Surely actual parental supervision and monitoring is still the best way to control what your children play on the Wii?
Personally I'd love to be able to white list/black list specific games. Not all games with the same rating have the same content or are viewed the same by parents. For Example, as a general rule I would lock down [insert current console as they all have this feature] all games that aren't "E for everyone". I have a reasonable expectation that my child wouldn't be subjected to much questionable material whether it's language, gore or whatever. I would still like the ability to approve a specific TEEN rated game (like Rock Band) and make that available without making the rest of the TEEN rated games available for him.
Kids will be kids, and you can't monitor your child's activities all the time. Some parents allow children to have game systems in their bedrooms (I wouldn't, but I suppose it works for some); those controls are simply there to enforce your rules when you aren't looking. Like if/when your kid buys or borrows a game that you don't approve of. It's naturally going to happen, and these tools are a parent's aid not a substitute to parenting.
It also doesn't work if dying means you respawn one or two minutes earlier in the game. Call of Duty single-play mode is like this. I realized this when I realized that I never paused the game when I wanted to answer the door, talk on the phone, or get a drink from the fridge. I just left my guy standing there, and if he died, so what?
Yup. That was my issue with Bioshock. It "tried" to be scary, but had no cost to dying. The ONLY time I got worried was when my health meter kept getting shrunk, but once that part of the game was over it went back to 'meh'...
Most of the posters here don't seem to realize that it costs $10-30 million dollars to make a AAA console game these days. It requires teams of hundreds of people working for 2 to 3 years.
Games these days contain *hours* of quality recorded voice, *thousands* of high-quality meshes, *thousands* of high-quality textures, and *tens of thousands* of painstakingly hand-crafted or mocapped-then-hand-retouched animations. They implement somewhat realistic physics, quality 5.1 surround sound, and they often support multiplayer modes.
ALL THAT SHIT TAKES A LOT OF TIME AND MONEY TO MAKE.
And yet at $60 a pop Gears of War 2 has already managed to sell 3 million copies. As far as the $10-$30 million figure, you may not consider them "AAA", but I got my value out of Mega Man 9 and Portal. There IS a Market for smaller/cheaper games in the market. Hell Brain age sold in the millions...
Give me another company that comes up with a new platform and controller paradigm. Develop a system for people with disabilities. What should happen is more competition and more innovation -- better for everyone in the long run.
Actually that is what Nintendo did. It's the only system that can be (reasonably) played 1 handed (Think WiiSports Tennis, or Tiger Woods Golf) or even without Arms (Wii Fit / DDR) Hell, if someone were ambitious enough they could make a video game without the video... The Wii has a wireless 1 handed controller (with rumble) and Dolby Prologic surround sound so you could conceivably make a "video game" for the blind.
The 2 Metroid games for GC did this. Fairly well too.
Unless you rushed across a room to the next door, there'd be no wait between rooms. Sometimes if you made it to the door quickly, it would pause before opening. Just the door though, nothing else paused. I think that's a good example of preemptive loading.
The only things I'd really call loading screens were the elevators between areas in Metroid Prime, and the stupid light/dark warps in Echoes. Otherwise there weren't any in game load screens that I can remember.
Yup, that's my only complaint in (the otherwise brilliant game) Portal. EVERY stage is separated by an elevator for the first half. There was no reason why I should be standing in the elevator and have it take a few seconds like it's actually moving to the next level, THEN Pause the game and say loading. EVERY TIME this happened it broke me out of the game and I thought "Gabe Newell needs to play Metroid Prime to see how this shit should be done."
Actually, the fourth wall is notably and clearly broken a couple of times in Metal Gear Solid...
There are many more sophisticated ways of breaking the fourth wall than "having a character look out at the screen and engage you".
Yeah, Eternal Darkness was a bitch for using the "Sanity meter" to F*ck with the player...
What!?!?! I went to save! Why is it erasing my file? Why is it back to the Title screen!?!?!?! Oh Shit Oh Shit Oh Shit... Oh, thank GOD that was an illusion...
Essentially they need people to buy early on in the release cycle (to maximize profit) and to keep people from trading it in to combat the used market.
So, how about if a publisher would announce that their DLC was free based on when you bought the game.
Let's use Gears of War and Map packs for an Example. Every month they come out with different Multiplayer Map and charge (say $5/$10 per pack), But Every Update (including maps) GOING FORWARD with your retail copy is Free.
If you bought it at launch all the updates (including maps) are free but if you buy it After the first map pack is available, then Every update (except that one) is free and so on.
