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I dunno. I'm thinking that allowing female-deprived inmates the opportunity to play Dead or Alive Extreme Volleyball 12 hours a day may lead to some problems in prison as well (particularly for slender white inmates)...

The thing is that Microsoft has already created the $149.00 PC and it will run linux without any modification, they just need to drop the price again and he'll be set.

They already did

Uninformed fanboys, really, there are other reasons to hate the X Box.

So all those XBox games are not software? What about MSDN?

If you plan on having Halo 2 LAN parties [...] Halo 2 will support 16 linked Xbox video game systems!

http://www.xbox.com/en-us/halo2/readinessguide.htm

Microsoft has been exceedingly good at hooking the PA guys up with exclusive peeks at their games and presumably free copies of them. I'm not going to go so far as to say that they're buying editorial content from PA but their opinion on Microsoft and the XBox has improved a whooooole lot over the last year or so.

I'd say the one thing Microsoft has really nailed in marketing the XBox is whipping their online fans into a frenzy. They have an amazing PR agency that can somehow turn Fable in to the EB's best selling game ... ever *cough* infirstdayafterreleasefromthemanufacturer *cough*

Aside from the obvious platform differences, does anyone have (legally share-able) insight into how these games will compare? Gran Turismo's got the track record (no pun intended), but Forza's apparently being designed to compete directly...

The extent of my knowledge of Forza is what I could find here.

Xentax

"Halo 2 is a lot like Halo 1, only it's Halo 1 on fire, going 130 miles per hour through a hospital zone, being chased by helicopters and ninjas ... And, the ninjas are all on fire, too."
--Jason Jones
Bungie Studios

no need to seek the leak if you want a peek

FWIW I am a temp at MS. I have played Halo 2 multiplayer. It's a good game, but I am more of a PC guy and I prefer UT2004.

Linked because I'm lazy too and don't want to cut and paste this into my browser seven times...

http://www.xbox.com/en-AU/news/0408/0831-MCRooster s.htm

http://www.schnohne.de/2004/08/masterchief-im-hrte sten-einsatz-aller.html

http://www.nightmarearmorstudios.com/

http://files2.bungie.org/dragoncon2004.mov

http://www.bungie.net/Forums/posts.aspx?postID=122 218

http://files.bungie.org/rapture/saturday_update_1/

http://files.bungie.org/rapture/sunday_update_3/

the first thing i thought when i saw the halo2 armor in this screenshot was CAPTAIN POWER!!

eh? eh?

If people using GNU/Linux want to play video games designed for a Microsoft platform, they know where to find it.

But you can still use the new Photo Mode, since "according to the developers, they expect some gamers to purchase the game for this new mode alone."

Looks like Forza Motorsports won't have much in the way of competition, now.

• Rainbow Six 3:Black Arrow
• Counter-Strike
• Rainbow Six 3
• Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow (1/2 FPS, depending on your team)
• Ghost Recon: Island Thunder
• Return to Castle Wolfenstein: Tides of War
• Unreal Championship
• Ghost Recon

• 7.5 FPSs
• 6 Sports games (NFL 2K5 beats Madden- YES!)
• 7 Racing Games (watch Burnout 3 move up the charts)
• 2.5 'Action' Games. (Mechassault and Crimson Skies)
• 1 Totally Crappy RPG (Phantasy Star)

Why is this device any better than just bridging your ethernet to your wireless peer network?

It doesn't require a PC or Mac, needs no drivers, and so can provide connectivity to devices such as Audrey, ReplayTV, TiVO, Xbox with network connector, or playstation2 with network connector.

I think it's closer to the Airpad since that uses USB power, except that this new device doesn't require a computer so it plugs directly into the ethernet port and allows any number of devices to connect to it -- none of which need be PC or Mac computers, and so no drivers are required.

Examples of such devices include Audrey [audreyhacking.com], ReplayTV [digitalnetworksna.com], TiVO [tivo.com], Xbox with network connector [xbox.com], or playstation2 with network connector [playstation2.com] just to list a few.

