...but at the end of the day the difference between "hardcore" and "casual" I settled on wasn't necessarily how long a person played, but how hard it was to save/quit/get out when you had to put the game down.
This applied specifically to whether or not a person could raid in World of Warcraft, but I think it applies to gaming in general - it isn't that "casuals" wouldn't play for 4 hours at a stretch, it's that they couldn't commit to a playing schedule and actually keep said commitment consistently enough to a) not piss of the other raid members and b) not upset Significant Others.
I've levelled 3 60's in WoW. It's easily the most soloable MMORPG I've ever played. I'm not sure why you think you couldn't do this, unless you're referring to instances.
I can understand why your "odd man out" was a WoW fan. I bought Oblivion for the 360 and played a few hours of it. The feeling I came away with was "Meh...". I understand the reasons why people don't take to MMORPG's (d00dz, kiddies, time, etc.), but it's many of those very reasons that are compelling to me. To me, grown up and a programmer, single-player CRPG's fail in that important "suspension of disbelief" aspect that I need to feel immersed in a game. Knowing that the avatars I'm interacting with are, at bottom, predictable, scriptable entities utterly bores me to tears.
Now, getting on my 60 rogue after having an alt killed in Stranglethorn Vale and repeatedly killing my alt's ganker...now that's gaming gold.
I'm not knocking the game or those who like the game - it has great production values and I can understand the appeal - I just happen to prefer human interaction in the games I play these days, even on the limited scale that WoW affords.
This is a rule I set for myself when playing WoW as a soon-to-be married man: if my fiancee wanted to do anything (go to the gym, go out to eat, go shopping, etc.) while I was playing WoW then I would quit, no questions asked. She's always been kind about my play-time (and even enjoys playing WoW, herself, but takes quite a long time to level:P), so I don't feel like she abuses that "power". As a matter of fact, I've never even told her that it was my own self-made rule, but it really works, and I very much enjoy her company, so that's quite convenient as well;)
Regardless, your "rule" about social interactions and responsibilites has served me well regarding my love for WoW and how it competes with other interests. It's really kept my head on straight.
I've saved several hundred dollars by playing World of Warcraft that would have gone to other distractions had it not been so much fun to me for the last 16 months.
I've purchased gold, too, and still come out ahead by a large margin. I work, make a good salary, but don't feel like spending dozens of hours farming when I could be using that time to do other things. I consider the ease of play gained by purchasing 500 gold every quarter or so well worth the marginal amount of cash spent. I could blow $50 in one night on drinks for me and my fiancee, easily - $50 of gold makes my time in WoW much more pleasant for months.
Farming sucks, but that doesn't mean the rest of the game is just as poor.
With 6 million+ active subscribers...
on
No WoW for the 360
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
as told here, is there any doubt that porting WoW to the 360 would be a waste of time? When you have 6 million paying subscribers, you're already exceeded your goals by your wildest imaginations and it probably wouldn't be a sound financial investment given the technical hurdles and (relatively) small install-base for the 360.
And, yes, you can use a keyboard with the 360, so this is not one of them.
Actually, I picked up my $20 Microsoft 360-to-VGA connector "off the shelf", and makes the system look fantastic on my flat-panel Viewsonic. Did you mean "out of the box"?
"And everybody can be really happy about it."
on
Uwe Boll Smash!
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· Score: 0, Redundant
But has anyone even SEEN a Blu-ray movie on the shelves at a single store?
What's that? No??
A standalone player even? Not yet.
This is NOT the same situation that the PS2 was in when it was released in 2000. DVD's were out and had their first hot holiday in 1999...plenty of time for the PS2's DVD-playing capabilities to be relevant. Blu-ray is still, for all purposes, vaporware at the mass-consumer level. It is not going to be the reason people buy a PS3.
I used to hang out with an old college buddy...
on
WoW the Next "Golf"?
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· Score: 5, Funny
via WoW. Until he met a girl and she kept him from hitting 60. What a loser.
Reposting of something I wrote in response to a similar article:
Achievements and scores on the 360 are the real "next-gen" feature of the XBox 360.
Forget the graphics and the other much-touted features of the 360 - achievements and high scores take that old-school high score competitiveness from yesterday's arcades and make them relevant once again.
This is great for someone like me - a guy in his early 30's who doesn't have many gamer friends anymore and certainly none on XBL - because it brings that arcade competitiveness of yesteryear back into my living room: enhancing replayability, upping the tension factor, and generally just making the games more fun. Whoever decided to make integrated Live and Achievements mandatory for all XBox 360 games was a genius.
Abso-fuckin-lutely not. People are used to Sony's constant hype machine bullshit, and when you're already used to the stink it's pretty easy to tell reality from BS and this is utter BS.
The fact is, Sony's constant "we don't need a Live service to compete with MS" has been shown to be as last-gen-thinking as the PS2's graphics currently are. Sony NEEDS to compete on this front (XBox Live/Arcade is fantastic) and isn't currently in any position to do it...at least if they launch in '06. MS is already on iteration 2 of their service for god's sake.
I'd say the blurb about the PS3 dev kits being too immature to develop on is pretty big news considering that Sony would love for us to be anticipating its "imminent" release.
Slashdot Mirror
...but at the end of the day the difference between "hardcore" and "casual" I settled on wasn't necessarily how long a person played, but how hard it was to save/quit/get out when you had to put the game down.
This applied specifically to whether or not a person could raid in World of Warcraft, but I think it applies to gaming in general - it isn't that "casuals" wouldn't play for 4 hours at a stretch, it's that they couldn't commit to a playing schedule and actually keep said commitment consistently enough to a) not piss of the other raid members and b) not upset Significant Others.
