The only game that really isn't an MMORPG, more of an MMOPVP game, is Guildwars.
Yes gear is important, but it's not the be-all-end-all of gameplay. A lot of it comes down to spells, who does the best combo's and works as a team.
Teamwork still plays a big role in WoW, but the purpose of working as a team is to get your guild/party awesome gear to help you further the cause of getting better gear in the next instance. It's a grind, a raiding gear, and the PvP aspects as it stands in WoW is pretty defunct and broken.
The only thing that attracts me to playing WoW in the new expansion, is the fact they're working harder on world pvp, and making the pvp system better (trying to). It still remains whether or not it will actually improve, or if it's an attempt to regain lost customers for another 60 days or so. We shall see when it is released.
Actually, there's a really large population of players that are over 5 months. That's enough to take 1-2 characters to level 60 if you don't have a live (like a lot of people here who play WoW).
I stopped playing it about 4 mo. ago, and i don't regret it. But in the advent of the new changes, I bought a gamecard (unopened yet). Waiting to see what else is on the horizong for Burning Crusade. As soon as I find out what all is going down with it, I may join back up and play some more. Otherwise i'm going to stick with life... you know...
That which is outside of World of Warcraft. Yes I know it's hard to understand. But you do need to eat real food, drink real drink, party with real people, not kill people in real life. It's hard, but together we can make it through!
From people in the industry using UE3, how many of you have had problems developing it for each console? What were the problems experienced? How did you overcome them or did you?
If a company like Silicon Knights has issues with something, and decides near the end of their products pre-release lifespan, to scrap the backbone of the game and redo it, then there has to be either something very wrong with the Engine, or the platform.
It's not a light decision. That will set a game back by a huge amount of time, probably inconceivable at this point, because doing their own renderer will take time in and of itself. Then they'll have to adapt everything that they've done to it. Perhaps, they'll just take parts of the Unreal Engine 3 with them, and keep some of the basics? I dunno. Seems kinda weak to say this at the end.
I live 45min. North of Calgary, and houses here are going for anywhere between $250k to $325k for an average sized house (1200-2200sqft.)
Problem is, it's a commuter/farming town, so you either live here and farm, or you live here and work in Red Deer or Calgary. You cannot sell here and then move to another place in town, it's pointless cause it will cost you the same to do so, or more for moving expenses.
The population here is only about 6,000 or something stupid like that, but the number of people who are over the age of 50 is amazing. Most of them farmers who will never retire, and they work to help teach their children and grandchildren etc. Then they all farm her, take over the farm, work till they die. It's sad, but it's the Alberta Farmers Way.:D
I for one work in the IT industry out here. Doing networking and internet/computer support, wireless installs for local homes and/or long range wireless transmissions via antenna's. And I get paid not too bad, the cost of living here is going up, and my services are cheap because I realize that you just can't charge $200/hr. to install an antenna system + materials like you can in the big city. I still sell complete systems for around $600 installed, and it maybe takes me about 1.5 hours to do a setup. But anyway, that's the report from an Albertan:D
Every now and then I pull out my Atari for a round of Defender and my NES for a game of Mario. Yes we do play them still, though it's harder to find working parts when it breaks:)
I 120% agree. I would lovingly embrace mac osx if I could do what I do in everyday life on a mac.
Waiving aside (temporarily) the problems inherent in all OS' and Software, Mac's are way more reliable than an XP Pro system. There aren't as many virus' or spyware's available on the mac, or they're a lot harder to come by for the time being.
If I could do what I needed to do on a mac I'd switch in a heart beat. Here's my list:P *Wish List*
DJ to a Shoutcast Server with a half decent dual sound card support system (maybe a ReWire sort of system that allows for... well ya... technical mumbojumbo that isn't available on anything other than Windows)
Play my Games (World of Warcraft, Counterstrike 1.6, Counterstrike Source, Rakion, Gunbound, Dark Eden
Everything else is available on a mac through a costly sum: Graphics, Websurfing, Email (I hate the mail system in Mac OSX 10.4 Tiger but whatever). I mean... YA Come on!!!
I should get into Mac Programming and do some coding... I haven't the slightest on how to do it, but if I could do it... o m f g... If I could DJ on it, i'd gladly have a Windows PC purely for Gaming with no need of anything other than DX??.? and whatever else... man... *cries a little inside*
Actually, since the bulbs are end-user replaceable in most sets, they are normally not covered under anything other than a manufacturers extended warranty or a REALLY good coverage plan from the retail store. The DLP bulbs are like $150 for a Panasonic... they last about 4 years with average usage, so... i don't see how that can be a big deal... I would rather spend $150 than $3,000 on a new tv every 4 years... unless technology changes (2026 = no more analog apparently):S
They are brighter and have a higher contrast than the DLP's which means if you're in a board room with flourescent lights, then it will be easier to see around the room. 3000:1 Contrast ratio is just cool. It also comes in a 61" flavour.
