Geez Slashdot, get with the times. I saw my first 3d printer (that prints solid objects, not paper) prototype 5 years ago. My housemate's architect boyfriend brought home a bunch of 3D models he printed out at work in their model shop.
OSC may become something yet - if only because it's garnered so much interest. As we see open source projects hit the mainstream running (Thunderbird, Firefox, Open Office, GAIM, etc. etc.) you see developers taking a lot of pains to turn them into a much more clean and desirable product.
Maybe someone coordinating OSC will say "time to clean this shit up" and put in a serious effort.
Or, maybe, like so many OSS projects that become umaintainable or are replaced by better solutions, it will taper off and die.
I run and work with a lot of web development firms, and the out-of-the-box solutions for eCommerce are usually a nightmare - osCommerce included.
They do quite a bit, but they're a NIGHTMARE to customize to a particular site. Forget leaving it up to your designers to implement the layout -- while they do use Smarty templates (wise choice) for their frontend, the code is sloppy and difficult to work with.
Homesite remains one of my favorite PHP/HTML editors - not just for its color-coding and nice advanced FIND-REPLACE across directories, but also for its easy UI, file navigation, etc. I used it since it was ColdFusion Studio - and I'm wondering - will Adobe bother to keep advancing it (Macromedia barely did)
To the max. Battlezone is, in my opinion, one of THE most underrated games ever made. It was Cold War + Star Trek + FPS + Stealth Sneaker + Warcraft + Freelancer. I tried running it on my XP box a couple years back, and it choked like no tomorrow. One for the mausoleum, I guess.
Take Two has already published two successful Sid Meier's games. This may simply be a way of ensuring that they have permanent control of those franchises.
More like an anonymous idiot submitted this. He obviously is as self righteous as Trip makes the Garriots out to be in the letter. It is neither hilarious or "blast"ing. It's is well reasoned with nothing that can overtly be called out as a mistruth.
Basically we end up with two people (Trip and the Garriots) saying "It wasn't my fault!" - seems like the submitter of this news wants to assume the Garriots were right (though I'm not sure why - even though I have much more respect for them as creative minds than Trip)
Absurd. For starters, it's 1% of the market. There is potential in casual gamers, but with advertising in video games on the rise and the increase in non-casual gamers (ex-casual gamers becoming regular gamers, people who never gamed before becoming regular gamers) there is, and will be for quite a while, more money to be made in non-casual gaming.
You don't have to worry about gamers or game companies destroying the industry, you have to worry about lawmakers and Jack Thompsons destroying the industry (or at least your right to plays games where you can run a shiv into a guys neck).
The proper link:
http://www.gamespot.com/features/6132899/
Final Fantasy II (I'm going to use American notation because I am - RPG snobs can shove it) was the game that turned me on to RPGs back when I was a wee lad.
For a long time, I considered it one of the best games, well, ever. However, even on the SNES platform, it gets beaten out soundly by numerous other games.
Final Fantasy III was similar in many, many ways, but soundly cleaned FF2's clock. You could say that FF2 was better simply because when it came out, it was far more innovative than any other RPG to date - but a better game? I tried to play FF2 on an emulator just 3 months ago for nostalgia purposes - and I couldn't bring myself to get past the antlion. It bored me senseless.
Final Fantasy III offers much more depth and MUCH better developed characters. I can name RPGs on the SNES off the top of my head which I think have more emotional depth, better gameplay, were fairly innovative and JUST - MORE - FUN:
Earthbound (#1!)
Final Fantasy III
Chrono Trigger
Mario RPG
Robotrek
Secret of Mana
Though I understand what TFA was going for, it is necessarily written through the eyes of a 7 year old boy:
"The narrative in Final Fantasy II gripped you and shook you like a rag doll right from the beginning of the game."
Please.
"In Final Fantasy II, your characters weren't dumb marionettes; they were full-fledged actors and actresses, and they delivered knockout performances."
Eesh, something tells me the author didn't bother to go back and play the game for this article.
They did this in Earthbound. Your "dad" (who you never see in the game, you only talk to him via cell phone and landline) would call every few hours or so and say "Hey, don't you think you should take a break?"
The best thing you can do is get kids really interested in what they can do NOW. I recommend telling them they can start making video games.
If tech is in their veins they'll become interested immediately, perhaps even try to find out more.. I know that's what motivated me as an over eager 11 year old.
You can also tell them they can make web pages, programs, etc. - even an 9 year old can do these things if they really want to. THEY don't know that, but you can enlighten them.
