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Dreamcast Mark II Prototype On Show
The good news / bad news out of Sega picks up a few details today, as reader The vm writes: "The folks over at Daily Radar are sporting an article with pictures of the new Dreamcast set top box that Pace and Sega have recently announced. So far it sounds a bit shaky since they haven't partnered with any content providers yet. Only time will tell if this 'Tivo meets Sega Channel' product will wither on the vine or grow into something with mass appeal."
As an avid console gamer, i think you are full of shit. I've been playing video games all my life and when i read shit like this i just want to kill the dumb
:)
Nevermind.
My opinions are my own, and do not necessarily represent those of my employer.
If NetBSD is ported to the original Dreamcast, and older games run on the Mark II without modification, it should be a cinch to run NetBSD on it.
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Therefore, if we are participating in a 'virtual' reality (which really has just as much validity as reality), then we are just percieving a different environment in which things behave according to different laws.
I think you're on, er, on to something. If all of these realities have equal validity, then it's in fact no worse/better to kill someone in one of these than in what we construe as "real life". We aren't simply playing at killing someone, we're killing someone in a different reality.
This is all well and good in Quake, where the person respawns. But what about Rainbow 6, where there is no respawning? Is this murder? Could I prosecute someone for that? Case law, the DMCA, and the EULA say yes.
With the Dreamcast set top unit, this will only become worse. So many realities downloadable in an instant, all wired up for multiplayer-- people are going to murder reality even faster than the original poster. Now that's a scary thought.
Sega OUT of the console business, and instead doing what they do best. Making _software_.
:) will have some exposure to an interesting fighting game :)
Everyone knows that Sega has some of the best franchises ever, and that they're developed in house. Having sega as a developer on your platform means you're guaranteed at least a few good games - none of this playstation2 launch bullshit.
I love my dreamcast (first console i've owned since an 8bit nes) and while on one hand its disappointing to see the DC going away, its good that sega will have more focus on making their titles. Who cares what color the machine is as long as Sonic the hedgehog is still blue ? Plus, with the VF series on playstation hardware, maybe all those button mashing idiots (read: tekken fans
My opinions are my own, and do not necessarily represent those of my employer.
Isn't the classic example... a horrible tyrant (eg. Hitler) who's able to go home to his family and love them? Or a clergyman who can be saintly in front of his church and still commit sins when away from the public eye?
IMHO, there are significant examples where a person is able to entertain two conflicting sets of morals in different circumstances, and still be able to cope relatively well. I don't see why different realities would be any different.
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Ummm ... you think the teenage underpaid clerk gives a care who rents their games? Lemme guess -- you also think that kids today need to _sneak_ into R rated movies too?
Can someone tell me why on earth I should buy a machine that will probably have the same fate as the Dreamcast I -- they kill it completely just before launching DCII which means support for this platform is a dead end and will not be supported in a couple of years.
Contrast this with Sony support on the Playstation. Just before they launch PS2, they refit the PS1 and start shipping this. Which is a clear sign to gamemakers that the PS1 is not dead even though PS2 is out.
Sega has shown their intentions and has made sure that I for one will go for another platform if I decide to buy a console.
I find it interesting that the article attacks the non-standard positioning of the controller ports (on the top near the back of one side) for "asthetic" reasons. I suspect that decision was made for an entirely different purpose.
As anyone who has tried to put a console system on top of a TV knows, there is a serious problem. The cables for the controller hang in front of the TV. I can only assume that the placement of the ports is an attempt to avoid this problem, though the guy on the opposite side is still probably screwed.
The solution, if you really need a set TOP box, is to have a single, short cable that runs to a secondary controller port box, which goes UNDER the TV. I don't think any other configuration will work.
Just my random musings. Continue debating the future of Sega now.
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gnfnrf
Sega hasn't even considered implementations in America. They are most likely going to make a deal with Time Warner in the end if they ever do, but expect it to be even more shaky than the Disney and Time Warner deal(Remember NYC's ABC blackout. "Disney has taken ABC away from you). Sega, Sony, and Nintendo has always done product implementation differently in Japan than in America, and though Sega shouldn't have too much of a problem implementing their technology in Japan first, the rest of the East will be a different story, as the USA and Europe will be too.
Sega goofed in making an underpowered and too-easy-to-manufacture dual purpose machine (the same Dreamcast technology is identical to their Arcade machine) and releasing it too early. I don't have much faith in this new device, period. Sega only wins when they support a powerful software library. They haven't had a big hit in the USA since Sonic 3.
This Sega/Pace set-top box looks like a pretty hasty shift in marketing direction. I'm surprised Sega and Pace even allowed the press to broadcast pictures of such an obvious example of a preliminary slap-together prototype. It totally reminds me of the Consumer Electronics Shows of the eighties, when they were flooded with home PC companies trying to stake a claim in the emerging market.
