Does Nintendo have the authority to re-sell 3rd party games from their previous systems? It seems like to me that the "entire back catalog" means anything that Nintendo holds copyright for, which is definitely a great collection of games, but not the smorgasbord many think it is.
And as far as political leaders go, their opinion on video games is down there at the bottom of the list of priorities. I'm not going to cast my vote for some neo-facist idiot just because his otherwise austere opponent decried some pixelated titties.
If there's ever a time when I pick the lesser of two evils based on their video game opinion, I'm done with democracy.
Right now, the people in congress are about 1-3 generations away from the original Atari/Nintendo generations. The voting base of their constituency is likely even older than that.
As the years go by, things will settle down and our generation will be in power- likely condemning the moral inadequacies of our youngers in mediums that we'll never be able to understand.
If you think video games get a bad rep these days, take a look at what rap music has had to go through over the last decade or so. It sorta puts these things in perspective.
DDR is just a D-Pad for your feet, and has little to do with the high-range of movement inputs like mice, thumbsticks, or gyroscopic sensors. You might have a case if and when DDR starts using an Eye Toy (or even this new controller), but for now it's just a simple D-pad for the feet.
Small movements aren't innately better for the medium, that's true. But I think you're looking at it the wrong way. Our current controls allow the most precise input possible with the least possible amount of movement.
This new control will introduce a brand new and exciting language of inputs- at the sacrifice of small precise movement. And while this may end up revolutionizing video games, that revolution is only going to take place in games that make use of this new input with new paradigms of their own. Simply grafting all this extra movement onto an FPS is going to be clunky, especially considering how much can be achieved in these games by the tiny precise movements on the hand.
Yes they've been going by small incremental improvements within the same paradigm, and gaming is the better for it. We now have analogue sticks and buttons, scroll wheels, laser optical mice, comfortable ergonomics and cordlessness. Not only is the versatility and utility being increased, but so is precision.
This is all theory and speculation on my part, so who knows? Maybe the thing will turn out being the bees knees for FPS, I'm just skeptical.
No, what I'm saying is that the mouse and analog stick only use the least amount of movement necessary relative to the field of vision you're working with.
Range of motion is great in the real world (and virtual reality), where our field of vision isn't limited to a relatively small screen in front of our face.
But video games played on a TV or computer monitor don't need that extremity in movement, and the current control paradigms have been improving over the years. This is indeed a Revolution- but that doesn't mean all that movement will translate well to small screen gaming.
But what's the point of all that range of motion if the screen is still just going to be a relatively small field of vision directly in front of your face?
When I say the wrist moves the mouse, it's not so much the up/down hinge joint of the wrist as it is the lateral torsion created by pushing and alternately pulling the sides of the mouse with the thumb and pinky- using the fine motor skills/muscles of the hand and thumb rather than the arm muscles that control the wrist and elbow.
The reason FPS games are so good with a mouse is that you are using very small precise movements with your wrist and fingers, with your palm and arm at rest.
Your fine motor skills can be trained to a much higher degree of acumen than your whole arm/shoulder/hand.
This controller may end up being worse for FPS games than even a traditional gamepad/thumbstick, but I guess we'll find out in a year or so.
Everyone who loves it is a fanboy, continually having faith in anything and everything done or said by their favorite corporation come hell or high water (or goofy designs). Criticism isn't just heresy, it's undisputably wrong.
Everyone who hates it is a troll, stoking their own agenda of loyalty to competing corporations. They obviously (that term is solid gold in a flamewar) only play "mainstream" titles like Madden Football or some kind of low-brow FPS, and don't know what real gaming is.
There is no middle room for opinions, and facts are neither relevent nor plentiful. Only hype, speculation, and brand loyalty matter.
Personally, I'm intrigued by the controller and would like to find a link to the movie that still has bandwidth. But half the fun of this weekend is going to be watching the flamewars between the fanboys and the infidels.
As a fan of Ultima, Baldur's Gate, and Lucas Art's adventure games, I thought I was familiar with the cream of the crop for video game stories.
I played through Planescape a month ago, and nothing has compared. I've devoured "Best of" lists looking for something comparable- but nothing comes close.
I worry that PS:T set the bar so high that I can't enjoy game storylines like I used to anymore.
