When I was studying journalism in college, the answer was, "Speed is more important, provided you are accurate." In other words, you have to get the scoop and get it right.
Well, that was the answer that was spoken out loud. The truth is really that speed is far more important that accuracy, no matter what medium you're talking about. We have an insatiable appetite for news and information, and we would prefer to know that SOMETHING, ANYTHING, is going on right now, and you can fill us in on details as they become available.
Now, there is the nagging suspicion that if one is continuously inaccurate, one's viewership/readership will suffer. Bloggers have to overcome this obstacle as much as more traditional media.
Of course, if you're always the last one to break the story, it doesn't matter how accurate you are...nobody will be reading you to find out.
I like Nintendo, and I like the GBA. However, developing software ports for proprietary systems is pricey, and seldom done unless you can prove profitability...or unless you are a hobbyist. In either case, I don't think we're going to see a lot of non-NES classic games getting ported.
That said, why not just re-release 'em on the PC? Truth be told, in many cases, somebody's already done the work of porting the game to some emulator or other. If I'm Bob's Software Company, author of the Sega Master System classic "Spork Wars," I would just find the person doing the emulation and say, "Ok, I don't have a problem with you releasing this game. Have fun!"
Unless you are re-releasing an absolute classic like The Legend of Zelda, you are not gonna make enough money on the re-release to make it worth your while. Therefore, it's not gonna get released on a platform such as GBA. Therefore, the "nice" thing to do is just let people have fun with emulators.
Take the open-ended gameplay and post-apocalyptic atmosphere of Fallout, add the skill-based semi-RPG characteristics of the original Zelda, and you've got this game. Could very well turn out to be a sleeper hit.
I like the way that Zelda allowed you to progress in an open-ended style as far as your skill allowed you to go. You could skip the extra heart containers, more powerful swords and the rings if you were really hardcore.
Agreed about Church. Underworld was seminal, and I would be shocked if nobody ever made another sequel. That game was amazingly immersing...same goes for System Shock, I think.
I'm quite excited just to see Miyamoto. Glad you posted that this event is happening; I live right up in Mt. Pleasant so I may have to come down for it.
Sure, I know what you mean. I hung out on the SWG boards for a year or more, I beta tested, I signed up for a year and played the game pretty hardcore for awhile.
But in the end, the problem for me was that all the really exciting parts of Star Wars had to do with either grand battles or being a hero, and you have trouble doing that in an MMO.
Frankly, I get far more enjoyment playing Unreal Tournament and pretending to be part of an army fighting to capture power nodes than I did in weeks upon weeks of roleplaying and crafting and exploration in SWG. After awhile, all those beautiful trees and sand dunes and creatures just became eye candy with no real excitement or sense of accomplishment beyond grinding and the occasional interaction. And I find that I feel more interaction with members of a random team playing a round of Onslaught.
"All the wheel spinning about the superiority of this platform or that platform just boils down to the fun side of computing: games. No other single factor is so skewed."
I never upgrade my computer for any other purpose than to be able to play the latest games. And it seems that many Linux fans keep a Windoze box around just for gaming.
The MMO is a good format for a game, but it is not always the BEST way to get large numbers of people playing together at one time. MMOs are best-suited to worlds where there is little or no prexisting fiction, where players themselves create the epic battles--like the recent Everquest adventure when players banded together to kill an unkillable monster.
Part of the problem with games like SWG is that everybody wanted to play as Boba Fett, or Luke Skywalker, or Han Solo. Nobody wanted to play as Stormtrooper #4 or Rebel Soldier #17 or Young Shopkeeper or Man on Bantha.
The action revolves around a few heroes. Why should players go through the trouble of inventing backstory and drama and their own adventures when those things have already been created for them?
IMHO, if the same framework for SWG had been used as the framework for an anonymous Sci-Fi MMO, with none of the trappings of Star Wars, I think it would have been more successful. There are GREAT tools in that game for creating communities, for making up your own adventures, for running a fun, playable world.
But when everybody knows that the "greatest" adventures have already been had--the Battle of Yavin, etc.--there's no incentive to try to do better, because the fiction has already established that it can't be done. In this situation, then, the fiction turns out to be a limiting factor, not a building one.
