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Vegonomics

Have you watched that show lately? :P

Seriously, I've seen some really good comics die online because the author didn't keep a regular update scheculd. VG Cats almost went this way, but managed to recover.

The only online game I play is WarCraft3, which provides a "save replay" option. In the context of cheating, you can inspect the opponent's commands/movements and see if they are reacting to information that's beyond their view. This is all after-the-fact, though.

Posting a related link just for fun.

Just like in real life, the loudest people are usually the most incorrect and feel that yelling louder makes their point more valid.

You are now free to make jokes about the "intelligent" component of the above sentence.

http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=200 :)

I believe VGCats has best described the frustration Otis "calls" forth.

ob. vgcats

A Very Brief History of Pac-Man

Threats are the standard MO for Jack. He constantly tells people that they need to do whatever he says, "or else." That is litterally what he says. Stop it or else.
Here's just one example http://www.vgcats.com/jack.php

What I find surprising is how many people who really SHOULD know better get sucked into this creationism/intelligent design thing. My brother is a Medical Doctor who took biochem as his undergrad and has made serious attempts to debate me on the merits of I.D. Unbelievable.

I quickly devolve to base humour and send him to http://angryflower.com/goinaf.gif and http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=200

Lets hope I don't get hurt while you're on watch.
http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=198

How I mine for fish?!?

Sorry. For some reason after reading the title I couldn't think of anything else.

Regarding algorythms...

But that's GOOD code, actually. The robots must find all humans before going to the next step, and since it is impossible to know that they have not missed a person (and at least three are born across the world every second) this remains an unachievable goal for the forseeable future, preventing the "killing" part. The programming will merely render the device buggy and unresponsive... Wait a minute...

Nevertheless, I, for one, welcome out defectively-programmed would-be robot murder-lords. (Followed thereafter by our slavish-quotes overlords, but I digress.)

the Wright to Life

And the redux.

the Wright to Life

And the redux.

See also: The Touch

I prefer this variant:

http://www.vgcats.com/news/comic_spore_Will.jpg

http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=200

Oh yes, im sure you'll be able to

This is not off topic, as sibling notes, it's from a VG Cats strip...this onehttp://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=200

Also check this one that was edited by the people at Maxis.http://vgcats.com/news/comic_spore_Will.jpg

Parent deserves funny!

This is not off topic, as sibling notes, it's from a VG Cats strip...this onehttp://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=200

Also check this one that was edited by the people at Maxis.http://vgcats.com/news/comic_spore_Will.jpg

Parent deserves funny!

Even better it got modded off topic. http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=200 [VGcats.com]

Imagine the devestation with a species that "poops to see". They can't offer that level of control, right?

Imagine the devestation with a species that "poops to see". They can't offer that level of control, right?

Hell yeah. I remember that shiteating fairy following you around as link (N64 zelda games). "Hey, listen!" "Hey, listen!" "Hey, listen!"
What happened next

And let's not forget the sordid fate of Pac-Man

Now pull this one.

I saw the title and thought they meant this ad!

This is NOT the first time Sony has stepped right over the line in their PSP advertising.

VGCats got there first. http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=192

VG Cats has a comic about that

Here's a picture of the attachment for that mod (lower right panel).

It's not captain planet but...

http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=164

At the risk of bashing Sony (This is what A.C. is for!), seems they would be 'borrowing' things from Microsoft , as they are wont to do from the other game companies:

comparing an orange to a Ferrari 911

A Ferrari 911? Did Ferrari buy Porsche and not tell anyone? :)

Great and lots of programmers (oh yeah sure, just 'buy the engine', don't give me that)

Why not go buy an engine? Get one or two good programmers, get a cheap engine from someone like Garage Games, and focus on your real assets. The market is going more and more towards splitting into "engine developers" and "game developers". Id rarely even builds games anymore, preferring to focus on their engine creation (they work with third parties like Grey Matter or Raven to build games like Enemy Territories and Quake IV). Epic focuses on building the Unreal technology while letting 2nd and 3rd parties like Digital Illusions and Ubisoft build games around them. There's nothing wrong with licensing technology, and you're probably better off for doing so (you can get more and better technology than what you would be able to develop while trying to make a game to make money at the same time).

Great script

Great gameplay (so difficult to pinpoint and define, isn't it?)

I would argue these are the same thing. If your gameplay is RPG-style, you need an excellent script. If your gameplay is something like Katamari, script doesn't really matter much.

