I would agree with you on principle here that perhaps an MMO gamer does deserve some rights to their character or their in game items, but I think the intrinsic problem is that your stuff only exists on a database owned by someone else.
Let's say you worked hard on your character. You spent hours on the character creation screen giving him a unique look, you penned a riveting backstory for him, and you created unique looking items for him to wear. (Presuming this is even possible in your MMO of choice.)
So what happens when the MMO dev releases a crappy expansion that completely breaks the game? What happens when you just get bored? What happens when the MMO dev goes under and they pull the plug? You can't take that character (along with all of his money and items) and move him over to a new MMO. He's stuck on someone else's server. You can take your D&D Character sheet to another DM's table and maybe he'll allow you to play with that character in his game. You can't really do this with an MMO.
If you are lucky, the best you could do is sell your character to someone else on eBay (except in the case where the MMO dev pulls the plug, then you're completely SOL). It is likely that you won't be able to sell him for a large enough amount to cover the costs of your subscription fees, however.
It would be interesting to see an "Open Source" MMO engine that would allow character transfers between actual games, but I doubt we'd ever see a commercially successful one.
This is pretty obvious. Read the EULA/TOS for most games, and they will most likely state that all the data is owned by the company that owns the game. Unless there is some specific agreement that you own specific pieces of data (i.e. your character(s), their items/equipment, or their gold/platinum/whatever), then it is probably safe to assume that you are simply paying for access to the MMO server/database and do not actually own anything on it.
I know that most companies claim ownership of all data. One argument against currency selling/eBaying is simply that you are selling something that doesn't belong to you.
It still kind of baffles me that anyone would be willing to pay real money for fake money/items, especially given that you're already paying a monthly fee for an MMO. You're essentially paying someone to play for you, and if you don't have the time for an MMO, why are you subscribing in the first place? Not to mention that any stuff you acquire is going to be obsolete when the next expansion comes out. It's like a rich kid buying a sandbox, and then hiring a poor kid to play in the sandbox for him.
What worthwhile exclusive titles have appeared on the XBox 360, or PS3, over the past year? Halo 3 for the Xbox 360 is the only one I can think of. The PS3 has nothing worth mentioning. At least Nintendo has their first party titles, because lately, 3rd. party titles on all systems have been pretty lackluster.
I have no problem with Jack Thompson excersizing his 1st. Ammendment Rights. He has every right to state his opinion on video games, and others have every right to provide a rebuttal to his statements. I personally think his opinions are not based upon reality.
While it is nice to see that SCO is likely going under after all the crap Darl & Co. have pulled, it is likely that the corporate executives have already pocketed millions while letting the computer crash under the weight of their bogus lawsuit. Hopefully criminal fraud charges can be brought against the SCO execs, but I'm not holding my breath.
1. I would assume that any most modern games PC games that supports more than 2 players does so via a LAN, to be honest. I honestly have little interest in anything but fighting games when it comes to these types of titles.
2. I'm not certain how each individual compilation set works. It is said that "Atari: 80 Classic Games in One" for PCs have certain issues on some games, for example. If you want the real deal, I'd go out and try to buy an original arcade PCB.;)
3. IANNAL but from my interpretation of 17 USC 602, there should be no issue as long as you aren't buying bootlegs and are using them for private use. As you assumed, however, there are no localized English translations of the games I mentioned. As far as cost goes, Melty Blood Act Cadenza Ver.B goes for about $60 at the following URL - http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-7s-49-en-70-21 md.html. Although I do read Japanese on an elementary level, it is a fighting game, so I don't think not being able to read Japanese will greatly impact your ability to actually play through the game's content.
Most of the games I can think of are, admittedly, 1-2 players. I haven't seen any arcade style games for more players than 2 on PC. I guess an older game like Jazz Jackrabbit 2 may support more than 2 players on the same screen and be suitable for that.
I was thinking more along the lines of:
1. "Arcade Classics" compilations for PC. These are often budget titles containing several classic arcade games and can be purchased from major retailers.
