Older games had very little content compared to modern games, so designers had to do something to stop the player exhausting the game in 10 minutes flat.
This may be in part because scientists, like most other citizens, agree that the U.S. is facing dangerous foes.
LOL ! This is rich coming from the largest distributor and manufacturer of WMD on the planet. If the US stopped arming the world things would be a little safer for people everywhere on the planet.
From your post I take it you are not a game developer. I'm a games developer working on the PS2 and the XBox and I can tell you that the XBox architecture is much more conducive to games development. How did you come to the conclusion that PS2 architecture is 'optimised for gaming' ?
Ill-informed. Give me facts next time, not conjecture.
Well, it's a future racer like wipEout if that's what you mean. Seeing as half our team created the original wipEout that's not really a suprise. I don't want to get into pissy arguments about design, but just because a new game is derivative does not mean that it will flop. Gran Turismo 3 was just the same old stuff but it still shifted millions of copies.
Anyway, I apprecaite that QR wasn'e everyone's cup of tea, but that's fairly by the by regarding my points about small companies having a hard time.
I've been programming games professionally for 10 years and there is a definite trend towards consolidation and the extinction of small development studios. Take a look at the top 20 games chart from 10 years ago and then look at the current top 20.
10 years ago the chart was dominated by original titles. These days it's dominated by licences and sequels. The fact is that unless you have an awful lot of money behind you it's very hard to get anything published that is in any way innovative. This means that small dev teams can only afford to develop one title at a time - and if that flops (for whatever reason) then it's pretty much curtains for the company. These are the realities of the market and I'm not asking anyone to treat games development as some sort of charity case.
But, for any industrialised country to benefit from a booming technology it is realistic for the government of that country to invest in that market and help secure a decent market share for the future. Governments do this for countless industries - it's good for jobs and keeps the skills and talents in the country.
I think the point Pete is trying to make is that when you look at the turn over of the games industry compared to the turn over of other similar industries (film etc), there is a distinct lack of government help in securing a viable future. Without this investment the market will move elsewhere where there is investment.
BTW - I'm talking about the UK here, not the US. Things may be quite different in the US, I don't know.
I totally agree with Pete's sentiments. I am part of a small UK games developer (Curly Monsters, last game 'Quantum Redshift' Xbox), and we have just gone bust after our publisher pulled out of the sequel due to unsatisfactory sales (mainly in the US).
The grim truth is that small developers simply can't ride out any sort of market fluctuation, and if they get one game which doesn't make enough money, they are pretty much out of the game.
The games industry is in about the worst state that I've seen it in during my 10 years as a developer. Consolidation is inevitable unless small developers get some help. Everyone is just trying to amass enough investment to ride the storm out. Out the window goes innovative off-the-wall ideas from small dedicated teams. It's a shame.
My only fear is that this call for help is too little, too late. It's certainly too late for us...
There's so much about this supposed war that stinks to high heaven. From the vote rigging which happened in florida when Bush stole the presidency (oh, which was censored from the USA media, BTW), to the fact that Osama Bin Ladens estranged family were in the USA on 9-11 going through 'business as usual' with the American elite.
Is it any coincidence that Bush's Daddy is knee-deep in the Carlyle group, a very quiet group of powerful people (John Major being one of them) which has fingers in lots of pies, notably United Defence, which would profit greatly from an escalation of military spending.
Don't you wonder at the fact that Bin Laden was originally funded by the CIA in the early 80s to create a fundamentalist Muslim guerilla army that would ensnare the Russians in a war they couldn't win. Once that war was faught and Bin Laden realised how he was manipulated to serve US foreign policy no wonder 9-11 happened. Now he's the devil trying to ruin the stability of the world. The only stabilty at stake here is US dominance of natural resources and the 'free' market.
Ever wonder how the supposedly 'free' press can be consored at the whim of the governments - a call to 'national security' is all it takes.
Since Bush has come into power the rest of the world has grown to hate USA policy more and more. Withdrawal from Kyoto, repeated illegal military incursions into tin-pot countries who disobey the will of America. Now this nuclear threat... This reminds me of the propaganda of the early 80s when the 'free world' had to prepare itself for conflict with Russia - yeah, like Russia was any kind of threat in the 80s... It was Reagan fscking with us. Since the collapse of the Berlin wall in 1989 the USA has been desperately trying to find someone to blame the shitty state of it's foreign policy on - it has conveniently aimed its cross-hairs at the nameless and faceless target of 'international terrorism'. How convenient... Check the pictures of the impact on the pentagon - do you really believe a 200 tonne aircraft hit that building ? Do a google search and see what's out there.
