There is a way out of this, find the biggest idiot who has to work with your software give the idiot-software setup a usability and configuration testing upfront, and then expect the worst...
That was their tactics from day one, this is a mentality most software companies in the mid eighties had, Borland also was this example they were strong in the tools market and tried to cover the office market, and later also the corporate market.
Most of those we spread as much as possible companies had to consolidate, but Microsoft never had the need for changing the course, they just noawdays see everything computer related as their market which they want to monopolize nut just software anymore.
They they always hated the web as being too crossplatform is a known fact, hence the stop of supporting more than really needed html standards, and even those supported are on the edge of being forked due to bugs and features.
The entire Xaml etc... issue is the same game, they took SVG and altered it to their needs (changing a few tags etc...) and put a little bit into it and make it windows only or windows and mac only for now (and later windows only) and voila you have a html and flash killer which should tie people into the Windows platform and also should kill the web.
We can pray to god, and be glad, that Firefox nowadays has such a significant marketshare that this plan is bound to fail, a Web in the hands of Microsoft would be some of the worst things which could happen to humanity and knowledge spreading in general!
Actually if you do a DS module import from the USA to Europe, you usually get the thing cheaper than over here in the store, also half a year til two years earlier.
Europe is just getting Metroid Prime Pinpall, which has been released in the USA in 2005, and there still is no release date for super paper Mario for now, while we get a drought of interesting games over here until summer (No Mario Strikers is not interesting at all, the only interesting game is Impossible Mission and that is a retro game with new graphics!)
I am considering a mod chip for the wii as well for the exactly same reasons, with about three new games the costs are basically zero, and the releases are half a year til a year earlier!
And no localisation is no excuse, those wo want the game in non english can get it once it is localized the others still would be able to buy from england!
Well they can screw legal users... simply stop the online activation for new systems (this will happen one day definitely)
still you can get the patches to make it open, but 50% of the XP userbase simply will not be able to do it.
The other 50% either will do it or will move away...
I dont talk C++ here which is the biggest failure of language design, even worse than Cobol, but at least Cobol could get the credits that they did not know better back then. C++ cannot be given the credits, OO languages have been in existence since the mid sixties.
Back to pure functional language, lets look at the paradigm, everything is a function, what do you get,
nothing except a normal programming language which is stripped down to its core, with procedures removed, namespaces and objects. This screams for a mess in itself, because there are no ways to structure your code decently once a system becomes bigger.
The main reason for a system having failed in C++ and being successful in a functional language, can be credited to three factors, the removal of C++ which is inherently problematic, an introduction of a vm and garbage collection, not necessarily being contributable to the functional language, and probably a tigher project management which was necessary because the language itself does not force any order of the code.
(Ok I do not know Erlang, I do not know if this language provides the basic structures for code organization, most academic functional languages do not have)
I personally am not convinced that a pure functional approach is any solution, except for basic scripting, there is so much lack of know how which was introduced in the last 40 years to solve the problems, while I have the gutsy feeling that the designers of functional languages simply either do not know them or they do not exist in their problem domains. Once those languages are tested against real world software systems, the constructs are readded again which are there in other languages in the first place (after all it is a small step from a pure function to a procedure, after that it is a rather small step to objects, and namespaces)
This is the same problematic most scripting languages (which often have overlapping domains) face, first they are small, often pure functions, then the problem domains they are applied become bigger, more and more constructs of existing languages are added, and then you end up with a normal programmling language, which has in its core the root language, and often some consctructs like closures, and integrated list handling etc... but in the end it is not really a scripting language anymore.
Heck the problem even is, that functional programming means kicking out every knowledge of how to do good software design which was built up since the sixties.
Most functional languages become barely usable in the domain of bigger than a few lines of code programs once they introduce methods, namespaces, objects, you name it and become normal procedural or OO programming languages.
Sorry to say that functional guys, but you are stuck 40 years in the past from the software engineering side.
As for parallelism, it is only kept simple as long as you are stuck in a certain small subset of problem domains, once you run into data sync problems (which is normal once you have more than a handful lines of code) you usually run into the usual synchronization problems, which means, critical regions, threading, semaphores etc... and then things becomes nasty, no programming language can help you out there.
I agree generally with your shooter statement, it was more or less a comparison how nintendo games have evolved over time.
The main problem with lack of experimentation is definitely not on nintendos side, although they are masters of franchise recycling they at least try to experiment a lot in their gaming concepts, most of the times with success sometimes with utter failure.
From all big publishers, and Nintendo is the biggest worldwide by far most do way less experimentation in gaming concepts, they try to milk the frenchises they have on the save side by minor modifications.
