I was fortunate enough to play the Demo for this monster of a game. It's been so long since a really good 2D game has come out for a home console..let alone such a great one.
This game is just as good as SMB 3, Yoshi's Island, Gunstar Heroes and Symphony of the Night. It's THAT good.
The dodging mechanic took me completly by surprise, and just rocks, to be honest.
The big problem I see with Mercora, is that everything needs to still be vetted by the powers that be. Everything needs to go thorugh official channels.
I can't find live stuff (Especially multiple tapings and multiple levels?), no thanks. I'll stick to DC++, Soulseek and BT, thanks.
Not to say that this software is completely useless. I think if the software is NOT bloatware/adware, has a decent interface+built-in player, that it could be an interesting way to explore new music. Depends on the speeds that I get for the downloads really.
Our fav of the 2.5d shooters, by far. I was glad to see it on the list.
Glad to see JFG made the additional list as well. I actually loved the controls for it. I got really good at shooting off the hip at that game. Was lots of fun.
I've actually just gotten around to read that book. Still reading it actually. It's sitting right next to me at page 309.
It is one of the best books I've ever read, period.
The sad thing is that it takes a good book to do sci-fi right....at least for most people. Myself, I see the little touches in a movie like The Matrix or the later Star Wars movies that overshines the negatives. Where a book describes those things for you, a movie challenges you to think about them and pick them out for yourself. At least a good sci-fi movie.
The problem with Libertarianism, is it results in a socio-economic system where those willing to sink the lowest have the greatest advantage.
Listen, I'm personally a very responsible person. Yet I still believe in government oversight, because I believe that by and large, the concepts of honor, dignity and yes, personal responsibility are mostly lost in a money-run society.
I have a grudging respect for Libertarianism, but not until serious steps are made at a social/cultural POV. What worries me is that these steps are rarely talked about.
Here's the way to look at it. The economy can be sluggish because of two things. Either too little demand or too little production.
In an economy where there is too little production, then tax cuts on the rich are a good thing. This will pay for factory upgrades. Investment becomes crucial in getting the economy moving.
However, right now the problem is one of not enough demand. Like it or not, those lower down the tax bracket do spend a higher % of their money, and faster at that. As well, more of it is spent locally, which creates added benefits from the spinoffs (Which are more important than the tax cut in and of itself).
The problem with the US economy right now, is one of a lack of demand. People are running in to more and more debt problems, cutting back on spending, hurting the economy and so on.
Personally, I don't think tax cuts are the answer either way. My theory is money is flowing up way too fast and is tend to be flowing right out of the US like a gusher. What I would do, is increase the minimum wage by a modest amount.
A minimum wage increase would both increase tax revenues, and create jobs that are not there due to a lack of demand. Combined with that, I would create a tax benefit for small businesses that might be hurt by a minimum wage increase. Combining these two things would help the economy.
Of course, it's still going to take courage to survive the "End of Work" period, when robots do more of the labour and we need to share the jobs, and get our personal satisfaction in other places. Although, if we get through it, the world will be a much better place.
Actually, it is supposed to be ALL the SF2 characters. You can play original SF2 Ken vs. SSF2T Ken, for example. This should actually be very good, as all the games run off a similar engine, just with minor (someitmes major) character tweaks betweem games.
Ken's Dragon Punch Chun-Li's whole move set Ryu's red fireball
For example are examples of moves that have been tweaked throughout the series.
Games such as Daikantant and Enter The Matrix are in no way overrated. That's impossible:) (Daikatana deserves it, Enter The Matrix does not IMO).
Black and White was overrated, however from what I remember.
But Final Fantasy VII overrated? Hardly. If they wanted to put a FF game in there, they could have put FF VI in there, that was amazing until the end of the Forgotten Island, then pretty much sucked after that. All the character development just kinda stopped. It became like Dragon Warrior, (and not one of the good ones either)
Actually, it was the only weapon in any MM game that I ever used more than the main weapon. It really became my main weapon. 3 shots only took one bar of weapon energy.
If you've ever given your cell phone number for anything, it eventually is sold into huge databases that are used for these purposes. They can cross-reference your billing information with your name or even your SSN.
Seriously, under no circumstances should you call them back and give them your information.
Once you do that, you then have a "business relationship", and they are free to contact you any time of day, any day of the week.
Chances are, what is going on is they got your information from an old database of "outstanding claims" that they purchased from a company. Even 'tho it might be something a decade old that you've already paid off. It happens a lot.
The best advice would be to call an independant credit bureau and see what you actually have on your credit report through them. If there's nothing outstanding, then don't worry about it. If there is, contact the company and confirm if it was sent to collections, and see if they have records that it was paid off. If no record, sorry to tell you but you're screwed, even if you paid it.
