I guess we'll have to just agree to disagree; I find that the shooting in Metroid, once you get used to it, becomes second nature, and it's a lot more satisfying for me to add that extra level of interactivity in the game. I certainly don't feel it takes away from the adventure aspect, just adds another layer to it with a little patience. As far as OoT is concerned, to me and every other Zelda fan I know, the Z-lock inhibits advanced gameplay by creating an extra mechanical action while targeting; with it on you have to hit the button three times to change targets. It's good for beginners because it helps them stay on a target until it's defeated, however when you need to quickly switch between targets or position the camera during combat, it is extremely prohibitive.
On a different note, another reason I think the Metroid controls trump at least other FPSs on consoles is the simple fact that you can aim while doing other actions. I was so damn pissed when I realized while playing HL2 on the 360 that I had to move my finger off the stick just to jump or duck, and then it occurred to me that you can't jump, duck and aim all at once in any FPS on a console, and they're simply designed from the ground up to work around this. I think that sucks balls, but Metroid Prime: Corruption changed that and I hope other developers learn from it. Sorry if I sounded like a jerk before, the GP just got me (a Nintendo fanboi) a little fired up by bashing Metroid.
While I've been know to aggressively lash out at close friends for even positing the idea that a controller comes anywhere close to the accuracy and functionality of a mouse and keyboard, I have to disagree with you here. First off, who the hell plays that game with Z-lock on? It's like playing OoT with Z-Lock on; sure if you've never played a video game before it can be helpful, but it's more satisfying to actually become skilled at something like that; which brings me to my main point; when you become very familiar with the Wiimote-controls for Metroid Prime, the potential is greater than a mouse. I play Half-life through once a month on hard using only the pistol until I get to the giant testicle boss, I play CS, I play Unreal... I'm not some jackass who doesn't love his mouse, but to completely dismiss the Wiimote's potential like that just seems to me to be a little flippant.
You are absolutely correct, you can use a Linux live CD, a BartPE disc, the Windows install disc, whatever you have that can access an NTFS partition. It's a pretty easy procedure, the equivalent of rewriting a grub config file, just need to know the %windir% folder and installed partition. Brick is definitely not an accurate description.
The guy is asking a question because he's apparently new to the business and wants some sage advice from people like you who know what they're doing. People aren't born with this information, the only way to get it is either to screw up or ask somebody, and he decided that it was a good idea to ask first. Frankly (if that is your real name), however, I wouldn't put much weight into your vague response even if it wasn't condescending and derisive.
Ah, makes sense. I just looked back over the article and I completely missed this bit the first time:
"It doesn't have to worry about the low-energy nuisance neutrons that are always all around us because it can only see high energy neutrons, and the high-energy neutrons carry almost all of the imaging information," says Lasche. I guess you would need some kind of water cooling facility and a lot of effort to get them down to an acceptable energy. Well, nevermind then, thanks
-Julius
While some gamma rays can be blocked from detectors, neutrons are much more difficult to conceal. In a lab test, the camera easily detected and imaged a source placed across the hallway, through several walls and cabinets. I'm not a physicist, but I do know that slow neutrons are easily blocked by a several common elements like boron and hydrogen (I know there are more, but it's been a while). Shields can be easily built with a mixture of boron and wax, even a Google search for "neutron shield" returns products ready to buy. I'm not in any knowledgeable position to comment on the effectiveness of this device, but if it becomes widespread, wouldn't it be trivial for a large, evil entity hiding smuggled nuclear materials to invest in more shielding?
FTA:
Each unauthorized reproduction of someone else's copyrighted text--their email--
represents a separate act of brazen infringement, as does each instance of email
forwarding. Is that really a copyright violation? How is an email copyrighted? I thought something has to pass through the copyright offices in the basement of the LoC to actually have a copyright.
But I want to carry around a single device. I have my cigs, keys and change in the right pocket, wallet in the back, and phone in the left. There's no room for a PSP or DS. I'm one of those guys who actually does like it when companies cram as much shit into a device as possible, I just like having one thing for many functions. After I put Linux on my Ipod and played Doom on it, I couldn't stand to not have it on there. A lot of companies try the whole multifunction approach, and Palm certainly didn't do too well with the 700wx (not saying I don't love it though), but I feel like Nintendo could make a great product. Still not sure if I really want Nintendo to actually do it though; they make video games, and I'd hate to see them waste their creative energy on something other than that.
