I'm not sure what to tell you. I've seen them too. But then again, Amazon's got 17 results for Bust-a-Move and none for Puzzle Bobble. Of course, if you're looking for "Puzzle Bible," there are 69 books that might suit your needs...
I think there's a simpler explanation. Of all of the people I know in my building at UMass Amherst, I think maybe three of them have decent graphics accelerators. PC games, when present at all, are very simplistic.
Nope. Bust-a-Move is the original, although that's not the original name. The series was released in Japan (and Europe, I believe) as "Puzzle Bobble." "Bust-a-Move" in Japan, where the game in all its incarnations are developed, refers to the Bemani-like series that Americans know as "Bust-a-Groove." Confused yet?
I'm guessing that you've never owned or extensively used a pocket organizer. Your solution doesn't make sense for a number of reasons:
There's not always a table handy. One of the greatest advantages to using an organizer is that it is about the same size as a small notepad, and can be used virtually anywhere that a notepad can. Keyboards only work if you're sitting down, and setting up to enter an appointment becomes a task on the order of minutes, rather than seconds.
Keyboards are bulky. Even the most compact unit would be at least the size of the organizer itself if it were to be of any use. There's only so much space in one's pockets.
It's expensive. Fold-out keyboards often cost upwards of $50, whereas software is free once it's developed.
The long and short of it is that numerous organizers, from the Zaurus to the Psion to a number of supercompact laptops, have tried to incorporate keyboards, and it's just not as viable a solution as something like Graffiti. Having the option to do so isn't a bad idea (current Palms support add-on full-size keyboards, I believe), but it just wouldn't work for so many people.
The bottom line is that nobody needs this, and that the price is ridiculously high for the extra benefits you receive. It's been this way since the beginning of the industry.
The truth is that for every one intelligent computer enthusiast I know (the kind that write software and actually know how things work), there are about five people that care only about raw speed. The car analogy works here, in that it's not about what your computer is good for. It's about having more than everyone else. I'd attribute it to some kind of insecurity, be it Freudian in nature or something else entirely.
On the bright side of things, the premiums that fools pay for hardware such as this drives the prices down on the more sensible, middle-of-the-road components that most of us buy. So don't complain too loud.
First, I'm hardly a mindless fanboy. The only game in question I currently own is Conker's BFD; I played through most of the others on rentals. I've heard decent things about Starfox Adventures at best, and it does seem pretty clear that the Starfox brand was added as an afterthought. Perfect Dark did indeed have framerate problems, as did a number of other Rare titles such as Jet Force Gemini. That doesn't change the fact, however, that pretty much everything coming out for the N64 from third parties was pure and utter crap. Frankly, I've always found Rare's games to be enjoyable and innovative at the least, although I will admit that I only got to around level three of Perfect Dark before I sold my copy on eBay. Regardless, you can make a strong case that until the release of GTA3, Rare was the best console development house outside of Japan. (With the possible exception of EA Sports, which is a totally different market anyway.)
But I digress. My original point was that while Rare's titles were well-received by the community, they simply weren't making money. While I'm certain that Nintendo would have been more than happy to continue funding Rare (at least to some reduced extent), Rare was desperate enough to stay afloat and Microsoft was desperate enough to expand their exclusive lineup that the two companies found each other. Did MS overpay? Most likely. Will it be worth Microsoft's while? Perhaps. Should Nintendo have overbid MS to keep the company? Definitely not.
Framerate problems plagued more than Rare software, and existed as far back as Goldeneye. No one complained then.
I'm also not entirely sure where you get off calling DK64, Perfect Dark and StarFox Adventures inferior. DK64, PD and Banjo-Tooie (which was, I believe, Rare's last game for the system) all garnered virtually universal critical acclaim. Can you name four other games from that period, not counting Miyamoto's releases, that fared even nearly as well? Which brings me back to my point that the games were critical successes but commercial failures.
If anything, I think the failure of Rare in the later years can be attributed to the N64's competition. The PSX aged much better than Nintendo's offering, and Dreamcast sales began to pick up just as N64 began its decline. You can say a lot of things about Rare, but you can't say their games were anything less than excellent.
On the contrary. Nintendo loved Conker's BFD--they were well aware of their kiddie image at the time, and were quite eager to get some mature titles out to market. However, extraordinary steps were taken to make sure no one under 18 could purchase the game, and because of this, little advertising money was spent. While Conker's BFD garnered critical acclaim from pretty much everyone who played it, sales of the game were terrible.
