This finding replaces the previous record, 270 years, previously held by "Uncle Joe's Authentic Chynees" (sic) on 3rd Street. While the restaurant (closed since August under order of the local health department after reports of patrons teeth chipping while eating the "Egg-Foou-Youngings") no longer holds the record, it maintains its distinction as the restaurant serving the oldest noodles. When asked for comment, "Uncle Joe" continued to defend his cuisine stating that his establishment has a policy of never serving food older than he is.
When asked, "Uncle Joe" said he was born March 23rd, 1723.
You'd think they would have found something between 270 years and 4000 years, huh?;)
Wouldn't this law be regulating interstate commerce and thus unconstitutional? The only way I could see this as valid would be if they required a license for one person from that state (ND, for example) to sell to another person in that state (intrastate commerce). I can't imagine that states can regulate international commerce either so that same person would be allowed to sell to Canada, etc al.
Either way, I see it as a stupid idea. This is two things: a blatant attempt at getting more revenue for the state (though licensing fees), and (pure guess here) an attempt by auctioneers (probably a union of some sort) to get more money because their trade is threatened (in some ways) by eBay.
Why eBay? Why not require it for garage sales? Why not go after silent auctions that all sorts of places run (like many school districts and churches to raise funds). Usually there is a little good a law might do, or you can at least see some good intent behind it. This would do anything but prevent everyone in ND from selling things on eBay.
If you want to protect people from fraud, go after the NDers that are actually perpetrating fraud on others through eBay. Come up with a way to become a "registered eBayer" in the state so people can guaranty that you can be held accountable if you rip people off (but make it voluntary, and free or nearly so ($5) with no classes our anything like that).
I agree, I have a flash cart too which I have used to play and develop home-brew games. But when the suits are probably saying "No" to anything that even opens up the remote possibility that one day someone might use it to steal a game, the "safety" of Java might make it "OK" by them.
It's not an issue of reality, it's an issue of business.
But like I said, they could also give a managed environment like the PS2 had with Linux.
But when you truely open it up, then people can use homebrew code to launch copied games and other things Sony doesn't want them to do. Java prevents that.
As the processor and memory, they will take a hit from running Java but it would still be WORLDS ahead of what even high end cellphones offer. More than enough for most homebrew games and platformers and other fun stuff. Plus you've got the fast 3D hardware which could be exposed (either though Java3D, or a JNI thing for better performance).
I thought of truely opeing it, but we all know it will never happen. I think something like Java would be our best bet. The other option would be to let us run homebrew native code, but keep it in a sandbox/managed environment so people couldn't play copied games/etc (like the did with PS2 Linux). I could see that happening too.
As a college student, I'd love one for times I have between classes, when I get out early, etc. The ability to take shows off my TiVo and watch them on the go would be great. It would especially help during the first week or two of season premiers when the stuff stacks up on my TiVo at least twice as fast as I can watch it.
Of course the real genius of this is you don't need the computer to get the content off and transcode it. Great idea, although I can't comment on the execution (which is usually where these kind of things go wrong).
PS: Don't bother mentioning TiVo To Go. White it would work, I have DirecTV so it's not an option.
There are so many people (me included) who would love to be able to program for the PSP, but they won't open it up for various reasons (fear of piracy, mostly).
So why not give people a Java sandbox (J2ME would be fine) to play in? That way they can make games and other fun things, but they won't be able to use it to boot pirated games off memory sticks and such (unless they REALLY mess up the JVM). Seems like a perfect solution.
They sold the Net Yahorzee, why not give us this? Download a copy today (tied to the PSP's serial number to prevent copying?) for only $20! They'd make a fortune.
The revolution controller trailer doesn't show games, but it does show people playing (probably hypothetical) games with it. Using it like a fishing rod, like drumsticks, like a light gun, etc. I think being told "this is a fishing rod, press this button to reel in and pull back just like in real life" would not only less off-putting than the alternative "spin the analog stick to reel in, push this button to pull on the rod, push it faster to pull harder, etc.), it would make things far more accessible.
