One way of attaining very detailed content, while keeping costs down is to use object libraries.
By re-using existing content, game developers can save a huge amount of time and money, especially when it comes to producing game ports, sequels where so much content can be re-used.
Some frown upon this recycling of objects, stating that games will look samey - but if you treat the "stock" objects as a virtual props department, you can achieve a great deal of aesthetic variety through lighting, environment design, animation, oh, and of course the game itself - which should be the real focus of any title.
I don't want to sound like an MS apologist here, but...
A huge amount of Xbox titles feature an online component, Live voice support is excellent, even the lobby system works fairly well. SCEE's Phil Harrison recently admitted that Live had the jump on their PS2 online systems, hell, it even won an emmy! Sure, you have to pay for the service - but the same is true for many online titles. Of course, there is always an alternative to the Microsoft option.
Go and have a look around the (non-partisan) gaming media, and see what people are saying about it before you make judgements. Better still, go have a good play yourself.
Re:Microsoft fanboys?
on
State of the 360
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
Your rhetoric displays a certain degree of ignorance in regards to current consoles.
There really are not that many differences between the Xbox or the PS2. The software catalogue is diverse, and contains many of same titles that can be found on either the PS2 or Gamecube. The hardware specification is generally regarded to be better than any other existing console, and the Xbox has the most comprehensive online service so far.
Sure, some of the most popular Xbox titles are FPS games, much loved by a certain amount of hardcore FPS zealots. But look at the PS2 - it's plethora of arcane Japanese RPG titles has very much the same level of trainspotter-type adherents.
Frowning upon a certain group of people because you do not like a certain genre of game says more about you, than any actual deficiency in the Xbox console. At the risk of spending far too much time responding to your rather banal trolling, I'd suggest that anyone who for some reason considers console ownership a partisan decision, please actually have a look at the machines and make a decision based on which machine has the games that you want to play rather than your perceived tribal affiliations.
As with many of us that make a living using open source software, we charge for our expert services, rather than the simply the code itself.
In open source, the information wants to be free. What is charged for is the person who knows how to use that knowledge to design, implement and support a system.
as far as piracy of UMD games goes, well that is one of the more boring uses of an 'unlocked' PSP.
the PSP is a rather nice piece of hardware, and you'd be amazed at the stuff that people have got running on it - much more than just 'homebrew pong'.
there are of course the multitude of emulators, so you can have your favourite 8-bit microcomputer, or home console with you on the bus. there is already a good implementation of the SCUMM Virtual Machine, so you can play all (well, most) of your favourite Lucasarts graphic adventures, there's a passable Doom engine running on it, a really promising LUA implementation, DOSBOX, and a zillion other things that are under development right this minute.
slashdot is not condoning piracy with this post, they are simply highlighting the truly creative use of computing hardware - a concept that warms the cockles of many slashdotters!
That's the arms race that the other two companies are competing in.
Nintendo seems to be trying to pique people's interests in other ways.
Sure, the traditional 'Xtreme Gamerzzz' will love the slightly shinier racing game, slightly perkier fighting title, or slightly bloodier shooter, but those not terribly swayed by such marginal 'improvements' will turn to whomever provides something truly different, and dare I say, better than existing game fare.
My biggest grumble about gaming, and in particular the direction being taken by MS and Sony, is that they are marginalising gaming.
Look at the stated releases for their next-gen machines - driving, shooting, and fighting franchises marginally updated with slightly better visuals, and that's it.
By focusing on the same teenage male demographic, they are making games less accessible to the greater populace - specifically this means that when I talk about games to my friends and family, I'm greeted with a blank expression.
If Nintendo are serious about opening up gaming to a wider audience, I very much welcome it.
The browser is indeed awful. I guess the problems weren't picked up until the game was rolled out in to the wilds of the internet.
One good thing introduced with 1.01/02, however, is that you can now launch games via an external server browser like All Seeing Eye. You can then filter the servers properly, and connect to games a hell of a lot easier.
It can't filter out smacktard commanders tho. pity.
It is rather strange how parents are NOT aware of the contents of this game. A quick look at the back of the box would show you exactly what sort of game it is.
Hell, the game's title is the name of A FELONY, what sort of game do they expect it to be?
Yeah, I must admit that I've generally had positive experiences from the patch.
The server browser is still horrible, but I've been using All Seeing Eye to connect to games anyhow.
The big problem that I find is that corpses have this weird floating effect that is REALLY annoying. Some people may just ignore it, but as I often play as a medic, I'm finding it nigh on impossible to revive my team mates!
