Re:Saw It in Music! Coming Soon in Games, E-Books
on
Why Bother With DRM?
·
· Score: 1
iTunes is now (at least largely) DRM free, yes. But the combination of being all AAC (which, despite most decent players out there now supporting it, seems to put some people off) and tight application integration with the iPod still means it's off-putting for those who don't want Apple hardware.
While it's not technically true that Apple _can't_ provide a version of iTunes that integrates well with 3rd-party players, it's highly unlikely to do so. Sony are in a position to make everything work nicely with Microsoft's media player, that supports both their own hardware and that of many other manufacturers.
As the parent of a four-year-old, I'm capable of both having copies of nearly every GTA game ever released back to the original PC one, and yet ensure he doesn't watch them because they aren't suitable for him.
I also have an internet connection that access all manner of hideous stuff, a shelf full of horror movies and, even more seriously, power tools, kitchen knives, bleach and God only knows what else he could do himself an injury with.
Am I somehow alone in thinking this is just another part of my job as a parent?
Better graphics will keep coming, but so will better graphics cards. The point of the article is that graphics have advanced at such a greater rate than the games that you can now do just about anything sensible with a $100 card.
By the time that's no longer the case, there will probably be another, faster $100 card that can run it.
The reg hacking is for all the formats (chiefly.m4a and.mp4, if memory serves) that the 360 and PS3 will play just fine, but Microsoft don't like to point WMP at out of the box, because they're a little bit too Apple-y, or something.
Well, kinda, for Virgin. I wouldn't recommend anyone go there now, because there is the threat of Phorm hanging over them. But as a current user of their cable broadband, I'm happy to stay until that reality appears. Their usage cap policy is well spelt out and clear, merely reducing my bandwidth from 10Mbps to 2Mbps for a few hours once I hit it in peak time - since 2Mbps was what I was getting at the same price last month anyway I'm not fussed by that. And there's no sneaky blocking by port number, either - it's a flat usage measurement, irrespective of whether those bits are from a web page, torrent or game server.
Plus the set-top-box has the BBC iPlayer, ITV Player and 4OD all built in, without any faffing around with the computer.
I'm going to be really annoyed when Phorm makes me move elsewhere.
1) Open window 2) Pick up HP Printer 3) Throw printer through window 4) Buy a new, compatible printer, from a company who doesn't overcharge so much for ink.
the savings on ink costs will pay for it in short order, and step 1 means you don't need to factor in glazing costs, either. That's how nice I am.
If you pick just the right shade of hot pink, it actually looks a tiny bit like the hot-rod they were aiming for, instead of a hearse with go-faster stripes.
Re: release date differences, it's only two days. Here in the UK we're getting a Wednesday release because the kids are off school, and it makes the opening weekend number bigger. The US marketing department apparently don't think it's worth doing something other than the usual Friday. It's hardly the biggest difference out there.
As for Hostel II, surely Roth's problem was more the phenomenally bad reviews prior to release that killed it, rather than some unusually large number of pirate copies?
God only knows what they're likely to do when they find out my TV has a vGA input on it, in that case. That's probably cirmventing DMCA protection right there.
Which would be a perfectly fine criticism, if the British Press were bitching about it. The reality is that one paper wrote an opinion piece, which the US Press then blew out of all proportion into some monumental shitstorm. I'm reasonably up to speed with the news here, but the first I even knew of 'my shock and offense' was when Americans suddenly started apologising for it on Obama's behalf.
Not 90% of the British Press, for a start. This "torrent of criticism" appears to be limited to a couple of minor opinion pieces in one paper. Certainly, I only found out about it when random Americans started asking me what I thought, because their press had led them to believe it was some kind of national emergency here.
My solution to that conundrum (although I thought 8 was over-rated, purely because the rest of the Next-Gen films were so unutterably terrible) is to make Galaxy Quest canon. They're quite clearly playing the cast of Trek anyway, and it's a great movie. That slots in as the real 10, with Nemesis as 11.
Of course, I'll probably revise that if Abrams turns out to have made a mess of this new one.
