Yeah, those damn Microsoft fanboys on Slashdot. Slashdot is a total freaking Microsoft fan site. I mean, even the Bill Gates icon is total badass, while Nintendo only gets a stupid outdated Gameboy. I just love how there are always tons of pro-Microsoft comments, while Apple, Linux and everyone else get bashed to death.
Seriously though, complaining about Microsoft fanboys on/. is pretty desperate. Did you ever stop to consider that Sony might be bashed because they are doing an unbelievable amount of stupid shit lately?
I take it you don't play racing games. I'm happy rumble is back, if only for GT. Playing GT without rumble just plain sucks, especially using cockpit view. You need rumble to feel the borders of the road.
There are many games that really profit from force feedback. Honestly, Wii Tennis would not have been half as cool if you couldnt feel the ball hit the rack. Games like skate could profit from rumble by giving you more feedback about where your skateboard is. Sometimes it's hard to see wheter you're still grinding; rumble could help a lot (maybe it does on the 360 version, I've only played the PS3 demo). In FPS, it sometimes helps to notice that you've been hit.
Seriously, rumble is an important feature of many games.
I am giving Sony credit for fighting Immersion. They are not exactly a patent troll (they actually do have real products), but their rumble patent is still crap. Sony could have caved in and coughed up, just like Microsoft, and they didn't. They lost, but at least they tried.
I am, however, subtracting some of Sony's credit for lying about it to us. And I'm subtracting some more for not winning against Immersion. So they end up back at zero:-)
As far as games go, the Dreamcast had (and still has!) an impressive library of games. Compared to its short lifespan, probably one of the best libraries of any console.
And I'd say it's exclusively because the price point is where it's not a huge deal to get one
If that was the "exclusive" reason, people would only buy Tiger LCD games for their gaming needs. No, there are many reasons why the Wii is a success. Price is one of them, but only one of them.
while the other two you have to budget for. I'm fairly certain thats the case because the Wii commercials are pretty dumb.
Yeah, because in bizarro world, showing people who have fun playing with your product is dumb advertising, while showing chicks on a toilet is intelligent advertising.
All of the consoles are Game Consoles first and foremost, really.
In what sense? If I turn on my PS3, all the media stuff is in the crossbar before the gaming stuff. The PS3 ads don't emphasize gaming. Sony constantly rolls out new media stuff, for example allowing the PSP to play media stored on the PS3. Personally, I sometimes use my the PS3 as a DVD player since it has a pretty good upscaler.
Sure, it's a gaming machine, but "first and foremost" seems debatable.
The PS3 is a neat console, but personally, I think the media stuff is dilluting the message. On the other hand, with the lack of games on it, there's not a lot of gaming stuff Sony could advertise.
What's causing the whole Wii boom for me is, as you said in your last sentence, is the comparatively low price and the fun controller.
I think it's simpler. What's causing the Wii boom is Wii Sports. There's no other game that anyone can play, and everyone wants to play. Everyone I've shown Wii Sports to has gone from "Oh, I don't play games, I'm not good at it" to "Wow, where can I get this?"
In the case of gmail it might be because the current UI is shitty.
Except that it's the best mail UI ever devised. I have actually switched from my "real" mail client to using gmail exclusively. I love the "keep everything in one folder, tag it and search" approach. Much better than dozens of folders with filters. I love how threaded mails are displayed; I always know what people are replying to. Oh, and search is fast.
Furthermore, they don't try to create a "real" app inside the browser, instead concentrating on making an awesome "web app." Yahoo recreates a "real" application inside the browser. So you've got tons of buttons and drag and drop and folders and all that crap, all of which makes the application slow, and doesn't really help you get your stuff done. Google has the right idea: It's a browser, make it a great web app, not a shitty copy of a "real" app.
Pray tell, what is so shitty about the current gmail UI?
Also, the game would be pretty boring if your character could easily destroy all oponents with the flick of your wrist. Although... Steven Seagal's fighting style would make a pretty good Wii game!
On the one hand, I would have preferred a stand-alone classic controller, too. On the other hand, the classic controller costs 20 euros, and the PS3 controller costs 50 euros. For 30 euros, I'm willing to put up with hooking it to the Remote. Just put the Wii Remote in your pocket, that's what I do.
Super Paper Mario is one of the games that might have used the classic controller, but in my opinion, it's also one of the games that works really well with the Remote. Playing it actually feels a bit like playing Super Mario Bros. on the NES...
