In the case of the R rated movies, "can't" != "illegal". Minors are forbidden from entering said movies by voluntary theatre policy, not the law.
[nitpick]Illegal(Webster) is something that goes against rules or laws. In this case, they're breaking theater policy(rules), which can be described as 'illegal'.[/nitpick]
Ask again when you can walk into any Walmart, Target, Best Buy, Circuit City, etc and find them sitting on the shelves at any given time.
I guess I didn't have to wait to long to post this interesting comment. This morning (Feb. 19th CST), I was on Gamestop.com looking to see if they had any trade in specials. I hopped to the Wii 'console' page and got the "Sorry, due to demand... blah blah blah". I went to the PS3 page and I got "PS3 60gb $599.00 In Stock, PS3 20GB $499.00 In Stock". For those who always claim that "it's just hear say" that PS3's are 'sitting on shelves', they can go and to check that out online.
Of course, the real question is, supply and demand. Given reports of shipment rates, etc. I would guess that the Wii has a greater supply and there for greater demand than the PS3, given that they still cannot meet it.
However, on the aside about the Wii loosing it's appeal? Nah, It's still a great (S)NES 64, Genesis emulator... until something better comes along for the actual Wii. As far as Wii games go, yeah, it's slow right now, but this time of year always is. Though, this sentiment that the Wii is loosing appeal might be due to the fact that all I do read about in Game Informer are the new PS3 and 360 games and/or PS3 loosing exclusives to the 360. It gets a little saddening to read about an interesting game, and not being able to play it.
There's just too little for gamers to get excited about. The problem is, game developers are only starting to see the huge success of the Wii and are looking to develope a game... which can take a year or more to do. So, will the first year be good for the Wii? It will likely be slow. But year 2 and 3 will likely be great as the 'lag' in games catches up since people wrote Nintendo off due to the PS2's super success.
I least I don't have to spend 10mins blowing into my Nintendo cartridge to get my NES games to work. =P
Why pay to play a game, and then have a computer play it for you?
Funny because it's true. In actuality, such games are not so much about the 'enjoyment of playing' but the 'enjoyment of collection'. It's like when I was a kid and spend endless money on football cards. Sometimes obsessively so to try and get a special card from a pack, or go to 'specialty stores' to buy it specifically from someone else.
Like that, WoW and other MMO's are about collection or completing 'sets' of things. In this case, leveling your character to the level cap. Maxing out all their abilities. Sure, a Hunter might only use a bow for 99% of his play time, but this person will still max out their sword, 2 hand sword, axe, hand-to-hand, polearm, staff, etc skill.
They might NEVER care about the cooking skill, but they max this out too, because they have it and it's not maxed yet. So, you might say "yeah, but if you're still not playing the game, then you'd still have no interest in the game and therefor no interest in doing it in the first place.". That would be true as well. Most of this maxing out skills would be done for some of the tedious tasks that the person really doesn't want to spend the time doing, but has spent the time maxing out the stats that matter when he was playing.
Otherwise, most uses are simply for those who are trying circumvent the 'boring' process of acquiring wealth to purchase things that would allow them to enjoy the game. For instance, this goes to your second good point...
Second, if an RPG has simplistic enough mechanics that it *can* be played automatically, then it seems too simple to be interesting to a human.
Half of the game is fun, and not necessary for automation. That's the leveling/quest process. There's fun action/story involved in the game. When you reach the level cap, that's when the 'tedium' kicks in. My own example. I've recently hit level 70. Now, I'm doing the 'max out my skills' area or 'finish all the quests in my book' thing. It's the football collector / perfectionist side of me. I want that 100% completion rating kind of thing. Actually, I now find myself not caring to play as much, since I know all that's left is 'grind' with little accomplishment and I'm not looking forward to waisting my time maxing out my fishing or cooking skills again.
However, the parts I am interested in, where I now have to 'grind' out 5,200 gold to afford that epic flying mount, which could take weeks or months, would be a waist of my time as there's no enjoyable benefit for me. I 'could' just keep doing the quests and dungeons until I reach 5,200 gold, but that would take months if I spend no time focusing on making money.
That's when people turn to these automated programs (or for those who use them to sell gold on internet sites). The problem is not the automated program, but that people feel like they need automation to avoid waisting their time and to reach a point they feel comfortable playing again.
So, in your 2nd point, you've pretty much hit the nail on the head and that an game should adjust their development if there are automation problems. However, I think the automation problems are fairly limited to those who are using it to farm in-game gold to sell for real money. So, I think the amount of grind required for 'most' things is fairly reasonable with the latest expansion (I feel it was much worse before the latest expansion pack) and Blizzard has noticed the amount of unpleasant grind on 'some' things, but are keeping others due to the fact that it's just part of the business model to keep people playing and paying.
Blizzard believes that Glider infringes on their intellectual property.
This point can seem to be a strong suit.
They believe Glider allows players to cheat, giving them an unfair advantage
This is really a legal issue? Can I be put in jail for taking a few 100 extra monopoly dollars when no one is looking? The first thing I can think of is Insider Trading, which is punishable, but is a video game = the stock market?
... and that they believe Glider encourages Blizzard customers to breach their contracts for playing the game.
Can the company be held responsible, even if it's the users choice? If I tell my friend that if he drives really fast when a police offer wants to pull him over, am I responsible when he runs from the cops the next time he might be asked to pull over while driving?
Last they claim that Glider is designed to circumvent copyright protections.
This seems laughable, but IANAL. Copy protection? I guess all users are circumventing such protection. One could draw a stern defense that a person playing WoW becomes little more than an automated computer program. Though, I'm not familiar with Glide or how it interacts with the WoW programming, but I imagine it just a program that interacts with the WoW client or the packets it sends to automate processes.
What's Blizzards strength for their argument besides "they're breaking our EULA or TOS"? Are they saying that "Hey, we've had to ban 100,000's of accounts because people are using your products and we want you to pay us back for those 100,000 accounts. Lets see, that's 100,000 accounts at $15 / month and the average account is active for 1 year. So, pay us $18,000,000."
Hmmm... could local governments sue nitrous and 'after market' car parts manufacturers that encourage people to drive over the speed limits? Or maybe a better analogy would be those who cause accidents and injure other people. Could those injured parties sue the manufacturers of such products?
Blizzard is seeking injunctive relief and money damages against MDY. What that means is they want him to stop the production of WoW Glider and they want him to pay them damages.
Sure, there were games that lasted a long time in the past...
