The problem with your quick Wikipedia search is that while there may be a total of more than "4 years worth" of LEGO and music games listed, only a fraction of those can really be considered as ones that would be diluting the market.
For example, of the 34 LEGO games listed in your link, over half of those are old PC or GBA shovelware titles that the general public never saw or knew existed. And when it comes to the "172 pages of music games" you failed to make a critical distinction -- your example is a list of music games, not the subset of rhythm games which the GPP asked for. The music game list includes a wide variety of software with edutainment, movie tie-in crap, and other sub-genres that most gamers wouldn't consider to be related to guitar hero or rock band in the slightest. And from the subset of just rhythm games, the number of games that are any sort of instrument simulation is smaller still. Finally, considering that it's taken 10+ years for all these listed games to be released, the release rate is still a lot less frequent than the "new game every week" hyperbole.
That said, I think there is the very real danger of oversaturating the market by releasing too many similar rhythm games in a short amount of time. That's why seeing Activision's release timeline (something like NINE "Hero" games this year alone!) has me very concerned. As far as LEGO Rock Band, I don't think that this will be the title that makes either franchise jump the shark, since I trust Harmonix to make a good game no matter what the theme, and I do see the value and market for a rock band game that can be played with any audience at any venue (such as with the youth group at our church) and not worry about offending any parents.
Yep. Had an acquaintance that worked at a gamestop for awhile, and they had the same policy. Still, I never buy from GS in general because I just don't care for my game packages to be pre-opened, even if they are "new" prior to my purchase. I guess it comes down to an issue of trust. If you can't trust the store to give you straight information about games (without trying to upsell you unnecessary crap), how can you trust them to be telling the truth about the condition of that pre-gutted game?
How long does it take from submitting a post until you get the achievement *ding*? I posted in a different april fools story, but still have yet to see the achievement come up in my profile.
And like several other posters here, I'm also confused at to how the numbers add up.
This makes me wonder what would happen if they repeated the experiment with turkey poults. Generally, newly hatched turkeys are so stupid that if you don't show them how to drink (by putting other birds in their enclosure or dunking their heads in the water trough) they'll soon die from dehydration.
Didn't even have to get to the bottom of the article to know it was April Fools BS... he claimed that the ATM got infected from a USB drive "crammed into the maw of the teller machine." And even if the author merely misdescribed a USB port as the machines "maw" and it was common for ATM to use a Windows variant for their OS, I can't imagine one ever being designed with an unsecured and easily accessible USB port.
On a side note, I hate this day because of all these lame "stories" floating around the web that just plain aren't funny. ThinkGeek on the other hand usually does a good job with their spoof items, since they come up with stuff that really SHOULD be made for real.
Really should drop the argument now, but you bring up a good point that need to be addressed. It seems we've boiled the entire debate of DRM down to the more basic question of "What is theft, and is it wrong?" Many slashdotters, including yourself and poetmatt assert that if you take (in this case, illegitimately duplicate) something which is "intangible" and "easily reproduced" it is not theft, as there is no physical loss, and no apparent harm done. So I assume then that you won't complain when such "intangibles" as peace, freedom, privacy, love, and/or life have been taken from you? After all, these "intangibles" are not physical, and can be reproduced between people at no monetary cost.
Humans have long understood that something need not be physical to have value. Experience has immense value. Experience is why other people get paid more than you do for doing the same job. And while the law may define theft in it's most strict sense as the taking of another person's property without consent, the law also defines the theft of service as taking a service of value without consent or compensation. You claim that "I simply gain the experience, and they lose nothing" yet you conveniently ignore that something of value has indeed been lost -- a fair compensation for the service of providing a unique experience that you could not obtain otherwise. Now, is the compensation requested for the experience of games, music and other media fair? Sometimes it is not. But just because you don't agree with the asking price does not justify taking the product or service, just because you want it now and want it on your terms.
In this case, the restaurant analogy is still valid as we're talking about consumable goods provided as a service. Walking out of a restaurant is only justified if the circumstances of the meal are such that what was provided is unfit for consumption or not provided as advertised, and after you leave the restaurant it has the option to refuse you service in the future. If a game is unplayable due to bugs or errors, then you are justified in demanding your money back or a fixed product and the developer/publisher has the option of attempting to refuse service to those with no intention of paying for it. However, with both the food and the software, disappointment due to overinflated expectations is not sufficient grounds for reasonable rejection. Compounding this issue is the matter of intent. When you sat down in the restaurant, were you intending to pay when done? Probably so. When you downloaded that cracked version of whatever game, were you really intending to buy it afterward? Be honest now (assuming you have the capability of being honest). If your true intent was to "try out" the game to see if it was worth purchasing, there are many legal avenues such as demos, reviews, rentals, and friends that you could have used instead. Really, the only difference here between intentionally leaving a restaurant without paying, and "trying a game" and not paying for it afterward is that there is little to no risk of getting caught for pirating the software, which is why you think piracy is okay.
