Stupid argument?!? How is it a stupid argument that I not purchase a machine whose soul purpose is to play games and display video, which had the same purpose of another product I hated by the same company???
Because there are differences between making the video part of a console and making a PC video card, and those differences mean the problems you had with the PC card won't be a problem with the GameCube. The GameCube isn't going to crash because of bad drivers, and it's not going to have troubles with a new OS.
Furthermore, ATI's support group will never enter the picture - if you have a problem, you'll go to Nintendo.
The point of reusing old characters in new games is to help sales. For Nintendo it's a "Shigeru Miyamoto was involved" sign that works even for people who have no clue who Miyamoto is.
With books if you like one you just get another book by the same author. With movies it's harder, because there are more people involved in making them, but a sequal or a star actor generally work well. For games the only options are a sequel or using the same characters. Most people don't pay attention to anything else. Nintendo always makes sure that games using any of its big mascots are top-notch, so people get used to that and can assume a Donkey Konga game will be good even without seeing any reviews. If it's not, the next game won't get that benefit.
Also note that most games that reuse the mascots are genres where the characters aren't generally interesting. I don't think anyone has launched a franchise with characters from a cart racing game, golf game, tennis game, party game, or a rhythm game.
Well compare the Groening DVDs to most of the ones from HBO. Most hourlong HBO seasons last far below the 20-24 episode average of most shows. Yet these sets that contian somtimes only 13 or 14 episodes get priced at 80 dollars or more.
Yes, and HBO is more expansive than Fox as well. Also, note that since HBO doesn't have commercials, the shows are actually an hour long, not 42 minutes.
Anime is more expensive because the cost of dubbing and subbing is generally only recouped through DVD sales. Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, and Monty Python all have box sets, they're not using the 2-3 episode per DVD model.
A fair comparison is Futurama with other shows recently shown on broadcast television. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Friends, Dark Angel, Alias, 24, Smallville, the Family Guy, King of the Hill, all are reasonably priced.
The Futurama DVDs price is nice, but hardly unusual.
They are reasonabley priced (around 30-40 bucks at most stores) compared to some TV shows selling their sets at $80-100.
They're cheaper because the episodes are half the length of most shows, and there are fewer of them in a season. (13 in season 1, 19 in season 2, compared to 22 in most shows.)
At Yahoo! news they quote Iwata as saying "We are preparing a new product which will be surprising and unique". I don't think the next console would qualify.
I've used RedOctane for some time now, and I'm happy with them. They don't have the rent-to-own policy, but they do have games for the Playstation 1 & Dreamcast games, and they have some imports. The recent additon of some anime titles is nice, though the selection of such is still pretty bad.
Also, they ship the game manuals with the game, and they're cheaper.
Okay, Nintendo would be making a grave mistake to end development on the Super Smash Brothers line.
I suspect they know that. When has Nintendo ever given up on a franchise? It's quite possible the uncertainty of it's fate is the question of who will develop it, rather than if it will be developed.
Nintendo's got a lot of options, as they have been co-operating with other companies to make sequels for some of their franchises (Sega doing F-Zero GX, Capcom doing Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages/Seasons). Namco has already made one fighting game with Link in it, maybe they'll do another.
I agree, I love it when I start a new game for whatever reason and get to do the tutorial bullshit again.
That's also bad design. Most games either have the tutorial as a seperate section of the game, have some method of skipping it, or have it as fun as the rest of the game.
Never Mind, I know how to read.
Reading a manual is almost never fun. A good game will reduce the amount of time spent doing things that aren't fun. Reading numerous help screens, like in some Final Fantasies or Dark Cloud 2, is almost as bad, but at least it seperates out the dull sections over the course of the game, instead of putting it all up front.
If you bought any game in the last few years, think back to how many came with a decent manual. Very few I bet.
At least with console games, I almost never read the manual. Any game that doesn't teach you how to play at the start is poorly designed. Fortunately, there seem to be very few games like that.
