What I mean by a "TV Server" mode is a way of being able to select a certain player's perspective, or even third person, and a "view from the sky" perspective so you can see a couple of guys hunting down eachother. That way a spectator can get a view of the stratagy without having to be psychic. People watch football and can see the plays unfold, if all they had was a helmet cam it wouldn't be nearly as interesting.
As far as "boring" goes, compare videogames to golf, baseball, and curling.
The most our phone system connects at is 28.8k, many houses don't connect at over 14.4k. So don't say that "it only takes x minutes". A 100MB service pack takes 10 hours, if the server lets you stay connected that long and resume. Quite a few don't like that, they treat a slow connection like a dead one.
I should move out of the third world country known as California and move into a place like South Korea...
...the companies that usually have that mentality seem to assume everyone has access to affordable broadband. $100/mo for either high lag satallite or 144/144 IDSL isn't exactly appealing for me.
Here's a question that actually came up during one of our "new employee contract" sessions.
They changes some terms, someone asked "If I don't sign this, than do I not have to abide by these?". The response: "You've already agreed to abide by any terms that we want to change, this is pretty much just acknowledging them.".
Employers already built in a loop hole that was ment for minor changes (ie: dress code), but suitable for major ones.
In the land of the lawyer, if you're not one, you lost.
When you get into the world or racing games, third person rules nearly absolute. Why? Because you have no peripheral vision in first person. You can't rotate your head to look to the inside.
If there's any genre that's benefited from 3D the most, it has to be racing games. Collision detection has improved from where 2D games ever were, there's no sprite scaling issues, jumps are really jumps, and hills are really hills. And the cars look fantastic!
The F'ing CAMERA! Do you know how hard it is to land on a platform that you can't see because the camera decided to get a nice face shot? Or having to fire at a boss that's only visible if you stop and point right at him as if admiting defeat?
Graphics wise, 3D games are coming back around. During the PS1 era, 3D games were generally visual crap. We went right back to "that blurry squiggly dot is a save point". Don't believe me? Try playing Twisted Metal. I never could figure out what was going on in multiplayer.
The thing that developers (including you Sony) need to realize is that you don't NEED 3D to make a good game. There's no reason to make Guilty Gear, Metal Slug, or Street Fighter into 3D. They're excellent as 2D. Besides, does milk coming out of your nose when you get stabbed in the chest look as amusing when done in 3D?
Where the GBA impressed me wasn't in Nintendo's booth. It was in booths like Capcom's which had some solid, well made games available for trial. There were some really nice items for show in the less flashy booths.
Having actually been to E3 in 2001, I can say that they definately make a difference because they show what exists and what should be given top priority. Looking at the GBA with picture didn't do much for me, but actually seeing it in action impressed me. I was able to get a feel for each of the now 3 major consoles. Smaller manufacturers can get thier products displayed in a place where it can make an impact if it's worth making an impact.
How's a coffee cup warmer? http://www.sunbeamtech.com/new/products/a ccessory/ accessory%20series-USB%20Coffer%20Warmer.htm
Motherboard didn't always have a standard USB pinout. (if they do now). Think hardware plans don't go through the same time restraints? If you do, lay off the crack. Consider that EVERY YEAR new videocard chipsets come out, and half way through usually get a revamp. Think you can design and test an all new design in a single year? Get that nice fat 14 layer board right the first time? Hardware has the advantage of they make STANDARDS for interfaces (Hear that MS? An agreed upon industry standard!). And transfer to production isn't just making disks, you have to setup numerous processes and accumulate the materials used. That stuff doesn't come at a short time frame.
Software has millions of lines of code, and each can contain an error. Trying to get 100% working isn't possible! 99.99% is good enough.
IMO, this is the mindset of the typical programmer. Now consider the hardware side: 42M transistors in a P4 (the earlier ones, this number has gone up) 135M transistors in a Radeon 8500 Atleast a few million in the chipsets. Depending on how much RAM you have, could be billions of transistors there....yet the errata on the hardware often fits in a single page. It's NOT simple to reproduce.
