You got the "3" part right IIRC their latest re-write uses the Doom 3 engine... not nearly as bad as Quake 3 but not exactly bleeding edge at this point either.
The cell phones from TFA were designed by STUDENTS... the concept cars that "work" are designed by PROFESSIONALS. There are loads and loads of student designed concept cars that are just as uselessly artsy as these phones. Sure there are some student based car designs that might actually work. But there are also some student designed cell-phones that might actually work too.
I think there are too many engineers, not enough designers here on/. to get this point. The curriculum for Industrial Design students is based in Fine Arts. They know next to nothing about how or why things work. They make pretty drawings and clay models. They might do some market research to figure out what people want or how people use/misuse similar devices today. But that's about it. Once they're done their job figuring out how it looks and what it should do they pass it off to an engineer and say "now make it work". At this point you'll have a back and forth between the two to find a happy medium between a device that fits the forum the designer wants with the functions the engineer is able to deliver.
The interaction between the designer and the engineer is KEY as is the human factor research done by the designer to making a worthwhile product. If the engineer doesn't listen to the designer enough you'll usually end up with something ugly, bulky and difficult to use because of under-designed interfaces, it will work but it probably wont be much fun to deal with. If the designer doesn't listen to the consumers enough you'll end up with something that does lots of unnecessary tasks or be difficult to use because of over-designed interfaces.
Designers live in a very artistic and creative place. A lot of times they'll throw the laws right out the window and shoot for uniqueness. Engineers are very utilitarian, you give them specs and and they build things exactly how you ask for them (so be careful how you spec it).
Just look at the automotive market, concept cars (designers designs before they spend much time with the engineers) rarely look like there final production versions, and most don't even make it to market. The Pontiac Aztec is a perfect example of a vehicle that spent too much time with the engineers and not enough time with the designers input. It's functionally fantastic but so butt ugly that no one wants it.
Glad someone else mentioned on this... Lots of good stuff in that museam
The first sphere you come across is definitely projected from the inside... there isn't an external projector in sight. If I had to guess they're using 3 for that one though...
Neither had I... I've built about 7 or 8 machines and I don't think I've ever cut myself. I've even cut custom windows into the case, though I took extra precaution when dealing with THAT. Exactly how roughly are these people handling their computer's innards? I've always thought that delicacy was key with this stuff.
...on the other hand I've also grabbed the wrong end of a soldering iron and managed to give myself a large paper-cut while crushing a cardboard box.
I've never hear anyone but those outside of the US use the term "yanks"; however, people from the south-east do refer to north-easterners as "yankees" (it has to do with the Civil war). Though people in the north-east only refer to those living in New York as "yankees" (that mostly has to do with Baseball). Because of that If you call someone from Massachusetts a Yankee you're likely to get yourself shot.
Probably AeroGel It's 99.8% air and IIRC it's one of the best insulator materials we have available today. They use it on some Capacitors today. Many electronic devices have 5V AeroGel Caps that can hold charges for hours or even days to keep the clock alive. The Xbox has one; which is why the clock doesn't reset when you change outlets. It works much better then a battery in a lot of applications.
I have a titanium ring... and I love it. It NEVER deforms and it's easily the most durable ring I've ever owned. I've had it for years now and it's never needed polishing. Looks almost as shiny as the day I got it. Not to mention if you take it off and bounce it against something hard it has a unique and unmistakable ring to it. It may sound silly but I never really liked jewelry until I started wearing titanium jewelry.
I suppose it's the first ring I've warn for any substantial length of time. Perhaps you prefer gold because that's what you're used to?
Well the guy does live in New York City... I live in the woods in New Hampshire and I've found about 3 cell phones in the last year. So finding 8 in the last few years in such a densely populated area is quite reasonable. (and yes I've contacted the owner/turned into nearby authorities with all the ones I've found)
Then again I would imagine your computer desk doesn't get as much traffic as the backseat of a Taxi.
I think the point is that you aren't who they made the unlockable content for.
Spot On... I can understand wanting to just sit down and play a game without having to unlock things especially when you have a busy life. But maybe you should be playing different games. There are lots of games with unlockable content, and there are lots of games that are simple and fun and let you just play without worrying about secret areas and unlockable items.
Nintendo offers a huge variety of games that are fun that you can just pick up an play, or play a little and come back to over time. If the games you used to play no longer fit your lifestyle then find some new games that do.
How is collecting all the green widgets any different then knocking down all the pins? How is collecting them in shortest amount of time any different then scoring as many points as possible before time runs out?
Sports are games, the goals might be simpler and more obvious but they're goals just the same...