Jesus, man. You can play Dwarf Fortress without diving into it for dozens of hours? I admire your restraint, although I do somewhat worry that you'll still be on your first go in 2011.
The industry's solution to a financial crisis is to stop making the huge, expensive products that people aren't buying and make smaller, cheaper ones instead?
Why do you hate America?
The solution is _clearly_ to give billions of dollars to GM, sorry EA, in Government aid.
Well, leave aside for the moment that fact that Warner Brothers was both the highest-grossing studio of 2008 and so far the highest of 2009 as well (something I wouldn't be surprised is still the case at the end of the year with a Potter hitting screens soon). Because this isn't really about Warners the film studio.
Two companies have such massive influence on Superhero movies. Because original Superheroes just don't sell as well as ones with 50+ years of hype behind them, you're basically looking to Marvel and DC. As the summary says, Marvel announced they see more money in ensuring their 13-year-old comic fans can watch already, and now the owners of DC have as well - AOL Time Warner.
Companies do things to make a profit. The money men have observed that the most profit comes from allowing a wider market to watch this genre. That's about the size of it.
sangreal66 has already covered the way that Warners' decision to go single-format is what finished off HD-DVD. They're also, the highest grossing studio of 2008.
But that's more about discussing the importance of the various studios on a Global basis. I'm talking specifically about Superhero films, where it helps to have a well-known brand name before you start. Rule out the DC Universe, and you're both down a fair proportion of your options, and most likely trying to have a conversation with Marvel, who the article states don't want to make R-Rated stuff either.
Basically, you're probably stuck either trying to ape the success of Hancock with an original character, or adapting someone most people in the US won't have heard of, like Judge Dredd. Neither of which did particularly well, considering their budget and stars.
Slashdot Mirror
iTunes is now (at least largely) DRM free, yes. But the combination of being all AAC (which, despite most decent players out there now supporting it, seems to put some people off) and tight application integration with the iPod still means it's off-putting for those who don't want Apple hardware.
While it's not technically true that Apple _can't_ provide a version of iTunes that integrates well with 3rd-party players, it's highly unlikely to do so. Sony are in a position to make everything work nicely with Microsoft's media player, that supports both their own hardware and that of many other manufacturers.
That's not breaking news. The Greeks have history on locking people up for innocently taking photos in public.
As the parent of a four-year-old, I'm capable of both having copies of nearly every GTA game ever released back to the original PC one, and yet ensure he doesn't watch them because they aren't suitable for him.
I also have an internet connection that access all manner of hideous stuff, a shelf full of horror movies and, even more seriously, power tools, kitchen knives, bleach and God only knows what else he could do himself an injury with.
Am I somehow alone in thinking this is just another part of my job as a parent?
Ooops, missed your reply (damn this new interface on /.) Yep, they went annoying a long while back:
Teenagers say "The company changed its trading name to 'BT' on 2 April 1991."
Better graphics will keep coming, but so will better graphics cards. The point of the article is that graphics have advanced at such a greater rate than the games that you can now do just about anything sensible with a $100 card.
By the time that's no longer the case, there will probably be another, faster $100 card that can run it.
The reg hacking is for all the formats (chiefly .m4a and .mp4, if memory serves) that the 360 and PS3 will play just fine, but Microsoft don't like to point WMP at out of the box, because they're a little bit too Apple-y, or something.
Well, kinda, for Virgin. I wouldn't recommend anyone go there now, because there is the threat of Phorm hanging over them. But as a current user of their cable broadband, I'm happy to stay until that reality appears. Their usage cap policy is well spelt out and clear, merely reducing my bandwidth from 10Mbps to 2Mbps for a few hours once I hit it in peak time - since 2Mbps was what I was getting at the same price last month anyway I'm not fussed by that. And there's no sneaky blocking by port number, either - it's a flat usage measurement, irrespective of whether those bits are from a web page, torrent or game server.
Plus the set-top-box has the BBC iPlayer, ITV Player and 4OD all built in, without any faffing around with the computer.
I'm going to be really annoyed when Phorm makes me move elsewhere.
