This'll probably earn me a good shunning...but I never cared for Myst. It was definitely a great looking game, with a long bit of game time, but it just wasn't my thing. I'm not sure how the sales have been on the most recent projects, but maybe it would be wise to look in a different direction for new games.
It's true, it's getting that little bit of exposure that's tough. I'd like to believe that on-line game reviewers that are part of larger networks would be the perfect way. You write a game, send it to them for review, they devote a little bit of space and if your product is good you're on your way. What's probably closer to happening is you write a game, send it to a reviewer for them to work in. If you catch the reviewer in an off month, you're set. However, if it's the month he just got Doom III, Halo 2 and some other spifftastic game (or some game that takes a long time to get through) your product gets back-burnered for the bigger things.
Maybe some sort of third party site would be good. Basically, indie developers pitch in for time on a site where the reviews are done strictly by non-professional reviewers (i.e. us). You go in, see what's new and the genres you like, download it and give it a shot. If it's good, give it a high mark and inspire other people to give it a shot. I dunno, maybe there is such a site and I don't know about it.
As other posters mentioned, it's tough for consoles. The biggest thing that drives communities is a sense that your feedback matters. I'm not going to go on and on about a game, or bother to post in the forums, if my voice is never heard. Well, maybe my voice shouldn't be heard, but somebodies should. That's part of what drives a lot of MMOG communities, a sense that if they scream loudly enough things will change. And generally it does.
If you don't have a good story line, and you're not going to (or can't) make any changes to the basic gameplay based on user feedback, I'm not going to care about your game after I beat it or give up in frustration.
Manuals... I remember those. They were great, back before PDF manuals on the CD/DVD became the norm. I agree with you though, I like having the actual CD at least. I normally throw the box away, and stuff the manual back into the front of the CD case (at least until I put 'em all in a binder).
I've played both, and spent a lot of time on other MMORPGs too. Frankly, no, there's not much there that makes it special and different. If you like playing on a more casual level, GW is great. Missions tend to be heavily instanced, at least through the beginning (haven't played enough to hit the high levels), so there's no waiting for your spawn cycle or any of that mess. Even for "normal" missions. On the other hand, if people like GW they might get frustrated by WoW. Especially on a pure PVP server.
Frankly, as I had less and less time to spend gaming, Guild Wars was great. WoW and EQ2 were just too time intensive to keep up with my friends and they became expensive instant messaging programs for me.
I've always been a big fan of Games Workshop's Warhammer universes (fantasy and 40k). I've read novels from both genres and haven't been disappointed in one yet. But I haven't read 'em all, so there may be some craptastic stuff under the license. Those tend to be aimed at adult reader, both universes are fairly dark.
I also really enjoyed all the Shadowrun novels. They tend to be a bit lighter than some of the Warhammer stuff and are easy reads.
I think a lot of the people pay sponsorship money for the right to print "Used in the Cybergames!" on the packaging of their boxes. So now the average guy that walks into Best Buy to buy a mouse might gravitate toward the mondo mouse with twelve buttons and hardcore LEDs if he happens to be a gamer. And if the mouse is "used by the overall champions of the 2005 CyberGames!" that might be even more of a bonus. Sure, the mouse won't make the ultimate difference in Joe (or Jane) Doe's gameplaying, but if they're already going to spend money on a product they might go for the one used by the best.
As other people have mentioned, the big deal is getting that magic piece of paper to get your foot in the door. You won't pass most HR filters without a cert or degree. If you happen to be in a technology savy area, with lots of other tech types looking for a job, having a buzz-word (buzz-letter?) filled resume is going to get you to the point that an HR person actually reads your resume.
If you're already in the job, getting a certification is a decent way to fulfill some training requirement. And if you're the first one in your company to get a specific certification in your company, you might open some business doors for 'em. Thankfully, most of the companies I've worked for appreciate that monetarily...
I've seen people managers and technical managers. If he's good as a people manager, let him slide on the technical side. Unless he's trying to impose his lack of knowledge on you. Be happy that he's asking questions and at least trying to learn. If he's supposed to be a technical manager (i.e. supposed to be a mentor to you and your team) then maybe it's a problem.
Is automatic controls in games that prevent any games from being played between the hours of midnight and 9 am. It may be tough for people with third shift jobs, but we have to think of the children!
On a more serious note, anybody else play Dungeon Keeper? I used to love the snide comments the narrator would give as it got later at night and slid into morning.
They would, I guess, have to mask this behavior somehow. Does anyone have any details about this... does this condition really exist or is it just anti-MS FUD?
