IDEO has a really good philosophy about the type of people they hire to work in their firm. They refer to these types of people as T-shaped People. T-shaped People have a broad understanding of almost everything, but there's one thing that they are pretty darned good at. That allows some who is an experienced and knowledgeable engineer to innovate and collaborate with designers, programmers, fine artists, psychologists, or anyone one else in their team, and as the article states, that it allows them to innovate better because they understand more about the world around them.
So basically a T-shaped person is a hybrid between a specialist and a generalist. You do need people who have a deep understanding of one subject to get stuff done, but a broad understanding of everything else to communicate with people who have deep knowledge in their own field.
We've been having to use Gobby for collaborative writing because it's the only secure way for us to do writing sessions online. Sure, having some text formatting in a program like that would be nice, but we've been copying the Gobby sessions over to our Wiki and the formatting is done there anyway, so there isn't much of a need for that but it still would be nice for future projects.
Even down the road when we can afford to relocate and work in the same building instead of having all our studio members living in different states, we are still going to do our writing sessions with some kind of real-time collaborative writing software. You have no idea how much easier it is to make changes yourself instead of pointing at someone's screen telling them what to type, or how much faster you can both write when you can both be working on different parts of the script at the same time, or having someone edit your mistakes immediately. When you are actually discussing the story constantly with a co-writer, you really want software like this.
As for whiteboards, we'd really like to have the same real-time collaborative editing that we enjoy with Gobby for our design and art production as well. We've tried things like OpenCanvas or those online paint chat applications, and nothing really cuts it. So for that we are settling with VNC and uploading the files to each other when we need to do some serious red-lining.
I agree. The article was pretty weak. The article talks about reward systems (items, XP bar, etc.) but that's not what makes games like WoW more addictive than every other RPG that has the same reward system. Some would say polish, which WoW most certainly does have, but that's not reason enough to be disproportionally committed to a game. Many Slashdotters have pointed out the community aspect of WoW as being a main contributor to its addictiveness, which is true, but there's one other important factor about addictiveness that I'm surprised I haven't seen discussed in articles about the topic, probably because they don't understand the psychology behind things like this.
The reason why WoW is so addictive is because the gameplay changes the more you play it.
At Level 1 there's tons of new areas to explore, leveling happens quickly, new abilities are different and exciting, and you are safe from the Alliance (I played Horde). Playing with friends was fun and informal. The game was casual and I could play whenever I wanted to because I could complete quests on my own.
Then we gained enough levels were we had to go into the contested regions of the game to continue playing, which meant that we were getting ganked by the Alliance constantly. We banded together into slightly larger groups for safety, leveling took longer, we hated the Alliance so we would go out of our way to kill them when the opportunity would permit, and the game slowly became less about adventuring and more about PvP and survival.
To continue leveling up you were expected to join a guild so you can go on regular raids, if one of your friends didn't make you join a guild already. Leveling took even longer, good items were harder to find because you had to share between 15+ people, the best items are dropped on raids so that's more incentive to run them, and people are now depending on you to be present at the raids, so you now have a schedule to keep.
So a game that started out as a relatively casual game that I've seen people get their non-gamer wives and girlfriends to play, slowly turns into a commitment. You can't just log in and play whenever you want, you have to be ready to run Molten Core every Tuesday and Thursday at 7pm, and that commitment develops so subtly you don't know what's going on unless you know what to look for, which is why I stopped playing after a few months. The incentives to play the game, and therefore your commitment to it, slowly changes in the same way the chances of winning penny slots changes the more you play it. WoW was designed so that the first 10 levels has such a wide reward system that most types of people can get into it, regardless of their reasons for playing games. As you level up the incentive and reward system becomes more narrow and more concentrated until the players become the type of gamer that Blizzardâ"or indeed any other game companyâ"wants you to be: a committed paying gamer, and for all the statistically right reasons.
Wow. First MTV and now Playboy as a source for interviews with game developers? Despite the fact that the site is linked directly to on Slashdot, that's messed up.
