I only have two things in my gmail inbox. Spam and messages from my web host (since my main email resides on their servers, if there's an outage, or something, it makes sense for them to have an alternate service address).
I never understood people who say they don't get spam on gmail. Since I don't use it except as a backup, I've never given my address to anyone save for my web host and yet, here is all this spam.
Interesting program, never tried it myself, but I did live a block away from one of the car parks at one point, so I was curious enough to look into it.
Easy. Most people don't pay attention. Especially those who aren't technically inclined.
I don't have a PS3, but I have a Wii. IT has logos for Opera, Dolby and RSA on it. I promise you most people who own a wii have no idea what these things are.
Our DVD player plays divx content and has a USB port on the front. My girlfriend was kind of amazed when I played a movie off my flash drive the other night. She bought the DVD player though.
Does that count sales of PS3? Because if it does then I'd say a lot of people who own Blu-Ray players either have no idea that they do, or don't have any interest in an HD video disc format at all.
If PS3 sales are excluded, then I'd say Blu-Ray is ahead of the game, especially given their exclusivity deal with Blockbuster.
Yes and no. Nintendo used to gaurentee that the game's content met certain standards for one. In the days before the ESRB, Nintendo policed content on their consoles. Remember the Mortal Kombat fiasco? Or perhaps read up on the story from one of the developers who ported Maniac Mansion to the NES.
Secondly, the seal was a licensing gimick. Basicly during at least the early NES days, maybe all of the NES days, Nintendo would only license a certain number of titles for release withing a certain time period. Let's say for the sake of argument that it was one per month. The idea was to ensure that developers weren't producing shovel-ware, which was critical in the days after the video game collapse at the end of the Atari era. (Some developers got around it however via spin-off companies. Ultra, for instance was a subsidiary of Konomi, which allowed them to double the one per month rule. I'm sure there were others as well.) The seal was also a way in those early days of reassuring consumers who felt burned by the last years of Atari.
In the case of the context of the quote, it *does* mean any Microsoft OS. He said:
"We have had better security, we have had fewer vulnerabilities, fewer issues with Windows Vista in its first six months than any OS that preceded it."
Since the "We" in that quote is Microsoft, it does mean any Microsoft OS. As obviously, Microsoft is not responsible for the development of any other OSes.
Also, I'd like to point out, that even if it did spicificly say "Microsoft OS" that this is not trivial to begin with. From a desktop perspective, I don't care if there are Linux distros or anything else that's more secure. If my end users need to run Microsoft apps, or if I need to run Exchange or Active Directory or soem such, then I want the most secure Microsoft OS, not the most secure OS. Microsoft is then part of the requirement. That's just how it is for most people, and most businesses.
Yes, they do in fact continue to give us more data that we did not know.
For instance, when they reached the heliopause, we found out that not only were conditions diffrent than our best models suggested, but we were wrong about the location! IT changed a lot of thinking and models on how the heliosphere and the heliospheric shock front (helioshock) work.
Not to mention the fact that the probes are off course based on where our simulations said they'd be by now. Why is that?
There's no replacement for testing of theory, and that's part of what these probes are continuing to do.
The equivelant that you're asking for from a film perspective would be to have a movie studio release all the origional footage from a production. Every last second that got left on the cutting room floor. And all the scripts and screen plays, etc. That's a movie's "source code"
After all, then members of the community can put it into Primeire and edit out all the mistakes.
I exagerate to make a point. Games, despite what roger Ebert may think are considered art by some. Maybe the origional artist(s) don't want their source released for others to muck about with. Just playing devil's advocate here, but nobody is entitled to this.
and it did indeed generate 400HP between 3100 and 3110 RPM.
But at 3000 and 3200 RPM you're down to 250 HP?
The ad is true. It's peak HP. This is done all the time. Look at any car's power band. The advertised HP is under ideal conditions at peak engine RPM. Most of the tiem you get a fraction of that.
Basicly it was a thread where the question was askde "How many individual LED lamps can you see from where you are sitting right now?"
