Congratulations on having been here longer than me. I hope that gives you a sense of achievement. As for self-serving ignorant dribble, well... thanks, I guess. You could just have disagreed with me, but whatever.
I'll throw rocks at Zonk, if it's all the same to you. Zonk's added "commentary" is the reason I won't let the door hit my arse on the way out, as you so charmingly put it. Kotaku's piece was, apart from the sections you quoted, at least a factual description of some events. I take issue with the stuff that surrounds that. Clearly you don't respect my opinions. Fair enough.
All legitimate concerns, and rightly so. But laying them at Sony's door is a bit unfair. The stores themselves, maybe the local authorities, that I could agree with. Unless this was outside a Sony store, in which case I agree it'd be Sony's fault entirely:)
An interesting brand of logic. However, I think everyone at Sony would have preferred all the launch PS3s to go straight into the hands of avid gamers. Ebay profiteering does nothing but give bad press, and stops people buying software (which is where Sony makes any money from the PS3 at this point in the lifecycle) because paying inflated prices for hardware means less money to spend on software!
If the launch had been pushed back until there were 500k units available, do you really think this sort of thing still wouldn't have happened? Maybe on a smaller scale, but it happened with the 360 launch in the US and here in Europe. Generating hype, yeah, it's good. But nothing is as good for Sony as getting hardware into homes, and starting to generate good word-of-mouth from people using it. Basically, there were two options once the hardware shortages were obviously gonna happen - delay the launch and face all the negative press, or deal with the hardware shortages and face all the negative press. One results in getting the hardware into hands earlier, and denying MS and Nintendo another Christmas season of free sales without Sony having a presence in the market.
All of this is totally unrelated to the actions of the stuff talked about in the article, and Zonk laying the blame for it at Sony's doorstep is still absurd.
The comments on this story show that there's plenty of good folks who read the site. The stories and editorial crap that get added to them show that there's not too much point continuing to hang around here for reasoned debate. For the longest time it was the anti-Windows angle that annoyed me most about/. but now the daily two minute hate against me and my employer has gotten a bit old. Anyway, I won't go on about it too much, suffice to say there's better places to contribute my opinions, and in my opinion better places for all of us to find our news and discuss it.
I work for Sony, but this post is all mine and nothing to do with them.
Sony have taken a lot of flak lately, and it's probably been mostly justified. This, however, is the shittiest smear-job I've ever had the misfortune to read on this site. I won't be returning to the site after this post, at least once this story has run its course (so if there's any replies to this I'll answer)
How in the name of Zeus's butthole does Sony bear any responsibility whatsoever for the actions of people who aren't Sony employees? Did Sony direct these people to hire the homeless? Did Sony force anyone into doing anything, in any way? If a guy kills another guy so he can steal his PS3, will it be Sony's fault for making it? Of course not, all of these suggestions are absurd. So why attempt to shoehorn Sony into this, trying to heap more hate and blame on a company which already has so much you can fairly criticize it for?
Criticize us about rootkits, about batteries, about E3 presentations or too much hype, about perceived arrogance or copying Nintendo or making PS3 too expensive or not having enough of them, or about the quality of our hardware or software. You don't even have to make it constructive criticism, if you don't want to. But please, for the love of whatever, criticize us for those things we're at least partly responsible for! The actions of completely unrelated third parties aren't our bloody fault!
Anyway, enough from me. I've had a/. account for many years longer than I've worked for Sony, but this story has prompted me to leave the site. It's just a little bit too much unreasoning, undirected hatred directed at me from people supposedly smart enough to know better.
...how good this fingerprinting is - will it detect the Beastie Boys / Dan the Automator mashup I've posted on my own Myspace page, which is two copyrighted tracks combined?
HDR in hardware is easy, we could do that right now. It's getting everyone to upgrade from their HDTV to an HDR display that's gonna be tricky - look how much people are complaining about going up to HDTV!
