Just remember that regenerating health also means you can get away with giving players less health. If players die as quickly as they do in COD games (3 bullets on average at some 700 bullets per minute), non-regenerating health would be frustrating. If you'd get hit by just a few stray shots you'd have to backtrack and get health again. This would slow down the game immensely.

So while regenerating health makes the game more forgiving in getting hit by a few bullets at a time, it also makes the combat more merciless. Step in the wrong direction and you're killed before you can blink. Because of that you can make a game that everyone can enjoy without having to give players enough health to absorb half a magazine of light machine gun ammo.

So yeah, regenerating health (or preferably shields) has its place in fps games. It just shouldn't be thrown into games that don't fit it.

Calling michael moore's documentaries "propaganda" completely shifts what we call propaganda. I still don't hear of many people calling "an inconvenient truth" propaganda too. Pretty much everything fox news networks spouts out also immediately comes under the header of propaganda, because being selective about what info you show based on what cause or "agenda" you support happens all the time there even if there's not some crazy raving lunatic having his fun hour.

He tries to make a point, and gathers as much info as possible to make that point. It never pretends to be a balanced look at the american healthcare system. That's what's so scary about propaganda. It's brought as if it's the absolute balanced truth. With sicko it's pretty clear from the start that it's opinionated and trying to make a point.

That said, even if you don't agree with his point of view, he does bring some things to light that you just can't deny. Stuff like the patients being left on the street in front of hospitals, 9/11 voluntary rescue workers going bankrupt from paying medical bills and just the U.N. numbers about how the US healthcare coverage and costs stack up against the rest of the world can't simply be ignored. Just like the bowling for columbine documentary, there's more to it than just a left wing campaign movie.

It partly has to do with developers/publishers listening too much to the fans. Fans generally don't know what they want. Ask them what they want in a new TES game, and they'll say "more of X, Y and Z" and multiplayer. Bethesda is smart enough to know that it's better to focus on doing a few things right than doing a lot of things badly, so with the next TES games we'll see less spells, maybe less weapons, less skills, and of course no multiplayer. And everyone will love the game.

Also it's a mentality of just sticking with what you know. It's like eating at a nice restaurant. The food enthusiasts will always try something new, excited for what the chef has thaught of. The people who just see food as something to feed them and that should taste decently nice will look for dishes that they already like. Same thing goes for games. They enjoyed coop in a game like halo, so they're just looking for games that have it too. The prospect of a new, better experience probably hasn't come up in their minds yet.

What are your picks for games that flew under the radar but were awesome?

For me, off the top of my head:

Condemned: Criminal Origins

Brothers in Arms: Hells Highway

Super Meat Boy

Chromehounds (until the online play was cancelled recently)

Trinexxx

I just want to add Shadowrun. It was criticized for a lot of reasons (most of which were good reasons), but it was the most awesome online multiplayer fps I've ever played. It just had a layer of strategy and intensity that every other game lacks.

I have no problem with Bungie, I love them. I just have no interest in an MMO that I have to pay a monthly fee to play after buying it. Don't misunderstand me here.

ironcreed

Looking like Bungie's new game may be an MMOFPS. Something like WOW in space. Don't know about you guys, but I sure as hell am not interested. Apologies if old.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6299745.html?tag=latestheadlines%3Btitle%3B1

ironcreed

Misconception 1: How much money you earn directly relates to how much you've "earned" by hard work. Manual laborers who work all day destroying their own body in the process barely scrape a living together while any decent CEO can make millions. Thing is, those CEO's wouldn't even have a job without legions of manual laborers. Progressive taxes just fix the natural imbalance in wages, while also taking money from where it doesn't hurt. This is why the tax cuts for the rich are a bad idea.

Misconception 2: It isn't a problem as long as middle class/lower class don't go backwards in how much they earn. If there's one thing we can learn from history is that empires fall because of huge differences between high and lower classes. It leads to social unrest and unhappiness. So yes, the rich getting way too rich can actually become a problem. Apart from that, there's a balancing aspect. If politicians cared about making the middle class better off, it would probably come from the share that the rich get. Economics isn't a zero sum game, but it's not too far off.

I think everyone by now sees the letters MMO and immediatly thinks of the endless MMORPG's, grinding, tank/healer/dps etc. According to the rumour it would be an MMOFPS, which would be something entirely different. It probably won't even involve grinding, because bungie have the reputation of making games that stay fun even if you play them years on end.

Also, just a thought - what if they add a superchared forge system? Basically letting the players shape the world around them. I think it could be awesome.

Several years ago (something like 2007/06 I think) microsoft made a big whoop about a new halo game that I never heard about again. It was going to be developed by a studio other than bungie, and was supposed to focus heavily on storytelling. At least, I THINK that's what happened. Can anyone remember this, or am I just imagining it?

I think Bungie has got a bright future ahead of them. I'm pretty sure their deal with activision is awesome. Basically, keeping creative freedom and all that while having the biggest publisher in the industry behind you to turn the biggest ideas into reality. Anyways, bungie themselves were very happy with the deal.