It's doubtful that the Revolution will be more powerful than the Xbox 360 (from what specs I've seen, it's going to have 3 CPU's running all @ 3.2 Ghz).
Any idea what all that is going to cost you yet though? We're at the point now in console video games were I really don't see much advance in graphics. Even if the Revolution is less powerful than the 360, I probably won't be able to tell the difference, and if the 360 ends up costing $700, then what's the point? I certainly wouldn't pay twice the price to get 25% more polygons/sec out of the machine.
Frankly, I think the current generation of systems is plenty powerful enough to graphically do basically anything that I'd ever want to see in a game. I'll probably just sit back and enjoy my Gamecube and Dreamcast games while everyone else is chasing more and more polygons.
Although Soul Calibur had more than it's share of T&A, the Dead or Alive totally took the cake in that department. I don't even know how people can take that series seriously anymore, especially with that ridiculous volleyball game.
But you know full well that tons of dorks will make both themselves, and some nude (or as close as you'll be able to get) woman and make them continously fight each other.
The fun part about that is that Microsoft more or less bullied Sega's Dreamcast out of the market. I still LOVE my dreamcast, and it died a far premature death.
How do you figure this? The general concensus is that the Dreamcast was killed by a combination of the popularity of the PSX/PS2, the poor public image Sega had after the failed SegaCD, 32X and Saturn, and lets not forget the rampant piracy of Dreamcast games. In fact, Microsoft actually helped Sega somewhat by releasing a version of Windows CE that was used by some developers to make their games.
Don't get me wrong, I love my Dreamcast, but by the time the XBox was released, Sega was already out of the race.
Guys, guys... despite what magazines and internet elitists would lead you to believe, you don't have to choose one system over the other just yet. This isn't a horse race where you have to bet on a winner... instead, just wait it out and you can choose the winner halfway through the race instead.
I realize this is the slashdot crowd, which is mostly technological early-adopters, so my words will likely fall on deaf ears, but hopefully someone will read this and come to their senses....
Back in the early 90's, I read GamePro regularly (it wasn't nearly as bad back then as it is now), and was VERY interested in the Atari Jaguar, the amazing new system that Atari was working on... I have a few issues that are completely dog-earred from me reading the same features and previews over and over and over again. Eventually, I convinced my parents to buy me a Jaguar for christmas shortly after it was released. As most of you know (and those of you who don't would likely have figured it out by the fact that you'd never heard of the Jaguar before this post), the Jaguar was completely swept out the door when the Playstation came out. Despite a few high-quality games (like Tempest 2000 and Alien vs. Predator), the system was a miserable failure, and sent Atari through a series of buyouts and chapter 11's that basically put it out of the industry altogether (until Infogrames came around, but that's another story). Although I did (and still do) enjoy my Jaguar, it was a poor decision to buy into it so soon... I didn't have enough information to make an informed choice about which system to buy into at the time, and I should have waited until it became apparent. Instead, I listened to the hype. I vowed never again to do that.
I have no specific bias towards either the PSP or the DS at the moment, and I don't plan to buy either for at least three or four months (if at all), at which point it should be fairly obvious which is the "winner" and which is the "loser". In the meantime, there are still plenty of worthwhile GBA games to play, and whatever games the DS and PSP have will be just as fun to play four months down the road as they would be today, and by then they'll likely even be cheaper.
Then again, maybe I just have more patience than the average person.
It's Nintendo. The exact amount of amazing required for them to have a successful console is: 1. Mario Revolution 2. Zelda Revolution 3. Pokemon Revolution
Actually, I'd attribute their more recent disappointments in the console business to a failure to produce on your third point. What Pokemon games were released for the N64? Pokemon Snap (A game where you take pictures of Pokemon), Hey You Pikachu (A game where you talk to Pikachu), Pokemon Stadium 1 & 2 (Which let you battle Pokemon in 3D, primarily meant to enhance the Gameboy games), and Pokemon Puzzle League (A decent puzzle game with a Pokemon theme). Why did they not release an elaborate 3D RPG similar to the Gameboy games, except with killer graphics? A game like that could have easily made millions for Nintendo, and possibly saved the N64 from it's destiny!
Now, what Pokemon games have they released for the Gamecube? Pokemon Channel (A game where you arrange programming for a Pokemon-themed TV station), Pokemon Box (An accessory that basically only exists to transfer Pokemon between the GBA games and a GC memory card), and Pokemon Colloseum (Basically an updated version of Pokemon Stadium). Again, where's the 3D Pokemon RPG that kids would obviously be interested in?
I'm not even a fan of Pokemon myself, but I am a fan of Nintendo and it seems like such a glaring omission in Nintendo's plans that it kind of grates on my nerves. Why waste their time on dreck like Pokemon Channel when they could be working on the game that might actually SAVE the Gamecube (or at least pull it out of the sewer for a short while)? Then again, the Pokemon fad has died down a lot since the N64 was around, so it might be a moot point by now....
