If you guys are going to tell it, don't pretend it happened to you. No one believes YOU were the one who got that call. They never believed it, and they just shake their head that you have to steal the famous story.
I've had a couple hilarious help desk calls when I worked at Harvard, however that's also part of the reason I left helpdesk jobs, because you realize how little an impact you really are making after a while.
Then again the best feeling in the world is that one call which you troubleshoot with a person for 3-4 hours, you've asked for help from everyone, you call them back, they call you back til you start to hate the problembut then you suddenly get that moment of inspiration and you fix the problem and you can't believe that it was so obvious but that moment when you hang up you feel "today was a good day".
I'm not saying the X-box wasn't a flaw. Hell I didn't own one, I didn't want one, I didn't want to see one. But the 360 is incredible compared to x-box, and Ps2. It also won't cost me half a grand. (well ok it did for everything.). However Microsoft isn't aiming for the 12 year old. They are appealing to the older consumer, the person with 400 dollars to spend, late Teens, college and the 20-30 age ratio.
As for Japan, they're screwed, not because of inferiority, but because they are American, and Japan has national pride, something Americans have given away over the years. Let's not get into that and talk about if it was worth it for America, or why we did it, but for the most part Japan wants to buy Japanese items when they can. While Team Ninja games did help sell the xbox, the japanese consumer saw that that was about the only "good" company on the Xbox, so why buy the 360.
Microsoft answered with the 360. They are actually getting RPGs, Ridge Racer 6 (yes PS3 has 7), and other licenses. They will NEVER be number 1 in japan, if they do that then I'll eat a hat, but at the same time the 360 will definatly take off better than the Xbox in japan. It's just going to take time (RPGs arn't written over night)
However I'm not saying ignore the teenager, but at the same time what is the PS3 doing? 600 dollars. The wii will definatly get noticed and make those sales (sadly that will again make nintendo the "kiddy" console) and those elitist kids will buy a xbox and Ps3, the normal kid will get the Wii, he might save up for a 360, but he'll see it takes him almost twice as long for a PS3 than a 360. That's not a good sign.
But then again those adults in the 20-30 area with disposable income is the target of the 360, those people who can spend 60 bucks for a game a month with out batting an eye, that's the target, not the kid who has to save up for a 60 dollar game when ever he wants one. And even those people stop when they hear the Ps3's price, especially when you can get the 360 for 200 dollars cheaper.
This article is targetting Malware, and looking at the most common malware. There are thus three factors that malware writers rely on.
1. What they want. Are they doing pop ups, are they trying to get known, are they trying out a neat bug. 1 wants a wide spread dispersal, the other two are scaled system for the most part. If you're trying to get known as a virus writer your going to write a virus on a large scale, if you want to get known for writing a unique virus, you'll write it in a "labratory" idea, where the virus shouldn't leave a small network.
2. How can they get it. I'll just focus on wide spread dispersal, because the other forms of distribution actually wouldn't matter here, since we are talking about common malware. For wide spread dispersal we want the largest amount of people to have the virus. Considering that 90 percent of people use Windows, and most use 2000 or XP, you'd focus on making it work on that. You'll focus on IE, not firefox, since IE still holds 80-90 percent of the browser market, you'll focus on Outlook because it has more known exploits and less technically incline people use it (over other email clients, not that all Outlook users are fools, but users who are fools will use Outlook).
3. What tools they have to gain it. So assume we arn't looking at wide spread dispersal, then let's assume you want to write a program X, that can be written on a PC or a Mac. You own a PC (likely) so instead of going out and buying a Macintosh for 2,000 dollars or getting a used one, you're going to use the PC you already own. If 90 percent of the world has a PC, then the person who is going to have a chip on his shoulder isn't going to likely own a Mac. There are bad people who have Macs, but then again their work doesn't spread as far, and they arn't likely trying to get huge amounts of pop ups on people. I'm sure there's a slight focus there but then again Macs use Safari for browsing not IE, so pop ups are a bit different to set up.
This is the same BS that people are talking about with Firefox. Firefox isn't necessarily safer than IE. Firefox isn't targetted as much as IE. If ever moron with a computer went out and bought a mac, with in a year we'd see a huge breeding ground for virii. Yes there's safety and security that the user has in OSX, that's the same safety and security we had in 2000 and XP. Same security as the Admin who runs day to day Linux from root.
It's the same security that the average computer user will get around, ignore, or just forget about after the first month of using their computer. They will likely disable it or find it to much of a hassle, or something, and somehow it'll slowly disolve away.
Microsoft doesn't write software for Malware to breed on. Microsoft writes software to make it easier for the consumer and application programmer to interface in a little thing called an executable. The fact Malware is an application is just something that really wasn't a problem back when XP was getting into final production, but it is. However it's similar to a safe, if you want to protect something, create a safe, lock your items in it along with the key. That would protect your items but it'll make it hidden from everyone except the perfect safecracker. The cost for such a safe would likely be astronomical because to make it unable to be cracked would take a lot. However how many people would want to lock their favorite hat up that way, or a magazine they just got in the mail?
It's the same with the computers. The more hassles that we have to go through to get a program through security is just another step to making the user not want to use that computer. Personally I'm moving away from computers already to consoles for my gaming for ease of use, how much farther will I go?
So in his opinion, a 400 dollar monstrosity, and a 600 dollar screw up is going to sell much better than the ~300 dollar Wii?
I do admit the 360 has done everything right in their launch and of course they are going to be on top for quite a while. I'd be willing to suggest they win this generation. However how is the PS3 going to get even close to that. They already admited they arn't worried about the following
600 dollar price
Higher Priced games.
No GTA Exclusivity
Going with all blu ray games.
A cheaper version that essentially isn't a game system in many ways.
An unknown and untested online that promises everything the Xbox does (though likely will have more focus on label music)
The same controller with unproven "movement functionality" and no rumble.
A strong lineup of launch games.
Sony is pulling a nintendo 64, they are overestimating name recognition and they will fall flat on the face.
The Wii may not get the hard core gamers, but a lot of techno nuts will grab it just for the pure innovation. At the same time NO ONE is getting a 360 for just arcade games, however someone is more likely to buy a 250 dollar Wii (which sounds what they are aiming for) and go and buy some old nintendo games to play with for a couple dollars tops.
Now I'm not saying the Wii will beat the Ps3, but the Ps3 will NEVER be close behind 360 at the rate they are going. The gaming community has embraced the 360 in North America (where we are talking about), the world's gaming community is extremely skeptical of the PS3, and interested in the Wii. Factor in a Zelda launch title, Halo 3, 2nd gen 360 games, and eyes start to turn.
