Why did they have to use a crappy POS like FilePlanet to distribute this?
Because there are alternative methods out there.
Sure it's free, you only have to pay FilePlanet $ for a fast connection and fast access to the files. Otherwise your stuck at something like 32kps transfer speed and waiting in line for 2-hours for the download to start.
Would you rather share that nice fast connection with 100 people after waiting in line or share it with 1000 people immediately?
You get what you pay for. Thats what it all comes down to when it comes to service. You can hire someone to clean your house for pennies, but when you turn your back they'll rob you blind. On the other hand, you pay them a nicely enough and they'll hand scrub every inch of the floor.
Actually there was a game which used WWI as a setting. It was called Iron Storm, but needless to say it wasn't very good at all.
As for why WWI (FPS) games haven't been made; while the idea of charging an entrenched enemy and dodging machine gun fire may sound fun, after the first 15 minutes, do you really wanna die for the 10th time without even firing a shot? On the other side, would you like to sit on your ass just using your right hand to aim and shoot a machine gun?
My point is that the Metroid Prime load times are more-or-less the same as the load times in PS2 games.
Wth are you talking about? Load times in Metroid Prime are more-or-less the same as PS2 load times? Try playing RPGs on the PS2 and count how much time you waste waiting for the game to load every random battle. I don't know where you get the idea that Metroid Prime has long load times. The longest ones are arguably the elevator scenes, and thats largely to maintain the series's tradition of waiting the elevator go up and down while passing through areas.
True, but in FFXI's case that was most of a consumer base issue rather than a 'lets try something innovative' idea. The PS2 market in Japan no doubt dwarfs the PC market there, while the PC market is arguably stronger in the U.S. over the PS2 market. Solution? Make it possible to play the game on both systems in both countries, in both languages, on the same server (for better or for worse).
one that recognizes the limitations of the current-console platforms and one that acknowledges the fascination consumers have with online gameplay."
So in otherwords, the acknowledgement that running a MMORPG game without a hard drive built in is very hard and the fact that people are amazed at the fact that PC gamers have been playing RPGs with OTHER PEOPLE for years now. Basicly meaning that console MMORPGs will eventually mimic and merge with PC MMORPGs, as console RPGs have generally focused on strict linear storylines for one player.
Until ABA Games gets bought up and these games are rereleased as a fully funded game for a major system? If ABA Games keeps this up, hes bound to gain some attention in the mainstream.
if this doesn't sound "fun" to you because you don't like to lose to superior players on an even playing field, maybe you shouldn't be playing games.
My point is that the playing field isn't fair at all. If I jump into a Quake 3 server with one guy camping the BFG spawn point and constantly spawn killing me from there, how is it fair that I have to use the machinegun (the default gun) against the BFG (the strongest gun in the game)? I go onto a Counter-Strike server and start with a bare $1000 cash. Great, I can buy Desert Eagle vs... AK-47s, M4 Carbines, and enough sniper rifles to halt an entire platoon. Real fair.
every game up until video games has this requirement (chess, checkers, etc...).
Yeah, and every game up until video games has always given both sides the same exact resources, advantages, disadvantages, and equipment. In otherwords, everything is symetrical and we should play Pong, since that is symetrical.
No. Given the insane game market at the time of the NES, I'm not surprised. We get the NES but shun the Sega Master System, Japan goes gaga of Dragon Quest and America laughs thinking its just a fad, Japan embrace video games openly, America blacklists them as 'only for children'.
This sorta thing also happened to the Dragon Warrior series. America only recieved I - IV, and then jumped to VII. Wheres V and VI? Thank god Nintendo didn't form a habit of naming the Fire Emblem series with numbers as well. (Japan has been playing the series since the first NES and we recently got episode 'zero' on the GBA.) The only series that really made it over here intact with its numbering was the Megaman/Rockman series, but we still missed a couple side-games.
It's called "balancing" the game. Barriers like these are necessary to keep a game fun, and you're far more likely to hear people "bitching" if you don't straighten these problems out.
"Balancing" the game? In order to "balance" things in games, both sides would be restricted to the same type of rules, restriction, and objective. In otherwords, no diversity. For RTS games, that would mean having EVERYONE play only as one side, or in FPS games use only the default gun since it may be unfair to some players who spawned slightly farther away from the uber-gun.
Gee wiz, by that logic we should only play sports games, since they're the only games that are "balanced."
But they reenforce the idea that some limits need to be set and must be enforced. Take the current cheat vs anti-cheat wars, and the limits placed on all MMOGs.
