According to the Japanese sony website, the battery lasts between 8 to 10 hours depending on what you're doing(8h for web browsing, 10h for video, 110h for music).
There are also other factors that heavily influence the weight and size of what you said. Mainly connectors: The Z has microUSB, SD card, HDMI and the usual 4-pin stereo jack. If you want to used most of these on an iPad you gotta use a adapter.
There are other features as well such as being water and dust proof, having much better cameras and having NFC.
And to be honest the difference in resolution is minimal. I think the difference between the screens of a 1080p phone, like the Xperia Z, versus the iPhone 5S retina is more noticeable. However I do admit the iPad screen is still better, not because of the barely higher resolution but, because it uses IPS over the TFT on the Z.
Said all that, lets be honest here for a moment. ALMOST nobody cares about these details. In the end the company with the better salesmanship will be the one with the better sales. Pretty damn sure that is Apple.
Yes that is true. I didn't write that because if started mentioning every single detail, I think I'd write a 6-pages full paper academic journal. I tried my best to focus on a pure gameplay and usability point of view, and even that is very lacking.
Web games, console games, (native)PC games, handheld games, mobile games. Those are the 5 categories I divide gaming. And while there is some overlap between them, each one of them have fundamental paradigms and conditions that as long as their respective games obey, I'll play regardless. They are all great. The problem with PC gaming is not PC gaming, but the fact that in the past 10 years (most) developers, publishers and costumers completely forgot what PC gaming is about. "Hardcore" PC gaming nowadays feels much more like they are trying to emulate the console experience, but with prettier graphics, than actually taking full advantage of the PC "gimmicks". If I want a console experience, I'll play on a console. I don't need bleeding edge high-end graphics to enjoy a good game, and a bad game will be a bad game regardless of how much eye-candy it has.
Do you know why the Vita and PSP sold an order of magnitude LESS than the DS and 3DS, regardless of having much better hardware and decent libraries? Because they were trying to emulate the console experience on a handheld game device. Do you know why handheld ports on iOS/Android do so poorly? Because they are trying to emulate the handheld experience on a mobile phone. The same crap is happening to the high-end PC gaming scene. When you develop a game to a certain platform you must understand the philosophy behind the platform.
LoL/Dota-like games, some MMORPGs like WoW and FF11/14, Blizzard games in general, Civilization(and strategy/empire building games in general) and the Sims are so popular not because they have the greatest graphics or no-DRM(they are pretty much the opposite of those two things), but because they keep active and interactive communities, make excellent and most logical use of the standard mouse+keyboard input, multi-tasking works great(simultaneous media consumption/ internet browsing and even work). It actually makes sense to use a computer for those games, even if it's weakest computer you can find. Similarly, indie games take advantage of the freedom(for game play experimentation) and excess hardware power (they really don't have the resources to fully optimize the game), so it makes sense to have those games on the PC(two of my favorite games, Touhou and MineCraft, is a prime example of that).
There is also the modding argument. But I don't count it as for me modding is not gaming. Modding is modding. The act of modifying a product is it's own category of entertainment.(as a purist gamer modding is something I actually don't enjoy myself but I understand the appeal, so instead of badmouth it I just put it aside)
People in this discussion are forgetting the real reason Nintendo got angry: Trademarks.
If that guy had released the exactly same software, but instead of calling it Super Mario, called it something else (like the tons of "clones" that already exist on Android and Chrome app stores), I doubt Nintendo would've even bothered.
On the other hand, if this was called something else, most likely nobody would have cared at all, even if was ten times more innovative than it actually is.
I don't play MMORPGs, but I've tried both of them when they were released. From my couple days experience, the grind amount is the same. It's just what are you mainly grinding for. In FF11, for XP. In WoW, gold. And that is why those bots are so important in WoW. Because, differently from XP in FF, you can give or better yet SELL virtual gold for real money in WoW. I'm pretty sure every other major MMORPG has bot problems too, but not as significant as in WoW.
Seriously that is all I see in this article. Flaming for the sake of clicks/views. Android fragmentation was a problem back in the version 1.5~2.1 days. Back when OEMs were experimenting and the software was maturing. Nowadays, save for a handful of tweaks, all decent Androids devices are pretty much equal. As for the UI tools, maybe not having tons of options will make that guy happy, but removing them will make a lot more people angry. What does he want? A Google branded iPhone?