If you want to understand terrorism more - find out why Bin Laden is so pissed at America. Don't get lost in the nationalistic furore and blood-lust. Don't listen to he propaganda of the mass media - do some critical thinking and make your own conclusions.
And don't believe elections are the answer either. You're made to believe you are voting for change when every policy which really makes an impact on the world is taken care of in private, without concerning the dosile and irrelevant public. Shut up, watch the Simpsons, drink a Bud, have a Big Mac, pay your taxes, and take a vote between these two stage shows of 'political opinion' every four years. That's how you are supposed to behave in a democracy - you are free to choose from a limited selection - this is not freedom. While a dictatorship controls its population via force, a democracy controls its population by propaganda, calls to patriotism and coercion.
So now the Anglo American military machine is threatening nuclear warfare. Not against one potential enemy, but seven. Now the cold war with Russia is over, the new enemy of the people, terrorism, is used as an excuse for escalation of military armament and government surveillance. The truth is that the real enemy of the military/industrial complex will never be defeated. The real enemy of those in power are the general population. Only through fear and propaganda can their reign of terror and oppression continue. An educated and organised public would not tolerate this lunacy.
America does not passively sit back and defend itself against enemies when they pop up, they spend billions not in defence, but in offence, creating a world where military might controls less powerful countries by force. The lapdog of the UK is no better - sent in where 'diplomacy' and 'peace keeping' would be more effective than direct action - loyal to the last, and the largest aircraft carrier on earth. They cannot be stopped - they are out of control.
America will never be safe as long as the current tyranny is in power.
Terror is defined as illegal use of force to effect foreign powers. In this technique, America reigns supreme.
Look beyond the details and the supposed motives. Look at how the world is controlled. Look at how the gap between rich and poor is getting wider. Look at why humanity is not moving forward. Read some Chomsky.
We are at a pivotal point in history. We now have the ability to clothe, house, feed and educate every human on the planet, bar none, yet we waste our energies bickering over who owns what and killing innocents. Instead of watching the birdie, look at how the puppetmasters are raping the world.
This wasn't a leak - it was a controlled threat made public to keep the people feeling scared and insecure. To keep the inertia of new oppressive laws going. To guarantee the flow of taxes from patriotic Americans to the backpockets of those in power. If Bush was really serious about dropping nukes on those who threaten world peace, he'd drop one on the whitehouse.
No matter how clever marketing campaigns are, or how much lobbying happens within the halls of power, the future of a technology lie with those who make it work. Without a constant stream of new products written for Windows, Microsoft will find it very hard to maintain its OS dominance.
If all the most creative developers are behind Linux, it cannot fail - it's just a matter of time.
Anyone care to put this lot into a search engine ? Trawling through this lot trying to find out what the consensus is is something I don't really have time to do (or any mortal person methinks). Anyone would think that the DOJ were trying to hide the facts by burying the data or something... Of course not 8)
Has anyone got any real stats from this ? Of all the comments, how many were pro and how many were against ? Are the DOJ not public servants who should enforce the opinion of the majority ? You know, kinda like democracy - you do remember democracy don't ya ?
Oh well...
The only think more contemptable than Hollywood are the politicians in it's pockets.
Whoa there - let's not paint a completely awful picture of the games industry. Let me tell you my story...
I've been a professional games programmer for about 8 years now and I've worked on a number of games with a number of teams. OK, yeah, sometimes it can be stressful and damn hard work, but it is definately not always as bad as you make out. Get on a bad team full of opinionated wannabe's with no management structure above you to sort things out and it's gonna be hell. Get on a good team in a good company and it's just about the best job I can think of. After starting as a junior programmer fresh from University (but with a lot of experience writing demo's etc), rising through the ranks until I was studio programming manager, then ending up running my own development studio I've seen all sides of the industry.
If you really are as angry as you seem, get a new job. If you have no creative input, leave. If you feel you are wasting your time documenting your code for no benefit, leave. If you work with a load of prima-donna'a, leave. It may sound like harsh advice, but there are development companies out there who will treat you a lot better. Good games programmers are *really* hard to find. If you are good you will find a better job no problem.
As for agencies, yeah, they are OK, but given the choice I much prefer interviewing people who apply to me directly. Not only does it show that the candidate is interested in *my* company, bt it also saves me a large chunk of cash that the agent will take (I don't like giving cash to agents if I don't have to 8).
