Do you expect all game players to hop on an airplane to fly to the appropriate region every time they want to play a video game? Playing "video game creator for playstation" that way would be much more expensive than just writing a game from scratch on a PC. And no, you can't just import the games because in some countries, copyright owners have the exclusive right to import copies of their works.
Besides, it's a lot easier to learn C++ than it is to learn Japanese.
The original Starfox for the SNES was called "Starwing" in Europe due to the naming conflict.
Trademarks are easy to get around: just change "Star Fox 64" to "Lylat Wars" on the box and title screen. Copyrights, on the other hand... How are you supposed to release a Mickey Mouse game if you can't get permission from Disney in a particular market? Are you supposed to re-do all character models? Re-doing the music may not even be possible because you'll just land on another copyrighted melody.
I figured the lack of royalties to Microsoft would be incentive enough for the port, and the fact that an Xbox is really just a specific-purpose PC would make the port easy.
Except what if the "basic" contract for licensing an Xbox title requires a short non-compete period between an Xbox release and a PC release? It might not happen on the Xbox, but it might happen on the Ybox.
Until you can program for one API and have guaranteed reliabilty that device X supports feature Y then consoles will always rule.
I know that all modern PCs will support the most basic SDL and OpenGL functions. Thus, I can still make simple 2D PC games. However, I can't make games for the DVD consoles because the development licenses are too damn expensive for an individual to afford. (The GBA is wide open.)
Maybe I happen to like NWN? Even if it sometimes crashes. Little crashing is way better than no game at all.
You call a consistent crash within five to ten minutes after launch (as has been reported in other comments in this sid) "little crashing"?
You know there ain't no console version of NWN, do you? Nor BG2, or Torment, or Fallouts, or any good RTS, or... the list goes on.
You know there ain't no native PC version of SSB Melee, F-Zero, Dr. Mario, or any good platformer, or... the list goes on.
And all the other games I happen to like that are not available on crappy consoles and are never going to be.
And all the other games I happen to like that are not available on crappy Windows and are never going to be.
You and other console freaks can go play your brainless little console action if you want, but please don't try to claim that it's perfect for everyone.
Likewise, don't claim that Doom and Warcraft and derivatives thereof are perfect for everyone.
It has always been, and will always be _matter of taste_
Most of the time I just close my eyes and hit next a bunch.
And agree to restrictive EULAs that make you waive most of your "fair use" rights and related rights under copyright law. And then get taken to court for doing something you thought was permitted. Consoles don't have clickwrap EULAs.
Apples and Oranges. You don't have to modify your PC hardware configuration if you don't want to.
What if a game conflicts with the drivers that came pre-installed on the computer that you had just bought from Dell?
Configuration issues are a necessary side effect.
Necessary? There's a lot bigger chance of everything Just Working(tm) on Macintosh hardware.
You don't have to upgrade your PC
Wha? Most new PC games don't run on a 333 MHz Acer laptop with software 3D video. Lots of new games run on my 16.8 MHz Nintendo game console with software 3D video.
but you can't upgrade your console.
Wrong. The Nintendo 64 console had a RAM upgrade. The newer consoles have add-on modems and NICs.
Expensive, proprietary, incompatible controllers
Expensive? At least they don't feel cheap like some of the USB joypads I've seen. Proprietary? The specs for Nintendo Joybus have been published on the Internet. Incompatible? I found the "Nyko Play Cube" adapter that lets my PS2-owning buddies use their controllers on my GameCube system.
I have a 12 year old PC joystick that still works perfectly on my brand new pc.
New PCs no longer come with gameports; the only ways to hook up a controller are through the parallel port (with NTPad XP) or through the USB port. Microsoft's USB controllers feel like ass; because the pad is rotated clockwise 20 degrees, it's nearly impossible to press straight down.
When I play PC games with friends, I don't have to foot the bill for 3 extra controllers.
Yes you do. You have to foot the bill for three extra keyboards, mice, monitors, network cables, and computers, all with roughly the same video card so that nobody female dogs about an unfair disadvantage. (If you think that's silly, you could just have each player Bring Your Own Controller to a console party.)
And I will also dispute that consoles have better controllers. Maybe for playing baseball or street fighter, but no console can touch the combination of a keyboard and mouse.
