Sorry that I don't have an answer for you, but rather a question. Do voltage adapters work on the DS? My wife and I bought a voltage adapter specifically for our DS before traveling to Europe but decided not to use it because the box warned that it was only to be used on high output machines like hair dryers. Have you had any problems with your voltage converter?
Size has never stopped most people from pirating games before who want to pirate.
Well, that was the rationale of the first CDROM games for PC. The copy protection was the fact that one would have to pay exorbitant sums in order to duplicate CDs. It worked for a short while.
Today, you have to admit it's pretty compelling to be able to start downloading a handheld RPG that takes 30 hours to complete and have it downloaded and ready to play before you're even finished reading the review.
I've got a knockoff R4 and not only does it work fine, it also gets occasional firmware updates which enable it to work on the newest games. For example I was curious about the new Chrono Trigger game but wasn't sure whether it was worth buying once again so I tried it on my R4 but it didn't work. I found a recent firmware update and installed it, and then the game worked. I thought the new Chrono Trigger was a far better reinterpretation of the original than the lame Playstation version so I bought it.
I admit I have trouble running about 50% of homebrew, though, and that's a huge shame. I'll probably try a different flashcart next time because I'm disappointed to be missing out on some really cool indie games and utilities.
I sometimes have to try the card 3 or 4 times to get it to read properly. This is only an issue if I remove the card to play a normal cart and then swap back.
I have the same trouble with my R4 which is a few months old, but my wife has no such trouble with hers which is about 18 months old. We showed our R4 cards to someone who told us that mine was a cheap knockoff and hers was original. Mine still works but it's a little sensitive - if I accidentally jostle the card my game freezes and I lose my progress. It works great otherwise, and the only other difference is that my wife's SD slot is springloaded while mine just slides relatively uninhibited.
Or, you could actually take a few minutes to look up online what the good games are which aren't.
That's what I did when I bought Mario Kart and Zelda for DS. They were rated very highly so I dropped $100 on them and I thought they were derivative tripe that I'd already played 5 times before. Reviews are subjective.
I'm with you on this one. My wife and I bought a DS and a few games before our honeymoon last year and all but one were awful. DS games are ridiculously expensive for what you get. I would have written off the DS entirely if not for a little miracle - one charge of the battery lasted our entire 11-day vacation!
Since then we've gotten an R4 and we preview games before buying. We've gone on to buy some really great games that take good advantage of the DS - Warioware, Phoenix Wright, Cooking Mama, Spelling Challenge, Korg DS-10, and Chrono Trigger to name a few.
At least Nintendo has started releasing demos for DS games which you can access if you have a Wii. That's a start. Still, I've been burned for about $300 on shamefully terrible games and the R4 is the only reason I'm not completely disgruntled with the entire DS platform. 99% of DS games are worthless, and if Nintendo isn't going to enforce some kind of quality control then it's their own fault if the end-users take matters into their own hands.
You actually use all 50 carts? I've got enough room for 12 in my bag and rarely ever use more than 1-2 of them.
You think people with 40GB iPods actually listen to all that music before their battery needs to be charged again? Or would a better solution be to throw 30 CDs in your bag and lug those around with you?
I bought this game during my vacation when I had loads of spare time, but only played for 4 hours and haven't touched it in a week. The game's crashed on me at least 5 times, though thankfully, like Oblivion, it saves every time you walk through a door and zone into a new area.
I quit after getting baffled by the teammate system. I befriended Dogmeat and he was a real asskicker, but then I fast travelled somewhere and never saw him again. 2 hours later, out of the blue, I got a message that said "Dogmeat has died". Alt-F4, never came back.
The lack of polish overall is what's deterring me. For example, in the beginning at your birthday party all the idiotic NPCs talk over eachother and interrupt what they are saying. Also, as I run through the wastelands I agro random enemies from 100 paces so that I always have 2 dogs, a mercenary, and a super mutant chasing me side by side, ignoring eachother. I'm also disappointed by the performance drops during combat on my relatively beefy PC - I get better framerate in Crysis fighting 14 guys in the dense jungle than I get in Fallout fighting 2 guys in the desert.
