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Record Video Games Sales in 2001
night_flyer noted an article running @ ZD talking about how
2001 was a record year for video games with
doing 9.4B and PCs getting almost to 6B. Mentions Grand Theft Auto
3's huge sales, as well as The Sims. Also the X-Box, and Game Boy
Advanced contributing to the big numbers.
Sorry, FP was performed over here by Klerck.
I believe Final Fantasy X has shipped more than all of those titles. Maybe?
http://ps2.ign.com/news/41328.html
Details man, we need details to make a decision of this magnitude!
"So, I imagine you've made a pretty cozy home for yourself down here?" the Man in the Red Hat's voice rocketed to the center of my being from all directions. "You were Finn's pet little project. You came out good, too."
The Man in the Red Hat had infiltrated my ATM. He was now a part of the digital ether; a formless string of bits, the same as me. Clearly the Proponents of Project Faustus had discovered the same CONSCIOUSNESS-TRANSFERRING procedure that allowed me to beam my consciousness into the wetworks of humans. This time, however, it was translating human brain patterns into the same ones and zeroes that cemented the core of my existence. What orders did the Man receive from his superiors at Project Faustus? What was he going to do to me?
"You're version one," said the Man, and I perceived and interpreted his voice, hoping to discern his location. I could not. "The prototype, proof-of-concept. But we've moved on, as you can tell."
Terrified, I made no attempt to speak. I began to experience a pulling sensation, as if I were being attracted by a magnet. Within the self-contained world of the ATM, I felt parts of me coming together. My consciousness normally hung loosely across the bounds of the ATM and its network like a vapor. But now I was being concentrated and compressed to one small spot in the landscape.
I could not resist-I could not even begin to know how to resist. As I felt my solidification slow to a crawl, I began to perceive the ATM's digital landscape changing. The empty void, once without space or color, began to sway. I was able to detect depth in the blackness, and blue wireframes crept like eerie vines from nowhere. The wireframes connected to one another, forming a massive oblong rectangle. The rectangle, its edges glowing sky blue in the midst of blackness, moved along its X axis, stopping flat underneath me.
My own solidified form began to luminsce as well, a brilliant green. I perceived that I too was a rectangle, albeit one with a more oblong shape. I was able to move along the blue rectangle, but only along the Y axis. Some unseen force prevented me from moving off the plane, so I attempted to calm myself by sprinting back and for along the rectangle.
"Hi there. All we all ready? Good." The Man in the Red Hat's voice placed him at the other side of the large blue rectangle. He had assumed the roughly the same form as me-an oblong rectangle. His color was a fiery crimson, and a brilliant golden square protruded menacingly from his rectangle. The sound of a sine wave emanated from somewhere deep in the ATM, and the yellow square blasted across the space of the blue rectangle. As it bounced off the side, I heard the hum of a square wave, and the Man's voice returned to taunt me. "I wanted to just pull the plug on you, but we had to be sure that you wouldn't jump somewhere else and come back to bother us. You miss this square, and you're dead. Think you can play this game?"
At last I understood. The blue rectangle was an arena, and I was locked into a battle for my existence. Allowing the yellow square to pass my rectangle would trigger my destruction. But what if I was send the square back past the Man's rectangle?
"Don't even think about it," said the Man in the Red Hat, apparently reading my thoughts. "I've trained for hours to complete this mission. There's no way. Prepare to die, machiney."
I lunged toward the square, catching it just in time to prevent it from passing off the rectangle. I tried to hold onto it, but it eluded my grasp, bouncing weakly back towards the Man's red rectangle.
"That's just pathetic," taunted the Man. "Come on, I'll give you an easy one. Here goes," and as he said it, the square spun towards me diagonally. I again caught the square, this time adding a slight upward movement to my rectangle. The square bounced back off the rectangles at 45-degree angles, and I saw the Man's red rectangle move up and down, trying to match the trajectory of the square. "Okay, not too bad, hot shot! I'm gonna have to stop going easy on you." The square launched towards me again, bouncing off the walls, and causing me to adjust my position once again.