Planescape is to videogames what real literature is to Dragonball manga. I just wish more companies would rise to the challenge and make something as thought-provoking.
Transcriptions of all of Morrowind's (and all Elder Scrolls games) books, interviews and commentary from the creators and fans, timelines, glossaries, you name it.
All the replies to this post rightly point out that Captain America was a childish piece of WWII propaganda. When the war ended, so did his popularity.
In the 60's Marvel brought the character back, and the most popular theme in his storylines is his rejection of being used as a tool for the government. He's supposed to stand for all of the American Dreams of the people- and not a piece of propaganda for the politicians.
Check out the wiki for Captain America, they explain it way better than I can.
Not that I don't agree with a lot that he has to say (as a gamer and a consumer), but I have a hard time taking this guy as some sort of "industry insider" when the list of games he's worked on is, well... lacking.
I'd be more inclined to buy into the polemic if he could back it up with a decent resume of successful AND entertaining games. Otherwise this just reads like a pitch for his "consultancy".
The sedentary lifestyle that comes from multi-hour gaming sessions IS detrimental to your health.
If people could get away with playing these games only a few hours a week, you might have a point. But these games are specifically tailored to reward those who spend UNHEALTHY amounts of time playing them.
Comparing vice to vice ("others of his age were out drinking")is pointless. Yeah drinking is unhealthy. That doesn't magically make gaming addiction healthy.
Don't go around claiming the online game lifestyle is healthy and that its detractors are "Armchair Psychologists" unless you yourself are willing to back up your claims with some evidence. Just because psychological attention shouldn't be forced on someone doesn't mean they wouldn't benefit greatly from it.
I'm sure Zonk will keep us posted if they add anything new this week!
I'm going to go out on a limb here and also predict that there will be some games.slashdot headlines from the pages of Escapist Magazine and Gamasutra.;)
Zonk posts an article that he disagrees with so that he can give his rebuttal opinion by listing a handful of previous dissenting stores that were posted by... Zonk.
Well great. We know where Zonk stands. Now why can't we mod him down for redundancy?
Neither you, nor anyone else, knows what the Revolution will or won't be capable of. Despite that fact, you're willing to assume that Nintendo's track record is enough to ensure a "revolutionary" product- a notion that is brought up any time there is any discussion of the two consoles of which real hard facts are known: the 360 and to a lesser extent the PS3.
So yeah, until Nintendo can back up their claims with hard evidence of a console that they're actually bringing to the market, it remains as vaporware and you make assumptions on faith. That's the very definition of fanboy, credentials notwithstanding.
I mean listen to yourself. You're actually saying that the Nintendo Revolution is going to be Revolutionary simply because Nintendo chose to call it the "Revolution"!! And on top of that, the few facts that we do know about the Revolution- you get wrong. ("Damn near the entire legacy"... if by that you mean only the Nintendo-produced games) Oh but *my* comments are wildly off-base...
Brand loyalty is idiocy when it comes to video games, and I wish more people could figure that out. Twenty years ago, Electronic Arts were the artistic pioneers of the medium- now they represent the worst of derivitive games and corporate mentality. Why is it so hard for people to believe that their chosen "team" is just as susceptible to that pitfall?
I see that I've already been modded down as flamebait for having the audacity to disparage the all-powerful and beloved Nintendo Corporation on Slashdot- even though the OP is a pro-Nintendo post that has nothing to do with TFA.
Prove me wrong and I'll concede that you aren't just another Nintendo fanboy karma-whore.
Slashdot Mirror
Does Nintendo have the authority to re-sell 3rd party games from their previous systems? It seems like to me that the "entire back catalog" means anything that Nintendo holds copyright for, which is definitely a great collection of games, but not the smorgasbord many think it is.
And as far as political leaders go, their opinion on video games is down there at the bottom of the list of priorities. I'm not going to cast my vote for some neo-facist idiot just because his otherwise austere opponent decried some pixelated titties.
If there's ever a time when I pick the lesser of two evils based on their video game opinion, I'm done with democracy.
Right now, the people in congress are about 1-3 generations away from the original Atari/Nintendo generations. The voting base of their constituency is likely even older than that.
