When a company whose entire business is based on specs (look at our mhz compared to NVidia!) and upping those specs every couple months, it is a bit disingenous to say "specs aren't important" just because you a) don't have them or b) don't want to release them because they are worse than PS3/Xbox360.
Something similar happened a couple years back (IIRC) when AMD was losing the MHz battle and stated that MHz isn't everything. Well, sure, it isn't. But your whole argument this entire time has been that it is. So, when you shift your argument only when your losing... probably means the argument isn't all that good.
Oh, I don't disagree at all, but I think the point is that the Xbox controller is at least suitable for FPS' and that if the, say, PS2 controller were more suitable, FPS' would have done way better on PS2, considering it is a far better selling console.
I don't disagree that the Revolution controller could be better or that (in this VP's opinion) it could be worse. And perhaps he is saying there's no reason to improve the controller (that's not the way I read it). However, the way the article is written, with the selective quoting, he could just be saying the Revolution controller won't be good for FPS' (his opinion) and that the Xbox controller has been good because people are playing many FPS' on the Xbox, indicating at least satisfaction with the input method."
But you are right, sales alone do not indicate quality. But, again, if the PS2 or GameCube controller were better for FPS', you'd think they'd sell more FPS games, right?
Before I get bashed as a Nintendo-hater or Xbox-lover, or whatever, let me say I have no dog in this fight. I don't plan on buying any of the systems and don't really care about the upcoming battle.
But I think he's right, that in the beginning the controller will simply be a gimmick, much like Sony's Eye-Toy. Yes, it's fun and yes they are fun diversions, but these aren't "great games." They are party gimicks.
That's not to say the controller won't eventually be used well, just that launch titles will likely be gimicky.
Second of all, his comment about the 10% of Game Cube owners seems to be missed by everybody here. He has a valid point - if you own a Game Cube and a PS2 and an Xbox, yes you certainly have given Nintendo money, but you haven't increased their market share at all since you have negated that by buying their competing product as well. Since only 10% of the audience had ONLY a Game Cube, he's inferring that Game Cube has about a 10% marketshare. As a shorthand, it works. The same would be true if he did the poll for Xbox and found that only 10% of the audience owned ONLY an Xbox. These are competing products. They compete in the same market. If you own only a PS2 you are helping to boost Sony's marketshare. However, if you own all three, you aren't.
Also, I personally have no qualms with the existing Xbox controller (or GameCube controller) when I've used them, but if his comments about FPS sales are false, then feel free to disprove them. He said: "It [Xbox controller] works just fine for playing games, and it works fine for first-person shooter games, as evidenced by the fact that they sold more first-person shooters on consoles than anybody's ever sold on PCs." Show how this is wrong if you believe it is false. Obviously people don't much mind playing Halo on the Xbox or they wouldn't be buying it.
In the end, his comments aren't really controversial and the only "troll" as I see it is the OP he said he was "shooting his mouth off." He's a company exec. They prognosticate all the time. They compete with other firms. He may have better insight into the industry than any of us.
Every game should ship with an airhorn and a flashing light. Now, bear with me here: low-level games, like, say, Lion King or Mario Sunshine, will flash a green light (the light will be affixed to the top of the box and should be the size of a soda can). The airhorn will let out a mild sound, much like a bike horn when touched. This is warning parents - hey, there might be some jumping or kicking involved, but mostly it is okay.
For, say, Grand Theft Auto, the game would ship with a giant red light (the size of your head) that flashes like a strobe light. An airhorn, much like those used on a tug boat, will sound when the game is picked up. That way, parents can know - "Hey, warning! I should pay attention to this!"
Obviously we can't trust parents to see the big letter M on the front or take note of either the game's title or graphics on the box. Parents must just be picking up these boxes and staring straight ahead when they throw them on the counter. My solution of enormous siren/light combo will clearly inform parents and at a minimal cost of $5-25 per box.
"I've played it, I am a gamer, it is completely unecessary killing and violence and everything else rolled into a first person experience"
You've played it? You sure?
1) Amazon posts vaporware and products that don't exist. It happens.
2) It's 25 British pounds, not $25. This isn't clear from the writeup.
3) The boxshot looks like ass. There, I said it. If they ship with that, don't expect it to sell.
It's not that great. I beat it in about 10 hours and I'm a pretty slow player. On the Xbox it has horrible slowdown. It's fun, but it could have been a lot better. After playing some of the better Xbox games it was a pretty big letdown.