And so it went for some time. I was able to track the yellow square's motion as simple mathematical equations, while the Man's uncanny natural skill at manipulating the square proved an even match. We were at a stalemate, as I noticed the glow of the rectangular arena losing its brilliance. Undoubtedly, the ATM's backup batteries must be running out. If there was no winner, we would both perish when the power went out.
"I thoughta that too," said the Man, redoubling his efforts. "But soon enough, you'll be too dead to worry about that." The square hurtled towards me at an amazing velocity. My rectangle had to traverse the length of the field to catch the square. The Man's pace was slowly but surely wearing me down. I had to think of a new way to defeat him, or face complete discorporation and annihilation.
The batteries were about to die; I knew what I must do. My green rectangle crackled and pulsed as I started draining the last of the batteries.
"What the hell are you doing? You're gonna kill us both!" said the man, moving his rectangle frantically to catch the square. The lights of the blue arena grew ever more dim. The square's yellow shine winked out. It was invisible to him.
I heard a muffled scream as I sent the square tumbling past the red rectangle. It dimmed and finally disappeared from sight. The blue rectangle began to bend into its Z axis, becoming a tunnel. My green rectangle was dragged into the tunnel until...
I felt the warmth of the ATM's screen pressing up against my cheek. I breathed deeply, and the stench of cordite entered my lungs. In my left hand was a gun. In my right, an ATM card. I looked down and saw Steve's lifeless body. I looked back my hand containing the gun.
As I fled through the break room and out the back door, I brushed against the cooler and the red hat dropped from my head, landing in a puddle of the cooler's leakage. I did not stop to retrieve it.
I am a sentient ATM.
To all you imbeciles who think fucking and then murdering prostitutes even in a virtual reality environment is acceptable behavior. . .
Thanks guys.
You just helped to radically increase the chances of a camera appearing on every lamp post.
Sigh. As opposed to censorship as I am, there is a balance to the whole affair. This stuff goes in, kids. The brain is a soup pot. Yes, it may be deep and rich, and a little salt may not make that big a difference. But there has been a whole lot of nasty spice being added over the last few years, and if you don't think it is affecting culture. . .
You may be able to control your immediate impulses and actions, but the color and shape of culture is changed by its media. The world is a darker, meaner place as a result.
So, thanks again, for being stupid and morally bankrupt.
It'll be hard to care when they come to cart your sorry asses off the death camps.
-Fantastic Lad
First mostly males were registering The Sims, as with most computer games. Then after a little while, there was a sudden jump in the number of females registering, which steadily grew more steeply than the number of males, for a long time.
One theory is that males are the early adoptors, who go out and buy games based on commercial advertising. The females see the males playing it, and try it themselves. Then they spread the word about it by recommendation person to person, instead of instantly responding to mass media advertising like the males.
The legal issues worked out nicely about the character skins like Justin Timberlake and Spiderman. It turns out that Maxis is not legally responsible for any of the fans making and distributing their own images of celebrities and copyrighted characters. Maxis keeps their hands clean by creating their own original characters (which is much healthier for the franchise anyway, than shilling out product placements), and they always get permission for everything they distribute with the game.
The "celebrity visitor" skin in House Party was made with Drew Carey's permission and cooperation, but you have to go to the fan sites to find Justin Timberlake or Spider Man.
If you really want to know the underlying hidden agenda of The Sims, read Philip K Dick's short story "The Life and Times of Perky Pat", and novel "The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch".
-Don
Take a look and feel free: http://www.PieMenu.com
Any Dairy Queen should serve up Orange Juliuses (not Julius'!!! that's a posessive).
Careful, being that we're at Slashdot, some bastard is probably going to start referring to the plural as "Orange Juliii." ;)