I'm posting awfully late, but I really don't think this thread would be complete without a mention of '10.9', a movie clearly designed to scare the bejeesus out of Californians. My wife wanted to watch it for the fun effects, so I joined her. I ended up apologizing for half the movie because I couldn't control my laughter.
Highlights: The only way to stop the monster quake is to set off nuclear bombs buried at locations (and depths) precisely calculated in a matter of minutes by our heroine. Much like Armageddon, if we're off by a few feet, it won't work. Hmmm...I thought the cases where close counted were horseshoes, hand grenades and nuclear weapons.
When they do manage to set off the bombs, a tech is staring at a screen giving updates on the magnitude of the earthquake as it subsides...10.9...10.5...9.7...8.5..."we did it"...7.6...5.2...etc. For anyone who doesn't know about earthquakes, my understanding is that the Richter scale (sp?) is a measurement of the total energy released by the quake...not something that can really subside.
These of course are just what come to mind. Of course the best moment was a clip of some earthquake specialists, whom they supposedly planned on interviewing live after the movie was over. They cut to a shot of them watching the movie, and the entire room bursts out in hysterics. I don't think they even bothered with the interview.
Ummm...actually, she did talk to you. She just spoke a language that the character did not understand. This was conveyed by odd symbols instead of the English captions (at least in the English version) that you saw when the boy spoke. That was actually part of the mystery in the game for me. The boy was compelled to help her based only on her situation and reactions, rather than her saying, "Help! Get me out of here!" In fact, I'm quite sure that was a deliberate choice on the part of the makers of the game.
As for story/plot, I admit it was not filled with lots of exposition, but to me, there was quite a bit of story that you inferred from the game play. The moment of separation that you have at the bridge about half way thru was one of the more emotional moments I've experienced in a video game. It was similar to the experience of playing Myst, where the story unfolds subtly during the game, rather than being spoon-fed to you. My guess is that the parent hated Myst as well. Perhaps it's a style the parent doesn't enjoy...I personally don't get a lot out of the twitch-style FPS's. I found the original Doom rather dull, though I enjoyed Half-life because it did have a story that you gleaned from the gameplay.
Anyone know any of the details about the PS3's backwards compatibility? If the PS3 can run PS2 games, will it be able to run them better? In other words, will the framerate issues that you see playing Shadow on the PS2 improve on the PS3? I might wait until the PS3 comes out to play if so.
I think you are looking for more 'programmer wisdom' from the parent than was intended. Since Uru was supposed to be an ever-evolving online MMORPG, it would have continued to grow and improve as the developers added new content and refined existing content (much as World of Warcraft has done). However, without the subscriber base to support this development, it was doomed. The lesson to be learned is a difficult one. How do you decide that a game is 'complete enough' to release? Too early and the game is not good enough to hook players, has too many bugs, or too little content. Too late and you risk a competitor beating you to the punch, outlasting your finances to pay the developers, and the game becoming outdated before it hits the shelves. As was hinted in another post, I think the problem with Uru was that they created a good single-player game and then marketed it as a multi-player game, which it was really not ready to be. If instead, they had marketed it as a single player game with a multi-player facet to possibly come along in the future, we might be able to play it online still today. No telling.
I'm a WoW player with many friends there, but I also have a circle of friends that play Guild Wars. Other than the 'no monthly fee' aspect, is there something in Guild Wars that could tempt me away from WoW, or should I keep trying to pull my GW friends into WoW?
I've wondered myself about what the percentage means when it comes to rainfall. What someone finally suggested to me is that a 70% chance of rain means that 70% of the area is expected to receive rain. I'm not sure I buy it, but it's sure simpler, and it makes it more understandable if my city doesn't get rain, but the one south of me did.
I completely understand the concern about paying $50 for a subscription-based game that you might not like anyway. I agree that it would be best if you could just download for free. I also believe that the monthly cost should be based partly on time played, but that's another thread. However...
Each purchased copy of the game comes with a 10 day free trial that you can give to a friend. I used this method to sample the game, and knew pretty much within the first hour that I would like it, so hopefully 10 days would be plenty of time to make your decision. Chances are if you are a gamer, you have a friend who plays WoW by now, so I'd hit them up for the free trial if you are on the fence.
