When has "opt-out" ever been considered a viable method of dealing with spam? Even if the company actually DOES honor opt-out properly (lol), all that does is give every single company/spammer 1 free swing at your mailbox - and that's the BEST case scenario!
Can you imagine what would happen to email if every legitimate company in the US decided to start spamming in this method? Again, even assuming that opt-out worked, you're looking at 1000s of messages from new companies every day, and hours of clicking opt-out links.
Well, I wish someone would tell the idiotic head of HR of my previous company that...
While I was looking for a new job, one prospective employer wanted to verify my employment history, and called her.
She refused to verify my history over the phone - claiming privacy issues.
Fortunately the company hired to do my background check called me about this problem (apparently it's rather common.) They had me digitally sign a request for the stupid HR officer to verify my employment history with the background checking company.
She refused - claiming that digitally signed documents are not legally binding.
Instead, I had to fax a signed request to her - and then call my former boss to politely ask "WTF?!?"
FORTUNATELY the background check company was willing to work with me on this and I got the job.
However, I still have to wonder how many other job offers I may have missed due to this b*tch's refusal to do her job. Now that I think about, I did have a few job prospects abruptly dry up even though I knew the hiring manager and engineers were impressed with me, only to be told by their HR department "we've decided on someone else." without so much of an explanation as to why I was not being considered any further.
Welcome to 1998. Header forgery isn't anything new. To defeat this, and many other problems, try running some form of "email firewall" or blackhole list that matches the initial incoming IP# (that can't be forged) against a list of known repeat offenders or IP#s that have no business directly sending you email in the first place (such as 99.999% of all consumer IP# space). That ought to take a huge chunk out of your incoming bad-email problem, lessening the load on your mailserver, virus scanner, and other filter programs.
I added some filters to procmail to look for things like "postmaster", "mailer-daemon", "bounce", etc. This moreorless deals with this problem. If I do get a legit bounce, it's usually right after I sent a message, so I'll know right away.
The last time I got hit by this attack, I ended up with over 4000 messages in my inbox. I'd gotten hit over a weekend and those were the messages that didn't match my keywords - mainly due to the bounces being in foreign languages, challenge-responses, etc. Oh well. That took me 10 minutes to clean up, and I found some new words to add to the filter that should reduce the next attack to just a few hundred messages....out of an estimated 50,000.
That's because until quite recently, consoles had no secondary storage system large enough to store a CD (much less DVD) worth of data. And when they did, hacks appeared immediately that let you copy a game to the hard drive and play it without the disc entirely. (pirates loved this - no discs to burn, AND faster load times)
However, now that hard drives are becoming more and more standard in consoles, games are beginning to use them for caching data (to improve load times) or in some cases, "install" the entire game ala PC. One of the biggest complaints about 'Devil May Cry' for the PS3 is that it literally needs 20 minutes to copy the game to the hard drive - and then you STILL need the disc to play. Just like the drain-bramaged model that PCs have used for years. Meanwhile, 360 owners can simply pop the disc in and start playing the game. Immediately.
Barebones landline is $20/mo. in my area. That's just a phone line, no extras. I don't need voicemail, call forwarding, caller ID, call waiting, 900# blocking, etc. Just give me a dialtone.
As for cellphones, I hate them. Yeah, it's nice to have one now and then, but most of the time, I find them to be too unreliable and expensive.
Maybe if cellphones were more reliable, I wouldn't mind them so much. However, I've yet to have a phone/service that would give me decent signal in my house (I get 5 bars in my driveway...and no service inside), decent service around my area (Bay Area, CA) and a battery that lasts longer than a year after light (1 hr/mo) usage. I swear, after about 3 months with my new phone, if I get a single incoming call, my battery goes dead in 10 minutes.
It amazes me that people are willing to pay so much for such an unreliable piece of junk that is "The Cellphone" when it can't even perform its primary function (BEING A PHONE) properly. Sure, things may have come a long way from the 80s, but going from 20% to 60% (IMHO) is still a failing grade in my book.
I dunno, what's wrong with GameFaqs? Read the forum for the individual game to get reactions from folks who actually bought the game. If it's a bad game, you're going to find out pretty quick in the forums.
Magazine reviews already come out AFTER the game anyways. Halo3, for instance, had been out for weeks by the time I got my copy of GameInformer which was practically covered in drool from the reviewers.
Game reviews should, at worst, be based on the golden master. This is the version that is sent to manufacturing, meaning, it's also the version that shows up on shelves for regular folks like you and I to buy.
Game reviews based on "near final" versions or earlier are almost useless. Sure, you could get a rough idea about the game, but until it's "Finished" - you can't really give a review of it. After all, customers won't be buying that version, so what's the point? Take the hit and wait a week to do a proper review. Seriously, if you're gung-ho on buying the game on release day (or were stupid enough to pre-order it), you don't care about reviews since you've already decided to buy the game. It's also pointless to review a non-final version since there will be bugs and unfinished items in it. There are literally reviews out there that say "Despite some crashes to the desktop, which we hope will be fixed by ship-time, this is a good game." and give it a 7/10. What the heck?!? A major bug, much less a crash, is not the sign of a good game, much less one deserving anything above a 4 or a 5...
