The main problem for me with these games - except for this I could probably see pitching in for maybe two a month - is the absolute time suckers these games are. Now some games I can spend a lot of time on don't get me wrong, but the problem with a MMOG is that you can't just hit "pause" or save and quit when something IRL comes up. There's always a battle to finish or a safe spot to find. The publishers are so worried about the cheaters that they place ever more demanding conditions on the player exiting the game.
Now clearly if my son starts crying or something like that I can just pull the plug and attend to my RL responsibilities, these are after all, only games. But what fun is it to return at a later time, stripped naked, missing hard earned XP, and with a corpse to find?
Ironically Mythica might've been a bit better - as I understood it, it revolved around shorter, pocket dungeons, making it easier to pick up and play and leave.
I remember using this in High School - the problem was the C64 printer couldn't print descenders in text mode, so all my "g"s and "p"s where pushed up and the teachers didn't like that.
With Geos I could print just about any font, but boy do those dot matrix printers make a racket printing graphics!
I think there's potential for this model, it is just a matter of timing and a killer app. For timing, well there just have to be enough interested people with broadband access. I think stuff like Windows Update may actually get people used to this model - having their computer go and get stuff for them.
As for the killer app, well if I knew that I'd have an even faster laptop by now, and a new house and car etc.;) But it will be something that just clicks with people and really makes them want see what is coming up in the next month. Unfortuneately I suspect that the killer app won't be a hardcore gamer's type of game, it may just end up being something light and fluffy that appeals to the mass market. However that may just open the doorway to niche titles using this model.
But I think a bunch of companies are going to get hammered trying to force this next big thing on people for the sake of doing it.
I've found Halo to be pretty fun for what your describing...log on play for 15-20 minutes and quit. The vehicles make it interesting, although the game is not without its problems. But if your just playing casually on line it isn't going to be too big of a deal.
When I met my wife (via the internet, although we met IRL within a week), and realized that it would be a serious relationship I got a bit worried...you see one time one of my friends (and I think I might know who...) thought it'd be funny to post in my name on some pot growing site....okay so it would've been funny - but one day while googling for my own name - well let's just say that's how I discovered their joke!
So I told my wife-to-be right away, and she thought it was funny also....still I have to wonder who else I know that might just google my name! >:(
Reality for PC Games- publishers have the potential to make more money, and are able to release a more diverse range of games that would otherwise be unprofitable...like EV: Nova. Bigger titles like GalCiv will probably end up selling both ways, but some games will never get published except by direct sales.
Console games will be distributed in good old boxes for quite some time to come...they are mass market items and profitable in main stream distribution. They'll probably always have lots of great games, in boxes to boot, but many of the games will end up being similar, with few break away titles.
Is it just me or does the author come across as little more than a "whiney bitch". Seriously! Seems like if he had so much mad skillz or whatever that he'd be able to avoid sniper attacks. Now it sounds like a lot of the problem is with CS...so shouldn't the article be titled "How Sniper Rifles Ruin CS?". Lots of posts above detailing how the author's whining doesn't apply to various other games...
Take UT2003 - now I'm sure a god like player is going to be death with the lightning gun...but damn that game is soooo fast that I have nothing but respect for someone that can actually snipe! I find myself using a Flak Cannon or something else with a nice blast radius so that I have a chance of actually hitting someone!
And then there's Halo - heck everyone starts with a mini-sniper rifle in that game, but it's by no means the weapon of choice all the time! (Heh in Halo-land it's usually people complaining about "Banshee-whores" - long live the Banshee babies!)
But it just sounds like the author just finished a CS marathon and didn't do as well as he hoped and so instead of realizing that he's not the best player in the world, just plains his problems on sniper rifle using camping noob fags.
I actually bought a $4k backup drive, finding the place due to the google bar - it's very handy! I just wish I could filter out all the sites that are selling the item I am trying to research until my research is done, then I'll look for places to buy it!
All my internet purchases have been from small banners, or this google sidebar (unobtrusive). I've never bought anything from a pop-up/under or annoying blinking add (or "press okay to continue")
I can't see how this could be legal. If they laid their hands on me or my property then I'm sure it'd be grounds for all sorts of lawsuits. Heck the guy should fall over and make sure he skins his knee etc...
