I never said that *all* 3D is bad, just that most 3D games are a forced effort, like 3D platformers... that is about as unintuitive as possible. Katamari Damacy's 3D is very rudimentary and simplistic, and the control is also, that is different than a 3D world with moving/aiming/strafing/camera/weapon selection/alternate weapons/jumping/etc. all at once.
Some games are really helped out by the extra dimension, some are just plain not. There are millions of examples, like Metal Slug, Street Fighter VS..../Capcom vs..../Marvel, etc., Advance Wars, and many more that would only be hurt by trying to be shoehorned into 3D. Just like when they try to "update" classics by making them 3D, NOT ONE has ever even approached the fun of the original.
3D is unnatural to a lot of people, maybe not us, but to a lot of people. Now that we have basically hit a ceiling in 3D and games utilizing it, it is natural that we return to games themselves and not how many polygons you can texture and move at 60FPS. The game industry used graphics to pull it through a total stagnation in processors and RAM, and people fall for it time and time again. The Xbox 360 and PS3 IMO are doomed for this reason, narrow audience, total reliance on 3D and eye candy, expensive hardware and development, long development cycles, limited releases, and a few others. We need a return to basics and the true heart of gaming, and fi it takes a massive crash then so be it, I'm truly pulling for Nintendo to maybe try to upright the apple cart and make gaming sane again.
Who knows how it will end up, all I know is that with over 20 years of gaming under my belt I'm wishing for a major change in direction of this industry one way or another.
Gaming lately has been dancing around this issue lately and it is an area no one wants to tap into in the media. Gamers tastes have not really ever changed, games and game makers have forcefed things on us with varying levels of success but the core concept of fun has remained the same.
Geometry wars I would say has sold as much or more than most launch titles for the 360. This "resurgence" in single player/leaderboard gaming. Simple, quick, easy to pick up and play games have always been the favorite, no matter the level of technology or the era. It always comes back to a simple idea, executed perfectly, and accessible to most any player.
The forced transition to 3D and the denial of 2D games is another instance. Still to this day the "sleeper" hits are always some form of 2D gameplay, yet no game maker wants to admit this and produce 2D games.
FPS and RTS games have been being pushed more and more BY THE GAME DEVELOPERS/PUBLISHERS, not by gamer demand. They are easy and cheap to produce and stick to a basic formula that has been beat to death many times over. Gamers demand new and exciting games, look at the interest in upcoming games like Spore... yet there is only 1 Spore to every 100 FPS/RTS games. The developers keep shoveling out GTA clones, FPS games, and RTS titles by the bucketful and the returns are finally diminishing. Just like MMO's the developer/publisher are the ones pushing them so hard because they are easy to produce and rake in tons of cash, but they are all still basically the same formula as EQ1 over and over with minor tweaks and changes. Sure, they sell tons.. but if you would have asked before WoW if gamers wanted yet another fantasy MMO, most would have said "NO!" But it gets hyped, and marketed, and people buy into it and no matter how many folks complain about long wait times and boredom after lvl 60 the subscription numbers keep climbing.
People really want innovative, unique, games and the cult followings that otherwise unknown games garner (like Katamari Damacy, Guitar Hero, DDR, Odama, Ikaruga, etc.) prove that true game design, gameplay, and innovation still hold the highest regard in gamers minds. Game makers would (and do) have you believe otherwise, but the proof is there.
It's actually a hard nut to crack as far as comparisons, it borrows a lot of things from a lot of games. To me it is most like an Asteroids variant, but I found this website with a decent breakdown of the game: http://worldofstuart.excellentcontent.com/geowars. htm
I like his quote: "Geometry Wars is basically Robotron crossed with the famous Macintosh game Crystal Quest, with vector graphics" That sums it up well if your familiar with those titles. It isn't exactly my cup of tea, but it is fun... and funny you bring up Smash TV as it is also on Xbox 360 arcade and also experiencing a nice revival. Also supporting my initial post.
That people are actually looking for solid, easy to get into, quick to play, fun, games instead of expensive eye-candy and flash with no substance that offer complex controls, forced long investments of time, and no real reward? I daresay it does.
