Its not surprising that the hard drive was not completely utilized. The only games that are going to really use it are the X-box exclusive games. You don't have that feature on either the PS2 or GC, so developers working on cross platform games are not going to spend much if any time working on a feature that is only supported on 1/3rd of the consoles (and only like 13% of the console market). So, you're left with first and second party developers to fully utilize the true power of the X-box, and except for Halo, there's been a serious lack of well-known X-box exclusive games...
I imagine if the PS3 were to have a hard drive, you'll see some serious development for it.
but, i must say that master sword must be damn heavy. that's a fat blade. i couldn't figure out from the pictures whether the guard was plastic that had been chromed or if that was a wax mold the smith used in the forging process. the smith must not be terribly proud of it, as it isn't featured anywhere on his site (unlike a lot of other designs).
The chances of them demolishing Nintendo with it's pathetic gameboy are pretty good, the psp is going to have PS2 games and the DS, well it'll have 2 screens
and, yet, every company that has released a handheld since the original black and white gameboy came out has come nowhere close to equalling or demolishing Nintendo and their "pathetic" technology. It's easy to claim that superior hardware should win, but it's much harder to prove it. X-box has far superior hardware to the PS2, yet it's sold maybe 1/8th the quantity.
besides, Nintendo has been very open in stating that the DS is not the next gen gameboy, rather it's an interesting experiment that may pay off, or may not. so, one presumes that the next gen gameboy is under development and will be displayed when ready.
as the article states, why hasn't a description of the unit beyond "2 screens" been released? Obviously they've got a prototype they're showing to select individuals... time for someone to start sharing the info with the rest of us.
Any system designed to punish player killing will be beaten. We can abstract this to "almost any rule you establish to prohibit a player from doing something, will be prodded and bent as far as the player's can."
Perhaps we institute a law saying: you kill another player you go to jail. There's always going to be a portion of the population that says to hell with laws (and they will go to jail), and then there's another more subversive population who is going to figure "well, I won't kill the newbie, but i'll backstab him, dropping him to 1 hp, while he's fighting a monster, and let the monster make the killing blow." or what would occasionally happen in diablo with people spamming abilities and completely lagging everyone else in the game, so they are helpless against the monsters who don't feel the lag.
Yes, griefing happens now is almost any game, but a permanent death is just that: permanent. I want to play, not have to re-play. My character dies, and gets ressurected with some penalty (xp, gold, item, whatever), I'll accept that. My character dies and gets ressurected as a lvl 1 with nothing, I'll quit. Hardcore should be an option not a requirement; particularly given that MMORPGS are trying to appeal to as broad a base as possible. Sure you can create subsets (hardcore, pvp, etc.), but the main game should accomodate everyone.
permanent death may sound like a great idea, until the griefers start coming after the newbies. Imagine you're paying $15 a month for the following: You've played for a couple hours, gotten your first new Shiny Short Sword of Light +1 and Leather Armor of the Cow from some zombies you just killed. Maybe you've even leveled up once or twice. You're on your way back to town and along comes Mr. Eight Level AssClown who kills you (or better yet, is dragging a 5th level monster along who you have no chance of defeating). Bam, you're dead. start again. You've literally spent 2 hours with nothing to show for your character.
Permanent death is nice in games like Diablo, where once you've finished it normally, you can take on the challenge of being hardcore like that. But permanent death on a server filled with not only lag, but also griefers is not a way to entice people to pony up X dollars every month.
Now imagine you've spent a couple months on your character, collecting quite a range of unique powerful weapons and then you die. That's like a Ph.D. being sent back to kindergarten and forced to take school all over again, before anyone will hire him. furstrating to say the least.
It's a confusing page. Under the Features section is clearly states "Under 7 lb. (heaviest model)". Whereas the Average Weight and Dimensions section states "14.1 lb. (6.4kg) with combo drive, 15.7 lb. (7.1kg) with combo drive and battery. Size and weight may vary depending on configuration".
So, Acer's gotta hire a better editor for their web pages...