As the years go by, things will settle down and our generation will be in power- likely condemning the moral inadequacies of our youngers in mediums that we'll never be able to understand.
If you think video games get a bad rep these days, take a look at what rap music has had to go through over the last decade or so. It sorta puts these things in perspective.
DDR is just a D-Pad for your feet, and has little to do with the high-range of movement inputs like mice, thumbsticks, or gyroscopic sensors. You might have a case if and when DDR starts using an Eye Toy (or even this new controller), but for now it's just a simple D-pad for the feet.
Small movements aren't innately better for the medium, that's true. But I think you're looking at it the wrong way. Our current controls allow the most precise input possible with the least possible amount of movement.
This new control will introduce a brand new and exciting language of inputs- at the sacrifice of small precise movement. And while this may end up revolutionizing video games, that revolution is only going to take place in games that make use of this new input with new paradigms of their own. Simply grafting all this extra movement onto an FPS is going to be clunky, especially considering how much can be achieved in these games by the tiny precise movements on the hand.
Yes they've been going by small incremental improvements within the same paradigm, and gaming is the better for it. We now have analogue sticks and buttons, scroll wheels, laser optical mice, comfortable ergonomics and cordlessness. Not only is the versatility and utility being increased, but so is precision.
This is all theory and speculation on my part, so who knows? Maybe the thing will turn out being the bees knees for FPS, I'm just skeptical.
Hey rainstorm, if you hate Zonk so much, why don't you act like an adult and just uncheck his stories in your preferences?
Disputing someone's opinion is reasonable, but to continuously complain about reading Zonk's opinions when you don't have to is just masochistic.
But then again, what can I say that the mods haven't already said for me?
No, what I'm saying is that the mouse and analog stick only use the least amount of movement necessary relative to the field of vision you're working with.
Range of motion is great in the real world (and virtual reality), where our field of vision isn't limited to a relatively small screen in front of our face.
But video games played on a TV or computer monitor don't need that extremity in movement, and the current control paradigms have been improving over the years. This is indeed a Revolution- but that doesn't mean all that movement will translate well to small screen gaming.
But what's the point of all that range of motion if the screen is still just going to be a relatively small field of vision directly in front of your face?
Military personnel aren't aiming through a 30" glowing rectangle either.
When I say the wrist moves the mouse, it's not so much the up/down hinge joint of the wrist as it is the lateral torsion created by pushing and alternately pulling the sides of the mouse with the thumb and pinky- using the fine motor skills/muscles of the hand and thumb rather than the arm muscles that control the wrist and elbow.
The reason FPS games are so good with a mouse is that you are using very small precise movements with your wrist and fingers, with your palm and arm at rest.
Your fine motor skills can be trained to a much higher degree of acumen than your whole arm/shoulder/hand.
This controller may end up being worse for FPS games than even a traditional gamepad/thumbstick, but I guess we'll find out in a year or so.
Everyone who loves it is a fanboy, continually having faith in anything and everything done or said by their favorite corporation come hell or high water (or goofy designs). Criticism isn't just heresy, it's undisputably wrong.
Everyone who hates it is a troll, stoking their own agenda of loyalty to competing corporations. They obviously (that term is solid gold in a flamewar) only play "mainstream" titles like Madden Football or some kind of low-brow FPS, and don't know what real gaming is.
There is no middle room for opinions, and facts are neither relevent nor plentiful. Only hype, speculation, and brand loyalty matter.
Personally, I'm intrigued by the controller and would like to find a link to the movie that still has bandwidth. But half the fun of this weekend is going to be watching the flamewars between the fanboys and the infidels.
No, but I'll look into it, thanks.
Uncheck the box on your preferences that says "Politics". Problem solved.
As a fan of Ultima, Baldur's Gate, and Lucas Art's adventure games, I thought I was familiar with the cream of the crop for video game stories.
I played through Planescape a month ago, and nothing has compared. I've devoured "Best of" lists looking for something comparable- but nothing comes close.
I worry that PS:T set the bar so high that I can't enjoy game storylines like I used to anymore.
Planescape is to videogames what real literature is to Dragonball manga. I just wish more companies would rise to the challenge and make something as thought-provoking.
The Imperial Library has everything you want and then some.
