Companies that pull this crap don't typically last long anyway. Leave now and beat the rush. (Do you really want this project on your CV after it's a complete balls-up?)
The problem is obviously piracy. The games market was doing fine, but now there's this Interweb thing that people use to steal stuff. Ban fibre-optics!
Expensive bandwidth shaves off some growth every year at the margin and over time that creates a meaningful difference in the quality of daily life for you and the next generation.
Using the same logic, petrol should be free. However, expensive oil prices have led to some truely interesting innovation in power generation and transportation. Expensive wired broadband will most likely result in innovative WiFi development, not economic collapse.
Sorry, forgot about games. Wouldn't have if Australia had some decent on-line gaming options, but we don't have good broadband options, so no-one is rolling out the games, so gamers aren't demanding broadband, etc. Chicken or the egg...
iiNet. Two versions, one is a 20Gig quota, the other is a 60Gig. The latter is very slow, the former is very fast, by Australian standards.
Mind you, I also feel that A$80/month is way too much to pay for a home service when I work full-time. A particular pair of friends sharing a place with ADSL do much better as one of them is a shift worker.
I should get involved with the local WiFi collective...
I'd rather a (cheap) slow, always-on, connection with no download limit than a fast connection where you can max-out your monthly allowance in one day, but there just isn't the option. You know, I can download more in a month via a 56k modem than the entry-level cap offered by Telstra for ADSL. It's nuts. The cheapest ADSL service that doesn't charge you extra for traffic (but slows you down past a particular quota) is A$199/month.
So, instead of a whole bunch of interesting web projects (bizarre web cams, assorted servers, php toys), I barely ever connect to the Internet from home and I just have almost the cheapest dial-up account.
However, I don't think this is actually negatively affecting anything of importance. The major use for home broadband throughout the US is "piracy" -- and while I have no firm moral position on this, I don't think it's a good reason to demand cheap broadband.
Final note: I'm going to be cancelling pay-tv shortly, so I'm going to lose my easiest route for broadband into my home. I'm cancelling it for two reasons. Almost all the programs suck or are repeats (or both) and there's no cheap broadband option. Irony.
Has anyone got any example of a tax where the money was supposed to have a predefined definition and it actually went there, rather than just into the general pool to be spent on junkets and million dollar superannuation?
Since I don't know what TRST stands for, this probably isn't a meaninful conclusion, but if it's an english-language chart, then the results probably reflect the fact that most Japanese games aren't properly marketed outside of Japan. Mostly the UK/US managers don't have a clue what to do with Japanese games. They don't understand the target audience anymore than the game itself. I'm reminded of a quote: "The trailer for a movie always reflects what the executives wanted the director to make." Or something similar. Anyone know the source of that wisdom? What happens is that if the advertising is too far from the product, the people who would have enjoyed it won't try it and the people who do try it won't enjoy it.
If they cannot spend the two days it takes to figure out 99% of how to run a Mac they should be fired.
I agree. I've used a Mac, on average, once every two months over the last 5 years, but as IT officer for an educational organisation, I'd take 30 free Macs over our leased PCs in an instant. So, it would take me a few months on and off to get them humming along as well as the PCs are, so what? Sounds like fun.
Nintendo had/has a stranglehold on the portable gaming market. The GBA was always going to be successful, but the number of people I know who held off for a [back/front]lit GBA is quite high, given the number of people interested in the device itself. There are degrees of success, and while Nintendo probably didn't hurt too bad from the reduced sales, the takeup of the GBAsp (10 a minute, world wide, since release) indicates that they got the GBA right on their second go, not their first.
Can someone unmoderate the +1 for the post above -- it isn't that interesting and it doesn't even answer the question it was supposed to. Here's why I believe the X-Box was/is a mistake: It's unimaginative and overpriced. Its promise of easy development because of its PC architecture and directX stuff will in fact be a problem as current PC performance pulls away from the Xbox. No doubt development houses are already finding that a project they're working on for the PC has problems running without major compromises on the Xbox. The same, of course, is true for any console but if you've brought developers in based on low porting costs it's a problem -- one that will only get worse. Sega thought that dual-processors in the 32X, or was it the Saturn, would be a good thing, but they were considered too difficult to develop for. Image what people developing for the latest DirectX 9 stuff are going to think about the amount of time it will take to scale detail back enough to play on the Xbox. And you can't just announce an upgrade for a console and start making games that require it straight away. Most of the current owners will not upgrade, therefore most of the developers won't write for the expansion. Chicken and egg.
