IMHO a physical copy is completely redundant in this case. Once you add it to your steam account you can sign in and download it anywhere...even if you originally just had the physical copy. You can't play it WITHOUT steam so there's no benefit at all from having a physical copy. You can't "preload" a physical copy either.
I was thinking the same thing. This is rather depressing though. I was looking forward to it being released Q1 2007 and i find out all in one day that it had already been pushed back to Q3 (and I didn't know it) and that they were delaying it even further than THAT.
But yeah... If all games were available via download, I'd never buy a game from a retail store...
I think the vast majority of people playing V.P. are guys (Myself included). It definitely appeals to girls more than MOST games but that probably is just used as more of an excuse for husbands to spend money on the game..."Honey, but you can play the game too!"
V.P. is a sims-esque, highly addictive game. Once you get over the kiddified intro movie/K-5 tutorial section and re-convince yourself that you're still manly/not too old to play the game...it's really quite fun.
MS didn't HAVE any backwards compatibility "issues." They delivered what they promised...even if some people didn't like it. Sony promised the world, but only delivered North Korea. What do you want?
No doubt. As long as Sony continues on an upward trend, I'm hopeful for the future of the PS3. At launch time I was very skeptical. I don't own a PS3 yet, and I won't until we can get them cheaper (one of these days), but it's nice to see visible changes in the system as they update things.
You're talking about completely different fronts here. The PS3's problems which were fixed had to do with how PS2 things LOOKED ugly on the PS3. Microsoft got flak for not supporting enough games. The funny this is, MS said from the get go: We're not supporting the whole library, we're starting small, and we'll add more games as time goes on.
Sony promised perfect PS2 backwards compatibility. It turns out, some games don't work at all and those that did work looked like crap until this update.
MS delivered exactly what they promised. Sony did not.
you need to look at what time of year it is. Suring the spring, summer, and fall, you go outside with your SO and do things outside the house. During the winter, you end up with people staying at home. There is only so much you can do at home, so people sit at the computer.
I bet if they waited until summer and ran this survey again, there would be different results.
What's interesting about all this is that Sony was touting Blu-Ray's wonderful new DRM as unbreakable. I think they gained a lot of support through their claims as well. I'm sure they giggled with glee when HD-DVD's DRM was cracked. I bet they're sobbing into their pillows right now.
You're failing to take into account that HD-DVD and Blu-Ray drives aren't always going to cost as much as they do now. Eventually I would expect that HD-DVD comes as the default 360 drive, and if games demand one I'd bet that they get pretty cheap to buy. Games like FF11 required a HD for the PS2 and people still bought that game....
Also, even if they hadn't used the BluRay discs, if the content overflowed onto a second disc they could either install it to the harddrive or just have you stick in the second disc when it was time. Games have been asking for a second disc since games started shipping in the first place. Worst case scenario you just install some content to the consoles hard drive from the second disc...
When the two 'big games' that supposedly show off the 'true power' of the 360, PGR3 and Gears of War:
* PGR can't even run at full 720p resolution * Even with the low resolution it still is only 30fps * A jaggy mess in actual gameplay * Only bogus 'photo mode'/non-gameplay movies/images are released for the game * Actual gameplay captures of Gears of War simply do not exist on the Net - nothing but high rez bullshit marketing shots * Just as much of a jaggy mess as PGR in actual gameplay
PGR3 is not some MAJOR game for the 360, by the way. Most players don't even like it. I bought it and resold it within a week because I hated it so much. It was a launch title, so it got plenty of hype. Nothing more.
* PGR3 not running at 720p has nothing to do with the 360. It's a result of the developers deciding to run it that way. It DOES run higher than SD which you apparently didn't quite get. It's rendered at 1024x600 sized up to 720p (1280x720) which isn't a larger jump anyway. SD is much lower than that. There are also many, much more graphically demanding games out there than PGR, and they're running at full 720p. Burnout Revenge for instance. (funny you should mention it though though...isn't the PS3 having trouble running at 720p?) Enjoying your PS3 at 640x480?
* Oh, is your eye faster than the rest of ours? Motion is percieved at anything faster than 11fps... They've stated all kinds of framerate issues with many of the new PS3 games anyway. To actually have it affect gameplay you're gonna have to get below 20FPS...which doesn't say much for the PS3.
