Slightly a different scenario with the PS2. There was no version of the system that came with a mem card much less a hard drive. In other words everyone that bought a system had to buy a memory card, there was no other option.
All I'm saying is that some people will buy the $300 version and a game, bring it home, play it, that realize they can't save their game. Then they will pause the game and go back to the store and shell out 40 more bucks for a memory card and wish they just got the model with the hard drive, wireless controller, and other goodies. Most people I hope will realize that the $400 version is a better deal. Also let's not forget how the very existence of a sans-hard drive model causes an extra annoyance for developers.
The problem is that there is an implication that you're saving 100 dollars by getting the cheaper model when in fact you will need to purchase a 40-dollar memory card to save games (something that is a fundamental requirement of modern gaming). Thus you will only save 60 dollars and get a much worse deal. A lot of people will be disappointed when they opt for the cheaper model and find out a few hours later that they still need to spend another 40 bucks before they can save their game.
As it is I see this as a major mistake on Microsoft's part. They are making it more difficult for developers to take full advantage of their console just so some customers can save 60 dollars and still feel like they got ripped off.
This has just been confirmed on Bungie.net The animated gif strongly suggests that the character will be Cortana, notice the bouncing breasts (a feature pioneered by DOA).
Why is a game review on the front page? I actually bought this game and played all the way through. It is quite fun and somewhat unique gameplay experience, you definitely feel like the Hulk when you play. The game is pretty short though and could easily be beaten in a few days. There is theoretical replay value but I feel that most people wont replay it after they beat it and I recommend a rental.
The controls as a whole are above par, there are a wide range of moves and many of them are pretty cool and useful. One problem is that it hurt my hand to play this game even though I play other xbox games quite a bit. I think this has to do with holding down the right trigger to run. Besides being inverted on both axis by default (though thankfully it can be changed) the camera will rotate around the player based on the direction he is moving, and there is no way to turn this off. Some people wont mind this (it is how many games in the genera work) but personally I like to have full camera control on the right stick, I believe it would have made some of the boss battles and challenges easier.
The storyline is pretty weak and this game is very linear. Each mission you play opens only one other mission. I would have liked to at least a little bit of a branching mission structure. There are mini challenge missions that open up when you buy new moves, many are just simple races or kill as many tanks as you can type of missions. But some mini challenges have some fun ideas like a game of golf, football and baseball. I should also mention load times. While the loads are fairly quick (3 seconds maybe) they occur every single time you start a mission or mini mission. This definitely made me not want to replay mini missions though I took the time to try them all at least once.
Some of the boss battles are very annoying especially the finial boss battle which took me several hours before I was finally able to beat it. I nearly broke my controller. I also felt the ending to be anticlimactic.
So that is my quick review, there are some other issues good and bad but those are the major ones. I think any gamer would definitely enjoy this game at least for a few hours. After the game is beaten you can play on a harder difficulty or try to get higher scores on the mini missions, unlock stuff, etc. Still I feel like I probably wont play it again now that I've beaten it.
I just played it a bit and I have to say I'm not impressed. It's nice to see people making games for free but there just really isn't very much to this game. Don't be fooled by the graphics and sound, this plays nothing like a Mario game, basically it's a Jetpac clone with ripped off graphics and sound from Mario. The gameplay is very repetitive and though fun for a few games it quickly loses its charm. There are plenty of better freeware games that don't get slashdotted because they use original ideas. For an example of a very fun original freeware platform game that involves a jetpack check out Cave Story: http://agtp.romhack.net/doukutsu.html
I just played it a bit and I have to say I'm not impressed. It's nice to see people making games for free but there just really isn't very much to this game. Don't be fooled by the graphics and sound, this plays nothing like a Mario game, basically it's a Jetpac clone with ripped off graphics and sound from Mario. The gameplay is very repetitive and though fun for a few games it quickly loses its charm. There are plenty of better freeware games that don't get slashdotted because they use original ideas. For an example of a very fun original freeware platform game that involves a jetpack check out Cave Story: http://agtp.romhack.net/doukutsu.html
So now the only math they are teaching kids is how to convert decimals to fractions? Might as well because almost everything else they teach can be done easily on a calculator.
