Sure, no problem Mr. Callahan just keep up with your plan and do the movie with your little script, and I will keep up with my plan and I wont go to the teather to watch it. I also will warn all my friends and coworkers about your movie being a complete transvesty with no relation but the name to the game and no other intention but to take their money for being gamers. Im pretty sure they will be delighted not to go.
By the way Mr Callahan, obviously you dont care about fan complaints about your RE 28 days cheap clone. So if no fans are going to be interested in your movie, whos going to pay to see it then? for some reason I cant picture my grandpa and my in laws, standing in line for a movie called "doom" I hope your relatives and friends are up to the task.
Come on people the PSP is a portable CD based handheld with an intensive GPU and a WI-FI its not like a palm, ds, gba,ngage etc e of course the battery lasts a lot less than in any other device! it has rotating spinning disk! if thats an impediment for you DONT BUY IT. We are completely aware of the battery problem, ok?
If you think the system is going to "tank" stop worrying, its already sold out in Japan(although it was a limited release) and apparently it will sold out in America as well, theres a good library of games coming and they will be less greedy with the spinning disk usage (which will help the battery).
Every single review and user review says the same, the battery is a bit of a problem since it needs a daily recharge and the loading times are weird in a handheld (not unbareable, just unusual) still not of those is a show stopper the system is definetily great and extremely fun to use, not only is the equivalent of a portable ps2 It can also be used as a digital camera a mp3 player (with bad reviews on that mind you) and an storage device with usb support so is definetily not a bad buy for the average tech freakie
p.s. Look some people would not be caught dead using a non nintendo handheld, while others wont even touch a DS even if it was 10 times less expensive. So lets just break even and let our throats alone ok?. you play with yours I play with mine, ok? good.
Ok I could repply to each of your answers. But considering you got +5 interesting just for bashing my post , I wont even bother. (its not your fault, everybody knows slashdot is a bit biased) but some points just for documentation and completion sake.
When I said you could put it in the cigarrete lighter, of course I meant to recharge it, not that you should play it always sticked to a wall, thank you for taking my answer out of context.
I know that the ds is supposed to be $180.00 I specifically mentioned "where I live" I dont live in the usa so I pay export taxes, you could check that on my profile you know? Instead you tried to make the entire post look fake for extra $20 in the price. nice.
You dont like tekken and you like metroid (me too) uh? well those are personal opinions, and they really cant do nothing against the fact that the nintendo 64 did worst than the PSX even with its "0" loading times, which was my point. And just FYI final fantasy VII DOES NOT have "loading times" each random battle, (unless your disc was really scratched) the "loading" screen was only shown when you moved from one map to another. (not even the in game FMV's had loading times that I remember) Im glad you picked up the number one most known PSX game to counter my point. But next time you should talk about a game you actually have played instead.
They have already tested the battery life at lik sang, is 2 hours IF you use the maximum "brightness" setting and dont let the battery charge to maximum. With the brightness diminished, they managed to get 6 hours of gameplay. And they didnt even charged the battery at full. so IS not that bad IF you know how to use it. (besides the battery is chargeable so you just need to plug it to the car cigarrete lighter or any regular plug each 4 hours or so you would be ok).
Is definetily way too early to call a winner in this, I mean seriously, the psp hasnt even launched yet. And xmas will be the proving ground for the DS.
Second. Load times, shmock times, minimal load times did no favours for the n64 against the psx (and the PSX launching titles load times were terrible) The system which has more and better games wins, period. I dont mind load times if I can play Final Fantasy, GTA, tekken, devil may cry or Metroid in a console.(unless they are annoying and in the middle of the game like in hl2)
Third. The battery is a problem YES but so it was anti aliasing for the ps2 and it still beat every other console it was against (which had better tech) Also they were eventually able to fix the problem trough programming. If you thought that would be the "finishing blow" think again, according to what Ive read you can make the battery last up to 4 times by simply lowering your brightness and using an extra light source (which is what I've done for years with my gba) Anyway, are you aware the PSP runs on rechargeable batteries and AC ? all you need to do is to hook it to the car lighter, problem solved.
Fourth(?) Simply stated the PSP is a console targetted at teens and young adults and weither you want to admit it or not, the DS is targeted at kids and teens. (how many "M" or even "T" titles does each console have now?) there is no "console war" the portable young adult market (non-geek like us!;)) is niche if they manage to sell ONLY to them sony still makes a profit and comes victorious.
No matter how intimidating it looks to have N and Sony swimming in the same pool, one is at the diving platform and the other is in the kiddie area as long as they keep their distance there wont be trouble.
.