I guess I see why you wouldn't want to play games on a phone, but some people like it and do it. I have a 2gig SD card in my Treo 750wx with a ton of NES ROMs (All of games that I actually own, of course) and I play them with PocketNES or Morphgear. They look fantastic, they play at full speed with no hiccups, have full sound support, and by changing around the button bindings, they are actually very playable. I've beaten MegaMan 2 like five times on that thing, beaten Metroid, and run a good number of other games. I fucking love it, wherever I am I can just take out my phone and play NES, freaking awesome. I would love to be able to play SNES games or DS games on it (SNES is choppy on the 700wx), it would be the ultimate phone for me.
I don't get your point about the buttons very well either, since that is exactly the thing that Nintendo would be working out were they to release a phone. Of course they're not going to just tack on a d-pad or make you use a shitty number pad, or just stick a phone inside a DS case, it's Nintendo, the whole point of them making a phone in the first place would be to come up with some kind of interface that works for phones and games. You're talking about this theoretical phone as if they're just going to take a bunch of off-the-shelf parts, stick them together with Windows Mobile and call it the Nintelephone (which they should call it anyway). I have full faith that if they were to design a phone, they would address all of your issues with playing games on current mobile platforms (because I am a fanboi t00l and I 43 Nin7endoz).
We'll just have to agree to disagree. I believe that this generation isn't any larger of a step from the previous generation than there has been in the past. I think you're missing my point, which is that the Wii offers something unique and new; in my opinion what they have done simply doesn't fall into the category of an incremental improvement. Was the switch from 2-D to 3-D an incremental improvement? They have made the same kind of leap with input devices. What you are talking about, in my eyes, just is not new; every single little thing you mentioned has been done before on previous consoles or PC. Of course it changes gameplay, it theoretically improves it, but that doesn't make it anything other than an incremental change. I think I'm also missing your point, which from my understanding is something along the lines of "Assassin's Creed is next-gen because it does extremely advanced things that make use of incredible amounts of computing power; allowing gameplay that wasn't possible before." I think you are incorrect on the last point, just look at Half-Life 2! HL2 still has the most advanced physics system and most physically interactive environment almost four years after it was released. Are you saying that better AI is more of a leap and changes gameplay more than going from "A Link to the Past" to "Ocarina of Time?" The leaps that the 360 and PS3 takes are not even in the same ballpark of "gameplay-changing-ness" as the N64 was. Now I'm not saying I'm anything other than a total Nintendo fanboy that follows the company blindly wherever they go, but I think that what you are saying just isn't accurate. Eventually games will be photorealistic, but it's not going to be a console release that suddenly just makes everything photorealistic - we will get there gradually the same way we've gotten where we are today; by building on the past, and every now and then, something truly new will come along and get added to the mix. Will Wright simply used the phrase "next-gen" in a weird way, I think his point is still valid.
that extra computing power can go towards smarter AI, larger level design (for example, compare the size of the levels and objects on screen in Beautiful Katamari to the first three Katamari games.)...it's similar to CGI in movies...it is allowing us to achieve things in movies that were previously nigh-impossible. How are the things you mentioned not "incremental improvements?" All of the aspects of video games you just mentioned have been around since Doom, they've just gotten better ever since then... incrementally. Motion control, in the sense that the Wii has it, is new, as in never been done before in a console. What can you do on the 360 and PS3 that you can't do on a PC? Nothing. What about on the Wii?
Maybe the wording he's using is a little off; "next gen" has always meant "incremental improvements" over a wide array of features and capabilities. But "next gen" in the context that Will Wright seems to be using it truly does only describe the Wii.
Delete the clientRegistry.blob file in your Steam directory with steam exited; this problem has been around since Steam was in beta. Unless, of course, you are correct and it just hasn't been reported on the HL fan sites or any of the tech news sites.
The best part of the Orange Box, for me, was having my Halo-only, PC-games-bashing, unbeliever friends play through the Valve content and absolutely loving it as much as I told them they would. It irks me so bad that there is such a huge Halo fanbase; it's a good game, no doubt, but the Valve games are just on a whole different level, and there are so many people who would just never play them because it wasn't Halo and it wasn't on a console.
