
Justin Franklin |

KaeYoss wrote:Vic Wertz wrote:Ah, OK. So it was towards the end of Nintendo's reign as king of consoles. (At least the way I understand things).
The Super NES was current, and Sega had just released the Sega CD, so every fourth caller would ask when the Nintendo CD was coming out. We were told to tell them it was "in development," though most of us were pretty sure it really wasn't.Sega CD wasn't all that. There was a bit of a lull for all parties between SNES/Genesis and Playstation/N64. The 3DO was cool (and, IIRC, Sony bought it from Panasonic and built the Playstation around the platform), but that was the only real innovation for a couple of years.
Sega screwed the pooch with the Dreamcast, Atari did the same with the Jaguar, and Sony and Nintendo duked it out alone until Microsoft came out with the XBOX.
Nintendo was wise to not go to CD for a while. The load times for the N64 cartridges (non-existent for the most part) was a good selling point against the "are we playing yet?" times of the PSone. Oh, and the internal memory was a plus over the memory card (mine was stolen 40 hours into FFVII, for one, and it had my Tekken info, Madden stuff, etc, so I lost a ton of play time with one swipe).
I have no idea what my point is, just kind of saying things weren't all that dire for Nintendo back then. And they OWNED the hand held portable market, hands down, though that whole time.
Where did I put that TRS-80?

![]() |

houstonderek wrote:
Sega CD wasn't all that.No, it wasn't. But the SNES was the last console Nintendo ruled with. The N64 could not compete with the Playstation.
houstonderek wrote:
Nintendo was wise to not go to CD for a while. The load times for the N64 cartridges (non-existent for the most part) was a good selling point against the "are we playing yet?" times of the PSone.It cost them stuff like Final Fantasy, and with that a lot of fans.
I never had a N64, or a Cube, since my interest in consoles dried up at that time, but from all I heard, they were both no competition at all to stuff like Playstations and XBoxes, memory cards notwithstanding.
Maybe over there, but just about everyone I knew here had both. When the N64 came out, PSone was its only competition (xbox was still years away), and, for a lot of titles the platforms shared, N64 owned (load times really sucked for the PSone). We'd rather play Madden or NBA Live on the N64 due to the load times and better (ioo) controller layout.

Freehold DM |

KaeYoss wrote:Vic Wertz wrote:Ah, OK. So it was towards the end of Nintendo's reign as king of consoles. (At least the way I understand things).
The Super NES was current, and Sega had just released the Sega CD, so every fourth caller would ask when the Nintendo CD was coming out. We were told to tell them it was "in development," though most of us were pretty sure it really wasn't.Sega CD wasn't all that. There was a bit of a lull for all parties between SNES/Genesis and Playstation/N64. The 3DO was cool (and, IIRC, Sony bought it from Panasonic and built the Playstation around the platform), but that was the only real innovation for a couple of years.
Sega screwed the pooch with the Dreamcast, Atari did the same with the Jaguar, and Sony and Nintendo duked it out alone until Microsoft came out with the XBOX.
Nintendo was wise to not go to CD for a while. The load times for the N64 cartridges (non-existent for the most part) was a good selling point against the "are we playing yet?" times of the PSone. Oh, and the internal memory was a plus over the memory card (mine was stolen 40 hours into FFVII, for one, and it had my Tekken info, Madden stuff, etc, so I lost a ton of play time with one swipe).
I have no idea what my point is, just kind of saying things weren't all that dire for Nintendo back then. And they OWNED the hand held portable market, hands down, though that whole time.
*sigh* HD, why must we disagree on such things that are important to each other? :-)
I was a nintendo fanboy at the time, but I saw the writing on the wall with CD-based technology. I still wonder why the Nintendo Playstation never occurred(and I'm sure there are several people kicking themselves over that even now). I was all aboard the Dreamcast, and it was a much better system that people gave it credit for...although I'm sure the creators of the Minidisc, et.al. say the same thing as they work a second job to pay the bills. I have a lot more to say on this subject, but I'm at work, so maybe I'll pop back in later with more wild allegations to aim your way. :-D

KaeYoss |

Maybe over there, but just about everyone I knew here had both.
Anecdotal evidence, of course.
Anyway, I saw some reportages about how Nintendo fell off its throne by giving Sony the finger (only to have Sony to make its own console and promptly taking the throne for themselves), and then how they managed to get back on the horse with the Wii and their idea to cater to new target audiences.
It did sounded well- researched, and it sounded quite like Nintendo was mainly a machine for fanboys who like the Nintendo specifics (and, of course, they lost a few of these to Sony).