As for the Eye Toy, it suffers from three problems. The first (and biggest) is that no one owns one. It would be one thing if they shipped every PS2 with one, but they didn't. Since no one owns them, no one makes games for it. Since no one makes games for it, Sony must put out a token title here or there. And while is EyeToy: Anti-Grav (which looks interesting), it is still somewhat of a demo (ALL the games on the two EyeToy games are just little WarioWare-esque demos, only longer). If there were more developers, there would be people pushing what it can do and coming up with cool stuff. But even if every publisher and their mother had great ideas for it, no one will publish games for it because no one owns one. Unless Sony came up with a "Halo 2" that required it (thus driving sales, even if it was somewhat peripheral to the game experience) that would have brought about games.
The Revolution controller is our best hope of breaking out of the pattern we have been in since the NES days of the same old controller (with a few new bells and whistles). I hope that it succeeds, or at least spurs innovation to bring about a new controller that will break us out.
The Atari was the reason I put "... in a long time" (or something like that) in my original post. I wasn't sure, but I suspected the 7800 could play 2600 games (the fact that it wasn't successful isn't exactly relevant, but I could have put "first successful backwards compatible...").
As others have mentioned the game boy systems have been (why I added the word "home"). The Genesis could play Master System games (if you bought an adaptor, as could the Game Gear). And there have always been after-market things to let you play NES games on the SNES and NES/SNES games on the N64 (although I have always been doubtful of their quality as they are the kind of things you find in the back of magazines).
As for the Saturn, it was not backwards compatible with ANYTHING, even with an adaptor (from what I know). It had a cartridge slot that LOOKED exactly like it took Genesis games, but that was only for memory cartridges (Sega's save units, as Sony hadn't invented the now ubiquitous memory card yet). If the Saturn could play Sega CD games that may have helped the Sega CD (there were rumors about this before the launch, but it never happened). There were also rumblings that the 32X would let you play Saturn games (would have helped both the 32X and the Saturn) but those were false also.
The closest thing to backwards compatible any recent Sega console had was the Dreamcast. While there was nothing official, it was absolutely trivial to run user code on it (burn a normal CD... how tough!) so you could run Genesis emulators (along with SNES and other systems). But that is completely unofficial and home-brewed.
As far as I can remember, the Atari 7800 was the ONLY console that was backwards compatible before the PS2 (again, home console, as the GBC was). There may have been one before the 7800 (a Colocovision 2 or some such) but I don't know enough about that era to say for sure.
I did that, but it was due to a lack of games in many ways. I bought the PS2 at launch as a PS2. It just happened to get FAR more use as a DVD player (didn't own one before that except my computer) and as a PS1 (because there were still MANY games coming out for the PS1) than as a PS2 (great games were fewer and farther between when the platform just launched, as when any platform first launches).
I don't remember Sony every specifically advertising it as "It is a DVD player that does games" or something like that. They touted the PS1 functionality (that was the first home console in a long time that was backwards compatible). They touted the DVD player, but only as a "you don't have to pay $30 to enable it" bullet point kind of thing (as far as I can remember).
You didn't buy our last console because the games were terrible (as far as things to appeal to Moms)
You wouldn't buy our new console because the games will be terrible (as far as things that appeal to Moms)
So we are firing a shotgun-blast of pointless features we tacked on for the sole purpose of marketing bullet-points and "but Sony and Nintendo don't do ____" at you in the HOPES that SOMETHING will stick and might get you to look at buying our console.
Because you NEED a $400 DVD player (which has inferior quality to true $400 DVD players, I bet). You NEED a $400 box to listen to your iPod on your TV (because that $3 headphone->RCA cable won't work well enough). You NEED to be able to view your photos on the TV (because every digital camera in the last 5 years won't let you do that... no... wait...).
This is a STUPID marketing tactic. It's like trying to sell pickup trucks to women because they include a makeup mirror. Who would buy a pickup truck not because they needed a car of some sort, but because of the makeup mirror. No, worse: it is selling fridges to Eskimos because you can use the top of it to collect dust.
