I'd mod you up but i'm without points. This is a great idea, explaining "that dizzy feeling they get when they spin around" -- apply what they will experience in real life to the job. Personally, I wouldn't worry a ton about the learning part. Maybe fit it in when you can, but, they're kids afterall; let them have more fun that worry about working in some sort of mini cirriculum; not saying that you're going that far but the whole experience - for you and the children - would be better if the fun was the emphasis. They'd get to see some really cool things and if you apply real-life feelings and experiences to that same job I know they'll walk away with something remembered for the rest of their lives.
This is a slippery slope. I don't know what server she is on but in WoW i'm on Magtheridon (US), Hyjal, and Whisperwind. I don't find the chatter on any of these servers very offensive. In fact, I find the chat to be quite tame in all of those aformentioned servers. Maybe this particular individual is cursed with being on a bad server. So, please, take advantage of Blizzard's for-pay services and transfer to a different server, or complain enough and get a free transfer. Even Barrens chat on Magtheridon isn't too bad. Chuck Norris jokes and Skullflame Shield links aside...
Moderating chat in an MMO environment would undercut Blizzard's bottom line a little, and that would most likely make them raise subscription fees. I'm also of the opinion that there is a block\ignore button, and a profanity filter, as well as the ability to leave General Chat, Trade etc. Really, I think what it comes down to is that Blizzard provides the user with the necessary tools, the user just needs to take advantage of those tools. Personally, nothing interesting happens in General chat anyway. This is why I personally gravitate toward a guild. Guilds are a more moderated environment in any case; you can bring guild complaints to the GM and hopefully they're a good person and they do something about it.
This issue doesn't ultimately have a solution, though, I don't think. Not a practical easily-enacted one, at any rate. You can put band-aids on the problem, you can assign moderators up the yin yang if you want, but it's the kids attitudes that need to be changed, not the game. When you're bringing up an issue like this you shouldn't be lambasting the game and blaming Blizzard, you should probably be looking at more of a widespread problem that seems to be a serious problem in America today: Parenting, and Big Brother. Letting a game teach your kids, letting snotty potty mouthed 12 year olds that need REAL parents teach your kids, and expecting the government or some sort of regulation to fix your own lack of parenting skills is not an excuse.
Agreed. Since when was it acceptable to sell these things at such ridiculous pricepoints? People love to throw up the inflation argument, but i'm better off now then I was when the SNES, Genesis and the 64 came out, but I still managed to buy them.
I love RDM's Battlestar Galactica. It's excellent science fiction. The very best we have, I'd say. With that established however, I must make the point that I can see the series dying a horrible death due to inundation. Sure, the show is great and awesome. It's a beacon in the science fiction TV realm, but apparently it's ratings are slipping. Which sucks because its such a darn good show and i'd hate to see it go. Despite the ratings drop they've announced a spinoff series before BSG even really got its gears in motion - 'Caprica' - which is 0% science fiction and 100% drama. They've announced an MMO (or a game of some sort, at any rate) and I believe a pen-and-paper RPG? (the RPG I could be wrong on...), plus this movie.
Now granted, it's a great show, and a direct-to-DVD movie isn't really uncommon, but doesn't anybody think it's a little TOO much? Almost like SciFi, RDM and Eick are riding the marketing a little too hard? Babylon 5 was probably the most famous for direct-to-DVD movies. Most of them were not really on par with the overall quality of the show (except for In The Beginning... which was just... unbelievable.) even though they were nice little departures.
Maybe it wouldn't kill the show per-se, but it seems like they're jumping the gun a little early on this one.
I completely agree with you (well, except on the Oblivion thing, but that's a whole other can of worms)
Baldur's Gate was one of my second D&D experiences. My first was, of course, the tabletop game, played with some friends every lunch hour for awhile in high school. Sadly, we got precious little done but it was fun in its own right when we had nothing else to do. But, regardless, Baldur's Gate, Tales of the Sword Coast, Baldur's Gate II, and Throne of Bhall were a roleplaying celebration. Everything that was right and good with the genre was brought out with the Bhaalspawn saga. It was most assuredly the best RPG I have ever played hands down. Hundereds of hours of gameplay so many things to do and see, so many people to interact with. Bioware just kept raising the bar every single time they released a Baldur's Gate sequel. Everything was just done right. It's a pity that the storyline has ended.
