Absolutely. We previously had a 7.1Mbps/768kbps DSL line at my office. We were saturating the upstream on the connection. Locally there is almost no way to get a symmetrical line at a reasonable cost. I tried the local telcos and they gave me bids on frame relay with pricing from 2001! T1 speeds were not enough either as downstream was usually over 2.5Mbps. We ended up going with a 4.5Mbps symmetrical circuit that a local company offers in the downtown area by connecting you via SDSL over a dry pair circuit. They have 200Mbps of fiber backhaul to the state's main carrier aggregation point. It's really depressing to see the state of business offerings vs. consumers. It's like things haven't changed in 5 years.
You make a good point. It's a good way to get some entry level experience, just the same as working the ISP support beat is. As an IT manager I'm more likely to hire someone who has done their time under fire at a support desk than someone without that type of experience. BUT you must admit that the savvy ones are not the norm. Most of the decent guys I've dealt with are not on the retail side but rather have moved to business sales.
Well, actually both of them were stupid. My point wasn't that the CompUSA guy should have known if random NIC is supported in Linux. My point was that his response was retarded. He should have looked at the box, seen what drivers were included and said "It doesn't have Linux drivers, so we can't guarentee it will work." The same response works for any question about any OS that isn't listed on the box.
One thing I always wondered about. Since Macs are so easy to use, why does it require a "genius" to fix one? The problem with "the Geek Squad" and any other computer service (including CompUSA sales for example) is that the pay is so shitty that if an individual actually knows something about computers they won't be working there. I remember one incident where a customer had brought a network card to the support desk at CompUSA and asked "Does this card support Linux?". The tech answered "Yes, it has Windows NT drivers. Windows NT is like Linux so it will work." The mindboggled stare of the obviously more savvy customer was priceless. Geek Squad has a great model. People pay them to fix their computers, they break it worse and wipe out the data. Then the people don't have to blame themselves for the data loss, they can blame Geek Squad.
Some key points: Since 1966 new neigborhood's have been built with underground electrical cabling. Since hurricane Iniki devestated the island of Kauai in 1993 a lot of utility wiring has been moved underground. Only about 40% of Hawaiian Electric Company power lines are underground.
At least here on Oahu we have plenty of power lines and during bad storms some areas of the island often lose power.
Not too mention that the black and white Mac was a terrible game machine. No color, small screen, no joystick input that I'm aware of. When the Mac II launched it cost close to $5000 to get color, so that wasn't exactly a game machine either. Macs didn't really become OK game computers until at least the mid 90s (cheap color Macs).
I understand that this was the line of reasoning that Nintendo initially put out, but I mean come on there are a ton of crap games out there. It certainly isn't gameplay quality that they are using to judge whether a game get's their blessing. There were crap games by the bucket load for NES, crap games for Genesis and crap games for every other console.
Applying the principles of quantum physics to the macro world is not correct. From Wikipedia:
"Quantum mechanics is a fundamental branch of theoretical physics that replaces classical mechanics and classical electromagnetism at the atomic and subatomic levels."
Note the part "at the atomic and subatomic levels". When we talk about Schrodinger's cat we are using a metaphor to describe the behavior of the quantum world. There are quite a number of new age loonies that regurgitate quantum mechanical ideas as if they are directly applicable to the macro world as opposed to governing the behavior of subatomic particles. It doesn't work like that:
"Quantum mechanics is a more fundamental theory than Newtonian mechanics and classical electromagnetism, in the sense that it provides accurate and precise descriptions for many phenomena that these "classical" theories simply cannot explain on the atomic and subatomic level. It is necessary to use quantum mechanics to understand the behavior of systems at atomic length scales and smaller. For example, if Newtonian mechanics governed the workings of an atom, electrons would rapidly travel towards and collide with the nucleus. However, in the natural world the electron normally remains in a stable orbit around a nucleus -- seemingly defying classical electromagnetism."
Or does anyone remember DVDA (the audio disc format, not the pron)? The real question is - will the average consumer consider the increased resolution to be enough of an improvement to repurchase movies? DVDA as a format really only appeals to audiophiles with high quality equipment. The mass market consumer driven product competing with CD players turned out to be MP3 players - which produce lower quality audio. Convenience trumped quality. Initially HD-DVD and BluRay as well as HDTV are still priced on the high end. When the prices come down in two years will there be enough interest? I honestly can't see rebuying my DVD collection in high def. Maybe movies that have particularly good cinematography, but I don't think high definition will make Monty Python and the Holy Grail any funnier.
