Oh give me a break. Sony has the money to do the same and with many exclusives that have left had the comfort level of prior exclusives to keep many if they wanted. The problem with Sony is more ego than anything, they have been king of the conosole world for two generations and still believe they are indomitable. There is an interesting article at http://kotaku.com/gaming/gag-order/scea-prez-we-do nt-buy-exclusivity-274862.php
about how Sony refuses to pay for exclusivity (though that wasnt the case when they were trying to kill Sega and Nintendo two generations ago, look at square), IMHO this will be their downfall. It's amusing that Sony bashes Nintendo's over-dependence on 1st party development yet they are well on their way to the same dependancy. When it comes to product wars you do what you have to do to win, if MS gets the leg up on Sony only Sony will be the blame.
Though "exclusives" do boost console sales for individual platforms for some consumers. But for the gamer who cannot afford or refuses to buy every console made for a given generation, having the majority of games on all platforms is a great thing. I have a Wii, a 360 and my trusty PS2 and several of the games listed would have been skipped if not for going cross platform. The market is growing and spreading out enough now that 3rd party platform exclusives will only become more and more rare. The exception may be the Wii just because of the controller but concidering most of the games aimed there are more casual titles I dont think its anything any hardcore gamers are going to worry about.
I have been a fan of the genre since Wasteland on my C=64 but I'm rather worried that this will be the one Fallout game I never finish. The similarities to Oblivion are great in respect to graphics, story and depth but frankly I burned out on Oblivion and never have gone back to finish it. Perhaps I should have gone straight for the main quest but I am a bit of a completist and had to do every side quest I ran into. I think my biggest worry was that if I didnt build up my character enough I wouldnt be able to finish it. I blame that paranoia on the old days of Final Fantasy where if you didnt wander aimlessly for days on end you could never get strong enough to fight Sephiroth.
He was also asked to do this by the Bar in the past. The result of that one was Jack suing the bar and settling. I think the guy is off his rocker but until I see he is actually disbarred its just another attempt at keeping his name in the headlines.
Was it the same 400 developers surveyed? A 12% increase in Linux could mean more Linux developers or it could just mean less Windows developers. If I carefully pick my 400 to survey I could post a completely legit survey showing that OS2 is making a comeback. I hate survey's like this, unless the sampling pool is static is means absolutely nothing.
Javascript? Thats just one step up from HTML as far as "development" goes, of course it has 3 times the users, unlike Perl, Ruby and Python all you need is 24 hours and a dummies book.
Captain America's been torn apart Now he's a court jester with a broken heart He said Turn me around and take me back to the start I must be losing my mind "are you blind?" I've seen it all a million times
The reason there is a shortage is that those who were burned the first time wont go back and those that haven't been burned yet have been forewarned by those that have. Very few outside the upper echelons of the.com companies of the 90's saw any real benefit from the.com era the vast majority got hosed. Empty promises, foosball and free juice worked the first time but I can't see many falling for it again. Everyone I worked with in my two experiences with the.com era have moved out of the corporate world and are either with small companies or working as consultants, a few have left the field entirely.
I recently received a call from the Recruiter that hired me on to my last corporate job. I was told the company I was laid off from was looking to hire me back. I told me the whole dog and pony show was starting back up, that the culture had changed and this time would be different and this time it wouldn't be a complete waste of five years of my life. I thought about it for five seconds and told her that I would just as soon bathe in hot lava than go back. She sounded a little upset, and proceeded to tell me that so far she was 0-12 in trying to lure back the folks I worked with. Guess I wasn't alone.
Aldi's uses a "deposit" with their carts, you put a quarter in to unlock it from the rack and get the quarter back when you return the cart. The parking lots I have seen are always clear of carts, it seems like a cost effective way to manage them, its a simple mechanical lock.
I guess something like this would be needed in area's where homeless take carts on regular basis but then arent we just treating side effects rather than addressing the actual problem?
Kodak has priced their new printers a bit higher than the competition, but include the print head in the printer so cartridge costs are much lower ($10 black cartridge, $15 5-color cartridge). Yes the ink prices are still higher than they should be but they are much closer in line with reality.