You don't know what the user is going to do!
So? Take your USB port that shines from the front of the PC. Nice and inviting, provides a few W of power and a pair of data lines... now jam your finger in it. Can't do it, can you? What happens if you short out the power lines? There's a fuse on the motherboard. What happens if a device isn't wired up correctly? The OS doesn't even get a chance to see it.
Why do I think hardware has less errors than software? Because hardware errors are expensive. Consider the millions Intel went through on the MTH problem. They recalled motherboards and replaced them with different ones, having to give away RAM in the process. Now consider MS on the (one of the?) RPC vulnerabilities, they put up a patch. That's it. Job's done.
Software engineers think of themselves too much like artists, and not enough like scientists. Don't do something in a way that looks good because it looks good. Do something in a way that works well because you need it to work well.
IDSL is really ISDN connected to a DSLAM instead of a voice network. It lacks the per minute charge, but is still a dedicated line, cannot do voice at all, is (as you said $100/mo), and features a $300 setup fee. Kinda steep for the speed that it is.
After years of no cable and me being 22,000 feet from the CO, will they finally upgrade the network so I can get DSL? I can only pray. Hell, at this point I'm praying for something other than flakey 26.4k. Even 48k would be nice.
There is room for two consoles, one high end and fragile, and one low end and durable. Nintendo has pulled out a very durable design setup with the SP/DS. The screens don't get scratched because of the folding nature (my GBA's screen cover got replaced twice), and they can take a fall easy. There's not much to break from a moderate drop. And the price is low enough that people don't get paranoid about them. Now take a PSP, nice large display, excellent graphics, but the design is more inherantly prone to have problems.
Personally, I'm looking forwards to both. My GBA and NGPC coexisted (and still do). I don't mind adding a PSP and DS to the mix. Probably won't happen because of the cost, but I'd like it.
There's a place for a Jeep Wrangler, and there's a place for a Chevrolet Corvette. One doesn't exactly take a signifigant number of sales away from the other.
There is multiple levels of PCI-Express. The x1 level is ment to replace PCI while the x16 is to replace AGP. There's also x4 and x8 slots. They differ in length and the x1 is about 1" long,
I don't get very many opportunities to play against human opponents, but I can get VERY good at playing against the computer. The problem that the computer has is that it's often very susceptible to very simple and easy to do moves. Dead or Alive is a prime example of this. I was able to easily beat the computer over and over with just a jump kick. My cousin wasn't able to easily beat the computer. However, when a human opponent came up, for the lack of a better term: I got my ass kicked. Almost every time. Same thing happened in Soul Caliber 2. In MvC2 I can easily beat the computer to the point that I stopped improving, but any human opponent with any skill killed me (I don't remember the last win I pulled off).
I'd personally like it if the computer characters had AI that changes personality. Take the beta testers, and use thier styles to shape various AI setups. It'll make the player be more well rounded and fill holes in thier style.
When it comes to playing the computer, being cheesy is just too easy.
#1: Get a stick that uses arcade components, and move the switches (that are attached to the controls) around to how you like it.
#2: Make one. happcontrols.com has a fairly wide selection of sticks and buttons, I'd recommend using the Ultimate or Competition sticks myself (approx $15/ea) and the buttons with the horizontal switches work better than the verticle ones, they run about $1.60/ea. Just run some wires from there to a controller for the console you want, Madcatz controllers work well as donors since they have larger, more durable pads than most. By using some DB37 connectors I managed to make a stick w/ full arcade components that can be swapped from PS2, to DC, to PC (USB) in a couple of seconds. I'm considering adding GC capabilities but haven't settled on a button arrangement.
Why should I go out and get a handgun when I own two rifles?...and for the record, Ted Kennedy's car has killed more people than those two rifles have.
I've played Diablo online alot, and I've played fighting games in the arcade alot. I really didn't enjoy Diablo much, but I enjoy the arcade games immensely. In Diablo, it took me THREE WEEKS to find a single game with 3 players that I could trust not to shoot me in the back. Shooting someone in the back IS NOT CHALLENGING. Anyone that says it is needs to be mugged. In real life.
