WoW did release an Expansion in January, you're right. WoW was released November 23, 2004. Do the math, genius. That's over two years for the first expansion. The next expansion is coming no earlier than Mid 2008. It really depends on when WAR is reased. But if, at the very earliest, it is released June 2008, then that's about a year and a half from the last one. So, for those two expansions, that will likely be an average of over 18 months between each.
Yea, they said they plan on one every year or so. They said that from day one. It hasn't happened though. BTW, expansions cost 39.99, so 40 dollars, not 50.
As far as content after BC release, let's examine this. They released a lot of casual player content. Ethereum Prison. Ogri'la. Skettis. The netherdrake quests. Lots of holiday content, pretty much something for every holiday. The Headless Horseman for Halloween is a great example. It's a daily quest that drops epic quality items for 5 person teams. Arena Season 2, with upgraded items and a new arena. Upgraded battlegrounds epics. Season 1 Arena epics will be available for honor in 2.3. Other content just around the corner is an entirely new 10 person raid called Zul'Aman and a new 25 person raid called The Sunwell. Arena Season 3 and the associated upgrades. Heroics only requiring honored reputation instead of revered. Karazhan loot upgrades. Profession recipes available on reputation vendors. They're also making it much easier to level from 1-60 because they recognize the incredible amount of time it takes for new players to get into the game. All this and I am certain I am forgetting something. And all you can come up with is that the highest, hardest level dungeon in the game wasn't available on BC's release, even though nobody would've had the gear to beat it anyway!
So those two grenades in Hellgate no longer bounce. Well, that's progress. I bet you still can't control the speed or distance at which you throw them. Sounds like normal grenades still bounce like superballs. And you didn't address how incredibly awkward it feels when you start off the game and your rifle can only shoot a bullet 25 meters. You can't even _target_ an enemy past 25 meters, and if you try to shoot them your bullets magically disappear at 25 meters. Sure, later in the game you can get range extenders, but that is not the point here.
Care to address the closed-in, poorly textured, claustrophobic feeling? I don't know about you, but I actually read the first book by Mel Odom. After reading that book I was VERY excited to play the game. But the feel in the game is nowhere near what the book gave me. In WoW, and other mmos, you can stand on a ridge and look down across an endless expanse of terrain. You get the feeling of SIZE. In Hellgate, I have yet to see a cityscape. It's all Quake levels stitched together. There is no epic feeling.
I guess it could be done fairly easily, but stand by my statement that it is not a discount to the people who never would've bought it in the first place. Their tickets are still the same price, their service still the same service.
You fucktard. WoW doesn't release an expansion every year. More like every 2. And EVERY year Blizzard releases as much "free" content as an expansion might contain from another company. When WoW did have an expansion it was freaknasty HUGE. And the second one is looking to be even bigger. And yet, people still DO bitch about the amount of added content, when it is one of the BEST, period. Seriously, get yer facts straight. It will help your argument.
BTW, Hellgate sucks. I could go on and on about why, but instead I'll give you two reasons:
- The atmosphere. You are stuck inside tunnels and subways. When you do go 'outside' you are blocked off in the city by piles of cars and very poorly textured buildings that all look the same. There is ZERO feeling of being able to run across a city.
- The gameplay. Example: Characters can have grenades as a skill. Yet the grenades can only be thrown at one speed -- full throttle. What's worse, the grenades bounce like superballs. Example: The guns. At 25m your bullets magically disappear. Bill Roper says to think of guns as 'spell delivery systems'. Bill, are you a moron? I think so.
So tell me this... Would you think it would be priced so that the amount of people who bought the service was similar to the amount of people who fly first class? Would it make business sense that people flying coach would want to purchase the option? Could this end up being a first-class only service? And finally, is this something that would be absorbed into the price of a first class ticket? An airline that extended its first class service to include first class bagagge claim would be ahead of the others IMHO.
It is NOT the same thing as offering a discount. There is no possible way to look at it like a discount if you are still paying the same price you have always paid. It is an added cost to the people who prefer to be ahead in line, that is all it is. The same goes for food service. These airlines aren't dropping food services and also lowering the normal ticket price because of it, they are dropping food services to make more money, not to help the consumer. The ticket price is staying the same, and most of them are instead charging for the food on the plane when it gets to your seat.
I can't understand why the parent was modded insightful. Nobody in their right fucking mind thinks that having to pay an extra amount to get your luggage before everyone else is even a workable plan! What if 90% of people pay the extra fee to get their luggage first? Then who gets their luggage first? Are they going to offer a multi-tiered system where the more you pay the more priority your luggage gets? Who then gets to sort through all the luggage for the separate tiers and only release the high priority tiers first? Can't you see that by having to sort all of the pieces beforehand that you have added time overall before the first piece even comes out of the hopper?
