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It's interesting to note that RenderWare is also behind Konami's Winning Eleven soccer game.

GameSpot concurs.

Quake IV was announced in 2001.

Don't take my word for it. Or the reviewers. here's what NVIDIA has to say about it:

"A good quality 350W power supply with a sufficient 12V rail pull can support the 6800 Ultra standard clocks of 400/550. A lot of reviewers have already shown that they are running on 350W power supplies with no problems."

st person shooter where you play an angel
Tring to defeat satan, while learning about the bible.
( wicked cool )

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/warinheaven/

1st person shooter where you play an angel
Tring to defeat satan, while learning about the bible.
( wicked cool )

http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/warinheaven/

PS2 software sales in 2003 amounted to a little under $3 billion [...] with almost 80 million software units sold

That means that the PS2 library alone pulled in more than double the gross monetary sales of all computer games (PC & Mac) combined. And the console games offered a higher profit margin, too.

Uhm. Sony is bigger than Microsoft. Not just in consoles, in general

Uhm. No, they're not... Sony vs. Microsoft

Since Sony is 6 or 7 times as big in consoles...

Sony has the advantage of experience in this field, that's agreed. But does that mean they have staying power? Things already look like the tide is turning. But as the GameSpot article points out, this trend may not be long term either. I would be interested in seeing more recent and some long term figures. Just to note; this is all without the consideration of the threat of XBox 2 being pushed out earlier than PS3.

If Kerry wins, will he restore the Clinton anti-trust enforcement and break up Microsoft?

Not to scoff but I really don't think that the anti-trust actions had as much to do with fair competition as it did with politics. I don't see it being a big issue in the face of current world matters.

Will OpenOffice and an improving Linux force Microsoft to cut prices in their three main profit centers (desktop OS, server OS, office suite)? Will stockholders insist that Microsoft distribute its cash reserves? Microsoft's "unlimited funds" are not eternal.

Very true for their unlimited funds but I highly doubt that this is going to come from a Linux threat. Not to be a troll or to get too far off of target but, as I've said in other posts, I keep hearing about this Linux revolution but I still just do not see it. Talk about companies fighting great odds with a small market share... If Linux has an honest chance of cutting into MicroSoft's profits to the point that MS has to give up it's very profitable console venture than you must concede that MicroSoft has a better chance of knocking Sony out of the #1 console spot.

Interestingly, Alienware is planning a dual-Xeon gaming system, with two PCI-Express video cards: one rendering the top half of the screen, the other rendering the bottom half.

Check it out here or here. Or from the horses mouth here.

Since they chose a dual-Xeon setup, I would assume such a setup is either a good choice for gaming or just sounds pretty to the marketing department. That said, Intel will soon begin to put out dual-core CPUS, so some of the game programmers out there are probably contemplating games designed around a dual-CPU core setup, rather than mere hyperthreading.

Well, they DO make 2D games still- take a look at Metal Slug 3.

I was VERY interested in this before it came out- I thought it sounded like a good idea, to put a 2D shooter on more modern hardware, and see what happens.

Well, I got the demo, I found out what happens...In my opinion, it sucks.

As confused as I was the first time I played Mario 64- I realize that it was a huge step in gaming. I loved Donkey Kong Country, and I liked Donkey Kong 64 (except for chasing those damn bananas...what a pain in the ass) but so much progress has been made with 3D gaming that going back to 2D is well...quite a let-down.

Take a look at the Panzer Dragoon series of games. Play Panzer Dragoon Orta on the Xbox, then go back to the others. The previous games were good, but absolutely no match for Orta.

Nostalgia is big in America right now. A lot of people are convinced that things were so much better in the past (just watch 'I love the 80s' or 'I love the 90s', or notice how fondly people use the term 'old school'). Hopefully this will run out of steam soon, and we can get back to the business of creating a future...not looking back on our childhood with rose colored glasses.