Oh and dont count on the American delay to rain in sony's parade either. My local shop is importing PSPs and they are getting sold out for xmas already.
p.s. Where I live the DS is making parents look at the GBA sp. Is a lot cheaper and is a nice Portable which is what little timmy wrote in his xmas list anyway. (the DS is at $200 and the GBA is $90)
Are you guys sure this is not an april fools or something? I mean seriously , I dont know whats worst the fact that everything in this "film" has dollar signs written in them, that they are bastardizing to the point of ridiculous an incredible piece of literature or that Bruckheimmer actually thinks he can name the main character "Arthur" without anyone remember his late (2 actually) flops, and make american Mcgee (no less) to write 3 movies (3!) with a goddamned happy ending to tight it to the MGC classic(?!) WTF!
Just read the article, there are more hollywood jokes there than a faux somethingawful site!
If you can I will definetily advice you NOT to invest any real cash on this movie. I smell a disaster of incredible proportions coming up.
Becuause you dont need to. You can play online using KAI or XBConnect for free;) however if the game is not "online" aka "xbox live enabled" the lag is too much for the net to handle it.
I doubt theres only 2 million live users in the entire world though and I also doubt those are halo 2 actual sells.
Ok I was going to rebuttal on every point (although you are right in some), but I think this one really needs it.
I doubt it. Going on-line isn't exactly causing Sony or MS to build a 3 cubic acre money bin to swim in.
Er.. have you checked how many sales SOCOM, HALO 2 and how many people is buying live to play Halo 2 right about now?
You can argue all you want, but I seriously doubt halo 2 and socom would had ranked that many sales if they werent online.
Yeah I mean who has heard of the "internet" besides us? online is not "mainstream" yet. Come on! I have a brother who uses AOL and plays on Live! he got an email last week with a nuke virus that said "openme.exe" so he did! I nearly had to exorcise the damned hard drive to fix it.
Believe me anyone can use live. Specially now they have the "automatch" thingie, (some people dont even know what a server is!) They dont even need to know how to type anymore (or speak for that matter)
Im just waiting on my 4 year old to for ask my cc to get his own account. ("Is not like that Pa' is just that.. well my ranking could be a bit better if I'd played alone") ah.. that will be the day.
"Hmmm...?" are more likely my thoughts. Sorry to dissapoint you, but I was one of the quite many N-followers that patiently waited for a N64 instead of buying a psx and then realized they had commited a huge mistake in doing so
Nintendo 64 basically had basically the same graphics, the games were very small,simple and childish (with RARE and N exceptions!), quite expensive (zelda 64==$99!) and worst of all extremely scarce! worthwhile games came each 6 months to a full year!
Meanwhile the neighbours (teens lime me btw) were playing FF VII,KOF,SF,TEKKEN3 and Resident evil 2 and watching demos of the coming MGS in their PSX. It took me just one (1) visit to the home next door to realize that the n64 had to go. YES the psx had load times but by my 20th consecutive hours playing FFVII (and no, not replaying the same levels 10 times which was the n64 case), I simply couldnt care less.
Nintendo did many great things in their time (specially in the snes) and did great games for the n64 (not many but they did), however not placing a CD tray in the n64 because of "load times" thus giving birth to the psx, has to be one of the greatest mistakes in game history.
IMO announcing they are going online now is the equivalent of a big: "OOOOOPS!"
Why thank you! btw why didnt you thought that BEFORE everybody with a cube had to buy 4 fucking gameboys just to play zelda 4 swords? and crystal chronicles?!
I probably shouldn't be asking here, but seriously the machine required to run HL2 is 4 times bigger than my work machine( and twice the common machine) Buying a $300-$600 card? and a complete upgrade? Thats just not going to happen, at least not now. SO... wheres my xbox version?
You may be saying "you dont need a new pc for hl2, it runs on this minimum reqs!" yeah, they said that about doom3 and the demo ran at 5-10 fps in my specs (1.5ghz, radeon 9200, 256 ram) . No thanks. I will be playing doom 3 next year, january.(and hopefully hl2)
Im glad half life 2 finally showed up, but if there's no xbox version.. count me out. (Im not even going to mention halo 2 so I dont have to deal with hundreds of flames) there are some xbox and less demanding PC games to entertain myself meanwhile (prince of persia 2 comes to mind).
Has anyone noticed the hl2 banner running in the background? why Im not surprised HL2 came on top? anyway, besides the points already mentioned the article basically boils down to: "doom 3 has this BUT hl2 has THIS instead!"
Besides isnt a bit futile to see another article mentioning Doom 3 is dark? news flash: it was made like that on purpose AND not all areas are dark or repetitive. (specially the last ones) I remember the first time I played I was so psyched a half hour later I shot a pipe which barely resembled a human figure, dark areas were MEANT to be dark DOOM3 is an HORROR game. I used the "duct tape" mod for a while and then I realized it really detracted a bit from the fear and turned into a regular action shooter, PLAY IT like it is, you wont regret it, trust me.
If you want an ACTION game go get HL2 instead they are different generes, arent we mature enough to recognize that not all fps are the same just because they have the same perspective?