-It's quicker to do nothing than to do something very quickly.
www.curlymonsters.com
Oh well.. it looks like there will be some lucky Scientolgist with a copy of that book pretty soon. Oh, wait a minute... They won't be allowed to read it though, because of their mindless censorship of public knowledge. Damn. Praising BE isn't worth the public humiliation of winning that fine book. Never mind, it should make a pretty good door stop down at Clearwater..;) I want my xenu TV ! www.xenu.net www.xenutv.com
It's fair enough to say that there are times when you are not near a computer and want to read a manual. More often though I find myself at a computer and wishing I had transported the weighty paper manual with me because there is no electronic equivalent that I can access. How about distributing electronic manuals with the package, and offering free printed manuals for those who want them.
The most effective solution is the one which is most convenient for the consumer. Give the cheap option away as default, but offer the more expensive option as an errr... option.
Surely these types of restrictive practices are ultimately bad for the USA in the long term. Ill-informed patent officers could be damaging the USA more than helping it. Take Atari's patent on the 'ghost ship' technique used to represent a game players previous attempt at a game. If I want to include any form of ghost ship in a game that I release in the USA, I have to cough up some money to Atari. What ? Ridiculous. The result is that for the USA version of the games I write I just take out the ghost ship - saving me a few cents per copy. The result of this is that the American consumer receives a product with less functionality than the rest of the world. This is just plain silly. And not fair, surely. As an aside - I wonder if a supermarket could get away with patenting the '10 items of less' checkout isle quite as easily as Amazon has patented One-Click(tm). 8)
Oh no - this sort of news makes me want to bang my head off the wall... What the hell are MS doing meddling with the console game market ? How many pieces of software sitting on an MS OS fall over at a regular rate ? How many games written for consoles fall over ? People suffer crap PC software 'because it's a PC' - and expect to have to arse around with to get things running. With a console, if it's not singing within 5 seconds of power on, it's in the bin. The average punter out there considers a games machine to be like any other 'appliance' - it just works, first time - every time. Some of the reasons: * OS - what OS? Console programmers neither need or want an OS in the machine buggering things up for them. * Fixed standards. Once a Playstation - always a Playstation. Stashing DLL's and other crud on a HD will make console programming as painful as PC programming. You think MS are going to make this gaming OS open source and optional for developers ? No way am I going to trust the hidden innards of an MS OS for MY games. * Punters don't buy consoles - they buy games. Developers make games. You can bet that the dev environment for this X-Box will be VisualStudio (groan) - the LAST thing developers want is to have to suffer MS bloatware for writing games. * Console manufacturers give really good support for their developers because they are all licensed. Open it up to the public, and the support vanishes because of the deluge of hobbyists asking how to set up double buffering etc. Not good. * Console people hold software back until as many bugs as possible are ironed out. MS seems to push software out the door as soon as it'll boot, then cleans up the slop if enough people moan.... This would NOT be tolerated by games players. Rant over.. I thank you..
Slashdot Mirror
He's great PR for Apple.
Yes. I,ve just received an answer to that same question that I placed on the Aspyr support site. Cross-platform play is supported.
woo-hoo !
Older games had very little content compared to modern games, so designers had to do something to stop the player exhausting the game in 10 minutes flat.
LOL ! This is rich coming from the largest distributor and manufacturer of WMD on the planet. If the US stopped arming the world things would be a little safer for people everywhere on the planet.
Ill-informed. Give me facts next time, not conjecture.
Anyway, I apprecaite that QR wasn'e everyone's cup of tea, but that's fairly by the by regarding my points about small companies having a hard time.
I've been programming games professionally for 10 years and there is a definite trend towards consolidation and the extinction of small development studios. Take a look at the top 20 games chart from 10 years ago and then look at the current top 20.
10 years ago the chart was dominated by original titles. These days it's dominated by licences and sequels. The fact is that unless you have an awful lot of money behind you it's very hard to get anything published that is in any way innovative. This means that small dev teams can only afford to develop one title at a time - and if that flops (for whatever reason) then it's pretty much curtains for the company. These are the realities of the market and I'm not asking anyone to treat games development as some sort of charity case.
But, for any industrialised country to benefit from a booming technology it is realistic for the government of that country to invest in that market and help secure a decent market share for the future. Governments do this for countless industries - it's good for jobs and keeps the skills and talents in the country.
