Don't know if it was mentioned elsewhere, but just go out and get yourself a Money Order. Yes, you will have to pay a small fee in order to get it, but Money Orders are great alternatives to checks and you can pay for one with cash. If you're in the US I know that any currency exchange will be able to give you one, or barring that you might be able to find a bank willing to do it.
I've had my 360 for over a year, and never had a problem with it. There have been a couple of times that I've gotten disc read errors or that's it's frozen on me, but I simply turn it off, take 5, and come back to it. I've never gotten the red lights and I've never experienced anything different from what's happened to my PC or my old PS2.
That said though, I do three things that a lot of people don't do.
1) I turn if off for a few minutes if I start having trouble, in an effort to let it cool off. I don't keep turning it on and turning it on until I fry the thing.
2) I don't keep it in a small, enclosed space right next to things like heat vents, or TV's that put out a ton of excess heat.
3) I have a fan for it. This is the only thing I ever paid for, and honestly, I don't use it all the time. About the only time I use if for marathon game sessions lasting over 4-5 hours (Halo Parties from 6pm - 6am are asking a bit much from any console). It definitely helps during those times, but turning it off to give it a chance to cool every couple of hours would do the same thing.
Now, if you know someone who does all of the above, and still has problems with their box overheating, then that's a problem. But if it's someone that doesn't follow common sense precautions like these and goes through, say, 4 360's because they keep putting it in the same cramped little entertainment center cubby...well, I think they need to look at full disclosure of their actions before MS is expected to give full disclosure of the thermal properties of their unit.
Yeah, and then you drink and digest the yeast. So I guess you're right in that they aren't consumed by the process, they're consumed by your gut... Yeast killer!!!
I was born in 1980 and used to watch his show constantly. I still remember two episodes of that show as clear as a bell.
In one he showed salt melting ice and made caramel in order to show how impurities affect the boiling and freezing points of water. When I took my AP Bio exam in High School I had to write an essay on the properties of water...that was the first thing that popped into my head.
The other one I remember was when he built a giant, two-story straw and then hooked a vacuum pump up to it in order to see how high they could pull the liquid. Vacuum pressure and gravity are concepts normally reseved for High School Physics or Physical Science, and yet here was this guy teaching it to a little boy...very few people have the gift for teaching that he had, and he'll be missed.
There's no shortage sunlight, true...but there's a shortage on space. Our energy needs to continue to grow more and more every year, theoretically it could get to the point where we have to cover large amounts of the planet's surface with solar collectors. The more efficient each individual collector is, the fewer we need and the less space they'll take up.
There's one BIG flaw in your argument. You're trying mathmatically quantify an emotive response, that's what the Uncanny Valley is about. It's not about polygon counts, rendering techniques or proper shading...it's about creating a genuine human-like construct that other humans can identify with.
Let's look at a couple of examples that were mentioned:
FF: The Spirits Within: Very realistic character models in a general sense. The faces of the characters were very waxy, with few lines or minor muscle movements. The bodies were blocky and not shaped quite right, and didn't move in a normal "human" fashion. The voice acting helped, but when you're hearing the actor Donald Sutherland and you see this model that doesn't look right and doesn't move right, it throws you off.
Oblivion: The character models were fairly realistic and moved fairly well. The major difference here was that for one it was a fantasy setting, so your brain recognizes that Dark Elves are not real and you don't have the same expectations as the FF movie. Secondly, the characters behave in a realistic manner. They light lamps when it's dark, they react to your presence, they move out of the way of other pedestrians, they follow schedules, go to work, go to sleep, go to church, have conversations with other NPC's, etc... Great care was taken to get you to think of their actions as human.
In their case the fantasy setting helps you to forgive the visual shortcomings and the behavior makes them seem more lifelike. But did you identify with them? Did you feel sad when Uriel Septim died? Did you have a meaningful, emotive response to these characters? Probably not, they were just excellent set pieces.