* Jaggy mess? The 360 has guaranteed 2x MINIMUM anti-aliasing in ANY game. It's also manditory and enforced by Microsoft. If you looked into the 360's archetecture you would know that it also comes with NO performance his WHATSOEVER which is why almost all games have 4x support (the 360 has a separate post processing effect processor Things like motion blur (and plenty of other things) can also be completely performance free if the developers wish). The PS3 has OPTIONAL AA support and it's all handled by the main GPU. Your jaggy mess comment is just as clueless as your previous two. Jaggies are dependant on resolution...and AA pretty much does away with that problem.
* I've seen TONS of screenshots of PGR3 at IGN and Gamespot and other review sites that don't look ANYWHERE near as good as the game ACTUALLY does. I'd sure like to see where you get off saying it's "bogus."
* There are gobs of actual gameplay screenshots. Tried looking at any gamesites lately? The problem is that you don't seem to realize that ALL the shots you see are rendered in the game/game engine. The screenshots also don't anywhere near do justice to the actual game. Try watching a sidebyside GoW and R:FoM video and see how much the GoW graphics beat the living tar out of R:FoM. By the way, the "hi-rez" shots you're talking about are 720p screenshots... 720p is 1280x720 resolution...
* Again...read the comments about AA above. You're just making stuff up.
Are you just stuck on moron or something? I'm not fanboy at all, but what you said is just idiotic to the max. Gamespot did a sidebyside graphical comparison of crossover games on the PS3 and 360 and at this stage of the game the PS3's looks are a good deal below the graphics of the 360. Apparently the only people denying that are fanboys like you.
This isn't to say that the PS3 will never compete, but IF the corresponding launch titles on either system were indicative of "true" graphical power, the 360 is well beyond the PS3.... Do a little research and next time don't come here and make a moron out of yourself.
I honestly think the price had nothing to do with holiday sales on a LARGE scale. Maybe for a few people like you, but that's pretty uncommon.
I think what killed the 360 this Christmas is timing. I think the launch of the Wii and PS3 for some reason made people assume that they were "better" than the 360. The bottom line is this:
The PS3 was delayed for a year mainly because of Blu-Ray problems. The technology that makes it "powerful" was pretty much ready to go out the door when the 360 launched. IMHO they should have realized 6-9 months in advance that Blu-Ray wasn't going to be ready, notified the game devs, popped a DVD drive in there and shipped it at the same time with a blu-ray upgrade drive later. There's nothing on those game discs that could have been fit on a DVD at this point... It probably would have been in the same price bracket as the 360 in that scenario as well.
Because the 360 launched a year earlier I think a lot of unknowing people assumed that it's lesser of a system than its competitors. Kinda like the dreamcast...except the fact that it's simply not true this time around. On the contrary, it's pretty much just as kickin as the PS3 is in terms of graphical prowess...
The Wii...well, that's something special. I'm personally hesitant to buy it because I don't want to buy something before I'm sure I wouldn't feel that it's just a gimmick. I realize that it appeals to a lot of people which is why they're being snapped up, but I'm just not sure it's going to appeal to me for anything other than short term. I'll give it at least 6 months.
There ARE easy alternatives to "apt-get" and things of that nature. I think what people hate to admit is that in order to sell Linux to the masses, it's going to have to be dumbed down. Companies like linspire have done a great job of this IMHO, but lack the funds for properly propogating and marketing their works. Linspire is usually a great hit when newbies use it. It's got everything that all the other distros are lacking from a newbie standpoint. The dumbed-down side of it is that there is no compiler... But then again, my mom doesn't want, or need, one.
The problem with many linux users is that they fail to realize that your "normal" computer user is NOTHING like they are. Linux CAN succeed but it really needs a set of standards to follow. People don't like inconsistency. They really don't even like choice. They don't want to have to choose one of the 300 active distros. They want "Linux" and they want it to work as easily as Windows does.
I don't think there's such thing as a specific addiction tot he internet. I think people, through genetics and upbringing, develop addictive personalities. The internet just happens to be what they latch on to. Some people delve into alcohol, some into gambling, some into MMORPG's, or a plethora of other things. Frank may be addicted to WoW, but his twin brother may focus his addiction on gambling. Both can be just as destructive as one another to your personal and professional life...
I think pinning it on the internet is just diagnosing a symptom, not a disease.
It would work fine if the episodes were longer than three hours long and if they werent complete crap on top of it. Sin EP1 was one of the most craptastic fits of gaming idiocy I've ever played. It was a massive step backwards in "fun factor" compared to most things out on the market.