Also, games were previously like that because of the legacy of arcade games. You made them have very hard points in them so they would eat the quarters of the game addicts.
Very interesting point. First, games of the 80's (think NES, the master system, and the Genesis) where particularly difficult because of the 'game design' to reward lives and punish players by taking those lives away, upon which the game is over and you have to start over. Today, games are all about half-way and save points. You don't see the '1-up' anymore. I just downloaded "ToeJam & Earl" on the Wii. A simple game that I had some found memories of. I played it for an hour or so, and then I'm like "well, I'm done. Where can I save to I can continue my progress later?". Well... you cannot, and it's only about 10% complete (I waist a lot of time monkeying around. hehe)
I never played that game since. I now have little interest to invest time, to not be able to save my progress. I realize that was how a lot of games where, from Mario Brothers to Sonic to some early X-men games. You use to have to keep the console on and hope your mom doesn't come into your bed-room and turn if off, thinking you forgot to do it.
Likewise, you make an excellent point that this was a popular development due to arcade games. It was easy to associate lives with quarters entered. Save points where not used because a customer would get through the game too quickly and not look back. But forcing someone to start at the beginning again was exciting. Likewise, arcade games significantly got hard to kill you as fast as possible so you would end up popping quarters faster. Games that where copied into the consoles system from the arcade received this hang-over. Now those difficult parts in the arcade, that where suppose to cause you to pop more quarters, where not fine tuned for a system that did not allow for you to 'pay' for your extra lives, creating a game needing 'perfection' to beat a particular boss.
We can also see how cultural and social trends have moved away from this paradigm... the arcade is dead and has been for some years, with few exceptions of DDR, pinball or racing games in a bowling alley or the occasional mall or amusement park. I use to love to go to the arcade and see the new games to play and be like 'Oh cool!'. Now, when I'm at an amusement park, I'll walk through the arcade to see if there's anything new and it's the same thing I've seen 7 years ago.
Ah, yes. I remember helping a Lock with their demon quest. Actually, I helped one Lock out with their quest (freeze trapped the demon so they could tame it) and apparently my name was given to others as I started receiving other random requests for help from other locks.
This was some time ago, and when rarely any Hunter had the Freeze trap talent (before the first round of talent improvements). Those did look like fun quests.
I think one of the problems, in the case of WoW, is that leveling is so absurdly easy going either route (quest vs. grind) that it doesn't really matter if one is faster than the other, they're both quick...which takes some of the pull away from questing.
I can agree with what you're aiming for, however, I think in WoW (and most MMO's these days) quests and 'grinding' are practically one and the same. You have to go and kill tons of birds, snakes, bees, and bulls. You just pickup a quest on the side to do it, when you're done you get a bonus to just kill a little bit less. Well, not all quests are like that, but the idea is there.
In a game where scoring the next level is actually a challenge and actually takes good chunk of time to achieve, even if it takes more time to level via questing, the game stays more interesting by questing instead of grinding.
I would disagree, I find a 'slow' level advancement boring and less interesting. The point being, it's subjective to say if a story driven game is more interesting than an action driven game. It's all a matter of who's playing it. But I can see what you're getting at...
You'll also make use of the quested items in a slower game. Warcraft, for example, you outgrow your items so quickly that there's no point in questing for gear until the end game.
I agree with this. Most games can fit this formula pretty well. Though I recall Everquest 1 and it's MUCH slower advancement. It also had a slightly different weapon 'power' scale. After saving for weeks on end to buy some claw weapon, I was able to use that weapon for the rest of my characters advancement without feeling like it needed to be replaced.
I would like to see a game emphasis not the 'power' of a weapon but how 'skilled' a person is at using a weapon. I have some concepts for doing this but that's a different discussion. Suffice it to say, I would appreciate WoW much more if that cool looking quest bow wasn't so quickly replaced and if every bow user didn't also want the same skin/model bow because, not just how it looks, but because it's the best 'stats'. I think it could go a long way to avoid the 'cookie-cutter' feeling of most classes at the end game level of WoW and other MMO's.
The rewards a person or guild is going to get from grinding, either for rare drops or instance bosses are far better then any rewards from quests.
In general, that's true of WoW, but I attribute that to the success of WoW more than the developers intention. It's not hard to see the 'left by the roadside' intentions of the developers to give each class their own 'class specific' quests for items and abilities.
Just look at the level 10-ish quests for some classes. The Druid has a cool quest series to gain their bear form and also their sealion form. Hunters get to learn how to tame animals, and Shaman have a totem quest I believe (never played one yet).
Then look at the class 'epic' quests for Hunters and Priests. The Hunter epic quest is super fun! (My hunter just hit 70 last night) True, you have to do the 40 man dungeon a million times and fight for a rare item with other Hunters (yeah, it sucks!) but once you get that item, it starts a quest series that's quite fun and gives you some weapons that are often hard to replace without specific work (I'm still using my bow, though, I have come across other similar weapons now at level 70). Same goes with Priest epic.
Again, WoW developers never hashed this out enough for other classes. Also, there's Thunderfury. It's technically a quest, but it requires lots of grinding to get. I guess it's a bit of both. I'm more of a fan of the single person quests though.
The quest vs grind ratio is vastly in favor of questing opposed to WOW where grinding was generally better.
Interesting. I rarely 'grind' in WoW, I'm pretty much doing a quest 99% of the time when I'm killing monsters, more so now the X-pac is out. I would be interested to know how you're defining the term 'grind' in this case in the context of quests.
My definition of 'grind' vs 'questing' would be... quest: "Kill 30 specific mobs and return to quest giver to get a large XP bonus and some loot until you level up and move on". Grind: "Sit in the same area and kill anything you come across and hope for loot drops until you level up and move on".
While it can just be considered grinding in a different context, most modern MMO's seem to call this questing, since you can get large exp bonuses and goals to accomplish. So, how does LOTR online make this different? Each new MMO has always claimed to 'remove the grind by given you endless quests to do', only to find that questing was the 'new grind'.
Aside from the Legend of Zelda theme and the Super Mario Brothers theme, are there any Nintendo Franchises with theme songs conductive to being played on an electric guitar.
Good God, if they make "Guitar Hero: Mario Mix", like they did with DDR, then I think I'll personally go down to the Guitar Hero's offices with a stereo set on repeat and play them the Mario theme song.
Seriously, the first 'techno' Mario theme I heard how long ago, was kind of cool and nostalgic the first time but that's it. Nintendo's idea that such theme music is akin to pop, rock, or any other kind of often played music is one reasons they keep their systems feeling 'kiddy' to other gamers.
