A Few Thoughts

[Peace Lover]

I don't often feel the need to post about things like this, but this game has restored my faith in many ways.

I am 28 and have been playing games ever since the original LCD Donkey Kong and Mario Brothers. I have owned a Vic 20, Spectrum, Dragon, Master System, Game Gear, Amiga and various PCs... maybe not in that order. More and more recently games seem to have become things of absolutely amazing graphics, but not much fun to play. I recall fondly Ultima 4 on the Master System (on any format really, guiding an 8 x 8 sprite around the landscape.) It was ace. I remember playing Wolfenstein 3D and the original Civilisation. The graphics were terrible by today's standards, and yet I would regularly get no sleep trying to complete them. I don't believe modern versions have the same allure, although I am willing to concede I am older!

Defcon, to me, gets back to the old school idea of having great gameplay without necessarily over-egging the graphics. I love it. I found out about it about 4 months before its release and have not been as excited about a new game in a long time. On launch day I was gutted when the servers seemd to be overloaded (as should have been obvious.) Been playing since then and am slowly getting better. Simplicity and depth are very difficult to get right, and yet I think mostly this game works very well indeed.

The other thing which is great are the people who play it. They seem mostly to be friendly, funny and decent. Compared to some of the people I clash with on XBox Live... well, I need say no more, probably.

In closing, I need to make a few apologies. I have hosted a few 6 player games which have bombed out. I think this is either because my comp doesn't like 6 players with spectators... I now have a 5 player limit when I host, just in case, but I am going to experiment this weekend. Also, to those who played my comedy game earlier, with Team Switching, it was just supposed to be funny, and I DID mention it before the game started. I am absolutely not a hacker, unless you can hack this game by writing some VBA for MS Access!

Enough waffling, hope to play some of you soon,

Peace Lover.

spelling!

[DueAccident]

Agreed. So many games just fail to keep me interested, and I seemingly end up going back to playing older games again and again. Games on the N64, such as Goldeneye, or F-Zero X just keep bringing me back for just that one more go.
Also the legendary button bashing fest that is Track and Field on the PS has a large amount of time dedicated to it over the many years.
But it is unfair to say modern games aren't as good as older games, as I can think of many (relatively) modern games that I have played a lot (probably too much, truth be told...) as well.

I also find it ironic that a person with a nick 'Peace Lover' is talking about his love of a game that is essentially nuking a country and getting megadeaths

[HermanKahn]

I too have been having problems keeping connected to games with 4+ players. It has gotten progressively worse over the last week or so.

And just today, I am unable to even launch Defcon. The steam window opens indicates it is loading for about a second, followed by a Windows XP error message stating that "defcon.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close." I have tried reinstalling the game and verifying its integrity in steam. Really, the gameplay is fantastic, but I'm starting to regret spending 10 bucks on a game with problems that just seem to keep getting worse.

[HermanKahn]

I too have been having problems keeping connected to games with 4+ players. It has gotten progressively worse over the last week or so.

And just today, I am unable to even launch Defcon. The steam window opens indicates it is loading for about a second, followed by a Windows XP error message stating that "defcon.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close." I have tried reinstalling the game and verifying its integrity in steam. Really, the gameplay is fantastic, but I'm starting to regret spending 10 bucks on a game with problems that just seem to keep getting worse.

[HermanKahn]

I too have been having problems keeping connected to games with 4+ players. It has gotten progressively worse over the last week or so.

And just today, I am unable to even launch Defcon. The steam window opens indicates it is loading for about a second, followed by a Windows XP error message stating that "defcon.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close." I have tried reinstalling the game and verifying its integrity in steam. Really, the gameplay is fantastic, but I'm starting to regret spending 10 bucks on a game with problems that just seem to keep getting worse.

[HermanKahn]

I too have been having problems keeping connected to games with 4+ players. It has gotten progressively worse over the last week or so.

And just today, I am unable to even launch Defcon. The steam window opens indicates it is loading for about a second, followed by a Windows XP error message stating that "defcon.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close." I have tried reinstalling the game and verifying its integrity in steam. Really, the gameplay is fantastic, but I'm starting to regret spending 10 bucks on a game with problems that just seem to keep getting worse.

[HermanKahn]

I too have been having problems keeping connected to games with 4+ players. It has gotten progressively worse over the last week or so.

And just today, I am unable to even launch Defcon. The steam window opens indicates it is loading for about a second, followed by a Windows XP error message stating that "defcon.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close." I have tried reinstalling the game and verifying its integrity in steam. Really, the gameplay is fantastic, but I'm starting to regret spending 10 bucks on a game with problems that just seem to keep getting worse.

[HermanKahn]

I too have been having problems keeping connected to games with 4+ players. It has gotten progressively worse over the last week or so.

And just today, I am unable to even launch Defcon. The steam window opens indicates it is loading for about a second, followed by a Windows XP error message stating that "defcon.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close." I have tried reinstalling the game and verifying its integrity in steam. Really, the gameplay is fantastic, but I'm starting to regret spending 10 bucks on a game with problems that just seem to keep getting worse.

[MrBunsy]

Looks like your internet connection HermanKahn, not Defcon, which has been causing problems to me. Tip: don't hit the post button more than once, even if it doesn't appear to be doing anything.

The servers overloading on release was a bit of a bummer, but they were up and running within about an hour, and after about a week in the metaserver was tweaked or somehting, and I've had no more problems since! I do get the impression Defcon was a much larger hit than expected.

I haven't been playing games nearly as long as you, but definatly agree that Defcon has hit the 'gameplay over graphics' spot on! Something the big companies don't quite seem to have grasped.

[Peace Lover]

DueAccident,

You are correct, there are a lot of modern games which do cut the mustard. I was indeed being unfair, and forgetting perhaps my addictions to Medieval Total War and Halo 2. I also suppose games companies have always been striving to push graphics as much as possible. I recall when 16 colours on screen was seen as a breakthrough!

Defcon is still ace though, and given my understanding of the size of Introversion, surely can only be praised.

HermanKahn,

I am not sure about the Steam version. There do seem to be some issues with it. I don't use Steam though, so can't really comment, although it might seem that the problem is with the Steam service rather than the game. Like MrBunsy, after a few initial hiccups I am having no major problems.

Think I might have to buy Darwinia and Uplink now, if only to support Introversion. Not that they probably need it now. Anyone know how many copies of Defcon have been sold?

spelling!

[Useful Dave]

11000+ At Least.

[wwarnick]

Introversion seem to treat game development as an art rather than a competition. This gives them the freedom to make the games they have. And thank goodness there's people out there that appreciate that.

And Peace Lover, Uplink and Darwinia are great games, too. However, a warning. They are not in the least the same genre as Defcon. Darwinia is part strategy, but not nearly the same way. But again, they are great games in their own right.

wwarnick

[DueAccident]

I too have been having problems keeping connected to games with 4+ players. It has gotten progressively worse over the last week or so.

And just today, I am unable to even launch Defcon. The steam window opens indicates it is loading for about a second, followed by a Windows XP error message stating that "defcon.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close." I have tried reinstalling the game and verifying its integrity in steam. Really, the gameplay is fantastic, but I'm starting to regret spending 10 bucks on a game with problems that just seem to keep getting worse.

M-m-m-m-monster kill!

And wwarnick:
I agree, their games come out as masterpieces, and do greatly in sales I would imagine, since they are getting more and more recognition for their games. People actually know they exist now, after Defcon being made, and they start to look back at their other games and get Uplink/Darwinia as well. Seen it happen a lot, as on the order site, both other games are right below it. Perfect placement Intro.