I doubt Sega has the resources to pursue these sorts of cases at the moment. More likely the company is just listed on some UPS list as being a "company that supports piracy".
Unlike the UK (or even France), who ban movies and dvds for "offensive" content. Or Canada which halts the import of "offensive" comic books and magazines at the border...
Most problems like this stem from customs officials who aren't knowledgable about a topic, who get paid small wages, being responsible for decisions of what gets to cross.
It's a problem, to be sure. But "police state"? C'mon.
My until-somewhat-recently-long-term girlfriend asked me out via email. She's not that geeky, but didn't have my number, but had my email. I guess that means I'm pretty geeky, if girls have my email but not my digits.
My current girlfriend and i have this weird habit of not talking about serious relationship issues unless it's via AIM. Not sure what that's about.
It is, somewhat, but it also leads to people making circular arguments.
See, that's the the thing- I think your system would be more circular. Because you could go back and add things into the debate at an earlier point- which then changes the percieved meaning of comments further along the chain, whose authors then feel the need to alter their words, which makes the original author change his, which then makes the responders change theirs... and so on and so on, ad infinitum.
I think your system would maybe work if, say, each user was allowed to only post once in a story and the posts weren't threaded, they were simply listed by order of moderation (or perhaps chronologically, or another arbitrary order, but not threaded - so you couldn't respond to a response).
If the whole experience of the website was for people to fine tune their comments until they reached the perfect summation of their (and others) views. But as you say, it wouldn't really be slashdot anymore. It sounds like a interesting site idea, but better suited, I think, for philosophical debate than "news for nerds".
http://www.everything2.com/ I find their system far from perfect in other respects, but once you get used to the idea, I think the editable comments system is far superior.
Everything2 isn't a discussion/news site, though. It's more like a non-strictly-factual dictionary or encyclopedia. (I also find the site to be pretty useless, but that's another story.)
Whats the point of having a reply if it doesn't address points covered in the parent?
The point is to stop someone else from spreading untrue crap. Whether it's through responding to them (and hoping your response gets read), or having them change their original comment, it still accomplishes that goal. It's quite likely the reply would get moderated down to -1, so no one would have to actually read it once it's accomplished its purpose.
And that's exactly what editable comments would result in - more untrue crap. How can allowing people to change what they said "keep people from spreading untrue crap"? If anything, altering the record of what was said, when, reduces the veracity of a thread, not increases it. One would imagine that if someone said something honestly, from their heart, they wouldn't HAVE to edit it, except for spelling errors. The people who will are ones trying to change the flow of discourse, or make others look badly/themselves look good.
It seems to me that if you make a statement, you should stand by it, or recant/correct it- NOT delete your original statement and all record of it, then replace it with something else. Which is what an editable comments system would allow for.
The bottom line is, in a threaded/nested view, it would just be frustrating to try and read something like that. I like reading the comments in close to chronological order, and if comments at the top were ACTUALLY more recent then what are ostensibly supposed to be responses to the top comments, it seems like it'd be headache inducing.
I can also see it encouraging people to "frist post" some nonsense, just so they can copy and paste from later, more popular posts. Their frist post is higher up, so it will get read more.
Now, if they TOTALLY changed the comments system, maybe. But wouldn't that be a totally different website? And this comment system works relatively well. I have no problems understanding it and finding info I want while filter out the garbage. If it was made to be really complicated, I don't think it would be that much better...
And really, I don't see how it's that hard to post a correction reply to one of your comments if you realize you made a mistake. Isn't that easier than devising some new comments system?
The only way this would work is if you got rid of the karma system (among other things), because it's too easy to use editable comments to artificially lower someone else's karma.
It also seems you have a lot of faith in users to change their comments if they are wrong. I think this is unlikely. I'd bet most people who comment don't even go back and read the responses to them (though the new message options may be changing this). I also doubt most users would change their comment if proved wrong. More likely, they'll just change there comments to make themselves look smarter/anyone responding to them look stupid.