![]() |

Vic Wertz wrote:(at least, once I figured out some of the bizarre regionalisms*).That reminds me of working the (local, but at the time one of the largest in the country) mall's software store as a teenager through my first holiday season. It turned out that the devices I knew as ATMs were called "time machines" in some parts of the country.
Customer: Can you tell me where I can find a time machine?
Me (thinking he's some sci-fi nerd gone off the deep end or messing with me): Hahahaha. Get the f$%^ out of my store.It took three different people asking throughout the day before it occured to me to ask someone what he meant.
When I was in college, I needed to write a check for groceries, and I was unaware that, in my particular supermarket, the cashier would only accept a check if you had been preapproved by the management and/or bank and given a special "check guarantee" card, called an Honest Face card, showing that status.
Me: Can I write a check?
Cashier: Do you have an Honest Face?
Me (puzzled): Um... I like to think so...?
Another highlight customer interaction from that job, to bring this slightly more semi-topical, was the gentleman who disagreed with the store's choice to sell White Wolf's "Jyhad" collectable card game. "This is very holy to my people and you make of it a GAME!?!?!!?" Probably not the best naming choice on WW's part, not that trying to compete with Magic seemed to be a very good idea for anyone in that era.
Jyhad was actually published by Wizards of the Coast in 1994, under license from White Wolf. The name was a term from the RPG, and neither we nor White Wolf considered the potential implications of bringing that term to the forefront until it was too late. We renamed it Vampire: The Eternal Struggle in 1995, and gave it over to White Wolf in the late '90s; they released expansions for it right up to this year. So, it wasn't Magic, but it did pretty well.

Dire Mongoose |

Jyhad was actually published by Wizards of the Coast in 1994, under license from White Wolf.
*fistshake*
I'm soooo holding a grudge for that. We had to call security to wrangle that poor guy down! If I had died working my $5/hour job I would have totally revenge-haunted WotC HQ for eternity.
(I did know the term was from VtM and when the name was changed a year later I wasn't surprised. Also sells better to people who aren't already into White Wolf but like vampires!)
Now, is there anyone here I can blame for my friend who was maimed trying to break up a fight between Vampire (tm) LARPers? There's plenty of odd gaming-related misery vendettas to go around!

Stebehil |

Now, is there anyone here I can blame for my friend who was maimed trying to break up a fight between Vampire (tm) LARPers? There's plenty of odd gaming-related misery vendettas to go around!
The idiot players involved? Honestly, anyone involved in LARP that gets so far out of hand that somebody is seriously injured, when it would have been avoidable, is an idiot in my book - accidents can (and do) happen in a LARP all the time, but if somebody wants to break up a fight and gets injured while doing so, it sounds not like an accident (although I wonder - I always thought the offical Vampire LARP had a "no touch" rule and used some sort of rock-scissors-paper to resolve game mechanics (which I thought bleh). There should have been no physical fight in first place). The author/publisher of the game is not to "blame" (but I think this was some irony on your part anyway).
Stefan

KaeYoss |

I'm soooo holding a grudge for that. We had to call security to wrangle that poor guy down! If I had died working my $5/hour job I would have totally revenge-haunted WotC HQ for eternity.
Shouldn't you blame the religious nut who takes things too seriously?
Not that I want to belittle any religion, but anyone who'd kill over a silly game, especially if the victim isn't even responsible in any way, I wouldn't blame some company.
Now, is there anyone here I can blame for my friend who was maimed trying to break up a fight between Vampire (tm) LARPers?
Those LARPers? Or were they big and strong? ;-P

![]() |

Vic Wertz wrote:Jyhad was actually published by Wizards of the Coast in 1994, under license from White Wolf.*fistshake*
I'm soooo holding a grudge for that. We had to call security to wrangle that poor guy down! If I had died working my $5/hour job I would have totally revenge-haunted WotC HQ for eternity.
(I did know the term was from VtM and when the name was changed a year later I wasn't surprised. Also sells better to people who aren't already into White Wolf but like vampires!)
Now, is there anyone here I can blame for my friend who was maimed trying to break up a fight between Vampire (tm) LARPers? There's plenty of odd gaming-related misery vendettas to go around!
How do you get maimed breaking up a slap fight?