Slashdot ate half my post, 503 errors suck, here's the full post

Your post confuses me. I read your (broken) link (HTML isn't hard -- try it!) and it seems that "any number" is, well, one. And, unless you mean drivers (which the Airpad requires, but the new D-Link device does not,) I don't understand what software has to do with it.

Most importantly, the product you linked to requires a computer to be connected to the ethernet port, upon which drivers muct be installed, and into which the Airpad connects to allow other computers to share said connection.

In contrast, the new D-Link device plugs directly into the ethernet port and seems to allow any number of (and I do mean more than one!) devices to connect to it -- none of which need be PC or Mac computers, and so no drivers are required. Examples of such devices include Audrey, ReplayTV, TiVO, Xbox with network connector, or playstation2 with network connector just to name (and link) a few.

Maybe it's just me, but given the wording of your post, I expected more than one. I suppose "one" is "any number," but I think that's phrase is usually reserved for cases where there are several. I also expected an equivalent device (hint: USB-power isn't the main feature) which the device you mentioned is not.

And, since the Airpad costs $92 and requires a computer (PC or Mac only,) and the D-link device is $99 with no computer required I can think of (and link to) any number of possible devices for which this new product may have applications where the Airpad can't work.

What? No link? How about GTA 3? 2? 1? No? hmmm... So what you're saying is that you're a COMPLETE FUCKING HYPOCRITE. Right?

You have no problem when a video game shows a white man shooting people (so long as he's not shooting at black people right?) or even a fucking squirrel killing people, and you're cool with showing Some black sterotypes may be true, but as soon as there's a game that actually comes pretty damn close to the truth people start bitching... "Oh, it's racist..." "You're showing a black man killing - that's a stereotype.." No, it's the truth. Black people can kill. So can whites, and asians and puerto ricans and russians and anyone else. Please, just STFU!!!

At first, I thought this was somehow related to Blinx- The Time Sweeper, one of the worst concepts ever to hit a game console.

Yes. The X-Box is a standard PC with a Win2K based BIOS.

Yes, CounterStrike is out on the Xbox.

Gotta agree with most of what you say though.. the controls for GTA suck on consoles, it's much better to play on the PC.

Microsoft does not build PC hardware

Oh yes it does. The difference between a Microsoft XBOX(tm) PC and, say, a Dell PC lies mainly in Microsoft's legacy-free BIOS.

when we see historic movies and play historic video games, it's only natural to believe it to a certain point.

when we see historic movies and play historic video games, it's only natural to believe it to a certain point.

I hear someone is working on this problem.

As more people figure it out, hacking seems to be helping.

Notice, I said 'hacking' not 'piracy.'

Tecmo is almost there now for Microsoft's XBox.

"Perhaps it will free up some funds for some original game concepts instead of the same old crap over and over and over..."

This is interesting. I find this statement (which is partially true) to be in direct contrast to a recent Slashdot article about another re-release of the original Star Trek series.

Also, in the future, possibly more of the game developers will follow the lead on the Xbox, which is roster updates throughout the season. I used NHL Rivals as my link, and I know it wasn't a great game, but downloadable updates is a great feature...

The fact that game production costs are now approaching Hollywood proportions isn't really news to anyone who follows the industry. What is news and what is different here is how Shane Kim approaches game investment and development, and how that directly affects quality and innovation in games.

Laying off 200 (presumably) talented game developers and alienating some of those that remain seems counterintuitive to producing high-quality games, but on paper I'm sure it looks like a good financial move for a Microsoft division that is hemorrhaging cash like there is no tomorrow.

Here's the original post, highlighting comments from Blue Fang's president that expresses some concerns.