Well.. you have to remember a few details before judging, first of all halo 2 is all about battles, so you would expect they expent more time on that than say "conversations" or other nuisances and on that level both as partners and as enemies the AI acts pretty convincingly. Second, halo2 is definetily a lot larger and complex than half life.(not HL2 though) so is a lot harder to coordinate the AI and place tag points effectively. And 3rd the AI in a console game expending so much cycles in a console in network and graphics code, can only be good enough to be believable, but cant expent so much cycles to be "ground breaking" so their target was believable and enjoyable and I think they got that right.
I havent even noticed before reading the article but the enemies DO talk to each other (in english) before teaming up on your poor butt. Thats an interesting detail to watch (although it ussually ends with you dead in the ground).
Oh I almost forgot, you have to play in the "heroic" dificulty level to see what the AI can really do. The easy and normal levels are quite dumbed down in comparison.
Hmm.. regular xbox users just wanted a faster xbox with their HDD and LAN in it, modders wanted a "cheap PC/console" combo and japanese wanted a small/ take anywhere no hdd console with no pc traces (very few japanese game developers code in PC) Why not make 3 versions and please everyone? doesn't sound like a bad idea at all.
Seriously, a PC that can do office work, 3d models and play HL2, doom3 and Halo 2(3) on the same case? count me in! I wont even look at the price tag twice! (but of course Im a computer geek, my brother would definetily go for option 3)
Anyway I would take this with quite a substantial ammount of salt, after all is written in "the enquirer" no less. And from an NDA document? isn't the "Xenon" going to be released next year? Shouldnt MS make an statement around this time themselves?. I would hold my breathe until I see a official announcement.
Obviously you didnt read the article, but Ok theres another detail missing here: many game companies like bungie,ID, midway, square also have to pull this kind of hours when they are in crunch time (IF the project is not on schedule mostly) but then when the game is over, they GET compensations, call it obligatory vacations, extra payment, (most of bungie team is probably at hawaii now) sometimes even royalties. Then after a few months (and some research) they get back to the saddle and start again.
THE BIG PROBLEM in EA is there is NO COMPENSATIONS (monetary or other wise) not even free time is given after "crunch time" only ANOTHER project in normal time the very next day! ITS INSANE! EA (and other retard) managers checked the "crunch" time policies used by big companies (to be used in EMERGENCIES ONLY) and put them in the ordinary, every project schedule plan! and they not only did that they actually stretched "crunch time" to several months! (crunch time is ussually a few WEEKS before RELEASE)
No wonder why all my EA games turn so buggy and rushed looking!
In my opinion these guys should be in the other side of a large lawsuit (or a software engineer union at least) isnt this illegal? I mean, its completely inhuman.
And to be honest It SHOWS in the product (stock holders you may want to look at that)
If you are working in such conditions, I really mean it, QUIT, become indie, work for an indie, or go to strike ITs really NOT worth it.
If you are a game developer company heres a trick to avoid this: Set deadlines and milestones, ORGANIZE properly your time from the very begining and keep with your deadlines work 9 to 7 and keep weekends free. You should never ever need "crunch time" or extra free time (and you are still investing 2 extra hours everyday in your project!).
Well Ive played the game (lucky me) and seen the video review in gamespot and I think its dead on, (although quite a bit filled with spoilers they even mentioned the ending) Halo 2 is incredibly good but far from perfect, most fans will be sincerely dissapointed at some details (they say that at the review) however anyone who already loves FPS will have a REALLY good time with it, single player is pretty good, but CO-OP is incredible (just like in halo1) and the multiplayer is priceless. Its just like the first one, but with xbox live, lots of mutators, new vehicles and weapon features and "good guy, bad guy" models, All that I found lacking in the first one.
Anyway all reviews are failing to comment on a major feature missing: downloadable content, all fpss need that in order to stay alive for more than a few months. And halo 2 wont be different.
1.-The process they claim to have "patented" is not just used in 3d games is also commonly used in about every 3d engine (including apis like directx and opengl) and is also used in the hardware of "new" t&d capable 3d cards (nvidia, ati, matrox) . So basically any aplication that uses 3d (maya, 3dsmax, word, corel, etc) is in "infringement". (they could save a lot of time and just sue every single graphics software/hardware company in the world!)
2.-As stated in a previous thread by an slashdot member, this method existed LONG before computers where invented. It is used in carthesian math to create 3d-2d projections and therefore they DID NOT invented it! (if that can be proved the "patent" could be considered void)
Well you are not missing much, this is how the bootleg french version of Halo 2 looks like:
(*)Translated from very, very European french dialogue.
Master Chief: (known in french as Jacques)
Jacques:(voice off)
*My fate is to kill those who wish us dead, to take lives, what does life mean after all?
Jacques takes a shoot at a covenant in super slow motion while sad opera music is playing in the background. the shoot goes through a covenant, after a quick shoot of a lawn elf sitting there for no reason, we see the covenant really slowly dying.
