Role Playing Games. I've said it before and I'll say it again, and again, and again - the PC market is still the most suitable market for role playing games. Even with newer consoles getting hard drives, the PC is still the best tool for the job. Multiple input (keyboard + mouse), massive hard drives, low to no "load time" between scenes/epics/quests/etc, and a host of other reasons. The PC is still the best tool for those games with hundreds of hours of gameplay (story driven, RPG style) or those RPGs which have the "open-ended" stories like Morrowind. Yes, I know FF is on the console but, in general, everyone here understands what I'm talking about.
Oh please, here we go again with that same tired dumbass remark about The bottom line is, was, and always will be, this: if you're not doing anything wrong, you don't have anything to worry about!. I don't want to be a troll or flame but..... This is a complete fallacy that people who can't think for themselves bring up every time personal privacy issues are discussed. These are often the same people who want to be or are already in a position of authority and power and so they _believe_ that they will be fine - since they tote the party line and speak the party words and kiss the right ass. The free thinking individuals who do not fit into the 'party' mold (and that covers a lot of people) and do not EVER want to fit into the 'party' mold are the ones this kind of legislation can, and most definitely will, be used against. Why some people can't see that laws like this WILL BE ABUSED by those in power just completely escapes me. Legislation like the lovely National ID card go against the whole reasons America was founded and does nothing but give Al Qeada and other terrorists exactly what they want - a complete change in the FREE society we have enjoyed here in America.
I truly hope freedom loving Americans, Britons, Australians, Mexicans, Spaniards, French, Muslim, Jews, Christians, and every other person of any race, creed, color, or nationality will stand up against laws that do nothing but give those in power the power to stay in power and, ultimately, the ability to abuse those who don't believe they way they do, think the way they do, talk the way they do, practice the same religion they do, have the same blonde hair they do, or live in the same region they do. I'm not trying to doom and gloom, I just took a step back and thought about all that power in so few hands without checks and balances and the ability to quash those who speak out against them and asked "How would I handle it? How would most humans handle it?" Ask yourself the same and think about it -- with all that power, do you honestly think that even the most benign person could not be corrupted?
Due to keyboard shortcuts, mouse/keyboard combo, video cards, no or low load times, multiple save points (yeah, I know, RPGs on the console are getting better at this), the ability for player generated content (Neverwinter Nights and others) and a host of other things a console is the worst place to play RPGs - in general. I'm not talking Final Fantasy 1 through Infinity here, I'm talking Baldur's Gate, Planescape, Morrowind, Neverwinter Nights, etc as well as RPGs and other games with open-ended or fairly open-ended content. So, until consoles can match the flexibility of my $xx00 tricked out PC then I'll continue to use it. I'm not bashing consoles as I have a PS2 and several older consoles (I still have my Atari 2600 stashed somewhere:) and love the games I have on them, but none of the RPGs come close to matching what a PC is capable of.
I thought the obligatory quote would have been the BBC (or other news) reporting that the third person at the scene muttered "I have a bad feeling about this..." right before the petrol-fueled saber exploded.;-)
Well, before people completely bash the South, there are those who live down here who a) believe in God and b) think that science and the theory of evolution are quite true (in general). While I agree with a lot that the parent comment has said (and it scares me it was modded funny) I also know we are not all incoherent Bible-thumping, scripture quoting, non-thinking individuals. I firmly believe that God gave me a mind to USE and THINK for myself. To decide things for myslef based on the facts at hand and weigh what I read (Bible, science texts, Internet, wherever, whatever) and hear and learn and extrapolate the meaning behind it. There is nothing in the Bible that says a person is not supposed to think for themselves, to decide what is true or not. Sure, there are guidelines to help a Christian along his path but they are not absolute in my opinion. In short, don't take the vocal majority to be representative of what you'll find in the South (or anywhere else in the world for that matter).
Not to mention that, in general, Southerners are damn hospitable folks who'll gladly welcome you to town, serve you some fine home-made food, sweet iced tea, and a dose of Southern charm to top it off. Probably a mint julep or two as well;-)
so we need to supplant the CPU at all? Why can't we have current PCs operate along the lines of the old Amiga computers? If I'm remembering correctly they had a dedicated graphics chip which handled all the system graphics calls so basically the CPU said "Hey, this isn't mine! GPU you handle it and then pass it back to me when you're done." That is one of the reasons the bouncing ball effect was so amazing on the Amiga 500. No other computer system at the time could pull off that effect without needing unholy amounts of graphics RAM and general RAM and still function for other things like accessing the desktop. I've said it before and I'll say it again, it seems we're heading back towards the Amiga scheme of how things are done: each component of the computer is 'smart' and handles its fuctions that are passed from the CPU which then handles everything that is passed back to it. The tighter we integrate system bus, video GPUs, CPUs, RAM, and drives the more it looks like an Amiga. Just my humble opinion...
