I have a fairly decent rig that I bought for gaming. I'd been absent from "hardcore" PC gaming for a while because of the increasingly *ss-raping DRM models that came out.
However, Steam seemed like an elegant solution where DRM works for you instead of against you, and Games for Windows showed promise to make gaming on PCs as coherent an experience as it is on consoles, so I went ahead and bought a nice rig that can play most games nicely.
While I've had some good experiences (Dragon Age, World of Warcraft, Guild Wars), I still get frustrated at times by gaming on PCs. I knew some games on Steam still employed SecuROM, but to the best of my knowledge I hadn't bought any. Well, turns out I had. I bought GTA 4 while on sale, and spent the rest of the afternoon and evening to get the game running. Turns out something was dodgy on the server end and it was solved in the end by a patch. It was incredibly frustrating as a consumer, though, as all I was told was my codes were invalid.
Another fun experience is Gears of Wars for Windows, where you actually have to install a patch to get the game running in the first place these days.
Today I installed Halo 2 to see how well it runs with my new(er) graphics card. Sound that breaks up during cutscenes, 5+ minute loading screens and a computer that more or less stopped responding was the result.
Add fun things like Bioshock 2 not supporting the 360 controller despite being a Games for Windows title, thus killing fun for HTPC gamers, Ubisoft and EA always online DRM and lots of similar things, and there's just no one place where gaming is always fun and no hassle. To be fair lots of PC games run well, but let's just not pretend everything smells like roses on the PC.
I've got all the consoles as well, and I have to say I get more fun out of them (and for a smaller investment) than I do out of my PC. I'm glad I have the option to pick and choose when I go games shopping, though.
On the other hand EA requires logging in to their servers for online multiplayer and they inevitably close those servers down sooner or later. While you can still play all other games on original Xbox Live (till they flip the switch on April 15th), plenty of EA games were cut off ages ago.
With Live there's no reason to require external servers, and oh boy do I wish Microsoft hadn't caved in to EA's demands that they be allowed to operate their own servers. It basically compromised the premise of Live, where you could always play a game online no matter what happened to the company, as long as the Live service stayed up. Also we'd probably have Links 2010 this year instead of being forced to play Links 2004 as that's still the last decent golf sim on consoles.
I really don't know which is worse (ok, Ubisoft is a strong contender), but EA definitely aren't perfect either. I guess the smaller developers that can't afford to enrage their fan community are the ones doing the best job (Telltale Games, 2D Boy).
It plays a fair bit - just like the 360. Just saying neither one is perfect. I certainly need transcoding now and then.
Re:Cheating
on
PS3 Hacked?
·
· Score: 5, Informative
Actually there is no longer any way to run homebrew on PS3, unless you manage to run it as BD-Live content from a disc somehow (like BluTV).
With PS3 Slim the ability to run "Other OS" disappeared with Sony citing costs to maintain the feature as the reason to kill it off.
The homebrew option was never really that interesting as (like others have pointed out) there was no direct GPU access and there was no option to VSYNC, which makes for horrible media playback.
While both PS3 and 360 have reasonable video playback features, we all know they come nowhere near the power of XBMC and similar solutions. If you only want one device under your television and would prefer not converting/transcoding everything, this hack might well end up being very useful.
I certainly hope to add XBMC functionality to my PS3, because now that the Slim is out, it's pretty easy to move around the house and hook up to and old device (easier than moving my 360s).
But I guess if Google were being a search engine only for warez and illegal content, they would be shutdown quite fast too. Even if they have lots of DMCA issues and are linking to illegal content, they are a general search engine and do what they need by law to remove such content (and fight for net neutrality too). But its obvious what is The Pirate Bay's purpose and why everyone of their users are using it.
Is it? I don't dispute that The Pirate Bay has a lot of illegal material (as do FTP servers, web servers, P2P networks), but it's certainly also a place that's used to distribute PD music, documents, free software and much more. It's one of the 'net's most powerful distribution platforms, so if you're an up-and-coming artist it's not a bad place to start.
With respect to the legal side of things I don't doubt that their mocking was a bad move, but since they were doing nothing illegal under Swedish law at the time of the mocking, I see it as cockiness and disrespect to people who did not understand this legal facet - not a lack of will to remove infringing works (even if the net effect is the same).
