I'm going to have to disagree. Lets take a look at something like Grand Theft Auto..
Grand Theft Auto III graphically looks the same as Vice City graphically looks the same as San Andreas. Those games sell incredibly well when new "versions" come out regardless of the fact that there arn't any graphical improvements.
Why?
...because people are interested in the story or the characters involved. They're interested in new scenarios. If you created a version of those games who's graphics were procedurally generated and upgraded with whatever hardware the games were played on franchises like GTA would get lots of people buying the old versions after playing the new versions long after the game was "past it's prime". As it is right now when GTA4 comes out for the next generation consoles GTA3, VC, and SA will be left in the dust because they'll be graphically crap by comparison. But if their graphics updated procedurally someone who's first experience with the franchise is GTA4 might be interested in picking up the older titles without being turned off by their bad graphics.
It doesn't work for every game but it does work for quite a few. I can think of lots of games (mostly from the PS1/Saturn/N64 era) that I enjoyed a whole lot back then but can't stand to play now due to their horrid 3D graphics, if I could play them today with more modern graphics I'd buy them again, and new gamers would still be buying those titles.
Have you played a recent Tony Hawk game? American Wasteland gives you jack squat for abilities at the beginning of the game... Normally that's the kind of progression I like in a game but as someone who'd played through the other 6 versions completely it was more annoying then anything else.
As much as I love the Tony Hawk series it's getting really tired, I'd almost say it rivals Madden in terms of how much they add with each annual "re-release"
I'm wondering if these same researches tried to define what their subjects defined as "news"? If something was newsworthy, I'm guessing they likely found out about it over time. Maybe the people didn't read it because they were informed from other sources?
Maybe that's exactly right? maybe 36 hours is the saturation point where someone is most likely to have already seen it elsewhere... After-all if YOU haven't seent it yet, it's still news to YOU.
Re:Seems an obvious patent
on
Talking iPods
·
· Score: 1
Forget Amiga, what about all the voice/audio navigation menus in phone systems...
surely that pre-dates most systems.
for english press one... para el español prensa número dos...
As far as birth control goes: I think re-instituting natural selection back into civilized culture is a good start; get rid of seatbelt and helmet laws, no more power cords with 15 warning labels, etc...
While were at it leagalize all forms of drugs change the drinking/smoking/shooting up age to 18... and re-allocate all the money you put towards drug enforcment into education.
If you do that I think the problems will work themselves out... naturally.
Silly you, the show is back only because it made the studios profitable and the cast rich.
Silly him? Silly you... profitability is not why we want the show back.
I'm not a hockey fan so I don't remember the guys name but There was a famous player way-back-when that lost a few teeth. He became sort of the face of hockey at the time with his toothless grin and thus the stereotype.
Anyone can not like a game, there are lots of games that most other people love that I can't stand. The point is if you do happen to LIKE that sort of thing it definitely give you your money's worth.
I completely agree with you 12+ hours and I'm usually happy with a game. Though oblivion gave me well over 100 and it's nice to have other games where if you finish the solo play in the 12 or so hours it still offer a compelling multiplayer experience.
Despite the fact that I'm happy with games that only offer about 12 hours of play a lot of new games don't even offer that much and I don't feel any of THOSE titles are actually worth $60 (I'm speaking from a next gen console standpoint here). There are a number of titles that are definitely worth the 60: Oblivion, Ghost Recon, Project Gotham Racing 3 etc. but all of those offer substantial replay value be it through just massive single play or solid multiplayer.
I'm not an MMO player but I've started renting most of my games. $20 a month and I can get 4 or so games that last me the 5-10 hours a piece that most new games last. I can enjoy those games for what they're worth as opposed to dropping $60 when they come out and grumbling about wasted money after I blow through it in half a rainy saturday. It also beats waiting 6 months for it to drop to a price it's actually worth. I'll still buy the Oblivions and GRAWs because they do last much much longer then a rental.
I suppose even if MMOs arn't driving down retail game sales these rental my mail services might be. I'm paying slightly more then an MMO subscription and getting access to all the games I want without actually buying any of them.
IANAL but AFAIK they could pick you up and put you in "protective custody" if they think you're in danger of committing a crime or hurting someone. But I don't think they can actually ARREST you without cause. Unless of course the shop owner accused him of harassment or some other crime then he would have been arrested for THAT regardless of whether or not he was actually guilty of it (that's for the courts to decide).
