Really, the game is essentially Neverwinter Nights in Star Wars. A good thing, and I think it goes a long way towards popularizing PC RPG's -- man the lifeboats, indeed.
Does that really make sense, indie games 'taking back' a piece of the PC market? What happens is this: a small developer makes a game worthy of great praise. Small game developer becomes big developer practically overnight. Small companies still have negligable hold. If they stay small, they at least cease to be indie, saddling up with a bigger company.
Besides, I'm not sure anybody has a significant hold an a portion of the PC market. It's too volatile to make such a claim. The only thing faster than a small company's explosion is a large company's implosion.
I before E, except after C, and when sounding like A like in neighbor and weigh, an on weekends, and holidays, and you're always wrong, no matter what you say!
Well, it's a cup, with dirt in it. I call it cup of dirt.
Words are symbolic representations of ideas meant for communication. If it's not generally accepted, with a defined meaning, it ultimately has none in society as a whole, or within whatever group one happens to be talking about.
You realize that independent servers can bypass those serial checks, right? And that those servers can also allow the use of game executables that have the CD-check software stripped out? And, in fact, in a few increasingly rare cases, a really good image format and a virtual drive are all you need, the EXE won't be able to tell the difference anyhow!
I think of Blizzard more than I think of Bungie ot Cyan when I think of "when it's done, it's done." They just pushed back World of Warcraft's BETA, because they didn't even consider it ready to test. And they have cancelled a game, WarCraft Adventures....ah, that was for the best. But seriously, their games are often delayed far more than Halo 2 has been. But it's worth it. Of course, they don't have publishers breathing down their neck. When you start a Blizzard game, you see just one company logo on start-up. Refreshing, really.
Interesting thing about Square games (at least the more modern ones): They DO use the entire controller, but assign the buttons to things you will never, ever use (switch, target, assist...I know not what these things even MEAN). I wonder if that's because of a feeling that the controller must be 'fully utilized' or because the buttons are there, and you might as well just put something in for them to do. Do they do it because they feel the need to, or just because they might as well?
Yeah, but some people love IW. Some people say it's miles ahead of the original!
Personally, I do find that hard to believe, though my geForce4 MX keeps me from even playing it. Still, there are people who loved the downshift in complexity.
I would like authorities to do thir jobs while respecting privacy and all, I'm not sure it's even feasible. You don't want to give up a tiny bit of privacy? Then you may just have to give up the protection. There is no non-invasive way to conduct many of these investigations, it's simply impossible, because the investigations are directly related to what people are saying and doing.
Of course, in the case of tapping and the like it's doubtful you'll even even be affected, with or without your knowledge. Not unless there's reason to suspect you, or a person you're talking to, of something.
But maybe that's why you mention "presumption of innocence." That's a great idea, sure, but it doesn't work in practice. Suspects are put in jail and stay there if they can't make bail. That's the only practical way to do things. And if presuming innocence means not even looking into your activities, then no criminal could ever be convicted.
I'm aware of the government's questionable motives, certainly. But if you can't come up with a better method, a safer method, a less 1984 method, you may just have to live with it.
Sony is the company that makes consoles with more games than would fit inside the moons of Mars. Games have never been a problem for them, they're the clear winner in quantity, to such a huge margin that it doesn't even matter that (IMO) Nintendo always comes out on top in quality.
But now they suddenly need to keep royalties low? So low that they need to make a profit off the system itself? This implies one of two things, I think:
It's possible that they want to have a library to compete with the impressive GBA offering as soon as possible. This IS, in fact, vital for the PSP to have any degree of success at all. But somehow it doesn't seem likely to be the main reason for it in my mind. For some reason, possibility two seems more likely to me.
They may be having trouble getting developers to put in any decent amount of effort at all. If so, this is going to be a disaster. How can the more expensive system beat the cheaper one with more and better games?
I have no real reason for thinking that the latter possibility is the right one, so don't trust me on that. While I've heard of less companies jumping onto the PSP than I think Sony should be hoping for, I don't follow the news quite religiously, or know what companies AREN'T saying. But it does make me suspicious, and I'd at least pay attention to that if I were you.
I'm not sure anybody's connecting the flaws in this PSP plan. Nobody's grasping the grand connectedness of all the problems.
They're entering a market that's been dominated by Nintendo since the release of Game Boy in 1989. Really, what was the biggest competitor for the Game Boy since it came into existence? Game Gear? Maybe WonderSwan in Japan? Pffft. Game Boy sales are tens of times higher than those two combined.