Back then, there was no concern for compatibility (or even quality it sometimes seemed). The big players at CES (Commodore, Atari, Tandy, TI--interestingly Apple and IBM often avoided these shows) always had busy booths and the odd new machine, but were notorious for making vapourous product announcements (I think they all said at one point that they would have built-in voice-synthysis and modems in at least one of their models. Of course, none of that ever surfaced). Smaller players (Coleco, Mattel, SpectraVideo, etc) were even worse. They would show non-functioning display prototypes (the first Coleco ADAM display was a hollow plastic case locked behind smoked glass--the working demo was powered by bare boards hidden elseware). Sometimes they would change their product announcements (pricing or specifications) to take the steam out of a competitors product launch (when Atari and Coleco announced the prices and specs of their new products, SpectraVideo actually SOLDERED MORE RAM CHIPS into their prototype machines--right on the trade show floor!).
With such unsophisticated marketing strategies it is no wonder they all bit the dust. Now I see Sega and Pace doing the same thing--besides touting an early prototype, they allowed one of their marketroids to make a "cryptic, possibly un-informed" product announcement. They also left many very important questions unanswered or ambiguous (Who the hell is going to serve up the games? How do I pay for them? Is there a menu system for managing games the hard drive will store or what? Time-limit on storage of games? Use of encryption technology?). Given the current state of tech-stocks and the fact many tech writers remember the roller coaster ride of the 80's home computer industry and the more recent dot-com fiasco, Sega runs the risk of looking desperate and indecisive (are they a hardware or software company or both, and who is going to design and produce their platform in the future?).
Histore really is doomed to repeat itself...
I think this is a funny way to look at it, so I most definitely would agree...
This is all well and good in Quake, where the person respawns. But what about Rainbow 6, where there is no respawning? Is this murder? Could I prosecute someone for that?
Well, sure, it is murder. So if there exist a court system in Rainbow 6 someone could probably prosecute you. But don't forget that that is in a different reality than this, so you can't be punished here for what you do in that other reality ;-)
So I guess the Dreamcast will increase the total number of murders in all realities, but just don't forget that most of those murders will not be in this reality ;-)
I know that games on the traditional, stand alone dreamcast box will still be available, but what upsets me is that more and more of the console gaming in the US and the world is going to take place in a connected environment, either on the internet model or on the pay per view model.
A parent can feel safe letting their child play videogames without supervision because, unlike the internet, a parent can currently control all the access to specific videogames that a child might have. It costs a lot to buy the game, one need's parental permission to get it at the rental place.
A parent cannot feel safe when a kid can go home and download the latest new thing, without having to check with parents. Yes there are passwords and safety features, but this is a far lower level of safety than the level afforded when a clerk at the video store requires adult presence to rent certain games.
Goat sex free since 2001
Anybody know if this bad boy will run NetBSD? If so, I'm there.
Sorry, but this thing is just a stock play by Sega while they reorganize for pure game dev. It's really a non-factor in their (and our) future. What's more interesting is that Sega's going to be making games for other platforms: Good games AND a decent controller. Yay!
-jpowers
-jpowers
naw it's not just you....
welcome to america
My first thought when I saw the picture in the article was, "Ick, it's a PC." While it may not exactly be a PC, it does, IMO, suffer from featuritis--a problem I see much too often these days. I can live with my game console, my VHS deck, and my DVD player [no, I don't actually have one] separate just fine, thankyouverymuch. I won't even go into the issue of more complexity = more bugs; I'm just getting tired of these so-called "all-in-one" solutions that never actually do all of what you want.
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BACKNEXTFINISHCANCEL
This is a Dreamcast set-top box that I could put together in a couple of hours. If this is the best that Sega's partner company can come up with, then the Dreamcast set-top box will probably never happen
Cryptnotic
My other first post is car post.
Or how about this? There is an infinite amount more traffic on the official freebsd user mailing list as opposed to the linux official user mailing list, hence linux has zero users.
Moral? These numbers don't prove a thing. I've seen this troll with every BSD post, and it's about time you give it up. If you believe that BSD is dead, suit yourself- there's no need to reassert it.
Of course, I shouldn't feed the troll- it just gives you the attention that your parents never did.
-bugg
Humans can adapt.
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Vintage computer games and RPG books available. Email me if you're interested.
Check it out:
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Fortunately, Daily Radar hasn't gone so far as to make the link on slashdot illegal without payment, but be warned: with the alleged failure of online advertising (news.com would make me think otherwise with it's huge annoying flash ads) and the deaths of so many 'networks', you can expect people to attempt to enforce things like this more and more in the future.Not so long ago /. featured a story where scientists found out that certain neurons fire in human brains that mirror the action taking place on tv or right in front of them. For example if someone is having his hand sliced, the person watching registers the same effects as if he himself is being sliced. These mirror neurons lead to the conclusion that what you see on TV would indeed effect you, violence or sex or whatever the taboo is. It would have the effect and thus induce (in some people) similar resoponces as seen in columbine.
Enjoy!
Trust the source!
People are taking this STB to be a Bad Thing (tm) I, for one, would welcome a service like this. I love my DirecTV system because I can rent movies without having to go to the video store. This service, I expect, will be much akin to renting video games. I do this a lot as well, and it eliminates my having to drive down to Blockbuster or Holywood Video to rent a game. I expect that this service will have a much larger game library, without having to worry about due dates, late fees and selection. I like to try before I buy, so if I like a game I rent off this service, I will then go out and buy it.