That's not to say in 2007/2008 that the PS3 will not get great games, or the Wii will get tons of great games. No one knows but the facts are against the PS3 rocketting away. The 360 is "simple" to program for (compared to the PS3), the Wii has a unique controller which both helps and hinders it. And looking at fall 2007, those second generation 360 games are coming fast, compared to launch PS3 games they will blow them away.
Microsoft did almost everything right with the 360 overall, the launch was weak and weak BC, but the games are slowly coming in. On the other side, nintendo is doing everything right in creating a new "interactive" gamer level, and Sony is just about doing everything wrong. One or two issues wouldn't be a problem but Sony really has a long way to become top dog again.
And this is coming from a guy who didn't own a Xbox, I own a 360 now though and I couldn't be happier, it's a great system, I'll be buying a Wii, but the Ps3 still isn't worth the 600 bucks. And remember a PS3 will be highly inflated numbers as well because people will buy it just for the blu ray which is cheaper than buying a Blu-ray player solo.
Now THAT'S the solution. That commerical would work, instead of all this crap our side should get together to form a system similar to MADD or such to inform people about alternative ways to acquire music, or alternative layers.
It wouldn't stop people from buying the music they'd want but it might slow the speed people buy those albums, or maybe have them investigate a small label, or a local band.
John Romero Should be required to add "and Daikatana" every time he talks about games he made. This guy isn't a game god no matter what people want to believe. He worked with Carmack. Carmack is apparently what made Doom and quake great. How can I tell? Doom 3, great piece of work, Daikatana, total crap.
I'm not saying Romero has no talent, but he's a level programmer, not a designer.
Since when has people STARTING to adopt methodologies been worthy of slashdot? Game development takes years if this honestly works that's fine, but we need to know of games that were fully created with Agile methodologies.
There's a few flaws. Can someone tell me why a working prototype would be better when you're working in a company of a couple hundred people? I work at a semi major game developer and let me tell you, working on a early game type, you need those design documents just because you have no idea the vision, then coming on to the game later, you'll need those documents again because no one is going to flawlessly comment code so a new programmer is screwed.
Game development companies need to make tools, because otherwise you have people doing worthless repeditive work. In game editors are worth more than the guy who solves minor bugs, because that in game editor will be used by almost all the users, a minor bug could probably be solved by everyone. The guy at my company who designed a system for adding gameplay easily is easily worth more than the person who fixed the rendering bug, because the first guy's work takes hours off of everyone's time table when they have to create their own event, the second guy has better end result but that could have been done at any time.
Their ideas are interesting but sadly it sounds like it's more focused on small scale products with 15-20 employees, rather then large scale products.
Besides which any time you have large scale products you're already working on the scrum type of cycle. At least if your in a semi intellegent company, that wants to have good communication with out killing the team with it.
The only flaw in using Scrum is you can't use it for the first monthes of development. Your focus needs to be on developing the world there, but you need those paper guidelines. And worst as the game grows and you're prototypes look finished in a protype world, and they get tossed into a real world almost every single one will end up breaking, whether through a problem with the animation being updated, the world getting a new nav system, the controls completely changing, and so on. And so for another 2-3 weeks you're wasting time on prototype fixes again updating them.
In the end it is helpful, and with a good company it works well, and it does beat the waterfall system, however it isn't the savior. It sounds more like the writer believes the waterfall system has 0 communication where the programmer and the designer never talks. That's not how the system should work, that's how a poor company implements a mediocre system.
The bigger problem though is his comment that there's going to be less crunches because of it? Since when. Any time a major system gets changed in the final monthes all subsystems will have problems, ones that were finished earlier are inevitably going to have more errors. Crunches happen, you arn't going to make them disappear, if you don't want to crunch, go talk to Duke Nukem Forever, or Daikatana about that, that's about the only way.
no return call... or a call with a constant stream of obsenities aimed at Steve Jobs and to give them the working computer back so they can actually use real software?
To be honest it's the same reason. The FCC does prohibit it for this reason. The FAA works with the FCC for the same reason, while a few instruments could possibly be interfered with by a cell phone, none are as critical as they make it out to be. Unless one was stuck in a major instrument only situation (IFR for those who know flight) the instruments arn't "critical". The fact is there's little proof that a cell phone can even interfer with the instruments.
At the same time we are blowing this out of proportion. If one could do this one evil terrorist would have a plane, fly up to 15,000 feet and use a cell phone laughing at his plan. While this doesn't work, having a couple hundred people using cellphones on planes at the same time definatly would have a detremental affect on the cell system. But wait. There's no proof of this either.
Now first off yes, a cell phone CAN interfer with instruments in planes. But so can anything that creates an electromanatic field. I'm still allowed to use my DS (they probably don't know it can use wifi) and I've never taken down the plane. Same with a PSP. While there's a slight chance of a problem, the critical times of flight are those in which a plane takes off and lands. Thus why no electronics are allowed on during those two times.
But yes there's a danger of both situations happening, however there's no concrete proof that it could happen. And if you want to tell me that it will, let me ask you this, we're so afraid of terrorists, why arn't cell phones not allowed on planes if they are so dangerous? We could easily leave them in our suitcases or have them placed in a suitcase like cart that some planes carry. So why are we allowed to take them on board.
Simple. They arn't as dangerous as meantioned. It's more likely both bans are similar to smoking bans. Does second hand smoke kill? Not really. Milk can be provent to kill more people. Is second hand smoking enjoyable? HELLLLL no. And thus why we have no smoking bans in most places.
Re:Ok, I was interested before but now....
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Wii-mote In Action
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· Score: 1
First off the Wii-mote has a rumble system. Hopefully it'll also be a directional force so you can feel the thump of contact. Even not as meantioned there's a speaker so you can know when you had the contact.
It's really unknown if you can have constant motion with the weapons and make contact but assuming you can I don't think there's a lot of difference between a slash and moving constantly in the same direction. When you make contact in real life with an opponent you'll have to conciously stop yourself. If you instead continue pressing and making the same motion you're weapon will slip and move like you'll see in the game.
Basically it's like this. Throw a punch at a soft solid object (NOT A WALL!, I'm not respackling your house for you) now throw that same punch but aim for a point two inches behind the object and don't stop the punch until you reach your point. The force you use on the punch is greatly increased and pushing.
