I hated Goldeneye because of the sucky N64 controller which I absolutely loathe. (I'm short, small hands) I have a used N64 and a few games but rarely played them because of that godawful controller and that godawful stick.
But there's something even worse than Barrens chat (which I gather is/was similar to the way Freeport chat was in EQOA)....is local voice chat. Imagine if you will an MMORPG with built in voice chat, with no need for teamspeak/skype/whatever and not having to reveal another online identity to your guildies/group members. It is both a blessing.....great for groups and guilds...and a curse...not so good for area chat.
I'm 45, I'm old enough to remember the prices on Atari 2600 games and what you got for that money, and trust me...taking inflation and content in account, modern games are CHEAPER.
Today, when people carry in their pockets a device with a screen that offers much better resolution than the TV screen did, consoles make no sense at all, at least not for the consumer.
LARGER screen? Not having to squint at a bad font choice on a tiny screen? Real controls?
There isn't...but the "base" prices were set pre-digital when things had to be shipped. Digital only is a relatively recent thing, remember..and considering the state of internet service in Australia...something else you Aussies always complain about...you might be better off with physical copies..
You have to remember that in most cases, base prices of these goods were set BEFORE there were such things as digital downloads.
PAL vs NTSC... really not many people are using NTSC. Definitely not enough to need our own "special TV's"
Name the two countries that are the biggest producers of console games on the planet...I'll give you a hint...they're both NTSC. And before digital downloads, they actually had to make the things (for the various TV standards, with region specific packaging) and ship them. And not taking into account the wacky super-restrictive Australian ratings system which sometimes required altering the game to be able to sell it in Australia. Being that Australia is a tiny market in the middle of nowhere, you paid more.
Same goes for boxed software. Do you think companies like SSI or Brpderbund had manufacturing facilities in Australia? No, they manufactured them in the US, manuals and all...and shipped them....to Australia...in rather small quantities.
So you paid more...and now that digital is available...the base prices were set pre-digital and rose with inflation
There's a price to be paid for living the global boondocks....something similar happens in the more rural regions of the US (and Alaska/Hawaii)
but we do drive on the same side as the UK, Japan, and about 75 other countries... we're you planning on selling to any of them?
Not really. You may have noticed that American cars don't sell well in Japan, and that US Automakers have subsidiaries make specific car models for Europe IN Europe (and other places), they don't send them there. They do the same for Australia which means they can't leverage making the same models everywhere.
We don't use NTSC/ATSC... conceded... now explain why that matters to EA for PC gaming prices...
Well, these days many games are cross platform, meaning that involves consoles...and the three console makers are based in two countries....the US and Japan, neither of which were PAL. The biggest producers of games on the planet are STILL the US and Japan. Those two markets...are the big ones. Everyone else gets leftovers, which is a habit that started when the NTSC vs. PAL Thing mattered. They had so make games special for you. PAL-AU packaging and materials and PAL games....and then ship them to the middle of nowhere with a tiny population...there are US states with bigger populations.
so developing for PCs in Australia is no different from developing for most anywhere else.
Except for that totally unreasonable rating system requiring changes in the games to allow them to be sold in Australia. That also mattered.
Got any more bullshit arguments as to why you think a market of 22 million people should be fucked over, or are you done being a corporate apologist?
22 million? That's it? There are US states with bigger populations. So yeah, extra costs, and a tiny market in the middle of nowhere, they're going to stiff you. Just so you know your situation is similar to how some companies in the US don't do business in certain regions. For example, Piggly Wiggly is Southeast only. So there are US companies that ignore markets in the US....usually because the market already has enough competition.
As I've said in other threads in regards to media and Australia, you'd have been better off going NTSC when your TV standards were decided...then you've have probably been lumped into the same market as the US and Canada, colloquially called NTSC-U/C You aren't the same DVD region either. From what I see every other region 4 DVD nation is spanish speaking. Why you're in region 4 and not 2 is beyond me...at least you're in Blu-Ray region 2 with the UK, though it would be better if you were in region 1 with North/Central/South America, Southeast Asia, and Korea/Japan. Inertia is really what's keeping the situation going.
