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| News Link » /news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=22504 |  gbrantner (13) Jan 29, 2010 - 06:09 am
| While I do think of their response as a well worded excuse, I care less and less about MP.
A decade ago when online MP really became mainstream, there were three main choices; you were a CounterStrike player, a Quake 3 player, or a UT player. Not that there weren't other options, but these were the big three. Folks loved them and played them for years. There are still Q3 and UT GOTY servers up.
Today, PC & console games are just another high-volume consumption market, with games both good and crap flying out at an amazing pace just as motion pictures do. The average gaming consumer has long ago been trained to be exactly that.
The days of all or even most games also focusing on a truly great MP environment and experience are gone, because the gaming industry itself destroyed it. They cannot have loyal fans loving and enjoying playing their game for years because they need them to beat it, trash it, and buy their next however-many releases of generic gaming crap that they'll be releasing that same year.
This is not to say that there are not many amazing games released each year because there are. I never have a shortage of enjoyable games to play in SP because when there are dozens released even in a slow year, there are always at least a handful of good ones.
At this point the only things I play MP are UT3 just to relive a few moments of that joy now and then (I was a UT GOTY player way back when), and occasionally AVP2 for more or less the same reason.
I have little concern and no mercy for the gaming industry for any of its struggles or failures. It brought it all onto itself when it joined pretty much every other entertainment industry by becoming a mostly worthless, high-volume consumption machine. Flag this | Edit this post |
| News Link » /news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=21480 | gbrantner (13) Apr 06, 2009 - 08:33 am » Edited on Apr 06, 2009 - 08:36 am
| » How true...across the board
The US creates all of the technology, but we get it last as it is too expensive a process to update or current Internet infrastructure. Countries in Europe who only got the Internet a few years ago began with Fiber, and we're mostly still dependent on copper because it’s all about the almighty dollar.
We're the largest user and have the least bandwidth, and as usual thanks to the US government and US big-business, we get screwed while everyone else gets to enjoy our technology.
Years ago a company called Sprint made their presence in the cell phone industry by offering only anytime-minutes plans. Anyone else remember their commercials making fun of other carrier's daytime, nighttime, business, weekend minutes, etc? Once they were established, they switched gears and screw us just like everyone else.
Now we're hooked again. High-speed Internet is part of civilized life in the US, and many of us cannot do without it. Soul-less, brain-dead US big-business knows this, and the conversion to their new, more profitable, user-raping platform is currently underway.
And we'll sit back and take it, too. First because most US citizens are no longer citizens, but are sheep that mindlessly do what they're told, buy what they're told to buy, like what they're told is cool, wear what they're told is style, etc. We have become what we've been carefully cultivated into over the last many decades.
Secondly, because the days of the people having any control or making a difference are long gone, given up by the sheep in the name of the almighty dollar.
Talking about Time Warner losing customers, or saying that we'll just go with another provided is meaningless; some areas have no other viable options, and what good will it do in the near future when all ISP's are doing the same thing?
What is coming is (as usual) so very obvious, but the average person cannot see beyond the events of the moment (as they've been trained to). This is why there is nothing any of us can do except sit back and lube up...cause you ARE going to take in the end, and at this point there's nothing that you can do about it. Flag this | Edit this post |
| Matrix Blog Link » /matrix/blog.asp/54208/739 | gbrantner (13) Mar 27, 2009 - 12:23 pm
| Our author, though well meaning, exaggerated things a bit though. The big 3 of that day (Counter Strike, Quake 3, and Unreal Tournament) were always close in number during those great days. The statistics showed U.T. as the largest player, but it hardly trampled over Quake 3. If anything it edged it out.
Saying that Quake 3 had more competitive players and tournaments is a ridiculous as saying U.T. trampled over Quake 3. Quake had far more history at that time, by way of Quake, Quake II, and of course Quake 3. QuakeCon grew out of this history and popularity, but make no mistake; as an attendee of several QuakeCon events, they have always been about more than just the Quake games.
Unreal Tournament's numbers were beat briefly once, but not by Quake 3. It was (the Half-Life mod) Counter Strike that briefly took the crown, only to loose it back to Unreal Tournament later on.
