Exactly. Many of us gamers have stopped playing whole seasons of Madden and Tecmo Bowl in one day or Civilization X all-nighters and we've moved on to having balanced lives. Sleep, quality time with the family, etc. So for us, the Wii is quite attractive. I personally play mostly a Gameboy Advance and a *couple* games on a PS2. Otherwise I can't be bothered to spend much time gaming these days. The Wii looks like a welcome change of pace from the horsepower arms race.
Are you kidding. I wouldn't trade my college experience for anything. I entered college with a spotless record. President of the honor society, nominated to the Naval Academy, Coast Guard Academy and Merchant Marine Academy. I was a 3 time letter in two sports and started 3 years varsity in both sports. I went to Boys State and become mayor of my city and a senator. Went to Youth Legislature and became Speaker of the House, shaking hands with the governer. I did basically everything a bright kid is "supposed" to do when being pushed into things by their parents. What's my point of all that? It's not to brag, believe me. Read on.
The problem was I entered college with credentials, but without hard skills to back them up. Pretty smart, good book learner, but not a great critical thinker. I had no clue what I wanted to do with my life or who I was, really. So as cliche as it sounds, when I went to college, I actually discovered who I was. I partied a little, took classes I actually wanted to take, not just the ones my parents approved of. I studied English literature and learned the joys of reading books I'd never considered and writing creatively, stretching the bounds of who I was. I learned how to fail a lot, getting Cs, sometimes Ds. And when that happened I learned how to cope with that and not feel like a complete failure. I learned how to work hard and how to do actual research. I met my wife and fell in love with her my senior year. We've been married for 8 years+ now. Oh, and somewhere in the middle there I got explosed to computers and Linux. Since college I've worked as a software engineer in spite of the fact that I studied English most of the time.
The point of all that. I entered college with nothing but pure achievement and "success" on my mind. I was completely off on how I was approaching my life at that point. I'm so thankful I had those 4 years and that environment as an incubator to figure out who I was, who I wanted to be and to become who I am today. I'm still changing and growing. It's not over by a long shot. But I sincerely feel like I did more growing in those 4 years than I did in my entire life up until then. And having fellow students, teachers and others in the same boat to share that experience not only helped me to learn how to socialize, but I believe that was a vital component to the growth I experienced.
I would never trade it. Never. Student loans and everything.
Same here. It's okay, though. When he's pulling 80 hour weeks trying to make partner by 23 and decides to finally take a drink of alcohol I think he's going to go psychotic. Maybe somewhere in there he'll figure out how to relax a little.
Nevermind the whole "you don't buy gas, so you don't pay for this road" argument. But, um.... my taxes DO pay for the roads and I don't do a bit of damage or wear and tear to them. And yet I'm treated like a second class citizen and subjected constantly to the threat of vehicle manslaughter?
You're definitely right about their being less pure strategy in the Strat/RPGs. You can level guys up and kind of strong-arm/heal your way through the game. Unlike AW where you have to unlock the puzzle. So while we're talking about these games, I'm curious since you seem to be of like mind, if you consider any other games of value on the GBA, in this vein. Also, do you play AW2 or AW1 or both? Is it worth getting both? I just have AW2.
To me tons is "enough to keep me busy". And the GBA has definitely done this. There are more games like AW. Fire Emblem. That game is even more pick up and play friendly as you can just turn off the system. Only problem is it introduces the risk (going back to the article) of insta-death, which introduces the risk of wasted time. Plus there is lots of levelling in Fire Emblem as it's a Strategy/RPG. Same with FFTA, Tactics Ogre, etc. So you're right that if RPGs don't count then that reduces the game count significantly, because you can't count Fire Emblem(s), FFTA, etc.
Chu Chu Rocket, you're missing out on a great game. They took literally 2000+ single player puzzles that were submitted by users and put them in the single-player mode. It's loaded with great puzzles. I didn't realize that Puyo Pop didn't have a save feature. I wonder if Puzzle League does? Puzzle League is a great game. I haven't tried the GBA iteration yet.
Otherwise, though, I see where you're coming from. The way I've referred to these games personally is games without "progression". Meaning any game that requires progressing through levels or a story is annoying to me these days. Games that can be played discretely and then put down for hours, weeks, months are more my speed now. AW is definitely in this vein. I believe Chu Chu Rocket is as well. Then the Bit Generations, Rhythm Tengoku and the Strat/RPGs can be played this way, but it's harder.