The only way that I've heard of them masking that sort of behavior is in terms of bulk pricing arrangements. So if you sell a million boxes with pre-installed Windows, we'll give you a discount on each copy. Supposedly, and I can't remember where I read it or if it was true, MS would offer a greater discount to vendors that only provided MS than to those who offered multiple choices. If a company saw the take rate on non-OS or alternate OS boxes was relatively low, it would be more economical to sell them all with Windows and reap the higher discount. Plus there's less to do manufacturing-wise to make sure everything is working right. Instead of having multiple burn-in scripts (or what have you) for multiple OS's (or even one for Windows, one for and non-Windows) you get one to work with and refine.
As much as I dislike MS making forcing people (whether directly or indirectly) to buy their OS, one has to wonder how many people really throw another OS on their box is. I would think a lot of the people that put another OS on tend to build their own computers for personal use (although last time I broke down and bought a system from a vendor, to avoid the time and headaches from building one), and corporate standards tend to drive the rest.
How would Australian politicians feel if they found out about the unseemly underbelly of MMOG's? Seriously, for a second, what's so different from poor Johny (protect the childrens!) applying a mod to a game and seeing content that's at the very least R-rated (haven't seen it m'self, dunno how bad it is) and poor Johny stumbling into someone's weird little chat in a MMOG? Or, forgetting games altogether, a chat room?
A rating system that breaks a game into a few core catagories and gives rating for each catagory would better serve parents and people in deciding which content would be suitable for them or their children.
But the ESRB already does this. Next to the rating, there's a synopsis of what caused it to earn that rating (which is already more than the MPAA does in rating movies). All it would take is the parent actually reading the label, and they'd have an idea about why the game was rated in the fashion it was. But then parents would be parenting, and since "it takes a village..." Well, let's just say I'm not happy with the direction things are going. But at least they're staying away from music as the greatest evil of our time for a bit.
It's no different than any number of "wars" we've been fighting for years and years. The "war on drugs" was expanded a lot in the 90's, and it hasn't gotten us particularly far. But it sure is popular to protect the poor childrens from pron...err...drugs. Sorry, I was getting my battle of the decade confused again.
You mean a spectrum analyzer? They get to be expensive, especially for someone that's just going to use it to find rogue APs. Plus the last couple I worked with were extremely bulky. But that was back when a portable o-scope meant you didn't need a cart (back when they were all CRTs). There're probably more easily portable things now. Another problem that creeps up is that they only really work if the source you're zeroing in on is a constant frequency. You start getting into the spread-spectrum type of signals, and it's almost useless to try to pinpoint things with a spectrum analyzer.
But now they can dedicate the other boxes to the gaming servers that all IT people run in the background! Err... Yeah, it does seem odd that they went all out, but at least they shouldn't need any server upgrades for a while.
The easy way to tell used to be that Marvel comics were generally "darker" and DC comics tended to be happier with the good guys always winning in the end. There are exceptions to the rule, of course, but in general if the hero is angst ridden with a tragic life story, or hunted by the law/society/big planet eating aliens, it's probably a Marvel comic.
Or at least that's the way it was back when I read comics regularly.
I'd much prefer a WH40K style MMORPG to a Warhammer fantasy type. But frankly, I'll take what I can get. There've only been a few decent Warhammer-universe games, and I just don't have the time to paint and haul miniatures around like I used to.
I don't think they're mutually exclusive. Politicians tend to say things that'll mesh well with opinion polls, and then go off and do what they want (because they know better). And let's not forget that it's possible to take a poll in a way that gets exactly the opinion you want expressed. You want firearms banned? Concentrate your polling in mostly urban areas where there's less recreational firearm use. Want to keep 'em around? Poll primarily in rural areas where hunting, target shooting and the like are still done regularly.
That may not be the best example, but you get the idea.
Things like this have led me to be a "late adopter" of new games. Sure, I miss out on getting to brag about having the game the day it's released, but I usually pay less for the game. And I tend not to get hit with the odd patch or two that causes your drive to get formatted if you uninstall it, or causes the game to be near unplayable.
Nah, this is just like any other incentive. Not much different from bundling games with video cards (as has been going on for a while). The only difference was they bundled a game that didn't exist yet. I don't think anybody bought the card because it "came" with HL2. Having HL2 bundled with it *might* have been the last straw that pushed someone on the Nvidia vs. ATI fence over toward ATI. So ATI wins, they get possibly more people buying their card. Valve wins, they get pre-market sales to count on their accounting sheets before. And the customer wins, they get a decent video card and a good game.
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This'll probably earn me a good shunning...but I never cared for Myst. It was definitely a great looking game, with a long bit of game time, but it just wasn't my thing. I'm not sure how the sales have been on the most recent projects, but maybe it would be wise to look in a different direction for new games.