Am I playing in the wrong (or should I say right) place? I'm not hard core admittedly, but I don't think I've yet seen one 'NOOB' or 'R0X0R' comment. Are you really being overwhelmed by this or does it just happen occasionally? Seriously...if it's that bad, try another server and I bet it goes away.
Civilization had descent graphics for its time and endless playtime.
That's odd. I don't remember Civilization looking anything like Descent. I mean, one was an overhead view, and the other was first person 3D. How can you say such thing?
It'll be tons better than the Dungeons and Dragons crap^H^H^H^Hmovie, and nowhere's near as good as the original Dungeons and Dragons cartoon from the 80's.
I've seen so many posts (even articles) about how WoW is going to fail because you can get to level 60 in 2-3 weeks, and then you've done all there is to do. As others have said, while doable, this requires some serious power-gaming. First of all, I get the impression that there's a lot more gaming to be gained by playing alternate characters and Horde instead of Alliance, not to mention PVP, but more importantly, I think 90% of the people who play will not be doing this kind of power-gaming. Rather I suspect a major portion of their player base is a much more casual gamer, and in my opinion, the game caters to them for the very reason that it is not an incredibly long process to reach level 60.
In other words, the fact that you can log in for an hour or two and make some notable progress, makes it much more likely that the non power-gamers will stick around as opposed to games like EQ where I could log in for 2 hours and not see a change worth mentioning in my exp bar.
So the power gamers (smaller percentage of player base) get bored and move on to other games, while the casual players (larger percentage) have their interest held and continue playing. I think a year from now, those saying WoW will fail because it's 'too easy' are going to be surprised.
Of course, I don't see numbers, so maybe I'm wrong and everyone but me and my three buddies play 10 hours a day. Could be.
This is a great puzzle game that few people know about. It's got decent graphics for an unknown company, has an Indiana Jones style adventure feel, and difficulty ranging from easy to brain-busting insane...I've never even finished the last level on the original game. And, you can play the whole game with just the mouse and left button. You can find it here.
I believe there are certain Video Poker machines which have a tiny edge on the casino as well. Since Video Poker machines are required to be a random distribution of cards, the pay table (how much each hand is worth) determines how good/bad a machine is, rather than the machine's internal settings. Most are terrible, but there are a few that can have a positive expectation, given perfect play (knowing the right choice to make for every hand). Even then, the casino is counting on the fact that few if any players will be able to approach perfect play close enough to gain the positive edge. I started playing this instead of Blackjack because they will let you consult your strategy chart while you are playing. Plus, the dealer can't reshuffle the deck if the count gets good.
Ok...so maybe it's an advertisement of sorts, but you can't blame the guy. First, he clearly stated that he is the owner rather than trying to disguise himself as a random player. He's got a product that is clearly suffering compared to the big guns (EQ, SWG, WOW). He's mentioning an opportunity to play at no cost. And most importantly, he just wrote the post...Slashdot made the decision to put it out there.
I worked on a great puzzle game called Rich Diamond for a couple years that has never made any real money. It doesn't seem wrong for me to mention it here, and yet it's technically more of an advertisement than Psychochild's post. Mine is guaranteed to be visible at least until I get modded down.
Just because they are pulling in different directions doesn't mean they aren't having an effect. I believe it's just a sum of their effects (some effects being negative of course).
As I read it, we are talking about a very subtle change caused by massive objects lining up in space (moon/sun). If there is indeed a change in gravity, then yes, our satellites would be causing it to some small degree as well, but considering the difference in mass between a man-made satellite and the moon, I suspect we do not have the instruments to measure it.
I've often wondered why I've never seen the following implemented to lessen the dullness of the level grind:
Once a particular type of creature has been defeated, decrease the amount of experience gained for fighting it again. Perhaps a 5% decrease (heck...even 1%) per victory would still allow players to gain a significant amount of experience from a single type of creature, but eventually, it would become more advantageous to move on.
