That's exactely my point. "REAL LIFE" has permadeath, you die - you're gone. "Save" means that the whole world state is saved and "loading" means returning to THAT point. Resurrecting is completely different, as the rest of the world keeps going. You've never played an MMORPG, have you?
Don't be so sure! My computer is nearly 2 years old and wasn't state of the art then and yet Chankast runs Dreamcast games pretty well feature-wise and full speed at 1024x768. It's likely more than capable.
Sounds like what they do in RuneScape. For example, when cutting down trees, every once in a while, a tree will vibrate very noticably and hitting it will break your axe. Also, everyone once in a while, the axe head will seperate and fall to the floor. While mining ores, a big and slow golem would appear sometimes and attack the miners.
Re:Only real answer is free character transfer
on
World of Queuecraft
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· Score: 1
There are various games that handle this already. These games have X "worlds" or "channels" which are X instances of the world, each with a cap on the number of people on the server at a moment. Players can freely travel between channels/worlds, maybe with a 10 second time delay. Over-population is gone since players load balance themselves, going to channels with less/more people in the area they are in. Economy doesn't suffer because it's all the same world. Guilds don't suffer because people can just say: "everyone meet on channel 35".
There can be "home servers" where the player's static data is stored which will be copied to the "active server" when the player logs in and copied back when they log out, or something similar.
That way, people can play everywhere they want with not too much stress on the servers and everyone are happy.
Though, it might be smart to have regional servers which are indeed distinct, i.e a network for Europe only, a network for US only and so on.
First they came for the communists, and I did try to understand the rational behind it and indeed that "communism" was more of a dictatorship than welfare and the common good. Then they went after the potheads, and I did speak up even though I am not a pothead, because downsides of the "war on drugs" far more than what it tries to achieve (think prohibition). Next, they went after the protesters, and I did speak because the right to protest is sealed in the constitiution as a human right (at least where I live). After that, they tried to crack down on unwholesome music, and I laughed at their faces. Now, they've gone after games and I have the same excuses as in the previous cases, violent people will be attracted to violent games just as non-violent people won't be or will be just for good clean virtual fun.
So you should try Guild Wars. Sure, the game has "xp levels" as in WoW, but the level cap is 20 and can be reached very quickly. After that, your success depends mostly on skill. Mostly because there is still the issue of better items and "skills". Tho the differences are marginal, it can spell the difference between surviving with 5 (out of 400~) HP or dying. Also, the "skills" you find are very balanced, so it is very common to see people using early aquired skills in the "end game". Moreover, you can freely re-distribute your attribute points and skill selection while in towns -> your success isn't limited by mistakes your might have done early in the game.
Oh, did I mention it has no monthly fee? It's not as "vast" as WoW, but if you like skill based PvE and balanced PvP in an RPG world, give it a shot.
The only difference is that the parents CAN tell their children not to play online but can't really tell them: "don't go to school, people are swearing there"
Thought it must be stressed that online people feel more anonymous so they restrain themselves less when referring to others. You won't throw an offensive remark infront a person who might not be calm and will likely pounce you.
Not to ruin your fun, but the BFG in all games other than Quake3 hogs way more energy than the firepower it lays. You could dish out more damage for more time with a different weapon.
In Q3 it's a completely different story, being a cross between Plasma (fast firing) and Rockets (heavy damage) and not eating too much ammo.
I never use cheats to beat bosses, but I don't mind using unintended features. If there's a monster I can hit where it can't hit me, all the better.
For example in Duke3d, end of the 2nd episode. The boss with the RPG. I just ran into the secret area in the back, it kept shooting at me but always hitting the wall. I shoot and it's dead.
Or if I can get the enemy into an infinite loop. For example Galamoth (a big boss) in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Just run up to top ledge and keep slashing. Galamoth will get hit because you hit its head and then move forward again, being open for another head slash.
Because many slashdotters, including myself, use nightly/testing versions of Firefox which are inherently unstable. When such a thing happens to me, I rename the profile dir and run the program again. If it crashes, it's a bug in the program -> Revert to older build. If it doesn't, start moving files there or make a copy of your profile and start removing files. Soon enough, you will find the offending files in the profile dir. In this case, history.dat.
About point 4. This has already been done in Zelda: Ocarina Of Time for the N64. There was an item you could find called the Stone Of Agony. What it did was make the controller pulse vibrate as you moved near a secret area of some sort. There were no other clues for the secret, no flashing, no sound, no screen shaking. Only the controller, vibrating in your hands. That was an excellent use of the rumble feature and somewhat like what you described in point 4.
