Actually, this has happend before and with a racing game Colin McRae Rally 3 made by Codemasters http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/driving/colinmcraerall y3/index.html had the 'feature' of calling a premium rate number to unlock some other cars. Effectively you didn't have all of the features unless you had dialed this number. Fortunately they didn't have that many different codes and so they all got posted on the net pretty quickly http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/driving/colinmcraerall y3/hints.html. It wasn't major but they were still selling a product for which you had to pay more for a complete product.
That they haven't given any price cuts for the US and Europe suggests that they will try a similar trick closer to release in those markets, to attempt to create some goodwill at the time time as the hype. Or they will just screw us over because the "fanboys will buy enough" principle may have more weight in the West. I dont know if that is true but it may be what SonyEurope and US Sony (not sure the official name) is thinking.
Perhaps because I dont buy many games I do take heed of the reviews, not necessarily the final score but some of the summary notes that give me a clue if this is the kind of game I want to play. If a reviewer does something like a FFS and says stuff like "lots of stealth", then I am put off, or say that it is manly about the multiplayer aspect then I am also put off. World Of Warcraft got a huge score and I was tempted, also by what other people were telling me, the reviewer did outline that the game was about a long level up grind and required alot of time, most people seem to like that, but not me.
I guess just like the review of films, it often doesn't matter to the profitability of films (some people are just dumb and will still go and see MI:III and then wonder why it was shit). Critics like everyone else have differing tastes but if there is a critic who generally seems to agree with you (In my case a Mr J Ross of the BBC), then you can be fairly confident that if he likes a film you will too.
But for me reviews dont matter anywhere near as much as demos, I cant say how many games I have brought and not brought because the demo suprised me for better or worse. I really wish that developers/prducers would release them more often. I hadn't really considered Call Of Duty until I played a level in a demo, I really thought I would like Rome:Total War but after playing the demo I decided against it.
I don't think anyone expected the DS to be as big as it has become. The same could turn out to be true for the Wii.
EA certainly didn't expect it, only a month ago/. posted a story about EA complaining to Sony about the failure of the PSP (and probably their wasted development). I don't think the size of the DS' success was as much of a suprise as the fact that they were able to find a new market for consoles (if only portables). I dont think Dr Kawashima's Brain Training, has been given enough recognition for being a killer-app. The DS and more recently DS lite was the console parents brought for their kids under the child lobbying of "it will help me learn". But it would seem that the weekday morning TV & broadsheet newspaper coverage, and parents having a go that they themselves are buying DS and DS lites. The parents and previously non-games playing adults are buying the DS, (I wonder if anyone is doing a demographic study of who buys it, I reckon a much larger proportion of female owners than other systems). Part of the massive success of The Sims was that it didn't just appeal to gamers.
If Nintendo has learnt anything from this it is that with less power, less overtly violent games, they can get a part of the public that Sony & MS dont consider. Judging by the marketing here (UK) they are doing just that, using Chris Tarrant (the middle aged Who Wants To Be A Millionaire host) and more twenty something women than men (always in bright, friendly environments), advertisng during the Friends.
Like many people have pointed out Nintendo dont have to 'Win' the console battle, they dont even have to compete, MS & Sony can have the Madden & GTA playing (teenage 20-something crowd), Nintendo will have everyone else. And make profit.
This person isn't in the military per se MIx workers are civil servants (and that is probably what a member of one would be offically) but they have still signed the Official Secrets Act (like all civil servants), and probably have signed much more resricted non-disclosure agreements. So yes, this isn't really anything to do with 'our rights'. Although he might argue that his are being attacked as just about everyone else, has released books, but only after the MOD has vetted them first. I dont know how many books have been forced to be edited as a result of the MOD reviewing the books of MIx bosses and SAS solders, but whenever they had misgivings (Andy McNab for instance), it just gave the book more publicity "The book they didn't want to you to see" and such like.
This guy probably has a really boring book, but now it doesn't seem so boring.
