For the PS2 to come down. Followed, nearly, immediately by the Xbox. Think about it, Gamecube has thrown the gauntlet down (again) AND way before Christmas. With all the talk about PS3 and Xbox 2 floating around, its no secret that Sony and Microsoft are already planning their strategies for Round 2. Flooding the market with their older systems is just another way for them to generate hype while clearing the warehouses. (The PS2 has sold over 40 million systems, how many systems do you think are sitting in a warehouse unsold?)
Its a shame so many gamers think this way about the Final Fantasy series now. Prior to FF7, FMVs were a far away dream and the storyline was something YOU took involvement in rather than watch it unfold in a movie. Anyone remember in FF6 (3 for the uneducated) the part when you had to escape the floating island before it collapsed and you could chose to wait for Shadow or leave without him? Yeah, THAT was cool unlike more recent games where your allies just magicly managed to time your rescue perfectly.
Korea does have an embargo against Japanese products (hence no PS2 or GCs there) so computer gaming is the only choice. Now what I'm thinking is hat Korean players are somewhat opposite of U.S. players who relish one-man gaming and FFAs. After all, how often do you see team battles in Starcraft or team exp gaining in Diablo 2? (Ok maybe not for Starcraft since the AI is fairly weak (if you play against the AI in Starcraft on a map which virtually unlimited resources, sometimes they'll stop attacking you completely leaving themselves vunerable))
Course I have no statistics or evidence to prove this..
Doom 1 did have a storyline. It was in the readme file. Heres a copy online (its AOL hosted so it may not be up for long) : http://members.aol.com/ledmeister/doominfo.htm
' For the last four years the military, UAC's biggest supplier, has used the remote facilities on Phobos and Deimos to conduct various secret projects, including research on inter-dimensional space travel.'
Half-Life's story about teleportation? Sorry, but Doom had that nailed down. And incorporating the storyline into the gameplay? The best incorporation of a storyline into games back then were a few lines of text, Doom outdid that with text followed by a PICTURE!
Companies like GameShark had nothing on early PC gaming "short-cuts". Cheat programs for PC games have been handmade and hand distributed for years now. The only reason you're hearing about character selling these days is because MMO games save all character data on their own servers and have a (fairly) secure system. You NEVER heard of anybody selling their items or characters in Diablo 1 or Diablo 2 (open server) where the data was saved on the player's computer.
$99 for the NES? Definately not. I'm sure it at least $150 at one time. As for games, I think $50 was the standard.
Course you have to take inflation into account. $50 in the 80's was worth a lot more back then than now. Which is why there is discussion about raising prices, but us consumers will never let them. (Read : warez)
If Doom 3 truely does succeed at delivering a really outstanding single player experience, then Doom 3 will shatter the expectations players have of PC FPS games. No longer will game developers be able to focus on primarily multiplayer experiences or cheap gimmicks to sell.
True but what I'm trying to note is that (gullible) people will usually give their e-mail address out to specific types of sites which then sell their e-mails based on the specific type of "web trap" they got the e-mail from. If you gave your e-mail to a fake Looney Toons site, do you really think that a spammer is going to send you life insurance spam? No way, they'd probably send you something like "Win a free Disney DVD" spam. (Now of course the exceptions are sites which had no clear type of age group such as emulator/ROM sites.)
I'd also like to note the fact that Second Life is an extremely unique type of game since the developers have little real control over what the players must do. In MMO games like Ultima Online you're playing a RPG-like game with fairly set restrictions. However in Second Life, the goal is whatever a group of players agree to do/try. In Second Life, the idea is make a world where players can "build" whatever they want and play with it the way they want. In a world like that, reality or fiction, people will test the limitations of their freedom.
To compare the real world with games is a far cry until more (mainstream) games adopt a "free world" system. Last time I checked, Everquest players weren't having virtual wars over spawn points and players weren't forming political parties based on which class or race should be beefed/nerfed.
I wouldn't say they're getting desperate at all. They've been making top 10/25 lists for a while now. Wait for early 2004 and EVERYONE will be releasing some sort of top X list for Y systems. Top X lists are a staple and the timing of this list is probably coincidential.
Considering people either doubt Halo 2 will serve or just plain sucks because its on the XBox (read : grudge holding PC owners who are FINALLY getting Halo 1 on PC) I think Bungie holds a trump card against the hype danger.
Their advantage is that they are a small developer with a producer (Microsoft) who keeps its dirty little hands off. You haven't seenen Bungie start putting up advertising or submitting special presentations to websites/magazines, unlike game companies which release all sorts of fancy information over the months. If you look at EA's C&C Generals : Zero Hour, they're advertising that game like its the Half-Life 2 of strategy games even though hardcore and casual players agree that original was just an average strategy game.