Use a public fax and fax NCO, asking them to send you a copy of the bill via registered mail. That way they will not fudge the amount, something these places do a lot. Then send in a money order for that amount.
I used to read sci-fi to read about interesting worlds and socities. However, what I found is that I like books, regardless of the genre that are both imaginative, believable and plausible.
What would I suggest?
The Peshawar Lancers by S. M. Stirling. About an adventure in a victorian post-comet strike world where the civilized world moved to the Near East. A lot of steam-punk elements.
Alternative history by Harry Turtledove. Not really sci-fi nor fantasy, however, you'll be drawn in to the "world" that is created. It gives characters and POVs from all sides. You REALLY know the setting when you get through one of his books. Creates characters you care about as well, because of this..even the ones you hate.
The Risen Empire by Scott Westerfeld. This is a great sci-fi read. It vividly shows a society on the virge of destruction because of it's own folly. (In this case, eternal life/I.P and it's effects on innovation and progress)
The best book by Robinson is Telempath. A post apocolyptic society comes to terms with the world it now lives in.
Card's best Ender books are the Bean based books, not the Ender ones.
There's not just much else out there that is good. Too many authors substitute Tolkien-esque detail for actual depth. Which is a shame if you ask me.
Agreed completly. Calling Yoshi's Island "ridicilous" completly ruined all credibility. YI is maybe the best 2d platformer of all time, (along with SMB 3)..there are problems with the game. The sound of Mario crying is horrid. But other than that, it's the masterwork of 2d platformers.
SMS is a lot of fun. I loved the "hyper stages". In fact, that was my favorite part. The game was NOT too easy. The last boss was too easy (the last boss in pretty much every mario game is very easy 'tho). However, trying to get 120 Shines is not easy at all. There are some very difficult challenges in there.
To be honest, it's almost impossible to get that balance right. Most games that are "hard" are also seen as just being frustrating. Mainly because they feel unfair. I think that problem comes when the difficulty level is not balanced throughout the level design.
To put it simply, the problem occurs when a part of a level is out of whack, challenge wise with the rest of the surrounding area. Meaning repeated losses at the EXACT same part and for the exact same reason. That is what usually goes for difficulty.
When I put it on "Hard" difficulty, I expect a relativly constant stream of intense challenge. Not making individual set scenes that are almost impossible to navigate.
In a nutshell, I think that difficulty levels work best in more skill based gaming. VF4 avoided a lot of frustration, to be honest, even when getting your butt whooped. I felt the same thing with the Mario Kart series at 150cc (and F-Zero GX more than likely, havn't played that yet)
The best challenge I find is in fighting games and shumups. For RPGs and FPS games, I prefer a slightly lower challenge level, as they tend to be too frustrating at higher difficulty levels.
I think you're pretty much right. The crap that would sell on the PS2 and the X-Box, just doesn't get the same traction on the GameCube
It's a different market, to be honest. As well, it's a market where the bar is set really really high to begin with. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Well, it's obviously a bad thing for the Edios' and the Acclaims of the world..although Timesplitters 2 and Burnout were great respectivly.
Capcom made some exclusive Resident Evil games. Great. They looked silly next to Eternal Darkness. The shooters looked silly next to Metriod Prime. The platformers looked silly next to Mario Sunshine. (See where this is going?)
What Nintendo is doing, is they are building a small empire built around a relativly high number of game studios to make top notch games for them, ensuring very high quality. Working with companies such as Sega as well, giving them full support.
Unfortunatly, in such an atmosphere of quality, there is no room for the schlock-flingers of the 3rd party world.
To respond to all, it was somewhat sarcastic. As well, I was referring to the "license" agreement that the media makers want to put on what you have that limits it.
Apparently there is good reasons for this, as a sort of CYA technique, for outside licensing.
This is something I've been very interested in for a long time. I agree with the article's premise. This situation IS coming. It's a matter of time.
If it's a good thing or a bad thing depends on how we handle it.
This will end labour/capital as we know it. In fact, this may change how we view wealth and society.
The fact is, we will need to find some other way for contentment and to "keep score". Move away from a money-filled world to one where we have the time and the resources to try and achieve what we want to achieve.
The only problem is that I think that non-economic routes will need to be subsidized somewhere. In fact, in such a world, most pursuits will be rather non-economic.
This is the question the human race will need to answer.
But is it too good of a price? Maybe you need to raise your prices. (Seriously) It would seem that your software would have a pretty small market, but is very good for that market. Maybe you need a price range of 25-30 so you can make a profit with the sales.
