It's a shame you won't buy a 360...there are many good games out for it (Crackdown, Viva Pinata, GoW, Blue Dragon, Saints Row, Bioshock, etc.) and there are many more good games coming out for it (Mass Effect, Too Human, Fable 2, GoW 2, various Xbox Live Arcade releases, etc.)
Don't be a brand whore or even a brand-boycotter...play as many games on as many different systems as you possibly can. Just because you don't like a company (in my case, Sony AND Microsoft) doesn't mean you can't enjoy their products (I love my xbox/360 as well as my PS1/PS2/PS3/PSP) You are missing out on some great games...
1. Within 5 miles of my home, there are 6 liquor stores and 9 stores that sell beer/wine. Plus, don't forget, Montgomery County (and it's outlying areas) have some of the harshest liquor laws in the country...don't judge the availability just on where you live. 2. I do buy marijuana (amongst other things) all the time...and prior to me doing them, I had absolutely NO idea where to get them from. People don't have signs over them like liquor and beer stores do.
If I moved from Germantown, MD to anywhere in the country, I can 100% assure you that I would locate a place to obtain alcohol LONG before finding a person to obtain illegal drugs from.
Appreciated, but that doesn't mean there is a BAN on alcohol. It just means there are certain places you can't buy it/take it...but if you really want alcohol of some sort in this country, it's not very difficult to find.
Look at the money brought in by ciggs alone every year...that includes both domestic sales and export sales...do you honestly believe they are going to just say "fuck it" and lose all that money just so they can beat the piss out of a couple random people?
The US government may not always makes the best decisions, but I assure you they won't fully ban tobacco or alcohol. They make too much money off of it. They might impose some stronger restrictions, but the chances of them outright banning both of those substances is near zero.
As far as LoD goes, I was referring more to changes they made with the gameplay itself (socketed items, runewords, bug fixes, expanded stash, etc.)
Not to mention that since the game took forever to make, you could literally watch the art get more and more detailed and complicated as you progressed through each act...to me, that added a cool little edge rarely seen in a game.
I am one of those gamers that firmly believes graphics do NOT necessarily make a game better (example: my ladyfriend and I likely play my Atari 2600 together more than any other console I own)
However, in the case of BioShock, the graphics do have a lot to do with it....the fantastic lighting, the quite realistic water, the texture work...System Shock 2, in all honesty, wasn't even really all the nice looking when it was released. It was scary as hell, really fun, and a gaming experience that every gamer should have in their "played games" memory...but it's graphics were a bit sub-par...
To repeat my original point, great graphics are not the most important part of a game...but in some games that rely really heavily on atmosphere (such as BioShock) graphics are a major part of the experience...and it's quite obvious they took their time with the visuals in BioShock.
New and different would be nice, sure...but honestly, the ONLY, and I mean ONLY thing I want out of Blizzard at this point is Diablo 3.
Not because I don't think they could make a new series...I just think that the Diablo storyline has a lot of potential, and the game itself has a lot of potential...look at the massive difference between Diablo and Diablo II...and then look at the large number of changes between Diablo II and Diablo II: Lord of Destruction...LoD was EASILY the best expansion pack made for ANY game EVER. No other expansion pack (in my experience anyway) did more to add to the game, fix what was wrong, or make it more fun.
Just imagine the monster they could make with Diablo 3...
Come on...do you really think the United States Government is going to outlaw those substances (or in the case of alcohol, a second time)? They earn literally BILLIONS in tax dollars a year off of them, and their sale injects untold amounts of money into our economy each year.
Not to mention the healthcare industry LOVES cigarette smokers...it's the people dying from natural causes that they can't stand. If you smoke, you are just one giant walking cash sign to the healthcare industry.
"Right after that DARE commercial, what do you see? 'This Bud's for yooooou' Come on everybody, let's be hypocritical bastards! It's ok to drink your drug, haha! We meant those OTHER drugs...those UNTAXED drugs...those are the ones that are bad for you." -Bill Hicks
Any country in which I can drink alcohol (which was made by man and kills thousands upon thousands of people a year) but not smoke marijuana (which was made by either god or by nature, depending on what you believe) has a war on some drugs. Wnat me to go through it again?
I purchase old NES titles all the time now...but prior to them coming out with this service, I downloaded and played ROMs like crazy.
