Game News PS: T Available on GoG

[Jack]

I mean that you can make a fairly successful movie without using super-duper special effects.

Nope, if you want to make a really big movie you gotta have really expensive actors and a lot of other shit.
Bribe reviewers and spend much money on marketing.
The game and movie industry are very similar.

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

But would people consider a movie to be "bad" just because it doesn't feature expensive actors and doesn't feature super-duper special effects?
Also, Fallout 1 had famous actors.

 

[Jaesun]

I still have my original 4 CD set, I just wish they would put up some of the old Gold Box and older D&D titles (Like EotB). Then I would be excited...

 

[markec]

Movie industry doesn't have graphic whores.

And how would you call Roland Emmerich and Michael Bay fans (beside morons).

 

[Jack]

But would people consider a movie to be "bad" just because it doesn't feature expensive actors and doesn't feature super-duper special effects?
Also, Fallout 1 had famous actors.

The average joe would, yes.

 

[markec]

But would people consider a movie to be "bad" just because it doesn't feature expensive actors and doesn't feature super-duper special effects?

If fans of Transformers go and see new film in the series and get a bad special effect but a good story they will say that movie sucks.

If fans of Herzog go and see a movie with great plot and characters but without any special effects they will say that movie is great.

I mean that you can make a fairly successful movie without using super-duper special effects.

Precisely.

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

But would people consider a movie to be "bad" just because it doesn't feature expensive actors and doesn't feature super-duper special effects?
Also, Fallout 1 had famous actors.

The average joe would, yes.

Then can you explain me why, for example in Poland, whole epic movie business disappeared in favour of generic romance comedies?
12 years ago, Polish cinema was able to do epic movies like By Fire and Sword with great costumes and special effects and now all we get is romantic comedies or other stupid comedies. It looks like someone here figured out that one can earn a lot of money without investing into costumes and special effects.

 

[GarfunkeL]

The original 4CD release of Torment is available on my shelf, unbound to any digital distribution service, and will remain there until the discs themselves start to rot. Bet GOG users wish they could claim so themselves.

 

[Sceptic]

If fans of Transformers go and see new film in the series and get a bad special effect but a good story they will say that movie sucks.

If fans of Herzog go and see a movie with great plot and characters but without any special effects they will say that movie is great.

Three guesses which fans form the majority of moviegoers worldwide.

It is exactly the same situation as the gaming industry. The only difference is that the indie scene in gaming is even more niche. The key words here being "even more".

 

[markec]

If fans of Transformers go and see new film in the series and get a bad special effect but a good story they will say that movie sucks.

If fans of Herzog go and see a movie with great plot and characters but without any special effects they will say that movie is great.

Three guesses which fans form the majority of moviegoers worldwide.

It is exactly the same situation as the gaming industry. The only difference is that the indie scene in gaming is even more niche. The key words here being "even more".

The point is that despite the vast majority of popularity of movies like Transformers there is still audience for intelligent movies and there are still movies being made for that audience, and often both movies are made under production of the same house.

 

[JarlFrank]

Getting known actors shouldn't be *that* hard, even Uwe Boll managed to get Til Schweiger, one of the most famous German actors.

 

[Lomm Cuz]

Haha! Paying for games moar than 10 years old to people completly not involve with their development! HAHA!

Fixed.

 

[Jack]

But would people consider a movie to be "bad" just because it doesn't feature expensive actors and doesn't feature super-duper special effects?
Also, Fallout 1 had famous actors.

The average joe would, yes.

Then can you explain me why, for example in Poland, whole epic movie business disappeared in favour of generic romance comedies?
12 years ago, Polish cinema was able to do epic movies like By Fire and Sword with great costumes and special effects and now all we get is romantic comedies or other stupid comedies. It looks like someone here figured out that one can earn a lot of money without investing into costumes and special effects.

That's the movie equivalent of casual games.
Think of it as the Peggle of movies.
Cheap crap that are both easily made and sold.

 

[someone else]

Haha! Paying for games moar than 10 years old to people completly not involve with their development! HAHA!

Fixed.

I saw an old box of PST in a shop once, then I remembered that if I buy it the developers won't get a single cent, only the retailer would.
So I only buy games on consignment/royalty/indie-online. But only if I really like the box(which makes things difficult for boxless online games).
When I become a hobo, I'll make my hobo-home out of ancient PC game cardboard boxes.
And a blanket from cloth maps, I heard Ultima has some pretty good blueish ones with ancient runic alphabets.

 

[Azrael the cat]

If fans of Transformers go and see new film in the series and get a bad special effect but a good story they will say that movie sucks.

If fans of Herzog go and see a movie with great plot and characters but without any special effects they will say that movie is great.