I also feel there is value in a thread where:
1. I post a unfounded opinion.
2. You refute it.
3. I add an arguement to my opinion, perhaps with a fact.
4. You post more well-founded facts than my facts.
5. Someone else verifies those facts.
6. I either stop responding, or, in an ideal world, agree that I was wrong.
With editable comments, you'd end up with:
1. My edited, opinion with verified facts.
2. You refute an opinion which no longer appears in the parent.
3. I edit this comment to mention that's already stated in my first comment.
4. You post more well-founded facts than my facts, but they are now present in my parent comment.
5. Someone else verifies those facts, but this verification is now present in the parent comment.
That just seems confusing to me, and hard to read. What's the reason for having the responses beyond my edited comment, since I summed them up and claimed the other people's opinions as my own? You could just have them fall off, but then you open up an avenue for people to delete/hide actually good and useful comments.
You could say it doesn't matter, since all the salient points are inside the parent (even though the good points are not my own), BUT- part of a site like this is finding people who's opinion you trust. The karma system tries to do this, as does the friend/foe system. If people can change their comments, absorbing the best comments of others, it seems like you can no longer really tell who is insightful and trustworthy. The people who post earlier and can copy/paste well instead seem to have the best opinions... Which would then lead to the people who's opinions were usurped responding "hey you just stole that comment from me!" and so forth...
Again, this is what I would love about it. If someone presented a single coherent post incorporating all the others, I'd much rather read that then a 15 post reply chain arguing the point.
You seem to have a lot of faith in the userbase. In an ideal world everyone will act nice and simply try to present the facts in the best manner. But in reality, there are trolls. And trolls will try to find ways to use any system to annoy other people and make slashdot (or any site) hard to read and less fun for others.
And besides, isn't that what happens when posts are archived? The threading is removed and all the garbage posts are stripped out? Or when you view a post at +4/+5?
You don't see how it would be an intensely confusing read? If comments that were posted before others were actually more recent? Or were edited so that the responses to them had absolutely NOTHING to do with the new text of the parent? Whats the point of having a reply if it doesn't address points covered in the parent?
It seems like adding editable comments would just make the trolling worse, as every person would constantly edit their posts to incorporate everyone else's points and discredit anyone who responds to them disparagingly./. is already too competitive as far as karma goes, this would just make it moreso, it seems.
(Also, please point me out another site of this size that has an editable comments system that works well.)
I guess if you think the moderation system is at all useful that is a bad thing. I don't.
So you like digging through the morass of 'frist post's and 'goatse.cx' posts? I agree that the moderation system is not very good at pointing out quality, but it is pretty good at filtering out the utter garbage.
Note I said "look" smarter, not actually be smarter.
Example: say you post a comment, and I reply, correcting you on a point you got wrong.
Then you go back and correct your comment. Now the comment I made looks like it's correcting something that doesn't need correction... And I get modded down for redundancy. Editable comments would definitely lead to this sort of abuse, a whole new kind of trolling.
That's just one example of why you can't edit comments. If you feel you left something out or need to clarify, then you respond to your own comment- not change what was said originally. I don't see why editing is a need at all. If you are a bad speller, use the preview button.
Not to mention it would just make the site really schizophrenic-feeling, if all the comments were changing constantly.
your way would cost $0.89x500=$445/batch (not the $125 you claimed -- your math is flawed somewhere)
I said:
If he's building a system for $2000+ to make 50 cds when he could just pay $125 bucks instead, he's crazy.
I think your reading is flawed somewhere, I specifically wrote FIFTY, not 500. (The 500 number, which you took from elsewhere in my comment, was an example of the pricing curve of CD-R services. Note the first paragraph where I say you can get 30-50 made for $2.50 each.)
Again, it still seems cheaper to just get the CDs made as you need them. You pay $125 for each batch (assumming a batch of 50), never have to worry about bad burns, don't have to have someone spend their time "scripting a frontend" or any of that business. Also, you never have to worry about your hardware going bad, or anything really.
. If he's making 30 copies of 20 lectures that's 600 CDs, not 50, so it's more like $4/CD if the equipment costs him $2000.
And furnacecd (and others, I assume) will make cd-r batches as small as ONE cd-r for $2.50 each, with the price dropping the more you make. If your way gets the price down to $4 a CD, it's still cheaper to use a service- $2.50 each at the most. Of course, over several years, using your own equipment will become cheaper- but that's not including time for maintenence, replacing hardware if it becomes needed, setup and actually doing the work.
