BitTorrent is already being used for non-warez purposes. Most notably, World of Warcraft (link to page with info) uses the format to distribute their patches for the game. That's a ton of exposure right there, given that the game sold 600k+ copies already.
At that price point, there is very little difference between buying it or buying your own PC. Some might say, "That's the point!" but I would argue that the whole purpose of consoles was to be compact forms of entertainment affordable by the markets they target.
Those are only the 'mission zones' (hell if I know what they're really called). The actual game, outside of the cities/gathering areas isn't instanced, so you really could have the whol server population cheering on a duel or something silly.
Some companies have done this. Unfortunately, those are usually the "sleeper" games that few people will play, and the ones that do will rave about. Perfect example: Katamari Damacy. Very simple, very fun game. The graphics look like something a 1st-gen PS1 might have spit out, but it does in no way detract from the game.
The downside is that people will pass it up because it isn't pixel shaded with 4.5d gfx running on the newest and greatest thingamahooie.:)
'We might be moving beyond the graphical arms race soon, focusing more on player-driven experience'
I certainly goddamned hope so. When companies churn out exceptionally-graphicked games that play like crap, they're still crap. But if you have a good game, then it doesn't matter what the hell it looks like (within the realms of reason).
It's the same reasoning in the movie industry, which has paralells to the gaming people. If you look at very, very pretty movies, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within for example, most people will tell you it's neat looking. Once you delve into the story, it's widely regarded as total junk. It failed as a storytelling device for most people.
This is absolutely no different in video games. I sincerely hope that the industry finally realizes this.
Correct. But if you'd have read more, the court system essentially said that due to International Treaties/Law, the Onsen was acting out of line (and was fined). The problem was that there are no Japanese laws agaisnt racial discrimination, thus each and every case will have to go to court to see if it fits the bill under the treaties. That's not a precident that's terribly good, saying "Racism is bad, I suppose, but since we have no rules agaisnt it people who are subjected to it are permitted to come to court to try to convince us that they were, in fact, dealing with a bigotted (whatever)."
This particular case/precident has not passed up to the Supreme Court quite yet, yet despite 'winning' the case, the loopholes and difficulties it leaves behind are not terribly forthcoming on effectively stopping racism/xenophobia.
After testing out more than 100 games, it came down to three that made a noticeable difference:
Super Monkey Ball, Silent Scope, and Star Wars: Episode I Racer.
Is it just me, or is it vaguely unsettling that your doctor may be getting his "l33t skillz" with surgery from shooting people in Silent Scope?...from rolling around an entrapped primate in a bubble, tossing it to and fro?...evading Star Wars pods?:)
Don't get me wrong, hand/eye coordination benefits aside (which is pretty obvious), but it's just kinda scary that those three games have high responses in test subjects.;)
There was some speculation on the Japan Today news forums that this was primarily as a means to have a tracking device. Whether to monitor foreigners or to get the devices back (since they would be much more helpful than paper) isn't really clear. Either would make sense, though, given that foreigners are seen as a source of high crime in Japan and the country is apparently quite confusing in street naming/numbering (and lack thereof)
> Well, it doesn't cost (in theory) millions of
> dollars to fix some jackass's face after a well-
> deserved ass-whuppin'.
You cannot replace some things which garner a lighter sentance recommendation: lives, innocence, and dignity, for starters. I'm sorry, but no matter how much that little kid deserved to be raped (heh, bad paraphrase I know), that bastard who did it will probably get a lighter term in the 'house.
The problem with this is that rape and murder destroy lives. Theft and infringement rarely have anywhere near as deep psychological and physical effects as those two.
It's pretty sad, really. Our courts are placing harsher penalties on people who take our money rather than on the ones who rob our lives, innocence, or dignity. Last I checked, anyone can make another buck; you can't exactly replace the other three.
From anything the Blizzard posters say in their official forums, the BT downloader is still active and will be in use for the up-coming patch.
The primary failing point of BT in that it consumes upload traffic in disproportionate quantities without regard for asymetric bandwidth concerns is really a pretty moot point. It's in a commercial success, used by hundreds of thousands of people.