MS and Sony, and Atari and Sega in their day, all just churn out identikit consoles and handhelds.
Well, I can't vouch for Sony and Atari, but I won't stand idly by while someone claims that Sega doesn't innovate... This is the same company that released Typing of the Dead, Samba de Amigo, and Seaman for crying out loud. That takes some balls right there. Plus, I'd argue that the Dreamcast was easily one of the more innovative consoles in history. Lets take a look...
The Dreamcast was the first console to come with a modem, and pretty much opened the door to online gaming for the unwashed masses. Phantasy Star Online being one of the more popular MMORPGs at the time, and the first to appear on a console.
It was also the first system to feature analog triggers on the controller, which seem to be the norm these days. (Actually, this honor should probably be given to the 3D controllers that Sega released for the Saturn... but these were after-market controllers released near the end of the Saturn's life. Plus, the Dreamcast controllers are quite obviously based on their design).
They released a microphone that could be used to talk to other people online in Alien Front Online (Take that SOCOM and XBox Live).
The Dreamcast can link with the NeoGeo Pocket on a number of games, which could easily be considered inspiration for Nintendo's GC-GBA linking features.
The Dreamcast was also the first system (and might still be the ONLY system, I'm not sure) that actually generates a VGA picture internally, thus allowing for easy hookup to a VGA monitor without using an expensive upscan converter.
The idea of the VMU was an incredibly unique idea, allowing you to take a little bit of the game with you in the form of minigames, not to mention letting you trade saves away from the console.
They also offered a mouse, keyboard, driving wheels, light guns, twin sticks (japan only), and even maracas as controllers.
If you don't consider all THAT to be innovative, then I really think you'll be disappointed with whatever Nintendo has up their sleeve...
... and the M2 was nowhere near production (M2: Coming soon!)
Actually, the M2 was essentially cancelled at the last minute. There are working prototypes out there, and in fact, they're not even that hard to find. Right now there are TWO prototype M2's on eBay, and one of them has a Buy It Now of only $30. Of course, finding games and such might be a bit of a problem, but the point is that this system was almost out and had the door slammed in it's face.
I'm not 100% sure which came first, but it's also worth pointing out that the Memorex VIS and Bandai Playdia both came with built-in wireless controllers in the very early 90's... there's also the Nuon that came out in 2000. Of course, all three are terribly obscure (If you haven't heard of any of them, consult Google), so it's no huge surprise they're forgotten... but...
The Playdia was only released in Japan, and the Nuon was essentially a DVD player (which obviously would have a remote), so you can kind of exclude them from the argument... but the Memorex VIS definitely WAS released in North America, and actually runs some flavor of Windows as an operating system, so you would think Microsoft would have some recollection of this system... I can't blame them for trying to forget it though.
Funny story actually... Memorex actually refused to allow any Windows or Microsoft logos on their product or in the software, even though Microsoft wanted them to (Notice the "Compatible with Windows CE" that Sega had to stick on the front of the Dreamcast). Supposedly, the decision went all the way to Bill Gates, who gave in and allowed it to go unlabelled.
You're not getting a bad connection due to an infinitessimally thin layer of dust, unless you've been letting these carts sit around for a decade or more.
Well, they stopped making NES games in the early 90's, so yes, the carts HAVE been sitting around for a decade or more.
I wonder if Sega (NFL2k) or Midway(NFLBlitz!) will be able to pull the same trick off [Succeeding without a license]
I very much doubt it... the days of sports games without licenses was a LONG time ago as far as technology goes. Back then, it didn't really matter much anyways, because when the game is actually playing, you can't see a logo on the jersey of a 10-pixel high player. These days, fans are eager to buy a sports game where they can actually recognize players faces, so do you really think they'd settle for a game that can't even show the proper logos? Sorry, but I'm fairly certain that 99% of people would just see it as being inferior and going with EA. It may still be football even without the players, but it sure wouldn't be *NFL* football.
My guess is that Sega/ESPN will probably just try to make do with an NCAA license for the next 5 years, perhaps allowing players some nice customization abilities that might make up for the lack of NFL. Frankly, I'd *love* to see Sega pick up a CFL license. Hell, the CFL would probably GIVE a license away just for the publicity they might gain from it!
Frankly, if I were in charge of Sega, I'd probably try to sue EA (Or maybe even the NFL) for monopolistic business practices...
A law, however, is something that is quite set in stone. In your example, you're actually referring to a set of equations that Newton put forth. These equations are quite absolute and will always reproduce the same output no matter how often a given set of variables is retested.
Well, no, not really... Newton's "Laws" don't apply at relativistic speeds. That's why we have relativity. The only reason we still call them "Newton's Laws" is due to tradition. If the same scientific rigor, dogma, and beuraucracy was around in Newton's times, they probably wouldn't have called them "Laws" in the first place.