"Thank for being to fly with us today! Happy! Are we to join you in this service to be your continued enjoyment! Isn't you the joyful? Coming with us to the skies of friendly ancestors!"
I met a gentleman as I was going through orientation at my current job who had gone off to work at odd jobs for a few years after having a sort of "Office Space" epiphany. He was tired of the bureaucracy, the mind games, the control issues, and just wanted to go do good, honest work.
He has since come back to working in the business world, which is why he now works for my company. Why? Well, he discovered that as an "odd job" laborer:
You have to work HARD.
You make no money.
You have no benefits.
You still have to deal with pompous, overbearing individuals who think they know, when in fact, they do not.
You do not get vacations.
Now given, YMMV, but I have found that the key to job happiness is having a good balance of expectations versus fulfillment. 3 years ago, when my expecations of employment were "I want a pool table, I want to go drinking every night with my coworkers, I want to work 80-hour weeks and be an IPO millionaire," I would have been miserable at my current job. The place is kinda corporate, after all. We have cubes, and use buzzwords, and there are "are you giving good customer service?" banners hanging up.
But now, what I want in a job includes things like vacation time, a chance to play with some fun technologies, good money, and a job that I can come in, do, and get outta here as quickly as possible. So now my job is a lot more fulfilling, partially because I found a different job, and partially because I modified my expectations.
If you are really miserable at your job, by all means, go elsewhere. I certainly did. But be prepared to take a good look at yourself and consider that part of the problem may lie with you.
My first job out of college was from a recruiter who found my resume on Monster. The job after that was from a company who found my resume on Monster. My most recent job was actually due to a recruiter finding an 8-month-old resume on Dice, then placing me at my current job.
I have had virtually no success in directly contacting potential employers from their listings on online sites. On the other hand, I have had great success at companies and recruiters contacting ME from my resume being posted.
If nothing else, it doesn't hurt to leave your resume up there (while you're actively looking). You never know who might stumble upon it. YMMV.
I notice that, in many cases, more recent games are winning out over the older classics. I suspect that the target demographic of this poll has something to do with this...Perfect Dark with more votes than Prince of Persia? Hmm...
Pepsi and Apple Computer would like to remind you that attempting to circumvent our patented "CapTron" technology is a violation of the DMCA, and will be prosecuted as such.
You know what...I might have found it...I think it was Ark Area. Klov.com says it was a Japan-only release, but I can't find ANY other game that matches...
Based on my memories of it, 1987 seems about right for the graphical quality of the screenshots that I see, and I probably would've been going to arcades around the age of 9 or so, with supervision, and I remember my folks being there with me. And it seems like almost EVERY other game is either a sideways or a vertical scroller. Based on the screenshots, it seems like there is some movement in every direction. And the graphics of the first level seem consistent with what I remember...
I guess I have a date with MAME tonight.:) Take that, UT2K4!
No, it wasn't Xevious. Xevious was a top-scrolling shooter; this game was free-scrolling in all directions, which is part of what I thought made it pretty cool. It was similar to Zone 66 for the PC...
The driving game, the shooting game, and the fighting game.:)
We have a D&B near me. Don't get me wrong, it's a good time. I love being able to have a beer while I'm playing video games. But it sure isn't like the arcades of my youth. My dad used to take me to the Space Port and let me play; I had to stand on a little metal stool to reach the controls.
Times have changed. Now, if you look at the business model, you see pretty clearly that: Video games = too expensive to have high-quality in your house, therefore put them in a public space where they can be played by anybody for a fee. In a way, arcades are the descendants of libraries.
Now, however, the quality of the game in an arcade is only on-par with what can be done at home. The business model needs to be updated to take advantage of that by, as has been said, offering VR experiences and multiplayer experiences that cannot be found at home.
I, for one, would love to go to D&B or any arcade somewhere if they had some sort of LAN-party setup where I could play UT2K3 or some such against people I could actually see and talk to in person. In fact, one of my favorite current arcade games is Galaxian 3, which is a multi-player rail shooter with about 6 people playing at once. I would also love to go to an arcade if I found more gametypes that were a little more innovative than just shooting things, punching things, or driving around things.