I just got 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00. I figured it's bound to turn up on someone's hard drive. My chances are now better than ever to live the American Dream of this century.
just curious what peoples thoughts are on paper vs. digital since it hasn't really been discussed in the comments yet.
During the course of my daily life, I don't have access to the internet all the time. It's not available while I'm walking. It's not available when I'm waiting for the doctor/client/etc. I also don't have a laptop (don't need one, not for my line of work), so even if it was available I won't have access to it until I sat down at a desktop computer.
Magazines, pamphlets, and books don't require that I have a $800+ piece of hardware to view it. Also, printing to paper doesn't have the the rendering inconcistencies as the web does.
I don't believe printed information is ever going to go away, and printed publications still have plenty of advantages over their online equivalent. It doesn't require something larger than it self to be able to view it, lending it to others is easy (think of e-books vs. a real one), and above all anyone that can read has access to it.
Quite honestly, I think this whole episodic content thing is more about getting more money out of us than making better games. Yes, episodic content certainly has it's perks, but either make the games better or make the games cost the same.
I actually keep track out of how much time I spend playing these games, I found this interesting, and I think you will too.
Half-Life 2
Game Play, 15 hrs; Cost, $50; $/GPH, $3.33
half-Life 2: Episode 1
Game Play, 2 hrs 50 mins; Cost, $20; $/GPH, $7.07
Doom 3
Game Play, 18 hurs; Cost, $55; $/GPH, $3.06
Doom 3: Ressurrection of Evil
Game Play, 9 hrs; Cost, $35; $/GPH, $3.89
$7.07 is a lot to play per hour, even compared to the rather expensive Doom 3 expansion. Also, the overall quality of the game wasn't as good as Half-Life 2. I'm not even talking about wow value or new stuff, I found the pacing to just not be as good. Anyone else feel that the power ball puzzles got a little old in the first chapter? How about the escort after escort at the train station?
This is the same reason why the whole idea of micropayments and the Xbox Live Marketplace made me sick. I knew what they were up to. Valve and Ritual seems to have the same idea. "For just three easy payments of $19.99 you can get 9 hours worth of Half-Life 2 expansions!" I wouldn't mind if they made the games worth that much.
"...Everyone else sees Nintendo as a waste of time for young boys. Nintendo is realises that seizing the new "casual gamer" market can't be done through that lens and so is providing the new customer a way to look at the product without thinking of Mario and classic video games."
This is absolutely true. How many parents do you hear talking about their lazy sons "playing their Nintendo," when they are really playing Halo, or any other game for that matter? Nintendo has such a strong mind share that it's a house hold name associated with video games. This is good, and every company wants that kind of mind share. Unfortunately, in the mind of most parents, Nintendo is a waste of time. I've heard that Nintendo's newest console is just going to be known as Wii, as compared to the Nintendo 64, Super Nentendo, Nintendo Entertainment System, Nintendo DS, etc. It'll be kind of hard to get those parents into gaming when they associate Nintendo with something bad. Image can make all the difference.
... National Speak Like A Pirate Day? Maybe Switchfoot is just being festive. They might have not realized that these are the "Arrr. How'd you like to scrape the barnacles off of me rudder?" type of pirates that we are supposed to talk like today though. Oh well, "A" for effort.
Games these days have script writers?! They deserve to be shot...
When the graphics in games peak out, it will take more than just amazing graphics to set a game apart, and thus make it sell. When that time comes I think we'll see a lot better writing in games.
But yeah, I thougt this article was about game development and not reviewers too.
Of course they are going to have a shortage. It's a well known business strategy. "A little shortage is a good thing." It's working with the laws of supply and demand to a companies advantage. A company doesn't even have to announce the shortage to reap the benefits of one.
I didn't like the idea of having TechTV be gobbled up by a video game channel when it first was announced. All the shows that I liked went to crap or went away.
Whats funny is that my favorite show, Extended Play (now X Play), which was in fact a show about video games, got ruined. I tried to watch a few episodes recently and I just couldn't. I can't watch that show anymore.
You know G4 is screwing everything up when they ruin a show about video games.