1) One Power lamp on my LCD monitor - EXTRA TEXT BECAUSE "Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 33.2)." 2) One power lamp on Jill's LCD monitor - EXTRA TEXT BECAUSE "Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 33.2)." 3) Power lamp on our speakers. - EXTRA TEXT BECAUSE "Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 33.2)." 4) Power lamp on my Wii - EXTRA TEXT BECAUSE "Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 33.2)." 5) Power lamp on Jill's PC - EXTRA TEXT BECAUSE "Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 33.2)." 6) IDE lamp on Jill's PC - EXTRA TEXT BECAUSE "Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 33.2)." 7) Jill's CDRW Drive lamp - EXTRA TEXT BECAUSE "Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 33.2)." 8) Jill's DVD/ CDRW Drive lamp - EXTRA TEXT BECAUSE "Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 33.2)." 9) Power lamp on my PC - EXTRA TEXT BECAUSE "Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 33.2)." 10) IDE lamp on my PC - EXTRA TEXT BECAUSE "Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 33.2)." 11) Plextor DVDRW drive lamp on my PC - EXTRA TEXT BECAUSE "Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 33.2)." 12) Samsung DVDRW drive lamp on my PC - EXTRA TEXT BECAUSE "Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 33.2)." 13) Four LEDs on my Wii controller - EXTRA TEXT BECAUSE "Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 33.2)." 14) Four LEDs on Jill's Wii controller - EXTRA TEXT BECAUSE "Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 33.2)." 15) Four LEDs on third Wii controller - EXTRA TEXT BECAUSE "Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 33.2)." 16) Power lamp on router - EXTRA TEXT BECAUSE "Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 33.2)." 17) Wifi indicator lamp on router - EXTRA TEXT BECAUSE "Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 33.2)." 18) LAN port 1 lamp on router - EXTRA TEXT BECAUSE "Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 33.2)." 19) LAN port 2 lamp on router - EXTRA TEXT BECAUSE "Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 33.2)." 20) LAN port 3 lamp on router - EXTRA TEXT BECAUSE "Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 33.2)." 21) LAN port 4 lamp on router - EXTRA TEXT BECAUSE "Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 33.2)." 22) WAN port lamp on router - EXTRA TEXT BECAUSE "Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 33.2)." 23) LED on Jill's old cell phone - EXTRA TEXT BECAUSE "Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 33.2)." 24) LED 1 on my cell phone (no idea what it does) - EXTRA TEXT BECAUSE "Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 33.2)." 25) LED 2 on my cell phone (no idea what it does) - EXTRA TEXT BECAUSE "Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 33.2)." 26) LED signal indicator on Media Center remote sensor - EXTRA TEXT BECAUSE "Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 33.2)." 27) Power LED on TV - EXTRA TEXT BECAUSE "Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 33.2)." 28) Power LED on DVD player - EXTRA TEXT BECAUSE "Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 33.2)." 29) Power LED on gamecube (modded to blue because I'm l33t) - EXTRA TEXT BECAUSE "Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 33.2)." 30) Indicator lamp on my bluetooth earbud. - EXTRA TEXT BECAUSE "Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 33.2)." 31) Indicator lamp on my bluetooth USB dongle - EXTRA TEXT BECAUSE "Your comment has too few characters per line
It doesn't do gigabit, so there's no 1000 indicator. There's no 10 Mb indicator, since that's the default activity. By lighting activity and 100 together, that indicates that it's at 100.
Probably as close as you need to be to what you want from consumer hardware. If you need more than this for some reason, you probably need better hardware than what consumer stuff can bring to the table anyway.
Interesting bit form the podcast: The writers were complaining to RDM about the darkness of the show. "Can't we have a party or something? A birthday party, maybe? Some kind of celebration to show some kind of high point to the existance these people have?"
So he gave them one. You remember the episode "Act of Contrition"? Season 1, episode 5. Flat Top has his thousandth landing. This is a big deal for a flying unit. An excuse to celebrate an artificial milestone for a pilot. Sort of a turning point.
They put Flat Top on a wagon and run him around the hanger deck, about a dozen pilots celebrating and cheering.
Then it happens. A probe falls off of it's rack due to a faulty fastener. It's rocket motor ignites, and it fires across the hanger deck, killing half a dozen pilots and landing a dozen more pilots and deck hands in the sick bay.
I haven't listened to the DVD commentary, so I Can't explain why this disagrees with that, or if one of us heard wrong, but this is how I understand it:
On the podcast, RDM explained that they fought tooth and nail to show people on the Olympic Carrier, but lost to the network, who wouldn't allow it.
for the record he said, there *were* people on the Olympic Carrier, but all you ever saw were little silhouettes just as it was being destroyed. They had to sneak that in.
