So they're not going to have enough at launch, but they're planning on on selling 3 mil in 3 months? Screw the Irish Potato famine... this is an console famine... or something. Are they expecting terrorists to raid their stockpiles in the warehouses and take all the precious Xboxes?
Seriously... This is why supply + demand sucks.
I'm glad I'm not holding my breath for this system. They're seriously monkeying with gamer's wallets this time around. I'm glad I'm not getting my hands dirty with this system.
Re:Halo 1/2 on XBox 360 looking good at 720p
on
Master Chief Revisited
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
*Yawn*
Yeah, screenshots look nice. How much of a frame rate does it take when you bump the resolution and crank the FSAA?
Besides, if I wanted something to look pretty, I'd play it on a PC. UT2004 even looks better than that.
Look at it this way... Maxis sold out to EA and got The Sims greenlighted, which is a tremendous step up to everything they did while they were a publicly traded company.
Downside of that was the 6 months release schedule of 7 Sims expansions, followed by a sequel and more expansions... in typical EA fashion.
The nice thing about being acquired is that they are not pressured to produce and publish x number of titles per year (if you read anything about the times when Maxis was publicly traded, this was the case). Right now Maxis is doing about one major title every two years and then supplies expansions on an ~6 month release cycle. The benefit is that the lead designer can be off loaded to create fresh titles while an auxilary team works on the expansions (read content development). Same thing applies to sequels. Will Wright had little to do with the design of SimCity 4 since all the design was done with the original SimCity. I think the same might be true with Sims 2.
If T2 works the same way as EA, the worst that'll happen is that there will be several EPs for Civ 4. Then again, Civ 3 had at least two expansions, so I wouldn't be surprised if a few get released. On the flip side, this should give Meier and other creatives at Firaxis the opportunity to create something fresh for a change.
All in all, I don't think it should be a problem for Firaxis. As long as they can bring money in for T2, there's no reason my T2 should mess with them.
Nintendo has been on it for years. The only problem is that the average gamer is quicker to pull out "Nintendo is for kids" card when it comes to the company now.
Nintendo knows how to appeal to a larger demographic. How many buttons did the NES controller have when it was first released? 4. They could've put any number of butttons on that controller if they wanted to, but they didn't.
Sadly, this is something M$ only realises in regards to the online connectivty domain. XBox Live is supposedly one of the easiest systems for getting online with your games (as a gamer). Remember how amazing battle.net and things like MPlayer were when they came out? Unfortunately, Microsoft is more than willing to populate their library with Halo clones, the latest EA drivel, and PC ports. How any of that is going to draw in a larger demographic is beyond me. Unless expanded the demographic translates into "converting Sony fanboys", which explains the hardware spec mud-slinging between the two.
If the Revolution pulls through the next generation admidst the "superior" hardware, it'll only prove the old adage: Never underestimate Nintendo.
I don't know what NVIDIA did with the drivers (81.85) released about 1 week ago, but they broke OpenGL support in Doomsday 1.8.6 (3D Source Port of DOOM). According to the changelog it adds OpenGL 2.0 support.
Not sure if that's related, but if NVIDIA is accidentally breaking support for OpenGL in apps (perhaps deprecated API calls? I dunno) that could have something to do with it.
Nah. I've seen websites get knocked around by people in the PA Forums. You want to really get your server on fire, get/.ed, farked and wanged (linked from the PA mainpage) in the same day.
"a premium online service that offers free and purchased downloadable content, free game demos, bundled communicator headsets, a friends list, and automated matchmaking"
Welcome to the Internet circa 1996. Only thing missing is that pesky headset. Oh wait, I already got one with my UT2004 DVD Edition.
Isn't this true for every M$ product? Look at what happened to Longhorn... Instead of something new, we get a neutered package. M$ hypes and promises like mad up till it's time to push something out the door, and then everything starts to come unglued.