Want to fix this in gaming universally and quickly? Employ the usual detection methods then rather than banning (which just prompts signing up again under a different name) simply tag all their account information with an icon designating they are cheaters (I recommend a big scarlet C). Have it follow them around for a set period of time (1st offense 1 month, 2nd 6 months, 3rd 1 year, 4th lifetime). It sounds harsh but I would go so far as to extend the cheater flag to apply to any future account made with matching personal info during the penalty period, sure it might irritate a roommate or family member but that will only assure it doesn't happen again. Public embarrassment works much better than banning.
Wow the group of companies with the most to gain from RFID implimentation are upset by limitations that could affect their bottom line...who would have thought that would happen?
California's limits seem reasonable to me, most people are opposed to being made more of a number than they already are and loosing privacy even if its just percieved privacy is still important to many.
What made Blade Runner great was what made Dark City, Liquid Sky and the Original Manchurian Candidate good sci-fi, realisim. Yes it had flying cars, but things were still pretty much the same, people still worked, took taxi's, wore semi-normal looking clothing and ate regular food. The haunting subtle differences are what made it future we could accept as real which in turn made the "dark" future all that more scary because we belived at least for a couple hours that it could happen. Having Ridley Scott at the helm didnt hurt much either.
My last corporate job was with an R&D position at a major telco. When things were going well respect was high and so were the perks, however when things werent going so well the pressure was on, it was like they felt that 12 hours days and increased on-call duties would make us suddenly overcome problems caused by red tape and over-zealous marketing clowns than actual hardware and software problems. In the end when budget cuts and layoffs came, the engineers were the first to go while the managers and marketing team stayed on, service suffered the existing product became harder and harder for the lower level engineers to support and eventually the entire service was dropped. Would I do it again? In a heartbeat! Would I stick around again as long as I did? Hell No!
I learned in my 5 years there than I have in any other position, it was challenging and personally rewarding, looked impressive on a resume. Besides the cool tech stuff I learned, I learned to pay close attention to what is going on outside the job at hand. Pay attention to what customers are being told, or what they tell you they are being told. Cover your ass, if something isnt going to work, speak up even if you worry it will cost you your job since if your right and let it go eventually it will cost you your job anyway. Endurance and Dedication are admirable traits in a human being but are usually taken for granted in a corporate enviroment. Putting in the extra hours once in a while is great but do it to often and it will become expected of you. The way most companies see it your reward for hard work is getting to have a job the next day, remember that and any kudos that come your way after success will be unexpected surprises. Get out while you still enjoy it, if you keep going until burnout you will find yourself unmotivated to get back into that arena again.
"A glacier specialist, Andres Rivera, told Chilean newspaper La Tercera that the lake's disappearance seemed to be part of the continual reforming of the landscape.
The Magallanes area "has seen interesting changes in the last few decades," he said, noting that the lake itself had not been there 30 years ago."
How long does a lake have to exist before its concidered an actual lake? Sounds like this was more of a big puddle that came and went. Since it was only 30 years ago that it formed, I guess we can feel free to blame global warming for its creation as well.
something in the news that Google is doing that is just plain stupid, ethically questionable or outright wrong. From the jacked up toolbar installs, recent privacy concerns, the bush league promotional attempts at EBay's conference, to whining about MS features that were part of the OS's plans since day one. How long will it take before the "Google are the good guy's" sentiment is going to wear thin? Surprise Google wants your desktop, they want your eyeballs, they want to pummel you with ads, they want to control your online experience, and they want to control your email and documents. Google may have started years ago with the best of intentions but as it went public it had to answer to shareholders which are for the most part greedy bastards by nature if they care about their money. I like Google, I even liked the toolbar until they kept bloating it with crap, bundled software and "customer experience" features but lately things have changed. In the long term, I think there is more to fear from Google than there is from Microsoft. Yep MS wants you to buy stuff, but Google wants to give it away in the hopes of getting so engrained that they control every aspect of your online life and when it gets to that point its already to late. The worst part is they seem to be willing to use any tactic available to get there.
