So for the complete Sony branded experience, not only do I need $600 for my PS3, but I need to shell out over $4000 for the 60" Bravia. Great. When I ask my boss for a raise, I'll be sure to mention I'll need the extra cash so I can play Riiiiige Racer the way Sony intends. Or maybe I can take out a home equity loan.
1. Go to Japan. 2. Buy a bunch of PS3s legally. 3. Offer to sell these PS3s I purchased legally on my web page to international customers. 4. Resell the PS3s to people outside of Japan.
I fail to see how this is illegal, per say. I'm a bit confused.
If ignorant of the almighty Sixaxis Creation Power, then you are android dumb, educated singularity stupid and unworthy of existence - with your death as positive. Killing you is not immoral - only unlawful by WiiMen.
The articles seem to touch upon the fact that Bloggers didn't stick to the assignment, not that their writing was necessarily poor.
I was struck by the number of people who wrote essays without apparently thinking the directions applied to them. They made assumptions about the assignment, or decided that they were better judges of what the assignment should be, and then wrote what they wanted to write rather than produced what they were asked to write.
Often writers tried to be clever with roundabout ways of coming at the question, but it only made my job as a grader more difficult, and grumpy graders don't give fives and sixes.
They also tended to equivocate more, to argue the merits of both sides, which, though it might mark you as a reasonable person in normal discussion (in real or online life), actually hurts your SAT score.
This doesn't really surprise me, especially the last comment. High school students are taught to follow the directions and in the case of essays, make a point for one side or the other. The "perfectly written" high school essay is one that is easy for the grader to assign a mark to, after all. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but naturally a blogger is going to put their own "spin" on the assignment. They are going to be more creative with the questions, and possibly bring up the pros and cons of both sides. After all, they are writing for a larger audience than a grader.
How to effectively wield: knifes, swords, shields, heavy armor, maces, axes, staves, pole arms, bows, crossbows, slingshots, boomerangs, bug catching nets, nunchucks, ninja stars, pistols, sniper rifles, automatic weapons, missile launchers, grenade launchers, bombs, railguns, plasma weapons, BFGs, gravity guns, personal teleporters, chainsaws, hookshots, and many other things.
How to ride/drive/pilot: horses, skateboards, surfboards, snowboards, hoverboards, motorcycles, race cars, helicopters, commercial jets, fighter jets, tanks, jetskis, boats, hovercraft, Arwings, X-Wings, A-Wings, B-Wings, Tie Fighters, and the USS Enterprise 1701. To name a few.
Use of the following skills: magic, psyonics, alchemy, dancing, singing, proficiency with musical instruments, the Force, hacking, martial arts, military tactics, espionage, mining, medical skills, and legal skills.
It is often said a lot of the ill treatment Nintendo displayed towards 3rd. party developers was Yamauchi's doing. The huge 3rd. party "jump ship" that occured with the PS1 came out was a clear indication that a lot of 3rd. parties were tired of dealing with Nintendo during the NES and SNES days.
Given that there seems to be stronger 3rd. party support for the Wii, I think Iwata has probably worked hard to restore the relationships with these developers. It has less to do with the technology behind the consoles and more to do with them saying, "Maybe Nintendo has learned not to treat us like indentured servants anymore."
Square is hedging bets by looking at all three systems. Right now the console war is about to heat up again, and it is unclear which will become the dominant platform.
It is not uncommon for some games to be more expensive in Japan, especially if there is bonus stuff that comes along with the game. This also holds true for DVDs and other such items.
If the $75 games make their way to the US market for the PS3, however, Sony could be shooting themselves in the foot. Their console is already pricey by itself.
This could be another boon for Nintendo if thy can keep the $50 price they generally maintained for GC games. This is definitely possible since they don't need to make up the same loss on hardware Sony does.
We'll see how this plays out. I can imagine them getting away with $75 for MGS4, FF13, GTA6, and other high profile titles, but not every title.