2. PC games such as MeltyBlood series and Big Bang Beat (both Japanese "Doujinsoft" Fighting games), or the Korean beat 'em up Dungeon & Fighter. You can legally purchase these online.
Building an arcade cabinet does not immediately assume that you are pirating games and then playing them with MAME or another emulator. Once you build the cabinet, you can hook any type of software you want to it.
1. There are several PC games that you can purchase which are "arcade style" and would be well suited to a cabinet.
2. With a little work, you can convert a regular console controller into into an arcade stick. Place the console inside the cabinet (rather than a PC), and you can play your legally acquired console games in your cabinet.
3. You can purchase actual arcade board for a game on eBay. It may have been swapped out of a cabinet for another game, or the old cabinet may have been in total disrepair. People who purchase the boards may wish to build a custom cabinet for it.
From what I see so far, it seems that the PS3 has two potential killer apps that could "save" it. Metal Gear Solid 4 and Final Fantasy 13 are the only two games that come to mind that make me even remotely think, "Maybe I'd want to pick a PS3 up because I want to play these games."
MGS4 going multiplatform would be yet another big blow to the system, and it seems at least somewhat likely this will happen.
FF13 going multiplatform is less likely from what I understand, but it would certainly suck for the PS3 if it happened.
Min/Maxing exists in just about every game. If your 3/3.5 edition campaigns required extreme munchkining, the it was only because your DM was using munchkined NPC enemies and/or poor at balancing the session on the fly.
I played a little bit of the original variant of the d20 Star Wars game, and I don't see how the ruleset bound it from not feeling enough like Star Wars. A good GM is never bound by the ruleset, and I feel that I played with a GM talented enough to make our sessions fun and exciting. In fact, the close similarity to 3E DnD was helpful as we weren't hampered by having to totally relearn a whole new system.
I've purchased TG16 and Genesis virtual console titles. In addition, I've purchased SNES titles that were 3rd. party produced, such as Castlevania 4 (Konami) and Street Fighter 2 (Capcom). The 3rd. party titles are there to purchase.
In my opinion, there reasons Nintendo titles dominate the top five are:
1. Purchasers of the Wii might have a bias towards Nintendo titles. 2. Many of the first party NES and SNES titles have withstood the test of time better than 3rd. party titles, in my opinion. 3. A lot of the popular 3rd. party titles can't make it to the VC due to licensing issues, or the fact that they've been rereleased on the GBA. (The reason you likely won't see FF4-6 on the VC is due to the GBA rereleases).
What were the most popular SNES games of all times? You probably can't track this info down anymore, but I would wager that if you asked a bunch of gamers who played during that era, they're answer is going to be a first party title or a Square game.
I would love to see someone like Ron Paul elected. The problem is that he will never win the Republican nomination because his platform diverges sharply from that of the modern Republican Party.
Most of Nintendo's great first party titles from back in the day are still great. Original Zelda, Super Mario World, Yoshi's Island, Super Metroid... these are still great games.
Some of the other ones I remember being great... aren't so much anymore. I fired up NBA Jam for the SNES in an emulator and boggled at how I spent hours playing this game with my friends. The slam dunks and cheezy ball on fire effect weren't as impressive as I remember. The announcer I remember being totally awesome was instead fuzzy and completely corny when he yelled out, "Boomshakalaka!" The on-screen characters didn't even seem to resemble their NBA counterparts.
There have been thousands of articles written since around since the 16-bit days (or earlier) predicting the "second crash." I tend to take each one with a grain of salt. That isn't to say a second crash could never happen.
At worst case right now, Sony and Microsoft could fold out of the console business. Nintendo will likely stick around because they know how to make money, even when they don't have the top selling console. As long as Nintendo sticks to that, I don't see a "full crash."
We tend to remember the classics. There were hundreds of horrible NES games that few peopple remember (or at least care to remember).
