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The Playstation 4 will not be backwards compatible with Playstation 3 games.

Playstation 2 games will be supported via emulation, /if/ you buy and download them from the Playstation store (so no, you can't just pop in a PS2 disc and expect it to work; you need to buy the game again).

In other words, for full backwards compatibility you need all three devices.

Curse your filthy mouth for saying this:

"Hopefully this will allow for an Abrams style reboot..."

JJ Abrams is all hype and money. His concepts are all a tease with no substance. Substance comes of course, but in his projects what we usually call 'plot', 'writing', etc are slapdash afterthoughts. He benefits from the fact that ~60% of the population will watch whatever is playing in theaters that week due to artificial scarcity of film choices.

I'm not even a Star Wars fanboi...if anything I'll claim to be a Trekkie. If you have any notion of Star Trek as a franchise and why fans like it, the 10 Minute Star Trek 2 trailer that played before The Hobbit should be all you need to see: http://www.ign.com/videos/2012/12/19/star-trek-into-darkness-first-trailer-rewind-theater

JJ Abrams is shit. That doesn't mean his projects are doomed. In the big-budget studio world, franchises like this become so monolithic it usually prevents stupid shit like Abrams' ridiculous lens flare fetish. Put any random 30-something film buff in his chair and let him bark orders and bullshit concepts for action scenes and you'd get the same result.

IMHO, Abrams' shit tendencies will *not* ruin Star Wars like they ruined Star Trek. Too many people with money on this understand how shitty Abrams is...

Cedar Fair, once had a stage show called "Rock Band, Live", which was a spectacular failure now regarded as a bit of a joke within the company. The audience basically got to watch one lucky person play Rock Band on stage, with some dancers dressed as characters. I'm not sure who thought that "watching other people play video games" would be entertaining enough for a show, but apparently it passed through several layers of management.

It was produced by an outside company, so I find it hilarious to think that the show has now gotten a "second act" by moving to some abandoned dot-com-era data center as a well-powered venue, where participants can play via videoconference, so they don't have to bore a real audience.

How does a company with no bosses lay off a good chunk of workers?
http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/02/14/layoffs-hit-valve

I think Valve (the owner of Steam) are going for Linux because they are afraid Microsoft will eventually turn Windows into a "walled garden" like Apple's iOS, introduce their own application store and force out competitors like Steam.

Gabe Newell said:

We want to make it as easy as possible for the 2,500 games on Steam to run on Linux as well. It is a hedging strategy. I think Windows 8 is a catastrophe for everyone in the PC space.

quoted from http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/07/26/gabe-newell-windows-8-is-a-catastrophe

They released a lot of hype, but have said nothing about this "MMO".
Bungie is saying that they will bring the first MMO to the Xbox platform (720?), except it will be like nothing we've ever seen before. in my view that means it's not going to be an MMO, rather it will be Bungie redefining the term MMO to suit what's possible in the console environment.

Champions Online, Marvel Universe Online and a few others tried to go the MMO route on the Xbox 360 and all backed off it for numerous reasons including scalability, Xbox Live support, and others ( http://www.ign.com/articles/2010/03/24/champions-online-no-longer-coming-to-the-360 ) .

We've seen the shooter MMO before: Firefall, and the ill fated Tabula Rasa and Dust 514 come to mind. Let's not forget DC Universe on the PS3. So what's revolutionary?

Until we see much more, I don't think anyone can opine that the game looks great or the concept is radically different. What we do know, though, is that cash shop purchases over Xbox Live is most probably a gold mine waiting to be tapped :)

Actually, that's inaccurate:

"Using the same Super Disc technology as the proposed SNES drive, Sony began development on what was to eventually become the PlayStaion. Initially called the Super Disc, it was supposed to be able to play both SNES cartridges and CD-ROMs, of which Sony was to be the 'sole worldwide licenser,' as stated in the contract. Nintendo was now to be at the mercy of Sony, who could manufacture their own CDs, play SNES carts, and play Sony CDs. Needless to say, Nintendo began to get worried."
---- History of the PlayStation

sure, XboxLive, with a $50/year fee

As I understand it, buying cheap single-player or local-multiplayer games from Arcade or Indie Games requires only Xbox Live Silver, which is available without charge to anybody who hasn't modded his console or cheated in an online game, not Xbox Live Gold, which carries a fee.

