I have a hacked (unmodded!) xbox, with linux installed. After playing Halo2 I found out that if my mouse and keyboard are plugged in, the xbox accepts *no* input from any of the joypads. They all appear defunct. This is true whether Halo2, any other game, or nothing is in the xbox now.
This is easily remedied by unplugging the mouse and keyboard, unplugging the controller, and replugging the controller back in, but this is annoying and a waste of my time.
I'd just like to thank everyone who took the time to answer my RHETORICAL question. Cheers, your insight was much appreciated
(Sorry to be harsh, Im just pissed off right now).
Take a thought experiment: The largest, biggest and grestest sporting ground is made, eg for American Football. Its opening game is on nov 9. To hype the sports grounds the sponsors for the field do not ask the best teams to practice on the field in advance, instead they grab a random bunch of celebrities who kinda like American Football and let them play their silly little games on the field weeks in advance. GAH!
BTW: The club i supposedly based on ability to play Halo/Halo2. I'm willing to bet I could whip any/all of them, 20 to nil, they choose the map and rules.
Where is the competition for the tricked out XBOX for the dedicated/not celebrity Halo fans?
now that Bungie is famous (/ with MS) the "nerds" (game players) who were their "friends" from the beginning get dumped for the "cool kids" (largely telentless celebrities IMO).
Why is Bungie not letting dedicated fans play Halo2 before launch? (rhetorical question)
Don't tell ANYONE about your remake project until release cos the companies that own the IP are F*CKERS! Oh yeah, and remain anonymous to avoid being sued.
(damn, I was looking forward to playing Chrono-remake. Now I'm just gonna have to boycott Square Enix *forever* cos they are a bunch of money hungry sh*ts who aren't in it for the love of games).
I agree, if my purchase decision had been well thought out, and I had been much less naieve, I never would've bought it. Problem was, I was so full of hope, it was on special and it said it had fixed the first ones bugs as well as added opengl support, etc. LIES LIES LIES, it was also shit. Stupid filthy faeces game. Derek Smart owes me some money, or some free games that aren't shit.
But I'm not convinced Derek Smart is the person to make that happen. I think his games are over ambitious, unfocussed and buggy. I bought BC3000AD and sequel, given that I thought the ideas sounded good, but neither was *actually playable*.
While I love the FS series, and would love to know how it continues, I doubt Derek Smarts ability to do it properly, and I doubt he even has the inclination to make a FS3 game properly. I suspect he'd prefer to take over the IP and then make some sort of massive space sim game where you could command troops on planets, move armadas, trade, mine asteroids for ore, research new technologies, build the great library to steal inventions from the alien species, etc... you get my drift.
and I think in some sense that publishers/developers being punished for releasing shit games is a good idea, simply because it pains me everytime I review some half-assed product that I know many consumers will be burnt by.
Yes, this could lead to the review system being corrupted (further!!!), but I think that readers of reviews quickly learn which review sites are honest, and which ones are being bribed/corrupted, simply because their experience of a game will not match up with a corrupt (or inept) review.
A punishment system is dearly needed to financially cripple "shit development houses", so that they are not in a position to spew force further crap into the marketplace. In a Darwinian sense, we need to select against these houses (and select for good houses).
I would obviously prefer it if it was the norm to return games that one is unhappy with, but I understand that this is not common since retailers have concerns that consumers are copying and returning the software.
My feverent hope is that consumers will increasingly use retailers that have something like a 1-week return policy (without the third degree, thank-you very much) and that the retailer will have a little checklist which the consumer can tick off why the game was returned (if they so choose), which will be attached to the software being returned:
Consumers reason for game return: [ ] Unwanted present [ ] Review inaccurate: (review site/magazine) [ ] Not fun [ ] Not long enough [ ] Dated features [ ] Buggy [ ] Overpriced etc
The sooner developers and publisers are financially hurt for releasing titles which are inadequate, the better. Power to the people!
(BTW: I review for http://vgnz.com , feel free to slag my reviews;) )
But Im afraid Ill onyl subscribe to *another* of their games after Halo gets patched *properly*. ATM they dont have a good track record at all.
Sorry GBX for the negative view (as I know you blame M$ and Bunge for the lack of patches), but you know that actions speak louder than words.
I don't buy MMOGs and I won't because of crap like this. When I pay NZ$100 for a game, I expect to be able to play it forever (given backwards compatibility created by the games community). *IF* I'd invested in this game I'd be asking for a refund for the original software from EA right now.
seem to have a much smaller learning time when using machinery for keyhole surgery, or the various 'scopys.
