Best RTS ever in my not so humble opinion...
on
HIstory of RTS Games
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· Score: 3, Insightful
... was Total Annihilation.
3D graphics, order queues for your units, well thought out balance between the two factions and good (for the time) network support, allowing for a decent game against your friends.
Too bad the company (Cavedog) went to hell and never released a decent successor.
If you want to read what I'm blathering about, here is the link to the summary from the main article.
Thinking that Earth is the only inhabitable planet in the galaxy or even the universe is so last millenium.
It doesn't take a genius (just a bit of open-mindedness) to figure out that in the vast reaches of just our own galaxy (not to mention the universe) the chances are good that additional systems similar to Sol were formed.
Remember: The absence of proof is not the proof of absence.
On a lighter note, I really hope they'd hurry up and colonize another planet. Then, next time some ecologist gets on my nerves by saying: "THINK OF THE PLANET!" I can retort: Sheesh, it's not like it's the only one we've got!".
A revolutionary instead of evolutionary means of inputting data. Whether it works or not - this is a good thing.
I have no doubts, that it will require a few days of toying around to get accustomed to, but since you have 3 characters at your disposal for every turn of the wheel, I think the wheel-spinning will not break your thumb off.
Imagine for a moment that you have become proficient at "typing" in data in this way.
You have the use of your second hand for other things like holding the phone, etc. when using this device.
No one should bear any illusions that this thing will have any kind of mainstream success. It's obviously designed as a geek toy.
Too bad I recently bought a m505 or else I'd give this thing a try. I'm not too fond of the palms graffiti either, on long texts I use the pop-up screen keyboard instead.
... or anyone that is reasonably adept at first person shooters.
While the (full) game is gorgeous, as you will see if you download the demo, it seemed a bit "short" to me.
I completed the game on hard setting in 4 hours and 50 minutes play time. Sorry, but that's just not the kind of value I was expecting.
Replay value is IMHO low, since the sluggish handling (as opposed to, say, Counter-Strike) makes it hard to use your carefully honed FPS skills.
As an example, any long-time Counter-Striker will automatically aim for the head of the enemy. While headshots exist in RtCW, they are not easy to land and generally seem very random, although every shot will go exactly where you aim. Even Counter-Strike's very random firing pattern feels more precise.
The final boss I managed to kill on my second try. On hard setting. That was disappointing.
Overall, I'd rate the game B+ for eye candy, coolness and first-time wow factor. After 5 hours though, it drops off fast.
Not to mention the thousands and thousands of people fleeing to the north and drowning in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea because someone lead them to believe Germany is landlocked;)
LOL, yeah now I know what this movie lacked! It's some Martin Lawrence clone spouting off bullshit every 5 minutes and making jokes about how typically "white" everyone is.
This is not the movie you are looking for. Try this one.
And thank you for your discerning viewpoint. Without people like you we'd have to endure more movies like LOTR and less politically, morally and ethically correct motion pictures like the one I linked to above.
Re:Memento was a much better film then LOTR.
on
LotR Cleans Up at AFI
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· Score: 4, Insightful
To put it bluntly: Memento forced me to think, while LOTR had me gaping at the screen, drooling into my popcorn.
I think Memento beat LOTR in originality but overall the better cinematic experience was LOTR.
But that's not the case. They are not doing too well actually.
(Most of this relates to the PC world)
After Ultima Online and Everquest being respectively the first (large) and the most successful MMORPGs, we've had a bunch of losers.
Anarchy Online hasn't gone belly up completely yet, but they are mostly without a user base.
WWII Online is a joke, they're barely staying afloat.
Dark Age of Camelot is heading to hell in a hand basket. After the initial rage players soon found out they are largely selling you the same old crap. Endless levelling tedium and a game riddled with bugs. Coupled with a dev team that creates two bugs for every one it squashes and you can see it loses against established games like Ultima Online or Everquest, simply because they have more content by now.
It's funny how coding incompetence is a trademark of these games.
Mythic Entertainment, the company behind "Dark Age of Camelot", hired MMORPG-community figureheads like Scott "Lum the Mad" Jennings or Sanya "Tweety" Thomas, but it didn't help them in the long run.
The only MMORPG really going strong after all this time is Everquest. Not because it's that good, but because it requires excessive amounts of time invested into it. It makes it near impossible for people to quit after they have invested a very large amount of time into it. (To get into the higher echolons of Everquest you need play-times in excess of 60 days. That's time online, not total days played.)It's called Evercrack for a reason (I was hooked for 8+ hours a day myself for almost 2 years.) Most players don't even enjoy the game anymore they just keep hanging on.
If you want to look into the abyss you might want to surf over to ebay and do a search for 'Everquest'.
I really can't see why this should be any different in the console world.
The genre is broken.
At least until a company comes along with a dev team that can code their way out of a wet paper bag.
PS: This does not apply to games with a decentralized server structure like Counter-Strike.
PPS: If you think you have to check out the genre, don't. If that doesn't deter you, then go for Everquest. I've spent significant amounts of time in all of the above listed games and I think it's safe to say that it's the lesser evil of the pack.
Slashdot Mirror
... was Total Annihilation.
3D graphics, order queues for your units, well thought out balance between the two factions and good (for the time) network support, allowing for a decent game against your friends.
Too bad the company (Cavedog) went to hell and never released a decent successor.
If you want to read what I'm blathering about, here is the link to the summary from the main article.
A German Member of Parliament replied to Microsoft Germany's letter.
