[Highfive]

Hey there, this is just a few words of wisdom from Ritual's Benson Russell, who's just finished Medal of Honour Allied Assault (highly immersive game and great multiplayer - yes, on par with Castle Wolfenstein but not better ).

I found this in a Gamespy articleand thought it was pretty important to know when doing game development or posting on game messageboards. Look at me strangely if you want!

"A little advice for anybody that wants to pass on comments to a developer while a game is still in progress:

Don't demand. You just come off as an arrogant jerk and you will most likely be ignored on the simple fact the developer will not like you because of your attitude.

Be courteous. Most developers are just regular Joe's with a passion for games like you. Talk to them as if you were just passing a friendly suggestion along to a buddy. You will be amazed how much more your advice will be considered or tried if you had a friendly approach rather than calling the developer an idiot for overlooking something.

Don't assume ownership of the game (this ties into number 1). The game is not yours; it's the developers/publisher. They are the one's making the game and decide what will go into it and how.

Don't make a suggestion by saying 'you owe us'. Although we try to please as many people as we can, we just try to make a great game that we feel is fun, and hope that others will like as well. "

[ January 12, 2002: Message edited by: Highfive ]

[Vesuvius]

in other words: don't be a dumbass.

however there are exceptions to one of the things, which is the 'you owe us' / 'owning' bit. the exception is in the case of something like thief 3 where they decided after having an extremely tight knit and loyal fanbase who purchased the first 2 games for PC they then decide they would make the 3rd on xbox and not release for pc until later. that's the sort of thing which is just rude to the people who supported you and made your first 2 games sell. similarly is the case where they tout something like halo as being mac and pc and then they after advertising it as such for years, change to xbox only for about a year, then maybe pc, despite selling it to fans, having made all their prior money from the pc & mac fans of their work (bungie) and having had an online community already exist due to the promises of pc and mac support. I realize the role MS played in that, but it is an exception I feel does exist.

[Highfive]

Yeah, it is rude and inconsiderate to ignore your fans like that, and it's another way consoles are going to make life so difficult for PC game developers. On the other hand, if you were a game developer and you were given the option to either sell your sequel title on the PC or console, what would you do? Sell it on PC and maybe you'll just make over break even. Sell it on console and chances are, you'll make more money than the best PC games that ever made it on the charts.

One tiny benefit of a game being released a year later on PC is that it will be sold with all the gameplay fixes and tweaks for problems discovered in the console version.

[Lunatique]

I really hate the fact consoles make the lives of PC gamers hell. I can't stand the fact PC games will never sell as well as console games. I also hate how unsophisticated the average console game is.

I will always be a PC game fan. There's nothing like games where you can download MODs, custom levels, skins, and even newly released patches from developers with new levels and weapons as a big "thank you" to the supporting fans.

PC games rule. Fuck consoles.

Well, ok, I like a FEW console games, but not enough to care.

[hoving]

yes, luna:
consoles SUCK!!!

and it's honor, not honoUr!!

[Highfive]

Agree with you there, too, Luna.

In my country, it's spelt HonoUr, but yes that's not how it's spelt on the CD-case.

BTW, I don't care that we're falling way off track of the original thread. This is more interesting anyway.

I think it's unfair how you see these big glossy EDGE magazines that dedicate six page articles to these absolutely loaded lead console-game designers, saying they're really into games since they were in nappies and how much they know about them, after they've produced a few superficial arcade titles that appeal to a wide market. Yet once the game's released, they get their extended holiday (maybe a bonus) and don't have to touch another game for weeks.
PC game crews design games with way more depth, customizability and support for a huge number of systems, but when the games finally out, they've then got to spend more overtime delving into technical support, patches and documentation for mod development. Wouldn't they know more about games and be into them more to put up with that?

[Bishop_Six]

Right on, Lunatique, my man!

[SWANY]

quote

Quote:

In my country, it's spelt HonoUr, but yes that's not how it's spelt on the CD-case.

what dumbass country do you live in

[ January 13, 2002: Message edited by: SWANY ]

[Lunatique]

Actually, honour is the correct way to spell the word. We use honor because the Americans spell things a bit different. For example: color = colour.

[[Shizo]]

^^shuddup busta, you is pure CHINA MAN!!!^^^

[Highfive]

SWANY - same as yours, ya wally!

[Lunatique]

No!!! I'm an American!!!! I'm stuck here in China!!! Wah wah wah!!!! I'm an AMerican citizen! Help me!!! I have an American passport! They can't touch me!!!

[Highfive]

Haha, are you an American working in China, Lunatique, or Chinese working in America?

[Lunatique]

I was just kidding about being stuck. I'm staying here temporarily of my own will.

I've lived in the U.S. for 18 years(since I was 11), and I've been an American citizen since 1991. I pay my taxes, speak perfect English, and I'm not one of those minorities that only hangs out with their own ethnic crowd.

Yeah, I'm American alright.