So naturally after somebody completes the true epic that is Baldur's Gate and Bioware announced Neverwinter Nights I was like "holy crap! New engine... new story... bring it on!" But... gosh the game sucked. It was terrible. I don't really give a wooden nickle about the toolsets. They were awesome, assuredly, but when you buy a game you buy it for the campaign and the game itself not for the toolset. At least I do, anyways. The nerfed party system was disappointing. The plot and combat was terrible. I took the plunge with Neverwinter Nights 2 - $60 gone down the drain. I can't play the game. It's just too terrible to even consider looking at.
Whatever happened to the epics? The true RPG experiences that defined a game like Baldur's Gate? I took so many good memories away from playing Baldur's Gate. The game really grabbed you by the collar when it came the story. You really really hated Sarevok, and you really really hated Irenicus and then when Sarevok comes back and he's in your party you were like "holy crap this is awesome!"
I suppose we won't see another D&D RPG with that much soul for awhile.
I'm pretty much agreeing with everyone here. What's the pull? Gamers have always been notoriously well-connected to each other. Those who aren't really "gamers" get connected if they need to get connected. If they don't know how they have geek\nerd friends that know everything that can get them hooked up. Gamers have Ventrillo, Teamspeak, World of WarCraft in-game chat, guild forums on their own individual websites - if you can't get your own domain you can get a free PHP board or something akin to it. There's sites out there that offer guild's mini-sites for free with some limited functionality, and if you want in-game instant messaging with people that aren't playing the game at the moment you've got xFire. Where is this going? Nowhere fast, I think. Gamer's already have enough ways to chat with each other and we're more or less immune to game-based social networking since we are already embroiled in a gigantic network in and of itself.
What in the heck are people's beef with FMVs?
I hate this seriously negative FMV approach that is by and large a product of ADD gamers and developers like David Jaffe that's overtaking this industry. Granted, yes, if you're going to have a cutscene make it *always* skippable for those who have ADD, or those of us who've completed the game, or whathaveyou, but I seen nothing wrong with sweet Blizzard Cinematics Team-Quality cinematic sequences that advance the story and provide some eye-candy.
Personally if its anything its in-game cinematics that drive me up the wall. Nothing like watching one poor-quality, poorly textured and poly-reduced model talking and emotionally acting to another poor-quality, poorly textured, poly-reduced model: That really gets my beans hoppin'. There's nothing wrong with FMVs, CGI Cinematics.. whatever you wanna call them. Let them stay, make more of them, but make them skippable for those who don't like it. But, for those like me, I'll keep salivating and getting goosebumps everytime I watch a cinematic sequence from StarCraft, WarCraft, or Command & Conquer, just because its damn cool. Some of the coolest moments in videogame history were FMVs; In the WarCraft III preview you got excited when you seen the Infernal crawl out of its hole and get ready to kick ass and take names; and the Footman and the Orc that decided to put down their hatred of each other and try to take on the Infernal. In StarCraft's "Battle on the Amerigo" cinematic, people who liked StarCraft got excited to see their first Terran vs Zerg battle in full motion high quality cinematics, same with the intro to Brood War. Seeing all of those units rendered in full high polys and seeing them actually interact realistically with their world. Same goes for games like C&C. Granted, Tiberian Sun wasn't an AMAZING RTS but when Kane comes on the screen at the Philledelphia, that was a cool moment in FMV game history. Nothing wrong with stuff like that. But if I remember correctly, they were all skippable.
Can't forget Blur Studios' intro to Dawn of War; too bad they didn't do something similar for Dark Crusade or something; their Company of Heroes intro that they were working on that supposidly prevented them from making a Winter Assault intro was quite poor, IMHO.
So with all of these stories going about of people using videogames to train, making us nerds killers... how come we aren't signing these kids up for the military involuntarily? Granted they're all from different countries but I would assume that by getting a large multi-national military force consisting of X'Ds-Grrrr..., SlayerS `BoxeR', [NC]...YellOw, Garimto. These top-dollar commanders would organize and lead this task force with the best strategies and lead us to complete and total victory. Meanwhile, "Team 3D" could form an elite Navy SEAL squad that would eliminate all opposition with insane reflects and perfect KDR.
Putting things in a real perspective makes it sounds a heck of a lot more ridiculous than any of these articles.