I sincerely hope it's just the tinfoil hat in me that's talking but I do worry that one day Google will be synonymous with Tyrell or Skynet only this time it will be real.
As long as there have been ratings there have not been games released on any major console that have been rated AO. The closest would be GTA San Andreas which was rated M, changed to AO after the Hot Coffee incident and edited to be re-released at M again. Its been that way since the begining of video games, back in the Atari day's they were highly pissed off but had no control over unauthorized games such as custers revenge today there is better control over content. The anger directed at the ESRB is ill founded, if anything it shows that the ESRB is working and should be left alone. Would people really rather see government intervention (which would most likely result in what would essentially be a ban on M rated games as well, think black plastic wrappers like they use in the adult magazine industry) than a standalone ratings system?
I wonder how many people would be up in arms over this if the game was Woman Hunter and the point of the game was to rape as many women as possible? I would imagine the outcry would be fairly minimal in fact I would guess that the voices of those wanting the publishers to die in a fire would be more visible than supporters. What makes one more socially acceptable over the other. From what I have seen from rockstar itself, this really is the "Murder Simulator" Jack Thompson has tried to turn every other game into. At least GTA had a point other than banging hookers and killing people. For me the test is can the game stand on its own without murder, GTA could, nothig I have seen indicates that Manhunt2 can.
Rockstar took a rather poorly recieved game made a sequel as over the top as possible and submitted to the ratings board to get avertising the cheap and easy way. Now everyone is talking about manhunt 2 and I'm sure sales will go through the roof for the no doubt intended M version soon to follow. All the teenage crowd will see it as the cool game to get cuz its so "edgy" in the meantime gameplay will be crap the violence gratuitous and the actual entertainment value will be next to nill...but hey at least we get to see heads explode.
I have been averaging a few junk mail packets a week from MS. The majority are post cards Touting how Vista is the best thing since sliced cheese and how piracy is the devil. The piracy one has me puzzled I have recieved it 4 times in less than two weeks. I have activated and registered a couple copies of XP for clients and have removed Vista from one machine for another...if thats what triggered it...arent they preaching to the choir? If I had intentions of pirating it would I bother to register? Just seems like a wasted effort on both counts. I have no intention to move to vista nor do my clients, if forced to through planned compatability problems on the business side similar to those home users I am more likely to get the final 2 machines I own that still run windows mirgrated to linux and would strongly present a plan to do the same for my clients. Vista offers nothing I need nor does it improve on any functionality I have seen. Ever try setting up a machine running vista on a small local domain?
So far the only benefit I have seen as a consultant is that doing any mundane netwoking things like joining a domain or getting on the internet are so obscure for situations other than straight plug in and go home use that its nearly impossible for average users to figure out. Things my clients used to be self sufficent in doing are now difficult tasks that require my help.
The best place to work in IT is from your own car
on
Best Places To Work In IT
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
After being with several corporations from small local companies to fortune 500, I have found the best place to work in IT is on your own. Make some business cards, invest in a van or other vehicle with room for parts, build an overhead of replacement parts and supplies, then hit the pavement and get the word out. Signage on a vehicle can be a good way to get the word out as well. I get most of my customers via word of mouth but have more work than I can handle most of the time. What I cant handle I pass on to others I know doing the same thing. Clients are happy because they get individual attention and someone to call that they can depend on. I am happy because they treat me like im really helping them rather than as some flunky who is beneath them. The money is much better than the average IT job and with the occasional unavoidable emergency, I pretty much set my own hours. It's not for everyone, you have to be self motivated, people friendly and confident in your skills, but its well worth it.
So its all ok that Sony bailed out Square when they got in over there heads with the final fantasy movie, but if MS does the same to help Rockstar (who has had financial problems for over a year) they are evil? It was a smart move for Sony back in 2001 and its a smart move for MS now. Just as Sony saved Square from the possibility of bankrupcy Microsoft has helped assure Take Two and Rockstar of making it through the coming fiscal year so that GTA IV can actually get published.