My point is how fun would your bowling game be if it didn't have goals? what if all the pins were knocked down before you rolled the ball? Would the game be any WORSE if the developers decided to add new gametype/goals of hooks only? If anything you're examples show that developers aren't adding enough challenges into the game so you're going out of your way to create your own.
I can agree on some level about the fighting games. I can see how if you just wanted to fight multi-player with a character going through the single player to unlock them might be a bit of a chore.
I personally still enjoy the task of playing through the single player with each character and trying to unlock all the characters, costumes, etc. it's fun. I think maybe there's a fine line between making the player earn things for the sake of replay value and making the player do things they really don't want to do so they can get to the game they want.
Damn I've got 2 college degrees, a full time salary job, a wife, and a house... I haven't had anyone call me a "kid" for quite some time.
I think it's pretty obvious that YOU are the one who hasn't played many current games. Most new games (at least most new GOOD games) seem to have WORTHWHILE unlockable content as opposed to the retarded OCD crap you seem to think they have.
Lets take Project Gotham Racing for example. It's an Xbox 360 game so it's new and could be considered a "modern" game. Being a 360 game it has an number of "Achievements" and on top of that it has a number of "Badges" you can earn. The Achievements and the Badges are spread out over both the single player and the multi-player games. Including things like "earn all gold medals", "earn all silver medals", "have a 5 race winning streak online", "play each of the online game types" etc. Most of them are pretty straight forward tasks. Earn a gold medal in each of the solo career races for instance. If the proverbial BAR wasn't set there I might have just blown through it and been content with a few bronze medals here and there. But with some goal in mind it adds replay value to the game, some new challenge to take on, and a sense of accomplishment once I achieve it. Also in this game I don't have any cars at all when I start. I have some virtual money that I can spend on a car, but it's only enough to buy a few of the slow ones. I have to compete in some races to unlock new cars. This not only gives me a goal but it gives me a functional usable result in the game once I earn enough money. Now just finishing the solo career wont earn enough to buy all the cars. But I can also earn virtual money by racing online against other players. So again it adds replay and encourages me to try out other aspects of the game.
Do I feel the game wasn't as good because it didn't "just let me play" with all the cars from the get go? of course not, if anything I feel it made the game better.
Another example is ES4:Oblivion. Do you think the game would be fun if all the quests were collected and ready to go, if all the different types of weapons, armor, etc. and full stats were just there all right from the get-go? That wouldn't be fun... there's no challenge left, there's nothing left to discover, nothing left to test your abilities... no goals. Some people might find some of those tasks repetitive and boring, but many enjoy it. Racing is just going in circles around a track... but many enjoy that too. There's lots of secrets, locked content and different things to discover in Oblivion... that's what makes it such a great game.
Most of the new games I've bought recently have been setup similar to this. Are there games with useless rewards for OCD tasks that feel like jobs? Of course... but I like to call those "sh*tty games" and I try to avoid playing them by staying informed, reading reviews, impressions from other gamers etc...
When it comes down to it games are GOAL oriented... ALL games. IMO if a game has a variety of worthwhile and challenging goals then it's worth playing
... because the without ALL the content unlocked immediately, games are just dull and boring and no fun to play *geeez*
Agreed, I think the article's author probably just sucks at modern games. For me most of the fun comes from finding the hidden stuff, seeing if I can beat the game on hard or best my buddies high score. Video Games are GAMES, they're meant to be challenging and competitive. Locked content is part of that, it keeps the game fresh longer and gives you some goals to shoot for. You might as well complain that football is too challenging and suggest the team just play catch instead. If you want to "escape" go watch a movie or read a book.
Well, you might be joking but there ARE things the game industry could learn from the movie industry. For instance the movie industry has a pretty decent indy crowd, and a lot of times that's encouraged (where a lot of time it's shunned in the game industry, particularly on the console side). They also have a good balance between meaningful fresh and unique films and generic "give them what sells" stuff. I think the key is that they have worthwhile awards/awards shows and know how to promote the people behind the film. Writers, directors, producers, staring actors, supporting actors, score composer etc. ALL get a spotlight not just in the awards shows but also on the movie posters, in advertisements, and on the DVD box. Sure there are SOME "superstars" in the game business but it's not too frequent and it's not leveraged in the same way they do it in the film industry.
Any good business will learn from others, what works well, what doesn't, etc.. this applies to individual companies as well as entire industries.
Yeah but trading one addiction for another is how things are usually done... just look at all the drug addicts who weened off the drugs and became addicted to Jesus.
while I like your idea I don't believe we should take away someones ability to have children.
