People should be able to at the very least check their *own* votes.
This wouldn't fix anything. The database can be built so that your own vote shows you who you really voted for, but the vote totals can still be skewed, since the total tallies can not be looked at person by person.
This is how I feel about Assassin's Creed: If you want it to be the most repetitive game ever, it can be. Same with GTA. You can use your sword in every battle, only doing counter-attacks and the combat then sucks. However, you can force yourself to swap weapons in the middle of the fight to fight a different style, and it becomes fun. You can solve the quests (of which there are about 5) the same way each time, or you can find new ways of completing the tasks, adding variation to the game.
Yeah, some people might complain that you can play "massive gaurd slaughter" Creed, but is that worse than a game that fails you out of any mission where you break your cover? And, If I were Ubisoft, I would patch the game so when you were in the "Kingdom" horse riding could be done at full speed. That's my only major complaint. It's a nice solid game though, at least as good as Mass Effect. However, I find myself playing COD4 more often than AC.
It won't be built in. The public image of ANOTHER version of the xbox that is more expensive than the ps3 is too damaging to the brand, even if it has new features. They wouldn't release an 360 at the current price point with the DVR built in, WAY too many upset early adopters who would be RROD their xbox on purpose.
The only way MS could do this successfully is by upgrading the HD-DVD player, keeping it at the current price point, but adding DVR functionality to the thing, even if it makes the player a little thicker for the hard drive. An "HD upgrade kit" if you will. Then get rid of the old version of the HDDVD player at fire sale prices. That way, the minority of xbox owners that bought the HDDVD players would be the only consumer base that would feel upset, but keeping the price the same would be understandable since the add-on has been around for a while, and it's sales are definately slumping.
I believe I'm not the only one who would appreciate this if only for the old Lucasarts/Sierra games get released from copyright's Cold, Dead hands, putting the community to work making the old games stable on current systems. (Of course, I know they are out there scattershot across the "internets", but the condition they are in, or run in, is laughable in most cases.)
No, it encourages promotion of smaller acts (since radio station's won't have to pay to play those smaller bands), and stops the current model of 10 songs from the major hitters on repeat (due to increasing cost each time those songs are played). IF the small band is good, they will get played more than others, and eventually become a band that people will want to hear on the radio. Then, they get big enough they don't need the "free promotion" anymore, and the bigger radio stations will pay to play them. And sorry, but paying "successful" artists is still an issue, like Tom Waits in the article; does he not deserve to be paid for his work anymore because he's "established"? It's the same model that is occuring on the internet (hundreds of thousands of free videos and shows available, but the "well established" shows often require the viewing of ads or paying for the content, either with ads or directly from the consumer). Once the online videos become popular enough (See: Zero Punctuation) someone will pay for that content if it's good enough.
And the "copyright" arguement is a different can of worms that I'm directly not addressing, since copyright law is broken (in my opinion) right now.
What about a compromise? Why must it be all or nothing? How about this:
Drop the yearly fee from say $5,000 down to $2,500. New artists/indie artists get played for free, since the radio doesn't want to pay for a band that could flop when they are expected to suceed (Like Zwan, or Flyleaf, or Paramore, etc). Then any band that goes platinum on a single record (or 750,000 of 2 albums, or some scale like that), then you can charge $.05 for each play. That builds-in a $2,500 allowance, or about 50,000 plays of "top artists" that are essentially free for the radio station, which is about 104 days worth of music (if you played only songs that you paid for with no commercials or breaks, average 3 minute songs). Then, the $.05 also goes to record companies for the first, say, 5 years, and after that, the $.05 goes ONLY TO THE ARTIST (since the record company isn't pimping that album anymore, i can guarantee it).
This style will allow new, different radio stations to pop up (by decreasing the yearly fee) and allow those new stations to play smaller new music for free (still), but those "commercial" radio stations can still play the top hits for about a hundred days for free (no additional cost to what they are paying now), and then if they want to flog all the most popular music, they can pay to do so.
The so called xbox/ps/nintendo "console war" has been going on hot and heavy for what, 7+ years now? Can we stop calling it "white hot" and finally conceed that the each console of this generation is filling a different need, as shown by last month's NPD data? Galaxy sold well, COD4 sold well, Assasin's creed sold well, Mass effect sold well, Halo 3 sold well, the DS and PSP hardware sold well, even if they didn't have any standout games. To me, that sounds like everybody's pretty damned happy about this holiday season, and even though the ps3 isn't doing as well as the rest, they will catch up eventually. Everyone has nailed what they were trying to accomplish this gen. Congrats to all the consoles and software developers.
Some games are beaten through memorization and practice, (GH3, Rock band, Ikaruga, Most old Nintendo Games) and other games are beat through strategy (multiplayer games, RPG's, etc), they are fun for different reasons, and exercise different parts of your brain. Bemoaning the quality of one as opposed to the other is only opinion.