One thing that is disappointing to me is how easy many RPGs are. Back in the NES days and early 16-bit (SNES) days, they were fairly difficult. Nowadays they are nearly so easy that you have to go out of your way to even make them a challenge (either by limiting yourself to not using the most powerful abilities that make the games easy, or doing the ridiculously long side quests that don't matter to the main plot).
Most of the intermediate and advanced features in Word probably go unused by 90% or more of users. Both Word and Open Office are easy enough to pick up the basic features of, if you've used any word processor before.
There may be a little more to just "getting permission" than they are at liberty to say. It is very likely that the game developers received permission to start developing a game, but later stages of the game need final approval from the IP holder. Or there are some disputes over royalties/distribution/etc. Or there are some gray areas as to who owns what IP related to the Ghostbuster's franchise that need to be cleared up before development continues.
I have seen PS3 systems in stock at Target, Fred Meyer, and Circuit City in my area. I saw these while looking for an S-Video cable for my Wii.
When I mentioned my surprise of a system being in stock when I saw it first at Target, the clerk informed me that the system was a return. Not sure if he was correct or just talking out of his rear, but the fact was that the system was there.
In each case, the PS3s were in plain view, sitting there in the store display. I'm sure they are selling them, but it is clear that they aren't being snatched up the moment they appear.
On the other hand I have not yet seen a single Nintendo Wii in stock since I bought mine on launch date.
Both systems seem difficult to get, but it seems that the PS3 is becoming less difficult to get in spite of them producing less units, while the Wii is just as difficult to get as on day one.
Slashdot Mirror
I would agree with you on principle here that perhaps an MMO gamer does deserve some rights to their character or their in game items, but I think the intrinsic problem is that your stuff only exists on a database owned by someone else.
Let's say you worked hard on your character. You spent hours on the character creation screen giving him a unique look, you penned a riveting backstory for him, and you created unique looking items for him to wear. (Presuming this is even possible in your MMO of choice.)
So what happens when the MMO dev releases a crappy expansion that completely breaks the game? What happens when you just get bored? What happens when the MMO dev goes under and they pull the plug? You can't take that character (along with all of his money and items) and move him over to a new MMO. He's stuck on someone else's server. You can take your D&D Character sheet to another DM's table and maybe he'll allow you to play with that character in his game. You can't really do this with an MMO.
If you are lucky, the best you could do is sell your character to someone else on eBay (except in the case where the MMO dev pulls the plug, then you're completely SOL). It is likely that you won't be able to sell him for a large enough amount to cover the costs of your subscription fees, however.
It would be interesting to see an "Open Source" MMO engine that would allow character transfers between actual games, but I doubt we'd ever see a commercially successful one.
This is pretty obvious. Read the EULA/TOS for most games, and they will most likely state that all the data is owned by the company that owns the game. Unless there is some specific agreement that you own specific pieces of data (i.e. your character(s), their items/equipment, or their gold/platinum/whatever), then it is probably safe to assume that you are simply paying for access to the MMO server/database and do not actually own anything on it.
I know that most companies claim ownership of all data. One argument against currency selling/eBaying is simply that you are selling something that doesn't belong to you.
It still kind of baffles me that anyone would be willing to pay real money for fake money/items, especially given that you're already paying a monthly fee for an MMO. You're essentially paying someone to play for you, and if you don't have the time for an MMO, why are you subscribing in the first place? Not to mention that any stuff you acquire is going to be obsolete when the next expansion comes out. It's like a rich kid buying a sandbox, and then hiring a poor kid to play in the sandbox for him.
The "truly hardcore" gamer already has a Wii, Xbox360, PS3, DS, and PSP.
What worthwhile exclusive titles have appeared on the XBox 360, or PS3, over the past year? Halo 3 for the Xbox 360 is the only one I can think of. The PS3 has nothing worth mentioning. At least Nintendo has their first party titles, because lately, 3rd. party titles on all systems have been pretty lackluster.
