Look at the import tuner market... non-functional body kits, huge spoilers on front wheel drive cars, 'carbon fibre' overlays for regular steel hoods, etc etc etc.
I assume you meant "wings" when you wrote "spoilers"*. Anyway, a wing or spoiler on a front wheel drive car is not counter-intuitive. Many racing series use wings on front wheel drive cars (for example, see SCCA's Speed World Challenge touring series, where a number of FWD cars from makes such as Acura and Mazda implement wings). Your assumption is that the wing is there to provide traction via downforce, which is definitely the case, but a wing/spoiler (especially a spoiler) also counteracts lift. The fact that the force is being applied to the rear of the car doesn't neccessarily mean the benefit is only seen by the rear wheels. The front wheels benefit as well, making it a useful addition in a high-speed racing scenario (as opposed to a low-speed racing scenario like autocross). A front splitter/spoiler is usually used in conjunction with the rear wing to help apply force to the front of the car as well as the rear.
That said, the park benches sold as wings to import tuners really are stupid, which was your original point. However "tunerz" wouldn't be buying non-functional cosmetic bits if there weren't functional reasons for the initial look. Tunerz buy aerokits and wings because race cars legitimately use aerokits and wings. The difference is that tunerz will never drive fast enough to see the benefit, and the kits they buy are intentionally exaggerated to emphasize form over function.
* A wing's core function is to generate downforce via negative lift -- it's an upside aerofoil; a spoiler's core function is to reduce upward lift by spoiling the airflow over the car's inefficent aerofoil shape that would otherwise lead to lift via Bernoulli's principle. While a wing may have a spoiling component, and a spoiler may also have a downforce component, the different designs maximize different effects.
For a comparison, if you buy a car and you make a modification that is not authorized by the manufacturer, your warranty is null and void. And that is a rule that has been tested many times in the court of law.
If you're going to use a car analogy, use a valid one. Manufacturers are required by law to honor your warranty, even with modifications, so long as the modification did not cause the problem that needs fixed. For example, installing a cat-back exhaust or a short shifter will not void warranty repair for a steering issue, just as replacing your suspension will not void warranty repair for an engine or transmission problem.
Given that, the analogy can still make sense -- a portion of your warranty will be invalidated with modifications made to your car, just as a portion of the 360 experience (Live access) will be invalidated with modifications to your console. Your car will still drive and your console will still play games.
Not at all, as I said I agree and I buy all my games (I have 14 boxed ones and 2 live arcade titles). MS does loose money on the hardware so making them buy a new one will hurt them, and loosing live revenue for those that decide to just keep pirating and forgo live hurts them as well, so this is a gutsy move that while I think its right it could have damaging reprecutions for MS that outweight be benefits of getting rid of the pirates.
This is where it gets interesting -- the console is banned, not the account. His account is still active, and most likely set up to automatically renew year after year. Unless he calls 1-800-4-MY-XBOX and cancels his account, it will keep on renewing every year until his credit card expires. While that sounds a little nasty on Microsoft's part, it does make sense. Most people are quite attached to their Live accounts, given the popularity of achievements. Even a console modder probably wouldn't want to lose his account, so they don't ban it. That leaves you with three choices:
In an ideal world people would be able to mod their DVD players to their heart's content without having to worry about things like this.
Just to be clear, Microsoft is not taking legal action against users with modified consoles, and they're not intentionally bricking the console. They're not preventing you from making the modification if you so choose. All they're doing is banning that modified console from a service which has in its Terms of Use a clause stating that no modified console may be used. You (generic "you", not the parent in particular) accepted the TOU in order to subscribe to Live, so now you have to accept the consequences of breaking that TOU.
You can no longer use Microsoft's online service, but you can continue using your console offline as much as you like. This is a win-win situation -- Microsoft gets to discourage piracy by preventing access to Live (a huge part of the 360 experience), and "right to modify" people get to retain their right to modify their hardware however they like as long as they don't mind not accessing Live.
I pretty much agree with you, but if you want to rent a car, you pretty much need a real credit card (not just a Visa/MC labelled debit card).
I don't use any debit cards. I don't like them. The fact that any transaction you do with the card will immediately pull money out of your bank account is too powerful for me. If a credit card gets stolen and used, my credit gets hit but none of my money will have gone to the credit card company yet. When I contest, I only have to worry about reverting charges, not reverting charges and putting money back in my account.
Besides, it's good to have the ability to carry a balance, in case unexpected expenditures come up (very important as a home owner). You shouldn't carry a balance if at all possible, but if you need to spend $5000 to get a new roof for your house in an emergency, that's probably not money you budgeted and not something you'd want removed from your bank account immediately.
In general, I have a bus pass, credit card, debit card, driver's license, student ID, and some other stuff that I actually have no need for (but isn't harmful to have either). That's 5 cards that I have a use for on a regular basis. I suppose I could cut off one of the credit or debit cards, but I like using the credit card for almost all purchases (I pay off the balance in full each month; it just lets me hold the money a little longer and builds credit) and I need something I can get cash with. Dropping a couple of those cards would be pretty nice.
I was just referring to credit/debit/ATM cards, but you do bring up a valid point. When I was in school ~10 years ago, we had a credit card-sized ID that doubled as a bus pass and could also be loaded up with money to use in many on-campus stores as a psuedo-debit card. It was a different system that companies had to explicitly support, but most places that catered to students took the card -- book stores, cofee shops, copy shops, etc. The only places on- or near-campus that didn't were fast food (this was prior to fast food allowing debit/credit card payments) and bars. With a system like that, your day-to-day routine as a student could be as simple as your state ID/driver's license, your student ID, and an emergency credit card.