And they're making it so that it's really only accessible to people in late teens or older.
And Nintendo's fan loyalty is freaking legendary.
And the GBA has some of the greatest games I've ever played, handheld or not.
So, in conclusion, Sony is releasing a product in a field that's virtually monopolized by a company that already has a superior product (initially, and possibly permanently, again, the games are amazing), for about five times the cost of said product, and are targetting the very demographic which is more likely than any other to like this superior, cheaper product, targetting it to the extent of excluding other demographics almost entirely?
Firstly, I want to make it clear that I do value my privacy, and it is (or would be, at least) comforting to know that my communications are private. I'm with all of you on that.
But what do you expect authorities to do? These people have jobs, they have responsibilities. FOr FBI agents, heir responsibility is to catch criminals, often drug dealers. (Let's not get into whether that's a worthwhile goal--for marijuana, it's questionable, but for lots of other things, not so much.) How are they supposed to do that? These things are all about connections between people. Exchanges and conversations between individuals. Without tapping conversations, their only feasible way to EVER catch practically anybody is if they get a tip from another person, and then they would still have a hard time convicting them.
Of course, there are other things tapping is used for as well. Important things. Things that might be even harder to find through other means than drug deals.
So I don't like this, ultimately, but I can't find a way around it, if these people are going to do their jobs, and as such I think it's unfair to get mad at some of these people for doing what they do.
The speed went down, eh? Interesting. Mine went UP, in the Albany region, significantly, from about 275KByte/sec to 350KByte/sec. Actually, all-around, December saw great improvements in the quality of service in my area...or at least my household. Uptime back up from a dismal 90% or so to just about 100%, and speed increases to boot.
Slashdot Mirror
Come now. John Travolta isn't even up to Hollywood standards these days.
I know about ten people who have Morrowind for XBox, and about ten who have it for PC. I know about ten people who like it. Guess which ones.
Really, the game is essentially Neverwinter Nights in Star Wars. A good thing, and I think it goes a long way towards popularizing PC RPG's -- man the lifeboats, indeed.
Does that really make sense, indie games 'taking back' a piece of the PC market? What happens is this: a small developer makes a game worthy of great praise. Small game developer becomes big developer practically overnight. Small companies still have negligable hold. If they stay small, they at least cease to be indie, saddling up with a bigger company.
Besides, I'm not sure anybody has a significant hold an a portion of the PC market. It's too volatile to make such a claim. The only thing faster than a small company's explosion is a large company's implosion.
I before E, except after C, and when sounding like A like in neighbor and weigh, an on weekends, and holidays, and you're always wrong, no matter what you say!
Well, it's a cup, with dirt in it. I call it cup of dirt.
Words are symbolic representations of ideas meant for communication. If it's not generally accepted, with a defined meaning, it ultimately has none in society as a whole, or within whatever group one happens to be talking about.
Yeah...it's off-topic. Whatever.
You realize that independent servers can bypass those serial checks, right? And that those servers can also allow the use of game executables that have the CD-check software stripped out? And, in fact, in a few increasingly rare cases, a really good image format and a virtual drive are all you need, the EXE won't be able to tell the difference anyhow!
Trust me. It's really easy for anybody to do.
I think of Blizzard more than I think of Bungie ot Cyan when I think of "when it's done, it's done." They just pushed back World of Warcraft's BETA, because they didn't even consider it ready to test. And they have cancelled a game, WarCraft Adventures....ah, that was for the best. But seriously, their games are often delayed far more than Halo 2 has been. But it's worth it. Of course, they don't have publishers breathing down their neck. When you start a Blizzard game, you see just one company logo on start-up. Refreshing, really.
See, normally, I would agree with you here.
But for the $300 the PSP's going to cost, it should be doing a HELL of a lot.
No shame. Raise your head in pride, friend.
I think that's the idea. There has to be some challenge in a game, after all.
Interesting thing about Square games (at least the more modern ones): They DO use the entire controller, but assign the buttons to things you will never, ever use (switch, target, assist...I know not what these things even MEAN). I wonder if that's because of a feeling that the controller must be 'fully utilized' or because the buttons are there, and you might as well just put something in for them to do. Do they do it because they feel the need to, or just because they might as well?
Some versions do, yes. Other have two, others have one.
Yeah, but some people love IW. Some people say it's miles ahead of the original!
Personally, I do find that hard to believe, though my geForce4 MX keeps me from even playing it. Still, there are people who loved the downshift in complexity.
