Cool.

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Yeah I just started playing rift, another good rpg, I am very much looking forward skryim, I just hope the engine has improved.

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Please support us and post a [Link to www.digitalartsfront.com] on your website.

it looks pretty good in the latest Skyrim trailer. but perhaps not quite as impressive as cryengine 3.

heres some videos on cryengine 3: [Link to www.gametrailers.com] I just wish crytek would develop something more interesting for the flagship game. crysis 2 doesnt really interest me that much but playing an oblivion style game in those cryengine 3 forests would be fantastic. Im not complaining though. The future for these technologies is really starting to take shape.

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Funny you post this, I'm actually playing the first Witcher now and also reading one of the books. Seems like a prety cool world. Did you play this first one? That Skyrim trailer looks pretty bloody good, Hopefully the story and gameplay can match the games' visuals.

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[Link to www.3dprevis.com]

No I havent played it yet, How are you finding it?. I picked it up a few weeks ago and still havent got into it. I'm not sure if I will before witcher 2 gets released in May because Dragon age 2 is coming out tomorrow and will likely consume me for the next month or so. I hope it will. I find it hard to get truly consumed by games unless they are one of those gems like mass effect 2 or fallout 3. Ive got Killzone 3 here for example and after playing it for 30 minutes last Sunday I'm yet to fire it up again. I dont know why that is. I love listening to gaming podcasts, reading magazines and watching every scrap of gaming news on youtube but when it comes to actually playing them...

Ive been listening to a few podcasts recently that have made me feel a bit better about not finishing games. it seems I'm not the only one that will play several hours into a game enjoy it alot and then for no reason just inexplicably stop and never pick it up again. my pile of shame is truly shameful but I figure if I enjoyed some of it it was probably worth it.

Heres a few podcasts I'm enjoying at the moment.

[Link to gamerdork.net]

[Link to www.gamerswithjobs.com]

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Cheers for that, I've started listening to a few podacsts myself recently. You might be interested in this one:

[Link to bethblog.com]

It's Bethesda's own podcast. I've only listened to one so far but I', looking forward to getting through them to hear more about Skyrim etc.

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[Link to www.3dprevis.com]

Awesome, I'll check that out for sure.

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Where did you find the English translation of the book? is it from the original Polish series or a spin off? I'd like to read that myself.

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Most of the original Polish books have been translated into English now. I found a couple at Dymocks, which was a bit of a suprise.
You'll want to bookmark this site: [Link to www.booko.com.au]
It's great for buying books online in Australia. It'll tell you where it's cheapest and how much delivery is etc. Here are the results for The Last Wish:
[Link to booko.com.au]

I paid $23 in Dymocks before I found this site.

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[Link to www.3dprevis.com]

thanks man, awesome. yeah I think I'll pick up a copy. Just to know a bit more about the world in preparation for the next game.
I was hoping to find an audio book version. I love audio books, I read sometimes 2 per week. my work day means I can sit there with books playing and it actually makes me more productive and focused. but they have to be well read. nothing worse than a great book spoilt by a lousy voice actor who miss pronouces everything and puts all the wrong emPHasis on the wrong sylLAbles. or if they read in a monotonous drone that makes you want to rip your ears out after a few minutes. I dont think these books have been recorded as far as I can tell. If its not at audible.com it probably doesnt exist.

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Yeh, I haven't been able to find any Witcher audio books. Have to do it the old fashioned way.

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[Link to www.3dprevis.com]

Just bought the last wish book at [Link to www.bookdepository.co.uk] free world wide delivery, $12.81.

I found an odd pdf version online for free but it seemed like someone had written the translation themselves saying on the first page
"if you find errors feel free to update the document" but the first chapter about the striga was instantly entertaining. I'm looking forward to reading this more than I thought.

I've recently realised as I almost never read books preferring to listen to audio books and maybe read magazines, that the best cure for sleeplessness and insomnia is to read a chapter of a novel just before you close your eyes. its like magic. the fact that its taken me this long to realise that is a little sad. and perhaps its more because I may need glasses, I get very tired when I read small text for long periods of time.