Personally, I'm totally sick of the Oblivion engine. The only thing that made Oblivion playable on PC was a multitude of fixes from the mod community, and there seems to be no such community for Fallout. At least Bethesda was more careful in designing the UI for high res PC monitors this time, but they've still released an unpolished and buggy product as they've done every time since Morrowind. Still, next to GTA4, it's the lesser of 2 evils so that's why it got my bucks.
They had half a million subscribers and sold hundreds of thousands of copies of each issue on newsstands. Success wasn't the reason for the shutdown, it was the fact that their new parent, UGO, doesn't want to engage in the costly print industry. That's according to former Editor In Chief James Mielke, anyway.
The email came from gmail.com. I verified the IP address in the headers and it seems to have really come from Gmail. I reported it to Google but got no reply. Something tells me Spamcop wouldn't be surprised by this.
I received one spam email this year which was addressed to me, using my proper first, middle, and last name, as well as my old address back from when I used to live with my parents. The only place I would have volunteered this information online was the Monster job website several years back. I emailed Monster, rather furious at how lax their privacy was. They confirmed that this was their fault but were completely unapologetic.
Fortunately (I think) I never received a second email like this.
Most, if not all, of the microtransaction games I've seen have been totally free with optional payments in lieu of playing a few hours. You'd only be nickel and diming yourself.
We pay for the CBC television station with our taxes as well. CBC has even begun hosting their own streaming and downloadable repeats on their website, like with the awesome and hilarious TV adaptation of Douglas Coupland's jPod.
Uh, if the updating code is running, what do you care whether it's running in the process with the main browser process or in its own process where you can see what resources it's consuming separately? Do you think the number of processes is that important? I would rather have it in a separate process.
Yeah, I do think the number of processes is important. So many apps install permanently resident updaters (Java, Acrobat, Flash, etc.) when it would suffice perfectly for those apps to simply check for a new version when their base app is invoked. It's presumptuous and greedy of those companies to assume their app is important enough that it should be resident 24/7.
Yay conspiracy theory! I'm sure the engineers who designed the updater were thinking exactly that when they made that architectural decision.
It's a very popular theory that Google developed Chrome simply to put another logo in front of users' faces. That's why Microsoft took on Netscape. That's why Google invests in Firefox. It's not like these companies profit fiscally by spending R&D on this free software.
So yes, I do argue that Google's engineers were thinking of this face time when they designed an always-resident, inefficient, and unneccesary updater. If they cared to do it right they'd do it like Firefox.
I have a few browsers installed for when I need a secondary browser for whatever reason, but thanks to the persistence of GoogleUpdate.exe I uninstalled Chrome a long time ago. Can't the browser update when it's running? Well, of course it can, but Google published Chrome to increase its overall face time with its customers so that's why they'll cram as much down our throats as possible.
Yes, I believe it matters immensely. The average AoC player is mature, polite, and accommodating. I can't say the same about any other MMO I've played. AoC is the only MMO rated M so from what I've seen that's the game more mature players flock to.
I've loved every GTA since the very first one, and I love that Rockstar has done such a fantastic job of providing PC versions of every single game (until this one, of course). I've been an avid gamer for over 20 years and, never having tried GTA4 yet, San Andreas is in my top 5 games of all time.
I'm pretty heartbroken to hear of all these issues and I'll be waiting for a patch before I buy GTA4. I have faith in Rockstar, though. Their gameplay, writing, level design, and missions are enormous strides ahead of the dozens of pretenders who imitate but never duplicate such a great gaming experience.
...a better approach would be to not purchase the game, and not pirate it either. By pirating it, you just give them ammunition to keep pushing DRM as evidence that it isn't yet good enough.
I disagree. I'm sure GTA4 is totally worth playing, but having to deal with SecuROM, Games for Windows Live, and Rockstar Social Club is a hell of a lot of baggage.
