Chris Roberts Back in your wallet - STAR CITIZEN

[Samprimary]

What happened with BitCoin?

It was the worst investment of all. You would have thrown less money away if you had invested in the Greece Athex index or the fucking Ruble

[Sophismata]

What happened with BitCoin?

It was the worst investment of all. You would have thrown less money away if you had invested in the Greece Athex index or the fucking Ruble

Ouch. Thanks for the link.

[Yegolev]

I'm way overdue to fire up a KS for some vague bullshit.

[Cyrrex]

Maybe a Kickstarter to help fund your thought process for coming up with an idea for a Kickstarter? 

[Yegolev]

I like the way you think.

[Lucas]

Today in the wonderful land of Star Citizen   :

- PAX East Presentation (starts at Midnight CET, 6pm EST) : FPS module will be unveiled, along with its planned release date. We already got a glimpse when they presented the external studio (Illfonic) that is working on it. Event won't be streamed live, but they'll post videos during the evening.

In other news:
- Monthly Report (February 2015):
https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/14563-Monthly-Report-February
-----

Regarding the FPS module, if they stick to their plan, they should launch it with two maps: one is a zero-g arena, the other is the "abandoned outpost" that was part of the above mentioned Illfonic presentation. Later this evening they should also publish a new Design article about the new ship damage system they're implementing.

[Hutch]

FPS module? So, Star Citizen is basically a Counterstrike mod? 

[Lucas]

So, presentation just ended, moar ship porn was exposed.

New Damage System post:
https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/14568-Design-The-New-Damage-System
Direct link to Damage System porn video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkAaLd0FdK0&ab

Reintroducing the Aegis Retaliator (it's almost "hangar-ready". Video also features interior footage):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxEWc6IvtQc&ab

Looks alright, I guess 
----

Presentation ended with the predicted FPS portion; it should come out in 2-3 weeks, according to Chris. They are still working hard on parties & bitches character animations and other stuff; the "space station" looks quite big: it will feature 8vs8 fights; then, there is the zero-g arena, which is going to be 16v16. Dunno if they're going to post a video about those two tonight (I watched the whole thing throughout an attendee's twitch), or if it will just feature in the whole video presentation that should go online on Monday.

Finally, an updated schedule for the whole project:

- Within a couple months, both the FPS and the Social Module (planetside location, multiplayer hangars, chat, 1st person trade interface, also called MobiGlass) will be online
- Summer (probably June or early July): Arena Commander 2.0 (multi-crew ships)

- End of 2015: first episode of Squadron 42; Pre-Alpha Persistent Universe

Here's an interview with Polygon that goes a bit more in-depth about the project schedule, especially the proper, persistent universe part:
http://www.polygon.com/features/2015/3/2/8131661/star-citizen-chris-roberts-interview

"Squadron 42 will be toward the end of the year. That's sort of basically Wing Commander single-player narrative story. And then at the very end of the year we will release the very early alpha of the persistent universe. It wont be nearly all of the systems and planets, but we plan to have five or six systems you can fly between. You won't be able to do all of the things we're planning on you to do, but probably trading, mining, piracy, combat and a lot of core stuff."

Then the company plans to spend 2016 filling out the rest of the star system, finishing ships, finishing characters "basically going from five to 130 star systems and adding more of the functionally and features on that we have and building out different roles."

[Lucas]

PAX East presentation is online (lasts 43m):
https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/14576-PAX-East-Presentation

In case you don't want to watch the whole church reunion (the first 13 minutes are devoted to the Damage Model and the Retaliator update, already linked in my previous message) :

- roughly from 14:15 to 16:15 Roberts explains the slight delay about the release of the FPS module (supposedly 2-3 weeks, as I mentioned before);
- Then, from 16:15 to 21:13, he goes on showing the changes to animation since PAX Australia (when the module was first unveiled), and again why it's being delayed;

- From 21:14 'til the end, the FPS module is explained in more detailed, firstly, from an "in-fiction" point of view: just like Arena Commander is the simulation module for the dogfight, developed by Original Systems Inc. ,  "Star Marine" is the one for the FPS, developed by InterDimension Software   . Then the presentation goes on showcasing available armors and weapons, and the two game modes.