I will also dispute that a keyboard and mouse are better for everything. Try playing Zoop or Tetris Attack with a keyboard and mouse. Maybe for playing starcraft or quake, but very few PC controllers can touch Nintendo's and Sony's joypads for console-style games.
I think it's interesting that Linux is going to see a port of Unreal Tournament 2003 before Xbox and Playstation, why is that?
I think it's interesting that Game Boy Advance is going to see a port of Yoshi's Island before Windows and Linux, why is that? Where are the side-scrollers for the PC?
With a PS2 controller? Triangle,d-pad right or left,X,X,X
And while you're pressing the d-pad right or left, slowly turning, waiting for the integral to approach the target (turning in video games is based on integrating the vector produced by the directional pad or stick), your target has already moved the mouse toward you and shot you. And if you turn up your D-pad sensitivity, how are you supposed to aim your head shots without moving right past the target?
Really? Then what's this [copy of Star Fox Adventures] I have in my hand right now?
Games for the three DVD-based video game consoles are region coded. A game that's out in Japan may not be out in the United States or Europe. A game that's out in Japan and the United States may not be out in Europe. Some games never cross the pond(s) because of copyright licensing issues. Just because you hold a copy of a game in one hand and one-handed-type[1] in the other doesn't mean that anybody in any other country can.
Games for the Game Boy Advance handheld system, on the other hand, are completely not region coded.
[1] Judging by your other messages, Mr. Coward, you seem to have a lot of practice at one-handed typing.
It isn't worth making a PC game if the console can do the job.
Yes it is. It's extremely difficult to get your game published on a console, unless you publish independently, which was possible on older consoles, nearly impossible on the current DVD consoles with all their DMCA protection and poop, but probably soon to become easy on the Game Boy Advance because that system has almost no protection at all. (The Game Boy and GBA have a trademark check, but that's legal to break under Sega v. Accolade.)
Actually, Sony Online costs nothing. Just your standard internet connection;the network adapter itself is only 35 dollars.
My "standard Internet connection" is dial-up. Does Sony Online take dial-up? Or do I have to pack up and move to an area that offers affordable broadband Internet access?
But get this: if it had been a PC game Vice City would be a $20 expansion pack
There was an expansion pack for GTA for PS2. However, it bombed because people returned it because they didn't realize until too late that it required the first GTA.
No, there are three. There are PC type games, there are PlayStation(TM) console type games, and there are Nintendo(TM) console type games. (I find the Xbox mentality more similar to the PS2's than to the PC's or the GCN's.) I don't think you'll be seeing Mario or Zelda for PS2 or Xbox any time soon, or Final Fantasy [I..X] for GameCube.
An Xbox can, illegally (in the USA, UK, and other countries with anti-circumvention law).
A PS2 can, legally, with the Linux kit, which includes a hard drive, a NIC, a preboot disc, and a Linux distro. Because you don't want to be interrupted with incoming messages or OS updates while you're playing a game, the PS2 dual-boots the "computer" operating system and the "game" operating system.
However, most PC gamepads suck donkey ricardo for any game involving fast twitch action such as a puzzle game, a side-view platform game, or a fighting game. They just don't have the same feel that Nintendo and Sony pads have. In fact, Microsoft's USB Sidewinder pads rotate the directional control 20 degrees clockwise, making it nearly impossible to move straight down without also moving to the right.
Those nifty uber-controllers with lots of extra buttons
That's called a keyboard;-)
They're usually used with the non dominant hand and just have lots of buttons for adding to a flight game
It's hard to think that here, now, in 1989 we'd have to download *8* WHOLE MEGS.
Unlike processors, memory, and storage, new dial-up networking technology does not become more powerful over time: A new 56K modem in the year 2003 is not significantly faster than a new 56K modem in the year 1997, back when x2 and K56Flex (competing 56K modulations) were fighting it out. There's a theoretical limit to how fast a modem can receive information over one line of the public switched telephone network. Downloading eight megabytes isn't going to get faster for Joe Sixpack any time soon.
