Who knows, maybe some people are just cheap and wouldn't get a NEW game even if it was cheaper, as long as they can get it for less (or free) and so it doesn't matter how expensive you sell your games?
I'm writing games which admittedly can not be sold used (for ANDROID), but from my experience, some people just don't see the point in paying for games and either pirate the game ( 3 minutes top from install to refund) or play the game for the 24 hours they have and THEN ask for refunds. We're talking games selling between 0.99c and $2.99 here, so please don't tell me it's because they needed the money (after buying a $400 phone!?). Unrelated but noteworthy, on the other side of the spectrum, there seem to be people who will buy anything if it's *expensive* (cause we all know that free or cheap stuff can not be good). This showed when I raised the price for one of my games from 0.99c to $1.99 and I suddenly had 5 times as many sales.
so... selling normal games at $30 instead of $60 won't make any difference for people used to buy used games. They'll just keep on waiting for a ~used~ offer and buy that. It does, of course, increase the probability that the game will sell more earlier, as people who buy new games when they are discounted will hit earlier too. In the end though, you'll lose some benefit from the people who would have actually bought the game for the $60 pricetag.
When was the last time you installed windows and didn't have to find the latest drivers for.. Well.. practically everything? Just because you are USED to do it, doesn't mean it's easier or works better than click on "System->'Hardware Drivers->Enable "NVidia Accelerated Graphics Driver [recomended]"... which is all you need to install at least nVidia proprietary drivers in Ubuntu 9.04.
I can't really comment on soundcards, mainboard drivers or network/wifi adapters as they actually worked out of the box for me... in Ubuntu. (read : no extra CD/DVD to find or get onto the intertubes and desperately try to find the correct driver for the specific hardware I have, as is commonplace during a Windows install)
That said, I still have a partition with XP installed. Beats a XBox360 or a PS3 in terms of games available, and that's exactly how I view it : Windows is my onboard game console. For anything else (work, music, movies), I use Linux.
so basically it's 2nd Life without the sex shops but with dwarves.
Re:It still has quite a bit of "suckiness"
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Hmm... good idea! I mean, think about the 99c or even $2.99 you actually saved! Pirate two or three applications and you can even buy yourself a cup of coffee to go with that free wifi!
Well... I'll go back to giving lectures and selling "support contracts" for my 99c games...
actually, the position of the multimedia buttons was another factor for S510 for me : they are very small and on the sides. I don't even notice them until someone point to me that they are there;) The windows key, on the other hand, makes a great meta key in linux.
And yes.. the small insert button is sub-optimal on the S510. But I use very rarely anyway
well.. I for one don't. I own this one and the double sized delete key WAS a factor.
Laugh as much as you want, but my keyboard is the input device I use the most, and I'm pretty sure this is true for a lot of/.'ers. I find it always mind boggling that people will pay incredible sums for their mices, but will get $9,99 keyboards with the argument that "it's just a keyboard, you know". A keyboard should be as ergonomic as possible, unless all you ever do is click links in your browser.
When friends give me a list of notebooks with similar specs and ask me to tell them which one to buy, my answer is always to open notepad or whatever is installed, type a few sentences and buy the one that felt best, even if it doesn't have the best specs or the best price of the lot. Incidentally, the chance that that they WILL use the delete key is quite high, and a big one you can hit easily with your pinky without looking for it is, in lack of any other word, awesome.
If you're develop a game (or, for that matter, create a music track/make a movie) without being paid up-front by a 3rd party for the rights to publish the final product, you're independent. As soon as you get money for the rights to publish the final product before it is even in a releasable state, you're not independent anymore, as this kind of money generally comes with its own set of limitations and set by the publisher. You are now owing a finished product for the delivered money, and it generally should conform to conditions set by the publisher ("look... you can't show boobs! And could you please add some gore when you use a grenade?")
I would rant longer, but power outage, and my UPS is going to die soon.
Cool games perhaps not. GOOD ones definitely.
Armagetron Advanced, Scorched3D, Warzone2100, Wesnoth, Xmoto, BZFlag, FreeCiv, Urban Terror... just to name a few.
