In 1987 I was a hardware tech- went around to our customers, installed equipment, network cable, etc. etc.
I had put in my two week notice, and on my very last day of work, I had to install a UPS (uninterruptable power supply) at a customer's office is Los Angeles. (The place I worked was in Orange County)
So, I cruised on over, and started the install. This type of UPS actually used car batteries, wired in-line. 8 of them went into the unit. I set it up, tested it, and all I had to do was finish up...
Well, while putting the case back on the UPS unit, I dropped it, and the metal case hit the + and - terminals. The thing was sparking like crazy, the case got burnt, and one of the batteries was bubbling up on top. And the fuse (50 amps) blew.
Since this was about 3:00, and I still had to drive back to OC (geez, people actually associate OC with that crappy show now) and it was my last day. I just plugged everything back directly into the wall, closed the door on their equipment closet, and told them everything was cool.
Went back to the office, got my final check, and of course, didn't mention anything to the boss.
To this day, I still feel bad about it...
(My wife is standing next to me, wondering what the hell I am doing posting this inane story on/. on the 4th of July...when our neighbors have a warm batch of chocolate chip cookies with our names on them...so, sorry if I can't go back and edit the post...I'm being rushed...)
Prior to entering into a 'professional career', I did not know anyone who actually purchased Photoshop.
But, 15 years later, I don't know anyone who steals any software.
When you make real money, with a real career, you have real expenses. Software is just one of them. But spending $500-$700 is not that big of a deal for a legitimate business.
You're like the kid in the neighborhood who can be outside and play, while all of the other kids are inside practicing the piano. So, you make sure that you play in front of their houses, so they can see what they're missing.
Only, in your neighborhood, there's always a thunderstorm, and your parents won't let you come inside the house.
Then again- every library I have been to in California in the past 3 years has FREE access.
So, isn't that already subsidized?
Anybody in CA live in a place where the library does not have free access?
My library has like 6 computers connected to the Internet. 2.5 years ago, you had to put your name on a list, and wait like an hour. Now, there are usually 2-3 open at a time.
Why is it that you portray Joe Schmo as having an XBox?
If Joe Schmo is your 'casual' gamer, then he would own a Gamecube.
The Xbox has the largest amount of software sales per console. So I would say that those are the most 'hardcore' of the console games. Xbox owners also buy more games than PC games.
So, Joe Schmo with an Xbox turns out to be at least the most dedicated financially to games.
I am one of those Joe Schmo gamers with an Xbox. And !GASP! I buy/play a lot of sports games. I'm not a 'casual' gamer, it is my primary hobby- and I buy about 2 games per month.
I'm not looking for those 'deep, engrossing masterpieces' of games. I want games that are fun, have a lot of action, and keep my attention. In fact, I don't think of most Japanese games as 'masterpices', I think of them more like 'massive pieces'...of shit.
Really- getting deep into some Japanese adventure game does not mean you are a 'hardcore' gamer, well above and beyond us average Joe Schmo's. It just means you like a different type of game.
Because I wanted to invest in Ubi about 2 years ago, and I couldn't.
Okay...it wasn't because they are French, it is because they are a private company.
Damn, I really wish I could have invested in them though. They have been selling games out the ying-yang, and are one of the better performing game companies. I like to buy what I know, and I'm really disappointed I couldn't buy any of this company.
On the other hand, about 4 months ago I had a great vision of Krispy Kreme stocking going up. Bought some, and lost a crap-load on it. Stupid donuts...
Look at the little section on the right, that is a small chart with bold/red headers. It shows the media rankings, AND the user rankings. Now I may be stretching a bit, but I assume that 'users' on Gamerankings.com are gamers.
Well, that's the cool thing about Gamerankings.com
Shinobi was rated a 74%, by 68 media outlets and is the number 1,439 ranked game by gamers.
Ninja Gaiden was rated a 92%, by 85 media outlets and is the number 46 ranked game by gamers.
