I'm sure SOMEONE owns the rights to some of those games, but do you really think some company is going to try and track down people who has an illegal copy of 'Pac-Man'? Most companies don't even know where most of the arcade machines are anymore in the world, let alone know where the arcade machines that were sold off/given away are. The legal battles of tracking a 20 year old paper trail and under the table sales would cost millions in time and costs.
Even though Halo was originally designed for the PC, it was long twisted and tweaked for maximum XBox performance. Gearbox virtually had to break down the walls and expand the game engine to fit the wide array of different hardware PCs have. Trying to compare Halo PC with, say, Quake 3 or UT2k3 would be very unfair.
Anyone whos worked in retail, or simply listened to someone who worked in retail, knows that dealing with morons is a daily task. People are just getting lazier and stupider these days and this is reflecting on their children. This seems to be materializing in the form of ignorance.
We all know the ESRB is doing its best to teach the public about their ratings, but quite frankly most people ignore them. Now whos job is it to tell a 9 year old kid who comes into a store with a hundred dollars to buy GTA:VC only to remark that he already has GTA3 when stated that he's too young for the game(s)? I donno about most people, but after seeing the same styled black and white labels on hundreds of different games, don't you think people would've caught on by now?
'It's not like Sony has a home advantage in Korea in these respects, since it needs to translate its games into Korean just as Microsoft does, and these results don't bode well for Microsoft's plans to release more western content in the Far East.'
No home advantage in Korea compared to Microsoft? I know (South) Korea and Japan are totally different countries but theres bound to be some kind of pre-set friendly relationship between the two country's culture. That'd be like saying Microsoft doesn't have a home advantage in Canada or Mexico.
Bioware always being a purveyor of quality games? I picked up Neverwinter Nights the week it came out, and I was NOT impressed. True the Fallout series and the toolkit for NwN were great, but "always" is too strong of a word.
As for Halo PC being poorly optimized for the PC, first Bungie didn't make the PC port. Second, its easier to design ANYTHING when you have only one set of restrictions to work with. In the case of Halo PC... well, the fact that people still use Pentium 1 computers to play Half-Life multiplayer should give you an idea of what type of non-existant standards PC gamers tend to create.
Any successful game with a strong franchise behind it (in this case Star Wars) will spawn sequels. Its the nature of the gaming/franchise relationship. The LOTR movies were successful, that caused a LOTR game that was successful, and that caused a LOTR sequel game.
Why? Simple; age, competition, and Christmas season (Those of you who worked in retail know what I'm talking about).
How in the PS2 now? Almost 3 years old (In the US). Based on previous game consoles, that means the PS2 is nearing the average lifetime of a console (which is about 3~5 years). Regardless of sales and the numbers game, Sony is under pressure to continue the impression that they're dominating the market. The gaming industry may be big business, but as it is the gaming industry is a harsh, demanding market with little room for failures or mistakes. (Sega being the biggest example) If Sony was to lose footing due to the PS2's weak hardware (expansions don't really count) and fails to bring the PS3 out in time to compete, Sony will be in huge trouble.
Christmas will be here in less than 3 months. What more can I say?
DVD-R Drive : Good but not needed or even considered by many
Huge hard drive : Pretty, but I'm guessing Sony won't be happy if I try to use the PSX to house.mp3's
PS2 : Good, but won't I just buy a PS3 sometime in the future?
TIVO system : Fancy, but if you've got the cash to buy a PSX in the first place, you probably don't have much time to watch TV let alone play catch up
If you get a bad commander, thats when you start using the vote system. Course if you wait too long to use it, you'll find yourself facing enemies with level 3 equipment (3 is the highest) while you're still using the crossbow (the second ranged weapon you'll get). Naturally, I'm only saying this because I've had this happen to me.
Surprisingly, players on the FPS side -actually- work well with their teams as a result of the game's balance. With the exception of a few complaints here and there (for example : low end computer users are forced to spread and pray with ranged weapons due to slowdown) the game could a step in the right direction when it comes to bad AI problems (at least for now, the graphics had to be severely sacrificed for the FPS/RTS engine sharing).
