A few years ago Rockstar could do no wrong. Now it seems to be one expensive fuck up after another. And Manhunt 2 is the biggest fuck up of all. They had better produce the goods for GTA IV or they're doomed.
The backers of HD-DVD are being far more intelligent from a marketing stand point than Sony+Blue-Ray. Cheaper players, Combo discs (Standard DVD + HD-DVD in the same package) and they have better penetration into the markets that actually matter (Wal-Mart, for example).
I don't agree. Toshiba (being the only HD DVD producer of note) is haemorrhaging money to push its format. Apparently they're even putting one player on sale for $99 this Friday at Walmart. That doesn't suggest better marketing, but desperation. For all anyone knows, Walmart might be about to pull the plug on them, hence the firesale. I don't think so personally but it's not impossible.
The Blu Ray (i.e. most other electronics companies) appear to be keeping their margins higher. While Sony is the lead proponent of Blu Ray they're not the only one and they seem to be pricing their equipment at the levels you might expect this far into the lifecycle.
Still, it would be nice if the Blu Ray camp were to respond by lowering prices themselves. I think it's quite likely that there will be $299 and possibly even $199 players available for Christmas.
While I'm in the Blu Ray camp (by virtue of owning a PS3) and expect it to win, at the end of the day the players are going to become so cheap it won't make a big deal of difference who loses out. I expect there will even be combo players at reasonable prices to those who own a collection in the losing format.
I expect the cost of licencing NBA, FIFA, Nascar, NFL, Tiger Woods etc. far, far, far, far outweighs the costs of actual game development. Perhaps if EA wants to make a cut costs they'll relinquish their exclusive deals. Let some other company bear the weight of forking out for some exclusive franchise plough the savings into making decent titles.
Interestingly the NBA & NHL both allow multiple game franchises and probably each is better for it.
The BBC were beguiled by the lie that Windows Media Player and strong DRM would be the answer to all their problems. Instead iPlayer is a disaster - a mish mash of JavaScript, ActiveX, WMP and some proprietary downloader that doesn't even work on the platform it's designed for. If you don't have exactly the correct version of the software (Windows XP, IE 6) it doesn't work at all. .
Naturally the BBC have concerns about their content but I think they've gone absolutely the wrong way about things. After all, do they really think there is a massive market for pirate episodes of Eastenders, Panorama or the similar things this service is for? Why are they being so paranoid?
My belief is that they should tie access to the service to a TV licence. Licence holds can register, get a user id & PIN and use the supplied Java client to get their content. After that it's entirely up to them how long they own it. Perhaps the Java client works like a PVR, caching the data and deleting old files after 30 days. But it could also offer to export data so users can save it for longer. It could even do so in H624 or ASP but ensure the file is watermarked and cross-referencing the file to the TV licence. That way if it is shared the offenders can be identified and their their access revoked. Otherwise the downloader / player is free for users to use any way they see fit for personal use.
I think the solution is far more reasonable, open and workable than the bloody mess they have now. Consumers get a client that runs anywhere and leaves them in control of their settings. And the BBC gets kudos rather than egg on their face.
I use Wikipedia to answer this simple question: who/what the fuck is x? If people start deleting articles just because they think x isn't important enough, how am I supposed to find out what x is, even if nobody really cares about x?
It should not be Wikipedia's responsibility to host vanity listings for every egomaniac, bedroom band, wannabe artist, aspiring actress, astrologer or any other nobody attention seeker. If they want publicity they should set up their own website.
If want you to search for such people, use Google. I'm lead to believe that it's a lot more effective than searching Wikipedia, not least because indexes virtually web site in existence including Wikipedia.
Trashed PC? Unless you're re-soldering components or something along those lines then the worst you can end up with is a hard drive that will not allow you to boot into OS X. Replace hard drive, install other OS, move along. You could even take your "bricked" hard drive and delete the OS X partition and have a perfecly usable hard drive.
Great so by "migrate", you mean live in fear of a hack killing patch which might strike at any moment. That is, if another bug caused by uncertified hardware doesn't get you in the mean time. I can see it irrepairably trashing the drive, so it sounds like sheer stupidity to bother, especially seeing as there next to no reason to even want to.
