Basically all this is showing is that Microsoft does not view any strength on Nintendo's part as a thread. I would be VERY surprised to see any Rare game ever being released again for the PS2 or especially the PSP.
It would be in Microsoft's best interests to help Nindendo get stronger on the handheld front so that Sony does not get stronger. April was the first month EVER that xbox sales exceeded PS2 sales. If MS is catching them on the console front, they certainly don't want Sony to earn revenue on another.
I know that this sounds argumentative, but is this idea working for them? From a truely business standpoint, is this model working? People are signing up for waitlists for this game EVERYWHERE. Not that I disagree that they have kept the game the same from the time that GTA3 was released, but the bottom line is that it is working for them and working for Sony's exclusivity agreement with them.
Also, this method for them shouldn't surprise you. Weren't GTA (European Expansion) and GTA2 just extensions of the original GTA?
I am seriously worried that a large amount of this game will never be seen by gamers. Why?? I am sure that everyone here remembers all of the whining and crying that was done by the Haitian community over the "Kill all the Haitians" phrase in VC. What did Rockstar do? They caved and blurred out that phrase in future versions. Go ahead and flame me about being a killjoy on what looks like an incredible game, but does anyone else here think that the NAACP won't scream wildly and make a public scene about what they think is racial stereotyping in LA? You are a black man, in a gang, committing murders and robbing houses with your homies. This non-racial issue will be turned into a racial scene by the likes of Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson.
God, do I hope I am wrong and we all see this game how it was intended, but I will not be surprised if it is changed just prior to release.
Bringing back the memories with Mail Order Monsters and Wasteland. I will always remember attacking the Horde with BeastFu and getting Wasteland Herpes in one of the cities in Bryan Fargo's classic. If you do a search on the web, you will come across a Mail Order Monsters game rewritten by a fan to run on a PC.
Half of the games for the C64 had horrible graphics, but I remember how much fun they really were.
More than anything this game serves to prove a point with the illegible vars and "cheating" by using directx. Games don't HAVE to be huge to be good. The games I have played recently come on 2 cds and often take up over 1.3GB for the installation.
Will all games be this size? Do the games need to fit on a floppy? No, but a happy medium would be nice. It just seems odd that Microsoft bloated their OS with all this stuff that no one seems to fully utilize and developers, because they don't use the OS to its potential, bloat their software further.
Maybe I am easily amused, but either way what these guys did was impressive
I know the whole "Kill the Haitians" thing out there and the subsequent editing of the game, how in the hell are they going to handle a Los Angeles type game? The race implications for an underworld type game like GTA will undoubtibly offend many. It will be interesting to see how they handle it.
Honestly, over the time that Nintendo has been in existance and in gaming they have established quite a track record. I am willing to give them a chance because nothing they have done in their console/handheld history has been really bad (Virtual Boy was revolutionary, but was just released before the technology was ready). The marketing folks at Nintendo are smart, I am sure that the new DS will NOT compete with the GBA, but will occupy any market share that Sony was aiming at. In that case, even if the handheld sells slowly, it will take a lot of people out of the market for the PSP before it gains steam.
Nintendo knows that the worst thing that can happen in the next year is for Sony to gain a foothold in the mobile market with the PSP, NOA's monopoly of the handheld market is what kept them around when the Gamecube wasn't selling well.
This is just another advertising ploy on nvidia's part along the same thread that Gatorade is the official sports drink of the NFL. NVIDIA hasn't had great press lately (console wise) and needed some fresh good press.
I don't get it.. xBox was far from a perfect system, but the things they are changing are not the ones that need to be changed. While the original controller that shipped with the xbox couldn't have been much worse, the s controller was very comfortable and functional. The original b/w buttons were a long way away from where they were usable, the S controller made them great auxillary buttons for things like audibles in sports games or potions in ActionRPGs. The size fits nicely into many people's hands, in fact, I now prefer my S controllers to my Dual Shock controllers (long play cramps my hands on the Sony joysticks). The S controller should be refined, not destroyed and rebuilt. Then again, with the xbox Next seemingly changing everything else that worked or made sense (hard drive for downloadable content, caching and game saving, No backwards compatibility, etc.) it wouldn't surprise me. It would just be nice to have the triggers be analong...
Even though I said that the Dual Shock controllers give my hands cramps after hours of playing, I still think they are some of the best controllers I have ever used. They are simple. Minor enhancements to these controllers would help, but don't make it into an N64 controller. The changes kind of scare me, but I AM looking forward to the wireless.
