I'm with you--or at least I was. I turned off the XP UI and opted for the "Classic" theme for a couple of years, until I looked at some of the different themes that are out there. My current theme is Blue Mesa, but there are hundreds to choose from.
I certainly can't stand the standard theme, but this one is as compact as the standard Windows 2000 theme, and I like the smaller start button, amongst other things.
Just be sure to turn it off if you're accessing the computer over RDP. Shading takes up a lot more bandwidth.
I hope you're right, but again I wish games were priced according to value rather than $xx for a game on a given console. If you bought a Revolution and picked up three $50 games, how tempting would it be to pick up a few cheap games. Nintendogs(which I admittedly haven't played), for example. Relatively simple, not neccessarily graphically intense, just a $15 distraction...
So you're saying that the games are going to cost more, but the quality is going to be higher? ie gameplay, plot, graphics, etc?
If that's true then fine. Better quality games cost more. Contra should cost more than Ragnar.
But I doubt that this is how things are going to turn out. There are still going to be plenty of crap games, and they're going to be $60. So rather than price the game according to it's value, it's just "we get to charge more for our games!"
Maybe Sony/MS/Nintendo is raising the price to recoup more of the cost of the more expensive, more advanced consoles.
Good idea, but Sony and MS are using off-the-shelf drives for their consoles, and I wonder what that custom solution would cost in terms of price. Maybe Blu-Ray will become as cheap as current DVD players are when the PS3 really hits it's stride..
Seriously though, putting Blu-Ray on PS3 is most likely what will give Blu-Ray its marketing win over HD-DVD.
Good point. MS is launching with just DVD, so HD-DVD is going to have nobody to carry their torch. Sony needs a win for Blu-Ray, so they have to push it through this channel.
Still not a very compelling reason to buy. I understand that some games would be multi-disc, but I seriously doubt that swapping a DVD when you're at hour 29 of Final Fantasy XII is going to be a problem that causes you to want your competitors' console.
But, like you said, 640k ought to be enough for everyone.
Can they seriously not fit all their games' data in a Dual-layered DVD?
This might be a deal-breaker for me. If I can interface my PS3 with, say, my PC or share it out to the network to use the Blu-Ray drive with non-gaming discs, then it's useful new technology and adopting it with the PS3 may end up cost-effective in the long run. Otherwise, this is Sony using new tech for... What purpose, exactly? Copy protection? Gee, thanks.
I teach a class, part of it covers security, and I have a demo where I break WEP. Requires the router and authenticated client, and then the second laptop to break into the network.
Laptop, Second laptop, APC power strip, paperwork, USB dongles (2x wireless mice, 802.11G, flash drive), book, a case of about 150 CDs, power supply for wireless router (that's in the backpack, don't get me started on it's contents), lucky charms, keys, spare change, writing utensils, inflatable head pillow for airplane flights.
Irrelevant? The 360 uses 2.5" drives, not 3.5". Case closed. Feel free to argue they should have used larger, less expensive drives, but don't compare them and say "this laptop drive is expensive!"
I saw a demo of the Half-Life 2 engine at E3 a couple of years ago. The texture quality was awesome. This doesn't rely on just awesome textures. This solves lighting. SOLVES it.
Would if I could. The bolt was part of the horn assembly on my motorcycle. It came loose and was lost due to some kneedragging. Why they chose M7, the world will never know.
Heck, I just started buying a large coffee cup full of half and half at the corner gas station the other day because I figured out it was cheaper than buying a container of half and half.
I don't have a problem with that from a moral standpoint -- I figure we all have our little moral justifications that we use to save us a buck here and there at the expense of The Man. It all works out in the end. But from a time standpoint, I don't get it. How much is your time worth? How much time does that trip to the corner store take you that would've otherwise been saved had you just picked up the quart of half and half when you picked up the gallon of milk at the grocery store? And if you feel just the slightest twinge of guilt upon "cheating" the corner store out of $.60 worth of half and half, what is that worth to you? From a financial standpoint it doesn't make sense.
It's kinda like the 3 hours I spent driving around town the other day looking for a single 7mm nut. $.23 plus tax, but 3 hours of my time plus gas.
The thing about Punkbuster is that if a certain hack gets published, they can modify it to detect the hack. I really don't think you could fool punkbuster if it was looking for your specific WINE setup.
At any rate, it has made hacks in newly released games all but nonexistant, and for that I am grateful.
I'd gladly go through security five extra times (and when I say this, bear in mind that I require 3-4 trays when I open my 2 carryon bags because I carry 2 laptops, a digital projector, and about 25 pounds of cabling. It takes me 8 minutes plus lines to unpack and repack) if it increased the chances that the flight leaves and/or arrives on time. Flying out of KC isn't like flying out of O'Hare, Atlanta, or even Minneapolis.
I'm flying to Logan for the first time next week, then from Logan to KC, via O'hare. Ugh. I've heard bad stories other places than here about Logan, and am not looking forward to the trip. I give a 66.6% chance that I get there and back on the same days I'm scheduled, and a 10% chance that I get there and back with no delays.
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I'm with you--or at least I was. I turned off the XP UI and opted for the "Classic" theme for a couple of years, until I looked at some of the different themes that are out there. My current theme is Blue Mesa, but there are hundreds to choose from.
I certainly can't stand the standard theme, but this one is as compact as the standard Windows 2000 theme, and I like the smaller start button, amongst other things.
Just be sure to turn it off if you're accessing the computer over RDP. Shading takes up a lot more bandwidth.
la la la la la
Are you aware of any performance issues with same-capacity units from different manufacturers? Or it Just Works?
