Mario was a construction worker in the NES game Wrecking Crew. Given that Mario has done way more than just his plumbing of late (cart driver, golfer, tennis player, etc.), is it right to still pigeon hole him as a plumber?
If anything, I would think the lack of platformers, especially with respect to Mario, has to do with the fact that as consoles get more complicated, the expectations for innovation in sequels are raised. We've been hearing about Mario 128 for how long now? If Sunshine had recieved a warmer welcome, maybe we would have gotten a half-assed sequel. But Miyamoto feels the need to re-invent the franchise with each iteration, and thusly we may not get a second Mario platformer in this generation. Besides, why force a platformer, when you can trot Mario out in other situations like sports, parties, or RPG's.
what's also needed is an official downloadable activation/decryption patch from Valve sometime after Christmas
Shouldn't that be something they issue before Christmas? I'd wager Christmas and the day after will also see a surge in authenitcations on their server. After Christmas, the game will have been out for about six weeks and most gifts will have been given, so I can't imagine there will be as many people trying to unlock at once.
I can see it now. Marvels lawyers all sign up for CoH so they can fly around in the game looking for alleged IP infringers. Hmmm, I wonder what super heroes they would create?
So this is what the City of Villains expansion will be all about...
Maybe the marketing strategy is that Microsoft themselves is selling the overpriced ebay games. To help shore up those weak X-Box profits...
In all seriousness though, how come a company hasn't tried something like this? Setting a release date for a game, and then auctioning off advanced copies ahead of time? If someone is willing to pay three to ten times the MSRP to get something early, why not cut out the pre-ordering ebay middleman, and sell it direct yourself?
Nintendo didn't announce the GBA SP until well after the original had been out and sold quite nicely. Although there's no timeframe given on when this future revision of the PSP will come out, I don't see how this won't make people postpone their purchase. Especially at the higher price. Why waste $200 + dollars on something you're going to replace so quickly anyway?
Kerry got more votes (55 million) than any other president in history too. (Previous leader was Reagan in '84 w/ 54 million.)
Bush may have won a clear majority, but this election is still close, and there is still a large portion of the population that despises him. I'm sure Bush will interpret his victory as a mandate and do what he wants (not like his lack of a mandate was stopping him before), but this country needs some serious help closing the divide, and I don't see how Bush is going to address that.
People aren't going to be lugging around terabyte-sized password database files.
Not yet they aren't, but it's not unreasonable to expect that someday they will. Then again, one would hope by that point sufficient encryption would exist such that anything vulnerable would have been replaced. It's not like people continue to run unpatched legacy systems nowadays. . .
Until either side can prove that the world and everything in it existed five minutes ago, and that myself and the world weren't just spontaneously created with my "memory" fully intact, then this debate is endless.
It would be nice though if the creationsists at least admitted that regardless of how things "actually" happened, there seems to be a pattern of evolution within the fossil record. Even if the world was only created in seven days, this puzzle was also created in the process, so why not try to solve it?
Is it possible for real-time tree growth to improve gameplay? In fact, yes. Remember, Nintendo was planning something a little like that in the (vaporware) N64 sequel to Earthbound/Mother, where the player could plant a seed in a location and come back later, when the passage of time detected from the machine's real-time clock would tell the game when it had grown to a point where it could be harvested for useful fruit. Not quite the same thing that Molyneux's talking about perhaps, but indicative of the kinds of ways tree growth can improve a game. However, if the tree growth is merely decorative it doesn't influence the game *that* much.
This sounds exactly like something Nintendo did do. In Animal Crossing, you can plant seeds/fruit, and after a few days, sprouts will spring, and ultimately a plant will bloom or a tree will grow bearing fruit. I don't know if it improved the game play, but it certainly was a fun little enhancement (especially when you could grow money trees.)
IIRC, the Onimusha controller was a regular controller that happened to be shaped into a sword. You held it (rather oddly) and you still had to press the usual buttons. It seems like it was intended more for display purposes than practicality.
This lightsabre thing looks like its intended to be wielded like a virtual sword. It looks like you hold on to the "hilt", and either by tracking the movement of the cables, if not some camera, its able to interpret your motion. These products are vastly different.
What's with all these doom and gloom headlines that are nothing more than sensationalism? If I didn't know any better, I'd think Tom Ridge was submitting articles. ..
Imagine if Doom 3 had been just like the original Doom, but with a better engine.
Isn't this more like what Konami did with MGS: The Twin Snakes. Same game as the original MSG, except using the MGS2 engine. (There's no CS equivalent for the expanded cutscenes, though, is there?)
Maybe I'm just simple minded, but I've played a few sims like this, and they are downright addictive. The final election will probably come down to one or two specific incidents, but the appeal of the game isn't the election - its the campaign. Depending on how long before the election you start out, I think the most addictive aspect will be unleashing smear or making a speech and then watching the subsequent effect on the poll numbers. Again, depending on the speed of this game, I could see it being a "let me just play through one more day before I go to bed" type game.
