Point taken, however much like AFI's list of the top 100 american movies of all time, IGN's list acts as a very good primer for someone looking for great games. Every game on the top 100 list that IGN put out is incredibly worth playing, and as much as I hate defending IGN, the atleast got that right. Otherwise I agree it's a bunch of crap the way they ranked them. They probably should have just made the top 100 games that you really need to play.
That probably wouldn't pull in as many hits though...
I've noticed a trend in recent stories upon slashdot.
It's becoming popular to link to a seperate site that the user has to click through in order to get to the site the post mentions. For example this post here doesn't even mention who or what makes the device, only that linux devices is running a profile on it. In order to get any information about the device, the user must go to linux devices and use a link they provide. This could have been avoided by hotlinking GPX with the manufacturer's page.
While this is relatively minor compared to Friday's post (http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/07/29 /2121223) where the write up on slashdot only links to Joystiq's site, where the actual content (what the post was about) was hosted on entirely different servers. It would have been okay to link the source Joystiq, but linking the content is necessary so I don't have to jump through hoops to see what the news post is actually about.
I'd say this is a joke, but then again I'm reading slashdot, so this sort of crap is a mainstay of the community.
There are no limitations, not since October of 2000. (USB ports on the PS2)
Whether or not computers or consoles have the ability of using seperate input devices (which I guuess consoles do, now) it's pretty much the default ones that really matter since a lot of people will not be willing to design a game for what most users may not own. That said, keyboard and mouse can do pretty much anything and allow for communication, where as a typical controller will not. I'm not saying that a kbm setup is superior, it's just that it's better for some games. That said, a kbm setup will work with pretty much every game out there, where as a controller setup will not.
I must also say that gaming consoles predate gaming on PC's. (not counting text based stuff on PDP 11's or whatever) So technically gaming is meant to be done on consoles.
Now this is some comedy. What honestly do you think consoles are? What kind of voodoo do you honestly think goes on in that little box? To say that console gaming predates PC gaming is a bit absurd, since at core a console is just a specialized computer. If you must be nitpicky then you can say that console gaming predates modern PC gaming, but that's retarded because where there were pc's there were pc games. It may not have been a market, but personal computers have always been used for gaming since the days of their conception.
While the man you're quoting in your post may have never played a console game in his life (it's becoming obvious), there's just genres that play out better on each platform. Depending on your favorite style of RPG you might enjoy computer RPG's better, since they tend to be more freeform as the PC has a rewritable storage medium. Something that Xbox really hasn't taken advantage of, excepting a terrible morrowind console port... maybe.
There's nothing wrong with decent platformers, so we'll move on. Because this idiot doesn't like them doesn't mean shit.
Unfortunately he brings up another point that is very valid if you must be fighting over which platform is "superior."
Still, it's easier to get ahold of a C compiler, 3D Studio or whatever the hell it is that spews forth Flash than it is to get a PS2 development kit.
http://playstation2-linux.com/ official hobbyist development kit.(though it's quite usable fo other things)
if you believe in any way that independant development on a console is in any way comparable to that on a PC, then you sir, are retarded. You can go ahead and cite your linux-on-ps2 (PC operating system on PS2?!) shit, but that's stupid. How are you going to be painting textures and putting together models on your ps2 linux? Oh, right, you're not. If anything you should be citing how development has taken off on modded xboxes. But I think it's becoming clear from your other posts that you're a little ps2 fanboy. Otherwise it's the PC that is the home of independant development, it always has been, and always will be. There's a myriad of free and cheap-but-good tools available to pc users to accomplish every task needed in game development (something that may be foriegn to you).
I'll agree xbox live is one of the better online arrangments to come out there, but I can't justify it as a good use of my 50 dollars when I've got a better set up on my PC. I had recently got it after hearing such good reviews only to find out that Halo 2's multiplayer was ridiculously gimped. I had come into the game thinking that I was going to be able to play what maps I wanted to play, with what gametype I wanted to play, the way I wanted to play it. Of course Bungie doesn't actually offer that kind of experience.
It turns out that with Halo 2's awesome online setup, I no longer have to worry about what map I'm going to be playing, because it will be chosen for me from a preselected set of maps that bungee uses voodoo to derive. Same with weapons, and gametype. I honestly only bought in so I could play CTF with my roommates online, only to figure out if I wanted to do that I was going to have to pay 50 dollars for each of them so they could get their own gamertags. That's pretty fucked up to me. Now of course you could tell me to just play non-ranked. But I'm not sure if you have ever tried playing an unranked team ctf game, but let me tell you, it's not ctf. You play 1 man ctf on that shitty crash map with misslelaunchers only or some bullshit. I had to quit 90% of the games we played simply because the gametype was just fucking absurd. In order to get the CTF I wanted I had to play on the ranked ladder and even then I wasn't guarenteed that I was going to be getting the game I wanted to play. I can't see why people put up with that kind of bullshit. Oh wait, I know, because Bungie says it's better that way. Bullshit. Now you could also tell me to just play friends only games, and I'd consider it, if everyone playing xbox live wasn't 12 years old. Nothing against 12 year olds, but the majority of them have annoying voices and say really annoying shit all the time. Is there a mute feature in game? Because I could never fucking find it. I'd load into a map just to hear some prepubescent voice screech into the mic some, and then just reach for the quit button because there's no reason for me to put up with that shit.