I thought the same thing about the Nintendo controllers that everyone cracks on them about.. Then I played my brothers Gamecube for a few hours. While the layout of the buttons is really funky initially, after a few hours of play, it is obvious a LOT of thought went into its design. The buttons just FEEL like they are in the right places when you need to press them. I am sure that a Gamecube owner can probably explain it better than I can.
Go ahead, flame me.. I know I just jumped into a console holy war.
Don't lose sight of the fact that the company that is developing this game, inXile, was founded and is headed up by Bryan Fargo (or is it Faran Brygo) the same person who made the original Bard's Tale games. He is also responsible for Wasteland and the beginning of the Fallout universe. Yes, I know this is the same type of isometric ActionRPG game that has become tired lately, but because of his gaming track record and his uncompromising desire, (he quit his earlier company, Interplay, because he didn't like the direction it was going) I am willing to give him a chance.
However, if you are looking for a classic Bard's Tale game, check out "Devil Whiskey" (www.devilwhiskey.com)
For the different cracking groups (teams?) it is an ego based competition to see who can get the software cracked and available to the public the quickest. I wouldn't be surprised if any of the other big name groups do the same stunt, or have a connection with someone whose company really does the reviews. Hell, I would be willing to bet that some of the groups have connections inside of the development houses as well. Kind of makes you think about the Half-Life 2 "theft"
differently...
A couple of years ago (prior to PayPal becoming an ebay property) I got scammed on a PDA on ebay with payment through PayPal. Their FIRST email was to inform me that they were starting the investigation and that I had to confirm that I would NOT contest the charge through my Credit Card company. I agreed and after working with the FBI(others in other states were scammed by the same person for the same item) I got my money back. While it probably got more attention because it became a federal offence, I did get my money back by their recommended channels. However, with the current state of PayPal and the merchants that accept it, they now force you to do a account transfer instead of a credit card debit. I wonder what the alternative recourse now would be on a challenged charge...
Yes, I know there are other sources out there that WILL develop cheats for online games. The idea here is to just make it more difficult to cheat, because you will never completely remove cheating from online games.
I wonder if it is possible for Sony to do a check for a gameshark or other cheat hardware when you attempt to connect to their servers to play Socom..
In the Grand Theft Auto III and VC games, many "fictional" web sites are advertised on the radio stations (pogo the monkey, etc.) All of these URLs were purchased, by TakeTwo, prior to the games being released and were realistically filled with content that corresponded to the in game advertisements. It kind of added another aspect of realism to the game, while at the same time kept anyone else from registering the web sites and using them for their own agenda.
The Ubisoft was simply careless in their production of the game and the gamer had every right to take advantage of that mistake. This is not cybersqatting because it does not infringe upon the copyright of Ubisoft nor does it violate any fair-use guidelines.
1. They are just getting started with this in China. We have had online play in the states for years. (how long has Everquest been out??)
2. This is under an opressive government. Nothing private grows very fast in China.
3. The average Chinese citizen is not rich. Many in China cannot afford to play any sort of game, let alone own a computer.
Basically, this is quite a feat in any country, especially in one that has all of the cards stacked against it from the beginning. Give it time, it will grow.
I have been following Interplay and BlackIsle for a long time.. They are not doing well financially right now, and haven't been doing well some time. This is illustrated by BlackIsle being cut back almost to the point of completely disbanding. The company is just trying to stay alive and current trends show that console games sell much better than PC games, like it or not it is the truth. With console games, they are guaranteed to sell thousands to Movie/Video Game rental comanies. This is not including anyone who buys it on their own. What it comes down to is, with times being tight they need to find the most profitable path. This might be it.
I remember a game, similar to Fallout years ago that too had its sequal cancelled: Wasteland. It had the same kind of cult following (although the following was pre-Internet, so they were less organized and vocal). I really missed that game, but another game came out that made my heart skip, Fallout. Folks, another game will come out with the same Post-Apoc RPG Strategy theme and we will all be happy. Or, the sale of Fallout:Brotherhood of Steel will warrant the revival of "Van Buren" (Fallout3). I will miss it, but it is just a game.
That was my point.. You only hear about the major players because they have all the money. Independent movie houses, when they do well, are purchased. Take New Line for example. They used to be a B rate movie company.. Very small. When they released their 1st successful movie, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, they became a bigger company with a successful movie under their belt. Who owns them now? Time Warner, a big conglomerate. Unfortunately consolidation is a sign that a media is becoming mature.
Does anyone else see what is going on with all of the downsizing? Video Games are going the way of the movie and music recoding industries. Notice how there are about 6 major movie production companies (with subcompanies as well) that pump out all of the feature flicks (and their guaranteed four sequals) while only a small amount of movies are released by the small independant production houses?