You want female gamers? Make good, fun, nice, games. There are other genres than Sports, Xtreme Sports, FPS, and Fighter. Look at Nintendo. They have the Mario games (even the Mario sports ones can appeal to women), they haver other games like Animal Crossing, and they also have things like Nintendogs.
Has it occured to you that you have pushed so far to towards 18 year old males that you no longer don't appeal to women, you are actively driving them away? I wouldn't be surprised if that was true.
I don't ad-block on the 'net (I use Safari and I don't know of an equivalent to Firefox's ad-block extension). But I do have a TiVo and I skip commercials.
So why? There are many reasons. Lets start with the net. While they take time to download and eat up CPU cycles (I've always wondered how much battery life Flash ads eat up when surfing the 'net on battery), there is a bigger reason.
What do ads look like on the 'net these days. Are they simple? Are they like google ads or the banner ads of yesterday? No, I see 3 things. I see large moving objects covered with names of states trying to sell me mortgages (peacocks, palm trees, all sorts of crud). I see 20 smiley faces dancing and bouncing like all those stupid pages people put up when animated GIFs first appeared. Last thing? Shoo the _____ to win a _____. DO IT NOW. NOW NOW NOW. TRY IT. WIN A ______. CLICK HERE.
Yeah, THOSE make me want to try/buy. Some companies ads are fine (the MS ads here on Slashdot are fine with me). But because people don't click them (see reasons above), they have decided to make things worse. Now they open BIG WINDOWS when you mouse over (or just enter a page). They bounce things around your browser window. They play sounds and songs and other crud. I keep my computer muted all the time (unless I'm listening to music) for precisely this reason. I got tired of surfing and randomly having some loud car-screech-peel-out or stupid music.
TV? I watch more ads than ever. Instead of being annoyed by most (BUY THIS CAR NOW AT JOE BOB FORD), I can skip all that. But when fast-forwarding if I see something that catches my eye I'll stop and watch it out of curiosity. No longer are am I just "watching" the ads (in the sense I'm in the room and theoretically watching TV), now I actually WATCH them. I don't tend to miss any commercials that I wish I'd seen (haven't heard about any good ones recently I didn't already know about). Interesting ads work, but it is only because of my TiVo I even bother.
As for radio, things have gotten worse also. That is one of the reasons (there are MANY others) that I've moved to listening to NPR so much (and my iPod even more).
My biggest complaint with mass media has to be how smutty it is. It used to be you could watch TV or listen to the radio. Now if I watch TV I get to see "male enhancement" ads, some of the most appalling and horrifying ads I've seen in my life (Tag body spray, Axe shower gel, some gum brand, and some others). Radio is the same. Everything I watch/listen to wants to sell me male enhancement drugs, recreational sex drugs (Viagra et al), some scan diet pill (that is probably causing millions of people kidney disease), 12 year olds dressed like hookers ('cause it's COOL), etc.
There are some fun commercials, and I've watched 'em. I enjoyed the iPod commercials, the Old Navy swing commercials from years ago, HP's recent printer campaign with the photos, and many others. The Toyota Prius commercial (from the Super Bowl) and many others have been great. But to watch those I get assaulted by tons of stuff that annoys me (car ads), sickens me (male enhancement), or just makes me want to cry that something like that would be broadcast (Tag body spray, Axe shower gel, etc).
But the biggest problem, the BIGGEST problem is seeing the same commercial 3 times per show. For every show. On every network. Non-stop play. Same thing over and Over and OVER and OVER.
I've heard rumblings of going back to "Kraft Foods presents: Medium on CBS". That's fine with me. I can't WAIT. It has GOT to be better than what we have now. And for those of you saying "Just give up on TV and watch the shows when they come out on DVD", I'm VERY close to that. VERY close.
Whether you agree with my stance on certain commercials being vulgar/etc; you have to admit... commercials seem to be trying to get louder and more annoying (like car dealership commercials are the best thing out there or something).
