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Cool, but I'm still waiting for them to bring back Xbox Live connectivity in MSN/Windows Messenger... I used to use the MSN "Alerts" feature to see when my buddies would pop online on Xbox Live, without having to leave my Xbox running 24/7.

At the same time, that controller with the built in keyboard is kind of obscene... holy crap! Cue all the second generation of "huge xbox controller" jokes... wow... !

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2007/03/12

Well now I just feel obliged to link to today's (technically yesterday's now, where I live) Penny Arcade that discusses just such a lighter peripheral for audience members
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2007/04/04

In today's Penny Arcade, Tycho shared some similar thoughts about the game being a venue for new talent. http://www.penny-arcade.com/

I don't think it's very likely that Rock Band will include tools of a high enough quality to create serious music, especially since its a console game. Allowing people to upload their own songs requires tons of regulation (for obscenity, copyright infringement). It seems far too early to tout this game as the Next Big Thing for music. It'll be like Guitar Hero, with more instruments.

Personally, I think the new MTV already exists in MySpace (and to a lesser extent YouTube). There have already been numerous artists whose popularity on these sites has landed them record deals. Its a better breeding ground for new bands: there is much more infrastructure for rated and discovering related talent to what you like, especially when you factor in that all the legitimate rock stars have MySpace pages for their bands. New music videos are premiered there. Concerts are announced "secretly" for MySpace fans, with tickets only purchasable via the site. And since MTV (and now MTV2) almost never show music videos any more, this is where people go to see them.

Pardon my enthusiasm for this title, but Puzzle Quest is everything it was hyped to be and then some. It's currently my favorite game on the PSP, and I don't see it getting dethroned any time soon.

Give it a try for some seriously fun and addictive hand-held gaming goodness. There's even a PC demo if you want to try before you buy.

Sony prays for a shortage.

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/04/30

It's a four cylinder game... Audience Size, Audience Composition, Writing Quality, Shmoozing Skill. Fire on all four and you'll get what you need, blogger or "journalist".

Three cylinders CAN be made to work, if they're mighty enough; eg., Gabe and Tycho, who don't seem to do noticable schmoozing, chosing instead to rule by fear. Of course, you can only afford to rule by fear if you are the eight hundred pound gorilla for Audience Size, Audience Composition, and Writing Quality... or if you count "felony-grade blackmail" as a "schmoozing skill".

As illustrated by Penny-Arcade

As illustrated by Penny-Arcade

Nope, the headset is still wired, according to this promo pic.

It's funny how the promo pics never show the power brick. I wonder if it's black instead of the original's gray. Also, what is that short cable that's between the HDMI cable and the component/composite cable? I can't really tell as the resolution is too small, and it doesn't seem to be mentioned anywhere. Looks like it has a red RCA jack, a yellow one, and maybe S-video?

By the way: obligatory Penny Arcade strip

I also wondered how *only* a black finish makes a MacBook $150 more expensive and "elite" but.. common sense isn't popular these days.

As lame as it is, Apple only offers the black MacBook with a minimum of a 120GB harddrive. Once you upgrade the white model to a 120GB drive, the price reaches 1449.99, making the black model a $50 premium. Now, I agree that is very lame and Apple is profiting from the fact that black is a far cooler color to have for a laptop than white and is less prone to dirt and stains. My macbook has 2 dark spots where my palms rest. I really wish I could have afforded to get the black model.

As for the 360's premium for the large harddrive, this is the way I see it... Microsoft is profiting from people's desire for a black 360, which, I must admit, I am drooling over. I don't have an HDTV, so the HDMI is lost on me. However, Microsoft is overcharging for a device which will most likely be used SOLELY for purchased content FROM Microsoft. I agree with Penny Arcade when they say that the cost of the larger drive should be subsidized by Microsoft. Sure, you can pick up an external USB drive weighing in at 400GB for $120-$200, depending on the brand, but you can't store premium content on there (ie: videos/music/games purchased from XBoxLive Marketplace and game demos). You can only store purchased content on the INTERNAL drive.

It's an excellent business move, in terms of profitability, by Microsoft, however it's a move that was intended to fuck as much money out of their customers as they possibly can.

