The article didn't say anything about new features, and was just a fluff piece. The last paragraph had a one sentence blurp about "more object-oriented features", but that was it.
There're some great games on the 360. Granted not as many as people might like, but there absolutely is enough great games on it already.
CoD2, GRAW, PGR3 are all best of breed games. Burnout Revenge is as good as you can get in its genre as well. FNR3 is the best boxing game on any platform. There's a good sports game for every major sports, except baseball (coming out in a month) and hockey (NHL 2K6 is buggy as hell).
Top Spin 2 is coming out in April, as is BF2. Both expected to be phenomenal games from what I've seen so far. Blazing Angels, coming out next week, looks like it's going to be amazing as well. Oblivion, coming out next week, is going to corner the RPG genre.
I own a 360 and I simply do not have enough time to play all of my games on it, even without the new games coming out in the next month and a half.
If you expect a video game platform that's been out only for 6 months to have a game library that's as big as some of the established platforms, you're just not being realiztic. You might've had a point in November, but your point is not a very good one at this point in time.
I don't think the trial versions are the main factor why XBox Live Arcade titles are doing so well.
I think the main factor is the marketplace points. Consumers are making the purchase not with real money, but with some abstract points. What's 400 points when you still have 1600 left. Making purchases doesn't feel like you're spending any money. That, I think, is the real reason why the titles have such a high conversion rate.
Unfortunately the article doesn't mention which data broker Chicago Tribune used. It would've been interesting to have quotes from the company rep explaining how they're allowed to sell CIA operatives' information online.
The likely outcome of this is that all CIA records will quietly dissappear from the databases of many data brokers.
The desired outcome would, of course, be making selling other people's private information illegal, but that's like asking the Pope to convert to Islam.
Obviously you haven't read the background story on this particular incident, and you're just spewing your own nonsense right now.
Let me try and educate you, since you're too lazy to look it up on your own. I'm sure I will fail, but that's beside the point.
The guild recruitment message that started all this nonsense was trying to recruit people, straight or gay, to join a GBLT-friendly guild, not so that they could converse about anal sex and the like, but so that they could steer clear of the "that's gay", "you're a homo" and other derogatory remarks thrown at the general WoW population at a very high frequency.
There's nothing "PC" or "un-PC" about it. It's just the way for members of that particular guild to reduce incidents of griefing as they see it.
If you can't appreciate that, you really have no clue.
Additionally it has this big ass ozone hole overhead, so it'll be even clearer. Gotta wear SP-500 ultraviolet protection though, but hey, gotta sacrifice something for science, eh?
"This is why the Xbox 360 needs a unified multiplayer matching system."
Bollocks.
This problem is solved easier and cheaper by existing communities already. Online gaming communities do this SO much better than anything Microsoft (or any other company for that matter) would be able to put together. The author has no understanding about community development. It doesn't happen because Microsoft enables us to do that, it happens because the PLAYERS do it themselves. This is how it happens on every successful online community.
There simply is no need for any centralized Xbox Live community.
There's plenty of other things to improve on Xbox Live, but this is not one of them.
American citizens have proposed legislation that would require recipients of an educational policital science grant program to educate their students in political game theory as well. There are three areas of education that would be required: 'How to Have Your Lobbyists Pay for Everything, but Still Remain in Office' 'Securing a Lucrative Consulting Position with a Private Industry Company you Were in Charge of Regulating,' and 'Funneling Funds to Pork Projects while Cutting Essential Services 101.'
How long ago was the State of the Union address again? Wasn't this the sort of thing George W. Bush repeatedly demonised in his speech? He will never sign the bill into a law, even if it would somehow manage to get passed.
But it won't even pass, because the Californian reps will kill it as soon as it comes to the floor.
"However, since People are Lemmings, then that would mean that the 55 percent who would oppose breathing would also be lemmings"
Couldn't agree more:)
"I find it interesting that you chose to describe a minority would would prefer breathing illegally to being dead. I would have thought a much higher number would prefer to remain alive.;-)"
Why do you find this surprising? The country is divided evenly on everything thanks to decades of polarizing work by political consultants running candidates' campaigns.