Plus, the political satire looks amusing enough to at least make it worth one run through, if not two (one on each side of the aisle).
Anyway, what does the article mean by "showing signs of mortality"? I haven't heard anything about this except for the initial mishap they had when they had to reprogram one of the rovers.
Reading the article, my guess is this is what they were referring to:
During the briefing researchers added that Spirit's twin, Opportunity, is suffering from a jammed drill.
What makes games interesting to watch on tv isn't just the usual *hard-hitting* action (in this case comparable to frags), but its the understanding of strategy and to see how competitors are able to mentally and physically counter their opponents. This is especially applicable to the novelty events mentioned already: Scrabble, Poker, Magic(?!?!). As mentioned, this requires the ability to record the game from any perspective (3rd person especially), and definitely requires the ability to use instant replays with a teleprompter. Nothing will make understanding strategy more accessible than someone circling a guy hiding behind a bunch of crates and then drawing a line to indicate the path he uses to ambush the incoming force. While that may seem like a simple enough attack concept to grasp, slowing it down and showing it to the viewer will make them understand better that these games do involve thought, and aren't just about who can press the button the fastest.
And anyone who tries this is advised to use that G4 show that I think is called Arena as a manual on how not to go about this...
The hardware in the gba is and was not exactly the latest and greatest. Neither was the GB.
Yeah, but that just means that whatever technology they do use has been proven. Especially in something that's bound to be as abused as a handheld, reliability is critical.
Sure the GBA with its old hardware has just kept working and working and working but that doesn't count. I want gloss. I want shine. I want sparkly!!!!!
See, I prefer dull cheap things. I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree...
Nintendo is just doing what it has always done. Cheap low price crappy hardware but fun. Sony is/seems to be doing quality good pricey hardware.
Most people I know are still able to play their original NES's. (Assuming they can get the cartridge to stay down.) Granted I haven't touched it in the last year that I've had my GBA, but my original Gameboy worked near perfectly (save for a couple missing lines near the edge of the screen.) Not that I pay all that much attention, but I haven't heard of anyone having any problems with the current line of GBA's or Gamecubes. Nintendo may be selling their hardware cheaper than their rivals, but by no means is that an indication of the quality of their product.
As for Sony, as I said, I don't pay all that much attention to these kinds of things, but even I have heard about problems with PS2's dying after a relatively short period of time. And this is from the company using the 'good pricey hardware'...
According to the article, Tarbox's lawyer "tried to convince" her to donate the domain name, and then informed her that if she doesn't, things "will only get worse." While this sounds like Penguin is bullying her, these also could be taken out of context from a much more civilized conversation. Penguin/Tarbox understand that Jones has been put in a bad situation (and yes they would like the website), so they are telling Jones that they are going to continue promoting the Katie.com brand regardless of whether or not they own the site. They have no interest in paying to acquire the site, and are perfectly willing to leave the situation be (as they have for the last four years), but if Jones wants all this to end, all she has to do is hand over the site. The article gives the impression that there were some strong-armed bullying tactics used (especially with that worse quote), but its entirely possibly given what was quoted that that isn't the case.
It even sounds like Penguin's involvement in all this stopped once the book was retitled and published in 2000. The main issue now stems from the fact that Tarbox wants to parlay her fame as an author into something more of a motivational speaker/victim's advocate type of career, all under the Katie.com brand. Regardless, Penguin made a big mistake about all this, and now it sounds like Tarbox is forced to pester Jones since she wants to push her agenda. I wonder if Jones and Tarbox can't team up and go after Penguin for creating this whole mess in the first place.
Jones vs. Tarbox. That sounds sorta familiar, for some reason...
Slashdot Mirror
I look forward to when the game based on Doom: The Movie comes out. It should be fun to play a generic fps where you run around shooting zombies.
Then again, an fps wouldn't show off the lead actor, so it will probably be a straight platformer.
Mario was a construction worker in the NES game Wrecking Crew. Given that Mario has done way more than just his plumbing of late (cart driver, golfer, tennis player, etc.), is it right to still pigeon hole him as a plumber?
If anything, I would think the lack of platformers, especially with respect to Mario, has to do with the fact that as consoles get more complicated, the expectations for innovation in sequels are raised. We've been hearing about Mario 128 for how long now? If Sunshine had recieved a warmer welcome, maybe we would have gotten a half-assed sequel. But Miyamoto feels the need to re-invent the franchise with each iteration, and thusly we may not get a second Mario platformer in this generation. Besides, why force a platformer, when you can trot Mario out in other situations like sports, parties, or RPG's.
I found a PocketPC version of Nethack that has helped me kill way too many hours.
Maybe the marketing strategy is that Microsoft themselves is selling the overpriced ebay games. To help shore up those weak X-Box profits...
