I agree with you that some benchmarking system would help, maybe "flops per amp-hour" or something, but your formula would lead to manufacturers gaming the system for higher scores and ignoring that people want different devices for different needs.
For example, a smartphone may have less screen size and performance than a tablet but not have an equal return in battery time or weight reduction, resulting in a lower score, and still may be "better" for someone that can't fit a tablet in their pocket. Likewise, sedans and motorcycles are lighter and more fuel-efficient than larger, more powerful pickup trucks, but that just makes them suited for different markets and uses, and it wouldn't work to submit them to a one-size-fits-all Automobile Score.
Telling customers the class of the mobile device, processing ability, power efficiency, and battery capacity would be just as good describing the class of an automobile, engine output, MPG rating, and fuel capacity.
Put a button that toggles your program's "dangerous flying car" interface, with a nice warning about they can now wipe their system with a single click, and you aren't responsible if they misuse the software.
Opera's had native bittorrent support for years, but I'd suspect that the other browser manufacturers would consider adding this as a built-in feature either bloat or indicative of supporting piracy.
Left 4 Dead 2, pictured right below that drug use notification and a major point of contention in this classification debate, would still have trouble because it features downing a bottle of pills or injecting yourself with a syringe of adrenaline in order to continue killing zombies, and has an achievement related to that as well.
Also, when the loan period is up the lendee gets a link to buy a copy of the eBook from the Amazon store, so publishers might see an increase in sales, especially if the loaned book is the first of a series or something.
If I'm understanding the article's quote correctly, Gabe is talking about how the iOS devices and the XBox 360 only give you the choice of only one digital distribution service, shutting out potential competitors. On computers, Steam competes with other digital gaming services, such as Direct2Drive, Desura, GoG, and so on. Later on he goes on to say how a hypothetical Valve-produced console would be "open" so that users could use Steam's competitors alongside Steam.
you can't buy an account without these restrictions anymore; you can only get a "free" account.
While that is technically true, you can permanently upgrade to the normal account with your first purchase in their store. See their FAQ.
You have to add a minimum $5.00 to the Steam Wallet to buy stuff from the store, so practically you can look at this as the price of getting a normal account. If you feel like spending $1 on a cosmetic item is unfair to other players for whatever reason, there's a Map Stamp item which basically lets you vote on your favorite maps, and the creator gets a bit of that money.
And if it's the DLC system itself that you don't want to give money to, you can try looking around if there's still retail copies of the game around somewhere.
Most of the purchasable items that affect stats can be acquired during normal gameplay via the random drop or crafting systems. The cash store was introduced as a shortcut to people who didn't want to invest time in randomly getting a certain item they wanted, but it's still possible to acquire these items by spending no more money than the initial purchase of the game.
Also, the items were introduced as alternate play styles for each class. People complain about some items being over/underpowerd, but that's true of every game. You can still play well with just the default weapons.
You can't prevent someone from giving your product away.
No, but Apple could chose not to ship you anymore iP[a/o]ds. This is targeted at retailers trying to use the products in a promotion to get customers, not at a normal user who wants to give their device away to a friend (although I'm sure that they've already developed DRM to do just that).
Apple is probably doing this as a proactive maneuver to protect their brand name from being cheapened.
I remember it being stated before that Activation is trying to position itself as a multi-faceted, digital entertainment company. Relating an online FPS to Netflix or Facebook pitches it to investors in terms of other succesful businesses whose main product is delivered via the internet, and is enjoyed by the average consumer and not just niche gamers/geeks.
It's worked fine for me in the past. Go to opera:config and check the Bittorrent settings. Normally changing the port helps with this.
In general, I agree and think it'd be better to just have a small program for each type of operation. The point Opera was trying to advertise was that normal users wouldn't have to muck around and install Torrent clients, their downloads would just work.
Also, I guess it'd be beneficial to useeverything (torrent, email, etc.) Opera offers if you're the type to leave your browser open all day. Having to manually restart torrents when you reopen the browser was a pain last time I tried it.
See, after getting 4gb of ram, and having like 6 more in swap, I don't worry about memory usage
The problem is, that's the equivalent of saying "There's no problem with the software. The user should just throw money at the issue and upgrade his/her system."