I agree with this. While professional reviews can be a bit helpful to ferret out a potential stinker, all too often the reviewers fall victim to the hype surrounding the game, causing them to either be overly-critical (What?! This isn't the last thing I'll desire?! 4/10!) or view the game with overly-optimistic rose-colored glasses (e.g. just about any review of Halo3.)
Instead, I go onto usenet and look for reactions from the regulars there. These will be the folks who not only paid for the game with their own money (as opposed to having a copy mailed to them with a goodie basket from the publisher) and have put in more than the requisite 5 or 6 hours the reviewers play.
I really wish that more people would revisit a game 3 or 6 months after their first review. This would give them time to get rid of the unrealistic expectations and rose-colored glasses. In the case of PC games, it would also give the developers time to patch the game.
What free market? The cable and phone companies have divided the country into their own small kingdoms, where only 1 may exist. If both my DSL and cable provider decide to be jerks and charge $100/mo for dial-up type performance, there's not a whole lot anyone can do, other than go offline. Permanently.
As the article says, wimax may be an alternative...eventually.
Hopefully the sequel will fix the other big problem of the first game - the combat system.
While it seemed to offer more depth and choices on the surface, you quickly realize that weapons were absolutely worthless since they used up chi just to use them. Quickly maxing out one of the melee forms meant you could just button-mash your way through just about every fight. Ok, so it wasn't supposed to be a free-form fighter like Tekken, but geeze, I really had more hopes for the combat system than "punch punch punch block block punch punch punch block block".
If you look at the philosophies behind religions like Bhuddism, as well as the martial arts and other practices, they all pretty much say the same thing. Your goal in life should be to develop and improve yourself spiritually. However, the normal state of the universe is for things not to change, and eventually stagnate. So, it takes a lot of work and effort to change.
If open hand dictates you should accept your place and do nothing outside of it, then that goes against the real reason to practice martial arts - after all it doesn't take much, if any, effort to just keep the status quo. Open hand also seems to border on mindless charity - which doesn't really help in the long run, since this struggle to better oneself is a journey - not a destination. You can't just buy enlightenment, for instance.
I think the difference between the two can be summed up by the saying "Feed a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime." The first sentence is open hand - helping others. The second sentence is closed fist. It also helps others, but not necessarily in an easy, immediate fashion.
Unfortunately, the path described in the second sentence takes more time and effort and is often mistaken as being a punishment or "not helpful."
Another way to look at it would be a student of Open Hand would gladly do his classmates' homework, where as the closed fist student would show them where the information is located in their textbooks, or show them how to use the library or reference materials to find information so they could do their own homework.
That pretty much turned me off from the game. In the beginning the descriptions of Open Hand and Closed Fist sounded good - and seemed to allow for some wonderfully grey areas, but then the game quickly degenerated into forcing you into either The Dark Side/The Light Side from KOTOR. At least with Jedi, the sharp dichotomy makes sense. But in Jade Empire? Not so much - especially since the game explicitly says that "closed fist is not an evil path". Ok, but then why are all the "closed fist" choices clearly selfish/evil ones, where as Open Hand borders on mindless charity.
After that, the whole game pretty much felt like KOTOR as clumsily reskinned by someone whose entire understanding of Chinese culture came from badly translated kung-fu movies that used to air late saturday nights.
It just seems sooo pointless. I mean, if you're going to do a martial arts game based on China and Chinese culture, JUST USE THE REAL MATERIAL. This whole "it's a made-up world that is China-like but isn't China" just grated on my nerves. Especially since many of the ideas in the game have already been done and better executed. Who knows? If they had used actual material for their sources, it could have also given the game a slightly educational tilt.
Bleh, I HATE those type of levels. You usually have to creep along, since the level is laden with traps or "gotchas" that will whittle your forces away in nothing flat. I never finished the first Command & Conquer because of its "maze" levels.
It's nothing about MMO's - it's PC gaming in general. I can remember having to dial into publishers' BBSes (yes, with a 2400baud modem pre-Internet!) to download patches in the early 90s. Since then, the SOP for playing a new game has always been:
1: Install game. 2: Patch game. 3: Cross your fingers.
Fortunately that works for most games. In other cases, you have to then update your graphics drivers, maybe install a new version of DirectX, check the support forums for tweaks you need to make to your system's configuration to get the game running.
In some extreme cases, the answer "put game back on shelf for 3 months while you wait for the next patch and/or driver release and pray that fixes your problem."
After a few years of being played a sucker by the game companies who would happily sell me an alpha-build of their products, I finally wised up. I only buy PC games after they've dropped into the bargain bin, or are re-re-re-released in those "the version with all the add-ons" boxsets. Not only do you save money, and don't have to worry about expansion packs, but there's been plenty of time to really get an idea of how good the game is from actual consumers, and best of all, there are sure to be enough patches to actually make the game playable the way it should have been waaay back when the game was first released. Hopefully.
Seriously, my day job is testing and debugging software. The LAST thing I want to have to do when I come home is test and debug some greedy, lazy company's game just so I can have a little fun.