Strangely, I think Mr. Brinn didn't make his point well enough. Part of the problem is that the included language isn't easy enough. i.e. Ruby, Python, etc. are still not going to be as logical or close to the metal as Basic was. I learned basic when I was in TaG as a kid. It was a good jump start into programming. And now that's my career. I meandered into Biology and English literature in college, but I think that experience programming on the Commodore 64 and committing to tape definitely helped me to love to learn to tinker. So it wasn't a big jump for me to use Linux full time later in life when I started working as programmer.
Anyway, I think the point Mr. Brinn didn't make well enough, aside from the above, is that even if one of these languages were as easy as Basic, they're rarely included and never intrinsic to the operating of the machine, unless you're talking about Linux. On Windows you have to jump through hoops that most kids today just won't do. They'll spend all day customizing their MySpace page, but can't be bothered to even learn HTML, much less JavaScript, much less Ruby. It is sad, but I think it's a natural progression of the fact that users have become so abstracted from operating their computer to the point where it's a tool or an entertainment device or a news receptor, used to do things far far beyond strict "computing".
Someday as horsepower outstrips the computers we use today there will come a time where socialization and understanding the rules of business and communication are far more important than the actual programming. The language will be 4GL or 5GL and all the kids will need to know is how to communicate well enough or how to design for the end user. And as heavy consumers and avid socializers (using their computers), I think in a strange way they'll be uniquely placed to thrive in the programming environment of the future.
What are you talking about? The GBA has a ton of strategy and puzzle games. Maybe I'm not understanding your definition, but in my book the GBA was an often overlooked renaissance for this type of gaming. With plenty of puzzle games like Chu Chu Rocket, the current Bit Generations games, etc. And then probably the largest library of strategy games (Fire Emblem, Advance Wars, Tactics Ogre) other than the PS2.
Now granted many of those are Strategy/RPGs, which means leveling, etc. And if that's what you meant by the GBA lacking games that were strategic, but without the power-leveling demand of typical Japanese RPGs, then I'm with you. I loved those games the first time through, but I'm at a point where I can be bothered to power-level my Paladin just to be able to beat a given opponent.
Games like that bore me these days. The other day (after a year or so of playing the DS and offbeat games like Katamari, Amplitude, Gitaroo Man) I tried Kingdom Hearts. And I also tried Lego Star Wars. I found out that I was really sick of doing A to arbitrarily open B and then doing C, D and E to arbitrarily open F. In both games. It got really boring to me quickly.
Where do you live? I always hear about people getting pulled over for their 5th DUI. They may get a night in the hole, but it takes a lot to lose your license, much less your freedom, even though you're actually endangering other poeple.
Yeah, I think DRM fatigue has finally set in. About time. Don't know if anything will come of it, but it's nice to see. I personally buy albums all the time as well. I actually subscribe to Rhapsody (that's where I discover new music lots of the time and they have a web-based service that works on LInux), then I buy the albums when I like them, so I can listen to them in the car, on my Palm, on my home Linux machine, etc. DRM-free.
That's what I find so whacky about the RIAA's tactics. I think people love music enough that they're still willing to pay for it. I am. I'm willing to buy CDs if I like the band's work. I just wish more money was going to the bands.
That's pretty typical from what I hear from other writers (I write in my free time, so I have an interest in this). In my case I need Windows for some software dev, but mostly because my company's VPN is quite useful, but Windows-only.
Yes. All you have to do to run said software is buy a whole new computer with a DirectX 10 compliant video card, 1G of Ram and you're good to go.
Oh, wait. That part above was just for the OS. You thought those were the system requirements for the software? No. That's what's needed to get Vista up and running bare bones. Sorry.
Seriously, though, I purchased Windows last week, actually. I bought a copy of Windows XP Pro. Reason being that I do need Windows from time to time, even though I run it virtually inside VMWare on top of Linux. I do need Windows for certain applications and software development. I was happy to pay for a copy, because I needed it. But I bought it now while XP Pro is still being sold, because XP Pro has a 7 year support cycle from the beginning of Vista. So sometime in 2014, if the world hasn't ended (it's after 2012 after all) and I still need Windows, only then will I have to contemplate buying a whole new machine/copy of VMWare just to run Vista.
