I need to have the server here and operational in one week for installation of the server software by the vendor. Of course this installation was scheduled BEFORE hardware approval was given and IT was only notified of the hardware need two days ago. Purchasing the system (which you cannot purchase bare without drives anyway), purchasing additional drives and then doing hardware install plus server OS reinstall will take time that I don't have. Besides which why should I have to go purchase additional drives from another vendor?
Just yesterday I needed to price an Xserve and two client computers for use with a classified advertising system my company had already purchased (Mac only). Budgets are tight for this project because the initial revenue stream is not very large. The server software requires at least 120GB of hard drive space while Apple only offers Xserve SATA drive configurations of either 80GB or 750GB! I also need RAID 1 on this unit which means two drives. THe 2x750GB configuration adds $1000 to the system total and is excessive. I can't even do 3x80GB in a RAID 5 because OSX (as far as I can tell) doesn't support RAID 5 and there is no hardware RAID controller option. We use a lot of Macs at the office but Apple's so called "Enterprise" options are a joke compared to major vendors such as HP, Dell, IBM or Sun.
"why by an expensive Wii when you can already play games on your PC?"
Has never played Wii. Or is one of the few who have and don't like it. I am a hardcore PC gamer but I will completely admit that the Wii offers a different style of play than is available on any other system. You can call it gimmicky if you like, but I think the Wii controller is way more intuitive than any other console controller and is perfect for multiplayer games in front of one TV set. This is an area that PCs do not excel at. I'll keep playing my PC for the majority my single player gaming experiences and I have the Wii for when friends come over. Friends + booze + Wii = much amusement (and some minor injuries).
Windows is a much more attractive target due to the large number of possible exploits, users that don't patch their systems and a huge install base. Certainly on the money making side of spyware and bot nets, the Mac is still not a very interesting target. Even were a Mac virus or worm to hit the wild, the rate of propagation would likely be a lot slower than on Windows due to the fewer systems out there.
I love being able to playback avis whether off the local Xbox hard drive or via streaming off a SMB share on a computer. I've been considering buying another Xbox before they disappear just to have a backup unit.
The Tuesday outages basically meant a short night of playing for me as I live in Hawaii. Because of the time zone difference, I played with a lot more New Zealand and Australian gamers than with US based ones. For them the outage came a lot earlier in the evening. So while it wasn't a huge deal - it was irritating if you forgot that it was maintenance night and had something planned.
I installed AMAME on my Workbench 3.0 desktop running in emulation under WinUAE. I had a bit of a problem because my ROM sets were out of date, but the ones that worked, worked fine. The only bummer was that I had to use full screen mode to get proper color support for MAME - which meant that there was no really good way to get a nice screenshot of the Windows desktop with Amiga desktop in a window running AMAME in a windows. I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks about these things.
We use analog adapters with fax machines at work. Yes it's weird but it works exactly like a normal fax and there is no degradation of quality in doing it.
"So what is an independent developer of single-head multiplayer games to do?"
This is exactly the type of game that are well suited for console downloads (i.e. Xbox Live arcade). PCs are not good for single-head multiplayer gaming. They are well suited for complex online multiplayer gaming such as MMOs.
"Which means that there is little advantage to being a PC Gamer unless you're into MMOGs."
Or RTS games that actually have a decent interface. Or just about any kind of strategy game in general such as Civilization or Heroes of Might and Magic. Or if you want to play FPS games with a mouse (Wii MAY help to change this, but not PS3 or Xbox 360).
You have some points but basically I think you are making some sweeping generalizations.
"How often do you see kids playing in your neighborhood on a summer's day?"
This is true, but honestly a large part of it comes from the parents. My mom would let us run about the neighborhood on our own when I was 10 or so just so long as we came back for dinner. Most parents are so paranoid about kidnappings, drugs, pedophiles, drunk drivers and other problems the media exaggerates. They want they're kids to be where they can see them or hear them. Not to mention that in households with two working parents, or a single parent - the kids don't get home from school until 5 or 6pm. Then its homework, dinner, bath and maybe just time for a TV show or couple rounds of Super Smash Bros before bed. After school play time has been replaced by after school child care programs or other activities. Weekend programs are much more common as well. My own kid's weekend socializing is primarily through organized sports and educational activities. Kids lives have changed a lot and not just due to video games. Where I live they have a year round program where summer only lasts one and a half months.
"How many of them are social creatures, going out and partying on weekends etc?"
All of the ones I know have some form of social life, be it clubs and partying, wife and family or even church groups.
"When was the last time you sat on your porch and chatted with a neigbor?" Well we don't have a porch, but last night on the front steps and usually a couple times a week. Every once and a while we have some drinks and a laugh together outside the apartment after work. And these are not people I knew before moving into the apartment. Nor are they people with similar interests to me. One is a janitor at a local school. I make it a point to know my neighbors to some degree.