I seem to recall an article in PCGamer well before 2002 about game sites on the net, featuring News Site (Blue's News), MMOs (Ultima Online, Meridian 59), and clan pages. I recall there being a female Quake clan called "Clan PMS" in that article but I don't think these are the same people.
That's what I was trying to get at here. And since when does "full backwards compatibility" mean "we give you compatibility but no mem card for you?", and they've only been doing backwards compatibility for a single generation now, the PS3 still isn't on the market yet.
Let's put it this way, PSOne games can't use a PS2 mem card, so you're forced to use a PSOne card in a PS2 for saving games. Now, Sony has come out and said all they're supporting is Mem Stick Duo. Doing the math that means yes, I can play both PSOne and PS2 games, but there is no way on earth I will be able to save to them, because even if I do find a way to get the save games onto a Duo (DexDrive + PSP + PC) I still can't do squat with them.
I thought Uwe Boll is a director? This is the exec. producer slot, not the director's chair. Boll could still enter the picture here.
Re:I was a fanboy...
on
State of the 360
·
· Score: 0, Flamebait
And don't forget that MS and Sony have pretty much screwed over backwards compatibility in this generation. With MS only going to do select games for backwards compatibility/emulation and the PS3 only supporting Memory Stick Duo, the Big N's GCN backwards compatibility and FREE (for first party titles at the moment) backwards compatibility off the internet looks golden.
Sony and MS probably don't care about backwards compatibility anyways, they're gonna make money off the next iteration of the popular franchises. As long as people are willing to shell out $50 for the next graphical update of Madden, Halo, etc. they need not worry about people playing the old stuff. Less reasons for them to not buy the new shiny thing (tm).
At least with Nintendo in the days of old, you knew each Mario and Zelda game was different than the last. Yeah the graphics got better with the system, but you go from Mario 1 -> Mario 3 -> Mario World -> Yoshi's Island, you're talking similar basic mechanics (they're platformers) but with different things going on in each. Can you say the same thing about sports games and first-person shooters?
don't use the touch screen and you look like an amature developer
Says who? I'm pretty sure Mario Kart DS isn't using the touchpad for anything. I'd say you're an amateur developer if you're not using the dual-screens, the touchpad, the stylus, the microphone, or the wi-fi. In other words, not taking advantage of the systems abilities/features.
Do we really need every FF on a handheld? If I'm going to be playing a long game, I'd rather be doing it on a regular console, on a screen larger than a ruler, and on something with a decent sound chip. Mobile games are meant to be played on the go. I don't want to have to load up FF8 on a PSP and have to spend 20 minutes trying to remember where I was supposed to be going the last time I shut down if I haven't been on the road in a month or so.
Square/Nintendo are porting FFIV to the GBA, which is surprising since a FFIII DS title was announced months ago and nothing has been said since. FFIV & V might be ok to port to a handheld since they are both fairly linear, and clock in around 20 hours or so of playtime (V being the longer of the two). VI wouldn't be bad since it's linear for the first half and then becomes fairly non-linear after the big story changing event (TM). However, VI I think can push the 30 hours of playtime envelope if you want it to.
Honestly, I hope they would put Mario RPG on the GBA or DS. It's very linear, entertaining and not that long (10-15 hours?).
Welcome to last year's debate. Quite honestly, Wolfenstein 3D should've gotten it, but Master Chief I think is more of a character than the the original BJ Blascowicz (sp?). That's the only reason I can think of.
That's kinda the point I was trying to make. However, the chronology goes (as far as I can tell) BC, FFVII, and then AC CC DC (not sure the exact ordering here). Also "Crisis" shows up twice in the list.
This definitely brings to light the "anyone can use it" philosophy they've had. Anyone can figure out how a remote works.
The attachable devices might be how we'll see the previous generation controllers emulated, I dunno. Maybe they'll have an adapter or something so we can use our old controllers?
I think this is an interesting idea, and it's really going to take some demoing at the local best buy to see if its something I think will work when it hits the states.