When I wrote my post, I was thinking back to when I clerked in a national-chain electronics store. We'd routinely see people come in with stacks of cards (all theirs, not scammed). There were people with three, four, even five different Visas and Master Cards, a Discover, an AmEx or two, and a whole bunch of store cards for various local places. Even back then, I only carried what I carry now -- state ID/driver's license, a Visa (since switched to Master Card by my bank, but the account is the same in terms of credit age), a Discover, and my ATM card (I've changed banks several times since then, but I still only carry one ATM card). I just couldn't understand how people could get into such a situation where they have so many different credit cards. Some people had them organized in nice binders, others kept them in their wallet wrapped with some paper money and a rubber band, but well-dressed or dirty they were pretty much the same to me -- debt-ridden people who either never learned how to manage their finances or just didn't care. Maybe I shouldn't have judged them like that, but the lesson has stuck with me for 12+ years -- you just don't need that much credit in revolving accounts. In fact you just end up screwing yourself by doing that, because all of that revolving credit will ultimately cause you to be turned down for a car loan or mortgage that you really need, all because you wanted a new pair of designer jeans and got a $5000 limit card in order to do so.
It turns your license into a debit card with photo ID. Sounds neat, and considering most clerks that are supposed to ask to see a license for debit/credit usage never do, it may reduce fraudulent charges
No clerk is ever supposed to ask to see ID when taking a credit/debit card. This is specifically against the policy of every major credit card company (Visa, Master Card, Discover, AmEx). If your card is unsigned, the clerk must reject it. If your card is signed with a variation of "See ID", the clerk must also reject it unless the official name of the card user really is "See ID". If the signatures don't match up, a clerk has discretion to reject or accept, but since most people have quite a bit of variance in how they sign their signature this requires some leeway. I clerk should only ask you for ID when you're purchasing something that requires an age check -- alcohol, tobacco, skin mags, R-rated movies, and M-rated games (don't you just love how those last two are lumped in with the first three?).
Protecting your identity is up to you and your bank. If you suspect your card is lost or stolen, cancel it (get a new account number). If you notice odd charges on your monthly bill, contest them and cancel your card. Every credit card company will revert contested charges, and you're not liable for them (some have a dollar amount, like you're not liable for anything over $50 or $100).
Credit card theft is relatively untenable, because any alert user will check his statement and find the fraudulent charges (if you don't look at your statement, either mommy and daddy do or you shouldn't have a credit card at all). As such I wouldn't worry about credit cards when worrying about identity theft. What's much more difficult to track is loan applications made in your name, because you have to actively retrieve (and usually pay for) your credit report. It's not mailed to you on a monthly basis.
One less card to carry around and potentially lose.
How many cards are you carrying around, anyway? If you have more than two or three, you've got a problem with credit. What you need:
ATM/debit card
Major-label credit/debit card (may be the same as #1) with a Visa or Master Card logo
Optionally a secondary card from a "smaller" company like Discover or AmEx, because you can get good deals with those but they're not accepted everywhere like #2.
What you don't need:
Multiple cards from the same label. There's no reason to carry around multiple Visas or Master Cards. You may think you need to because of credit limits, but you're better off using a single card with a higher limit (fewer rotating credit accounts allows for a higher limit on the ones you really need).
Store cards. I'm not against applying for these when there's a really good deal, like no-interest, no-payment promotions (though you really ought to make sure you pay with a "no-payment" plan, unless you plan to pay it all off at the end as a single chunk). However you should cancel them once you're finished, and you should never carry them around with you.
As of today, driver's licenses and ID cards are state-specific. Layout, extra features (barcode, magnetic strip), anti-forgery techniques, etc are all decided on a state-by-state basis. If you move to a different state, you need to get a new license from that state within a certain amount of time (usually it's within a few weeks of establishing permanent residence). In order to roll out a nation-wide license-as-debit card program, either states will have to standardize on specific extra features like a magentic strip and what information is stored there, or licensing will have to be handled by the federal government.
As a believer in states' rights, this looks like nothing more than an end-run around opposition to a national ID program. If they can get people hooked on using their license as a debit card, nobody will object when the fed steps in to take control of licensing to make it "more efficient".
Also, I'd call Ninja Gaiden Sigma a "PS3 exclusive." It's not Ninja Gaiden or Ninja Gaiden Black, really, and it's also not being released for the 360 (sadly, as I am a NG whore).
It's not Ninja Gaiden 2, either. Sigma is to Black as Black was to the original -- a slight addition to gameplay (or graphics, in Sigma's case), minor control tweaks (like Black's new camera control), a little bit of extra new content, but otherwise it's still the same game with the same story. If you've played the original or Black, you've played 90% or more of Sigma. Definitely not a $600 system seller, by itself.
Then I can collaborate with my co-workers on the other side of the world at the weekly meeting with more to go on than just their voice over the speaker phone.
Or you could use any of the existing videoconferencing hardware/software and actually see their real faces. Sure, that's not quite as cool, but I bet it's several times more productive and it already exists.
I think the parent's point is that it's not so much relying on others as it is providing for others--that's a big difference.
If others can't provide for themselves, why should I provide for them? Unless they're my family, I have no obligation to feed, clothe, or shelter them.
Too often, self-sufficiency leads to selfishness.
You say that like it's a bad thing. Selfishness is good. Selfishness makes the world go 'round. Without selfishness, there'd be no creation or innovation. Without selfishness, nobody would feel the need to strive to better themselves and would just wallow in mediocrity.
Do you suggest that we actively remove self-sufficiency (or the drive towards self-sufficiency) in order to reduce the selfishness in the world? Do you know what would happen if that succeeded?
By using the above phrases, you are telling the user in a clear and concise manner what will happen if they click Yes or No without them having to understand what an operating system is. Yes, those who install Ubuntu will probably get a chuckle out of the warning but then they already know what they are doing.
