The problem is that the market is set up in a way to make small companies fail (which is part of his point). Retailers and publishers, and possibly consumers, are demanding games that cost millions of dollars to make. So if you want to sell your game at retail, you have to have that amount of cash, which is very difficult for a small studio, even if they're willing to take the risk.
There's also the problem that there is almost no indie games market right now - no way to distribute the long-tail stuff where most of the innovation would take place.
It seems like there SHOULD be - games are software and are easily distributed over the internet, but for whatever reason no game industry Amazon or iTunes has emerged (probably because consoles are the hot thing right now, and they're very anti-indie for a number of reasons).
This is what Nintendo has said they're trying to do, actually.
Iwata and Miyamoto feel that the current controllers have gotten too complex, with too many buttons and counterintuitive interfaces. They want to make something that's simpler and that anyone can pick up and use easily.
Also, Nintendo's Wavebird controllers are the best wireless controllers I've ever seen. The batteries last for months or years, they're light and comfortable to hold, and they're very sturdy.
If Nintendo (or, hell, anyone) opened up their dev kits to startups and the common man (what is is now, something like $10K for a dev kit? Whip up something more basic and hand it out for $1K), as well as making it easier for companies to create and distribute their own games, you'd see a vast increase in Gamecube share.
You're absolutely right, but you're ignoring the economics of the game business. Even Nintendo makes most of their money from a percentage of game sales. Opening the platform up (at least, in the way you're talking about) would kill their revenue stream. For Microsoft, selling 100,000 Xboxes and 50,000 games is WORSE than selling 50,000 Xboxes and 50,000 games - They lose money each time they sell an Xbox.
There are good ways in which Nintendo could open their platform, though - the NES is pretty much an open platform these days anyway, and since the Revolution can play NES games, they could make a lot of friends by releasing a simple NES/SNES dev kit for hobbyists. NES games wouldn't significantly draw away from commercial games, but would provide an outlet for hobbyists.
Being able to play the "bad guys" is one of the most interesting aspects of games as a medium. The article only touched on the part that makes it so interesting, though: the empathy that arises from playing the other side.
Most games these days don't really emphasize it that much, of course, but I think it's really great that players will see a conflict from, say, the side of the terrorists. Currently games don't give you a background into the reasons why these particular people turned to terrorism, but it still balances the viewpoints in a way that no other medium does.
I also think that this makes for better stories - if a player can be "the bad guy", that character had better have as compelling a story as the hero, and good character motivations for being evil. This leads to better character development, and fewer cardboard characters.
This hasn't yet been fully exploited in games, unfortunately, but I'm looking forward to the day when games can carry these complex messages better than books, movies, or plays.
Couldn't the same really be said for all games? Why aren't you outside playing? Don't you like real games? Wouldn't actual physical activity be better from a societal standpoint than button-mashing?
Yeah! You like Grand Theft Auto so much, why don't you get off your ass and go steal some *real* cars!
The problem was Rio just didn't offer any compelling "stand-out" features and the pricing was on-par with Apple's Ipod selection (which gave buyers very little reason to migrate to a Rio player).
The real problem is that they didn't advertise their compelling features. Marketing was Rio's gigantic failure. They had Ogg playback, Gapless (which no one has managed to even duplicate!), an ID3 database-based storage system, really long battery life, better EQ and sound quality, and a smaller form factor. (This is all on the Karma, BTW)
Of course, they didn't TELL anyone about those features, so is it any wonder they failed?
Sorry, I have to take issue with this. This is another statement assuming that computers are just _different_. In order to learn ethical computer use, you have to use a computer? No, you just have to know how to behave ethically in general.
This is like arguing that children should train on chainsaws, so that they learn not to chop people up with them.
I think the reason PA is so successful is because they take it seriously, but never take it for granted. A lot of online comics either don't treat it like a real obligation ("No strip today either, I stubbed my toe and I wanted to watch The Matrix again.") or once they become famous, start becoming prima donnas *cough* Megatokyo *cough*
PA has always been run like a business, even when it wasn't one, and Gabe and Tycho seem to be in a constant state of shock over their success.
Of course, it also helps that they're always funny and follow gaming so closely. I actually think PA is one of the better sources for industry news out there.
Are you fucking kidding me? Yeah -- Dreamworks is going to start distributing all of their blockbusters over BitTorrent without any DRM starting, uhm, NEVER?
Oh yeah, there's also the fact that Genesis doesn't provide for creation of any other planets or life forms, so literalists would be in trouble. Not that they aren't already...
