I'm not even sure I buy the premise. Sure, Battlefield: Bad Company eschewed the PC version altogether and Modern Warfare 2 lacked official mod tools, but I'm not really sure this is a trend. DICE has pointedly announced that the PC version, mod tools, and dedicated server are back for Bad Company 2. You've also got Medal of Honor, Alien vs. Predator, Crysis 2, etc.
I place most of the blame for the lack of good games for the the Wii squarely on the publishers and not on the technical limitations of the console.
The wii is almost literally an overclocked Gamecube and Nintendo's SDK sucks. Nor did they give developers any good guides to using motion controls. Nintendo's attitude was "we'll build it, they will come, and they will make the tools". This, plus Nintendo's licensing scheme and content limitations, have really cooled third parties on the console.
Believe me, the hardware limitations are crippling if you're making a "serious" game. The big problem is that you really have to commit to the wii and it's control scheme to make a decent game, that means no multiplatform. Your game won't look very good unless you have a keen understanding of the wii's limitations (which involve very small environments). And remember the lack of good tools, so you have to make your own. All of this drives up the cost of developing a wii game.
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=23118
What's more important is variety.
Yeah, I do. Are you arguing that the LACK of diversity in games is somehow an asset? And certainly all first-person shooters don't play the same, Halo and Modern Warfare 2 are completely different. I think you simply have a bias against the genre.
Speaking of paring down, the 9 games scoring 90+ on the Wii include both Metroid Prime 3 and Metroid Prime Trilogy. Trilogy includes corruption, so subtract 1 from the Wii's count. Oh but Trilogy is a pack of three 90+ games, sold for the price of 1, so add back 2.
So do I get to count Orange Box as 5 games?
Game scores generally measure how good a game is while you're playing it, but completely ignore how long you'll be playing.
No, reviewers almost always take game length and replay ability into account. Read some reviews.
What you're doing is similar to taking a bunch of objects, measuring their density, and summing the quantities.
It is a fact that there is a wide consensus among those that review games professionally that the vast majority of wii games suck. This view is shared by most consumers writing reviews on Amazon, Gamestop, etc.
Your only argument against this is to attack the CONCEPT of aesthetics. By your reasoning "Schindler's List" and "Freejack" are equally good because different viewers might be looking for something different.
This view basically argues that there is no "craft" at all to making games or movies. By your view, the average moron off the street SHOULD be able to make games equivalent to Call of Duty 4 or Mario Galaxy with no experience at all because the "value" of a game is wildly subjective. It doesn't matter that it crashes at the loading screen, maybe some people WANT to play the "crash your system" game.
Video games are art. And art criticism exists. So either all art criticism is meaningless, or video game reviews are valid. It's as simple as that.
It's difficult to believe that EVERY game reviewer is involved in a vast conspiracy. And even if they were, reviews you read from customers on Amazon or elsewhere generally line up with those of professional reviewers. Are they all part of the conspiracy?
The reality is that the wii is the king of shovelware. Yes, there are good games for the wii (Mario Galaxy, Zelda, etc.). Most of these are first-party (made by Nintendo) and for every good game there are 10 AWFUL ones. And that's another point, the 360 and PS3 have lots of "eh" or middle of the road games, on the wii it's a few gems among a sea of complete garbage.
Strictly speaking, the empire and the republic overlapped for a brief period (between episodes 3 and 4). Basically, the time that Luke spent growing up on Tatooine, the old republic was falling apart, the empire was taking over, and the rebellion against the empire was forming (in roughly that order).
Strictly speaking, you are correct but your analysis is wrong.
The Galactic Republic BECAME the Galactic Empire, essentially Palpatine renamed it at the end of the Clone Wars. By then he had already weakened the Senate, but the Senate was not fully dissolved until Episode IV. The Republic and Empire did did not exist as separate entities in any way. Some systems were rebelling between Episodes III and IV, but this was disorganized and not an alternative government.
The Galactic Empire and Galactic Republic DID coexist after the Battle of Endor (Episode VI), with the "New Republic" growing out of the Alliance Against the Empire and the "Imperial Remnant" making up the space still under the control of various Imperial commanders and warlords. However, fundamentally the "Imperial Remnant" was really the last remnants of the Galactic Republic.
Of course, Old Republic is about the OLD Galactic Republic and the Old Sith Empire and is set nearly FOUR THOUSAND YEARS before the movies. Aside from the KOTOR games, two comic series "Tales of the Jedi" and "Knights of the Old Republic" have been set in this era.
People sit there for an hour or so without reporting any discomfort so long as an effort is taken to calibrate the experience correctly to their viewing position, and inter-pupillary distance, optical accommodation, etc.
Can you do all of the above in less than 30 seconds? Will they work in literally any indoor environment under literally any lighting and viewing conditions? No? Then it's absolutely useless for consumers.
Kids have to use this stuff, and they won't wait for "calibration". They will not sit in the "perfect position". In the real world, lighting conditions ALWAYS suck and you're ALWAYS viewing from less than the ideal angle. If the system can't tolerate this, it's right out.
I've used a lot of these systems. Some have given me headaches. Eye function is a major issue here. I used to have severe myopia in my left eye 3D did not work AT ALL because my right and left eyes interpreted data differently. I've had laser surgery, and now 3D works a lot better, but I still get a lot more eyestrain than normal.