I argue that pirating the game states very clearly that the product has value but the terms are unacceptable. I think the last thing any gamer wants is to discourage Rockstar from making more GTA games!
When I couldn't stand my friends' nagging any longer I bought 3 months of WoW a couple of years ago. I played for about 5 weeks and uninstalled it. It's a fine game but it's not the game for me.
I enjoyed AoC much, much more - partly because my wife joined me, partly because the graphics are so much better, partly because the writing and tone of the game are much darker and more mature and primal, and partly because all players are 18+.
I'm not an MMO player by any means but I bought AoC because of Funcom's reputation with single player games. With this expectation I was, in part, extremely satisfied. I'd played The Longest Journey and Dreamfall prior to hearing about AoC, and I was not at all disappointed with the calibre of writing used to justify performing menial tasks in ordinary quests.
However, as you say, LullySing, the stability of the game and the absence of features promised on the box are what drove me away. I just wasn't willing to subscribe to a book where I had to endure instability during page flips.
I forgot to mention why I quit again after 2 months. I got my new main up to lvl 72 and felt like I'd pretty much seen the whole game. There are two areas for lvls 70-80 and I'd scoured them pretty thoroughly. I didn't feel motivated to replay any of the areas I'd already mastered with this one character which left pretty much nothing in the entire world for me to discover anew.
I'll definitely check out an expansion pack but until then I'm done.
I played the game for less than a month at launch before quitting, but came back with my wife for a couple of months recently before cancelling once again. My wife and I had a really great time playing together, actually.
A huge part of our enjoyment was thanks to our awesome guild. The 18+ subscribership (due to the game being rated M) is a real boon. At 30 and 25 my wife and I were the youngest in our guild and were made very welcome as we participated in conversations about our guildies' jobs, children, and even grandchildren.
If you've got someone to play with I highly recommend checking this game out for at least a couple of months. The game is pretty stable (but not entirely) and is undoubtedly the most attractive MMO there's ever been. The scenery alone makes the world a true pleasure to inhabit; as a Canadian I felt especially at home in the tundra.
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Sorry that I don't have an answer for you, but rather a question. Do voltage adapters work on the DS? My wife and I bought a voltage adapter specifically for our DS before traveling to Europe but decided not to use it because the box warned that it was only to be used on high output machines like hair dryers. Have you had any problems with your voltage converter?
Size has never stopped most people from pirating games before who want to pirate.
Well, that was the rationale of the first CDROM games for PC. The copy protection was the fact that one would have to pay exorbitant sums in order to duplicate CDs. It worked for a short while.
Today, you have to admit it's pretty compelling to be able to start downloading a handheld RPG that takes 30 hours to complete and have it downloaded and ready to play before you're even finished reading the review.
I've got a knockoff R4 and not only does it work fine, it also gets occasional firmware updates which enable it to work on the newest games. For example I was curious about the new Chrono Trigger game but wasn't sure whether it was worth buying once again so I tried it on my R4 but it didn't work. I found a recent firmware update and installed it, and then the game worked. I thought the new Chrono Trigger was a far better reinterpretation of the original than the lame Playstation version so I bought it.
I admit I have trouble running about 50% of homebrew, though, and that's a huge shame. I'll probably try a different flashcart next time because I'm disappointed to be missing out on some really cool indie games and utilities.
I sometimes have to try the card 3 or 4 times to get it to read properly. This is only an issue if I remove the card to play a normal cart and then swap back.
I have the same trouble with my R4 which is a few months old, but my wife has no such trouble with hers which is about 18 months old. We showed our R4 cards to someone who told us that mine was a cheap knockoff and hers was original. Mine still works but it's a little sensitive - if I accidentally jostle the card my game freezes and I lose my progress. It works great otherwise, and the only other difference is that my wife's SD slot is springloaded while mine just slides relatively uninhibited.
Or, you could actually take a few minutes to look up online what the good games are which aren't.
