I see your point, but you are arguing against something written tongue-in-cheek (or whatever you call it when you type that way.)
However. How can you have a game where people are required to group together to experience the content, if every player can be anything that's needed at any time? It seems logical to diversify and condense the classes or even eliminate the class system altogether until you realize that the point of separate classes is to get people working together as a group, and eventually people will specialize in a specific few "must-have" abilities so often that you'll essentially have classes again. You have to consider what happens after the game's been out for a few years. Look around for Ragnarok character "builds" and see what I mean... getting to choose your abilities and stats when you level up is great but there are only a few often-desired classes of build. So you see, it's not lazy, it's a necessary evil. It's also clever because the job classes are uniquely qualified for their roles, and nobody else can handle it anywhere near as well. If you're horribly inept at healing, your party will die and lose EXP instead of gaining EXP. People will eventually learn to stay clear of you and you will have to retire if you just won't learn to play.
If you want to be whatever you feel like at any time, go play ToME, or make your own game. MMORPGs are about playing roles - not playing generic everymen.
Or do the next best thing, and take up WHM, because you'll get a screenful of invites every time you log in or drop/anon. That'll satisfy your need for progress if you can handle it. Playing solo in a MMORPG this big will get boring really quick. Remember: It takes ~40 minutes to chocobo from one city to another, unless you're going to/from Jeuno. That's 2 hours if you walk and DON'T fight anything along the way. Getting a party with teleport-enabled mages is underrated.
I'm replying to you and the parent poster, so take what you will out of this.
Mmm, Refresh is essential, but Phalanx, Convert and Stoneskin are just as essential for a RDM to understand in many situations. Namely the "Oh crap we're gonna die" situations that are so easy to get into, or HNM battles. What happens when the tank dies (one-shotted) because the Empty NM you're fighting (Promy-Holla anyone?) has massive damage abilities and already slammed three DOTs and debuffs on him?
I play a DRK, so I appreciate the mastery of the elements so many good RDMs have that other mages and bards don't have. Heck, I think NIN sometimes has better elemental knowledge than the average BLM, who seems content to toss nukes everywhere. I also prefer to have a BRD in my party when possible, as opposed to not having one.
There's nothing like getting chain 5 on 100 EXP kills and being ready for more. Am I right?!
I think a lot of the major issues are... get ready for this one... caused by the people who must resist popular ideas because they're simply too popular. I'm reminded of a Diesel Sweeties character. "Nothing is any good if other people like it." Played with a WAR28/WHM6 lately? How about a PLD32/MNK7 trying to tank without PROVOKE, or someone wearing gear that cancels out their other gear? Yeah. I can hear the shouts now: "TRAIN TO ZONE!!!"
Sad how so many people whine when they bought a MASSIVELY MULTI PLAYER GAME so they could play ALONE, and *surprise!* it doesn't WORK that way! You know what I mean?
Graphics sucking? Please! Have you played NES Mario, Zelda, Pac-Man, Wolfenstein 3D or Counter Strike recently? Those are venerable classics that people still love today, and there's no argument about that. Yet their graphics are sub-par by today's standards. Get this: FFXI was developed when DX8 was new, and gameplay and multiplayer aspects were more important to Square than having unique 48-bit uber-high resolution vertex-shaded textures on each instance of each monster you're going to mangle. Gameplay is better! Comeraderie, parties, friends. That's all so much better than packing for an ego trip, which always takes longer than you want it to. Learn what fun is, guys... By the way, how many PS2s do you know of that could support unique hair colors on everyone in front of the Lower Jeuno auction house? Zero, that's how many. The PS2 is the upper limit of the game's capabilities.
Sigh. Kids today, so selfish. Sheesh. Go outside and play if you can't handle yourself properly when you don't like a video game.
Judging from the moderation, I'll agree with point D. Seems nobody can speak up about the standards around here, or they'll get labeled a troll. All moderators reading this, move on, because it's pretty much an off-topic public conversation at this point. There's nowhere else to take it.