Covenant:(voice off)
*Oh Ive been shot! the pain surging through my body is nothing compared to the ellusive questioning of my soul! what does life really mean? (the entire shot is filmed in sepia)
Another covenant wearing an extremely ridicullous sex addict outfit comes into scene and takes a pot shot, the entire scene is filmed with a fish lense for no immediate reason.
The shoot lands in the chest of Jacques commander, Jacques rushes to the commander to take his head between his legs and start crying. The entire shoot is filmed at blue sepia for no immediate reason.
Jacques:
*!Monsieur commander!You've been shot, you must be wandering what your life meant and suffering! and wondering.. and suffering!
Commander cousteou:
*life is suffering Jacques, yes, but beautiful suffering, I still wonder what life means! yet, Im about to depart.
Jacques:
*TELL ME ITS NOT SO! TELL ME ITS NOT SO!
(The opera background music gets even sadder and louder)
Commander cousteau:
*Before I depart I must ask: How many people are having an orgasm right now?
A completely innecesary scene of a lot of french people having sex 1 frame per couple flies by, the entire scene is in black and white and filmed from the botton of a fish tank for no immediate reason.
Jacques:
*... 42
Commander:
*Good answer... remember... I love you!... Arrevouir!
the commander passes away.. Rain starts to pour. the entire scene is filmed in black and white from a birds eye view.
Jacques removes his helmet, revealing a Clint Eastwood look a like painted as a sad clown for no immediate reason.
Jacques:
*NOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
the sky becomes thunderous as the camera backs away, revealing Jacques alone (for no immediate reason) holding the dead commander on his knees, crying and screaming.
The screen fades to black
A text in a over stylized almost unreadable font appears.
*JACQUES HAS DECIDED TO RETREAT
TO DISCOVER "WHAT LIFE REALLY MEANS?"
THE EARTH HAS BEEN TAKEN OVER BY LES COVENANTE'S
C'EST LA VIE!
I was going to moderate here, but to be honest I preffer to shed some opinions here.
Are you sure its a good idea to shell out $50 for half life 2 right now? I mean, seriously, valve doesnt have the best history in delivering on time you cant talk about. HL2 delays are only second to DNF and thats saying a LOT. CS: source is neat, yes, but not worth $50 ($20-$30 maybe). And to top it off all you've got an untested and buggy, encrypting and delivery system and valve in the middle of a complex lawsuit which could lead to an undefined delay.
I mean, off the record has it ocurred you, this whole lawsuit thing could be a smoke screen for something else? (a delay per example?) I mean have you ever heard about people beta testing half life 2 multiplayer? Its not like its the first time they use an elaborate excuse (cough code theft cough)
Read between the lines, maybe you should hold to those $50 a bit longer. just in case.
Easy: the author of a game is the TEAM (bungie, id, lionhead) or maybe the lead designer (director/writer) Peter Mollineux, Hideo Kojima, Shigeru Miyamoto. Or havent you heard of the expression "is a George Lucas Film" or "Fellini film"? MGS actually says "a hideo kojima game" in the intro title.
next question.
Also the author of an engine is its lead programmer/designer John carmack, Derreck Smart, etc.
I think rockstar has added a lot of creativity to all their games including manhunt, theres a ton of games about stealth but manhunt (and mgs) allows you to attract your pursuers by using "sound" (not a stupid sound system in which you lose if you are too loud!) you can even use your mic if you have one. GTA was a complete revolution in gameplay and they are extending it in every volume, they invented "free roaming" for crying out loud they deserve awards not lawsuits!
Society is completely hipocrite in this terms, if people want so much nonviolent games how come they sell so bad? try to pull any game without a known license that doesnt use any violence and or gore and you get an instant flop in the shelves if any publisher grabs it. Has anyone considered game developers do this because thats what gamers want? a lot of people complaint about GTA:SA has any gamer complaint with them to tone down the violence?
Easy.. Epic wanted to earn part of the money, Atari wanted to keep all the money for themselves, that definetily is not good for their profit!
No, seriously probably is Epic the one who dumped atari, they have been doing all kind of bad decisions this year. Is pretty obvious they forced reflections to release driv3r before time. Maybe epic noticed they could be next and started looking for another publisher. Remember EPIC is working on the Unreal 3 engine and is going to take a LOT of time to get it done (as much as the doom3 engine or hl2) , aparently Atari doesnt have the patience and thrust needed for a project like that. (although IMO Midway doesnt seem like such a good choice either)
Slashdot Mirror
Sure, no problem Mr. Callahan just keep up with your plan and do the movie with your little script, and I will keep up with my plan and I wont go to the teather to watch it. I also will warn all my friends and coworkers about your movie being a complete transvesty with no relation but the name to the game and no other intention but to take their money for being gamers. Im pretty sure they will be delighted not to go.