But in the meantime, just to be safe, I think I'd better become a member of Mr. Lee's Greater Hong Kong! Then maybe I could get some protection!
"I know it sounds bizarre in our GOP/conservative dominated culture,"
What does that have to do with anything?? You think republicans as customers don't expect to get what they pay for also or something? Do you think that just because someone is a card carrying GOP member and they subscribe to one of these services and the company doesn't follow through, that they're going to just sit there and take it because of their political affliations? Adding that stupid little bit completely invalidated your otherwise reaonsable point.
Can't see the videos, but it sounds an awful lot like ZBrush. ZBrush is a 2D and 3D tool, looks really interesting (if only I had a larger 3D app budget).
Also as a Cinema user, I purchased Mesh Surgery, which has some nice tablet or mouse free hand painting effects. It's a nice tool (a little buggy the odd time), great for adding muscles little ripples, painting landscapes. Good Stuff, and pretty cheap (if you have C4D 8.2)
This is a very aggresive move on their parts, I really hope it pays off for them! AC1 was actually a fun little game - hmmm it's almost half tempting to try it again.
I wonder though, what they're plans are for AC2 - seems like a bit of a dead end - I wonder if they could get AC1 up to AC2's standards graphically and then work on things from there? They could can AC2 and compensate those people some how, and then move ahead with one unified game.
Let's take a game like X2: The Threat, after two weeks of messing around trying to get it at EB - I order it from gogamer, and have it the next day. Mind you it cost me a fair chunk in shipping (being the impatient Canadian gamer that I am), but I could've gotten very cheap shipping or now shipping.
Used games seem to do well on eBay, and I've gotten better deals buying and selling then I'd ever get at an EB (especially on console games).
But I think most interestingly is that of my last year's software purchases, nearly 50% of them were on-line!
- EV: Nova (on-line only) - Bookworm (on-line only) - X2: The Threat (on-line order of boxed game) - many downloaded and purchased software utilities, Dameware, Translucency Pro, Mesh Surgery, Game Maker - plus a bunch of eBay purchases (and sales)
I've purchased a few games and software titles at retail, but a lot of them were impulse buys. I think on-line sales direct from developers will take over more and more, including a lot more of downloaded titles, that you never actually receive anything in the mail for- and heck then you don't have to worry about stupid CD security programs and the developers get a lot more money.
I hated FFVII, but not for any deep reasons, I just got tired of getting jumped every two seconds then waiting for a long drawn out battle...but my dislike is not constrained to FFVII - it's any game of that style - I think I first noticed how annoying it was in Lunar or something like that on Sega CD.
I realized I preferred something like Gothic - the enemies only rarely respawn (usually after a chapter), and they are in sensible locations, plus you can avoid them (unless you get on a Biter's bad side...)
What about X2: The Threat (from Egosoft)? The first main problem - the only place you could get it on release day was from gogamer - it didn't seem like anyone else had it for like two weeks.
An even bigger problem was letting this game out the door with some major bugs - namely Logitech joysticks and gamepads don't work with X2!! (Like the Wingman Force 3D and Wingman Rumblepad) Doh! Apparently they went and actually bought some of these joysticks to test when they heard about these problems, but damn if it didn't put a damper on the fun of many eager space jockeys! Should be a patch soon.
Also in X2 there's many basic functions that can't be remapped!
This game is still really cool looking so far though - it's like Elite - but you can have more than one ship, run your own factories, and even control sectors. You can have capital ships, all fully modelled in 3D - including separate views for various turrets (which you can control and slave to any of three monitors).
This is what makes the stupid bugs and problems so bad - the fact that the underlying game just looks sooooo amazing...but I nearly quit in disgust in the first 30 minutes or so (actually it was a training mission that brought me back - when I had to switch views - discovering a rear mounted, controllable turret view). You can set commands for all your ships and their turrets etc.