I do not see any indication anywhere that this:
1. Hides itself from the user.
2. Remains on the system even after World of Warcraft is uninstalled.
So while privacy concerns may be valid, I don't see how this is a "rootkit."
I have no problem with Jack Thompson excersizing his 1st. Ammendment Rights. He has every right to state his opinion on video games, and others have every right to provide a rebuttal to his statements. I personally think his opinions are not based upon reality.
While it is nice to see that SCO is likely going under after all the crap Darl & Co. have pulled, it is likely that the corporate executives have already pocketed millions while letting the computer crash under the weight of their bogus lawsuit. Hopefully criminal fraud charges can be brought against the SCO execs, but I'm not holding my breath.
What functionality is OO.o lacking that would prevent junior from writing an essay and printing it out to turn in?
1. I would assume that any most modern games PC games that supports more than 2 players does so via a LAN, to be honest. I honestly have little interest in anything but fighting games when it comes to these types of titles.
;)
1 md.html. Although I do read Japanese on an elementary level, it is a fighting game, so I don't think not being able to read Japanese will greatly impact your ability to actually play through the game's content.
2. I'm not certain how each individual compilation set works. It is said that "Atari: 80 Classic Games in One" for PCs have certain issues on some games, for example. If you want the real deal, I'd go out and try to buy an original arcade PCB.
3. IANNAL but from my interpretation of 17 USC 602, there should be no issue as long as you aren't buying bootlegs and are using them for private use. As you assumed, however, there are no localized English translations of the games I mentioned. As far as cost goes, Melty Blood Act Cadenza Ver.B goes for about $60 at the following URL - http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-7s-49-en-70-2
Most of the games I can think of are, admittedly, 1-2 players. I haven't seen any arcade style games for more players than 2 on PC. I guess an older game like Jazz Jackrabbit 2 may support more than 2 players on the same screen and be suitable for that.
I was thinking more along the lines of:
1. "Arcade Classics" compilations for PC. These are often budget titles containing several classic arcade games and can be purchased from major retailers.
2. PC games such as MeltyBlood series and Big Bang Beat (both Japanese "Doujinsoft" Fighting games), or the Korean beat 'em up Dungeon & Fighter. You can legally purchase these online.
Building an arcade cabinet does not immediately assume that you are pirating games and then playing them with MAME or another emulator. Once you build the cabinet, you can hook any type of software you want to it.
1. There are several PC games that you can purchase which are "arcade style" and would be well suited to a cabinet.
2. With a little work, you can convert a regular console controller into into an arcade stick. Place the console inside the cabinet (rather than a PC), and you can play your legally acquired console games in your cabinet.
3. You can purchase actual arcade board for a game on eBay. It may have been swapped out of a cabinet for another game, or the old cabinet may have been in total disrepair. People who purchase the boards may wish to build a custom cabinet for it.
One of the reasons I enjoyed Sonic and the Secret Rings is because you
PLAY
AS
SONIC
the entire game.
Limit the other characters to Tails, Knuckles, and MAYBE Amy Rose (being generous here) and leave the other characters out of the story.
Please.
If Shadow even so much as shows up....
From what I see so far, it seems that the PS3 has two potential killer apps that could "save" it. Metal Gear Solid 4 and Final Fantasy 13 are the only two games that come to mind that make me even remotely think, "Maybe I'd want to pick a PS3 up because I want to play these games."
MGS4 going multiplatform would be yet another big blow to the system, and it seems at least somewhat likely this will happen.
FF13 going multiplatform is less likely from what I understand, but it would certainly suck for the PS3 if it happened.
Min/Maxing exists in just about every game. If your 3/3.5 edition campaigns required extreme munchkining, the it was only because your DM was using munchkined NPC enemies and/or poor at balancing the session on the fly.
I played a little bit of the original variant of the d20 Star Wars game, and I don't see how the ruleset bound it from not feeling enough like Star Wars. A good GM is never bound by the ruleset, and I feel that I played with a GM talented enough to make our sessions fun and exciting. In fact, the close similarity to 3E DnD was helpful as we weren't hampered by having to totally relearn a whole new system.