Someone clearly needs to take a defibrilator to the QA team.
It's not that different types of games are required for women - what is needed is a broad range of great games to suit all tastes.
Everyone is different, and regardless of gender, each person will have games they like, and games they don't.
The reason that the idea that women like certain games comes from the fact that marketing plays too heavy a role in modern gaming. Publishing companies will only sponsor a game if they know which nicely defined market segement they can sell the game to.
What we really must do to change things is convince publishers that if you make a great game, then people will want to play it!
The trick seems to be that with new, and mission-critical tasks, set aside some research time to either come up with a prototype or at least a solid estimate of how long it will take to develop.
R&D time is too often seen as surplus to requirements in game development, but the payoff can be huge if it is used correctly.
The best online RPG experiences I've had have been by and large lacking the "massive".
Even impromptu Neverwinter Nights matches between strangers have garnered a better experience than the most elaborate WoW guild raid. Invariably, the desire for that next lvlup or that sack'o'lewt drives MMORPG players to abandon the game in favour of the dull strive for precious things, like so many lab rats flicking switches.
If you really want to make a MMORPG awesome, make it great to play without any gold, xp, levels or Great Capes of Wanton Flourish.
Feudal Lords used to do this with farmhands - just hire them for the harvest, then fire most of them and only keep a handful to tend the fields for next year.
With IBM it's the same thing, but with AS400s instead of Ploughs.
Slashdot Mirror
One way of attaining very detailed content, while keeping costs down is to use object libraries.
By re-using existing content, game developers can save a huge amount of time and money, especially when it comes to producing game ports, sequels where so much content can be re-used.
Some frown upon this recycling of objects, stating that games will look samey - but if you treat the "stock" objects as a virtual props department, you can achieve a great deal of aesthetic variety through lighting, environment design, animation, oh, and of course the game itself - which should be the real focus of any title.
I don't want to sound like an MS apologist here, but...
A huge amount of Xbox titles feature an online component, Live voice support is excellent, even the lobby system works fairly well. SCEE's Phil Harrison recently admitted that Live had the jump on their PS2 online systems, hell, it even won an emmy! Sure, you have to pay for the service - but the same is true for many online titles. Of course, there is always an alternative to the Microsoft option.
Go and have a look around the (non-partisan) gaming media, and see what people are saying about it before you make judgements. Better still, go have a good play yourself.
Your rhetoric displays a certain degree of ignorance in regards to current consoles.
There really are not that many differences between the Xbox or the PS2. The software catalogue is diverse, and contains many of same titles that can be found on either the PS2 or Gamecube. The hardware specification is generally regarded to be better than any other existing console, and the Xbox has the most comprehensive online service so far.
Sure, some of the most popular Xbox titles are FPS games, much loved by a certain amount of hardcore FPS zealots. But look at the PS2 - it's plethora of arcane Japanese RPG titles has very much the same level of trainspotter-type adherents.
Frowning upon a certain group of people because you do not like a certain genre of game says more about you, than any actual deficiency in the Xbox console. At the risk of spending far too much time responding to your rather banal trolling, I'd suggest that anyone who for some reason considers console ownership a partisan decision, please actually have a look at the machines and make a decision based on which machine has the games that you want to play rather than your perceived tribal affiliations.
Perhaps your business model may need to change?
As with many of us that make a living using open source software, we charge for our expert services, rather than the simply the code itself.
In open source, the information wants to be free. What is charged for is the person who knows how to use that knowledge to design, implement and support a system.
as far as piracy of UMD games goes, well that is one of the more boring uses of an 'unlocked' PSP.
the PSP is a rather nice piece of hardware, and you'd be amazed at the stuff that people have got running on it - much more than just 'homebrew pong'.
there are of course the multitude of emulators, so you can have your favourite 8-bit microcomputer, or home console with you on the bus. there is already a good implementation of the SCUMM Virtual Machine, so you can play all (well, most) of your favourite Lucasarts graphic adventures, there's a passable Doom engine running on it, a really promising LUA implementation, DOSBOX, and a zillion other things that are under development right this minute.
slashdot is not condoning piracy with this post, they are simply highlighting the truly creative use of computing hardware - a concept that warms the cockles of many slashdotters!
It's not the size of the manipulator as it is the resolution of the manipulations.
I don't think Nintendo expects people to play with their new controller for 8 hours a day every weekday...
No World of Warcraft for Revolution then?
I assume you've heard of the nigh-on-infamous Rez Vibrator?
That's the arms race that the other two companies are competing in.