I do think the escalation in violence in video games is a bad trend. If all that games are good for is simulated killing, then it becomes hard to defend it as artistic statement (and thus protected speech). Yes, there are a few exceptions to the rule, but I think most games released now are about killing stuff, with simulated violence. (If you don't believe this, just check out gamespot's front page at any given moment. Right now I see, Dead or Alive Ultimate, WH40K: Dawn of War, Disciple II: Elves, Ghosthunter, etc, etc. The only games I see there that *aren't* about killing stuff are sports games.)

I like games, and I indeed like many games involving killing stuff. But the current state of the industry should be at least a little embarrasing for any gamer, or game developer.

Sony will have to work hard to make Everquest2 successful. I know they're the kings of MMORPG, but I think that Everquest2 lacks something when compared to World of Warcraft or even City of Heroes. Those two games don't rely on graphics; they have original, imaginative design and art. Take a look at these screenshots. I think I have seem those scenes before.

you know how hardcore gamers are nowadays.

Yeah I know them, I used to be one. My response is they wont be at QuakeCon because if they're devoting that much time to playing the game to master it, it means they dont have jobs and cant afford the plane ticket, much less the hotel, and etc.

Lets use your original post concept. The people that said about no one having a chance to master it are the QuakeCon people, not ID Software. I believe it will be the first doom 3 tournament, but the release of Doom 3 can be a week or two before QuakeCon or (what I really think) the day QuakeCon starts. Infact the QuakeCon people may think Doom 3 isnt coming out till after the event because Doom 3 hasnt gone gold yet. However, there is still plenty of time for it to go gold and also ship on August 3rd.

Also the first time someone played Doom 3, excluding the crappy beta leak (which you mentioned), was at QuakeCon 2003. Granted it wasnt a tournament.

It's not confirmed

Sorry, that's just speculation. The Aug 3rd date was first put forward by ebgames (who is always accurate as we know) and then every other retailer jumped on that date.

Oh I agree. Haven't seen a "totally awful in every way" game in years.

Oh yeah? You must have missed this one then...

In an interesting twist on the standard in industry pricing (which Slashdot previously covered), Sega's ESPN NFL 2K5 is an astoundingly low $20.00.

Remarkably (and understandably, imho), some fans of the series have been worried that because people view $50.00 as the entry point for "good" games, people will pass on a $20.00 game because it obviously sucks if it's so cheap.

Visual Concept (the developers of the game) and Take 2 interactive's response to this argument can be read here. Quite an interesting read. Gaining market share is absolutely crucial for the future of the Sega NFL franchise, and they know it.

I agree. This has actually happened for a MMORPG. It's called Allegiance and was created by Microsoft.
Gamespot gamespace here
I'm very tempted to download it and see what the fans have done.

The reason why console games are so vigourously play tested is because once you make a playable disc or cartridge on a system, there's no such thing as a do over.

Every time there is some discussion that involves the possible patching of games, someone hauls out this old cliche that console games are more properly playtested than PC games. It's not true.

What's true is that consoles are easier to test for than PCs because PCs involve countless configurations of hardware and software whereas every Xbox/PS2/GameCube is pretty much the same. This makes testing easier and it makes finding bugs easier on a console.

Despite this fact, there are quite a few console games with terrible bugs. Driv3r shipped with terrible pop in and strange flickering graphics; At least three games no longer work if you are using the new big memory card on your GameCube; Tomb Raider, Angel of Darkness was full of problems; So was Enter the Matrix; Knight of the Old Republic had a bunch of known issues; Thief: Deadly Shadows has abrutal AI bug; even SSX Tricky locks up my GameCube from time to time.

Console games are full of bugs, we're just used to playing around them or ignoring them. PC games have more bugs because it's harder to find them and because a lot of them involve the arcane interactions of strange hardware configurations. Properly finding PC bugs requires more time and resources, both of which most publishers aren't willing to give, especially when consoles are a bigger part of the market.

Repeat after me: it's not laziness, it's complexity.