Transcriptions of all of Morrowind's (and all Elder Scrolls games) books, interviews and commentary from the creators and fans, timelines, glossaries, you name it.
Enjoy.
All the replies to this post rightly point out that Captain America was a childish piece of WWII propaganda. When the war ended, so did his popularity.
In the 60's Marvel brought the character back, and the most popular theme in his storylines is his rejection of being used as a tool for the government. He's supposed to stand for all of the American Dreams of the people- and not a piece of propaganda for the politicians.
Check out the wiki for Captain America, they explain it way better than I can.
Not that I don't agree with a lot that he has to say (as a gamer and a consumer), but I have a hard time taking this guy as some sort of "industry insider" when the list of games he's worked on is, well... lacking.
I'd be more inclined to buy into the polemic if he could back it up with a decent resume of successful AND entertaining games. Otherwise this just reads like a pitch for his "consultancy".
Constantine is DC/Vertigo, a character created by Alan Moore et al for the Swamp Thing comic.
He was sarcastic, blonde, and british in the comic.
In the movie, he's Keanu Reeves.
"Now, I wish someone would make a movie based on the Vertigo version of Lucifer..."
Last time Hollywood got their grubby little hands on a Vertigo franchise, we got Constantine.
I want to see Spiderman 3: Enter the Stilt-Man!
Why jump the shark when you can step over it with hydraulic lifts?
The sedentary lifestyle that comes from multi-hour gaming sessions IS detrimental to your health.
If people could get away with playing these games only a few hours a week, you might have a point. But these games are specifically tailored to reward those who spend UNHEALTHY amounts of time playing them.
Comparing vice to vice ("others of his age were out drinking")is pointless. Yeah drinking is unhealthy. That doesn't magically make gaming addiction healthy.
Don't go around claiming the online game lifestyle is healthy and that its detractors are "Armchair Psychologists" unless you yourself are willing to back up your claims with some evidence. Just because psychological attention shouldn't be forced on someone doesn't mean they wouldn't benefit greatly from it.
-Xbox 360 prices certain to be high: Could this be Nintendo's chance to win big in 2009?
-Escapist magazine has yet another story about Second Life!
-Fiery and respected veteran developer writes angry condemnation of today's gaming industry!
-Man builds working Atari 7800 from a block of wood and a potato!
-Gamasutra [insert boring middleware article here]!
And yet I come here to read 7-8 times a day.
I'm sure Zonk will keep us posted if they add anything new this week!
;)
I'm going to go out on a limb here and also predict that there will be some games.slashdot headlines from the pages of Escapist Magazine and Gamasutra.
Zonk posts an article that he disagrees with so that he can give his rebuttal opinion by listing a handful of previous dissenting stores that were posted by... Zonk.
Well great. We know where Zonk stands. Now why can't we mod him down for redundancy?
The *real* fact of the matter is this:
Neither you, nor anyone else, knows what the Revolution will or won't be capable of. Despite that fact, you're willing to assume that Nintendo's track record is enough to ensure a "revolutionary" product- a notion that is brought up any time there is any discussion of the two consoles of which real hard facts are known: the 360 and to a lesser extent the PS3.
So yeah, until Nintendo can back up their claims with hard evidence of a console that they're actually bringing to the market, it remains as vaporware and you make assumptions on faith. That's the very definition of fanboy, credentials notwithstanding.
I mean listen to yourself. You're actually saying that the Nintendo Revolution is going to be Revolutionary simply because Nintendo chose to call it the "Revolution"!! And on top of that, the few facts that we do know about the Revolution- you get wrong. ("Damn near the entire legacy"... if by that you mean only the Nintendo-produced games) Oh but *my* comments are wildly off-base...
Brand loyalty is idiocy when it comes to video games, and I wish more people could figure that out. Twenty years ago, Electronic Arts were the artistic pioneers of the medium- now they represent the worst of derivitive games and corporate mentality. Why is it so hard for people to believe that their chosen "team" is just as susceptible to that pitfall?
I see that I've already been modded down as flamebait for having the audacity to disparage the all-powerful and beloved Nintendo Corporation on Slashdot- even though the OP is a pro-Nintendo post that has nothing to do with TFA.
Prove me wrong and I'll concede that you aren't just another Nintendo fanboy karma-whore.