The same seemed to happen for all of Rare's games. Most, if not all, were critical successes. None after Goldeneye were commercially successful, however. Everything from the heavily Nintendo-pushed Banjo-Kazooie to the excellent shooter Perfect Dark sold well below expectations. Rare's operating cost is most likely huge. Judging by Microsoft's current buy-everthing-that-breathes philosophy, they probably made Rare an offer that it couldn't refuse, especially in the face of inevitable downsizing.
The sad thing is that he may be right about expanding the market. The fact of the matter is that while most Slashdot readers would be appalled by something as stupid and viscereal as BMX XXX, the majority of the market in question (males 18+) go crazy over that kind of thing. Is the general populace unbelieveably stupid? Perhaps. But they have money, and money talks. You don't have to produce a great game to be financially successful; you just have to make one that sells. Look at Deer Hunter in its 18 billion incarnations, all of which are equally unplayable.
It's not so different from the movie industry: a good deal of what is realeased is utter garbage. However, enough people value boobies and fight scenes over a compelling plot and inspired acting that the trash often proves more profitable than the more intelligent, conservative movies that the critics like. Of course, Blackley speaking negatively against Miyamoto is like Chris Columbus chiding Steven Speilberg.
Seamus Blackley of MS says:
"He is not helping things.... He's reinforcing stereotypes about games, not pushing them to a place where they can become something different and truly awesome."
...says the man who brought us Tresspasser and the X-Box. Tresspasser was just another run-of-the-mill shooter, and a bad one at that. Not to bash it just because it's Microsoft, but has a single truly different or innovative game been released for X-Box? Even one?
The reason behind the creation of FFX-2 is not quite what you had in mind. Sales on the original FFX fell slightly short of expectations, and Square needs to make up the defecit somehow. Wonder why the new game will be set in the same locations as the original? HINT: It's not because they're not creative enough to come up with new ones.
As for recent Enix games, what have you seen? I just finished playing Grandia Xtreme, and after seeing how badly Enix bastardized that series, I hope they NEVER, EVER get their hands on a Final Fantasy title. Or DQ7? Ugh. Valkyrie Profile was decent and Star Ocean has its share of merits, but I maintain that these games cannot touch many of Square's better works. FFX is one of the best RPG's I've seen on any system, ever. And did you actually play Kingdom Hearts? Yes, it's sickeningly Disneyfied. But despite that, it still manages to be a very engrossing and even entertaining game.
As for shifting away from story and world, I don't quite see what you mean. Stories in RPG's have been getting more complex and developed, not less so. It's very possible for storytelling and stunning visuals to coexist. I hear your argument a lot from a multitude of people, but I still don't see anything to back it. FFX was every bit as deep and rich as FFVI. And speaking of good stories, how about DQ7? (snicker) Is that what you'd call an indicator that the industry is on the right track?
I'm still surprised at just how crappy the Spirits Withins' script was
That's what happens when you let a Japanese game developer-turned-suit have complete control over something he has no experience in. Video games != movies. At all. In any way. It's the most saddening waste in sci-fi history since George Lucas decided that he should write his own scripts.
Dragon Quest 7, I believe, is still the largest selling game ever in Japan).
So sad, but so true... Not to troll or anything, but did anyone actually manage to finish DQ7 without the help of medication? (The effects of stimulants such as Adderall and Ritalin on RPG playing are astonishing.) It's about 100 hours long, and by the 60th hour, I swear that I felt like I was playing the same 20-hour game for a fourth time. There are so many better games out there... it's really a shame to see them overlooked in favor of this.
Honestly, I think online gaming would be a lot better if they banned people for foul language. Not because I'm sensitive to it, but because I'm sick of being yelled at in leet-speak by some random 13-year old with a major insecurity complex.
Timers are being included on a number of portable MP3 players, the newest Rios among them. Their small formfactor and high stability make them ideal for working out with, and manufacturers are capitalizing on this. Even Nike sells the things now. A few even come with armbands.
Office XP and MSIME2002 do it now. Just install Japanese Language support, open the IME pad, and off you go. Not only that, but it's actually pretty good at matching whatever you give it.
I've found Moller and Haines' Real-Time Rendering to be straightforward, informative and (relatively) easy to read, even though my math background at this point is fairly limited. (Calc 1 and half a semester of calc 2).
Many colleges (including the one I'm on) have an MSDN academic alliance program, which pretty much lets anyone at the university acquire a copy of Windows XP (as well as Visual Studio,MSDN Library, etc.) for free... LEGALLY! I'm sure that the admins had access to something like this when making the announcement, as telling half of your students that they can't use their computers until they shell out $150 for an upgrade just wouldn't fly.
