Many of the 18-34 age group that has been labeled "hardcore" are now 28-44 or older while new games have joined the ranks. The problem with this statistic and what makes it mythical is that it started at a time when home computers and consoles were relatively new. Many of us have grown up with them now. I myself am a couple years past the specified group old enough to remember getting pong for christmas and debating whether Intellivision or Colecovision was better (I was a coleco fan myself).
I dont really see myself being too old to play games. I own all the current consoles (except the 360) and all 3 handhelds (yep the GP32 counts for some of us). As long as I have the vision and dexterity to play I will, heck with controllers like the Wii I dont even really need the dexterity. I play family games with the kids and more grown-up games myself. I don't put in as many hours as I did when I was a kid without responsibilities but I actually buy more. Trying to box gamers into a constantly shifting segment is impossible and if anything when it comes to advertising and marketing it probably decreases rather than increases potential sales.
While im sure online play with the wii would gain a respectable following, I agree in them not making it the highest priority. Though I disagree that Nindendo=Kiddie it does equal family friendly IMHO and most xbox live experiences I have had were alot less than family friendly. I would imagine that nintendo wants to make sure they do it right. Nintendo has always tried have their consoles be a social experience a trend that started with the original party games on the n64, continued with the gamecube and should be fully realized with the Wii, while the gameplay experience online is basically unchanged with xbox and ps2 games, many of the gameplay methods demonstrated with the Wii would loose much their "fun" factor if the opponent wasnt physically there.
The only way either Blu-Ray or HD-DVD is going to gain enough momentum to become a standard is if they release it an a non obtrusive way. Most people simply wont spend the money on the new equipment needed and there is a strong reluctance to having to "upgrade" their movies to a new "standard" this give an option for those who might see a desire for HD support down the road without having to make a full commitment. I know that I would probably pay a few dollars more for the option of having the higer formats available even though I dont have either player yet.
America's Army has already done this. If its free games I surely wont complain, I'm really surprised it has taken so long. I have always thought that online content could be better deeper and more immersive if it took a sponsored approach rather than just use banner advertising. Back in the early tv and radio days entire programs were sponsored by a single advertiser, that advertiser then became synonymous with the content, sometimes the programs outlived the sponsor itself (king biscuit time).
It has also been with commercial games and failed miserably. (see Darkened Skyes) Good avertising and sponsorship doesnt have to be annyoing or overbearing for instance a offroad style game sponsored by Hummer or a new version of tapper sponsored by Budweiser. Subtle is better, it can create brand awareness that people generally appreciate rather than just irritate.
Nintendo's profit levels are higher than the games divisions of both Sony and MS combined. Nintendo claims it has never sold a console at a loss (though I dont see how the DSLite can be cheap enough to manufacture to do that). There are already several time more 3rd party companies for the Wii than it did for the Gamecube, the unique controller also assures that many of the 3rd party titles will be exclusives or at least have exclusive features. Nintendo is not at threat, but nice job on the fud. Even if the console flopped completely (which I dont see concidering that I see more posts about people buying it than any other console) their handheld division still generates enough to warrant another go at the console market.
I dont see the problem with the extra $50 concidering what you get. You get better graphics, built in wifi, a kick ass interface and even a game (which to my knowledge hasnt been done at launch time by any console since the SNES). People seem so hung up on the idea that its a "sports" game without giving thought to the idea that its not a traditional sports video game anyway...its an interactive experience from what I have seen and should make for a good way to learn the different ways to interact with the controller.
Of course the controller costs more than a regular gamepad, its far far more complicated, between the motion sensing and sound alone justify it imho. Im sure third party ones will come out within weeks anyway. The other lame argument I have heard was that virtual console games and gc games will make people buy the "classic controller" spending yet another 20-30 dollars...why not use the 4 game ports on the wii and plug in an old gc controller you can get them just about anywhere for around $10 now.
The main complaints I have seen seem to mostly be contradictory, I actually read one where the person was complaining about the lack of hdmi and wifi only in the same post. Evidently a $2000 tv is affordable but a $20 dollar wireless router isnt.
