Am I the only one who remembers the draconian censorship policies and ludicrous licensing fees that existed back when Nintendo was the only store on the block?
No, but apparently I'm the only one who remembers why they were so Draconian.
Hello? Video Game Crash of '83/'84 mean anything to anyone? What caused the crash? Too many poor quality cartridges hitting the market. What did Nintendo's contracts require? A limited number of cartridges per publisher.
You also seem to forget that Nintedo was the first company to embrace third parties rather than tolerate them. Atari never liked Activision and IMagic. Mattel and Coleco wanted all the profits to themselves. Nintendo said, "sure, sign on the dotted line."
But they still make bad decisions, such as calling the console "Wii."
Are you kidding me? That's the most incredible viral marketing campaign ever to hit the console industry! I swear, my dog knows what the Wii is, thanks to all the juvenile jokes that are spread about it.
The name is accomplishing its intended purpose. To advertise to folks who are traditionally "non-gamers". And it's managing to harness viral marketing without directly making Nintendo look juvenile. (A big problem with a lot of the viral marketing campaigns.) In short, it's not stupidity, it's genius.
This isn't a "myth", it's an opinion. It can't be proven or disproven, because it involves matters that haven't happened yet. Once the PS3 is launched, then we can argue if it failed in the market or not.
BTW, I find it disturbing that this fellow feels that there's no way Sony will lose third party support. It's already happening *before* the console is launched. If they lose much more *after* the console's launch, the console may very well "fail".
PC Games are Doomed
As a sweeping statement, I agree that it's too broad. However, I feel compelled to argue that PC Games lack a lot of the popularity and developer support that once existed. Rather than having titles that are uniquely suited to the PC, we're instead faced with titles that are designed to be ported to consoles. The result is that the PC Platform is missing all the fresh titles that would push gaming into new realms. PCs are quickly falling back into business and communications machines with Indie, Web Based, and Casual titles providing less sweeping amusements.
You Need a $500 Graphics Card
Where did he pull this one from? Hardcore gamers want a $500 graphics card, but I've never seen it advertised that you need a $500 graphics card for your inexpensive gaming machine. NVidia and ATI have budget lines for the occasional gamer.
Console Games are for Twitch Gamers
He thinks Tomb Raider: Legends is an example of a non-twitch game? Um, Civilization? Sim City? The Sims? Methinks this is what is meant by "non-twitch" games. In any case, this idea died with the SNES. (Populous, Sim City, and several other good non-twitch games.) He needs to get with the program.
Handheld Games are for Kids
This "myth" is no longer a "myth". It's blindingly obvious that the PSP isn't targetted at 8 year old Jimmy.
Console Games are Too Simple
Is it just me, or is this guy REALLY behind the curve? Again, PC Games and Console Games are the same games these days! There are very few PC exclusives anymore. So I don't know where he's getting this idea that people think this. Unless, that is, he's pulling from his 10-years-out-of-date knowledge on PCs vs. Consoles.
Games are Too Violent
This isn't a myth. As games target higher age groups, they quickly gain a lot of "adult" content in the form of violence and sexuality. Max Payne pops to mind as a game that was quite disturbing. Similarly, the new 360 title Gears of War is full of disturbing imagery like corpses hanging from hooks. Just because he's playing the Sims doesn't mean that games aren't getting more violent. Then again, just because violent games exist, doesn't mean that games like The Sims don't exist. My only wish is that there'd be a bit more diversification than there is today. Far too many titles (especially for the 360) target "Mature" audiences.
And this is the post he was responding to, and this is where I told you as much.
I'm surprised that as a long-time Slashdotter you're still using flat mode? The discussions here are threaded in nature, meaning that you end up confused if you're not reading in threaded or nested (preferred) mode.
The "purely social" aspect you're referring to is known as "collaboration" and "discussion". It's how the information that ends up in a wiki is developed. Without forums, wikis wouldn't exist. And without wikis, forums slowly lose their potency under a mountain of repeated questions and discussions.
It's a symbiotic relationship, not an either/or.:)
And who mentioned the $0 cartridge? I mentioned 50 pages from a $40 cartrige which was what he was responding to. You're actually quite lucky if you get 50 pages out of a sample cartridge.
I am willing to bet that my lj4+ will be here for another decade.
Of that, I have no doubt. The only reason why I don't still use the Epson (yep, I've still got it!) is that I can't obtain toner for it, and the current drum has reached its limits of remanufacturing. It was wonderful while it lasted, though.:)
Actually, a B-movie is just a movie produced on a low budget.
Um, say what? From your own link:
A movie produced on a low budget, originally made to accompany the main feature in a double billing. [...] The term B-movie originally referred to a Hollywood motion picture designed to be distributed as the "lower half" of a double feature. Today, there is no longer a clear distinction between "A-movies" and "B-movies".
