It's pitch detection. Harmonix avoided that approach because they felt it was inaccurate and didn't provide any feedback as to what the player was doing on the guitar, but I'm not sure if maybe the Rocksmith team has come up with some novel solution to the problems.
If Rock Band 3 couldn't sell any better than weakly even after hyping the whole "you can learn guitar" thing to the heavens, I'd be shocked if Rocksmith could do any better.
Also, I'm only posting this because people occasionally ask:
When last we checked in with Nielsen (which was earlier this month) Google's mobile OS had a sizable lead, powering just under 42-percent of smartphones sold, while Apple had cornered a more than respectable 28-percent of the market. In the few short weeks since, Android has seen its share grow to 43-percent. More interestingly, of the over 25,500 surveyed who had purchased a smartphone in the last three months, a whopping 56-percent chose to go with the Goog. Apple held a steady 28-percent across the board. Big G's gains came at the expense of RIM (only 9-percent of phones sold in the last three months were BlackBerries) and the ambiguous "other" (Symbian, Windows Phone 7, Bada, MeeGo, etc... accounted for 6-percent of sales). More important than choice of platform though, is that smartphone sales in general are climbing -- accounting for 58-percent of all handsets sold in August and driving smartphone penetration to 43-percent.
If Rock Band 3 couldn't sell any better than weakly even after hyping the whole "you can learn guitar" thing to the heavens, I'd be shocked if Rocksmith could do any better.
And much of the hype failure for RB3 also included people who stated they wanted this addition and now are filled with folks who simply didn't understand what they were getting. And many of them already could play guitar.
So you get weekly complaints about how HMX isn't providing content for Pro guitar and that means that HMX is intentionally ignoring their fans and it's a sign of how much danger the company faces after the sale of assets.
It's the one of the craziest versions of 'I hate it because it isn't exactly what I was expecting!' that you'll find when it comes to games criticism.
This year Skyward Sword will go up against Skyrim, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Portal 2, Uncharted 3, Batman: Arkham City, Xenoblade, Witcher 2, and Mario Kart. Tough crowd, and from what I've played so far, it's great, but not number one in that list. Zelda's great, but I admit I've never really felt for Link or his supporting cast. I'm in it for the dungeons and gameplay. I think that's what prevents recent Zeldas and Marios from really clinching it these days. People want a larger, more character-driven experiences.
Xenoblade is easily the best console game I've played this year, and the best console RPG I've played since the mid 90's. It will not get a single game of the year nod, and I'd be shocked if it was even nominated.
Most of the people who have actually played SS though seem to think that it is a cut above. The first real game to use motion controls in a substanitive way.
3DS CODE: 3093-7068-3576
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L Ron HowardThe duckMinnesotaRegistered Userregular
At any rate, while the forums were down we missed a story about the most epic bullshittery ever:
"I'm going to go to the restroom," said Microsoft's Cherie Lutz, "but when I get back I really want to hear this new idea."
"Oh yeah, it's awesome, can't wait."
Twisted Pixel chief creative officer Josh Bear had responded with abounding confidence, if only to mask the truth. Because the fact of the matter, the fact that he and CEO Mike Wilford were all too aware of, as they sat in Redmond, WA Tex-Mex restaurant The Matador, was this: The idea wasn't "awesome." It was nonexistent.
The developer had scored a major meeting with Microsoft to pitch a new game developed exclusively with Kinect (then "Project Natal") in mind. It needed to be big, it needed to be smart and -- most pressingly to Wilford and Bear at that exact moment -- it needed to exist.
It wasn't that Wilford and Bear weren't prepared. It's just that the original idea they wanted to pitch (one that was actually first conceived for the Wii) wasn't a good fit for the device, which they only became aware of once they saw it for themselves.
"It was really cool, but it didn't have the fidelity to do what we wanted, it couldn't really track finger movements," Bear said. "I was like 'Oh shit, we're going to pitch this whole thing and they're gonna know that it's not possible with the hardware.'"
It was just a few moments after this realization that Microsoft took the Twisted Pixel execs to dinner to hear the pitch. They were suddenly empty handed, but the meeting was still a great opportunity for a small studio, and it was one that Bear and co. were loathe to leave on the table.
Wilford and Bear struggled in The Matador's lobby to come up with something -- anything they could pitch. It was then that Wilford recalled an old Wii concept of Bear's that the team had shelved involving controlling a marionette with Wiimotes.
"I had no idea what the game would be, but then I read somewhere that Miyamoto was going to do something with Mario and it was going to be like, marionette Mario," Bear said. "We didn't want it to look like we were ripping Miyamoto off for the 50 millionth time."
The two agreed that it was probably their best shot at salvation, but it was barely even a mechanic, let alone a whole concept. In fact, the first opportunity they had to flesh the idea out at all was when Lutz excused herself to the restroom.
"Mike's kind of chatting with other Microsoft people, and I'm like, frantically looking around the restaurant just trying to think of ideas," Bear said. "To my left, there was this painting of a skeleton cowboy and I looked at it and just -- literally -- I was like 'OK: Skeleton cowboy that needs to get revenge on posse ... marionette. Fuck it.'"
The skeletal work of art that inspired The Gunstringer.
Lutz returned to the table and Bear proceeded to pitch her on the painting hanging directly behind her head.
"Yeah, Cherie, so, we've had this idea for a long time, umm, a marionette, and you use your hands like this, and you're a skeleton cowboy," Bear said. "I was lying my ass off, and Mike was just sitting there backing me up."
Microsoft loved it, and work on what would come to be known as The Gunstringer began almost immediately.