It seems that Nintendo has failed to live up to the expectations of unrealistic fanoys. They haven't failed to live up to my expectations. I expected a console and a single controller for $249. I didn't expect a pack-in game (even if it is just the Wii sports title) either. I'm a Nintendo fan, but I don't think Miyamoto is the Messiah like some people obviously do.
Nintendo never promised $199. They promised no more than $250. Wishful fanboy thinking is what spread the $199 and even super-unrealistic $149 pricepoints all over the net. So what if Nintendo is profitable on each console sold? They are still cheaper than the competition (even with the costs of a 2nd. controller for every system taken into account). This means they will make enough money to continue producing software for those who buy the console... even if they aren't the overall #1 seller. Just like with the Game Cube.
Nintendo never promised multiple controllers with the machine either. No console is shipping with more than one nowadays. Yes, their controller is the most expensive (though to be fair, $60 for a controller is really the controller and the nunchuck addon, not just the simple controller), but they also have the most unique controller. $430 for the 4-player experience is roughly the same as a 4-player experience for the XBox 360 would be (if you buy basic 360 package and 3 standard, wired 360 controllers from a retailer like EB). Both would still be cheaper than a Playstation 3.
and the control of Zelda and Red Steel have both been constant issues and received multiple redesigns *after* the games were well on their way to completion...
I can't speak about Zelda, but every comment I've heard about the latest control scheme for Red Steel has been (from people who have actually played it), overall, positive. The biggest complain I've heard is that it is somewhat hard to aim if you are too close to the screen. I'll have to take their word for it since I don't have exclusive insider access to the Wii.
There haven't been any great DS releases in some time, with many of the top rated games being launch titles or pretty close to it.
I would have to disagree. I'm pleasantly surprised with the DS I bought earlier this year, especially since I thought Nintendo was smoking crack when I first saw the thing.
The failure of Nintendo has been incorrectly predicted by game magazines and other "journalists" for well over a decade... more like 15 years now that I think about it. It always is supposedly right around the corner. It started in the 90s when Nintendo was late to the North American 16-bit market and hasn't let up since.
Nintendo is still around making consoles after all this time. Maybe because they know how to make a profit without having to necessarily be the top-seller.
Yes, the Sega Genesis did come with Altered Beast and later Sonic games, but it was also an older console than the SNES. If you count the Sega CD as a separate system... if I recall correctly it may have came with Sewer Shark. I don't believe the 32X came with a game. I also believe that the Genesis only came with one controller.
The Neo-Geo home console shipped with Magician Lord, but I guess that can be considered the same generation even though they continued to make games for the hardware for a very long time.
The Saturn didn't ship with a game at launch, IIRC. Later when it was clear that they were losing to Sony, they started giving Virtua Fighter 2 and some other games away with the system.
Did the Jaguar ship with Tempest 2000? I suppose it is possible. Hard to remember. They did sell it at $250, so it may have had a game.
As far as the 3DO, I don't recall it coming with a game, but there were different 3DO systems developed. One of them may have had a pack-in. The price of the console was obscene enough. The first one was the Panasonic model, but Sanyo and Goldstar also released them.
I did a Google search, and I believe you're right. The NES seems to have come in two flavors at first:
1. Deluxe Set ($250) which included Duck Hunt, Gyromite, and ROB 2. The Action Set ($200) which included Duck Hunt and Super Mario Bros. (The original version had two cartridges, later they replaced it with a single cartridge that had both games on it...)
Let's look at that "$200 Launch" thing. To keep the $200 price point, Nintendo has continually had to give us less with the system.
80s: The NES is $200 at launch. It comes with 2 controllers, 2 games, a light gun, and a crazy robot accessory. Early 90s: The SNES is $200 at launch. It comes with 2 controllers and a game. Late 90s: The N64 is $200 at launch. It comes with 1 controller. 2001: The GameCube is $200 at launch. It comes with 1 controller.
No console released after the SNES had more than one controller, nor has any console after the SNES had a pack-in game at launch. Only one controller is the industry standard nowadays, and giving us a game with the thing is more generous than Sony or Microsoft have ever been. Remember that Sony is charging $600 for their console, which will no doubt only have one controller.
