While I agree with your argument, using the term CPU to refer to a computer's case is an issue of misinformation, not an issue of semantics. CPU is an acronym that stands for Central Processing Unit. Anyone writing for a tech blog should know what it stands for.
Likewise, Apple takes pains to make setting up a Mac as simple as possible. When you buy a Mac, it comes in a box with a minimum of packing materials, and an envelope of documentation. You unpack the Mac; plug the CPU into the wall socket; plug the keyboard, mouse, and monitor into the CPU; and switch it on. It detects an Internet connection (if one is available), and walks you through a two-minute configuration and setup with an easy-to-follow wizard. You want me to do what with my processor?
So you mean people actually like looking like a beefed up man with woman hips who looks like he has a constant back problem? Human males always looked awkward to me, and even more so Night Elf males. Don't get me started on Dwarves or Gnomes. Not everyone plays Horde just because they like the racial abilities, a lot of us do for two reasons:
1) I get to look like a bad ass.
2) Most alliance players have no idea what they're doing.
Many PVP servers back in the day were very close to a 1:1 ratio. There are many servers that were as high as 1:3 (Alliance:Horde) ratio. I don't know how it is now, I quit that infernal game months ago.
The counter-point, though, is that notable exception I've mentioned: the undead. (Technically called the "Forsaken".) The WoW undead aren't the pretty sanitized VTM vampires, but something more hideous than anything you could get in Fable or in most other games. They look literally like someone who's been rotting in a grave for two weeks and then got dug out. You know, with missing flesh, tattered clothes, bones poking out, etc. That's because they're zombies.
Orcs' stun resistance, before it got nerfed, was arguably one of the most useful racial abilities in the game. Combined with rogue/warrior talents, you could have a stun resistance of almost 50%. When most of the skills used in PVP involve stunning your opponent to let you kill them faster, this is an invaluable asset to have.
They also get +5 to axes. Many Arms warriors use Axe spec for crit. I'm not sure about the new talent tree, as I stopped playing shortly after BC came out, but I'm pretty sure Fury warriors could take advantage of this too (even moreso, as +5 to a weapon skill helps a lot to landing hits)
But really, when it all comes down to it, the reason no one plays Orcs is that they look dumb. TAUREN POWER!
Well, it was designed as a fake Grand Theft Auto game... It doesn't sound all that creative, though. I think a better "virus" would be making you actually drink coffee with your girlfriend(s) in GTA.
Thank you.
I think this article is pretty lame, as most of the "10 biggest" scandals all happen to be within the last two years. I find that pretty hard to believe.
Warcraft is a knockoff of Warhammer to begin with. However, the film in question would actually be based on Warhammer 40,000, which bares a closer resemblance to Blizzard's Starcraft universe. I wonder how that happened?
What? You don't reduce the performance of a console? I'm, sorry but that is really the most asinine thing I have ever seen someone say. Ironic much? When all you have to go off of in the summary is:
Called 'Falcon', it's a cost-reduced system using 65nm chips instead of the at-launch 90nm electronics not everyone is going to understand the difference. A lot of people read 'cost-reduced' and think 'less performance'.
Coincidentally, the target market for the Wii is 9-year-olds anyways. Which is why so many people of all ages are buying them? I have a lot of middle-aged co-workers who haven't touched a console in their lives before picking up a Wii. The target audience for the Wii isn't 9 year olds, it's everyone. Anyone can enjoy a good game of Mario Party or Wii Sports. Sure, maybe the graphics are childish compared to your average zombie-stomp shoot-em-up, but even those can get old after a while.
Would you mind telling me which (successful) consoles have implemented motion sensing before? I can't think of any off the top of my head.
Blu Ray - I'm tired of people treating the PS3 as a Blu Ray player like it's the best thing since sliced bread. I do not own an HD television, and watching Blu Ray movies will not look any better on my analog television screen than DVD movies will. End of story.
DVD, CD, SACD Playback, streaming video & audio, H264 video, AAC, MP3, WMA audio - My PC can do this. Hell, my Xbox does this, with a software modification (short of maybe SACD playback, but isn't that more or less just AAC in CD/DVD format?), sure, but it still costs a lot less than $500.
an integrated web browser, wifi, gigabit LAN, bluetooth, USB connectivity, a 60Gb hard disk, - Again, all things my PC are capable of. Why anyone would want to spend so much money on a device just to browse the web on their television from an awkward interface with an even more awkward control device (I've tried browsing the web with my Wii, it's not all that fun with the Wiimote). Mind you, I can see how being able to plug a USB mouse/keyboard would help, but most people already own PCs. Why spend that much money just to turn your TV into another one? Aren't you going to be spending more of your time on the PS3 playing games?