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The first Witcher is half price on Steam at the moment if you're keen.

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[Link to www.3dprevis.com]

I actually bought the first witcher in a bargain bin for around $15 a while ago but I havent had the motivation to try it. Ive been playing dragon age 2 and killzone 3 recently and Ive got the ballad of gay tony in my xbox right now, what a frikkin awesome game that is. I picked up the two episodes at JB hifi the other day and I'd forgotten how much fun GTA 4 is. I think the gay tony episode kind of gets back to where GTA was at its best in Vice city and its just so much fun. Dragon age 2 has kind of taken a back seat for now.
I want to try crisis 2 aswell but it just seems wrong to try and play like 5 games at once. Im like a 4 year old wanting all the toys in the toy shop and tossing them aside the moment the're out of the packaging.

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I've just got crysis 2, I'm sooo impressed, the thing is absolutely beautiful, even on my fairly modest rig. The multiplayer is rather fun too, very reminiscent of MW2 but with a kind of superhero twist, what with being able to cloak, shield and leap 1 and a half stories during firefights. Definately worth a bash Tyson.

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Yeah, its a great game. probably the best shooter Ive played in years. I'm really looking forward to see some new games that use cryengine 3.

while I'm here I'll embed another witcher 2 video. I'm guessing that most of that rock detail is displacement on tessellated meshes. or its just really nice normal mapping. I love playing games that make you stop and just check out rocks and walls and stuff. its so inspiring.

From what I can tell they have been heavily influenced by the type of combat you see in Demon souls which was (apparently) very satisfying. I didnt play that one because I'm a wimp and the high difficulty scared me off.
.

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I wasn't particularly impressed with the first Witcher game, the gamelay was a bit clunky and detached i think. Still, brand new engine, reworked from the ground up, and this does look impressive.

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I can see your point, there are a few areas that need polishing but it was the developers first game so maybe I was a bit more forgiving with that. Hopefully they can improve and fix the little problems for the second one. It can be hard to back up a first successful project when everyone's expectations are up.

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[Link to www.3dprevis.com]

I just pre-purchased the witcher 2 on Direct to Drive. with promotional code "Bunny" it was only $32.00 AU. Normally i would get it on Steam but it was removed and that made me think they would raise the price on steam for Australia so as to conform to Australian Retail prices.
But, now I'm worried that a) the game may be refused classification because of the love scenes we Australians are all too immature to cope with. and b) that the Direct to drive version will somehow stop me from patching it and using mods down the line.
Has anyone experienced that with D2D games? I guess I could always buy it twice if thats the case. at $33.00 I could buy it again direct from GOG just to support the developer. How the hell does EB games think they can keep charging $109.00 for new games with services like Steam, GOG, and D2D a quarter of the price?

....What do you think the chances our ratings board will let this kind of filthy, disgusting, inexcusably explicit material into the country?.

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There are boobs galore in the first one, it's great. I think that because it's kind of a low profile game it goes under the radar a bit as far as ratings go, also the fact that it wasn't on consoles probably helps. We seem to be making a bit of progress towards the R18 thing, so hopefully t won't be an issue for much longer.

[Link to www.adelaidenow.com.au]

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[Link to www.3dprevis.com]

Yeah, I would love to see the look on Michael Atkinsons face the day that happens. I still have homicidal thoughts when ever I think about that guy.

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Just saw this on the Escapist.
[Link to www.escapistmagazine.com]

Small changes but still bollocks. Or maybe that should read lack of bollocks.