EA traditionally hasn't gained hate because of their game quality. A lot of people already hate EA, in the necessary evil sense, because of the absolutely putrid way they have been treating their employees over the past few years. The suffering quality of their games very probably has to do with that very fact.
EA has turned out some of the greater games that we've all been playing over the past few years, but part of me feels guilty doing so, knowing the ways they've treated their employees to get that job done.
I think what the guy has realised is that a cheap laptop is certainly not going to be some silver bullet in the heart of bad education. It's going to take far more than a flashy new piece of hardware to turn around a stumbling educational system...
Even if the technology is managed perfectly, most of the kids are still going to look at these laptops as new toys and expensive nightlights...
Honestly, I'm a republican, and i'm not crying in my cherios. Single Party Power is NEVER a good thing for the long term. Without the balance that this creates, a group of activist people can get pretty much anything they want passed. I hope the Dems take the House and the Reps take the Senate. That would finally force these boneheads to "cross party lines" so to speak. We're *supposed* to be one government here. Not two separate ones fighting over everything they can think of.
I think at one point in history the party affiliation of a candidate would have stood for something. I can understand the writer's position simply because party lines are meaning less and less as time goes on. Republicans range from Neo-conservative all the way over to liberal and Democrats range from conservative all the way over to Ultra-liberal.
Anymore you can't trust that a person agrees with your political stances based on their party. 50 years ago it was more cut and dry. You pretty much were sure that party X stood for conviction X.
I'm going to vote in a little bit here and while I'm 90% informed, I'm really just going to have to vote straight-ticket for that other 10%...
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IMHO a physical copy is completely redundant in this case. Once you add it to your steam account you can sign in and download it anywhere...even if you originally just had the physical copy. You can't play it WITHOUT steam so there's no benefit at all from having a physical copy. You can't "preload" a physical copy either.
I was thinking the same thing. This is rather depressing though. I was looking forward to it being released Q1 2007 and i find out all in one day that it had already been pushed back to Q3 (and I didn't know it) and that they were delaying it even further than THAT.
But yeah... If all games were available via download, I'd never buy a game from a retail store...
I think the vast majority of people playing V.P. are guys (Myself included). It definitely appeals to girls more than MOST games but that probably is just used as more of an excuse for husbands to spend money on the game..."Honey, but you can play the game too!"
V.P. is a sims-esque, highly addictive game. Once you get over the kiddified intro movie/K-5 tutorial section and re-convince yourself that you're still manly/not too old to play the game...it's really quite fun.
MS didn't HAVE any backwards compatibility "issues." They delivered what they promised...even if some people didn't like it. Sony promised the world, but only delivered North Korea. What do you want?
No doubt. As long as Sony continues on an upward trend, I'm hopeful for the future of the PS3. At launch time I was very skeptical. I don't own a PS3 yet, and I won't until we can get them cheaper (one of these days), but it's nice to see visible changes in the system as they update things.
You're talking about completely different fronts here. The PS3's problems which were fixed had to do with how PS2 things LOOKED ugly on the PS3. Microsoft got flak for not supporting enough games. The funny this is, MS said from the get go: We're not supporting the whole library, we're starting small, and we'll add more games as time goes on.
Sony promised perfect PS2 backwards compatibility. It turns out, some games don't work at all and those that did work looked like crap until this update.
MS delivered exactly what they promised. Sony did not.
I'm no fanboy, but your argument makes no sense.
you need to look at what time of year it is. Suring the spring, summer, and fall, you go outside with your SO and do things outside the house. During the winter, you end up with people staying at home. There is only so much you can do at home, so people sit at the computer.
I bet if they waited until summer and ran this survey again, there would be different results.
Them: You're hired!
:-P
You: It'll last about 9 months to a year.
Them: OK, job completed. You're fired.
Not much job security there.
What's interesting about all this is that Sony was touting Blu-Ray's wonderful new DRM as unbreakable. I think they gained a lot of support through their claims as well. I'm sure they giggled with glee when HD-DVD's DRM was cracked. I bet they're sobbing into their pillows right now.
You're failing to take into account that HD-DVD and Blu-Ray drives aren't always going to cost as much as they do now. Eventually I would expect that HD-DVD comes as the default 360 drive, and if games demand one I'd bet that they get pretty cheap to buy. Games like FF11 required a HD for the PS2 and people still bought that game....