It would be short-sighted to assume that simply because we have more proof of frame dragging that relativity has been "proven" and should be considered a "law". Indeed, there are almost certainly extreme cases (which we have yet to encounter or even predict) where relativity ceases to provide adequate results, just like how Newton fails to provide adequate results at extremely high speeds. Does relativity still hold at the center of a black hole? Did it hold during the early stages of the universes creation? The fact is that every new theory is just an attempt to get more and more accurate results by taking into account new extreme possibilities as we come to realize them. We started off with Newton, relativity built on that, quantum mechanics built on relativity, and perhaps in the future we will be able to say that string theory built on quantum mechanics. We'll never really be able to say that we know something absolutely because we will never be sure that there aren't some odd set of extreme circumstances that cause things to work differently. And if you think that we'll never find such extreme circumstances, then go back in time and try to explain to Newton why time dilates just because you're travelling really fast.
Of course, the whole discussion is rather foolish.... in the end, it doesn't really matter whether we call it a "law" or a "theory". Even when we do inevitably find a case where relativity ceases to apply, it will still be used for more mundane cases just like the way we still use Newton's laws for mundane cases that don't require the extra precision of relativity. Even when we do manage to prove that it's not absolute, it's already proven that it's useful at the very least.
Does this mean Jeff Minter's new game Unity will be coming out eventually? I've been looking forward to it for quite some time, and the thought of another one of Yak's games coming out was one of the factors that made me buy a Gamecube in the first place.
Why would they be Windows only? Obviously, Microsoft won't be giving out any source code or anything like that, but I'm sure some Linux hackers would have these things working perfectly in Linux less than a week after they're out. Heck, if they're nice, HID-compliant devices, they'd probably work right out of the box.
They'll make up some marketing bullshit about needing a specific controller configuration to play these games and pc controllers don't meet the standards
Well, to some extent, that's already correct. I mean, if the X-Box had regular USB jacks in place of it's controller ports, I bet you'd get all kinds of morons calling tech support complaining that their controller doesn't work, only to find out that they're using some wacky PC USB controller that doesn't have enough buttons/axes. I mean heck, I would never plug The Claw into a console and expect it to work, but to people who aren't computer literate, it's the same port, so why shouldn't it work?
Perhaps a better idea would be to modify the jack just enough so that X-Box 2 controllers would fit in "normal" PC USB jacks, but so that regular PC USB peripherals wouldn't fit into the X-Box 2 controller ports... perhaps cut a diagonal on the corners or a notch in the top/bottom or something. Otherwise I guarantee you that tons of idiots will be plugging all kinds of crap in there expecting it to work, and Microsoft sure isn't going to provide drivers for everything.
If it's much more than a hundred kilometers across, we don't care how it got round. It would have gotten round under it's own gravity regardless
To be painfully anal about this (as is the style it seems), the strength of a body's gravity is due to it's mass, not it's size. Size usually relates to mass nicely, but that's not always the case. It's entirely possible to have a very small planetoid (perhaps only 15km radius) that just happens to be incredibly dense to the point where it would have the gravity to pull itself into a sphere.
Likewise, a large planetoid could be mostly porous, made of extremely light material, or even partly hollow, then it's possible that it might not have enough mass to sustain a spherical shape (which it might have obtained due to unknown influence).
At first, I was going to go on a rant about how all I want is a game system, none of this instant messaging, movie playing etc... but then I read the line about it only having A and B buttons!
For Gods sake Nintendo: PUT MORE THAN TWO FACE BUTTONS ON YOUR HANDHELD! Seriously! One of the biggest problems with the GBA in my opinion is that there simply aren't enough buttons to do proper ports of SNES games. I know Nintendo wants to make games simpler and all, but this is only going to hurt the possibilities! Forget about that second D-Pad and give me X and Y buttons!
This is probably going to sound stupid, but I have what I think would be a great way to please everyone with the next Zelda game, while inherently adding to the replay value of the game:
Basically, you program the game in a fairly flexible manner so that change some of the graphics rendering methods on the fly, as well as switch some of the character models. Doing this, you could provide an option whether you want a cel-shaded cutesy Link, or a dark, brooding Link. You could probably get away with using the same models for the vast majority of characters in the game (except for probably Link, Zelda, and some other important characters), and for those that don't look quite right, you could probably swap some textures around to make it look a bit better.
Of course, whether you chose cute or dark, you'd still play the exact same quest, but I really think that the entire "feel" of the game would be entirely different in each mode. It would probably be enough to make it worthwhile to play the game in each mode (as if you needed another reason to play a Zelda game a second time anyways).
It doesn't seem to me that this would even be all that hard. I know some video cards are capable of forcing cel-shading and such into games that don't do it themselves... and these days, any programmer worth his salary would probably be using skeletal animation for 3D models, so swapping models and textures out shouldn't be a huge problem. It's not like I'm asking for two seperate games on one disc, just a choice of rendering modes and a handful of small changes to make the conversion complete.
