However, I have just checked the game on iTunes and I see it currently has only 597 ratings for all versions of the game (453 for the current version). So I would think the blog post from which the 4,000 figure comes from has a typo in it.
I just checked as well, and a website was also reporting only a few hundred ratings, but the iTunes page for the game does indeed have over 4000 ratings. Not sure how this is reporting wrong; maybe old version of iTunes?..
At the end of the day, what's more useful on your resume? Saying you completed collage with great grades, or saying you were selected and mentored by a prestigious member of society to start your own company? The experiences of working in an isolated environment, or the backing to take those experiences into the real world?
This could be the start of something very interesting for future generations. This could be a form of teaching taken to the next level.
My mother (who's extent of gaming is playing Whirly Word on her iPod) literally phoned me about "people having their credit card information stolen due to the PS2 [sic] network breach". So don't worry, this shit definitely hit the mainstream news (with her saying PS2 probably just being a memory thing rather than news misreporting, but I can't confirm that).
The one time I BSoD'd was also with Ghost Recon, but for me before the update. May be an issue with the way that game is programmed. Or, perhaps more cases are happening with it because that game is popular; it was noted as the 3rd best selling 3DS title this week on Gamasutra.
I suspect with all the shenanigans the console is trying to do at once (rendering effectively 3 screens, game logic running in the background, pedometer, checking online for updates and notifications, transferring streetpass info) it's crashing into a black screen due to a difficult-to-reproduce combination of multiple things occurring (or possibly failing?) at once.
People have made stunningly elaborate pixel images in FarmVille, working under bigger constraints than what is available in Minecraft. How is this "fundamentally unrewarding"?
It's easy to try and take a shotgun approach and say that "most" facebook games have nothing creative in them, but outside of Mafia Wars and other games that mimic it, you'd be hard pressed to find successful games in the genre that don't allow for a great deal of creativity, at the very least.
Apps that are for charitable donations must be free, and cannot use IAP to get donations. Donations can only be collected via an external website or SMS, meaning they never pass through Apple (and thus a 30% cut is never taken).
I'm fairly certain that a developer can't do anything to you (or access any data) unless you approve them. They also don't retroactively gain permissions.
For example, there was a game by Zynga I played about a year ago that didn't require my e-mail address. After I had my fill of the game, I blocked it, but after attempting to go back in, it gave me the spiel about letting the developer gain access... but it now required them having access to my e-mail.
Zynga's games do this all the time. They now make it compulsory to gain access to e-mail, but older users who were using the app before Facebook let you require new users to pass along their e-mail don't have that e-mail accessible by Zynga.
Of course, nothing stops Facebook from changing what the different specific permissions you've greenlit for certain developers anyways, but I was under the assumption that gaining access to address/phone number/etc were different permissions that had to be asked. As such, I don't think Zynga (or most other developers) got anything out of the last few days.
Some games work well as movies, or are more interesting with the grinding taken out (good story, perhaps not as good gameplay). Also, you can watch someone breeze through a game faster then you stumbling through it, so you can "experience" more games in a shorter period of time.
Another big reason I enjoy Let's Play's is that is a more passive activity. Most games I would play before bed would keep my brain active and make it harder to go to sleep, but watching videos or reading won't cause that issue for me.
And finally, as a game designer, it allows me to digest more information than I could do by playing. Commentary about gameplay issues, development concerns, and exploits commonly make it into many LP's, making them as entertaining as they are educational.
Indeed [Apple's] PDF reader had a remote root exploit that makes any and all Android exploits pale in comparison.
Interesting, this is the first I've heard of an exploit on a device, unless you're talking about a device that was jailbroken. Do you have a source story that had to do with a jailbroken iDevice, or am I out of the loop?
Overall, this portion of the thread very clearly points out one of the major reasons why religion probably got the cut: it was overpowered; even if thematically correct, made for a stale game; and there will be no end to the squabbling about what religion comes first, or what it should have been, or the christian god is the only true god, etc etc.