That gives some insight into what has happened over the past couple years at Take-Two, its an interesting read, and most will agree after reading whats been going on that if anything the Sony fanboys complaining should be thanking MS since its likely that their favorite franchise may not have even made it to the shelf otherwise.
My 360 is over a year old and still works fine. I know around twenty people with 360's out of those tow have had the red lights of death problem. The first guy I know with the problem modded his xbox so I always questioned whether the problem was due to something he did when he opened up the box to begin with. The second called microsoft and had a replacement at his door in a little over a week round trip. Im sure there are plenty of legitimate users that have had overheating problems, but nearly every console generation has had at least one prominent problem. Remember the ps2 overheating and dead laser problems, it took a lawsuit to get Sony to fess up to that one. If MS is being responsive and fixing the issues whats the problem?
If its taken seriously and decent directors, writers and producers can be found keeping the Marvel characters inhouse opens up possibilities that would exist otherwise. Movies about teams like the Avengers, Inhumans or Defenders simply couldnt be done due to licensing issues. Now by having the characters all in house Captain America, Iron Man, Thor and Hulk in the same movie is at least a possiblity.
I noticed alot of posts regarding the integrity of the films suffering if it was all in-house, but history has shown that licensing it out is the best way to completely ruin a beloved character. Look at the Hulk movie, great director, great actors and a writer who thought he could envision it better than the people who created it. The result was an utter disaster. Marvel needs the leverage to say Galactus isnt a cloud, there are no Hulk dogs, spider-man created his own webshooters, and most importantly, the creaters of the comic have envisioned their creation far better than some hack writer out to make a name for himself.
Slashdot Mirror
Oh give me a break. Sony has the money to do the same and with many exclusives that have left had the comfort level of prior exclusives to keep many if they wanted. The problem with Sony is more ego than anything, they have been king of the conosole world for two generations and still believe they are indomitable. There is an interesting article ato nt-buy-exclusivity-274862.php
http://kotaku.com/gaming/gag-order/scea-prez-we-d
about how Sony refuses to pay for exclusivity (though that wasnt the case when they were trying to kill Sega and Nintendo two generations ago, look at square), IMHO this will be their downfall. It's amusing that Sony bashes Nintendo's over-dependence on 1st party development yet they are well on their way to the same dependancy. When it comes to product wars you do what you have to do to win, if MS gets the leg up on Sony only Sony will be the blame.
Though "exclusives" do boost console sales for individual platforms for some consumers. But for the gamer who cannot afford or refuses to buy every console made for a given generation, having the majority of games on all platforms is a great thing. I have a Wii, a 360 and my trusty PS2 and several of the games listed would have been skipped if not for going cross platform. The market is growing and spreading out enough now that 3rd party platform exclusives will only become more and more rare. The exception may be the Wii just because of the controller but concidering most of the games aimed there are more casual titles I dont think its anything any hardcore gamers are going to worry about.
Guess you missed the C=64 comment :) I typed it and it still made me feel old.
I have been a fan of the genre since Wasteland on my C=64 but I'm rather worried that this will be the one Fallout game I never finish. The similarities to Oblivion are great in respect to graphics, story and depth but frankly I burned out on Oblivion and never have gone back to finish it. Perhaps I should have gone straight for the main quest but I am a bit of a completist and had to do every side quest I ran into. I think my biggest worry was that if I didnt build up my character enough I wouldnt be able to finish it. I blame that paranoia on the old days of Final Fantasy where if you didnt wander aimlessly for days on end you could never get strong enough to fight Sephiroth.
He was also asked to do this by the Bar in the past. The result of that one was Jack suing the bar and settling. I think the guy is off his rocker but until I see he is actually disbarred its just another attempt at keeping his name in the headlines.
Was it the same 400 developers surveyed? A 12% increase in Linux could mean more Linux developers or it could just mean less Windows developers. If I carefully pick my 400 to survey I could post a completely legit survey showing that OS2 is making a comeback. I hate survey's like this, unless the sampling pool is static is means absolutely nothing.
