No this only applies to the Microsoft Gaming Division that made the 3 sports title: NFL Fever, NBA Drive, and NHL Rivals. So only the sports games where both the publisher and developer states Microsoft Game Studios. While halo might be published by Microsoft, the developer is Bungie. In other words, I believe that Bungie exists outside of Microsoft Game division.
The Sega football and hockey sport games are released at the $20 price this year. This is one of the main reason I picked up ESPN NFL 2k5 over Madden 2k5. Both are excellent football games but at the price point, I choose "say it" "say it" SEGA!
The sports game studio being cut produced titles such as "NFL Fever," "NHL Rivals" and the "Inside Drive" baseball game.
...
A separate studio in Utah that produces the "Links" golf game and "Amped" snowboard game is unaffected by the cuts, she said.
I'm glad Amped and Links aren't affected by the division closure. I think the Utah studio that developed these two games also made Top Spin, so hopefully it's not affected either. While NFL Fever, Inside drive, and the hockey game sucked, Amped, Top Spin, and Links are some of the funnest games on the xbox and xbox live!
"The trick for Microsoft now is to leverage themselves so that they're the next-buy instead of the PS3. They're 33% in the console market right now because the majority of Xbox owners also own a PS2. When crossover titles come out, this hurts them - people pick one console or the other as their primary, and only get the "must have" titles on the second."
Hmm... you've stated it yourself, cross-over titles look better on the Xbox. Wouldn't I get the crossover title on the Xbox then and just get the exclusives for the PS2.
Besides a few notable games like Battlefield:Vietnam and Far Cry, there were only few good titles released from January through May of 2004.
Also there must have been a lot of carry over sales from the slew of games released for the holiday season '02 as compared to the lackluster game sales of holiday season '03.
Things should really pick up for the PC with the releases of Doom 3, HL2, Rome:Total War, and the likes.
Windows XP has a built-in desktop cleanup wizard that is pre-configured to run every 60 days. With this feature on, Windows displays a pop-up balloon every 60 days if it finds shortcuts on your desktop that haven't been used in that period. It then gives you an option to clean up your desktop by placing all the unused desktop icons into an "Unused Desktop Icons" folder on the desktop. This should tidy up your desktop a bit. I think that this is great for the clueless computer users that do not know how to organize their desktops.
You can manually run it by right-clicking the windows xp desktop, select properties, goto Desktop Tab, click Customize Desktop..., and then click Clean Desktop Now.
A side note, I've disabled this feature on my windows XP box. My desktop only has the recycling bin and a few icons of programs that I do not already have in the quicklaunch bar. The desktop wallpaper gives personality to the computer and I would hate for it to be hidden by icons all over the place.
Likewise, I've organized my start menu alphabetically by functionality (multimedia, utilities, games, dev, imaging, etc). My drives are partitioned in a way so that it's easy to save files as well.
"Ultimately, it's about having discipline and consistency. No matter how much money you spend or don't spend."
I concur. I also think that like going to the gym, it's funner when you have a buddy to go with. DDR is alot funner with two or more dancepads (xbox version supports 4).
It takes me about an hour or so to go through most the songs (skipping a few) on light level for ultramix. Keeping it consistent. I don't think my neighbors downstairs like me a lot now though. lol.
With the ddr games you have to manually enter in your own weight and keep track of it youself via scales in the bathroom and input the data change back into the game. well at least with the Ultramix version for the xbox.
It would be a cool feature if these high-end redoctane metal pads have built-in weight scales similarly to the high-end gym equipments.
personally I've lost the 15 lbs that I've gained over the holiday at the same time that I started playing DDR and becoming good at it.
oh wait... maybe it's the reminine of sex as well;-).
I've set up my own little game room with a modest collection of games. I, too, find that the interactive games are good gateways for non-gamers. DDR ultramix with two dancepads gets ample play time as well as need4speed: underground with the steering wheel and pedals. Also games that are easy-to-play but hard-to-master are fun for non-gamers and gamers alike. Soul Calibur 2 and Top Spin comes to mind. Need4Speed and Burnout also very easy to play compared to other racing games for its arcade-like feel instead of simulation type racing games like gran turismo. Another thing that non-gamers like is when the game rewards them for just playing. Need4Speed gives style points. Soul Calibur 2 offers gold and experience even when you lose.