And if they don't intend to use multi-tiers and 90% of people pay the fee then you can pay that fee and STILL be in the last 10% of people to get your luggage. What the fuck is the point?
Interesting distinction. Each character is an aspect of that AI, so you aren't exactly killing the AI, but you might be 'harming' it, unless it gives consent that would be problematic.
So, does uninstalling the game kill the AI? Is that amoral?
I don't expect that this will be an issue in anything but the very distant future...
Or is it possible that Windows boxes really are just getting more secure? Ohh shit I asked THAT on Slashdot?! Charles Stross will have my soul./owenwilson
There will come a time when the defining characteristic of a single player game is that it has no connection to the outside world. Why? The knowledge that you have no connection to the outside world will be the only way you can be sure the other characters in the game you are playing are not "real".
The interesting situation here is that when this happens, and game NPCs can pass turing tests with ease, then you might be unallowed to play the game anymore as you used to. Where do the rights of a sentient entity begin and where do they end? Can you kill a sentient AI if it is 'just part of the game'?
Society _will_ eventually say no. There will be restrictions to the AI so that it cannot be deemed intelligent or sentient -- so that 'human' rights do not apply -- in any game. Games will be required to be 'dumbed down'. And this is one reason single player games will never die. Because in them there is no regard for rights or conduct except exclusively in the context of the game. This is already seen today in MMORPGS where conduct is extremely important and you can be banned for any number of things that are detrimental to others.
That is, of course, if you believe AI is even possible. If you believe it is, then in my eyes this is an inevitability. If you believe it isn't, then I'm surprised you read this far. And what are you doing on Slashdot?
RK: Well, yeah. I'm one of the people who went out there and said, "Single-player gaming is doomed," and I actually used that phrase.
Any MMO can be played "singe player". There are a ton of people who play WoW "single player". The other people that run around them, sell them items on the auction house, and try to converse with them? They might as well just be computer NPCs. And that's the extent of it. Really. Some people like to play WoW by leveling up multiple characters on their own. They never group with others, they aren't in guilds, and yet here they are, still paying the monthly fee to play WoW. Some people play in the Battlegrounds only. They never actually talk to anyone, and the players they fight might as well be computer NPCs too, because they never communicate, they just fight and forget.
The cool thing is that even though they've been playing WoW "single player" for all this time, at any moment they can decide to "get out there" and join a guild and get together with people. That's always an option for them, and I've seen it happen. Then the game becomes truly multiplayer, when you are working with others on common goals.
But make no mistake, single player is not doomed. It will never, ever die.
I still think it sounds better as Rye You. It's personal opinion, and I know it's not correct and I sound like an ignoramous. But hey, I'm American, we're *expected* to do this.;)
Stupid moderator. The song is part of the topic and I am discussing the song and offering alternatives. If anything this is informative. Might as well mod me "-1 Not A Fan Boy". Another example of the Slashdot Fan Boy Moderation System at work.
The Importance of (Insert Random Game Here)
on
The Importance of Portal
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
Seriously, what?
Storytelling, depth, intrigue, and good writing are important, and have been forever.
Portal has succeeded to meet these age-old criteria. It is a quality piece of work. This has always been 'important' with respect to any product. So.. yea.
To really appreciate it I am guessing you had to play through the game first. Because listening to that song, and reading the You Tube comments where people say it's the best song ever, I just don't get it. So, instead of wasting your time, here's some good songs I've recently discovered:
Wreath of Barbs - Wumpscut Professional Killer - KMFDM Walking With Strangers - The Birthday Massacre
No high-pitched voice poppy stuff here I'm afraid. If you don't like Industrial, steer clear of those three songs.
I read an article somewhere that showed how a flash based drive could outlast a platter drive by efficient use of an algorithm that rotated through the bits. I don't recall any further information on this though, such as performance impact. Sorry for the lack of a link. I am sure you can google it though.:)
Slashdot Mirror
WoW did release an Expansion in January, you're right. WoW was released November 23, 2004. Do the math, genius. That's over two years for the first expansion. The next expansion is coming no earlier than Mid 2008. It really depends on when WAR is reased. But if, at the very earliest, it is released June 2008, then that's about a year and a half from the last one. So, for those two expansions, that will likely be an average of over 18 months between each.
Yea, they said they plan on one every year or so. They said that from day one. It hasn't happened though. BTW, expansions cost 39.99, so 40 dollars, not 50.