I've purchased TG16 and Genesis virtual console titles. In addition, I've purchased SNES titles that were 3rd. party produced, such as Castlevania 4 (Konami) and Street Fighter 2 (Capcom). The 3rd. party titles are there to purchase.
In my opinion, there reasons Nintendo titles dominate the top five are:
1. Purchasers of the Wii might have a bias towards Nintendo titles.
2. Many of the first party NES and SNES titles have withstood the test of time better than 3rd. party titles, in my opinion.
3. A lot of the popular 3rd. party titles can't make it to the VC due to licensing issues, or the fact that they've been rereleased on the GBA. (The reason you likely won't see FF4-6 on the VC is due to the GBA rereleases).
What were the most popular SNES games of all times? You probably can't track this info down anymore, but I would wager that if you asked a bunch of gamers who played during that era, they're answer is going to be a first party title or a Square game.
I would love to see someone like Ron Paul elected. The problem is that he will never win the Republican nomination because his platform diverges sharply from that of the modern Republican Party.
... you have to do it yourself.
SCO failed, so Microsoft is going to try to handle this personally.
Is this before or after they buy out Nintando?
Seriously, why do people always think Apple should be buying out other companies "just because?"
Most of Nintendo's great first party titles from back in the day are still great. Original Zelda, Super Mario World, Yoshi's Island, Super Metroid... these are still great games.
Some of the other ones I remember being great... aren't so much anymore. I fired up NBA Jam for the SNES in an emulator and boggled at how I spent hours playing this game with my friends. The slam dunks and cheezy ball on fire effect weren't as impressive as I remember. The announcer I remember being totally awesome was instead fuzzy and completely corny when he yelled out, "Boomshakalaka!" The on-screen characters didn't even seem to resemble their NBA counterparts.
There have been thousands of articles written since around since the 16-bit days (or earlier) predicting the "second crash." I tend to take each one with a grain of salt. That isn't to say a second crash could never happen.
At worst case right now, Sony and Microsoft could fold out of the console business. Nintendo will likely stick around because they know how to make money, even when they don't have the top selling console. As long as Nintendo sticks to that, I don't see a "full crash."
We tend to remember the classics. There were hundreds of horrible NES games that few peopple remember (or at least care to remember).
One thing that is disappointing to me is how easy many RPGs are. Back in the NES days and early 16-bit (SNES) days, they were fairly difficult. Nowadays they are nearly so easy that you have to go out of your way to even make them a challenge (either by limiting yourself to not using the most powerful abilities that make the games easy, or doing the ridiculously long side quests that don't matter to the main plot).
Most of the intermediate and advanced features in Word probably go unused by 90% or more of users. Both Word and Open Office are easy enough to pick up the basic features of, if you've used any word processor before.
There may be a little more to just "getting permission" than they are at liberty to say. It is very likely that the game developers received permission to start developing a game, but later stages of the game need final approval from the IP holder. Or there are some disputes over royalties/distribution/etc. Or there are some gray areas as to who owns what IP related to the Ghostbuster's franchise that need to be cleared up before development continues.
I have seen PS3 systems in stock at Target, Fred Meyer, and Circuit City in my area. I saw these while looking for an S-Video cable for my Wii.
When I mentioned my surprise of a system being in stock when I saw it first at Target, the clerk informed me that the system was a return. Not sure if he was correct or just talking out of his rear, but the fact was that the system was there.
In each case, the PS3s were in plain view, sitting there in the store display. I'm sure they are selling them, but it is clear that they aren't being snatched up the moment they appear.
On the other hand I have not yet seen a single Nintendo Wii in stock since I bought mine on launch date.
Both systems seem difficult to get, but it seems that the PS3 is becoming less difficult to get in spite of them producing less units, while the Wii is just as difficult to get as on day one.