Offtopic: Does anybody remember a very obscure '80s game that involved a top-down perspective of a spaceship that moved at a fixed speed forward and could be rotated to the left or right, over a landscape where you could both bomb stuff on the ground and shoot down ships in the air? I used to LOVE that game back in the day, and I have no idea what it was...
I have used several different cable modem providers, all of which have been lacking in one way or another. Speakeasy, on the other hand, does static IPs, is server-friendly, and treats DSL like phone service--an always-on necessity--rather than like cable television, which is handled as an entertainment service. If you can get DSL, do so.
I was absolutely blown-away by how much better the extended edition of FOTR was compared to the already excellent theatrical version...the extra scenes added so much depth to the movie. In fact, I wasn't really all that excited when TTT came out in theaters. I will be watching the extended DVD of TTT with my geeky family this Thanksgiving holiday, for sure. In reading about the stuff that got cut, I'm already pretty pumped for the ROTK extended edition.
Again, this is exactly the problem I'm talking about...when I say "web developer" I don't mean somebody with a copy of HTML for Dummies and MS Paint. I mean, somebody who is a sysadmin, netadmin, graphic designer, information architect, programmer, tech guru, animator, copywriter, marketer, interface designer, etc. etc. etc. and is skilled at all these things. Am I just using the wrong terminology in describing what I do for a living?
Part of the problem IS that the term "web developer" is so broad.:)
My biz card says "Sr. Web Developer" on it. That means that my main job involves HTML/JavaScript/Flash work. But I also do Perl/PHP/shell scripting on FreeBSD, tweak Apache and IIS (unfortunately), I'm learning Java, I do graphic design, copywriting, the odd ASP/JSP/CFM work. And sysadmin stuff. And netadmin stuff. You see what I'm getting at?
I'm not some Geocities/FrontPage poseur; I learned to build pages with Notepad and Photoshop 3.0, and I've taught myself 95% of what I know from O'Reilly books and Webmonkey. And I've been gainfully employed in my field since 2000, with the exception of 4 days this past March, which is how long it took me to find a new job./. is great, don't get me wrong, but there HAS to be something more organized out there for other people like me.
If I were just a "programmer" and worked for IBM or Lockheed-Martin and spent all day living in a cube farm and writing C++, I'd join IEEE and that would be that...I'll check out the ACM for starters.
Technically, the Star Wars Christmas Special would be the first time any of the major characters were animated (Boba Fett), although it was just a one-time thing, not a series. Don't forget that Ewok Adventures also ran at the same time as Droids.
Don't give me "well, just use GIMP or WordPerfect or something." I don't WANT to use GIMP, I want to use Photoshop.
Don't give me "well, just run WINE." I don't WANT to use WINE, I want the apps to run natively.
I will run Linux, full-time, all the time, when I can get native versions of the following apps:
Photoshop Dreamweaver Fireworks Imageready H omesite Flash Visio Word Excel
The last three, I'll accept something that will at least allow me to seamlessly interact with their file formats, as I doubt MS is likely to produce Linux versions of Office anytime soon...I'm almost surprised that they have a Mac version.
I like Linux. It's a good OS, and a good concept.
I don't use my computer to feel good about my OS. I use it to work, or to play.
Which reminds me...until native versions of popular games, like Star Wars Galaxies, Half-Life, Warcraft, and the like, come out for Linux, I will ALWAYS have some kind of box running whatever OS those games will run on.
Sorry folks. Those are the rules if you want Linux to transition effectively from a "hobby" OS to a "mainstream" OS.
I enjoyed the game. I have heard a lot of negative opinions, particularly from other beta testers, but I truly believe it is squeaky-wheel syndrome. I know many other people, including beta testers, who enjoyed this game.
It's not a perfect game, but I found it to be consistently fun and immersive. I'm not a hardcore MMORPGer, and in fact this is my first MMORPG, but I'm excited about it. Don't let the naysayers dominate; this game is ready for launch. IMHO.
I'm surprised that Wil hasn't been on "Where Are They Now?" on VH1. It's absolutely amazing how hardcore-trekkers reviled him in yesteryear, and everybody else essentially ignored him. And here he is, a Slashdot regular. You gotta take your hat off to the guy...not everybody gets a second chance.
Slashdot Mirror
When I was studying journalism in college, the answer was, "Speed is more important, provided you are accurate." In other words, you have to get the scoop and get it right.
