Maybe Sony will bless the PlayStation 3 with a 33% price drop sometime this year. Maybe Steve Ballmer will decided to make all Windows products open source.
Maybe corrupt politicians will see the evil of their way, and have a change of heart ("How the Grinch Stole Christmas" style).
Maybe I'll win the million dollar jackpot... 5 times in a row.
There are a lot of things that are possible, but most of them just aren't probable.
Why does it always have to come back to the Iraq war? You do realize their were conflicts long before this in which France's primary strategy was "Sit here on our side of the border until they advance, then surrender." (A little conflict you may have heard of: WWII.)
I seem to recall that Valve already does this. I remember when I first tried to load up Half Life 2, I got a message that basically said "You do not have the latest video card driver, Valve recommends updating to the latest drivers..." and, because I hadn't realized I was behind, I went off and downloaded it before coming back and continueing. Now granted, this was back when I had my old ATI card (I've upgraded since), but I found this to be a handy feature, as I recall it reminded me later on a few times when a new driver was released.
So there's another reason for all you Steam-haters: Not only does Valve automatically keep your games up to date for maximum performance, but also helps keep your devices up-to-date as well. Thanks Valve!
Mr. Rogers and his Neighborhood want to ensure that all new Tetris products include "standard Tetris", the rule set that includes infinite spin and spin triples. This is not a New Tetris product, in the same way that Super Mario Bros. was not a New Mario product. They would be re-releasing a classic game.
-RANT-
After reading about all the what-crap in those articles, I realize why I like the original Tetris so much: it's not over-complicated. I prefer my Tetris to be simple without "infinite spin" and "spin triples" to complicate things more than is needed. Why is it that game companies feel the need to add unnecessary crap like this to games? Why can't they just keep things simple?
-/RANT-
You also talk about Rare games not getting ported. What about Donkey Kong 64, which was developed for the N64? That was developed by Rare, but doesn't Nintendo hold the DK trademark rights?
How many AAA titles (that they have the rights to) are really left from NES/SNES/N64? I'd have to think that the majority of these buys are for Mario or Zelda properties, and they've put almost all of those onto the VC already. I tend to disagree, there are many games which I am still looking forward to (granted, many of them are Mario-related) such as:
Super Mario 2
Super Mario 2 (Japanese version) - Really hoping to get this... Never got to play it.
Super Mario 3 - Pretty much a guaranteed 1M+ sells
Super Mario World 2
Mario Party 1-3 (from N64)
Goldeneye 007
Donkey Kong 64
Blast Corps - Granted, this game is mostly unheard of, but that doesn't prevent it from being one of the greatest, most underrated games from the N64.
Tetris (NES version) - It rules over all other versions of Tetris.
Mega Man I-VI, X-series
Original Contra
And others
I've never been that big of a Zelda fan myself, but recognize there are legions of them. Nintendo still has "Majora's Mask" and a few others from NES/SNES to release.
IMO, Nintendo has yet to drop some of the greatest games yet, and I can't wait.
Take a look at your average crack addict. What does he/she want? More crack. They don't care if it's exactly the same as the crack they had last time or completely different in every way, they just want crack.
By comparison, I just want more Starcraft, I don't really care if its nearly identical the original Starcraft, or completely different. I will buy it. I will love it. It will own me (Not the other way around). But that's just how it goes for a crack... err, Starcraft junkie such as myself...
How long before this such a device will be implanted into our brain, allowing the government to track our move. And it will all be in the name of "stopping the terrorists."
The real power Star Wars holds over me lays in the expanded universe. Am I the only one who, when Star Wars is mentioned, not only thinks of Luke, Leia, Han, and Vader, but also Mara Jade, Corran Horn, Grand Admiral Thrawn, and Talon Karde. IMO, if your Star Wars experience is limited to just watching the movies, then you are missing out. There is some absolutely great Star Wars fiction out there. I highly recommend Timothy Zahns "Thrawn" trilogy and "Hand of Thrawn" duology, as well as Michael J. Stackpole and Aaraon Allston's X-Wing series. Heck, even Kevin Anderson's "Jedi Academy" trilogy is pretty good (and a nice precursor to the video game of similar name).
I totally agree. Steam is a great service, but could use a little competition. Blizzard definately should have the resources, and it would be cool to see them release something with Starcraft 2. EA has the resources as well, but I think most people would be wary of them.
