I paid $30 for Daikatana. They paid $30 million for it. I can't say I blame them, per se.

Schnapple

Why do Americans always assume no-one from any other country uses the internet?

I was just referring to the fact that the FPS is most popular in America. For what it's worth, here's the quip from snopes.com I'm referring to:

"Long ago, Aesop told the story about the fox who lusted after grapes that hung just out of his reach, only to finally have to give up because they continued to elude his grasp. 'Oh, they were probably sour anyway,' he said as he slunk away.

Two millenia later, we still prefer our grapes sour."

Schnapple

A bunch of protesters from the Catholic church are picketing the movie Dogma. A reporter walks up to them and has an exchange with one woman holding a sign.

"So what are you here for?"

"To protest the movie Dogma. It should be banned."

"Why should it be banned?"

"Because it is blasphemous. Our faith is too Holy to be made fun of."

"So what particular part of the movie do you have a problem with?"

"All of it!"

"Yeah but which part?"

"Well we haven't actually watched the movie..."

"You haven't actually seen the movie?"

"No..."

"Well then how can you have a problem with it but you haven't actually watched the movie?"

"We don't have to watch it to have a problem with it!"

Yes you do.

said the game sucked ass

But did you actually play the game? Don't bother - I know the answer - you didn't. Jusging by its sales and lack of a warez motivation, I'm guessing that most people didn't play the game.

I did buy and play the game however. How couldn't you? It's like the Rocky Horror Picture Show or Plan 9 From Outer Space of First Person Shooters. Plus it was thirty bucks (ten now, if you can find it). While I will never go on record as saying it was a great game, or even a good one, I will say that it was "not bad...with a but". And that's from someone who played the game - the whole game.

The simple fact is that you cannot judge something you haven't experienced. You can't judge a book until you've read it. You can't judge a movie until you've played it. You can't judge a game until you've played it. This doesnt mean you can't have opinions.

"That game doesn't look good" - then don't buy it, but don't proclaim that "it sucks" unless you've played it.

Demos are a different matter. Daikatana's demo sucked. But by playing the demo you're saying the demo sucked, not the game - get it right. If you buy Daikatana and think it sucked then you have every right to say that it sucked.

But since most people never played Daikatana then why do most people proclaim that it sucked? Well simple - John Romero hate/envy. JR has (or at least had) $10 million in the bank, his own company, lots of fast cars, and a hot girlfriend with considerable assets.

Here in America, we like out grapes sour.

So do yourself a favor - acquire a copy of Daikatana. Get it for $10 at Babbage's or Software Etc. - their take back policy is real leniant. Play through it. If you still agree that it sucks then you're completely justified in your complaints. One thing though - even if you beleive it's bad then at least you'll have one bang up time pointing out all its lame features. Like those guys that walk up the stairs with their bodies at a 45 degree angle to the ground. Fucking hilarious.

Schnapple

Plus, look at the bright side - wait long enough, and Battlecruiser Millenium will be free.

Schnapple

Try as I might, I really tried to like that game, or even play it. But I couldn't get through the damn manual, which I printed out. Perhaps I'll try it again, but suffice it to say that I am the epitomy of FPS gamers - I guess I can't really hack an "intellectual" game.

If you're looking for a huge, immersive game that's roughly akin to learning how to operate and maintain a huge machine, look no further than this game, which is the only game in recent memory to gain more criticism than Dakatana. If you're looking for a space sim dogfighter, look elsewhere. If you're looking for a "pick up and play" game, look elsewhere. If you're looking to even attempt to play a game without a huge time investment, look elsewhere.

Schnapple

Well then I guess a winner is you.

Does this mean that Ion Storm-Austin won't change its name and will instead just go by "Ion Storm"?

Schnapple

It doesn't get sad until you buy a NUON compatible DVD player just to play Tempest 3000.

And yes, I've considered it.

Schnapple

heh - they've acyually been writing it for Mac the whole time. In fact they're going to release it for every platform besides the PC - Mac, Linux, FreeBSD, OS/2, Irix, X-Box, Dreamcast, PS2, PSX, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo 64, Super NES, NES, Virtual Boy, Atari 2600/5200/7800/Jaguar/Lynx/ST, Colecovision, Intellivision, and the Oddysey.

If a console is more profitable than the PC, then many consoles would be even more profitable!

Schnapple

Ironic, since most B&W players (yourself excluded of course, #1) are more whiny than smart.

Schnapple

Shows you how closely I read PC Gamer.

Richard Garriot (Lord British) is way ahead of you - his new MMORPG (name escapes me) has 2 million people playing it in Korea. It's hitting the U.S. soon, and it should have all the kinks worked out. I guess the Koreans are less bitchy about MMORPG bugs than us Americans.

Schnapple

Well I hate the FilePlanet system with the three or four page deep file downloads and the registration system, but the other day someone pointed out something as it pertains to the huge Half-Life patches: FilePlanet Gaurantees you will get to download your file and from a pretty fast server, so long as you wait to download it. It's a pain to try and hit hammered servers to get a file, or having to fire up a download manager, only to find the only server letting you on is dog slow. FilePlanet reserves your spot and serves you up the file when it's your turn - and the download speed is pretty good when you do get it to download. Sure, 90% of the time when there's not some huge (and hugely popular) file to download it's annoying, and the interface could use some work, but there is a method to the madness.