I eventually did build a friends list, it was made up of random people that weren't incredibly annoying (only some) and I played a few games with them. After putting in so many hours just to play with people I didn't like at all, I realized it wasn't worth it. Halo 2 is a decent game, and a decent multiplayer game, but the way that bungie executed it online was terrible. I salute the kind of people who can take the bullshit bungie feeds them. They're either too ignorant to not understand how an online match should be set up, or they just don't care. It just wasn't worth the $50 to play the game the way that bungie wanted me to play it with the kind of people I want to punch in the throat.
At least with CS I can host my own server, or mute the people I hate, or choose to turn voice chat off, or pick from 1 of a million other servers (running the gametype, mods, or map I want).
After finding out that Halo 2 live was the biggest mistake I've ever paid $50 for, I looked into other games I could play on live. I think there were like 2 I seriously considered. I could imagine that splinter cell online would work better than the PC counterpart, since the controller works a lot better for controls in that game. However I'm pretty sure the server browser in all the PC versions work the same way as they do in the console versions, which means they're completely broken. The other issue was that I already owned all the splinter cell games on my pc. Why pay for them over again? The other game I wanted to try online was crimson skies, but I never got around to buying another game after halo 2.
Sure, live is the best thing the console market has by far. But the experience on the PC is far better. By hosting a teamspeak server I can choose who I talk with and what game I talk in. The voice quality is the same or better, and there's relatively little bullshit. The games that come ou
Yeah seriously, I think I'm going to come up with a site that writes meaningless shit about games just to see if I can get on games.slashdot. Then again IGN gets away with that kind of crap all the time, their "feature" on CRPGs lacked anything resembeling content. Then there was that "article" about MMO's not even a day ago... I'm all for games journalism but some of this stuff is ridiculous. Gamerdad needs to stop writing forever.
Didn't you hear! They're changing the game completely with the expansion. They're adding such innovative things such as a device known as a "grappling hook" (which will allow you to grapple onto a building and climb/zipline towards it) along with an ultra-realistic, never before seen in games "night vision goggles." With the inclusion of ultra-tall buildings to scale, and night time maps with REAL darkness - these items promise to change the way we see gaming forever.
After the news about this expansion was released, I saw a huge influx of copy-cat "grappling hook" mods in Q3A and TFC. I also just signed onto steam today for a bit of Counter-Strike:Source to see that they stealth-patched in some night vision goggles! EA and DiCE together are revolutionaries in the sea of mediocre gaming!
"No, you're not right. Not on any of it." "And yes, the Hunter class has been royally screwed since the begining and will remain so."
So am I not right about the hunter class, or am I right about the hunter class? It looks like by the time you finish typing one thing, you've forgotten what you've typed!
"I also did not claim or say that the 'entire horde side was overpowered'."
Well, actually you did. "Compared to the Alliance side actually, all of the Horde is more powerful"
I'm sorry, but your whole arguing both sides of the argument isn't really working out.
But really, it's quite obvious that this must be your first MMORPG. It's quite a common misconception on slashdot that these games have something to do with RPG's past a d20 style ruleset. It's a truth that all the successful MMORPGs of the past 7 or 8 years have had nothing to do with Roleplaying. Considering this trend, and assuming you've played one of these games before WoW (EQ, AC, AC2, DAoC, AO, FFXI, UO) you'd understand that none of them have ever had true "Dungeon Masters" (in the sense of the PnP RPGs). Why would WoW be any different? How would giving these unpaid players the power to mess with game mechanics be in any way helpful? The current design of MMO style games just doesn't allow for them to have those kind of powers. Giving them those powers would no doubt cause more problems than they would solve. However, like in every other MMO game out there, serve the purpose to help players out with social issues.
Even you seem confused on this where you state how "In WOW they only deal with some social issues" but go on to say that "At this point they serve no purpose in the game". However as I said earlier, they "are there to handle ingame social issues and bugs. [...] They can repop a bugged mob for you, or tell you to delete your interface folder." (Which I will vouch for, they're good at that.)
They're far from worthless, but the GMs in WoW are exactly how they were in every other MMO I've played, and since WoW is an MMO, I expect nothing more of them. I especially don't expect them to balance the game.
"I find it funny that you talk about how you regularly kill Paladins if you get them one on one with 'all of your horde characters' and they will only survive if some 'lvl60 comes along to help.' If that isn't an indictment of Paladins being underpowered (they are supposed to be the alliance's equivilent of a Shaman) I don't know what is."
Let's go ahead and take a look at what I did say, since you seem to have not read my post.
"Other than that, the only difference between the two factions are the two faction specific classes. While I'd love to feel for the Paladins, they have one small advantage over the rest of the classes: survivability. With skills popped, they have pretty much 3 health bars, not to mention potions, that allows them to last quite a while, on top of semi-uninterruptable heals."
I haven't said anything about killing paladins up and down with all my horde characters yet. However, I did point out the fact that they are the class with the most survivability in the game. What I didn't mention is that they wear plate and shamans only wear mail. Adding to their forte, surviving.
Nowhere is it stated by Blizzard that the Paladin is "supposed to be the alliance's equivilent of a Shaman" as you said. Considering the design of the game, I would figure you'd understand that classes must be different for there to be a class system at all. Blizzard just gave the Alliance faction an extra hybrid/tank class, and the Horde faction an extra hybrid/dps class. While I'll go ahead and say (like I already have... but you weren't paying any attention) "the shaman class is a bit overpowered, and probably overplayed. Unfortunately, even though they are a bit better in some aspects than the other hybrid classes, they are not grossly unbalanced." I don't fe
I really don't think you have any clue what the hell you're even talking about.
First of all, the Game Masters (commenly known as a GM) are there to handle ingame social issues and bugs. Believe it or not, they don't have any part in balancing the gameplay. They can repop a bugged mob for you, or tell you to delete your interface folder. They really don't have any power over that. Are you suggesting that the GMs in wow be the ones that balance the game?