Class action lawsuits are becoming my new favorite pasttime. Consider:
In the past month, apparently I've been involved in at least 3 class action lawsuits. Both my wife and I got checks for $13.86 from connecticut's part in suing the record labels over overpriced CDs. Both of us have gotten paperwork regarding whatever claims are against Microsoft and software purchased in the late 90s (couple window versions, offices, etc.). I just submitted something for a company who were apparently inflating their stock value (or something) while I owned a number of their shares. And I can't even recall doing anything to get involved in the lawsuit to begin with. That's the best part. Christmas in March. I love it.
So, when are the consumers going to sue and and how do I convince the authorities to go after Corsair, as that's the only memory I purchased in that timeframe?
I don't see how it really matters. According to the article, one would only see the bias after 10,000 flips. If we're still flipping coins at the beginning of the superbowl 9,9965 odd years from now, I'd be mighty impressed.
considering that the link to the speed run specifically mentions it as on the game boy (and being the only black and white metroid), i think it was the submitter, and not the record breaker who was mistaken.
(the recorder breaker used the game boy player attachment for the GC to output the video.)
I'm also annoyed by the fact that a lot of older games tend to get shafted in these things, simply because the majority of gamers are too young to remember the early 80s games.
Where's Lode Runner in any of these polls? Archon? I was even going to add Lemmings (which is almost universally ignored), until I looked at the gamespy potpourri category and flipped when I noticed they had included it.
my personal favorite *old* game was for the Atari 800, Dandy. Kinda like a gauntlet type game; you played the smiley face walking through the dungeon shooting arrows at the monsters and monster spawner points. Loads of fun plus it came with a level editor.
How bout the original Castle Wolfenstein? The top down room to room game? Break out of jail, steal a uniform, a gun, and the plans and escape the SS.
True. We know next to nothing about the DS and I agree it does sound gimmicky. However, nintendo seems to have a knack with handhelds, so I'd be willing to give them more benefit of the doubt in this arena compared to traditional consoles. (random amazing compatibility fact: was in a friends car he recently bought used and found an old color gameboy cartridge in the backseat; spyhunter/moonpatrol. took it home and it actually working in my GBA.)
By holding out for more games at launch, Sony may be helping themselves (aside from looking silly, didn't the n-gage only launch with like 4 games or some ridiculously low number?). But if the DS launches with some big titles (think FF or Zelda), that will definitely entrench it and give it a major headstart.
The problem with holding out to release the PSP months after the DS is that they risk losing big time. Consider the current console situation. PS2 makes it to market months before the other 2 systems and completely solidifies itself as the #1. microsoft and nintendo don't even come close.
This situation is kinda the flipside. Nintendo dominates the handheld market. When they release the DS they will have a huge number of developers lined up to release titles, because they already have a huge number of developers working on the GBA. DS comes out first, people jump all over it (as this is nintendo's #1 specialty), and who's going to want to buy a PSP a few months down the line after you've already invested in several games for your DS? granted, there's always be the cutting edge geeks who have money to burn, but parent's aren't going to want to shell out money for another system when little johnny just got a DS just 3 months ago.
Have you even looked at the picture? He's positioned inches away from her. To get any closer, she would've had to have been sitting in his lap.
Have you even looked at the picture? If we're going to be picky about things, the caption for the photo clearly states "John Kerry appears in the background of the photo directly above Jane Fonda's head, sitting about three rows behind the actress." Three rows away from someone is not mere inches, nor almost in her lap. I'd guess he's maybe 10 to 15 feet or more away. I've been in crowds like this at various outdoor concerts, and would be hard pressed to identify a person sitting 3 rows from me...
But, if we're going to stoop to this level, we might want to mention Donald Rumsfeld who goes around greeting axis of evil leaders like they were long lost friends.
I actually owned a hedgehog for a while, an African pygmy hedgehog (Mr. Pembleton didn't like Connecticut, unfortunately, and passed away a few months back). While the glowing aspect is not quite accurate, the vibrating very much is. Hedgehogs are rather nervous little guys, and whenever he was startled (i.e., whenever anyone looked at him), he would ball up and vibrate. If he didn't have quills of death it would have been rather cute. As it was, he became a vibrating death cactus.
and the whole "internal sensor that'll keep 'em from idiotically walking into stuff, much like real hedgehogs" this is just wrong, either that or Mr. Pembleton's sensor was quite broken. He would repeatedly walk into the same object (apparently under the mistaken belief that every object was my hand, and I'd surely move it after being stabbed for the fifth time).