True, but don't forget that these are GAMES. The moment you start putting even the smallest barrier (like a maximum altitude or a 'no you can't make a spell so powerful you kill half the world in one shot') people start bitching, whether is single-player, multiplayer, or a MMOG game.
On top of that, theres no real direct method of punishing someone for breaking 'rules' except in MMOGs. Ban him? There are plenty of servers. Mute him? Again, there are other servers. Abuse him? AGAIN, other servers. We're not solving the problem, we're just shoving it under a carpet.
I guess it just goes to show how big Sony has become in the gaming industry.
Indeed, but one has to wonder : Will that translate true with the PS3?
IMO, the PS2 outdid the Dreamcast with backward by shipping with backward compability and shipping with a DVD system. However, a shipping with a DVD system isn't going to help anymore since the market is saturated with them, and backward compability won't help since they've saturated the market with PS2 units (when PS3 hits, I wouldn't be surprised to find pre-owned PS2s going for $50.) So what does Sony have going for them with the PS3? Maybe some linkage between the PSP and PS3, and its huge third-party developer support.
But even thats weak. SquareEnix, unarguably Sony's biggest help with FFVII and FFX, isn't staying 100% dedicated with them to buddy up with Nintendo. Capcom and Konami are also beginning to cross-develop on other systems as well, not to mention Sony failing to buddy up with Sega after defeating their Dreamcast. The PSP also doesn't have much going for it other than technological overpowerment over Nintendo's Gameboy Advance, considered to be an unenterable market. Unless Sony reveals some serious, serious backage at this year's E3, I'm gonna have to say Sony is in trouble. Between Nintendo's tried-and-true franchises and Gameboy Advance, as well as Microsoft's power-leading Xbox and a treasury larger than some third-world countries, Sony is in a tight spot. Yesterday's success is today's overconfidence and tomorrow's defeat.
So does Slashdot, UT2k3, Unreal Tournament, certain servers for Counter-Strike, Warcraft III, all MMORPGs and most other MMOGs, and Starcraft. Guess what, they're all PC games.
If a console game manages to do this, its newsworthy. You know why? Because it hasn't been done before.
Space Invaders, Pong, and 4 player classic Gauntlet.
On a more serious note, Nintendo should try and convince Sega to re-release the original Sonic games on the GBA instead of those awful Sonic Advance games, if possible. A 4 player Gauntlet game would be a pretty good idea too if they could give it some depth other than Gauntlet Legend's shallow 'find runes' only main barrier. (Maybe make a model after Shining Soul 2? Thats a really good hack-and-slash game for the GBA.)
While getting four friends with GBAs and a GC together is really difficult for a game of FF:Crystal Chronicals (roughly $550 USD there) I think Nintendo and SquareEnix are taking the right approach to the idea of connectivity. Sure its a (very) small niche, but if the GBA somehow manages to price drop again this year (hey I can dream can't I?) coupled with GC's insanely low price of $100, connectivity would be the hot topic of the year.
On the plus side, I really doubt they'd write the suit out of the story. After all, it's practically one of the defining elements of the series
True, but if they use a live actress then they may have to sacrifice the quality of it in order to make it wearable. How much do you think the suit weighs in the game (any of them)? Lets say its made of some super strong, super light material. Roughly 50 pounds distributed. Not too bad since most people can 30 pounds in their hands no problem, an extra 20 pounds distributed and after getting used to it isn't that bad. Now in real life, how much do you think something thats supposed to look like a missle launching, charge beam capable, multiweapon changing beam cannon weighs? Easily 10-15 pounds without looking like a wireframe covered paper-mache project. And thats not even counting the armor heavy torso piece (I seriously doubt Samus's chest is as large as it appears in Metroid Prime.)
Don't forget Metroid was all about dodging as well so having a large armor, which is supposed to be super light and powerful in the game, won't help the actress make a somasault, grab onto a ledge and pull herself up ONEHANDED.
Better yet, I would love the game if they were to tweak the balance and fix the bugs in the game. I donno about other people's experiences but the number of balance issues in the entire series (Elder Scrolls, Daggerfall, Morrowind) really bothered me. Daggerfall suffered from the most bugs though (the game had a habit of randomly crashing and corrupting save games). The Elder Scrolls suffered more from balance issues (starting off as a wizard was nearly impossible since all players had to go through a training dungeon. At the end of the dungeon was a level 3 humanoid enemy (thief if I remember correctly) and this is after fighting rats and bats. Since it was a training ground monsters didn't respawn either, so you can imagine it was pretty difficult for someone to get through if they had bad starting stats.
