once you get used to it, it's actually alot nicer than using a mouse and wasd, simply because movement is analog, and you don't ever have to look down to.
its also much more realisitc -- aiming is much harder, and while most people complain about this, i think its just a matter of how games are made -- in most PC fps's, it takes 10-50 shots to kill someone, because everyone is always so precise. ergo, very little people play tom clancy games on PC.
but on XBOX, for instance, Rainbow Six 3 is the most-played game on XBOX live, followed by Ghost Recon: Island Thunder. Because aiming is so much more realistic, one or two shots can kill, and so more people play these games. otherwise, you get into 'death ballets' where everyone dances aroudn everyone else trying to hit them 50 times.
really, once you get used to it, console controls on first person shooters is infintely better than mouse+wasd. it just rewards the skillful player that much more.
(don't even bother with ps2 though, because the analog sticks are too short -- xbox has longer sticks, meaning better precision, hence the popularity of FPS's on it.)
Midnight Club 2?
Phantasy Star Online?
Capcom vs. SNK 2?
Sega ESPN Sports series?
interoperable means that you are not allowed to play other console users; IE xbox players are not allowed to play ps2 users.
it does NOT mean that you are not allowed to make that game online for the other service/console. you just have to use that console's online service, not xbox live.
learn freaking english:
One entry found for interoperability.
Main Entry: interoperability
Pronunciation: "in-t&-"ra-p(&-)r&-'bi-l&-tE
Function: noun
Date: 1977
: ability of a system (as a weapons system) to use the parts or equipment of another system
- interoperable/-'ra-p(&-)r&-b&l/ adjective
once again, the uninformed speak. the xbox is NOT a PC. it simply shares much of the pc architecture and some software (directX) it is much lower level though...
from shunji's (a guy from bungie) blog:
--------
Why can Halo run really well on hardware that is now about 2-3 years old? There are a few reasons:
1. Extremely lightweight OS. Since the Xbox is a gaming machine first, the OS doesn't need a lot of things that are necessary for a full fledged PC that's used for things besides gaming. That means the Xbox OS can fit into about 150 kB, which leaves the rest of that to the game. It also means that the game has ultimate control over the execution of the game. Plus, the game runs at the same level as what the operating system normally operates on a consumer PC, which means less time spent transitioning between OS and application code.
2 & 3. Unified memory architecture and no drivers. Yes, there is a programmatical interface similar to DirectX. However, it's a very thin layer to communicate with the hardware. On the PC, there are many steps to render a model. Here's an extremely simplified list:
1. Allocate memory to hold the model and textures.
2. Submit the memory to the video card.
3. Tell the card to render the model.
Steps 1 and 2 are the slowest, and most subject to driver quality. On the Xbox, we can take care of 1 and 2 ourselves, which is better than leaving it up to the driver in the specific case of a fixed platform. Note that due to hardware diversity, this is not really a good idea, but it's great for the Xbox.
4. Fixed hardware. We know that what we develop on at work will be the exact same platform and hardware configuration consumers will have at home. This let's us pull off some tricks that wouldn't be as easy to implement on the PC. Things like precompiling a memory image of the game that we load at a fixed address, pretty much eliminating loading times beyond that of copying the image off the hard drive. (The loading screens you see on the Xbox version of Halo come from copying data from the DVD to the harddrive, not from loading the game data from the hard drive.) We can also make saved games work much faster, by reserving a hard-coded chunk of memory to hold all the necessary data to save and restore a game.
In short, Xbox development is a much less complex beast compared to PC devleopment. What you give up in raw power you make up with fixed hardware and ease of development.