I find it so ironic that this powerhouse console is most played for a $5.00 remake of Asteroids on LSD. The public is speaking, actually shouting, what they want and game companies are finally starting to wake up to this and take notice. While UT2K47 and Quake 32 with new bot AI and super-duper physics and textures still interests a fair number of gamers, a much larger audience is out there clamoring for fun, quick, simple, challenging, and cheap games to waste some time and veg out with.
At first I was optimistic about Google, but I fear that they have grown too big for their britches and may be headed for a massive crash. All of the seemingly disparate aquisitions, massive outlays of cash on semi-unproven technology, no cohesive vision, and a strange business culture. They toot their own horn a lot but really produce nothing of great worth, they also claim to be the best and brightest but seemingly small fixes or glaring holes go untouched or unknown for long periods of time.
I have lost almost all of my respect for the company as a whole, and honestly couldn;t tell you what they do any more... I think many investors are in tune with my thoughts too, and that spells trouble.
There are just a glut of FPS and RTS games coming out this year, too many. While they all cover a lot of settings and era's, and some better than others, they are still the same game. This year's PC offerings are some of the most one dimensional and narrow of recent memory. New life needs to be breathed in somewhere as things are stagnating fast, Spore is one great example but you're hard pressed to find any more examples like it in PC gaming.
It is starting to hurt publishers, but they aren't making it known outside of stock talks. Everyone wanted to claim the huge growth and demand in gaming, but now the financials are showing the exact opposite. More companies posted a loss across the board than any other year. Many tried to blame it on the upcoming new consoles, but that just isn't so. I'm really hoping some new spark jumpstarts this industry and takes it off-track from becoming another homoginized hollywood or pop music industry. Gaming never started that way, and it isn't a natural progression for it either. It was about fun and the money followed, not about money with the fun following.
I completely agree and never stated that Nintendo was some large benevolent god showering us in free games, they are a company and they are out to make a buck. It is how they make that buck that is the big deal.
Japan is not the only place where a large section of gamers are left out in the cold yearning for simpler times. Take a look at the sales numbers of those controller that plug into the TV directly and house 10 or so games... huge sales, online "casual" games... record sales! Yet the console market still caters to that small cross section of late teen to twentysomething males. Not only are these other larger markets under-marketed to, they also tend to have more income and also do not pirate games. Once this market is tapped by a console the money will flow in and without the piracy concerns they just may become the new "hardcore" market.
That being said, Cisco still has no motives beyond greed and a desire to break into the home market and steal some thunder from Microsoft (a growing competitor for Cisco). This is bad for gaming. Not only that but if they buy Nintendo use them in some experimental attempts and fail they will fold them up and all gamers will be at a great loss and the driving factor for innovation in the industry. Just like losing Apple, while their marketshare may be low they innovate and drive the entire industry in new directions (Mac mini, Ipod, etc.)
There have been talks of Nintendo partnering with SEGA, and of all of the rumors this is the one solution I see as the greatest move of all time. Allowing the virtual console in the Revolution to play all SEGA back catalog titles and build a dominant force between two one-time rivals would be the ultimate thumbed nose at Sony and MS.
Seriously, I could not imagine a worse scenario. Nintendo is the only game company left who places fun, gameplay, and design over advertising, hype, and corporate greed. The gaming industry is dying slowly and turning into a mini-hollywood and the pervasiveness of ad's in games and lack of innovation in favor of sequels and making the biggest grab for money and power does nothing to further gaming.
Nintendo stays true to its roots, and wavers for no one or no money. They have a quirky business set-up but it works, to turn that into a carbon copy American corporation would ruin everything that makes Nintendo Nintendo. I would be deeply saddened to hear news of Cisco purchasing Nintendo, and I can only hope that the Revolution is a great success and sale of the company would be out of the question. That would be the darkest day in gaming of all time.
Wow, thank you relavence police. In fact it is all relavent, just that I have made you jealous or created envy/hatred because of my luck in life to do what I love. I have shown that I am completely IMPARTIAL and have no fanboy issues, I am playtesting for the 360... so obviously I don't *hate* MS or the Xbox and with a long standing relationship with Sony I have covered all the "competitors." From my POV I have no bias and if anything the Nintendo side is the one where I have the least ties and inside contacts due to their structure.