Not even close to what I mean; HL:Source is the original Half-life game assets ported over directly into the Source Engine, the only changes are that it runs much better, has the source water and physics, and a couple of shiny, basic shaders on some of the textures. It looks the same as Half-life, but if you're going to replay it, now you can do it in Source. I'm talking about exactly what I said before, redoing the game; new models, new textures, all of the new Source goodies from the latest episode, new AI, redone maps... everything. Like I said before, there is a team working on this, it's called Black Mesa http://www.blackmesasource.com/, and it's exactly what I want and what I think a lot of other Half-life junkies want.
Are you kidding me? I would kill for Half-life to look like Half-Life 2. I play through Half-life I'd say about four or five times a year, I just love that goddamn game, and to play through it with all of the graphical and AI goodness of Half-life 2 would just be insanely enjoyable. Half-Life is a thoroughly different game than Half-Life 2, the same way the Twilight Princess is different than Ocarina of Time; I want to see my favorite places and favorite scenes redone and better looking, and there is no way you could ever cast any kind of doubt in my mind about that, no matter how much you think that Mario 64 is Super Mario Brothers redone. Good thing there's been a mod team working on an updated Half-Life for a couple of years. freaking awesome
all it cares it the communication protocol (IDE, scsi, sata etc) That's exactly what I'm saying and why I asked. Judging from the article, it seems apparent that they're not IDE, SCSI, USB, SATA, or any of the current standard interfaces; they are attached through the PCIe bus. I remember when USB storage devices first came out that it took a little while for BIOS manufacturers to support booting from them, yet the OSs had no trouble using them. Support for storage devices these days seems to start at the software level, and trickle back down to the hardware level for things like booting. Then again, it could have it's own BIOS, like SATA controllers and PCI disk controllers - I guess I really wasn't thinking too hard when I asked the question. The points the other replies bring up, however, makes my question pretty meaningless also; I see now that it wouldn't really serve too much of a purpose booting from them anyway, and I really didn't consider the price point too much. I'm sure by the time they're affordable, BIOS support will exist for them if it doesn't already anyways.
I can't find any mention in the article of whether you'll be able to boot from them with current BIOSs. Surely any system they'll be in will have a decent amount of RAM for the OS, but it would be pretty cool solely for the fast boot times.
Why can't it keep the nerdy, hackable kernel and go mainstream at the same time? I though that was the reason why we have different distributions; obviously not everyone's going to be happy with Gentoo, luckily the casual user has Ubuntu and Linspire, and us network admins have our server distros. Do these people really have this George Lucas kind of power over the things they have released to the public, or is the community in the driver's seat enough to keep it working for everyone? I feel like it certainly leans more to the latter, although I guess I'm pretty far removed from the development process.
I have all my old consoles still, and I play them about 25% of the time I'd say, but only a select few games that I just absolutely love playing, like Megaman 2, Metroid, LoZ, Lolo, and a couple others. There's something so attractive and moving about the simplicity of them visually, combined with the superb level design that just touches me in an extremely meaningful way. The music is also something that I love, it's so pure, no overtones and no human elements to make it imperfect, simple sounds juxtaposed against extremely complex musical arrangements; I actually ripped all my favorite NES music into.wav and listen to it in my car on a regular basis (Maniac Mansion gets me pumped when I'm driving). So the original 2D has this dichotomy of simplicity and complexity that makes it extremely unique and highly enjoyable, but the 3D games like Metroid Prime and Ocarina of Time just have so much depth to both the gameplay and the visuals that they just work for me. Obviously it's not the same type of enjoyment as the old ones, but that's why I keep them around. The 3D ones, I feel, have the same attention to detail and reflect just as much effort as the 2Ds, the only difference is that the incredible effort put into them can be directed into more areas of design and with greater depth than before. It's like eating a meal from the best chef in the world made from only 6 ingredients as opposed to a meal made by the best chef in the world with 20 ingredients; they'll both be the best meals you've ever had, but of course they'll be different.