HDMI 1.3 output, - Makes sense, what with the Blu Ray capabilities and all. But again, I don't own an HD tv, and I probably won't for some time. What, am I supposed to spend $500 on a console AND $500+ on a TV?
wirelesss controllers, - I bought a logitech wireless controller for my PS2 for $30. It works great. The Wii has wireless controllers, and you can buy rechargeable batteries for $20. The Xbox 360 has wireless controllers. How is this unique in any shape or form?
free online network support, - Support for what? How to connect your fancy new block of plastic to your network?
Integrated Store - So, once I spend $500 on a device that has functions of devices I already have in my home, I have to spend more money to fully use all the features? Buy music online? Can I take it with me on my Ipod? Or does it stay on the console's "massive" hard drive.
chat & messaging, ability to run Linux and doubtless many other things? - Once again, my PC already has chat and messaging, and I run Linux. I don't see how all these "features" are really anything to scream at, just software thrown onto a device in a feeble attempt to make up for the high price it cost to make. No thanks, I'll wait until it's much cheaper.
I've always had reservations about onboard graphics, but I'll look into it (I'm already using a 6600GT, but maybe there's something I could find that at least has dedicated vram). I chose a nice motherboard from the start, but waited too long to try to pick up a barton 3200+ (i have a barton 2500+, but it runs stable at 3200+) I'm just not sure how much improvement Socket 939 is over 754 is over 462 (before going to 64-bit/dual core, but doesnt that only help if you have an OS capable of such processes?), or DDR vs DDR2.
Hard drives do come by pretty cheap now, I had two 300gb PATA drives in my system but one crashed about a week ago and I lost all my data. I took this chance to reflect, reformat, and install debian instead of windows.
No, I know how it works, I just thought it was funny the way those words looked together. But I think a better way of looking at it is not as "owners" of code, but rather as "authors".
I'm not doubting that it will help out the console. And yes, technically all consoles are bare bones, but for about $500 I got a Wii with:
Two controllers
Two nunchucks
Zelda
Elebits
Super Monkey Ball
Rayman: Raving Rabids
A 1gig SD card
Again, for that same price, you end up with a console and a controller for the PS3. I've had a lot of fun with the games I bought for my Wii, so maybe I'm biased. I used to be a Sony fan, but most of their titles as of late haven't been impressing me.
I haven't upgraded my motherboard in a while, so I still have a Socket 462 processor and DDR1 ram. I'm really not sure what I could upgrade short of replacing the PSU, CPU, Motherboard, RAM and Video Card (I don't see many boards that have AGP or DDR1 on them anymore). It's a nice PC, and it's served me well for a long time, but there really isn't much I could upgrade without just replacing the whole thing.
A console with no games and one controller? It's bare bone. What does a 60 Gb hard drive in my console do for me that a 20 Gb one doesn't? Better yet, what does all that extra space do that having the extra space on my PC wouldn't?
Last I checked, 60Gb hard drives weren't $100 more than 20Gb hard drives.
I tried Qemu, but it ran 40x slower than windows did when I was running it in vmware (when it was free). And yes, I have kqemu installed, and I have almost a gig of ram set aside for the emulated XP computer. It'd be nice to be able to just run Win98se for my windows crap, but Photoshop wont run in that environment.
I understand the logic behind the site, but why support a system that doesn't pay the bands?!? (I understand they also don't pay the labels, but I don't care about that) Is copying data that difficult for many people?!? Most often, buying music CDs doesn't pay the band, it pays the labels (unless you bought the CD from a band who recorded and produced the music themselves, in which case it's probably a burned disc anyway). If the band has been backed by a label, they've already been paid by the label to license their music and sell it. If you want to support the band, go to their shows (though a lot of times, the same principle applies)
Or perhaps people are too cheap to buy their music used?!? Buying it used? Doesn't that defeat the purpose of trying to support the band? Say someone buys a CD for $14. They listen to it for a while, then it ends up at a used CD store once they're bored with it. I go in and buy the same CD for $6. The record label still only made that first $14. The only people that gain from used CD sales are used CD stores.
Since when does education always have to equal "boring"? On that same note, since when does "fun" always have to equal "non-educational"?
There's no arguing that a lot of games don't lend much in the way of teaching traditional subjects like science and history, but I think that a lot of people seem to think that education means "memorizing facts". That's bullshit.