I still think it's a bit of a shame that it's part in Civ 5 is so greatly limited, but it does seem like it'll work out for the best in the long run.
Me, I don't think 'failing to realize something is a parody' is an insult to the intelligence of people. Instead, I feel it is a failure of the creators. It indicates they have simply have not gone too far.
That might not be the best definition either. One of my coworkers was telling me this morning about how a bunch of people were riled up over a video stating that the government was going to become a dictatorship or something. The video was from the Onion News Network, know for parodying so well that they've been mistaken as the real deal many times before.
To further show how bollocks the app per year value is, there are a lot of developers who were releasing what is basically the same app in, say, different languages (or some other minor change instead of including them all in one app), which further brings down the numbers. Also, Apple'll accept a lot of random crap too, like something done with shitty programmer art and practically no app description that's priced at $19.99. With crap like that, it's no wonder why the number is so low; there is obviously crap apps that sell literally (or close to) nothing.
Apple I think has mostly put a stop to the above points though, but I think it still happens.
There's a plethora of reasons to spend resources making an iPhone app:
1) It's easy to view scanned or otherwise saved images of comics, but having an app that has specially sized and cropped images means you can get much better quality (saved images on an iPod get a bit compressed, which is noticable if you have to zoom in a lot). In addition, for magazine-style comics, they can also redo the location of text bubbles as well, which can help with keeping the individual screens dynamic.
2) You can take your comics anywhere without having to worry about download limits or being connected. Big plus for people like me, who use an iPod Touch (no internets on the skytrain).
3) Ease of use. As hinted above, the images can be chopped up and made into screen-sized chunks. Instead of panning around, or even controlling panning just horizontally to see the next frame of the comic, one can do a simple swipe motion, and the next image slides in and locks.
I've spent what can almost seem like an opt-in subscription-level of money on a Transformers IDW app, which servers up comics for $2 a pop. It's so much better for me, as I commonly read them on the move or when I don't have good lighting sources, and I'm generally lazy and don't think my local comic book stores stock the particular comics I'm following (they may, but then I'd have to know the schedule and keep coming back).
This means you can't even take the game over to your friends house to play online together (2v2).
I don't believe that is correct. The online pass is tied to your online ID, not your local ID, so if you log in on a friend's console (even if they don't have that game), you still get access to the online features that the pass is used for.
Pretty sure GlaDOS says something along the line that you were "created" by Aperture to help them test their tech in one of the voice sequences in the lab.
Even if that's true, what's to say GlaDOS wasn't lying about that or anything related? It's not like it never lied to you in that game...
The entire game is told through scribbles on the wall and one clearly crazy robot. There's not a whole lot about that game's universe you can say is certain fact.
I can't see how handwriting with your finger is all that comfortable though. Remember, this type of touch screen doesn't work with most sorts of poking implement you would write it.
What about the potential install base for people like me who have the Wii and that feature would would sway them into buying Rock Band? I've stuck with Guitar Hero since Harmonix/EA seems intent on flipping the bird to Wii owners (later releases, removed features, etc).
You *could* get points for doing various things in real life, and I think in some ways it is not a laughable concept.
Speaking of real-life application, the new Pokemon HeartGold and Soulsilver has a pedometer that, when you tie a Pokemon to it and walk around, it gains experience and more happiness towards you (as... well, you're walking around with it in a way), including other benefits. Perhaps the future is now?..
They're evidently attempting to apply previous understanding of consoles to this one and falling rather short.
My first knee-jerk reaction as well, but not entirely true. DS titles that are sold in stores are region free. Downloadable titles (ie DSiWare) are region locked.
Slashdot Mirror
Stupid is everywhere, man. "Can't open app, it sucks, 1 star" is not an uncommon iTunes app review either.
However, I have just checked the game on iTunes and I see it currently has only 597 ratings for all versions of the game (453 for the current version). So I would think the blog post from which the 4,000 figure comes from has a typo in it.
I just checked as well, and a website was also reporting only a few hundred ratings, but the iTunes page for the game does indeed have over 4000 ratings. Not sure how this is reporting wrong; maybe old version of iTunes?..