I was under the impression that the dev fees for XBox were to high for most of the small game devs.

In the ten countries with Xbox Live Indie Games, the expenses to develop an XNA game are a PC running the console maker's OS, a console, $99 per year, and a 30% cut of revenue. Apple copied that arrangement exactly for the iOS and Mac App Stores. I'm under the impression that a developer who makes it big in Indie Games is likely to have the money to step up to Arcade for its next title.

That is correct. And this FACT begs the question: why the hell do they even bother making consoles? The only reason I can think of is to try to get some extra money from the hardware sale, which ironically is pretty much the reason they've been on the red for the last few quarters. Selling 3DS at a loss and now the wiiU as well just for the sake of the numbers don't really seem like a smart idea. And please don't come with that "unique experience" bullcrap, because all the good Wii and DS games I've played were perfectly playable with more traditional home console and handheld interfaces. Competition is a good thing? Yes as long as there are common standards. In the proprietary format cursed world of gaming consoles I'm rather pay $599 for a single console that can play everything then buying two $299 weaker consoles with fragmented libraries,

I'd really love not having to use emulators to play nintendo 1st/2nd party games(and thank the gaming god for letting nintendo making easily "emulatable" systems), but I'm not spending money, set up time and rack space on a overpriced, outdated hardware piece, with horrendous online and multimedia capabilities.

Needless to say, while I'd rather have nintendo becoming a software developer for Sony and MS consoles, ideally I'd love if they just embraced PC and mobile gaming.

On the consoles, you end up with the problem Robert Pelloni had when he tried to bring his RPG Bob's Game to the Nintendo DS: only developers with "relevant video game industry experience", "financial stability", and a "dedicated secure office" are allowed onto the consoles.

I can imagine it would be hard for the DS. But the Xbox 360 and PS3 have indie and arcade sections for just these people! I really only pay attention to the 360 ones, but some Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) games have really made it big. From 2D platformers, to puzzle games, to 3D shooters, there are tons of great high quality games there. And they are all made by regular people. Here's the steps to get a game on XBLA.

That does cost tens of thousands though. But there is also an indie section where all it costs is $100 to make your game (plus your time of course). There are similar things for the PS3.
It still costs quite a bit of money, like all business ventures, but Microsoft really hit a success with XBLA.

I don't know if this is the top selling game or anything, but Fez made $2 million dollars back in May on XBLA.

And Mr. Pelloni also ...threatened to get the game released on other distribution platforms including Xbox Live Arcade, Steam, the iPhone, and the PlayStation Network. So there are many ways for an indie developer to break into the market.

And what makes you think that? Got any citations? This could well be THE SteamBox touted by Newell and co. It's probably just that the company which made the HW decided to have it previewed at CES before having Valve make the big announcement at GDC. Note the lack of detailed specs which definitely hints at the commitment to ensure that the components remain in secret before the big announcement; this is quite typical of consumer electronics releases.

The interwebs are overflowing of reports that this could be the device.

It's even on bbc:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20949071

F-Zero X runs at 60 FPS on the N64... What is everyone else's excuses? http://www.ign.com/articles/1998/10/28/f-zero-x

The games lineup is a strong one, with games such as New Super Mario Bros U, Arkham City Armoured Edition, Assassins Creed 3, Call of Duty Black Ops 2, Sonic AllStars Racing, Nintendo Land, Tank Tank Tank, ScribbleNauts Unlimited, Epic Mickey 2 The Power of Two, ESPN Sports Connection, DarkSiders 2, Rabbids Land, Mass Effect 3, Ninja Gaiden 3 Razors Edge, Tekken Tag Tournament 2, Wipeout 3 and Just Dance 4 all available on launch day.

This is NOT the Wipeout you are looking for. What a pity.