We will disagree on your points B and C.
Here's where intelligent discourse might come in, if you're up to it.
What makes Slashdot NOT 'the media'? This website is sponsored, editorialized journalism at its finest - plus a questionably well moderated discussion forum for each article. It's corporately sponsored. See those ads? Unless you have a good ad-blocker or paid for membership, you're making them money by coming here. Slashdot has a few people making their living by working full-time on the site, and some volunteer editors who approve or disapprove news articles - just like at a newspaper or television station. There's plenty of room for bias, as is evidenced all the time by the snide remarks the editors make at the end of the submitted stories. Once again, it's a news site. If you disagree, I will remind you that the motto is "Slashdot. News for Nerds. Stuff that matters." and that it's clearly posted at the top-left of this page.
If you get paid to do skilled labor for a decent length of time, like the owners of the site have unquestionably done, and your skills surpass those of someone who has just started in the field, then I consider you a professional in your field. Since the owners are well-paid and run the show around here... that reasonably qualifies this as a professionally operated organization. Whether or not the editors are pros is debatable and indeed not likely. But that's not what I was talking about in the first post.
So we've established that this is a biased news site (aka part of 'the media') and that it's a professional organization.
Do we care enough to debate further? I'm bored, why not. Ball's in your court.
The message the industry doesn't want you to hear:
Meanwhile... the world kept using MPEG-4, DivX, MP3, and AAC.
If these people could offer us a better alternative, then we might think about using crappy DRM-bloated files. But no! They spend the money they should instead use for researching better compression on researching ways to stop people from copying stuff, which is ultimately futile. Why? There can be no unbreakable copy protection, because the quality of recording devices always catches up with that of the output devices. You can record bit-accurate digital streams and digitize analog audio on consumer-level sound cards, and you can record digital and analog HDTV on consumer-level video cards. All you have to do is either have two computers, two decent quality I/O cards, or loop a digital output back into a digital input and press Record. There's no shortage of sites out there that detail the procedure.
Meanwhile, I'll continue to enjoy my 192 KBps Shoutcast streaming radio stations, MP3 collection (which I ripped myself at 192Kbps, at about 3 songs per minute), DVDs, and DivX encoded video clips.
It's rather disappointing to see that from a professional news source, isn't it? People seem to forget Slashdot is part of "the media" and is a professional organization. Certain words are not suitable for professional writers to use in professional communications. Informal conversation (speech at the water cooler, forums, things like that) and formal professional writing (news, memos, and bulletins) do adhere to different standards. Editor, are you out there? Maybe the editor has been reading too many of these magazines and accept that as OK journalism.
Oh well. Disappointing or not, it's still there. At least I agree with the point they made.
The ideal 3D resolution seems to be 512x512 at 800x600 2D resolution. I think the textures were designed at that resolution, because the geometry and textures seem to line up very well at those settings. I've got a 22" monitor that I usually run at 1600x1200 and I can tell you that FFXI does look best at 512x512. I've played it at 2048x1536... not a happy experience for the eyes.
Setting up MIP mapping at above-normal settings (like 4 or 5) in the registry and forcing anisotropic filtering in your display driver both help it look better. Also, sitting more than a foot away from your monitor helps immensely.
I know, having to play with people who've been where you are before really sucks. It's terrible! I mean, there's even SO MANY people to play with now, that you can't brag about being the only lowbie in town. Gosh, what a rotten experience.
You sound like one of the whiny forum posters who pretends to quit five times just to see if anyone goes OMG I WANT TO BEAR YOUR BABIES COME BACK. Knock it off, already.
I support punishment of the administrators who did not sufficiently secure that sensitive information. I also support to a lesser degree the punishment of the children who stole the information. However, had that event not taken place, some less scrupulous children might have misused the information that was so easily stolen.