The Pirate Bay is a general file search engine with great amounts of legal software, which is why it's problematic that access has been blocked from several countries on grounds of "file sharing". The Pirate Bay has not shared infringing works, so there hasn't been anything to remove at the request of owners.
What bothers me most about this whole thing is not whether The Pirate Bay lives or dies, whether it's legal or not or anything like that. What bothers me is that rights owners do not understand one vital fact: The internet is the new TV/Radio. It's global and decentralized. They cannot control it, so the best they can do is offer a package that's actually worth the price. iTunes offers convenience for management of music, Steam offers convenience with relatively non-intrusive DRM, Hulu, iPlayer etc. offer ways to catch up easily (not that I'd know as none of them work here).
The reality is this, however: I cannot easily, legally rent movies and have them streamed to my TV over the net. Same goes for buying. I'm unable to purchase most eBooks because I'm out side the US. I have no access to all-you-can-eat music services like Zunepass.
I do, however, have easy access to illegal services that won't even take my money. I've been waiting for the industry to wake up since Napster, but so far none have provided me a service so I can give them my money.
At the end of the day I still end up buying a dvd/cd/bluray of stuff I want to keep, but I'd certainly much rather have a Steam for movies/tv shows streaming straight to my tv and a reasonably priced music service.
Industry? You out there? Money! Here!... guess they can't hear me over their own chestbeating though.
My old Sony-Ericsson T630 has been rebooting itself a couple of times a day over the last months (apparently known as the white screen of death). When I came home after celebrating the new year it was crashed in a rather spectacular way, though: The lights inside the keys were on, the screen was black and it responded to nothing at all. I had to remove the battery to get it going again. Since then it has only had its regular random reboots.
Actually no. I do buy games for it. I have more than I like actually (VC specifically - the rest you can always keep or sell). It's just a demotivator for further investment, but if a game came along that was sufficiently awesome I'm sure I'd budge.
Out of the games listed I'd only bother with Mega Man 9, Strong Bad and World of Goo (but they are giving that a full retail release in Europe and the Steam version works fine...). I find WiiWare to be very overrated - but of course it's a matter of personal preference.
I've enjoyed a lot of games on Xbox Live Arcade, a handful on PSN and I've actually bought one game on WiiWare. To be honest it's partially principle keeping me away from WiiWare. If I buy the games, decide to sell my Wii and perhaps later reconsider and pick up a new machine, my games will all have to be repurchased. Also what will happen if my console breaks down ten years from now and I feel like having a go at the WiiWare games?
(The same could be said about XBLA and PSN games as we don't know for how long the services will be provided, but on the other hand I'm actually playing those machines while the Wii gathers dust, so I'm getting my money's worth)
I'm sorry, but as an mp3 player the PSP gets a whole lot of hours. The 3-5 hours would more likely be playing a UMD-access intensive game with wifi enabled at the 3 hour mark and no wifi at the 5 hour mark - and it might even go a bit further than that. Yes, the DS has much better battery life as long as wifi isn't enabled, but the PSPs really isn't all that bad. When I'm playing on it I usually charge it every second or third day which is relatively acceptable.
Playing movies off a memory stick can easily get your some 7-8 hours and playing just music might get you near the 10 hour point - the screen doesn't have to be turned on.
I completely agree on the UMD issue though. I might buy a UMD movie if it's insanely cheap, but even after the price drop they are still to expensive.
The picture viewer isn't that bad really. It's ok for carrying a couple of your favourite pics around with you so you can show them to your family/friends. The same can be said for movie clips - which could be your favourite stupid web videos or short home videos.
The web browser is ok but not suffers from out of memory-issues on larger sites or with larger flash anims (like some Strongbad ones). I sometimes use it to surf a bit while in bed for a bit of late night reading. The navigation is implemented fairly well (though poorly documented - not to say not at all) and it's a nice addition even if it isn't perfect by any means.
I also think people are being a bit too rough on the PSP for its game selection. Of course many of the posts here praising games haven't helped since they've mentioned games that I at least find deeply uninteresting (typical console games really). I have a very mixed selection of games since I've received a lot for reviewing, but I have a small selection that I've chosen because they're decent portable games. Even a massive RPG like Tales of Eternia works surprisingly well on the handheld because of very fast load times and the PSPs ability to sleep with virtually no power usage.
