"Infected files launch IE"
Well good thing I never use that!
Plus, any moderate listener of.mp3s and other formats (.ogg,.flac,.ape, and so forth) will have already gotten a reputable codec pack somewhere.
What about trying to model these new MagLev trains on the Japan model? They have to deal with mountains and Earthquakes and they are (from what I heard) DAMM efficient and DAMM fast, even in heavily congested areas like the greater Tokyo area, Kyoto, and the northern mountainous regions like Sapphario (sp?).
I know the infrastructure was designed with trains in mind, but if they can tear down a moutain to make room for an interstate, they can shuffle things around for a train.
Interestingly enough, they're getting close to completion on a Light-Rail system here in Phoenix:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/METRO_Light_Rail_(Phoenix)
Not anywhere on the same scale as the proposed Vegas - LA route, but its something.
I bet they briefly had Wiis in stock and the servers got overloaded with rapid-fire orders.
Or perhaps a mouse ate through a wire in the server room. anything is possible.
I'm sure that the trend will go towards Unlimited Bandwidth at a higher cost versus lower cost for metered usage, to promote its spread among grandmas and people who might watch an occasional youtube video, but I download (As others have said) Linux Torrents, watch streaming video on Hulu.com, Youtube, Albums, computer game mods and so forth, and these ALL take up a lot of space. Not to mention I play City of Heroes and that generates a lot of bandwidth (As it is an MMO like WoW ) in and by itself.
So yeah, if given the choice between lower cost with metered usage or higher cost and unlimited bandwidth, the unlimited bandwidth is a no brainer for me.
Good point, and I suppose I got worked up that I forgot to mention a couple of other factors
Well, Why is it impossible?...because with the above reasons I mentioned in my first post, its too much work on the part of the ISPs to try and improve infrastructure... (Or as another post point out, Corruption is what's keeping the obstacles in place).
densely populated, yes, but the Netherlands are the size of a US State. A lot less ground to cover in the wiring and pipes and Wireless Networks. Another problem is that there isn't enough competition in ISPs in the same area. Sure you have Cox Communications, Qwest, Comcast, Verizon, etc., but they all serve different markets. I even attempted one time to see about getting a 14.95 a month DSL deal from Verizon, but I was not in the range of service apparently, even though I can get a phone-service deal from them if I wanted. Its completely stupid and I envy you Europeans for that reason. Incidentally I have Cox as an ISP and so far they have been fairly competent, and I have no major complaints.
I have just this to say: The same thing has been said about Novels, Television, Movies, and every other form of expression at one point or another. Its not that Videogames don't have artwork, but rather that the medium as a whole is not artwork in the traditional sense of the word, and its going to take a while for everyone to realize or even accept the notion.
Videogames I consider to HAVE art, (that have not been mentioned already): Final Fantasy X - Redemption of Personal Sins. Shadow of the Colossus - Sacrifice & Isolationism. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty - Post-Modern Expression and Exploration of Memes through the Concept of Self-Identity. Ikaruga - Dualism & Poetry as Expressed in a Medium of Motion. Tetris - Abstract Cubism Versus Conformity.
I know I will be disagreed with, but perhaps this will be a way for ideas on how videogames will be judged as artwork in the future to formulate =)
If there was to be a label placed, I'd probably use "Interactive Escapism", or "Responsivism".
I'd probably switch over to a Mac if more games were available
for it, as the main reason I continue to use Windows is for
the PC gaming. Yes I know there's bootcamp and VMware and all
that, but If I could NATIVELY play games that I KNOW will run
on a Mac with no more stress then there is in installing
and normal gameplay, then I'd be a happy camper. So this move,
while I despise EA, is a good thing and I will applaud
them for a rare act of unsuckage.
Oh well. Just my two cents.
One important detail to remember is that Japan's Total Population is 127,333,002 from the 2004 Census, and estimated this year at 127,433,494 with a Density of 337/km
Compare that to the United States: 281,421,906 at the 2000 Census, and estimated this year at being 302,286,000, with a Density of 31/km
(Figures acquired from Wikipedia)
Now, while this would figure to balance out the countries in terms of population per square mile (And as a result, Regional Cable/DSL Internet ISPs total subscriber numbers), a THIRD factor is the total LAND area held by both countries: The United States 3rd in the world, while Japan is 62nd.
