Yeah, it's so nice to be able to drive down to the local Hollywood Video, pick from 1000 greatest hits (who the eff doesn't have Eraserhead in their library!!) and be back to watch the movie in 15 minutes. Sooo much better than telling my computer to do it. Especially since I have to slide down the road in the snow. Oh, and keeping that downloaded video on my computer so it's instantly accessable? Out of the question. Our Commadore 64's don't have that kind of storage space!
I get your point that right now there are hardly any aspects of downloadable content that is appealing (streaming is sketchy, DRM destroys freedom, cost should be less for a soft copy, etc.), but the first company to solve these problems will kill hard copies as fast as MP3's killed CD's.
It has, and I'll be damned if I can't find it. IIRC, ~80% of people listen to the music they grew up listening to, and after about age 25-30, the majority of people hardly buy new bands and rely on the "classics". So yes, someone has done studies, and no, I don't have the links.
Just look at T-Pain and his success selling ringtones instead of singles and being a "ringtone artist". I love full albums, and will search for "complete" albums (such as Muse's Black Holes and Revelations, which is the most recent "album" I've seen), but I think we are just returning to a couple of years like that of the 45 single. It's not going to kill the industry, but they will have to complely restructure to survive. They will, and those who don't will explode and start new companies that can adapt.
Honestly, this isn't meant as flamebait, but even at $200 right now, i'd still hold off until some of those "must have" titles start showing up. I bought a 360 because the critical mass of good games hit, and I'm very happy with the games i've played, very much worth the purchase. I just don't see the critical mass of games that are intriguing to me (important point there) that the 360 has.
Perhaps in a year (like the article says) $200 might be a good price if the titles that are scheduled to come out are as good as sony keeps saying they are going to be.
I think you just found the way to make Mass Effect 2 (since they are talking about doing a trilogy) similar to the original, but new and different. Make a character transfer option, where your character from the first game continues with the same skills you spent the entire first game earning, and then a character creation (for those who didn't play ME1) and give them the points and let them spend them willie nillie right off the bat. Then, instead of focusing on becoming a certain style of character (stealth/combat etc), you refine your skills in that area, say, Codebreaking instead of Lockpicking, shotguns vs. pistols. So you start out an uber-combat soldier, but then you can spend your time honing those skills to a razors edge.
Of course, my POV is coming from playing probably a total of 15 rpg's (picking from the "critically acclaimed" mostly) and no RP'ing to speak of, so I'm definately not as worn out on the formula as many other fans of RPG's are, and I can see how the Skill-less baffoon becoming the hero of the day is a tired gameplay mechanic.
Maybe I missed the "supreme badass" option in a starting character, but I only recall 3 psycological profiles, being a sole survivor, a war hero, and a renegade, none of which say that you are some ubersolider. On top of that, who wants to play an RPG where all your stats are maxed out? Go play a shooter or something if you don't want to level up. There's a fine line between creating a story, and having a game in there somewhere.
You create the game you are insisting on, and you no longer have an rpg, you have Doom. A supersoldier who can use any weapon/item/armor, at any time, as long as you find it on the ground.
I can't tell you how much I agree with you about having a "3 way horserace". I have the Wii60 combo, and the wii is great as a break/alternative to the "standard" game library of the 360. The 360 gets so much more playtime, but the Wii being as cheap as it is has probably (definately?) forced the 360 and PS3 to drop their prices as they did. I really enjoy the wii, and yeah, it's in the same developer "oh crap, we need to decide how to build games on this system" stage that the DS went through. The ideas are there, but it's such a paradigm shift that the industry is having a rough time adjusting, but when they finally catch their stride, the wii will be a wonderful system to own.
I see the ps3 as the xbox of the last generation. There will be excellent games on it eventually, and when the price comes down (yes, $399 is still too much for the 2-3 exclusives that are "must play", and no BC) it will be worth picking up for the "gems" of the system. However, the 360 is the current "ps2", with the most games (shovelware or otherwise) and the most choices for gametypes.
Keeping the "Power console!" vs. "middleground/most games" vs. "cheap but fun" competition that is occuring in the console world is a wonderful thing for gamers, and I hope that all 3 of the companies stick around. The flailing of the ps3 has forced sony to become more up and up in their thinking and the way they compete (by actually having to work for attention), the wii drives innovation in gameplay and price controls, and the xbox drives game development, and number of games available (indirectly through ps3/wii trying to catch up to the amount of games in the 360 library).
