I'm not too sure about that, the Wii appeals to many people other consoles don't because it's simple to use, not just because of the motion stuff. Old games are often simple enough to use the dpad and one or two buttons. People like my parents didn't have a problem with the Atari 2600 but newer consoles have too many buttons for them. VC games would be simple enough for them.
Some statement from a Nintendo rep sounded like they offer a downsized dev kit for developing those downloadable games. Probably because they aren't worried about people buying devkits instead of consoles so they can play burned discs (or using the dev kit to develop a mod chip).
Shmups are a popular indie genre in Japan, at least 50% of the indie ("dojin") games are shmups. Some are freeware like Kenta Cho's games, Cho Ren Sha and Galax. For the rest you can go through Palet or Himeya (Dojin section), look for games in the catalog and paste the name of the game or developer into Google, often there are playable demos available.
Another important bit is popularity of the platform. In fact it's probably more important than the quality of the platform itself. Most modders want their mod to be played so a lot of them pick a platform that's already popular. Usually those platforms are games where the base content is already highly popular. Source is hardly perfect, in fact I'd say it's worse than many other engines but it comes with two very popular games (HL2, CS:S) and that means almost everybody has it.
The Federal Reserve is controlled in large part by foreign entities, who benefit when the Reserve issues more funds, which devalues the US dollar relative to other currencies.
A weak US dollar isn't necessarily desirable, for countries that sell a lot of stuff to the US that means they get less money if they keep the prices for the US market or sell less if they keep the prices according to their home currency. Similarily a strong dollar means a product that is cheap on the US market still makes more money (the inverse goes for a strong or weak home currency). Since the US is one of the biggest consumers of pretty much anything (especially moreso than they are producers) most companies will suffer from a weak dollar and profit from a strong one.
As such it is in the interest of foreigners to keep the US dollar value high since it benefits those who import to the US and hurts US companies exporting goods.
Megaman does use 3d on modern sidescrollers where appropriate, MMX 7 and 8 were 3d (though I hear 7 sucked), the MM and MMX remakes for the PSP are in 3d. Megaman Legends wasn't a bad game but they failed to anticipate techniques egoshooter players knew since Doom or Quake (namely circle strafing and strafe running). Other than that it was a nice Zelda-like game (though not a game that should bear the Megaman name). The GBA and DS games use sprites and I don't think 3d would have been a good idea for those. The GBA can barely handle 3d and the DS is so weak that you couldn't do some level designs because they'd exceed the polygon budget.
C&C deviated from the core design but I wouldn't call Generals a bad game by itself. It was hurt by EA's business practices which left a lot of bugs in the game even now but it's still fun to play. Dune wasn't run into the ground either, there were basically two games (Dune 2/2000 and Emperor) and I don't see a big decline in quality there either.
It has more to do with tactics than strategy. Telling each tank individually what to do is tactics. Micromanagement may be too small scale to even count as tactics.
All this talk about Megaman X and noone mentions the ability to cling to walls? That was easily one of the biggest changes for the gameplay, as well as the dash which was a lot faster and could keep its momentum for a jump compared to the slide.
WC 4 predated Freespace. Did you really not like the Freespace series?
There are still some space simulators though they are usually of the trading variety. The X series and Darkstar One are two recent ones that spring to mind. The former is complex with loads of consequences but combat is supposedly rather weak (although you get to control capital ships if you can afford them), the latter is like Freelancer (bit better IMO) with a bit of Elite infused again and a reputation system that resembles GTA and allows for more action with less worrying that you may not be able to buy something you really wanted.
It's just a pointing device. There is plenty of back-history. It only exists because somebody at Nintendo wanted to know how they could sell a second copy of every successful DS first party title to their set-top customers. (What, you thought they invented it because they were trying to come up with something revolutionary?)
Nintendo develops hardware by having their game designers submit ideas that would need additional hardware and if they have lots of ideas for one piece of hardware (or hardware that can be included in one piece) that piece gets made. The Wiimote has accelerometers in addition to the pointing system, it's more than a touchscreen or a mouse.
I think that game was an unimproved port of a GC or PS2 launch game (that Ubisoft 4x4 game, too. One of them was for the PS2 the other for the GC, both launch). No wonder it looks like ass.
A part of the market gets saturated without any product being sold. Thus you lose potential buyers.
If you don't like this business model try to think of an alternative that works without requiring the goodwill of people with too much money. The current system works fairly well for tying media into the capitalist reward system and works fairly well for spreading the cost of R&D over so many buyers that each one can pay a reasonable price.
Nintendo got sued over some guy dying from hitting a table during a seizure after playing his N64 all day for years. Ever since that lawsuit they add that annoying warning to everything. The Wii has it, the DS has it, all new GC and GBA games from Nintendo have it. If you want to blame someone blame the US legal system that allowed people to go to court because the warning was only in the manual and not on the screen itself.
Wii Sports has an exercise mode though it just randomly throws you into different training modes. If in doubt, just add some training weights and play boxing.
Slashdot Mirror
Well, it IS Penny-Arcade we're talking about. I'm surprised neither "fuck" nor "wang" were in the summary.
Type 360 into Google and hit "I'm feeling lucky". That's not about the XBox 360.
When, not if, HD hits America big, there are only going to be two options for your gaming, and neiter one of them has a W anywhere in the name.
Only if having a HDTV means you absolutely cannot use an EDTV signal. My PC outputs "HD" but that doesn't mean I can't use any last gen consoles.
Press Home, select "electronic manual".
