DooM - Every year for it's birthday (December 13th), I like to play through at least episode one of the original DooM. I've been pleased as punch to see that a lot of people have been playing on the XBox 360 and seem to agree that it's still fun after all these years.
Devil May Cry - Back in 2004 I spent months on that game, beating it with only the starting sword and guns and almost no devil trigger power. (You had to use DT to beat the last boss.) I actually have to stop myself for reaching for that game sometimes. It's like an old girlfriend where you know it won't go anywhere, but that booty call is just so damned _tempting_.
LucasArts games - At least once a year I'll fire up ScummVM and bust up laughing all over again at Sam and Max, Day of the Tentacle, Curse of Monkey Island, or any of the others. Classic.
Looking around at a lot of these posts, it seems even the basic facts aren't being referenced (just more alarmist articles from other sources). Let's get back to basics for a second.
from google finance
Sony (ADR) 2006 Revenue (USD): 67.53B Net Profit Margin: 1.47% 2006 Employees: 152,700
Microsoft (MSFT) 2005 Revenue (USD): 39.79B Net Profit Margin: 31.59% 2005 Employees: 61,000
What do these basic, high level overviews tell me?
Not much, really. I don't even know how revenue is calculated, and based on the posts I've seen, neither do you. It's okay. If you think the PS3 costs too much, that's fine. If you think Blu-Ray will fail, that's fine. But please, pretty please even, don't confuse your convictions with actual knowledge.
There are three kinds of ignorance: ignorance, abject ignorance, and quoting random statistics.
I enjoyed the pressure sensitive buttons on the PS2 controller. But I actually tried to use them on a regular basis. Did you know you could cruise along at whatever speed you wanted in Grand Theft Auto using them? (I know, it's a driving game, but I'm just saying that there were useful functions for the analog buttons in some games almost everyone has played.) And there were a few games (Mad Maestro being the most obvious) that actually needed them.
That said, you're point is undeniable that they were mostly a novelty, as the tilt sensor likely will be. The carpal tunnel lawsuits alone will probably make Sony wish they'd paid out the royalties for rumble, which will be sorely missed.
I'm sorry, but feeling your gun fire, engine rev, and the dying heartbeat of your opponent are not something I'm interested in giving up just because Sony's too cheap or too busy trying not to lose mindshare to put in the controllers that come with their $600 console.
My doubts about the controller's accuracy and responsiveness have been dispelled. Numerous fun things to do with it are already implemented. They could change the name to Nintendo Golden Shower at this point. I'm still going to buy it.
True, but saying Shadowrun is "based directly on William Gibson's vision of the future/the matrix" is enough of an overstatement to set off my purist alarm.
Maybe I overreacted, but I felt Gibson fans should know there are RPGs much closer to "William Gibson's vision", if they're really interested in that sort of thing.
The same argument could be made for Paranoia XP, a comedy RPG. I just think Zonk saying "based directly on William Gibson's vision of the future/the matrix" about Shadowrun is misleading.
None of the Gibson books I read had trolls in them. The few times I could get a group together to play it, I ran CyberPunk.
"All these flimsy sacks of water, hemming me in."
As a cheapass gamer, I wouldn't say that Nintendo systems are cheap at all. Sure, the hardware is less expensive, but most of the best titles take forever (or longer) to hit the bargain bins. If you own more than five games, the Nintendo probably cost you more.
Every other year or so on DOOM's birthday (December 13th) I play through the shareware episode. I always think I'll get bored, but by the time I pick up the chainsaw, I'm back in corridor rampage mode. Modern shooters have piled a lot on top of the simple formula that was DOOM, but by and large they've just made it more complicated, not more fun.
It's important to admit that very few of us do. Perhaps it's time to start adding IANAME (I Am Not A Marketing Expert) to a lot of these discussions about the dynamics of the gaming industry, or any industry, for that matter. We don't talk about sales numbers. We don't talk about studies on demographics and purchasing habits. Most of us don't really know what we're talking about.
... I have an opinion and a hole through which I expel solid waste. `Nuff said.
Slashdot Mirror
Northrend is Azeroth. Flying mounts only work in Outland. This sucks, right?
Looking around at a lot of these posts, it seems even the basic facts aren't being referenced (just more alarmist articles from other sources). Let's get back to basics for a second.
from google finance
Sony (ADR)
2006 Revenue (USD): 67.53B
Net Profit Margin: 1.47%
2006 Employees: 152,700
Microsoft (MSFT)
2005 Revenue (USD): 39.79B
Net Profit Margin: 31.59%
2005 Employees: 61,000
What do these basic, high level overviews tell me?
Not much, really. I don't even know how revenue is calculated, and based on the posts I've seen, neither do you. It's okay. If you think the PS3 costs too much, that's fine. If you think Blu-Ray will fail, that's fine. But please, pretty please even, don't confuse your convictions with actual knowledge.
There are three kinds of ignorance: ignorance, abject ignorance, and quoting random statistics.
That said, you're point is undeniable that they were mostly a novelty, as the tilt sensor likely will be. The carpal tunnel lawsuits alone will probably make Sony wish they'd paid out the royalties for rumble, which will be sorely missed.
I'm sorry, but feeling your gun fire, engine rev, and the dying heartbeat of your opponent are not something I'm interested in giving up just because Sony's too cheap or too busy trying not to lose mindshare to put in the controllers that come with their $600 console.
My doubts about the controller's accuracy and responsiveness have been dispelled. Numerous fun things to do with it are already implemented. They could change the name to Nintendo Golden Shower at this point. I'm still going to buy it.
Maybe I overreacted, but I felt Gibson fans should know there are RPGs much closer to "William Gibson's vision", if they're really interested in that sort of thing.
The same argument could be made for Paranoia XP, a comedy RPG. I just think Zonk saying "based directly on William Gibson's vision of the future/the matrix" about Shadowrun is misleading.
None of the Gibson books I read had trolls in them. The few times I could get a group together to play it, I ran CyberPunk. "All these flimsy sacks of water, hemming me in."
As a cheapass gamer, I wouldn't say that Nintendo systems are cheap at all. Sure, the hardware is less expensive, but most of the best titles take forever (or longer) to hit the bargain bins. If you own more than five games, the Nintendo probably cost you more.
Every other year or so on DOOM's birthday (December 13th) I play through the shareware episode. I always think I'll get bored, but by the time I pick up the chainsaw, I'm back in corridor rampage mode. Modern shooters have piled a lot on top of the simple formula that was DOOM, but by and large they've just made it more complicated, not more fun.
It's important to admit that very few of us do. Perhaps it's time to start adding IANAME (I Am Not A Marketing Expert) to a lot of these discussions about the dynamics of the gaming industry, or any industry, for that matter. We don't talk about sales numbers. We don't talk about studies on demographics and purchasing habits. Most of us don't really know what we're talking about.
- Is the hardware required to play their pretty game mainstream enough?
- Will the game experience be "good enough" to retain users?
I'll leave to the active MMORPGers to say if Sony has judged these factors correctly.