Here are some console prices, adjusted for inflation to 2019 dollars:
Atari 2600: $850.19 Nintendo NES: $475.43 Sega Genesis: $392.84 Super Nintendo: $374.71 3DO: $1207.11 (guess everyone was right to mock the price!)
It gets even more interesting if you just stick with Playstations: PS1: $502.02 PS2: $443.96 PS3: $762.10 PS4: $435.73
Games have gotten cheaper too. Pitfall for the 2600? $80.70. Secret of Mana for the SNES? $141.62. PS1-era games? $67.16 budget titles to $83.95 manlines. PS2-era? $74.24.
All of these are launch prices and assume new, AAA games. Sales, discounts, and indies are less, of course.
Of course, this is just an example of 'When I was a boy, candy bars cost twenty cents!' 'Well yeah, 20 cents was a lot more money back then.'
It's fine for calls. I open the screen, dial, then close the screen and hold it like a damn phone. Quality isn't great, but it's okay.
I find that a smartwatch of some sort is really necessary to use it as a phone replacment. I have a Pebble Time, and that makes up for not having an easy screen for notifications.
Don't bother with the optional exterior camera. Its godawful.
Quite a few artists work on tablets. Most of the ones I know use a Surface, but some use an iPad with other drawing apps.
The advantage of a tablet is that they can hold it any which way, in any comfortable position to draw in. They use the versions with a proper stylus, with thousands of levels of pressure sensitivity.
They get basically the same functionality as a Wacom Cintiq at lower total cost, and it's much more portable.
Switch games generally do not. There's usually an option in the menus to show the controls, but other than that you're at the mercy of the tutorials.
3DS game packaging is the same size as DS packaging, which included a manual. Switch packaging is smaller than WiiU game packaging, but it's still plenty big enough to put a manual in there if you want. And the cases have clips to hold a manual. And some third-party games do have manuals.
The game packaging was made smaller because they don't need to fit a disc into it any more. The manual is irrelevant to the package size.
No, they don't need a truck. They like to say 'Well, I need a truck because sometimes I have to haul things!' and you ask one of these works-in-an-office, has-no-outdoor-hobbies, doesn't-do-their-own-landscaping bozos 'So when's the last time you hauled something that would've have fit in a car?' and you get an answer like 'Uh, 2003'.
Some people do need a truck. A lot of people with trucks, don't. They're a fashion item.
There are a couple things they're really fantastic for. I have a Rift and love using it for flight sims and racing games.
I just wish there was a WWI sim with native VR support. It can sort-of be hacked into Rise of Flight, but there's no stereoscopy, so it's just a head-tracking flat display. Alas.
On the other hand, if you're one of those people that likes using X Plane to fly a 747 from Chicago to LA, it wouldn't work. Wearing the headset that long would be a serious headache.
Eve Online needs a dual-core Pentium 4 as absolute minimum, WoW needs a Core2Duo, Minecraft needs a Core i3. None of them will run on a Pentium 2.
And Minecraft, especially, needs as much hardware as you can throw at it. It's horribly optimized. Though the Windows Store version performs better than the Java version.
'Bad graphics' does not necessarily mean 'low system requirements'.
And it's not a case of 'good games don't need graphics'. There are some fantastic games that will use all the horsepower you can throw at them.
Razer used to sell Mac-specific mice, with provided software, but they stopped years ago.
Not gaming products; just nice high-DPI mice with a few extra buttons.
The hardware was basically a white version of one of their Windows mice, but the software was actually pretty good. But they never updated it and eventually it stopped working as the OS updated.
A Realm Reborn wasn't an expansion, it was a relaunch of the game because the original version sucked so hard they had to stop selling it and charging subscription fees.
Slashdot Mirror
Gaming is cheaper than ever.
Here are some console prices, adjusted for inflation to 2019 dollars:
Atari 2600: $850.19
Nintendo NES: $475.43
Sega Genesis: $392.84
Super Nintendo: $374.71
3DO: $1207.11 (guess everyone was right to mock the price!)
It gets even more interesting if you just stick with Playstations:
PS1: $502.02
PS2: $443.96
PS3: $762.10
PS4: $435.73
Games have gotten cheaper too. Pitfall for the 2600? $80.70. Secret of Mana for the SNES? $141.62. PS1-era games? $67.16 budget titles to $83.95 manlines. PS2-era? $74.24.
All of these are launch prices and assume new, AAA games. Sales, discounts, and indies are less, of course.
Of course, this is just an example of 'When I was a boy, candy bars cost twenty cents!' 'Well yeah, 20 cents was a lot more money back then.'
