Definitely! Zelda's one I left out, but it's another classic which did things with the NES' audio that people fressh off Atari 2600, Colecovision, and the like wouldn't have thought possible.
"'SanDisk is the first company to market its player as an ideological rather than technological alternative to the iPod. To do so is to fight Apple on their own terms.'"
"Fighting Apple on their own terms," they say? I see it as more of a "sinking to their level."
TFA goes into what divides game music from film music, but I've always felt the best game music has usually had pretty much the same qualities going for it as the best film music. It compliments what's going on in the story at that point, it has a recognizable personality that ties it to the game, and manages to touch you in the right emotional ways during the right bits of the action. The best of the best is also listenable on its own, but doesn't try to be the star of the show and overshadow the game when you're playing.
I haven't heard anything by Jesper Kyd, but many of my favorite videogame composers get the balance just right - Nobuo Uematsu's "Fianl Fantasy" work, Kurt Harland's "Soul Reaver" tunes, Hans Zimmer's "Metal Gear Solid" scores, and of course the classic Super Mario music. (Stop laughing, dammit! Who among the 8-bit generation doesn't remember how awesome it was to grab a starman and hear the invincibility theme for the first time, or didn't get even slightly spooked by the underworld music?)
Not only do illegal immigrants have to jump fences, ford rivers, and risk life and limb.. now they have to camwhore as well.
I can see the AIM bots now.. "Hola! Click here to see me and my girlfriends have wild parties, hide from border patrols, and dodge farmers' bullets! Tee-hee!;-)"
I was equally surprised the first time I brought up a PDF's properties and discovered it was produced by OpenOffice.. in fact, that's how I found out about OpenOffice in the first place.
I think the exclusive writer thing was the idea behind PDF originally.. give away the readers for free, and rake in money on the writer, in the old disposable-razor model. But since those days, Adobe has become enough of a 900-pound-gorilla that they can let people do PDF writers for free, and appear kinder and gentler because of it, not to mention encouraging the spread of their format. I'd bet the market penetration and mindshare alone is worth far more to the company than continuing to sell the only PDF writer could be.
I think milestones were set by Sony when they built what was essentially a stripped-down PS1 into the PS2, and Nintendo with its endless chain of GB upgrades. Being able to use those towering stacks of old games on the new machine - with optional upgrades, even! - is a damn neat feature that is going to sway some of the consumers nowadays.
Good point. Something non-color-based, then, and compatible with screen-readers. Text-only, but in a test-question format rather than something captcha-like.
I never got into the series' NES incarnations, but for me "Castlevania Adventure" for the original GB was a killer app that drained many charges from that fist-sized belt-clip rechargeable attachment. Jumping was a bitch to get the hang of, though I gather that's pretty much a Castlevania thing.. apart from that, it was classic.
TFA: It appears that realistic violence is the main motivation of the Z mark. So, some developers are wondering if violence is okay as long as it remains in a fantasy world or in a historic context.
Why the distinction of "historical" violence? As it is, it appears they can whip up an Old-West skin for GTA, relabel it "Grand Theft Horse: OK Corral" and get away with a softer rating for essentially the same game. Heck, they could even release "Vice City" as it is, if you consider the 1980s "history."
But for your average site, the captcha just has to be "good enough" such that someone won't bother to write a crack to spam a small fish.
The paradox is, if a site has one that works really well for them, other sites will want to use it as well. As other sites use similar or identical systems, it becomes exponentially more beneficial for crackers to crack. So, as soon as something's good enough to use, it becomes good enough to crack.
I wondered at the possibility of using a system that would require human intervention rather than AI for some simple reason of observation, like "Type the color of this person's eyes" next to a JPEG. The only downside, is you have to trust the average Internet user's ability to type "blue," so of course that plan goes out the window.
If I wanted to be really sadistic, I could instead present site readers with a sentence, in which they have to fill in either "their," "there," or "they're."
I'm still waiting patiently for the Canal Street date, when some DS lites "fall off the back of a truck" and I can haggle the distinguished proprietor down to $50.
IANA(.se)L, but I wonder.. let's say I was using TPB's tracker to share some stuff I had full legal right to. Public Domain, Creative Commons, original material, and such. With TPB shut down, would people like me be able to file some sort of legal grudge against the Swedish police?
Let's see: Nintendo copies Xbox Live Arcade, Sony copies Wiimote's motion sensitivity, and now Microsoft copies PS2's EyeToy, is there any innovation anymore? But what I think is: Sony copies Wiimote's motion sensitivity, Nintendo copies Xbox Live Arcade, and now Microsoft copies PS2's EyeToy, is there any innovation anymore?
But will they have the deleted prologue with Jamie Lee Curtis as Buckaroo's mom? And Old Biff fading out of existence in 2015? And Tron's love scene? And the original Ewok song? And the giant octopus in the cave with the pirate ship? And the old dodgy special effects where you can see the mattes shifting aroudn the flying tie fighters? And the bit where Servo and Crow save Mike's life? And the grown-up Wesley Crusher scene?
This is all absolutely true. I worked for an arcade chain for about seven years as a technician and manager, and there is almost no money in the industry anymore. Machines are expensive, parts are expensive and usually proprietary, and the game quality just doesn't justify the cost of getting into it anymore. I've always loved video games, I had access to play them for free, and still I was playing more interesting games on the lappy in my office. Even inviting friends down for an after-hours free game party now and then never took off since we all had more interesting games on our PCs, Playstations and XBoxes.