Even though I subscribe to the Apple/BlackBerry/GameConsole idea of one optimal OS for one or two device types, I'm still mostly a windows and android user. Trying to make everybody happy with the "one OS for them all" strategy is just impossible plus there are many marketing and development problems associated to it for platform providers, OEMs, developers and users. However to say that the Android(and by extension windows) experiences are crap, is pure BS. Like it or not, Android gets the job done, and the experience is without a doubt what I would call very reasonable . At least that is from my experience with Galaxy and Xperia phones as well as a Transformer Tablet. If you got a $0 chinese phone with a shitty firmware that is your problem, not Android.
Sure if I could get my way, each company would have it's own OS and ecosystem, assuming that all tech companies had a interesting and unique vision for themselves. Too bad that is just unrealistic plus there are plenty of practical problems associated to this philosophy as well, but that is a discussion for another time.
It's a software issue, the hardware is there. As is mentioned in the article, there will be a patch for that. Sony has two options:
1) Delay the PS4 release and brush up the software, until it's "complete". But lose hype and marketshare to the WiiU and XBone (and maybe even Steam Machines if they delay too much.)
2) Release now and patch the non-essential software holes as time goes, as their hype/momentum is at maximum.
One the biggest issues with the PS3 for most part of it's life time was the fact sony delayed it to much. The PS3 finally surpassed the 360 in sales only last year. Because of that, nowadays, in the game console world, as long as the device can play games, the companies are trying to release as soon as possible. The 3DS, for example, didn't have video recording/playback capabilities nor access to Nintendo e-shop for the first 6 months or so, if I'm not mistaken.
Isn't this a feature pretty much taken for granted?
Now, a bit off-topic, but now that you mention that. I'm pretty sure the Xbox 360(and probably the new XBone) doesn't let you do that. The only compatible wireless headset is some proprietary and low quality headset by MS(maybe they have a proprietary high-end version, but I'm not sure). AFAIK, the only way to use a wireless headset with the xbox is if you connect the wired sound output to an external transmitter.
Obscure as in not a main feature in the consumer market. MIPS, along side many other embedded architectures, are still present everywhere. The thing is that they're just yet another component and not something developers and engineers are whiling to spend money and time on(hence your couple of bucks PIC). You don't choose a microwave because it has a 64 bit quadcore ARM SoC with 2 GB RAM and and 64 CUDA cores, you choose it because it heats. The cheapest controller that can satisfy the specification is the one that will be used.
I think it partially invalidates your argument. If you're an owner of an old iDevice and accessories, if you want to upgrade you'll if you want to rebuild an inventory of accessories using another proprietary interface or a standard one.
In my opinion, while adopting a standard and open may attract a handful of tech-savy and/or "open-sourced minded" costumers, if the population of costumers that are willing to spend money on your product because it's "cool"/"cheap"/"just works"/whatever other random reason is much bigger, then open-standards just doesn't matter at all(unless they are required by law). I could make everything proprietary and changes with every generation, people will buy it as long as it's a desirable product.
I don't own a single pure EV yet, but for the same reasons you mention. I think the Tesla and the Leaf are both great cars. And I'm positive that EVs are the future. However until the price becomes reasonable and there is a decent throughout the Nation, they are not a practical investment yet. They are great if you're an enthusiast, but not so great if you need to do some real driving. Hybrids are the best option we can get nowadays, thanks to the overall balance that exists between technology, price and infrastructure. If you think about it, they are the logical step that exists between a gas powered vehicle and an electricity powered vehicle. Each new generation they'll become more and more electric as the necessary components get cheaper, until in maybe 5~7 years they become the first mainstream full-blown EVs.
It's nice that Valve is bringing a, what seems to be, good controller for point and click and turn based games. But I still believe that if you're a PC gamer you'll have to couple it with a Xbox/PS4 controller(both supposed work on PCs out of the box) and a m+kb set as well.
Portal, unless you're doing a speed-run, you don't need to rush while still being accurate. So any controller could deliver a good experience. The counter-strike demo wasn't a real match, so it's hard to make a judgement. Don't get me wrong, it's very usable and if every person in the match is using the same controller, I see no issues whatsoever. But given that you'll be playing these games on a PC or Steam Machine, it's very likely that lot's of players will be using mouse+keyboards, and that could be a huge disadvantage for steam controller users.
Then there are the "console" type of games: 2/3D platformers, JRPGS, SHUMPS(my favorite genre on the PC), action/adventure, etc, I have the feeling that the console controllers will be better. And for racers and fighters, people using console controllers or wheels/sticks will have the better advantage/experience.
