Simple games have their place, but many people (myself included) want more out of a game these days. I've done Doom and Quake, they were fun, but I want something more. Take the first few scenes in RE:4 - the thing that made me sit up and get interested in the game was the clever use of horror-movie style cutscenes to build tension and fear. They added emotion to the game and made it far more memorable.
It's odd, but I've never seen anyone with either a PSP or a DS in the UK. I remember seeing maybe five kids with a GBA SP when I lived in London,but nothing else.
I would hope that overall this is actually saving society money, by reducing damage from crime and the amount of police and court time spent dealing with it.
It's not that different: if everyone did that, commercial TV would either die or find alternatives, such as product placements, adverts spliced more closely into the shows or going subscription-based. We have another alternative here (UK) of state-funded, advert-free TV.
That said, it is clearly more wrong to illegaly download copies of shows, when there is a legal alternative which provides the makers of the show with income, than it is to skip the adverts electronically. At present, advertisers know that most people don't watch the adverts very much anyway, which is why they go out of their way to make them grab attention - loud, bright, odd, funny etc.
And presumably, if everyone did that, the money to make shows like The Office would magically appear in the networks' bank accounts? Another case of an "I'm special, it's OK if I break the law or behave immorally" fallacy.
It does annoy me that many games add in some repetitive or boring chapters just to pad the play time for the reviews. Give me 15-20hrs of engrossing gameplay rather than that same material spread out over 30-40 hours. Resident Evil 4 wouldn't have been so good if it was strectched over 10 sections.
The worst thing is 'cheap' game play lengtheners: putting a ten minute easy section before a hard boss fight, with no save point in between, or rehashes of previous missions - "Now do exactly the same thing, but in a *blue* car".
You are artificially limiting your choices, though, by ruling out the DS. There are a lot of *very* good DS and GBA games.
My experience was 50% good - one supervisor would have ten minute meeting where he would give you about a hundred ideas of what to try next, while the other supervisor's meetings were mostly taken up with my explaining what the hell my PhD was about again.
Maybe you're right - I do find the lower corners quite uncomfortable against my palm after a while, though. It would be nice to see the other buttons made larger, to reduce that A-button shaped callus on my thumb from Mario Kart.
It was clearly a difficult task for Nintendo to layout the two screens comfortably. I tried to play Mario 64 with the touch screen, but I couldn't comfortably reach enough of the screen with my thumb and hold the DS at the same time, so I just used the d-pad instead.
The DS design could use some tweaking. Make it lighter and thinner, round the edges off, make it less wide so it's easier to use the screen with your thumb without stretching, make the shoulder buttons larger and label the buttons properly.
The value of the data in a user's home directory is massively higher than anything else. Even assuming perfect daily backups, a day's work is worth quite a lot still. A non-admin virus can't spread to other users, but it could still turn your machine into a spam relay and other nasty things.
While I imagine their codebase is reasonably portable, it is still going to be a lot more than just a recompile to get a game to Linux. All the system level stuff (input, sound etc) would have to be redone, probably using SDL. Then they have to test, develop an installer, distribute etc. Given that cost, the size of the intersection of Linux users who want to play WoW, have a fast enough computer, have a supported 3D card and can get the drivers installed, don't already have a Windows/Mac install and would be prepared to pay for it is probably far too small for Blizzard to bother.
You seem to have confused landscape and environment.
Anyway, in order to not have been born during the last serious nuclear power incident, you would have to be less than a year old (google for Thorp, UK plant leak). It's not the explosions people worry about, it's the potential leaks and where you put the waste for the next few thousand years.
I always find it odd that in intelligent UK middle-class society it is assumed people know some literature, geography, history, politics and classical music, all relatively complex areas, but even the simplest mathematical or technical ideas are unknown.
"I'm still limited to shooting, beating or running over hookers? Kill Death Die Hurt Maim let me chop off their fingers one by one while they begged for mercy, their cheap eyeliner merging with their tears and darkening the pools of blood at their feet. Are you sure Mario isn't in this wimpfest?"
Do you have any recommendations for 'normal' earphones? Something around the size of the normal iPod ones. I like the improved quality of the earplug-style (ER-6 etc) ones, but I find them too uncomfortable to wear - my ears get itchy and hot after 30 minutes of using them. I don't really fancy lugging around the huge over-ear type either, though.
In my opinion, Mario Sunshine was a better game than Mario 64: more variety and better levels. But then I played them in reverse order: I only played Mario 64 DS last year.
That said, 64(DS) is still a fantastic game. The basic gameplay is fun and there is a very good balance between challenge and reward. It also has a very strong "just one more star" effect that kept me playing. It reuses the same levels, but it does so many different clever things with them that it doesn't matter. I often get bored of games quite quickly, but 64 kept me addicted all the way through.
If the Travelmate 8200 has the same poor build quality as my 8100, the Macbook is worth the money. And of course, the fact that you're not forced to run Windows or Linux (FreeBSD...) on the MacBook is of major value.
But how can I change the content on http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/? I would guess that there was a confusion between the author and whoever wrote the summary at the Indy. Another reason for the "Independent isn't a serious newspaper any more" pile, perhaps?
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Simple games have their place, but many people (myself included) want more out of a game these days. I've done Doom and Quake, they were fun, but I want something more. Take the first few scenes in RE:4 - the thing that made me sit up and get interested in the game was the clever use of horror-movie style cutscenes to build tension and fear. They added emotion to the game and made it far more memorable.
It's odd, but I've never seen anyone with either a PSP or a DS in the UK. I remember seeing maybe five kids with a GBA SP when I lived in London,but nothing else.
