I was really looking forward to this game. It looks awesome, and it was bound to play very well. Unfortunately, playing the demo was one of my biggest disappointments on the PS3 yet. Yes, it's a great game. Yes, it looks gorgeous. But it basically seems to be a linear shooter that plays pretty much like the PS2 versions.
Maybe I had the wrong expectations, but looking at the videos, I was hoping that the gameplay had evolved at least as much as the graphics. I was picturing huge levels and interesting platforming. Instead, you get to run through predefined narrow paths and shoot hundreds of enemies that all look pretty much the same.
If you want a third-person shooter with some platforming, you can't go wrong with R&C. If you loved the PS2 games and want more of the same, buy the thing. If you expected something fresh and innovative, something worthy of this generation, skip it.
With insurance, it's scheduled and done. With government health care, getting an appointment is the same as getting an appointment to renew you drivers license because you can't drop-in and spend time in line.
I'm not quite sure what to say. You seem to have a very basic misunderstanding of how health care in other countries works. Government health care does not mean that you can't also have private insurance. Actually, in many countries, all insurance is provided by private companies, even if it's... You know what, this will take too long. I'm not going to explain how this works. I'll just tell you that you obviously don't understand how the system works in other countries or how it could be changed in the US, and I'll encourage you to just educate yourself.
Like Resident Evil? I think that sucks and is not a good way to do it. If the doorbell rings and somebody comes over, I don't want to "waste" a save just because I have to stop playing the game. Saving is part of the infrastructure, not part of the game itself.
I don't think it's an age thing. I grew up on a VCS 2600, yet I, too, think A Link to the Past ist he best Zelda ever. I think Super Mario Bros 3 is the best jump-n-run ever (possibly tied with Super Mario World). I think Monkey Island is the best adventure ever. However, I do also think that Mario Kart DS is the best Mario Kart ever. Some games gain from going 3D (car racers). Some games aren't possible in 2D (FPS). But most games quite simply work better in 2D (platformer, puzzle games, side scrollers, RPGs, adventures)...
We will see were everything is in the Next 5 years
Indeed we will:-)
My bet is that there will be a lot of happy 360, Wii and PS3 owners and all three manufactures will be announcing their next entry into the game console market (With the possible exception of Microsoft, who is showing signs that they are considering pulling out of the market, but I certainly would not make that prediction just yet). At around 50 million total units we may start to see a clear winner emerge but the one things that looks pretty certain is that it won't be a total blow out like the last 2 generations, and some people seem to think this is good for the market. I only hope that it is.
I agree with everything you've said (except that I'm quite sure that more viable consoles are better for consumers - the PS2 lineup of games was one of the most uninspired I've ever seen; now that I own a PS3 and can play all the PS2 games that interest me, I bought a grand total of 16 PS2 games. Already, the Wii and PS3 have provided more interesting stuff in under a year than the PS2 did in all of its life).
I used to think the PS3 would place second. Given what I know now - performance so far, games announced - I now think the PS3 will be this generation's Gamecube: Great first-party support, crappy third-party support. I own a PS3, and I know I'll be a happy owner once Little Big Planet hits. I also don't expect much from EA (what the hell, EA? Skate is the best you can do with framerate?), Activision and other devs, just like I didn't expect much from them when I owned a Cube. I was happy with my Cube due to Nintendo's games, and I'll be happy with the PS3 due to Sony's games, but I have no hopes that the PS3 will be able to compete with the 360 sales-wise.
First of all, the insult was quite unneccessary. How old are you? Second, to your point:
Which of those points did the NES have?
* Integrated storage, no requirement to buy memory cards
There was an NES which played games stored on floppy discs. These games could rewrite their data, so it's very similar to integrated storage; no memory cards needed.
* Integrated network connectivity, not a plug-in widget to provide it
Well, I'm not sure if there ever was a NES with integrated network connectivity, but there were modem add-ons providing connectivity.
* Online service to assist in the hosting of multiplayer games
I'm not sure whether actual online gaming was available, but there was definitely an online service for the NES in Japan.
Yes, but that is very likely a result of their increasing of production capacity, not of stockpiling. I doubt they're stockpiling; otherwise, sales would go down, but they're keeping steady and even increasing a bit world-wide.
Anyone that does not is just holding on to hope that some other console manufacturer will be able to crack Sony's dominance.
