If you actually read the post, you'd have seen: Although the battle is becoming less important, as from January 1st, 2004 "...computers and games consoles will be allowed into the EU at zero tariff"
So it doesn't matter if the case is "winnable", as that whole distinction is now becoming irrelevent. The only case possible is to make the ruling retroactive, so you get a refund so to speak... but that seems unnecessary.
That seems speculative. I'd be surprised if at least *one* next gen console doesn't come out for the 2005 Holiday season (with, of course, the PSP coming out for the 2004 season), but I'd bet on more. Of course, we won't know for sure until E3 next year -- which will likely have tons of announcements.
I haven't even played the game, and it's not due for release for another month, but Viewtiful Joe's "Kenshin-a-go-go baby!" is already becoming a classic.
But how far removed can a goal be from a game before that game becomes "pointless"
Just because you remove a resolution doesn't mean that you remove a "goal". Goals can be self-defined by the player, defined to fit their gaming habits. Sim City does not have any definite goal. There's no way to "win" the game. You just set your own destination and see if you can get to it; or you just play around hoping to see where it will get you. Some might argue that SimCity is not a "game" per say, but this idea of self-defined goals can apply to other titles too.
Tetris, for example. There is no end in Tetris too, but it's still an enjoyable game. You can play it as an amusing distraction to fill the time, you can play it to see how many lines you can get, you can try to beat your own high score, you can try to beat someone else's high score, etc.
Personally, if a game's goal is simply fun, then that's good enough for me.
I think that the author is confused about what "emergent" means. How is GTA3 emergent? GTA3's world is pre-defined, with scripted (semi-linear) missions (for example, you can't go to this part of town until you beat this mission) and hidden "objectives" that are always in the same location. Just because there's some added freedom in between missions, and because you have multiple ways for solving missions, that don't mean it's not linear. And that definitely doesn't make it open-ended.
The character has limited freedom in a very scripted world. A world that is specifically designed by Rockstar. This is top down. Emergent, by nature, means a bottom up system. GTA3 is not.
By this definition, Civilization is far more "emergent" and "open-ended" than GTA3. Same with all the SimCity games. And even those are sandboxed to a degree.
True "emergent" games are a ways off, as the technology is not quite there yet.
Anyway, if you want a truly open-ended game, play Tetris. The game doesn't end, unless your own abilities fail you.
The onyl thing that would be better is if you could play old carts on a modern system.
Get Animal Crossing, and you kind of can.
Tho playing mario and such with gc controller might feel a bit wierd.
Super Mario Bros. is hidden in Animal Crossing, and the GC controller feels a lot better than that awful NES controller. Don't let your nostalgia fool you. Ergonomic is better than blocky square.
While I do wish such endeavours the best of luck, selling 50,000 copies sounds like wishful thinking. So I wouldn't go setting my watch for an open source release.
I don't like football games myself, but everyone I know that is in the know says that SEGA's offering is far better than EA's. Of course, "better" doesn't mean "better sales", as the Madden brand recognition goes a long way.
So with all the super-hard story missions and the insane difficulty in grand prix, I'm wondering if I'll even see the hidden stuff,
I thought the same. I wondered: "God damn, I'll never beat chapter 3!" So I quit, and focused on the Grand Prixs. And you know what happened? *gasp* I got better, and went back and beat chapter 3.
I thought I would never unlock Master difficulty. But then I went and practiced the tracks that gave me the most trouble (Half Pipe, Serial Gaps), and *gasp* I improved and unlocked it finally.
Now I'm saying that I will never unlock the AX courses... well, we'll see in a week.
It's a game that rewards skill, rather than the perserverence through inane tedium. And the only way to get skill, is to practice. While I can see this turning off A LOT of casual gamers, I find it enjoyable. Just like I find Ikaruga enjoyable (though I still can't one credit it, arg).
The problem is that while the enemies get harder on the higher difficulty levels they're not the problem. The problem is not falling off the track. They only have 20 courses and they get quite hard with the 11-15th ones. That's a harsh difficulty curve.
There are 26 courses, actually. And I'd argue your claim about the tracks being too difficult. Given some practice, most of those tracks can be easily completed on Novice or Standard. The difficulty comes in on, gasp, the more difficult levels (Expert and Master), where the challenge is not just to stay on the track -- but to stay on while going as absolutely fast as possible. That's easier said than done when you also have 29 other racers.
I find the difficulty curve of the game to be steep, but tolerable. It took me a while to beat the GPs on Expert, but after I did that, I beat the first GP on Master on the first try -- though the later GPs are giving me trouble again. If you practice the courses and vehicles enough, the difficulty curve is fine.
It's just that, I guess, "practice" is a dirty word when it comes to the lazy, casual gamer.