N64 had it's shortfalls, and the controller was not one of them (how can you complain about the N64 controller when you had the XBoX and Dreamcast controllers?).
Secondly, while carts offer far less data storage as a CD/DVD/GD can hold, they're faster for data transfer, and don't require a separate memory storage device (which I used to think was an absolutely absurd concept and a total scam). Not to mention that carts as a single unit are more intuitive (especially to kids) than a CD + Memory Card combo.
And Nintendo didn't "admit" they "fucked stuff up on purpose". That's a very loaded statement. They didn't have to "admit" anything, it's not like they put it in the spec, and it was obviously done "on purpose" - it's not like they done plum forgot, hurr hurr.
Nintendo has consistently put out amazing hardware with a few caveats: 1) Due to licensing issues, they have fewer games and fewer quality developers for each platform 2) The cartridge's largest downfall is that it's extremely expensive (sometimes upwards for $40 more per game) than CD storage media. So by not jumping on the CD with the N64, they were behind technologically for the price others were offering for larger games. 3) In the latest generation of consoles, Nintendo's came out last. The system is considered much easier to develop for than PS2 or XBoX - but both those systems already had established consumer bases by the time the Cube came out.
I don't agree with their *decision* to leave out the headphone jack, but I wouldn't be so quick to pin it on their incompetence.
Then ask yourself from where does that taint originate? Nintendo DOES have issues. If their product was pure quality (and for what they're worth, they're pretty damn good) there shouldn't be a lot of problem. One of the quality issues however is that they don't have games that appeal to every gamer.
Nintendo's biggest issues right now are: 1. They don't appeal to a more mature audience 2. They keep losing third party developers 3. They have a very weak home-console standing (their most popular product is the GameBoy) 4. The games they promote most furiously are rehashes of old games and characters (and "The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker", for all it's goodness, simply is not as rich an experience as previous Zelda titles) 5. They pay more attention to their target age group, and neglect the people who USED to be in that age group but still want to play games 6. Their promotions are not "cool" - that is to say, PS2 and XBoX will promote to older teens' and adults' sensibilities, whereas Nintendo promotes to a younger crowd's.
So the problems are there. They're still making great money, but they are reaching the end of their rope at least in terms of the console market. There was a time I could comfortably say "Playstation is selling twice as many consoles as Nintendo... but at least we're still tied with XBoX" but that's becoming less true every quarter.
Also, just from a gamers' standpoint, if I want to buy a new game for a particular system at any given time, the odds of finding a game for the GameCube that I'll enjoy are far more slim than they are for either PC, XBoX, or Playstation.
This is not true with the GameBoy Advance, which offers delicious 16bit/32bit goodness akin to the SNES (which was arguably one of the best Nintendo systems to date).
I'm a Nintendo loyalist, but even I'm not so bold as to claim that the buzz surrounding Nintendo's shortfalls and problems are anybody's fault but their own.
I'm not too happy with Nintendo's decision to cater to a younger crowd... or rather, to make their games "family friendly" - but I think that's just what they're doing.
Every business has a business plan, or mission statement, or something along those lines - and I think Nintendo's underlying philosophy is summarized in the name of their original system in Japan "Famicon" (short for "Family Console").
Nintendo isn't trying to put out games FOR kids, rather, they're trying to put out games that everyone can enjoy, but that are also acceptable for children to play. Basically, games the whole family can enjoy (without the child being confused, or the parents being upset).
Is this a good business decision? Probably not. I can't say that Nintendo won't allow third parties to publish Nintendo games with adult content, though I'd imagine those type of games get far less N-Press than your "Pikmin", "Zelda", or "Animal Crossing". Even if it were made for the system, you wouldn't find GTA in the pages of Nintendo Power which predominantly caters to ages 8 to 14, whether Nintendo wants it to or not.
My main gripe is that WE were the original Nintendo fans, not the next generation of gamers. Nintendo tries to sate us with updated versions of old games where we need games that have evolved and have new ideas and characters. I understand their desire to be a system that supports a family friendly gaming environment (at the expense of business and third party developers) but don't forget your old fans (who arguably keep your system afloat) for your new.
Slashdot Mirror
Geez Slashdot, get with the times. I saw my first 3d printer (that prints solid objects, not paper) prototype 5 years ago. My housemate's architect boyfriend brought home a bunch of 3D models he printed out at work in their model shop.