Unionizing might be jumping the gun. The video game industry is very young. It'll be better for management to be a little wiser than to have employees unionize. Bad working conditions and un-wise managment are the result of a industry that hasn't grown up yet and is expected to make titles that cost 25 million.
The level of graphical detail that is expected out of development studios has progressed far faster than the video game industry has matured. We can partially thank ATI and nVidia's competition for that (releasing significantly more advanced cards less than a year apart). All it takes is one studio to spend 10mil on a project and now that's what is expected out of everyone else. Yeah, people say graphics isn't everything but if your game doesn't look as good as the best, you've just lost sales.
It was said at GDC that the industry really needs to learn from other industries when it comes to management. This is a really good idea. Although all this talk about working conditions and unionizing is good and healthy, I don't think unionizing is going to happen any time soon. And if that does happen, labor costs for games will go up. Period. With all this talk about the increased cost for next-generation games, just think about who that is scaring.
Quite honestly, I think the managers will do a better job. Making video games is never going to be a comfortable job even if they do unionize. Better planning and organized production will go a long way in a large scale project, and a union won't help there.
Second, why aren't people going to court over these lawsuits?
Probably because it would cost them way less to settle out of court.
The way I think of it, if this is just a scheme by the RIAA to scare people and to make a quick buck, and they sue groups of people instead of individually because it's cheaper in court costs, then I think they will sue you for a lot more to compensate because you are making them pay more people to go to court and taking their time. Of course anyone would do this if you actually didn't illegally download any music.
If "most settlements top $3,000" and since "frequent downloader Cecilia Gonzalez didn't settle against the RIAA, and... the court ordered her to pay... a total of $22,500," then I can see why people wouldn't take it to court.
You are already getting slaped so why get screwed.
As an owner of an Wacom Intous 2 6x8, I will agree that they are amazing. I can get jobs done 4 times faster than with conventional paints, and it can still look like it's been painted by hand. However I still do all of my sketch work in pencil.
Even though a tablet can give you superior control compared to a mouse, nothing beats a pencil and eraser when it comes to quick sketching. I've tried to sketch with a tablet and it isn't the same. It also helps you to get away from the computer. Most designers will agree that the more time you spend planning and sketching on paper the less time will be spent sitting in front of a blank screen. You'll know exactly where to go with your project, so it's just a matter of finalizing. Production time is reduced significantly as well.
I find the computer more of a finishing medium than a thinking tool. Nothing beats good ol' pencil and paper, and for me nothing beats painting with a tablet.
I think it's obvious to everyone that you should release a review until you've played the entire thing. However, it is a good idea to catalog your impressions during the game.
As someone who has played both games twice in about the same length of time, let me offer my "four" cents.
Instead of comparing "apples to oranges", I'll just compare individual feelings about each game.
It's okay, no spoilers.
oom 3 gave me a stronger and more consistent emotional response. I felt like I was going to die around every corner (except about an hour before you go to hell because the jump scenes started getting a little old). Half-Life gave me a wider range of emotions from excitement, fear, compation torwards NPCs, and that warm fuzzy feeling that you get when you open up a big 'ol can of ownage.
Doom 3 was very specific about gameplay; shoot, run, poop yourself. Half-Life 2 had a wider range of gameplay elements from squad/bug tactics, vehicular battles, puzzles, etc.
To me Doom 3 felt like it went deeper in the story than Half-Life 2 did. You pretty much got some dialog out of every important person on the Mars base while in Half-Life 2, even though the quality and entertainment value of each cutscene was better, it still left with gapping holes in the story. I had to go through every speach sample while talking to those 3 armed aliens to at least get an idea about what happened between Half-Life 1 to present. And at the end--again, more gapping holes left in the storry. Not to say that the story is flawed, because it is great, there's just some things that have not been explained that I really felt entitled to know. I can forgive cliffhanger endings, but not ever knowing what happened between the two games and not really knowing the connection kind of bugs me. I picked up a few more bits playing through the second time, but still the answers don't seem to be there.