Now take that same force you used on the punch and throw another punch with it in mid air. You'll actually have to move beyond the point because that force acting against you is missing.
This is sorta like the problem we're talking about. If you were using a VR suit and wanted to throw the first punch in a game you'd have to have thrown the second punch in real life. Will it work? Yes. So when you're doing a swing and you go beyond where contact is made with an opponents weapon you're getting into a "conflict" style system where you can cross swords with the enemy and break the opponents guard.
Will this all be actually done in the game? probably. Will the controls be better than how I'm making them sound. I hope so. The options are there, the question is really how are the programmers going to be using the system to give that feeling.
Honestly we'll get great stuff. People who are acting like you have to make elabourate moves or you'll get a work out from using the system are stupid. If your right infront of the tv a foot away then the sensor is going to have problems (or you up the sensativity) but if your on a couch you should be getting a good system where it's jerking your hand not your whole body.
I had AT&T wireless for 2 years. First they set me up with a cheap phone, at the same time they signed me up for every single optional program. I called them up after the first month to yell about it. They "fixed" it.
Next month most of them disappeared, there was two programs, something and Equipment insurance. I called them up and canceled them both.
Then the third bill came, I don't even remember if I got my rebates at that point, I believe not, but the equipment insurance was STILL on my phone. so I called them up and started yelling. the real question I asked them was why the hell would I insure a phone that costs 20 bucks if I had to pay 50 dollar deductable, and I was charged 5 bucks a month for it? They assured me it would be fixed.
Then I got all sorts of pay program off the web I never even signed up for. And they assured me it would be fixed (it was 3 monthes after the fact)
Every time I had to call them it was such a chore to get anything done that I finally started to go 3-4 monthes before trying again. Every time I was either told it would be fixed, or given a random package of programs. They told me I didn't call the week before when I had. They told me there was no record of me asking for this or that to be turned off. And this was over a variety of customer reps. Not just one person.
After 9 monthes Cingular bought AT&T Wireless, and what happened? nothing. I still had the same problems. Apparently I had a "fuck with this customer" flag on me.
Finally I gave up paying more than I should, I switched phones, but I still couldn't cancel that account, I was basically shell shocked. I gave the account to my mother to handle since I couldn't make a call (I just knew nothing good would come of it.) so she canceled my account....
Next month a bill came. Service was not interrupted, the cancelation fee was not waived (of course they said it would be) and so on. So my mother again called, finally after two more contacts she got the account canceled at the same time she said she understood the problems.
The next month, I got yet another bill, apparently even though we paid off the amount there was more charges, because it wasn't canceled on the right day. So finally we took care of that bill.
Now I get a monthly bill that says "you have a balance of -6.53" That's right. We over paid, so now we get a monthly statement on that, getting the money is hard though.
Finally we have just told the company to take the 6 dollars and stop bothering us the customer.
In the meantime, T-mobile has never once given me a problem, my customer service problems are fixed quickly and easily. But AT&T probably made over two hundred dollars off of me just from the fact that their customer service was so bad, and they had me in a binding contract. If I could go back in time I'd have broken the contract at the first sign of problems because the amount I would have had to pay then was the same I paid at the end AND they still got money from me between the two points.
Sadly as such this won't be helpful. Yes you got moded up for it. But it's barely readable.
Next time I'd highly advise making sure your tags work or just formatting the text yourself rather then rushing to post. It makes it so that we can enjoy the article more, as it seems you definatly have valuable insight, which is something that we all can appreciate.
Viral marketing seems to be their tool of choice. And when that doesn't work, flood the media with the same information.
I'm sick of hearing about the Origami. I was sick of it when it was just a rumor, then it was confirmed, then it was profiled, then it was abscent from E3, it's been 6 monthes and it's just basically vaporware. Jesus, this is what they WANT you to do. You already are overhyping it by just talking about it more and more.. Is it a game system, is it a handheld, is it just a small laptop.
Personally I think we all should just say screw you to microsoft and stop handling their free advertising with all their rumors and shit. Viral marketing might work, but do we really need to help it along with stories that allow their new name become household words?
out of most of my friends when I told them about the game the common answers I got was
"What there's only 16 monsters?"
"what it's all bosses"
"what else is there to do?"
"What weapons do you get"
Now a couple of them have got it and like the game but the rest just don't see the majestic part of the game. Something like GTA appeals to a large segment of gamers, there's accomplishment, random dicking around and just basically enjoyable stuff. This game how if your interested in random acts of violence or anything out side the art, or the majesty, will miss the point of the game.
I'd love if this game is considered one of the best game ever, but it will never get that way, it'll be popular, but popular in the same way something like American Beauty is appreciated (even though that movie was meh to me), not the same way that Star Wars is appreciated by fans.
Most game players should avoid this game, it's not radically hard, it's just beautifully done. Don't expect too much random killing, it's more about the journey then the destination, but overall it's a near perfect game, that proves games can be art.
Overall though this is one game that will just floor you with presentation to the point that you'll just ride instead of going to the next colossi. and that's not a bad thing either, there's a good variety in area, and it feels pretty beautiful.
Sadly this move from single player to Multiplayer might turn off some fans, personally I don't play many multiplayer games on the consoles, because when I play games I like to give a little taunt, or just relax. I don't see many games on the consoles(though tony hawk has been fun to play multiplayer most games are less then stellar, especially EA's fare (SSX 3 was dead)) that are worth playing multiplayer.
Personally I'm more likely to skip a multiplayer heavy game and likely I'll do the same for this one.
But don't worry about their features, I'm sure they'll program in the blizzard usuals using the battle net they already have in place tweaked for PS2 and Xbox systems and it should be enjoyable enough.
They say the system is going to cost 340 at launch to make. and Sony's going to cost 495. So nice of them to forget production. Anyone remember the fact that there's people they pay to put these systems together, it's not just faceless magic that assembles these systems, in addition there's other costs.
And Sony doesn't want to make a profit on the system, they need to make the profit on the game, every company knows this. Microsoft has opted for a lesser system in hopes to avoid going into an initial debt which is what happened to the Xbox and they never got out of it.
besides half of the price difference is blu ray, but what happens when MS upgrades the 360 to have the HD DVD, Which they keep saying they will do. I'm betting that will cost them 100 bucks more.
And if there's not enough on the bias yet... Let's look at these lines Blu-Ray is also cited as an expensive solution for PS3. The cost of the drive is estimated to cost at least $75.
