....there is no longer ANY advantages to owning a console over a PC, and a hell of a lot more downsides.
Here are some:
- A joypad as the standard user interface instead of mouse and keyboard
- A standardised joypad configuration
- Guarantee that any software bought for that system will work (reading "Runs on Steam" on a box label is one step too far for dumb parents)
- A unified online experience (PC: Team Speak, Mumble, Skype, etc.)
- Assured that the game will run at the optimal performance (a 1st gen PS3's graphics are the same as a last gen PS3)
- Dedicated user interface - no need to use a general purpose OS to launch a game
- Parents can walk into a shop and buy a game for little Tommy to open on Christmas Day. (PC games are now hard to find on shop shelves, mostly digital downloads)
I agree that the Steam Box will certainly solve or improve the situation with most of these but I wouldn't speculate on how well or much until it is actually released.
That's BT for you, instead of investing in the network, they flog the life out of the old crap they have to avoid investing in the network, and give more money to shareholders.
Erm, isn't that the point of companies, to return profit to their owners? Privately held companies are sometimes run for other reasons of course, but publicly held ones, that is kinda their raison d'être, right?
Today, though, with terrorism down to nuisance levels...
Maybe in the US, but have you seen how many people we pick up in the UK still that are at various stages of planning or executing major attacks? More than enough to keep this a problem here for the foreseeable future. If it is a problem here then I don't think the US will take chances there either. But the plan you outlined is a very nice one!
Oh I DREAM of this situation you describe!
Sadly my wife-to-be has no interests. Makes my hard-core gaming interest a little difficult to pursue as, if I am gaming, she is bored >.
Interestingly I work at the moment for a very large well known investment house with many many billions of dollars under management, and we are currently testing all our apps in preparation for a Windows 8 roll out later next year. If enough fail the Windows 8 test we will go to 7 instead, but I have that nagging feeling it will be 8.
Insane? I don't think so. An extreme challenge? For sure. I am most interested in how our users cope with the jolting change away from a start menu to a start screen. I have been using 8 since its release on my home PCs and don't see what all the fuss is about. Yes it is different, but not THAT different. Personally I am really looking forward to the move away from IE 8 (!)
We shall see in due course.
All this fal-de-ral just to make sure that a few people pay their vehicle
tax?
No, to make sure that people do not drive uninsured too.
Why not simply require everyone to pay their tax annually when they
register their vehicle? Put a sticker on the windshield showing that the
tax was paid, LIKE THEY DO EVERYWHERE ELSE
We do. We are required to display a paper 'tax disc' on the windscreen
showing the date up to the tax is valid for. There is also a database so
that people are sent reminders through the post and can apply and pay for a
new one over the Internet.
Or if you must monitor everyone's tax status minute-by-minute, have
everyone carry a tax-paid UPC fob that is scannable by a credit card swiper
(or an attendant) when you pay for your gas?
We don't have to monitor everyone's tax status minute by minute, but
monitoring the insurance status of a driver minute by minute I think would
be quite desirable. I don't want one hitting me or increasing my insurance
costs every year.
A further issue though that I haven't seen mentioned so far is that
insurance works on a driver by driver basis and not necessarily linked to
the vehicle. I am insured to drive most types of cars, so, as far as I am
aware, could jump into a car registered to an uninsured friend and legally
drive it. Should I be stopped from filling it up? I think not.
(Sorry for not being able to quote properly, JS fails on my office PC
running IE8)
What makes him a nut is that his view is a minority one. The more people follow your ideas the more mainstream and less nutty they become, regardless of how irrational or silly they are.
This is so true in the world, it actually makes me rather sad for humanity and where it is going at times. We laugh at African witchdoctors, look down at their odd kitten sacrifices and things, but think nothing of pinning down a new born baby boy and hacking off parts of his anatomy for example.
A sad world indeed...
Slashdot Mirror
....there is no longer ANY advantages to owning a console over a PC, and a hell of a lot more downsides.
Here are some:
I agree that the Steam Box will certainly solve or improve the situation with most of these but I wouldn't speculate on how well or much until it is actually released.
That's BT for you, instead of investing in the network, they flog the life out of the old crap they have to avoid investing in the network, and give more money to shareholders.
Erm, isn't that the point of companies, to return profit to their owners? Privately held companies are sometimes run for other reasons of course, but publicly held ones, that is kinda their raison d'être, right?
Today, though, with terrorism down to nuisance levels...
Maybe in the US, but have you seen how many people we pick up in the UK still that are at various stages of planning or executing major attacks? More than enough to keep this a problem here for the foreseeable future. If it is a problem here then I don't think the US will take chances there either. But the plan you outlined is a very nice one!
Oh I DREAM of this situation you describe! Sadly my wife-to-be has no interests. Makes my hard-core gaming interest a little difficult to pursue as, if I am gaming, she is bored >.
Interestingly I work at the moment for a very large well known investment house with many many billions of dollars under management, and we are currently testing all our apps in preparation for a Windows 8 roll out later next year. If enough fail the Windows 8 test we will go to 7 instead, but I have that nagging feeling it will be 8. Insane? I don't think so. An extreme challenge? For sure. I am most interested in how our users cope with the jolting change away from a start menu to a start screen. I have been using 8 since its release on my home PCs and don't see what all the fuss is about. Yes it is different, but not THAT different. Personally I am really looking forward to the move away from IE 8 (!) We shall see in due course.
All this fal-de-ral just to make sure that a few people pay their vehicle tax? No, to make sure that people do not drive uninsured too. Why not simply require everyone to pay their tax annually when they register their vehicle? Put a sticker on the windshield showing that the tax was paid, LIKE THEY DO EVERYWHERE ELSE We do. We are required to display a paper 'tax disc' on the windscreen showing the date up to the tax is valid for. There is also a database so that people are sent reminders through the post and can apply and pay for a new one over the Internet. Or if you must monitor everyone's tax status minute-by-minute, have everyone carry a tax-paid UPC fob that is scannable by a credit card swiper (or an attendant) when you pay for your gas? We don't have to monitor everyone's tax status minute by minute, but monitoring the insurance status of a driver minute by minute I think would be quite desirable. I don't want one hitting me or increasing my insurance costs every year. A further issue though that I haven't seen mentioned so far is that insurance works on a driver by driver basis and not necessarily linked to the vehicle. I am insured to drive most types of cars, so, as far as I am aware, could jump into a car registered to an uninsured friend and legally drive it. Should I be stopped from filling it up? I think not. (Sorry for not being able to quote properly, JS fails on my office PC running IE8)
Right, it is just like clerics have high WIS and low INT, and mages have high INT and low WIS Them multi-class mage/clerics are are smart people!
Excellent! I snap up all the new DC games these days. This'll be a great addition to the collection :D
What makes him a nut is that his view is a minority one. The more people follow your ideas the more mainstream and less nutty they become, regardless of how irrational or silly they are.
This is so true in the world, it actually makes me rather sad for humanity and where it is going at times. We laugh at African witchdoctors, look down at their odd kitten sacrifices and things, but think nothing of pinning down a new born baby boy and hacking off parts of his anatomy for example. A sad world indeed...
Your right.
No, your left. Or should that be my right? :s