Then you obviously haven't heard of the "Compliation of FFVII", which Advent Children is part of. Just to clarify, there are 3 other titles in the compilation: Before Crisis (Mobile Phone), Crisis Core (PSP), and Dirge of Cerberus (PS2) (Notice a trend in the abbreviations? *C). Seeing a FFVII remake would be the penultimate closer to this concept.
However, I think this is a bad idea. FF Anthology & Chronicles & Origins & Dawn of Souls were good ideas. Most of the FF fanbase came into being after Sony's marketing blitz of FFVII's CGIs (which are pre-rendered mind you) as a way of selling the game. Considering that it was nearly impossible (aside from emulation) to find a copy of the previous games for a reasonable price, it makes sense for Square to bestow some history on the OMGWTFBBQ fanboy crowd.
I'm not surprised that they're finally talking seriously about this. Think about it, they probably had to update all the main character art assets for Advent Children (cannot confirm this since I haven't seen it yet) so you've got fresh hi-poly models that you can manipulate and you've already paid for. It makes a whole lot of sense (business-wise) for them to do a full-blow FFVII re-make. If they can re-use the new assets, pump out updated monster models and other art assets (which for an FF isn't a whole lot since you usually have a handful of monsters that are just recolors of earlier ones) you can have a remake nailed down on the PS3 in less time than it would take for a fresh title (How long has FFXII been in development now?), not to mention you'll have a good amount of income on the title since you cut the development costs by recycling story/scenario, battle system, and some art assets.
Now they could be really slimey and just update the FMV sequences, since we all know the fanboys would gobble that right up.
Now I know where Nintendo was going with the Game Boy Micro.... I think that and nano can jockey for the "smallest consumer electronic" award this year
Slashdot Mirror
So they're not going to have enough at launch, but they're planning on on selling 3 mil in 3 months? Screw the Irish Potato famine... this is an console famine... or something. Are they expecting terrorists to raid their stockpiles in the warehouses and take all the precious Xboxes?
Seriously... This is why supply + demand sucks.
I'm glad I'm not holding my breath for this system. They're seriously monkeying with gamer's wallets this time around. I'm glad I'm not getting my hands dirty with this system.
*Yawn*
Yeah, screenshots look nice. How much of a frame rate does it take when you bump the resolution and crank the FSAA?
Besides, if I wanted something to look pretty, I'd play it on a PC. UT2004 even looks better than that.
Look at it this way... Maxis sold out to EA and got The Sims greenlighted, which is a tremendous step up to everything they did while they were a publicly traded company.
Downside of that was the 6 months release schedule of 7 Sims expansions, followed by a sequel and more expansions... in typical EA fashion.
The nice thing about being acquired is that they are not pressured to produce and publish x number of titles per year (if you read anything about the times when Maxis was publicly traded, this was the case). Right now Maxis is doing about one major title every two years and then supplies expansions on an ~6 month release cycle. The benefit is that the lead designer can be off loaded to create fresh titles while an auxilary team works on the expansions (read content development). Same thing applies to sequels. Will Wright had little to do with the design of SimCity 4 since all the design was done with the original SimCity. I think the same might be true with Sims 2.
If T2 works the same way as EA, the worst that'll happen is that there will be several EPs for Civ 4. Then again, Civ 3 had at least two expansions, so I wouldn't be surprised if a few get released. On the flip side, this should give Meier and other creatives at Firaxis the opportunity to create something fresh for a change.
All in all, I don't think it should be a problem for Firaxis. As long as they can bring money in for T2, there's no reason my T2 should mess with them.
Nintendo has been on it for years. The only problem is that the average gamer is quicker to pull out "Nintendo is for kids" card when it comes to the company now.
Nintendo knows how to appeal to a larger demographic. How many buttons did the NES controller have when it was first released? 4. They could've put any number of butttons on that controller if they wanted to, but they didn't.