Here in NH we used to have a law (not sure if we still do) that states something to the effect of any unsecured wireless network that can be accessed without trespassing is considered public. That is to say that if you're WiFi network isn't secured in some way and you have credit card and other personal info shared out in the open, you can't hold other's accountable for accessing it. Some hardware store had their network unsecured and someone copied some files off it... the store tried to sue but it was throw out of court. Basically it was the store's own dumb fault for not securing their network. Similarly if I'm piggy backing off of my neighbors signal my neighbor is the one who is held accountable for providing a public signal. If his ISP has a problem with it he's the one who goes to court, not me.
IMO that's the way it SHOULD be but who knows how it will work out for this guy.
While I think copyrights and patents are two different things and should be handled in two different ways, the examples you provided still work IMO.
If I come up with some awesome cancer curing invention and can't get the funding to produce it and make myself a profit within 10 years then it becomes public domain and anyone can use that design... how is that a bad thing? I couldn't market it properly and loose my ability to profit from it (If I couldn't make it happen in 10 years it was probably never going to happen) now anyone in the world can benefit from it.
Similarly if Disney's Great Great Great Great Grandchildren want to keep pumping out re-releases of Steamboat Willie what's wrong with that? Most copyright holders will find that the cost of re-releasing the content is more effort then is worth holding on to it. The only reason a third party would wan't to release it or pirate it is because it's difficult to get a decent copy of it. Forcing the holder to re-release it to keep their ownership ensures that the public has access to that content one way (official re-release by the owner) or another (public domain).
I don't know if I fully agree with IP lifespans getting shorter.. With production costs of things like movies and games getting higher and higher due to consumer demand of better looking special effects/graphics (interesting enough music production costs are getting lower due to equipment costs getting cheaper) it's in the best interests of those industries to continually piggy back off of the same franchises (see Mario version X, Fast and the Furious 3, etc.)
I think the biggest problem is the fact that corporations can hold copyrights. If something like a copyright is there to protect "artists" then corporations should have no say in it. If you have it attributed to an individual then I think that individual should be able to transfer it to another individual when they retire/die if they would like someone to continue their legacy.
If anything I think there should be more of a "use it or loose it" policy where if the content hasn't been published/manufactured/etc. for 10 years then it becomes public domain. So if "Music Group X" makes an album in 2010 and it only gets pressed for 2 years and production stops then in 2022 that music becomes public domain. If in 2019 one of the songs pops up on a sound track then that song get's it's clock reset until production of the sound track stops. Public performances by the copyright owner (movie in a theater/TV, band playing live, painting on display, etc) would also reset the clock. If a copyright is worth having then these things will still occur ANYWAY.
Re:Ok, I was interested before but now....
on
Wii-mote In Action
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
From what I've read, from people who have gotten to play it at E3 demos and such (IGN, etc.). It's not as nice as the videos suggest, since you have to overcompensate in any direction you want to aim, making big elaborate movements instead of calculated maneuvers.
So long as the movement resolution on the WiiMote is good enough wouldn't it depend entirely on how the game is programed? I mean if the game is looking for a big obvious movement then that's what it will take. So long as the wiimote can still determine determine small calculated movements I would think that games could too. Having worked with motion based stuff before they're usually sensitive enough for the kind of calculated movements you're looking for. That is to say the stuff I've used was able to pick up the tiny jitters your hand produces while attempting to hold still.
Even still I would imagine most games (or even the console/controller) would come with some kind of sensitivity adjustment much like most games that use analog controllers will allow you to adjust the sensitivity of the sticks. Besides as others have pointed out I think most of the exaggerated movements are done by PR schmucks trying to make sure you understand moving makes things happen on the screen.
I'll have to check out Way of the Samurai. I agree the FF games are a perfect example of what's wrong with the way most games mix gameplay with plot development.
Some more recent games have done pretty well, I just finished playing through the new Tomb Raider, and while it does have cut scenes to advance the plot it does a good job advancing it through the gameplay as well. You have a headset where you can communicate with your team, as you uncover new artifacts and make discoveries you talk it through with them as you move along. The Splinter Cell games use a similar mechanic.
Oblivion is another good game that mixes plot development with action. One thing Oblivion didn't do well was account for time. If the big Oblivion gate is going to open up any second now... it doesn't actually happen until you go talk to so and so to trigger it; you could postpone it indefinitely by just not showing up. It would have made the game interesting if things progressed forwarded whether you were there to see it happen or not.
While I think Indigo Prophecy was an awesome game and worked the plot development into the story really well, there are other games that do it just as well. Maybe he's just not playing them.