Besides, Opera runs on PDAs that have limited RAM to keep the price, physical size, and battery drain down. The memory-hungry Gecko engine is going to have a lot harder time competing in the handheld arena.
someone with experience in one or two decades of the same kind of technology in the past are shunned because they can't actually list the new technology now, even though they would probably be up to speed in a week or two
So, on your resume, put "In about a week or two, I could come up to speed in any of the following: XML, EJB,.NET, ASP, JSP, PHP, Perl," and a few more keywords for the automated resume scanners that OCR the document and look for buzzwords.
and google becomes an RSS service we can point our agents at.
But if the major search engines and other HTML-based services become easily scriptable, then the search engines lose the revenue stream of advertisements. That's why the Semantic Web won't work. Either that or most Semantic Web sites will become pay sites.
I saw PS2, GCN, Xbox. So in a way it's on PC. And if they do decide to make a game for the Game Boy Advance, it'll be a drastically different design (due to the GBA's hardware support for 2d but only software support for 3d), but it'll at least be playable on PC with a cart reader and VisualBoyAdvance.
if moderators would open their eyes they'd see I was responding to the post above mine, not the original topic.
You're not supposed to respond to the post above yours unless you can tie it to the original topic. (Too bad I can't provide an analogy from Futurama because I'm not a Futurama fan; I have watched a total of oh, about three episodes.)
Unless they force everyone to upgrade to a certified sound card
Or at least a signed driver. The Secure Audio Path won't play sound on a driver that Microsoft hasn't signed with Secure Audio Path permissions. I've written about this before.
if you buy the latest Stones CD, you can only exchange it for the (surprise) latest Stones CD.
Which results in only one thing, as Orgasmatron pointed out: the store will run out of copies of the latest Stones title. But please do this at a big chain such as Best Buy or Wal*Mart, not a mom-and-pop record store.
Slashdot Mirror
Is it out *somewhere*? Then it's out.
Do you expect all game players to hop on an airplane to fly to the appropriate region every time they want to play a video game? Playing "video game creator for playstation" that way would be much more expensive than just writing a game from scratch on a PC. And no, you can't just import the games because in some countries, copyright owners have the exclusive right to import copies of their works.
Besides, it's a lot easier to learn C++ than it is to learn Japanese.
The original Starfox for the SNES was called "Starwing" in Europe due to the naming conflict.
Trademarks are easy to get around: just change "Star Fox 64" to "Lylat Wars" on the box and title screen. Copyrights, on the other hand... How are you supposed to release a Mickey Mouse game if you can't get permission from Disney in a particular market? Are you supposed to re-do all character models? Re-doing the music may not even be possible because you'll just land on another copyrighted melody.
On PC, the only thing you have in your favor is the shareware effort.
The shareware effort is what started id Software.
I figured the lack of royalties to Microsoft would be incentive enough for the port, and the fact that an Xbox is really just a specific-purpose PC would make the port easy.
Except what if the "basic" contract for licensing an Xbox title requires a short non-compete period between an Xbox release and a PC release? It might not happen on the Xbox, but it might happen on the Ybox.
Until you can program for one API and have guaranteed reliabilty that device X supports feature Y then consoles will always rule.
I know that all modern PCs will support the most basic SDL and OpenGL functions. Thus, I can still make simple 2D PC games. However, I can't make games for the DVD consoles because the development licenses are too damn expensive for an individual to afford. (The GBA is wide open.)
Maybe I happen to like NWN? Even if it sometimes crashes. Little crashing is way better than no game at all.
You call a consistent crash within five to ten minutes after launch (as has been reported in other comments in this sid) "little crashing"?
You know there ain't no console version of NWN, do you? Nor BG2, or Torment, or Fallouts, or any good RTS, or... the list goes on.
You know there ain't no native PC version of SSB Melee, F-Zero, Dr. Mario, or any good platformer, or... the list goes on.
And all the other games I happen to like that are not available on crappy consoles and are never going to be.
And all the other games I happen to like that are not available on crappy Windows and are never going to be.
You and other console freaks can go play your brainless little console action if you want, but please don't try to claim that it's perfect for everyone.
Likewise, don't claim that Doom and Warcraft and derivatives thereof are perfect for everyone.
It has always been, and will always be _matter of taste_
Agreed 100 percent.
Most of the time I just close my eyes and hit next a bunch.