The reason why console games are so vigourously play tested is because once you make a playable disc or cartridge on a system, there's no such thing as a do over.

Every time there is some discussion that involves the possible patching of games, someone hauls out this old cliche that console games are more properly playtested than PC games. It's not true.

What's true is that consoles are easier to test for than PCs because PCs involve countless configurations of hardware and software whereas every Xbox/PS2/GameCube is pretty much the same. This makes testing easier and it makes finding bugs easier on a console.

Despite this fact, there are quite a few console games with terrible bugs. Driv3r shipped with terrible pop in and strange flickering graphics; At least three games no longer work if you are using the new big memory card on your GameCube; Tomb Raider, Angel of Darkness was full of problems; So was Enter the Matrix; Knight of the Old Republic had a bunch of known issues; Thief: Deadly Shadows has abrutal AI bug; even SSX Tricky locks up my GameCube from time to time.

Console games are full of bugs, we're just used to playing around them or ignoring them. PC games have more bugs because it's harder to find them and because a lot of them involve the arcane interactions of strange hardware configurations. Properly finding PC bugs requires more time and resources, both of which most publishers aren't willing to give, especially when consoles are a bigger part of the market.

Repeat after me: it's not laziness, it's complexity.

I do recall a recent game that involved some bad stuff happening in the US, and you taking control of a band of freedom fighters.

And you'll never guess what it's called... (BTW, it was on GC, Xbox, and PC too).

One thing Atari does do well, which obviously does not include making great epic games, is teasing the press. Quite frankly, the press has no balls, and Atari's Enter the Matrix proved it once. EGM, for example, dedicated half of its magazine and cover to the game the month before it came out, with cautious but glowing language. Driver 3 proves the balllessness of the press once again. Driv3r isn't nearly the comedown that ETM was, but for a massively marketed game that's getting 5/10s and 60%s, it's as if these people had played an entirely different game before it came out.

EGM's, for example, doesn't say specifically, "this is a great game," but it comes as close as it can. Driver 3, EGM claims, is "high-revving hardly-a-GTA-clone that's peeling rubber to the PlayStation 2 and Xbox." The language used is as excited as it woul be in a 8 or 9/10 review. Yet, they're not even looking at the full game. I wouldn't doubt if a majority of the preview came from a designer just talking about great the game is, and the previewer transcribing it.

1up, the online media conglomerate for several print magazines, goes further. "Judging by the time we've spent so far with the near-final . . . it avoids the pitfalls that all the other GTA wannabes fell into. From a technical standpoint, DRIV3R is already something special."

CVG is as generous and used as many exclamation points as the editor probably allowed. "We haven't even had a chance to talk about how the top-notch storyline is shaping up, the amazing Hollywood voice cast, how cool the first-person viewpoint is and the way you can complete missions by going in with your guns blazin' or your wheels squealin'."

Gamepro, in a hands on preview, said the game "was looking very nice," "collision detection is already solid," and the "variety is sure to please anyone." Likewise, Gampro promises that "Driv3r is already shaping up into what looks like an incredibly fun title."

Of the quick survey I did of DRIV3R's previews, IGN's was sadly the most realistic. They list a few of its problems, but then reassure, "We know it'll be fixed." The rest of the preview sounds like a giddy school girl. Likewise, Gamespot admits that the graphics are rough, but "Driver 3 definitely looks promising." Then, like IGN, they seem to apologize for that nugget of truth with an entire paragraph on how great Driver 3 will be. It's as if they just insulted the game designers' mothers.

What's happening here is a symbiotic relationship between the press and the publishers. Like movies, music, or comic books, in most cases a game makes a majority of its sales during the first 2-4 weeks of its shelflife. There are exceptions, including GTA3, but the largest portion of games aren't GTA3s, but DRIV3Rs. With regards to print magazines, that renders the reviews almost useless. The people that buy after the first month probably don't read game magazines and sites nearly as much as those who do buy in the first month. Secondly, first day buyers often don't even have online reviews, let alone the print reviews which come out a full month or two after the game's release. That means that buyers are relying on previews almost exclusively.