The original idea actually was to have the servos around the waist on a belt, however I came to the conclusion that there just wasn't enough sensitivity in that area to make it useful. The next time I see a LaForge style visor though...:)
I made almost exactly the same thing at Towson University last semester with a research grant. I have a Daventech SRF04 ultrasonic rangefinder mounted on a baseball cap which is polled by an Acroname Brainstem PIC module. That data is averaged over a short time and sent out to a servo that is strapped to the user's palm. The end result is that the servo presses against the user's palm with a pressure inversely proportional to the distance read by the rangefinder. It really does work very well, it's very responsive and it's not too dificult to at least avoid bumping into things. The only problem is that it's not in stereo; I would eventually like to add more rangefinders and more servos. The other problem is that the user has to move their head around constantly to get distance information; I talked this over with a blind friend of mine and he suggested that the sensor be mounted on the hand or wrist along with the servo, this way it's a little more intuitive and less cumbersome/dorky-looking/tiresome. I really wish I'd published at least something somewhere; when my advisor was talking about it (it wasn't my idea, I just designed and built it) I remember thinking "I can't believe nobody else has made something like this before." Ah well.
Slashdot Mirror
I guess we'll have to just agree to disagree; I find that the shooting in Metroid, once you get used to it, becomes second nature, and it's a lot more satisfying for me to add that extra level of interactivity in the game. I certainly don't feel it takes away from the adventure aspect, just adds another layer to it with a little patience. As far as OoT is concerned, to me and every other Zelda fan I know, the Z-lock inhibits advanced gameplay by creating an extra mechanical action while targeting; with it on you have to hit the button three times to change targets. It's good for beginners because it helps them stay on a target until it's defeated, however when you need to quickly switch between targets or position the camera during combat, it is extremely prohibitive. On a different note, another reason I think the Metroid controls trump at least other FPSs on consoles is the simple fact that you can aim while doing other actions. I was so damn pissed when I realized while playing HL2 on the 360 that I had to move my finger off the stick just to jump or duck, and then it occurred to me that you can't jump, duck and aim all at once in any FPS on a console, and they're simply designed from the ground up to work around this. I think that sucks balls, but Metroid Prime: Corruption changed that and I hope other developers learn from it. Sorry if I sounded like a jerk before, the GP just got me (a Nintendo fanboi) a little fired up by bashing Metroid.
While I've been know to aggressively lash out at close friends for even positing the idea that a controller comes anywhere close to the accuracy and functionality of a mouse and keyboard, I have to disagree with you here. First off, who the hell plays that game with Z-lock on? It's like playing OoT with Z-Lock on; sure if you've never played a video game before it can be helpful, but it's more satisfying to actually become skilled at something like that; which brings me to my main point; when you become very familiar with the Wiimote-controls for Metroid Prime, the potential is greater than a mouse. I play Half-life through once a month on hard using only the pistol until I get to the giant testicle boss, I play CS, I play Unreal... I'm not some jackass who doesn't love his mouse, but to completely dismiss the Wiimote's potential like that just seems to me to be a little flippant.
Chill out dude, he's just making a damn Rocky and Bullwinkle joke, just go with it.
You are absolutely correct, you can use a Linux live CD, a BartPE disc, the Windows install disc, whatever you have that can access an NTFS partition. It's a pretty easy procedure, the equivalent of rewriting a grub config file, just need to know the %windir% folder and installed partition. Brick is definitely not an accurate description.
The guy is asking a question because he's apparently new to the business and wants some sage advice from people like you who know what they're doing. People aren't born with this information, the only way to get it is either to screw up or ask somebody, and he decided that it was a good idea to ask first. Frankly (if that is your real name), however, I wouldn't put much weight into your vague response even if it wasn't condescending and derisive.
Uh, duh, they're environmentally friendly machines descended from the original Googlebot...
But I want to carry around a single device. I have my cigs, keys and change in the right pocket, wallet in the back, and phone in the left. There's no room for a PSP or DS. I'm one of those guys who actually does like it when companies cram as much shit into a device as possible, I just like having one thing for many functions. After I put Linux on my Ipod and played Doom on it, I couldn't stand to not have it on there. A lot of companies try the whole multifunction approach, and Palm certainly didn't do too well with the 700wx (not saying I don't love it though), but I feel like Nintendo could make a great product. Still not sure if I really want Nintendo to actually do it though; they make video games, and I'd hate to see them waste their creative energy on something other than that.