----------
Thats funny, because Half-Life 2 is coming out at the same time..
hmm, i guess gabe and the team are all complete idiots...
oh, lets not forget gran turismo for (again, set for april 2004)
and what about ffix for ps2? thats right, april of 2004.
microsoft must have no idea what they're doing then, deciding not to release an unfinished game...
way to exaggerate. i own RSC, and the physics are great.
can you stand on your bumper? yeah, but its pretty damn hard to do, even on purpose / a rare occurence.
the physics are fantastic, nuff said. that game is awesome. and RSC2 is coming out soon wiht an improve engine.
to add to the grandparent's list,
-Rainbow Six 3 (which is completely different from the PC version) -Jet Set Radio Future -Project Gotham Racing 2 -Topspin -Links -Amped 2 -KoTOR (its on pc soon, i know)
and there are much, much, more. xbox's library has recently exploded with good games.
to me, this really comes down to quality vs quantity.
i sure ps2 online is great, and EA has really driven it home; however XBOX live is absolutely fantastically, exponentially better than ps2 online. freinds list, effortless patches, easy login, downloadable content, voice for *every single game*, rankings, rosters, tournaments, clans, leagues, game invites... it is practically flawless, undoubtedly the best microsoft produect i have ever encountered..
in contrast, SOCOM is plagued by cheats, (and let's face it -- no one is going to develop a game that requires a 200$ hard drive just to prevent cheats) each game requires its own accoutn and password, EA is threatening to charge 10 bucks a month per game (someting MS won't allow, which is why EA has refused to develop games for xbox live, by the way)....
also, while i dont want to scream out "BIAS!" too loud, raymond (the article's author) has always been a huge ps2 fan..
lemme just end with a huge penny-arcade quote as i always like to do..:)
----------
It was easy to think of EA's offering and Microsoft's offering as fungible initially. EA was doing theirs for free, and Microsoft had a pay service, and obviously free is... nice. But while I was being desiccated by Las Vegas nights soaked with alcohol, it seemed to me that their service is free because it sucks. It's free because it is so without ambition that it can be offered for nothing, until such time as they want to charge for it. Why else would they reserve the right, why else would they go through all the trouble?
I've spent enough time on Live with recent titles that it's impossible for me to compare the two approaches. You don't sign in to Live, you don't create a password, you push A. Every game supports voice and a universal friends list I can view from the web. I have a hard disk built in for content. There is an ethernet port. That's not so you can put a jelly bean in there in case you need it later, it's so you can put in a cable and access the Internet. You assholes.
That is all to say nothing about game invites. If I'm playing a game by Ubi Soft, I can still receive invites to play games from other developers - each publisher doesn't have it's own little fairy land where I can only play games with other people who have their games. I can be playing Crimson Skies and get an invite to play Ghost Recon. If I say yes, the tray pops out and I put in the other disc. Then, it joins me automatically. When I can do that with games from EA, I'll shut the fuck up. Until then, they need to act like big people and make choices that are of value to consumers.
this is meant to be put in chuck-e-cheeses and the like... these kids have never heard of linux before.. they don't give a shit about linux.
penguins racing down hills catching fish, however... now that's cool.
remember -- every game is cooler in an arcade.
Thats funny, because they've never steered me wrong before.
not to mention that for people getting paid to hype products, they seem to point out those same product's weaknesses an awful lot.
Mike and Jerry are most definetly NOT "shills". I have no idea where they make all their money (i assume their wives have jobs...), but facts are facts, and as a regular reader i have never seen anything suggesting any kind of "wrongdoing". PA is great, their comics are funny, and the guys are honest as can be.
check out the latest post:
"Our crew is playing Call of Duty now at night and I just had a quick comment about how the search and destroy mode works. It's fucking lame. So the objective is to go and blow up the German shit, which is cool. The problem is that if the Germans defuse the bomb the game ends and the Germans win. Even if there are allies still alive and time on the clock the game is over and you lose. This is really stupid. If the Germans defuse the charge and I am still alive and kicking I should have the opportunity to plant again or keep kicking ass. I can understand if only one soldier had the ability to plant and he was killed, but everyone on the team can plant explosives. Either way it's really frustrating and doesn't make any sense. Our entire crew agrees that they need to at least make it a setting you can turn on or off. "
doesnt sound very 'shilled' to me.