And agree to restrictive EULAs that make you waive most of your "fair use" rights and related rights under copyright law. And then get taken to court for doing something you thought was permitted. Consoles don't have clickwrap EULAs.
Apples and Oranges. You don't have to modify your PC hardware configuration if you don't want to.
What if a game conflicts with the drivers that came pre-installed on the computer that you had just bought from Dell?
Configuration issues are a necessary side effect.
Necessary? There's a lot bigger chance of everything Just Working(tm) on Macintosh hardware.
You don't have to upgrade your PC
Wha? Most new PC games don't run on a 333 MHz Acer laptop with software 3D video. Lots of new games run on my 16.8 MHz Nintendo game console with software 3D video.
but you can't upgrade your console.
Wrong. The Nintendo 64 console had a RAM upgrade. The newer consoles have add-on modems and NICs.
Expensive, proprietary, incompatible controllers
Expensive? At least they don't feel cheap like some of the USB joypads I've seen. Proprietary? The specs for Nintendo Joybus have been published on the Internet. Incompatible? I found the "Nyko Play Cube" adapter that lets my PS2-owning buddies use their controllers on my GameCube system.
I have a 12 year old PC joystick that still works perfectly on my brand new pc.
New PCs no longer come with gameports; the only ways to hook up a controller are through the parallel port (with NTPad XP) or through the USB port. Microsoft's USB controllers feel like ass; because the pad is rotated clockwise 20 degrees, it's nearly impossible to press straight down.
When I play PC games with friends, I don't have to foot the bill for 3 extra controllers.
Yes you do. You have to foot the bill for three extra keyboards, mice, monitors, network cables, and computers, all with roughly the same video card so that nobody female dogs about an unfair disadvantage. (If you think that's silly, you could just have each player Bring Your Own Controller to a console party.)
And I will also dispute that consoles have better controllers. Maybe for playing baseball or street fighter, but no console can touch the combination of a keyboard and mouse.
I will also dispute that a keyboard and mouse are better for everything. Try playing Zoop or Tetris Attack with a keyboard and mouse. Maybe for playing starcraft or quake, but very few PC controllers can touch Nintendo's and Sony's joypads for console-style games.
I think it's interesting that Linux is going to see a port of Unreal Tournament 2003 before Xbox and Playstation, why is that?
I think it's interesting that Game Boy Advance is going to see a port of Yoshi's Island before Windows and Linux, why is that? Where are the side-scrollers for the PC?
With a PS2 controller? Triangle,d-pad right or left,X,X,X
And while you're pressing the d-pad right or left, slowly turning, waiting for the integral to approach the target (turning in video games is based on integrating the vector produced by the directional pad or stick), your target has already moved the mouse toward you and shot you. And if you turn up your D-pad sensitivity, how are you supposed to aim your head shots without moving right past the target?
Really? Then what's this [copy of Star Fox Adventures] I have in my hand right now?
Games for the three DVD-based video game consoles are region coded. A game that's out in Japan may not be out in the United States or Europe. A game that's out in Japan and the United States may not be out in Europe. Some games never cross the pond(s) because of copyright licensing issues. Just because you hold a copy of a game in one hand and one-handed-type[1] in the other doesn't mean that anybody in any other country can.
Games for the Game Boy Advance handheld system, on the other hand, are completely not region coded.
[1] Judging by your other messages, Mr. Coward, you seem to have a lot of practice at one-handed typing.
you can get a cheap USB gamepad for the computer.
And it'll feel cheap. Better to get an N64 pad and an N64->USB adapter.
It isn't worth making a PC game if the console can do the job.
Yes it is. It's extremely difficult to get your game published on a console, unless you publish independently, which was possible on older consoles, nearly impossible on the current DVD consoles with all their DMCA protection and poop, but probably soon to become easy on the Game Boy Advance because that system has almost no protection at all. (The Game Boy and GBA have a trademark check, but that's legal to break under Sega v. Accolade.)
Actually, Sony Online costs nothing. Just your standard internet connection;the network adapter itself is only 35 dollars.
My "standard Internet connection" is dial-up. Does Sony Online take dial-up? Or do I have to pack up and move to an area that offers affordable broadband Internet access?
