The blocks in Tetris Attack wouldn't be any bigger. You can only make blocks so big before a 12-block-tall playfield won't fit in a 192-pixel-tall screen.
Right, but Tetris Attack was designed to be played with a D-pad, so the lack of accuracy of the stylus in the heat of the moment is irrelevant.
Meteos is pretty much impossible to play without the stylus. There is a setting, but really, there's no way you could successfully play with the D-pad.
Tetris Attack is now available for Game Boy Advance under the title Dr. Mario and Puzzle League. Or you can try a spiritual sequel to TA, which is called Meteos.
Hi there.
I have seen the GBA version at Gamestop, but it doesn't have internet play. My original post wasn't very clear.
I bought Meteos with my DS, but I thought the blocks were a little too small for the stylus and overall speed of the game. It was frustrating rather than challenging on the harder levels. A cool concept, though. A PC version would probably be a lot of fun.
"Crack Attack" is a good PC version of Tetris Attack. It's not head to head, but there's an online scoreboard. I don't play it at work, despite unfortunate rumors to the contrary.
And just like how people in the pub might not use gramatically perfect language, people on-line don't spell correctly. I choose to leave things more "Real". It's a stylistic choice.
I disagree pretty strongly about using 'nofollow'. People should be rewarded for submitting useful and interesting things.
So they can be rewarded by seeing their story get posted and enjoying the discussion that follows. Unless they don't really care about what they are posting, or the discussion, in which case they are gaming the slashdot system for no reason other than boosting their google ranking and site traffic. You think that should be rewarded?
Despite what people say in the forums, we do care. we do try. we do work hard. It will never be enough for a casual observer witnessing from the outside with no context from the inside.
You say similar things quite often, but there is no glimpse at the inside. There is no forum available for meta-discussions that don't result in death by moderation. There is rarely (in my experience, dating back to pre-user account days) responsiveness from any of the available contacts.
Obviously people want an outlet for this. Look at the number of comments on this article, man!
Why not let people look at the submission queue (for money, even!). Provide a meta-forum. Do a monthly "Ask Slashdot" with editors. There are lots of possible solutions to this "problem," and they are used successfully by a myriad of other sites...but there is a distinct feeling of a reluctance on the part of the slashdot editors to persue any of them. Instead the blame is shifted back onto the people who make the site what it is, and what it has been for the last number of years.
Instead we get strange "instant mods" and account kills. Spammy looking submissions. Slashvertisements (real or not).
You can cry about how it's never enough, but my god, people obviously love the site and want it to work better. The only solution presented is to leave. Be happy that you've created something great, but don't leave it to rot because you don't want to hear that it could be better.
I really appreciate that Taco would devote an entire story to this topic. Having this kind of feedback is encouraging because it confirms to us that the editors care for the system.
People have been griping about this for ages. The only reason they appear to care about the system now is because, as stated, it is taking over the entire comments section of the posts and is becoming impossible to ignore.
That doesn't seem like "caring." If you stop beating someone when they lose conciousness, does that show that you care?
Update a dozen or so users have made the same point: Simply wait for the same story to come from another user. If that was possible, I would do so. I'm really talking here about stories that are submitted just by one person. Part of why these users are successful is that they submit enough stories that they get a handful that only THEY submitted. I can't simply wait for someone else. That will never come!
Give me a break. That is such a lame excuse. 9/10 of the "offenders" posts are on every other news site on the net. It's not like slashdot is posting some amazing groundbreaking articles that don't appear anywhere else. If for the sake of argument, the tenth post these spammers submit is something extraordinary that will never come from elsewhere...here's the kicker...maybe you shouldn't have posted the previous nine articles from them that WERE submitted by thirty other people!
This is crap, Taco, and you know it's crap. Something stinks in Slashville, and you are panicked because the people who visit the site every day have noticed. Your "explanation" is equivalent to Bill Clinton's famous "I did not have sexual relations with this woman!" broadcast.
Take some responsibility. Man up. Have some pride.
I'm sure everyone is terribly sorry that doing your job might take up a lot of your time during the day. God, that's just terrible. The pain you must suffer!
My first exposure to gaming magazines was Nintendo Power and Sega Visions when they first came out. Now _that_ was marketing influenced games journalism. hehe.
Second Life has a lot of potential. There's a lot of interesting and creative people on it. There's a ton of cool things for coders and modelers to put together.
The engine is a piece of crap. Lag makes it unusable a lot of times. The promised fixes never come, pushed aside for pointless features nobody requested. If they ever upgrade to Havok 2, like they've been promising...well, forever, it might improve somewhat.
It's fun in short spurts when you feel like creating something to terrorize new people.
But Nintendo has always been a niche player, and that has been a good thing for them. They have exclusive rights to the Zelda, Mario, and Metroid titles, which have always been pretty compelling.
If you'd like to ignore reality then sure, Nintendo has always been a niche player. Their niche was originally dominating 80% of the market. The failure of the N64 and the flight of third party support for the Gamecube is what drove them to be a niche player.