Also, having played both sides I can say with authority that "the entire horde side" is not overpowered. If anything the developers spent more time designing and implimenting the Alliance continent and quests. Your crazy theory that the faction itself is overpowered is baseless. While most servers have an acceptable (read close enough to 1:1) ratio for Alliance:Horde, the only reason anyone would ever come to this conclusion is if they played on Mal'Ganis (or should i say mal'goonis, am i rite?).
Other than that, the only difference between the two factions are the two faction specific classes. While I'd love to feel for the Paladins, they have one small advantage over the rest of the classes: survivability. With skills popped, they have pretty much 3 health bars, not to mention potions, that allows them to last quite a while, on top of semi-uninterruptable heals. Now they're definately not going to be soloing a shaman (lawl) any time soon, but they still get by. Every time I end up in a battle with a paladin on my Horde characters, I have to pray that a level 60 won't roll by and answer his cries for help.
The only thing that you seem to understand is that the shaman class is a bit overpowered, and probably overplayed. Unfortunately, even though they are a bit better in some aspects than the other hybrid classes, they are not grossly unbalanced. A rogue with the jump can generally take out a shaman (and good rogues will always have the jump). The entire game could use a bit of balancing.
The only class I really feel for is the Hunter, who is really only half finished and with 2 worthless skill trees. Hunters also have to deal with a huge deadzone (where no damage can be dealt), and a near worthless pet (at least for pvp).
Anyway, even with all the game's flaws, it's still an incredibly fun game, and possibly the best MMO out on the market today.
I still don't see how what you typed has anything to do with how this is wrong. It's obvious that today's MMO's are completely different games from the PnP games you remember so fondly. I don't see why you get so caught up in this fact. Sony's decisions has no relation to ruining or hurting the actual genre of RPGs, more or less only affecting the future decisions of similar diablo-esque MMO designers. There's a reason that you're viewed weirdly when you roleplay, and that's because today's MMO games offer no emphasis on or facility for roleplaying. Perhaps if it was your favorite MUD that was RP-only, offering the option to sell your character, would it seem out of place. However, in all these games that follow the same treadmill style, selling the equipment or characters that will allow you to enjoy the higher level content (or lack there of) only makes sense.
However, the other concerns that Mark brings up are a bit more valid, in that farming may become more viscious, and how will that affect the players now that it's technically sanctioned. Not to mention the lawsuits that may come from in-game bugs and other things.
It is just that the fact remains whether or not the company producing the game supports it, players and (mostly) farmers will still sell their accounts or items. I'd love to say that Sony is doing the right thing out of kindness (offering a safer route for players to go and trade things in) but they probably see the potential revenue.
I've got a Targus bag which I've been using for a year. The thing is rather comfortable, but can get a little rough after a few hours with it. I'd give you a link off the targus site, but it doesn't appear to be on there. The back and shoulder straps are completely padded, and the back most compartment is huge and holds a slip for my laptop. The slip has a netted pouch for nick-nacks (PCMCIA cards, etc) and there's space enough for my power adaptor. The next Compartment up has enough room for whatever books I might be carrying, notebooks, compartments for pencils, and another netted one that holds my minidisk player, LAN cables, etc. Then there's another front one that could fit smaller books, and two others on the sides of the bag (each about the size of a can of soda). From the looks of their site all the bags are nearly as spacious. With these bags full they can be quite bulky, but when I've got just my laptop in there, it doesn't seem so cumbersome.
There's a few problems with using Targus bags though.
If you're paranoid... since Targus is a name brand laptop bag it's pretty much a guarentee to thugs that you're carrying a laptop with you.
Second, I don't think any of their bags are particularly attractive. I think I got the lesser of the devils with the black/silver I have, but I still think it's kind of ugly.
The other route you could go, is get a truely comfortable bag and convert it to a laptop bag. Using cardboard, or some other type of padding to make a slip, then sew a cover on that and attach it to the inside of the bag. It's a little more covert and you might like it better. But I'm lazy, and I was willing to drop 75 on my bag.
Yeah, if I remember correctly D3d mode was the poorer of the two modes. I've had a few weird ass problems trying to get it to work. I've had it glitched out to the point where I could see through walls, just from running in it. OpenGL was just the better supported renderer for the game, that's all.
I'm quite surprised that anyone even runs it in D3D, but that's only based after my personal experience.
Well every computer is different... I'm running SP2 RC2 myself and... really my windows box has never run better. It's weird. I honestly didn't expect that. I can't say that the new virus features and the firewall setting crap are all that great, but I suppose for joe windows user they'd be good guidelines to follow. Anyone else having the same success?
It sucks that they're doing this. This is exactly the same as the US cracking down on xbox modchip makers and whatever else DRM-unlocking schemes that are being crushed right now. (How many people whine about people using cheats and how many of these whiners own modded PS2's, roms, or chipped Xboxes?) Once a company ships a product, who are they to say how exactly you're allowed to use it and how not to? Obviously there's overlap with redistribution and other copyright issues, but come on, where does our fair use come in? Why can I rip apart my toaster oven but not my playstation 2? Why can't I hack my own game? I payed for it!