The truly great thing about steam is that it integrates all of my game-playing needs. I can purchase and download games. They are automatically updated for me. If I want to check out a new game before buying it, I can download demos and trailers/videos. And this is all done from a single interface, rather than having to scrounge around the internet trying to find the various files. It is a relatively unobtrusive app, sitting in my tray until I call it up. I really don't understand those who knock it.
About the only thing I wish I could do (and granted, my computer's been down for a few months, so maybe they've added this) is uninstall the games I've downloaded. It would be nice to be able to clear up the space for other games/whatever.
Why aren't there that many women in IT? Who knows? Why aren't there many women in construction? coal mining? steel factories? Where are all the women lumberjacks? The fact of the matter is, there are certain jobs that appeal more to women than men, and there are jobs that appeal more to men than women. Why aren't there more men in nursing? I had a friend in college who was studying Audiology and she said that in her classes, the student's were about 90-95% female, just like in my computer science courses, where the students were 90-95% male.
In general, I think men gain a certain satisfaction in building things, whether it be a bridge or a piece of software. Women, on the other hand, tend to get more satisfaction out of helping others. Men feel that by building a bridge or piece of software, they will be helping thousands of people, but on an impersonal level (When's the last time you thought, "I'm sure thankful for all the people who built this bridge I'm driving over?" You probably haven't, you just take it for granted) Women tend to work on a more personal basis, helping people individualy (If you or a loved one have ever had an extended stay in the hospital, odds are you've thanked the nurses for their hard work and dedication.)
Of course there are always exceptions to all of these things. And then you have all your sadists, who naturally become managers. So what's my overall point? Hell if I know. I'm just rambling.
So, if you're a female looking to go into IT, just remember: The odds are good... But the goods are odd.
I'll be the first to admit that I'm glad to see Nintendo back on top again. I honestly didn't think they had it in them, but am glad they proved me wrong. When I look at Sony today, I see Nintendo a decade ago. They thought they had the market cornered, they figured they could do no wrong, that people would automatically buy whatever they produced. But they failed to innovate in ways that was interesting to the market, and now they will face some harsh times and harsh realities. But they'll bounce back. Just like Nintendo, Sony has the resources to bounce back, no matter how poorly the PS3 does. I personally think this is healthy for Sony, the way it was for Nintendo. It will teach them the humility they need to get back on their feet.
And who will it benefit the most? Why you, the consumer. The video game industry needs competition. They'll each continue to press boundries of what is possible with video games in order to stay alive in the industry and they'll continue to keep the prices low (on games at least). Lucky you...
Wow, it sure must be nice, that fantasy world you live, where there is no piracy and everyone plays by the rules.
The fact of the matter is, though, piracy does exist, and to an extent that it has put companies out of business. Not only would it be reckless, but also downright foolish for Valve to not protect it's investments, nevermind their constitutionly given right to.
But oh no, Valve should just release all future games with no copy protection whatsoever, so that they can make profit off of the one copy sold and then watch as it gets copied to everyone else's hard drive. Then they can declare bankruptcy and we will never see games of Half Life quality ever again. Hooray! Cookie-cutter EA games for all!
Also, nevermind that the solution that Valve came up with is far less intrusive that installing some malware on your computer. All it requires is a simple, one-time linking to an online database to ensure your copy is legitimate. Boy, you sure have it tough.
This may seem off-topic and even troll-like, but believe me, there will always be the "OMG STEAM SUCKORZ" post whenever there is an article about Valve. It just bugs me that these people seem unable to take an economical viewpoint of the situation and realize that Valve's solution was actually quite elegant.
Seriously? What is the point of giving new hardware/software codenames? We've all seen "Longhorn", "Revolution", and others and nobody ever said, "gee, I wonder what that is?" Why can't they just say "The next windows", "The next Nintendo", or "The next Intel Chip?" Damn marketing FUD... Sorry, needed to rant.
Compared to HalfLife2 I found Halo pretty original and innovative
Are you kidding me? Lets take a look at the facts:
Level Design:
Halo - make one room, repeat 500 times (e.g. Library) or Go all the way into some building, then have to come back out the same way, with new, re-spawned enemies.
Half Life 2 - Each level is unique, differant, and has its own feel. Even though the game was fairly linear, techniques were used so it didn't feel like it.
Weapons:
Halo - Same old boring pistol, generic machine gun, rocket laucner, plasma gun formula thats been done 1,000,000 times before.
Half Life 2 - New and unique weapons like the crowbar, gravity gun, crossbow, laser-guided rocket launcher (first time this was ever done).
Graphics:
Half-Life 2 > Halo 2 > Halo
Story:
Halo - Aliens invade earth, its up to one man to save earth. Yeah, that's original.