...We'll have World of WarCraft Liesure Edition, World of WarCraft Hardcore Gold Farmer Edition, and World of WarCraft "Dormant Gamer" Edition.What in the sweet hell is "Dormant Gamer?" Is that like coming out of the closet?
I live in a little "city" called Charlottetown on the eastern coast of Canada. It's the capital of my province and largest population centre on the island. Including the "Greater Charlottetown" area the population is probably somewhere between 65 000 - 70 000 people. About a year ago a gaming cafe opened it's doors downtown named AdrenaLAN. Originally, I was curious to if the business could survive. The city is a small place, and I didn't think that there existed enough of a demand for it. The owner opened up with something like 10 top-end PCs (not sure how much they cost, however). Obviously being a new place business was slow at first. I'd pop in from time to time and often be the only person there, or there'd only be 2 or 3 PCs in use. That was about 10 or 11 months ago. It was just a dark little upstairs-commercial-space area with poor AC and poor lighting.
Fast forward 1 year and now he's expanded a little. I think he has something along the lines of 18 or 19 PCs. The place is usually packed depending on what time of day you come in at. People have to call ahead and find out from the owner if there's spots open within the next little while and get a spot reserved for themselves (well, I do, anyways). He's the only BAWLS vendor in the area and kids walk in just to buy in. He's got a brand new AC unit that keeps the place nice and cool and as far as I know he's expanding things a little more with some more PCs. He allows the place to be booked for all-nighters, and the poor guy often gets back-to-back all-nighters booked on a weekend.
Now granted, I don't have raw financial data for you to explain how good he's doing, and despite being a regular and friends with him I've never been so forward as to ask him how he's doing financially. He's got ads going on the radio and in papers and had an article done on the place in a few different papers I think. Considering the activity though, and the buzz that surrounds the place I can't say he's hurting too bad in the business side of things, I could be wrong, though. "AG" - as the place is dubbed - seems to be the place to go for anybody that has a computer around these parts.
He's the only business in the area, though. Well, there's one down the street but it's shady, dirty and hardly respectable. There is no competition for him, but it's also a virgin market that was a pretty big gamble considering the population and the interests of the teens in the city. When new games are released and added he has showcases for him, he has centre-sponsored tournaments and centre-sponsored all-nighters (as opposed to the personally booked ones) and offers deals (like 3 hours for the price of 2) during the week days (Mon-Thur). When I first walked in I thought it was a great idea, but I didn't think it would have legs, mainly due to the population and the attitude of the kids, but it's quite a good place - very respectable and very clean, and the owner's good with the older folk and the youngin's that come in. Definitely a place I'd let my kids hang out if I were a father and they were of the age.
So, as a third-party viewing the business, I'd say it's doing pretty good.
Peter and Fran changed some things. Some of them were small. Some of them were so big that they stood in the face of lunacy. But the fact remains that the Lord of the Rings trilogy movies were a near-perfect adaption, and a celebration of the Greatest Book of All Time. If they can channel that into Halo, I think it will be a great movie.
If I had mod points I would mod this underrated. Why is it flamebait? Honestly, nobody does care. Of course, the point should have been explained. Analysts and industry insiders keep sounding the deathknell for the gaming industry year after year after year. A month or two ago it was like "oh! The jigg is up! Nobody can invent anymore we're all gonna crash like its the year 2000!" Every single time the industry does a slingshot and comes back again. Not that i'm saying the industry doesn't need to innovate ever because it'll always bounce back, but this constant bimonthly ringing of the gong to signal the end of days, only to have stocks and profits surge the next week or month is getting to be old news.
Why is this modded insightful?
It's a god damn [b]news[/b] site. Sorry it doesn't pertain to your particular interests for one fracking news post. Posting an article that some people may read is perfectly acceptable. No need to get your damned knickers in a knot.
Kind of tired of the "PS3 costs $600, but a real computer would cost $1500! Sure it does more, but its $1500!" Truth of the matter (I believe, anyways) is that upper-eschelon computer-gaming (i.e.: The $1200-$2000 system range) is a hobby, not just 'entertainment.' People stay on the cutting edge of computer graphics and computer technology as a hobby because they love the speed and the hardware, and they love installing the stuff. I'm in that boat. Most people are just fine buying a $500-$600 computer that may not be a beast, but can run 90% of modern-day games and survive. But it still costs the same as a PS3, and still does more.
