(xbox 360 controllers are about $60 each. that almost made me cry when I found out)
It would make me cry, too, if I found out something that was false but I believed it to be true anyway.
In truth, even with taxes, neither wireless ($49.99) nor wired ($39.99) 360 controllers are "about $60 each." I assume they cost more in Canada and Australia (two other large countries that use the word "dollars"), but since you didn't specify (and mentioned $200-600 for new consoles) I assume you're talking in US dollars...
If the TV is fixed pixel (usually in a resolution around 720p) it would probably be less about the interlacing and more about the scaling from 1080i to the resolution of the panel. Done poorly, this scaling can produce artifacting that would make discerning smaller details (like small test) problematic. I've been playing Dead Rising (an example of a small-text HD game) in widescreen 1080i on my 27" 4:3 HDTV from 6-7 feet away and haven't had a big problem reading the text - this despite even my corrected vision being suboptimal...
But I don't need that $2K machine to do my work. I'm running on a very comfortable $1000 Mac laptop that goes with me everywhere and is smooth as silk for everything *except* gaming. Total investment cost: $1000 + $600.
And even you spent more on your Mac laptop than most people would need to do word processing, web browsing, movie watching, downloading, etc. Most console gamers could slip into a $400 eMachines PC and be perfectly comfortable.
The only way in which PC gaming can even possibly be considered "cost effective" is in terms of the cost of games and the large number of games which continue to be compatible. Of course, since consoles have started to include backward compatibility (PS2, Wii and PS3 all with "true" BC, and the 360 with limited BC), even that factor will fade over time.
That this argument continues to be made is a testament to the overall low accuracy/quality of Interweb fora...
But that's retailers fault more than Sony's. Even if Sony supplies enough quantity, and it does what they say it will, Gamestop and EB have been selling the short game, what they have on their shelves, all year long, and as a result, consumers have been hearing mostly baseless FUD about a potential $600 purchase.
Wow. You mean to say that Gamestop has been trying to sell real products that exist instead of trying to sell products that don't? They must really be crazy!
Agreed. I don't think that nostalgia is a primary factor in this. Rather, it's the quality of the games. For example, Geometry Wars, while a throwback to old games, is a relatively recent creation. So, its popularity (I'm a new convert, having just bought a 360 this weekend) is due to the fact that it's fun.
The price of the HD-DVD add-on is a) "awesome" for people who already have an Xbox 360 and want to play high-definition movies (the ones currently available, of course) and b) "okay" to "not as good" for people looking at buying the whole package ($400+200 HD-DVD 360 = $600 "high-end" PS3 or $500 "low-end" PS3 and a game or two).
For me, if I was going to buy into either of the HD formats right now, I'd go HD-DVD. There are more movies currently available and more movies with firm releae dates. If I was looking a year or two into the future, I'd freeze and do nothing because there's just no telling which format will be ascendant. The PS3 could do really well or it could tank; movie studios could cut back or eliminate releases on one format or the other; standalone Blu-ray player prices could suddenly drop precipitously to match standalone HD-DVD players; etc. There's just no way to tell. Some might argue that Blu-ray's technical advantages (higher capacity) give it the edge, but HD-DVD is managing 1080p movie releases just fine, making that factor less important.
There really is no way to tell which format will win. We might have a better idea this time next year, or adoption could still be going so slowly that it will still be up in the air for yet another year.
For me the selling point of the PS3 is that I can be pretty sure I will get some interesting games from Japnese developers, perhaps the next Ico or Katmari Damacy.
How can you make that assertion? It only works if, somehow, the PS3 manages to obtain a dominant position in the [Japanese] marketplace (more consoles = better chance an offbeat title will make money). There are many reasons to think that the Wii is in a far better position to get these "interesting games" you speak of, given its more attractive price, its "new" controller, the general ennui regarding the PS3 and its price, as well as what will presumably be lower (non-HD) development costs.
Heck, Nintendo is already showing off these kind of "interesting games" in both the upcoming Wii titles and the DS titles that have been released so far.
Maybe if Sony actually developed some of the awesome "weird games" that showed up on the PS2, I'd buy into this idea. As it is, though, the third-party developers can't take for granted that the PS3 is going to be a success.
I getcha, and I was aware that if the F-14 was in Vietnam it would have only been there for a very short time before we were completely gone. I was just pointing out that the F-14 did at some point have air-to-ground capability, though limited and seldom used. Heck, even with the capability, using it made little sense unless (as in Bosnia where the A-6 was either gone or almost gone and there still weren't yet enough F/A-18s to cover the lack) the number of available airframes was very limited
Considering that all F-14's were pure fighter, as in no strike capability, until after I got out of the military in '91, I sort of doubt that they dropped any other type of bomb on vietnam, either.
