Dustin

Gah... I'm getting desperate for more solid information on this game. I spent a solid couple of hours playing it at PAX Prime 2009, where everyone who signed up for their beta list were given guaranteed beta access... and now it's been over a year later and they're still in friends and family alpha testing?

I'm still extremely excited for the game because 1) The combat is a lot of fun, and 2) The game is gorgeous.

HOWEVER... there are more games coming out just like it that are getting more attention! BSG Online and Black Prophecy in particular. And with both of them being free-to-play (and Black Prophecy looking just as polished and professional as Jumpgate), it's going to be a hard sell to get gamers to stick with a subscription model Jumpgate...

This is so cool. I'm a huge Mizuguchi fan, so I'd love any crazy idea he has, but I'm extremely excited for this.

Something something games as art something something.

@The Wicker Man So what you're saying is... free swag for everyone!?

I'm so very, very there.

Can't wait for more @BBMT_Rocks action.

And hopefully another Joystiq-related panel? It'd be rad if the 360 Fancast could share a stage with the Joystiq Podcast.

A few boomers to kill everyone's appetite.

What?

Best. Preview. Ever.

"She can't protect the front and the back from my attacks!"

Who can, Ludwig?

Who can?

@Brockobama123 LOL. Payoffs? Sorry to break it to you, but... no. That's not how it works.

Joystiq is choosy about which games they review. If you listen to the podcast you can probably pick up on the fact. It's not that they keep giving out undeserving 5-star reviews, it's just that they tend to review only good games, or at least big-budget or otherwise interesting games.

It suits me as a gamer and a reader perfectly. I don't care about a review for the next Cabella's game -- I know I'm not going to buy it. And if I was, I'd use Metacritic or some such. But I DO know that I'm going to buy Civ5, and I bought Halo: Reach, and I respect Joystiq's opinions quite a bit... so I'm interested in reading the reviews. Even if they are usually 5 star. I tend to only buy the best games, you know? That's thanks in part to sites like Joystiq. They do their part to inform readers which games to buy, and thus support creativity and quality in the games industry.

Loved this review, and am glad to see Xander is so in love with the game! This is all I needed to convince me to pick Civ5 up.

Joystiq take note: for the occasional odd-ball like Civ, this style of review is perfect. I'd hate to see reviews become any more fractured (a la Kotaku) and messy, but this is the perfect balance. And although I loved the Halo: Reach review, something like this might even have been a good fit there, as well.

Dear Justin: please release a solo album STAT. I assume that Joystiq Publishing can get your back on this request, right?

And also, when F2P went live, didn't Turbine increase the amount of stat tome drops significantly?

This article grinds my gears.

You are right, Cristiano - if I were playing LotRO as totally F2P, I wouldn't even think twice about using the Store until level 25 or 30, and that's a LOT of quality game-time! A lot more than most F2P games give you before you start feeling the need to buy some stuff.