You're describing the actions that drive the game, not the story. By comparison Zork is "Type type. Read. Type type. Read read read read read read read." Diablo 2 doesn't have the most absolute in depth story ever, but if you follow from Diablo 1 all the way through and make sure to pick up on the little tomes that sit around the world and read into things - as well as read into the backstory - there's actually a cool semi-beefy mythos short of generic evil demons from hell.
Speaking of Story. Baldur's Gate.
My god, what a beautiful game.
It will never be matched. Neverwinter Nights is a joke in comparison.
It seems there's been a massive brain-drain from every other place other than the WoW "division." Luminaries such as Bill Roper have parted with the company and hordes of other core StarCraft team members with him to different companies. I wonder if Blizzard is delaying StarCraft more because they know they can't top it. Ending the "Game that Shaped A Culture" (S. Koreans) on a bad note would be a huge embarassment, and a gaming tragedy unlike any other.
Parents have the right to rely on the accuracy of the entertainment rating system
I think that's a statement that could be construed as a victory for the ESRB, reinforcing that it wasn't the ESRBs fault that T2\RockStar didn't disclose the information. I think it's a good statement.
Original Xbox owner's favorite next-gen console is the 360?!
PS2 owner's favorite next-gen console is the PS3 and they love the PSP?!
Gamecube owners *need* the WII and watch preteen television!?
What are the chances!
Just kidding about the Smallville thing, but I think it would be pretty obvious that people who own the current generation of any of the above console iterations would be revenously expecting it's next-gen counterpart.
I think gamers from the older school of thinking will have a major negative reaction to this kind of thing. For me (even though i'm not "old", but i've been playing games long enough to remember freeware\shareware) paying for something like this is laughable. Perhaps to a newer generation of gamers it may be something worth considering - regardless of the value per dollar. For me, paying for content outside of a full-blown expansion pack for a game is ridiculous. Stuff like that should be free for download, But as I've said for others - maybe some of a newer breed - pay-for-content that is *worth* it may not be such a bad idea.
Hm. I don't think you get the point. I believe the whole thing is saying that XBL has reached 10m downloads faster than iTunes reached 10m. Does not necessarily mean that XBL is more popular iTunes, or vice-versa, but the growth rate is currently higher than iTunes was at it's particular stage of life.
Slashdot Mirror
Words can't describe how much I've enjoyed B5 over the years and wished for more.
I'd mod you up but i'm without points. This is a great idea, explaining "that dizzy feeling they get when they spin around" -- apply what they will experience in real life to the job. Personally, I wouldn't worry a ton about the learning part. Maybe fit it in when you can, but, they're kids afterall; let them have more fun that worry about working in some sort of mini cirriculum; not saying that you're going that far but the whole experience - for you and the children - would be better if the fun was the emphasis. They'd get to see some really cool things and if you apply real-life feelings and experiences to that same job I know they'll walk away with something remembered for the rest of their lives.
This is a slippery slope. I don't know what server she is on but in WoW i'm on Magtheridon (US), Hyjal, and Whisperwind. I don't find the chatter on any of these servers very offensive. In fact, I find the chat to be quite tame in all of those aformentioned servers. Maybe this particular individual is cursed with being on a bad server. So, please, take advantage of Blizzard's for-pay services and transfer to a different server, or complain enough and get a free transfer. Even Barrens chat on Magtheridon isn't too bad. Chuck Norris jokes and Skullflame Shield links aside...
Moderating chat in an MMO environment would undercut Blizzard's bottom line a little, and that would most likely make them raise subscription fees. I'm also of the opinion that there is a block\ignore button, and a profanity filter, as well as the ability to leave General Chat, Trade etc. Really, I think what it comes down to is that Blizzard provides the user with the necessary tools, the user just needs to take advantage of those tools. Personally, nothing interesting happens in General chat anyway. This is why I personally gravitate toward a guild. Guilds are a more moderated environment in any case; you can bring guild complaints to the GM and hopefully they're a good person and they do something about it.
This issue doesn't ultimately have a solution, though, I don't think. Not a practical easily-enacted one, at any rate. You can put band-aids on the problem, you can assign moderators up the yin yang if you want, but it's the kids attitudes that need to be changed, not the game. When you're bringing up an issue like this you shouldn't be lambasting the game and blaming Blizzard, you should probably be looking at more of a widespread problem that seems to be a serious problem in America today: Parenting, and Big Brother. Letting a game teach your kids, letting snotty potty mouthed 12 year olds that need REAL parents teach your kids, and expecting the government or some sort of regulation to fix your own lack of parenting skills is not an excuse.