My credentials are what they are, feel free to downplay them or try to degrade me if it makes you feel better or superior in some way. I have no dog in this race, just personally really excited to see how the Revolution shapes up and how it is adopted by the public and developers. It could be the shot in the arm this industry needed to get off its laurels and bring game design, gameplay, and fun back into the equation.
Its also possible that monkeys could fly straight outta my arse...but not likely... gerbils maybe, but that's another story.
The real reason is due to super low CPU yields. They had to fly their initial U.S. shipment in on a Boeing because of how far the low yields put them behind the 8-ball.
A new MMO game idea! A large flat field filled with rats, you log in and kill as many as possible picking up 1G per rat, and if you find the rare golden rat you get 2G. Whoever has the most Gold at the end of each month WINS! and the ladder is reset.
It is a problem, but the problem is actually with the game design. Games that make gold and rare items unneccessarily hard to get are what create these markets. All you need to do is to limit the power of gold. If you want to keep gold a rarity and it is mainly needed to buy weapons/armor, then allow a second way of obtaining the same items either through crafting, or quests, or some other accessable option. You basically kill the entire value of gold because players have more than one way to get what they want and they all revolve around GAMEPLAY, not money.
Gold is just a cheesy way to handle economies in MMO's. Gold has always been basically bullshit in every RPG, think about itif given enough time you could kill 20,000,000 rats/bunnies/slimes and get all the money you need in even the earlest RPG's... what you need is a new system that is more like the real world with multiple ways of coming about weapons/items/armor.
And here is a perfect case of why you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover! I, in fact was one of the alpha 360 hardware testers and am currently playtesting two upcoming titles.
The website in my sig is my personal website to cover inside information on the Revolution, because it is a console I am very excited about. Notice the.info extension?
I have very extensive relationships with all of my local game stores, and know the managers personally as well as most of the staff. So I'm not just some schlubb wasting their time, they tell it like it is.
I also ran two major PS2 news/review websites one which was sold and incorporated into rottentomatoes and one to IGN... there is a big difference between personal and professional... when I'm on/. it is personal, I speak *my* opinion and god knows I check my grammar/sentence structure at the door too.
Damn I wish I could get a roll like that, 18k dead in one fell swoop. I'm guessing their Uber-1337 peerless gossamer armor didn't help much with that one.
While I semi-agree with you (hey that's a change we normally face off in every thread, must be the Christmas vibe:) ) The statement about the cores/threading I made was NOT based on the internet rumors.
The fact is that no 360 game is running more than three threads, most are single threaded, and a few are dual-threaded. What most people forget is that EACH of the Xbox 360 cores can run *2* threads. So all of the single and dual-threaded games are using ONE core. The ones claiming to use three threads are still only really using the MAIN CORE and threading off AI to a second core... that's it.
Again, my knock against the pricing structure was against the *MARKETPLACE* feature of Live! It just makes no logical sense, whether I buy 100 points or 1,000,000 points I pay the EXACT same price... what incentive does that give anyone to buy in quantity? None. That is a bad pricing structure. I'd love to hear how it isn't.
And just an aside, as far as being sold out, they no longer are. Most malls have numerous stores all with 360's in stock and on shelves. At an EB the other day they had 4 in stock and the kid working said they are only averaging 1-2 a day sold... hardly massive demand given that Christmas is 2 days away.
Cornface, only the first paragraph was aimed at you in any way and it was just a clarification... there may be hope yet to reconcile our diferences.
Yep. There is no shortage, you are not alone, and demand has really dropped off at an amazing rate. I was trying to find a used copy of Donkey Konga 1 w/bongos for a gift and in my searches I've seen at least 3 or 4 in each store over the past few days. I asked a kid working at EB if they had already filled their pre-orders and if the ones on the shelf were for sale and he said that they were and that the average sales were only 1-2 a day. With Christmas two days away, if the demand was there they would be stopping fights not barely able to sell out by Christmas.