KaeYoss |

anyone involved in LARP that gets so far out of hand that somebody is seriously injured, when it would have been avoidable, is an idiot in my book
Reminds me of an awesome story I read.
These guys were LARPing WoD in some guy's apartment. Little did they know that some sort of dangerous criminal escaped from prison and was apparently seen in their neighbourhood. So SWAT team members were going from house to house, from apartment to apartment, to ask people whether they had seen something, and warning them to stay indoors and all that.
One important thing to know is that in their LARP, they used stone-paper-scissors to resolve challenges. They'd go "I boil your blood" (or something WoD-like) while pumping their fist three times in the air and then go stone/paper/scissors.
They were playing, and the bell rang. One guy opens, sees a guy in riot armour with an assault rifle, thinks he is an NPC in a nifty costume, and decides to start playing right away by initiating combat with the NPC enemy.
The cop rings their bell, a guy opens, pumps his fist in the air and says "I hit you in the face", probably feels this guy wants to attack him (you know, in real life like), and promptly knocks him out with the butt of his rifle.
The rest of the troupe gets over their shock and tells the cop that he didn't mean it, that they're doing some really silly stuff, and nothing else happens.
Still, funny story - if you're not the guy with a bloody nose, with a cop standing over you with a real rifle...

Dire Mongoose |

How do you get maimed breaking up a slap fight?
It goes something like this:
He has a job at his local game store. Two Vampire LARP guys who apparently are from some kind of opposing clans are both in the store at the same time and spot each other. (My friend hadn't played Vampire and wasn't equipped to provide more detail than that.) They start circling and hissing at each other. As sometimes happens they're both, uh, larger gamers.
He gets between them to try to break up the "fight", probably because he's stupid, and somehow one of the guys falls on him. He ends up breaking Vampire dude's fall with his body but one of his feets gets pinned on something (I don't remember what anymore) in the store such that that calf get snapped in half. Uggggly compound fracture.
He was walking with a cane for about a year, once he was able to walk again at all.
Merchants of death. Merchants of death, I tell you. (And yes, that statement is tongue-in-cheek on my part.)

Eric Hinkle |

Vic Wertz wrote:Have you read this? In those days, "'fraternizing'" with my fellow employees would be a reason to keep me on board!
I hadn't read that. How surreal. (Even given that I'd heard WotC=Orgytown back in the day rumors.)
Beg pardon, but what the heck is this comment supposed to mean? I'm not trying to be a jerk here, I';m genuinely curious.

Greg Wasson |

Dire Mongoose wrote:Beg pardon, but what the heck is this comment supposed to mean? I'm not trying to be a jerk here, I';m genuinely curious.Vic Wertz wrote:Have you read this? In those days, "'fraternizing'" with my fellow employees would be a reason to keep me on board!
I hadn't read that. How surreal. (Even given that I'd heard WotC=Orgytown back in the day rumors.)
If you read the link "this" it refers to the excessive fraternization in the company's early days.
Greg

Dire Mongoose |

Beg pardon, but what the heck is this comment supposed to mean? I'm not trying to be a jerk here, I';m genuinely curious.
This is going back more than a couple years so I'm probably mangling it a bit, but the gist is that at one point there were rumors circulating in the gaming convention circuit to the effect that most of the people working at WotC at the time were swingers and having all manner of partner-swapping relations within the company.
Which, to hear Vic talking about it in this thread, seems probably exaggerated but that was the gossip at the time.

![]() |

Erik Mona wrote:That sounds creepy, in a very distopian way. In that spirit I'm glad I just took my soma (yes, someone thought it would be brilliant to name a drug the same name as the one from Huxley).Here at Paizo, in the 21st century, we are all advertant merchants of LIFE!
Erik: The game or the breakfast food?
Todd: I was amused that the long name of the drug from Serenity started withb "Paxil" Kind of the opposite direction of soma, but since Paxil does weird things to me, I found it funny.

Freehold DM |

Todd Stewart wrote:Erik Mona wrote:That sounds creepy, in a very distopian way. In that spirit I'm glad I just took my soma (yes, someone thought it would be brilliant to name a drug the same name as the one from Huxley).Here at Paizo, in the 21st century, we are all advertant merchants of LIFE!
Erik: The game or the breakfast food?
Todd: I was amused that the long name of the drug from Serenity started withb "Paxil" Kind of the opposite direction of soma, but since Paxil does weird things to me, I found it funny.
Paxil does weird things to EVERYBODY. It's one of the few medications I wouldn't suggest overall.