It also means an investment of hardware and capitol for something they might decide wasn't the best way of distributing the lectures in the first place. If, after one $125 outlay through a service, they realized that the students didn't even use the CDs, they could just not make another batch. No $2000 and all the time wasted.
I'd recommend getting the first batch made through a service for this reason even if they plan to build the equipment. That way they can see if the students even want this. I can easily see the professor asking for a show of hands "who listened to my lectures on the cd?" and only one or two students raising their hand.
Another thing to consider is the space taken for this equipment, and the hassle of requisitioning the hardware. I have worked in the University environment, and in my experience you can do small funding outlays (under $500) with little or no problem... But have to do proposals and seek bids for more expensive items.
Incidentally, I agree with others on here that the best way to distribute lectures is via the web- why even bother making CDs in the first place? Just let them download them, or listen in the library/their home pc.
They are suing over a specific type of vibration-causing device (Of course, this wasn't mentioned in the slashdot summary). Which, I assume, is different than the ones used in your point #1. If it is the same style as the old arcades used, I imagine the judge will laugh them out of court.
As with this bizarre claim, they may sue people, they most likely won't get anywhere - but even if they do, would they want license fee's?
Sure, I can just imagine it "MS Force Feedback Joystick with Free 1yr subscription to the Force Feedback patent people". Yeah right.
Uh, actually, they'd probably just ask MS and Sony for a cut of the profits made from the devices. It's not like they are going to sue the public- they didn't do anything wrong.
BT isn't going to sue individual people, either. It's a stupid idea for a variety of reasons- it's bad pr, it would take too long, not enough money in it, it's just unworkable. And, again- the consumers didn't do anything wrong, they just bought a product. It's the supplying companies who (allegedly) infringed.
Why in the name of god would someone want to pay for this box to make 30-50 copies? There are small run services that will do them in that bulk for like $2.50 a cd- or less.
I hope the poster needs at least a thousand of these, otherwise he's crazy to spend the money on the replicating system. Even then, furnacecd.com (to pick one company I trust) charges $0.89 each for orders over 500. And that is with a guaranteed 3 day turnaround.
I don't think he'd have posted this if he just needed 50 cds made. If he's building a system for $2000+ to make 50 cds when he could just pay $125 bucks instead, he's crazy.
There isn't an edit post option because this isn't a personal web log, it's comments section. If you could edit your comments, it would result in people debating each other, then constantly correcting their comments to try and make themselves look smarter.
Also, people could karma whore a comment up to +5 then change it to some goatse.cx esque drivel.
I agree though, use a service. Who wants to sit there and switch out 10,000 cds? You can get them with nice silkscreened labels, too, even on a cd-r.
If somebody ports the emulator to Pocket PC [microsoft.com], that's correct. You can (hire somebody to) port one of the Free console emulators to Windows CE, and then you can take it with you.
So, let me get this straight- middle school kids are going to hire someone to port an obscure emulator to their PDAs to play games, and this is somehow threatening Nintendo's massive market share?
I find it difficult not to infer that you and others in this thread believe that only proprietary commercial software can compete directly with proprietary commercial software.
Kids (and adults, to a somewhat lesser extent) want things that are popular, and new. Kids want certain games (or other items) simply because their friends have them and they are "cool". That's why there are phenomenon like Pokemon.
I agree, kids play games on calculators. But considering that Nintendo's sales went UP last year, I don't think it's keeping them from playing games on their Gameboys, buying new gameboys, etc. They play games on their calculators when they can't bring their game systems along with them.
Just like PC games and Console games are in a different catagory.
Not anymore, thanks to the Flash Advance Linker [visoly.com] which lets you copy binaries from legitimately purchased games into a computer, and VisualBoyAdvance [emuhq.com] which lets you play them.
Awesome, so the software also let's me carry my PC in my pocket and take it on the metro? Sweet! I guess they are in the same category, then.
Seriously, that's something maybe 2% of gameboy owners are going to do. Be realistic.
Why would TáU need to carry TI-89 calculators? Students probably already have them.
I think they do carry the calculators, or they used to at least- I meant the games. If you go to an electronics store and see a rack of calculator games next to gameboy games, then it's direct competition. It's not though, right now.
