This is so much better than having their actual limb intact still almost 2 years ago.
Sorry for the outburst. Please moderate offtopic.
Re:Great just what the gaming industry needs
on
Xbox 2 for $400?
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· Score: 1
I see your point, but don't necessarily agree with it. Let me explain.
I am not that old (I'll be 25 in 1.5 weeks), however, I do remember playing video games as far back as the Atari 2600, which I owned prior to owning an NES, which I owned the year it was released. I say this only not to gloat, but to show that I believe I really have a history in being a gamer.
I played Pitfall, Defender, Asteroids, etc. Not ONE of those games had a story that couldn't be told in one line or, at the most, one paragraph. What kept people playing them was the simple desire to beat your previous high score.
Since you brought up content being the bulk of the work going into a game, I'd like to point out that my original post was railing against what, lately, is the traditional definition of "content" in video games. Today content is measured in how many blades of grass a particular game engine can draw without slowing the game to slide show pace. Content to me, equates to creatively depicting a world and a set of goals w/o having such trite displays of progamming skill which equate to nothing more than "My dick is bigger than yours." contests.
I can easily break games into two seperate pieces. Content, which is the artistic, visual representation and gameplay (or game mechanics which is what I prefer to call it- it's just a break down of how a player is able to interact with and how a game world reacts to a player.) The latter of which is receiving the least amount of attention in todays video game industry.
You mention Halo, and I willingly admit I have played countless hours of Halo. I will agree that it offers some very engaging concepts and has plenty of replayability. Halo is an exception to the rule. It's also been the catalyst for the release of countless other blah titles. Halo and the GTA series, which I brought up in my orig. post, are not the ONLY games I play, but my intent is not to rattle off a list of good games that have been released these days.
My complaint is that the game industry is becoming an industry that is no different than any other. It's becoming a corporately moderated industry filled with an over whelmingly large stock of crap and a handful of gems. These companies aren't seeing the returns they would like on their watered down junk, so instead they make the gamers who easily plunk down their hard earned dollars for titles that are worth it, pay extra for those precious gems because people aren't being suckered into buying the cache of weak crap that they also release to try and cash in on a popular trend.
It's just disconcerting having been privy to a period where games seemed to be more about games than about corporate whoring. But hell, they're just video games right?
Come on, how can there NOT be another one there? We like to think we're the greatest thing to happent o the universe since sliced bread. The first time we notice a natural occurence is the first and only time it exists to the general human populace. Given the number of meteors whizzing about throughout the universe, there's no possible way this could be an isolated phenomenon. Let's spend less time on conjecture and more on "Where's the meteor that will wipe out humanity as we know it?"
Great just what the gaming industry needs
on
Xbox 2 for $400?
·
· Score: 3, Insightful
Price increases
At least one major publisher (Activision) has gone on record saying it plans to increase wholesale prices on its AAA games. Others will likely follow its lead. That will probably result in retail prices jumping $5 to $10 per title.
With a price increase, I can guarantee you'll have more people pirating these "AAA" titles, which will probably be boring action/fps games anyway.
I realize it costs a lot to develop a game these days, but most of that time is spent on bump maps and fx. Gamers remember the days of 2D Asteroids and I'm sure would be willing to sacrifice 1337 graphics for challenging (truly challenging, not difficult jump puzzles cuz they're programmed for crap) games.
I see video games as an extension of paper puzzle games and board games. They need to be mentally engaging and fun to play over just "pretty." If you want to lookit eye catchy objects with minimal thought processing behind it, goto a museum (not to knock the art world I like museums.) Graphics should function as a way to visually serve the story and the gameplay.
Lookit the GTA series. Sure hardware limitations of the PS2 are valid arguments as to why the games 3D engine isn't as stylish as some, but they could have easily reduced the scope of the series in order to boost the graphical content on the screen. Yet they focused on a fun interactive experience and made serviceable, yet visually stimulating, graphics.
All I'm saying is a little more creativity in game design can go along way to helping them make more money as well. I know on/. I'm preaching to the choir on this, but the publishers don't seem to be listening.
Other than Longhorn and Valve's new TF game, all these products at some point were supposedly going to be on shelves in 2004. I wouldn't say this list is a "Most Vaporous of All-Time" thing. Just the biggest entries promised in 2004 that never materialized.
That's all fine and dandy, but the article deserves a +Infinity Bullshit ranking.