The same thing is happening to the video game world. Big companies (EA, MS, SquareEnix, etc.) are merging and buying up smaller companies. It is ending up just like the movies, a small number of publishers will pump out title after title of unoriginal themes that their market research has shown appeals to the 18-25 age group. Small, but original, titles will still come out but will not have much exposure to the populace. However, when they do succeed they will be bought out by one of the conglomerates.
That one belongs higher than the #10 or #11 where he placed it, simply because it's effect impacts the entire industry for many years to come. We all hate the power of the RIAA and MPAA, maybe we should start getting used to SPAA (maybe Software Production Association of America)
This is a situation that the makers of Deus Ex2 probably submitted footage MORE harsh than the average. Any FPS games NEED to have a M rating or greater to succeed. Non-violent shooters, regardless of how good the games are, will not sell based on the current standard of good FPS (Half Life, Resident Evil, etc.) being violent.
As a rule, I have usually agreed with the ESRB ratings of games. Manhunt however, seemed a little over the top and is the first game I have EVER played that honestly deserved an AO (Adults Only) rating. Don't get me wrong, some of the parts of this game were suspenseful and nail-biting, but the whole point behind this game is to sneak up on skin-heads and gang members and kill them as graphically as possible via a cut scene movie.
Like I stated earlier, I usually agree with the ratings (GTAIII and VC deserve the M they got) and I believe that Manhunt is the exception, not the rule.
Basically what it comes down to is that parents, in addition to looking at the ratings, need to ACTUALLY SPEND SOME TIME WITH THEIR KIDS to see what they are playing, especially when it is a Mature rated game.
Add another vote for Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance. We had a lot of fun playing that one and advancing. My wife still walks around saying "ZUUULUU" and "Hashenshock" like the sorceress does in the game. Another decent one is Dungeons and Dragons Heroes. The story line kinda sucked, but it was a good hack and slash Action RPG as well. Dance Dance Revolution (no, you won't like it as much as she does, but it is good workout)
On the way are Dark Alliance II and Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel. Both are Dark Alliance types of games, but set in vastly different worlds.
Slashdot Mirror
Basically all this is showing is that Microsoft does not view any strength on Nintendo's part as a thread. I would be VERY surprised to see any Rare game ever being released again for the PS2 or especially the PSP.
It would be in Microsoft's best interests to help Nindendo get stronger on the handheld front so that Sony does not get stronger. April was the first month EVER that xbox sales exceeded PS2 sales. If MS is catching them on the console front, they certainly don't want Sony to earn revenue on another.
I know that this sounds argumentative, but is this idea working for them? From a truely business standpoint, is this model working? People are signing up for waitlists for this game EVERYWHERE. Not that I disagree that they have kept the game the same from the time that GTA3 was released, but the bottom line is that it is working for them and working for Sony's exclusivity agreement with them.
Also, this method for them shouldn't surprise you. Weren't GTA (European Expansion) and GTA2 just extensions of the original GTA?
I am seriously worried that a large amount of this game will never be seen by gamers. Why?? I am sure that everyone here remembers all of the whining and crying that was done by the Haitian community over the "Kill all the Haitians" phrase in VC. What did Rockstar do? They caved and blurred out that phrase in future versions. Go ahead and flame me about being a killjoy on what looks like an incredible game, but does anyone else here think that the NAACP won't scream wildly and make a public scene about what they think is racial stereotyping in LA? You are a black man, in a gang, committing murders and robbing houses with your homies. This non-racial issue will be turned into a racial scene by the likes of Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson.
God, do I hope I am wrong and we all see this game how it was intended, but I will not be surprised if it is changed just prior to release.
Bringing back the memories with Mail Order Monsters and Wasteland. I will always remember attacking the Horde with BeastFu and getting Wasteland Herpes in one of the cities in Bryan Fargo's classic. If you do a search on the web, you will come across a Mail Order Monsters game rewritten by a fan to run on a PC.
Half of the games for the C64 had horrible graphics, but I remember how much fun they really were.
Did the cancellation of the project keep the developer "that had six months to live" alive?
More than anything this game serves to prove a point with the illegible vars and "cheating" by using directx. Games don't HAVE to be huge to be good. The games I have played recently come on 2 cds and often take up over 1.3GB for the installation.
Will all games be this size? Do the games need to fit on a floppy? No, but a happy medium would be nice. It just seems odd that Microsoft bloated their OS with all this stuff that no one seems to fully utilize and developers, because they don't use the OS to its potential, bloat their software further.