Most of them are of course available for windows, and the ~cool and shiny~ new games don't always run in wine at all, or well enough... but that's what dual boot is all about : use linux for everything, boot in windows when you want to play something that doesn't run in linux. Same as going to the TV Set and pulling your favourite console, only with better games
hmm.. those thin walls with invisibility cloaked holes... I think I have a name for them : "Windows" (and I'm not refering to the operating system whose makers equate transparency with communism by the way)
Thief3 wasn't THAT bad. It still had the creepiest level of any game of all time in it. And personally I actually like the fact that you could roam the city. Too bad many tha many levels were just too linear and that they replaced the rope arrow with the stupid gloves though.
that was a ~problem~ ??
I thought the fact that you were a wimp in hand to hand non-stealthy combat was the main point of the game. Otherwise you could just have played Splinter Cell. This might have solved your second problem with the Thief Serie too : there were too many ways to finish the levels.
Keep the hero a wimp, make the levels as ~open~ as can be with multiple entrances and no forced way of finishing a level or pass an obstacle (see the latest Tomb Raider or Prince of Perversia installments for how NOT to do it), don't include a sidekick, especially if that sidekick is supposed to save you everytime you might have died (hell.. ALLOW for failure. you know, the old "YOU'RE DEAD, GAME OVER" concept that seems to be vanishing out of most games lately), and you'll have a great game on your hands.
Because of a confusing gramatical construct. The call happened a few days ago and the part about "a few month ago" refers to the timeframe when my friend "moved to another country". I can't really drive 8000km just to show him what Linux is really like:)
yes. Never has a Linux distro been so describingly named. It's main features are :
no easy way for a user to install new software
a UI which looks like a mix of late 90s website and early 2000s mobile phone
(at least on the AA1) modified versions of key libraries to ensure that, should the user find a way to install anything new, it has a good chance of breaking the system and force the user to wipe the disk and reinstall.
You have a point but in this case I synthesized for/. users. My discussion with my friend went more : "do you have a menu bar at the top of the screen with the word "applications" in it? or do you have a bar at the bottom of the screen with a blue K?" [the reply was "I don't know"] "ok... does a logo appear when you boot?" "acer?!" [JAWS theme starting up in my head] "Could you please press the "PRINT" button on your keyboard and send me the screenshot that will be made of your desktop? thanks." and upon receiving said screenshot "ARRRGLLL"
TO be completely fair, YOUR version would probably continue this way: "Hello it's me again. My computer has been getting slower and slower and my Printer doesn work. When I plug it in, it asks me for drivers but I don't own a car. what should I do? Oh, btw. You didn't tell me I needed a new antivirus. A window opened all by itself and told me to do it. I tried closing it but it just poped up again. It must have been a serious threat! So I bought the antivirus it was recommending."
On a more serious note, Linpus is more meant to be installed on a mobile phone or more probably a toaster than on something with an actual keyboard. It's really THAT bad.
Indeed.
I was chatting to a non-computer savvy friend who moved to another country a few months ago, and he said he wanted to buy a new computer, but it absolutely shouldn't have linux on it. I asked him why, and he said that he was using Linux right at that moment on his wife's laptop and he was hating it with all his heart. I was kind of amazed by his horrified reaction to linux (I mean, okay! It's different from windows and so on.. but he was REALLY upset about it). I asked him whether he was using Gnome, KDE or if, at least, he knew which distro it was. It turned out that his wife had bought an Acer Aspire One ( which, ironically, I was typing at, albeit using Ubuntu 8.10) and he was still using Linpus. For him, Linpus WAS Linux... and seen from this point of view, yes, Linux *IS* a PoS. Too bad I can't just tell him to boot off some live CD to show him what it's really like.
hmm . excuse me, but : better hardware support? Since when? Can I just take, let's say, some non-apple graphic adapter I've got lying around, plug it in, and it will work? Or go out and buy some random wireless adapter?
Better sofware support is arguable, but better hardware support, I think not
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It's just 42 you, who happen to have an interest 23 in some special thing, and just see it anywhere.