The problem is whats being outsourced in this situation. Before it was things such as steel, automobiles, and clothes being outsourced. Can't really compete in steel, automobiles, or the clothes industry when your products already sucks, might as well give up some ground. This is not exactly clear when it comes to things such as programming software or telling Joe Average over the phone that he should try plugging in his computer into an outlit because it has a black screen.
What are programmers gonna do when they try to strike? Not code? Fine, get someone in India to do it cheaper. Sabatage the software? Thats what all those years and years of daily/weekly/monthly backups are for. Form a human chain around the building and not let anyone in? "Ok everyone is to telecommunicate to work today!"
FFXI is a glorified chatroom, just like Everquest and 90% of the other MMOs out there.
FFXI and Everquest along with 90% of the other MMOs out there are MMORPGs. The whole point of them is to Role Play. They weren't designed to be a jump in, wack a couple things, piss off a buncha random people you don't know online, and then jump off laughing knowing you've wasted somebody's time type of game. You want a non-glorified chatroom online game? Go play Counter-Strike. Other than people spamming with macros and the occasional yellings of 'CHETAR!@!!!@!111!' EXTREMELY few people talk there.
Well, there's that little problem where Microsoft patches tend to break other applications, particularly competitor's applications. Which makes automatic patching a bit of a concern when mission-critical apps get broken.
True, but in the long run whats better? Switching over to Linux and have no one to sue if your server gets hacked due to a security flaw? Or stay with Windows and have someone to take the heat when your server crashes from an update?
Linux is great and all, but if you don't have someone, who knows what their doing, updating it and monitoring it regularly; you might as well switch back to Windows. The mass public doesn't have the patience or knowledge to switch to a non-mainstream system just because a bunch of no-name hackers/programmers/nerds on the internet 'claim' its more effective.
I'd be interested in another Myst game. Myst was never a game for the masses anyway (once you get past first impressions). Adventure/puzzle based games were never very for the mass market due to their lack of replay value. They're more for people who like to take their time on games and be able to look back on that time and consider it well spent.
Having never been recognized by Sony, it's wondering if or when Sony will allow commercial games developers to join the community.
Community? I thought Sony and the PS2 were in the business of making money, not the business of joining the currently unproven open source business.
If the ps2dev.org community can pool together resources, money, and support to develop and publish a game, THEN Sony should start taking them seriously. Otherwise, no way. Its like trying to use a resume with no previous job experience and no coding experience listed on it to get a job as a lead programmer for Apple/Microsoft/IBM/the government/etc.
Slightly offtopic but, the original MGS for PS1 didn't ship with VR missions. It had short videos explaining the controls and how to do certain actions (like using an enemy as a shield) but no VR missions. The VR missions were made into another game, MGS:Integral, and came out as a seperate game.
The same thing holds true with MGS2 (the original PS2 version), the original didn't ship with VR missions. Thats why both games plummeted in price so quickly. There was nearly no replay value without the VR missions.
For the pretty pictures! I like looking at hi-res, nicely printed official artwork of a game especially when it comes to Squaresoft/SquareEnix games. Having a strategy guide next to me to get through the game is nice and all, but the 'replay value' of the guide is the pictures.
Slashdot Mirror
Because there are alternative methods out there.
Sure it's free, you only have to pay FilePlanet $ for a fast connection and fast access to the files. Otherwise your stuck at something like 32kps transfer speed and waiting in line for 2-hours for the download to start.
Would you rather share that nice fast connection with 100 people after waiting in line or share it with 1000 people immediately?
You get what you pay for. Thats what it all comes down to when it comes to service. You can hire someone to clean your house for pennies, but when you turn your back they'll rob you blind. On the other hand, you pay them a nicely enough and they'll hand scrub every inch of the floor.
As for why WWI (FPS) games haven't been made; while the idea of charging an entrenched enemy and dodging machine gun fire may sound fun, after the first 15 minutes, do you really wanna die for the 10th time without even firing a shot? On the other side, would you like to sit on your ass just using your right hand to aim and shoot a machine gun?
Wth are you talking about? Load times in Metroid Prime are more-or-less the same as PS2 load times? Try playing RPGs on the PS2 and count how much time you waste waiting for the game to load every random battle. I don't know where you get the idea that Metroid Prime has long load times. The longest ones are arguably the elevator scenes, and thats largely to maintain the series's tradition of waiting the elevator go up and down while passing through areas.