Australians buy the same TVs/Computers/Cars (when we can get a decent model on the market) as the USA does.
No, you don't.
On which side of the road do you drive and where is the steering wheel located?
Which Analog and Digital broadcasting systems does Australia use, it's most certainly not NTSC/ATSC, so you can't leverage the "we buy the same stuff as Americans" because you don't. You have to have your OWN models specific to a country no where near the other English speaking countries in the middle of a huge ocean.
And even with digital stuff, you don't use the same spelling as the US and you have a Wacky media rating system that makes no sense.
So yes, they're going to charge you more...because you're a tiny annoying market. You're damn lucky you're english speakers with a reasonable standard of living or else they'd just ignore you.
Which is why the price of the vast majority would be no match for PSone titles. It has been demonstrated elsewhere that something with the depth of an NES game can sell online for $5.
Yes, but why should someone buy some micro-studio game when they can just buy a proven good game with a PSone classic on PSN for 5.99, or a NES or SNES game on the Wii Shop. I have a PSP, it has proper controls and a nice screen and nice sound.
I also never said "all" micro-studio games were falling block clones. I did say that micro-studios did have a tendency to do clones at least at first, and that's not a good thing.
It doesn't bother me too much that microstudios can't make games for the PS3/360 without going through some hoops, I like it that way. There's too many phone ports in the PS3 mini's already. I want some barriers to entry, but joining an existing studio lets you help make games for your desired platforms NOW and you get paid for it.
Where have you been the past 4 years? Nobody calls it "Sixaxis", they call it the DualShock 3, or simply DualShock. The DS3 version has been the standard PS3 controller since April of 2008, the CECHE MGS01 models being the first to bundle it.
(Cue the claims that all games from micro-studios are falling block clones or crap reminiscent of the 1983-1984 Atari 2600 crash.)
I wouldn't say they're equivalent of 2600 games but the vast majority are no match for even PSone titles in gameplay or quality.
And as for falling block clones, put your money where your mouth is. Weren't all of your games clones/knock offs of somebody elses game, "Luminesweeper" and those tetris clones with slightly modded rules that you did? You obviously don't have much imagination as a designer.
Australia is not the US, the price differential isn't so great or is nil here. And in my experience, console gamers have larger, in many cases MUCH larger game libraries, while with PC gamers thare are more "single-game gamers" like those who only play WoW or have only been playing Counter-Strike for the past 5 years.
In the old days, yes, which is why I always laughed at those old 2600 commercials showing dad and son gathered at the 2600 with mon and sis cheering them (they never showed mom and sis play games). Because at that time, 1 TV household were still common...course a few years later that 2600 was probably connected to some garage sale B/W Tv in the "playroom" or "son's room"
There's this thing called the Wii Shop...it lets you buy versions of Mario Kart or other SNES games that work on your Wii. So there's no excuse to pirate those specific games anymore.
No, Really. You can have an AT&T smartphone without a data plan if:
!. You get a go-phone.
2. transfer a sim from a non-smartphone into it.
OR
3. Activate the smartphone's sim online, NOT via the phone itself. If you activate it in the phone it will require you to sign up for the smartphone plan.
Slashdot Mirror
I hated Goldeneye because of the sucky N64 controller which I absolutely loathe. (I'm short, small hands) I have a used N64 and a few games but rarely played them because of that godawful controller and that godawful stick.
I had always wondered how well their system actually worked for the various genres...thanks for the info.
Consoles have USB and bluetooth for a reason.
But there's something even worse than Barrens chat (which I gather is/was similar to the way Freeport chat was in EQOA)....is local voice chat. Imagine if you will an MMORPG with built in voice chat, with no need for teamspeak/skype/whatever and not having to reveal another online identity to your guildies/group members. It is both a blessing.....great for groups and guilds...and a curse...not so good for area chat.