It's not really your computer. I mean, it's your hardware. Unless it isn't running Windows. In which case you're a dirty pirate, even if you plan on running Linux. And then when you run Windows the software isn't yours. It's yours to borrow as long as you follow the EULA (which apparently includes listening to the startup sound now) and pay new monthly fee. Oh, you didn't hear about that new feature?
I think the fact that Microsoft considers this a feature worthy of pushing shows how trivial "enhancements" to Windows have become at this point. They're not bothering to fix what really needs fixing.
Exactly. That's the lesson of Katrina. All of us gamers are living life in a fantasy land where at any moment the Pokemon we've collected, the levels we've unlocked, the experience points we've earned, could all be whiped out....
along with our house, possibly our family and our community...
But back to the main point. Yes. Think of all the time spent gathering those experience points, beating that really tough boss and ask yourself if you can go through the emotional pain of starting over again.
Indeed. This is kind of the problem with Mac users, isn't it. They're not happy with the system stabilizing and just running well, picking up new software and hardware support. They expect new flashy things to look at and buy constantly.
We'll handle it from here, crimin.., I mean Sir. Just call us. Nothing to worry about.
Seriously, though, I would think one big problem is that to to get legal you're Windows install is going to have to send a new registration message off to Microsoft. Not sure how you do that without a reinstall.
Maybe if they're on XP Home, buy them an OEM version of XP Pro?
Slashdot Mirror
Exactly. Many of us gamers have stopped playing whole seasons of Madden and Tecmo Bowl in one day or Civilization X all-nighters and we've moved on to having balanced lives. Sleep, quality time with the family, etc. So for us, the Wii is quite attractive. I personally play mostly a Gameboy Advance and a *couple* games on a PS2. Otherwise I can't be bothered to spend much time gaming these days. The Wii looks like a welcome change of pace from the horsepower arms race.
Are you kidding. I wouldn't trade my college experience for anything. I entered college with a spotless record. President of the honor society, nominated to the Naval Academy, Coast Guard Academy and Merchant Marine Academy. I was a 3 time letter in two sports and started 3 years varsity in both sports. I went to Boys State and become mayor of my city and a senator. Went to Youth Legislature and became Speaker of the House, shaking hands with the governer. I did basically everything a bright kid is "supposed" to do when being pushed into things by their parents. What's my point of all that? It's not to brag, believe me. Read on.
The problem was I entered college with credentials, but without hard skills to back them up. Pretty smart, good book learner, but not a great critical thinker. I had no clue what I wanted to do with my life or who I was, really. So as cliche as it sounds, when I went to college, I actually discovered who I was. I partied a little, took classes I actually wanted to take, not just the ones my parents approved of. I studied English literature and learned the joys of reading books I'd never considered and writing creatively, stretching the bounds of who I was. I learned how to fail a lot, getting Cs, sometimes Ds. And when that happened I learned how to cope with that and not feel like a complete failure. I learned how to work hard and how to do actual research. I met my wife and fell in love with her my senior year. We've been married for 8 years+ now. Oh, and somewhere in the middle there I got explosed to computers and Linux. Since college I've worked as a software engineer in spite of the fact that I studied English most of the time.
The point of all that. I entered college with nothing but pure achievement and "success" on my mind. I was completely off on how I was approaching my life at that point. I'm so thankful I had those 4 years and that environment as an incubator to figure out who I was, who I wanted to be and to become who I am today. I'm still changing and growing. It's not over by a long shot. But I sincerely feel like I did more growing in those 4 years than I did in my entire life up until then. And having fellow students, teachers and others in the same boat to share that experience not only helped me to learn how to socialize, but I believe that was a vital component to the growth I experienced.
I would never trade it. Never. Student loans and everything.
Same here. It's okay, though. When he's pulling 80 hour weeks trying to make partner by 23 and decides to finally take a drink of alcohol I think he's going to go psychotic. Maybe somewhere in there he'll figure out how to relax a little.