Anyone wishing to "migrate" to OS X on non-Apple hardware is just as likely to be left with a trashed PC when Apple release a patch that bricks or renders it unbootable.
It sounds like a neat trick to be able to run OS X, but "migrating" via some hack sounds like an extremely bad idea.
Nor would I. That's why I bought a Mac desktop, where I can replace all the same components I can with a PC desktop... and lets face it, with just about any PC chassis you're going to be almost as limited since motherboard formats change over time. Over the years people have offered processor upgrades as well, made easier of course by them using Intel chips now where processor swaps are just as easy as any other PC motherboard.
The fact is you can swap a PC's motherboard, or case, or PSU, or GPU, or memory, or CPU as and when you see fit to do so. Assuming you have the sense to buy generic components, not a custom case from Dell, Compaq or whoever. Apple has certainly opened up in recent years, but you really can't compare the expandability of an Apple to a PC. It is proprietary, and the driver support in OS X is terrible by comparison (to Linux or Windows) too. Apple hardware is also expensive by comparison.
I agree it makes no major difference to laptops since they're all proprietary. Although even there you might be bitten by the lack of drivers / software if you want to plug some random USB device in.
For general word processing, how would the Asus Eee PC 701 compare against the Alphasmart Neo?
It probably wouldn't compare at all if the one and only thing you want to do is write documents. I would hope that any word processing device is going to focus heavily on keyboard comfort, text input because it doesn't have much else to worry about. I would expect a $220 word processor to feature a very comfortable keyboard.
Whereas the Asus eee pc is a small form factor PC that runs a word processor amongst other things. I doubt it would win a typing test, or a battery life test either. The keyboard is going to be cramped and the word pro has to be fired up by navigating through menus. But then again, the eee does a hell of a lot more than just text. It can browse the web, make calls, text, spreadsheets, presentations, edit photos, games and more besides. It is a full blown but very small PC.
The Asus EEE is the perfect device for using on planes, coffee shops, lecture halls, holidays etc. It has a decent suite of apps, has wifi, can (in theory) run anything Linux has to offer, it's tiny and it's very, very cheap. I imagine you could even use one of this on an airline tray which is impressive in itself.
The price is also important. It sucks if it gets dropped or stolen but not as much as if it happened to a Vaio costing 4x as much. I expect people will be tossing these eee devices into backpacks rather than hauling around enormous laptop cases. If I were Microsoft I would be very scared by the trend these ultracheap laptops will start. Not only do they demonstrate that Windows is not a necessity, they'll act as a wedge for Firefox, OpenOffice, and Linux too.
The same applies to the OLPC assuming they produce a commercial variant. They really should since I predict there is a lot of money to be made if they did.
But no screenshots or video. Are we supposed to take their word for it? How is this supposed to be interesting? This is just an ad for their new game.
FFS just visit gametrailers.com, gamevideos.com, gamespot.com, ign.com, 1up.com, eurogamer.net or any other games oriented website and you will be overwhelmed by trailers and screenshots.
The game does look beautiful, arguably one of the best looking games to have appeared on any platform. It's also a good game that has received wide acclaim. Metacritic has at 89/100, Gamerankings at 90.2/100.
The problem here is that the Orange Box is not being manufactured by Thailand. It's being manufactured by a US company who have chosen to release a cheap version in Thailand to combat piracy. This is actually a very sensible thing to do and a lot of companies are taking similar steps. The alternative is the Thais will pirate the game anyway so better to have them legitimate for a small profit than not on board at all and send the profit to the pirates.
It is no surprise though that strings are attached to these regionalised versions to prevent the codes being used by anyone else. It's basically tough shit if you bought one of these codes, better luck next time.
Anyone write a raytracing engine for PS3 that takes advantage of all those SPEs?
IBM have a distributed raycasting engine that harnesses 3 PS3s to do real time tracing / casting. I seriously doubt any realtime game will ever utilise raytracing. A single PS3 may be powerful but it's not that powerful.
Consoles require games to be rated. Stores only sell rated games. If Rockstar absolutely want to release something that is unratable, they should produce a PC version and sell it online. Otherwise the reality is that they were utterly stupid to have even bothered making this game in the first place.