If you haven't considered projection as an alternative, you could always go for an Optoma front projector. They are very very cool. Half of their lineup doesn't go under 3500:1 contrast ratio, with most around 4500:1, and they are VERY inexpensive to replace the bulbs. Alot of their lineup also contains DVI Inputs as opposed to the Component sets that the older projectors have. Great for dual monitor supports on a desktop. Laptops, you would probably just look for the wonderous VGA's on a similar model from them to the
Then there's the Optomoa BigVizion which is... amazing? Awesome? Killer!! Check this baby out... BigVizion
Anyway you look at it, burn in is going to be a factor with a plasma, the bulbs will go in a projector, and you will get ghost images on an LCD with constant "dashboard" displays like the start menu. I do know that the panasonic LCD's have this "true black" thing, where in the blank pass in a progressive display mode, it does a black fill of the screen, so that when you go from say a dark room scene, to a snow scene to a dark room scene, the black is as black as possible when switching color brightness that way. It's hard to choose, but those are my pics anyway, I like them and I have been looking around for a product to beat it within the price ranges. $3,199 for the 61" 3LCD and $2,199 for the 52" is tough to beat for the brightness you get out of it. DLP's are a bit more money, but I do have to say that they seem to be a lot clearer on the 1080i than the 3LCD's, but they don't have the vibrant colors:/ So it depends if you're doing slideshows or movie clips heh.
The wierdest thing is, look at how many of the same type of movies come out at the same time... it's like the entire movie industry works together on topics (unlike games).
For example, when Twister came out, go look how many tornado and natural disaster movies followed. Or the multitude of "giant mutated rain forest creature" movies (aka Python, Boa, Anaconda)
[quote]I think his main point is not that he thinks that WoW raises the bar on how good games have to be now.[/quote]
I fail to see how this is a problem. I see it as a good omen. It means that game designers will have to come out with better and more involving games that aren't MMO's that will kick WoW players in the butt saying "Hey this game is kick ass and better, come play it instead." and then WoW will be forced to raise the bar on the quality of their game, draw them back, and it goes on and on. It's the life cycle of the game industry as a whole.
It hasn't changed in basic concepts. The one with the better game draws the gamers. I for one used to play WoW, but I found another game that was more involving and I liked it more so I quit playing WoW...
You know... wasting real money to make money? Don't you do that on a regular basis?
You pay for gas, insurance, rent, internet all costs. You goto work, make money...
The big downside to this... People will become stay-at-home gamers making money, becoming obese beyond belief:D Not much different than it is already becoming, however... ya...
Imagine the hacks that will arise out of this... If it gets put into place, you could potentially make $500 US in 24 hours by macroing:) Who wouldn't do that for a quick buck? You could goto work, macro, make $500. Who makes $500 a day at mcdonalds and whatnot? These are the people who are going to be playing. Teens. They can play the game, get money, then go spend it on other things. So they basically will have two sources of income (even those who are 10 can play this game, which is on the norm, lower than the legal age limit for working). This won't classify as "work" so anyone can do it, make money... it's quite ingenious... but it's not a new idea. Just no one knew how to do it securly... who knows, maybe "they" don't either:D
with Asterisk, you can't get much more geekier.
You basically get an expansion card, and you can hook it into a copper line (standard telephone) and a VoIP box at the same time, which allows you to send AND recieve calls using either or.
That way, you could actually program it so that she can call a 1-800 number for your voip phone from overseas, and the asterisk system picks up, and you can say: "To make an outgoing local call, press 1." and then it could do something like that... I dunno lol it'd take a bit of messing with but it CAN be done:)
If they put in the API, and you run say outlook express for windows XP or perhaps some other app that is designed for Windows only, does this mean that it will open up the Windows Flaws and virus' may run amok in a mac environment, which is one of the reasons a lot of people use macs, lack thereof of virus'.
I don't know... Imagine if apple manages to put this into action, then it generates the ability to run a windows api without the inherent flaws with a base Windows XP/Vista installation.
Would there be a mass influx of people switching to Mac's for their Windows needs, and how would this affect Microsoft...
They'd probably end up having to license the API, meaning some income for Microsoft, but I don't know...:o it's a wierd situation and if it happens, I'd like to know how they're doing it.
Since the dawn of albums and concerts, there has always been people who blame high ticket prices on something. Be it, dubbing an LP to Tape or Tape to Tape, or you could even go into the other area of the world, go from Higher Movie Ticket Prices to VHS Copying and such.
