I think it may be more that they're only NOT number 3 in Japan. What about the UK? Australia? And I think the Xbox still has marginally more total worldwide sales, but not by much.
There already was confirmation in the weekly update that announced the new maps. I was pretty much paraphrasing:
We're still finalizing our plans but we can give you a general idea of what to expect. The existing core playlists will remain intact. The first two free maps, Containment and Warlock, will be integrated into the appropriate existing playlists. Since the 2 premium maps are "premium" and won't necessarily be on everyone's Xbox right away, we can't add them to the core playlists without creating all sorts of problems. Instead, we will be rolling out a special short-term playlist that will only be accessible for people who download the premium maps. Players interested in getting into matchmade games on Turf and Sanctuary will be able to do so via this special playlist. Eventually, as Turf and Sanctuary become free for everyone, they will be added back to the core playlists and the premium playlist will go away.
When the remaining premium maps become available in June, a similar process will occur except we will have more than one premium playlist to accommodate the 5 new maps. Over time, as those maps become available for free, they will be integrated into the core playlists and the premium playlists will be phased out.
Well, sorta. The two free maps will soon be in the regular matchmaking playlists, but there will also be a 'premium only' playlist for people who payed for the maps. Eventually, by the end of summer, they'll all be re-merged into the same playlists once the mapps are all available for free.
The co-op mode, finally, could have been more fleshed out. Cooperative play is one of the most interesting aspects of modern gaming, and I would have liked to see a more developed co-op aspect for this title.
Were we playing the same game? The simple fact that these four HUGE levels (with more to come, eventually) were developed specifically for co-op and require you to work together directly with a teamate (or you can't pass the mission) demonstrates who incredibly well the co-op was designed. I don't thing I can even name another co-op game (aside from Phantasy Star Online) where it was impossible to get through a level without your teamate timing something with you perfectly. Each level has at least one moment where you and your teammate must do something simultaneously in order to get past it, like disarming bombs, mixing chemicals, etc. And several other places where you can't move on to the next area of the level without help from your teammate. On top of that, you can play through these huge levels differently every time if you so choose. Aside from some occasional disconnect and slowdown issues on co-op, I've never seen a better co-op mode in any game, ever, hand's down. Heck, even the simple fact that guards can hear the two of you talking is something special. A less-developed co-op would've been to simply give us the single-player levels and allow two people to play on them (which I'd gladly take as content download).
And admittedly, Zonk says he doesn't have a lot of previous Splinter Cell experience, but this one is hands-down easy if you want it to be. No more trial-and-error gameplay, alternate paths, added knife ability (which makes it really easy to kill armed people even after they've spotted you), more accurate guns (also easier to kill), and a handy save anywhere feature, this one is pretty easy to get through compared to the other two games. As a result, I've managed to get 100% ratings on a couple levels the first time through, without really even meaning to (which means not being detected, completing all objectives, and not killing anyone).
Actually, they did. They also had George Lucas come out and refer to the fact that it could render movie quality CG comparable to what's in the Star Wars movies. Or was that the PS3? I forget. But yes, at some point, they directly compared the rendering capabilities of the PS2 to Toy Story quality graphics. It was right around the time they announced it and showed us the lame rubby ducky in the sink floating on water demo.
Well, the thing is that it balances out over the course of the game. Maybe if you're playing to five or ten kills, those couple bad spawns will hurt you, but the fact is that everying gets a few 'damn, that was the worst spawn ever' spawns pretty much every game. Sometimes, you'll get a great spawn, and sometimes, not. Better than always spawing in the same spot on an open map.
Yeah, they patch games all the time over Xbox Live. This isn't just a Bungie thing either. Pretty much every UBISoft game over Xbox Live has received some sort of patch to fix online bugs, glitches, and cheating. The resistance is to patching single play portions of games over Xbox Live.
It's time for Animaniacs
And we're zany to the max
So just sit back and relax
You'll laugh 'til you collapse
We're Animaniacs!
Come join the Warner Brothers
And the Warner Sister, Dot
Just for fun we run around the Warner movie lot.
They lock us in the tower whenever we get caught
But we break loose and then vamoose
And now you know the plot!