Javascript? Thats just one step up from HTML as far as "development" goes, of course it has 3 times the users, unlike Perl, Ruby and Python all you need is 24 hours and a dummies book.
Captain America's been torn apart
Now he's a court jester with a broken heart
He said Turn me around and take me back to the start
I must be losing my mind "are you blind?"
I've seen it all a million times
The reason there is a shortage is that those who were burned the first time wont go back and those that haven't been burned yet have been forewarned by those that have. Very few outside the upper echelons of the .com companies of the 90's saw any real benefit from the .com era the vast majority got hosed. Empty promises, foosball and free juice worked the first time but I can't see many falling for it again. Everyone I worked with in my two experiences with the .com era have moved out of the corporate world and are either with small companies or working as consultants, a few have left the field entirely.
I recently received a call from the Recruiter that hired me on to my last corporate job. I was told the company I was laid off from was looking to hire me back. I told me the whole dog and pony show was starting back up, that the culture had changed and this time would be different and this time it wouldn't be a complete waste of five years of my life. I thought about it for five seconds and told her that I would just as soon bathe in hot lava than go back. She sounded a little upset, and proceeded to tell me that so far she was 0-12 in trying to lure back the folks I worked with. Guess I wasn't alone.
Aldi's uses a "deposit" with their carts, you put a quarter in to unlock it from the rack and get the quarter back when you return the cart. The parking lots I have seen are always clear of carts, it seems like a cost effective way to manage them, its a simple mechanical lock.
I guess something like this would be needed in area's where homeless take carts on regular basis but then arent we just treating side effects rather than addressing the actual problem?
Kodak has priced their new printers a bit higher than the competition, but include the print head in the printer so cartridge costs are much lower ($10 black cartridge, $15 5-color cartridge). Yes the ink prices are still higher than they should be but they are much closer in line with reality.
Want to fix this in gaming universally and quickly? Employ the usual detection methods then rather than banning (which just prompts signing up again under a different name) simply tag all their account information with an icon designating they are cheaters (I recommend a big scarlet C). Have it follow them around for a set period of time (1st offense 1 month, 2nd 6 months, 3rd 1 year, 4th lifetime). It sounds harsh but I would go so far as to extend the cheater flag to apply to any future account made with matching personal info during the penalty period, sure it might irritate a roommate or family member but that will only assure it doesn't happen again. Public embarrassment works much better than banning.
Wow the group of companies with the most to gain from RFID implimentation are upset by limitations that could affect their bottom line...who would have thought that would happen?
California's limits seem reasonable to me, most people are opposed to being made more of a number than they already are and loosing privacy even if its just percieved privacy is still important to many.
What made Blade Runner great was what made Dark City, Liquid Sky and the Original Manchurian Candidate good sci-fi, realisim. Yes it had flying cars, but things were still pretty much the same, people still worked, took taxi's, wore semi-normal looking clothing and ate regular food. The haunting subtle differences are what made it future we could accept as real which in turn made the "dark" future all that more scary because we belived at least for a couple hours that it could happen. Having Ridley Scott at the helm didnt hurt much either.
My last corporate job was with an R&D position at a major telco. When things were going well respect was high and so were the perks, however when things werent going so well the pressure was on, it was like they felt that 12 hours days and increased on-call duties would make us suddenly overcome problems caused by red tape and over-zealous marketing clowns than actual hardware and software problems. In the end when budget cuts and layoffs came, the engineers were the first to go while the managers and marketing team stayed on, service suffered the existing product became harder and harder for the lower level engineers to support and eventually the entire service was dropped. Would I do it again? In a heartbeat! Would I stick around again as long as I did? Hell No!
