Actually, way back when, there was this thing called an X-Band modem, and was available for both the Sega Genesis and Super NES. Using it, you could play multiplayer games over a dialup connection, and even rent and download games to your console (supposedly).
I believe that this predated even the Japanese BS-X (Stellaview) system, but I could easily be wrong on that point.
I'm surprised no one has mentioned this before, but most "convergant" devices have zero multi-tasking ability.
So, that $900 PSX can record TV shows and Movies to DVD or internal HD or play games, but not both at the same time. If you want to play Final Fantasy X while you're recording Stargate SG-1, tough.
"One game is called Store It Safe. It involves placing baked beans, tortillas, frozen chicken and other virtual groceries into a cartoon-drawn freezer, cupboard or refrigerator."
Last time I checked, baked beans generally come in cans, and tortillas don't really thaw that well after being frozen. Besides that, does anyone else notice a certain ethnic targeting in the Store It Safe blurb?
One thing not mentioned in the article is any kind of basic food preparation guide. Many meats can cause serious illness or even death if not thoroughly cooked, even if you did pay a smart price for it, and stored it safe. Then again, that could be subtle form of population control...
Okay, so this technology is supposedly designed with the intended purpose of recording your entire life (all your knowledge and experiences) in a single spot. The only reason I can see for recording any significant amount of my knowledge and experiences in their pure formats would be to convince the far-future-aliens/evolutionary-offspring-of-humans to clone me and reproduce my brain using their amazing technology.
If they know everything there is to know about me, they have no reason to resurrect me. In fact, they'll probably decide I'm not worth resurrecting, even if I had valuable information. If they only know enough to make me look interesting, then they might resurrect me, if only long enough to see if I have any useful biological traits.
If only Slashdot had a moderation point for "Screaming Homeless Guy Crazy." I just can't figure out whether it would be a + or a -.
I can't help but laugh at the prefacing acronym you're using. I'm assuming it means, "I am not a lawyer, but I play one on TV *something that starts with 'I'*"
When you say it out loud, it comes out as "I anal bi-pooty." Bathroom humor or not, that sounds funny.
Sorry, forgot to mention: Although not officially endorsed by the designer, there's also Zipangujima, which is basically what would happen if you explained Catan and Risk to a newbie in rapid succession, without clarifying that they were different games.
(Speaking of licensing, I believe only the PlayStation version and the Microsoft version will be "legit."
BUZZ! Incorrect sir!
In Germany and most of non-English speaking Europe, there have been PC versions of Catan for years. For the base set and Seafarers, there's Catan: Die Erste Insel (which was also available on the Playstation 1). If you're itching to play the cardgame online, why not try Catan - Das Kartenspiel, which features many online options, and a robust AI, not to mention an unofficial English translation.
If space is more your thing, you can always try Die Sternenfahrer von Catan, which is a bit of a departure from the cardboard-n-plastic version: It's realtime. Then again, you can always try the 2-player Sternenschiff Catan, which is chock full of scenario goodness. Rockazonga, the developer of the PC version of Sternenschiff, has been making noises of an English version, as well as a PS2 version.
Personally, I'd love for Microsoft to do all the Catan gams (which, by the terms of the agreement they signed, they are allowed to), since I love Starfarers, but have trouble talking people into playing a single game for 2 hours. They'd usually rather play severalothergames in that same time period.
You know, at some point, someone needs to make a game in which you play as a video game company constantly battling a never-ending hoarde of lawyers who thrive on nitpicking every detail of everything you do.
"The buildings in your latest game are not wheelchair accessable. You've been sued."
"The color of the sky in your latest game has been found to give 5% of the population mild headaches after 20 continuous hours of exposure. You've been sued."
"Your latest game unjustly depicts people with red skin, sharp, pointy teeth, horns, and cloven hooves as sinister. You've been sued."
Seriously, the only gaming company that seems to get in more hot water than Rockstar is Infinium Labs.
Hypthetical situation: I am a chronic procrastinator. I find that this is something that I don't particularly like about myself, and I'd like to change it, especially since I have a deadline rushing up, ready to swoop past if I don't get my doomaflotchy prototype ready before the big convention.
So here's the question: If I have so much trouble staying on-task that I can't finish a major project on which my reputation, credibility, and livlihood depend, when am I going to get around to heading to the nearest facility to offer this gene-therapy treatment? Even if it was in a pill form, it would probably be prescription only, and even if it was OTC, I'd still have to go to the pharmacy.