Sure, a 'secret' unlockable theme song, I'll accept that, as long as I'm still rocking out to Iron Maiden, Deep Purple, Foo Fighters, etc. But in the case of Mario DDR, it was like 10 version of Mario theme music, an a handful of classical music remix, like Beethoven. It really made me feel like not wanting to touch anything Mario with a 10 foot pole. Heck, I even enjoy Mario games in general.
As for the Wii Remote, I'm sure they'll just require you to purchase a whole new guitar controller. If they wanted to do something right... they would create an adapter for the PS2 controllers to plug into the bottom of the Wii-remote. But, they want to sell accessories, so I doubt that will happen. But, now that the Wii is getting Guitar Hero, I guess I can safely sell my PS2, as it's the main reason I'm still keeping it around... that, and to play God of War 2. hehe
Granted, I was one of the first persons to "sell" the Wii to my relatives and other friend who is also "non-gamer"
I've also hyped this to my family and friends. One friend sees it as to much work/energy/dumb to wave the wii-remote around (I think he's mad I could kick his butt in DragonBall Z, when he's always had the upper had on the PS2, as I never owned a system until late). I don't regret it, I still think it's a great game system. It's like Yahoo! games. You just turn it on, play it a bit and you can turn it off and like the Gamecube, a title will come along, like Zelda, and you'll sit for hours playing it.
I am sure you are referring to Legend of Zelda... I have played one or two times but I find it boring (maybe not my type of game).
I've played most Zelda games. The one game I never really played is "The Adventures of Link", which was the 2nd game in the series. I'll look forward to that game being released on the VC. The biggest problem with Zelda right now is that... it IS boring! Since playing "Link to the Past" on the VC, I just realize that, man, every Zelda game since have just been the same with small tweeks. Same mission progression. Same basic dungeons (desert level, forest level, mountain level, etc). Of course, the items are the same. Heck, I just realized that 'morphing' into a different being isn't new when in a 'alternate' universe. That was done in "Link to the Past" when you went into the 'dark' realm and turned into a pig/man. Though, you couldn't really do anything and turning into a Wolf is much cooler =). But, seriously, I'm fan of the Zelda games, but they REALLY need to come up with some new material. My favorite game is still the Wind Waker, despite peoples complaints of the cartoonish look and excessive water (which was true).
This is one of the things that has pissed me off. The VC games are just *too expensive*.
I have to agree... but I also have to admit that I've purchased a lot of games so far. Super Mario Bros, Super Mario World, Mario Cart 64, Legend of Zelda, Zelda: Link to the Past, Dungeon Explorere(UGH! What a mistake, I wish I could trade this one in), Toejam & Earl, and Columns. I'm still waiting for some other great games to be released, like Super Mario Cart, Super Mario Bros. 3, Metroid, Super Metroid, Baseball Stars, Metal Warriors, etc. I guess I will still buy these when they're released, even at the hefty price of $5-$10, but I would be buying a lot more games and trying them out if the price was half of that. Though, I did see a store having 'Wii Points' on sale the other day, but they where sold out.
I hope Nintendo just wakes up and give us some really *new* gameplay.
You'll have to wait a little. Nintendo kept the controller and Dev kits pretty long, and it will be a year or so before 3rd parties start to capitalize on the new gameplay abilities. Also, don't expect super fun games until they finalize their online service and games can be played over the internet, with friends.
It's just one of the downsides to being an early adopter. Give it awhile and there'll be some really good stuff. The sales, hype, and pop-culture status of the Wii will ensure much better 3rd party support, oppose to the Gamecube. Unfortunately, the Wii will still miss some of the 'newer' games due to it's less powerful specs. I guess we'll just have to get a 360 come next Xmas. =) Then I'll be able to play Dead Rising finally. hehe and probably pick it up for next to nothing too.
I've never tried their software for DVD to PSP conversion, but I used their other software and it works great. www.slysoft.com
I'd be willing to cough up $30 to purchase it, if I want to start converting movies to watch on the PSP (maybe when I go to the Gym, I can watch an episode of my Fav. TV show). Actually, that's not a bad idea. Now, I just need work to lighting up a bit so I can return to the gym for my lunch break. =)
Seriously, who actually owns a PSP? I don't think I've ever even seen one.
I own one... and I've probably not touched it in 4 months. I love the hardware. The screen is jaw dropping on a hand-held. I love the analytical thumb stick. UMD is a nice fit for a portable to cram data onto a disc to get more out of gaming. Built in Wi-Fi is awesome and necessary. I use to use it at the Gym as a bulky MP3 player and movie watcher.
So... why haven't I played it in 4-months and seriously played it in about 1 year?
Games. I just haven't played enough fun games on it that 'work' with the portable use. Meaning, I loved Ridge Racer and Dragon Ball Z, but I couldn't play wirelessly over the internet (at least at the that time), only Ad-Hoc was enabled. I don't know anyone else with a PSP. No go. Other than that, I haven't enjoyed the other games I played and I couldn't find a decent RPG game. What, those champions of norrath games? No thanks, all I can say is "Loading..." crap, I forgot to do something in the town... "Loading..." (5 secs later) Ok, done, lets go kill things, "Loading..." (killed 10 things) Ok, I need to kill things in this area now, "Loading...". Ugh, I just didn't get a fluid game experience.
UMD, while useful, is WAY to costly and restricted. Beside a birthday gift, the mandatory Ghostbusters purchase and a 3rd film I bought for a long international flight, I got sick of the high cost and low featured UMD movies. What? I have to pay $20 for a UMD movie and $12 for a DVD? Hmm... I guess I'll get the DVD. And now, there's software out there to convert DVD to a Duo memory card to watch on the PSP, ok, that's cool. Why buy the UMD movie to carry all those discs around?
I stopped traveling. My fiancee now lives in the US (from France) and I do not take as many trips to Europe as I use to.
I wanted to sell my PSP this past holiday season, but it was a gift from my Fiancee... who seemed hurt by the idea that I didn't use it anymore and wanted to sell it. On top of that, it was originally a 30GB iPod, which I didn't want at the time because I was mostly swimming at the Gym. Now, I have an iPod shuffle. hehe ironically sad.