I also feel that Microsoft dropped the ball when they failed to include the HD-DVD drive in the Elite system, especially considering that I believe it's sole purpose was to compete against the PS3. When the enormously upgraded device is still around 25$ cheaper than the least expensive model of Sony's PS3 and has a drive twice the size of the larger PS3, it makes the purchase decision a little easier for the customer.

At least Sony made it possible to install your own drive in the PS3. That move was welcomed by all.

Disclaimer: The usual "I Am Not A Lawyer" applies here.

While I'm not a lawyer, I have studied media and mass communication law. One of the things we had drilled into us from day one was the full text and meaning of the First Amendment. What we started getting drilled into us from day two, was that your rights under the First Amendment end where someone else's rights begin. That is to say, freedom of speech gives you a wide berth to say what you want, but as soon as you cross the line into threatening someone or directly impacting their safety or well being, you are no longer protected.

I haven't read the comments, but it sounds like they may be walking a very fine line. Saying things like "you should die" or "you should be beaten with a riot baton" are, while vile and nasty things to say, protected speech. However, if they were to say "I am going to kill you", or "I am going to fuck you until you see things my way", then that is NOT protected speech. Bottom line is that threats carry with them the reasonable expectation that they will be carried out, even if they are made anonymously via the internet.

If the comments were made to walk the fine line between protected and unprotected speech, yet with the intent to cause emotional or psychological distress, then the law would most likely point to the comments being unprotected, as they are harrassing in nature. If Ms. Sierra has reason to believe that those comments could lead to actual physical harm, then she is taking a (sadly) prudent and necessary course of action.

While I have not read any of her work, and have formed no opinion of her, there is no excuse for the comments that have been aimed her way. While I don't believe the internet is a war zone, I do believe that anonymity tends to override people's better judgement, and can result in cases like this. For a summation of this last paragraph, I ask you to refer to John Gabriel's Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory.

I believe this result was accurately predicted by John Gabriel's Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory. Sad but true.

Gabe and Tyco said it best.

The blogs and comments posted threatening Kathy are unacceptable, and look to be very illegal. [...] I hate that by Kathy's own words, she isn't the same person, she'll never be the same person. It's a crime this happens to the good guys.

I agree wholeheartedly with both points, but I agree with the second statement ("I hate that by Kathy's own words, she isn't the same person, she'll never be the same person.") for reasons which probably differ substantially from yours.

The reason I hate that is because no one should be such a coward that some death threats that almost certainly mean absolutely nothing should cause them to withdraw into themselves so completely.

People have made all kinds of threats against me, but none of them have been carried out since high school. If I took them seriously then I would never do anything but hide in my house and check up on the status of various police reports I'd made.

I hope Kathy sees and realizes enough support from the community and can regain some semblance of self.

I hope that Kathy sees how ridiculous she is being, what an overreaction she is making, and gets on with her life. Again, I agree that it is wrong, and pathetic, and inexcusable for people to do such a thing. But I think it's also pathetic that she is now afraid to go out in public because of something someone said on the internet. People make bullshit death threats every day on the internet, probably moreso than through any other medium of communication! I think that John Gabriel's Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory is the gospel truth. For those who don't want to clicky, the upshot is that normal person + anonymity + audience = total fuckwad. It's not true of everyone but it is true in a disturbing number of situations. The result is that you must consider that people will say things they would never say elsewhere and in most cases don't even believe simply because they feel they can get away with it, and in many cases they can.

One more time: I THINK WHAT THE PEOPLE DID IS WRONG. But I think that this woman is quite frankly unequipped to deal with the real world. An internet death threat generally means jack shit. If she's that upset by THAT non-event, what does she do when someone flips her off in traffic? Pull over to the side of the road and have a good cry?

Just another example of John Gabriel's Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory.

No. http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/11/13

Why is it that whenever a woman does anything noteworthy the first response here on slashdot is whether or not she is hot/doable/marryable, etc. What is wrong with you people? There is a post further down the page that says she looks like a man... and got modded funny! WTF? A couple days ago, a 17 year old girl won a 100,000 dollar science fair prize, and at least 1/3 of the comments were about whether she was hot or not. Most likely none of the readers here will ever see the woman in real life, so just what value do these comments have in the discussion?