...but over here in the UK we had broadcast TV for ages before we had cable. I'd guess you guys over there Is there something special about cable TV that would contribute to autism? Over and above the programming content I mean, which I assume didn't change all that drastically at the introduction of cable (except for the public access stuff we find so amusing over here!)
...Xbox 360 OS *still* not finished after product release! Wii OS to be released unfinished also! Linux, Windows totally not finished either! ZOMGWTF!11!1
Imagine the sheer balls on Sony (my employer, disclamer etc.) releasing unfinished software to the masses! How evil of them! I'm astounded, gutted, horrified, etc.
Keep FUDing boys, it entertains us semi-rational folks:)
Perhaps you didn't read my post - they weren't overheating!
These games aren't finished yet. Many of them probably haven't reached Alpha, never mind the famed Google-ish Beta! And some of them crashed. Most of them didn't, though.
So you've got two options:
A large number of machines in near-identical 'harsh' environments (in terms of ventilation, etc), and a few overheat. OR A large number of machines running unfinished software, and a few crash.
Disclaimer: I work for Sony. This is my opinion, not theirs, etc.
This survey funded from Immersion, the company whose rather iffy patent in my opinion (dual-actuator rumble first appeared in the Hard Drivin' arcade machine as I recall, so if anything Atari invented it then these guys patented it? please!).
I won't miss rumble, mainly because I hold a joypad for long portions of my working day and rumbling pads annoy the shit out of me 99% of the time. Few games have ever used them imaginatively (yes, I include games I've worked on). I think the real problem is that they're not real force feedback. I could see the point in that - steering wheels that actually apply resistance, etc. Logitech do make one, and it's fucking great. But a pad going bzzz doesn't increase my enjoyment of games. Perhaps if I was a lady...;)
Interestingly, game developers tend not to focus on visuals to the exclusion of gameplay. Different people are responsible for each area, and the game you get in the end depends on both. Game designers and gameplay programmers are responsible for the fun. Graphics programmers and artists are responsible for the looks.
Assuming the game is fun, wouldn't you rather have one that looked better?
No, it's because games are starting to fill DVDs and as a game developer I can tell you we'll need a lot more space pretty soon. At least with BluRay we'll have enough space for a few years, 360 and Wii could well be hitting the limit for data-storage on disk at launch, no room to expand later without a new hardware revision.
Whether it's a wise decision to futureproof this much remains to be seen.
...Need for Speed I can see working ok, it'll have plenty of trackside ad places naturally as part of the game. But where will the Battlefield ads be? I hope they're not too intrusive.
I hope the gameplay will be better than it was in Far Cry. They certainly can make a good engine though, so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt until I can afford a PC capable of playing this at a decent framerate. My crusty old Dell can't even play HL2, Crysis will stomp it into the ground...:)
And I know they're not breaking the law, and that they're not required to police their users. I just have the vague wish that people would respect the wishes of people who create or supply things. A lot of people slate the MPAA/RIAA for producing crappy stuff, but this crappy stuff is the most popular and widely available material on these sites. If people put half as much effort into finding and promoting good alternatives as they do into spreading the mainstream, we'd have a richer culture.
It can only help if eventually there's some means for revenue to be returned to the content providers. Which at the moment is something none of the major P2P networks I'm aware of have a facility for.
If the folks getting hooked on Battlestar Galactica went and watched it on TV or bought the DVD, it's a win for the makers. If they went and downloaded them all from The Pirate Bay, it isn't. That's why I say it's really down to the people not the technology. And they can't force people to buy their stuff.
Slashdot Mirror
Congratulations on having been here longer than me. I hope that gives you a sense of achievement. As for self-serving ignorant dribble, well... thanks, I guess. You could just have disagreed with me, but whatever.
I'll throw rocks at Zonk, if it's all the same to you. Zonk's added "commentary" is the reason I won't let the door hit my arse on the way out, as you so charmingly put it. Kotaku's piece was, apart from the sections you quoted, at least a factual description of some events. I take issue with the stuff that surrounds that. Clearly you don't respect my opinions. Fair enough.
