Re:Let me give orders in pause!
on
Protoss For a Day
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· Score: 3, Insightful
It sounds to me like the genre you're after is Turn-based Strategy. The pressure of having to get everything done quickly and cope with multiple demands on your attention are the very essence of what makes an RTS different.
Don't feel bad; I'm just the same for the most part.
Here in the UK, I don't have access to any HD movie channels or indeed Live Marketplace. So I bought one as soon as they came out. They're oh so very pretty.
Alternatively, they may be just counting it as multiple sessions when I play Geometry Wars for 10 minutes before loading Forza 2, or when I stop playing for a couple of minutes to chat with one of my friends who has popped online before going back to the game. There are all sorts of things that 360 owners regularly do that could be breaking one "session" of sitting down to use it into little bits.
I think it also depends on the transmitter. If, for example, there's a malfunctioning transformer in there giving of a barely-noticeable high-pitched buzzing noise, that could be giving a headache.
There are plenty of sensible reasons for equipment to cause effects, it's just that (as far as we can tell) merely being an 802.11 transmitter isn't one of them.
Personally, I don't think you can beat the Dreamcast Arcade Stick, although I'm sure others will argue for the Hori Real Arcade Pro. Then you just need an appropriate console-to-USB pad converter. I've got one each for the DC stick and my Hori Soul Calibur II stick, and they work wonderfully. Far nicer than the X-Arcade thing, as the sticks are nice loose Sanwa ones and the button placement is more intelligent.
The only trouble is that you might need to experiment a bit with the USB pad converters, as some of the cheap ones have lag.
Alternatively, the original Soul Calibur, Virtua Tennis, Ikaruga and indeed most Naomi titles are just about perfect on the Dreamcast itself, and you can get a VGA adaptor for the machine. Skipping right past 'emulation' to running on what's essentially the arcade hardware (Naomi is the same graphics and processor, just more memory available on some machines) is excellent.
I heard it slightly differently, but there surely can't be a coincidence that whenever Ferrari announce a new hypercar (F40, F50, Enzo, FXX) that the Floyd suddenly break silence again...
Silicon Knights are publicly complaining about the (lack of) PS3 Unreal Engine that they've paid for. Those other non-complaining developers, however, have been discreetly cancelling or postponing the PS3 versions of their games for quite some time now, however.
True, but the GP has a point - Tenerife's highest point is 3717m, compared to about 2400m for La Palma. Also, anyone who has read about the megatsunami predicted from there knows Cumbre Vieja is still active, so I'm still curious about the decision. If I had to guess, it's just due to the fact that there are so many other parts of the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory already up there, combined with the fact that Tenerife is more populated, and so you'd probably get more light pollution.
Hey, Windows-only would be a start. The iPlayer, like the competition's 4OD system, is Windows _XP_ only, so those of us with Vista machines are stuffed along with the Mac and Linux owners. Given the hassle involved in even trying to buy an XP machine now that seems perverse.
Yes, but they're also 1080p at 24fps. So the TV taking the 1080i input can quite easily perform a 3:2 pulldown and display the frame correctly; they usually have to, since every LCD is progressive internally, in any case.
So there are a few reasons:
a) you're playing videogames, not watching films. In which case the player is irrelevant. b) your TV has an unusually poor deinterlacer. Ooops. But I've not seen any like that which do, however, accept 1080p. c) you don't want to fiddle with the audio settings to compensate for the 60th of a frame display. Assuming you can even tell it's there.
Personally, I'm happy with 1080i, and really, REALLY wish I could get one here. The cheapest I can find a UK version is £250, or 5 times what they're being offered for. So I'll stick with my 360 add-on instead for now.
Even if it were only all varieties of Windows Media I wouldn't complain too much. But this iPlayer, like their rivals Channel 4's 4OD system, uses a system that isn't even compatible with Vista.
Yes, I can go into a shop and buy a machine with Vista, OSX or even (unlikely, I know) Linux. And precisely none of them can run this. You're reliant on having a box old enough to still have XP on it.