I'd argue that "Yes" and "No" are bad buttons, because you have to explain what will happen when you click them. Similarly, "Keep" and "Install" are bad because "Install" does not mean the same thing as "Overwrite". If you must have buttons, be a bit more verbose and use "Keep old data" (or just "Keep", that's fine) and "Overwrite". Better yet, provide a radio selection using text similar to your "Yes" and "No" descriptions, but with radio selection buttons next to each item. Default to no selection with "Next" disabled, and only enable the "Next" button once a selection has been made. If you must have a default selection, default to "Keep".
By using Yes/No, OK/Cancel, Abort/Retry/Ignore default buttons with descriptive text in the dialog, you're making the user's life harder. A user doesn't read text. He sees buttons, and then has to guess at what "Yes" and "No" mean. There's just as much of a chance for the user to click on "No" as there is on clicking "Install" because he's always been told to choose "No" or "Cancel" when in doubt. Moving the selection into the text itself forces the user to read and understand, especially when there's no default action and thus he can't click through blindly.
Completely offtopic, but I predict that one of the two main parties in the US will be replaced within a decade. I suspect it will be the Republicans, and I fear they will be replaced by the Libertarians.
What would be so bad about that? Replace a neo-conservative religion-backed party with a fiscally-conservative (anti-big government), socially-liberal (do what you want, as long as it doesn't harm others), religion-neutral party? Sounds good to me.
Hoping for the Greens to replace the Republicans is just dreaming. There's too much conservative sentiment for the system to end up with only psuedo-liberal (Democrat) and socialist (Green) parties.
For me, the choice between $40/month for night and weekend calling or $25/month for unlimited local calling didn't take much consideration. Why pay the extra $15/month, the more expensive phone, attend to charging regularly? This is why it surprises me that cell phone use is disproportionately high among lower income groups-$200/year is a good chunk of change. Maybe lower income folks have less stable residence & want the cell phone so their friends don't lose track of them when they move, but then $15 upgrade to cell phone could just as easily be a $15 apartment upgrade.
I can't exactly use my home phone while I'm out, can I? Most of my calling happens while I'm somewhere other than my home, so $25/month for unlimited local calling may as well be $infinite for all the good it will do me. Yes, I could probably switch to a cheaper plan than $40/mo, or even go to something pre-paid, but for now I'm fine with that cost.
And so common courtesy declines yet more... (Not to mention I find it fascinating that you assume that all your guests will have a cell.)
But all of my guests do have cell phones, and wouldn't even think about asking to use my phone (landline or cell) because they'd just use their own. Even my parents have cell phones, and they're in their 50s. Now of course if someone asked I'd happily allow them to use my phone. I do that all the time with friends when their inferior service has no reception while mine has 5 bars. It's not really a decline in common courtesy so much as it's an increase in self-reliance. And that can only be a good thing, relying on yourself before you rely on others.
Well, we have something half-shady, but nowhere near as horribly overcharged. 40$ a month for 30 min usage? (Plus, I'm guessing, you're also paying in some way to receive calls).
That's $40/mo for a guaranteed 1000 minutes of daytime usage and unlimited night time (after 7:00) and weekend calling. Obviously I don't need that much, but I like the peace of mind it provides over pay-as-you-go, and since I'm month-to-month on a plan that expired in 2002 and has cancelled for new subscriptions in 2003, no other plan really provides value-for-money like that (there are no unlimited night/weekend plans anymore).
Now, I honestly don't believe that the infrastructure element is less expensive in Denmark, especially since GSM rollout was years before the US GSM rollout. We have very tightly packed competition, and that sort of takes care of some of the excess fat there used to be...
Your points argue against your statement. A smaller, more dense population, with an older (thus paid for) infrastructure and high competition allows for more flexibility in price than what we get in the States. Those of us in urban and more dense sub-urban areas are paying for the cost of spreading infrastructure to less dense suburban and rural areas.
OTOH, it probably balances out with my taxes nearing 50% and our Sales Tax at 25%.
That's horrible! I pay maybe 30% on income taxes (no state income tax, yay!), and ~8.8% sales tax (which is actually high since WA doesn't have an income tax), and I still feel like I'm being overtaxed. I have no idea how you deal with such high taxation.
Then again, we don't have many of the social services that your taxes provide (health care, for example), but my job provides excellent benefits so I'm not going to complain:)
It wouldn't suprise me if we live in the same area.
Seattle area? I'm near the lake, on the north eastside. My power was out so long because the local transfer station actually blew and had to be replaced with all new equipment. If it wasn't for that, the few fallen trees would've been cleaned up in a day or two.
Woodinville got it much harder, but they're very prone to power outages in that area for some reason (all the area power lines are above ground, but Woodinville's seem to be more vulnerable than other areas). Friends I had there were out of power for two weeks, and still had some trees threatening to fall on fixed power lines even after power was restored. Friends up in the Snohomish portion of Bothell had power restored within hours, because Snohomish County PUD doesn't suck like PSE (of course, they also had several million fewer powerless customers than PSE).
In a few years we're upgrading to a 16kW natural gas standby.
I'm looking at doing the same, except as an initial purchase rather than an upgrade. I figure there's no point in buying a small portable generator when I'd eventually want to upgrade to a standby unit anyway. I'm not sure I'm going to go for 16kW, but I'll definitely be getting an automatic-switching standby unit rather than a portable.
We thought the same thing until we had two periods this year with no cell service for a minimum of three days each. One was due to storms and flooding, the other was due to wind storms. Because we live a bit outside of our metro area, we were among the last to have cell service restored. We had relatives that had no way of contacting us to see if we were OK. No cell, no cable modem, no dial up because we didn't have a landline. Landlines were still working BTW, this was verified by a few people in town we talked to later on. So now, we pay $16.00/month for a landline, if only for the added security of being able to call 911 if we need to, and to be able to let our family know everything is OK. Landlines still have a place in this world, sometimes it takes an emergency to remember what that is.