Slashdot Mirror
Probably something like these. Disturbing, eh?
But the speed of light is relative, right? Since relativity centers around time not being absolute, and speed = time/distance...
I'll admit that i'm in way over my head here, but I'd still like to know.
I always thought it wasn't. Black holes, for instance, slow the speed of light to below zero. Or the velocity of it, anyway. My head hurts.
I'm not sure what to tell you. I've seen them too. But then again, Amazon's got 17 results for Bust-a-Move and none for Puzzle Bobble. Of course, if you're looking for "Puzzle Bible," there are 69 books that might suit your needs...
I think there's a simpler explanation. Of all of the people I know in my building at UMass Amherst, I think maybe three of them have decent graphics accelerators. PC games, when present at all, are very simplistic.
Nope. Bust-a-Move is the original, although that's not the original name. The series was released in Japan (and Europe, I believe) as "Puzzle Bobble." "Bust-a-Move" in Japan, where the game in all its incarnations are developed, refers to the Bemani-like series that Americans know as "Bust-a-Groove." Confused yet?
I'm guessing that you've never owned or extensively used a pocket organizer. Your solution doesn't make sense for a number of reasons:
The long and short of it is that numerous organizers, from the Zaurus to the Psion to a number of supercompact laptops, have tried to incorporate keyboards, and it's just not as viable a solution as something like Graffiti. Having the option to do so isn't a bad idea (current Palms support add-on full-size keyboards, I believe), but it just wouldn't work for so many people.
The bottom line is that nobody needs this, and that the price is ridiculously high for the extra benefits you receive. It's been this way since the beginning of the industry.
The truth is that for every one intelligent computer enthusiast I know (the kind that write software and actually know how things work), there are about five people that care only about raw speed. The car analogy works here, in that it's not about what your computer is good for. It's about having more than everyone else. I'd attribute it to some kind of insecurity, be it Freudian in nature or something else entirely.
On the bright side of things, the premiums that fools pay for hardware such as this drives the prices down on the more sensible, middle-of-the-road components that most of us buy. So don't complain too loud.
And talk about a slow news day...
IIRC, Wahoo was a big-name warez site a few years back.
First, I'm hardly a mindless fanboy. The only game in question I currently own is Conker's BFD; I played through most of the others on rentals. I've heard decent things about Starfox Adventures at best, and it does seem pretty clear that the Starfox brand was added as an afterthought. Perfect Dark did indeed have framerate problems, as did a number of other Rare titles such as Jet Force Gemini. That doesn't change the fact, however, that pretty much everything coming out for the N64 from third parties was pure and utter crap. Frankly, I've always found Rare's games to be enjoyable and innovative at the least, although I will admit that I only got to around level three of Perfect Dark before I sold my copy on eBay. Regardless, you can make a strong case that until the release of GTA3, Rare was the best console development house outside of Japan. (With the possible exception of EA Sports, which is a totally different market anyway.)
But I digress. My original point was that while Rare's titles were well-received by the community, they simply weren't making money. While I'm certain that Nintendo would have been more than happy to continue funding Rare (at least to some reduced extent), Rare was desperate enough to stay afloat and Microsoft was desperate enough to expand their exclusive lineup that the two companies found each other. Did MS overpay? Most likely. Will it be worth Microsoft's while? Perhaps. Should Nintendo have overbid MS to keep the company? Definitely not.
IIRC, Nintendo wouldn't even mention it in Nintendo Power, and had absolutely zero promotion on their own website.
Framerate problems plagued more than Rare software, and existed as far back as Goldeneye. No one complained then.
I'm also not entirely sure where you get off calling DK64, Perfect Dark and StarFox Adventures inferior. DK64, PD and Banjo-Tooie (which was, I believe, Rare's last game for the system) all garnered virtually universal critical acclaim. Can you name four other games from that period, not counting Miyamoto's releases, that fared even nearly as well? Which brings me back to my point that the games were critical successes but commercial failures.
If anything, I think the failure of Rare in the later years can be attributed to the N64's competition. The PSX aged much better than Nintendo's offering, and Dreamcast sales began to pick up just as N64 began its decline. You can say a lot of things about Rare, but you can't say their games were anything less than excellent.
On the contrary. Nintendo loved Conker's BFD--they were well aware of their kiddie image at the time, and were quite eager to get some mature titles out to market. However, extraordinary steps were taken to make sure no one under 18 could purchase the game, and because of this, little advertising money was spent. While Conker's BFD garnered critical acclaim from pretty much everyone who played it, sales of the game were terrible.