I've been considering giving the PSP another Go, but now I have WoW's expansion pack, Nintendo Wii, Blockbuster online subscription (catching up on TV episodes I've never watched), that I don't have much time left for the PSP (I also recently purchased my first PS2 and have games on there I play). I guess this is just one man's 'market saturation' story. The PSP had it's chance, it lost it, and it might be better now, but I don't have the time or interest to go back. Though, I might start by picking up the new Castlevania game if it's 2 games in one. I guess it really does come down to games in the end. =)
"The only way we can make a profit on an item is to sell it over the MSRP, but unfortunately we are not allowed to do this."
I've been wondering about this for some time. Video games, unlike many other items, are always sold at MSRP. If I got to large retailer 1, 2, 3 or small specialty store X, Y, Z the price is always the same. There is no competition going on. *Maybe* I'll see a special sale on a game, but it's rarely for newer releases. Last 'special' I ever got was when I picked up some DDR games and got a free dance pad and a "buy 2 get one free" deal at Toys'R Us looking for some Xmas gifts, which is a very rare promotion to find (outside of used games that is).
It only makes me wonder, why do I never see one place have a sale (besides there 'bargain bins') on some games to compete with others. I guess the above answers my question. It appears game companies/publishers are forcing a fixed price to the point that there's very little profit to be had.
Is this necessary to recoup the multi-million dollar investment to make a game these days? It is a weird industry.
I'm a member of Blockbuster Online (use to be NetFlix). I sometimes get emails from Blockbuster on in-store sales... heck, I even got one asking me to join Blockbuster online, months after I was a member! Oddly enough, I checked off all the 'send me special offers' boxes in my account, but I still get these emails a couple times a month. These, while technically 'unsolicited', I do not consider spam because of my membership status. If I where to stop being a member, and receive these emails, I would consider them spam.
Likewise, my company sends out an E-Newsletter to many of reps, customers, and showrooms. Most of these people have not specifically opted in to the newsletter in the first place, but due to the business relationship, also do not (generally) consider this spam.
Now speaking of Netflix, I will get an email on rare occasions from them. "Rejoin now for only $X.XX". I'll get this maybe 1 every couple months, and less frequently as time goes on. I consider this spam. Why? I was a member of Netflix? Yes, but the reason I consider is spam is because the $X.XX is NOT a special 'rejoin' offer price. It's the standard list price. They have no need to tell me to rejoin at the regular price. I already know that. It's a tricky attempt to deceive a customer and I do not appreciate that and consider that spam. If it was a real 'special offer', then I would be ok with that.
I hope that clears up some of your question. Strictly 'unsolicited' is not what I'm going for. And likewise, in the case of Blockbuster, I get 2 emails a month (besides my 'your DVD has shipped/returned'), I do not consider that bulk. If I got 1 Credit card letter a month, I wouldn't be so bothered by it. Instead, I usually get 1 a week... from (what it feels like) every credit card company/bank. =)
Hands up how many people went between google and yahoo trying these searches?
Actually, I'm one of those people who does this, even before this article. I pretty much always use google, I have it on my 'address bar' as a quick link (Oddly, I rarely use my embedded web-browser search box). Often times, I'm looking for a Yahoo! service, which by habit, I use Google.
On a more general note, in my opinion, spam is this:
Unsolicited Bulk Email.
I'd go a step farther... SPAM is bulk unsolicited correspondence of any kind. The keywords being bulk and unsolicited. All these damn 0% pre-approved credit card applications I get every day (probably 2-3) is not only spam, but a huge waist.
At least I can click a button to remove spam from my email inbox. =)
it has been updated to account for IE7's ideosyncracies, but does it also cover the other browsers well?
Good question, each browser has different levels of support. If you check out some browser usage you can see a decent estimate of what browsers are most used. Then you can check out browser CSS compatibility.
Besides IE6 (I'm not supporting IE5 Mac), I do not see issues across (modern or heavily used) browsers very often, unless I'm trying to do some sophisticated, multi-column, nested, floating DIV design. Also, in my experience, complicated float designs usually can be simplified with other means to avoid X-browser issues.
The biggest problem with CSS is that it also required good (X)HTML markup. Sometimes your CSS is sound, but the HTML code is not proper or designed by design instead of designed by content. A good book on working through this is Transcending CSS: The Fine Art of Web Design whose authors are also well known in the CSS/Website world and quote from Eric Meyer (the author of the book being reviewed on this page) as well as others.
I've been starting to learn that lots of my CSS frustrations of the past have mostly been part of my fault not thinking about CSS properly and trying to make easy things more complicated. Though, it can still be said, there's still lots of room for improvement, in both browsers and CSS specs.
I don't think the job is gone, but perhaps the title is.
I agree. In "web 2.0", webmaster is gone and "E-Commerce Marketing Associate" is in. At least, that's what I'm called... and I'm fairly well paid (I'll be even better when I open my own business, charge a business roughly $13,000 for a 5 page site that takes a couple weeks to launch and $20 a month per site for shared hosting.
Of course, before I started (straight out of college), my small company was paying about $1,200 a qrt for shared hosting and the Chicago company refused to give us access to our database because it was a 'security risk'. It didn't take long to convince the powers that be to switch hosting. Now they're much happier when they want to change a word on a page and it takes seconds instead of days. hehe Of course, now I'm battling an up-hill battle to convince the 'senior officers' that the website can be a useful tool, more than just brochureware.
"webmaster" is still an appropriate term to use I think. In the different situations I've seen and what I currently know, having knowledge of...
(X)HTML
Cascading Style Sheets(CSS)
"mastering" CSS (yes, there's a difference, pickup any standarista's book on it and you'll understand, though I will throw the bone if you want to argue doing CSS means doing it right.)
Networking
DNS
(good)Programming and best practices
Server Side Scripting Syntax(whatever flavor)
JavaScript
Cross Site Scripting (XSS)
Injection Attacks
SSL creating and deployment (what SSL means, where to get it, and all it's different flavors)
Website Metrics/Analytics
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
Graphical Design fundamentals and graphical editing skills (how to make things look pretty... as oppose to 99.9% of MySpace hehe)
User Interface fundamentals (ie. how to put things on a page to get people to click on them)
File Organization and management
SQL... as well as knowing PostgreSQL, MySQL, Oracle, MSSQL, etc. differences, uses and best (efficient) practices.
Apache / ISS setup and management
Linux/Unix command line
Problem Solving!