They've managed to stick some spider genes into a goat, and harvest "spider silk" (they call it BioSteel) out of the goat's milk. It's not quite as good as real spider silk, and goats don't have a spinnerette, so it takes some processing to get proper silk out of this, but spiders are a little too uncooperative to farm and milk, so the goats will have to do.
Until we find some cheap, effective way to work with nanotubes, this BioSteel is probably the better solution. Plus, it sounds like this nanotube thread isn't as strong as BioSteel anyways.
Frankly, I think "Playstation 2" is the least interesting name for a console yet. What happened to the days when companies actually thought of cool names for their systems, like the Genesis or Dreamcast?
Sony will undoubtedly continue their mindlessness by coming out with the PS3, but I really hope that Microsoft and Nintendo put a bit more thought into naming their systems.
Oh, and you missed a couple of Gameboy's in your list... there was also the Gameboy Pocket (smaller version of the B&W Gameboy), and of course, the most recently released Gameboy Advance SP. Of course, the DS/Nitro/Whatever has little in common with the Gameboy aside from the fact that they're both portable.
All I want is for my consoles to play games. Why do companies think adding the kitchen sink will make me want to buy their game system? I don't care about PDA, cell phone, or movie/mp3 functions. When I buy a game system, I buy it TO PLAY GAMES! If I want a portable movie player, I'll go buy one of those portable DVD players and at least be able to play media I already have. If I wanted an mp3 player, I'd go buy a REAL mp3 player.
So if this nonsense means that the DS will cost more money, then my advice to Nintendo is: Forget about it. I'm not paying more for a feature that I don't want.
All of the stuff that MySQL lacked (and still lacks in usable form)
Alright, I'm somewhat of a beginner as far as databases are concerned. I've only really used MySQL, and admittedly, I've only used it for relatively small tasks so far... but what is it that MySQL lacks? Are there actual tasks that simply can't be done (I've noticed people saying InnoDB apparently helps), or is it just a matter of performance and efficiency? Are these important things that are missing, or just specialized features that I probably won't even need unless I'm dealing with monster, multi-gigabyte corporate databases?
And if MySQL is supposedly missing a bunch of stuff... then why are people still using it? Are there things it does better than the rest of the DB's out there?
I don't mean to start any DB Wars or anything... I'm legitimately curious here. The only reason I chose MySQL in the first place was because I needed a DB, and I recognized the name, and so far, it's done everything I've needed it to do... so unless someone can inform me of some crazy-amazing feature I'm missing out on, or can show me something that seriously outperforms MySQL (I'm running on a very slow system by today's standards), then I doubt I'll stop using MySQL anytime soon.
Actually, the program you mention already exists! In fact, there are two of them: server64 and 64hdd (I don't have any links to provide at the moment, so load up your favorite search engine I suppose).
Now, I've tried both of these, and I honestly can't remember which one was which. The first one I tried (I think it was server64) didn't work at all... and I never figured out why.
The second one (I guess 64hdd) worked amazingly well! All you had to do was build an X1541 cable (someone else already linked to the page with the information... luckily, I had already built one of these when I was 10 or so in order to "pirate" C64 games, so I used that)... With the X1541 cable connecting the parallel port of the computer to the serial port of the C64 (or of a connected drive, since they daisy-chained), you could easily load and save programs from the computer's hard drive.
I set up a 486 with an 80 meg hard drive (enormous by C64 standards) with no monitor or keyboard simply acting as a fileserver for my C-128. The only problem was that the 486's CMOS battery had died, so if the machine ever lost power, I had to drag a monitor and keyboard downstairs to reset all the BIOS information:( I eventually gave up on it because I didn't use it very often (I still have plenty of blank 5.25" disks), and keeping it running 24/7 was a pain in the butt.
The program actually let you create and browse directories (although in a rather painful manner, since the C64's BASIC wasn't well suited for this), and you could keep.d64 files on the hard drive and attach them at will using commands from the C-64. I can't remember off-hand what the speed was like... I seem to remember it being even slightly faster than the 1541, but I might be mistaken.
Unfortunately,.d64 files don't carry enough information to properly do all the goofy copy protections, so you'd have to rely on cracked games if you were pirating (hackers were usually forced to remove speed-loaders when cracking games, so these versions often have painfully long load times)... and naturally, doing multi-disk games didn't work either, since changing disk images could only be done from BASIC (Maybe you could do it from the PC, I forget). It certainly doesn't replace disks, but it'll provide essentially limitless data storage for all your homebrew and hobbiest stuff.
How can EA possibly think they can make characters that could rival Marvel's? The only reason Marvel Vs. Capcom worked was because Capcom's characters already had a following. A fighting game with just Marvel characters would be good. Adding EA characters will simply dilute the game.
