Hey, here's another way to define irony: Someone who doesn't comprehend what he's read accusing someone else of not comprehending it.
Here's a hint: The fact that Schwarzenegger could sign a bill making R-rated movies illegal to sell to minors doesn't do a damn thing about the profit he's made off of minors renting and buying his violent R-rated movies for decades now.
A man best known for starring in violent movies that mostly appeal to adolescents signs a bill prohibiting the sale of violent video games to adolescents.
The problem with your reasoning is that it would require region lockout chips to prevent people from selling certain games in certain countries. They do not; instead, they keep people from playing those games after they've already imported them. There's nothing in your post that justifies keeping someone from playing a game that he legally imported on the console that it's made for.
Producers handle the overarching direction of a project, while directors are the ones who handle the direction of elements within a project. Since movies very rarely have much of an overarching direction (since that would require planned sequels), movie directors are far more important than movie producers as far as creative control goes. The opposite is true with TV shows, as they have many episodes a year (making the producer more important) and each episode tends to be much shorter than a movie (making the director less important).
Film producers did once have more creative control, but that was because of the studio system, where there were no independent films on the radar and the people working under the producers had to grit their teeth and bear it. Now-a-days "the man with the money" really doesn't mean much to the movie itself; the executive producer basically exerts his creative control by trying to keep the movie on budget and giving it the final OK. Now making a movie financially successful, on the other hand...
Why? Because it causes warez groups fits. A lot of games using that protection haven't been cracked yet, including the game you mentioned, and the ones that haven't been cracked can't simply be copied 1:1 either; you have to jump through a bunch of hoops to play a clone image properly. Damn shame, considering how intrusive the protection is in regards to your computer as well as to the game itself.
I have been playing it and it is totall cool. But i was hoping that X2 would have our universe with the solar systems that I know now.
The story makes it pretty clear that the X Universe is cut off from local space, but the reason why X3 is subtitled "Reunion" is because in it the Argon will rediscover their true homeworld, Earth. There's also speculation that one of the sectors in the X Universe is actually Alpha Centauri (since the jumpgates aren't limited by Einsteinian physics, the sectors in the X Universe don't have to be anywhere near each other; some of them might be close to us, while others might be in other galaxies).
...and I think he has a point, at least with certain games (read: "Final Fantasy"). You guys who are going into hysterics over an off-the-cuff facetious comment are just proving it.
I wouldn't go that far. After all, Halo is in the same genre as Half-Life et al. with no fundamental gameplay differences. Comparing FF to Ultima, on the other hand, is almost like comparing apples to oranges. Western RPGs have always been fundamentally different stylistically from Eastern ones, and some people prefer one style over the other. So saying that FF is like Halo is unfair to those who have sensible reasons for not liking Western RPGs.
...if you like camp, cliche, one-dimensional characters, final villains that come from out of nowhere, and overly simplistic gameplay. You can't even choose your party, for crying out loud.
This presented the design team with all kinds of challenges which were made even harder by the decision to expand the scope of B&W 2 beyond its god game heritage to include elements such as real-time strategy, simulation, city building and a physics engine.
Good old Peter Molyneux, always promising stuff that he can't deliver. I'll be surprised if most of the stuff on the above list isn't really basic, assuming that it's there at all.
I at least hope that they, you know, actually fixed the problems with the first game while they were adding all of this stuff.
If Nintendo ported its games to other systems, then no one would buy Nintendo consoles. If no one bought Nintendo consoles, then no one would buy games licensed for those consoles. Licensing fees are where Nintendo gets most of its money. It only takes a few moments of thought to realize this.
That's all I can say about this. Maybe someday the computer adventure genre will recover from the damage that Myst did to it, but I would be very surprised if it happened.
Rob (Quoting Green Day's "Time of Your Life" makes me even less sympathetic)
Slashdot Mirror
Hey, here's another way to define irony: Someone who doesn't comprehend what he's read accusing someone else of not comprehending it.
Here's a hint: The fact that Schwarzenegger could sign a bill making R-rated movies illegal to sell to minors doesn't do a damn thing about the profit he's made off of minors renting and buying his violent R-rated movies for decades now.
Rob
You would have a point if it were illegal to sell R-rated movies to minors.
Rob
I didn't say that he didn't have a good reason to sign it; I just said that the basic situation was ironic.
Rob
A man best known for starring in violent movies that mostly appeal to adolescents signs a bill prohibiting the sale of violent video games to adolescents.
Rob
The problem with your reasoning is that it would require region lockout chips to prevent people from selling certain games in certain countries. They do not; instead, they keep people from playing those games after they've already imported them. There's nothing in your post that justifies keeping someone from playing a game that he legally imported on the console that it's made for.