So, it seems likely that, if this ever sees the light of day in humans, we'll be getting a lot of instances of "Quick, I need that DontputitoffXL treatment, and I need it by 3:30 today!"
Since when is the velocity of my car, something which is directly observable externally, considered private? In't this a bit like saying to people, "Please don't look at me as I walk by. I don't want you to know where I am or whether I'm running."
Whether you're driving naked, provided it's not visible to other drivers, is your own business. What music you listen to, provided it's not audible from 50 feet away, is private (check your local laws for variations). The speed of your multiple-ton chunk of sharp metal, glass, and flammable liquid is not private.
Whatever Orwellian fantasy you may be indulging in probably falls short of what has already been true for years: "They" have been able to tell exactly where you are and what you are doing for a long time now. Most of us are too boring for it to matter. If you're going to be paranoid, do it properly.
This does offer intriguing possibilities, although the form factor just begs to be mounted on a credit-card sized carrier. Yeah, I know, SD & SmartMedia don't need to be any bigger physically, so why does this?
Well, if it does reach the aforementioned 2TB limit, and if it's reasonably inexpensive, these things would replace DVDs in a fairly short order. At 2TB, you can have as high definition video as you can handle, bitrates be darned. Season box sets of your favorite show getting bulky? A 2TB card can hold over 225 DVDs (DVD9s that is) of data.
Of course, insane levels of data storage breed insane levels of piracy. Sure, at 120MB/s, it would take about 5 hours to fill one of these suckers, but that's time well spent when you can carry your entire game collection in your wallet.
"Trade you every Nintendo 64 game ever made for every PSone game ever made."
"Throw in every SNES game ever made, and you've got a deal!"
Sure, the 2TB thing may be a pipedream for now, but it's a pipedream I'm willing to indulge...
Yeah, 'cause it's not possible to like them both or anything.
Of course, compare the sales of the GBA to the X-Box and it tells a very different story. To date, NPD Group estimates that there are just short of 10 million XBoxes out there in people's homes. There are, however, over 22 million GBAs sold.
No, it didn't appear that this was the case. He seemed to be fake-sliding the game along the back of the unit to demonstrate where the UMD cartridges are placed. It still seemed to have enough play from side to side that I don't think it was in the slot.
Even if it was, that may not mean anything. The "Cats in the Classroom" game may actually be a built-in app used for launching games. If it is, let's hope there are others that appeal to less cutesy tastes.
Giant Robot X-11: You appear to have inserted a UMD. Do you wish to run it? (Select yes) Pooooooooweriiiiiing Uuuuuuup! (Screen glows, various anime attack poses flash on the screen, fades to white, fades to game).
Quite frequently, publications and/or shows get entirely the wrong person to review the game: Someone who is a button-mashing fighting game player is probably not going to appriciate the slower pace of a tactics-RPG. Similarly, the heavy-duty RTS fan probably won't find much to like in rhythm-based dance games.
Useful game reviews come from people who have similar tastes to your own. Case in point: Tommy Tallarico. Tommy is not mainstream, nor are his tastes. When he reviews games on G4TechTV's show Judgement Day, it's clear that he was put there simply to provide a dissenting view. Have him play even the most revolutionary turn-based strategy game, and he'll insult it in the most vile manner he can think of. Thing is, there's a certain segment of the population that has similar tastes, and they will find his reviews useful.
Another issue may be that some mediocre games get cast as "inexcusably awful" or "mind-bogglingly terrible" simply because it's easy for reviewers to get carried away insulting a game. "I'd rather rub my eyeballs with 80-grit sandpaper," is more interesting to read than "It wasn't awful, but there are no remarkable qualities to this game. It really isn't worth the money."
It's a pure delight for Type-A GM's, too. Any kind of sadistic streak is wholeheartedly reinforced and encouraged. If the GM knows enough about the rules to effectively GM, he's going to be killing players left and right (whether they're Type-A or newbies) unless they are the specific kind of player who gets into the Paranoia mindset.
From at least one of the posted responses here, it appears that the developers are aware of this issue, and have made every effort to correct it in this new version. Bully for them. I probably still won't play it, as nothing in the system appeals to me (totalitarian distopia future? According to liberal media, I already live there!), and I have a lot more fun playing Catan, Tigris & Euphrates, Reiner Knizia's Samurai or any number of other Designer board/card games. Plus, table talk doesn't get us killed.
Paranoia is a great way to entertain someone for a few hours. Unfortunately, that someone is going to be the GM, and everyone else is going to wind up hating him or her, and to a lesser extent, each other.