oh, and i HAVE live, and its great. everything is standardized, there's no cheaters, updates are practically transparent, and there's very little lag on most games. for a dollar a week, its an excellent service. hell, i can see xbox live's voice chat replacing phone service by 2010. 50 bucks a year is the sheeite.
and have you seen XSN ? XBOX.com's new features? you can log into passport and create leagues, clans, tournaments, see if your freinds are online (and what they are playing).. its truly fantastic.
first of all, its not copies sold. its number of people online. and the figures are fantastic, considering how new the games are, and how "not-widespread" online console players are. that figure states that around 1/3 of all xbox live owners played at least one game last weekend (including me!:D ) not bad, eh?
second, halo has sold over 3 million copies.
when the load is high, microsoft breaks out the "Xservers"... they did so last weekend..
there's a limited amount of them, but so far they seem to have helped deal with high loads.
otherwise, its p2p -- which actually works really well, believe it or not. MS pulled miracles with XBOX live, its fantastic. best ms product yet, well worth the 50 bucks a year.
with voice and everything, the lag is actually very manageable. i rarely hit a motoGP game with and lag at all.
Ghost Recon is supposedly the worst. i own it, and have had very little problems with it. when there is lag, its generally accepted that the host will disable explosives. team games have more lag than coop games. but again, remember that there is full voice, which is fantastic. it really takes gaming to the next level, as the amount of teamwork going on is spectacular. it really is fantastic.
and now back to my shiny new copy of the GTA double pack ! w00t!
all sony games (excluding Everquest) for ps2 are free. EA games are currently free, but they are going to start charging 10 bucks a month per game very soon.
its actually EA vs. MS, but since EA is sony's bitch anyways....
quote from PA:
it was easy to think of EA's offering and Microsoft's offering as fungible initially. EA was doing theirs for free, and Microsoft had a pay service, and obviously free is... nice. But while I was being desiccated by Las Vegas nights soaked with alcohol, it seemed to me that their service is free because it sucks. It's free because it is so without ambition that it can be offered for nothing, until such time as they want to charge for it. Why else would they reserve the right, why else would they go through all the trouble?
I've spent enough time on Live with recent titles that it's impossible for me to compare the two approaches. You don't sign in to Live, you don't create a password, you push A. Every game supports voice and a universal friends list I can view from the web. I have a hard disk built in for content. There is an ethernet port. That's not so you can put a jelly bean in there in case you need it later, it's so you can put in a cable and access the Internet. You assholes.
That is all to say nothing about game invites. If I'm playing a game by Ubi Soft, I can still receive invites to play games from other developers - each publisher doesn't have it's own little fairy land where I can only play games with other people who have their games. I can be playing Crimson Skies and get an invite to play Ghost Recon. If I say yes, the tray pops out and I put in the other disc. Then, it joins me automatically. When I can do that with games from EA, I'll shut the fuck up. Until then, they need to act like big people and make choices that are of value to consumers.
------
and i wholeheartedly agree.
btw, off-topic, i just got the grand theft auto double pack (xbox version). absolutely fantastically awesome. everything is so shiny, im all ADHD for it.;) most definetly recommended to any xbox owner. the upgrades are as promised.
no, im not a linux zealot... i once installed redhat 8 on my sister's computer, but thats it.
however, i just had to make the point that linux is free, and is not ad supported. you don't need ads to make money on a site.
not that "be a subscriber!" (ahem, slashdot crew) is that much better, but imo a website should be a passion thing, not a money maker.
i'm personally fine with ads though. there's nothng wrong with them unless they are popups. even clickthroughs are fine, as far as im concerned. hence, i use firebird to block all popups. everything else i allow through, and on occasion, click.
flawed logic. macs have what, 10% market penetration in the industry?
pc over mac is simply majority rule, whereas with ATI vs Nvidia, we're talking 50/50 or 40/60.
