What is the best selling video game so far? I have been thinking about it alot, and I am thinking Starcraft, but thats a total guess.
It depends. SMB1 sold over 40 million copies, but was bundled with a console. SMB3 is the best selling single game of all time that was never bundled with a console, at over 17 million copies. The best selling video game franchise is also the Mario franchise, though numbers change depending on which games you include. If you include every game to every feature Mario, then our favorite plumber is responsible for over 150 million games sold. The best selling PC game of all time is The Sims, with over 6.5 million copies sold. The Sims franchise (expansions included) has sold almost 14 million copies in total. Before The Sims the best selling PC game was Myst, with over 5.5 million copies sold. Myst's sequels were never very succesful, so the franchise as a whole was a poor performer. The fastest selling PC game of all time is Diablo II: Lord of Destruction which hit 1 million units sold faster than any other game prior or hence, though it ended up selling only around 3 million copies, while the original Diablo II only managed 4.5 million. I don't know of any data on the fastest selling console game, though I'm reasonably certain it's one of the Pokémon games.
Arc's statistics are misleading for many of the games because expansions are included in some of the totals. For example, Half-Life has not sold 8 million copies. Half-Life, Opposing Force, Blue Shift, Counter-Strike, and Team Fortress Classic together have sold that number.
No, this is incorrect. The four factors I outlined previously are the only criteria considered when determining fair use. For an example of quite public and commercially motivated use of copyrighted material that still falls under the fair use statute, see book and movie reviews. (They use copyrighted quotes and clips.)
Nirva wrote:
Redistribution is not fair use
Again, it just depends. Redistribution is allowed under many circumstances, just not for profit, usually. Book and movie reviews are clearly for profit, but they are allowed because courts consider the commercial value to be derived from the review of the work, and the use of minor pieces of the copyrighted work are unavoidable and incidental.
fuwafuwa wrote:
Nintendo has recently released several classic NES games for the GBA
This is a good point that I was not aware of, however, I've yet to meet a lawyer who I think is good enough to show that instilling fanatical nostalgia for old games in players is detrimental to the market for those games.
fuwafuwa wrote:
a judge could also see these movies produced primarily for entertainment rather than education
That wasn't the main thrust of the argument for that factor weighing towards fair use, anyway. The most important thing here is that there is no money involved.
fuwafuwa wrote:
My understanding is that rulings are made based on all four criteria. If any one is grossly lacking, there is reason enough to deny fair use.
This is true, in general, but I doubt a judge would find that any of the factors as they relate to Bisqwit are "grossly lacking." Consider, are Cliff's Notes or SparkNotes of still copyrighted books "grossly lacking" because they contain many, many pertinent quotes and outline and summarize the book in its entirety? Apparently not.
I've got some obscure video game questions for you, the best of luck to you in finding the answers to them. Not so coincidentally, all of them relate to Diablo 2!
1) This one is tough but I've asked it before in another forum, and was even kind enough to divulge the answer when no one could figure it out. What is the máximum númber of Stónes of Jórdan you can stóre on a síngle accóunt?
2) What was the name and class of the first hardcore character in the world to hit level 91?
3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ?
4) What was the original name of the studio that became Blizzard North?
5) How many times did wuscheltom hit levels 95 and 96?
6) What's the highest level Enchant a ladder character can currently achieve?
7) I guess I'll give you a non Diablo question, too :) . What's the highest score possible on Columns on the Sega Genesis?
Ikaruga is an interesting game, and in my opinion, one of the most finely crafted.
It is not hard, in particular. It's relatively easy to beat the game without continuing by never firing a bullet. What separates Ikaruga from the rest of the games out there is that it's exceptionally hard to play well.
Also, as I posted in the other thread, if this were brought up in court (which it never will be), it is almost 100% certain none of you would be found to have any rights concerning the FMVs.
An FMV is not, in the legal sense of the word, art. It is a procedural document, the copyright of which is strictly prohibited under copyright law. It cannot be compared to, say, sheet music, for obvious reasons.
