Gamerfeed has a report stating that the industry had over $9.9 billion in revenues in 2004, compared to $10 billion in 2003. And that while revenues were down, "total industry unit sales were up 4 percent over the same period last year."
Also, a New York Times article (mirror) says PC games are not included in the current numbers. They will be available "in the next few days."
When I read that quote, the first thing I thought of was Fox going after Simpsons and X-Files fan sites for posting copyrighted material. I can't remember if any of that got past the cease and desist stage, though.
The game released in the US as Final Fantasy III for the SNES was Final Fantasy VI. Final Fantasy III has never been released in the US, though it is being ported to the DS.
Bungie has let dedicated fans play Halo 2 before launch on many occasions, such as E3.
Well, if you're a dedicated fan who also works in the industry, for a retailer like Electronics Boutique or as a member of the press, then you might have played it at E3. In years past, running a single web page with some gaming news was enough to constitute gaming press, but they've cracked down on that in recent years.
The easiest way to get through the Impact Crater is always keep moving, with one exception.
When you enter, just run. Stay to the left of the central pillar so the Metroid doesn't pick up on you right away. Jump on the floating platform, then to the ledges along the wall. When you get to the floating platforms, turn during your jumps so when you land, you are already facing the direction of your next jump.
When you cross the central pillar halfway up and get back to another ledge, ignore the missle reload room. Move along the wall, between an "aquarium" in the wall and a slab along the edge. At the end of the ledge, there will be 2 root like structures and a Metroid ahead. Another Metroid will be coming up behind you. Jump between the roots, roll up and drop a power bomb. Both Metroids should get caught in the blast, and they won't split into the beam vulnerable Metroids. You should then be able to get to the top of the room before any more Metroids come after you.
It's probably not so much the average guy that doesn't like it, but the movie industry and theaters like shorter showtimes so they can get more showings in per day. I didn't pay any more for the 3 hour LotR movies than I did for films that run 1.5-2 hours.
Older films within the public domain are fair game.
Can someone explain, or point me to a site that explains, how something can be in the public domain if it was made after the mid-1920s and wasn't explicitly allowed to enter the public domain? Right now, copyright lasts for life of the author plus 75 years, or 95 years if the copyright is owned by a business.
One thing that puzzled me was the ruling that the JibJab "This Land" animation was safe because "This Land is Your Land" was in the public domain. It was apparently first published in a songbook in 1945, and at that point, you needed to renew the copyright before the 28 year term expired, which wasn't in 1973.
Wasn't the crux of the Eldred vs. Ashcroft case the fact that the Sonny Bono Copyright Extension Act put things back under copyright that had fallen into the public domain? Was there a time limit in the Bono act that prevented older works that had been in the public domain for a while, like "This Land" or older movies, from falling back under copyright?
In America a company or individual is required to defend their copyrights or they risk losing their rights to them.
Nope, trademarks need to be defended by the holder or risk dilution. Copyrights don't need to be defended.
However if you just quietly work on the project, don't publicize it very much, and don't attempt to make money off it, some authors/companies are willing to look the other way since they have plausible deniablity about its existance.
There is nothing stopping them from continuing to work on the project. They should be able to post updates on their progress, but not post pictures or movies that would violate Square / Enix's copyrights. Just say, "we're 20% through the game." As long as they don't distribute what they've done, much to the chagrin of people who would like to see it, and take precautions that it doesn't slip out, they wouldn't need permission. That's fair use.
Re:Lucas' reality check bounced.
on
Star Wars on DVD
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
This makes him sound even more hypocritical :
"I am very concerned about our national heritage, and I am very concerned that the films that I watched when I was young and the films that I watched throughout my life are preserved, so that my children can see them."
There could easily be 120 games in development exclusively for the DS, just as there could be 59 games in development for the PSP. "In development" doesn't mean launch titles, and it might not even mean any code has been actually written yet.
Here's another IGN story from December 2000 that said around 22 games would launch with the GBA in Japan. And Majesco said they would have 7 games for the American launch. The IGN list above has been whittled down to 3 Majesco titles. If you follow some of the links from the IGN's GBA list, some missed the launch, and they don't have Castlevania : Circle of the Moon, which did make the launch.
Sun kinda did that with Solaris. I was told Sun marketed Solaris 2.5 as Solaris 5 so that its version was higher than NT 4. Each 2.# release has just been called Solaris #. Though uname still reports the 2.# version.