The story isn't anything that would make you say "Hey, a famous author wrote this!"
Just like many of the chavs who drive past my office every day.
I'm about 250 yards from the road, and mini-roundabout they have to stop at. There are doubled glazed windows, and insulated timber walls between too.
Some of these chavs have bass so loud and powerful, it physically hurts even when sat at my desk, or is low enough to give people headaches, or pop ear drums like when leaving a tunnel.
Deathstar has nothing on these people, if you can call them people anymore... Zombies probably covers it better, what with their pickled brains and all.
I challenge all Slashdot posters to post something more British in content, tone and spelling. This post ranks a 8/10 and would have hit a 9/10 if it had a British spelling error, say colour or propour or whathaveyou.
Interesting. Admittedly, I haven't used either one in a while (don't have much internet access), but I last used alltheweb.com a year ago and I believe it gave different results.
No, it doesn't. Do you have a degree in economics? No?
Monopoly: A situation in which a single company owns all or nearly all of the market for a given type of product or service.
Is Nintendo acting like a monopoly, ie, do they prevent entry to market? No. Are they exerting monopolistic control? No. But by the fact that they are/were the SOLE handheld manufacturer... they have a monopoly.
Just having a monopoly doesn't mean you exploit it.
You shouldn't be a jackass unless you're 100% sure you're right.
I disagree. Nintendo has a monopoly in the handheld market even if they don't engage in monopolistic practices (overcharge, block out competitors, etc).
I actually thought the rest better captured the spirit. Wright won by being funny (I had never heard that Simpsons quote before) but not by having the best design.
Which is sad, because I actually thought some of the other designs could be quite playable.
I'm so tantalized!
Don't buy the new Ford because Chevy is coming out with something way awesome that will revolutionize cars.
If Nintendo wants to compete on hype, then compete. Otherwise, they gots no hype.
That's funny, because McFarlane is a pretty liberal guy. As are many of the writers. So, it seems like he'd be on our side. For the most part, I think his jabs are far less offensive that those on South Park.
Despite controlling all three branches of the government, most state governments and the media, convervatives continue to feel persecuted. I feel your pain; it must be awful
Did anyone else get the BSA ad on the Onion AV article? It's unbelievably offensive:
"Parting gift idea for your old employer:
$150,000 fine for Unlicensed Software
Report software piracy NOW."
Yes, so because you were fired you should immediately start getting your employer in trouble. Even if they don't have pirated software, what the hell, report them to BSA. What an immoral organization.
Slashdot Mirror
Something similar happened a couple years back (IIRC) when AMD was losing the MHz battle and stated that MHz isn't everything. Well, sure, it isn't. But your whole argument this entire time has been that it is. So, when you shift your argument only when your losing... probably means the argument isn't all that good.
I don't disagree that the Revolution controller could be better or that (in this VP's opinion) it could be worse. And perhaps he is saying there's no reason to improve the controller (that's not the way I read it). However, the way the article is written, with the selective quoting, he could just be saying the Revolution controller won't be good for FPS' (his opinion) and that the Xbox controller has been good because people are playing many FPS' on the Xbox, indicating at least satisfaction with the input method."
But you are right, sales alone do not indicate quality. But, again, if the PS2 or GameCube controller were better for FPS', you'd think they'd sell more FPS games, right?
But I think he's right, that in the beginning the controller will simply be a gimmick, much like Sony's Eye-Toy. Yes, it's fun and yes they are fun diversions, but these aren't "great games." They are party gimicks.
That's not to say the controller won't eventually be used well, just that launch titles will likely be gimicky.
Second of all, his comment about the 10% of Game Cube owners seems to be missed by everybody here. He has a valid point - if you own a Game Cube and a PS2 and an Xbox, yes you certainly have given Nintendo money, but you haven't increased their market share at all since you have negated that by buying their competing product as well. Since only 10% of the audience had ONLY a Game Cube, he's inferring that Game Cube has about a 10% marketshare. As a shorthand, it works. The same would be true if he did the poll for Xbox and found that only 10% of the audience owned ONLY an Xbox. These are competing products. They compete in the same market. If you own only a PS2 you are helping to boost Sony's marketshare. However, if you own all three, you aren't.