Unfortunately, these sort of screwups aren't even unique to PCs anymore. With all 3 of this generations' video game consoles having internet access, console gamers are beginning to be exposed to the "joy" that is game patches. For instance, one game on the PS3 gets confused if you have a certain amount of diskspace free on your hard drive. The game claims you don't have enough space to do the install, and as a result you can't play the game. The work around, until a patched version makes it way into the channel, is to either free up or use up another 500MB on your disk. For some reason, the game will then be able to be installed.
Even other electronics makers are jumping on the patch bandwagon. Early Blu-Ray players can't play later discs without an upgrade because the Blu-Ray "standard" wasn't...um...standardized. At this rate, I can just see someone complaining that he had to update his washing machine to handle dirt for the next calendar year, then had to upgrade his oven to handle the new biscuits from Pillsbury!
Is anyone really surprised by this? After all most video games aren't even designed to support 2 players.
Even those that can usually do so by splitting the screen, which just causes confusion and even headaches for most adults.
Besides, I can't see it being that fun for either the kid or the parent, especially if the parent is a non-gamer in the first place. It really isn't very fun to get continually pwned by your opponent while you're still trying to figure out how to even hold the controller, much less which buttons do what. And the parent's aggravation will just aggravate the kid. "No, daddy, hit the X button! X BUTTON!" "Uh..." *looks down at the controller* "Which is the X button again?" *splat*
Yeah, that sounds like fun for all.
If anyone wonders why the Wii is doing so well, this is why. The controller and included sports games are easy enough to handle for newbie and expert alike, so at least the parent feels he can give the kid an appropriate challenge.
Microsoft's move from Xbox to the 360 has nothing to do with the number of games. Developers knew well in advance that the 360 was going to be coming out, and had plenty of time to transition over as they saw fit. Even after the 360 came out, there were still a handful of Xbox games that came out afterwards. In addition, Playstation developers had even MORE time. Sony delayed the launch of the PS3 by 6 months for US and Japan, which most people assumed would have been used by the developers to work out any problems left in their launch titles, which are always under an extreme deadline. That didn't happen. In addition, several PS3 titles slipped several months - including Lair - and yet these delays seem to have done nothing for the final product.
As for the lobotomized 40GB PS3, removing backwards compatibility just makes the jump from PS2 to PS3 that more daunting. A lot of PS2 owners don't want to get rid of their PS2 games, but also think $500 is too expensive for a "partially compatible" PS3. As for developers, what do you think they're going to do when they look at the sales numbers, see that the PS2 is STILL outselling the PS3 in terms of hardware AND software, realize they could bang out a PS2 game fairly quickly, or struggle to produce a PS3 game that won't sell? Either that, or the same developers will notice that both the 360 and Wii are outselling the PS3 by a large margin, have better attach rates (more titles sold per console) and decide that the PS3 probably isn't the best choice for focusing their next-gen efforts on.
Both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD hold a full length feature movie in HD, with multiple soundtracks in surround sound, and have space left over for various sundry extras, all on one side of one disc. Therefore, from the point of view of the home video consumer, HD-DVD and Blu-Ray ARE IDENTICAL. Disc size does not matter here. Sure, when you're dealing with, say, TV programs, more space could mean more episodes per disc, and less discs on the shelf. But as we've seen with plain-old-DVD, studios RARELY used up an entire single-layered DVD, much less a dual-layered one. Do you really think things will change with HD-DVD/Blu-Ray?
Even if you really are a true size-queen, there are already multi-layer HD-DVDs under development which basically match Blu-Ray's sizes. Big whoop. The size issue will mainly be interesting to computer users, but with PC based burnable drives still costing close to $1000, not to mention the stupid format war, it'll be awhile before we see people making backups using these formats.
Sony's HOME project is their attempt at creating a seamless online world which will help players create and join online game sessions, as well as just hang out and socialize. Sony hyped HOME a lot during last year's E3, and the months leading up to their first public beta last summer. HOME was supposed to have gone live late last month, but then got delayed - like so many other PS3-related items - until next April or so. Honestly, until April, the PS3 is incomplete. It lacks its true controller - the DS3 (due in the US in April 2008) and its current online network is basically just a place holder for HOME (also due in April 2008).
The only time this could be useful would be for tracing the story tree to get the different endings. Otherwise, if I've already seen the one ending the game has, I find little reason to replay the game just to get into certain areas that weren't available on my first play-thru. After all, if the goal of the game is to "win", and I already did that without those bonus areas, what more is there to do really?
I'd rather the game make the bonus areas available while playing. That way you can decide if you still want to go through the challenge of trying them or not, with the reward being an easier final boss fight.
Most of the unlockables in those games are pretty much only for the real hardcore fans of the game.
For instance, unlocking an extra 100 floor dungeon in Rogue Galaxy. Who cares? I already beat the game without all the extra items and leveling up that would result from that dungeon, but I'm sure plenty of players did go through it again.
Then again, I was already annoyed at the combat system, and the character quips had gotten old long, before that.
The whole "just wait...You'll see!" attitude of Sony's and their fans is tiring.
First off, "coming soon!" doesn't sell hardware.