HL2 had faster pacing but there was a portion of the game (late C17 stage) where there was about 2 hours of the same type of gameplay. That almost ruined the beautiful pacing up until that point but the last stage made it up to me. Doom 3 had pretty consistant pacing, or consistantly monotonous, but being able to get closer and closer to the horrible truth and understand more about what happened made it worth it. I never once got let down by a lack of scary scenes or wimpier monsters. It was consistent.
Overall, Doom 3 is more refined in what it tried to do. And for that it's worth even a third play. Half-Life 2 was more fun in that you got a wider range of gameplay. The physics engine was mainly eye candy and was used for puzzles, which was very successful.
And as far as graphics, who says that the Doom 3 engine can't do as good water as Half-Life 2? Are there any rivers or lakes on Mars? That's why there isn't any. Both engines are capable of it. It's just a fragment shader. The main difference I see is character AI in HL2 and shadowing in Doom 3.
Just play both games. Both are very good and are worth your time and money. HL2 might get more replay value out of me thanks to Counter-Strike:Source. Either way I'm not going to let baises or hatred for anti piracy measures to keep me from enjoying both of these titles.
Just because the PSP has a USB device doesn't mean it's more hackable. The DS has 4MB of RAM that can be used to multiboot programs from a wireless network, in the same way that the GBA had 256k to multiboot off of the GBA connector.
The PSP is more of a powerhouse, but I am convinced that Nintendo has the right idea that gamers are not looking for more of the same. If I want to play Metal Gear Solid or GT I'll play it on the PS2.
Dual screen, touch pad, no load time, cheaper, and infinatly more possibilities for different styles of gameplay than the PSP has the offer is what got my vote and my pre-order.
Kinda makes you wonder how the "Death Rose" scene will play out in a musical. I'd like to see someone vomit on stage. It would mirror what everyone in the audience would likely be doing during the show. Hospitals could even use "The Last Starfighter: The Musical" as a documented method to induce vomiting. The posibilities are endless.
Actually, I think that if they do make a new Unreal Tournament game, it's probably going to be using the new Unreal 3 engine. And CliffyB has said in one of his video inteviews with IGN that Epic is not going to release a new UT game every year to scrape the money pot.
Slashdot Mirror
Also mice don't have to pay child support.
IDEO has a really good philosophy about the type of people they hire to work in their firm. They refer to these types of people as T-shaped People. T-shaped People have a broad understanding of almost everything, but there's one thing that they are pretty darned good at. That allows some who is an experienced and knowledgeable engineer to innovate and collaborate with designers, programmers, fine artists, psychologists, or anyone one else in their team, and as the article states, that it allows them to innovate better because they understand more about the world around them.
So basically a T-shaped person is a hybrid between a specialist and a generalist. You do need people who have a deep understanding of one subject to get stuff done, but a broad understanding of everything else to communicate with people who have deep knowledge in their own field.
We are.
We've been having to use Gobby for collaborative writing because it's the only secure way for us to do writing sessions online. Sure, having some text formatting in a program like that would be nice, but we've been copying the Gobby sessions over to our Wiki and the formatting is done there anyway, so there isn't much of a need for that but it still would be nice for future projects.
Even down the road when we can afford to relocate and work in the same building instead of having all our studio members living in different states, we are still going to do our writing sessions with some kind of real-time collaborative writing software. You have no idea how much easier it is to make changes yourself instead of pointing at someone's screen telling them what to type, or how much faster you can both write when you can both be working on different parts of the script at the same time, or having someone edit your mistakes immediately. When you are actually discussing the story constantly with a co-writer, you really want software like this.
As for whiteboards, we'd really like to have the same real-time collaborative editing that we enjoy with Gobby for our design and art production as well. We've tried things like OpenCanvas or those online paint chat applications, and nothing really cuts it. So for that we are settling with VNC and uploading the files to each other when we need to do some serious red-lining.