From what I've gleaned, Blizzard is offering an "opt out" checkbox on the patches and things to disable the BT portion of the downloader for people who don't agree with the method or are being quashed by ISPs and/or college campus port filtering. The actual downloader client isn't specifically modifyable as other popular torrent programs, but wheny ou break it down you can still see the.torrent within the file the server sends (albiet with other non-.torrent info).
World of Warcraft by Blizzard utilizes the BitTorrent methods to distribute patches/updates. That's basically rousing support for a peer-to-peer method from a very well known company servicing several hundred thousand users.
Hot game titles? I suppose it's a matter of perspective, but Japan has held that market for much longer than the USA has. Consoles have very, very heavy Japanese support whereas PCs tend to have more American support. Up until the past few years, a blockbuster PC game was a drop in the bucket compared to the SquareEnix/Capcom/Konami-type companies. Only very recently have American developers brought a bit of headway into that area (Halo 2 being very notable), but then, American games aren't terribly 'Japanese'-friendly, and quite vice-versa. It's obvious that certain games will perform much better in either market, but even still, Japan holds the crown for the games that market to BOTH areas.
There are penalties. The editor neglected to mention losing 10% durability per death. When you have 0% durability, your equipment becomes useless, so obviously you won't want to die very rapidly. Exception to this: in PVP fights, no durability for deaths is lost.
Just a note: If you used a Mouse in FFXI, you weren't playing right. The game was built for a controller, or strictly keyboard interface. WoW feels far more like a traditional FPS-style control than either of the games you mentioned. WASD to control forward/reverse/left/right, adn the mouse (albiet with a right-click-hold) to shift camera left/right/up/down.
World of Warcraft's delivery system via Blizzard uses a form of BitTorrent. They honestly need it for the Closed/Open Betas and Stress Tests as the whole program weighs in around 2.7Gb.
Soccer Moms letting their children see this movie (if R-rated, and fully well gory as it shoudl be) shoudl be the ones gutted and put on hooks. Ratings are given for a reason, people.
Slashdot Mirror
BitTorrent is already being used for non-warez purposes. Most notably, World of Warcraft (link to page with info) uses the format to distribute their patches for the game. That's a ton of exposure right there, given that the game sold 600k+ copies already.
At that price point, there is very little difference between buying it or buying your own PC. Some might say, "That's the point!" but I would argue that the whole purpose of consoles was to be compact forms of entertainment affordable by the markets they target.
Wonderful. Now, we pay for the service, but in order to use the service properly, we have to pay more otherwise we're left in the dust. Fabulous.
Those are only the 'mission zones' (hell if I know what they're really called). The actual game, outside of the cities/gathering areas isn't instanced, so you really could have the whol server population cheering on a duel or something silly.
It appears the AC believes in two things he cannot prove: female orgasms and geeks getting to that point with the opposite gender.
Some companies have done this. Unfortunately, those are usually the "sleeper" games that few people will play, and the ones that do will rave about. Perfect example: Katamari Damacy. Very simple, very fun game. The graphics look like something a 1st-gen PS1 might have spit out, but it does in no way detract from the game.
:)
The downside is that people will pass it up because it isn't pixel shaded with 4.5d gfx running on the newest and greatest thingamahooie.
I certainly goddamned hope so. When companies churn out exceptionally-graphicked games that play like crap, they're still crap. But if you have a good game, then it doesn't matter what the hell it looks like (within the realms of reason).
It's the same reasoning in the movie industry, which has paralells to the gaming people. If you look at very, very pretty movies, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within for example, most people will tell you it's neat looking. Once you delve into the story, it's widely regarded as total junk. It failed as a storytelling device for most people.
This is absolutely no different in video games. I sincerely hope that the industry finally realizes this.
BEEMED?
Hell, "beem" the patient, scotty.
Correct. But if you'd have read more, the court system essentially said that due to International Treaties/Law, the Onsen was acting out of line (and was fined). The problem was that there are no Japanese laws agaisnt racial discrimination, thus each and every case will have to go to court to see if it fits the bill under the treaties. That's not a precident that's terribly good, saying "Racism is bad, I suppose, but since we have no rules agaisnt it people who are subjected to it are permitted to come to court to try to convince us that they were, in fact, dealing with a bigotted (whatever)."