Original (German)
Google translation
Thinking that Earth is the only inhabitable planet in the galaxy or even the universe is so last millenium.
;)
It doesn't take a genius (just a bit of open-mindedness) to figure out that in the vast reaches of just our own galaxy (not to mention the universe) the chances are good that additional systems similar to Sol were formed.
Remember: The absence of proof is not the proof of absence.
On a lighter note, I really hope they'd hurry up and colonize another planet. Then, next time some ecologist gets on my nerves by saying: "THINK OF THE PLANET!" I can retort: Sheesh, it's not like it's the only one we've got!".
And yes, I know I stole that from Futurama
A revolutionary instead of evolutionary means of inputting data. Whether it works or not - this is a good thing.
.
I have no doubts, that it will require a few days of toying around to get accustomed to, but since you have 3 characters at your disposal for every turn of the wheel, I think the wheel-spinning will not break your thumb off.
Imagine for a moment that you have become proficient at "typing" in data in this way. You have the use of your second hand for other things like holding the phone, etc. when using this device.
No one should bear any illusions that this thing will have any kind of mainstream success. It's obviously designed as a geek toy
Too bad I recently bought a m505 or else I'd give this thing a try. I'm not too fond of the palms graffiti either, on long texts I use the pop-up screen keyboard instead.
... or anyone that is reasonably adept at first person shooters.
While the (full) game is gorgeous, as you will see if you download the demo, it seemed a bit "short" to me.
I completed the game on hard setting in 4 hours and 50 minutes play time. Sorry, but that's just not the kind of value I was expecting.
Replay value is IMHO low, since the sluggish handling (as opposed to, say, Counter-Strike) makes it hard to use your carefully honed FPS skills.
As an example, any long-time Counter-Striker will automatically aim for the head of the enemy. While headshots exist in RtCW, they are not easy to land and generally seem very random, although every shot will go exactly where you aim. Even Counter-Strike's very random firing pattern feels more precise.
The final boss I managed to kill on my second try. On hard setting. That was disappointing.
Overall, I'd rate the game B+ for eye candy, coolness and first-time wow factor. After 5 hours though, it drops off fast.
Gee I guess you need to be some sort of super-human genius journalist working for the NY Times to find this out.
I guess that seminar he visited on "stating things everyone knows" and "In your face: Getting hit by a clue-by-four" are really paying off.
In 200 years this guy could get a position on the USS Enterprise as counsellor. (Perhaps after some breast-enlargement surgery).
FYI, I'm not trying to troll. It's just that "journalists" reporting inane stuff like this piss me off.
> Even for a land locked country such as Germany
;)
Not to mention the thousands and thousands of people fleeing to the north and drowning in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea because someone lead them to believe Germany is landlocked
Funny stuff!
>(not even a token black guy!) in LOTR?
LOL, yeah now I know what this movie lacked! It's some Martin Lawrence clone spouting off bullshit every 5 minutes and making jokes about how typically "white" everyone is.
This is not the movie you are looking for. Try this one.
And thank you for your discerning viewpoint. Without people like you we'd have to endure more movies like LOTR and less politically, morally and ethically correct motion pictures like the one I linked to above.
To put it bluntly: Memento forced me to think, while LOTR had me gaping at the screen, drooling into my popcorn.
I think Memento beat LOTR in originality but overall the better cinematic experience was LOTR.
Filthy sums up best what I didn't like about Memento.
Then again, these awards aren't about how good or bad a movie is and I think we all know that.
With 95% of new movies being the same old Hollywood gunk, I'm actually glad to see this move. That's Lobstertainment!
But that's not the case. They are not doing too well actually.
(Most of this relates to the PC world)
After Ultima Online and Everquest being respectively the first (large) and the most successful MMORPGs, we've had a bunch of losers.
Anarchy Online hasn't gone belly up completely yet, but they are mostly without a user base.
WWII Online is a joke, they're barely staying afloat.
Dark Age of Camelot is heading to hell in a hand basket. After the initial rage players soon found out they are largely selling you the same old crap. Endless levelling tedium and a game riddled with bugs. Coupled with a dev team that creates two bugs for every one it squashes and you can see it loses against established games like Ultima Online or Everquest, simply because they have more content by now.
It's funny how coding incompetence is a trademark of these games. Mythic Entertainment, the company behind "Dark Age of Camelot", hired MMORPG-community figureheads like Scott "Lum the Mad" Jennings or Sanya "Tweety" Thomas, but it didn't help them in the long run.
The only MMORPG really going strong after all this time is Everquest. Not because it's that good, but because it requires excessive amounts of time invested into it. It makes it near impossible for people to quit after they have invested a very large amount of time into it. (To get into the higher echolons of Everquest you need play-times in excess of 60 days. That's time online, not total days played.)It's called Evercrack for a reason (I was hooked for 8+ hours a day myself for almost 2 years.) Most players don't even enjoy the game anymore they just keep hanging on.
If you want to look into the abyss you might want to surf over to ebay and do a search for 'Everquest'.
I really can't see why this should be any different in the console world.
The genre is broken.
At least until a company comes along with a dev team that can code their way out of a wet paper bag.
PS: This does not apply to games with a decentralized server structure like Counter-Strike.
PPS: If you think you have to check out the genre, don't. If that doesn't deter you, then go for Everquest. I've spent significant amounts of time in all of the above listed games and I think it's safe to say that it's the lesser evil of the pack.