$250 is more expensive than the $200 we had all hoped, but then again, it does come with an actual game... I don't think this has happened with a mainstream home console since the SNES. I'm sure we'd all prefer Zelda as the pack-in to Wii Sports, but it is more than you'll get with the PS3. Zelda is a launch title, regardless, which makes purchasing the system at release a lot more enticing.
After all of the jokes, stupid references, and whatnot about this movie... I'd really like to see it just to see exactly how ridiculous the movie is. I expect to see a cheesy plot, snakes on a plane, and Samuel L. Jackson dropping one-liners with the F-word in it.
The problem is that the theater is charging $9 a pop, making a night out at the movies for two an $18 affair, not counting the consession stand. Do I really want to pay for a campy movie that I'll be able to rent for $2 when it hits DVD in a few months?
NWN was great because it was supported for a long time. Free content was added periodically, in addition to the interesting premium modules. Bioware continued to support and help the community as much as possible long after both expansions were finished. This is amazing for a non-MMO, and lead to an impressive community that still creates mods for the game and enjoys it greatly.
I'm hoping that Atari's financial issues won't cause the NWN2 community to be "stillborn." Yes, the game will be released with the built in campaign, but I'm worried that the Obsidian will not get the approval to provide as many patches or community assistance as Bioware got with the original.
My Mac Mini seems rock solid so far. I mostly use it for a "media center," but I haven't had any stability issues with it.
Re:Metroid's popularity died in Japan
on
Samus vs. The Galaxy
·
· Score: 2, Informative
Metroid was never popular in Japan, and despite Nintedo's efforts to push it back into that market, it doesn't seem to have worked. The Metroid Prime series seems to be primarily developed in the US, with North American gamers in mind.
Samus is one the most interesting game characters, and is probably the most intriguing of Nintendo's main heroes.
It may have been just a side effect of the fact that Metroid was never popular in Japan, but Samus has a lot of mystery factor that I think actually helps the player try to get inside of the the character for themselves.
In Super Metroid, the player starts to get a hint about the motivations Samus may have. In fact, the backstory that was developed for Samus (Her colony was destroyed by space pirates, she was raised by Chozo and given Chozo blood, etc.) appeared around the time of Super Metroid. The eManga released around Metroid Fusion and Metroid Prime is just an updated version of that story. It may be a better revision of that story than what they had originally, but that backstory did exist since 1994 or earlier. Even so, much of Samus' personality, motivations, etc. still needed to be inferred by the player.
I very much enjoyed the depiction of Samus in Metroid Prime. It is obvious that the character is female, you can see the reflection of Samus' face and hear her voice once in a while (though like Link, she doesn't speak words), but they don't make a huge deal of it aside from that. By scanning the Pirate data, you can basically see how large a threat Samus is now considered by the Pirates, so you know the character you have control over is powerful. You can ultimately imply that Samus is fairly silent and solitary. Samus' pursuit of the pirates, in my opinion, is not simply revenge oriented. Many developers would have had Samus yell, "Hey, Ridley, this is for my mom!" while blowing him up. Sure, Samus may have a grudge for what the Pirates did, but I think her primary motivation is to stop them from causing any further harm.
This is the version of Samus I like the best.
While the bonus endings often reveal Samus in swimsuit-like attire, I like the fact that Samus shows up with the appropriate equipment to get the job done. Whereas many game heroines dress in next to nothing, or something totally impractical for what they are doing, Samus wears a heavy combat suit.
I'm not sure I like the Zero Suit Samus that will be in the new Super Smash Bros. game. It would really destroy the series to try to make Samus into more of a Lara Croft / DOA Girl type character.
Slashdot Mirror
Unheard of!
So for the complete Sony branded experience, not only do I need $600 for my PS3, but I need to shell out over $4000 for the 60" Bravia. Great. When I ask my boss for a raise, I'll be sure to mention I'll need the extra cash so I can play Riiiiige Racer the way Sony intends. Or maybe I can take out a home equity loan.