Most databases and file servers have permissions systems in place that can authenticate by host and IP range. Most administrators assign different IP ranges for different purposes - staff should be different from student-accessible. Also, multiple passwords are required in most systems to access sensitive information: computer login, network login, database login. Passwords are also supposed to change often. Why were these precautions not taken, and why did the admin not notice anything suspicious until it was too late?
Never underestimate 15 year olds. Why? First, they have WAY more free time than any of us working folk. Come on. They get home at 3, and have maybe an hour or two of homework to do sometimes, then they stay up until 1-2 AM. Second, there are a lot of them for every administrator at any school. Third, they are hormonally imbalanced and do irrational stuff to prove irrational points. They can exploit all of those points to their advantage at almost no notice. I did, you did, most everyone did.
Someone needs to be made an example to prevent this sort of thing elsewhere. I think the administrator is the best choice, personally.
It doesn't seem to me that hard drives have gotten less reliable in the past ten years. I think they more or less leveled off in true MTBF. I've used quite a few (because I need more and more storage all the time) and yet they all seem to still work.
Nobody is going to take it seriously because there are companies like Lexmark and Brother out there, making sub-$100 inkjet printers that streak and sputter no matter what you do, and break if you look at them crosseyed... and the $100-250 price range of the venerable Epson, Canon, and HP isn't much better. Not to mention those all-in-one machines that sacrifice better printing technology to have a scanner in the same price bracket.
I need to vent on that one. I hate the $50 Lexmark 615. My more "Frugal" (ahem) customers go OOH! CHEAP PRINTER! and buy it, then complain for a year until it finally breaks... then they buy another one.
By the way, I use an Epson 2200 with Epsob Premium Luster paper, and I agree totally on the evolution of inkjet printing to a serious medium. People just don't know what they're missing when they get a $100 printer.
Your first point is the kind of argument that's lead to me seeing "Please insert disc 7" when I install large software packages on my computer. Microsoft Visual Studio, for example, and Propellerheads' Reason, Sonic Foundry ACID Pro, M$ Encarta, and several popular games I don't have time to play: Doom 3, Half-Life 2, Final Fantasy XI, etc etc. I know Doom, HL2, and Encarta are available on DVD -- that's great, but why are they released on CD at all? Because of old-fashioned marketing people pitching your first argument to the boss!
Everyone, just stop with this already!! I want the data that I purchase put on the appropriate media for its size and bandwidth requirements. Especially so if I am not allowed under the license to put it there myself. I do not have a problem with disc storage, so breakage and scratching are not a problem. Jewel cases are dirt cheap. "It only came with a paper disc envelope" is no excuse, and if anyone cares so little about their investments to store discs in such a way that they break or otherwise get ruined, then they need to find a less fragile hobby.
Normally I appreciate people playing devil's advocate just to hear the counter-arguments but this is a sore spot. I hate multi-disc installs. I was so happy when software started coming on CDs, because that meant no more "insert floppy #26 to continue" messages followed by "cannot read disk".
So, I don't know too much about this, so I am a bit confused here.
The proposed infrastructure's transmission power is high enough to reach such and such square miles. But, how do the laptop-powered cards have anywhere enough power to transmit over that large of a distance? So maybe the antenna has a really high gain, and can receive those weak signals. Doesn't the signal-to-noise ratio get really bad if you try to read a weak signal from that far away? Especially with all the interference buildings and such can provide. Do you have to sit outside to get a clear signal back to the antenna? I mean, this is not SETI we're talking about here, it's personal computer networking, which requires very fast responses.
15FPS on an LCD screen is reasonable and fine by just about anyone. If you search around, you'll find some research on video framerates. Granted, it's not the 24-30 we're all used to seeing on television and at movie theaters.
Staring at something at one foot away wreaks all kinds of hell on your eyes' focusing abilities. I'd be careful with that... I could have avoided needing glasses now by sitting farther away from the screen in my youth. Don't do it. I repeat, don't do it. I don't care if you think you've got some special exercise for your eyes, or if your vision is already legally blind. Stop!
The Nintendo DS was supposed to be marketed at the 18+ crowds, and have pseudo-PDA functionality for later titles.