It's Nintendo we're talking about. Their devices are made of Nintanium and are nearly impossible to break. Stories about wavebirds flinged 2 rooms away and getting hardly scratched and a gameboy that survived a bombing in Iraq exist. The burnt gameboy is on display in the Nintendo museum someone in the US.
Just last month my friend pulled out his NES and it was still functional:)
It's more probable the wall will crack rather than the controller/console.
What's everyone's problem with the Virtual Boy? Just as all other of N's systems, it was profitable. Moreover, every person I heard who actually owned one loved it and only some reported eye strain. It wasn't a "huge success", but it wasn't a flop either.
My PC plays MGS1 and MGS2:Substance, both in very high resolution and with added content that was not present in the original versions. MGS3:Subsistance will be released soon, I believe for PC aswell.
My PC will have Blu-Ray / HD-DVD when they are established media.
A decent platformer, free too! Oldschool style and translated to English. And it's weird you mentioned SotN and forgot all about the latest game in the series, Dawn Of Sorrow.
About Darwinia, they said it'll be availabe for purchase/download at Valve's Steam. I wish them the best of luck, and hope this will open the flood gates for cheap downloadable indie games.
You analogy is flawed. The difference is that the level of graphics PS2 and onwards already looks "good enough" for most part, i.e doesn't annoy the crap out of you, letting you notice and enjoy the gameplay more. If there is lack of gameplay, it will be far more visible. Want a good comparison? Take a good movie from the 90s, with the 90s level of effects and graphics and compare them to a crap 2005 movie with 2005 level of effects and graphics. Both look good enough graphically, but the 90s movie is far more enjoyable since it has a good plot, pacing etc.
Now take an old game, the graphics are kinda annoying and get in the way of the gameplay, even if it's good. -- compared to silent b&w movie Take a bit newer game, with PS2~ graphics, it looks ok or even good and can be very enjoyable for its gameplay. -- compared to Technicolor/Dolby, 90s level cinema Now take a really new game, with awesome graphics and crap gameplay. The graphics can't make up for the crap game. -- compared to hollywood 2005
So yes, i'd rather have good enough graphics with great gameplay instead of omg-wow-graphix-are-so-cool game with crap gameplay.
Like you said, but needs to be stressed out more, what makes a game or a scene scary imho, is that you generally have self confidence and feel unbeatable, and then you get to something which seriously make you feel like you don't belong there and helpless.
Why was Doom1/2 scary? You were genrally strong and went through well lit areas and then blam, a door opens and some unearthly monster comes out. Or when you go through an area which looks ok, open a door and see some hellish room. Doom3 was hardly scary because it was ALWAYS dark. You were always careful and expecting the next monster. And oh, the "roam" sound effects in D1/2 were FAR more creepy than in D3. A small point tho, that the only really scary part in D3 is with the Cherubs. They make this creepy sound when they are far away and then come at you. Moreover, they look like cute but creepy babies with wings. A "monster" isn't scary, because you are desensitized to it, but something partly human - horrible.
Another scary game I played was AlienVSPredator2. As a marine, the first encounter with an alien is about 15mins into the game, after walking around the planet between two bases. You have a motion detector which beeps when something other than yourself moves. But also includes doors. In these 15mins, you open enough doors to think less of the beeps until one time two aliens just fall on you from the top vents. I literally spent a minute firing my assault rifle on the alien's dead body (cuz it kinda kept moving lol). Then later on, you also walk through well lit areas, and then get attacked unexpectedly.
Another very scary event is when you do something you think is right, and then realize your mistake too late. I was playing JediKnight (the original lol), and in that game it's possible to dismember stormtroopers with your lightsaber. So i'm walking through some barely lit ancient shrine, walk mindlessly deep into some room... Then I look on the floor and see dismembered stormtroopers, I think "ah, i've been here before"... Then I realize "oh fuck I wasn't here before..................", I look back and see some big monster just behind me.
But undoubtly, the scariest moment in my gaming life is The Shalebridge Cradle. I went through that iron door and into the reception booth. Suddenly the light begin to flicker. OK........... And then you see THAT. I went to the game menu -> Quit. The whole game to that point took me about 2 days of gameplay. This part took 3 because I couldn't get myself to play it. That nonwithstanding, after I nearly finished the part, I went around unimmersed, just to find all the treasures. And indeed it was far from scary, it was just pixels, which is the most important point. The game MUST immerse you for it to be scary.
Slashdot Mirror
You never played Rogue or Nethack, huh? :)
It says quite clearly "You die..."
That's exactely my point. "REAL LIFE" has permadeath, you die - you're gone.
"Save" means that the whole world state is saved and "loading" means returning to THAT point.
Resurrecting is completely different, as the rest of the world keeps going.
You've never played an MMORPG, have you?
MMORPGs don't have a save feature either.