As far as content after BC release, let's examine this. They released a lot of casual player content. Ethereum Prison. Ogri'la. Skettis. The netherdrake quests. Lots of holiday content, pretty much something for every holiday. The Headless Horseman for Halloween is a great example. It's a daily quest that drops epic quality items for 5 person teams. Arena Season 2, with upgraded items and a new arena. Upgraded battlegrounds epics. Season 1 Arena epics will be available for honor in 2.3. Other content just around the corner is an entirely new 10 person raid called Zul'Aman and a new 25 person raid called The Sunwell. Arena Season 3 and the associated upgrades. Heroics only requiring honored reputation instead of revered. Karazhan loot upgrades. Profession recipes available on reputation vendors. They're also making it much easier to level from 1-60 because they recognize the incredible amount of time it takes for new players to get into the game. All this and I am certain I am forgetting something. And all you can come up with is that the highest, hardest level dungeon in the game wasn't available on BC's release, even though nobody would've had the gear to beat it anyway!
So those two grenades in Hellgate no longer bounce. Well, that's progress. I bet you still can't control the speed or distance at which you throw them. Sounds like normal grenades still bounce like superballs. And you didn't address how incredibly awkward it feels when you start off the game and your rifle can only shoot a bullet 25 meters. You can't even _target_ an enemy past 25 meters, and if you try to shoot them your bullets magically disappear at 25 meters. Sure, later in the game you can get range extenders, but that is not the point here.
Care to address the closed-in, poorly textured, claustrophobic feeling? I don't know about you, but I actually read the first book by Mel Odom. After reading that book I was VERY excited to play the game. But the feel in the game is nowhere near what the book gave me. In WoW, and other mmos, you can stand on a ridge and look down across an endless expanse of terrain. You get the feeling of SIZE. In Hellgate, I have yet to see a cityscape. It's all Quake levels stitched together. There is no epic feeling.
It was tangential at best.
I guess it could be done fairly easily, but stand by my statement that it is not a discount to the people who never would've bought it in the first place. Their tickets are still the same price, their service still the same service.
You fucktard. WoW doesn't release an expansion every year. More like every 2. And EVERY year Blizzard releases as much "free" content as an expansion might contain from another company. When WoW did have an expansion it was freaknasty HUGE. And the second one is looking to be even bigger. And yet, people still DO bitch about the amount of added content, when it is one of the BEST, period. Seriously, get yer facts straight. It will help your argument.
BTW, Hellgate sucks. I could go on and on about why, but instead I'll give you two reasons:
- The atmosphere. You are stuck inside tunnels and subways. When you do go 'outside' you are blocked off in the city by piles of cars and very poorly textured buildings that all look the same. There is ZERO feeling of being able to run across a city.
- The gameplay. Example: Characters can have grenades as a skill. Yet the grenades can only be thrown at one speed -- full throttle. What's worse, the grenades bounce like superballs. Example: The guns. At 25m your bullets magically disappear. Bill Roper says to think of guns as 'spell delivery systems'. Bill, are you a moron? I think so.
So tell me this... Would you think it would be priced so that the amount of people who bought the service was similar to the amount of people who fly first class? Would it make business sense that people flying coach would want to purchase the option? Could this end up being a first-class only service? And finally, is this something that would be absorbed into the price of a first class ticket? An airline that extended its first class service to include first class bagagge claim would be ahead of the others IMHO.
Noo... that would be the browneye of the storm.. I've seen it, and have the mental scarring to prove it.
It is NOT the same thing as offering a discount. There is no possible way to look at it like a discount if you are still paying the same price you have always paid. It is an added cost to the people who prefer to be ahead in line, that is all it is. The same goes for food service. These airlines aren't dropping food services and also lowering the normal ticket price because of it, they are dropping food services to make more money, not to help the consumer. The ticket price is staying the same, and most of them are instead charging for the food on the plane when it gets to your seat.
I can't understand why the parent was modded insightful. Nobody in their right fucking mind thinks that having to pay an extra amount to get your luggage before everyone else is even a workable plan! What if 90% of people pay the extra fee to get their luggage first? Then who gets their luggage first? Are they going to offer a multi-tiered system where the more you pay the more priority your luggage gets? Who then gets to sort through all the luggage for the separate tiers and only release the high priority tiers first? Can't you see that by having to sort all of the pieces beforehand that you have added time overall before the first piece even comes out of the hopper?
And if they don't intend to use multi-tiers and 90% of people pay the fee then you can pay that fee and STILL be in the last 10% of people to get your luggage. What the fuck is the point?
Interesting distinction. Each character is an aspect of that AI, so you aren't exactly killing the AI, but you might be 'harming' it, unless it gives consent that would be problematic.
So, does uninstalling the game kill the AI? Is that amoral?