I agree. The article was pretty weak. The article talks about reward systems (items, XP bar, etc.) but that's not what makes games like WoW more addictive than every other RPG that has the same reward system. Some would say polish, which WoW most certainly does have, but that's not reason enough to be disproportionally committed to a game. Many Slashdotters have pointed out the community aspect of WoW as being a main contributor to its addictiveness, which is true, but there's one other important factor about addictiveness that I'm surprised I haven't seen discussed in articles about the topic, probably because they don't understand the psychology behind things like this.
The reason why WoW is so addictive is because the gameplay changes the more you play it.
At Level 1 there's tons of new areas to explore, leveling happens quickly, new abilities are different and exciting, and you are safe from the Alliance (I played Horde). Playing with friends was fun and informal. The game was casual and I could play whenever I wanted to because I could complete quests on my own.
Then we gained enough levels were we had to go into the contested regions of the game to continue playing, which meant that we were getting ganked by the Alliance constantly. We banded together into slightly larger groups for safety, leveling took longer, we hated the Alliance so we would go out of our way to kill them when the opportunity would permit, and the game slowly became less about adventuring and more about PvP and survival.
To continue leveling up you were expected to join a guild so you can go on regular raids, if one of your friends didn't make you join a guild already. Leveling took even longer, good items were harder to find because you had to share between 15+ people, the best items are dropped on raids so that's more incentive to run them, and people are now depending on you to be present at the raids, so you now have a schedule to keep.
So a game that started out as a relatively casual game that I've seen people get their non-gamer wives and girlfriends to play, slowly turns into a commitment. You can't just log in and play whenever you want, you have to be ready to run Molten Core every Tuesday and Thursday at 7pm, and that commitment develops so subtly you don't know what's going on unless you know what to look for, which is why I stopped playing after a few months. The incentives to play the game, and therefore your commitment to it, slowly changes in the same way the chances of winning penny slots changes the more you play it. WoW was designed so that the first 10 levels has such a wide reward system that most types of people can get into it, regardless of their reasons for playing games. As you level up the incentive and reward system becomes more narrow and more concentrated until the players become the type of gamer that Blizzardâ"or indeed any other game companyâ"wants you to be: a committed paying gamer, and for all the statistically right reasons.
...if they called it the Korea Kommunications Kommission.
Here's an article that has a few examples. http://www.blendernation.com/2006/08/18/elephants-dream-remixes/
The only other thing I can recall people using the source files for is re-rendering it for technology tests, like an 8 megapixel display.
Wow. First MTV and now Playboy as a source for interviews with game developers? Despite the fact that the site is linked directly to on Slashdot, that's messed up.
I just got 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00. I figured it's bound to turn up on someone's hard drive. My chances are now better than ever to live the American Dream of this century.
During the course of my daily life, I don't have access to the internet all the time. It's not available while I'm walking. It's not available when I'm waiting for the doctor/client/etc. I also don't have a laptop (don't need one, not for my line of work), so even if it was available I won't have access to it until I sat down at a desktop computer.
Magazines, pamphlets, and books don't require that I have a $800+ piece of hardware to view it. Also, printing to paper doesn't have the the rendering inconcistencies as the web does.
I don't believe printed information is ever going to go away, and printed publications still have plenty of advantages over their online equivalent. It doesn't require something larger than it self to be able to view it, lending it to others is easy (think of e-books vs. a real one), and above all anyone that can read has access to it.
I actually keep track out of how much time I spend playing these games, I found this interesting, and I think you will too.
Half-Life 2
half-Life 2: Episode 1
Doom 3
Doom 3: Ressurrection of Evil
$7.07 is a lot to play per hour, even compared to the rather expensive Doom 3 expansion. Also, the overall quality of the game wasn't as good as Half-Life 2. I'm not even talking about wow value or new stuff, I found the pacing to just not be as good. Anyone else feel that the power ball puzzles got a little old in the first chapter? How about the escort after escort at the train station?
This is the same reason why the whole idea of micropayments and the Xbox Live Marketplace made me sick. I knew what they were up to. Valve and Ritual seems to have the same idea. "For just three easy payments of $19.99 you can get 9 hours worth of Half-Life 2 expansions!" I wouldn't mind if they made the games worth that much.