Pros: This encourages people to explore more areas in search of other worthwhile encounters. Also, it seems more realistic. If I encounter a poisonous critter, and determine that an 'anti-poison' widget turns the tide from defeat to victory, I have 'learned' about this creature and have 'gained experience' by doing so. Following that, the battles are a whole lot easier, so my 'experience gained' and knowledge learned is much less.
Cons:
I'm forced to explore more, and possibly leave an area without having defeated all the 'boss' critters because I couldn't get experience by staying there and slaying minions. But, I can go elsewhere, gain more knowledge about the world, and return when I'm ready to take on the stronger foes.
This may require more content on the part of developers. Hopefully, that will mean more quests rather than just more creatures, but either way, at least it's more variation.
I think I have to disagree here. It seems that the ownership has to remain with the company in the case of MMO's. They make this clear in their EULA's.
If the user 'owns' the item, that means the company would be liable for the 'cost' thereof if the item were lost due to a system crash, terrorist attack, whatever. Granted they should have backups of everything, but they should not legally be required to make backups.
If it comes to a legal battle, then the game should never officially go out of beta. Clearly, if I were a 'paying tester' (and don't tell me people wouldn't be willing to pay to be a beta tester...see World of Warcraft), the company could do a system reset (oops! Everyone's back at level one!). Response: "Sorry people, we're still in the testing phase you know." Might lose a lot of players that way, but at least they won't be sued if someone loses their Hackmaster +12 which EBay bidders had decided was worth US$200.
As for the fact that you are paying to play rather than the company paying you, that's exactly the point. You are paying to 'PLAY', not to earn a living. If you decide to try to earn a living, that's your call and your risk. In the meantime, you are paying the company for the privilege to PLAY the game, and keep your stuff around so you can continue to play in the future, but they don't keep it around because they are obligated to by law. They keep it around because otherwise they would quickly lose their player base.
Now, for the real discussion, consider 'Second Life', where their whole system is built around the agreement that the users DO own what they create. Now, there's potential for legal disaster!
There's actually two PS2 games that are designed as rhythm games using the controller instead of the dance pad. 'Frequency' and it's sequel 'Amplitude' both work this way. I've played both.
You only have three triggers instead of four. However, you have multiple 'tracks' of the songs to complete, between which you have to switch. Surprisingly addicting despite the lack of physical activity, and being less physical the more difficult levels get much more complicated than DDR.
Some friends of mine and I built a great puzzle game a few years ago, called Rich Diamond. Even though we never made enough money to pay our expenses, I'm still pretty proud of it. We have a few fans who have been playing it for years. And it definitely is appropriate for kids.
While I think Karate (martial arts) is not a bad idea, some kids may be intimidated by the physical demands. Another alternative is getting them involved in some beginning acting class. Many community theatres offers such classes, specifically targeted at young kids. Not only will this help break down 'social walls' with a group of others, but one big advantage of acting is that it gives significant focus to the other side of the brain (right side is creative/emotional, left side is logical IIRC), which I find is often neglected in kids with high intelligence.
I'm offering this from personal experience. I was definitely a brainy kid, and terrified at the thought of being on stage/speaking in front of people. Then I ended up in a Drama class. I was terrified at first, but after we did a show, even though I only had a small role, I was completely hooked and still do it to this day. I now believe that I have a great balance of left and right brain talents, and I really feel it has served me well in both the technical and social world.
Ok...so the product has most definitely not been released. Yet,it's being sold. Doesn't this mean that any store selling it should be shut down for blatant illegal acts? Or is that not something that non-US govt/law won't care about?? Maybe it's only some 'in secret' pirates selling, but it seems like a reasonably good opportunity to go after them, as clearly they have no leg (well...maybe a peg leg) to stand on. Aarrr!
Slashdot Mirror
I'm posting awfully late, but I really don't think this thread would be complete without a mention of '10.9', a movie clearly designed to scare the bejeesus out of Californians. My wife wanted to watch it for the fun effects, so I joined her. I ended up apologizing for half the movie because I couldn't control my laughter.