Finally... I'm still looking for an answer to my question. poetmatt never was able to answer it, so maybe you can. Tell me, is there ANY valid reason for "backing up" console games other than as an excuse for your inability to take care of your personal property? I'm sorry that you've failed to raise your children with a respect for people's property, but that still doesn't justify copying console games.
(And for the record, no I don't work for any game or media company. I'm just another engineer, but one that's finally gotten fed up with the general lack of morality around here.)
You've clearly fallen into the "I'll pay for it if I really really like it" line of piracy justification. The problem is, by pirating first and paying later you're still consuming (a game, once played, cannot be removed from your personal experience) without fairly compensating for the experience. Using this justification, it's then perfectly okay to leave a restaurant without paying for dinner because it wasn't as filling as you had hoped. Or it's okay to demand your money back from a theater because the movie you watched was lame and predictable. Or it's okay for me to "unilaterally borrow" one of your PC rigs from your house to "see if I like it" and use it as I please until it is obsolete and I don't want it any more. Hey, it's not stealing if I don't keep it forever, right?
And you still keep asking why shouldn't you be able to "back up" games without ever giving a single good reason why you SHOULD be able to. Digital media, when properly cared for, will last for years. Preventing "normal wear and tear" is a piss-poor excuse for blatantly stealing as you see fit.
If you can come up with a good answer to the backup question, feel free to post a reply. But seeing as I've already wasted way too much time on nothing more than an unrepentant thieving fanboy severely lacking in personal responsibility, I'm not going to bother with any further debate on the issue.
Sorry, but I still don't buy your arguments at all.
Seeing as how you "buy PC's" (plural, at that) capable of emulating the PS3/XBox360, you appear to have more than enough money to buy the consoles if you so wanted. And seeing as how you are taking the time and effort to "reverse engineer" these games to run on your PCs you obviously have the desire to play the games. So why don't you just buy the consoles and the games and play them as they were designed? I can only think of two reasons... either 1) you're a PC Fanboy who is too stubborn to consider any other options, or 2) you're a thieving software pirate. I'm curious... of all the PS3/XBox360 games you've "reverse engineered" and "backed up for personal use," how many did you actually buy? How many do you still have the original discs for?
Now, to the question of formats... again, your arguments are misguided. You talk about it being vendor lock-in if you can't use X brand product any way you want... well, the products in question here and the subject of the DRM issue are not the consoles themselves, but the software. If you want to play the Grand Theft Auto 4 game, guess what, you DO have choices as a consumer. You can play on the PS3, Xbox, or (soon) your beloved PC. The choice of which format(s) to release a piece of software in is the decision of the developers and publishers, not the hardware companies. The developers and publishers will choose whatever format they feel will make them the most money. If the developers/publishers don't like the format options, they're welcome to make their own competing format and console(s). Even in the Personal Computer market there is variety of formats (Windows/Mac/Linux) which require significant effort to move software between and often require licensing costs to create programs for.
Game consoles would only be an example of "lock-in" if you could only use Sony software on your Sony console with your Sony controllers on your Sony TV. As much as Sony would like people to do this, it is not a requirement for using their platform. I can play games on my Sony console from any company that is willing to buy a license to the format, and I can play with any proprietary or standardized hardware that the software will support, even a keyboard and mouse for some software. If you want a good example of "locked-in" game consoles, try browsing through the childrens' toy section at your local mega-store, and you'll see lots of "laptop" and "game systems" that only run a handful of games published by the system maker. These systems are truly locked in, and due to their restrictive nature, they rarely flourish outside of a very niche audience.
As for the lack of hardware choice, there is nothing out there keeping other companies from licensing the console technology from Sony/Microsoft/Nintendo other than, well, the cost of the licensing and making the hardware. Remember the Panasonic Q from the last console generation? Sure, it was only sold in Japan, but that is one relatively recent example of where a company looked at the markets, the licensing costs, and the production costs, and decided that it was worth the cost and risk to license the technology and make their own better version of a popular console. The real reason for lack of hardware choice is that it's simply expensive to make the hardware to run the software.
Finally, what are these "legitimate" reasons you refer to for backing up console games? I can't think of any justifiable reason except to protect from accidental loss. If a game is truly so good that you "wear it out", then it is also worth supporting the developer of such an excellent game by purchasing a second copy after you have consumed the first. If your games are becoming damaged from "normal use" while the vast majority of other consumers are doing just fine, then it comes back to the issue of personal responsibility and learning how to take care of your stuff properly.
And what happens when the video card company or product of your choice doesn't support running whatever game you're trying to play? Then you're still stuck waiting on someone else to fix the program so you can run it. Your only options at that point are to change the hardware/software to something supported (adding more expense and/or removing functionality), or try to fix the software yourself (adding more time). I have limited time and money for recreation, so neither option works for me. That's why I'm squarely in the console camp for gaming.