Now I know what many of you may be thinking: Just because I had a negative experience with Paranoia doesn't make it a bad system. I'll point out that I've had a particularly long string of bad experiences with Paranoia, even with GMs who, in other systems, do quite well. Paranoia seems almost structured to punish players for any action or inaction. Especially if you're testing technology for the lab guys.
I will readily admit that I haven't really gotten into the resistance side of the game, so it may be that all the rest is to try to force the player into becoming a rebel.
I'd watch remarks like that. In eight years or so, when Gates buys the election and gets himself office of President, they'll likely hunt you down for that sort of thing.
I, of course, plan to escape to the past by spinning around very quickly.
It seems people have a hard time coping with singular labels.
Gamers aren't violent. Gamers aren't pacifists either. Gamers are (drumroll) gamers. Anything more is a premature conclusion and a gross generalazation.
It is probably true that some people can be influenced to commit violent acts through exposure to violent media. It is also probably true that some people can be influenced to commit violent acts through exposure to calm, tranquil media, or through media deprivation. Even so, "influenced" does not denote a causal relationship.
I've said it before many times, and will probably continue to say it long after it's forgotten that I started the phrase: "Every disease has a patient." There are more than six billion people on this planet, and any concievable deviant act or lifestyle not only probably exists, but likely has a thriving community online.
Meanwhile, back on the topic, it should be noted that Jack Thompson, while still quite mad (in the stark raving sense, not in the angry sense), was previously calling for stricter controls on preventing games of this type from getting in the hands of minors, which wasn't all that unreasonable a request. Calling for "destroying Rockstar," however, is.
In high school, a friend of mine hadn't written his paper for science class. He was hoping to get out of it by taking a 3.5" floppy with some random files on it, and running a high-powered magnet all over it until the thing just plain wouldn't read.
20 minutes of trying to ruin the disk later, and the files still read perfectly. That was one magical floppy.
And yet, I've had floppies which failed after less than 20 minutes use.
Slashdot Mirror
Actually, way back when, there was this thing called an X-Band modem, and was available for both the Sega Genesis and Super NES. Using it, you could play multiplayer games over a dialup connection, and even rent and download games to your console (supposedly).
I believe that this predated even the Japanese BS-X (Stellaview) system, but I could easily be wrong on that point.
I really wish I could mod this as doubleplusgood. Slashdot neads customized mods!
I'm surprised no one has mentioned this before, but most "convergant" devices have zero multi-tasking ability.
So, that $900 PSX can record TV shows and Movies to DVD or internal HD or play games, but not both at the same time. If you want to play Final Fantasy X while you're recording Stargate SG-1, tough.
"One game is called Store It Safe. It involves placing baked beans, tortillas, frozen chicken and other virtual groceries into a cartoon-drawn freezer, cupboard or refrigerator."
Last time I checked, baked beans generally come in cans, and tortillas don't really thaw that well after being frozen. Besides that, does anyone else notice a certain ethnic targeting in the Store It Safe blurb?
One thing not mentioned in the article is any kind of basic food preparation guide. Many meats can cause serious illness or even death if not thoroughly cooked, even if you did pay a smart price for it, and stored it safe. Then again, that could be subtle form of population control...
Okay, so this technology is supposedly designed with the intended purpose of recording your entire life (all your knowledge and experiences) in a single spot. The only reason I can see for recording any significant amount of my knowledge and experiences in their pure formats would be to convince the far-future-aliens/evolutionary-offspring-of-humans to clone me and reproduce my brain using their amazing technology.
If they know everything there is to know about me, they have no reason to resurrect me. In fact, they'll probably decide I'm not worth resurrecting, even if I had valuable information. If they only know enough to make me look interesting, then they might resurrect me, if only long enough to see if I have any useful biological traits.
If only Slashdot had a moderation point for "Screaming Homeless Guy Crazy." I just can't figure out whether it would be a + or a -.
I can't help but laugh at the prefacing acronym you're using. I'm assuming it means, "I am not a lawyer, but I play one on TV *something that starts with 'I'*"
When you say it out loud, it comes out as "I anal bi-pooty." Bathroom humor or not, that sounds funny.
Sorry, forgot to mention: Although not officially endorsed by the designer, there's also Zipangujima, which is basically what would happen if you explained Catan and Risk to a newbie in rapid succession, without clarifying that they were different games.
(Speaking of licensing, I believe only the PlayStation version and the Microsoft version will be "legit."
BUZZ! Incorrect sir!