Gears of War: Very nice graphics, much better faces and more realistic bodies than the FF movie. Not seeing too many tight closeups helps to keep you from nitpicking the inconsistencies. The movements of the characters are interesting and realistic, they draw you in (especially the Roadie Run). The dialogue is okay and the voice acting is pretty decent, and each character has a personality. It also helps that they're a bit "larger than life", they're more like superheroes than normal humans, and this affects your expectations of realism.
Big difference between this and the other two is content and the level of interaction. Gears of War is an action game, not an RPG. They're not trying to develop a character, you're not interacting with them either. You play the game and you dialogue in the cutscenes according to a preset script. The characters don't talk about emotion much, and you see very few emotions in their faces. The best thing to compare it to is a bad action movie. Do you ever really identify with the star? Maybe you can identify with simple things like needing to win the war, losing an ally or coming through a big furball miraculously unscathed...but it's not deep.
Conclusion: Due to it's nature as a dramatic sci-fi movie FF: The Spirits Within tried to create the most realistic characters on every level. They were effectively trying to replace human actors in a film with digital constructs, this is why it fails. They were striving the hardest for something approaching all the myriad qualities of "human", and that's why the inconsistencies stand out even more. It's a combination of multiple factors, not just polygon count.
I thought Windows Live Gold was free to anyone who already had XBox Live Gold? Isn't that sort of the whole point? You already have an XBox, but maybe you want the PC version of Oblivion versus the Console version? While I understand that there are people out there who don't own an XBox and might just want to be able to play Halo 3 with their buddies, most of the people that I know that want this already have an XBox and XBox Live...so I guess I just don't see the big deal on the price.
Sorry, but that's just fucking ridiculous. By that logic, the reason I accept the theory that Europe and giant sea turtles exist is faith.
What proof do you have? Writings about them? If that's all then Narnia must be a real place too... Perhaps you mean film? Is Jaws real too then? Or maybe Borat...he's a real person, right...not just a character? Oh, I know...you know that Christians are wrong because you took a ride in the TARDIS back to the time of the crucifiction. I mean, I *saw* a time machine on TV once, so they must be real...right?
As offensive as the idea may be to you, if you could pull your head out of your ass for a second you would see that 99% of the universe is filled with things that we've never experienced with our own senses, and things that happeneded before we even drew our first breath. Yet belief in them is considered to be perfectly rational.
Oh, and if it's a numbers question, Christianity was estimated to have around 2.1 billion adherents in 2001 (according to Wikipedia). So you're willing to say that almost 2.1 billion people are wrong and that their beliefs are irrational; but you'll believe the word of, at best, a few thousand scientists who have actually worked at a particle acceleration facility when they tell you about Quarks.
I'm not saying that science is wrong, not by any stretch... I've studied just about every branch of science there is and I love to learn all about the world around us. But don't for a second kid yourself and pretend like you're so high and mighty that you've never taken something on faith.
And if I so chose, I could partake in the necessary education, then review the experiment results, themselves, and make a decision regarding their validity. Further, I could posit my own predictions, based on those theories and test them. Or I could propose my own theories, which generate their own predictions, and test those.
That's entirely true, but have you done so? If not, then you're still accepting those theories on faith.
This is precisely the *opposite* of faith, which, by definition, is unfalsifiable belief without evidence, and is exactly why science and religion are not equivalent.
I never said that science and religion are equivalent, I merely said that for someone to believe in Quarks that they have never seen is equivalent in some way to a person that believes in a God they've never seen. You accept that the accounts of scientists doing the research are accurate, just as I accept that the Gospels are accurate. You believe that there are those who know far more about these things than you, and you trust their judgements and conclusions, just as I do.
As far as the layperson is concerned, science and religion are both articles of faith. At least the religious folks are willing to admit it though.
Umm... we can see them, in that their presence is indicated through the results of experiments. What do you think all those scientists around the world are doing? Smashing particles together at extremely high velocities, then going to a kegger and amusing themselves with how they're pulling the wool over everyone's eyes?