A year or so later, Bear would sheepishly admit to Lutz how she unwittingly greenlit a concept that was mere minutes old. Though initially a little ... irritated, Lutz was quickly able to laugh it off.
"So it's kind of a running tradition now, when we meet with Cherie and the Microsoft crew, we say 'OK, look around the room, what's the next game gonna be?'" Bear said. "The last restaurant we went was this weird French-Asian place and there was a geisha statue. I said 'OK, Cherie, it's Kinect Robo-Geishas, is that cool?'"
So a game called X-Men Destiny is coming out this week. This is interesting for a couple of different reasons. First, Activision buried the living fuck out of it. I mean, there's been pretty much zero previews for this, even though it's the goddamn X-Men from goddamn Activision. (Probably because the people who played it at PAX said it blew chunks.)
And then there's the developers: Silicon Knights. You know, the guys who took over a decade to make the fairly mediocre Too Human? Now they've pretty much proven that they can't hit a deadline.
...if I were Dennis Dyack, I'd be very worried right about now.
Destiny hurts me because the premise is awesome: Make your own mutant and choose a side! X-Men or the Brotherhood!
I was thinking all Mass Effect X-Men! As it stands, it's more of a DC Universe Online... offline, with less customization.
Wait, that was the premise?
....I'm going to go in the corner and be depressed for a little while.
Wow, I hadn't heard of the game 'til now. What are the odds of this somehow becoming a sleeper-hit and Activision suddenly turning it on with the PR?
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L Ron HowardThe duckMinnesotaRegistered Userregular
So a game called X-Men Destiny is coming out this week. This is interesting for a couple of different reasons. First, Activision buried the living fuck out of it. I mean, there's been pretty much zero previews for this, even though it's the goddamn X-Men from goddamn Activision. (Probably because the people who played it at PAX said it blew chunks.)
And then there's the developers: Silicon Knights. You know, the guys who took over a decade to make the fairly mediocre Too Human? Now they've pretty much proven that they can't hit a deadline.
...if I were Dennis Dyack, I'd be very worried right about now.
Destiny hurts me because the premise is awesome: Make your own mutant and choose a side! X-Men or the Brotherhood!
I was thinking all Mass Effect X-Men! As it stands, it's more of a DC Universe Online... offline, with less customization.
Wait, that was the premise?
....I'm going to go in the corner and be depressed for a little while.
Wow, I hadn't heard of the game 'til now. What are the odds of this somehow becoming a sleeper-hit and Activision suddenly turning it on with the PR?
So far, only one forumer has posted on it in its thread.
He says it's fun. People are shitting on it without having played it. It's business as usual.
Nothing I've seen of Skyward Sword has me all that excited for it, but Twilight Princess was excellent so I'm willing to give Nintendo the benefit of the doubt.
Please excuse my rant. Today my company was served with a summons to appear to in court over a patent lawsuit involving the Nintendo Wii. UltimatePointer claims the Wii violates their patents for a "method for controlling movement of a computer display cursor based on a point-of-aim of a pointing device".
UltimatePointer sued Nintendo, Best Buy, Walmart, Target, GameStop, Kmart, Sears, JJGames (my company), and more retailers for "using, selling, offering for sale, and/or importing the accused products" and for "inducing others (including end users) to use, sell, offer for sale" the Nintendo Wii.
It is kind of flattering to be included in the same league as Walmart, Best Buy, and GameStop. Last year they had $422 billion, $50.3 billion, and $9.4 billion in revenue respectively. JJGames had a little over $1 million in sales during 2011.
Walmart is the largest employer in the United States with 1.4 million employees. JJGames has 10 employees.
How many Wii's do you think JJGames has sold in our history........241 and how many have we sold in the state of Texas, where this lawsuit was filed? 12. And every single one of them was used.
We sold twelve used Wii systems and we are being sued for patent infringement. This lawsuit might as well have included everyone in Texas who ever sold their Wii on Craigslist or eBay. Every single one of them is guilty of "offering for sale" the "accused product".
Wow that's highly irritating. From the way the patent is worded, it sounds like, "We don't care how it's accomplished, once it is, it's ours." I hope UltimatePointer gets fucked in the ass (figuratively speaking) in this case.
So a game called X-Men Destiny is coming out this week. This is interesting for a couple of different reasons. First, Activision buried the living fuck out of it. I mean, there's been pretty much zero previews for this, even though it's the goddamn X-Men from goddamn Activision. (Probably because the people who played it at PAX said it blew chunks.)
And then there's the developers: Silicon Knights. You know, the guys who took over a decade to make the fairly mediocre Too Human? Now they've pretty much proven that they can't hit a deadline.
...if I were Dennis Dyack, I'd be very worried right about now.
Destiny hurts me because the premise is awesome: Make your own mutant and choose a side! X-Men or the Brotherhood!
I was thinking all Mass Effect X-Men! As it stands, it's more of a DC Universe Online... offline, with less customization.
Wait, that was the premise?
....I'm going to go in the corner and be depressed for a little while.
Wow, I hadn't heard of the game 'til now. What are the odds of this somehow becoming a sleeper-hit and Activision suddenly turning it on with the PR?
So far, only one forumer has posted on it in its thread.
He says it's fun. People are shitting on it without having played it. It's business as usual.
In fairness, in every single other business, silently releasing your product with zero advance reviews or screenings is a giant warning klaxon that said product is horrible.
And Silicon Knights kind of earned a notorious rep after the Too Human incidents.
"The sausage of Green Earth explodes with flavor like the cannon of culinary delight."