To learn any life skill, you need to learn how to do something; the method. Without this, the facts are useless. A lot of video games involve problem solving skills that can be applied to many other facets of life.
When I played WoW, I had friends who learned to play the economy and amass large amounts of money. While this practice has low (real life) risk and equally low rewards, the same principles apply to the real economy. Were any of them real life economists? I doubt it.
A lot of video games help people to think with logic and reasoning at the most basic of levels. Mario has cause and effect. You jump, the Goomba dies. You don't, Bowser kills you. Tetris has made a friend of mine amazing at stacking boxes inside a U-haul van (which was extremely useful in my recent move). They are skills everyone uses on a day-to-day basis, instead of facts that won't help you unless you decide to go on Jeopardy, enter into Politics, or become a teacher (to continue the cycle with newer minds).
Slashdot Mirror
While I agree with your argument, using the term CPU to refer to a computer's case is an issue of misinformation, not an issue of semantics. CPU is an acronym that stands for Central Processing Unit. Anyone writing for a tech blog should know what it stands for.
1) I get to look like a bad ass.
2) Most alliance players have no idea what they're doing.
Many PVP servers back in the day were very close to a 1:1 ratio. There are many servers that were as high as 1:3 (Alliance:Horde) ratio. I don't know how it is now, I quit that infernal game months ago.
The counter-point, though, is that notable exception I've mentioned: the undead. (Technically called the "Forsaken".) The WoW undead aren't the pretty sanitized VTM vampires, but something more hideous than anything you could get in Fable or in most other games. They look literally like someone who's been rotting in a grave for two weeks and then got dug out. You know, with missing flesh, tattered clothes, bones poking out, etc. That's because they're zombies.
Orcs' stun resistance, before it got nerfed, was arguably one of the most useful racial abilities in the game. Combined with rogue/warrior talents, you could have a stun resistance of almost 50%. When most of the skills used in PVP involve stunning your opponent to let you kill them faster, this is an invaluable asset to have.
They also get +5 to axes. Many Arms warriors use Axe spec for crit. I'm not sure about the new talent tree, as I stopped playing shortly after BC came out, but I'm pretty sure Fury warriors could take advantage of this too (even moreso, as +5 to a weapon skill helps a lot to landing hits)
But really, when it all comes down to it, the reason no one plays Orcs is that they look dumb. TAUREN POWER!
Well, it was designed as a fake Grand Theft Auto game... It doesn't sound all that creative, though. I think a better "virus" would be making you actually drink coffee with your girlfriend(s) in GTA.
Thank you.
I think this article is pretty lame, as most of the "10 biggest" scandals all happen to be within the last two years. I find that pretty hard to believe.
They're waiting for you, Gordon. In the Test Chamber.
Yes, I realize this. My post was (intended as) more of a knock on Blizzard than anything.
Warcraft is a knockoff of Warhammer to begin with. However, the film in question would actually be based on Warhammer 40,000, which bares a closer resemblance to Blizzard's Starcraft universe. I wonder how that happened?
Would you mind telling me which (successful) consoles have implemented motion sensing before? I can't think of any off the top of my head.
I, for one, am looking forward to Sadness.
Blu Ray - I'm tired of people treating the PS3 as a Blu Ray player like it's the best thing since sliced bread. I do not own an HD television, and watching Blu Ray movies will not look any better on my analog television screen than DVD movies will. End of story.
DVD, CD, SACD Playback, streaming video & audio, H264 video, AAC, MP3, WMA audio - My PC can do this. Hell, my Xbox does this, with a software modification (short of maybe SACD playback, but isn't that more or less just AAC in CD/DVD format?), sure, but it still costs a lot less than $500.
an integrated web browser, wifi, gigabit LAN, bluetooth, USB connectivity, a 60Gb hard disk, - Again, all things my PC are capable of. Why anyone would want to spend so much money on a device just to browse the web on their television from an awkward interface with an even more awkward control device (I've tried browsing the web with my Wii, it's not all that fun with the Wiimote). Mind you, I can see how being able to plug a USB mouse/keyboard would help, but most people already own PCs. Why spend that much money just to turn your TV into another one? Aren't you going to be spending more of your time on the PS3 playing games?
HDMI 1.3 output, - Makes sense, what with the Blu Ray capabilities and all. But again, I don't own an HD tv, and I probably won't for some time. What, am I supposed to spend $500 on a console AND $500+ on a TV?
wirelesss controllers, - I bought a logitech wireless controller for my PS2 for $30. It works great. The Wii has wireless controllers, and you can buy rechargeable batteries for $20. The Xbox 360 has wireless controllers. How is this unique in any shape or form?
free online network support, - Support for what? How to connect your fancy new block of plastic to your network?