That's internet conjuncture. There's absolutly nothing in the new BSG that supports that claim.
Seriously, the 12 colonies have existed for something like 4000 years. The Earth Colony left Kobol before the final 12 IIRC. But there's no way of knowing if the events that occur durring the BSG Exodus occur durring earth year 2000 BC, or earth year 3000 AD. At least until BSG gets there, or Starbuck reports back...
Oh, you're absolutly right. But my point is that developers are absolutly competing with Nintendo (the only point of yours I have contention with). And it's hard to do so, because Nintendo is great at what they do. you're right that they compete with Nintendo whether they are on a Nintendo platform or not. But in a sense, more so when a Nintendo console is dominant.
Do you seriously not get that many (most?) people don't buy games in bulk? sometimes I'll buy two or three at a time, if there's some kind of sale, or if there's a few must have titles that are clearance, or there's some other compelling reason to. But Most people are not going to spend more than $100 on games at a time.
Nintendo *IS* competing with it's third parties. If I go to the store and I want to buy *a* game today, it'll probably be Super Paper Mario. I buy the AAA titles and the titles that have special signifigance to me first. Then if I have the time, I look at other games.
I'm having trouble conveying what I mean here, so let me just say this. Nobody goes to the store and buys as many games as look interesting. There are simply too many titles. So you go for the best first. Nintendo is a fucking powerhouse of a developer and publisher, and they have a disproportionate number of "best" titles. Therefore, unless Nintendo's style doesn't apeal to you, or Nintendo is having a publishing lull, it's a pain for third parties to sell to you when they have to sit next to Nintendo titles on the shelf.
Your whole argument seems to hinge around the idea that success hinges on intelligence (Genius as you put it). You give no evidence to support this.
I'll agree that it is sometimes the case. However, do you really think that it's the case with Britney Spears? And even if it were, she's a product, not the mastermind. She had managers and handlers who planed her career and marketed her. She was just the pretty face that they cast for the role. I honestly think that it could have been any of thousands of girls who could be Spears now.
There are certainly other variables besides "genius" in success. Monitary or otherwise.
Doesn't work. I use Mozilla suite as my browser (Firefox just has a slightly different "feel" that I never got to like). The site gives me the "You must use IE" message. So I change my User-Agent string to "IE 6.0 WinXP" through Mozilla PrefBar (an awesome tool for Mozilla or firefox users, basicly lets you change any config file variable direct through the toolbar). When I tried it changing my UA string, the site just didn't load.
I don't know what they use, but it does need IE. Probably ActiveX or some such.
Yeah, I get that. And in theory, I could order a PAL TV and bitch and moan that none of the local broadcasters support it, just NTSC. Have fun with that.
Honestly, if you're going to produce online content, you've already resolved yourself to the fact that you're not going to reach the users who aren't online, or aren't on broadband, or don't have computers. So I doubt you care about the Linux users. They're dwarfed by the others.
Using a computer = Using Windows for most practical purposes.
If I published a ROM hack of Super Mario Bros 3 that was nothing but the levels and characters from SMB1 (In other words, SMB1 using the SMB3 engine), would that still be SMB1?
Serious question, I suspect different people would have different answers.
On the other hand in regard to "That's my problem, not SMB's" I don't agree. And I'll tell you why.
Every major genre goes through an evolution.
1) Inseption - The first game of it's kind is released. (For our purposes, I'll use SMB1 here, although I don't know if it was *relaly* first it was the first I played though. Let's call this genre the run-n-jump side scroller to distinguish it from other dissimilar side scrollers like R-Type and Golgo 13.) 2) Copycats - Everyone sees the success of this new style of gameplay and rushes to copy it. For the purposes of side scrollers, where do we begin? Alex Kid, Adventure Island, Amagon, lots of others were early side scroller copycats. These copycats sell somewhat well on the strength of the origional. 3) Development - Copycats, sequels, and spin-offs start to surpass the origional. Graphics are improved, control, technical limitations are squashed. Complexity increases (inventory, powerups, extra characters were added in our genre example) some improvements will become standard, others will be present or not depending on the game. The genre is perfected to a certain formula. The formula can be strayed from, but not too far for most successful games. SMB2 & 3, Megaman, Sonic, and hosts of others are examples. During this phase, copycats are still being produced, but do not sell as well as before. 4) Saturation - Truely classic AAA games are released. As are 40,000 other titles per month. The AAA titles are easy to find, they really *do* stand out. But they have stopped innovating much. Now innovation will occur with new genres. 5) Death. Yes, it happens. The AAA games from the past few stages shine so brightly, and outshine the newer titles so much, that eventually newer titles stop coming. The genre has reached it's pinnacle. For side scrollers, it will vary where you think this is. Mario 3? (I think so) Super Metroid? Sonic? Super Mario World? Yoshi's Island? It doesn't matter. The point is that any new games are very little more than variations on a theme. so much so that they're largely unwanted, and unproduced. You will still see the occasional trickle of titles, (Viewtiful Joe, New SMB, etc) but not much progress will happen to the genre from this point.