By the way Mr Callahan, obviously you dont care about fan complaints about your RE 28 days cheap clone. So if no fans are going to be interested in your movie, whos going to pay to see it then? for some reason I cant picture my grandpa and my in laws, standing in line for a movie called "doom" I hope your relatives and friends are up to the task.
Dear euxneks: Fuck you. Love, Hollywood. (sorry I couldnt resist)
Come on people the PSP is a portable CD based handheld with an intensive GPU and a WI-FI its not like a palm, ds, gba,ngage etc e of course the battery lasts a lot less than in any other device! it has rotating spinning disk! if thats an impediment for you DONT BUY IT. We are completely aware of the battery problem, ok?
If you think the system is going to "tank" stop worrying, its already sold out in Japan(although it was a limited release) and apparently it will sold out in America as well, theres a good library of games coming and they will be less greedy with the spinning disk usage (which will help the battery).
Every single review and user review says the same, the battery is a bit of a problem since it needs a daily recharge and the loading times are weird in a handheld (not unbareable, just unusual) still not of those is a show stopper the system is definetily great and extremely fun to use, not only is the equivalent of a portable ps2 It can also be used as a digital camera a mp3 player (with bad reviews on that mind you) and an storage device with usb support so is definetily not a bad buy for the average tech freakie
p.s. Look some people would not be caught dead using a non nintendo handheld, while others wont even touch a DS even if it was 10 times less expensive. So lets just break even and let our throats alone ok?. you play with yours I play with mine, ok? good.
Ok I could repply to each of your answers. But considering you got +5 interesting just for bashing my post , I wont even bother. (its not your fault, everybody knows slashdot is a bit biased) but some points just for documentation and completion sake.
When I said you could put it in the cigarrete lighter, of course I meant to recharge it, not that you should play it always sticked to a wall, thank you for taking my answer out of context.
I know that the ds is supposed to be $180.00 I specifically mentioned "where I live" I dont live in the usa so I pay export taxes, you could check that on my profile you know? Instead you tried to make the entire post look fake for extra $20 in the price. nice.
You dont like tekken and you like metroid (me too) uh? well those are personal opinions, and they really cant do nothing against the fact that the nintendo 64 did worst than the PSX even with its "0" loading times, which was my point. And just FYI final fantasy VII DOES NOT have "loading times" each random battle, (unless your disc was really scratched) the "loading" screen was only shown when you moved from one map to another. (not even the in game FMV's had loading times that I remember) Im glad you picked up the number one most known PSX game to counter my point. But next time you should talk about a game you actually have played instead.
Go ahead mod my day!
They have already tested the battery life at lik sang, is 2 hours IF you use the maximum "brightness" setting and dont let the battery charge to maximum.
With the brightness diminished, they managed to get 6 hours of gameplay. And they didnt even charged the battery at full. so IS not that bad IF you know how to use it. (besides the battery is chargeable so you just need to plug it to the car cigarrete lighter or any regular plug each 4 hours or so you would be ok).
Is definetily way too early to call a winner in this, I mean seriously, the psp hasnt even launched yet. And xmas will be the proving ground for the DS.
;)) is niche if they manage to sell ONLY to them sony still makes a profit and comes victorious.
Second. Load times, shmock times, minimal load times did no favours for the n64 against the psx (and the PSX launching titles load times were terrible) The system which has more and better games wins, period. I dont mind load times if I can play Final Fantasy, GTA, tekken, devil may cry or Metroid in a console.(unless they are annoying and in the middle of the game like in hl2)
Third. The battery is a problem YES but so it was anti aliasing for the ps2 and it still beat every other console it was against (which had better tech) Also they were eventually able to fix the problem trough programming. If you thought that would be the "finishing blow" think again, according to what Ive read you can make the battery last up to 4 times by simply lowering your brightness and using an extra light source (which is what I've done for years with my gba) Anyway, are you aware the PSP runs on rechargeable batteries and AC ? all you need to do is to hook it to the car lighter, problem solved.
Fourth(?) Simply stated the PSP is a console targetted at teens and young adults and weither you want to admit it or not, the DS is targeted at kids and teens. (how many "M" or even "T" titles does each console have now?) there is no "console war" the portable young adult market (non-geek like us!
No matter how intimidating it looks to have N and Sony swimming in the same pool, one is at the diving platform and the other is in the kiddie area as long as they keep their distance there wont be trouble.
. Oh and dont count on the American delay to rain in sony's parade either. My local shop is importing PSPs and they are getting sold out for xmas already. p.s. Where I live the DS is making parents look at the GBA sp. Is a lot cheaper and is a nice Portable which is what little timmy wrote in his xmas list anyway. (the DS is at $200 and the GBA is $90)
Are you guys sure this is not an april fools or something? I mean seriously , I dont know whats worst the fact that everything in this "film" has dollar signs written in them, that they are bastardizing to the point of ridiculous an incredible piece of literature or that Bruckheimmer actually thinks he can name the main character "Arthur" without anyone remember his late (2 actually) flops, and make american Mcgee (no less) to write 3 movies (3!) with a goddamned happy ending to tight it to the MGC classic(?!) WTF!