[Samprimary]

I actually appreciate these updates. With all of the cargo cult madness by backers it's nice to just get a filtered digest of "what is cloud imperium actually fucking doing" that mostly bypasses it.

[Sky]

EQ story. In the early days of EQ, I was farming the crap out of some low hanging fruits on timers. Locked up a few items on my server, had to buy them from me on ebay. Made some decent money, too.

I showed my buddy who was increasingly addicted to EQ, ended up losing his job but for some reason his dopey wife stayed with him for years. He was pretty much 24/7 living in the game, I figured I'd help him pay rent by showing him how to profit from farming easily.

He not only didn't sell on ebay, he was buying on ebay. His wife told me someone screwed him over for $400 for a manastone. He sent the money and they didn't show. I was his boss at a previous job and he wasn't making $400/week when he was working. Felt pretty bad, but damn. Gotta make your own choices in life.

[Azazel]

I would feel hesitant paying 18 dollars for any kind of in-game ship, and that is even assuming we have a playable and fun game to begin with.  Were the price tag 180, I would think anyone spending that kind of money on virtual ships was a complete and utter rube.  If the price was 1800, I would be sure that someone was pulling my leg, because there is no way anything in a video game could cost even close to that much.  But 18600?  What the ever living fuck.  I cannot even wrap my mind around that.  You could hire 10 hookers for that money, and still have change leftover for a sack full of blow.  You can buy an actual real car for that.  You could feed a few hundred starving African kids for a long time.  

Who actually clicks on that button and fills in the CC info to complete the payment?  Psychos.

Just in reference to the $18 thing, I spent approximately the same amount of money that a boxed game would cost me on pretend tanks for WoT - and people spend more on Skylanders toys for their kids (though they do get toys as well)> once you get to the higher numbers, I'm plenty in agreement with you.

[Cyrrex]

I would feel hesitant paying 18 dollars for any kind of in-game ship, and that is even assuming we have a playable and fun game to begin with.  Were the price tag 180, I would think anyone spending that kind of money on virtual ships was a complete and utter rube.  If the price was 1800, I would be sure that someone was pulling my leg, because there is no way anything in a video game could cost even close to that much.  But 18600?  What the ever living fuck.  I cannot even wrap my mind around that.  You could hire 10 hookers for that money, and still have change leftover for a sack full of blow.  You can buy an actual real car for that.  You could feed a few hundred starving African kids for a long time.  

Who actually clicks on that button and fills in the CC info to complete the payment?  Psychos.

Just in reference to the $18 thing, I spent approximately the same amount of money that a boxed game would cost me on pretend tanks for WoT - and people spend more on Skylanders toys for their kids (though they do get toys as well)> once you get to the higher numbers, I'm plenty in agreement with you.

Well, I said hesitant.  Not necessarily fully opposed.  For a free-to-play game like WoT, sure.  They need a revenue stream of some kind, so that seems fair, so long as the prices are within the realm of reason.  I still try to avoid costs in such games and get as much free play out of it as possible, but I get it.  Things start to crack for me with things like Skylanders.  You already pay 50 bucks or so for your starter kit.  The game itself is so ridiculously simple and so heinously gated that you probably get three hours of game play in it before the kids are insisting they need new figures to open up new areas.  15 bucks (or whatever) for another shitty figure opens up the next gate and another hour of play if you are lucky.  And so on.  You will end up paying a couple hundred bucks to get a game experience that many others offer for just the box cost.  It is the most cynical cash grab imaginable.  The idea itself is cool.  It is the prices that are fucking monstrous.