And I think the publishers know it. What's going on here is simple, as demonstrated by the extremely apologetic and defensive Gamespot and IGN reviewers, is that if the previewers were honest, they'd lose their "exclusives" and

Did anyone ever play Majestic ? This was the 'MMo' that attempted to integrate itself with your real life via faxes, phone calls, E-Mail, and WWW browsing. Think: The Game.

Besides its incredibly unique method of interaction, the gameplay was also structured into 'episodes'. I think they were officially called "Chapters". This was quite nice for several reasons. As mentioned in the article, you didn't need to devote yourself entirely to playing. But it also helped structure players together that are in roughly the same place in the game. It also allowed the developers to craete the content as the game went along. I was blessed to be one of the beta testers for Majestic, and new chapters were rolled out to us about a month before everyone else. That sort of development model can really cut down on the initial investment required for a MMO. It requires less content to start, and thus a quicker revenue stream.


--LordPixie

p.s.Did anyone else play this game ? I personally loved even the unpolished beta version I played. A real shame when it went under.

"Nintendo's net profit dropped by a massive 50.7 percent, falling to 33.2 billion yen ($297 million) for its financial year 2004. However, Nintendo's downfall was not due to a lack of business. The company's sales were up 2.1 percent to 514.8 billion yen ($4.61 billion), and its operating income was also up by 7.6 percent to 107.7 billion yen ($966 million). Rather, Nintendo's decline is directly attributed to its one-time foreign exchange loss of 67.8 billion yen ($608 million), which emerged from revaluation of its foreign currency assets, courtesy of the rising yen and the falling dollar. The company expects to get back on track in the upcoming year, forecasting sales of 530 billion yen ($4.7 billion) and a net profit of 70 billion yen ($620 million) for FY2005."

gamespot.com

I sure wouldn't think Nintendo a company that has always been profitable except for the first half last year due to things not in there control and doesn't look to be happening to the extreme it did is suddenly going to die. Sorry about that messed up msg i posted before

Just curious why you say Nintendo is headed in that direction? They haven't lost gobs of money on the GCN (unlike Microsoft with the XBox). Now they did lose money due to the inflation of the Yen. "Nintendo's net profit dropped by a massive 50.7 percent, falling to 33.2 billion yen ($297 million) for its financial year 2004. However, Nintendo's downfall was not due to a lack of business. The company's sales were up 2.1 percent to 514.8 billion yen ($4.61 billion), and its operating income was also up by 7.6 percent to 107.7 billion yen ($966 million). Rather, Nintendo's decline is directly attributed to its one-time foreign exchange loss of 67.8 billion yen ($608 million), which emerged from revaluation of its foreign currency assets, courtesy of the rising yen and the falling dollar. The company expects to get back on track in the upcoming year, forecasting sales of 530 billion yen ($4.7 billion) and a net profit of 70 billion yen ($620 million) for FY2005." http://www.gamespot.com/news/2004/05/27/news_60994 53.html I sure wouldn't think Nintendo a company that has always been profitable except for the first half last year due to things not in there control and doesn't look to be happening to the extreme it did is suddenly going to die.

Compare a first rate developer game (like MGS2) to Halo (another first rate developer game). The difference isn't that big. Compare anygame made on both (like the EA sports line) and again the difference isn't that big. PS2 is technological inferior, but it's passable. And we're beyond the point were improvement in graphics have huge returns.

Hmmm... let's see:

MGS2 compared to Halo:
2nd or 3rd wave game to a 1st wave game that wasn't even initially designed for the system.

How about we compare MGS2 to something like Unreal Championship instead. Or Halo 2?

"Compare any game made on both"... that's because when they do a crappy port, they use the same art for both. But let's compare a few, shall we?

Burnout 2:


XBOX screenshot

Notice how much clearer the XBOX graphics are.

