I don't find pen and paper more efficient at all. My PDA handles dictation, highly portable network access, brilliantly simple synchronization with my work schedules and tasks so I can see what I've got to do without need for access to a work system, multiple searchable reference volumes, and loads of silly games. All of these things save me time when I need it, allowing me to use my time more effectively.
By contrast the smallest paper organizer I can find is at least twice the thickness and at that size is fairly annoying to use. The low cost is mitigated by the high maintenance and lack of functionality. PDAs are designed as a time saver device like many other appliances. When used correctly, they more than pay for themselves with time gained.
Normally it's purely because they have to do something new and original when porting to GBA that makes the ports it receives above average.
Strange as it may sound I'm glad they didn't manage to pack any more power into the GBA.... limiting it to roughly what the SNES was capable off meant it was a firm base for 2D, and tough to even attempt anything better.
When thinking about a suitable way of porting Halo to GBA I couldn't help but think of something similar to Advance Wars, using more stuff from the novels, and not just attempting to port an FPS which clearly wouldn't look any good at all.
Re:Not surprising, and not bad.
on
RIP G4 PowerMac
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· Score: 1
Security? Who needs rock-like security when the damn thing hacks and crashes itself?
The PowerMac G4 is/was the last product in their line that ran Mac OS 9. Everything else they currently sell is incapable of running any of Apple's operating systems pre-OS X.
Nice spin. I believe they're probably more than capable though. I think you meant "None of Apple's operating system pre-OS X are capable of running on everything else they currently sell".
But a lot more people do. Only The Sims has sold more than Half Life on the PC. Halo is the Xbox's biggest seller. Doom 3 and Half Life 2 have been grabbing gaming headlines for months, leaked demos, stolen code. Counter-strike is the most popular online game ever. It's hardly a 'niche' market. Quake, Doom and Half-Life are some of the biggest and most famous franchises in PC gaming.
Now that a console has finally been observed to be capable of representing the ideas that the developers want to put across in FPS' we have a system which will run the same for everyone. No worrying about if your graphics card/CPU/amount of memory is up to it. A level playing field online. Chances are the FPS is going to erupt in a big way over the Christmas period. With the Xbox and it's 3 or 4 massive titles (unsure of the Far Cry release date), the PS2 getting at least Killzone and Battlefield: Modern Combat, the Gamecube getting Metroid Prime 2 (probably only offline multiplayer, but that's their angle), the stage is being set for an FPS Christmas.
PC game sales are currently on a fairly linear downwards trend, spikes for holiday periods notwithstanding. Do the research yourself if you want. This is not the supposed "Console/PC see-saw", as the PC has yet to "saw" since the PS2 came out, nearly four years ago. With many people predicting the next generation of console hardware to be release in 2005, that pretty much leaves the upcoming holiday season for the PC to right itself again. Unfortunately it doesn't have any exclusives, as the Xbox is getting Doom 3, Half-Life 2 and even Far Cry is being ported.
Still, maybe longhorn will have a cool new card game if it ever gets released eh?
Nonsense figures aside, seeing as I was talking about software sales lets say that the usual Christmas spike is in evidence, with a little more on top fuelled by these titles. Still nowhere near a billion, in fact not especially near its current installed base, which you conveniently forgot about. Now what if they buy three out of four of these titles, how do the figures look now?
When I talk about a strong software lineup, that's exactly what I mean. They make money from the software. People don't buy a new Xbox every month when a good game comes out, they use the one they've already got.
I believe that's purely because they've never had simultaneous release, or serious attention. Quake 3 got a late release on Dreamcast, and it was a cut-down version of the PC version, Half-Life, a very late release on PS2, a reasonable conversion, but people said it looked dated even by PS2 standards. Halo is the reason many people bought and Xbox, and now they're adding Live code, which should have been in the original. Fable isn't an MMORPG, strictly.
I suspect the proof will be in the pudding, but the hype machine has been running on Half Life 2 and Doom 3 for well over a year now, and that's going to transfer into above average software sales.
