   The Ship
Steam link, $20 USD. This game is out on Steam and is supposed to be on retail shelves in September.So, has anyone played it? Apart from ram (512MB, probably is lower if you use 2K/98) it has low system requirements, and seems to be well targeted at a mature market. No twitch gaming or grind leveling means very few 14 year old "l33t dudes" spamming the chat with "ur gey" and griefing (Battlefield 2 anyone?). It's also cheap, which makes me very tempted to pick it up.My only holdback is Steam - what is it currently like? Does it install/modify any drivers, does it run in any way outside of the game? Does anyone know if the retail version will work without Steam (it's claimed it [retail version] will have a story mode)?If Steam isn't an annoyance (i.e. it only runs with the game and does not mess with my systems drivers or hardware) it could be an interesting GameDev social game - low system requirements, low price, designed for mature gamers.   
  It sounds alright. I was considering buying it, but I asked a few friends, none of them were going to buy it so I didn't bother...Steam is reasonable. It doesn't patch into your system. It runs out of the game, if you really want (Games menu, friends system, etc.), but the most it will do is run at startup, and it definitely asks you first.   ;  Steam is fine, have no problems with it.  Doesn't install or modify drivers, only warns you if your drivers are out of date when attempting to play some games.  Steam can run in the background and update games when patches are available but its up to you if you want it to.As for The Ship, meh.  Apparently it used to be a free mod for HL1 (never played it but friends did).  Looked interesting when I was first reading about it but then reading some more and watching the trailers I decided not to buy it, that and none of my friends want it either.Maybe if they do a free weekend deal I'll try it...;  Heh, that is the first I have heard of this one. Too funny! I am sure there are those who would frown on the theme of the game but nothing wrong with occasionally whacking someone with a frying pan :)   ;  [flaming][flaming][flaming] The Ship used to be free. [flaming][flaming][flaming]Anyway, it's a fairly amusing game, although I lost interest after a couple days. The basic idea is that every player is assigned to take out exactly one other player. You only know who you're out to get. You don't know who's out to get you, or who else is chasing whom else. You're pretty much on your own when it comes to finding weapons. You also can't run around with a weapon; if you're spotted with one you get detained. So being discreet is of utmost importance, both so you don't tip off your target that you're after them, and that you don't get spotted trying to take them out. If you get knocked off, you're finished for the round.The interactions between players, and the need to whack your target without anyone else seeing it, makes for a fairly challenging game overall.   ;Quote:Original post by Promit[flaming][flaming][flaming] The Ship used to be free. [flaming][flaming][flaming]It also used to be an experimental Half Live 1 mod. The current "The Ship" is an entirely new game based on the Half Life 2 Source engine, the mod was just a prototype to test out the rather radical game design with a live audience. Though I doubt anyone is stopping you from setting up a server and running the old mod.;  I have been playing this for a little while now, and it's to highbrow for most of the counterstrike suckers, and the $20 price also helps keep out the rifraff.It's a lot of fun, and it's slow enough that while it lags a bit if you have a slow machine, it doesn't kill the game. You actualy have to use strategy, as in you can talk to the person you are stalking, lure them somewhere, and hack them with an axe. You are penalized for killing the wrong target, or brandishing your weapon infront of a camera.This game is fun. Wallhacking, aimhacking, speedhacking, all would be useless in this game because it's either serverside, or no real sniping. It's all about thinking, which is quite refreshing.   