The lack of movie capability is one of the bigger complaints, but how many people really use their console as their primary dvd player? The other is the lack of a harddrive to store virtual game console games. One thing that seems to be overlooked is the SD slot, cheap game saves and the possibility of media playback through those (4gig sd cards can be found for around $100) As for virtual game console games, you can fit nearly every game ever made for your region for the snes in less than 2gigs.
Sure there are various ways you can break down the prices with accessories to make it more expensive but adding the equivalent to the other consoles also pushes their prices up further, most tend to leave that out.
The home PC market is both rewarding and draining. Be prepared for all-hours calls from your new "friends" with unbelievably stupid questions. I was actually called at 3am one week to be asked how to blind copy someone. Dont undercut the competition too much since most people really do believe you get what you pay for. Just remember you cant please everyone, have a good disclaimer on your service tickets and look into insurance, inevitably someone will blame you directly for whatever problem they are having.
If you want to save yourself some grief try to skew your business towards the small office/home office market. Though you will still find uncooperative customers the "business" ones rely on the machines and are more likely to spend money when its needed. Some home users will tend to be a cheap as possible, many will already be irritated in having to call you start with and if there are any actual hardware issues that have to be fixed prepare for a battle over the cost of parts and labor. I had a client a few months ago who's computer would not turn on. His power supply was toast but I had a spare at home so I took one over and replaced it. After the machine was bootable again I noticed the machine was running very slow so I started a basic cleanup. I was about to download a few updates from MS and started the Windows Genuine plugin, the copy of windows turned out to be pirated. The client starts going nuts and is convinced that MS was going to come beating down his door and it was all my fault. Overall just be thick skinned and dont get too personal about it, friendly is one thing being friends is another. If you cross that line people will take advantage of you.
No actually im talking about the people who have worked in the field for years but dont have the formal related degree or the arm long list of certifications you see requested for candidates at Monster or most other job sites.
I guess my interpretation of the article was different from most. I saw it as a way of weeding out those that simply attended class from those that actually knew what they are doing. Don't get me wrong, I do think an education is important and degrees are valuable but sometimes other criteria should weigh even heavier in the hiring process, riddles if relevant are a good way to even the playing field of job smart and book smart.
Those are some flawed arguments. I cant even convine my brother in law to get high speed internet even thought the price difference is only about $5 a month. I would think most concider vastly improved access to information far more valuable than the ability to see the pimples on Jessica Simpsons forehead. If you cant convince over 1/3rd of the country to go to something that is actually more than just visually improved in over 10 years or so how long do you really think its going to take for true penetration of HDTV by the majority. One big difference is the upfront costs, Internet accounts are paid for monthly and as a recurring expense it easier to move about when desired. HDTV is a large upfront expense that doesnt make alot of sense to joe sixpack who's TV is working fine already. You can of course make the same argument about both Blu-Ray and HDDVD but only one of them is being forced on you. But then I guess im just surrounded by bumpkins and hillbillies since the "majority" gladly spend a grand upgrading their entertainment center all the time and I dont know anyone who does.
I have a feeling the PS3 is going to be remembered as the NeoGeo of the current generation consoles. I remember when I was a teenager drooling over the Neogeo, I wanted one sooo bad but it was too expensive for my parents to be willing to buy it and all my attempts to save enough ended up in me spending it on something that I found I wanted more. Moms and Dads at christmas with more money than sense will buy junior a ps3 but I will bet the majority will be looking hard at the Wii. Regardless of your view of nintendo their price point is going to make it hard for parents shopping for a new console to reason the cost of the PS3 and probably even the Xbox 360.
Unfortunately for folks in middle the money seems to lie on the far left and right ends of the spectrum and money gets votes. The middle where I truly believe most people's beliefs lie are largely ignored. I still vote, mostly libertarian but usuall just the person I feel is best for the job but even I know that im basically pissing away my ballot.
What we really need is a "grassroots" party without the crazy people.
Its how I landed my current job. Resume wise I have an unrelated degree, few certifications that are still valid but many years of experience. The companies owner saw my resume and noticed an application I had listed was a relatively obscure one that they were having trouble with. I was asked to come in as a consultant for a week and fix the problem for them. I had everything fixed in less than a day, they were impressed enough that I was offered a full time job on the spot.
