We need a Jaws

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Al
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We need a Jaws

Post by Al »

At the time when Jaws was released the conventional wisdom in the movie industry was that you don't release movies in the summer. It's sunny, people are doing outdoor activities and generally not interested in seeing movies. Spielberg proved this to be wrong when he released Jaws on June 20, 1975 to rave reviews. Studio execs were shocked-- SHOCKED --that people were lining up around the block to see the only good movie out at the time for weeks on end. And with that the summer blockbuster was born.

The computer/console game industry needs a Jaws. The Bard's Tale, which is getting good buzz from what I hear, would have made a good one. Instead it’s releasing two weeks ahead of Halo 2 and on the same day at GTA: San Andreas. You know that even if it is good it's still going to get absolutely buried.
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Itsatrap
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Post by Itsatrap »

Heck, I'd settle for a quality release during the February-August drought.

- Alan
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CeeKay
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Post by CeeKay »

Itsatrap wrote:Heck, I'd settle for a quality release during the February-August drought.

- Alan
Usually you'll see a decent release in May, but then June through August there's nothing. Granted, it's a great time to catch up on your backlog....
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Post by Dramatist »

Yeah, I would love for the big releases I'm interested in to be spread out a bit.

Look at EQ2 and WoW, reports say they are coming out the same week. Sheesh.
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Post by Dirt »

What was the last sleeper hit? Haven't had those in awhile.
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Post by lildrgn »

Painkiller? Far Cry?
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FishPants
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Post by FishPants »

I would definitely say Far Cry was the sleeper hit of the year. I hadn't heard anything about it (although the older.. and older.. and older.. I get the less time I have to read about the latest games), and was pleasantly surprised at the graphics. For that matter I didn't even know The Bard's Tale was being recreated?! Guess I am out of touch hehe. Now if we could only convince Phillip Price to re-work Alternate Reality into a modern game... (I hope some others remember that one..).
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warning
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Post by warning »

I read today that Painkiller sold over 300,000 copies so far. That was a pleasant surprise.
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Post by Zarathud »

Alternate Reality? I think I remember that one. Weren't there two versions - male/female?

I'll second Far Cry, even though I didn't partake of the goodness (FPS games are starting to bore me). What about Dominions? That game was a huge hit. And personally I'll count Political Machine -- I definitely got my money's worth in the time before Rome:Total War hit the stores.
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Post by FishPants »

I don't recall there being a male/female version in Alternate Reality.. On the 8bit platform there was The City (you were abducted by UFOs in "modern day" and then dropped in some alien world, no idea wtf you are doing there, and it's a "fantasy" style 1st person RPG).. Anyhow it was highly addictive, and made me miss many a soccer games as a young kid ;)
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Post by EngineNo9 »

warning wrote:I read today that Painkiller sold over 300,000 copies so far. That was a pleasant surprise.
That's not exactly blockbuster numbers but for a lesser known shooter (that I loved) it's pretty good. I hope they add a lot of cool stuff in the expansion.
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Post by Zarathud »

Aha! Been rattling my brain awhile to figure out the main name of the game subtitled "The City" -- Alternate Reality! I loved that game, but never finished it because my C128 (an upgraded C64, with built-in floppy drive) went the way of the dodo. The game with separate Male/Female versions was Alter Ego.
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“Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.” - John Stuart Mill, Inaugural Address Delivered to the University of St Andrews, 2/1/1867
“It is the impractical things in this tumultuous hell-scape of a world that matter most. A book, a name, chicken soup. They help us remember that, even in our darkest hour, life is still to be savored.” - Poe, Altered Carbon
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Post by FishPants »

Zarathud wrote:Aha! Been rattling my brain awhile to figure out the main name of the game subtitled "The City" -- Alternate Reality! I loved that game, but never finished it because my C128 (an upgraded C64, with built-in floppy drive) went the way of the dodo. The game with separate Male/Female versions was Alter Ego.
That's the thing, there was no end to Alternate Reality: The City. They released the "Dungeon" on the Commodore platform, and then promptly folded as a team and split up (I believe it was infighting since the game itself was very very successful). I remember walking to different areas and it would ask for expansion disks (which for the most part never came out) like The Wilderness, The Arena and various other areas. I was really hoping they would remake it. Ah well. If you want to visit a decent fan site I found this one via google: http://kang.aroo.tv/ar/
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Post by LawBeefaroni »

Funny thing. I picked up Bloodrayne2 (Xbox) on Friday. In the back of the manual is an ad for a Jaws game. An actual game based on the movie Jaws. I have no idea how you make a game of that, but there it is. Says it's coming in 2005.
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Al
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Post by Al »

Proof that the suits read this site and don't frigging get it, I guess.
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Grinfin
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Post by Grinfin »

Didn't Alternate Reality come with lyrics to one of the tunes? I seem to remember a tune that ended with "alternate reality." If it's the same game, my roommate and I both couldn't get very far because we always contracted some deadly disease that we couldn't rid of and died.
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Post by FishPants »

Grinfin wrote:Didn't Alternate Reality come with lyrics to one of the tunes? I seem to remember a tune that ended with "alternate reality." If it's the same game, my roommate and I both couldn't get very far because we always contracted some deadly disease that we couldn't rid of and died.
Ah busted! That was their copy protection; you can load up the game but your character is diseased (or you were trying to beat down the homeless which will get you diseased hehe).

The lyrics were for the songs when you were in the taverns, the music would play and karaokee like lyrics would light up at the bottom.
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Al
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Post by Al »

Let me tell you
bout Thoreandan
the man who bit off
the dragon's hand
no blows from his
sword ever did land
so he bit off
the dragon's hand

And other lyrics.
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Grinfin
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Post by Grinfin »

Hey, I did my fair share of pirating back in the day but that game was store bought, which made our untimely deaths even more frustrating. And it was on a Mac so there wasn't exactly much variety to be had. Walking into computer stores and seeing all the PC games (in color no less) was depressing.
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Post by Petey Wheatstraw »

Zarathud wrote:Alternate Reality? I think I remember that one. Weren't there two versions - male/female?
You're probably thinking about Alter Ego - there was only one version, but at the start you chose to play the game as either male or female.

http://mobygames.com/game/sheet/p,27/gameId,2194/
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