Though you are no doubt right to be cynical, I can remember one recent announcement of a disease being cured, and it's a big one, cervical cancer (though perhaps it is truer to say it is a prevention rather than a cure).
1. It relies on an external (spiritual) force to enable you to quit. It reinforces the perception of the addict as helpless victim, when in fact your addiction is a choice, at least at some level. If you don't want to stop, you won't.
2. It doesn't work that well. You are never considered cured, and studies (including one commissioned by the AA themselves) have shown the 12 step program to have a worse failure rate for remission than just deciding to stop.
3. Its cult-like properties.
I have never gone through a 12 step program myself, just interested in the subject. And from what I have read, the effectiveness of the whole method is greatly in doubt.
Shit yeah, just need to uncomment out those "addImagination()" lines and we're good to go!
Anyway, Deep Blue was a crock. Well, I'm sure technically it was very impressive, but as a competition it sucked. After each game, the programmers were allowed to step in and massively tweak the algorithms. I think they were also allowed to veto any "stupid" moves the computer made. If I was Kasparov, I would never have agreed to those rules.
Microsoft made a bad mistake by not ensuring full backwards compatibility. Firstly, because with the PS2 Sony has made it an expected feature. It pointless saying "Oh, the SNES never had it, and the N64 never had it", the fact is the PS2 *did*, and the PS3 and Wii will, so it's now a major factor in a console's viability.
Secondly, because by positioning the 360 and original XBox as entirely separate consoles, they are now in a position of competing with themselves for marketshare. Whereas Sony were happy enough to share shelf space with PS1 titles, with MS they want to drop the XBox like a hot potato to get increased space for the 360. Given that the XBox was a popular console, this has left somewhat of a bad taste in the mouth. People are not used to seeing a successful system dropped so quickly. If you got an XBox for Christmas last year (and Microsoft is still more than happy to flog them to you to clear their inventory), it's going to be a bit of a slap in the mouth when you go into your local game shop and see the utter dearth of titles. It doesn't speak well for their customer relations.
Add to the fact that Microsoft is struggling to get out any killer games that aren't just more of the same, this is a real make or break time for them. Sony could really destroy them, if they launch well. Luckily for MS, it doesn't look like that is going to happen, but they are skating on thin ice. To win the next gen, they have got to make PS2 owners upgrade to 360s. I'm not sure they can make that happen. If they had full backwards compatibility, they could at least have a powerful incentive for current XBox owners to upgrade to the 360. Now they'll say "well, to keep my old games I need to keep my old XBox around anyway, so why not get a PS3/Wii instead?"
And as for saying that it's much harder for MS to implement backwards compatibility - that may be true, but it's neither here nor there. It was Microsoft's problem to work that one out, and they had enough time and resources to do it.
Half-Life 2 was episodic as well. You would play through one 'short' episode, and then have to wait a month or so until the next one was released. Oh no, wait, that was the loading screen.
While many third-person shooters are run 'n gun affairs, Epic likes to say that the emphasis in Gears of War is on a 'stop 'n pop' style of play.
Hmm, they are bringing in some stealth elements, eh? How very revolutionary. The only other FPS I can think of that incorporates this sort of thing is... every damn one in the last 3 years! Nothing I love more in games than having to be careful.
Yeah, their latest wheeze is turning off the servers for their online console games as soon as the new version is released (and being EA, this is only a year). Despite the fact that the games are hosted peer-to-peer anyway, they just provided a (crappy) matching game lobby service.
For example - Burnout 3, no longer playable online. SSX 3 - No longer playable online. Best one about this is, SSX On Tour (the sequel) does not even have an online element!
These are the actions of a company that doesn't give a toss about their customers.
I bought Outrun Coast 2 Coast recently (great game), and in the license set-up screen for your character, you can pick your nationality. Ireland wasn't there, which wasn't a massive shock to me as there was only about 20 or so to choose from, but to my surprise there was.. North Korea! Are they having a laugh or what? I doubt there is even anyone WITH a PS2 in the whole country..