Half-Life 2 - Aliens invade earth, actually win, and you are now held up as the leader of the resistance. A nice twist on an old classic.
Storytelling:
Halo - cinematics
Half-Life 2 - In game dialogue and active storytelling
I've played Halo, Half-Life, and Half-Life2 all the way through on the PC. Halo doesn't even hold a candle to the Half-Life series. Not. Even. Close. Halo is just to bland and generic. I feel like I've played this game before... Half-Life 2 innovated and brought some cool new toys to the table and made some awesome levels.
And as for multiplayer, using the gravity gun to kill someone with a crap-stained toilet is single-handedly the most l33t way to hand someone their ass.
It's sad that you think Halo is "original." There are some truly great FPS games out there, and you won't find them on the X-Box. Half-Life 2 and Far Cry both rocked my world. And when it comes to Balls-to-the-walls action, throw as many enemies at you as your processor can handle, screw-the-storyline, snappy one-liners games, Serious Sam: The Second Encounter delivers and then some. One of the most underrated games of all time.
Lets see if his complaints about the X-Box apply to the Xbox360:
1. Piss-poor design. - Yep, just think "red ring of death"
2. The games suck. - Yep, there are already better games for the Wii, which has been out a shorter period of time.
3. The controller is almost as big as my nuts. - No, they did fix the controller, but it still sucks in comparison with the wiimote.
4. People who own the Xbox don't play video games.
The average Xbox owner attends Microsoft SQL Server release parties, reads books on database theory and hates games like Super Mario because they're too old for "kiddie" games since everyone knows that it's graphics, not game play that makes a great game. I mean, why play a game that's actually fun when you can waste hours watching rendered, uninteractive intros instead? Ask the typical Xbox owner what other video games or consoles he likes and you'll draw a blank stare. The reason they bought an Xbox was because it's by Microsoft and they're blindly devoted to the company, not because of the games.
Yep....
5. No Soul. - Obviously, this is Microsoft, they never had a soul, nor will they ever. That's just how evil operates.
6. Shitty philosophy. - Diddo. Again, this is Microsoft we're talking about here...
7. Too expensive. - Yep, Although its cheaper than the PS3, it still costs to much.
Maybe Microsoft should consider its own flaws before point out those of others. How does the saying go?
Before worrying about the splinter in another's eye, you should deal with the plank in your own.
Slashdot Mirror
Maybe corrupt politicians will see the evil of their way, and have a change of heart ("How the Grinch Stole Christmas" style).
Maybe I'll win the million dollar jackpot... 5 times in a row.
There are a lot of things that are possible, but most of them just aren't probable.
This is not the droid you're looking for...
Umm... You do realize that was a joke, right?
Why does it always have to come back to the Iraq war? You do realize their were conflicts long before this in which France's primary strategy was "Sit here on our side of the border until they advance, then surrender." (A little conflict you may have heard of: WWII.)
All Ballmer needs to do is raise the chair above his head and scowl, no need to actually throw it. They're French, they'll surrender.
So there's another reason for all you Steam-haters: Not only does Valve automatically keep your games up to date for maximum performance, but also helps keep your devices up-to-date as well. Thanks Valve!
-RANT-
After reading about all the what-crap in those articles, I realize why I like the original Tetris so much: it's not over-complicated. I prefer my Tetris to be simple without "infinite spin" and "spin triples" to complicate things more than is needed. Why is it that game companies feel the need to add unnecessary crap like this to games? Why can't they just keep things simple?
-/RANT-
You also talk about Rare games not getting ported. What about Donkey Kong 64, which was developed for the N64? That was developed by Rare, but doesn't Nintendo hold the DK trademark rights?
- Super Mario 2
- Super Mario 2 (Japanese version) - Really hoping to get this... Never got to play it.
- Super Mario 3 - Pretty much a guaranteed 1M+ sells
- Super Mario World 2
- Mario Party 1-3 (from N64)
- Goldeneye 007
- Donkey Kong 64
- Blast Corps - Granted, this game is mostly unheard of, but that doesn't prevent it from being one of the greatest, most underrated games from the N64.
- Tetris (NES version) - It rules over all other versions of Tetris.
- Mega Man I-VI, X-series
- Original Contra
- And others
I've never been that big of a Zelda fan myself, but recognize there are legions of them. Nintendo still has "Majora's Mask" and a few others from NES/SNES to release.IMO, Nintendo has yet to drop some of the greatest games yet, and I can't wait.
