I'm not sure how widespread the practice is outside our metro area, but Hennepin County (which includes the city of Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA) has drop-off facilities where computers and other electronics are recycled. Very fast and convenient drop-off. Oh yes, and free as well.
I disagree with the Gamespot folks. Actually, I think that games like Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball are marketed to boys who have reached puberty. Thus the allure.
When will Apple realize that 640K ought to be enough for anyone?
Seriously, though, I will really appreciate this addition to the mp3 player market. For price/performance (and coolness), there is nothing between the 128/256MB for $100 and the iPod for $400. I honestly don't need 10GB or more and will find the small form factor a double bonus.
My roommate is a five-hour-a-day Everquester who runs a guild of 75-90 people. They meet several times a week for "raids" that involve coordinating nearly the entire membership for an adventure. In my best understanding, some areas of the game are nearly impossible to navigate without such numbers, making the out-of-game guild system an essential development to the success of the individual players.
Hooray for the courts! In addition to making the RIAA follow the law in getting subpoenas, the courts are finally taking a stand on the unjust inprisonment of "enemy combatants," requiring that our government treat its citizens to their constitutionally guaranteed rights. Next up, SCO goes down in flames and Microsoft will finally get caught by an anti-trust lawsuit. Merry Christmas!
I don't disagree with you in principle. However, most companies that use the airwaves do not in fact pay the (U.S.) government (and by connection, me) for the airwaves. The government just gives them away because they are stupid. Thus, regardless of the explicitly illegality of tapping a broadcast signal, there's no implicit payment going on. They got my air for free.
In my, admittedly limited, experience with games based on movies, they all too often really suck. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that we're paying money to simply interact with on-screen characters as opposed to having a creative and innovative plot and interface. The Star Wars franchise, for example, seems to be so focused on porting every movie and book story to video game that they don't bother with the kind of inventiveness and follow-through that mark pure video games, such as Wolfenstein, Warcraft, or Simcity.
Anyone else have similar experiences with movie ports? Were either of the first two Harry Potter games any good?
Actually, the President can send troops into areas without a declaration of war for up to 60 days. I believe this dates back to the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution giving President Johnson this power during the Vietnam War.
Your point is well taken and I certainly agree that pop-up advertisers can often be unscrupulous in their search for additional eyeballs. However, the best pop-up programs already attempt to block all pop-ups without having a major detrimental affect. Google Toolbar and Pop-up Stopper, to name two, let the user allow pop-ups by holding the CTRL key or by exempting entire domains. I do this for internet banking sites that use pop-up form windows.
Pop-up windows (as opposed to Flash ads) are a dead tool, in my opinion, because the programs available are extremely effective and allow for basic workarounds.
With a broadband connection, I'd just as soon purchase a PC game over the internet. Either ship me the retail box or let me download the game file (maybe a CD image).
The disadvantage is primarily in marketing...you can't get people to impulse buy a computer game as easily if they have to go searching for it on a website as you can if they are browsing a store rack.
I've been a long time fan of this game, where detectives chase the mysterious "Mr. X" around London by mass transit. It's rather funny in that sense, but I've always enjoyed playing. The only problem is that I haven't seen Mr. X win among a group of experienced players in a long time.
Game details and a few customer reviews here. I guess it also got the Spiel des Jahres Game of the Year award in 1983.
Developers will do better if they listen to their users. While some gameplay issues (more action, less strategy) are opinion, many forum-posted issues have to do with necessary changes to mechanics, compatibility, or performance. Developers don't have to take advice democratically, they can be enlightened monarchs of their gaming dominions. Games are made better as a result.
One step beyond listening is providing gamer-initiated opportunities to change games--mods. Simcity 4 is ten times the stock release because players can create lots, modify effects, and even fix bugs. The fan site Simtropolis is often the source for bug reports that get Maxis to release new patches.
If I was a developer, the game concept would be pretty much inviolate, but small modifications and bug fixes would be very much gamer-driven.
JoeUser makes some great points. I can't really dispute any of his logic. There is something utterly beautiful about buying a console game and be playing it 5 minutes after the shrinkwrap is off instead of switching to CD2 of the installation and looking for the CD key. Or trying to tweak router settings to be able to play online.
He's also right that the PC will still be a viable, but different, gaming platform. I give you the "killer app" of PC games--mods. For example, Simcity 4 has nearly 2000 custom lots, 20 game mods, and a fansite so complete that its users will pay to support it (SimTropolis).