Second, there's no guarantee that those big titles will even come out on time, or will even be any good to begin with. Look at 2007. MGS4 - slipped. Home - Slipped. Lair - Probably the most disappointing game of the year.
Even if the upcoming titles come out on time and will be good, it may be literally too little too late. Right now Sony is facing their second holiday season of being dead last. Their current library can't compare to that of the 360's or the Wii's. Sony has tried to address the price issue by creating their 4th(!) console model in under 12 months, but them lobotomized it by removing all PS2 backwards compatibility from it!
Sony is on a slippery precipice. Unless they can get more PS3s and games into peoples' hands, and soon, developers are going to grow tired of waiting and will stop making PS3 exclusive games (or stop developing for the PS3 altogether) at which point, it's game over for the PS3. 2008 is really going to be the PS3's last chance. Blow it, and the PS3 won't survive to see Christmas 2009.
As for blu-ray and hd-dvd movies, the whole market is messed up. Seriously, any idiotic company who thinks customers are going to willing to buy a device that can only play 50% of the movies on the market should just be put out of our miseries. Seriously, who's bright idea was it to make the consumer choose? Despite all the dick-waving that fanboys like you are doing, there's really no difference between HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. Both hold HD video and surround sound. Beyond that, you have to be a fanboy, or an engineer who's more interested in technical minutiae than just watching movies.
Most of the market that can even take advantage of these HD formats are just sitting on the sidelines letting the other idiots waste their money and get burned in yet another stupid format war. Seriously, have folks forgotten the mess that still is DVD-R vs. DVD+R? Two formats, doing identical things, but in an incompatible manner, fight for market domination until one company says "why choose?" and comes out with a hybrid drive that handles both. The same will happen for HD video, and when those drives come out, every player that can't play both formats will be instantly obsolete. Which again, just proves how stupid both sides in this "war" are being...
And then the stores get clogged with overpriced stuff that isn't going to sell.
I really don't understand their policy of using small, poorly organized stores in malls that are straight out of the 80s.
There's just not enough room to store all the new games, not to mention the 1000s of used games, accessories, and DVD movies. I'm glad to hear they're phasing out DVDs - after all who goes to a GAME store for movies?! The stores in the mall always look like a cyclone hit them. You can't find anything. There are new and used titles mixed together. There are Wii games in with the Xbox360 titles. Even the employees have given up trying to find anything on the shelves.
The mall stores are one thing, but why are the strip-mall stores the same size? Why can't there be a GameStop that's larger than my first apartment's living room? Seriously, Best Buy has more square footage dedicated to video games than Game Stop does - and Best Buy's selection STINKS (at least the ones in my area do...) Even WalMart has a larger game section than GamesStop.
While I'll still buy used games (if I've got a coupon) I won't sell my games to GameStop anymore. Even for a rare-ish PS2 RPG in pristine condition, they'll give me $2 or $3, then put it on the shelf for $45. Seriously, I'd rather just sell my titles at a garage sale. $7-10/game. More than what GameStop would give me, and less than what GameStop would charge you. Win-Win.
Why is there such an emphasis on pre-ordering? Unless you're buying the game as a gift, or you know it's going to be a hard-to-find title, like most of Atlus' RPGs, your local Best Buy or Frys (Future Shop, etc.) will more than likely have a stack of them on release day. Heck, Frys even gives 20% off on new games on the first Friday they're released sometimes... So, why pre-order at GameStop?
You do know that these sites still provide links back to the original reviews so you can read for yourself.
The reviews allow you to see at a glance if the game is worth finding out about or not. Obviously if you see a game that scored in the 80-90 range, it's probably worth more investigating. If it only scored in the 40-50 range, it's probably better left on the shelf.
Do not make these sites into something they aren't. They shouldn't be used solely to determine if a game is any good or not. You should still read a few reviews. However, they are good at giving you a general idea, and also provide a nice list of links to the reviews, instead of you trying to navigate each site on your own.
Have you looked at how many PS3s have actually sold in Japan? Sure, it may be twice the 360, but the 360 has sold next to nothing in Japan (which isn't a surprise given the general collection of games)
So, even doubling isn't very much at all. Meanwhile, the Wii has easily been outselling the PS3 in Japan by a factor of at least 4 or 5 to 1. Consistently. On top of all that, Japan is no longer the 500 lb. gorilla it once was in the video gaming market. It now makes up about 17% of the global market. The US is in the largest market with Europe right behind, followed by the rest of the world.
Even with price cuts, Sony still has one very large problem - GAMES. It doesn't matter how cheap your game console is. Without a good solid library of compelling exclusives, no one's going to buy no matter the price. True, the PS3 isn't totally without good exclusives, but it's library is dwarfed both in size and overall quality when compared to the 360 and even the Wii. 2008 will be a very telling year for the PS3. If Sony can't turn things around, I doubt the PS3 will survive to see Christmas 2009.
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This is what I was thinking as well.
When has "opt-out" ever been considered a viable method of dealing with spam? Even if the company actually DOES honor opt-out properly (lol), all that does is give every single company/spammer 1 free swing at your mailbox - and that's the BEST case scenario!