IIRC, I had to sign a waiver to use any "computer lab" in almost every school, which 99% of the time included a "Only approved programs can be installed..." etc., and failing to follow that rule got you kicked out, and if defiant about it, detention. If the Computer Lab operator didn't know what the program was, he had every right to kick the kid out. This (hypothetically) wasn't a college student using his own laptop in the computer lab. This (hypothetical) situation has most likely happened many times in many schools, what's the big deal?
Guitar Hero 3 is loads easier, Minus the super-tard "boss battles", which are about as fun as "desert bus", and the last 5 songs which are the "lets make these so hard just because we can." GH3 generally throws in more notes, but the accuracy is about 10x as forgiving, and the only hard parts are when they throw a bunch of crap notes together haphazardly. Rock band is definately the better game, and I wish someone would have told me that before I bought GH3. I'm quite pissed at GH3, even if the guitar is better, but that's my opinion.
I was more shocked that you were on/. and were using an iPod, instead of some second teir brand, hell, you don't even own your dap. "We all know that the Archos 605wifi is the best device etc. etc. You applebots yadda yadda"
The major point that most of PC gamers miss, is that a game that is "slightly above average at best" IS the second coming of Christ to Console gamers. I remember Halo's big deal was a couple of things that were Novel to consolers:
1- up to 16 people deathmatch 2-Vehicles 3-No clunky weapon switching 4- Coop
All of these things were done previously in PC Games, and usually done MUCH better, but at that time in the console world, you were stuck with FPS's on the Playstation 1&2, which we all know how awesome THOSE are. Complain all you want about how Bioshock sucks more than System Shock 2, and go play System Shock 2, but for the console kiddies, Bioshock is pretty unique for them. After all, we all know that Halo:Marathon::Bioshock:System Shock 2
Does this mean if someone attaches an "obscene cartoon" to the new Ubuntu Torrent, all of slashdot will be thrown in jail for "hosting obscene images"?
Furthermore, WoW players will pay hundreds of dollars for a card containing an unlock code so an purple monkey with wings and horns that serve no purpose other than to follow their character around
If they made the laptop an in game pet, "Leeroy the Laptop", these things would sell like hotcakes.
Slashdot Mirror
This wouldn't fix anything. The database can be built so that your own vote shows you who you really voted for, but the vote totals can still be skewed, since the total tallies can not be looked at person by person.
Q: How do you know the stage is flat?
A: The drool comes out of both sides of the drummer's mouth.
This is how I feel about Assassin's Creed: If you want it to be the most repetitive game ever, it can be. Same with GTA. You can use your sword in every battle, only doing counter-attacks and the combat then sucks. However, you can force yourself to swap weapons in the middle of the fight to fight a different style, and it becomes fun. You can solve the quests (of which there are about 5) the same way each time, or you can find new ways of completing the tasks, adding variation to the game.
Yeah, some people might complain that you can play "massive gaurd slaughter" Creed, but is that worse than a game that fails you out of any mission where you break your cover? And, If I were Ubisoft, I would patch the game so when you were in the "Kingdom" horse riding could be done at full speed. That's my only major complaint. It's a nice solid game though, at least as good as Mass Effect. However, I find myself playing COD4 more often than AC.
It won't be built in. The public image of ANOTHER version of the xbox that is more expensive than the ps3 is too damaging to the brand, even if it has new features. They wouldn't release an 360 at the current price point with the DVR built in, WAY too many upset early adopters who would be RROD their xbox on purpose.
The only way MS could do this successfully is by upgrading the HD-DVD player, keeping it at the current price point, but adding DVR functionality to the thing, even if it makes the player a little thicker for the hard drive. An "HD upgrade kit" if you will. Then get rid of the old version of the HDDVD player at fire sale prices. That way, the minority of xbox owners that bought the HDDVD players would be the only consumer base that would feel upset, but keeping the price the same would be understandable since the add-on has been around for a while, and it's sales are definately slumping.
Yes, as long as you aren't hexagoning the amount.
I believe I'm not the only one who would appreciate this if only for the old Lucasarts/Sierra games get released from copyright's Cold, Dead hands, putting the community to work making the old games stable on current systems. (Of course, I know they are out there scattershot across the "internets", but the condition they are in, or run in, is laughable in most cases.)
No, it encourages promotion of smaller acts (since radio station's won't have to pay to play those smaller bands), and stops the current model of 10 songs from the major hitters on repeat (due to increasing cost each time those songs are played). IF the small band is good, they will get played more than others, and eventually become a band that people will want to hear on the radio. Then, they get big enough they don't need the "free promotion" anymore, and the bigger radio stations will pay to play them. And sorry, but paying "successful" artists is still an issue, like Tom Waits in the article; does he not deserve to be paid for his work anymore because he's "established"? It's the same model that is occuring on the internet (hundreds of thousands of free videos and shows available, but the "well established" shows often require the viewing of ads or paying for the content, either with ads or directly from the consumer). Once the online videos become popular enough (See: Zero Punctuation) someone will pay for that content if it's good enough.
