I can see why they'd be interested in doing this. Look at World of Warcraft, it sells like mad cakes because not only is it a good game, you HAVE to buy it (I know there are private servers but that means playing online with like 10 other people and content that hasn't been updated in who knows how long). Steam games do well too because you can just buy your game right through Steam and the required online connection is just natural to those buyers. If this was five or more years ago, I'd say required an internet connection was going to cost you more sales than piracy ever would, but not any more. This won't stop piracy altogether, but it will help a smaller company that relies on a consistent fan base to move their games.
Gold accounts will cost US$ 49.95 per year, and will add to the above the facility to invite friends into your multiplayer games, unlock multiplayer achievements, find gamers of equivalent skill using Microsoft's "TrueSkill" technology, and play against people on either platform in supported games.
So $50 a year to invite my friends to a game I'm playing, receive e-peen achievements, and play an FPS game against someone holding a controller? Sounds like a great deal...
This is an interesting comment as my wife and I subscribe to the Blockbuster delivery service and I've had to take Blu-Ray and HD-DVD discs off our queue quite a few times as my wife just adds the first version of the movie she sees. One time, she even had the DVD and Blu-Ray version of the same movie on our queue, but that's another story.
I'm not saying that Amazon shoppers are making obvious buying errors and that the disc has no right being in the top 10, more just pointing out that difference between DVD and the other formats isn't always obvious to non-techies.
Well, according to one game company, the average gamer wants in-game advertising. I'm not quite sure how I feel about this, as I feel ads are appropriate in some genres. Consider a sports game, such as baseball or soccer. In their real-world counterparts, ads are generally found lining the playing field. At a baseball stadium, ads are clearly visible right behind the batter, so that the camera is focused on them the entire game. These ads are generally green screen ads and are totally useless at the actual ballpark, they're only added during processing for the home viewer. Now if I was playing a baseball video game, and saw ads behind the batter, I don't think I would care that much. If I was playing a soccer game, and saw ads lining the field, I wouldn't care that much either. If I was playing a racing game such as Burnout, and saw billboards as I drove along, again, not a big deal. Ads are a real part of the "real world", and as games become more realistic, it's only natural to have them included, at least in my opinion.
Now ads are obviously out of place in certain genres or settings. If I was playing Counterstrike and saw an ad for Axe, I wouldn't care, but if I was playing Thief and saw an a similar ad, I'd probably be pissed off. If I was playing a futuristic RPG and some ad agency wanted to be creative and display an ad for Coca-Cola in the year 2500, I'd probably appreciate the fact that their ad was tailored towards my gaming experience and they went out of their to "enhance" the ad. However, if I was playing Final Fantasy 13 and saw an ad for Coke, I'd probably be able to read a rant on some message board complaining about how someone's gaming experience was tainted, and I would generally agree.
Anyways, my point is that ads do have their place, whether they're welcome or not. If they blend into the game well, then more power to them, let them advertise. If they stick out like a sore thumb, then I don't want to see them and feel I have the right to complain then. But as always, we have can vote with our dollars, and if you don't like in-game ads, then don't buy games that have them.
If only everybody has updated to 1.5. The middle tier of our online product where I work is running on 1.4.2 with just a rumbling of upgrading to 1.5. That upgrade probably won't occur for another year for various reasons that I'm not involved in. I think the bigger the company and the bigger the product, the slower the upgrading process is. I think some architects may even be fearful of 1.5, as I just joined a new project that is running on 1.4.2.13, and they started developing that just last November!
Anyways, Java 5 has some great features but nothing that is absolutely required from my department's point of view. Autoboxing is a nice feature that helps clean up your code, but nothing we can't do now. Same for the new for-each loop. I could go on but this has been discussed to death already. I would rather we just upgrade so we can start taking advantage of the new features and supposed speed increases.
Though it still requires a credit card, SuperCardStore ships from the UK to Europe and the US. I've never actually ordered from them myself but have heard pretty good things about their delivery time and service.