I often use the PSP as a regular console though - that is not as a commuter or for a quick fix on the road, because the DS does admittedly handle that better. But it's nice to be able to bring the PSP to places where I know I'd most likely get bored without interactive entertainment (think internet-less places:-o) and have a good gaming experience. So I also enjoy the games that are a lot like normal console games. Load times don't mean so much on those occasions, even though I hate load screens as much as the next guy.
I think the PSP and DS supplement each other well. The DS offers both light and deep gaming experiences while the PSP tends to have less of the light titles. On the other hand it does have the versatility going for it right out of the box where you have to turn to homebrew or commercial solutions on the DS to get the same functionality.
Games like GripShift, Key of Heaven and Tales of Eternia complement the more traditional titles like Ridge Racers, Wipeout and so on for a pretty versatile handheld experience. At least it's working well enough for me - but I'll readily admit to owning far more DS games than PSP games. Still, the PSP has been worth its price for me in quality gaming hours.
Unfortunately I've heard the joysticks are of poor quality and they tend to break around the sound jack:(
It's a shame since the specs are very nice and I was considering getting one for a while. Heck, I still might in spite of the problems - when you know about them you can try to be more careful. After all it's not all that expensive.
Skype is fairly cpu intensive. However I'm sure something could be done. Metroid Hunters is going to have voice chat facility in the pre-game lobby online.
It is true that Apple aren't the biggest kids on the block, but they do have some important strings to pull (hint: Disney + the big five some of which also dabble in movies).
And yes, they don't have the last brick to the puzzle yet, but I have a feeling that when that brick comes out, the PS3 won't matter any more in that respect - kinda like what the iPod did to the music market. I may be wrong of course, but that's what I'm guessing.
Anyway, the next Mac Mini will be more than powerful enough for HD decoding, but I'm not sure the Mini will be the last brick - even if it is tempting to assume it. I think there's something else up their sleeve - possibly wireless. Possibly like Airtunes.
Well, they're up against a near-monopoly now in the form of Apple. I'm fairly sure we'll see more from Apple in the near future in the form of the computer as the digital hub - and they already have an extremely successful distribution system in place that's just starting to take off (sales are currently rising exponentially). And sure, having a PS3 in 100 million homes eventually will be a good foundation - if they succeed at that. I've got the Playstation and PS2 but so far I'm not sure I'll get the PS3. If they manage to get it to a reasonably sweet price, I guess I'll get it just because I'm a tech whore - the same thing goes for the 360 by the way - but to be honest I'm more excited about Revolution right now - it's a gaming machine and only a gaming machine.
Sure, Xbox 360 and PS3 will probably both be more powerful, but... I think the DS has shown that the gaming market is ready for something different rather than the same old thing. Sure, there will continue to be a market for first person shooters, racing games and so on, but I think there's a huge market just waiting to be tapped. Nintendo did it once and for the first time in years I'm genuinely excited about games. I'm also excited about the idea of the Revolution being pretty much the gaming console to end all gaming consoles. Six generations of games on one machine plus something brand gets my adrenaline buzzing.
At the end of the day Sony might do well, but I'm genuinely unexcited about the PSP. Sure it's pretty bling-bling, but it's basically a PS2. Where's the fun in that?...except if you're so much on the go or telecommuting that a PS2 makes no sense of course.
Sony's strategy does look good on paper, but I don't think they'll make it. To be honest I hope they don't, because when it comes to DRM and so on, they practically make Microsoft look like saints.
I think numbers will look somewhat better once the Christmas sales in Europe are added. It took Nintendo some time to get Nintendogs out here, but Mario Kart was also released recently and it looks like it has been a solid seller. The 1 million units number is based on numbers from June or July if I recall correctly. The UK has been particularly starved by Nintendo and local stores around here have a rather meagre selection as well. You have to go to a store like EB Games to find a decent number of titles on sale - in toy stores (where Nintendo usually resides around here) they only have the launch titles. Around here the DS is about as well marketed as the Dreamcast was, but it does seem to do rather well anyway - no thanks to the local distributors.
To put this into perspective, the DS sold one million units in the two weeks leading up to Christmas in Japan.
I believe this actually is in units sold as opposed to units shipped - it certainly fits with the Japanese sales statistics. Sony likes to mention the number of shipped units, but this number is somewhat lower than what I've seen from Sony recently, which suggests it may also be sold units. Well, let's hope it is for Sony's sake:-)
That's what Nintendo intends to change next year. The Revolution controller looks like the old NES controller and there's an add-on (comes with the machine) that adds a joystick and an extra button or two. The rest is all gyroscope. Hooray for simplicity. The Nintendo DS is also a wonder of simple controls (when the developers actually, you know, cared).