I noticed that it's harder for non-gamers to get hooked to skill games such as games of the FPS and RTS genres. They often don't have the coordination for the two thumbsticks control of Halo or the mouse keyboard combination of Counter-strike and the likes. They often become pin cushions for veterans of FPS games like myself. Similar, skill in rts games come from playing the game over and over and adjusting your strategies which is really hard for the non-gamer to pick up on. Also build order has become an art form which require precise mouse clicking and timing that non-gamers will not acquire easily. As oppose to this, non-gamers love the SIMS for its ease-of-use. It doesn't require accurate mouse precision and timing but just casual clicking here and there.
"Fries began his career at Microsoft in 1985 as a lowly intern in charge of online tutorials. Ten years later, he was put in charge of the Microsoft's games division, and brought an impressive group of developers--including Ensemble Studios' Bruce Shelley and Big Huge Games' Brian Reynolds. Fries was also at the helm during the Xbox launch in 2001, and was instrumental in Microsoft's acquisition of Halo-makers Bungie. "
Too bad you don't see many intern-to-ceo (mailroom-to-ceo, janitor, etc) stories like this anymore.
I think that with his close ties to Microsoft, Fries will continue to be affliated somehow to the xbox in his future endeavors.
woops You are correct. I was downloading the Valve Steam update for Halflife while posting this and hence I confused Gearbox with Valve:-). If you watch the intros to a few of the HL mods like cs, I think there's both Valve and Gearbox intros.
"This is just a gimmick to get the XBOX customers to pay $50 more to see the new "features" of Halo."
This is not a grimmick. Bungie wouldn't have team up with Valve, another developing house known for its multiplayer pc successes, if it was not committed to making Halo better on the PC especially the multiplayer aspects.
"until I had beat the game on Legendary (which I have). Then, after that was done, I just stopped playing it."
The replayibility of Halo is in it's multiplayer and cooperative play. If after you beat legendary mode you let it collect dust then you haven't enjoyed Halo to its fullest.
"If you are too poor to afford a $180 XBOX, then how are you going to afford a computer that is powerful enough to play the game"
This is the slashdot gaming section. Most of us probably already have powerful computers that can handle that, although a linux or mac port of Halo would be nice. Who knows that might be the next step.
"game-play is much better with the use of a game-pad, which lets you better control your gaming experience and get much more involved in the game, instead of trying to remember where the Y key is, and in the process, accidentally launching a few grenades at yourself."
Another misinformed comment. Every gamer knows that FPS and RTS games are more playable on PC. In fact for Halo on the xbox, aiming assistance is on by default to compensate for the xbox controller.
"If you really want to experience Halo, the way it is meant to be, just stop complaining and buy a copy of the XBOX version."
If you think playing through legendary Halo by yourself and beating it are all there is to Halo, You sir should not get Halo for the PC.
A great game is still good even after two years or more. I will definately get Halo for the PC eventhough I already have it for the xbox. Why?
- The mouse and keyboard provides finer precision and control over the aiming assistance of the xbox control.
- The multiplayer/system-link is quite fun on the xbox already. It will be even better playing against the diverse skill levels and players on the 'net. Also you don't have the problem of screenscaping, look at the other person screen to know where they're at and using it to your advantage, since each person has their own screen instead of divided into 4 quadrants.
- Better graphics quality. I can turn up the resolution higher than the xbox quality and turn on more anti-aliasing and antisotropic filtering to my liking.
They are probably going to remove the connectors accounts too. Connectors accounts are user created accounts that links people with something in similar. I have connectors on my friends list for my college, favorite game, my car, etc. They act as a social hub and expand my personal network.
Granted these connector accounts are fake, but they make friendster more interesting.
The only people who will buy these things [color cell phones that can play games]are upper-class twits with money to burn.
Actually with slashdot being a geek site and all, many of us will fork over the money for the latest and greatest of gadgets including cool cellphones. We like to be on top of technology.
You're more likely to carry your cell phone everywhere and not a GBA. A cell phone is also smaller than a GBA. In addition, the battery life of cell phones nowadays is quite good actually.
Also, cell phone games are convenient when you're stuck waiting somewhere but don't have a book or magazine [or GBA] onhand . I play ms. pacman and a tetris clone on my cell phone.
Dungeon Siege was a fun game... for about three days. I hope Gas Powered Games makes DS II funner.
Some things I liked about the original Dungeon Siege:
- No load time between levels!
- the pack mule is very convenient for hording loot from the dungeons.
- cool variety of weapons and spells like the goblin flamethrower or railgun.
- the group/party feature
Some things I didn't like:
- repetitiveness of a hack and slash type game
- not enough unique items
- multiplayer online was laggy at times and wasn't fun
Slashdot Mirror
In addition the Managed C++ Quake II .NET also has an extended feature for Quake Radar.