Riddle solving evens the playing field for those that are skilled but may not have the resume to reflect their skill level. I know most hate the old saying that "those who can do and those who cant teach" but many times book smarts doesnt translate into real world performance. Being able to display the smarts and tenacity to tackle a problem head especially after others have tried and given up instantly gives you a "value" to the potential employer. I think most that dont like the idea arent comfortable with the idea that someone with a lesser resume might actually be better in real world situations.
The more copyright and patent issues encroach into the lives of the less geeky the better. Bring on the lawsuits for quilt patterns, sewing patterns and wood working designs (im going to lay claim to the spindle). The more insane the lawsuits get the more likely it is that the sheepish masses will finally wake up and see just how jacked up the current laws are.
If the game is mundane and simplex enough to attract your average SIMs players its going to be too mundane for ST fans. The WOW would be fine but they already have their "communities" so why change? It's kind of funny that the biggest franchises in the movie world seem to create the biggest flops in online ones. Look at Matrix online (which sounded like pure mecca for geeks) or Star Wars galaxies. It just looks like some things are better left to the imagination.
If you play a borg does one of the other borgs make all the gameplay decisions for you?
I will be surprised if anything comes of this. If there is missing money it hasnt gone to shareholders, wth the dropping of the pda line, mp3 players and other "extras" it hasnt gone into product development, and we all know it certainly hasnt gone into customer service. Dell had a good thing going for quite a while, I used to recommend NO ONE but them, but for the past few years I tend to recommend ANYONE but them.
gee sounds like Star Trek conventions, weekend D&D games, long time IRC channels, Scout Troops, etc. Second life has been doing the same thing without the pesky gaming elements. Nothing special to see here folks...and yes in the end its just a game.
Thats so easy to say for people that havent been there. American society is totally built to keep it increasingly difficult for the lower class to ever gain a foothold out.
Assume you can even get a credit card, you have to usually get one with a higher interest rate. You have a bad month on a low income and miss a payment, you get a penalty and raised rates making it even harder to pay. Then if you try to get a car loan or god forbid buy a house after the dings to your credit, you will end up with higer interest rates on those as well. I've seen it happen here working with one of the local shelters over something as trivial as the water bill, (no running water and dfs takes your kids, but no grace period on payments and shutoff within 24 if late, if late a $45 reconnect fee plus a $25 processing fee). How can anyone expect someone to climb out of a hole if they are constantly not only pushed back down but are pushed a few feet lower than where they started?
Actually skies of arcadia is a perfect example of what I would like to see more of, yes its incredibly cinematic...but that is done through actual game play. My problem is the 30 minutes of video to 5 minutes of gaming ratio that seems to be becoming more and more commonplace on newer games.
I agree that voice talent actually has to be listenable, my problem with that is overpaid "endorsement" type voices, who cares if batman the video game really is voiced by Tim Daly or Heath Ledger? I exagerated a bit when I said use your own staff, but half the time the focus seems to be so much on the voices and cut scenes that very little regard is given to whether the game is actually fun to play. Thats why the DS is stomping the PSP right now, the PSP has had lots of pretty games with beautiful cut scenes but had fallen short in the gameplay department (they are admittedly getting better finally). Look at any top 10 list of favorite all time video games hell top 100 for that matter and count the ones that relied on big name voices or excessive cut scenes...you will be hard pressed to use up all your fingers counting.
IMHO the biggest problem affecting gaming now isnt storyline its spiraling costs, unecessary costs at that. I realize that the bigwigs at EA and others desperately want to rub elbows with the Tommy Meola's and Steven Speilbergs of the world but they have created an alternate reality for themselves where they are big time entertainment producers. Most of the free world couldnt really care less if the character of bobo the chimp in urban slaughter 6 is voiced by Ben Affleck. The gaming industry keeps promising more and delivering less all while whining that its tooo expensive to make truly innovative and creative titles.
How bout this, scrap the voices, drop the 4 hours of cinematics that everyone skips over anyway, hire some folks off the street or better yet (gasp!) your own staff to do the voices if they are really needed and concentrate on making something thats actually fun to play. You will save a fortune and probably sell the same amount if not more than the overly licensed crap you usually shovel at us.
"YouTube could easily alienate its users by overwhelming them with ads. And the startup has to figure out how to attract a broader group of marketers by filtering more for copyrighted or offensive videos and by creating more channels of similar content."