The SRD isn't just free. It's also something you can make a derivative work from. I don't have a URL, but people have put together well organized versions.
I highly doubt that WotC would be taking a loss if they had left the prices alone, anyways.
Nobody else sells a hardcover, full-color RPG book of that length for even $30. Why? Because the printing costs are too high to make a profit. The only reason Wizards can afford to sell them at $30 is because they order a higher volume than other RPG makers. There's no reason to think they wouldn't be taking a loss if they sold them at $20.
No, the price increase is because the bastards know that we'll buy it because we've been hooked on the damn game for many years now and we'll have to upgrade to keep pace.
Upgrade or download the free PDF explaining the changes from the bastards website.
Bah. Don't yell at us for whining. We are poor geeks for crying out loud.
That's no excuse for being an asshole. You've got no right to complain about the "hike". The original books were still a good deal when they were $30 (you won't find other hardcover full-color RPG books for that price), 3.5 is an even better deal since the books are longer, Wizards offering a limited-time great deal on the others implies no obligation to continue to do that with later books in the line (especially since there are reasons it was economically feasible at the start and isn't now), they're offereing a free document explaining the changes so there's no need to upgrade, and they have the free SRD with all the rules so you don't even need to have spent a single dime in the first place.
Wanting more is understandable. Whining because you don't get it is extremely bad manners.
I agree with Nintendo's stance mostly. They've said that online hasn't been proven for anything except MMORPGs and FPSs, and that seems to be right.
Nintendo, unlike the other console makers, pretty much has to have some sort of kiddie-friendly system in place before they go online, IMO. As much as I want Xbox Live with a voice communicator, having kids randomly hear profanity is not something I would tolerate as a parent.
Fundamentally I think Nintendo can enter the market late and still dominate it. Nintendo makes some of the best multiplayer games, and I expect that could carry over to online games. Just a online Pokemon game would probably kick-start an online service quite well, not to mention Animal Crossing, Mario Kart, and Super Smash Brothers. Retro could probably make a great online FPS, Metroid or otherwise.
Of course, I think Nintendo makes the best games currently, and they're still not doing so well, so my judgement is suspect.
Why would that stop it from happening? Nintendo has already made their own NES emulator for the GC, it's in Animal Crossing. I think some (all?) of the classic gaming collections are just ROMs and an emulator.
You think Gameboy advance will be around 10 years from now?
Of course. The NES is still around 18 years after release, and games for the original GameBoy are still supported by new hardware 14 years after it's release. I think there will be GBAs, GBA SPs, and/or GameBoy Players 10 years from now.
Addendum: You can also send someone else items in Animal Crossing. You give their town and character name and the game removes your copy of the item and gives you a code that can only be used by the named character in the named town to get that item.
So if some kind soul with Animal Crossing and an Action Replay were to pick a town and character name and post the code for Legend of Zelda (and/or other NES games) you could start the game with the proper names and use the code. Possibly someone has already done this somewhere on the net, but I haven't found any yet.
Slashdot Mirror
Stupid argument?!? How is it a stupid argument that I not purchase a machine whose soul purpose is to play games and display video, which had the same purpose of another product I hated by the same company???
Because there are differences between making the video part of a console and making a PC video card, and those differences mean the problems you had with the PC card won't be a problem with the GameCube. The GameCube isn't going to crash because of bad drivers, and it's not going to have troubles with a new OS.
Furthermore, ATI's support group will never enter the picture - if you have a problem, you'll go to Nintendo.
The point of reusing old characters in new games is to help sales. For Nintendo it's a "Shigeru Miyamoto was involved" sign that works even for people who have no clue who Miyamoto is.