No this only applies to the Microsoft Gaming Division that made the 3 sports title: NFL Fever, NBA Drive, and NHL Rivals. So only the sports games where both the publisher and developer states Microsoft Game Studios. While halo might be published by Microsoft, the developer is Bungie. In other words, I believe that Bungie exists outside of Microsoft Game division.
The Sega football and hockey sport games are released at the $20 price this year. This is one of the main reason I picked up ESPN NFL 2k5 over Madden 2k5. Both are excellent football games but at the price point, I choose "say it" "say it" SEGA!
I'm glad Amped and Links aren't affected by the division closure. I think the Utah studio that developed these two games also made Top Spin, so hopefully it's not affected either. While NFL Fever, Inside drive, and the hockey game sucked, Amped, Top Spin, and Links are some of the funnest games on the xbox and xbox live!
"The trick for Microsoft now is to leverage themselves so that they're the next-buy instead of the PS3. They're 33% in the console market right now because the majority of Xbox owners also own a PS2. When crossover titles come out, this hurts them - people pick one console or the other as their primary, and only get the "must have" titles on the second."
Hmm... you've stated it yourself, cross-over titles look better on the Xbox. Wouldn't I get the crossover title on the Xbox then and just get the exclusives for the PS2.
Besides a few notable games like Battlefield:Vietnam and Far Cry, there were only few good titles released from January through May of 2004.
Also there must have been a lot of carry over sales from the slew of games released for the holiday season '02 as compared to the lackluster game sales of holiday season '03.
Things should really pick up for the PC with the releases of Doom 3, HL2, Rome:Total War, and the likes.
Level 3 is called Legendary in Halo
You forgot the "In Soviet Russia, " part :P
Windows XP has a built-in desktop cleanup wizard that is pre-configured to run every 60 days. With this feature on, Windows displays a pop-up balloon every 60 days if it finds shortcuts on your desktop that haven't been used in that period. It then gives you an option to clean up your desktop by placing all the unused desktop icons into an "Unused Desktop Icons" folder on the desktop. This should tidy up your desktop a bit. I think that this is great for the clueless computer users that do not know how to organize their desktops.
You can manually run it by right-clicking the windows xp desktop, select properties, goto Desktop Tab, click Customize Desktop..., and then click Clean Desktop Now.
A side note, I've disabled this feature on my windows XP box. My desktop only has the recycling bin and a few icons of programs that I do not already have in the quicklaunch bar. The desktop wallpaper gives personality to the computer and I would hate for it to be hidden by icons all over the place.
Likewise, I've organized my start menu alphabetically by functionality (multimedia, utilities, games, dev, imaging, etc). My drives are partitioned in a way so that it's easy to save files as well.
"Ultimately, it's about having discipline and consistency. No matter how much money you spend or don't spend."
I concur. I also think that like going to the gym, it's funner when you have a buddy to go with. DDR is alot funner with two or more dancepads (xbox version supports 4).
It takes me about an hour or so to go through most the songs (skipping a few) on light level for ultramix. Keeping it consistent. I don't think my neighbors downstairs like me a lot now though. lol.
With the ddr games you have to manually enter in your own weight and keep track of it youself via scales in the bathroom and input the data change back into the game. well at least with the Ultramix version for the xbox.
It would be a cool feature if these high-end redoctane metal pads have built-in weight scales similarly to the high-end gym equipments.
personally I've lost the 15 lbs that I've gained over the holiday at the same time that I started playing DDR and becoming good at it. oh wait... maybe it's the reminine of sex as well ;-).
I've set up my own little game room with a modest collection of games. I, too, find that the interactive games are good gateways for non-gamers. DDR ultramix with two dancepads gets ample play time as well as need4speed: underground with the steering wheel and pedals. Also games that are easy-to-play but hard-to-master are fun for non-gamers and gamers alike. Soul Calibur 2 and Top Spin comes to mind. Need4Speed and Burnout also very easy to play compared to other racing games for its arcade-like feel instead of simulation type racing games like gran turismo. Another thing that non-gamers like is when the game rewards them for just playing. Need4Speed gives style points. Soul Calibur 2 offers gold and experience even when you lose.
I noticed that it's harder for non-gamers to get hooked to skill games such as games of the FPS and RTS genres. They often don't have the coordination for the two thumbsticks control of Halo or the mouse keyboard combination of Counter-strike and the likes. They often become pin cushions for veterans of FPS games like myself. Similar, skill in rts games come from playing the game over and over and adjusting your strategies which is really hard for the non-gamer to pick up on. Also build order has become an art form which require precise mouse clicking and timing that non-gamers will not acquire easily. As oppose to this, non-gamers love the SIMS for its ease-of-use. It doesn't require accurate mouse precision and timing but just casual clicking here and there.