Optical Media Blu-Ray $ 100
And yet NOTHING in the article so conclusive proof that We think that the Xbox 360 could be selling at half the price of PS3 in the latter half of 2006." Is even close to believeable. They show even pointing at 3 years it'll be much cheaper to make Xbox NOT 1 year.
Seriously though this is just a "Microsoft's good, now please let our computer's work faster Lord Gates" piece, proof stock market gurus know nothing about the industry (remember when they said the Xbox will beat the PS2 easily because of the year in time, now it's the Xbox 360 will beat the Ps2 because it's coming out a year earlier? Yet wasn't it the Dreamcast that came out a year earlier then the ps2? )
Google now. use making it so on launch your system MUST be packaged with 2 games? Good work.
Seriously now, am I an idiot or does this type of totalitarian tactic not jib with any one else's morals? This "sell out or you'll not get anything from us" sounds a lot like their other dealings. Personally I'd be suprised if in the future it's "sell Halo 3 with a bigger sign then the ps3 or don't get the game"
What Microsoft needs to realize is that Pre-order isn't NECESSARY to force. These companies would kill themselves to get pre-orders because they guarentee business. But even more so, they don't make that much on sales of consoles or games, doing package deals helps the company, the system, and the retailers as more units are moved. If it was only one or the other there'd be little point to do so in the past, and the last console was done with this repeatidly.
But even more than this let's say store A gets NO consoles, would they cry? Maybe the employees would for they don't have their systems themselves but then the manager would shrug. The retail stores make more money from traded in games than they ever would make on consoles. I'm willing to bet that they'd be happier if you bought an Xbox 360 and 3 used Xbox Games than an Xbox 360 and a single 360 game... Hell even better if they sell an Xbox and 3 used games plus some extra used periphes.
But overall I gotta say Microsoft who has constantly been trying to say "we're the nice guys now" has just fallen back into it's old hated work with just a little nudge.
It's even more than they meantion, while Dragon Quest/Dragon Warrior in some ways barely resemble D&D, the Original FF is even more of an off shoot with their spell system, and character creation which basically are the fathers to the Console RPG legacy as well as the handleful of RPGs for the NES (including "AD&D" a truely horrible made NES game)
Most Computer RPGs owe a lot to D&D or off shoots of it, including Ultima, Wizardry, and Might and Magic, as well as almost every MMORPG.
So go out and play a cool RPG this weekend if your not getting together for some original D&D fun.
Re:Defeating the purpose in one fell swoop.
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Printing Wikipedia
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that's why we freaking beam all our shit into space in random directions, including all the updates... and especially aim one dish at alpha centauri, then when people finally hit speeds close to the speed of light they'll pass the waves, and recieve them when they land.. and thus hear all our information (and if I have any say hopefully enjoy Penny-arcade as well as useful stuff, and Baby Got Back, that alone should surely confuse the hell out of them.)
needs to rethink their priority. Let's be honest. Morrowind for the Xbox? flawed, and no add ons. Morrowind for PC? tons of mods, the fixes came out in about 1 month, and the mods really upped the replays.
Honestly Grab it for the PC, but I'm so freaking pissed it's delayed because that is one of the great single player RPGs for the PC.
They say they'll have stuff for Xbox 360 that is downloadable, but come on? Microsoft approved Downloads? also requiring Live and a harddrive? I'm sure most decent computers will play it too and be upgradable.
Exactly my point, because Xbox 360 is the only one who will have PGR3, you'll get it, I'll likely get Revolution for Zelda (and other Nintendo games) and Sony's PS3 for GTA (assuming they get first party support) and the other japanese games. I have yet to buy an xbox because the games on it doesn't really interest me (though Forza did get me a little interested, as well as a couple others)
I don't think you're going to see the Revolution be radically lower, in fact the proc speeds arn't going to really be an issue, though Revolution should at least have 3 threads on it's system (whether through a mutli threaded proc or a couple procs), you'll see more of a difference because of the thread count now than the speed, though it'll probably be 3-4 years before you see the threads used at maximum capacity, not just for better AI, but for better everything. Multi thread programming is a headache and a half.
But if anything else will matter for these games it will likely be the drive capacities and the media. The Blu Ray may definatly be the reason why the PS3 rises even higher, depending on how they use it, but again it's the programmers who can make that shine or suck, not the console designer, assuming it's implemented in a decent way.
Even if this all comes to light I'm sure even the "aging" PS2 could go a couple more years with the preformance we've been getting. It's interesting because for the first time it's not console lag that's making next gen systems, but the fact it's expected.
Look at AMD and Intel, both are now going in different ways to say "we're better". AMD has used more multipliers, and Intel is trying to get more gigs.
I mean why does my 2.4 AMD run faster then a 3.0 Intel?
At the same time tell me why I'm stilling playing PS2 and not interested in the Xbox or GCN games (I own a GCN but I buy easily 10 times as many games for PS2) PS2 brings out hit after hit yet it's a weaker system? odd.
The fact is the game is what matters, NOT the hardware. Apple has constantly been a better computer number wise then a PC, Great for graphical and physics but let me ask you this? why is it that all "gamers" own PCs? Because the Mac doesn't have the software. Yes they get some games, but rather then have a couple games why not get access to all the games that come out. Why is it that Japan doesn't by the more powerful Xbox over both the GCN and PS2? Because they get many many more games for BOTH systems then the Xbox.
So I have to say that Nintendo's opinion is pretty correct. That the Specs doesn't matter. I think the big hurdle Nintendo has is to prove the worth of the controller, and they can to most but the most stubborn fanboys, as long as they get the games this time. Once they accomplish that, it should be an easy ride, and COMPLETE backwards compatibility? definatly going to make fans happy.
Defeating the purpose in one fell swoop.
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Printing Wikipedia
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· Score: 3, Insightful
Wasn't the original idea of the site that you could have anyone edit the document and fix errors or add information. I understand we have trolls too but the purpose of the site was simply that.
Now we have them trying to give this tool to foreign countries but first off it's a encyclopedia, no single book will hold a good enough amount of the knowledge anyways. But more importantly with in a year most of the information will have changed multiple times on that site.
Hell the best thing about that site is if you search a current event you tend to get precise info even if the events have happened that day. That alone makes the site worthwhile, however the book will have none of these features and likely just become a normal encyclopedia. Sadly I have to say there's no reason for that. It's an encyclopedia that nerds wrote but from what I've seen it's not statistically better then a real encyclopedia. In fact because it's open to all to write it's statistically worse for the reader because there's no validation exception a public consesus.