Microsoft are having a real problem getting the production costs down. The machine is too complicated. Sure, the hard drive will drop in price, but everything else is custom, yet farmed out to other companies. Who's going to put the time into reducing production costs?
Based on the initial price to market, if it wasn't for Microsoft's pig-headedness, the Xbox would have already gone away. Meanwhile, no doubt people are enjoying it around the world, but I'll bet there are already people high up in Microsoft questioning the decision to produce the Xbox. Really they aren't a games company and they don't know what to do with games. Games Business isn't just another flavour of business. No matter how many successful games companies you swallow, making a good, popular, game is part art.
Most companies in the games game have learnt a bit from the past, but only to the point where failures are in slow motion.
Kiko and I hit this booth early as we were both interested to check out Nokiaâ(TM)s new handheld. Immediately upon picking one up, we each made a face like we tasted bile. It just feels terrible in your hands. The buttons are placed too close together and there are too many of them. I didnâ(TM)t know which of the hojillion buttons I had to push just to start the game. Once Tony Hawk started I made another face. The screen is super washed out and itâ(TM)s oriented in a really strange way. We both put them down after only a few minutes and left the booth in a hurry to go wash our hands. That night Pork and Tycho told us they really enjoyed their experience with the handheld so Kiko and I made it a point to go back the next day and give it another try. After our second encounter with the foul beasts we were still unimpressed. As a game system it fails because of its awkward design and poor screen. I mean you have to turn your phone off and remove the battery in order to change the game. That is stupid. The buttons while good for a phone suck for a handheld. They are placed way to close together and you end up hitting multiple buttons far too often. The pad felt cheap and the screen looked really washed out. It fails as a phone because of its odd size and shape. It just isnâ(TM)t comfortable. When Tycho told me it was going to cost $300 I actually laughed out loud. I almost feel bad for Nokia. The N-Gage is going to fail miserably. They may sell a few to cell phone customers who like the gimmick of playing games on their phone but they will never be able to sell it to actual gamers. They have also taken a page out of Blockbusters book and decided to insult me with their advertising.
If the Xbox had been released by anyone else it would be dead by now. Only Microsoft's massive reserves of cash keep it alive. The 32X is a nice peice of hardware too, but it was a mistake in that it annoyed developers and to some extent users.
I don't have everything Microsoft -- I've just ordered their overpriced Bluetooth keyboard an mouse. I prefer using Windows XP to Linux. But I still think that Microsoft don't have a clue what they're doing with the Xbox. Mind you, they only make a profit with Windows and Office...
Slashdot Mirror
Companies that pull this crap don't typically last long anyway. Leave now and beat the rush. (Do you really want this project on your CV after it's a complete balls-up?)
Governments have set deadlines for turning off analogue TV, but it doesn't mean that will happen either.
The Egyptian leadership is right to be worried. Just look at all the children that copy what they see on Jackass.
The problem is obviously piracy. The games market was doing fine, but now there's this Interweb thing that people use to steal stuff. Ban fibre-optics!
If you think broadband down under is a disaster, you should see our Digital TV situation.
Sorry, forgot about games. Wouldn't have if Australia had some decent on-line gaming options, but we don't have good broadband options, so no-one is rolling out the games, so gamers aren't demanding broadband, etc. Chicken or the egg...
Mind you, I also feel that A$80/month is way too much to pay for a home service when I work full-time. A particular pair of friends sharing a place with ADSL do much better as one of them is a shift worker.
I should get involved with the local WiFi collective...
So, instead of a whole bunch of interesting web projects (bizarre web cams, assorted servers, php toys), I barely ever connect to the Internet from home and I just have almost the cheapest dial-up account.