This year Skyward Sword will go up against Skyrim, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Portal 2, Uncharted 3, Batman: Arkham City, Xenoblade, Witcher 2, and Mario Kart. Tough crowd, and from what I've played so far, it's great, but not number one in that list. Zelda's great, but I admit I've never really felt for Link or his supporting cast. I'm in it for the dungeons and gameplay. I think that's what prevents recent Zeldas and Marios from really clinching it these days. People want a larger, more character-driven experiences.
Xenoblade is easily the best console game I've played this year, and the best console RPG I've played since the mid 90's. It will not get a single game of the year nod, and I'd be shocked if it was even nominated.
Most of the people who have actually played SS though seem to think that it is a cut above. The first real game to use motion controls in a substanitive way.
Of the games that you quoted I doubt any of the last three will be games that end up with nominations. I think its all about those first six and Gears of War 3 this year. I somehow doubt Gears will take any GOTY awards, but it will get the nods at least.
As for the Skyward Sword talk, I suggest naysayers observe the following:
<- Clicky
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HenroidMexican kicked from Immigration ThreadCentrism is Racism :3Registered Userregular
In fairness, in every single other business, silently releasing your product with zero advance reviews or screenings is a giant warning klaxon that said product is horrible.
We're talking about something published by Activision. If they thump their drum for a game that may not deliver on the AAA multi-million-seller attitude, investors will be mad. Games that are damn good get passed up on or dropped by Activision because it won't make people rich overnight.
Activision's response and handling of a game's marketing doesn't speak of its quality. They have a separate agenda.
In fairness, in every single other business, silently releasing your product with zero advance reviews or screenings is a giant warning klaxon that said product is horrible.
We're talking about something published by Activision. If they thump their drum for a game that may not deliver on the AAA multi-million-seller attitude, investors will be mad. Games that are damn good get passed up on or dropped by Activision because it won't make people rich overnight.
Activision's response and handling of a game's marketing doesn't speak of its quality. They have a separate agenda.
They gave up on Wolfgang's iPod. It may not have been utter garbage, but for a game in a series they pimped like it was literally going out of style, it speaks to quality. A game with Van Halen in it and they dropped it onto the market as quietly as they could.
So a game called X-Men Destiny is coming out this week. This is interesting for a couple of different reasons. First, Activision buried the living fuck out of it. I mean, there's been pretty much zero previews for this, even though it's the goddamn X-Men from goddamn Activision. (Probably because the people who played it at PAX said it blew chunks.)
And then there's the developers: Silicon Knights. You know, the guys who took over a decade to make the fairly mediocre Too Human? Now they've pretty much proven that they can't hit a deadline.
...if I were Dennis Dyack, I'd be very worried right about now.
Destiny hurts me because the premise is awesome: Make your own mutant and choose a side! X-Men or the Brotherhood!
I was thinking all Mass Effect X-Men! As it stands, it's more of a DC Universe Online... offline, with less customization.
Wait, that was the premise?
....I'm going to go in the corner and be depressed for a little while.
Wow, I hadn't heard of the game 'til now. What are the odds of this somehow becoming a sleeper-hit and Activision suddenly turning it on with the PR?
So far, only one forumer has posted on it in its thread.
He says it's fun. People are shitting on it without having played it. It's business as usual.
In fairness, in every single other business, silently releasing your product with zero advance reviews or screenings is a giant warning klaxon that said product is horrible.
And Silicon Knights kind of earned a notorious rep after the Too Human incidents.
Too human was one of my favorite games ever. Just like some people love Ninja Gaiden and say it is wonderful, and other people say it's an unplayable mess were you just die all the time, the combat in Too Human was of the sort where the small fraction for whom it flowed well thought it was awesome. I loved gliding about, hacking things apart and feeling immortal in front of all these monsters.
But once every big game starts requiring it? People are going to smarten up and realize they're pissing away money. They're not going to pay $10 monthly fees across multiple games. They'll stick to one big game, and the rest will rot.
Will they? People still pay out the nose for "Collector's Editions" of games for bonuses they never use or look at, and people still pay money hand over first for DLC for multiplayer games they'll put down and forget about a month later the next big multiplayer release hits.
It's not a big stretch to see this becoming commonplace, and millions will still fork over money with nary a grumble.
People won't do so monthly though.
The big take-away from MMOs on this front is "There can be only one". Not that there can be only one game, but that there can be only one game per person.
The majority of people won't fork over money every month for 2 different MMOs and the same applies to shooters I imagine.
When you charge a monthly fee, your game becomes a substitute for another game, rather then just similar products that you can have both of. And that changes the market significantly.
Considering the long history of free online FPSing, if this did actually become a thing I can easily see the trend getting cut off at the knees quickly by the next big shooter going "Free to Play online!" to sell gangbusters.
This year Skyward Sword will go up against Skyrim, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Portal 2, Uncharted 3, Batman: Arkham City, Xenoblade, Witcher 2, and Mario Kart. Tough crowd, and from what I've played so far, it's great, but not number one in that list. Zelda's great, but I admit I've never really felt for Link or his supporting cast. I'm in it for the dungeons and gameplay. I think that's what prevents recent Zeldas and Marios from really clinching it these days. People want a larger, more character-driven experiences.
Xenoblade is easily the best console game I've played this year, and the best console RPG I've played since the mid 90's. It will not get a single game of the year nod, and I'd be shocked if it was even nominated.
Most of the people who have actually played SS though seem to think that it is a cut above. The first real game to use motion controls in a substanitive way.
Of the games that you quoted I doubt any of the last three will be games that end up with nominations. I think its all about those first six and Gears of War 3 this year. I somehow doubt Gears will take any GOTY awards, but it will get the nods at least.