CS:GO - fuck me, don't even get me started on that one.  15 bucks for a game that is basically just a re-hash of an old game.  Then you gotta start buying crates.  And when your 10 dollar crate nets you nothing worth a shit, surely a 20 dollar crate will be better!  And so on.  My dumb ass children would happily dump all of their money into this shit if I wasn't holding the credit card info.

End derail, I guess.

[rk47]

CS:GO - fuck me, don't even get me started on that one.  15 bucks for a game that is basically just a re-hash of an old game.  Then you gotta start buying crates.  And when your 10 dollar crate nets you nothing worth a shit, surely a 20 dollar crate will be better!  And so on.  My dumb ass children would happily dump all of their money into this shit if I wasn't holding the credit card info.

End derail, I guess.

No. The crates are just skins.
All praise Gaben, High Priest of the Master Race.

[lamaros]

CS:GO - fuck me, don't even get me started on that one.  15 bucks for a game that is basically just a re-hash of an old game.  Then you gotta start buying crates.  And when your 10 dollar crate nets you nothing worth a shit, surely a 20 dollar crate will be better!  And so on.  My dumb ass children would happily dump all of their money into this shit if I wasn't holding the credit card info.

End derail, I guess.

No. The crates are just skins.
All praise Gaben, High Priest of the Master Race.

Eh? I've paid a grand total of $3.50 on CS:GO.

Its also an incredibly good game. A real one.

Just because people can spend heaps of money on it doesn't mean they at all need to. All the money you could spend is entirely cosmetic.

[Malakili]

CS:GO - fuck me, don't even get me started on that one.  15 bucks for a game that is basically just a re-hash of an old game.  Then you gotta start buying crates.  And when your 10 dollar crate nets you nothing worth a shit, surely a 20 dollar crate will be better!  And so on.  My dumb ass children would happily dump all of their money into this shit if I wasn't holding the credit card info.

End derail, I guess.

CS: GO is an exceptionally good shooter.  Yeah, it's a rehash.  But Counter Strike has always been, and still is, very good.  You don't "gotta" buy crates.  You get the entire game out of the box.  Crates get you skins for guns.  That's it.  Hell, even if you just consider it a graphical update to Counter Strike 1.6, it's easily worth what you can pay for it on sale.  And it's far better than CS: Source.

Edit: Oh wait, this isn't the so what are you playing thread.  Oh well, star citizen is boring to talk about by now anyway.

[Cyrrex]

I am guessing you children of a CS playing age.  I don't have complaints about the game itself, wouldn't mind playing it myself.  It's the cynical cash grab.

[lamaros]

I am guessing you children of a CS playing age.  I don't have complaints about the game itself, wouldn't mind playing it myself.  It's the cynical cash grab.

You think TF2 hats are a cynical cash grab? Likewise dota compendiums?

[Malakili]

I am guessing you children of a CS playing age.  I don't have complaints about the game itself, wouldn't mind playing it myself.  It's the cynical cash grab.

I guess I'm just having trouble seeing a game that costs 15 dollars and gives you EVERYTHING to play the game a "cynical cash grab."  I don't care at all about cosmetics in games for the most part though, so maybe it's just easy for me to ignore them.  I don't have children of CS playing age, but children not being able to control spending isn't valve's fault.  Like you said, you should be controlling the credit card info anyway.

[Cyrrex]

I agree that the game out of the box is complete enough and well worth the money.  But it is still a cynical cash grab.  The crates they sell are stupidly expensive and designed specifically to make you want to buy more more more.  And it sure as hell works on kids (whether it is CS, or FIFA, or Skylanders, or whatever).  At least CS:GO has the decency to be a cheap game to begin with.


And yeah, I do control the card, so there is that.  But man, I am sure tired of arguing this with the damn bloodsuckers.  Anyway, this is mostly me yelling at clouds.

[Mac]

I haven't played CS:GO since release but did they patch some awesome in since then? I found it totaly bland and I've played all the previous iterations.

And why is the MURDER SIMULATOR of yore considered a childrens game now? Wtf did I miss?

