In regards to the parent, If you think that Neverwinter Nights was a quality single-player experience, then I would be inclined to say that Sid's statement is indeed overtly correct, and the last few years have indeed been dismal. IMHO Neverwinter Nights probably represents the biggest failing in Bioware's great RPG career. The last truly great, epic single-player game i've played was Baldur's Gate (in reference to the entire series, not just the original). Then again, I must admit I was among those truly frothing at the mouth at the thought of realizing my 2D papier-mache Baldur's Gate 2: ToB in glorious 3D, and then being swiftly smacked atop the head and reduced to such a bad character creation schema.
The desktop will only evolve. Eventually, of course, it may evolve to the point where it's no longer recognizable for its original form but I don't believe anything will dethrone the computer in its functionality and its versatility, despite how many can-do-great-things devices will be made. Hybrids will be made, and very niche-devices will be tailored to this-executive, and that-mother-of-four but I can't see anything just up and throwing the desktop computer way from being the central system to which all of these crazy devices are linked.
A lot of people could argue quite strongly that gaming is far from "going away from the desktop." In fact, at least for me, and notably millions of others as well (I would assume), it's the ONLY way to game. I firmly believe that. Gaming isn't going anywhere fast. Gaming is leaving the PC, and gaming is leaving the console. I live in a household with two xboxes, a cube, a ps2, a DS and PSP, and 1 computer (soon-to-be 2) and all are viable gaming platforms. It's definitely a natural human thought device to latch onto an individual concept and have it bleed through your thoughts until it's the proverbial "last man standing." But for me, although I like the occasional dosage of Halo 2 and KOTOR II, I can't pull myself away from the desktop. It puts me in contact with friends, family, chat, media, news, games, and too much others. Desktop's are the backbone of the world today.
Maybe i'm just behind on the times but I can't see myself playing games EXCLUSIVELY on my television. I can't see myself switching my email to some crappy 1.2" LCD screen on a mobile phone that has a service provider that's charging me up the butt for emails and text messaging. But hey, that's just me. For me, PCs are a hobby and a lifestyle. Despite all the griping and the groaning about this OS and that OS, and how much it costs to upkeep this computer to be top-of-the-line, or near it, I still love doing it, and I'll keep doing it until I can't anymore. I know a lot of other folks will as well.
... How come *every single* time a company launches a competitor to an already existing product line the first line, or the subject, of the news post reads "XLARGECOMPANYHEREX replacing\usurping\destroying\ YLARGECOMPANY'SPRODUCTY"?
Is Australia a little behind in the times? STEAM has been doing this for quite a bit now. The tone I got from the article made me think that this was some sort of INTENTIONAL bypass and it was absolutely proposterous. It's like the Austrailian government is *purposefully* out to get this company, and stomp this game into oblivion.
I highly doubt that a country like China - with the possibility and skill that (not to seem *positively* racist) asian people seem to have in their studies and grasp of technology - would feel the burn of loosing Google or any other company for that matter before they make their own replacement. I think they're making the mistake of assuming the country NEEDS Google, not that Google needs the country (and I don't just mean this in direct relation to China, i mean it in a more broad terminology... any country besides China for that matter.) I can understand some of the reasoning behind it in a very roundabout way, but it's still a very draconic bill. It's the implications behind the thing.
I'm 19 now, on the cusp of being an adult (more or less). I grew up with ESRB, and I think they've done a great job. I don't think this peddling from another opponent needs to be even payed attention to. The gamers, the industry as a whole, and educated peoples in the public stand behind ESRB. Granted, my parents have not been involved in actively monitoring what games I play, but since I grew up with the ESRB ratings system, whenever I make little ones of my own I'll know what to look for. It's all about being educated, and it's about being apart of your child's lives, and not letting them play GTA: SA at the age of 6. But heck, when I was 5 we didn't have any fandangled open environments. But we did have Descent. Damn good game.
The ESRB's credibility has nothing to do with Hot Coffee. In fact, I'm totally floored by the fuss that Hot Coffee has caused. It's not that big of a deal. It had to be hacked to be even remotely viewable. An article posted on Slashdot awhile ago made Hot Coffee to be the biggest industry blunder in our history, but I think it's more of the biggest over-statement in the history of our industry.