No. But it goes beyond just the law, for a number of reasons:

• Economy.
  Wii was introduced before the housing bubble burst and long before the global economic recession. People had the idea that they had money to spare, whether or not they actually did. This helped fuel generic consumer interest along with the "newness" that is motion controls. In addition, the new price points puts Nintendo out of that "sweet number" they had in 2006. The $250 price point for the Wii at release in 2012 dollars is $285; the cheapest model is $299, and wages haven't kept up with inflation.
• Wow-factor.
  Motion controlling was a big thing when the Wii released--while it was not exactly new tech, Nintendo managed to mainstream it and make it work (sort of, the Wiimote Plus greatly improved this but still had issues.) Furthermore, the controllers for other consoles were seen as "intimidating" to your average consumer due to the myriad of buttons and inputs on them (whether or not this is true I don't know, but it was common thought both then and now). The Wiimote was extremely simple and could be used as a controller harking back to the NES days.
  The Gamepad doesn't offer anything in the "wow-factor" to pull consumers in. Touch-screens have been around for quite some time (the original DS had a touch screen, after all) and everyone is tablet-crazy these days so it acts like a me-too. In addition, it integrates all those scary buttons. Furthermore, at least to someone like myself who is a regular gamer, the controller looks horribly clunky (my understanding from reading testimonials of those who have been able to hands-on is that it actually works decently, but that's not going to stop perception of those on the outside.)
• Power.
  The Wii U is, from my understanding, about as powerful as the 360. While I can understand that Nintendo wants to focus on user interface, they can't ignore that having a lower-powered system hurt them greatly this last gen. It wasn't the controller, it was the system processing power that kept a lot of otherwise-multi-console games from coming to the Wii (and when they did they were relatively bad). Nintendo has caught up, but as soon as the PS4 and XBox720 come out (supposedly in the next 18 months), they'll be lagging behind once again. Furthermore, by tipping their hand this early, it gives Microsoft and Sony a chance to integrate whatever features into their next system and likely do it better (the Kinect and Move have their own issues that will likely be firmed up and integrated better for the next console cycle).
• Games.
  A big selling point for the Wii was that it came with Wii Sports. The Basic (read: cheap) version of the Wii U comes with no games (except whatever demos or utilities they have on the system, like TVii), which only intensifies the economic issue. This may be intentional, though, as the tie-in (how many game were sold per console) for the Wii is extremely low, especially compared to the other consoles. By forcing "casual" consumers to buy games off the bat they can increase that number this time around; many bought the wii, played Wii Sports, and then never bought another game.

Nintendo also has a lot of uphill battles with 'core' gamers, too:
--Their online capabilities seem to still lag entire generations behind the competition (those horrible friend codes will apparently make an appearance on Wii U)
--Aforementioned power
--A number of AAA games they have announced are mere ports of games have been out for some time
--Internal Storage is limited to a max of 32GB, important as digital sales increase; however, this can be expanded (supposedly easily)
--Games, games, games, games. Nintendo didn't learn from the 3DS, apparently--the launch window library is fairly "meh", and we don't even know launch titles except for NSMBU

I've been a devout Nintendork for my life, fighting many a troll online for the Gamecube

All Wii accessories will be compatible. http://reviews.cnet.com/nintendo-wii-u/

However, it will not upscale original Wii games. http://www.ign.com/wikis/wii-u/Frequently_Asked_Questions

This is unfortunate. The Dolphin emulator has been able to render GameCube and Wii games at 1080p for a couple of years now.

Add the fact that I like to play some good games. Have you seen any good games for an Android tablet? No, you haven't. And I don't consider Angry Birds or Fruit Ninja or something like that as a good game.

Obviously ignorant of the fact that 'good game' is subjective, anyone can say they've never seen any good games on any platform and simply say they don't consider any game on that platform to be a 'good game' and also fail to provide their definition of 'good game'.

Tablets don't have enough resources to have good games. And you won't be able to play too many games on those fancy Windows RT tablets (which are shit.)

Your ignorance strikes again.

I cannot use a local shell.

Actually you can, but by this time your ignorance isn't surprising anymore.

As I said, to get from app to app on a computer, I use alt+tab or my mouse. Now, what should I do on Android?

You use something like QuickDesk because, just like Chrome on Windows doesn't support your scroll wheel method neither does Android.

[disclaimer: I hate tablets, and I have played with Android tablets for a very short moment. still, try to move my workflow to a tablet.]

So you hate them because your workflow is incompatible with them, that's why you can use a different operating system and different hardware more suited to your workflow.

Only reason I buy a console is so I can play games like Final Fantasy and RPGs in general.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/07/31/final-fantasy-iii-launching-on-ouya

Any other reasons?