AC moron, what difference does it make if the concept of a personal computer will be around longer than the Xbox? You're not using a system with an AT motherboard, 286 and CGA graphics are you? So what if personal computers will be around after this particular console is gone, you're either playing solitaire or have replaced every single component, which is effectively the same.
Put it this way, there were games consoles before PC's ever had proper games written for them, and there will still be games consoles when PC's are nothing more than thin client appliances for running your software directly from Microsoft. Whoever claimed that the fucking Xbox was the timeless enemy of the PC? Retard.
I generally agree, the numbers don't look good, but precisely because of this:
I just want to add, I have nothing against the Xbox. I think it's a great system and I plan on getting one when Doom3 is released
I believe it's far from over, and for Doom3 also read Half Life 2, Halo 2, and Fable, as obvious blockbusters. Xbox has a very strong lineup for the holiday season, more than just standard sequels that the other two machines have.
I really believe Microsoft will leverage this in the only way they know how, marketing, and turn the downward trend to at least a flat line. The back catalogue is now quite strong, so people buying in for the first time have plenty of choice titles available. My vehement hatred of Microsoft has turned into a basic loathing of their PC software division since I got my Xbox.
The fact that they're using some of the revenue to prop up what is in fact a very nice console just makes it all the sweeter.
Bollocks. Most of the games aren't even similar in style. No mouse or keyboard makes sure of that. Many more games are cross developed over consoles only than consoles and PCs. Consider this, if there was no Xbox then those games probably wouldn't even have had a PC release, the market is becoming too small to bother with, full as it is of stale FPS's and point and click RTS. This is in the same way that the Gamecube is starting to find itself without ports of certain games. Stop whining and be thankful. Don't blame the Xbox for the PC's demise, blame all consoles for being something that most people would prefer to play games on.
Think if it this way. It's a workstation, not a gaming machine. You wouldn't buy this to just play games on. Those cards are more than adequate for the power photoshop user or music pro. They don't include a 23" screen or a midi keyboard by default, because people don't necessarily need those either.
You're kind of missing the point. Use of the analogue stick is part of the atmosphere, skill and challenge of the game in all the examples that you mention. Sneaking about in Splinter Cell and trying not to make a sound or sudden movement. The level of turn applied in a driving game. The direction of turn, shot, or flip in skateboarding, football or snowboarding. The fun is in the realism of analogue control, else we might just as well play BSD Battlestar.
I'm not sure what fighting games you play (indeed I can't really think of any that have come out on the PC for a while), but the keyboard has always been terrible for anything since Way of the Exploding Fist, when moves weren't mapped to directions but combinations of buttons. Quite how you think using a keyboard is easier to pull off a special move like in any modern fighter dating since Street Fighter II is beyond me, notwithstanding the minimum six different attack buttons, you've got to worry about getting to 8 directional buttons. My hands just don't work that way. In terms of precision, joypads have digital inputs too, still easier to use than a keyboard, but don't allow for the dynamics of analogue input, different walk speeds, move strengths etc. Proper arcade sticks are of course preferable to recreate the arcade feel, but joypads are clearly a closer relative than a keyboard; ultimately being a scaled down handheld version of them. Also bear in mind that all joypads since the SNES have at least two shoulder buttons, so you're not mapping everything to your thumbs.
In terms of third person cameras, the one in Quake 3 is not a serious part of the game - there's no mechanic for aiming in the 3rd person, they're more of an irrelevant demo hack. Same goes for UT2k3/4. You just don't see that many 3rd person camera games on the PC because you've only got one analogue input method, the mouse.
The quality of the cameras on consoles is besides the point, there are as many good examples as there are bad examples, but they're used more because it's a different method than has been enabled by the inclusion of two seperate analogue directional input methods. It is used more in adventure style games where seeing the character perform certain tasks is part of the cinematic atmosphere. Just look at the Dreamcast with it's single analogue input, and noticeable lack of 3rd person 3D games for proof, you're pretty much stuck with a view locked behind the character until some form of cutscene frees it up.
