Jersy

Imagine if books behaved like games these days - While they are sitting on your shelf, the author is making edits every now and then, so when you want to go back to a book you liked, it might very well be a completely different book. And if by some chance the author dies, all of the pages go blank.

Hi Ross! Not sure how relevant it is to games dying for good, but there might be something to be said about online only games (MMORPGs mostly) that are in continuous state of development, and each time they receive a patch, some bigger update or an expansion, they change. Sometimes the changes are small, sometimes they are big, but ultimately, unless you can find some third party server running an older version of the game, you are forced to go with it. Even if you liked the game as it was in one of the earlier stages, the company can take away the things that you liked and there's nothing you can do about it...

http://www.game-of-robot.de/ Just wanted to share this, because nostalgia. Nice mix of open-world exploring, puzzle-solving, a bit of action... Yeah, german only, but then again, after you figure out what the game objects do, it becomes less of an issue, though following the story might still be a bit difficult and using google translate all the time isn't all that great... Still, good memories...

Online-only games getting killed kind of reminds me of the "planned obsolescence" issue - except instead of the games themselves being designed to break after a certain time, the company policy is designed to achieve that same goal. The reason is still the same - as a producer who is interested in making money, you don't actually care if people are using your product, but if they are buying it. If you make a game, and leave it out there for people to play even when you no longer get any cash from it, that means that some of them will be spending their time playing that game, instead of investing into the new one you just made and expect to bring in more money. So, by killing the old game, you force people to move on to something else - hopefully that new and shiny thing of yours, which you are marketing as new and improved version of the previous thing, hoping it will attract the fans of the predecessor (my guess is that companies keep doing it because the amount of people who say "screw you and your policy, I'm not buying your games anymore" is way lower than the amount of people who always rush to get the shiny new thing). About "The Flock" game that has been brought up, I'm okay with that. Not going to invest into it myself (the game itself does not seem all that interesting), but I get it - the company is creating a one-time gaming event, and people who participate will have "achievement unlocked - played The Flock in the limited time event back in 20XY", and people actually know the conditions beforehand. It sort of reminds me of an idea I once heard in a discussion about realism in games - the idea was like a super-hardcore mode, where if your character dies, it not only stays dead (think Diablo 2), but the game itself uninstalls from your computer and you can't ever play that game again. Sure, not a thing for casual gamers, but I imagine tons of people would find that concept attractive.

Ahh, ye olde goode vectore graphicse... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nomad_%28video_game%29 - This little gem at it's core is essentially the same thing as modern day X-series and stuff like that. You travel in space, trade and make deals with aliens, upgrade your ship with better weapons, shields, engines, etc., send survey-probes to planets to look for stuff, battle enemies... Especially since I encountered this game *after* I played "X2: The Threat" I think, I was amazed how ahead-of-it's-time it was. Then there's also "Stunts" - Pretty much exactly like Test Drive 3, but if it was more like Trackmania Nations. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stunts_%28video_game%29). Also Battlezone and Elite, of course, but those would be probably considered "too mainstream" EDIT: Oh, and of course F-19 stealth fighter. Even now it's amazing how it managed to simulate so much details, while still maintaining an astounding level of simplicity (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-19_Stealth_Fighter).

My dear sir, with this video you officially became an honorary member of my "Great Minds Think Alike" club. Like you, I greatly appreciate the huge amounts of awesomeness packed into Tyrian - customisable ships, apgradable weapons, alternate fire modes, 2 player mode (where not only the second ship has a special charge-up attack, but the two ships can freaking *combine*)... I wholly agree with your opinion about graphics - in fact, I would go as far as claiming that the current games would be bazzilion times better, if they focused on creating some awesome and creative gameplay, instead of dumping heaps of money on superficial eye-candy. Also, after hearing you praise the writing in Tyrian, I would like to bring another game to your attention - "Operation: Carnage". While the game itself is quite simple top-view shooter, it features a background story that - in my opinion - has the potential to become an instant Hollywood classic, if turned into a movie. ...anyway, I can definitely say, that I'll definitely stay tuned to see what you review next time on ROSS'S GAME DUNGEON (read this in the voice of Dragon Ball Narrator).