I blame society :D. In our culture, for some reason men feel inclined to behave like asses when they congregate, especially with respect to the way they talk about women. I'm sure women talk differently in a roomful of women, too, and there is that "locker room atmosphere" to take into account. Part of it is the same process that happens in any group wherein there is some aspect that is noticably absent. In this case it's (ostensibly, since there are women on slashdot) a bunch of guys talking with no girls around. It's kind of like a bunch of white guys hanging around and someone cracks a black joke that they probably would not tell if their black friends were around. It is wrong, but people do it, and we aren't yet at that place in our society where enough people see the two as being equally and unequivocably wrong.

Men tend to objectify women and have a natural tendency to see them in terms of their sexual attractiveness. Part of that is a natural process, but part of that is a sickness in society that prevents men from treating women as truly equal. Even when they get to the evolutionary stage where they are able to treat women more or less equally in day to day life, under the right conditions these kinds of things can resurface if those thought processes have not been addressed. It does not help that this is the internet, where people are more or less anonymous or feel that they are. We all know what effect that can have.

In any case, just as it is quite possible, given a little self-control, to talk to an attractive woman without staring at her chest, and equally possible to sublimate sexual feelings in order to deal with someone in a professional context as another human being rather than some fantasy, I think it should be possible for a slashdotter to read a story about an attractive woman without spooging on their keyboard about how hard they'd toss her salad, or whatever. It just seems that people choose not to.

It was definitely more than a little weird in the case of the underage girls, like the high school student you mentioned. I do think (or rather hope) that in many cases, and especially that one, there was some humour involved, making fun of this very tendency. It might not have been funny for her, but who knows. Maybe she blew it off like the rest of us did.

Imagine how these women feel if they read slashdot. Here they are, busting their asses to do something cool/good, they finally get some recognition, and the response is a debate on how nice her hips look or don't.

I hate to break it to you, but they do read slashdot, and if they cared, some of them could probably find out who you were. Definitely Wendy Seltzer could. Not that she will, you panting dogs. You are right, though. It is probably something they have dealt with their whole lives because that is how women are treated in our society. To a certain extent there is flattery because, after all, it is not like it is bad to be smart and attractive as well as accomplished. I know my girlfriend is. But that does not mean that they like being publically drooled over like that by a horde of oversexed, underwashed virgins who they just *know* are doing unspeakable things at their computers (hopefully not involving their picture). :P It's gross, and it is a poor way to treat someone who is contrib

Jesus is fucking metal!

Also fucking html. link I meant to use :( .

Penny Arcade is somewhat spot-on with their view that the new $479 X360 is competing against the $599 PS3 since the $499 PS3 is becoming increasingly rare in retail locations.

But come off it, Microsoft. You don't release this data but I put dollars to donuts that the Xbox 360 is the most faulty console release in recent memory. I've seen reports of people on their sixth console. My only hope is that when my current Xbox 360 breaks and I get my fourth one, they give me a working replacement, not the crap they've unloaded over the past year and a half. (That's my only qualm with the 360).

It'll be just like 300

*Kneeling* NOW!!
*APPEAR FROM THE SHIELD DOME
Emerged man: "Fuck you speaker!"
Narrator: His helmet was stifling ... etc etc
King Microsoftious: AHHHRRRG
EUrcies: *gasp*

you all know the rest. Or should. If you don't, turn in your penis.

It's very interesting to see Penny Arcade on the "other side of the fence", so to speak ... on the side of being a game developer, rather than just talking about them. You can definitely see this influencing some of their comments and blogs, for example their recent article on the controversial Denis Dyack / Too Human podcast. Dyack was on the EGM show lambasting one of the writers for calling last year's E3 demo "terrible". While he sounded quite insane and childish at times ("I'm telling you my game is awesome, you just have to believe me!"), he did make some interesting points regarding the state of media/press in the industry, especially when it comes to the notion of previewing really early builds of games.

At first, I was surprised to PA have such a calm response to Dyack's outburst. Other bloggers have said rather unpolite words to Dyack. But it makes sense, particularly because PA was probably in the middle of trying to make a similar decision. Should we show this early trailer of the game, or not? When it's "your baby", it does become quite personal if someone does criticize it really harshly.