If the feature is available on the phone, it must be enabled and not crippled
Data on the phone belongs to the user, not the carrier, and must be accessible by the user (to pull data off the phone/put it on without having to go through the carrier).
Use of one feature on the phone (such as downloading new games) should not require use of another feature (such as accessing the internet) that may cost extra.
If a user wishes to use a cellphone on your network that is compatible (i.e. use a CDMA phone on Sprint's network) the company CAN NOT refuse the customer on the basis that the phone was not purchased through the company's store. (This is to create a free-market of cell-phone suppliers)
If a feature is on a phone but does not work to the fullest capacity (see: bluetooth on most any phone is the US) these facts MUST BE EXPLICITLY STATED ON THE BOX.
Jamster is not allowed to operate in the US (OK, so I couldn't think of one more, but this one seems good enough).
I thought that too. Whether you think it's accurate or not (I'm not sure myself), after reading that I got one of those "wait a minute..." moments. Interesting that when asked about defaming a religion, the guy defamed a religion.
As a Catholic, I'm not entirely sure what to think. I read about the ad and saw a picture, but since I'm in the US I never saw it actually run. I'm offended by it (I don't believe that "you're taking it the wrong way" stuff, there is only one way people would take something like that). I'm sure it would be more so if I actually saw it run.
As for if it will impact sales, I doubt it. Sales are 6 months away here in the US (at least) and I don't know if Europe will launch later. I think (unless it gets dredged up again) it will be forgotten. Would that ad have stopped my sale? If I was going to buy one when they came out next week (hypothetical, obviously) I might decide to delay for a week or two (basically, until I forgot). But six months out will it stop me? Not unless they are dumb enough to run it (or something like it) again.
As for the fact that they even ran this (since I'm starting all sentences with "as"). I've got to wonder how that ad got through. Didn't ANYONE think that this MIGHT be insulting to one of the world's oldest and largest religions? I don't see how any Catholic (or Prodestant, or even most Jews and such) could look at that and NOT think "That's going to offend some people." Didn't they test this ad on a focus group? What were they thinking?
Making people mad may make something "art", but it doesn't win you customers.
I'd like to know what the final controller looks like. That boomerang thing looks terrible and they have said that it was not the final design (I wonder if they were waiting for Nintendo to tip their hand?).
As for the price I think they NEED to launch at $300. While they will probably lose some money, it will help it sell (especially against the XBox 360). If they go above that, then I'll wait until the price drops to get one (something I'd rather not do). Of course, supply and demand says they could probably change $450 and still sell out of the opening shipment, but I don' think that'd be wise. The PS was $300, the PS 2 was $300, the PS 3 should be $300 (based on my memory, but I think it's correct).
My guess is that my number was recycled from someone who was on a solicitation list. Luck of the draw, I suppose.
I wish I knew who it was who was calling me (they call from a different number than the one they are advertising) so I can't call them to ask them not to call me.
If it continues, I may ask to have the number blocked.
He was forced out for $11 million. There were deals proposed of buying the company for up to nearly $200 million, and since he owned 40% of the stock... he got shortchanged.
My family signed up IMMEDIATELY. I think in the last two years we've gotten 3 or 4 calls, all from police/fire agencies and such (exempt under the law). It's worked fantastically well (even if they haven't prosecuted many cases).
That said, god help you if you're not on the list. I got a new cell phone and the number wasn't on the list (had to add it). I get a call or two daily leaving me voicemail in the evening (8:00 PM local time or so) that is just an automated message with the text "...all 800555121..." (the start of the message is cut off because of the "you have reached MBCook's phone" stuff, and the last digit is cut off (time constraint?)). It is a major pain. I've added myself to the list, just waiting for it take effect.
If there was a national spam list that worked this well, I'd sign up in a heartbeat. Too bad that's not possible.
That's the only difference between the stores I'm really aware of. EB does computer games, Game Stop doesn't. I assume they will start (since they will already be in the market thanks to the acquisition).
The only other store like EB/GameStop I know of is Babbages (if they're still around). Software Etc. bit the dust a LONG time ago, and Funcoland was assimilated by Game Stop. I wonder if Babbages is next to be assimilated after EB.