Can you imagine what would happen to email if every legitimate company in the US decided to start spamming in this method? Again, even assuming that opt-out worked, you're looking at 1000s of messages from new companies every day, and hours of clicking opt-out links.
Well, I wish someone would tell the idiotic head of HR of my previous company that...
While I was looking for a new job, one prospective employer wanted to verify my employment history, and called her.
She refused to verify my history over the phone - claiming privacy issues.
Fortunately the company hired to do my background check called me about this problem (apparently it's rather common.) They had me digitally sign a request for the stupid HR officer to verify my employment history with the background checking company.
She refused - claiming that digitally signed documents are not legally binding.
Instead, I had to fax a signed request to her - and then call my former boss to politely ask "WTF?!?"
FORTUNATELY the background check company was willing to work with me on this and I got the job.
However, I still have to wonder how many other job offers I may have missed due to this b*tch's refusal to do her job. Now that I think about, I did have a few job prospects abruptly dry up even though I knew the hiring manager and engineers were impressed with me, only to be told by their HR department "we've decided on someone else." without so much of an explanation as to why I was not being considered any further.
Welcome to 1998. Header forgery isn't anything new. To defeat this, and many other problems, try running some form of "email firewall" or blackhole list that matches the initial incoming IP# (that can't be forged) against a list of known repeat offenders or IP#s that have no business directly sending you email in the first place (such as 99.999% of all consumer IP# space). That ought to take a huge chunk out of your incoming bad-email problem, lessening the load on your mailserver, virus scanner, and other filter programs.
I added some filters to procmail to look for things like "postmaster", "mailer-daemon", "bounce", etc. This moreorless deals with this problem. If I do get a legit bounce, it's usually right after I sent a message, so I'll know right away.
The last time I got hit by this attack, I ended up with over 4000 messages in my inbox. I'd gotten hit over a weekend and those were the messages that didn't match my keywords - mainly due to the bounces being in foreign languages, challenge-responses, etc. Oh well. That took me 10 minutes to clean up, and I found some new words to add to the filter that should reduce the next attack to just a few hundred messages....out of an estimated 50,000.
Yeah, I saw those, but realistically if the TSA has the masters, what are the chances other folks do as well?
Granted, if someone just steals the suitcase outright, they can simply cut the lock off, bash it open, or just gut the bag like a fish.
Makes me think buying locks is pretty much pointless nowadays.
That's because until quite recently, consoles had no secondary storage system large enough to store a CD (much less DVD) worth of data. And when they did, hacks appeared immediately that let you copy a game to the hard drive and play it without the disc entirely. (pirates loved this - no discs to burn, AND faster load times)
However, now that hard drives are becoming more and more standard in consoles, games are beginning to use them for caching data (to improve load times) or in some cases, "install" the entire game ala PC. One of the biggest complaints about 'Devil May Cry' for the PS3 is that it literally needs 20 minutes to copy the game to the hard drive - and then you STILL need the disc to play. Just like the drain-bramaged model that PCs have used for years. Meanwhile, 360 owners can simply pop the disc in and start playing the game. Immediately.
If the image of Mohammed is sacrilege, how do Muslims know what he looks like if no one can ever create a picture of him?
Just saying things like "Don't draw Mohammed!" is rather impossible if you've never seen a picture of him in the first place.
Barebones landline is $20/mo. in my area. That's just a phone line, no extras. I don't need voicemail, call forwarding, caller ID, call waiting, 900# blocking, etc. Just give me a dialtone.
As for cellphones, I hate them. Yeah, it's nice to have one now and then, but most of the time, I find them to be too unreliable and expensive.
Maybe if cellphones were more reliable, I wouldn't mind them so much. However, I've yet to have a phone/service that would give me decent signal in my house (I get 5 bars in my driveway...and no service inside), decent service around my area (Bay Area, CA) and a battery that lasts longer than a year after light (1 hr/mo) usage. I swear, after about 3 months with my new phone, if I get a single incoming call, my battery goes dead in 10 minutes.
It amazes me that people are willing to pay so much for such an unreliable piece of junk that is "The Cellphone" when it can't even perform its primary function (BEING A PHONE) properly. Sure, things may have come a long way from the 80s, but going from 20% to 60% (IMHO) is still a failing grade in my book.
I dunno, what's wrong with GameFaqs? Read the forum for the individual game to get reactions from folks who actually bought the game. If it's a bad game, you're going to find out pretty quick in the forums.
Magazine reviews already come out AFTER the game anyways. Halo3, for instance, had been out for weeks by the time I got my copy of GameInformer which was practically covered in drool from the reviewers.
Game reviews should, at worst, be based on the golden master. This is the version that is sent to manufacturing, meaning, it's also the version that shows up on shelves for regular folks like you and I to buy.
Game reviews based on "near final" versions or earlier are almost useless. Sure, you could get a rough idea about the game, but until it's "Finished" - you can't really give a review of it. After all, customers won't be buying that version, so what's the point? Take the hit and wait a week to do a proper review. Seriously, if you're gung-ho on buying the game on release day (or were stupid enough to pre-order it), you don't care about reviews since you've already decided to buy the game. It's also pointless to review a non-final version since there will be bugs and unfinished items in it. There are literally reviews out there that say "Despite some crashes to the desktop, which we hope will be fixed by ship-time, this is a good game." and give it a 7/10. What the heck?!? A major bug, much less a crash, is not the sign of a good game, much less one deserving anything above a 4 or a 5...