Thank you for being nice enough to add weight to my argument, though. Even if yours didn't work out.;)
the cartridges that come with them usually aren't intended to last more than 50 pages.
You're telling me that a $40 cartridge I purchase at Office Depot is a sample?
I didn't think so. The reason why I only get 50 pages is because I rarely print anything. So the printer decides that the "lifetime" of the ink is expiring, so it goes ahead and shuts down the cartridge or uses more ink.
Now that you mention it, that's exactly what I'm thinking of doing. Color doesn't matter much to me, so I've been seriously considering an inexpensive B&W laser. I used to use one from Epson when I was a kid, and I'd get thousands of pages out of a single toner cartridge! (Ah yes, the days when technical documents were long and screen space was short.)
Unfortunately, I keep trying to wish the printer out of my life. Invariably, something comes along that requires it, so I'm back to square one. One of these days I'm going to just break down and buy a laser.
They *do*. (Or at least, they did.) I bought an HP printer for home a few years ago because I wanted quality, not some POS Lexmark. It cost quite a bit more than the Lexmark, but I was certain it was worth it.
Guess what happened?
Yep, it fell apart. Within six months, too. The printer was in a completely unfixable state as the head no longer moved on the track. I tried to find the problem, but eventually just gave up and threw it away. I then bought a cheap Lexmark that has been working ever since. (And God do I wish I could get rid of printers altogether. I use it so rarely that I get maybe 50 pages out of a $40 cartridge! %#@$# ink "lifetime" timers.)
Basically, HP cashed in on their reliability reputation, and is now paying the price.
Games that honestly give their all deserve at least a little respect; B for effort, as it were.
Since you're using "B-Grade Games" as an obvious play on "B-Movies", I'd just like to point out that the historical context of "B-Movie" is not the grade scale commonly used in schools. Rather, the term emerged from the concept of Double Features in theaters.
When theaters showed a Double Feature, they usually showed the ticket-selling movie first, then tacked an inexpensive movie on the back of the first. This way they were able to advertise a "two for one" type of special, without investing in two major motion pictures. Since the second film (known as the "B" movie) was usually of lower quality than the first movie (the "A" movie), the "B" Movies in Double Features became associated with poorly acted and produced films that rarely had much of a plot.
And now you know... the rest of the story. Good day! </paul-harvey>
Dude! Look out for that Giant Crab! Quick, flip it over on its back and hits its weak point for MASSIVE DAMAGE! Auugggh! You need to use Real Time Weapon Change to switch to the sword! Quick!
Whew. That was a close one! I thought you were crab-meat for a minute there.
Given the crap the Inquirer has already talked about PS3, I'd take their article here with a pinch of salt roughly the size of Jupiter.
I'm sorry, what were you saying? I was distracted by all the laughter^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H... err... action.
Must be a slow news day. I read through the entire article and I didn't find anything substantial. He spends 6 paragraphs on the first "page" explaining how cool (and "weird") it would be to attach adaptive intelligence to our workflow. (His example is, what if the computer knew when NOT to bother you with email?)
He then goes on for another 5 paragraphs just to tell us that Evil Corporations(TM) could misuse the data about our personal preferences against us. (Shocker, isn't it?) So we might as well forget the whole idea, because the Bad Guys(TM) have it in for us.
*Sigh*
I suppose I could plug my own Linux Desktop Distribution of the Future article to fill space and provide something substantive, but then I'd be accused of shameless self-promotion. So instead, I'm going to bed. 'Night all!:)
We can't deny that the various religious fundamentalists are somewhat responsible. They have successfully lobbied the US government to reduce its financial support to NASA and other scientific bodies. They have even taken the "battle" to the classroom.
WTF is up with all the trolling on "religious fundamentalism" lately? I mean, space travel is about as far away as you can get from a hot-button issue for the religious conservatives! If anything, perhaps you should be congratulating our "fundie supporting president" for raising NASA's budget rather than reducing it like our previous bleeding heart liberal president did.
As far as I can figure it, the new troll is:
1. Claim that the "religious fundies" are responsible for all the world's woes. 2. Get modded up because Slashdotters immediately agree with the words "religious fundamentalist", no matter how stupid. 3. ??? 4. Profit!
Don't let yourselves be played like this! While there are real issues relating to religion vs. evolution, THIS ISN'T ONE OF THEM. And I would challenge anyone to prove that it is. If we all apply critical thinking to these posts, it becomes quite easy to identify the valid opinions on issues from the troll posts.