"We don't like to think that maybe we're less social or less connected with the outside world than we should be."
Why are other communication forms besides face to face bad? I agree that physical body and facial cues are absent. Or in IM so is tonality but thats why IM has such a wide range of terminology to offset that. I've made friends in other states and countries through online gaming and while no they could never be my closest or best friends (due to proximity), they certainly have enriched my life. I would say learning first hand from people in other places or situations expands my knowledge of the "outside world" - as in it creates a picture larger than that of my immediate location. Kurt Vonnegut in his last book mentions that virtual communities have no value - and yet he went on to promote the book via an appearance in the game Second Life. Having worked in media and telecommunications all my life I just don't see increased communications as being bad. It's becoming different but that is just a consequence of the changing world. It doesn't necessarily mean it's becoming worse.
No SLI. The RAM is slow. The Mac Pro for gaming benches under my Core 2 Duo x6600 which cost $1500 less than a decently configged Mac Pro - and I don't have SLI yet. Oh and I don't believe you can overclock the Mac Pro. My x6600 is prime stable on stock cooling at 3GHz - which puts it in the performance level of the x6800. The Mac Pro is a damn nice workstation but for games where better video and faster memory is more important than more CPU cores - it isn't really the right mix of hardware.
Um, you do realize that Avid's first NLEs were Mac products right? And regarding Photoshop - on current Mac's it runs terribly versus a PC, because it isn't native. That is likely to change with the release of CS3 next year, but for now if you want the performing Photoshop experience on a Mac Pro - Windows XP will give you it.
Almost all of those deaths are in Iraq - meaning they wouldn't have occurred if we hadn't invaded Iraq and put civilians on the ground for reconstruction. Thus any increase is directly tied to the current administration's foreign policy.
We HAVE AppleCare!!! We called them and they told us to go to the local Apple Store. We then HAD to make an appointment with a genius to get it looked it. We then HAD to wait two freakin weeks to get it back. For all I know it was two weeks because they had a shortage of MacBook Pros - but we could NOT get a loaner from the Apple Store (any kind even an old G4 laptop). But have had the SAME two week issue with a broken G4 laptop last year which was under AppleCare. I don't know, maybe if you live in Hawaii you get shitty service from Apple! And if you say "oh well of course that's so far away" - HP and Dell can same day repair onsite or next day ship parts.
"And let's not forget the free person-to-person tech support availalbe at your local Apple store."
IF you have an Apple Store locally. Now at my business we use Mac's and PCs (Dells) - let's compare how support worked out for repairing a MacBook Pro and a Dell Latitude:
MacBook Pro - dies the second day of usage. To get service we need to book a time with a "Genius", physically go down to the store. Prognosis is not good. Repairs cannot be done at the store. MacBook Pro is shipped off to be repaired. Turnaround time until repaired = two weeks.
Dell Latitude - dies due to motherboard failure. Call Dell support. They dispatch a technician who arrives 3 hours later. Technician does full motherboard swap and tests laptop at the premises. Turnaround time until repaired = 3.5 hours.
My computer is 2 months old with a 7900GT. I was going to get a second one for SLI, now I wonder if I should put that money towards a 8800GTS when they come out. Or be sane and wait until there is a game I want to play that actually stresses out my computer.... but that... would be... exercising... so much restraint...
Sam & Max episode one does have an ending. The plot wraps up nicely and there is some foreshadowing as to the next episode - but not a cliffhanger by any means.
"So if it turns out that copyright law as written is bad for Google, they may be able to get John Q. Public's support for having it changed."
Copyright law is a minefield for any type of content that can be easily copied and redistributed. And now that means audio, video, text, images - the whole range. The problem is that this is the new guy (AKA The Google) versus established revenue streams from long existing industries (your music, movies, TV etc.). Old media through DRM, sueing it's audiences and copyright lawsuits against new media companies is acting in a protectionist manner. At the same time old media is trying to move into new media's space to secure future revenue streams. They can see the writing on the wall. The question is - who are the politicians more likely to back? The upstart companies, or those with decades long history of padding the parties (both of them) pockets?
I finished the episode 1 in about 3 hours on the day of release. I wasn't rushing through it either, I took the time to click on each object and hear the responses. I guess in terms of $/hour it's about on par with a long movie at the theater. I prefer to subscribe to GameTap since it's only $1 more than buying an episode of Sam & Max. But then I'm not the type who wants to own it so I can dig it out in 10 years and play it again. I'm not that big a fan of point and click adventures.