I'm 45, I'm old enough to remember the prices on Atari 2600 games and what you got for that money, and trust me...taking inflation and content in account, modern games are CHEAPER.
Today, when people carry in their pockets a device with a screen that offers much better resolution than the TV screen did, consoles make no sense at all, at least not for the consumer.
LARGER screen? Not having to squint at a bad font choice on a tiny screen? Real controls?
Gloin was mentioned many times in LOTR, a la "Gimli, son of Gloin". IIRC, Gloin was the head of the Dwarf delegation at the Council of Elrond.
I'm imagining the ISP's TOS cops saying something like this:
I sssseee you're running a Minecraft sssserver which is against the TOSSSSSS...it would be a ssssshame for it to blow up.
There isn't...but the "base" prices were set pre-digital when things had to be shipped. Digital only is a relatively recent thing, remember..and considering the state of internet service in Australia...something else you Aussies always complain about...you might be better off with physical copies..
You have to remember that in most cases, base prices of these goods were set BEFORE there were such things as digital downloads.
PAL vs NTSC... really not many people are using NTSC. Definitely not enough to need our own "special TV's"
Name the two countries that are the biggest producers of console games on the planet...I'll give you a hint...they're both NTSC. And before digital downloads, they actually had to make the things (for the various TV standards, with region specific packaging) and ship them. And not taking into account the wacky super-restrictive Australian ratings system which sometimes required altering the game to be able to sell it in Australia. Being that Australia is a tiny market in the middle of nowhere, you paid more.
Same goes for boxed software. Do you think companies like SSI or Brpderbund had manufacturing facilities in Australia? No, they manufactured them in the US, manuals and all...and shipped them....to Australia...in rather small quantities.
So you paid more...and now that digital is available...the base prices were set pre-digital and rose with inflation
There's a price to be paid for living the global boondocks....something similar happens in the more rural regions of the US (and Alaska/Hawaii)
But you are getting stiffed on digital.
but we do drive on the same side as the UK, Japan, and about 75 other countries... we're you planning on selling to any of them?
Not really. You may have noticed that American cars don't sell well in Japan, and that US Automakers have subsidiaries make specific car models for Europe IN Europe (and other places), they don't send them there. They do the same for Australia which means they can't leverage making the same models everywhere.
We don't use NTSC/ATSC... conceded... now explain why that matters to EA for PC gaming prices...
Well, these days many games are cross platform, meaning that involves consoles...and the three console makers are based in two countries....the US and Japan, neither of which were PAL. The biggest producers of games on the planet are STILL the US and Japan. Those two markets...are the big ones. Everyone else gets leftovers, which is a habit that started when the NTSC vs. PAL Thing mattered. They had so make games special for you. PAL-AU packaging and materials and PAL games....and then ship them to the middle of nowhere with a tiny population...there are US states with bigger populations.
so developing for PCs in Australia is no different from developing for most anywhere else.
Except for that totally unreasonable rating system requiring changes in the games to allow them to be sold in Australia. That also mattered.
Got any more bullshit arguments as to why you think a market of 22 million people should be fucked over, or are you done being a corporate apologist?
22 million? That's it? There are US states with bigger populations. So yeah, extra costs, and a tiny market in the middle of nowhere, they're going to stiff you. Just so you know your situation is similar to how some companies in the US don't do business in certain regions. For example, Piggly Wiggly is Southeast only. So there are US companies that ignore markets in the US....usually because the market already has enough competition.
As I've said in other threads in regards to media and Australia, you'd have been better off going NTSC when your TV standards were decided...then you've have probably been lumped into the same market as the US and Canada, colloquially called NTSC-U/C You aren't the same DVD region either. From what I see every other region 4 DVD nation is spanish speaking. Why you're in region 4 and not 2 is beyond me...at least you're in Blu-Ray region 2 with the UK, though it would be better if you were in region 1 with North/Central/South America, Southeast Asia, and Korea/Japan. Inertia is really what's keeping the situation going.
