Excellent point, but a lot of the time older games were *more* complicated to control than their modern counterparts. Convoluted menus, awkward control schemes, or just tons of mapped keys. I'll throw out a few examples.
System Shock 1 -> System Shock 2 Dune II -> Warcraft 3 Nethack -> Diablo TES: Daggerfall -> TES: Oblivion Wasteland -> Fallout Text Adventures -> Graphical Adventures (w/ icons)
I'm not "hating" on older games, but you must admit that the older ones I listed are more complicated to control than the newer ones.
Mainstream media likes to deal with a certain level of what they collectively define as professionalism; proper sourcing, investigation past press releases, no rumormongering, staying out of bed with the subject.
LOL. How long has it been since the mainstream media lived up to this ideal? All they're good at is superficial professionalism. Nice grammar and spelling, pretty layout, looking good and/or having a nice speaking voice (for TV/radio journalism). Maybe they'll feign a little neutrality if you're lucky.
The days of proper sourcing, investigation, rumor checking, and impartiality are long past. Actually, I take that back, those days never existed. Even in the so-called "golden era", however you want to define it, there was sleaze, slanting, rumormongering, and misreporting.
According to their respective Wikipedia entries, Backgammon is a few hundred years older than Go. About 700 years, by the dates given. (3000b.c. vs. 2300b.c.)
Both entries make the claim on oldest game ever, but that's just some usual Wikipedia inconsistency. I've also heard from a seperate source (Wired magazine?) that Backgammon predates Go.
Good point about the "local memory" misunderstanding, but what about the raw polycounts? The article commented on them too.
It is entirely possible that the PS3's nVidia chipset is less powerful than the 360's ATI chipset. I mean, those two companies have been neck-and-neck for a while, and both designs were roughly from the same timeframe. Sometimes ATI has the lead, sometimes nVidia.
Seriously, all I seem to hear these days are stories of iPod problems, Macbooks overheating, and other such nonsense. And its always about simple things like misapplied thermal paste or loose connections or bad batteries.
Seriously, they're great designers, but they've got to get quality control under control.
What most people forget is that there was a glut of 2D platformers back in the NES/SNES days. And a lot of them were cheap knockoffs or tripe, like the Bubsy series.
Nowadays most 2D action games are on the GBA/DS, or made by indie developers. It's a shame, but people have to remember that there was nothing pristine or magical about the 2D format.
The most recent example I can think of that's similar to what the PS3 is making itself out to be is the NeoGeo home system. The system was more expensive than its competitors (Genesis/SNES/TGX-16) and the games were up to $200. The system WAS higher quality.
But, by all accounts, the PS3 is not actually better at running games than the X360. The only thing it's really better at is running certain benchmarks. Heck, by all accounts so far, it has a weaker GPU.
it saves money in unemployment payments AND lets them lie about unemployment rates even more than usual.
Generally speaking, all employment estimates are done by survey, not by unemployment payouts. At most, such payouts are only one of several factors considered. See: http://www.snopes.com/science/stats/unemploy.htm
Also, I have to ask, why didn't you physically show up at the unemployment offices? Did they shut those down or something?
The official Blizzard announcement came out, and looks like I was wrong.
But the new background lore of the Draenei is totally screwed up. The old lore said that the Eredar were corrupted and evil before Sargeras turned bad. But the new backstory says that the Eredar were corrupted by Sargeras.
They've got to fix it one way or another. Either way could have the Draenei splitting off.
It doesn't make sense that the Draenei are a sub-race of the Eredar. Did they migrate to the Orc homeworld ages ago, or something?
I was under the impression that The Broken (pic here) were the unmutated version of the Draenei. The new race pics don't look anything like that. The head shape is all wrong, not to mention the number of fingers and the lack of a nose.
We need Blizzard's official announcement and press release to make sense of this, I think.
It's too bad that Nintendo generally (and Miyamoto specifically) hate GTA.
Where the heck did you get that idea?! Check out this interview from E3 2003.
Allow me to quote:
GameSpy: What do you think of the Grand Theft Auto series?
Miyamoto: I have looked at Grand Theft Auto. The basic concept was very well done. Regardless of what the content of the game was, the level of freedom that you had in that one big city was a very good idea. Obviously it has gotten a lot of press because of the moral issues; but even aside from that, the game was done in such a way that gives it great gameplay. I think that is the reason that Grand Theft Auto is selling.
We were lamenting about how Final Fantasy VII blew our minds early on in the game, and kept blowing our minds up until the end.
I've tried to get into FF7, but I just can't. The flaws keep getting in the way.
Barrett's stupid lines
All the other lousy dialogue
The inconsistent art style.
