So this is the reason why software has become less intuitive less user friendly and less functional.
Because developers have crippled them selves with the same broken base that is mac osx.
where the design mantra is "why do you need that?"
and thus all the software that trickles out form these devs reinforce the ideology of why do you need that? do it this way instead.
and if that way dont work for you will tough apple turtle shell pie for you baby, because it only this way or be abandoned and find your on way (good luck with that)
because there not going to be bothered coding in a functional right click menu or a edit button that performs actual functions.
because why do you need it ?? use the wizard click next and you have oooo perty you dont need to tweak the settings to create something different
besides think different was soooo 1990s and now its actually Dont Think, Dont Create, Don't Do Anything because your expected to be a sheep BAAAAAAA BAAAAA go consume content you freaking sheep
let your media overlords and their barely paid overseas content creation slaves make more content for you to devour... BAAAA BAAAAAAAA
It is ridiculous, the charging for every little thing .
customer service has been tossed out the window. in favor of less services for more money strategies.
I know there is business bastards and spread sheet nazis who say this is the way it needs to be done and will reason that time is money and that the end user needs to pay for that time . It is the only way businesses can sustain them selves.
But i disagree with this. they should not even be wasting the time and energy in creating a model for such extra charges and services. and instead focusing that energy on bettering their product.
This goes for every company out there . instead of finding ways to nickle and dime their customer base they should be focusing on quality products followed up with quality customer service and product support .
These standards should be included with all products, other wise we end up with the same ol race to the bottom where everything is generic and there is no quality or support for the product .
Customer service is not expensive when you have a quality product .
If companies would return to creating quality products and focus on differentiating them selves from one another with options, services, and products. they wouldn't have to try and find "creative" ways to gouge money out customers for services that are of little benefit.
Now that we are in an market filled with race to the bottom products the companies have forced them selves into a postion where they can longer offer quality products with a good profit margin. They now rely on acquiring their profits from cannibalizing their product to the bone and reselling those services and components at a annual fee.
Thus why every thing is becoming so expensive and short lived.
The problem is it is devoid of functionality and reeks of lets make everything stupid. ideology that has become the keystone of this decade.
yes these words are polarizing but the whole interface is polarizing. im not just talking windows here im talking all smart devices and its "thinking behind its poor design"
remove functionality .
remove options.
apply bare minimum usability.
when you come from robust desktop apps that give the users control of their programs , it is a slap in the face to use a so called smart app. and if you want to close the app ? forget it buddy the all knowing software engineer has removed the "confusing" close app functionality and gently suspends the application in the back ground . so if it glitches, it remains glitched until you reboot the device .
We have taken leaps backwards in the progress made in user interface in the last 20 years . instead of having things available to you with a few short clicks you are now bombarded with hundreds of lil shiny buttons across multiple virtual desktops that you have to examine to see what they are . (oh press the wrong one no problem well just suspend it into the background until you need it again !!)
Also the new interfaces are designed with the mindset that are to be only presented not used . so screw copy, screw paste, screw edit, and screw select all you dont need it !! just look at the pretty pictures and post your short expressions of glee on facebook.
so yeah dont expect those of us who actually use our computers be enamored with a another dumb user interface . just because it is touch touchy touchy does not mean it is gaining more functionality . in fact in most cases we are loosing a majority of progress that was made in application useability .
so im guessing those born before tv dreamed in am/fm
and before radio they dreamed in terms of book pages and back white drawings.
and those who were born before the printing press must have dreamed in scrolls and calligraphy
except those cave people who dreamed in terms of stone walls and colored stone .
oh hell wait could it be the stone agers dreamt in color before the baby boomers
i like to think that we dream about things that consume the mind rather than about images on tv as it had been fairly well documented through out history that mankind has always had vivid dreams
and they are not always something that is placed their by what we always view or see but rather something that occurs uniquely to each one of us and is some how subtly tied into how our individual minds work.
rather than tying a study of 60 people to previous dream studies and saying that the tv made them dream in black and white.
also i find it interesting that this study does not even consider blind people while how ever not able to specifically dream imagery are able to dream with smell and taste something that tv has yet to provide us.
I find it very disheartening to see all the comments here that are ok with bandwidth caps.
you have paid any where from 50 to 85 a month for a service that gives you access to pretty much anything you need.
and now that the service is going to be limited you are going to pay the same amount of money for less service? and accept it ?
as much as i want to be pissed at comcast and time warner for bandwidth caps.
i realized that the real blame lies with the consumer who accepts these limitations placed upon them . and are willing to pay the same amount for lesser service .
what the consumer should be doing is screaming bloody murder and threatening every action that they can take legally to ensure they get the same service they always had.
because there is no such thing as a bandwidth shortage (forgive me for emphasizing this THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A BANDWIDTH SHORTAGE)
when you start getting low you just add more infrastructure and lo and behold there is more bandwidth.