Release it. Fix most of it with SP1, introduce new problems and incompatibilities. Repeat with subsequent patches until software becomes obsolete. Yeah, totally unique to Microsoft.
Yep, I cancelled a couple months back, Fill out an online form (though locating it on their site wasn't exactly easy) and then, at the end of the subscription month, Poof, all gone. one of the easiest cancellations i've ever had. Not even a "come back and get a one month at $10!" offer.
Oh, and bush won't veto anything unless god tells him to, or unless it increases spending on anything other than the war. I have a hard time seeing him veto Pell grant CUTS. Asshat.
Ah, which was the problem, the Mic is on the Outside of the suit, and the speaker is on the inside of the suit. Gordon must listen to all the pretentious blathering about the story, but has no ability to talk back to the morons who are talking down to Mr. MIT graduate.
"Yes, it is a good think i have this suit on. Yes, I think that I have to place wooden spools in radioactive waste is a pretty annoying way to spend 15 minutes, thanks for reminding me. When that zombie pops out of the radioactive waste, I'll ask him for a hand, since you don't care to help. I hate you, and I wish you could hear me say so."
He must be a slobbering monkey then not to be able to sell a half price version of the same game with extra stuff. I bet his conversation went something like, "Hey Jerkoff, why are you buying Warcraft 3. Boy, you are such a n00b. WC2 was so much better. Wanna preorder World of Warcraft? It's gonna be sweet, and you RTS people totally want to play an MMO. Oh, and this game SHOULD be half price it sucks so bad. In fact, it is half price! Boy you are a n00b. Wanna buy it?"
If you really feel that games NEED TEH BLU-RAYZ, You should do yourself a favor and buy THE ORANGE BOX, which will give you up to 20-40 hours+ of story/gameplay (depending on how fast you want to go), 3 original games, and it all fits on a single dvd. This, as opposed to Heavenly Sword, which is a 6 (!) hour blu-ray game, and the developers cried about "the disc is going to burst it's so full!"
When cut scenes are integral to the story, even interactive cutscenes such as *SPOILER* the death of Andrew Ryan in Bioshock, How do you tell your story without your character "losing control". Either directly, or sitting in a room listening to deposition, you can't extend the story without losing control usually. Giving andrew ryan a gun to shoot at you so it becomes a kill/be killed scenario was disengenuous to the characters/story. I think that the cutscene where you kill Andrew Ryan, and the underlying theme of Bioshock (a man chooses, a slave obeys) addresses directly the limitations of video games and cutscenes. Without the cutscenes and storyline, you've got GTA: Rapture.
I know i'm going to get modded down just for mentioning G4, but X-play has used the 5 star system for quite a while, and it works well, and they do a pretty good job of explaining the game to both fans of the type of game, and people who wouldn't be fans. For instance, last week Adam reviewed Soul Eater, which was a JRPG, which he hates. "This, as far as JRPG's go, is a fairly deep and complex JRPG, if you have the patience to wade through. I absolutely Don't and was bored out of my mind. The menus are ugly, clunky, and unessicarily complex." The game got 3 stars though, because he recommended it to anyone who appreciated JRPG's.
This quote from the article lets me know how much Nolan is full of shat.
"My personal favorite is Breakout. It is one of the games that everyone loved. It was very satisfying to play," says Bushnell. "It was like breaking down walls. And it was a metaphor. The world is better when you break down walls. Walls separate people. The more inclusive we can be, the better we can be as a species."
Well, Portal removes the concept of walls completely, with no need to destroy them. Now THAT'S a metaphor. What a washed up old man who wants to advertise his new project, uWink or whatever it's called. Most of his complaining is due to lack of "playing together". Maybe if he put away his atari 2600 and got a newer console, he might realize they work "on the internets tubes".
When I first beat Shadow of the Colossus, I'm sure i'm not the only one who thought, "My god, what have I done?" I've never had another game make me questions my actions within the game before. It was wonderful.