Gaming will probably never be 'cool' in the proper sense of the word. Accepted, yes, but 'cool', I don't think so. There's lots of things that are well known, talked about, and great sources of conversation that aren't cool, perse, but society doesn't really have a problem with them. Sure, I can go get my haircut, and the stylist might ask me if I've seen any good movies lately, but that doesn't exactly mean that if I walk in and start babbling about Sin City or the next Star Wars movie, that she's gonna think I'm still cool. There's things you can expound upon and still be cool and then there's things that simply aren't. I can tell you this, I'm not going to be having a conversation in some bar and mention to some girl that I'm pretty good at Halo 2, or tell her about the time I got a double-kill with a single shot from a sniper rifle. I'm sorry, but I don't see myself getting the digits after that one, if you know what I mean.
Or, maybe they could just let you access files stored on a PC somewhere on your network. Takes care of custom sountracks, game saves, content download. Plus, 100% of Xbox Live users have broadband and the majority also have a PC. Maybe you're running a Linux or Mac? Well, then do all the same stuff with the optional HD.
Exactly my point. Rumors say we'll get wireless controllers, and the supposed prototype controller confirms this. So, someone who's seen the system doesn't even bother to mention the presence or absense of controller ports? Come on! Can't tell where the disc loads, or if there's a hard-drive bay? Which side of the system were they looking at that they couldn't discern these simple things? Nothing got 'confirmed' here at all.
That thinks this could all be made up information? Seriously, after having seen the 'prototype' controller, I could've guessed the white finish, and the name had pretty much been adopted by all gaming sites, so it's not much of a stretch. My problem though, is that the 'source' can't even confirm whether there's a hard-drive bay, where the disc loads, and doesn't mention any controller ports. You know, if I'd seen any shot of the system, I guarantee you I could answer at least two of those questions. And the logo? Please, is anyone shocked that a system named XBOX 360 would have a round logo that says exactly that? Read this info and tell me you couldn't have totally made it up, knowing that you've got a good chance of being right:
"The machine can stand upright and hollows in at the middle, like it's "sucking in its cheeks," our source told us today. Previous rumours had put the console as light silver, although fresh information says the final design may be white. It's impossible to tell from the documents, our source explained - although the glimpse of the machine's controllers given on viral marketing website OurColony does suggest a platinum-white colour scheme for the hardware.
According to the source, the rumoured slot for the hard drive module - which was apparently at the top of the machine - is not obvious on the document, and the person was unable to clarify where the slot for discs is actually located.
One other aspect we've been unable to confirm is the rumoured customisation features on the box. It's been speculated that the emphasis on customisation which J Allard touted at the Game Developers Conference last month could extend to allowing users to change the "skin" of the console, but this feature was not mentioned by our source.
As for the logo of the console, it is described as a simple, round nexus with "Xbox 360" written inside it. Previous rumours had simply the numbers "360" in the disc. This branding tends to suggest that we can expect to see "360" appearing after many game names, as happened with the Nintendo 64.
Or, could it be that the majority of Xbox 2 titles haven't been revealed/announced yet? After all, that's what E3 is for, along with that MTV special thing, to show us the Xbox 2/360/whathaveyou and game footage. Looks like Project Gotham Racing 3 will most likely be a launch title at this point, which aint on no list anywhere, for example.
By the end of the year, Fary Cry, Half Life 2, Doom 3, Pariah, and Halo 2 (some of which are already there, obviously) will all be on the Xbox. Pretty cool really. I only mention it to the Slashdot crwod because no stories about Half Life and Far Cry have been posted, and not to start some KB/M vs. controller war.
Wait, you actually liked the whole, go here, find key, backtrack and unlock that door objectives in FPS games? Cuz I thought it sucked. It I want to wander around collecting useless crap I don't care about, I'll go play Pokemon. And this wasn't just a FPS level design thing. I refer you to pretty much any Rare platformer, and any 3D Mario game, the Resident Evil games, etc. If you wanna see some excellent level design, go check out Splinter Cell Chaos Theory.
