IT WAS ROCKSTAR'S DECISION TO RELEASE GTA IV FOR XBOX 360.
1) This article deals with the arrangement for the chaptered content to follow, not the actual development of the core game itself. 2) Rockstar "dumbing down" the graphics of the title is both:
i) premature judgement, as you HAVENT PLAYED THE GAME YET, and
ii) a conscious decision by Rockstar to sell more games, as the 360 has 12 million units on the market.
The idea that you're actually faulting Microsoft for the XBOX's existence, and not Rockstar's decision to develop for it, as though they are some innocent victims whose hands were forced because of circumstance, is some of the most incredibly mind-bendingly misdirected hate I have ever seen in my life.
If Rockstar decided to make the game for the Wii too, is it Nintendo's fault for the game's graphical shortcomings?
Man oh man. If Rockstar had some issue with the 360, then they could have chosen not to develop for it. But at the end of the day, they obviously felt the system was powerful enough to realize the game they wanted to make. Nevermind the fact that the PC by and large is a DVD-only medium too - leaving the PS3 - the system with the weakest sales, as the only system using Blu-Ray. Also, nevermind the fact that testing has shown 360 games by and large look BETTER than their PS3 couterparts - at least for now.
If you have a problem with the XBOX 360's hardware not meeting your tastes, that is fine - don't buy it. But at least 12 million people disagree with you, and Rockstar knows that.
Looks like quite a few of you skipped church on Sunday, because the Microsoft groupthink has been split down two separate veins of baseless conjecture today:
1) 1 million Zunes sold is a drop in the bucket. A DROP IN THE BUCKET I SAY!
Yeah, and this story wasn't about the Zunes market dominance - it was about a MS official stating they met their internal targets of 1 mllion by the end of June. But good lord, for every anecdotal story you have of not knowing anyone who owns a Zune (statistically likely since they have only sold a million units), there is someone else who does. I personally have one friend who owns one, and he seems to enjoy it.
2) Microsoft obviously fudged the numbers! The Zune is crappy, there is no way!
A lot of you are making jokes about how they massaged this number, or how it's probably a million units shipped to retail, but you have nothing to back this up at all, just like you didn't with the Vista license sales stories. Just baseless conjecture sprouting from the basic Microsoft == Evil truism. If they somehow admit to faking the numbers, then string them up accordingly.
Honestly though - take a scroll through all of the comments in this story, and you will cringe. And this is coming from someone who is a happy 3rd Gen iPod owner, and who isn't interested in the Zune in the slightest.
Don't buy their product if it doesn't have what you want, but all of this foaming at the mouth hatred for everything they do or release seriously hamstrings your credibility.
Actually, another read into this, would be that it proves the stance held by some, that the majority of Slashdot commenters need their daily Microsoft "two minutes hate", and will traverse deep into the land of redundancy to get it.
"Using your commenting dollar" to provide feedback, is also interesting, because it insinuates that Slashdot is ultimately just about increasing page views and unique hits, and not about trying to be a good arbiter of what "tech news" is.
The 7th take on Vista sales, featuring more brainstorm conjecturing by Some Guy, is no longer tech news. It's an obsession.
The mantra for used goods, as far as I can remember, is "buyer beware". Plus, if a person buys an XBOX 360 off of eBay, and it isn't what the seller said it was - a fully functioning XBOX - then they can take it up with eBay channels for dealing with such issues. That isn't really Microsoft's problem.
We often rail on Microsoft on this website, for implementing "anti-piracy" measures at the expense and convenience of legitimate customers. As such, I don't see how people could complain about this. They are banning modded boxes from XBOX Live (not BRICKING them, which is an important distinction), and leaving paying customers the hell alone.
As with any mass action like this, there may be a few people who are inadvertently targeted by this, but hopefully Microsoft will take care of them properly. If they don't, we can skewer them then.
If Microsoft brings charges against anyone, obviously they will have to divulge what is being infringed upon. Up to now though, it's just some PR sabre-rattling.
Likewise, until an officer lays a charge on you, he also doesn't have to divulge his suspicions.
I honestly believe all of this is just more of a PR blitz to try and create unease within corporate America, and change the minds of anyone considering adopting Linux on a grand scale. After all, no one wants to deploy an OS that might be breaking the law on hundreds of fronts.
Once this idea, right or wrong, permeates the minds of the executives, they go back to shelling out the Windows Tax as "part of doing business".
I know this is Slashdot and everything, but at what point do the Microsoft stories become redundant?
Yesterday there was a link to a story on this issue, followed by lots of discussion as to why Microsoft is doing what they are doing. Today there is an opinion piece regarding the original story, in which someone lays out unsubstantiated brainstorms, all of which were covered yesterday.