...but of course, the army is aloud to peddle America's Army as a recruiting tool. Granted that all officers of the law are (in a perfect world) examples of law and order and are respected (mostly) in the community, but people die everywhere all of the time. Death is a reality in a world such as ours. That doesn't justify violence, but it doesn't exclude games from being made because they're violent. I wonder how many officers have clothing that kids died trying to make in a sweatshop? It's just selective discrmination in a country who's media has whipped and thrashed the public on into an anti-gaming frenzy.
Just because you're shooting 15 000 polygons on a screen doesn't mean you're a cop killer. I respect the police, but I bust a good number of Counter-Terrorists everyday playing CSS. I guess by that logic I'm a cop-killer AND I hate mexicans (if you could call the new T models mexicans... No offence meant to anybody of that descent.)
Heck. I don't even LIKE the concept or the incessantly annoying ads for the game. I'll never play it. It looks more or less ridiculous, but It's the principle of the thing.
To issue a broad-sweeping statement that all cut-scenes "suck" is well... for lack of a better phrase right now... garbage. CGIs are a dying breed that i'm a fan of. Hating CGIs, I believe, is just a byproduct of twitch-gamers. I don't find that cinematics take away from the game if they're well done, so to issue a general statement saying that they ALL suck is absolutely ridiculous. I appreciate them if they're done well. Like most, I hate them if they do in fact "suck." But there's no way you'll get me to believe that you've sat down and watched the introductory cinematic to WarHammer 40000: Dawn of War, or any of the Blizzard Cinematics team's CGI's from WarCraft I to the WoW Intro and not walked away absolutely SCREAMING for more. Just to name a few, Dawn of War, StarCraft & Brood War, WarCraft (I, II & III), Diablo (I, II, and LoD), Command & Conquer (every single game in the series), Armies of Exigo intro, Any of the Armored Core series of games... any of those cinematics are all wonderfully done.
Personally, I'm not a fan of game-rendered cinematics, but, I'm a huge lover of a well done CG sequence.
Perhaps it's just me, but considering the depth and the deep-rooted history of the videogame industry writing an article that seems to try and make a widesweeping comment on the explosion of video games that covers only one or two 'major' games seems a little dry. Maybe they should rename the article dealing more with the promotion of a recruiting tool. I can understand with what the writer of the article is trying to get at, but it needs to be a little bit more researched, with a greater except from 'the industry', unless i'm missing something big (which is entirely possible.)
I don't quite understand how a mouse existing or not existing effects the design of a console RTS, unless you're considering implementing PnP mouse for the 360 in the coding? You're designing it for a controller, so exactly how would a mouse factor into any of this? Same with the genre of RTS in general. If you're imagining the genre never existed, then you're essentially just *recreating* the genre in ignorance?
I love how they say "What made Lord of the Rings a great series of films was just as much about the actual human actors, the sense of heroism, as much as it was a spectacle of graphics and fantasy and all, and it all came from the literature". Like the books never existed, I suppose.
And what, exactly, is wrong with discussion and speculation? The article gives some information, anyways, so its not a total crapshot. It's a slow news day, anyways.
At the end of the day, we don't play games for social interaction... We play games to escape.' Microsoft's strategy is 'absolutely flawed,' he added."
That's such a broad overreaching statement, and Microsoft or not, calling their strategy absolutely flawed is absolutely flawed in itself. People play games to both escape and to be social. In a warped and disconnected sense people playing online games are more or less more social than others who don't (though, that could be refuted). Playing on a 32-player Counter-Strike server, or a 64-player Battlefield 2 server, there's all of that possibility for social interaction with other humans. The quality of which I'm sure could be disputed, but it's interaction simple enough.
Just think of all the 60s sitting in Orgrimmar because there's not enough people for an UBRS run. Hah.
...the iPod will play any standard MP3, and WMA file that isn't encrypted (well, 'play', in the sense that iTunes will convert it). The other funny thing is, Napster does the whole WMA DRM crap, which *can't* go onto the ipod, because iTunes (assuming you use it, which most iPod users do - at least any of the thousands of people that i talk to in the run of a month) can't convert Mr. Gorog's encrypted WMA files. So who exactly is locking in\out who?
News stories like this are laughable and completely implausible. The two can co-exist. Just because a bunch of college students that've never seen a computer or a console in their lives are picking up an xbox, a ps2, or a gamecube to play the latest games in the lull between classess doesn't mean that PC gaming is dying.