I also envision the next generation of MMORPG including a higher level of user input. Imagine a Slashdot style MMORPG. Higher level players would be allowed to actually create some of the in-game environment in the same way that users can moderate on Slashdot. Instead of having quests and creatures randomly generated by Sony Interactive, quests could be developed by Drag0nSl4yer, level 55 ranger, for a few level 5 clerics. To control this system, some sort of meta-moderation allows quest participants and admins to oversee the newly licensed creators. I think PCs are uniquely adapted to allowing substantial user interface that can meaningfully change and improve the game.
While this doesn't mean that shelf share of PC games gets any bigger, it does mean that the PC will remain the home of a viable game development market.
I always like looking at lists like these because it reminds me of many happy hours playing these games as a kid. It also makes me wonder. There have been hundreds of discussions about the relative creativity and quality of older games vs. newer ones. I have to wonder, is SMB3 really better than Mario Sunshine? Or is that a fair comparison, seeing as how they are part of the same series? What would be a fair comparison?
This is particularly interesting in the realm of RPGs, in my opinion. I find games like Dragon Warrior I and Wizardry to be the most interesting, despite or because of their primitive graphics. I find newer RPGs (aka Neverwinter Nights) less satisfying because the graphical interface seems to sometimes interfere with roleplaying. Then again, I still play pencil&paper D&D, so perhaps I just have elevated expectations for a video game RPG.
Are games these days more derivative? Is it inevitable? Where is the creative stuff found?
I'm always impressed at how Nintendo has a sense of history and whimsy with their music. For example, if you let the game sit on the intro, the music slowly adapts until you hear a little reprise of the original SMK theme from the SNES intro screen.
Then there's the whistling transition music if you place 4th or worst after a race. I can decide if it's a catchy tune or the most goddam annoying thing ever. It certainly motivates me to place 1-3.
This is why features like Amazon's "was this review helpful?" are essential to user review sites. Just like Slashdot's moderation and meta-moderation systems, you have to check the checkers.
You make an excellent point about the impact of buying nothing on the economy, but you are operating under the assumption that what is good for the economy is necessarily good for me.
In terms of material living standards, the glories of mass consumption have brought widespread availability of refrigerators, toasters, consumer electronics and cars. It has also had the amazing and contradictory effect of actually decreasing the number of Americans who say they are happy (in addition to having detrimental effects on the environment).
Buy Nothing Day symbolizes the need for moderation, a juxtaposition to the "extreme shopping" motif of American society the other 364 days of the year.
I also find RPG video games involve way too much "fight around until you level up" gameplay. While some games that I have enjoyed (Dragon Warrior for the NES, Final Fantasy for SNES), the more electronic RPGs have tried to emulate actual D&D, the more I'd rather just be playing D&D.
While I'm sure there are some good RPGs that I've missed, I think the range of possible activity and interaction that a D&D campaign offers far surpasses anything computerized.
I can attest to the fact that FPS benefit from some RPG elements. Enemy Territory is a great, FREE, online FPS that incorporates experience into the gameplay. For example, each map is part of a 4-6 map campaign and experience rolls over from map to map during the campaign. Thus, if I start as a medic and keep that character class throughout, I become a much more effective one, able to perform many medic skills more effectively than lower xp medics.
iTunes for Windows has been out for what, a week? How about some patience, people? I think Apple deserves the benefit of the doubt--they will make a good faith effort to fix it.
This seems to be another cry of "wolf," like the earlier story this week about Apple not providing security fixes for older OS versions. What happened in the end? The next day, Apple said that the allegations were untrue and that security fixes were coming out.
Stop getting all your news from the Drudge Report...
I'm sorry, but I seriously think that the SNES Zelda was the best one. Given its (relatively) small size, why couldn't they include that in an emulator? Now I won't be able to travel by duck...
There is an enormous disconnect in many Western societies and particularly America between the impact of a crime and the punishment. Violent criminals have retributive sentences that are severe. We also tend to have severe sentences for drug dealers, users, and other petty crimes that can be disproportionate to the crime.
In real terms, however, white collar and technology crime (i.e. music piracy) often has far higher social costs than these other forms of crime. However, it is perpetrated by white, wealthy people instead of poor people of color. While some poor person might do twenty years for having two doses of crack, how come the Enron executives no only get off scot free, but keep the money they stole?
No, piracy is not stealing, but it's the kind of "victimless" crime like laundering pension fund money that deserves a harsher sentence.
Slashdot Mirror
Seriously, though, I will really appreciate this addition to the mp3 player market. For price/performance (and coolness), there is nothing between the 128/256MB for $100 and the iPod for $400. I honestly don't need 10GB or more and will find the small form factor a double bonus.
Merry January to Me!
Are there any good ones, for PC or otherwise?