What region/station are you in? The morning show hosts on whatever the CBC morning program is at about 7:00am-8:00am would just drive me absolutely nuts - they'd interview some business guy or something and jump all over him.
The part that ticks me off about the CBC is that they are often so utterly, blatantly biased during interviews etc. Why should I have to here "the one" political view? I used to listen to Radio One all the time, until I got sick of listening to the interviewer or host jumping all over someone who didn't agree with them. They always take the far left, anti-business view of things. And I'm sick of hearing it, but mostly I'm sicking being forced to pay so that people can here it.
I know that the "left media bias" is often exaggerated in the US - but in Canada the bias on the CBC is utterly, blatantly obvious. If it's a private media company than I don't care - but a tax funded media company should at least try to appear to be unbiased.
Beat me to it! I agree - Halo is a fun game (MP anyways) - but the Master Chief an original character??? He's a soldier in a suit of powered armour! You can't even see his face. The computer AI chick in Halo is more original - kind of like one of David Drake's "control crystal" type characters (Lord of the Isles or Northworld).
I also find Access invaluble for the few things I can't ultimately do in Crystal. I'd never heard of this Rekall before, and now I have to try it out! I put my stuff on a SQL server anyways, and our main DB system is P.SQL - so a free app to give me front ends is just what I need to punt MS Office from this place!
Hey, now that's an interesting fact! I have like 6 years warranty on my current TV --- I wonder if any electronics superstores would offer warranties on projectors including the bulbs? Darn and my basement would've been perfect for a projector...
I remember at our last national election, the voting was simple - make an X on a ballot and put it in the voting box.
I have to wonder, with all these punch cards, evote, and other problems - why don't they just stick to plain old pen & paper ballots? I mean if you can't figure those out, chances are you'll end up just stuffing your ballot into the funny "circular" ballot box anyways!
Slashdot Mirror
The main problem for me with these games - except for this I could probably see pitching in for maybe two a month - is the absolute time suckers these games are. Now some games I can spend a lot of time on don't get me wrong, but the problem with a MMOG is that you can't just hit "pause" or save and quit when something IRL comes up. There's always a battle to finish or a safe spot to find. The publishers are so worried about the cheaters that they place ever more demanding conditions on the player exiting the game.
:)
Now clearly if my son starts crying or something like that I can just pull the plug and attend to my RL responsibilities, these are after all, only games. But what fun is it to return at a later time, stripped naked, missing hard earned XP, and with a corpse to find?
Ironically Mythica might've been a bit better - as I understood it, it revolved around shorter, pocket dungeons, making it easier to pick up and play and leave.
Ah well back to X2
I remember using this in High School - the problem was the C64 printer couldn't print descenders in text mode, so all my "g"s and "p"s where pushed up and the teachers didn't like that.
With Geos I could print just about any font, but boy do those dot matrix printers make a racket printing graphics!
I think there's potential for this model, it is just a matter of timing and a killer app. For timing, well there just have to be enough interested people with broadband access. I think stuff like Windows Update may actually get people used to this model - having their computer go and get stuff for them.
;) But it will be something that just clicks with people and really makes them want see what is coming up in the next month. Unfortuneately I suspect that the killer app won't be a hardcore gamer's type of game, it may just end up being something light and fluffy that appeals to the mass market. However that may just open the doorway to niche titles using this model.
As for the killer app, well if I knew that I'd have an even faster laptop by now, and a new house and car etc.
But I think a bunch of companies are going to get hammered trying to force this next big thing on people for the sake of doing it.
I've found Halo to be pretty fun for what your describing...log on play for 15-20 minutes and quit. The vehicles make it interesting, although the game is not without its problems. But if your just playing casually on line it isn't going to be too big of a deal.
When I met my wife (via the internet, although we met IRL within a week), and realized that it would be a serious relationship I got a bit worried...you see one time one of my friends (and I think I might know who...) thought it'd be funny to post in my name on some pot growing site....okay so it would've been funny - but one day while googling for my own name - well let's just say that's how I discovered their joke!