Nevermind the whole "you don't buy gas, so you don't pay for this road" argument. But, um.... my taxes DO pay for the roads and I don't do a bit of damage or wear and tear to them. And yet I'm treated like a second class citizen and subjected constantly to the threat of vehicle manslaughter?
You're definitely right about their being less pure strategy in the Strat/RPGs. You can level guys up and kind of strong-arm/heal your way through the game. Unlike AW where you have to unlock the puzzle. So while we're talking about these games, I'm curious since you seem to be of like mind, if you consider any other games of value on the GBA, in this vein. Also, do you play AW2 or AW1 or both? Is it worth getting both? I just have AW2.
Well, tons is relative, I guess. :)
To me tons is "enough to keep me busy". And the GBA has definitely done this. There are more games like AW. Fire Emblem. That game is even more pick up and play friendly as you can just turn off the system. Only problem is it introduces the risk (going back to the article) of insta-death, which introduces the risk of wasted time. Plus there is lots of levelling in Fire Emblem as it's a Strategy/RPG. Same with FFTA, Tactics Ogre, etc. So you're right that if RPGs don't count then that reduces the game count significantly, because you can't count Fire Emblem(s), FFTA, etc.
Chu Chu Rocket, you're missing out on a great game. They took literally 2000+ single player puzzles that were submitted by users and put them in the single-player mode. It's loaded with great puzzles. I didn't realize that Puyo Pop didn't have a save feature. I wonder if Puzzle League does? Puzzle League is a great game. I haven't tried the GBA iteration yet.
Otherwise, though, I see where you're coming from. The way I've referred to these games personally is games without "progression". Meaning any game that requires progressing through levels or a story is annoying to me these days. Games that can be played discretely and then put down for hours, weeks, months are more my speed now. AW is definitely in this vein. I believe Chu Chu Rocket is as well. Then the Bit Generations, Rhythm Tengoku and the Strat/RPGs can be played this way, but it's harder.
I can't wait to develop tennis elbow from my Wiimote.
Gameplay over graphics... I agree with that. But this has RSI written all over it, IMHO.
Strangely, I think Mr. Brinn didn't make his point well enough. Part of the problem is that the included language isn't easy enough. i.e. Ruby, Python, etc. are still not going to be as logical or close to the metal as Basic was. I learned basic when I was in TaG as a kid. It was a good jump start into programming. And now that's my career. I meandered into Biology and English literature in college, but I think that experience programming on the Commodore 64 and committing to tape definitely helped me to love to learn to tinker. So it wasn't a big jump for me to use Linux full time later in life when I started working as programmer.
Anyway, I think the point Mr. Brinn didn't make well enough, aside from the above, is that even if one of these languages were as easy as Basic, they're rarely included and never intrinsic to the operating of the machine, unless you're talking about Linux. On Windows you have to jump through hoops that most kids today just won't do. They'll spend all day customizing their MySpace page, but can't be bothered to even learn HTML, much less JavaScript, much less Ruby. It is sad, but I think it's a natural progression of the fact that users have become so abstracted from operating their computer to the point where it's a tool or an entertainment device or a news receptor, used to do things far far beyond strict "computing".
Someday as horsepower outstrips the computers we use today there will come a time where socialization and understanding the rules of business and communication are far more important than the actual programming. The language will be 4GL or 5GL and all the kids will need to know is how to communicate well enough or how to design for the end user. And as heavy consumers and avid socializers (using their computers), I think in a strange way they'll be uniquely placed to thrive in the programming environment of the future.
What are you talking about? The GBA has a ton of strategy and puzzle games. Maybe I'm not understanding your definition, but in my book the GBA was an often overlooked renaissance for this type of gaming. With plenty of puzzle games like Chu Chu Rocket, the current Bit Generations games, etc. And then probably the largest library of strategy games (Fire Emblem, Advance Wars, Tactics Ogre) other than the PS2.
Now granted many of those are Strategy/RPGs, which means leveling, etc. And if that's what you meant by the GBA lacking games that were strategic, but without the power-leveling demand of typical Japanese RPGs, then I'm with you. I loved those games the first time through, but I'm at a point where I can be bothered to power-level my Paladin just to be able to beat a given opponent.
Levels in general seem to be a crutch.