Interesting. We had a huge windstorm this past winter. I was without power for a week, and had friends who were without for nearly two. During that entire time, my cell phone continued to work perfectly. I used my car to keep the battery charged.
Your experience prompted you to get a landline. Mine has prompted me to buy a generator, though I'm waiting for a few more months when prices will be the lowest (we don't get power outages here in the summer, since it's not hot enough for people to overload circuits with A/C units). If anything, I came out of the experience with a more favorable impression of cell phones, as there's no way I would've been able to keep my old portable phone charged up that long and I couldn't take that out to my car to charge off the engine.
So how do you handle extensions? You know, someone calls you, and you want to say, "Honey, pick up an extension." so you can talk together. Do you just 3-way the call?
Put the phone on speaker.
And how do you handle guests? Do you simply assume that if they want to make a call, they just use their own cell phone?
Yes. Or they can use my cell if they must, but I'd rather they use their cell. That's what I do when I'm a guest, so why should I do otherwise for guests of mine?
Oh, and how do you handle devices that need to "dial home" periodically? (ReplayTV box, DirecTV box, etc.)
Use the interweb. A long time ago, I had a cable box that required a phone line. That requirement was removed soon after. Similarly, my Tivo needed a landline for its very first setup, but everything after that just works over the internet. If I hadn't had a landline when I setup my Tivo, I'd have just taken it to a friend's house and set it up there first.
.. really. I use service, reliability and cost to determine whether I go wireless or not. It's not how sexy the ads are. Maybe the article is saying that under-30s are more susceptible to advertising?
I'm just barely under 30 (I'll be turning 29 in a couple months), and I've been landline-free since shortly after purchasing a home in 2003. I found that the extra ~$25/mo for a landline was completely wasted since I
Never used it
Didn't need it for DSL or Tivo
Rarely made any phone calls while at home
The only people calling me on it were phone spam for charities and crap
For me, it made financial sense to save the extra $25/mo I was paying for basic service. My cell works just about everywhere, including Canada (though I have to roam, which I'm fine with as I rarely go to Canada), I always have it on me, and the $40/mo plan I'm on gives me 1000 minutes a month with free, unlimited nights and weekends. However, I'm also an anomoly in terms of phone usage for my age group. I spend an average of < 30 minutes a month on the phone, as most of my calls generally sound something like, "Hey it's me. Yeah, I'll see you in a few minutes." I upgraded to a RAZR last fall, but otherwise I keep my phones for several years. I've been month-to-month on my current plan since 2002 when my initial contract expired, and I'd rather pay for my own phone than re-up a contract to get a "free" phone.
Personally, I couldn't go back to using a landline. It's a useless technology for me, and as long as I have cell coverage I'm happy.
Wow, he really comes off as downright peevish, no? I mean, even if Miyamoto's comment wasn't out of context, and he meant exactly what he said, the response turns out feeling really childish.
Holy crap! It was a joke, people. A joke! He was essentially saying that they don't care, and was having a little bit of fun with it, having a little bit of fun with people like you who take this crap so seriously.
Frankie is the guy who draws Mister Chief as a parody of Master Chief. He's the guy who usually does the weekly updates at Bungie.net, in which he takes sarcastic potshots at Bungie, community members, etc. along with providing serious news about what's going on at Bungie.
In short, if you're complaining that Frankie came off as "childish" in this interview, you totally missed the point. Moreover, you probably ought to take a close look at yourself, if your reaction to a little fun poke at Potatamoto is to think the guy making the joke is childish and peevish.
Why should software development companies waste money developing games for Windows when they could get a far larger market share by making games for Wii, Xbox 360, PS3, DS, PSP, etc.? The PC gaming market is much smaller than the console games market, and Nintendo is helping widen the gap with the Wii and DS which appeal to non-gamers as well.
Many developers do exactly that. Some traditionally PC-only developers have been looking towards the consoles to keep them afloat (id). Other publishers (EA, Ubi) go for the spam approach -- develop the game for as many platforms as possible, which right now means release on Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, Wii, PC, DS, and GBA. The PSP doesn't get a port for the same reason as Linux -- the user base is too small (the PSP has a much larger userbase than linux, and is probably larger than the Xbox 360 and PS3 userbase as well, but it has a reputation of being a poor seller with users more interested in hacking for homebrew than buying games; thus, it doesn't get in on the port frenzy and has to hope for a one-off tie-in at some point later).
That said, the PC does have some strengths. Specifically, the mouse and keyboard layout is great for RTS games (I'd also mention FPS, but I believe it's easier to do FPS on a console controller than it is to do RTS on a controller so FPS is not a clear-cut PC win). Also, breaking into the PC market is much easier, given that anybody can develop a game and publish it on the web. Microsoft is trying to capture that market for the Xbox 360 with XNA, but it's still going to be a little while before XNA has enough support to make it worthwhile (needs network support, proper packaging to share games, the ability to play other people's games without spending $100/year on the creator club subscription, etc). I wouldn't be surprised to see big names like EA or Ubi decide to quit porting to PC, but even that won't totally kill PC gaming. It'll probably turn the PC into the platform for the "hardcore", with only hardcore FPS, RTS, or simulation games being profitable on the PC.
I, a Linux user, am more then willing to pay for the same commercial games that are available for Windows. Matter fact I have payed already when I purchased UT, UT2k4, Quake 4, and Doom 3 which I have installed exclusively to play on Linux. I have no idea where you got the idea that most Linux users are unwilling to pay for software let alone games. Did you poll every single Linux user? Or did you form your ignorant opinion out your ass?