That said, I've never used a cheating program to "help" me along in Counter-Strike, and I've never had my game ruined by those who chose to use them. And it's nearly impossible to play a CS game without encountering a cheater, but it doesn't matter... they don't ruin the game. It's the other players that let their game get ruined. Honestly, if a hacker comes on, get the guy kicked, otherwise there's 10,000 other servers to play on, don't let your fun be spoiled by some kid who doesn't want to play by the rules. If you really crave legit play, get your own server... administrate it well. Or find a community that administrates their server well. It should be the players that choose how the game is played once it's in their hands, and not the companies who aren't directly losing because the players are modifying the game. Obviously when you stake a business model on direct player interaction with the game environment (a game's economy, i.e. MMORPG) then it's a direct attack on the company, but none of this bullshit where I can't hack where it's not hurting anyone.
Epic is pulling this same shit too, with banning and threatening to take legal action if you modify your game in a way they don't like, and yes it's in the EULA. There's just no reason for it. These people need to stop whining and just deal with it, and not let it get to them. Some people choose to use these hacks, and you can choose to not let it get to you, or to not allow it in your space. Just don't whine to the company until you force them to take away some of your rights and impliment DRM in order to limit how you can or cannot play your game.
Microsoft may be the devil reincarnate, but if it weren't for Microsoft and their OS then I'd probably not be into computing today. Perhaps I wouldn't want to be either. Let me explain.
Back when I started using computers, pre 1997 perhaps, I was quite the youngin' (still am) and was teaching myself how to use computers and the still growing internet. It was windows 95 that allowed me to do this, and it had the games that kept me interested in computers. I can't tell you how much having warcraft 2 on the platform helped. But games were just the gateway drug to the technology addiction that was to follow. Now Mac OS also had a port of War2, but Macs back then (and today still) are rather expensive, and I'm sure my family would not have been so keen on using one. Linux, on the other hand, is cheap (it's free!) but there's no way ten year old me would of been able to use it. Windows is the beast that allows the blend between ease-of-use and configurability, and that's what I enjoy in an operating system.
Now today, things have changed, and Operating Systems have changed too, but Linux still is a bitch to set up and use and MacOS still makes me feel dumb using it. It's Microsoft that allows me to get things done when I need it, because more often than not I can just install a program without having to do much more work than a few clicks, and have it work. That's important because I feel my time is better spent working on what I want to do, instead of updating dependancies and wondering why the fuck this make is throwing up errors. When I decide I need to tweak my computer and get it running better or faster, that's easy to do too, and I know just how to do it. I don't have to deal with Apple's shit or hard to use third party programs. It's just Windows, and as much as I'd hate to say it, sometimes it just works. Now it does come at a price, and I'd love to lose all these explorer crashes and odd little (or big) problems that using Windows presents, but until Linux moves to carry the games and starts being easy enough for me to set up, it will still remain that beast that I need to tackle. And it shouldn't be that way. When I'm using a desktop computer it shouldn't be an arduous exhausting task.
Had Microsoft not been around, most likely something would have moved to fill it's place. However I don't think that the world we're living in is too bad. I just wish that more game developers would support OpenGL and make the linux ports. That way maybe someday I'd have something to look forward to in a switch to linux.
Do you realize that "faggot" used to refer to a bundle of sticks, or that "gay" used to be a synonym of "happy"?
Language changes all the time. Just because something became an insult because of homophobia doesn't mean that it will always be an insult because of homophobia. Even now, a significant number of people use the word as an insult just because it's accepted as an insult; sexual orientation doesn't enter into it. After all, how does it make sense to call, for instance, Star Wars Galaxies gay in the homophobic sense when SWG doesn't even have a sexuality?
Now I do know a lot of "gay" and "bi" people who would actually be offended if they were around people who used gay as a pejoritive, then again I know twice as many "gay" people who no longer feels that gay really means what it used to. It no longer holds offensive meaning for them. Which makes sense, technically gay doesn't even have any sort of connection to what we'd now call Homosexuals, besides the meaning it shares with happy, which I'd be more offended by. Of course these are the same friends that I game with occasionally, and I'd have to say that may have something to do with it.
Sure these words may have become pejoratives because of their connection to gay people, but they're now losing that connection it seems. Same deal with nigger, sure you still have the rednecks who use it offensively, and the black people who consequently get mad. But that's to be expected. I've heard black people call eachother nigger, white people call eachother nigger, white people call black people nigger, and asians that say it and everyone laughs. Racism, at least in my area, is becoming quite the joke.
Do they work? Nope. Are they worth the effort? In my opinion, nope.
Cheats will always be out there that cannot be detected, blocked, or otherwise foiled by these 'anti-cheats', so why bother to trouble the legit players with annoying software? At least in HL mods, where a seperate program must be run asside from the game. It's just not worth my time, so I avoid these servers like the plague. The actual amount of cheaters that play CS is probably a lot less than people would like to think, and it's not hard to find a cheater-less non-software regulated server. My tip is play on friendly fire servers, when a real cheater is around, usually the player base can deal with it themselves. Otherwise, nothing beats a well-admin'd server. Find a player community that you can play with and come to trust. Be a reg. It helps the game experience a lot, because you'll have friends that you can trust, and the server will hopefully be administrated well. That to me is a lot better than any big-brother cheat software.
"When it comes to the game itself, I have read that the music and atmosphere resembles the first game, which I think is great news."
You might be thrilled to find out that the main theme for the demo is a remix of the original UT theme. I was excited at least. The music for onslaught is great too, same with convoy. I thought ut2k3 to be a step back in that same department though, UT had such great music.
Slashdot Mirror
...4 percent hispanic, less than 3 percent black.
but what I really want to know is...
Where da asians at?
Point taken, however much like AFI's list of the top 100 american movies of all time, IGN's list acts as a very good primer for someone looking for great games. Every game on the top 100 list that IGN put out is incredibly worth playing, and as much as I hate defending IGN, the atleast got that right. Otherwise I agree it's a bunch of crap the way they ranked them. They probably should have just made the top 100 games that you really need to play.