Yeah, the big difference between now and then is that you used to have your mates over for some gaming on the C64 and afterwards you'd go outside, meet some more friends and play soldier or basketball or whatever. Now you don't get the latter part much any more - i.e. the socializing. Sure it's there. Your buddies are right there on your contact list. But it's not the same (and no, I'm not saying people don't see their friends ever, but things have definitely changed in this respect).
Wing Commander and Elite have fairly little in common besides being in space. Elite was about trade and exploration and Wing Commander was a space opera with a lot of fighting. They appeal to quite different demographics (although I'm sure there are people who overlap).
My hands are so big, that the original Xbox controller was very comfortable, while the dual shock controller isn't. I have absolutely no problems controlling Mario Kart DS.
I couldn't help myself from smiling when I was racing a pink Team Peach muscle car in Ridge Racer DS, though. A game that by the way happens to be quite good, if you forget all about analogue steering and just play it like you would the Playstation game.
That said... I've got the new Mario Kart DS. And I have to agree that it is insanely good. I wasn't all that happy about the N64 version (liked the SNES one better) and never got around to playing the GameCube Mario Kart. But Mario Kart DS is deceptively simple - deceptive in the sense that it takes about as much training to play this game to the max as it takes to be good at Project Gotham Racing 2. I'm blown away. Believe the hyper. This time.
I can understand why some people are fed up with the classic Nintendo characters, but at the end of the day the games don't sell by the names and characters alone. First and foremost Nintendo makes a great game and puts their characters in there. Mario Tennis, Mario Golf, Donkey Konga, Mario Kart etc. are all really good games that just happen to have a Mario license attached because that makes them sell better. I do think they're overdoing it with the Mario Party games though... a proper milking. Is it 7 games so far since the N64?
Luckily there are visual styles that appeal to various types of gamers. I just like variation.
I wholeheartedly agree. Links 2004 is one of the best golf games out there. I also like Everybody's Golf, but that's the classic powermeter style golf. I have a feeling we can thank EA for this...
EA: "We'll get on Live if you kill off your superior online games" MS: "Are you nuts? They're huge for us." EA: "We're EA" MS: "... OK"
Microsoft did everything right with Links (their other sports titles were good too) especially the online tournament part. Well, when it ran the way it was supposed to and scores actually got registered that is ^_^
A new Links-game for Xbox with full tournament support etc. would definitely be a system seller for me.
I agree about the save game (and premium content + Live Arcade) issue. But I honestly couldn't care less about having the games or systems on display. I'm a gamer. That's why I collect the games - not because I'm a collector. I just want to play the games they are meant to be played (even if it's under perfect emulation). Their physical manifestation mean nothing to me. In fact I'd be perfectly happy if I could log on to some sort of public terminal and have access to my entire collection of games. I care about playing games - not about showing them to the world.
I'll disregard your slight trolling to point out how utterly pointless your post and point is.
Let's say we do things your way... I'd have around 35 devices. Oh wait, I do have around 35 devices hooked up to my tv (taking turns really). One of those is an Xbox. This is the largest console I have - only rivaled by the Neo Geo CD. Xbox 360 comes out, has a sleeker design, can stand up and generally takes up less space than the original Xbox. If this console plays the original games I can remove the original Xbox (even if I have to wave bye bye to my premium content *grrr*).
Once Revolution comes out I can wave bye bye to not one, not two but *four* consoles. That means the clutter of devices around my telly goes from 35 to 31 instead of 32 - where the Xbox would take up the same space as three of the other devices combined (NES+SNES+N64). Besides that the Revolution looks like it takes up even less space than the GameCube.
I fail to see how that is not a good thing for my situation. If I didn't have a huge stack of imports I could get rid of my Playstation, but I guess I'll have to keep that around. Once PS3 comes out the PS2 can be retired at least. Unless Sony keeps pissing on their customers (rootkits, patents to stop second hand games from working, sabotage of video cables (as on the PS2) and so on). I'd be quite happy to see fewer and fewer systems around my television while I can still play the games I have - prefereably by vendor-approved and certified emulation in hard- or software.