I started out just visiting my mom in China, then I met this girl, and decided to take a sabbatical here and do a few things I wouldn't be able to do if I were still working full-time in the game biz back in the states:

1)I can spend time with this lovely girl.
2)I can spend an obscene amount of time doing my own creative stuff(finishing a couple of screenplays, writing my novel, composing some new music, improving my photography, work on new paintings..etc)
3)I've always wanted to become a good 3D guy, now I have all the free time in the world to do that.

When I feel my very long vacation should be over, I'll end my sabbatical and jump back into the chaos(and I should be leaner, meaner, more efficient, faster, more skilled, more knowledgable, and command an even higher salary than when I began this sabbatical). In the meantime, I can get so much more accomplished than if I stayed int he states working as a texture artist.

And with the cost of living so low here, I can live like a king. Sure, I'm not a fan of this place, but I spend all of my time doing my own thing and hanging with my honey, I don't even bother venturing out into this lame place. I've got everything I need here--fast computer, a music workstation, giant screen TV, DVD player, photography equipment, ADSL..etc etc.

And I get to go to Hong Kong every 4 months to buy all the latest shit that's been released around the world.

Can't ask for more.

And I've got my finances covered quite well, so no worries there either.

[Steven Stahlberg]

I am
envious............

[Steven Stahlberg]

Anyway, the Xbox doesn't suck, at Digital Anvil where I used to work they're doing Freelancer for the PC and Brute Force for the Xbox, and they're both looking great so far, the same kinda people working on each, no difference in salary or vacation etc. And I got an Xbox, and I love it. And my kids love it, and they love me for getting it. And I'd never let them use my PC for their games, the little bastards.

[Highfive]

What's the quality of the food like in China? My girlfriend said she got a seriously bad bug when she was in Nepal that had her drinking only lemon and ginger tea for a month. I wouldn't mind visiting there but the greater risk of food poisoning has got be concerned.

[Highfive]

LOL, Steve!

The X-box sounds like the perfect way to keep others off your PC. Your last comment makes me wonder what "X-box" sounds like said by a three-year old kid with a lisp.

[[Shizo]]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Highfive:
[QB]What's the quality of the food like in China? My girlfriend said she got a seriously bad bug when she was in Nepal[QB]

---

Don't eat bugs and you'll be alright :O

[Steven Stahlberg]

Shizo, LOL
Highfive, I don't know exactly but I would imagine the distance between Nepal and Beijing to be on a par with from Hawaii to Main or something.
Chinese food in general is one of my absolute favorite cuisines, just don't buy it from those street hawkers and you should be ok. I spent a decade in Hong Kong and never got food poisoning once. (Got it in Singapore though on a brief visit, have no idea from what. Shit like that can happen anywhere I guess.)

[Lunatique]

Highfive- Nepal is definitely not a develped place compared to Beijing,
Shanghai..etc. In general, even in developing countries there are still more modern parts and totally mediaeval parts. In the bigger cities, you can find the same typical stuff you do anywhere else(McDonnalds, Pizza Hut, Kentucky Fried chicken...etc)in the world. There are shopping malls that sells a lot of the same shit you'd find in American shopping malls.

So, my answer is, if you wander into the poorer parts of China, you might not be able to handle the local water/food. But, if you stay in the cities, you can always have American fast food just to be safe.

Maybe I should take some pics of China and post them?

[Lunatique]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Steven Stahlberg:
I am
envious............

---

I hope you are kidding. You're like, one of the MOST envied dudes at sijun.

[Steven Stahlberg]

Hm, thanks... well you know how it is, no workaholic has ever been really satisfied with his or her life in the history of the universe. And what you described sounded pretty close to paradise to me.

[suny]

"I really hate the fact consoles make the lives of PC gamers hell. I can't stand the fact PC games will never sell as well as console games. I also hate how unsophisticated the average console game is."

yeah yeah...
no keybord shortcuts = unsophisticated games.
PC games don't sell because they ain't for real people, not everyone is obsessed with war like any PC gamer, or with some clich� RPGs, not everyone is able to download the latest nvidia driver to run a videogame, a "game", you know, for "fun"...
I play PC games, and i have every consoles at home. If half life, quake, or civilisation are trully great games, they are not more sophisticated than, for example, Mario 64, wich blow my mind.
Play REZ, it's a work of art. Play Panzer dragoon saga (on saturn, 5000 ex, sold), it's the more mature rpg i ever played in my life, and a work of genius.
There is really a misunderstanding of what is a game. A shooter can be as subtle as a RTS. I can't understand how a human being could design the game mechanics of Mario 64, it's not only about an italian plumber for kids, you have to see beyond that, it's one of the finest videogame ever created, and they are nothing like that.
The PC Vs Console war is boring.
I love videogames, so i choose to play games on both. And to open my mind. And to have my own opinion on things.
yep.

S.

[Highfive]

Wow, a statement for the other side of the debate table, and a good one at that!

Erm, first, I think what you refer to as "real people" are the wider demographic of consumers who don't make a regular habit of playing games. Hardcore gamers might be a few rounds sort of a clip, but we're still "real people".

You're right, though. The discussion has been a little narrow-minded as there are some damn good console games out there that seem to work like magic. Games that if you didn't get passed the controller would probably never go near in your life.