Ok, they want to kill of rental and used games. Fine. Doesn't matter to me.... but the value of games as a bought item like a DVD or book is a lot higher to me than a non-tranferrable license. Price accordingly and I'll bite. Oh! You idiots thought we are going to keep paying $60 and not be able to loan it out to a friend or turn it at Game Stop? That's very different, that is just a big old price increase heading into a recession. Brilliant move guys!
You bring up an Excellent point. I for one have about 30 Virtual console games on the Wii. I think the price is fair for the value is worth it ($10 for Mega Man 9, $8 for Super Metroid? Sure... I'll bite), but everything's $10 or less.
I don't mind that it's a license and not resellable and I can't loan it out to people, but the very nature of it is SUBTRACTING value, so you have to price it accordingly.
If they think I'd do the same for Full retail games, then they have a much higher bar to cross to get my perceived value from it.
As one of the people who feeds the used-game racket, I am actually getting a good deal. The key is timing: I buy games upon release for $60, play 'em for 30 hours over 2 weeks, then trade them in for $30.
Why not rent the game for 2 weeks then? Are you not in the US? Gamefly gives you 3 Games at a time for $20 a month, and would seem like a much better deal than what you're doing now (If you have no intention of keeping the game).
An FPS? *Anything* that treats the Wii controller like a wireless controller instead of a novelty toy?
If you are talking Strictly FPS - Pick up Medal of Honor Heroes 2, and Metroid Prime 3 (both from last year) and The Conduit (coming in 2009) looks stellar already.
If you want a Gameplay is Greater than Graphics Argument, I'd start with Tiger Woods 09 on the Wii. It's not as pretty as the PS360 versions, but using the motion controls beats the hell out of the dual analog setup.
These are the games that get magazine covers, breathless previews, dedicated forums, etc. They have big budgets, huge graphics, and online features out the wazoo. They pop up every couple of months on the 360 and PS3, and there are a ton right now because the holiday season is approaching. How many Wii games get this treatment? To my eyes, the answer is 0.
How many of them get mentioned in the Wall Street Journal? New York Times? Hell, Wii Fit was on Oprah... The Wii get's plenty of press, but it (like they system itself) is different.
One thing I am looking forward to is the MotionPlus wiimote attachment.
So far I've been loving every iteration of Tiger Woods on the Wii (despite some glaring faults). If all I get for Tiger 10 is a repackaged Tiger 09 with good Wiimotion Plus and WiiSpeak support, I'd gladdly buy it.
The main problem with XNA games is that you HAVE to charge for them. There is no option to make them available for free.
You realize Xbox market place is a store right? "Free" is the exception, and not the rule. I'm sure iTunes or your corner supermarket have similar requirements to use their space.
Honestly, I can't speak too much on either the PS3 racing wheels or even their games in general. My PS3 is primarily used for BluRay Movies from Netflix, and some PS2 titles that use the standard controller (Sly Cooper, God of War, Psychonaughts). Of the upcoming games, Little Big Planet looks like their best game this year (I'm neither a GTA or MGS fan).
If you enjoy music however I can't recommend Rock Band enough. I'm a big Karaoke person and have been playing the hell out of Rock Band. In fact, I play either that most or Tiger Woods Golf (on the Wii). I hope that helps.
According to most sources, the content is downloaded as soon as a disc is first inserted into the player.
That shouldn't be possible. I mean, literally, technically, you should have to explicitly permit a disc to access to internet outside of the disc's content - something in the player software that the disc can't override or ignore. What else can blu-ray discs do on your player? Pull up a list of other discs you've watched, phone home about them,...?
You can always keep your BluRay player offline, and not have it connected to the Internet.
The one thing that the PS3 does not do that an upscale player will do is upsample the old DVDs
Do you NOT have the PS3 connected to the internet or something? If you are using HDMI out, then the PS3 had this capability since Firmware Ver. 1.80 (May 24th, 2007)*
Note: Upconversion only works for HDMI, not component.
"Can anyone recommend a movie - that when you watch it on blu-ray you say "awesome... that was worth it!"
Planet Earth It is an AMAZING series and is glorious in HD. The Video is stunning, and has many jaw dropping moments / scenes. I would hightly recommend the BluRay (or HD-DVD as they are from the same master) over the DVD. As a point of comparison I linked the Amazon search so you could see the "Premium" that's charged on a new set is $4. (Used on the other hand has a much larger gap).
Slashdot Mirror
Resident Evil Wii edition --- what's up w/ requiring pressing _2_ buttons to fire a pistol?!?)
That was a design choice forcing a small gap in time between "Draw pistol", "aim" and "fire pistol". This was in all versions of RE4.
Surely actual parental supervision and monitoring is still the best way to control what your children play on the Wii?