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I need to have the server here and operational in one week for installation of the server software by the vendor. Of course this installation was scheduled BEFORE hardware approval was given and IT was only notified of the hardware need two days ago. Purchasing the system (which you cannot purchase bare without drives anyway), purchasing additional drives and then doing hardware install plus server OS reinstall will take time that I don't have. Besides which why should I have to go purchase additional drives from another vendor?
Just yesterday I needed to price an Xserve and two client computers for use with a classified advertising system my company had already purchased (Mac only). Budgets are tight for this project because the initial revenue stream is not very large. The server software requires at least 120GB of hard drive space while Apple only offers Xserve SATA drive configurations of either 80GB or 750GB! I also need RAID 1 on this unit which means two drives. THe 2x750GB configuration adds $1000 to the system total and is excessive. I can't even do 3x80GB in a RAID 5 because OSX (as far as I can tell) doesn't support RAID 5 and there is no hardware RAID controller option.
We use a lot of Macs at the office but Apple's so called "Enterprise" options are a joke compared to major vendors such as HP, Dell, IBM or Sun.
"why by an expensive Wii when you can already play games on your PC?"
Has never played Wii. Or is one of the few who have and don't like it. I am a hardcore PC gamer but I will completely admit that the Wii offers a different style of play than is available on any other system. You can call it gimmicky if you like, but I think the Wii controller is way more intuitive than any other console controller and is perfect for multiplayer games in front of one TV set. This is an area that PCs do not excel at. I'll keep playing my PC for the majority my single player gaming experiences and I have the Wii for when friends come over. Friends + booze + Wii = much amusement (and some minor injuries).
Episode 2 has been out on GameTap since December 22nd.
Windows is a much more attractive target due to the large number of possible exploits, users that don't patch their systems and a huge install base. Certainly on the money making side of spyware and bot nets, the Mac is still not a very interesting target.
Even were a Mac virus or worm to hit the wild, the rate of propagation would likely be a lot slower than on Windows due to the fewer systems out there.
I love being able to playback avis whether off the local Xbox hard drive or via streaming off a SMB share on a computer. I've been considering buying another Xbox before they disappear just to have a backup unit.
The Tuesday outages basically meant a short night of playing for me as I live in Hawaii. Because of the time zone difference, I played with a lot more New Zealand and Australian gamers than with US based ones. For them the outage came a lot earlier in the evening.
So while it wasn't a huge deal - it was irritating if you forgot that it was maintenance night and had something planned.
I installed AMAME on my Workbench 3.0 desktop running in emulation under WinUAE. I had a bit of a problem because my ROM sets were out of date, but the ones that worked, worked fine. The only bummer was that I had to use full screen mode to get proper color support for MAME - which meant that there was no really good way to get a nice screenshot of the Windows desktop with Amiga desktop in a window running AMAME in a windows.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks about these things.
I'm thinking finding prior art on a trigger shouldn't be too hard.
We use analog adapters with fax machines at work. Yes it's weird but it works exactly like a normal fax and there is no degradation of quality in doing it.
"So what is an independent developer of single-head multiplayer games to do?"
This is exactly the type of game that are well suited for console downloads (i.e. Xbox Live arcade).
PCs are not good for single-head multiplayer gaming. They are well suited for complex online multiplayer gaming such as MMOs.
"Which means that there is little advantage to being a PC Gamer unless you're into MMOGs."
Or RTS games that actually have a decent interface. Or just about any kind of strategy game in general such as Civilization or Heroes of Might and Magic. Or if you want to play FPS games with a mouse (Wii MAY help to change this, but not PS3 or Xbox 360).
You have some points but basically I think you are making some sweeping generalizations.
"How often do you see kids playing in your neighborhood on a summer's day?"
This is true, but honestly a large part of it comes from the parents. My mom would let us run about the neighborhood on our own when I was 10 or so just so long as we came back for dinner. Most parents are so paranoid about kidnappings, drugs, pedophiles, drunk drivers and other problems the media exaggerates. They want they're kids to be where they can see them or hear them. Not to mention that in households with two working parents, or a single parent - the kids don't get home from school until 5 or 6pm. Then its homework, dinner, bath and maybe just time for a TV show or couple rounds of Super Smash Bros before bed. After school play time has been replaced by after school child care programs or other activities. Weekend programs are much more common as well. My own kid's weekend socializing is primarily through organized sports and educational activities.
Kids lives have changed a lot and not just due to video games. Where I live they have a year round program where summer only lasts one and a half months.
"How many of them are social creatures, going out and partying on weekends etc?"
All of the ones I know have some form of social life, be it clubs and partying, wife and family or even church groups.
"When was the last time you sat on your porch and chatted with a neigbor?"
Well we don't have a porch, but last night on the front steps and usually a couple times a week. Every once and a while we have some drinks and a laugh together outside the apartment after work. And these are not people I knew before moving into the apartment. Nor are they people with similar interests to me. One is a janitor at a local school. I make it a point to know my neighbors to some degree.
