As opposed to what? Every major camera company has their own memory card type, and frankly, the fact that they use UMD on the PSP is pretty much a necessity. If not UMD, what? Attach a portable DVD drive to the unit?
The PSP does still have some killer apps. SOCOM is an amazing game given the limitations in the control scheme, but games like Wipeout Pure, and for the first time console quality sports games o the system make it very good as well.
Honestly, the best way I can think of it is to say that the PSP and DS are very similar to the Genesis/SNES era. Both systems were good, but both did certain types of games better than the others. No one can tell me playing sports games on the DS is as fun as the PSP, or tell me that Wipeout isn't an awesome game.
... the horrible experience of MGS: Acid. Oh Mr. Kojima, what happened to MGS2 being the last game? This series has more side stories and alternate story lines than an episode of 'Days of our Lives'.
DS is obviously more popular as a game player, but the PSP has advantages that the DS can't match, and more versatility than you can shake a stick at.
Besides, can you think of a time when Nintendo WASN'T on top of the portable market? They have destroyed all their competition before it ever got off the ground. PSP is well off the ground now, and here to stay, and the fact that they can do that in a market as dominated as the handheld market was is a feat unto itself. The PSP has put Sony's foot in the door, so how can anyone claim Sony has failed when they have achieved more than any other company in the last 20 years?
Without that extra benefit how could the PSP hope to compete? In fact, Sony knows EXACTLY who they are targeting with the PSP, and while there is some overlap with the DS (and some who will choose the DS over the PSP) the fact is that those who choose one or the other do so based on the functions of the machine.
Again, how can one ignore this arguement given the relative success of both machines? Regardless of how expensive each is, both are actually selling fairly well, and I suspect they will continue to do so. If history has taught us anything though, there is no room for handhelds that target the same market. Much like Nintendo knows their place in the console market and is building upon their strengths with that, Sony knows their place in the handheld market.
If they truely did not understand the market, then why would both systems be doing relatively well? I love to hear fanboys claim how the PSP is destined for failure inheirently because the DS exists, but both systems show no real signs of slowdown. In fact, these systems both appear to be gaining momentum, and have gotten over the speed bump that always plauges new systems in the first 12 months. Normally there wouldn't be room for two handhelds, but as it has been stated, these are targeting a fundimentally different market segment.
What I actually find funny about this is that Nintendo fanboys say the Revolution will succeed because it is targeting a different market than the PS3 and Xbox 360 rather than directly competing, yet when someone says the same thing about the PSP they consider it foolishness. Yes, they are both handheld gaming systems, but then again, Laptops and Desktops are both computers, and yet somehow there are markets for both. Funny how that works eh. It's almost like people want different things...
HDTV actually has no real bearing on the handheld market, unless we start seeing 4" screens with MUCH higher resolutions then they currently have, and besides, even if they did, what is the point? At that point, the pixels would be too small to even notice the difference.
I'm sorry, but didn't I already play and beat Mario 64 like 9 years ago?
PSP may be more expensive, but it can do a lot more, and frankly, a DVD player that costs under $150 is going to be crap anyways. Combine a PSP with a $100 1 GB stick, and you get 4-5 hours of video over the 1.5-2 hours on a portable video player. Plus, let's look at the facts. I'd rather have a single unified device for all my main needs when I am on the bus. I commute an hour every day on the bus, and frankly pulling out a bulky portable DVD player isn't really an option.
The DS is nice, but a different beast. If I want to play n64 ports and a few stellar titles, I am on track, but it's main strength is backwards compatability. One just has to look at the number of games (and we are talking good games) in the works for the christmas season for each system to know who wins in that department.
As a bassist, this just makes me laugh. All us bassists have to deal with an out of time guitarist, and the idea of keeping up with a robot timer reminds me of my first year playing with the tick-tock-tick-tocking of the metronome!
I'll REALLY be scared when they start making bass playing robots that can feel the groove and force human guitarists to submit to their all encompasing rythem powers. Until then, they will never beat me!
Are you an idiot? Mac already has iTunes. As for Linux and other such OSes, how many of the actual population uses them on their home PCs? I would wager that there are more Macs in peoples homes then every free OS combined.
I am not saying they don't deserve something, but giving them something isn't going to have much effect whereas giving Windows users something will.
I agree. Xbox is in serious trouble oversees, not only in Japan (and SE asia in general) but in Europe as well. The only place it is holding it's own in is in North America, but even then it lags far behind the PS2 in sales.