How much do you want to bet that EA's characters will be cookie-cutter fighting game fare that are made "extreme" to appeal to kids? I'm guessing there will be a karate guy who's looking for strong opponents, the karate guys rival, a big wrestler/grappler type guy, an army guy, a funky black guy, a token woman, and any number of other Street Fighter ripoff characters. I'm sure EA's focus groups will add enough attitude to turn them into instant Poochie's.
Polybius is one game that I've always wanted to see surface some day... any game that was written by the military/CIA/(insert conspiracy theory here) and can give people amnesia and horrible nightmares has got to be one hell of a game!!
Sadly, I think it's actually been proven to be a hoax.
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It's doubtful that the Revolution will be more powerful than the Xbox 360 (from what specs I've seen, it's going to have 3 CPU's running all @ 3.2 Ghz).
Any idea what all that is going to cost you yet though? We're at the point now in console video games were I really don't see much advance in graphics. Even if the Revolution is less powerful than the 360, I probably won't be able to tell the difference, and if the 360 ends up costing $700, then what's the point? I certainly wouldn't pay twice the price to get 25% more polygons/sec out of the machine.
Frankly, I think the current generation of systems is plenty powerful enough to graphically do basically anything that I'd ever want to see in a game. I'll probably just sit back and enjoy my Gamecube and Dreamcast games while everyone else is chasing more and more polygons.
Although Soul Calibur had more than it's share of T&A, the Dead or Alive totally took the cake in that department. I don't even know how people can take that series seriously anymore, especially with that ridiculous volleyball game.
But you know full well that tons of dorks will make both themselves, and some nude (or as close as you'll be able to get) woman and make them continously fight each other.
The fun part about that is that Microsoft more or less bullied Sega's Dreamcast out of the market. I still LOVE my dreamcast, and it died a far premature death.
How do you figure this? The general concensus is that the Dreamcast was killed by a combination of the popularity of the PSX/PS2, the poor public image Sega had after the failed SegaCD, 32X and Saturn, and lets not forget the rampant piracy of Dreamcast games. In fact, Microsoft actually helped Sega somewhat by releasing a version of Windows CE that was used by some developers to make their games.
Don't get me wrong, I love my Dreamcast, but by the time the XBox was released, Sega was already out of the race.
Guys, guys... despite what magazines and internet elitists would lead you to believe, you don't have to choose one system over the other just yet. This isn't a horse race where you have to bet on a winner... instead, just wait it out and you can choose the winner halfway through the race instead.
I realize this is the slashdot crowd, which is mostly technological early-adopters, so my words will likely fall on deaf ears, but hopefully someone will read this and come to their senses....
Back in the early 90's, I read GamePro regularly (it wasn't nearly as bad back then as it is now), and was VERY interested in the Atari Jaguar, the amazing new system that Atari was working on... I have a few issues that are completely dog-earred from me reading the same features and previews over and over and over again. Eventually, I convinced my parents to buy me a Jaguar for christmas shortly after it was released. As most of you know (and those of you who don't would likely have figured it out by the fact that you'd never heard of the Jaguar before this post), the Jaguar was completely swept out the door when the Playstation came out. Despite a few high-quality games (like Tempest 2000 and Alien vs. Predator), the system was a miserable failure, and sent Atari through a series of buyouts and chapter 11's that basically put it out of the industry altogether (until Infogrames came around, but that's another story). Although I did (and still do) enjoy my Jaguar, it was a poor decision to buy into it so soon... I didn't have enough information to make an informed choice about which system to buy into at the time, and I should have waited until it became apparent. Instead, I listened to the hype. I vowed never again to do that.
I have no specific bias towards either the PSP or the DS at the moment, and I don't plan to buy either for at least three or four months (if at all), at which point it should be fairly obvious which is the "winner" and which is the "loser". In the meantime, there are still plenty of worthwhile GBA games to play, and whatever games the DS and PSP have will be just as fun to play four months down the road as they would be today, and by then they'll likely even be cheaper.
Then again, maybe I just have more patience than the average person.
It's Nintendo. The exact amount of amazing required for them to have a successful console is:
1. Mario Revolution
2. Zelda Revolution
3. Pokemon Revolution
Actually, I'd attribute their more recent disappointments in the console business to a failure to produce on your third point. What Pokemon games were released for the N64? Pokemon Snap (A game where you take pictures of Pokemon), Hey You Pikachu (A game where you talk to Pikachu), Pokemon Stadium 1 & 2 (Which let you battle Pokemon in 3D, primarily meant to enhance the Gameboy games), and Pokemon Puzzle League (A decent puzzle game with a Pokemon theme). Why did they not release an elaborate 3D RPG similar to the Gameboy games, except with killer graphics? A game like that could have easily made millions for Nintendo, and possibly saved the N64 from it's destiny!