That the average person has no concept of HD, and most of those that own HD sets have composite cables hooked up to it thinking they are in HD. The official date for the switch to HD has again been pushed back to 2009 due to the economy and that is a long way off with a lot of uncertainty in between then and now that could further change it.
HD is nice, it isn't like OMFGWTFASIANHOOKER!!!11!1, just a nice upgrade in visuals. Most of us/.'ers are into technology and understand it and utilize it, but most regular folks do not. HD in games is still in its infancy, hell, HD itself isn't even really out of diapers yet.
People keep trumpeting HD this, and HD that, but the American public hasn't even begun to care let alone adopt it. It is the future of gaming for sure, but it is still quite a way off in that future before it is a reality in homes across the U.S. Just like the PS3 claiming 120FPS and 1080p on TWO outputs... umm, yeah that soooo extreme! Especially since no TV (HD or not) can reproduce 120FPS, nor can your eye see them, and the damn PS2 only has a single output even capable of outputting 1080p and even it is not capable of outputting the claims made by Sony.
People fall for this crap time after time, when will we learn. History FTW!
I don't want this to sound like bashing, just my humble opinion on the matter. You know heads are rolling at Microsoft this Christmas, this whole thing has turned into a powder keg that just keeps blowing up in their face.
The design flaws and bad press everywhere including mainstream media, and there is most likely more to come once more get opened on Christmas day (the media loves to beat a story like this to death, little tommy crying + pissed off parents == ???, Profit!)
Meager launch lineup with no must-have, and all the marketing money put behind Kameo which is average at best overall.
The factory troubles at almost every step of production. Super-low chip yields (this will be the real killer), single fabrication plants in Asia being relied upon (one problem and everything comes to a halt), delivery issues (flying your product overnight in a Boeing in a mad dash is not a well timed launch), and much more.
Not even factoring in the fact that they can't GIVE them away in Japan... which is actually TRUE! I have friends in Japan and a business was raffling one off as a promotion and they only had about 12 entries by the end of three days.
It just didn't work out. The online system is golden though (except for the pricing structure - or lack thereof - of the Marketplace). At first I thought there will be still time to fix things and right the ship, but with MS having to struggle to even pump out 1st gen units they have no chance of rebounding before Sony and Nintendo start their campaigns.
Again, power and speed to market do not mean sales and success. Learning lessons from history is something you'd think MS would eventually do, but again they prove this wrong. Tons of potential, poor exectution, marred by a number of problems... the Xbox 360 will be the next DC with Xbox Live Arcade being the only real option as it is now with Geometry Wars and such.
I've worked on NEs titles and SNES titles and to me I was able to do more, quicker, and easier on the SNES. Now I could just be strange, but that was what I found.
While I applaud your work, and don't want to demean it in any way, it is just a Tetris clone. I programmed that on a TI83 calculator with minimal trouble. If you take a look through the forums on that site you gave me in the dev section you will see a number of common troubles people are experiencing with things like scrolling and such.
All I was saying is that any console relying on low-level code is NOT going to make a meaningful comeback. Consoles that had even decent development tools available will have much more of a chance. However, if my NES died and I were unable to repair it myself I would buy a NEX for $60 without even thinking about it just for the wireless pads.
Since you are into NES development, you should check out Messiah (the company making the NEX) as I know they are working to bring out some new titles and you may be able to find some work to make some extra cash doing something you obviously like. I know they are in need of software developers.
So you are excited to buy this "most successful" console ever to play a 20 year old NES title and a free mini-game from a generation back? That is exactly my point. Geometry wars is fun, SmashTV is OK, PGR3 is decent... but as a whole it is very minimal and certainly not anything to yell from the mountaintops about.
To each their own, but it seems like you may have bought into a bit too much of the hype and are not seeing things as objectively as you could. It's cool though, if the 360 rubs you right then enjoy it... I won't try to change your mind, just point out the facts.
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I never said that *all* 3D is bad, just that most 3D games are a forced effort, like 3D platformers... that is about as unintuitive as possible. Katamari Damacy's 3D is very rudimentary and simplistic, and the control is also, that is different than a 3D world with moving/aiming/strafing/camera/weapon selection/alternate weapons/jumping/etc. all at once.