This is not to say I think Xbox will, or even should fail, just that it's not going to win. I can't see it suddenly increasing it's sales by 1000% in a years time...
Did anyone realize that you can already do this with a computer? Or that any mom smart enough to do it with an Xbox should be smart enough to do it with said computer?
Are they dedicated servers for playing the game, or is it just a matchmaking service? If it's the later then I can understand why they charge for it (although don't nessicarily think it's a good idea) and if it's the later, it's a rip off.
Look, for example, at services like Gamespy. It doesn't cost a lot of money to maintain a matchmaking service. What about Bnet? Or even the server browser in Unreal and Quake games. None of these are an esspecially expensive solution to online gaming matchmaking.
If I recall, the last *major* Ice Age also ended extremely quickly, like we are talking huge numbers of glaciers melting within a few years, which would require temperature increases in the tens of degrees (C) in that time period.
So was the Earth reacting there? Who knows. One thing that is known is that the climate changes a lot in very dramatic ways, and has been doing so for millions of years. Maybe global warming has an effect, but let's face it, it's gonna get colder or hotter whether we are here are not. I think we just have to try to keep up.
Yeah, it runs fine on mine too. PIII 700Mhz, GF1(Original) 512MB PC133.
800x600 with everything on low makes it run at a nice clip. It also lets me notice how lacking the gameplay is when you don't have a great graphics card to wow you...
I got news for you; it's gonna take a lot longer then 3 months to come up with anything more then a mutator...
Look at UT. Some of those mods have been out years, and are still buggy as hell in many aspects. If you think you are going to be playing anything of remote quality before Summer of next year you are in a high state of dilusion...
The problem I found was the lower damage levels. The game looks pretty good, but it takes forever to kill people, and frankly, I felt disconnected from my player. With UT, I could feel the game more, but with this, I felt out of the surrounding.
Dunno, but what it does promote is more 1v1 brawls between people, as it takes forever to kill each other...
Not only that, but we are not really protecting the artists here. People cry afoul, but most artists, esspecially since a person signing a record contract is "work for hire", don't own their music. They can produce what they want, but the company owns it all.
This doesn't even touch on the fact that record companies are all lying scoundrels.
I am glad you brought up prohibition, because we are facing a similar situation. The american people, and people around the world, do this. Ordinary people across the world will be made into criminals. A law not supported by the people can never last for long. If they, say, made harsh penalties for filesharing, people in white suburbia would definitely not enjoy having little 16 year old Johhny being arrested for downloading a song he heard on the radio.
Let's be fair here. Most people I know use these services not to steal from artists, or record labels. They might download 10 songs, but buy the album.
Generally, from my experience, people who download all their music wouldn't be buying albums anways. I might download like 4 songs from an artist I like, but obviously not enough to buy their album.
In the end, the RIAA alienates itself. It's behind in a changing world, and although it's political influences are pulling all the strings it can, the internet cannot be tamed. There are too many ways to subvert laws, too many loopholes. In the end, they won't be able to stop piracy, anymore then prohibition could be effectively enforced. Also similarily to prohibition, the more laws that are passed, the more cases that come to trial, the more people will start file sharing.
Somehow, I am reminded of the Macintosh commercial that copied the 1984 movie.
He has a small point there, but that's two out of ten movies. Not like that other huge sci-fi franchise, where a small fighter causes a chain reaction that blows up a huge battlestation in 3 out of 6 movies.
Let's be fair, we don't know about Episode 3, so you best just leave it out. 3/5 movies more like, which is fairly amusing and sad at the same time. So far, the best movies have been the ones that are supposedly going to be the worst, namely II and VI, and that might be because of the definitely lack of battlestation destroying fighter action...
Re:How is Magic On-line doing?
on
Layoffs at WotC
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· Score: 1
Which is sort of sad. I totally think that WotC is milking this product though. For example, official tournaments, which there are many, ussually have rules stating you can only use cards from a certain number of sets back from the current. So, even if I had the exact same card from a set 1 behind that was released in the next set, the little symbol on the card saying it was from the "outdated" set would make it illegal.
So, how exactly doesn't this promote people from buying new cards. Sorry, but the need for new sets ended half a dozen releases ago. There are thousands of cards, and, well, no one person will ever own them all. There is enough cards out there to make the set you want. Let's face it, they are just milking more money, and that's a fact. It's the reason I got out of Magic, and the reason I stay out.