So let me get this straight.
1. Go to Japan.
2. Buy a bunch of PS3s legally.
3. Offer to sell these PS3s I purchased legally on my web page to international customers.
4. Resell the PS3s to people outside of Japan.
I fail to see how this is illegal, per say. I'm a bit confused.
I think he was making a point that the leadership position he had in his guild added to the amount of time commitment he had to put into the game.
If ignorant of the almighty
Sixaxis Creation Power,
then you are android dumb,
educated singularity stupid
and unworthy of existence -
with your death as positive.
Killing you is not immoral -
only unlawful by WiiMen.
(Yes, this is a Time Cube parody...)
The articles seem to touch upon the fact that Bloggers didn't stick to the assignment, not that their writing was necessarily poor.
I was struck by the number of people who wrote essays without apparently thinking the directions applied to them. They made assumptions about the assignment, or decided that they were better judges of what the assignment should be, and then wrote what they wanted to write rather than produced what they were asked to write.
Often writers tried to be clever with roundabout ways of coming at the question, but it only made my job as a grader more difficult, and grumpy graders don't give fives and sixes.
They also tended to equivocate more, to argue the merits of both sides, which, though it might mark you as a reasonable person in normal discussion (in real or online life), actually hurts your SAT score.
This doesn't really surprise me, especially the last comment. High school students are taught to follow the directions and in the case of essays, make a point for one side or the other. The "perfectly written" high school essay is one that is easy for the grader to assign a mark to, after all. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but naturally a blogger is going to put their own "spin" on the assignment. They are going to be more creative with the questions, and possibly bring up the pros and cons of both sides. After all, they are writing for a larger audience than a grader.
- Video games have taught me -
How to effectively wield: knifes, swords, shields, heavy armor, maces, axes, staves, pole arms, bows, crossbows, slingshots, boomerangs, bug catching nets, nunchucks, ninja stars, pistols, sniper rifles, automatic weapons, missile launchers, grenade launchers, bombs, railguns, plasma weapons, BFGs, gravity guns, personal teleporters, chainsaws, hookshots, and many other things.
How to ride/drive/pilot: horses, skateboards, surfboards, snowboards, hoverboards, motorcycles, race cars, helicopters, commercial jets, fighter jets, tanks, jetskis, boats, hovercraft, Arwings, X-Wings, A-Wings, B-Wings, Tie Fighters, and the USS Enterprise 1701. To name a few.
Use of the following skills: magic, psyonics, alchemy, dancing, singing, proficiency with musical instruments, the Force, hacking, martial arts, military tactics, espionage, mining, medical skills, and legal skills.
It is often said a lot of the ill treatment Nintendo displayed towards 3rd. party developers was Yamauchi's doing. The huge 3rd. party "jump ship" that occured with the PS1 came out was a clear indication that a lot of 3rd. parties were tired of dealing with Nintendo during the NES and SNES days.
Given that there seems to be stronger 3rd. party support for the Wii, I think Iwata has probably worked hard to restore the relationships with these developers. It has less to do with the technology behind the consoles and more to do with them saying, "Maybe Nintendo has learned not to treat us like indentured servants anymore."
Square is hedging bets by looking at all three systems. Right now the console war is about to heat up again, and it is unclear which will become the dominant platform.
It is not uncommon for some games to be more expensive in Japan, especially if there is bonus stuff that comes along with the game. This also holds true for DVDs and other such items.
If the $75 games make their way to the US market for the PS3, however, Sony could be shooting themselves in the foot. Their console is already pricey by itself.
This could be another boon for Nintendo if thy can keep the $50 price they generally maintained for GC games. This is definitely possible since they don't need to make up the same loss on hardware Sony does.
We'll see how this plays out. I can imagine them getting away with $75 for MGS4, FF13, GTA6, and other high profile titles, but not every title.
You dare dishonor me by speaking like a pirate in my presence? The ways of my ninja clan compel me to strike at you with the sword of my ancestors!