I totally agree with you. BestBuySux.org is a pretty popular and well known website detailing bad customer experiences as well as the typical ex-employee willing to tell all about their three month "job of hell". I go there every couple months to read up on the latest posts if I'm in need of a laugh (or a cringe) and I don't remember reading about this secret website very much, if at all. Actually, I would bet the very existence of this website keeps Best Buy Corporate from revealing much of anything of what goes behind the scenes to the typical college student selling computers.
In my opinion, for text driven games like Phoenix Wright or Hotel Dusk, the translation is just as important, if not more, than the plot itself. The translator for the Phoenix Wright series manages to fit in so much humor and pop culture that the game feels like it was targeted for the North American audience originally.
BIZ: A lot of gamers, including myself, enjoy the controller's motion sensing at times, but we still miss rumble. If gamers want it and are vocal enough, will Sony reintroduce the force feedback at some point?
PH: We have no plans to do so in the standard controller that ships with PlayStation 3. I believe that the Sixaxis controller offers game designers and developers far more opportunity for future innovation than rumble ever did. Now, rumble I think was the last generation feature; it's not the next-generation feature. I think motion sensitivity is. And we don't see the need to do that. Having said that, there will be specific game function controllers, potentially like steering wheels that do include vibration or feedback function--not from us but from third parties.
Wow, Apple and Sony sound more and more similar every week with stories like these. Products going for "five hundred and ninety-nine US dollars", company getting pissed at bloggers for leaking stories, what's next? Maybe someone from Sony will diss DRM. We can only hope.
More like the temp of the water is warmer since it's closer to the earth's crust? Why does it seem whenever you hear about something from scientists, they're trying to relate it to "Global Warming"? Cause it sells newspapers/magazines?
I think going the OTA route could be something you kick yourself for later. Hold your nose, bite your lip, and sign up for cable or satellite (I've had good luck and service from Dish...)
Wow, you almost sound like shill for the telco's with that comment. Okay, let's see.. a one time $30-100 cost for an over-the-air antenna, or continue paying that much every month until supposedly the day OTA HD won't be free and we can laugh at all those people who now have to sign up for cable/sat because their days of "stealing" OTA HD is over!
Slashdot Mirror
Interesting. Is it for privacy reasons? Security? Or are you just refusing to play it on those terms? I don't blame you either way, just curious.
I can see why they'd be interested in doing this. Look at World of Warcraft, it sells like mad cakes because not only is it a good game, you HAVE to buy it (I know there are private servers but that means playing online with like 10 other people and content that hasn't been updated in who knows how long). Steam games do well too because you can just buy your game right through Steam and the required online connection is just natural to those buyers. If this was five or more years ago, I'd say required an internet connection was going to cost you more sales than piracy ever would, but not any more. This won't stop piracy altogether, but it will help a smaller company that relies on a consistent fan base to move their games.
Maybe not aliens, but they have found something!
Or maybe Valve is just interested in getting the most out of the Source engine as possible, and DX10 allows them to explore and expand it even more?
So $50 a year to invite my friends to a game I'm playing, receive e-peen achievements, and play an FPS game against someone holding a controller? Sounds like a great deal...
This is an interesting comment as my wife and I subscribe to the Blockbuster delivery service and I've had to take Blu-Ray and HD-DVD discs off our queue quite a few times as my wife just adds the first version of the movie she sees. One time, she even had the DVD and Blu-Ray version of the same movie on our queue, but that's another story.
I'm not saying that Amazon shoppers are making obvious buying errors and that the disc has no right being in the top 10, more just pointing out that difference between DVD and the other formats isn't always obvious to non-techies.
18 characters with varying case throughout? At that point I'd have to write it on a post-it.
... that two college students think they're smarter than a bunch of politicians?