Newsflash: Aforementioned dominance has gone from "waiting to be cracked" to "lying dead and rotting in a gutter." This generation is over for Sony. They can count themselves lucky if they capture 25% of the market this time. In total sales, I doubt they'll even reach 40 millions.
XBL sucks because it costs money. I like to play a few online matches from time to time, but not nearly enough to pay 60 bucks a year for it. It's one of the reasons I don't (yet) own a 360: I would not be able to play any of the games online.
There, I've said it.
Many of the PS2 buyers (a huge number of whom bought it for stuff like SingStar or Buzz) will buy a Wii.
1) New Super Mario Bros is the second-best selling Mario game ever 2) Attach Rate on the Wii is higher than on the PS3 and on par with the 360 at the same time in its life span
The whole "new Mario games don't sell" and "Wii owners don't buy games" memes quite simply don't match the actual numbers.
I think Halo 3 will sell 70-80% of its total sales within the first month. That's the usual sales pattern for hardcore FPS. Halo 3 will be sold for 20 bucks within half a year.
Galaxy, on the other hand, will keep selling for the lifespan of the Wii, and will retain its launch price for years.
Given the installed base of the two consoles, and sales histories of the two franchises, I would bet quite a bit of money on Galaxy outselling Halo 3.
I think the PS3 will fail miserably. Not even FF and MGS will be able to save it. And this is a good thing for Sony. The PS3 is like the Virtual Boy, the N64 and the Gamecube all put into one: A healthy shock for a company used to success. I have no idea what Sony will do next gen, but they will definitely not make the same mistakes again.
Microsoft, on the other hand, is screwed. They had the advantage of time, of a games library, and of price, yet the 360 sold not nearly as well as it should have, and they lost a shitload of money. Not sure what they could do better; apart from hardware quality, they did everything right, yet they still did not win the market.
As for Nintendo, who the hell knows what they'll next come up with. I only know three things: It's going to be entertaining, it's going to make them money, and it's going to feature Mario.
I've seen them, but it seems you haven't. Zelda, Resi 4, Metroid Prime 3, Super Paper Mario, Madden, WarioWare, Trauma Center, Mario Strikers, Rayman, Wii Sports...
I mean, the wii's game drought is worse than Sony's
Except that this isn't true at all. The PS3 has what, 4 good exclusive Bluray games (Motorstorm, Resistance, Heavenly Sword, Warhawk) and a bunch of good online titles? The Wii's current lineup simply looks better than the PS3's, and is less hardcore-oriented.
The Gamecube controller was, overall, the second-best "traditional" controller ever released, second only to the Xbox 360 controller (and not by far). The Cube controller is pretty perfect. There are only two things I don't like: The Z-Trigger and the d-pad. Other than that, it's an awesome controller.
They're not built like crap. They're some of the sturdiest controllers I've ever used. My Cube controllers have been thrown against a wall repeatedly (not by me; blame Mario Kart and Super Monkey Ball), and they still work fine.
The buttons aren't random. In fact, the Cube controller is the only controller that uses three different ways to distinguish between buttons: Color, letter and form. When a Cube game prompts you to push a button, it's always immediately obvious which button you should push, because they all look very different from each other.
The C-stick is a normal analog stick and not a button, and you may not realize this, but the L and R triggers are analog, which is awesome for car racing games.
Frankly, I think you haven't spent too much time with a Cube controller. You seem to not have much of a clue about it.
Finally, you don't have to play Smash with the "Remote sideways" set up, so you don't really have a point about that, either.
You're being ironic, but the funny thing is that you're right. I just bought Undercover (not yet out in the US, so linking to amazon.de) and Touch Detective 2 1/2 for my DS, adding to a number of point-and-click adventures I already own for that system.
There's an actuall point-and-click adventure revival going on on the Nintendo DS. If you haven't already, check out Trace Memory, Touch Detective 1, Hotel Dusk: Room 215, or any of the Phoenix Wright games for the DS. Have fun:-)
What do you mean by "get to work"? There's nothing to "get to work" there. Just download any client (use google or go to macupdate.com and search for bittorrent if you can't find one), double-click (you know, click twice with the only button on the mouse) the icon, and, uh... there's no step 3.
Actually, you don't even have to open the app. Just download it and drag it to your folder of choice. The next time you click on a.torrent file, Mac OS X will ask you whether you want to open the file your downloaded app.