That probably wouldn't pull in as many hits though...
I've noticed a trend in recent stories upon slashdot.
9 /2121223) where the write up on slashdot only links to Joystiq's site, where the actual content (what the post was about) was hosted on entirely different servers. It would have been okay to link the source Joystiq, but linking the content is necessary so I don't have to jump through hoops to see what the news post is actually about.
It's becoming popular to link to a seperate site that the user has to click through in order to get to the site the post mentions. For example this post here doesn't even mention who or what makes the device, only that linux devices is running a profile on it. In order to get any information about the device, the user must go to linux devices and use a link they provide. This could have been avoided by hotlinking GPX with the manufacturer's page.
While this is relatively minor compared to Friday's post (http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/07/2
Thanks a lot,
-a slashdot user
Link is super sweet omgwtf!!11oe
I'd say this is a joke, but then again I'm reading slashdot, so this sort of crap is a mainstay of the community.
There are no limitations, not since October of 2000. (USB ports on the PS2)
Whether or not computers or consoles have the ability of using seperate input devices (which I guuess consoles do, now) it's pretty much the default ones that really matter since a lot of people will not be willing to design a game for what most users may not own. That said, keyboard and mouse can do pretty much anything and allow for communication, where as a typical controller will not. I'm not saying that a kbm setup is superior, it's just that it's better for some games. That said, a kbm setup will work with pretty much every game out there, where as a controller setup will not.
I must also say that gaming consoles predate gaming on PC's. (not counting text based stuff on PDP 11's or whatever) So technically gaming is meant to be done on consoles.
Now this is some comedy. What honestly do you think consoles are? What kind of voodoo do you honestly think goes on in that little box? To say that console gaming predates PC gaming is a bit absurd, since at core a console is just a specialized computer. If you must be nitpicky then you can say that console gaming predates modern PC gaming, but that's retarded because where there were pc's there were pc games. It may not have been a market, but personal computers have always been used for gaming since the days of their conception.
While the man you're quoting in your post may have never played a console game in his life (it's becoming obvious), there's just genres that play out better on each platform. Depending on your favorite style of RPG you might enjoy computer RPG's better, since they tend to be more freeform as the PC has a rewritable storage medium. Something that Xbox really hasn't taken advantage of, excepting a terrible morrowind console port... maybe.
There's nothing wrong with decent platformers, so we'll move on. Because this idiot doesn't like them doesn't mean shit.
Unfortunately he brings up another point that is very valid if you must be fighting over which platform is "superior."
Still, it's easier to get ahold of a C compiler, 3D Studio or whatever the hell it is that spews forth Flash than it is to get a PS2 development kit.
http://playstation2-linux.com/ official hobbyist development kit.(though it's quite usable fo other things)
if you believe in any way that independant development on a console is in any way comparable to that on a PC, then you sir, are retarded. You can go ahead and cite your linux-on-ps2 (PC operating system on PS2?!) shit, but that's stupid. How are you going to be painting textures and putting together models on your ps2 linux? Oh, right, you're not. If anything you should be citing how development has taken off on modded xboxes. But I think it's becoming clear from your other posts that you're a little ps2 fanboy. Otherwise it's the PC that is the home of independant development, it always has been, and always will be. There's a myriad of free and cheap-but-good tools available to pc users to accomplish every task needed in game development (something that may be foriegn to you).
I'll agree xbox live is one of the better online arrangments to come out there, but I can't justify it as a good use of my 50 dollars when I've got a better set up on my PC. I had recently got it after hearing such good reviews only to find out that Halo 2's multiplayer was ridiculously gimped. I had come into the game thinking that I was going to be able to play what maps I wanted to play, with what gametype I wanted to play, the way I wanted to play it. Of course Bungie doesn't actually offer that kind of experience.
It turns out that with Halo 2's awesome online setup, I no longer have to worry about what map I'm going to be playing, because it will be chosen for me from a preselected set of maps that bungee uses voodoo to derive. Same with weapons, and gametype. I honestly only bought in so I could play CTF with my roommates online, only to figure out if I wanted to do that I was going to have to pay 50 dollars for each of them so they could get their own gamertags. That's pretty fucked up to me. Now of course you could tell me to just play non-ranked. But I'm not sure if you have ever tried playing an unranked team ctf game, but let me tell you, it's not ctf. You play 1 man ctf on that shitty crash map with misslelaunchers only or some bullshit. I had to quit 90% of the games we played simply because the gametype was just fucking absurd. In order to get the CTF I wanted I had to play on the ranked ladder and even then I wasn't guarenteed that I was going to be getting the game I wanted to play. I can't see why people put up with that kind of bullshit. Oh wait, I know, because Bungie says it's better that way. Bullshit. Now you could also tell me to just play friends only games, and I'd consider it, if everyone playing xbox live wasn't 12 years old. Nothing against 12 year olds, but the majority of them have annoying voices and say really annoying shit all the time. Is there a mute feature in game? Because I could never fucking find it. I'd load into a map just to hear some prepubescent voice screech into the mic some, and then just reach for the quit button because there's no reason for me to put up with that shit.
I eventually did build a friends list, it was made up of random people that weren't incredibly annoying (only some) and I played a few games with them. After putting in so many hours just to play with people I didn't like at all, I realized it wasn't worth it. Halo 2 is a decent game, and a decent multiplayer game, but the way that bungie executed it online was terrible. I salute the kind of people who can take the bullshit bungie feeds them. They're either too ignorant to not understand how an online match should be set up, or they just don't care. It just wasn't worth the $50 to play the game the way that bungie wanted me to play it with the kind of people I want to punch in the throat.