Take a look at your average crack addict. What does he/she want? More crack. They don't care if it's exactly the same as the crack they had last time or completely different in every way, they just want crack. By comparison, I just want more Starcraft, I don't really care if its nearly identical the original Starcraft, or completely different. I will buy it. I will love it. It will own me (Not the other way around). But that's just how it goes for a crack... err, Starcraft junkie such as myself...
Give the pilots lightsabers and train them to use the force...
How long before this such a device will be implanted into our brain, allowing the government to track our move. And it will all be in the name of "stopping the terrorists."
The real power Star Wars holds over me lays in the expanded universe. Am I the only one who, when Star Wars is mentioned, not only thinks of Luke, Leia, Han, and Vader, but also Mara Jade, Corran Horn, Grand Admiral Thrawn, and Talon Karde. IMO, if your Star Wars experience is limited to just watching the movies, then you are missing out. There is some absolutely great Star Wars fiction out there. I highly recommend Timothy Zahns "Thrawn" trilogy and "Hand of Thrawn" duology, as well as Michael J. Stackpole and Aaraon Allston's X-Wing series. Heck, even Kevin Anderson's "Jedi Academy" trilogy is pretty good (and a nice precursor to the video game of similar name).
I totally agree. Steam is a great service, but could use a little competition. Blizzard definately should have the resources, and it would be cool to see them release something with Starcraft 2. EA has the resources as well, but I think most people would be wary of them.
The truly great thing about steam is that it integrates all of my game-playing needs. I can purchase and download games. They are automatically updated for me. If I want to check out a new game before buying it, I can download demos and trailers/videos. And this is all done from a single interface, rather than having to scrounge around the internet trying to find the various files. It is a relatively unobtrusive app, sitting in my tray until I call it up. I really don't understand those who knock it.
About the only thing I wish I could do (and granted, my computer's been down for a few months, so maybe they've added this) is uninstall the games I've downloaded. It would be nice to be able to clear up the space for other games/whatever.
Why aren't there that many women in IT? Who knows? Why aren't there many women in construction? coal mining? steel factories? Where are all the women lumberjacks? The fact of the matter is, there are certain jobs that appeal more to women than men, and there are jobs that appeal more to men than women. Why aren't there more men in nursing? I had a friend in college who was studying Audiology and she said that in her classes, the student's were about 90-95% female, just like in my computer science courses, where the students were 90-95% male.
In general, I think men gain a certain satisfaction in building things, whether it be a bridge or a piece of software. Women, on the other hand, tend to get more satisfaction out of helping others. Men feel that by building a bridge or piece of software, they will be helping thousands of people, but on an impersonal level (When's the last time you thought, "I'm sure thankful for all the people who built this bridge I'm driving over?" You probably haven't, you just take it for granted) Women tend to work on a more personal basis, helping people individualy (If you or a loved one have ever had an extended stay in the hospital, odds are you've thanked the nurses for their hard work and dedication.)
Of course there are always exceptions to all of these things. And then you have all your sadists, who naturally become managers. So what's my overall point? Hell if I know. I'm just rambling.
So, if you're a female looking to go into IT, just remember:
The odds are good...
But the goods are odd.
With the big shiny x-box symbol in the middle, weighing in at around two-gamescubes-duct-taped-together? Awesome!
I stood by while you taught young children witchcraft.
But blatent denial of historical fact? How could you?
I'll be the first to admit that I'm glad to see Nintendo back on top again. I honestly didn't think they had it in them, but am glad they proved me wrong. When I look at Sony today, I see Nintendo a decade ago. They thought they had the market cornered, they figured they could do no wrong, that people would automatically buy whatever they produced. But they failed to innovate in ways that was interesting to the market, and now they will face some harsh times and harsh realities. But they'll bounce back. Just like Nintendo, Sony has the resources to bounce back, no matter how poorly the PS3 does. I personally think this is healthy for Sony, the way it was for Nintendo. It will teach them the humility they need to get back on their feet.
And who will it benefit the most? Why you, the consumer. The video game industry needs competition. They'll each continue to press boundries of what is possible with video games in order to stay alive in the industry and they'll continue to keep the prices low (on games at least). Lucky you...
No, I don't remember the game company's name offhand, but I DO remember reading about in PCGamer a few years back. I'll look it up tonight.
As for your other question: Because EA does a much more efficient job of it than any no-name hacker could ever hope to.
Wow, it sure must be nice, that fantasy world you live, where there is no piracy and everyone plays by the rules.
