The best Shmups are those where you have to be able to move on an instinctual, twitch level in order to survive.
Let's look at my favorite shmup, Giga Wing 2. Sure, there's different levels, gorgeous graphics, etc, but aside from the percent of the screen saturated with bullets, the first level isn't much different from the last. Different patterns, perhaps, but essentially the same thing.
I'd argue that depth and variety are NOT good things in the genre. Shmups are supposed to be perceptionally*-demanding games that require an eye for detail and twitch reflexes. Throwing anything more complicated or diverse than GW's reflect barrier or Ikaruga's color switching system is a recipe for trouble.
Geometry Wars may not be perfect, but it's a damn fine game by any measurements, and at only $5 it's an incredible casual game-- and remember, it IS a casual game. It's not meant to dazzle Shmup veterans, it's meant for a much wider audience that isn't used to such fast-paced, intense action.
Honestly, there's really not much of a comparison between the two. It's like comparing, well, search engines and blogs. One is about content creation, the other about finding content.
That wasn't an analogy, that's the situation, or at least what I imagine the situation is over there. Everyone's blissfully ignorant of the fascist dealings of their government.
Let's take a hypothetical Chinese Man X. CMX has a blog, and posts about how something bad happens (not knowing what the situation is really like over in China, take all this with a grain of salt). Let's say Chinese Man X's wife is taken to Happy Fun Time Reeducation Camp because she sent an email to her friend about planning a peaceful protest. Now Chinese Man X, understandably upset that his caring government would do such a thing, hits the web and writes about it. Then the Chinese government says to Company Y, "Uh, hey, you want to stay in China? Get rid of that."
Company Y could then delete the offending post (maybe the whole blog) and try to sweep it all under the table before anyone even finds out about it, or as Microsoft is proposing they could just block access from Chinese IPs. Then other areas of the world can still see it and, if the situation is truly bad, it'll give some bad press to China. I'm a bit too pessimistic to say that the US is gonna tell China, "Hey, you want in on our textile/electronics/urban shoe market? Stop doing that," but bad publicity is still a powerful motivator.
It's the difference between a "utopian" society that's only that way because all dissidents are silenced, and a "utopian" society that is recognized by others to be the oppressive regime it is, even if the people there don't.
I remember a long time ago I bought Mutant Storm 2 from Garage Games. Maybe a year (and, more importantly, a new computer) later, I was bored one day looking at various games and suddenly remembered I'd purchased that game so long ago. So I did a little research, found the site I'd bought it from, tried my usual login info and bam, there was my account page with a download link and my product key.
Now, granted, this is only good so long as the website in question sticks around, but for something like this I think an offsite backup is much more comforting than having a CD (which, incidentally, I could always burn the install and key onto one if I ever so deigned). It's more convenient, and more idiot proof. I like the chances of them sticking around better than I do the chances of me keeping track of one random CD among hundreds.
Ditto on the GW comment. I woke up one morning and decided to take the plunge, bought the game. I kid you not, I was playing in less than 10 minutes! The game only downloads what is needed as it is needed, so it didn't have to download N gigabytes of content, just enough to load character creation screen. Then, I assume, while I was making my character it loaded the pre-searing levels.
Sure, it's a mild annoyance when you have to download a new area the first time you visit it, but it's very quick.
Microsoft uses an intermediary point system to hide the cost of stuff (supposedly to allow for microtransactions). 100 points is equal to $1.25. Geometry Wars is 400 points, so $5. There are several other games that are also 400 points, including most of the classic arcade games (Gauntlet, Robotron, etc). A lot of the other games, however, are 800 points.
How does Game Informer manage the large numbers? Simple. They shove it down your throat. I can remember way back when it was Funcoland, they would give away a subscription to GI (or maybe a different magazine?) when you signed up for the membership card for 10% off used stuff or whatever it was at the time, and AFAIK they still do it today as Gamestop. I can remember sometime in fairly recent memory turning down the free subscription, much to the surprise and chagrin of the sales monkey.
Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive are part of the same continuity/universe, and made by the same manufacturer. Of course Ryu's in there. He was in DoA 3, and I'm pretty damn sure he was in DoA 2 as well.