Viruscan reports this bug as a trojan whenever it sees %00 in IE.
"Fries began his career at Microsoft in 1985 as a lowly intern in charge of online tutorials. Ten years later, he was put in charge of the Microsoft's games division, and brought an impressive group of developers--including Ensemble Studios' Bruce Shelley and Big Huge Games' Brian Reynolds. Fries was also at the helm during the Xbox launch in 2001, and was instrumental in Microsoft's acquisition of Halo-makers Bungie. "
Too bad you don't see many intern-to-ceo (mailroom-to-ceo, janitor, etc) stories like this anymore.
I think that with his close ties to Microsoft, Fries will continue to be affliated somehow to the xbox in his future endeavors.
With two of the three top xbox honchos gone, I wonder how does this affect the development of xbox 2? or even the release of Halo 2.
woops You are correct. I was downloading the Valve Steam update for Halflife while posting this and hence I confused Gearbox with Valve :-). If you watch the intros to a few of the HL mods like cs, I think there's both Valve and Gearbox intros.
Quick someone mod this as flamebait too! ;-) lol.
"This is just a gimmick to get the XBOX customers to pay $50 more to see the new "features" of Halo."
This is not a grimmick. Bungie wouldn't have team up with Valve, another developing house known for its multiplayer pc successes, if it was not committed to making Halo better on the PC especially the multiplayer aspects.
"until I had beat the game on Legendary (which I have). Then, after that was done, I just stopped playing it."
The replayibility of Halo is in it's multiplayer and cooperative play. If after you beat legendary mode you let it collect dust then you haven't enjoyed Halo to its fullest.
"If you are too poor to afford a $180 XBOX, then how are you going to afford a computer that is powerful enough to play the game"
This is the slashdot gaming section. Most of us probably already have powerful computers that can handle that, although a linux or mac port of Halo would be nice. Who knows that might be the next step.
"game-play is much better with the use of a game-pad, which lets you better control your gaming experience and get much more involved in the game, instead of trying to remember where the Y key is, and in the process, accidentally launching a few grenades at yourself." Another misinformed comment. Every gamer knows that FPS and RTS games are more playable on PC. In fact for Halo on the xbox, aiming assistance is on by default to compensate for the xbox controller.
"If you really want to experience Halo, the way it is meant to be, just stop complaining and buy a copy of the XBOX version."
If you think playing through legendary Halo by yourself and beating it are all there is to Halo, You sir should not get Halo for the PC.
A great game is still good even after two years or more. I will definately get Halo for the PC eventhough I already have it for the xbox. Why?
- The mouse and keyboard provides finer precision and control over the aiming assistance of the xbox control.
- The multiplayer/system-link is quite fun on the xbox already. It will be even better playing against the diverse skill levels and players on the 'net. Also you don't have the problem of screenscaping, look at the other person screen to know where they're at and using it to your advantage, since each person has their own screen instead of divided into 4 quadrants.
- Better graphics quality. I can turn up the resolution higher than the xbox quality and turn on more anti-aliasing and antisotropic filtering to my liking.
They are probably going to remove the connectors accounts too. Connectors accounts are user created accounts that links people with something in similar. I have connectors on my friends list for my college, favorite game, my car, etc. They act as a social hub and expand my personal network.
Granted these connector accounts are fake, but they make friendster more interesting.
"People say they can't get enough of it -- even though Friendster's servers are so overloaded that it can take an eternity to log on. "
/. in the mix sure doesn't help, does it?
Throwing
I think being constantly pwnage by l33t awpwhores using aimbots through walls would cause these mental patients to be even more depressed!
The only people who will buy these things [color cell phones that can play games]are upper-class twits with money to burn. Actually with slashdot being a geek site and all, many of us will fork over the money for the latest and greatest of gadgets including cool cellphones. We like to be on top of technology.
Also, cell phone games are convenient when you're stuck waiting somewhere but don't have a book or magazine [or GBA] onhand . I play ms. pacman and a tetris clone on my cell phone.
Some things I liked about the original Dungeon Siege:
- No load time between levels!
- the pack mule is very convenient for hording loot from the dungeons.
- cool variety of weapons and spells like the goblin flamethrower or railgun.
- the group/party feature
Some things I didn't like:
- repetitiveness of a hack and slash type game
- not enough unique items
- multiplayer online was laggy at times and wasn't fun