The difference in Population? Japan is 10th, while also 3rd.
So, The United States has a LOT more area to which people can live at, whereas a majority of Japanese live in Urban areas, or at least in a high population per square mile percentage.
The forth factor of course is that ISPs tend to charge more, or at least have a limit to how far they carry their services, and its usually more expensive to carry cable/dsl lines over a long distance. Japan's lower land-area and higher Persons Per Square Mile (Squared) and you have the simple fact that United States ISPs are simply more taxed on resources and area to deliver service. This is why while the prices might be around the same, the service in Japan is much better: They have a lower total population to worry about (And I haven't even bothered to add in public Wifi Networks and the like for Tourist purposes), along with a MUCH higher number of people within any square mile, thus the service gets delivered to more people in the same area (More Bang for the Buck as it were).
However, its nowhere as simple as that, but the point of this (In retrospect entirely too long and probably factually inaccurate on small points) is that there are several good reasons why a straight across-the-board comparisons between Japan's ISP service and the United States cannot be totally Objective. Subjective data will be put into play if more accuracy is to be desired (But in the act of including it, due to its subjective nature, will make it LESS accurate... well whatchoo gonna do?:p ) that includes Demographics, Pop Culture, Mean Age of Residents, Health Care, Income Levels, Regional Cultures, and a wide range of other factors that make it entire too complex for me to think about any-longer).
Short Attention Spanned: Japan is smaller in size and population, so their ISPs can service better, and due to the US's large size, the lower speeds/higher price is a sacrifice they have made.
Not to mention, another player on the market might spur some price cuts. I just do NOT have the income freely available to upgrade from 3Ds Max 8 to 9 for what they're asking, so if MS's efforts spurn both some new features and more reasonable prices, I'd say they might even draw in new customers.
They already do this on many private trackers sites, and have done it
for the past couple of years, if not longer.
I think they've also implimented comments or at least updates/RSS Feeds for
certain torrents which get updated periodically (Such as Linux Distro ISOs)
"The online hub of Netflix's rental system went down Monday evening and remained unavailable until Tuesday afternoon, locking out subscribers for more than 18 hours. Spokesman Steve Swasey attributed the outage to an unanticipated problem that he declined to describe.
The breakdown didn't appear to be related to San Francisco power outages that were blamed for temporarily knocking out several popular Web sites, including Craigslist, Technorati, Typepad and Livejournal.
Service to Netflix's site was finally restored around 3 p.m. PDT after Netflix's engineers had missed several earlier estimated times for fixing the trouble."
So, is it just the Business Writer trying to put a biased spin on this story, or is there more to it then that?
First thought that came to my mind were Artists from clearly different genres of music collaborating for a song, such as Eminem and Elton John, or Nelly and Tim McGraw, or when a producer of a Mix-tape samples various older songs from different genres and makes some sort of a dance mix, or even an entirely new song.
I'd rather have older hardware then support DRM. You're forgetting about Mac or Linux as alternatives to DRM-ridden Platforms.
[2- New MS games DX-10 exclusive games.]
What PC game is going to make me want to upgrade to DX-10? Halo 2, Halo 3? I can play both of those on the 360. If there's some game that absolutely will not run on DX-9, then I'll just go without and stick to console games, as I am doing now.
[3- Aero. No kidding, it if one of the 5 best looking UI of the moment.]
I agree its very pretty looking, but as others have pointed out, I can achieve nearly the same look on XP using software. Its not a selling point if its easily replicated.
[4- No need for a good anti-virus.]
Ok, so the OS finally achieves a level of security that it was expected to have about 6-7 years ago, good for them.
----
I am not planning to use Vista at any point in the near future, and I will advise anyone I know to, if not shun completely, wait for a while.
MS seems to not get the point that Customers will not move over to unproved and unstable platforms when they have the exact opposite available: Stable, Proven platforms (Mac, Linux, XP/2000, etc.,). That they would resort to these kinds of tactics is a VERY telling sign of how much they are desperate to save face and try and make some money on MILLENNIUM EDITION 2.0.