I was always under the impression that you had to have money to buy a company. I figured that things were like the stock market: No buying on margin. I'm surprised that they can do this.
I have no doubt they can pay. They are putting up 2/3rds of the cash and will be the only video game store around in most places (although obviously you'll still be able to buy from Best Buy, Circuit City, Toys 'R' Us, Target, Walmart, Meijers, and a million other places).
I'll stick with my local Game Stop thought. They didn't change when they went from being a Funcoland (which Game Stop bought), so I'm hoping things stay the same with EB. Does anyone know which name they are taking?
Besides the resurgence of the light-gun games (which have been almost non-existant on consoles, despite great games like Point Blank), the thing I'm looking forward to most is NO MORE STUPID SCREEN FLASHES WHEN YOU SHOOT.
I understand how light guns work, and that the flash is basically necessary to figure out where you shot, but they have always annoyed me and caused major eye strain. Even on the PlayStation (the last light-gun games I owned were Point Blank and Time Crisis) it still happened because it was the same old gun technology.
I can't wait to play without being assaulted with white frames every time I shoot.
PS: I would LOVE them to re-make duckhunt. Besides the old kinds (ducks and skeet), they could add in target practice (like Point Blank), give you options of using Bows and Arrows (would change the way you shot), etc.
No kidding. Guardian ad lidem? That means they wanted the court to remove the parents' legal rights to the child for the purposes of this case (ostensibly because the parents weren't looking out for the best interests of the kid) and have an officer of the court take over.
The parents' of this kid aren't fit because they won't let the RIAA sue her? They want a new legal guardian (again, only for legal matters pertaining to this case) appointed purely for the purpose of suing a child the parents' prevented you from suing?
Slashdot Mirror
This finding replaces the previous record, 270 years, previously held by "Uncle Joe's Authentic Chynees" (sic) on 3rd Street. While the restaurant (closed since August under order of the local health department after reports of patrons teeth chipping while eating the "Egg-Foou-Youngings") no longer holds the record, it maintains its distinction as the restaurant serving the oldest noodles. When asked for comment, "Uncle Joe" continued to defend his cuisine stating that his establishment has a policy of never serving food older than he is.
When asked, "Uncle Joe" said he was born March 23rd, 1723.
You'd think they would have found something between 270 years and 4000 years, huh? ;)
Either way, I see it as a stupid idea. This is two things: a blatant attempt at getting more revenue for the state (though licensing fees), and (pure guess here) an attempt by auctioneers (probably a union of some sort) to get more money because their trade is threatened (in some ways) by eBay.
Why eBay? Why not require it for garage sales? Why not go after silent auctions that all sorts of places run (like many school districts and churches to raise funds). Usually there is a little good a law might do, or you can at least see some good intent behind it. This would do anything but prevent everyone in ND from selling things on eBay.
If you want to protect people from fraud, go after the NDers that are actually perpetrating fraud on others through eBay. Come up with a way to become a "registered eBayer" in the state so people can guaranty that you can be held accountable if you rip people off (but make it voluntary, and free or nearly so ($5) with no classes our anything like that).
Some things are just so topical.
It's not an issue of reality, it's an issue of business.
But like I said, they could also give a managed environment like the PS2 had with Linux.
As the processor and memory, they will take a hit from running Java but it would still be WORLDS ahead of what even high end cellphones offer. More than enough for most homebrew games and platformers and other fun stuff. Plus you've got the fast 3D hardware which could be exposed (either though Java3D, or a JNI thing for better performance).
I thought of truely opeing it, but we all know it will never happen. I think something like Java would be our best bet. The other option would be to let us run homebrew native code, but keep it in a sandbox/managed environment so people couldn't play copied games/etc (like the did with PS2 Linux). I could see that happening too.
Of course the real genius of this is you don't need the computer to get the content off and transcode it. Great idea, although I can't comment on the execution (which is usually where these kind of things go wrong).