Highlights:
The only way to stop the monster quake is to set off nuclear bombs buried at locations (and depths) precisely calculated in a matter of minutes by our heroine. Much like Armageddon, if we're off by a few feet, it won't work. Hmmm...I thought the cases where close counted were horseshoes, hand grenades and nuclear weapons.
When they do manage to set off the bombs, a tech is staring at a screen giving updates on the magnitude of the earthquake as it subsides...10.9...10.5...9.7...8.5..."we did it"...7.6...5.2...etc. For anyone who doesn't know about earthquakes, my understanding is that the Richter scale (sp?) is a measurement of the total energy released by the quake...not something that can really subside.
These of course are just what come to mind. Of course the best moment was a clip of some earthquake specialists, whom they supposedly planned on interviewing live after the movie was over. They cut to a shot of them watching the movie, and the entire room bursts out in hysterics. I don't think they even bothered with the interview.
I dunno. I think I would HAVE to play any game where there was an ultimate goat!!!
MINOR ICO SPOILER ALERT
Ummm...actually, she did talk to you. She just spoke a language that the character did not understand. This was conveyed by odd symbols instead of the English captions (at least in the English version) that you saw when the boy spoke. That was actually part of the mystery in the game for me. The boy was compelled to help her based only on her situation and reactions, rather than her saying, "Help! Get me out of here!" In fact, I'm quite sure that was a deliberate choice on the part of the makers of the game.
As for story/plot, I admit it was not filled with lots of exposition, but to me, there was quite a bit of story that you inferred from the game play. The moment of separation that you have at the bridge about half way thru was one of the more emotional moments I've experienced in a video game. It was similar to the experience of playing Myst, where the story unfolds subtly during the game, rather than being spoon-fed to you. My guess is that the parent hated Myst as well. Perhaps it's a style the parent doesn't enjoy...I personally don't get a lot out of the twitch-style FPS's. I found the original Doom rather dull, though I enjoyed Half-life because it did have a story that you gleaned from the gameplay.
Anyone know any of the details about the PS3's backwards compatibility? If the PS3 can run PS2 games, will it be able to run them better? In other words, will the framerate issues that you see playing Shadow on the PS2 improve on the PS3? I might wait until the PS3 comes out to play if so.
I think you are looking for more 'programmer wisdom' from the parent than was intended. Since Uru was supposed to be an ever-evolving online MMORPG, it would have continued to grow and improve as the developers added new content and refined existing content (much as World of Warcraft has done). However, without the subscriber base to support this development, it was doomed. The lesson to be learned is a difficult one. How do you decide that a game is 'complete enough' to release? Too early and the game is not good enough to hook players, has too many bugs, or too little content. Too late and you risk a competitor beating you to the punch, outlasting your finances to pay the developers, and the game becoming outdated before it hits the shelves. As was hinted in another post, I think the problem with Uru was that they created a good single-player game and then marketed it as a multi-player game, which it was really not ready to be. If instead, they had marketed it as a single player game with a multi-player facet to possibly come along in the future, we might be able to play it online still today. No telling.
I'm a WoW player with many friends there, but I also have a circle of friends that play Guild Wars. Other than the 'no monthly fee' aspect, is there something in Guild Wars that could tempt me away from WoW, or should I keep trying to pull my GW friends into WoW?
I've wondered myself about what the percentage means when it comes to rainfall. What someone finally suggested to me is that a 70% chance of rain means that 70% of the area is expected to receive rain. I'm not sure I buy it, but it's sure simpler, and it makes it more understandable if my city doesn't get rain, but the one south of me did.
My pretty worthless 2 cents.
I completely understand the concern about paying $50 for a subscription-based game that you might not like anyway. I agree that it would be best if you could just download for free. I also believe that the monthly cost should be based partly on time played, but that's another thread. However...
Each purchased copy of the game comes with a 10 day free trial that you can give to a friend. I used this method to sample the game, and knew pretty much within the first hour that I would like it, so hopefully 10 days would be plenty of time to make your decision. Chances are if you are a gamer, you have a friend who plays WoW by now, so I'd hit them up for the free trial if you are on the fence.