Unskippable advert start scenes - at the start of every level. Or hell, why not mid-level? Constant overlaid onscreen ad graphics (a la TV station logos) Product placement in cut scenes (already happening, see Splinter Cell:PT in which the hero practically fellates his Sony Ericsson cell phone) Exclusive unlockable content, only available by buying a certain product and keying in personal activiation codes (bet this had been done already too)
The fact is, advertising doesn't work so well anymore, people have got too used to ignoring them. The industry's response is to make them as intrusive as possible.
Just to clarify, I'm not for a second thinking this is feasible, but it would be cool if XFire would do it, similar to the periodical PC hardware surveys Steam creates.
Getting the details out of the people who run Xfire or similar should provide a big enough sample size to get some real figures. It's a MSN type program geared towards gamers, and it shows you what game your friends are currently playing, MMORPGs included. I'm sure they collate this data.
I'm sure getting the information out of them would be a tall order though!
Yeah, but it's pretty much all their shitty BBC3 stuff they are desperately trying to gain a bit of mindshare for. You wouldn't see them put any of their flagship programs up for download. Not yet, anyway.
Slashdot Mirror
Though you are no doubt right to be cynical, I can remember one recent announcement of a disease being cured, and it's a big one, cervical cancer (though perhaps it is truer to say it is a prevention rather than a cure).
Wii Wii Wii all the way home?
Saw a good comment recently, that MySpace is nothing new, just Geocities 9 years on.
A church built upon a man will surely tumble like a house built on sand.
Worked for L.Ron Hubbard!
Well, to get something positive out of this, at least you can say he got the sort of advertising that money just can't buy!
"Guy Critical Of Microsoft Gets All Expenses Paid Junket, Changes Mind"
Commonly cited problems with AA are:
1. It relies on an external (spiritual) force to enable you to quit. It reinforces the perception of the addict as helpless victim, when in fact your addiction is a choice, at least at some level. If you don't want to stop, you won't.
2. It doesn't work that well. You are never considered cured, and studies (including one commissioned by the AA themselves) have shown the 12 step program to have a worse failure rate for remission than just deciding to stop.
3. Its cult-like properties.
I have never gone through a 12 step program myself, just interested in the subject. And from what I have read, the effectiveness of the whole method is greatly in doubt.
Shit yeah, just need to uncomment out those "addImagination()" lines and we're good to go!
Anyway, Deep Blue was a crock. Well, I'm sure technically it was very impressive, but as a competition it sucked. After each game, the programmers were allowed to step in and massively tweak the algorithms. I think they were also allowed to veto any "stupid" moves the computer made. If I was Kasparov, I would never have agreed to those rules.
Texas is great. A real bastion of individual rights and freedoms. And it's all thanks to guns!
Well, excluding small incidents like this one.
Microsoft made a bad mistake by not ensuring full backwards compatibility. Firstly, because with the PS2 Sony has made it an expected feature. It pointless saying "Oh, the SNES never had it, and the N64 never had it", the fact is the PS2 *did*, and the PS3 and Wii will, so it's now a major factor in a console's viability.
Secondly, because by positioning the 360 and original XBox as entirely separate consoles, they are now in a position of competing with themselves for marketshare. Whereas Sony were happy enough to share shelf space with PS1 titles, with MS they want to drop the XBox like a hot potato to get increased space for the 360. Given that the XBox was a popular console, this has left somewhat of a bad taste in the mouth. People are not used to seeing a successful system dropped so quickly. If you got an XBox for Christmas last year (and Microsoft is still more than happy to flog them to you to clear their inventory), it's going to be a bit of a slap in the mouth when you go into your local game shop and see the utter dearth of titles. It doesn't speak well for their customer relations.