Excellent writeup.
At the end of the day, what's more useful on your resume? Saying you completed collage with great grades, or saying you were selected and mentored by a prestigious member of society to start your own company? The experiences of working in an isolated environment, or the backing to take those experiences into the real world?
This could be the start of something very interesting for future generations. This could be a form of teaching taken to the next level.
My mother (who's extent of gaming is playing Whirly Word on her iPod) literally phoned me about "people having their credit card information stolen due to the PS2 [sic] network breach". So don't worry, this shit definitely hit the mainstream news (with her saying PS2 probably just being a memory thing rather than news misreporting, but I can't confirm that).
The one time I BSoD'd was also with Ghost Recon, but for me before the update. May be an issue with the way that game is programmed. Or, perhaps more cases are happening with it because that game is popular; it was noted as the 3rd best selling 3DS title this week on Gamasutra.
I suspect with all the shenanigans the console is trying to do at once (rendering effectively 3 screens, game logic running in the background, pedometer, checking online for updates and notifications, transferring streetpass info) it's crashing into a black screen due to a difficult-to-reproduce combination of multiple things occurring (or possibly failing?) at once.
People have made stunningly elaborate pixel images in FarmVille, working under bigger constraints than what is available in Minecraft. How is this "fundamentally unrewarding"?
It's easy to try and take a shotgun approach and say that "most" facebook games have nothing creative in them, but outside of Mafia Wars and other games that mimic it, you'd be hard pressed to find successful games in the genre that don't allow for a great deal of creativity, at the very least.
No, the real problem with these social games is that they are pure time sinks.
A real game ought to be *winnable*. This is a basic principle and exceptions prove the rule.
Man, those million people who bought Minecraft were totally had, eh?
Parent can't read his own reference.
Apps that are for charitable donations must be free, and cannot use IAP to get donations. Donations can only be collected via an external website or SMS, meaning they never pass through Apple (and thus a 30% cut is never taken).
See also App Store guidelines, section 21.
If your marriage lasts longer than your courtship you're doing it wrong.
There is something deeply flawed about this statement.
Perhaps he meant...
If your marriage after the divorce [lasted] longer than your courtship you're doing it wrong.
I'm fairly certain that a developer can't do anything to you (or access any data) unless you approve them. They also don't retroactively gain permissions.
For example, there was a game by Zynga I played about a year ago that didn't require my e-mail address. After I had my fill of the game, I blocked it, but after attempting to go back in, it gave me the spiel about letting the developer gain access... but it now required them having access to my e-mail.
Zynga's games do this all the time. They now make it compulsory to gain access to e-mail, but older users who were using the app before Facebook let you require new users to pass along their e-mail don't have that e-mail accessible by Zynga.
Of course, nothing stops Facebook from changing what the different specific permissions you've greenlit for certain developers anyways, but I was under the assumption that gaining access to address/phone number/etc were different permissions that had to be asked. As such, I don't think Zynga (or most other developers) got anything out of the last few days.
Some games work well as movies, or are more interesting with the grinding taken out (good story, perhaps not as good gameplay). Also, you can watch someone breeze through a game faster then you stumbling through it, so you can "experience" more games in a shorter period of time.
Another big reason I enjoy Let's Play's is that is a more passive activity. Most games I would play before bed would keep my brain active and make it harder to go to sleep, but watching videos or reading won't cause that issue for me.
And finally, as a game designer, it allows me to digest more information than I could do by playing. Commentary about gameplay issues, development concerns, and exploits commonly make it into many LP's, making them as entertaining as they are educational.
Indeed [Apple's] PDF reader had a remote root exploit that makes any and all Android exploits pale in comparison.
Interesting, this is the first I've heard of an exploit on a device, unless you're talking about a device that was jailbroken. Do you have a source story that had to do with a jailbroken iDevice, or am I out of the loop?
Good analysis.
Overall, this portion of the thread very clearly points out one of the major reasons why religion probably got the cut: it was overpowered; even if thematically correct, made for a stale game; and there will be no end to the squabbling about what religion comes first, or what it should have been, or the christian god is the only true god, etc etc.