I agree with this. While professional reviews can be a bit helpful to ferret out a potential stinker, all too often the reviewers fall victim to the hype surrounding the game, causing them to either be overly-critical (What?! This isn't the last thing I'll desire?! 4/10!) or view the game with overly-optimistic rose-colored glasses (e.g. just about any review of Halo3.)
Instead, I go onto usenet and look for reactions from the regulars there. These will be the folks who not only paid for the game with their own money (as opposed to having a copy mailed to them with a goodie basket from the publisher) and have put in more than the requisite 5 or 6 hours the reviewers play.
I really wish that more people would revisit a game 3 or 6 months after their first review. This would give them time to get rid of the unrealistic expectations and rose-colored glasses. In the case of PC games, it would also give the developers time to patch the game.
What free market? The cable and phone companies have divided the country into their own small kingdoms, where only 1 may exist. If both my DSL and cable provider decide to be jerks and charge $100/mo for dial-up type performance, there's not a whole lot anyone can do, other than go offline. Permanently.
As the article says, wimax may be an alternative...eventually.
Hopefully the sequel will fix the other big problem of the first game - the combat system.
While it seemed to offer more depth and choices on the surface, you quickly realize that weapons were absolutely worthless since they used up chi just to use them. Quickly maxing out one of the melee forms meant you could just button-mash your way through just about every fight. Ok, so it wasn't supposed to be a free-form fighter like Tekken, but geeze, I really had more hopes for the combat system than "punch punch punch block block punch punch punch block block".
If you look at the philosophies behind religions like Bhuddism, as well as the martial arts and other practices, they all pretty much say the same thing. Your goal in life should be to develop and improve yourself spiritually. However, the normal state of the universe is for things not to change, and eventually stagnate. So, it takes a lot of work and effort to change.
If open hand dictates you should accept your place and do nothing outside of it, then that goes against the real reason to practice martial arts - after all it doesn't take much, if any, effort to just keep the status quo. Open hand also seems to border on mindless charity - which doesn't really help in the long run, since this struggle to better oneself is a journey - not a destination. You can't just buy enlightenment, for instance.
I think the difference between the two can be summed up by the saying "Feed a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime." The first sentence is open hand - helping others. The second sentence is closed fist. It also helps others, but not necessarily in an easy, immediate fashion.
Unfortunately, the path described in the second sentence takes more time and effort and is often mistaken as being a punishment or "not helpful."
Another way to look at it would be a student of Open Hand would gladly do his classmates' homework, where as the closed fist student would show them where the information is located in their textbooks, or show them how to use the library or reference materials to find information so they could do their own homework.
That pretty much turned me off from the game. In the beginning the descriptions of Open Hand and Closed Fist sounded good - and seemed to allow for some wonderfully grey areas, but then the game quickly degenerated into forcing you into either The Dark Side/The Light Side from KOTOR. At least with Jedi, the sharp dichotomy makes sense. But in Jade Empire? Not so much - especially since the game explicitly says that "closed fist is not an evil path". Ok, but then why are all the "closed fist" choices clearly selfish/evil ones, where as Open Hand borders on mindless charity.
After that, the whole game pretty much felt like KOTOR as clumsily reskinned by someone whose entire understanding of Chinese culture came from badly translated kung-fu movies that used to air late saturday nights.
It just seems sooo pointless. I mean, if you're going to do a martial arts game based on China and Chinese culture, JUST USE THE REAL MATERIAL. This whole "it's a made-up world that is China-like but isn't China" just grated on my nerves. Especially since many of the ideas in the game have already been done and better executed. Who knows? If they had used actual material for their sources, it could have also given the game a slightly educational tilt.
Bleh, I HATE those type of levels. You usually have to creep along, since the level is laden with traps or "gotchas" that will whittle your forces away in nothing flat. I never finished the first Command & Conquer because of its "maze" levels.
It's nothing about MMO's - it's PC gaming in general. I can remember having to dial into publishers' BBSes (yes, with a 2400baud modem pre-Internet!) to download patches in the early 90s. Since then, the SOP for playing a new game has always been:
1: Install game.
2: Patch game.
3: Cross your fingers.
Fortunately that works for most games. In other cases, you have to then update your graphics drivers, maybe install a new version of DirectX, check the support forums for tweaks you need to make to your system's configuration to get the game running.
In some extreme cases, the answer "put game back on shelf for 3 months while you wait for the next patch and/or driver release and pray that fixes your problem."
After a few years of being played a sucker by the game companies who would happily sell me an alpha-build of their products, I finally wised up. I only buy PC games after they've dropped into the bargain bin, or are re-re-re-released in those "the version with all the add-ons" boxsets. Not only do you save money, and don't have to worry about expansion packs, but there's been plenty of time to really get an idea of how good the game is from actual consumers, and best of all, there are sure to be enough patches to actually make the game playable the way it should have been waaay back when the game was first released. Hopefully.