Slashdot Mirror
Yeah, it's so nice to be able to drive down to the local Hollywood Video, pick from 1000 greatest hits (who the eff doesn't have Eraserhead in their library!!) and be back to watch the movie in 15 minutes. Sooo much better than telling my computer to do it. Especially since I have to slide down the road in the snow. Oh, and keeping that downloaded video on my computer so it's instantly accessable? Out of the question. Our Commadore 64's don't have that kind of storage space!
I get your point that right now there are hardly any aspects of downloadable content that is appealing (streaming is sketchy, DRM destroys freedom, cost should be less for a soft copy, etc.), but the first company to solve these problems will kill hard copies as fast as MP3's killed CD's.
Just look at T-Pain and his success selling ringtones instead of singles and being a "ringtone artist". I love full albums, and will search for "complete" albums (such as Muse's Black Holes and Revelations, which is the most recent "album" I've seen), but I think we are just returning to a couple of years like that of the 45 single. It's not going to kill the industry, but they will have to complely restructure to survive. They will, and those who don't will explode and start new companies that can adapt.
In Soviet Russia, Game reviews you!
Honestly, this isn't meant as flamebait, but even at $200 right now, i'd still hold off until some of those "must have" titles start showing up. I bought a 360 because the critical mass of good games hit, and I'm very happy with the games i've played, very much worth the purchase. I just don't see the critical mass of games that are intriguing to me (important point there) that the 360 has.
Perhaps in a year (like the article says) $200 might be a good price if the titles that are scheduled to come out are as good as sony keeps saying they are going to be.
I think you just found the way to make Mass Effect 2 (since they are talking about doing a trilogy) similar to the original, but new and different. Make a character transfer option, where your character from the first game continues with the same skills you spent the entire first game earning, and then a character creation (for those who didn't play ME1) and give them the points and let them spend them willie nillie right off the bat. Then, instead of focusing on becoming a certain style of character (stealth/combat etc), you refine your skills in that area, say, Codebreaking instead of Lockpicking, shotguns vs. pistols. So you start out an uber-combat soldier, but then you can spend your time honing those skills to a razors edge.
Of course, my POV is coming from playing probably a total of 15 rpg's (picking from the "critically acclaimed" mostly) and no RP'ing to speak of, so I'm definately not as worn out on the formula as many other fans of RPG's are, and I can see how the Skill-less baffoon becoming the hero of the day is a tired gameplay mechanic.
Maybe I missed the "supreme badass" option in a starting character, but I only recall 3 psycological profiles, being a sole survivor, a war hero, and a renegade, none of which say that you are some ubersolider. On top of that, who wants to play an RPG where all your stats are maxed out? Go play a shooter or something if you don't want to level up. There's a fine line between creating a story, and having a game in there somewhere.
You create the game you are insisting on, and you no longer have an rpg, you have Doom. A supersoldier who can use any weapon/item/armor, at any time, as long as you find it on the ground.
I can't tell you how much I agree with you about having a "3 way horserace". I have the Wii60 combo, and the wii is great as a break/alternative to the "standard" game library of the 360. The 360 gets so much more playtime, but the Wii being as cheap as it is has probably (definately?) forced the 360 and PS3 to drop their prices as they did. I really enjoy the wii, and yeah, it's in the same developer "oh crap, we need to decide how to build games on this system" stage that the DS went through. The ideas are there, but it's such a paradigm shift that the industry is having a rough time adjusting, but when they finally catch their stride, the wii will be a wonderful system to own.
I see the ps3 as the xbox of the last generation. There will be excellent games on it eventually, and when the price comes down (yes, $399 is still too much for the 2-3 exclusives that are "must play", and no BC) it will be worth picking up for the "gems" of the system. However, the 360 is the current "ps2", with the most games (shovelware or otherwise) and the most choices for gametypes.
Keeping the "Power console!" vs. "middleground/most games" vs. "cheap but fun" competition that is occuring in the console world is a wonderful thing for gamers, and I hope that all 3 of the companies stick around. The flailing of the ps3 has forced sony to become more up and up in their thinking and the way they compete (by actually having to work for attention), the wii drives innovation in gameplay and price controls, and the xbox drives game development, and number of games available (indirectly through ps3/wii trying to catch up to the amount of games in the 360 library).
Release it. Fix most of it with SP1, introduce new problems and incompatibilities. Repeat with subsequent patches until software becomes obsolete.
