Comment Re:priority (Score 1) 270
I'd prefer if the high priorities went to voice/game/TV (in that order). The number of latency-sensitive games out there are legion.
Check out the new SourceForge HTML5 internet speed test! No Flash necessary and runs on all devices.
×
Comment Re:SC2 Lan Play (Score 2, Interesting) 368
Starcraft has sold 11 million units worldwide. That's pretty good, it's one of the best selling games of all time.
World of Warcraft has over 11.5 million monthly subscribers. More people play WoW in one month than the copies of SC sold in a decade.
So, when you consider target audience, and whether or not they're likely to have an internet connection... yeah. SC2 is going to sell really well.
Not including LAN play is a calculated risk that I think will pay off just fine. Reduce the pirates, increase revenue. Works for me!
ZeniMax, Parent Company of Bethesda, Buys id Software 147
CelticLo writes "ZeniMax Media Inc., parent company of noted game publisher Bethesda Softworks, today announced it has completed the acquisition of legendary game studio id Software, creators of world-renowned games such as Doom, Quake, Wolfenstein, and its upcoming title, Rage. In an interview with Kotaku, John Carmack said, 'We're really getting kind of tired competing with our own publishers in terms of how our titles will be featured. And we've really gotten more IPs than we've been able to take advantage of. And working with other companies hasn't been working out as spectacularly as it could. So the idea of actually becoming a publisher and merging Bethesda and ZeniMax on there [is ideal.] It would be hard to imagine a more complementary relationship. They are triple A, top-of-the-line in what they do in the RPGs. And they have no overlap with all the things we do in the FPSes.' The press release confirmed that id's projects will remain under Carmack's control."
Ball And Chain To Force Children To Study 346
You haven't tried everything to get your kids to study until you've tried the Study Ball. The Study Ball is a 21-pound prison-style device that locks onto your child's leg and only unlocks after a predetermined amount of study time has passed. The homework manacles can't be locked for more than four hours, and come with a safety key. The product website states, "Quite often, students who are having problems concentrating tend to get up every ten minutes to watch TV, talk on the phone, take something out of the fridge, and a long list of other distractions. Were they to dedicate all this wasted time to studying, they would optimise their performance and have more free time available. Study Ball helps you study more and more efficiently." Stop Teasing Your Brother Pepper Spray coming soon.
Comment Re:So? (Score 3, Insightful) 550
It's a big deal if he divulged information that was actually classified. The nature of the information is less important.
Comment Re:Out of line (Score 4, Funny) 461
Yeah, I also found it tasteless. Center-of-mass hits are much more reliable than head shots.
Comment Re:Dunno about the beta, but the release was worse (Score 1) 44
1. SWG, even before NGE, was/is an abomination against the gaming gods and should never, ever have been released. For one, it fails the "interesting combat" test. For two, it was just atrocious.
2. I thought UO was great *then*, regardless of what it is now.
3. There wasn't a "minority that actually likes UO." You're mistaking the vastly increased MMO market of now from what it was 11 years ago. ~12 million people didn't try UO and decide they didn't like it.
The "cold hard fact" is that UO was really, really popular at the time. It grew the MMO fanbase, and EQ grew it even more with a generic fantasy world and true 3D graphics.
The fact that it STILL has players is proof enough that it is fun.
4. You're wrong.
Comment Re:Dunno about the beta, but the release was worse (Score 1) 44
"UO didn't _have_ to invent everything. There were already thousands of text-based MUDs, and whole discussions, correlations and theories (e.g., Bartle's) as to what works and how it works. You could tell from the start why a whole bunch of Lord British's ideas won't work, or won't make players happy, because the exact same had happened a thousand times before on MUDs."
I'm confused by this; are you saying that UO was rife with ideas that didn't work, or didn't make players happy?
Because 11 years later, it's still alive, and still above the 100k subscriber mark. And regardless of the ravenous hordes that have descended upon the industry, none of them have reached the level of interesting immersion UO has. I challenge you to name one MMO without classes that has player made housing, player made shops, and still a full combat experience.
Comment Re:MMOs are Hobbies and a great value. (Score 1) 122
"Are they the best of hobbies that have great value in the end?"
Out of curiosity, what are the best of hobbies that have great value in the end?
Submission + - Second Life's Open Source Fairy Tale
darthcamaro writes: Apparently things are going really well for the open source version of the Second Life viewer. So well that there are not multiple builds for different Linux distros and a new open source plug-in architecture is being developed.
From the article:
"What has happened is the fairy tale version of what people hope to have happen when they make proprietary code open source," Rob Lanphier, Linden Lab's director of open source development said. "Which is people download; start adding features. It's crazy cool all the things that are happening right now."
"What has happened is the fairy tale version of what people hope to have happen when they make proprietary code open source," Rob Lanphier, Linden Lab's director of open source development said. "Which is people download; start adding features. It's crazy cool all the things that are happening right now."
