There's nothing silly about it. Just because Sony is releasing a new console doesn't mean there will no support (or new games) for the older revision. God of War II, for example, is a PS2 game. The PS2 is a platform that is far from dead, just head over to any of your local game stores and ask for the release sheet for the PS2 and you'll get 4 or 5 pages of new games slated to come out. For a long while there will be development continued on both platforms. Hell, I can remember new games for the original Playstation coming out years after the PS2.
And as for Blu-ray being optional, THAT'S a silly idea. Just like the optional hard drive for the PS2 that developers were scared as hell to use because they couldn't count on it being there. If Blu-ray were an optional "add on" nobody would use it.
Everyone just needs to quit the bitching and realize the business decisions behind all of this. Sony has a large stake in the console market as well as the media and entertainment market. If Blu-ray is going to succeed as a format it needs to get into the hands of the public as quickly as possible and in large numbers. Putting it into their next-gen console is the best business decision in this instance. Sony has spent more money than you and I will ever see just to develop the format and disc specifications let alone the R&D needed to develop drives that can be mass-produced. Sure, they are definitely going to lose the lower and some of the middle end console market by pushing Blu-ray into the PS3 but it's a decision that, if it works, will pay back 10-fold for Sony. And if it doesn't work then Sony's backup is to try to recoup their losses in the console market as manufacturing prices come down. Sorry folks, the gamers take a back seat on this one. Damn near everyone has a TV and watches movies, not everyone plays games. HD-DVD players are sitting pretty at $800-$1000 right now so getting Blu-ray into people's hands for $600 or less is a steal. Pull your head out of the gamer forums where the poor teenagers are bitching that their allowance won't cover the cost of a PS3 and into the forums where the home-theater freaks live and you'll find that people are jumping for joy over the inexpensive $600 Blu-ray player that Sony is going to release in November that plays games too.
Final Fantasy VII Remake
Publisher: Square Enix
Developer: Square Enix
When Square Enix showed off a tech demo of the opening of FFVII with improved graphics and character designs more like Advent Children, many people took this to suggest that a remake was in order. Which is indeed the case - director/producer Tetsuya Nomura admitted to 1UP that he does indeed intend to turn it into a remake (when he gets to it).
The interview you are referencing is a link below this page of the transcript of the interview (and one I didn't read until you pointed it out) however the text is there. Thanks for pointing out something I missed. Either way, it's good to know it's at least a good possibility. Let's face it, enough fans (myself included) clamoring for a hi-def, graphics-galore version of FFVII will probably be heard seeing how much money the franchise has already made them.
Given that the poll shows only an 8% difference between the Xbox360 and the PS3, those 14% of gamers could very easily tilt the most-popular-console-o-meter in either direction. Of course, I'm holding out for the PS3 since I'm one of those 36%. I'm also not even a serious gamer. For me, it's a cheap Blu-ray player and with confirmed rumors of a FFVII remake I'm pretty much sold. Throw in to that the fact that it will run linux and what more do you need? It'll be interesting to look back on these numbers once the HD format wars are over and see just how much impact that 36% of die-hard fans had on the format that won.
Could it just be that people are slowly starting to catch on to the fact that most "commercial" music backed by the big labels sucks and are going the indie route to find tunes that cater to their listening tastes? If this is the case, paid "legal" downloads would surely decrease since a strong number of indie artists either sell their music off their own sites or -gasp- offer it up for download for free. Yes, I know iTunes and their ilk promote indie music but most people who bother to listen are IMHO more likely to go direct to the source if they have to pay so _ALL_ the money goes to the artist. I for one have all but stopped listening to mainstream music ever since the industry told me it thought I was a lying, theiving idiot willing to put any pice of DRM'd shit on my computer or portable player just so they can continue to spoonfeed me their tripe. And I'm happy to say that the quality of indie music has far exceeded my expectations. Sure, there is a lot of chaff to sort out before you get to the wheat but that wheat is far better than the processed algorithmic junkband music the labels have been putting out as of late. I'd suggest to all the Slashdot users who haven't ditched mainstream media yet to do so, you'll never regret it!
OK... back to the basics of the microwave. Microwave ovens work by exciting the water (and some fats and sugars) in whatever you're heating, leaving all other compounds alone (try putting a piece of paper or a dry glass bowl in for as long as you want). The sparks that fly off metal objects like pop tart bags and CD's are caused by poor insulation in the microwave cavity. That's why we have the stigma of "Don't put metal in the microwave." Many modern microwaves don't suffer from this problem. But put enough metal in the microwave and you'll usually get a loverly light show from the high power electrical current arcing between the metal object(s) you put in and maybe even explode things. So, this dufus shoved 50 metal-laden $20 dollar bills into his microwave and expected nothing to happen? Jackass... but hey, I have a microwave that will safely disable those non-existent rfid tags for you...