Slashdot Mirror
I have a fairly decent rig that I bought for gaming. I'd been absent from "hardcore" PC gaming for a while because of the increasingly *ss-raping DRM models that came out.
However, Steam seemed like an elegant solution where DRM works for you instead of against you, and Games for Windows showed promise to make gaming on PCs as coherent an experience as it is on consoles, so I went ahead and bought a nice rig that can play most games nicely.
While I've had some good experiences (Dragon Age, World of Warcraft, Guild Wars), I still get frustrated at times by gaming on PCs. I knew some games on Steam still employed SecuROM, but to the best of my knowledge I hadn't bought any. Well, turns out I had. I bought GTA 4 while on sale, and spent the rest of the afternoon and evening to get the game running. Turns out something was dodgy on the server end and it was solved in the end by a patch. It was incredibly frustrating as a consumer, though, as all I was told was my codes were invalid.
Another fun experience is Gears of Wars for Windows, where you actually have to install a patch to get the game running in the first place these days.
Today I installed Halo 2 to see how well it runs with my new(er) graphics card. Sound that breaks up during cutscenes, 5+ minute loading screens and a computer that more or less stopped responding was the result.
Add fun things like Bioshock 2 not supporting the 360 controller despite being a Games for Windows title, thus killing fun for HTPC gamers, Ubisoft and EA always online DRM and lots of similar things, and there's just no one place where gaming is always fun and no hassle. To be fair lots of PC games run well, but let's just not pretend everything smells like roses on the PC.
I've got all the consoles as well, and I have to say I get more fun out of them (and for a smaller investment) than I do out of my PC. I'm glad I have the option to pick and choose when I go games shopping, though.
On the other hand EA requires logging in to their servers for online multiplayer and they inevitably close those servers down sooner or later. While you can still play all other games on original Xbox Live (till they flip the switch on April 15th), plenty of EA games were cut off ages ago.
With Live there's no reason to require external servers, and oh boy do I wish Microsoft hadn't caved in to EA's demands that they be allowed to operate their own servers. It basically compromised the premise of Live, where you could always play a game online no matter what happened to the company, as long as the Live service stayed up. Also we'd probably have Links 2010 this year instead of being forced to play Links 2004 as that's still the last decent golf sim on consoles.
I really don't know which is worse (ok, Ubisoft is a strong contender), but EA definitely aren't perfect either. I guess the smaller developers that can't afford to enrage their fan community are the ones doing the best job (Telltale Games, 2D Boy).
It plays a fair bit - just like the 360. Just saying neither one is perfect. I certainly need transcoding now and then.
Actually there is no longer any way to run homebrew on PS3, unless you manage to run it as BD-Live content from a disc somehow (like BluTV).
With PS3 Slim the ability to run "Other OS" disappeared with Sony citing costs to maintain the feature as the reason to kill it off.
The homebrew option was never really that interesting as (like others have pointed out) there was no direct GPU access and there was no option to VSYNC, which makes for horrible media playback.
While both PS3 and 360 have reasonable video playback features, we all know they come nowhere near the power of XBMC and similar solutions. If you only want one device under your television and would prefer not converting/transcoding everything, this hack might well end up being very useful.
I certainly hope to add XBMC functionality to my PS3, because now that the Slim is out, it's pretty easy to move around the house and hook up to and old device (easier than moving my 360s).
But I guess if Google were being a search engine only for warez and illegal content, they would be shutdown quite fast too. Even if they have lots of DMCA issues and are linking to illegal content, they are a general search engine and do what they need by law to remove such content (and fight for net neutrality too). But its obvious what is The Pirate Bay's purpose and why everyone of their users are using it.
Is it? I don't dispute that The Pirate Bay has a lot of illegal material (as do FTP servers, web servers, P2P networks), but it's certainly also a place that's used to distribute PD music, documents, free software and much more. It's one of the 'net's most powerful distribution platforms, so if you're an up-and-coming artist it's not a bad place to start.
With respect to the legal side of things I don't doubt that their mocking was a bad move, but since they were doing nothing illegal under Swedish law at the time of the mocking, I see it as cockiness and disrespect to people who did not understand this legal facet - not a lack of will to remove infringing works (even if the net effect is the same).
The Pirate Bay is a general file search engine with great amounts of legal software, which is why it's problematic that access has been blocked from several countries on grounds of "file sharing". The Pirate Bay has not shared infringing works, so there hasn't been anything to remove at the request of owners.