Three guesses which fans form the majority of moviegoers worldwide.

It is exactly the same situation as the gaming industry. The only difference is that the indie scene in gaming is even more niche. The key words here being "even more".

Yeah, but I'd still be ecstatic about the state of gaming if it was half as good as the film industry.

With films there's no shortage of movies for each market segment. So what if dumbed down effects-flicks are the most popular, and low-risk rom-coms the most common. That's the way things SHOULD be - different products for different segments, with the most product going towards the biggest market. That way they get what they want, and we still get what we want.

There's nothing wrong with interesting films being niche - it means that there's actually a niche market in place. Would we really be complaining if we were getting 3-5 FO-style games each year? The gaming industry is in a fundamentally different condition to the film industry. In film, the industry is segmented and you get to complain because 'your' segment is as big as other segments. In gaming, the industry is focussing almost entirely upon one central mass-market, and we don't get to have a segment AT ALL. For film it is enough if there's enough consumers to make a niche segment profitable. For gaming it doesn't matter if there's enough fans to sustain a whole bunch of developers, because publishers aren't interested unless the game targets the masses.

 

[Carlos' Bitch1]

I still have my original 4 CD set, I just wish they would put up some of the old Gold Box and older D&D titles (Like EotB). Then I would be excited...

Jaesun! How could you!? Get thee to DJ Oldgames, download all the ready to run Goldbox setups/EotB setups, download any manuals you don't have from there or replacement docs and get playing.

GoG needs to keep focusing on games that are difficult to run, not dos games that take 5 minutes...or less than half a minute using the Oldgames.sk system. As I understand it, a lot of people were having problems with everyones favourite storyfag RPG, so here it is, ready to run on your new systems!

 

[Zeus]

I mean that you can make a fairly successful movie without using super-duper special effects.

Not about special effects.

"Graphics" in a film would be everything you see. Everything. Actor's faces, sets, film locations, film quality, costumes, props, etc., etc.

Can you make a popular film without a huge budget to pad out the illusion? Yes. Blair Witch, Paranormal Activity, sometimes low budget films make a lot of dough. But for every Blair Witch, there's a Peggle. Sometimes games with graphics "anyone" could do make it big, too.

Doesn't mean both sides of the industry aren't obsessed with feeding their eyes above all else.

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

My point is in movies you get photorealistic graphics by default. You don't need super-duper special effects to make a movie. That's why movies without them sell too. Generic romantic comedy is going to have the same level of graphics as an epic war movie, despite using much less special effects.

 

[Brother None]

Does it mean that now that PST is available for buying, they will invest in making another Planescape: Torment?

No. At least, not right now.

The industry has a structural problem with long sellers. This has as much to do with the domination of consoles (which kills longsellers every time a generation cycles) as it does with "appealing to masses".

Screaming about it won't actually change it. Showing the viability of long-sellers through GOG and Steam, but also through console's Live services, shows the viability of a niche. I don't see EA or Activision Vivendi jump all over it, but it is en economic truism that when you clearly show a niche to exist, someone will look to fill it sooner or later.
You can't change shit by sitting around on a forum and circle-jerking. You shouldn't expect miracles from the longseller market either. But an improved situation is, uh, a good thing. I have my doubts about the kinds of RPGs you and I masturbate to making it as short-sellers. But long-sellers? There's a chance.

You guys removed the animated head of CA listening on headphones that linked to YouTube video of PS:T theme? Methinks Codex knew PS:T was on it's way to GOG.... :D

Everyone knows, since GOG has made it clear BG was just the first game in a deal with Atari/Hasbro. I expected them to keep PS:T stored a bit longer and throw some NWN and IWD popamole our way first tho.

 

[zeitgeist]

Then can you explain me why, for example in Poland, whole epic movie business disappeared in favour of generic romance comedies?
12 years ago, Polish cinema was able to do epic movies like By Fire and Sword with great costumes and special effects and now all we get is romantic comedies or other stupid comedies. It looks like someone here figured out that one can earn a lot of money without investing into costumes and special effects.

How is the movie production financed? Do they get partial or full support by the ministry of culture and/or other government organizations? If so, then it's obvious: they get similar budgets, yet they don't have to spend them on costumes, effects and all that, enabling them to pocket more money for doing less.

Yeah, but I'd still be ecstatic about the state of gaming if it was half as good as the film industry.

Same. But instead, we're getting the game equivalent of first year film school projects marketed as (and even worse, praised by the general public as) real movies. I'm afraid it's not going to change though.

edit: also, many non-mainstream movies are largely funded by various organizations that exist for the sole purpose of advancement of art (and padding the pockets of those involved, of course). There is no equivalent of this in the gaming industry, and there likely never will be - in case someone ever does start something similar, it will inevitably be completely misguided because of the general cultural status of video games, and the lies that have been perpetuated during the past 10+ years regarding games and their relation to art.

