1. Unix was written by really smart people, for really smart people. MS-DOS was written by really smart people, for the average Joe. Clearly, if you want to be impressive, you must be a part of the Unix crowd, cause the intended target was really cool, smart people.
2. Microsoft called thieves thieves.
3. Everyone else hates microsoft, and original thinking is disturbingly rare.
linux and windows are both just operating systems. That's really all they are.
In the PC world, for whatever reason, we allow games to be released before they are finished. We accept that the game we initially install on our hard drives may very well be non-functional for the first week or so, until the first patch is released.
Traditionally, console games were not like that. A console game had one chance to get it right. If it was buggy on release, it stayed that way forever. Hence, console games tended to work from day one.
But, now we have online updates to memory cards...and even more scary, hard drives on our consoles. If this leads game developers to believe they can release incomplete games, then what difference does it make?
This is the first time I have ever seen a single preview passed around so much. Certainly it is comprehensive. GJ Dustyboots.
Does this mean every other WoW tester who was thinking about writing a preview saw this one and decided it would just be easier to keep playing...err, I mean testing?
That is a magnificent summary of useful quotations. As I am currently employed in a sinister hell-hole of backstabbing and schemes, I shall eagerly put them to use.
I am but a poor SA, and have been struggling to survive with no natural defenses.
The business climate has gaming companies acting very conservative right now. You are much more likely to see another Warcraft clone than you are to see an innovative new game. No matter how nifty the graphics, if you notice it is the same old Warcraft, you instantly lose 80 percent of your enthusiasm for the title.
Combine that with the constant nagging voice in the back of our heads, telling us we should be doing something more productive, and it can be a battle.
Personally, I believe we are all just wandering around the lobby, waiting for the doors to open to true, immersive virtual reality. We have seen the pretty sunsets on our CRT, now we want to feel the wind in our hair.
That's Raph in a nutshell. He refuses to believe he is simply a game coordinator.
And slashgov is a good idea! With all the spin, it would be nice to have a forum such as slashdot where political concepts could be discussed from all angles.
Maybe just a sub-board under slashdot, like the game section.
>>Those of you who have been around me in the various games know that I place a high premium on interacting with players and being honest with them.
This from the man who closed the SWG forums so they cannot even be read unless you are paying a monthly fee. If SWG honestly became a great game today, we would have no more information than the standard marketing nonsense.
It's damage control people. They knew. They just didn't care. Now that they are caught they are passing the buck.
Think about what they are offering: If you managed to save the receipt they will replace your current product. And you get a T-shirt that is specifically designed to be a give-away. And you get a coupon to buy more products.
If you are honestly accepting their word that they were poor abused victims in this whole scam, then you are gullible.
I know, I know, you think I have lost my mind. As far as learning curves go in computer games, EQ's is pretty steep. Also, it has a reputation as a hardcore gamers obsession.
However, I know many EQ players personally, and I have noticed that those who "succeed" in it are often from seperate peer groups than the veteran gamer:
1. Atheletes - Believe it or not. I know lots of people who play lots of sports, and their competitive nature played well into EQ. Once they learned that this was a way for them to rise above the competition, and get the phat bling-bling, most took off at rocket speed.
2. People with time on their hands - That can be most of us during periods in our life. These are the moms after the kids have flown the coop. They are also the guy who got fired, the couple just trying to stay home and save some money, and the teenager counting the days till graduation and escape.
3. Anyone with more than 0.001% obsessive-compulsive behavior.
My point is I know many, many people who never played a computer game more complex than minesweeper, and then found themselves serving up an 8 hour day behind an EQ avatar.
I do not recommend you buy a copy for Grandma though, unless you are desperate to cease her meddling.
Now that is a good idea, and I will bet it is one that we eventually settle into.
I'm not talking about the 16 player maps, or even the 64 player maps. I am talking about a server specifically designed to house about 400 people, with a guesstimated 100 playing at any given time. Games designed to operate at this level will be able to cover every possible genre.
First though, the finances must be nailed down and publicized. Once everyone has a basic game plan on how to pay the ISP charges while still staying small, the uber-geeks with a lot of talent and passion and time on their hands will get together with their best story telling buddy and create amazing limited scope adventures.
I am just now getting the hang of Planetside, and I am hoping there are some comparisons between it and SWG.
In planetside, you can spend days figuring out "who you want to be". I tried driving tanks, and hated it. I tried getting MAX armor, and hated it. I tried being a GAL pilot, and hated it.
In the end, I found out what character I wanted to be - a sniper who flies a mosquito. Now that I am in my groove, I am happy.