Sadly most of the games on Android currently just aren't even worth $0.99
thanks for proving my point about some people being cheap. To be honest, some developers are equally cheap(no, that is NOT mine).
Who knows, maybe some people are just cheap and wouldn't get a NEW game even if it was cheaper, as long as they can get it for less (or free) and so it doesn't matter how expensive you sell your games?
I'm writing games which admittedly can not be sold used (for ANDROID), but from my experience, some people just don't see the point in paying for games and either pirate the game ( 3 minutes top from install to refund) or play the game for the 24 hours they have and THEN ask for refunds. We're talking games selling between 0.99c and $2.99 here, so please don't tell me it's because they needed the money (after buying a $400 phone!?).
Unrelated but noteworthy, on the other side of the spectrum, there seem to be people who will buy anything if it's *expensive* (cause we all know that free or cheap stuff can not be good). This showed when I raised the price for one of my games from 0.99c to $1.99 and I suddenly had 5 times as many sales.
so ... selling normal games at $30 instead of $60 won't make any difference for people used to buy used games. They'll just keep on waiting for a ~used~ offer and buy that. It does, of course, increase the probability that the game will sell more earlier, as people who buy new games when they are discounted will hit earlier too. In the end though, you'll lose some benefit from the people who would have actually bought the game for the $60 pricetag.
When was the last time you installed windows and didn't have to find the latest drivers for .. Well .. practically everything? Just because you are USED to do it, doesn't mean it's easier or works better than click on "System->'Hardware Drivers->Enable "NVidia Accelerated Graphics Driver [recomended]" ... which is all you need to install at least nVidia proprietary drivers in Ubuntu 9.04.
I can't really comment on soundcards, mainboard drivers or network/wifi adapters as they actually worked out of the box for me ... in Ubuntu. (read : no extra CD/DVD to find or get onto the intertubes and desperately try to find the correct driver for the specific hardware I have, as is commonplace during a Windows install)
That said, I still have a partition with XP installed. Beats a XBox360 or a PS3 in terms of games available, and that's exactly how I view it : Windows is my onboard game console. For anything else (work, music, movies), I use Linux.
paid by whom?
yep. Think of that, all you system administrators! Everytime you do a backup of your servers, you dishonor your company!
so basically it's 2nd Life without the sex shops but with dwarves.
Hmm ... good idea! I mean, think about the 99c or even $2.99 you actually saved! Pirate two or three applications and you can even buy yourself a cup of coffee to go with that free wifi!
Well ... I'll go back to giving lectures and selling "support contracts" for my 99c games ...
actually, the position of the multimedia buttons was another factor for S510 for me : they are very small and on the sides. I don't even notice them until someone point to me that they are there ;) The windows key, on the other hand, makes a great meta key in linux.
And yes .. the small insert button is sub-optimal on the S510. But I use very rarely anyway
you had a hook? I had to make kids so that they would type for me because I couldn't afford any prostetics!
well .. I for one don't. I own this one and the double sized delete key WAS a factor.
Laugh as much as you want, but my keyboard is the input device I use the most, and I'm pretty sure this is true for a lot of /.'ers. I find it always mind boggling that people will pay incredible sums for their mices, but will get $9,99 keyboards with the argument that "it's just a keyboard, you know". A keyboard should be as ergonomic as possible, unless all you ever do is click links in your browser.
When friends give me a list of notebooks with similar specs and ask me to tell them which one to buy, my answer is always to open notepad or whatever is installed, type a few sentences and buy the one that felt best, even if it doesn't have the best specs or the best price of the lot. Incidentally, the chance that that they WILL use the delete key is quite high, and a big one you can hit easily with your pinky without looking for it is, in lack of any other word, awesome.
and get rid of that pesky "game" thing. It was just getting in the way anyway.
... are your three main weapons?
If you're develop a game (or, for that matter, create a music track/make a movie) without being paid up-front by a 3rd party for the rights to publish the final product, you're independent. As soon as you get money for the rights to publish the final product before it is even in a releasable state, you're not independent anymore, as this kind of money generally comes with its own set of limitations and set by the publisher. You are now owing a finished product for the delivered money, and it generally should conform to conditions set by the publisher ("look ... you can't show boobs! And could you please add some gore when you use a grenade?")
