RE How to Kick the Retail Habit

[Fyron]

Leslie said:
I understand dvd players are now expanding formats to allow DivX. That means you might not even eventually require dvds.

There is no need for DVDs now. You can burn regular CD-Rs as VCDs (or SVCDs) and play them on most DVD players made in the last few years. VCDs store the video/audio in an uncompressed format, so you typically need 3 or 4 of them for a movie, depending on length. Being able to use a compressed format such as DivX would mean you can get away with 1 or 2, depending on how badly you wish to mangle the video and audio streams. A format like Xvid would of course be far better to get widespread adoption of, but like the poor quality MP3 format, DivX is too widespread...

[/end thread derail]

[Leslie]

Regarding anything cd oriented.

Format aside, it's about cost factor assessment for me.
One cd = 700 megs of storage
One dvd = 4.7 gigs of storage
And that is current mainstream dvd disks. They have more recently made much larger capacity dvd disks and burners more available recently.

Data is just data in the end. How much data do you have, and how do you want to store it. And what do you want to run it.

Friend has suggested I get a dvd player that plays DivX. But that just means yet another machine sitting around.
My computer will run any manner of data. I can with the right program, play anything my computer can run, on my tv if I have the right hardware to send the signal.

Current computer isn't up to that. I am thinking of changing that statement at the end of the year though.
Given enough time, I expect to be able to play a game, and see it on my tv, or play a movie, from any digital source, and see it on my tv.
Don't feel like using my tv as a web browser screen though. And I don't feel like using it as a monitor for a word processor.

As it currently stands, I don't see any attraction owning a PS 1 or 2, or XBox, and I really don't really want a hand held doodad. If I have gotten out of my chair and walked away from the computer, chances are I have decided I don't want to play a game, I have something else I want to be doing

The contest between console and PC is a dumb one that console can't win. My PC will always possess several magnitudes more functionality than a console. Consoles are of limited use, and they don't play the other guys games yet.

The fact that shelf space is being crowded out by console titles and making it hard for PC titles, just means PC titles need to say "to heck with that store".
Who says I have to, absolutely have to, buy my PC games at an EB? If they went to only console, they will only be selling console.
Means they won't be selling PC. That's about it though isn't it.

PC games enjoy a perk that console doesn't enjoy. PC games are just data. As long as you put it on a storage device a computer can run, you have no problem.

PC doesn't "need" retail. Retail is just retail. It's more "visible" than online. That just means those that sell PC need to accept that.
Make it more "visible".

[JDC]

When I wrote a column for Wargamer, I pushed indies very strongly. However, a column only stays on the front page for 4 days tops and many readers go straight to the forums anyway.

Dave is correct, a well-supported, well-advertised website devoted to indies is a must.

[Jim_Zabek]

Not to sound too contrary, Jim, but actually your column stayed on the page perpetually - you might recall your image on left hand side (5th Column) linked to your last article

These days Scott Udell's Road to War covers much of the wargaming/indie news.

[JDC]

Yeah, like they knew to click on a pic.

After reading reviews on other sites and seeing reader feedback, we may be missing a point. Are we sure readers want in-depth reviews or subjective pap? It seems the latter. They clutch at subjectivity because they need reinforcement of their own concepts - or they have short atttention spans.

[Leslie]

I think this captures it Jim

"or they have short atttention spans"

People read the way they play.

People are rarely interested in detail, they want what they want, to arrive in a sound bite.

If your opinion means squat, all you need do is come on, describe the rig required to run the game, say it was uber fantastic, and you gave up playing with the missus for the night just to enjoy testing the game out.

After that, you don't really need to say anything else.

If you found something about the game that was sufficient to declare the game blew chunks, really all you have to do is blow the whistle on that element, say it made the game refuse, and you could care less about the game in the absence of something addressing that element of its design.

If your opinion actually matters to anyone in the first place, the reader will decide, "hey my fav reviewer says it sucks, I normally like his opinion, hence the game DOES suck."

That's the way I see it at least.

[JDC]

Les,

Quite right. However, I'll still grind out the details.