a company like comcast who has over 13 million broadband subscribers paying around 55 a month. thats 800,000,000 ++ dollars a month.
a portion of that should be invested into fatter faster pipes.
end of rational thought time for RANT
but no here we have consumers saying.. oh thats plenty thank you for giving me less for the same amount of money i give you.
thank you for limiting my service .
and you know what let me bend over for you mr comcast and time warner so you can rape me some more because it is obvious that i am a submissive lil bitch that likes to be fu**** hard by your money grubbing fists .
and i accept that because im a pansy consumer who accepts this bull shit and cant wait till you start charging per megabyte.
logitech dinovo series 1 is excellent in this regard as its bluetooth receiver works really well.. 60' in my test case
downfall ?? mouse goes through batteries to quickly so you will need to keep a charger for batteries close by.. and if your a gamer there is a bit of delay that will slightly handicap you in fps games but nothing to bad you should still be able to pop a couple peeps in tha head..
what is great about the the dinovo series 1 is that the keyboard does not have a recharging base thus you can leave it anywhere and just replace the batteries as needed... the keyboard unlike the mouse will go a month or longer on a set of batteries
as long as your house construction does not interfere with the signal this should be the answer.
to complement this setup i would also get the dinovo mini for a back lit alternative to this full size keyboard because nothing beats having a keyboard and mouse all in the palm of your hands for quick web surfing
The big pc gaming studios such as epic an id are turning their focus on consoles.
I call this the "consoleing" of pc gaming, as more and more game engines are created for multi platform capability this has a unforeseen bonus for the pc gamer. Newer machines based off the newer hardware such as nvidas 9600 gts and amds answer to this solution will have the pc running these games just as well if not better than the consoles. of course this depends that the developers release decent pc ports unlike halo and shadowrun... The downside of this is that pc gaming is coming more simplistic and more console like cause of it.
All this doom and gloom for the pc gaming industry actually has me excited as its mostly coming from these companies who are releasing these multi platform gaming engines .
It is with great hope that these companies leave pc gaming and continue to release these fps based engines on to consoles and let the console gamer gobble them up and let the console gamer think they have the superior gaming system .
For i am looking forward to the next wave of pc gaming what ever shape it may take, with the success of mmorpg's, galactic civ, track mania nations and lets not forget mods as they trully make pc gaming the uniquie experince it is today.
With these forces already in place and developers learning from them as they watch them grow in real time they are learning new gaming dynamics and additional ways to engage the user .
I am not sure what game will be the first to succeed at breaking open the new genre but maybe spore with its ability to implement other players content into your world .
or maybe a new racing game doing the same. track mania nations has already proven this is popular with its user created tracks being raced by thousands .
the return of massive 4 x games like galactic civ and others have proven there is a desire for more in depth games.
the real conequences of in game investments like eve online has shown there are people willing to risk valuable time for virtual gain.
the success of world of warcraft should go with out mention.
but these are what i consider the bleeding edge they offer the intricacy that true pc gamers desire.
I like to think that pc gaming is the adult gaming system, the system for those who want more from their gaming experience and as always pc gaming has delivered this
the pc gamer will be playing the latest and greatest that gaming has to offer just like we always have, ever since the beginning example being spacewar developed back 1962 which led to orbitwar and and the rest is pc gaming history.
so let epic and id dismiss pc gaming let the indie developer raise the creative the new and unusal from the supposed ashes
its time for a change. its time for pc gaming to evolve once again . and let the others follow as they have always done.
Whats really wrong with scfi is that they try to imitate fantasy based combat systems .
Starwars galaxies is a great example of this
Brawler ? pike man ? Sword man ? Fencer ? Teras Kasi Artist ?
They had an entire combat system based on a fantasy based rpg and tried to incorporate scifi into it you had people running around with swords and hammers smashing and slashing just like a fantasy rpg
and those with guns were just hampered by this system espically those classes that should have been lethal i,e carbineer & commando
and i dont even want to get into the creature handler stuff except to say that seing 4 rancors 3 dinosaurs and bunch of other beast running through the streets of most cities in swg was major immersion kill for a scifi game
but then again swg is great game to use for all kind of examples good and bad .
But a scifi game should never try and make melee classes and ranged classes equal
instead of figuring in what makes a gun lethal i.e its ammo or powersource
designers make the melee class able to compensate with special bonuses that negate ranged weapons .
Instead they should hamper gun toters with the requirements that make a gun a gun
ammo and reload
sure you can have a all powerful laser weapon but if you encumber that gun with some sort of requirement to keep firing then the gun is balanced
but of course this leads to the other point on fantasy games
fantasy is easier to create than scifi
no need to program ammo and reload time for each individual weapon no need to program hit based location area for targets and separate damage modifiers and no need to program modifiers in that take into account for hit locations
just a mana bar a health bar and maybe a stamina bar
base all action on these and you can have myraid of ways to accomplish stuff
where as the other way is a programmers nightmare
basically i believe that fantasy is so prevalent because it is a whole lot easier to create
and until some really creative people with really good programming skills come along and design a game engine that can truly encompass a physical world or universe environment and achieve believablity with the combat systems scifi wil always be a second to fantasy based mmorpg's.