The Cooling system Microsoft talked about was a Heat Pipe NOT traditional water-cooling in the case moder sense. The 360 DOES actually contain a heatpipe... well... excluding the one from TFA.
I think 5th element was a good choice too but I don't understand why it woulnd't look good on Blue-Ray... I have the Special Edition of the DVD release and it was supposedly redone from HD quality masters.. it's easily one of my best looking DVDs and I would have pegged it for one of the best looking HD releases..
Though I think Sony would have done well to have picked some action films/cult classics that were shot in digital HD from the start. No one cares about the quality of the video in a drama or comedy. It makes a big differences in a thriller or action flick. But thrillers and action flicks have such a short lifespan... xXx and Fifth Element were poor choices. Fight Club would have been an excellent choice. It's got a cult following and could really benefit from being in HD, the original masters are of fantastic quality as well.
Interesting enough Marc Ecco's Getting Up is probably the most political AND artistic game in recent memory... yet it's rated "M". It's also banned in Australia due in part to it's political views (hmm...). Jet Set Radio for the Dreamcast and Xbox had a similar theme but was only rated "T"
There are some other games that I'd consider "artistic" such as Rez, or the upcoming Spore. I suppose if you stretched the definition enough you could extend it to Dance Dance Revolution, Guitar Hero, or even Parappa the Rapper. Though all of the games I've mentioned were raited below an M with the exception of Getting up... Then again I wonder what Rez would have been raited if people knew it was being used as a sex toy.
This was just a throw-in...meaning that when they made something else backward compatible, this game came along for the ride. They didn't have to do any work to make it happen.
You're probably right but considering the amount of grief they've got over it you have to wonder if they would have been better off just leaving it off of the list
While there are problems now It can only get better the more it gets used and more techniques and tools become available.
If anything I think it works best for ORGANIC items. That is to say it might not be the best idea to make a building; though a procedurally generated texture layer to generate a weathered effect on the shingles might be cool. Then you could use the same small generic repetitive texture for all the shingles and simply procedurally generate the effects that make them look unique. Procedural generation for the bushes outside or the potted plant inside might also be cool. You could even go as far as to procedurally generate the population of the town where no 2 NPCs looked alike. I don't know if we'll ever see it working properly for level design where ridged play tested and static boundaries need to exist.
I think we'll see the best use of this when they start using it (well) for animation and sound effects. Never see your character move in the same fashion twice or notice the visible hiccup between animation routines. Also using it for sound effects would make for much more realistic repetitive noises like footsteps and machine-gun fire. I've seen some examples of animation and they look OK, some of them look like drunk puppets but some look pretty damn good. Using it for sounds and textures however would be fantastic for spaces savings.
huh... you're right I must have been thinking of that other vaporware that is supposedly coming out soon.
Though it would seem that DNF is more custom then based on anything else at this point:
George Broussard has stated several times that the only parts of the Unreal engine that are still part of their code base are UnrealScript, the networking code, and the UnrealEd. Everything else, except Meqon, which is the physics engine, has been written from scratch by 3D Realms.
Slashdot Mirror
I'm going to have to disagree. Lets take a look at something like Grand Theft Auto..
...because people are interested in the story or the characters involved. They're interested in new scenarios. If you created a version of those games who's graphics were procedurally generated and upgraded with whatever hardware the games were played on franchises like GTA would get lots of people buying the old versions after playing the new versions long after the game was "past it's prime". As it is right now when GTA4 comes out for the next generation consoles GTA3, VC, and SA will be left in the dust because they'll be graphically crap by comparison. But if their graphics updated procedurally someone who's first experience with the franchise is GTA4 might be interested in picking up the older titles without being turned off by their bad graphics.
Grand Theft Auto III graphically looks the same as Vice City graphically looks the same as San Andreas. Those games sell incredibly well when new "versions" come out regardless of the fact that there arn't any graphical improvements.
Why?
It doesn't work for every game but it does work for quite a few. I can think of lots of games (mostly from the PS1/Saturn/N64 era) that I enjoyed a whole lot back then but can't stand to play now due to their horrid 3D graphics, if I could play them today with more modern graphics I'd buy them again, and new gamers would still be buying those titles.
Have you played a recent Tony Hawk game? American Wasteland gives you jack squat for abilities at the beginning of the game... Normally that's the kind of progression I like in a game but as someone who'd played through the other 6 versions completely it was more annoying then anything else.
As much as I love the Tony Hawk series it's getting really tired, I'd almost say it rivals Madden in terms of how much they add with each annual "re-release"
Forget Amiga, what about all the voice/audio navigation menus in phone systems... surely that pre-dates most systems.
for english press one...
para el español prensa número dos...
