Let me put it this way... Stand in front of a shopping mall shouting curses, physical threats, racial epithets, and sexual comments at anyone within earshot. Be as vulgar and offensive as your typical Counter-Strike asshat. See what happens. Tell me just how far your 'right' of free speech extends in that situation.
Now tell me how a public game should be any different.
I think people simply expect something other than the developers intentions. Comparing HL2 and Doom 3 to something like Battlefield 2 makes no sense. The first two are story driven single player games. The developers wanted players to have a specific, almost cinematic, game experience. So don't be suprised to be on a rail triggering scripted sequences. BF2 is trying to generate an entirely different experience for the player.
Personally, I think both styles of FPS are completely legitimate. WHen I want a story drien game, I'll fire up HL2. If I want open-ended gameplay and bigass maps, I'll play BF2. Different is not always a bad thing. If every game played the same, it would get pretty damn boring.
In God of War, you see a table bounce and hear moaning. The "sexual act" is offscreen. Thats probably the main difference, you don't actually see the act in question.
The people making $10.50/hr on a lvl 1 helpdesk job do not have any kind of technical education. I've done training at a call center, so I speak from personal experience.
Depends. Poker is partly popular because it teaches (or at least appears to teach) the sort of skills that a negotiator would find handy.
High level MMO play requires serious organizational and logistic management. What some guilds do on raids is simply amazing. Being able to coordinate 40 players in a high-risk enviroment with little room for error sounds like a useful skill to me.
It's all in whether, at the end of the day, you wind up a better/more fit/more skillful person as a result of your hobby or whether you just flushed huge chunks of your life away.
Exactly.
For the record, my "Poker Night" is when I have 11 friends over for hours of Halo 2.
Most MMO's go to the free client model after initial release. Box sales generate income at launch and soon after. Once sales start to drop off, downloadable clients usually show up, with a fee to activate an account.
Eve Online did this. Now you can download the game and pay $24 to activate the account. This includes the first month of play, so you essentially buy the game for $10.
Throw out traditional class restrictions. If you want to be a fighter, fight alot. If you want to be a healer, heal people. Give it an advancement system of diminishing returns, so that the better you are the harder to advance. Also have decay present, so the longer you go without picking up that sword, you lose your skill.
Get the balance between growth and decay right and it's almost a self balancing system. The greatest swordsman in the game will need to put in enough effort to maintain that level that he won't have time to become the greatest mage too. However, hybrid characters with some of everything will be possible. It also allows a person to change their focus if they choose to, simply by practicing at something else.
Make the abilities system similar to Guild Wars, in that skills/spells don't have levels. Their effectiveness is modified by attributes. So anyone can cast a Cure spell, but a veteran healer will have more effect that a novice.
(Upon proofreading, I realize this has little to do with the post I'm replying to, but I hate to waste a (hopefully) good post)
I don't think anyone said anything about no feedback. Without stats, feedback is even more important. The feedback simply needs to be presented differently. (Preferrably in context with the game world) This is what would make or break a game with this design. Done correctly, it could be amazing.
It would be interesting to see this in action in an MMORPG. Stats and levels are completely hidden, and the only knowledge of a characters ability is indirect. (I.E. - I can kill these rabbits twice as fast as last week, lets try something harder) The same would go for mobs and NPC's. You don't know how tough someone is until you take them on. Throw this into a PvP game, and it would be very interesting. No more "I'm lvl 60 and he's lvl 55. I'm gonna win" mentality.
Actually, I've got an extensive MP3 library made up of purchased CD's. Plus I'd like to be able to throw images of my DVD collection onto a server, which would be accessible by a media center PC in the living room.
Besides the questionable legality of ripping DVD's to hard-disk, I don't see any problem with this kind of setup. If they impliment some sort of PVR into the 360, I can easily see having more than one in the house.
BTW, I consider myself a relevant consumer, as I consume products in this market. (Legitimately! With money!)
There are two things that make me lean toward the 360 over the PS3.
1) Live
2) Media Center fuctionality
I've got so much media on my PC that I'd love to get networked into the living room. 360 looks like it will be cheaper than a media center PC, plus it's a console.
Xbox live already rocks, and added features can't hurt.
Nintendo isn't likely to either, though it is becoming more and more of a niche gaming console than a serious contender for the top market-share.
Marketshare isn't everything. If my info is correct, Nintendo is making as much profit, if not more, than Sony. Not Sony's gaming division, the entire company.
If making more profit than your competitors doesn't make you a serious contender, I don't know what does.
Slashdot Mirror
Okkay, point taken. :) However it is less linear than Half Life or Doom, you gotta admit that.
At least it's not a box canyon.
Let me put it this way...
Stand in front of a shopping mall shouting curses, physical threats, racial epithets, and sexual comments at anyone within earshot. Be as vulgar and offensive as your typical Counter-Strike asshat. See what happens. Tell me just how far your 'right' of free speech extends in that situation.
Now tell me how a public game should be any different.
I think people simply expect something other than the developers intentions. Comparing HL2 and Doom 3 to something like Battlefield 2 makes no sense. The first two are story driven single player games. The developers wanted players to have a specific, almost cinematic, game experience. So don't be suprised to be on a rail triggering scripted sequences. BF2 is trying to generate an entirely different experience for the player.