If anything the parents should suffer the legal burden for their children up to age 18. Your stupid kid gets jail time for shooting someone in the face, guess who gets to go to jail if they're found guilty?
That would certainly encourage parents to take a more active role in their children's lives. and if not the parents get jailed for something the kid does and hopefully the new foster parents do a better job.
too true... I'm on my 2nd PS2. I know about 15 or so people with them and not a one of them is still on their first. Some of the more heavy players have even had to replace it 2 or 3 times. The worst part is that I barely even play mine... I own about 5 games total, and in general once I finish a game I don't ever play it again (at least none of my PS2 games). I don't even play DVDs on it yet the thing still died and when the ONE game I was waiting for came out I had to buy a new one... I also have a launch N64, a near launch Dreamcast, a near launch Xbox 1, a near launch Gamecube, and a launch Xbox 360 and NONE of them have given me any grief..
... My PS1 was replaced 3 times. I also had a Sony Trinitron Monitor that died completely after 6 months. $500-$600 is bad enough but without a lifetime guarantee that's a pretty big pill to swallow with the Sony experiences I've had.
The only reason there are multiple DVD PS2 games is because the PS2 has problem with Dual Layer discs... If you're reading DVDs with a more recent drive (read: a drive that works properly) then you'd only be needing one disc. Even still the total number of 2 layer/2 disc PS2 games is small. I can't think of a single Xbox 1 or Xbox 360 game that needed more then one disc.
Also don't forget that an animation sequence using the game's own graphics takes up a whole lot less space then say a pre-rendered video. LOADS of PS2 games rely heavily on such pre-rendered videos for plot development. I should hope that Next Gen graphics are good enough that they wont need such videos anymore and can simply take control of the on screen characters for such scenes.
If anything it's sounds that are the most space consuming these days, but even audio codecs are getting better and better. Even still unless it's an RPG, or something equally as long I don't think it would come close to filling even a DVD9 if it was using some decent compression.
If that's the case then it means that the PS2 hardware is useless for anything but running PS2 games. At least the PS2 was able to use the PS1's hardware for other basic I/O functions.
Slashdot Mirror
You got the "3" part right IIRC their latest re-write uses the Doom 3 engine... not nearly as bad as Quake 3 but not exactly bleeding edge at this point either.
You must be new here; you forgot to end it with "NO CARRIER"... You insensitive clod!
The cell phones from TFA were designed by STUDENTS... the concept cars that "work" are designed by PROFESSIONALS. There are loads and loads of student designed concept cars that are just as uselessly artsy as these phones. Sure there are some student based car designs that might actually work. But there are also some student designed cell-phones that might actually work too.
THANK YOU!
/. to get this point. The curriculum for Industrial Design students is based in Fine Arts. They know next to nothing about how or why things work. They make pretty drawings and clay models. They might do some market research to figure out what people want or how people use/misuse similar devices today. But that's about it. Once they're done their job figuring out how it looks and what it should do they pass it off to an engineer and say "now make it work". At this point you'll have a back and forth between the two to find a happy medium between a device that fits the forum the designer wants with the functions the engineer is able to deliver.
I think there are too many engineers, not enough designers here on
The interaction between the designer and the engineer is KEY as is the human factor research done by the designer to making a worthwhile product. If the engineer doesn't listen to the designer enough you'll usually end up with something ugly, bulky and difficult to use because of under-designed interfaces, it will work but it probably wont be much fun to deal with. If the designer doesn't listen to the consumers enough you'll end up with something that does lots of unnecessary tasks or be difficult to use because of over-designed interfaces.
Designers live in a very artistic and creative place. A lot of times they'll throw the laws right out the window and shoot for uniqueness. Engineers are very utilitarian, you give them specs and and they build things exactly how you ask for them (so be careful how you spec it).
Just look at the automotive market, concept cars (designers designs before they spend much time with the engineers) rarely look like there final production versions, and most don't even make it to market. The Pontiac Aztec is a perfect example of a vehicle that spent too much time with the engineers and not enough time with the designers input. It's functionally fantastic but so butt ugly that no one wants it.
I hear that MySpace game is pretty popular...
Glad someone else mentioned on this... Lots of good stuff in that museam
The first sphere you come across is definitely projected from the inside... there isn't an external projector in sight. If I had to guess they're using 3 for that one though...
I hadn't realized this was so common.
...on the other hand I've also grabbed the wrong end of a soldering iron and managed to give myself a large paper-cut while crushing a cardboard box.