Finally, I have to disagree on the FPS. The currently available Wii FPS are mostly attrocious, but even so, I actually prefer control of even the most crappy games like Far Cry to the dual analog controls. FPS will be the Wii's biggest success.
I actually switched from an Ubuntu box running MythTV to the Mac mini. I lost the DVR, but I live in Europe, so we get all the good shows a year later anyways, which means I never actually used it once the novelty wore off... I never tried to use the MythTV frontend with the mouse, I had a keyboard hooked up to it.
And yeah, TVs with built-in sensor bars would be neat. It's not like it would be a whole lot of work, and the size of the built-in sensor bar could be adapted to the size of the TV screen.
Well, it's not that I can't play these games on my Mac (except for Grim Fandango). It's just that I love them so much that 1) I'd gladly buy them again, and buy copies for all of my friends, and 2) they would be perfect for the DS or Wii control scheme. Playing SCUMM games with a Gamepad just feels wrong.
Well, it knows the direction you're pointing it to (even without the sensor bar), and it knows the direction and speed you're moving it to. If you start out assuming that the player holds the controller in his hand, you can probably get a pretty acurate representation of what the player is actually doing.
I don't really care. I'll buy this thing solely for the duel mode.
As for GP's comment: Yes, please, Lucas Arts. Where's Monkey Island? The Dig? Indy? DotT? Loom? Full Throttle? Grim Fandango? Those games are perfect for the Wii (or the DS, for that matter). Also, resurrect all the cancelled ports. Thanks!
It's an extremely impressive device. Oh, and if you can get a sensor bar (third party models exist), there are drivers to get Wiimotes working on PCs, albeit experimentally at the moment. In the medium term I can see PC games being released that support them.
I actually use Remote Buddy to control my Mac mini (which is hooked up to my HD beamer) with a Wii remote. It's become my main media box (think TVShows and remote-controlled iTunes via Chicken of the VNC) and gaming console (think MAME). The Wii Remote + Mac mini combination is simply awesome.
What GP is saying is that games are too unpredictable to rank players, and if you impose restrictions, ranked matches become too specific. If you've ever played a Smash Bros game, you'll know that there are different game types, dozens of different items, vastly different characters (some of which are generally not allowed in competitions) and playstyles, and extremely different levels (some of them even scroll or turn). You can be a great Smash Bros player under specific settings, and suck under different settings.
Nintendo could rank gamers, and fights would be just as unbalanced as they are unranked.
Well, he probably does suck, but he's still right:-)
I usually win in Melee. I'm a lot better than my friends. But I'd say in about 1 out of 5 matches, I get destroyed. There's a random element in Melee that can really turn a battle around, and allow bad players to remain somewhat competitive.
As far as controllers go, I think Nintendo had the right idea: Make the Wand the main controller, but allow other controllers to be plugged into it. I hope the next gen consoles ship a standard/classic controller along with the Wand controller for those games that make no sense with the Wand. I understand why Nintendo was forced to not include a classic controller - otherwise, most devs would simply have used that one.
At the end of this gen, "Wand" control will be more established, and consoles can go back to coming with a "normal" controller.
The PS2 is an extreme example(and I seriously doubt the Xbox360 will do as well), but it does show that a console can potentially hang in there to survive against the following generation for a while.
I think the "winning" console has always managed to hang on a lot longer, on some cases (such as the VCS 2600 or the Game Boy) even surviving the next generation of consoles.
By "same audience," he probably meant something like "gamers who are somewhat serious about their hobbies, read online reviews, and don't buy Madden every year." I'd say that a fair amount of the people who are interested in BioShock will also be interested in Mass Effect, because they are both important "gamer's games."
Yeah. I would bet that as of now, over 90% of all Vista users are using Vista because that's what their computer came with.
The people visiting w3schools.com are less likely than average to just go what their computer came with, and are more likely than average to buy computers specifically to avoid Vista. However, probably not much more, so there's still some validity to the stats.
I don't know why people keep listening to them. Time and time again, they report margins of >50%, and time and time again Apple reports their usual margins of 20-35%.
I won't ever tell someone they are dumb for not buying a console, but if their sole reason for not buying a console is simply because of the manufacturer....that is plain silly to me.
Why? People constantly say that we "consumers" should vote with our wallets. If we want our world to improve, it's obvious that we should support positive action, as well as good products. Frankly, games are a luxury. I don't need them to survive. How is it silly to base your purchases, especially of a non-essential item like a console, on how a company behaves, as well as on the product itself?