Slashdot Mirror
I was really looking forward to this game. It looks awesome, and it was bound to play very well. Unfortunately, playing the demo was one of my biggest disappointments on the PS3 yet. Yes, it's a great game. Yes, it looks gorgeous. But it basically seems to be a linear shooter that plays pretty much like the PS2 versions.
Maybe I had the wrong expectations, but looking at the videos, I was hoping that the gameplay had evolved at least as much as the graphics. I was picturing huge levels and interesting platforming. Instead, you get to run through predefined narrow paths and shoot hundreds of enemies that all look pretty much the same.
If you want a third-person shooter with some platforming, you can't go wrong with R&C. If you loved the PS2 games and want more of the same, buy the thing. If you expected something fresh and innovative, something worthy of this generation, skip it.
I'm not quite sure what to say. You seem to have a very basic misunderstanding of how health care in other countries works. Government health care does not mean that you can't also have private insurance. Actually, in many countries, all insurance is provided by private companies, even if it's... You know what, this will take too long. I'm not going to explain how this works. I'll just tell you that you obviously don't understand how the system works in other countries or how it could be changed in the US, and I'll encourage you to just educate yourself.
Like Resident Evil? I think that sucks and is not a good way to do it. If the doorbell rings and somebody comes over, I don't want to "waste" a save just because I have to stop playing the game. Saving is part of the infrastructure, not part of the game itself.
I don't think it's an age thing. I grew up on a VCS 2600, yet I, too, think A Link to the Past ist he best Zelda ever. I think Super Mario Bros 3 is the best jump-n-run ever (possibly tied with Super Mario World). I think Monkey Island is the best adventure ever. However, I do also think that Mario Kart DS is the best Mario Kart ever. Some games gain from going 3D (car racers). Some games aren't possible in 2D (FPS). But most games quite simply work better in 2D (platformer, puzzle games, side scrollers, RPGs, adventures)...
Yeah, in today's world, it must indeed be shocking to find an organization telling the truth.
Indeed we will :-)
I agree with everything you've said (except that I'm quite sure that more viable consoles are better for consumers - the PS2 lineup of games was one of the most uninspired I've ever seen; now that I own a PS3 and can play all the PS2 games that interest me, I bought a grand total of 16 PS2 games. Already, the Wii and PS3 have provided more interesting stuff in under a year than the PS2 did in all of its life).
I used to think the PS3 would place second. Given what I know now - performance so far, games announced - I now think the PS3 will be this generation's Gamecube: Great first-party support, crappy third-party support. I own a PS3, and I know I'll be a happy owner once Little Big Planet hits. I also don't expect much from EA (what the hell, EA? Skate is the best you can do with framerate?), Activision and other devs, just like I didn't expect much from them when I owned a Cube. I was happy with my Cube due to Nintendo's games, and I'll be happy with the PS3 due to Sony's games, but I have no hopes that the PS3 will be able to compete with the 360 sales-wise.
Most people who play Halo 2 years after it was released are hardcore gamers who bought it the day it came out.
Yeah, time will tell :-)
pretty irrelevant when purchasing a computer.
Another fantastic discovery: if you ignore what somebody said and instead set up a straw man, you can instantly win every discussion! Awesome!
First of all, the insult was quite unneccessary. How old are you? Second, to your point:
There was an NES which played games stored on floppy discs. These games could rewrite their data, so it's very similar to integrated storage; no memory cards needed.
Well, I'm not sure if there ever was a NES with integrated network connectivity, but there were modem add-ons providing connectivity.
I'm not sure whether actual online gaming was available, but there was definitely an online service for the NES in Japan.
Yep, that it had, too.
Yes, but that is very likely a result of their increasing of production capacity, not of stockpiling. I doubt they're stockpiling; otherwise, sales would go down, but they're keeping steady and even increasing a bit world-wide.
Except that it does not. The newer PS3 versions do not even feature backwards compatibility anymore.
If people chose the system they had a large library for, Atari would rule the console market.
Yeah, the PS2 had a bad library for its first year, but it had developer support, and the PS3 does not.
I know it hurts to accept that you've basically wasted 600 bucks. Get over it like the rest of us.
Newsflash: Aforementioned dominance has gone from "waiting to be cracked" to "lying dead and rotting in a gutter." This generation is over for Sony. They can count themselves lucky if they capture 25% of the market this time. In total sales, I doubt they'll even reach 40 millions.