I guess in that case it was more of "breaking the controller" rather than "breaking the third wall".
True, but in FFXI's case that was most of a consumer base issue rather than a 'lets try something innovative' idea. The PS2 market in Japan no doubt dwarfs the PC market there, while the PC market is arguably stronger in the U.S. over the PS2 market. Solution? Make it possible to play the game on both systems in both countries, in both languages, on the same server (for better or for worse).
So in otherwords, the acknowledgement that running a MMORPG game without a hard drive built in is very hard and the fact that people are amazed at the fact that PC gamers have been playing RPGs with OTHER PEOPLE for years now. Basicly meaning that console MMORPGs will eventually mimic and merge with PC MMORPGs, as console RPGs have generally focused on strict linear storylines for one player.
I for one welcome our robot overlords!
Um, Halo came out on Xbox first and then came out as three year old Xbox title on the PC..
Until ABA Games gets bought up and these games are rereleased as a fully funded game for a major system? If ABA Games keeps this up, hes bound to gain some attention in the mainstream.
My point is that the playing field isn't fair at all. If I jump into a Quake 3 server with one guy camping the BFG spawn point and constantly spawn killing me from there, how is it fair that I have to use the machinegun (the default gun) against the BFG (the strongest gun in the game)? I go onto a Counter-Strike server and start with a bare $1000 cash. Great, I can buy Desert Eagle vs... AK-47s, M4 Carbines, and enough sniper rifles to halt an entire platoon. Real fair.
every game up until video games has this requirement (chess, checkers, etc...).
Yeah, and every game up until video games has always given both sides the same exact resources, advantages, disadvantages, and equipment. In otherwords, everything is symetrical and we should play Pong, since that is symetrical.
No. Given the insane game market at the time of the NES, I'm not surprised. We get the NES but shun the Sega Master System, Japan goes gaga of Dragon Quest and America laughs thinking its just a fad, Japan embrace video games openly, America blacklists them as 'only for children'.
This sorta thing also happened to the Dragon Warrior series. America only recieved I - IV, and then jumped to VII. Wheres V and VI? Thank god Nintendo didn't form a habit of naming the Fire Emblem series with numbers as well. (Japan has been playing the series since the first NES and we recently got episode 'zero' on the GBA.) The only series that really made it over here intact with its numbering was the Megaman/Rockman series, but we still missed a couple side-games.
"Balancing" the game? In order to "balance" things in games, both sides would be restricted to the same type of rules, restriction, and objective. In otherwords, no diversity. For RTS games, that would mean having EVERYONE play only as one side, or in FPS games use only the default gun since it may be unfair to some players who spawned slightly farther away from the uber-gun.
Gee wiz, by that logic we should only play sports games, since they're the only games that are "balanced."
True, but don't forget that these are GAMES. The moment you start putting even the smallest barrier (like a maximum altitude or a 'no you can't make a spell so powerful you kill half the world in one shot') people start bitching, whether is single-player, multiplayer, or a MMOG game.
On top of that, theres no real direct method of punishing someone for breaking 'rules' except in MMOGs. Ban him? There are plenty of servers. Mute him? Again, there are other servers. Abuse him? AGAIN, other servers. We're not solving the problem, we're just shoving it under a carpet.
Indeed, but one has to wonder : Will that translate true with the PS3?
IMO, the PS2 outdid the Dreamcast with backward by shipping with backward compability and shipping with a DVD system. However, a shipping with a DVD system isn't going to help anymore since the market is saturated with them, and backward compability won't help since they've saturated the market with PS2 units (when PS3 hits, I wouldn't be surprised to find pre-owned PS2s going for $50.) So what does Sony have going for them with the PS3? Maybe some linkage between the PSP and PS3, and its huge third-party developer support.
But even thats weak. SquareEnix, unarguably Sony's biggest help with FFVII and FFX, isn't staying 100% dedicated with them to buddy up with Nintendo. Capcom and Konami are also beginning to cross-develop on other systems as well, not to mention Sony failing to buddy up with Sega after defeating their Dreamcast. The PSP also doesn't have much going for it other than technological overpowerment over Nintendo's Gameboy Advance, considered to be an unenterable market. Unless Sony reveals some serious, serious backage at this year's E3, I'm gonna have to say Sony is in trouble. Between Nintendo's tried-and-true franchises and Gameboy Advance, as well as Microsoft's power-leading Xbox and a treasury larger than some third-world countries, Sony is in a tight spot. Yesterday's success is today's overconfidence and tomorrow's defeat.