I'm not too sure about that, the Wii appeals to many people other consoles don't because it's simple to use, not just because of the motion stuff. Old games are often simple enough to use the dpad and one or two buttons. People like my parents didn't have a problem with the Atari 2600 but newer consoles have too many buttons for them. VC games would be simple enough for them.
Some statement from a Nintendo rep sounded like they offer a downsized dev kit for developing those downloadable games. Probably because they aren't worried about people buying devkits instead of consoles so they can play burned discs (or using the dev kit to develop a mod chip).
EA dropped the Bond license, I think Activision or someone like that has it now.
Shmups are a popular indie genre in Japan, at least 50% of the indie ("dojin") games are shmups. Some are freeware like Kenta Cho's games, Cho Ren Sha and Galax. For the rest you can go through Palet or Himeya (Dojin section), look for games in the catalog and paste the name of the game or developer into Google, often there are playable demos available.
Another important bit is popularity of the platform. In fact it's probably more important than the quality of the platform itself. Most modders want their mod to be played so a lot of them pick a platform that's already popular. Usually those platforms are games where the base content is already highly popular. Source is hardly perfect, in fact I'd say it's worse than many other engines but it comes with two very popular games (HL2, CS:S) and that means almost everybody has it.
Our largest coin is now 20 kroner (~3.5 dollars).
Knowing Denmark that buys you a can of coke. But only a small one.
Yeah, it's no fun unless you sharpen the edges!
The Federal Reserve is controlled in large part by foreign entities, who benefit when the Reserve issues more funds, which devalues the US dollar relative to other currencies.
A weak US dollar isn't necessarily desirable, for countries that sell a lot of stuff to the US that means they get less money if they keep the prices for the US market or sell less if they keep the prices according to their home currency. Similarily a strong dollar means a product that is cheap on the US market still makes more money (the inverse goes for a strong or weak home currency). Since the US is one of the biggest consumers of pretty much anything (especially moreso than they are producers) most companies will suffer from a weak dollar and profit from a strong one.
As such it is in the interest of foreigners to keep the US dollar value high since it benefits those who import to the US and hurts US companies exporting goods.
Straw man argument. He never said you were wrong, he only said your way of writing is very close to propaganda.
Megaman does use 3d on modern sidescrollers where appropriate, MMX 7 and 8 were 3d (though I hear 7 sucked), the MM and MMX remakes for the PSP are in 3d. Megaman Legends wasn't a bad game but they failed to anticipate techniques egoshooter players knew since Doom or Quake (namely circle strafing and strafe running). Other than that it was a nice Zelda-like game (though not a game that should bear the Megaman name). The GBA and DS games use sprites and I don't think 3d would have been a good idea for those. The GBA can barely handle 3d and the DS is so weak that you couldn't do some level designs because they'd exceed the polygon budget.
C&C deviated from the core design but I wouldn't call Generals a bad game by itself. It was hurt by EA's business practices which left a lot of bugs in the game even now but it's still fun to play. Dune wasn't run into the ground either, there were basically two games (Dune 2/2000 and Emperor) and I don't see a big decline in quality there either.
It has more to do with tactics than strategy. Telling each tank individually what to do is tactics. Micromanagement may be too small scale to even count as tactics.
All this talk about Megaman X and noone mentions the ability to cling to walls? That was easily one of the biggest changes for the gameplay, as well as the dash which was a lot faster and could keep its momentum for a jump compared to the slide.
WC 4 predated Freespace. Did you really not like the Freespace series?
There are still some space simulators though they are usually of the trading variety. The X series and Darkstar One are two recent ones that spring to mind. The former is complex with loads of consequences but combat is supposedly rather weak (although you get to control capital ships if you can afford them), the latter is like Freelancer (bit better IMO) with a bit of Elite infused again and a reputation system that resembles GTA and allows for more action with less worrying that you may not be able to buy something you really wanted.
EA blows more than twice Daikatana's entire budget just on the licenses for a game.
It's just a pointing device. There is plenty of back-history. It only exists because somebody at Nintendo wanted to know how they could sell a second copy of every successful DS first party title to their set-top customers. (What, you thought they invented it because they were trying to come up with something revolutionary?)
Nintendo develops hardware by having their game designers submit ideas that would need additional hardware and if they have lots of ideas for one piece of hardware (or hardware that can be included in one piece) that piece gets made. The Wiimote has accelerometers in addition to the pointing system, it's more than a touchscreen or a mouse.
my response is that seeing as how they obviously did not do much work on the graphics, they had enough time to work on steering.
Not necessarily. The game was rushed so they didn't have enough time for getting anything right.
I think that game was an unimproved port of a GC or PS2 launch game (that Ubisoft 4x4 game, too. One of them was for the PS2 the other for the GC, both launch). No wonder it looks like ass.
A part of the market gets saturated without any product being sold. Thus you lose potential buyers.
If you don't like this business model try to think of an alternative that works without requiring the goodwill of people with too much money. The current system works fairly well for tying media into the capitalist reward system and works fairly well for spreading the cost of R&D over so many buyers that each one can pay a reasonable price.
Or, the more obvious offer, having the voting machines favour your party.
Nintendo got sued over some guy dying from hitting a table during a seizure after playing his N64 all day for years. Ever since that lawsuit they add that annoying warning to everything. The Wii has it, the DS has it, all new GC and GBA games from Nintendo have it. If you want to blame someone blame the US legal system that allowed people to go to court because the warning was only in the manual and not on the screen itself.
Wii Sports has an exercise mode though it just randomly throws you into different training modes. If in doubt, just add some training weights and play boxing.