Thats true, but "common patterns of address disclosure" also varies based on the user. Slashdotters, for example, are usually intelligent enough to avoid the pitfalls of trap webpages people like Joe Average fall for. Because of that, the spam e-mails you'll get will vary against the type of spam between Jenny Girl seven year old who gets cartoonie spam while Grumpy Old Man seventy year old will get youth-restoring spam.
Whats the point of a multiplayer GTA:VC? Admittedly, the idea of driving around doing drive-by shootings against human players online is a pretty nice idea, but GTA:VC was all about being 'the ultimate badass in town.' Whats the fun in playing an online version of a game that was designed to be a single-player game only?
If this mod was really that great, Rockstar Games would already be talking to the MTA team to create a Value-Counter-Strike-like relationship.
I think MMO games need to package a free trial subscription in the boxes. Now before you people point out, 'some/most games already do' I'd like to point out that a 30 day free trial is never equal to the $50 you paid for basicly a CD in a box. The average subscription rate for MMO games is something like $15 a month now, right? Well if I could get 2-3 months of free subscription time and some real goodies in the box, I'd be much more willing to try the game out.
Thats just my opinion, but considering signing up for a MMO is a fairly considerable financial decision, I want some serious payback. And no, when I say goodies in the box, a manual with more than 50 pages doesn't count, nor does a cheap napkin sized cloth.
A really, really neat goodie would be to give a special items out to players, based on random drawings using their CD key. Say you got a CD key between B and D, so you'd get a unique prize that only people in that catagory would get. It could also be ever changing with the game like it could grow, transform, or some other really cool thing. Like for those who played the game for 1 year without ever cancelling their subscription and being a regular player (1 hour a week on average) would have their unique item become some kind secret treasure map or a key that would only work with a treasure chest that another unique CD key user would get. That would be a lot cooler and a lot more appliable to the idea of the MMO world constantly changing.
Title of Gamespy's article : 25 Most Overrated Games of all Time
Defination of overrated copied and pasted from www.dictionary.com :
overrate ( P ) Pronunciation Key (vr-rt)
tr.v. overrated, overrating, overrates
To overestimate the merits of; rate too highly.
That said, Gamespy is speaking contradictory to itself based on their previous reviews. There are two reasons for this :
1. The person fails to look at the game in -retrospect- . When Halo came out, everyone was (and some still do) nicknaming the XBox, "The Halo Machine." I have yet to find or hear someone refer to the PS2 as "The System with FFX"
2. A person tends to correct himself when given the opportunity. If given the opportunity, how many of us would take the opportunity to change anything that occured within, say, the last 3 weeks?
'"The irony is, for most of the consoles to compete with the PC [in MMO titles] they must become more like the PC."'
Or MMO games could become more like console games. Just looking at the now faded Phantasy Star Online for the Dreamcast, if they had good voice communication like XBox Live and maybe added an extra button or two to the controller, you'd have an excellent MMO game right there. The fact that people played the game up until Sega was forced to pull the plug is evidence of that. (Voice communications would mostly eliminate the need for a keyboard and an extra button(s) coulda been used to access an "Online Buddies" menu)
Taking inflation, compound interest, and considering a top of the line car in the 1960's used to cost easily under 10 grand, that $1.5 billion back then would probably be worth about ten times that amount today.
I've 'played' GTA1, 2, and 3 (haven't play VC or London) for a grand total of oh... 3 hours. Does this mean I have a higher chance of getting into a fight than someone else who has never played any of the GTA games? (And no, I have not been in a fight for 5 years now and yes, I am a wuss)
A console game does not have to break new ground, it just has to prove that it can run a game relatively stable and well on a console. Everquest (for the PC) is unarguably the most successful MMORPG for the PC, and it was ported to the PS2. Fine. But as you can see based on the number of players, success on the PC version did not translate into success for the console version. I'm not saying consoles are incapable of online play, I'm just saying no game has successfully used online capability successfully yet. People are trying to use the sales figures of consoles in order to shovelware games with crude online play.
As for Madden 2004, I'm not a sports fan so I won't comment on that. But other than that game, can you name 3 online console games that you regularly play online? (At least 30 minutes a week, which is a below average game time and thus easy to do.)
Screw ratings, I wanna hear and see how the Japanese public reacts to it. Here in the U.S. we got people blaiming GTA3/GTA:VC for directly causing crimes. What will happen in Japan?
'GTA3 causes Japanese teenagers to watch more hentai (Japanese animated sex) after being inspired from GTA3's ability to have sex with a hooker in a car.'
Will just get the PC version without noting the price difference. Why? Simple.
