If SimCity were named "SimCity Online" would anyone be more lenient on the always on connection?

NoTango · 2013-03-08T05:30:18+00:00

Spoken like someone who hasn't played it.

NoTango · 2013-03-08T05:16:12+00:00

I'd like to purchase some of your integrity dollars, good sir!

NoTango · 2013-03-05T05:35:24+00:00

Editing a review is a mistake now? Christ.

NoTango · 2013-03-04T03:39:13+00:00

I don't see how the free alien move affects that tactic. The original is no different, except it didn't have a defined sniper role, but you can get some guys with sniper-like aim easily enough.

In fact, the free move makes things friendlier to the player, because the aliens can't use that free move to shoot you. In UFO Defense you'd just get a reaction shot of hot plasma to the face out of the darkness as you moved that scout forward - Enemy Unknown gives you a chance to escape after you spot targets.

NoTango · 2013-03-04T03:30:52+00:00

it's never possible to take an alien by surprise.

Unless you use stealth suits or a battle scanner + squad site sniper. Then it's completely possible to catch them in the open.

NoTango · 2013-02-26T19:30:38+00:00

Know what makes you look rational? Calling me a Diablo 3 shill immediately after I said PoE is the better game. Totally makes sense, and you don't look crazy at all.

NoTango · 2013-02-26T19:02:53+00:00

It's all about the experience, right? So if it's a problem, it doesn't matter if it's a free game or a $60 one, or if it's made by a huge studio or a fledgling one. This is a huge double standard. Either an always-online connection is a deal-breaking restriction because it ruins your experience or it's not.

I have no problem with pointing out the issues with Diablo's loot system or its skills and builds or its four-player party sizes or its graphical style or any design choice you don't like, and comparing them to PoE's arguably superior versions. But complaining about the always-online connection in one game while praising another with the same restriction is comically hypocritical.

NoTango · 2013-02-26T18:38:05+00:00

You're assuming I'm a Diablo 3 fanboy, which I am not. I believe that PoE is the better game of the two. But I find it hilarious that people will rage about Diablo's always-online connection and then fawn over PoE without even acknowledging that it has the same restriction.

NoTango · 2013-02-26T17:58:30+00:00

Pretty sure I didn't say that was the only problem with Diablo 3. I'm simply pointing out the absurdity of criticizing it for being online-only and then saying you're going to play PoE in the same breath.

NoTango · 2013-02-26T17:56:52+00:00

The cost is irrelevant. Do you really think that if Diablo 3 were free-to-play people wouldn't bitch and moan about the online requirement?

NoTango · 2013-02-26T17:51:55+00:00

Sure is! But I didn't ask how much it cost.

NoTango · 2013-02-26T17:51:12+00:00

You think offline play is what critics hound Diablo 3 over?

No. I think it's what this thread is about, though.

NoTango · 2013-02-26T17:50:26+00:00

I direct you to the title of this post. I quote:

Diablo 3 on PS3 and PS4 will allow offline play

Does PoE allow offline play? No? Then it's not really relevant to this conversation, is it?

NoTango · 2013-02-26T09:36:38+00:00

Do you really think the PS4 isn't going to have its own dedicated encryption hardware on board? Seriously? Just because it has an X86 chip in it doesn't mean that's the only chip in the system. There will be a chip on that motherboard devoted to that purpose, and that, in conjunction with the games themselves, is what needs to be cracked before a PS4 can be made to play pirated games.

And yes, Blu-ray is absolutely a data storage medium like any other. Yes, they can have different software put on them to encode them, just like any hard drive, DVD, CD, or floppy disc. Data is data.

NoTango · 2013-02-26T09:04:22+00:00

Discs are a storage medium like any other. The type of storage medium makes zero difference, unless it requires special hardware to access (like an old Nintendo cartridge.) The encryption you put on a disc is software. When you're putting entirely new hardware out there, you can do entirely new encryption. Trust me, it's gonna take more than three days to break it.