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[Link to www.3dprevis.com]

Yeah, this makes me angry on principle but I'm not really worried about it. I think if they actually cut out every scene with nudity or pixellated stuff in the love scenes it would be a shame but I would guess that its pretty much identical except you cant collect your bounty in sexual favours, which I guess is more or less crass anyway, to be honest I would have to agree that getting sex cards for each girl in the first game was a bit juvenile anyway, I'm not a prude but I think that sex in movies and films and games should be there to further the narrative and to help you be more invested in the characters and relationships that are being delivered. just the same as violence or any other heavy element helps to give gravity to a mature plot.
Im a huge fan of really heavy movies, I love watching crime dramas that deal with psychological themes, like say criminal minds, that make you feel something on that level. I find my self being gripped by movies about serial killers and stuff like that even though sometimes I regret watching certain things and it haunts me for days afterwards. I think that kind of thing is what the witcher has going for it, theres a seedy but interesting tone to the story that is part pulpy shock value and part genuinely solid storytelling.

but yeah, damn its really getting irritating as more games get refused classification and censored here. I would have liked to have a crack at mortal kombat too but not so much as to pay extra for postage. Do you think the D2D and or GOG downloadable version of the witcher 2 will have this change?

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well, I just checked D2D and it says the witcher 2 is not available to Australian customers. Steam has it for over $60.00 and GOG has it for $60+ aswell, although apparently GOG give Australians back $27 in store credit on GOG.com as a compensation. I think that charging us more so that JB Hifi and Eb games can go on charging double or triple is almost worse than whats going on with the classification system. As I said before, I paid $32.00 a few weeks ago on D2D. I'm just hoping they still honour the purchase or at least give me a refund.

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Not that anyone cares particularly about this issue but in regards to my previous post about price fixing. I just got a response from direct to drive and they will honour the $32.00AU purchase even though they can no longer sell the game to Australian or New Zealand customers. To me this is a pretty solid case for buying certain games several months in advance to avoid paying double or triple. Or I suppose wait a few months after release and pay a similar price.

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Something amusing concerning Skyrim that I thought I would share.

[Link to www.youtube.com]

Haven't played any of the Witcher series. Worth looking at?
Should really play through Dragon Age now that my computer upgrade will allow me.

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Like this giant fish in a bear suit. He would be horrible. Look at him go!!

That is really quite disturbing

I just played the first couple of hours of Witcher 2. Its good. Quite satisfying, difficult combat and the story seems like its going to be interesting.
It looks very pretty but its a tiny little bit dissappointing how you cant jump off ledges and generally move around the environments freely. Its similar to dragon age I guess in that you just move and fight through each area, you cant fall off ledges or cut corners. You just have to accept its not an open world assasins creed type deal and focus on what it does do well. Compared to dragon age this game does look loads better but somehow I still think the writing and voice acting in dragon age is better. people will compare this game to dragon age origins and mass effect 2 and I think if you look at general character movement and camera, mass effect 2 is better, in mass effect 2 there is no clumsy clipping when moving through doorways but in the witcher 2 it can feel a bit crowded somehow. Just something to get used to though I suppose.

obviously I cant comment on the story as its only just started but I'd say dragon age origins and mass effect still have a pretty good foothold, I mean its kind of meaningless to say one is better, they're all good experiences but judging by this games opening it seems to be a very complictated lore that may be a bit hard for some people to get into. Loads of medieval politics stuff that seems a little dry. so far it doesnt have the same charm that the first few hours of dragon age origins had, but its darker and more serious and that is appealing in a different way. Still, theres a long way to go and these types of games tend to creep up on you as you get more familar with the world and the characters.

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Haha, the first thing that annoyed me about the first witcher was the fact that you can't jump off ledges, infact you couldn't jump at all. Then you start noticing a lot of fences and walls everywhere and even the dreaded invisible wall occasionally. You do get used to it but it would have been nice to have even a little jump so you could jump off those small ledges and save a bit of time. And I can understand that the lore and politics would seem pretty complicated at first, I read one of the books before I played the first one and it still took a bit of time to get up to speed. As you mentioned though, these things tend to grow on you and before you know it you've got a minor addiction

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[Link to www.3dprevis.com]

Has anyone played an RPG called Haxima?

[Link to myweb.cableone.net]

I got really into it. A big problem is how deep some of the caves get. However, I like how you can be creative with how to use spells. I haven't had time to play it in a while, but, once I got into it, I had a fun.

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