SOE just isn't getting the subscribers they had hoped for. Probably because their game is shit. But the suckers that play will pay.
And no I'm not one of those WoW zealots, I haven't played it yet. I did play a lil EQ2 on a friends acct. when it launched, but neither of us have played since.
They're paying SOE to do this all for them. If I were paying a company a monthly service fee only to feel ignored and unwanted, I wouldn't keep paying them and also run an ad campaing.
I don't get those who are blindly loyal to SOE's crap. SWG, EQ/EQ2, and Planetside all suck. Yet there are these people that think they can fix it by sticking around and giving them time. I say cancel your acct. and you'll probably see it get fixed a lot faster. They're just milking you and going about their day to day.
Reality check: The more money you give them, the less they'll want to put into fixing it. If you're sticking around, why bother?
What the crap! You guys actually read the comments section?? And people haven't inundated you with questions about Roland Piequpailley whatever and how come the site isn't W3C approved? I'm shocked./.rs has let me down for the last time. Where's a good flame war when you need one?
I think it's more true for the computer world than the other things you mention. Wendy's and Arby's are just as prevelant as McD's and BK (Last I heard McD's was losing cash too fast from throwing up too MANY locations). As for cola, perhaps, but I know people drinking less of that syrup water these days anyway. Nike and Reebok? Neither I nor anyone I know have bought Nike's in years. Altho I suppose I partially did with a purchase of Chuck Taylor lo's.
There are plenty of fairly well known "off brand" products in those categories. The difference here I think, is that computer hardware costs a lot to manufacture. Fab plants don't spring up out of the ground to the joy of all. Whereas Chinese labor to stitch together shoes for 15 cents an hour is far more readily available to everyone. (That's a tongue in cheek jab, but not far from the truth.)
Sheesh I was reading through all these "My first computer was a and I started programming with it."
I feel a little alone seeing as how my first computer I immediately used to find pictures of naked girls.
If that were true, then why does p2p programs account for 35% of all web traffic? That's a lot of traffic for just/.rs and geeks, who are probably spending their time getting russian brides and pr0n.
Everyone I know that has a computer and any net connection, even non-savvy relatives, has used kazaa at least once.
Yes, I see what you're saying. You missed what I said. As a precautionary measure, when the earthquake was known to have happened, make the call.
And like I said, it was right next door to Indonesia, but it travelled 2k+ miles. Any sort of "Heads up." to countries further (Sri Lanka?) away as a precaution may have helped. It may have not done anything, but err on the side of caution right?
I forgot that it's only worth worrying about something until after a disaster and then we become overly protective. Out of sight out of mind I guess.
Before/after... who really gives a crap? It's happening and in the long run, though who really cares, how much MORE than any other nation or even NATIONS will the US have put into relief efforts?
You want to start a pissing contest, there's plenty of documented instances where the US has provided more assistance, forgiven more debt, than any country on this planet.
Yes our government has done some really shady shit, a lot of it for no reason but to empower themselves even more, but when it comes to helping people, on the whole, we give 120% and are still chastised for the skeletons in our closet.
I think the point he's trying to make is, if there's a 9.0 quake in the ocean that close to land (I know it also travel thousands of miles, but it was right next door to Indonesia) despite the USGS making the "right calls" to the White House, why didn't we call the Govs. of these countries right away and say "Heads up?" just in case, tsunami warning system or not.
They release pretty bland games anyway, they just push so many out the door they still exist.
Their NFL license is wack. Guess I won't be buying a new football game any time soon. And I bought Battle for Middle-earth. I have to register a user account just to play online with a friend. There's no options whatsoever to configure when hosting a game.
Their attitude seems to be "You'll play what we develop and like it!" They forget to add "No matter how inferior a product it is!"
I say fsck EA. Unfortunately I don't think they'll be suffering Acclaim's fate any time soon.
Some times it seems like a Catch-22. You can have this and this and have ADD or have symptoms totally opposite and have ADD or they'll just create a new term for what you have. Then it leads to "Well he kinda seems to have this problem, so lets give this kid pills and hope for the best."
By that rationale, it seems like everyone should be poppin' chill pills.
It starts to seem like they're creating titles for disorders that already exist, yet one symptom may be more prevelant than another when compared to a different disorder. I just think KISS is in order, treat a problem when it's a problem, not a categorized list of potential issues. We're trying to apply typical medical diagnosis to psychological problems, but problems aren't as obvious from as a raised temperature and a sore throat. People are dynamic things.