Just because Scripture is silent about life elsewhere in the universe doesn't mean it doesn't exist, only that it has nothing to do with His plan for Earth.
You're absolutely right, but that doesn't mean it won't be seen that way. Copernicus got in trouble because he moved the Earth from the center of the universe. Nothing in scripture states that the Earth is the center, but it was seen as implied that humanity was the purpose of existence. The Church got bent out of shape about that.
There's also something of a problem in the crucifixion - if there are many planets with life out there, each one of them would have had to been redeemed separately by Christ, which would in turn seem to diminish the act of redemption. I can't remember where this concept comes from (it could be science fiction) so take it with a grain of salt, please;-)
I'm not a Christian, so I don't really know what the current feeling is on these things, but it could potentially be seen as threatening to the faith by some.
I've been puzzled about this - Presumably, with 50 invites a day, the "invite only" thing is only meaningful as a way to reduce throwaway accounts. But it's not that hard to make throwaway accounts on another system, then invite that address to Gmail - I've done this once myself, and I'd think it would only add another step to the process for bots.
Of course, that assumes that you really need a GMail account, and that a regular Hotmail account isn't good enough.
I've never understood all the people buying a PSP to play emulated games on. For less, you can get a GBA SP and a flash ROM reader, and put all your games on to that. You'll have longer battery life, a more portable system, plus there are a lot more GBA games out there when you get sick of the emulated ones. I guess the PSP is "cooler", but if all you're doing is playing emulated games, why bother?
As far as AAA-titles go, this fall seems to be the time still. Mario Kart, Trauma Center, Black & White, Animal Crossing, and maybe even the new Super Mario Bros. are going to be released before Christmas, plus Nintendogs.
The price cut already happened, by the way:-) The DS price dropped 20 dollars on August 21st.
Actually, each one is for thee, because the point of the original work is that humanity is interconnected, and each death affects each person. No man is an island!
Incidentally, I love the way Slashdot discussions cleave so closely to the topic at hand.
I have this feeling that if this becomes standard "food" for anyone they will need a whole slew of drugs to combat various ill effects caused by this new toxin.
This isn't a "toxin". It's the real thing, just grown a different way. It's like hydroponically raised vegetables. They're not "artificial".
In actuality, this will be much better than factory-farm meat, since it won't have antibiotics and so forth, and it may be even better than organic free-range meat, because you won't have to worry about disease or anything strange ingested by the animal.
Competition isn't magically going to appear - first there has to be enough money in the business. As much as I want it to happen, I'm not convinced there's a big enough market of people wanting to go to space.
I think commercialization is unfortunately going to have to start with industrial and research applications. Space vacations aren't going to be a moneymaker until launches have been refined on other stuff. Like anything else, it'll trickle down from the military, universities, and huge companies to the common man.
I think this news is good for Zelda as a game. They're willing to delay its release in order to ensure quality.
However, I think it's potentially dire for Nintendo as a whole. Zelda was the last greatly-anticipated GameCube title, and this means there's a bit of a lull going into the Christmas season. Especially since Zelda sells hardware, this could mean a bad (well, worse) Christmas for GameCube.
Also, the new launch date is around the time that the Revolution launches, which will create some undesirable overlap - on one hand, they're selling a new system, on the other, they're selling a triple-A title for their last system. Which generation are they supporting? What's going on?
It's possible that Zelda will become a Revolution launch title, of course (or, since the launch windows for both are pretty broad at this point, there could be less interference than I'm imagining).
I feel this way about the general reaction to information in the digital age.
In a matter of years the human race managed to do something extraordinary, and previously unimagined: eliminate scarcity. Now *everyone* can have access to any information, for free or very low cost. This is something that could change everything. Scholars through the ages have dreamed of this.
But the only thing people can think of is how to lock it up and go back to the way things were before.
It's as if someone invented the replicator, from Star Trek. Now everyone can be fed and clothed! It's a miracle! No more poverty or starvation! Now how can we prevent that from happening?
Slashdot Mirror
The problem is that the market is set up in a way to make small companies fail (which is part of his point). Retailers and publishers, and possibly consumers, are demanding games that cost millions of dollars to make. So if you want to sell your game at retail, you have to have that amount of cash, which is very difficult for a small studio, even if they're willing to take the risk.
There's also the problem that there is almost no indie games market right now - no way to distribute the long-tail stuff where most of the innovation would take place.