You say that consoles are the ultimate in DRM, but I have to disagree here because as long as I'm using physical discs I can take any retail copy of a game disc and play it on any console player which was designed to accept that disc. There is no locking of each specific disc to a specific console unit. Sure the data generated from the game (online accounts, save file) may be tied to the console, but the disc itself can be used, traded, sold, whatever. Not being able to move a piece of software from one platform to another is not an issue of DRM, it's a matter of format. Yes, there may be only one player for a given format but that was the choice of the company that developed the format. Lack of options is not DRM in itself. If you don't like the console or controllers, don't play games that are in that format. Pick a different format or a different entertainment medium. By your wishful logic, I should have -- and industry should be mandated to support -- the ability to take a cassette tape, cram it into a CD player, and have it automagically play with CD quality just for the sake of convenience. Why should it be expected that you could take your games from one system and play it on another system three generations later? If I want to play my old SNES games, I pull the old console out of the closet and play them with no issues, rather than whining about having to buy them again in a format that works on the Wii.
From your previous arguments and rebuttals, I get the feeling that your REAL issue here is up a few posts in this thread where you started whining about the ability (or lack thereof) to "backup" your games. While I may have made many "backups" during my time in college, I've since come to realize that for consoles there truly is no need for this ability. All you need is some personal responsibility in being able to take care of and keep track of your game discs. Disc destroyed by children? It's your own fault for letting them get a hold of it. Stolen or destroyed in fire or flood? You should have had adequate home/rental insurance to cover it. Loaned to a friend who didn't return it? It was your choice to give it away in the first place. None of these situations require the creation of a "backup" for your game discs, as any replacement retail copy will still play in any console copy the same as the original.
Now, digital only software is a whole different story, and it does contain DRM to be concerned about. But that doesn't make the console itself a massive DRM scheme nor give justification for blatant piracy.
Here we go again... slashdotters that appear to have no clue with math and/or real-world economics. I'll try to make this brief...
1) Using your numbers, the ps2 has been in production ~ 100 months now, for an avg. of 1 million/month. The SNES sold 50 million over over5 years, averaging ~ 1 million/per month. Wii production WAS 1.6 million/month last year, and is NOW at 2.4 million/month. Wii production started around 1 million/month and has only been increasing, thus Nintendo is already putting units out at an unprecedented rate compared to any system current or past.
2) Factories and production capability don't just appear out of thin air. They take time and money to build. A built factory with no demand is a bad investment, and Nintendo rarely makes bad investments. Building more manufacturing lines just for the holiday rush is bad business. Good business is to stockpile over the summer.
3) When people buy a product as fast as it is produced you can't build up a stockpile for holiday sales. Thus, more shortages when demand spikes. THERE IS NO DELIBERATE SHORTAGE. JUST STRONG SALES AND PREDICTABLE ECONOMICS.
Sorry for the yelling, but its a bit annoying that every Wii story that pops up is filled with people claiming conspiracy. When the demand is high and production is down, then you might have a point.
Absolutely... though not just because of BluRay (or any HD source) but also because the next big thing in TV sets is the 120+ Hz refresh rates.
I was watching a demo in a store recently of one of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies playing from a bluray disc onto a 120 Hz television, and the result was a picture so "real" that all the costuming and special effects were obviously just that - effects. It was like going to the local renaissance fair and watching a show with lame actors, poor makeup, and cheesey smoke blanks in the cannons.
Does Discovery even have any retail stores left open? I though they closed them all last year. Not that I really care since they spent the last few years shifting their product selection towards becoming just another brookstone/sharper-image clone anyway.
Also, don't forget to check for reflections of said IR light sources. Glass-top coffee tables are commonly found in living room setups between couch and TV, and they can easily confuse the wii remotes as they reflect the sensor bar IR lights. I've "fixed" a few friends' wiis for them just by moving/covering their coffee table. Also have encountered problems with strong lights behind the player reflecting off the front of the TV.
Last I heard, polar bears are already nature's hairy solar collectors. So all we have to do is hunt them down for their skins to make super efficient solar panels so that we can stop the global warming and thus save all the polar... umm...
Last sumer I had dinner at a "viking" restaurant in Iceland where (minke) whale was on the menu, so I gave it a try. Pretty much like beef, although a little grainier in texture. Or was that the horse steak? I keep confusing the two now.
The thing I've come to find from vacation dining experience is that meat is pretty much the same round the world. Doesn't matter if its cow, horse, dog, goat, etc. If it's red meat from a mammal, it'll taste pretty close to beef, with maybe some variation in texture or aftertaste. White meat pretty much tastes like chicken no matter what bird or reptile it came from. And most anything that lives in or regularly dines from the water is going to taste fishy.