Personally I'd love to be able to white list/black list specific games. Not all games with the same rating have the same content or are viewed the same by parents. For Example, as a general rule I would lock down [insert current console as they all have this feature] all games that aren't "E for everyone". I have a reasonable expectation that my child wouldn't be subjected to much questionable material whether it's language, gore or whatever. I would still like the ability to approve a specific TEEN rated game (like Rock Band) and make that available without making the rest of the TEEN rated games available for him.
Kids will be kids, and you can't monitor your child's activities all the time. Some parents allow children to have game systems in their bedrooms (I wouldn't, but I suppose it works for some); those controls are simply there to enforce your rules when you aren't looking. Like if/when your kid buys or borrows a game that you don't approve of. It's naturally going to happen, and these tools are a parent's aid not a substitute to parenting.
It also doesn't work if dying means you respawn one or two minutes earlier in the game. Call of Duty single-play mode is like this. I realized this when I realized that I never paused the game when I wanted to answer the door, talk on the phone, or get a drink from the fridge. I just left my guy standing there, and if he died, so what?
Yup. That was my issue with Bioshock. It "tried" to be scary, but had no cost to dying. The ONLY time I got worried was when my health meter kept getting shrunk, but once that part of the game was over it went back to 'meh'...
Most of the posters here don't seem to realize that it costs $10-30 million dollars to make a AAA console game these days. It requires teams of hundreds of people working for 2 to 3 years.
Games these days contain *hours* of quality recorded voice, *thousands* of high-quality meshes, *thousands* of high-quality textures, and *tens of thousands* of painstakingly hand-crafted or mocapped-then-hand-retouched animations. They implement somewhat realistic physics, quality 5.1 surround sound, and they often support multiplayer modes.
ALL THAT SHIT TAKES A LOT OF TIME AND MONEY TO MAKE.
And yet at $60 a pop Gears of War 2 has already managed to sell 3 million copies. As far as the $10-$30 million figure, you may not consider them "AAA", but I got my value out of Mega Man 9 and Portal. There IS a Market for smaller/cheaper games in the market. Hell Brain age sold in the millions...
Give me another company that comes up with a new platform and controller paradigm. Develop a system for people with disabilities. What should happen is more competition and more innovation -- better for everyone in the long run.
Actually that is what Nintendo did. It's the only system that can be (reasonably) played 1 handed (Think WiiSports Tennis, or Tiger Woods Golf) or even without Arms (Wii Fit / DDR) Hell, if someone were ambitious enough they could make a video game without the video... The Wii has a wireless 1 handed controller (with rumble) and Dolby Prologic surround sound so you could conceivably make a "video game" for the blind.
The 2 Metroid games for GC did this. Fairly well too. Unless you rushed across a room to the next door, there'd be no wait between rooms. Sometimes if you made it to the door quickly, it would pause before opening. Just the door though, nothing else paused. I think that's a good example of preemptive loading. The only things I'd really call loading screens were the elevators between areas in Metroid Prime, and the stupid light/dark warps in Echoes. Otherwise there weren't any in game load screens that I can remember.
Yup, that's my only complaint in (the otherwise brilliant game) Portal. EVERY stage is separated by an elevator for the first half. There was no reason why I should be standing in the elevator and have it take a few seconds like it's actually moving to the next level, THEN Pause the game and say loading. EVERY TIME this happened it broke me out of the game and I thought "Gabe Newell needs to play Metroid Prime to see how this shit should be done."
Actually, the fourth wall is notably and clearly broken a couple of times in Metal Gear Solid...
There are many more sophisticated ways of breaking the fourth wall than "having a character look out at the screen and engage you".
Yeah, Eternal Darkness was a bitch for using the "Sanity meter" to F*ck with the player...
What!?!?! I went to save! Why is it erasing my file? Why is it back to the Title screen!?!?!?! Oh Shit Oh Shit Oh Shit... Oh, thank GOD that was an illusion...
So, how about if a publisher would announce that their DLC was free based on when you bought the game.
Let's use Gears of War and Map packs for an Example. Every month they come out with different Multiplayer Map and charge (say $5/$10 per pack), But Every Update (including maps) GOING FORWARD with your retail copy is Free.
If you bought it at launch all the updates (including maps) are free but if you buy it After the first map pack is available, then Every update (except that one) is free and so on.
Ok, they want to kill of rental and used games. Fine. Doesn't matter to me.... but the value of games as a bought item like a DVD or book is a lot higher to me than a non-tranferrable license. Price accordingly and I'll bite. Oh! You idiots thought we are going to keep paying $60 and not be able to loan it out to a friend or turn it at Game Stop? That's very different, that is just a big old price increase heading into a recession. Brilliant move guys!