Is piracy the problem? To be honest, I doubt it. I think those that are willing to support a program do it. Those that do not don't. Simple as that. Best thing you can do actually, is to create a community, if you do not already have one. Making it personal is the best way to get support on the Internet.
I think that/. has gone over this territory before, one of the biggest threads I've seen.
How do companies price software? Do they expect to have X amount of profit, divide that by the number of copies they wish to sell, and that determines the price? Not really..
What they do is make an assumption on what their target market will bear. For example, Windows is mostly marketed at the corporate user. That is why it is prices so high. Make no bones about it. Without copying, there would be no Windows monopoly right now.
Microsoft is not going to lower price, as it would impact the profit created by their target market. It is the same thing as with most software companies these days. Notice how most of the top-tier games are 50, and most regular Joe games are less than half that? The avid gamer is willing to pay those prices. The avg. Joe is not.
Not supporting infringement (although I believe it has very good uses..I will not purchase a software package without having a chance to explore it first) but the idea that less "piracy"==lower prices is silly and immature.
The only two real strong uses of CGI in movies that I can think of off hand, are FF:The Spirits Within and Lord of the Rings.
FF:The Spirit Within, used the CGI to paint a futuristic world in amazing detail. The detail of that worls is what made that movie for me.
LotR, on the other hand, used the CGI to give the movie an amazing epic scale. To give it the size and scope it needs to give it the right feel. Actually, a large part of it is that they were extremely artistic about the CGI, making it just sparkle. (Which is kind of the point I think)
Now, there are other amazing uses of CGI..amazing scenes and ideas. But in my mind those two films come the closest to realizing the potential of CGI.
Slashdot Mirror
I was fortunate enough to play the Demo for this monster of a game. It's been so long since a really good 2D game has come out for a home console..let alone such a great one.
This game is just as good as SMB 3, Yoshi's Island, Gunstar Heroes and Symphony of the Night. It's THAT good.
The dodging mechanic took me completly by surprise, and just rocks, to be honest.
The big problem I see with Mercora, is that everything needs to still be vetted by the powers that be. Everything needs to go thorugh official channels.
I can't find live stuff (Especially multiple tapings and multiple levels?), no thanks. I'll stick to DC++, Soulseek and BT, thanks.
Not to say that this software is completely useless. I think if the software is NOT bloatware/adware, has a decent interface+built-in player, that it could be an interesting way to explore new music. Depends on the speeds that I get for the downloads really.
As my wife would say..
BLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOODDDDDD!!!
Our fav of the 2.5d shooters, by far. I was glad to see it on the list.
Glad to see JFG made the additional list as well. I actually loved the controls for it. I got really good at shooting off the hip at that game. Was lots of fun.
I've actually just gotten around to read that book. Still reading it actually. It's sitting right next to me at page 309.
It is one of the best books I've ever read, period.
The sad thing is that it takes a good book to do sci-fi right....at least for most people. Myself, I see the little touches in a movie like The Matrix or the later Star Wars movies that overshines the negatives. Where a book describes those things for you, a movie challenges you to think about them and pick them out for yourself. At least a good sci-fi movie.
The problem with Libertarianism, is it results in a socio-economic system where those willing to sink the lowest have the greatest advantage.
Listen, I'm personally a very responsible person. Yet I still believe in government oversight, because I believe that by and large, the concepts of honor, dignity and yes, personal responsibility are mostly lost in a money-run society.
I have a grudging respect for Libertarianism, but not until serious steps are made at a social/cultural POV. What worries me is that these steps are rarely talked about.
Here's the way to look at it. The economy can be sluggish because of two things. Either too little demand or too little production.
In an economy where there is too little production, then tax cuts on the rich are a good thing. This will pay for factory upgrades. Investment becomes crucial in getting the economy moving.
However, right now the problem is one of not enough demand. Like it or not, those lower down the tax bracket do spend a higher % of their money, and faster at that. As well, more of it is spent locally, which creates added benefits from the spinoffs (Which are more important than the tax cut in and of itself).
The problem with the US economy right now, is one of a lack of demand. People are running in to more and more debt problems, cutting back on spending, hurting the economy and so on.
Personally, I don't think tax cuts are the answer either way. My theory is money is flowing up way too fast and is tend to be flowing right out of the US like a gusher. What I would do, is increase the minimum wage by a modest amount.
A minimum wage increase would both increase tax revenues, and create jobs that are not there due to a lack of demand. Combined with that, I would create a tax benefit for small businesses that might be hurt by a minimum wage increase. Combining these two things would help the economy.
