Those are all nice suggestions, and while I generally support the abandonware movement and emulation, I do think that it's important to note that the GBA is still being sold in stores, so it's not quite abandonware yet. If you're running an emulator for any ROMs that you haven't paid for, you're guilty of copyright violation and software piracy. There's no EULA on GBA games to my knowledge, so if you own physical cartridges, more power to you. I'm thrifty, but I do try to avoid breaking the law except when it's utterly ridiculous not to do so.
Also, while I do like emulation, there's really nothing quite like the real thing, and I try to keep real hardware for my collections to the extent that it's practical. I've got original Atari 2600, 5200, 7800, Colecovision, NES, SNES, N64, and Gamecube in my stable. I do like the GBA because of it's portability, and it is MUCH more portable than any laptop. The GBA fits easily in a coat pocket. My laptop fits.... in a big-ass messenger bag. Also, I feel a lot less risk whipping out a GBA I paid $30 when I'm out somewhere in public than I would my $1000+ T61 Thinkpad. Besides, the native controls are better than anything I might plug into my T61's usb port. And if I lose the GBA, the only data I'm crying over is the saved game on the cartridge I left in the slot. I guess the T61 wins on screen size, but I can get 10 hours of battery out of my GBA vs around 3+ from the Thinkpad, and I have the 9-cell battery.
$30 each for a pair of used GBA SP's, you can't beat that. And used games are $5-20/title at Gamestop. I'll buy a Wii when they come down in price. I said that last year, and it's a year later and you STILL can't find one in stores, so I know I have a bit of a wait in store before they drop down to the $149 pricepoint that I'm waiting for. I don't care, though; I have a good six generations worth of consoles in my spare bedroom and I can't play them all.
So what? It does have that feature, and you have to take the controls as a whole. A keyboard/mouse with no fire button would be equally useless. What's your point?
My earliest experience with a computer was with the Atari 2600, but the first experience with a real computer that had a keyboard was with the C64 and Apple ][ systems they had in Elementary school. The first thing we did with them was play around with Logo, telling that turtle how to move around the screen and so forth. We delighted in making geometric patterns with simple loop algorithms and creating subroutines that defined how to create a square or other shape.
Sadly, when I graduated high school in 1993, the computer lab that they were teaching Pascal on was still equipped with Apple ][e systems, with dual 5.25" floppy disks, no hard drive, and 64K of RAM. The library had the school's only Mac, a Mac II+ that ran some stupid pre-internet Hypercard encyclopedia or catalog or something.
I wish I had a C64, just to fire up and play with every now and then. The best thing about them was how simple they were, and therefore easy to understand. I got a good grasp of fundamental concepts because the system was so uncomplicated and had so few layers of technologies between me and the hardware. The worst was how slow they were, particularly accessing data on the floppy drive.
You could always order a CTO Thinkpad T61 with Windows XP Professional preloaded. It cost a bit more than Vista Home Basic, but the same as Home Premium or Business.
I think that Zeropunctuation reviews are entertaining and far more worthwhile than a typical shill reviewer's imaginationless tripe. I don't really find them useful as game reviews, per se, so much as criticisms of gamer culture, using the game at hand to criticise the lack of creativity and innovation in games. While I share that guy's views on many points, it's not to say that some of the games that he's panned aren't fun in their own right. Like, he routinely slams entire genres of games, such as RPGs, and while those criticisms may have some valid basis, it's not to say that RPGs can't be enjoyed.
Pretty much everyone knows that game reviews have been co-opted by advertiser bias, and that this has been a problem since pretty much forever, although things always seem to be getting worse. Reviews are simply not looked at as though they were objective works of criticism, but rather as more advertising and hype masquerading as information. It's an intolerable situation, and the wonderful thing about it is that the days are numbered.
It's the easiest thing in the world stop paying attention to reviews, turn off the hype channels, and buy games based on information that you can trust. Word of mouth from friends who game is hugely more trustable than a game magazine or web site. Rent the game or download a demo and play it before you buy, or watch a video of the game being played on YouTube. Suck can't hide from direct experiences like that.
Maybe some day the video game critic will be able to throw off the oppressive advertiser dollar and write finely crafted reviews that read more like serious art and film criticism than they do press release and ad copy. Maybe the way to start is to start selling advertising space to people advertising stuff OTHER than games. Sell more ads to Doritos and Mountain Dew, they don't care if $newshineygame sucks or not. It's possible to sell adveritising and maintain a certain amount of independence and objectivity. It's not easy, but it is possible.
I am not a Mac User but anybody that installs a codec to view porn that they get from the porn site...
I'm baffled as to why a malware writer would think that a Mac user would want to jerk off to pr0n; it's all about Quicktime VR models of iPhones and WWDC Stevenote addresses if you really want to sucker a Machead into r00ting his box for you. If they put up a fake MacRumors site and post a fake rumor for QuickTime++, they'll get near-100% infection.
Slashdot Mirror
It's either Mostly Dead, or Dead-Like-BSD. I'm not sure which.
Those are all nice suggestions, and while I generally support the abandonware movement and emulation, I do think that it's important to note that the GBA is still being sold in stores, so it's not quite abandonware yet. If you're running an emulator for any ROMs that you haven't paid for, you're guilty of copyright violation and software piracy. There's no EULA on GBA games to my knowledge, so if you own physical cartridges, more power to you. I'm thrifty, but I do try to avoid breaking the law except when it's utterly ridiculous not to do so.