I think the CPUs on phones are already powerful for most office work and even some basic creative and scientific work. They just need to stop with the eye-candy. If people that were working with computers were capable of writing complex and useful documents on devices such as the Apple 2 or Amiga 500 before I was even born, imagine what an Xperia Z/Galaxy Note 3/iPhone 5s can do. Just give those guys a bluetooth kb+mouse combo, HDMI monitor and you have a fully functional office computer. Biggest issue here is not the hardware but the large software overhead and touchscreen centric UI.
Laptop shell fitted for a phone? You mean a hardware shell, i.e. chassis, like the one on the ASUS Pad phone? The first time I heard of this concept I was really excited but reading reviews and watching videos it just sounds too trouble some. Also the whole concept fells too complex for the minimalism ideology that Apple usually follows.
If you mean a software shell as in desktop and command line, than I think Apple is actually planning the opposite: They'll bring the iPhone GUI to the Mac. Each OS X update makes it closer and closer to iOS.
Whether this is brilliant or stupid, if I need to use a Apple computer, as long as it gets the job done, I don't care.
I'm not sure how it works on other countries, but here in Japan there are two types of licenses for "normal" vehicles. One for auto transmission and the other for manual transmission. If you have only an AT license you can only drive AT cars. If you have a MT license you can drive both.
Similarly, in the future, I believe there will be multiple types of licenses based on the level of automation you want your car to have. If you have a license for fully automatic cars, you may only drive those. If your license semi-automatic, self-parking only, you may drive your car but the parking must be automatic. If you have a normal license, you can do whatever you want. So basically learning these "old-chool" techniques will grant the right to manually drive cars (or drive old cars), if necessary. If you don't care about driving, than you may get an easier test, but if you need to do a maneuver you either ask someone else or upgrade your license.
How to enforce this system? I suspect as cars become more intelligent, coupled with our increasing world wide surveillance state, future license cards will also have ID chips and biometrics so that the car recognizes who can or cannot drive.
From my engineering and therefore amateur physicist POV, their works look very well written, have a HUGE impact and is the experiments confirm their hypothesis giving birth to a very solid theory. They deserve their recognition. Plus Peter Higgs is already 84 years old and he doesn't look in shape either, who knows how many years he will be with us. Better give his Nobel prize now than never. Even if there are some holes left, he deserves the Nobel prize more than certain politicians.
This is a pretty popular research topic nowadays. I have no idea why this MIT news is literally in every tech-blog on the net(other than their excellent PR department, I wished the PR guys in my university had the same enthusiasm...). I'm not trying to discredit them or anything, but while their approach is somewhat novel, similar results have been achieved in many different ways.
$400? Source please. The Piston already costs $1000. While I think steamOS will make it cheaper, I doubt it will come even close a proprietary similar spec'd game console. The only company that can make a SteamMachine with a competitive price and "modern" specs is Valve itself, simply because they can recoup the costs with the software sales. But if they do that, 3rd party hardware makers won't stand a chance, so what is the point of making an open architecture?
Hardware doesn't make money in the game business unless you have either compelling exclusive like nintendo or a unique device with no competition like OculusVR, as they sell the rift for nearly 2 times production costs, let's see what will happen when sony releases the heavily RUMORed PS VR googles. Sony seems to recently be breaking even with PS3(and futurely 4) and Vita sales, but they usually are sold at a loss in order to stay competitive as they can sustaining themselves by mainly selling content.
Consumer market is a harsh mistress. Unless you can "distort reality" and convince costumers to pay premium extra, unique features of your product, your doomed to fight the lowest price war. Most consumers don't care about features, brand, specs, just price. Many great products die because they are perceived as over-priced by the mainstream.
IMO, Steam Machines are not really Home consoles, but a complement to the PC gaming experience. PC gaming and Console console gaming are two completely different things with different needs, audience and expectations. While there is some overlap between both types of gaming, it's not enough to call it competition and the fact there are plenty of PC and console gamers(like me) is more than enough proof of that. At least not for the immediate future. Steam Machines are devices to expand your PC gaming experience beyond your Man cave/battlestation setup. Not to replace console gaming.
Yes, but given that is a really "new tech", that is a really short-sighted point of view. If they at least make sure that it is stable, it works and can somewhat be easily manufacturable, then I think that is more than enough for now. Why? Because they will show that the tech has a future. They will attract government and private investors. They will have the resources to develop better products and eventually, who knows, this tech might become a game changer in the battery market we've been all looking for.