Microsoft Game Studios' New GM Shane Kim Speaks

Mercury News' Dean Takahashi profiles and interviews Shane Kim, Microsoft Game Studios' new General Manager. Among his first acts as GM, Kim killed Microsoft's entire XSN sports line and cut the number of developers from 1200 to 1000, leaving some developers 'privately grumbling that Microsoft has lost its way.' Kim has taken a more conservative, business-oriented approach than predecessor Ed Fries, funding sequels to games like Project Gotham Racing and Halo (Xbox) saying, 'This is about us growing up ... At the end of the day we'll have more quality.' But others like Blue Fang's Hank Howie have reservations: 'I wonder how innovative new ideas are going to get funded if everyone is being cautious and funding sequels.' Mirror at Mercury News.

The fact that game production costs are now approaching Hollywood proportions isn't really news to anyone who follows the industry. What is news and what is different here is how Shane Kim approaches game investment and development, and how that directly affects quality and innovation in games.

Laying off 200 (presumably) talented game developers and alienating some of those that remain seems counterintuitive to producing high-quality games, but on paper I'm sure it looks like a good financial move for a Microsoft division that is hemorrhaging cash like there is no tomorrow.

Here's the original post, highlighting comments from Blue Fang's president that expresses some concerns.

Microsoft Game Studios' New GM Shane Kim Speaks

Mercury News' Dean Takahashi profiles and interviews Shane Kim, Microsoft Game Studios' new General Manager. Among his first acts as GM, Kim killed Microsoft's entire XSN sports line and cut the number of developers from 1200 to 1000, leaving some developers 'privately grumbling that Microsoft has lost its way.' Kim has taken a more conservative, business-oriented approach than predecessor Ed Fries, funding sequels to games like Project Gotham Racing and Halo (Xbox) saying, 'This is about us growing up ... At the end of the day we'll have more quality.' But others like Blue Fang's Hank Howie have reservations: 'I wonder how innovative new ideas are going to get funded if everyone is being cautious and funding sequels.' Mirror at Mercury News.

The fact that game production costs are now approaching Hollywood proportions isn't really news to anyone who follows the industry. What is news and what is different here is how Shane Kim approaches game investment and development, and how that directly affects quality and innovation in games.

Laying off 200 (presumably) talented game developers and alienating some of those that remain seems counterintuitive to producing high-quality games, but on paper I'm sure it looks like a good financial move for a Microsoft division that is hemorrhaging cash like there is no tomorrow.

Here's the original post, highlighting comments from Blue Fang's president that expresses some concerns.

Microsoft Game Studios' New GM Shane Kim Speaks

Mercury News' Dean Takahashi profiles and interviews Shane Kim, Microsoft Game Studios' new General Manager. Among his first acts as GM, Kim killed Microsoft's entire XSN sports line and cut the number of developers from 1200 to 1000, leaving some developers 'privately grumbling that Microsoft has lost its way.' Kim has taken a more conservative, business-oriented approach than predecessor Ed Fries, funding sequels to games like Project Gotham Racing and Halo (Xbox) saying, 'This is about us growing up ... At the end of the day we'll have more quality.' But others like Blue Fang's Hank Howie have reservations: 'I wonder how innovative new ideas are going to get funded if everyone is being cautious and funding sequels.' Mirror at Mercury News.

How are they supposed to know that gamer X hasn't filled his Xbox hard drive with soundtracks? It isn't imposible, you know.

It takes an hour to rip a CD (not a CD-R, not a CD-RW, but only a CD) using the Xbox. You have to name the files individually using the keypad, or shell out $30 for Xbox Music Mixer to try and title them automatically.

If someone had ripped 8 GB of music using only the Xbox's internal functionality, I would be very surprised.

Where can I get Counter-strike for any of the major consoles?

Counter-strike for Xbox.

Who needs xbox live subscriptions now, sucka!

Daryl Cagle's Professional Cartoonists Index.

Easily the best reason for Slate's continued existence. Oh, that and the fact that Microsoft is willing to hang on to money-losing ventures.

I own a PS2 and won't ever buy an XBox Why not??