 

[Lomm Cuz]

Yeah, but I'd still be ecstatic about the state of gaming if it was half as good as the film industry.

With films there's no shortage of movies for each market segment. So what if dumbed down effects-flicks are the most popular, and low-risk rom-coms the most common. That's the way things SHOULD be - different products for different segments, with the most product going towards the biggest market. That way they get what they want, and we still get what we want.

There's nothing wrong with interesting films being niche - it means that there's actually a niche market in place. Would we really be complaining if we were getting 3-5 FO-style games each year? The gaming industry is in a fundamentally different condition to the film industry. In film, the industry is segmented and you get to complain because 'your' segment is as big as other segments. In gaming, the industry is focussing almost entirely upon one central mass-market, and we don't get to have a segment AT ALL. For film it is enough if there's enough consumers to make a niche segment profitable. For gaming it doesn't matter if there's enough fans to sustain a whole bunch of developers, because publishers aren't interested unless the game targets the masses.

Just like he says.
That industry is not related to quality in any real niche; because making games is almost as expensive as making films. But cinema has artists, people devoted to that form of expression that (besides the devotion thing) have more than one hundred years of experimentation and learning. Also, in the cinema industry there are people who really love good films, and they're not only directors or artists, ther're also producers, owners, etc. And, of course, their average age isn't 30 nor 40 years old.
Well, the videogame producers average age isn't 30 nor 40 either and I don't mind all that youtube makings of with people burting shit out, I'm talking about the motherfuckers who put the money on the table.
And I think that is what that industry needs first: people who cares the quality of what they are developing... that people now doesn't have enough real power to do or change any real thing... yet.

.
(...)
You can't change shit by sitting around on a forum and circle-jerking. You shouldn't expect miracles from the longseller market either. (...)

So we must pay for free shit (besides the quality of the shit, it WAS fucking FREE) and give to Hasbro, Interplay or any other fuckin jew more reasons to continue making the same shit again and again and again... man, those who has the money don't give a shit why are you paying them, they only know this way:

=

Translation: your hard earned, well-intentioned money don't suply well-intentioned developers... only goes directly to funds shitty games.

Edit: zeitgeist, I'm totally agree.

 

[GuideBot]

Planescape: Torment was never free. Abandonware is not a legal term nor really even a word that actually exists outside of being a flimsy justification for piracy. Hint: If Steamboat Willie is still under copyright then a game that was released only goddamn 11 years ago sure as fuck still is. If "Abandonware" sites are taking Torment down now that it is more easily legally purchasable then that is simple recognition of the fact that companies tend to overlook "abandonware" when the game is not legally available.

I don't think the original developers of Steamboat Willie are still around to be receiving royalities, either. Probably because they're all dead.

It's fucking pathetic that one of the best games of all time is finally available for easy purchase, that runs with nary an effort (I had it bought, downloaded and playing inside of 15 minutes.), for the first time in goddamned 10 years, and people complain about it because some websites with a slightly more developed Ethical Gland have now made it marginally harder to get your Free Stuff because you are apparently unable to use a fucking torrent. Fuck you. It's pieces of shit like you with entitlement issues and no concept of reality that give PC gamers the reputation of being idiot pirates.

 

[Brother None]

So we must pay for free shit (besides the quality of the shit, it WAS fucking FREE) and give to Hasbro, Interplay or any other fuckin jew more reasons to continue making the same shit again and again and again... man, those who has the money don't give a shit why are you paying them, they only know this way.

So what you're saying is that if you ignore everything I said and instead just repeat the same tired excuses that are oh-so attractive because they justify getting shit for free, then that proves me wrong?

Wow, that's absolutely fascinating.

 

[FeelTheRads]

for the first time in goddamned 10 years

Actually it was re-released on DVD quite recently. And I don't think it was ever on any abandonware sites. Wasn't it also available before on some other digital distribution service like GameTap or something?

Edit: Also, Lomm Cuz, bro, you're not a very smart fella'.

 

[Brother None]

Actually it was re-released on DVD quite recently. And I don't think it was ever on any abandonware sites. Wasn't it also available before on some other digital distribution service like GameTap or something?

Don't think it's been available for digital download before. Nor was it published on DVD everywhere in the world, as it is available now. Both are the case because Atari/Hasbro is really hard to negotiate with, and presumably GOG worked at it until they got them to agree to DRM-free digital download on their significantly-smaller-than-other-DD-services service.

That's actually quite impressive.