Why that's bad is easy, Public consesus tends to be less then 100 percent perfect. Salem Witch Trials, LA riots, and so on. There are leaders who watch over the site, but I still don't believe it to be worthwhile to take out all the uniquest features on that site and try to make a book out of it....
Now a autoupdating PDA with the full information of the site? that'd be bitchin'....
Slashdot Mirror
If you guys are going to tell it, don't pretend it happened to you. No one believes YOU were the one who got that call. They never believed it, and they just shake their head that you have to steal the famous story.
I've had a couple hilarious help desk calls when I worked at Harvard, however that's also part of the reason I left helpdesk jobs, because you realize how little an impact you really are making after a while.
Then again the best feeling in the world is that one call which you troubleshoot with a person for 3-4 hours, you've asked for help from everyone, you call them back, they call you back til you start to hate the problembut then you suddenly get that moment of inspiration and you fix the problem and you can't believe that it was so obvious but that moment when you hang up you feel "today was a good day".
I'm not saying the X-box wasn't a flaw. Hell I didn't own one, I didn't want one, I didn't want to see one. But the 360 is incredible compared to x-box, and Ps2. It also won't cost me half a grand. (well ok it did for everything.). However Microsoft isn't aiming for the 12 year old. They are appealing to the older consumer, the person with 400 dollars to spend, late Teens, college and the 20-30 age ratio.
As for Japan, they're screwed, not because of inferiority, but because they are American, and Japan has national pride, something Americans have given away over the years. Let's not get into that and talk about if it was worth it for America, or why we did it, but for the most part Japan wants to buy Japanese items when they can. While Team Ninja games did help sell the xbox, the japanese consumer saw that that was about the only "good" company on the Xbox, so why buy the 360.
Microsoft answered with the 360. They are actually getting RPGs, Ridge Racer 6 (yes PS3 has 7), and other licenses. They will NEVER be number 1 in japan, if they do that then I'll eat a hat, but at the same time the 360 will definatly take off better than the Xbox in japan. It's just going to take time (RPGs arn't written over night)
However I'm not saying ignore the teenager, but at the same time what is the PS3 doing? 600 dollars. The wii will definatly get noticed and make those sales (sadly that will again make nintendo the "kiddy" console) and those elitist kids will buy a xbox and Ps3, the normal kid will get the Wii, he might save up for a 360, but he'll see it takes him almost twice as long for a PS3 than a 360. That's not a good sign.
But then again those adults in the 20-30 area with disposable income is the target of the 360, those people who can spend 60 bucks for a game a month with out batting an eye, that's the target, not the kid who has to save up for a 60 dollar game when ever he wants one. And even those people stop when they hear the Ps3's price, especially when you can get the 360 for 200 dollars cheaper.
This article is targetting Malware, and looking at the most common malware. There are thus three factors that malware writers rely on.
1. What they want. Are they doing pop ups, are they trying to get known, are they trying out a neat bug. 1 wants a wide spread dispersal, the other two are scaled system for the most part. If you're trying to get known as a virus writer your going to write a virus on a large scale, if you want to get known for writing a unique virus, you'll write it in a "labratory" idea, where the virus shouldn't leave a small network.
2. How can they get it. I'll just focus on wide spread dispersal, because the other forms of distribution actually wouldn't matter here, since we are talking about common malware. For wide spread dispersal we want the largest amount of people to have the virus. Considering that 90 percent of people use Windows, and most use 2000 or XP, you'd focus on making it work on that. You'll focus on IE, not firefox, since IE still holds 80-90 percent of the browser market, you'll focus on Outlook because it has more known exploits and less technically incline people use it (over other email clients, not that all Outlook users are fools, but users who are fools will use Outlook).
3. What tools they have to gain it. So assume we arn't looking at wide spread dispersal, then let's assume you want to write a program X, that can be written on a PC or a Mac. You own a PC (likely) so instead of going out and buying a Macintosh for 2,000 dollars or getting a used one, you're going to use the PC you already own. If 90 percent of the world has a PC, then the person who is going to have a chip on his shoulder isn't going to likely own a Mac. There are bad people who have Macs, but then again their work doesn't spread as far, and they arn't likely trying to get huge amounts of pop ups on people. I'm sure there's a slight focus there but then again Macs use Safari for browsing not IE, so pop ups are a bit different to set up.
This is the same BS that people are talking about with Firefox. Firefox isn't necessarily safer than IE. Firefox isn't targetted as much as IE. If ever moron with a computer went out and bought a mac, with in a year we'd see a huge breeding ground for virii. Yes there's safety and security that the user has in OSX, that's the same safety and security we had in 2000 and XP. Same security as the Admin who runs day to day Linux from root.
It's the same security that the average computer user will get around, ignore, or just forget about after the first month of using their computer. They will likely disable it or find it to much of a hassle, or something, and somehow it'll slowly disolve away.
Microsoft doesn't write software for Malware to breed on. Microsoft writes software to make it easier for the consumer and application programmer to interface in a little thing called an executable. The fact Malware is an application is just something that really wasn't a problem back when XP was getting into final production, but it is. However it's similar to a safe, if you want to protect something, create a safe, lock your items in it along with the key. That would protect your items but it'll make it hidden from everyone except the perfect safecracker. The cost for such a safe would likely be astronomical because to make it unable to be cracked would take a lot. However how many people would want to lock their favorite hat up that way, or a magazine they just got in the mail?
It's the same with the computers. The more hassles that we have to go through to get a program through security is just another step to making the user not want to use that computer. Personally I'm moving away from computers already to consoles for my gaming for ease of use, how much farther will I go?
I do admit the 360 has done everything right in their launch and of course they are going to be on top for quite a while. I'd be willing to suggest they win this generation. However how is the PS3 going to get even close to that. They already admited they arn't worried about the following
Sony is pulling a nintendo 64, they are overestimating name recognition and they will fall flat on the face.
The Wii may not get the hard core gamers, but a lot of techno nuts will grab it just for the pure innovation. At the same time NO ONE is getting a 360 for just arcade games, however someone is more likely to buy a 250 dollar Wii (which sounds what they are aiming for) and go and buy some old nintendo games to play with for a couple dollars tops.
Now I'm not saying the Wii will beat the Ps3, but the Ps3 will NEVER be close behind 360 at the rate they are going. The gaming community has embraced the 360 in North America (where we are talking about), the world's gaming community is extremely skeptical of the PS3, and interested in the Wii. Factor in a Zelda launch title, Halo 3, 2nd gen 360 games, and eyes start to turn.