Don't forget about Dark Souls. That definitely has GotY potential.
GameStop's policies a necessary evil in an economy gone bad? Eh, makes sense.
I worked at a GameCrazy when I was younger, and we were in a mall with an EB Games. It was us, than a jewelery store that was a corner, and then EB. The differences between the atmosphere of the two stores was like night and day. Their store was brightly lit, super clean isles, white paint everywhere, and a couple of TVs hanging from the ceiling. Ours was a dim reverse glass case horseshoe deco'd with green and black walls and a bunch of consoles set up in the middle. They had posters on their walls advertising their membership card, we had cardboard cutouts and extra pre-order posters on ours. Their place looked like an Apple Store, and ours looked like a Man Cave.
Game Crazy put the focus on the customer, by making a place where you could come and discuss games with a gamer. EBStop put the focus on the product, but making a place where you could come and purchase games from a Customer Service Representative. Guess which one is still in business?
Sure, it looks like that if you ignore all the other arguments on this page because you couldn't shoot them down. You know, like the dropping 3D ticket sales.
I was responding to Aegeri's desire for the home tech to fail and explaining that technology typically doesn't work that way. Do you disagree? Tons of people used to say they couldn't see the difference between SD and HD resolutions, and as a result...everyone now has TVs that support HD resolutions.
How many people think that HD makes anything look WORSE than before? How many people watch HD televisions and get extremely painful migraine headaches from it? Because I can't recall hearing either of those assertions anywhere near as widely as I have 3D. I have tried all the current forms of 3D and not one I would regard as being anything other than absolute rubbish. 3D to me, is just a dumb fad that actually makes things far worse than it improves anything. By all means, if there is a non-migraine inducing version of 3D that you think I should try (Sony Bravia 3DTV using a PS3 + Killzone 3, gone to several 3D movies [hated every one intensely], Nintendo 3DS and a few other 3D options in TVs in store) then I will try it. But right now I've seen zero benefit to 3D and an incredible amount of drawbacks.
Rogert Ebert had a nice article on the cons of 3D, and posted an e-mail from from an industry insider on the topic, too.
"The biggest problem with 3D, though, is the 'convergence/focus' issue. A couple of the other issues -- darkness and 'smallness' -- are at least theoretically solvable. But the deeper problem is that the audience must focus their eyes at the plane of the screen -- say it is 80 feet away. This is constant no matter what.
But their eyes must converge at perhaps 10 feet away, then 60 feet, then 120 feet, and so on, depending on what the illusion is. So 3D films require us to focus at one distance and converge at another. And 600 million years of evolution has never presented this problem before. All living things with eyes have always focussed and converged at the same point.
...
We can do this. 3D films would not work if we couldn't. But it is like tapping your head and rubbing your stomach at the same time, difficult. So the 'CPU' of our perceptual brain has to work extra hard, which is why after 20 minutes or so many people get headaches. They are doing something that 600 million years of evolution never prepared them for. This is a deep problem, which no amount of technical tweaking can fix. Nothing will fix it short of producing true 'holographic' images."
"3D is tough for me to see so noone can see it!"
I can't see magic eye pictures, not even 1 little tiny bit if I strain at them for hours. I've done it. I got a big gift book of them as a kid. They don't work for me, but I don't go around saying magic eye pictures don't work. Many people can see the 3D in them.
3D hasn't done very well because people haven't USED 3D very well since Avatar and because a huge number of recent movies have been really really bad. They have not been failed by 3D, they have been failed by being crap so people don't want to see them and they espescially don't want to pay extra bucks to see them in 3D.
The 3D in avatar was perfect for me. It looked like looking through a window into the real world. It's the same for Pixar movies in 3D. Good movies in 3D are good, bad movies in 3D are still bad. Furthermore, lots of recent movies have used 'forward' projecting 3D which comes out of the screen when 3D which uses the screen position as the maximum forward point is much better. We need a whole cycle of this stuff so that people learn how to use 3D as part of their movies and TV, just like they learned to use multiple cameras and CGI.
I can't see magic eye pictures, not even 1 little tiny bit if I strain at them for hours. I've done it. I got a big gift book of them as a kid. They don't work for me, but I don't go around saying magic eye pictures don't work. Many people can see the 3D in them.
I can't see magic eye pictures, not even 1 little tiny bit if I strain at them for hours. I've done it. I got a big gift book of them as a kid. They don't work for me, but I don't go around saying magic eye pictures don't work. Many people can see the 3D in them.
I can't see magic eye pictures, not even 1 little tiny bit if I strain at them for hours. I've done it. I got a big gift book of them as a kid. They don't work for me, but I don't go around saying magic eye pictures don't work. Many people can see the 3D in them.
Wow! It's a schooner!
Haha you dumb bastard, it's not a schooner, it's a sailboat.
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HenroidMexican kicked from Immigration ThreadCentrism is Racism :3Registered Userregular
I can't see magic eye pictures, not even 1 little tiny bit if I strain at them for hours. I've done it. I got a big gift book of them as a kid. They don't work for me, but I don't go around saying magic eye pictures don't work. Many people can see the 3D in them.
Wow! It's a schooner!
It's not a schooner, it's a sailboat!
... YOU KNOW WHAT. THE EASTER BUNNY ISN'T REAL. OVER THERE IS JUST A GUY IN A SUIT.
I can't see magic eye pictures, not even 1 little tiny bit if I strain at them for hours. I've done it. I got a big gift book of them as a kid. They don't work for me, but I don't go around saying magic eye pictures don't work. Many people can see the 3D in them.
Wow! It's a schooner!