If Bush made breathing illegal, you'd still have 45% of the people support it. People are lemmings.
ESA does a study on gamers every year. Last one showed that the average age of gamers is 30. That was kinda surprising to me. I knew it was going up, but at 30 already?
What is not surprising to me is to see/. discussion on this topic get completely sidetracked by the kind of people adult gaming communities such as 2old2play were formed to avoid.
2old2play is not the only adult gaming community. I believe geezergamers.com is older and bigger. seasonedgamers.com is one that I belong to, and it does a GREAT job at making the online gaming experience enjoyable. XBox Live is filled with jerks, griefers, cheaters, homophobes, racists and other miscreants. The adult gaming communities form to avoid the negative aspects. It works great.
"Are there really that many people, even on Slashdot, that think stealing intellectual property is not wrong?"
What these people are saying is that IP is not real property, never was and never should be, and thus can not be stolen. Therefore they are not advocating for theft. You may think that's not right, but if they manage to convince the majority of Swedes, it WILL be the law in Sweden.
Slashdot Mirror
The article didn't say anything about new features, and was just a fluff piece. The last paragraph had a one sentence blurp about "more object-oriented features", but that was it.
There're some great games on the 360. Granted not as many as people might like, but there absolutely is enough great games on it already.
CoD2, GRAW, PGR3 are all best of breed games. Burnout Revenge is as good as you can get in its genre as well. FNR3 is the best boxing game on any platform. There's a good sports game for every major sports, except baseball (coming out in a month) and hockey (NHL 2K6 is buggy as hell).
Top Spin 2 is coming out in April, as is BF2. Both expected to be phenomenal games from what I've seen so far. Blazing Angels, coming out next week, looks like it's going to be amazing as well. Oblivion, coming out next week, is going to corner the RPG genre.
I own a 360 and I simply do not have enough time to play all of my games on it, even without the new games coming out in the next month and a half.
If you expect a video game platform that's been out only for 6 months to have a game library that's as big as some of the established platforms, you're just not being realiztic. You might've had a point in November, but your point is not a very good one at this point in time.
I don't think the trial versions are the main factor why XBox Live Arcade titles are doing so well.
I think the main factor is the marketplace points. Consumers are making the purchase not with real money, but with some abstract points. What's 400 points when you still have 1600 left. Making purchases doesn't feel like you're spending any money. That, I think, is the real reason why the titles have such a high conversion rate.
Unfortunately the article doesn't mention which data broker Chicago Tribune used. It would've been interesting to have quotes from the company rep explaining how they're allowed to sell CIA operatives' information online.
The likely outcome of this is that all CIA records will quietly dissappear from the databases of many data brokers.
The desired outcome would, of course, be making selling other people's private information illegal, but that's like asking the Pope to convert to Islam.
"Does this mean I can create a guild for straights and sympathizer only and advertise it on public chat?"
I don't know, but since this wasn't a "gays only" guild, your point is kinda moot.
"Unfortunately for you then, I believe the guild in question isn't accepting heterosexuals."
If you belived that, you'd be pretty much 100% wrong.
"God this PC nonsense has gone too far."
Obviously you haven't read the background story on this particular incident, and you're just spewing your own nonsense right now.
Let me try and educate you, since you're too lazy to look it up on your own. I'm sure I will fail, but that's beside the point.
The guild recruitment message that started all this nonsense was trying to recruit people, straight or gay, to join a GBLT-friendly guild, not so that they could converse about anal sex and the like, but so that they could steer clear of the "that's gay", "you're a homo" and other derogatory remarks thrown at the general WoW population at a very high frequency.
There's nothing "PC" or "un-PC" about it. It's just the way for members of that particular guild to reduce incidents of griefing as they see it.
If you can't appreciate that, you really have no clue.