Well, that was the answer that was spoken out loud. The truth is really that speed is far more important that accuracy, no matter what medium you're talking about. We have an insatiable appetite for news and information, and we would prefer to know that SOMETHING, ANYTHING, is going on right now, and you can fill us in on details as they become available.
Now, there is the nagging suspicion that if one is continuously inaccurate, one's viewership/readership will suffer. Bloggers have to overcome this obstacle as much as more traditional media.
Of course, if you're always the last one to break the story, it doesn't matter how accurate you are...nobody will be reading you to find out.
I like Nintendo, and I like the GBA. However, developing software ports for proprietary systems is pricey, and seldom done unless you can prove profitability...or unless you are a hobbyist. In either case, I don't think we're going to see a lot of non-NES classic games getting ported.
That said, why not just re-release 'em on the PC? Truth be told, in many cases, somebody's already done the work of porting the game to some emulator or other. If I'm Bob's Software Company, author of the Sega Master System classic "Spork Wars," I would just find the person doing the emulation and say, "Ok, I don't have a problem with you releasing this game. Have fun!"
Unless you are re-releasing an absolute classic like The Legend of Zelda, you are not gonna make enough money on the re-release to make it worth your while. Therefore, it's not gonna get released on a platform such as GBA. Therefore, the "nice" thing to do is just let people have fun with emulators.
Take the open-ended gameplay and post-apocalyptic atmosphere of Fallout, add the skill-based semi-RPG characteristics of the original Zelda, and you've got this game. Could very well turn out to be a sleeper hit.
I like the way that Zelda allowed you to progress in an open-ended style as far as your skill allowed you to go. You could skip the extra heart containers, more powerful swords and the rings if you were really hardcore.
Agreed about Church. Underworld was seminal, and I would be shocked if nobody ever made another sequel. That game was amazingly immersing...same goes for System Shock, I think.
I'm quite excited just to see Miyamoto. Glad you posted that this event is happening; I live right up in Mt. Pleasant so I may have to come down for it.
Sure, I know what you mean. I hung out on the SWG boards for a year or more, I beta tested, I signed up for a year and played the game pretty hardcore for awhile.
But in the end, the problem for me was that all the really exciting parts of Star Wars had to do with either grand battles or being a hero, and you have trouble doing that in an MMO.
Frankly, I get far more enjoyment playing Unreal Tournament and pretending to be part of an army fighting to capture power nodes than I did in weeks upon weeks of roleplaying and crafting and exploration in SWG. After awhile, all those beautiful trees and sand dunes and creatures just became eye candy with no real excitement or sense of accomplishment beyond grinding and the occasional interaction. And I find that I feel more interaction with members of a random team playing a round of Onslaught.
From
John C. Dvorak's recent column in PC Magazine:
"All the wheel spinning about the superiority of this platform or that platform just boils down to the fun side of computing: games. No other single factor is so skewed."
I never upgrade my computer for any other purpose than to be able to play the latest games. And it seems that many Linux fans keep a Windoze box around just for gaming.
The MMO is a good format for a game, but it is not always the BEST way to get large numbers of people playing together at one time. MMOs are best-suited to worlds where there is little or no prexisting fiction, where players themselves create the epic battles--like the recent Everquest adventure when players banded together to kill an unkillable monster.
Part of the problem with games like SWG is that everybody wanted to play as Boba Fett, or Luke Skywalker, or Han Solo. Nobody wanted to play as Stormtrooper #4 or Rebel Soldier #17 or Young Shopkeeper or Man on Bantha.
The action revolves around a few heroes. Why should players go through the trouble of inventing backstory and drama and their own adventures when those things have already been created for them?
IMHO, if the same framework for SWG had been used as the framework for an anonymous Sci-Fi MMO, with none of the trappings of Star Wars, I think it would have been more successful. There are GREAT tools in that game for creating communities, for making up your own adventures, for running a fun, playable world.
But when everybody knows that the "greatest" adventures have already been had--the Battle of Yavin, etc.--there's no incentive to try to do better, because the fiction has already established that it can't be done. In this situation, then, the fiction turns out to be a limiting factor, not a building one.