I would rant longer, but power outage, and my UPS is going to die soon.
Cool games perhaps not. GOOD ones definitely. ... just to name a few.
Armagetron Advanced, Scorched3D, Warzone2100, Wesnoth, Xmoto, BZFlag, FreeCiv, Urban Terror
Most of them are of course available for windows, and the ~cool and shiny~ new games don't always run in wine at all, or well enough ... but that's what dual boot is all about : use linux for everything, boot in windows when you want to play something that doesn't run in linux. Same as going to the TV Set and pulling your favourite console, only with better games
hmm .. those thin walls with invisibility cloaked holes ... I think I have a name for them : "Windows" (and I'm not refering to the operating system whose makers equate transparency with communism by the way)
nope. Nethack included a sidekick ;)
Thief3 wasn't THAT bad. It still had the creepiest level of any game of all time in it. And personally I actually like the fact that you could roam the city. Too bad many tha many levels were just too linear and that they replaced the rope arrow with the stupid gloves though.
that was a ~problem~ ??
I thought the fact that you were a wimp in hand to hand non-stealthy combat was the main point of the game. Otherwise you could just have played Splinter Cell. This might have solved your second problem with the Thief Serie too : there were too many ways to finish the levels.
Keep the hero a wimp, make the levels as ~open~ as can be with multiple entrances and no forced way of finishing a level or pass an obstacle (see the latest Tomb Raider or Prince of Perversia installments for how NOT to do it), don't include a sidekick, especially if that sidekick is supposed to save you everytime you might have died (hell.. ALLOW for failure. you know, the old "YOU'RE DEAD, GAME OVER" concept that seems to be vanishing out of most games lately), and you'll have a great game on your hands.
Because of a confusing gramatical construct. The call happened a few days ago and the part about "a few month ago" refers to the timeframe when my friend "moved to another country". I can't really drive 8000km just to show him what Linux is really like :)
You have a point but in this case I synthesized for /. users. My discussion with my friend went more : ... does a logo appear when you boot?" "acer?!" [JAWS theme starting up in my head] "Could you please press the "PRINT" button on your keyboard and send me the screenshot that will be made of your desktop? thanks." and upon receiving said screenshot "ARRRGLLL"
"do you have a menu bar at the top of the screen with the word "applications" in it? or do you have a bar at the bottom of the screen with a blue K?" [the reply was "I don't know"] "ok
TO be completely fair, YOUR version would probably continue this way :
"Hello it's me again. My computer has been getting slower and slower and my Printer doesn work. When I plug it in, it asks me for drivers but I don't own a car. what should I do? Oh, btw. You didn't tell me I needed a new antivirus. A window opened all by itself and told me to do it. I tried closing it but it just poped up again. It must have been a serious threat! So I bought the antivirus it was recommending."
On a more serious note, Linpus is more meant to be installed on a mobile phone or more probably a toaster than on something with an actual keyboard. It's really THAT bad.
Indeed. .. but he was REALLY upset about it). ... and seen from this point of view, yes, Linux *IS* a PoS.
I was chatting to a non-computer savvy friend who moved to another country a few months ago, and he said he wanted to buy a new computer, but it absolutely shouldn't have linux on it. I asked him why, and he said that he was using Linux right at that moment on his wife's laptop and he was hating it with all his heart. I was kind of amazed by his horrified reaction to linux (I mean, okay! It's different from windows and so on
I asked him whether he was using Gnome, KDE or if, at least, he knew which distro it was. It turned out that his wife had bought an Acer Aspire One ( which, ironically, I was typing at, albeit using Ubuntu 8.10) and he was still using Linpus. For him, Linpus WAS Linux
Too bad I can't just tell him to boot off some live CD to show him what it's really like.
YAY! got it;)
hmm . excuse me, but : better hardware support?
Since when? Can I just take, let's say, some non-apple graphic adapter I've got lying around, plug it in, and it will work? Or go out and buy some random wireless adapter?
Better sofware support is arguable, but better hardware support, I think not