About the only thing I really buy from TigerDirect is computer cases. In general, I haven't had many problems with them. But, then again, the last one I bought from them I wasn't really pleased with as the color was seriously off from what it should have been. Sorta pea green/yellow instead of a bright lightning yellow. Needless to say, I kept the case instead of going through the hassles of sending it back./shrug
I have friends up and down the east coast of the U.S. who have also had problems when ordering components from TigerDirect so your issues are pretty widespread.
I agree 100% and then some. XBox only is, in all honesty, completely eliminating 2/3 to 3/4 of the market for a game. I've casually watched the updates on Jade Empire from Bioware's site and read some of the reviews and, frankly, my main question is this: Imagine what could have been done with a PC version of the game?
Included with that question should be: Imagine what could be done with a level editor or toolkit (ala NWN) for this game? Those folks who wanted 50, 100, or 200 hour games could either make them or wait a while and play them as modders/creaters put out new modules. After all, if a game is popular enough AND has a level editor/toolkit for it then it will live on LONG past a static game. All you have to do is look at Doom (and brethern), Quake (and yadda), NWN, and many other games along those lines.
with they're supposed "combat upgrade and rebalance" so why not kill off every game they own/manage? Bleed them dry as fast as possible, cash out, walk away from the virtual table. Come out with new, supposedly hot MMORPG, rinse, repeat. Personally, I hope SOE shrivels up like a prune and blows away and a company with some morals (ok, yeah, I'm hoping for a lot here) OR at least decent damn customer service springs up to take their place.
Well, you see, she had this resteraunt. Just the other side of the railroad track. Where you could, conceivably, get anything you want. Exceptin' Alice.
Umm, yeah, I want to see Samurai Jack back. I'm a long time fan of animation (Japanese or otherwise) and also love well-written or uniquely written stories. One of the, ohh call it top 20 comics for unique stories was one that had no words in it at all - it was a story for GI Joe that centered around Snake Eyes. All emotions, everything, was conveyed through artwork and the story was, well, well written (drawn). The same is true for one of the best Samurai Jack's that aired - basically no words and all was conveyed through imagery and natural sounds.
Still, all in all, I want to see more Samurai Jack back on Cartoon Network. GitS: Standalone Complex, Cowboy Bebop, and Full Metal Alchemist are also good to watch plus I'd also like to see a complete run of Witch Hunter Robin.
And, apparently, a lot of people are cashing in! See here and also do an eBay search for google gulp. One person has a $10,000 plus bid on his. Just crazy.:)
Yeah, you know - and I don't want to spread suggestions - I know you probably would get into trouble for shooting a _law enforcement_ person who barged in your nice Australian home because they have a LEGAL authority to do so and would announce themselves (more than likely). But, what happens to the corporate goon squad who barges in my house unannounced and I shoot a couple of them because I feared for my life? Regardless of the fact they were "sanctioned" by the government of Australia to conduct the raid they were not government officials and entered my private residence unannounced. I mean, can't you see the conversation - "Fuck, officer, these goons bashed in my door and had no ID and were not wearing badges and the first thought that came to mind was 'I'm about to die in a home invasion' and so, being an upstanding citizen defended myself."
Of course, would you wonder (A) how many times that would happen before the nice government of Australia made it illegal to shoot people entering your house unannounced regardless of their intent? or (B) how many times that would happen before the Aussie recording goon squads started carrying guns on raids (which would just be LOVELY press if they did not kill the person they were raiding)? or (C) how many times this would happen before the raids were just given up on completely by the "government sanctioned" recording goon squads?
Please note: I do not condone piracy but the people sitting at home aren't the major issues with "loss of revenue", it is the balck market dealers in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and other countries that are making hundred of thousands of CDs, DVDs, and other material available on the black market for $2 or whatever and making millions. The person sitting at home downloading 10 songs, or 1000 songs, is breaking copyright law to be sure but they are not making millions off the material to boot. I say fight the real piracy (the multi-national, sells 500,000 CDs, makes millions) and THEN deal with the other issue - and change your business model to fit with the times.