It's pretty simple, really:
You != an average Linux user.
Loki Software proved the lack of market for Linux games 5 years ago when they shut down in 2002.
Now granted, part of Loki's problem may have been that they were shipping ports of Windows games several months after the game originally shipped on Windows, but the fact that Linux gamers wouldn't wait a month or three to support their platform of choice was damning.
I'm sure there is a large number of Windows users that don't pay for their software hence the existence of warez groups offering commercial software for free. And what about the large number of people unwilling to pay for Windows or games which drives many software companies to develop draconian drm & copyright protection measures?
The market for Windows software is large enough, even with the pirates, to make it profitable to sell them software. The problem with Linux is that the number of "Free or bust" users is large in relation to users who would pay for software, thus making it a losing proposition to try to do anything but niche software on Linux (by that I mean it may be worth selling Oracle at $10,000 per CPU, but it's not worth selling TurboTax at $30, because you have to sell a lot fewer copies of Oracle to break even or make a profit).
TFC had a grenade button years before halo and I doubt that was even the first
TFC? Ha! The original TeamFortress (the Quake mod, not the Half-Life mod) had two buttons for grenades, as each class had two grenade types. Kids these days, thinking TFC was the origin of TeamFortress. The 'C' stands for "Classic" for a reason, you know.
Call of Duty and Iron Grip are two games I can think of just off the top of my head that use the quick melee attack like halo and I am sure there were many before those
Call of Duty (2003) was two years after Halo 1 (2001). I have no idea what Iron Grip is. As best I can tell, it's a mod for Half-Life 2 which automatically puts it after the launch of Halo 1. Other games had melee (Quake, Doom, Half-Life), but you had to switch weapons rather than just hit a button to attack.
I am not sure the many check points and lack of a user save can be counted as a positive but many console and computer games have used the checkpoint style system since the start of time..
True, but most older games tended towards checkpoints too far apart, and requiring user intervention to actually save (if you aren't paying attention, tough crap. It's another two hours to the next save point). Halo made it automatic.
I'm surprised the original poster didn't point out probably the biggest innovation in Halo 1 that has been copied over and over since -- regenerating shields. Without your shields, 1-2 shots will kill you, so you shields are essentially the same thing as health in Doom, Quake, Half-Life, etc. The difference is that rather than having to hunt around for pickups to regenerate, you just have to hide. Totally changes the dynamic for multiplayer games, because it forces you into tactical situations. Previously, you'd think, "I'm low on health and there's no way I'll find enough to keep me alive for a few more kills. Therefore, I'll just rush the next guy I see in order to do some damage before I'm taken out." Halo changed that to, "Do I hide and regen my armor, or do I attack and prevent my enemy from regenerating his armor?"
A lot of my friends have this game and no one plays it anymore because it's pretty quick to beat. And we aren't acheviement junkies....so goets old quickly
Even if you were achievement whores, most of the Crackdown points are easily achieved. You should be able to get everything but the "beat it all in co-op" achievement within a week of finishing the game (or within two weeks of purchasing the game).
For us achievement whores, new content with new achievements is impossible to pass up:)
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I assume you meant "wings" when you wrote "spoilers"*. Anyway, a wing or spoiler on a front wheel drive car is not counter-intuitive. Many racing series use wings on front wheel drive cars (for example, see SCCA's Speed World Challenge touring series, where a number of FWD cars from makes such as Acura and Mazda implement wings). Your assumption is that the wing is there to provide traction via downforce, which is definitely the case, but a wing/spoiler (especially a spoiler) also counteracts lift. The fact that the force is being applied to the rear of the car doesn't neccessarily mean the benefit is only seen by the rear wheels. The front wheels benefit as well, making it a useful addition in a high-speed racing scenario (as opposed to a low-speed racing scenario like autocross). A front splitter/spoiler is usually used in conjunction with the rear wing to help apply force to the front of the car as well as the rear.
That said, the park benches sold as wings to import tuners really are stupid, which was your original point. However "tunerz" wouldn't be buying non-functional cosmetic bits if there weren't functional reasons for the initial look. Tunerz buy aerokits and wings because race cars legitimately use aerokits and wings. The difference is that tunerz will never drive fast enough to see the benefit, and the kits they buy are intentionally exaggerated to emphasize form over function.
* A wing's core function is to generate downforce via negative lift -- it's an upside aerofoil; a spoiler's core function is to reduce upward lift by spoiling the airflow over the car's inefficent aerofoil shape that would otherwise lead to lift via Bernoulli's principle. While a wing may have a spoiling component, and a spoiler may also have a downforce component, the different designs maximize different effects.
If you're going to use a car analogy, use a valid one. Manufacturers are required by law to honor your warranty, even with modifications, so long as the modification did not cause the problem that needs fixed. For example, installing a cat-back exhaust or a short shifter will not void warranty repair for a steering issue, just as replacing your suspension will not void warranty repair for an engine or transmission problem.
Given that, the analogy can still make sense -- a portion of your warranty will be invalidated with modifications made to your car, just as a portion of the 360 experience (Live access) will be invalidated with modifications to your console. Your car will still drive and your console will still play games.
This is where it gets interesting -- the console is banned, not the account. His account is still active, and most likely set up to automatically renew year after year. Unless he calls 1-800-4-MY-XBOX and cancels his account, it will keep on renewing every year until his credit card expires. While that sounds a little nasty on Microsoft's part, it does make sense. Most people are quite attached to their Live accounts, given the popularity of achievements. Even a console modder probably wouldn't want to lose his account, so they don't ban it. That leaves you with three choices:
- Buy a new console and don't modify it.