With books if you like one you just get another book by the same author. With movies it's harder, because there are more people involved in making them, but a sequal or a star actor generally work well. For games the only options are a sequel or using the same characters. Most people don't pay attention to anything else. Nintendo always makes sure that games using any of its big mascots are top-notch, so people get used to that and can assume a Donkey Konga game will be good even without seeing any reviews. If it's not, the next game won't get that benefit.
Also note that most games that reuse the mascots are genres where the characters aren't generally interesting. I don't think anyone has launched a franchise with characters from a cart racing game, golf game, tennis game, party game, or a rhythm game.
Well compare the Groening DVDs to most of the ones from HBO. Most hourlong HBO seasons last far below the 20-24 episode average of most shows. Yet these sets that contian somtimes only 13 or 14 episodes get priced at 80 dollars or more.
Yes, and HBO is more expansive than Fox as well. Also, note that since HBO doesn't have commercials, the shows are actually an hour long, not 42 minutes.
Anime is more expensive because the cost of dubbing and subbing is generally only recouped through DVD sales. Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, and Monty Python all have box sets, they're not using the 2-3 episode per DVD model.
A fair comparison is Futurama with other shows recently shown on broadcast television. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Friends, Dark Angel, Alias, 24, Smallville, the Family Guy, King of the Hill, all are reasonably priced.
The Futurama DVDs price is nice, but hardly unusual.
They are reasonabley priced (around 30-40 bucks at most stores) compared to some TV shows selling their sets at $80-100.
They're cheaper because the episodes are half the length of most shows, and there are fewer of them in a season. (13 in season 1, 19 in season 2, compared to 22 in most shows.)
At Yahoo! news they quote Iwata as saying "We are preparing a new product which will be surprising and unique". I don't think the next console would qualify.
Gamefly (who, I believe, was first to market with the video-game version of this business)
I believe RedOctane was first. They claim to be so, and started in August 1999.
I've used RedOctane for some time now, and I'm happy with them. They don't have the rent-to-own policy, but they do have games for the Playstation 1 & Dreamcast games, and they have some imports. The recent additon of some anime titles is nice, though the selection of such is still pretty bad.
Also, they ship the game manuals with the game, and they're cheaper.
Okay, Nintendo would be making a grave mistake to end development on the Super Smash Brothers line.
I suspect they know that. When has Nintendo ever given up on a franchise? It's quite possible the uncertainty of it's fate is the question of who will develop it, rather than if it will be developed.
Nintendo's got a lot of options, as they have been co-operating with other companies to make sequels for some of their franchises (Sega doing F-Zero GX, Capcom doing Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages/Seasons). Namco has already made one fighting game with Link in it, maybe they'll do another.
I agree, I love it when I start a new game for whatever reason and get to do the tutorial bullshit again.
That's also bad design. Most games either have the tutorial as a seperate section of the game, have some method of skipping it, or have it as fun as the rest of the game.
Never Mind, I know how to read.
Reading a manual is almost never fun. A good game will reduce the amount of time spent doing things that aren't fun. Reading numerous help screens, like in some Final Fantasies or Dark Cloud 2, is almost as bad, but at least it seperates out the dull sections over the course of the game, instead of putting it all up front.
If you bought any game in the last few years, think back to how many came with a decent manual. Very few I bet.
At least with console games, I almost never read the manual. Any game that doesn't teach you how to play at the start is poorly designed. Fortunately, there seem to be very few games like that.
It's too bad that a lot of companies choose to keep an iron grip on their intellectual property instead of using it to increase their reputation
I suspect that re-releasing or giving away a bad game would decrease, rather than increase, a company's reputation. Most games should stay dead.
Here's an idea, next time don't pick up a license to something you think sucks!
In both cases they're claiming the license started sucking after they picked it up.
For 1 million you can have the script written by the greatest scriptwriter (whoever he is).
No, you can't. M. Night Shyamalan gets paid much more than that.
The SRD isn't just free. It's also something you can make a derivative work from. I don't have a URL, but people have put together well organized versions.
A lot of RPGs nowadays have free versions of the rules.