We can't daydream and imagine we can acceptably run modern websites, let alone 50 tabs of them, on decades-old machines. But if the developers themselves are recommending 512MB, then the user should have an acceptable experience at 512MB, not 4GB.
Maybe you're just talking about home consoles, but every handheld Nintendo console was able to play it's predecessor's games by just popping in the cartridge (3DS->DS->GBA->GBC->GB), not counting the Virtual Boy.
That said, sadly this is the first generation I have completely skipped a handheld release with no real intention of getting one at all.
If you're saying these iOS and Android devices have high-quality, high-selling games, then I don't see how you can say they aren't handheld gaming devices, at least by your usage.
The counter to that is generally an uneducated response that android and ios games lack the depth of the Sony and Nintendo offerings but they are there if you look for them even in the RPG genre that Nintendo is famous for.
Well, I have an unused iPod Touch that I could use some recommendations for. Since you specifically mention RPGs, is there anything similar to Golden Sun or Dissidia that I'd be interested in? I'm not a platform "fanboy" by any means; if it's a good game, I'll play it.
Also, I wouldn't be surprised with people saying mobile games lack depth if you give PvZ or WoG as an example of what the platform has to offer (which both are, by the way, also available for consoles and PC).
Slashdot Mirror
AT&T Drive Mode
Motorola Assist
Apps like these seem to do most everything the blogger is looking for:
the administration appears to have been caught completely unprepared for the events in Crimea.
How do you know that the events in Crimea aren't occurring the way the US administration wants?
I hope I'm not mistaken, but can't you already do that by purchasing your games digitally from their Xbox Live virtual shop?
I agree with you that some benchmarking system would help, maybe "flops per amp-hour" or something, but your formula would lead to manufacturers gaming the system for higher scores and ignoring that people want different devices for different needs.
For example, a smartphone may have less screen size and performance than a tablet but not have an equal return in battery time or weight reduction, resulting in a lower score, and still may be "better" for someone that can't fit a tablet in their pocket.
Likewise, sedans and motorcycles are lighter and more fuel-efficient than larger, more powerful pickup trucks, but that just makes them suited for different markets and uses, and it wouldn't work to submit them to a one-size-fits-all Automobile Score.
Telling customers the class of the mobile device, processing ability, power efficiency, and battery capacity would be just as good describing the class of an automobile, engine output, MPG rating, and fuel capacity.
Put a button that toggles your program's "dangerous flying car" interface, with a nice warning about they can now wipe their system with a single click, and you aren't responsible if they misuse the software.
Then you'll have a society afraid of fighting off a violent attacker, choosing between death on the sidewalk or in an execution chamber.
It appears your hunch isn't that far off from reality:
SCOTUS Rules Petiton Signatures Are Public Record.
What, do you think they verify if your answer is factually correct?
A person could find out what school you went to, while no one but you is going to know you put in "The Napoleonic Wars" as the acceptable response.
Opera's had native bittorrent support for years, but I'd suspect that the other browser manufacturers would consider adding this as a built-in feature either bloat or indicative of supporting piracy.
Left 4 Dead 2, pictured right below that drug use notification and a major point of contention in this classification debate, would still have trouble because it features downing a bottle of pills or injecting yourself with a syringe of adrenaline in order to continue killing zombies, and has an achievement related to that as well.
Amazon has actually had this feature for a while: Loaning a Kindle Book
Also, when the loan period is up the lendee gets a link to buy a copy of the eBook from the Amazon store, so publishers might see an increase in sales, especially if the loaned book is the first of a series or something.
Isn't that similar to the Tesla Roadster?
If I'm understanding the article's quote correctly, Gabe is talking about how the iOS devices and the XBox 360 only give you the choice of only one digital distribution service, shutting out potential competitors.
On computers, Steam competes with other digital gaming services, such as Direct2Drive, Desura, GoG, and so on. Later on he goes on to say how a hypothetical Valve-produced console would be "open" so that users could use Steam's competitors alongside Steam.
Because those corporate whores are the ones who publish the books that hold the information.