The same seemed to happen for all of Rare's games. Most, if not all, were critical successes. None after Goldeneye were commercially successful, however. Everything from the heavily Nintendo-pushed Banjo-Kazooie to the excellent shooter Perfect Dark sold well below expectations. Rare's operating cost is most likely huge. Judging by Microsoft's current buy-everthing-that-breathes philosophy, they probably made Rare an offer that it couldn't refuse, especially in the face of inevitable downsizing.
The sad thing is that he may be right about expanding the market. The fact of the matter is that while most Slashdot readers would be appalled by something as stupid and viscereal as BMX XXX, the majority of the market in question (males 18+) go crazy over that kind of thing. Is the general populace unbelieveably stupid? Perhaps. But they have money, and money talks. You don't have to produce a great game to be financially successful; you just have to make one that sells. Look at Deer Hunter in its 18 billion incarnations, all of which are equally unplayable.
It's not so different from the movie industry: a good deal of what is realeased is utter garbage. However, enough people value boobies and fight scenes over a compelling plot and inspired acting that the trash often proves more profitable than the more intelligent, conservative movies that the critics like. Of course, Blackley speaking negatively against Miyamoto is like Chris Columbus chiding Steven Speilberg.
...says the man who brought us Tresspasser and the X-Box. Tresspasser was just another run-of-the-mill shooter, and a bad one at that. Not to bash it just because it's Microsoft, but has a single truly different or innovative game been released for X-Box? Even one?
The reason behind the creation of FFX-2 is not quite what you had in mind. Sales on the original FFX fell slightly short of expectations, and Square needs to make up the defecit somehow. Wonder why the new game will be set in the same locations as the original? HINT: It's not because they're not creative enough to come up with new ones.
As for recent Enix games, what have you seen? I just finished playing Grandia Xtreme, and after seeing how badly Enix bastardized that series, I hope they NEVER, EVER get their hands on a Final Fantasy title. Or DQ7? Ugh. Valkyrie Profile was decent and Star Ocean has its share of merits, but I maintain that these games cannot touch many of Square's better works. FFX is one of the best RPG's I've seen on any system, ever. And did you actually play Kingdom Hearts? Yes, it's sickeningly Disneyfied. But despite that, it still manages to be a very engrossing and even entertaining game.
As for shifting away from story and world, I don't quite see what you mean. Stories in RPG's have been getting more complex and developed, not less so. It's very possible for storytelling and stunning visuals to coexist. I hear your argument a lot from a multitude of people, but I still don't see anything to back it. FFX was every bit as deep and rich as FFVI. And speaking of good stories, how about DQ7? (snicker) Is that what you'd call an indicator that the industry is on the right track?
I'm still surprised at just how crappy the Spirits Withins' script was
That's what happens when you let a Japanese game developer-turned-suit have complete control over something he has no experience in. Video games != movies. At all. In any way. It's the most saddening waste in sci-fi history since George Lucas decided that he should write his own scripts.
Dragon Quest 7, I believe, is still the largest selling game ever in Japan).
So sad, but so true... Not to troll or anything, but did anyone actually manage to finish DQ7 without the help of medication? (The effects of stimulants such as Adderall and Ritalin on RPG playing are astonishing.) It's about 100 hours long, and by the 60th hour, I swear that I felt like I was playing the same 20-hour game for a fourth time. There are so many better games out there... it's really a shame to see them overlooked in favor of this.
Honestly, I think online gaming would be a lot better if they banned people for foul language. Not because I'm sensitive to it, but because I'm sick of being yelled at in leet-speak by some random 13-year old with a major insecurity complex.
Timers are being included on a number of portable MP3 players, the newest Rios among them. Their small formfactor and high stability make them ideal for working out with, and manufacturers are capitalizing on this. Even Nike sells the things now. A few even come with armbands.
No, but it will certainly buy the top brass a really, really big boat.
Office XP and MSIME2002 do it now. Just install Japanese Language support, open the IME pad, and off you go. Not only that, but it's actually pretty good at matching whatever you give it.
I've found Moller and Haines' Real-Time Rendering to be straightforward, informative and (relatively) easy to read, even though my math background at this point is fairly limited. (Calc 1 and half a semester of calc 2).
Many colleges (including the one I'm on) have an MSDN academic alliance program, which pretty much lets anyone at the university acquire a copy of Windows XP (as well as Visual Studio,MSDN Library, etc.) for free... LEGALLY! I'm sure that the admins had access to something like this when making the announcement, as telling half of your students that they can't use their computers until they shell out $150 for an upgrade just wouldn't fly.