You do realize they'll still be showing it at E3 a couple days later, right? I'm all for this. Instead of waiting an hour to download some shaky handycam video because everyone else and their mother are trying to download it at the same time, I can actually watch a well-presented (at least in terms of video quality) show on television. Sounds good to me. Sure, it'll probably full of fluff and flashy imagery, but it'll at least answer a few questions. What does it look like? What is it called? When does it come out? How much does it cost? Is there the hardrive standard, seperately, or not at all? Will is get/save content directly from a PC on my network (ver likely)? How are the controllers different? Are they standard wireless? Is it backwards compatible? What are some of the launch games, and what do they look like? I'm betting we'll get answers to at least most of those questions.
Well, that would mean a Google search on Wordpress wouldn't come up with links to Wordpress.org then wouldn't it? But they sure as hell do. After reading some of the articles, it seems more like Wordpress' creator's site is what may have been removed, not Wordpress itself. Poorly written submission, me thinks. Doesn't give any clear information at all.
So, did they remove pages/sites that are running Wordpress, or did they remove pages from Wordpress.org? Cuz both seem to still come up in Google results just fine.
I believe the fourth map, Warlock, is a remade Wizard from Halo 1. I'd still like to see Sidewinder, but I guess this new Containment map kinda fills that void a little, and is supposed to be huge.
I'm sure this is that same 'exclusive' deal that Grand Theft Auto had with the Playstation (seeing as San Andreas will be out on the Xbox this year), as D0A2 had on the Dreamcast (which came out on the PS2), and as Splinter Cell had on the Xbox (which later came out on all systems).
Yeah, but who's it for then? They're selling it based on those features to try to cover up the fact that the launch lineup is quite weak indeed. You can't argue that point. So, if it's for gamers who just want to play good games (of which I am one), we'll have to wait until there's some actual good games for it. After all, we've all played Wipeout before, and I ain't going anywhere near some Metal Gear Card Battle game. And it's not a Sony thing either. I wouldn't buy a DS for the same reason, plus the fact that they've made it practically useless for a lefty (which I am). If I wanted to play good games, I'm pretty sure there are some great ones on the GBASP, which is a mere 79 bucks. Plus, where are they getting off charging 50 bucks for a portable game? That just doesn't fly.
Slashdot Mirror
I think it may be more that they're only NOT number 3 in Japan. What about the UK? Australia? And I think the Xbox still has marginally more total worldwide sales, but not by much.
We're still finalizing our plans but we can give you a general idea of what to expect. The existing core playlists will remain intact. The first two free maps, Containment and Warlock, will be integrated into the appropriate existing playlists. Since the 2 premium maps are "premium" and won't necessarily be on everyone's Xbox right away, we can't add them to the core playlists without creating all sorts of problems. Instead, we will be rolling out a special short-term playlist that will only be accessible for people who download the premium maps. Players interested in getting into matchmade games on Turf and Sanctuary will be able to do so via this special playlist. Eventually, as Turf and Sanctuary become free for everyone, they will be added back to the core playlists and the premium playlist will go away.
When the remaining premium maps become available in June, a similar process will occur except we will have more than one premium playlist to accommodate the 5 new maps. Over time, as those maps become available for free, they will be integrated into the core playlists and the premium playlists will be phased out.
Clearly not you!
Well, sorta. The two free maps will soon be in the regular matchmaking playlists, but there will also be a 'premium only' playlist for people who payed for the maps. Eventually, by the end of summer, they'll all be re-merged into the same playlists once the mapps are all available for free.
The two maps aren't 5.99 each. You get both maps for a single charge of 5.99. So technically, you save money by purchasing them over Xbox Live.
The co-op mode, finally, could have been more fleshed out. Cooperative play is one of the most interesting aspects of modern gaming, and I would have liked to see a more developed co-op aspect for this title.