That's not to say in 2007/2008 that the PS3 will not get great games, or the Wii will get tons of great games. No one knows but the facts are against the PS3 rocketting away. The 360 is "simple" to program for (compared to the PS3), the Wii has a unique controller which both helps and hinders it. And looking at fall 2007, those second generation 360 games are coming fast, compared to launch PS3 games they will blow them away.
Microsoft did almost everything right with the 360 overall, the launch was weak and weak BC, but the games are slowly coming in. On the other side, nintendo is doing everything right in creating a new "interactive" gamer level, and Sony is just about doing everything wrong. One or two issues wouldn't be a problem but Sony really has a long way to become top dog again.
And this is coming from a guy who didn't own a Xbox, I own a 360 now though and I couldn't be happier, it's a great system, I'll be buying a Wii, but the Ps3 still isn't worth the 600 bucks. And remember a PS3 will be highly inflated numbers as well because people will buy it just for the blu ray which is cheaper than buying a Blu-ray player solo.
Now THAT'S the solution. That commerical would work, instead of all this crap our side should get together to form a system similar to MADD or such to inform people about alternative ways to acquire music, or alternative layers.
It wouldn't stop people from buying the music they'd want but it might slow the speed people buy those albums, or maybe have them investigate a small label, or a local band.
John Romero Should be required to add "and Daikatana" every time he talks about games he made. This guy isn't a game god no matter what people want to believe. He worked with Carmack. Carmack is apparently what made Doom and quake great. How can I tell? Doom 3, great piece of work, Daikatana, total crap.
I'm not saying Romero has no talent, but he's a level programmer, not a designer.
Since when has people STARTING to adopt methodologies been worthy of slashdot? Game development takes years if this honestly works that's fine, but we need to know of games that were fully created with Agile methodologies.
There's a few flaws. Can someone tell me why a working prototype would be better when you're working in a company of a couple hundred people? I work at a semi major game developer and let me tell you, working on a early game type, you need those design documents just because you have no idea the vision, then coming on to the game later, you'll need those documents again because no one is going to flawlessly comment code so a new programmer is screwed.
Game development companies need to make tools, because otherwise you have people doing worthless repeditive work. In game editors are worth more than the guy who solves minor bugs, because that in game editor will be used by almost all the users, a minor bug could probably be solved by everyone. The guy at my company who designed a system for adding gameplay easily is easily worth more than the person who fixed the rendering bug, because the first guy's work takes hours off of everyone's time table when they have to create their own event, the second guy has better end result but that could have been done at any time.
Their ideas are interesting but sadly it sounds like it's more focused on small scale products with 15-20 employees, rather then large scale products.
Besides which any time you have large scale products you're already working on the scrum type of cycle. At least if your in a semi intellegent company, that wants to have good communication with out killing the team with it.
The only flaw in using Scrum is you can't use it for the first monthes of development. Your focus needs to be on developing the world there, but you need those paper guidelines. And worst as the game grows and you're prototypes look finished in a protype world, and they get tossed into a real world almost every single one will end up breaking, whether through a problem with the animation being updated, the world getting a new nav system, the controls completely changing, and so on. And so for another 2-3 weeks you're wasting time on prototype fixes again updating them.
In the end it is helpful, and with a good company it works well, and it does beat the waterfall system, however it isn't the savior. It sounds more like the writer believes the waterfall system has 0 communication where the programmer and the designer never talks. That's not how the system should work, that's how a poor company implements a mediocre system.
The bigger problem though is his comment that there's going to be less crunches because of it? Since when. Any time a major system gets changed in the final monthes all subsystems will have problems, ones that were finished earlier are inevitably going to have more errors. Crunches happen, you arn't going to make them disappear, if you don't want to crunch, go talk to Duke Nukem Forever, or Daikatana about that, that's about the only way.
no return call... or a call with a constant stream of obsenities aimed at Steve Jobs and to give them the working computer back so they can actually use real software?
Methinks the second.
To be honest it's the same reason. The FCC does prohibit it for this reason. The FAA works with the FCC for the same reason, while a few instruments could possibly be interfered with by a cell phone, none are as critical as they make it out to be. Unless one was stuck in a major instrument only situation (IFR for those who know flight) the instruments arn't "critical". The fact is there's little proof that a cell phone can even interfer with the instruments.
At the same time we are blowing this out of proportion. If one could do this one evil terrorist would have a plane, fly up to 15,000 feet and use a cell phone laughing at his plan. While this doesn't work, having a couple hundred people using cellphones on planes at the same time definatly would have a detremental affect on the cell system. But wait. There's no proof of this either.
Now first off yes, a cell phone CAN interfer with instruments in planes. But so can anything that creates an electromanatic field. I'm still allowed to use my DS (they probably don't know it can use wifi) and I've never taken down the plane. Same with a PSP. While there's a slight chance of a problem, the critical times of flight are those in which a plane takes off and lands. Thus why no electronics are allowed on during those two times.
But yes there's a danger of both situations happening, however there's no concrete proof that it could happen. And if you want to tell me that it will, let me ask you this, we're so afraid of terrorists, why arn't cell phones not allowed on planes if they are so dangerous? We could easily leave them in our suitcases or have them placed in a suitcase like cart that some planes carry. So why are we allowed to take them on board.
Simple. They arn't as dangerous as meantioned. It's more likely both bans are similar to smoking bans. Does second hand smoke kill? Not really. Milk can be provent to kill more people. Is second hand smoking enjoyable? HELLLLL no. And thus why we have no smoking bans in most places.
First off the Wii-mote has a rumble system. Hopefully it'll also be a directional force so you can feel the thump of contact. Even not as meantioned there's a speaker so you can know when you had the contact.
It's really unknown if you can have constant motion with the weapons and make contact but assuming you can I don't think there's a lot of difference between a slash and moving constantly in the same direction. When you make contact in real life with an opponent you'll have to conciously stop yourself. If you instead continue pressing and making the same motion you're weapon will slip and move like you'll see in the game.
Basically it's like this. Throw a punch at a soft solid object (NOT A WALL!, I'm not respackling your house for you) now throw that same punch but aim for a point two inches behind the object and don't stop the punch until you reach your point. The force you use on the punch is greatly increased and pushing.
Now take that same force you used on the punch and throw another punch with it in mid air. You'll actually have to move beyond the point because that force acting against you is missing.