I stand corrected. (Although to be fair, this demo wasn't a true public demo, as one had to buy $200 worth of hardware to play it.)
Although, reading the review of the demo, apparently this isn't the demo I was thinking of. The HL demo I remember, was a series of levels that were cut from the final game. In these levels you were required to align a satellite dish so the scientists could send some sort of message. This demo was released much after the game was released.
So what does exposing the bugs accomplish from the gamer's perspective? Are you more or less likely to buy a game based on a demo that crashes every 15 minutes? Developers that are forced to support a demo in order to ensure positive PR, are developers that are not actively finishing the product that's going to pay their bills.
It's nice to view a demo as a really big beta test, but if it has bugs, I think it can be a double-edged sword
Blizzard doesn't intentionally release demo versions of their games ahead of time, and I don't think it has hurt their sales. All of their demos have come out months after the game has been on shelves (months after they've sold their million plus copies).
The one exception to this was the original Diablo which had a leaked demo from a gaming magazine come out a couple weeks to a month before the game's release. That leak probably contributed greatly to the initial sales success of the game (as it was a new genre for Blizzard) So who knows.
Half-life didn't have a demo until 6 months after the game came out? And the demo was probably downloaded more by the current players who wanted to see the "cut" levels, than it was by people interested in testing the game out before buying.
I think if it's a new genre or a release by a developer who isn't established/recognized, then a demo probably is useful. But for hardcore fans, the demo probably won't have much affect on their purchase (unless the demo really sucks).
fair enough. Except this panel (from the cursory glance I gave it) comprises experts in the fields in which they are criticizing. For example, Sherwood Roland received his Nobel Prize for science related to atmospheric chemistry. Hence, he seems fairly qualified to discuss the scientific tampering the Bush administration has performed on issues of global warming, which is one of the first issues addressed in the report.
the scientists. at least they use footnotes so you can look up their sources and come to your own conclusion.
The Bush administration repeately hides things: who was on Cheney's energy panel, how much is budgeted for the war in Iraq, the true cost of the medicare bill, the amount of jobs to be created in the upcoming year. this list could go on. (and we won't get started on how we knew exactly how many tons of which chemicals and how many warheads, and exactly where a number of facilities were, and when we got there, we can't find a single one of them).
Scientists may be biased, but you can check their bias by following their citations. with politicians you can't. (Cheney is still trying to link Saddam to terrorism, even though everyone, including the President, has acknowledged that no conclusive link existed. where is Cheney getting his info from?)
it's news because Settlers of Catan is one of the more popular board games out there (i.e., it's got geek appeal). It's the third highest rated game at boardgamegeek.com.
I recently picked it up at one of those christmas/calendar stores that was closing for 25% off. Haven't played it yet though...
The game I'm waiting for an online version of is Stratego. Found a java version a while back that was buggy, but I wish zone/yahoo/someone would license it (or at least put up a nice ripoff-ware version)
Actually, I saw that scene as well. The in-show segment they showed, was a full body shot in the shower, with a naked woman facing away. The woman's behind was blurred, which suggests that in the actual game one would be able to see her rump clearly.
Is this something that's going to corrupt a 14 year old? who knows. but there's no reason not to put a label "brief nudity" on the game to at least let the parent know about it.
ultimately, if you are going to have ratings, at least apply them correctly, otherwise you end up with studies like this that bring negative attention to the issue.
The first quote deals exclusively with Mars and whatever pictures Clarke has seen that appear to be vegetation. The second quote is more general about intelligent life in the universe and how we've seen signs of vegetative life on Mars.
Where does one get the idea that he's talking about pictures of vegetation from some place other than Mars?