IMO, I think the best way to implement a feature in the game is to make it an easter egg. Not an easter egg you find in most non-MMO games like "steal the secret item and bring it to X NPC before Y date", but something completely obscure and untried before (especially considering how experimental MMO games still are) such as:
"10 players must gather into X area each with Y item. There they must deathmatch each other until two people are left. If one of them kills the other person, then neither become Jedis, all lose their Y item, and all are kicked out of the area with a standard exp/money reward. However, if one of those two leaves willingly then the one who left standing is considered honorable and becomes a Jedi."
The obscure thing about this is that people online are so competitive that they'd blow each other's (virtual) heads off before they walk away from the chance to unlock the biggest feature in the game. After all, think about what I just asked and tell me ; would you walk away?
YOU think its sad? You should see my friend who works at my local EB Games. He gets to work there and watch gullible fools help his store sell dozens of Madden games every year only to return them for $5 the next year to buy the newest edition.
I agree, there MUST be some kind of doubts going on within Valve. It doesn't take a hardcore PC gamer to tell you that people are drooling over the idea of Team Fortress 2 or Counter-Strike 2 being made for Half-Life 2. Because of this, the expectation level for the game is unbelievably high. The only way Valve could bring the expectations up higher that it is now is by releasing a 5 minute demo and say "And that was just the training."
Without causing any flame wars, I think the same thing is happening with Doom 3 right now. You KNOW id Software is gambling everything on Doom 3's single player experience considering their game engine revolves around it. The people at id Software must be really confident of Doom 3 right now if they're willing to put multiplayer in the side seat in light of games such as Battlefield 1942 and MMORPGs crashing into the scenes like giants with nuclear weapons strapped to their backs.
I think the fact that software is written by error-prone humans, as you stated, is the most important factor of all. I think people are forgetting that software is an untangable piece of equipment, something like knowledge. You can use it, you can distribute it, and you can reuse it. But if humans somewhere along the line make a mistake with it, it'll be hard to challenge that mistake not to mention correct it considering how long its been entrenched.
Noting the fact that people don't update their versions of Windows, put up and maintain a firewall, and/or fail to frequently update their anti-virus systems, the general public is really failing to make a strong case when you think about what they're demanding. (A virus-proof piece of software, that can do everything Windows does already, while being on the virus filled Internet, and continue to create new features, not to mention install new hardware, software, and plug-ins.)
'Obviously, a DDoS is direct, and it's only likely intent would be to censor them.'
Yes a DDoS ia direct, but like you said in the second part of your sentence. It's only -likely- intent would be to censor them. How likely is it that hackers would launch a DDoS against Al Jazeera to censor them yet stop after their first few actions against them? If this was a real world event outside of cyberspace, this would equate to maybe the firebombing of a specific empty newsstand. Censoring? -Likely.- But unprovable.
Except for the fact that you'd end up with a mass glut of free drivers for X hardware. Hardcore gamers would end up downloading them to squeeze an extra frame out and Linux users will use because its the only driver that will run on their system. That'd be like trying to make a standarized shoe cleaning machine when everyone has a relatively unique sized shoe.
In the case of Al Jazeera, no the hackers would not have been arrested on the grounds of violating the first amendment. The hackers did not go and beat the Al Jazeera reporters in the streets telling them not to make anti-American reports. They went and attacked their web servers, thats a hacking issue (again online law). If hackers were to attack your computer and prevent you from posting on a blog where you put up anti-whatever messages, do you think the government will go after the hackers on grounds of violating the first amendment or for hacking?
This is seriously stretching the right to use the first amendment as a right. If you consider the hacking of the Al Jazeera webpage a violation of the first amendment, every time I get hit by a virus I wanna be able to throw the 13 year kid, who made the virus variant that killed my computer, into jail. My argument? I couldn't post my opinion on Slashdot as a result, (in your terms) thats a violation of the first amendment.
I think the caption from the first picture in the article highlights the answer.
'Does might make right in online games?'
Personally, yes I think so. So long as MMO games remain small and relatively undeveloped, the law would doing nothing but stepping into a giant pit of political arguments over online rights when MMO games develop past the 'basic level up and gain many powerful items' formula.
I'm sure what he is trying to say is that the First Amendment protects Al Jazeera from DDoS attacks by the U.S. government on their web site. However, if that same DDoS attack was done by individuals then that was not a violation of the first amendment (in which case you get into an argument about online rights and political discussion regarding net crimes).