At least with CS I can host my own server, or mute the people I hate, or choose to turn voice chat off, or pick from 1 of a million other servers (running the gametype, mods, or map I want).
After finding out that Halo 2 live was the biggest mistake I've ever paid $50 for, I looked into other games I could play on live. I think there were like 2 I seriously considered. I could imagine that splinter cell online would work better than the PC counterpart, since the controller works a lot better for controls in that game. However I'm pretty sure the server browser in all the PC versions work the same way as they do in the console versions, which means they're completely broken. The other issue was that I already owned all the splinter cell games on my pc. Why pay for them over again? The other game I wanted to try online was crimson skies, but I never got around to buying another game after halo 2.
Sure, live is the best thing the console market has by far. But the experience on the PC is far better. By hosting a teamspeak server I can choose who I talk with and what game I talk in. The voice quality is the same or better, and there's relatively little bullshit. The games that come ou
Yeah seriously, I think I'm going to come up with a site that writes meaningless shit about games just to see if I can get on games.slashdot. Then again IGN gets away with that kind of crap all the time, their "feature" on CRPGs lacked anything resembeling content. Then there was that "article" about MMO's not even a day ago... I'm all for games journalism but some of this stuff is ridiculous. Gamerdad needs to stop writing forever.
3
Didn't you hear! They're changing the game completely with the expansion. They're adding such innovative things such as a device known as a "grappling hook" (which will allow you to grapple onto a building and climb/zipline towards it) along with an ultra-realistic, never before seen in games "night vision goggles." With the inclusion of ultra-tall buildings to scale, and night time maps with REAL darkness - these items promise to change the way we see gaming forever.
After the news about this expansion was released, I saw a huge influx of copy-cat "grappling hook" mods in Q3A and TFC. I also just signed onto steam today for a bit of Counter-Strike:Source to see that they stealth-patched in some night vision goggles! EA and DiCE together are revolutionaries in the sea of mediocre gaming!
"No, you're not right. Not on any of it."
"And yes, the Hunter class has been royally screwed since the begining and will remain so."
So am I not right about the hunter class, or am I right about the hunter class? It looks like by the time you finish typing one thing, you've forgotten what you've typed!
"I also did not claim or say that the 'entire horde side was overpowered'."
Well, actually you did.
"Compared to the Alliance side actually, all of the Horde is more powerful"
I'm sorry, but your whole arguing both sides of the argument isn't really working out.
But really, it's quite obvious that this must be your first MMORPG. It's quite a common misconception on slashdot that these games have something to do with RPG's past a d20 style ruleset. It's a truth that all the successful MMORPGs of the past 7 or 8 years have had nothing to do with Roleplaying. Considering this trend, and assuming you've played one of these games before WoW (EQ, AC, AC2, DAoC, AO, FFXI, UO) you'd understand that none of them have ever had true "Dungeon Masters" (in the sense of the PnP RPGs). Why would WoW be any different? How would giving these unpaid players the power to mess with game mechanics be in any way helpful? The current design of MMO style games just doesn't allow for them to have those kind of powers. Giving them those powers would no doubt cause more problems than they would solve. However, like in every other MMO game out there, serve the purpose to help players out with social issues.
Even you seem confused on this where you state how "In WOW they only deal with some social issues" but go on to say that "At this point they serve no purpose in the game". However as I said earlier, they "are there to handle ingame social issues and bugs. [...] They can repop a bugged mob for you, or tell you to delete your interface folder." (Which I will vouch for, they're good at that.)
They're far from worthless, but the GMs in WoW are exactly how they were in every other MMO I've played, and since WoW is an MMO, I expect nothing more of them. I especially don't expect them to balance the game.
"I find it funny that you talk about how you regularly kill Paladins if you get them one on one with 'all of your horde characters' and they will only survive if some 'lvl60 comes along to help.' If that isn't an indictment of Paladins being underpowered (they are supposed to be the alliance's equivilent of a Shaman) I don't know what is."
Let's go ahead and take a look at what I did say, since you seem to have not read my post.
"Other than that, the only difference between the two factions are the two faction specific classes. While I'd love to feel for the Paladins, they have one small advantage over the rest of the classes: survivability. With skills popped, they have pretty much 3 health bars, not to mention potions, that allows them to last quite a while, on top of semi-uninterruptable heals."
I haven't said anything about killing paladins up and down with all my horde characters yet. However, I did point out the fact that they are the class with the most survivability in the game. What I didn't mention is that they wear plate and shamans only wear mail. Adding to their forte, surviving.
Nowhere is it stated by Blizzard that the Paladin is "supposed to be the alliance's equivilent of a Shaman" as you said. Considering the design of the game, I would figure you'd understand that classes must be different for there to be a class system at all. Blizzard just gave the Alliance faction an extra hybrid/tank class, and the Horde faction an extra hybrid/dps class. While I'll go ahead and say (like I already have... but you weren't paying any attention) "the shaman class is a bit overpowered, and probably overplayed. Unfortunately, even though they are a bit better in some aspects than the other hybrid classes, they are not grossly unbalanced." I don't fe
I really don't think you have any clue what the hell you're even talking about.
First of all, the Game Masters (commenly known as a GM) are there to handle ingame social issues and bugs. Believe it or not, they don't have any part in balancing the gameplay. They can repop a bugged mob for you, or tell you to delete your interface folder. They really don't have any power over that. Are you suggesting that the GMs in wow be the ones that balance the game?