If you want a good meal, the thing to remeber is that no matter the animal the quality and cut of the meat are just as important, if not more so, than species it comes from.
Occam's Razor, eh? Well, how about we shave even closer...
Something on that satellite is very important to keep secret (I doubt that it's the cameras themselves) and shooting down the satellite will keep secret whatever is on there.
There. Even simpler than the three-step hydrazine story. Now, the nature of what exactly needs to be kept secret is wide open for debate. Personally, given the trends in US government behavior the past several years, I wouldn't be surprised if it's some sort of treaty violating and/or constitutional rights abusive technology that would give rise to an enormous amount of domestic and international outrage (and embarrassment for the administration) if it were discovered.
Personally, I think that scalpers are complete douchebags. But, no matter what you do in life you'll have to deal with the occasional a**hole. That's just life and human nature.
Personally, I'm not too put-off by Wii scalpers since comparing the NPD sales numbers with the estimated number of consoles selling in the secondary markets for the same time period, it looks like only a small percentage (5-10%) of the market is being picked up by the scalpers. So, for those willing to work for their wii, the console can still be found.
What REALLY irks me though, is scalpers (for the Wii, or any other high-demand items) that abuse or exploit the system to gain unfair access to the products, thus allowing them to control a majority of the sales.
Even with outsourcing, complex products such as consumer electronics require many different parts from many different manufacturers. If any one part is in short supply, the whole product will be in short supply. And if you're sourcing parts that can be used for different end-products, then you also have to compete with other businesses for that resource.
So no, Nintendo doesn't have their own factories where they make wiis from start to finish, but they do have to contract out all the appropriate parts and hope that those manufacturers can meet the demand. If Nintendo wants to instantly increase production, it may very well mean paying a premium for scare parts, which would cause them to lose a guaranteed amount on the increased manufacturing. So they get screwed either way, in which case it's better to stick with all the contracts that were negotiated months ago based on what they thought was a reasonable demand.
Electronics don't just poof into existence. Whether company-owned or outsourced, factories must exist to make products and if those factories can't meet demand, the product won't meet demand.
When it comes down to it, for me the choice was pretty clear.
And this is why your entire argument falls flat. You're a gamer, and you assume that everyone else looking for a Wii views it the same way that you do. Hardcore gamers have already made up their mind about whether they want a Wii and bought one if they wanted it. Now, the vast majority of people looking to buy a Wii are either new gamers, or parents of new gamers. These are people who have no clue what "cross-platform gameplay" means and if they wanted to buy a PS2 then they would have done so long ago, since the PS2 has been a mature and available system for years.
The real driving force behind Wii is not that it is a "must-have-one-too" Christmas toy, but rather that the Wii is a social system. People play with their friends and/or family members' system, and decide that it is fun enough that they want one of their own. I may only have anecdotal evidence of the Wii's "viral" appeal, but I have seen it happen so many times I'm thinking about keeping a tally on the side of my Wii to record the number of friends and family who have gone and bought their own after playing with mine.
Sure, there will be some people who don't buy a Wii after Christmas due to budget constraints, but the vast majority will simply wait and sustain the demand well into next year. However, they won't spend that waiting time "evaluating other options," because for these customers, there is no other option.
First off, Rock Band is a Harmonix/MTV game, whereas Guitar Hero III is the Activision game. And second, in both cases the high price of the supposed "software" is directly the result of the actual software coming bundled with hardware peripherals. If you buy just the Rock Band or Guitar hero software (they are sold separately for some of the systems) then you'll find that the software is the same price as any other new release on said system.
Of course, if Activision is demanding cheaper consoles, then we need to start demanding cheaper 1st party peripherals (or ANY unbundled peripherals for that matter) from them as well.
Doesn't really matter how much you try to cook the numbers, the real problem is the 70/70 law.
I would love to see some historical data on cable subscriber numbers over the years. As far as I can tell, the cable companies know that every time they raise rates they're going to lose a percentage of their subscriber base, so the last 20 years have been a careful balance of keeping the rates right at the pain threshold for consumers so that ~60% will grudgingly subscribe but the 70% requirement for regulation will never be reached. Once people are numb to the pain of the higher prices and subscriber percentages recover, they raise the rates again. rinse and repeat year after year...
I don't like replying to AC trolls, but tell me... how exactly is this article a bunch of "Zonk hates teh Sony fanboy crap?"
The article summary simply described the contents of a third-party source. There was no blatant negative spin put into the summary or the choice of quote. I was wondering why I hadn't heard much about Home lately. I read the article, and now I know what at least part of the holdup is. Since I don't spend all day trolling gaming blogs and fanboy sites, this was news to me. And for putting a link to this news on Slashdot, I say Thank you, Zonk.
Slashdot Mirror
The problem with your quick Wikipedia search is that while there may be a total of more than "4 years worth" of LEGO and music games listed, only a fraction of those can really be considered as ones that would be diluting the market.