Proving that the enemy of “great” is “better”, there were also never as many U.T. 2003, U.T. 2004, or U.T. 3 servers as there were U.T. GOTY servers. Today, almost 10 years later, there are still more servers up for U.T. GOTY than there are for U.T.3 Flag this | Edit this post |
| News Link » /news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=20847 | gbrantner (13) Sep 18, 2008 - 05:35 am
| » How well trained are we that we comtemplate this?
Eons ago when development took much more time, and some of us paid 400 for GeForce2 Ultras, NVidia and ATI builders released a couple of new cards a year. As with most things in life, there really is no need for anything but the best, but it is the nature of our species to create the high & low so that we can create the have's and the have not's; so be it.
What NVidia should be doing is not releasing 6-8 different reference designs per year with 2 variant configurations of this one and 5 variants of that one. The option anxiety is mind-numbing.
But they do and they can because this market...us...we have been trained by them to buy a new card, then upgrade to the next latest, greatest in 4 months, then another 3 months later, then 6 months later, etc.
Of course many of us cannot afford to do that, but if you hang in a serious PC crowd, you are aware of how many folks out there do exactly that.
The 9800-series of cards, for example, was a pointless marketing and money-making scheme that was fairly successful due to our brain-washing, but should never have been. How many weeks later was it that the 260-280 model lines were released? And doesn't anyone notice that to make the lower-line, less expensive lines (such as the 260) they make the same card and then disable things? Many lower-end cards do not actually exist. They do not cost less to make. They exist solely so that we can have what we are trained to accept...have's and have not's. This industry is a technological miracle, but as with anything else the business of this industry absolutely and unequivocally sucks.
Thank you for your time. Flag this | Edit this post |
| News Link » /news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=20616 | gbrantner (13) Jun 28, 2008 - 07:21 am
| » That's fine by me.
But it may not stay that way. It must still face the worst thing to ever happen to games & gamers...the modern gaming website. If these sites simply warned us about games with poor story lines and/or poor game-play they would be helping us. Instead, in their typical arrogant, bought 'n' paid for style, they have ruined more games with that infamous line that they've created...you know the one; it goes something like, "They're not really showing us anything new." There are other variations, but the theme is the same.
Years ago, all Unreal Tournament GOTY players wanted was their perfect (for them) game with really nice, up-to-date graphics. Instead they got a game based on the same story, same general theme, but with completely different, inferior game play, alien character movement, etc. As soon as the hype wore thin everyone knew it, too. Today there are still more GOTY servers up than UT2004 because though it is quite plain by current graphical standards, it is a better playing game.
Aliens vs Predator 2 was just like AvP but with a different version of the story and (for that era) great graphics. The Quake 4 multi-player game (once fixed by updates) is just like playing Quake 3 but with beautiful graphics. If it works and its fun, don’t fix it! I hope that Far Cry 2 is just like Far Cry, but with a completely different yet equally wonderful story. If the new Crysis is just like Crysis, but with a completely different story…good!
Crysis may not be perfect, but it’s a great game nonetheless. Flag this | Edit this post |
| News Link » /news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=19550 | gbrantner (13) Feb 13, 2008 - 11:17 pm
| Why not? And OpenGL 2.x absolutely holds a candle to DX9, just as OpenGL 3 will compete nicely with DX10. Of course OpenGL 3 isn't finished yet, but regardless of the fact that its in Vista, neither is DX10(.1).
Using a couple of API's is not necessarily more difficult than using one. Oh, and let's remember that as of DX10, you WILL be using more than one as Direct Sound is no more. OpenAL is the new standard...strangely enough, OpenAl...the basis of ALSA in Linux... Flag this | Edit this post |
| News Link » /news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=19550 | gbrantner (13) Feb 13, 2008 - 11:10 pm
| Interesting comments, misunderstandings not withstanding. I personally use Windows XP Pro, Windows Vista, and a very modern, refined Linux distro. I think that we are all better served by sticking to facts as we know them, and the facts as I personally experience them are a bit different than the norm.
Those that claim that Vista runs games as fast as XP on a given PC are incorrect. I have tested this with the assistance of numerous gamers, on various Socket 939 & AM2 AMD systems as well as everything Intel from Pentium-D through Core2 duo and quad. XP is virtually always faster than Vista at the limit on the same hardware, and often by a striking margin. This is also regardless as to whether Vista is using DX10 (in newer games that support it) or whether its using it's DX9 compatibility in newer or older games.