It's always been around, it's not really that it doesn't affect it at all, i'm sure it does in some form or another, but people will always goto theatres, always goto concerts, but you cannot say that because someone can download an album, that it is the sole reason for higher prices.
I dunno, lame article, lame world... live it love it dump it and move on.
Slashdot Mirror
The only game that really isn't an MMORPG, more of an MMOPVP game, is Guildwars. Yes gear is important, but it's not the be-all-end-all of gameplay. A lot of it comes down to spells, who does the best combo's and works as a team. Teamwork still plays a big role in WoW, but the purpose of working as a team is to get your guild/party awesome gear to help you further the cause of getting better gear in the next instance. It's a grind, a raiding gear, and the PvP aspects as it stands in WoW is pretty defunct and broken. The only thing that attracts me to playing WoW in the new expansion, is the fact they're working harder on world pvp, and making the pvp system better (trying to). It still remains whether or not it will actually improve, or if it's an attempt to regain lost customers for another 60 days or so. We shall see when it is released.
Actually, there's a really large population of players that are over 5 months. That's enough to take 1-2 characters to level 60 if you don't have a live (like a lot of people here who play WoW). I stopped playing it about 4 mo. ago, and i don't regret it. But in the advent of the new changes, I bought a gamecard (unopened yet). Waiting to see what else is on the horizong for Burning Crusade. As soon as I find out what all is going down with it, I may join back up and play some more. Otherwise i'm going to stick with life... you know... That which is outside of World of Warcraft. Yes I know it's hard to understand. But you do need to eat real food, drink real drink, party with real people, not kill people in real life. It's hard, but together we can make it through!
If a company like Silicon Knights has issues with something, and decides near the end of their products pre-release lifespan, to scrap the backbone of the game and redo it, then there has to be either something very wrong with the Engine, or the platform.
It's not a light decision. That will set a game back by a huge amount of time, probably inconceivable at this point, because doing their own renderer will take time in and of itself. Then they'll have to adapt everything that they've done to it. Perhaps, they'll just take parts of the Unreal Engine 3 with them, and keep some of the basics? I dunno. Seems kinda weak to say this at the end.
Problem is, it's a commuter/farming town, so you either live here and farm, or you live here and work in Red Deer or Calgary. You cannot sell here and then move to another place in town, it's pointless cause it will cost you the same to do so, or more for moving expenses.
The population here is only about 6,000 or something stupid like that, but the number of people who are over the age of 50 is amazing. Most of them farmers who will never retire, and they work to help teach their children and grandchildren etc. Then they all farm her, take over the farm, work till they die. It's sad, but it's the Alberta Farmers Way. :D
I for one work in the IT industry out here. Doing networking and internet/computer support, wireless installs for local homes and/or long range wireless transmissions via antenna's. And I get paid not too bad, the cost of living here is going up, and my services are cheap because I realize that you just can't charge $200/hr. to install an antenna system + materials like you can in the big city. I still sell complete systems for around $600 installed, and it maybe takes me about 1.5 hours to do a setup. But anyway, that's the report from an Albertan :D
Every now and then I pull out my Atari for a round of Defender and my NES for a game of Mario. Yes we do play them still, though it's harder to find working parts when it breaks :)
Waiving aside (temporarily) the problems inherent in all OS' and Software, Mac's are way more reliable than an XP Pro system. There aren't as many virus' or spyware's available on the mac, or they're a lot harder to come by for the time being.
If I could do what I needed to do on a mac I'd switch in a heart beat. Here's my list :P *Wish List*
Everything else is available on a mac through a costly sum: Graphics, Websurfing, Email (I hate the mail system in Mac OSX 10.4 Tiger but whatever). I mean... YA Come on!!!
I should get into Mac Programming and do some coding... I haven't the slightest on how to do it, but if I could do it... o m f g... If I could DJ on it, i'd gladly have a Windows PC purely for Gaming with no need of anything other than DX??.? and whatever else... man... *cries a little inside*
Actually, since the bulbs are end-user replaceable in most sets, they are normally not covered under anything other than a manufacturers extended warranty or a REALLY good coverage plan from the retail store. The DLP bulbs are like $150 for a Panasonic... they last about 4 years with average usage, so... i don't see how that can be a big deal... I would rather spend $150 than $3,000 on a new tv every 4 years... unless technology changes (2026 = no more analog apparently) :S
They are brighter and have a higher contrast than the DLP's which means if you're in a board room with flourescent lights, then it will be easier to see around the room. 3000:1 Contrast ratio is just cool. It also comes in a 61" flavour.