At least us scifi lovers have fps to look forward to battlefeild 2142 unreal tournament 2007
may have some of the system in place that will help feed our starvation for scifi based mmorpg
not perfect and not true mmorpg but bf2 has been a good alternative and im hoping that the mechs in 2142 and unreal 2007 will be even more satisfying
consoles are comming of age . they have matured to the point to where they are acheiving the long desired goal of realistic exiciting gameplay.
these new consoles will be great eye candy and provide quality entertainment to those who seek a console based gaming fix.
i forsee a shift in gaming maybe some will call it the death of pc gaming especially if microsoft scores some big coups and gets more exclusives on the xbox 360
but the coups will only gain the consoles manufactures what is already standard fare on the pc
first person shooter based engines.. and these consoles will do them and do them well and to those who dont really care much about pc gaming in the first place it will seem as if the consoles crushed the pc
halo 3 will be all the rage other fps based games will score headlines and denounce the pc as archaic and unable to acheive dollar for dollar equality with consoles...
this will go on but the pc player will not care as they will be to busy
sighting cordinates for the artillery barrage on the oncomming tank platoon sniping enemy soliders and charging command points... ala battle field 2
(yes halo3 is multiplyer but the multiplayer of consoles still has a long ways to go until it reaches the depth of the new generation of online battle games)
to busy because
they will be in a group in search of the rare and newly spawning kummelfudge striders that are droping some perty darn cool loot and its all the rage at the moment to find and slaughter one...
ala name your favorite mmorpg
(sure theses new consoles will have mmorpgs but lets not kid ourselves the consoles will never be able to match the pc's capabillities in the requirments to fufill an mmorpg demands)
to busy because
they will be contolling and managaing the citizens and technolgy trees to try as hard as they can to keep from being surpassed and on to become a global power so they can nuke the living bejeezus out every continent in the world in civilazations 4
(i have yet to see a console system even come close to matching the real time stratgy and or turn based strategy games of the pc)
to busy because
the pc gamer will be playing the next generation of gaming techlogies that always trickle down to the consoles
and with the advent of stronger processers and even more storage space and the oft forgoten open nature of pc gaming while consoles will be maturing
pc games will be trancending to a even higher level that will shine the light for consoles as pcs have always done
although i have no real issues with walmart as there is plenty of competition out there...
and this being done to riaa is amusing but these tactics are not new.
as walmart uses this startegy for the myraid of goods they sell.
this power they have is a good and bad thing as it lowers prices and makes goods more acessible to all classes . but at the same time it undercuts manufactures abillities to make profits thus driving manufactures to find ways to cut costs which in turn leads to out sourcing the labor to cheaper countries . and you can see how this gets ugly real quick
the problem lies in the fact that you cannot regulate what wallmart is doing as it would hurt the free market
even though at the same time what walmart is doing is not healthy for the free market either
the only thing can could be attempted is a public education campaign on why these practices are bad the damage there doing to the econmy and the potential long term effects of such practices
and maybe then the consumers could force a change with out harming the free market
but the problem with this is getting the consumer to accept that they will have to pay higher prices to support a fair and free market.
why do software companies use eax in the first place
there is a standard that works very well when implemented has superb postioning and has been around for years
its called dolby digital
what is causing the problems with dolby digital not being an accepted standard ?
in my opinon a dolby digital setup will always best creatives reverb crap and ill never understand why companies feel they have to include eax support in there games. when there is a better standard available
i mean really they are saying they are going to make a console system that has a computer add on ?
umm hello the console is already a computer
why not give the thing a os a keyboard external sata ports and call it a propietary gaming machine ???
I find it hard that microsoft has people so snowed into thinking that the xbox is something special ITS A FREAKING PC it has some special hardware in it that prevents it from being used as a standard pc but heck its a pc it can execute x86 instructions so therfore its a pc.
Now you have microsoft coming out with the next gen system . this time there going to market it as 600 dollar system that can play both x86 pc games written for the windows os and the special ones written for what ever the xbox 2 uses.
so either
its going to have two architectures....
or
its going to acheive this feat through emulation
or
its going to be another x86 processor with a doorway into the system to allow you to boot up into a windows os.
i bet its the third.
people should ask themselves what makes this any different than a pc to begin with ?
i just dont understand why people fall for this marketing or why this marketing even exists ?
it all boils down to this if it executes x86 code its a freaking ibm pc compaitable computer so therefore it can surf the web play games do seti at home and aid in the development of nucelar weapons to third world countries.
the only thing prevents it from doing any of this is the os and hardware installed.
why buy into the hoopla and belive its anything else to begin with ?