.../Capcom vs. .../Marvel, etc., Advance Wars, and many more that would only be hurt by trying to be shoehorned into 3D. Just like when they try to "update" classics by making them 3D, NOT ONE has ever even approached the fun of the original.
Some games are really helped out by the extra dimension, some are just plain not. There are millions of examples, like Metal Slug, Street Fighter VS.
3D is unnatural to a lot of people, maybe not us, but to a lot of people. Now that we have basically hit a ceiling in 3D and games utilizing it, it is natural that we return to games themselves and not how many polygons you can texture and move at 60FPS. The game industry used graphics to pull it through a total stagnation in processors and RAM, and people fall for it time and time again. The Xbox 360 and PS3 IMO are doomed for this reason, narrow audience, total reliance on 3D and eye candy, expensive hardware and development, long development cycles, limited releases, and a few others. We need a return to basics and the true heart of gaming, and fi it takes a massive crash then so be it, I'm truly pulling for Nintendo to maybe try to upright the apple cart and make gaming sane again.
Who knows how it will end up, all I know is that with over 20 years of gaming under my belt I'm wishing for a major change in direction of this industry one way or another.
Gaming lately has been dancing around this issue lately and it is an area no one wants to tap into in the media. Gamers tastes have not really ever changed, games and game makers have forcefed things on us with varying levels of success but the core concept of fun has remained the same.
Geometry wars I would say has sold as much or more than most launch titles for the 360. This "resurgence" in single player/leaderboard gaming. Simple, quick, easy to pick up and play games have always been the favorite, no matter the level of technology or the era. It always comes back to a simple idea, executed perfectly, and accessible to most any player.
The forced transition to 3D and the denial of 2D games is another instance. Still to this day the "sleeper" hits are always some form of 2D gameplay, yet no game maker wants to admit this and produce 2D games.
FPS and RTS games have been being pushed more and more BY THE GAME DEVELOPERS/PUBLISHERS, not by gamer demand. They are easy and cheap to produce and stick to a basic formula that has been beat to death many times over. Gamers demand new and exciting games, look at the interest in upcoming games like Spore... yet there is only 1 Spore to every 100 FPS/RTS games. The developers keep shoveling out GTA clones, FPS games, and RTS titles by the bucketful and the returns are finally diminishing. Just like MMO's the developer/publisher are the ones pushing them so hard because they are easy to produce and rake in tons of cash, but they are all still basically the same formula as EQ1 over and over with minor tweaks and changes. Sure, they sell tons.. but if you would have asked before WoW if gamers wanted yet another fantasy MMO, most would have said "NO!" But it gets hyped, and marketed, and people buy into it and no matter how many folks complain about long wait times and boredom after lvl 60 the subscription numbers keep climbing.
People really want innovative, unique, games and the cult followings that otherwise unknown games garner (like Katamari Damacy, Guitar Hero, DDR, Odama, Ikaruga, etc.) prove that true game design, gameplay, and innovation still hold the highest regard in gamers minds. Game makers would (and do) have you believe otherwise, but the proof is there.
It's actually a hard nut to crack as far as comparisons, it borrows a lot of things from a lot of games. To me it is most like an Asteroids variant, but I found this website with a decent breakdown of the game: http://worldofstuart.excellentcontent.com/geowars. htm
I like his quote: "Geometry Wars is basically Robotron crossed with the famous Macintosh game Crystal Quest, with vector graphics" That sums it up well if your familiar with those titles. It isn't exactly my cup of tea, but it is fun... and funny you bring up Smash TV as it is also on Xbox 360 arcade and also experiencing a nice revival. Also supporting my initial post.
That people are actually looking for solid, easy to get into, quick to play, fun, games instead of expensive eye-candy and flash with no substance that offer complex controls, forced long investments of time, and no real reward? I daresay it does.
I find it so ironic that this powerhouse console is most played for a $5.00 remake of Asteroids on LSD. The public is speaking, actually shouting, what they want and game companies are finally starting to wake up to this and take notice. While UT2K47 and Quake 32 with new bot AI and super-duper physics and textures still interests a fair number of gamers, a much larger audience is out there clamoring for fun, quick, simple, challenging, and cheap games to waste some time and veg out with.