This is sorta like the problem we're talking about. If you were using a VR suit and wanted to throw the first punch in a game you'd have to have thrown the second punch in real life. Will it work? Yes. So when you're doing a swing and you go beyond where contact is made with an opponents weapon you're getting into a "conflict" style system where you can cross swords with the enemy and break the opponents guard.
Will this all be actually done in the game? probably. Will the controls be better than how I'm making them sound. I hope so. The options are there, the question is really how are the programmers going to be using the system to give that feeling.
Honestly we'll get great stuff. People who are acting like you have to make elabourate moves or you'll get a work out from using the system are stupid. If your right infront of the tv a foot away then the sensor is going to have problems (or you up the sensativity) but if your on a couch you should be getting a good system where it's jerking your hand not your whole body.
I had AT&T wireless for 2 years. First they set me up with a cheap phone, at the same time they signed me up for every single optional program. I called them up after the first month to yell about it. They "fixed" it.
Next month most of them disappeared, there was two programs, something and Equipment insurance. I called them up and canceled them both.
Then the third bill came, I don't even remember if I got my rebates at that point, I believe not, but the equipment insurance was STILL on my phone. so I called them up and started yelling. the real question I asked them was why the hell would I insure a phone that costs 20 bucks if I had to pay 50 dollar deductable, and I was charged 5 bucks a month for it? They assured me it would be fixed.
Then I got all sorts of pay program off the web I never even signed up for. And they assured me it would be fixed (it was 3 monthes after the fact)
Every time I had to call them it was such a chore to get anything done that I finally started to go 3-4 monthes before trying again. Every time I was either told it would be fixed, or given a random package of programs. They told me I didn't call the week before when I had. They told me there was no record of me asking for this or that to be turned off. And this was over a variety of customer reps. Not just one person.
After 9 monthes Cingular bought AT&T Wireless, and what happened? nothing. I still had the same problems. Apparently I had a "fuck with this customer" flag on me.
Finally I gave up paying more than I should, I switched phones, but I still couldn't cancel that account, I was basically shell shocked. I gave the account to my mother to handle since I couldn't make a call (I just knew nothing good would come of it.) so she canceled my account....
Next month a bill came. Service was not interrupted, the cancelation fee was not waived (of course they said it would be) and so on. So my mother again called, finally after two more contacts she got the account canceled at the same time she said she understood the problems.
The next month, I got yet another bill, apparently even though we paid off the amount there was more charges, because it wasn't canceled on the right day. So finally we took care of that bill.
Now I get a monthly bill that says "you have a balance of -6.53" That's right. We over paid, so now we get a monthly statement on that, getting the money is hard though.
Finally we have just told the company to take the 6 dollars and stop bothering us the customer.
In the meantime, T-mobile has never once given me a problem, my customer service problems are fixed quickly and easily. But AT&T probably made over two hundred dollars off of me just from the fact that their customer service was so bad, and they had me in a binding contract. If I could go back in time I'd have broken the contract at the first sign of problems because the amount I would have had to pay then was the same I paid at the end AND they still got money from me between the two points.
Sadly as such this won't be helpful. Yes you got moded up for it. But it's barely readable.
Next time I'd highly advise making sure your tags work or just formatting the text yourself rather then rushing to post. It makes it so that we can enjoy the article more, as it seems you definatly have valuable insight, which is something that we all can appreciate.
Viral marketing seems to be their tool of choice. And when that doesn't work, flood the media with the same information.
I'm sick of hearing about the Origami. I was sick of it when it was just a rumor, then it was confirmed, then it was profiled, then it was abscent from E3, it's been 6 monthes and it's just basically vaporware. Jesus, this is what they WANT you to do. You already are overhyping it by just talking about it more and more.. Is it a game system, is it a handheld, is it just a small laptop.
Personally I think we all should just say screw you to microsoft and stop handling their free advertising with all their rumors and shit. Viral marketing might work, but do we really need to help it along with stories that allow their new name become household words?
out of most of my friends when I told them about the game the common answers I got was
"What there's only 16 monsters?"
"what it's all bosses"
"what else is there to do?"
"What weapons do you get"
Now a couple of them have got it and like the game but the rest just don't see the majestic part of the game. Something like GTA appeals to a large segment of gamers, there's accomplishment, random dicking around and just basically enjoyable stuff. This game how if your interested in random acts of violence or anything out side the art, or the majesty, will miss the point of the game.
I'd love if this game is considered one of the best game ever, but it will never get that way, it'll be popular, but popular in the same way something like American Beauty is appreciated (even though that movie was meh to me), not the same way that Star Wars is appreciated by fans.
Most game players should avoid this game, it's not radically hard, it's just beautifully done. Don't expect too much random killing, it's more about the journey then the destination, but overall it's a near perfect game, that proves games can be art.
Overall though this is one game that will just floor you with presentation to the point that you'll just ride instead of going to the next colossi. and that's not a bad thing either, there's a good variety in area, and it feels pretty beautiful.
Sadly this move from single player to Multiplayer might turn off some fans, personally I don't play many multiplayer games on the consoles, because when I play games I like to give a little taunt, or just relax. I don't see many games on the consoles(though tony hawk has been fun to play multiplayer most games are less then stellar, especially EA's fare (SSX 3 was dead)) that are worth playing multiplayer.
Personally I'm more likely to skip a multiplayer heavy game and likely I'll do the same for this one.
But don't worry about their features, I'm sure they'll program in the blizzard usuals using the battle net they already have in place tweaked for PS2 and Xbox systems and it should be enjoyable enough.
They say the system is going to cost 340 at launch to make. and Sony's going to cost 495. So nice of them to forget production. Anyone remember the fact that there's people they pay to put these systems together, it's not just faceless magic that assembles these systems, in addition there's other costs.
And Sony doesn't want to make a profit on the system, they need to make the profit on the game, every company knows this. Microsoft has opted for a lesser system in hopes to avoid going into an initial debt which is what happened to the Xbox and they never got out of it.
besides half of the price difference is blu ray, but what happens when MS upgrades the 360 to have the HD DVD, Which they keep saying they will do. I'm betting that will cost them 100 bucks more.
And if there's not enough on the bias yet... Let's look at these lines
Blu-Ray is also cited as an expensive solution for PS3. The cost of the drive is estimated to cost at least $75.
Optical Media Blu-Ray $ 100
And yet NOTHING in the article so conclusive proof that We think that the Xbox 360 could be selling at half the price of PS3 in the latter half of 2006." Is even close to believeable. They show even pointing at 3 years it'll be much cheaper to make Xbox NOT 1 year.