All legitimate concerns, and rightly so. But laying them at Sony's door is a bit unfair. The stores themselves, maybe the local authorities, that I could agree with. Unless this was outside a Sony store, in which case I agree it'd be Sony's fault entirely :)
An interesting brand of logic. However, I think everyone at Sony would have preferred all the launch PS3s to go straight into the hands of avid gamers. Ebay profiteering does nothing but give bad press, and stops people buying software (which is where Sony makes any money from the PS3 at this point in the lifecycle) because paying inflated prices for hardware means less money to spend on software!
If the launch had been pushed back until there were 500k units available, do you really think this sort of thing still wouldn't have happened? Maybe on a smaller scale, but it happened with the 360 launch in the US and here in Europe. Generating hype, yeah, it's good. But nothing is as good for Sony as getting hardware into homes, and starting to generate good word-of-mouth from people using it. Basically, there were two options once the hardware shortages were obviously gonna happen - delay the launch and face all the negative press, or deal with the hardware shortages and face all the negative press. One results in getting the hardware into hands earlier, and denying MS and Nintendo another Christmas season of free sales without Sony having a presence in the market.
All of this is totally unrelated to the actions of the stuff talked about in the article, and Zonk laying the blame for it at Sony's doorstep is still absurd.
The comments on this story show that there's plenty of good folks who read the site. The stories and editorial crap that get added to them show that there's not too much point continuing to hang around here for reasoned debate. For the longest time it was the anti-Windows angle that annoyed me most about /. but now the daily two minute hate against me and my employer has gotten a bit old. Anyway, I won't go on about it too much, suffice to say there's better places to contribute my opinions, and in my opinion better places for all of us to find our news and discuss it.
I work for Sony, but this post is all mine and nothing to do with them.
/. account for many years longer than I've worked for Sony, but this story has prompted me to leave the site. It's just a little bit too much unreasoning, undirected hatred directed at me from people supposedly smart enough to know better.
Sony have taken a lot of flak lately, and it's probably been mostly justified. This, however, is the shittiest smear-job I've ever had the misfortune to read on this site. I won't be returning to the site after this post, at least once this story has run its course (so if there's any replies to this I'll answer)
How in the name of Zeus's butthole does Sony bear any responsibility whatsoever for the actions of people who aren't Sony employees? Did Sony direct these people to hire the homeless? Did Sony force anyone into doing anything, in any way? If a guy kills another guy so he can steal his PS3, will it be Sony's fault for making it? Of course not, all of these suggestions are absurd. So why attempt to shoehorn Sony into this, trying to heap more hate and blame on a company which already has so much you can fairly criticize it for?
Criticize us about rootkits, about batteries, about E3 presentations or too much hype, about perceived arrogance or copying Nintendo or making PS3 too expensive or not having enough of them, or about the quality of our hardware or software. You don't even have to make it constructive criticism, if you don't want to. But please, for the love of whatever, criticize us for those things we're at least partly responsible for! The actions of completely unrelated third parties aren't our bloody fault!
Anyway, enough from me. I've had a
...how good this fingerprinting is - will it detect the Beastie Boys / Dan the Automator mashup I've posted on my own Myspace page, which is two copyrighted tracks combined?
HDR in hardware is easy, we could do that right now. It's getting everyone to upgrade from their HDTV to an HDR display that's gonna be tricky - look how much people are complaining about going up to HDTV!
...but over here in the UK we had broadcast TV for ages before we had cable. I'd guess you guys over there Is there something special about cable TV that would contribute to autism? Over and above the programming content I mean, which I assume didn't change all that drastically at the introduction of cable (except for the public access stuff we find so amusing over here!)
...Xbox 360 OS *still* not finished after product release! Wii OS to be released unfinished also! Linux, Windows totally not finished either! ZOMGWTF!11!1
:)
Imagine the sheer balls on Sony (my employer, disclamer etc.) releasing unfinished software to the masses! How evil of them! I'm astounded, gutted, horrified, etc.