This particular case/precident has not passed up to the Supreme Court quite yet, yet despite 'winning' the case, the loopholes and difficulties it leaves behind are not terribly forthcoming on effectively stopping racism/xenophobia.
Is it just me, or is it vaguely unsettling that your doctor may be getting his "l33t skillz" with surgery from shooting people in Silent Scope?
Don't get me wrong, hand/eye coordination benefits aside (which is pretty obvious), but it's just kinda scary that those three games have high responses in test subjects.
The "No gaijin" signs are a myth too, right?
There was some speculation on the Japan Today news forums that this was primarily as a means to have a tracking device. Whether to monitor foreigners or to get the devices back (since they would be much more helpful than paper) isn't really clear. Either would make sense, though, given that foreigners are seen as a source of high crime in Japan and the country is apparently quite confusing in street naming/numbering (and lack thereof)
Screw the homes. Think of the history that will be lost.
> Well, it doesn't cost (in theory) millions of
> dollars to fix some jackass's face after a well-
> deserved ass-whuppin'.
You cannot replace some things which garner a lighter sentance recommendation: lives, innocence, and dignity, for starters. I'm sorry, but no matter how much that little kid deserved to be raped (heh, bad paraphrase I know), that bastard who did it will probably get a lighter term in the 'house.
The problem with this is that rape and murder destroy lives. Theft and infringement rarely have anywhere near as deep psychological and physical effects as those two.
It's pretty sad, really. Our courts are placing harsher penalties on people who take our money rather than on the ones who rob our lives, innocence, or dignity. Last I checked, anyone can make another buck; you can't exactly replace the other three.
It is pretty obvious that murderers and perverts are less dangerous than intellectual property theives.
From anything the Blizzard posters say in their official forums, the BT downloader is still active and will be in use for the up-coming patch.
.torrent within the file the server sends (albiet with other non-.torrent info).
The primary failing point of BT in that it consumes upload traffic in disproportionate quantities without regard for asymetric bandwidth concerns is really a pretty moot point. It's in a commercial success, used by hundreds of thousands of people.
From what I've gleaned, Blizzard is offering an "opt out" checkbox on the patches and things to disable the BT portion of the downloader for people who don't agree with the method or are being quashed by ISPs and/or college campus port filtering. The actual downloader client isn't specifically modifyable as other popular torrent programs, but wheny ou break it down you can still see the
World of Warcraft by Blizzard utilizes the BitTorrent methods to distribute patches/updates. That's basically rousing support for a peer-to-peer method from a very well known company servicing several hundred thousand users.
No. There is a techinical term for when Penny Arcade breaks things. They don't slashdot things, they don't break them, they wang servers.
Hot game titles? I suppose it's a matter of perspective, but Japan has held that market for much longer than the USA has. Consoles have very, very heavy Japanese support whereas PCs tend to have more American support. Up until the past few years, a blockbuster PC game was a drop in the bucket compared to the SquareEnix/Capcom/Konami-type companies. Only very recently have American developers brought a bit of headway into that area (Halo 2 being very notable), but then, American games aren't terribly 'Japanese'-friendly, and quite vice-versa. It's obvious that certain games will perform much better in either market, but even still, Japan holds the crown for the games that market to BOTH areas.
There are penalties. The editor neglected to mention losing 10% durability per death. When you have 0% durability, your equipment becomes useless, so obviously you won't want to die very rapidly. Exception to this: in PVP fights, no durability for deaths is lost.
Just a note: If you used a Mouse in FFXI, you weren't playing right. The game was built for a controller, or strictly keyboard interface. WoW feels far more like a traditional FPS-style control than either of the games you mentioned. WASD to control forward/reverse/left/right, adn the mouse (albiet with a right-click-hold) to shift camera left/right/up/down.
World of Warcraft's delivery system via Blizzard uses a form of BitTorrent. They honestly need it for the Closed/Open Betas and Stress Tests as the whole program weighs in around 2.7Gb.
People buy Sports DVDs?
Soccer Moms letting their children see this movie (if R-rated, and fully well gory as it shoudl be) shoudl be the ones gutted and put on hooks. Ratings are given for a reason, people.