I went through that dozens of times before I threw the book away. I was determined to see these pictures, and I had all these little guides of how to see them. So I'd sit sometimes looking at the book trying to cross and uncross my eyes, and someone would literally be wandering by and see it out of the corner of their eye and say...
"Cool! Look at the bird, it really pops out of the page!"
How many Wii's do you think JJGames has sold in our history........241 and how many have we sold in the state of Texas, where this lawsuit was filed? 12. And every single one of them was used.
We sold twelve used Wii systems and we are being sued for patent infringement. This lawsuit might as well have included everyone in Texas who ever sold their Wii on Craigslist or eBay. Every single one of them is guilty of "offering for sale" the "accused product".
Wow that's highly irritating. From the way the patent is worded, it sounds like, "We don't care how it's accomplished, once it is, it's ours." I hope UltimatePointer gets fucked in the ass (figuratively speaking) in this case.
I am not a lawyer involved with this case at all.
The plaintiff in this case likely decided to sue JJGames since they are based in a jurisdiction that is considered highly amenable to patent litigation, and thus the plaintiff can get their foot in the door of the courts there and have the other defendants joined with substantially less risk of the case being dismissed for improper jurisdiction or forum non conveniens (ie the court deciding that even though they could hear the case, there is a court somewhere else that would be better).
I guess you could say JJGames real "crime" was being based in Texas.
I can't see magic eye pictures, not even 1 little tiny bit if I strain at them for hours. I've done it. I got a big gift book of them as a kid. They don't work for me, but I don't go around saying magic eye pictures don't work. Many people can see the 3D in them.
Wow! It's a schooner!
I went through that dozens of times before I threw the book away. I was determined to see these pictures, and I had all these little guides of how to see them. So I'd sit sometimes looking at the book trying to cross and uncross my eyes, and someone would literally be wandering by and see it out of the corner of their eye and say...
"Cool! Look at the bird, it really pops out of the page!"
And I'd want to punch them in the gut.
I've never seen a Magic Eye picture either. Sooner rather than later, I just gave up trying. I dump them into the category that I reserve for riddles. They merely exist as things people use to prove (temporary) superiority. Not caring just angers them. It's fun!
Homeland Security officers detailed pro-gaming web broadcaster Victor "Spooky" Fontanez and seized his equipment Monday as he reentered the country following a fighting game championship in Toronto, Canada.
Team Sp00ky's laptop, cell phone and two camcorders were seized, according to the Detention Notice and Custody Receipt for Detained Property issued by the Department of Homeland Security.
The laptop, which Fontanez and Team Sp00ky use to stream live game coverage and prepare videos from tournaments, contained about 200 hours of footage from multiple tournaments, Fontanez told Kotaku.
Fontanez said he was on a bus on his way back to his home in Brooklyn, New York about 3 p.m. from the Toronto Fighting Game Championships 12 when the bus pulled in to the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Office in Buffalo, New York.
"The questioning began when after seeing one of my bags in the X-ray scanner they noticed the multitude of wires, extension cables and converters I was carrying," he said. "They asked me what I was carrying and seemed very suspicious when I mentioned that I had cameras.
Fontanez told Kotaku he was stopped, searched and questioned him about the equipment he had and what he was using it for. After questioning him, an officer confiscated his equipment and sent him on his way, he said.
Items seized by Homeland Security can be detained for up to 30 days, unless an ongoing investigation mandates a longer period of time. Kotaku has filed an Freedom of Information Act request with the department seeking more details about the seizure and the timing of the equipment's release.
"We have a big event coming up next week, and a weekly tournament that I won't be able to cover," Fontanez said, who makes his living by broadcasting. "I can't really travel and cover tournaments without my equipment."
Those in the Fighting game community are well aware of Spooky and what he does for the gaming scene. Spooky himself will be appearing on FrameTrap and CrossCounterTV Live tonight to speak about the issue.
Nintendo Network ID: V-Faction | XBL: V Faction | Steam | 3DS: 3136 - 6603 - 1330 PokemonWhite Friend Code: 0046-2121-0723/White2 Friend Code: 0519-5126-2990
"Did ya hear the one about the mussel that wanted to purchase Valve? Seems like the bivalve had a juicy offer on the table but the company flat-out refused and decided to immediately clam up!"
Dude coming into the country with a bag filled with electronics with wires setting off alarm bells isn't exactly something I'm surprised about.
Homeland Security goons holding on to a laptop, cellphone, and two cameras kinda seems like a dick move once you've identified them as things that don't explode.
Sure, it looks like that if you ignore all the other arguments on this page because you couldn't shoot them down. You know, like the dropping 3D ticket sales.
I was responding to Aegeri's desire for the home tech to fail and explaining that technology typically doesn't work that way. Do you disagree? Tons of people used to say they couldn't see the difference between SD and HD resolutions, and as a result...everyone now has TVs that support HD resolutions.
How many people think that HD makes anything look WORSE than before? How many people watch HD televisions and get extremely painful migraine headaches from it? Because I can't recall hearing either of those assertions anywhere near as widely as I have 3D. I have tried all the current forms of 3D and not one I would regard as being anything other than absolute rubbish. 3D to me, is just a dumb fad that actually makes things far worse than it improves anything. By all means, if there is a non-migraine inducing version of 3D that you think I should try (Sony Bravia 3DTV using a PS3 + Killzone 3, gone to several 3D movies [hated every one intensely], Nintendo 3DS and a few other 3D options in TVs in store) then I will try it. But right now I've seen zero benefit to 3D and an incredible amount of drawbacks.