Project Management
Tech. support because people will ask you MS Office questions because you work with computers. Good thing I did this in College. =P
I'm sure there's more I can list as well, this is just a 'quick' list of things I do every day as a 'webmaster' for a company (I'm also the only one). However, in a ad agency setting, you might find these rolls broken up into individual skills:
graphic designers who don't touch HTML
HTML/CSS editors
Server Side Scripters who don't touch the graphics and limited HTML
Client Side script-ers (aka JavaScript-ers for your AJAX stuff)
Flash Guru's (sometimes the same as Graphic Designers or Scripters)
Network Administrators who setup Apache / ISS and deal with the OS and SSL and possible DNS stuff
Project Managers
SEO/SEM specialists
and more. "Webmasters" are still out there, they're the people who work in a very small or single person environment. The reason "webmaster" has died out is 1) The web has become a place to make loads of $ and grown in complexity, making specialization important. 2) People thought "webmaster" wasn't 'PC' enough so they gave it a better name.
Many of us (most?) don't have any call for the extra features of the 60Gb
I wouldn't overlook the benefit of the 60GB version vs the 20GB. Wi-Fi is quite important. Maybe your cable box is near your PS3 now, but will it be in 1 year? 2 years? The entire life of the PS3? What if Wi-Fi costs drop and quality skyrockets. Some cities are giving free Wi-Fi already. You might regret not having Wi-Fi at that point.
Further, 20GB is not much. This generation of gaming isn't about 'saved games' anymore. It's going the way of the PC. Free downloads and add-ons will be available online for your games, all of which will have to be stored on your hard-drive.
Can you predict what Sony will offer online? Maybe they'll offer a free promotional movie download. Free game downloads. Once you have 10 of your favorite PSOne games downloaded, maybe a PS2 game or 2 if they start allowing those for download, maybe some 3rd party, download only games. That demo game you just downloaded that took 2-3GB of space on your hard drive might have to go... even if you're enjoying playing.
Point be said, your 20GB will likely fill up fast if you plan on using the PS3 for what it's worth. You're not going to enjoy swapping hard drives all the time, or spending MORE to get a 60GB drive when you could have spent less if you bought it from the start.
One thing is true, UK does get screwed in prices a lot. =(
I think it is a safe bet that if PS3's continue to lounge about on shelves as some have reported...
Speaking of which... I saw my first PS3 'on the shelf', so to speak. The local ShopKo had a 20GB version in-stock by way of a 'ticket' on the shelf that you bring to the register. The 60GB was not available. This was about a week ago.
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[nitpick]Illegal(Webster) is something that goes against rules or laws. In this case, they're breaking theater policy(rules), which can be described as 'illegal'.[/nitpick]
Cheers,
Fozzy
I guess I didn't have to wait to long to post this interesting comment. This morning (Feb. 19th CST), I was on Gamestop.com looking to see if they had any trade in specials. I hopped to the Wii 'console' page and got the "Sorry, due to demand... blah blah blah". I went to the PS3 page and I got "PS3 60gb $599.00 In Stock, PS3 20GB $499.00 In Stock". For those who always claim that "it's just hear say" that PS3's are 'sitting on shelves', they can go and to check that out online.
Of course, the real question is, supply and demand. Given reports of shipment rates, etc. I would guess that the Wii has a greater supply and there for greater demand than the PS3, given that they still cannot meet it.
However, on the aside about the Wii loosing it's appeal? Nah, It's still a great (S)NES 64, Genesis emulator... until something better comes along for the actual Wii. As far as Wii games go, yeah, it's slow right now, but this time of year always is. Though, this sentiment that the Wii is loosing appeal might be due to the fact that all I do read about in Game Informer are the new PS3 and 360 games and/or PS3 loosing exclusives to the 360. It gets a little saddening to read about an interesting game, and not being able to play it.
There's just too little for gamers to get excited about. The problem is, game developers are only starting to see the huge success of the Wii and are looking to develope a game... which can take a year or more to do. So, will the first year be good for the Wii? It will likely be slow. But year 2 and 3 will likely be great as the 'lag' in games catches up since people wrote Nintendo off due to the PS2's super success.
I least I don't have to spend 10mins blowing into my Nintendo cartridge to get my NES games to work. =P
Cheers,
Fozzy
Funny because it's true. In actuality, such games are not so much about the 'enjoyment of playing' but the 'enjoyment of collection'. It's like when I was a kid and spend endless money on football cards. Sometimes obsessively so to try and get a special card from a pack, or go to 'specialty stores' to buy it specifically from someone else.
Like that, WoW and other MMO's are about collection or completing 'sets' of things. In this case, leveling your character to the level cap. Maxing out all their abilities. Sure, a Hunter might only use a bow for 99% of his play time, but this person will still max out their sword, 2 hand sword, axe, hand-to-hand, polearm, staff, etc skill.
They might NEVER care about the cooking skill, but they max this out too, because they have it and it's not maxed yet. So, you might say "yeah, but if you're still not playing the game, then you'd still have no interest in the game and therefor no interest in doing it in the first place.". That would be true as well. Most of this maxing out skills would be done for some of the tedious tasks that the person really doesn't want to spend the time doing, but has spent the time maxing out the stats that matter when he was playing.
Otherwise, most uses are simply for those who are trying circumvent the 'boring' process of acquiring wealth to purchase things that would allow them to enjoy the game. For instance, this goes to your second good point...
Half of the game is fun, and not necessary for automation. That's the leveling/quest process. There's fun action/story involved in the game. When you reach the level cap, that's when the 'tedium' kicks in. My own example. I've recently hit level 70. Now, I'm doing the 'max out my skills' area or 'finish all the quests in my book' thing. It's the football collector / perfectionist side of me. I want that 100% completion rating kind of thing. Actually, I now find myself not caring to play as much, since I know all that's left is 'grind' with little accomplishment and I'm not looking forward to waisting my time maxing out my fishing or cooking skills again.
However, the parts I am interested in, where I now have to 'grind' out 5,200 gold to afford that epic flying mount, which could take weeks or months, would be a waist of my time as there's no enjoyable benefit for me. I 'could' just keep doing the quests and dungeons until I reach 5,200 gold, but that would take months if I spend no time focusing on making money.
That's when people turn to these automated programs (or for those who use them to sell gold on internet sites). The problem is not the automated program, but that people feel like they need automation to avoid waisting their time and to reach a point they feel comfortable playing again.
So, in your 2nd point, you've pretty much hit the nail on the head and that an game should adjust their development if there are automation problems. However, I think the automation problems are fairly limited to those who are using it to farm in-game gold to sell for real money. So, I think the amount of grind required for 'most' things is fairly reasonable with the latest expansion (I feel it was much worse before the latest expansion pack) and Blizzard has noticed the amount of unpleasant grind on 'some' things, but are keeping others due to the fact that it's just part of the business model to keep people playing and paying.