Yeah, I agree with you wholeheartedly. Yes, before anyone chimes in, I KNOW this is in beta. Still, I regularly visit friends in North Carolina and asked Google maps for directions and my usual 8 hour trip (taking major highways/interstates) became a 9.5+ hour trip taking me through several large cities on regular roads/drives/avenues/etc. and ignoring interstates for the most part. So, I think it is fscking fantastic, easy to use, fast as hell, but being beta still, of course, needs work - especially the trip algorithms and logic.
It is just that: a disclaimer. It basically is heading off the trolls (yeah, right) that will get on and say "ohhh, nice job/.!! you're front-paging news items that are all affiliated with you in some way. what a bunch of corporate asshats you are! go wipe your noses." It's just a nice way of saying "Yeah, these guys help pay our bills but we STILL felt this was newsworthy enough to put on the front page of Slashdot."
Well, that's all well and good for folks who use WinXP and have $150.00 to spare. How about folks who LIKE using Win2k but have lost their original disk and reinstalled using a friend's key instead of being forced to pay $150-300 for a new copy of software they already owned? Or people who are still using WinME and Win98 who patch what they can from the dribbles off MS table (and they use WinME or Win98 and haven't upgraded because *GASP* those versions of Windows do what they need them to do and they don't want to pay another MS tax to upgrade)? The answer isn't as simple as dish out $150 bucks for XP (or 2k if you can find it) for a new key - there are lots of people who can't afford this (legitimate owner of the software or not).
Now all those people who can't afford, won't buy, and don't have "automatic screwup my computer" turned on on their computers will just ADD to the internet spam and increase the S/N ratio of crap that's already out there. Yeah, that's just frigging great... more zombies, spambots, haxxored boxes, and virus spewing PCs.
I've always been reserved when it comes to building systems but after my last one died due to "severe ingress of a high-voltage electrical charge" (yeah, lightning came in on my modem line:-p), I decided to build something different. I concentrated on performance first and then dressed it up slightly with a clear window side, glow-in-the-dark cabling, and then making sure all my other cabling was clean, neat, promoted airflow, and was (for the most part) hidden. So, being a long time hacker and geek, my system is not only ultra-quiet and rocks power wise but it adds something interesting to the computer room for sparking conversations when people visit.
I know there are communities rolling their own fiber (golly gee! the town I live in did just that!) and that both cable and phone companies are doing what they can to stop them but I'll bet this next fact is true as well - in almost every instance of a municipal owned FTTH (or cable/broadband, whichever) the only people that benefited from it LIVE IN THE CITY LIMITS where the population density is sufficient to support the economics of rolling out fiber. I'd be willing to bet BillyJoe Bob that lives on the ranch 12 miles outside the city limits didn't get that fiber pipe laid to his house. This is exactly what happened in the town I live (35,000 residents in the county) and only the city benefited from it. Yes, this may only be the first step for each of these locations with the next step being the rollout of fiber to those who don't live in the city but the point _still stands_ -- population density decided where they installed the fiber and it was in the highest density areas first. Now be a good boy and fetch me my cookie.
Most of the people live on one coast or the other, so our population density for those regions isn't that different.
To quote: Blah, blah, blah. 10 minutes or less of fact checking would have saved you a ton of bull. There are only four states on either coast (well, on the East Coast really) that come close to the population density of Japan (this is in 2000 and I'm pretty positive it holds true today with minor variation). Here, as of 2000, are the population densities of East and West coast states versus Japan:
All figures are people per square mile.
Japan - 858
New Jersey - 1134
Rhode Island - 1003
Connecticut - 703
Mass. - 810
And from here it just goes downhill:
California - 218
New York - 402
Oregon - 36
Washington - 89
Florida - 296
Maryland - 542
Maine - 41
Georgia - 141
Virginia - 179
And so on and so forth. So, basically, the facts support my assertion that population density is still not close enough to Japan's to justify comparison _based on that fact alone_. Even consenting that a large portion of people on both coasts live in large cities the density is still off by a factor or two. I'm all for FTTH being rolled out by municipalities acorss the US. I'd kill (well, ok, maybe not kill but asswhoop) to have faster broadband access in my region but I still think it comes down to "who is going to make the money?"