Okay- I am not going to say that these numbers have any hard-core science behind them, but they really are the best numbers we can use for a comparison.
So, depending on how you value a 92% rating vs. a 74% rating- a large part of the world thinks that Ninja Gaiden is THAT much better than Shinobi.
I'm not sure what your actual take on this is, so If I'm mis-reading you- sorry about that.
Ninja Gaiden is a very highly rated game- most sites give it well over 90%. (Gamerankings total is like 91.5%). This NOT a game that 'needs updating'. This is a case of refining an already great game.
Adding camera control, and new enemies is a great idea. Kinda like Diablo II LOD adding 800x600 support and that entire 5th act. Did the 'fix' the graphics? Now..they just 'improved' the graphics. Because the game was great beforehand, and they just made it better. (But still...the resolution was pretty bad before, and after the update)
Downloadable content is one of the strong points on the Xbox. Microsoft knows this (they push it all the time) so they next Xbox will definetly have some sort of mass storage that can handle large downloads. We just don't know what it is yet.
Back in 1983-1985 I ran a BBS. I had an awesome array of 6 Apple II floppy drives. At that time I didn't wish for a hard-drive (because I wasn't really familiar with them) I wished for MORE FLOPPIES! Just imagine if they could read on BOTH SIDES without flipping them over...during this time, forward thinking companies were trying to figure out how to squeeze a hard-drive into PC's..but I was thinking of making floppies better.
Well, while we all sit around thinking that Microsoft is a bunch of dummies, because we really want our hard-drive..they've probably got something up their sleeves that will be much, much better.
After all, they were the first to include the hard-drive, and the other manufacturers hadn't seen the necessity. Now that we see it as a necessity, the might just be going to the next level. I'm waiting to see what the next Xbox mass storage will look like...I'm guessing it will be even better.
Especially for a list of confirmed gullible people.
The chances of an AOL user falling for a spam-scam are probably good. They already fell for one scam, so they've proven themselves to be targets already.
Most people are saying that Xmas season 2005 is the target date for Xbox 2.
That is still a year and a half away.
So this past April's sales surge won't really be part of the picture by that time. In 18 months the consoles will probably be in the $99 range, and retailers would be happy as shit to make shelf space for something that costs $299.
Same shelf space- but 3 times the price?
Also, right NOW there are a ton of good games for the Xbox, with quite a few good ones coming out in the next 6 months (if we are to believe the promises). But already there are titles being delayed to the next version of the console.
I'm surprised that you (an Xbox owner) find the software selection is "three little rows of stuff that's either terrible (Outlaw Golf) or available on PS2"
Using Outlaw Golf as an example is a shame, because it detracts from the rest of your post. Outlaw Golf is multi-platform (PC Xbox Gamecube) and isn't that good.
But if you looked a *little* bit further, you would have seen Links 2004. Links is the best golf game out (Play Links, then try Tiger Woods...no comparison) and is an Xbox exclusive- at least for consoles. Other than your example, you have other games like Rallisport Challenge, Ninja Gaiden, Crimson Skies, etc. etc. There is actually a wealth of great games out for the Xbox. Not all are exclusives, but they really don't need to be, in order to be good games.
Now, strategy and RPG games are probably the weakest spot in the lineup. But I think that strategy games are weak on all consoles.
I'm expecting that the next Xbox will really help solve this problem. More power to work with, and the ability to better support HDTV (more power) will enable the developers to create more complex games- it would be great to play Rise of Nations while sitting on my couch.
I would love to see a controller come out that would be targeted specifically for RTS games on the next Xbox. Something with more buttons. If Microsoft can create a standardized secondary controller scheme, different game types could make the jump to consoles a little easier. And NO, I am not talking about a keyboard/mouse (although that would be nice) but a controller that I can use while reclined in my chair. Just one that has a line of 10 buttons to select different units, potions, whatever.