Performance *of the new software releases* for any platform will improve as any system matures. I expect the PSP and Nintendo DS to have much better software available over time, just as Gameboy Advance, N64, Playstation, Palm and Windows Mobile did. (It's not like the system is made out of cheese or wine. It doesn't get better with age... it just ages and devalues like technology has a way of doing.)
My major gripe about the PSP is the memory stick. I hate Sony for inventing it. Just about as much as I hate Olympia for using xD memory technology. It's just another non-innovative format Sony invented for the sake of having their own special format with their name on it. Not to mention that there are a few incompatible and various size flavors of Memory Stick. My customers come to me in their confusion looking for answers sometimes. I'll find the right part for them, but Sony needs to stop confusing people. It's not supported by anything non-Sony other than card readers and it costs twice as much as competing technologies. I can get a much more reliable 1GB *Lexar* or *Sandisk* SD or CF card for the $70 you paid for your 512MB Sony MS. Sony!! I don't trust my data to Sony products, do you seriously? Imagine if this happened: 45 hours into a game, the memory stick gets scrambled for no reason, and there goes 45 hours of work. I've never observed it on a PSP, but I've seen it with cheapo memory cards in cameras.
Using a memory stick for "secure" data in this time of card readers coming in almost every computer and all-in-one machine you buy is... well, it's silly.
That's about it. I wrote too much. Intelligent replies are welcome, one-liners are not.
Let's have games that take a long time to complete, but can be enjoyed in very short sessions, on the order of five to ten minutes.
Platformers and driving games are usually good with this. Also, fighting games. Super Smash Bros. Melee and Soul Calibur II fit the bill quite nicely.
I haven't seen too many options in RPGs though - which would be REALLY FREAKIN NICE, especially in the MMORPG world. Somebody out there taking suggestions?
"Forums are not an accurate way to get a picture of a game's user base."
I find the OP's logic flawed... Accurate or not, a discussion forum is the best way to hear the opinions, rants and ideas of a broad variety of players. Excuse me, I mean "user base." You can even (gasp!) participate, and interview the players there to find out what their experience in one area or another has been.
If there's a large amount of complaint threads started by unique forum-goers, then that's an indication of a problem. Not every whiney kid who doesn't like how his shield looks slightly different in one corner after the recent patch (Oh Noes!! I quitzor!) is worth listening to and debating with, but when major gameplay mechanics change, forums usually light up with both pro and con threads. There is always a useful discussion to be found if you're willing to put up with all the whining.
If subscriber numbers fluctuate because of a change, that's great, but the reality is that the majority of players keep their subscriptions if they are unsatisfied with one aspect of the game. Most people just avoid the one thing that they don't like and get on with the game. What causes rises in subscriptions other than good decisions? Promotions at stores. In-game promotions. (See Ragnarok Online's recent double-exp weekend and increase in free trial length, FFXI's come-back campaign, and EQ's/pizza command.) Releases in other countries. Weekends. College breaks. Successful advertising campaigns in specific markets. Holidays. So, subscriber numbers aren't the sole metric of a game's approval rating here.
Go ahead and call me out on this post if you like, but back it up... I'd like to know if my head's on straight or not.
Slashdot Mirror
Wheel:Panel::Apple:Orange
I see your point, but you are arguing against something written tongue-in-cheek (or whatever you call it when you type that way.)
However. How can you have a game where people are required to group together to experience the content, if every player can be anything that's needed at any time? It seems logical to diversify and condense the classes or even eliminate the class system altogether until you realize that the point of separate classes is to get people working together as a group, and eventually people will specialize in a specific few "must-have" abilities so often that you'll essentially have classes again. You have to consider what happens after the game's been out for a few years. Look around for Ragnarok character "builds" and see what I mean... getting to choose your abilities and stats when you level up is great but there are only a few often-desired classes of build. So you see, it's not lazy, it's a necessary evil. It's also clever because the job classes are uniquely qualified for their roles, and nobody else can handle it anywhere near as well. If you're horribly inept at healing, your party will die and lose EXP instead of gaining EXP. People will eventually learn to stay clear of you and you will have to retire if you just won't learn to play.