Cheers,
Fozzy
This point can seem to be a strong suit.
This is really a legal issue? Can I be put in jail for taking a few 100 extra monopoly dollars when no one is looking? The first thing I can think of is Insider Trading, which is punishable, but is a video game = the stock market?
Can the company be held responsible, even if it's the users choice? If I tell my friend that if he drives really fast when a police offer wants to pull him over, am I responsible when he runs from the cops the next time he might be asked to pull over while driving?
This seems laughable, but IANAL. Copy protection? I guess all users are circumventing such protection. One could draw a stern defense that a person playing WoW becomes little more than an automated computer program. Though, I'm not familiar with Glide or how it interacts with the WoW programming, but I imagine it just a program that interacts with the WoW client or the packets it sends to automate processes.
What's Blizzards strength for their argument besides "they're breaking our EULA or TOS"? Are they saying that "Hey, we've had to ban 100,000's of accounts because people are using your products and we want you to pay us back for those 100,000 accounts. Lets see, that's 100,000 accounts at $15 / month and the average account is active for 1 year. So, pay us $18,000,000."
Hmmm... could local governments sue nitrous and 'after market' car parts manufacturers that encourage people to drive over the speed limits? Or maybe a better analogy would be those who cause accidents and injure other people. Could those injured parties sue the manufacturers of such products?
Cheers,
Fozzy
Thanks for clearing that up.
Cheers,
Fozzy
Very interesting point. First, games of the 80's (think NES, the master system, and the Genesis) where particularly difficult because of the 'game design' to reward lives and punish players by taking those lives away, upon which the game is over and you have to start over. Today, games are all about half-way and save points. You don't see the '1-up' anymore. I just downloaded "ToeJam & Earl" on the Wii. A simple game that I had some found memories of. I played it for an hour or so, and then I'm like "well, I'm done. Where can I save to I can continue my progress later?". Well... you cannot, and it's only about 10% complete (I waist a lot of time monkeying around. hehe)
I never played that game since. I now have little interest to invest time, to not be able to save my progress. I realize that was how a lot of games where, from Mario Brothers to Sonic to some early X-men games. You use to have to keep the console on and hope your mom doesn't come into your bed-room and turn if off, thinking you forgot to do it.
Likewise, you make an excellent point that this was a popular development due to arcade games. It was easy to associate lives with quarters entered. Save points where not used because a customer would get through the game too quickly and not look back. But forcing someone to start at the beginning again was exciting. Likewise, arcade games significantly got hard to kill you as fast as possible so you would end up popping quarters faster. Games that where copied into the consoles system from the arcade received this hang-over. Now those difficult parts in the arcade, that where suppose to cause you to pop more quarters, where not fine tuned for a system that did not allow for you to 'pay' for your extra lives, creating a game needing 'perfection' to beat a particular boss.
We can also see how cultural and social trends have moved away from this paradigm... the arcade is dead and has been for some years, with few exceptions of DDR, pinball or racing games in a bowling alley or the occasional mall or amusement park. I use to love to go to the arcade and see the new games to play and be like 'Oh cool!'. Now, when I'm at an amusement park, I'll walk through the arcade to see if there's anything new and it's the same thing I've seen 7 years ago.
Cheers,
Fozzy
Ah, yes. I remember helping a Lock with their demon quest. Actually, I helped one Lock out with their quest (freeze trapped the demon so they could tame it) and apparently my name was given to others as I started receiving other random requests for help from other locks.
This was some time ago, and when rarely any Hunter had the Freeze trap talent (before the first round of talent improvements). Those did look like fun quests.
Cheers,
Fozzy
I can agree with what you're aiming for, however, I think in WoW (and most MMO's these days) quests and 'grinding' are practically one and the same. You have to go and kill tons of birds, snakes, bees, and bulls. You just pickup a quest on the side to do it, when you're done you get a bonus to just kill a little bit less. Well, not all quests are like that, but the idea is there.
I would disagree, I find a 'slow' level advancement boring and less interesting. The point being, it's subjective to say if a story driven game is more interesting than an action driven game. It's all a matter of who's playing it. But I can see what you're getting at...
I agree with this. Most games can fit this formula pretty well. Though I recall Everquest 1 and it's MUCH slower advancement. It also had a slightly different weapon 'power' scale. After saving for weeks on end to buy some claw weapon, I was able to use that weapon for the rest of my characters advancement without feeling like it needed to be replaced.
I would like to see a game emphasis not the 'power' of a weapon but how 'skilled' a person is at using a weapon. I have some concepts for doing this but that's a different discussion. Suffice it to say, I would appreciate WoW much more if that cool looking quest bow wasn't so quickly replaced and if every bow user didn't also want the same skin/model bow because, not just how it looks, but because it's the best 'stats'. I think it could go a long way to avoid the 'cookie-cutter' feeling of most classes at the end game level of WoW and other MMO's.
Cheers,
Fozzy
In general, that's true of WoW, but I attribute that to the success of WoW more than the developers intention. It's not hard to see the 'left by the roadside' intentions of the developers to give each class their own 'class specific' quests for items and abilities.
Just look at the level 10-ish quests for some classes. The Druid has a cool quest series to gain their bear form and also their sealion form. Hunters get to learn how to tame animals, and Shaman have a totem quest I believe (never played one yet).
Then look at the class 'epic' quests for Hunters and Priests. The Hunter epic quest is super fun! (My hunter just hit 70 last night) True, you have to do the 40 man dungeon a million times and fight for a rare item with other Hunters (yeah, it sucks!) but once you get that item, it starts a quest series that's quite fun and gives you some weapons that are often hard to replace without specific work (I'm still using my bow, though, I have come across other similar weapons now at level 70). Same goes with Priest epic.
Again, WoW developers never hashed this out enough for other classes. Also, there's Thunderfury. It's technically a quest, but it requires lots of grinding to get. I guess it's a bit of both. I'm more of a fan of the single person quests though.
Cheers,
Fozzy
Interesting. I rarely 'grind' in WoW, I'm pretty much doing a quest 99% of the time when I'm killing monsters, more so now the X-pac is out. I would be interested to know how you're defining the term 'grind' in this case in the context of quests.
My definition of 'grind' vs 'questing' would be... quest: "Kill 30 specific mobs and return to quest giver to get a large XP bonus and some loot until you level up and move on". Grind: "Sit in the same area and kill anything you come across and hope for loot drops until you level up and move on".