Also, having played both sides I can say with authority that "the entire horde side" is not overpowered. If anything the developers spent more time designing and implimenting the Alliance continent and quests. Your crazy theory that the faction itself is overpowered is baseless. While most servers have an acceptable (read close enough to 1:1) ratio for Alliance:Horde, the only reason anyone would ever come to this conclusion is if they played on Mal'Ganis (or should i say mal'goonis, am i rite?).
Other than that, the only difference between the two factions are the two faction specific classes. While I'd love to feel for the Paladins, they have one small advantage over the rest of the classes: survivability. With skills popped, they have pretty much 3 health bars, not to mention potions, that allows them to last quite a while, on top of semi-uninterruptable heals. Now they're definately not going to be soloing a shaman (lawl) any time soon, but they still get by. Every time I end up in a battle with a paladin on my Horde characters, I have to pray that a level 60 won't roll by and answer his cries for help.
The only thing that you seem to understand is that the shaman class is a bit overpowered, and probably overplayed. Unfortunately, even though they are a bit better in some aspects than the other hybrid classes, they are not grossly unbalanced. A rogue with the jump can generally take out a shaman (and good rogues will always have the jump). The entire game could use a bit of balancing.
The only class I really feel for is the Hunter, who is really only half finished and with 2 worthless skill trees. Hunters also have to deal with a huge deadzone (where no damage can be dealt), and a near worthless pet (at least for pvp).
Anyway, even with all the game's flaws, it's still an incredibly fun game, and possibly the best MMO out on the market today.
I don't think I get the joke. Someone please explain this.
This is absurd.
Name 5 games that use input devices even remotely close to this that run on linux.
/.games?!1one
Also, why is this in
maybe this is why we see so many paladins running around?!
I still don't see how what you typed has anything to do with how this is wrong. It's obvious that today's MMO's are completely different games from the PnP games you remember so fondly. I don't see why you get so caught up in this fact. Sony's decisions has no relation to ruining or hurting the actual genre of RPGs, more or less only affecting the future decisions of similar diablo-esque MMO designers. There's a reason that you're viewed weirdly when you roleplay, and that's because today's MMO games offer no emphasis on or facility for roleplaying. Perhaps if it was your favorite MUD that was RP-only, offering the option to sell your character, would it seem out of place. However, in all these games that follow the same treadmill style, selling the equipment or characters that will allow you to enjoy the higher level content (or lack there of) only makes sense.
However, the other concerns that Mark brings up are a bit more valid, in that farming may become more viscious, and how will that affect the players now that it's technically sanctioned. Not to mention the lawsuits that may come from in-game bugs and other things.
It is just that the fact remains whether or not the company producing the game supports it, players and (mostly) farmers will still sell their accounts or items. I'd love to say that Sony is doing the right thing out of kindness (offering a safer route for players to go and trade things in) but they probably see the potential revenue.
Another linux distribution! ::cool::
This is a joke, right?
I know I'm going to be modded troll for that, but if the linux movement really wants to pick up speed with gamers... this isn't the way to do it.
I've got a Targus bag which I've been using for a year. The thing is rather comfortable, but can get a little rough after a few hours with it. I'd give you a link off the targus site, but it doesn't appear to be on there. The back and shoulder straps are completely padded, and the back most compartment is huge and holds a slip for my laptop. The slip has a netted pouch for nick-nacks (PCMCIA cards, etc) and there's space enough for my power adaptor. The next Compartment up has enough room for whatever books I might be carrying, notebooks, compartments for pencils, and another netted one that holds my minidisk player, LAN cables, etc. Then there's another front one that could fit smaller books, and two others on the sides of the bag (each about the size of a can of soda). From the looks of their site all the bags are nearly as spacious. With these bags full they can be quite bulky, but when I've got just my laptop in there, it doesn't seem so cumbersome.
There's a few problems with using Targus bags though.
If you're paranoid... since Targus is a name brand laptop bag it's pretty much a guarentee to thugs that you're carrying a laptop with you.
Second, I don't think any of their bags are particularly attractive. I think I got the lesser of the devils with the black/silver I have, but I still think it's kind of ugly.
The other route you could go, is get a truely comfortable bag and convert it to a laptop bag. Using cardboard, or some other type of padding to make a slip, then sew a cover on that and attach it to the inside of the bag. It's a little more covert and you might like it better. But I'm lazy, and I was willing to drop 75 on my bag.
Yeah, if I remember correctly D3d mode was the poorer of the two modes. I've had a few weird ass problems trying to get it to work. I've had it glitched out to the point where I could see through walls, just from running in it. OpenGL was just the better supported renderer for the game, that's all.
I'm quite surprised that anyone even runs it in D3D, but that's only based after my personal experience.
Well every computer is different... I'm running SP2 RC2 myself and ... really my windows box has never run better. It's weird. I honestly didn't expect that. I can't say that the new virus features and the firewall setting crap are all that great, but I suppose for joe windows user they'd be good guidelines to follow. Anyone else having the same success?
It sucks that they're doing this. This is exactly the same as the US cracking down on xbox modchip makers and whatever else DRM-unlocking schemes that are being crushed right now. (How many people whine about people using cheats and how many of these whiners own modded PS2's, roms, or chipped Xboxes?) Once a company ships a product, who are they to say how exactly you're allowed to use it and how not to? Obviously there's overlap with redistribution and other copyright issues, but come on, where does our fair use come in? Why can I rip apart my toaster oven but not my playstation 2? Why can't I hack my own game? I payed for it!