In no case does copyright protection for an original work of authorship extend to any idea, procedure, process, system, method of operation, concept, principle, or discovery, regardless of the form in which it is described, explained, illustrated, or embodied in such work.
As such, none of you have any rights concerning your FMVs. It would be folly to argue in court that an FMV represents performance art that has been fixed in a tangible form of expression, as the FMVs are clearly procedural documents, by their very format. Note that this is not true for traditional speed runs, like those found at Twin Galaxies.
fuwafuwa wrote:
The more I think about it, AVIs are almost certainly illegal
Almost definitely not. The right of public performance allows the copyright holder and only the copyright holder to control the public performance of his copyrighted work, however, how this applies to software has never been fully explored in case law. Certainly video games themselves are copyrighted, as is all software, but there is absolutely no precedent that indicates whether or not recordings of the use of software fall within the scope of copyright law.
Furthermore, it is very likely that the way Bisqwit uses copyrighted ROMs falls under the fair use statute. When considering fair use, there are four factors that are considered:
- The purpose and character of the use.
- The nature of the copyrighted work.
- The amount of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work.
- The effect of use on the market for the work.
1) Purpose - Though never stated explicitly, one goal of Bisqwit's site is clearly education (through entertainment). Even more important, though, is that the videos are not used for profit or anything else of a commercial nature. In court, this factor would probably weigh strongly towards fair use.
2) Nature - The nature of the playing of video games is not one that has been well established in court. If anything, I think it likely a court would consider a Nintendo Entertainment System to be akin to an electronic keyboard, and a ROM to be akin to a MIDI pack that alters the sounds of the keyboard. Though the sounds in the MIDI pack themselves are copyrighted and cannot be copied and sold in another MIDI pack for use in another keyboard, neither can the creator of the keyboard or the MIDI pack prevent an artist from selling a recording of his playing. Keep in mind I'm really stretching here, again, there exist no precedents, but it is likely that in court, this factor would weigh towards fair use.
3) Amount - This is a sticky one. Most of the videos don't use significantly more copyrighted material than a random 5-10 seconds of video would. However, it is also clear that the videos, by their very nature, are attempting to show some quality of a game in its entirety. This is damning and in court, this factor would likely weigh against fair use.
4) Market effects - Even in the 80's and early 90's it would be very hard to show that videos such as those on Bisqwit's site could have a detrimental effect on the market for video games and consoles. The overwhelming response to the videos is something to the tune of, "Holy crap, that is AWESOME! I've got to try it for myself." In the 80's and early 90's this would lead to the purchase of games and consoles, so in court it could undoubtedly be succesfully argued that Bisqwit's videos help rather than hinder the market. However, it's not the 80's or early 90's! It's 2004 and the primary market for NES games and consoles is nonexistent. There is no way by any stretch of the imagination that the videos could be shown to have any effect at all on the primary market for NES games and consoles. Furthermore, it is highly unlikely a correlation could be shown to exist between the videos and the market for GameCubes. In court, this factor would weigh overwhelmingly towards fair use.
To conclude, three of four factors weigh towards fair use, two of them quite strongly, so it is exceedingly likely that a court would rule Bisqwit's use of the videos as fair use.
Read this thread in its entirety, Arc has a post detailing that he has already tested a non-Kraid route and found it to be deficient! So for the love of God stop whining about it!
If you think his comprehension of your proposed route is insufficient to fully explore its time-saving potential, then make the damn video yourself!
Sheesh.
Well, this is probably not where I should respond to the SMB1 question, but this is where he asked it so I will ;) .
There is a really easy grip jump to be had at the very beginning of the game. Just run off of the X?X?X set of blocks (right above the first goomba you ever see) at maximum speed, and you will hit the side of the pipe just after it at just the right spot to grip it.
Here's a GMV of the first three zones in Sonic 1.
http://www.geocities.com/xebranick/Sonic1zones1-3gmv.zip
Green Hill Zone 1 was finished in 0"25. The run itself is pretty much garbage, so there is plenty of room to knock off a few frames. I don't think 0"24 is possible, though.