With Canada, it's a combination of exchange rates setting prices (and companies not changing them as the rate changes) and regulation.
It's not a wash for one reason:
There are more Americans than Australians, 10x more. And also the Japanese use the same voltage the US does. They also used NTSC.
Only if you start shipping Smarties south of the border.
Australians buy the same TVs/Computers/Cars (when we can get a decent model on the market) as the USA does.
No, you don't.
On which side of the road do you drive and where is the steering wheel located?
Which Analog and Digital broadcasting systems does Australia use, it's most certainly not NTSC/ATSC, so you can't leverage the "we buy the same stuff as Americans" because you don't. You have to have your OWN models specific to a country no where near the other English speaking countries in the middle of a huge ocean.
And even with digital stuff, you don't use the same spelling as the US and you have a Wacky media rating system that makes no sense.
So yes, they're going to charge you more...because you're a tiny annoying market. You're damn lucky you're english speakers with a reasonable standard of living or else they'd just ignore you.
Which is why the price of the vast majority would be no match for PSone titles. It has been demonstrated elsewhere that something with the depth of an NES game can sell online for $5.
Yes, but why should someone buy some micro-studio game when they can just buy a proven good game with a PSone classic on PSN for 5.99, or a NES or SNES game on the Wii Shop. I have a PSP, it has proper controls and a nice screen and nice sound.
I also never said "all" micro-studio games were falling block clones. I did say that micro-studios did have a tendency to do clones at least at first, and that's not a good thing.
It doesn't bother me too much that microstudios can't make games for the PS3/360 without going through some hoops, I like it that way. There's too many phone ports in the PS3 mini's already. I want some barriers to entry, but joining an existing studio lets you help make games for your desired platforms NOW and you get paid for it.
25, not counting downloadables like Flower, FreeRealms, DCUO, etc etc.
a Sixaxis controller
Where have you been the past 4 years? Nobody calls it "Sixaxis", they call it the DualShock 3, or simply DualShock. The DS3 version has been the standard PS3 controller since April of 2008, the CECHE MGS01 models being the first to bundle it.
. I generally use my phone of tablet for games, not because they are good, but because they are there.
Having a good, big, screen and a proper input method is what is attractive.
Seems like you'd be the perfect market for a DS/3DS or PSP/Vita? Do you have one?
(Cue the claims that all games from micro-studios are falling block clones or crap reminiscent of the 1983-1984 Atari 2600 crash.)
I wouldn't say they're equivalent of 2600 games but the vast majority are no match for even PSone titles in gameplay or quality.
And as for falling block clones, put your money where your mouth is. Weren't all of your games clones/knock offs of somebody elses game, "Luminesweeper" and those tetris clones with slightly modded rules that you did? You obviously don't have much imagination as a designer.
As I've said before, most Android games don't even come close in quality to even PSone or PSP games, let alone Vita or PS3/360.
Australia is not the US, the price differential isn't so great or is nil here. And in my experience, console gamers have larger, in many cases MUCH larger game libraries, while with PC gamers thare are more "single-game gamers" like those who only play WoW or have only been playing Counter-Strike for the past 5 years.
In the old days, yes, which is why I always laughed at those old 2600 commercials showing dad and son gathered at the 2600 with mon and sis cheering them (they never showed mom and sis play games). Because at that time, 1 TV household were still common...course a few years later that 2600 was probably connected to some garage sale B/W Tv in the "playroom" or "son's room"
Nowadays mutliple TV households are common.
Not everyone, only those who could afford it. You do know that complete C64 setups were pretty expensive by current standards.
There's this thing called the Wii Shop...it lets you buy versions of Mario Kart or other SNES games that work on your Wii. So there's no excuse to pirate those specific games anymore.
AT&T, via Go Phone.
No, Really. You can have an AT&T smartphone without a data plan if:
!. You get a go-phone.
2. transfer a sim from a non-smartphone into it.
OR
3. Activate the smartphone's sim online, NOT via the phone itself. If you activate it in the phone it will require you to sign up for the smartphone plan.