we dont need these bloated memory sizes if programmers would all write cleaner tighter code
we all would only need six megs !!
if the rings can be done six
windows can be done 4
linux in 2
and our apps would only need 512K
our games 1 or 2 megs
six megs
it was good enough to play xcom !! it should be good enough play DOOM III damn it
you hear that john !! i want my doom cramed into six megs !!
if they can cram gollum into 6 freaking sticks i want eve online starwars galaxies everquest doom III and halflife II all running while i poke around in excel spread sheets.
its time we computer users stand up to bloated overly commented crappy code !!
i want my six megs to generate me Gladriel and the 7 drawfs
call corsair to day and DEMAND your hyper X dual ddr 5000 xms twin 3 meggers with lcd's today !!!
thats the problem the people who are creating are not in controll of how it is sold they pass all that off when they sign that contract...
and a simple rule of a consumer based economy is the consumer decides what sells...
but its starting to shift to a more you buy what is pushed upoun you market...
therfore those who create loose control of how there items are presented on the open market and can only hope that the consumer will accept what is being pushed upoun them.
if you want a example look at bill waters calvin and hobbes... he tried to keep controll over how calvin and hobbes was marketed and or used...
he had to fight to keep his rights on how he could determine the way his creations were used.
and the same goes for the recording artist albeit they usually dont fight on how there creations are used... and the indusrty dose as it pleases with the artists creations.... wether the artist approves or not.
the music industry is heading for a change a ugly change.
and we are all going to be hurt in the process.
the consumers are demanding more control of their music... they want to build there collection to their exact specs...
the music indusrty wants to controll the consumers listening habits they want to maximize exposure of whats hot
and wants to make sure whats not stays a definate not.
they know giving the consumers the choice to pick and choose what they like will massively change marketing strategies..
the unfortuneate side of this is that it is still the music industry who is in controll of releasing this music
and its almost a sure bet that they will conjure up some form of marketing that maximizes the the sales of singels at the cost of the artist...
and blame it on the consumers.
if the artist were smart they would say screw the industry send them a big fat finger and a swift kick in the pants and go market their music on their own.
sure it would cost them more money at first but i would bet it would tripple there exposure and profits in the long run... it would be simple to create a web site with full album downloads and singel downloads along with content to cater to fans...
they would have to produce their own material and work to have have it introduced into new record stores then both the band and the record store would profit from the sale of their music
also the record store would profit from having a huge repostory of songs from other bands that they could sell...
each song would have a license that garauntees fair use amoung the owners personal items that includes all media players software and hardware based... but would restrict the user from mass sharing especially in bad faith and or selling of said music...
but it would be easy to buy a redistrubtion licensing and allow others to sell music to others at what ever profit the band requires
who is loosing out on this kind of set up ??? the music industry... and the bands to lazy to self promote them selves...
this would return music to the scene and the true fans
but it will never happen because the music industry has to have controll of the content they must controll what you hear and there fore find a way to control what you buy...
alarming it seems when a "group" of people think some one cannot concentrate on a particular subject or have trouble remaining "calm" in controlled enviroments the group convinces others that the person who lacks control has some kind of disorder... and has them checked out by a doctor who is far to willing to prescribe ritalin or some other dope drug medication call it what you will... to help aid them with their so called disorder...
when what is most likely the problem is being entirely overlooked...
the person has a lack of discipline and its the failure of the institutions that be, to install the necassry discipline in all people...
with less and less time being available to individual attention and more effort being focused on mass control the group will always come up with some definition describing those that do not conform to their ways or, order
and will implement means to force the control they are looking for...
adhd is not a disorder it is a made up description used to persuade others into conforming into a so called norm...
just looking at the files through text viewer and there is a lot of jargon in the files having to do with msn.... and also the vxd is rather wordy also....
and the 3dsnd.dll mentions somethung about trillian.. rather odd it think for a xbox emu to mentioning something about a free ware chat app
Slashdot Mirror
So this is the reason why software has become less intuitive less user friendly and less functional.
Because developers have crippled them selves with the same broken base that is mac osx.
where the design mantra is "why do you need that?"
and thus all the software that trickles out form these devs reinforce the ideology of why do you need that? do it this way instead.
and if that way dont work for you will tough apple turtle shell pie for you baby, because it only this way or be abandoned and find your on way (good luck with that)
because there not going to be bothered coding in a functional right click menu or a edit button that performs actual functions.
because why do you need it ?? use the wizard click next and you have oooo perty you dont need to tweak the settings to create something different
besides think different was soooo 1990s and now its actually Dont Think, Dont Create, Don't Do Anything because your expected to be a sheep BAAAAAAA BAAAAA go consume content you freaking sheep
let your media overlords and their barely paid overseas content creation slaves make more content for you to devour... BAAAA BAAAAAAAA
do as they do not as you do .
It is ridiculous, the charging for every little thing .
customer service has been tossed out the window. in favor of less services for more money strategies.