The mantra now is that they just want to make games that are fun and that they aren't really competing with the other consoles. Frankly, they had better make some fun games, because nobody else is making them for their consoles.
[snip]
Frankly...Microsoft has focused on fighting and shooting games primarily. And many of their titles, at the end of the day when I want to have fun, are more frustrating or stressful than they are just plain fun. That is why I appreciate Nintendo. They make relaxed, often 'cute', and fun games. Nintendo is childish...but they are childish on purpose.
Sure, Sony or Microsoft might churn out some bad games. (Although the Jak series is better than any of the Mario games since the SNES days)..Nintendo churns out plenty of stinkers, too.
The difference is that the Playstation has volume and a huge number of third party developers. There has been practically nothing released on the Gamecube in the last couple of months. There can be 5 bad Playstation games for every 6 released, and they would still be on top of Nintendo.
Very well said, but I don't think consumers are spoiled by the developers with their BS graphics, It's more like they are blinded by it; they don't really know what a good game is anymore.
It's possible that different people have a different idea of what a fun game is.
It's even possible that your opinion isn't in the majority.
But that's the lovely nature of Firefox. The Mozilla Foundation can concentrate on building a better *browser* while leaving the API open to developers who want a little more from Firefox via Extensions.
That's been the lovely nature of pretty much every browser since Netscape introduced plug-ins.
had a terrifying situation where an unexpected interaction of two new prescription medicines sent me into a panic attack so severe it made me attempt suicide.
Har har! Overdosing on drugs and trying to kill yourself is funny!
Slashdot Mirror
The blocks in Tetris Attack wouldn't be any bigger. You can only make blocks so big before a 12-block-tall playfield won't fit in a 192-pixel-tall screen.
Right, but Tetris Attack was designed to be played with a D-pad, so the lack of accuracy of the stylus in the heat of the moment is irrelevant.
Meteos is pretty much impossible to play without the stylus. There is a setting, but really, there's no way you could successfully play with the D-pad.
Tetris Attack is now available for Game Boy Advance under the title Dr. Mario and Puzzle League. Or you can try a spiritual sequel to TA, which is called Meteos.
Hi there.
I have seen the GBA version at Gamestop, but it doesn't have internet play. My original post wasn't very clear.
I bought Meteos with my DS, but I thought the blocks were a little too small for the stylus and overall speed of the game. It was frustrating rather than challenging on the harder levels. A cool concept, though. A PC version would probably be a lot of fun.
"Crack Attack" is a good PC version of Tetris Attack. It's not head to head, but there's an online scoreboard. I don't play it at work, despite unfortunate rumors to the contrary.
I was just about to sell my DS do to ergo issues (which I've griped about enough).
I may have to keep it, now. I wish they'd bundle Tetris Attack with it. It was the superior game.
(And _not_ just because I'm actually good at it. Seriously! Shut up!)
And just like how people in the pub might not use gramatically perfect language, people on-line don't spell correctly. I choose to leave things more "Real". It's a stylistic choice.
*boggle*
BTW CmdrTaco to you enjoy re-reading the same posts in the first half of the next page?
Actually, what is the deal with that?
I disagree pretty strongly about using 'nofollow'. People should be rewarded for submitting useful and interesting things.
So they can be rewarded by seeing their story get posted and enjoying the discussion that follows. Unless they don't really care about what they are posting, or the discussion, in which case they are gaming the slashdot system for no reason other than boosting their google ranking and site traffic. You think that should be rewarded?
Really?
Thanks for the reply Taco.
Despite what people say in the forums, we do care. we do try. we do work hard. It will never be enough for a casual observer witnessing from the outside with no context from the inside.
You say similar things quite often, but there is no glimpse at the inside. There is no forum available for meta-discussions that don't result in death by moderation. There is rarely (in my experience, dating back to pre-user account days) responsiveness from any of the available contacts.
Obviously people want an outlet for this. Look at the number of comments on this article, man!
Why not let people look at the submission queue (for money, even!). Provide a meta-forum. Do a monthly "Ask Slashdot" with editors. There are lots of possible solutions to this "problem," and they are used successfully by a myriad of other sites...but there is a distinct feeling of a reluctance on the part of the slashdot editors to persue any of them. Instead the blame is shifted back onto the people who make the site what it is, and what it has been for the last number of years.
Instead we get strange "instant mods" and account kills. Spammy looking submissions. Slashvertisements (real or not).
You can cry about how it's never enough, but my god, people obviously love the site and want it to work better. The only solution presented is to leave. Be happy that you've created something great, but don't leave it to rot because you don't want to hear that it could be better.
I really appreciate that Taco would devote an entire story to this topic. Having this kind of feedback is encouraging because it confirms to us that the editors care for the system.
People have been griping about this for ages. The only reason they appear to care about the system now is because, as stated, it is taking over the entire comments section of the posts and is becoming impossible to ignore.
That doesn't seem like "caring." If you stop beating someone when they lose conciousness, does that show that you care?