Great music and sound effects

This really depends on your gameplay. One guy with a mic and the willingness to make stupid sounds with his mouth will get you all of the sound effects you need. Music is harder, and yet easier at the same time. Depending on your game, you may not even need music (I'd rather listen to the sound of the engine in a racing game) or you could allow the player to provide the music. Other games need good music, but that shouldn't be too hard to come by. There are starving musicians everywhere. You just need to find them. Put up posters around the local college campus. Troll the boards online at places like Song Fight or Overclocked Remix. For a minor outlay of cash ($500-$1000 is probably more than enough in most cases), you can get some pretty excellent music for your game.

Great voice actors

I'd really recommend indie developers stay away from voice acting. Nintendo rarely uses it, and everybody loves their games (in fact, when they do use voice acting it's usually annoying. Hey! Listen!). Skip the expense by skipping the voice actors. Of course, you could do it in a humorous way and use your developers as the actors. Don't do this if you're going for "serious"!

Great characters (Deus Ex)

Again, this goes back to script/gameplay. You may not need characters at all if you're building a puzzle game. If you can't come up with great characters while writing your script or designing your gameplay, then you failed on the script or gameplay.

Great graphics (these days... sigh)

Then why does everybody here always say they prefer gameplay to graphics? You really have to think about your target. You're probably not going to be able to compete with the big boys in terms of graphics goo-gawgery, so don't try. You'll need something better than developer art, but not by much.

Multiplayer functionality

Depends on your game. Stardock consciously decided against multiplayer for GalCiv2 and that game is doing very well.

The central theme I've noticed in my replies

Don't you mean... *Monocle* ?

Nintendo is doing great, but the Sony+MS merger is not something they can go against, Sony+MS start pouring billions of dollars advertising their consoles, a new PSP-XBOX-PS3 interoperability kit is developed and distributed.

1 decent console + 1 mediocre handheld + 1 overhyped and horribly expensive console = Nintendo's death? Sounds like Captain Planet gone horribly wrong.

Nintendo lacks the hard cash MS has, and soon the innovations of Wii are quickly drowned in the ad campaigns and promotions MS does.

Yeah, because dumping all that money worked so well last time....They barely beat the Gamecube in sales, got clobbered by the PS2, lost billions of dollars, and failed to establish a strong foothold in Japan.

Late 2007, Microsoft buys Nintendo.

Okay, that crosses the line from speculation into total insanity :)

Late 2008, a new console is released by Microsoft: the XWiiPlay, which uses an advanced version of the Wii-mote, packed with a standard controller extension, and can emulate all Sony, Sega, Microsoft and Nintendo consoles in existence, including Virtual Boy.

Keep dreaming :) Can I have some of whatever drugs you're on?

2009: Hiroshi Yamauchi comes out of retirement from his Jurassic Park-style secret lair, leading an army of genetically-engineered killer Pokemon against Microsoft. Revenge is swift and bloody, with the heads of Bill Gates and Steve Balmer last seen used as chew toys by a rabid Pikachu. Nintendo reclaims their rightful place for all eternity.

ESRB is going to change the rating of Super Mario Brothers DS to "M" for mature.
Just you watch.

And rightly so! If only you knew what REALLY went on in those games. Tsk tsk.

http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=155

Old but classic! :)

My only complaint about NintendoWiFi in Mario Kart DS has been the creation of, shall we say, artisically impressive and personally offensive avatars. Yes, they're both, because, wow, you managed to draw that pixel by pixel? Kudos. I believe VGCats touched on this, though I haven't come across anything that blatant yet. Flaming poo and an ass are what I've seen so far on the extreme end of things.

Nis

Heh, take a look at this comic.

http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=30

VG Cats Take on Wind Waker

Look at the 5th panel...

VG Cats

He won't break your legs? I was under a different impression!

... could not even begin to compare to the pain I've just experienced by reading your horribly mangled post. You deserve worse.

KRATOS AWAY!!!

There's also the hidden Lon Lon "Milk" Mini-Game. The less known about this one, the better.

Are you kidding? That was the best part!

I'm guessing the DS is the female.

First, I must direct your attention to this VGcats.

Now. I use GNOME. Why? 1) It comes with Ubuntu. 2) It works for me. 3) I like the look and feel. I find the defualt KDE theme's to be hideously shiny and ugly.

I'll probably try Kubuntu next time it's released, but until then, I will stick with GNOME.