By Cyrris , 23rd July 3:49 pm
Since the launch of Intel’s impressive new Core 2 line of CPUs, I’ve read a flurry of reviews to get a good idea of the performance increase people are likely to see. Make no mistake - Intel is back in the game, and at least for the time being, AMD can only resort to huge price cuts to keep up. What caught my eye recently though is the online stoush between two hardware review sites which I frequent. On the left we have [H]ard|OCP, a hardware enthusiast website which is pretty well known and well regarded. On the right we have FiringSquad, a gamer-centric site which focuses heavily on both hardware and the games you play on it. Also well known, also well regarded. This isn’t the first time I’ve seen two hardware sites at each others throats - the last time I recall was between Tom’s Hardware and the now defunct Amdmb.com. That got pretty ugly, and frankly isn’t the kind of thing I like to be reading about when I go to a hardware review site. This time however, I am a little more interested in the subject at the centre of the debate.
» Read all of “[H]ard Journalism“…
By Holliday , 7th July 8:11 am
Episodic content is quite a refreshing theory. I could do no better to highlight the benefits of pushing out game content in small chunks than what plagiarize has already stated. I’ve been attracted to the idea ever since it was hinted at more than a year ago. I remember Ritual’s clever little advertising campaign with the phony medication corp website that had hidden messages in the HTML. Having a game grow and develop based on the desires and response from the players is very captivating. Especially with Ritual’s stat collection system you almost feel like you have a small part in making the next episode. However, in order for episodic content to flourish there are some guidelines it should abide by or it may quickly loose its support. (I apologize for the image clarity, cell phone camera)
A strong benefit to the consumer of episodic content is/was the price. The episodes are cheaper than a full game for the obvious reason of less content. However, episodic content tends to go hand-in-hand with digital distribution. If it takes 3 episodes to tell a whole game’s story thats 3 separate boxes to get on shelves and publish. With digital distribution that cost is mostly wiped. There is still infrastructure cost for all the content servers but it is a one time capital investment that can be used for many games in the future.
However, less than 2 months after the online release of SiN: Episodes I find a boxed copy selling for $7.99?! I bought mine online for $19.99 mind you, as did many others. Honestly I feel a little ripped off now. Not that I don’t think SiN: Episodes was worth $19.99 but I feel more like a guinea pig. I thought buying online would save me money. SiN: Episode 1 is still selling for $19.99 on steam as well. I wouldn’t care if the overall price dropped (although it would seem a bit soon, more fitting would be right when the next episode was about to hit). It just makes me wonder if they can afford to sell a boxed copy of the game for $7.99 and make a profit how much are they making off of our $20 online?
I would like to embrace digital distribution and episodic content but if I am better off just waiting for boxed copies why bother?
By Kelmon , 21st June 10:10 pm
The Browser Wars were something that, for a few years, were consigned to the past. Microsoft came, beat the crap out of Netscape, and conquered the Internet. So, it was with some surprise that we discover that the Browser Wars are not only back again but are much more interesting. While Firefox has, for the most part, got most of the publicity these days, I thought that I’d contribute to things by posting a review of a new pretender, Flock. This review is based on the recently released beta (version 0.7) under Mac OS X but my review is equally applicable to the Windows version that I am running at work (less a couple of Mac-specific annoyances that I’ll come to a bit later).
Right off the bat I’ll say this. If you have any interest in publishing information on the Internet (blogging or posting pictures) then you have my highest recommendation to go and download this browser now. Seriously, stop reading this, go and download it, and then come back. Don’t worry, I’ll still be here when you’ve finished installing.
» Read all of “Joining The Flock“…
By Vermouth , 16th June 2:22 am
I recently moved into a new apartment half-way across the country from my family. I knew I’d need to make a lot of calls across the country in order to talk to my folks. Traditionally doing something like this would involve calling the phone company and signing up for some kind of deal on long distance. Well either that or signing my soul over to a cell phone company in a package deal where I’m committed to them for a lenghty contract. Not so fast, I signed up for Vonage and it’s really one of the best deals I’ve gotten in years and if something similar is available in your area I’d highly reccomend trying it.
Vonage is a telecommunications company that could not have existed until very recently. Rather than having to lay down lines from point to point, or even tap into specific lines already down, it uses the internet to route all your phone calls. All the calls are handled as Voice Over IP traffic. You get a box, plug one end into the phone and another into the router; after that everything else is just like working with the phone company. Once it’s plugged in you just pick up the phone, get a dial tone, and you’d never know the difference. The sound is clear, the installation painless and the price is wonderful. It’s a flat rate of 25 dollars a month which is less than half of what I would have had to pay the phone company for unlimited local and long distance phone calls.
This is a really easy service to use, it’s perfect fo the average Joe to use instead of dealing with the phone or cable company. Never once did I have to sit on hold for 40 minutes like I always do when my cable modem needs installation, nor will I ever get a surprise phone call because I called my mom for a little bit longer than I expected. Of course the big Tel-coms aren’t going anywhere, they for one thing have a great deal of inertia and broadband penetration rates are dramatically lower than telephone penetration rates. But just as MCI took on Ma’ Bell and managed to lower prices for consumers, VoIP phones are giving consumers even one more option, one we really should consisder as it’s a good one.
By Plagiarize , 2nd June 1:00 am
Consider this two things, one, an informal review of Sin Episodes: Emergence, and two, a look at the ideas behind episodic gaming as today we get Half Life 2: Episode 1.
Skeptics could say that what we’re seeing is way to charge gamers more for the same content. At around $15 to $20 an episode, which gets you three to five hours of gameplay, to play the ‘full adventure’ is going to cost you $45 to $60. It’s not a major increase really, but one of the apparent benefits of episodic gaming is that you don’t pay for the parts of the game you haven’t reached, unless you want to.
Every game has games that they didn’t finish, whether because they didn’t like them, got bored, something better came along, whatever the reason, we’ve all been there. For a small price, I can get a chunk of game that I know I’m going to finish, and if I hate it I’ve only invested a small cost instead of a big one, though more on that way of thinking later.
» Read all of “The Emergence of Episodes“…
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