Why is that you don't offer subscription access to the entire queue, ala TotalFark?
This has always made me wonder, but now I think we all know the real answer.
Update a dozen or so users have made the same point: Simply wait for the same story to come from another user. If that was possible, I would do so. I'm really talking here about stories that are submitted just by one person. Part of why these users are successful is that they submit enough stories that they get a handful that only THEY submitted. I can't simply wait for someone else. That will never come!
Give me a break. That is such a lame excuse. 9/10 of the "offenders" posts are on every other news site on the net. It's not like slashdot is posting some amazing groundbreaking articles that don't appear anywhere else. If for the sake of argument, the tenth post these spammers submit is something extraordinary that will never come from elsewhere...here's the kicker...maybe you shouldn't have posted the previous nine articles from them that WERE submitted by thirty other people!
This is crap, Taco, and you know it's crap. Something stinks in Slashville, and you are panicked because the people who visit the site every day have noticed. Your "explanation" is equivalent to Bill Clinton's famous "I did not have sexual relations with this woman!" broadcast.
Take some responsibility. Man up. Have some pride.
I'm sure everyone is terribly sorry that doing your job might take up a lot of your time during the day. God, that's just terrible. The pain you must suffer!
I can't believe that idiot comment go modded +5 informative! How come the best I ever get is +1 funny???
Because you touch yourself at night.
hehe. Didn't they give you a little paper wallet sized membership card? It's been a while.
:(
I do remember 1-800-USA-SEGA used to provide help with games. Sort of like Nintendo's game counselers, but free!
Poor Sega
My first exposure to gaming magazines was Nintendo Power and Sega Visions when they first came out. Now _that_ was marketing influenced games journalism. hehe.
It's probably great!
Second Life has a lot of potential. There's a lot of interesting and creative people on it. There's a ton of cool things for coders and modelers to put together.
The engine is a piece of crap. Lag makes it unusable a lot of times. The promised fixes never come, pushed aside for pointless features nobody requested. If they ever upgrade to Havok 2, like they've been promising...well, forever, it might improve somewhat.
It's fun in short spurts when you feel like creating something to terrorize new people.
It seems as though they are transforming slashvertising, at least.
But Nintendo has always been a niche player, and that has been a good thing for them. They have exclusive rights to the Zelda, Mario, and Metroid titles, which have always been pretty compelling.
.Nintendo churns out plenty of stinkers, too.
If you'd like to ignore reality then sure, Nintendo has always been a niche player. Their niche was originally dominating 80% of the market. The failure of the N64 and the flight of third party support for the Gamecube is what drove them to be a niche player.
The mantra now is that they just want to make games that are fun and that they aren't really competing with the other consoles. Frankly, they had better make some fun games, because nobody else is making them for their consoles.
[snip]
Frankly...Microsoft has focused on fighting and shooting games primarily. And many of their titles, at the end of the day when I want to have fun, are more frustrating or stressful than they are just plain fun. That is why I appreciate Nintendo. They make relaxed, often 'cute', and fun games. Nintendo is childish...but they are childish on purpose.
Sure, Sony or Microsoft might churn out some bad games. (Although the Jak series is better than any of the Mario games since the SNES days).
The difference is that the Playstation has volume and a huge number of third party developers. There has been practically nothing released on the Gamecube in the last couple of months. There can be 5 bad Playstation games for every 6 released, and they would still be on top of Nintendo.
Just tossing my agreement in.
It has pretty much ruined the DS for me. Glad to see I'm not alone.
Very well said, but I don't think consumers are spoiled by the developers with their BS graphics, It's more like they are blinded by it; they don't really know what a good game is anymore.
It's possible that different people have a different idea of what a fun game is.
It's even possible that your opinion isn't in the majority.
Naaaaaaah.
Do you think that any other factor besides price is the reason why Nintendo is selling more than Sony PSP?
Well, for what it's worth, the Gamecube isn't outselling the Playstation 2.
I'm about to sell my DS. Some of the games are fun but the large size and anti-ergonomic design keep me from playing it very often.
But that's the lovely nature of Firefox. The Mozilla Foundation can concentrate on building a better *browser* while leaving the API open to developers who want a little more from Firefox via Extensions.
That's been the lovely nature of pretty much every browser since Netscape introduced plug-ins.
Sheesh.
Pretty much every website that sells something suggests upgrades and accessories you don't actually need.
McDonald's does it with their super-sizing.
Guitar Center does it with strings.
Best Buy does it with extended warranties and cables.
Here's the shocking part. You don't actually have to buy all that crap.
I don't think I quoted anything out of context, but you have the superior post.
Kudos!
My god, man. Have you ever actually been to an airport?
The X-ray machines are right there in front of you when you go through security. You can see the screens.
GameSetWatch has a humorous look at [...]
had a terrifying situation where an unexpected interaction of two new prescription medicines sent me into a panic attack so severe it made me attempt suicide.
Har har! Overdosing on drugs and trying to kill yourself is funny!
I hate you, slashdot.