Why would we need to see a new Jeff Minter when the current one is single-handedly (well, with some financial support from Lionhead Studios) making a GameCube game right now: Unity.
Somehow, I doubt that Unity will cost $30 million. Smaller scale game dev is still possible -- so long as you don't want $29 million worth of theatrics, and $1 worth of a game.
Believe it or not, this genre is actually experiencing a sort of rennaissance. Of course, not surprisingly, the majority of this is happening in Japan, so we don't really get to see the Do DonPachis and Zero Gunners... but we are getting a (relatively speaking) large influx of these games.
Get Ikaruga for the GC (essential); you might want to check out Mobile Light Force 2 for the PS2 and MLF1 for the PS1 (ignore the cover art, they're "americanized" ports of Japanese shooters); and soon, we're going to get R-Type Final and Gradius V. And the GBA has the Iridion games, Gradius Galaxies, and the upcoming R-Type III port.
They're alive and well... not as popular as they used to... but they are serving that niche market.
Had you bothered to actually READ the articles in question, you'd have noticed that a lot of the people you have mentioned (primarily Kyle and Jane) actually contributed pieces to this compendium. (Chapters 7 and 8, respectively)
I think people are getting confused by the presentation. They read the first article and quickly dismiss the rest, thinking that it's more of the same; not realizing that it's a series of completely independent articles written by various people.
Exactly.
Besides, isn't Blackley the same one that criticized Miyamoto for "holding the industry back" because Miyamoto wasn't making a violent bloody gangster game (in other words, the equivalent of a snobby "get with the times")?
They speak different languages. A cut scene in a game is a pre-rendered scene inserted between game play to advance the story. In film, a cut scene is something that lands on the cutting-room floor that nobody sees.
This is a case where I'd like to see games act more like movies. Cut the cut-scenes, and give me gameplay.
Slashdot Mirror
If you actually read the post, you'd have seen:
Although the battle is becoming less important, as from January 1st, 2004 "...computers and games consoles will be allowed into the EU at zero tariff"
So it doesn't matter if the case is "winnable", as that whole distinction is now becoming irrelevent. The only case possible is to make the ruling retroactive, so you get a refund so to speak... but that seems unnecessary.
That seems speculative. I'd be surprised if at least *one* next gen console doesn't come out for the 2005 Holiday season (with, of course, the PSP coming out for the 2004 season), but I'd bet on more. Of course, we won't know for sure until E3 next year -- which will likely have tons of announcements.
I hope you didn't give the GameCube "a week". With analysis like that, you'd be a great partner for poker night.
I haven't even played the game, and it's not due for release for another month, but Viewtiful Joe's "Kenshin-a-go-go baby!" is already becoming a classic.
The commercials here royally suck. Often, they're just over-hyped crap "blast processing", "power of X" etc etc
Japan, however... why can't we get weird ads like they do. Here's a bunch:
http://hyahhou.hp.infoseek.co.jp/housou/cm.html
Over-hyped does not equal over-rated. I can't remember anyone raving about Rise of the Robots; and I can't remember any positive reviews and ratings.
I don't think they caught on, but I couldn't get that URL to work either. Try this:
v er rated/images/25_graphics_#.jpg
http://www.gamespy.com/articles/september03/25o
replace # with the position
#6 is Blinx: The Time Sweeper
But how far removed can a goal be from a game before that game becomes "pointless"
Just because you remove a resolution doesn't mean that you remove a "goal". Goals can be self-defined by the player, defined to fit their gaming habits. Sim City does not have any definite goal. There's no way to "win" the game. You just set your own destination and see if you can get to it; or you just play around hoping to see where it will get you. Some might argue that SimCity is not a "game" per say, but this idea of self-defined goals can apply to other titles too.
Tetris, for example. There is no end in Tetris too, but it's still an enjoyable game. You can play it as an amusing distraction to fill the time, you can play it to see how many lines you can get, you can try to beat your own high score, you can try to beat someone else's high score, etc.
Personally, if a game's goal is simply fun, then that's good enough for me.
I think that the author is confused about what "emergent" means. How is GTA3 emergent? GTA3's world is pre-defined, with scripted (semi-linear) missions (for example, you can't go to this part of town until you beat this mission) and hidden "objectives" that are always in the same location. Just because there's some added freedom in between missions, and because you have multiple ways for solving missions, that don't mean it's not linear. And that definitely doesn't make it open-ended.
The character has limited freedom in a very scripted world. A world that is specifically designed by Rockstar. This is top down. Emergent, by nature, means a bottom up system. GTA3 is not.
By this definition, Civilization is far more "emergent" and "open-ended" than GTA3. Same with all the SimCity games. And even those are sandboxed to a degree.