Green Hill Zone 2 was finished in 0"18, though it's a few frames behind the standalone GHZ2 I posted earlier today. 0"17 is definitely out of the question.
Green Hill Zone 3 was finished in 0"34!!!! This run was nothing but fists and fangs the whole time, and I spent many rerecords hunting for single frames to knock off in search of the elusive 0"34. I can say with certainty that 0"33 can never be achieved.
Enjoy!
Sorry, hostultra blows. I signed up for some space on geocities, hopefully you can download from there.
http://www.geocities.com/xebranick/Sonic1gh2gmv.zip
Remember to copy and paste the URL into a new browser window, clicking the link won't work.
To get you started I've made a recording of Green Hill Zone 2 being completed in 18 seconds.
The GMV is available at http://www.geocities.com/xebranick/Sonic1gh2gmv.zip . The ROM I used was called "Sonic the Hedgehog (JUE) [!].bin" .
This run isn't all that difficult to pull off on an actual Genesis, so I hope you don't have too much trouble achieving 18 seconds!
Let me know if you have any questions.
EDIT: Removed link to ROM and hostultra since it blows.
I am the originator of a good number of unique strategies for Sonic 1, 2, 3, and K that are used on that site, though certainly many of the optimal routes for maps were discovered by others. In fact, the Sonic 1 leader on that site, Ghost, is a protégé of mine.
Though I no longer frequent that site due to a personal dislike of a particularly childish moderator, I have intimate knowledge of the games. If you need to know the strategy for a map that doesn't have a video, or you need to know why something in an existing video works the way it does, please feel free to ask me.
In my opinion, the legitimate records on that site should not be hard to match with a slow motion rerecording emulator, so if you want to make a quality video you should try to beat or match their best.
I think it would be valuable to have a topic concerning games that are known to be broken in Famtasia by the veteran movie makers here. That way newcomers, such as JakeRyansDad, don't have to waste their time making a video because they missed a comment in an old thread on the second page ...
So post away, and mods, if it pleases you, make this sticky.
But that really doesn't make time attacks easier. The US version can be run faster because the Fairy can pick up items - in the Japanese version, you have to go out of the way to pick up keys in order to get the Holy Glove, Holy Boots, Raft, etc.
I consider merely flying a screen out of your way significantly easier than not always fighting with a maxed out sword. Slower, true, but easier ... just another reason to time attack the American version.
Also, why again is everyone time attacking the Japanese version? It's an easier game so I think a video of the American version would be more impressive.
Sleepz said something about Famtasia throwing an error when he got on elevators ... I simply cannot reproduce this error. I've experienced no problems whatsoever with Famtasia and the American Zelda 2 ROM I am using. What specifically is the problem?
Dunno, even if you insist on starting the game from a reset ... maybe starting out by loading an already finished quest file, beating the first temple superfast with your 8-8-8 downthrust / keyhole-fairying pimped out character ... seems like that would only take like two minutes. And I'm almost positive starting a new quest with 9000 XP would let you shave more than two minutes off the run ... well, at least on the American version that would save you a lot of time. Definitely not as much on the Japanese version, though it might still be beneficial.
Plus, it would be really freaking cool, in my opinion. Glitch exploitation just makes my day :) .
Also, forgive me for not having watched your FMV yet, I don't have a copy of the Japanese ROM, but are you making an effort to skip all the automatic battle squares on the overland map by colliding with a monster as you step on the square?
I was referring to saving before your experience finishes filling up on another character on another slot. As far as I know this can be used to get experience on a character you just made on an empty slot.
EDIT: Maybe that wasn't terribly clear. What I mean to say is you can beat a palace for 9000 XP on one game, save and exit before the XP counts up, start recording your video, then on an empty slot create a new character.
Also, is it necessary for this speed run to start with a "fresh" zelda cartridge, or just an unused character slot? I think exploiting / showing as many interesting glitches as possible is a boon to any time attack, so I think the experience glitch you can use to get instant XP as soon as you start should be considered.
Also, please do utilize jump/fairy warping! Sure it will be a pain in the butt, but you know it will be awesome if you can pull it off.