if macs had more users, more games would come out for that platform -- and yes, i know its a vicious cycle -- more users means more games means more users etc.
but thats just the way it is.
by not developing for mac, developers only lose a very small amount of revenue, whereas in contrast, not supporting ATI cards means you are out by 50% sales.
ouch.
looked at your user account, and your email is hidden, so im hoping you'll look back and reply --
have the bugs in vice city been fixed?
i havent actually played VC, but ive heard it has some really nasty bugs. i plan to buy the pack on the 4th anyways, but like i said, i just want to know if they;ve fixed vice city's glitches.
you are right, to an extent -- the code they ported was supposedly from PC, its easier to go PC>XBOX than PS2>XBOX, and the graphical updates are already there, but it ISNT a straight port. as i said before, there are more than a few "enchancements" added to the XBOX version, because the guys at rockstar are so nice.:)
i know im offtopic, but the parent is totally wrong -- do not believe the fanboys.
XBOX version is **confirmed** to have:
- Specular lighting system (light sources now cast real light)
- Higher detailed models of people, cars, etc. (this is especially evident when you look at the screenshots for xbox with cars in them -- *hubcaps* are now fully modelled)
- Models all skinned fully, independent fingers now modelled
- Reflection mapping on vehicles, buildings, windows, etc. (Gives real time reflections.)
- Rain now adheres to the camera in GTA3, aka little rain drops on the screen. (Vice City had this for PC and PS2, but GTA3 did not -- now it does.)
- Radiosity lighting now makes flames look a lot more realistic.
- Overhauled particle system. (Sparks, splashes, etc. all look nicer)
- High Def HDTV, 720 P, 16:9 Widescreen support
- Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound added.
- Custom Soundtracks, use the XBox to make your own radio stations.
- Totally reassignable controls.
so its NOT a straight port.
just go check the screenshots at grandtheftauto.com and compare them to old ones -- you'll see it right away.
ign's recent article:
http://xbox.ign.com/articles/454/454117p1.html
i know im offtopic, but the parent is totally wrong -- do not believe the fanboys.
XBOX version is **confirmed** to have:
- Specular lighting system (light sources now cast real light)
- Higher detailed models of people, cars, etc. (this is especially evident when you look at the screenshots for xbox with cars in them -- *hubcaps* are now fully modelled)
- Models all skinned fully, independent fingers now modelled
- Reflection mapping on vehicles, buildings, windows, etc. (Gives real time reflections.)
- Rain now adheres to the camera in GTA3, aka little rain drops on the screen. (Vice City had this for PC and PS2, but GTA3 did not -- now it does.)
- Radiosity lighting now makes flames look a lot more realistic.
- Overhauled particle system. (Sparks, splashes, etc. all look nicer)
- High Def HDTV, 720 P, 16:9 Widescreen support
- Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound added.
- Custom Soundtracks, use the XBox to make your own radio stations.
- Totally reassignable controls.
so its NOT a straight port. just go check the screenshots at grandtheftauto.com and compare them to old ones -- you'll see it right away.
ign's recent article:
http://xbox.ign.com/articles/454/454117p1.html
ah, but then it had to come down again, plus it weighed more. basic physics, numbnuts. the whole point of both of these systems (NASA's, and the old canadian one) was that it doesnt have to carry its own fuel, and therefore weighs less, and never has to come back down unless something breaks.
remember: airliners cary 1/2 a pound of fuel for every pound of fuel they use on a trip.
er.. on the xbox, that is.
they only use 8 and 10 gig hard drives, and the 10 gig drives have 2 gigs disabled so that people wont complain about unfairness.
Slashdot Mirror
i do too, actually.