Have you ever seen a quark? You personally? If not, you're putting your faith in some research paper published in a sientific journal that eventually made it's way into your high school Physics text book. Heck, as far as I know we don't yet have a microscope that can actually see an individual quark...we have seen evidence that can be explained by the existence of objects that meet the definition of a "quark", but no one has actually seen a quark.
And as for whether the scientists are having a kegger and amusing themselves or not, I don't know. But why is everyone here seemingly ready to believe that the religious leaders are doing the same?
For the record though, I do believe in science. Until further evidence comes along the best theory at the moment is that the universe was created in the big bang, it's made up of quarks in various combinations of greater and greater complexity and we evolved from a organic chemical soup a little while after the early stages of Earth's formation. But all that doesn't preclude the existence of God. Somehow though, *I'm* the narrown minded one....;)
I can't imagine a company valuing half a KWh over the 15 minutes it takes an employee to boot their computer and then go through the ritual of loading all their apps, checking mail, reading the news etc.
See, but you're cheating there...you're using "logic", and lots of companies don't use "logic". For example, my last job was doing soils and concrete testing for Engineering firm. We had a powered pallet jack that we used to bring concrete out of the curing room for testing. The thing is probably older than me, can't hold a charge to save it's life and moves really slow because of the aforementioned lack of charge.
It wasted tons of time because we of how slowly it moved and the fact that we would have to charge it 2-3 times a day, but the company would never authorize the purchase of a new one. Even in a year were our revenue was 120% over our projections. Instead we replaced the drive motor, the chargin system, the batteries, some of the electrical components, etc.. We spent enough money to buy a new one on fixing the broken one, and that's not even counting the cost of the time delays it caused...
It's amazing how many way corporations can waste money and what lengths they'll go to stopping a "perceived" loss of money on the part of their employees.
Why is it that Atheists must contstantly insult what they don't understand and don't believe. Granted, some Christians are self righteous and judgemental, but that's not how we're supposed to act.
it's an admission of belief in invisible super-beings, magic, superstition and other rubbish.
I'm sorry, I don't believe in Superman, magic or throwing salt over my shoulder, so I guess I'm an exception to your rule. I believe in a God that created the universe, what do you believe? That somewhere, somehow, a infintesimally small and inititely dense object exploded and created everything around us? You're so quick to accept the idea that something you've never seen existed and created the universe, and then so quick to dismiss someone else's idea that something they've never seen existed and created the universe. Seems a bit hypocritical to me...
Oh, and if you're soooo sure of how right you are, why don't you post with a name? There's a reason they credit anonymous posts to "Anonymous Coward."
Oh, and as for why we say "As a Christian"...it's because that's what we are. Just as one might say "As an Italian" or "As an American." It's a belief and an identity that we're proud of. You want to say "As a Scientist" or "As an Atheist" go right ahead, I won't stop you... I don't go around putting down everything I don't understand or agree with, so I promise I won't bug you about it. =)
What's to keep an employer from upgrading this "dumb" system into something a little more...invasive? Monitoring how many people are present at any time of the day could tell you a lot in and of itself, regardless of whether they're identified or not. Also, if this thing can zero on location then couldn't it tell which cubes were drawing power? Are we going to start seeing our paychecks docked because our computer was left on during lunch or because we left the light on after we went home for the night?
So your point is that the most qualified person to speak on hardware shortages and production capacity should be kept locked away in his office, never to speak to the public? Personally, I would rather hear from someone who's actually qualified to speak on the subject, rather than just some PR staffer who got a memo briefing on the bullet points he needed to cover.
I HIGHLY doubt that the VP of hardware production and logistics taking time out to answer some questions is actually going to affect how many Wii-s get out the door.
Well, let's look at some figures. Halo 2, one of the most popular shooters ever, has sold just over 6 million copies in the US since it's release. Gears of War has sold just shy of 3 million in the US since it's release. Considering the difference in terms of installed base and time on the market, I would say that Gears is doing *quite* well for itself. Plus, it was on a budget that's a fraction of what some of the other next-gen are cost (10M IIRC). Personally, I think that gives CliffyB plenty of reason to puff out his chest a bit.
