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PS3 Enters DARPA Urban Challenge
billdar writes "Terrasoft Solutions posted an article on their development
of a stereo vision object detection system built upon Sony's PS3 for Axion Racing's entry into the DARPA Urban Challenge. The PS3 running Yellow Dog Linux replaced one of the on-board Dell servers to process the realtime stereoscopic sensor data. The whole system was developed and integrated onto the vehicle in ten days. So far, Spirit has been making the competition's highlight reels."
This Prius had a more spectacular escape attempt. Personally, though, I'm rooting for Team Oshkosh, formerly Team Terramax. They completed the grand challenge course (one of only 4 to do so), but they took way too long to place so here's hoping they do better this year! Oh, and here's hoping they're quick on the kill switch if that monster of a truck glitches out...
Demented But Determined.
...and jump out of the vehicle and beat up a hooker?
"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." A. Carlson
Being amazed that a 450W computer ... can compute things?
It's not like this is a Z-80 with 8KB of ram.
Someday, I'll have a real sig.
Yes they can. http://librenix.com/?inode=10106
Makes the new DS3 rumble pack rather reduntant now doesn't it?
And in a some-what related tangent, I really think all of this news has to be bad for SONY. It seems that every other day there is some news article out there in regards to some awesome use of the PS3, except it doesn't involve games!
It's been my understanding that most console manufacturers lose money with each system that is sold and then, in turn, profit from game sales and licensing. If people are buying PS3s for everything but gaming it really has to be eating a hole in SONY's pockets.
yeah, because I never see anyone else on Warhawk. ever.
seriously will this "the PS3 isn't used for gaming" meme just die already? no, its not the dominant system, but I am not unhappy with mine, and neither are the other people I know that own one. The fanboyism, it burnss us.
PS3 now outselling Xbox by quite a margin in europe
So shut the hell up already. The PS3 is doing just fine, despite what y'all naysayers are moaning about.
Exactly man, between Warhawk and Resistance the games are always packed!! I can only imagine how many people will be on COD4 next week.
Am I the only one seeing a Slashdot double standard when it comes to Microsoft and the XBox?
Any article pointing out Microsoft's misdoings gets tons of attention yet it seems that the same crowd is very positive towards the XBox 360. Compare the number of posts on an average Slashdot XBox article (Halo 3, hello!) versus a PS3 article.
It would be nice to know whether you people think it is reasonable to own a 360 and still be opposing MS and its associated business methods.
This is the first double standard you have noticed on here? Come on, you have a 2-digit id!
It isn't uncommon on here to dislike business practices and still like the product. For example, a typical Slashdotter likes their iPod but doesn't like the vendor lock-in on the iPhones. This site is pro-Linux and many people don't appreciate the monopolistic crap that MS often gets away with. But in the gaming market, they are actually the little guy trying to break in to a market controlled by two giants. People are still quick to criticize them for their horrible hardware failure rate...but on the other hand, applaud them for admitting it and changing their repair policy so that they fix their mistake.
So yeah, I don't think it is unreasonable to despise MS for what they do in the OS market but still have a 360. If you really get down to it, if you refused to buy from anyone who had questionable business methods, you wouldn't be able to own a console period.
Support a great indie game: http://www.abaddon360.com
$3,050 and it only took him five days to blow his cover.
How does he plan on syncing the frames? No mention is made of this, and all examples are taken from static environments. Disparity maps are all but useless if there is much change in position (e.g. on a moving vehicle) between frame acquisitions.
Only one?
(I kid! I kid!)
I certainly remember what Slashdot was like ten years ago. Unfortunately, your post is dire evidence and a reminder of what it has become.
The PS3 does have some nice games now. Warhawk and Ratchet are two 2nd generation PS3 games that are good (not great, but good... like gears of war). There are several others. It's a lot better than the wii, in my opinion, as far as games go. And it's only going to get better for the PS3. There will be no domination for Sony, but it's not as though the PS3 is all bad news. Sony will pull out of this expensive period with a profit. 65nm cheap Ps3s are already out there. Blu-Ray diodes are plummeting in price. And there are already rumors of a new XBOX in the next couple of years. If that's true, PS3 will have the greater installed fanbase in the next 3 years (this sounds ridiculous to me too).
Yeah, Sony is losing serious money on the PS3 and the games ain't what they need to be. But the games situation is starting to get pretty damn good.
I would definitely not call Microsoft "the little guy" in ANY industry. They leverage their monopoly on Windows to facilitate entry and eventually to force developers to make specifically for their platform.
Right now Microsoft is using Windows to entice companies to develop for the XBox 360. They buy exclusives left and right with the Windows tax that we pay. At the same time, they are forcing people to pay a monthly fee to play online, something that was once taken for granted. They force people to buy non-standard components, and they've made it the norm to have multiple versions of the same type of console. Does this sound like Windows? Imagine if they were to become the dominant player in the industry?
