Man, that IT guy could've tried being a bit more understandable. Yes, we all know what an OS is but he was talking to a politician, can't use complicated words like operating system there, he should have tried explaining what it means in simple terms like you would explain it to a child.
A full TAS is hard because it needs to be optimized for time, a walkthrough helper wouldn't need to shave off frames and such, just use savestates to avoid taking hits/failing.
An advantage of this helper over GameFAQs is that you can use it directly to skip parts if you just cannot do it. A regular walkthrough can only tell you what to do, if you're not good enough to actually do it that's of no use to you.
A side effect could be that this allows games to get harder again because there's no need to worry about people getting stuck and trading the game in early.
I'm not sure the rendering hardware is the bottleneck for amateur movie CGI. It's more likely that they simply don't have the necessary artists to create the scenes in first place. You need a large staff to do the things modern movies do in reasonable time, hiring 20-30 professionals (probably more even) for the task tends to be a bit too expensive for amateur movie budgets.
A problem would be that the number of frames increases exponentially with the time you render ahead. 100ms lag on 60fps would mean something like (number of input options)^6 frames to render. With your four options that would be 4^6=4096 frames. You'd need a system that's more than 4096 times as powerful as the average user's computer times the number of users you have. At this point it's easier to just tell the user to buy his own damn hardware.
A virus that instead plays "Downloading is right" and redirects the homepages of big software, music and movie companies to piratebay, mininova, etc...
The problem is that the whole "HD" crap is getting more expensive (70€ for a game! No game is worth that much) without a corresponding increase in value. It's also becoming more and more focussed on the core audience, the genre variety on the HD consoles is much more limited than it has been on the PS2 and if you don't like (first/third person) shooters and sports games most of the library is of no interest to you (whereas the PS2 had a massive number of games in any genre). The people who were alienated by the increasing aim for the 12-24 demographic outnumber those who appreciate it. That's what sales numbers show, that more people liked the Wii's approach than the HD consoles'.
"Captain, I have studied more than a little bit of human culture. Nowhere have I found brightly colored, conical hats and inflatable noisemakers to be appropriate funeral attire."
Wait, let me guess! You get your console 'sales figures' from vgchartz...
Let me guess, you're getting yours from your ass. Sure, "fabricated". The whole world is involved in a conspiracy to make Sony look bad! Everyone is trying to deny the superiority of the PS3! It really sold 100 million!
The PS3 is dead last because Sony is a bunch of arrogant assholes who thought that throwing tons of features noone wants into a system and upping the price accordingly (while talking about how people will get a second job to buy one) is the winning combination. They're getting obliterated by a cheap, in the eyes of the increasingly irrelevant hardcore gamers crappy, console that improved the part about the whole experience that people actually wanted improved: Accessibility!
Meanwhile "hardcore" gaming is going down the toilet with ever increasing budgets that the sales can't make up for (leading to bankrupcies and downsizings), games becoming more and more passive in order to pull of their cinematic moments because players by themselves aren't particularly cinematic so everything has to be automated or cutscened, difficulties drop because noone wants to rewatch scenes from a movie and lengths are going down because every damn hallway takes forever to make while the player runs through it in 5 minutes. Oh and exclusivity? Not gonna happen with these budgets, every single game is 360/PS3/PC all at the same time with the PC version 25€ cheaper. And if you pay those insane 70€ per game prices you get to buy horse armor and more for additional money. PS3 vs 360 flamewars are getting retarded anyway with both consoles being practically the same ("baaaaaaw 50€ per year online service!" "baaaaaaw 400€ console!" "baaaaaw prettier graphics!" "baaaaw Final Fantasy 13 no longer exclusive!"), it's a ridiculous battle fueled by both companies that drives up their presence in the internet media in order to hide that both are being obliterated by a console that completely ignored all the "advantages" of the next generation.
XBox 360 vs PS3 is a red herring, they want you to forget that they didn't even put up a fight when the Wii came along. The "HD" companies listened so much to the internet circle jerk they completely lost touch with what the masses out there wanted.
And yet it's outselling the PS3 by a fair margin (not that it matters, the Wii is beating both by far). Doesn't look like people care about secondary issues like that.
Buying stocks when they're at rock bottom from companies that are likely to survive the depression can be a good way to reap massive profits. Some people became millionaires just by dealing with a recession correctly.
Graphics used to be the yard stick but as you said the Wii isn't exactly graphically powerful yet it's outperforming the HD consoles by far. The PS2 is damn ugly compared to all three and yes, getting the most playtime.
Of course the Wii won't magically make a bad game good, that's why third parties are failing so hard on the system, they just throw half-assed ports on there and wonder why noone buys them.
Yet in the end most of the games are still crappy, don't sell and leave the company bankrupt because of the insane budgets they blow at these games. EA had to downsize because they no longer managed to make up for the cost.
BTW, if 1% was half a million the 360 would have sold 50 million, it did about half that number. The Wii is at about 46 million sold, if 1% bought a game there you'd have your half a million.
Slashdot Mirror
Man, that IT guy could've tried being a bit more understandable. Yes, we all know what an OS is but he was talking to a politician, can't use complicated words like operating system there, he should have tried explaining what it means in simple terms like you would explain it to a child.
That's mostly because SupCom is badly designed though, unit ranges are huge compared to the actual units.
A full TAS is hard because it needs to be optimized for time, a walkthrough helper wouldn't need to shave off frames and such, just use savestates to avoid taking hits/failing.