I used to play head to head modem mode with a friend of mine. After about an hour he'd have to quit due to nausea. Great fun but extremely disorienting at times!
Re:I can still remember Quake 1 being released
on
Quake is 10
·
· Score: 1
"I don't remember broadband back in the day."
In most places it wasn't available. Your choices were limited to modem, maybe really expensive ISDN (usually less than 128kbps) or a super expensive T1. Of course the truth is something like 80% of all dotcom era Internet startups were really just excuses to pay for a T1 and a nice Quake server. We used to run our Quake server on a quad processor Sparc.
Re:I can still remember Quake 1 being released
on
Quake is 10
·
· Score: 1
If you are used to playing on a high ping connection going to a good connection will mess up your game. After years of playing online FPS over a 28.8k modem, switching to cable was initially quite disorienting. My frag rate definately dropped. Of course after a couple days of playing you readjust and kick ass again. You just need to unlearn compensating for the bad ping.
"The single-player was fun, but the real accomplishment of Quake is bringing in the era of deathmatch."
I'd have to say Doom probably did that. At least I was heavily into online deathmatch gaming well before Quake was released. We used to play IPX games like this over TCP/IP using Kali. I had a friend with a whopping high speed ISDN line who used to host LAN parties. We'd hook up a bunch of computers and play against other people over the Internet. Doom and Duke Nuke'em 3D were the most popular games at teh time.
"Meanwhile FPS games are generally very limited. They generally few enough maps to count on your hand, and similarly few weapons. Further an argument can be made that all games from the same generation are fairly the same save causmetics."
It's kind of hard to compare the two. I mean looking at an FPS and saying "the lewt is teh suxors" is a bit silly. Having more guns doesn't necessarily make an FPS any better. For the last three years I've been playing one MMO or another. They fill up most of my gaming time. They don't tend to offer the same visceral experience as an FPS - either single player or multiplayer. WoW's PVP battlegrounds can be fun, but they don't really have the intensity of a good Battlefield game. I'm not saying they should either, they are different animals. The single player FPS games that I have enjoyed (and completed) recently actually tend to be the shorter ones with tighter designs. I really enjoyed Half Life 2 but didn't even make it halfway through Doom 3. Most recently I completed Call of Duty 2 which although being more of the same, is probably the best WW2 FPS experience out there. Really intense. I prefer an FPS game that is consistently good and short to one that is large and uneven. On the other hand, I guess I save "large and uneven" for the MMOs, which is how pretty much all of them can be described.
Most MMOs don't give you the client for free. At launch MMOs typically retail for the price of a normal PC game: $40-$50. I know I paid $50 for World of Warcraft even 5 months after launch. So $50+$165=$215 for the first year of gameplay (remember the $50 includes the first month of play). Of course if you know you are going to be playing for awhile, most MMOs will give you a reduced monthly cost if you pay for 3, 6 or 12 months upfront.
"Because anti-Mac fanboys are just as stupid and annoying as pro-Mac fanboys, and are a lot more common."
I'm not certain if you are trying to imply I'm an anti-Mac fanboy. I also don't really know why that would be relevant in a discussion about an iPod. Anyway, I own an iPod and have purchased two other ones for my SO. I'm merely commenting on a feature I would like them to have.
"Having a built in battery that get's 14-20 hours per charge is much more convenient, yes."
You can have a removable battery that performs the same as a non-removable one. I'm not talking about using off the shelf alkaline batteries. I also have never had the charge last for 14-20 hours of active use on my iPod Mini. Admittedly this is supposedly better with the second gen ones. I don't see how having the same battery which is removable is less desirable than having that battery built-in and not (easily) user replaceable. It would be nice to be able to charge an extra battery to take with me sometimes. This is what I do with my PDA.
"Direct2Drive games are not compatible to retail bought expansions unless stated otherwise on our website."