You can also see some comparisons of population density here. This is a.pdf file.
Slashdot Mirror
Role Playing Games. I've said it before and I'll say it again, and again, and again - the PC market is still the most suitable market for role playing games. Even with newer consoles getting hard drives, the PC is still the best tool for the job. Multiple input (keyboard + mouse), massive hard drives, low to no "load time" between scenes/epics/quests/etc, and a host of other reasons. The PC is still the best tool for those games with hundreds of hours of gameplay (story driven, RPG style) or those RPGs which have the "open-ended" stories like Morrowind. Yes, I know FF is on the console but, in general, everyone here understands what I'm talking about.
I truly hope freedom loving Americans, Britons, Australians, Mexicans, Spaniards, French, Muslim, Jews, Christians, and every other person of any race, creed, color, or nationality will stand up against laws that do nothing but give those in power the power to stay in power and, ultimately, the ability to abuse those who don't believe they way they do, think the way they do, talk the way they do, practice the same religion they do, have the same blonde hair they do, or live in the same region they do. I'm not trying to doom and gloom, I just took a step back and thought about all that power in so few hands without checks and balances and the ability to quash those who speak out against them and asked "How would I handle it? How would most humans handle it?" Ask yourself the same and think about it -- with all that power, do you honestly think that even the most benign person could not be corrupted?
Role Playing Games
:) and love the games I have on them, but none of the RPGs come close to matching what a PC is capable of.
Due to keyboard shortcuts, mouse/keyboard combo, video cards, no or low load times, multiple save points (yeah, I know, RPGs on the console are getting better at this), the ability for player generated content (Neverwinter Nights and others) and a host of other things a console is the worst place to play RPGs - in general. I'm not talking Final Fantasy 1 through Infinity here, I'm talking Baldur's Gate, Planescape, Morrowind, Neverwinter Nights, etc as well as RPGs and other games with open-ended or fairly open-ended content. So, until consoles can match the flexibility of my $xx00 tricked out PC then I'll continue to use it. I'm not bashing consoles as I have a PS2 and several older consoles (I still have my Atari 2600 stashed somewhere
I thought the obligatory quote would have been the BBC (or other news) reporting that the third person at the scene muttered "I have a bad feeling about this..." right before the petrol-fueled saber exploded. ;-)
on the couch tonight. If your significant other reads Slashdot that is ;-)
Well, before people completely bash the South, there are those who live down here who a) believe in God and b) think that science and the theory of evolution are quite true (in general). While I agree with a lot that the parent comment has said (and it scares me it was modded funny) I also know we are not all incoherent Bible-thumping, scripture quoting, non-thinking individuals. I firmly believe that God gave me a mind to USE and THINK for myself. To decide things for myslef based on the facts at hand and weigh what I read (Bible, science texts, Internet, wherever, whatever) and hear and learn and extrapolate the meaning behind it. There is nothing in the Bible that says a person is not supposed to think for themselves, to decide what is true or not. Sure, there are guidelines to help a Christian along his path but they are not absolute in my opinion. In short, don't take the vocal majority to be representative of what you'll find in the South (or anywhere else in the world for that matter).
;-)
Not to mention that, in general, Southerners are damn hospitable folks who'll gladly welcome you to town, serve you some fine home-made food, sweet iced tea, and a dose of Southern charm to top it off. Probably a mint julep or two as well
so we need to supplant the CPU at all? Why can't we have current PCs operate along the lines of the old Amiga computers? If I'm remembering correctly they had a dedicated graphics chip which handled all the system graphics calls so basically the CPU said "Hey, this isn't mine! GPU you handle it and then pass it back to me when you're done." That is one of the reasons the bouncing ball effect was so amazing on the Amiga 500. No other computer system at the time could pull off that effect without needing unholy amounts of graphics RAM and general RAM and still function for other things like accessing the desktop. I've said it before and I'll say it again, it seems we're heading back towards the Amiga scheme of how things are done: each component of the computer is 'smart' and handles its fuctions that are passed from the CPU which then handles everything that is passed back to it. The tighter we integrate system bus, video GPUs, CPUs, RAM, and drives the more it looks like an Amiga. Just my humble opinion...