Now, what Pokemon games have they released for the Gamecube? Pokemon Channel (A game where you arrange programming for a Pokemon-themed TV station), Pokemon Box (An accessory that basically only exists to transfer Pokemon between the GBA games and a GC memory card), and Pokemon Colloseum (Basically an updated version of Pokemon Stadium). Again, where's the 3D Pokemon RPG that kids would obviously be interested in?
I'm not even a fan of Pokemon myself, but I am a fan of Nintendo and it seems like such a glaring omission in Nintendo's plans that it kind of grates on my nerves. Why waste their time on dreck like Pokemon Channel when they could be working on the game that might actually SAVE the Gamecube (or at least pull it out of the sewer for a short while)? Then again, the Pokemon fad has died down a lot since the N64 was around, so it might be a moot point by now....
Well, I can't vouch for Sony and Atari, but I won't stand idly by while someone claims that Sega doesn't innovate... This is the same company that released Typing of the Dead, Samba de Amigo, and Seaman for crying out loud. That takes some balls right there. Plus, I'd argue that the Dreamcast was easily one of the more innovative consoles in history. Lets take a look...
If you don't consider all THAT to be innovative, then I really think you'll be disappointed with whatever Nintendo has up their sleeve...
... and the M2 was nowhere near production (M2: Coming soon!)
Actually, the M2 was essentially cancelled at the last minute. There are working prototypes out there, and in fact, they're not even that hard to find. Right now there are TWO prototype M2's on eBay, and one of them has a Buy It Now of only $30. Of course, finding games and such might be a bit of a problem, but the point is that this system was almost out and had the door slammed in it's face.
I'm not 100% sure which came first, but it's also worth pointing out that the Memorex VIS and Bandai Playdia both came with built-in wireless controllers in the very early 90's... there's also the Nuon that came out in 2000. Of course, all three are terribly obscure (If you haven't heard of any of them, consult Google), so it's no huge surprise they're forgotten... but...
The Playdia was only released in Japan, and the Nuon was essentially a DVD player (which obviously would have a remote), so you can kind of exclude them from the argument... but the Memorex VIS definitely WAS released in North America, and actually runs some flavor of Windows as an operating system, so you would think Microsoft would have some recollection of this system... I can't blame them for trying to forget it though.
Funny story actually... Memorex actually refused to allow any Windows or Microsoft logos on their product or in the software, even though Microsoft wanted them to (Notice the "Compatible with Windows CE" that Sega had to stick on the front of the Dreamcast). Supposedly, the decision went all the way to Bill Gates, who gave in and allowed it to go unlabelled.
You're not getting a bad connection due to an infinitessimally thin layer of dust, unless you've been letting these carts sit around for a decade or more.
Well, they stopped making NES games in the early 90's, so yes, the carts HAVE been sitting around for a decade or more.
I wonder if Sega (NFL2k) or Midway(NFLBlitz!) will be able to pull the same trick off [Succeeding without a license]
I very much doubt it... the days of sports games without licenses was a LONG time ago as far as technology goes. Back then, it didn't really matter much anyways, because when the game is actually playing, you can't see a logo on the jersey of a 10-pixel high player. These days, fans are eager to buy a sports game where they can actually recognize players faces, so do you really think they'd settle for a game that can't even show the proper logos? Sorry, but I'm fairly certain that 99% of people would just see it as being inferior and going with EA. It may still be football even without the players, but it sure wouldn't be *NFL* football.
My guess is that Sega/ESPN will probably just try to make do with an NCAA license for the next 5 years, perhaps allowing players some nice customization abilities that might make up for the lack of NFL. Frankly, I'd *love* to see Sega pick up a CFL license. Hell, the CFL would probably GIVE a license away just for the publicity they might gain from it!
Frankly, if I were in charge of Sega, I'd probably try to sue EA (Or maybe even the NFL) for monopolistic business practices...
A law, however, is something that is quite set in stone. In your example, you're actually referring to a set of equations that Newton put forth. These equations are quite absolute and will always reproduce the same output no matter how often a given set of variables is retested.
Well, no, not really... Newton's "Laws" don't apply at relativistic speeds. That's why we have relativity. The only reason we still call them "Newton's Laws" is due to tradition. If the same scientific rigor, dogma, and beuraucracy was around in Newton's times, they probably wouldn't have called them "Laws" in the first place.
It would be short-sighted to assume that simply because we have more proof of frame dragging that relativity has been "proven" and should be considered a "law". Indeed, there are almost certainly extreme cases (which we have yet to encounter or even predict) where relativity ceases to provide adequate results, just like how Newton fails to provide adequate results at extremely high speeds. Does relativity still hold at the center of a black hole? Did it hold during the early stages of the universes creation? The fact is that every new theory is just an attempt to get more and more accurate results by taking into account new extreme possibilities as we come to realize them. We started off with Newton, relativity built on that, quantum mechanics built on relativity, and perhaps in the future we will be able to say that string theory built on quantum mechanics. We'll never really be able to say that we know something absolutely because we will never be sure that there aren't some odd set of extreme circumstances that cause things to work differently. And if you think that we'll never find such extreme circumstances, then go back in time and try to explain to Newton why time dilates just because you're travelling really fast.