And the "copyright" arguement is a different can of worms that I'm directly not addressing, since copyright law is broken (in my opinion) right now.
What about a compromise? Why must it be all or nothing? How about this:
Drop the yearly fee from say $5,000 down to $2,500. New artists/indie artists get played for free, since the radio doesn't want to pay for a band that could flop when they are expected to suceed (Like Zwan, or Flyleaf, or Paramore, etc). Then any band that goes platinum on a single record (or 750,000 of 2 albums, or some scale like that), then you can charge $.05 for each play. That builds-in a $2,500 allowance, or about 50,000 plays of "top artists" that are essentially free for the radio station, which is about 104 days worth of music (if you played only songs that you paid for with no commercials or breaks, average 3 minute songs). Then, the $.05 also goes to record companies for the first, say, 5 years, and after that, the $.05 goes ONLY TO THE ARTIST (since the record company isn't pimping that album anymore, i can guarantee it).
This style will allow new, different radio stations to pop up (by decreasing the yearly fee) and allow those new stations to play smaller new music for free (still), but those "commercial" radio stations can still play the top hits for about a hundred days for free (no additional cost to what they are paying now), and then if they want to flog all the most popular music, they can pay to do so.
No.
The so called xbox/ps/nintendo "console war" has been going on hot and heavy for what, 7+ years now? Can we stop calling it "white hot" and finally conceed that the each console of this generation is filling a different need, as shown by last month's NPD data? Galaxy sold well, COD4 sold well, Assasin's creed sold well, Mass effect sold well, Halo 3 sold well, the DS and PSP hardware sold well, even if they didn't have any standout games. To me, that sounds like everybody's pretty damned happy about this holiday season, and even though the ps3 isn't doing as well as the rest, they will catch up eventually. Everyone has nailed what they were trying to accomplish this gen. Congrats to all the consoles and software developers.
Some games are beaten through memorization and practice, (GH3, Rock band, Ikaruga, Most old Nintendo Games) and other games are beat through strategy (multiplayer games, RPG's, etc), they are fun for different reasons, and exercise different parts of your brain. Bemoaning the quality of one as opposed to the other is only opinion.
IIRC, I had to sign a waiver to use any "computer lab" in almost every school, which 99% of the time included a "Only approved programs can be installed..." etc., and failing to follow that rule got you kicked out, and if defiant about it, detention. If the Computer Lab operator didn't know what the program was, he had every right to kick the kid out. This (hypothetically) wasn't a college student using his own laptop in the computer lab. This (hypothetical) situation has most likely happened many times in many schools, what's the big deal?
Guitar Hero 3 is loads easier, Minus the super-tard "boss battles", which are about as fun as "desert bus", and the last 5 songs which are the "lets make these so hard just because we can." GH3 generally throws in more notes, but the accuracy is about 10x as forgiving, and the only hard parts are when they throw a bunch of crap notes together haphazardly. Rock band is definately the better game, and I wish someone would have told me that before I bought GH3. I'm quite pissed at GH3, even if the guitar is better, but that's my opinion.
When I launch half life 1, the only enemies are headcrabs and the only weapon is the crowbar. The rest has become an isotope of counterstrike.
This should be on the back of Oblivon's box for advertising.
And worth every penny from what i hear...
The major point that most of PC gamers miss, is that a game that is "slightly above average at best" IS the second coming of Christ to Console gamers. I remember Halo's big deal was a couple of things that were Novel to consolers:
1- up to 16 people deathmatch 2-Vehicles 3-No clunky weapon switching 4- Coop
All of these things were done previously in PC Games, and usually done MUCH better, but at that time in the console world, you were stuck with FPS's on the Playstation 1&2, which we all know how awesome THOSE are.
Complain all you want about how Bioshock sucks more than System Shock 2, and go play System Shock 2, but for the console kiddies, Bioshock is pretty unique for them. After all, we all know that Halo:Marathon::Bioshock:System Shock 2
What scares me is that the bill that passed ISN'T readily available online, as something like this should be.
Does this mean if someone attaches an "obscene cartoon" to the new Ubuntu Torrent, all of slashdot will be thrown in jail for "hosting obscene images"?
Wait til you hit outlands, and you have to start grinding elementals for mats. The bearded fatness will show up before you know it.
"Mom! Toilet!"
Yes, but the comedy is in the fact that this is like the PS3 coming in a "Gran Turismo 3 Edition" that costs double what it should.
Comments like these make me wish I hadn't spent all my mod points.