Am I playing in the wrong (or should I say right) place? I'm not hard core admittedly, but I don't think I've yet seen one 'NOOB' or 'R0X0R' comment. Are you really being overwhelmed by this or does it just happen occasionally? Seriously...if it's that bad, try another server and I bet it goes away.
Civilization had descent graphics for its time and endless playtime.
;)
That's odd. I don't remember Civilization looking anything like Descent. I mean, one was an overhead view, and the other was first person 3D. How can you say such thing?
Oh...maybe you meant something else.
It'll be tons better than the Dungeons and Dragons crap^H^H^H^Hmovie, and nowhere's near as good as the original Dungeons and Dragons cartoon from the 80's.
I've seen so many posts (even articles) about how WoW is going to fail because you can get to level 60 in 2-3 weeks, and then you've done all there is to do. As others have said, while doable, this requires some serious power-gaming. First of all, I get the impression that there's a lot more gaming to be gained by playing alternate characters and Horde instead of Alliance, not to mention PVP, but more importantly, I think 90% of the people who play will not be doing this kind of power-gaming. Rather I suspect a major portion of their player base is a much more casual gamer, and in my opinion, the game caters to them for the very reason that it is not an incredibly long process to reach level 60.
In other words, the fact that you can log in for an hour or two and make some notable progress, makes it much more likely that the non power-gamers will stick around as opposed to games like EQ where I could log in for 2 hours and not see a change worth mentioning in my exp bar.
So the power gamers (smaller percentage of player base) get bored and move on to other games, while the casual players (larger percentage) have their interest held and continue playing. I think a year from now, those saying WoW will fail because it's 'too easy' are going to be surprised.
Of course, I don't see numbers, so maybe I'm wrong and everyone but me and my three buddies play 10 hours a day. Could be.
This is a great puzzle game that few people know about. It's got decent graphics for an unknown company, has an Indiana Jones style adventure feel, and difficulty ranging from easy to brain-busting insane...I've never even finished the last level on the original game. And, you can play the whole game with just the mouse and left button. You can find it here.
I believe there are certain Video Poker machines which have a tiny edge on the casino as well. Since Video Poker machines are required to be a random distribution of cards, the pay table (how much each hand is worth) determines how good/bad a machine is, rather than the machine's internal settings. Most are terrible, but there are a few that can have a positive expectation, given perfect play (knowing the right choice to make for every hand). Even then, the casino is counting on the fact that few if any players will be able to approach perfect play close enough to gain the positive edge. I started playing this instead of Blackjack because they will let you consult your strategy chart while you are playing. Plus, the dealer can't reshuffle the deck if the count gets good.
Ok...so maybe it's an advertisement of sorts, but you can't blame the guy. First, he clearly stated that he is the owner rather than trying to disguise himself as a random player. He's got a product that is clearly suffering compared to the big guns (EQ, SWG, WOW). He's mentioning an opportunity to play at no cost. And most importantly, he just wrote the post...Slashdot made the decision to put it out there.
I worked on a great puzzle game called Rich Diamond for a couple years that has never made any real money. It doesn't seem wrong for me to mention it here, and yet it's technically more of an advertisement than Psychochild's post. Mine is guaranteed to be visible at least until I get modded down.
How 'bout grammar glitches? Are they funny?
'Anybody could have written that letter (Skiron exempt).'
No offense Skiron. Just pickin' on ya.
Just because they are pulling in different directions doesn't mean they aren't having an effect. I believe it's just a sum of their effects (some effects being negative of course).
As I read it, we are talking about a very subtle change caused by massive objects lining up in space (moon/sun). If there is indeed a change in gravity, then yes, our satellites would be causing it to some small degree as well, but considering the difference in mass between a man-made satellite and the moon, I suspect we do not have the instruments to measure it.
True! It's not a scrabble word, but it's a great Hangman word.
I always get a kick out of the blank stares I get when they've exhausted all 5 vowels and still have all blanks.
'RHYTHM' is a good one too.