Rogert Ebert had a nice article on the cons of 3D, and posted an e-mail from from an industry insider on the topic, too.
"The biggest problem with 3D, though, is the 'convergence/focus' issue. A couple of the other issues -- darkness and 'smallness' -- are at least theoretically solvable. But the deeper problem is that the audience must focus their eyes at the plane of the screen -- say it is 80 feet away. This is constant no matter what.
But their eyes must converge at perhaps 10 feet away, then 60 feet, then 120 feet, and so on, depending on what the illusion is. So 3D films require us to focus at one distance and converge at another. And 600 million years of evolution has never presented this problem before. All living things with eyes have always focussed and converged at the same point.
...
We can do this. 3D films would not work if we couldn't. But it is like tapping your head and rubbing your stomach at the same time, difficult. So the 'CPU' of our perceptual brain has to work extra hard, which is why after 20 minutes or so many people get headaches. They are doing something that 600 million years of evolution never prepared them for. This is a deep problem, which no amount of technical tweaking can fix. Nothing will fix it short of producing true 'holographic' images."
"3D is tough for me to see so noone can see it!"
I can't see magic eye pictures, not even 1 little tiny bit if I strain at them for hours. I've done it. I got a big gift book of them as a kid. They don't work for me, but I don't go around saying magic eye pictures don't work. Many people can see the 3D in them.
3D hasn't done very well because people haven't USED 3D very well since Avatar and because a huge number of recent movies have been really really bad. They have not been failed by 3D, they have been failed by being crap so people don't want to see them and they espescially don't want to pay extra bucks to see them in 3D.
The 3D in avatar was perfect for me. It looked like looking through a window into the real world. It's the same for Pixar movies in 3D. Good movies in 3D are good, bad movies in 3D are still bad. Furthermore, lots of recent movies have used 'forward' projecting 3D which comes out of the screen when 3D which uses the screen position as the maximum forward point is much better. We need a whole cycle of this stuff so that people learn how to use 3D as part of their movies and TV, just like they learned to use multiple cameras and CGI.
There are many problems with the way the latest introduction to 3D has come about and not just from the perspective that poor film content and people who can't see the effect. Look at the home market section to 3D, most of the tech has been around since the 2nd generation of HDTV's (in fact some television makes '3D' televisions have actually been an old model with an add-on receiver.) yet for consumers thinking about the upgrade have been forced to buy entirely new setup, from new TV, new 1.4 HDMI and 3D playing content which has been pure greed when you think that you could have simply charged most HDTV owners an upgrade package to existing TV's. Worse still many people don't realise that the industry is on the verge again of a new format war, this time though its the correct way to display and broadcast 3D imagery to the consumer wether it be active, passive, lenticular etc.
With regard to the 3DS I do believe that the problem at launch simply is Nintendo's idea of using the cheapest components possible to maximise profits. In the past where nintendo may not have had the most powerful console specs, this worked in their favour. However with the 3DS we were looking at almost experimental technology so consumers were looking for a product that has the look and feel of cutting edge tech, which they didn't get.
Dude coming into the country with a bag filled with electronics with wires setting off alarm bells isn't exactly something I'm surprised about.
Homeland Security goons holding on to a laptop, cellphone, and two cameras kinda seems like a dick move once you've identified them as things that don't explode.
Just out of curiosity, is Spooky brown?
What can ya do. Spooky makes his living via streaming and he was up in Canada for the T12 tournament that just happened. That gear is his lifeline basically.
Nintendo Network ID: V-Faction | XBL: V Faction | Steam | 3DS: 3136 - 6603 - 1330 PokemonWhite Friend Code: 0046-2121-0723/White2 Friend Code: 0519-5126-2990
"Did ya hear the one about the mussel that wanted to purchase Valve? Seems like the bivalve had a juicy offer on the table but the company flat-out refused and decided to immediately clam up!"
0
ShadowfireVermont, in the middle of nowhereRegistered Userregular
GameStop's policies a necessary evil in an economy gone bad? Eh, makes sense.
I worked at a GameCrazy when I was younger, and we were in a mall with an EB Games. It was us, than a jewelery store that was a corner, and then EB. The differences between the atmosphere of the two stores was like night and day. Their store was brightly lit, super clean isles, white paint everywhere, and a couple of TVs hanging from the ceiling. Ours was a dim reverse glass case horseshoe deco'd with green and black walls and a bunch of consoles set up in the middle. They had posters on their walls advertising their membership card, we had cardboard cutouts and extra pre-order posters on ours. Their place looked like an Apple Store, and ours looked like a Man Cave.
Game Crazy put the focus on the customer, by making a place where you could come and discuss games with a gamer. EBStop put the focus on the product, but making a place where you could come and purchase games from a Customer Service Representative. Guess which one is still in business?
It all sounds really familiar. I started out with Software Etc. in 96, and finally left the company in 07. The shift in culture over those 11 years was pretty huge, and most of the leadership is indeed the same.
Dude coming into the country with a bag filled with electronics with wires setting off alarm bells isn't exactly something I'm surprised about.
Homeland Security goons holding on to a laptop, cellphone, and two cameras kinda seems like a dick move once you've identified them as things that don't explode.
Just out of curiosity, is Spooky brown?
The name 'Fontanez' suggests some kind of ethnicity.
Anyway, we're talking about people who frown on you taking bottled water onto airplanes. And you better watch out for those deadly fingernail clippers. That swively metal piece that digs the dirt from under your nails is really too powerful a weapon. So great, in fact, that D&D refuses to acknowledge it for fear of encouraging more violence with it.
In other words: Nothing to see here, folks. Move along.