I teach computer classes for kids, and I've seen only one kid or two kids playing games on his calculator. And one of those had written the game he was playing from scratch. Almost every kid has a GB, though. Lately I've noticed more kids with those "Cybiko" things, as well. We banned Gameboy's and Cybiko's from the classroom area, even between classes, but did not notice an upswing of kids playing games on their calculators.
You forget that the company that makes the game generally has to pay a rather large licensing fee to the console company off each game sold, as well.
Also, I think they price them based on a curve. So that, even if the game isn't a successful as they hope, they still at least break even.
I don't think games are too expensive... They've always been around 40-50 bucks, at least since I've been buying them. This works out for me, since I avoid buying crappy games. If I bought a game I didnt even want to play for a few hours, or I could beat in a few hours, yeah, I'd feel ripped off.
Me and my roomates have already put 50 hours into Tony Hawk 3, that means I paid a dollar an hour for my entertainment(not counting the cost of the PS2 itself). Not a bad deal.
Slashdot Mirror
Unless bandwidth prices fall, which they undoubtedly will in the long term.
I doubt Sega has the resources to pursue these sorts of cases at the moment. More likely the company is just listed on some UPS list as being a "company that supports piracy".
Unless they also make PS gear, too. Then Sony could flag them. But I think he meant Sega anyway.
Unlike the UK (or even France), who ban movies and dvds for "offensive" content. Or Canada which halts the import of "offensive" comic books and magazines at the border...
Most problems like this stem from customs officials who aren't knowledgable about a topic, who get paid small wages, being responsible for decisions of what gets to cross.
It's a problem, to be sure. But "police state"? C'mon.
My until-somewhat-recently-long-term girlfriend asked me out via email. She's not that geeky, but didn't have my number, but had my email. I guess that means I'm pretty geeky, if girls have my email but not my digits.
My current girlfriend and i have this weird habit of not talking about serious relationship issues unless it's via AIM. Not sure what that's about.
Jesus Christ!
If you want 'stuff that matters' read the Reg [theregister.co.uk]
Stupid little backlights for kids toys don't really count for much in the scheme of things.
Register headlines at the time of this posting include:
Lover's Guide at a PC near you
Something saucy for Valentine's Day
14 February 2002 8:22am
Enjoy our Valentine's Day computer books love-in
Romantic opportunity Buy books and win chocolate
14 February 2002 9:15am
Am I annoying or not?
Chris Evans leads celebrity slapdown
11 February 2002 6:05pm
'BOFH II - Son of the Bastard' set to top Reg bestseller list
Devilish spawn indeed
28 January 2002 5:39pm
Salmon Days goes live in US
Episode One Upwardly Mobile
21 December 2001 10:44am
Core Java 2, Volume II - Reg Book of The Fortnight
And there's more... Four other titles with 20 per cent off
6 February 2002 12:45pm
All intensely important, gripping news to be sure.
Every news site has filler. Relax.
So where do you plan to get the custom made lighting element they sell with the kit? You know, the one that fits perfectly inside the GBA?
This is the nerdiest thing I have ever seen, I'm in awe. Proposal on /., acceptance via email? Wow.
Wow, I can never hope to top that... Unless perhaps I propose via Everquest... I'm sure that's been done, though.
Congratulations.
Uh, so people can download the patch before they get the virus, maybe?
It is, somewhat, but it also leads to people making circular arguments.
See, that's the the thing- I think your system would be more circular. Because you could go back and add things into the debate at an earlier point- which then changes the percieved meaning of comments further along the chain, whose authors then feel the need to alter their words, which makes the original author change his, which then makes the responders change theirs... and so on and so on, ad infinitum.
I think your system would maybe work if, say, each user was allowed to only post once in a story and the posts weren't threaded, they were simply listed by order of moderation (or perhaps chronologically, or another arbitrary order, but not threaded - so you couldn't respond to a response).
If the whole experience of the website was for people to fine tune their comments until they reached the perfect summation of their (and others) views. But as you say, it wouldn't really be slashdot anymore. It sounds like a interesting site idea, but better suited, I think, for philosophical debate than "news for nerds".