OSC may become something yet - if only because it's garnered so much interest. As we see open source projects hit the mainstream running (Thunderbird, Firefox, Open Office, GAIM, etc. etc.) you see developers taking a lot of pains to turn them into a much more clean and desirable product. Maybe someone coordinating OSC will say "time to clean this shit up" and put in a serious effort. Or, maybe, like so many OSS projects that become umaintainable or are replaced by better solutions, it will taper off and die.
I run and work with a lot of web development firms, and the out-of-the-box solutions for eCommerce are usually a nightmare - osCommerce included.
They do quite a bit, but they're a NIGHTMARE to customize to a particular site. Forget leaving it up to your designers to implement the layout -- while they do use Smarty templates (wise choice) for their frontend, the code is sloppy and difficult to work with.
News for Nerds. Stuff that matters.
/. isn't above a "slow news day".
This article is neither news, nor does it matter.
I guess
TopStyle is actually used as an extension to Homesite, I believe, for editing CSS.
Homesite remains one of my favorite PHP/HTML editors - not just for its color-coding and nice advanced FIND-REPLACE across directories, but also for its easy UI, file navigation, etc. I used it since it was ColdFusion Studio - and I'm wondering - will Adobe bother to keep advancing it (Macromedia barely did)
There's no doubt the great games will come, but they aren't there for launch (are they ever?).
I dunno. I always thought Mario 64 and Pilotwings 64, the only 2 Nintendo 64 launch titles, were both great games.
To the max. Battlezone is, in my opinion, one of THE most underrated games ever made. It was Cold War + Star Trek + FPS + Stealth Sneaker + Warcraft + Freelancer. I tried running it on my XP box a couple years back, and it choked like no tomorrow. One for the mausoleum, I guess.
Take Two has already published two successful Sid Meier's games. This may simply be a way of ensuring that they have permanent control of those franchises.
More like an anonymous idiot submitted this. He obviously is as self righteous as Trip makes the Garriots out to be in the letter. It is neither hilarious or "blast"ing. It's is well reasoned with nothing that can overtly be called out as a mistruth.
Basically we end up with two people (Trip and the Garriots) saying "It wasn't my fault!" - seems like the submitter of this news wants to assume the Garriots were right (though I'm not sure why - even though I have much more respect for them as creative minds than Trip)
Absurd. For starters, it's 1% of the market. There is potential in casual gamers, but with advertising in video games on the rise and the increase in non-casual gamers (ex-casual gamers becoming regular gamers, people who never gamed before becoming regular gamers) there is, and will be for quite a while, more money to be made in non-casual gaming. You don't have to worry about gamers or game companies destroying the industry, you have to worry about lawmakers and Jack Thompsons destroying the industry (or at least your right to plays games where you can run a shiv into a guys neck).
1% of a 20 billion dollar market is $200,000,000. Not bad for a market the industry thusfar has shrugged off.
The proper link: http://www.gamespot.com/features/6132899/ Final Fantasy II (I'm going to use American notation because I am - RPG snobs can shove it) was the game that turned me on to RPGs back when I was a wee lad. For a long time, I considered it one of the best games, well, ever. However, even on the SNES platform, it gets beaten out soundly by numerous other games. Final Fantasy III was similar in many, many ways, but soundly cleaned FF2's clock. You could say that FF2 was better simply because when it came out, it was far more innovative than any other RPG to date - but a better game? I tried to play FF2 on an emulator just 3 months ago for nostalgia purposes - and I couldn't bring myself to get past the antlion. It bored me senseless. Final Fantasy III offers much more depth and MUCH better developed characters. I can name RPGs on the SNES off the top of my head which I think have more emotional depth, better gameplay, were fairly innovative and JUST - MORE - FUN: Earthbound (#1!) Final Fantasy III Chrono Trigger Mario RPG Robotrek Secret of Mana Though I understand what TFA was going for, it is necessarily written through the eyes of a 7 year old boy: "The narrative in Final Fantasy II gripped you and shook you like a rag doll right from the beginning of the game." Please. "In Final Fantasy II, your characters weren't dumb marionettes; they were full-fledged actors and actresses, and they delivered knockout performances." Eesh, something tells me the author didn't bother to go back and play the game for this article.
They did this in Earthbound. Your "dad" (who you never see in the game, you only talk to him via cell phone and landline) would call every few hours or so and say "Hey, don't you think you should take a break?"
The best thing you can do is get kids really interested in what they can do NOW. I recommend telling them they can start making video games.
If tech is in their veins they'll become interested immediately, perhaps even try to find out more.. I know that's what motivated me as an over eager 11 year old.
