LANs ARE the greatest gaming experiences, but I smack my friends and do my victory dance every day! No need to get more than 2-4 people together.
Gotta agree on the controllers...There just isn't anything I've ever found that has good analog sticks. That's important, dammit. My old MS Sidewinder pad would be great if it wasn't for the terrible directional pad, which is analog, but without the stick. And...I don't like the PS2 controller either. Bleh.
$550 total so far, including the monitor. SInce this is about console games vs. PC games, how much does it cost to be able to play all console games? If you bought the systems when they were first released, quite a bit more.
Granted, getting everything that cheap did involve using some older parts, but I did buy a pre-assembled computer here. It just lacked any kind of storage, since I had plenty of CD / hard drives lying around. Add the price of those in...these things are old, wouldn't cost much. The $550 also includes one RAM upgrade, which is easy enough when it comes to actual installation, but sometimes I know compatability can be a bitch...or so I've heard, I just bought the same thing that was already in here and snapped it in.
The very high-priced DVD burner addition is irrelevant.;-)
It's not that I don't like consoles, I love the hell out of my Gamecube and it gets plenty of play. It's just that I really don't see consoles as being PC killers. I'm aware that not everybody takes the time to find great deals on computers (self-assembly is probably out of the question here) but if consoles do start threatening the PC market, you can be sure that you'll be seeing them more often.
YOu know, not everybody has those problems. In fact, discounting the problems with playing older games in newer versions of Windows, there have only been two games I couldn't get to run right away, and that was because my hardware's a bit out of date (GeForce4 MX, I will destroy you.). I'm talking about putting in the game, installing, and having it work fine right away. I think I remember a small hitch somewhere with Enter the Matrix...but I'm not even sure about that.
Get a good system and you won't have any problems. The only problems I've had are...well, the equivalents of trying to play GCN or SNES games on an N64, I suppose.
It's sad, yet funny, to look at how people view adventure games. One month, editorial sites are posting articles on how the genre is dead. The next, The Longest Journey/Siberia/something-else wins just about every single honor it possibly could have and is touted as the greatest thing ever. A month later, a rehashed account of the death of adventure games is published. And it happens again...and again...
It's not even a matter of low interest, I think. It's not as if people hear of the games and say, "Oh, sorry, not interested," it's a matter of people not ever hearing of the games. This kind of thing happens to great games of all genres, but it seems like it's happened to every single good adventure game since...well...the era of Sam and Max.
The market IS there, it's just that nobody realizes it, nobody advertises towards it.
I haven't been happy with some of the reliability of some of the single layer DVD-R media I've bought.
In my own personal experience, that tends to be a result of low-quality discs, not complex technology. Luckily for myself, I recieved a huge number of TDK blanks over the holidays, and I haven't had a single issue since with over 40 discs burned.
Well, there's other research, as has been mentioned on/., on interpreting motor impulses. Those impulses can be used to manipulate prosthetics, even if the natural nerve paths are damaged. I think that's the direction to look at for a solution to problems of that nature.
Windows is perfectly safe as long as you know what you're doing. Have a good firewall, replace IE/OE with TB/FF or Moz, be a little careful about what you download, and NEVER run stuff that gets mailed to you!
Honestly, Windows is pretty safe even without the firewall, if you do everything else properly. Not perfectly safe, of course, but nothing ever is, and if I've got a problem on here sophisticated enough to escape my notice, then hell, it deserves to be on here. Norton hasn't caught anything in years, except for the one time I used Kazaa for something.
Full agreement here!I'm in the middle of my second playthrough now. It's strange, but I have a little trouble playing the bad guy. I know it's just a game and has no real meaning, of course, but something in me just felt wrong about helping the Wookie slavers...
Ah, well. If it means I can easily use the better Force powers, good then.
Unfortunately, it's not really doable. What if you want to look at something else? The game doesn't know where YOUR eyes are. and so it can't put the right objects in focus.
The Naboo Starfighter looks like it got pulled out of a junkyard.
It really does, and it also looks like at one point it was one of the most beautiful things you ever did see. They really nailed it with those games, I think. Much more so with the GameCube versions than the N64 one, of course, but I still think the original looks pretty damn good.
Though IIRC, the Naboo fighter in the original was pretty pristine...bah, practically nobody ever knew it was in there anyway.
Yeah, I remember it like that too. Oh, man...I played that game with headphones cranked way up, in a room that was pitch black except for the glow from the monitor, and all in one sitting.