Slashdot Mirror
Yeah, those damn Microsoft fanboys on Slashdot. Slashdot is a total freaking Microsoft fan site. I mean, even the Bill Gates icon is total badass, while Nintendo only gets a stupid outdated Gameboy. I just love how there are always tons of pro-Microsoft comments, while Apple, Linux and everyone else get bashed to death.
/. is pretty desperate. Did you ever stop to consider that Sony might be bashed because they are doing an unbelievable amount of stupid shit lately?
Seriously though, complaining about Microsoft fanboys on
I take it you don't play racing games. I'm happy rumble is back, if only for GT. Playing GT without rumble just plain sucks, especially using cockpit view. You need rumble to feel the borders of the road.
There are many games that really profit from force feedback. Honestly, Wii Tennis would not have been half as cool if you couldnt feel the ball hit the rack. Games like skate could profit from rumble by giving you more feedback about where your skateboard is. Sometimes it's hard to see wheter you're still grinding; rumble could help a lot (maybe it does on the 360 version, I've only played the PS3 demo). In FPS, it sometimes helps to notice that you've been hit.
Seriously, rumble is an important feature of many games.
I am giving Sony credit for fighting Immersion. They are not exactly a patent troll (they actually do have real products), but their rumble patent is still crap. Sony could have caved in and coughed up, just like Microsoft, and they didn't. They lost, but at least they tried.
:-)
I am, however, subtracting some of Sony's credit for lying about it to us. And I'm subtracting some more for not winning against Immersion. So they end up back at zero
As far as games go, the Dreamcast had (and still has!) an impressive library of games. Compared to its short lifespan, probably one of the best libraries of any console.
If that was the "exclusive" reason, people would only buy Tiger LCD games for their gaming needs. No, there are many reasons why the Wii is a success. Price is one of them, but only one of them.
while the other two you have to budget for. I'm fairly certain thats the case because the Wii commercials are pretty dumb.Yeah, because in bizarro world, showing people who have fun playing with your product is dumb advertising, while showing chicks on a toilet is intelligent advertising.
In what sense? If I turn on my PS3, all the media stuff is in the crossbar before the gaming stuff. The PS3 ads don't emphasize gaming. Sony constantly rolls out new media stuff, for example allowing the PSP to play media stored on the PS3. Personally, I sometimes use my the PS3 as a DVD player since it has a pretty good upscaler.
Sure, it's a gaming machine, but "first and foremost" seems debatable.
The PS3 is a neat console, but personally, I think the media stuff is dilluting the message. On the other hand, with the lack of games on it, there's not a lot of gaming stuff Sony could advertise.
I think it's simpler. What's causing the Wii boom is Wii Sports. There's no other game that anyone can play, and everyone wants to play. Everyone I've shown Wii Sports to has gone from "Oh, I don't play games, I'm not good at it" to "Wow, where can I get this?"
Except that it's the best mail UI ever devised. I have actually switched from my "real" mail client to using gmail exclusively. I love the "keep everything in one folder, tag it and search" approach. Much better than dozens of folders with filters. I love how threaded mails are displayed; I always know what people are replying to. Oh, and search is fast.
Furthermore, they don't try to create a "real" app inside the browser, instead concentrating on making an awesome "web app." Yahoo recreates a "real" application inside the browser. So you've got tons of buttons and drag and drop and folders and all that crap, all of which makes the application slow, and doesn't really help you get your stuff done. Google has the right idea: It's a browser, make it a great web app, not a shitty copy of a "real" app.
Pray tell, what is so shitty about the current gmail UI?
Also, the game would be pretty boring if your character could easily destroy all oponents with the flick of your wrist. Although... Steven Seagal's fighting style would make a pretty good Wii game!
On the one hand, I would have preferred a stand-alone classic controller, too. On the other hand, the classic controller costs 20 euros, and the PS3 controller costs 50 euros. For 30 euros, I'm willing to put up with hooking it to the Remote. Just put the Wii Remote in your pocket, that's what I do.
Super Paper Mario is one of the games that might have used the classic controller, but in my opinion, it's also one of the games that works really well with the Remote. Playing it actually feels a bit like playing Super Mario Bros. on the NES...
Finally, I have to disagree on the FPS. The currently available Wii FPS are mostly attrocious, but even so, I actually prefer control of even the most crappy games like Far Cry to the dual analog controls. FPS will be the Wii's biggest success.
