Ha ha. And I don't think Zillion had a save feature either! Join the club. Some titles like Golden Axe Warrior used button 1 to invoke a subscreen, but that meant there was one button left for in-game actions.
I think a lot of people are missing the real point of Gamerscore - to keep gamers playing a game. It's a surprisingly effective way of adding replay value to a game without actually adding extra content - earning achievements is akin to collecting baseball cards or Pokemon. Developers can also use multiplayer achievements that take time to unlock so that there's more people playing online.
That having been said, the word "achievements" for these things is rather inappropriate, since most of these goals don't require any skill whatsoever. There's no skill involved in running around and collecting things in a 3D world like some of these goals entail. And of course, you can't translate gamerscore into any tangible, real world achievements.
Those programming issues are really interesting - to us. But you have to remember the audience - a bunch of video game fans on a forum who are likely not interested in technical details. As for it being like an advert, Atlus primarily localizes their own Japanese releases - e.g. their Shin Megami Tensei series.
If you're interested in all the technical details, there are some sites dedicated to fan translations and ROM hacking - even more interesting since ROM hacking groups don't have access to the source code.
You've got to give credit to Atlus - they've done a good job bringing the Shin Megami Tensei series over to the western world, especially when Final Fantasy gets way more attention. But they did a hatchet job on Maken X - to the point where the plot was incomprehensible and the voice acting was laughable. Still, it's good to see that they're working so hard at a job that so many other companies do so wrong. Jaleco's USA division didn't even try to translate stories in most cases. They did one of the worse localization jobs in history when they brought over the third game in Rushing Beat series.
Reading about Atlus's localization process really makes me miss Working Designs, who no one really properly appreciated for their localization efforts.
They weren't tracking these things electronically? The technology to track animals has existed for years and surely they would have access to electronic tags and GPS tracking devices.
No, this is not a book review. And yes, in his books Gladwell does state the "obvious" and isn't always on point with his assertions. But in this critique of Anderson's ideas, Gladwell makes his point with one phrase:
Free: The Future of a Radical Price (Hyperion; $26.99)
Yes, for all of Anderson's extolling of the virtues of free content, he's still selling his book for money.
Assuming Pixar's "competition" will continue to be such "gems" as Madagascar 2, Ice Age 2 or whatever Shrek sequel is coming down the pipeline, there's nothing to worry about. Now if John Lasseter leaves, then we might be able to talk about Pixar going downhill.
I'm not sure why there's so much buzz about this game. It's quite similar to other recent "indie" games like "World of Goo" and especially "Crayon Physics" - action puzzlers that involve using lateral thinking to build structures and get to an exit. And Scribblenauts doesn't look nearly as impressive as either two of those games. Besides, all these titles have the same basic premise as good 'ol "Lemmings."
I really don't understand the perceived conflict between retailers and game publishers. Retailers like GameStop pimp new releases just as much as they do used games. And anyway, if no one bought the game new, then GameStop wouldn't have any used games to sell! So if anything, GameStop needs more people to buy new games so they have more used copies to buy and sell at their huge profit margins.
Unfortunately, game makers just don't seem to comprehend this relationship - so they're edging closer to a download-only model. Just look at this useless new doorstop PSP that Sony is releasing.
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Ha ha. And I don't think Zillion had a save feature either! Join the club. Some titles like Golden Axe Warrior used button 1 to invoke a subscreen, but that meant there was one button left for in-game actions.
I think a lot of people are missing the real point of Gamerscore - to keep gamers playing a game. It's a surprisingly effective way of adding replay value to a game without actually adding extra content - earning achievements is akin to collecting baseball cards or Pokemon. Developers can also use multiplayer achievements that take time to unlock so that there's more people playing online. That having been said, the word "achievements" for these things is rather inappropriate, since most of these goals don't require any skill whatsoever. There's no skill involved in running around and collecting things in a 3D world like some of these goals entail. And of course, you can't translate gamerscore into any tangible, real world achievements.
Those programming issues are really interesting - to us. But you have to remember the audience - a bunch of video game fans on a forum who are likely not interested in technical details. As for it being like an advert, Atlus primarily localizes their own Japanese releases - e.g. their Shin Megami Tensei series.
If you're interested in all the technical details, there are some sites dedicated to fan translations and ROM hacking - even more interesting since ROM hacking groups don't have access to the source code.
You've got to give credit to Atlus - they've done a good job bringing the Shin Megami Tensei series over to the western world, especially when Final Fantasy gets way more attention. But they did a hatchet job on Maken X - to the point where the plot was incomprehensible and the voice acting was laughable. Still, it's good to see that they're working so hard at a job that so many other companies do so wrong. Jaleco's USA division didn't even try to translate stories in most cases. They did one of the worse localization jobs in history when they brought over the third game in Rushing Beat series.
Reading about Atlus's localization process really makes me miss Working Designs, who no one really properly appreciated for their localization efforts.
They weren't tracking these things electronically? The technology to track animals has existed for years and surely they would have access to electronic tags and GPS tracking devices.
No, this is not a book review. And yes, in his books Gladwell does state the "obvious" and isn't always on point with his assertions. But in this critique of Anderson's ideas, Gladwell makes his point with one phrase: Free: The Future of a Radical Price (Hyperion; $26.99) Yes, for all of Anderson's extolling of the virtues of free content, he's still selling his book for money.
Assuming Pixar's "competition" will continue to be such "gems" as Madagascar 2, Ice Age 2 or whatever Shrek sequel is coming down the pipeline, there's nothing to worry about. Now if John Lasseter leaves, then we might be able to talk about Pixar going downhill.
I'm not sure why there's so much buzz about this game. It's quite similar to other recent "indie" games like "World of Goo" and especially "Crayon Physics" - action puzzlers that involve using lateral thinking to build structures and get to an exit. And Scribblenauts doesn't look nearly as impressive as either two of those games. Besides, all these titles have the same basic premise as good 'ol "Lemmings."
I really don't understand the perceived conflict between retailers and game publishers. Retailers like GameStop pimp new releases just as much as they do used games. And anyway, if no one bought the game new, then GameStop wouldn't have any used games to sell! So if anything, GameStop needs more people to buy new games so they have more used copies to buy and sell at their huge profit margins. Unfortunately, game makers just don't seem to comprehend this relationship - so they're edging closer to a download-only model. Just look at this useless new doorstop PSP that Sony is releasing.