The graphics will be (presumably) better
No need to own a PS2 (contrary to popular belief, not everyone owns a PS2)
Consoles have not proven themselves (very) capable of running online games, let alone MMORPGs (SOCOM is loaded with cheaters, XBox Live is lacking in the game department, and Everquest Online Adventures sucks quite frankly)
Until I see a seriously ground breaking online game hit a console, which everyone seems to be hoping is Halo 2, my paper money is loyal to my consoles but my credit card is loyal to my PC.
I still can't believe no one has brought up this fact. Japan was basicly leveled during World War II. The result? A giant check from the U.S. to rebuild itself leapfrogged all the old primitive ideas still used by the U.S.
Metric system
Driving on the other side of the street
Mass producing and distributing of telephone poles
Etc.
Similiarly in Europe the same thing happened. They weren't stupid and didn't fall back on old methods, no they took what was great and used primarily that. Its common sense, when the expenses are all paid for by someone else, you're gonna go with the best at the other person's expense. (ie. Good luck trying to raise enough funds to strip down and remodel the U.S.)
You said that you found and read the translated Swedish first, however when you think about it that messed up the experiment by doing that. If you were to read a scrambled message in Swedish, you pick it in a snap since Swedish is your first language. After you read the Swedish version, all your brain had to do was assume the scrambled English words based on what you read in Swedish. If you wrote the same message in English and then Swedish (or vice versa), it'd be easy to assume what the scrambled words ment in the foreign language.
Slashdot Mirror
For the PS2 to come down. Followed, nearly, immediately by the Xbox. Think about it, Gamecube has thrown the gauntlet down (again) AND way before Christmas. With all the talk about PS3 and Xbox 2 floating around, its no secret that Sony and Microsoft are already planning their strategies for Round 2. Flooding the market with their older systems is just another way for them to generate hype while clearing the warehouses. (The PS2 has sold over 40 million systems, how many systems do you think are sitting in a warehouse unsold?)
Its a shame so many gamers think this way about the Final Fantasy series now. Prior to FF7, FMVs were a far away dream and the storyline was something YOU took involvement in rather than watch it unfold in a movie. Anyone remember in FF6 (3 for the uneducated) the part when you had to escape the floating island before it collapsed and you could chose to wait for Shadow or leave without him? Yeah, THAT was cool unlike more recent games where your allies just magicly managed to time your rescue perfectly.
Course I have no statistics or evidence to prove this..
' For the last four years the military, UAC's biggest supplier, has used the remote facilities on Phobos and Deimos to conduct various secret projects, including research on inter-dimensional space travel.'
Half-Life's story about teleportation? Sorry, but Doom had that nailed down. And incorporating the storyline into the gameplay? The best incorporation of a storyline into games back then were a few lines of text, Doom outdid that with text followed by a PICTURE!
Companies like GameShark had nothing on early PC gaming "short-cuts". Cheat programs for PC games have been handmade and hand distributed for years now. The only reason you're hearing about character selling these days is because MMO games save all character data on their own servers and have a (fairly) secure system. You NEVER heard of anybody selling their items or characters in Diablo 1 or Diablo 2 (open server) where the data was saved on the player's computer.
Course you have to take inflation into account. $50 in the 80's was worth a lot more back then than now. Which is why there is discussion about raising prices, but us consumers will never let them. (Read : warez)
If Doom 3 truely does succeed at delivering a really outstanding single player experience, then Doom 3 will shatter the expectations players have of PC FPS games. No longer will game developers be able to focus on primarily multiplayer experiences or cheap gimmicks to sell.
That about sums up the whole problem. Three geeks, one family, and a couple dozen unread manuals.
True but what I'm trying to note is that (gullible) people will usually give their e-mail address out to specific types of sites which then sell their e-mails based on the specific type of "web trap" they got the e-mail from. If you gave your e-mail to a fake Looney Toons site, do you really think that a spammer is going to send you life insurance spam? No way, they'd probably send you something like "Win a free Disney DVD" spam. (Now of course the exceptions are sites which had no clear type of age group such as emulator/ROM sites.)
To compare the real world with games is a far cry until more (mainstream) games adopt a "free world" system. Last time I checked, Everquest players weren't having virtual wars over spawn points and players weren't forming political parties based on which class or race should be beefed/nerfed.
I wouldn't say they're getting desperate at all. They've been making top 10/25 lists for a while now. Wait for early 2004 and EVERYONE will be releasing some sort of top X list for Y systems. Top X lists are a staple and the timing of this list is probably coincidential.