That's what I did when I bought Mario Kart and Zelda for DS. They were rated very highly so I dropped $100 on them and I thought they were derivative tripe that I'd already played 5 times before. Reviews are subjective.
I'm with you on this one. My wife and I bought a DS and a few games before our honeymoon last year and all but one were awful. DS games are ridiculously expensive for what you get. I would have written off the DS entirely if not for a little miracle - one charge of the battery lasted our entire 11-day vacation!
Since then we've gotten an R4 and we preview games before buying. We've gone on to buy some really great games that take good advantage of the DS - Warioware, Phoenix Wright, Cooking Mama, Spelling Challenge, Korg DS-10, and Chrono Trigger to name a few.
At least Nintendo has started releasing demos for DS games which you can access if you have a Wii. That's a start. Still, I've been burned for about $300 on shamefully terrible games and the R4 is the only reason I'm not completely disgruntled with the entire DS platform. 99% of DS games are worthless, and if Nintendo isn't going to enforce some kind of quality control then it's their own fault if the end-users take matters into their own hands.
You actually use all 50 carts? I've got enough room for 12 in my bag and rarely ever use more than 1-2 of them.
You think people with 40GB iPods actually listen to all that music before their battery needs to be charged again? Or would a better solution be to throw 30 CDs in your bag and lug those around with you?
Physical media is a burden, plain and simple.
I bought this game during my vacation when I had loads of spare time, but only played for 4 hours and haven't touched it in a week. The game's crashed on me at least 5 times, though thankfully, like Oblivion, it saves every time you walk through a door and zone into a new area.
I quit after getting baffled by the teammate system. I befriended Dogmeat and he was a real asskicker, but then I fast travelled somewhere and never saw him again. 2 hours later, out of the blue, I got a message that said "Dogmeat has died". Alt-F4, never came back.
The lack of polish overall is what's deterring me. For example, in the beginning at your birthday party all the idiotic NPCs talk over eachother and interrupt what they are saying. Also, as I run through the wastelands I agro random enemies from 100 paces so that I always have 2 dogs, a mercenary, and a super mutant chasing me side by side, ignoring eachother. I'm also disappointed by the performance drops during combat on my relatively beefy PC - I get better framerate in Crysis fighting 14 guys in the dense jungle than I get in Fallout fighting 2 guys in the desert.
Personally, I'm totally sick of the Oblivion engine. The only thing that made Oblivion playable on PC was a multitude of fixes from the mod community, and there seems to be no such community for Fallout. At least Bethesda was more careful in designing the UI for high res PC monitors this time, but they've still released an unpolished and buggy product as they've done every time since Morrowind. Still, next to GTA4, it's the lesser of 2 evils so that's why it got my bucks.
They had half a million subscribers and sold hundreds of thousands of copies of each issue on newsstands. Success wasn't the reason for the shutdown, it was the fact that their new parent, UGO, doesn't want to engage in the costly print industry. That's according to former Editor In Chief James Mielke, anyway.
Forty, actually.
The email came from gmail.com. I verified the IP address in the headers and it seems to have really come from Gmail. I reported it to Google but got no reply. Something tells me Spamcop wouldn't be surprised by this.
I received one spam email this year which was addressed to me, using my proper first, middle, and last name, as well as my old address back from when I used to live with my parents. The only place I would have volunteered this information online was the Monster job website several years back. I emailed Monster, rather furious at how lax their privacy was. They confirmed that this was their fault but were completely unapologetic.
Fortunately (I think) I never received a second email like this.
Most, if not all, of the microtransaction games I've seen have been totally free with optional payments in lieu of playing a few hours. You'd only be nickel and diming yourself.
We pay for the CBC television station with our taxes as well. CBC has even begun hosting their own streaming and downloadable repeats on their website, like with the awesome and hilarious TV adaptation of Douglas Coupland's jPod.
