I've been a gamer for over a decade now. The fact of the matter is the market is diluted with crap, and even a lot of the "hits" are a lot less fun/shorter than the games from last decade. I mean, sure, Gears of War is fun for a time, but how does it even compare to Deus Ex or Jedi Knight? I mean, you can even see how video games have progressed in the sequels of some titles. For example, compare Deus Ex 1 & 2, or Thief 2 & 3. Mario Party 2 and Mario Party 8.
Then there's the sheer amount of crap, even from "trusted" and "quality" companies. Like Soulcalibur Legends. My friend is a big fighter game fan and bought that game. Usually Soulcalibur is a "quality" title, but that game was so shitty! It seemed like a demo it was so short and lacking features.
You raised the prices of games by $10 and eroded their value. People aren't paying for new games because the price of a "new game" isn't worth it to them anymore. And it shows. It used to be that a New game would cost $50 and GS would be selling it used for $35. That means there's a lot of people buying the new game and few buying the used game (high supply of used games, low demand.) Now, the games costs $60 new and $55 used. Which means the exact opposite (low supply of used games, high demand.)
If I was a game publisher and I wanted to kill the market for used video games, I'd lower my prices to $30 and probably sell more than twice as many copies, making it up in volume. I mean, if you want the new Gears of War, you'll try and save $5 off of it because it already costs so much. But the difference between $25 and $30? Not many people care. In addition, when I get sick of GoW and return it, I'm getting $30 bucks back. That's like a tank of gas. What would you get back for a $30 game, $15 bucks? That's not enough motivation.
My point wasn't that I disagreed with him, but that he's posting an opinion like it's fact.
At least it's breeding competition to do something good for once.
That's opinion twisted to sound like fact. If he read the article, (or even understood the summary) he'd realize that there's two things going on. 1) China's government is trying to lock up rare earth metals so that they can profit off of it politically. Since these are used in green technologies, this is bad environmentally. 2) This isn't really affecting the market, because there's a huge black market for the stuff. As shown by drugs, Prohibition, embargoes... black markets usually breed a lot of crime.
1) "Ginya Adachi, from the Japanese Rare Earth Association, said that China's dominance of rare earths would serve the developed world with a rude shock about global trade: Japan, America and Europe must now realise that some markets are not real, but political." 2) The Mafia during Prohibition
Simulcast? Really? I'm a person that believes that speech evolves and there's a natural progression in language... but that doesn't excuse terrible marketing words. This neither flows off the tongue nor is intuitive. I mean, how do you even say it? Sim you'll cast? Sy mule cast? Sim ool cast? And what does it mean? Simulated broadcasting?
I know this is listed in some online dictionaries (I just checked), but really, words really ought to be meaningful before being accepted as "language."
By unfortunate genetic lottery, we have people suited to manual labor, manufacturing and other undesirable jobs. In addition, we dehumanize people if they're "designed." Think about the problems we have when clothing/electronics/houses go out of style. Now think about your kids. Do you want them to "go out of style?" We'll only further objectify people.
Sure, it sucks if you're ugly. But at least you're unique.
Unfortunately, Microsoft doesn't hold a true monopoly. You see, Microsoft competes with itself.
Windows 7 has to compete with Vista and XP and even 2000. That's tough competition. When I need to run PC apps, XP does everything I need with the least overhead.
Maybe its just me, but I didn't find L4D's game mechanics compelling enough. A SDK won't fix that for me.
I mean, it's a zombie game, and it doesn't even have a chainsaw or flamethrower. You just run around and kill zombies. Sometimes you die. A zombie scenario appeals to me in several ways.
1) Finding safe places. (L4D is getting from point A to B) 2) Compelling resource management (I can either go to the grocery store or the hospital.) 3) Creative weaponry 4) Scare factor 5) The human factor (finding survivors, people turning unexpectedly)
L4D did an OK job, but... well I guess it's a beef I have with many recent games. "It looks pretty, but is it FUN? How about after 10 hours?"
It appears that money *is* the primary factor here. Jammie Thomas owes him a lot of money, and even though she's promised to make payments, he doesn't want to allow her to dig herself in deeper. He tried once before to withdraw from the case, but the court refused him permission to do so.
He's such a nice guy that he doesn't want to see her put herself into terrible debt, BUT he's not such a nice guy as to give her his services at an affordable rate?
I wonder how much game makers would make if they started selling at $30.
I know I haven't been buying *shit* from VG makers for years, despite being an avid gamer, because of the prices. I wait until the used copies hit $20-40 (depending on the game) and grab one of those.
Fantastic! I love Thief, it's my favorite video game of all time.
However... they ended the series. Not only that, but they kind of butchered their whole attempt at Thief 3. If they want a good new game...