I understand that Microsoft stories are huge traffic and comment generators on this website (any MS story is a guaranteed 300+ comments), but often times it seems as though the editors like to fuel the fire.
Although the PS3 sales are hardly strong, I honestly think the 20GB PS3 was more or less vaporware, from a practical stand-point. I swear to the Lord that I have never seen one in any store. Ever.
I've come across mountains of 60GB PS3's, but never the lesser one. Which makes me curious about this whole "more demand for the better one" thing. How would they even gage something like that, when it's seemingly impossible to find the goddamn things in the first place?
It's like General Electric making five toasters, selling out of them, and then saying demand was too low to justify building them because you only sold five at retail. What planet am I on?
Thank God someone here is approaching this with some moderation, and adherence to the facts of the situation.
It's sad to see what is ultimately a good thing - Microsoft at least recognizes that people want DRM-free music - and is allowing DRM free music to be sold on it's service, and watching it get thrashed by the people here as "copying Apple".
It really lends alot to the statement that Microsoft can do no right with the Slashdot community, or if they do, it isn't recognized until months and months later (i.e. XBOX 360).
Is this a small, possibly even trivial step? Yeah. Did most folks here go ga-ga over the story a few days ago, when Apple announced the same thing? Yeah. It really hurts credibility.
Be glad Microsoft is "copying" what may hopefully be a positive trend in the industry. Scold them when they do shitty things, but at least swallow your words when they take a step in the right direction.
- Scott
My favourite thing about the April 1st posts every year, is reading the commens, and seeing that there is always a solid 10% minority who bitch about the April 1st posts.
It has become a Slashdot tradition to have the day filled with bogus stories designed to amuse, and for the most part, they seem to succeed.
If this doesn't appeal to you, I might suggest going somewhere else for your serious tech news for the day?
Slashdot Mirror
A law is only as strong as those who enforce it, so his idea of "bitching, but not doing anything substantive about it" is still quite valid.
- Scott
It's sad that you can't have a measured, reasonable opinion on anything regarding video game consoles, unless you own them all.
Unless you were being facetious, in which case the joke is on me.
- Scott
Ahh yes - my mistake, Forgot about the HDD, haha. :D
Though to be fair, that was more of a footnote to the rest of the substance in my post.
- Scott
If posting a statistic makes me a "fanboy", then so be it.
Yeah, I own a 360. I also own a PSP, a Nintendo DS, a Nintendo Wii, and a Playstation 2. I have no corporate allegiances.
But yeah - shrug off the substance of my post in whatever way allows you to preserve the most dignity. I will sleep fine either way.
- Scott
Is the flamethrower off yet? Okay, here goes:
IT WAS ROCKSTAR'S DECISION TO RELEASE GTA IV FOR XBOX 360.
1) This article deals with the arrangement for the chaptered content to follow, not the actual development of the core game itself.
2) Rockstar "dumbing down" the graphics of the title is both:
i) premature judgement, as you HAVENT PLAYED THE GAME YET, and
ii) a conscious decision by Rockstar to sell more games, as the 360 has 12 million units on the market.
The idea that you're actually faulting Microsoft for the XBOX's existence, and not Rockstar's decision to develop for it, as though they are some innocent victims whose hands were forced because of circumstance, is some of the most incredibly mind-bendingly misdirected hate I have ever seen in my life.
If Rockstar decided to make the game for the Wii too, is it Nintendo's fault for the game's graphical shortcomings?
Man oh man. If Rockstar had some issue with the 360, then they could have chosen not to develop for it. But at the end of the day, they obviously felt the system was powerful enough to realize the game they wanted to make. Nevermind the fact that the PC by and large is a DVD-only medium too - leaving the PS3 - the system with the weakest sales, as the only system using Blu-Ray. Also, nevermind the fact that testing has shown 360 games by and large look BETTER than their PS3 couterparts - at least for now.
If you have a problem with the XBOX 360's hardware not meeting your tastes, that is fine - don't buy it. But at least 12 million people disagree with you, and Rockstar knows that.
- Scott
Looks like quite a few of you skipped church on Sunday, because the Microsoft groupthink has been split down two separate veins of baseless conjecture today:
1) 1 million Zunes sold is a drop in the bucket. A DROP IN THE BUCKET I SAY!
Yeah, and this story wasn't about the Zunes market dominance - it was about a MS official stating they met their internal targets of 1 mllion by the end of June. But good lord, for every anecdotal story you have of not knowing anyone who owns a Zune (statistically likely since they have only sold a million units), there is someone else who does. I personally have one friend who owns one, and he seems to enjoy it.
2) Microsoft obviously fudged the numbers! The Zune is crappy, there is no way!