It's not just side scrollers. What's the last great shmup you played since R-Type ruled the scene? (Ikaruga is the exception that proves the rule). I'm sure someone will reply with a few titles, but what weight did those titles have on gaming as a whole? Generations don't remember also rans like AstroAvenger. They remember R-Type and Galaga.
Same with beat-em-ups. Where are the Double Dragon and Bad Dudes games now?
I guess what I'm saying is that Super Mario 3 can not be improved upon. Only changed. It's as tuned and polished as it's going to be for what it is. Super Mario 1 can't say the same thing.
As an aside - Before someone mentions something about one, I don't think simulations follow this rule. There will probably always be a new Maden game for the foresable future. There will always be new versions of MS Flight simulator. There will always be new relaistic racing games. These are technology based, and not subject to the rules above, as they're chacing a pre-defined target.
That's not it either. Lack of a save game is not a bad thing in my mind given the type of game it was. SMB3 had no save feature, and it played fine (still does).
I can still put serious time into SMB3, but not SMB1. I think the control is the biggest thing for me at least.
Slashdot Mirror
You're probably spot on. It has received zero training from me. I hadn't considered that factor before.
I only have two things in my gmail inbox. Spam and messages from my web host (since my main email resides on their servers, if there's an outage, or something, it makes sense for them to have an alternate service address).
I never understood people who say they don't get spam on gmail. Since I don't use it except as a backup, I've never given my address to anyone save for my web host and yet, here is all this spam.
They do have this in the U.S. too. Philadelphia at least.
Philly Car Share
Interesting program, never tried it myself, but I did live a block away from one of the car parks at one point, so I was curious enough to look into it.
Easy. Most people don't pay attention. Especially those who aren't technically inclined.
I don't have a PS3, but I have a Wii. IT has logos for Opera, Dolby and RSA on it. I promise you most people who own a wii have no idea what these things are.
Our DVD player plays divx content and has a USB port on the front. My girlfriend was kind of amazed when I played a movie off my flash drive the other night. She bought the DVD player though.
Does that count sales of PS3? Because if it does then I'd say a lot of people who own Blu-Ray players either have no idea that they do, or don't have any interest in an HD video disc format at all.
If PS3 sales are excluded, then I'd say Blu-Ray is ahead of the game, especially given their exclusivity deal with Blockbuster.
Yes and no. Nintendo used to gaurentee that the game's content met certain standards for one. In the days before the ESRB, Nintendo policed content on their consoles. Remember the Mortal Kombat fiasco? Or perhaps read up on the story from one of the developers who ported Maniac Mansion to the NES.
Secondly, the seal was a licensing gimick. Basicly during at least the early NES days, maybe all of the NES days, Nintendo would only license a certain number of titles for release withing a certain time period. Let's say for the sake of argument that it was one per month. The idea was to ensure that developers weren't producing shovel-ware, which was critical in the days after the video game collapse at the end of the Atari era. (Some developers got around it however via spin-off companies. Ultra, for instance was a subsidiary of Konomi, which allowed them to double the one per month rule. I'm sure there were others as well.) The seal was also a way in those early days of reassuring consumers who felt burned by the last years of Atari.
In the case of the context of the quote, it *does* mean any Microsoft OS. He said:
"We have had better security, we have had fewer vulnerabilities, fewer issues with Windows Vista in its first six months than any OS that preceded it."
Since the "We" in that quote is Microsoft, it does mean any Microsoft OS. As obviously, Microsoft is not responsible for the development of any other OSes.