[Cyrrex]

Heh, it's partly just the world moving on and kids these days being way more tech savvy.  But in this specific case, it is a cultural difference as well, and maybe that is the more important part of it.  Kids in Denmark are playing these games as early as...7 or 8 years old.  And it is basically all of them, so good luck trying to limit your own kid's habits.  And I'd advise against any sweeping statements about how messed up that is.  This is a country where no toddler ever shot his mommy and no police officer ever opened fire on a black teenager.  In other words, a much healthier relationship to firearms than in the US.

[Merusk]

And yeah, I do control the card, so there is that.  But man, I am sure tired of arguing this with the damn bloodsuckers.  Anyway, this is mostly me yelling at clouds.

People without kids won't get it. Don't worry, some of us do.

Let me tell you about the 3 versions of Spyro statuette I've been begged to buy...

[Malakili]

I get it.  I just don't see how it is a criticism of Counter-Strike.  Practically every toy out there is a cynical cash grab by the standard here, which kind of makes the the term pack a little less punch.

[lamaros]

And yeah, I do control the card, so there is that.  But man, I am sure tired of arguing this with the damn bloodsuckers.  Anyway, this is mostly me yelling at clouds.

People without kids won't get it. Don't worry, some of us do.

Let me tell you about the 3 versions of Spyro statuette I've been begged to buy...

I get it, but your kids would find something they want, be it Lego, or cs skins or whatever. Not really because cs is targeting them specifically.

Also crate drops are free to all players and crate keys cost like $2. All the expensive stuff isn't sold by valve but sold by other players through the marketplace and driven by player demand.

I'd be far more wary of player scammers and the betting sites than valves business model if I had kids when it comes to cs.

[Mac]

Heh, it's partly just the world moving on and kids these days being way more tech savvy.  But in this specific case, it is a cultural difference as well, and maybe that is the more important part of it.  Kids in Denmark are playing these games as early as...7 or 8 years old.  And it is basically all of them, so good luck trying to limit your own kid's habits.  And I'd advise against any sweeping statements about how messed up that is.  This is a country where no toddler ever shot his mommy and no police officer ever opened fire on a black teenager.  In other words, a much healthier relationship to firearms than in the US.

I never agreed with the stupid qualification of Murder Simulator. I just found if funny that this franchise was still a thing and being played by little children no less, despite it's reputation. I guess the world did just move on like you said.

[Sophismata]

Some of us never had sensationalised media articles about the whole thing.

[Cyrrex]

I get it.  I just don't see how it is a criticism of Counter-Strike.  Practically every toy out there is a cynical cash grab by the standard here, which kind of makes the the term pack a little less punch.

Well, to bring it back closer to the original topic, it is of course in no way as cynical as what Star Citizen is doing.  But the thing is, the kids know that there are actually valuable things hidden in some of these crates.  So when the first 10 dollar investment in a crate yields absolutely nothing, they want to immediately dump 20 dollars into it, because surely eventually it has to pay off, right?  In no time flat, you have paid 50 bucks for a game that is a re-hash at the end of the day, and kids clamoring for more more more depsite having gotten nothing at all of actual use beyond what came out of the box.

I could also go on and on private minecraft servers that ask for "donations" in return for credits, status, islands, or whatever.  Or private websites that sell FIFA coins and/or packs.  A parent's nightmare.

[rk47]

Kids are stupid..
Fix the kids. 

[lamaros]

I get it.  I just don't see how it is a criticism of Counter-Strike.  Practically every toy out there is a cynical cash grab by the standard here, which kind of makes the the term pack a little less punch.

Well, to bring it back closer to the original topic, it is of course in no way as cynical as what Star Citizen is doing.  But the thing is, the kids know that there are actually valuable things hidden in some of these crates.  So when the first 10 dollar investment in a crate yields absolutely nothing, they want to immediately dump 20 dollars into it, because surely eventually it has to pay off, right?  In no time flat, you have paid 50 bucks for a game that is a re-hash at the end of the day, and kids clamoring for more more more depsite having gotten nothing at all of actual use beyond what came out of the box.