That being said...why hasn't Nintendo released a system (perhaps they could even do this with a firmware update to the Wii?) in which you could buy "packs" of old NES, SNES, and N64 games on CD? I mean think about it...charge 30 dollars, put 6-10 games on each CD, and presto: they suddenly have hundreds upon hundreds of titles they can resell (or sell for the first time). I know they would get plenty of business from me if they had officially created and supported re-releases of old games...just on a more "complete library" level. Or hell, release the entire library of each system on a DVD or two and charge a 100-150 for it...I would be willing to bet quite a lot that they would sell them by the truckload.
They are just now getting to see what they can earn off their older stuff...if you were to tell me I could buy a system created and built by Nintendo that had the ability to play NES, SNES, and N64 games, and then proceed to release the ENTIRE LIBRARY of those three systems on a retail level again...hell yes people would buy it.
It sure would beat the hell out of spending exorbitant amounts of money on Ebay for those hard to find titles....AND they would be making more money on complete, ready to play titles.
Virtual Console is nice, don't get me wrong...but I sure hope it's only their first step. They are sitting on a veritable gold mine and would be missing out on a lot of cash if they didn't do something more...substantial.
We had a week-long LAN party during the summer between 11th and 12th grade (wow...I know I'm still quite young only 23, but DAMN that feels like a long time ago) It was quite cool the way it worked. There were a total of about 20 people or so in this one dude's basement...we would essentially play in "shifts"...10 people or so would play for 3-5hours while the others slept. Rinse and repeat.
You have quite obviously never used a Rio Carbon or a Rio Karma...Always has had and always will have a far, far, FAR simpler and easier interface than an iPod.
Slashdot Mirror
Mod parent up for semi-obscure reference (for those that don't know, this is from the movie "Creepshow")
They can study my taint anytime they want. /Karma
It's a shame you won't buy a 360...there are many good games out for it (Crackdown, Viva Pinata, GoW, Blue Dragon, Saints Row, Bioshock, etc.) and there are many more good games coming out for it (Mass Effect, Too Human, Fable 2, GoW 2, various Xbox Live Arcade releases, etc.)
Don't be a brand whore or even a brand-boycotter...play as many games on as many different systems as you possibly can. Just because you don't like a company (in my case, Sony AND Microsoft) doesn't mean you can't enjoy their products (I love my xbox/360 as well as my PS1/PS2/PS3/PSP) You are missing out on some great games...
I dunno...the films that make up Lucio Fulci's unnofficial Gates of Hell trilogy ( City of the Living Dead, The Beyond, A.K.A. Seven Doors of Death, and The House by the Cemetary) are considered as "art" by MANY MANY people around the world...
1. Within 5 miles of my home, there are 6 liquor stores and 9 stores that sell beer/wine. Plus, don't forget, Montgomery County (and it's outlying areas) have some of the harshest liquor laws in the country...don't judge the availability just on where you live.
2. I do buy marijuana (amongst other things) all the time...and prior to me doing them, I had absolutely NO idea where to get them from. People don't have signs over them like liquor and beer stores do.
If I moved from Germantown, MD to anywhere in the country, I can 100% assure you that I would locate a place to obtain alcohol LONG before finding a person to obtain illegal drugs from.
1, are you really trying to say that alcohol is banned or is even remotely CLOSE to being banned?
2, if you don't do crack you have NO idea where to find it. Even if you dont drink, you know where to find it.
Appreciated, but that doesn't mean there is a BAN on alcohol. It just means there are certain places you can't buy it/take it...but if you really want alcohol of some sort in this country, it's not very difficult to find.
Look at the money brought in by ciggs alone every year...that includes both domestic sales and export sales...do you honestly believe they are going to just say "fuck it" and lose all that money just so they can beat the piss out of a couple random people?
The US government may not always makes the best decisions, but I assure you they won't fully ban tobacco or alcohol. They make too much money off of it. They might impose some stronger restrictions, but the chances of them outright banning both of those substances is near zero.
Just because a Ferrari "rips the face" off my 04 RSX Type-S doesnt mean my RSX isn't a blast to drive.
As far as Bill Roeper and friends not being at Blizzard anymore...yes that sucks, but I think they will manage.
As far as LoD goes, I was referring more to changes they made with the gameplay itself (socketed items, runewords, bug fixes, expanded stash, etc.)
Not to mention that since the game took forever to make, you could literally watch the art get more and more detailed and complicated as you progressed through each act...to me, that added a cool little edge rarely seen in a game.
