Careful, it is important to discriminate the Aljazeeras on the internet.
There is "english.aljazeera.net", which is a more or less factual, reliable news source from an arab perspective (think arab CNN). This is the "real" Aljazeera with the global TV channel. Then there is "aljazeera.com", which is a trashy islamist/extremist propaganda website disguised as a news outlet (think FoxNews).
I have to agree with both parents. ledow is right in thinking that a finished product should not contain this many bugs, but being a fan of Bethesda games myself, I understand the point that RogeyWon is trying to make. Morrowind, Oblivion and Fallout are very good, and especially, huge games. After all the patches, Oblivion and Fallout 3 still crash randomly on me about every 3 hours on average, but I find the games so enjoyable, that I have learned to live with and forgive this nuisance, using the quicksave feature judiciously. While this may seem outrageous to some, I think it is unfair to compare an Oblivion/Fallout type game to Doom, Quake or Half-Life.
A Bethesda game is much more complex and much bigger than a first-person shooter such as Doom or Half-Life. A shooter has the core game mechanic of running around and shooting, with a few scripted sequences scattered about. In an Oblivion/Fallout type game you have shooting, close combat, inventory management, movable objects in the world, an RPG system, NPCs with scripts and dialog, a persistent world, followers, quest lines, complex world interactions and scripts controlling everything from the behavior of items and locations to quests and NPCs. And not only are Bethesda-RPGs much more complicated than an average shooter (or any other game), they are huge as well. I am sure that I have invested at least 150 hours playing Oblivion, and I still have not seen or completed some of the mayor side quests that are available (such as Arena and Fighters Guild).
So yes, buggy games are a nuisance. But I am willing to be more lenient towards Bethesdas RPGs because I know that they are much more complex than your average game and that I am getting a game package that will keep me occupied for years.
Civ 2 was a huge leap forward from Civ 1. Perhaps the greatest improvement between Civ games, but I would not call it the best Civ.
Remeber the AI units pointlessly moving back and forth all the time? Or moving just next to your city and staying fortified there for the rest of the game? Or always attacking you with a single unit at a time, instead of forming an army that has a realistic chance of conquering a city?
The AI in Civ only started becoming marginally intelligent from Civ 3 on.
Yeah, and an unemployment of below 5% is considered full employment because there will always be people caught between jobs, or unemployed due to sickness, personal issues, unwillingness to work, etc.
So IT is one percent above statistical full employment. Great news!
Poor planning, perhaps. But I wonder what the deal is with Oracle being so over-eager to plaster their company name all over the place. Wherever you go, java.com, java.sun.com, javadocs, the "ORACLE" Logo is everywhere and this happened only a week or two after the takeover.
If you wrote game code single-threaded, you're dangerously stupid.
Actually, writing game code multi-threaded without having a VERY strong parallel software architecture is dangerously stupid. Writing single threaded code is the safest thing there is.
Take Oblivion from Bethesda for instance. It was advertised as being able to make use of multiple cores thanks to extensive multi-threading ability. Then the game came was released and it turned out that it ran single-threaded because the multi-threading caused to many problems. And we are talking about a respected developer using an established game engine (Gamebryo).
As I said in my previous post, I/O things can mostly be delegated to other threads. Physics probably as well, but this is mostly handled by a physics library and not part of your code anyway. However the "meat" of your game code - practically everything that goes on in your main loop, can be very hard to parallelize. But I guess it also depends on the type of game. I'm sure there are efficient ways to parallelize grid and turn based strategy games.
Right. When I bought my most recent PC I opted for a 3.2 GHz dual core rather than a 2.2 GHz quad core. I'm pretty certain that even today most applications still run mainly single threaded, using parallelization only for some I/O operations, like disk access, resource loading or music streaming. Writing multi-threaded applications is hard and error prone. My opinion on the matter is, that we don't have the right tools and abstractions yet, even though we're rapidly moving in the right direction. My experience from game programming tells me that 95% of code runs single threaded (has to run single threaded) and only about 5% can be delegated to other threads.
You're absolutely right of course. The question now is, what is the purpose of life? To indefinitely create more value, or to have fun and enjoy yourself? At some point in my life I decided that life is very enjoyable without being a millionaire and that being immersed in fantastic game worlds is something I enjoy. So my equation is: enjoyment > more value than necessary.