Oddly enough, unlike most people, I've been WAY, WAY, WAY more impressed with various head mounted displays I've used (tiny video monitors worn in front of the eyes). Worked great for me. No eyestrain and (combined with the earphones) a pretty deep sense of immersion. I played a number of games with way and the experience was really impressive. Very isolating though (by design).
I personally think this is just another 3D fad. The glasses always have been, and always will be, a deal-breaker.
This hasn't really been demonstrated for home video. And even for movies, it's only the limited genre of "animated adventure movies" where the effects are (or will be) popular. Hard to build a format around that and porn.
More importantly, there is a broader issue of high-bandwidth formats and new formats. HD TVs have become very popular, despite the fact that PROPER HD content is pretty sparse. Most people are watching "HD" content that is highly compressed through cable, satellite, and internet. Blu-ray is fairly impressive, but hasn't seen anywhere near the adoption of crappy, low-quality downloads which have become the norm in movies and music.
I fail to see where a very expensive new format will succeed here. Everyone just bought HDTVs, they're just not going to buy 3D TVs unless the technology is so cheap they include it in all new HDTVs. Then you might see adoption.
The whole idea is a lot more compelling for home video game consoles. So if Panasonic, Toshiba, etc. throw a lot of Money and Microsoft and Sony commits with the PS4, this might also take off.
While I disagree that he government is really "cracking down" on information leaks, the new rules certainly are being widely implemented. What other posters have said is accurate, HIPAA is basically about protecting customer data from hackers by isolating it and formalizing the rules of transferring data. It's the last thing that's the most important, because the real risk is that shady businesses will try to gather and resell information. A lot of the supposed "leaks" have really involved selling information to the wrong people.
You might as well describe speeding laws as interfering with your "right to drive," noise ordinances as abridging the "right to enjoy music,"
Except that the restrictions you're talking about are trivial. I think you would agree that a law that only allowed Muslims to have driver's licenses (for example) would violate a number of your rights. Or a law that forbade all non-Islamic music, or all music.
Did you know that in the United States, 1st amendment freedom of expression does NOT apply to advocacy for drug reform or drug use? The Supreme Court has affirmed that speech advocating the use of drugs or reform of drug laws is not protected in any way and government officials can legally ban it or restrict it in any way. The government can, and has, passed laws forbidding depicting the use of drugs on television and radio, or any advocacy for drug use or drug reform.
You can legally advocate for genocide and the Nazi party, but you can't put up a sign saying "Smoke crack cocaine!". I don't think people should smoke crack, but I have a problem with the notion that you can be imprisoned for saying people SHOULD smoke crack.
competes unfairly[1] with Virtual Console.
[1] "Unfairly" as decided by legislators elected by voters throughout the developed world.
Um, the logic here is flawed. The copyright laws (such as the DMCA) and enforcement actions against emulators long predate the existence of the wii and it's Virtual Console, so it's not possible that legislators intended to protect the Virtual Console in creating those laws.
Pre apps are basically JavaScript, which is not the most game-friendly language out there. Hopefully Flash for Palm Pre will change that a bit.
There is not the level of expectation that your rock bottom priced device is going to work with Apple hardware.
The Pre is not "rock bottom priced" which illustrates that MacOS has lousy hardware compatibility in general, not just with cheap devices.
...Apple has never claimed to be company that supported everything. MS has, and continues to so do.
MS has never claimed to "support everything" even on the PC, let alone in the sandbox that is the XBOX and XBOX360. It is extremely disingenuous to accuse them of something they never claimed.
With the Pre, Apples motives are clear. They do not want to do technical support on a device that they have no control over, and they do want the DRM stuff on the Pre.
Nonsense. Apple has gone after every device that attempted to emulate the iPod's database format so as to sync as an iPod with iTunes. They know they have a very popular music store with iTunes and don't want competition against the iPod. Besides, isn't Apple all about DRM free now?
It would be simple enough for the Pre to come with software that hooked into the standard filetypes Apple uses to sync. True, someone would have to write this software, and the DRM stuff would not work, but it would be a better solution.
I do not know what this is supposed to mean. The iPod uses a proprietary database for metadata, NOT standard filetypes like M3U and MTP. The Pre supports both USB MSC and MTP and attempts to emulate the iPod's database format. This is necessary to "sync" with iTunes.
It is clear that Palm chose the budget solution.
Trying to support Apple's database format is hardly "budget".
To some extent it's an issue of fairness. Keyboard + mouse is far more accurate than using analog sticks so k+m players wipe the floor with controller players in online multiplayer. The few online shooters with console vs. PC gameplay had to gimp the PC players.
There are specialty adapters that allow you to use keyboard and mouse on the 360 by mapping the controls to the analog sticks. I'm told they don't work very well.
PC Gaming continues to make a lot of money.
If demand for specialty PC FPS games (like Crysis) continues, an it remains profitable to do so, they will continue to be made. However, I suspect you may have to accept a central "matching" or swithboard server so they can charge you $20 a month. I just think that's where the future of PC gaming is headed, very online-heavy with subscription fees.
We are not a loved organization, but we are a respected one. -- John Fisher
