Yeah me too. Fuck timezones.

GG!  

Hmm, I probably should get the Killzone collection one of these days just to try them out. They seem kinda generic, though.

Ravenprose said:

Hmm, I probably should get the Killzone collection one of these days just to try them out. They seem kinda generic, though.

You're thinking of the Resistance series.

Apparently, Burnout Paradise does have a custom soundtrack feature. They did an excellent job in hiding it, though.

I was thinking about GTAV and the implications the three swapping characters will have to the AI. Think about this, the AI in this game will have to replicate what a human would do in every single mission of the game (thats probably close to a hundred). Not only that but it will need to handle all three different characters AI at the same time because at any moments notice a player can jump around. The AI needs to be smart enough to pick up right from where a player leaves off, lets say I am a driver and I go a route that is probably not the intended route for that mission and I switch to the gunner, now the AI needs to pick up on the route I was taking and figure out the best way to reach the goal.  

I believe the AI will be one of the biggest talking points for reviewers come release. Think about all that could go right or wrong. How will Rockstar handle the AI partners, will they be invincible, unable to fail a mission so that the only time a player fails is on his own terms. Imagine if that is not the case and the AI can fail, imagine failing a mission where the AI screwed up and you had nothing to do with it (I understand you should take over when the AI needs help, but then again the game would be sort of forcing you to play a certain way at certain parts). Say they do go the unfailable route, wouldn't that be an exploitable feature allowing players to essentially choose the least difficult character and let the AI auto win the mission for them.

The way I would handle it is so that the AI can fail but have a sort of alert system in place. If the AI is in danger of failing a mission something blinks red letting you know you better take over or this mission is done. I would tie this into the character stats, say if Michael shooting stats are really high he will be far less likely to fail a shooting mission on his own. Say Trevors driving isnt as advanced you should probably be the one driving.

That could be one way to handle it. Anyway its going to be very interesting to see how this all plays out in a gigantic open world game that includes so many options. The amount of testing that is going on has to be insane. To me this aspect is going to be crucial, it may make or break the game. If there is one thing I know about gamers is that they are a picky bunch, if the AI starts to become frustrating at any point many will freak out.

travo said:

The tricky part about the alert system is that if the AI is constantly in trouble, it may feel tedious like an escort/ babystting mission.

Exactly, it also makes it feel like the game is telling you what you must play as. Its going to be tricky.

If you guys like Tomb Raider, Steam has the entire TR collection including the new one for $18. Each game is on sale too. Anniversary is 0.80.

OMG every game is like $0.60.

I just bought TR Anniversary for $0.80.

travo said:

Aspro, you say you hated Killzone 3.  Why?  I started with Killzone 3 first and loved it.  I loved 2 as well, but I thought the controls were much more refined in 3.

Killzone 2 and 1 had their own unique style. Killzone 3 was a copy (albeit done with skill and craftmanship) of the Call of Duty series. So I did not hate it, I just was dissapointed that they did not continue to invest in what made the series unique.

Iff you want to hear me make that awesome concise point, but with several hundred words ( ), I talk about it on the next podcast, which is coming today (where we retire Killzone 3 for all time).