And personal backups of your own media so that you don't have to buy a new copy when your friend/pet/child/"significant other" scratches it.
You know, I know and Nintendo / Sony / Microsoft know that virtually every modchip is used to play pirate games. I'm sure there are legitimate users who only play games they own or to play region unlocked titles. I'm also fairly sure that such people represent a miniscule percentage of modders.
It really is no wonder the console manufacturers go after the modders given that they're basically an aide to piracy.
God, not that again. The Wii is NOT an upgraded or overclocked GameCube with motion sensing controls. The CPU is new, the little brother of the XBox 360's and PS3's CPUs, in fact. The graphics chipset is vastly improved. The motherboard is entirely new.
Miyamoto descibed it thusly - "The hardware is basically a GC. We've upgraded our development tools to new versions but, you can still use GC programs as they are. With that in mind, I thought we could remake GC titles for the Wii and modify them to work with the Wii remote so that they're more fun to play.". So I suggest that Gamecube 2.0 is a fairly apt description given than a leading person in Nintendo calls it such.
The CPU is also nowhere near as powerful as the CPUs in the PS3 or 360. Not even remotely close.
Well you could stretch a point by saying the Wii is Gamecube 2.0. But I think there will be a revamped Wii at some point and it will not be the last either. I think Nintendo popularised the practice of dumping lots of models on the market with the Gameboy / GBA / DS and they'll extend it to their home consoles. They've probably seen from Apple and from their own experience that they get a lot of repeat business just by effectively revamping and repackaging the same functionality over and over again.
Sony and Microsoft seem to have caught the bug too to some extent. Sony did revise both the PS1 & PS2 multiple times in their lifetimes (some internal but some external), and the PS3 trend suggest they'll continue to do it. Next stop I think for them will be a slim model since the 40Gb appears to run cooler with less circuitry meaning it may be feasible. I'm surprised they didn't do it this time around since it would have sold by the shitload.
I can't recall Microsoft revamping the original XBox except for the controllers but they appear to be getting in on the act this gen with revised hardware too.
I actually really dislike the way this new console generation has gone, and am glad I have held off buying so far. There is way too much SKU shifting, with new better versions constantly being released to one up the other guy and keep the console "relevant". Its all well and good if you don't care and are sitting on the fence, but as a person actually interested in a next generation console instead of dropping a grand on a gaming PC it is really aggravating. Kudos to the Wii for avoiding this, but its not really what I'm looking for.
I don't see anything wrong with this. Alaunch XBox 360 or launch PS3 is going to play new titles just as well as the new models. Mostly the new models are toying around with stuff peripheral to the core experience. On the PS3, it may even be that the new models are less desirable in some ways than the launch models since they lack BC, but on the other hand they cost a lot less too.
As for the Wii... It should be obvious that Nintendo will revamp it at some time or another, no doubt telling people how it fixes all sorts of issues with the first one. You can imagine the sorts of things they could add - better screen tracking, rechargable controllers, more storage, DVD playback, possibly even an HD output / scaler. And when they do revamp it, many of the people who crowed how cheap the Wii was will go and buy it all over again. This is after all exactly what Nintendo have done with their handhelds for years now. How many Gameboy models were there?
Examples of this abound. The one that pisses me off the most is Dual Shock 3. Some of the upgrades have been less than necessary, such as the Elite Xbox SKU, but rumble is a novel game input that you're completely missing out on for no reason if you bought or will buy a PS3 in the next six months. Some weren't even able to make the choice to wait because Sony lied about it.
The Dual Shock 3 will work in a launch PS3 if you choose to buy one. So what's the problem? As for Sony lying, to paraphrase Phil Harrison, Sony were in a lawsuit / negotiations with Immersion so did you really expect them to rave how great rumble was when there was a distinct possibility that it would never happen?
Now with the HD tuner incorporated HD DVD Player MP3 jack extravaganda, why buy now? You know there will be a new SKU and it will make your box look like a chump. And this isn't like Apple releasing something new and you're paying opportunity cost (forgetting about the iPhone for a second), because most of these upgrades already exist and are minor. The only difference is if you buy them now you're paying probably twice as much for something that's half as well integrated with the box.