I know there is business bastards and spread sheet nazis who say this is the way it needs to be done and will reason that time is money and that the end user needs to pay for that time . It is the only way businesses can sustain them selves.
But i disagree with this. they should not even be wasting the time and energy in creating a model for such extra charges and services. and instead focusing that energy on bettering their product.
This goes for every company out there . instead of finding ways to nickle and dime their customer base they should be focusing on quality products followed up with quality customer service and product support .
These standards should be included with all products, other wise we end up with the same ol race to the bottom where everything is generic and there is no quality or support for the product .
Customer service is not expensive when you have a quality product .
If companies would return to creating quality products and focus on differentiating them selves from one another with options, services, and products. they wouldn't have to try and find "creative" ways to gouge money out customers for services that are of little benefit.
Now that we are in an market filled with race to the bottom products the companies have forced them selves into a postion where they can longer offer quality products with a good profit margin. They now rely on acquiring their profits from cannibalizing their product to the bone and reselling those services and components at a annual fee.
Thus why every thing is becoming so expensive and short lived.
http://www.mailstore.com/en/mailstore-home.aspx
works well quick searches and its local .
unfortunately its windows only but may work fine under wine.
The problem is
it is devoid of functionality and reeks of lets make everything stupid. ideology that has become the keystone of this decade.
yes these words are polarizing but the whole interface is polarizing. im not just talking windows here im talking all smart devices and its "thinking behind its poor design"
remove functionality .
remove options.
apply bare minimum usability.
when you come from robust desktop apps that give the users control of their programs , it is a slap in the face to use a so called smart app. and if you want to close the app ? forget it buddy the all knowing software engineer has removed the "confusing" close app functionality and gently suspends the application in the back ground . so if it glitches, it remains glitched until you reboot the device .
We have taken leaps backwards in the progress made in user interface in the last 20 years . instead of having things available to you with a few short clicks you are now bombarded with hundreds of lil shiny buttons across multiple virtual desktops that you have to examine to see what they are . (oh press the wrong one no problem well just suspend it into the background until you need it again !!)
Also the new interfaces are designed with the mindset that are to be only presented not used . so screw copy, screw paste, screw edit, and screw select all you dont need it !! just look at the pretty pictures and post your short expressions of glee on facebook.
so yeah dont expect those of us who actually use our computers be enamored with a another dumb user interface . just because it is touch touchy touchy does not mean it is gaining more functionality . in fact in most cases we are loosing a majority of progress that was made in application useability .
yep we have grown tired of blowing stuff up here on earth
time for some interplanetary fireworks
and hopefully after we are bored with that a extrasolar pyrotechnical extravaganza will fulfill the need
until its time for intergalactic shock and awe
all complete with 3-D WHEEEEEEE !!!!!! glasses !!
cant wait to see it
so im guessing those born before tv dreamed in am/fm
and before radio they dreamed in terms of book pages and back white drawings.
and those who were born before the printing press must have dreamed in scrolls and calligraphy
except those cave people who dreamed in terms of stone walls and colored stone .
oh hell wait could it be the stone agers dreamt in color before the baby boomers
i like to think that we dream about things that consume the mind rather than about images on tv as it had been fairly well documented through out history that mankind has always had vivid dreams
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notable_dreams_throughout_history
and they are not always something that is placed their by what we always view or see but rather something that occurs uniquely to each one of us
and is some how subtly tied into how our individual minds work.
rather than tying a study of 60 people to previous dream studies and saying that the tv made them dream in black and white.
also i find it interesting that this study does not even consider blind people while how ever not able to specifically dream imagery are able to dream with smell and taste something that tv has yet to provide us.
I find it very disheartening to see all the comments here that are ok with bandwidth caps.
you have paid any where from 50 to 85 a month for a service that gives you access to pretty much anything you need.
and now that the service is going to be limited you are going to pay the same amount of money for less service? and accept it ?
as much as i want to be pissed at comcast and time warner for bandwidth caps.
i realized that the real blame lies with the consumer who accepts these limitations placed upon them . and are willing to pay the same amount for lesser service .
what the consumer should be doing is screaming bloody murder and threatening every action that they can take legally to ensure they get the same service they always had.
because there is no such thing as a bandwidth shortage (forgive me for emphasizing this THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A BANDWIDTH SHORTAGE)
when you start getting low
you just add more infrastructure and lo and behold there is more bandwidth.
a company like comcast who has over 13 million broadband subscribers paying around 55 a month. thats 800,000,000 ++ dollars a month.
a portion of that should be invested into fatter faster pipes.
end of rational thought time for RANT
but no here we have consumers saying .. oh thats plenty thank you for giving me less for the same amount of money i give you.
thank you for limiting my service .
and you know what let me bend over for you mr comcast and time warner so you can rape me some more because it is obvious that i am a submissive lil bitch that likes to be fu**** hard by your money grubbing fists .
and i accept that because im a pansy consumer who accepts this bull shit and cant wait till you start charging per megabyte.
actually im not disheartened
im thoroughly disgusted.
logitech dinovo series 1 is excellent in this regard as its bluetooth receiver works really well.. 60' in my test case
.. and if your a gamer there is a bit of delay that will slightly handicap you in fps games but nothing to bad you should still be able to pop a couple peeps in tha head ..