True "emergent" games are a ways off, as the technology is not quite there yet.
Anyway, if you want a truly open-ended game, play Tetris. The game doesn't end, unless your own abilities fail you.
The onyl thing that would be better is if you could play old carts on a modern system.
Get Animal Crossing, and you kind of can.
Tho playing mario and such with gc controller might feel a bit wierd.
Super Mario Bros. is hidden in Animal Crossing, and the GC controller feels a lot better than that awful NES controller. Don't let your nostalgia fool you. Ergonomic is better than blocky square.
I agree.
While I do wish such endeavours the best of luck, selling 50,000 copies sounds like wishful thinking. So I wouldn't go setting my watch for an open source release.
I cant wait for the day when console players and PC players can play the same game together....
Your wait's over. It's called Final Fantasy XI.
I don't like football games myself, but everyone I know that is in the know says that SEGA's offering is far better than EA's. Of course, "better" doesn't mean "better sales", as the Madden brand recognition goes a long way.
So with all the super-hard story missions and the insane difficulty in grand prix, I'm wondering if I'll even see the hidden stuff,
I thought the same. I wondered: "God damn, I'll never beat chapter 3!" So I quit, and focused on the Grand Prixs. And you know what happened? *gasp* I got better, and went back and beat chapter 3.
I thought I would never unlock Master difficulty. But then I went and practiced the tracks that gave me the most trouble (Half Pipe, Serial Gaps), and *gasp* I improved and unlocked it finally.
Now I'm saying that I will never unlock the AX courses... well, we'll see in a week.
It's a game that rewards skill, rather than the perserverence through inane tedium. And the only way to get skill, is to practice. While I can see this turning off A LOT of casual gamers, I find it enjoyable. Just like I find Ikaruga enjoyable (though I still can't one credit it, arg).
The problem is that while the enemies get harder on the higher difficulty levels they're not the problem. The problem is not falling off the track. They only have 20 courses and they get quite hard with the 11-15th ones. That's a harsh difficulty curve.
There are 26 courses, actually. And I'd argue your claim about the tracks being too difficult. Given some practice, most of those tracks can be easily completed on Novice or Standard. The difficulty comes in on, gasp, the more difficult levels (Expert and Master), where the challenge is not just to stay on the track -- but to stay on while going as absolutely fast as possible. That's easier said than done when you also have 29 other racers.
I find the difficulty curve of the game to be steep, but tolerable. It took me a while to beat the GPs on Expert, but after I did that, I beat the first GP on Master on the first try -- though the later GPs are giving me trouble again. If you practice the courses and vehicles enough, the difficulty curve is fine.
It's just that, I guess, "practice" is a dirty word when it comes to the lazy, casual gamer.
No mention of Sonic the Hedgehog? Outside of Mario, he was the most recognizable game company mascot around.
My personal bias would go with Samus, however.
Too bad the game's release has been pushed back to January (December if we're lucky).
We're all removed from Google listings.
Shit. How will anyone find my site now? Curse you DMCA! Curse you to hell!
Will we ever see a new Jeff Minter?
Why would we need to see a new Jeff Minter when the current one is single-handedly (well, with some financial support from Lionhead Studios) making a GameCube game right now: Unity.
Somehow, I doubt that Unity will cost $30 million. Smaller scale game dev is still possible -- so long as you don't want $29 million worth of theatrics, and $1 worth of a game.
> Scrolling shooters like Raiden
Believe it or not, this genre is actually experiencing a sort of rennaissance. Of course, not surprisingly, the majority of this is happening in Japan, so we don't really get to see the Do DonPachis and Zero Gunners... but we are getting a (relatively speaking) large influx of these games.
Get Ikaruga for the GC (essential); you might want to check out Mobile Light Force 2 for the PS2 and MLF1 for the PS1 (ignore the cover art, they're "americanized" ports of Japanese shooters); and soon, we're going to get R-Type Final and Gradius V. And the GBA has the Iridion games, Gradius Galaxies, and the upcoming R-Type III port.
They're alive and well... not as popular as they used to... but they are serving that niche market.
This "journalist"? If you paid attention, there are 11 articles by 11 individual people. Not one long diatribe divided into 11 parts.
Had you bothered to actually READ the articles in question, you'd have noticed that a lot of the people you have mentioned (primarily Kyle and Jane) actually contributed pieces to this compendium. (Chapters 7 and 8, respectively)
I think people are getting confused by the presentation. They read the first article and quickly dismiss the rest, thinking that it's more of the same; not realizing that it's a series of completely independent articles written by various people.
Exactly. Besides, isn't Blackley the same one that criticized Miyamoto for "holding the industry back" because Miyamoto wasn't making a violent bloody gangster game (in other words, the equivalent of a snobby "get with the times")?