Neither had I... I've built about 7 or 8 machines and I don't think I've ever cut myself. I've even cut custom windows into the case, though I took extra precaution when dealing with THAT. Exactly how roughly are these people handling their computer's innards? I've always thought that delicacy was key with this stuff.
DAMNIT I even previewed my post and couldn't manage to get through it without a grammatical error.
I've never hear anyone but those outside of the US use the term "yanks"; however, people from the south-east do refer to north-easterners as "yankees" (it has to do with the Civil war). Though people in the north-east only refer to those living in New York as "yankees" (that mostly has to do with Baseball). Because of that If you call someone from Massachusetts a Yankee you're likely to get yourself shot.
well... it is NASA
Probably AeroGel It's 99.8% air and IIRC it's one of the best insulator materials we have available today. They use it on some Capacitors today. Many electronic devices have 5V AeroGel Caps that can hold charges for hours or even days to keep the clock alive. The Xbox has one; which is why the clock doesn't reset when you change outlets. It works much better then a battery in a lot of applications.
I have a titanium ring... and I love it. It NEVER deforms and it's easily the most durable ring I've ever owned. I've had it for years now and it's never needed polishing. Looks almost as shiny as the day I got it. Not to mention if you take it off and bounce it against something hard it has a unique and unmistakable ring to it. It may sound silly but I never really liked jewelry until I started wearing titanium jewelry.
I suppose it's the first ring I've warn for any substantial length of time. Perhaps you prefer gold because that's what you're used to?
Well the guy does live in New York City... I live in the woods in New Hampshire and I've found about 3 cell phones in the last year. So finding 8 in the last few years in such a densely populated area is quite reasonable. (and yes I've contacted the owner/turned into nearby authorities with all the ones I've found)
Then again I would imagine your computer desk doesn't get as much traffic as the backseat of a Taxi.
Actually they're Both E... the raiting appears to the left of the picture... though it could be more obvious I missed it at first glace too.
Spot On... I can understand wanting to just sit down and play a game without having to unlock things especially when you have a busy life. But maybe you should be playing different games. There are lots of games with unlockable content, and there are lots of games that are simple and fun and let you just play without worrying about secret areas and unlockable items.
Nintendo offers a huge variety of games that are fun that you can just pick up an play, or play a little and come back to over time. If the games you used to play no longer fit your lifestyle then find some new games that do.
How is collecting all the green widgets any different then knocking down all the pins? How is collecting them in shortest amount of time any different then scoring as many points as possible before time runs out?
Sports are games, the goals might be simpler and more obvious but they're goals just the same...
My point is how fun would your bowling game be if it didn't have goals? what if all the pins were knocked down before you rolled the ball? Would the game be any WORSE if the developers decided to add new gametype/goals of hooks only? If anything you're examples show that developers aren't adding enough challenges into the game so you're going out of your way to create your own.
I can agree on some level about the fighting games. I can see how if you just wanted to fight multi-player with a character going through the single player to unlock them might be a bit of a chore.
I personally still enjoy the task of playing through the single player with each character and trying to unlock all the characters, costumes, etc. it's fun. I think maybe there's a fine line between making the player earn things for the sake of replay value and making the player do things they really don't want to do so they can get to the game they want.
Damn I've got 2 college degrees, a full time salary job, a wife, and a house... I haven't had anyone call me a "kid" for quite some time.
I think it's pretty obvious that YOU are the one who hasn't played many current games. Most new games (at least most new GOOD games) seem to have WORTHWHILE unlockable content as opposed to the retarded OCD crap you seem to think they have.
Lets take Project Gotham Racing for example. It's an Xbox 360 game so it's new and could be considered a "modern" game. Being a 360 game it has an number of "Achievements" and on top of that it has a number of "Badges" you can earn. The Achievements and the Badges are spread out over both the single player and the multi-player games. Including things like "earn all gold medals", "earn all silver medals", "have a 5 race winning streak online", "play each of the online game types" etc. Most of them are pretty straight forward tasks. Earn a gold medal in each of the solo career races for instance. If the proverbial BAR wasn't set there I might have just blown through it and been content with a few bronze medals here and there. But with some goal in mind it adds replay value to the game, some new challenge to take on, and a sense of accomplishment once I achieve it. Also in this game I don't have any cars at all when I start. I have some virtual money that I can spend on a car, but it's only enough to buy a few of the slow ones. I have to compete in some races to unlock new cars. This not only gives me a goal but it gives me a functional usable result in the game once I earn enough money. Now just finishing the solo career wont earn enough to buy all the cars. But I can also earn virtual money by racing online against other players. So again it adds replay and encourages me to try out other aspects of the game.
