True, the good old days when PCs were sold with 486/33's, 8MB Ram, some sort of inbuilt video processing and one of those ultra modern 4 speed CD-ROMs - well, at least it got me through Doom and Duke Nukem...
Looking forward to contrasting both versions...
Now about scheduling...:)
Well, it's true many games are released complete with bugs these days. I still remember the Far Cry debacle with a large gapingly obvious ATI bug that required a very quick patch to be released. Talking of egg on face...I doubt Doom 3 will ship with blatant bugs - the hype and attention would make that quite dangerous since the news would spread like wildfire across the net.
More likely they just don't require the publicity a demo would generate - isn't it hyped enough as it is?
I ignored the Alpha - better to be patient and play the polished version (finished too). Demos are good for getting a little publicity - but since Doom 3 needs nothing of the sort, the heightened anticipation that exists without a Demo will only make gamers more eager to buy copies quickly. Let's remember the quicker the developers get their money the better they can put it to good use - like starting work on Doom 4, for example...:)
I thought it was obvious - it's bit risky giving people a full demonstration of what most might be considered a turkey - better to chance your arm for a few weeks so the retailers at least buy some copies. Of course I doubt Doom 3 even remotely resembles a Turkey and the lack of a Demo will probably only keep the buyers-to-be frothing at the mouth desperate to get a copy ASAP... This is the biggest hyped game I've yet encountered afterall...
Considering the hype surrounding Doom 3, I guess my first stop on the release date for Europe will be the closest game store! Now how am I going schedule Doom 3 time around my job that week...
Remember seeing a print of the bet agreement in the "Universe in a Nutshell" book released a year or two back. Pity he lost that bet but goes to prove even the greatest minds aren't infallible. This is the man who brought physics to the masses of Joe Bloggs - I'm sure he'll win the next bet he decides to take up!
I can see it now - Gaim working on all networks without being stymied by changes in Yahoo protocols...:) Would be a good thing if it worked that way, afterall how often could MS be forced into updating this middleware because of Yahoo? I also agree it's different to Gaim - it's less likely to be aimed at Joe Bloggs from what I read...
Seriously though, there would be huge benefits if we could arrange a permanent outpost on the moon. It's certainly possible to do so within 20 years, hell the US sent a man to the moon after ten year research. The problem? Designing and building any form of outpost would require international cooperation. The ISS is a good example of what's possible and what can go wrong.
Sure we can stick a few people into the ISS for 6 months, but the moon is another matter. It's unprotected by Earth's magnetic field, so radiation is a huge problem. It's too far away for us to do anything if something serious happens accidentwise. We don't yet have any economic reason to bother sending a permanent outpost there.
The moon will eventually be colnised for its resources, but not in the next twenty years, probably not in the next 40 yrs either. I expect to be dead and buried long before the international community discover a reason for sending people out to live there permanently or semi-permanently.
This is just typical Microsoft manouvering. I mean in all fairness, they claim the service is free, it therefore follows that in theory we the users should not be concerned with the cost of the service. Advertising revenue from the MSN clients is a side benefit, it's not the purpose of the service, and so is irrelevant in discussing MS's action.
Their problem I could guess is that enabling 3rd party clients to support the MSN protocol gives rise to clients like Gaim that let you view other services at the same time. MS probably view this as competition in some sense and are acting to prevent their MSN users from installing Gaim/Trillian/etc. and having far easier access to AIM, ICQ or Jabber...
All those clients like GAIM are making competition against MSN far more effective and accessible to IM users. This is a threat and as with any threat to MS they are moving to squash it flat. It's probably a miracle they have not acted earlier...
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True, the good old days when PCs were sold with 486/33's, 8MB Ram, some sort of inbuilt video processing and one of those ultra modern 4 speed CD-ROMs - well, at least it got me through Doom and Duke Nukem... Looking forward to contrasting both versions... Now about scheduling...:)
Well, it's true many games are released complete with bugs these days. I still remember the Far Cry debacle with a large gapingly obvious ATI bug that required a very quick patch to be released. Talking of egg on face...I doubt Doom 3 will ship with blatant bugs - the hype and attention would make that quite dangerous since the news would spread like wildfire across the net. More likely they just don't require the publicity a demo would generate - isn't it hyped enough as it is?
I ignored the Alpha - better to be patient and play the polished version (finished too). Demos are good for getting a little publicity - but since Doom 3 needs nothing of the sort, the heightened anticipation that exists without a Demo will only make gamers more eager to buy copies quickly. Let's remember the quicker the developers get their money the better they can put it to good use - like starting work on Doom 4, for example...:)
I thought it was obvious - it's bit risky giving people a full demonstration of what most might be considered a turkey - better to chance your arm for a few weeks so the retailers at least buy some copies. Of course I doubt Doom 3 even remotely resembles a Turkey and the lack of a Demo will probably only keep the buyers-to-be frothing at the mouth desperate to get a copy ASAP... This is the biggest hyped game I've yet encountered afterall...
Considering the hype surrounding Doom 3, I guess my first stop on the release date for Europe will be the closest game store! Now how am I going schedule Doom 3 time around my job that week...
Remember seeing a print of the bet agreement in the "Universe in a Nutshell" book released a year or two back. Pity he lost that bet but goes to prove even the greatest minds aren't infallible. This is the man who brought physics to the masses of Joe Bloggs - I'm sure he'll win the next bet he decides to take up!
I can see it now - Gaim working on all networks without being stymied by changes in Yahoo protocols...:) Would be a good thing if it worked that way, afterall how often could MS be forced into updating this middleware because of Yahoo? I also agree it's different to Gaim - it's less likely to be aimed at Joe Bloggs from what I read...
Seriously though, there would be huge benefits if we could arrange a permanent outpost on the moon. It's certainly possible to do so within 20 years, hell the US sent a man to the moon after ten year research. The problem? Designing and building any form of outpost would require international cooperation. The ISS is a good example of what's possible and what can go wrong.
Sure we can stick a few people into the ISS for 6 months, but the moon is another matter. It's unprotected by Earth's magnetic field, so radiation is a huge problem. It's too far away for us to do anything if something serious happens accidentwise. We don't yet have any economic reason to bother sending a permanent outpost there.
The moon will eventually be colnised for its resources, but not in the next twenty years, probably not in the next 40 yrs either. I expect to be dead and buried long before the international community discover a reason for sending people out to live there permanently or semi-permanently.
This is just typical Microsoft manouvering. I mean in all fairness, they claim the service is free, it therefore follows that in theory we the users should not be concerned with the cost of the service. Advertising revenue from the MSN clients is a side benefit, it's not the purpose of the service, and so is irrelevant in discussing MS's action. Their problem I could guess is that enabling 3rd party clients to support the MSN protocol gives rise to clients like Gaim that let you view other services at the same time. MS probably view this as competition in some sense and are acting to prevent their MSN users from installing Gaim/Trillian/etc. and having far easier access to AIM, ICQ or Jabber... All those clients like GAIM are making competition against MSN far more effective and accessible to IM users. This is a threat and as with any threat to MS they are moving to squash it flat. It's probably a miracle they have not acted earlier...