That said I have often wondered why it seems, with tighter integration of technology, that is suppose to make life easier, life seems to becoming more chaotic for many, many people. My conclusion was that we're being pressured to do more with this technology to justify it existing. "If I can do more because of a tool, then I must do so simply because I can."
You make it sound like SBC, Verizon, etc., are all washed up. It's just a matter of time before voice service is strictly VOIP, with the usual suspects who can afford it pricing those who can't outta the market, then we're still stuck w/ their crap customer service.
And if their price fixing doesn't work, they'll just buy any competition up. Nothing changes.
Slashdot Mirror
Sorry for the outburst. Please moderate offtopic.
I am not that old (I'll be 25 in 1.5 weeks), however, I do remember playing video games as far back as the Atari 2600, which I owned prior to owning an NES, which I owned the year it was released. I say this only not to gloat, but to show that I believe I really have a history in being a gamer.
I played Pitfall, Defender, Asteroids, etc. Not ONE of those games had a story that couldn't be told in one line or, at the most, one paragraph. What kept people playing them was the simple desire to beat your previous high score.
Since you brought up content being the bulk of the work going into a game, I'd like to point out that my original post was railing against what, lately, is the traditional definition of "content" in video games. Today content is measured in how many blades of grass a particular game engine can draw without slowing the game to slide show pace. Content to me, equates to creatively depicting a world and a set of goals w/o having such trite displays of progamming skill which equate to nothing more than "My dick is bigger than yours." contests.
I can easily break games into two seperate pieces. Content, which is the artistic, visual representation and gameplay (or game mechanics which is what I prefer to call it- it's just a break down of how a player is able to interact with and how a game world reacts to a player.) The latter of which is receiving the least amount of attention in todays video game industry.
You mention Halo, and I willingly admit I have played countless hours of Halo. I will agree that it offers some very engaging concepts and has plenty of replayability. Halo is an exception to the rule. It's also been the catalyst for the release of countless other blah titles. Halo and the GTA series, which I brought up in my orig. post, are not the ONLY games I play, but my intent is not to rattle off a list of good games that have been released these days.
My complaint is that the game industry is becoming an industry that is no different than any other. It's becoming a corporately moderated industry filled with an over whelmingly large stock of crap and a handful of gems. These companies aren't seeing the returns they would like on their watered down junk, so instead they make the gamers who easily plunk down their hard earned dollars for titles that are worth it, pay extra for those precious gems because people aren't being suckered into buying the cache of weak crap that they also release to try and cash in on a popular trend.
It's just disconcerting having been privy to a period where games seemed to be more about games than about corporate whoring. But hell, they're just video games right?
Come on, how can there NOT be another one there? We like to think we're the greatest thing to happent o the universe since sliced bread. The first time we notice a natural occurence is the first and only time it exists to the general human populace. Given the number of meteors whizzing about throughout the universe, there's no possible way this could be an isolated phenomenon. Let's spend less time on conjecture and more on "Where's the meteor that will wipe out humanity as we know it?"
At least one major publisher (Activision) has gone on record saying it plans to increase wholesale prices on its AAA games. Others will likely follow its lead. That will probably result in retail prices jumping $5 to $10 per title.
With a price increase, I can guarantee you'll have more people pirating these "AAA" titles, which will probably be boring action/fps games anyway.
I realize it costs a lot to develop a game these days, but most of that time is spent on bump maps and fx. Gamers remember the days of 2D Asteroids and I'm sure would be willing to sacrifice 1337 graphics for challenging (truly challenging, not difficult jump puzzles cuz they're programmed for crap) games.
I see video games as an extension of paper puzzle games and board games. They need to be mentally engaging and fun to play over just "pretty." If you want to lookit eye catchy objects with minimal thought processing behind it, goto a museum (not to knock the art world I like museums.) Graphics should function as a way to visually serve the story and the gameplay.
Lookit the GTA series. Sure hardware limitations of the PS2 are valid arguments as to why the games 3D engine isn't as stylish as some, but they could have easily reduced the scope of the series in order to boost the graphical content on the screen. Yet they focused on a fun interactive experience and made serviceable, yet visually stimulating, graphics.
All I'm saying is a little more creativity in game design can go along way to helping them make more money as well. I know on /. I'm preaching to the choir on this, but the publishers don't seem to be listening.