I've played most of the top freeware games and this game is definitely one of the best. I'm a few hours in and am thoroughly impressed so far. Its an action platform game sort of like Metroid. There are even some innovations like the way weapon upgrading/downgrading works. Great graphics, fun homage to 2d tile engine. One techincal thing that impresses me is they dont use any alpha blending, but it still looks great. Also, I recommend using a game pad if you have one.
I am a big fan of the series but I have to agree with this comment. It is too much of a valid strategy to slam into other cars during turns, something that should never happen in a simulation game.
I think for someone with no prior programming experience in high school, TI-Basic is a great way to get started. It's a very simple and easy to use language. It's also convenient since you can work on your TI wherever you go.
After you start to understand basic concepts in TI-Basic you may want to learn a better language. I recommend C++ since most professional games are written in it.
Here are a few ideas of simple programs you can make in TI-Basic: blackjack, poker, pong, space invaders, tetris, or invent your own idea. Also you might want to check out http://ticalc.org/
Seems to me that his programmers have some problems with optimization. Frankly I'm surprised that Microsoft allowed a game to be released with a sub 20 fps (my estimate) in many key areas of the game. So I'm not surprised at all that his programmers told him that it takes 15% of frame time to do growing trees. There are certainly methods of getting some form of growing trees in the game with minimal cpu usage.
Common sense is that you should never ever mention features that have a high probability of getting cut from a product. Reason being that if the final product doesn't have those features the customers may be upset. Personally I wouldn't even have minded those missing features if the game still turned out great. IMO he shouldn't be apologizing for the missing features, he should be apologizing because Fable is technically unimpressive and ultimately not a very fun game at all.
Midway's new game called PSI-OPS looks pretty cool. It's a 3rd person shooter where you have psychic powers like telekinesis. Dececnt graphics and it uses Havok 2 for the physics. I think it comes out on Monday.
I completely agree; part of a testers job is difficulty balancing. I've never heard of testers saying the game they are testing is too hard. Usually they think it's too easy because they play it so much. In the rare case that the testers think the game is too hard then something is definitely wrong. Personally I can only speak from my own experience and I put down Ninja Gaiden half way through; if it was slightly easier I might have continued.
What about the earth's spin? I understand there is already a method of extrating this using a gyroscope, but it may not be cost efficient. However a super villian might be able to take advantage of this...
"California is looking into claims that the site is practicing geology without a license."
claims? there is no such thing as a geology licese! kind of wish there was a licence necessary for programming though...
People watch movies like swordfish and think people can break into a network in under a minuite while getting their knob schlobbed. The truth is hacking is a lot slower in real life. I would rather watch the pong channel.
I don't see how video olympics is going to be any fun at all if you can only play 1 player. Volleyball probably wouldn't be much fun eigther. What we need is a 2 controler set with combat, vid olympics, baseball, frog pond, etc. Then I'd definitly buy it.
It's not that hard, new music comes out every day. Plus you got so many albums made in the past 50 years. You could even play music from videogames or tv shows. It wouldn't be too hard to store everything in a database so you know which songs have been played before. It might be a bitch planning out which songs are going to be played but I have an idea for that too. Make a web interface so people can request songs and have it automatically query the database to see if they have been played before. Just an idea though...
I have an idea to make a radio station that plays every song once. It doesnt matter what kind of music it is, as long as each song is played no more then once time. And I'm not talking about once per day, or week, I'm talking about once it's played it's never played again. I think that would be sweet.
Sweet! Now all I need is a monitor/toilet and I would never have to leave my computer. I still haven't seen the mocha site. It's really getting hit hard. Anyway, it couldnt possibly beat a nes pc from http://www.retrosystem.com/
Slashdot Mirror
Slightly a different scenario with the PS2. There was no version of the system that came with a mem card much less a hard drive. In other words everyone that bought a system had to buy a memory card, there was no other option.