In all seriousness though, how come a company hasn't tried something like this? Setting a release date for a game, and then auctioning off advanced copies ahead of time? If someone is willing to pay three to ten times the MSRP to get something early, why not cut out the pre-ordering ebay middleman, and sell it direct yourself?
Nintendo didn't announce the GBA SP until well after the original had been out and sold quite nicely. Although there's no timeframe given on when this future revision of the PSP will come out, I don't see how this won't make people postpone their purchase. Especially at the higher price. Why waste $200 + dollars on something you're going to replace so quickly anyway?
Kerry got more votes (55 million) than any other president in history too. (Previous leader was Reagan in '84 w/ 54 million.)
Bush may have won a clear majority, but this election is still close, and there is still a large portion of the population that despises him. I'm sure Bush will interpret his victory as a mandate and do what he wants (not like his lack of a mandate was stopping him before), but this country needs some serious help closing the divide, and I don't see how Bush is going to address that.
So does this mean we have fossilized evidence to answer whether the chicken or the egg came first?
Neo's dead by the time the game takes place. That would explain Keanu's lack of voice participation.
Until either side can prove that the world and everything in it existed five minutes ago, and that myself and the world weren't just spontaneously created with my "memory" fully intact, then this debate is endless.
It would be nice though if the creationsists at least admitted that regardless of how things "actually" happened, there seems to be a pattern of evolution within the fossil record. Even if the world was only created in seven days, this puzzle was also created in the process, so why not try to solve it?
IIRC, the Onimusha controller was a regular controller that happened to be shaped into a sword. You held it (rather oddly) and you still had to press the usual buttons. It seems like it was intended more for display purposes than practicality. This lightsabre thing looks like its intended to be wielded like a virtual sword. It looks like you hold on to the "hilt", and either by tracking the movement of the cables, if not some camera, its able to interpret your motion. These products are vastly different.
Sure, and it will only be less than 6m in diameter.
What's with all these doom and gloom headlines that are nothing more than sensationalism? If I didn't know any better, I'd think Tom Ridge was submitting articles. . .
They're just doing this to so Yamauchi can drive up the price for Gates.
Maybe I'm just simple minded, but I've played a few sims like this, and they are downright addictive. The final election will probably come down to one or two specific incidents, but the appeal of the game isn't the election - its the campaign. Depending on how long before the election you start out, I think the most addictive aspect will be unleashing smear or making a speech and then watching the subsequent effect on the poll numbers. Again, depending on the speed of this game, I could see it being a "let me just play through one more day before I go to bed" type game.
Plus, the political satire looks amusing enough to at least make it worth one run through, if not two (one on each side of the aisle).
What makes games interesting to watch on tv isn't just the usual *hard-hitting* action (in this case comparable to frags), but its the understanding of strategy and to see how competitors are able to mentally and physically counter their opponents. This is especially applicable to the novelty events mentioned already: Scrabble, Poker, Magic(?!?!). As mentioned, this requires the ability to record the game from any perspective (3rd person especially), and definitely requires the ability to use instant replays with a teleprompter. Nothing will make understanding strategy more accessible than someone circling a guy hiding behind a bunch of crates and then drawing a line to indicate the path he uses to ambush the incoming force. While that may seem like a simple enough attack concept to grasp, slowing it down and showing it to the viewer will make them understand better that these games do involve thought, and aren't just about who can press the button the fastest.
And anyone who tries this is advised to use that G4 show that I think is called Arena as a manual on how not to go about this...
As for Sony, as I said, I don't pay all that much attention to these kinds of things, but even I have heard about problems with PS2's dying after a relatively short period of time. And this is from the company using the 'good pricey hardware'...
I was taught to use a 72 character limit on an 80-wide window. I can't say I've looked much at other people's code lately for comparison.
According to the article, Tarbox's lawyer "tried to convince" her to donate the domain name, and then informed her that if she doesn't, things "will only get worse." While this sounds like Penguin is bullying her, these also could be taken out of context from a much more civilized conversation. Penguin/Tarbox understand that Jones has been put in a bad situation (and yes they would like the website), so they are telling Jones that they are going to continue promoting the Katie.com brand regardless of whether or not they own the site. They have no interest in paying to acquire the site, and are perfectly willing to leave the situation be (as they have for the last four years), but if Jones wants all this to end, all she has to do is hand over the site. The article gives the impression that there were some strong-armed bullying tactics used (especially with that worse quote), but its entirely possibly given what was quoted that that isn't the case.
It even sounds like Penguin's involvement in all this stopped once the book was retitled and published in 2000. The main issue now stems from the fact that Tarbox wants to parlay her fame as an author into something more of a motivational speaker/victim's advocate type of career, all under the Katie.com brand. Regardless, Penguin made a big mistake about all this, and now it sounds like Tarbox is forced to pester Jones since she wants to push her agenda. I wonder if Jones and Tarbox can't team up and go after Penguin for creating this whole mess in the first place.
Jones vs. Tarbox. That sounds sorta familiar, for some reason...