Also, I'd like to point out, that even if it did spicificly say "Microsoft OS" that this is not trivial to begin with. From a desktop perspective, I don't care if there are Linux distros or anything else that's more secure. If my end users need to run Microsoft apps, or if I need to run Exchange or Active Directory or soem such, then I want the most secure Microsoft OS, not the most secure OS. Microsoft is then part of the requirement. That's just how it is for most people, and most businesses.
Yes, they do in fact continue to give us more data that we did not know.
For instance, when they reached the heliopause, we found out that not only were conditions diffrent than our best models suggested, but we were wrong about the location! IT changed a lot of thinking and models on how the heliosphere and the heliospheric shock front (helioshock) work.
Not to mention the fact that the probes are off course based on where our simulations said they'd be by now. Why is that?
There's no replacement for testing of theory, and that's part of what these probes are continuing to do.
The equivelant that you're asking for from a film perspective would be to have a movie studio release all the origional footage from a production. Every last second that got left on the cutting room floor. And all the scripts and screen plays, etc. That's a movie's "source code"
After all, then members of the community can put it into Primeire and edit out all the mistakes.
I exagerate to make a point. Games, despite what roger Ebert may think are considered art by some. Maybe the origional artist(s) don't want their source released for others to muck about with. Just playing devil's advocate here, but nobody is entitled to this.
That's a horrible analogy.
What if it was a car for sale "up to" 400 HP?
and it did indeed generate 400HP between 3100 and 3110 RPM.
But at 3000 and 3200 RPM you're down to 250 HP?
The ad is true. It's peak HP. This is done all the time. Look at any car's power band. The advertised HP is under ideal conditions at peak engine RPM. Most of the tiem you get a fraction of that.
This is not a lot diffrent.
Exactly. Just like everyone stopped playing Starcraft when Warcraft III came out!
Basicly it was a thread where the question was askde "How many individual LED lamps can you see from where you are sitting right now?"
1) One Power lamp on my LCD monitor - EXTRA TEXT BECAUSE "Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 33.2)."
2) One power lamp on Jill's LCD monitor - EXTRA TEXT BECAUSE "Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 33.2)."
3) Power lamp on our speakers. - EXTRA TEXT BECAUSE "Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 33.2)."
4) Power lamp on my Wii - EXTRA TEXT BECAUSE "Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 33.2)."
5) Power lamp on Jill's PC - EXTRA TEXT BECAUSE "Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 33.2)."
6) IDE lamp on Jill's PC - EXTRA TEXT BECAUSE "Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 33.2)."
7) Jill's CDRW Drive lamp - EXTRA TEXT BECAUSE "Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 33.2)."
8) Jill's DVD/ CDRW Drive lamp - EXTRA TEXT BECAUSE "Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 33.2)."
9) Power lamp on my PC - EXTRA TEXT BECAUSE "Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 33.2)."
10) IDE lamp on my PC - EXTRA TEXT BECAUSE "Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 33.2)."
11) Plextor DVDRW drive lamp on my PC - EXTRA TEXT BECAUSE "Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 33.2)."
12) Samsung DVDRW drive lamp on my PC - EXTRA TEXT BECAUSE "Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 33.2)."
13) Four LEDs on my Wii controller - EXTRA TEXT BECAUSE "Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 33.2)."
14) Four LEDs on Jill's Wii controller - EXTRA TEXT BECAUSE "Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 33.2)."
15) Four LEDs on third Wii controller - EXTRA TEXT BECAUSE "Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 33.2)."
16) Power lamp on router - EXTRA TEXT BECAUSE "Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 33.2)."
17) Wifi indicator lamp on router - EXTRA TEXT BECAUSE "Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 33.2)."
18) LAN port 1 lamp on router - EXTRA TEXT BECAUSE "Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 33.2)."
19) LAN port 2 lamp on router - EXTRA TEXT BECAUSE "Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 33.2)."
20) LAN port 3 lamp on router - EXTRA TEXT BECAUSE "Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 33.2)."
21) LAN port 4 lamp on router - EXTRA TEXT BECAUSE "Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 33.2)."
22) WAN port lamp on router - EXTRA TEXT BECAUSE "Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 33.2)."
23) LED on Jill's old cell phone - EXTRA TEXT BECAUSE "Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 33.2)."
24) LED 1 on my cell phone (no idea what it does) - EXTRA TEXT BECAUSE "Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 33.2)."
25) LED 2 on my cell phone (no idea what it does) - EXTRA TEXT BECAUSE "Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 33.2)."
26) LED signal indicator on Media Center remote sensor - EXTRA TEXT BECAUSE "Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 33.2)."