If you haven't considered projection as an alternative, you could always go for an Optoma front projector. They are very very cool. Half of their lineup doesn't go under 3500:1 contrast ratio, with most around 4500:1, and they are VERY inexpensive to replace the bulbs. Alot of their lineup also contains DVI Inputs as opposed to the Component sets that the older projectors have. Great for dual monitor supports on a desktop. Laptops, you would probably just look for the wonderous VGA's on a similar model from them to the
Then there's the Optomoa BigVizion which is ... amazing? Awesome? Killer!! Check this baby out... BigVizion
Anyway you look at it, burn in is going to be a factor with a plasma, the bulbs will go in a projector, and you will get ghost images on an LCD with constant "dashboard" displays like the start menu. I do know that the panasonic LCD's have this "true black" thing, where in the blank pass in a progressive display mode, it does a black fill of the screen, so that when you go from say a dark room scene, to a snow scene to a dark room scene, the black is as black as possible when switching color brightness that way. It's hard to choose, but those are my pics anyway, I like them and I have been looking around for a product to beat it within the price ranges. $3,199 for the 61" 3LCD and $2,199 for the 52" is tough to beat for the brightness you get out of it. DLP's are a bit more money, but I do have to say that they seem to be a lot clearer on the 1080i than the 3LCD's, but they don't have the vibrant colors :/ So it depends if you're doing slideshows or movie clips heh.
HAHAHAHAHA So true.
The wierdest thing is, look at how many of the same type of movies come out at the same time... it's like the entire movie industry works together on topics (unlike games).
For example, when Twister came out, go look how many tornado and natural disaster movies followed. Or the multitude of "giant mutated rain forest creature" movies (aka Python, Boa, Anaconda)
so so very true lol
[quote]I think his main point is not that he thinks that WoW raises the bar on how good games have to be now.[/quote]
I fail to see how this is a problem. I see it as a good omen. It means that game designers will have to come out with better and more involving games that aren't MMO's that will kick WoW players in the butt saying "Hey this game is kick ass and better, come play it instead." and then WoW will be forced to raise the bar on the quality of their game, draw them back, and it goes on and on. It's the life cycle of the game industry as a whole.
It hasn't changed in basic concepts. The one with the better game draws the gamers. I for one used to play WoW, but I found another game that was more involving and I liked it more so I quit playing WoW...
You missed his point I think... He meant that it will BE a billion dollar firework in the sky... "boom" get it? :P
You know... wasting real money to make money? Don't you do that on a regular basis? You pay for gas, insurance, rent, internet all costs. You goto work, make money... The big downside to this... People will become stay-at-home gamers making money, becoming obese beyond belief :D Not much different than it is already becoming, however... ya...
Imagine the hacks that will arise out of this... If it gets put into place, you could potentially make $500 US in 24 hours by macroing :) Who wouldn't do that for a quick buck? You could goto work, macro, make $500. Who makes $500 a day at mcdonalds and whatnot? These are the people who are going to be playing. Teens. They can play the game, get money, then go spend it on other things. So they basically will have two sources of income (even those who are 10 can play this game, which is on the norm, lower than the legal age limit for working). This won't classify as "work" so anyone can do it, make money... it's quite ingenious... but it's not a new idea. Just no one knew how to do it securly... who knows, maybe "they" don't either :D
with Asterisk, you can't get much more geekier. :)
You basically get an expansion card, and you can hook it into a copper line (standard telephone) and a VoIP box at the same time, which allows you to send AND recieve calls using either or.
That way, you could actually program it so that she can call a 1-800 number for your voip phone from overseas, and the asterisk system picks up, and you can say: "To make an outgoing local call, press 1." and then it could do something like that... I dunno lol it'd take a bit of messing with but it CAN be done
If they put in the API, and you run say outlook express for windows XP or perhaps some other app that is designed for Windows only, does this mean that it will open up the Windows Flaws and virus' may run amok in a mac environment, which is one of the reasons a lot of people use macs, lack thereof of virus'. I don't know... Imagine if apple manages to put this into action, then it generates the ability to run a windows api without the inherent flaws with a base Windows XP/Vista installation. Would there be a mass influx of people switching to Mac's for their Windows needs, and how would this affect Microsoft... They'd probably end up having to license the API, meaning some income for Microsoft, but I don't know... :o it's a wierd situation and if it happens, I'd like to know how they're doing it.
Since the dawn of albums and concerts, there has always been people who blame high ticket prices on something. Be it, dubbing an LP to Tape or Tape to Tape, or you could even go into the other area of the world, go from Higher Movie Ticket Prices to VHS Copying and such. It's always been around, it's not really that it doesn't affect it at all, i'm sure it does in some form or another, but people will always goto theatres, always goto concerts, but you cannot say that because someone can download an album, that it is the sole reason for higher prices. I dunno, lame article, lame world... live it love it dump it and move on.