Also, even if they hadn't used the BluRay discs, if the content overflowed onto a second disc they could either install it to the harddrive or just have you stick in the second disc when it was time. Games have been asking for a second disc since games started shipping in the first place. Worst case scenario you just install some content to the consoles hard drive from the second disc...
I see you're a ps3 graphics fanboy.
When the two 'big games' that supposedly show off the 'true power' of the 360, PGR3 and Gears of War:
* PGR can't even run at full 720p resolution
* Even with the low resolution it still is only 30fps
* A jaggy mess in actual gameplay
* Only bogus 'photo mode'/non-gameplay movies/images are released for the game
* Actual gameplay captures of Gears of War simply do not exist on the Net - nothing but high rez bullshit marketing shots
* Just as much of a jaggy mess as PGR in actual gameplay
PGR3 is not some MAJOR game for the 360, by the way. Most players don't even like it. I bought it and resold it within a week because I hated it so much. It was a launch title, so it got plenty of hype. Nothing more.
* PGR3 not running at 720p has nothing to do with the 360. It's a result of the developers deciding to run it that way. It DOES run higher than SD which you apparently didn't quite get. It's rendered at 1024x600 sized up to 720p (1280x720) which isn't a larger jump anyway. SD is much lower than that. There are also many, much more graphically demanding games out there than PGR, and they're running at full 720p. Burnout Revenge for instance. (funny you should mention it though though...isn't the PS3 having trouble running at 720p?) Enjoying your PS3 at 640x480?
* Oh, is your eye faster than the rest of ours? Motion is percieved at anything faster than 11fps... They've stated all kinds of framerate issues with many of the new PS3 games anyway. To actually have it affect gameplay you're gonna have to get below 20FPS...which doesn't say much for the PS3.
* Jaggy mess? The 360 has guaranteed 2x MINIMUM anti-aliasing in ANY game. It's also manditory and enforced by Microsoft. If you looked into the 360's archetecture you would know that it also comes with NO performance his WHATSOEVER which is why almost all games have 4x support (the 360 has a separate post processing effect processor Things like motion blur (and plenty of other things) can also be completely performance free if the developers wish). The PS3 has OPTIONAL AA support and it's all handled by the main GPU. Your jaggy mess comment is just as clueless as your previous two. Jaggies are dependant on resolution...and AA pretty much does away with that problem.
* I've seen TONS of screenshots of PGR3 at IGN and Gamespot and other review sites that don't look ANYWHERE near as good as the game ACTUALLY does. I'd sure like to see where you get off saying it's "bogus."
* There are gobs of actual gameplay screenshots. Tried looking at any gamesites lately? The problem is that you don't seem to realize that ALL the shots you see are rendered in the game/game engine. The screenshots also don't anywhere near do justice to the actual game. Try watching a sidebyside GoW and R:FoM video and see how much the GoW graphics beat the living tar out of R:FoM. By the way, the "hi-rez" shots you're talking about are 720p screenshots... 720p is 1280x720 resolution...
* Again...read the comments about AA above. You're just making stuff up.
Are you just stuck on moron or something? I'm not fanboy at all, but what you said is just idiotic to the max. Gamespot did a sidebyside graphical comparison of crossover games on the PS3 and 360 and at this stage of the game the PS3's looks are a good deal below the graphics of the 360. Apparently the only people denying that are fanboys like you.
This isn't to say that the PS3 will never compete, but IF the corresponding launch titles on either system were indicative of "true" graphical power, the 360 is well beyond the PS3.... Do a little research and next time don't come here and make a moron out of yourself.
http://www.gamespot.com/features/6162742/ For example.
Correction: There's nothing on those game discs that *couldn't* have been fit on a DVD at this point...
I honestly think the price had nothing to do with holiday sales on a LARGE scale. Maybe for a few people like you, but that's pretty uncommon.
I think what killed the 360 this Christmas is timing. I think the launch of the Wii and PS3 for some reason made people assume that they were "better" than the 360. The bottom line is this:
The PS3 was delayed for a year mainly because of Blu-Ray problems. The technology that makes it "powerful" was pretty much ready to go out the door when the 360 launched. IMHO they should have realized 6-9 months in advance that Blu-Ray wasn't going to be ready, notified the game devs, popped a DVD drive in there and shipped it at the same time with a blu-ray upgrade drive later. There's nothing on those game discs that could have been fit on a DVD at this point... It probably would have been in the same price bracket as the 360 in that scenario as well.
