Island wide chat?  No thanks.

I can see where the chin would have shovel-like properties and therefore impart a significant bonus.  How much mass does it add?

Was that feature in the first Tribes game?  It's been a while and I didn't play anything past the first one.  Off the top, I can't recall there being a deployable camera.

I do recall saying something about that.  It bears (re)mention.

This is a game.  You're playing it to have fun, I hope.  Screw making NIC.  That comes along all by itself just like getting more EP.  MMOs are made in such a way that even the least involved, worthless bum can make a living for themselves.  It's literally impossible to fail so stop sweating the small stuff and get out there to have fun.

There are discussions elsewhere in the forum about the worthiness of PvE as a means of entertainment over PvP.  Valid arguments are being kicked back and forth, but there's a wide rift between PvP and PvE player populations just as there is in any other game that attempts to appeal to both camps.

What I presume will happen is that the community will eventually polarize.  The results will invariably be a large but fairly quiet PvE subculture and a vocal but smaller PvP subculture.  I'd hazard a guess that there'll be about 1 person in Beta per 4 in alpha.  I doubt highly that distribution exists in Perp-O just yet as early MMO adopters tend to lean a tad more towards PvP than the mainstream crowd does.

Anyway, getting around to the point, I agree that PvE aspects of the game, while adequate, could use some expansion efforts.  I have faith in the development team to deliver the goods in upcoming game patches.  They know their audience better than we do or could estimate since they have the ability to capture metrics from their systems to determine what people are or aren't doing.  They also probably have a long-term vision of where the game will be in a few years.  That plan probably includes some sweet PvE loving.

Just an update...I've got other real life things to do including a retry at beating an old favorite of mine that I've found has an improved version that I never played:

http://www.codeproject.com/KB/game/star … _text.aspx

To that end, though I will still be graciously accepting invitations to your various channels, I won't be as active as I previously hoped.  These days, I log into the ICS terminal, chatter a little and then log out.  Hit me up with in-game mail if you're interested in inviting me.

What just happened?

You sir, are a good man indeed!

You could just use a sharpie marker on the screen.  That'd be a fairly permanent way to place information on your radar.

I recall there being some mention about that.  AI can be remarkably inefficient, but planning and implementation of the design can hide a large number of processor efficient shortcuts that are scripted responses vs building a complex AI code.  Also, once done right, modularity makes it possible to reapply it elsewhere or sell it for profits.

Also, the PS3's processors are pocket calculators with tiny hidden monkies inside these days.  It's commonly known that their cell processors are a pain in the behind to use efficiently.  Nevermind the simple lack of raw horsepower relative to anything modern.

I know I'm opening a can of worms with that comment and someone will say "But look at how it runs modern games so well, you ***!"  To head that thought off at the pass consider how much money is at stake in the console market versus the PC gaming market and you'll see that modern games target current generation consoles with system requirements to allow greater sales.  Developers have little to no economical incentive to make use of modern PC hardware that has long since marched forward.

That's true for any code.  More lines = more complexity = more stupid bugs & unintended effects.  That's no reason not to bother writing it if budget constraints permit it to be so.

Speaking of idiot AI...Star Wars: Battlefront stands out in my mind as a massive failure.  Let's take an already stupid Battlefield 1942 AI and change the weapon/vehicle dynamics, add difficult (for the existing AI) terrain, and then do nothing to make the bots more aware of their own capabilities.

Good idea!  I'm all about some sort of currency that has multiple units with different base values.  Where's the copper, silver, gold, plat currency system when you need it?