What these devs moving to China are missing is, what happens when a big company like EA outsources to you? They will expect RESULTS, and fast. If you don't do it, for low cost, they'll pick a different company. In short, those who longer, faster and cheaper will be more successful in China. It will be the same atmosphere as we have currently in the US.
How long did they work on Halo, or Halo 2? Or what about Gears of War and Dark Sector (which, while not out, has been a work in progress and looks to be a Marquis title)? These devs took their time with their product and made the effort to do the job right, not just fast. If Halo had been an EA franchise instead of Bungie/MS, what would we be on now? Halo 5? And what would the quality of those games be?
Once the industry can get into a quality over quantity mindset you'll see conditions improve, pay will get better and talent will be more appreciated. They need to realize that we want quality products, not just another iteration of the same game, with the same engine, and the same graphics, but *2* new characters! That starts with the devs though, and the consumer (read: guys that own Madded '03, '04, '05, '06, '07, etc..). Running away to China won't fix this.
Slashdot Mirror
Don't know if it was mentioned elsewhere, but just go out and get yourself a Money Order. Yes, you will have to pay a small fee in order to get it, but Money Orders are great alternatives to checks and you can pay for one with cash. If you're in the US I know that any currency exchange will be able to give you one, or barring that you might be able to find a bank willing to do it.
That said though, I do three things that a lot of people don't do.
1) I turn if off for a few minutes if I start having trouble, in an effort to let it cool off. I don't keep turning it on and turning it on until I fry the thing.
2) I don't keep it in a small, enclosed space right next to things like heat vents, or TV's that put out a ton of excess heat.
3) I have a fan for it. This is the only thing I ever paid for, and honestly, I don't use it all the time. About the only time I use if for marathon game sessions lasting over 4-5 hours (Halo Parties from 6pm - 6am are asking a bit much from any console). It definitely helps during those times, but turning it off to give it a chance to cool every couple of hours would do the same thing.
Now, if you know someone who does all of the above, and still has problems with their box overheating, then that's a problem. But if it's someone that doesn't follow common sense precautions like these and goes through, say, 4 360's because they keep putting it in the same cramped little entertainment center cubby...well, I think they need to look at full disclosure of their actions before MS is expected to give full disclosure of the thermal properties of their unit.
Yeah, and then you drink and digest the yeast. So I guess you're right in that they aren't consumed by the process, they're consumed by your gut... Yeast killer!!!
In one he showed salt melting ice and made caramel in order to show how impurities affect the boiling and freezing points of water. When I took my AP Bio exam in High School I had to write an essay on the properties of water...that was the first thing that popped into my head.
The other one I remember was when he built a giant, two-story straw and then hooked a vacuum pump up to it in order to see how high they could pull the liquid. Vacuum pressure and gravity are concepts normally reseved for High School Physics or Physical Science, and yet here was this guy teaching it to a little boy...very few people have the gift for teaching that he had, and he'll be missed.
*Golf Clap* -- That pretty much wraps up this conversation...
There's no shortage sunlight, true...but there's a shortage on space. Our energy needs to continue to grow more and more every year, theoretically it could get to the point where we have to cover large amounts of the planet's surface with solar collectors. The more efficient each individual collector is, the fewer we need and the less space they'll take up.
http://www.unilever.ca/ourbrands/personalcare/degr ee.asp
Let's look at a couple of examples that were mentioned:
FF: The Spirits Within: Very realistic character models in a general sense. The faces of the characters were very waxy, with few lines or minor muscle movements. The bodies were blocky and not shaped quite right, and didn't move in a normal "human" fashion. The voice acting helped, but when you're hearing the actor Donald Sutherland and you see this model that doesn't look right and doesn't move right, it throws you off.
Oblivion: The character models were fairly realistic and moved fairly well. The major difference here was that for one it was a fantasy setting, so your brain recognizes that Dark Elves are not real and you don't have the same expectations as the FF movie. Secondly, the characters behave in a realistic manner. They light lamps when it's dark, they react to your presence, they move out of the way of other pedestrians, they follow schedules, go to work, go to sleep, go to church, have conversations with other NPC's, etc... Great care was taken to get you to think of their actions as human.