Now, at the arcade, it's a fair shake. You have all the tools he has, and you're playing by the same rule book. That's fun. If you give me a fair shake, I'll happily lose 10 times in a row just because there's the chance that I can beat someone much better than I have. Hell, I managed to play Duc at MvC2 during E3 one year. Yeah, I got wasted. But it was fun. (he perfected the guy I went with).
One thing that WASN'T fun, even though it was a fair shake was when I was trying out a networked NASCAR Heat game, iirc it was for the xBox. I don't know if the other players thought that I was a computer opponent or what, as I was the one taking a perfect racing line and easily catching up and passing. But every time I got in the lead, one of the other players would send me into the wall in a suicidal move like thier car was a Patriot Missle and I was a SCUD. I've played the same game on a PC with friends and it's always fun though. We're both going for it.
So the big thing to make it fun is for both players to enter the game with the same intent, and playing by the same rules. That makes it fun. When the other player has a big sword of bashing +9999999999 and is out to kill another player then take off, it's not fun.
How can this be forced? In some games it's simple, when you create a game in a RPG/action/adventure game, have the ability to turn PvP OFF.
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What I mean by a "TV Server" mode is a way of being able to select a certain player's perspective, or even third person, and a "view from the sky" perspective so you can see a couple of guys hunting down eachother. That way a spectator can get a view of the stratagy without having to be psychic. People watch football and can see the plays unfold, if all they had was a helmet cam it wouldn't be nearly as interesting.
As far as "boring" goes, compare videogames to golf, baseball, and curling.
So when are the requirements for a game going to be "a broadband connection"?
Yeah, I'm really thrilled at the idea of buying a broken game for $50 and then having to pay $100+/mo to fix it.
The most our phone system connects at is 28.8k, many houses don't connect at over 14.4k. So don't say that "it only takes x minutes". A 100MB service pack takes 10 hours, if the server lets you stay connected that long and resume. Quite a few don't like that, they treat a slow connection like a dead one.
I should move out of the third world country known as California and move into a place like South Korea...
...the companies that usually have that mentality seem to assume everyone has access to affordable broadband. $100/mo for either high lag satallite or 144/144 IDSL isn't exactly appealing for me.
Here's a question that actually came up during one of our "new employee contract" sessions.
They changes some terms, someone asked "If I don't sign this, than do I not have to abide by these?". The response: "You've already agreed to abide by any terms that we want to change, this is pretty much just acknowledging them.".
Employers already built in a loop hole that was ment for minor changes (ie: dress code), but suitable for major ones.
In the land of the lawyer, if you're not one, you lost.
...using the forms they printed out or not?
Mark of Kri, Viewtiful Joe, and Wind Waker would utterly suck in first person. Many games are much better suited to third person.
When you get into the world or racing games, third person rules nearly absolute. Why? Because you have no peripheral vision in first person. You can't rotate your head to look to the inside.
If there's any genre that's benefited from 3D the most, it has to be racing games. Collision detection has improved from where 2D games ever were, there's no sprite scaling issues, jumps are really jumps, and hills are really hills. And the cars look fantastic!
The F'ing CAMERA! Do you know how hard it is to land on a platform that you can't see because the camera decided to get a nice face shot? Or having to fire at a boss that's only visible if you stop and point right at him as if admiting defeat?
Graphics wise, 3D games are coming back around. During the PS1 era, 3D games were generally visual crap. We went right back to "that blurry squiggly dot is a save point". Don't believe me? Try playing Twisted Metal. I never could figure out what was going on in multiplayer.
The thing that developers (including you Sony) need to realize is that you don't NEED 3D to make a good game. There's no reason to make Guilty Gear, Metal Slug, or Street Fighter into 3D. They're excellent as 2D. Besides, does milk coming out of your nose when you get stabbed in the chest look as amusing when done in 3D?