I guess I see why you wouldn't want to play games on a phone, but some people like it and do it. I have a 2gig SD card in my Treo 750wx with a ton of NES ROMs (All of games that I actually own, of course) and I play them with PocketNES or Morphgear. They look fantastic, they play at full speed with no hiccups, have full sound support, and by changing around the button bindings, they are actually very playable. I've beaten MegaMan 2 like five times on that thing, beaten Metroid, and run a good number of other games. I fucking love it, wherever I am I can just take out my phone and play NES, freaking awesome. I would love to be able to play SNES games or DS games on it (SNES is choppy on the 700wx), it would be the ultimate phone for me. I don't get your point about the buttons very well either, since that is exactly the thing that Nintendo would be working out were they to release a phone. Of course they're not going to just tack on a d-pad or make you use a shitty number pad, or just stick a phone inside a DS case, it's Nintendo, the whole point of them making a phone in the first place would be to come up with some kind of interface that works for phones and games. You're talking about this theoretical phone as if they're just going to take a bunch of off-the-shelf parts, stick them together with Windows Mobile and call it the Nintelephone (which they should call it anyway). I have full faith that if they were to design a phone, they would address all of your issues with playing games on current mobile platforms (because I am a fanboi t00l and I 43 Nin7endoz).
I predict that ET on the Virtual Console is going to eat up all the hype. It might even be the biggest entertainment launch in history.
Dude, Mac users are just getting this kind of functionality? Come on, we've had that feature in Windows for years...
We'll just have to agree to disagree. I believe that this generation isn't any larger of a step from the previous generation than there has been in the past. I think you're missing my point, which is that the Wii offers something unique and new; in my opinion what they have done simply doesn't fall into the category of an incremental improvement. Was the switch from 2-D to 3-D an incremental improvement? They have made the same kind of leap with input devices. What you are talking about, in my eyes, just is not new; every single little thing you mentioned has been done before on previous consoles or PC. Of course it changes gameplay, it theoretically improves it, but that doesn't make it anything other than an incremental change. I think I'm also missing your point, which from my understanding is something along the lines of "Assassin's Creed is next-gen because it does extremely advanced things that make use of incredible amounts of computing power; allowing gameplay that wasn't possible before." I think you are incorrect on the last point, just look at Half-Life 2! HL2 still has the most advanced physics system and most physically interactive environment almost four years after it was released. Are you saying that better AI is more of a leap and changes gameplay more than going from "A Link to the Past" to "Ocarina of Time?" The leaps that the 360 and PS3 takes are not even in the same ballpark of "gameplay-changing-ness" as the N64 was. Now I'm not saying I'm anything other than a total Nintendo fanboy that follows the company blindly wherever they go, but I think that what you are saying just isn't accurate. Eventually games will be photorealistic, but it's not going to be a console release that suddenly just makes everything photorealistic - we will get there gradually the same way we've gotten where we are today; by building on the past, and every now and then, something truly new will come along and get added to the mix. Will Wright simply used the phrase "next-gen" in a weird way, I think his point is still valid.
How are the things you mentioned not "incremental improvements?" All of the aspects of video games you just mentioned have been around since Doom, they've just gotten better ever since then... incrementally. Motion control, in the sense that the Wii has it, is new, as in never been done before in a console. What can you do on the 360 and PS3 that you can't do on a PC? Nothing. What about on the Wii?
Maybe the wording he's using is a little off; "next gen" has always meant "incremental improvements" over a wide array of features and capabilities. But "next gen" in the context that Will Wright seems to be using it truly does only describe the Wii.
Delete the clientRegistry.blob file in your Steam directory with steam exited; this problem has been around since Steam was in beta. Unless, of course, you are correct and it just hasn't been reported on the HL fan sites or any of the tech news sites. The best part of the Orange Box, for me, was having my Halo-only, PC-games-bashing, unbeliever friends play through the Valve content and absolutely loving it as much as I told them they would. It irks me so bad that there is such a huge Halo fanbase; it's a good game, no doubt, but the Valve games are just on a whole different level, and there are so many people who would just never play them because it wasn't Halo and it wasn't on a console.