At first I was optimistic about Google, but I fear that they have grown too big for their britches and may be headed for a massive crash. All of the seemingly disparate aquisitions, massive outlays of cash on semi-unproven technology, no cohesive vision, and a strange business culture. They toot their own horn a lot but really produce nothing of great worth, they also claim to be the best and brightest but seemingly small fixes or glaring holes go untouched or unknown for long periods of time.
I have lost almost all of my respect for the company as a whole, and honestly couldn;t tell you what they do any more... I think many investors are in tune with my thoughts too, and that spells trouble.
Well, the average Gecko's lifespan is about 20 years... so I'm thinking it will be somewhere right around there.
...I just saved a bunch of money on my car ins...RAM Chips.
1.) Slow Sales Year
2.) Rehash console games for Windows PC's
3.) ???
4.) Profit!
This has never really worked out if history is to be trusted, but hey, give 'er hell Capcom.
I'm thinking not, but a USB to controller adapter and your mowing down zombies just like your console bretheren.
There are just a glut of FPS and RTS games coming out this year, too many. While they all cover a lot of settings and era's, and some better than others, they are still the same game. This year's PC offerings are some of the most one dimensional and narrow of recent memory. New life needs to be breathed in somewhere as things are stagnating fast, Spore is one great example but you're hard pressed to find any more examples like it in PC gaming.
It is starting to hurt publishers, but they aren't making it known outside of stock talks. Everyone wanted to claim the huge growth and demand in gaming, but now the financials are showing the exact opposite. More companies posted a loss across the board than any other year. Many tried to blame it on the upcoming new consoles, but that just isn't so. I'm really hoping some new spark jumpstarts this industry and takes it off-track from becoming another homoginized hollywood or pop music industry. Gaming never started that way, and it isn't a natural progression for it either. It was about fun and the money followed, not about money with the fun following.
I completely agree and never stated that Nintendo was some large benevolent god showering us in free games, they are a company and they are out to make a buck. It is how they make that buck that is the big deal.
Japan is not the only place where a large section of gamers are left out in the cold yearning for simpler times. Take a look at the sales numbers of those controller that plug into the TV directly and house 10 or so games... huge sales, online "casual" games... record sales! Yet the console market still caters to that small cross section of late teen to twentysomething males. Not only are these other larger markets under-marketed to, they also tend to have more income and also do not pirate games. Once this market is tapped by a console the money will flow in and without the piracy concerns they just may become the new "hardcore" market.
That being said, Cisco still has no motives beyond greed and a desire to break into the home market and steal some thunder from Microsoft (a growing competitor for Cisco). This is bad for gaming. Not only that but if they buy Nintendo use them in some experimental attempts and fail they will fold them up and all gamers will be at a great loss and the driving factor for innovation in the industry. Just like losing Apple, while their marketshare may be low they innovate and drive the entire industry in new directions (Mac mini, Ipod, etc.)
There have been talks of Nintendo partnering with SEGA, and of all of the rumors this is the one solution I see as the greatest move of all time. Allowing the virtual console in the Revolution to play all SEGA back catalog titles and build a dominant force between two one-time rivals would be the ultimate thumbed nose at Sony and MS.
Seriously, I could not imagine a worse scenario. Nintendo is the only game company left who places fun, gameplay, and design over advertising, hype, and corporate greed. The gaming industry is dying slowly and turning into a mini-hollywood and the pervasiveness of ad's in games and lack of innovation in favor of sequels and making the biggest grab for money and power does nothing to further gaming.
Nintendo stays true to its roots, and wavers for no one or no money. They have a quirky business set-up but it works, to turn that into a carbon copy American corporation would ruin everything that makes Nintendo Nintendo. I would be deeply saddened to hear news of Cisco purchasing Nintendo, and I can only hope that the Revolution is a great success and sale of the company would be out of the question. That would be the darkest day in gaming of all time.