For example, of the 34 LEGO games listed in your link, over half of those are old PC or GBA shovelware titles that the general public never saw or knew existed. And when it comes to the "172 pages of music games" you failed to make a critical distinction -- your example is a list of music games, not the subset of rhythm games which the GPP asked for. The music game list includes a wide variety of software with edutainment, movie tie-in crap, and other sub-genres that most gamers wouldn't consider to be related to guitar hero or rock band in the slightest. And from the subset of just rhythm games, the number of games that are any sort of instrument simulation is smaller still. Finally, considering that it's taken 10+ years for all these listed games to be released, the release rate is still a lot less frequent than the "new game every week" hyperbole.
That said, I think there is the very real danger of oversaturating the market by releasing too many similar rhythm games in a short amount of time. That's why seeing Activision's release timeline (something like NINE "Hero" games this year alone!) has me very concerned. As far as LEGO Rock Band, I don't think that this will be the title that makes either franchise jump the shark, since I trust Harmonix to make a good game no matter what the theme, and I do see the value and market for a rock band game that can be played with any audience at any venue (such as with the youth group at our church) and not worry about offending any parents.
Yep. Had an acquaintance that worked at a gamestop for awhile, and they had the same policy. Still, I never buy from GS in general because I just don't care for my game packages to be pre-opened, even if they are "new" prior to my purchase. I guess it comes down to an issue of trust. If you can't trust the store to give you straight information about games (without trying to upsell you unnecessary crap), how can you trust them to be telling the truth about the condition of that pre-gutted game?
Considering ICANN's outrageous greed and lack of government oversight, perhaps they should rename that as a 419 error page instead...
How long does it take from submitting a post until you get the achievement *ding*? I posted in a different april fools story, but still have yet to see the achievement come up in my profile.
And like several other posters here, I'm also confused at to how the numbers add up.
This makes me wonder what would happen if they repeated the experiment with turkey poults. Generally, newly hatched turkeys are so stupid that if you don't show them how to drink (by putting other birds in their enclosure or dunking their heads in the water trough) they'll soon die from dehydration.
Didn't even have to get to the bottom of the article to know it was April Fools BS... he claimed that the ATM got infected from a USB drive "crammed into the maw of the teller machine." And even if the author merely misdescribed a USB port as the machines "maw" and it was common for ATM to use a Windows variant for their OS, I can't imagine one ever being designed with an unsecured and easily accessible USB port.
On a side note, I hate this day because of all these lame "stories" floating around the web that just plain aren't funny. ThinkGeek on the other hand usually does a good job with their spoof items, since they come up with stuff that really SHOULD be made for real.
Really should drop the argument now, but you bring up a good point that need to be addressed. It seems we've boiled the entire debate of DRM down to the more basic question of "What is theft, and is it wrong?" Many slashdotters, including yourself and poetmatt assert that if you take (in this case, illegitimately duplicate) something which is "intangible" and "easily reproduced" it is not theft, as there is no physical loss, and no apparent harm done. So I assume then that you won't complain when such "intangibles" as peace, freedom, privacy, love, and/or life have been taken from you? After all, these "intangibles" are not physical, and can be reproduced between people at no monetary cost.
Humans have long understood that something need not be physical to have value. Experience has immense value. Experience is why other people get paid more than you do for doing the same job. And while the law may define theft in it's most strict sense as the taking of another person's property without consent, the law also defines the theft of service as taking a service of value without consent or compensation. You claim that "I simply gain the experience, and they lose nothing" yet you conveniently ignore that something of value has indeed been lost -- a fair compensation for the service of providing a unique experience that you could not obtain otherwise. Now, is the compensation requested for the experience of games, music and other media fair? Sometimes it is not. But just because you don't agree with the asking price does not justify taking the product or service, just because you want it now and want it on your terms.
In this case, the restaurant analogy is still valid as we're talking about consumable goods provided as a service. Walking out of a restaurant is only justified if the circumstances of the meal are such that what was provided is unfit for consumption or not provided as advertised, and after you leave the restaurant it has the option to refuse you service in the future. If a game is unplayable due to bugs or errors, then you are justified in demanding your money back or a fixed product and the developer/publisher has the option of attempting to refuse service to those with no intention of paying for it. However, with both the food and the software, disappointment due to overinflated expectations is not sufficient grounds for reasonable rejection. Compounding this issue is the matter of intent. When you sat down in the restaurant, were you intending to pay when done? Probably so. When you downloaded that cracked version of whatever game, were you really intending to buy it afterward? Be honest now (assuming you have the capability of being honest). If your true intent was to "try out" the game to see if it was worth purchasing, there are many legal avenues such as demos, reviews, rentals, and friends that you could have used instead. Really, the only difference here between intentionally leaving a restaurant without paying, and "trying a game" and not paying for it afterward is that there is little to no risk of getting caught for pirating the software, which is why you think piracy is okay.