Keep FUDing boys, it entertains us semi-rational folks
Perhaps you didn't read my post - they weren't overheating!
These games aren't finished yet. Many of them probably haven't reached Alpha, never mind the famed Google-ish Beta! And some of them crashed. Most of them didn't, though.
So you've got two options:
A large number of machines in near-identical 'harsh' environments (in terms of ventilation, etc), and a few overheat.
OR
A large number of machines running unfinished software, and a few crash.
Take your pick.
Disclaimer: although I work for Sony, this isn't official.
They weren't overheating. Some pre-release software was crashing. Imagine that! The shock, the horror...
Disclaimer: I work for Sony. This is my opinion, not theirs, etc.
;)
This survey funded from Immersion, the company whose rather iffy patent in my opinion (dual-actuator rumble first appeared in the Hard Drivin' arcade machine as I recall, so if anything Atari invented it then these guys patented it? please!).
I won't miss rumble, mainly because I hold a joypad for long portions of my working day and rumbling pads annoy the shit out of me 99% of the time. Few games have ever used them imaginatively (yes, I include games I've worked on). I think the real problem is that they're not real force feedback. I could see the point in that - steering wheels that actually apply resistance, etc. Logitech do make one, and it's fucking great. But a pad going bzzz doesn't increase my enjoyment of games. Perhaps if I was a lady...
It's amazing that you managed to manufacture my lack of concern about gameplay from a comment which had no bearing on it whatsoever.
Interestingly, game developers tend not to focus on visuals to the exclusion of gameplay. Different people are responsible for each area, and the game you get in the end depends on both. Game designers and gameplay programmers are responsible for the fun. Graphics programmers and artists are responsible for the looks.
Assuming the game is fun, wouldn't you rather have one that looked better?
Yeah, subtitle the commentary for a sports game... :)
Subtitles are useful for cinematics, but not for everything!
Maybe, yeah - it was why I first bought hard drive (Monkey Island 2 - 12 Amiga disks, swapping galore!)
Textures, localised audio and video, its surprisingly easy to fill a DVD.
Dunno about you, but I always hated disk swapping myself as a gamer.
No, it's because games are starting to fill DVDs and as a game developer I can tell you we'll need a lot more space pretty soon. At least with BluRay we'll have enough space for a few years, 360 and Wii could well be hitting the limit for data-storage on disk at launch, no room to expand later without a new hardware revision.
Whether it's a wise decision to futureproof this much remains to be seen.
...Need for Speed I can see working ok, it'll have plenty of trackside ad places naturally as part of the game. But where will the Battlefield ads be? I hope they're not too intrusive.
I hope the gameplay will be better than it was in Far Cry. They certainly can make a good engine though, so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt until I can afford a PC capable of playing this at a decent framerate. My crusty old Dell can't even play HL2, Crysis will stomp it into the ground... :)
No, I don't work on that game. Yes, I do find the giant crab funny... :)
Disclaimer: I work for Sony...
Given the crap the Inquirer has already talked about PS3, I'd take their article here with a pinch of salt roughly the size of Jupiter.
I'm not calling it stealing at all.
And I know they're not breaking the law, and that they're not required to police their users. I just have the vague wish that people would respect the wishes of people who create or supply things. A lot of people slate the MPAA/RIAA for producing crappy stuff, but this crappy stuff is the most popular and widely available material on these sites. If people put half as much effort into finding and promoting good alternatives as they do into spreading the mainstream, we'd have a richer culture.
It can only help if eventually there's some means for revenue to be returned to the content providers. Which at the moment is something none of the major P2P networks I'm aware of have a facility for.
If the folks getting hooked on Battlestar Galactica went and watched it on TV or bought the DVD, it's a win for the makers. If they went and downloaded them all from The Pirate Bay, it isn't. That's why I say it's really down to the people not the technology. And they can't force people to buy their stuff.