... the keyboard unlike the mouse will go a month or longer on a set of batteries
downfall ?? mouse goes through batteries to quickly so you will need to keep a charger for batteries close by
what is great about the the dinovo series 1 is that the keyboard does not have a recharging base thus you can leave it anywhere and just replace the batteries as needed
as long as your house construction does not interfere with the signal this should be the answer.
to complement this setup i would also get the dinovo mini for a back lit alternative to this full size keyboard because nothing beats having a keyboard and mouse all in the palm of your hands for quick web surfing
The big pc gaming studios such as epic an id are turning their focus on consoles.
I call this the "consoleing" of pc gaming, as more and more game engines are created for multi platform capability
this has a unforeseen bonus for the pc gamer. Newer machines based off the newer hardware such as nvidas 9600 gts and amds answer to this solution will have the pc running these games just as well if not better than the consoles.
of course this depends that the developers release decent pc ports unlike halo and shadowrun...
The downside of this is that pc gaming is coming more simplistic and more console like cause of it.
All this doom and gloom for the pc gaming industry actually has me excited as its mostly coming from these companies who are releasing these multi platform gaming engines .
It is with great hope that these companies leave pc gaming and continue to release these fps based engines on to consoles and let the console gamer gobble them up and let the console gamer think they have the superior gaming system .
For i am looking forward to the next wave of pc gaming what ever shape it may take, with the success of mmorpg's, galactic civ, track mania nations and lets not forget mods as they trully make pc gaming the uniquie experince it is today.
With these forces already in place and developers learning from them as they watch them grow in real time they are learning new gaming dynamics and additional ways to engage the user .
I am not sure what game will be the first to succeed at breaking open the new genre but maybe spore with its ability to implement other players content into your world .
or maybe a new racing game doing the same.
track mania nations has already proven this is popular with its user created tracks being raced by thousands .
the return of massive 4 x games like galactic civ and others have proven there is a desire for more in depth games.
the real conequences of in game investments like eve online has shown there are people willing to risk valuable time for virtual gain.
the success of world of warcraft should go with out mention.
but these are what i consider the bleeding edge they offer the intricacy that true pc gamers desire.
I like to think that pc gaming is the adult gaming system, the system for those who want more from their gaming experience
and as always pc gaming has delivered this
the pc gamer will be playing the latest and greatest that gaming has to offer just like we always have, ever since the beginning
example being spacewar developed back 1962 which led to orbitwar and and the rest is pc gaming history.
so let epic and id dismiss pc gaming let the indie developer raise the creative the new and unusal from the supposed ashes
its time for a change. its time for pc gaming to evolve once again . and let the others follow as they have always done.
its horrible i just figured it out .....
the number stations are linked to the mayan calendar !!
they are broadcasting number sequences in a coutdown fashion or maybe trying to predict the exact time
of the great cataclysm !!!
these broadcasts are intended for the aliens so they know when its time to launch their take over of the world !!!!!
whoda thunk it the aliens number stations and the mayans are all intrinsically linked TO OUR DEMISE !!!!!
Whats really wrong with scfi is that they try to imitate fantasy based combat systems .
Starwars galaxies is a great example of this
Brawler ? pike man ? Sword man ? Fencer ? Teras Kasi Artist ?
They had an entire combat system based on a fantasy based rpg and tried to incorporate scifi into it
you had people running around with swords and hammers smashing and slashing just like a fantasy rpg
and those with guns were just hampered by this system espically those classes that should have been lethal i,e carbineer & commando
and i dont even want to get into the creature handler stuff except to say that seing 4 rancors 3 dinosaurs and bunch of other beast running through the streets of most cities in swg was major immersion kill for a scifi game
but then again swg is great game to use for all kind of examples good and bad .
But a scifi game should never try and make melee classes and ranged classes equal
instead of figuring in what makes a gun lethal i.e its ammo or powersource
designers make the melee class able to compensate with special bonuses that negate ranged weapons .
Instead they should hamper gun toters with the requirements that make a gun a gun
ammo and reload
sure you can have a all powerful laser weapon but if you encumber that gun with some sort of requirement to keep firing then the gun is balanced
but of course this leads to the other point on fantasy games
fantasy is easier to create than scifi
no need to program ammo and reload time for each individual weapon no need to program hit based location area for targets and separate damage modifiers and no need to program modifiers in that take into account for hit locations
just a mana bar a health bar and maybe a stamina bar
base all action on these and you can have myraid of ways to accomplish stuff
where as the other way is a programmers nightmare
basically i believe that fantasy is so prevalent because it is a whole lot easier to create
and until some really creative people with really good programming skills come along and design a game engine that can truly encompass a physical world or universe environment and achieve believablity
with the combat systems scifi wil always be a second to fantasy based mmorpg's.