Or if you want more proof:

PS2 version of Max Payne

Do you actually own both systems, or are you just posturing?

The name of the game was Ore no Ryouri, sometimes called Ore no Ryori, an alternative spelling. I never played the full version, only the one that came with one of the Playstation Underground disks. You're right, it was a great game, and I would love to get my hands on a full version. Lots of info is available with a little googling.

And frankly, if you don't believe there aren't dev kits out yet, I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you. This isn't uncommon. To be frank: do you think there aren't Nintendo Revolution dev kits running around at this point. I bet there are.

Think about it this way: Why would Sony show its hand before it has to? I think most of us agree that, at this point, if they don't come up with something truly compelling, MS is going to shoot itself in the foot.

Sony will just let MS continue fumbling its way around in the dark.

> 2. Japan's business climate is still exclusionary and very difficult for foreigners to navigate.

I agree that that used to be true, but not anymore IMHO. For instance, Romance of the Three Kingdoms hasn't changed too much in the last couple iterations.

For a real change of pace in the same historical sim genre, try out Crusader Kings, or the earlier Europa Universalis

> 2. Japan's business climate is still exclusionary and very difficult for foreigners to navigate.

I agree that that used to be true, but not anymore IMHO. For instance, Romance of the Three Kingdoms hasn't changed too much in the last couple iterations.

For a real change of pace in the same historical sim genre, try out Crusader Kings, or the earlier Europa Universalis

From Gamespy 4/20/2004:

Console hardware sales dropped a full 25 percent, to just over $336 million. The decrease was attributed to the advancing age of the current generation of console systems.

That's my point.

See Gamespot some more recent sales figures from April 2004, still supports my original assertion.

I am not totally sure on this, but has the Xbox managed to outsell the PS2 in any month except for when the Xbox was first released?

Yes, it has.

Mandrake's luckily not dead, but it's always worth to read a story, how other people didn't manage or had trouble leading business - so we can learn from their faults. You can IMO learn more from them, than from reading success stories. For example, check this one!

Xbox outsells Sony in month of April

to add to that Orge Battle. its a different game than tactics ogre although the story was similar (by the same people). ogre battle is a rare game not many people have played. it was originally released for the snes and a special edition was released for the playstation. not only did it have different endings, the games difficulty actually changed based on how good you were doing. it has a system of characters which you evolve to better characters, that i havent seen used in another game. i definitely recommend it! dont be put off by its low score on gamespot

Gamespot has a preview at http://www.gamespot.com/xbox/sports/espnnflfootbal l2005/preview_6100052.html.

The whole exclusive players contract thing was just a rumour. Ended up being not true.

After reading the Valve blurb on HL2 I panned down the page and was shocked to see DNF mentioned

Half way down on the right side

DNF to be released in 2005? Wouldn't that be a shock. Personally I would be curious to see if it's any good compared to HL2 or Doom III. I may purchase it.. then again maybe not. The excitement isn't what it used to be for DNF :-)

After reading the Valve blurb on HL2 I panned down the page and was shocked to see DNF mentioned

Half way down on the right side

DNF to be released in 2005? Wouldn't that be a shock. Personally I would be curious to see if it's any good compared to HL2 or Doom III. I may purchase it.. then again maybe not. The excitement isn't what it used to be for DNF :-)

You must be talking about Tresspasser, a phenomenally screwed up game which boasted of its realistic and powerful physics engine, but ended up as a frustrating exercise in futility for everyone who tried to play it.

Simple functions such as picking up an item took minutes instead of seconds and required careful manouvering using your hand!!!! Also most of the puzzles were about stacking boxes on top of one another and halfway through you were bound to push one over and you had to start all over again (since all of them will topple down as well thanks to the "realistic" physics engine). In the end you wanted to feed the entire game development team to the raptors, only if you could find one, since they were darn rare. Also you would only come across them one by one (even though they were pack hunters).

Anyway I had a ceremonial burning of "Tresspasser" the very next day and I had played probably half an hour of it and only then did I come across this little gem of a review from Gamespot.