Subsequently, just because top-quality graphics on a PC can blow anything in the console arena out of the water, and games have so much more interactivity and ability than consoles doesn't mean that console gaming is dying.
Personally, I think consoles are going to eventually get to a point where they're not going to be consoles anymore. In order to out-do each other with features, Microsoft and Sony are pushing the console industry more towards being mini-computers without the functionality that a full desktop system has. But that's just my opinion.
Slashdot Mirror
Nice opinion, but how many *millions* is it now that would tend to disagree with you?
In regards to the parent, If you think that Neverwinter Nights was a quality single-player experience, then I would be inclined to say that Sid's statement is indeed overtly correct, and the last few years have indeed been dismal. IMHO Neverwinter Nights probably represents the biggest failing in Bioware's great RPG career. The last truly great, epic single-player game i've played was Baldur's Gate (in reference to the entire series, not just the original). Then again, I must admit I was among those truly frothing at the mouth at the thought of realizing my 2D papier-mache Baldur's Gate 2: ToB in glorious 3D, and then being swiftly smacked atop the head and reduced to such a bad character creation schema.
The desktop will only evolve. Eventually, of course, it may evolve to the point where it's no longer recognizable for its original form but I don't believe anything will dethrone the computer in its functionality and its versatility, despite how many can-do-great-things devices will be made. Hybrids will be made, and very niche-devices will be tailored to this-executive, and that-mother-of-four but I can't see anything just up and throwing the desktop computer way from being the central system to which all of these crazy devices are linked. A lot of people could argue quite strongly that gaming is far from "going away from the desktop." In fact, at least for me, and notably millions of others as well (I would assume), it's the ONLY way to game. I firmly believe that. Gaming isn't going anywhere fast. Gaming is leaving the PC, and gaming is leaving the console. I live in a household with two xboxes, a cube, a ps2, a DS and PSP, and 1 computer (soon-to-be 2) and all are viable gaming platforms. It's definitely a natural human thought device to latch onto an individual concept and have it bleed through your thoughts until it's the proverbial "last man standing." But for me, although I like the occasional dosage of Halo 2 and KOTOR II, I can't pull myself away from the desktop. It puts me in contact with friends, family, chat, media, news, games, and too much others. Desktop's are the backbone of the world today. Maybe i'm just behind on the times but I can't see myself playing games EXCLUSIVELY on my television. I can't see myself switching my email to some crappy 1.2" LCD screen on a mobile phone that has a service provider that's charging me up the butt for emails and text messaging. But hey, that's just me. For me, PCs are a hobby and a lifestyle. Despite all the griping and the groaning about this OS and that OS, and how much it costs to upkeep this computer to be top-of-the-line, or near it, I still love doing it, and I'll keep doing it until I can't anymore. I know a lot of other folks will as well.
... Talking to other people is socializing! The shocking story tonight on News at 6.
... How come *every single* time a company launches a competitor to an already existing product line the first line, or the subject, of the news post reads "XLARGECOMPANYHEREX replacing\usurping\destroying\ YLARGECOMPANY'SPRODUCTY"?
Is Australia a little behind in the times? STEAM has been doing this for quite a bit now. The tone I got from the article made me think that this was some sort of INTENTIONAL bypass and it was absolutely proposterous. It's like the Austrailian government is *purposefully* out to get this company, and stomp this game into oblivion.
I highly doubt that a country like China - with the possibility and skill that (not to seem *positively* racist) asian people seem to have in their studies and grasp of technology - would feel the burn of loosing Google or any other company for that matter before they make their own replacement. I think they're making the mistake of assuming the country NEEDS Google, not that Google needs the country (and I don't just mean this in direct relation to China, i mean it in a more broad terminology... any country besides China for that matter.) I can understand some of the reasoning behind it in a very roundabout way, but it's still a very draconic bill. It's the implications behind the thing.
I'm 19 now, on the cusp of being an adult (more or less). I grew up with ESRB, and I think they've done a great job. I don't think this peddling from another opponent needs to be even payed attention to. The gamers, the industry as a whole, and educated peoples in the public stand behind ESRB. Granted, my parents have not been involved in actively monitoring what games I play, but since I grew up with the ESRB ratings system, whenever I make little ones of my own I'll know what to look for. It's all about being educated, and it's about being apart of your child's lives, and not letting them play GTA: SA at the age of 6. But heck, when I was 5 we didn't have any fandangled open environments. But we did have Descent. Damn good game.
