Be Excellent To Each Other

Oh, I misread that bit. Still, that link does also state that it uses a PAE-equivalent process for addressing.

Do you reckon the new consoles will be more geared towards using 3D?

My 3DS is ace and while it does take a bit of getting used to, the games look lovely.

I've got a 3D TV but I've only played Stardust on the PS3 on it. It seemed alright.

I fucking hope not.

I'm not arsed, so long as developers don't compromise anything in making games 3D compatible. My telly doesn't support it any way and I have no intentions to buy another £600 telly any time soon.

Yeah, i'll never buy a cheap telly again either.

You've changed since your pay rise, man...

You wouldn't understand.

I'm interested to see how business models for the next generation of consoles change.

I think we're probably going to see Microsoft and Sony get just a little bit more open. Whether it's by expanding XNA/XBLIGs or PS minis, or by adopting a more open iOS app store style approach.

I guess quality control is somewhat more important to those kind of platform holders, but I'd very much like to see a situation where they were set up to more realistically foster successful, independent, self publishing developers. XBLIGs and minis currently aren't pushed very hard, and aren't supported very well, and a very small proportion of games make the developers a decent amount of money.

I'd also like to see all the console have all their disc games available as downloads too. Nintendo has already said that all their future 3DS and WiiU games (as in published by them) will be available as downloads. Pricing is obviously going to be a problem, but since they are going to also sell serial codes via retailers, hopefully market dynamics will result in download copies of games dropping in price over time similarly to disc versions of games do today. Surely Sony and Microsoft can't let Nintendo get one over them on that?

Isn't the app store process functionally identical to the xblig process?

Sony are exploring more sensible download prices, it seems.

Functionally? Yeah. Practically? I doubt XBLIG is generating the same levels of users, downloads, or money as the iOS App Store. Which, arguably, is a failing.

XBLIG doesn't have the pull of Rockstar et al developing for it though, for obvious reasons.

Yeah, I'd say viability is the main difference. On iOS, basically everyone that uses it is going to use the app store to get games/apps, and (although Apple obviously push some apps more heavily than others) it's basically a level playing field.

On the Xbox, XBLIGs are basically hidden in the marketplace.

There's also some restrictions on XBLIGs, like you have to be connect to live to play them, there's only three tiers of pricing, and they have to fit into a relatively small filesize.

I guess there's also the fact that XBLIGs are not allowed to use acheivements, which it seems like a lot of people care about.

Edit: Oh, and so you're restricted to XNA, so if you want to make a game using something like Unreal engine or Cryengine, despite the engines having indie friendly licenses available, you will need a publisher.

It suffers from a complete lack of support. It's hidden on the dashboard.

Yes, it must very embarrassing for Microscrofula having so much shit piled up on that platter.

Arw you implying that quantum ninja isn't the very epitome of quality game design? Or avatour？
Surely not avatar high five?

Sure - but I was responding to this:



I would suggest that there's nothing whatsoever more 'open' about the iOS app store compared to XBLIG, the only difference is one of marketing and the app store being the only possible sales channel for iOS.

Is thete a fee for developingvon iOS?

Annual dev programme membership, plus a % of sales. Same as on XBLIG, isn't it?

Aye
For some reason I thought it was free on iOS.

Frankly, I should'veknown better

Specifically, $99/yr for the developer membership (without which you cannot self-sign binaries for on-device use) and 30% of all gross revenue (whether initial purchase or DLC). In return Apple provide payment gateways, hosting, unlimited updates, and the dev tools are free (if you have a Mac). And a fucking big install base with a track record of being willing to buy apps, of course, which is the real secret sauce.

It's broadly comparable, I think. Apple are certainly more flexible about price points and DLC. What sorts of rules and regs do XBLIG games have to abide by?

I don't know for sure but aren't they limited to the amount of DLC/updates they can release per title?

From memory, max 8 releases, about 80 pounds per year. No idea about the cut they get pet sale. Havibg to put up with a slightly whiny community to get anything released. Tools are free if you go for express versions, but they do sonewhat suck massive balls compared to paid versions of visual studio. More annoyingly, pix is unusablw for xbox debugging unless tou have a proper license and a debug unit.

Overall,its very half baked.

Huh. Mine does, but then it's hacked to buggery, and I forget what's normal and what isn't.

Anyway, next gen! I wonder if Sony will stop messing around and finally charge for online stuff like MS, rather than that Plus nonsense.

The XBLIG deal is very similar to iOS. $99 annual membership fee, 70:30 revenue split.