I hope SWG works out the same for me (it sounds like it will). Right now, I think it would be fun to be a doctor. Maybe I will discover I like the combat system and become a rifleman instead. Maybe I will like being a farmer.
The point is: In Planetside (and hopefully SWG) there is no huge race to be uber. You just discover what you enjoy, and then automatically begin to roleplay that character - because you think it is cool.
Pell
Re:We're all waiting for SW: Galaxies.
on
Sim-Dud?
·
· Score: 1
Sure, gaming sucker that I am, I am waiting for SWG. But, what if...just what if...
SWG turns out to be...
Graphically pretty cool to begin with... but somewhat lacking in content to begin with... and laggy to begin with... and prone to complaints about balance... and ultimately just another game where you smack virtual critters on the head... hoping to some day to achieve the next level trinket...
In other words, what if it turns out to be more of the same.
Honestly, what else can it be? Once you've taken the tour, you've seen the lights. It's all fundamentally the same thing.
Perhaps the side-scroller can only be so innovative before it becomes routine and dies out, because there is nothing more that can really be done with it. Perhaps the same for the MMOG's.
EA thinks gamers are suckers, and they are
on
Sim-Dud?
·
· Score: 1
Or, at least, a high enough percentage of them are. Apparently I are..am.
Somewhere along the way, marketing people overtook the gaming companies. The marketing people saw the success of Everquest, and determined there was NO WAY TO LOSE if they make their own on-line, subscription based game.
At EA, they took a fantastic single-player game, and cheapened it by putting the same name on a multiplayer avatar based chat room.
My daughter is the real Sims fan in our household. I bought her Sims Online, and she tinkered with it for a few hours before giving up. Her exact words were, "It's a disgrace."
The real tragedy is that those marketing people will still turn out to be correct. After about a year and a half, Sims Online will still be kicking, and will still pull in those monthly fees. It will be marginally better, and will be actively hyping it's new expansion pack.
Slashdot Mirror
1. Unix was written by really smart people, for really smart people. MS-DOS was written by really smart people, for the average Joe. Clearly, if you want to be impressive, you must be a part of the Unix crowd, cause the intended target was really cool, smart people.
2. Microsoft called thieves thieves.
3. Everyone else hates microsoft, and original thinking is disturbingly rare.
linux and windows are both just operating systems. That's really all they are.
One month from today, the word will come out that sensitive information is available on Google, and being actively utilized by China, Iraq and France.
Two months from now, DoD sys admins will be told to block Google.
Twenty years from now, the following questions will still be on the security clearance application form:
206. Have you ever used any of the following "hackor" tools:
SATAN YES/NO
PGP YES/NO
Google YES/NO
With all that limo surfing, Aeron chair purchasing, job hunting on company time, and bragging about how rich everyone deserved to be.
Now not only are IT workers fired, but threatened with third world wages and no overtime pay should they ever return.
Seriously, I don't mean to troll, but what did we expect? For a brief, glowing moment there, IT workers were treating money like it was only paper.
The same thing happened to coal miners (the technical gurus of their day) decades ago. At least they had union protection.
In the PC world, for whatever reason, we allow games to be released before they are finished. We accept that the game we initially install on our hard drives may very well be non-functional for the first week or so, until the first patch is released.
Traditionally, console games were not like that. A console game had one chance to get it right. If it was buggy on release, it stayed that way forever. Hence, console games tended to work from day one.
But, now we have online updates to memory cards...and even more scary, hard drives on our consoles. If this leads game developers to believe they can release incomplete games, then what difference does it make?
This is the first time I have ever seen a single preview passed around so much. Certainly it is comprehensive. GJ Dustyboots.
Does this mean every other WoW tester who was thinking about writing a preview saw this one and decided it would just be easier to keep playing...err, I mean testing?
Got it from my cleaning closet.
Me not feel any smarter atall.
That is a magnificent summary of useful quotations. As I am currently employed in a sinister hell-hole of backstabbing and schemes, I shall eagerly put them to use.
I am but a poor SA, and have been struggling to survive with no natural defenses.
The business climate has gaming companies acting very conservative right now. You are much more likely to see another Warcraft clone than you are to see an innovative new game. No matter how nifty the graphics, if you notice it is the same old Warcraft, you instantly lose 80 percent of your enthusiasm for the title.
Combine that with the constant nagging voice in the back of our heads, telling us we should be doing something more productive, and it can be a battle.
Personally, I believe we are all just wandering around the lobby, waiting for the doors to open to true, immersive virtual reality. We have seen the pretty sunsets on our CRT, now we want to feel the wind in our hair.
That's Raph in a nutshell. He refuses to believe he is simply a game coordinator.
And slashgov is a good idea! With all the spin, it would be nice to have a forum such as slashdot where political concepts could be discussed from all angles.