In Germany and most of non-English speaking Europe, there have been PC versions of Catan for years. For the base set and Seafarers, there's Catan: Die Erste Insel (which was also available on the Playstation 1). If you're itching to play the cardgame online, why not try Catan - Das Kartenspiel, which features many online options, and a robust AI, not to mention an unofficial English translation.
If space is more your thing, you can always try Die Sternenfahrer von Catan, which is a bit of a departure from the cardboard-n-plastic version: It's realtime. Then again, you can always try the 2-player Sternenschiff Catan, which is chock full of scenario goodness. Rockazonga, the developer of the PC version of Sternenschiff, has been making noises of an English version, as well as a PS2 version.
Personally, I'd love for Microsoft to do all the Catan gams (which, by the terms of the agreement they signed, they are allowed to), since I love Starfarers, but have trouble talking people into playing a single game for 2 hours. They'd usually rather play several other games in that same time period.
You know, at some point, someone needs to make a game in which you play as a video game company constantly battling a never-ending hoarde of lawyers who thrive on nitpicking every detail of everything you do.
"The buildings in your latest game are not wheelchair accessable. You've been sued."
"The color of the sky in your latest game has been found to give 5% of the population mild headaches after 20 continuous hours of exposure. You've been sued."
"Your latest game unjustly depicts people with red skin, sharp, pointy teeth, horns, and cloven hooves as sinister. You've been sued."
Seriously, the only gaming company that seems to get in more hot water than Rockstar is Infinium Labs.
Hypthetical situation: I am a chronic procrastinator. I find that this is something that I don't particularly like about myself, and I'd like to change it, especially since I have a deadline rushing up, ready to swoop past if I don't get my doomaflotchy prototype ready before the big convention.
So here's the question: If I have so much trouble staying on-task that I can't finish a major project on which my reputation, credibility, and livlihood depend, when am I going to get around to heading to the nearest facility to offer this gene-therapy treatment? Even if it was in a pill form, it would probably be prescription only, and even if it was OTC, I'd still have to go to the pharmacy.
So, it seems likely that, if this ever sees the light of day in humans, we'll be getting a lot of instances of "Quick, I need that DontputitoffXL treatment, and I need it by 3:30 today!"
Since when is the velocity of my car, something which is directly observable externally, considered private? In't this a bit like saying to people, "Please don't look at me as I walk by. I don't want you to know where I am or whether I'm running."
Whether you're driving naked, provided it's not visible to other drivers, is your own business. What music you listen to, provided it's not audible from 50 feet away, is private (check your local laws for variations). The speed of your multiple-ton chunk of sharp metal, glass, and flammable liquid is not private.
Whatever Orwellian fantasy you may be indulging in probably falls short of what has already been true for years: "They" have been able to tell exactly where you are and what you are doing for a long time now. Most of us are too boring for it to matter. If you're going to be paranoid, do it properly.
We just need a few more of these senor/diagnostic cartridges to turn a GBA-SP into a Next Generation Tricorder.
This does offer intriguing possibilities, although the form factor just begs to be mounted on a credit-card sized carrier. Yeah, I know, SD & SmartMedia don't need to be any bigger physically, so why does this?
Well, if it does reach the aforementioned 2TB limit, and if it's reasonably inexpensive, these things would replace DVDs in a fairly short order. At 2TB, you can have as high definition video as you can handle, bitrates be darned. Season box sets of your favorite show getting bulky? A 2TB card can hold over 225 DVDs (DVD9s that is) of data.
Of course, insane levels of data storage breed insane levels of piracy. Sure, at 120MB/s, it would take about 5 hours to fill one of these suckers, but that's time well spent when you can carry your entire game collection in your wallet.
"Trade you every Nintendo 64 game ever made for every PSone game ever made."
"Throw in every SNES game ever made, and you've got a deal!"
Sure, the 2TB thing may be a pipedream for now, but it's a pipedream I'm willing to indulge...
Yeah, 'cause it's not possible to like them both or anything.
Of course, compare the sales of the GBA to the X-Box and it tells a very different story. To date, NPD Group estimates that there are just short of 10 million XBoxes out there in people's homes. There are, however, over 22 million GBAs sold.
No, it didn't appear that this was the case. He seemed to be fake-sliding the game along the back of the unit to demonstrate where the UMD cartridges are placed. It still seemed to have enough play from side to side that I don't think it was in the slot.
Even if it was, that may not mean anything. The "Cats in the Classroom" game may actually be a built-in app used for launching games. If it is, let's hope there are others that appeal to less cutesy tastes.