What bothers me most about this whole thing is not whether The Pirate Bay lives or dies, whether it's legal or not or anything like that. What bothers me is that rights owners do not understand one vital fact: The internet is the new TV/Radio. It's global and decentralized. They cannot control it, so the best they can do is offer a package that's actually worth the price. iTunes offers convenience for management of music, Steam offers convenience with relatively non-intrusive DRM, Hulu, iPlayer etc. offer ways to catch up easily (not that I'd know as none of them work here).
The reality is this, however: I cannot easily, legally rent movies and have them streamed to my TV over the net. Same goes for buying. I'm unable to purchase most eBooks because I'm out side the US. I have no access to all-you-can-eat music services like Zunepass.
I do, however, have easy access to illegal services that won't even take my money. I've been waiting for the industry to wake up since Napster, but so far none have provided me a service so I can give them my money.
At the end of the day I still end up buying a dvd/cd/bluray of stuff I want to keep, but I'd certainly much rather have a Steam for movies/tv shows streaming straight to my tv and a reasonably priced music service.
Industry? You out there? Money! Here! ... guess they can't hear me over their own chestbeating though.
My old Sony-Ericsson T630 has been rebooting itself a couple of times a day over the last months (apparently known as the white screen of death). When I came home after celebrating the new year it was crashed in a rather spectacular way, though: The lights inside the keys were on, the screen was black and it responded to nothing at all. I had to remove the battery to get it going again. Since then it has only had its regular random reboots.
Actually no. I do buy games for it. I have more than I like actually (VC specifically - the rest you can always keep or sell). It's just a demotivator for further investment, but if a game came along that was sufficiently awesome I'm sure I'd budge.
Out of the games listed I'd only bother with Mega Man 9, Strong Bad and World of Goo (but they are giving that a full retail release in Europe and the Steam version works fine...). I find WiiWare to be very overrated - but of course it's a matter of personal preference.
I've enjoyed a lot of games on Xbox Live Arcade, a handful on PSN and I've actually bought one game on WiiWare. To be honest it's partially principle keeping me away from WiiWare. If I buy the games, decide to sell my Wii and perhaps later reconsider and pick up a new machine, my games will all have to be repurchased. Also what will happen if my console breaks down ten years from now and I feel like having a go at the WiiWare games?
(The same could be said about XBLA and PSN games as we don't know for how long the services will be provided, but on the other hand I'm actually playing those machines while the Wii gathers dust, so I'm getting my money's worth)
I'm sorry, but as an mp3 player the PSP gets a whole lot of hours. The 3-5 hours would more likely be playing a UMD-access intensive game with wifi enabled at the 3 hour mark and no wifi at the 5 hour mark - and it might even go a bit further than that. Yes, the DS has much better battery life as long as wifi isn't enabled, but the PSPs really isn't all that bad. When I'm playing on it I usually charge it every second or third day which is relatively acceptable.
:-o) and have a good gaming experience. So I also enjoy the games that are a lot like normal console games. Load times don't mean so much on those occasions, even though I hate load screens as much as the next guy.
Playing movies off a memory stick can easily get your some 7-8 hours and playing just music might get you near the 10 hour point - the screen doesn't have to be turned on.
I completely agree on the UMD issue though. I might buy a UMD movie if it's insanely cheap, but even after the price drop they are still to expensive.
The picture viewer isn't that bad really. It's ok for carrying a couple of your favourite pics around with you so you can show them to your family/friends. The same can be said for movie clips - which could be your favourite stupid web videos or short home videos.
The web browser is ok but not suffers from out of memory-issues on larger sites or with larger flash anims (like some Strongbad ones). I sometimes use it to surf a bit while in bed for a bit of late night reading. The navigation is implemented fairly well (though poorly documented - not to say not at all) and it's a nice addition even if it isn't perfect by any means.
I also think people are being a bit too rough on the PSP for its game selection. Of course many of the posts here praising games haven't helped since they've mentioned games that I at least find deeply uninteresting (typical console games really). I have a very mixed selection of games since I've received a lot for reviewing, but I have a small selection that I've chosen because they're decent portable games. Even a massive RPG like Tales of Eternia works surprisingly well on the handheld because of very fast load times and the PSPs ability to sleep with virtually no power usage.
