But far too many game review websites are completely beholden to the companies that buy advertisements on their site, oftentimes giving games rave reviews just because their publisher advertises on their site. How many game review sites said that Need for Speed: Shift was an awesome game, even though it totally sucked?
This is my biggest problem with XBOX Live and the Wii Store. It should be handled like the PlayStation Store, where everything has an actual value and I am free to pay the exact purchase price (as long as it is above $5).
I expect that the main motive in these drones is some company making a profit. Crime did not drop with CCTV cameras so all they really accomplish it to make a couple of people who were already rich, richer.
This is the reasoning behind red-light cameras in the US, as well. A private "contractor" installs and supports the cameras. Said contractor also gets a cut of the ticket "revenue."
Oftentimes, the contractor convinces the locality to shorten the yellow light period, making more people run the red light. In other words, red light cameras simply impose an additional tax on the populace.
In some cases (sony) they pushed the 3d gaming capabilities of the PSX so hard that if I remember correctly, they forbid the publication of 2d games on it.
Then explain to me why there were so many Mega Man X games for the PSX.
I'm surprised that Palm Graffiti came in last place, especially by that big of a margin. I used a Palm Pilot extensively for several years, and I could "write" on my Palm Pilot much faster than I could write on pen and paper.
It took a few weeks to get used to it, but after you learned Graffiti well enough, you could actually "write" pretty fast with it. The test behind TFA apparently used a novice to test Palm's Graffiti. A Palm Pilot veteran would have been able to write in Graffiti at speeds nearer to actual writing, and maybe faster.
You will also find people who will defend any carrier.
I saved so much money by switching to AT&T that it was actually cost-effective to pay Sprint's early termination fees. Plus, I no longer have to deal with them screwing up my bill every other month.
You say Sprint's customer service has changed, and that's great. But you couldn't pay me to ever use them again. Plus, the iPhone, IMO, is a much better phone than all of the Sprint phones you listed.
'Even Sprint has outspent AT&T per subscriber, laying out $310 for network capital expenditure.' All this means AT&T has a choice, says Hallaren: 'spend or suffer.'
Or maybe it means that Sprint-Nextel's network was such a steaming pile of crap that they had to outlay an irresponsible amount of capital to bring it up to snuff. Last time I checked, Sprint is losing thousands of customers a week.
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion was still an RPG at heart, though. Fallout 3 is not an RPG. It is a first-person shooter with a lot of RPG elements. It's still a good game, though, but it is impossible to get through it without heavily developing your character's combat skills. In the original 2 Fallout titles, you could theoretically beat the game without a single battle.
This will remain a high-end niche product like Laserdisc. 3D simply won't become mainstream until they can pull it off without glasses. The only question, is that even possible?
Not until we figure out how to do holographics easily.
Illegal as hell under FCC rules since this would would be an unlicensed device intentionally disrupting a licensed service. At least that's my reading, the device might as well be a DoS for legitimate users within the range of the device.
That's what I was thinking. I wonder how long this product will last until AT&T or one of the other carriers takes the producer of this thing to court.
No one runs a game with no software other than the OS installed.
A lot of people do this all the time. It's called a console.
Yup. And one of the major reasons I hear all the time for people preferring a console, over a PC for gaming, is that things generally work. Sure, some glitches and bugs here and there... But normally you can expect to buy a game at the store, throw it in your console, and play the thing without too many issues.
That's the way it should be, and it's why I prefer console games. (Consoles are generally cheaper than gaming PCs, too, but I digress.) Unfortunately, that didn't stop Bethesda from releasing DLC for Fallout 3 that was so buggy the game was essentially broken. Out of 5 of the DLCs released for Fallout 3, only two (2) played without bugs: The Pitt and Operation Anchorage. The other DLCs ranged from occasional crashes (Mothership Zeta) to constant freezing that made the DLC impossible to play (Point Lookout and Broken Steel).
I should be able to get a refund for those last two, since I was not able to play them at all.
You mean like The Force Unleashed? The demo, which consisted of half of the first level, was incredible. The first level of the finished game was incredible. The rest of it sucked.
I've got an iPhone, and I honestly don't care too much about 3G coverage. If I want to do bandwidth-intensive operations, I'll use WiFi, which the iPhone supports.
You don't get your money's worth like you used to out of video games. I remember paying $60 for a copy of Fallout 3 a while ago. The game was quite short. I ended up spending another $40 on downloadable content. Don't get me wrong--the game is fun and so was the DLC, but I can't help feeling that the DLC should have come with the game in the first place. Not to mention the fact that most of the miscellaneous quests could be completed in under an hour.
For instance, the Broken Steel add on extended the game's plot line another 5-10 hours. Considering the fact that the main plot only took about 20 hours to beat in the first place, this plot thread should have been included in the original game.
I would like to contrast this with another, slightly older Bethesda Softworks game--The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Sure, there was downloadable content for this game, but if you played the original game's main quest in its entirety along with the miscellaneous quests (some of which were longer than the main quest), you could put hundreds of hours into the game without spending a cent on DLC.
What changed between the release of Oblivion and Fallout 3? Why could I get hundreds of hours of play time for $60 from the former, but only a fraction of that from the latter?
Slashdot Mirror
A "bug" for the user is a "feature" for Google...
But far too many game review websites are completely beholden to the companies that buy advertisements on their site, oftentimes giving games rave reviews just because their publisher advertises on their site. How many game review sites said that Need for Speed: Shift was an awesome game, even though it totally sucked?
This is my biggest problem with XBOX Live and the Wii Store. It should be handled like the PlayStation Store, where everything has an actual value and I am free to pay the exact purchase price (as long as it is above $5).