I'll believe the TV tuner story when I see it for real. It may well be that the story is BS, or that Toshiba are still desperate to get their HD DVD going and in a last gasp attempt are paying MS $$$ to licence or produce a hybrid HD DVD / console to compete with the PS3. I think Microsoft is happy to take their money but I see nothing that says they care one jot for HD DVD except to prolong the format war as long as possible.
Anyway if SKUs annoy you, you might be happy to know that for the time being at least that the planned DVB-T twin tuner for the PS3 due in Europe early next year is an attachment. So if you don't want it, don't buy it.
The lesson from Vista is that releasing a broken and incomplete OS so you can fix it in the field is no longer acceptable. Ignoring your testers complaints on usability and performance issues will no longer get it done. I suspect that the disaster that was Vista's release is one of the things that caused Apple to reassess their Leopard release date.
Vista has its fair share of bugs, but after using it since release I simply don't recognize the OS you're complaining about. The desktop experience in Vista is generally excellent and not far removed from OS X at all in terms of simplicity, ease of use or eye candy. The Aero Glass theme is far more attractive and space efficient than Aqua. Vista does have some flakey behaviour for me (e.g. hibernate sometimes wakes up for no reason), but overall the experience has been fairly positive. I am looking forward to a service pack though.
Would I recommend Vista to an XP user? Not really. But it's probably the right choice for new PCs. I really see nothing about Vista that would put off a new user, or make them pine for OS X. If they get Vista on the store bought PC, the chances are it'll work just fine.
I'm not proposing banning it in public. I am proposing banning it in public services, government etc. The only way you can keep government free from the taint of religion is to keep the two absolutely separate. As for people being excluded or whatever... the parents can either to send their kids to state school or to a religious school of their schooling (assuming it meets the national curriculum). But the state school should not permit any overt displays of religion on its property.
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A few years ago Rockstar could do no wrong. Now it seems to be one expensive fuck up after another. And Manhunt 2 is the biggest fuck up of all. They had better produce the goods for GTA IV or they're doomed.
I don't agree. Toshiba (being the only HD DVD producer of note) is haemorrhaging money to push its format. Apparently they're even putting one player on sale for $99 this Friday at Walmart. That doesn't suggest better marketing, but desperation. For all anyone knows, Walmart might be about to pull the plug on them, hence the firesale. I don't think so personally but it's not impossible.
The Blu Ray (i.e. most other electronics companies) appear to be keeping their margins higher. While Sony is the lead proponent of Blu Ray they're not the only one and they seem to be pricing their equipment at the levels you might expect this far into the lifecycle.
Still, it would be nice if the Blu Ray camp were to respond by lowering prices themselves. I think it's quite likely that there will be $299 and possibly even $199 players available for Christmas.
While I'm in the Blu Ray camp (by virtue of owning a PS3) and expect it to win, at the end of the day the players are going to become so cheap it won't make a big deal of difference who loses out. I expect there will even be combo players at reasonable prices to those who own a collection in the losing format.
Wow, if that isn't desperation I don't know what is. Perhaps it will spur sales though. Otherwise it sounds like a last gasp attempt to clear stock.
That may well be so, in which case why bitch about development costs when they are not the major source of expenditure?
Interestingly the NBA & NHL both allow multiple game franchises and probably each is better for it.
Naturally the BBC have concerns about their content but I think they've gone absolutely the wrong way about things. After all, do they really think there is a massive market for pirate episodes of Eastenders, Panorama or the similar things this service is for? Why are they being so paranoid?
My belief is that they should tie access to the service to a TV licence. Licence holds can register, get a user id & PIN and use the supplied Java client to get their content. After that it's entirely up to them how long they own it. Perhaps the Java client works like a PVR, caching the data and deleting old files after 30 days. But it could also offer to export data so users can save it for longer. It could even do so in H624 or ASP but ensure the file is watermarked and cross-referencing the file to the TV licence. That way if it is shared the offenders can be identified and their their access revoked. Otherwise the downloader / player is free for users to use any way they see fit for personal use.
I think the solution is far more reasonable, open and workable than the bloody mess they have now. Consumers get a client that runs anywhere and leaves them in control of their settings. And the BBC gets kudos rather than egg on their face.