However, since all things are decidedly NOT equal, it is important to note that there are a couple of games that seem to run slightly better on Vista; whether this is a driver issue or not I cannot say. Vista also offers DX10 which fully utilizes our graphics hardware just like OpenGL always has (and DX9 does not). DX10 offers us some amazing graphical features that DX9 (in XP) cannot come close to. It is awesome. Many other things get better with SP1, too!
Though I also run a few of them in Windows, I also run all of my OpenGL games in Linux. Folks, it is not like the old days. I have compiled no kernels or (driver) kernel modules, and have had no problems installing any of these games or making them work properly.
Using my two-year old hardware I have no problem maxing out every setting in things like ET: Quake Wars, adding 4x FSAA and 16x Aniso, and having it float against the 62FPS limiter in Linux. The graphics quality is also excellent, giving little or nothing up to Windows.
So I game OpenGL mostly in Linux but some in XP, and game DX in XP Pro except for playing all of my Steam games in Vista. I prefer to do most of my office-type of work in Vista, yet do most of my image/graphics work in XP...mainly because the software was already there. I also do some of my graphics work in Linux as I love the apps. I also perform other tasks in Linux, and utilize things such as virtualization in Linux due to its efficiency advantage over Windows.
All in all, I like them all, they all have their place, and sadly I cannot just pick one to use forsaking all others.
The issues here, regarding PC-gaming vs Console gaming and/or this Alliance that is going to help keep PC gaming alive, seem very simple to me. I believe that Consoles are a much less expensive, very user-friendly way to allow multiple gamers to enjoy their time together. My observation is that PC-gaming is more expensive, especially at one player per unit, but I also find the PC-gaming experience to be far more complete, more immersive, and for me more satisfying.
Gaming…as it was, is gone; nothing that any of the companies in this Alliance can or will do will change that because it is by design. The same evil that permeates all US & Japanese business has now infected the gaming industry. We are a carefully trained consumer culture acclimated to a business model based on disposability and planned obsolescence. You can not have the comradery and growth-encouraging environment that PC gaming had for years when you don’t want people to play a game for more than 3-6 months because you want them to buy your next piece of trash a few months down the road.
People once played Unreal Tournament, Quake 3, and/or Counter Strike for years. It took that long to make a great game back them…which in reverse may explain the current existence of so many generic, crappy, buggy games with more released by the day. Today, we want to sell more games. More, more, more…never enough! Who cares if it’s any good, if it’s fun, or if it even works right…SELL IT! Oh, and you cannot release an updated version of a great game without ruining it with needless changes because if you do, morons at gaming sites that we give power to ream them for ‘not showing us anything new’. We do our part, too, allowing ourselves to be manipulated by this system.
So, in gaming today we have short-term relationships that never have the time to go anywhere. Add to that the fact that there are now so many games capable of supporting a crowd and the number of players available to be a part of a particular game’s community shrinks way down.
Now, add in the fact that many more PC gamers 8-10 years ago were young adults, not kids. PC’s were much more expensive and not every adult had one much less their kids. Today that has all changed and we have the new gamer for the new era. Young, insecure, arrogant, stupid, boisterous and generally offensive describes not all gamers, but it does describe the average gamer that I run into on an average day in any game on an average server.
Kids are the young, the newly programmed, and are even more cultured to buy what they are told to buy, like what they are told is fun, cool, styling, etc, and finally…to ‘know’ that games, PC or console, are short-lived, disposable items that you play until you ‘beat it’, and then you throw it away and buy the next one that you are told you’ll enjoy.
In the long run, I believe that the disposable system will eventually dispose of itself, and any resemblance to fun, friendly gaming and having gaming be a genuine part of one’s social life will soon be gone. Most of the serious gamers that I’ve known for years still game, but most only in private servers. Many have also moved from multiplayer to single-player games to avoid the insanity and ugliness.
Anyway, I believe that due to business and marketing practices in the US and Japan (the two most corrupt, abusive business environments in the world), console gaming will remain the dominant form of gaming and will no doubt continue to grow in strength and number just as PC gaming dwindles and eventually all but dies. Console gaming better fits the needs of the disposable culture big business has created.