Of course, the whole discussion is rather foolish.... in the end, it doesn't really matter whether we call it a "law" or a "theory". Even when we do inevitably find a case where relativity ceases to apply, it will still be used for more mundane cases just like the way we still use Newton's laws for mundane cases that don't require the extra precision of relativity. Even when we do manage to prove that it's not absolute, it's already proven that it's useful at the very least.
Does this mean Jeff Minter's new game Unity will be coming out eventually? I've been looking forward to it for quite some time, and the thought of another one of Yak's games coming out was one of the factors that made me buy a Gamecube in the first place.
Why would they be Windows only? Obviously, Microsoft won't be giving out any source code or anything like that, but I'm sure some Linux hackers would have these things working perfectly in Linux less than a week after they're out. Heck, if they're nice, HID-compliant devices, they'd probably work right out of the box.
--Zero
They'll make up some marketing bullshit about needing a specific controller configuration to play these games and pc controllers don't meet the standards
Well, to some extent, that's already correct. I mean, if the X-Box had regular USB jacks in place of it's controller ports, I bet you'd get all kinds of morons calling tech support complaining that their controller doesn't work, only to find out that they're using some wacky PC USB controller that doesn't have enough buttons/axes. I mean heck, I would never plug The Claw into a console and expect it to work, but to people who aren't computer literate, it's the same port, so why shouldn't it work?
Perhaps a better idea would be to modify the jack just enough so that X-Box 2 controllers would fit in "normal" PC USB jacks, but so that regular PC USB peripherals wouldn't fit into the X-Box 2 controller ports... perhaps cut a diagonal on the corners or a notch in the top/bottom or something. Otherwise I guarantee you that tons of idiots will be plugging all kinds of crap in there expecting it to work, and Microsoft sure isn't going to provide drivers for everything.
If it's much more than a hundred kilometers across, we don't care how it got round. It would have gotten round under it's own gravity regardless
To be painfully anal about this (as is the style it seems), the strength of a body's gravity is due to it's mass, not it's size. Size usually relates to mass nicely, but that's not always the case. It's entirely possible to have a very small planetoid (perhaps only 15km radius) that just happens to be incredibly dense to the point where it would have the gravity to pull itself into a sphere.
Likewise, a large planetoid could be mostly porous, made of extremely light material, or even partly hollow, then it's possible that it might not have enough mass to sustain a spherical shape (which it might have obtained due to unknown influence).
At first, I was going to go on a rant about how all I want is a game system, none of this instant messaging, movie playing etc... but then I read the line about it only having A and B buttons!
For Gods sake Nintendo: PUT MORE THAN TWO FACE BUTTONS ON YOUR HANDHELD! Seriously! One of the biggest problems with the GBA in my opinion is that there simply aren't enough buttons to do proper ports of SNES games. I know Nintendo wants to make games simpler and all, but this is only going to hurt the possibilities! Forget about that second D-Pad and give me X and Y buttons!
This is probably going to sound stupid, but I have what I think would be a great way to please everyone with the next Zelda game, while inherently adding to the replay value of the game:
Basically, you program the game in a fairly flexible manner so that change some of the graphics rendering methods on the fly, as well as switch some of the character models. Doing this, you could provide an option whether you want a cel-shaded cutesy Link, or a dark, brooding Link. You could probably get away with using the same models for the vast majority of characters in the game (except for probably Link, Zelda, and some other important characters), and for those that don't look quite right, you could probably swap some textures around to make it look a bit better.
Of course, whether you chose cute or dark, you'd still play the exact same quest, but I really think that the entire "feel" of the game would be entirely different in each mode. It would probably be enough to make it worthwhile to play the game in each mode (as if you needed another reason to play a Zelda game a second time anyways).
It doesn't seem to me that this would even be all that hard. I know some video cards are capable of forcing cel-shading and such into games that don't do it themselves... and these days, any programmer worth his salary would probably be using skeletal animation for 3D models, so swapping models and textures out shouldn't be a huge problem. It's not like I'm asking for two seperate games on one disc, just a choice of rendering modes and a handful of small changes to make the conversion complete.
They've managed to stick some spider genes into a goat, and harvest "spider silk" (they call it BioSteel) out of the goat's milk. It's not quite as good as real spider silk, and goats don't have a spinnerette, so it takes some processing to get proper silk out of this, but spiders are a little too uncooperative to farm and milk, so the goats will have to do.
Until we find some cheap, effective way to work with nanotubes, this BioSteel is probably the better solution. Plus, it sounds like this nanotube thread isn't as strong as BioSteel anyways.