As far as birth control goes: I think re-instituting natural selection back into civilized culture is a good start; get rid of seatbelt and helmet laws, no more power cords with 15 warning labels, etc...
While were at it leagalize all forms of drugs change the drinking/smoking/shooting up age to 18... and re-allocate all the money you put towards drug enforcment into education.
If you do that I think the problems will work themselves out... naturally.
I don't think the question is "will it make people think less of blacks?" but "do blacks who see the add find it insulting?"
Silly you, the show is back only because it made the studios profitable and the cast rich. Silly him? Silly you... profitability is not why we want the show back.
I'm not a hockey fan so I don't remember the guys name but There was a famous player way-back-when that lost a few teeth. He became sort of the face of hockey at the time with his toothless grin and thus the stereotype.
well... 60.75 apparently
Anyone can not like a game, there are lots of games that most other people love that I can't stand. The point is if you do happen to LIKE that sort of thing it definitely give you your money's worth.
I completely agree with you 12+ hours and I'm usually happy with a game. Though oblivion gave me well over 100 and it's nice to have other games where if you finish the solo play in the 12 or so hours it still offer a compelling multiplayer experience.
Despite the fact that I'm happy with games that only offer about 12 hours of play a lot of new games don't even offer that much and I don't feel any of THOSE titles are actually worth $60 (I'm speaking from a next gen console standpoint here). There are a number of titles that are definitely worth the 60: Oblivion, Ghost Recon, Project Gotham Racing 3 etc. but all of those offer substantial replay value be it through just massive single play or solid multiplayer.
I'm not an MMO player but I've started renting most of my games. $20 a month and I can get 4 or so games that last me the 5-10 hours a piece that most new games last. I can enjoy those games for what they're worth as opposed to dropping $60 when they come out and grumbling about wasted money after I blow through it in half a rainy saturday. It also beats waiting 6 months for it to drop to a price it's actually worth. I'll still buy the Oblivions and GRAWs because they do last much much longer then a rental.
I suppose even if MMOs arn't driving down retail game sales these rental my mail services might be. I'm paying slightly more then an MMO subscription and getting access to all the games I want without actually buying any of them.
IANAL but AFAIK they could pick you up and put you in "protective custody" if they think you're in danger of committing a crime or hurting someone. But I don't think they can actually ARREST you without cause. Unless of course the shop owner accused him of harassment or some other crime then he would have been arrested for THAT regardless of whether or not he was actually guilty of it (that's for the courts to decide).
Here in NH we used to have a law (not sure if we still do) that states something to the effect of any unsecured wireless network that can be accessed without trespassing is considered public. That is to say that if you're WiFi network isn't secured in some way and you have credit card and other personal info shared out in the open, you can't hold other's accountable for accessing it. Some hardware store had their network unsecured and someone copied some files off it... the store tried to sue but it was throw out of court. Basically it was the store's own dumb fault for not securing their network. Similarly if I'm piggy backing off of my neighbors signal my neighbor is the one who is held accountable for providing a public signal. If his ISP has a problem with it he's the one who goes to court, not me.
IMO that's the way it SHOULD be but who knows how it will work out for this guy.
While I think copyrights and patents are two different things and should be handled in two different ways, the examples you provided still work IMO.
If I come up with some awesome cancer curing invention and can't get the funding to produce it and make myself a profit within 10 years then it becomes public domain and anyone can use that design... how is that a bad thing? I couldn't market it properly and loose my ability to profit from it (If I couldn't make it happen in 10 years it was probably never going to happen) now anyone in the world can benefit from it.
Similarly if Disney's Great Great Great Great Grandchildren want to keep pumping out re-releases of Steamboat Willie what's wrong with that? Most copyright holders will find that the cost of re-releasing the content is more effort then is worth holding on to it. The only reason a third party would wan't to release it or pirate it is because it's difficult to get a decent copy of it. Forcing the holder to re-release it to keep their ownership ensures that the public has access to that content one way (official re-release by the owner) or another (public domain).
Good Idea
It might also be helpful with silly copyright holders "don't have" the original.
I don't know if I fully agree with IP lifespans getting shorter.. With production costs of things like movies and games getting higher and higher due to consumer demand of better looking special effects/graphics (interesting enough music production costs are getting lower due to equipment costs getting cheaper) it's in the best interests of those industries to continually piggy back off of the same franchises (see Mario version X, Fast and the Furious 3, etc.)