Seriously, my day job is testing and debugging software. The LAST thing I want to have to do when I come home is test and debug some greedy, lazy company's game just so I can have a little fun.
Unfortunately, these sort of screwups aren't even unique to PCs anymore. With all 3 of this generations' video game consoles having internet access, console gamers are beginning to be exposed to the "joy" that is game patches. For instance, one game on the PS3 gets confused if you have a certain amount of diskspace free on your hard drive. The game claims you don't have enough space to do the install, and as a result you can't play the game. The work around, until a patched version makes it way into the channel, is to either free up or use up another 500MB on your disk. For some reason, the game will then be able to be installed.
Even other electronics makers are jumping on the patch bandwagon. Early Blu-Ray players can't play later discs without an upgrade because the Blu-Ray "standard" wasn't...um...standardized. At this rate, I can just see someone complaining that he had to update his washing machine to handle dirt for the next calendar year, then had to upgrade his oven to handle the new biscuits from Pillsbury!
Is anyone really surprised by this? After all most video games aren't even designed to support 2 players.
Even those that can usually do so by splitting the screen, which just causes confusion and even headaches for most adults.
Besides, I can't see it being that fun for either the kid or the parent, especially if the parent is a non-gamer in the first place. It really isn't very fun to get continually pwned by your opponent while you're still trying to figure out how to even hold the controller, much less which buttons do what. And the parent's aggravation will just aggravate the kid. "No, daddy, hit the X button! X BUTTON!" "Uh..." *looks down at the controller* "Which is the X button again?" *splat*
Yeah, that sounds like fun for all.
If anyone wonders why the Wii is doing so well, this is why. The controller and included sports games are easy enough to handle for newbie and expert alike, so at least the parent feels he can give the kid an appropriate challenge.
Microsoft's move from Xbox to the 360 has nothing to do with the number of games. Developers knew well in advance that the 360 was going to be coming out, and had plenty of time to transition over as they saw fit. Even after the 360 came out, there were still a handful of Xbox games that came out afterwards. In addition, Playstation developers had even MORE time. Sony delayed the launch of the PS3 by 6 months for US and Japan, which most people assumed would have been used by the developers to work out any problems left in their launch titles, which are always under an extreme deadline. That didn't happen. In addition, several PS3 titles slipped several months - including Lair - and yet these delays seem to have done nothing for the final product.
As for the lobotomized 40GB PS3, removing backwards compatibility just makes the jump from PS2 to PS3 that more daunting. A lot of PS2 owners don't want to get rid of their PS2 games, but also think $500 is too expensive for a "partially compatible" PS3. As for developers, what do you think they're going to do when they look at the sales numbers, see that the PS2 is STILL outselling the PS3 in terms of hardware AND software, realize they could bang out a PS2 game fairly quickly, or struggle to produce a PS3 game that won't sell? Either that, or the same developers will notice that both the 360 and Wii are outselling the PS3 by a large margin, have better attach rates (more titles sold per console) and decide that the PS3 probably isn't the best choice for focusing their next-gen efforts on.
Both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD hold a full length feature movie in HD, with multiple soundtracks in surround sound, and have space left over for various sundry extras, all on one side of one disc. Therefore, from the point of view of the home video consumer, HD-DVD and Blu-Ray ARE IDENTICAL. Disc size does not matter here. Sure, when you're dealing with, say, TV programs, more space could mean more episodes per disc, and less discs on the shelf. But as we've seen with plain-old-DVD, studios RARELY used up an entire single-layered DVD, much less a dual-layered one. Do you really think things will change with HD-DVD/Blu-Ray?
Even if you really are a true size-queen, there are already multi-layer HD-DVDs under development which basically match Blu-Ray's sizes. Big whoop. The size issue will mainly be interesting to computer users, but with PC based burnable drives still costing close to $1000, not to mention the stupid format war, it'll be awhile before we see people making backups using these formats.
Sony's HOME project is their attempt at creating a seamless online world which will help players create and join online game sessions, as well as just hang out and socialize. Sony hyped HOME a lot during last year's E3, and the months leading up to their first public beta last summer. HOME was supposed to have gone live late last month, but then got delayed - like so many other PS3-related items - until next April or so. Honestly, until April, the PS3 is incomplete. It lacks its true controller - the DS3 (due in the US in April 2008) and its current online network is basically just a place holder for HOME (also due in April 2008).
The only time this could be useful would be for tracing the story tree to get the different endings. Otherwise, if I've already seen the one ending the game has, I find little reason to replay the game just to get into certain areas that weren't available on my first play-thru. After all, if the goal of the game is to "win", and I already did that without those bonus areas, what more is there to do really?
I'd rather the game make the bonus areas available while playing. That way you can decide if you still want to go through the challenge of trying them or not, with the reward being an easier final boss fight.
Most of the unlockables in those games are pretty much only for the real hardcore fans of the game.
For instance, unlocking an extra 100 floor dungeon in Rogue Galaxy. Who cares? I already beat the game without all the extra items and leveling up that would result from that dungeon, but I'm sure plenty of players did go through it again.