Where the GBA impressed me wasn't in Nintendo's booth. It was in booths like Capcom's which had some solid, well made games available for trial. There were some really nice items for show in the less flashy booths.
Having actually been to E3 in 2001, I can say that they definately make a difference because they show what exists and what should be given top priority. Looking at the GBA with picture didn't do much for me, but actually seeing it in action impressed me. I was able to get a feel for each of the now 3 major consoles. Smaller manufacturers can get thier products displayed in a place where it can make an impact if it's worth making an impact.
How's a coffee cup warmer?a ccessory/ accessory%20series-USB%20Coffer%20Warmer.htm
http://www.sunbeamtech.com/new/products/
Motherboard didn't always have a standard USB pinout. (if they do now). Think hardware plans don't go through the same time restraints? If you do, lay off the crack. Consider that EVERY YEAR new videocard chipsets come out, and half way through usually get a revamp. Think you can design and test an all new design in a single year? Get that nice fat 14 layer board right the first time? Hardware has the advantage of they make STANDARDS for interfaces (Hear that MS? An agreed upon industry standard!). And transfer to production isn't just making disks, you have to setup numerous processes and accumulate the materials used. That stuff doesn't come at a short time frame.
Hardware can do it, why can't software?
Software has millions of lines of code, and each can contain an error. Trying to get 100% working isn't possible! 99.99% is good enough.
...yet the errata on the hardware often fits in a single page. It's NOT simple to reproduce.
IMO, this is the mindset of the typical programmer. Now consider the hardware side:
42M transistors in a P4 (the earlier ones, this number has gone up)
135M transistors in a Radeon 8500
Atleast a few million in the chipsets.
Depending on how much RAM you have, could be billions of transistors there.
You don't know what the user is going to do!
So? Take your USB port that shines from the front of the PC. Nice and inviting, provides a few W of power and a pair of data lines... now jam your finger in it. Can't do it, can you? What happens if you short out the power lines? There's a fuse on the motherboard. What happens if a device isn't wired up correctly? The OS doesn't even get a chance to see it.
Why do I think hardware has less errors than software? Because hardware errors are expensive. Consider the millions Intel went through on the MTH problem. They recalled motherboards and replaced them with different ones, having to give away RAM in the process. Now consider MS on the (one of the?) RPC vulnerabilities, they put up a patch. That's it. Job's done.
Software engineers think of themselves too much like artists, and not enough like scientists. Don't do something in a way that looks good because it looks good. Do something in a way that works well because you need it to work well.
IDSL is really ISDN connected to a DSLAM instead of a voice network. It lacks the per minute charge, but is still a dedicated line, cannot do voice at all, is (as you said $100/mo), and features a $300 setup fee. Kinda steep for the speed that it is.
After years of no cable and me being 22,000 feet from the CO, will they finally upgrade the network so I can get DSL? I can only pray. Hell, at this point I'm praying for something other than flakey 26.4k. Even 48k would be nice.
Why not? Someone made a webserver out of a GBA already. http://www.fivemouse.com/gba/
There is room for two consoles, one high end and fragile, and one low end and durable. Nintendo has pulled out a very durable design setup with the SP/DS. The screens don't get scratched because of the folding nature (my GBA's screen cover got replaced twice), and they can take a fall easy. There's not much to break from a moderate drop. And the price is low enough that people don't get paranoid about them. Now take a PSP, nice large display, excellent graphics, but the design is more inherantly prone to have problems.
Personally, I'm looking forwards to both. My GBA and NGPC coexisted (and still do). I don't mind adding a PSP and DS to the mix. Probably won't happen because of the cost, but I'd like it.
There's a place for a Jeep Wrangler, and there's a place for a Chevrolet Corvette. One doesn't exactly take a signifigant number of sales away from the other.
There is multiple levels of PCI-Express. The x1 level is ment to replace PCI while the x16 is to replace AGP. There's also x4 and x8 slots. They differ in length and the x1 is about 1" long,
Being in a gang, crew, or mafia can get you killed WAY too easily.