I guess if it works in the winter, then it should work better in the summer and in regions with more constant daylight hours. They are testing in conditions less condusive to their success, so if this works then they can be fairly confident that it will work in most situations.
I wont hold my breath, I really want the Wii, but I reckon it wont be out here (the UK) until long after I have stopped really wanting it, and it will be the usual "lets screw the UK" 1 dollar for 1 pound conversion.
I don't dedicate huge quantities of my time to gaming, so when I do I want it to be fun. After playing Burnout: Revenge for half an hour, I realised that I was going to have to go through the whole gradual-collection-of-cool-cars thing just like with Burnout 3; and that it wasn't going to be any fun doing so. So I stopped after half an hour and haven't played it since.
A fine example of why I think GTAIII and onwards are wonderfully made games. It is about fun, I could spend 15 minutes beating up cops or spend an entire afternoon progressing through some missions. Either way I had great fun. I have to admit that a game must provide a challenge, otherwise I might just watch a film, but it has to seem possible. Some games just give you that feeling that you might play one bit for days and get no further than the bit you are on, this is usually when I give up.
This could be fun for both good players who might enjoy and even seek out the opportunity to play the 'underdog' to a team with a numerical advantage, and for new players who risk getting frustrated and even bored if they're on the losing side all the time.
Great idea I am becoming more of a casual gamer and when playing HL:Deathmatch I get pasted so easily that it isn't any fun for me, some sort of league system might allow people to play at their level and also provide some sort of goal for the individual to progress to the top leagues. Fleshing out this idea. You would start in the bottom league(s) if you are not very good or dont play often and you would be amogst others at your level. If you are better than others in the league you would win often and easily and be promoted to the higher league, where you may be good enough and stay, winning some games, losing others or get so good that you are promoted to another higher league. Conversely, if you are in a high league and you lose too often you would be demoted to a lower league where those around you are more at you level.
If the system works, players would be usually amoungst players of a similar ability. Players in leagues could get the chance to play some handicapped games against those in higher leagues. Also there is an ultimate goal for the serious gamer to get to the top league and win games in that league along with the kudos of being in that league. Similar to leveling up I guess.
This would need to be supported by the server system in place because stats and status would need to be updated and held for each player, but it would give me a much better reason to play multiplayer games.
One obvious answer to that is - that people keep buying Microsoft because they do not think there is any other choice, through ignorance or for more simple reasons like the computer shop sells computers, the computers have Windows so that is what they buy. MS has a monopoly because people buy MS, people buy MS because that is all the shops sell. Some shops do sell Macs but most I know of don't, nor do Dell.
That isn't of course the only reason, but it is one of the reasons that help MS become a monopoly.
Calling to a mobile phone can be up to 20 cent or more, say 20 times more than a normal phone call
I never quite worked this one out myself, I think it has just been accepted without really questioning why. It is another reason why most of us (in the UK) have mobiles and text each other (although a simple text message can often turn into a big text conversation and end up being more expensive than just calling the person in the first place)
For ages, these same poor put upon privacy-deprived businesses have been pirating our personal information and trading it around
Not all of the people in a 'rollodex' are going to be businesses, many would be clients perhaps. I am pretty sure that in the UK if they aren't businesses then any unauthorised selling or distribution of that personal data is illegal (the Data Protection Act), not sure if that t DPA covers business data also.
In TA he cites the example of people who buy houses and enter themselves onto public lists/databases, as something justifying his site. But house ownership doesn't seem to me to be something that many businesses would do, so he doesn't seem to be precluding the general public from getting onto this list, which is very wrong.
If the system is just to create a 'super business directory', then I dont see why too many businesses can complain. It is just extra advertising.
For some films it is worth it, particularly comedy films as the people commenting are often very funny. Spinal Tap actually has an 'in character' commentary with the three main characters looking back at the time they were followed around by a documentary crew, it is like a whole extra film and is (unsuprisingly) very funny.
