This strip won't make as much sense if you haven't read Alex "Marweas" Rodberg's now legendary quote from this RelicNews forum thread. And let's be absolutely transparent - he and I do not disagree materially on the quality of forum discourse in the most general sense. In fact, I believe I'm quoted as saying that they "appear to incubate and empower a twisted menagerie of fucking assholes." And no-one knows better than I do how difficult, almost impossible it is to please truly dedicated gamers. These are all matters quite apart from how the public face of a company should comport itself.

When discussing comparatively inexpensive games a week or so ago, I mentioned Port Royale in passing. I've played it for an additional two solid days since then, and what was once infatuation has blossomed into a genuine commitment. Comparing any game to the original Pirates! is rank heresy, I know - it's like comparing your Uncle Bob who plays the harmonica favorably with Jesus. And Sid Meier is preparing a follow-up to his classic Pirates!, and it will probably be excellent because everything he produces is excellent. I have even heard that his tears can raise the dead! Port Royale, though, takes the Pirates template and coaxes it into even greater brilliance. To my mind, the greatest addition is an extremely dynamic economy of twenty or so commodities - and check this out. Using an interface that will fucking enrage you the first time and then it's not so bad, you can set up completely independent convoys of ships with programmable "Trade Routes" that can - if well managed - make you a lot of money while you take quests and curry favor with governors. You can make it as complex as you'd like to, dropping things off at special buildings you've constructed in different places, selling and buying at certain prices, choosing which towns you'll repair in, you get the idea. The ones I've made are fairly basic, only three cities tops, but they do alright - I haven't tried any of the downloadable routes from Fame n' Fortune yet, but I shudder to think of the profits one could garner with a spreadsheet and a lot of free time. I have no idea how this game got to be thirty dollars, but if they're going to keep selling it for that don't ask any questions. I wouldn't even bring it up.

The server is so busy these days that I have a hard time getting images up when I want to show you something, and ninety percent of the time that's probably a good thing for you. Cats in lederhosen or cats in other traditional garb are probably not something you need in any great supply. However, I had some Tron 2.0 screens I took that might interest you, just as regular geeks and not necessarily Tron zealots like myself - pictures of the Internet, what it looks like inside a firewall, I was essentially on safari. I wish there was more Tron left, I'm sort of depressed now that I've finished it. It's going to sound stupid, but I felt better knowing I had someplace else to go.

(CW)TB out.

he's in the stall

I just thought I would post his comment here since the link to it seems to be getting hammered. It’s interesting that he believes that saying he’s not going to post there anymore is some kind of punishment to the community. He is a PR guy. That’s like the fucker who fills my inbox with Viagra spam telling me he’s sick of my attitude and so he won’t be sending me anymore mails about turning my dick into a monster.

Originally posted by Marweas
*yawn*

Well, I'll be concluding my participation in this forum with this post. Frankly, the effort put into keeping this miniscule community informed is not worth the aggravation or the time.

I just returned from Leipzig, Germany, where Homeworld 2 was demonstrated at a consumer Games Convention larger than ECTS. The game looked fantastic and people responded to it marvelously. Given that trade shows like ECTS are used to hype upcoming products, not products practically in stores, and given that VUG has about a gazillion games to market (most of which have greater earning potential than HW2) we made the decision to focus on other products at ECTS.

Enjoy the game.

I look forward to hearing more complaints about how Sierra ignores the community. I'm sure accusing instead of asking, and bitching instead of learning will accomplish your goals admirably.

Cheers, and goodbye. – Alex

I have been a fan of Mr. Rodberg’s PR bullshit for a long time. It appears now that he has decided to step down and retire from his role as corporate puppet. I remember the good old days when he would tell us how Tribes: Fast Attack was going to be the ultimate Tribes experience. You can’t get that kind of propaganda from just any PR guy. Alex was something special, and I’ll miss him. It’s a sad sad day indeed. Gamers the world over have lost their best source of corporate lies and misinformation. Who will grease the wheels on the giant hype machine now? What man could possibly fill the tiny tiny Prada shoes of Mr. Rodberg? Only time can give us the answers we so desperately need now. It is important that we help each other through these dark times. Alex may not be coming back to us, but we as gamers must still go on.

-Gabe out