Slashdot Mirror
Its not surprising that the hard drive was not completely utilized. The only games that are going to really use it are the X-box exclusive games. You don't have that feature on either the PS2 or GC, so developers working on cross platform games are not going to spend much if any time working on a feature that is only supported on 1/3rd of the consoles (and only like 13% of the console market). So, you're left with first and second party developers to fully utilize the true power of the X-box, and except for Halo, there's been a serious lack of well-known X-box exclusive games...
I imagine if the PS3 were to have a hard drive, you'll see some serious development for it.
Now if I he could only forge a lightsaber.
you can get those here.
but, i must say that master sword must be damn heavy. that's a fat blade. i couldn't figure out from the pictures whether the guard was plastic that had been chromed or if that was a wax mold the smith used in the forging process. the smith must not be terribly proud of it, as it isn't featured anywhere on his site (unlike a lot of other designs).
The chances of them demolishing Nintendo with it's pathetic gameboy are pretty good, the psp is going to have PS2 games and the DS, well it'll have 2 screens
and, yet, every company that has released a handheld since the original black and white gameboy came out has come nowhere close to equalling or demolishing Nintendo and their "pathetic" technology. It's easy to claim that superior hardware should win, but it's much harder to prove it. X-box has far superior hardware to the PS2, yet it's sold maybe 1/8th the quantity.
besides, Nintendo has been very open in stating that the DS is not the next gen gameboy, rather it's an interesting experiment that may pay off, or may not. so, one presumes that the next gen gameboy is under development and will be displayed when ready.
as the article states, why hasn't a description of the unit beyond "2 screens" been released? Obviously they've got a prototype they're showing to select individuals... time for someone to start sharing the info with the rest of us.
Any system designed to punish player killing will be beaten. We can abstract this to "almost any rule you establish to prohibit a player from doing something, will be prodded and bent as far as the player's can."
Perhaps we institute a law saying: you kill another player you go to jail. There's always going to be a portion of the population that says to hell with laws (and they will go to jail), and then there's another more subversive population who is going to figure "well, I won't kill the newbie, but i'll backstab him, dropping him to 1 hp, while he's fighting a monster, and let the monster make the killing blow." or what would occasionally happen in diablo with people spamming abilities and completely lagging everyone else in the game, so they are helpless against the monsters who don't feel the lag.
Yes, griefing happens now is almost any game, but a permanent death is just that: permanent. I want to play, not have to re-play. My character dies, and gets ressurected with some penalty (xp, gold, item, whatever), I'll accept that. My character dies and gets ressurected as a lvl 1 with nothing, I'll quit. Hardcore should be an option not a requirement; particularly given that MMORPGS are trying to appeal to as broad a base as possible. Sure you can create subsets (hardcore, pvp, etc.), but the main game should accomodate everyone.
permanent death may sound like a great idea, until the griefers start coming after the newbies. Imagine you're paying $15 a month for the following: You've played for a couple hours, gotten your first new Shiny Short Sword of Light +1 and Leather Armor of the Cow from some zombies you just killed. Maybe you've even leveled up once or twice. You're on your way back to town and along comes Mr. Eight Level AssClown who kills you (or better yet, is dragging a 5th level monster along who you have no chance of defeating). Bam, you're dead. start again. You've literally spent 2 hours with nothing to show for your character.
Permanent death is nice in games like Diablo, where once you've finished it normally, you can take on the challenge of being hardcore like that. But permanent death on a server filled with not only lag, but also griefers is not a way to entice people to pony up X dollars every month.
Now imagine you've spent a couple months on your character, collecting quite a range of unique powerful weapons and then you die. That's like a Ph.D. being sent back to kindergarten and forced to take school all over again, before anyone will hire him. furstrating to say the least.
but I think a better analogy is should the phone comany be held liable if the customer made prank calls ?
and following this analogy, if 99% of all calls were prank calls, should the phone company be required to do something about it?
It's a confusing page. Under the Features section is clearly states "Under 7 lb. (heaviest model)". Whereas the Average Weight and Dimensions section states "14.1 lb. (6.4kg) with combo drive, 15.7 lb. (7.1kg) with combo drive and battery. Size and weight may vary depending on configuration".
So, Acer's gotta hire a better editor for their web pages...
