BIN Patch Status ?

[Capitaine]

BTTT to raise the issue of THE PATCH again. It's getting tiresome listening to one tune in the game, and I don't feel like turning off the music. Cannot someone issue a patch to fix the issues known so far? It won't be a mortal sin if yet another is issued later; in fact it would show greater dedication... [;)]

[Toby42]

I don't play music or use sound effects, so it's a non-issue with me.

[Kung Karl]

ORIGINAL: Capitaine

BTTT to raise the issue of THE PATCH again. It's getting tiresome listening to one tune in the game, and I don't feel like turning off the music. Cannot someone issue a patch to fix the issues known so far? It won't be a mortal sin if yet another is issued later; in fact it would show greater dedication... [;)]

I agree! Why can't they just release a sound fix?

[TheHellPatrol]

.Yea, i pretty much stopped playing it as much even though the computer- is no slouch. For the price, which even some game sites mentioned was a little high, you would think something as simple as that would be fixed/working by now. Sure, "it's only music" and with Witp it was "only sound effects" but we have come to expect some of the basics at least these days. BiN is a great progression but it needs some meat and potatoes in the soup[;)]

[ravinhood]

ORIGINAL: Prester John

Sorry but people are selling board games which are more expensive than these PC games and no AI is included. Dump the AI for those games that are just glorified board games and compete with the board games at the multiplayer level at a significantly cheaper price. Don't compete against the market for AI only computer gamers.

Sorry but board wargaming is and has been on the "decline" for many years now. It's hardly the gaming platform it used to be. And an AI in ALL games is very important to the MAJORITY of computer gamers out there. As much as you might like to think MP is the bit hit, it hardly is. Games like EQ MMORPGs hardly count in the "wargaming" genre.

Better read up on your history of wargaming before making comments like MP rules and computer AI's need to be chunked.

http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/wa ... story.aspx

[PresbyterJohn]

ORIGINAL: ravinhood

Sorry but board wargaming is and has been on the "decline" for many years now. It's hardly the gaming platform it used to be. And an AI in ALL games is very important to the MAJORITY of computer gamers out there. As much as you might like to think MP is the bit hit, it hardly is. Games like EQ MMORPGs hardly count in the "wargaming" genre.

Better read up on your history of wargaming before making comments like MP rules and computer AI's need to be chunked.

http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/wa ... story.aspx

Sorry but this has got nothing to do with EQ (I'm guessing that's EverQuest), but everything to do with boardgames like those being sold by MultiMan and Avalanche as well as Shrapnels Lock 'n Load. Those games don't come with AI. But some of them do come with virtual Java interfaces for internet play and this is making them popular too. Board gaming may have had a decline but the virtual interfaces will help keep them in print, along with people looking for the pleasure of interacting with others.
And as for the "majority" of computer gamers you are refering to, they are playing RTS and FPS games, often on online servers. I don't think your history is telling you this. Instead you should look up what the real players are doing. But if you think that AI gaming is better than playing against other players go right ahead, because it's your fifty dollars. Anyway player to player wargaming is alive, and doesn't need an AI to get published (or reprinted even, if MMP gets Panzer Blitz out).

[Warpstorm]

ORIGINAL: Prester John

And as for the "majority" of computer gamers you are refering to, they are playing RTS and FPS games, often on online servers. I don't think your history is telling you this. Instead you should look up what the real players are doing. But if you think that AI gaming is better than playing against other players go right ahead, because it's your fifty dollars. Anyway player to player wargaming is alive, and doesn't need an AI to get published (or reprinted even, if MMP gets Panzer Blitz out).

Sorry, Prester John, the vast majority of computer game players are still playing against AI rather than other players even when the game supports it. A credible AI is still needed for the near future if you want your game to be profitable. The proportion is changing, but it'll probably be a few years before it gets to the 50-50 mark.

[PresbyterJohn]

ORIGINAL: Warpstorm

Sorry, Prester John, the vast majority of computer game players are still playing against AI rather than other players even when the game supports it. A credible AI is still needed for the near future if you want your game to be profitable. The proportion is changing, but it'll probably be a few years before it gets to the 50-50 mark.

I have a feeling that a game like Doom 3 is doing quite well without having to have a serious AI. And the AI seen in the RTS games is much worse than the sort that is seen in hex based computer wargames but they do much better in sales and in multiplayer popularity too for that matter. Why so if AI is so important. Quite simply it's not so. The enemy follows scripted moves and works inside tight limitations for those games. So the vast majority of computer game players are not playing against what one would call a "credible AI". At this time all the AI in the popular games does is provide a practice dummy.

[Warpstorm]

But imagine Doom3's sales if you said that there would be no AI at all...

A more relevant example is Civ3 which was a million plus seller and you might find a few hundred online games if you search hard.

In the FPS games, my personal favorite is playing UT:2004 against the AI. Not becuase it's easier (far from it), but rather because they are less annoying than most real people who play FPS games online. Now that I think about it this applies to most games. Maybe I just don't like people.

[PresbyterJohn]

How could you have a FPS campaign without the scripting that it uses? I don't see the point in offering a campaign game like that without the scripted opponent.

Hex based board games are another thing though. They are not able to be played against a scripted opponent. Now I can buy a board game that comes with a VASSAL interface and no AI. Why can't I just buy a computer game that does the same thing without the boards and counters for half the price?