This is some old-school Usenet-level argument going on in here. Makes me nostalgic!
I just call it 'squirrel'.
The last Power Mac came out 14 years ago.
And the problem with it wasn't lack of cooling, it's that when it gets old the cooling system leaks.
It's fine for calls. I open the screen, dial, then close the screen and hold it like a damn phone. Quality isn't great, but it's okay.
I find that a smartwatch of some sort is really necessary to use it as a phone replacment. I have a Pebble Time, and that makes up for not having an easy screen for notifications.
Don't bother with the optional exterior camera. Its godawful.
I want a new Shield Portable.
Because marketing and vendor lock-in.
Do you have a source for 32GB DDR-4 SO-DIMMs for less than $700 each?
Because I can't find any for sale at all, much less find them for less than Apple is charging.
Quite a few artists work on tablets. Most of the ones I know use a Surface, but some use an iPad with other drawing apps.
The advantage of a tablet is that they can hold it any which way, in any comfortable position to draw in. They use the versions with a proper stylus, with thousands of levels of pressure sensitivity.
They get basically the same functionality as a Wacom Cintiq at lower total cost, and it's much more portable.
Nintendo 3DS games come with an e-manual.
Switch games generally do not. There's usually an option in the menus to show the controls, but other than that you're at the mercy of the tutorials.
3DS game packaging is the same size as DS packaging, which included a manual. Switch packaging is smaller than WiiU game packaging, but it's still plenty big enough to put a manual in there if you want. And the cases have clips to hold a manual. And some third-party games do have manuals.
The game packaging was made smaller because they don't need to fit a disc into it any more. The manual is irrelevant to the package size.
I'm often looking for weird and obscure things, and WhereToWatch actually did point me toward some, in places I never would have found.
It also had listings for things that just aren't out there anywhere, so at least I'd know to stop looking for a legit copy.
This is almost as disgusting as those bland bread rings they have the gall to call 'bagels'.
No, they don't need a truck. They like to say 'Well, I need a truck because sometimes I have to haul things!' and you ask one of these works-in-an-office, has-no-outdoor-hobbies, doesn't-do-their-own-landscaping bozos 'So when's the last time you hauled something that would've have fit in a car?' and you get an answer like 'Uh, 2003'.
Some people do need a truck. A lot of people with trucks, don't. They're a fashion item.
The vast majority of people who buy pickup trucks just do it because it's macho.
They don't need a big engine, they don't tow anything, they don't need a work truck, they don't have to haul anything, they just want to look cool.
The Loop's last three songs were Shout at the Devil, The Number of the Beast, and Highway to Hell.
They got in one last jab.
TiVo offers versions of their OTA devices with lifetime subscriptions included.
You're still paying for it, but it's included in the purchase price.
(Actually, it looks like that's the only version they sell now.)
There are a couple things they're really fantastic for. I have a Rift and love using it for flight sims and racing games.
I just wish there was a WWI sim with native VR support. It can sort-of be hacked into Rise of Flight, but there's no stereoscopy, so it's just a head-tracking flat display. Alas.
On the other hand, if you're one of those people that likes using X Plane to fly a 747 from Chicago to LA, it wouldn't work. Wearing the headset that long would be a serious headache.
Many cards have all the details on the back now - there's nothing on the front except the bank's logo.
So all you need is a picture of the back of the card.
Ignition! is back in print, on Kindle and in paperback.
There are actually a few phones that flat-out can't be rooted. They tend to be either obscure or marketed as security-hardened, though.
Eve Online needs a dual-core Pentium 4 as absolute minimum, WoW needs a Core2Duo, Minecraft needs a Core i3. None of them will run on a Pentium 2.
And Minecraft, especially, needs as much hardware as you can throw at it. It's horribly optimized. Though the Windows Store version performs better than the Java version.
'Bad graphics' does not necessarily mean 'low system requirements'.
And it's not a case of 'good games don't need graphics'. There are some fantastic games that will use all the horsepower you can throw at them.
Razer used to sell Mac-specific mice, with provided software, but they stopped years ago.
Not gaming products; just nice high-DPI mice with a few extra buttons.
The hardware was basically a white version of one of their Windows mice, but the software was actually pretty good. But they never updated it and eventually it stopped working as the OS updated.
'Hasbro' includes 'Avalon Hill' as well. Quite a few older-player games in that portfolio. Betrayal at House on the Hill, for instance.
Well, they don't own Hasbro, which is the biggest board game company in the world.
A Realm Reborn wasn't an expansion, it was a relaunch of the game because the original version sucked so hard they had to stop selling it and charging subscription fees.