While its true that the F-14's primary role throughout its length of service has been as an air-to-air interceptor, it could indeed drop bombs. I don't know that the F-14 did any bombing in Vietnam (the US Navy had several aircraft to fill this role, most notably the A-6 Intruder which was in service well into the 1990s), but at the very least it did drop laser-guided bombs (with laser designation by other aircraft, presumably F-18s) in Bosnia in 1995.
I didn't see/. posting about FFIII's 600,000 copies sold in 5 days in Japan on a single platform. That seems much more impressive to me.
There are several factors at work:
1. LEGOs are awesome and often Slashworthy.
2. Star Wars (most notably the original trilogy) is nerd porn. 3. Final Fantasy III for the DS is a remake of a game that was never released in the US in its original form and, thus, is slightly obscure. 4. Slashdot is a site based in the US and as such will usually have little interest in the sales of a particular videogame in Japan. 5. FFIII for the DS will be here in the US before Christmas, giving Slashdot more than enough time to geek out over it when it arrives in English (if the previews and screenshots are right, it'll be huge in the US, too). and, finally, 6. 1.1 million is a much cooler number than 600,000, whether the number relates to 1 hardware platform or 20.
What if there isn't a difference? Consider: Sony has already backed off on their original intent to make every PS3 game 1080p (as they've backed off on so much about the PS3), which would seem to indicate that the balance between graphics horsepower and desired detail isn't there to push that many pixels and polygons. Thus, most PS3 games will likely render at 720p/1080i, outputting whichever resolution is requested in the system settings. If the same is true for the Xbox 360 with most games rendering in 720p/1080i and a few future games taking advantage of 1080p, then there is no difference on this count between the two consoles.
Keep in mind that the media is virtually irrelevant. For example, a PC game that comes on a couple of CDs could still be rendered at multiple high resolutions. The only real advantage of Blu-ray in this area would be its ability to store more static 1080p content.
I should also note that there's a huge difference between upconverting from 480p to 720p/1080i/1080p and upconverting 1080i to 1080p. The latter process can be done with virtually no artifacting because it's a simple line-doubling exercise. For a better comparison, hook a (regular NTSC) DVD player up to a digital TV that upconverts NTSC signals to 480p and see how nice that looks - since NTSC and the ATSC 480p standard are close in "resolution" the change to progressive looks great (with a good original signal of course).
Re:Designing in the margins of a older spec -- NOT
on
A Triple-Standard Disk
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· Score: 1
Yeah, see, none of that is a real problem because there are so few Blu-Ray/HD-DVD devices on the market. Believe me, there were DVD players produced in the early days that have huge problems with "modern" dual-layer DVDs. Even my Zenith, produced two years after DVD's debut, could barely handle some discs released towards the end of 2000 (and later, of course).
Anyone who has bought (or will buy over the next year) a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD device should be an early adopter educated enough to know that a couple years down the line they may have to replace that hardware for reasons such as this fancy triple-format disc (if it ever sees production). Either that, or they should be making sure their device has upgradeable firmware that can accommodate such changes.
I really like that concept! It could not only be a nice feature for PS3 owners to "stress test" their system, but if units were failing fast under these conditions Sony haters could have a reason to buy PS3s, over-stress the system until "death" and exchange; lathering, rinsing and repeating to cost Sony lots of money.;)
Well, perhaps because "mad cow disease" (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) is closely related in its effects to a non-beef-consumption-related disorder called Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, not to mention the other disorders mentioned which are also being traced to "bad" proteins.
Whatever the source of the disease, curing it would be a good thing. We know the transmission vectors of HIV and yet that disease still spreads. Maybe we shouldn't try to cure that, either?
It probably shouldn't influence a gamer's decision to purchase the PS3, but it's a lot more interesting to me than the tilt functionality of the new controller, or Blu-ray for that matter.
I won't buy a PS3 this year (or next, unless something magical happens with PS3 pricing), but I don't think there's any way to spin this as a negative. Nice job, Sony...for once.:)
Your analysis is off-kilter. If the Wii sells "millions more" than the Xbox 360 and the PS3 then it will be the third-party platform of choice, just as the PS2 has been. It would be in the hands of not only the die-hard Nintendo fans, it would be hooked up to the TVs of people who didn't buy a Gamecube.