I can't remember the source (think it was 20/20), but the suggestion was that the abstract skills of manipulating mice/joysticks/etc in games translates well into manipulating the weirdass device used for controlling the camera.
SO that is an affirmative from the medical profession, i guess.
Thanks.:)
I'd make a different note to game publishers:
PC users by and large aren't incredibly stupid, and we know how to use the internet to a large degree. Enough to warn other people of games which don't meet minimum expectation standards. Don't test us.
Not that I'm saying DE2 isn't a good game on PC, it just isn't nearly as good as it would have been if it had developed for PC primarily.
but there apears to be no reason for not having co-op on pc as well. Why?
I quote "We're even including new features like co-op play, which require a tremendous amount of creativity and planning from everyone at VV and id."
If this is the case, and id are working on it as well, then I expect it to be in the PC release as well. If it doesn't come out at release on PC, or if there isn't a promise of co-op in a patch, then id had better prepare to be viewed as sell-outs to M$ and the console world, since that is how I view it, and I know I'm not alone. I do not support companies that reduce content on one platform in an effort to sell copies on another.
Well maybe *I* don't want then to be in games since royalties to them will redice profits to devs, or worse, increase costs to me.
I think we need to start a new type of game we can play with our 'movie star games': Put the celebrity in compromising positions! Make them commit crimes agaisnt humanity! Post the pics/vids on the net!
Seriously, we don't need or want stars in our games. Perhaps they could serve some use as voice actors, perhaps they won't (David duschovny was shit in XIII). No need to stuff it down our throats though, Hollywood.
Both are nice to have in a game, but it must be remebered that it is a *game*. Games are meant to be *played* by their very nature.
Frankly, there have been primarily story driven games known as 'point and click' adventures. They are all but extinct now since they aren't very engaging *as a game* as opposed to a form of *interactive media*.
At the end of the day, when someone plays a game they probably wish to play with it as opposed to interact with it. Its excelent seing new technology such as 'realistic physics' coming into games since this will allow players to play with the game in a new way.
In a way, the storyline is actually becoming a hinderance to gameplay, with more frequent and longer non-interactive 'cutscenes' (not necessarily CGI/movies, but also including those damn 5 second snippets which are in-engine).
A good example of this is in Prince of Persia: Sands of time: At the end of a battle the prince puts away his sword. Slowly. In an in-engine cutscene. I can't begin to articulate how frustrated I was by the end of the game with that. A for more preferable solution, by my reckoning, would have been to have the sword put away automatically whicle I retained control of all of the other properties of the prince, or even better, if I had to manually put away the sword.
Most seem to think that as games increasingly approximate real life they get better (not necessarily a good thing, as games "in principle" games with dragons are better than those without). I tend to agree with how games are heading as well, and I enjoy the reality provided by realistic sound, light and physics. But I note that not once in my life I have experienced a cutscene, or any other situation where I have consciously not been in control of my body (drunkeness is just reduced control!)
The one line summary: Story and plot are good, but not at the expense of gameplay and interaction.
"Increased copy protection: MacSoft used to be lenient in not requiring its game discs to be present in a computer for the title to run. No longer. Others are making gamers enter special codes, authenticate themselves online and jump through more hoops."
I currently buy all the games I like. Some of those games won't run on my "up-to-date" machine without the copy protection removed due to over zealous copy protection. Eg: Call of Duty.
Another bad title is Deus Ex2 due to it quitting and loading the game each time you swap levels (and the delay as the CD is checked EACH TIME).
And I tell you what, its no bother to check out gamecopyworld.com or the like to grab a nocd patch.
My question is "Why, as a legit customer, am I punished by a copy protection scheme if I want to play a PC game?" Don't give me any crap about anti piracy measures, since game copy protection is a joke to crack. What is the reason for having copy protection? Is it a legal reason? Do publishers collect from insurance companies for "lost profits"? Why, in this multi billion dollar industry, can't someone come up with a scheme where legit customers suffer absolutely nothing, and illegal copies are impossible to make. And if such a scheme is impossible, why don't you just give up with copy protection?
In addition to this, games require consistency in terms of "that key press used to belong to "move left" and it still does. If you made a completely illogical game you would have to throw out all consistency inluding the game loading each time you run the exe. Clearly no good games have done this, and the ones where this behaviour is apparent have ccommonly beeen labelled "bug ridden".