In their case the fantasy setting helps you to forgive the visual shortcomings and the behavior makes them seem more lifelike. But did you identify with them? Did you feel sad when Uriel Septim died? Did you have a meaningful, emotive response to these characters? Probably not, they were just excellent set pieces.
Gears of War: Very nice graphics, much better faces and more realistic bodies than the FF movie. Not seeing too many tight closeups helps to keep you from nitpicking the inconsistencies. The movements of the characters are interesting and realistic, they draw you in (especially the Roadie Run). The dialogue is okay and the voice acting is pretty decent, and each character has a personality. It also helps that they're a bit "larger than life", they're more like superheroes than normal humans, and this affects your expectations of realism.
Big difference between this and the other two is content and the level of interaction. Gears of War is an action game, not an RPG. They're not trying to develop a character, you're not interacting with them either. You play the game and you dialogue in the cutscenes according to a preset script. The characters don't talk about emotion much, and you see very few emotions in their faces. The best thing to compare it to is a bad action movie. Do you ever really identify with the star? Maybe you can identify with simple things like needing to win the war, losing an ally or coming through a big furball miraculously unscathed...but it's not deep.
Conclusion: Due to it's nature as a dramatic sci-fi movie FF: The Spirits Within tried to create the most realistic characters on every level. They were effectively trying to replace human actors in a film with digital constructs, this is why it fails. They were striving the hardest for something approaching all the myriad qualities of "human", and that's why the inconsistencies stand out even more. It's a combination of multiple factors, not just polygon count.
I thought Windows Live Gold was free to anyone who already had XBox Live Gold? Isn't that sort of the whole point? You already have an XBox, but maybe you want the PC version of Oblivion versus the Console version? While I understand that there are people out there who don't own an XBox and might just want to be able to play Halo 3 with their buddies, most of the people that I know that want this already have an XBox and XBox Live...so I guess I just don't see the big deal on the price.
What proof do you have? Writings about them? If that's all then Narnia must be a real place too... Perhaps you mean film? Is Jaws real too then? Or maybe Borat...he's a real person, right...not just a character? Oh, I know...you know that Christians are wrong because you took a ride in the TARDIS back to the time of the crucifiction. I mean, I *saw* a time machine on TV once, so they must be real...right?
As offensive as the idea may be to you, if you could pull your head out of your ass for a second you would see that 99% of the universe is filled with things that we've never experienced with our own senses, and things that happeneded before we even drew our first breath. Yet belief in them is considered to be perfectly rational.
Oh, and if it's a numbers question, Christianity was estimated to have around 2.1 billion adherents in 2001 (according to Wikipedia). So you're willing to say that almost 2.1 billion people are wrong and that their beliefs are irrational; but you'll believe the word of, at best, a few thousand scientists who have actually worked at a particle acceleration facility when they tell you about Quarks.
I'm not saying that science is wrong, not by any stretch... I've studied just about every branch of science there is and I love to learn all about the world around us. But don't for a second kid yourself and pretend like you're so high and mighty that you've never taken something on faith.
That's entirely true, but have you done so? If not, then you're still accepting those theories on faith.
I never said that science and religion are equivalent, I merely said that for someone to believe in Quarks that they have never seen is equivalent in some way to a person that believes in a God they've never seen. You accept that the accounts of scientists doing the research are accurate, just as I accept that the Gospels are accurate. You believe that there are those who know far more about these things than you, and you trust their judgements and conclusions, just as I do.
As far as the layperson is concerned, science and religion are both articles of faith. At least the religious folks are willing to admit it though.
Have you ever seen a quark? You personally? If not, you're putting your faith in some research paper published in a sientific journal that eventually made it's way into your high school Physics text book. Heck, as far as I know we don't yet have a microscope that can actually see an individual quark...we have seen evidence that can be explained by the existence of objects that meet the definition of a "quark", but no one has actually seen a quark.
And as for whether the scientists are having a kegger and amusing themselves or not, I don't know. But why is everyone here seemingly ready to believe that the religious leaders are doing the same?