Class action lawsuits are becoming my new favorite pasttime. Consider:
In the past month, apparently I've been involved in at least 3 class action lawsuits. Both my wife and I got checks for $13.86 from connecticut's part in suing the record labels over overpriced CDs. Both of us have gotten paperwork regarding whatever claims are against Microsoft and software purchased in the late 90s (couple window versions, offices, etc.). I just submitted something for a company who were apparently inflating their stock value (or something) while I owned a number of their shares. And I can't even recall doing anything to get involved in the lawsuit to begin with. That's the best part. Christmas in March. I love it.
So, when are the consumers going to sue and and how do I convince the authorities to go after Corsair, as that's the only memory I purchased in that timeframe?
I don't see how it really matters. According to the article, one would only see the bias after 10,000 flips. If we're still flipping coins at the beginning of the superbowl 9,9965 odd years from now, I'd be mighty impressed.
considering that the link to the speed run specifically mentions it as on the game boy (and being the only black and white metroid), i think it was the submitter, and not the record breaker who was mistaken.
(the recorder breaker used the game boy player attachment for the GC to output the video.)
I'm also annoyed by the fact that a lot of older games tend to get shafted in these things, simply because the majority of gamers are too young to remember the early 80s games.
Where's Lode Runner in any of these polls? Archon? I was even going to add Lemmings (which is almost universally ignored), until I looked at the gamespy potpourri category and flipped when I noticed they had included it.
my personal favorite *old* game was for the Atari 800, Dandy. Kinda like a gauntlet type game; you played the smiley face walking through the dungeon shooting arrows at the monsters and monster spawner points. Loads of fun plus it came with a level editor.
How bout the original Castle Wolfenstein? The top down room to room game? Break out of jail, steal a uniform, a gun, and the plans and escape the SS.
True. We know next to nothing about the DS and I agree it does sound gimmicky. However, nintendo seems to have a knack with handhelds, so I'd be willing to give them more benefit of the doubt in this arena compared to traditional consoles. (random amazing compatibility fact: was in a friends car he recently bought used and found an old color gameboy cartridge in the backseat; spyhunter/moonpatrol. took it home and it actually working in my GBA.)
By holding out for more games at launch, Sony may be helping themselves (aside from looking silly, didn't the n-gage only launch with like 4 games or some ridiculously low number?). But if the DS launches with some big titles (think FF or Zelda), that will definitely entrench it and give it a major headstart.
The problem with holding out to release the PSP months after the DS is that they risk losing big time. Consider the current console situation. PS2 makes it to market months before the other 2 systems and completely solidifies itself as the #1. microsoft and nintendo don't even come close.
This situation is kinda the flipside. Nintendo dominates the handheld market. When they release the DS they will have a huge number of developers lined up to release titles, because they already have a huge number of developers working on the GBA. DS comes out first, people jump all over it (as this is nintendo's #1 specialty), and who's going to want to buy a PSP a few months down the line after you've already invested in several games for your DS? granted, there's always be the cutting edge geeks who have money to burn, but parent's aren't going to want to shell out money for another system when little johnny just got a DS just 3 months ago.
Have you even looked at the picture? He's positioned inches away from her. To get any closer, she would've had to have been sitting in his lap.
Have you even looked at the picture? If we're going to be picky about things, the caption for the photo clearly states "John Kerry appears in the background of the photo directly above Jane Fonda's head, sitting about three rows behind the actress." Three rows away from someone is not mere inches, nor almost in her lap. I'd guess he's maybe 10 to 15 feet or more away. I've been in crowds like this at various outdoor concerts, and would be hard pressed to identify a person sitting 3 rows from me...
But, if we're going to stoop to this level, we might want to mention Donald Rumsfeld who goes around greeting axis of evil leaders like they were long lost friends.