BT is the name of the company. Bittorrent is called Bittorrent.
Besides, your misread makes precisely zero sense; how can a protocol block a website?
There's an easy solution for that:
1) Open window
2) Pick up HP Printer
3) Throw printer through window
4) Buy a new, compatible printer, from a company who doesn't overcharge so much for ink.
the savings on ink costs will pay for it in short order, and step 1 means you don't need to factor in glazing costs, either. That's how nice I am.
If you pick just the right shade of hot pink, it actually looks a tiny bit like the hot-rod they were aiming for, instead of a hearse with go-faster stripes.
Re: release date differences, it's only two days. Here in the UK we're getting a Wednesday release because the kids are off school, and it makes the opening weekend number bigger. The US marketing department apparently don't think it's worth doing something other than the usual Friday. It's hardly the biggest difference out there.
As for Hostel II, surely Roth's problem was more the phenomenally bad reviews prior to release that killed it, rather than some unusually large number of pirate copies?
It's leaked 1 month before release. That unfinished copy was already a month old before it got uploaded.
God only knows what they're likely to do when they find out my TV has a vGA input on it, in that case. That's probably cirmventing DMCA protection right there.
Which would be a perfectly fine criticism, if the British Press were bitching about it. The reality is that one paper wrote an opinion piece, which the US Press then blew out of all proportion into some monumental shitstorm. I'm reasonably up to speed with the news here, but the first I even knew of 'my shock and offense' was when Americans suddenly started apologising for it on Obama's behalf.
Which was odd, to say the least.
Oh dear God, I hope not. It's bad enough with Sonny & Cher, but the radio this morning was playing Lily Allen.
Start where?
Pink ponies are for girls.
Can I have a blue one?
I can see them both. But by definition, nobody could reply to me. This is lame. I bet it doesn't have as much space as a Nomad, either.
My solution to that conundrum (although I thought 8 was over-rated, purely because the rest of the Next-Gen films were so unutterably terrible) is to make Galaxy Quest canon. They're quite clearly playing the cast of Trek anyway, and it's a great movie. That slots in as the real 10, with Nemesis as 11.
Of course, I'll probably revise that if Abrams turns out to have made a mess of this new one.
Jesus, man. You can play Dwarf Fortress without diving into it for dozens of hours? I admire your restraint, although I do somewhat worry that you'll still be on your first go in 2011.
The industry's solution to a financial crisis is to stop making the huge, expensive products that people aren't buying and make smaller, cheaper ones instead?
Why do you hate America?
The solution is _clearly_ to give billions of dollars to GM, sorry EA, in Government aid.
Well, leave aside for the moment that fact that Warner Brothers was both the highest-grossing studio of 2008 and so far the highest of 2009 as well (something I wouldn't be surprised is still the case at the end of the year with a Potter hitting screens soon). Because this isn't really about Warners the film studio.
Two companies have such massive influence on Superhero movies. Because original Superheroes just don't sell as well as ones with 50+ years of hype behind them, you're basically looking to Marvel and DC. As the summary says, Marvel announced they see more money in ensuring their 13-year-old comic fans can watch already, and now the owners of DC have as well - AOL Time Warner.
Companies do things to make a profit. The money men have observed that the most profit comes from allowing a wider market to watch this genre. That's about the size of it.
sangreal66 has already covered the way that Warners' decision to go single-format is what finished off HD-DVD. They're also, the highest grossing studio of 2008.
But that's more about discussing the importance of the various studios on a Global basis. I'm talking specifically about Superhero films, where it helps to have a well-known brand name before you start. Rule out the DC Universe, and you're both down a fair proportion of your options, and most likely trying to have a conversation with Marvel, who the article states don't want to make R-Rated stuff either.
Basically, you're probably stuck either trying to ape the success of Hancock with an original character, or adapting someone most people in the US won't have heard of, like Judge Dredd. Neither of which did particularly well, considering their budget and stars.
They'll prohibit independent studios from making their own R-Rated DC Superhero movies, yes, because DC is owned by AOL Time Warner.
As such, they're easily the most important single studio, if you had to pick one.