Frankly, I think "Playstation 2" is the least interesting name for a console yet. What happened to the days when companies actually thought of cool names for their systems, like the Genesis or Dreamcast?
Sony will undoubtedly continue their mindlessness by coming out with the PS3, but I really hope that Microsoft and Nintendo put a bit more thought into naming their systems.
Oh, and you missed a couple of Gameboy's in your list... there was also the Gameboy Pocket (smaller version of the B&W Gameboy), and of course, the most recently released Gameboy Advance SP. Of course, the DS/Nitro/Whatever has little in common with the Gameboy aside from the fact that they're both portable.
All I want is for my consoles to play games. Why do companies think adding the kitchen sink will make me want to buy their game system? I don't care about PDA, cell phone, or movie/mp3 functions. When I buy a game system, I buy it TO PLAY GAMES! If I want a portable movie player, I'll go buy one of those portable DVD players and at least be able to play media I already have. If I wanted an mp3 player, I'd go buy a REAL mp3 player.
So if this nonsense means that the DS will cost more money, then my advice to Nintendo is: Forget about it. I'm not paying more for a feature that I don't want.
All of the stuff that MySQL lacked (and still lacks in usable form)
Alright, I'm somewhat of a beginner as far as databases are concerned. I've only really used MySQL, and admittedly, I've only used it for relatively small tasks so far... but what is it that MySQL lacks? Are there actual tasks that simply can't be done (I've noticed people saying InnoDB apparently helps), or is it just a matter of performance and efficiency? Are these important things that are missing, or just specialized features that I probably won't even need unless I'm dealing with monster, multi-gigabyte corporate databases?
And if MySQL is supposedly missing a bunch of stuff... then why are people still using it? Are there things it does better than the rest of the DB's out there?
I don't mean to start any DB Wars or anything... I'm legitimately curious here. The only reason I chose MySQL in the first place was because I needed a DB, and I recognized the name, and so far, it's done everything I've needed it to do... so unless someone can inform me of some crazy-amazing feature I'm missing out on, or can show me something that seriously outperforms MySQL (I'm running on a very slow system by today's standards), then I doubt I'll stop using MySQL anytime soon.
Actually, the program you mention already exists! In fact, there are two of them: server64 and 64hdd (I don't have any links to provide at the moment, so load up your favorite search engine I suppose).
:( I eventually gave up on it because I didn't use it very often (I still have plenty of blank 5.25" disks), and keeping it running 24/7 was a pain in the butt.
.d64 files on the hard drive and attach them at will using commands from the C-64. I can't remember off-hand what the speed was like... I seem to remember it being even slightly faster than the 1541, but I might be mistaken.
.d64 files don't carry enough information to properly do all the goofy copy protections, so you'd have to rely on cracked games if you were pirating (hackers were usually forced to remove speed-loaders when cracking games, so these versions often have painfully long load times)... and naturally, doing multi-disk games didn't work either, since changing disk images could only be done from BASIC (Maybe you could do it from the PC, I forget). It certainly doesn't replace disks, but it'll provide essentially limitless data storage for all your homebrew and hobbiest stuff.
Now, I've tried both of these, and I honestly can't remember which one was which. The first one I tried (I think it was server64) didn't work at all... and I never figured out why.
The second one (I guess 64hdd) worked amazingly well! All you had to do was build an X1541 cable (someone else already linked to the page with the information... luckily, I had already built one of these when I was 10 or so in order to "pirate" C64 games, so I used that)... With the X1541 cable connecting the parallel port of the computer to the serial port of the C64 (or of a connected drive, since they daisy-chained), you could easily load and save programs from the computer's hard drive.
I set up a 486 with an 80 meg hard drive (enormous by C64 standards) with no monitor or keyboard simply acting as a fileserver for my C-128. The only problem was that the 486's CMOS battery had died, so if the machine ever lost power, I had to drag a monitor and keyboard downstairs to reset all the BIOS information
The program actually let you create and browse directories (although in a rather painful manner, since the C64's BASIC wasn't well suited for this), and you could keep
Unfortunately,
How can EA possibly think they can make characters that could rival Marvel's? The only reason Marvel Vs. Capcom worked was because Capcom's characters already had a following. A fighting game with just Marvel characters would be good. Adding EA characters will simply dilute the game.
How much do you want to bet that EA's characters will be cookie-cutter fighting game fare that are made "extreme" to appeal to kids? I'm guessing there will be a karate guy who's looking for strong opponents, the karate guys rival, a big wrestler/grappler type guy, an army guy, a funky black guy, a token woman, and any number of other Street Fighter ripoff characters. I'm sure EA's focus groups will add enough attitude to turn them into instant Poochie's.
Polybius is one game that I've always wanted to see surface some day... any game that was written by the military/CIA/(insert conspiracy theory here) and can give people amnesia and horrible nightmares has got to be one hell of a game!!
Sadly, I think it's actually been proven to be a hoax.