Add to the fact that Microsoft is struggling to get out any killer games that aren't just more of the same, this is a real make or break time for them. Sony could really destroy them, if they launch well. Luckily for MS, it doesn't look like that is going to happen, but they are skating on thin ice. To win the next gen, they have got to make PS2 owners upgrade to 360s. I'm not sure they can make that happen. If they had full backwards compatibility, they could at least have a powerful incentive for current XBox owners to upgrade to the 360. Now they'll say "well, to keep my old games I need to keep my old XBox around anyway, so why not get a PS3/Wii instead?"
And as for saying that it's much harder for MS to implement backwards compatibility - that may be true, but it's neither here nor there. It was Microsoft's problem to work that one out, and they had enough time and resources to do it.
Half-Life 2 was episodic as well. You would play through one 'short' episode, and then have to wait a month or so until the next one was released. Oh no, wait, that was the loading screen.
The wages of sin may be death, but the perks are fantastic!
People who live paycheque to paycheque shouldn't have kids.
Hey man! When I read you saying stuff like that, it makes me think you're not really the Pope at all!
(Anyway, what's the next step? People who can't afford food should starve?)
While many third-person shooters are run 'n gun affairs, Epic likes to say that the emphasis in Gears of War is on a 'stop 'n pop' style of play.
Hmm, they are bringing in some stealth elements, eh? How very revolutionary.
The only other FPS I can think of that incorporates this sort of thing is... every damn one in the last 3 years! Nothing I love more in games than having to be careful.
Yeah, their latest wheeze is turning off the servers for their online console games as soon as the new version is released (and being EA, this is only a year). Despite the fact that the games are hosted peer-to-peer anyway, they just provided a (crappy) matching game lobby service.
For example - Burnout 3, no longer playable online.
SSX 3 - No longer playable online. Best one about this is, SSX On Tour (the sequel) does not even have an online element!
These are the actions of a company that doesn't give a toss about their customers.
And how many of those are XBox360 exclusives?
I bought Outrun Coast 2 Coast recently (great game), and in the license set-up screen for your character, you can pick your nationality. Ireland wasn't there, which wasn't a massive shock to me as there was only about 20 or so to choose from, but to my surprise there was.. North Korea! Are they having a laugh or what? I doubt there is even anyone WITH a PS2 in the whole country..
Strange!
Isn't sex as much about the giving as it is about receiving?
I saw a website about this once, explained very clearly the concepts of there being a "giver" and a "receiver" - goat.. something...
I can think of even worse than that.
Unskippable advert start scenes - at the start of every level. Or hell, why not mid-level?
Constant overlaid onscreen ad graphics (a la TV station logos)
Product placement in cut scenes (already happening, see Splinter Cell:PT in which the hero practically fellates his Sony Ericsson cell phone)
Exclusive unlockable content, only available by buying a certain product and keying in personal activiation codes (bet this had been done already too)
The fact is, advertising doesn't work so well anymore, people have got too used to ignoring them. The industry's response is to make them as intrusive as possible.
This is how it will go.
... fantastic ... Wand control is the only way to go, we always thought that!
Katahashi : Revolution controller is the worst!
Nintendo : We think your games are fantastic!
Katahashi:
I dunno, the GTA series seems to be a big hit with the kids.. ;-)
Just to clarify, I'm not for a second thinking this is feasible, but it would be cool if XFire would do it, similar to the periodical PC hardware surveys Steam creates.
Getting the details out of the people who run Xfire or similar should provide a big enough sample size to get some real figures. It's a MSN type program geared towards gamers, and it shows you what game your friends are currently playing, MMORPGs included. I'm sure they collate this data.
I'm sure getting the information out of them would be a tall order though!
Yeah, but it's pretty much all their shitty BBC3 stuff they are desperately trying to gain a bit of mindshare for. You wouldn't see them put any of their flagship programs up for download.
Not yet, anyway.
OK, why don't you slip into something more comfortable, Bob's on his way round now.