All I'm saying is that some people will buy the $300 version and a game, bring it home, play it, that realize they can't save their game. Then they will pause the game and go back to the store and shell out 40 more bucks for a memory card and wish they just got the model with the hard drive, wireless controller, and other goodies. Most people I hope will realize that the $400 version is a better deal. Also let's not forget how the very existence of a sans-hard drive model causes an extra annoyance for developers.
The problem is that there is an implication that you're saving 100 dollars by getting the cheaper model when in fact you will need to purchase a 40-dollar memory card to save games (something that is a fundamental requirement of modern gaming). Thus you will only save 60 dollars and get a much worse deal. A lot of people will be disappointed when they opt for the cheaper model and find out a few hours later that they still need to spend another 40 bucks before they can save their game.
As it is I see this as a major mistake on Microsoft's part. They are making it more difficult for developers to take full advantage of their console just so some customers can save 60 dollars and still feel like they got ripped off.
This has just been confirmed on Bungie.net The animated gif strongly suggests that the character will be Cortana, notice the bouncing breasts (a feature pioneered by DOA).
Why is a game review on the front page? I actually bought this game and played all the way through. It is quite fun and somewhat unique gameplay experience, you definitely feel like the Hulk when you play. The game is pretty short though and could easily be beaten in a few days. There is theoretical replay value but I feel that most people wont replay it after they beat it and I recommend a rental. The controls as a whole are above par, there are a wide range of moves and many of them are pretty cool and useful. One problem is that it hurt my hand to play this game even though I play other xbox games quite a bit. I think this has to do with holding down the right trigger to run. Besides being inverted on both axis by default (though thankfully it can be changed) the camera will rotate around the player based on the direction he is moving, and there is no way to turn this off. Some people wont mind this (it is how many games in the genera work) but personally I like to have full camera control on the right stick, I believe it would have made some of the boss battles and challenges easier. The storyline is pretty weak and this game is very linear. Each mission you play opens only one other mission. I would have liked to at least a little bit of a branching mission structure. There are mini challenge missions that open up when you buy new moves, many are just simple races or kill as many tanks as you can type of missions. But some mini challenges have some fun ideas like a game of golf, football and baseball. I should also mention load times. While the loads are fairly quick (3 seconds maybe) they occur every single time you start a mission or mini mission. This definitely made me not want to replay mini missions though I took the time to try them all at least once. Some of the boss battles are very annoying especially the finial boss battle which took me several hours before I was finally able to beat it. I nearly broke my controller. I also felt the ending to be anticlimactic. So that is my quick review, there are some other issues good and bad but those are the major ones. I think any gamer would definitely enjoy this game at least for a few hours. After the game is beaten you can play on a harder difficulty or try to get higher scores on the mini missions, unlock stuff, etc. Still I feel like I probably wont play it again now that I've beaten it.
I just played it a bit and I have to say I'm not impressed. It's nice to see people making games for free but there just really isn't very much to this game. Don't be fooled by the graphics and sound, this plays nothing like a Mario game, basically it's a Jetpac clone with ripped off graphics and sound from Mario. The gameplay is very repetitive and though fun for a few games it quickly loses its charm. There are plenty of better freeware games that don't get slashdotted because they use original ideas. For an example of a very fun original freeware platform game that involves a jetpack check out Cave Story: http://agtp.romhack.net/doukutsu.html
I just played it a bit and I have to say I'm not impressed. It's nice to see people making games for free but there just really isn't very much to this game. Don't be fooled by the graphics and sound, this plays nothing like a Mario game, basically it's a Jetpac clone with ripped off graphics and sound from Mario. The gameplay is very repetitive and though fun for a few games it quickly loses its charm. There are plenty of better freeware games that don't get slashdotted because they use original ideas. For an example of a very fun original freeware platform game that involves a jetpack check out Cave Story: http://agtp.romhack.net/doukutsu.html
You turkeys could have told me that it only runs on xp. It took about 7 hours to download just to find out that I can't play it.