- Buy a new console, modify it, get banned, repeat.
- Cancel your account.
The choice is up to youOh, yeah, and it's "losing", not "loosing".
Just to be clear, Microsoft is not taking legal action against users with modified consoles, and they're not intentionally bricking the console. They're not preventing you from making the modification if you so choose. All they're doing is banning that modified console from a service which has in its Terms of Use a clause stating that no modified console may be used. You (generic "you", not the parent in particular) accepted the TOU in order to subscribe to Live, so now you have to accept the consequences of breaking that TOU.
You can no longer use Microsoft's online service, but you can continue using your console offline as much as you like. This is a win-win situation -- Microsoft gets to discourage piracy by preventing access to Live (a huge part of the 360 experience), and "right to modify" people get to retain their right to modify their hardware however they like as long as they don't mind not accessing Live.
I don't use any debit cards. I don't like them. The fact that any transaction you do with the card will immediately pull money out of your bank account is too powerful for me. If a credit card gets stolen and used, my credit gets hit but none of my money will have gone to the credit card company yet. When I contest, I only have to worry about reverting charges, not reverting charges and putting money back in my account.
Besides, it's good to have the ability to carry a balance, in case unexpected expenditures come up (very important as a home owner). You shouldn't carry a balance if at all possible, but if you need to spend $5000 to get a new roof for your house in an emergency, that's probably not money you budgeted and not something you'd want removed from your bank account immediately.
I was just referring to credit/debit/ATM cards, but you do bring up a valid point. When I was in school ~10 years ago, we had a credit card-sized ID that doubled as a bus pass and could also be loaded up with money to use in many on-campus stores as a psuedo-debit card. It was a different system that companies had to explicitly support, but most places that catered to students took the card -- book stores, cofee shops, copy shops, etc. The only places on- or near-campus that didn't were fast food (this was prior to fast food allowing debit/credit card payments) and bars. With a system like that, your day-to-day routine as a student could be as simple as your state ID/driver's license, your student ID, and an emergency credit card.
When I wrote my post, I was thinking back to when I clerked in a national-chain electronics store. We'd routinely see people come in with stacks of cards (all theirs, not scammed). There were people with three, four, even five different Visas and Master Cards, a Discover, an AmEx or two, and a whole bunch of store cards for various local places. Even back then, I only carried what I carry now -- state ID/driver's license, a Visa (since switched to Master Card by my bank, but the account is the same in terms of credit age), a Discover, and my ATM card (I've changed banks several times since then, but I still only carry one ATM card). I just couldn't understand how people could get into such a situation where they have so many different credit cards. Some people had them organized in nice binders, others kept them in their wallet wrapped with some paper money and a rubber band, but well-dressed or dirty they were pretty much the same to me -- debt-ridden people who either never learned how to manage their finances or just didn't care. Maybe I shouldn't have judged them like that, but the lesson has stuck with me for 12+ years -- you just don't need that much credit in revolving accounts. In fact you just end up screwing yourself by doing that, because all of that revolving credit will ultimately cause you to be turned down for a car loan or mortgage that you really need, all because you wanted a new pair of designer jeans and got a $5000 limit card in order to do so.
No clerk is ever supposed to ask to see ID when taking a credit/debit card. This is specifically against the policy of every major credit card company (Visa, Master Card, Discover, AmEx). If your card is unsigned, the clerk must reject it. If your card is signed with a variation of "See ID", the clerk must also reject it unless the official name of the card user really is "See ID". If the signatures don't match up, a clerk has discretion to reject or accept, but since most people have quite a bit of variance in how they sign their signature this requires some leeway. I clerk should only ask you for ID when you're purchasing something that requires an age check -- alcohol, tobacco, skin mags, R-rated movies, and M-rated games (don't you just love how those last two are lumped in with the first three?).
Protecting your identity is up to you and your bank. If you suspect your card is lost or stolen, cancel it (get a new account number). If you notice odd charges on your monthly bill, contest them and cancel your card. Every credit card company will revert contested charges, and you're not liable for them (some have a dollar amount, like you're not liable for anything over $50 or $100).
Credit card theft is relatively untenable, because any alert user will check his statement and find the fraudulent charges (if you don't look at your statement, either mommy and daddy do or you shouldn't have a credit card at all). As such I wouldn't worry about credit cards when worrying about identity theft. What's much more difficult to track is loan applications made in your name, because you have to actively retrieve (and usually pay for) your credit report. It's not mailed to you on a monthly basis.
How many cards are you carrying around, anyway? If you have more than two or three, you've got a problem with credit. What you need:
- ATM/debit card
- Major-label credit/debit card (may be the same as #1) with a Visa or Master Card logo
- Optionally a secondary card from a "smaller" company like Discover or AmEx, because you can get good deals with those but they're not accepted everywhere like #2.
What you don't need:As of today, driver's licenses and ID cards are state-specific. Layout, extra features (barcode, magnetic strip), anti-forgery techniques, etc are all decided on a state-by-state basis. If you move to a different state, you need to get a new license from that state within a certain amount of time (usually it's within a few weeks of establishing permanent residence). In order to roll out a nation-wide license-as-debit card program, either states will have to standardize on specific extra features like a magentic strip and what information is stored there, or licensing will have to be handled by the federal government.
As a believer in states' rights, this looks like nothing more than an end-run around opposition to a national ID program. If they can get people hooked on using their license as a debit card, nobody will object when the fed steps in to take control of licensing to make it "more efficient".
It's not Ninja Gaiden 2, either. Sigma is to Black as Black was to the original -- a slight addition to gameplay (or graphics, in Sigma's case), minor control tweaks (like Black's new camera control), a little bit of extra new content, but otherwise it's still the same game with the same story. If you've played the original or Black, you've played 90% or more of Sigma. Definitely not a $600 system seller, by itself.