.
once you get used to it, it's actually alot nicer than using a mouse and wasd, simply because movement is analog, and you don't ever have to look down to
its also much more realisitc -- aiming is much harder, and while most people complain about this, i think its just a matter of how games are made -- in most PC fps's, it takes 10-50 shots to kill someone, because everyone is always so precise. ergo, very little people play tom clancy games on PC.
but on XBOX, for instance, Rainbow Six 3 is the most-played game on XBOX live, followed by Ghost Recon: Island Thunder. Because aiming is so much more realistic, one or two shots can kill, and so more people play these games. otherwise, you get into 'death ballets' where everyone dances aroudn everyone else trying to hit them 50 times.
really, once you get used to it, console controls on first person shooters is infintely better than mouse+wasd. it just rewards the skillful player that much more.
(don't even bother with ps2 though, because the analog sticks are too short -- xbox has longer sticks, meaning better precision, hence the popularity of FPS's on it.)
Midnight Club 2?
/-'ra-p(&-)r&-b&l/ adjective
Phantasy Star Online?
Capcom vs. SNK 2?
Sega ESPN Sports series?
interoperable means that you are not allowed to play other console users; IE xbox players are not allowed to play ps2 users.
it does NOT mean that you are not allowed to make that game online for the other service/console. you just have to use that console's online service, not xbox live.
learn freaking english:
One entry found for interoperability.
Main Entry: interoperability
Pronunciation: "in-t&-"ra-p(&-)r&-'bi-l&-tE
Function: noun
Date: 1977
: ability of a system (as a weapons system) to use the parts or equipment of another system
- interoperable
once again, the uninformed speak. the xbox is NOT a PC. it simply shares much of the pc architecture and some software (directX) it is much lower level though... from shunji's (a guy from bungie) blog: -------- Why can Halo run really well on hardware that is now about 2-3 years old? There are a few reasons: 1. Extremely lightweight OS. Since the Xbox is a gaming machine first, the OS doesn't need a lot of things that are necessary for a full fledged PC that's used for things besides gaming. That means the Xbox OS can fit into about 150 kB, which leaves the rest of that to the game. It also means that the game has ultimate control over the execution of the game. Plus, the game runs at the same level as what the operating system normally operates on a consumer PC, which means less time spent transitioning between OS and application code. 2 & 3. Unified memory architecture and no drivers. Yes, there is a programmatical interface similar to DirectX. However, it's a very thin layer to communicate with the hardware. On the PC, there are many steps to render a model. Here's an extremely simplified list: 1. Allocate memory to hold the model and textures. 2. Submit the memory to the video card. 3. Tell the card to render the model. Steps 1 and 2 are the slowest, and most subject to driver quality. On the Xbox, we can take care of 1 and 2 ourselves, which is better than leaving it up to the driver in the specific case of a fixed platform. Note that due to hardware diversity, this is not really a good idea, but it's great for the Xbox. 4. Fixed hardware. We know that what we develop on at work will be the exact same platform and hardware configuration consumers will have at home. This let's us pull off some tricks that wouldn't be as easy to implement on the PC. Things like precompiling a memory image of the game that we load at a fixed address, pretty much eliminating loading times beyond that of copying the image off the hard drive. (The loading screens you see on the Xbox version of Halo come from copying data from the DVD to the harddrive, not from loading the game data from the hard drive.) We can also make saved games work much faster, by reserving a hard-coded chunk of memory to hold all the necessary data to save and restore a game. In short, Xbox development is a much less complex beast compared to PC devleopment. What you give up in raw power you make up with fixed hardware and ease of development. ----------
Thats funny, because Half-Life 2 is coming out at the same time.. hmm, i guess gabe and the team are all complete idiots... oh, lets not forget gran turismo for (again, set for april 2004) and what about ffix for ps2? thats right, april of 2004. microsoft must have no idea what they're doing then, deciding not to release an unfinished game...
way to exaggerate. i own RSC, and the physics are great.
can you stand on your bumper? yeah, but its pretty damn hard to do, even on purpose / a rare occurence.
the physics are fantastic, nuff said. that game is awesome. and RSC2 is coming out soon wiht an improve engine.
to add to the grandparent's list,
-Rainbow Six 3 (which is completely different from the PC version)
-Jet Set Radio Future
-Project Gotham Racing 2
-Topspin
-Links
-Amped 2
-KoTOR (its on pc soon, i know)
and there are much, much, more. xbox's library has recently exploded with good games.
to me, this really comes down to quality vs quantity.