YouTube could easily alienate its users who are mostly there to see the copyrighted and offensive videos to start with. Cleaning up YouTube might attract new marketers at the start but when the numbers decline what will YouTube have left? Sadly funny home video sites are a dime a dozen, YouTube has survived off its own lawlessness...kind of a catch 22 for them. I know I wouldnt want to own stock in them.
The biggest problem is that the average amount of damage per theif is over $90,000 while the average sentence for the person commiting the theft is less than 2 years. For someone that would likely be otherwise flipping burgers $45k a year is pretty good money and not only that room and board is payed for. Most victims I have known have recovered nothing from the theives themselves, goods are distributed around and are hard to trace directly to the theft. Its not like most of them have jobs either so restitution isnt going to happen. No wonder its on the rise...it pays. Want to really stop identity theft, make each offense require a minimum of 5 years. Personally i'd prefer they just shoot them but at the anti-death penalty folks wont go for that.
Well that benefits the anime and foreign film crowd and the folks that get into all the extra crap shoveled on the disk with their movies...but what else is there for the other 99% of dvd viewers. Seriously better menus? who flippin cares...I have 2 movies I have ever bothered to enable subtitles on the extra button push in hindsight wasnt that inconvenient. The interactivity thing I guess would be ok, maybe im atypical but other than digging through the lord of the rings documentaries and the occasional blooper reel the last "extra" I remember caring about was Jim Lovell's commentary track on Apollo 13. Have you ever tried to play one of those dvd games that have been popping up on movies lately? The problem isnt the level of interactivity the problem is the freakin remote...buttons are usually jammed to close together and since all of them are different figuring out the right buttons can be the most challenging part of the game.
One of the things that really separated DVD from VHS was size and look. The DVD was futuristic to many, durability and very obvious image quality were bonus reasons to move to the new platform. It was similar to the move from Cassette tape to CD's, it was an obvious and cool transition, no more switching tapes for long movies, no more tapes stretching or wearing out and dvd's dont eat tapes like cassette decks. Dont forget there was also the early promise that the media would eventually be cheaper (even though it never happened)
The only obvious benefit from HD-DVD and Blu-Ray is image quality, it doesnt really look different, its no more durable, and for most it just seems like a scam to get people to buy their movies over again.
Increased resolution is a benefit but most people still dont have HD tv's and probably more than half that do only have them because there are very few tv's that arent HD for sale anymore. You can further reduce the total by subtracting the ones that dont know how to hook it up properly and arent recieving HD anyway most of them are now disillusioned by HD through their own stupidity. That leaves a very tiny fragment of a market that actually sees any advantage to HD formated DVD's. I do think eventually one of the formats will stick but they would be better off doing hyrid disks with one format on one side and standard dvd on the other that way they can snag the replacement buyers not just rely on folks willing to make an upgrade most see as not necessary.
The difference is money, EA paid over $300 million to eliminate competition. Back in the early days there wasnt budget for licensing and companies were lucky to get an endorsement much less a contract with the entire league, also player association and league right were completely separate making any licensing deals awkward.
To be fair Take Two did quietly stick it to EA and locked up 3rd party rights to Major League Baseball, but they did it a much more generous way, by getting only 3rd party exclusivity the only major player affected is going to be MVP baseball from EA. High Heat from Microsoft and MLB from Sony are not affected.
Since EA locked up the NFL license with a 5 year exclusivity contract they have eliminated any competition. Its not hard to break sales records when the sheep only have one choice. Strategically you have to admit it was a good move for EA after getting their asses handed to them last year by Sega and Take Two, eliminate the comptetion then you dont have worry if your product is up to par or not. I fully expect the next five years to be similar to the Sega Genesis years of Madden same damn game different stats and price.
What I really hope happens is that Midway, Sega, Take Two and Nintendo step up and show that gameplay trumps licenses. Midway is already starting with Blitz: The League coming out this fall, a few years ago they were told to tone the violence and t&a down by the NFL. Now that they license is gone, I fully expect Blitz to be completely over the top and probably alot of fun. Something like Mutant League Football would be great and no license would be needed.