I don't expect that this will be an issue in anything but the very distant future...
Couldn't this just be the 'eye' of the Storm?
/owenwilson
Or is it possible that Windows boxes really are just getting more secure? Ohh shit I asked THAT on Slashdot?! Charles Stross will have my soul.
Let's look further ahead.
There will come a time when the defining characteristic of a single player game is that it has no connection to the outside world. Why? The knowledge that you have no connection to the outside world will be the only way you can be sure the other characters in the game you are playing are not "real".
The interesting situation here is that when this happens, and game NPCs can pass turing tests with ease, then you might be unallowed to play the game anymore as you used to. Where do the rights of a sentient entity begin and where do they end? Can you kill a sentient AI if it is 'just part of the game'?
Society _will_ eventually say no. There will be restrictions to the AI so that it cannot be deemed intelligent or sentient -- so that 'human' rights do not apply -- in any game. Games will be required to be 'dumbed down'. And this is one reason single player games will never die. Because in them there is no regard for rights or conduct except exclusively in the context of the game. This is already seen today in MMORPGS where conduct is extremely important and you can be banned for any number of things that are detrimental to others.
That is, of course, if you believe AI is even possible. If you believe it is, then in my eyes this is an inevitability. If you believe it isn't, then I'm surprised you read this far. And what are you doing on Slashdot?
BMT
Any MMO can be played "singe player". There are a ton of people who play WoW "single player". The other people that run around them, sell them items on the auction house, and try to converse with them? They might as well just be computer NPCs. And that's the extent of it. Really. Some people like to play WoW by leveling up multiple characters on their own. They never group with others, they aren't in guilds, and yet here they are, still paying the monthly fee to play WoW. Some people play in the Battlegrounds only. They never actually talk to anyone, and the players they fight might as well be computer NPCs too, because they never communicate, they just fight and forget.
The cool thing is that even though they've been playing WoW "single player" for all this time, at any moment they can decide to "get out there" and join a guild and get together with people. That's always an option for them, and I've seen it happen. Then the game becomes truly multiplayer, when you are working with others on common goals.
But make no mistake, single player is not doomed. It will never, ever die.
I have spoken a few words of Japanese in my life.
;)
I still think it sounds better as Rye You. It's personal opinion, and I know it's not correct and I sound like an ignoramous. But hey, I'm American, we're *expected* to do this.
Wakarimasu?
I really liked the old-school side-only view of Street Fighter.
It just seemed more playable. And fun.
I believe it is in fact pronounced "roo". But I don't care and I still pronounce it "rye you", because it sounds cooler IMHO.
I don't think whether or not it is quality is up for debate. The implications of that, however, are.
Stupid moderator. The song is part of the topic and I am discussing the song and offering alternatives. If anything this is informative. Might as well mod me "-1 Not A Fan Boy". Another example of the Slashdot Fan Boy Moderation System at work.
Seriously, what?
Storytelling, depth, intrigue, and good writing are important, and have been forever.
Portal has succeeded to meet these age-old criteria. It is a quality piece of work. This has always been 'important' with respect to any product. So.. yea.
Funny to hear that about a country which 42% of its territory is desertic
Funny to hear that about a country which 42% of its territory is desert.
See what I mean now?
Yea, I'm American. And I don't support adding extra letters to words where they aren't needed. I call this 'efficiency'.
To really appreciate it I am guessing you had to play through the game first. Because listening to that song, and reading the You Tube comments where people say it's the best song ever, I just don't get it. So, instead of wasting your time, here's some good songs I've recently discovered:
Wreath of Barbs - Wumpscut
Professional Killer - KMFDM
Walking With Strangers - The Birthday Massacre
No high-pitched voice poppy stuff here I'm afraid. If you don't like Industrial, steer clear of those three songs.
What, the word desert just couldn't work there? You had to get all nerdy with it, didn't you ;p
I thought this already happened. I feel married to Windows.. at least at work. At home it feels more like a dirty affair.
It cured you of being angry about getting spammed? I can still get angry about it and not want to beat someone to death you know?
BTW, what's your email address.. I have some very enticing offers for you, to for make strong man of your middle parts!
I have a "handing" flaw. A protocol has a "handling" flaw.
;p
My flaw is much more personal
I read an article somewhere that showed how a flash based drive could outlast a platter drive by efficient use of an algorithm that rotated through the bits. I don't recall any further information on this though, such as performance impact. Sorry for the lack of a link. I am sure you can google it though. :)
I fail to see why his definition #3 of 'tact' wouldn't suffice in your use of the word?
For a second I thought he was right...
Everybody hates Vista, entire countries are involved in lawsuits with Microsoft, and it is being run well?
ROFL