As for the entry barriers.
Actually gettig the devkits is not a problem they can be bought, the main problem is Nintendo is the gatekeeper of what can be published on the console.
I agree Micrsoft is better in this regard, they have lower barriers for their online console stuff, the main barriers for the entry as a grade developer are similar high on all three consoles.
I personally think the huge entry barriers is the biggest problem the consoles have, and why it is vital for console makers that the PC as a gaming platform is available, there are no gatekeeper costs involved in the PC and hence the PC is the only platform which can bring out new talents, which in the long run can bring also new concepts to consoles.
Shooters havent changed since the early days of Castle Wolfenstein 3d, you still run around and frag...
seriously things have changed, but Zelda has some core concepts which have not been touched since day 0.
As for the other comments, there is lots of innovation, but if you expect fro a console to be an entirely open platform
forget it, the entire console concept is woven around vendor and user lockin.
The only open platform is the PC live with it.
Twilight princiess is basically the second/third zelda with the same gamestyle.
Super Paper Mario is basically an entirely new gaming concept in and out.
Metroid Prime is the third one with the same gamestyle.
Elebits is entirely new, Trauma Center more or less as well,
Kororinpha in the way you play it also (but the gamestyle itself is old, but you cannot play it the same way on any console)
Rayman Raving rabbits, old characters entirely new gameplay.
I would not entirely say that just because the same characters are rehashed means that the games are sequels. Most shooters have way less variety than what is found in between two different zeldas.
Except that the PS3 is around 6 years now...;-)
The situation on the PS3 is far worse, and the XBox has gotten out of it more or less since X-Mas.
Usually things become really good at the start of the second year of a consoles lifecycle.
Well any serious fps gamer would probably stay away from consoles anyway, nothing can beat a mouse in this area. The wii is not able to surpass that combo either, but it has potential to surpass the normal controls
via pad by miles, if done right.
The problem with the nunchuck idea simply is, that I have yet to see a game where the nunchuck motion sensors were used in a non game ruining way, if used for controls instead of triggering simple actions.
I have not played the red steel or CoD, but I personally think, following control scheme should work best on the wii. Wiimote for lightgun like aiming.
Nunchuk for movement (turns and straving, straving with the z button pressed)
Probably in the future we will see more than one control scheme, so that people chan choose what they want.
For the nunchuck motion sensors.
The problem with the nunchuck motion sensors is that I have yet to see a game which utilizes them decently for movement.
(I have not played Blazing Angels, but in Heatseeker it is catastrophic to use the nunchuck as main controller, the bounding box wiimote controls work best)
Given that ScummVM is 2d only, for now, it should run fine in PS3 Linux...
Mouse is a must that way however.
I personally like most running it on a sharp zaurus or on the Nintendo DS, ScummVM or generally point and click adventures on a portable computer with stylus input is a match made in heaven.
The DS port especially has the nifty feature of using the second screen for a zoom like function which works really well with videos.
Ahem, I have seen that complaint several times. Once you ask a little bit more, those people know about Zelda, Wario Ware and Wii Sports... and thats it and then the loud complaint that nothing else worth playing is there.
Guess what:
Tiger Woods,
Heatseeker,
Godfather Blackhand Edition,
Elebits,
Kororinpha,
Excite Truck,
Super Paper Mario,
Metal Slug Anthology,
Sonic and the Secret Rings
All excellent single player titles worth playing.
All or most of them released or will be released within the next two weeks.
Not too shabby for a console just being four months old!
Heatseeker is somewhat hit and miss (it is released in Europe already)
they screwed up the two more interesting control schemes (nunchuck movement and analog stick movement)
while the mouse like wiimote controle scheme more or less works to a satisfiying degree.
This is a bummer, because the game itself is really good.
The wii currently is in the same situation as the DS was in its first year, it was a hit and miss phenomenon whether the control scheme is done right or wrong. Usually Nintendo are the first ones getting things right,
after that others follow. (Seems exactly the same with the wii, it seems Metroid will be the first shooter getting the controls definitely right, while others simply try to simulate a wsad scheme, which does not work out on the wii as expected)
There is one main difference however compared to the DS, the DS only had 1-2 games worth playing in its first year, after 4 months, the Wii is definitely in a way better situation with about 10 titles worth playing and the rest being shovelware, which is a very good rate of about 20% of good titles. And a lot of interesting titles are in the pipeline.
Actually the most successful devices currently are cellphones, and they probably contradict your statements, given their average functionality. While IPods and the DS are more or less the most promoted ones, cellphones are the most successful ones, people simply are so used to them that they do not get a lot of press coverage nowadays.
