Before the Xbox? No. Modchips where almost entirely for pirating. There was a bit of import stuff done by the hardcore-but-poor that couldn't afford a foriegn console. But the Xbox "scene", from what I see, seems to be the most legitimate ever. People convert Xbox's into media centers and much more without copying any XBox games at all.
Not that I have any particular problem with small amounts of piracy. I have problems with people who pirate to the exclusion of buying software legitimately. But companies think differently, and I don't really begrudge them that.
A) John Q. Casual Gamer has no taste in games B) John Q. Casual Gamer does not do his homework to find out about these games C) You do not see Rez commercials on MTV.
Rez is quite possibly the best game on the PS2 and it sold like crap. Because of those reasons. Back in the day sell numbers tended to say something positive about the game itself. Now it just says something negetive about gamers in general.
This is just the beginning. Now that people know about this weakness it will be the focus of a lot of hacking to create a title.db that will run off of any game, thus meaning all you have to do is replace the file on a memory card (Is this a PS1 or PS2 memory card we're talking about?) and voila. Maybe even give us a nice "Insert unsigned disk now" prompt. Hopefully people will run with this, and it will turn out to be a lot less of a dirty hack in the end. The guy just rushed this out so it's understandable, but in time I think this will probably turn into something a lot more graceful if we're lucky.
But it is always better to be more prepared to protect ourselves from our enemies than to throw money at the nebulous money pits that are social programs. Last time I checked we're not communists. It is not the governments job to give people cradle-to-grave welfare, it's job is to protect us from our enemies and ensure vital services such as the mail and standards and measeasures are in place to keep things orginized. It's the responsibility of the citizen to ensure he has a paycheck and food on the table.
And any weapon that destroys that which needs to be destroyed while minimizing civilian casuallty is a blessing to everyone involved.
"The best-selling game in the month by units sold, analysts said, was Atari's mid-May release "Enter the Matrix'' for the PS2, followed by Eidos's "Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness,'' also for PS2, data showed."
When games of that extreme craptitude are best-sellers, well, no wonder sales are down. Where the hell is Zelda and Ikaruga? Why is it the worst games are always the ones that sell the best?
Because the market has been saturated by non-gamers who wouldn't know a good game from a hole in the ground. If this was the early 80's there probably wouldn't be the crushed remains of 5 million E.T. 2600 carts buried in a New Mexico Landfill today.
Well as long as they keep making highly original and innovative games I'll keep buying them. As will a few other gamers. Right now titles that come to mind are...
Super Monkey Ball
Pikmin
Eternal Darkness
Animal Crossing
Cubivore
Ikaruga
Rez
Frequency and Amplitude
Mr. Misquito
Fatal Frame
ICO
There are probably countless more I'm not thinking about...
Slashdot Mirror
Before the Xbox? No. Modchips where almost entirely for pirating. There was a bit of import stuff done by the hardcore-but-poor that couldn't afford a foriegn console. But the Xbox "scene", from what I see, seems to be the most legitimate ever. People convert Xbox's into media centers and much more without copying any XBox games at all. Not that I have any particular problem with small amounts of piracy. I have problems with people who pirate to the exclusion of buying software legitimately. But companies think differently, and I don't really begrudge them that.
And I'm tempted to buy this just as a way to ensure more games like REZ are created, by directly giving UGA more money.
Rez did not sell well because
A) John Q. Casual Gamer has no taste in games
B) John Q. Casual Gamer does not do his homework to find out about these games
C) You do not see Rez commercials on MTV.
Rez is quite possibly the best game on the PS2 and it sold like crap. Because of those reasons. Back in the day sell numbers tended to say something positive about the game itself. Now it just says something negetive about gamers in general.
This is just the beginning. Now that people know about this weakness it will be the focus of a lot of hacking to create a title.db that will run off of any game, thus meaning all you have to do is replace the file on a memory card (Is this a PS1 or PS2 memory card we're talking about?) and voila. Maybe even give us a nice "Insert unsigned disk now" prompt. Hopefully people will run with this, and it will turn out to be a lot less of a dirty hack in the end. The guy just rushed this out so it's understandable, but in time I think this will probably turn into something a lot more graceful if we're lucky.
But it is always better to be more prepared to protect ourselves from our enemies than to throw money at the nebulous money pits that are social programs. Last time I checked we're not communists. It is not the governments job to give people cradle-to-grave welfare, it's job is to protect us from our enemies and ensure vital services such as the mail and standards and measeasures are in place to keep things orginized. It's the responsibility of the citizen to ensure he has a paycheck and food on the table.
And any weapon that destroys that which needs to be destroyed while minimizing civilian casuallty is a blessing to everyone involved.
"The best-selling game in the month by units sold, analysts said, was Atari's mid-May release "Enter the Matrix'' for the PS2, followed by Eidos's "Tomb Raider: Angel of Darkness,'' also for PS2, data showed."
When games of that extreme craptitude are best-sellers, well, no wonder sales are down. Where the hell is Zelda and Ikaruga? Why is it the worst games are always the ones that sell the best?
Because the market has been saturated by non-gamers who wouldn't know a good game from a hole in the ground. If this was the early 80's there probably wouldn't be the crushed remains of 5 million E.T. 2600 carts buried in a New Mexico Landfill today.
Well as long as they keep making highly original and innovative games I'll keep buying them. As will a few other gamers. Right now titles that come to mind are... Super Monkey Ball Pikmin Eternal Darkness Animal Crossing Cubivore Ikaruga Rez Frequency and Amplitude Mr. Misquito Fatal Frame ICO There are probably countless more I'm not thinking about...
Gah... $17,000 could pay my tuition for the next 17 years...
If that had happened to me I'd have to sell myself to science or something.