You bring up an Excellent point. I for one have about 30 Virtual console games on the Wii. I think the price is fair for the value is worth it ($10 for Mega Man 9, $8 for Super Metroid? Sure... I'll bite), but everything's $10 or less. I don't mind that it's a license and not resellable and I can't loan it out to people, but the very nature of it is SUBTRACTING value, so you have to price it accordingly.
If they think I'd do the same for Full retail games, then they have a much higher bar to cross to get my perceived value from it.
As one of the people who feeds the used-game racket, I am actually getting a good deal. The key is timing: I buy games upon release for $60, play 'em for 30 hours over 2 weeks, then trade them in for $30.
Why not rent the game for 2 weeks then? Are you not in the US? Gamefly gives you 3 Games at a time for $20 a month, and would seem like a much better deal than what you're doing now (If you have no intention of keeping the game).
there's NO DRM-free content on a Sony console
There's no "DRM-free" content on any console, ever. Console content has been heavily protected for decades before the term "DRM" was even invented.
Technically, "DRM on the console" started with the NES.
, it will just require faster cameras with better movement algorithms.
There reals question is do people want to stand there and point at the air with no tactile feed back?
I do.
An FPS? *Anything* that treats the Wii controller like a wireless controller instead of a novelty toy?
If you are talking Strictly FPS - Pick up Medal of Honor Heroes 2, and Metroid Prime 3 (both from last year) and The Conduit (coming in 2009) looks stellar already.
If you want a Gameplay is Greater than Graphics Argument, I'd start with Tiger Woods 09 on the Wii. It's not as pretty as the PS360 versions, but using the motion controls beats the hell out of the dual analog setup.
These are the games that get magazine covers, breathless previews, dedicated forums, etc. They have big budgets, huge graphics, and online features out the wazoo. They pop up every couple of months on the 360 and PS3, and there are a ton right now because the holiday season is approaching. How many Wii games get this treatment? To my eyes, the answer is 0.
How many of them get mentioned in the Wall Street Journal? New York Times? Hell, Wii Fit was on Oprah... The Wii get's plenty of press, but it (like they system itself) is different.
I own a Wii, and pretty much it just sits there unused unless a good game comes out that I'm interested in.
Couldn't that be said of any system?
One thing I am looking forward to is the MotionPlus wiimote attachment.
So far I've been loving every iteration of Tiger Woods on the Wii (despite some glaring faults). If all I get for Tiger 10 is a repackaged Tiger 09 with good Wiimotion Plus and WiiSpeak support, I'd gladdly buy it.
The presidents job should be like any other job. You hire someone based on their resume, what kind of experience and knowledge you have.
Then how the hell did Hillary get into the running?
HCSD Cards use the same pins as SD cards, so it is possible to support larger cards with a firmware update.
The main problem with XNA games is that you HAVE to charge for them. There is no option to make them available for free.
You realize Xbox market place is a store right? "Free" is the exception, and not the rule. I'm sure iTunes or your corner supermarket have similar requirements to use their space.
You mean like Sony? Who lets you re-download any purchased game content from their store on up to five PS3's on which you have an account?
Yes, The same Sony that killed the Downloadable version of Warhawk by not allowing local multiplayer if both people didn't buy the game?
If you buy the retail disc, you can take 4 people online from 1 system, on the downloadable copy each user needs to have bought the game.
If you enjoy music however I can't recommend Rock Band enough. I'm a big Karaoke person and have been playing the hell out of Rock Band. In fact, I play either that most or Tiger Woods Golf (on the Wii). I hope that helps.
Peace. ---S.
That shouldn't be possible. I mean, literally, technically, you should have to explicitly permit a disc to access to internet outside of the disc's content - something in the player software that the disc can't override or ignore. What else can blu-ray discs do on your player? Pull up a list of other discs you've watched, phone home about them, ...?
You can always keep your BluRay player offline, and not have it connected to the Internet.
Just an fyi. Superbowl xxx already happened.
Yeah, and it DID involve the Dallas Cowboy's Cheerleaders... just not in the way I had hoped...
The one thing that the PS3 does not do that an upscale player will do is upsample the old DVDs
Do you NOT have the PS3 connected to the internet or something? If you are using HDMI out, then the PS3 had this capability since Firmware Ver. 1.80 (May 24th, 2007)* Note: Upconversion only works for HDMI, not component.
"Can anyone recommend a movie - that when you watch it on blu-ray you say "awesome ... that was worth it!"
Planet Earth It is an AMAZING series and is glorious in HD. The Video is stunning, and has many jaw dropping moments / scenes. I would hightly recommend the BluRay (or HD-DVD as they are from the same master) over the DVD. As a point of comparison I linked the Amazon search so you could see the "Premium" that's charged on a new set is $4. (Used on the other hand has a much larger gap).