Companies often pay contractors a higher base pay in lieu of benefits, but Danny only made $10 an hour. Extrapolating this data, means the average salary for a full-time position is roughly a meager $20,800

http://www.ehow.com/info_7859795_yearly-salary-video-game-tester.html

Average Salary by Location
The average video game tester annual salary in the U.S. across all levels of experience was $37,905 according to the 2010 Game Developer Magazine salary survey. In comparison, testers in Canada averaged $37,375 (USD) per year and testers who worked in Europe reported earning $29,500 (USD) per year. There was a significant decrease from the reported salaries in the 2008 survey, particularly in the European job market, when the average salary across all levels of experience in the U.S. was $39,309, in Canada it was $37,500 and in Europe was $36,000 annually.

Average Salary by Years of Experience
The 2010 Game Career Guide reports that 40 percent of the testers working in the industry had less than three years of experience and averaged $30,714 annually and 47 percent had between three and six years of experience and earned an average annual salary of $36,667. Only 13 percent of testers had more than six years of experience and earned on average $67,500 per year.

I'm not saying you're full of shit but back that up with some proof. The wages of people at games companies in the area don't pay anywhere near the levels you claim and they're more in line with what I've found online. I find it *really* hard to believe MS is paying significantly more for the certification process. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if most of it's automated with one low paid grunt starting the game up to give a quick glance visually.

This article claims that it's too hard for a startup to become licensed to develop Minis. It's not like the iOS App Store, where anyone with $300 a year ($600 per 3 years for a Mac and $100 per year for a certificate) can release software.

Nor does it do anything about the control problems, if not making them a bit worse since a Circle Pad Pro hasn't been announced for the XL.

This, right here, is what tells me Nintendo hasn't gotten it for a while. You have more room, why not add the second Circle Pad? We already have a few6 games that do use it, and many more that would probably take advantage if it was there. They were fairly aware back in 2006-2008 and did a lot of good moves with the Wii (and some bad ones). Now, six years later and the dominant force in both home consoles and handhelds, they have the chance to not only progress but also fix any previous mistakes. And what do they do?

The N64 2. They've gone back to the ego-centric and closed-mindedness that led to the N64 from the SNES and will suffer exactly the same for it. Don't believe me?

• They ignore format upgrades
  With SNES->N64, it was not going from cartridge to CDs.[1] For Wii->U, it's ignoring the now-huge HDTV market. Wii U games run in 720p, including their much-hyped NSMBWU2BBQ. While not as dire as the cartridge mishap, it still shows that they don't understand the high-end consumer, which is the one that is far more likely to have a higher attach rate[2]
• They ignore storage capacity
  Once again about the whole cartridge/CD decision, except this time it's about internal storage. The Wii U will only have 8 GBs internal storage. Supposedly they'll support external hard drives in some fashion, but they could still really hurt themselves as they try to expand their downloadable market (and heaven help us if a developer wants to install files to it to help a game run faster.)
• The name
  I don't know that the N64 ever got a lot of flack for its name, but it was extremely generic. Using "Wii U" as the successor to "Wii", which already had plenty of jokes to go with the name (though those were quickly shut down by sales numbers) has only led to a lot of confusion; Jimmy Fallon thought it was a new controller for the Wii during Reggie's recent late-night visit, and the day of Nintendo's E3 conference a prominent newspaper (I want to say USA TODAY) also referenced the Wii U as merely an extension of the Wii, though I can't find the article and they likely updated it to correct that bit of mis-info.

  For someone like me, it just makes me think of more shovelware, bad online presence, and a focus on things like "Wii Play" instead of, I dunno, getting something like Xenoblade Chronicles to the states in less than two years after it's Japanese release (and nearly a year after the EU/AUS release!).

And there are plenty of brand-new screw ups, like still using those horrible friend codes in some capacity. I don't care if they're "Simplified", they need to die completely. Even the hardware looks generic, doing away with the sleek and minimalist design that a lot of people liked about the Wii. I could go on and on, like how the controller looks like crap (after they gave us the Gamecube controller, which I still believe is the best controller design of any console thus far).

The decisions behind the Wii U and 3DS XL (and their E3 conference, which investors apparently didn't care for, either) just show me that Nintendo has once again lost its way, and we've got a good two generations before they realize this and do something understandable again. What makes this worse is that even while their consoles were floundering, Nintendo's handhelds were still going strong and every iteration made huge strides (such as from the original GBA to the GBA SP and pretty much every change to the original DS hardware). Now that no longer seems the case. The Nintendo fanboy within me weeps in a corner as I start eying the

More like, "Waiting for Diablo III to let me log in."