Any Missile Command game will keep me busy for a while, actually.
I would like authorities to do thir jobs while respecting privacy and all, I'm not sure it's even feasible. You don't want to give up a tiny bit of privacy? Then you may just have to give up the protection. There is no non-invasive way to conduct many of these investigations, it's simply impossible, because the investigations are directly related to what people are saying and doing.
Of course, in the case of tapping and the like it's doubtful you'll even even be affected, with or without your knowledge. Not unless there's reason to suspect you, or a person you're talking to, of something.
But maybe that's why you mention "presumption of innocence." That's a great idea, sure, but it doesn't work in practice. Suspects are put in jail and stay there if they can't make bail. That's the only practical way to do things. And if presuming innocence means not even looking into your activities, then no criminal could ever be convicted.
I'm aware of the government's questionable motives, certainly. But if you can't come up with a better method, a safer method, a less 1984 method, you may just have to live with it.
Not really, since that picture is CLEARLY not in infrared.
(Paraphrase)
The best GameCube games would only use the analog stick and the A button.
This is just my thinking. Not 'real information.'
Sony is the company that makes consoles with more games than would fit inside the moons of Mars. Games have never been a problem for them, they're the clear winner in quantity, to such a huge margin that it doesn't even matter that (IMO) Nintendo always comes out on top in quality.
But now they suddenly need to keep royalties low? So low that they need to make a profit off the system itself? This implies one of two things, I think:
It's possible that they want to have a library to compete with the impressive GBA offering as soon as possible. This IS, in fact, vital for the PSP to have any degree of success at all. But somehow it doesn't seem likely to be the main reason for it in my mind. For some reason, possibility two seems more likely to me.
They may be having trouble getting developers to put in any decent amount of effort at all. If so, this is going to be a disaster. How can the more expensive system beat the cheaper one with more and better games?
I have no real reason for thinking that the latter possibility is the right one, so don't trust me on that. While I've heard of less companies jumping onto the PSP than I think Sony should be hoping for, I don't follow the news quite religiously, or know what companies AREN'T saying. But it does make me suspicious, and I'd at least pay attention to that if I were you.
I'm not sure anybody's connecting the flaws in this PSP plan. Nobody's grasping the grand connectedness of all the problems.
They're entering a market that's been dominated by Nintendo since the release of Game Boy in 1989. Really, what was the biggest competitor for the Game Boy since it came into existence? Game Gear? Maybe WonderSwan in Japan? Pffft. Game Boy sales are tens of times higher than those two combined.
And they're making it so that it's really only accessible to people in late teens or older.
And Nintendo's fan loyalty is freaking legendary.
And the GBA has some of the greatest games I've ever played, handheld or not.
So, in conclusion, Sony is releasing a product in a field that's virtually monopolized by a company that already has a superior product (initially, and possibly permanently, again, the games are amazing), for about five times the cost of said product, and are targetting the very demographic which is more likely than any other to like this superior, cheaper product, targetting it to the extent of excluding other demographics almost entirely?
Woo! Great job, Sony!
Firstly, I want to make it clear that I do value my privacy, and it is (or would be, at least) comforting to know that my communications are private. I'm with all of you on that.
But what do you expect authorities to do? These people have jobs, they have responsibilities. FOr FBI agents, heir responsibility is to catch criminals, often drug dealers. (Let's not get into whether that's a worthwhile goal--for marijuana, it's questionable, but for lots of other things, not so much.) How are they supposed to do that? These things are all about connections between people. Exchanges and conversations between individuals. Without tapping conversations, their only feasible way to EVER catch practically anybody is if they get a tip from another person, and then they would still have a hard time convicting them.
Of course, there are other things tapping is used for as well. Important things. Things that might be even harder to find through other means than drug deals.
So I don't like this, ultimately, but I can't find a way around it, if these people are going to do their jobs, and as such I think it's unfair to get mad at some of these people for doing what they do.
Just a thought.
What you do, see, is not get involved in drug deals so they don't tap the conversation. Duh.
Um...there nVidia logos in the intros of about half the new games on the market now...
The speed went down, eh? Interesting. Mine went UP, in the Albany region, significantly, from about 275KByte/sec to 350KByte/sec. Actually, all-around, December saw great improvements in the quality of service in my area...or at least my household. Uptime back up from a dismal 90% or so to just about 100%, and speed increases to boot.
Roadrunner doesn't mind me pulling 10GB/day from their usenet server. Woo.