Agreed. Since when was it acceptable to sell these things at such ridiculous pricepoints? People love to throw up the inflation argument, but i'm better off now then I was when the SNES, Genesis and the 64 came out, but I still managed to buy them.
I love RDM's Battlestar Galactica. It's excellent science fiction. The very best we have, I'd say. With that established however, I must make the point that I can see the series dying a horrible death due to inundation. Sure, the show is great and awesome. It's a beacon in the science fiction TV realm, but apparently it's ratings are slipping. Which sucks because its such a darn good show and i'd hate to see it go. Despite the ratings drop they've announced a spinoff series before BSG even really got its gears in motion - 'Caprica' - which is 0% science fiction and 100% drama. They've announced an MMO (or a game of some sort, at any rate) and I believe a pen-and-paper RPG? (the RPG I could be wrong on...), plus this movie.
Now granted, it's a great show, and a direct-to-DVD movie isn't really uncommon, but doesn't anybody think it's a little TOO much? Almost like SciFi, RDM and Eick are riding the marketing a little too hard? Babylon 5 was probably the most famous for direct-to-DVD movies. Most of them were not really on par with the overall quality of the show (except for In The Beginning... which was just... unbelievable.) even though they were nice little departures.
Maybe it wouldn't kill the show per-se, but it seems like they're jumping the gun a little early on this one.
Baldur's Gate was one of my second D&D experiences. My first was, of course, the tabletop game, played with some friends every lunch hour for awhile in high school. Sadly, we got precious little done but it was fun in its own right when we had nothing else to do. But, regardless, Baldur's Gate, Tales of the Sword Coast, Baldur's Gate II, and Throne of Bhall were a roleplaying celebration. Everything that was right and good with the genre was brought out with the Bhaalspawn saga. It was most assuredly the best RPG I have ever played hands down. Hundereds of hours of gameplay so many things to do and see, so many people to interact with. Bioware just kept raising the bar every single time they released a Baldur's Gate sequel. Everything was just done right. It's a pity that the storyline has ended.
So naturally after somebody completes the true epic that is Baldur's Gate and Bioware announced Neverwinter Nights I was like "holy crap! New engine... new story... bring it on!" But... gosh the game sucked. It was terrible. I don't really give a wooden nickle about the toolsets. They were awesome, assuredly, but when you buy a game you buy it for the campaign and the game itself not for the toolset. At least I do, anyways. The nerfed party system was disappointing. The plot and combat was terrible. I took the plunge with Neverwinter Nights 2 - $60 gone down the drain. I can't play the game. It's just too terrible to even consider looking at.
Whatever happened to the epics? The true RPG experiences that defined a game like Baldur's Gate? I took so many good memories away from playing Baldur's Gate. The game really grabbed you by the collar when it came the story. You really really hated Sarevok, and you really really hated Irenicus and then when Sarevok comes back and he's in your party you were like "holy crap this is awesome!"
I suppose we won't see another D&D RPG with that much soul for awhile.
I'm pretty much agreeing with everyone here. What's the pull? Gamers have always been notoriously well-connected to each other. Those who aren't really "gamers" get connected if they need to get connected. If they don't know how they have geek\nerd friends that know everything that can get them hooked up. Gamers have Ventrillo, Teamspeak, World of WarCraft in-game chat, guild forums on their own individual websites - if you can't get your own domain you can get a free PHP board or something akin to it. There's sites out there that offer guild's mini-sites for free with some limited functionality, and if you want in-game instant messaging with people that aren't playing the game at the moment you've got xFire. Where is this going? Nowhere fast, I think. Gamer's already have enough ways to chat with each other and we're more or less immune to game-based social networking since we are already embroiled in a gigantic network in and of itself.
What in the heck are people's beef with FMVs?
I hate this seriously negative FMV approach that is by and large a product of ADD gamers and developers like David Jaffe that's overtaking this industry. Granted, yes, if you're going to have a cutscene make it *always* skippable for those who have ADD, or those of us who've completed the game, or whathaveyou, but I seen nothing wrong with sweet Blizzard Cinematics Team-Quality cinematic sequences that advance the story and provide some eye-candy.