Also, while I do like emulation, there's really nothing quite like the real thing, and I try to keep real hardware for my collections to the extent that it's practical. I've got original Atari 2600, 5200, 7800, Colecovision, NES, SNES, N64, and Gamecube in my stable. I do like the GBA because of it's portability, and it is MUCH more portable than any laptop. The GBA fits easily in a coat pocket. My laptop fits.... in a big-ass messenger bag. Also, I feel a lot less risk whipping out a GBA I paid $30 when I'm out somewhere in public than I would my $1000+ T61 Thinkpad. Besides, the native controls are better than anything I might plug into my T61's usb port. And if I lose the GBA, the only data I'm crying over is the saved game on the cartridge I left in the slot. I guess the T61 wins on screen size, but I can get 10 hours of battery out of my GBA vs around 3+ from the Thinkpad, and I have the 9-cell battery.
...the bee's knees.
$30 each for a pair of used GBA SP's, you can't beat that. And used games are $5-20/title at Gamestop. I'll buy a Wii when they come down in price. I said that last year, and it's a year later and you STILL can't find one in stores, so I know I have a bit of a wait in store before they drop down to the $149 pricepoint that I'm waiting for. I don't care, though; I have a good six generations worth of consoles in my spare bedroom and I can't play them all.
I guess my point is that it's a good thing there's a Z button.
If the system would suck without a Z button, but it DOES have a Z button, then you don't have a valid criticism.
So what? It does have that feature, and you have to take the controls as a whole. A keyboard/mouse with no fire button would be equally useless. What's your point?
Please don't hurt him.
Ah, back when the internet really was a series of tubes. Those were the days.
Is there an "edited for television" cut for Blade Runner? Lol.
I want more cuts... fucker.
They'll release another 83 billion versions of this for each new media format that comes out between now and doomsday. Just you wait.
My earliest experience with a computer was with the Atari 2600, but the first experience with a real computer that had a keyboard was with the C64 and Apple ][ systems they had in Elementary school. The first thing we did with them was play around with Logo, telling that turtle how to move around the screen and so forth. We delighted in making geometric patterns with simple loop algorithms and creating subroutines that defined how to create a square or other shape.
Sadly, when I graduated high school in 1993, the computer lab that they were teaching Pascal on was still equipped with Apple ][e systems, with dual 5.25" floppy disks, no hard drive, and 64K of RAM. The library had the school's only Mac, a Mac II+ that ran some stupid pre-internet Hypercard encyclopedia or catalog or something.
I wish I had a C64, just to fire up and play with every now and then. The best thing about them was how simple they were, and therefore easy to understand. I got a good grasp of fundamental concepts because the system was so uncomplicated and had so few layers of technologies between me and the hardware. The worst was how slow they were, particularly accessing data on the floppy drive.
You could always order a CTO Thinkpad T61 with Windows XP Professional preloaded. It cost a bit more than Vista Home Basic, but the same as Home Premium or Business.
"Don't worry, don't you remember that slashdot article about that vault?"
"What vault?"
"The doomsday seed vault! It'll save us all, we'll have plenty to eat as soon as we can get some crops planted."
"That's great! Where is it?"
"The Arctic circle."
"What?"
"Well, they needed to keep the seeds cold so they'd stay viable."
"How in the fuck are we going to get to the north pole?"
"Um, oh yeah. Peopleburgers it is then."
Add to that, if they ever do go out of business they will permanently auto-activate any and all Windows license.
I think that Zeropunctuation reviews are entertaining and far more worthwhile than a typical shill reviewer's imaginationless tripe. I don't really find them useful as game reviews, per se, so much as criticisms of gamer culture, using the game at hand to criticise the lack of creativity and innovation in games. While I share that guy's views on many points, it's not to say that some of the games that he's panned aren't fun in their own right. Like, he routinely slams entire genres of games, such as RPGs, and while those criticisms may have some valid basis, it's not to say that RPGs can't be enjoyed.
Pretty much everyone knows that game reviews have been co-opted by advertiser bias, and that this has been a problem since pretty much forever, although things always seem to be getting worse. Reviews are simply not looked at as though they were objective works of criticism, but rather as more advertising and hype masquerading as information. It's an intolerable situation, and the wonderful thing about it is that the days are numbered.
It's the easiest thing in the world stop paying attention to reviews, turn off the hype channels, and buy games based on information that you can trust. Word of mouth from friends who game is hugely more trustable than a game magazine or web site. Rent the game or download a demo and play it before you buy, or watch a video of the game being played on YouTube. Suck can't hide from direct experiences like that.
Maybe some day the video game critic will be able to throw off the oppressive advertiser dollar and write finely crafted reviews that read more like serious art and film criticism than they do press release and ad copy. Maybe the way to start is to start selling advertising space to people advertising stuff OTHER than games. Sell more ads to Doritos and Mountain Dew, they don't care if $newshineygame sucks or not. It's possible to sell adveritising and maintain a certain amount of independence and objectivity. It's not easy, but it is possible.
A 10,000 TEU Maersk liner might have 250 reefer slots, and that sucks a lot of power,
But that's OK, man, it's a greeeeeeen power!
... but it does get the cancer to mellow out and be cool and stop causing so many hassles.
OK, let's move on then.
Did anyone else misread the story beneath on the main page as "Ballmer calls Asteroid a 'press release'"?
Or 1.2 A-Rods in Standard Approximation Units.
Also, the cost should be given in A-Rods, not dollars.
Or is that in another office down the hall?
I'm baffled as to why a malware writer would think that a Mac user would want to jerk off to pr0n; it's all about Quicktime VR models of iPhones and WWDC Stevenote addresses if you really want to sucker a Machead into r00ting his box for you. If they put up a fake MacRumors site and post a fake rumor for QuickTime++, they'll get near-100% infection.
The AMD Skullfucker-64 5300+ will 0wn this.