Maybe just a sub-board under slashdot, like the game section.
This is the most worthless software I have ever heard of.
The purpose of the automated calling procedures is to save money, not to connect callers with tech support.
What Pointy Haired Boss would ever buy this? It's a waste of valuable capital (from the perspective of the almighty immediate dollar).
>>Those of you who have been around me in the various games know that I place a high premium on interacting with players and being honest with them.
This from the man who closed the SWG forums so they cannot even be read unless you are paying a monthly fee. If SWG honestly became a great game today, we would have no more information than the standard marketing nonsense.
It's damage control people.
They knew.
They just didn't care.
Now that they are caught they are passing the buck.
Think about what they are offering: If you managed to save the receipt they will replace your current product.
And you get a T-shirt that is specifically designed to be a give-away.
And you get a coupon to buy more products.
If you are honestly accepting their word that they were poor abused victims in this whole scam, then you are gullible.
Yeah, Everquest.
I know, I know, you think I have lost my mind. As far as learning curves go in computer games, EQ's is pretty steep. Also, it has a reputation as a hardcore gamers obsession.
However, I know many EQ players personally, and I have noticed that those who "succeed" in it are often from seperate peer groups than the veteran gamer:
1. Atheletes - Believe it or not. I know lots of people who play lots of sports, and their competitive nature played well into EQ. Once they learned that this was a way for them to rise above the competition, and get the phat bling-bling, most took off at rocket speed.
2. People with time on their hands - That can be most of us during periods in our life. These are the moms after the kids have flown the coop. They are also the guy who got fired, the couple just trying to stay home and save some money, and the teenager counting the days till graduation and escape.
3. Anyone with more than 0.001% obsessive-compulsive behavior.
My point is I know many, many people who never played a computer game more complex than minesweeper, and then found themselves serving up an 8 hour day behind an EQ avatar.
I do not recommend you buy a copy for Grandma though, unless you are desperate to cease her meddling.
Pel
>>How about a TMO (tiny multiplayer online)
Now that is a good idea, and I will bet it is one that we eventually settle into.
I'm not talking about the 16 player maps, or even the 64 player maps. I am talking about a server specifically designed to house about 400 people, with a guesstimated 100 playing at any given time. Games designed to operate at this level will be able to cover every possible genre.
First though, the finances must be nailed down and publicized. Once everyone has a basic game plan on how to pay the ISP charges while still staying small, the uber-geeks with a lot of talent and passion and time on their hands will get together with their best story telling buddy and create amazing limited scope adventures.
I am just now getting the hang of Planetside, and I am hoping there are some comparisons between it and SWG.
In planetside, you can spend days figuring out "who you want to be". I tried driving tanks, and hated it. I tried getting MAX armor, and hated it. I tried being a GAL pilot, and hated it.
In the end, I found out what character I wanted to be - a sniper who flies a mosquito. Now that I am in my groove, I am happy.
I hope SWG works out the same for me (it sounds like it will). Right now, I think it would be fun to be a doctor. Maybe I will discover I like the combat system and become a rifleman instead. Maybe I will like being a farmer.
The point is: In Planetside (and hopefully SWG) there is no huge race to be uber. You just discover what you enjoy, and then automatically begin to roleplay that character - because you think it is cool.
Pell
Sure, gaming sucker that I am, I am waiting for SWG.
But, what if...just what if...
SWG turns out to be...
Graphically pretty cool to begin with...
but somewhat lacking in content to begin with...
and laggy to begin with...
and prone to complaints about balance...
and ultimately just another game where you smack virtual critters on the head...
hoping to some day to achieve the next level trinket...
In other words, what if it turns out to be more of the same.
Honestly, what else can it be? Once you've taken the tour, you've seen the lights. It's all fundamentally the same thing.
Perhaps the side-scroller can only be so innovative before it becomes routine and dies out, because there is nothing more that can really be done with it. Perhaps the same for the MMOG's.
Or, at least, a high enough percentage of them are. Apparently I are..am.
Somewhere along the way, marketing people overtook the gaming companies. The marketing people saw the success of Everquest, and determined there was NO WAY TO LOSE if they make their own on-line, subscription based game.
At EA, they took a fantastic single-player game, and cheapened it by putting the same name on a multiplayer avatar based chat room.
My daughter is the real Sims fan in our household. I bought her Sims Online, and she tinkered with it for a few hours before giving up. Her exact words were, "It's a disgrace."
The real tragedy is that those marketing people will still turn out to be correct. After about a year and a half, Sims Online will still be kicking, and will still pull in those monthly fees. It will be marginally better, and will be actively hyping it's new expansion pack.