Seriously though this is just a "Microsoft's good, now please let our computer's work faster Lord Gates" piece, proof stock market gurus know nothing about the industry (remember when they said the Xbox will beat the PS2 easily because of the year in time, now it's the Xbox 360 will beat the Ps2 because it's coming out a year earlier? Yet wasn't it the Dreamcast that came out a year earlier then the ps2? )
Google now. use making it so on launch your system MUST be packaged with 2 games? Good work.
Seriously now, am I an idiot or does this type of totalitarian tactic not jib with any one else's morals? This "sell out or you'll not get anything from us" sounds a lot like their other dealings. Personally I'd be suprised if in the future it's "sell Halo 3 with a bigger sign then the ps3 or don't get the game"
What Microsoft needs to realize is that Pre-order isn't NECESSARY to force. These companies would kill themselves to get pre-orders because they guarentee business. But even more so, they don't make that much on sales of consoles or games, doing package deals helps the company, the system, and the retailers as more units are moved. If it was only one or the other there'd be little point to do so in the past, and the last console was done with this repeatidly.
But even more than this let's say store A gets NO consoles, would they cry? Maybe the employees would for they don't have their systems themselves but then the manager would shrug. The retail stores make more money from traded in games than they ever would make on consoles. I'm willing to bet that they'd be happier if you bought an Xbox 360 and 3 used Xbox Games than an Xbox 360 and a single 360 game... Hell even better if they sell an Xbox and 3 used games plus some extra used periphes.
But overall I gotta say Microsoft who has constantly been trying to say "we're the nice guys now" has just fallen back into it's old hated work with just a little nudge.
paying 99 bucks for 20-40 gigs of space would rankle most people.
It's even more than they meantion, while Dragon Quest/Dragon Warrior in some ways barely resemble D&D, the Original FF is even more of an off shoot with their spell system, and character creation which basically are the fathers to the Console RPG legacy as well as the handleful of RPGs for the NES (including "AD&D" a truely horrible made NES game)
Most Computer RPGs owe a lot to D&D or off shoots of it, including Ultima, Wizardry, and Might and Magic, as well as almost every MMORPG.
So go out and play a cool RPG this weekend if your not getting together for some original D&D fun.
that's why we freaking beam all our shit into space in random directions, including all the updates... and especially aim one dish at alpha centauri, then when people finally hit speeds close to the speed of light they'll pass the waves, and recieve them when they land.. and thus hear all our information (and if I have any say hopefully enjoy Penny-arcade as well as useful stuff, and Baby Got Back, that alone should surely confuse the hell out of them.)
needs to rethink their priority. Let's be honest. Morrowind for the Xbox? flawed, and no add ons. Morrowind for PC? tons of mods, the fixes came out in about 1 month, and the mods really upped the replays.
Honestly Grab it for the PC, but I'm so freaking pissed it's delayed because that is one of the great single player RPGs for the PC.
They say they'll have stuff for Xbox 360 that is downloadable, but come on? Microsoft approved Downloads? also requiring Live and a harddrive? I'm sure most decent computers will play it too and be upgradable.
Exactly my point, because Xbox 360 is the only one who will have PGR3, you'll get it, I'll likely get Revolution for Zelda (and other Nintendo games) and Sony's PS3 for GTA (assuming they get first party support) and the other japanese games. I have yet to buy an xbox because the games on it doesn't really interest me (though Forza did get me a little interested, as well as a couple others)
I don't think you're going to see the Revolution be radically lower, in fact the proc speeds arn't going to really be an issue, though Revolution should at least have 3 threads on it's system (whether through a mutli threaded proc or a couple procs), you'll see more of a difference because of the thread count now than the speed, though it'll probably be 3-4 years before you see the threads used at maximum capacity, not just for better AI, but for better everything. Multi thread programming is a headache and a half.
But if anything else will matter for these games it will likely be the drive capacities and the media. The Blu Ray may definatly be the reason why the PS3 rises even higher, depending on how they use it, but again it's the programmers who can make that shine or suck, not the console designer, assuming it's implemented in a decent way.
Even if this all comes to light I'm sure even the "aging" PS2 could go a couple more years with the preformance we've been getting. It's interesting because for the first time it's not console lag that's making next gen systems, but the fact it's expected.
Look at AMD and Intel, both are now going in different ways to say "we're better". AMD has used more multipliers, and Intel is trying to get more gigs.
I mean why does my 2.4 AMD run faster then a 3.0 Intel?
At the same time tell me why I'm stilling playing PS2 and not interested in the Xbox or GCN games (I own a GCN but I buy easily 10 times as many games for PS2) PS2 brings out hit after hit yet it's a weaker system? odd.
The fact is the game is what matters, NOT the hardware. Apple has constantly been a better computer number wise then a PC, Great for graphical and physics but let me ask you this? why is it that all "gamers" own PCs? Because the Mac doesn't have the software. Yes they get some games, but rather then have a couple games why not get access to all the games that come out. Why is it that Japan doesn't by the more powerful Xbox over both the GCN and PS2? Because they get many many more games for BOTH systems then the Xbox.
So I have to say that Nintendo's opinion is pretty correct. That the Specs doesn't matter. I think the big hurdle Nintendo has is to prove the worth of the controller, and they can to most but the most stubborn fanboys, as long as they get the games this time. Once they accomplish that, it should be an easy ride, and COMPLETE backwards compatibility? definatly going to make fans happy.
Wasn't the original idea of the site that you could have anyone edit the document and fix errors or add information. I understand we have trolls too but the purpose of the site was simply that.
Now we have them trying to give this tool to foreign countries but first off it's a encyclopedia, no single book will hold a good enough amount of the knowledge anyways. But more importantly with in a year most of the information will have changed multiple times on that site.
Hell the best thing about that site is if you search a current event you tend to get precise info even if the events have happened that day. That alone makes the site worthwhile, however the book will have none of these features and likely just become a normal encyclopedia. Sadly I have to say there's no reason for that. It's an encyclopedia that nerds wrote but from what I've seen it's not statistically better then a real encyclopedia. In fact because it's open to all to write it's statistically worse for the reader because there's no validation exception a public consesus.
Why that's bad is easy, Public consesus tends to be less then 100 percent perfect. Salem Witch Trials, LA riots, and so on. There are leaders who watch over the site, but I still don't believe it to be worthwhile to take out all the uniquest features on that site and try to make a book out of it....
Now a autoupdating PDA with the full information of the site? that'd be bitchin'....