Personally if its anything its in-game cinematics that drive me up the wall. Nothing like watching one poor-quality, poorly textured and poly-reduced model talking and emotionally acting to another poor-quality, poorly textured, poly-reduced model: That really gets my beans hoppin'. There's nothing wrong with FMVs, CGI Cinematics.. whatever you wanna call them. Let them stay, make more of them, but make them skippable for those who don't like it. But, for those like me, I'll keep salivating and getting goosebumps everytime I watch a cinematic sequence from StarCraft, WarCraft, or Command & Conquer, just because its damn cool. Some of the coolest moments in videogame history were FMVs; In the WarCraft III preview you got excited when you seen the Infernal crawl out of its hole and get ready to kick ass and take names; and the Footman and the Orc that decided to put down their hatred of each other and try to take on the Infernal. In StarCraft's "Battle on the Amerigo" cinematic, people who liked StarCraft got excited to see their first Terran vs Zerg battle in full motion high quality cinematics, same with the intro to Brood War. Seeing all of those units rendered in full high polys and seeing them actually interact realistically with their world. Same goes for games like C&C. Granted, Tiberian Sun wasn't an AMAZING RTS but when Kane comes on the screen at the Philledelphia, that was a cool moment in FMV game history. Nothing wrong with stuff like that. But if I remember correctly, they were all skippable.
Can't forget Blur Studios' intro to Dawn of War; too bad they didn't do something similar for Dark Crusade or something; their Company of Heroes intro that they were working on that supposidly prevented them from making a Winter Assault intro was quite poor, IMHO.
So with all of these stories going about of people using videogames to train, making us nerds killers... how come we aren't signing these kids up for the military involuntarily?
Granted they're all from different countries but I would assume that by getting a large multi-national military force consisting of X'Ds-Grrrr..., SlayerS `BoxeR', [NC]...YellOw, Garimto. These top-dollar commanders would organize and lead this task force with the best strategies and lead us to complete and total victory. Meanwhile, "Team 3D" could form an elite Navy SEAL squad that would eliminate all opposition with insane reflects and perfect KDR.
Putting things in a real perspective makes it sounds a heck of a lot more ridiculous than any of these articles.
...We'll have World of WarCraft Liesure Edition, World of WarCraft Hardcore Gold Farmer Edition, and World of WarCraft "Dormant Gamer" Edition.What in the sweet hell is "Dormant Gamer?" Is that like coming out of the closet?
I live in a little "city" called Charlottetown on the eastern coast of Canada. It's the capital of my province and largest population centre on the island. Including the "Greater Charlottetown" area the population is probably somewhere between 65 000 - 70 000 people. About a year ago a gaming cafe opened it's doors downtown named AdrenaLAN. Originally, I was curious to if the business could survive. The city is a small place, and I didn't think that there existed enough of a demand for it. The owner opened up with something like 10 top-end PCs (not sure how much they cost, however). Obviously being a new place business was slow at first. I'd pop in from time to time and often be the only person there, or there'd only be 2 or 3 PCs in use. That was about 10 or 11 months ago. It was just a dark little upstairs-commercial-space area with poor AC and poor lighting. Fast forward 1 year and now he's expanded a little. I think he has something along the lines of 18 or 19 PCs. The place is usually packed depending on what time of day you come in at. People have to call ahead and find out from the owner if there's spots open within the next little while and get a spot reserved for themselves (well, I do, anyways). He's the only BAWLS vendor in the area and kids walk in just to buy in. He's got a brand new AC unit that keeps the place nice and cool and as far as I know he's expanding things a little more with some more PCs. He allows the place to be booked for all-nighters, and the poor guy often gets back-to-back all-nighters booked on a weekend. Now granted, I don't have raw financial data for you to explain how good he's doing, and despite being a regular and friends with him I've never been so forward as to ask him how he's doing financially. He's got ads going on the radio and in papers and had an article done on the place in a few different papers I think. Considering the activity though, and the buzz that surrounds the place I can't say he's hurting too bad in the business side of things, I could be wrong, though. "AG" - as the place is dubbed - seems to be the place to go for anybody that has a computer around these parts. He's the only business in the area, though. Well, there's one down the street but it's shady, dirty and hardly respectable. There is no competition for him, but it's also a virgin market that was a pretty big gamble considering the population and the interests of the teens in the city. When new games are released and added he has showcases for him, he has centre-sponsored tournaments and centre-sponsored all-nighters (as opposed to the personally booked ones) and offers deals (like 3 hours for the price of 2) during the week days (Mon-Thur). When I first walked in I thought it was a great idea, but I didn't think it would have legs, mainly due to the population and the attitude of the kids, but it's quite a good place - very respectable and very clean, and the owner's good with the older folk and the youngin's that come in. Definitely a place I'd let my kids hang out if I were a father and they were of the age. So, as a third-party viewing the business, I'd say it's doing pretty good.