We are talking a company that took 6 years to get rid of a setting in Outlook that automatically opened any file attachments. And you couldn't disable it.
And that's stupid? Not really. Just lazy. I doubt it cost them that much money, and you know what? Nothing else matters. At all. A company with bad software is not necessarily stupid, especially if they manage to sell that bad software as well as MS has.
In this case, I'll pay for it. At least at first. I think that it's justified, because you aren't JUST paying for access, you're paying for support, for (most likely) damn good servers using sophisticated techniques, and most importantly more content. BLizzard's creating a huge team just to provide patches, content, plot development and other changes for many years to come--the plot is already planned out for three years in advance, including the opening of the Dark Portal and the world of Dreannor. Oh yeah.
Anyway...I do understand the concern about the model sprewading to other arenas...but I think it's not something we really need to worry about. Most games these days run on independent servers. Blizzard themselves provide the best gaming service around, IMO, and it's free and will stay that way for the forseeable future. That's one of those things they're dedicated to, and it will make many pay services look bad by comparison. Again, I see where you're coming from, but it'll take more than a slew of MMORPGs to change the system.
Make the software good enough, though, and you might get enough good will. I'm curious to know how much money people send Patrick Kolla, creator of Spybot. Enough for him to keep using the 'donation' model, apparently.
There's simply no way that Blizzard could let them do key checking without sacrificing security. And even if they did, new servers would be constantly springing up that just had is disabled! (Open source...yaaay...)
People are quick to say that what they did was wrong, but they're never able to say exactly what would have been right.
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LANs ARE the greatest gaming experiences, but I smack my friends and do my victory dance every day! No need to get more than 2-4 people together.
Gotta agree on the controllers...There just isn't anything I've ever found that has good analog sticks. That's important, dammit. My old MS Sidewinder pad would be great if it wasn't for the terrible directional pad, which is analog, but without the stick. And...I don't like the PS2 controller either. Bleh.
$550 total so far, including the monitor. SInce this is about console games vs. PC games, how much does it cost to be able to play all console games? If you bought the systems when they were first released, quite a bit more.
;-)
Granted, getting everything that cheap did involve using some older parts, but I did buy a pre-assembled computer here. It just lacked any kind of storage, since I had plenty of CD / hard drives lying around. Add the price of those in...these things are old, wouldn't cost much. The $550 also includes one RAM upgrade, which is easy enough when it comes to actual installation, but sometimes I know compatability can be a bitch...or so I've heard, I just bought the same thing that was already in here and snapped it in.
The very high-priced DVD burner addition is irrelevant.
It's not that I don't like consoles, I love the hell out of my Gamecube and it gets plenty of play. It's just that I really don't see consoles as being PC killers. I'm aware that not everybody takes the time to find great deals on computers (self-assembly is probably out of the question here) but if consoles do start threatening the PC market, you can be sure that you'll be seeing them more often.
No, not true. Like I said, if I had an N64, I might have trouble playing some new games.
A Fine Arts degree for gaming? Can't you just go to Digipen or something? It seems to me like that would be a better choice...
YOu know, not everybody has those problems. In fact, discounting the problems with playing older games in newer versions of Windows, there have only been two games I couldn't get to run right away, and that was because my hardware's a bit out of date (GeForce4 MX, I will destroy you.). I'm talking about putting in the game, installing, and having it work fine right away. I think I remember a small hitch somewhere with Enter the Matrix...but I'm not even sure about that.
Get a good system and you won't have any problems. The only problems I've had are...well, the equivalents of trying to play GCN or SNES games on an N64, I suppose.
Oh, come now. There's nothing like being able to smack your friends around and jump up and do a victory dance when you kick their asses.
Sure, it's stupid, but isn't everything that's truly fun?
I actually refuse to look at them. For me, the pain is still too near...
Longest Journey might be better if you can get your hands on it. It's got a female as the protagonist. Goes a long way.
Too far, actually. I couldn't get my girlfriend off my freaking computer for a whole day.
It's sad, yet funny, to look at how people view adventure games. One month, editorial sites are posting articles on how the genre is dead. The next, The Longest Journey/Siberia/something-else wins just about every single honor it possibly could have and is touted as the greatest thing ever. A month later, a rehashed account of the death of adventure games is published. And it happens again...and again...
It's not even a matter of low interest, I think. It's not as if people hear of the games and say, "Oh, sorry, not interested," it's a matter of people not ever hearing of the games. This kind of thing happens to great games of all genres, but it seems like it's happened to every single good adventure game since...well...the era of Sam and Max.
