Both Tales of games are geared at hardcore audiences, regardless of their quality, so I don't get your logic that Nintendo's marketing kept Vesperia away.
I'm sorry but I disagree, if you look at the history of video games at all. Sony playstation captured the entirety of the SNES game development community within a single generation because Nintendo decided to stick with cartridge based media while Sony opted for the cheaper CD with huge storage.
You're confusing the storage medium with the console's power. The Nintendo 64 was more powerful than the PlayStation, yet that didn't stop anyone from making great games for the PlayStation.
The PlayStation 2 was the weakest console of its generation, yet it got tons of developer support and many great games.
No Final Fantasy XIII, but it does get Dragon Quest X, the latest entry of the #1 selling RPG franchise in Japan. Not to mention that Dragon Quest games tend to be better than Final Fantasy anyway.
However, porting ability? If the Wii's power was a problem, they wouldn't even dream of porting their titles to the PlayStation 2. But many developers do.
the original PlayStation was the most powerful console of its generation
Nonsense.
The Sega Saturn was, in some respects, more powerful. It actually had a two-processor architecture, but that was hard to program for.
The Nintendo 64 was more powerful. No question about it. Of course, it was hampered by its storage medium.
PlayStation vs. Nintendo 64:
CPU: 33 Mhz vs. 94 Mhz
Memory: 2 MB main RAM and 1 MB video RAM vs. a unified memory system of 4 MB RAM
The PS2 was either on par, or slightly inferior to the original Xbox, I don't know their stats offhand, but it was certainly superior to Sega's DC, and Nintendo's GC.
What the hell? This is so wrong.
The Dreamcast had more video RAM than the PS2 and the GameCube, though its CPU wasn't as fast. That being said, never underestimate the effect of more video RAM on a game console.
The Xbox was much more powerful than the PS2, and the GameCube was more powerful than the PS2, its better shading effects giving it an edge.
PlayStation 2 vs. GameCube vs. Xbox:
CPU: 295 Mhz vs. 485 Mhz vs. 733 Mhz
RAM: 32 MB main RAM and 4MB of video RAM vs. 24 MB main RAM and 3MB of video RAM vs. a unified memory system of 64(!) MB RAM
You never beat your Connect 4 game? I used to play such a game on my dinosaur PC in the early 90s. The AI even had a name: Olivetti. It was perfect; it would always win.
Unless you tricked it.
You see, you have to counter his every move, and anticipate the last column that will be left. Eventually it'll be forced to put his chip in the last column, which allows you to win.
Not to mention that I've heard from many gamers that EGM lost its point many, many years ago. Most magazines nowadays are just sale pitches for games, full of reviews. UK magazines are better, with more features, but they still suffer from it.
The only good magazine remaining is Edge, because they're critical, put actual thought into their reviews and will destroy a game if it really sucks, advertising revenue be damned. Well, except when they review Nintendo games. They're less critical on them in general.
This may have been true back in the Windows 95 days with the IE4 shell update, but it sure as hell hasn't been true anymore since Windows 98. Its shell can exist without IE.
Google is not a monopoly. Stop pretending it is one.
Having a choice as to what web browser to use is more important than you think. People will use the default one, which is a big part of how IE got such a large market share.
The Windows situation is even worse: there are several native toolkits there (Win32, MFC,.NET,...)
Win32 is the Windows API. MFC is a library consisting of shortcut functions to do larger things with the Windows API..NET is a framework for languages like C# and Visual Basic that ultimately translates everything to the Windows API.
Hence there's still one standard: the Windows API. Everything else just builds on top of it.
I don't really agree about pointers being confusing. Well, at first, sure, but once you 'get' them, like I did, it's pretty nice to work with them. I actually find the abstraction of pointers to references in languages like JavaScript, Java and.NET annoying because I never know what I'm actually passing along in arguments. That is, if it's the reference or the entire object. Those concepts have bled together in those languages.
You make a good point. There's one thing that I find fault with, though:
I hope HTML + CSS + ECMA stop being constantly updated
Where do you see constant updates? HTML 4.01 has been out since 1997 or so. CSS2 has been out since 1998. HTML5, CSS2.1 and CSS3 are still in draft stage, though I will admit that CSS2.1 has been close to completion for quite some time now, which makes it valid for implementation.
I can't argue about ECMAScript. It seems to get an update a little quicker than the previously-mentioned technologies, though.
I haven't seen malware links on Google, but I'm wondering if I'm infected because I don't regularly update Flash on my laptop (I don't have Flash on my main PC).
Well, we all know how bulletproof secure Firefox is, right? Not very.
Care to substantiate this? Firefox has a very good track record when it comes to security thanks to its quick responses to known vulnerabilities and patching almost all of them before they become publicly known.
Many older games from the 8-bit and 16-bit era are actually quite difficult. Try the first Mega Man on the NES, for example. Or Shinobi for the Sega Master System.