I'm not trying to start a holy war here, I'm genuinely curious as to why you don't want a X-Box. Is it b/c of its association with the Evil Empire? Did the lack of significant competition for the original PS ruin you for other systems? Or is there some other (possibly better) reason?

I used to want nothing to do with the X-Box simply because it was a M$ product. The first step on my path to recovery was finding out that Microsoft Games doesn't seem to suffer from the same failings as Microsoft itself does (I'm speaking of course about the world domination and the buggy software). I rented an X-Box with Halo and saw the graphics, and upon researching found that one of the geniuses behind the graphics engine for the console was Michael Abrash, the Almighty. The graphics on the X-Box are stunning. The best example I've found so far is the camera panning in Voodoo Vince (a hilarious outing from Beep Industries), it is flawlessly smooth and the environments are simply stunning.

I've also found that some people don't play X-Box because PS2 has more games. I cannot deny that, however, the vast majority of PS2 games are fighters, racers and sports games. Fighting games are fine, even my GF plays them, but in reality, once you've played one, you've played them all (and besides, Soul Calibur II for X-Box has Spawn). Racing games are right out as I don't even enjoy actually driving, why would I enjoy virtual driving (the exception is Simpson's Road Rage which, for those of you who haven't played it, is a campy outing putting a mixture of GTA and Crazy Taxi into a Springfield setting). Sports games... *sigh* why would I stay inside on the couch pretending to play football when I could grab a couple of friends and actually go play football... X-Box gives me the adventure games I crave and the RPGs that I love.

These are my reasons, but I'm still interested in hearing why people will/will not play the X-Box over the PS2 (I'll just pretend that the LameCube doesn't exist for now *Grin*).

Yeah, there's totally no market for consoles that are pcs at heart.

Build up your toolbox (an XBox vs a good grill?) and play...

Cooking is just hacking with food...

That said, before saying how limiting the PS2 hardware is, you should read up on how the PS2 hardware design is supposed to be used. The emotion engine opens up some insane possibilities...the problem is with developers and not with the hardware. Look at games like Gran Turismo. Disgustingly beautiful, disgustingly smooth. The X-Box can't touch that, even if MS has guides to programming for it. The problem is that the technology is too complicated for most American (and in many cases European) developers to truly comprehend and utilize without trying to hack together.

I won't even comment on half the blabbering you've just done.

If you knew anything about game development, much less programming...

Just because you drive in Grand Turismo, and you can drive in GTA, doesn't mean you can compare them.

Ever heard of a trade-off? Game programmers have limited resources to work with and make some decisions. GTA has better graphics because of many reasons.

You don't have a 'city simulation' running while you play Grand Turismo. You can't jump out of your car and blow stuff up. You can't pick items up on the road. You can't go in buildings. There's no 'mission' going on in the backround. Not to mention how big the city is in GTA and how detailed it is. There's no helicopters in Grand Turismo or cop cars that shoot at you. Hell, you can't even damage your car in Grand Turismo.

The bottom line is you only have so many CPU cycles and so much memory to work with in a game. I'm sure there are American programmers that are every bit as adept at using the hardware as the Japanese, unlike what you're implying. Then you bash the Europeans. Europeans as bad programmers, especially game programmers? You honestly know nothing.

Stop me when you've heard of a game company:

Argonaut
Probe
Rare
Codemasters
Eurocom
Vir gin Interactive
Criterion
Eidos
Rage
Cavedog
Bitm ap Brothers
Peter Molyneux

That's just the UK! I'm not even getting into Finland, Russia, Croatia, and all the other places that some genius stuff has come out of.

Hell, Rockstar North is based in the UK, and thats where the game was developed! Another popular UK-developed game that you might have heard of was Metal Gear Solid 2!

Everyone knows the XBOX hardware is much more powerful that the PS2. It came out later, of course it should be. Have you taken a look at RalliSport Challenge 2 for XBOX?