But get this: if it had been a PC game Vice City would be a $20 expansion pack
There was an expansion pack for GTA for PS2. However, it bombed because people returned it because they didn't realize until too late that it required the first GTA.
There are console type games and PC type games.
No, there are three. There are PC type games, there are PlayStation(TM) console type games, and there are Nintendo(TM) console type games. (I find the Xbox mentality more similar to the PS2's than to the PC's or the GCN's.) I don't think you'll be seeing Mario or Zelda for PS2 or Xbox any time soon, or Final Fantasy [I..X] for GameCube.
But can an X-Box surf the web, chat on AIM
An Xbox can, illegally (in the USA, UK, and other countries with anti-circumvention law).
A PS2 can, legally, with the Linux kit, which includes a hard drive, a NIC, a preboot disc, and a Linux distro. Because you don't want to be interrupted with incoming messages or OS updates while you're playing a game, the PS2 dual-boots the "computer" operating system and the "game" operating system.
Gamepad (ForceFeedback included)
However, most PC gamepads suck donkey ricardo for any game involving fast twitch action such as a puzzle game, a side-view platform game, or a fighting game. They just don't have the same feel that Nintendo and Sony pads have. In fact, Microsoft's USB Sidewinder pads rotate the directional control 20 degrees clockwise, making it nearly impossible to move straight down without also moving to the right.
Those nifty uber-controllers with lots of extra buttons
That's called a keyboard ;-)
They're usually used with the non dominant hand and just have lots of buttons for adding to a flight game
Or for one handed typing...
If only I could have something like Galeon on Windoze
In addition to Phoenix, here's another app for Windows that's similar to Galeon.
It's hard to think that here, now, in 1989 we'd have to download *8* WHOLE MEGS.
Unlike processors, memory, and storage, new dial-up networking technology does not become more powerful over time: A new 56K modem in the year 2003 is not significantly faster than a new 56K modem in the year 1997, back when x2 and K56Flex (competing 56K modulations) were fighting it out. There's a theoretical limit to how fast a modem can receive information over one line of the public switched telephone network. Downloading eight megabytes isn't going to get faster for Joe Sixpack any time soon.
Besides, Opera runs on PDAs that have limited RAM to keep the price, physical size, and battery drain down. The memory-hungry Gecko engine is going to have a lot harder time competing in the handheld arena.
someone with experience in one or two decades of the same kind of technology in the past are shunned because they can't actually list the new technology now, even though they would probably be up to speed in a week or two
So, on your resume, put "In about a week or two, I could come up to speed in any of the following: XML, EJB, .NET, ASP, JSP, PHP, Perl," and a few more keywords for the automated resume scanners that OCR the document and look for buzzwords.
and google becomes an RSS service we can point our agents at.
But if the major search engines and other HTML-based services become easily scriptable, then the search engines lose the revenue stream of advertisements. That's why the Semantic Web won't work. Either that or most Semantic Web sites will become pay sites.
except one thing - the lack of it being for pc.
I saw PS2, GCN, Xbox. So in a way it's on PC. And if they do decide to make a game for the Game Boy Advance, it'll be a drastically different design (due to the GBA's hardware support for 2d but only software support for 3d), but it'll at least be playable on PC with a cart reader and VisualBoyAdvance.
if moderators would open their eyes they'd see I was responding to the post above mine, not the original topic.
You're not supposed to respond to the post above yours unless you can tie it to the original topic. (Too bad I can't provide an analogy from Futurama because I'm not a Futurama fan; I have watched a total of oh, about three episodes.)
Unless they force everyone to upgrade to a certified sound card
Or at least a signed driver. The Secure Audio Path won't play sound on a driver that Microsoft hasn't signed with Secure Audio Path permissions. I've written about this before.
if you buy the latest Stones CD, you can only exchange it for the (surprise) latest Stones CD.
Which results in only one thing, as Orgasmatron pointed out: the store will run out of copies of the latest Stones title. But please do this at a big chain such as Best Buy or Wal*Mart, not a mom-and-pop record store.
The MnP store by my house should stop selling creative crap if they want my business to continue.
Except soon, all hardware available from any manufacturer will support Secure Audio Path. Otherwise, Microsoft won't sign the driver.
On the brighter side, only encrypted .wma files will activate Secure Audio Path. Your .ogg files will still work.