I think the biggest problem is the fact that corporations can hold copyrights. If something like a copyright is there to protect "artists" then corporations should have no say in it. If you have it attributed to an individual then I think that individual should be able to transfer it to another individual when they retire/die if they would like someone to continue their legacy.
If anything I think there should be more of a "use it or loose it" policy where if the content hasn't been published/manufactured/etc. for 10 years then it becomes public domain. So if "Music Group X" makes an album in 2010 and it only gets pressed for 2 years and production stops then in 2022 that music becomes public domain. If in 2019 one of the songs pops up on a sound track then that song get's it's clock reset until production of the sound track stops. Public performances by the copyright owner (movie in a theater/TV, band playing live, painting on display, etc) would also reset the clock. If a copyright is worth having then these things will still occur ANYWAY.
Even still I would imagine most games (or even the console/controller) would come with some kind of sensitivity adjustment much like most games that use analog controllers will allow you to adjust the sensitivity of the sticks. Besides as others have pointed out I think most of the exaggerated movements are done by PR schmucks trying to make sure you understand moving makes things happen on the screen.
I'll have to check out Way of the Samurai. I agree the FF games are a perfect example of what's wrong with the way most games mix gameplay with plot development.
Some more recent games have done pretty well, I just finished playing through the new Tomb Raider, and while it does have cut scenes to advance the plot it does a good job advancing it through the gameplay as well. You have a headset where you can communicate with your team, as you uncover new artifacts and make discoveries you talk it through with them as you move along. The Splinter Cell games use a similar mechanic.
Oblivion is another good game that mixes plot development with action. One thing Oblivion didn't do well was account for time. If the big Oblivion gate is going to open up any second now... it doesn't actually happen until you go talk to so and so to trigger it; you could postpone it indefinitely by just not showing up. It would have made the game interesting if things progressed forwarded whether you were there to see it happen or not.
While I think Indigo Prophecy was an awesome game and worked the plot development into the story really well, there are other games that do it just as well. Maybe he's just not playing them.
The Cooling system Microsoft talked about was a Heat Pipe NOT traditional water-cooling in the case moder sense. The 360 DOES actually contain a heatpipe... well... excluding the one from TFA.
I think 5th element was a good choice too but I don't understand why it woulnd't look good on Blue-Ray... I have the Special Edition of the DVD release and it was supposedly redone from HD quality masters.. it's easily one of my best looking DVDs and I would have pegged it for one of the best looking HD releases..
Though I think Sony would have done well to have picked some action films/cult classics that were shot in digital HD from the start. No one cares about the quality of the video in a drama or comedy. It makes a big differences in a thriller or action flick. But thrillers and action flicks have such a short lifespan... xXx and Fifth Element were poor choices. Fight Club would have been an excellent choice. It's got a cult following and could really benefit from being in HD, the original masters are of fantastic quality as well.
Where's the +1 Gold Star?
Interesting enough Marc Ecco's Getting Up is probably the most political AND artistic game in recent memory... yet it's rated "M". It's also banned in Australia due in part to it's political views (hmm...). Jet Set Radio for the Dreamcast and Xbox had a similar theme but was only rated "T"
There are some other games that I'd consider "artistic" such as Rez, or the upcoming Spore. I suppose if you stretched the definition enough you could extend it to Dance Dance Revolution, Guitar Hero, or even Parappa the Rapper. Though all of the games I've mentioned were raited below an M with the exception of Getting up... Then again I wonder what Rez would have been raited if people knew it was being used as a sex toy.
While there are problems now It can only get better the more it gets used and more techniques and tools become available.
If anything I think it works best for ORGANIC items. That is to say it might not be the best idea to make a building; though a procedurally generated texture layer to generate a weathered effect on the shingles might be cool. Then you could use the same small generic repetitive texture for all the shingles and simply procedurally generate the effects that make them look unique. Procedural generation for the bushes outside or the potted plant inside might also be cool. You could even go as far as to procedurally generate the population of the town where no 2 NPCs looked alike. I don't know if we'll ever see it working properly for level design where ridged play tested and static boundaries need to exist.
I think we'll see the best use of this when they start using it (well) for animation and sound effects. Never see your character move in the same fashion twice or notice the visible hiccup between animation routines. Also using it for sound effects would make for much more realistic repetitive noises like footsteps and machine-gun fire. I've seen some examples of animation and they look OK, some of them look like drunk puppets but some look pretty damn good. Using it for sounds and textures however would be fantastic for spaces savings.
Though it would seem that DNF is more custom then based on anything else at this point:
They might by the time DNF comes out...