I doubt piracy will be as big a deal as is suspected. Dreamcast games aren't terribly difficult to rip as it is, it just takes a good bit of technical knowledge and time to dump a game over the serial port, not to mention burn the game. I expect it will take the same amount of technical knowledge to rip games off this set top.
This box seems more aimed towards casual gamers who might just want a quick game of Chu Chu Rocket or Sega Smash Pack rather than Skies of Arcadia or Phantasy Star Online. Just my $.02
Is it not then dangerous to play a console game in which agents are motivated by entirely different principles? There is no reason in evolutionary psychology to suppose that we are capable of differentiating in the long term between different representations of reality, which are all in the end subjective.I think it is dangerous that in this modern world there are so many differnt virtual universes for us to exist in. It could be that we are unnable to cope with this - our brains are made for the evolutionary plains of Africa, not the modern world of TV, books, consoles, the Internet, Radio, etc etc. We are suffering from an overload of representative realities. It has been speculated that this is the cause behind Alzhimers desease and Attention Deficit Disorder - the inability to be satisfied with just one reality.
Consoles of this hyperrealistic nature could well greatly exarcerbate the minimal problems we have in this area at the moment.
I just wish we knew more about these sorts of issues before we wantonly introduced new consoles.
This post may have seemed a littled bit off base, I suppose, and I am sorry if it appeared so. I just had to get it off my chest. It is interesting though, if slightly worrying.
You know exactly what to do-
Your kiss, your fingers on my thigh-
You know exactly what to do-
Your kiss, your fingers on my thigh-
I think of little else but you.
Sega is proving to be very nimble lately, and it is my opinion that this is the true mark of good management. With the latest price drop on console, the rebate for their internet service(free dreamcast) and cool peripherals actually making it to market (ethernet adaptor), they really look to be the most competent out of the motley bunch of platform manufacturers. Those others are not showing themselves to be quite as capable, instead being mastered by entirely different principles. We've all seen how sony screwed the pooch in their arrogance and I expect to MS to perform about the same for too much ambition. Nintendo is going to pull through though, notice how they are laying low and waiting for the clouds to part... But this suggest a little too much caution, to the point of cowardice. Overall, I am convinced that Sega will weather this storm of console wars and pull through in the end.
But this box looks like a prototype for the Pace pitchsters, and they are merely playing the cut-throat salesman game with these press stunts. There is no telling what Sega is going to do next, based on these scanty pieces of speculatory journalism and dog-and-pony press events.
I hope Sega figures out something quick though. As for this hardware, it sounds sweet enough, and I'm sure it will play my current dreamcast disks (the article seemed to imply you could play dreamcasts games by downloading them, neglecting to mention backwards-compatability with the dreamcast media), but it stands the chance of falling into the same trap as the PSX2. The consoles are a loss leader, and adding a Tivo is only going to make the problem worse. I've read that PSX2 is killing Sony in Japan because folks are buying the set-top box and ignoring the games, instead just using the hardware as a DVD player. This sounds dreadful until you remember that Sony is selling a major percentage of the DVD's as well... Oh-boy, there's just too many variables at play here. I can't figure it out. But at least one thing is certain- Indrema won't factor into things at all. And that's the real pity.
:)Fudboy
:)Fudboy
I guess I'm only a Fudboy, looking for that real Transmeta
I really hope that Slashdot shows more restraint. An example from the print world are the magazines Popular Science and Popular Mechanics. If you were to believe these publications, by 2001 we should all have been commuting to work in solar powered gyrocopters from our $10K home made of low cost carbon composites, situated on 1 acre which includes a hyrdoponic garden for year 'round fresh vegetables.
Slashdot, there is a lesson there if you are wise enough to see it.
I think this would make a really neat product. With entertainment centers getting pretty crowded (TV, VCR, Stereo, Tuner/Receiver, DVD, Multiple game consoles, Cable box) it would be nice to have a unit that plays games AND records shows.
... if its not as good as a Dreamcast or a Tivo, then it may not be worth it at all ...
OTOH, the old unix paradigm of 'Do one thing, do it well' may apply
I know that games on the traditional, stand alone dreamcast box will still be available, but what upsets me is that more and more of the console gaming in the US and the world is going to take place in a connected environment, either on the internet model or on the pay per view model.
A parent can feel safe letting their child play videogames without supervision because, unlike the internet, a parent can currently control all the access to specific videogames that a child might have. It costs a lot to buy the game, one need's parental permission to get it at the rental place.
A parent cannot feel safe when a kid can go home and download the latest new thing, without having to check with parents. Yes there are passwords and safety features, but this is a far lower level of safety than the level afforded when a clerk at the video store requires adult presence to rent certain games.
With Sega's dumping of the dreamcast, and the unveiling of this Mark 2, I can't help but to think of Atari's class act on the marketplace. "Hey! Let's release another videogame system/computer even though we were as sucessful as Soul Asylum's last album!"