Yeah, I do think the number of processes is important. So many apps install permanently resident updaters (Java, Acrobat, Flash, etc.) when it would suffice perfectly for those apps to simply check for a new version when their base app is invoked. It's presumptuous and greedy of those companies to assume their app is important enough that it should be resident 24/7.
It's a very popular theory that Google developed Chrome simply to put another logo in front of users' faces. That's why Microsoft took on Netscape. That's why Google invests in Firefox. It's not like these companies profit fiscally by spending R&D on this free software.
So yes, I do argue that Google's engineers were thinking of this face time when they designed an always-resident, inefficient, and unneccesary updater. If they cared to do it right they'd do it like Firefox.
I have a few browsers installed for when I need a secondary browser for whatever reason, but thanks to the persistence of GoogleUpdate.exe I uninstalled Chrome a long time ago. Can't the browser update when it's running? Well, of course it can, but Google published Chrome to increase its overall face time with its customers so that's why they'll cram as much down our throats as possible.
Yes, I believe it matters immensely. The average AoC player is mature, polite, and accommodating. I can't say the same about any other MMO I've played. AoC is the only MMO rated M so from what I've seen that's the game more mature players flock to.
I've loved every GTA since the very first one, and I love that Rockstar has done such a fantastic job of providing PC versions of every single game (until this one, of course). I've been an avid gamer for over 20 years and, never having tried GTA4 yet, San Andreas is in my top 5 games of all time.
I'm pretty heartbroken to hear of all these issues and I'll be waiting for a patch before I buy GTA4. I have faith in Rockstar, though. Their gameplay, writing, level design, and missions are enormous strides ahead of the dozens of pretenders who imitate but never duplicate such a great gaming experience.
You think that if nobody buys the product it will encourage them to make a sequel?
I disagree. I'm sure GTA4 is totally worth playing, but having to deal with SecuROM, Games for Windows Live, and Rockstar Social Club is a hell of a lot of baggage.
I argue that pirating the game states very clearly that the product has value but the terms are unacceptable. I think the last thing any gamer wants is to discourage Rockstar from making more GTA games!
To be fair, WotLK is an expansion pack with nothing but high level content. AoC is just the base game.
When I couldn't stand my friends' nagging any longer I bought 3 months of WoW a couple of years ago. I played for about 5 weeks and uninstalled it. It's a fine game but it's not the game for me.
I enjoyed AoC much, much more - partly because my wife joined me, partly because the graphics are so much better, partly because the writing and tone of the game are much darker and more mature and primal, and partly because all players are 18+.
I'm not an MMO player by any means but I bought AoC because of Funcom's reputation with single player games. With this expectation I was, in part, extremely satisfied. I'd played The Longest Journey and Dreamfall prior to hearing about AoC, and I was not at all disappointed with the calibre of writing used to justify performing menial tasks in ordinary quests.
However, as you say, LullySing, the stability of the game and the absence of features promised on the box are what drove me away. I just wasn't willing to subscribe to a book where I had to endure instability during page flips.
I forgot to mention why I quit again after 2 months. I got my new main up to lvl 72 and felt like I'd pretty much seen the whole game. There are two areas for lvls 70-80 and I'd scoured them pretty thoroughly. I didn't feel motivated to replay any of the areas I'd already mastered with this one character which left pretty much nothing in the entire world for me to discover anew.
I'll definitely check out an expansion pack but until then I'm done.
I played the game for less than a month at launch before quitting, but came back with my wife for a couple of months recently before cancelling once again. My wife and I had a really great time playing together, actually.
A huge part of our enjoyment was thanks to our awesome guild. The 18+ subscribership (due to the game being rated M) is a real boon. At 30 and 25 my wife and I were the youngest in our guild and were made very welcome as we participated in conversations about our guildies' jobs, children, and even grandchildren.
If you've got someone to play with I highly recommend checking this game out for at least a couple of months. The game is pretty stable (but not entirely) and is undoubtedly the most attractive MMO there's ever been. The scenery alone makes the world a true pleasure to inhabit; as a Canadian I felt especially at home in the tundra.