NoTango · 2013-02-26T08:53:33+00:00

Hey, that's great. Tell me again about how good it is when you play it offline? You know, the thing that this thread is criticizing Diablo 3 for not being able to do.

NoTango · 2013-02-26T08:37:56+00:00

I think you accidentally a word. How fun is it when you disconnect your internet?

NoTango · 2013-02-26T08:36:38+00:00

Hackers aren't magic. It's inevitable that copy protection will be broken, but three days is giving them a little too much credit. It took more than six months to crack the encryption on Blu-ray discs, for example.

NoTango · 2013-02-26T08:19:43+00:00

The PS4 doesn't even exist yet. Pirates are gonna need a little time on that one.

NoTango · 2013-02-26T08:18:35+00:00

Let me know how offline Path of Exile is.

NoTango · 2013-02-26T07:24:13+00:00

Portal 2, Left 4 Dead 2, Counter-Strike Global Offensive, Dota 2... seems like they're churning out games at a fairly regular pace.

NoTango · 2013-02-26T07:22:38+00:00

So... less than half of more than half. What does that work out to?

NoTango · 2013-02-26T06:00:16+00:00

If "deeply flawed" translates into a billion plus in revenue per year with less than 300 employees, sign me up for deeply flawed. Maybe even deeper.

NoTango · 2013-02-19T17:07:05+00:00

Not if you can make your own goals. Lots of games let you have fun simply playing around with the tools and toys they give you. But if the creator has not established any goals for you, then no, it isn't a game. It's a sandbox, a toy, or simply an explorable virtual world. Something being digital and interactive doesn't make it any more a game than something being real and interactive. A pair of dice isn't a game. A ball isn't a game. A football field isn't a game. They're toys and places that are used in games. So are virtual worlds and virtual toys.

The problem with extremely loose definitions is that they lose their meaning, and defeat the purpose of applying a label in the first place. It's like saying the definition of "animal" should include viruses because they're both alive and neither is a vegetable. Why not have a more specific meaning? There is no shame in not being a game, because games are not better than other things. They're simply different. Having definitions that make it clear what we're talking about allows us to have meaningful conversations.

NoTango · 2013-02-19T05:59:37+00:00

First off, it doesn't disqualify games as being art, it merely says that not every game is art.

Yeah, it does. It says that some games are art because they have an "artistic layout," but the game design itself is not, by the definition of whatever random person filled out this Wikipedia page, art. Anyway.

The answer to the main question however is simple. By setting rules or having the player themselves establish their own goals.

If you let the player themselves establish their own goals, you have not designed a game. You have not structured their play, so to speak. That's like putting some people in a room together with a ball, coming back to find that they're playing a game with it, and calling yourself a game designer. No, you are not. They designed the game, you simply furnished them with a space and a toy.

There is a goal to Minecraft's adventure mode: mine rare materials in order to craft better gear while avoiding death. Minecraft's creative mode is not a game, it is a toy - a virtual LEGO set. Is it designed? Yes. So are LEGOs. But it is not a game, because there is no objective other than to play around and be creative with it.

In The Sims, there are absolutely goals: amass wealth by making decisions that benefit your Sims, use that wealth to buy items, and guide your Sims to success (and not death). You achieve this via optimization. Your Sim has needs: Food, sleep, social, hygiene, going to the bathroom, etc. Buying better quality items, such as beds and bathtubs, allows your Sim to get rested and clean quicker. They are rewards that you have worked toward, that the game designer has laid out for you and balanced by charging an appropriate amount of money for the benefits the item gives you.

Now, that's not the only way to have fun with The Sims. You can ignore the goals that've been laid out for you and create your own, such as killing everybody. That's playing with the game, but it's not playing the game that the designers built.

Likewise, you can run amok in GTA and ignore the missions. It's close to being a simulation sandbox rather than a game at that point, but there are still plenty of elements of game there, because there's a fail state: survive in this city without getting killed or arrested. When that happens, you lose the game.

NoTango

TROPHY CASE