Re:WotC Are The Microsoft Of Role-Playing Games
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Layoffs at WotC
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· Score: 1
Yes, but then who distributes games like D&D? As for them being a monopoly, that is crap, and you must know it. There are dozens of game companies, and they charge JUST as much as WotC for their products. Palladium, Steve Jackson Games, Pinnacle, and Whitewolf among them.
Sorry if you don't like the D20 system, but blaming WotC for overpricing of things like that is complete crap. They have been overpriced since I got into pen and paper role-playing in the early 90s, and WotC didn't even distribute back then!
As for those digital books, take a look at what they offer. They give you old unatainable books for a very small price ($5.99 IIRC) which, if you ask me, is a fine if I can get something. If you really want to strike them a deadly blow by denying them such a small price for a great service, go download the book off of a file sharing program. This isn't the music industry with multi-billion dollar profits, this is a small niche market, one that needs to be supported. Don't whine to me if WotC collpases and many of the great licenses they hold go with them.
Most nerds are all freaks, myself included. They have inane things like pride! Anyways, some may do it to just fly in the face of Gates, and others likely do it for the challenge.
If someone says something can't be done, 10 others will say it can and attempt it. Thus is the attitude of man. Luckily, this isn't a time when death was part of failure.
That's nice, but if that's how DX9 turns out, then it won't be used until Win9x and ME are no longer the OSes used in the majority of home PCs.
Game developers are not stupid. They aren't going to alienate the majority of their markey. Nothing stops them from just using DX8 only features and forgetting DX9 until Win9x somehow dies.
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As opposed to what? Every major camera company has their own memory card type, and frankly, the fact that they use UMD on the PSP is pretty much a necessity. If not UMD, what? Attach a portable DVD drive to the unit?
Honestly, the best way I can think of it is to say that the PSP and DS are very similar to the Genesis/SNES era. Both systems were good, but both did certain types of games better than the others. No one can tell me playing sports games on the DS is as fun as the PSP, or tell me that Wipeout isn't an awesome game.
... the horrible experience of MGS: Acid. Oh Mr. Kojima, what happened to MGS2 being the last game? This series has more side stories and alternate story lines than an episode of 'Days of our Lives'.
Besides, can you think of a time when Nintendo WASN'T on top of the portable market? They have destroyed all their competition before it ever got off the ground. PSP is well off the ground now, and here to stay, and the fact that they can do that in a market as dominated as the handheld market was is a feat unto itself. The PSP has put Sony's foot in the door, so how can anyone claim Sony has failed when they have achieved more than any other company in the last 20 years?
Again, how can one ignore this arguement given the relative success of both machines? Regardless of how expensive each is, both are actually selling fairly well, and I suspect they will continue to do so. If history has taught us anything though, there is no room for handhelds that target the same market. Much like Nintendo knows their place in the console market and is building upon their strengths with that, Sony knows their place in the handheld market.
What I actually find funny about this is that Nintendo fanboys say the Revolution will succeed because it is targeting a different market than the PS3 and Xbox 360 rather than directly competing, yet when someone says the same thing about the PSP they consider it foolishness. Yes, they are both handheld gaming systems, but then again, Laptops and Desktops are both computers, and yet somehow there are markets for both. Funny how that works eh. It's almost like people want different things...
HDTV actually has no real bearing on the handheld market, unless we start seeing 4" screens with MUCH higher resolutions then they currently have, and besides, even if they did, what is the point? At that point, the pixels would be too small to even notice the difference.
I'm sorry, but didn't I already play and beat Mario 64 like 9 years ago?
PSP may be more expensive, but it can do a lot more, and frankly, a DVD player that costs under $150 is going to be crap anyways. Combine a PSP with a $100 1 GB stick, and you get 4-5 hours of video over the 1.5-2 hours on a portable video player. Plus, let's look at the facts. I'd rather have a single unified device for all my main needs when I am on the bus. I commute an hour every day on the bus, and frankly pulling out a bulky portable DVD player isn't really an option.
The DS is nice, but a different beast. If I want to play n64 ports and a few stellar titles, I am on track, but it's main strength is backwards compatability. One just has to look at the number of games (and we are talking good games) in the works for the christmas season for each system to know who wins in that department.
As a bassist, this just makes me laugh. All us bassists have to deal with an out of time guitarist, and the idea of keeping up with a robot timer reminds me of my first year playing with the tick-tock-tick-tocking of the metronome! I'll REALLY be scared when they start making bass playing robots that can feel the groove and force human guitarists to submit to their all encompasing rythem powers. Until then, they will never beat me!