About the only thing I really buy from TigerDirect is computer cases. In general, I haven't had many problems with them. But, then again, the last one I bought from them I wasn't really pleased with as the color was seriously off from what it should have been. Sorta pea green/yellow instead of a bright lightning yellow. Needless to say, I kept the case instead of going through the hassles of sending it back. /shrug
I have friends up and down the east coast of the U.S. who have also had problems when ordering components from TigerDirect so your issues are pretty widespread.
but even if I did I'm pretty sure this is complete and utter HORSEHIT.
The BOY SCOUTS are going to do the job that a mega-corp watchdog group is supposed to do itself? WTF is up with that?
Emphasis mine. Man, you just gotta love how we all UWTMFAs to describe ATSWD and then expect people TJFGI..
*Use Way Too Many Fucking Acronyms *All The Shit We Do *To Just Fucking Get It
(Hey, it's a joke, laugh :-)
I agree 100% and then some. XBox only is, in all honesty, completely eliminating 2/3 to 3/4 of the market for a game. I've casually watched the updates on Jade Empire from Bioware's site and read some of the reviews and, frankly, my main question is this: Imagine what could have been done with a PC version of the game?
Included with that question should be: Imagine what could be done with a level editor or toolkit (ala NWN) for this game? Those folks who wanted 50, 100, or 200 hour games could either make them or wait a while and play them as modders/creaters put out new modules. After all, if a game is popular enough AND has a level editor/toolkit for it then it will live on LONG past a static game. All you have to do is look at Doom (and brethern), Quake (and yadda), NWN, and many other games along those lines.
We're going to call it exactly what it is - a clusterfuck. Verging on nuclear. With acne. '-)
with they're supposed "combat upgrade and rebalance" so why not kill off every game they own/manage? Bleed them dry as fast as possible, cash out, walk away from the virtual table. Come out with new, supposedly hot MMORPG, rinse, repeat. Personally, I hope SOE shrivels up like a prune and blows away and a company with some morals (ok, yeah, I'm hoping for a lot here) OR at least decent damn customer service springs up to take their place.
Well, you see, she had this resteraunt. Just the other side of the railroad track. Where you could, conceivably, get anything you want. Exceptin' Alice.
:)
(With many apologies to Arlo...
Would not one (or more) of the Creative Commons licenses possibly work? Such as Share Alike + Noncommercial?
Umm, yeah, I want to see Samurai Jack back. I'm a long time fan of animation (Japanese or otherwise) and also love well-written or uniquely written stories. One of the, ohh call it top 20 comics for unique stories was one that had no words in it at all - it was a story for GI Joe that centered around Snake Eyes. All emotions, everything, was conveyed through artwork and the story was, well, well written (drawn). The same is true for one of the best Samurai Jack's that aired - basically no words and all was conveyed through imagery and natural sounds.
Still, all in all, I want to see more Samurai Jack back on Cartoon Network. GitS: Standalone Complex, Cowboy Bebop, and Full Metal Alchemist are also good to watch plus I'd also like to see a complete run of Witch Hunter Robin.
And, apparently, a lot of people are cashing in! See here and also do an eBay search for google gulp. One person has a $10,000 plus bid on his. Just crazy. :)
Yeah, you know - and I don't want to spread suggestions - I know you probably would get into trouble for shooting a _law enforcement_ person who barged in your nice Australian home because they have a LEGAL authority to do so and would announce themselves (more than likely). But, what happens to the corporate goon squad who barges in my house unannounced and I shoot a couple of them because I feared for my life? Regardless of the fact they were "sanctioned" by the government of Australia to conduct the raid they were not government officials and entered my private residence unannounced. I mean, can't you see the conversation - "Fuck, officer, these goons bashed in my door and had no ID and were not wearing badges and the first thought that came to mind was 'I'm about to die in a home invasion' and so, being an upstanding citizen defended myself."
Of course, would you wonder (A) how many times that would happen before the nice government of Australia made it illegal to shoot people entering your house unannounced regardless of their intent? or (B) how many times that would happen before the Aussie recording goon squads started carrying guns on raids (which would just be LOVELY press if they did not kill the person they were raiding)? or (C) how many times this would happen before the raids were just given up on completely by the "government sanctioned" recording goon squads?