I could also go on and on private minecraft servers that ask for "donations" in return for credits, status, islands, or whatever.  Or private websites that sell FIFA coins and/or packs.  A parent's nightmare.

Yeah, or you could have a kid that likes lego. My nephew likes the catalogue more than the lego itself... (not exactly true). Not really sure how it's values fault.

Not really sure what "re-hash" is meant to mean either? It's the best shooter around, the best every IMO, and the fact it's part of a series is meaningless.

[Falconeer]

Counterstrike is like a sport. Or like an old discipline like chess. It doesn't get old. Every match is a completely new challenge and story. You don't need to change anything about it. Sure, given its nature cleaning up and improving graphics and sounds help, but the core of it could last another 100 years, the same way football, baseball, basketball do. Nothing wrong with it.

[Cyrrex]

Come on, it's a re-hash.  They have recycled the maps to a large degree and turned it into team deathmatch.  Sure, there are some new maps, features, loot goodies, etc., but what it boils down to is that every time I happen to see either of the boys playing it, they are running around the same Dust or Office map that I remember from ye olde days, charging around like fools because death means nothing in deathmatch mode, even if there may be a bomb to disarm or a hostage to rescue.  I'm sure that all the elements that made CS a great shooter in the day are still there, but that doesn't change the fact that they have simply added new modes, polished the graphics (though not much!) and added a button to get you straight to the cash shop.  I can't imagine an easier way for them to give their old cash cow new life than by doing exactly what they did, and that makes it a cynical re-hash in my book.  And whenever HL3 comes out, you can bet your bippy that CounterStrike: Origin or some shit will be right behind it, complete with same maps and even more graphical polish and an even bigger button to get you to the cash shop so that you can get a purple butterfly knife skin.

Note that this doesn't necessarily mean you aren't correct about it being the best shooter around.  I believe that.

[lamaros]

Come on, it's a re-hash.  They have recycled the maps to a large degree and turned it into team deathmatch.  Sure, there are some new maps, features, loot goodies, etc., but what it boils down to is that every time I happen to see either of the boys playing it, they are running around the same Dust or Office map that I remember from ye olde days, charging around like fools because death means nothing in deathmatch mode, even if there may be a bomb to disarm or a hostage to rescue.  I'm sure that all the elements that made CS a great shooter in the day are still there, but that doesn't change the fact that they have simply added new modes, polished the graphics (though not much!) and added a button to get you straight to the cash shop.  I can't imagine an easier way for them to give their old cash cow new life than by doing exactly what they did, and that makes it a cynical re-hash in my book.  And whenever HL3 comes out, you can bet your bippy that CounterStrike: Origin or some shit will be right behind it, complete with same maps and even more graphical polish and an even bigger button to get you to the cash shop so that you can get a purple butterfly knife skin.

Note that this doesn't necessarily mean you aren't correct about it being the best shooter around.  I believe that.

Maybe you should play something a little before you start writing a thesis about it? Bit awkward...

[pants]

And whenever HL3 comes out,

/tangent

That will be the third of never.  HL3 is never coming out.  Valve is making too much money from Steam, and because of their no-managers policy, it means noone is saying 'Write HL3 dammit' - and Gabe doesn't care because he's got a whole fucking house built of money from Steam.  So HL3 will never be released.  You heard it hear first folks.

And back to something on topic.  Polygon is saying link that Star Citizen is going to be a 100GB download.  Because that's normal 

[schild]

That will be the third of never.  HL3 is never coming out.  Valve is making too much money from Steam, and because of their no-managers policy, it means noone is saying 'Write HL3 dammit' - and Gabe doesn't care because he's got a whole fucking house built of money from Steam.  So HL3 will never be released.  You heard it hear first folks.

Except all those times other people said the exact same things in a slightly different way.