Not even close to what I mean; HL:Source is the original Half-life game assets ported over directly into the Source Engine, the only changes are that it runs much better, has the source water and physics, and a couple of shiny, basic shaders on some of the textures. It looks the same as Half-life, but if you're going to replay it, now you can do it in Source. I'm talking about exactly what I said before, redoing the game; new models, new textures, all of the new Source goodies from the latest episode, new AI, redone maps... everything. Like I said before, there is a team working on this, it's called Black Mesa http://www.blackmesasource.com/, and it's exactly what I want and what I think a lot of other Half-life junkies want.
Are you kidding me? I would kill for Half-life to look like Half-Life 2. I play through Half-life I'd say about four or five times a year, I just love that goddamn game, and to play through it with all of the graphical and AI goodness of Half-life 2 would just be insanely enjoyable. Half-Life is a thoroughly different game than Half-Life 2, the same way the Twilight Princess is different than Ocarina of Time; I want to see my favorite places and favorite scenes redone and better looking, and there is no way you could ever cast any kind of doubt in my mind about that, no matter how much you think that Mario 64 is Super Mario Brothers redone. Good thing there's been a mod team working on an updated Half-Life for a couple of years. freaking awesome
Good thing our congressional library has all those books.
I can't find any mention in the article of whether you'll be able to boot from them with current BIOSs. Surely any system they'll be in will have a decent amount of RAM for the OS, but it would be pretty cool solely for the fast boot times.
Why can't it keep the nerdy, hackable kernel and go mainstream at the same time? I though that was the reason why we have different distributions; obviously not everyone's going to be happy with Gentoo, luckily the casual user has Ubuntu and Linspire, and us network admins have our server distros. Do these people really have this George Lucas kind of power over the things they have released to the public, or is the community in the driver's seat enough to keep it working for everyone? I feel like it certainly leans more to the latter, although I guess I'm pretty far removed from the development process.
I have all my old consoles still, and I play them about 25% of the time I'd say, but only a select few games that I just absolutely love playing, like Megaman 2, Metroid, LoZ, Lolo, and a couple others. There's something so attractive and moving about the simplicity of them visually, combined with the superb level design that just touches me in an extremely meaningful way. The music is also something that I love, it's so pure, no overtones and no human elements to make it imperfect, simple sounds juxtaposed against extremely complex musical arrangements; I actually ripped all my favorite NES music into .wav and listen to it in my car on a regular basis (Maniac Mansion gets me pumped when I'm driving). So the original 2D has this dichotomy of simplicity and complexity that makes it extremely unique and highly enjoyable, but the 3D games like Metroid Prime and Ocarina of Time just have so much depth to both the gameplay and the visuals that they just work for me. Obviously it's not the same type of enjoyment as the old ones, but that's why I keep them around. The 3D ones, I feel, have the same attention to detail and reflect just as much effort as the 2Ds, the only difference is that the incredible effort put into them can be directed into more areas of design and with greater depth than before. It's like eating a meal from the best chef in the world made from only 6 ingredients as opposed to a meal made by the best chef in the world with 20 ingredients; they'll both be the best meals you've ever had, but of course they'll be different.
The original idea actually was to have the servos around the waist on a belt, however I came to the conclusion that there just wasn't enough sensitivity in that area to make it useful. The next time I see a LaForge style visor though...:)
I made almost exactly the same thing at Towson University last semester with a research grant. I have a Daventech SRF04 ultrasonic rangefinder mounted on a baseball cap which is polled by an Acroname Brainstem PIC module. That data is averaged over a short time and sent out to a servo that is strapped to the user's palm. The end result is that the servo presses against the user's palm with a pressure inversely proportional to the distance read by the rangefinder. It really does work very well, it's very responsive and it's not too dificult to at least avoid bumping into things. The only problem is that it's not in stereo; I would eventually like to add more rangefinders and more servos. The other problem is that the user has to move their head around constantly to get distance information; I talked this over with a blind friend of mine and he suggested that the sensor be mounted on the hand or wrist along with the servo, this way it's a little more intuitive and less cumbersome/dorky-looking/tiresome. I really wish I'd published at least something somewhere; when my advisor was talking about it (it wasn't my idea, I just designed and built it) I remember thinking "I can't believe nobody else has made something like this before." Ah well.