Sci-Fi Television network, decides to show a science fiction program.
Wow, I dont know if I can go on now, my vision of the world has changed so much. This shouldn't even be an article on a local version of/. let alone the global one.
Would this patent only cover American English, or would it cover Spanish (verb conjugation galore) or Danish (no verb conjugation at all) as well?
Having RTFA it would seem to me that the patent application is (probably deliberately) language non-specific. But just so you know, Spanish is used in one of the examples.
Isn't "is applying" actually the conjugation of "to apply?" There would only be one conjugation there, therefore only one verb infinitive "[to apply]" should appear.
Wow! a chance for grammernazism to be on topic. I believe that "is applying" is a compound verb of the present third person of to be (the "[he] is") & the present progressive of to apply (the "applying"). So I would say that the submitter got it right.
Now to whom do I have to write the cheque for this unauthorised use of verb conjugation?
Slashdot Mirror
Actually, this has happend before and with a racing game Colin McRae Rally 3 made by Codemasters http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/driving/colinmcraerall y3/index.html had the 'feature' of calling a premium rate number to unlock some other cars. Effectively you didn't have all of the features unless you had dialed this number.l y3/hints.html. It wasn't major but they were still selling a product for which you had to pay more for a complete product.
Fortunately they didn't have that many different codes and so they all got posted on the net pretty quickly http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/driving/colinmcraeral
That they haven't given any price cuts for the US and Europe suggests that they will try a similar trick closer to release in those markets, to attempt to create some goodwill at the time time as the hype.
Or they will just screw us over because the "fanboys will buy enough" principle may have more weight in the West. I dont know if that is true but it may be what SonyEurope and US Sony (not sure the official name) is thinking.
I think we can now be fairly certain they are getting performance pay based on patents approved.
Perhaps because I dont buy many games I do take heed of the reviews, not necessarily the final score but some of the summary notes that give me a clue if this is the kind of game I want to play. If a reviewer does something like a FFS and says stuff like "lots of stealth", then I am put off, or say that it is manly about the multiplayer aspect then I am also put off.
World Of Warcraft got a huge score and I was tempted, also by what other people were telling me, the reviewer did outline that the game was about a long level up grind and required alot of time, most people seem to like that, but not me.
I guess just like the review of films, it often doesn't matter to the profitability of films (some people are just dumb and will still go and see MI:III and then wonder why it was shit). Critics like everyone else have differing tastes but if there is a critic who generally seems to agree with you (In my case a Mr J Ross of the BBC), then you can be fairly confident that if he likes a film you will too.
But for me reviews dont matter anywhere near as much as demos, I cant say how many games I have brought and not brought because the demo suprised me for better or worse. I really wish that developers/prducers would release them more often. I hadn't really considered Call Of Duty until I played a level in a demo, I really thought I would like Rome:Total War but after playing the demo I decided against it.
I don't think the size of the DS' success was as much of a suprise as the fact that they were able to find a new market for consoles (if only portables). I dont think Dr Kawashima's Brain Training, has been given enough recognition for being a killer-app. The DS and more recently DS lite was the console parents brought for their kids under the child lobbying of "it will help me learn". But it would seem that the weekday morning TV & broadsheet newspaper coverage, and parents having a go that they themselves are buying DS and DS lites. The parents and previously non-games playing adults are buying the DS, (I wonder if anyone is doing a demographic study of who buys it, I reckon a much larger proportion of female owners than other systems). Part of the massive success of The Sims was that it didn't just appeal to gamers.
If Nintendo has learnt anything from this it is that with less power, less overtly violent games, they can get a part of the public that Sony & MS dont consider. Judging by the marketing here (UK) they are doing just that, using Chris Tarrant (the middle aged Who Wants To Be A Millionaire host) and more twenty something women than men (always in bright, friendly environments), advertisng during the Friends
Like many people have pointed out Nintendo dont have to 'Win' the console battle, they dont even have to compete, MS & Sony can have the Madden & GTA playing (teenage 20-something crowd), Nintendo will have everyone else. And make profit.