It seems like there SHOULD be - games are software and are easily distributed over the internet, but for whatever reason no game industry Amazon or iTunes has emerged (probably because consoles are the hot thing right now, and they're very anti-indie for a number of reasons).
This is what Nintendo has said they're trying to do, actually.
Iwata and Miyamoto feel that the current controllers have gotten too complex, with too many buttons and counterintuitive interfaces. They want to make something that's simpler and that anyone can pick up and use easily.
Also, Nintendo's Wavebird controllers are the best wireless controllers I've ever seen. The batteries last for months or years, they're light and comfortable to hold, and they're very sturdy.
If Nintendo (or, hell, anyone) opened up their dev kits to startups and the common man (what is is now, something like $10K for a dev kit? Whip up something more basic and hand it out for $1K), as well as making it easier for companies to create and distribute their own games, you'd see a vast increase in Gamecube share.
You're absolutely right, but you're ignoring the economics of the game business. Even Nintendo makes most of their money from a percentage of game sales. Opening the platform up (at least, in the way you're talking about) would kill their revenue stream. For Microsoft, selling 100,000 Xboxes and 50,000 games is WORSE than selling 50,000 Xboxes and 50,000 games - They lose money each time they sell an Xbox.
There are good ways in which Nintendo could open their platform, though - the NES is pretty much an open platform these days anyway, and since the Revolution can play NES games, they could make a lot of friends by releasing a simple NES/SNES dev kit for hobbyists. NES games wouldn't significantly draw away from commercial games, but would provide an outlet for hobbyists.
Being able to play the "bad guys" is one of the most interesting aspects of games as a medium. The article only touched on the part that makes it so interesting, though: the empathy that arises from playing the other side.
Most games these days don't really emphasize it that much, of course, but I think it's really great that players will see a conflict from, say, the side of the terrorists. Currently games don't give you a background into the reasons why these particular people turned to terrorism, but it still balances the viewpoints in a way that no other medium does.
I also think that this makes for better stories - if a player can be "the bad guy", that character had better have as compelling a story as the hero, and good character motivations for being evil. This leads to better character development, and fewer cardboard characters.
This hasn't yet been fully exploited in games, unfortunately, but I'm looking forward to the day when games can carry these complex messages better than books, movies, or plays.
He's trolling - he's posted the same things in other threads, and gotten called on the bad math there, too. He keeps getting the Insightfuls, though.
Couldn't the same really be said for all games? Why aren't you outside playing? Don't you like real games? Wouldn't actual physical activity be better from a societal standpoint than button-mashing?
Yeah! You like Grand Theft Auto so much, why don't you get off your ass and go steal some *real* cars!
The problem was Rio just didn't offer any compelling "stand-out" features and the pricing was on-par with Apple's Ipod selection (which gave buyers very little reason to migrate to a Rio player).
The real problem is that they didn't advertise their compelling features. Marketing was Rio's gigantic failure. They had Ogg playback, Gapless (which no one has managed to even duplicate!), an ID3 database-based storage system, really long battery life, better EQ and sound quality, and a smaller form factor. (This is all on the Karma, BTW)
Of course, they didn't TELL anyone about those features, so is it any wonder they failed?
It can also teach them ethical computer usage.
Sorry, I have to take issue with this. This is another statement assuming that computers are just _different_. In order to learn ethical computer use, you have to use a computer? No, you just have to know how to behave ethically in general.
This is like arguing that children should train on chainsaws, so that they learn not to chop people up with them.
They should instead be called Asimov's "three very good suggestions to avoid building homicidal robots."
Hmm, that's no good, then... Do you know if he had any suggestions on how to build homicidal robots?
Just curious.
I think the reason PA is so successful is because they take it seriously, but never take it for granted. A lot of online comics either don't treat it like a real obligation ("No strip today either, I stubbed my toe and I wanted to watch The Matrix again.") or once they become famous, start becoming prima donnas *cough* Megatokyo *cough*
PA has always been run like a business, even when it wasn't one, and Gabe and Tycho seem to be in a constant state of shock over their success.
Of course, it also helps that they're always funny and follow gaming so closely. I actually think PA is one of the better sources for industry news out there.
Are you fucking kidding me? Yeah -- Dreamworks is going to start distributing all of their blockbusters over BitTorrent without any DRM starting, uhm, NEVER?
Actually, that started a few years ago.
Oh, you mean _officially_?
Oh yeah, there's also the fact that Genesis doesn't provide for creation of any other planets or life forms, so literalists would be in trouble. Not that they aren't already...