Nintendo seems to be trying to pique people's interests in other ways.
Sure, the traditional 'Xtreme Gamerzzz' will love the slightly shinier racing game, slightly perkier fighting title, or slightly bloodier shooter, but those not terribly swayed by such marginal 'improvements' will turn to whomever provides something truly different, and dare I say, better than existing game fare.
Spot on.
My biggest grumble about gaming, and in particular the direction being taken by MS and Sony, is that they are marginalising gaming.
Look at the stated releases for their next-gen machines - driving, shooting, and fighting franchises marginally updated with slightly better visuals, and that's it.
By focusing on the same teenage male demographic, they are making games less accessible to the greater populace - specifically this means that when I talk about games to my friends and family, I'm greeted with a blank expression.
If Nintendo are serious about opening up gaming to a wider audience, I very much welcome it.
The Revolution will be televised!
The browser is indeed awful. I guess the problems weren't picked up until the game was rolled out in to the wilds of the internet.
One good thing introduced with 1.01/02, however, is that you can now launch games via an external server browser like All Seeing Eye. You can then filter the servers properly, and connect to games a hell of a lot easier.
It can't filter out smacktard commanders tho. pity.
It is rather strange how parents are NOT aware of the contents of this game. A quick look at the back of the box would show you exactly what sort of game it is.
Hell, the game's title is the name of A FELONY, what sort of game do they expect it to be?
On the other hand, having the ATI logo branded into your right index finger is a social accomplishment at certain parties.
Don't you mean ITA?
Regards,
Department of Mirrored Text
Yeah, I must admit that I've generally had positive experiences from the patch.
The server browser is still horrible, but I've been using All Seeing Eye to connect to games anyhow.
The big problem that I find is that corpses have this weird floating effect that is REALLY annoying. Some people may just ignore it, but as I often play as a medic, I'm finding it nigh on impossible to revive my team mates!
Someone clearly needs to take a defibrilator to the QA team.
There is plenty of stuff coming out of the DS homebrew community too - and of course DS users may also be eyeing up a certain OS port from afar...
I agree that both systems really do need more games - but the DS does already have some fun titles: Electroplankton, Zookeeper, Warioware.
Admittedly they aren't quite up to the grandeur of Rockstar's opus, but not all games need to be in that vein, especially on a handheld device.
It's not that different types of games are required for women - what is needed is a broad range of great games to suit all tastes.
Everyone is different, and regardless of gender, each person will have games they like, and games they don't.
The reason that the idea that women like certain games comes from the fact that marketing plays too heavy a role in modern gaming. Publishing companies will only sponsor a game if they know which nicely defined market segement they can sell the game to.
What we really must do to change things is convince publishers that if you make a great game, then people will want to play it!
It's a shame that Valve haven't tried to add image-based lighting like that in to Lost Coast!
The technique is certainly possible to do in realtime. Perhaps we'll see something like garry's mod incorporating it soon?
You only need to be online once to authorize your game. You can run in 'offline mode' after that without any problems.
Yes, it is annoying, but so too are most copy protection systems - and i'd certainly take cranky steam over horrendous starforce any day!
What about One-Button Dragon's Lair?
They also need to sort out the mystery 'X' key under the Boat commands that can't be remapped :/
Don't even get me started on Joystick Axes......
It runs ok on Windows Server 2003 (using dice-supplied drivers) if that's any help.
The trick seems to be that with new, and mission-critical tasks, set aside some research time to either come up with a prototype or at least a solid estimate of how long it will take to develop.
R&D time is too often seen as surplus to requirements in game development, but the payoff can be huge if it is used correctly.
Of course there was an actual Philip Glass piece reworked in to the score for the C64 title 'Delta' by that Mr Rob Hubbard.
It took parts from Glass' Koyaanisqatsi, an arpeggio line from a Pink Floyd song, then ground it through the SID chip.
So true!
The best online RPG experiences I've had have been by and large lacking the "massive".
Even impromptu Neverwinter Nights matches between strangers have garnered a better experience than the most elaborate WoW guild raid. Invariably, the desire for that next lvlup or that sack'o'lewt drives MMORPG players to abandon the game in favour of the dull strive for precious things, like so many lab rats flicking switches.
If you really want to make a MMORPG awesome, make it great to play without any gold, xp, levels or Great Capes of Wanton Flourish.
Feudal Lords used to do this with farmhands - just hire them for the harvest, then fire most of them and only keep a handful to tend the fields for next year.
With IBM it's the same thing, but with AS400s instead of Ploughs.