Yeah, totally unique to Microsoft.
Yep, I cancelled a couple months back, Fill out an online form (though locating it on their site wasn't exactly easy) and then, at the end of the subscription month, Poof, all gone. one of the easiest cancellations i've ever had. Not even a "come back and get a one month at $10!" offer.
'sright. According to the pro-wiretapping crowd.
W.T.F. Hollywood is almost as evil as big oil? Show me a story where Hollywood employs slave labor and hires mercenaries to burn villages through burma to build their pipelines, and i'll begin to see the correlation.
Oh, and bush won't veto anything unless god tells him to, or unless it increases spending on anything other than the war. I have a hard time seeing him veto Pell grant CUTS. Asshat.
My freakin problem was the amount of content/side quests in oblivion. I still haven't beat it due to my complete lack of... ooh, shiney!
What a troll man, please get of /. and go read your "news" from Sonydefenseforce.com please, much more suited to trolls like you.
To which I mis-quote Calvin - "If you don't have grass stains on your knees by the end of the day, you should reevaluate your life".
Ah, which was the problem, the Mic is on the Outside of the suit, and the speaker is on the inside of the suit. Gordon must listen to all the pretentious blathering about the story, but has no ability to talk back to the morons who are talking down to Mr. MIT graduate.
"Yes, it is a good think i have this suit on. Yes, I think that I have to place wooden spools in radioactive waste is a pretty annoying way to spend 15 minutes, thanks for reminding me. When that zombie pops out of the radioactive waste, I'll ask him for a hand, since you don't care to help. I hate you, and I wish you could hear me say so."
Yes, if only cool guys would have worked there with you....
He must be a slobbering monkey then not to be able to sell a half price version of the same game with extra stuff.
I bet his conversation went something like, "Hey Jerkoff, why are you buying Warcraft 3. Boy, you are such a n00b. WC2 was so much better. Wanna preorder World of Warcraft? It's gonna be sweet, and you RTS people totally want to play an MMO. Oh, and this game SHOULD be half price it sucks so bad. In fact, it is half price! Boy you are a n00b. Wanna buy it?"
If you really feel that games NEED TEH BLU-RAYZ, You should do yourself a favor and buy THE ORANGE BOX, which will give you up to 20-40 hours+ of story/gameplay (depending on how fast you want to go), 3 original games, and it all fits on a single dvd. This, as opposed to Heavenly Sword, which is a 6 (!) hour blu-ray game, and the developers cried about "the disc is going to burst it's so full!"
When cut scenes are integral to the story, even interactive cutscenes such as *SPOILER* the death of Andrew Ryan in Bioshock, How do you tell your story without your character "losing control". Either directly, or sitting in a room listening to deposition, you can't extend the story without losing control usually. Giving andrew ryan a gun to shoot at you so it becomes a kill/be killed scenario was disengenuous to the characters/story. I think that the cutscene where you kill Andrew Ryan, and the underlying theme of Bioshock (a man chooses, a slave obeys) addresses directly the limitations of video games and cutscenes. Without the cutscenes and storyline, you've got GTA: Rapture.
I know i'm going to get modded down just for mentioning G4, but X-play has used the 5 star system for quite a while, and it works well, and they do a pretty good job of explaining the game to both fans of the type of game, and people who wouldn't be fans. For instance, last week Adam reviewed Soul Eater, which was a JRPG, which he hates. "This, as far as JRPG's go, is a fairly deep and complex JRPG, if you have the patience to wade through. I absolutely Don't and was bored out of my mind. The menus are ugly, clunky, and unessicarily complex." The game got 3 stars though, because he recommended it to anyone who appreciated JRPG's.
Yeah, at this rate the 360 version will be released before the PS3 version.
Does duct-taping 2 gamecubes together count as modding?
Well, Portal removes the concept of walls completely, with no need to destroy them. Now THAT'S a metaphor. What a washed up old man who wants to advertise his new project, uWink or whatever it's called. Most of his complaining is due to lack of "playing together". Maybe if he put away his atari 2600 and got a newer console, he might realize they work "on the internets tubes".
When I first beat Shadow of the Colossus, I'm sure i'm not the only one who thought, "My god, what have I done?" I've never had another game make me questions my actions within the game before. It was wonderful.