Didn't we try that one already? Damn convicts got ideas above their station and formed their own country :-)
I would hope that overall this is actually saving society money, by reducing damage from crime and the amount of police and court time spent dealing with it.
It's not that different: if everyone did that, commercial TV would either die or find alternatives, such as product placements, adverts spliced more closely into the shows or going subscription-based. We have another alternative here (UK) of state-funded, advert-free TV.
That said, it is clearly more wrong to illegaly download copies of shows, when there is a legal alternative which provides the makers of the show with income, than it is to skip the adverts electronically. At present, advertisers know that most people don't watch the adverts very much anyway, which is why they go out of their way to make them grab attention - loud, bright, odd, funny etc.
And presumably, if everyone did that, the money to make shows like The Office would magically appear in the networks' bank accounts? Another case of an "I'm special, it's OK if I break the law or behave immorally" fallacy.
It does annoy me that many games add in some repetitive or boring chapters just to pad the play time for the reviews. Give me 15-20hrs of engrossing gameplay rather than that same material spread out over 30-40 hours. Resident Evil 4 wouldn't have been so good if it was strectched over 10 sections.
The worst thing is 'cheap' game play lengtheners: putting a ten minute easy section before a hard boss fight, with no save point in between, or rehashes of previous missions - "Now do exactly the same thing, but in a *blue* car".
You are artificially limiting your choices, though, by ruling out the DS. There are a lot of *very* good DS and GBA games.
My experience was 50% good - one supervisor would have ten minute meeting where he would give you about a hundred ideas of what to try next, while the other supervisor's meetings were mostly taken up with my explaining what the hell my PhD was about again.
I think it's frustration, really. Dupes happen quite frequently and every time potential easy solutions are pointed out by readers.
Most people are only here for the discussion these days, anyway, the article summaries are generally either poorly written, incorrect or confused.
Maybe you're right - I do find the lower corners quite uncomfortable against my palm after a while, though. It would be nice to see the other buttons made larger, to reduce that A-button shaped callus on my thumb from Mario Kart.
It was clearly a difficult task for Nintendo to layout the two screens comfortably. I tried to play Mario 64 with the touch screen, but I couldn't comfortably reach enough of the screen with my thumb and hold the DS at the same time, so I just used the d-pad instead.
I have one of those soft DS cases - it stops the DS getting scratched in my bag, and it has a little zip compartment that fits maybe five DS games.
The DS design could use some tweaking. Make it lighter and thinner, round the edges off, make it less wide so it's easier to use the screen with your thumb without stretching, make the shoulder buttons larger and label the buttons properly.
The value of the data in a user's home directory is massively higher than anything else. Even assuming perfect daily backups, a day's work is worth quite a lot still. A non-admin virus can't spread to other users, but it could still turn your machine into a spam relay and other nasty things.
While I imagine their codebase is reasonably portable, it is still going to be a lot more than just a recompile to get a game to Linux. All the system level stuff (input, sound etc) would have to be redone, probably using SDL. Then they have to test, develop an installer, distribute etc.
Given that cost, the size of the intersection of Linux users who want to play WoW, have a fast enough computer, have a supported 3D card and can get the drivers installed, don't already have a Windows/Mac install and would be prepared to pay for it is probably far too small for Blizzard to bother.
You seem to have confused landscape and environment.
Anyway, in order to not have been born during the last serious nuclear power incident, you would have to be less than a year old (google for Thorp, UK plant leak). It's not the explosions people worry about, it's the potential leaks and where you put the waste for the next few thousand years.
How about something with story, characters, puzzles and script?
I live in Norfolk and I come from Sussex, so I guess my view might be a bit slanted :-)
I always find it odd that in intelligent UK middle-class society it is assumed people know some literature, geography, history, politics and classical music, all relatively complex areas, but even the simplest mathematical or technical ideas are unknown.
Come on, that article was pretty funny.
"I'm still limited to shooting, beating or running over hookers? Kill Death Die Hurt Maim let me chop off their fingers one by one while they begged for mercy, their cheap eyeliner merging with their tears and darkening the pools of blood at their feet. Are you sure Mario isn't in this wimpfest?"
All the kool people will be out having fun while the nerds are stuck in a bacement..
That's actually one of the scenes being used in trailers for the show on TV at the moment.
Do you have any recommendations for 'normal' earphones? Something around the size of the normal iPod ones. I like the improved quality of the earplug-style (ER-6 etc) ones, but I find them too uncomfortable to wear - my ears get itchy and hot after 30 minutes of using them. I don't really fancy lugging around the huge over-ear type either, though.
In my opinion, Mario Sunshine was a better game than Mario 64: more variety and better levels. But then I played them in reverse order: I only played Mario 64 DS last year.
That said, 64(DS) is still a fantastic game. The basic gameplay is fun and there is a very good balance between challenge and reward. It also has a very strong "just one more star" effect that kept me playing. It reuses the same levels, but it does so many different clever things with them that it doesn't matter. I often get bored of games quite quickly, but 64 kept me addicted all the way through.
If the Travelmate 8200 has the same poor build quality as my 8100, the Macbook is worth the money. And of course, the fact that you're not forced to run Windows or Linux (FreeBSD...) on the MacBook is of major value.
Somebody's got to replace all those Aussies who've moved to Earls court.
But how can I change the content on http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/? I would guess that there was a confusion between the author and whoever wrote the summary at the Indy. Another reason for the "Independent isn't a serious newspaper any more" pile, perhaps?