Maybe I am easily amused, but either way what these guys did was impressive
I know the whole "Kill the Haitians" thing out there and the subsequent editing of the game, how in the hell are they going to handle a Los Angeles type game? The race implications for an underworld type game like GTA will undoubtibly offend many. It will be interesting to see how they handle it.
Honestly, over the time that Nintendo has been in existance and in gaming they have established quite a track record. I am willing to give them a chance because nothing they have done in their console/handheld history has been really bad (Virtual Boy was revolutionary, but was just released before the technology was ready). The marketing folks at Nintendo are smart, I am sure that the new DS will NOT compete with the GBA, but will occupy any market share that Sony was aiming at. In that case, even if the handheld sells slowly, it will take a lot of people out of the market for the PSP before it gains steam.
Nintendo knows that the worst thing that can happen in the next year is for Sony to gain a foothold in the mobile market with the PSP, NOA's monopoly of the handheld market is what kept them around when the Gamecube wasn't selling well.
This is just another advertising ploy on nvidia's part along the same thread that Gatorade is the official sports drink of the NFL. NVIDIA hasn't had great press lately (console wise) and needed some fresh good press.
I don't get it.. xBox was far from a perfect system, but the things they are changing are not the ones that need to be changed. While the original controller that shipped with the xbox couldn't have been much worse, the s controller was very comfortable and functional. The original b/w buttons were a long way away from where they were usable, the S controller made them great auxillary buttons for things like audibles in sports games or potions in ActionRPGs. The size fits nicely into many people's hands, in fact, I now prefer my S controllers to my Dual Shock controllers (long play cramps my hands on the Sony joysticks). The S controller should be refined, not destroyed and rebuilt. Then again, with the xbox Next seemingly changing everything else that worked or made sense (hard drive for downloadable content, caching and game saving, No backwards compatibility, etc.) it wouldn't surprise me. It would just be nice to have the triggers be analong...
Even though I said that the Dual Shock controllers give my hands cramps after hours of playing, I still think they are some of the best controllers I have ever used. They are simple. Minor enhancements to these controllers would help, but don't make it into an N64 controller. The changes kind of scare me, but I AM looking forward to the wireless.
I thought the same thing about the Nintendo controllers that everyone cracks on them about.. Then I played my brothers Gamecube for a few hours. While the layout of the buttons is really funky initially, after a few hours of play, it is obvious a LOT of thought went into its design. The buttons just FEEL like they are in the right places when you need to press them. I am sure that a Gamecube owner can probably explain it better than I can.
Go ahead, flame me.. I know I just jumped into a console holy war.
Don't lose sight of the fact that the company that is developing this game, inXile, was founded and is headed up by Bryan Fargo (or is it Faran Brygo) the same person who made the original Bard's Tale games. He is also responsible for Wasteland and the beginning of the Fallout universe. Yes, I know this is the same type of isometric ActionRPG game that has become tired lately, but because of his gaming track record and his uncompromising desire, (he quit his earlier company, Interplay, because he didn't like the direction it was going) I am willing to give him a chance.
However, if you are looking for a classic Bard's Tale game, check out "Devil Whiskey" (www.devilwhiskey.com)
For the different cracking groups (teams?) it is an ego based competition to see who can get the software cracked and available to the public the quickest. I wouldn't be surprised if any of the other big name groups do the same stunt, or have a connection with someone whose company really does the reviews. Hell, I would be willing to bet that some of the groups have connections inside of the development houses as well. Kind of makes you think about the Half-Life 2 "theft" differently...
After all of these years, isn't Halo for the Mac public domain now? :-)
A couple of years ago (prior to PayPal becoming an ebay property) I got scammed on a PDA on ebay with payment through PayPal. Their FIRST email was to inform me that they were starting the investigation and that I had to confirm that I would NOT contest the charge through my Credit Card company. I agreed and after working with the FBI(others in other states were scammed by the same person for the same item) I got my money back. While it probably got more attention because it became a federal offence, I did get my money back by their recommended channels. However, with the current state of PayPal and the merchants that accept it, they now force you to do a account transfer instead of a credit card debit. I wonder what the alternative recourse now would be on a challenged charge...
Yes, I know there are other sources out there that WILL develop cheats for online games. The idea here is to just make it more difficult to cheat, because you will never completely remove cheating from online games.
I wonder if it is possible for Sony to do a check for a gameshark or other cheat hardware when you attempt to connect to their servers to play Socom..
In the Grand Theft Auto III and VC games, many "fictional" web sites are advertised on the radio stations (pogo the monkey, etc.) All of these URLs were purchased, by TakeTwo, prior to the games being released and were realistically filled with content that corresponded to the in game advertisements. It kind of added another aspect of realism to the game, while at the same time kept anyone else from registering the web sites and using them for their own agenda.