Standard patches won't work:
"Direct2Drive games are pre-patched when you download them. Any patches made after your purchase will be available on Direct2Drive's website as soon as possible"
True. I guess I just feel like you should get a slight price break since there is no physical packaging. The other thing is that games on Direct2Drive don't go on sale. I did buy an MMO off of D2D but I was concerned about the copy protection on the other games. I noticed that some of the games use Starforce. I do like not having to put a CD in the drive to play games which is one reason I'll put up with Steam despite it's occasional wonkiness.
One certainly wonders why this has become such a personal crusade for you. Nevertheless let me address one thing:
"And before anyone says the battery is "sealed inside", so what?"
Convenience my friend, simple consumer convenience. If I can walk in and purchase a new battery and replace it myself in 30 seconds, I prefer that to having to bring it and leave it at the shop.
Steam's offerings are growing. Aside from the normal Valve software you can purchase games like Dangerous Waters, Darwinia and Space Empires IV. Direct 2 Drive has a much larger selection of games including recent full blown titles like Hitman Blood Money and Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter. I'm not exactly sure why people would pay for games this way as the price is the same as a store bought one. Stardock's Totalgaming.net offers full games for purchase, including Galactic Civilizations 2. While a number of the games are smaller, indie releases, there are some older titles from large publishers. Direct distribution may be in it's infancy and mostly focused on smaller or independant games, but there are definately some companies on the PC side trying to make it work.
"After all, it's only a matter of time before owners can download illegal copies of games using the very console they're going to play them with."
This already happens with any console that has a mod chip or other way to load CDR/DVDR backups. PS1, PS2, Dreamcast, Xbox and even Gamecube games are pirated online via both torrents and newsgroups.
I played HL2 when it came out. Finished it. Liked it a lot. Never replayed it. I preordered Episode 1 because I wanted more of the same kind of action. I also enjoyed Episode 1 but it was over too soon. I think the biggest problem is that the short amount of content isn't really satisfying. Just as you are really getting into it, the game is over. And now we have to wait more than 6 months for the next part. I'm not even a fan of long shooters. I prefer shorter, tighter designs with less repetiion to longer games of uneven quality. But there is a big difference in satisfaction when completing a game of 10 or 15 hours versus 4 or 5 hours.
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Absolutely. We previously had a 7.1Mbps/768kbps DSL line at my office. We were saturating the upstream on the connection. Locally there is almost no way to get a symmetrical line at a reasonable cost. I tried the local telcos and they gave me bids on frame relay with pricing from 2001! T1 speeds were not enough either as downstream was usually over 2.5Mbps.
We ended up going with a 4.5Mbps symmetrical circuit that a local company offers in the downtown area by connecting you via SDSL over a dry pair circuit. They have 200Mbps of fiber backhaul to the state's main carrier aggregation point.
It's really depressing to see the state of business offerings vs. consumers. It's like things haven't changed in 5 years.
You make a good point. It's a good way to get some entry level experience, just the same as working the ISP support beat is. As an IT manager I'm more likely to hire someone who has done their time under fire at a support desk than someone without that type of experience.
BUT you must admit that the savvy ones are not the norm. Most of the decent guys I've dealt with are not on the retail side but rather have moved to business sales.
Well, Apple does. In all honesty the comment about Mac geniuses was just a joke. :D
Well, actually both of them were stupid. My point wasn't that the CompUSA guy should have known if random NIC is supported in Linux. My point was that his response was retarded. He should have looked at the box, seen what drivers were included and said "It doesn't have Linux drivers, so we can't guarentee it will work." The same response works for any question about any OS that isn't listed on the box.
One thing I always wondered about. Since Macs are so easy to use, why does it require a "genius" to fix one?
The problem with "the Geek Squad" and any other computer service (including CompUSA sales for example) is that the pay is so shitty that if an individual actually knows something about computers they won't be working there.
I remember one incident where a customer had brought a network card to the support desk at CompUSA and asked "Does this card support Linux?". The tech answered "Yes, it has Windows NT drivers. Windows NT is like Linux so it will work." The mindboggled stare of the obviously more savvy customer was priceless.
Geek Squad has a great model. People pay them to fix their computers, they break it worse and wipe out the data. Then the people don't have to blame themselves for the data loss, they can blame Geek Squad.
Not exactly. Here's some good information on it:
State's utility system in better shape now
Some key points:
Since 1966 new neigborhood's have been built with underground electrical cabling.