If you want to be whatever you feel like at any time, go play ToME, or make your own game. MMORPGs are about playing roles - not playing generic everymen.
Or do the next best thing, and take up WHM, because you'll get a screenful of invites every time you log in or drop /anon. That'll satisfy your need for progress if you can handle it. Playing solo in a MMORPG this big will get boring really quick. Remember: It takes ~40 minutes to chocobo from one city to another, unless you're going to/from Jeuno. That's 2 hours if you walk and DON'T fight anything along the way. Getting a party with teleport-enabled mages is underrated.
I'm replying to you and the parent poster, so take what you will out of this.
Mmm, Refresh is essential, but Phalanx, Convert and Stoneskin are just as essential for a RDM to understand in many situations. Namely the "Oh crap we're gonna die" situations that are so easy to get into, or HNM battles. What happens when the tank dies (one-shotted) because the Empty NM you're fighting (Promy-Holla anyone?) has massive damage abilities and already slammed three DOTs and debuffs on him?
I play a DRK, so I appreciate the mastery of the elements so many good RDMs have that other mages and bards don't have. Heck, I think NIN sometimes has better elemental knowledge than the average BLM, who seems content to toss nukes everywhere. I also prefer to have a BRD in my party when possible, as opposed to not having one.
There's nothing like getting chain 5 on 100 EXP kills and being ready for more. Am I right?!
I think a lot of the major issues are... get ready for this one... caused by the people who must resist popular ideas because they're simply too popular. I'm reminded of a Diesel Sweeties character. "Nothing is any good if other people like it." Played with a WAR28/WHM6 lately? How about a PLD32/MNK7 trying to tank without PROVOKE, or someone wearing gear that cancels out their other gear? Yeah. I can hear the shouts now: "TRAIN TO ZONE!!!"
Sad how so many people whine when they bought a MASSIVELY MULTI PLAYER GAME so they could play ALONE, and *surprise!* it doesn't WORK that way! You know what I mean?
Graphics sucking? Please! Have you played NES Mario, Zelda, Pac-Man, Wolfenstein 3D or Counter Strike recently? Those are venerable classics that people still love today, and there's no argument about that. Yet their graphics are sub-par by today's standards. Get this: FFXI was developed when DX8 was new, and gameplay and multiplayer aspects were more important to Square than having unique 48-bit uber-high resolution vertex-shaded textures on each instance of each monster you're going to mangle. Gameplay is better! Comeraderie, parties, friends. That's all so much better than packing for an ego trip, which always takes longer than you want it to. Learn what fun is, guys... By the way, how many PS2s do you know of that could support unique hair colors on everyone in front of the Lower Jeuno auction house? Zero, that's how many. The PS2 is the upper limit of the game's capabilities.
Sigh. Kids today, so selfish. Sheesh. Go outside and play if you can't handle yourself properly when you don't like a video game.
Bingo, sir.
Why is 2D insufficient? I much prefer the non-distorted 2D weather map, even if it means I don't get to see as much area. That's usually ok.
2D seems much more precise. Where are all those raindrops falling? You can't tell from a still image.
Judging from the moderation, I'll agree with point D. Seems nobody can speak up about the standards around here, or they'll get labeled a troll. All moderators reading this, move on, because it's pretty much an off-topic public conversation at this point. There's nowhere else to take it.
We will disagree on your points B and C.
Here's where intelligent discourse might come in, if you're up to it.
What makes Slashdot NOT 'the media'? This website is sponsored, editorialized journalism at its finest - plus a questionably well moderated discussion forum for each article. It's corporately sponsored. See those ads? Unless you have a good ad-blocker or paid for membership, you're making them money by coming here. Slashdot has a few people making their living by working full-time on the site, and some volunteer editors who approve or disapprove news articles - just like at a newspaper or television station. There's plenty of room for bias, as is evidenced all the time by the snide remarks the editors make at the end of the submitted stories. Once again, it's a news site. If you disagree, I will remind you that the motto is "Slashdot. News for Nerds. Stuff that matters." and that it's clearly posted at the top-left of this page.