Slashdot Mirror
Many of the 18-34 age group that has been labeled "hardcore" are now 28-44 or older while new games have joined the ranks. The problem with this statistic and what makes it mythical is that it started at a time when home computers and consoles were relatively new. Many of us have grown up with them now. I myself am a couple years past the specified group old enough to remember getting pong for christmas and debating whether Intellivision or Colecovision was better (I was a coleco fan myself).
I dont really see myself being too old to play games. I own all the current consoles (except the 360) and all 3 handhelds (yep the GP32 counts for some of us). As long as I have the vision and dexterity to play I will, heck with controllers like the Wii I dont even really need the dexterity. I play family games with the kids and more grown-up games myself. I don't put in as many hours as I did when I was a kid without responsibilities but I actually buy more. Trying to box gamers into a constantly shifting segment is impossible and if anything when it comes to advertising and marketing it probably decreases rather than increases potential sales.
While im sure online play with the wii would gain a respectable following, I agree in them not making it the highest priority. Though I disagree that Nindendo=Kiddie it does equal family friendly IMHO and most xbox live experiences I have had were alot less than family friendly. I would imagine that nintendo wants to make sure they do it right. Nintendo has always tried have their consoles be a social experience a trend that started with the original party games on the n64, continued with the gamecube and should be fully realized with the Wii, while the gameplay experience online is basically unchanged with xbox and ps2 games, many of the gameplay methods demonstrated with the Wii would loose much their "fun" factor if the opponent wasnt physically there.
The only way either Blu-Ray or HD-DVD is going to gain enough momentum to become a standard is if they release it an a non obtrusive way. Most people simply wont spend the money on the new equipment needed and there is a strong reluctance to having to "upgrade" their movies to a new "standard" this give an option for those who might see a desire for HD support down the road without having to make a full commitment. I know that I would probably pay a few dollars more for the option of having the higer formats available even though I dont have either player yet.
America's Army has already done this. If its free games I surely wont complain, I'm really surprised it has taken so long. I have always thought that online content could be better deeper and more immersive if it took a sponsored approach rather than just use banner advertising. Back in the early tv and radio days entire programs were sponsored by a single advertiser, that advertiser then became synonymous with the content, sometimes the programs outlived the sponsor itself (king biscuit time).
It has also been with commercial games and failed miserably. (see Darkened Skyes) Good avertising and sponsorship doesnt have to be annyoing or overbearing for instance a offroad style game sponsored by Hummer or a new version of tapper sponsored by Budweiser. Subtle is better, it can create brand awareness that people generally appreciate rather than just irritate.
Nintendo's profit levels are higher than the games divisions of both Sony and MS combined. Nintendo claims it has never sold a console at a loss (though I dont see how the DSLite can be cheap enough to manufacture to do that). There are already several time more 3rd party companies for the Wii than it did for the Gamecube, the unique controller also assures that many of the 3rd party titles will be exclusives or at least have exclusive features. Nintendo is not at threat, but nice job on the fud. Even if the console flopped completely (which I dont see concidering that I see more posts about people buying it than any other console) their handheld division still generates enough to warrant another go at the console market.
I dont see the problem with the extra $50 concidering what you get. You get better graphics, built in wifi, a kick ass interface and even a game (which to my knowledge hasnt been done at launch time by any console since the SNES). People seem so hung up on the idea that its a "sports" game without giving thought to the idea that its not a traditional sports video game anyway...its an interactive experience from what I have seen and should make for a good way to learn the different ways to interact with the controller.
Of course the controller costs more than a regular gamepad, its far far more complicated, between the motion sensing and sound alone justify it imho. Im sure third party ones will come out within weeks anyway. The other lame argument I have heard was that virtual console games and gc games will make people buy the "classic controller" spending yet another 20-30 dollars...why not use the 4 game ports on the wii and plug in an old gc controller you can get them just about anywhere for around $10 now.
The main complaints I have seen seem to mostly be contradictory, I actually read one where the person was complaining about the lack of hdmi and wifi only in the same post. Evidently a $2000 tv is affordable but a $20 dollar wireless router isnt.