Do we really want a message board to function like CVS?
It seems overly complicated to me. What's wrong with just responding to your own post with a correction? Simple, easy.
http://www.everything2.com/ I find their system far from perfect in other respects, but once you get used to the idea, I think the editable comments system is far superior.
Everything2 isn't a discussion/news site, though. It's more like a non-strictly-factual dictionary or encyclopedia. (I also find the site to be pretty useless, but that's another story.)
Whats the point of having a reply if it doesn't address points covered in the parent?
The point is to stop someone else from spreading untrue crap. Whether it's through responding to them (and hoping your response gets read), or having them change their original comment, it still accomplishes that goal. It's quite likely the reply would get moderated down to -1, so no one would have to actually read it once it's accomplished its purpose.
And that's exactly what editable comments would result in - more untrue crap. How can allowing people to change what they said "keep people from spreading untrue crap"? If anything, altering the record of what was said, when, reduces the veracity of a thread, not increases it. One would imagine that if someone said something honestly, from their heart, they wouldn't HAVE to edit it, except for spelling errors. The people who will are ones trying to change the flow of discourse, or make others look badly/themselves look good.
It seems to me that if you make a statement, you should stand by it, or recant/correct it- NOT delete your original statement and all record of it, then replace it with something else. Which is what an editable comments system would allow for.
The bottom line is, in a threaded/nested view, it would just be frustrating to try and read something like that. I like reading the comments in close to chronological order, and if comments at the top were ACTUALLY more recent then what are ostensibly supposed to be responses to the top comments, it seems like it'd be headache inducing.
I can also see it encouraging people to "frist post" some nonsense, just so they can copy and paste from later, more popular posts. Their frist post is higher up, so it will get read more.
Now, if they TOTALLY changed the comments system, maybe. But wouldn't that be a totally different website? And this comment system works relatively well. I have no problems understanding it and finding info I want while filter out the garbage. If it was made to be really complicated, I don't think it would be that much better...
And really, I don't see how it's that hard to post a correction reply to one of your comments if you realize you made a mistake. Isn't that easier than devising some new comments system?
The only way this would work is if you got rid of the karma system (among other things), because it's too easy to use editable comments to artificially lower someone else's karma.
It also seems you have a lot of faith in users to change their comments if they are wrong. I think this is unlikely. I'd bet most people who comment don't even go back and read the responses to them (though the new message options may be changing this). I also doubt most users would change their comment if proved wrong. More likely, they'll just change there comments to make themselves look smarter/anyone responding to them look stupid.
I also feel there is value in a thread where:
1. I post a unfounded opinion.
2. You refute it.
3. I add an arguement to my opinion, perhaps with a fact.
4. You post more well-founded facts than my facts.
5. Someone else verifies those facts.
6. I either stop responding, or, in an ideal world, agree that I was wrong.
With editable comments, you'd end up with:
1. My edited, opinion with verified facts.
2. You refute an opinion which no longer appears in the parent.
3. I edit this comment to mention that's already stated in my first comment.
4. You post more well-founded facts than my facts, but they are now present in my parent comment.
5. Someone else verifies those facts, but this verification is now present in the parent comment.
That just seems confusing to me, and hard to read. What's the reason for having the responses beyond my edited comment, since I summed them up and claimed the other people's opinions as my own? You could just have them fall off, but then you open up an avenue for people to delete/hide actually good and useful comments.
You could say it doesn't matter, since all the salient points are inside the parent (even though the good points are not my own), BUT- part of a site like this is finding people who's opinion you trust. The karma system tries to do this, as does the friend/foe system. If people can change their comments, absorbing the best comments of others, it seems like you can no longer really tell who is insightful and trustworthy. The people who post earlier and can copy/paste well instead seem to have the best opinions... Which would then lead to the people who's opinions were usurped responding "hey you just stole that comment from me!" and so forth...
Again, this is what I would love about it. If someone presented a single coherent post incorporating all the others, I'd much rather read that then a 15 post reply chain arguing the point.
You seem to have a lot of faith in the userbase. In an ideal world everyone will act nice and simply try to present the facts in the best manner. But in reality, there are trolls. And trolls will try to find ways to use any system to annoy other people and make slashdot (or any site) hard to read and less fun for others.