Finally... I'm still looking for an answer to my question. poetmatt never was able to answer it, so maybe you can. Tell me, is there ANY valid reason for "backing up" console games other than as an excuse for your inability to take care of your personal property? I'm sorry that you've failed to raise your children with a respect for people's property, but that still doesn't justify copying console games.
(And for the record, no I don't work for any game or media company. I'm just another engineer, but one that's finally gotten fed up with the general lack of morality around here.)
So then... the answer is both 1 AND 2.
You've clearly fallen into the "I'll pay for it if I really really like it" line of piracy justification. The problem is, by pirating first and paying later you're still consuming (a game, once played, cannot be removed from your personal experience) without fairly compensating for the experience. Using this justification, it's then perfectly okay to leave a restaurant without paying for dinner because it wasn't as filling as you had hoped. Or it's okay to demand your money back from a theater because the movie you watched was lame and predictable. Or it's okay for me to "unilaterally borrow" one of your PC rigs from your house to "see if I like it" and use it as I please until it is obsolete and I don't want it any more. Hey, it's not stealing if I don't keep it forever, right?
And you still keep asking why shouldn't you be able to "back up" games without ever giving a single good reason why you SHOULD be able to. Digital media, when properly cared for, will last for years. Preventing "normal wear and tear" is a piss-poor excuse for blatantly stealing as you see fit.
If you can come up with a good answer to the backup question, feel free to post a reply. But seeing as I've already wasted way too much time on nothing more than an unrepentant thieving fanboy severely lacking in personal responsibility, I'm not going to bother with any further debate on the issue.
Sorry, but I still don't buy your arguments at all.
Seeing as how you "buy PC's" (plural, at that) capable of emulating the PS3/XBox360, you appear to have more than enough money to buy the consoles if you so wanted. And seeing as how you are taking the time and effort to "reverse engineer" these games to run on your PCs you obviously have the desire to play the games. So why don't you just buy the consoles and the games and play them as they were designed? I can only think of two reasons... either 1) you're a PC Fanboy who is too stubborn to consider any other options, or 2) you're a thieving software pirate. I'm curious... of all the PS3/XBox360 games you've "reverse engineered" and "backed up for personal use," how many did you actually buy? How many do you still have the original discs for?
Now, to the question of formats... again, your arguments are misguided. You talk about it being vendor lock-in if you can't use X brand product any way you want... well, the products in question here and the subject of the DRM issue are not the consoles themselves, but the software. If you want to play the Grand Theft Auto 4 game, guess what, you DO have choices as a consumer. You can play on the PS3, Xbox, or (soon) your beloved PC. The choice of which format(s) to release a piece of software in is the decision of the developers and publishers, not the hardware companies. The developers and publishers will choose whatever format they feel will make them the most money. If the developers/publishers don't like the format options, they're welcome to make their own competing format and console(s). Even in the Personal Computer market there is variety of formats (Windows/Mac/Linux) which require significant effort to move software between and often require licensing costs to create programs for.
Game consoles would only be an example of "lock-in" if you could only use Sony software on your Sony console with your Sony controllers on your Sony TV. As much as Sony would like people to do this, it is not a requirement for using their platform. I can play games on my Sony console from any company that is willing to buy a license to the format, and I can play with any proprietary or standardized hardware that the software will support, even a keyboard and mouse for some software. If you want a good example of "locked-in" game consoles, try browsing through the childrens' toy section at your local mega-store, and you'll see lots of "laptop" and "game systems" that only run a handful of games published by the system maker. These systems are truly locked in, and due to their restrictive nature, they rarely flourish outside of a very niche audience.
As for the lack of hardware choice, there is nothing out there keeping other companies from licensing the console technology from Sony/Microsoft/Nintendo other than, well, the cost of the licensing and making the hardware. Remember the Panasonic Q from the last console generation? Sure, it was only sold in Japan, but that is one relatively recent example of where a company looked at the markets, the licensing costs, and the production costs, and decided that it was worth the cost and risk to license the technology and make their own better version of a popular console. The real reason for lack of hardware choice is that it's simply expensive to make the hardware to run the software.
Finally, what are these "legitimate" reasons you refer to for backing up console games? I can't think of any justifiable reason except to protect from accidental loss. If a game is truly so good that you "wear it out", then it is also worth supporting the developer of such an excellent game by purchasing a second copy after you have consumed the first. If your games are becoming damaged from "normal use" while the vast majority of other consumers are doing just fine, then it comes back to the issue of personal responsibility and learning how to take care of your stuff properly.
And what happens when the video card company or product of your choice doesn't support running whatever game you're trying to play? Then you're still stuck waiting on someone else to fix the program so you can run it. Your only options at that point are to change the hardware/software to something supported (adding more expense and/or removing functionality), or try to fix the software yourself (adding more time). I have limited time and money for recreation, so neither option works for me. That's why I'm squarely in the console camp for gaming.