Or you could use any of the existing videoconferencing hardware/software and actually see their real faces. Sure, that's not quite as cool, but I bet it's several times more productive and it already exists.
If others can't provide for themselves, why should I provide for them? Unless they're my family, I have no obligation to feed, clothe, or shelter them.
You say that like it's a bad thing. Selfishness is good. Selfishness makes the world go 'round. Without selfishness, there'd be no creation or innovation. Without selfishness, nobody would feel the need to strive to better themselves and would just wallow in mediocrity.
Do you suggest that we actively remove self-sufficiency (or the drive towards self-sufficiency) in order to reduce the selfishness in the world? Do you know what would happen if that succeeded?
I'd argue that "Yes" and "No" are bad buttons, because you have to explain what will happen when you click them. Similarly, "Keep" and "Install" are bad because "Install" does not mean the same thing as "Overwrite". If you must have buttons, be a bit more verbose and use "Keep old data" (or just "Keep", that's fine) and "Overwrite". Better yet, provide a radio selection using text similar to your "Yes" and "No" descriptions, but with radio selection buttons next to each item. Default to no selection with "Next" disabled, and only enable the "Next" button once a selection has been made. If you must have a default selection, default to "Keep".
By using Yes/No, OK/Cancel, Abort/Retry/Ignore default buttons with descriptive text in the dialog, you're making the user's life harder. A user doesn't read text. He sees buttons, and then has to guess at what "Yes" and "No" mean. There's just as much of a chance for the user to click on "No" as there is on clicking "Install" because he's always been told to choose "No" or "Cancel" when in doubt. Moving the selection into the text itself forces the user to read and understand, especially when there's no default action and thus he can't click through blindly.
What would be so bad about that? Replace a neo-conservative religion-backed party with a fiscally-conservative (anti-big government), socially-liberal (do what you want, as long as it doesn't harm others), religion-neutral party? Sounds good to me.
Hoping for the Greens to replace the Republicans is just dreaming. There's too much conservative sentiment for the system to end up with only psuedo-liberal (Democrat) and socialist (Green) parties.
I can't exactly use my home phone while I'm out, can I? Most of my calling happens while I'm somewhere other than my home, so $25/month for unlimited local calling may as well be $infinite for all the good it will do me. Yes, I could probably switch to a cheaper plan than $40/mo, or even go to something pre-paid, but for now I'm fine with that cost.
But all of my guests do have cell phones, and wouldn't even think about asking to use my phone (landline or cell) because they'd just use their own. Even my parents have cell phones, and they're in their 50s. Now of course if someone asked I'd happily allow them to use my phone. I do that all the time with friends when their inferior service has no reception while mine has 5 bars. It's not really a decline in common courtesy so much as it's an increase in self-reliance. And that can only be a good thing, relying on yourself before you rely on others.
That's $40/mo for a guaranteed 1000 minutes of daytime usage and unlimited night time (after 7:00) and weekend calling. Obviously I don't need that much, but I like the peace of mind it provides over pay-as-you-go, and since I'm month-to-month on a plan that expired in 2002 and has cancelled for new subscriptions in 2003, no other plan really provides value-for-money like that (there are no unlimited night/weekend plans anymore).
Your points argue against your statement. A smaller, more dense population, with an older (thus paid for) infrastructure and high competition allows for more flexibility in price than what we get in the States. Those of us in urban and more dense sub-urban areas are paying for the cost of spreading infrastructure to less dense suburban and rural areas.
That's horrible! I pay maybe 30% on income taxes (no state income tax, yay!), and ~8.8% sales tax (which is actually high since WA doesn't have an income tax), and I still feel like I'm being overtaxed. I have no idea how you deal with such high taxation.
Then again, we don't have many of the social services that your taxes provide (health care, for example), but my job provides excellent benefits so I'm not going to complain :)
Seattle area? I'm near the lake, on the north eastside. My power was out so long because the local transfer station actually blew and had to be replaced with all new equipment. If it wasn't for that, the few fallen trees would've been cleaned up in a day or two.
Woodinville got it much harder, but they're very prone to power outages in that area for some reason (all the area power lines are above ground, but Woodinville's seem to be more vulnerable than other areas). Friends I had there were out of power for two weeks, and still had some trees threatening to fall on fixed power lines even after power was restored. Friends up in the Snohomish portion of Bothell had power restored within hours, because Snohomish County PUD doesn't suck like PSE (of course, they also had several million fewer powerless customers than PSE).
I'm looking at doing the same, except as an initial purchase rather than an upgrade. I figure there's no point in buying a small portable generator when I'd eventually want to upgrade to a standby unit anyway. I'm not sure I'm going to go for 16kW, but I'll definitely be getting an automatic-switching standby unit rather than a portable.
Interesting. We had a huge windstorm this past winter. I was without power for a week, and had friends who were without for nearly two. During that entire time, my cell phone continued to work perfectly. I used my car to keep the battery charged.
Your experience prompted you to get a landline. Mine has prompted me to buy a generator, though I'm waiting for a few more months when prices will be the lowest (we don't get power outages here in the summer, since it's not hot enough for people to overload circuits with A/C units). If anything, I came out of the experience with a more favorable impression of cell phones, as there's no way I would've been able to keep my old portable phone charged up that long and I couldn't take that out to my car to charge off the engine.
Put the phone on speaker.
Yes. Or they can use my cell if they must, but I'd rather they use their cell. That's what I do when I'm a guest, so why should I do otherwise for guests of mine?
Use the interweb. A long time ago, I had a cable box that required a phone line. That requirement was removed soon after. Similarly, my Tivo needed a landline for its very first setup, but everything after that just works over the internet. If I hadn't had a landline when I setup my Tivo, I'd have just taken it to a friend's house and set it up there first.