The Ubisoft was simply careless in their production of the game and the gamer had every right to take advantage of that mistake. This is not cybersqatting because it does not infringe upon the copyright of Ubisoft nor does it violate any fair-use guidelines.
Actually,they should call it "Fahrenheit 193, the temperature that DVDs melt"
What you have to understand is
1. They are just getting started with this in China. We have had online play in the states for years. (how long has Everquest been out??)
2. This is under an opressive government. Nothing private grows very fast in China.
3. The average Chinese citizen is not rich. Many in China cannot afford to play any sort of game, let alone own a computer.
Basically, this is quite a feat in any country, especially in one that has all of the cards stacked against it from the beginning. Give it time, it will grow.
This guy needs a "one on one" meeting with Tommy Vercetti.
I have been following Interplay and BlackIsle for a long time.. They are not doing well financially right now, and haven't been doing well some time. This is illustrated by BlackIsle being cut back almost to the point of completely disbanding. The company is just trying to stay alive and current trends show that console games sell much better than PC games, like it or not it is the truth. With console games, they are guaranteed to sell thousands to Movie/Video Game rental comanies. This is not including anyone who buys it on their own. What it comes down to is, with times being tight they need to find the most profitable path. This might be it.
I remember a game, similar to Fallout years ago that too had its sequal cancelled: Wasteland. It had the same kind of cult following (although the following was pre-Internet, so they were less organized and vocal). I really missed that game, but another game came out that made my heart skip, Fallout. Folks, another game will come out with the same Post-Apoc RPG Strategy theme and we will all be happy. Or, the sale of Fallout:Brotherhood of Steel will warrant the revival of "Van Buren" (Fallout3). I will miss it, but it is just a game.
That was my point.. You only hear about the major players because they have all the money. Independent movie houses, when they do well, are purchased. Take New Line for example. They used to be a B rate movie company.. Very small. When they released their 1st successful movie, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, they became a bigger company with a successful movie under their belt. Who owns them now? Time Warner, a big conglomerate. Unfortunately consolidation is a sign that a media is becoming mature.
Does anyone else see what is going on with all of the downsizing? Video Games are going the way of the movie and music recoding industries. Notice how there are about 6 major movie production companies (with subcompanies as well) that pump out all of the feature flicks (and their guaranteed four sequals) while only a small amount of movies are released by the small independant production houses?
The same thing is happening to the video game world. Big companies (EA, MS, SquareEnix, etc.) are merging and buying up smaller companies. It is ending up just like the movies, a small number of publishers will pump out title after title of unoriginal themes that their market research has shown appeals to the 18-25 age group. Small, but original, titles will still come out but will not have much exposure to the populace. However, when they do succeed they will be bought out by one of the conglomerates.
That one belongs higher than the #10 or #11 where he placed it, simply because it's effect impacts the entire industry for many years to come. We all hate the power of the RIAA and MPAA, maybe we should start getting used to SPAA (maybe Software Production Association of America)
This is a situation that the makers of Deus Ex2 probably submitted footage MORE harsh than the average. Any FPS games NEED to have a M rating or greater to succeed. Non-violent shooters, regardless of how good the games are, will not sell based on the current standard of good FPS (Half Life, Resident Evil, etc.) being violent.
As a rule, I have usually agreed with the ESRB ratings of games. Manhunt however, seemed a little over the top and is the first game I have EVER played that honestly deserved an AO (Adults Only) rating. Don't get me wrong, some of the parts of this game were suspenseful and nail-biting, but the whole point behind this game is to sneak up on skin-heads and gang members and kill them as graphically as possible via a cut scene movie.
Like I stated earlier, I usually agree with the ratings (GTAIII and VC deserve the M they got) and I believe that Manhunt is the exception, not the rule.
Basically what it comes down to is that parents, in addition to looking at the ratings, need to ACTUALLY SPEND SOME TIME WITH THEIR KIDS to see what they are playing, especially when it is a Mature rated game.
Add another vote for Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance. We had a lot of fun playing that one and advancing. My wife still walks around saying "ZUUULUU" and "Hashenshock" like the sorceress does in the game. Another decent one is Dungeons and Dragons Heroes. The story line kinda sucked, but it was a good hack and slash Action RPG as well. Dance Dance Revolution (no, you won't like it as much as she does, but it is good workout)
On the way are Dark Alliance II and Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel. Both are Dark Alliance types of games, but set in vastly different worlds.