We didn't use pennies on post. It was very convenient.
They just priced things normally, and the only time it mattered was with your final total at checkout.
They just rounded the total. So if your total was $15.48, you just paid $15.50. $15.46, and you paid $15.45.
So, there were no pennies really in circulation there. But for some strange reason, the US mint (whoever is in charge of money supply) moved a crapload of Susan B. Anthony dollars, and $2 bills over there.
I *always* had $2 bills in my pocket. And usually some Susan B.'s too.
But I was always jealous of the German 5 DM coin. Now THAT was useful. We should have a $5 coin.
Yeah...WTF, the headline of the story describes the card as 'gigantic'.
Umm...it's only 8MB.
The standard Xbox memory card was 8MB. But then again, you have a hard-drive, so memory cards are nearly useless.
You can get a sweet Hello Kitty card for the PS2 that came out long before this that holds equal, or more information.
This story on Slashdot did not play up the excitement of having a whopping 8MB of storage, but I've seen it other places. Nintendo is trying to get people excited about this?!?!
What's next- an adapter to play audio cassettes though the Gamecube?
But just drive by my house and you can get 3mb down 1mb up...due to the fact that a piece of crap Linksys wireless game connector wouldn't let me change the SSID from 'Linksys'.
The router is the garage, so you should do fine from the street.
Well, since you have played the series to some depth...
(no, I am not the guy who you responded to above...)
I've played a few sports games, and I've liked all of them. Tennis, golf, basketball (NBA Street) and snowboarding.
The football games always seemed a little overwhelming, and difficult to pick-up, because there are so damn many options.
From a casual football fans perspective, are these games easy enough to pick up and play within the first 30 minutes? I'm not concerned about trading players, creating plays, etc. etc. Essentially all I really want is Tecmo Bowl with updated graphics.
Will either one of these football games be accessible for someone like me? I suffer from too many games, and not enough time, so I won't want to get into it too deeply, but the idea of playing football sounds good to me. And Sega's price of $20 sounds good, but my time is much more valuable to me than $30, so if Madden is better I don't mind spending the extra dough.
If you go to DSLreports.com you can see a lot of posts from people who brag about using 200+GB of download, and nearly equal that of upload, each month. Most of them are trading a lot of movie files. That goes far beyond what they typical home user would be using.
I think someone who is using that much bandwidth should pay a much higher rate. Because people like that are going to drive prices up for all of us. Just like the bad drivers pay more on car insurance.
Some people think that just because they are given the blank check (no caps set) they should be able to take as much as they wanted. That's what these two fatties thought too. Take as much as you want, but when other people can't get their fair share, you're taking too much.
I think that your first item "It tells a part of the story of Riddick not found in the movies." is the most important.
Halo (the game) 'inspired' 3 books. The first two I read were great- Fall of Reach and First Strike. They told stories from the Halo universe (I hate that term) and I thought they were interesting.
After going through those books very quickly, I started to read "The Flood" which is the book based on the events of the game.
Oh crap this is so damn boring. Yes, they did a great job detailing the game. I can read the book and know that when he opens a particular door there will be a shade on his left, and right- and one of them will be manned, the other will have a grunt sleeping next to it. Yes, I know this already from playing the game, I don't need to read a book about it!
For me at least, anytime two forms of media try to tell the exact same story, it gets very boring. Harry Potter had this problem for me. The books were great, and the first two movies were pretty much exactly what I had imagined while reading the book. But that made the movie boring. I don't really need the affirmation of my imagination up on the screen.
So...in conclusion...I'm glad they didn't base Chronicles of Riddick on the same story as the movie.
Crimson Skies has had quite a resurgence lately, since the recent content download.
Anytime they add some new content, it usually breathes a *little* life back into the game. Crimson Skies is a great game, I just hadn't played it for 4 months or so. The new content brought be back and got me interested again, even if I don't use the content.