However, I don't think this is actually negatively affecting anything of importance. The major use for home broadband throughout the US is "piracy" -- and while I have no firm moral position on this, I don't think it's a good reason to demand cheap broadband.
Final note: I'm going to be cancelling pay-tv shortly, so I'm going to lose my easiest route for broadband into my home. I'm cancelling it for two reasons. Almost all the programs suck or are repeats (or both) and there's no cheap broadband option. Irony.
definition==destination, but y'all seem to have coped :)
Has anyone got any example of a tax where the money was supposed to have a predefined definition and it actually went there, rather than just into the general pool to be spent on junkets and million dollar superannuation?
Since I don't know what TRST stands for, this probably isn't a meaninful conclusion, but if it's an english-language chart, then the results probably reflect the fact that most Japanese games aren't properly marketed outside of Japan. Mostly the UK/US managers don't have a clue what to do with Japanese games. They don't understand the target audience anymore than the game itself. I'm reminded of a quote: "The trailer for a movie always reflects what the executives wanted the director to make." Or something similar. Anyone know the source of that wisdom? What happens is that if the advertising is too far from the product, the people who would have enjoyed it won't try it and the people who do try it won't enjoy it.
http://www.palmpowerenterprise.com/issues/issue200 206/sshclient001.html
And, yeah, I think the post looks like an ad too.
When they started releasing games on the Xbox, Microsoft probably had them sign something that said they wouldn't do this.
Good points, but I stick by my list. Time will tell.
Nintendo had/has a stranglehold on the portable gaming market. The GBA was always going to be successful, but the number of people I know who held off for a [back/front]lit GBA is quite high, given the number of people interested in the device itself. There are degrees of success, and while Nintendo probably didn't hurt too bad from the reduced sales, the takeup of the GBAsp (10 a minute, world wide, since release) indicates that they got the GBA right on their second go, not their first.
Can someone unmoderate the +1 for the post above -- it isn't that interesting and it doesn't even answer the question it was supposed to. Here's why I believe the X-Box was/is a mistake: It's unimaginative and overpriced. Its promise of easy development because of its PC architecture and directX stuff will in fact be a problem as current PC performance pulls away from the Xbox. No doubt development houses are already finding that a project they're working on for the PC has problems running without major compromises on the Xbox. The same, of course, is true for any console but if you've brought developers in based on low porting costs it's a problem -- one that will only get worse. Sega thought that dual-processors in the 32X, or was it the Saturn, would be a good thing, but they were considered too difficult to develop for. Image what people developing for the latest DirectX 9 stuff are going to think about the amount of time it will take to scale detail back enough to play on the Xbox. And you can't just announce an upgrade for a console and start making games that require it straight away. Most of the current owners will not upgrade, therefore most of the developers won't write for the expansion. Chicken and egg.
Microsoft are having a real problem getting the production costs down. The machine is too complicated. Sure, the hard drive will drop in price, but everything else is custom, yet farmed out to other companies. Who's going to put the time into reducing production costs?
Based on the initial price to market, if it wasn't for Microsoft's pig-headedness, the Xbox would have already gone away. Meanwhile, no doubt people are enjoying it around the world, but I'll bet there are already people high up in Microsoft questioning the decision to produce the Xbox. Really they aren't a games company and they don't know what to do with games. Games Business isn't just another flavour of business. No matter how many successful games companies you swallow, making a good, popular, game is part art.
Most companies in the games game have learnt a bit from the past, but only to the point where failures are in slow motion.
I don't have everything Microsoft -- I've just ordered their overpriced Bluetooth keyboard an mouse. I prefer using Windows XP to Linux. But I still think that Microsoft don't have a clue what they're doing with the Xbox. Mind you, they only make a profit with Windows and Office...
Don't you mean red shirt? You wear red shirts on the Enterprise, and they're not nearly as dangerous as they used to be...
I solved a Rubiks' Clock on the way home from the swapmeet I bought it at. That's it, right? Like the Rubik's Cube, but about time...