Don't let em fool yah - everyone posting on /. knows that wrists are flexible enough to give them a solid 5 minutes of play time a day.
"An addition takes place when you keep doing something despite known and persistent consequences."
My girlfriend warned me about that, but I hate using rubbers.
I've levelled 3 60's in WoW. It's easily the most soloable MMORPG I've ever played. I'm not sure why you think you couldn't do this, unless you're referring to instances.
but I have raids to attend.
Why not remove the Blu-Ray and drop the price $200, then, genius?
I can understand why your "odd man out" was a WoW fan. I bought Oblivion for the 360 and played a few hours of it. The feeling I came away with was "Meh...". I understand the reasons why people don't take to MMORPG's (d00dz, kiddies, time, etc.), but it's many of those very reasons that are compelling to me. To me, grown up and a programmer, single-player CRPG's fail in that important "suspension of disbelief" aspect that I need to feel immersed in a game. Knowing that the avatars I'm interacting with are, at bottom, predictable, scriptable entities utterly bores me to tears.
Now, getting on my 60 rogue after having an alt killed in Stranglethorn Vale and repeatedly killing my alt's ganker...now that's gaming gold.
I'm not knocking the game or those who like the game - it has great production values and I can understand the appeal - I just happen to prefer human interaction in the games I play these days, even on the limited scale that WoW affords.
This is a rule I set for myself when playing WoW as a soon-to-be married man: if my fiancee wanted to do anything (go to the gym, go out to eat, go shopping, etc.) while I was playing WoW then I would quit, no questions asked. She's always been kind about my play-time (and even enjoys playing WoW, herself, but takes quite a long time to level :P), so I don't feel like she abuses that "power". As a matter of fact, I've never even told her that it was my own self-made rule, but it really works, and I very much enjoy her company, so that's quite convenient as well ;)
Regardless, your "rule" about social interactions and responsibilites has served me well regarding my love for WoW and how it competes with other interests. It's really kept my head on straight.
Yep, that's what I had last night - right after I purchased the game.
According to the interview cited here it won't launch in Japan until Holiday '06, which puts the US release sometime in '07!
I've saved several hundred dollars by playing World of Warcraft that would have gone to other distractions had it not been so much fun to me for the last 16 months.
I've purchased gold, too, and still come out ahead by a large margin. I work, make a good salary, but don't feel like spending dozens of hours farming when I could be using that time to do other things. I consider the ease of play gained by purchasing 500 gold every quarter or so well worth the marginal amount of cash spent. I could blow $50 in one night on drinks for me and my fiancee, easily - $50 of gold makes my time in WoW much more pleasant for months.
Farming sucks, but that doesn't mean the rest of the game is just as poor.
as told here, is there any doubt that porting WoW to the 360 would be a waste of time? When you have 6 million paying subscribers, you're already exceeded your goals by your wildest imaginations and it probably wouldn't be a sound financial investment given the technical hurdles and (relatively) small install-base for the 360.
And, yes, you can use a keyboard with the 360, so this is not one of them.
Does that list count Madden 20XX, Madden 2005, Madden 2006, etc. as being "Madden"?
Actually, I picked up my $20 Microsoft 360-to-VGA connector "off the shelf", and makes the system look fantastic on my flat-panel Viewsonic. Did you mean "out of the box"?
And all God's people said, "Amen".
But has anyone even SEEN a Blu-ray movie on the shelves at a single store?
What's that? No??
A standalone player even? Not yet.
This is NOT the same situation that the PS2 was in when it was released in 2000. DVD's were out and had their first hot holiday in 1999...plenty of time for the PS2's DVD-playing capabilities to be relevant. Blu-ray is still, for all purposes, vaporware at the mass-consumer level. It is not going to be the reason people buy a PS3.
via WoW. Until he met a girl and she kept him from hitting 60. What a loser.
Don't be fucking idiots and charge an arm and a leg for storage on a MULTIMEDIA/gaming device. Hello, Sony??
Trading Spaces
I have no neighbors you insensitive clod!
Dude, it's 5 bucks. I've paid about a nickel an hour for the amount of time I've spent in the game.
Reposting of something I wrote in response to a similar article:
Achievements and scores on the 360 are the real "next-gen" feature of the XBox 360.
Forget the graphics and the other much-touted features of the 360 - achievements and high scores take that old-school high score competitiveness from yesterday's arcades and make them relevant once again.
This is great for someone like me - a guy in his early 30's who doesn't have many gamer friends anymore and certainly none on XBL - because it brings that arcade competitiveness of yesteryear back into my living room: enhancing replayability, upping the tension factor, and generally just making the games more fun. Whoever decided to make integrated Live and Achievements mandatory for all XBox 360 games was a genius.
Abso-fuckin-lutely not. People are used to Sony's constant hype machine bullshit, and when you're already used to the stink it's pretty easy to tell reality from BS and this is utter BS.
The fact is, Sony's constant "we don't need a Live service to compete with MS" has been shown to be as last-gen-thinking as the PS2's graphics currently are. Sony NEEDS to compete on this front (XBox Live/Arcade is fantastic) and isn't currently in any position to do it...at least if they launch in '06. MS is already on iteration 2 of their service for god's sake.
I'd say the blurb about the PS3 dev kits being too immature to develop on is pretty big news considering that Sony would love for us to be anticipating its "imminent" release.
EQ2 is dying. Frankly, it was DOA.
Bankshot Billiards 2 is the most expensive Arcade game on Xbox Live and comes in at an even $12.00 US.