Actually, the release of demos is usually a marketing-driven decision. Since a demo often comes before the game is released it means forking the code, and this eventually turns into a pretty big chore. Releasing a demo to find bugs or balance issues is very, very rare - developers most always have their hands full just trying to fix the ones QA has already found.
Fair or not, I think this incident will further damage Microsoft's reputation as a game industry player in Japan. While a layoff handled like this may be common in the US, this incident was a newsmaker for Japan, and with good reason.
As an aside, I feel really sympathetic to all employees of Xbox Japan. They are basically trying to sell ice to Eskimos (the Xbox is *that* unsuited to the Japanese market), and it's not their fault they can't. It's the boneheads at Redmond designed the stupid thing, and yet these guys are taking the fall for it. How maddening that must be.
Okay, what happens after you switch the machine off? Do you become a talentless, stultifying normal person again? The article doesn't seem to mention any sense of the author having taken anything away from the experience. Can he draw cats really well now, anytime he pleases? Or does he still need the machine to do it?
That was my first thought exactly. Additionally, the study probably does not consider or include online games, which do incorporate social interaction (to varying extents).
Then, look outside of the US! If you haven't yet tried the games in the made-in-England Total War series (Shogun, and the upcoming Medieval), they're worth a look. Creative Assembly has managed to design a refreshing combination of both real-time and turn-based elements.
I'm sorry but the article has nothing interesting to actually say. It casts around searching for an intelligent point to make, but it doesn't do it.
The author also seems to be misinformed about some things - he calls the setting of Dead or Alive 3 "premodern," as if it took place in medieval times or something, even though the storyline (such as it is) of the series is basically sci-fi, including genetic modification, cloning, etc.
His other examples don't hold water either, and his statement "the ante- and anti-technological content of these games provides a peculiar counterpoint to the boasts of technological advancement made by the game systems" makes no sense in light of the fact that plenty of earlier games had an anti-technological element to them as well (Sonic the Hedgehog, for one example). He also doesn't realize that Nintendo's "Super Smash Brothers Melee" isn't a new game, it's the sequel to the older N64 "Super Smash Brothers," and that the game isn't about nostalgia as much as it promotes Nintendo's other current games with those same characters.
He ends the article without having given the reader a single example of how improved graphical power has taken the "fun" out of games. The only thing he's right about is the Xbox controller being bloated.
MMORPG is a silly and unnecessarily complicated acronym which will serve to turn off people who don't know what one is. I suggest at the very least simplifying it to MRPG, with the M for Metaverse-like, or some such.
Gee, that's the dumbest mod I've ever heard of. While they're at it, maybe they can put a Ford Aspire engine into a BMW 740i. Anyway, thanks, Slashdot, for bringing us such important and relevant news items.
Oh no! Clones! Run for your lives! The clones are attacking! It's clones! Oh my god! What are we going to do about all these clones! Clones! They've been cloned! And they're attacking! Noooo! Make the clones stop! It's the attack of the clones! Help! Help!
Bruce Sterling Interview in-progress
on
Zeitgeist
·
· Score: 2
This has been tried before, and the reason it didn't catch on is because if gamers actually had to pysically perform any of the moves in fighting games, they'd get winded before the first KO.
Slashdot Mirror
Actually, the release of demos is usually a marketing-driven decision. Since a demo often comes before the game is released it means forking the code, and this eventually turns into a pretty big chore. Releasing a demo to find bugs or balance issues is very, very rare - developers most always have their hands full just trying to fix the ones QA has already found.
As an aside, I feel really sympathetic to all employees of Xbox Japan. They are basically trying to sell ice to Eskimos (the Xbox is *that* unsuited to the Japanese market), and it's not their fault they can't. It's the boneheads at Redmond designed the stupid thing, and yet these guys are taking the fall for it. How maddening that must be.
Hmmm... reminds me of Flowers for Algernon...
"An MMORPG for a console, which the Japanese market is dying for, and we'll be the first to do it."
Guess he's never heard of a little company called Square Enix and their little game called Final Fantasy XI.
That was my first thought exactly. Additionally, the study probably does not consider or include online games, which do incorporate social interaction (to varying extents).
I'm not a betting man, but...
Then, look outside of the US! If you haven't yet tried the games in the made-in-England Total War series (Shogun, and the upcoming Medieval), they're worth a look. Creative Assembly has managed to design a refreshing combination of both real-time and turn-based elements.
The author also seems to be misinformed about some things - he calls the setting of Dead or Alive 3 "premodern," as if it took place in medieval times or something, even though the storyline (such as it is) of the series is basically sci-fi, including genetic modification, cloning, etc.
His other examples don't hold water either, and his statement "the ante- and anti-technological content of these games provides a peculiar counterpoint to the boasts of technological advancement made by the game systems" makes no sense in light of the fact that plenty of earlier games had an anti-technological element to them as well (Sonic the Hedgehog, for one example). He also doesn't realize that Nintendo's "Super Smash Brothers Melee" isn't a new game, it's the sequel to the older N64 "Super Smash Brothers," and that the game isn't about nostalgia as much as it promotes Nintendo's other current games with those same characters.
He ends the article without having given the reader a single example of how improved graphical power has taken the "fun" out of games. The only thing he's right about is the Xbox controller being bloated.
I don't know if that's a clever reference to something or not, but what a totally freaky thing to say.
MMORPG is a silly and unnecessarily complicated acronym which will serve to turn off people who don't know what one is. I suggest at the very least simplifying it to MRPG, with the M for Metaverse-like, or some such.
Gee, that's the dumbest mod I've ever heard of. While they're at it, maybe they can put a Ford Aspire engine into a BMW 740i. Anyway, thanks, Slashdot, for bringing us such important and relevant news items.
Oh no! Clones! Run for your lives! The clones are attacking! It's clones! Oh my god! What are we going to do about all these clones! Clones! They've been cloned! And they're attacking! Noooo! Make the clones stop! It's the attack of the clones! Help! Help!
missingmatter has a Slashdot-style interview with Bruce Sterling going on right now. There's still time to submit a question.
This has been tried before, and the reason it didn't catch on is because if gamers actually had to pysically perform any of the moves in fighting games, they'd get winded before the first KO.
His last name is spelled "Gillmor". Just to let you know.
Posted to missingmatter yesterday... Slashdot is so 24 hours ago...