You say that consoles are the ultimate in DRM, but I have to disagree here because as long as I'm using physical discs I can take any retail copy of a game disc and play it on any console player which was designed to accept that disc. There is no locking of each specific disc to a specific console unit. Sure the data generated from the game (online accounts, save file) may be tied to the console, but the disc itself can be used, traded, sold, whatever. Not being able to move a piece of software from one platform to another is not an issue of DRM, it's a matter of format. Yes, there may be only one player for a given format but that was the choice of the company that developed the format. Lack of options is not DRM in itself. If you don't like the console or controllers, don't play games that are in that format. Pick a different format or a different entertainment medium. By your wishful logic, I should have -- and industry should be mandated to support -- the ability to take a cassette tape, cram it into a CD player, and have it automagically play with CD quality just for the sake of convenience. Why should it be expected that you could take your games from one system and play it on another system three generations later? If I want to play my old SNES games, I pull the old console out of the closet and play them with no issues, rather than whining about having to buy them again in a format that works on the Wii.
From your previous arguments and rebuttals, I get the feeling that your REAL issue here is up a few posts in this thread where you started whining about the ability (or lack thereof) to "backup" your games. While I may have made many "backups" during my time in college, I've since come to realize that for consoles there truly is no need for this ability. All you need is some personal responsibility in being able to take care of and keep track of your game discs. Disc destroyed by children? It's your own fault for letting them get a hold of it. Stolen or destroyed in fire or flood? You should have had adequate home/rental insurance to cover it. Loaned to a friend who didn't return it? It was your choice to give it away in the first place. None of these situations require the creation of a "backup" for your game discs, as any replacement retail copy will still play in any console copy the same as the original.
Now, digital only software is a whole different story, and it does contain DRM to be concerned about. But that doesn't make the console itself a massive DRM scheme nor give justification for blatant piracy.
Sorry... those tags are improper for this article as they require the use of both sides of the keyboard.
(sigh)
Here we go again... slashdotters that appear to have no clue with math and/or real-world economics. I'll try to make this brief...
1) Using your numbers, the ps2 has been in production ~ 100 months now, for an avg. of 1 million/month. The SNES sold 50 million over over5 years, averaging ~ 1 million/per month. Wii production WAS 1.6 million/month last year, and is NOW at 2.4 million/month. Wii production started around 1 million/month and has only been increasing, thus Nintendo is already putting units out at an unprecedented rate compared to any system current or past.
2) Factories and production capability don't just appear out of thin air. They take time and money to build. A built factory with no demand is a bad investment, and Nintendo rarely makes bad investments. Building more manufacturing lines just for the holiday rush is bad business. Good business is to stockpile over the summer.
3) When people buy a product as fast as it is produced you can't build up a stockpile for holiday sales. Thus, more shortages when demand spikes. THERE IS NO DELIBERATE SHORTAGE. JUST STRONG SALES AND PREDICTABLE ECONOMICS.
Sorry for the yelling, but its a bit annoying that every Wii story that pops up is filled with people claiming conspiracy. When the demand is high and production is down, then you might have a point.
Absolutely... though not just because of BluRay (or any HD source) but also because the next big thing in TV sets is the 120+ Hz refresh rates.
I was watching a demo in a store recently of one of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies playing from a bluray disc onto a 120 Hz television, and the result was a picture so "real" that all the costuming and special effects were obviously just that - effects. It was like going to the local renaissance fair and watching a show with lame actors, poor makeup, and cheesey smoke blanks in the cannons.
Does Discovery even have any retail stores left open? I though they closed them all last year. Not that I really care since they spent the last few years shifting their product selection towards becoming just another brookstone/sharper-image clone anyway.
Also, don't forget to check for reflections of said IR light sources. Glass-top coffee tables are commonly found in living room setups between couch and TV, and they can easily confuse the wii remotes as they reflect the sensor bar IR lights. I've "fixed" a few friends' wiis for them just by moving/covering their coffee table. Also have encountered problems with strong lights behind the player reflecting off the front of the TV.
Hunting landscaping, huh? I can see it now...
"And you shall bring us... A SHRUBBERY!"
Last I heard, polar bears are already nature's hairy solar collectors. So all we have to do is hunt them down for their skins to make super efficient solar panels so that we can stop the global warming and thus save all the polar... umm...
Last sumer I had dinner at a "viking" restaurant in Iceland where (minke) whale was on the menu, so I gave it a try. Pretty much like beef, although a little grainier in texture. Or was that the horse steak? I keep confusing the two now.
The thing I've come to find from vacation dining experience is that meat is pretty much the same round the world. Doesn't matter if its cow, horse, dog, goat, etc. If it's red meat from a mammal, it'll taste pretty close to beef, with maybe some variation in texture or aftertaste. White meat pretty much tastes like chicken no matter what bird or reptile it came from. And most anything that lives in or regularly dines from the water is going to taste fishy.