For the record though, I do believe in science. Until further evidence comes along the best theory at the moment is that the universe was created in the big bang, it's made up of quarks in various combinations of greater and greater complexity and we evolved from a organic chemical soup a little while after the early stages of Earth's formation. But all that doesn't preclude the existence of God. Somehow though, *I'm* the narrown minded one.... ;)
See, but you're cheating there...you're using "logic", and lots of companies don't use "logic". For example, my last job was doing soils and concrete testing for Engineering firm. We had a powered pallet jack that we used to bring concrete out of the curing room for testing. The thing is probably older than me, can't hold a charge to save it's life and moves really slow because of the aforementioned lack of charge.
It wasted tons of time because we of how slowly it moved and the fact that we would have to charge it 2-3 times a day, but the company would never authorize the purchase of a new one. Even in a year were our revenue was 120% over our projections. Instead we replaced the drive motor, the chargin system, the batteries, some of the electrical components, etc.. We spent enough money to buy a new one on fixing the broken one, and that's not even counting the cost of the time delays it caused...
It's amazing how many way corporations can waste money and what lengths they'll go to stopping a "perceived" loss of money on the part of their employees.
I'm sorry, I don't believe in Superman, magic or throwing salt over my shoulder, so I guess I'm an exception to your rule. I believe in a God that created the universe, what do you believe? That somewhere, somehow, a infintesimally small and inititely dense object exploded and created everything around us? You're so quick to accept the idea that something you've never seen existed and created the universe, and then so quick to dismiss someone else's idea that something they've never seen existed and created the universe. Seems a bit hypocritical to me... Oh, and if you're soooo sure of how right you are, why don't you post with a name? There's a reason they credit anonymous posts to "Anonymous Coward."
Oh, and as for why we say "As a Christian"...it's because that's what we are. Just as one might say "As an Italian" or "As an American." It's a belief and an identity that we're proud of. You want to say "As a Scientist" or "As an Atheist" go right ahead, I won't stop you... I don't go around putting down everything I don't understand or agree with, so I promise I won't bug you about it. =)
What's to keep an employer from upgrading this "dumb" system into something a little more...invasive? Monitoring how many people are present at any time of the day could tell you a lot in and of itself, regardless of whether they're identified or not. Also, if this thing can zero on location then couldn't it tell which cubes were drawing power? Are we going to start seeing our paychecks docked because our computer was left on during lunch or because we left the light on after we went home for the night?
So your point is that the most qualified person to speak on hardware shortages and production capacity should be kept locked away in his office, never to speak to the public? Personally, I would rather hear from someone who's actually qualified to speak on the subject, rather than just some PR staffer who got a memo briefing on the bullet points he needed to cover.
I HIGHLY doubt that the VP of hardware production and logistics taking time out to answer some questions is actually going to affect how many Wii-s get out the door.
Well, let's look at some figures. Halo 2, one of the most popular shooters ever, has sold just over 6 million copies in the US since it's release. Gears of War has sold just shy of 3 million in the US since it's release. Considering the difference in terms of installed base and time on the market, I would say that Gears is doing *quite* well for itself. Plus, it was on a budget that's a fraction of what some of the other next-gen are cost (10M IIRC). Personally, I think that gives CliffyB plenty of reason to puff out his chest a bit.
How long did they work on Halo, or Halo 2? Or what about Gears of War and Dark Sector (which, while not out, has been a work in progress and looks to be a Marquis title)? These devs took their time with their product and made the effort to do the job right, not just fast. If Halo had been an EA franchise instead of Bungie/MS, what would we be on now? Halo 5? And what would the quality of those games be?
Once the industry can get into a quality over quantity mindset you'll see conditions improve, pay will get better and talent will be more appreciated. They need to realize that we want quality products, not just another iteration of the same game, with the same engine, and the same graphics, but *2* new characters! That starts with the devs though, and the consumer (read: guys that own Madded '03, '04, '05, '06, '07, etc..). Running away to China won't fix this.