If you really want to support the freedom of information, petition your university to use OpenCourseWare.
you can't buy an account without these restrictions anymore; you can only get a "free" account.
While that is technically true, you can permanently upgrade to the normal account with your first purchase in their store. See their FAQ.
You have to add a minimum $5.00 to the Steam Wallet to buy stuff from the store, so practically you can look at this as the price of getting a normal account. If you feel like spending $1 on a cosmetic item is unfair to other players for whatever reason, there's a Map Stamp item which basically lets you vote on your favorite maps, and the creator gets a bit of that money.
And if it's the DLC system itself that you don't want to give money to, you can try looking around if there's still retail copies of the game around somewhere.
Most of the purchasable items that affect stats can be acquired during normal gameplay via the random drop or crafting systems. The cash store was introduced as a shortcut to people who didn't want to invest time in randomly getting a certain item they wanted, but it's still possible to acquire these items by spending no more money than the initial purchase of the game.
Also, the items were introduced as alternate play styles for each class. People complain about some items being over/underpowerd, but that's true of every game. You can still play well with just the default weapons.
Did you even RTFA?
You're right, I hadn't.
My bad.
You can't prevent someone from giving your product away.
No, but Apple could chose not to ship you anymore iP[a/o]ds. This is targeted at retailers trying to use the products in a promotion to get customers, not at a normal user who wants to give their device away to a friend (although I'm sure that they've already developed DRM to do just that).
Apple is probably doing this as a proactive maneuver to protect their brand name from being cheapened.
I remember it being stated before that Activation is trying to position itself as a multi-faceted, digital entertainment company. Relating an online FPS to Netflix or Facebook pitches it to investors in terms of other succesful businesses whose main product is delivered via the internet, and is enjoyed by the average consumer and not just niche gamers/geeks.
Team Fortress 2 (PC) has had this since at least last fall:
http://wiki.teamfortress.com/wiki/Mann_Co._Store
Also, they have a similar store for Portal 2.
It's worked fine for me in the past. Go to opera:config and check the Bittorrent settings. Normally changing the port helps with this.
In general, I agree and think it'd be better to just have a small program for each type of operation. The point Opera was trying to advertise was that normal users wouldn't have to muck around and install Torrent clients, their downloads would just work.
Also, I guess it'd be beneficial to useeverything (torrent, email, etc.) Opera offers if you're the type to leave your browser open all day. Having to manually restart torrents when you reopen the browser was a pain last time I tried it.
See, after getting 4gb of ram, and having like 6 more in swap, I don't worry about memory usage
The problem is, that's the equivalent of saying "There's no problem with the software. The user should just throw money at the issue and upgrade his/her system."
Even Mozilla's recommended system requirements indicate 1/8th the amount of RAM you have.
We can't daydream and imagine we can acceptably run modern websites, let alone 50 tabs of them, on decades-old machines. But if the developers themselves are recommending 512MB, then the user should have an acceptable experience at 512MB, not 4GB.
The current iteration of 3D requires special hardware built into the TV, along with the special glasses.
You could accomplish the 50's, blue-and-red-glasses 3D on any viewing device, but that's quite inferior to the new system.
Maybe you're just talking about home consoles, but every handheld Nintendo console was able to play it's predecessor's games by just popping in the cartridge (3DS->DS->GBA->GBC->GB), not counting the Virtual Boy.
That said, sadly this is the first generation I have completely skipped a handheld release with no real intention of getting one at all.
If you're saying these iOS and Android devices have high-quality, high-selling games, then I don't see how you can say they aren't handheld gaming devices, at least by your usage.
The counter to that is generally an uneducated response that android and ios games lack the depth of the Sony and Nintendo offerings but they are there if you look for them even in the RPG genre that Nintendo is famous for.
Well, I have an unused iPod Touch that I could use some recommendations for. Since you specifically mention RPGs, is there anything similar to Golden Sun or Dissidia that I'd be interested in? I'm not a platform "fanboy" by any means; if it's a good game, I'll play it.
Also, I wouldn't be surprised with people saying mobile games lack depth if you give PvZ or WoG as an example of what the platform has to offer (which both are, by the way, also available for consoles and PC).