If anyone is interested in GURPS, you can check out GURPS Lite, a simple subset of the GURPS rules. Some people prefer it to the full GURPS rules.
Microtactix gives away Simply Roleplaying!, and they also make cool printable cardstock stuff.
Guardians of Order will be releasing their Tri-Stat dX system for free tomorrow.
Atlas Games has released Ars Magica for free.
Grey Ghost Press gives away Fudge.
It's a good time to be a gamer.
That 40 page pdf should be good enough for me - hope it comes out soon.
I think it will come out the 18th. That seems to be the official release date for the books, and it's supposed to come out the same day.
I highly doubt that WotC would be taking a loss if they had left the prices alone, anyways.
Nobody else sells a hardcover, full-color RPG book of that length for even $30. Why? Because the printing costs are too high to make a profit. The only reason Wizards can afford to sell them at $30 is because they order a higher volume than other RPG makers. There's no reason to think they wouldn't be taking a loss if they sold them at $20.
No, the price increase is because the bastards know that we'll buy it because we've been hooked on the damn game for many years now and we'll have to upgrade to keep pace.
Upgrade or download the free PDF explaining the changes from the bastards website.
Bah. Don't yell at us for whining. We are poor geeks for crying out loud.
That's no excuse for being an asshole. You've got no right to complain about the "hike". The original books were still a good deal when they were $30 (you won't find other hardcover full-color RPG books for that price), 3.5 is an even better deal since the books are longer, Wizards offering a limited-time great deal on the others implies no obligation to continue to do that with later books in the line (especially since there are reasons it was economically feasible at the start and isn't now), they're offereing a free document explaining the changes so there's no need to upgrade, and they have the free SRD with all the rules so you don't even need to have spent a single dime in the first place.
Wanting more is understandable. Whining because you don't get it is extremely bad manners.
this time around the prices of three core books are up by $10 each
Up $10 over the price of the old books when they were first released. Exactly the same price as the old books have been selling at since January 2001.
It's totally normal for them to put out things that are the same as last time.
OMFG. And Wind Waker wasn't exactly the same as Ocarina of Time?
Ocarina of Time wasn't the "last time", Majora's Mask was.
I agree with Nintendo's stance mostly. They've said that online hasn't been proven for anything except MMORPGs and FPSs, and that seems to be right.
Nintendo, unlike the other console makers, pretty much has to have some sort of kiddie-friendly system in place before they go online, IMO. As much as I want Xbox Live with a voice communicator, having kids randomly hear profanity is not something I would tolerate as a parent.
Fundamentally I think Nintendo can enter the market late and still dominate it. Nintendo makes some of the best multiplayer games, and I expect that could carry over to online games. Just a online Pokemon game would probably kick-start an online service quite well, not to mention Animal Crossing, Mario Kart, and Super Smash Brothers. Retro could probably make a great online FPS, Metroid or otherwise.
Of course, I think Nintendo makes the best games currently, and they're still not doing so well, so my judgement is suspect.
You left out the Dreamcast, which had high piracy and low success.
Why would that stop it from happening? Nintendo has already made their own NES emulator for the GC, it's in Animal Crossing. I think some (all?) of the classic gaming collections are just ROMs and an emulator.
You think Gameboy advance will be around 10 years from now?
Of course. The NES is still around 18 years after release, and games for the original GameBoy are still supported by new hardware 14 years after it's release. I think there will be GBAs, GBA SPs, and/or GameBoy Players 10 years from now.
Addendum: You can also send someone else items in Animal Crossing. You give their town and character name and the game removes your copy of the item and gives you a code that can only be used by the named character in the named town to get that item.
So if some kind soul with Animal Crossing and an Action Replay were to pick a town and character name and post the code for Legend of Zelda (and/or other NES games) you could start the game with the proper names and use the code. Possibly someone has already done this somewhere on the net, but I haven't found any yet.