PS: Don't bother mentioning TiVo To Go. White it would work, I have DirecTV so it's not an option.
There are so many people (me included) who would love to be able to program for the PSP, but they won't open it up for various reasons (fear of piracy, mostly).
So why not give people a Java sandbox (J2ME would be fine) to play in? That way they can make games and other fun things, but they won't be able to use it to boot pirated games off memory sticks and such (unless they REALLY mess up the JVM). Seems like a perfect solution.
They sold the Net Yahorzee, why not give us this? Download a copy today (tied to the PSP's serial number to prevent copying?) for only $20! They'd make a fortune.
As for the Eye Toy, it suffers from three problems. The first (and biggest) is that no one owns one. It would be one thing if they shipped every PS2 with one, but they didn't. Since no one owns them, no one makes games for it. Since no one makes games for it, Sony must put out a token title here or there. And while is EyeToy: Anti-Grav (which looks interesting), it is still somewhat of a demo (ALL the games on the two EyeToy games are just little WarioWare-esque demos, only longer). If there were more developers, there would be people pushing what it can do and coming up with cool stuff. But even if every publisher and their mother had great ideas for it, no one will publish games for it because no one owns one. Unless Sony came up with a "Halo 2" that required it (thus driving sales, even if it was somewhat peripheral to the game experience) that would have brought about games.
The Revolution controller is our best hope of breaking out of the pattern we have been in since the NES days of the same old controller (with a few new bells and whistles). I hope that it succeeds, or at least spurs innovation to bring about a new controller that will break us out.
As others have mentioned the game boy systems have been (why I added the word "home"). The Genesis could play Master System games (if you bought an adaptor, as could the Game Gear). And there have always been after-market things to let you play NES games on the SNES and NES/SNES games on the N64 (although I have always been doubtful of their quality as they are the kind of things you find in the back of magazines).
As for the Saturn, it was not backwards compatible with ANYTHING, even with an adaptor (from what I know). It had a cartridge slot that LOOKED exactly like it took Genesis games, but that was only for memory cartridges (Sega's save units, as Sony hadn't invented the now ubiquitous memory card yet). If the Saturn could play Sega CD games that may have helped the Sega CD (there were rumors about this before the launch, but it never happened). There were also rumblings that the 32X would let you play Saturn games (would have helped both the 32X and the Saturn) but those were false also.
The closest thing to backwards compatible any recent Sega console had was the Dreamcast. While there was nothing official, it was absolutely trivial to run user code on it (burn a normal CD... how tough!) so you could run Genesis emulators (along with SNES and other systems). But that is completely unofficial and home-brewed.
As far as I can remember, the Atari 7800 was the ONLY console that was backwards compatible before the PS2 (again, home console, as the GBC was). There may have been one before the 7800 (a Colocovision 2 or some such) but I don't know enough about that era to say for sure.
I don't remember Sony every specifically advertising it as "It is a DVD player that does games" or something like that. They touted the PS1 functionality (that was the first home console in a long time that was backwards compatible). They touted the DVD player, but only as a "you don't have to pay $30 to enable it" bullet point kind of thing (as far as I can remember).
From the article, this sounds different to me.
You didn't buy our last console because the games were terrible (as far as things to appeal to Moms)
You wouldn't buy our new console because the games will be terrible (as far as things that appeal to Moms)
So we are firing a shotgun-blast of pointless features we tacked on for the sole purpose of marketing bullet-points and "but Sony and Nintendo don't do ____" at you in the HOPES that SOMETHING will stick and might get you to look at buying our console.
Because you NEED a $400 DVD player (which has inferior quality to true $400 DVD players, I bet). You NEED a $400 box to listen to your iPod on your TV (because that $3 headphone->RCA cable won't work well enough). You NEED to be able to view your photos on the TV (because every digital camera in the last 5 years won't let you do that... no... wait...).
This is a STUPID marketing tactic. It's like trying to sell pickup trucks to women because they include a makeup mirror. Who would buy a pickup truck not because they needed a car of some sort, but because of the makeup mirror. No, worse: it is selling fridges to Eskimos because you can use the top of it to collect dust.