I also don't mind paying for the Premium content. I've bought it for Links, DDR and Mechassault.
The *only* time I've been disappointed though was the most recent course on Links. The first course, Kapalua, was great. Well worth the $4.99. The second course 'The Gallery' wasn't so hot. I haven't even finished the course yet, because it wasn't exciting enough.
So downloading content, whether free, or costing some money, is usually a pretty good deal. But if it costs money, I think it really should be 'Premium' content.
If a vast majority of Xbox gamers were on Live, then the patching system would be okay. But, as many people have mentioned before, this would open the gates to studios pushing out products before they were ready. I'd prefer the game to work the first time. But, as a Live subscriber, I think the patches would be okay, but I understant why they don't allow it.
But with the vast majority of Xbox owners NOT on Live, this would give Microsoft a very bad name in the industry. (Yes, for a lot of you they already have a bad name) It's better if they make the studios do a recall, essentially to 'pay for their crimes'.
But then again, if they allowed patching via Live, they could take it out of the developers hide. "Okay, you want to patch via Live? That will be $2.99 per patch" (not to the subscriber, to the studio). That would be a dis-incentive, but at the same time would allow the service to go through when necessary. Personally, this particular instance would be no big deal to me, because I never play any game on 'expert' anyway.
Slashdot Mirror
In 1987 I was a hardware tech- went around to our customers, installed equipment, network cable, etc. etc.
/. on the 4th of July...when our neighbors have a warm batch of chocolate chip cookies with our names on them...so, sorry if I can't go back and edit the post...I'm being rushed...)
I had put in my two week notice, and on my very last day of work, I had to install a UPS (uninterruptable power supply) at a customer's office is Los Angeles. (The place I worked was in Orange County)
So, I cruised on over, and started the install. This type of UPS actually used car batteries, wired in-line. 8 of them went into the unit. I set it up, tested it, and all I had to do was finish up...
Well, while putting the case back on the UPS unit, I dropped it, and the metal case hit the + and - terminals. The thing was sparking like crazy, the case got burnt, and one of the batteries was bubbling up on top. And the fuse (50 amps) blew.
Since this was about 3:00, and I still had to drive back to OC (geez, people actually associate OC with that crappy show now) and it was my last day. I just plugged everything back directly into the wall, closed the door on their equipment closet, and told them everything was cool.
Went back to the office, got my final check, and of course, didn't mention anything to the boss.
To this day, I still feel bad about it...
(My wife is standing next to me, wondering what the hell I am doing posting this inane story on
Just today on an episode of Futurama, they had scenes of Fry lying dead in a coffin, with a huge bee stinger sticking out of him.
I swear, it looked exactly like an elephant tusk.
Prior to entering into a 'professional career', I did not know anyone who actually purchased Photoshop.
But, 15 years later, I don't know anyone who steals any software.
When you make real money, with a real career, you have real expenses. Software is just one of them. But spending $500-$700 is not that big of a deal for a legitimate business.
Thanks for that super-informative post.
You're like the kid in the neighborhood who can be outside and play, while all of the other kids are inside practicing the piano. So, you make sure that you play in front of their houses, so they can see what they're missing.
Only, in your neighborhood, there's always a thunderstorm, and your parents won't let you come inside the house.
Of course on-line play means nothing to you. You've got a Gamecube, and therefore on-line play is non-existant.
Rogue Squadron is great fun, playing against the same AI over and over....yeah...great fun.
Try Crimson Skies, against 15 other real, and maybe you will change your opinion.
Then again- every library I have been to in California in the past 3 years has FREE access.
So, isn't that already subsidized?
Anybody in CA live in a place where the library does not have free access?
My library has like 6 computers connected to the Internet. 2.5 years ago, you had to put your name on a list, and wait like an hour. Now, there are usually 2-3 open at a time.
Why is it that you portray Joe Schmo as having an XBox?