So now the only math they are teaching kids is how to convert decimals to fractions? Might as well because almost everything else they teach can be done easily on a calculator.
Is it just an algorithm or a quantom coin flipper?
I've played most of the top freeware games and this game is definitely one of the best. I'm a few hours in and am thoroughly impressed so far. Its an action platform game sort of like Metroid. There are even some innovations like the way weapon upgrading/downgrading works. Great graphics, fun homage to 2d tile engine. One techincal thing that impresses me is they dont use any alpha blending, but it still looks great. Also, I recommend using a game pad if you have one.
I am a big fan of the series but I have to agree with this comment. It is too much of a valid strategy to slam into other cars during turns, something that should never happen in a simulation game.
I think for someone with no prior programming experience in high school, TI-Basic is a great way to get started. It's a very simple and easy to use language. It's also convenient since you can work on your TI wherever you go.
After you start to understand basic concepts in TI-Basic you may want to learn a better language. I recommend C++ since most professional games are written in it.
Here are a few ideas of simple programs you can make in TI-Basic: blackjack, poker, pong, space invaders, tetris, or invent your own idea. Also you might want to check out http://ticalc.org/
Seems to me that his programmers have some problems with optimization. Frankly I'm surprised that Microsoft allowed a game to be released with a sub 20 fps (my estimate) in many key areas of the game. So I'm not surprised at all that his programmers told him that it takes 15% of frame time to do growing trees. There are certainly methods of getting some form of growing trees in the game with minimal cpu usage.
Common sense is that you should never ever mention features that have a high probability of getting cut from a product. Reason being that if the final product doesn't have those features the customers may be upset. Personally I wouldn't even have minded those missing features if the game still turned out great. IMO he shouldn't be apologizing for the missing features, he should be apologizing because Fable is technically unimpressive and ultimately not a very fun game at all.
Midway's new game called PSI-OPS looks pretty cool. It's a 3rd person shooter where you have psychic powers like telekinesis. Dececnt graphics and it uses Havok 2 for the physics. I think it comes out on Monday.
I completely agree; part of a testers job is difficulty balancing. I've never heard of testers saying the game they are testing is too hard. Usually they think it's too easy because they play it so much. In the rare case that the testers think the game is too hard then something is definitely wrong. Personally I can only speak from my own experience and I put down Ninja Gaiden half way through; if it was slightly easier I might have continued.
Educational, fun, and free!
All things have a beginning? How does the set of all integers have a beginning?
What about the earth's spin? I understand there is already a method of extrating this using a gyroscope, but it may not be cost efficient. However a super villian might be able to take advantage of this...
"California is looking into claims that the site is practicing geology without a license." claims? there is no such thing as a geology licese! kind of wish there was a licence necessary for programming though...
You people act like you've never seen a scam before.
People watch movies like swordfish and think people can break into a network in under a minuite while getting their knob schlobbed. The truth is hacking is a lot slower in real life. I would rather watch the pong channel.
I don't see how video olympics is going to be any fun at all if you can only play 1 player. Volleyball probably wouldn't be much fun eigther. What we need is a 2 controler set with combat, vid olympics, baseball, frog pond, etc. Then I'd definitly buy it.
It's not that hard, new music comes out every day. Plus you got so many albums made in the past 50 years. You could even play music from videogames or tv shows. It wouldn't be too hard to store everything in a database so you know which songs have been played before. It might be a bitch planning out which songs are going to be played but I have an idea for that too. Make a web interface so people can request songs and have it automatically query the database to see if they have been played before. Just an idea though...
I have an idea to make a radio station that plays every song once. It doesnt matter what kind of music it is, as long as each song is played no more then once time. And I'm not talking about once per day, or week, I'm talking about once it's played it's never played again. I think that would be sweet.
Sweet! Now all I need is a monitor/toilet and I would never have to leave my computer. I still haven't seen the mocha site. It's really getting hit hard. Anyway, it couldnt possibly beat a nes pc from http://www.retrosystem.com/