I learned in my 5 years there than I have in any other position, it was challenging and personally rewarding, looked impressive on a resume. Besides the cool tech stuff I learned, I learned to pay close attention to what is going on outside the job at hand. Pay attention to what customers are being told, or what they tell you they are being told. Cover your ass, if something isnt going to work, speak up even if you worry it will cost you your job since if your right and let it go eventually it will cost you your job anyway. Endurance and Dedication are admirable traits in a human being but are usually taken for granted in a corporate enviroment. Putting in the extra hours once in a while is great but do it to often and it will become expected of you. The way most companies see it your reward for hard work is getting to have a job the next day, remember that and any kudos that come your way after success will be unexpected surprises. Get out while you still enjoy it, if you keep going until burnout you will find yourself unmotivated to get back into that arena again.
And how many times must the cannon balls fly before they're forever banned?
Wish I had some mod point for you...that made my day...
Did anyone bother to read this part?
"A glacier specialist, Andres Rivera, told Chilean newspaper La Tercera that the lake's disappearance seemed to be part of the continual reforming of the landscape.
The Magallanes area "has seen interesting changes in the last few decades," he said, noting that the lake itself had not been there 30 years ago."
How long does a lake have to exist before its concidered an actual lake? Sounds like this was more of a big puddle that came and went. Since it was only 30 years ago that it formed, I guess we can feel free to blame global warming for its creation as well.
something in the news that Google is doing that is just plain stupid, ethically questionable or outright wrong. From the jacked up toolbar installs, recent privacy concerns, the bush league promotional attempts at EBay's conference, to whining about MS features that were part of the OS's plans since day one. How long will it take before the "Google are the good guy's" sentiment is going to wear thin? Surprise Google wants your desktop, they want your eyeballs, they want to pummel you with ads, they want to control your online experience, and they want to control your email and documents. Google may have started years ago with the best of intentions but as it went public it had to answer to shareholders which are for the most part greedy bastards by nature if they care about their money. I like Google, I even liked the toolbar until they kept bloating it with crap, bundled software and "customer experience" features but lately things have changed. In the long term, I think there is more to fear from Google than there is from Microsoft. Yep MS wants you to buy stuff, but Google wants to give it away in the hopes of getting so engrained that they control every aspect of your online life and when it gets to that point its already to late. The worst part is they seem to be willing to use any tactic available to get there.
I sincerely hope it's just the tinfoil hat in me that's talking but I do worry that one day Google will be synonymous with Tyrell or Skynet only this time it will be real.
Its amusing the way some people are jumping on this like it's a censorship issue. Check
d ucts
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_AO_rated_pro
As long as there have been ratings there have not been games released on any major console that have been rated AO. The closest would be GTA San Andreas which was rated M, changed to AO after the Hot Coffee incident and edited to be re-released at M again. Its been that way since the begining of video games, back in the Atari day's they were highly pissed off but had no control over unauthorized games such as custers revenge today there is better control over content. The anger directed at the ESRB is ill founded, if anything it shows that the ESRB is working and should be left alone. Would people really rather see government intervention (which would most likely result in what would essentially be a ban on M rated games as well, think black plastic wrappers like they use in the adult magazine industry) than a standalone ratings system?
I wonder how many people would be up in arms over this if the game was Woman Hunter and the point of the game was to rape as many women as possible? I would imagine the outcry would be fairly minimal in fact I would guess that the voices of those wanting the publishers to die in a fire would be more visible than supporters. What makes one more socially acceptable over the other. From what I have seen from rockstar itself, this really is the "Murder Simulator" Jack Thompson has tried to turn every other game into. At least GTA had a point other than banging hookers and killing people. For me the test is can the game stand on its own without murder, GTA could, nothig I have seen indicates that Manhunt2 can.
Rockstar took a rather poorly recieved game made a sequel as over the top as possible and submitted to the ratings board to get avertising the cheap and easy way. Now everyone is talking about manhunt 2 and I'm sure sales will go through the roof for the no doubt intended M version soon to follow. All the teenage crowd will see it as the cool game to get cuz its so "edgy" in the meantime gameplay will be crap the violence gratuitous and the actual entertainment value will be next to nill...but hey at least we get to see heads explode.