Air Guitar Hero already exists. http://www.ign.com/videos/2011/09/09/raving-rabbids-alive-kicking-guitars

Also, the 2,000 pre-orders (included in the 82,000 figure) were cancelled by Amazon.

A friend asked me what tablets to look at, and I suggested the Transformer, as well as looking at the iPad and laptops. She ended up buyting an iPad and a laptop because, no matter how you put it, tablets suck for certain tasks, even "transformers".

Simply put, if you price it like an iPad, people will buy the "real McCoy", and opt for the iPad. That relegates Android to the bottom of the market. It's like trying to sell a linux desktop computer - except that you can't even GIVE the OS away because it's too fragmented and unstable for retailers to support, or for developers to target with proprietary software that will make them money.

There's a reason why everyone ends up distro-hopping. Even good distros "go bad" over time - witness the buggy KDE4.0 that almost killed OpenSuse, and their 12x update that ate user emails, slackware claiming "we're not dead yet" when in fact their main update repo has been down for a year, Mandrake/Mandriva one step away from a second bankruptcy, Canonical's failures to deliver a promised tablet for two years now - and still not making a profit ....

Simply put, end users continue to believe - rightly - that they are better off with creaky old XP than with any linux distro. Same with tablets - they would rather pay Apple for something that works and gets updates than buy a potential orphan.

No.

Hence why they're rumored to be developing an ARM-based Xbox Lite console.

While unappealing to me, I think it would be a smart move for Microsoft. There's a ton of money to be made on cheap apps, as the rise of the smartphone/tablet as a gaming platform illustrates easily...

ANY company would do the same thing if suddenly they're product they were expecting revenue from was suddenly able to be accessed for free.

Many companies would, true, but not all. For example Mojang owner Markus Persson is ok with people pirating his game.. Other companies like Valve realise that piracy is better combated by offering a good service to buyers and building their reputation rather than trying desperately to retain control while pissing off their customer base. These companies are doing very well, perhaps they are on to something?

We know he's a pirate because he distributes file sharing software: http://www.fileplanet.com/73/0/0/0/1/section/File_Sharing

Scroll to the bottom and note it's operated by IGN Entertainment. Then check who owns IGN: http://corp.ign.com/about/

That's right, News Corp, Murdoch's company.

UPDATED, MARCH 21: Now two of the actors who voiced the Turtles in the three 1990s live-action movies have gotten drawn into the fray of what we've dubbed "Turtlegate." TMZ says Robbie Rist, who voiced Michaelangelo, posted a letter to Bay that said the filmmakers was "sodomizing" the beloved franchise with his alien approach. Said Rist, "I know believing in mutated talking turtles is kinda silly to begin with but am I supposed to be led to believe there are ninjas from another planet? The rape of our childhood memories continues ... "

However, Bay has a supporter in Rist's co-star Brian Tochi, who voiced Leonardo in the '90s movies. "If Michael Bay wants to do a different take on the turtles origin story ... mazel tov!," Tochi told TMZ. Another Bay supporter is Judith Hoag, who played April O'Neil in 1990's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Hoag, however, is a veteran of Bay films. She admitted to the site, "I was in Armageddon ... which Michael directed ... as well as Nightmare On Elm Street and I Am Number Four which he produced."

UPDATED, MARCH 22: TMNT co-creator Peter Laird has now addressed the "alien" controversy over at his blog: " I would actually encourage TMNT fans to swallow the 'chill pill' Mr. Bay recently suggested they take, and wait and see what might come out of this seemingly ill-conceived plan. It's possible that with enough truly creative brainpower applied to this idea, it might actually work. I'm not saying it's probable, or even somewhat likely ... but it IS possible."

Laird, who reminds fans he no longer has any control over the TMNT property, added sarcastically, "the reason I say it could be a 'genius' idea is that -- for the first time -- someone has come up with a way to have as many freakin' Turtles as they want. I mean, if the TMNT are actually members of an alien race, there could be a whole PLANET of them!"

Nah, there's lots of scope. Instead of two simple bars, you have two 3d-rendered "bats", held by 3d-rendered "people". Instead of a plain black background, you have a blue or green "table" with white markings on all 4 sides to accentuate the edges and one thinner line down the centre of the "table" dividing each player's play area either side of a realistic looking 3-dimensional "net" into 2. Also, instead of a box moving back-and-forth, you could have a 3d-rendered white "ball". Something like this maybe?