Slashdot Mirror
Fifa Soccer 2004, released in the US on Nov 04, 2003. So if my math is right that's 8 years and almost 2 months.
l ease-info
http://www.mobygames.com/game/fifa-soccer-2004/re
There's nothing silly about it. Just because Sony is releasing a new console doesn't mean there will no support (or new games) for the older revision. God of War II, for example, is a PS2 game. The PS2 is a platform that is far from dead, just head over to any of your local game stores and ask for the release sheet for the PS2 and you'll get 4 or 5 pages of new games slated to come out. For a long while there will be development continued on both platforms. Hell, I can remember new games for the original Playstation coming out years after the PS2.
And as for Blu-ray being optional, THAT'S a silly idea. Just like the optional hard drive for the PS2 that developers were scared as hell to use because they couldn't count on it being there. If Blu-ray were an optional "add on" nobody would use it.
Everyone just needs to quit the bitching and realize the business decisions behind all of this. Sony has a large stake in the console market as well as the media and entertainment market. If Blu-ray is going to succeed as a format it needs to get into the hands of the public as quickly as possible and in large numbers. Putting it into their next-gen console is the best business decision in this instance. Sony has spent more money than you and I will ever see just to develop the format and disc specifications let alone the R&D needed to develop drives that can be mass-produced. Sure, they are definitely going to lose the lower and some of the middle end console market by pushing Blu-ray into the PS3 but it's a decision that, if it works, will pay back 10-fold for Sony. And if it doesn't work then Sony's backup is to try to recoup their losses in the console market as manufacturing prices come down. Sorry folks, the gamers take a back seat on this one. Damn near everyone has a TV and watches movies, not everyone plays games. HD-DVD players are sitting pretty at $800-$1000 right now so getting Blu-ray into people's hands for $600 or less is a steal. Pull your head out of the gamer forums where the poor teenagers are bitching that their allowance won't cover the cost of a PS3 and into the forums where the home-theater freaks live and you'll find that people are jumping for joy over the inexpensive $600 Blu-ray player that Sony is going to release in November that plays games too.
Final Fantasy VII Remake
Publisher: Square Enix
Developer: Square Enix
When Square Enix showed off a tech demo of the opening of FFVII with improved graphics and character designs more like Advent Children, many people took this to suggest that a remake was in order. Which is indeed the case - director/producer Tetsuya Nomura admitted to 1UP that he does indeed intend to turn it into a remake (when he gets to it).
The interview you are referencing is a link below this page of the transcript of the interview (and one I didn't read until you pointed it out) however the text is there. Thanks for pointing out something I missed. Either way, it's good to know it's at least a good possibility. Let's face it, enough fans (myself included) clamoring for a hi-def, graphics-galore version of FFVII will probably be heard seeing how much money the franchise has already made them.
Given that the poll shows only an 8% difference between the Xbox360 and the PS3, those 14% of gamers could very easily tilt the most-popular-console-o-meter in either direction. Of course, I'm holding out for the PS3 since I'm one of those 36%. I'm also not even a serious gamer. For me, it's a cheap Blu-ray player and with confirmed rumors of a FFVII remake I'm pretty much sold. Throw in to that the fact that it will run linux and what more do you need? It'll be interesting to look back on these numbers once the HD format wars are over and see just how much impact that 36% of die-hard fans had on the format that won.
Could it just be that people are slowly starting to catch on to the fact that most "commercial" music backed by the big labels sucks and are going the indie route to find tunes that cater to their listening tastes? If this is the case, paid "legal" downloads would surely decrease since a strong number of indie artists either sell their music off their own sites or -gasp- offer it up for download for free. Yes, I know iTunes and their ilk promote indie music but most people who bother to listen are IMHO more likely to go direct to the source if they have to pay so _ALL_ the money goes to the artist. I for one have all but stopped listening to mainstream music ever since the industry told me it thought I was a lying, theiving idiot willing to put any pice of DRM'd shit on my computer or portable player just so they can continue to spoonfeed me their tripe. And I'm happy to say that the quality of indie music has far exceeded my expectations. Sure, there is a lot of chaff to sort out before you get to the wheat but that wheat is far better than the processed algorithmic junkband music the labels have been putting out as of late. I'd suggest to all the Slashdot users who haven't ditched mainstream media yet to do so, you'll never regret it!
OK... back to the basics of the microwave. Microwave ovens work by exciting the water (and some fats and sugars) in whatever you're heating, leaving all other compounds alone (try putting a piece of paper or a dry glass bowl in for as long as you want). The sparks that fly off metal objects like pop tart bags and CD's are caused by poor insulation in the microwave cavity. That's why we have the stigma of "Don't put metal in the microwave." Many modern microwaves don't suffer from this problem. But put enough metal in the microwave and you'll usually get a loverly light show from the high power electrical current arcing between the metal object(s) you put in and maybe even explode things. So, this dufus shoved 50 metal-laden $20 dollar bills into his microwave and expected nothing to happen? Jackass... but hey, I have a microwave that will safely disable those non-existent rfid tags for you...