If you get paid to do skilled labor for a decent length of time, like the owners of the site have unquestionably done, and your skills surpass those of someone who has just started in the field, then I consider you a professional in your field. Since the owners are well-paid and run the show around here... that reasonably qualifies this as a professionally operated organization. Whether or not the editors are pros is debatable and indeed not likely. But that's not what I was talking about in the first post.
So we've established that this is a biased news site (aka part of 'the media') and that it's a professional organization.
Do we care enough to debate further? I'm bored, why not. Ball's in your court.
Insert witty retort here.
Ahhh, meta-humor.
The message the industry doesn't want you to hear:
Meanwhile... the world kept using MPEG-4, DivX, MP3, and AAC.
If these people could offer us a better alternative, then we might think about using crappy DRM-bloated files. But no! They spend the money they should instead use for researching better compression on researching ways to stop people from copying stuff, which is ultimately futile. Why? There can be no unbreakable copy protection, because the quality of recording devices always catches up with that of the output devices. You can record bit-accurate digital streams and digitize analog audio on consumer-level sound cards, and you can record digital and analog HDTV on consumer-level video cards. All you have to do is either have two computers, two decent quality I/O cards, or loop a digital output back into a digital input and press Record. There's no shortage of sites out there that detail the procedure.
Meanwhile, I'll continue to enjoy my 192 KBps Shoutcast streaming radio stations, MP3 collection (which I ripped myself at 192Kbps, at about 3 songs per minute), DVDs, and DivX encoded video clips.
Think that's a fair assessment?
It's rather disappointing to see that from a professional news source, isn't it? People seem to forget Slashdot is part of "the media" and is a professional organization. Certain words are not suitable for professional writers to use in professional communications. Informal conversation (speech at the water cooler, forums, things like that) and formal professional writing (news, memos, and bulletins) do adhere to different standards. Editor, are you out there? Maybe the editor has been reading too many of these magazines and accept that as OK journalism.
Oh well. Disappointing or not, it's still there. At least I agree with the point they made.
Just a lowly 128MB Radeon 9600 Pro.
Might want to reset your GFX settings to the defaults and try again.
Thank you for increasing the font size of the article!
[/stupid humor]
A solid collection of well written articles to be sure. Thank you for the service you've done a great many college students today.
The ideal 3D resolution seems to be 512x512 at 800x600 2D resolution. I think the textures were designed at that resolution, because the geometry and textures seem to line up very well at those settings. I've got a 22" monitor that I usually run at 1600x1200 and I can tell you that FFXI does look best at 512x512. I've played it at 2048x1536... not a happy experience for the eyes.
Setting up MIP mapping at above-normal settings (like 4 or 5) in the registry and forcing anisotropic filtering in your display driver both help it look better. Also, sitting more than a foot away from your monitor helps immensely.
For more details... check out my old Allakhazam post on all the registry settings. AFAIK, I am the only one to have ever gone into that much detail.
I know, having to play with people who've been where you are before really sucks. It's terrible! I mean, there's even SO MANY people to play with now, that you can't brag about being the only lowbie in town. Gosh, what a rotten experience.
You sound like one of the whiny forum posters who pretends to quit five times just to see if anyone goes OMG I WANT TO BEAR YOUR BABIES COME BACK. Knock it off, already.
Finally! A Sony product featuring a viable alternative to Memory Stick! SD and CompactFlash are half the price of MS.
Ah. Good. There's some hope for them yet.
I support punishment of the administrators who did not sufficiently secure that sensitive information. I also support to a lesser degree the punishment of the children who stole the information. However, had that event not taken place, some less scrupulous children might have misused the information that was so easily stolen.