Rob
Next you're going to tell us that Capture the Flag isn't really all that much like actual warfare. No shit, seriously? Christ. Rob
Producers handle the overarching direction of a project, while directors are the ones who handle the direction of elements within a project. Since movies very rarely have much of an overarching direction (since that would require planned sequels), movie directors are far more important than movie producers as far as creative control goes. The opposite is true with TV shows, as they have many episodes a year (making the producer more important) and each episode tends to be much shorter than a movie (making the director less important).
Film producers did once have more creative control, but that was because of the studio system, where there were no independent films on the radar and the people working under the producers had to grit their teeth and bear it. Now-a-days "the man with the money" really doesn't mean much to the movie itself; the executive producer basically exerts his creative control by trying to keep the movie on budget and giving it the final OK. Now making a movie financially successful, on the other hand...
Rob
Why? Because it causes warez groups fits. A lot of games using that protection haven't been cracked yet, including the game you mentioned, and the ones that haven't been cracked can't simply be copied 1:1 either; you have to jump through a bunch of hoops to play a clone image properly. Damn shame, considering how intrusive the protection is in regards to your computer as well as to the game itself.
Rob
I have been playing it and it is totall cool. But i was hoping that X2 would have our universe with the solar systems that I know now.
The story makes it pretty clear that the X Universe is cut off from local space, but the reason why X3 is subtitled "Reunion" is because in it the Argon will rediscover their true homeworld, Earth. There's also speculation that one of the sectors in the X Universe is actually Alpha Centauri (since the jumpgates aren't limited by Einsteinian physics, the sectors in the X Universe don't have to be anywhere near each other; some of them might be close to us, while others might be in other galaxies).
Rob
BTW, it's pretty amusing that the countdown to the contest was on the front page, but the contest itself isn't. Good old Slashdot.
Rob
MS already blew its meta-game wad on Halo 2.
Rob
I was wondering about this too, especially after reading the West-bashing quote in the blurb. A game doesn't have to be innovative to be artistic.
Rob
...and I think he has a point, at least with certain games (read: "Final Fantasy"). You guys who are going into hysterics over an off-the-cuff facetious comment are just proving it.
Rob
Truly Final Fantasy is the Halo of the RPG world.
I wouldn't go that far. After all, Halo is in the same genre as Half-Life et al. with no fundamental gameplay differences. Comparing FF to Ultima, on the other hand, is almost like comparing apples to oranges. Western RPGs have always been fundamentally different stylistically from Eastern ones, and some people prefer one style over the other. So saying that FF is like Halo is unfair to those who have sensible reasons for not liking Western RPGs.
Rob
...if you like camp, cliche, one-dimensional characters, final villains that come from out of nowhere, and overly simplistic gameplay. You can't even choose your party, for crying out loud.
Rob
Easily the oddest example of this phenomenon. It started with Raymond E. Feist writing an acclaimed series of fantasy books. Sierra felt that the universe that Feist created would be a good basis for an RPG, so it got the license and had him write the plot for Betrayal at Krondor. Later, Feist decided to write a novelization of the game which was based on his books. He also did it with the game's sequel by writing Krondor: The Assassins. Probably the most "meta" thing I can think of in video gaming history.
Rob
Just like they enforce everything else; if your game doesn't have ESRB certification, then retailers won't sell it.
Rob
This presented the design team with all kinds of challenges which were made even harder by the decision to expand the scope of B&W 2 beyond its god game heritage to include elements such as real-time strategy, simulation, city building and a physics engine.
Good old Peter Molyneux, always promising stuff that he can't deliver. I'll be surprised if most of the stuff on the above list isn't really basic, assuming that it's there at all.
I at least hope that they, you know, actually fixed the problems with the first game while they were adding all of this stuff.
Rob
If Nintendo ported its games to other systems, then no one would buy Nintendo consoles. If no one bought Nintendo consoles, then no one would buy games licensed for those consoles. Licensing fees are where Nintendo gets most of its money. It only takes a few moments of thought to realize this.
Rob
The fact that you don't agree with the mod, probably. That's what it usually is.
Rob
That's all I can say about this. Maybe someday the computer adventure genre will recover from the damage that Myst did to it, but I would be very surprised if it happened.
Rob (Quoting Green Day's "Time of Your Life" makes me even less sympathetic)
It's fun to watch the joke fly over the mods' heads.
Rob
Freelancer was a marginal game in single-player, but the persistent universe server online play made it endearing.
I couldn't care less about online play, so it doesn't enter into my opinion.
Rob
Yeah, that sort of thing had never happened before Eternal Darkness. It's unique, really.
Rob
You mean sort of like how Morrowind was FPS with a hint of roleplaying?
Rob