Yay!.... Barbie Horse Adventures is listed as compatible. Maybe they were worried about the competition from the XBox 360?

When driving, I rapidly swing the steering wheel left and right.

Especially while drifting; I bring those blue sparks, ladies.

No, I'm afraid not. It's easy to tell on even a casual glance whether a video has nudity or pornography. It's quite awkward to search for copyright: verifying the copyrights alone is a job for a seriously large legal department, especially with "fair use" laws or policies.

...you don't mind about the rest of the world peering over your shoulder once you've been trojan'd and keylogged to death.

Windows is a toy. If you don't like being pwn3d, use a serious system - Linux or OS X, BSD, Solaris 10 - anything else.

when i saw the ad for GOW2 my first reaction was "shit! now i have to take back what i said about the PS3."

when i saw that it was for the PS2 i breathed a sigh of relief and went to retrieve my PS2 from it's exile in the basement.

Yeah and if you buy a jewel encrusted chalice the price advantage totally disappears. Lets stick to what it takes to play some games. I don't care about the HD-DVD extension or Blu-ray. Adding a bunch of accessories to push up the price of a competing console is bullshit.

The PS3 is probably used only slightly less than my cable box. It's a fantastic DVD player, media player, Blu-ray player, and game console. Once I got over the price, I took the plunge and grabbed it. It's on for a few hours every night, in either linux or crossbar.

Yeah same. Plus it's nice to sit across the room and play PS2 games wirelessly on the big screen, and without worrying about memcards. But these are just perks.

What's really ironic is that Sony has made the most open console, and no one seems to want to mention this. If it weren't so expensive, we'd see an incredible surge of hack activity on the product.

What's funny is it's not really the most expensive. It's a lot more expensive than the Wii, yes: but Nintendo is off in their own playground with the Wii. Compare:

• Premium 360: $399
• 360 HD-DVD: $199
• Total: $598

That's what a 60G PS3 (with memcard readers, wifi, bluetooth, and gigabit ethernet) costs, but with 20G PS3 specs. And games only run off DVDs, so it lacks the capacity for the big HD assets (models, textures, maps, etc).

Also compare this to a PC: just to run Oblivion, I'd need a new HDD, new video card, more RAM, and a WinXP license. With conservative upgrades (i.e. not the latest stuff), that's about $500 right there. So for the price of a new PS3, I could upgrade my box to play a single game, and likely not support anything really new. Or I could buy a PS3, have it run Linux, and know it's going to play every new game for the next 5+ years.

What's most frustrating about being a PS3 owner is that everyone immediately assumes you've wasted your money. If you explain that the PS3 has been a terrific experience, they immediate assume you either: a) Don't have a Wii and are bitter or b) are a Sony shill.

Sadly most people are shills for whatever the media tells them. This is often especially true for media writers, who seem to love propagating Sony-Is-Dead stories. It's in, it's cool, you get to say nasty things about a big industry player, and people love you for it.

That doesn't mean it's true.

You will note how people will immediately turn their story around when the tide begins to change. And it isn't the first time, either (scroll down, second posting).

I hope with the upcoming price drop and Home (and Little Big World) on the way, Sony will get the PS3 back on track, because there really is a lot to like about it.

Yeah. I want to see this, not because I have any great love for Sony (does anyone, really?) or the Playstation brand. It's because one, Nintendo doesn't have a console that can deliver all the sorts of games I want to play (large-scale RPGs, other next-gen interactive-world stuff). And because I don't want to see Microsoft come out anywhere near the top: if you don't understand why, just look at the state of any market in which they have come out on top.

If Sega came back, that'd be cool.

The PS3 is probably used only slightly less than my cable box. It's a fantastic DVD player, media player, Blu-ray player, and game console. Once I got over the price, I took the plunge and grabbed it. It's on for a few hours every night, in either linux or crossbar.

Yeah same. Plus it's nice to sit across the room and play PS2 games wirelessly on the big screen, and without worrying about memcards. But these are just perks.

What's really ironic is that Sony has made the most open console, and no one seems to want to mention this. If it weren't so expensive, we'd see an incredible surge of hack activity on the product.

