I wish you lived in the New York area... I love planes, am planning to get a private pilot license, but for now, the money has not materialized.
I love small airports, and I've gotten to know some pilots, but no one has offered a flight yet. I'm always hoping though.
I am in the exact same situation as you. The new generation of games comes out? Time to get that shiny new P4 3.2C, 800Mhz FSB Motherboard, a gig of RAM, etc...
And then you spend all your time optimizing, fixing, tweaking, and repairing your system. Sure, you have games, but they are mostly used as benchmarks.
It's time to admit what you are: A Computer Hypochondriac.
I'm reminded of an interview that PlanetHalfLife did with Marc Lairdlaw a little while back. Marc is the writer for Half-Life, and Half-Life 2. I'll let him say it since he knows says it better than I ever could.
"Branching storylines are part of an unholy grail of open-ended interactive story design which I have little interest in pursuing. I'm told that The Way of the Samurai does a fine job with a branching storyline that differs each time you play it, depending on choices you make. However, the people who recommended this game didn't play it more than once or twice, so what exactly is all that branching worth to the player? Part of the allure of the concept of the branching storyline, to some developers, is this notion that it is somehow superior to a linear storyline. I really haven't seen any evidence to support this. So far, the Grail is useful mainly as a thing for game theoreticians to point at when they're saying, "See that insubstantial golden thing way up there? That's a whole lot better than the dribble glass you made." To which I'd say, "I'll stick with my dribble glass, thanks. Some of what I'm drinking might run down my chin, but most of it gets in my mouth." Replayability is another matter. I think people replay Half-Life not because they want different story outcomes, but because they enjoy the gameplay and the scenarios. The fun of non-scripted events is that they fall out differently for each player, and on every play-through, not that they lead to completely different outcomes. Sometimes the variations are very small, but enough to let you know that you're not simply watching a movie."
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I wish you lived in the New York area... I love planes, am planning to get a private pilot license, but for now, the money has not materialized. I love small airports, and I've gotten to know some pilots, but no one has offered a flight yet. I'm always hoping though.
One trick? Vivendi owns a little company called Valve. Maybe you've heard of them?
Half-Life?
Counter-Strike?
Half-Life 2?
Team Fortress 2?
There are some surefire hits right there...
I am in the exact same situation as you. The new generation of games comes out? Time to get that shiny new P4 3.2C, 800Mhz FSB Motherboard, a gig of RAM, etc...
And then you spend all your time optimizing, fixing, tweaking, and repairing your system. Sure, you have games, but they are mostly used as benchmarks.
It's time to admit what you are: A Computer Hypochondriac.
Hi Folks, my first post on any slashdot page.
I'm reminded of an interview that PlanetHalfLife did with Marc Lairdlaw a little while back. Marc is the writer for Half-Life, and Half-Life 2. I'll let him say it since he knows says it better than I ever could.
"Branching storylines are part of an unholy grail of open-ended interactive story design which I have little interest in pursuing. I'm told that The Way of the Samurai does a fine job with a branching storyline that differs each time you play it, depending on choices you make. However, the people who recommended this game didn't play it more than once or twice, so what exactly is all that branching worth to the player? Part of the allure of the concept of the branching storyline, to some developers, is this notion that it is somehow superior to a linear storyline. I really haven't seen any evidence to support this. So far, the Grail is useful mainly as a thing for game theoreticians to point at when they're saying, "See that insubstantial golden thing way up there? That's a whole lot better than the dribble glass you made." To which I'd say, "I'll stick with my dribble glass, thanks. Some of what I'm drinking might run down my chin, but most of it gets in my mouth."
Replayability is another matter. I think people replay Half-Life not because they want different story outcomes, but because they enjoy the gameplay and the scenarios. The fun of non-scripted events is that they fall out differently for each player, and on every play-through, not that they lead to completely different outcomes. Sometimes the variations are very small, but enough to let you know that you're not simply watching a movie."