I often use the PSP as a regular console though - that is not as a commuter or for a quick fix on the road, because the DS does admittedly handle that better. But it's nice to be able to bring the PSP to places where I know I'd most likely get bored without interactive entertainment (think internet-less places
I think the PSP and DS supplement each other well. The DS offers both light and deep gaming experiences while the PSP tends to have less of the light titles. On the other hand it does have the versatility going for it right out of the box where you have to turn to homebrew or commercial solutions on the DS to get the same functionality.
Games like GripShift, Key of Heaven and Tales of Eternia complement the more traditional titles like Ridge Racers, Wipeout and so on for a pretty versatile handheld experience. At least it's working well enough for me - but I'll readily admit to owning far more DS games than PSP games. Still, the PSP has been worth its price for me in quality gaming hours.
Unfortunately I've heard the joysticks are of poor quality and they tend to break around the sound jack :(
It's a shame since the specs are very nice and I was considering getting one for a while. Heck, I still might in spite of the problems - when you know about them you can try to be more careful. After all it's not all that expensive.
Skype is fairly cpu intensive. However I'm sure something could be done. Metroid Hunters is going to have voice chat facility in the pre-game lobby online.
It is true that Apple aren't the biggest kids on the block, but they do have some important strings to pull (hint: Disney + the big five some of which also dabble in movies).
And yes, they don't have the last brick to the puzzle yet, but I have a feeling that when that brick comes out, the PS3 won't matter any more in that respect - kinda like what the iPod did to the music market. I may be wrong of course, but that's what I'm guessing.
Anyway, the next Mac Mini will be more than powerful enough for HD decoding, but I'm not sure the Mini will be the last brick - even if it is tempting to assume it. I think there's something else up their sleeve - possibly wireless. Possibly like Airtunes.
Well, they're up against a near-monopoly now in the form of Apple. I'm fairly sure we'll see more from Apple in the near future in the form of the computer as the digital hub - and they already have an extremely successful distribution system in place that's just starting to take off (sales are currently rising exponentially). And sure, having a PS3 in 100 million homes eventually will be a good foundation - if they succeed at that. I've got the Playstation and PS2 but so far I'm not sure I'll get the PS3. If they manage to get it to a reasonably sweet price, I guess I'll get it just because I'm a tech whore - the same thing goes for the 360 by the way - but to be honest I'm more excited about Revolution right now - it's a gaming machine and only a gaming machine.
... I think the DS has shown that the gaming market is ready for something different rather than the same old thing. Sure, there will continue to be a market for first person shooters, racing games and so on, but I think there's a huge market just waiting to be tapped. Nintendo did it once and for the first time in years I'm genuinely excited about games. I'm also excited about the idea of the Revolution being pretty much the gaming console to end all gaming consoles. Six generations of games on one machine plus something brand gets my adrenaline buzzing.
...except if you're so much on the go or telecommuting that a PS2 makes no sense of course.
Sure, Xbox 360 and PS3 will probably both be more powerful, but
At the end of the day Sony might do well, but I'm genuinely unexcited about the PSP. Sure it's pretty bling-bling, but it's basically a PS2. Where's the fun in that?
Sony's strategy does look good on paper, but I don't think they'll make it. To be honest I hope they don't, because when it comes to DRM and so on, they practically make Microsoft look like saints.
I think numbers will look somewhat better once the Christmas sales in Europe are added. It took Nintendo some time to get Nintendogs out here, but Mario Kart was also released recently and it looks like it has been a solid seller. The 1 million units number is based on numbers from June or July if I recall correctly. The UK has been particularly starved by Nintendo and local stores around here have a rather meagre selection as well. You have to go to a store like EB Games to find a decent number of titles on sale - in toy stores (where Nintendo usually resides around here) they only have the launch titles. Around here the DS is about as well marketed as the Dreamcast was, but it does seem to do rather well anyway - no thanks to the local distributors.
To put this into perspective, the DS sold one million units in the two weeks leading up to Christmas in Japan.
I believe this actually is in units sold as opposed to units shipped - it certainly fits with the Japanese sales statistics. Sony likes to mention the number of shipped units, but this number is somewhat lower than what I've seen from Sony recently, which suggests it may also be sold units. Well, let's hope it is for Sony's sake :-)
That's what Nintendo intends to change next year. The Revolution controller looks like the old NES controller and there's an add-on (comes with the machine) that adds a joystick and an extra button or two. The rest is all gyroscope. Hooray for simplicity. The Nintendo DS is also a wonder of simple controls (when the developers actually, you know, cared).