This Alliance and its actions are already doing what they are supposed to do, which is get press coverage and present an image of an entity that cares about gamers. The only thing that they truly care about is the almighty dollar, and not one quark more; they’ve long ago sold their souls in the quest for it.
There is also the holding back of technologies by the industry, including several members of this Alliance, but that is another conversation entirely. That’s my rant, and I make no claim that it is any more valid that yours or anyone else’s. Flag this | Edit this post |
| News Link » /news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=18077 | gbrantner (13) Nov 01, 2007 - 07:14 am
| » Excited about Crysis, but so sick of the industry
I totally appreciate FiringSquad actually clarifying a game's 'Going Gold' as simply a production phase so that folks understand how meaningless it is, and isn't it so very sad that the gaming industry has to resort to such expressions as one of their many attempts to keep the hype going?
Most industries using such expressions as "Going Gold" to express the success or value of an item, as demonstrated by way of ratings, sales, etc, but not the gaming industry. No, once the game is basically finished being written and is going to disc production, its suddenly 'Gold'. What utter tripe.
We can all sleep better now knowing that whatever game we recall as being the worst we've ever played was once, just like every other game, pronounced as having 'gone Gold'. Sad...just sad. Flag this | Edit this post |
| News Link » /news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=17886 | gbrantner (13) Nov 01, 2007 - 07:00 am
| » Another waste of space
When will firingsquad, admittedly one of the less offensively retarded gaming sites, stop wasting our time, so obviously sucking at the teets of the media industry, by writing yet another story proving (to someone that doesn't already know) that HD DVD has higher image quality than a regular DVD? Is there really anyone in the civilized world that hasn't already had this beat into their skulls? For that matter is there anyone in the civilized world that does not see the shallow efforts here to remind us all how much our lives are missing if we haven't yet bought an HD DVD player? As of this moment I'm still a fan of the site, but I won't be for long if I keep seeing this type of garbage.
Link: http://www.firingsquad.com/fea......_hd_dvd_review/ Flag this | Edit this post |
| News Link » /news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=11538 | gbrantner (13) Aug 23, 2006 - 06:48 pm » Edited on Aug 23, 2006 - 06:51 pm
| » Speaking realistically...
I play my games on a 19" LCD at 1280 x 1024. I have an AMD ADV-box 4400+ @ 2.6Ghz, cool, low voltage, two cheap, 7900GT KO cards in SLI @ 630/890Mhz, and I can play any game that I want to play with any settings that I want to use. Maybe sometime next year, I'll need the additional power enough to warrant replacing virtually everything. Same goes for future AMD; their response of dual dual-cores is just rediculous.
Now if I can just talk my buddy out of that FX-60 that does 3.1Ghz on air... Flag this | Edit this post |
| News Link » /news/newsarticle.asp?searchid=11339 | gbrantner (13) Jul 26, 2006 - 02:59 pm
| » AMD + SMP x 2...
So basically, AMD will soon allow consumer board manufacturers to make performance-oriented, dual-CPU motherboards. Okay. And, this will outperform a single-CPU platform. Wow.
Then, they'll take some 2-series Opterons and re-label them as the new "Athlons with multi-CPU support". Gee.
This is a really relevant, realistic move. I have a much more relevant question. Based on the readily available comparison data, how long will it be before a socket 939 FX-60 starts being sold as the $229 dollar CPU that it became the moment that the afore mentioned comparison data hit the web?
AMD beat Intel at their own game by using an architecture that got more done per clock, and then really hurt them with the on-board memory controllers.
Now, here comes Intel to beat AMD, badly, at their own game, by giving us a 2.2Ghz CPU that is slightly superior to AMD's flagships at 2.6Ghz+
Its going to be a very intersting near future. AMD is going to release quad-cores...sooner or later, but I'm not convinced that more of the same will be enough to combat Intel's genuine progress.
I am NOT pro/anti AMD or Intel, nor pro/anti ATI/NVidia. I have had AMD machines for sometime now, but I fear that now AMD has sat on their thrown for too long, as Intel once did. Intel has shown us the light, and it is very, very bright. It may be some time before anyone wil be able to see AMD in the shadows. Flag this | Edit this post |
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