If you break the law, and the cops don't get you, and the FBI doesn't get you, the military will bring in tanks and run over you.
Never play with grenades in an enclosed space.
Molotov cocktails may be fun, but if you're not careful you can catch on fire.
Hookers take your money.
Doing a double backflip with a barrel roll off a cliff is cool... until the end.
25 rounds of ammunition seems like alot of ammo until you have 26 opponents.
Don't try to snipe people while standing on the sidewalk. You'll never see the billy club coming.
Busses are too slow to out run cop cars. Sports cars aren't heavy enough to run through cop cars.
You can't fly a plane without wings. At least not for very long.
I don't get very many opportunities to play against human opponents, but I can get VERY good at playing against the computer. The problem that the computer has is that it's often very susceptible to very simple and easy to do moves. Dead or Alive is a prime example of this. I was able to easily beat the computer over and over with just a jump kick. My cousin wasn't able to easily beat the computer. However, when a human opponent came up, for the lack of a better term: I got my ass kicked. Almost every time. Same thing happened in Soul Caliber 2. In MvC2 I can easily beat the computer to the point that I stopped improving, but any human opponent with any skill killed me (I don't remember the last win I pulled off).
I'd personally like it if the computer characters had AI that changes personality. Take the beta testers, and use thier styles to shape various AI setups. It'll make the player be more well rounded and fill holes in thier style.
When it comes to playing the computer, being cheesy is just too easy.
#1: Get a stick that uses arcade components, and move the switches (that are attached to the controls) around to how you like it.
#2: Make one. happcontrols.com has a fairly wide selection of sticks and buttons, I'd recommend using the Ultimate or Competition sticks myself (approx $15/ea) and the buttons with the horizontal switches work better than the verticle ones, they run about $1.60/ea. Just run some wires from there to a controller for the console you want, Madcatz controllers work well as donors since they have larger, more durable pads than most. By using some DB37 connectors I managed to make a stick w/ full arcade components that can be swapped from PS2, to DC, to PC (USB) in a couple of seconds. I'm considering adding GC capabilities but haven't settled on a button arrangement.
Why should I go out and get a handgun when I own two rifles? ...and for the record, Ted Kennedy's car has killed more people than those two rifles have.
.
Can people have atleast ONE avenue of escapism without having to be protected from it? I think that guy missed the point of videogames in general.
I've played Diablo online alot, and I've played fighting games in the arcade alot. I really didn't enjoy Diablo much, but I enjoy the arcade games immensely. In Diablo, it took me THREE WEEKS to find a single game with 3 players that I could trust not to shoot me in the back. Shooting someone in the back IS NOT CHALLENGING. Anyone that says it is needs to be mugged. In real life.
Now, at the arcade, it's a fair shake. You have all the tools he has, and you're playing by the same rule book. That's fun. If you give me a fair shake, I'll happily lose 10 times in a row just because there's the chance that I can beat someone much better than I have. Hell, I managed to play Duc at MvC2 during E3 one year. Yeah, I got wasted. But it was fun. (he perfected the guy I went with).
One thing that WASN'T fun, even though it was a fair shake was when I was trying out a networked NASCAR Heat game, iirc it was for the xBox. I don't know if the other players thought that I was a computer opponent or what, as I was the one taking a perfect racing line and easily catching up and passing. But every time I got in the lead, one of the other players would send me into the wall in a suicidal move like thier car was a Patriot Missle and I was a SCUD. I've played the same game on a PC with friends and it's always fun though. We're both going for it.
So the big thing to make it fun is for both players to enter the game with the same intent, and playing by the same rules. That makes it fun. When the other player has a big sword of bashing +9999999999 and is out to kill another player then take off, it's not fun.
How can this be forced? In some games it's simple, when you create a game in a RPG/action/adventure game, have the ability to turn PvP OFF.
"It's not like we were doing anything illegal," said Torres.
Well, I guess the whole DLing of copyrighted works w/o reimbursing the copyright holder isn't illegal anymore...