At least us scifi lovers have fps to look forward to battlefeild 2142 unreal tournament 2007
may have some of the system in place that will help feed our starvation for scifi based mmorpg
not perfect and not true mmorpg but bf2 has been a good alternative and im hoping that the mechs in 2142 and unreal 2007 will be even more satisfying
once the mac market becomes big enough to build profitable zombie networks
will you see the exploits .
until then, the enginers of these networks will continue to focus on what works and works well
consoles are comming of age . they have matured to the point to where they are acheiving the long desired goal of realistic exiciting gameplay .
.. and these consoles will do them and do them well and to those who dont really care much about pc gaming in the first place it will seem as if the consoles crushed the pc
...
these new consoles will be great eye candy and provide quality entertainment to those who seek a console based gaming fix.
i forsee a shift in gaming maybe some will call it the death of pc gaming especially if microsoft scores some big coups and gets more exclusives on the xbox 360
but the coups will only gain the consoles manufactures what is already standard fare on the pc
first person shooter based engines
halo 3 will be all the rage other fps based games will score headlines and denounce the pc as archaic and unable to acheive dollar for dollar equality with consoles
this will go on but the pc player will not care as they will be to busy
sighting cordinates for the artillery barrage on the oncomming tank platoon sniping enemy soliders and charging command points... ala battle field 2
(yes halo3 is multiplyer but the multiplayer of consoles still has a long ways to go until it reaches the depth of the new generation of online battle games)
to busy because
they will be in a group in search of the rare and newly spawning kummelfudge striders that are droping some perty darn cool loot and its all the rage at the moment to find and slaughter one...
ala name your favorite mmorpg
(sure theses new consoles will have mmorpgs but lets not kid ourselves the consoles will never be able to match the pc's capabillities in the requirments to fufill an mmorpg demands)
to busy because
they will be contolling and managaing the citizens and technolgy trees to try as hard as they can to keep from being surpassed and on to become a global power so they can nuke the living bejeezus out every continent in the world in civilazations 4
(i have yet to see a console system even come close to matching the real time stratgy and or turn based strategy games of the pc)
to busy because
the pc gamer will be playing the next generation of gaming techlogies that always trickle down to the consoles
and with the advent of stronger processers and even more storage space and the oft forgoten open nature of pc gaming while consoles will be maturing
pc games will be trancending to a even higher level that will shine the light for consoles as pcs have always done
although i have no real issues with walmart as there is plenty of competition out there ...
.
and this being done to riaa is amusing but these tactics are not new
as walmart uses this startegy for the myraid of goods they sell.
this power they have is a good and bad thing as it lowers prices and makes goods more acessible to all classes . but at the same time it undercuts manufactures abillities to make profits thus driving manufactures to find ways to cut costs which in turn leads to out sourcing the labor to cheaper countries . and you can see how this gets ugly real quick
the problem lies in the fact that you cannot regulate what wallmart is doing as it would hurt the free market
even though at the same time what walmart is doing is not healthy for the free market either
the only thing can could be attempted is a public education campaign on why these practices are bad the damage there doing to the econmy and the potential long term effects of such practices
and maybe then the consumers could force a change with out harming the free market
but the problem with this is getting the consumer to accept that they will have to pay higher prices
to support a fair and free market.
why do software companies use eax in the first place
there is a standard that works very well when implemented has superb postioning and has been around for years
its called dolby digital
what is causing the problems with dolby digital not being an accepted standard ?
in my opinon a dolby digital setup will always best creatives reverb crap and ill never understand why companies feel they have to include eax support in there games. when there is a better standard available
because someone is getting payed lots of money promote this kind of (in my view garbage)
in reality how is this even going to work is the cd going to be selfaware as to how many times it can be copied ?
i think that question alone sums up the garbage that goes into this kind of antipiracy marketing.
i mean really they are saying they are going to make a console system that has a computer add on ?
....
.
umm hello the console is already a computer
why not give the thing a os a keyboard external sata ports and call it a propietary gaming machine ???
I find it hard that microsoft has people so snowed into thinking that the xbox is something special ITS A FREAKING PC it has some special hardware in it that prevents it from being used as a standard pc but heck its a pc it can execute x86 instructions so therfore its a pc.
