Yep, after 35 songs you would hear another song by the same artist about 50% of the time. Anyone who says that something is almost guaranteed is almost guaranteed never to have taken a stat class...well, never passed one, anyway.
Some nice fresh Muenchen brew? Excellent! Guiness on tap? Spectacular! But I'm in the middle of a divorce because of my spouse's alcoholism, and beer is her drink of choice. I miss my beer, but I just can't manage to drink it anymore. There have been too many nights I've had to tell my kids "leave Mommy alone, she's having a bad night"...enjoy, mates, but be careful. You don't want your kids answering the phone and saying, "Daddy's too shitfaced to talk to you right now."
The fundamental problem with PC games from my perspective is that there are too many games written for high-end systems without regard for the fact that most people will not upgrade their hardware to play a game.
I have three kids, we all have computers, and we turn over one or two new boxes per year (I see this as a cost of raising kids these days).
Because we turn over many boxes we have no ultra-primo machines. I've just retired a P200 (pre-MMX) machine. Folks, in the real, non-ivory-tower world, computers last for years (like five years or more). And while I don't expect the modern games to run on a P200, just yesterday I was helping out a friend whose kids couldn't get a PC game to run. Turns out the graphics card that came with their name-brand P4 (complete with a 64MB RAM video card and DVD+/-R burner)did not have the capabilities to run the game.
It's absurd to think that I (as a parent) am going to purchase video games which often don't work with new computers when I can purchase a game for my X-Box or PlayStation that I know will work.
Games that don't work reduce my trust in the market, and reflects on my decision to purchase any game, even those that do work on older machines.
I am no luddite, but it is often an effort just to make time to go out and purchase the game in the first place. The frustration of my kids and the annoyance of having to go out and return the game makes it generally a losing proposition for me.
Oh,and just as a side note, those disclaimers about required video card capabilities, well, they may serve as a legal cover-your-ass, but beyond the size of the video card they mean nothing to the average user picking up a game for their kid at Wal-Mart.
Because of this PC games will be marginalized. Only hardcore gamers will play them on PCs. That's a pitifully small market compared to that addressed by the gaming boxes.
As you grow up, the realities of life hit you and you realize that PC games are fun, but they are not your top priority. Anything PC games do to make my life more difficult pushes them down the priority list. Reality bites, but there you have it.
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Yep, after 35 songs you would hear another song by the same artist about 50% of the time. Anyone who says that something is almost guaranteed is almost guaranteed never to have taken a stat class...well, never passed one, anyway.
Some nice fresh Muenchen brew? Excellent! Guiness on tap? Spectacular! But I'm in the middle of a divorce because of my spouse's alcoholism, and beer is her drink of choice. I miss my beer, but I just can't manage to drink it anymore. There have been too many nights I've had to tell my kids "leave Mommy alone, she's having a bad night"...enjoy, mates, but be careful. You don't want your kids answering the phone and saying, "Daddy's too shitfaced to talk to you right now."
The fundamental problem with PC games from my perspective is that there are too many games written for high-end systems without regard for the fact that most people will not upgrade their hardware to play a game. I have three kids, we all have computers, and we turn over one or two new boxes per year (I see this as a cost of raising kids these days). Because we turn over many boxes we have no ultra-primo machines. I've just retired a P200 (pre-MMX) machine. Folks, in the real, non-ivory-tower world, computers last for years (like five years or more). And while I don't expect the modern games to run on a P200, just yesterday I was helping out a friend whose kids couldn't get a PC game to run. Turns out the graphics card that came with their name-brand P4 (complete with a 64MB RAM video card and DVD+/-R burner)did not have the capabilities to run the game. It's absurd to think that I (as a parent) am going to purchase video games which often don't work with new computers when I can purchase a game for my X-Box or PlayStation that I know will work. Games that don't work reduce my trust in the market, and reflects on my decision to purchase any game, even those that do work on older machines. I am no luddite, but it is often an effort just to make time to go out and purchase the game in the first place. The frustration of my kids and the annoyance of having to go out and return the game makes it generally a losing proposition for me. Oh,and just as a side note, those disclaimers about required video card capabilities, well, they may serve as a legal cover-your-ass, but beyond the size of the video card they mean nothing to the average user picking up a game for their kid at Wal-Mart. Because of this PC games will be marginalized. Only hardcore gamers will play them on PCs. That's a pitifully small market compared to that addressed by the gaming boxes. As you grow up, the realities of life hit you and you realize that PC games are fun, but they are not your top priority. Anything PC games do to make my life more difficult pushes them down the priority list. Reality bites, but there you have it.