Since hurricane Iniki devestated the island of Kauai in 1993 a lot of utility wiring has been moved underground.
Only about 40% of Hawaiian Electric Company power lines are underground.
At least here on Oahu we have plenty of power lines and during bad storms some areas of the island often lose power.
Not too mention that the black and white Mac was a terrible game machine. No color, small screen, no joystick input that I'm aware of. When the Mac II launched it cost close to $5000 to get color, so that wasn't exactly a game machine either. Macs didn't really become OK game computers until at least the mid 90s (cheap color Macs).
I understand that this was the line of reasoning that Nintendo initially put out, but I mean come on there are a ton of crap games out there. It certainly isn't gameplay quality that they are using to judge whether a game get's their blessing.
There were crap games by the bucket load for NES, crap games for Genesis and crap games for every other console.
Applying the principles of quantum physics to the macro world is not correct. From Wikipedia:
"Quantum mechanics is a fundamental branch of theoretical physics that replaces classical mechanics and classical electromagnetism at the atomic and subatomic levels."
Note the part "at the atomic and subatomic levels". When we talk about Schrodinger's cat we are using a metaphor to describe the behavior of the quantum world.
There are quite a number of new age loonies that regurgitate quantum mechanical ideas as if they are directly applicable to the macro world as opposed to governing the behavior of subatomic particles. It doesn't work like that:
"Quantum mechanics is a more fundamental theory than Newtonian mechanics and classical electromagnetism, in the sense that it provides accurate and precise descriptions for many phenomena that these "classical" theories simply cannot explain on the atomic and subatomic level. It is necessary to use quantum mechanics to understand the behavior of systems at atomic length scales and smaller. For example, if Newtonian mechanics governed the workings of an atom, electrons would rapidly travel towards and collide with the nucleus. However, in the natural world the electron normally remains in a stable orbit around a nucleus -- seemingly defying classical electromagnetism."
Wait a second... you're saying the Easter Bunny isn't real?
*cry*
Ack, it makes my brane hurt.
Or does anyone remember DVDA (the audio disc format, not the pron)?
The real question is - will the average consumer consider the increased resolution to be enough of an improvement to repurchase movies?
DVDA as a format really only appeals to audiophiles with high quality equipment. The mass market consumer driven product competing with CD players turned out to be MP3 players - which produce lower quality audio. Convenience trumped quality.
Initially HD-DVD and BluRay as well as HDTV are still priced on the high end. When the prices come down in two years will there be enough interest? I honestly can't see rebuying my DVD collection in high def. Maybe movies that have particularly good cinematography, but I don't think high definition will make Monty Python and the Holy Grail any funnier.
I used to play head to head modem mode with a friend of mine. After about an hour he'd have to quit due to nausea.
Great fun but extremely disorienting at times!
"I don't remember broadband back in the day."
In most places it wasn't available. Your choices were limited to modem, maybe really expensive ISDN (usually less than 128kbps) or a super expensive T1.
Of course the truth is something like 80% of all dotcom era Internet startups were really just excuses to pay for a T1 and a nice Quake server. We used to run our Quake server on a quad processor Sparc.
If you are used to playing on a high ping connection going to a good connection will mess up your game. After years of playing online FPS over a 28.8k modem, switching to cable was initially quite disorienting. My frag rate definately dropped. Of course after a couple days of playing you readjust and kick ass again. You just need to unlearn compensating for the bad ping.
"The single-player was fun, but the real accomplishment of Quake is bringing in the era of deathmatch."
I'd have to say Doom probably did that. At least I was heavily into online deathmatch gaming well before Quake was released. We used to play IPX games like this over TCP/IP using Kali. I had a friend with a whopping high speed ISDN line who used to host LAN parties. We'd hook up a bunch of computers and play against other people over the Internet. Doom and Duke Nuke'em 3D were the most popular games at teh time.
"Meanwhile FPS games are generally very limited. They generally few enough maps to count on your hand, and similarly few weapons. Further an argument can be made that all games from the same generation are fairly the same save causmetics."
It's kind of hard to compare the two. I mean looking at an FPS and saying "the lewt is teh suxors" is a bit silly. Having more guns doesn't necessarily make an FPS any better.