Now you have microsoft coming out with the next gen system . this time there going to market it as 600 dollar system that can play both x86 pc games written for the windows os and the special ones written for what ever the xbox 2 uses.
so either
its going to have two architectures
or
its going to acheive this feat through emulation
or
its going to be another x86 processor with a doorway into the system to allow you to boot up into a windows os.
i bet its the third
people should ask themselves what makes this any different than a pc to begin with ?
i just dont understand why people fall for this marketing or why this marketing even exists ?
it all boils down to this if it executes x86 code its a freaking ibm pc compaitable computer so therefore it can surf the web play games do seti at home and aid in the development of nucelar weapons to third world countries.
the only thing prevents it from doing any of this is the os and hardware installed.
why buy into the hoopla and belive its anything else to begin with ?
See its true !!
.
we dont need these bloated memory sizes
if programmers would all write cleaner tighter code
we all would only need six megs !!
if the rings can be done six
windows can be done 4
linux in 2
and our apps would only need 512K
our games 1 or 2 megs
six megs
it was good enough to play xcom !! it should be good enough play DOOM III damn it
you hear that john !! i want my doom cramed into six megs !!
if they can cram gollum into 6 freaking sticks
i want eve online starwars galaxies everquest doom III and halflife II all running while i poke around in excel spread sheets
its time we computer users stand up to bloated overly commented crappy code !!
i want my six megs to generate me Gladriel
and the 7 drawfs
call corsair to day and DEMAND your
hyper X dual ddr 5000 xms twin 3 meggers with lcd's today !!!
http://www3.sympatico.ca/maury/games/space/megawar s_i.html
has a history of dec wars leading into mega wars
i think this pretty much sums up what these patents really are.
elitism
thats the problem the people who are creating are not in controll of how it is sold they pass all that off when they sign that contract...
...
...
.
... he tried to keep controll over how calvin and hobbes was marketed and or used ...
.
... and the indusrty dose as it pleases with the artists creations .... wether the artist approves or not.
and a simple rule of a consumer based economy is the consumer decides what sells
but its starting to shift to a more you buy what is pushed upoun you market
therfore those who create loose control of how there items are presented on the open market
and can only hope that the consumer will accept what is being pushed upoun them
if you want a example look at bill waters calvin and hobbes
he had to fight to keep his rights on how he could determine the way his creations were used
and the same goes for the recording artist albeit they usually dont fight on how there creations are used
the music industry is heading for a change a ugly change.
.
... they want to build there collection to their exact specs ...
...
.
... it would be simple to create a web site with full album downloads and singel downloads along with content to cater to fans ...
... but would restrict the user from mass sharing especially in bad faith and or selling of said music ...
... and the bands to lazy to self promote them selves ...
...
and we are all going to be hurt in the process
the consumers are demanding more control of their music
the music indusrty wants to controll the consumers listening habits they want to maximize exposure of whats hot
and wants to make sure whats not stays a definate not.
they know giving the consumers the choice to pick and choose what they like will massively change marketing strategies..
the unfortuneate side of this is that it is still the music industry who is in controll of releasing this music
and its almost a sure bet that they will conjure up some form of marketing that maximizes the the sales of singels at the cost of the artist
and blame it on the consumers
if the artist were smart they would say screw the industry send them a big fat finger and a swift kick in the pants and go market their music on their own.
sure it would cost them more money at first but i would bet it would tripple there exposure and profits in the long run
they would have to produce their own material and work to have have it introduced into new record stores then both the band and the record store would profit from the sale of their music
also the record store would profit from having a huge repostory of songs from other bands that they could sell...
each song would have a license that garauntees
fair use amoung the owners personal items that includes all media players software and hardware based
but it would be easy to buy a redistrubtion licensing and allow others to sell music to others at what ever profit the band requires
who is loosing out on this kind of set up ???
the music industry
this would return music to the scene and the true fans
but it will never happen because the music industry has to have controll of the content they must controll what you hear and there fore find a way to control what you buy
i find this hole kajalabob about adhd disorders
... and has them checked out by a doctor who is far to willing to prescribe ritalin or some other dope drug medication call it what you will ... to help aid them with their so called disorder ...
...
...
alarming it seems when a "group" of people think some one cannot concentrate on a particular subject or have trouble remaining "calm" in controlled enviroments the group convinces others that the person who lacks control has some kind of disorder
when what is most likely the problem is being entirely overlooked...
the person has a lack of discipline
and its the failure of the institutions that be, to install the necassry discipline in all people...
with less and less time being available to individual attention and more effort being focused on mass control the group will always come up with some definition describing those that do not conform to their ways or, order
and will implement means to force the control they are looking for
adhd is not a disorder it is a made up description used to persuade others into conforming into a so called norm
check out http://www.chroniclogic.com/
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for a game series called Pontifex and Pontifex II
its really differnt..
object is simple build a bridge over river and see if it holds together
what makes it challenging is that you have a dollar figure that you must come under
and you just cant throw a bridge together and expect it to hold
small download i find it fun
just looking at the files through text viewer and there is a lot of jargon in the files having to do with msn .... and also the vxd is rather wordy also ....
.. rather odd it think for a xbox emu to mentioning something about a free ware chat app
and the 3dsnd.dll mentions somethung about trillian