Actually the lack of a touchscreen limits the consoles to typical console genres. There is one dimension a touchscreen adds, and this is a mouslike input device, which means it enables genres which are mouse centric (rts, point and click adventures, shooters to a certain degree, but not as good as a mouse)
I bought a DS due to mainly the price, face it the PSP as well as the PS3 nowadays was outpriced out of walk into the store and simply pick it up price. The other fact was that I own a zaurus and playing scummvm and Ultima 7 on this thing is a blast, I was aware of the potential of the input method.
Actually there is a lot of quick cash in games, but it is not that bad. There is a lot of very good content as well.
The PSP and the DS have both a good games in its lineup which are drowned in the flood of quick cash in products.
I think this is a typical handheld phenomenon.
I cannot speak for the PSP, but I assume it is rather similar, the worth buying to junkware rate is about 10:1 on the DS.
But for the DS definitely worth buying:
A good homebrew adapter and the ScummVM, Project Rub, Wario Ware, Starfox DS, Super Monkey Ball, Another Code, Hotel Dusk, Super Mario, Pac Pix, Brain Age, the Castlevanias, Advance Wars, Metroid Prime Hunters and probably a lot of others I am not aware of...
Add to that list about 700 shovelware and quick port games and you get the situation, given the fact that it was the same on the GBA I assume this is a general handheld phenomenon.
Ahme the second generation nokia ngage probably would have been the best device for your needs, unfortunately it bombed due to the fact that it got already a lousy reputation due to the first generation ngage devices which were really not too good. The second gen however is an amazing device.
Sorry to say that the snes ultimas are a pile of garbage, the best ones were on the pc and apple II...
especially nothing can beat ultima 7 in the pc version, especially not the dumbed down snes versions with
altered plot and less control.
The older ultima 1-5 with their anime style are also not really the cup of tea for most ultima players.
Exult on the DS would be a match made in heaven, I played Ultima 7 on a sharp zaurus and it is awesome, the
touchpad really works very well.
I loved the TV show, but I hated the movie,
the plot was shallow, everything feeled pressed into the movie format
there was no character development whatsoever (I especially hated
how they cut out pretty much everything where Morena Baccarin
hat part in it)
The movie was mediocre, it felt like a mediocre episode of the TV show.
Slashdot Mirror
There is a way out of this, find the biggest idiot who has to work with your software give the idiot-software setup a usability and configuration testing upfront, and then expect the worst...
That was their tactics from day one, this is a mentality most software companies in the mid eighties had, Borland also was this example they were strong in the tools market and tried to cover the office market, and later also the corporate market. Most of those we spread as much as possible companies had to consolidate, but Microsoft never had the need for changing the course, they just noawdays see everything computer related as their market which they want to monopolize nut just software anymore. They they always hated the web as being too crossplatform is a known fact, hence the stop of supporting more than really needed html standards, and even those supported are on the edge of being forked due to bugs and features. The entire Xaml etc... issue is the same game, they took SVG and altered it to their needs (changing a few tags etc...) and put a little bit into it and make it windows only or windows and mac only for now (and later windows only) and voila you have a html and flash killer which should tie people into the Windows platform and also should kill the web. We can pray to god, and be glad, that Firefox nowadays has such a significant marketshare that this plan is bound to fail, a Web in the hands of Microsoft would be some of the worst things which could happen to humanity and knowledge spreading in general!
there are some java ajax frameworks, openlazlo (also renders against dhtml) svg...
I would not call selling oil being a parasite...
Actually if you do a DS module import from the USA to Europe, you usually get the thing cheaper than over here in the store, also half a year til two years earlier.
Europe is just getting Metroid Prime Pinpall, which has been released in the USA in 2005, and there still is no release date for super paper Mario for now, while we get a drought of interesting games over here until summer (No Mario Strikers is not interesting at all, the only interesting game is Impossible Mission and that is a retro game with new graphics!)
I am considering a mod chip for the wii as well for the exactly same reasons, with about three new games the costs are basically zero, and the releases are half a year til a year earlier!
And no localisation is no excuse, those wo want the game in non english can get it once it is localized the others still would be able to buy from england!
Well they can screw legal users... simply stop the online activation for new systems (this will happen one day definitely) still you can get the patches to make it open, but 50% of the XP userbase simply will not be able to do it. The other 50% either will do it or will move away...
I dont talk C++ here which is the biggest failure of language design, even worse than Cobol, but at least Cobol could get the credits that they did not know better back then. C++ cannot be given the credits, OO languages have been in existence since the mid sixties.