A lot of you are making jokes about how they massaged this number, or how it's probably a million units shipped to retail, but you have nothing to back this up at all, just like you didn't with the Vista license sales stories. Just baseless conjecture sprouting from the basic Microsoft == Evil truism. If they somehow admit to faking the numbers, then string them up accordingly.
Honestly though - take a scroll through all of the comments in this story, and you will cringe. And this is coming from someone who is a happy 3rd Gen iPod owner, and who isn't interested in the Zune in the slightest.
Don't buy their product if it doesn't have what you want, but all of this foaming at the mouth hatred for everything they do or release seriously hamstrings your credibility.
- Scott
Actually, another read into this, would be that it proves the stance held by some, that the majority of Slashdot commenters need their daily Microsoft "two minutes hate", and will traverse deep into the land of redundancy to get it.
"Using your commenting dollar" to provide feedback, is also interesting, because it insinuates that Slashdot is ultimately just about increasing page views and unique hits, and not about trying to be a good arbiter of what "tech news" is.
The 7th take on Vista sales, featuring more brainstorm conjecturing by Some Guy, is no longer tech news. It's an obsession.
- Scott
The mantra for used goods, as far as I can remember, is "buyer beware". Plus, if a person buys an XBOX 360 off of eBay, and it isn't what the seller said it was - a fully functioning XBOX - then they can take it up with eBay channels for dealing with such issues. That isn't really Microsoft's problem.
We often rail on Microsoft on this website, for implementing "anti-piracy" measures at the expense and convenience of legitimate customers. As such, I don't see how people could complain about this. They are banning modded boxes from XBOX Live (not BRICKING them, which is an important distinction), and leaving paying customers the hell alone.
As with any mass action like this, there may be a few people who are inadvertently targeted by this, but hopefully Microsoft will take care of them properly. If they don't, we can skewer them then.
- Scott
Your metaphor doesn't really hold water though.
If Microsoft brings charges against anyone, obviously they will have to divulge what is being infringed upon. Up to now though, it's just some PR sabre-rattling.
Likewise, until an officer lays a charge on you, he also doesn't have to divulge his suspicions.
I honestly believe all of this is just more of a PR blitz to try and create unease within corporate America, and change the minds of anyone considering adopting Linux on a grand scale. After all, no one wants to deploy an OS that might be breaking the law on hundreds of fronts.
Once this idea, right or wrong, permeates the minds of the executives, they go back to shelling out the Windows Tax as "part of doing business".
- Scott
I know this is Slashdot and everything, but at what point do the Microsoft stories become redundant?
Yesterday there was a link to a story on this issue, followed by lots of discussion as to why Microsoft is doing what they are doing. Today there is an opinion piece regarding the original story, in which someone lays out unsubstantiated brainstorms, all of which were covered yesterday.
I understand that Microsoft stories are huge traffic and comment generators on this website (any MS story is a guaranteed 300+ comments), but often times it seems as though the editors like to fuel the fire.
I don't know. Just thinking out loud...
- Scott
Although the PS3 sales are hardly strong, I honestly think the 20GB PS3 was more or less vaporware, from a practical stand-point. I swear to the Lord that I have never seen one in any store. Ever.
I've come across mountains of 60GB PS3's, but never the lesser one. Which makes me curious about this whole "more demand for the better one" thing. How would they even gage something like that, when it's seemingly impossible to find the goddamn things in the first place?
It's like General Electric making five toasters, selling out of them, and then saying demand was too low to justify building them because you only sold five at retail. What planet am I on?
- Scott
Thank God someone here is approaching this with some moderation, and adherence to the facts of the situation. It's sad to see what is ultimately a good thing - Microsoft at least recognizes that people want DRM-free music - and is allowing DRM free music to be sold on it's service, and watching it get thrashed by the people here as "copying Apple". It really lends alot to the statement that Microsoft can do no right with the Slashdot community, or if they do, it isn't recognized until months and months later (i.e. XBOX 360). Is this a small, possibly even trivial step? Yeah. Did most folks here go ga-ga over the story a few days ago, when Apple announced the same thing? Yeah. It really hurts credibility. Be glad Microsoft is "copying" what may hopefully be a positive trend in the industry. Scold them when they do shitty things, but at least swallow your words when they take a step in the right direction. - Scott
My favourite thing about the April 1st posts every year, is reading the commens, and seeing that there is always a solid 10% minority who bitch about the April 1st posts.
It has become a Slashdot tradition to have the day filled with bogus stories designed to amuse, and for the most part, they seem to succeed.
If this doesn't appeal to you, I might suggest going somewhere else for your serious tech news for the day?
- Scott