Further, it's not whether or not Nintendo "needs" to sell the Wii at a profit. It's about whether they "can" sell the Wii at a profit. If, for example, Microsoft's production costs for the Xbox 360 were $200, you can bet your bippy that they'd sell it for $250 and be happy to do so. While it's true that part of the reason they are selling consoles at a loss is to gain market share, the corollary to that is that they can't (or don't believe they can) gain said market share without selling their consoles at a loss.
I don't think it would even require being the actual target of the loudspeaker's comments. Speaking for myself, if I was even in the vicinity of someone getting berated by a loudspeaker of this type on a public street, I'd make it my mission to get rid of the things. In fact, I'd probably find myself in jail because I would start disconnecting them or, if that was too difficult, simply breaking them. I don't live in the UK, but that would certainly be my procedure if some idiot in my town got the same "bright idea."
It's probably a weakness in my appreciation for freedom that I don't find passive video cameras oppressive. I figure that since I'm not out on the streets doing anything objectionable, they (the government) can have as many pictures of me as they like. But, being informed by a loudspeaker that a public area in which I am located is being actively monitored crosses the line into "active oppression" (along the lines of being approached by a police officer and asked for identification despite doing nothing but walking down the street), and that I won't tolerate.
Don't worry. The next time there's a discussion about "the death of PC gaming" there will be a dozen people telling us all about how you can make a PC gaming rig for less than the cost of a PS3.:)
I'm pretty sure the idea is that passive cooling is preferable to active cooling - less noise, less power consumption and no moving part to fail. It's of particular interest to those running HTPC machines - if their case is cool enough, they can have a "real" video card with which to do some serious gaming.
I think the question originator understands that political calls are exempt. The question is why are there more polling calls than before? And, are they actually taking a legitimate poll or using the excuse of taking a poll in an effort to get you to listen to a sales pitch at the end?
My number is on the DNC ("Do Not Call" as opposed to "Democratic National Commitee") list and I too have noted a large number of calls claiming to either be taking a poll or a survey. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on one's perspective), I never find out if the survey or poll is legitimate because I say "Have a nice day!" and hang up on them. After all, even if it's a properly done, legitimate poll, someone else who feels like talking to a stranger on the phone will represent my opinion anyway, while to me answering the questions would be annoying.:)
All that said, the number of such calls I receive is so small compared to the days before the DNC list that they just don't bother me - especially since I'm really good at hanging up on people. It's a bit like spam filters in that even if they're not 100% effective they'll hopefully be enough to save major annoyance.
Slashdot Mirror
It would make me cry, too, if I found out something that was false but I believed it to be true anyway.
In truth, even with taxes, neither wireless ($49.99) nor wired ($39.99) 360 controllers are "about $60 each." I assume they cost more in Canada and Australia (two other large countries that use the word "dollars"), but since you didn't specify (and mentioned $200-600 for new consoles) I assume you're talking in US dollars...
If the TV is fixed pixel (usually in a resolution around 720p) it would probably be less about the interlacing and more about the scaling from 1080i to the resolution of the panel. Done poorly, this scaling can produce artifacting that would make discerning smaller details (like small test) problematic. I've been playing Dead Rising (an example of a small-text HD game) in widescreen 1080i on my 27" 4:3 HDTV from 6-7 feet away and haven't had a big problem reading the text - this despite even my corrected vision being suboptimal...
And even you spent more on your Mac laptop than most people would need to do word processing, web browsing, movie watching, downloading, etc. Most console gamers could slip into a $400 eMachines PC and be perfectly comfortable.
The only way in which PC gaming can even possibly be considered "cost effective" is in terms of the cost of games and the large number of games which continue to be compatible. Of course, since consoles have started to include backward compatibility (PS2, Wii and PS3 all with "true" BC, and the 360 with limited BC), even that factor will fade over time.
That this argument continues to be made is a testament to the overall low accuracy/quality of Interweb fora...
Wow. You mean to say that Gamestop has been trying to sell real products that exist instead of trying to sell products that don't? They must really be crazy!
Agreed. I don't think that nostalgia is a primary factor in this. Rather, it's the quality of the games. For example, Geometry Wars, while a throwback to old games, is a relatively recent creation. So, its popularity (I'm a new convert, having just bought a 360 this weekend) is due to the fact that it's fun.