Their advantage is that they are a small developer with a producer (Microsoft) who keeps its dirty little hands off. You haven't seenen Bungie start putting up advertising or submitting special presentations to websites/magazines, unlike game companies which release all sorts of fancy information over the months. If you look at EA's C&C Generals : Zero Hour, they're advertising that game like its the Half-Life 2 of strategy games even though hardcore and casual players agree that original was just an average strategy game.
Thats true, but "common patterns of address disclosure" also varies based on the user. Slashdotters, for example, are usually intelligent enough to avoid the pitfalls of trap webpages people like Joe Average fall for. Because of that, the spam e-mails you'll get will vary against the type of spam between Jenny Girl seven year old who gets cartoonie spam while Grumpy Old Man seventy year old will get youth-restoring spam.
If this mod was really that great, Rockstar Games would already be talking to the MTA team to create a Value-Counter-Strike-like relationship.
Thats just my opinion, but considering signing up for a MMO is a fairly considerable financial decision, I want some serious payback. And no, when I say goodies in the box, a manual with more than 50 pages doesn't count, nor does a cheap napkin sized cloth.
A really, really neat goodie would be to give a special items out to players, based on random drawings using their CD key. Say you got a CD key between B and D, so you'd get a unique prize that only people in that catagory would get. It could also be ever changing with the game like it could grow, transform, or some other really cool thing. Like for those who played the game for 1 year without ever cancelling their subscription and being a regular player (1 hour a week on average) would have their unique item become some kind secret treasure map or a key that would only work with a treasure chest that another unique CD key user would get. That would be a lot cooler and a lot more appliable to the idea of the MMO world constantly changing.
Defination of overrated copied and pasted from www.dictionary.com :
overrate ( P ) Pronunciation Key (vr-rt) tr.v. overrated, overrating, overrates To overestimate the merits of; rate too highly.
That said, Gamespy is speaking contradictory to itself based on their previous reviews. There are two reasons for this :
1. The person fails to look at the game in -retrospect- . When Halo came out, everyone was (and some still do) nicknaming the XBox, "The Halo Machine." I have yet to find or hear someone refer to the PS2 as "The System with FFX"
2. A person tends to correct himself when given the opportunity. If given the opportunity, how many of us would take the opportunity to change anything that occured within, say, the last 3 weeks?
Or MMO games could become more like console games. Just looking at the now faded Phantasy Star Online for the Dreamcast, if they had good voice communication like XBox Live and maybe added an extra button or two to the controller, you'd have an excellent MMO game right there. The fact that people played the game up until Sega was forced to pull the plug is evidence of that. (Voice communications would mostly eliminate the need for a keyboard and an extra button(s) coulda been used to access an "Online Buddies" menu)
Taking inflation, compound interest, and considering a top of the line car in the 1960's used to cost easily under 10 grand, that $1.5 billion back then would probably be worth about ten times that amount today.
I've 'played' GTA1, 2, and 3 (haven't play VC or London) for a grand total of oh... 3 hours. Does this mean I have a higher chance of getting into a fight than someone else who has never played any of the GTA games? (And no, I have not been in a fight for 5 years now and yes, I am a wuss)
As for Madden 2004, I'm not a sports fan so I won't comment on that. But other than that game, can you name 3 online console games that you regularly play online? (At least 30 minutes a week, which is a below average game time and thus easy to do.)
'GTA3 causes Japanese teenagers to watch more hentai (Japanese animated sex) after being inspired from GTA3's ability to have sex with a hooker in a car.'
The graphics will be (presumably) better
No need to own a PS2 (contrary to popular belief, not everyone owns a PS2)
Consoles have not proven themselves (very) capable of running online games, let alone MMORPGs (SOCOM is loaded with cheaters, XBox Live is lacking in the game department, and Everquest Online Adventures sucks quite frankly)
Until I see a seriously ground breaking online game hit a console, which everyone seems to be hoping is Halo 2, my paper money is loyal to my consoles but my credit card is loyal to my PC.
Metric system
Driving on the other side of the street
Mass producing and distributing of telephone poles
Etc.
Similiarly in Europe the same thing happened. They weren't stupid and didn't fall back on old methods, no they took what was great and used primarily that. Its common sense, when the expenses are all paid for by someone else, you're gonna go with the best at the other person's expense. (ie. Good luck trying to raise enough funds to strip down and remodel the U.S.)
Super Turbo Hyper Street Fighter Alpha vs Marvel Super Heroes vs SNK 3 Tournament Edition.
You said that you found and read the translated Swedish first, however when you think about it that messed up the experiment by doing that. If you were to read a scrambled message in Swedish, you pick it in a snap since Swedish is your first language. After you read the Swedish version, all your brain had to do was assume the scrambled English words based on what you read in Swedish. If you wrote the same message in English and then Swedish (or vice versa), it'd be easy to assume what the scrambled words ment in the foreign language.