You want female gamers? Make good, fun, nice, games. There are other genres than Sports, Xtreme Sports, FPS, and Fighter. Look at Nintendo. They have the Mario games (even the Mario sports ones can appeal to women), they haver other games like Animal Crossing, and they also have things like Nintendogs.
Has it occured to you that you have pushed so far to towards 18 year old males that you no longer don't appeal to women, you are actively driving them away? I wouldn't be surprised if that was true.
It is now, and always will be ALL ABOUT THE GAMES.
So why? There are many reasons. Lets start with the net. While they take time to download and eat up CPU cycles (I've always wondered how much battery life Flash ads eat up when surfing the 'net on battery), there is a bigger reason.
What do ads look like on the 'net these days. Are they simple? Are they like google ads or the banner ads of yesterday? No, I see 3 things. I see large moving objects covered with names of states trying to sell me mortgages (peacocks, palm trees, all sorts of crud). I see 20 smiley faces dancing and bouncing like all those stupid pages people put up when animated GIFs first appeared. Last thing? Shoo the _____ to win a _____. DO IT NOW. NOW NOW NOW. TRY IT. WIN A ______. CLICK HERE.
Yeah, THOSE make me want to try/buy. Some companies ads are fine (the MS ads here on Slashdot are fine with me). But because people don't click them (see reasons above), they have decided to make things worse. Now they open BIG WINDOWS when you mouse over (or just enter a page). They bounce things around your browser window. They play sounds and songs and other crud. I keep my computer muted all the time (unless I'm listening to music) for precisely this reason. I got tired of surfing and randomly having some loud car-screech-peel-out or stupid music.
TV? I watch more ads than ever. Instead of being annoyed by most (BUY THIS CAR NOW AT JOE BOB FORD), I can skip all that. But when fast-forwarding if I see something that catches my eye I'll stop and watch it out of curiosity. No longer are am I just "watching" the ads (in the sense I'm in the room and theoretically watching TV), now I actually WATCH them. I don't tend to miss any commercials that I wish I'd seen (haven't heard about any good ones recently I didn't already know about). Interesting ads work, but it is only because of my TiVo I even bother.
As for radio, things have gotten worse also. That is one of the reasons (there are MANY others) that I've moved to listening to NPR so much (and my iPod even more).
My biggest complaint with mass media has to be how smutty it is. It used to be you could watch TV or listen to the radio. Now if I watch TV I get to see "male enhancement" ads, some of the most appalling and horrifying ads I've seen in my life (Tag body spray, Axe shower gel, some gum brand, and some others). Radio is the same. Everything I watch/listen to wants to sell me male enhancement drugs, recreational sex drugs (Viagra et al), some scan diet pill (that is probably causing millions of people kidney disease), 12 year olds dressed like hookers ('cause it's COOL), etc.
There are some fun commercials, and I've watched 'em. I enjoyed the iPod commercials, the Old Navy swing commercials from years ago, HP's recent printer campaign with the photos, and many others. The Toyota Prius commercial (from the Super Bowl) and many others have been great. But to watch those I get assaulted by tons of stuff that annoys me (car ads), sickens me (male enhancement), or just makes me want to cry that something like that would be broadcast (Tag body spray, Axe shower gel, etc).
But the biggest problem, the BIGGEST problem is seeing the same commercial 3 times per show. For every show. On every network. Non-stop play. Same thing over and Over and OVER and OVER.
I've heard rumblings of going back to "Kraft Foods presents: Medium on CBS". That's fine with me. I can't WAIT. It has GOT to be better than what we have now. And for those of you saying "Just give up on TV and watch the shows when they come out on DVD", I'm VERY close to that. VERY close.
Whether you agree with my stance on certain commercials being vulgar/etc; you have to admit... commercials seem to be trying to get louder and more annoying (like car dealership commercials are the best thing out there or something).