An advantage of this helper over GameFAQs is that you can use it directly to skip parts if you just cannot do it. A regular walkthrough can only tell you what to do, if you're not good enough to actually do it that's of no use to you.
A side effect could be that this allows games to get harder again because there's no need to worry about people getting stuck and trading the game in early.
Not bored, overwhelmed. It's a hint system.
It seems the idea has... /sunglasses
clouded their mind.
(YEEEAAAH!)
I'm not sure the rendering hardware is the bottleneck for amateur movie CGI. It's more likely that they simply don't have the necessary artists to create the scenes in first place. You need a large staff to do the things modern movies do in reasonable time, hiring 20-30 professionals (probably more even) for the task tends to be a bit too expensive for amateur movie budgets.
A problem would be that the number of frames increases exponentially with the time you render ahead. 100ms lag on 60fps would mean something like (number of input options)^6 frames to render. With your four options that would be 4^6=4096 frames. You'd need a system that's more than 4096 times as powerful as the average user's computer times the number of users you have. At this point it's easier to just tell the user to buy his own damn hardware.
You WILL notice the input lag though.
I could never figure out how to order units around though, seemed to use keys like insert and such.
A virus that instead plays "Downloading is right" and redirects the homepages of big software, music and movie companies to piratebay, mininova, etc...
The problem is that the whole "HD" crap is getting more expensive (70€ for a game! No game is worth that much) without a corresponding increase in value. It's also becoming more and more focussed on the core audience, the genre variety on the HD consoles is much more limited than it has been on the PS2 and if you don't like (first/third person) shooters and sports games most of the library is of no interest to you (whereas the PS2 had a massive number of games in any genre). The people who were alienated by the increasing aim for the 12-24 demographic outnumber those who appreciate it. That's what sales numbers show, that more people liked the Wii's approach than the HD consoles'.
"Captain, I have studied more than a little bit of human culture. Nowhere have I found brightly colored, conical hats and inflatable noisemakers to be appropriate funeral attire."
Tasty herring, eh?
If you can't get fast enough hardware, try faster software.
Wait, let me guess! You get your console 'sales figures' from vgchartz...
Let me guess, you're getting yours from your ass. Sure, "fabricated". The whole world is involved in a conspiracy to make Sony look bad! Everyone is trying to deny the superiority of the PS3! It really sold 100 million!
The PS3 is dead last because Sony is a bunch of arrogant assholes who thought that throwing tons of features noone wants into a system and upping the price accordingly (while talking about how people will get a second job to buy one) is the winning combination. They're getting obliterated by a cheap, in the eyes of the increasingly irrelevant hardcore gamers crappy, console that improved the part about the whole experience that people actually wanted improved: Accessibility!
Meanwhile "hardcore" gaming is going down the toilet with ever increasing budgets that the sales can't make up for (leading to bankrupcies and downsizings), games becoming more and more passive in order to pull of their cinematic moments because players by themselves aren't particularly cinematic so everything has to be automated or cutscened, difficulties drop because noone wants to rewatch scenes from a movie and lengths are going down because every damn hallway takes forever to make while the player runs through it in 5 minutes. Oh and exclusivity? Not gonna happen with these budgets, every single game is 360/PS3/PC all at the same time with the PC version 25€ cheaper. And if you pay those insane 70€ per game prices you get to buy horse armor and more for additional money. PS3 vs 360 flamewars are getting retarded anyway with both consoles being practically the same ("baaaaaaw 50€ per year online service!" "baaaaaaw 400€ console!" "baaaaaw prettier graphics!" "baaaaw Final Fantasy 13 no longer exclusive!"), it's a ridiculous battle fueled by both companies that drives up their presence in the internet media in order to hide that both are being obliterated by a console that completely ignored all the "advantages" of the next generation.
XBox 360 vs PS3 is a red herring, they want you to forget that they didn't even put up a fight when the Wii came along. The "HD" companies listened so much to the internet circle jerk they completely lost touch with what the masses out there wanted.
And yet it's outselling the PS3 by a fair margin (not that it matters, the Wii is beating both by far). Doesn't look like people care about secondary issues like that.
1 million dollars on virtual furniture? Expect a sharp rise in Brawndo sales.
That your device with the SDHC slot won't accept these new cards and once those cards hit their limit you have to replace the reader again.
There is no "too big", there is only "insufficient force".
Buying stocks when they're at rock bottom from companies that are likely to survive the depression can be a good way to reap massive profits. Some people became millionaires just by dealing with a recession correctly.
Graphics used to be the yard stick but as you said the Wii isn't exactly graphically powerful yet it's outperforming the HD consoles by far. The PS2 is damn ugly compared to all three and yes, getting the most playtime.
Of course the Wii won't magically make a bad game good, that's why third parties are failing so hard on the system, they just throw half-assed ports on there and wonder why noone buys them.
MS once made an internet-enabled toilet, that might work.
Talent? At 1up? The only thing I remember that site for is writing troll articles to get advertising revenue and terribly short and shallow reviews.
Sorry, the porn industry is being eliminated by the internet, too.
Yet in the end most of the games are still crappy, don't sell and leave the company bankrupt because of the insane budgets they blow at these games. EA had to downsize because they no longer managed to make up for the cost.
BTW, if 1% was half a million the 360 would have sold 50 million, it did about half that number. The Wii is at about 46 million sold, if 1% bought a game there you'd have your half a million.