"A left hand console controller and right hand mouse combo would be nice."
Yes it would. In fact, thhat would be ideal. The keyboard would still be useful for those simulation/RTS games where you have ~98 buttons (liike mechwarrior).
I agree that it woud be hard to use a keyboard (since they are so bulky) but a cutdown keyboard (keypad?) and optical mouse would be great. And at the end of the day, if you dont have a floor, couch, etc to use as a mouse pad, you are likely to have a leg to run it on.
The other thing I should mention is that I dont think it should be te only input, as the pads are great, its just that we should have the option.
I can't believe that M$ are waiting to see what the PS3 is ggoing to be like.
"The machine also will have about 256 megabytes of dynamic random access memory. But Microsoft will upgrade that to 512 gigabytes if Sony puts in more. "
Consoles are all about optimisation. They need to decide on the specs, make them known to the devs, so the devs can optimise their games.
And there is still no info about mouse and keyboard support, in my hubmble opinion, the best way to play FPSs, RTSs, navigate menus, etc. If they remove the HDD (why oh why are they so stupid and now taking a step back?! Sony agreed that HDDs were a good idea, and began selling HDDs for PS2 along with Linux kits) ppl wont be able to install Linux (easily!) and so the mouse/kb issue... wont be an issue.
Bottom line, M$ need to pony up, stop being Sony's b*tch, stop "competing" with Sony, and just make good hardware and games. THAT will win them mkt share.
I'm not sure the community at/. is a reasonable random selection of the game buying population.
I think there are heaps of adults who go out and buy games for their kids. I think it is these adults thhat the game companies are trying to capture in the xmas market.
Tha answer is simple. EA has nice polished games, Activision releases new/fresh exciting games. Both are good but I prefer the average game released under the Activision brand as opposed to the EA brand since it is the "new" experience I crave, not the "improved" one.
Slashdot Mirror
F*CK!
I have a hacked (unmodded!) xbox, with linux installed. After playing Halo2 I found out that if my mouse and keyboard are plugged in, the xbox accepts *no* input from any of the joypads. They all appear defunct. This is true whether Halo2, any other game, or nothing is in the xbox now.
This is easily remedied by unplugging the mouse and keyboard, unplugging the controller, and replugging the controller back in, but this is annoying and a waste of my time.
Beware all who even have a hacked xbox!
I'd just like to thank everyone who took the time to answer my RHETORICAL question. Cheers, your insight was much appreciated (Sorry to be harsh, Im just pissed off right now). Take a thought experiment: The largest, biggest and grestest sporting ground is made, eg for American Football. Its opening game is on nov 9. To hype the sports grounds the sponsors for the field do not ask the best teams to practice on the field in advance, instead they grab a random bunch of celebrities who kinda like American Football and let them play their silly little games on the field weeks in advance. GAH!
BTW: The club i supposedly based on ability to play Halo/Halo2. I'm willing to bet I could whip any/all of them, 20 to nil, they choose the map and rules. Where is the competition for the tricked out XBOX for the dedicated/not celebrity Halo fans?
now that Bungie is famous (/ with MS) the "nerds" (game players) who were their "friends" from the beginning get dumped for the "cool kids" (largely telentless celebrities IMO).
Why is Bungie not letting dedicated fans play Halo2 before launch? (rhetorical question)
Don't tell ANYONE about your remake project until release cos the companies that own the IP are F*CKERS! Oh yeah, and remain anonymous to avoid being sued.
(damn, I was looking forward to playing Chrono-remake. Now I'm just gonna have to boycott Square Enix *forever* cos they are a bunch of money hungry sh*ts who aren't in it for the love of games).
I agree, if my purchase decision had been well thought out, and I had been much less naieve, I never would've bought it. Problem was, I was so full of hope, it was on special and it said it had fixed the first ones bugs as well as added opengl support, etc. LIES LIES LIES, it was also shit. Stupid filthy faeces game. Derek Smart owes me some money, or some free games that aren't shit.
But I'm not convinced Derek Smart is the person to make that happen. I think his games are over ambitious, unfocussed and buggy. I bought BC3000AD and sequel, given that I thought the ideas sounded good, but neither was *actually playable*.