Slashdot Mirror
Of course it was a better showing. E3 went back to its roots this year, while last year it was more of a press event.
Hardcore gamers already have a Wii next to their XBox 360 or PS3.
Both Tales of games are geared at hardcore audiences, regardless of their quality, so I don't get your logic that Nintendo's marketing kept Vesperia away.
You're confusing the storage medium with the console's power. The Nintendo 64 was more powerful than the PlayStation, yet that didn't stop anyone from making great games for the PlayStation.
The PlayStation 2 was the weakest console of its generation, yet it got tons of developer support and many great games.
History shows that 'power' doesn't matter.
No Final Fantasy XIII, but it does get Dragon Quest X, the latest entry of the #1 selling RPG franchise in Japan. Not to mention that Dragon Quest games tend to be better than Final Fantasy anyway.
However, porting ability? If the Wii's power was a problem, they wouldn't even dream of porting their titles to the PlayStation 2. But many developers do.
Nonsense.
PlayStation vs. Nintendo 64:
What the hell? This is so wrong.
The Dreamcast had more video RAM than the PS2 and the GameCube, though its CPU wasn't as fast. That being said, never underestimate the effect of more video RAM on a game console.
The Xbox was much more powerful than the PS2, and the GameCube was more powerful than the PS2, its better shading effects giving it an edge.
PlayStation 2 vs. GameCube vs. Xbox:
Were you brainwashed by Sony, or something?
You never beat your Connect 4 game? I used to play such a game on my dinosaur PC in the early 90s. The AI even had a name: Olivetti. It was perfect; it would always win.
Unless you tricked it.
You see, you have to counter his every move, and anticipate the last column that will be left. Eventually it'll be forced to put his chip in the last column, which allows you to win.
Yes. What's your point? I never said you should never replace hardware if it breaks or wears out.
You forgot that this also costs money.
It is Microsoft's fault, because they are the ones who bundled IE, which made people not care, which is how we got into this mess.
Not to mention that I've heard from many gamers that EGM lost its point many, many years ago. Most magazines nowadays are just sale pitches for games, full of reviews. UK magazines are better, with more features, but they still suffer from it.
The only good magazine remaining is Edge, because they're critical, put actual thought into their reviews and will destroy a game if it really sucks, advertising revenue be damned. Well, except when they review Nintendo games. They're less critical on them in general.
This may have been true back in the Windows 95 days with the IE4 shell update, but it sure as hell hasn't been true anymore since Windows 98. Its shell can exist without IE.
Google is not a monopoly. Stop pretending it is one.
Having a choice as to what web browser to use is more important than you think. People will use the default one, which is a big part of how IE got such a large market share.
What the hell are you talking about? Everything still translates to the Windows API, which the applications you mentioned also use.
I was with you until I read this. It doesn't have anything to do with having a standard on GNU/Linux.
Win32 is the Windows API. MFC is a library consisting of shortcut functions to do larger things with the Windows API. .NET is a framework for languages like C# and Visual Basic that ultimately translates everything to the Windows API.
Hence there's still one standard: the Windows API. Everything else just builds on top of it.
Lies. Damn lies. /. users don't have girlfriends or wives! It's impossible!
Okay, okay, enough with the in-joke. It seems out of style these days. :P
I'm still wondering where the geeks of /. get their significant others, though. $DEITY knows how hard it is for most geeks to even start dating.
If anybody on /. would have a girlfriend (and that's a big *if*), he wouldn't let his girlfriend have Windows Vista on her laptop. Tsk tsk.
I don't really agree about pointers being confusing. Well, at first, sure, but once you 'get' them, like I did, it's pretty nice to work with them. I actually find the abstraction of pointers to references in languages like JavaScript, Java and .NET annoying because I never know what I'm actually passing along in arguments. That is, if it's the reference or the entire object. Those concepts have bled together in those languages.
You make a good point. There's one thing that I find fault with, though:
Where do you see constant updates? HTML 4.01 has been out since 1997 or so. CSS2 has been out since 1998. HTML5, CSS2.1 and CSS3 are still in draft stage, though I will admit that CSS2.1 has been close to completion for quite some time now, which makes it valid for implementation.
I can't argue about ECMAScript. It seems to get an update a little quicker than the previously-mentioned technologies, though.
I haven't seen malware links on Google, but I'm wondering if I'm infected because I don't regularly update Flash on my laptop (I don't have Flash on my main PC).
Care to substantiate this? Firefox has a very good track record when it comes to security thanks to its quick responses to known vulnerabilities and patching almost all of them before they become publicly known.
Many older games from the 8-bit and 16-bit era are actually quite difficult. Try the first Mega Man on the NES, for example. Or Shinobi for the Sega Master System.
Damn furries.
Not everyone has an UPS, laptop (with or without battery), cell phone, or even a computer, you insensitive clod!