I still think it's a bit of a shame that it's part in Civ 5 is so greatly limited, but it does seem like it'll work out for the best in the long run.
Interesting. I believe this is basically what Japan's SNES controller looked like (minus saying "Super Famicom" at the top).
It looks like Nintendo changed the controller for the North American market, but kept the original design for the European market.
Me, I don't think 'failing to realize something is a parody' is an insult to the intelligence of people. Instead, I feel it is a failure of the creators. It indicates they have simply have not gone too far.
That might not be the best definition either. One of my coworkers was telling me this morning about how a bunch of people were riled up over a video stating that the government was going to become a dictatorship or something. The video was from the Onion News Network, know for parodying so well that they've been mistaken as the real deal many times before.
To further show how bollocks the app per year value is, there are a lot of developers who were releasing what is basically the same app in, say, different languages (or some other minor change instead of including them all in one app), which further brings down the numbers. Also, Apple'll accept a lot of random crap too, like something done with shitty programmer art and practically no app description that's priced at $19.99. With crap like that, it's no wonder why the number is so low; there is obviously crap apps that sell literally (or close to) nothing.
Apple I think has mostly put a stop to the above points though, but I think it still happens.
There's a plethora of reasons to spend resources making an iPhone app:
1) It's easy to view scanned or otherwise saved images of comics, but having an app that has specially sized and cropped images means you can get much better quality (saved images on an iPod get a bit compressed, which is noticable if you have to zoom in a lot). In addition, for magazine-style comics, they can also redo the location of text bubbles as well, which can help with keeping the individual screens dynamic.
2) You can take your comics anywhere without having to worry about download limits or being connected. Big plus for people like me, who use an iPod Touch (no internets on the skytrain).
3) Ease of use. As hinted above, the images can be chopped up and made into screen-sized chunks. Instead of panning around, or even controlling panning just horizontally to see the next frame of the comic, one can do a simple swipe motion, and the next image slides in and locks.
I've spent what can almost seem like an opt-in subscription-level of money on a Transformers IDW app, which servers up comics for $2 a pop. It's so much better for me, as I commonly read them on the move or when I don't have good lighting sources, and I'm generally lazy and don't think my local comic book stores stock the particular comics I'm following (they may, but then I'd have to know the schedule and keep coming back).
If you think that'll work, you might want a look at this...
http://www.theonion.com/articles/entire-facebook-staff-laughs-as-man-tightens-priva,17508/
I don't believe that is correct. The online pass is tied to your online ID, not your local ID, so if you log in on a friend's console (even if they don't have that game), you still get access to the online features that the pass is used for.
Pretty sure GlaDOS says something along the line that you were "created" by Aperture to help them test their tech in one of the voice sequences in the lab.
Even if that's true, what's to say GlaDOS wasn't lying about that or anything related? It's not like it never lied to you in that game...
The entire game is told through scribbles on the wall and one clearly crazy robot. There's not a whole lot about that game's universe you can say is certain fact.
I can't see how handwriting with your finger is all that comfortable though. Remember, this type of touch screen doesn't work with most sorts of poking implement you would write it.
What about the potential install base for people like me who have the Wii and that feature would would sway them into buying Rock Band? I've stuck with Guitar Hero since Harmonix/EA seems intent on flipping the bird to Wii owners (later releases, removed features, etc).
I thought everything was twice as long in Canadia.
Thank you.
You *could* get points for doing various things in real life, and I think in some ways it is not a laughable concept.
Speaking of real-life application, the new Pokemon HeartGold and Soulsilver has a pedometer that, when you tie a Pokemon to it and walk around, it gains experience and more happiness towards you (as... well, you're walking around with it in a way), including other benefits. Perhaps the future is now?..
They're evidently attempting to apply previous understanding of consoles to this one and falling rather short.
My first knee-jerk reaction as well, but not entirely true. DS titles that are sold in stores are region free. Downloadable titles (ie DSiWare) are region locked.