While it can just be considered grinding in a different context, most modern MMO's seem to call this questing, since you can get large exp bonuses and goals to accomplish. So, how does LOTR online make this different? Each new MMO has always claimed to 'remove the grind by given you endless quests to do', only to find that questing was the 'new grind'.
Cheers,
Fozzy
Good God, if they make "Guitar Hero: Mario Mix", like they did with DDR, then I think I'll personally go down to the Guitar Hero's offices with a stereo set on repeat and play them the Mario theme song.
Seriously, the first 'techno' Mario theme I heard how long ago, was kind of cool and nostalgic the first time but that's it. Nintendo's idea that such theme music is akin to pop, rock, or any other kind of often played music is one reasons they keep their systems feeling 'kiddy' to other gamers.
Sure, a 'secret' unlockable theme song, I'll accept that, as long as I'm still rocking out to Iron Maiden, Deep Purple, Foo Fighters, etc. But in the case of Mario DDR, it was like 10 version of Mario theme music, an a handful of classical music remix, like Beethoven. It really made me feel like not wanting to touch anything Mario with a 10 foot pole. Heck, I even enjoy Mario games in general.
As for the Wii Remote, I'm sure they'll just require you to purchase a whole new guitar controller. If they wanted to do something right... they would create an adapter for the PS2 controllers to plug into the bottom of the Wii-remote. But, they want to sell accessories, so I doubt that will happen. But, now that the Wii is getting Guitar Hero, I guess I can safely sell my PS2, as it's the main reason I'm still keeping it around... that, and to play God of War 2. hehe
Cheers,
Fozzy
Yeah! We should be able to hit them on the sidewalk too!
I've also hyped this to my family and friends. One friend sees it as to much work/energy/dumb to wave the wii-remote around (I think he's mad I could kick his butt in DragonBall Z, when he's always had the upper had on the PS2, as I never owned a system until late). I don't regret it, I still think it's a great game system. It's like Yahoo! games. You just turn it on, play it a bit and you can turn it off and like the Gamecube, a title will come along, like Zelda, and you'll sit for hours playing it.
I've played most Zelda games. The one game I never really played is "The Adventures of Link", which was the 2nd game in the series. I'll look forward to that game being released on the VC. The biggest problem with Zelda right now is that... it IS boring! Since playing "Link to the Past" on the VC, I just realize that, man, every Zelda game since have just been the same with small tweeks. Same mission progression. Same basic dungeons (desert level, forest level, mountain level, etc). Of course, the items are the same. Heck, I just realized that 'morphing' into a different being isn't new when in a 'alternate' universe. That was done in "Link to the Past" when you went into the 'dark' realm and turned into a pig/man. Though, you couldn't really do anything and turning into a Wolf is much cooler =). But, seriously, I'm fan of the Zelda games, but they REALLY need to come up with some new material. My favorite game is still the Wind Waker, despite peoples complaints of the cartoonish look and excessive water (which was true).
I have to agree... but I also have to admit that I've purchased a lot of games so far. Super Mario Bros, Super Mario World, Mario Cart 64, Legend of Zelda, Zelda: Link to the Past, Dungeon Explorere(UGH! What a mistake, I wish I could trade this one in), Toejam & Earl, and Columns. I'm still waiting for some other great games to be released, like Super Mario Cart, Super Mario Bros. 3, Metroid, Super Metroid, Baseball Stars, Metal Warriors, etc. I guess I will still buy these when they're released, even at the hefty price of $5-$10, but I would be buying a lot more games and trying them out if the price was half of that. Though, I did see a store having 'Wii Points' on sale the other day, but they where sold out.
You'll have to wait a little. Nintendo kept the controller and Dev kits pretty long, and it will be a year or so before 3rd parties start to capitalize on the new gameplay abilities. Also, don't expect super fun games until they finalize their online service and games can be played over the internet, with friends.
It's just one of the downsides to being an early adopter. Give it awhile and there'll be some really good stuff. The sales, hype, and pop-culture status of the Wii will ensure much better 3rd party support, oppose to the Gamecube. Unfortunately, the Wii will still miss some of the 'newer' games due to it's less powerful specs. I guess we'll just have to get a 360 come next Xmas. =) Then I'll be able to play Dead Rising finally. hehe and probably pick it up for next to nothing too.
Cheers,
Fozzy
I've never tried their software for DVD to PSP conversion, but I used their other software and it works great. www.slysoft.com
I'd be willing to cough up $30 to purchase it, if I want to start converting movies to watch on the PSP (maybe when I go to the Gym, I can watch an episode of my Fav. TV show). Actually, that's not a bad idea. Now, I just need work to lighting up a bit so I can return to the gym for my lunch break. =)
Cheers,
Fozzy
I own one... and I've probably not touched it in 4 months. I love the hardware. The screen is jaw dropping on a hand-held. I love the analytical thumb stick. UMD is a nice fit for a portable to cram data onto a disc to get more out of gaming. Built in Wi-Fi is awesome and necessary. I use to use it at the Gym as a bulky MP3 player and movie watcher.
So... why haven't I played it in 4-months and seriously played it in about 1 year?
I wanted to sell my PSP this past holiday season, but it was a gift from my Fiancee... who seemed hurt by the idea that I didn't use it anymore and wanted to sell it. On top of that, it was originally a 30GB iPod, which I didn't want at the time because I was mostly swimming at the Gym. Now, I have an iPod shuffle. hehe ironically sad.
I've been considering giving the PSP another Go, but now I have WoW's expansion pack, Nintendo Wii, Blockbuster online subscription (catching up on TV episodes I've never watched), that I don't have much time left for the PSP (I also recently purchased my first PS2 and have games on there I play). I guess this is just one man's 'market saturation' story. The PSP had it's chance, it lost it, and it might be better now, but I don't have the time or interest to go back. Though, I might start by picking up the new Castlevania game if it's 2 games in one. I guess it really does come down to games in the end. =)
Cheers,
Fozzy
I've been wondering about this for some time. Video games, unlike many other items, are always sold at MSRP. If I got to large retailer 1, 2, 3 or small specialty store X, Y, Z the price is always the same. There is no competition going on. *Maybe* I'll see a special sale on a game, but it's rarely for newer releases. Last 'special' I ever got was when I picked up some DDR games and got a free dance pad and a "buy 2 get one free" deal at Toys'R Us looking for some Xmas gifts, which is a very rare promotion to find (outside of used games that is).
