Just a bit of extra info for folks who have never played AO: Subscriptions are still necessary for the expansion packs, but classic AO is ad supported. Paid accounts have the option to turn the ads off. So, to an extent, Funcom is also supported by two revenue streams.
I agree with your post - in game advertising in addition to a monthly fee is just plain silly. Although, now that I think about it, I'd probably leave the ads on even if a had a paid AO account (I'm on a free one) just to see the player created ones. It would be an entirely different story if the game had popup ads and a "punch the monkey" banner at the top of the screen though.
With Mandrake you let drakconf and it's buddies do everything for you and then you have to go and hand-hack it later anyway.
Then, if you decide to use drakconf for something again, it writes over everything you've hand hacked. This is one of my biggest complaints against Mandriva (That, and I don't like urpmi. I'll take apt any day).
There are no "clever workarounds" for updates to things such as world geometry (although this one would arguably be the easiest too pull off, assuming you planned it from the beginning), statics meshes or texture updates - unless the client downloads ~>30MB of updates every time they log on.
It's not just you. Every time I see Tomonobu Itagaki trashing someone else's games while talking about how great DOA is, a little part of my brain dies.
I'm not sure if it was PC Gamer, but I remember an old PC demo disc from some magazine that had a Myst-like interface, done in a sort of film-nior/detective movie type of style. You had to "uncover the clues" in the form of the demos on the disc. It was gimmicky, but it seemed cool to me at the time.
As gaming is making way in terms of mass appeal it seems that, more and more, independent developers are being pushed aside. Independent studios made PC gaming, and it's a real shame to see what is happening to so many of them.
I'm sure that Cyan has become a different company in the years since Myst was released - they might have moved away from the spirit they seemed to have back in the day - but, speaking as someone who has played more than their share of videogames, this (and the relatively recent closing of Black Isle and a bunch of other good studios) seems like a sign of more bad things to come for videogames in general.
Yawn. Play online via your Xbox without paying a cent (besides what you already pay for your internet connection), get mods for free, and then we'll talk.
Yeah, I know that... now. Honestly I feel a little sheepish about having to have this pointed out to me in front of thousands of people but, hey, you've got to learn somehow.
I've noticed this with mods for a lot of recent games. I think the culprit is that these newer, more advanced engines take a much larger team a much longer time to create content for.
While the engines of late allow for much more advanced architecture and physics, it's getting to the point that all the tools in the world aren't going to let you utilize the engine to it's fullest potential. Just take a look at how many mods released as of late have the same plain, boxy environments as mods based on games released 5-10 years ago.
Most of what you said is exactly why people do like cats. They don't give one fuck about you, they don't demand constant attention, and if you forget to feed them they'll find a way to sneak outside and kill their own food.
Slashdot Mirror
Just a bit of extra info for folks who have never played AO: Subscriptions are still necessary for the expansion packs, but classic AO is ad supported. Paid accounts have the option to turn the ads off. So, to an extent, Funcom is also supported by two revenue streams.
I agree with your post - in game advertising in addition to a monthly fee is just plain silly. Although, now that I think about it, I'd probably leave the ads on even if a had a paid AO account (I'm on a free one) just to see the player created ones. It would be an entirely different story if the game had popup ads and a "punch the monkey" banner at the top of the screen though.
With Mandrake you let drakconf and it's buddies do everything for you and then you have to go and hand-hack it later anyway.
Then, if you decide to use drakconf for something again, it writes over everything you've hand hacked. This is one of my biggest complaints against Mandriva (That, and I don't like urpmi. I'll take apt any day).
Oops, my bad.
I think the link is correct, it seems to be the linked page that is acting screwy.
I guess we know which distro the people who modded you down use...
I know I have. More than once, in fact.
Hillary Clinton, a person? Sorry, milk just squirted out of my nose there.
As a resident of New York State I can tell you: nothing is further from the truth.
There are no "clever workarounds" for updates to things such as world geometry (although this one would arguably be the easiest too pull off, assuming you planned it from the beginning), statics meshes or texture updates - unless the client downloads ~>30MB of updates every time they log on.
I'm assuming that animosity isn't always there, at least not as much. Itagaki is just an asshole.
It's not just you. Every time I see Tomonobu Itagaki trashing someone else's games while talking about how great DOA is, a little part of my brain dies.
It's a good thing that is hasn't been "realeased". Seeing as that word doesn't exist, who knows what the consequences could have been?
But Halo *could be* the next Mario. More games in the same universe- but each game isn't just a mildly incremental improvement on the previous game.
Don't forget the Halo kart racing game, Halo Tennis and Halo Golf(wouldn't that be weird?).
I'm not sure if it was PC Gamer, but I remember an old PC demo disc from some magazine that had a Myst-like interface, done in a sort of film-nior/detective movie type of style. You had to "uncover the clues" in the form of the demos on the disc. It was gimmicky, but it seemed cool to me at the time.
As gaming is making way in terms of mass appeal it seems that, more and more, independent developers are being pushed aside. Independent studios made PC gaming, and it's a real shame to see what is happening to so many of them.
I'm sure that Cyan has become a different company in the years since Myst was released - they might have moved away from the spirit they seemed to have back in the day - but, speaking as someone who has played more than their share of videogames, this (and the relatively recent closing of Black Isle and a bunch of other good studios) seems like a sign of more bad things to come for videogames in general.
It's like renaming driving a car "Hondatraveling" or something stupid like that.
This rarely happens to me while reading Slashdot, but that literally made me laugh out loud.
Except for the fact that it's not an MMORPG in any way shape or form...
Hey, no need to be so harsh. I love that game.
Yawn. Play online via your Xbox without paying a cent (besides what you already pay for your internet connection), get mods for free, and then we'll talk.
Somebody had better check their facts on this one...
Yeah, I know that... now. Honestly I feel a little sheepish about having to have this pointed out to me in front of thousands of people but, hey, you've got to learn somehow.
I've noticed this with mods for a lot of recent games. I think the culprit is that these newer, more advanced engines take a much larger team a much longer time to create content for.
While the engines of late allow for much more advanced architecture and physics, it's getting to the point that all the tools in the world aren't going to let you utilize the engine to it's fullest potential. Just take a look at how many mods released as of late have the same plain, boxy environments as mods based on games released 5-10 years ago.
I'll admit, I've always thought of penultimate as meaning "nearly ultimate", not "second most ultimate". I apologize.
Exactly.
Somebody buying a PDP-1 to play Space War would probably be the penultimate definition of the term "rich kid".
Most of what you said is exactly why people do like cats. They don't give one fuck about you, they don't demand constant attention, and if you forget to feed them they'll find a way to sneak outside and kill their own food.