The price of the HD-DVD add-on is a) "awesome" for people who already have an Xbox 360 and want to play high-definition movies (the ones currently available, of course) and b) "okay" to "not as good" for people looking at buying the whole package ($400+200 HD-DVD 360 = $600 "high-end" PS3 or $500 "low-end" PS3 and a game or two).
For me, if I was going to buy into either of the HD formats right now, I'd go HD-DVD. There are more movies currently available and more movies with firm releae dates. If I was looking a year or two into the future, I'd freeze and do nothing because there's just no telling which format will be ascendant. The PS3 could do really well or it could tank; movie studios could cut back or eliminate releases on one format or the other; standalone Blu-ray player prices could suddenly drop precipitously to match standalone HD-DVD players; etc. There's just no way to tell. Some might argue that Blu-ray's technical advantages (higher capacity) give it the edge, but HD-DVD is managing 1080p movie releases just fine, making that factor less important.
There really is no way to tell which format will win. We might have a better idea this time next year, or adoption could still be going so slowly that it will still be up in the air for yet another year.
Amen. I think I'll go out and pick up an Xbox 360 with City of Heroes right now! Or, is that game still only available for Windows PCs?
How can you make that assertion? It only works if, somehow, the PS3 manages to obtain a dominant position in the [Japanese] marketplace (more consoles = better chance an offbeat title will make money). There are many reasons to think that the Wii is in a far better position to get these "interesting games" you speak of, given its more attractive price, its "new" controller, the general ennui regarding the PS3 and its price, as well as what will presumably be lower (non-HD) development costs.
Heck, Nintendo is already showing off these kind of "interesting games" in both the upcoming Wii titles and the DS titles that have been released so far.
Maybe if Sony actually developed some of the awesome "weird games" that showed up on the PS2, I'd buy into this idea. As it is, though, the third-party developers can't take for granted that the PS3 is going to be a success.
I getcha, and I was aware that if the F-14 was in Vietnam it would have only been there for a very short time before we were completely gone. I was just pointing out that the F-14 did at some point have air-to-ground capability, though limited and seldom used. Heck, even with the capability, using it made little sense unless (as in Bosnia where the A-6 was either gone or almost gone and there still weren't yet enough F/A-18s to cover the lack) the number of available airframes was very limited
While its true that the F-14's primary role throughout its length of service has been as an air-to-air interceptor, it could indeed drop bombs. I don't know that the F-14 did any bombing in Vietnam (the US Navy had several aircraft to fill this role, most notably the A-6 Intruder which was in service well into the 1990s), but at the very least it did drop laser-guided bombs (with laser designation by other aircraft, presumably F-18s) in Bosnia in 1995.
I, for one, cannot oblige. You want it too much...
There are several factors at work:
1. LEGOs are awesome and often Slashworthy.
2. Star Wars (most notably the original trilogy) is nerd porn.
3. Final Fantasy III for the DS is a remake of a game that was never released in the US in its original form and, thus, is slightly obscure.
4. Slashdot is a site based in the US and as such will usually have little interest in the sales of a particular videogame in Japan.
5. FFIII for the DS will be here in the US before Christmas, giving Slashdot more than enough time to geek out over it when it arrives in English (if the previews and screenshots are right, it'll be huge in the US, too).
and, finally, 6. 1.1 million is a much cooler number than 600,000, whether the number relates to 1 hardware platform or 20.
Whenever I see the word "comb" meaning "search," I picture a giant afro pick. It's been way too long since I've seen Spaceballs...
What if there isn't a difference? Consider: Sony has already backed off on their original intent to make every PS3 game 1080p (as they've backed off on so much about the PS3), which would seem to indicate that the balance between graphics horsepower and desired detail isn't there to push that many pixels and polygons. Thus, most PS3 games will likely render at 720p/1080i, outputting whichever resolution is requested in the system settings. If the same is true for the Xbox 360 with most games rendering in 720p/1080i and a few future games taking advantage of 1080p, then there is no difference on this count between the two consoles.
Keep in mind that the media is virtually irrelevant. For example, a PC game that comes on a couple of CDs could still be rendered at multiple high resolutions. The only real advantage of Blu-ray in this area would be its ability to store more static 1080p content.
I should also note that there's a huge difference between upconverting from 480p to 720p/1080i/1080p and upconverting 1080i to 1080p. The latter process can be done with virtually no artifacting because it's a simple line-doubling exercise. For a better comparison, hook a (regular NTSC) DVD player up to a digital TV that upconverts NTSC signals to 480p and see how nice that looks - since NTSC and the ATSC 480p standard are close in "resolution" the change to progressive looks great (with a good original signal of course).