It only makes me wonder, why do I never see one place have a sale (besides there 'bargain bins') on some games to compete with others. I guess the above answers my question. It appears game companies/publishers are forcing a fixed price to the point that there's very little profit to be had.
Is this necessary to recoup the multi-million dollar investment to make a game these days? It is a weird industry.
Cheers,
Fozzy
Don't you mean...
Cheers,
Fozzy
I'm a member of Blockbuster Online (use to be NetFlix). I sometimes get emails from Blockbuster on in-store sales... heck, I even got one asking me to join Blockbuster online, months after I was a member! Oddly enough, I checked off all the 'send me special offers' boxes in my account, but I still get these emails a couple times a month. These, while technically 'unsolicited', I do not consider spam because of my membership status. If I where to stop being a member, and receive these emails, I would consider them spam.
Likewise, my company sends out an E-Newsletter to many of reps, customers, and showrooms. Most of these people have not specifically opted in to the newsletter in the first place, but due to the business relationship, also do not (generally) consider this spam.
Now speaking of Netflix, I will get an email on rare occasions from them. "Rejoin now for only $X.XX". I'll get this maybe 1 every couple months, and less frequently as time goes on. I consider this spam. Why? I was a member of Netflix? Yes, but the reason I consider is spam is because the $X.XX is NOT a special 'rejoin' offer price. It's the standard list price. They have no need to tell me to rejoin at the regular price. I already know that. It's a tricky attempt to deceive a customer and I do not appreciate that and consider that spam. If it was a real 'special offer', then I would be ok with that.
I hope that clears up some of your question. Strictly 'unsolicited' is not what I'm going for. And likewise, in the case of Blockbuster, I get 2 emails a month (besides my 'your DVD has shipped/returned'), I do not consider that bulk. If I got 1 Credit card letter a month, I wouldn't be so bothered by it. Instead, I usually get 1 a week... from (what it feels like) every credit card company/bank. =)
Cheers,
Fozzy
Actually, I'm one of those people who does this, even before this article. I pretty much always use google, I have it on my 'address bar' as a quick link (Oddly, I rarely use my embedded web-browser search box). Often times, I'm looking for a Yahoo! service, which by habit, I use Google.
Cheers,
Fozzy
I'd go a step farther... SPAM is bulk unsolicited correspondence of any kind. The keywords being bulk and unsolicited. All these damn 0% pre-approved credit card applications I get every day (probably 2-3) is not only spam, but a huge waist.
At least I can click a button to remove spam from my email inbox. =)
Cheers,
Fozzy
Good question, each browser has different levels of support. If you check out some browser usage you can see a decent estimate of what browsers are most used. Then you can check out browser CSS compatibility.
Besides IE6 (I'm not supporting IE5 Mac), I do not see issues across (modern or heavily used) browsers very often, unless I'm trying to do some sophisticated, multi-column, nested, floating DIV design. Also, in my experience, complicated float designs usually can be simplified with other means to avoid X-browser issues.
The biggest problem with CSS is that it also required good (X)HTML markup. Sometimes your CSS is sound, but the HTML code is not proper or designed by design instead of designed by content. A good book on working through this is Transcending CSS: The Fine Art of Web Design whose authors are also well known in the CSS/Website world and quote from Eric Meyer (the author of the book being reviewed on this page) as well as others.
I've been starting to learn that lots of my CSS frustrations of the past have mostly been part of my fault not thinking about CSS properly and trying to make easy things more complicated. Though, it can still be said, there's still lots of room for improvement, in both browsers and CSS specs.
Cheers,
Fozzy
I agree. In "web 2.0", webmaster is gone and "E-Commerce Marketing Associate" is in. At least, that's what I'm called... and I'm fairly well paid (I'll be even better when I open my own business, charge a business roughly $13,000 for a 5 page site that takes a couple weeks to launch and $20 a month per site for shared hosting.
Of course, before I started (straight out of college), my small company was paying about $1,200 a qrt for shared hosting and the Chicago company refused to give us access to our database because it was a 'security risk'. It didn't take long to convince the powers that be to switch hosting. Now they're much happier when they want to change a word on a page and it takes seconds instead of days. hehe Of course, now I'm battling an up-hill battle to convince the 'senior officers' that the website can be a useful tool, more than just brochureware.
"webmaster" is still an appropriate term to use I think. In the different situations I've seen and what I currently know, having knowledge of...
I'm sure there's more I can list as well, this is just a 'quick' list of things I do every day as a 'webmaster' for a company (I'm also the only one). However, in a ad agency setting, you might find these rolls broken up into individual skills:
and more. "Webmasters" are still out there, they're the people who work in a very small or single person environment. The reason "webmaster" has died out is 1) The web has become a place to make loads of $ and grown in complexity, making specialization important. 2) People thought "webmaster" wasn't 'PC' enough so they gave it a better name.
Props to all my fellow web masters out there!
Cheers,
Fozzy
lol, insightful is often used in replace of 'funny' because it adds karma bonus, which was changed sometime not long ago... or so I hear.
Cheers,
Fozzy
I wouldn't overlook the benefit of the 60GB version vs the 20GB. Wi-Fi is quite important. Maybe your cable box is near your PS3 now, but will it be in 1 year? 2 years? The entire life of the PS3? What if Wi-Fi costs drop and quality skyrockets. Some cities are giving free Wi-Fi already. You might regret not having Wi-Fi at that point.
Further, 20GB is not much. This generation of gaming isn't about 'saved games' anymore. It's going the way of the PC. Free downloads and add-ons will be available online for your games, all of which will have to be stored on your hard-drive.
Can you predict what Sony will offer online? Maybe they'll offer a free promotional movie download. Free game downloads. Once you have 10 of your favorite PSOne games downloaded, maybe a PS2 game or 2 if they start allowing those for download, maybe some 3rd party, download only games. That demo game you just downloaded that took 2-3GB of space on your hard drive might have to go... even if you're enjoying playing.
Point be said, your 20GB will likely fill up fast if you plan on using the PS3 for what it's worth. You're not going to enjoy swapping hard drives all the time, or spending MORE to get a 60GB drive when you could have spent less if you bought it from the start.
One thing is true, UK does get screwed in prices a lot. =(
Cheers,
Fozzy
Speaking of which... I saw my first PS3 'on the shelf', so to speak. The local ShopKo had a 20GB version in-stock by way of a 'ticket' on the shelf that you bring to the register. The 60GB was not available. This was about a week ago.
Cheers,
Fozzy