Wow, thank you relavence police. In fact it is all relavent, just that I have made you jealous or created envy/hatred because of my luck in life to do what I love. I have shown that I am completely IMPARTIAL and have no fanboy issues, I am playtesting for the 360... so obviously I don't *hate* MS or the Xbox and with a long standing relationship with Sony I have covered all the "competitors." From my POV I have no bias and if anything the Nintendo side is the one where I have the least ties and inside contacts due to their structure.
My credentials are what they are, feel free to downplay them or try to degrade me if it makes you feel better or superior in some way. I have no dog in this race, just personally really excited to see how the Revolution shapes up and how it is adopted by the public and developers. It could be the shot in the arm this industry needed to get off its laurels and bring game design, gameplay, and fun back into the equation.
Its also possible that monkeys could fly straight outta my arse...but not likely... gerbils maybe, but that's another story.
The real reason is due to super low CPU yields. They had to fly their initial U.S. shipment in on a Boeing because of how far the low yields put them behind the 8-ball.
A new MMO game idea! A large flat field filled with rats, you log in and kill as many as possible picking up 1G per rat, and if you find the rare golden rat you get 2G. Whoever has the most Gold at the end of each month WINS! and the ladder is reset.
A true innovation in MMO design.
It is a problem, but the problem is actually with the game design. Games that make gold and rare items unneccessarily hard to get are what create these markets. All you need to do is to limit the power of gold. If you want to keep gold a rarity and it is mainly needed to buy weapons/armor, then allow a second way of obtaining the same items either through crafting, or quests, or some other accessable option. You basically kill the entire value of gold because players have more than one way to get what they want and they all revolve around GAMEPLAY, not money.
Gold is just a cheesy way to handle economies in MMO's. Gold has always been basically bullshit in every RPG, think about itif given enough time you could kill 20,000,000 rats/bunnies/slimes and get all the money you need in even the earlest RPG's... what you need is a new system that is more like the real world with multiple ways of coming about weapons/items/armor.
And here is a perfect case of why you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover! I, in fact was one of the alpha 360 hardware testers and am currently playtesting two upcoming titles.
.info extension?
/. it is personal, I speak *my* opinion and god knows I check my grammar/sentence structure at the door too.
The website in my sig is my personal website to cover inside information on the Revolution, because it is a console I am very excited about. Notice the
I have very extensive relationships with all of my local game stores, and know the managers personally as well as most of the staff. So I'm not just some schlubb wasting their time, they tell it like it is.
I also ran two major PS2 news/review websites one which was sold and incorporated into rottentomatoes and one to IGN... there is a big difference between personal and professional... when I'm on
Damn I wish I could get a roll like that, 18k dead in one fell swoop. I'm guessing their Uber-1337 peerless gossamer armor didn't help much with that one.
Call the next Madden game: Madden NFL Football 3000-994 Extreme Thinking Edition!
Of course it will have the same tired gameplay, with the same AI glitches, and updated graphics... that's innovation, right?
While I semi-agree with you (hey that's a change we normally face off in every thread, must be the Christmas vibe :) ) The statement about the cores/threading I made was NOT based on the internet rumors.
The fact is that no 360 game is running more than three threads, most are single threaded, and a few are dual-threaded. What most people forget is that EACH of the Xbox 360 cores can run *2* threads. So all of the single and dual-threaded games are using ONE core. The ones claiming to use three threads are still only really using the MAIN CORE and threading off AI to a second core... that's it.
Again, my knock against the pricing structure was against the *MARKETPLACE* feature of Live! It just makes no logical sense, whether I buy 100 points or 1,000,000 points I pay the EXACT same price... what incentive does that give anyone to buy in quantity? None. That is a bad pricing structure. I'd love to hear how it isn't.
And just an aside, as far as being sold out, they no longer are. Most malls have numerous stores all with 360's in stock and on shelves. At an EB the other day they had 4 in stock and the kid working said they are only averaging 1-2 a day sold... hardly massive demand given that Christmas is 2 days away.
Cornface, only the first paragraph was aimed at you in any way and it was just a clarification... there may be hope yet to reconcile our diferences.