Most databases and file servers have permissions systems in place that can authenticate by host and IP range. Most administrators assign different IP ranges for different purposes - staff should be different from student-accessible. Also, multiple passwords are required in most systems to access sensitive information: computer login, network login, database login. Passwords are also supposed to change often. Why were these precautions not taken, and why did the admin not notice anything suspicious until it was too late?
Never underestimate 15 year olds. Why? First, they have WAY more free time than any of us working folk. Come on. They get home at 3, and have maybe an hour or two of homework to do sometimes, then they stay up until 1-2 AM. Second, there are a lot of them for every administrator at any school. Third, they are hormonally imbalanced and do irrational stuff to prove irrational points. They can exploit all of those points to their advantage at almost no notice. I did, you did, most everyone did.
Someone needs to be made an example to prevent this sort of thing elsewhere. I think the administrator is the best choice, personally.
It doesn't seem to me that hard drives have gotten less reliable in the past ten years. I think they more or less leveled off in true MTBF. I've used quite a few (because I need more and more storage all the time) and yet they all seem to still work.
I dunno, I really liked a few of the games that went gold and re-released:
Mario 64
Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Mario Kart 64
Mario Party
I'd buy the system just to play one of those games. To me, it was not a whopping failure.
Nobody is going to take it seriously because there are companies like Lexmark and Brother out there, making sub-$100 inkjet printers that streak and sputter no matter what you do, and break if you look at them crosseyed... and the $100-250 price range of the venerable Epson, Canon, and HP isn't much better. Not to mention those all-in-one machines that sacrifice better printing technology to have a scanner in the same price bracket.
I need to vent on that one. I hate the $50 Lexmark 615. My more "Frugal" (ahem) customers go OOH! CHEAP PRINTER! and buy it, then complain for a year until it finally breaks... then they buy another one.
By the way, I use an Epson 2200 with Epsob Premium Luster paper, and I agree totally on the evolution of inkjet printing to a serious medium. People just don't know what they're missing when they get a $100 printer.
For those who don't know, and there's nothing wrong with not knowing this...
Giclee is a fancy way of saying "ink-jet". Usually it refers to high quality inkjet, like Iris, but it can mean any kind.
Art snobs sometimes use it because it sounds foreign and sophisticated... but it's really just another name for something we all know.
Offtopic, yes. Educational? Maybe.
Your first point is the kind of argument that's lead to me seeing "Please insert disc 7" when I install large software packages on my computer. Microsoft Visual Studio, for example, and Propellerheads' Reason, Sonic Foundry ACID Pro, M$ Encarta, and several popular games I don't have time to play: Doom 3, Half-Life 2, Final Fantasy XI, etc etc. I know Doom, HL2, and Encarta are available on DVD -- that's great, but why are they released on CD at all? Because of old-fashioned marketing people pitching your first argument to the boss!
Everyone, just stop with this already!! I want the data that I purchase put on the appropriate media for its size and bandwidth requirements. Especially so if I am not allowed under the license to put it there myself. I do not have a problem with disc storage, so breakage and scratching are not a problem. Jewel cases are dirt cheap. "It only came with a paper disc envelope" is no excuse, and if anyone cares so little about their investments to store discs in such a way that they break or otherwise get ruined, then they need to find a less fragile hobby.
Normally I appreciate people playing devil's advocate just to hear the counter-arguments but this is a sore spot. I hate multi-disc installs. I was so happy when software started coming on CDs, because that meant no more "insert floppy #26 to continue" messages followed by "cannot read disk".
So, I don't know too much about this, so I am a bit confused here.
The proposed infrastructure's transmission power is high enough to reach such and such square miles. But, how do the laptop-powered cards have anywhere enough power to transmit over that large of a distance? So maybe the antenna has a really high gain, and can receive those weak signals. Doesn't the signal-to-noise ratio get really bad if you try to read a weak signal from that far away? Especially with all the interference buildings and such can provide. Do you have to sit outside to get a clear signal back to the antenna? I mean, this is not SETI we're talking about here, it's personal computer networking, which requires very fast responses.