Just because Scripture is silent about life elsewhere in the universe doesn't mean it doesn't exist, only that it has nothing to do with His plan for Earth.
;-)
You're absolutely right, but that doesn't mean it won't be seen that way. Copernicus got in trouble because he moved the Earth from the center of the universe. Nothing in scripture states that the Earth is the center, but it was seen as implied that humanity was the purpose of existence. The Church got bent out of shape about that.
There's also something of a problem in the crucifixion - if there are many planets with life out there, each one of them would have had to been redeemed separately by Christ, which would in turn seem to diminish the act of redemption. I can't remember where this concept comes from (it could be science fiction) so take it with a grain of salt, please
I'm not a Christian, so I don't really know what the current feeling is on these things, but it could potentially be seen as threatening to the faith by some.
They don't ask you CS guys to change your terminology to better suit the terms that they think in.
Your download will take approximately 9.50662939 * 10^-11 million years.
I've been puzzled about this - Presumably, with 50 invites a day, the "invite only" thing is only meaningful as a way to reduce throwaway accounts. But it's not that hard to make throwaway accounts on another system, then invite that address to Gmail - I've done this once myself, and I'd think it would only add another step to the process for bots.
Of course, that assumes that you really need a GMail account, and that a regular Hotmail account isn't good enough.
Is there something else I'm missing?
I've never understood all the people buying a PSP to play emulated games on. For less, you can get a GBA SP and a flash ROM reader, and put all your games on to that. You'll have longer battery life, a more portable system, plus there are a lot more GBA games out there when you get sick of the emulated ones. I guess the PSP is "cooler", but if all you're doing is playing emulated games, why bother?
As far as AAA-titles go, this fall seems to be the time still. Mario Kart, Trauma Center, Black & White, Animal Crossing, and maybe even the new Super Mario Bros. are going to be released before Christmas, plus Nintendogs.
:-) The DS price dropped 20 dollars on August 21st.
The price cut already happened, by the way
I believe the currently accepted nomenclature is 'hizzy'.
But only one's for thee.
Actually, each one is for thee, because the point of the original work is that humanity is interconnected, and each death affects each person. No man is an island!
Incidentally, I love the way Slashdot discussions cleave so closely to the topic at hand.
I have this feeling that if this becomes standard "food" for anyone they will need a whole slew of drugs to combat various ill effects caused by this new toxin.
This isn't a "toxin". It's the real thing, just grown a different way. It's like hydroponically raised vegetables. They're not "artificial".
In actuality, this will be much better than factory-farm meat, since it won't have antibiotics and so forth, and it may be even better than organic free-range meat, because you won't have to worry about disease or anything strange ingested by the animal.
Hmm....
L'idiot - French for idiot.
D'idiot - French, for "of the idiot"
D'idio - Pronunciation of above.
DiDio - Simplification.
That explains a lot.
Competition isn't magically going to appear - first there has to be enough money in the business. As much as I want it to happen, I'm not convinced there's a big enough market of people wanting to go to space.
I think commercialization is unfortunately going to have to start with industrial and research applications. Space vacations aren't going to be a moneymaker until launches have been refined on other stuff. Like anything else, it'll trickle down from the military, universities, and huge companies to the common man.
I think this news is good for Zelda as a game. They're willing to delay its release in order to ensure quality.
However, I think it's potentially dire for Nintendo as a whole. Zelda was the last greatly-anticipated GameCube title, and this means there's a bit of a lull going into the Christmas season. Especially since Zelda sells hardware, this could mean a bad (well, worse) Christmas for GameCube.
Also, the new launch date is around the time that the Revolution launches, which will create some undesirable overlap - on one hand, they're selling a new system, on the other, they're selling a triple-A title for their last system. Which generation are they supporting? What's going on?
It's possible that Zelda will become a Revolution launch title, of course (or, since the launch windows for both are pretty broad at this point, there could be less interference than I'm imagining).
Seriously. Car analogies are just not the most effective tool for explaining situations.
It's like trying to win an F1 race with a Pinto.
I feel this way about the general reaction to information in the digital age.
In a matter of years the human race managed to do something extraordinary, and previously unimagined: eliminate scarcity. Now *everyone* can have access to any information, for free or very low cost. This is something that could change everything. Scholars through the ages have dreamed of this.
But the only thing people can think of is how to lock it up and go back to the way things were before.
It's as if someone invented the replicator, from Star Trek. Now everyone can be fed and clothed! It's a miracle! No more poverty or starvation! Now how can we prevent that from happening?