It should not be Wikipedia's responsibility to host vanity listings for every egomaniac, bedroom band, wannabe artist, aspiring actress, astrologer or any other nobody attention seeker. If they want publicity they should set up their own website.
If want you to search for such people, use Google. I'm lead to believe that it's a lot more effective than searching Wikipedia, not least because indexes virtually web site in existence including Wikipedia.
Great so by "migrate", you mean live in fear of a hack killing patch which might strike at any moment. That is, if another bug caused by uncertified hardware doesn't get you in the mean time. I can see it irrepairably trashing the drive, so it sounds like sheer stupidity to bother, especially seeing as there next to no reason to even want to.
It sounds like a neat trick to be able to run OS X, but "migrating" via some hack sounds like an extremely bad idea.
The fact is you can swap a PC's motherboard, or case, or PSU, or GPU, or memory, or CPU as and when you see fit to do so. Assuming you have the sense to buy generic components, not a custom case from Dell, Compaq or whoever. Apple has certainly opened up in recent years, but you really can't compare the expandability of an Apple to a PC. It is proprietary, and the driver support in OS X is terrible by comparison (to Linux or Windows) too. Apple hardware is also expensive by comparison.
I agree it makes no major difference to laptops since they're all proprietary. Although even there you might be bitten by the lack of drivers / software if you want to plug some random USB device in.
It probably wouldn't compare at all if the one and only thing you want to do is write documents. I would hope that any word processing device is going to focus heavily on keyboard comfort, text input because it doesn't have much else to worry about. I would expect a $220 word processor to feature a very comfortable keyboard.
Whereas the Asus eee pc is a small form factor PC that runs a word processor amongst other things. I doubt it would win a typing test, or a battery life test either. The keyboard is going to be cramped and the word pro has to be fired up by navigating through menus. But then again, the eee does a hell of a lot more than just text. It can browse the web, make calls, text, spreadsheets, presentations, edit photos, games and more besides. It is a full blown but very small PC.
Take your pick depending on your needs.
Heavy Jeff is said to be delighted at the ruling.
The price is also important. It sucks if it gets dropped or stolen but not as much as if it happened to a Vaio costing 4x as much. I expect people will be tossing these eee devices into backpacks rather than hauling around enormous laptop cases. If I were Microsoft I would be very scared by the trend these ultracheap laptops will start. Not only do they demonstrate that Windows is not a necessity, they'll act as a wedge for Firefox, OpenOffice, and Linux too.
The same applies to the OLPC assuming they produce a commercial variant. They really should since I predict there is a lot of money to be made if they did.
FFS just visit gametrailers.com, gamevideos.com, gamespot.com, ign.com, 1up.com, eurogamer.net or any other games oriented website and you will be overwhelmed by trailers and screenshots.
The game does look beautiful, arguably one of the best looking games to have appeared on any platform. It's also a good game that has received wide acclaim. Metacritic has at 89/100, Gamerankings at 90.2/100.
It is no surprise though that strings are attached to these regionalised versions to prevent the codes being used by anyone else. It's basically tough shit if you bought one of these codes, better luck next time.
IBM have a distributed raycasting engine that harnesses 3 PS3s to do real time tracing / casting. I seriously doubt any realtime game will ever utilise raytracing. A single PS3 may be powerful but it's not that powerful.
Consoles require games to be rated. Stores only sell rated games. If Rockstar absolutely want to release something that is unratable, they should produce a PC version and sell it online. Otherwise the reality is that they were utterly stupid to have even bothered making this game in the first place.
It goes way beyond the sandbox model.
You know, I know and Nintendo / Sony / Microsoft know that virtually every modchip is used to play pirate games. I'm sure there are legitimate users who only play games they own or to play region unlocked titles. I'm also fairly sure that such people represent a miniscule percentage of modders.
It really is no wonder the console manufacturers go after the modders given that they're basically an aide to piracy.
Miyamoto descibed it thusly - "The hardware is basically a GC. We've upgraded our development tools to new versions but, you can still use GC programs as they are. With that in mind, I thought we could remake GC titles for the Wii and modify them to work with the Wii remote so that they're more fun to play.". So I suggest that Gamecube 2.0 is a fairly apt description given than a leading person in Nintendo calls it such.