I think the point Pete is trying to make is that when you look at the turn over of the games industry compared to the turn over of other similar industries (film etc), there is a distinct lack of government help in securing a viable future. Without this investment the market will move elsewhere where there is investment.
BTW - I'm talking about the UK here, not the US. Things may be quite different in the US, I don't know.
The grim truth is that small developers simply can't ride out any sort of market fluctuation, and if they get one game which doesn't make enough money, they are pretty much out of the game.
The games industry is in about the worst state that I've seen it in during my 10 years as a developer. Consolidation is inevitable unless small developers get some help. Everyone is just trying to amass enough investment to ride the storm out. Out the window goes innovative off-the-wall ideas from small dedicated teams. It's a shame.
My only fear is that this call for help is too little, too late. It's certainly too late for us...
There's so much about this supposed war that stinks to high heaven. From the vote rigging which happened in florida when Bush stole the presidency (oh, which was censored from the USA media, BTW), to the fact that Osama Bin Ladens estranged family were in the USA on 9-11 going through 'business as usual' with the American elite.
Is it any coincidence that Bush's Daddy is knee-deep in the Carlyle group, a very quiet group of powerful people (John Major being one of them) which has fingers in lots of pies, notably United Defence, which would profit greatly from an escalation of military spending.
Don't you wonder at the fact that Bin Laden was originally funded by the CIA in the early 80s to create a fundamentalist Muslim guerilla army that would ensnare the Russians in a war they couldn't win. Once that war was faught and Bin Laden realised how he was manipulated to serve US foreign policy no wonder 9-11 happened. Now he's the devil trying to ruin the stability of the world. The only stabilty at stake here is US dominance of natural resources and the 'free' market.
Ever wonder how the supposedly 'free' press can be consored at the whim of the governments - a call to 'national security' is all it takes.
Since Bush has come into power the rest of the world has grown to hate USA policy more and more. Withdrawal from Kyoto, repeated illegal military incursions into tin-pot countries who disobey the will of America. Now this nuclear threat... This reminds me of the propaganda of the early 80s when the 'free world' had to prepare itself for conflict with Russia - yeah, like Russia was any kind of threat in the 80s... It was Reagan fscking with us. Since the collapse of the Berlin wall in 1989 the USA has been desperately trying to find someone to blame the shitty state of it's foreign policy on - it has conveniently aimed its cross-hairs at the nameless and faceless target of 'international terrorism'. How convenient... Check the pictures of the impact on the pentagon - do you really believe a 200 tonne aircraft hit that building ? Do a google search and see what's out there.
If you want to understand terrorism more - find out why Bin Laden is so pissed at America. Don't get lost in the nationalistic furore and blood-lust. Don't listen to he propaganda of the mass media - do some critical thinking and make your own conclusions.
And don't believe elections are the answer either. You're made to believe you are voting for change when every policy which really makes an impact on the world is taken care of in private, without concerning the dosile and irrelevant public. Shut up, watch the Simpsons, drink a Bud, have a Big Mac, pay your taxes, and take a vote between these two stage shows of 'political opinion' every four years. That's how you are supposed to behave in a democracy - you are free to choose from a limited selection - this is not freedom. While a dictatorship controls its population via force, a democracy controls its population by propaganda, calls to patriotism and coercion.
America does not passively sit back and defend itself against enemies when they pop up, they spend billions not in defence, but in offence, creating a world where military might controls less powerful countries by force. The lapdog of the UK is no better - sent in where 'diplomacy' and 'peace keeping' would be more effective than direct action - loyal to the last, and the largest aircraft carrier on earth. They cannot be stopped - they are out of control.
America will never be safe as long as the current tyranny is in power.
Terror is defined as illegal use of force to effect foreign powers. In this technique, America reigns supreme.
Look beyond the details and the supposed motives. Look at how the world is controlled. Look at how the gap between rich and poor is getting wider. Look at why humanity is not moving forward. Read some Chomsky.
We are at a pivotal point in history. We now have the ability to clothe, house, feed and educate every human on the planet, bar none, yet we waste our energies bickering over who owns what and killing innocents. Instead of watching the birdie, look at how the puppetmasters are raping the world.
This wasn't a leak - it was a controlled threat made public to keep the people feeling scared and insecure. To keep the inertia of new oppressive laws going. To guarantee the flow of taxes from patriotic Americans to the backpockets of those in power. If Bush was really serious about dropping nukes on those who threaten world peace, he'd drop one on the whitehouse.