What's funny is it's not really the most expensive. It's a lot more expensive than the Wii, yes: but Nintendo is off in their own playground with the Wii. Compare:

• Premium 360: $399
• 360 HD-DVD: $199
• Total: $598

That's what a 60G PS3 (with memcard readers, wifi, bluetooth, and gigabit ethernet) costs, but with 20G PS3 specs. And games only run off DVDs, so it lacks the capacity for the big HD assets (models, textures, maps, etc).

Also compare this to a PC: just to run Oblivion, I'd need a new HDD, new video card, more RAM, and a WinXP license. With conservative upgrades (i.e. not the latest stuff), that's about $500 right there. So for the price of a new PS3, I could upgrade my box to play a single game, and likely not support anything really new. Or I could buy a PS3, have it run Linux, and know it's going to play every new game for the next 5+ years.

What's most frustrating about being a PS3 owner is that everyone immediately assumes you've wasted your money. If you explain that the PS3 has been a terrific experience, they immediate assume you either: a) Don't have a Wii and are bitter or b) are a Sony shill.

Sadly most people are shills for whatever the media tells them. This is often especially true for media writers, who seem to love propagating Sony-Is-Dead stories. It's in, it's cool, you get to say nasty things about a big industry player, and people love you for it.

That doesn't mean it's true.

You will note how people will immediately turn their story around when the tide begins to change. And it isn't the first time, either (scroll down, second posting).

I hope with the upcoming price drop and Home (and Little Big World) on the way, Sony will get the PS3 back on track, because there really is a lot to like about it.

Yeah. I want to see this, not because I have any great love for Sony (does anyone, really?) or the Playstation brand. It's because one, Nintendo doesn't have a console that can deliver all the sorts of games I want to play (large-scale RPGs, other next-gen interactive-world stuff). And because I don't want to see Microsoft come out anywhere near the top: if you don't understand why, just look at the state of any market in which they have come out on top.

If Sega came back, that'd be cool.

Apparently, there's at least one decent game available. :-)

As can be seen here http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2007/03/09 Sony have just unveiled two big new draws for the PS3. I think the price is still prohibitively high, but I think gradually they'll manage to grow the userbase if they can keep releasing stuff like this.

Apparently I heard a rumour about someone I don't know told some guy that Microsoft was releasing an X Box 720! It'll have robotic legs and kick you in the ass whenever you fail at something!

Well, there are worse possibilities.

When I think of "anonymous bloggers", I get this image.

Or, I recall that "Multiple Theology Degree, exquisite super-intelligentsia" Essjay. Oh, thats right.. He's a redneck hick who lives about 80 Mi south of me (Louisville, KY).

Anybody can say whatever they want, but due to the "Credibility" of the internet, it usually means something is going to be believed. Not good, as most people haven't the logic or intelligence to discern real from fiction.

I think you'll find this to be a concise summary of the phenomenon.

I found that study you're talking about:
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/03/19

The technical name for the phenomenon is John Gabriel's Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory.

Penny Arcade covers this with this comic.

(BTW, is there something that causes people who are probably perfectly rational in real life to become assholes on the internet?)

Yes, because the first thing people are going to build is a lego house.

Prepare mortals, to feast your eyes on Phallus Maximus, the largest creation in the land.

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2003/06/13

I'm going to need more legos :(

It's also referenced in this Penny Arcade comic.

Daikatana

It's funny, laugh

So let's see, rumble technology is soooo last generation, but we've made an expensive agreement to offer it for anything new we've developed. We can force anyone who's rich enough to have bought a PS3 to buy new controllers to upgrade. (If they really want this ancient technology.)

PS3 owners should be really exploiting the motion sensitivity of the PS3 as this is sooo current generation. So current generation that our developers haven't made many games for it. (Although the Wii is obviously a gimmick.)

Our supply system is so good, that we have PS3s sitting on people's shelves. (Although I defy anyone of you from trying to find any PS3s!)

I feel so sorry for the SONY PR department. I honestly don't think the Sony Playstation development department knows what they're doing at all with the PS3 anymore. The PR department is running around trying cover up the Sony Product Development blunders with every step they take.

Maybe they'll take a cue from those guys.

"As long as I can still play my PS2 Barbie Horse Adventures... then I'm sold!"

Oblig. Penny Arcade comic reference