I actually owned a hedgehog for a while, an African pygmy hedgehog (Mr. Pembleton didn't like Connecticut, unfortunately, and passed away a few months back). While the glowing aspect is not quite accurate, the vibrating very much is. Hedgehogs are rather nervous little guys, and whenever he was startled (i.e., whenever anyone looked at him), he would ball up and vibrate. If he didn't have quills of death it would have been rather cute. As it was, he became a vibrating death cactus.
and the whole "internal sensor that'll keep 'em from idiotically walking into stuff, much like real hedgehogs" this is just wrong, either that or Mr. Pembleton's sensor was quite broken. He would repeatedly walk into the same object (apparently under the mistaken belief that every object was my hand, and I'd surely move it after being stabbed for the fifth time).
I stand corrected. (Although to be fair, this demo wasn't a true public demo, as one had to buy $200 worth of hardware to play it.)
Although, reading the review of the demo, apparently this isn't the demo I was thinking of. The HL demo I remember, was a series of levels that were cut from the final game. In these levels you were required to align a satellite dish so the scientists could send some sort of message. This demo was released much after the game was released.
So what does exposing the bugs accomplish from the gamer's perspective? Are you more or less likely to buy a game based on a demo that crashes every 15 minutes? Developers that are forced to support a demo in order to ensure positive PR, are developers that are not actively finishing the product that's going to pay their bills.
It's nice to view a demo as a really big beta test, but if it has bugs, I think it can be a double-edged sword
Blizzard doesn't intentionally release demo versions of their games ahead of time, and I don't think it has hurt their sales. All of their demos have come out months after the game has been on shelves (months after they've sold their million plus copies).
The one exception to this was the original Diablo which had a leaked demo from a gaming magazine come out a couple weeks to a month before the game's release. That leak probably contributed greatly to the initial sales success of the game (as it was a new genre for Blizzard) So who knows.
Half-life didn't have a demo until 6 months after the game came out? And the demo was probably downloaded more by the current players who wanted to see the "cut" levels, than it was by people interested in testing the game out before buying.
I think if it's a new genre or a release by a developer who isn't established/recognized, then a demo probably is useful. But for hardcore fans, the demo probably won't have much affect on their purchase (unless the demo really sucks).
what color paper is the book going to be published on?
fair enough. Except this panel (from the cursory glance I gave it) comprises experts in the fields in which they are criticizing. For example, Sherwood Roland received his Nobel Prize for science related to atmospheric chemistry. Hence, he seems fairly qualified to discuss the scientific tampering the Bush administration has performed on issues of global warming, which is one of the first issues addressed in the report.
the scientists. at least they use footnotes so you can look up their sources and come to your own conclusion.
The Bush administration repeately hides things: who was on Cheney's energy panel, how much is budgeted for the war in Iraq, the true cost of the medicare bill, the amount of jobs to be created in the upcoming year. this list could go on. (and we won't get started on how we knew exactly how many tons of which chemicals and how many warheads, and exactly where a number of facilities were, and when we got there, we can't find a single one of them).
Scientists may be biased, but you can check their bias by following their citations. with politicians you can't. (Cheney is still trying to link Saddam to terrorism, even though everyone, including the President, has acknowledged that no conclusive link existed. where is Cheney getting his info from?)
it's news because Settlers of Catan is one of the more popular board games out there (i.e., it's got geek appeal). It's the third highest rated game at boardgamegeek.com.
I recently picked it up at one of those christmas/calendar stores that was closing for 25% off. Haven't played it yet though...
The game I'm waiting for an online version of is Stratego. Found a java version a while back that was buggy, but I wish zone/yahoo/someone would license it (or at least put up a nice ripoff-ware version)
Actually, I saw that scene as well. The in-show segment they showed, was a full body shot in the shower, with a naked woman facing away. The woman's behind was blurred, which suggests that in the actual game one would be able to see her rump clearly.
Is this something that's going to corrupt a 14 year old? who knows. but there's no reason not to put a label "brief nudity" on the game to at least let the parent know about it.
ultimately, if you are going to have ratings, at least apply them correctly, otherwise you end up with studies like this that bring negative attention to the issue.
The first quote deals exclusively with Mars and whatever pictures Clarke has seen that appear to be vegetation. The second quote is more general about intelligent life in the universe and how we've seen signs of vegetative life on Mars.
Where does one get the idea that he's talking about pictures of vegetation from some place other than Mars?