Yeah, the scanline flicker has been in emulators as far back as I can remember (I think it was 1997 when I first played one), because that's how the NES worked. But newer emulators have gotten around that limitation of the original hardware, and apparently Atomic Planet and Capcom have as well (if not perfectly) for the Mega Man collection. If others can do it, there's certainly no reason Nintendo can't.
On a similiar point and out of curiosity, are there any emulators for CD based consoles that keep load times the same as they were on the original machine? It couldn't be helped if the game was hardcoded that way, but if such emulators exist (I don't know and don't have the time to check right now), I'd hope it would be quicker to load from a ROM / ISO on a hard drive, or from the original game CD in a 50x drive, than the original console could read from a single speed CD-ROM. Does playing a PS1 game on the PS2 improve load times since the PS2 can read the disc faster than the PS1 could? (I know the PS2 doesn't emulate the PS1, it has PS1 hardware inside that runs the games, which could be another limitation preventing faster load times.)
If Capcom or Atomic Planet had used Nintendo's emulator, I'm sure similiar complaints would be made. From what I've read, Nintendo's emulator for the Gamecube might emulate the NES too perfectly, down to the scanline flicker when too many sprites are at the same vertical line on the screen. The easiest example of this is the graveyard in the original Zelda, let out as many ghosts as possible. I haven't played it yet on my Zelda Collection disc, and I haven't cracked Animal Crossing to unlock it, but I've seen it mentioned enough to give it some credence.
According to the IGN review, "slowdown and flicker from the original cart versions have been almost entirely eliminated (it's still in there, but it's only noticeable a few times per game)". IGN didn't do separate reviews for the GC and PS2 versions, and the person that reviewed it is one of their PS2 people.
Actually, nothing on the Playstation outsold Mario 64, Goldeneye or Ocarina of Time in the U.S. This chart lists million sellers in the US since 1995, and this one lists million sellers in Japan going back to the Famicom. Only Pokemon games, GTA3 and Vice City have outsold Mario 64 and Goldeneye in releases since 1995, and Mario Kart 64 also topped Ocarina. I was surprised a Madden game wasn't there, but Madden 2004 is 200,000 behind Ocarina.
Even adding U.S. and Japanese sales, nothing on the Playstation tops Mario 64's U.S. sales of 5.94 million. Closest looks like Gran Turismo's 5.8 million combined and Final Fantasy 7's 5.73. I couldn't find numbers for Europe or other markets, and had a tough enough time picking the right search terms for Google to get the site above (too many sales sites).
Slashdot Mirror
Also, a New York Times article (mirror) says PC games are not included in the current numbers. They will be available "in the next few days."
I wonder if there's any chance the Wachowskis will pull a Lucas and add footage of Natalie to Bound. Well, one scene in particular.
When I read that quote, the first thing I thought of was Fox going after Simpsons and X-Files fan sites for posting copyrighted material. I can't remember if any of that got past the cease and desist stage, though.
If all black stereotypes made it into the show, they wouldn't have had any reason to be.
Well, then, pleased to meet you.
The game released in the US as Final Fantasy III for the SNES was Final Fantasy VI. Final Fantasy III has never been released in the US, though it is being ported to the DS.
Well, if you're a dedicated fan who also works in the industry, for a retailer like Electronics Boutique or as a member of the press, then you might have played it at E3. In years past, running a single web page with some gaming news was enough to constitute gaming press, but they've cracked down on that in recent years.
The easiest way to get through the Impact Crater is always keep moving, with one exception.
When you enter, just run. Stay to the left of the central pillar so the Metroid doesn't pick up on you right away. Jump on the floating platform, then to the ledges along the wall. When you get to the floating platforms, turn during your jumps so when you land, you are already facing the direction of your next jump.
When you cross the central pillar halfway up and get back to another ledge, ignore the missle reload room. Move along the wall, between an "aquarium" in the wall and a slab along the edge. At the end of the ledge, there will be 2 root like structures and a Metroid ahead. Another Metroid will be coming up behind you. Jump between the roots, roll up and drop a power bomb. Both Metroids should get caught in the blast, and they won't split into the beam vulnerable Metroids. You should then be able to get to the top of the room before any more Metroids come after you.
This is the final movie before that semi-retirement. The retirement is reported to last at least 10 years.
It's probably not so much the average guy that doesn't like it, but the movie industry and theaters like shorter showtimes so they can get more showings in per day. I didn't pay any more for the 3 hour LotR movies than I did for films that run 1.5-2 hours.