Sadly, this is something M$ only realises in regards to the online connectivty domain. XBox Live is supposedly one of the easiest systems for getting online with your games (as a gamer). Remember how amazing battle.net and things like MPlayer were when they came out? Unfortunately, Microsoft is more than willing to populate their library with Halo clones, the latest EA drivel, and PC ports. How any of that is going to draw in a larger demographic is beyond me. Unless expanded the demographic translates into "converting Sony fanboys", which explains the hardware spec mud-slinging between the two.
If the Revolution pulls through the next generation admidst the "superior" hardware, it'll only prove the old adage: Never underestimate Nintendo.
I don't know what NVIDIA did with the drivers (81.85) released about 1 week ago, but they broke OpenGL support in Doomsday 1.8.6 (3D Source Port of DOOM). According to the changelog it adds OpenGL 2.0 support.
Not sure if that's related, but if NVIDIA is accidentally breaking support for OpenGL in apps (perhaps deprecated API calls? I dunno) that could have something to do with it.
Nah. I've seen websites get knocked around by people in the PA Forums. You want to really get your server on fire, get /.ed, farked and wanged (linked from the PA mainpage) in the same day.
Like he knows what a DoS is. Wasn't that the operating system you use to play DOOM?
I'm surprised this didn't hit here earlier.
/.ed all at once?
Let's see... we've got the PA forums, "/.", and VGcats backing PA...
Is it possible to get wanged and
Mischief Managed
"a premium online service that offers free and purchased downloadable content, free game demos, bundled communicator headsets, a friends list, and automated matchmaking"
Welcome to the Internet circa 1996. Only thing missing is that pesky headset. Oh wait, I already got one with my UT2004 DVD Edition.
Isn't this true for every M$ product? Look at what happened to Longhorn... Instead of something new, we get a neutered package. M$ hypes and promises like mad up till it's time to push something out the door, and then everything starts to come unglued.
I seem to recall an article in PCGamer well before 2002 about game sites on the net, featuring News Site (Blue's News), MMOs (Ultima Online, Meridian 59), and clan pages. I recall there being a female Quake clan called "Clan PMS" in that article but I don't think these are the same people.
I'll believe that when I see it. They didn't do that with the PS2->PSone emulation/backwards compatibility.
I said something along the lines of this to some friends, and they thought I was smoking dope. Glad to know I'm not the only one who thinks this.
That's what I was trying to get at here. And since when does "full backwards compatibility" mean "we give you compatibility but no mem card for you?", and they've only been doing backwards compatibility for a single generation now, the PS3 still isn't on the market yet.
Let's put it this way, PSOne games can't use a PS2 mem card, so you're forced to use a PSOne card in a PS2 for saving games. Now, Sony has come out and said all they're supporting is Mem Stick Duo. Doing the math that means yes, I can play both PSOne and PS2 games, but there is no way on earth I will be able to save to them, because even if I do find a way to get the save games onto a Duo (DexDrive + PSP + PC) I still can't do squat with them.
I thought Uwe Boll is a director? This is the exec. producer slot, not the director's chair. Boll could still enter the picture here.
And don't forget that MS and Sony have pretty much screwed over backwards compatibility in this generation. With MS only going to do select games for backwards compatibility/emulation and the PS3 only supporting Memory Stick Duo, the Big N's GCN backwards compatibility and FREE (for first party titles at the moment) backwards compatibility off the internet looks golden.
Sony and MS probably don't care about backwards compatibility anyways, they're gonna make money off the next iteration of the popular franchises. As long as people are willing to shell out $50 for the next graphical update of Madden, Halo, etc. they need not worry about people playing the old stuff. Less reasons for them to not buy the new shiny thing (tm).
At least with Nintendo in the days of old, you knew each Mario and Zelda game was different than the last. Yeah the graphics got better with the system, but you go from Mario 1 -> Mario 3 -> Mario World -> Yoshi's Island, you're talking similar basic mechanics (they're platformers) but with different things going on in each. Can you say the same thing about sports games and first-person shooters?
don't use the touch screen and you look like an amature developer
Says who? I'm pretty sure Mario Kart DS isn't using the touchpad for anything. I'd say you're an amateur developer if you're not using the dual-screens, the touchpad, the stylus, the microphone, or the wi-fi. In other words, not taking advantage of the systems abilities/features.