I'm just barely under 30 (I'll be turning 29 in a couple months), and I've been landline-free since shortly after purchasing a home in 2003. I found that the extra ~$25/mo for a landline was completely wasted since I
- Never used it
- Didn't need it for DSL or Tivo
- Rarely made any phone calls while at home
- The only people calling me on it were phone spam for charities and crap
For me, it made financial sense to save the extra $25/mo I was paying for basic service. My cell works just about everywhere, including Canada (though I have to roam, which I'm fine with as I rarely go to Canada), I always have it on me, and the $40/mo plan I'm on gives me 1000 minutes a month with free, unlimited nights and weekends. However, I'm also an anomoly in terms of phone usage for my age group. I spend an average of < 30 minutes a month on the phone, as most of my calls generally sound something like, "Hey it's me. Yeah, I'll see you in a few minutes." I upgraded to a RAZR last fall, but otherwise I keep my phones for several years. I've been month-to-month on my current plan since 2002 when my initial contract expired, and I'd rather pay for my own phone than re-up a contract to get a "free" phone.Personally, I couldn't go back to using a landline. It's a useless technology for me, and as long as I have cell coverage I'm happy.
Holy crap! It was a joke, people. A joke! He was essentially saying that they don't care, and was having a little bit of fun with it, having a little bit of fun with people like you who take this crap so seriously.
Frankie is the guy who draws Mister Chief as a parody of Master Chief. He's the guy who usually does the weekly updates at Bungie.net, in which he takes sarcastic potshots at Bungie, community members, etc. along with providing serious news about what's going on at Bungie.
In short, if you're complaining that Frankie came off as "childish" in this interview, you totally missed the point. Moreover, you probably ought to take a close look at yourself, if your reaction to a little fun poke at Potatamoto is to think the guy making the joke is childish and peevish.
Many developers do exactly that. Some traditionally PC-only developers have been looking towards the consoles to keep them afloat (id). Other publishers (EA, Ubi) go for the spam approach -- develop the game for as many platforms as possible, which right now means release on Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, Wii, PC, DS, and GBA. The PSP doesn't get a port for the same reason as Linux -- the user base is too small (the PSP has a much larger userbase than linux, and is probably larger than the Xbox 360 and PS3 userbase as well, but it has a reputation of being a poor seller with users more interested in hacking for homebrew than buying games; thus, it doesn't get in on the port frenzy and has to hope for a one-off tie-in at some point later).
That said, the PC does have some strengths. Specifically, the mouse and keyboard layout is great for RTS games (I'd also mention FPS, but I believe it's easier to do FPS on a console controller than it is to do RTS on a controller so FPS is not a clear-cut PC win). Also, breaking into the PC market is much easier, given that anybody can develop a game and publish it on the web. Microsoft is trying to capture that market for the Xbox 360 with XNA, but it's still going to be a little while before XNA has enough support to make it worthwhile (needs network support, proper packaging to share games, the ability to play other people's games without spending $100/year on the creator club subscription, etc). I wouldn't be surprised to see big names like EA or Ubi decide to quit porting to PC, but even that won't totally kill PC gaming. It'll probably turn the PC into the platform for the "hardcore", with only hardcore FPS, RTS, or simulation games being profitable on the PC.
It's pretty simple, really:
- You != an average Linux user.
- Loki Software proved the lack of market for Linux games 5 years ago when they shut down in 2002.
Now granted, part of Loki's problem may have been that they were shipping ports of Windows games several months after the game originally shipped on Windows, but the fact that Linux gamers wouldn't wait a month or three to support their platform of choice was damning.The market for Windows software is large enough, even with the pirates, to make it profitable to sell them software. The problem with Linux is that the number of "Free or bust" users is large in relation to users who would pay for software, thus making it a losing proposition to try to do anything but niche software on Linux (by that I mean it may be worth selling Oracle at $10,000 per CPU, but it's not worth selling TurboTax at $30, because you have to sell a lot fewer copies of Oracle to break even or make a profit).
TFC? Ha! The original TeamFortress (the Quake mod, not the Half-Life mod) had two buttons for grenades, as each class had two grenade types. Kids these days, thinking TFC was the origin of TeamFortress. The 'C' stands for "Classic" for a reason, you know.
Call of Duty (2003) was two years after Halo 1 (2001). I have no idea what Iron Grip is. As best I can tell, it's a mod for Half-Life 2 which automatically puts it after the launch of Halo 1. Other games had melee (Quake, Doom, Half-Life), but you had to switch weapons rather than just hit a button to attack.
True, but most older games tended towards checkpoints too far apart, and requiring user intervention to actually save (if you aren't paying attention, tough crap. It's another two hours to the next save point). Halo made it automatic.
I'm surprised the original poster didn't point out probably the biggest innovation in Halo 1 that has been copied over and over since -- regenerating shields. Without your shields, 1-2 shots will kill you, so you shields are essentially the same thing as health in Doom, Quake, Half-Life, etc. The difference is that rather than having to hunt around for pickups to regenerate, you just have to hide. Totally changes the dynamic for multiplayer games, because it forces you into tactical situations. Previously, you'd think, "I'm low on health and there's no way I'll find enough to keep me alive for a few more kills. Therefore, I'll just rush the next guy I see in order to do some damage before I'm taken out." Halo changed that to, "Do I hide and regen my armor, or do I attack and prevent my enemy from regenerating his armor?"
Even if you were achievement whores, most of the Crackdown points are easily achieved. You should be able to get everything but the "beat it all in co-op" achievement within a week of finishing the game (or within two weeks of purchasing the game).
For us achievement whores, new content with new achievements is impossible to pass up :)