If all the most creative developers are behind Linux, it cannot fail - it's just a matter of time.
Has anyone got any real stats from this ? Of all the comments, how many were pro and how many were against ? Are the DOJ not public servants who should enforce the opinion of the majority ? You know, kinda like democracy - you do remember democracy don't ya ?
Oh well...
The only think more contemptable than Hollywood are the politicians in it's pockets.
Anyone mirrored this ? Seems the connection is overloaded already 8/
BT's behaviour over this issue makes me ashamed to be British. The sooner BT get a wake up call the better.
I've been a professional games programmer for about 8 years now and I've worked on a number of games with a number of teams. OK, yeah, sometimes it can be stressful and damn hard work, but it is definately not always as bad as you make out. Get on a bad team full of opinionated wannabe's with no management structure above you to sort things out and it's gonna be hell. Get on a good team in a good company and it's just about the best job I can think of. After starting as a junior programmer fresh from University (but with a lot of experience writing demo's etc), rising through the ranks until I was studio programming manager, then ending up running my own development studio I've seen all sides of the industry.
If you really are as angry as you seem, get a new job. If you have no creative input, leave. If you feel you are wasting your time documenting your code for no benefit, leave. If you work with a load of prima-donna'a, leave. It may sound like harsh advice, but there are development companies out there who will treat you a lot better. Good games programmers are *really* hard to find. If you are good you will find a better job no problem.
As for agencies, yeah, they are OK, but given the choice I much prefer interviewing people who apply to me directly. Not only does it show that the candidate is interested in *my* company, bt it also saves me a large chunk of cash that the agent will take (I don't like giving cash to agents if I don't have to 8).
-It's quicker to do nothing than to do something very quickly.
www.curlymonsters.com
Oh well.. it looks like there will be some lucky Scientolgist with a copy of that book pretty soon. Oh, wait a minute... They won't be allowed to read it though, because of their mindless censorship of public knowledge. Damn. Praising BE isn't worth the public humiliation of winning that fine book. Never mind, it should make a pretty good door stop down at Clearwater.. ;) I want my xenu TV ! www.xenu.net www.xenutv.com
The most effective solution is the one which is most convenient for the consumer. Give the cheap option away as default, but offer the more expensive option as an errr... option.
Seems reasonable..
Surely these types of restrictive practices are ultimately bad for the USA in the long term. Ill-informed patent officers could be damaging the USA more than helping it. Take Atari's patent on the 'ghost ship' technique used to represent a game players previous attempt at a game. If I want to include any form of ghost ship in a game that I release in the USA, I have to cough up some money to Atari. What ? Ridiculous. The result is that for the USA version of the games I write I just take out the ghost ship - saving me a few cents per copy. The result of this is that the American consumer receives a product with less functionality than the rest of the world. This is just plain silly. And not fair, surely. As an aside - I wonder if a supermarket could get away with patenting the '10 items of less' checkout isle quite as easily as Amazon has patented One-Click(tm). 8)
Oh no - this sort of news makes me want to bang my head off the wall... What the hell are MS doing meddling with the console game market ? How many pieces of software sitting on an MS OS fall over at a regular rate ? How many games written for consoles fall over ? People suffer crap PC software 'because it's a PC' - and expect to have to arse around with to get things running. With a console, if it's not singing within 5 seconds of power on, it's in the bin. The average punter out there considers a games machine to be like any other 'appliance' - it just works, first time - every time. Some of the reasons: * OS - what OS? Console programmers neither need or want an OS in the machine buggering things up for them. * Fixed standards. Once a Playstation - always a Playstation. Stashing DLL's and other crud on a HD will make console programming as painful as PC programming. You think MS are going to make this gaming OS open source and optional for developers ? No way am I going to trust the hidden innards of an MS OS for MY games. * Punters don't buy consoles - they buy games. Developers make games. You can bet that the dev environment for this X-Box will be VisualStudio (groan) - the LAST thing developers want is to have to suffer MS bloatware for writing games. * Console manufacturers give really good support for their developers because they are all licensed. Open it up to the public, and the support vanishes because of the deluge of hobbyists asking how to set up double buffering etc. Not good. * Console people hold software back until as many bugs as possible are ironed out. MS seems to push software out the door as soon as it'll boot, then cleans up the slop if enough people moan.... This would NOT be tolerated by games players. Rant over.. I thank you..