Well you see, ALL content uploaded would be user-generated. So if I ripped an episode of Heroes from the broadcast, and uploaded it, I would have generated the video onto the site.
Well, a lot of games often come out with incremental sequels with additional characters, vehicles advance in the story, etc., Yes I am aware that this often is done with PC games through expansion packs, but From the trailers I've seen, this is looking as more then just an expansion, as they mentioned new units, new gameplay features (Unspecified as to what those were however) and even a higher ZERG RUSH limit.
Ultimately That's the problem with a successful game: You don't want to piss off those who are used to a good thing, but you don't want to rehash the same thing to new customers. Its a fine line to walk and not everyone is going to be satisfied no matter how Starcraft 2 comes out. If someone praises it, another gamer will bitch about it for, even probably the exact reason the first person liked it.
However, Its too early at this point to decidedly call it just "Starcraft in 3D". I'd wait and at least see a gameplay video first.
The other thing is, gamers have been clamoring for a sequel for a DECADE. They WANT something new with Starcraft, even if it, fundamentally, is just an updated graphical version of the core gameplay.
>>it seems that they decided not to mess with a winning combination
If it ain't broke, why fix it?
Seriously, Starcraft is an RTS, and to make it anything else in the main series (As opposed to a spin-off or a side-game) would be an insult to the millions who play Starcraft.
Slashdot Mirror
This is why I stick with DVDs: A Lot less bullshit involved.
OH, HOW EXPLOITABLE!
"Infected files launch IE" Well good thing I never use that! Plus, any moderate listener of .mp3s and other formats (.ogg, .flac, .ape, and so forth) will have already gotten a reputable codec pack somewhere.
What about trying to model these new MagLev trains on the Japan model? They have to deal with mountains and Earthquakes and they are (from what I heard) DAMM efficient and DAMM fast, even in heavily congested areas like the greater Tokyo area, Kyoto, and the northern mountainous regions like Sapphario (sp?). I know the infrastructure was designed with trains in mind, but if they can tear down a moutain to make room for an interstate, they can shuffle things around for a train. Interestingly enough, they're getting close to completion on a Light-Rail system here in Phoenix: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/METRO_Light_Rail_(Phoenix) Not anywhere on the same scale as the proposed Vegas - LA route, but its something.
I don't really care about the other games, but I want a KOTOR 3 dammit! =(
I bet they briefly had Wiis in stock and the servers got overloaded with rapid-fire orders. Or perhaps a mouse ate through a wire in the server room. anything is possible.
I'm sure that the trend will go towards Unlimited Bandwidth at a higher cost versus lower cost for metered usage, to promote its spread among grandmas and people who might watch an occasional youtube video, but I download (As others have said) Linux Torrents, watch streaming video on Hulu.com, Youtube, Albums, computer game mods and so forth, and these ALL take up a lot of space. Not to mention I play City of Heroes and that generates a lot of bandwidth (As it is an MMO like WoW ) in and by itself. So yeah, if given the choice between lower cost with metered usage or higher cost and unlimited bandwidth, the unlimited bandwidth is a no brainer for me.
I'll reserve a judgment until I at least see a trailer of the movie.
Good point, and I suppose I got worked up that I forgot to mention
...because with the above reasons I mentioned in my first post, its too much work
a couple of other factors
Well, Why is it impossible?
on the part of the ISPs to try and improve infrastructure...
(Or as another post point out, Corruption is what's keeping the obstacles in place).
densely populated, yes, but the Netherlands are the size of a US State. A lot less ground to cover
in the wiring and pipes and Wireless Networks. Another problem is that there isn't enough competition
in ISPs in the same area. Sure you have Cox Communications, Qwest, Comcast, Verizon, etc., but they all
serve different markets. I even attempted one time to see about getting a 14.95 a month DSL deal from Verizon,
but I was not in the range of service apparently, even though I can get a phone-service deal from them if
I wanted. Its completely stupid and I envy you Europeans for that reason. Incidentally I have Cox as an ISP and
so far they have been fairly competent, and I have no major complaints.