If Joe Schmo is your 'casual' gamer, then he would own a Gamecube.
The Xbox has the largest amount of software sales per console. So I would say that those are the most 'hardcore' of the console games. Xbox owners also buy more games than PC games.
So, Joe Schmo with an Xbox turns out to be at least the most dedicated financially to games.
I am one of those Joe Schmo gamers with an Xbox. And !GASP! I buy/play a lot of sports games. I'm not a 'casual' gamer, it is my primary hobby- and I buy about 2 games per month.
I'm not looking for those 'deep, engrossing masterpieces' of games. I want games that are fun, have a lot of action, and keep my attention. In fact, I don't think of most Japanese games as 'masterpices', I think of them more like 'massive pieces'...of shit.
Really- getting deep into some Japanese adventure game does not mean you are a 'hardcore' gamer, well above and beyond us average Joe Schmo's. It just means you like a different type of game.
You 'trade currencies'...
What does that mean...do you make change a some casino in Reno?
Which totally, and completely, pisses me off.
Why?
Because I wanted to invest in Ubi about 2 years ago, and I couldn't.
Okay...it wasn't because they are French, it is because they are a private company.
Damn, I really wish I could have invested in them though. They have been selling games out the ying-yang, and are one of the better performing game companies. I like to buy what I know, and I'm really disappointed I couldn't buy any of this company.
On the other hand, about 4 months ago I had a great vision of Krispy Kreme stocking going up. Bought some, and lost a crap-load on it. Stupid donuts...
Ubisoft rocks. Great games...
Maybe you disagreed with my initial comments about Gamerankings.com, because you don't really understand the site.
i nja%20gaiden
It has media ratings, AND user ratings (rankings).
Take a look at: http://gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/561532.asp?q=n
Look at the little section on the right, that is a small chart with bold/red headers. It shows the media rankings, AND the user rankings. Now I may be stretching a bit, but I assume that 'users' on Gamerankings.com are gamers.
Well, that's the cool thing about Gamerankings.com
Shinobi was rated a 74%, by 68 media outlets and is the number 1,439 ranked game by gamers.
Ninja Gaiden was rated a 92%, by 85 media outlets and is the number 46 ranked game by gamers.
Okay- I am not going to say that these numbers have any hard-core science behind them, but they really are the best numbers we can use for a comparison.
So, depending on how you value a 92% rating vs. a 74% rating- a large part of the world thinks that Ninja Gaiden is THAT much better than Shinobi.
Of course, they rank Zelda Ocarina of Time as the number 1 game, and guys in little green costumes give me the creeps. So I didn't like it at all.
I'm not sure what your actual take on this is, so If I'm mis-reading you- sorry about that.
Ninja Gaiden is a very highly rated game- most sites give it well over 90%. (Gamerankings total is like 91.5%). This NOT a game that 'needs updating'. This is a case of refining an already great game.
Adding camera control, and new enemies is a great idea. Kinda like Diablo II LOD adding 800x600 support and that entire 5th act. Did the 'fix' the graphics? Now..they just 'improved' the graphics. Because the game was great beforehand, and they just made it better. (But still...the resolution was pretty bad before, and after the update)
Downloadable content is one of the strong points on the Xbox. Microsoft knows this (they push it all the time) so they next Xbox will definetly have some sort of mass storage that can handle large downloads. We just don't know what it is yet.
Back in 1983-1985 I ran a BBS. I had an awesome array of 6 Apple II floppy drives. At that time I didn't wish for a hard-drive (because I wasn't really familiar with them) I wished for MORE FLOPPIES! Just imagine if they could read on BOTH SIDES without flipping them over...during this time, forward thinking companies were trying to figure out how to squeeze a hard-drive into PC's..but I was thinking of making floppies better.
Well, while we all sit around thinking that Microsoft is a bunch of dummies, because we really want our hard-drive..they've probably got something up their sleeves that will be much, much better.