Games like that bore me these days. The other day (after a year or so of playing the DS and offbeat games like Katamari, Amplitude, Gitaroo Man) I tried Kingdom Hearts. And I also tried Lego Star Wars. I found out that I was really sick of doing A to arbitrarily open B and then doing C, D and E to arbitrarily open F. In both games. It got really boring to me quickly.
Where do you live? I always hear about people getting pulled over for their 5th DUI. They may get a night in the hole, but it takes a lot to lose your license, much less your freedom, even though you're actually endangering other poeple.
Meanwhile you have to drive drunk a few dozen times before they put you in jail, if they even do.
Yeah, I think DRM fatigue has finally set in. About time. Don't know if anything will come of it, but it's nice to see. I personally buy albums all the time as well. I actually subscribe to Rhapsody (that's where I discover new music lots of the time and they have a web-based service that works on LInux), then I buy the albums when I like them, so I can listen to them in the car, on my Palm, on my home Linux machine, etc. DRM-free.
That's what I find so whacky about the RIAA's tactics. I think people love music enough that they're still willing to pay for it. I am. I'm willing to buy CDs if I like the band's work. I just wish more money was going to the bands.
My brother works in a fab. He's the little guy. They're definitely taking out the little guy with this one.
You're right. But unfortunately I don't think that's how it's going down. The little guy is getting laid off in droves.
That's pretty typical from what I hear from other writers (I write in my free time, so I have an interest in this). In my case I need Windows for some software dev, but mostly because my company's VPN is quite useful, but Windows-only.
Yes. All you have to do to run said software is buy a whole new computer with a DirectX 10 compliant video card, 1G of Ram and you're good to go.
Oh, wait. That part above was just for the OS. You thought those were the system requirements for the software? No. That's what's needed to get Vista up and running bare bones. Sorry.
Seriously, though, I purchased Windows last week, actually. I bought a copy of Windows XP Pro. Reason being that I do need Windows from time to time, even though I run it virtually inside VMWare on top of Linux. I do need Windows for certain applications and software development. I was happy to pay for a copy, because I needed it. But I bought it now while XP Pro is still being sold, because XP Pro has a 7 year support cycle from the beginning of Vista. So sometime in 2014, if the world hasn't ended (it's after 2012 after all) and I still need Windows, only then will I have to contemplate buying a whole new machine/copy of VMWare just to run Vista.
It's not really your computer. I mean, it's your hardware. Unless it isn't running Windows. In which case you're a dirty pirate, even if you plan on running Linux. And then when you run Windows the software isn't yours. It's yours to borrow as long as you follow the EULA (which apparently includes listening to the startup sound now) and pay new monthly fee. Oh, you didn't hear about that new feature?
I think the fact that Microsoft considers this a feature worthy of pushing shows how trivial "enhancements" to Windows have become at this point. They're not bothering to fix what really needs fixing.
I know I'd switch back to FreeBSD in a heartbeat if this came to pass. I loved running FreeBSD. I just didn't enjoy the hassle of running Java on it.
Exactly. That's the lesson of Katrina. All of us gamers are living life in a fantasy land where at any moment the Pokemon we've collected, the levels we've unlocked, the experience points we've earned, could all be whiped out....
along with our house, possibly our family and our community...
But back to the main point. Yes. Think of all the time spent gathering those experience points, beating that really tough boss and ask yourself if you can go through the emotional pain of starting over again.
Buy TWO copies of all your favorite games and store the second copy "off-site" in case of a natural disaster. This goes for memory cards as well.
Then once you get your life back together from the hurricane you can pick up where you left off in God of War.
Backups. The lesson is backups.
Indeed. This is kind of the problem with Mac users, isn't it. They're not happy with the system stabilizing and just running well, picking up new software and hardware support. They expect new flashy things to look at and buy constantly.
Indeed. Kirby: Canvas Curse for the DS is one of the most enjoyable platformers ever. And that's just the DS.
Whoop, there you go up above. You can change the key. That's what I get for being a Linux user and out of the loop.
We'll handle it from here, crimin.., I mean Sir. Just call us. Nothing to worry about.
Seriously, though, I would think one big problem is that to to get legal you're Windows install is going to have to send a new registration message off to Microsoft. Not sure how you do that without a reinstall.
Maybe if they're on XP Home, buy them an OEM version of XP Pro?