"We don't like to think that maybe we're less social or less connected with the outside world than we should be."
Why are other communication forms besides face to face bad? I agree that physical body and facial cues are absent. Or in IM so is tonality but thats why IM has such a wide range of terminology to offset that.
I've made friends in other states and countries through online gaming and while no they could never be my closest or best friends (due to proximity), they certainly have enriched my life. I would say learning first hand from people in other places or situations expands my knowledge of the "outside world" - as in it creates a picture larger than that of my immediate location.
Kurt Vonnegut in his last book mentions that virtual communities have no value - and yet he went on to promote the book via an appearance in the game Second Life.
Having worked in media and telecommunications all my life I just don't see increased communications as being bad. It's becoming different but that is just a consequence of the changing world. It doesn't necessarily mean it's becoming worse.
No SLI. The RAM is slow. The Mac Pro for gaming benches under my Core 2 Duo x6600 which cost $1500 less than a decently configged Mac Pro - and I don't have SLI yet. Oh and I don't believe you can overclock the Mac Pro. My x6600 is prime stable on stock cooling at 3GHz - which puts it in the performance level of the x6800.
The Mac Pro is a damn nice workstation but for games where better video and faster memory is more important than more CPU cores - it isn't really the right mix of hardware.
Um, you do realize that Avid's first NLEs were Mac products right?
And regarding Photoshop - on current Mac's it runs terribly versus a PC, because it isn't native. That is likely to change with the release of CS3 next year, but for now if you want the performing Photoshop experience on a Mac Pro - Windows XP will give you it.
Suck it, Ebert.
Almost all of those deaths are in Iraq - meaning they wouldn't have occurred if we hadn't invaded Iraq and put civilians on the ground for reconstruction. Thus any increase is directly tied to the current administration's foreign policy.
Whee!
We HAVE AppleCare!!! We called them and they told us to go to the local Apple Store. We then HAD to make an appointment with a genius to get it looked it. We then HAD to wait two freakin weeks to get it back.
For all I know it was two weeks because they had a shortage of MacBook Pros - but we could NOT get a loaner from the Apple Store (any kind even an old G4 laptop). But have had the SAME two week issue with a broken G4 laptop last year which was under AppleCare.
I don't know, maybe if you live in Hawaii you get shitty service from Apple! And if you say "oh well of course that's so far away" - HP and Dell can same day repair onsite or next day ship parts.
"And let's not forget the free person-to-person tech support availalbe at your local Apple store."
IF you have an Apple Store locally.
Now at my business we use Mac's and PCs (Dells) - let's compare how support worked out for repairing a MacBook Pro and a Dell Latitude:
MacBook Pro - dies the second day of usage. To get service we need to book a time with a "Genius", physically go down to the store. Prognosis is not good. Repairs cannot be done at the store. MacBook Pro is shipped off to be repaired. Turnaround time until repaired = two weeks.
Dell Latitude - dies due to motherboard failure. Call Dell support. They dispatch a technician who arrives 3 hours later. Technician does full motherboard swap and tests laptop at the premises. Turnaround time until repaired = 3.5 hours.
My computer is 2 months old with a 7900GT. I was going to get a second one for SLI, now I wonder if I should put that money towards a 8800GTS when they come out.
Or be sane and wait until there is a game I want to play that actually stresses out my computer.... but that... would be... exercising... so much restraint...
Sam & Max episode one does have an ending. The plot wraps up nicely and there is some foreshadowing as to the next episode - but not a cliffhanger by any means.
"So if it turns out that copyright law as written is bad for Google, they may be able to get John Q. Public's support for having it changed."
Copyright law is a minefield for any type of content that can be easily copied and redistributed. And now that means audio, video, text, images - the whole range.
The problem is that this is the new guy (AKA The Google) versus established revenue streams from long existing industries (your music, movies, TV etc.). Old media through DRM, sueing it's audiences and copyright lawsuits against new media companies is acting in a protectionist manner. At the same time old media is trying to move into new media's space to secure future revenue streams. They can see the writing on the wall.
The question is - who are the politicians more likely to back? The upstart companies, or those with decades long history of padding the parties (both of them) pockets?
Readable by root eh? As IF you can trust that guy!
I finished the episode 1 in about 3 hours on the day of release. I wasn't rushing through it either, I took the time to click on each object and hear the responses. I guess in terms of $/hour it's about on par with a long movie at the theater.
I prefer to subscribe to GameTap since it's only $1 more than buying an episode of Sam & Max. But then I'm not the type who wants to own it so I can dig it out in 10 years and play it again. I'm not that big a fan of point and click adventures.
Don't you like a little good old fashioned Alien wrassling?
Who knew that Predators learned all their moves from watching Hulk Hogan?