It's here:

http://au.pc.ign.com/objects/003/003880.html

And it's not very good.

Actually, EA said themselves that the DLC is not on the game disc as many fans claim. It was developed separately by a different team and it's completely unnecessary to finish the game. They only released it on launch day to help boost sales of it (as in, so people wouldn't sell their game while waiting for DLC and they could just buy it immediately).

Will the PlayStation Move Sharpshooter make me a better shot?

60 hours a week can sadly almost be considered light for game development. 100+ hours per week is not uncommon enough to be considered a statistical anomaly.

The original: http://ea-spouse.livejournal.com/274.html
More recent: http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/117/1179020p1.html and http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2011/05/the-death-march-the-problem-of-crunch-time-in-game-development.ars

Many companies have been pushing back on crunch (particularly death march style crunch), but it still happens entirely too often, and usually for known and predictable causes. Worse, despite claims to the contrary, many companies hand you a pink slip instead of a bonus check once you finish. No OT pay, no bonuses or royalties even if your product is successful, not even a new project. Thanks for all that extra time you put in without extra pay, now go find a new job.

There are some great companies to work at, but I'd say they're still in the minority. Most major developers -- the ones you know the names of already -- have horrible work-life balance issues because they can replace anyone that cares and complains immediately with a dozen people the next day. I cringe every time I hear the acceptance speeches for the game industry awards that include (sometimes literally) "...and thanks to all our spouses and loved ones who dealt with us missing vacations, holidays, and special events for the last few years. This statue totally shows that it was worth it!"

Does SCE plan to introduce anything like XBLIG any time soon?

You mean like this?

http://dvdmedia.ign.com/dvd/image/article/658/658093/rumble-fish-special-edition-20051012050519233-000.jpg

The accused can face up to 20 years in prison for racketeering, five years for conspiring to commit copyright infringment, 20 years for laundering, and five years on each substantive charge of copyright infringement.

Over 20 search warrants have been issued by the Department of Justice as a result of highly coordinated actions by the FBI with help from New Zealand, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, Australia and the Philippines. The government also seized about $50 million in assets and targeted sites, as well as 18 domain names associated with the service.

actually, if you just watch the video it's light on details. I read elsewhere that it will be configurable to be as complicated or as easy as you want. If you want the full realism sim, do it, if you want basically an arcade game, you can do that too. It is also not limited to those 3 inputs. Full support remains for all the fancy flight controls as well. Here's a more detailed look MS Flight. From the article: "That being said, allow me to assuage the longtime fans' fears. Though Microsoft Flight can be played with a keyboard and mouse, it will support all the fancy joysticks, flap pedals and other doo dads that enthusiasts love."

http://wii.ign.com/articles/121/1214255p1.html

Word from Nintendo is that Miyamoto is NOT stepping down and this was a misinterpretation.

Other way around. Halo took place before Marathon. And that at the end of Halo 3 MC goes into stasis and the 1st person in Marathon is actually MC 250 years later.

Marathon=Halo?

Various voices

Like GLaDOS

"I think the crux of your problem is you don't like the methods companies have chosen to ensure that their games aren't stolen. That's the main reason for many of those things."

But you don't get it corporations have ALREADY STOLEN from the people the public domain, as well as the right to own,modify,preserve, things they pay good money for. Piracy is just the correct response for software developers having taken away peoples RIGHT TO OWN WHAT THEY BUY. Consecrations and business hacks have come up with all sorts of bullshit legal concepts and laws to brainwash people like yourself. You should go look at the history of intellectual property, it didn't just fall out of the sky. It was organized by the money powers to gain monopoly it is really a form or rent seeking in many instances when you get down to it. That just hurts tinkerers and innovators everywhere.

http://www.ipocracy.org/

Things like this and this should be possible - whenever you BUY a game you should GET the source-code.

D2X-XL (a descent 2 open source project)
http://www.descent2.de/

Freespace 2 open
http://scp.indiegames.us/

That means that a lot of awesome stuff like this can't happen because kids aren't allowed to learn and tinker because of the walled gardens.