Ultimately the mouse is more accurate for looking, but it's fairly trivial to modify the game mechanics such that it doesn't matter, very moderate auto-aim, or wider attack damage for example. It really doesn't affect the gameplay at all. IME the only people that really complain about joypads in FPS are those who've spent more time than is healthy with the keyboard/mouse combo, possibly the need to unlearn before they can relearn, or maybe simple annoyance that proficiency with the mouse really doesn't map immediately to proficiency with the analogue stick puts them off. Suddenly that FPS that was a piece of cake is frustratingly hard. The only other mechanic it suits better is point and click. Although opinions on control methods are subjective, I think you'll find the masses prefer a joypad for most genres out there, and this is shown by how much broader and numerous console titles are.
The final nail in the coffin for the mouse/keyboard is the singular lack of multiplayer support, without multiple units. LAN parties are fun and all that, but not really practical or convenient, and generally unfair, due to such varied levels of horsepower allowing greater framerates, or more highly detailed levels etc.
You will see keyboards plugged into PS2's, but only for communication. The Xbox will supposedly never see a keyboard, and what do you think the chances of Nintendo ever supporting one? It's not like consoles are incapable of supporting a keyboard at all, it's just that there is no demand for it.
Alike APIs bear little relevance to the gaming experience, as playing games that have versions for all console formats with very little difference and utterly similar control methods will feel a world apart from sitting at your PC with a control method designed for keyboard/mouse usage.
The control methods go a long way to defining the software. You'll find games that bear more functional resemblance on an Amiga than on a console to the PC. There's nothing unique on the Xbox (gameplay wise, not specific title-wise) that the Gamecube or the PS2 doesn't do, and yet you'll struggle to find even half the software on PC as you get on Xbox.
Only because the PC has such a narrow range of styles and the Xbox being the most capable and easy platform to cross develop will you see marginally more titles shared between the two. But you'll still struggle to find any meaningful RTS, CRPG's, MMORPG's etc. they're really not related by any particular game medium any more than the other consoles, it's just marginally more capable and as such is in scope for certain titles.
Yep. I wanted a Mac but was reticent because of the abilities of the hardware (I only wanted a cheap and cheerful eMac) and lack of games available, but I simply bought the consoles instead, Gamecube first as it was cheap and varied, then the PS2 and Xbox followed after the prices had come down. Now I'm picking up great games every week on the manufacturers respective budget ranges. I can't remember a time when I bought two PC games in the same month, it's all hype for titles long long in the future. The Mac will keep me going for a couple of years yet, and without the fairly constant upgrades (I was an upgrade-a-holic) it's already worked out much cheaper than self-assembly PC ownership ever was.
Yeah, or Prince of Persia, Ninja Gaiden, driving games, beat 'em ups, stealth 'em ups (try tiptoeing with a keyboard, not really as good as an analogue stick).
Not to mention sports stuff like SSX, Tony Hawk's, Pro Evo soccer.
I flogged my PC because I got bored with FPS, but actually I quite like how different the likes of Halo and Timesplitters 2 are with a joypad, it makes aiming more difficult, which helps the gameplay as you don't get people with unrealistically godlike aiming accuracy.
That's all nonsense. The interface is fundamentally different, no mouse or keyboard, instead a joypad and headset. No monitor, instead a TV. This leads to fundamentally different game types. Sure you can plug those things into a PC, but games aren't aimed at them, they're aimed at a mouse+WASD on the keyboard.
Maybe they just included the stuff that will definitely be in the final spec, to retain backwards and forwards compatibility? I suppose time will tell.
Slashdot Mirror
By contrast the smallest paper organizer I can find is at least twice the thickness and at that size is fairly annoying to use. The low cost is mitigated by the high maintenance and lack of functionality. PDAs are designed as a time saver device like many other appliances. When used correctly, they more than pay for themselves with time gained.