The CPU is also nowhere near as powerful as the CPUs in the PS3 or 360. Not even remotely close.
Sony and Microsoft seem to have caught the bug too to some extent. Sony did revise both the PS1 & PS2 multiple times in their lifetimes (some internal but some external), and the PS3 trend suggest they'll continue to do it. Next stop I think for them will be a slim model since the 40Gb appears to run cooler with less circuitry meaning it may be feasible. I'm surprised they didn't do it this time around since it would have sold by the shitload.
I can't recall Microsoft revamping the original XBox except for the controllers but they appear to be getting in on the act this gen with revised hardware too.
Well it was completely backwards compatible right up to the Gameboy micro model which only accepts GBA titles. The DS also only takes GBA titles.
I don't see anything wrong with this. Alaunch XBox 360 or launch PS3 is going to play new titles just as well as the new models. Mostly the new models are toying around with stuff peripheral to the core experience. On the PS3, it may even be that the new models are less desirable in some ways than the launch models since they lack BC, but on the other hand they cost a lot less too.
As for the Wii... It should be obvious that Nintendo will revamp it at some time or another, no doubt telling people how it fixes all sorts of issues with the first one. You can imagine the sorts of things they could add - better screen tracking, rechargable controllers, more storage, DVD playback, possibly even an HD output / scaler. And when they do revamp it, many of the people who crowed how cheap the Wii was will go and buy it all over again. This is after all exactly what Nintendo have done with their handhelds for years now. How many Gameboy models were there?
Examples of this abound. The one that pisses me off the most is Dual Shock 3. Some of the upgrades have been less than necessary, such as the Elite Xbox SKU, but rumble is a novel game input that you're completely missing out on for no reason if you bought or will buy a PS3 in the next six months. Some weren't even able to make the choice to wait because Sony lied about it.
The Dual Shock 3 will work in a launch PS3 if you choose to buy one. So what's the problem? As for Sony lying, to paraphrase Phil Harrison, Sony were in a lawsuit / negotiations with Immersion so did you really expect them to rave how great rumble was when there was a distinct possibility that it would never happen?
Now with the HD tuner incorporated HD DVD Player MP3 jack extravaganda, why buy now? You know there will be a new SKU and it will make your box look like a chump. And this isn't like Apple releasing something new and you're paying opportunity cost (forgetting about the iPhone for a second), because most of these upgrades already exist and are minor. The only difference is if you buy them now you're paying probably twice as much for something that's half as well integrated with the box.
I'll believe the TV tuner story when I see it for real. It may well be that the story is BS, or that Toshiba are still desperate to get their HD DVD going and in a last gasp attempt are paying MS $$$ to licence or produce a hybrid HD DVD / console to compete with the PS3. I think Microsoft is happy to take their money but I see nothing that says they care one jot for HD DVD except to prolong the format war as long as possible.
Anyway if SKUs annoy you, you might be happy to know that for the time being at least that the planned DVB-T twin tuner for the PS3 due in Europe early next year is an attachment. So if you don't want it, don't buy it.
Vista has its fair share of bugs, but after using it since release I simply don't recognize the OS you're complaining about. The desktop experience in Vista is generally excellent and not far removed from OS X at all in terms of simplicity, ease of use or eye candy. The Aero Glass theme is far more attractive and space efficient than Aqua. Vista does have some flakey behaviour for me (e.g. hibernate sometimes wakes up for no reason), but overall the experience has been fairly positive. I am looking forward to a service pack though.
Would I recommend Vista to an XP user? Not really. But it's probably the right choice for new PCs. I really see nothing about Vista that would put off a new user, or make them pine for OS X. If they get Vista on the store bought PC, the chances are it'll work just fine.
I'm not proposing banning it in public. I am proposing banning it in public services, government etc. The only way you can keep government free from the taint of religion is to keep the two absolutely separate. As for people being excluded or whatever... the parents can either to send their kids to state school or to a religious school of their schooling (assuming it meets the national curriculum). But the state school should not permit any overt displays of religion on its property.