The lack of movie capability is one of the bigger complaints, but how many people really use their console as their primary dvd player? The other is the lack of a harddrive to store virtual game console games. One thing that seems to be overlooked is the SD slot, cheap game saves and the possibility of media playback through those (4gig sd cards can be found for around $100) As for virtual game console games, you can fit nearly every game ever made for your region for the snes in less than 2gigs.
Sure there are various ways you can break down the prices with accessories to make it more expensive but adding the equivalent to the other consoles also pushes their prices up further, most tend to leave that out.
The home PC market is both rewarding and draining. Be prepared for all-hours calls from your new "friends" with unbelievably stupid questions. I was actually called at 3am one week to be asked how to blind copy someone. Dont undercut the competition too much since most people really do believe you get what you pay for. Just remember you cant please everyone, have a good disclaimer on your service tickets and look into insurance, inevitably someone will blame you directly for whatever problem they are having.
If you want to save yourself some grief try to skew your business towards the small office/home office market. Though you will still find uncooperative customers the "business" ones rely on the machines and are more likely to spend money when its needed. Some home users will tend to be a cheap as possible, many will already be irritated in having to call you start with and if there are any actual hardware issues that have to be fixed prepare for a battle over the cost of parts and labor. I had a client a few months ago who's computer would not turn on. His power supply was toast but I had a spare at home so I took one over and replaced it. After the machine was bootable again I noticed the machine was running very slow so I started a basic cleanup. I was about to download a few updates from MS and started the Windows Genuine plugin, the copy of windows turned out to be pirated. The client starts going nuts and is convinced that MS was going to come beating down his door and it was all my fault. Overall just be thick skinned and dont get too personal about it, friendly is one thing being friends is another. If you cross that line people will take advantage of you.
No actually im talking about the people who have worked in the field for years but dont have the formal related degree or the arm long list of certifications you see requested for candidates at Monster or most other job sites.
I guess my interpretation of the article was different from most. I saw it as a way of weeding out those that simply attended class from those that actually knew what they are doing. Don't get me wrong, I do think an education is important and degrees are valuable but sometimes other criteria should weigh even heavier in the hiring process, riddles if relevant are a good way to even the playing field of job smart and book smart.
Those are some flawed arguments. I cant even convine my brother in law to get high speed internet even thought the price difference is only about $5 a month. I would think most concider vastly improved access to information far more valuable than the ability to see the pimples on Jessica Simpsons forehead. If you cant convince over 1/3rd of the country to go to something that is actually more than just visually improved in over 10 years or so how long do you really think its going to take for true penetration of HDTV by the majority. One big difference is the upfront costs, Internet accounts are paid for monthly and as a recurring expense it easier to move about when desired. HDTV is a large upfront expense that doesnt make alot of sense to joe sixpack who's TV is working fine already. You can of course make the same argument about both Blu-Ray and HDDVD but only one of them is being forced on you. But then I guess im just surrounded by bumpkins and hillbillies since the "majority" gladly spend a grand upgrading their entertainment center all the time and I dont know anyone who does.
I have a feeling the PS3 is going to be remembered as the NeoGeo of the current generation consoles. I remember when I was a teenager drooling over the Neogeo, I wanted one sooo bad but it was too expensive for my parents to be willing to buy it and all my attempts to save enough ended up in me spending it on something that I found I wanted more. Moms and Dads at christmas with more money than sense will buy junior a ps3 but I will bet the majority will be looking hard at the Wii. Regardless of your view of nintendo their price point is going to make it hard for parents shopping for a new console to reason the cost of the PS3 and probably even the Xbox 360.
Unfortunately for folks in middle the money seems to lie on the far left and right ends of the spectrum and money gets votes. The middle where I truly believe most people's beliefs lie are largely ignored. I still vote, mostly libertarian but usuall just the person I feel is best for the job but even I know that im basically pissing away my ballot.
What we really need is a "grassroots" party without the crazy people.
Its how I landed my current job. Resume wise I have an unrelated degree, few certifications that are still valid but many years of experience. The companies owner saw my resume and noticed an application I had listed was a relatively obscure one that they were having trouble with. I was asked to come in as a consultant for a week and fix the problem for them. I had everything fixed in less than a day, they were impressed enough that I was offered a full time job on the spot.