Strange as it may sound I'm glad they didn't manage to pack any more power into the GBA.... limiting it to roughly what the SNES was capable off meant it was a firm base for 2D, and tough to even attempt anything better.
When thinking about a suitable way of porting Halo to GBA I couldn't help but think of something similar to Advance Wars, using more stuff from the novels, and not just attempting to port an FPS which clearly wouldn't look any good at all.
Security? Who needs rock-like security when the damn thing hacks and crashes itself?
Now that a console has finally been observed to be capable of representing the ideas that the developers want to put across in FPS' we have a system which will run the same for everyone. No worrying about if your graphics card/CPU/amount of memory is up to it. A level playing field online. Chances are the FPS is going to erupt in a big way over the Christmas period. With the Xbox and it's 3 or 4 massive titles (unsure of the Far Cry release date), the PS2 getting at least Killzone and Battlefield: Modern Combat, the Gamecube getting Metroid Prime 2 (probably only offline multiplayer, but that's their angle), the stage is being set for an FPS Christmas.
Hardly 'niche'.
Still, maybe longhorn will have a cool new card game if it ever gets released eh?
When I talk about a strong software lineup, that's exactly what I mean. They make money from the software. People don't buy a new Xbox every month when a good game comes out, they use the one they've already got.
I suspect the proof will be in the pudding, but the hype machine has been running on Half Life 2 and Doom 3 for well over a year now, and that's going to transfer into above average software sales.
Put it this way, there were games consoles before PC's ever had proper games written for them, and there will still be games consoles when PC's are nothing more than thin client appliances for running your software directly from Microsoft. Whoever claimed that the fucking Xbox was the timeless enemy of the PC? Retard.
I really believe Microsoft will leverage this in the only way they know how, marketing, and turn the downward trend to at least a flat line. The back catalogue is now quite strong, so people buying in for the first time have plenty of choice titles available. My vehement hatred of Microsoft has turned into a basic loathing of their PC software division since I got my Xbox.
The fact that they're using some of the revenue to prop up what is in fact a very nice console just makes it all the sweeter.
Yeah, and I bet you're still on your Voodoo 2 aren't you. Idiot. I suppose all your games from back then work too.
Bollocks. Most of the games aren't even similar in style. No mouse or keyboard makes sure of that. Many more games are cross developed over consoles only than consoles and PCs. Consider this, if there was no Xbox then those games probably wouldn't even have had a PC release, the market is becoming too small to bother with, full as it is of stale FPS's and point and click RTS. This is in the same way that the Gamecube is starting to find itself without ports of certain games. Stop whining and be thankful. Don't blame the Xbox for the PC's demise, blame all consoles for being something that most people would prefer to play games on.
Think if it this way. It's a workstation, not a gaming machine. You wouldn't buy this to just play games on. Those cards are more than adequate for the power photoshop user or music pro. They don't include a 23" screen or a midi keyboard by default, because people don't necessarily need those either.
Mail them and ask them to write it into the DVD player app. They listen, it's kind of scary.
Sad but true.
what the fuck!!!!
Don't you have anything better to do? Seriously.
I'm not sure what fighting games you play (indeed I can't really think of any that have come out on the PC for a while), but the keyboard has always been terrible for anything since Way of the Exploding Fist, when moves weren't mapped to directions but combinations of buttons. Quite how you think using a keyboard is easier to pull off a special move like in any modern fighter dating since Street Fighter II is beyond me, notwithstanding the minimum six different attack buttons, you've got to worry about getting to 8 directional buttons. My hands just don't work that way. In terms of precision, joypads have digital inputs too, still easier to use than a keyboard, but don't allow for the dynamics of analogue input, different walk speeds, move strengths etc. Proper arcade sticks are of course preferable to recreate the arcade feel, but joypads are clearly a closer relative than a keyboard; ultimately being a scaled down handheld version of them. Also bear in mind that all joypads since the SNES have at least two shoulder buttons, so you're not mapping everything to your thumbs.