The only way to make any money in that business these days is with the extras. Just as most movie theaters can only make money on the concession stand, the only arcades that can stay alive anymore are the Chuck E. Cheese style of place with extras like rides, pizza, birthday parties and such, or your Dave and Busterses with bars and pool tables. If you're really into the public competition aspect of it, Internet cafes and "gaming centers" are popping up everywhere with PCs or XBoxes on a LAN for you. Plain vanilla arcades are all but dead.
Slashdot Mirror
And I do love that video.
"Fighting Apple on their own terms," they say? I see it as more of a "sinking to their level."
I haven't heard anything by Jesper Kyd, but many of my favorite videogame composers get the balance just right - Nobuo Uematsu's "Fianl Fantasy" work, Kurt Harland's "Soul Reaver" tunes, Hans Zimmer's "Metal Gear Solid" scores, and of course the classic Super Mario music. (Stop laughing, dammit! Who among the 8-bit generation doesn't remember how awesome it was to grab a starman and hear the invincibility theme for the first time, or didn't get even slightly spooked by the underworld music?)
What's with that.
I can see the AIM bots now.. "Hola! Click here to see me and my girlfriends have wild parties, hide from border patrols, and dodge farmers' bullets! Tee-hee! ;-)"
I think the exclusive writer thing was the idea behind PDF originally.. give away the readers for free, and rake in money on the writer, in the old disposable-razor model. But since those days, Adobe has become enough of a 900-pound-gorilla that they can let people do PDF writers for free, and appear kinder and gentler because of it, not to mention encouraging the spread of their format. I'd bet the market penetration and mindshare alone is worth far more to the company than continuing to sell the only PDF writer could be.
In order to continue to include PDF functionality, OpenOffice.Org has been forced to double the price of their product.
Just curious...
Someone's gotta seed the Matlock and Bob Hope torrents.
I think milestones were set by Sony when they built what was essentially a stripped-down PS1 into the PS2, and Nintendo with its endless chain of GB upgrades. Being able to use those towering stacks of old games on the new machine - with optional upgrades, even! - is a damn neat feature that is going to sway some of the consumers nowadays.
Good point. Something non-color-based, then, and compatible with screen-readers. Text-only, but in a test-question format rather than something captcha-like.
I never got into the series' NES incarnations, but for me "Castlevania Adventure" for the original GB was a killer app that drained many charges from that fist-sized belt-clip rechargeable attachment. Jumping was a bitch to get the hang of, though I gather that's pretty much a Castlevania thing.. apart from that, it was classic.
Why the distinction of "historical" violence? As it is, it appears they can whip up an Old-West skin for GTA, relabel it "Grand Theft Horse: OK Corral" and get away with a softer rating for essentially the same game. Heck, they could even release "Vice City" as it is, if you consider the 1980s "history."
*are batteries included?
The paradox is, if a site has one that works really well for them, other sites will want to use it as well. As other sites use similar or identical systems, it becomes exponentially more beneficial for crackers to crack. So, as soon as something's good enough to use, it becomes good enough to crack.
If I wanted to be really sadistic, I could instead present site readers with a sentence, in which they have to fill in either "their," "there," or "they're."
You mean that crazy dude I found on the streets San Diego? Or was it Seattle, Sacramento... someplace beginning with "S..."
Think of the multilayered implications of referring to something based on the chemical properties of distilled methanol and water "vaporware."
I'm still waiting patiently for the Canal Street date, when some DS lites "fall off the back of a truck" and I can haggle the distinguished proprietor down to $50.
Not if you like to do the same things as I do in stalled elevators with perfect strangers.
IANA(.se)L, but I wonder.. let's say I was using TPB's tracker to share some stuff I had full legal right to. Public Domain, Creative Commons, original material, and such. With TPB shut down, would people like me be able to file some sort of legal grudge against the Swedish police?
The relaunched site, Yahoo Serious Games Source, is now in beta testing in Australia.
Let's see: Nintendo copies Xbox Live Arcade, Sony copies Wiimote's motion sensitivity, and now Microsoft copies PS2's EyeToy, is there any innovation anymore? But what I think is: Sony copies Wiimote's motion sensitivity, Nintendo copies Xbox Live Arcade, and now Microsoft copies PS2's EyeToy, is there any innovation anymore?
But will they have the deleted prologue with Jamie Lee Curtis as Buckaroo's mom? And Old Biff fading out of existence in 2015? And Tron's love scene? And the original Ewok song? And the giant octopus in the cave with the pirate ship? And the old dodgy special effects where you can see the mattes shifting aroudn the flying tie fighters? And the bit where Servo and Crow save Mike's life? And the grown-up Wesley Crusher scene?
The only way to make any money in that business these days is with the extras. Just as most movie theaters can only make money on the concession stand, the only arcades that can stay alive anymore are the Chuck E. Cheese style of place with extras like rides, pizza, birthday parties and such, or your Dave and Busterses with bars and pool tables. If you're really into the public competition aspect of it, Internet cafes and "gaming centers" are popping up everywhere with PCs or XBoxes on a LAN for you. Plain vanilla arcades are all but dead.