The main point is permadeath. If you die, you lose the character.
Don't be so sure!
My computer is nearly 2 years old and wasn't state of the art then and yet Chankast runs Dreamcast games pretty well feature-wise and full speed at 1024x768.
It's likely more than capable.
Sounds like what they do in RuneScape.
For example, when cutting down trees, every once in a while, a tree will vibrate very noticably and hitting it will break your axe. Also, everyone once in a while, the axe head will seperate and fall to the floor.
While mining ores, a big and slow golem would appear sometimes and attack the miners.
There are various games that handle this already.
These games have X "worlds" or "channels" which are X instances of the world, each with a cap on the number of people on the server at a moment. Players can freely travel between channels/worlds, maybe with a 10 second time delay.
Over-population is gone since players load balance themselves, going to channels with less/more people in the area they are in.
Economy doesn't suffer because it's all the same world.
Guilds don't suffer because people can just say: "everyone meet on channel 35".
There can be "home servers" where the player's static data is stored which will be copied to the "active server" when the player logs in and copied back when they log out, or something similar.
That way, people can play everywhere they want with not too much stress on the servers and everyone are happy.
Though, it might be smart to have regional servers which are indeed distinct, i.e a network for Europe only, a network for US only and so on.
First they came for the communists, and I did try to understand the rational behind it and indeed that "communism" was more of a dictatorship than welfare and the common good.
Then they went after the potheads, and I did speak up even though I am not a pothead, because downsides of the "war on drugs" far more than what it tries to achieve (think prohibition).
Next, they went after the protesters, and I did speak because the right to protest is sealed in the constitiution as a human right (at least where I live).
After that, they tried to crack down on unwholesome music, and I laughed at their faces.
Now, they've gone after games and I have the same excuses as in the previous cases, violent people will be attracted to violent games just as non-violent people won't be or will be just for good clean virtual fun.
So you should try Guild Wars.
Sure, the game has "xp levels" as in WoW, but the level cap is 20 and can be reached very quickly.
After that, your success depends mostly on skill.
Mostly because there is still the issue of better items and "skills". Tho the differences are marginal, it can spell the difference between surviving with 5 (out of 400~) HP or dying.
Also, the "skills" you find are very balanced, so it is very common to see people using early aquired skills in the "end game".
Moreover, you can freely re-distribute your attribute points and skill selection while in towns -> your success isn't limited by mistakes your might have done early in the game.
Oh, did I mention it has no monthly fee?
It's not as "vast" as WoW, but if you like skill based PvE and balanced PvP in an RPG world, give it a shot.
The only difference is that the parents CAN tell their children not to play online but can't really tell them: "don't go to school, people are swearing there"
Thought it must be stressed that online people feel more anonymous so they restrain themselves less when referring to others. You won't throw an offensive remark infront a person who might not be calm and will likely pounce you.
Not to ruin your fun, but the BFG in all games other than Quake3 hogs way more energy than the firepower it lays. You could dish out more damage for more time with a different weapon.
:)
In Q3 it's a completely different story, being a cross between Plasma (fast firing) and Rockets (heavy damage) and not eating too much ammo.
Quad and Pent are fun tho
I never use cheats to beat bosses, but I don't mind using unintended features.
If there's a monster I can hit where it can't hit me, all the better.
For example in Duke3d, end of the 2nd episode. The boss with the RPG. I just ran into the secret area in the back, it kept shooting at me but always hitting the wall. I shoot and it's dead.
Or if I can get the enemy into an infinite loop. For example Galamoth (a big boss) in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Just run up to top ledge and keep slashing. Galamoth will get hit because you hit its head and then move forward again, being open for another head slash.
Because many slashdotters, including myself, use nightly/testing versions of Firefox which are inherently unstable.
When such a thing happens to me, I rename the profile dir and run the program again. If it crashes, it's a bug in the program -> Revert to older build.
If it doesn't, start moving files there or make a copy of your profile and start removing files.
Soon enough, you will find the offending files in the profile dir. In this case, history.dat.
About point 4.
This has already been done in Zelda: Ocarina Of Time for the N64. There was an item you could find called the Stone Of Agony. What it did was make the controller pulse vibrate as you moved near a secret area of some sort. There were no other clues for the secret, no flashing, no sound, no screen shaking. Only the controller, vibrating in your hands.
That was an excellent use of the rumble feature and somewhat like what you described in point 4.
Mod parent down for cluelessness. ;)
:)
It's Nintendo we're talking about. Their devices are made of Nintanium and are nearly impossible to break. Stories about wavebirds flinged 2 rooms away and getting hardly scratched and a gameboy that survived a bombing in Iraq exist. The burnt gameboy is on display in the Nintendo museum someone in the US.