I think it's pretty obvious that BioWare has always intended to create blockbusters. Fully voiced games, professional actors, impressive game worlds, fleshed out storyline, excellent writers... "blockbusters" are BioWares success formula, which is why I'm so surprised about Zeschucks statement.
Yeah. I got Oblivion shortly after it was released (4 years ago, I think), and with all expansion packs and mods, I'm 120 hours into the game, and I still have completed only half the quests and not even the main storyline (my second playthrough, so I wanted to check out all the sidequests and skip the main quest). So for me, a 50$ investment has bought me 120 hours of entertainment and I'm still into it after 4 years. If you compare it to cinema, or bubble gum, that's unbeatable value, from a "blockbuster" game.
Yeah, I also prefer games I can really sink my teeth into, such as BioWare games or Bethesda games (Fallout, Oblivion). Sure, there are a lot more casual gamers out there, but I think that the "hardcore" gamers are the ones from which a studio scoops a solid fanbase they can count on in the long term for some guaranteed sales. And many hardcore gamers are drawn towards big "blockbuster" games.
Strange that it should be BioWare of all game studios to claim such, as they are one of the few creating huge games with a 40+ hours time investment, such as Mass Effect and Dragon Age. Also these games have been performing very well.
I think these are the same people who did the Ultima 5 remake, "Project Lazarus".
Wonder if they'll take on U7 next... but I think it will be hard to improve on the original. It doesn't have 3D graphics, but the world in U7 is beautiful and alive even in plain old 2D.
A hex grid can be thought of as a square grid with every second line shifted by 0.5 * squareWidth on the X axis, so the conversion can be rather straightforward. But yes, it will produce semantic map differences as some squares that were previously diagonally adjacent to each other no longer will be after conversion.
Slashdot Mirror
Careful, it is important to discriminate the Aljazeeras on the internet.
There is "english.aljazeera.net", which is a more or less factual, reliable news source from an arab perspective (think arab CNN). This is the "real" Aljazeera with the global TV channel.
Then there is "aljazeera.com", which is a trashy islamist/extremist propaganda website disguised as a news outlet (think FoxNews).
I have to agree with both parents. ledow is right in thinking that a finished product should not contain this many bugs, but being a fan of Bethesda games myself, I understand the point that RogeyWon is trying to make. Morrowind, Oblivion and Fallout are very good, and especially, huge games. After all the patches, Oblivion and Fallout 3 still crash randomly on me about every 3 hours on average, but I find the games so enjoyable, that I have learned to live with and forgive this nuisance, using the quicksave feature judiciously. While this may seem outrageous to some, I think it is unfair to compare an Oblivion/Fallout type game to Doom, Quake or Half-Life.
A Bethesda game is much more complex and much bigger than a first-person shooter such as Doom or Half-Life. A shooter has the core game mechanic of running around and shooting, with a few scripted sequences scattered about. In an Oblivion/Fallout type game you have shooting, close combat, inventory management, movable objects in the world, an RPG system, NPCs with scripts and dialog, a persistent world, followers, quest lines, complex world interactions and scripts controlling everything from the behavior of items and locations to quests and NPCs. And not only are Bethesda-RPGs much more complicated than an average shooter (or any other game), they are huge as well. I am sure that I have invested at least 150 hours playing Oblivion, and I still have not seen or completed some of the mayor side quests that are available (such as Arena and Fighters Guild).
So yes, buggy games are a nuisance. But I am willing to be more lenient towards Bethesdas RPGs because I know that they are much more complex than your average game and that I am getting a game package that will keep me occupied for years.
They have "Panzers". Know the difference between your Civilizations. Yeesh!
I just read "Giant Crab replaces Category 3 Hurricane"... need to cut down on the cheetos.
And there is no improvement that can possibly be made to a helium balloon that can make it actually go any higher than Earth's atmosphere.
Yes there is. Attach rockets.
Civ 2 was a huge leap forward from Civ 1. Perhaps the greatest improvement between Civ games, but I would not call it the best Civ.
Remeber the AI units pointlessly moving back and forth all the time? Or moving just next to your city and staying fortified there for the rest of the game? Or always attacking you with a single unit at a time, instead of forming an army that has a realistic chance of conquering a city?
The AI in Civ only started becoming marginally intelligent from Civ 3 on.
Perhaps. But this begs the question of what came first. The LHC or the universe?