"Thank for being to fly with us today! Happy! Are we to join you in this service to be your continued enjoyment! Isn't you the joyful? Coming with us to the skies of friendly ancestors!"
He has since come back to working in the business world, which is why he now works for my company. Why? Well, he discovered that as an "odd job" laborer:
You have to work HARD.
You make no money.
You have no benefits.
You still have to deal with pompous, overbearing individuals who think they know, when in fact, they do not.
You do not get vacations.
Now given, YMMV, but I have found that the key to job happiness is having a good balance of expectations versus fulfillment. 3 years ago, when my expecations of employment were "I want a pool table, I want to go drinking every night with my coworkers, I want to work 80-hour weeks and be an IPO millionaire," I would have been miserable at my current job. The place is kinda corporate, after all. We have cubes, and use buzzwords, and there are "are you giving good customer service?" banners hanging up.
But now, what I want in a job includes things like vacation time, a chance to play with some fun technologies, good money, and a job that I can come in, do, and get outta here as quickly as possible. So now my job is a lot more fulfilling, partially because I found a different job, and partially because I modified my expectations.
If you are really miserable at your job, by all means, go elsewhere. I certainly did. But be prepared to take a good look at yourself and consider that part of the problem may lie with you.
And so the great Nerd Riots of 2004 were prevented, and Peter Jackson took the Oscar into the West.
My first job out of college was from a recruiter who found my resume on Monster. The job after that was from a company who found my resume on Monster. My most recent job was actually due to a recruiter finding an 8-month-old resume on Dice, then placing me at my current job.
I have had virtually no success in directly contacting potential employers from their listings on online sites. On the other hand, I have had great success at companies and recruiters contacting ME from my resume being posted.
If nothing else, it doesn't hurt to leave your resume up there (while you're actively looking). You never know who might stumble upon it. YMMV.
I notice that, in many cases, more recent games are winning out over the older classics. I suspect that the target demographic of this poll has something to do with this...Perfect Dark with more votes than Prince of Persia? Hmm...
Pepsi and Apple Computer would like to remind you that attempting to circumvent our patented "CapTron" technology is a violation of the DMCA, and will be prosecuted as such.
You know what...I might have found it...I think it was Ark Area. Klov.com says it was a Japan-only release, but I can't find ANY other game that matches...
:) Take that, UT2K4!
Based on my memories of it, 1987 seems about right for the graphical quality of the screenshots that I see, and I probably would've been going to arcades around the age of 9 or so, with supervision, and I remember my folks being there with me. And it seems like almost EVERY other game is either a sideways or a vertical scroller. Based on the screenshots, it seems like there is some movement in every direction. And the graphics of the first level seem consistent with what I remember...
I guess I have a date with MAME tonight.
No, it wasn't Xevious. Xevious was a top-scrolling shooter; this game was free-scrolling in all directions, which is part of what I thought made it pretty cool. It was similar to Zone 66 for the PC...
The driving game, the shooting game, and the fighting game. :)
We have a D&B near me. Don't get me wrong, it's a good time. I love being able to have a beer while I'm playing video games. But it sure isn't like the arcades of my youth. My dad used to take me to the Space Port and let me play; I had to stand on a little metal stool to reach the controls.
Times have changed. Now, if you look at the business model, you see pretty clearly that: Video games = too expensive to have high-quality in your house, therefore put them in a public space where they can be played by anybody for a fee. In a way, arcades are the descendants of libraries.
Now, however, the quality of the game in an arcade is only on-par with what can be done at home. The business model needs to be updated to take advantage of that by, as has been said, offering VR experiences and multiplayer experiences that cannot be found at home.
I, for one, would love to go to D&B or any arcade somewhere if they had some sort of LAN-party setup where I could play UT2K3 or some such against people I could actually see and talk to in person. In fact, one of my favorite current arcade games is Galaxian 3, which is a multi-player rail shooter with about 6 people playing at once. I would also love to go to an arcade if I found more gametypes that were a little more innovative than just shooting things, punching things, or driving around things.
Offtopic: Does anybody remember a very obscure '80s game that involved a top-down perspective of a spaceship that moved at a fixed speed forward and could be rotated to the left or right, over a landscape where you could both bomb stuff on the ground and shoot down ships in the air? I used to LOVE that game back in the day, and I have no idea what it was...