Peter and Fran changed some things. Some of them were small. Some of them were so big that they stood in the face of lunacy. But the fact remains that the Lord of the Rings trilogy movies were a near-perfect adaption, and a celebration of the Greatest Book of All Time. If they can channel that into Halo, I think it will be a great movie.
If I had mod points I would mod this underrated. Why is it flamebait? Honestly, nobody does care. Of course, the point should have been explained. Analysts and industry insiders keep sounding the deathknell for the gaming industry year after year after year. A month or two ago it was like "oh! The jigg is up! Nobody can invent anymore we're all gonna crash like its the year 2000!" Every single time the industry does a slingshot and comes back again. Not that i'm saying the industry doesn't need to innovate ever because it'll always bounce back, but this constant bimonthly ringing of the gong to signal the end of days, only to have stocks and profits surge the next week or month is getting to be old news.
Why is this modded insightful? It's a god damn [b]news[/b] site. Sorry it doesn't pertain to your particular interests for one fracking news post. Posting an article that some people may read is perfectly acceptable. No need to get your damned knickers in a knot.
Kind of tired of the "PS3 costs $600, but a real computer would cost $1500! Sure it does more, but its $1500!" Truth of the matter (I believe, anyways) is that upper-eschelon computer-gaming (i.e.: The $1200-$2000 system range) is a hobby, not just 'entertainment.' People stay on the cutting edge of computer graphics and computer technology as a hobby because they love the speed and the hardware, and they love installing the stuff. I'm in that boat. Most people are just fine buying a $500-$600 computer that may not be a beast, but can run 90% of modern-day games and survive. But it still costs the same as a PS3, and still does more.
You're describing the actions that drive the game, not the story. By comparison Zork is "Type type. Read. Type type. Read read read read read read read." Diablo 2 doesn't have the most absolute in depth story ever, but if you follow from Diablo 1 all the way through and make sure to pick up on the little tomes that sit around the world and read into things - as well as read into the backstory - there's actually a cool semi-beefy mythos short of generic evil demons from hell. Speaking of Story. Baldur's Gate. My god, what a beautiful game. It will never be matched. Neverwinter Nights is a joke in comparison.
Why is this modded offtopic? It's perfectly relevant. Somebody not reading context while meta-modding?
It seems there's been a massive brain-drain from every other place other than the WoW "division." Luminaries such as Bill Roper have parted with the company and hordes of other core StarCraft team members with him to different companies. I wonder if Blizzard is delaying StarCraft more because they know they can't top it. Ending the "Game that Shaped A Culture" (S. Koreans) on a bad note would be a huge embarassment, and a gaming tragedy unlike any other.
...I was expecting a nice PC setup and hardware tips, but I see its unfortunately aimed heavily towards superfluous things to add to your console.
Original Xbox owner's favorite next-gen console is the 360?! PS2 owner's favorite next-gen console is the PS3 and they love the PSP?! Gamecube owners *need* the WII and watch preteen television!? What are the chances! Just kidding about the Smallville thing, but I think it would be pretty obvious that people who own the current generation of any of the above console iterations would be revenously expecting it's next-gen counterpart.
Take off every zig* move zig!
I think gamers from the older school of thinking will have a major negative reaction to this kind of thing. For me (even though i'm not "old", but i've been playing games long enough to remember freeware\shareware) paying for something like this is laughable. Perhaps to a newer generation of gamers it may be something worth considering - regardless of the value per dollar. For me, paying for content outside of a full-blown expansion pack for a game is ridiculous. Stuff like that should be free for download, But as I've said for others - maybe some of a newer breed - pay-for-content that is *worth* it may not be such a bad idea.
Hands-down the best RPG and RPG series ever created.
Hm. I don't think you get the point. I believe the whole thing is saying that XBL has reached 10m downloads faster than iTunes reached 10m. Does not necessarily mean that XBL is more popular iTunes, or vice-versa, but the growth rate is currently higher than iTunes was at it's particular stage of life.