:)
i sure ps2 online is great, and EA has really driven it home; however XBOX live is absolutely fantastically, exponentially better than ps2 online. freinds list, effortless patches, easy login, downloadable content, voice for *every single game*, rankings, rosters, tournaments, clans, leagues, game invites... it is practically flawless, undoubtedly the best microsoft produect i have ever encountered..
in contrast, SOCOM is plagued by cheats, (and let's face it -- no one is going to develop a game that requires a 200$ hard drive just to prevent cheats) each game requires its own accoutn and password, EA is threatening to charge 10 bucks a month per game (someting MS won't allow, which is why EA has refused to develop games for xbox live, by the way)....
also, while i dont want to scream out "BIAS!" too loud, raymond (the article's author) has always been a huge ps2 fan..
lemme just end with a huge penny-arcade quote as i always like to do..
----------
It was easy to think of EA's offering and Microsoft's offering as fungible initially. EA was doing theirs for free, and Microsoft had a pay service, and obviously free is... nice. But while I was being desiccated by Las Vegas nights soaked with alcohol, it seemed to me that their service is free because it sucks. It's free because it is so without ambition that it can be offered for nothing, until such time as they want to charge for it. Why else would they reserve the right, why else would they go through all the trouble?
I've spent enough time on Live with recent titles that it's impossible for me to compare the two approaches. You don't sign in to Live, you don't create a password, you push A. Every game supports voice and a universal friends list I can view from the web. I have a hard disk built in for content. There is an ethernet port. That's not so you can put a jelly bean in there in case you need it later, it's so you can put in a cable and access the Internet. You assholes.
That is all to say nothing about game invites. If I'm playing a game by Ubi Soft, I can still receive invites to play games from other developers - each publisher doesn't have it's own little fairy land where I can only play games with other people who have their games. I can be playing Crimson Skies and get an invite to play Ghost Recon. If I say yes, the tray pops out and I put in the other disc. Then, it joins me automatically. When I can do that with games from EA, I'll shut the fuck up. Until then, they need to act like big people and make choices that are of value to consumers.
---------------
this is meant to be put in chuck-e-cheeses and the like... these kids have never heard of linux before.. they don't give a shit about linux. penguins racing down hills catching fish, however... now that's cool. remember -- every game is cooler in an arcade.
Thats funny, because they've never steered me wrong before.
not to mention that for people getting paid to hype products, they seem to point out those same product's weaknesses an awful lot.
Mike and Jerry are most definetly NOT "shills". I have no idea where they make all their money (i assume their wives have jobs...), but facts are facts, and as a regular reader i have never seen anything suggesting any kind of "wrongdoing". PA is great, their comics are funny, and the guys are honest as can be.
check out the latest post:
"Our crew is playing Call of Duty now at night and I just had a quick comment about how the search and destroy mode works. It's fucking lame. So the objective is to go and blow up the German shit, which is cool. The problem is that if the Germans defuse the bomb the game ends and the Germans win. Even if there are allies still alive and time on the clock the game is over and you lose. This is really stupid. If the Germans defuse the charge and I am still alive and kicking I should have the opportunity to plant again or keep kicking ass. I can understand if only one soldier had the ability to plant and he was killed, but everyone on the team can plant explosives. Either way it's really frustrating and doesn't make any sense. Our entire crew agrees that they need to at least make it a setting you can turn on or off. "
doesnt sound very 'shilled' to me.
oh, and i HAVE live, and its great. everything is standardized, there's no cheaters, updates are practically transparent, and there's very little lag on most games. for a dollar a week, its an excellent service. hell, i can see xbox live's voice chat replacing phone service by 2010. 50 bucks a year is the sheeite.