*Item scarcity. 1 & 2 never gave you 30 fire arrows to play with... *Uninterrupted whole levels. 1 & 2 never had loading zones within a level. *Complete outdoor areas. 1 & 2 were not set up like dungeons. They were *real* buildings. *Rooftops.
Masters isn't going to increase your starting pay grade or get you a job easier, work experience is going to do that. You need work experience now.
BUT here's the thing. When you're 10+ years into your job, suddenly that masters means *everything*. Expect to start hitting some barriers, like maximum pay-grade. You really need to do both, and you need to make sure you get work experience before you graduate AND make sure you get your Masters while you still can manage it.
My father is a really talented guy. But he's 50 now with a Bachelor's and is passed up on every promotion and pay raise. He's already at the top of the metrics for pay and title, he literally can't go any higher because of corporate policy.
A lot of people have made the observation that it's basically impossible to raise the capital and perform the beta testing required to dethrone WoW. But all these factors aren't valid in China. Especially with their copyright laws. And the source code of WoW's servers...
Soy Ink? What a freaking joke! The total octopi, or whatever they get ink from, saved by Soy Ink, is truly insignificant.
If your company wants to be green, they need to buy recycled paper, or buy a sustainable forest, or replace all that horrid grass outside with natural prairie and woods.
When are people going to get that using "green" products is still producing consumer waste, and that if you want to truly make an impact, you need to ride your bike sometimes, or something!
Additionally it depends what sort of business you're talking about, a great deal of businesses are not like you're describing.
Basically, anything where you're in competition with a corporation. Sure, starting up a restaurant or hair salon isn't any different than it was 60 years ago. But try starting up a software firm? A movie studio? How about you try starting up a broadband internet business?
Anywhere there's any amount of money, expect to be blown out of the water. A frivolous lawsuit or a herd of lobbyists doesn't cost a corporation anything, but it costs YOU your business, and your car, and your home...
For me, I liked the new (different) story telling style. In America, we tend to have a very Hollywood, everybody goes home happy at the end of the day, story telling style.
Japan tends to focus more on their culture, which is often, "Do what is right, even though it'll make you unhappy."
Some fans are die-hards. Comic book and trekkie fans spring to mind.
But other fandoms are retarded, blind lemmings in a blender. I don't want to be pointing fingers, so I'll make up an example. So lets say some guy makes a couple really good movies. A couple good related books and games come out. Later, lets say about 25 years, this dude comes out with a prequel movie. It's pretty awful, and only has brand recognition going for it. Regardless, they decide to make even more movies. A bunch more related products come out, and most of them suck. HOWEVER, it ALL sells tremendously well and people act as if it's the second coming of Jesus. Just to top it all off, the guy refuses to release the original movies on DVD, but has a dozen different "Director's Cut" editions, which fans always buy the latest version of.
I know my example is over-the-top exaggeration and nothing could possibly be *that* asinine, but some names are worth millions of units sold, regardless of the product's quality.
Literally, owning some brands is like owning your own private mint.
I like how it says that internet based movements would alter the political landscape (translation: people would be heard again) but the article is "Using the Internet to Subvert Democracy."
Since when was Democracy redefined to, "What the rich and powerful want?"
Lets face it, if FTL travel isn't possible, the human race is doomed. Therefore, having the attitude that it is impossible is not useful to anyone. I know that as a scientific mind, you're supposed to follow logic and precedence. But if you plan to make a groundbreaking discovery, you pretty much have to chase what's believed to be impossible.
If there's any limitation to the scientific mind, it's that it dismisses the far out there, which is (sometimes) the next step forward.
I buy and use what I like and what I feel lets me work best.
And the sheeple also buy and use what they believe to be the best. This marketing initiative didn't backfire, it was never aimed at Apple users. Instead, it confirms all the rumors that Apple sucks and you're on the "right team" by sticking with Microsoft.
Also, religious people are delusional fucking retards who foster bigotry, impede progress, and propogate the spread of socially acceptable psychosis.
Why should I listen to a bigot?
Seriously, whoever modded this guy up is full of hatred themselves. Sure you might justify it by saying Religious people are asking for it, "just like" the blacks, Jews, gays, witches...
Slashdot Mirror
I've been a gamer for over a decade now. The fact of the matter is the market is diluted with crap, and even a lot of the "hits" are a lot less fun/shorter than the games from last decade. I mean, sure, Gears of War is fun for a time, but how does it even compare to Deus Ex or Jedi Knight? I mean, you can even see how video games have progressed in the sequels of some titles. For example, compare Deus Ex 1 & 2, or Thief 2 & 3. Mario Party 2 and Mario Party 8.