After all, they were the first to include the hard-drive, and the other manufacturers hadn't seen the necessity. Now that we see it as a necessity, the might just be going to the next level. I'm waiting to see what the next Xbox mass storage will look like...I'm guessing it will be even better.
Especially for a list of confirmed gullible people.
The chances of an AOL user falling for a spam-scam are probably good. They already fell for one scam, so they've proven themselves to be targets already.
Enter the Matrix at 1080i.
It may not be a great game, but it squirts geek juice all over the place.
Most people are saying that Xmas season 2005 is the target date for Xbox 2.
That is still a year and a half away.
So this past April's sales surge won't really be part of the picture by that time. In 18 months the consoles will probably be in the $99 range, and retailers would be happy as shit to make shelf space for something that costs $299.
Same shelf space- but 3 times the price?
Also, right NOW there are a ton of good games for the Xbox, with quite a few good ones coming out in the next 6 months (if we are to believe the promises). But already there are titles being delayed to the next version of the console.
I'm surprised that you (an Xbox owner) find the software selection is "three little rows of stuff that's either terrible (Outlaw Golf) or available on PS2"
Using Outlaw Golf as an example is a shame, because it detracts from the rest of your post. Outlaw Golf is multi-platform (PC Xbox Gamecube) and isn't that good.
But if you looked a *little* bit further, you would have seen Links 2004. Links is the best golf game out (Play Links, then try Tiger Woods...no comparison) and is an Xbox exclusive- at least for consoles. Other than your example, you have other games like Rallisport Challenge, Ninja Gaiden, Crimson Skies, etc. etc. There is actually a wealth of great games out for the Xbox. Not all are exclusives, but they really don't need to be, in order to be good games.
Now, strategy and RPG games are probably the weakest spot in the lineup. But I think that strategy games are weak on all consoles.
I'm expecting that the next Xbox will really help solve this problem. More power to work with, and the ability to better support HDTV (more power) will enable the developers to create more complex games- it would be great to play Rise of Nations while sitting on my couch.
I would love to see a controller come out that would be targeted specifically for RTS games on the next Xbox. Something with more buttons. If Microsoft can create a standardized secondary controller scheme, different game types could make the jump to consoles a little easier. And NO, I am not talking about a keyboard/mouse (although that would be nice) but a controller that I can use while reclined in my chair. Just one that has a line of 10 buttons to select different units, potions, whatever.
I was in the military (US) stationed in Germany.
We didn't use pennies on post. It was very convenient.
They just priced things normally, and the only time it mattered was with your final total at checkout.
They just rounded the total. So if your total was $15.48, you just paid $15.50. $15.46, and you paid $15.45.
So, there were no pennies really in circulation there. But for some strange reason, the US mint (whoever is in charge of money supply) moved a crapload of Susan B. Anthony dollars, and $2 bills over there.
I *always* had $2 bills in my pocket. And usually some Susan B.'s too.
But I was always jealous of the German 5 DM coin. Now THAT was useful. We should have a $5 coin.
And dump the frickin' pennies.
Yeah...WTF, the headline of the story describes the card as 'gigantic'.
Umm...it's only 8MB.
The standard Xbox memory card was 8MB. But then again, you have a hard-drive, so memory cards are nearly useless.
You can get a sweet Hello Kitty card for the PS2 that came out long before this that holds equal, or more information.
This story on Slashdot did not play up the excitement of having a whopping 8MB of storage, but I've seen it other places. Nintendo is trying to get people excited about this?!?!
What's next- an adapter to play audio cassettes though the Gamecube?
Welcome to Woodland California-
# of hotspots- ???
But just drive by my house and you can get 3mb down 1mb up...due to the fact that a piece of crap Linksys wireless game connector wouldn't let me change the SSID from 'Linksys'.
The router is the garage, so you should do fine from the street.
The whole exclusive players contract thing was just a rumour. Ended up being not true.