While I love the FS series, and would love to know how it continues, I doubt Derek Smarts ability to do it properly, and I doubt he even has the inclination to make a FS3 game properly. I suspect he'd prefer to take over the IP and then make some sort of massive space sim game where you could command troops on planets, move armadas, trade, mine asteroids for ore, research new technologies, build the great library to steal inventions from the alien species, etc... you get my drift.
and I think in some sense that publishers/developers being punished for releasing shit games is a good idea, simply because it pains me everytime I review some half-assed product that I know many consumers will be burnt by.
;) )
Yes, this could lead to the review system being corrupted (further!!!), but I think that readers of reviews quickly learn which review sites are honest, and which ones are being bribed/corrupted, simply because their experience of a game will not match up with a corrupt (or inept) review.
A punishment system is dearly needed to financially cripple "shit development houses", so that they are not in a position to spew force further crap into the marketplace. In a Darwinian sense, we need to select against these houses (and select for good houses).
I would obviously prefer it if it was the norm to return games that one is unhappy with, but I understand that this is not common since retailers have concerns that consumers are copying and returning the software.
My feverent hope is that consumers will increasingly use retailers that have something like a 1-week return policy (without the third degree, thank-you very much) and that the retailer will have a little checklist which the consumer can tick off why the game was returned (if they so choose), which will be attached to the software being returned:
Consumers reason for game return:
[ ] Unwanted present
[ ] Review inaccurate: (review site/magazine)
[ ] Not fun
[ ] Not long enough
[ ] Dated features
[ ] Buggy
[ ] Overpriced
etc
The sooner developers and publisers are financially hurt for releasing titles which are inadequate, the better. Power to the people!
(BTW: I review for http://vgnz.com , feel free to slag my reviews
But Im afraid Ill onyl subscribe to *another* of their games after Halo gets patched *properly*. ATM they dont have a good track record at all. Sorry GBX for the negative view (as I know you blame M$ and Bunge for the lack of patches), but you know that actions speak louder than words.
Mod this parent way up.
I'd put it a little more strongly:
I don't buy MMOGs and I won't because of crap like this. When I pay NZ$100 for a game, I expect to be able to play it forever (given backwards compatibility created by the games community). *IF* I'd invested in this game I'd be asking for a refund for the original software from EA right now.
seem to have a much smaller learning time when using machinery for keyhole surgery, or the various 'scopys.
I can't remember the source (think it was 20/20), but the suggestion was that the abstract skills of manipulating mice/joysticks/etc in games translates well into manipulating the weirdass device used for controlling the camera.
SO that is an affirmative from the medical profession, i guess.
Thanks. :)
I'd make a different note to game publishers:
PC users by and large aren't incredibly stupid, and we know how to use the internet to a large degree. Enough to warn other people of games which don't meet minimum expectation standards. Don't test us.
Not that I'm saying DE2 isn't a good game on PC, it just isn't nearly as good as it would have been if it had developed for PC primarily.
i say as much in my (slightly incoherent) review of deus ex2.
http://videogames.co.nz/showreview.php?id=301
but there apears to be no reason for not having co-op on pc as well. Why?
I quote "We're even including new features like co-op play, which require a tremendous amount of creativity and planning from everyone at VV and id."
If this is the case, and id are working on it as well, then I expect it to be in the PC release as well. If it doesn't come out at release on PC, or if there isn't a promise of co-op in a patch, then id had better prepare to be viewed as sell-outs to M$ and the console world, since that is how I view it, and I know I'm not alone. I do not support companies that reduce content on one platform in an effort to sell copies on another.
Well maybe *I* don't want then to be in games since royalties to them will redice profits to devs, or worse, increase costs to me.
I think we need to start a new type of game we can play with our 'movie star games': Put the celebrity in compromising positions! Make them commit crimes agaisnt humanity! Post the pics/vids on the net!
Seriously, we don't need or want stars in our games. Perhaps they could serve some use as voice actors, perhaps they won't (David duschovny was shit in XIII). No need to stuff it down our throats though, Hollywood.
Thats pretty damn cool. I've never seen anything like that before.
Both are nice to have in a game, but it must be remebered that it is a *game*. Games are meant to be *played* by their very nature.
Frankly, there have been primarily story driven games known as 'point and click' adventures. They are all but extinct now since they aren't very engaging *as a game* as opposed to a form of *interactive media*.
At the end of the day, when someone plays a game they probably wish to play with it as opposed to interact with it. Its excelent seing new technology such as 'realistic physics' coming into games since this will allow players to play with the game in a new way.
In a way, the storyline is actually becoming a hinderance to gameplay, with more frequent and longer non-interactive 'cutscenes' (not necessarily CGI/movies, but also including those damn 5 second snippets which are in-engine).