Also, I personally have no qualms with the existing Xbox controller (or GameCube controller) when I've used them, but if his comments about FPS sales are false, then feel free to disprove them. He said: "It [Xbox controller] works just fine for playing games, and it works fine for first-person shooter games, as evidenced by the fact that they sold more first-person shooters on consoles than anybody's ever sold on PCs." Show how this is wrong if you believe it is false. Obviously people don't much mind playing Halo on the Xbox or they wouldn't be buying it.
In the end, his comments aren't really controversial and the only "troll" as I see it is the OP he said he was "shooting his mouth off." He's a company exec. They prognosticate all the time. They compete with other firms. He may have better insight into the industry than any of us.
I've used it. Or, one like it. It controls my TV.
kidding!
For, say, Grand Theft Auto, the game would ship with a giant red light (the size of your head) that flashes like a strobe light. An airhorn, much like those used on a tug boat, will sound when the game is picked up. That way, parents can know - "Hey, warning! I should pay attention to this!"
Obviously we can't trust parents to see the big letter M on the front or take note of either the game's title or graphics on the box. Parents must just be picking up these boxes and staring straight ahead when they throw them on the counter. My solution of enormous siren/light combo will clearly inform parents and at a minimal cost of $5-25 per box.
"I've played it, I am a gamer, it is completely unecessary killing and violence and everything else rolled into a first person experience" You've played it? You sure?
Um, considering Halo 2 sold $125 mil. in its first day I would have to say NO.
1) Amazon posts vaporware and products that don't exist. It happens. 2) It's 25 British pounds, not $25. This isn't clear from the writeup. 3) The boxshot looks like ass. There, I said it. If they ship with that, don't expect it to sell.
I believe that October's Xbox Magazine mentions that Shadowrun is coming for Xbox 360.
Crap, I totally forgot the reference
It's not that great. I beat it in about 10 hours and I'm a pretty slow player. On the Xbox it has horrible slowdown. It's fun, but it could have been a lot better. After playing some of the better Xbox games it was a pretty big letdown. The story isn't anything that would make you say "Hey, a famous author wrote this!"
I challenge all Slashdot posters to post something more British in content, tone and spelling. This post ranks a 8/10 and would have hit a 9/10 if it had a British spelling error, say colour or propour or whathaveyou.
Good day, sir!
But do you remember the uber-repetitive theme song? Imagine that in Dolby 5.1
Tough one to do, took me a while to remember. I [heart] Boobs if you haven't seen it. His guess is In Doors His wager makes it I [Heart] Boobs.
Interesting. Admittedly, I haven't used either one in a while (don't have much internet access), but I last used alltheweb.com a year ago and I believe it gave different results.
Go to google and type in "better search engines"
Yahoo search is okay, not as nice as google, but a good second.
Alltheweb.com has found things google hasn't, but in general I rarely use it.
I rarely use MSN because it was awful all the times I tried it. Same for Altavista.
In general, if I'm searching for something I'll use google first and then Yahoo and Alltheweb to catch anything that google may have missed.
Monopoly: A situation in which a single company owns all or nearly all of the market for a given type of product or service.
Is Nintendo acting like a monopoly, ie, do they prevent entry to market? No. Are they exerting monopolistic control? No. But by the fact that they are/were the SOLE handheld manufacturer... they have a monopoly.
Just having a monopoly doesn't mean you exploit it.
You shouldn't be a jackass unless you're 100% sure you're right.
I disagree. Nintendo has a monopoly in the handheld market even if they don't engage in monopolistic practices (overcharge, block out competitors, etc).
They have a natural monopoly, but don't abuse it.
I actually thought the rest better captured the spirit. Wright won by being funny (I had never heard that Simpsons quote before) but not by having the best design. Which is sad, because I actually thought some of the other designs could be quite playable.
I'm so tantalized! Don't buy the new Ford because Chevy is coming out with something way awesome that will revolutionize cars. If Nintendo wants to compete on hype, then compete. Otherwise, they gots no hype.
That's funny, because McFarlane is a pretty liberal guy. As are many of the writers. So, it seems like he'd be on our side. For the most part, I think his jabs are far less offensive that those on South Park.
Huh? Simpsons: Hit and Run used the actual voice actors. I kinda wish I knew what your angle was here.
Despite controlling all three branches of the government, most state governments and the media, convervatives continue to feel persecuted. I feel your pain; it must be awful
"Parting gift idea for your old employer:
$150,000 fine for Unlicensed Software
Report software piracy NOW."
Yes, so because you were fired you should immediately start getting your employer in trouble. Even if they don't have pirated software, what the hell, report them to BSA. What an immoral organization.