Just read the article, there are more hollywood jokes there than a faux somethingawful site!
If you can I will definetily advice you NOT to invest any real cash on this movie. I smell a disaster of incredible proportions coming up.
Becuause you dont need to. You can play online using KAI or XBConnect for free ;) however if the game is not "online" aka "xbox live enabled" the lag is too much for the net to handle it.
I doubt theres only 2 million live users in the entire world though and I also doubt those are halo 2 actual sells.
Ok I was going to rebuttal on every point (although you are right in some), but I think this one really needs it.
I doubt it. Going on-line isn't exactly causing Sony or MS to build a 3 cubic acre money bin to swim in. Er.. have you checked how many sales SOCOM, HALO 2 and how many people is buying live to play Halo 2 right about now?
You can argue all you want, but I seriously doubt halo 2 and socom would had ranked that many sales if they werent online.
Yeah I mean who has heard of the "internet" besides us? online is not "mainstream" yet. Come on! I have a brother who uses AOL and plays on Live! he got an email last week with a nuke virus that said "openme.exe" so he did! I nearly had to exorcise the damned hard drive to fix it.
Believe me anyone can use live. Specially now they have the "automatch" thingie, (some people dont even know what a server is!) They dont even need to know how to type anymore (or speak for that matter)
Im just waiting on my 4 year old to for ask my cc to get his own account. ("Is not like that Pa' is just that.. well my ranking could be a bit better if I'd played alone") ah.. that will be the day.
This morning a Nintendo PR spokesperson officially announced their new stand on their previous "that online thing wont work, trust me!" philosophy.
Nintendo PR: "OOOOOOPS!"
Wise words there in deed, now back to our regularly scheduled thread show
Go ahead, MOD my day!
"Hmmm...?" are more likely my thoughts. Sorry to dissapoint you, but I was one of the quite many N-followers that patiently waited for a N64 instead of buying a psx and then realized they had commited a huge mistake in doing so
Nintendo 64 basically had basically the same graphics, the games were very small,simple and childish (with RARE and N exceptions!), quite expensive (zelda 64==$99!) and worst of all extremely scarce! worthwhile games came each 6 months to a full year!
Meanwhile the neighbours (teens lime me btw) were playing FF VII,KOF,SF,TEKKEN3 and Resident evil 2 and watching demos of the coming MGS in their PSX. It took me just one (1) visit to the home next door to realize that the n64 had to go. YES the psx had load times but by my 20th consecutive hours playing FFVII (and no, not replaying the same levels 10 times which was the n64 case), I simply couldnt care less.
Nintendo did many great things in their time (specially in the snes) and did great games for the n64 (not many but they did), however not placing a CD tray in the n64 because of "load times" thus giving birth to the psx, has to be one of the greatest mistakes in game history.
IMO announcing they are going online now is the equivalent of a big: "OOOOOPS!"
Why thank you! btw why didnt you thought that BEFORE everybody with a cube had to buy 4 fucking gameboys just to play zelda 4 swords? and crystal chronicles?!
Are you feeling lucky? Go ahead MOD my day!
I probably shouldn't be asking here, but seriously the machine required to run HL2 is 4 times bigger than my work machine( and twice the common machine) Buying a $300-$600 card? and a complete upgrade? Thats just not going to happen, at least not now. SO... wheres my xbox version?
You may be saying "you dont need a new pc for hl2, it runs on this minimum reqs!" yeah, they said that about doom3 and the demo ran at 5-10 fps in my specs (1.5ghz, radeon 9200, 256 ram) . No thanks. I will be playing doom 3 next year, january.(and hopefully hl2)
Im glad half life 2 finally showed up, but if there's no xbox version.. count me out. (Im not even going to mention halo 2 so I dont have to deal with hundreds of flames) there are some xbox and less demanding PC games to entertain myself meanwhile (prince of persia 2 comes to mind).
Has anyone noticed the hl2 banner running in the background? why Im not surprised HL2 came on top?
anyway, besides the points already mentioned the article basically boils down to: "doom 3 has this BUT hl2 has THIS instead!"
Besides isnt a bit futile to see another article mentioning Doom 3 is dark? news flash: it was made like that on purpose AND not all areas are dark or repetitive. (specially the last ones) I remember the first time I played I was so psyched a half hour later I shot a pipe which barely resembled a human figure, dark areas were MEANT to be dark DOOM3 is an HORROR game.
I used the "duct tape" mod for a while and then I realized it really detracted a bit from the fear and turned into a regular action shooter, PLAY IT like it is, you wont regret it, trust me.