Ah, I see. Having never done that myself, I didn't know you could do such clever things without downloading the tool. I just mentioned it because I spent a good few minutes hunting for the folder options under the usual Tools menu of Explorer before discovering they moved it there.
Even before the skinny, flip-top PS2 came out there were 10(? 11? I can't quite remember) variants of the machine's insides. In particular, the last few of them already had the smaller die, fewer consolidated chips layout that subsequently went in the tiny one, and a quieter fan to match. So they're not exactly the first.
More pertinently, the logic is implying to me that he wants you to be distracted by that other house next door, the one with only one lock on it.
So either he wants us to buy HD-DVD and copy those, or just stick with standard-def DVDs. Or record the movie off HD cable.
Any of which sound like a plausible answer - why bother cracking BD+ when there are so many other, more insecure (the cable feed may not even be encrypted by the time it reaches your DVR) methods to copy the film you want?
"M'Lud, I'm not completely naive. Free movies to download legally seemed rather unlikely. But I checked the WHOIS information for the site and confirmed that it belonged by a company paid by the film studio to handle their online side, so I thought it was legit after all".
A cracker honeypot is designed to tempt people to attack your machine with whatever new tools and methods you're not currently aware of, with the intent of finding out what they are, and so better design technical solutions to stop them in future with the 'real' machine you need safe.
This, on the other hand, is a site designed to get security violation software onto the visitor's site, rather than vice versa. Media Sentry don't need to learn about P2P because they're the ones offering it.
It's interesting (nothing more than interesting to me, as I've gone down the HD-DVD route and can't afford any sort of Blu-Ray player myself), but the PS3 is actually the best Blu-Ray player at any price, as well as being the cheapest. The other player manufacturers (who, at least last time I looked, are getting beaten by Toshiba's HD-DVD players for sales) can't be terribly happy about that.
It's a bit of both, really. The widespread reports of poor reliability have cost them sales to people whose whole argument behind getting a console in the first place is for it to 'just work'. Coming out and pretty much confirming that the situation is as bad as rumour suggests probably doesn't help too much.
But on the other hand, this is a great way to buy back some of the goodwill they lost with existing owners. And when the long-awaited die shrink occurs that will hopefully help get more people on board (not just those worried about reliability, but the many people who think the current machine sounds like a hairdryer) too.
At which point, that raises an important question, actually - if the bastards are just scanning whole hard-drives instead of a specific download area, how heavy is the evidence for an intention to distribute?
All AC-3 laserdiscs were at 320kbit/s. In theory, they shouldn't even sound as good as DVD, let alone better.
In practice, the reason laserdisc AC-3 sounds "better" is because LD was too much of a niche market for the studios to do anything other than take the theatrical mix, peform the 3dB volume reduction on the rear channels (theatrical mixes are boosted by that due to assorted amp stuff that clearly made sense to someone when they designed it, but I'm blowed if I'll every figure it out) and then slap it on the disc.
For DVDs, however, they do clever things to make the mix more suitable for home listening. Because 5.1 tracks are folded down to stereo in the player for people without surround systems, it's a game of compromises to make the 5.1, 5.0 (not everyone has a sub) and 2.0 folded versions all sound acceptable. Also, the insane quantities of bass used in theatrical mixes these days would overwhelm cheap systems, so they try not to cook it too hard.
The DVD of Jurassic Park (after a load of complaints about the initial release) is a straight port of the laserdisc audio in the Dolby release for example, and sure enough sounds like it.
Some of us are nerdy enough to not only download movie trailers in HD quality from assorted Studio-provided legal sites, but often leave a fair few of them lying around. Given what we already know about the Media Sentry tactics, how do you expect them to react to my (perfectly legal) directory of 100Mb+ wmv and m4v files that all have the titles of movies?
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It sounds to me like the genre you're after is Turn-based Strategy. The pressure of having to get everything done quickly and cope with multiple demands on your attention are the very essence of what makes an RTS different.
Don't feel bad; I'm just the same for the most part.