Remade FS2 open trailer (all work done by community).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhAR8rWPluQ

So we have clueless people like you walking around the planet supporting this corporate suffocation of cultural innovation and inventiveness because you are clueless about history and are indifferent to games. You are EXACTLY the kind of person I'm talking about. This is why my post is lost on you.

Now look at what happens when companies release incomplete games or badly coded games the community cannot fix them. There are a plethora of games with problems that enthusiasts/tinkerers could fix but we can't because we live in an IP aristocracy, with a feudal model of ownership for the lords, none for the paying serfs.

http://pc.ign.com/articles/973/973368p1.html

Demigod BTW is one of my fav games and I dislike that I can't fix/modify/update it/make it better. Even though I paid money for the game and I have no recourse against companies like this in our little IP aristocracy.

In korea, Broodwar is huge, SC2 is growing. In the US and Euope, SC2 is all I really hear about. There are a number of big name tournaments: IPL NASL and MLG being the 3 most well known. With HD web streams and large prize pools, these events are what people go to a bar to see. The smaller more frequent tournaments (often 10+ a week) are promoted on team liquid and reddit

I don't know about the first game, but only about half of players who started Mass Effect 2 finished it.

"So far I haven't heard anyone blame the Rock 'n Roll music, but if social networks aren't a good enough culprit, you could also try blaming video games." Love the snide tag there, Taco.

It's not entirely a snide tag: it's already happened.

One of the prime target demographics for the Nintendo handheld consoles is children. Nintendo themselves have warned that children under 6 should not play 3D games, and adults should play for no more than 30 minutes at a time. Parents know that policing how long their kids play a portable video game system is not only undesirable, but nigh on impossible. The kind of parents who would spend hundreds of dollars on a toy for their kids are the same kind of parents who are going to be concerned when they hear reports that the toy may strain and damage the eyesight of their kids. It's a marketing nightmare for Nintendo.

Some comparison screen shots, essentially it performs extremely well on clean high contrast edges, but can lead to ugly blurring when the source image contains heavily aliased areas (i.e. small sub-pixel width lines in the background). There are also some temporal issue, as some of the artifacts it causes get worse when its animated. Overall I'd say its an clear improvement, not perfect, but when you are stuck with 1280x720 on 44" TV you are happy about any anti-aliasing you can get.

Overwhelmingly it was:

"Heavenly Sword feels like a summer action flick. It's full of nonstop action, and it looks terrific. Unfortunately, it's over far too quickly." - Gamespot

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/815/815721p3.html

http://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&q=heavenly+sword+"too+short"

I'm sure there are some like yourself that didn't enjoy the game, that's a given for any game. Overall it got fairly high ratings (8.1 average review on gamespot, 79 metacritic) but that quality didn't translate into sales the way it typically does because everywhere you looked people were saying it was too short at 6-7 hours so not worth the $$$ to pick it up. It ended up with 1-1.5million units sold which is pathetic for the amount of money that was invested in it.

I remember that incident as well. But there is that issue of the fifth MiG...

Did anyone actually traverse the story back to the original article from IGN (http://uk.ps3.ign.com/articles/117/1178844p2.html) and read it?

Albeit, a quote from McNamara, but if just this holds true, I don't pity anyone working for the company

There was a bonus scheme for working evenings, and people got a month off for that," he said. "And people who worked weekends got paid for it. We brought in a weekend working scheme for that. But contractually, we don't have to do that. Part of the thing is that we pay over the odds, and it says in their contract that if they need to do extra time. I've done 20 years of not getting paid for doing that kind of stuff.

Are you lazy, or...?

Bioware admitted that only 50% finished ME2, and that was a biased sequel (ME1 had significantly lower by independent reports). Portal was praised for bucking the lengthy trend, but Steam lists it as having only a 49.7% completion. Witcher 2 (biased sequel) is 29.2% on Steam.

Here's an editor at IGN putting the average rate at 25%: http://ps3.ign.com/articles/115/1153279p1.html.

This low-completion trend has been repeatedly claimed by insiders for years; the details are often left vague so as to not affect game sales.

That might be true of the flimsy "emotion driven" story JRPGs with endless invisible random encounters, but I can think of a number of other lengthy RPGs that are engaging and replayable.

Can you give an example? Name one of them that is often replayed or even completed except by obsessive-compulsive gamers -- who make up a minority of game owners, especially during the initial 2-week sales window. Anything by Bioware is automatically out.