Kajehase |

Erik Mona wrote:That sounds creepy, in a very distopian way. In that spirit I'm glad I just took my soma (yes, someone thought it would be brilliant to name a drug the same name as the one from Huxley).Here at Paizo, in the 21st century, we are all advertant merchants of LIFE!
I thought "Soma" was the drug the Indians drank at religious ceremonies during the very early Vedic period.

KaeYoss |

houstonderek wrote:
How do you get maimed breaking up a slap fight?It goes something like this:
He has a job at his local game store. Two Vampire LARP guys who apparently are from some kind of opposing clans are both in the store at the same time and spot each other. (My friend hadn't played Vampire and wasn't equipped to provide more detail than that.) They start circling and hissing at each other. As sometimes happens they're both, uh, larger gamers.
He gets between them to try to break up the "fight", probably because he's stupid, and somehow one of the guys falls on him. He ends up breaking Vampire dude's fall with his body but one of his feets gets pinned on something (I don't remember what anymore) in the store such that that calf get snapped in half. Uggggly compound fracture.
He was walking with a cane for about a year, once he was able to walk again at all.
Merchants of death. Merchants of death, I tell you. (And yes, that statement is tongue-in-cheek on my part.)
Huh. Note to self: If you ever work as a store clerk for a roleplaying score, or a referee in a LARP, or participate in a larp, bring a tranq gun, a tazer, a mace (both the pepper spray and the nasty piece of metal onna stick variants) and SWAT riot armour.

KnightErrantJR |

Dire Mongoose wrote:Huh. Note to self: If you ever work as a store clerk for a roleplaying score, or a referee in a LARP, or participate in a larp, bring a tranq gun, a tazer, a mace (both the pepper spray and the nasty piece of metal onna stick variants) and SWAT riot armour.houstonderek wrote:
How do you get maimed breaking up a slap fight?It goes something like this:
He has a job at his local game store. Two Vampire LARP guys who apparently are from some kind of opposing clans are both in the store at the same time and spot each other. (My friend hadn't played Vampire and wasn't equipped to provide more detail than that.) They start circling and hissing at each other. As sometimes happens they're both, uh, larger gamers.
He gets between them to try to break up the "fight", probably because he's stupid, and somehow one of the guys falls on him. He ends up breaking Vampire dude's fall with his body but one of his feets gets pinned on something (I don't remember what anymore) in the store such that that calf get snapped in half. Uggggly compound fracture.
He was walking with a cane for about a year, once he was able to walk again at all.
Merchants of death. Merchants of death, I tell you. (And yes, that statement is tongue-in-cheek on my part.)
Our FLGS, before it moved, got to see the drunk college kids migrate from bar to bar if they were open too late, which led to all sorts of interesting closing time stories. On at least one night it resulted in one of the bar patrons doing the "pressed ham" on the front window.

Eric Hinkle |

If you read the link "this" it refers to the excessive fraternization in the company's early days.Greg
Yow. I've seen too many poly/open relationships end in trouble for me to see that as anything but a recipe for disaster, if it's true. Especially in the workplace.

Freehold DM |

Greg Wasson wrote:Yow. I've seen too many poly/open relationships end in trouble for me to see that as anything but a recipe for disaster, if it's true. Especially in the workplace.
If you read the link "this" it refers to the excessive fraternization in the company's early days.Greg
I wouldn't bring any relationship to the workplace, especially an unusual one.

Jeremy Mac Donald |

Vic Wertz wrote:Jyhad was actually published by Wizards of the Coast in 1994, under license from White Wolf.*fistshake*
I'm soooo holding a grudge for that. We had to call security to wrangle that poor guy down! If I had died working my $5/hour job I would have totally revenge-haunted WotC HQ for eternity.
(I did know the term was from VtM and when the name was changed a year later I wasn't surprised. Also sells better to people who aren't already into White Wolf but like vampires!)
Now, is there anyone here I can blame for my friend who was maimed trying to break up a fight between Vampire (tm) LARPers? There's plenty of odd gaming-related misery vendettas to go around!
That reminds me of a story line in KotDT where the publishers included a footnote along the lines of "We do not encourage you to hunt Vampire Larpers with crossbows and stakes but remember that if you do they must be Nerf (R) brand or the like".