Remember, first iterations of new technologies usually suck. Especially if they are target at the consumer market. The first consumer grade PCs sucked. The first EVs sucked. The first solar panels sucked. The first VR devices sucked(and still kind of suck). Look how great things are eventually turning up nowadays.
Since this is the perfect opportunity to answer a question I had for aeons: Why do media companies have to register trademark for their numbered sequels of their already registered franchises?
It makes sense for a company like Square to trade mark a game like Chrono Cross (Chrono Trigger sequel) because its a different name. But for games like Half-Life, Final Fantasy, GTA, MGS, I just don't get it. If I, or anyone else no matter how rich, tried to independently release a game called Half-Life 3 I'm sure I'd taste GabeN's wrath, so why to spend money on that?
As a Xperia Android user myself, I think there is a few critical difference between Android and SteamOS and why Android success may not transfer to Steam:
1)Smartphones are a necessity. Game consoles are a luxury.
2)A smartphone is useful without buying any app. A game console is a paper weight without a game.
3)Smartphones can be sold for cheap/free because they are subsidized thanks to the 2-year monthly payments. High end proprietary game consoles are also subsidized in the early years thanks to game sales and subscription services. How are the SteamBoxes going to compete against that?
How device makers are going to make money? PC hardware is already sold for razor thin profit margins. Game console costing more than $400 either fail(3DO) or have to drop the price(PS3, and probably the XBOX ONE in the near future). Game sales profits go to Steam, not Samsung/Huawei and there is no monthly fee. Will they fill up the console with bloatware like they do with their pcs/smartphones? I hope not.
4)Game developers don't like to support too many different hardware configuration(see gaming on iOS vs Android or the fact that the PC is usually a lower priority platform compared to consoles)
5)The Android user interface hardware experience is fairly "standard" compared to iOS and other mobile systems. The SteamOS official controller is a monstrosity compared to gamepads so far. Yeah, its "different, innovative, etc" but that doesn't necessarily make it good or even wanted. The closest thing I know of is the PS4 controller. It has motion capture(6-axis, LED marker) and also a touch panel along side the standard buttons/sticks and no one cares.
6)Patents. This is actually not a difference, but a similarity. Who is going to pay for the proprietary codecs, etc, they put on SteamOS. The digital multimedia business is an IP minefield. Android already suffered a lot from this.
7)Maybe easier piracy?
There are other issues and I could go on forever, but that is fruitless. There is a significant chance SteamOS could be the next big thing. There is a huge chance it's going to survive as a niche product. There is a very small change it could be the end for Valve. I don't care about it's success, but I won't bad mouth it because regardless of how it turns out, Linux will get something out of it(how much depending on how really "open" Valve is).
As an European guy who lives in Japan I disagree with most of what you said. While my hands are bigger than all my colleagues, the PS2/3 controllers fit perfectly in my hands. The Xbox360 controller also fits greatly. I can, however, sympathize with the need of multiple sizes for handheld and wearable electronics. Just like we have a multitude of mouses, keyboards and headphones as different people have different needs, we should have variety of controllers and VR headsets. I know sony lets 3rd party manufactures like Razer, Logitech and MadCatz build their own controllers but to be honest most of them suck in my opinion.
My biggest issue with all this SteamOS/Gabecube project is simply marketing and later, maybe a, fragmentation problem. I believe that it will be a successful product (especially for the HTPC crowd) but I don't think it's going to be industry game changer.
First off what is in for devices manufactures? All the game sale and software profits will be going to Valve. The only way a manufacturer will make a profit is if they sell it for a reasonable price. Too bad for game consoles that doesn't work. No matter how good your game console is, if it costs more than $400, it won't be well received. Not only that but the PC hardware business is already surviving on razor thin profit margins(unless you're Apple). I have trouble imagining that the smart companies you'll go through the troubles to develop a product to a virtually unprofitable niche market. In the best case scenario, a huge ass company that can take advantage of the economics of scaling, like Samsung, may successfully provide a profitable product but that is it. Either that, or manufactures may start adding their own bloatware/ADware alongside rival services(GOG/Origin) to their versions of SteamOS in order to cover up some costs.
