotSpider Entered on: September 25, 2008 5:42 AM
Ross said: I don't think that's the point, Spider - the point is that it's the game mechanics of 5 different games, each has been done before... I don't want to get into a semantics war, but this part of your statement was exactly my point... "...and better.  That's the essential criticism I've read from different reviews." Obviously, 'better' is subjective.  Perhaps 'more thoroughly' would have been a better qualifier?  The other games took their respective game-mechanics deeper than Spore does, and I'd agree with that. On a more agreeable note; I was interested in your review of SW:FU. I had almost all the same criticisms after playing the demo.  I still plan to play it to completion at some point, but the controls are a big problem.  After accidentally throwing a TIE fighter across the hangar in my first play-through (and giggling like a school girl), I wanted to show it to my wife, but because I wasn't in the right spot or unable to adjust the camera properly, or ??? I couldn't actually target another TIE fighter on the big conveyer. And Nick Nick, you're spot on about the Barbie factor. Frankly, without that, the game is almost worthless, in my book.  There's something very satisfying about creating almost everthing on the game.  Even though what you build has only a small impact on how successful it is, I definately feel more powerful flying around in Slave I than I did in my previous mothership :)
From: Ross Entered on: September 25, 2008 9:55 AM
I finished Force Unleashed last night - pretty short game.  Since I was playing on Apprentice mode, it was easy enough to not be overly frustrating.  But the game definitely lacks depth.  You have all these role playing elements, like force powers, character statistics, lightsaber colors, costumes, etc, but it never really develops them well and I never got more than a few lightsaber elements.  I think I'll try to get a few more acheivements (kill X number of Y with Z power/move) but then I'll probably never play it again...
From: NickNick Entered on: October 2, 2008 7:50 PM
OK. So I've advanced 2 civilizations to the space age and I have 6 other worlds in verious stages between creature, tribal and civilization and I'm still not bored with the game. Sorry Ross, Spore is full sweet. I even had Rad over here drooling over the Barbie Factor (tm).
From: Ross Entered on: October 2, 2008 11:55 PM
Sorry Nick, I've been playing too many games for too many years for you to get to tell me which games are sweet.  I've played it long enough to know that while it's by no means a bad game, it's not "full sweet".
From: NickNick Entered on: October 3, 2008 8:06 AM
Oh yeah, well my dog can beat up your dog.
From: NickNick Entered on: October 3, 2008 12:01 PM
Spider, do you know if you can exterminate tribes on a planet so you can drop your own colony on it. It seems like every f'ing star system has a few republican tribes squatting on one of the planets so it won't let me drop in a colony. Fuck the indiginous tribes and let me put my colonies down.
From: EDGE Entered on: October 3, 2008 12:19 PM
NickNick, how do you find time to play while healing ???? I mean didn't you have to sell a kidney to get spore ? I have messed with the game a bit with a friend of mine ( i warned him not to buy it) and by no means is this game full sweet. Very few games can live up to that some being ...Bioshock,GOW, the first Halo,the original Contra game, shit maybe even the original Bionic Commando but not Spore.   And in reference to the above about the sex, NickNick has a ton of it I'm sure........ sadly when its by yourself and with a keyboard/mouse it doesn't really count, sorry NickNick.
From: NickNick Entered on: October 3, 2008 1:17 PM
Again with the sex comments? You troglodytes believe what you must. As far as the degree of sweetness of any particular game. That's obviously left up to the opinion of the participant. In terms of the social aspect of playing together and linking and frooking? Halo is much better. I was unimpressed with Bioshock. The graphics and the ingame physics were fun, but not my cup of tea. Gears ranks up their for the same reason as Halo. But if I had to choose one game to sit down and play, late at night, by myself?  I've always been particular to games like Alpha Centauri and Spore. I think I would have a lot of fun playing Black & White as well. So, Edge.  Just as you prefer hairless boys in bed as opposed to an actual woman, I prefer Spore over the other options.
From: EDGE Entered on: October 3, 2008 3:57 PM
don't type so loud your mom might hear you..........
From: NickNick Entered on: October 3, 2008 6:16 PM
Damn.... I can't compete with that.
From: Bunky Entered on: October 3, 2008 11:28 PM
Ummm, I think the lube covering the hand may help quite the typing.... Probably not so good for the keyboard though....
From: NickNick Entered on: October 22, 2008 9:24 AM
Back to Spore. The game was losing some of it's luster until I discovered that you could influence another species development, ala Monolith from 2001. Crop circles and other things are available... and supposedly you can genetically manipulate other species that you find on other planets. Haven't quite figured out how to do a lot of this as of yet, but it does sound like a bit of fun.