Of course, it's still going to take courage to survive the "End of Work" period, when robots do more of the labour and we need to share the jobs, and get our personal satisfaction in other places. Although, if we get through it, the world will be a much better place.
Actually, it is supposed to be ALL the SF2 characters. You can play original SF2 Ken vs. SSF2T Ken, for example. This should actually be very good, as all the games run off a similar engine, just with minor (someitmes major) character tweaks betweem games.
Ken's Dragon Punch
Chun-Li's whole move set
Ryu's red fireball
For example are examples of moves that have been tweaked throughout the series.
Uhh..tried E-Music. At the time I found 0 live music and had a hell of a time finding anything good. Let my account lapse.
Actually for my part, as an occasional P2P user, I'm not interested. And it's not about money. It's about a better service.
What do I do using P2P?
#1. Download live/rarities. Stuff you won't find in a digital music "store"
#2. Surf other people's music lists, downloading a song here and there at randon, trying to discover new, good music.
Until those things are replicated, frankly, I couldn't care less.
These guys are mixing the two up I think.
Games such as Daikantant and Enter The Matrix are in no way overrated. That's impossible:) (Daikatana deserves it, Enter The Matrix does not IMO).
Black and White was overrated, however from what I remember.
But Final Fantasy VII overrated? Hardly. If they wanted to put a FF game in there, they could have put FF VI in there, that was amazing until the end of the Forgotten Island, then pretty much sucked after that. All the character development just kinda stopped. It became like Dragon Warrior, (and not one of the good ones either)
My far it was the Metal Blade. By a ton :)
Actually, it was the only weapon in any MM game that I ever used more than the main weapon. It really became my main weapon. 3 shots only took one bar of weapon energy.
The dumbest?
Flash from MM2 as well. Kinda silly.
If you've ever given your cell phone number for anything, it eventually is sold into huge databases that are used for these purposes. They can cross-reference your billing information with your name or even your SSN.
That is why privacy matters.
Seriously, under no circumstances should you call them back and give them your information.
Once you do that, you then have a "business relationship", and they are free to contact you any time of day, any day of the week.
Chances are, what is going on is they got your information from an old database of "outstanding claims" that they purchased from a company. Even 'tho it might be something a decade old that you've already paid off. It happens a lot.
The best advice would be to call an independant credit bureau and see what you actually have on your credit report through them. If there's nothing outstanding, then don't worry about it. If there is, contact the company and confirm if it was sent to collections, and see if they have records that it was paid off. If no record, sorry to tell you but you're screwed, even if you paid it.
Use a public fax and fax NCO, asking them to send you a copy of the bill via registered mail. That way they will not fudge the amount, something these places do a lot. Then send in a money order for that amount.
A pain in the ass. Yay capitalism!
I used to read sci-fi to read about interesting worlds and socities. However, what I found is that I like books, regardless of the genre that are both imaginative, believable and plausible.
What would I suggest?
The Peshawar Lancers by S. M. Stirling. About an adventure in a victorian post-comet strike world where the civilized world moved to the Near East. A lot of steam-punk elements.
Alternative history by Harry Turtledove. Not really sci-fi nor fantasy, however, you'll be
drawn in to the "world" that is created. It gives characters and POVs from all sides. You REALLY know the setting when you get through one of his books. Creates characters you care about as well, because of this..even the ones you hate.
The Risen Empire by Scott Westerfeld. This is a great sci-fi read. It vividly shows a society on the virge of destruction because of it's own folly. (In this case, eternal life/I.P and it's effects on innovation and progress)
The best book by Robinson is Telempath. A post apocolyptic society comes to terms with the world it now lives in.
Card's best Ender books are the Bean based books, not the Ender ones.
There's not just much else out there that is good. Too many authors substitute Tolkien-esque detail for actual depth. Which is a shame if you ask me.
Agreed completly. Calling Yoshi's Island "ridicilous" completly ruined all credibility. YI is maybe the best 2d platformer of all time, (along with SMB 3)..there are problems with the game. The sound of Mario crying is horrid. But other than that, it's the masterwork of 2d platformers.
SMS is a lot of fun. I loved the "hyper stages". In fact, that was my favorite part. The game was NOT too easy. The last boss was too easy (the last boss in pretty much every mario game is very easy 'tho). However, trying to get 120 Shines is not easy at all. There are some very difficult challenges in there.
To be honest, it's almost impossible to get that balance right. Most games that are "hard" are also seen as just being frustrating. Mainly because they feel unfair. I think that problem comes when the difficulty level is not balanced throughout the level design.