If you want an ACTION game go get HL2 instead they are different generes, arent we mature enough to recognize that not all fps are the same just because they have the same perspective?
Well.. you have to remember a few details before judging, first of all halo 2 is all about battles, so you would expect they expent more time on that than say "conversations" or other nuisances and on that level both as partners and as enemies the AI acts pretty convincingly. Second, halo2 is definetily a lot larger and complex than half life.(not HL2 though) so is a lot harder to coordinate the AI and place tag points effectively. And 3rd the AI in a console game expending so much cycles in a console in network and graphics code, can only be good enough to be believable, but cant expent so much cycles to be "ground breaking" so their target was believable and enjoyable and I think they got that right.
I havent even noticed before reading the article but the enemies DO talk to each other (in english) before teaming up on your poor butt. Thats an interesting detail to watch (although it ussually ends with you dead in the ground).
Oh I almost forgot, you have to play in the "heroic" dificulty level to see what the AI can really do. The easy and normal levels are quite dumbed down in comparison.
Hmm.. regular xbox users just wanted a faster xbox with their HDD and LAN in it, modders wanted a "cheap PC/console" combo and japanese wanted a small/ take anywhere no hdd console with no pc traces (very few japanese game developers code in PC) Why not make 3 versions and please everyone? doesn't sound like a bad idea at all.
Seriously, a PC that can do office work, 3d models and play HL2, doom3 and Halo 2(3) on the same case? count me in! I wont even look at the price tag twice! (but of course Im a computer geek, my brother would definetily go for option 3)
Anyway I would take this with quite a substantial ammount of salt, after all is written in "the enquirer" no less. And from an NDA document? isn't the "Xenon" going to be released next year? Shouldnt MS make an statement around this time themselves?. I would hold my breathe until I see a official announcement.
Obviously you didnt read the article, but Ok theres another detail missing here: many game companies like bungie,ID, midway, square also have to pull this kind of hours when they are in crunch time (IF the project is not on schedule mostly) but then when the game is over, they GET compensations, call it obligatory vacations, extra payment, (most of bungie team is probably at hawaii now) sometimes even royalties. Then after a few months (and some research) they get back to the saddle and start again.
THE BIG PROBLEM in EA is there is NO COMPENSATIONS (monetary or other wise) not even free time is given after "crunch time" only ANOTHER project in normal time the very next day! ITS INSANE! EA (and other retard) managers checked the "crunch" time policies used by big companies (to be used in EMERGENCIES ONLY) and put them in the ordinary, every project schedule plan! and they not only did that they actually stretched "crunch time" to several months! (crunch time is ussually a few WEEKS before RELEASE)
No wonder why all my EA games turn so buggy and rushed looking!
In my opinion these guys should be in the other side of a large lawsuit (or a software engineer union at least) isnt this illegal? I mean, its completely inhuman.
And to be honest It SHOWS in the product (stock holders you may want to look at that)
If you are working in such conditions, I really mean it, QUIT, become indie, work for an indie, or go to strike
ITs really NOT worth it.
If you are a game developer company heres a trick to avoid this: Set deadlines and milestones, ORGANIZE properly your time from the very begining and keep with your deadlines work 9 to 7 and keep weekends free. You should never ever need "crunch time" or extra free time (and you are still investing 2 extra hours everyday in your project!).
Well Ive played the game (lucky me) and seen the video review in gamespot and I think its dead on, (although quite a bit filled with spoilers they even mentioned the ending) Halo 2 is incredibly good but far from perfect, most fans will be sincerely dissapointed at some details (they say that at the review) however anyone who already loves FPS will have a REALLY good time with it, single player is pretty good, but CO-OP is incredible (just like in halo1) and the multiplayer is priceless. Its just like the first one, but with xbox live, lots of mutators, new vehicles and weapon features and "good guy, bad guy" models, All that I found lacking in the first one.
Anyway all reviews are failing to comment on a major feature missing: downloadable content, all fpss need that in order to stay alive for more than a few months. And halo 2 wont be different.
Ok 2 points here:
1.-The process they claim to have "patented" is not just used in 3d games is also commonly used in about every 3d engine (including apis like directx and opengl) and is also used in the hardware of "new" t&d capable 3d cards (nvidia, ati, matrox) . So basically any aplication that uses 3d (maya, 3dsmax, word, corel, etc) is in "infringement". (they could save a lot of time and just sue every single graphics software/hardware company in the world!)
2.-As stated in a previous thread by an slashdot member, this method existed LONG before computers where invented. It is used in carthesian math to create 3d-2d projections and therefore they DID NOT invented it! (if that can be proved the "patent" could be considered void)
Next case.
If we could prove that in court, I think it would void their patent since they are NOT the inventors of the patented math method.
Actually they could be counter-sued for plagiarism!
Well you are not missing much, this is how the bootleg french version of Halo 2 looks like:
(*)Translated from very, very European french dialogue.