Not my words, my opinions, nor my thoughts. I asked a couple friends what they thought about FF9 and the FF games prior to 7 and they generally disliked those type of games. I guess the old truth remains the same. The first time you sample something, its always a better experience than the original or the following versions.
I don't know if this was made for the easy version or for the American censors, but the Japanese FF4 hard version also had a lot more verbal violence and thought provoking ideas (read : sex).
As for the original topic; I'm more concerned about the current difficulty of the game (Ninja Gaiden for Xbox) if the report focused on that.
True, but the fact that they haven't said a thing about FFXIII (FF13) could be a hint of Square (now SquareEnix) considering the MMO course. SquareEnix is getting ragged on quite a bit by RPG purists who think the FF series has been a downward progression in terms of gameplay and storyline (read FF8 and FF9.)
Japanese developers seem to be running out of ideas and creativity. A Mega Man RPG? A Street Fighter 2 Anniversary Edition? What next? A Contra re-make? A MMORPG Dragon Quest? (Which will never take place since it would compete with FF11)
I wanna see something original, crazy, and completely out of the blue like a PC/Console MMO game. Like PC players would play a MMO turn based strategy game that changed every few hours, while Console players would be the Soldiers/Heroes/Armies that fought it out in that short time. Very hardware intensive (in terms of console hardware) but a very novel idea.
Slashdot Mirror
I'm sure SOMEONE owns the rights to some of those games, but do you really think some company is going to try and track down people who has an illegal copy of 'Pac-Man'? Most companies don't even know where most of the arcade machines are anymore in the world, let alone know where the arcade machines that were sold off/given away are. The legal battles of tracking a 20 year old paper trail and under the table sales would cost millions in time and costs.
Even though Halo was originally designed for the PC, it was long twisted and tweaked for maximum XBox performance. Gearbox virtually had to break down the walls and expand the game engine to fit the wide array of different hardware PCs have. Trying to compare Halo PC with, say, Quake 3 or UT2k3 would be very unfair.
We all know the ESRB is doing its best to teach the public about their ratings, but quite frankly most people ignore them. Now whos job is it to tell a 9 year old kid who comes into a store with a hundred dollars to buy GTA:VC only to remark that he already has GTA3 when stated that he's too young for the game(s)? I donno about most people, but after seeing the same styled black and white labels on hundreds of different games, don't you think people would've caught on by now?
No home advantage in Korea compared to Microsoft? I know (South) Korea and Japan are totally different countries but theres bound to be some kind of pre-set friendly relationship between the two country's culture. That'd be like saying Microsoft doesn't have a home advantage in Canada or Mexico.
Don't allow John Romero to comment about the games. Ever.
As for Halo PC being poorly optimized for the PC, first Bungie didn't make the PC port. Second, its easier to design ANYTHING when you have only one set of restrictions to work with. In the case of Halo PC... well, the fact that people still use Pentium 1 computers to play Half-Life multiplayer should give you an idea of what type of non-existant standards PC gamers tend to create.
Any successful game with a strong franchise behind it (in this case Star Wars) will spawn sequels. Its the nature of the gaming/franchise relationship. The LOTR movies were successful, that caused a LOTR game that was successful, and that caused a LOTR sequel game.
How in the PS2 now? Almost 3 years old (In the US). Based on previous game consoles, that means the PS2 is nearing the average lifetime of a console (which is about 3~5 years).
Regardless of sales and the numbers game, Sony is under pressure to continue the impression that they're dominating the market. The gaming industry may be big business, but as it is the gaming industry is a harsh, demanding market with little room for failures or mistakes. (Sega being the biggest example) If Sony was to lose footing due to the PS2's weak hardware (expansions don't really count) and fails to bring the PS3 out in time to compete, Sony will be in huge trouble.
Christmas will be here in less than 3 months. What more can I say?
DVD-R Drive : Good but not needed or even considered by many .mp3's
Huge hard drive : Pretty, but I'm guessing Sony won't be happy if I try to use the PSX to house
PS2 : Good, but won't I just buy a PS3 sometime in the future?
TIVO system : Fancy, but if you've got the cash to buy a PSX in the first place, you probably don't have much time to watch TV let alone play catch up
Surprisingly, players on the FPS side -actually- work well with their teams as a result of the game's balance. With the exception of a few complaints here and there (for example : low end computer users are forced to spread and pray with ranged weapons due to slowdown) the game could a step in the right direction when it comes to bad AI problems (at least for now, the graphics had to be severely sacrificed for the FPS/RTS engine sharing).