In terms of third person cameras, the one in Quake 3 is not a serious part of the game - there's no mechanic for aiming in the 3rd person, they're more of an irrelevant demo hack. Same goes for UT2k3/4. You just don't see that many 3rd person camera games on the PC because you've only got one analogue input method, the mouse.
The quality of the cameras on consoles is besides the point, there are as many good examples as there are bad examples, but they're used more because it's a different method than has been enabled by the inclusion of two seperate analogue directional input methods. It is used more in adventure style games where seeing the character perform certain tasks is part of the cinematic atmosphere. Just look at the Dreamcast with it's single analogue input, and noticeable lack of 3rd person 3D games for proof, you're pretty much stuck with a view locked behind the character until some form of cutscene frees it up.
Ultimately the mouse is more accurate for looking, but it's fairly trivial to modify the game mechanics such that it doesn't matter, very moderate auto-aim, or wider attack damage for example. It really doesn't affect the gameplay at all. IME the only people that really complain about joypads in FPS are those who've spent more time than is healthy with the keyboard/mouse combo, possibly the need to unlearn before they can relearn, or maybe simple annoyance that proficiency with the mouse really doesn't map immediately to proficiency with the analogue stick puts them off. Suddenly that FPS that was a piece of cake is frustratingly hard. The only other mechanic it suits better is point and click. Although opinions on control methods are subjective, I think you'll find the masses prefer a joypad for most genres out there, and this is shown by how much broader and numerous console titles are.
The final nail in the coffin for the mouse/keyboard is the singular lack of multiplayer support, without multiple units. LAN parties are fun and all that, but not really practical or convenient, and generally unfair, due to such varied levels of horsepower allowing greater framerates, or more highly detailed levels etc.
You will see keyboards plugged into PS2's, but only for communication. The Xbox will supposedly never see a keyboard, and what do you think the chances of Nintendo ever supporting one? It's not like consoles are incapable of supporting a keyboard at all, it's just that there is no demand for it.
The control methods go a long way to defining the software. You'll find games that bear more functional resemblance on an Amiga than on a console to the PC. There's nothing unique on the Xbox (gameplay wise, not specific title-wise) that the Gamecube or the PS2 doesn't do, and yet you'll struggle to find even half the software on PC as you get on Xbox.
Only because the PC has such a narrow range of styles and the Xbox being the most capable and easy platform to cross develop will you see marginally more titles shared between the two. But you'll still struggle to find any meaningful RTS, CRPG's, MMORPG's etc. they're really not related by any particular game medium any more than the other consoles, it's just marginally more capable and as such is in scope for certain titles.
Cycles of what? It certainly doesn't look that way from sales figures, PC game sales are just on a big downward curve.
Yep. I wanted a Mac but was reticent because of the abilities of the hardware (I only wanted a cheap and cheerful eMac) and lack of games available, but I simply bought the consoles instead, Gamecube first as it was cheap and varied, then the PS2 and Xbox followed after the prices had come down. Now I'm picking up great games every week on the manufacturers respective budget ranges. I can't remember a time when I bought two PC games in the same month, it's all hype for titles long long in the future. The Mac will keep me going for a couple of years yet, and without the fairly constant upgrades (I was an upgrade-a-holic) it's already worked out much cheaper than self-assembly PC ownership ever was.
Not to mention sports stuff like SSX, Tony Hawk's, Pro Evo soccer.
I flogged my PC because I got bored with FPS, but actually I quite like how different the likes of Halo and Timesplitters 2 are with a joypad, it makes aiming more difficult, which helps the gameplay as you don't get people with unrealistically godlike aiming accuracy.
That's all nonsense. The interface is fundamentally different, no mouse or keyboard, instead a joypad and headset. No monitor, instead a TV. This leads to fundamentally different game types. Sure you can plug those things into a PC, but games aren't aimed at them, they're aimed at a mouse+WASD on the keyboard.
Maybe they just included the stuff that will definitely be in the final spec, to retain backwards and forwards compatibility? I suppose time will tell.