I actually switched from an Ubuntu box running MythTV to the Mac mini. I lost the DVR, but I live in Europe, so we get all the good shows a year later anyways, which means I never actually used it once the novelty wore off... I never tried to use the MythTV frontend with the mouse, I had a keyboard hooked up to it.
And yeah, TVs with built-in sensor bars would be neat. It's not like it would be a whole lot of work, and the size of the built-in sensor bar could be adapted to the size of the TV screen.
Well, it's not that I can't play these games on my Mac (except for Grim Fandango). It's just that I love them so much that 1) I'd gladly buy them again, and buy copies for all of my friends, and 2) they would be perfect for the DS or Wii control scheme. Playing SCUMM games with a Gamepad just feels wrong.
Well, it knows the direction you're pointing it to (even without the sensor bar), and it knows the direction and speed you're moving it to. If you start out assuming that the player holds the controller in his hand, you can probably get a pretty acurate representation of what the player is actually doing.
I don't really care. I'll buy this thing solely for the duel mode.
As for GP's comment: Yes, please, Lucas Arts. Where's Monkey Island? The Dig? Indy? DotT? Loom? Full Throttle? Grim Fandango? Those games are perfect for the Wii (or the DS, for that matter). Also, resurrect all the cancelled ports. Thanks!
The funny part is that you did move your sword 1:1, except when you slashed at the opponent :-(
It's an extremely impressive device. Oh, and if you can get a sensor bar (third party models exist), there are drivers to get Wiimotes working on PCs, albeit experimentally at the moment. In the medium term I can see PC games being released that support them.
I actually use Remote Buddy to control my Mac mini (which is hooked up to my HD beamer) with a Wii remote. It's become my main media box (think TVShows and remote-controlled iTunes via Chicken of the VNC) and gaming console (think MAME). The Wii Remote + Mac mini combination is simply awesome.
Okay. You're wrong.
No, it's not, but pretty close.
So, why don't you go and play a few Wii games (Wii Sports comes to mind) instead of making wrong assumptions on /.?
What GP is saying is that games are too unpredictable to rank players, and if you impose restrictions, ranked matches become too specific. If you've ever played a Smash Bros game, you'll know that there are different game types, dozens of different items, vastly different characters (some of which are generally not allowed in competitions) and playstyles, and extremely different levels (some of them even scroll or turn). You can be a great Smash Bros player under specific settings, and suck under different settings.
Nintendo could rank gamers, and fights would be just as unbalanced as they are unranked.
Well, he probably does suck, but he's still right :-)
I usually win in Melee. I'm a lot better than my friends. But I'd say in about 1 out of 5 matches, I get destroyed. There's a random element in Melee that can really turn a battle around, and allow bad players to remain somewhat competitive.
As far as controllers go, I think Nintendo had the right idea: Make the Wand the main controller, but allow other controllers to be plugged into it. I hope the next gen consoles ship a standard/classic controller along with the Wand controller for those games that make no sense with the Wand. I understand why Nintendo was forced to not include a classic controller - otherwise, most devs would simply have used that one.
At the end of this gen, "Wand" control will be more established, and consoles can go back to coming with a "normal" controller.
I think the "winning" console has always managed to hang on a lot longer, on some cases (such as the VCS 2600 or the Game Boy) even surviving the next generation of consoles.
By "same audience," he probably meant something like "gamers who are somewhat serious about their hobbies, read online reviews, and don't buy Madden every year." I'd say that a fair amount of the people who are interested in BioShock will also be interested in Mass Effect, because they are both important "gamer's games."
Yeah. I would bet that as of now, over 90% of all Vista users are using Vista because that's what their computer came with.
The people visiting w3schools.com are less likely than average to just go what their computer came with, and are more likely than average to buy computers specifically to avoid Vista. However, probably not much more, so there's still some validity to the stats.
Apple's margin reports don't factor in R&D and marketing, either.
I don't know why people keep listening to them. Time and time again, they report margins of >50%, and time and time again Apple reports their usual margins of 20-35%.
Why? People constantly say that we "consumers" should vote with our wallets. If we want our world to improve, it's obvious that we should support positive action, as well as good products. Frankly, games are a luxury. I don't need them to survive. How is it silly to base your purchases, especially of a non-essential item like a console, on how a company behaves, as well as on the product itself?