Poorly told story (which was also cliche)
other, smaller annoyances
I was able to go on and enjoy FF8, 9, and 10. I also enjoyed the older Final Fantasies. I'm able to forgive a lot in a game, but could never get past the faults in FF7.
That's why I'm hoping for a FF7 remake, personally.
Re:Nintendo's Wii akin to Chevrolet's Nova?
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I don't remember anyone being upset about the iPod's name. Maybe it seemed a bit silly at first because it followed the iMac, iBook, and other iStuff, but iPod was never a bad name.
Wii... on the surface, it sounds small, urine-related, and is spelled oddly.
And if you dig deeper and read the reasoning behind the name, it sounds pretentious.
I'm already over the initial shock, and I look forward to hearing more about the Wii at E3, but the name is still lousy.
I predict Xbox 360 sales will surge near the PS3 release. Because then people will finally be able to see that the graphics are nearly identical (if not worse of the PS3 by a small margin).
I still think the PS3 is shaping up to be pretty damn nice.
What news sites are *you* reading? It's already been confirmed that the PS3 has a worse GPU than the X360, and maybe even a worse CPU architecture. All Sony has going for them is their hype machine and whatever few franchises they can prevent from going multiplatform.
Re:Nintendo's Wii akin to Chevrolet's Nova?
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· Score: 1
I'm sure we can all look forward to the BuzzBox 720 Special Chuck Norris Edition Mk. II Xtreme fans making jokes about how stupid the Wii name is for the next decade.
I'd be more concerned about the non-gamers (Nintendo's target audience) making fun of the name. Even worse, those are the type of people that wouldn't take a closer look.
No, the point of the new CPU manufacturing process is to get the system cooler and cheaper. Anyone who thinks otherwise is a retard.
The PS2 went through nine similar revisions, before the slim PStwo was released. Hell, later Xboxes got 10gb drives instead of the original 8gb drives, so what did Microsoft do? They disabled the extra 2gb so early adopters wouldn't feel cheated.
Good point, I should have specified that games have the "potential to be art", since art is always subjective. There are plenty of books that aren't art -- dictionaries and travel guides, for example. There are plenty of movies that aren't art, like pornography or home movies.
Back to sports for a second, many would consider a figure skater's performance to be art. Some football enthusiasts might consider a well planned and executed gameplay "art in motion".
Pong is already considered by some to be a form of retro and/or minimalist art. I'd have to say that Oblivion is art too -- not just for the visuals, but for the large and detailed world, the intricate rules and algorithms that bring that world to life, and all the varied ways the player can experience and interact with it.
I'm content to admit that not all games are art. Just so long as the primary mechanisms of gaming aren't automatically ruled out of the argument.
Slashdot Mirror
Excellent point, but a lot of the time older games were *more* complicated to control than their modern counterparts. Convoluted menus, awkward control schemes, or just tons of mapped keys. I'll throw out a few examples.
System Shock 1 -> System Shock 2
Dune II -> Warcraft 3
Nethack -> Diablo
TES: Daggerfall -> TES: Oblivion
Wasteland -> Fallout
Text Adventures -> Graphical Adventures (w/ icons)
I'm not "hating" on older games, but you must admit that the older ones I listed are more complicated to control than the newer ones.
Ah, you mean like Planetside? Because that'd be kinda cool.
It'll probably be in the bargain bin in year or two.
LOL. How long has it been since the mainstream media lived up to this ideal? All they're good at is superficial professionalism. Nice grammar and spelling, pretty layout, looking good and/or having a nice speaking voice (for TV/radio journalism). Maybe they'll feign a little neutrality if you're lucky.
The days of proper sourcing, investigation, rumor checking, and impartiality are long past. Actually, I take that back, those days never existed. Even in the so-called "golden era", however you want to define it, there was sleaze, slanting, rumormongering, and misreporting.
According to their respective Wikipedia entries, Backgammon is a few hundred years older than Go. About 700 years, by the dates given. (3000b.c. vs. 2300b.c.)
Both entries make the claim on oldest game ever, but that's just some usual Wikipedia inconsistency. I've also heard from a seperate source (Wired magazine?) that Backgammon predates Go.
Hm, I think I'll try to correct the Go entry.
Good point about the "local memory" misunderstanding, but what about the raw polycounts? The article commented on them too.
It is entirely possible that the PS3's nVidia chipset is less powerful than the 360's ATI chipset. I mean, those two companies have been neck-and-neck for a while, and both designs were roughly from the same timeframe. Sometimes ATI has the lead, sometimes nVidia.
Seriously, all I seem to hear these days are stories of iPod problems, Macbooks overheating, and other such nonsense. And its always about simple things like misapplied thermal paste or loose connections or bad batteries.