347,223 1.44mb floppies, assuming they're all filled 100% (except for the last one, which is filled 2/9ths of the way)
I hope you're right, but again I wish games were priced according to value rather than $xx for a game on a given console. If you bought a Revolution and picked up three $50 games, how tempting would it be to pick up a few cheap games. Nintendogs(which I admittedly haven't played), for example. Relatively simple, not neccessarily graphically intense, just a $15 distraction...
So you're saying that the games are going to cost more, but the quality is going to be higher? ie gameplay, plot, graphics, etc?
If that's true then fine. Better quality games cost more. Contra should cost more than Ragnar.
But I doubt that this is how things are going to turn out. There are still going to be plenty of crap games, and they're going to be $60. So rather than price the game according to it's value, it's just "we get to charge more for our games!"
Maybe Sony/MS/Nintendo is raising the price to recoup more of the cost of the more expensive, more advanced consoles.
PS: I miss side-scrollers.
Perhaps the XBox HDD will come to the rescue here.
Does HD FMV using MPEG-3 (or WMV9) have a higher data rate than DVD video using MPEG-2?
Good idea, but Sony and MS are using off-the-shelf drives for their consoles, and I wonder what that custom solution would cost in terms of price. Maybe Blu-Ray will become as cheap as current DVD players are when the PS3 really hits it's stride..
Seriously though, putting Blu-Ray on PS3 is most likely what will give Blu-Ray its marketing win over HD-DVD.
Good point. MS is launching with just DVD, so HD-DVD is going to have nobody to carry their torch. Sony needs a win for Blu-Ray, so they have to push it through this channel.
Still not a very compelling reason to buy. I understand that some games would be multi-disc, but I seriously doubt that swapping a DVD when you're at hour 29 of Final Fantasy XII is going to be a problem that causes you to want your competitors' console.
But, like you said, 640k ought to be enough for everyone.
Can they seriously not fit all their games' data in a Dual-layered DVD?
This might be a deal-breaker for me. If I can interface my PS3 with, say, my PC or share it out to the network to use the Blu-Ray drive with non-gaming discs, then it's useful new technology and adopting it with the PS3 may end up cost-effective in the long run. Otherwise, this is Sony using new tech for... What purpose, exactly? Copy protection? Gee, thanks.
I guess I didn't consider the people who did the work and published it, but rather the end user of such hacks.
I didn't mean to underplay the significance of this case, and I guess I wasn't 100% serious anyway.
By the way John, my name is David.
No, because nobody will be caught, unlike the current situation where there is a corporate presence for Lexmark to sue.
I teach a class, part of it covers security, and I have a demo where I break WEP. Requires the router and authenticated client, and then the second laptop to break into the network.
Laptop, Second laptop, APC power strip, paperwork, USB dongles (2x wireless mice, 802.11G, flash drive), book, a case of about 150 CDs, power supply for wireless router (that's in the backpack, don't get me started on it's contents), lucky charms, keys, spare change, writing utensils, inflatable head pillow for airplane flights.
Some info on reviving dead laptop batteries. It's at least worth a shot.
For my money, Compaq makes the R3000z laptop that can be had on eBay and in stores (Best Buy for one) for $400US.
Irrelevant? The 360 uses 2.5" drives, not 3.5". Case closed. Feel free to argue they should have used larger, less expensive drives, but don't compare them and say "this laptop drive is expensive!"
The 360's HDDs are 2.5", aka laptop drives. 250GB $100 laptop drives? Sign me up!
put the terms in quotes and you'll get a different result.
Is it really all that and a bag of popcorn?
Having just seen it... Yes. Yes it is.
I saw a demo of the Half-Life 2 engine at E3 a couple of years ago. The texture quality was awesome. This doesn't rely on just awesome textures. This solves lighting. SOLVES it.
Does it play Doom?
Would if I could. The bolt was part of the horn assembly on my motorcycle. It came loose and was lost due to some kneedragging. Why they chose M7, the world will never know.
Heck, I just started buying a large coffee cup full of half and half at the corner gas station the other day because I figured out it was cheaper than buying a container of half and half.
I don't have a problem with that from a moral standpoint -- I figure we all have our little moral justifications that we use to save us a buck here and there at the expense of The Man. It all works out in the end. But from a time standpoint, I don't get it. How much is your time worth? How much time does that trip to the corner store take you that would've otherwise been saved had you just picked up the quart of half and half when you picked up the gallon of milk at the grocery store? And if you feel just the slightest twinge of guilt upon "cheating" the corner store out of $.60 worth of half and half, what is that worth to you?
From a financial standpoint it doesn't make sense.
It's kinda like the 3 hours I spent driving around town the other day looking for a single 7mm nut. $.23 plus tax, but 3 hours of my time plus gas.
The thing about Punkbuster is that if a certain hack gets published, they can modify it to detect the hack. I really don't think you could fool punkbuster if it was looking for your specific WINE setup.
At any rate, it has made hacks in newly released games all but nonexistant, and for that I am grateful.
I'd gladly go through security five extra times (and when I say this, bear in mind that I require 3-4 trays when I open my 2 carryon bags because I carry 2 laptops, a digital projector, and about 25 pounds of cabling. It takes me 8 minutes plus lines to unpack and repack) if it increased the chances that the flight leaves and/or arrives on time. Flying out of KC isn't like flying out of O'Hare, Atlanta, or even Minneapolis.
I'm flying to Logan for the first time next week, then from Logan to KC, via O'hare. Ugh. I've heard bad stories other places than here about Logan, and am not looking forward to the trip. I give a 66.6% chance that I get there and back on the same days I'm scheduled, and a 10% chance that I get there and back with no delays.
Random link: Share wireless access on public hotspots