One shouldn't take any single source to be reliable, ever. If you're doing something where accuracy matters, look it up somewhere, and then verify your facts elsewhere, preferably with multiple other sources.
Many sources may individually lack authority, but when each independant source is consistent with others, it can be assumed that they are accurate.
Collecting information is not evil. Not inherently evil, not even a little bit evil. It's not even very easy to find evil things to do with information.
That said, it certainly is possible to do evil with gathered information, which is why privacy is so important. The difference is, Google seems to have a lot of trust and faith placed in it.
but I know exactly how you feel. It really annoyed me when gmail required 6 or more characters. I've been using Asmor almost since I started getting on the internet.
I used to be really active in the Starcraft mapping forum, and one day on Battle.net someone didn't believe it was actually me.:) That was quite the ego boost, amusingly.
But as far as I'm concerned, online I *AM* Asmor. Now, I'm not a total freak... I don't go by it in person, and if someone called me Ian online, I'd respond to that too. But hell, I even got Asmor on my high school class ring! My best friend got his online handle, Gundarak, on his as well.
What happened to the "good old days" of cell phones doing just one thing is that they are the engine for a revolution. The personal computer of sci-fi, a little box that connects you to everything and that you keep on your person, is here, now. It's the cell phone. What PDAs strived to be, cell phones ARE. They are a ubiquitous mobile computing platform, an indespensible part of people's lives, and their integration of new technologies will only grow.
Granted, at this point in time, I think it's a poor idea to add games to cell phones in general. There are certainly exceptions, though. I have Puzzle Bobble and Boggle on mine just in case I'm ever bored and don't have or don't want to whip out my Nintendo DS.
But look at what cell phones are, at their base. Originally, they were just a communications tool. Now they are also a personal organizer. They're on the verge of becoming an internet appliance.
Mark my words, cell phones will drive the adoption of personal mobile computing to the masses. Hell, they're already more powerful than some of the first PCs. They might even surpass PCs one day for Joe Average, who might just get a docking station to plug his phone into when he's at home for a larger display and full-size input.
I don't block ads. I don't mind them. Really, I don't.
I do, however, block flash, which just coincidentally catches a lot of ads. Flash annoys the hell out of me when it's used for anything other than a pseudo-application, like a game. Anyone that uses it for navigation, or even their whole site, should be taken behind a shack and beaten soundly.
How difficult is it for MS to just add OpenDocument support?
The article mentions ease of interoperability, claiming that everyone should use Microsoft Office since everyone else uses Microsoft Office.
THAT'S NOT INTEROPERABILITY! That's a monopoly! Microsoft is well aware of that fact, too, which is why they DON'T want to support OpenDocument. If they did, then people would be able to choose a different office suite and still be able to maintain working relations with others. Suddenly everyone has choice, and that's a bad thing!
Maybe this is just the spark needed to light a fire under MS's ass. Either they or the state of Massachusetts is going to have to crack, and I'm betting they will. It's trivial to add OpenDocument support to MS Office. Of course, once they do, they'll open the floodgates to personal choice... so maybe they'll bite the bullet and wait out Mass.
Disclaimer: I'm not an anti-MS zealot. I merely go with what is in my opinion the best tool for the job. I run Windows XP, Firefox and OpenOffice.org.
I think there's a simple answer to the client problems, at least.
For everyone except, say, the dozen or so most relevant charaters on screen (relevant being defined by proximity and whether they're directly affecting you), replace all other people with sprites instead of models. They don't even have to be animated, if static sprites would help the load better (don't know enough about this sort of thing to hazard a guess). You still get to see the locations of everyone and the sheer numbers of them, they just don't look all pretty and shiny.
When someone has really wacky, off-the-wall ideas, one might ask "what are they smoking?" or something along those lines. Well generally derogatory, it is certainly possible to apply this euphemism to something that is offbeat yet all the better for its oddness.
Slashdot Mirror
The best Shmups are those where you have to be able to move on an instinctual, twitch level in order to survive.
Let's look at my favorite shmup, Giga Wing 2. Sure, there's different levels, gorgeous graphics, etc, but aside from the percent of the screen saturated with bullets, the first level isn't much different from the last. Different patterns, perhaps, but essentially the same thing.