So I told my wife-to-be right away, and she thought it was funny also....still I have to wonder who else I know that might just google my name! >:(
Article Synopsis: "I like game boxes"
Reality for PC Games- publishers have the potential to make more money, and are able to release a more diverse range of games that would otherwise be unprofitable...like EV: Nova. Bigger titles like GalCiv will probably end up selling both ways, but some games will never get published except by direct sales.
Console games will be distributed in good old boxes for quite some time to come...they are mass market items and profitable in main stream distribution. They'll probably always have lots of great games, in boxes to boot, but many of the games will end up being similar, with few break away titles.
Is it just me or does the author come across as little more than a "whiney bitch". Seriously! Seems like if he had so much mad skillz or whatever that he'd be able to avoid sniper attacks. Now it sounds like a lot of the problem is with CS...so shouldn't the article be titled "How Sniper Rifles Ruin CS?". Lots of posts above detailing how the author's whining doesn't apply to various other games...
Take UT2003 - now I'm sure a god like player is going to be death with the lightning gun...but damn that game is soooo fast that I have nothing but respect for someone that can actually snipe! I find myself using a Flak Cannon or something else with a nice blast radius so that I have a chance of actually hitting someone!
And then there's Halo - heck everyone starts with a mini-sniper rifle in that game, but it's by no means the weapon of choice all the time! (Heh in Halo-land it's usually people complaining about "Banshee-whores" - long live the Banshee babies!)
But it just sounds like the author just finished a CS marathon and didn't do as well as he hoped and so instead of realizing that he's not the best player in the world, just plains his problems on sniper rifle using camping noob fags.
The problem is the damned Khaak are going to take out the ISS and the satellites son anyways, unless someone scrounges up the cash for a Split Iguana.
I actually bought a $4k backup drive, finding the place due to the google bar - it's very handy! I just wish I could filter out all the sites that are selling the item I am trying to research until my research is done, then I'll look for places to buy it!
All my internet purchases have been from small banners, or this google sidebar (unobtrusive). I've never bought anything from a pop-up/under or annoying blinking add (or "press okay to continue")
I can't see how this could be legal. If they laid their hands on me or my property then I'm sure it'd be grounds for all sorts of lawsuits. Heck the guy should fall over and make sure he skins his knee etc...
But in the meantime, just to be safe, I think I'd better become a member of Mr. Lee's Greater Hong Kong! Then maybe I could get some protection!
"I know it sounds bizarre in our GOP/conservative dominated culture,"
What does that have to do with anything?? You think republicans as customers don't expect to get what they pay for also or something? Do you think that just because someone is a card carrying GOP member and they subscribe to one of these services and the company doesn't follow through, that they're going to just sit there and take it because of their political affliations? Adding that stupid little bit completely invalidated your otherwise reaonsable point.
Also as a Cinema user, I purchased Mesh Surgery, which has some nice tablet or mouse free hand painting effects. It's a nice tool (a little buggy the odd time), great for adding muscles little ripples, painting landscapes. Good Stuff, and pretty cheap (if you have C4D 8.2)
This is a very aggresive move on their parts, I really hope it pays off for them! AC1 was actually a fun little game - hmmm it's almost half tempting to try it again.
I wonder though, what they're plans are for AC2 - seems like a bit of a dead end - I wonder if they could get AC1 up to AC2's standards graphically and then work on things from there? They could can AC2 and compensate those people some how, and then move ahead with one unified game.
Let's take a game like X2: The Threat, after two weeks of messing around trying to get it at EB - I order it from gogamer, and have it the next day. Mind you it cost me a fair chunk in shipping (being the impatient Canadian gamer that I am), but I could've gotten very cheap shipping or now shipping.
Used games seem to do well on eBay, and I've gotten better deals buying and selling then I'd ever get at an EB (especially on console games).
But I think most interestingly is that of my last year's software purchases, nearly 50% of them were on-line!
- EV: Nova (on-line only)
- Bookworm (on-line only)
- X2: The Threat (on-line order of boxed game)
- many downloaded and purchased software utilities, Dameware, Translucency Pro, Mesh Surgery, Game Maker
- plus a bunch of eBay purchases (and sales)
I've purchased a few games and software titles at retail, but a lot of them were impulse buys. I think on-line sales direct from developers will take over more and more, including a lot more of downloaded titles, that you never actually receive anything in the mail for- and heck then you don't have to worry about stupid CD security programs and the developers get a lot more money.