Back to pure functional language, lets look at the paradigm, everything is a function, what do you get, nothing except a normal programming language which is stripped down to its core, with procedures removed, namespaces and objects. This screams for a mess in itself, because there are no ways to structure your code decently once a system becomes bigger.
The main reason for a system having failed in C++ and being successful in a functional language, can be credited to three factors, the removal of C++ which is inherently problematic, an introduction of a vm and garbage collection, not necessarily being contributable to the functional language, and probably a tigher project management which was necessary because the language itself does not force any order of the code. (Ok I do not know Erlang, I do not know if this language provides the basic structures for code organization, most academic functional languages do not have)
I personally am not convinced that a pure functional approach is any solution, except for basic scripting, there is so much lack of know how which was introduced in the last 40 years to solve the problems, while I have the gutsy feeling that the designers of functional languages simply either do not know them or they do not exist in their problem domains. Once those languages are tested against real world software systems, the constructs are readded again which are there in other languages in the first place (after all it is a small step from a pure function to a procedure, after that it is a rather small step to objects, and namespaces)
This is the same problematic most scripting languages (which often have overlapping domains) face, first they are small, often pure functions, then the problem domains they are applied become bigger, more and more constructs of existing languages are added, and then you end up with a normal programmling language, which has in its core the root language, and often some consctructs like closures, and integrated list handling etc... but in the end it is not really a scripting language anymore.
Heck the problem even is, that functional programming means kicking out every knowledge of how to do good software design which was built up since the sixties. Most functional languages become barely usable in the domain of bigger than a few lines of code programs once they introduce methods, namespaces, objects, you name it and become normal procedural or OO programming languages. Sorry to say that functional guys, but you are stuck 40 years in the past from the software engineering side. As for parallelism, it is only kept simple as long as you are stuck in a certain small subset of problem domains, once you run into data sync problems (which is normal once you have more than a handful lines of code) you usually run into the usual synchronization problems, which means, critical regions, threading, semaphores etc... and then things becomes nasty, no programming language can help you out there.
I agree generally with your shooter statement, it was more or less a comparison how nintendo games have evolved over time.
The main problem with lack of experimentation is definitely not on nintendos side, although they are masters of franchise recycling they at least try to experiment a lot in their gaming concepts, most of the times with success sometimes with utter failure. From all big publishers, and Nintendo is the biggest worldwide by far most do way less experimentation in gaming concepts, they try to milk the frenchises they have on the save side by minor modifications.
As for the entry barriers. Actually gettig the devkits is not a problem they can be bought, the main problem is Nintendo is the gatekeeper of what can be published on the console. I agree Micrsoft is better in this regard, they have lower barriers for their online console stuff, the main barriers for the entry as a grade developer are similar high on all three consoles. I personally think the huge entry barriers is the biggest problem the consoles have, and why it is vital for console makers that the PC as a gaming platform is available, there are no gatekeeper costs involved in the PC and hence the PC is the only platform which can bring out new talents, which in the long run can bring also new concepts to consoles.
Shooters havent changed since the early days of Castle Wolfenstein 3d, you still run around and frag... seriously things have changed, but Zelda has some core concepts which have not been touched since day 0. As for the other comments, there is lots of innovation, but if you expect fro a console to be an entirely open platform forget it, the entire console concept is woven around vendor and user lockin. The only open platform is the PC live with it.
Twilight princiess is basically the second/third zelda with the same gamestyle. Super Paper Mario is basically an entirely new gaming concept in and out. Metroid Prime is the third one with the same gamestyle. Elebits is entirely new, Trauma Center more or less as well, Kororinpha in the way you play it also (but the gamestyle itself is old, but you cannot play it the same way on any console) Rayman Raving rabbits, old characters entirely new gameplay. I would not entirely say that just because the same characters are rehashed means that the games are sequels. Most shooters have way less variety than what is found in between two different zeldas.
Except that the PS3 is around 6 years now... ;-)
The situation on the PS3 is far worse, and the XBox has gotten out of it more or less since X-Mas.
Usually things become really good at the start of the second year of a consoles lifecycle.
Actually, the Sonic game is pretty good...
Well any serious fps gamer would probably stay away from consoles anyway, nothing can beat a mouse in this area. The wii is not able to surpass that combo either, but it has potential to surpass the normal controls via pad by miles, if done right. The problem with the nunchuck idea simply is, that I have yet to see a game where the nunchuck motion sensors were used in a non game ruining way, if used for controls instead of triggering simple actions.