Other than Longhorn and Valve's new TF game, all these products at some point were supposedly going to be on shelves in 2004. I wouldn't say this list is a "Most Vaporous of All-Time" thing. Just the biggest entries promised in 2004 that never materialized.
SOE just isn't getting the subscribers they had hoped for. Probably because their game is shit. But the suckers that play will pay.
And no I'm not one of those WoW zealots, I haven't played it yet. I did play a lil EQ2 on a friends acct. when it launched, but neither of us have played since.
So did they stop the trial run? I'm confused.
I don't get those who are blindly loyal to SOE's crap. SWG, EQ/EQ2, and Planetside all suck. Yet there are these people that think they can fix it by sticking around and giving them time. I say cancel your acct. and you'll probably see it get fixed a lot faster. They're just milking you and going about their day to day.
Reality check: The more money you give them, the less they'll want to put into fixing it. If you're sticking around, why bother?
What the crap! You guys actually read the comments section?? And people haven't inundated you with questions about Roland Piequpailley whatever and how come the site isn't W3C approved? I'm shocked. /.rs has let me down for the last time. Where's a good flame war when you need one?
There are plenty of fairly well known "off brand" products in those categories. The difference here I think, is that computer hardware costs a lot to manufacture. Fab plants don't spring up out of the ground to the joy of all. Whereas Chinese labor to stitch together shoes for 15 cents an hour is far more readily available to everyone. (That's a tongue in cheek jab, but not far from the truth.)
ananymouse??? is that a way of saying an "unidentified web surfer who uses his mouse to infringe copyright"?
Sheesh I was reading through all these "My first computer was a and I started programming with it." I feel a little alone seeing as how my first computer I immediately used to find pictures of naked girls.
"Maskin (a combination of the words mask and skin)..." Wow. No shit huh?
Everyone I know that has a computer and any net connection, even non-savvy relatives, has used kazaa at least once.
I need that as a bumper sticker.
Don't worry, it's /.'d ... so I'd say the ppl that did go to read it did more to help your boycott than you did. :P
And like I said, it was right next door to Indonesia, but it travelled 2k+ miles. Any sort of "Heads up." to countries further (Sri Lanka?) away as a precaution may have helped. It may have not done anything, but err on the side of caution right?
I forgot that it's only worth worrying about something until after a disaster and then we become overly protective. Out of sight out of mind I guess.
You want to start a pissing contest, there's plenty of documented instances where the US has provided more assistance, forgiven more debt, than any country on this planet.
Yes our government has done some really shady shit, a lot of it for no reason but to empower themselves even more, but when it comes to helping people, on the whole, we give 120% and are still chastised for the skeletons in our closet.
I think the point he's trying to make is, if there's a 9.0 quake in the ocean that close to land (I know it also travel thousands of miles, but it was right next door to Indonesia) despite the USGS making the "right calls" to the White House, why didn't we call the Govs. of these countries right away and say "Heads up?" just in case, tsunami warning system or not.
Download while your at work? Sleeping? Although sitting there staring at the progress bar would be about as entertaining as most reality television.
Just remember that if you actually do leave the house, you'll probably need a shower. Maybe two just to be safe.
Their attitude seems to be "You'll play what we develop and like it!" They forget to add "No matter how inferior a product it is!"
I say fsck EA. Unfortunately I don't think they'll be suffering Acclaim's fate any time soon.
By that rationale, it seems like everyone should be poppin' chill pills.
It starts to seem like they're creating titles for disorders that already exist, yet one symptom may be more prevelant than another when compared to a different disorder. I just think KISS is in order, treat a problem when it's a problem, not a categorized list of potential issues. We're trying to apply typical medical diagnosis to psychological problems, but problems aren't as obvious from as a raised temperature and a sore throat. People are dynamic things.
That said I have often wondered why it seems, with tighter integration of technology, that is suppose to make life easier, life seems to becoming more chaotic for many, many people. My conclusion was that we're being pressured to do more with this technology to justify it existing. "If I can do more because of a tool, then I must do so simply because I can."
Who the F is Roland Piquepaille and why is his blog news that matters?
You make it sound like SBC, Verizon, etc., are all washed up. It's just a matter of time before voice service is strictly VOIP, with the usual suspects who can afford it pricing those who can't outta the market, then we're still stuck w/ their crap customer service. And if their price fixing doesn't work, they'll just buy any competition up. Nothing changes.