I have just this to say:
The same thing has been said about Novels, Television, Movies, and every other form of expression at one point or another.
Its not that Videogames don't have artwork, but rather that the medium as a whole is not artwork in the traditional sense of the
word, and its going to take a while for everyone to realize or even accept the notion.
Videogames I consider to HAVE art, (that have not been mentioned already):
Final Fantasy X - Redemption of Personal Sins.
Shadow of the Colossus - Sacrifice & Isolationism.
Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty - Post-Modern Expression and Exploration of Memes through the Concept of Self-Identity.
Ikaruga - Dualism & Poetry as Expressed in a Medium of Motion.
Tetris - Abstract Cubism Versus Conformity.
I know I will be disagreed with, but perhaps this will be a way
for ideas on how videogames will be judged as artwork in the future
to formulate =)
If there was to be a label placed, I'd probably use "Interactive Escapism",
or "Responsivism".
I'd probably switch over to a Mac if more games were available for it, as the main reason I continue to use Windows is for the PC gaming. Yes I know there's bootcamp and VMware and all that, but If I could NATIVELY play games that I KNOW will run on a Mac with no more stress then there is in installing and normal gameplay, then I'd be a happy camper. So this move, while I despise EA, is a good thing and I will applaud them for a rare act of unsuckage. Oh well. Just my two cents.
One important detail to remember is that Japan's Total Population is 127,333,002 from /km
/km
:p ) that includes Demographics, Pop Culture, Mean Age of Residents,
the 2004 Census, and estimated this year at 127,433,494 with a Density of 337
Compare that to the United States: 281,421,906 at the 2000 Census, and estimated
this year at being 302,286,000, with a Density of 31
(Figures acquired from Wikipedia)
Now, while this would figure to balance out the countries in terms of population
per square mile (And as a result, Regional Cable/DSL Internet ISPs total subscriber numbers),
a THIRD factor is the total LAND area held by both countries: The United States 3rd in the world,
while Japan is 62nd.
The difference in Population? Japan is 10th, while also 3rd.
So, The United States has a LOT more area to which people can live at, whereas a majority
of Japanese live in Urban areas, or at least in a high population per square mile percentage.
The forth factor of course is that ISPs tend to charge more, or at least have a limit to how far they
carry their services, and its usually more expensive to carry cable/dsl lines over a long distance. Japan's
lower land-area and higher Persons Per Square Mile (Squared) and you have the simple fact that
United States ISPs are simply more taxed on resources and area to deliver service. This is why while the
prices might be around the same, the service in Japan is much better: They have a lower total population to worry about (And
I haven't even bothered to add in public Wifi Networks and the like for Tourist purposes), along with
a MUCH higher number of people within any square mile, thus the service gets delivered to more people
in the same area (More Bang for the Buck as it were).
However, its nowhere as simple as that, but the point of this (In retrospect entirely too long and probably
factually inaccurate on small points) is that there are several good reasons why a straight across-the-board comparisons
between Japan's ISP service and the United States cannot be totally Objective. Subjective data will be put into
play if more accuracy is to be desired (But in the act of including it, due to its subjective nature, will make it
LESS accurate... well whatchoo gonna do?
Health Care, Income Levels, Regional Cultures, and a wide range of other factors that make it entire too complex
for me to think about any-longer).
Short Attention Spanned: Japan is smaller in size and population, so their ISPs can service better,
and due to the US's large size, the lower speeds/higher price is a sacrifice they have made.
tl;dr: Japan = Apple, USA = Orange.
*faints*
As I said, I'm a poor college student right now. -_-
Perhaps once I get my career going, shelling out that kind of money
won't seem like a big deal *Shrug*
Not to mention, another player on the market might spur some price cuts.
I just do NOT have the income freely available to upgrade from 3Ds Max 8 to 9 for
what they're asking, so if MS's efforts spurn both some new features and
more reasonable prices, I'd say they might even draw in new customers.
The Featured Article on Wikipedia today is the Supernova: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernova Coincidence? Or a sneaky new method of marketing?