Actually, this graph is pretty telling (NASA budget as percentage of government spending):
Unfortunately, that doesn't tell the entire story, either. Many of the technologies NASA uses have been getting cheaper in comparison (especially in the areas of computer and data recording) meaning that quite a few of their projects aren't as expensive as they once were. So looking at anything technology-related in comparison to overall spending is a bit misleading. Especially given that Congressional Pork has become a more prevalent part of the budget in recent decades.
However, even with that, it's clearly not a very partisan issue.
Precisely. And it's definitely NOT an issue that involves religious fundamentalism in any way, shape, or form. If anything, the "fundies" are just as much enamored with spaceflight as the rest of the population. Which is to say, sometimes they're really excited about it, and sometimes they ignore it. It all depends on what exciting developments (or not) the general public is told about. If anything, environmentalism (both directly and indirectly) has had a far greater impact on NASA.
Unfortunately, "religious fundamentalism" is a hot-button issue for Slashdot at the moment, so the trolls are taking note. Their using the opinions and prejudices of Slashdotters to undermine conversations with their usual rabble-rousing. I just hope that people wake up and realize that they're being played.:-/
Slashdot Mirror
Of course Jack the Ripper didn't have violent Internet porn! It was all telegraph networks back then. ;-)
Hello? Video Game Crash of '83/'84 mean anything to anyone? What caused the crash? Too many poor quality cartridges hitting the market. What did Nintendo's contracts require? A limited number of cartridges per publisher.
You also seem to forget that Nintedo was the first company to embrace third parties rather than tolerate them. Atari never liked Activision and IMagic. Mattel and Coleco wanted all the profits to themselves. Nintendo said, "sure, sign on the dotted line."
The name is accomplishing its intended purpose. To advertise to folks who are traditionally "non-gamers". And it's managing to harness viral marketing without directly making Nintendo look juvenile. (A big problem with a lot of the viral marketing campaigns.) In short, it's not stupidity, it's genius.
Nintendo.
BTW, I find it disturbing that this fellow feels that there's no way Sony will lose third party support. It's already happening *before* the console is launched. If they lose much more *after* the console's launch, the console may very well "fail".
As a sweeping statement, I agree that it's too broad. However, I feel compelled to argue that PC Games lack a lot of the popularity and developer support that once existed. Rather than having titles that are uniquely suited to the PC, we're instead faced with titles that are designed to be ported to consoles. The result is that the PC Platform is missing all the fresh titles that would push gaming into new realms. PCs are quickly falling back into business and communications machines with Indie, Web Based, and Casual titles providing less sweeping amusements.
Where did he pull this one from? Hardcore gamers want a $500 graphics card, but I've never seen it advertised that you need a $500 graphics card for your inexpensive gaming machine. NVidia and ATI have budget lines for the occasional gamer.
He thinks Tomb Raider: Legends is an example of a non-twitch game? Um, Civilization? Sim City? The Sims? Methinks this is what is meant by "non-twitch" games. In any case, this idea died with the SNES. (Populous, Sim City, and several other good non-twitch games.) He needs to get with the program.
This "myth" is no longer a "myth". It's blindingly obvious that the PSP isn't targetted at 8 year old Jimmy.
Is it just me, or is this guy REALLY behind the curve? Again, PC Games and Console Games are the same games these days! There are very few PC exclusives anymore. So I don't know where he's getting this idea that people think this. Unless, that is, he's pulling from his 10-years-out-of-date knowledge on PCs vs. Consoles.
This isn't a myth. As games target higher age groups, they quickly gain a lot of "adult" content in the form of violence and sexuality. Max Payne pops to mind as a game that was quite disturbing. Similarly, the new 360 title Gears of War is full of disturbing imagery like corpses hanging from hooks. Just because he's playing the Sims doesn't mean that games aren't getting more violent. Then again, just because violent games exist, doesn't mean that games like The Sims don't exist. My only wish is that there'd be a bit more diversification than there is today. Far too many titles (especially for the 360) target "Mature" audiences.
1. OEM installations
2. Commission from commercial software sold on CNR
And this is the post he was responding to, and this is where I told you as much.
I'm surprised that as a long-time Slashdotter you're still using flat mode? The discussions here are threaded in nature, meaning that you end up confused if you're not reading in threaded or nested (preferred) mode.
I did? Really? Here's what I said, verbatim:
Where did I talk about purchasing a new printer there? Methinks it's time to brush up on the ole' reading comprehension.
The "purely social" aspect you're referring to is known as "collaboration" and "discussion". It's how the information that ends up in a wiki is developed. Without forums, wikis wouldn't exist. And without wikis, forums slowly lose their potency under a mountain of repeated questions and discussions.
:)
It's a symbiotic relationship, not an either/or.
Nope. I figured my response of "What about the Klingons" was a sly way of saying I got the joke. :)
Ok, I tried that. Nothing about checking notes in battle.