I'd say go ahead, register and download the new GameSpy - it's not like GameSpy doesn't already have your info somewhere - notice how they send you updates or your password that way? All the FP registration system is is a barrier to entry to slow people down.

And as for the notion that GSI has become a huge heartless corporation - well, like we didn't see that one coming.

Schnapple

OpenGL and Direct3D are standards...[is] this not a problem instead with the hardware vendors' implementation of their support for the standard, instead of the developers fault for not coding it so it will work on everything?

That's the great thing about standards - there are so many to choose from.

I had an idea - "ship" your MMORPG on a CD for free in stores. Don't charge $50 for the game with the CD, box and manual - have Babbage's give them away with purchases. Then, don't charge anyone anything for the first six months. This way people don't feel they're getting jipped and they're more likely to try it out.

If 2 million people got a hold of the CD (think AOL dist. model - magazines, direct mailings) and 10% stuck around to pay after six months, at $10 each that's 2 million a month in revenues - in six months the costs of development and sustaining for the year could be recouped. Plus, people's complaints would be more constructive since they haven't paid anything.

Distribute it on CD to get more people's attention. By the time 90% of the people drop out, the servers will be so robust that the 10% that do stay will have a blast with no lag and the game can grow ten times as big with no problems.

But there's a million variables I can't think of and I'm sure people will point out for me.

Schnapple

Part of me doesn't care a thing about the MMORPG concept working - I don't have any time as it is, so I don't play them. Therefore I can't help but laugh when people complain about them.

Part of me wants them to fail - if this is the "wave of the future" then the traditional game - which doesn't require monthly payments and the existence of a central server - is gone. What happens if in ten years Verant has gone under and you want to play Everquest? No dice.

But a bigger problem I don't think anyone takes into account is the notion that so many MMORPG's are coming out which all want your time that there's no way in hell most of them can survive. I have Elite Force on my shelf - I haven't finished it yet, but I'm fine with that. If I don't play Everquest regularly then I'm not paying the $10 a month. If I do play Everquest then I don't have a problem with buying, say Tribes 2, since I know that I can play or not play Tribes 2 for free. If I play Everquest, I'm probably not going to buy Anarchy Online (even if it worked) since there's no point to buying a game that you may or may not have enough time to play, and paying money every month regardless.

Combine the growth of the MMORPG, the dwindling amount of time people will have, the fact that many of them will hit the market with bugs, problems and angry users, and the fact that corporations will want to only come out with these types of games since the "one shot" games (like Quake 3) don't pull in nearly as much money, and I think you're headed for trouble - maybe even an industry crash.

But hey, what do I know?

Schnapple

Heh - looks like I flared a few tempers.

Didn't mean to rile so many people, it's just that I see and hear so many comments backed by nothing other than a narrow viewpoint of the world borne out of not leaving one's house that it gets frustrating.

But take the aforementioned Tomb Raider movie for example. "Tomb" and "Raider" are both very common words, but prior to 1996 no one put them together as a phrase connected to anything. Hollywood didn't bother to make a movie called Tomb Raider, though (prior to this year's film, of course). The Diablo movie seemed more iffy to those in Hollywood since it was one common word, not two. Were the movie named The Curse of Diablo then Blizzard wouldn't have had a case (id Software didn't feel threatened by the movie The DOOM Generation).

Schnapple

*KICK*
Take that, you dead horse!

Yeah but is justatip run by clever 13-year olds?

Schnapple

By posting that "they can't do that!" and "no, words are free", and "you can't copyright that!" you basically give yourself away as someone who is younger than the age of 18, and therefore knows absolutely nothing of how the real world works. Yes they can, no they're not, and yes they did.

The bottom line is that if you think you have a leg to stand on ("hey! they can't do that, we wanted to make a Diablo movie!") then take it to court - the Judge will decide if you have a right or not. And we're not talking like they're suing Mom and Pop over making Diablo Barbeque sauce, it's a movie studio. They'll whine and cry, rename the movie, and go on to make Austin Powers 3: Shagfinger.

But for a humorous take on this whole matter, hit today's Penny Arcade:
http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2001-07-11

That seems more likely, since Diablo will likely die or languish in development hell like the ill-fated Doom movie. Based on the legless Tomb Raider's showing at the Box Office, I don't think hollywood will want to make a Diablo themed movie.

And while Blizzard did register the Diablo name in conjunction with an intended film, this is (I would guess) just a tactic to protect their options in case they ever do decide to make a Diablo movie, or for that matter, to make sure if they do one of those "trailers in the theaters to try and get an Oscar nomination" things again, the name isn't confused with what could be a very bad film (remember, New Line game us Dungeons and Dragons *shudder*).

Schnapple

Blue's Message Boards are much more fun than work.

I wonder if New Line would get sued if they named their film El Diablo.

And BTW - in the American Court System, if you win the preliminary injunction, you've won the case. If the judge is convinced enough to grant the prelim, then he's convinced enough to hand you the case 99% of the time.

Schnapple