Can a Slashdot editor modify a comment? Like adding a "-- David Brin" at the end of a comment, with a link to the same article you link to?
Odd that they block game sites, but not Slashdot.
Can someone explain, or point me to a site that explains, how something can be in the public domain if it was made after the mid-1920s and wasn't explicitly allowed to enter the public domain? Right now, copyright lasts for life of the author plus 75 years, or 95 years if the copyright is owned by a business.
One thing that puzzled me was the ruling that the JibJab "This Land" animation was safe because "This Land is Your Land" was in the public domain. It was apparently first published in a songbook in 1945, and at that point, you needed to renew the copyright before the 28 year term expired, which wasn't in 1973.
Wasn't the crux of the Eldred vs. Ashcroft case the fact that the Sonny Bono Copyright Extension Act put things back under copyright that had fallen into the public domain? Was there a time limit in the Bono act that prevented older works that had been in the public domain for a while, like "This Land" or older movies, from falling back under copyright?
Nope, trademarks need to be defended by the holder or risk dilution. Copyrights don't need to be defended.
However if you just quietly work on the project, don't publicize it very much, and don't attempt to make money off it, some authors/companies are willing to look the other way since they have plausible deniablity about its existance.
There is nothing stopping them from continuing to work on the project. They should be able to post updates on their progress, but not post pictures or movies that would violate Square / Enix's copyrights. Just say, "we're 20% through the game." As long as they don't distribute what they've done, much to the chagrin of people who would like to see it, and take precautions that it doesn't slip out, they wouldn't need permission. That's fair use.
From this article.
There could easily be 120 games in development exclusively for the DS, just as there could be 59 games in development for the PSP. "In development" doesn't mean launch titles, and it might not even mean any code has been actually written yet.
Here's another IGN story from December 2000 that said around 22 games would launch with the GBA in Japan. And Majesco said they would have 7 games for the American launch. The IGN list above has been whittled down to 3 Majesco titles. If you follow some of the links from the IGN's GBA list, some missed the launch, and they don't have Castlevania : Circle of the Moon, which did make the launch.
Sun kinda did that with Solaris. I was told Sun marketed Solaris 2.5 as Solaris 5 so that its version was higher than NT 4. Each 2.# release has just been called Solaris #. Though uname still reports the 2.# version.
[opens the door; behind it, three mail carriers sit at a table, searching letters for cash]
Mail Carrier #1: Bingo! Birthday card!
Mail Carrier #2: Graduation!
Mail Carrier #3: Ding-ding-ding! Wedding!
From Sunday, Cruddy Sunday
It's not the solution when alcohol is available. Because that's "the cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems."
Yeah, the scanline flicker has been in emulators as far back as I can remember (I think it was 1997 when I first played one), because that's how the NES worked. But newer emulators have gotten around that limitation of the original hardware, and apparently Atomic Planet and Capcom have as well (if not perfectly) for the Mega Man collection. If others can do it, there's certainly no reason Nintendo can't.
On a similiar point and out of curiosity, are there any emulators for CD based consoles that keep load times the same as they were on the original machine? It couldn't be helped if the game was hardcoded that way, but if such emulators exist (I don't know and don't have the time to check right now), I'd hope it would be quicker to load from a ROM / ISO on a hard drive, or from the original game CD in a 50x drive, than the original console could read from a single speed CD-ROM. Does playing a PS1 game on the PS2 improve load times since the PS2 can read the disc faster than the PS1 could? (I know the PS2 doesn't emulate the PS1, it has PS1 hardware inside that runs the games, which could be another limitation preventing faster load times.)
According to the IGN review, "slowdown and flicker from the original cart versions have been almost entirely eliminated (it's still in there, but it's only noticeable a few times per game)". IGN didn't do separate reviews for the GC and PS2 versions, and the person that reviewed it is one of their PS2 people.
Those guys all seem to have had steady work, so I wouldn't call them hobos.
DC civilians pay federal income taxes, which is why they have "Taxation Without Representation" on their license plates.
Even adding U.S. and Japanese sales, nothing on the Playstation tops Mario 64's U.S. sales of 5.94 million. Closest looks like Gran Turismo's 5.8 million combined and Final Fantasy 7's 5.73. I couldn't find numbers for Europe or other markets, and had a tough enough time picking the right search terms for Google to get the site above (too many sales sites).