Yep. There is no shortage, you are not alone, and demand has really dropped off at an amazing rate. I was trying to find a used copy of Donkey Konga 1 w/bongos for a gift and in my searches I've seen at least 3 or 4 in each store over the past few days. I asked a kid working at EB if they had already filled their pre-orders and if the ones on the shelf were for sale and he said that they were and that the average sales were only 1-2 a day. With Christmas two days away, if the demand was there they would be stopping fights not barely able to sell out by Christmas.
That the average person has no concept of HD, and most of those that own HD sets have composite cables hooked up to it thinking they are in HD. The official date for the switch to HD has again been pushed back to 2009 due to the economy and that is a long way off with a lot of uncertainty in between then and now that could further change it.
/.'ers are into technology and understand it and utilize it, but most regular folks do not. HD in games is still in its infancy, hell, HD itself isn't even really out of diapers yet.
HD is nice, it isn't like OMFGWTFASIANHOOKER!!!11!1, just a nice upgrade in visuals. Most of us
People keep trumpeting HD this, and HD that, but the American public hasn't even begun to care let alone adopt it. It is the future of gaming for sure, but it is still quite a way off in that future before it is a reality in homes across the U.S. Just like the PS3 claiming 120FPS and 1080p on TWO outputs... umm, yeah that soooo extreme! Especially since no TV (HD or not) can reproduce 120FPS, nor can your eye see them, and the damn PS2 only has a single output even capable of outputting 1080p and even it is not capable of outputting the claims made by Sony.
People fall for this crap time after time, when will we learn. History FTW!
I don't want this to sound like bashing, just my humble opinion on the matter. You know heads are rolling at Microsoft this Christmas, this whole thing has turned into a powder keg that just keeps blowing up in their face.
The design flaws and bad press everywhere including mainstream media, and there is most likely more to come once more get opened on Christmas day (the media loves to beat a story like this to death, little tommy crying + pissed off parents == ???, Profit!)
Meager launch lineup with no must-have, and all the marketing money put behind Kameo which is average at best overall.
The factory troubles at almost every step of production. Super-low chip yields (this will be the real killer), single fabrication plants in Asia being relied upon (one problem and everything comes to a halt), delivery issues (flying your product overnight in a Boeing in a mad dash is not a well timed launch), and much more.
Not even factoring in the fact that they can't GIVE them away in Japan... which is actually TRUE! I have friends in Japan and a business was raffling one off as a promotion and they only had about 12 entries by the end of three days.
It just didn't work out. The online system is golden though (except for the pricing structure - or lack thereof - of the Marketplace). At first I thought there will be still time to fix things and right the ship, but with MS having to struggle to even pump out 1st gen units they have no chance of rebounding before Sony and Nintendo start their campaigns.
Again, power and speed to market do not mean sales and success. Learning lessons from history is something you'd think MS would eventually do, but again they prove this wrong. Tons of potential, poor exectution, marred by a number of problems... the Xbox 360 will be the next DC with Xbox Live Arcade being the only real option as it is now with Geometry Wars and such.
I've worked on NEs titles and SNES titles and to me I was able to do more, quicker, and easier on the SNES. Now I could just be strange, but that was what I found.
While I applaud your work, and don't want to demean it in any way, it is just a Tetris clone. I programmed that on a TI83 calculator with minimal trouble. If you take a look through the forums on that site you gave me in the dev section you will see a number of common troubles people are experiencing with things like scrolling and such.
All I was saying is that any console relying on low-level code is NOT going to make a meaningful comeback. Consoles that had even decent development tools available will have much more of a chance. However, if my NES died and I were unable to repair it myself I would buy a NEX for $60 without even thinking about it just for the wireless pads.
Since you are into NES development, you should check out Messiah (the company making the NEX) as I know they are working to bring out some new titles and you may be able to find some work to make some extra cash doing something you obviously like. I know they are in need of software developers.
So you are excited to buy this "most successful" console ever to play a 20 year old NES title and a free mini-game from a generation back? That is exactly my point. Geometry wars is fun, SmashTV is OK, PGR3 is decent... but as a whole it is very minimal and certainly not anything to yell from the mountaintops about.
To each their own, but it seems like you may have bought into a bit too much of the hype and are not seeing things as objectively as you could. It's cool though, if the 360 rubs you right then enjoy it... I won't try to change your mind, just point out the facts.