That said, I've never used a cheating program to "help" me along in Counter-Strike, and I've never had my game ruined by those who chose to use them. And it's nearly impossible to play a CS game without encountering a cheater, but it doesn't matter... they don't ruin the game. It's the other players that let their game get ruined. Honestly, if a hacker comes on, get the guy kicked, otherwise there's 10,000 other servers to play on, don't let your fun be spoiled by some kid who doesn't want to play by the rules. If you really crave legit play, get your own server... administrate it well. Or find a community that administrates their server well. It should be the players that choose how the game is played once it's in their hands, and not the companies who aren't directly losing because the players are modifying the game. Obviously when you stake a business model on direct player interaction with the game environment (a game's economy, i.e. MMORPG) then it's a direct attack on the company, but none of this bullshit where I can't hack where it's not hurting anyone.
Epic is pulling this same shit too, with banning and threatening to take legal action if you modify your game in a way they don't like, and yes it's in the EULA. There's just no reason for it. These people need to stop whining and just deal with it, and not let it get to them. Some people choose to use these hacks, and you can choose to not let it get to you, or to not allow it in your space. Just don't whine to the company until you force them to take away some of your rights and impliment DRM in order to limit how you can or cannot play your game.
Microsoft may be the devil reincarnate, but if it weren't for Microsoft and their OS then I'd probably not be into computing today. Perhaps I wouldn't want to be either. Let me explain.
Back when I started using computers, pre 1997 perhaps, I was quite the youngin' (still am) and was teaching myself how to use computers and the still growing internet. It was windows 95 that allowed me to do this, and it had the games that kept me interested in computers. I can't tell you how much having warcraft 2 on the platform helped. But games were just the gateway drug to the technology addiction that was to follow. Now Mac OS also had a port of War2, but Macs back then (and today still) are rather expensive, and I'm sure my family would not have been so keen on using one. Linux, on the other hand, is cheap (it's free!) but there's no way ten year old me would of been able to use it. Windows is the beast that allows the blend between ease-of-use and configurability, and that's what I enjoy in an operating system.
Now today, things have changed, and Operating Systems have changed too, but Linux still is a bitch to set up and use and MacOS still makes me feel dumb using it. It's Microsoft that allows me to get things done when I need it, because more often than not I can just install a program without having to do much more work than a few clicks, and have it work. That's important because I feel my time is better spent working on what I want to do, instead of updating dependancies and wondering why the fuck this make is throwing up errors. When I decide I need to tweak my computer and get it running better or faster, that's easy to do too, and I know just how to do it. I don't have to deal with Apple's shit or hard to use third party programs. It's just Windows, and as much as I'd hate to say it, sometimes it just works. Now it does come at a price, and I'd love to lose all these explorer crashes and odd little (or big) problems that using Windows presents, but until Linux moves to carry the games and starts being easy enough for me to set up, it will still remain that beast that I need to tackle. And it shouldn't be that way. When I'm using a desktop computer it shouldn't be an arduous exhausting task.
Had Microsoft not been around, most likely something would have moved to fill it's place. However I don't think that the world we're living in is too bad. I just wish that more game developers would support OpenGL and make the linux ports. That way maybe someday I'd have something to look forward to in a switch to linux.
I'm going to have to agree on this one, that is:
Do you realize that "faggot" used to refer to a bundle of sticks, or that "gay" used to be a synonym of "happy"?
Language changes all the time. Just because something became an insult because of homophobia doesn't mean that it will always be an insult because of homophobia. Even now, a significant number of people use the word as an insult just because it's accepted as an insult; sexual orientation doesn't enter into it. After all, how does it make sense to call, for instance, Star Wars Galaxies gay in the homophobic sense when SWG doesn't even have a sexuality?
Now I do know a lot of "gay" and "bi" people who would actually be offended if they were around people who used gay as a pejoritive, then again I know twice as many "gay" people who no longer feels that gay really means what it used to. It no longer holds offensive meaning for them. Which makes sense, technically gay doesn't even have any sort of connection to what we'd now call Homosexuals, besides the meaning it shares with happy, which I'd be more offended by. Of course these are the same friends that I game with occasionally, and I'd have to say that may have something to do with it.
Sure these words may have become pejoratives because of their connection to gay people, but they're now losing that connection it seems. Same deal with nigger, sure you still have the rednecks who use it offensively, and the black people who consequently get mad. But that's to be expected. I've heard black people call eachother nigger, white people call eachother nigger, white people call black people nigger, and asians that say it and everyone laughs. Racism, at least in my area, is becoming quite the joke.
Do they work? Nope.
Are they worth the effort? In my opinion, nope.
Cheats will always be out there that cannot be detected, blocked, or otherwise foiled by these 'anti-cheats', so why bother to trouble the legit players with annoying software? At least in HL mods, where a seperate program must be run asside from the game. It's just not worth my time, so I avoid these servers like the plague. The actual amount of cheaters that play CS is probably a lot less than people would like to think, and it's not hard to find a cheater-less non-software regulated server. My tip is play on friendly fire servers, when a real cheater is around, usually the player base can deal with it themselves. Otherwise, nothing beats a well-admin'd server. Find a player community that you can play with and come to trust. Be a reg. It helps the game experience a lot, because you'll have friends that you can trust, and the server will hopefully be administrated well. That to me is a lot better than any big-brother cheat software.
"When it comes to the game itself, I have read that the music and atmosphere resembles the first game, which I think is great news."
You might be thrilled to find out that the main theme for the demo is a remix of the original UT theme. I was excited at least. The music for onslaught is great too, same with convoy. I thought ut2k3 to be a step back in that same department though, UT had such great music.