Few points for your lengthy comment.
... well, it's silly.
15FPS on an LCD screen is reasonable and fine by just about anyone. If you search around, you'll find some research on video framerates. Granted, it's not the 24-30 we're all used to seeing on television and at movie theaters.
Staring at something at one foot away wreaks all kinds of hell on your eyes' focusing abilities. I'd be careful with that... I could have avoided needing glasses now by sitting farther away from the screen in my youth. Don't do it. I repeat, don't do it. I don't care if you think you've got some special exercise for your eyes, or if your vision is already legally blind. Stop!
The Nintendo DS was supposed to be marketed at the 18+ crowds, and have pseudo-PDA functionality for later titles.
Performance *of the new software releases* for any platform will improve as any system matures. I expect the PSP and Nintendo DS to have much better software available over time, just as Gameboy Advance, N64, Playstation, Palm and Windows Mobile did. (It's not like the system is made out of cheese or wine. It doesn't get better with age... it just ages and devalues like technology has a way of doing.)
My major gripe about the PSP is the memory stick. I hate Sony for inventing it. Just about as much as I hate Olympia for using xD memory technology. It's just another non-innovative format Sony invented for the sake of having their own special format with their name on it. Not to mention that there are a few incompatible and various size flavors of Memory Stick. My customers come to me in their confusion looking for answers sometimes. I'll find the right part for them, but Sony needs to stop confusing people. It's not supported by anything non-Sony other than card readers and it costs twice as much as competing technologies. I can get a much more reliable 1GB *Lexar* or *Sandisk* SD or CF card for the $70 you paid for your 512MB Sony MS. Sony!! I don't trust my data to Sony products, do you seriously? Imagine if this happened: 45 hours into a game, the memory stick gets scrambled for no reason, and there goes 45 hours of work. I've never observed it on a PSP, but I've seen it with cheapo memory cards in cameras.
Using a memory stick for "secure" data in this time of card readers coming in almost every computer and all-in-one machine you buy is
That's about it. I wrote too much. Intelligent replies are welcome, one-liners are not.
How about a compromise?
Let's have games that take a long time to complete, but can be enjoyed in very short sessions, on the order of five to ten minutes.
Platformers and driving games are usually good with this. Also, fighting games. Super Smash Bros. Melee and Soul Calibur II fit the bill quite nicely.
I haven't seen too many options in RPGs though - which would be REALLY FREAKIN NICE, especially in the MMORPG world. Somebody out there taking suggestions?
"Forums are not an accurate way to get a picture of a game's user base."
/pizza command.) Releases in other countries. Weekends. College breaks. Successful advertising campaigns in specific markets. Holidays. So, subscriber numbers aren't the sole metric of a game's approval rating here.
I find the OP's logic flawed... Accurate or not, a discussion forum is the best way to hear the opinions, rants and ideas of a broad variety of players. Excuse me, I mean "user base." You can even (gasp!) participate, and interview the players there to find out what their experience in one area or another has been.
If there's a large amount of complaint threads started by unique forum-goers, then that's an indication of a problem. Not every whiney kid who doesn't like how his shield looks slightly different in one corner after the recent patch (Oh Noes!! I quitzor!) is worth listening to and debating with, but when major gameplay mechanics change, forums usually light up with both pro and con threads. There is always a useful discussion to be found if you're willing to put up with all the whining.
If subscriber numbers fluctuate because of a change, that's great, but the reality is that the majority of players keep their subscriptions if they are unsatisfied with one aspect of the game. Most people just avoid the one thing that they don't like and get on with the game. What causes rises in subscriptions other than good decisions? Promotions at stores. In-game promotions. (See Ragnarok Online's recent double-exp weekend and increase in free trial length, FFXI's come-back campaign, and EQ's
Go ahead and call me out on this post if you like, but back it up... I'd like to know if my head's on straight or not.