27) Power LED on TV - EXTRA TEXT BECAUSE "Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 33.2)."
28) Power LED on DVD player - EXTRA TEXT BECAUSE "Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 33.2)."
29) Power LED on gamecube (modded to blue because I'm l33t) - EXTRA TEXT BECAUSE "Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 33.2)."
30) Indicator lamp on my bluetooth earbud. - EXTRA TEXT BECAUSE "Your comment has too few characters per line (currently 33.2)."
31) Indicator lamp on my bluetooth USB dongle - EXTRA TEXT BECAUSE "Your comment has too few characters per line
I used to have an elcheapo Linksys router (back when elcheapo was $100) before they merged with Cisco. It had the indicator you mention, basicly.
The only current Linksys router I can find with a similar panel is this BEFVP41 10/100Mbps VPN Router.
It doesn't do gigabit, so there's no 1000 indicator. There's no 10 Mb indicator, since that's the default activity. By lighting activity and 100 together, that indicates that it's at 100.
Probably as close as you need to be to what you want from consumer hardware. If you need more than this for some reason, you probably need better hardware than what consumer stuff can bring to the table anyway.
You want Levity? Careful what you wish for.
Interesting bit form the podcast: The writers were complaining to RDM about the darkness of the show. "Can't we have a party or something? A birthday party, maybe? Some kind of celebration to show some kind of high point to the existance these people have?"
So he gave them one. You remember the episode "Act of Contrition"? Season 1, episode 5. Flat Top has his thousandth landing. This is a big deal for a flying unit. An excuse to celebrate an artificial milestone for a pilot. Sort of a turning point.
They put Flat Top on a wagon and run him around the hanger deck, about a dozen pilots celebrating and cheering.
Then it happens. A probe falls off of it's rack due to a faulty fastener. It's rocket motor ignites, and it fires across the hanger deck, killing half a dozen pilots and landing a dozen more pilots and deck hands in the sick bay.
That's what happens when you ask RDM for levity.
I haven't listened to the DVD commentary, so I Can't explain why this disagrees with that, or if one of us heard wrong, but this is how I understand it:
On the podcast, RDM explained that they fought tooth and nail to show people on the Olympic Carrier, but lost to the network, who wouldn't allow it.
for the record he said, there *were* people on the Olympic Carrier, but all you ever saw were little silhouettes just as it was being destroyed. They had to sneak that in.
That's internet conjuncture. There's absolutly nothing in the new BSG that supports that claim.
Seriously, the 12 colonies have existed for something like 4000 years. The Earth Colony left Kobol before the final 12 IIRC. But there's no way of knowing if the events that occur durring the BSG Exodus occur durring earth year 2000 BC, or earth year 3000 AD. At least until BSG gets there, or Starbuck reports back...
Oh, you're absolutly right. But my point is that developers are absolutly competing with Nintendo (the only point of yours I have contention with). And it's hard to do so, because Nintendo is great at what they do. you're right that they compete with Nintendo whether they are on a Nintendo platform or not. But in a sense, more so when a Nintendo console is dominant.
Do you seriously not get that many (most?) people don't buy games in bulk? sometimes I'll buy two or three at a time, if there's some kind of sale, or if there's a few must have titles that are clearance, or there's some other compelling reason to. But Most people are not going to spend more than $100 on games at a time.
Nintendo *IS* competing with it's third parties. If I go to the store and I want to buy *a* game today, it'll probably be Super Paper Mario. I buy the AAA titles and the titles that have special signifigance to me first. Then if I have the time, I look at other games.
I'm having trouble conveying what I mean here, so let me just say this. Nobody goes to the store and buys as many games as look interesting. There are simply too many titles. So you go for the best first. Nintendo is a fucking powerhouse of a developer and publisher, and they have a disproportionate number of "best" titles. Therefore, unless Nintendo's style doesn't apeal to you, or Nintendo is having a publishing lull, it's a pain for third parties to sell to you when they have to sit next to Nintendo titles on the shelf.
Your whole argument seems to hinge around the idea that success hinges on intelligence (Genius as you put it). You give no evidence to support this.
I'll agree that it is sometimes the case. However, do you really think that it's the case with Britney Spears? And even if it were, she's a product, not the mastermind. She had managers and handlers who planed her career and marketed her. She was just the pretty face that they cast for the role. I honestly think that it could have been any of thousands of girls who could be Spears now.