As a Catholic, I'm not entirely sure what to think. I read about the ad and saw a picture, but since I'm in the US I never saw it actually run. I'm offended by it (I don't believe that "you're taking it the wrong way" stuff, there is only one way people would take something like that). I'm sure it would be more so if I actually saw it run.
As for if it will impact sales, I doubt it. Sales are 6 months away here in the US (at least) and I don't know if Europe will launch later. I think (unless it gets dredged up again) it will be forgotten. Would that ad have stopped my sale? If I was going to buy one when they came out next week (hypothetical, obviously) I might decide to delay for a week or two (basically, until I forgot). But six months out will it stop me? Not unless they are dumb enough to run it (or something like it) again.
As for the fact that they even ran this (since I'm starting all sentences with "as"). I've got to wonder how that ad got through. Didn't ANYONE think that this MIGHT be insulting to one of the world's oldest and largest religions? I don't see how any Catholic (or Prodestant, or even most Jews and such) could look at that and NOT think "That's going to offend some people." Didn't they test this ad on a focus group? What were they thinking?
Making people mad may make something "art", but it doesn't win you customers.
Sounds like something that's perfect for a Wiki on an IT intranet.
As for the price I think they NEED to launch at $300. While they will probably lose some money, it will help it sell (especially against the XBox 360). If they go above that, then I'll wait until the price drops to get one (something I'd rather not do). Of course, supply and demand says they could probably change $450 and still sell out of the opening shipment, but I don' think that'd be wise. The PS was $300, the PS 2 was $300, the PS 3 should be $300 (based on my memory, but I think it's correct).
I wish I knew who it was who was calling me (they call from a different number than the one they are advertising) so I can't call them to ask them not to call me.
If it continues, I may ask to have the number blocked.
You can opt out of pre-approved credit card offers, which may help you. Just go to the official opt-out website: https://www.optoutprescreen.com/
He was forced out for $11 million. There were deals proposed of buying the company for up to nearly $200 million, and since he owned 40% of the stock... he got shortchanged.
My family signed up IMMEDIATELY. I think in the last two years we've gotten 3 or 4 calls, all from police/fire agencies and such (exempt under the law). It's worked fantastically well (even if they haven't prosecuted many cases).
That said, god help you if you're not on the list. I got a new cell phone and the number wasn't on the list (had to add it). I get a call or two daily leaving me voicemail in the evening (8:00 PM local time or so) that is just an automated message with the text "...all 800555121..." (the start of the message is cut off because of the "you have reached MBCook's phone" stuff, and the last digit is cut off (time constraint?)). It is a major pain. I've added myself to the list, just waiting for it take effect.
If there was a national spam list that worked this well, I'd sign up in a heartbeat. Too bad that's not possible.
The only other store like EB/GameStop I know of is Babbages (if they're still around). Software Etc. bit the dust a LONG time ago, and Funcoland was assimilated by Game Stop. I wonder if Babbages is next to be assimilated after EB.
I have no doubt they can pay. They are putting up 2/3rds of the cash and will be the only video game store around in most places (although obviously you'll still be able to buy from Best Buy, Circuit City, Toys 'R' Us, Target, Walmart, Meijers, and a million other places).
I'll stick with my local Game Stop thought. They didn't change when they went from being a Funcoland (which Game Stop bought), so I'm hoping things stay the same with EB. Does anyone know which name they are taking?
I understand how light guns work, and that the flash is basically necessary to figure out where you shot, but they have always annoyed me and caused major eye strain. Even on the PlayStation (the last light-gun games I owned were Point Blank and Time Crisis) it still happened because it was the same old gun technology.
I can't wait to play without being assaulted with white frames every time I shoot.
PS: I would LOVE them to re-make duckhunt. Besides the old kinds (ducks and skeet), they could add in target practice (like Point Blank), give you options of using Bows and Arrows (would change the way you shot), etc.
Stari Decisis and all that.
The parents' of this kid aren't fit because they won't let the RIAA sue her? They want a new legal guardian (again, only for legal matters pertaining to this case) appointed purely for the purpose of suing a child the parents' prevented you from suing?
These people are INSANE.