Seriously, they're great designers, but they've got to get quality control under control.
What most people forget is that there was a glut of 2D platformers back in the NES/SNES days. And a lot of them were cheap knockoffs or tripe, like the Bubsy series.
Nowadays most 2D action games are on the GBA/DS, or made by indie developers. It's a shame, but people have to remember that there was nothing pristine or magical about the 2D format.
Ironically enough, the PS3 is heavier than the original Xbox. (according to released specs, it's 2-3 ounces heavier.)
But they still charge like the rate is $0.60 or $0.70.
Don't feel too bad, though. It looks like the Brits and the Euro-users are getting gouged this generation too. I mean, 600 Euros for a PS3?
But, by all accounts, the PS3 is not actually better at running games than the X360. The only thing it's really better at is running certain benchmarks. Heck, by all accounts so far, it has a weaker GPU.
Generally speaking, all employment estimates are done by survey, not by unemployment payouts. At most, such payouts are only one of several factors considered. See: http://www.snopes.com/science/stats/unemploy.htm
Also, I have to ask, why didn't you physically show up at the unemployment offices? Did they shut those down or something?
Apparently Square/Enix (Squeenix) is considering making FF13 and DQ9 multiplatform.
I imagine the PS3's new price point might be an addition factor in their decision.
The official Blizzard announcement came out, and looks like I was wrong.
But the new background lore of the Draenei is totally screwed up. The old lore said that the Eredar were corrupted and evil before Sargeras turned bad. But the new backstory says that the Eredar were corrupted by Sargeras.
They've got to fix it one way or another. Either way could have the Draenei splitting off.
Uh... there are four Alliance races at the moment. So if players were evenly distributed across the races, each race would end up with 25%.
It doesn't make sense that the Draenei are a sub-race of the Eredar. Did they migrate to the Orc homeworld ages ago, or something?
I was under the impression that The Broken (pic here) were the unmutated version of the Draenei. The new race pics don't look anything like that. The head shape is all wrong, not to mention the number of fingers and the lack of a nose.
We need Blizzard's official announcement and press release to make sense of this, I think.
Nitpick: The 360 and PS3 are equivalent, power-wise. General concensus is that the 360 has a little better GPU, and the PS3 has a slightly better CPU.
Where the heck did you get that idea?! Check out this interview from E3 2003.
Allow me to quote:
I was able to go on and enjoy FF8, 9, and 10. I also enjoyed the older Final Fantasies. I'm able to forgive a lot in a game, but could never get past the faults in FF7.
That's why I'm hoping for a FF7 remake, personally.
I don't remember anyone being upset about the iPod's name. Maybe it seemed a bit silly at first because it followed the iMac, iBook, and other iStuff, but iPod was never a bad name.
Wii... on the surface, it sounds small, urine-related, and is spelled oddly.
And if you dig deeper and read the reasoning behind the name, it sounds pretentious.
I'm already over the initial shock, and I look forward to hearing more about the Wii at E3, but the name is still lousy.
I predict Xbox 360 sales will surge near the PS3 release. Because then people will finally be able to see that the graphics are nearly identical (if not worse of the PS3 by a small margin).
What news sites are *you* reading? It's already been confirmed that the PS3 has a worse GPU than the X360, and maybe even a worse CPU architecture. All Sony has going for them is their hype machine and whatever few franchises they can prevent from going multiplatform.
I'd be more concerned about the non-gamers (Nintendo's target audience) making fun of the name. Even worse, those are the type of people that wouldn't take a closer look.
No, the point of the new CPU manufacturing process is to get the system cooler and cheaper. Anyone who thinks otherwise is a retard.
The PS2 went through nine similar revisions, before the slim PStwo was released. Hell, later Xboxes got 10gb drives instead of the original 8gb drives, so what did Microsoft do? They disabled the extra 2gb so early adopters wouldn't feel cheated.
Good point, I should have specified that games have the "potential to be art", since art is always subjective. There are plenty of books that aren't art -- dictionaries and travel guides, for example. There are plenty of movies that aren't art, like pornography or home movies.
Back to sports for a second, many would consider a figure skater's performance to be art. Some football enthusiasts might consider a well planned and executed gameplay "art in motion".
Pong is already considered by some to be a form of retro and/or minimalist art. I'd have to say that Oblivion is art too -- not just for the visuals, but for the large and detailed world, the intricate rules and algorithms that bring that world to life, and all the varied ways the player can experience and interact with it.
I'm content to admit that not all games are art. Just so long as the primary mechanisms of gaming aren't automatically ruled out of the argument.