GTA:VC is one example of good licensed music, though often I prefer music written for a particular game:
Arena/Daggerfall/Morrowind
Dungeon Siege
Skeleton Warriors
Thunderforce III, IV
Vandal Hearts
King's Field
Dark Wizard
Robo Aleste
Actually too many game sound tracks to list!
I hated FFVII, but not for any deep reasons, I just got tired of getting jumped every two seconds then waiting for a long drawn out battle...but my dislike is not constrained to FFVII - it's any game of that style - I think I first noticed how annoying it was in Lunar or something like that on Sega CD.
I realized I preferred something like Gothic - the enemies only rarely respawn (usually after a chapter), and they are in sensible locations, plus you can avoid them (unless you get on a Biter's bad side...)
What about X2: The Threat (from Egosoft)? The first main problem - the only place you could get it on release day was from gogamer - it didn't seem like anyone else had it for like two weeks.
An even bigger problem was letting this game out the door with some major bugs - namely Logitech joysticks and gamepads don't work with X2!! (Like the Wingman Force 3D and Wingman Rumblepad) Doh! Apparently they went and actually bought some of these joysticks to test when they heard about these problems, but damn if it didn't put a damper on the fun of many eager space jockeys! Should be a patch soon.
Also in X2 there's many basic functions that can't be remapped!
This game is still really cool looking so far though - it's like Elite - but you can have more than one ship, run your own factories, and even control sectors. You can have capital ships, all fully modelled in 3D - including separate views for various turrets (which you can control and slave to any of three monitors).
This is what makes the stupid bugs and problems so bad - the fact that the underlying game just looks sooooo amazing...but I nearly quit in disgust in the first 30 minutes or so (actually it was a training mission that brought me back - when I had to switch views - discovering a rear mounted, controllable turret view). You can set commands for all your ships and their turrets etc.
What region/station are you in? The morning show hosts on whatever the CBC morning program is at about 7:00am-8:00am would just drive me absolutely nuts - they'd interview some business guy or something and jump all over him.
The part that ticks me off about the CBC is that they are often so utterly, blatantly biased during interviews etc. Why should I have to here "the one" political view? I used to listen to Radio One all the time, until I got sick of listening to the interviewer or host jumping all over someone who didn't agree with them. They always take the far left, anti-business view of things. And I'm sick of hearing it, but mostly I'm sicking being forced to pay so that people can here it.
I know that the "left media bias" is often exaggerated in the US - but in Canada the bias on the CBC is utterly, blatantly obvious. If it's a private media company than I don't care - but a tax funded media company should at least try to appear to be unbiased.
Beat me to it! I agree - Halo is a fun game (MP anyways) - but the Master Chief an original character??? He's a soldier in a suit of powered armour! You can't even see his face. The computer AI chick in Halo is more original - kind of like one of David Drake's "control crystal" type characters (Lord of the Isles or Northworld).
I also find Access invaluble for the few things I can't ultimately do in Crystal. I'd never heard of this Rekall before, and now I have to try it out! I put my stuff on a SQL server anyways, and our main DB system is P.SQL - so a free app to give me front ends is just what I need to punt MS Office from this place!
Hey, now that's an interesting fact! I have like 6 years warranty on my current TV --- I wonder if any electronics superstores would offer warranties on projectors including the bulbs? Darn and my basement would've been perfect for a projector...
What are your bulb costs? I looked at doing this a year or so ago, but ended up with a rear projection TV - the bulb costs just seemed too high.
I remember at our last national election, the voting was simple - make an X on a ballot and put it in the voting box.
I have to wonder, with all these punch cards, evote, and other problems - why don't they just stick to plain old pen & paper ballots? I mean if you can't figure those out, chances are you'll end up just stuffing your ballot into the funny "circular" ballot box anyways!
Hmmm, I think it sounds like just maybet the Gamecube could use a new game or two! Poor GC owners!!