Just last month my friend pulled out his NES and it was still functional
It's more probable the wall will crack rather than the controller/console.
What's everyone's problem with the Virtual Boy?
Just as all other of N's systems, it was profitable.
Moreover, every person I heard who actually owned one loved it and only some reported eye strain.
It wasn't a "huge success", but it wasn't a flop either.
My PC plays MGS1 and MGS2:Substance, both in very high resolution and with added content that was not present in the original versions.
MGS3:Subsistance will be released soon, I believe for PC aswell.
My PC will have Blu-Ray / HD-DVD when they are established media.
A decent platformer, free too! Oldschool style and translated to English.
And it's weird you mentioned SotN and forgot all about the latest game in the series, Dawn Of Sorrow.
About Darwinia, they said it'll be availabe for purchase/download at Valve's Steam. I wish them the best of luck, and hope this will open the flood gates for cheap downloadable indie games.
You analogy is flawed.
The difference is that the level of graphics PS2 and onwards already looks "good enough" for most part, i.e doesn't annoy the crap out of you, letting you notice and enjoy the gameplay more. If there is lack of gameplay, it will be far more visible.
Want a good comparison? Take a good movie from the 90s, with the 90s level of effects and graphics and compare them to a crap 2005 movie with 2005 level of effects and graphics.
Both look good enough graphically, but the 90s movie is far more enjoyable since it has a good plot, pacing etc.
Now take an old game, the graphics are kinda annoying and get in the way of the gameplay, even if it's good. -- compared to silent b&w movie
Take a bit newer game, with PS2~ graphics, it looks ok or even good and can be very enjoyable for its gameplay. -- compared to Technicolor/Dolby, 90s level cinema
Now take a really new game, with awesome graphics and crap gameplay. The graphics can't make up for the crap game. -- compared to hollywood 2005
So yes, i'd rather have good enough graphics with great gameplay instead of omg-wow-graphix-are-so-cool game with crap gameplay.
Mod me down, but saying "mod me down" or similar on an obvious matter equals a karma whore!
Like you said, but needs to be stressed out more, what makes a game or a scene scary imho, is that you generally have self confidence and feel unbeatable, and then you get to something which seriously make you feel like you don't belong there and helpless.
Why was Doom1/2 scary? You were genrally strong and went through well lit areas and then blam, a door opens and some unearthly monster comes out. Or when you go through an area which looks ok, open a door and see some hellish room.
Doom3 was hardly scary because it was ALWAYS dark. You were always careful and expecting the next monster. And oh, the "roam" sound effects in D1/2 were FAR more creepy than in D3. A small point tho, that the only really scary part in D3 is with the Cherubs. They make this creepy sound when they are far away and then come at you. Moreover, they look like cute but creepy babies with wings. A "monster" isn't scary, because you are desensitized to it, but something partly human - horrible.
Another scary game I played was AlienVSPredator2. As a marine, the first encounter with an alien is about 15mins into the game, after walking around the planet between two bases. You have a motion detector which beeps when something other than yourself moves. But also includes doors. In these 15mins, you open enough doors to think less of the beeps until one time two aliens just fall on you from the top vents. I literally spent a minute firing my assault rifle on the alien's dead body (cuz it kinda kept moving lol).
Then later on, you also walk through well lit areas, and then get attacked unexpectedly.
Another very scary event is when you do something you think is right, and then realize your mistake too late. I was playing JediKnight (the original lol), and in that game it's possible to dismember stormtroopers with your lightsaber. So i'm walking through some barely lit ancient shrine, walk mindlessly deep into some room... Then I look on the floor and see dismembered stormtroopers, I think "ah, i've been here before"... Then I realize "oh fuck I wasn't here before..................", I look back and see some big monster just behind me.
But undoubtly, the scariest moment in my gaming life is The Shalebridge Cradle. I went through that iron door and into the reception booth. Suddenly the light begin to flicker. OK........... And then you see THAT. I went to the game menu -> Quit. The whole game to that point took me about 2 days of gameplay. This part took 3 because I couldn't get myself to play it. That nonwithstanding, after I nearly finished the part, I went around unimmersed, just to find all the treasures. And indeed it was far from scary, it was just pixels, which is the most important point.
The game MUST immerse you for it to be scary.
They already offer it in white aswell.
Here's a pic, with the car circled:
o
I was trying to make fun of the poster saying "USB bus", coming from the Redundancy Department of Redundancy.
Oh and welcome to Slashdot.
Yea, this new electronic e-Ink will let you use the USB bus to type in the PIN number on the ATM machine.
and a pen's got to suck for playing any FPSs
Nintendo disagrees.
Due to conflicts?
By then, i'm sure they could bridge it out.