and have you seen XSN ? XBOX.com's new features? you can log into passport and create leagues, clans, tournaments, see if your freinds are online (and what they are playing).. its truly fantastic.
first of all, its not copies sold. its number of people online. and the figures are fantastic, considering how new the games are, and how "not-widespread" online console players are. that figure states that around 1/3 of all xbox live owners played at least one game last weekend (including me! :D ) not bad, eh?
second, halo has sold over 3 million copies.
when the load is high, microsoft breaks out the "Xservers"... they did so last weekend.. there's a limited amount of them, but so far they seem to have helped deal with high loads. otherwise, its p2p -- which actually works really well, believe it or not. MS pulled miracles with XBOX live, its fantastic. best ms product yet, well worth the 50 bucks a year. with voice and everything, the lag is actually very manageable. i rarely hit a motoGP game with and lag at all. Ghost Recon is supposedly the worst. i own it, and have had very little problems with it. when there is lag, its generally accepted that the host will disable explosives. team games have more lag than coop games. but again, remember that there is full voice, which is fantastic. it really takes gaming to the next level, as the amount of teamwork going on is spectacular. it really is fantastic. and now back to my shiny new copy of the GTA double pack ! w00t!
all sony games (excluding Everquest) for ps2 are free. EA games are currently free, but they are going to start charging 10 bucks a month per game very soon.
btw, i dont own ps2, i own xbox. w00t.
its actually EA vs. MS, but since EA is sony's bitch anyways....
:
;) most definetly recommended to any xbox owner. the upgrades are as promised.
quote from PA
it was easy to think of EA's offering and Microsoft's offering as fungible initially. EA was doing theirs for free, and Microsoft had a pay service, and obviously free is... nice. But while I was being desiccated by Las Vegas nights soaked with alcohol, it seemed to me that their service is free because it sucks. It's free because it is so without ambition that it can be offered for nothing, until such time as they want to charge for it. Why else would they reserve the right, why else would they go through all the trouble?
I've spent enough time on Live with recent titles that it's impossible for me to compare the two approaches. You don't sign in to Live, you don't create a password, you push A. Every game supports voice and a universal friends list I can view from the web. I have a hard disk built in for content. There is an ethernet port. That's not so you can put a jelly bean in there in case you need it later, it's so you can put in a cable and access the Internet. You assholes.
That is all to say nothing about game invites. If I'm playing a game by Ubi Soft, I can still receive invites to play games from other developers - each publisher doesn't have it's own little fairy land where I can only play games with other people who have their games. I can be playing Crimson Skies and get an invite to play Ghost Recon. If I say yes, the tray pops out and I put in the other disc. Then, it joins me automatically. When I can do that with games from EA, I'll shut the fuck up. Until then, they need to act like big people and make choices that are of value to consumers.
------
and i wholeheartedly agree.
btw, off-topic, i just got the grand theft auto double pack (xbox version). absolutely fantastically awesome. everything is so shiny, im all ADHD for it.
no, im not a linux zealot... i once installed redhat 8 on my sister's computer, but thats it.
however, i just had to make the point that linux is free, and is not ad supported. you don't need ads to make money on a site.
not that "be a subscriber!" (ahem, slashdot crew) is that much better, but imo a website should be a passion thing, not a money maker.
i'm personally fine with ads though. there's nothng wrong with them unless they are popups. even clickthroughs are fine, as far as im concerned. hence, i use firebird to block all popups. everything else i allow through, and on occasion, click.
yeah, lets call it scarface GTA3 game wouldnt be bad.... but Vice City has litereally hundreds of intentional similarities to scarface.
flawed logic. macs have what, 10% market penetration in the industry? pc over mac is simply majority rule, whereas with ATI vs Nvidia, we're talking 50/50 or 40/60. if macs had more users, more games would come out for that platform -- and yes, i know its a vicious cycle -- more users means more games means more users etc. but thats just the way it is. by not developing for mac, developers only lose a very small amount of revenue, whereas in contrast, not supporting ATI cards means you are out by 50% sales. ouch.