Giant Robot X-11: You appear to have inserted a UMD. Do you wish to run it? (Select yes) Pooooooooweriiiiiing Uuuuuuup! (Screen glows, various anime attack poses flash on the screen, fades to white, fades to game).
Quite frequently, publications and/or shows get entirely the wrong person to review the game: Someone who is a button-mashing fighting game player is probably not going to appriciate the slower pace of a tactics-RPG. Similarly, the heavy-duty RTS fan probably won't find much to like in rhythm-based dance games.
Useful game reviews come from people who have similar tastes to your own. Case in point: Tommy Tallarico. Tommy is not mainstream, nor are his tastes. When he reviews games on G4TechTV's show Judgement Day, it's clear that he was put there simply to provide a dissenting view. Have him play even the most revolutionary turn-based strategy game, and he'll insult it in the most vile manner he can think of. Thing is, there's a certain segment of the population that has similar tastes, and they will find his reviews useful.
Another issue may be that some mediocre games get cast as "inexcusably awful" or "mind-bogglingly terrible" simply because it's easy for reviewers to get carried away insulting a game. "I'd rather rub my eyeballs with 80-grit sandpaper," is more interesting to read than "It wasn't awful, but there are no remarkable qualities to this game. It really isn't worth the money."
It's a pure delight for Type-A GM's, too. Any kind of sadistic streak is wholeheartedly reinforced and encouraged. If the GM knows enough about the rules to effectively GM, he's going to be killing players left and right (whether they're Type-A or newbies) unless they are the specific kind of player who gets into the Paranoia mindset.
From at least one of the posted responses here, it appears that the developers are aware of this issue, and have made every effort to correct it in this new version. Bully for them. I probably still won't play it, as nothing in the system appeals to me (totalitarian distopia future? According to liberal media, I already live there!), and I have a lot more fun playing Catan, Tigris & Euphrates, Reiner Knizia's Samurai or any number of other Designer board/card games. Plus, table talk doesn't get us killed.
Paranoia is a great way to entertain someone for a few hours. Unfortunately, that someone is going to be the GM, and everyone else is going to wind up hating him or her, and to a lesser extent, each other.
Now I know what many of you may be thinking: Just because I had a negative experience with Paranoia doesn't make it a bad system. I'll point out that I've had a particularly long string of bad experiences with Paranoia, even with GMs who, in other systems, do quite well. Paranoia seems almost structured to punish players for any action or inaction. Especially if you're testing technology for the lab guys.
I will readily admit that I haven't really gotten into the resistance side of the game, so it may be that all the rest is to try to force the player into becoming a rebel.
I'd watch remarks like that. In eight years or so, when Gates buys the election and gets himself office of President, they'll likely hunt you down for that sort of thing.
I, of course, plan to escape to the past by spinning around very quickly.
Wow, Fry. It's amazing how you NOTICE TWO THINGS. You really should write a book about the EAT MORE.
I don't know about the other companies, but I'll go in for half with you on that Marshmallow thing.
It seems people have a hard time coping with singular labels.
Gamers aren't violent. Gamers aren't pacifists either. Gamers are (drumroll) gamers. Anything more is a premature conclusion and a gross generalazation.
It is probably true that some people can be influenced to commit violent acts through exposure to violent media. It is also probably true that some people can be influenced to commit violent acts through exposure to calm, tranquil media, or through media deprivation. Even so, "influenced" does not denote a causal relationship.
I've said it before many times, and will probably continue to say it long after it's forgotten that I started the phrase: "Every disease has a patient." There are more than six billion people on this planet, and any concievable deviant act or lifestyle not only probably exists, but likely has a thriving community online.
Meanwhile, back on the topic, it should be noted that Jack Thompson, while still quite mad (in the stark raving sense, not in the angry sense), was previously calling for stricter controls on preventing games of this type from getting in the hands of minors, which wasn't all that unreasonable a request. Calling for "destroying Rockstar," however, is.
That airbrushed Tommy Lasorda picture looks more like Bill Clinton than any baseball player I've seen.
Then again, I hate sports.
In high school, a friend of mine hadn't written his paper for science class. He was hoping to get out of it by taking a 3.5" floppy with some random files on it, and running a high-powered magnet all over it until the thing just plain wouldn't read.
20 minutes of trying to ruin the disk later, and the files still read perfectly. That was one magical floppy.
And yet, I've had floppies which failed after less than 20 minutes use.
It seems I'm the only one who looked at the closed version from the angle they pictured it, and thought, "Why are they making a silver Virtual Boy?"