"Trespasser is the most frustrating game I have ever played. Of all the games I have ever reviewed, this one has been the most disappointing. Of all the games I have played, this is the one I am most adamant about never wanting to play again. I don't want to sound mean-spirited, but all gamers should know that Trespasser is a frustrating game, filled with boring gameplay and annoying bugs. It is not fun. It is monotonous and tedious to the point of nausea."

Surprisingly if you scroll down on the review, you would see another person (other than me) who bought the game and chose to review it with a rating of 7 which leads me to believe that it were the head of "Dreamworks" or Mr.Hammond!

.. and are covering it with a news article here. As luck would have it, the Thief 1 Gold I ordered off E-Bay just turned up today, so I guess I'll be playing Thief 1 till they fix this bug - if they fix it.

i'd really like them to release dragon warrior, final fantasy and faxanadu

Do games have to be exclusive to be good?

This arguement is heard over and over 'Xbox sucks because the same games are on the PC'.

So?

This might be a factor if someone A: already has a PC and B: is wondering which console to purchase. But when it comes down to it, the important part is 'what games can I play'. Not, 'what games can I play on my console, that nobody else can play, unless they own the same console.'

But I don't see how it relates to the quality of the Xbox. But if you are all jizzed up about exclusives, take a look at Chronicles of Riddick.

The MMORPG genre, across all platforms, has become an incredibly crowded and competitive marketplace. In response, Microsoft Game Studios has decided.

READ:

The MMORPG genre, across all platforms, has become an incredibly crowded and competitive marketplace. In response, Microsoft Game Studios has decided that 'True Fantasy Online' might be too blatant a rip-off of other RPGs from more experienced competition, especially given that the everyone's favorite pseudo-PC has had such great success in the exclusive RPG genre

C'mon, with a name like "True Fantasy Online", you're pretty much begging Japan to laugh at you. I guess this sort of adds insult to injury with regard to acceptance in Japan. But at least our Japanese brethren have an equally anticipated and deep game to play 'til Halo 2 comes and dies on a cross for our sins (or whatever ailment the Xbox evangelists are proclaiming it will heal)

Interplay has also published a lot of PC titles, under their own name and under that of MacPlay, which has already been retired. Here is a more complete list from GameSpot, though it doesn't include anything predating the SNES.

No...

BC is an Xbox exclusive.

Another great game in that style was 'Marble Drop' . It might not appeal to your typical video gamer (Gamespot gave it a mediocre score), but I loved it...

I'm guessing it could have a comeback, if Maxis would release it with a level-maker, and a way to share levels online.

These days, software seems to be 'games' or 'educational', without that middle ground that we used to have. (When's the last time you saw a Broderbund product on the shelf that wasn't something like 'math for 4th graders' or similar.)

And that's not to say that you have to be non-violent for educational games -- the little hunting bit from Oregon Trail had more action than most games out in its day.

What ever happened to Leisure Suit Larry?

He took a few years off, and just recently decided to return: Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude.

I can see myself spending ages playing this game, much as I did with Gitaroo Man, which I've sunk close to 100 hours into over the years.

The price is also right, perhaps because less mainstream games usually go on nothing but gameplay, which can bring overall development costs down (and the graphics on this aren't fantastic, but who cares if you're having fun?).

So you're telling me that the gameplay is not directly affected by the graphics in a game like Rez for the PS2, where the entire gaming is a matter of presentation, a mixture of unique sounds and vector-type graphics? What, that game was too obscure an example for you? Then try this one on for size: the Doom 3 engine's per-pixel lighting and shadowing allows for an immersive gameplay environment since the player is constantly forced to decide whether to carry a flashlight to illuminate dark areas or to have a weapon in hand to fend off unseen enemies.

These two games are just off the top of my head; there are many, many games that use graphics as a way to enhance gameplay. graphics are important, and they are the main reason we're not still playing games on the NES.