I'm guessing that the grandparent has a 360 instead of a PS3, if they're considering the drive.
Still, a 360 will play back H.264, MPEG2 or WMV format versions of whatever you're downloading too, so the recommendation still stands.
Here in the UK, I don't have access to any HD movie channels or indeed Live Marketplace. So I bought one as soon as they came out. They're oh so very pretty.
Alternatively, they may be just counting it as multiple sessions when I play Geometry Wars for 10 minutes before loading Forza 2, or when I stop playing for a couple of minutes to chat with one of my friends who has popped online before going back to the game. There are all sorts of things that 360 owners regularly do that could be breaking one "session" of sitting down to use it into little bits.
I think it also depends on the transmitter. If, for example, there's a malfunctioning transformer in there giving of a barely-noticeable high-pitched buzzing noise, that could be giving a headache.
There are plenty of sensible reasons for equipment to cause effects, it's just that (as far as we can tell) merely being an 802.11 transmitter isn't one of them.
Personally, I don't think you can beat the Dreamcast Arcade Stick, although I'm sure others will argue for the Hori Real Arcade Pro. Then you just need an appropriate console-to-USB pad converter. I've got one each for the DC stick and my Hori Soul Calibur II stick, and they work wonderfully. Far nicer than the X-Arcade thing, as the sticks are nice loose Sanwa ones and the button placement is more intelligent.
The only trouble is that you might need to experiment a bit with the USB pad converters, as some of the cheap ones have lag.
Alternatively, the original Soul Calibur, Virtua Tennis, Ikaruga and indeed most Naomi titles are just about perfect on the Dreamcast itself, and you can get a VGA adaptor for the machine. Skipping right past 'emulation' to running on what's essentially the arcade hardware (Naomi is the same graphics and processor, just more memory available on some machines) is excellent.
I heard it slightly differently, but there surely can't be a coincidence that whenever Ferrari announce a new hypercar (F40, F50, Enzo, FXX) that the Floyd suddenly break silence again...
Silicon Knights are publicly complaining about the (lack of) PS3 Unreal Engine that they've paid for. Those other non-complaining developers, however, have been discreetly cancelling or postponing the PS3 versions of their games for quite some time now, however.
Indeed. Codename of that '3x PowerPC on a single die' chip? Xenon. So you're both right.
True, but the GP has a point - Tenerife's highest point is 3717m, compared to about 2400m for La Palma. Also, anyone who has read about the megatsunami predicted from there knows Cumbre Vieja is still active, so I'm still curious about the decision. If I had to guess, it's just due to the fact that there are so many other parts of the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory already up there, combined with the fact that Tenerife is more populated, and so you'd probably get more light pollution.
Hey, Windows-only would be a start. The iPlayer, like the competition's 4OD system, is Windows _XP_ only, so those of us with Vista machines are stuffed along with the Mac and Linux owners. Given the hassle involved in even trying to buy an XP machine now that seems perverse.
Yes, but they're also 1080p at 24fps. So the TV taking the 1080i input can quite easily perform a 3:2 pulldown and display the frame correctly; they usually have to, since every LCD is progressive internally, in any case.
So there are a few reasons:
a) you're playing videogames, not watching films. In which case the player is irrelevant.
b) your TV has an unusually poor deinterlacer. Ooops. But I've not seen any like that which do, however, accept 1080p.
c) you don't want to fiddle with the audio settings to compensate for the 60th of a frame display. Assuming you can even tell it's there.
Personally, I'm happy with 1080i, and really, REALLY wish I could get one here. The cheapest I can find a UK version is £250, or 5 times what they're being offered for. So I'll stick with my 360 add-on instead for now.
Even if it were only all varieties of Windows Media I wouldn't complain too much. But this iPlayer, like their rivals Channel 4's 4OD system, uses a system that isn't even compatible with Vista.
Yes, I can go into a shop and buy a machine with Vista, OSX or even (unlikely, I know) Linux. And precisely none of them can run this. You're reliant on having a box old enough to still have XP on it.