In my, admittedly limited, experience with games based on movies, they all too often really suck. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that we're paying money to simply interact with on-screen characters as opposed to having a creative and innovative plot and interface. The Star Wars franchise, for example, seems to be so focused on porting every movie and book story to video game that they don't bother with the kind of inventiveness and follow-through that mark pure video games, such as Wolfenstein, Warcraft, or Simcity.
Anyone else have similar experiences with movie ports? Were either of the first two Harry Potter games any good?
Pop-up windows (as opposed to Flash ads) are a dead tool, in my opinion, because the programs available are extremely effective and allow for basic workarounds.
The disadvantage is primarily in marketing...you can't get people to impulse buy a computer game as easily if they have to go searching for it on a website as you can if they are browsing a store rack.
Game details and a few customer reviews here. I guess it also got the Spiel des Jahres Game of the Year award in 1983.
One step beyond listening is providing gamer-initiated opportunities to change games--mods. Simcity 4 is ten times the stock release because players can create lots, modify effects, and even fix bugs. The fan site Simtropolis is often the source for bug reports that get Maxis to release new patches.
If I was a developer, the game concept would be pretty much inviolate, but small modifications and bug fixes would be very much gamer-driven.
Tolkien Estate
Cathleen Blackburn
Manches & co.,
3 Worcester Street,
OXFORD,
United Kingdom.
OX1 2PZ
He's also right that the PC will still be a viable, but different, gaming platform. I give you the "killer app" of PC games--mods. For example, Simcity 4 has nearly 2000 custom lots, 20 game mods, and a fansite so complete that its users will pay to support it (SimTropolis).
I also envision the next generation of MMORPG including a higher level of user input. Imagine a Slashdot style MMORPG. Higher level players would be allowed to actually create some of the in-game environment in the same way that users can moderate on Slashdot. Instead of having quests and creatures randomly generated by Sony Interactive, quests could be developed by Drag0nSl4yer, level 55 ranger, for a few level 5 clerics. To control this system, some sort of meta-moderation allows quest participants and admins to oversee the newly licensed creators. I think PCs are uniquely adapted to allowing substantial user interface that can meaningfully change and improve the game.
While this doesn't mean that shelf share of PC games gets any bigger, it does mean that the PC will remain the home of a viable game development market.
This is particularly interesting in the realm of RPGs, in my opinion. I find games like Dragon Warrior I and Wizardry to be the most interesting, despite or because of their primitive graphics. I find newer RPGs (aka Neverwinter Nights) less satisfying because the graphical interface seems to sometimes interfere with roleplaying. Then again, I still play pencil&paper D&D, so perhaps I just have elevated expectations for a video game RPG.
Are games these days more derivative? Is it inevitable? Where is the creative stuff found?
Then there's the whistling transition music if you place 4th or worst after a race. I can decide if it's a catchy tune or the most goddam annoying thing ever. It certainly motivates me to place 1-3.
In terms of material living standards, the glories of mass consumption have brought widespread availability of refrigerators, toasters, consumer electronics and cars. It has also had the amazing and contradictory effect of actually decreasing the number of Americans who say they are happy (in addition to having detrimental effects on the environment).
Buy Nothing Day symbolizes the need for moderation, a juxtaposition to the "extreme shopping" motif of American society the other 364 days of the year.
I also find RPG video games involve way too much "fight around until you level up" gameplay. While some games that I have enjoyed (Dragon Warrior for the NES, Final Fantasy for SNES), the more electronic RPGs have tried to emulate actual D&D, the more I'd rather just be playing D&D.
While I'm sure there are some good RPGs that I've missed, I think the range of possible activity and interaction that a D&D campaign offers far surpasses anything computerized.
I can attest to the fact that FPS benefit from some RPG elements. Enemy Territory is a great, FREE, online FPS that incorporates experience into the gameplay. For example, each map is part of a 4-6 map campaign and experience rolls over from map to map during the campaign. Thus, if I start as a medic and keep that character class throughout, I become a much more effective one, able to perform many medic skills more effectively than lower xp medics.
This seems to be another cry of "wolf," like the earlier story this week about Apple not providing security fixes for older OS versions. What happened in the end? The next day, Apple said that the allegations were untrue and that security fixes were coming out.
Stop getting all your news from the Drudge Report...
Except on my ZSNES, of course.
In real terms, however, white collar and technology crime (i.e. music piracy) often has far higher social costs than these other forms of crime. However, it is perpetrated by white, wealthy people instead of poor people of color. While some poor person might do twenty years for having two doses of crack, how come the Enron executives no only get off scot free, but keep the money they stole?
No, piracy is not stealing, but it's the kind of "victimless" crime like laundering pension fund money that deserves a harsher sentence.