Do we really need every FF on a handheld? If I'm going to be playing a long game, I'd rather be doing it on a regular console, on a screen larger than a ruler, and on something with a decent sound chip. Mobile games are meant to be played on the go. I don't want to have to load up FF8 on a PSP and have to spend 20 minutes trying to remember where I was supposed to be going the last time I shut down if I haven't been on the road in a month or so.
Square/Nintendo are porting FFIV to the GBA, which is surprising since a FFIII DS title was announced months ago and nothing has been said since. FFIV & V might be ok to port to a handheld since they are both fairly linear, and clock in around 20 hours or so of playtime (V being the longer of the two). VI wouldn't be bad since it's linear for the first half and then becomes fairly non-linear after the big story changing event (TM). However, VI I think can push the 30 hours of playtime envelope if you want it to.
Honestly, I hope they would put Mario RPG on the GBA or DS. It's very linear, entertaining and not that long (10-15 hours?).
Welcome to last year's debate. Quite honestly, Wolfenstein 3D should've gotten it, but Master Chief I think is more of a character than the the original BJ Blascowicz (sp?). That's the only reason I can think of.
So long and thanks for all the fish!
That's kinda the point I was trying to make. However, the chronology goes (as far as I can tell) BC, FFVII, and then AC CC DC (not sure the exact ordering here). Also "Crisis" shows up twice in the list.
This definitely brings to light the "anyone can use it" philosophy they've had. Anyone can figure out how a remote works.
The attachable devices might be how we'll see the previous generation controllers emulated, I dunno. Maybe they'll have an adapter or something so we can use our old controllers?
I think this is an interesting idea, and it's really going to take some demoing at the local best buy to see if its something I think will work when it hits the states.
Then you obviously haven't heard of the "Compliation of FFVII", which Advent Children is part of. Just to clarify, there are 3 other titles in the compilation: Before Crisis (Mobile Phone), Crisis Core (PSP), and Dirge of Cerberus (PS2) (Notice a trend in the abbreviations? *C). Seeing a FFVII remake would be the penultimate closer to this concept.
However, I think this is a bad idea. FF Anthology & Chronicles & Origins & Dawn of Souls were good ideas. Most of the FF fanbase came into being after Sony's marketing blitz of FFVII's CGIs (which are pre-rendered mind you) as a way of selling the game. Considering that it was nearly impossible (aside from emulation) to find a copy of the previous games for a reasonable price, it makes sense for Square to bestow some history on the OMGWTFBBQ fanboy crowd.
I'm not surprised that they're finally talking seriously about this. Think about it, they probably had to update all the main character art assets for Advent Children (cannot confirm this since I haven't seen it yet) so you've got fresh hi-poly models that you can manipulate and you've already paid for. It makes a whole lot of sense (business-wise) for them to do a full-blow FFVII re-make. If they can re-use the new assets, pump out updated monster models and other art assets (which for an FF isn't a whole lot since you usually have a handful of monsters that are just recolors of earlier ones) you can have a remake nailed down on the PS3 in less time than it would take for a fresh title (How long has FFXII been in development now?), not to mention you'll have a good amount of income on the title since you cut the development costs by recycling story/scenario, battle system, and some art assets.
Now they could be really slimey and just update the FMV sequences, since we all know the fanboys would gobble that right up.
It's hard to believe that its been almost 10 years since Quake was first released...
I feel old now. Oh wait, it's been about 20 since Super Mario Bros. was released.
Now I know where Nintendo was going with the Game Boy Micro.... I think that and nano can jockey for the "smallest consumer electronic" award this year
I see that Anti-Trust suit was real effective...