The ESRB's credibility has nothing to do with Hot Coffee. In fact, I'm totally floored by the fuss that Hot Coffee has caused. It's not that big of a deal. It had to be hacked to be even remotely viewable. An article posted on Slashdot awhile ago made Hot Coffee to be the biggest industry blunder in our history, but I think it's more of the biggest over-statement in the history of our industry.
'cept Legolas isn't a ranger :\ /nerd
Just because you're shooting 15 000 polygons on a screen doesn't mean you're a cop killer. I respect the police, but I bust a good number of Counter-Terrorists everyday playing CSS. I guess by that logic I'm a cop-killer AND I hate mexicans (if you could call the new T models mexicans... No offence meant to anybody of that descent.)
Heck. I don't even LIKE the concept or the incessantly annoying ads for the game. I'll never play it. It looks more or less ridiculous, but It's the principle of the thing.
To issue a broad-sweeping statement that all cut-scenes "suck" is well... for lack of a better phrase right now... garbage. CGIs are a dying breed that i'm a fan of. Hating CGIs, I believe, is just a byproduct of twitch-gamers. I don't find that cinematics take away from the game if they're well done, so to issue a general statement saying that they ALL suck is absolutely ridiculous. I appreciate them if they're done well. Like most, I hate them if they do in fact "suck." But there's no way you'll get me to believe that you've sat down and watched the introductory cinematic to WarHammer 40000: Dawn of War, or any of the Blizzard Cinematics team's CGI's from WarCraft I to the WoW Intro and not walked away absolutely SCREAMING for more. Just to name a few, Dawn of War, StarCraft & Brood War, WarCraft (I, II & III), Diablo (I, II, and LoD), Command & Conquer (every single game in the series), Armies of Exigo intro, Any of the Armored Core series of games... any of those cinematics are all wonderfully done. Personally, I'm not a fan of game-rendered cinematics, but, I'm a huge lover of a well done CG sequence.
Perhaps it's just me, but considering the depth and the deep-rooted history of the videogame industry writing an article that seems to try and make a widesweeping comment on the explosion of video games that covers only one or two 'major' games seems a little dry. Maybe they should rename the article dealing more with the promotion of a recruiting tool. I can understand with what the writer of the article is trying to get at, but it needs to be a little bit more researched, with a greater except from 'the industry', unless i'm missing something big (which is entirely possible.)
I don't quite understand how a mouse existing or not existing effects the design of a console RTS, unless you're considering implementing PnP mouse for the 360 in the coding? You're designing it for a controller, so exactly how would a mouse factor into any of this? Same with the genre of RTS in general. If you're imagining the genre never existed, then you're essentially just *recreating* the genre in ignorance? I love how they say "What made Lord of the Rings a great series of films was just as much about the actual human actors, the sense of heroism, as much as it was a spectacle of graphics and fantasy and all, and it all came from the literature". Like the books never existed, I suppose.
Nothing like stalking through the ancient Aztec's holy temples and waterworks trying to headshot some n00bs to find out they loved to "Eat Fresh."
And what, exactly, is wrong with discussion and speculation? The article gives some information, anyways, so its not a total crapshot. It's a slow news day, anyways.
sv_cheats 1 noclip 1
...the iPod will play any standard MP3, and WMA file that isn't encrypted (well, 'play', in the sense that iTunes will convert it). The other funny thing is, Napster does the whole WMA DRM crap, which *can't* go onto the ipod, because iTunes (assuming you use it, which most iPod users do - at least any of the thousands of people that i talk to in the run of a month) can't convert Mr. Gorog's encrypted WMA files. So who exactly is locking in\out who?
News stories like this are laughable and completely implausible. The two can co-exist. Just because a bunch of college students that've never seen a computer or a console in their lives are picking up an xbox, a ps2, or a gamecube to play the latest games in the lull between classess doesn't mean that PC gaming is dying.
Subsequently, just because top-quality graphics on a PC can blow anything in the console arena out of the water, and games have so much more interactivity and ability than consoles doesn't mean that console gaming is dying.
Personally, I think consoles are going to eventually get to a point where they're not going to be consoles anymore. In order to out-do each other with features, Microsoft and Sony are pushing the console industry more towards being mini-computers without the functionality that a full desktop system has. But that's just my opinion.