And who mentioned the $0 cartridge? I mentioned 50 pages from a $40 cartrige which was what he was responding to. You're actually quite lucky if you get 50 pages out of a sample cartridge.
Ok, you've got me. Is that a movie quote?
:P
(Battle starts raging)
Wait, let me check my notes...
Of that, I have no doubt. The only reason why I don't still use the Epson (yep, I've still got it!) is that I can't obtain toner for it, and the current drum has reached its limits of remanufacturing. It was wonderful while it lasted, though.
Um, say what? From your own link:
Thank you for being nice enough to add weight to my argument, though. Even if yours didn't work out.
I didn't think so. The reason why I only get 50 pages is because I rarely print anything. So the printer decides that the "lifetime" of the ink is expiring, so it goes ahead and shuts down the cartridge or uses more ink.
Unfortunately, I keep trying to wish the printer out of my life. Invariably, something comes along that requires it, so I'm back to square one. One of these days I'm going to just break down and buy a laser.
Guess what happened?
Yep, it fell apart. Within six months, too. The printer was in a completely unfixable state as the head no longer moved on the track. I tried to find the problem, but eventually just gave up and threw it away. I then bought a cheap Lexmark that has been working ever since. (And God do I wish I could get rid of printers altogether. I use it so rarely that I get maybe 50 pages out of a $40 cartridge! %#@$# ink "lifetime" timers.)
Basically, HP cashed in on their reliability reputation, and is now paying the price.
Don't take my word for it. Ask the Online Etymology Dictionary.
Side Note: That's Etymology as in the study of word origins, not Entomology the study of insects.
When theaters showed a Double Feature, they usually showed the ticket-selling movie first, then tacked an inexpensive movie on the back of the first. This way they were able to advertise a "two for one" type of special, without investing in two major motion pictures. Since the second film (known as the "B" movie) was usually of lower quality than the first movie (the "A" movie), the "B" Movies in Double Features became associated with poorly acted and produced films that rarely had much of a plot.
And now you know... the rest of the story. Good day!
</paul-harvey>
Whew. That was a close one! I thought you were crab-meat for a minute there.
I'm sorry, what were you saying? I was distracted by all the laughter^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H... err... action.
Check. What about Klingons?
Must be a slow news day. I read through the entire article and I didn't find anything substantial. He spends 6 paragraphs on the first "page" explaining how cool (and "weird") it would be to attach adaptive intelligence to our workflow. (His example is, what if the computer knew when NOT to bother you with email?)
:)
He then goes on for another 5 paragraphs just to tell us that Evil Corporations(TM) could misuse the data about our personal preferences against us. (Shocker, isn't it?) So we might as well forget the whole idea, because the Bad Guys(TM) have it in for us.
*Sigh*
I suppose I could plug my own Linux Desktop Distribution of the Future article to fill space and provide something substantive, but then I'd be accused of shameless self-promotion. So instead, I'm going to bed. 'Night all!
WTF is up with all the trolling on "religious fundamentalism" lately? I mean, space travel is about as far away as you can get from a hot-button issue for the religious conservatives! If anything, perhaps you should be congratulating our "fundie supporting president" for raising NASA's budget rather than reducing it like our previous bleeding heart liberal president did.
As far as I can figure it, the new troll is:
1. Claim that the "religious fundies" are responsible for all the world's woes.
2. Get modded up because Slashdotters immediately agree with the words "religious fundamentalist", no matter how stupid.
3. ???
4. Profit!
Don't let yourselves be played like this! While there are real issues relating to religion vs. evolution, THIS ISN'T ONE OF THEM. And I would challenge anyone to prove that it is. If we all apply critical thinking to these posts, it becomes quite easy to identify the valid opinions on issues from the troll posts.
Unfortunately, that doesn't tell the entire story, either. Many of the technologies NASA uses have been getting cheaper in comparison (especially in the areas of computer and data recording) meaning that quite a few of their projects aren't as expensive as they once were. So looking at anything technology-related in comparison to overall spending is a bit misleading. Especially given that Congressional Pork has become a more prevalent part of the budget in recent decades.
Precisely. And it's definitely NOT an issue that involves religious fundamentalism in any way, shape, or form. If anything, the "fundies" are just as much enamored with spaceflight as the rest of the population. Which is to say, sometimes they're really excited about it, and sometimes they ignore it. It all depends on what exciting developments (or not) the general public is told about. If anything, environmentalism (both directly and indirectly) has had a far greater impact on NASA.
Unfortunately, "religious fundamentalism" is a hot-button issue for Slashdot at the moment, so the trolls are taking note. Their using the opinions and prejudices of Slashdotters to undermine conversations with their usual rabble-rousing. I just hope that people wake up and realize that they're being played.