Were we playing the same game? The simple fact that these four HUGE levels (with more to come, eventually) were developed specifically for co-op and require you to work together directly with a teamate (or you can't pass the mission) demonstrates who incredibly well the co-op was designed. I don't thing I can even name another co-op game (aside from Phantasy Star Online) where it was impossible to get through a level without your teamate timing something with you perfectly. Each level has at least one moment where you and your teammate must do something simultaneously in order to get past it, like disarming bombs, mixing chemicals, etc. And several other places where you can't move on to the next area of the level without help from your teammate. On top of that, you can play through these huge levels differently every time if you so choose. Aside from some occasional disconnect and slowdown issues on co-op, I've never seen a better co-op mode in any game, ever, hand's down. Heck, even the simple fact that guards can hear the two of you talking is something special. A less-developed co-op would've been to simply give us the single-player levels and allow two people to play on them (which I'd gladly take as content download).
And admittedly, Zonk says he doesn't have a lot of previous Splinter Cell experience, but this one is hands-down easy if you want it to be. No more trial-and-error gameplay, alternate paths, added knife ability (which makes it really easy to kill armed people even after they've spotted you), more accurate guns (also easier to kill), and a handy save anywhere feature, this one is pretty easy to get through compared to the other two games. As a result, I've managed to get 100% ratings on a couple levels the first time through, without really even meaning to (which means not being detected, completing all objectives, and not killing anyone).
Actually, they did. They also had George Lucas come out and refer to the fact that it could render movie quality CG comparable to what's in the Star Wars movies. Or was that the PS3? I forget. But yes, at some point, they directly compared the rendering capabilities of the PS2 to Toy Story quality graphics. It was right around the time they announced it and showed us the lame rubby ducky in the sink floating on water demo.
Well, the thing is that it balances out over the course of the game. Maybe if you're playing to five or ten kills, those couple bad spawns will hurt you, but the fact is that everying gets a few 'damn, that was the worst spawn ever' spawns pretty much every game. Sometimes, you'll get a great spawn, and sometimes, not. Better than always spawing in the same spot on an open map.
Yeah, they patch games all the time over Xbox Live. This isn't just a Bungie thing either. Pretty much every UBISoft game over Xbox Live has received some sort of patch to fix online bugs, glitches, and cheating. The resistance is to patching single play portions of games over Xbox Live.
It's time for Animaniacs
And we're zany to the max
So just sit back and relax
You'll laugh 'til you collapse
We're Animaniacs!
Come join the Warner Brothers
And the Warner Sister, Dot
Just for fun we run around the Warner movie lot.
They lock us in the tower whenever we get caught
But we break loose and then vamoose
And now you know the plot!
Gaming will probably never be 'cool' in the proper sense of the word. Accepted, yes, but 'cool', I don't think so. There's lots of things that are well known, talked about, and great sources of conversation that aren't cool, perse, but society doesn't really have a problem with them. Sure, I can go get my haircut, and the stylist might ask me if I've seen any good movies lately, but that doesn't exactly mean that if I walk in and start babbling about Sin City or the next Star Wars movie, that she's gonna think I'm still cool. There's things you can expound upon and still be cool and then there's things that simply aren't. I can tell you this, I'm not going to be having a conversation in some bar and mention to some girl that I'm pretty good at Halo 2, or tell her about the time I got a double-kill with a single shot from a sniper rifle. I'm sorry, but I don't see myself getting the digits after that one, if you know what I mean.
Or, maybe they could just let you access files stored on a PC somewhere on your network. Takes care of custom sountracks, game saves, content download. Plus, 100% of Xbox Live users have broadband and the majority also have a PC. Maybe you're running a Linux or Mac? Well, then do all the same stuff with the optional HD.
Exactly my point. Rumors say we'll get wireless controllers, and the supposed prototype controller confirms this. So, someone who's seen the system doesn't even bother to mention the presence or absense of controller ports? Come on! Can't tell where the disc loads, or if there's a hard-drive bay? Which side of the system were they looking at that they couldn't discern these simple things? Nothing got 'confirmed' here at all.
"The machine can stand upright and hollows in at the middle, like it's "sucking in its cheeks," our source told us today. Previous rumours had put the console as light silver, although fresh information says the final design may be white. It's impossible to tell from the documents, our source explained - although the glimpse of the machine's controllers given on viral marketing website OurColony does suggest a platinum-white colour scheme for the hardware.