Now ads are obviously out of place in certain genres or settings. If I was playing Counterstrike and saw an ad for Axe, I wouldn't care, but if I was playing Thief and saw an a similar ad, I'd probably be pissed off. If I was playing a futuristic RPG and some ad agency wanted to be creative and display an ad for Coca-Cola in the year 2500, I'd probably appreciate the fact that their ad was tailored towards my gaming experience and they went out of their to "enhance" the ad. However, if I was playing Final Fantasy 13 and saw an ad for Coke, I'd probably be able to read a rant on some message board complaining about how someone's gaming experience was tainted, and I would generally agree.
Anyways, my point is that ads do have their place, whether they're welcome or not. If they blend into the game well, then more power to them, let them advertise. If they stick out like a sore thumb, then I don't want to see them and feel I have the right to complain then. But as always, we have can vote with our dollars, and if you don't like in-game ads, then don't buy games that have them.
I live in Minnesota you insensitive clod!
Ignorance... I can't find that on the drop down list. Any help?
If only everybody has updated to 1.5. The middle tier of our online product where I work is running on 1.4.2 with just a rumbling of upgrading to 1.5. That upgrade probably won't occur for another year for various reasons that I'm not involved in. I think the bigger the company and the bigger the product, the slower the upgrading process is. I think some architects may even be fearful of 1.5, as I just joined a new project that is running on 1.4.2.13, and they started developing that just last November!
Anyways, Java 5 has some great features but nothing that is absolutely required from my department's point of view. Autoboxing is a nice feature that helps clean up your code, but nothing we can't do now. Same for the new for-each loop. I could go on but this has been discussed to death already. I would rather we just upgrade so we can start taking advantage of the new features and supposed speed increases.
Yeah... it's more of a British prison island, right?
I would suggest tagging the article nubbins for just that reason.
Though it still requires a credit card, SuperCardStore ships from the UK to Europe and the US. I've never actually ordered from them myself but have heard pretty good things about their delivery time and service.
But does it come with a 25 game CD of the best DS homebrew games?
I totally agree with you. BestBuySux.org is a pretty popular and well known website detailing bad customer experiences as well as the typical ex-employee willing to tell all about their three month "job of hell". I go there every couple months to read up on the latest posts if I'm in need of a laugh (or a cringe) and I don't remember reading about this secret website very much, if at all. Actually, I would bet the very existence of this website keeps Best Buy Corporate from revealing much of anything of what goes behind the scenes to the typical college student selling computers.
In my opinion, for text driven games like Phoenix Wright or Hotel Dusk, the translation is just as important, if not more, than the plot itself. The translator for the Phoenix Wright series manages to fit in so much humor and pop culture that the game feels like it was targeted for the North American audience originally.
That would have been a lot more work just to get some +Funnies.
BIZ: A lot of gamers, including myself, enjoy the controller's motion sensing at times, but we still miss rumble. If gamers want it and are vocal enough, will Sony reintroduce the force feedback at some point?
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PH: We have no plans to do so in the standard controller that ships with PlayStation 3. I believe that the Sixaxis controller offers game designers and developers far more opportunity for future innovation than rumble ever did. Now, rumble I think was the last generation feature; it's not the next-generation feature. I think motion sensitivity is. And we don't see the need to do that. Having said that, there will be specific game function controllers, potentially like steering wheels that do include vibration or feedback function--not from us but from third parties.
http://biz.gamedaily.com/industry/feature/?id=153
perl will take care of this...
@files = ("terrorist_watch_list.txt", "no_fly.doc", "fbi_persons_of_interest_list.ppt");
foreach $file (@files) {
unlink($file);
}
Wow, Apple and Sony sound more and more similar every week with stories like these. Products going for "five hundred and ninety-nine US dollars", company getting pissed at bloggers for leaking stories, what's next? Maybe someone from Sony will diss DRM. We can only hope.
Reverse hacker? As in rekcah? Sounds like a good tag!
It not only sells newspapers, it wins Oscars!
Wow, you almost sound like shill for the telco's with that comment. Okay, let's see.. a one time $30-100 cost for an over-the-air antenna, or continue paying that much every month until supposedly the day OTA HD won't be free and we can laugh at all those people who now have to sign up for cable/sat because their days of "stealing" OTA HD is over!