Not to mention they've succeeded in their viral campaign... notice that the most fanatic fanboys are XBox 360 owners? It could be that their main demographic - 13-25 year-old males that play shooters, are more prone to fanboyism and trolling Internet blogs to incite flamewars. If you take a look at each console's Wikipedia history, you'll see that the PS3 has had far more requests for protection than the 360.
Having said that, Microsoft's entry into the console market has helped Sony move forward with price cuts and enhancements - just don't hope that Microsoft gains a foothold - once that happens, it's a slow war of attrition until Microsoft comes out on top.
Particularly to note that this Xbox 360 has helped Sony innovate (and Sony was encouragement for Nintendo to innovate).
Microsoft spent a lot of money to beat Sony, and they will expect me and other gamers to give them that money back. Then they will use that money to build TVs or something.
But I think that eventually a company becomes too unfocused and large and becomes inneffective. Look at Office 2007. Vista is more of a flop than XP ever was. They need to focus on Windows and Office if they expect to keep their advantage. And of course, so much of Microsoft's software is competing with OK free stuff.
Can Sonybeat Microsoft? Of course not. Can Sony beat Microsoft in one area while Google beats Microsoft in another and Ubuntu and Apple beat Microsoft in another? Yep. That's why companies have to stay focused. Google looked at all the crazy crap they were doing and reduced the number of apps they were working on. For good reason.
So while Microsoft dominated the floppy disk era, things are starting to turn around (precisely why Microsoft has decided to diversify in such a broad way). I firmly believe that the world will be ok if Microsoft wins these console wars. Someone will come up with something cheap and fun.
You know, you don't sound like a troll. Why does your account have the default zero score? It kinda caught my eye when you denigrated "what slashdot has become". It's ok to acknowledge if you purchased or were given someone's old slashdot login. And the parent's comment was pretty damn funny, you have to admit.
For the PS3, these are the games I'd recommend if you insist on getting one:
You might also want to look at the following games. They are neat, but have serious flaws:
So there are three really good games, and a bunch of games that are acceptable. On the other hand, the Wii has stuff like Zelda, Resident Evil 4, Metroid Prime 3, Super Paper Mario, Wario Ware, Trauma Center, Mario Strikers, Rayman, Wii Sports, Elebits, Excite Truck, Super Monkey Ball, finally a good 3D Sonic... and that doesn't even include any of the VC games. As of now the Wii simply has the better game selection, and it looks like the gap is widening as franchises are moving to the Wii (Monster Hunter), while Sony has trouble keeping third parties on their console. The sales numbers paint the same picture: While the PS3 has a grand total of two million sellers (Motorstorm and Resistance), the Wii has at least nine.
Like I said: Even though I own a PS3, I would not recommend it to anyone. I think there's a good chance that it'll end up this generation's Gamecube: A few awesome first-party titles, but few third-party titles, and the third-party titles it gets are crappy ports from other consoles.
First of all, more than one person posts on /., so having a double-standard hardly applies.
Second, it's perfectly possible to think that Microsoft is evil, or bad, or behaves unethical, while still acknowleding that the games selection on the 360 is great, and the 360 has a lot of strong points.
Personally, I despise Microsoft. I own a PS3 and a Wii. The Wii is great, but as of now, it doesn't get a lot of hardcore games (skate, for example, is not available on the Wii). On the other hand, the PS3 ports of these games suck. The aforementioned skate is often barely playable due to the sucky framerate, and the online mode is gimped.
There are three things keeping me from buying an Xbox:
If they fix one or two of these, I might break down and get one; the PS3 currently simply sucks so much that it's hardly an alternative to the 360 at all. So yeah, I think it's possible to despise Microsoft and still pay for their crap, mainly if their competitor makes even bigger crap.
> It would be nice to know whether you people think it is reasonable to own a 360 and still be
> opposing MS and its associated business methods.
Yes, because I don't really believe in the political consumer. I believe a good citizen should use his wallet to buy the legal goods he find the best value, and his vote to get the politicians who will protect the market from trusts, and ensure the goods are produced ethically. The market works best that way.
And if you want to play politics with your wallet, it should be as part of an organized effort, with carefully selected high profile targets. Otherwise, it isn't going to have any effect.
I'd not buy an XBox 360, but only because my main requirement for a game console would be that it should be silent.
In my defence I don't own a 360 or ever foresee owning one unless Sims 2 comes out for it and my wife wants it. I'm waiting to see which platform (besides the Wii which I will be getting when I get back from Iraq) has the better RPG line up and then I might buy one if it's compelling enough. It would really be nice to get a shiny new RPG for linux... but hell there probably is one I haven't found yet out here.
I'll meet you at the intersection of "Should be" and "Reality"