It seems that Nintendo has failed to live up to the expectations of unrealistic fanoys. They haven't failed to live up to my expectations. I expected a console and a single controller for $249. I didn't expect a pack-in game (even if it is just the Wii sports title) either. I'm a Nintendo fan, but I don't think Miyamoto is the Messiah like some people obviously do.
Nintendo never promised $199. They promised no more than $250. Wishful fanboy thinking is what spread the $199 and even super-unrealistic $149 pricepoints all over the net. So what if Nintendo is profitable on each console sold? They are still cheaper than the competition (even with the costs of a 2nd. controller for every system taken into account). This means they will make enough money to continue producing software for those who buy the console... even if they aren't the overall #1 seller. Just like with the Game Cube.
Nintendo never promised multiple controllers with the machine either. No console is shipping with more than one nowadays. Yes, their controller is the most expensive (though to be fair, $60 for a controller is really the controller and the nunchuck addon, not just the simple controller), but they also have the most unique controller. $430 for the 4-player experience is roughly the same as a 4-player experience for the XBox 360 would be (if you buy basic 360 package and 3 standard, wired 360 controllers from a retailer like EB). Both would still be cheaper than a Playstation 3.
and the control of Zelda and Red Steel have both been constant issues and received multiple redesigns *after* the games were well on their way to completion...
I can't speak about Zelda, but every comment I've heard about the latest control scheme for Red Steel has been (from people who have actually played it), overall, positive. The biggest complain I've heard is that it is somewhat hard to aim if you are too close to the screen. I'll have to take their word for it since I don't have exclusive insider access to the Wii.
There haven't been any great DS releases in some time, with many of the top rated games being launch titles or pretty close to it.
I would have to disagree. I'm pleasantly surprised with the DS I bought earlier this year, especially since I thought Nintendo was smoking crack when I first saw the thing.
The failure of Nintendo has been incorrectly predicted by game magazines and other "journalists" for well over a decade... more like 15 years now that I think about it. It always is supposedly right around the corner. It started in the 90s when Nintendo was late to the North American 16-bit market and hasn't let up since.
Nintendo is still around making consoles after all this time. Maybe because they know how to make a profit without having to necessarily be the top-seller.
This is not a troll. This is a real issue from many points of view.
Yes, the Sega Genesis did come with Altered Beast and later Sonic games, but it was also an older console than the SNES. If you count the Sega CD as a separate system... if I recall correctly it may have came with Sewer Shark. I don't believe the 32X came with a game. I also believe that the Genesis only came with one controller.
The Neo-Geo home console shipped with Magician Lord, but I guess that can be considered the same generation even though they continued to make games for the hardware for a very long time.
The Saturn didn't ship with a game at launch, IIRC. Later when it was clear that they were losing to Sony, they started giving Virtua Fighter 2 and some other games away with the system.
Did the Jaguar ship with Tempest 2000? I suppose it is possible. Hard to remember. They did sell it at $250, so it may have had a game.
As far as the 3DO, I don't recall it coming with a game, but there were different 3DO systems developed. One of them may have had a pack-in. The price of the console was obscene enough. The first one was the Panasonic model, but Sanyo and Goldstar also released them.
I did a Google search, and I believe you're right. The NES seems to have come in two flavors at first:
1. Deluxe Set ($250) which included Duck Hunt, Gyromite, and ROB
2. The Action Set ($200) which included Duck Hunt and Super Mario Bros. (The original version had two cartridges, later they replaced it with a single cartridge that had both games on it...)
Let's look at that "$200 Launch" thing. To keep the $200 price point, Nintendo has continually had to give us less with the system.
80s: The NES is $200 at launch. It comes with 2 controllers, 2 games, a light gun, and a crazy robot accessory.
Early 90s: The SNES is $200 at launch. It comes with 2 controllers and a game.
Late 90s: The N64 is $200 at launch. It comes with 1 controller.
2001: The GameCube is $200 at launch. It comes with 1 controller.