A couple of other differences are that you are required to have a demo for XBLIG, there's no support for DLC or expansions on XBLIG, and when making an XBLIG it is relatively trivial (depending on what libraries are used) to make a PC port, which you can do whatever you want with (see Breath of Death 7/Cthulhu Saves The World, which sold a shitload on Steam).

Yeah, it has all the hardware required for DVD playback, and with a bit of hackery you can add DVD playback support.

I could be wrong on this, but I think to be able to get a DVD playback license for a device, you need to have optical audio out, which the Wii doesn't. So presumably Nintendo decided that the cost of the license + components for optical audio out weren't worth it.

Could be the case now, but DVD players I've owned didn't have optical out.

Not sure how it would work with DVD players for PCs.

And the EA stuff.


I know the feeling. That was the last one that seemed cool.

And, to tie two strands of this thread together: Dreamcast is the level of graphical prettiness I'm happy with. Granted, we've since had widescreen and HD, so it's technically lacking. But in terms of how nice games looked, perfectly happy with that level. N64 is too blocky and basic, but I think DC hit the nail on the head.

It's jarring playing something bright and colourful on the 360 like Eternal Sonata or Burny Pee... all the oomph is being used to render grimy, dusty ruins for Marcus Fenix/Sgt Battlefield 3/"Soap" McTavish to shoot their way through.

I have nothing but fond memories of Dreamcast gaming, yeah it was a horrible flop commercially and finished Sega in the hardware business - but none of that detracts from the amazing fun I had playing games on it, so I don't think there's any need to feel 'sad' about it.

Me and a mate had wonderful times playing House Of The Dead 2 and Confidential Mission on the DC, few beers, bit of GBL, late-night hours-long dual-lightgun gaming sessions whilst the ladies went out on the pop, and then returned home for early morning friskiness. Super stuff. (Me and said mate got eerily good at HOTD2 and Confidential Mission, and learned all the wonderful Japlish voiceover for Confidential Mission word for word.)

On a single player note, Shenmue 1 and 2, Jet Set Radio, Crazy Taxi, Rush 2049, Space Channel 5 and many more - I didn't miss EA's generic crap one little bit.

It's all still safely boxed up downstairs, I could never chuck it away in a million years.

See, this is why I'm excited about the WiiU. Can't wait to see what they have in store for HD Mario.

I've had a bit of a fiddle with Dolphin (the Wii/Gamecube emulator), and there's some Gamecube/Wii games that already looking fucking phenomenal when you boost the internal rendering resolution and scale it up to 1920x1080.

Even though it's obviously going to be less powerful than the next Xbox and Playstation, I really can't wait to see what a Nintendo game looks like on vaguely modern hardware.

As a sidenote, the other great thing about Dolphin is that you can map "Waggle Wii Remote" to a button on a 360 controller.

Yeah I've had a dabble with Dolphin myself, but only to play a bit of Resi Evil REmake... So not really getting the benefit, there!

As I think I've mentioned before, the only reason I didn't get a Dreamcast was because of the 3 flops Sega had before it.

Haha! Beautiful Katamari was shit for a number of reasons, though. The fact that 2/3 of the game was cut out and sold as DLC, for a start.

The Saturn wasn't a flop man.

Well, commercially it was, but by fuck it had some amazing games for it that were seen nowhere else. NiGHTS alone makes that console worth the entry fee. (And Virtua Cop 1/2, and Panzer Dragoon, and VF2, Sega AGES (still the best versions of After Burner, Space Harrier and Out Run I've ever played in my home) and Sega Rally and well the list just goes on.)

The Mega-32X and SEGA-CD I can't argue with though.

I have a soft spot for my Saturn. Daytona was just absolutely immense.

I have never played on a Dreamcast. I don't think I've even seen one running.

If you've seen Crazy Taxi or Sega Bass Fishing running in the arcade then you've seen the dreamcast.

+1 for another dreamcast lover - who was disappointed that it did not make more of a fight of things against Sony

Sadly in those days the world was still Sony brainwashed.

It was only since the launch of the Xbox that heads slowly began to turn. Well, that and the fact that the PS3 is a bit poo.

This thread has been dead good today. Proper bit of video game discussion. Reminds me of better days...

Funnily enough, I manage to continue breathing in and out.

I have.

Played it, too.

That's not considered to be a flagship game, right? Because it's a bit... Dire.

It's fantastic arcade fun, and it demonstrated that the DC really was 'arcade games in a little box', that was the great thing about the DC. It could do the likes of Crazy Taxi or Virtua Tennis in one breath, pop the disc out, and two minutes later you're playing something as deep and wonderful and involving as Shenmue.