And besides, isn't that what happens when posts are archived? The threading is removed and all the garbage posts are stripped out? Or when you view a post at +4/+5?
You don't see how it would be an intensely confusing read? If comments that were posted before others were actually more recent? Or were edited so that the responses to them had absolutely NOTHING to do with the new text of the parent? Whats the point of having a reply if it doesn't address points covered in the parent?
/. is already too competitive as far as karma goes, this would just make it moreso, it seems.
It seems like adding editable comments would just make the trolling worse, as every person would constantly edit their posts to incorporate everyone else's points and discredit anyone who responds to them disparagingly.
(Also, please point me out another site of this size that has an editable comments system that works well.)
I guess if you think the moderation system is at all useful that is a bad thing. I don't.
So you like digging through the morass of 'frist post's and 'goatse.cx' posts? I agree that the moderation system is not very good at pointing out quality, but it is pretty good at filtering out the utter garbage.
Smarter posts? Oh no, we can't have that.
Note I said "look" smarter, not actually be smarter.
Example: say you post a comment, and I reply, correcting you on a point you got wrong.
Then you go back and correct your comment. Now the comment I made looks like it's correcting something that doesn't need correction... And I get modded down for redundancy. Editable comments would definitely lead to this sort of abuse, a whole new kind of trolling.
That's just one example of why you can't edit comments. If you feel you left something out or need to clarify, then you respond to your own comment- not change what was said originally. I don't see why editing is a need at all. If you are a bad speller, use the preview button.
Not to mention it would just make the site really schizophrenic-feeling, if all the comments were changing constantly.
Okay, you figure out a way to have a SWMMORPG where half the players are Luke, the other half Vader.
Then get back to us.
You said:
your way would cost $0.89x500=$445/batch (not the $125 you claimed -- your math is flawed somewhere)
I said:
If he's building a system for $2000+ to make 50 cds when he could just pay $125 bucks instead, he's crazy.
I think your reading is flawed somewhere, I specifically wrote FIFTY, not 500. (The 500 number, which you took from elsewhere in my comment, was an example of the pricing curve of CD-R services. Note the first paragraph where I say you can get 30-50 made for $2.50 each.)
Again, it still seems cheaper to just get the CDs made as you need them. You pay $125 for each batch (assumming a batch of 50), never have to worry about bad burns, don't have to have someone spend their time "scripting a frontend" or any of that business. Also, you never have to worry about your hardware going bad, or anything really.
. If he's making 30 copies of 20 lectures that's 600 CDs, not 50, so it's more like $4/CD if the equipment costs him $2000.
And furnacecd (and others, I assume) will make cd-r batches as small as ONE cd-r for $2.50 each, with the price dropping the more you make. If your way gets the price down to $4 a CD, it's still cheaper to use a service- $2.50 each at the most. Of course, over several years, using your own equipment will become cheaper- but that's not including time for maintenence, replacing hardware if it becomes needed, setup and actually doing the work.
It also means an investment of hardware and capitol for something they might decide wasn't the best way of distributing the lectures in the first place. If, after one $125 outlay through a service, they realized that the students didn't even use the CDs, they could just not make another batch. No $2000 and all the time wasted.
I'd recommend getting the first batch made through a service for this reason even if they plan to build the equipment. That way they can see if the students even want this. I can easily see the professor asking for a show of hands "who listened to my lectures on the cd?" and only one or two students raising their hand.
Another thing to consider is the space taken for this equipment, and the hassle of requisitioning the hardware. I have worked in the University environment, and in my experience you can do small funding outlays (under $500) with little or no problem... But have to do proposals and seek bids for more expensive items.
Incidentally, I agree with others on here that the best way to distribute lectures is via the web- why even bother making CDs in the first place? Just let them download them, or listen in the library/their home pc.
They are suing over a specific type of vibration-causing device (Of course, this wasn't mentioned in the slashdot summary). Which, I assume, is different than the ones used in your point #1. If it is the same style as the old arcades used, I imagine the judge will laugh them out of court.
As with this bizarre claim, they may sue people, they most likely won't get anywhere - but even if they do, would they want license fee's?