If you want a good meal, the thing to remeber is that no matter the animal the quality and cut of the meat are just as important, if not more so, than species it comes from.
Occam's Razor, eh? Well, how about we shave even closer...
Something on that satellite is very important to keep secret (I doubt that it's the cameras themselves) and shooting down the satellite will keep secret whatever is on there.
There. Even simpler than the three-step hydrazine story. Now, the nature of what exactly needs to be kept secret is wide open for debate. Personally, given the trends in US government behavior the past several years, I wouldn't be surprised if it's some sort of treaty violating and/or constitutional rights abusive technology that would give rise to an enormous amount of domestic and international outrage (and embarrassment for the administration) if it were discovered.
Personally, I think that scalpers are complete douchebags. But, no matter what you do in life you'll have to deal with the occasional a**hole. That's just life and human nature.
Personally, I'm not too put-off by Wii scalpers since comparing the NPD sales numbers with the estimated number of consoles selling in the secondary markets for the same time period, it looks like only a small percentage (5-10%) of the market is being picked up by the scalpers. So, for those willing to work for their wii, the console can still be found.
What REALLY irks me though, is scalpers (for the Wii, or any other high-demand items) that abuse or exploit the system to gain unfair access to the products, thus allowing them to control a majority of the sales.
Even with outsourcing, complex products such as consumer electronics require many different parts from many different manufacturers. If any one part is in short supply, the whole product will be in short supply. And if you're sourcing parts that can be used for different end-products, then you also have to compete with other businesses for that resource.
So no, Nintendo doesn't have their own factories where they make wiis from start to finish, but they do have to contract out all the appropriate parts and hope that those manufacturers can meet the demand. If Nintendo wants to instantly increase production, it may very well mean paying a premium for scare parts, which would cause them to lose a guaranteed amount on the increased manufacturing. So they get screwed either way, in which case it's better to stick with all the contracts that were negotiated months ago based on what they thought was a reasonable demand.
Electronics don't just poof into existence. Whether company-owned or outsourced, factories must exist to make products and if those factories can't meet demand, the product won't meet demand.
And this is why your entire argument falls flat. You're a gamer, and you assume that everyone else looking for a Wii views it the same way that you do. Hardcore gamers have already made up their mind about whether they want a Wii and bought one if they wanted it. Now, the vast majority of people looking to buy a Wii are either new gamers, or parents of new gamers. These are people who have no clue what "cross-platform gameplay" means and if they wanted to buy a PS2 then they would have done so long ago, since the PS2 has been a mature and available system for years.
The real driving force behind Wii is not that it is a "must-have-one-too" Christmas toy, but rather that the Wii is a social system. People play with their friends and/or family members' system, and decide that it is fun enough that they want one of their own. I may only have anecdotal evidence of the Wii's "viral" appeal, but I have seen it happen so many times I'm thinking about keeping a tally on the side of my Wii to record the number of friends and family who have gone and bought their own after playing with mine.
Sure, there will be some people who don't buy a Wii after Christmas due to budget constraints, but the vast majority will simply wait and sustain the demand well into next year. However, they won't spend that waiting time "evaluating other options," because for these customers, there is no other option.
It's not quite as bad as you make it out to be.
First off, Rock Band is a Harmonix/MTV game, whereas Guitar Hero III is the Activision game. And second, in both cases the high price of the supposed "software" is directly the result of the actual software coming bundled with hardware peripherals. If you buy just the Rock Band or Guitar hero software (they are sold separately for some of the systems) then you'll find that the software is the same price as any other new release on said system.
Of course, if Activision is demanding cheaper consoles, then we need to start demanding cheaper 1st party peripherals (or ANY unbundled peripherals for that matter) from them as well.
Doesn't really matter how much you try to cook the numbers, the real problem is the 70/70 law.
I would love to see some historical data on cable subscriber numbers over the years. As far as I can tell, the cable companies know that every time they raise rates they're going to lose a percentage of their subscriber base, so the last 20 years have been a careful balance of keeping the rates right at the pain threshold for consumers so that ~60% will grudgingly subscribe but the 70% requirement for regulation will never be reached. Once people are numb to the pain of the higher prices and subscriber percentages recover, they raise the rates again. rinse and repeat year after year...
I don't like replying to AC trolls, but tell me... how exactly is this article a bunch of "Zonk hates teh Sony fanboy crap?"
The article summary simply described the contents of a third-party source. There was no blatant negative spin put into the summary or the choice of quote. I was wondering why I hadn't heard much about Home lately. I read the article, and now I know what at least part of the holdup is. Since I don't spend all day trolling gaming blogs and fanboy sites, this was news to me. And for putting a link to this news on Slashdot, I say Thank you, Zonk.