Because the 360 launched a year earlier I think a lot of unknowing people assumed that it's lesser of a system than its competitors. Kinda like the dreamcast...except the fact that it's simply not true this time around. On the contrary, it's pretty much just as kickin as the PS3 is in terms of graphical prowess...
The Wii...well, that's something special. I'm personally hesitant to buy it because I don't want to buy something before I'm sure I wouldn't feel that it's just a gimmick. I realize that it appeals to a lot of people which is why they're being snapped up, but I'm just not sure it's going to appeal to me for anything other than short term. I'll give it at least 6 months.
There ARE easy alternatives to "apt-get" and things of that nature. I think what people hate to admit is that in order to sell Linux to the masses, it's going to have to be dumbed down. Companies like linspire have done a great job of this IMHO, but lack the funds for properly propogating and marketing their works. Linspire is usually a great hit when newbies use it. It's got everything that all the other distros are lacking from a newbie standpoint. The dumbed-down side of it is that there is no compiler... But then again, my mom doesn't want, or need, one.
The problem with many linux users is that they fail to realize that your "normal" computer user is NOTHING like they are. Linux CAN succeed but it really needs a set of standards to follow. People don't like inconsistency. They really don't even like choice. They don't want to have to choose one of the 300 active distros. They want "Linux" and they want it to work as easily as Windows does.
If I recall, Sony stated a year or two ago that they wanted the PS3 to last "10 years." Hmmmmm
I guess I have to agree with that. There's a big difference between a mental and physical addiction...
I don't think there's such thing as a specific addiction tot he internet. I think people, through genetics and upbringing, develop addictive personalities. The internet just happens to be what they latch on to. Some people delve into alcohol, some into gambling, some into MMORPG's, or a plethora of other things. Frank may be addicted to WoW, but his twin brother may focus his addiction on gambling. Both can be just as destructive as one another to your personal and professional life...
I think pinning it on the internet is just diagnosing a symptom, not a disease.
I see no problem with what you said...but it really doesn't anything to do with my comment.
It would work fine if the episodes were longer than three hours long and if they werent complete crap on top of it. Sin EP1 was one of the most craptastic fits of gaming idiocy I've ever played. It was a massive step backwards in "fun factor" compared to most things out on the market.
That's not what the parent meant... He meant "why isn't the goverment going after AMD *and* Intel just like they're going after AMD *and* NVIDIA."
This is "gov't vs. business," not "business vs business" like the current AMD and Intel case.
EA traditionally hasn't gained hate because of their game quality. A lot of people already hate EA, in the necessary evil sense, because of the absolutely putrid way they have been treating their employees over the past few years. The suffering quality of their games very probably has to do with that very fact.
EA has turned out some of the greater games that we've all been playing over the past few years, but part of me feels guilty doing so, knowing the ways they've treated their employees to get that job done.
Well, the first step in that process would be to release Duke Nukem Forever. :-P
Also, with as delayed as it's been, is it really wise to start building a distribution architecture this late in the game?
And....do we really want another steam? Yeah it works fine now but does anyone remember the hades that people had with it in its early days?
I think what the guy has realised is that a cheap laptop is certainly not going to be some silver bullet in the heart of bad education. It's going to take far more than a flashy new piece of hardware to turn around a stumbling educational system...
Even if the technology is managed perfectly, most of the kids are still going to look at these laptops as new toys and expensive nightlights...
Honestly, I'm a republican, and i'm not crying in my cherios. Single Party Power is NEVER a good thing for the long term. Without the balance that this creates, a group of activist people can get pretty much anything they want passed. I hope the Dems take the House and the Reps take the Senate. That would finally force these boneheads to "cross party lines" so to speak. We're *supposed* to be one government here. Not two separate ones fighting over everything they can think of.
Just my $0.02
I think at one point in history the party affiliation of a candidate would have stood for something. I can understand the writer's position simply because party lines are meaning less and less as time goes on. Republicans range from Neo-conservative all the way over to liberal and Democrats range from conservative all the way over to Ultra-liberal.
Anymore you can't trust that a person agrees with your political stances based on their party. 50 years ago it was more cut and dry. You pretty much were sure that party X stood for conviction X.
I'm going to vote in a little bit here and while I'm 90% informed, I'm really just going to have to vote straight-ticket for that other 10%...