The market IS there, it's just that nobody realizes it, nobody advertises towards it.
Bah.
This could really revolutionize the gaming industry. For example Final Fantasy XI fits on what 6 Cd's? It would all fit on just one HD DVD!!
And that's revolutionary how? Maybe a little cheaper, but only because of the packaging.
I haven't been happy with some of the reliability of some of the single layer DVD-R media I've bought.
In my own personal experience, that tends to be a result of low-quality discs, not complex technology. Luckily for myself, I recieved a huge number of TDK blanks over the holidays, and I haven't had a single issue since with over 40 discs burned.
Well, there's other research, as has been mentioned on /., on interpreting motor impulses. Those impulses can be used to manipulate prosthetics, even if the natural nerve paths are damaged. I think that's the direction to look at for a solution to problems of that nature.
Windows is perfectly safe as long as you know what you're doing. Have a good firewall, replace IE/OE with TB/FF or Moz, be a little careful about what you download, and NEVER run stuff that gets mailed to you!
Honestly, Windows is pretty safe even without the firewall, if you do everything else properly. Not perfectly safe, of course, but nothing ever is, and if I've got a problem on here sophisticated enough to escape my notice, then hell, it deserves to be on here. Norton hasn't caught anything in years, except for the one time I used Kazaa for something.
Full agreement here!I'm in the middle of my second playthrough now. It's strange, but I have a little trouble playing the bad guy. I know it's just a game and has no real meaning, of course, but something in me just felt wrong about helping the Wookie slavers...
Ah, well. If it means I can easily use the better Force powers, good then.
I was thinking the same thing. Model's wrong! Guaranteed!
Unfortunately, it's not really doable. What if you want to look at something else? The game doesn't know where YOUR eyes are. and so it can't put the right objects in focus.
The Naboo Starfighter looks like it got pulled out of a junkyard.
It really does, and it also looks like at one point it was one of the most beautiful things you ever did see. They really nailed it with those games, I think. Much more so with the GameCube versions than the N64 one, of course, but I still think the original looks pretty damn good.
Though IIRC, the Naboo fighter in the original was pretty pristine...bah, practically nobody ever knew it was in there anyway.
Yeah, I remember it like that too. Oh, man...I played that game with headphones cranked way up, in a room that was pitch black except for the glow from the monitor, and all in one sitting.
I came out a different person, I tell you.
The ironic thing is that it would probably be a benefit to all the AOL users...
We are talking a company that took 6 years to get rid of a setting in Outlook that automatically opened any file attachments. And you couldn't disable it.
And that's stupid? Not really. Just lazy. I doubt it cost them that much money, and you know what? Nothing else matters. At all. A company with bad software is not necessarily stupid, especially if they manage to sell that bad software as well as MS has.
In this case, I'll pay for it. At least at first. I think that it's justified, because you aren't JUST paying for access, you're paying for support, for (most likely) damn good servers using sophisticated techniques, and most importantly more content. BLizzard's creating a huge team just to provide patches, content, plot development and other changes for many years to come--the plot is already planned out for three years in advance, including the opening of the Dark Portal and the world of Dreannor. Oh yeah.
Anyway...I do understand the concern about the model sprewading to other arenas...but I think it's not something we really need to worry about. Most games these days run on independent servers. Blizzard themselves provide the best gaming service around, IMO, and it's free and will stay that way for the forseeable future. That's one of those things they're dedicated to, and it will make many pay services look bad by comparison. Again, I see where you're coming from, but it'll take more than a slew of MMORPGs to change the system.
Make the software good enough, though, and you might get enough good will. I'm curious to know how much money people send Patrick Kolla, creator of Spybot. Enough for him to keep using the 'donation' model, apparently.
Maybe MS programmers will start participating with the community and answering questions on the developers newsgroups.
Hold up...did the parent just imply that Linux users were helpful and would answer questions?!?
Hah, it's a joke! I'm kidding!
Sorta!
Well, they did pause production for a while a few months ago, I believe.
At the time it seemed prudent, but I don't think anybody expected them to do as well as they did over the holiday season, them included.
There's simply no way that Blizzard could let them do key checking without sacrificing security. And even if they did, new servers would be constantly springing up that just had is disabled! (Open source...yaaay...)
People are quick to say that what they did was wrong, but they're never able to say exactly what would have been right.