I've often wondered why I've never seen the following implemented to lessen the dullness of the level grind:
Once a particular type of creature has been defeated, decrease the amount of experience gained for fighting it again. Perhaps a 5% decrease (heck...even 1%) per victory would still allow players to gain a significant amount of experience from a single type of creature, but eventually, it would become more advantageous to move on.
Pros:
This encourages people to explore more areas in search of other worthwhile encounters. Also, it seems more realistic. If I encounter a poisonous critter, and determine that an 'anti-poison' widget turns the tide from defeat to victory, I have 'learned' about this creature and have 'gained experience' by doing so. Following that, the battles are a whole lot easier, so my 'experience gained' and knowledge learned is much less.
Cons:
I'm forced to explore more, and possibly leave an area without having defeated all the 'boss' critters because I couldn't get experience by staying there and slaying minions. But, I can go elsewhere, gain more knowledge about the world, and return when I'm ready to take on the stronger foes.
This may require more content on the part of developers. Hopefully, that will mean more quests rather than just more creatures, but either way, at least it's more variation.
I think I have to disagree here. It seems that the ownership has to remain with the company in the case of MMO's. They make this clear in their EULA's.
If the user 'owns' the item, that means the company would be liable for the 'cost' thereof if the item were lost due to a system crash, terrorist attack, whatever. Granted they should have backups of everything, but they should not legally be required to make backups.
If it comes to a legal battle, then the game should never officially go out of beta. Clearly, if I were a 'paying tester' (and don't tell me people wouldn't be willing to pay to be a beta tester...see World of Warcraft), the company could do a system reset (oops! Everyone's back at level one!). Response: "Sorry people, we're still in the testing phase you know." Might lose a lot of players that way, but at least they won't be sued if someone loses their Hackmaster +12 which EBay bidders had decided was worth US$200.
As for the fact that you are paying to play rather than the company paying you, that's exactly the point. You are paying to 'PLAY', not to earn a living. If you decide to try to earn a living, that's your call and your risk. In the meantime, you are paying the company for the privilege to PLAY the game, and keep your stuff around so you can continue to play in the future, but they don't keep it around because they are obligated to by law. They keep it around because otherwise they would quickly lose their player base.
Now, for the real discussion, consider 'Second Life', where their whole system is built around the agreement that the users DO own what they create. Now, there's potential for legal disaster!
There's actually two PS2 games that are designed as rhythm games using the controller instead of the dance pad. 'Frequency' and it's sequel 'Amplitude' both work this way. I've played both.
You only have three triggers instead of four. However, you have multiple 'tracks' of the songs to complete, between which you have to switch. Surprisingly addicting despite the lack of physical activity, and being less physical the more difficult levels get much more complicated than DDR.
Some friends of mine and I built a great puzzle game a few years ago, called Rich Diamond. Even though we never made enough money to pay our expenses, I'm still pretty proud of it. We have a few fans who have been playing it for years. And it definitely is appropriate for kids.
There's a downloadable demo at the Rich Diamond site.
Check out the Daily Puzzle too, an online version.
While I think Karate (martial arts) is not a bad idea, some kids may be intimidated by the physical demands. Another alternative is getting them involved in some beginning acting class. Many community theatres offers such classes, specifically targeted at young kids. Not only will this help break down 'social walls' with a group of others, but one big advantage of acting is that it gives significant focus to the other side of the brain (right side is creative/emotional, left side is logical IIRC), which I find is often neglected in kids with high intelligence.
I'm offering this from personal experience. I was definitely a brainy kid, and terrified at the thought of being on stage/speaking in front of people. Then I ended up in a Drama class. I was terrified at first, but after we did a show, even though I only had a small role, I was completely hooked and still do it to this day. I now believe that I have a great balance of left and right brain talents, and I really feel it has served me well in both the technical and social world.
Ok...so the product has most definitely not been released. Yet ,it's being sold. Doesn't this mean that any store selling it should be shut down for blatant illegal acts? Or is that not something that non-US govt/law won't care about?? Maybe it's only some 'in secret' pirates selling, but it seems like a reasonably good opportunity to go after them, as clearly they have no leg (well...maybe a peg leg) to stand on. Aarrr!