They already do this on many private trackers sites, and have done it for the past couple of years, if not longer. I think they've also implimented comments or at least updates/RSS Feeds for certain torrents which get updated periodically (Such as Linux Distro ISOs)
Funny thing though, the same sort of story on Yahoo! News reports
that Netflix's downtime is NOT related to this incident:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070724/ap_on_hi_te/n
"The online hub of Netflix's rental system went down Monday evening and remained unavailable until Tuesday afternoon, locking out subscribers for more than 18 hours. Spokesman Steve Swasey attributed the outage to an unanticipated problem that he declined to describe.
The breakdown didn't appear to be related to San Francisco power outages that were blamed for temporarily knocking out several popular Web sites, including Craigslist, Technorati, Typepad and Livejournal.
Service to Netflix's site was finally restored around 3 p.m. PDT after Netflix's engineers had missed several earlier estimated times for fixing the trouble."
So, is it just the Business Writer trying to put a biased spin on this story, or is there more to it then that?
First thought that came to my mind were Artists from clearly
different genres of music collaborating for a song, such as
Eminem and Elton John, or Nelly and Tim McGraw, or when a producer
of a Mix-tape samples various older songs from different genres and makes
some sort of a dance mix, or even an entirely new song.
Those would be cool to see more of.
[1- DRM. ]
I'd rather have older hardware then support DRM. You're forgetting about Mac or Linux as alternatives to DRM-ridden Platforms.
[2- New MS games DX-10 exclusive games.]
What PC game is going to make me want to upgrade to DX-10? Halo 2, Halo 3?
I can play both of those on the 360. If there's some game that absolutely will not
run on DX-9, then I'll just go without and stick to console games, as I am doing now.
[3- Aero. No kidding, it if one of the 5 best looking UI of the moment.]
I agree its very pretty looking, but as others have pointed out, I can achieve nearly
the same look on XP using software. Its not a selling point if its easily replicated.
[4- No need for a good anti-virus.]
Ok, so the OS finally achieves a level of security that it was expected to have
about 6-7 years ago, good for them.
----
I am not planning to use Vista at any point in the near future, and I will advise anyone
I know to, if not shun completely, wait for a while.
MS seems to not get the point that Customers will not move over to unproved and unstable
platforms when they have the exact opposite available: Stable, Proven platforms (Mac, Linux, XP/2000, etc.,).
That they would resort to these kinds of tactics is a VERY telling sign of how much they are desperate to
save face and try and make some money on MILLENNIUM EDITION 2.0.
Well damm, of course! Sign me up!
I've occasionally posted stuff @ fanfiction.net, what makes this
new website significantly different?
Well you see, ALL content uploaded would be user-generated.
So if I ripped an episode of Heroes from the broadcast, and uploaded it,
I would have generated the video onto the site.
*ducks for cover*
Well, a lot of games often come out with incremental sequels with additional characters, vehicles
advance in the story, etc., Yes I am aware that this often is done with PC games through expansion packs,
but From the trailers I've seen, this is looking as more then just an expansion, as they mentioned new units,
new gameplay features (Unspecified as to what those were however) and even a higher ZERG RUSH limit.
Ultimately That's the problem with a successful game: You don't want to piss off those who are used
to a good thing, but you don't want to rehash the same thing to new customers. Its a fine line to walk
and not everyone is going to be satisfied no matter how Starcraft 2 comes out. If someone praises it,
another gamer will bitch about it for, even probably the exact reason the first person liked it.
However, Its too early at this point to decidedly call it just "Starcraft in 3D". I'd wait and
at least see a gameplay video first.
The other thing is, gamers have been clamoring for a sequel for a DECADE. They WANT something new with Starcraft,
even if it, fundamentally, is just an updated graphical version of the core gameplay.
>>it seems that they decided not to mess with a winning combination
If it ain't broke, why fix it?
Seriously, Starcraft is an RTS, and to make it anything else in the main series (As opposed to a spin-off or a side-game)
would be an insult to the millions who play Starcraft.
I am likely going to preorder this anyway.
Just don't read the new york times or use a secure web browser that
doesn't leave any cookies or electronic paper trails. Simple as that.