"Corporate Technologies USA, Inc. is offering hackers $250US and up [...]
Keywords : '$250US and up'
Thats what I'm waiting for.
"10 players must gather into X area each with Y item. There they must deathmatch each other until two people are left. If one of them kills the other person, then neither become Jedis, all lose their Y item, and all are kicked out of the area with a standard exp/money reward. However, if one of those two leaves willingly then the one who left standing is considered honorable and becomes a Jedi."
The obscure thing about this is that people online are so competitive that they'd blow each other's (virtual) heads off before they walk away from the chance to unlock the biggest feature in the game. After all, think about what I just asked and tell me ; would you walk away?
YOU think its sad? You should see my friend who works at my local EB Games. He gets to work there and watch gullible fools help his store sell dozens of Madden games every year only to return them for $5 the next year to buy the newest edition.
Without causing any flame wars, I think the same thing is happening with Doom 3 right now. You KNOW id Software is gambling everything on Doom 3's single player experience considering their game engine revolves around it. The people at id Software must be really confident of Doom 3 right now if they're willing to put multiplayer in the side seat in light of games such as Battlefield 1942 and MMORPGs crashing into the scenes like giants with nuclear weapons strapped to their backs.
Noting the fact that people don't update their versions of Windows, put up and maintain a firewall, and/or fail to frequently update their anti-virus systems, the general public is really failing to make a strong case when you think about what they're demanding. (A virus-proof piece of software, that can do everything Windows does already, while being on the virus filled Internet, and continue to create new features, not to mention install new hardware, software, and plug-ins.)
Yes a DDoS ia direct, but like you said in the second part of your sentence. It's only -likely- intent would be to censor them. How likely is it that hackers would launch a DDoS against Al Jazeera to censor them yet stop after their first few actions against them? If this was a real world event outside of cyberspace, this would equate to maybe the firebombing of a specific empty newsstand. Censoring? -Likely.- But unprovable.
Except for the fact that you'd end up with a mass glut of free drivers for X hardware. Hardcore gamers would end up downloading them to squeeze an extra frame out and Linux users will use because its the only driver that will run on their system. That'd be like trying to make a standarized shoe cleaning machine when everyone has a relatively unique sized shoe.
This is seriously stretching the right to use the first amendment as a right. If you consider the hacking of the Al Jazeera webpage a violation of the first amendment, every time I get hit by a virus I wanna be able to throw the 13 year kid, who made the virus variant that killed my computer, into jail. My argument? I couldn't post my opinion on Slashdot as a result, (in your terms) thats a violation of the first amendment.
'Does might make right in online games?'
Personally, yes I think so. So long as MMO games remain small and relatively undeveloped, the law would doing nothing but stepping into a giant pit of political arguments over online rights when MMO games develop past the 'basic level up and gain many powerful items' formula.
I'm sure what he is trying to say is that the First Amendment protects Al Jazeera from DDoS attacks by the U.S. government on their web site. However, if that same DDoS attack was done by individuals then that was not a violation of the first amendment (in which case you get into an argument about online rights and political discussion regarding net crimes).
Not my words, my opinions, nor my thoughts. I asked a couple friends what they thought about FF9 and the FF games prior to 7 and they generally disliked those type of games. I guess the old truth remains the same. The first time you sample something, its always a better experience than the original or the following versions.
As for the original topic; I'm more concerned about the current difficulty of the game (Ninja Gaiden for Xbox) if the report focused on that.
True, but the fact that they haven't said a thing about FFXIII (FF13) could be a hint of Square (now SquareEnix) considering the MMO course. SquareEnix is getting ragged on quite a bit by RPG purists who think the FF series has been a downward progression in terms of gameplay and storyline (read FF8 and FF9.)
Japanese developers seem to be running out of ideas and creativity. A Mega Man RPG? A Street Fighter 2 Anniversary Edition? What next? A Contra re-make? A MMORPG Dragon Quest? (Which will never take place since it would compete with FF11)
I wanna see something original, crazy, and completely out of the blue like a PC/Console MMO game. Like PC players would play a MMO turn based strategy game that changed every few hours, while Console players would be the Soldiers/Heroes/Armies that fought it out in that short time. Very hardware intensive (in terms of console hardware) but a very novel idea.