I have used several different cable modem providers, all of which have been lacking in one way or another. Speakeasy, on the other hand, does static IPs, is server-friendly, and treats DSL like phone service--an always-on necessity--rather than like cable television, which is handled as an entertainment service. If you can get DSL, do so.
Heh...I got the print version of Newsweek today and read the article in my, uh, office...:)
It's a big freakin' picture of Viggo Mortensen on the cover, holding Anduril and looking cool. I could hardly wait to get to my apartment.
I was absolutely blown-away by how much better the extended edition of FOTR was compared to the already excellent theatrical version...the extra scenes added so much depth to the movie. In fact, I wasn't really all that excited when TTT came out in theaters. I will be watching the extended DVD of TTT with my geeky family this Thanksgiving holiday, for sure. In reading about the stuff that got cut, I'm already pretty pumped for the ROTK extended edition.
Again, this is exactly the problem I'm talking about...when I say "web developer" I don't mean somebody with a copy of HTML for Dummies and MS Paint. I mean, somebody who is a sysadmin, netadmin, graphic designer, information architect, programmer, tech guru, animator, copywriter, marketer, interface designer, etc. etc. etc. and is skilled at all these things. Am I just using the wrong terminology in describing what I do for a living?
Part of the problem IS that the term "web developer" is so broad. :)
/. is great, don't get me wrong, but there HAS to be something more organized out there for other people like me.
My biz card says "Sr. Web Developer" on it. That means that my main job involves HTML/JavaScript/Flash work. But I also do Perl/PHP/shell scripting on FreeBSD, tweak Apache and IIS (unfortunately), I'm learning Java, I do graphic design, copywriting, the odd ASP/JSP/CFM work. And sysadmin stuff. And netadmin stuff. You see what I'm getting at?
I'm not some Geocities/FrontPage poseur; I learned to build pages with Notepad and Photoshop 3.0, and I've taught myself 95% of what I know from O'Reilly books and Webmonkey. And I've been gainfully employed in my field since 2000, with the exception of 4 days this past March, which is how long it took me to find a new job.
If I were just a "programmer" and worked for IBM or Lockheed-Martin and spent all day living in a cube farm and writing C++, I'd join IEEE and that would be that...I'll check out the ACM for starters.
Technically, the Star Wars Christmas Special would be the first time any of the major characters were animated (Boba Fett), although it was just a one-time thing, not a series. Don't forget that Ewok Adventures also ran at the same time as Droids.
Don't give me "well, just use GIMP or WordPerfect or something." I don't WANT to use GIMP, I want to use Photoshop.
H omesite
Don't give me "well, just run WINE." I don't WANT to use WINE, I want the apps to run natively.
I will run Linux, full-time, all the time, when I can get native versions of the following apps:
Photoshop
Dreamweaver
Fireworks
Imageready
Flash
Visio
Word
Excel
The last three, I'll accept something that will at least allow me to seamlessly interact with their file formats, as I doubt MS is likely to produce Linux versions of Office anytime soon...I'm almost surprised that they have a Mac version.
I like Linux. It's a good OS, and a good concept.
I don't use my computer to feel good about my OS. I use it to work, or to play.
Which reminds me...until native versions of popular games, like Star Wars Galaxies, Half-Life, Warcraft, and the like, come out for Linux, I will ALWAYS have some kind of box running whatever OS those games will run on.
Sorry folks. Those are the rules if you want Linux to transition effectively from a "hobby" OS to a "mainstream" OS.
I enjoyed the game. I have heard a lot of negative opinions, particularly from other beta testers, but I truly believe it is squeaky-wheel syndrome. I know many other people, including beta testers, who enjoyed this game.
It's not a perfect game, but I found it to be consistently fun and immersive. I'm not a hardcore MMORPGer, and in fact this is my first MMORPG, but I'm excited about it. Don't let the naysayers dominate; this game is ready for launch. IMHO.
I'm surprised that Wil hasn't been on "Where Are They Now?" on VH1. It's absolutely amazing how hardcore-trekkers reviled him in yesteryear, and everybody else essentially ignored him. And here he is, a Slashdot regular. You gotta take your hat off to the guy...not everybody gets a second chance.