Yeah, and an unemployment of below 5% is considered full employment because there will always be people caught between jobs, or unemployed due to sickness, personal issues, unwillingness to work, etc.
So IT is one percent above statistical full employment. Great news!
I'm not a native english speaker, so give me a break, wiseguy.
We should master to blow asteroids away from Earths trijectory first.
Very creepy...
Poor planning, perhaps. But I wonder what the deal is with Oracle being so over-eager to plaster their company name all over the place. Wherever you go, java.com, java.sun.com, javadocs, the "ORACLE" Logo is everywhere and this happened only a week or two after the takeover.
Actually, Id Software is the most prominent user of OpenGL technology. Doom 3, Quake, Rage (new game) are all OpenGL.
If you wrote game code single-threaded, you're dangerously stupid.
Actually, writing game code multi-threaded without having a VERY strong parallel software architecture is dangerously stupid. Writing single threaded code is the safest thing there is.
Take Oblivion from Bethesda for instance. It was advertised as being able to make use of multiple cores thanks to extensive multi-threading ability. Then the game came was released and it turned out that it ran single-threaded because the multi-threading caused to many problems. And we are talking about a respected developer using an established game engine (Gamebryo).
As I said in my previous post, I/O things can mostly be delegated to other threads. Physics probably as well, but this is mostly handled by a physics library and not part of your code anyway. However the "meat" of your game code - practically everything that goes on in your main loop, can be very hard to parallelize. But I guess it also depends on the type of game. I'm sure there are efficient ways to parallelize grid and turn based strategy games.
I buy AMD because I always feel some kind of weird, cosmic responsibility to support the underdog.
It is a strange thing. 8-[
Right. When I bought my most recent PC I opted for a 3.2 GHz dual core rather than a 2.2 GHz quad core. I'm pretty certain that even today most applications still run mainly single threaded, using parallelization only for some I/O operations, like disk access, resource loading or music streaming. Writing multi-threaded applications is hard and error prone. My opinion on the matter is, that we don't have the right tools and abstractions yet, even though we're rapidly moving in the right direction. My experience from game programming tells me that 95% of code runs single threaded (has to run single threaded) and only about 5% can be delegated to other threads.
You're absolutely right of course. The question now is, what is the purpose of life? To indefinitely create more value, or to have fun and enjoy yourself?
At some point in my life I decided that life is very enjoyable without being a millionaire and that being immersed in fantastic game worlds is something I enjoy. So my equation is: enjoyment > more value than necessary.
I think it's pretty obvious that BioWare has always intended to create blockbusters. Fully voiced games, professional actors, impressive game worlds, fleshed out storyline, excellent writers... "blockbusters" are BioWares success formula, which is why I'm so surprised about Zeschucks statement.
Yeah. I got Oblivion shortly after it was released (4 years ago, I think), and with all expansion packs and mods, I'm 120 hours into the game, and I still have completed only half the quests and not even the main storyline (my second playthrough, so I wanted to check out all the sidequests and skip the main quest).
So for me, a 50$ investment has bought me 120 hours of entertainment and I'm still into it after 4 years. If you compare it to cinema, or bubble gum, that's unbeatable value, from a "blockbuster" game.
Yeah, I also prefer games I can really sink my teeth into, such as BioWare games or Bethesda games (Fallout, Oblivion). Sure, there are a lot more casual gamers out there, but I think that the "hardcore" gamers are the ones from which a studio scoops a solid fanbase they can count on in the long term for some guaranteed sales. And many hardcore gamers are drawn towards big "blockbuster" games.
Strange that it should be BioWare of all game studios to claim such, as they are one of the few creating huge games with a 40+ hours time investment, such as Mass Effect and Dragon Age. Also these games have been performing very well.
I think these are the same people who did the Ultima 5 remake, "Project Lazarus".
Wonder if they'll take on U7 next... but I think it will be hard to improve on the original. It doesn't have 3D graphics, but the world in U7 is beautiful and alive even in plain old 2D.
A hex grid can be thought of as a square grid with every second line shifted by 0.5 * squareWidth on the X axis, so the conversion can be rather straightforward. But yes, it will produce semantic map differences as some squares that were previously diagonally adjacent to each other no longer will be after conversion.
Freedom of Speach is Censorship
We should send someone to Betelgeuse to observe the star and tell us when it's about to blow, so we won't be caught off guard 495 years later.