Please note: I do not condone piracy but the people sitting at home aren't the major issues with "loss of revenue", it is the balck market dealers in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and other countries that are making hundred of thousands of CDs, DVDs, and other material available on the black market for $2 or whatever and making millions. The person sitting at home downloading 10 songs, or 1000 songs, is breaking copyright law to be sure but they are not making millions off the material to boot. I say fight the real piracy (the multi-national, sells 500,000 CDs, makes millions) and THEN deal with the other issue - and change your business model to fit with the times.
Yeah, I agree with you wholeheartedly. Yes, before anyone chimes in, I KNOW this is in beta. Still, I regularly visit friends in North Carolina and asked Google maps for directions and my usual 8 hour trip (taking major highways/interstates) became a 9.5+ hour trip taking me through several large cities on regular roads/drives/avenues/etc. and ignoring interstates for the most part. So, I think it is fscking fantastic, easy to use, fast as hell, but being beta still, of course, needs work - especially the trip algorithms and logic.
:)
Still, KUDOS GOOGLE! Very nice
It is just that: a disclaimer. It basically is heading off the trolls (yeah, right) that will get on and say "ohhh, nice job /.!! you're front-paging news items that are all affiliated with you in some way. what a bunch of corporate asshats you are! go wipe your noses." It's just a nice way of saying "Yeah, these guys help pay our bills but we STILL felt this was newsworthy enough to put on the front page of Slashdot."
Well, that's all well and good for folks who use WinXP and have $150.00 to spare. How about folks who LIKE using Win2k but have lost their original disk and reinstalled using a friend's key instead of being forced to pay $150-300 for a new copy of software they already owned? Or people who are still using WinME and Win98 who patch what they can from the dribbles off MS table (and they use WinME or Win98 and haven't upgraded because *GASP* those versions of Windows do what they need them to do and they don't want to pay another MS tax to upgrade)? The answer isn't as simple as dish out $150 bucks for XP (or 2k if you can find it) for a new key - there are lots of people who can't afford this (legitimate owner of the software or not).
Now all those people who can't afford, won't buy, and don't have "automatic screwup my computer" turned on on their computers will just ADD to the internet spam and increase the S/N ratio of crap that's already out there. Yeah, that's just frigging great... more zombies, spambots, haxxored boxes, and virus spewing PCs.
I've always been reserved when it comes to building systems but after my last one died due to "severe ingress of a high-voltage electrical charge" (yeah, lightning came in on my modem line :-p), I decided to build something different. I concentrated on performance first and then dressed it up slightly with a clear window side, glow-in-the-dark cabling, and then making sure all my other cabling was clean, neat, promoted airflow, and was (for the most part) hidden. So, being a long time hacker and geek, my system is not only ultra-quiet and rocks power wise but it adds something interesting to the computer room for sparking conversations when people visit.
Well, that's because the politicians have done nothing wron.... oh, wait. Nevermind :)
I know there are communities rolling their own fiber (golly gee! the town I live in did just that!) and that both cable and phone companies are doing what they can to stop them but I'll bet this next fact is true as well - in almost every instance of a municipal owned FTTH (or cable/broadband, whichever) the only people that benefited from it LIVE IN THE CITY LIMITS where the population density is sufficient to support the economics of rolling out fiber. I'd be willing to bet BillyJoe Bob that lives on the ranch 12 miles outside the city limits didn't get that fiber pipe laid to his house. This is exactly what happened in the town I live (35,000 residents in the county) and only the city benefited from it. Yes, this may only be the first step for each of these locations with the next step being the rollout of fiber to those who don't live in the city but the point _still stands_ -- population density decided where they installed the fiber and it was in the highest density areas first. Now be a good boy and fetch me my cookie.
To quote: Blah, blah, blah. 10 minutes or less of fact checking would have saved you a ton of bull. There are only four states on either coast (well, on the East Coast really) that come close to the population density of Japan (this is in 2000 and I'm pretty positive it holds true today with minor variation). Here, as of 2000, are the population densities of East and West coast states versus Japan:
All figures are people per square mile.
And from here it just goes downhill:
And so on and so forth. So, basically, the facts support my assertion that population density is still not close enough to Japan's to justify comparison _based on that fact alone_. Even consenting that a large portion of people on both coasts live in large cities the density is still off by a factor or two. I'm all for FTTH being rolled out by municipalities acorss the US. I'd kill (well, ok, maybe not kill but asswhoop) to have faster broadband access in my region but I still think it comes down to "who is going to make the money?"
You can also see some comparisons of population density here. This is a .pdf file.