Master Chief: (known in french as Jacques)
Jacques:(voice off)
*My fate is to kill those who wish us dead, to take lives, what does life mean after all?
Jacques takes a shoot at a covenant in super slow motion while sad opera music is playing in the background. the shoot goes through a covenant, after a quick shoot of a lawn elf sitting there for no reason, we see the covenant really slowly dying.
Covenant:(voice off)
*Oh Ive been shot! the pain surging through my body is nothing compared to the ellusive questioning of my soul! what does life really mean? (the entire shot is filmed in sepia)
Another covenant wearing an extremely ridicullous sex addict outfit comes into scene and takes a pot shot, the entire scene is filmed with a fish lense for no immediate reason.
The shoot lands in the chest of Jacques commander, Jacques rushes to the commander to take his head between his legs and start crying. The entire shoot is filmed at blue sepia for no immediate reason.
Jacques:
*!Monsieur commander!You've been shot, you must be wandering what your life meant and suffering! and wondering.. and suffering!
Commander cousteou:
*life is suffering Jacques, yes, but beautiful suffering, I still wonder what life means! yet, Im about to depart.
Jacques:
*TELL ME ITS NOT SO! TELL ME ITS NOT SO!
(The opera background music gets even sadder and louder)
Commander cousteau:
*Before I depart I must ask: How many people are having an orgasm right now?
A completely innecesary scene of a lot of french people having sex 1 frame per couple flies by, the entire scene is in black and white and filmed from the botton of a fish tank for no immediate reason.
Jacques:
*... 42
Commander:
*Good answer... remember... I love you!...
Arrevouir!
the commander passes away.. Rain starts to pour. the entire scene is filmed in black and white from a birds eye view.
Jacques removes his helmet, revealing a Clint Eastwood look a like painted as a sad clown for no immediate reason.
Jacques:
*NOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
the sky becomes thunderous as the camera backs away, revealing Jacques alone (for no immediate reason) holding the dead commander on his knees, crying and screaming.
The screen fades to black
A text in a over stylized almost unreadable font appears.
*JACQUES HAS DECIDED TO RETREAT
TO DISCOVER "WHAT LIFE REALLY MEANS?"
THE EARTH HAS BEEN TAKEN OVER BY LES COVENANTE'S
C'EST LA VIE!
You:
WTF!!!!!!!
I was going to moderate here, but to be honest I preffer to shed some opinions here. Are you sure its a good idea to shell out $50 for half life 2 right now? I mean, seriously, valve doesnt have the best history in delivering on time you cant talk about. HL2 delays are only second to DNF and thats saying a LOT. CS: source is neat, yes, but not worth $50 ($20-$30 maybe). And to top it off all you've got an untested and buggy, encrypting and delivery system and valve in the middle of a complex lawsuit which could lead to an undefined delay.
I mean, off the record has it ocurred you, this whole lawsuit thing could be a smoke screen for something else? (a delay per example?) I mean have you ever heard about people beta testing half life 2 multiplayer? Its not like its the first time they use an elaborate excuse (cough code theft cough)
Read between the lines, maybe you should hold to those $50 a bit longer. just in case.
Easy: the author of a game is the TEAM (bungie, id, lionhead) or maybe the lead designer (director/writer) Peter Mollineux, Hideo Kojima, Shigeru Miyamoto. Or havent you heard of the expression "is a George Lucas Film" or "Fellini film"? MGS actually says "a hideo kojima game" in the intro title.
next question.
Also the author of an engine is its lead programmer/designer
John carmack, Derreck Smart, etc.
I think rockstar has added a lot of creativity to all their games including manhunt, theres a ton of games about stealth but manhunt (and mgs) allows you to attract your pursuers by using "sound" (not a stupid sound system in which you lose if you are too loud!) you can even use your mic if you have one. GTA was a complete revolution in gameplay and they are extending it in every volume, they invented "free roaming" for crying out loud they deserve awards not lawsuits! Society is completely hipocrite in this terms, if people want so much nonviolent games how come they sell so bad? try to pull any game without a known license that doesnt use any violence and or gore and you get an instant flop in the shelves if any publisher grabs it. Has anyone considered game developers do this because thats what gamers want? a lot of people complaint about GTA:SA has any gamer complaint with them to tone down the violence?
Easy.. Epic wanted to earn part of the money, Atari wanted to keep all the money for themselves, that definetily is not good for their profit!
No, seriously probably is Epic the one who dumped atari, they have been doing all kind of bad decisions this year. Is pretty obvious they forced reflections to release driv3r before time. Maybe epic noticed they could be next and started looking for another publisher.
Remember EPIC is working on the Unreal 3 engine and is going to take a LOT of time to get it done (as much as the doom3 engine or hl2) , aparently Atari doesnt have the patience and thrust needed for a project like that. (although IMO Midway doesnt seem like such a good choice either)