Yeah, see, none of that is a real problem because there are so few Blu-Ray/HD-DVD devices on the market. Believe me, there were DVD players produced in the early days that have huge problems with "modern" dual-layer DVDs. Even my Zenith, produced two years after DVD's debut, could barely handle some discs released towards the end of 2000 (and later, of course).
Anyone who has bought (or will buy over the next year) a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD device should be an early adopter educated enough to know that a couple years down the line they may have to replace that hardware for reasons such as this fancy triple-format disc (if it ever sees production). Either that, or they should be making sure their device has upgradeable firmware that can accommodate such changes.
I really like that concept! It could not only be a nice feature for PS3 owners to "stress test" their system, but if units were failing fast under these conditions Sony haters could have a reason to buy PS3s, over-stress the system until "death" and exchange; lathering, rinsing and repeating to cost Sony lots of money. ;)
Well, perhaps because "mad cow disease" (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) is closely related in its effects to a non-beef-consumption-related disorder called Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, not to mention the other disorders mentioned which are also being traced to "bad" proteins.
Whatever the source of the disease, curing it would be a good thing. We know the transmission vectors of HIV and yet that disease still spreads. Maybe we shouldn't try to cure that, either?
It probably shouldn't influence a gamer's decision to purchase the PS3, but it's a lot more interesting to me than the tilt functionality of the new controller, or Blu-ray for that matter.
:)
I won't buy a PS3 this year (or next, unless something magical happens with PS3 pricing), but I don't think there's any way to spin this as a negative. Nice job, Sony...for once.
Your analysis is off-kilter. If the Wii sells "millions more" than the Xbox 360 and the PS3 then it will be the third-party platform of choice, just as the PS2 has been. It would be in the hands of not only the die-hard Nintendo fans, it would be hooked up to the TVs of people who didn't buy a Gamecube.
Further, it's not whether or not Nintendo "needs" to sell the Wii at a profit. It's about whether they "can" sell the Wii at a profit. If, for example, Microsoft's production costs for the Xbox 360 were $200, you can bet your bippy that they'd sell it for $250 and be happy to do so. While it's true that part of the reason they are selling consoles at a loss is to gain market share, the corollary to that is that they can't (or don't believe they can) gain said market share without selling their consoles at a loss.
I don't think it would even require being the actual target of the loudspeaker's comments. Speaking for myself, if I was even in the vicinity of someone getting berated by a loudspeaker of this type on a public street, I'd make it my mission to get rid of the things. In fact, I'd probably find myself in jail because I would start disconnecting them or, if that was too difficult, simply breaking them. I don't live in the UK, but that would certainly be my procedure if some idiot in my town got the same "bright idea."
It's probably a weakness in my appreciation for freedom that I don't find passive video cameras oppressive. I figure that since I'm not out on the streets doing anything objectionable, they (the government) can have as many pictures of me as they like. But, being informed by a loudspeaker that a public area in which I am located is being actively monitored crosses the line into "active oppression" (along the lines of being approached by a police officer and asked for identification despite doing nothing but walking down the street), and that I won't tolerate.
Don't worry. The next time there's a discussion about "the death of PC gaming" there will be a dozen people telling us all about how you can make a PC gaming rig for less than the cost of a PS3. :)
I'm pretty sure the idea is that passive cooling is preferable to active cooling - less noise, less power consumption and no moving part to fail. It's of particular interest to those running HTPC machines - if their case is cool enough, they can have a "real" video card with which to do some serious gaming.
The increase in these calls has occurred over the past year, not, unfortunately, just in this ramp-up to November.
I think the question originator understands that political calls are exempt. The question is why are there more polling calls than before? And, are they actually taking a legitimate poll or using the excuse of taking a poll in an effort to get you to listen to a sales pitch at the end?
:)
My number is on the DNC ("Do Not Call" as opposed to "Democratic National Commitee") list and I too have noted a large number of calls claiming to either be taking a poll or a survey. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on one's perspective), I never find out if the survey or poll is legitimate because I say "Have a nice day!" and hang up on them. After all, even if it's a properly done, legitimate poll, someone else who feels like talking to a stranger on the phone will represent my opinion anyway, while to me answering the questions would be annoying.
All that said, the number of such calls I receive is so small compared to the days before the DNC list that they just don't bother me - especially since I'm really good at hanging up on people. It's a bit like spam filters in that even if they're not 100% effective they'll hopefully be enough to save major annoyance.