The fact of the matter is, though, piracy does exist, and to an extent that it has put companies out of business. Not only would it be reckless, but also downright foolish for Valve to not protect it's investments, nevermind their constitutionly given right to.
But oh no, Valve should just release all future games with no copy protection whatsoever, so that they can make profit off of the one copy sold and then watch as it gets copied to everyone else's hard drive. Then they can declare bankruptcy and we will never see games of Half Life quality ever again. Hooray! Cookie-cutter EA games for all!
Also, nevermind that the solution that Valve came up with is far less intrusive that installing some malware on your computer. All it requires is a simple, one-time linking to an online database to ensure your copy is legitimate. Boy, you sure have it tough.
This may seem off-topic and even troll-like, but believe me, there will always be the "OMG STEAM SUCKORZ" post whenever there is an article about Valve. It just bugs me that these people seem unable to take an economical viewpoint of the situation and realize that Valve's solution was actually quite elegant.
Seriously? What is the point of giving new hardware/software codenames? We've all seen "Longhorn", "Revolution", and others and nobody ever said, "gee, I wonder what that is?" Why can't they just say "The next windows", "The next Nintendo", or "The next Intel Chip?" Damn marketing FUD... Sorry, needed to rant.
Where there's absolutely no censorship whatsoever. Wait...
In democratic America, the government STILL censors you!
Something to make fun of Canada for, eh?
*ducks*
Are you kidding me? Lets take a look at the facts:
Level Design:
Halo - make one room, repeat 500 times (e.g. Library) or Go all the way into some building, then have to come back out the same way, with new, re-spawned enemies.
Half Life 2 - Each level is unique, differant, and has its own feel. Even though the game was fairly linear, techniques were used so it didn't feel like it.
Weapons:
Halo - Same old boring pistol, generic machine gun, rocket laucner, plasma gun formula thats been done 1,000,000 times before.
Half Life 2 - New and unique weapons like the crowbar, gravity gun, crossbow, laser-guided rocket launcher (first time this was ever done).
Graphics:
Half-Life 2 > Halo 2 > Halo
Story:
Halo - Aliens invade earth, its up to one man to save earth. Yeah, that's original.
Half-Life 2 - Aliens invade earth, actually win, and you are now held up as the leader of the resistance. A nice twist on an old classic.
Storytelling:
Halo - cinematics
Half-Life 2 - In game dialogue and active storytelling
I've played Halo, Half-Life, and Half-Life2 all the way through on the PC. Halo doesn't even hold a candle to the Half-Life series. Not. Even. Close. Halo is just to bland and generic. I feel like I've played this game before... Half-Life 2 innovated and brought some cool new toys to the table and made some awesome levels.
And as for multiplayer, using the gravity gun to kill someone with a crap-stained toilet is single-handedly the most l33t way to hand someone their ass.
It's sad that you think Halo is "original." There are some truly great FPS games out there, and you won't find them on the X-Box. Half-Life 2 and Far Cry both rocked my world. And when it comes to Balls-to-the-walls action, throw as many enemies at you as your processor can handle, screw-the-storyline, snappy one-liners games, Serious Sam: The Second Encounter delivers and then some. One of the most underrated games of all time.
Lets see if his complaints about the X-Box apply to the Xbox360:
1. Piss-poor design. - Yep, just think "red ring of death"
2. The games suck. - Yep, there are already better games for the Wii, which has been out a shorter period of time.
3. The controller is almost as big as my nuts. - No, they did fix the controller, but it still sucks in comparison with the wiimote.
4. People who own the Xbox don't play video games.
The average Xbox owner attends Microsoft SQL Server release parties, reads books on database theory and hates games like Super Mario because they're too old for "kiddie" games since everyone knows that it's graphics, not game play that makes a great game. I mean, why play a game that's actually fun when you can waste hours watching rendered, uninteractive intros instead? Ask the typical Xbox owner what other video games or consoles he likes and you'll draw a blank stare. The reason they bought an Xbox was because it's by Microsoft and they're blindly devoted to the company, not because of the games.
Yep....
5. No Soul. - Obviously, this is Microsoft, they never had a soul, nor will they ever. That's just how evil operates.
6. Shitty philosophy. - Diddo. Again, this is Microsoft we're talking about here...
7. Too expensive. - Yep, Although its cheaper than the PS3, it still costs to much.
Maybe Microsoft should consider its own flaws before point out those of others. How does the saying go?
Before worrying about the splinter in another's eye, you should deal with the plank in your own.
So, in other words, Sony is both NeoGeo AND Atari?