A good example of this is in Prince of Persia: Sands of time: At the end of a battle the prince puts away his sword. Slowly. In an in-engine cutscene. I can't begin to articulate how frustrated I was by the end of the game with that. A for more preferable solution, by my reckoning, would have been to have the sword put away automatically whicle I retained control of all of the other properties of the prince, or even better, if I had to manually put away the sword.
Most seem to think that as games increasingly approximate real life they get better (not necessarily a good thing, as games "in principle" games with dragons are better than those without). I tend to agree with how games are heading as well, and I enjoy the reality provided by realistic sound, light and physics. But I note that not once in my life I have experienced a cutscene, or any other situation where I have consciously not been in control of my body (drunkeness is just reduced control!)
The one line summary: Story and plot are good, but not at the expense of gameplay and interaction.
DEATH TO CUTSCENES!
"Increased copy protection: MacSoft used to be lenient in not requiring its game discs to be present in a computer for the title to run. No longer. Others are making gamers enter special codes, authenticate themselves online and jump through more hoops." I currently buy all the games I like. Some of those games won't run on my "up-to-date" machine without the copy protection removed due to over zealous copy protection. Eg: Call of Duty. Another bad title is Deus Ex2 due to it quitting and loading the game each time you swap levels (and the delay as the CD is checked EACH TIME). And I tell you what, its no bother to check out gamecopyworld.com or the like to grab a nocd patch. My question is "Why, as a legit customer, am I punished by a copy protection scheme if I want to play a PC game?" Don't give me any crap about anti piracy measures, since game copy protection is a joke to crack. What is the reason for having copy protection? Is it a legal reason? Do publishers collect from insurance companies for "lost profits"? Why, in this multi billion dollar industry, can't someone come up with a scheme where legit customers suffer absolutely nothing, and illegal copies are impossible to make. And if such a scheme is impossible, why don't you just give up with copy protection?
In addition to this, games require consistency in terms of "that key press used to belong to "move left" and it still does. If you made a completely illogical game you would have to throw out all consistency inluding the game loading each time you run the exe. Clearly no good games have done this, and the ones where this behaviour is apparent have ccommonly beeen labelled "bug ridden".
"A left hand console controller and right hand mouse combo would be nice." Yes it would. In fact, thhat would be ideal. The keyboard would still be useful for those simulation/RTS games where you have ~98 buttons (liike mechwarrior).
I agree that it woud be hard to use a keyboard (since they are so bulky) but a cutdown keyboard (keypad?) and optical mouse would be great. And at the end of the day, if you dont have a floor, couch, etc to use as a mouse pad, you are likely to have a leg to run it on. The other thing I should mention is that I dont think it should be te only input, as the pads are great, its just that we should have the option.
I can't believe that M$ are waiting to see what the PS3 is ggoing to be like.
"The machine also will have about 256 megabytes of dynamic random access memory. But Microsoft will upgrade that to 512 gigabytes if Sony puts in more. "
Consoles are all about optimisation. They need to decide on the specs, make them known to the devs, so the devs can optimise their games.
And there is still no info about mouse and keyboard support, in my hubmble opinion, the best way to play FPSs, RTSs, navigate menus, etc.
If they remove the HDD (why oh why are they so stupid and now taking a step back?! Sony agreed that HDDs were a good idea, and began selling HDDs for PS2 along with Linux kits) ppl wont be able to install Linux (easily!) and so the mouse/kb issue... wont be an issue.
Bottom line, M$ need to pony up, stop being Sony's b*tch, stop "competing" with Sony, and just make good hardware and games. THAT will win them mkt share.
I'm not sure the community at /. is a reasonable random selection of the game buying population.
I think there are heaps of adults who go out and buy games for their kids. I think it is these adults thhat the game companies are trying to capture in the xmas market.
A long time since computers arent very good at boxing.
I imagine when ppl begin to manipulate the rules a match will go something like this:
Heavy Weight Boxer: So I have 12 minutes on the chess clock right?
Chess Player: Yes. I will kick you ass in 20 moves.
HWB: Great, I'll make one move then. This will ensure 3 rounds of boxing with you at 2 minutes each.
CP: Ummmmm... Shit!
Tha answer is simple. EA has nice polished games, Activision releases new/fresh exciting games. Both are good but I prefer the average game released under the Activision brand as opposed to the EA brand since it is the "new" experience I crave, not the "improved" one.