Yeah, the big difference between now and then is that you used to have your mates over for some gaming on the C64 and afterwards you'd go outside, meet some more friends and play soldier or basketball or whatever. Now you don't get the latter part much any more - i.e. the socializing. Sure it's there. Your buddies are right there on your contact list. But it's not the same (and no, I'm not saying people don't see their friends ever, but things have definitely changed in this respect).
Wing Commander and Elite have fairly little in common besides being in space. Elite was about trade and exploration and Wing Commander was a space opera with a lot of fighting. They appeal to quite different demographics (although I'm sure there are people who overlap).
My hands are so big, that the original Xbox controller was very comfortable, while the dual shock controller isn't. I have absolutely no problems controlling Mario Kart DS.
I couldn't help myself from smiling when I was racing a pink Team Peach muscle car in Ridge Racer DS, though. A game that by the way happens to be quite good, if you forget all about analogue steering and just play it like you would the Playstation game.
That said... I've got the new Mario Kart DS. And I have to agree that it is insanely good. I wasn't all that happy about the N64 version (liked the SNES one better) and never got around to playing the GameCube Mario Kart. But Mario Kart DS is deceptively simple - deceptive in the sense that it takes about as much training to play this game to the max as it takes to be good at Project Gotham Racing 2. I'm blown away. Believe the hyper. This time.
I can understand why some people are fed up with the classic Nintendo characters, but at the end of the day the games don't sell by the names and characters alone. First and foremost Nintendo makes a great game and puts their characters in there. Mario Tennis, Mario Golf, Donkey Konga, Mario Kart etc. are all really good games that just happen to have a Mario license attached because that makes them sell better. I do think they're overdoing it with the Mario Party games though... a proper milking. Is it 7 games so far since the N64?
Luckily there are visual styles that appeal to various types of gamers. I just like variation.
I agree. I don't see anything wrong with trying to embrace/create an emerging market - especially if it means that it helps some people along the way.
Go on then. Put yours on display. Not just the ones you want the world to see. I dare you.
I wholeheartedly agree. Links 2004 is one of the best golf games out there. I also like Everybody's Golf, but that's the classic powermeter style golf. I have a feeling we can thank EA for this...
EA: "We'll get on Live if you kill off your superior online games"
MS: "Are you nuts? They're huge for us."
EA: "We're EA"
MS: "... OK"
Microsoft did everything right with Links (their other sports titles were good too) especially the online tournament part. Well, when it ran the way it was supposed to and scores actually got registered that is ^_^
A new Links-game for Xbox with full tournament support etc. would definitely be a system seller for me.
I agree about the save game (and premium content + Live Arcade) issue. But I honestly couldn't care less about having the games or systems on display. I'm a gamer. That's why I collect the games - not because I'm a collector. I just want to play the games they are meant to be played (even if it's under perfect emulation). Their physical manifestation mean nothing to me. In fact I'd be perfectly happy if I could log on to some sort of public terminal and have access to my entire collection of games. I care about playing games - not about showing them to the world.
I'll disregard your slight trolling to point out how utterly pointless your post and point is.
Let's say we do things your way... I'd have around 35 devices. Oh wait, I do have around 35 devices hooked up to my tv (taking turns really). One of those is an Xbox. This is the largest console I have - only rivaled by the Neo Geo CD. Xbox 360 comes out, has a sleeker design, can stand up and generally takes up less space than the original Xbox. If this console plays the original games I can remove the original Xbox (even if I have to wave bye bye to my premium content *grrr*).
Once Revolution comes out I can wave bye bye to not one, not two but *four* consoles. That means the clutter of devices around my telly goes from 35 to 31 instead of 32 - where the Xbox would take up the same space as three of the other devices combined (NES+SNES+N64). Besides that the Revolution looks like it takes up even less space than the GameCube.
I fail to see how that is not a good thing for my situation. If I didn't have a huge stack of imports I could get rid of my Playstation, but I guess I'll have to keep that around. Once PS3 comes out the PS2 can be retired at least. Unless Sony keeps pissing on their customers (rootkits, patents to stop second hand games from working, sabotage of video cables (as on the PS2) and so on). I'd be quite happy to see fewer and fewer systems around my television while I can still play the games I have - prefereably by vendor-approved and certified emulation in hard- or software.