It's true, it's getting that little bit of exposure that's tough. I'd like to believe that on-line game reviewers that are part of larger networks would be the perfect way. You write a game, send it to them for review, they devote a little bit of space and if your product is good you're on your way. What's probably closer to happening is you write a game, send it to a reviewer for them to work in. If you catch the reviewer in an off month, you're set. However, if it's the month he just got Doom III, Halo 2 and some other spifftastic game (or some game that takes a long time to get through) your product gets back-burnered for the bigger things.
Maybe some sort of third party site would be good. Basically, indie developers pitch in for time on a site where the reviews are done strictly by non-professional reviewers (i.e. us). You go in, see what's new and the genres you like, download it and give it a shot. If it's good, give it a high mark and inspire other people to give it a shot. I dunno, maybe there is such a site and I don't know about it.
As other posters mentioned, it's tough for consoles. The biggest thing that drives communities is a sense that your feedback matters. I'm not going to go on and on about a game, or bother to post in the forums, if my voice is never heard. Well, maybe my voice shouldn't be heard, but somebodies should. That's part of what drives a lot of MMOG communities, a sense that if they scream loudly enough things will change. And generally it does.
If you don't have a good story line, and you're not going to (or can't) make any changes to the basic gameplay based on user feedback, I'm not going to care about your game after I beat it or give up in frustration.
Manuals... I remember those. They were great, back before PDF manuals on the CD/DVD became the norm. I agree with you though, I like having the actual CD at least. I normally throw the box away, and stuff the manual back into the front of the CD case (at least until I put 'em all in a binder).
And yet another publicity stunt ("accidentally" releasing characters and names in an upcoming movie) works perfectly.
I've played both, and spent a lot of time on other MMORPGs too. Frankly, no, there's not much there that makes it special and different. If you like playing on a more casual level, GW is great. Missions tend to be heavily instanced, at least through the beginning (haven't played enough to hit the high levels), so there's no waiting for your spawn cycle or any of that mess. Even for "normal" missions. On the other hand, if people like GW they might get frustrated by WoW. Especially on a pure PVP server.
Frankly, as I had less and less time to spend gaming, Guild Wars was great. WoW and EQ2 were just too time intensive to keep up with my friends and they became expensive instant messaging programs for me.
I've always been a big fan of Games Workshop's Warhammer universes (fantasy and 40k). I've read novels from both genres and haven't been disappointed in one yet. But I haven't read 'em all, so there may be some craptastic stuff under the license. Those tend to be aimed at adult reader, both universes are fairly dark.
I also really enjoyed all the Shadowrun novels. They tend to be a bit lighter than some of the Warhammer stuff and are easy reads.
Who sees it?
I think a lot of the people pay sponsorship money for the right to print "Used in the Cybergames!" on the packaging of their boxes. So now the average guy that walks into Best Buy to buy a mouse might gravitate toward the mondo mouse with twelve buttons and hardcore LEDs if he happens to be a gamer. And if the mouse is "used by the overall champions of the 2005 CyberGames!" that might be even more of a bonus. Sure, the mouse won't make the ultimate difference in Joe (or Jane) Doe's gameplaying, but if they're already going to spend money on a product they might go for the one used by the best.
As other people have mentioned, the big deal is getting that magic piece of paper to get your foot in the door. You won't pass most HR filters without a cert or degree. If you happen to be in a technology savy area, with lots of other tech types looking for a job, having a buzz-word (buzz-letter?) filled resume is going to get you to the point that an HR person actually reads your resume.
If you're already in the job, getting a certification is a decent way to fulfill some training requirement. And if you're the first one in your company to get a specific certification in your company, you might open some business doors for 'em. Thankfully, most of the companies I've worked for appreciate that monetarily...
I've seen people managers and technical managers. If he's good as a people manager, let him slide on the technical side. Unless he's trying to impose his lack of knowledge on you. Be happy that he's asking questions and at least trying to learn. If he's supposed to be a technical manager (i.e. supposed to be a mentor to you and your team) then maybe it's a problem.
Otherwise, just let it go.
They can bribe a CS major into unlocking the book forever!
Nah. He means Wizard of Oz... Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon syncs up with the movie really well.
Is automatic controls in games that prevent any games from being played between the hours of midnight and 9 am. It may be tough for people with third shift jobs, but we have to think of the children!
On a more serious note, anybody else play Dungeon Keeper? I used to love the snide comments the narrator would give as it got later at night and slid into morning.
They would, I guess, have to mask this behavior somehow. Does anyone have any details about this... does this condition really exist or is it just anti-MS FUD?
