It's perfectly plausible to set up a gaming system in an office as long as it's properly monitored. That being said, it's a LOT easier to control abuse of priviledge if it's not at the desks of the employees. If there's a way to set up a gamer's lounge for this type of thing, then that would likely be preferable. If it HAS to be at the worker's desk, let me tell you, you're better off just going straight to the monitor instead of trying to go through capture cards through the laptop. I've tried running just the sound through a computer before, and the delay was something along the lines of half a second. If the video lagged that badly as well, it would be nigh unplayable.
Suggestion: Just hold onto the power cables and have a sign-in/out sheet for whenever your team wants to use their 360.
This price drop seems to be a pretty standard procedure as a system gets older. The 360 was on the market considerably earlier than it's competitors. I use the term loosely in the case of the Wii as, stated earlier, it caters to a different audience. Kudos to MS for putting pressure once again on Sony before the holiday season.
Nintendo gets to sit back and laugh at the both of them, but again, different audience, different focus.
The problem is this. The user of that website is (most likely) not affiliated with the organizations of CheapAssGamer or whatever other forums he/she is posting through. Being a member of a community does not make you a member of the organization, and therefore the organization that put the community together cannot be held responsible for the individual's actions. Think of it as the disclaimer you see before, during, and after infomercials on TV; the views expressed in this program do not necessarily reflect the views held by the station or it's affiliates.
Circuit City is seeking to force a 3rd party company, who was completely without fault in this case (the poster could have posted the information on ANY website, he/she just chose to post it on their site) to give up the privacy of the person who is posting this information. Basically because CC cannot police their own employees properly, they are lashing out at whoever they can feasibly get their hands on in order to feel better; it's like burning a book because you don't agree with what the author put into it. The book is nothing but paper, ink, and backing. The book did nothing to deserve being turned into kindling.
I'm not so sure that even the OP would like some of the potential "fixes" to this kind of problem. One fix and probably the most effective is to have chat hosts. Sound familiar? Who here actually enjoys hosted chatrooms like AOL had (or maybe even still has?) I'll tell you one thing, I do not. There's something to be said about freedom of speech, and those freedoms translate into the online world just as readily as they do IRL (In Real Life for those of you that aren't in the know.) I personally feel no soul-bleeding need to be babysat while I play a game that I use to relax and let loose. Now, that's not to say that I'm one of those immature imbeciles that constantly heckle people on their experience, color, national origin, sexual preference, etc., etc. I will say that I dislike that sort of chatter, it's entirely non-productive and shaming.
But to argue the other side of things (and please do NOT read this the wrong way, this is merely an example) there is definitely precedent for the allowance of such behavior. For example, being a member of the KKK is not illegal. It is not illegal to hate people for any reason; that falls within the realms of freedom of speech as people are perfectly allowed to think whatever they want. It is their *actions* that can potentially fall under the legal umbrella, as hating someone is not illegal whereas performing a criminal act for those reasons is.
With that out of the way, World of Warcraft's designers (to use an example) have implemented ways that every user can block out that sort of speech. Starting from the simplest to the more drastic measures, first there is the chat filter. This turns any "curse word" into a series of symbols such as $%^&*!! in order to censor certain terminology. Secondly, there is the/ignore feature, allowing you to simply filter out everything that is said by that person so it doesn't even appear. Lastly, and unfortunately this feature is hardly ever used enough, there is a way for you to report someone to the GMs for excessively vulgar language or verbal abuse/harassment.
OP, I know you wish to have things in place beforehand to ensure a more civilized conversational experience, but I believe Blizzard (and possibly other game developers) has made the best choice, and that is to leave it up to the individual user. This ensures that Blizzard isn't stepping on anyone's constitutional rights, while giving us the power to custom-tailor our own gaming experience.
Another thing to take into account is that ofttimes (I know this was the case back when I was in high-school) the textbooks themselves are even designed around the use of the TI-Series Graphing Calculators in specific. Sure all of that stuff translates to pda-based graphing calculation programs pretty easily, but when you get step-by-step walk-throughs on how to perform a certain type of equation with a specific calculator in mind, it becomes a no-brainer.
Slashdot Mirror
It's perfectly plausible to set up a gaming system in an office as long as it's properly monitored. That being said, it's a LOT easier to control abuse of priviledge if it's not at the desks of the employees. If there's a way to set up a gamer's lounge for this type of thing, then that would likely be preferable. If it HAS to be at the worker's desk, let me tell you, you're better off just going straight to the monitor instead of trying to go through capture cards through the laptop. I've tried running just the sound through a computer before, and the delay was something along the lines of half a second. If the video lagged that badly as well, it would be nigh unplayable.
Suggestion: Just hold onto the power cables and have a sign-in/out sheet for whenever your team wants to use their 360.
This price drop seems to be a pretty standard procedure as a system gets older. The 360 was on the market considerably earlier than it's competitors. I use the term loosely in the case of the Wii as, stated earlier, it caters to a different audience. Kudos to MS for putting pressure once again on Sony before the holiday season. Nintendo gets to sit back and laugh at the both of them, but again, different audience, different focus.
The problem is this. The user of that website is (most likely) not affiliated with the organizations of CheapAssGamer or whatever other forums he/she is posting through. Being a member of a community does not make you a member of the organization, and therefore the organization that put the community together cannot be held responsible for the individual's actions. Think of it as the disclaimer you see before, during, and after infomercials on TV; the views expressed in this program do not necessarily reflect the views held by the station or it's affiliates. Circuit City is seeking to force a 3rd party company, who was completely without fault in this case (the poster could have posted the information on ANY website, he/she just chose to post it on their site) to give up the privacy of the person who is posting this information. Basically because CC cannot police their own employees properly, they are lashing out at whoever they can feasibly get their hands on in order to feel better; it's like burning a book because you don't agree with what the author put into it. The book is nothing but paper, ink, and backing. The book did nothing to deserve being turned into kindling.
But to argue the other side of things (and please do NOT read this the wrong way, this is merely an example) there is definitely precedent for the allowance of such behavior. For example, being a member of the KKK is not illegal. It is not illegal to hate people for any reason; that falls within the realms of freedom of speech as people are perfectly allowed to think whatever they want. It is their *actions* that can potentially fall under the legal umbrella, as hating someone is not illegal whereas performing a criminal act for those reasons is.
With that out of the way, World of Warcraft's designers (to use an example) have implemented ways that every user can block out that sort of speech. Starting from the simplest to the more drastic measures, first there is the chat filter. This turns any "curse word" into a series of symbols such as $%^&*!! in order to censor certain terminology. Secondly, there is the /ignore feature, allowing you to simply filter out everything that is said by that person so it doesn't even appear. Lastly, and unfortunately this feature is hardly ever used enough, there is a way for you to report someone to the GMs for excessively vulgar language or verbal abuse/harassment.
OP, I know you wish to have things in place beforehand to ensure a more civilized conversational experience, but I believe Blizzard (and possibly other game developers) has made the best choice, and that is to leave it up to the individual user. This ensures that Blizzard isn't stepping on anyone's constitutional rights, while giving us the power to custom-tailor our own gaming experience.
Another thing to take into account is that ofttimes (I know this was the case back when I was in high-school) the textbooks themselves are even designed around the use of the TI-Series Graphing Calculators in specific. Sure all of that stuff translates to pda-based graphing calculation programs pretty easily, but when you get step-by-step walk-throughs on how to perform a certain type of equation with a specific calculator in mind, it becomes a no-brainer.
...in space, no one can hear you... fart...
To make talking on the cell phone while driving look comparably safe. Imagine a driver with a pair of these... You've got mail = 5-car pileup.