This person isn't in the military per se MIx workers are civil servants (and that is probably what a member of one would be offically) but they have still signed the Official Secrets Act (like all civil servants), and probably have signed much more resricted non-disclosure agreements.
So yes, this isn't really anything to do with 'our rights'. Although he might argue that his are being attacked as just about everyone else, has released books, but only after the MOD has vetted them first.
I dont know how many books have been forced to be edited as a result of the MOD reviewing the books of MIx bosses and SAS solders, but whenever they had misgivings (Andy McNab for instance), it just gave the book more publicity "The book they didn't want to you to see" and such like.
This guy probably has a really boring book, but now it doesn't seem so boring.
I guess if it works in the winter, then it should work better in the summer and in regions with more constant daylight hours.
They are testing in conditions less condusive to their success, so if this works then they can be fairly confident that it will work in most situations.
And anyway you want it to be a proper challenge.
I am becoming more of a casual gamer and when playing HL:Deathmatch I get pasted so easily that it isn't any fun for me, some sort of league system might allow people to play at their level and also provide some sort of goal for the individual to progress to the top leagues.
Fleshing out this idea. You would start in the bottom league(s) if you are not very good or dont play often and you would be amogst others at your level. If you are better than others in the league you would win often and easily and be promoted to the higher league, where you may be good enough and stay, winning some games, losing others or get so good that you are promoted to another higher league. Conversely, if you are in a high league and you lose too often you would be demoted to a lower league where those around you are more at you level.
If the system works, players would be usually amoungst players of a similar ability. Players in leagues could get the chance to play some handicapped games against those in higher leagues. Also there is an ultimate goal for the serious gamer to get to the top league and win games in that league along with the kudos of being in that league. Similar to leveling up I guess.
This would need to be supported by the server system in place because stats and status would need to be updated and held for each player, but it would give me a much better reason to play multiplayer games.
One obvious answer to that is - that people keep buying Microsoft because they do not think there is any other choice, through ignorance or for more simple reasons like the computer shop sells computers, the computers have Windows so that is what they buy. MS has a monopoly because people buy MS, people buy MS because that is all the shops sell.
Some shops do sell Macs but most I know of don't, nor do Dell.
That isn't of course the only reason, but it is one of the reasons that help MS become a monopoly.
I never quite worked this one out myself, I think it has just been accepted without really questioning why. It is another reason why most of us (in the UK) have mobiles and text each other (although a simple text message can often turn into a big text conversation and end up being more expensive than just calling the person in the first place)
Business and pleasure.
Ladies and gentlemen, the stereotypical American.
Pity him he doesn't know there is a whole world out there.
In TA he cites the example of people who buy houses and enter themselves onto public lists/databases, as something justifying his site. But house ownership doesn't seem to me to be something that many businesses would do, so he doesn't seem to be precluding the general public from getting onto this list, which is very wrong.
If the system is just to create a 'super business directory', then I dont see why too many businesses can complain. It is just extra advertising.
For some films it is worth it, particularly comedy films as the people commenting are often very funny. Spinal Tap actually has an 'in character' commentary with the three main characters looking back at the time they were followed around by a documentary crew, it is like a whole extra film and is (unsuprisingly) very funny.
Sci-Fi Television network, decides to show a science fiction program.
/. let alone the global one.
Wow, I dont know if I can go on now, my vision of the world has changed so much.
This shouldn't even be an article on a local version of
I believe that "is applying" is a compound verb of the present third person of to be (the "[he] is") & the present progressive of to apply (the "applying"). So I would say that the submitter got it right.
Now to whom do I have to write the cheque for this unauthorised use of verb conjugation?
Nice non-specific rant, I do enjoy the irony of someone called 'Lord Apathy' passionately demanding some action.
. . . "we are going to go to where the internet is really good."