I'd argue that depth and variety are NOT good things in the genre. Shmups are supposed to be perceptionally*-demanding games that require an eye for detail and twitch reflexes. Throwing anything more complicated or diverse than GW's reflect barrier or Ikaruga's color switching system is a recipe for trouble.
Geometry Wars may not be perfect, but it's a damn fine game by any measurements, and at only $5 it's an incredible casual game-- and remember, it IS a casual game. It's not meant to dazzle Shmup veterans, it's meant for a much wider audience that isn't used to such fast-paced, intense action.
*I declare that an official word. Screw you.
That's totally fine with me, because I refuse to buy any digital media with DRM on it. I only buy PDFs (at most watermarked) and mp3s.
Honestly, there's really not much of a comparison between the two. It's like comparing, well, search engines and blogs. One is about content creation, the other about finding content.
That wasn't an analogy, that's the situation, or at least what I imagine the situation is over there. Everyone's blissfully ignorant of the fascist dealings of their government.
Let's take a hypothetical Chinese Man X. CMX has a blog, and posts about how something bad happens (not knowing what the situation is really like over in China, take all this with a grain of salt). Let's say Chinese Man X's wife is taken to Happy Fun Time Reeducation Camp because she sent an email to her friend about planning a peaceful protest. Now Chinese Man X, understandably upset that his caring government would do such a thing, hits the web and writes about it. Then the Chinese government says to Company Y, "Uh, hey, you want to stay in China? Get rid of that."
Company Y could then delete the offending post (maybe the whole blog) and try to sweep it all under the table before anyone even finds out about it, or as Microsoft is proposing they could just block access from Chinese IPs. Then other areas of the world can still see it and, if the situation is truly bad, it'll give some bad press to China. I'm a bit too pessimistic to say that the US is gonna tell China, "Hey, you want in on our textile/electronics/urban shoe market? Stop doing that," but bad publicity is still a powerful motivator.
It's a pretty damn big difference, actually.
It's the difference between a "utopian" society that's only that way because all dissidents are silenced, and a "utopian" society that is recognized by others to be the oppressive regime it is, even if the people there don't.
Exactly, just as the PS3 won't the 360.
Simple solution to getting as much time and money as you need!
while (true) {
time++;
money++;
}
A more powerful competitor coming out a year later that is going to utterly quash its established competition? Man, that sounds so familiar...
I remember a long time ago I bought Mutant Storm 2 from Garage Games. Maybe a year (and, more importantly, a new computer) later, I was bored one day looking at various games and suddenly remembered I'd purchased that game so long ago. So I did a little research, found the site I'd bought it from, tried my usual login info and bam, there was my account page with a download link and my product key.
Now, granted, this is only good so long as the website in question sticks around, but for something like this I think an offsite backup is much more comforting than having a CD (which, incidentally, I could always burn the install and key onto one if I ever so deigned). It's more convenient, and more idiot proof. I like the chances of them sticking around better than I do the chances of me keeping track of one random CD among hundreds.
Ditto on the GW comment. I woke up one morning and decided to take the plunge, bought the game. I kid you not, I was playing in less than 10 minutes! The game only downloads what is needed as it is needed, so it didn't have to download N gigabytes of content, just enough to load character creation screen. Then, I assume, while I was making my character it loaded the pre-searing levels.
Sure, it's a mild annoyance when you have to download a new area the first time you visit it, but it's very quick.
Microsoft uses an intermediary point system to hide the cost of stuff (supposedly to allow for microtransactions). 100 points is equal to $1.25. Geometry Wars is 400 points, so $5. There are several other games that are also 400 points, including most of the classic arcade games (Gauntlet, Robotron, etc). A lot of the other games, however, are 800 points.
1337 Collection Agency: Debtors pwned
Just do it you weak-willed pussy.
How does Game Informer manage the large numbers? Simple. They shove it down your throat. I can remember way back when it was Funcoland, they would give away a subscription to GI (or maybe a different magazine?) when you signed up for the membership card for 10% off used stuff or whatever it was at the time, and AFAIK they still do it today as Gamestop. I can remember sometime in fairly recent memory turning down the free subscription, much to the surprise and chagrin of the sales monkey.
Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive are part of the same continuity/universe, and made by the same manufacturer. Of course Ryu's in there. He was in DoA 3, and I'm pretty damn sure he was in DoA 2 as well.
One shouldn't take any single source to be reliable, ever. If you're doing something where accuracy matters, look it up somewhere, and then verify your facts elsewhere, preferably with multiple other sources.
Many sources may individually lack authority, but when each independant source is consistent with others, it can be assumed that they are accurate.
Collecting information is not evil. Not inherently evil, not even a little bit evil. It's not even very easy to find evil things to do with information.
That said, it certainly is possible to do evil with gathered information, which is why privacy is so important. The difference is, Google seems to have a lot of trust and faith placed in it.
K=keys
but I know exactly how you feel. It really annoyed me when gmail required 6 or more characters. I've been using Asmor almost since I started getting on the internet.
:) That was quite the ego boost, amusingly.
I used to be really active in the Starcraft mapping forum, and one day on Battle.net someone didn't believe it was actually me.
But as far as I'm concerned, online I *AM* Asmor. Now, I'm not a total freak... I don't go by it in person, and if someone called me Ian online, I'd respond to that too. But hell, I even got Asmor on my high school class ring! My best friend got his online handle, Gundarak, on his as well.
But, in the end, watcha gonna do?
What happened to the "good old days" of cell phones doing just one thing is that they are the engine for a revolution. The personal computer of sci-fi, a little box that connects you to everything and that you keep on your person, is here, now. It's the cell phone. What PDAs strived to be, cell phones ARE. They are a ubiquitous mobile computing platform, an indespensible part of people's lives, and their integration of new technologies will only grow.
Granted, at this point in time, I think it's a poor idea to add games to cell phones in general. There are certainly exceptions, though. I have Puzzle Bobble and Boggle on mine just in case I'm ever bored and don't have or don't want to whip out my Nintendo DS.
But look at what cell phones are, at their base. Originally, they were just a communications tool. Now they are also a personal organizer. They're on the verge of becoming an internet appliance.
Mark my words, cell phones will drive the adoption of personal mobile computing to the masses. Hell, they're already more powerful than some of the first PCs. They might even surpass PCs one day for Joe Average, who might just get a docking station to plug his phone into when he's at home for a larger display and full-size input.
I don't block ads. I don't mind them. Really, I don't.
I do, however, block flash, which just coincidentally catches a lot of ads. Flash annoys the hell out of me when it's used for anything other than a pseudo-application, like a game. Anyone that uses it for navigation, or even their whole site, should be taken behind a shack and beaten soundly.
How difficult is it for MS to just add OpenDocument support?
The article mentions ease of interoperability, claiming that everyone should use Microsoft Office since everyone else uses Microsoft Office.
THAT'S NOT INTEROPERABILITY! That's a monopoly! Microsoft is well aware of that fact, too, which is why they DON'T want to support OpenDocument. If they did, then people would be able to choose a different office suite and still be able to maintain working relations with others. Suddenly everyone has choice, and that's a bad thing!
Maybe this is just the spark needed to light a fire under MS's ass. Either they or the state of Massachusetts is going to have to crack, and I'm betting they will. It's trivial to add OpenDocument support to MS Office. Of course, once they do, they'll open the floodgates to personal choice... so maybe they'll bite the bullet and wait out Mass.
Disclaimer: I'm not an anti-MS zealot. I merely go with what is in my opinion the best tool for the job. I run Windows XP, Firefox and OpenOffice.org.
I think there's a simple answer to the client problems, at least.
For everyone except, say, the dozen or so most relevant charaters on screen (relevant being defined by proximity and whether they're directly affecting you), replace all other people with sprites instead of models. They don't even have to be animated, if static sprites would help the load better (don't know enough about this sort of thing to hazard a guess). You still get to see the locations of everyone and the sheer numbers of them, they just don't look all pretty and shiny.
Planescape. Singular. If you get confused, look at the huge header on the link you posted, or even in the block of text you copy-pasted.
When someone has really wacky, off-the-wall ideas, one might ask "what are they smoking?" or something along those lines. Well generally derogatory, it is certainly possible to apply this euphemism to something that is offbeat yet all the better for its oddness.