Well, since you have played the series to some depth...
(no, I am not the guy who you responded to above...)
I've played a few sports games, and I've liked all of them. Tennis, golf, basketball (NBA Street) and snowboarding.
The football games always seemed a little overwhelming, and difficult to pick-up, because there are so damn many options.
From a casual football fans perspective, are these games easy enough to pick up and play within the first 30 minutes? I'm not concerned about trading players, creating plays, etc. etc. Essentially all I really want is Tecmo Bowl with updated graphics.
Will either one of these football games be accessible for someone like me? I suffer from too many games, and not enough time, so I won't want to get into it too deeply, but the idea of playing football sounds good to me. And Sega's price of $20 sounds good, but my time is much more valuable to me than $30, so if Madden is better I don't mind spending the extra dough.
Sorry about the stupid question-
If you go to DSLreports.com you can see a lot of posts from people who brag about using 200+GB of download, and nearly equal that of upload, each month. Most of them are trading a lot of movie files. That goes far beyond what they typical home user would be using.
I think someone who is using that much bandwidth should pay a much higher rate. Because people like that are going to drive prices up for all of us. Just like the bad drivers pay more on car insurance.
Some people think that just because they are given the blank check (no caps set) they should be able to take as much as they wanted. That's what these two fatties thought too. Take as much as you want, but when other people can't get their fair share, you're taking too much.
I think that your first item "It tells a part of the story of Riddick not found in the movies." is the most important.
Halo (the game) 'inspired' 3 books. The first two I read were great- Fall of Reach and First Strike. They told stories from the Halo universe (I hate that term) and I thought they were interesting.
After going through those books very quickly, I started to read "The Flood" which is the book based on the events of the game.
Oh crap this is so damn boring. Yes, they did a great job detailing the game. I can read the book and know that when he opens a particular door there will be a shade on his left, and right- and one of them will be manned, the other will have a grunt sleeping next to it. Yes, I know this already from playing the game, I don't need to read a book about it!
For me at least, anytime two forms of media try to tell the exact same story, it gets very boring. Harry Potter had this problem for me. The books were great, and the first two movies were pretty much exactly what I had imagined while reading the book. But that made the movie boring. I don't really need the affirmation of my imagination up on the screen.
So...in conclusion...I'm glad they didn't base Chronicles of Riddick on the same story as the movie.
Speaking of that...
Crimson Skies has had quite a resurgence lately, since the recent content download.
Anytime they add some new content, it usually breathes a *little* life back into the game. Crimson Skies is a great game, I just hadn't played it for 4 months or so. The new content brought be back and got me interested again, even if I don't use the content.
I also don't mind paying for the Premium content. I've bought it for Links, DDR and Mechassault.
The *only* time I've been disappointed though was the most recent course on Links. The first course, Kapalua, was great. Well worth the $4.99. The second course 'The Gallery' wasn't so hot. I haven't even finished the course yet, because it wasn't exciting enough.
So downloading content, whether free, or costing some money, is usually a pretty good deal. But if it costs money, I think it really should be 'Premium' content.
If a vast majority of Xbox gamers were on Live, then the patching system would be okay. But, as many people have mentioned before, this would open the gates to studios pushing out products before they were ready. I'd prefer the game to work the first time. But, as a Live subscriber, I think the patches would be okay, but I understant why they don't allow it.
But with the vast majority of Xbox owners NOT on Live, this would give Microsoft a very bad name in the industry. (Yes, for a lot of you they already have a bad name) It's better if they make the studios do a recall, essentially to 'pay for their crimes'.
But then again, if they allowed patching via Live, they could take it out of the developers hide. "Okay, you want to patch via Live? That will be $2.99 per patch" (not to the subscriber, to the studio). That would be a dis-incentive, but at the same time would allow the service to go through when necessary. Personally, this particular instance would be no big deal to me, because I never play any game on 'expert' anyway.