Sims Online off to poor start, technology group says
Posted by Michael Stanclift on 06 January 2003 - 18:58 · 10 comments & 649 views
About the Author
Full name: Michael Stanclift
Forum name: Marshalus
Contact: via forum PM
Submissions: Normal · Headline
Full name: Michael Stanclift
Forum name: Marshalus
Contact: via forum PM
Submissions: Normal · Headline
Slashdot It!
Submit to reddit
Submit to blinklist
Bookmark on del.icio.us
Add to furl
Share on Facebook
Add to Windows Live
Add to Google- Advertisement
-
-
(1 reply)
#1 Posted by Visnu on 06 Jan 2003 - 19:45
- My friends bougt this for me for Christmas. I was at Wal-Mart the other day, and they still had hella copies. Ingame, it looks like there are HELLA more ppl there than there was in beta.
-
#2 Posted by shanaynay on 06 Jan 2003 - 20:00
- I was a beta tester for this, it wouldn't even install and tech support was bad, they couldn't even fix the issue. I have a 1ghz, 256ram, 128mb video, and on ME. It's not the hardware issue, LOL. Stupid EA.
It doesn't surprise me that this game hasn't done good so far and I doubt it will.
-
(2 replies)
#3 Posted by redrope on 06 Jan 2003 - 23:05
- Its the online fee you have to pay. Bad call by them.
-
#3.1 Posted by Xenomorph on 07 Jan 2003 - 01:14
- [neoquote=#3.0 by redrope]Its the online fee you have to pay. Bad call by them.[/neoquote] games like this couldnt exist if someone wasnt paying for it. you cant expect the company to pay all the bills and let people play on their systems and use their resources for FREE!
-
#3.2 Posted by StarfireCT on 07 Jan 2003 - 03:31
- Not entirely true. Virgin took a game like Subspace over after Subspace had been out for about a year. The game was great to play, but once VIE tried to charge a monthly fee for it, it collapsed. Shortly after Virgin ran away from online gaming, Subspace servers started to appear all over and the game started to thrive again. EA could have sold the retail box for end users and let people that want their own cities download server add ons and I could promise you that it would be doing 50x in volume. EA is just banking on the re-occuring subscription business model, for whatever reason, and that's that. Of course I bought this a couple of days after it shipped. I signed up, played for a couple of nights and since the majority of your time is spent building up skills and defering offers for roomates, I haven't played it since; they got the upfront money from me, but I doubt they'll get me to stay on board with the game. Cheers, Sf
-
#4 Posted by Antipop on 07 Jan 2003 - 03:39
- its all about dollars....
-
#5 Posted by nonick on 07 Jan 2003 - 11:33
- fail fail fail fail fail fail fail fail fail fail fail fail !!!!
-
#6 Posted by kioria on 07 Jan 2003 - 12:13
- i don't mind this type of mass online games. but guess what World Of Warcraft is going to be better!
-
#7 Posted by badall on 07 Jan 2003 - 13:21
- hope ea gets burned on this one it might get them to sort out there act on there games before they sell them did anyone play the full version of need for speed hp2 it was so unfinished it was a joke, anyway thats enough of my rant
EA dismisses the outcome of the SoundView research, proclaiming The Sims Online is selling within its forecast. The company supports its claim with an explanation put forth by analysts of Jefferies & Co., namely a slower roll-out at retail outlets due to inadequate distribution. Checks at retailers pointed out that the game had indeed not reached full distribution in the week of December 23.
This year's show focuses on the same patterns of electronic consumption. Instead of transistor radios, companies are expected to show car radios that receive broadcasts of digital music -- as well as television.
The portable storage seen in the audio cassette has morphed into many forms, including the Secure Digital card, the size of a U.S. quarter. Panasonic will announce a new one that holds a gigabyte of digital data -- roughly the same as a 90-minute analog cassette.
And TVs are still a hot item 36 years later, with several companies proffering flat-panels the size of a small garden patch that are digital cable-ready.
Analysts are agog over the forthcoming personal video player, or PVP, that chipmaker Intel and ReplayTV maker SONICblue are working on. Intel will show off several prototypes of the Walkman-sized PVP, with a 4-inch screen and storage for more than 10 hours of movies.
The Intel PVP won't be the first such device. France's Archos released its $399 Jukebox Multimedia, with a 1-inch screen, last year.
Analysts also admit pent-up reverence for the finally emerging wireless "smart displays" such as the ViewSonic airpanel and Philips iPronto. Both are the first of a slew of such products using touch-screen technology Microsoft announced at last year's CES, under the name Mira.
Instead of tethering computer users to a desk, smart displays allow folks to wander the house or office with a screen that links wirelessly with the computer.
At least two companies will offer systems for those who want live TV beamed to their cars, rather than just DVDs playing on their seat-back screens.
KVH Industries will unveil a car-mounted 4-inch-high disc antenna that pulls in satellite TV. The $2,000 antennas, already in use by the U.S. military, devote an array of tiny gyroscope-guided dish antennas to lock onto a satellite during the twists and turns of the road.
Sirius Satellite Radio also plans to demonstrate that a Sirius-configured Kenwood car stereo can receive satellite-beamed video alongside radio broadcasts.
A handful of cell phone and handheld computer makers will further blend the two devices. Hitachi and Samsung will introduce PDA phones with picture-messaging capabilities. Both can access higher-speed wireless networks to send e-mail and surf the 'Net. The Hitachi also integrates a keyboard.
Several analysts point to the emergence of a wider "digital lifestyle" which aims to steer folks back into their own homes, away from terrorists and foreign vacations.
The concept is boosted by converging home entertainment devices and software known collectively as "media gateways." The gateways bundle stray audio and video formats -- from MP3s to recorded TV shows to digital pictures -- to allow control them from a single device.
"There's a blending between the home PC and the home entertainment systems, your stereo and TV," said Forrester Research's Charles Golvin.
The gateways can take the shape of a PC-centric system, a set-top box, or a handheld computer imbued with software, like Scientia Technologies' Plexus, that can control everything from the TV to the swimming pool pump.
The show has also become the gadget industry's venue to persuade the U.S. government to see things its way.
A dozen members of Congress are expected, along with top officials from the Federal Trade Commission, Department of Commerce and Federal Communications Commission chairman Michael Powell.
The Environmental Protection Agency is expected to introduce "Plug-in to Recycling," a campaign aimed at prodding Americans to stop tossing toxic electronic waste into the trash.
The EPA will announce "e-waste" recycling opportunities, with help from vendors, manufacturers and waste haulers, including Best Buy, Sony, Waste Management, Panasonic and Dell, the EPA said.
For federal officials without funds to fly to Las Vegas and stay in the Hilton -- the hallowed venue where Elvis Presley started his comeback in 1969 -- CES organizers will pay, said Gary Shapiro, president of the Consumer Electronics Association.
The industry finds itself struggling to compete with the entertainment industry's lobbying push to persuade Congress to block some technologies, especially those that allow digital recording of music and TV broadcasts.
"We're not Hollywood. Certainly we don't make the campaign contributions that the studios can," Shapiro said. "But (Congress) regulates these products. If they're going to regulate us they should see the industry up close and personal."