No console released after the SNES had more than one controller, nor has any console after the SNES had a pack-in game at launch. Only one controller is the industry standard nowadays, and giving us a game with the thing is more generous than Sony or Microsoft have ever been. Remember that Sony is charging $600 for their console, which will no doubt only have one controller.
$250 is more expensive than the $200 we had all hoped, but then again, it does come with an actual game... I don't think this has happened with a mainstream home console since the SNES. I'm sure we'd all prefer Zelda as the pack-in to Wii Sports, but it is more than you'll get with the PS3. Zelda is a launch title, regardless, which makes purchasing the system at release a lot more enticing.
I'm tired of these motherf@$&ing Sony laptop batteries on a motherf@$&ing plane!
After all of the jokes, stupid references, and whatnot about this movie... I'd really like to see it just to see exactly how ridiculous the movie is. I expect to see a cheesy plot, snakes on a plane, and Samuel L. Jackson dropping one-liners with the F-word in it.
The problem is that the theater is charging $9 a pop, making a night out at the movies for two an $18 affair, not counting the consession stand. Do I really want to pay for a campy movie that I'll be able to rent for $2 when it hits DVD in a few months?
I doubt that Microsoft would port Office to Linux. Why would Microsoft want to help eliminate a roadblock to Linux desktop adoption?
Of course, stranger things have happened.
NWN was great because it was supported for a long time. Free content was added periodically, in addition to the interesting premium modules. Bioware continued to support and help the community as much as possible long after both expansions were finished. This is amazing for a non-MMO, and lead to an impressive community that still creates mods for the game and enjoys it greatly.
I'm hoping that Atari's financial issues won't cause the NWN2 community to be "stillborn." Yes, the game will be released with the built in campaign, but I'm worried that the Obsidian will not get the approval to provide as many patches or community assistance as Bioware got with the original.
My Mac Mini seems rock solid so far. I mostly use it for a "media center," but I haven't had any stability issues with it.
Metroid was never popular in Japan, and despite Nintedo's efforts to push it back into that market, it doesn't seem to have worked. The Metroid Prime series seems to be primarily developed in the US, with North American gamers in mind.
Samus is one the most interesting game characters, and is probably the most intriguing of Nintendo's main heroes.
It may have been just a side effect of the fact that Metroid was never popular in Japan, but Samus has a lot of mystery factor that I think actually helps the player try to get inside of the the character for themselves.
In Super Metroid, the player starts to get a hint about the motivations Samus may have. In fact, the backstory that was developed for Samus (Her colony was destroyed by space pirates, she was raised by Chozo and given Chozo blood, etc.) appeared around the time of Super Metroid. The eManga released around Metroid Fusion and Metroid Prime is just an updated version of that story. It may be a better revision of that story than what they had originally, but that backstory did exist since 1994 or earlier. Even so, much of Samus' personality, motivations, etc. still needed to be inferred by the player.
I very much enjoyed the depiction of Samus in Metroid Prime. It is obvious that the character is female, you can see the reflection of Samus' face and hear her voice once in a while (though like Link, she doesn't speak words), but they don't make a huge deal of it aside from that. By scanning the Pirate data, you can basically see how large a threat Samus is now considered by the Pirates, so you know the character you have control over is powerful. You can ultimately imply that Samus is fairly silent and solitary. Samus' pursuit of the pirates, in my opinion, is not simply revenge oriented. Many developers would have had Samus yell, "Hey, Ridley, this is for my mom!" while blowing him up. Sure, Samus may have a grudge for what the Pirates did, but I think her primary motivation is to stop them from causing any further harm.
This is the version of Samus I like the best.
While the bonus endings often reveal Samus in swimsuit-like attire, I like the fact that Samus shows up with the appropriate equipment to get the job done. Whereas many game heroines dress in next to nothing, or something totally impractical for what they are doing, Samus wears a heavy combat suit.
I'm not sure I like the Zero Suit Samus that will be in the new Super Smash Bros. game. It would really destroy the series to try to make Samus into more of a Lara Croft / DOA Girl type character.