Most of the people who have actually played SS though seem to think that it is a cut above. The first real game to use motion controls in a substanitive way.
I've played it. Many times. Wii Motion Plus was well implemented. But it still felt like an evolution of Zelda, not a revolution. Definitely better than Twilight Princess, but without as much sheer personality as Wind Waker. I enjoy Ghirahim as a villain. And when in dungeons and darker areas, as I said, the graphics are beautiful.
I'm not sure a lack of complete adoration for the title is problem, seeing as I'm still purchasing it and have enjoyed it so far.
And you better watch out for those deadly fingernail clippers. That swively metal piece that digs the dirt from under your nails is really too powerful a weapon.
So that's what that thing is for.
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HenroidMexican kicked from Immigration ThreadCentrism is Racism :3Registered Userregular
The DHS has its retarded moments and this is one of them. Though it's more of the individuals involved and less their policies as a whole. I hope this "Spooky" guy has filed to get his shit back as well as complaints about how the situations is handled. A lot of people tend to not speak up when they don't like something figuring it won't do any good, when it actually may have a chance.
And you better watch out for those deadly fingernail clippers. That swively metal piece that digs the dirt from under your nails is really too powerful a weapon.
So that's what that thing is for.
The 'pointy' end. If it has cross-cuts on the flat side, well that's a nail file. Some clippers have the pointy bit look like a kind of cat-claw.
Anyway, I so want to see this show up as a weapon in a video game. Especially as some kind of joke weapon that is actually a world killer.
Posts
Also, I'm only posting this because people occasionally ask:
http://www.engadget.com/2011/09/26/android-powered-56-percent-of-smartphones-sold-in-the-last-3-mon/
God help them if they ever include voice acting.
And much of the hype failure for RB3 also included people who stated they wanted this addition and now are filled with folks who simply didn't understand what they were getting. And many of them already could play guitar.
So you get weekly complaints about how HMX isn't providing content for Pro guitar and that means that HMX is intentionally ignoring their fans and it's a sign of how much danger the company faces after the sale of assets.
It's the one of the craziest versions of 'I hate it because it isn't exactly what I was expecting!' that you'll find when it comes to games criticism.
Xenoblade is easily the best console game I've played this year, and the best console RPG I've played since the mid 90's. It will not get a single game of the year nod, and I'd be shocked if it was even nominated.
Most of the people who have actually played SS though seem to think that it is a cut above. The first real game to use motion controls in a substanitive way.
Hey! Listen!
I already love Rock Band though.
Playing with my US strat over the Squire would be worth it alone.
Hell, if Rock Smith made it so that I could plug in one of my basses, I'd buy a bajillion copies.
This is the most awesome fucking thing.
Wow, I hadn't heard of the game 'til now. What are the odds of this somehow becoming a sleeper-hit and Activision suddenly turning it on with the PR?
So far, only one forumer has posted on it in its thread.
He says it's fun. People are shitting on it without having played it. It's business as usual.
Zeboyd Games Development Blog
Steam ID : rwb36, Twitter : Werezompire, Facebook : Zeboyd Games
Wow that's highly irritating. From the way the patent is worded, it sounds like, "We don't care how it's accomplished, once it is, it's ours." I hope UltimatePointer gets fucked in the ass (figuratively speaking) in this case.
In fairness, in every single other business, silently releasing your product with zero advance reviews or screenings is a giant warning klaxon that said product is horrible.
And Silicon Knights kind of earned a notorious rep after the Too Human incidents.
Of the games that you quoted I doubt any of the last three will be games that end up with nominations. I think its all about those first six and Gears of War 3 this year. I somehow doubt Gears will take any GOTY awards, but it will get the nods at least.
As for the Skyward Sword talk, I suggest naysayers observe the following:
We're talking about something published by Activision. If they thump their drum for a game that may not deliver on the AAA multi-million-seller attitude, investors will be mad. Games that are damn good get passed up on or dropped by Activision because it won't make people rich overnight.
Activision's response and handling of a game's marketing doesn't speak of its quality. They have a separate agenda.
How often do you hope people get literally fucked in the ass exactly?
Some might just impart "me too!" as a response.
http://www.gamerswithjobs.com/node/109719
They gave up on Wolfgang's iPod. It may not have been utter garbage, but for a game in a series they pimped like it was literally going out of style, it speaks to quality. A game with Van Halen in it and they dropped it onto the market as quietly as they could.
Too human was one of my favorite games ever. Just like some people love Ninja Gaiden and say it is wonderful, and other people say it's an unplayable mess were you just die all the time, the combat in Too Human was of the sort where the small fraction for whom it flowed well thought it was awesome. I loved gliding about, hacking things apart and feeling immortal in front of all these monsters.
People won't do so monthly though.
The big take-away from MMOs on this front is "There can be only one". Not that there can be only one game, but that there can be only one game per person.
The majority of people won't fork over money every month for 2 different MMOs and the same applies to shooters I imagine.
When you charge a monthly fee, your game becomes a substitute for another game, rather then just similar products that you can have both of. And that changes the market significantly.
Considering the long history of free online FPSing, if this did actually become a thing I can easily see the trend getting cut off at the knees quickly by the next big shooter going "Free to Play online!" to sell gangbusters.
Don't forget about Dark Souls. That definitely has GotY potential.
Zeboyd Games Development Blog
Steam ID : rwb36, Twitter : Werezompire, Facebook : Zeboyd Games
GameStop's policies a necessary evil in an economy gone bad? Eh, makes sense.
Game Crazy put the focus on the customer, by making a place where you could come and discuss games with a gamer. EBStop put the focus on the product, but making a place where you could come and purchase games from a Customer Service Representative. Guess which one is still in business?