This is absolutely true. How many parents do you hear talking about their lazy sons "playing their Nintendo," when they are really playing Halo, or any other game for that matter? Nintendo has such a strong mind share that it's a house hold name associated with video games. This is good, and every company wants that kind of mind share. Unfortunately, in the mind of most parents, Nintendo is a waste of time. I've heard that Nintendo's newest console is just going to be known as Wii, as compared to the Nintendo 64, Super Nentendo, Nintendo Entertainment System, Nintendo DS, etc. It'll be kind of hard to get those parents into gaming when they associate Nintendo with something bad. Image can make all the difference.
... National Speak Like A Pirate Day? Maybe Switchfoot is just being festive. They might have not realized that these are the "Arrr. How'd you like to scrape the barnacles off of me rudder?" type of pirates that we are supposed to talk like today though. Oh well, "A" for effort.
Games these days have script writers?! They deserve to be shot...
When the graphics in games peak out, it will take more than just amazing graphics to set a game apart, and thus make it sell. When that time comes I think we'll see a lot better writing in games.
But yeah, I thougt this article was about game development and not reviewers too.
Of course they are going to have a shortage. It's a well known business strategy. "A little shortage is a good thing." It's working with the laws of supply and demand to a companies advantage. A company doesn't even have to announce the shortage to reap the benefits of one.
I didn't like the idea of having TechTV be gobbled up by a video game channel when it first was announced. All the shows that I liked went to crap or went away.
Whats funny is that my favorite show, Extended Play (now X Play), which was in fact a show about video games, got ruined. I tried to watch a few episodes recently and I just couldn't. I can't watch that show anymore.
You know G4 is screwing everything up when they ruin a show about video games.
I'm waiting for a show based off Monopoly.
They actually have an entire station based on monopoly, it's called MSNBC.
Don't you mean slack'n'hash?
Unionizing might be jumping the gun. The video game industry is very young. It'll be better for management to be a little wiser than to have employees unionize. Bad working conditions and un-wise managment are the result of a industry that hasn't grown up yet and is expected to make titles that cost 25 million.
The level of graphical detail that is expected out of development studios has progressed far faster than the video game industry has matured. We can partially thank ATI and nVidia's competition for that (releasing significantly more advanced cards less than a year apart). All it takes is one studio to spend 10mil on a project and now that's what is expected out of everyone else. Yeah, people say graphics isn't everything but if your game doesn't look as good as the best, you've just lost sales.
It was said at GDC that the industry really needs to learn from other industries when it comes to management. This is a really good idea. Although all this talk about working conditions and unionizing is good and healthy, I don't think unionizing is going to happen any time soon. And if that does happen, labor costs for games will go up. Period. With all this talk about the increased cost for next-generation games, just think about who that is scaring.
Quite honestly, I think the managers will do a better job. Making video games is never going to be a comfortable job even if they do unionize. Better planning and organized production will go a long way in a large scale project, and a union won't help there.
Second, why aren't people going to court over these lawsuits?
Probably because it would cost them way less to settle out of court.
The way I think of it, if this is just a scheme by the RIAA to scare people and to make a quick buck, and they sue groups of people instead of individually because it's cheaper in court costs, then I think they will sue you for a lot more to compensate because you are making them pay more people to go to court and taking their time. Of course anyone would do this if you actually didn't illegally download any music.
If "most settlements top $3,000" and since "frequent downloader Cecilia Gonzalez didn't settle against the RIAA, and... the court ordered her to pay... a total of $22,500," then I can see why people wouldn't take it to court.
You are already getting slaped so why get screwed.
So long as they do a good job with the game I'm all for it. It was one of my most loved games, but it wouldn't be worth it if they ruin it.
As an owner of an Wacom Intous 2 6x8, I will agree that they are amazing. I can get jobs done 4 times faster than with conventional paints, and it can still look like it's been painted by hand. However I still do all of my sketch work in pencil.
