His friends don't need to "OWN" starcraft to have a Spawn install for a lan party. Hell it was designed so you only need 1 legit copy in an 8 player game, no piracy involved there.
I'd also Add "OpenArena" (the opensource version of Quake 3 arena) and Track Mania Nations Forever to your LAN party. Both are Free, have low system requirements and are good fun.
For computer games I don't think this is feasable anymore. I'm assuming they mean console games.
OTOH, it would be nice if they included links on the Library's page for DRM free PC games made available by the Publisher.
Things like C&C, GTA, and the 'Elder Scrolls' I &II are free to download.
Libraries are becoming increasingly less relevant to the generations who grew up with the internet at their disposal. I personally only made the trips back to the library when they started offering DVD's/ Blurays.
Seriously, they get to dumpster dive and file all the discarded patents submitted "upside down" and claim them.
On another note, why aren't forms web based with an option to upload supporting documents and images ?
"Takes a long fucking time to open OO. I mean a LONG time."
It does. It uses more RAM to manage any specific MS Office document (on the same machine, and a lot of time it's more by a factor of 10).
This is what I call a 'by design tradeoff'. Excel can open Spreadsheet.xls a little quicker and only use 10-20 megs of RAM as opposed to Open Office using over 100 megs of RAM to do the exact same job.
To me this is ok, because even though MS Office has stayed relatively static in price, RAM has dropped significantly and has more utility to my box that just 'opening spreadsheets.
Agreed. Remember when gameboys were $90-$100 ? As the price goes higher and higher, I find myself less interested simply due to the number of other 'entertainment' devices competing with it (iPod touch, netbooks) around that price.
If game companies are concerned about the sales figures about the first few days, then they can have their DRM for the first couple weeks.
Then push out a patch that dumps the DRM, about a month after release. This way, legitimate users can still play their game and not have deal with hostile "user experience" after a couple weeks. People who just don't like DRM on principle can buy the game after the patch comes out and not worry about if a video card change out is going to blow out their activation limit.
The problem with this is that the game companies aren't just fighting piracy, they are removing your right to first sale. One of the reasons I switched to console games over PC games is so I can borrow/ loan them out to friends. I could also resell them when I'm done with them. Sure consoles have DRM, but a disk made for the PS3 will play in any PS3. You have encryption on the blurays to prevent piracy, but you still have the right to loan/borrow/resell the disc when you are done. If I buy a downloadable game from the PSN, I don't have any of those rights.
I never understood people who play games for the plot. I play games for entertaining gameplay. To me the very definition of a game is something almost entirely lacking in plot. Chess, checkers, cards games, monopoly, etc all have no plot.
The irony is many games claim they play it for the plot, but then cite games like Bioshock, Resident Evil or Metal Gear Solid. As you stated these games have more "plot devices" than anything else. Just like a Rodney Dangerfield movie, the "plot" serves little purpose than moving to the next gag or 'set peice'.
It does? You run through all the dungeons and kill the boss at the end. If you like, run it all over again as a different class. That's not my idea of tremendous replay value. Perhaps you are talking about Diablo II?
Maybe you're right. Maybe I am thinking of D2, since they did the "dungeon randomizer" and added online play.
Although paying for Xbox Live sucks, the advantage of the centralized servers is that as long as MS keeps it running, the games are still playable.
You realize that is the primary advantage of paying for a premium service. The very first game available on XBL is still playable and there are no "sunset clauses" that say they can take down the servers with notice.
True. Nintendo doesn't care since they make a profit, and more power to them.
I'm just wondering how you include that in computations of the install base?
While its certainly true that they count as "consoles sold and potential customers" the fact that quite a few Wiis are sold and rarely used (and may only get one or two games), might mean that the install base is a false indicator for a third party developer.
3rd parties need to identify what 2 or 3 games these people are buying and cater to them. My parents own a Wii and use it from time to time. They own Wii Fit, and Tiger Woods 09. Sure, they aren't buying games like a core gamer, but now they are buying games and even if they only buy 5 games this generation, that's 5 more than they every bought previously.
If you take a look in the reviews, there are some spectacular games out there, but you'll have to look past the shovelware to find them. Much like how the installed base of the...
PS2. No seriously, last generation the PS2 had the lowest rated games (in aggregate) due to all the shovelware (Dreamcast had the highest). This is a product of being the market leader.
People see the vast amount of money to be made, and though some make a "Shadow of the Colosus" or "God of War", most are content to shovel out a "Ninja Bread-man".
Slashdot Mirror
His friends don't need to "OWN" starcraft to have a Spawn install for a lan party. Hell it was designed so you only need 1 legit copy in an 8 player game, no piracy involved there.
I'd also Add "OpenArena" (the opensource version of Quake 3 arena) and Track Mania Nations Forever to your LAN party. Both are Free, have low system requirements and are good fun.
Call it "Fan Fiction"
For computer games I don't think this is feasable anymore. I'm assuming they mean console games. OTOH, it would be nice if they included links on the Library's page for DRM free PC games made available by the Publisher. Things like C&C, GTA, and the 'Elder Scrolls' I &II are free to download.