Integrated Store - So, once I spend $500 on a device that has functions of devices I already have in my home, I have to spend more money to fully use all the features? Buy music online? Can I take it with me on my Ipod? Or does it stay on the console's "massive" hard drive.
chat & messaging, ability to run Linux and doubtless many other things? - Once again, my PC already has chat and messaging, and I run Linux. I don't see how all these "features" are really anything to scream at, just software thrown onto a device in a feeble attempt to make up for the high price it cost to make. No thanks, I'll wait until it's much cheaper.
I've always had reservations about onboard graphics, but I'll look into it (I'm already using a 6600GT, but maybe there's something I could find that at least has dedicated vram). I chose a nice motherboard from the start, but waited too long to try to pick up a barton 3200+ (i have a barton 2500+, but it runs stable at 3200+) I'm just not sure how much improvement Socket 939 is over 754 is over 462 (before going to 64-bit/dual core, but doesnt that only help if you have an OS capable of such processes?), or DDR vs DDR2.
Hard drives do come by pretty cheap now, I had two 300gb PATA drives in my system but one crashed about a week ago and I lost all my data. I took this chance to reflect, reformat, and install debian instead of windows.
No, I know how it works, I just thought it was funny the way those words looked together. But I think a better way of looking at it is not as "owners" of code, but rather as "authors".
I'm not doubting that it will help out the console. And yes, technically all consoles are bare bones, but for about $500 I got a Wii with:
Two controllers
Two nunchucks
Zelda
Elebits
Super Monkey Ball
Rayman: Raving Rabids
A 1gig SD card
Again, for that same price, you end up with a console and a controller for the PS3. I've had a lot of fun with the games I bought for my Wii, so maybe I'm biased. I used to be a Sony fan, but most of their titles as of late haven't been impressing me.
I haven't upgraded my motherboard in a while, so I still have a Socket 462 processor and DDR1 ram. I'm really not sure what I could upgrade short of replacing the PSU, CPU, Motherboard, RAM and Video Card (I don't see many boards that have AGP or DDR1 on them anymore). It's a nice PC, and it's served me well for a long time, but there really isn't much I could upgrade without just replacing the whole thing.
Maybe I'm just too picky.
A console with no games and one controller? It's bare bone. What does a 60 Gb hard drive in my console do for me that a 20 Gb one doesn't? Better yet, what does all that extra space do that having the extra space on my PC wouldn't?
Last I checked, 60Gb hard drives weren't $100 more than 20Gb hard drives.
Still way more than I will pay for bare bones console.
Sadly, I could probably double the performance of my PC for that price.
"Owners" of "public" code?
Thanks a bunch, I'll have to check it out when I get home.
I tried Qemu, but it ran 40x slower than windows did when I was running it in vmware (when it was free). And yes, I have kqemu installed, and I have almost a gig of ram set aside for the emulated XP computer. It'd be nice to be able to just run Win98se for my windows crap, but Photoshop wont run in that environment.
Any other nice (free) alternatives?
Or perhaps people are too cheap to buy their music used?!? Buying it used? Doesn't that defeat the purpose of trying to support the band? Say someone buys a CD for $14. They listen to it for a while, then it ends up at a used CD store once they're bored with it. I go in and buy the same CD for $6. The record label still only made that first $14. The only people that gain from used CD sales are used CD stores.
Damn, you beat me to it.
Since when does education always have to equal "boring"? On that same note, since when does "fun" always have to equal "non-educational"?
There's no arguing that a lot of games don't lend much in the way of teaching traditional subjects like science and history, but I think that a lot of people seem to think that education means "memorizing facts". That's bullshit.
To learn any life skill, you need to learn how to do something; the method. Without this, the facts are useless. A lot of video games involve problem solving skills that can be applied to many other facets of life.
When I played WoW, I had friends who learned to play the economy and amass large amounts of money. While this practice has low (real life) risk and equally low rewards, the same principles apply to the real economy. Were any of them real life economists? I doubt it.
A lot of video games help people to think with logic and reasoning at the most basic of levels. Mario has cause and effect. You jump, the Goomba dies. You don't, Bowser kills you. Tetris has made a friend of mine amazing at stacking boxes inside a U-haul van (which was extremely useful in my recent move). They are skills everyone uses on a day-to-day basis, instead of facts that won't help you unless you decide to go on Jeopardy, enter into Politics, or become a teacher (to continue the cycle with newer minds).