I am one of those gamers that firmly believes graphics do NOT necessarily make a game better (example: my ladyfriend and I likely play my Atari 2600 together more than any other console I own)
However, in the case of BioShock, the graphics do have a lot to do with it....the fantastic lighting, the quite realistic water, the texture work...System Shock 2, in all honesty, wasn't even really all the nice looking when it was released. It was scary as hell, really fun, and a gaming experience that every gamer should have in their "played games" memory...but it's graphics were a bit sub-par...
To repeat my original point, great graphics are not the most important part of a game...but in some games that rely really heavily on atmosphere (such as BioShock) graphics are a major part of the experience...and it's quite obvious they took their time with the visuals in BioShock.
New and different would be nice, sure...but honestly, the ONLY, and I mean ONLY thing I want out of Blizzard at this point is Diablo 3.
Not because I don't think they could make a new series...I just think that the Diablo storyline has a lot of potential, and the game itself has a lot of potential...look at the massive difference between Diablo and Diablo II...and then look at the large number of changes between Diablo II and Diablo II: Lord of Destruction...LoD was EASILY the best expansion pack made for ANY game EVER. No other expansion pack (in my experience anyway) did more to add to the game, fix what was wrong, or make it more fun.
Just imagine the monster they could make with Diablo 3...
Come on...do you really think the United States Government is going to outlaw those substances (or in the case of alcohol, a second time)? They earn literally BILLIONS in tax dollars a year off of them, and their sale injects untold amounts of money into our economy each year.
Not to mention the healthcare industry LOVES cigarette smokers...it's the people dying from natural causes that they can't stand. If you smoke, you are just one giant walking cash sign to the healthcare industry.
Nonsense! We rinsed out the bongs twice a day during that week ;-)
Time for a fat joke!
Q: How do you know your girlfriend is too fat?
A: When she sits on your face, you can't hear the music anymore!
"Right after that DARE commercial, what do you see? 'This Bud's for yooooou' Come on everybody, let's be hypocritical bastards! It's ok to drink your drug, haha! We meant those OTHER drugs...those UNTAXED drugs...those are the ones that are bad for you." -Bill Hicks
Any country in which I can drink alcohol (which was made by man and kills thousands upon thousands of people a year) but not smoke marijuana (which was made by either god or by nature, depending on what you believe) has a war on some drugs. Wnat me to go through it again?
NOW it's fixed 8D
I purchase old NES titles all the time now...but prior to them coming out with this service, I downloaded and played ROMs like crazy.
That being said...why hasn't Nintendo released a system (perhaps they could even do this with a firmware update to the Wii?) in which you could buy "packs" of old NES, SNES, and N64 games on CD? I mean think about it...charge 30 dollars, put 6-10 games on each CD, and presto: they suddenly have hundreds upon hundreds of titles they can resell (or sell for the first time). I know they would get plenty of business from me if they had officially created and supported re-releases of old games...just on a more "complete library" level. Or hell, release the entire library of each system on a DVD or two and charge a 100-150 for it...I would be willing to bet quite a lot that they would sell them by the truckload.
They are just now getting to see what they can earn off their older stuff...if you were to tell me I could buy a system created and built by Nintendo that had the ability to play NES, SNES, and N64 games, and then proceed to release the ENTIRE LIBRARY of those three systems on a retail level again...hell yes people would buy it.
It sure would beat the hell out of spending exorbitant amounts of money on Ebay for those hard to find titles....AND they would be making more money on complete, ready to play titles.
Virtual Console is nice, don't get me wrong...but I sure hope it's only their first step. They are sitting on a veritable gold mine and would be missing out on a lot of cash if they didn't do something more...substantial.
We had a week-long LAN party during the summer between 11th and 12th grade (wow...I know I'm still quite young only 23, but DAMN that feels like a long time ago) It was quite cool the way it worked. There were a total of about 20 people or so in this one dude's basement...we would essentially play in "shifts"...10 people or so would play for 3-5hours while the others slept. Rinse and repeat.
That was a hell of a week.
See my sig. That is all.
I could be wrong, but I believe your signature is the first Red Dwarf reference I have seen on Slashdot...
You have quite obviously never used a Rio Carbon or a Rio Karma...Always has had and always will have a far, far, FAR simpler and easier interface than an iPod.
"I would never....EVER hit a woman, man, never...but I'll shake the shit outta a woman." -Chris Rock