The only way that I've heard of them masking that sort of behavior is in terms of bulk pricing arrangements. So if you sell a million boxes with pre-installed Windows, we'll give you a discount on each copy. Supposedly, and I can't remember where I read it or if it was true, MS would offer a greater discount to vendors that only provided MS than to those who offered multiple choices. If a company saw the take rate on non-OS or alternate OS boxes was relatively low, it would be more economical to sell them all with Windows and reap the higher discount. Plus there's less to do manufacturing-wise to make sure everything is working right. Instead of having multiple burn-in scripts (or what have you) for multiple OS's (or even one for Windows, one for and non-Windows) you get one to work with and refine.
As much as I dislike MS making forcing people (whether directly or indirectly) to buy their OS, one has to wonder how many people really throw another OS on their box is. I would think a lot of the people that put another OS on tend to build their own computers for personal use (although last time I broke down and bought a system from a vendor, to avoid the time and headaches from building one), and corporate standards tend to drive the rest.
How would Australian politicians feel if they found out about the unseemly underbelly of MMOG's? Seriously, for a second, what's so different from poor Johny (protect the childrens!) applying a mod to a game and seeing content that's at the very least R-rated (haven't seen it m'self, dunno how bad it is) and poor Johny stumbling into someone's weird little chat in a MMOG? Or, forgetting games altogether, a chat room?
A rating system that breaks a game into a few core catagories and gives rating for each catagory would better serve parents and people in deciding which content would be suitable for them or their children.
But the ESRB already does this. Next to the rating, there's a synopsis of what caused it to earn that rating (which is already more than the MPAA does in rating movies). All it would take is the parent actually reading the label, and they'd have an idea about why the game was rated in the fashion it was. But then parents would be parenting, and since "it takes a village..." Well, let's just say I'm not happy with the direction things are going. But at least they're staying away from music as the greatest evil of our time for a bit.
It's no different than any number of "wars" we've been fighting for years and years. The "war on drugs" was expanded a lot in the 90's, and it hasn't gotten us particularly far. But it sure is popular to protect the poor childrens from pron...err...drugs. Sorry, I was getting my battle of the decade confused again.
You mean a spectrum analyzer? They get to be expensive, especially for someone that's just going to use it to find rogue APs. Plus the last couple I worked with were extremely bulky. But that was back when a portable o-scope meant you didn't need a cart (back when they were all CRTs). There're probably more easily portable things now. Another problem that creeps up is that they only really work if the source you're zeroing in on is a constant frequency. You start getting into the spread-spectrum type of signals, and it's almost useless to try to pinpoint things with a spectrum analyzer.
But now they can dedicate the other boxes to the gaming servers that all IT people run in the background! Err... Yeah, it does seem odd that they went all out, but at least they shouldn't need any server upgrades for a while.
The easy way to tell used to be that Marvel comics were generally "darker" and DC comics tended to be happier with the good guys always winning in the end. There are exceptions to the rule, of course, but in general if the hero is angst ridden with a tragic life story, or hunted by the law/society/big planet eating aliens, it's probably a Marvel comic.
Or at least that's the way it was back when I read comics regularly.
I'd much prefer a WH40K style MMORPG to a Warhammer fantasy type. But frankly, I'll take what I can get. There've only been a few decent Warhammer-universe games, and I just don't have the time to paint and haul miniatures around like I used to.
I don't think they're mutually exclusive. Politicians tend to say things that'll mesh well with opinion polls, and then go off and do what they want (because they know better). And let's not forget that it's possible to take a poll in a way that gets exactly the opinion you want expressed. You want firearms banned? Concentrate your polling in mostly urban areas where there's less recreational firearm use. Want to keep 'em around? Poll primarily in rural areas where hunting, target shooting and the like are still done regularly.
That may not be the best example, but you get the idea.
Easy, set up your USB key to be DOS bootable and do it that way. Next question?
Things like this have led me to be a "late adopter" of new games. Sure, I miss out on getting to brag about having the game the day it's released, but I usually pay less for the game. And I tend not to get hit with the odd patch or two that causes your drive to get formatted if you uninstall it, or causes the game to be near unplayable.
Nah, this is just like any other incentive. Not much different from bundling games with video cards (as has been going on for a while). The only difference was they bundled a game that didn't exist yet. I don't think anybody bought the card because it "came" with HL2. Having HL2 bundled with it *might* have been the last straw that pushed someone on the Nvidia vs. ATI fence over toward ATI. So ATI wins, they get possibly more people buying their card. Valve wins, they get pre-market sales to count on their accounting sheets before. And the customer wins, they get a decent video card and a good game.