It wasn't a gay guild, it was gay-FRIENDLY guild.
"The best Windows mobile! Wow!"
I'd be willing to bet quite a lot on this reviewer never to have touched any of the later HTC models that also run Windows Mobile.
Sell the company a Linux implementation. You make money, the company makes money, everyone is happy.
Obviously the company might not be all that willing to do that, but if they are, it's a win-win situation.
Additionally it has this big ass ozone hole overhead, so it'll be even clearer. Gotta wear SP-500 ultraviolet protection though, but hey, gotta sacrifice something for science, eh?
"This is why the Xbox 360 needs a unified multiplayer matching system."
Bollocks.
This problem is solved easier and cheaper by existing communities already. Online gaming communities do this SO much better than anything Microsoft (or any other company for that matter) would be able to put together. The author has no understanding about community development. It doesn't happen because Microsoft enables us to do that, it happens because the PLAYERS do it themselves. This is how it happens on every successful online community.
There simply is no need for any centralized Xbox Live community.
There's plenty of other things to improve on Xbox Live, but this is not one of them.
American citizens have proposed legislation that would require recipients of an educational policital science grant program to educate their students in political game theory as well. There are three areas of education that would be required: 'How to Have Your Lobbyists Pay for Everything, but Still Remain in Office' 'Securing a Lucrative Consulting Position with a Private Industry Company you Were in Charge of Regulating,' and 'Funneling Funds to Pork Projects while Cutting Essential Services 101.'
How long ago was the State of the Union address again? Wasn't this the sort of thing George W. Bush repeatedly demonised in his speech? He will never sign the bill into a law, even if it would somehow manage to get passed.
But it won't even pass, because the Californian reps will kill it as soon as it comes to the floor.
Some anti-spyware/virus companies classify tracking cookies as spyware.
"I certainly would."
Easy thing to say when you're not one of the Yahoo executives in question.
You're damned if you do, damned if you don't.
Would the original poster have preferred the Chinese Government jail a few Yahoo executives instead?
...I will lobby my ISP to charge these same companies for every incoming Email as well.
Madness.
Check out Mono, which is very similar.
http://www.binaryzoo.com/games/mono/
"However, since People are Lemmings, then that would mean that the 55 percent who would oppose breathing would also be lemmings"
:)
;-)"
:)
Couldn't agree more
"I find it interesting that you chose to describe a minority would would prefer breathing illegally to being dead. I would have thought a much higher number would prefer to remain alive.
There go the lemmings...
Why do you find this surprising? The country is divided evenly on everything thanks to decades of polarizing work by political consultants running candidates' campaigns.
If Bush made breathing illegal, you'd still have 45% of the people support it. People are lemmings.
http://pixelantes.blogspot.com/2005/11/who-are-the se-video-gamers-anyway.html
/. discussion on this topic get completely sidetracked by the kind of people adult gaming communities such as 2old2play were formed to avoid.
ESA does a study on gamers every year. Last one showed that the average age of gamers is 30. That was kinda surprising to me. I knew it was going up, but at 30 already?
What is not surprising to me is to see
2old2play is not the only adult gaming community. I believe geezergamers.com is older and bigger. seasonedgamers.com is one that I belong to, and it does a GREAT job at making the online gaming experience enjoyable. XBox Live is filled with jerks, griefers, cheaters, homophobes, racists and other miscreants. The adult gaming communities form to avoid the negative aspects. It works great.
http://www.cityofcanton.com/
This is the Canton City prosecutor Frank Forchione cyber digs. Nothing on the website about sending the stormtroopers after the kid yet.
"Are there really that many people, even on Slashdot, that think stealing intellectual property is not wrong?"
What these people are saying is that IP is not real property, never was and never should be, and thus can not be stolen. Therefore they are not advocating for theft. You may think that's not right, but if they manage to convince the majority of Swedes, it WILL be the law in Sweden.
Funny thing, democracy.
In Soviet US, the Government controls the Internet.