Simple solution to this is for him to post his script, and let the readers decide.
Libraries are becoming increasingly less relevant to the generations who grew up with the internet at their disposal. I personally only made the trips back to the library when they started offering DVD's/ Blurays.
Seriously, they get to dumpster dive and file all the discarded patents submitted "upside down" and claim them. On another note, why aren't forms web based with an option to upload supporting documents and images ?
If you have ever filed a patent (successfully) you are aware that there are some weird requirements for formatting.
Then why don't they make you fill out a web form instead?
"Takes a long fucking time to open OO. I mean a LONG time."
It does. It uses more RAM to manage any specific MS Office document (on the same machine, and a lot of time it's more by a factor of 10). This is what I call a 'by design tradeoff'. Excel can open Spreadsheet.xls a little quicker and only use 10-20 megs of RAM as opposed to Open Office using over 100 megs of RAM to do the exact same job. To me this is ok, because even though MS Office has stayed relatively static in price, RAM has dropped significantly and has more utility to my box that just 'opening spreadsheets.
Agreed. Remember when gameboys were $90-$100 ? As the price goes higher and higher, I find myself less interested simply due to the number of other 'entertainment' devices competing with it (iPod touch, netbooks) around that price.
On the other hand, Nintendo's profits fell by...
Despite having profits fall, Nintendo still had profits where Sony lost nearly $700 million in the last 6 months.
It would be priceless to see the guys face when he gets hit with the 1099.
The "Standard resolution" DNDO plays fine on an EeePC, and I like the fact that they added a native 1024x600 resolution to accomodate it.
If game companies are concerned about the sales figures about the first few days, then they can have their DRM for the first couple weeks.
Then push out a patch that dumps the DRM, about a month after release. This way, legitimate users can still play their game and not have deal with hostile "user experience" after a couple weeks. People who just don't like DRM on principle can buy the game after the patch comes out and not worry about if a video card change out is going to blow out their activation limit.
The problem with this is that the game companies aren't just fighting piracy, they are removing your right to first sale. One of the reasons I switched to console games over PC games is so I can borrow/ loan them out to friends. I could also resell them when I'm done with them. Sure consoles have DRM, but a disk made for the PS3 will play in any PS3. You have encryption on the blurays to prevent piracy, but you still have the right to loan/borrow/resell the disc when you are done. If I buy a downloadable game from the PSN, I don't have any of those rights.
I never understood people who play games for the plot. I play games for entertaining gameplay. To me the very definition of a game is something almost entirely lacking in plot. Chess, checkers, cards games, monopoly, etc all have no plot.
The irony is many games claim they play it for the plot, but then cite games like Bioshock, Resident Evil or Metal Gear Solid. As you stated these games have more "plot devices" than anything else. Just like a Rodney Dangerfield movie, the "plot" serves little purpose than moving to the next gag or 'set peice'.
If raising taxes is a method of fighting crime (it's not, but supposing it is) then why not raise taxes on the sale of knives ?
Love it. Actually, those are the last words in my Will.
It does? You run through all the dungeons and kill the boss at the end. If you like, run it all over again as a different class. That's not my idea of tremendous replay value. Perhaps you are talking about Diablo II?
Maybe you're right. Maybe I am thinking of D2, since they did the "dungeon randomizer" and added online play.
If a game can be finished within a couple of days and has no replay value, is it really worth buying in the first place?
Diablo, and yes, it was worth every penny.
Diablo has tremendous replay value.
If a game can be finished within a couple of days and has no replay value, is it really worth buying in the first place?
What were the sales numbers for Heavenly Sword?
Although paying for Xbox Live sucks, the advantage of the centralized servers is that as long as MS keeps it running, the games are still playable.
You realize that is the primary advantage of paying for a premium service. The very first game available on XBL is still playable and there are no "sunset clauses" that say they can take down the servers with notice.
"since my ISP doesn't support Metallica, I'll just listen to Creed." -- it ain't the same thing."
Exactly! Creed's last albumn is worth listening to...
True. Nintendo doesn't care since they make a profit, and more power to them.
I'm just wondering how you include that in computations of the install base?
While its certainly true that they count as "consoles sold and potential customers" the fact that quite a few Wiis are sold and rarely used (and may only get one or two games), might mean that the install base is a false indicator for a third party developer.
3rd parties need to identify what 2 or 3 games these people are buying and cater to them. My parents own a Wii and use it from time to time. They own Wii Fit, and Tiger Woods 09. Sure, they aren't buying games like a core gamer, but now they are buying games and even if they only buy 5 games this generation, that's 5 more than they every bought previously.
Because "not losing" isn't the same as "winning"...
Yup. Ask McNabb about his weekend in Cincinnati.
If you take a look in the reviews, there are some spectacular games out there, but you'll have to look past the shovelware to find them. Much like how the installed base of the...
PS2. No seriously, last generation the PS2 had the lowest rated games (in aggregate) due to all the shovelware (Dreamcast had the highest). This is a product of being the market leader.
People see the vast amount of money to be made, and though some make a "Shadow of the Colosus" or "God of War", most are content to shovel out a "Ninja Bread-man".