Riddle solving evens the playing field for those that are skilled but may not have the resume to reflect their skill level. I know most hate the old saying that "those who can do and those who cant teach" but many times book smarts doesnt translate into real world performance. Being able to display the smarts and tenacity to tackle a problem head especially after others have tried and given up instantly gives you a "value" to the potential employer. I think most that dont like the idea arent comfortable with the idea that someone with a lesser resume might actually be better in real world situations.
The more copyright and patent issues encroach into the lives of the less geeky the better. Bring on the lawsuits for quilt patterns, sewing patterns and wood working designs (im going to lay claim to the spindle). The more insane the lawsuits get the more likely it is that the sheepish masses will finally wake up and see just how jacked up the current laws are.
If the game is mundane and simplex enough to attract your average SIMs players its going to be too mundane for ST fans. The WOW would be fine but they already have their "communities" so why change? It's kind of funny that the biggest franchises in the movie world seem to create the biggest flops in online ones. Look at Matrix online (which sounded like pure mecca for geeks) or Star Wars galaxies. It just looks like some things are better left to the imagination.
If you play a borg does one of the other borgs make all the gameplay decisions for you?
I will be surprised if anything comes of this. If there is missing money it hasnt gone to shareholders, wth the dropping of the pda line, mp3 players and other "extras" it hasnt gone into product development, and we all know it certainly hasnt gone into customer service. Dell had a good thing going for quite a while, I used to recommend NO ONE but them, but for the past few years I tend to recommend ANYONE but them.
gee sounds like Star Trek conventions, weekend D&D games, long time IRC channels, Scout Troops, etc. Second life has been doing the same thing without the pesky gaming elements. Nothing special to see here folks...and yes in the end its just a game.
Thats so easy to say for people that havent been there. American society is totally built to keep it increasingly difficult for the lower class to ever gain a foothold out.
Assume you can even get a credit card, you have to usually get one with a higher interest rate. You have a bad month on a low income and miss a payment, you get a penalty and raised rates making it even harder to pay. Then if you try to get a car loan or god forbid buy a house after the dings to your credit, you will end up with higer interest rates on those as well. I've seen it happen here working with one of the local shelters over something as trivial as the water bill, (no running water and dfs takes your kids, but no grace period on payments and shutoff within 24 if late, if late a $45 reconnect fee plus a $25 processing fee). How can anyone expect someone to climb out of a hole if they are constantly not only pushed back down but are pushed a few feet lower than where they started?
Actually skies of arcadia is a perfect example of what I would like to see more of, yes its incredibly cinematic...but that is done through actual game play. My problem is the 30 minutes of video to 5 minutes of gaming ratio that seems to be becoming more and more commonplace on newer games.
I agree that voice talent actually has to be listenable, my problem with that is overpaid "endorsement" type voices, who cares if batman the video game really is voiced by Tim Daly or Heath Ledger? I exagerated a bit when I said use your own staff, but half the time the focus seems to be so much on the voices and cut scenes that very little regard is given to whether the game is actually fun to play. Thats why the DS is stomping the PSP right now, the PSP has had lots of pretty games with beautiful cut scenes but had fallen short in the gameplay department (they are admittedly getting better finally). Look at any top 10 list of favorite all time video games hell top 100 for that matter and count the ones that relied on big name voices or excessive cut scenes...you will be hard pressed to use up all your fingers counting.
IMHO the biggest problem affecting gaming now isnt storyline its spiraling costs, unecessary costs at that. I realize that the bigwigs at EA and others desperately want to rub elbows with the Tommy Meola's and Steven Speilbergs of the world but they have created an alternate reality for themselves where they are big time entertainment producers. Most of the free world couldnt really care less if the character of bobo the chimp in urban slaughter 6 is voiced by Ben Affleck. The gaming industry keeps promising more and delivering less all while whining that its tooo expensive to make truly innovative and creative titles.
How bout this, scrap the voices, drop the 4 hours of cinematics that everyone skips over anyway, hire some folks off the street or better yet (gasp!) your own staff to do the voices if they are really needed and concentrate on making something thats actually fun to play. You will save a fortune and probably sell the same amount if not more than the overly licensed crap you usually shovel at us.
"YouTube could easily alienate its users by overwhelming them with ads. And the startup has to figure out how to attract a broader group of marketers by filtering more for copyrighted or offensive videos and by creating more channels of similar content."