Personally, I think both styles of FPS are completely legitimate. WHen I want a story drien game, I'll fire up HL2. If I want open-ended gameplay and bigass maps, I'll play BF2. Different is not always a bad thing. If every game played the same, it would get pretty damn boring.
If you think you have the right of free speech in an online game, you're sadly mistaken.
Besides, your right to free speech ends where my right to not listen to profanity begins.
From what I've seen, Xbox 360 does have a more robust rating system, and it includes PUBLIC ratings by peers.
Enough people think you're a dick on Live, and you'll be branded as one...
http://marathon.bungie.org/
http://halo.bungie.org/
Yeah, theres no detailed backstory at all in Bungie games...
I was playing that the other night actually. Not bad, but it doesn't touch Mario Party.
Considering EVERY Xbox 360 comes with a basic Live account, It wouldn't be hard to link the drive to the Xbox and tell if it's been moved.
You could simply never hook the thing up to a network, but with the strong focus on online functionality, you'll be severely limited.
Add J.S. Bach to that list. While living he was considered an excellent organ player, but his compositions weren't recognized until after his death.
(Waiting for some joke about the phrase "organ player")
I dunno, if the PS3 has a toast buttering feature, I'd be sold.
Buttered toast rocks.
The only console manufacturer not selling hardware at a loss is Nintendo. Which is why they still turn more profit that the entire Sony corporation.
Plus, overlapping lifecycles are nothing new. Every console has lived for a while past it's successor.
In God of War, you see a table bounce and hear moaning. The "sexual act" is offscreen. Thats probably the main difference, you don't actually see the act in question.
Not quite true. Reportedly, the minigame has been unlocked on the PS2 version using 3rd party cheating devices. (It's nowhere near easy though)
Either way, it's not normally available content.
How did Live compromise gaming functions?
I picked up Battlefield 2 the other day, and the server list method of finding a game seems painful compared to, say, Halo 2 matchmaking.
The people making $10.50/hr on a lvl 1 helpdesk job do not have any kind of technical education. I've done training at a call center, so I speak from personal experience.
For the record, my "Poker Night" is when I have 11 friends over for hours of Halo 2.
Most MMO's go to the free client model after initial release. Box sales generate income at launch and soon after. Once sales start to drop off, downloadable clients usually show up, with a fee to activate an account.
Eve Online did this. Now you can download the game and pay $24 to activate the account. This includes the first month of play, so you essentially buy the game for $10.
Throw out traditional class restrictions. If you want to be a fighter, fight alot. If you want to be a healer, heal people. Give it an advancement system of diminishing returns, so that the better you are the harder to advance. Also have decay present, so the longer you go without picking up that sword, you lose your skill.
Get the balance between growth and decay right and it's almost a self balancing system. The greatest swordsman in the game will need to put in enough effort to maintain that level that he won't have time to become the greatest mage too. However, hybrid characters with some of everything will be possible. It also allows a person to change their focus if they choose to, simply by practicing at something else.
Make the abilities system similar to Guild Wars, in that skills/spells don't have levels. Their effectiveness is modified by attributes. So anyone can cast a Cure spell, but a veteran healer will have more effect that a novice.
(Upon proofreading, I realize this has little to do with the post I'm replying to, but I hate to waste a (hopefully) good post)
I don't think anyone said anything about no feedback. Without stats, feedback is even more important. The feedback simply needs to be presented differently. (Preferrably in context with the game world) This is what would make or break a game with this design. Done correctly, it could be amazing.
Already done!
http://www.progressquest.com/
It would be interesting to see this in action in an MMORPG. Stats and levels are completely hidden, and the only knowledge of a characters ability is indirect. (I.E. - I can kill these rabbits twice as fast as last week, lets try something harder) The same would go for mobs and NPC's. You don't know how tough someone is until you take them on. Throw this into a PvP game, and it would be very interesting. No more "I'm lvl 60 and he's lvl 55. I'm gonna win" mentality.
heck, I'd play it in a heartbeat.
console != computer
A console is made to do one thing: play games. If it's difficult to run a *nix server on it, who cares?
PC gaming experience = insert disk, install game, register, patch, possibly update drivers, play game.
Console gaming experience = insert disk, play game.
Which one is crippled?
Actually, I've got an extensive MP3 library made up of purchased CD's. Plus I'd like to be able to throw images of my DVD collection onto a server, which would be accessible by a media center PC in the living room.
Besides the questionable legality of ripping DVD's to hard-disk, I don't see any problem with this kind of setup. If they impliment some sort of PVR into the 360, I can easily see having more than one in the house.
BTW, I consider myself a relevant consumer, as I consume products in this market. (Legitimately! With money!)
There are two things that make me lean toward the 360 over the PS3.
1) Live 2) Media Center fuctionality
I've got so much media on my PC that I'd love to get networked into the living room. 360 looks like it will be cheaper than a media center PC, plus it's a console.
Xbox live already rocks, and added features can't hurt.
If making more profit than your competitors doesn't make you a serious contender, I don't know what does.