For the last three years I've been playing one MMO or another. They fill up most of my gaming time. They don't tend to offer the same visceral experience as an FPS - either single player or multiplayer. WoW's PVP battlegrounds can be fun, but they don't really have the intensity of a good Battlefield game. I'm not saying they should either, they are different animals.
The single player FPS games that I have enjoyed (and completed) recently actually tend to be the shorter ones with tighter designs. I really enjoyed Half Life 2 but didn't even make it halfway through Doom 3. Most recently I completed Call of Duty 2 which although being more of the same, is probably the best WW2 FPS experience out there. Really intense.
I prefer an FPS game that is consistently good and short to one that is large and uneven. On the other hand, I guess I save "large and uneven" for the MMOs, which is how pretty much all of them can be described.
Most MMOs don't give you the client for free. At launch MMOs typically retail for the price of a normal PC game: $40-$50. I know I paid $50 for World of Warcraft even 5 months after launch. So $50+$165=$215 for the first year of gameplay (remember the $50 includes the first month of play).
Of course if you know you are going to be playing for awhile, most MMOs will give you a reduced monthly cost if you pay for 3, 6 or 12 months upfront.
"Because anti-Mac fanboys are just as stupid and annoying as pro-Mac fanboys, and are a lot more common."
I'm not certain if you are trying to imply I'm an anti-Mac fanboy. I also don't really know why that would be relevant in a discussion about an iPod. Anyway, I own an iPod and have purchased two other ones for my SO. I'm merely commenting on a feature I would like them to have.
"Having a built in battery that get's 14-20 hours per charge is much more convenient, yes."
You can have a removable battery that performs the same as a non-removable one. I'm not talking about using off the shelf alkaline batteries. I also have never had the charge last for 14-20 hours of active use on my iPod Mini. Admittedly this is supposedly better with the second gen ones.
I don't see how having the same battery which is removable is less desirable than having that battery built-in and not (easily) user replaceable. It would be nice to be able to charge an extra battery to take with me sometimes. This is what I do with my PDA.
I noticed a couple other issues with D2D:
"Direct2Drive games are not compatible to retail bought expansions unless stated otherwise on our website."
Standard patches won't work:
"Direct2Drive games are pre-patched when you download them. Any patches made after your purchase will be available on Direct2Drive's website as soon as possible"
True. I guess I just feel like you should get a slight price break since there is no physical packaging. The other thing is that games on Direct2Drive don't go on sale.
I did buy an MMO off of D2D but I was concerned about the copy protection on the other games. I noticed that some of the games use Starforce.
I do like not having to put a CD in the drive to play games which is one reason I'll put up with Steam despite it's occasional wonkiness.
One certainly wonders why this has become such a personal crusade for you. Nevertheless let me address one thing:
"And before anyone says the battery is "sealed inside", so what?"
Convenience my friend, simple consumer convenience. If I can walk in and purchase a new battery and replace it myself in 30 seconds, I prefer that to having to bring it and leave it at the shop.
Steam's offerings are growing. Aside from the normal Valve software you can purchase games like Dangerous Waters, Darwinia and Space Empires IV.
Direct 2 Drive has a much larger selection of games including recent full blown titles like Hitman Blood Money and Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter. I'm not exactly sure why people would pay for games this way as the price is the same as a store bought one.
Stardock's Totalgaming.net offers full games for purchase, including Galactic Civilizations 2. While a number of the games are smaller, indie releases, there are some older titles from large publishers.
Direct distribution may be in it's infancy and mostly focused on smaller or independant games, but there are definately some companies on the PC side trying to make it work.
"After all, it's only a matter of time before owners can download illegal copies of games using the very console they're going to play them with."
This already happens with any console that has a mod chip or other way to load CDR/DVDR backups. PS1, PS2, Dreamcast, Xbox and even Gamecube games are pirated online via both torrents and newsgroups.
I played HL2 when it came out. Finished it. Liked it a lot. Never replayed it. I preordered Episode 1 because I wanted more of the same kind of action. I also enjoyed Episode 1 but it was over too soon. I think the biggest problem is that the short amount of content isn't really satisfying. Just as you are really getting into it, the game is over. And now we have to wait more than 6 months for the next part.
I'm not even a fan of long shooters. I prefer shorter, tighter designs with less repetiion to longer games of uneven quality. But there is a big difference in satisfaction when completing a game of 10 or 15 hours versus 4 or 5 hours.