To put it simply, the problem occurs when a part of a level is out of whack, challenge wise with the rest of the surrounding area. Meaning repeated losses at the EXACT same part and for the exact same reason. That is what usually goes for difficulty.
When I put it on "Hard" difficulty, I expect a relativly constant stream of intense challenge. Not making individual set scenes that are almost impossible to navigate.
In a nutshell, I think that difficulty levels work best in more skill based gaming. VF4 avoided a lot of frustration, to be honest, even when getting your butt whooped. I felt the same thing with the Mario Kart series at 150cc (and F-Zero GX more than likely, havn't played that yet)
The best challenge I find is in fighting games and shumups. For RPGs and FPS games, I prefer a slightly lower challenge level, as they tend to be too frustrating at higher difficulty levels.
I think you're pretty much right. The crap that would sell on the PS2 and the X-Box, just doesn't get the same traction on the GameCube
It's a different market, to be honest. As well, it's a market where the bar is set really really high to begin with. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Well, it's obviously a bad thing for the Edios' and the Acclaims of the world..although Timesplitters 2 and Burnout were great respectivly.
Capcom made some exclusive Resident Evil games. Great. They looked silly next to Eternal Darkness.
The shooters looked silly next to Metriod Prime. The platformers looked silly next to Mario Sunshine. (See where this is going?)
What Nintendo is doing, is they are building a small empire built around a relativly high number of game studios to make top notch games for them, ensuring very high quality. Working with companies such as Sega as well, giving them full support.
Unfortunatly, in such an atmosphere of quality, there is no room for the schlock-flingers of the 3rd party world.
Oh well.
To respond to all, it was somewhat sarcastic. As well, I was referring to the "license" agreement that the media makers want to put on what you have that limits it.
Apparently there is good reasons for this, as a sort of CYA technique, for outside licensing.
In my mind the world is too mad licensing wise.
Because the DVDs would not be encoded in his particular region code and importing them would be a violation of copyright as well.
Duh.
Actually, most investments are simply on paper and never result in any discernable improvement.
That sort of financial system is a "black hole" of sorts. It sounds good on paper, but it doesn't employ many people.
It may be necessary (and socially a good thing to have investment in the first place) But it's throwing bad money after the good.
This is something I've been very interested in for a long time. I agree with the article's premise. This situation IS coming. It's a matter of time.
If it's a good thing or a bad thing depends on how we handle it.
This will end labour/capital as we know it. In fact, this may change how we view wealth and society.
The fact is, we will need to find some other way for contentment and to "keep score". Move away from a money-filled world to one where we have the time and the resources to try and achieve what we want to achieve.
The only problem is that I think that non-economic routes will need to be subsidized somewhere. In fact, in such a world, most pursuits will be rather non-economic.
This is the question the human race will need to answer.
But is it too good of a price? Maybe you need to raise your prices. (Seriously) It would seem that your software would have a pretty small market, but is very good for that market. Maybe you need a price range of 25-30 so you can make a profit with the sales. Is piracy the problem? To be honest, I doubt it. I think those that are willing to support a program do it. Those that do not don't. Simple as that. Best thing you can do actually, is to create a community, if you do not already have one. Making it personal is the best way to get support on the Internet.
Not likely.
/. has gone over this territory before, one of the biggest threads I've seen.
I think that
How do companies price software? Do they expect to have X amount of profit, divide that by the number of copies they wish to sell, and that determines the price? Not really..
What they do is make an assumption on what their target market will bear. For example, Windows is mostly marketed at the corporate user. That is why it is prices so high. Make no bones about it. Without copying, there would be no Windows monopoly right now.
Microsoft is not going to lower price, as it would impact the profit created by their target market. It is the same thing as with most software companies these days. Notice how most of the top-tier games are 50, and most regular Joe games are less than half that? The avid gamer is willing to pay those prices. The avg. Joe is not.
Not supporting infringement (although I believe it has very good uses..I will not purchase a software package without having a chance to explore it first) but the idea that less "piracy"==lower prices is silly and immature.
Provide a good product at a good price.
Word of mouth will do the rest (usually)
The only two real strong uses of CGI in movies that I can think of off hand, are FF:The Spirits Within and Lord of the Rings. FF:The Spirit Within, used the CGI to paint a futuristic world in amazing detail. The detail of that worls is what made that movie for me. LotR, on the other hand, used the CGI to give the movie an amazing epic scale. To give it the size and scope it needs to give it the right feel. Actually, a large part of it is that they were extremely artistic about the CGI, making it just sparkle. (Which is kind of the point I think) Now, there are other amazing uses of CGI..amazing scenes and ideas. But in my mind those two films come the closest to realizing the potential of CGI.