YouTube could easily alienate its users who are mostly there to see the copyrighted and offensive videos to start with. Cleaning up YouTube might attract new marketers at the start but when the numbers decline what will YouTube have left? Sadly funny home video sites are a dime a dozen, YouTube has survived off its own lawlessness...kind of a catch 22 for them. I know I wouldnt want to own stock in them.
Norton is notoriously leaky and is most likely the cause of your problem.
The biggest problem is that the average amount of damage per theif is over $90,000 while the average sentence for the person commiting the theft is less than 2 years. For someone that would likely be otherwise flipping burgers $45k a year is pretty good money and not only that room and board is payed for. Most victims I have known have recovered nothing from the theives themselves, goods are distributed around and are hard to trace directly to the theft. Its not like most of them have jobs either so restitution isnt going to happen. No wonder its on the rise...it pays. Want to really stop identity theft, make each offense require a minimum of 5 years. Personally i'd prefer they just shoot them but at the anti-death penalty folks wont go for that.
Well that benefits the anime and foreign film crowd and the folks that get into all the extra crap shoveled on the disk with their movies...but what else is there for the other 99% of dvd viewers. Seriously better menus? who flippin cares...I have 2 movies I have ever bothered to enable subtitles on the extra button push in hindsight wasnt that inconvenient. The interactivity thing I guess would be ok, maybe im atypical but other than digging through the lord of the rings documentaries and the occasional blooper reel the last "extra" I remember caring about was Jim Lovell's commentary track on Apollo 13. Have you ever tried to play one of those dvd games that have been popping up on movies lately? The problem isnt the level of interactivity the problem is the freakin remote...buttons are usually jammed to close together and since all of them are different figuring out the right buttons can be the most challenging part of the game.
One of the things that really separated DVD from VHS was size and look. The DVD was futuristic to many, durability and very obvious image quality were bonus reasons to move to the new platform. It was similar to the move from Cassette tape to CD's, it was an obvious and cool transition, no more switching tapes for long movies, no more tapes stretching or wearing out and dvd's dont eat tapes like cassette decks. Dont forget there was also the early promise that the media would eventually be cheaper (even though it never happened)
The only obvious benefit from HD-DVD and Blu-Ray is image quality, it doesnt really look different, its no more durable, and for most it just seems like a scam to get people to buy their movies over again.
Increased resolution is a benefit but most people still dont have HD tv's and probably more than half that do only have them because there are very few tv's that arent HD for sale anymore. You can further reduce the total by subtracting the ones that dont know how to hook it up properly and arent recieving HD anyway most of them are now disillusioned by HD through their own stupidity. That leaves a very tiny fragment of a market that actually sees any advantage to HD formated DVD's. I do think eventually one of the formats will stick but they would be better off doing hyrid disks with one format on one side and standard dvd on the other that way they can snag the replacement buyers not just rely on folks willing to make an upgrade most see as not necessary.
The difference is money, EA paid over $300 million to eliminate competition. Back in the early days there wasnt budget for licensing and companies were lucky to get an endorsement much less a contract with the entire league, also player association and league right were completely separate making any licensing deals awkward.
To be fair Take Two did quietly stick it to EA and locked up 3rd party rights to Major League Baseball, but they did it a much more generous way, by getting only 3rd party exclusivity the only major player affected is going to be MVP baseball from EA. High Heat from Microsoft and MLB from Sony are not affected.
Since EA locked up the NFL license with a 5 year exclusivity contract they have eliminated any competition. Its not hard to break sales records when the sheep only have one choice. Strategically you have to admit it was a good move for EA after getting their asses handed to them last year by Sega and Take Two, eliminate the comptetion then you dont have worry if your product is up to par or not. I fully expect the next five years to be similar to the Sega Genesis years of Madden same damn game different stats and price.
What I really hope happens is that Midway, Sega, Take Two and Nintendo step up and show that gameplay trumps licenses. Midway is already starting with Blitz: The League coming out this fall, a few years ago they were told to tone the violence and t&a down by the NFL. Now that they license is gone, I fully expect Blitz to be completely over the top and probably alot of fun. Something like Mutant League Football would be great and no license would be needed.