Then there's the sheer amount of crap, even from "trusted" and "quality" companies. Like Soulcalibur Legends. My friend is a big fighter game fan and bought that game. Usually Soulcalibur is a "quality" title, but that game was so shitty! It seemed like a demo it was so short and lacking features.
You raised the prices of games by $10 and eroded their value. People aren't paying for new games because the price of a "new game" isn't worth it to them anymore. And it shows. It used to be that a New game would cost $50 and GS would be selling it used for $35. That means there's a lot of people buying the new game and few buying the used game (high supply of used games, low demand.) Now, the games costs $60 new and $55 used. Which means the exact opposite (low supply of used games, high demand.)
If I was a game publisher and I wanted to kill the market for used video games, I'd lower my prices to $30 and probably sell more than twice as many copies, making it up in volume. I mean, if you want the new Gears of War, you'll try and save $5 off of it because it already costs so much. But the difference between $25 and $30? Not many people care. In addition, when I get sick of GoW and return it, I'm getting $30 bucks back. That's like a tank of gas. What would you get back for a $30 game, $15 bucks? That's not enough motivation.
My point wasn't that I disagreed with him, but that he's posting an opinion like it's fact.
At least it's breeding competition to do something good for once.
That's opinion twisted to sound like fact. If he read the article, (or even understood the summary) he'd realize that there's two things going on. 1) China's government is trying to lock up rare earth metals so that they can profit off of it politically. Since these are used in green technologies, this is bad environmentally. 2) This isn't really affecting the market, because there's a huge black market for the stuff. As shown by drugs, Prohibition, embargoes... black markets usually breed a lot of crime.
1) "Ginya Adachi, from the Japanese Rare Earth Association, said that China's dominance of rare earths would serve the developed world with a rude shock about global trade: Japan, America and Europe must now realise that some markets are not real, but political."
2) The Mafia during Prohibition
2) Still no name for these rare-earth metals even with RTFA.
Wikipedia for the win.
*citation needed*
Simulcast? Really? I'm a person that believes that speech evolves and there's a natural progression in language... but that doesn't excuse terrible marketing words. This neither flows off the tongue nor is intuitive. I mean, how do you even say it? Sim you'll cast? Sy mule cast? Sim ool cast? And what does it mean? Simulated broadcasting?
I know this is listed in some online dictionaries (I just checked), but really, words really ought to be meaningful before being accepted as "language."
or a potential sex offender.
In America, we don't prosecute you if you *might* do something. If you feel that way, please, leave our country.
There's also the world of... Brave New World.
By unfortunate genetic lottery, we have people suited to manual labor, manufacturing and other undesirable jobs. In addition, we dehumanize people if they're "designed." Think about the problems we have when clothing/electronics/houses go out of style. Now think about your kids. Do you want them to "go out of style?" We'll only further objectify people.
Sure, it sucks if you're ugly. But at least you're unique.
Unfortunately, Microsoft doesn't hold a true monopoly. You see, Microsoft competes with itself.
Windows 7 has to compete with Vista and XP and even 2000. That's tough competition. When I need to run PC apps, XP does everything I need with the least overhead.
Maybe its just me, but I didn't find L4D's game mechanics compelling enough. A SDK won't fix that for me.
I mean, it's a zombie game, and it doesn't even have a chainsaw or flamethrower. You just run around and kill zombies. Sometimes you die. A zombie scenario appeals to me in several ways.
1) Finding safe places. (L4D is getting from point A to B)
2) Compelling resource management (I can either go to the grocery store or the hospital.)
3) Creative weaponry
4) Scare factor
5) The human factor (finding survivors, people turning unexpectedly)
L4D did an OK job, but... well I guess it's a beef I have with many recent games. "It looks pretty, but is it FUN? How about after 10 hours?"
It appears that money *is* the primary factor here. Jammie Thomas owes him a lot of money, and even though she's promised to make payments, he doesn't want to allow her to dig herself in deeper. He tried once before to withdraw from the case, but the court refused him permission to do so.
He's such a nice guy that he doesn't want to see her put herself into terrible debt, BUT he's not such a nice guy as to give her his services at an affordable rate?
I wonder how much game makers would make if they started selling at $30.
I know I haven't been buying *shit* from VG makers for years, despite being an avid gamer, because of the prices. I wait until the used copies hit $20-40 (depending on the game) and grab one of those.
Fantastic! I love Thief, it's my favorite video game of all time.
However... they ended the series. Not only that, but they kind of butchered their whole attempt at Thief 3. If they want a good new game...
*Item scarcity. 1 & 2 never gave you 30 fire arrows to play with...
*Uninterrupted whole levels. 1 & 2 never had loading zones within a level.
*Complete outdoor areas. 1 & 2 were not set up like dungeons. They were *real* buildings.
*Rooftops.