Leaps and bounds ahead of the Rally cars and track of Gran Turismo. Again, you've got a slightly more specialized case of game programming/optimisation.

If you can't load a kernel through the BIOS boot service, that machine should never have shipped.

If a BIOS can load only vendor-signed kernels, per specification, should the machine ever have shipped?

Music Mixer looks quite interesting, though $40 for a copy of Windows Media Player is pushing it a bit.

If all this kind of stuff was included in the Xbox by default I'd happily make it The Centre of My Living Room.

"the way some of their top games support both Xbox Live AND 4 player split screen (Halo and Crimson Skies at least)"

Well, we can look at this a couple of different ways.

First, my statement can be taken literally. Xbox has the smallest number of games marketed towards kids, because it has the smallest number of games total (comparing all 3 consoles). Gamecube has approx 400, while Xbox has 'over 300'. Playstation has many more than that, I do not know the number.

Second, once again really only comparing Xbox and Gamecube, you can look at the ESRB ratings of the games for each system.

Xbox list

Gamecube list

I did not include Playstation, because I wasn't going to look through the sheer volume of games there, to get a percentage. You can figure it out yourself.

So, in sheer numbers, Xbox has the smallest number of games marketed towards kids. Also, when comparing the ESRB ratings, once again, Xbox has the smallest number of games marketed towards kids.

Now, pretty soon you should learn how to look up facts for yourself. It is difficult being an educated person, when you need other people to do all of the research for you. Or, even better- when something is a generally known fact, sometimes it is okay to just accept it, rather than being a pain in the ass and demanding proof.

There are directions on how to cancel your account on the live website. Simply calling the number would have taken care of it. It's not like you didn't know you signed up for it in the first place... Cancel Instructions Online

A legally binding contract is a legally binding contract when you sign it, even if you're a whiney bitch.

Plus, they do mention that all TOS for Xbox Live! are on Xbox.com right in plain sight! Plus, they even give you a nice login message whenever they change it.

You call all of these 'good' games? Wreckless? Blood Wake? Blinx? Obi-Wan? Unreal (only good in multi-player on Live, not in single player)? Crash?

Please. MS' platinum hits line is more for titles that DON'T sell as opposed to those that do like on Sony and Nintendo's lowered price lines. I'm surprised to see Splinter Cell as a Platinum Hits title...it was the 4th title to hit 1 million units worldide on the Xbox. And, yet, still no Halo in that Platinum Hits line...

My wife likes Whacked! and it's XBL enabled.

Tetris is also one she likes to play.

My wife likes Whacked! and it's XBL enabled.

Tetris is also one she likes to play.

I think the reason he is asking for a GAMe is because he likes to do stuff with her, not just talk. Also, games where you cooperate and/or compete with your prospective wife are a good avenue to learn more about the person and to learn how to better work with that person.

I will presume three criteria in my answer you your questions:

• 1) Ease of use on both ends. You don't want to have to even think about technical issues, and she may not be able to deal with them as well as you.
• 2) Low cost. University students are often not flushed with cash and you may not be either.
• 3) Games that you can both enjoy together and TALK to each other in. You seem to have made clear that verbal communication is desiruous in any gaming environment you and your girl participate in.

So the answer? System-wise, given the above priorities, go with Xbox and Xbox live. No hassles at all. I got my brother one for Christmas last year so we could compete together. Game-wise, there are some fantasy-world roleplaying games coming for XBL (True Fantasy Live). She might liked more thoughtful and fun games than the usual shoot-em-ups, so some alternatives that are out now are Links 2004 (golf), Magic: The gathering - battlegrounds, Amped 2, or DDR Ultramix. Of course, women *can* come to enjoy Halo 2 or Ghost Recon.

A baseball game, which would also be pretty slow-paced and lend itself to long pauses in play to talk might work, too.

An even better (and cheaper) option might be to get some VOIP software and talk while you both play Bejewelled independently.