Are you an idiot? Mac already has iTunes. As for Linux and other such OSes, how many of the actual population uses them on their home PCs? I would wager that there are more Macs in peoples homes then every free OS combined.
I am not saying they don't deserve something, but giving them something isn't going to have much effect whereas giving Windows users something will.
This is not to say I think Xbox will, or even should fail, just that it's not going to win. I can't see it suddenly increasing it's sales by 1000% in a years time...
Did anyone realize that you can already do this with a computer? Or that any mom smart enough to do it with an Xbox should be smart enough to do it with said computer?
Like MS did to stop hacking the OS? And how it's impossible to run Linux on Xbox?
Look, for example, at services like Gamespy. It doesn't cost a lot of money to maintain a matchmaking service. What about Bnet? Or even the server browser in Unreal and Quake games. None of these are an esspecially expensive solution to online gaming matchmaking.
So was the Earth reacting there? Who knows. One thing that is known is that the climate changes a lot in very dramatic ways, and has been doing so for millions of years. Maybe global warming has an effect, but let's face it, it's gonna get colder or hotter whether we are here are not. I think we just have to try to keep up.
800x600 with everything on low makes it run at a nice clip. It also lets me notice how lacking the gameplay is when you don't have a great graphics card to wow you...
Look at UT. Some of those mods have been out years, and are still buggy as hell in many aspects. If you think you are going to be playing anything of remote quality before Summer of next year you are in a high state of dilusion...
Dunno, but what it does promote is more 1v1 brawls between people, as it takes forever to kill each other...
This doesn't even touch on the fact that record companies are all lying scoundrels.
I am glad you brought up prohibition, because we are facing a similar situation. The american people, and people around the world, do this. Ordinary people across the world will be made into criminals. A law not supported by the people can never last for long. If they, say, made harsh penalties for filesharing, people in white suburbia would definitely not enjoy having little 16 year old Johhny being arrested for downloading a song he heard on the radio.
Let's be fair here. Most people I know use these services not to steal from artists, or record labels. They might download 10 songs, but buy the album.
Generally, from my experience, people who download all their music wouldn't be buying albums anways. I might download like 4 songs from an artist I like, but obviously not enough to buy their album.
In the end, the RIAA alienates itself. It's behind in a changing world, and although it's political influences are pulling all the strings it can, the internet cannot be tamed. There are too many ways to subvert laws, too many loopholes. In the end, they won't be able to stop piracy, anymore then prohibition could be effectively enforced. Also similarily to prohibition, the more laws that are passed, the more cases that come to trial, the more people will start file sharing.
Somehow, I am reminded of the Macintosh commercial that copied the 1984 movie.
Let's be fair, we don't know about Episode 3, so you best just leave it out. 3/5 movies more like, which is fairly amusing and sad at the same time. So far, the best movies have been the ones that are supposedly going to be the worst, namely II and VI, and that might be because of the definitely lack of battlestation destroying fighter action...
So, how exactly doesn't this promote people from buying new cards. Sorry, but the need for new sets ended half a dozen releases ago. There are thousands of cards, and, well, no one person will ever own them all. There is enough cards out there to make the set you want. Let's face it, they are just milking more money, and that's a fact. It's the reason I got out of Magic, and the reason I stay out.
Sorry if you don't like the D20 system, but blaming WotC for overpricing of things like that is complete crap. They have been overpriced since I got into pen and paper role-playing in the early 90s, and WotC didn't even distribute back then!
As for those digital books, take a look at what they offer. They give you old unatainable books for a very small price ($5.99 IIRC) which, if you ask me, is a fine if I can get something. If you really want to strike them a deadly blow by denying them such a small price for a great service, go download the book off of a file sharing program. This isn't the music industry with multi-billion dollar profits, this is a small niche market, one that needs to be supported. Don't whine to me if WotC collpases and many of the great licenses they hold go with them.
If someone says something can't be done, 10 others will say it can and attempt it. Thus is the attitude of man. Luckily, this isn't a time when death was part of failure.
Game developers are not stupid. They aren't going to alienate the majority of their markey. Nothing stops them from just using DX8 only features and forgetting DX9 until Win9x somehow dies.
I dunno. Playing Street Fighter 1 at the local arcade is a lot more fun to me then using my joypad...