I could say more, but I'll spare you. :)
Masters isn't going to increase your starting pay grade or get you a job easier, work experience is going to do that. You need work experience now.
BUT here's the thing. When you're 10+ years into your job, suddenly that masters means *everything*. Expect to start hitting some barriers, like maximum pay-grade. You really need to do both, and you need to make sure you get work experience before you graduate AND make sure you get your Masters while you still can manage it.
My father is a really talented guy. But he's 50 now with a Bachelor's and is passed up on every promotion and pay raise. He's already at the top of the metrics for pay and title, he literally can't go any higher because of corporate policy.
A lot of people have made the observation that it's basically impossible to raise the capital and perform the beta testing required to dethrone WoW. But all these factors aren't valid in China. Especially with their copyright laws. And the source code of WoW's servers...
Soy Ink? What a freaking joke! The total octopi, or whatever they get ink from, saved by Soy Ink, is truly insignificant.
If your company wants to be green, they need to buy recycled paper, or buy a sustainable forest, or replace all that horrid grass outside with natural prairie and woods.
When are people going to get that using "green" products is still producing consumer waste, and that if you want to truly make an impact, you need to ride your bike sometimes, or something!
Additionally it depends what sort of business you're talking about, a great deal of businesses are not like you're describing.
Basically, anything where you're in competition with a corporation. Sure, starting up a restaurant or hair salon isn't any different than it was 60 years ago. But try starting up a software firm? A movie studio? How about you try starting up a broadband internet business?
Anywhere there's any amount of money, expect to be blown out of the water. A frivolous lawsuit or a herd of lobbyists doesn't cost a corporation anything, but it costs YOU your business, and your car, and your home...
For me, I liked the new (different) story telling style. In America, we tend to have a very Hollywood, everybody goes home happy at the end of the day, story telling style.
Japan tends to focus more on their culture, which is often, "Do what is right, even though it'll make you unhappy."
Evidence that a true hell would be really, really, cold. And have swarms of mosquitoes.
I want to move away :(
Some fans are die-hards. Comic book and trekkie fans spring to mind.
But other fandoms are retarded, blind lemmings in a blender. I don't want to be pointing fingers, so I'll make up an example. So lets say some guy makes a couple really good movies. A couple good related books and games come out. Later, lets say about 25 years, this dude comes out with a prequel movie. It's pretty awful, and only has brand recognition going for it. Regardless, they decide to make even more movies. A bunch more related products come out, and most of them suck. HOWEVER, it ALL sells tremendously well and people act as if it's the second coming of Jesus. Just to top it all off, the guy refuses to release the original movies on DVD, but has a dozen different "Director's Cut" editions, which fans always buy the latest version of.
I know my example is over-the-top exaggeration and nothing could possibly be *that* asinine, but some names are worth millions of units sold, regardless of the product's quality.
Literally, owning some brands is like owning your own private mint.
You're full of it.
If the game requires any form of authentication to unlock any significant functionality then it's DRM'ed. End of story.
HE'S FULL OF IT?
Anyways, Demigod requires online servers to unlock functionality. Are those online servers DRM?
Because if they aren't, then anyone who sets up their own server (they're out there), has unlocked that functionality.
At the end of the day, you just seem like you don't want to participate in a capitalist society, and I have to wonder, what are you doing in the US?
I like how it says that internet based movements would alter the political landscape (translation: people would be heard again) but the article is "Using the Internet to Subvert Democracy."
Since when was Democracy redefined to, "What the rich and powerful want?"
Lets face it, if FTL travel isn't possible, the human race is doomed. Therefore, having the attitude that it is impossible is not useful to anyone. I know that as a scientific mind, you're supposed to follow logic and precedence. But if you plan to make a groundbreaking discovery, you pretty much have to chase what's believed to be impossible.
If there's any limitation to the scientific mind, it's that it dismisses the far out there, which is (sometimes) the next step forward.
I buy and use what I like and what I feel lets me work best.
And the sheeple also buy and use what they believe to be the best. This marketing initiative didn't backfire, it was never aimed at Apple users. Instead, it confirms all the rumors that Apple sucks and you're on the "right team" by sticking with Microsoft.
This isn't news. Real news goes like this:
"World of Warcraft introduces variable difficulties to their in game dungeons."
Advernews goes like this:
"WoW patch 3.1 released with 14 new bosses, dual spec, new GUI choices, and game balancing!"
One key difference, Advernews doesn't make sense to anyone outside of the game's target market.
Sorry for the made-up word.
Also, religious people are delusional fucking retards who foster bigotry, impede progress, and propogate the spread of socially acceptable psychosis.
Why should I listen to a bigot?
Seriously, whoever modded this guy up is full of hatred themselves. Sure you might justify it by saying Religious people are asking for it, "just like" the blacks, Jews, gays, witches...