There are certainly other variables besides "genius" in success. Monitary or otherwise.
Doesn't work. I use Mozilla suite as my browser (Firefox just has a slightly different "feel" that I never got to like). The site gives me the "You must use IE" message. So I change my User-Agent string to "IE 6.0 WinXP" through Mozilla PrefBar (an awesome tool for Mozilla or firefox users, basicly lets you change any config file variable direct through the toolbar). When I tried it changing my UA string, the site just didn't load.
I don't know what they use, but it does need IE. Probably ActiveX or some such.
Yeah, I get that. And in theory, I could order a PAL TV and bitch and moan that none of the local broadcasters support it, just NTSC. Have fun with that.
Honestly, if you're going to produce online content, you've already resolved yourself to the fact that you're not going to reach the users who aren't online, or aren't on broadband, or don't have computers. So I doubt you care about the Linux users. They're dwarfed by the others.
Using a computer = Using Windows for most practical purposes.
Thanks for pointing that out!
You mean do people who intend the data to reach people online realize that people will need computers to view it?
I suspect they have some idea, yeah.
If that's still Doom, let me ask you this?
If I published a ROM hack of Super Mario Bros 3 that was nothing but the levels and characters from SMB1 (In other words, SMB1 using the SMB3 engine), would that still be SMB1?
Serious question, I suspect different people would have different answers.
On the other hand in regard to "That's my problem, not SMB's" I don't agree. And I'll tell you why.
Every major genre goes through an evolution.
1) Inseption - The first game of it's kind is released. (For our purposes, I'll use SMB1 here, although I don't know if it was *relaly* first it was the first I played though. Let's call this genre the run-n-jump side scroller to distinguish it from other dissimilar side scrollers like R-Type and Golgo 13.)
2) Copycats - Everyone sees the success of this new style of gameplay and rushes to copy it. For the purposes of side scrollers, where do we begin? Alex Kid, Adventure Island, Amagon, lots of others were early side scroller copycats. These copycats sell somewhat well on the strength of the origional.
3) Development - Copycats, sequels, and spin-offs start to surpass the origional. Graphics are improved, control, technical limitations are squashed. Complexity increases (inventory, powerups, extra characters were added in our genre example) some improvements will become standard, others will be present or not depending on the game. The genre is perfected to a certain formula. The formula can be strayed from, but not too far for most successful games. SMB2 & 3, Megaman, Sonic, and hosts of others are examples. During this phase, copycats are still being produced, but do not sell as well as before.
4) Saturation - Truely classic AAA games are released. As are 40,000 other titles per month. The AAA titles are easy to find, they really *do* stand out. But they have stopped innovating much. Now innovation will occur with new genres.
5) Death. Yes, it happens. The AAA games from the past few stages shine so brightly, and outshine the newer titles so much, that eventually newer titles stop coming. The genre has reached it's pinnacle. For side scrollers, it will vary where you think this is. Mario 3? (I think so) Super Metroid? Sonic? Super Mario World? Yoshi's Island? It doesn't matter. The point is that any new games are very little more than variations on a theme. so much so that they're largely unwanted, and unproduced. You will still see the occasional trickle of titles, (Viewtiful Joe, New SMB, etc) but not much progress will happen to the genre from this point.
It's not just side scrollers. What's the last great shmup you played since R-Type ruled the scene? (Ikaruga is the exception that proves the rule). I'm sure someone will reply with a few titles, but what weight did those titles have on gaming as a whole? Generations don't remember also rans like AstroAvenger. They remember R-Type and Galaga.
Same with beat-em-ups. Where are the Double Dragon and Bad Dudes games now?
I guess what I'm saying is that Super Mario 3 can not be improved upon. Only changed. It's as tuned and polished as it's going to be for what it is. Super Mario 1 can't say the same thing.
As an aside - Before someone mentions something about one, I don't think simulations follow this rule. There will probably always be a new Maden game for the foresable future. There will always be new versions of MS Flight simulator. There will always be new relaistic racing games. These are technology based, and not subject to the rules above, as they're chacing a pre-defined target.
That's not it either. Lack of a save game is not a bad thing in my mind given the type of game it was. SMB3 had no save feature, and it played fine (still does).
I can still put serious time into SMB3, but not SMB1. I think the control is the biggest thing for me at least.