According to the source, the rumoured slot for the hard drive module - which was apparently at the top of the machine - is not obvious on the document, and the person was unable to clarify where the slot for discs is actually located.
One other aspect we've been unable to confirm is the rumoured customisation features on the box. It's been speculated that the emphasis on customisation which J Allard touted at the Game Developers Conference last month could extend to allowing users to change the "skin" of the console, but this feature was not mentioned by our source.
As for the logo of the console, it is described as a simple, round nexus with "Xbox 360" written inside it. Previous rumours had simply the numbers "360" in the disc. This branding tends to suggest that we can expect to see "360" appearing after many game names, as happened with the Nintendo 64.
I call B.S. on this whole anonymous source.
Or, could it be that the majority of Xbox 2 titles haven't been revealed/announced yet? After all, that's what E3 is for, along with that MTV special thing, to show us the Xbox 2/360/whathaveyou and game footage. Looks like Project Gotham Racing 3 will most likely be a launch title at this point, which aint on no list anywhere, for example.
By the end of the year, Fary Cry, Half Life 2, Doom 3, Pariah, and Halo 2 (some of which are already there, obviously) will all be on the Xbox. Pretty cool really. I only mention it to the Slashdot crwod because no stories about Half Life and Far Cry have been posted, and not to start some KB/M vs. controller war.
Wait, you actually liked the whole, go here, find key, backtrack and unlock that door objectives in FPS games? Cuz I thought it sucked. It I want to wander around collecting useless crap I don't care about, I'll go play Pokemon. And this wasn't just a FPS level design thing. I refer you to pretty much any Rare platformer, and any 3D Mario game, the Resident Evil games, etc. If you wanna see some excellent level design, go check out Splinter Cell Chaos Theory.
You do realize they'll still be showing it at E3 a couple days later, right? I'm all for this. Instead of waiting an hour to download some shaky handycam video because everyone else and their mother are trying to download it at the same time, I can actually watch a well-presented (at least in terms of video quality) show on television. Sounds good to me. Sure, it'll probably full of fluff and flashy imagery, but it'll at least answer a few questions. What does it look like? What is it called? When does it come out? How much does it cost? Is there the hardrive standard, seperately, or not at all? Will is get/save content directly from a PC on my network (ver likely)? How are the controllers different? Are they standard wireless? Is it backwards compatible? What are some of the launch games, and what do they look like? I'm betting we'll get answers to at least most of those questions.
Well, that would mean a Google search on Wordpress wouldn't come up with links to Wordpress.org then wouldn't it? But they sure as hell do. After reading some of the articles, it seems more like Wordpress' creator's site is what may have been removed, not Wordpress itself. Poorly written submission, me thinks. Doesn't give any clear information at all.
So, did they remove pages/sites that are running Wordpress, or did they remove pages from Wordpress.org? Cuz both seem to still come up in Google results just fine.
I believe the fourth map, Warlock, is a remade Wizard from Halo 1. I'd still like to see Sidewinder, but I guess this new Containment map kinda fills that void a little, and is supposed to be huge.
Aim for the head. You take take someone out with a battle rifle in three shots (three bursts of three).
I'm sure this is that same 'exclusive' deal that Grand Theft Auto had with the Playstation (seeing as San Andreas will be out on the Xbox this year), as D0A2 had on the Dreamcast (which came out on the PS2), and as Splinter Cell had on the Xbox (which later came out on all systems).
Yeah, but who's it for then? They're selling it based on those features to try to cover up the fact that the launch lineup is quite weak indeed. You can't argue that point. So, if it's for gamers who just want to play good games (of which I am one), we'll have to wait until there's some actual good games for it. After all, we've all played Wipeout before, and I ain't going anywhere near some Metal Gear Card Battle game. And it's not a Sony thing either. I wouldn't buy a DS for the same reason, plus the fact that they've made it practically useless for a lefty (which I am). If I wanted to play good games, I'm pretty sure there are some great ones on the GBASP, which is a mere 79 bucks. Plus, where are they getting off charging 50 bucks for a portable game? That just doesn't fly.
Well said. Also why I don't own a DS, nor does anyone I know. We'd just buy the SP if we wanted a portable system.