I expect that the main motive in these drones is some company making a profit. Crime did not drop with CCTV cameras so all they really accomplish it to make a couple of people who were already rich, richer.
This is the reasoning behind red-light cameras in the US, as well. A private "contractor" installs and supports the cameras. Said contractor also gets a cut of the ticket "revenue."
Oftentimes, the contractor convinces the locality to shorten the yellow light period, making more people run the red light. In other words, red light cameras simply impose an additional tax on the populace.
This sounds eerily close to the plot of V for Vendetta. What's next, installing directional microphones on these things?
In some cases (sony) they pushed the 3d gaming capabilities of the PSX so hard that if I remember correctly, they forbid the publication of 2d games on it.
Then explain to me why there were so many Mega Man X games for the PSX.
I'm surprised that Palm Graffiti came in last place, especially by that big of a margin. I used a Palm Pilot extensively for several years, and I could "write" on my Palm Pilot much faster than I could write on pen and paper.
It took a few weeks to get used to it, but after you learned Graffiti well enough, you could actually "write" pretty fast with it. The test behind TFA apparently used a novice to test Palm's Graffiti. A Palm Pilot veteran would have been able to write in Graffiti at speeds nearer to actual writing, and maybe faster.
You will also find people who will defend any carrier.
I saved so much money by switching to AT&T that it was actually cost-effective to pay Sprint's early termination fees. Plus, I no longer have to deal with them screwing up my bill every other month.
You say Sprint's customer service has changed, and that's great. But you couldn't pay me to ever use them again. Plus, the iPhone, IMO, is a much better phone than all of the Sprint phones you listed.
'Even Sprint has outspent AT&T per subscriber, laying out $310 for network capital expenditure.' All this means AT&T has a choice, says Hallaren: 'spend or suffer.'
Or maybe it means that Sprint-Nextel's network was such a steaming pile of crap that they had to outlay an irresponsible amount of capital to bring it up to snuff. Last time I checked, Sprint is losing thousands of customers a week.
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion was still an RPG at heart, though. Fallout 3 is not an RPG. It is a first-person shooter with a lot of RPG elements. It's still a good game, though, but it is impossible to get through it without heavily developing your character's combat skills. In the original 2 Fallout titles, you could theoretically beat the game without a single battle.
This will remain a high-end niche product like Laserdisc. 3D simply won't become mainstream until they can pull it off without glasses. The only question, is that even possible?
Not until we figure out how to do holographics easily.
Illegal as hell under FCC rules since this would would be an unlicensed device intentionally disrupting a licensed service. At least that's my reading, the device might as well be a DoS for legitimate users within the range of the device.
That's what I was thinking. I wonder how long this product will last until AT&T or one of the other carriers takes the producer of this thing to court.
Good luck getting Sprint to activate a Verzion phone. Hint: they won't.
This is why I only play console games. I've never once had a problem running Mass Effect on my XBOX 360. Heck, it's one of my all-time favorite games.
A lot of people do this all the time. It's called a console.
Yup. And one of the major reasons I hear all the time for people preferring a console, over a PC for gaming, is that things generally work. Sure, some glitches and bugs here and there... But normally you can expect to buy a game at the store, throw it in your console, and play the thing without too many issues.
That's the way it should be, and it's why I prefer console games. (Consoles are generally cheaper than gaming PCs, too, but I digress.) Unfortunately, that didn't stop Bethesda from releasing DLC for Fallout 3 that was so buggy the game was essentially broken. Out of 5 of the DLCs released for Fallout 3, only two (2) played without bugs: The Pitt and Operation Anchorage. The other DLCs ranged from occasional crashes (Mothership Zeta) to constant freezing that made the DLC impossible to play (Point Lookout and Broken Steel).
I should be able to get a refund for those last two, since I was not able to play them at all.
You mean like The Force Unleashed? The demo, which consisted of half of the first level, was incredible. The first level of the finished game was incredible. The rest of it sucked.
1. Drill and Cause Earthquakes
2. ????
3. Profit!
The pizzas must also exist in a vacuum.
Thanks for reading TFA and ruining all our fun.
I've got an iPhone, and I honestly don't care too much about 3G coverage. If I want to do bandwidth-intensive operations, I'll use WiFi, which the iPhone supports.
USB device? The DoD hasn't been allowed to use those things in almost a year!
Very true. The DoD has been planning on implementing IPv6 "in two years" for the past decade.
You don't get your money's worth like you used to out of video games. I remember paying $60 for a copy of Fallout 3 a while ago. The game was quite short. I ended up spending another $40 on downloadable content. Don't get me wrong--the game is fun and so was the DLC, but I can't help feeling that the DLC should have come with the game in the first place. Not to mention the fact that most of the miscellaneous quests could be completed in under an hour.
For instance, the Broken Steel add on extended the game's plot line another 5-10 hours. Considering the fact that the main plot only took about 20 hours to beat in the first place, this plot thread should have been included in the original game.
I would like to contrast this with another, slightly older Bethesda Softworks game--The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Sure, there was downloadable content for this game, but if you played the original game's main quest in its entirety along with the miscellaneous quests (some of which were longer than the main quest), you could put hundreds of hours into the game without spending a cent on DLC.
What changed between the release of Oblivion and Fallout 3? Why could I get hundreds of hours of play time for $60 from the former, but only a fraction of that from the latter?
...playing them while your friends come over is illegal
So if my wife and I listen to a CD in the car, I'm violating the law? Should I have purchased two copies of the CD?
That is, perhaps, the absolute stupidest thing I have ever heard in my life.
The RIAA really needs to get a better PR wing.
...that WoW servers are guarded and maintained better than DoD networks?