IGN gave it a 9.1, Gabirel from Penny Arcade just got it today, and thinks its great. no links for you. < /soupnazi
you disgust me.
looked at your user account, and your email is hidden, so im hoping you'll look back and reply --
:)
have the bugs in vice city been fixed?
i havent actually played VC, but ive heard it has some really nasty bugs. i plan to buy the pack on the 4th anyways, but like i said, i just want to know if they;ve fixed vice city's glitches.
thanks
you are right, to an extent -- the code they ported was supposedly from PC, its easier to go PC>XBOX than PS2>XBOX, and the graphical updates are already there, but it ISNT a straight port. as i said before, there are more than a few "enchancements" added to the XBOX version, because the guys at rockstar are so nice. :)
ack.. reposting, firebird fucks up line breaks.
i know im offtopic, but the parent is totally wrong -- do not believe the fanboys.
XBOX version is **confirmed** to have:
- Specular lighting system (light sources now cast real light)
- Higher detailed models of people, cars, etc. (this is especially evident when you look at the screenshots for xbox with cars in them -- *hubcaps* are now fully modelled)
- Models all skinned fully, independent fingers now modelled
- Reflection mapping on vehicles, buildings, windows, etc. (Gives real time reflections.)
- Rain now adheres to the camera in GTA3, aka little rain drops on the screen. (Vice City had this for PC and PS2, but GTA3 did not -- now it does.)
- Radiosity lighting now makes flames look a lot more realistic.
- Overhauled particle system. (Sparks, splashes, etc. all look nicer)
- High Def HDTV, 720 P, 16:9 Widescreen support - Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound added.
- Custom Soundtracks, use the XBox to make your own radio stations.
- Totally reassignable controls.
so its NOT a straight port.
just go check the screenshots at grandtheftauto.com and compare them to old ones -- you'll see it right away. ign's recent article: http://xbox.ign.com/articles/454/454117p1.html
i know im offtopic, but the parent is totally wrong -- do not believe the fanboys. XBOX version is **confirmed** to have: - Specular lighting system (light sources now cast real light) - Higher detailed models of people, cars, etc. (this is especially evident when you look at the screenshots for xbox with cars in them -- *hubcaps* are now fully modelled) - Models all skinned fully, independent fingers now modelled - Reflection mapping on vehicles, buildings, windows, etc. (Gives real time reflections.) - Rain now adheres to the camera in GTA3, aka little rain drops on the screen. (Vice City had this for PC and PS2, but GTA3 did not -- now it does.) - Radiosity lighting now makes flames look a lot more realistic. - Overhauled particle system. (Sparks, splashes, etc. all look nicer) - High Def HDTV, 720 P, 16:9 Widescreen support - Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound added. - Custom Soundtracks, use the XBox to make your own radio stations. - Totally reassignable controls. so its NOT a straight port. just go check the screenshots at grandtheftauto.com and compare them to old ones -- you'll see it right away. ign's recent article: http://xbox.ign.com/articles/454/454117p1.html
ah, but then it had to come down again, plus it weighed more. basic physics, numbnuts. the whole point of both of these systems (NASA's, and the old canadian one) was that it doesnt have to carry its own fuel, and therefore weighs less, and never has to come back down unless something breaks. remember: airliners cary 1/2 a pound of fuel for every pound of fuel they use on a trip.
er.. on the xbox, that is. they only use 8 and 10 gig hard drives, and the 10 gig drives have 2 gigs disabled so that people wont complain about unfairness.
or something like it:
It used microwaves instead of "invisible lasers" (IR? i havent RTFA yet) but same end result, no?
But they need to be funny ones, like the robot one..
or better yet, have the game's character be in the THX thing, sorta like what lucasarts does with its logo sometimes.