You can also tell them they can make web pages, programs, etc. - even an 9 year old can do these things if they really want to. THEY don't know that, but you can enlighten them.
Nope, they're staying as two different sites. Now they'll just have a more coordinated strategy for selling you things.
N64 had it's shortfalls, and the controller was not one of them (how can you complain about the N64 controller when you had the XBoX and Dreamcast controllers?).
:
Secondly, while carts offer far less data storage as a CD/DVD/GD can hold, they're faster for data transfer, and don't require a separate memory storage device (which I used to think was an absolutely absurd concept and a total scam). Not to mention that carts as a single unit are more intuitive (especially to kids) than a CD + Memory Card combo.
And Nintendo didn't "admit" they "fucked stuff up on purpose". That's a very loaded statement. They didn't have to "admit" anything, it's not like they put it in the spec, and it was obviously done "on purpose" - it's not like they done plum forgot, hurr hurr.
Nintendo has consistently put out amazing hardware with a few caveats
1) Due to licensing issues, they have fewer games and fewer quality developers for each platform
2) The cartridge's largest downfall is that it's extremely expensive (sometimes upwards for $40 more per game) than CD storage media. So by not jumping on the CD with the N64, they were behind technologically for the price others were offering for larger games.
3) In the latest generation of consoles, Nintendo's came out last. The system is considered much easier to develop for than PS2 or XBoX - but both those systems already had established consumer bases by the time the Cube came out.
I don't agree with their *decision* to leave out the headphone jack, but I wouldn't be so quick to pin it on their incompetence.
Then ask yourself from where does that taint originate? Nintendo DOES have issues. If their product was pure quality (and for what they're worth, they're pretty damn good) there shouldn't be a lot of problem. One of the quality issues however is that they don't have games that appeal to every gamer.
Nintendo's biggest issues right now are:
1. They don't appeal to a more mature audience
2. They keep losing third party developers
3. They have a very weak home-console standing (their most popular product is the GameBoy)
4. The games they promote most furiously are rehashes of old games and characters (and "The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker", for all it's goodness, simply is not as rich an experience as previous Zelda titles)
5. They pay more attention to their target age group, and neglect the people who USED to be in that age group but still want to play games
6. Their promotions are not "cool" - that is to say, PS2 and XBoX will promote to older teens' and adults' sensibilities, whereas Nintendo promotes to a younger crowd's.
So the problems are there. They're still making great money, but they are reaching the end of their rope at least in terms of the console market. There was a time I could comfortably say "Playstation is selling twice as many consoles as Nintendo... but at least we're still tied with XBoX" but that's becoming less true every quarter.
Also, just from a gamers' standpoint, if I want to buy a new game for a particular system at any given time, the odds of finding a game for the GameCube that I'll enjoy are far more slim than they are for either PC, XBoX, or Playstation.
This is not true with the GameBoy Advance, which offers delicious 16bit/32bit goodness akin to the SNES (which was arguably one of the best Nintendo systems to date).
I'm a Nintendo loyalist, but even I'm not so bold as to claim that the buzz surrounding Nintendo's shortfalls and problems are anybody's fault but their own.
I'm not too happy with Nintendo's decision to cater to a younger crowd... or rather, to make their games "family friendly" - but I think that's just what they're doing.
Every business has a business plan, or mission statement, or something along those lines - and I think Nintendo's underlying philosophy is summarized in the name of their original system in Japan "Famicon" (short for "Family Console").
Nintendo isn't trying to put out games FOR kids, rather, they're trying to put out games that everyone can enjoy, but that are also acceptable for children to play. Basically, games the whole family can enjoy (without the child being confused, or the parents being upset).
Is this a good business decision? Probably not. I can't say that Nintendo won't allow third parties to publish Nintendo games with adult content, though I'd imagine those type of games get far less N-Press than your "Pikmin", "Zelda", or "Animal Crossing". Even if it were made for the system, you wouldn't find GTA in the pages of Nintendo Power which predominantly caters to ages 8 to 14, whether Nintendo wants it to or not.
My main gripe is that WE were the original Nintendo fans, not the next generation of gamers. Nintendo tries to sate us with updated versions of old games where we need games that have evolved and have new ideas and characters. I understand their desire to be a system that supports a family friendly gaming environment (at the expense of business and third party developers) but don't forget your old fans (who arguably keep your system afloat) for your new.
Oh, and "Star Fox Adventures" really sucked.