"3D is tough for me to see so noone can see it!"
I can't see magic eye pictures, not even 1 little tiny bit if I strain at them for hours. I've done it. I got a big gift book of them as a kid. They don't work for me, but I don't go around saying magic eye pictures don't work. Many people can see the 3D in them.
3D hasn't done very well because people haven't USED 3D very well since Avatar and because a huge number of recent movies have been really really bad. They have not been failed by 3D, they have been failed by being crap so people don't want to see them and they espescially don't want to pay extra bucks to see them in 3D.
The 3D in avatar was perfect for me. It looked like looking through a window into the real world. It's the same for Pixar movies in 3D. Good movies in 3D are good, bad movies in 3D are still bad. Furthermore, lots of recent movies have used 'forward' projecting 3D which comes out of the screen when 3D which uses the screen position as the maximum forward point is much better. We need a whole cycle of this stuff so that people learn how to use 3D as part of their movies and TV, just like they learned to use multiple cameras and CGI.
Wow! It's a schooner!
It's not a schooner, it's a sailboat!
Haha you dumb bastard, it's not a schooner, it's a sailboat.
... YOU KNOW WHAT. THE EASTER BUNNY ISN'T REAL. OVER THERE IS JUST A GUY IN A SUIT.
I went through that dozens of times before I threw the book away. I was determined to see these pictures, and I had all these little guides of how to see them. So I'd sit sometimes looking at the book trying to cross and uncross my eyes, and someone would literally be wandering by and see it out of the corner of their eye and say...
"Cool! Look at the bird, it really pops out of the page!"
And I'd want to punch them in the gut.
I am not a lawyer involved with this case at all.
The plaintiff in this case likely decided to sue JJGames since they are based in a jurisdiction that is considered highly amenable to patent litigation, and thus the plaintiff can get their foot in the door of the courts there and have the other defendants joined with substantially less risk of the case being dismissed for improper jurisdiction or forum non conveniens (ie the court deciding that even though they could hear the case, there is a court somewhere else that would be better).
I guess you could say JJGames real "crime" was being based in Texas.
I've never seen a Magic Eye picture either. Sooner rather than later, I just gave up trying. I dump them into the category that I reserve for riddles. They merely exist as things people use to prove (temporary) superiority. Not caring just angers them. It's fun!
http://m.kotaku.com/5844439/homeland-security-detains-pro+gaming-commentator-seizes-hardware
Those in the Fighting game community are well aware of Spooky and what he does for the gaming scene. Spooky himself will be appearing on FrameTrap and CrossCounterTV Live tonight to speak about the issue.
Pokemon White Friend Code: 0046-2121-0723/White 2 Friend Code: 0519-5126-2990
"Did ya hear the one about the mussel that wanted to purchase Valve? Seems like the bivalve had a juicy offer on the table but the company flat-out refused and decided to immediately clam up!"
Homeland Security goons holding on to a laptop, cellphone, and two cameras kinda seems like a dick move once you've identified them as things that don't explode.
Just out of curiosity, is Spooky brown?
There are many problems with the way the latest introduction to 3D has come about and not just from the perspective that poor film content and people who can't see the effect. Look at the home market section to 3D, most of the tech has been around since the 2nd generation of HDTV's (in fact some television makes '3D' televisions have actually been an old model with an add-on receiver.) yet for consumers thinking about the upgrade have been forced to buy entirely new setup, from new TV, new 1.4 HDMI and 3D playing content which has been pure greed when you think that you could have simply charged most HDTV owners an upgrade package to existing TV's. Worse still many people don't realise that the industry is on the verge again of a new format war, this time though its the correct way to display and broadcast 3D imagery to the consumer wether it be active, passive, lenticular etc.
With regard to the 3DS I do believe that the problem at launch simply is Nintendo's idea of using the cheapest components possible to maximise profits. In the past where nintendo may not have had the most powerful console specs, this worked in their favour. However with the 3DS we were looking at almost experimental technology so consumers were looking for a product that has the look and feel of cutting edge tech, which they didn't get.
What can ya do. Spooky makes his living via streaming and he was up in Canada for the T12 tournament that just happened. That gear is his lifeline basically.
Here's the iPlaywinner (Team Spooky partners on the West Coast) with the video.
Pokemon White Friend Code: 0046-2121-0723/White 2 Friend Code: 0519-5126-2990
"Did ya hear the one about the mussel that wanted to purchase Valve? Seems like the bivalve had a juicy offer on the table but the company flat-out refused and decided to immediately clam up!"
It all sounds really familiar. I started out with Software Etc. in 96, and finally left the company in 07. The shift in culture over those 11 years was pretty huge, and most of the leadership is indeed the same.
The name 'Fontanez' suggests some kind of ethnicity.
Anyway, we're talking about people who frown on you taking bottled water onto airplanes. And you better watch out for those deadly fingernail clippers. That swively metal piece that digs the dirt from under your nails is really too powerful a weapon. So great, in fact, that D&D refuses to acknowledge it for fear of encouraging more violence with it.
In other words: Nothing to see here, folks. Move along.
I'm not sure a lack of complete adoration for the title is problem, seeing as I'm still purchasing it and have enjoyed it so far.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/
I write about video games and stuff. It is fun. Sometimes.
So that's what that thing is for.
The 'pointy' end. If it has cross-cuts on the flat side, well that's a nail file. Some clippers have the pointy bit look like a kind of cat-claw.
Anyway, I so want to see this show up as a weapon in a video game. Especially as some kind of joke weapon that is actually a world killer.