Ah, I see. Having never done that myself, I didn't know you could do such clever things without downloading the tool. I just mentioned it because I spent a good few minutes hunting for the folder options under the usual Tools menu of Explorer before discovering they moved it there.
Wow, it's almost as if there is more than one person posting on the site.
On the other hand, maybe we ARE all just figments of Coyboy Neal's imagination. If so, he's a sick bastard...
Even before the skinny, flip-top PS2 came out there were 10(? 11? I can't quite remember) variants of the machine's insides. In particular, the last few of them already had the smaller die, fewer consolidated chips layout that subsequently went in the tiny one, and a quieter fan to match. So they're not exactly the first.
Also: GBA to GBA SP to GBA Micro.
There's a specific Control Panel for folder options - does that not do what you're after?
More pertinently, the logic is implying to me that he wants you to be distracted by that other house next door, the one with only one lock on it.
So either he wants us to buy HD-DVD and copy those, or just stick with standard-def DVDs. Or record the movie off HD cable.
Any of which sound like a plausible answer - why bother cracking BD+ when there are so many other, more insecure (the cable feed may not even be encrypted by the time it reaches your DVR) methods to copy the film you want?
"M'Lud, I'm not completely naive. Free movies to download legally seemed rather unlikely. But I checked the WHOIS information for the site and confirmed that it belonged by a company paid by the film studio to handle their online side, so I thought it was legit after all".
A cracker honeypot is designed to tempt people to attack your machine with whatever new tools and methods you're not currently aware of, with the intent of finding out what they are, and so better design technical solutions to stop them in future with the 'real' machine you need safe.
This, on the other hand, is a site designed to get security violation software onto the visitor's site, rather than vice versa. Media Sentry don't need to learn about P2P because they're the ones offering it.
It's interesting (nothing more than interesting to me, as I've gone down the HD-DVD route and can't afford any sort of Blu-Ray player myself), but the PS3 is actually the best Blu-Ray player at any price, as well as being the cheapest. The other player manufacturers (who, at least last time I looked, are getting beaten by Toshiba's HD-DVD players for sales) can't be terribly happy about that.
It's a bit of both, really. The widespread reports of poor reliability have cost them sales to people whose whole argument behind getting a console in the first place is for it to 'just work'. Coming out and pretty much confirming that the situation is as bad as rumour suggests probably doesn't help too much.
But on the other hand, this is a great way to buy back some of the goodwill they lost with existing owners. And when the long-awaited die shrink occurs that will hopefully help get more people on board (not just those worried about reliability, but the many people who think the current machine sounds like a hairdryer) too.
At which point, that raises an important question, actually - if the bastards are just scanning whole hard-drives instead of a specific download area, how heavy is the evidence for an intention to distribute?
All AC-3 laserdiscs were at 320kbit/s. In theory, they shouldn't even sound as good as DVD, let alone better.
In practice, the reason laserdisc AC-3 sounds "better" is because LD was too much of a niche market for the studios to do anything other than take the theatrical mix, peform the 3dB volume reduction on the rear channels (theatrical mixes are boosted by that due to assorted amp stuff that clearly made sense to someone when they designed it, but I'm blowed if I'll every figure it out) and then slap it on the disc.
For DVDs, however, they do clever things to make the mix more suitable for home listening. Because 5.1 tracks are folded down to stereo in the player for people without surround systems, it's a game of compromises to make the 5.1, 5.0 (not everyone has a sub) and 2.0 folded versions all sound acceptable. Also, the insane quantities of bass used in theatrical mixes these days would overwhelm cheap systems, so they try not to cook it too hard.
The DVD of Jurassic Park (after a load of complaints about the initial release) is a straight port of the laserdisc audio in the Dolby release for example, and sure enough sounds like it.
Some of us are nerdy enough to not only download movie trailers in HD quality from assorted Studio-provided legal sites, but often leave a fair few of them lying around. Given what we already know about the Media Sentry tactics, how do you expect them to react to my (perfectly legal) directory of 100Mb+ wmv and m4v files that all have the titles of movies?