Do I feel the game wasn't as good because it didn't "just let me play" with all the cars from the get go? of course not, if anything I feel it made the game better.
Another example is ES4:Oblivion. Do you think the game would be fun if all the quests were collected and ready to go, if all the different types of weapons, armor, etc. and full stats were just there all right from the get-go? That wouldn't be fun... there's no challenge left, there's nothing left to discover, nothing left to test your abilities... no goals. Some people might find some of those tasks repetitive and boring, but many enjoy it. Racing is just going in circles around a track... but many enjoy that too. There's lots of secrets, locked content and different things to discover in Oblivion... that's what makes it such a great game.
Most of the new games I've bought recently have been setup similar to this. Are there games with useless rewards for OCD tasks that feel like jobs? Of course... but I like to call those "sh*tty games" and I try to avoid playing them by staying informed, reading reviews, impressions from other gamers etc...
When it comes down to it games are GOAL oriented... ALL games. IMO if a game has a variety of worthwhile and challenging goals then it's worth playing
Agreed, I think the article's author probably just sucks at modern games. For me most of the fun comes from finding the hidden stuff, seeing if I can beat the game on hard or best my buddies high score.
Video Games are GAMES, they're meant to be challenging and competitive. Locked content is part of that, it keeps the game fresh longer and gives you some goals to shoot for. You might as well complain that football is too challenging and suggest the team just play catch instead. If you want to "escape" go watch a movie or read a book.
Well, you might be joking but there ARE things the game industry could learn from the movie industry. For instance the movie industry has a pretty decent indy crowd, and a lot of times that's encouraged (where a lot of time it's shunned in the game industry, particularly on the console side). They also have a good balance between meaningful fresh and unique films and generic "give them what sells" stuff. I think the key is that they have worthwhile awards/awards shows and know how to promote the people behind the film. Writers, directors, producers, staring actors, supporting actors, score composer etc. ALL get a spotlight not just in the awards shows but also on the movie posters, in advertisements, and on the DVD box. Sure there are SOME "superstars" in the game business but it's not too frequent and it's not leveraged in the same way they do it in the film industry.
Any good business will learn from others, what works well, what doesn't, etc.. this applies to individual companies as well as entire industries.
Yeah but trading one addiction for another is how things are usually done... just look at all the drug addicts who weened off the drugs and became addicted to Jesus.
while I like your idea I don't believe we should take away someones ability to have children.
If anything the parents should suffer the legal burden for their children up to age 18. Your stupid kid gets jail time for shooting someone in the face, guess who gets to go to jail if they're found guilty?
That would certainly encourage parents to take a more active role in their children's lives. and if not the parents get jailed for something the kid does and hopefully the new foster parents do a better job.
too true... I'm on my 2nd PS2. I know about 15 or so people with them and not a one of them is still on their first. Some of the more heavy players have even had to replace it 2 or 3 times. The worst part is that I barely even play mine... I own about 5 games total, and in general once I finish a game I don't ever play it again (at least none of my PS2 games). I don't even play DVDs on it yet the thing still died and when the ONE game I was waiting for came out I had to buy a new one... I also have a launch N64, a near launch Dreamcast, a near launch Xbox 1, a near launch Gamecube, and a launch Xbox 360 and NONE of them have given me any grief..
... My PS1 was replaced 3 times. I also had a Sony Trinitron Monitor that died completely after 6 months. $500-$600 is bad enough but without a lifetime guarantee that's a pretty big pill to swallow with the Sony experiences I've had.
The only reason there are multiple DVD PS2 games is because the PS2 has problem with Dual Layer discs... If you're reading DVDs with a more recent drive (read: a drive that works properly) then you'd only be needing one disc. Even still the total number of 2 layer/2 disc PS2 games is small. I can't think of a single Xbox 1 or Xbox 360 game that needed more then one disc.
Also don't forget that an animation sequence using the game's own graphics takes up a whole lot less space then say a pre-rendered video. LOADS of PS2 games rely heavily on such pre-rendered videos for plot development. I should hope that Next Gen graphics are good enough that they wont need such videos anymore and can simply take control of the on screen characters for such scenes.
If anything it's sounds that are the most space consuming these days, but even audio codecs are getting better and better. Even still unless it's an RPG, or something equally as long I don't think it would come close to filling even a DVD9 if it was using some decent compression.
If that's the case then it means that the PS2 hardware is useless for anything but running PS2 games. At least the PS2 was able to use the PS1's hardware for other basic I/O functions.