I HATE tennis. I can't possibliy understand why people would get off hitting a ball back and forth across a court, let alone play a game doing it. I also HATE Mario. Luigi is cool ("Here we go-oh!") but Mario's got such an irritating voice fer god's sake. But at work, the whole team played Mario Tennis 64 for eight months EVERY lunchtime and EVERY Friday night and we still didn't get sick of it!

Very few PC games can do that.

[Lunatique]

I DO like some console games:

Metal Gear Solid
Soul Calibur
Virtua Fighter 3
Dead of Alive 2
House of the Dead 2(and Typing of the Dead!)

uh... can't think of much else.

I'm not a big fan of cutesy games. They are good time-killers, but they don't intrigue me half as much as the more mature themed games.

[lalPOOO]

even though the prospect of playing tennis sounds shitty, it's not that bad and I find it kind of fun if you get the hang of it. I'm not super one sided on this argument, I'd rather have a pc then an xbox or a gamecube but there are many goodnesses about those systems and ps2. the simpllicity, some times I don't want to have to think hot keys and shortcuts and crap, I just want to run around like an idoit shooting stuff that could be tenis balls or little fireballs or whatever. Systems don't really crash eother, and so far I havn't encountered a fatal exception error on my shitty n64 or on any of my firends systems. Even though I love pc games and play them way mroe often, gt3 isn't on pc!, theres a lot of good games that aren't on pc, so i say just open your mind, you dont have to be one sided, you just have to have fun!
(that is the point of games, I hope)

[Highfive]

Grand Turismo 3 isn't going to be on PC (GT3) but Grand Theft Auto 3 (GTA3) probably will be.

On the whole PC over consoles issue - I guess the reason why some PC users consider themselves so high in priority and have such a hatred for consoles is because they spent heaps building up their systems. We take tremedous pride in our gaming beasts, showing off scores in 3DMark2001 and pointing eagerly at the Frames per Second counters on the Quake III tests.
We're petrolheads for PC's essentially. We absolutely love to show off to our mates the latest games running smoothly at max-everything on our machines at LAN parties. But then suddenly developers start developing our favourite titles on the consoles instead. It's quite natural to feel insulted that you've spend thousands upgrading your box to play your purchased copies of Myth, then Myth II, then Oni and then discover that Bungie are releasing Halo on X-box instead. What the hell do you use to show your Geforce 3 off on now?

[neebhore]

There are only a few games that I like on consoles.
The metal gear solid series, most beat 'em ups, silent hill series.
I'm FOR consoles because they're quick to setup and get into a game, and beat the hell out of your friends. And if you want to take it over your friends for a multiplayer, there isn't much to it!

I'm for PC's because i've been tinkering with them since I was 10, built my own, always! Like 'Highfive' said, I'm a real petrolhead when it comes to PC's! It's taken me a long time to get mine to where it is today, and I'm proud of it! I've got quite a few friends like me, and every once in a while we drag our stuff over one of our houses, and have a mass LAN party, which is great, something you can't do with consoles!

Also, the online gaming community! You don't have that with consoles! The dreamcast tried to go for it, but I don't think it's been very successful has it?!?

Finally, customization! You can make your own characters, skins, models, levels, guns! Or download ones made by other people,and small mod's, patches and updates! It's great!

What's really annoyed me about the X-box, is Microsofts marketing plan, to upset PC gamers just so they can boost they're sales on their X-box. Fair play to them, they can afford to do that, and it is a good way to sell them. But I was thinking of buying one anyway! I don't understand why they don't just release most console games for the PC anyway?!

End of the day, I prefer PC's to consoles, always have, always will.

[Malachi Maloney]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Lunatique:
Highfive- Nepal is definitely not a develped place compared to Beijing,
Shanghai..etc. In general, even in developing countries there are still more modern parts and totally mediaeval parts. In the bigger cities, you can find the same typical stuff you do anywhere else(McDonnalds, Pizza Hut, Kentucky Fried chicken...etc)in the world.

---

The Kentucky Fried Chicken in Thailand is BOMB. But we're not talking about Thailand are we?

Anyway..Steven I can't believe you got food poisoning in Singapore. That's one of the 'cleanest' cities I've ever been to in my whole life. Great diversity of foods in Singapore by the way. Best lobster I've ever had.
As far as the food in China goes, I'm not familiar with it...I've never been to mainland China, but I've had 'traditional' Chinese foods in many places throughout Asia and all I can tell you is that they're NOTHING like the Chinese food you'll get here in the states. On a traditional Chinese menu you'll find things like.....Pigeon, frogs, black beans and other odd stuff you wouldn't find on your typical Chinese menu here in the states.
However, I'd have to say that Hong Kong has WONDERFUL foods and many varieties of different stuff. You can get anything from a killer steak and baked potatoes, to baklava, to the most mouth watering Chinese food you've ever had in your life. The only thing you won't find food wise in Hong Kong is good Mexican food. You can't get good Mexican food anywhere in Asia (that I know of).

Sorry, just had to add my two cents on the food thing. I've been all around Asia and I love food.

M