Sure, I can just imagine it "MS Force Feedback Joystick with Free 1yr subscription to the Force Feedback patent people". Yeah right.
Uh, actually, they'd probably just ask MS and Sony for a cut of the profits made from the devices. It's not like they are going to sue the public- they didn't do anything wrong.
BT isn't going to sue individual people, either. It's a stupid idea for a variety of reasons- it's bad pr, it would take too long, not enough money in it, it's just unworkable. And, again- the consumers didn't do anything wrong, they just bought a product. It's the supplying companies who (allegedly) infringed.
Why in the name of god would someone want to pay for this box to make 30-50 copies? There are small run services that will do them in that bulk for like $2.50 a cd- or less.
I hope the poster needs at least a thousand of these, otherwise he's crazy to spend the money on the replicating system. Even then, furnacecd.com (to pick one company I trust) charges $0.89 each for orders over 500. And that is with a guaranteed 3 day turnaround.
I don't think he'd have posted this if he just needed 50 cds made. If he's building a system for $2000+ to make 50 cds when he could just pay $125 bucks instead, he's crazy.
There isn't an edit post option because this isn't a personal web log, it's comments section. If you could edit your comments, it would result in people debating each other, then constantly correcting their comments to try and make themselves look smarter.
Also, people could karma whore a comment up to +5 then change it to some goatse.cx esque drivel.
I agree though, use a service. Who wants to sit there and switch out 10,000 cds? You can get them with nice silkscreened labels, too, even on a cd-r.
furnace cd has some great rates.
relax, old timer. i can afford one, and i'm in college.
If somebody ports the emulator to Pocket PC [microsoft.com], that's correct. You can (hire somebody to) port one of the Free console emulators to Windows CE, and then you can take it with you.
So, let me get this straight- middle school kids are going to hire someone to port an obscure emulator to their PDAs to play games, and this is somehow threatening Nintendo's massive market share?
I find it difficult not to infer that you and others in this thread believe that only proprietary commercial software can compete directly with proprietary commercial software.
Kids (and adults, to a somewhat lesser extent) want things that are popular, and new. Kids want certain games (or other items) simply because their friends have them and they are "cool". That's why there are phenomenon like Pokemon.
I agree, kids play games on calculators. But considering that Nintendo's sales went UP last year, I don't think it's keeping them from playing games on their Gameboys, buying new gameboys, etc. They play games on their calculators when they can't bring their game systems along with them.
Just like PC games and Console games are in a different catagory.
Not anymore, thanks to the Flash Advance Linker [visoly.com] which lets you copy binaries from legitimately purchased games into a computer, and VisualBoyAdvance [emuhq.com] which lets you play them.
Awesome, so the software also let's me carry my PC in my pocket and take it on the metro? Sweet! I guess they are in the same category, then.
Seriously, that's something maybe 2% of gameboy owners are going to do. Be realistic.
Why would TáU need to carry TI-89 calculators? Students probably already have them.
I think they do carry the calculators, or they used to at least- I meant the games. If you go to an electronics store and see a rack of calculator games next to gameboy games, then it's direct competition. It's not though, right now.
I teach computer classes for kids, and I've seen only one kid or two kids playing games on his calculator. And one of those had written the game he was playing from scratch. Almost every kid has a GB, though. Lately I've noticed more kids with those "Cybiko" things, as well. We banned Gameboy's and Cybiko's from the classroom area, even between classes, but did not notice an upswing of kids playing games on their calculators.
You forget that the company that makes the game generally has to pay a rather large licensing fee to the console company off each game sold, as well.
Also, I think they price them based on a curve. So that, even if the game isn't a successful as they hope, they still at least break even.
I don't think games are too expensive... They've always been around 40-50 bucks, at least since I've been buying them. This works out for me, since I avoid buying crappy games. If I bought a game I didnt even want to play for a few hours, or I could beat in a few hours, yeah, I'd feel ripped off.
Me and my roomates have already put 50 hours into Tony Hawk 3, that means I paid a dollar an hour for my entertainment(not counting the cost of the PS2 itself). Not a bad deal.
You're forgetting that the Console had 9B while the PC had 6B.
Piracy is a factor, but not as big as people think. The console market is no doubt bigger than the PC market, even including piracy.