If a console game manages to do this, its newsworthy. You know why? Because it hasn't been done before.
On a more serious note, Nintendo should try and convince Sega to re-release the original Sonic games on the GBA instead of those awful Sonic Advance games, if possible. A 4 player Gauntlet game would be a pretty good idea too if they could give it some depth other than Gauntlet Legend's shallow 'find runes' only main barrier. (Maybe make a model after Shining Soul 2? Thats a really good hack-and-slash game for the GBA.)
While getting four friends with GBAs and a GC together is really difficult for a game of FF:Crystal Chronicals (roughly $550 USD there) I think Nintendo and SquareEnix are taking the right approach to the idea of connectivity. Sure its a (very) small niche, but if the GBA somehow manages to price drop again this year (hey I can dream can't I?) coupled with GC's insanely low price of $100, connectivity would be the hot topic of the year.
True, but if they use a live actress then they may have to sacrifice the quality of it in order to make it wearable. How much do you think the suit weighs in the game (any of them)? Lets say its made of some super strong, super light material. Roughly 50 pounds distributed. Not too bad since most people can 30 pounds in their hands no problem, an extra 20 pounds distributed and after getting used to it isn't that bad. Now in real life, how much do you think something thats supposed to look like a missle launching, charge beam capable, multiweapon changing beam cannon weighs? Easily 10-15 pounds without looking like a wireframe covered paper-mache project. And thats not even counting the armor heavy torso piece (I seriously doubt Samus's chest is as large as it appears in Metroid Prime.)
Don't forget Metroid was all about dodging as well so having a large armor, which is supposed to be super light and powerful in the game, won't help the actress make a somasault, grab onto a ledge and pull herself up ONEHANDED.
Better yet, I would love the game if they were to tweak the balance and fix the bugs in the game. I donno about other people's experiences but the number of balance issues in the entire series (Elder Scrolls, Daggerfall, Morrowind) really bothered me. Daggerfall suffered from the most bugs though (the game had a habit of randomly crashing and corrupting save games). The Elder Scrolls suffered more from balance issues (starting off as a wizard was nearly impossible since all players had to go through a training dungeon. At the end of the dungeon was a level 3 humanoid enemy (thief if I remember correctly) and this is after fighting rats and bats. Since it was a training ground monsters didn't respawn either, so you can imagine it was pretty difficult for someone to get through if they had bad starting stats.
What are programmers gonna do when they try to strike? Not code? Fine, get someone in India to do it cheaper. Sabatage the software? Thats what all those years and years of daily/weekly/monthly backups are for. Form a human chain around the building and not let anyone in? "Ok everyone is to telecommunicate to work today!"
FFXI and Everquest along with 90% of the other MMOs out there are MMORPGs. The whole point of them is to Role Play. They weren't designed to be a jump in, wack a couple things, piss off a buncha random people you don't know online, and then jump off laughing knowing you've wasted somebody's time type of game. You want a non-glorified chatroom online game? Go play Counter-Strike. Other than people spamming with macros and the occasional yellings of 'CHETAR!@!!!@!111!' EXTREMELY few people talk there.
True, but in the long run whats better? Switching over to Linux and have no one to sue if your server gets hacked due to a security flaw? Or stay with Windows and have someone to take the heat when your server crashes from an update?
Linux is great and all, but if you don't have someone, who knows what their doing, updating it and monitoring it regularly; you might as well switch back to Windows. The mass public doesn't have the patience or knowledge to switch to a non-mainstream system just because a bunch of no-name hackers/programmers/nerds on the internet 'claim' its more effective.
I'd be interested in another Myst game. Myst was never a game for the masses anyway (once you get past first impressions). Adventure/puzzle based games were never very for the mass market due to their lack of replay value. They're more for people who like to take their time on games and be able to look back on that time and consider it well spent.
Community? I thought Sony and the PS2 were in the business of making money, not the business of joining the currently unproven open source business.
If the ps2dev.org community can pool together resources, money, and support to develop and publish a game, THEN Sony should start taking them seriously. Otherwise, no way. Its like trying to use a resume with no previous job experience and no coding experience listed on it to get a job as a lead programmer for Apple/Microsoft/IBM/the government/etc.
The same thing holds true with MGS2 (the original PS2 version), the original didn't ship with VR missions. Thats why both games plummeted in price so quickly. There was nearly no replay value without the VR missions.
At least for me.