XBL sucks because it costs money. I like to play a few online matches from time to time, but not nearly enough to pay 60 bucks a year for it. It's one of the reasons I don't (yet) own a 360: I would not be able to play any of the games online.
There, I've said it.
Many of the PS2 buyers (a huge number of whom bought it for stuff like SingStar or Buzz) will buy a Wii.
They have said no such thing. What they have said is that the Wii is guaranteed to sell out come Christmas.
1) New Super Mario Bros is the second-best selling Mario game ever
2) Attach Rate on the Wii is higher than on the PS3 and on par with the 360 at the same time in its life span
The whole "new Mario games don't sell" and "Wii owners don't buy games" memes quite simply don't match the actual numbers.
I think Halo 3 will sell 70-80% of its total sales within the first month. That's the usual sales pattern for hardcore FPS. Halo 3 will be sold for 20 bucks within half a year.
Galaxy, on the other hand, will keep selling for the lifespan of the Wii, and will retain its launch price for years.
Given the installed base of the two consoles, and sales histories of the two franchises, I would bet quite a bit of money on Galaxy outselling Halo 3.
I think the PS3 will fail miserably. Not even FF and MGS will be able to save it. And this is a good thing for Sony. The PS3 is like the Virtual Boy, the N64 and the Gamecube all put into one: A healthy shock for a company used to success. I have no idea what Sony will do next gen, but they will definitely not make the same mistakes again.
Microsoft, on the other hand, is screwed. They had the advantage of time, of a games library, and of price, yet the 360 sold not nearly as well as it should have, and they lost a shitload of money. Not sure what they could do better; apart from hardware quality, they did everything right, yet they still did not win the market.
As for Nintendo, who the hell knows what they'll next come up with. I only know three things: It's going to be entertaining, it's going to make them money, and it's going to feature Mario.
The NES had many of these, too. Does that make the NES a current-gen console?
Hint: Generations imply birth (i.e. launch date), not features. The obvious place to draw the line is not a place, but a time.
I've seen them, but it seems you haven't. Zelda, Resi 4, Metroid Prime 3, Super Paper Mario, Madden, WarioWare, Trauma Center, Mario Strikers, Rayman, Wii Sports...
Except that this isn't true at all. The PS3 has what, 4 good exclusive Bluray games (Motorstorm, Resistance, Heavenly Sword, Warhawk) and a bunch of good online titles? The Wii's current lineup simply looks better than the PS3's, and is less hardcore-oriented.
The Gamecube controller was, overall, the second-best "traditional" controller ever released, second only to the Xbox 360 controller (and not by far). The Cube controller is pretty perfect. There are only two things I don't like: The Z-Trigger and the d-pad. Other than that, it's an awesome controller.
They're not built like crap. They're some of the sturdiest controllers I've ever used. My Cube controllers have been thrown against a wall repeatedly (not by me; blame Mario Kart and Super Monkey Ball), and they still work fine.
The buttons aren't random. In fact, the Cube controller is the only controller that uses three different ways to distinguish between buttons: Color, letter and form. When a Cube game prompts you to push a button, it's always immediately obvious which button you should push, because they all look very different from each other.
The C-stick is a normal analog stick and not a button, and you may not realize this, but the L and R triggers are analog, which is awesome for car racing games.
Frankly, I think you haven't spent too much time with a Cube controller. You seem to not have much of a clue about it.
Finally, you don't have to play Smash with the "Remote sideways" set up, so you don't really have a point about that, either.
You're being ironic, but the funny thing is that you're right. I just bought Undercover (not yet out in the US, so linking to amazon.de) and Touch Detective 2 1/2 for my DS, adding to a number of point-and-click adventures I already own for that system.
:-)
There's an actuall point-and-click adventure revival going on on the Nintendo DS. If you haven't already, check out Trace Memory, Touch Detective 1, Hotel Dusk: Room 215, or any of the Phoenix Wright games for the DS. Have fun
Adding 3D to adventures was a cost-cutting measure and had nothing to do with the featuritis you rightly complain about.
What do you mean by "get to work"? There's nothing to "get to work" there. Just download any client (use google or go to macupdate.com and search for bittorrent if you can't find one), double-click (you know, click twice with the only button on the mouse) the icon, and, uh... there's no step 3.
Actually, you don't even have to open the app. Just download it and drag it to your folder of choice. The next time you click on a .torrent file, Mac OS X will ask you whether you want to open the file your downloaded app.