I have not played the red steel or CoD, but I personally think, following control scheme should work best on the wii. Wiimote for lightgun like aiming. Nunchuk for movement (turns and straving, straving with the z button pressed) Probably in the future we will see more than one control scheme, so that people chan choose what they want. For the nunchuck motion sensors. The problem with the nunchuck motion sensors is that I have yet to see a game which utilizes them decently for movement. (I have not played Blazing Angels, but in Heatseeker it is catastrophic to use the nunchuck as main controller, the bounding box wiimote controls work best)
Given that ScummVM is 2d only, for now, it should run fine in PS3 Linux... Mouse is a must that way however. I personally like most running it on a sharp zaurus or on the Nintendo DS, ScummVM or generally point and click adventures on a portable computer with stylus input is a match made in heaven. The DS port especially has the nifty feature of using the second screen for a zoom like function which works really well with videos.
Ahem, I have seen that complaint several times. Once you ask a little bit more, those people know about Zelda, Wario Ware and Wii Sports... and thats it and then the loud complaint that nothing else worth playing is there. Guess what: Tiger Woods, Heatseeker, Godfather Blackhand Edition, Elebits, Kororinpha, Excite Truck, Super Paper Mario, Metal Slug Anthology, Sonic and the Secret Rings All excellent single player titles worth playing. All or most of them released or will be released within the next two weeks. Not too shabby for a console just being four months old!
Heatseeker is somewhat hit and miss (it is released in Europe already) they screwed up the two more interesting control schemes (nunchuck movement and analog stick movement) while the mouse like wiimote controle scheme more or less works to a satisfiying degree. This is a bummer, because the game itself is really good. The wii currently is in the same situation as the DS was in its first year, it was a hit and miss phenomenon whether the control scheme is done right or wrong. Usually Nintendo are the first ones getting things right, after that others follow. (Seems exactly the same with the wii, it seems Metroid will be the first shooter getting the controls definitely right, while others simply try to simulate a wsad scheme, which does not work out on the wii as expected) There is one main difference however compared to the DS, the DS only had 1-2 games worth playing in its first year, after 4 months, the Wii is definitely in a way better situation with about 10 titles worth playing and the rest being shovelware, which is a very good rate of about 20% of good titles. And a lot of interesting titles are in the pipeline.
Actually the most successful devices currently are cellphones, and they probably contradict your statements, given their average functionality. While IPods and the DS are more or less the most promoted ones, cellphones are the most successful ones, people simply are so used to them that they do not get a lot of press coverage nowadays.
Actually the lack of a touchscreen limits the consoles to typical console genres. There is one dimension a touchscreen adds, and this is a mouslike input device, which means it enables genres which are mouse centric (rts, point and click adventures, shooters to a certain degree, but not as good as a mouse) I bought a DS due to mainly the price, face it the PSP as well as the PS3 nowadays was outpriced out of walk into the store and simply pick it up price. The other fact was that I own a zaurus and playing scummvm and Ultima 7 on this thing is a blast, I was aware of the potential of the input method.
Actually there is a lot of quick cash in games, but it is not that bad. There is a lot of very good content as well. The PSP and the DS have both a good games in its lineup which are drowned in the flood of quick cash in products. I think this is a typical handheld phenomenon. I cannot speak for the PSP, but I assume it is rather similar, the worth buying to junkware rate is about 10:1 on the DS. But for the DS definitely worth buying: A good homebrew adapter and the ScummVM, Project Rub, Wario Ware, Starfox DS, Super Monkey Ball, Another Code, Hotel Dusk, Super Mario, Pac Pix, Brain Age, the Castlevanias, Advance Wars, Metroid Prime Hunters and probably a lot of others I am not aware of... Add to that list about 700 shovelware and quick port games and you get the situation, given the fact that it was the same on the GBA I assume this is a general handheld phenomenon.
Additionally, do decent point and click adventures and rts games without a stylus our mouse.. good luck
Ahme the second generation nokia ngage probably would have been the best device for your needs, unfortunately it bombed due to the fact that it got already a lousy reputation due to the first generation ngage devices which were really not too good. The second gen however is an amazing device.
Sorry to say that the snes ultimas are a pile of garbage, the best ones were on the pc and apple II... especially nothing can beat ultima 7 in the pc version, especially not the dumbed down snes versions with altered plot and less control. The older ultima 1-5 with their anime style are also not really the cup of tea for most ultima players. Exult on the DS would be a match made in heaven, I played Ultima 7 on a sharp zaurus and it is awesome, the touchpad really works very well.
I loved the TV show, but I hated the movie, the plot was shallow, everything feeled pressed into the movie format there was no character development whatsoever (I especially hated how they cut out pretty much everything where Morena Baccarin hat part in it) The movie was mediocre, it felt like a mediocre episode of the TV show.