Then again, I was already annoyed at the combat system, and the character quips had gotten old long, before that.
The whole "just wait...You'll see!" attitude of Sony's and their fans is tiring.
First off, "coming soon!" doesn't sell hardware.
Second, there's no guarantee that those big titles will even come out on time, or will even be any good to begin with. Look at 2007. MGS4 - slipped. Home - Slipped. Lair - Probably the most disappointing game of the year.
Even if the upcoming titles come out on time and will be good, it may be literally too little too late. Right now Sony is facing their second holiday season of being dead last. Their current library can't compare to that of the 360's or the Wii's. Sony has tried to address the price issue by creating their 4th(!) console model in under 12 months, but them lobotomized it by removing all PS2 backwards compatibility from it!
Sony is on a slippery precipice. Unless they can get more PS3s and games into peoples' hands, and soon, developers are going to grow tired of waiting and will stop making PS3 exclusive games (or stop developing for the PS3 altogether) at which point, it's game over for the PS3. 2008 is really going to be the PS3's last chance. Blow it, and the PS3 won't survive to see Christmas 2009.
As for blu-ray and hd-dvd movies, the whole market is messed up. Seriously, any idiotic company who thinks customers are going to willing to buy a device that can only play 50% of the movies on the market should just be put out of our miseries. Seriously, who's bright idea was it to make the consumer choose? Despite all the dick-waving that fanboys like you are doing, there's really no difference between HD-DVD and Blu-Ray. Both hold HD video and surround sound. Beyond that, you have to be a fanboy, or an engineer who's more interested in technical minutiae than just watching movies.
Most of the market that can even take advantage of these HD formats are just sitting on the sidelines letting the other idiots waste their money and get burned in yet another stupid format war. Seriously, have folks forgotten the mess that still is DVD-R vs. DVD+R? Two formats, doing identical things, but in an incompatible manner, fight for market domination until one company says "why choose?" and comes out with a hybrid drive that handles both. The same will happen for HD video, and when those drives come out, every player that can't play both formats will be instantly obsolete. Which again, just proves how stupid both sides in this "war" are being...
And then the stores get clogged with overpriced stuff that isn't going to sell.
I really don't understand their policy of using small, poorly organized stores in malls that are straight out of the 80s.
There's just not enough room to store all the new games, not to mention the 1000s of used games, accessories, and DVD movies. I'm glad to hear they're phasing out DVDs - after all who goes to a GAME store for movies?! The stores in the mall always look like a cyclone hit them. You can't find anything. There are new and used titles mixed together. There are Wii games in with the Xbox360 titles. Even the employees have given up trying to find anything on the shelves.
The mall stores are one thing, but why are the strip-mall stores the same size? Why can't there be a GameStop that's larger than my first apartment's living room? Seriously, Best Buy has more square footage dedicated to video games than Game Stop does - and Best Buy's selection STINKS (at least the ones in my area do...) Even WalMart has a larger game section than GamesStop.
While I'll still buy used games (if I've got a coupon) I won't sell my games to GameStop anymore. Even for a rare-ish PS2 RPG in pristine condition, they'll give me $2 or $3, then put it on the shelf for $45. Seriously, I'd rather just sell my titles at a garage sale. $7-10/game. More than what GameStop would give me, and less than what GameStop would charge you. Win-Win.
This is something I don't understand either...
Why is there such an emphasis on pre-ordering? Unless you're buying the game as a gift, or you know it's going to be a hard-to-find title, like most of Atlus' RPGs, your local Best Buy or Frys (Future Shop, etc.) will more than likely have a stack of them on release day. Heck, Frys even gives 20% off on new games on the first Friday they're released sometimes... So, why pre-order at GameStop?
You do know that these sites still provide links back to the original reviews so you can read for yourself.
The reviews allow you to see at a glance if the game is worth finding out about or not. Obviously if you see a game that scored in the 80-90 range, it's probably worth more investigating. If it only scored in the 40-50 range, it's probably better left on the shelf.
Do not make these sites into something they aren't. They shouldn't be used solely to determine if a game is any good or not. You should still read a few reviews. However, they are good at giving you a general idea, and also provide a nice list of links to the reviews, instead of you trying to navigate each site on your own.
Have you looked at how many PS3s have actually sold in Japan? Sure, it may be twice the 360, but the 360 has sold next to nothing in Japan (which isn't a surprise given the general collection of games)
So, even doubling isn't very much at all. Meanwhile, the Wii has easily been outselling the PS3 in Japan by a factor of at least 4 or 5 to 1. Consistently. On top of all that, Japan is no longer the 500 lb. gorilla it once was in the video gaming market. It now makes up about 17% of the global market. The US is in the largest market with Europe right behind, followed by the rest of the world.
Even with price cuts, Sony still has one very large problem - GAMES. It doesn't matter how cheap your game console is. Without a good solid library of compelling exclusives, no one's going to buy no matter the price. True, the PS3 isn't totally without good exclusives, but it's library is dwarfed both in size and overall quality when compared to the 360 and even the Wii. 2008 will be a very telling year for the PS3. If Sony can't turn things around, I doubt the PS3 will survive to see Christmas 2009.