Even though a tablet can give you superior control compared to a mouse, nothing beats a pencil and eraser when it comes to quick sketching. I've tried to sketch with a tablet and it isn't the same. It also helps you to get away from the computer. Most designers will agree that the more time you spend planning and sketching on paper the less time will be spent sitting in front of a blank screen. You'll know exactly where to go with your project, so it's just a matter of finalizing. Production time is reduced significantly as well.
I find the computer more of a finishing medium than a thinking tool. Nothing beats good ol' pencil and paper, and for me nothing beats painting with a tablet.
I think it's obvious to everyone that you should release a review until you've played the entire thing. However, it is a good idea to catalog your impressions during the game.
As someone who has played both games twice in about the same length of time, let me offer my "four" cents.
Instead of comparing "apples to oranges", I'll just compare individual feelings about each game.
It's okay, no spoilers.
oom 3 gave me a stronger and more consistent emotional response. I felt like I was going to die around every corner (except about an hour before you go to hell because the jump scenes started getting a little old). Half-Life gave me a wider range of emotions from excitement, fear, compation torwards NPCs, and that warm fuzzy feeling that you get when you open up a big 'ol can of ownage.
Doom 3 was very specific about gameplay; shoot, run, poop yourself. Half-Life 2 had a wider range of gameplay elements from squad/bug tactics, vehicular battles, puzzles, etc.
To me Doom 3 felt like it went deeper in the story than Half-Life 2 did. You pretty much got some dialog out of every important person on the Mars base while in Half-Life 2, even though the quality and entertainment value of each cutscene was better, it still left with gapping holes in the story. I had to go through every speach sample while talking to those 3 armed aliens to at least get an idea about what happened between Half-Life 1 to present. And at the end--again, more gapping holes left in the storry. Not to say that the story is flawed, because it is great, there's just some things that have not been explained that I really felt entitled to know. I can forgive cliffhanger endings, but not ever knowing what happened between the two games and not really knowing the connection kind of bugs me. I picked up a few more bits playing through the second time, but still the answers don't seem to be there.
HL2 had faster pacing but there was a portion of the game (late C17 stage) where there was about 2 hours of the same type of gameplay. That almost ruined the beautiful pacing up until that point but the last stage made it up to me. Doom 3 had pretty consistant pacing, or consistantly monotonous, but being able to get closer and closer to the horrible truth and understand more about what happened made it worth it. I never once got let down by a lack of scary scenes or wimpier monsters. It was consistent.
Overall, Doom 3 is more refined in what it tried to do. And for that it's worth even a third play. Half-Life 2 was more fun in that you got a wider range of gameplay. The physics engine was mainly eye candy and was used for puzzles, which was very successful.
And as far as graphics, who says that the Doom 3 engine can't do as good water as Half-Life 2? Are there any rivers or lakes on Mars? That's why there isn't any. Both engines are capable of it. It's just a fragment shader. The main difference I see is character AI in HL2 and shadowing in Doom 3.
Just play both games. Both are very good and are worth your time and money. HL2 might get more replay value out of me thanks to Counter-Strike:Source. Either way I'm not going to let baises or hatred for anti piracy measures to keep me from enjoying both of these titles.
Just because the PSP has a USB device doesn't mean it's more hackable. The DS has 4MB of RAM that can be used to multiboot programs from a wireless network, in the same way that the GBA had 256k to multiboot off of the GBA connector.
The PSP is more of a powerhouse, but I am convinced that Nintendo has the right idea that gamers are not looking for more of the same. If I want to play Metal Gear Solid or GT I'll play it on the PS2.
Dual screen, touch pad, no load time, cheaper, and infinatly more possibilities for different styles of gameplay than the PSP has the offer is what got my vote and my pre-order.
Kinda makes you wonder how the "Death Rose" scene will play out in a musical. I'd like to see someone vomit on stage. It would mirror what everyone in the audience would likely be doing during the show. Hospitals could even use "The Last Starfighter: The Musical" as a documented method to induce vomiting. The posibilities are endless.
Actually, I think that if they do make a new Unreal Tournament game, it's probably going to be using the new Unreal 3 engine. And CliffyB has said in one of his video inteviews with IGN that Epic is not going to release a new UT game every year to scrape the money pot.