I have been averaging a few junk mail packets a week from MS. The majority are post cards Touting how Vista is the best thing since sliced cheese and how piracy is the devil. The piracy one has me puzzled I have recieved it 4 times in less than two weeks. I have activated and registered a couple copies of XP for clients and have removed Vista from one machine for another...if thats what triggered it...arent they preaching to the choir? If I had intentions of pirating it would I bother to register? Just seems like a wasted effort on both counts. I have no intention to move to vista nor do my clients, if forced to through planned compatability problems on the business side similar to those home users I am more likely to get the final 2 machines I own that still run windows mirgrated to linux and would strongly present a plan to do the same for my clients. Vista offers nothing I need nor does it improve on any functionality I have seen. Ever try setting up a machine running vista on a small local domain?
So far the only benefit I have seen as a consultant is that doing any mundane netwoking things like joining a domain or getting on the internet are so obscure for situations other than straight plug in and go home use that its nearly impossible for average users to figure out. Things my clients used to be self sufficent in doing are now difficult tasks that require my help.
After being with several corporations from small local companies to fortune 500, I have found the best place to work in IT is on your own. Make some business cards, invest in a van or other vehicle with room for parts, build an overhead of replacement parts and supplies, then hit the pavement and get the word out. Signage on a vehicle can be a good way to get the word out as well. I get most of my customers via word of mouth but have more work than I can handle most of the time. What I cant handle I pass on to others I know doing the same thing. Clients are happy because they get individual attention and someone to call that they can depend on. I am happy because they treat me like im really helping them rather than as some flunky who is beneath them. The money is much better than the average IT job and with the occasional unavoidable emergency, I pretty much set my own hours. It's not for everyone, you have to be self motivated, people friendly and confident in your skills, but its well worth it.
So its all ok that Sony bailed out Square when they got in over there heads with the final fantasy movie, but if MS does the same to help Rockstar (who has had financial problems for over a year) they are evil? It was a smart move for Sony back in 2001 and its a smart move for MS now. Just as Sony saved Square from the possibility of bankrupcy Microsoft has helped assure Take Two and Rockstar of making it through the coming fiscal year so that GTA IV can actually get published.
0 7/03/FF_160_rockstar?currentPage=1
http://www.wired.com/gaming/gamingreviews/news/20
That gives some insight into what has happened over the past couple years at Take-Two, its an interesting read, and most will agree after reading whats been going on that if anything the Sony fanboys complaining should be thanking MS since its likely that their favorite franchise may not have even made it to the shelf otherwise.
Uggh...thats what they ended up doing in the Ultimate Universe? I stopped reading after ultimates 1, sounds like I made a good decision.
My 360 is over a year old and still works fine. I know around twenty people with 360's out of those tow have had the red lights of death problem. The first guy I know with the problem modded his xbox so I always questioned whether the problem was due to something he did when he opened up the box to begin with. The second called microsoft and had a replacement at his door in a little over a week round trip. Im sure there are plenty of legitimate users that have had overheating problems, but nearly every console generation has had at least one prominent problem. Remember the ps2 overheating and dead laser problems, it took a lawsuit to get Sony to fess up to that one. If MS is being responsive and fixing the issues whats the problem?
since most of the friends I have with ps3's use them as movie players more than game consoles.
If its taken seriously and decent directors, writers and producers can be found keeping the Marvel characters inhouse opens up possibilities that would exist otherwise. Movies about teams like the Avengers, Inhumans or Defenders simply couldnt be done due to licensing issues. Now by having the characters all in house Captain America, Iron Man, Thor and Hulk in the same movie is at least a possiblity.
I noticed alot of posts regarding the integrity of the films suffering if it was all in-house, but history has shown that licensing it out is the best way to completely ruin a beloved character. Look at the Hulk movie, great director, great actors and a writer who thought he could envision it better than the people who created it. The result was an utter disaster. Marvel needs the leverage to say Galactus isnt a cloud, there are no Hulk dogs, spider-man created his own webshooters, and most importantly, the creaters of the comic have envisioned their creation far better than some hack writer out to make a name for himself.