Second, some people are comparing SteamOS to Android. And while I agree that they look a lot like, there is a critical difference: smartphones are a necessity nowadays, game consoles aren't. Like it or not you will have to buy a smartphone at some point. Lot's of people just buy the cheapest Android they can get. Furthermore, even though Android has around 75% of the market most of the good commercial software is only on the iPhone. If Steam is the Android of gaming, Playstation/Nintendo are the iPhones. The PS3 alone has more titles available for it than the entire Steam library(not counting BC on the PS3 and not counting 10-year old+ retro PC games on Steam).
Finally, marketing. There is one PS4 and one WiiU. Each one has multiple events and shows all over the world, partnerships with stores and tons of AAA exclusive support. Valve will have dozens of consoles and much of the aforementioned fewer perks. It's going to be much harder to sell a Gabecube to the Average Joe than a WiiU/PS4. And the PC crowd will still be building their own PCs (I doubt a Gabecube is going to be cheaper/better than a similar spec'd homemade PC). It's going to be hard as hell to sell those things.
Anyway, I hope they can do well. We costumers need some extra competition in the console market since MS is dropping the ball.
"O" - A gaming OS
"[O ]" - A box running the gaming OS?
Hard to imagine anything different
"O + O" - A gaming network?
This one is the true mystery. I've seen 6 suggestions so far
-Gaming Network. Looks like the most logical and obvious choice. But the fact Steam is already so networked already and that every other platform also has it's own network makes it a non-brainer feature. Not having it is just not an option. Not really worthwhile the hype.
-Extended Gaming Network. This is my personal bet. If one "O" means the steam system, there is a chance another "O" may mean another system. There is a chance Valve is trying to break away from the walled garden approach and will try to propose cooperation between rival platforms. They already support the PSN through Portal 2. There are also Origin, GOG, Blizzard and Uplay services. There are also foreign services(DLsite/getchu if you like Japanese visual novels, for example). Making sure that the SteamOS supports all them will encourage devs to bring their products to the platform and will destroy pretty much any reason for a gamer to stay with Windows.
-Oculus Rift. Some people say that the O+O look like a pair of googles. There is a chance of that happen but I thing the probability is low. Imagining a service that is trying to be as open as possible to officially support a proprietary 3rd party computer peripheral just doesn't make any sense to me. And to believe that the OR is going to be the only VR headset in the world is just foolish(heck there is already an European competitor called InfinityEye and Sony is planing in making affordable PS compatible VR headsets as well, alongside their already existent high end personal display headsets). Not only that but OR already has Linux drivers, so anyone who wants to use the OR on the SteamOS just have to install it and use it. Same applies to any other piece of gaming hardware in the planet.
-Sharing. They already announced it, I think last week. Don't see the reason to announce it again.
-Multiplayer. Similar to the gaming networking thing, these features are just too de facto standard not for having them. Not sure if its worth having an announcement day just for them.
-New game engine(Source 2). Of course the chance for this announcement exists, and I'm sure there is a new game engine coming soon. The thing is that I just can't see how a symbol like O+O translates in to game engine. Secondly, for most gamers game engines are meaningless, after all they are just middleware. As long as you get to play a game that is all that matters. Finally, this is a platform announcement. Game engines and platforms are two independent things.
Slashdot Mirror
According to the Japanese sony website, the battery lasts between 8 to 10 hours depending on what you're doing(8h for web browsing, 10h for video, 110h for music).
There are also other factors that heavily influence the weight and size of what you said. Mainly connectors: The Z has microUSB, SD card, HDMI and the usual 4-pin stereo jack. If you want to used most of these on an iPad you gotta use a adapter.
There are other features as well such as being water and dust proof, having much better cameras and having NFC.
And to be honest the difference in resolution is minimal. I think the difference between the screens of a 1080p phone, like the Xperia Z, versus the iPhone 5S retina is more noticeable. However I do admit the iPad screen is still better, not because of the barely higher resolution but, because it uses IPS over the TFT on the Z.
Said all that, lets be honest here for a moment. ALMOST nobody cares about these details. In the end the company with the better salesmanship will be the one with the better sales. Pretty damn sure that is Apple.
Yes that is true. I didn't write that because if started mentioning every single detail, I think I'd write a 6-pages full paper academic journal. I tried my best to focus on a pure gameplay and usability point of view, and even that is very lacking.
Web games, console games, (native)PC games, handheld games, mobile games. Those are the 5 categories I divide gaming. And while there is some overlap between them, each one of them have fundamental paradigms and conditions that as long as their respective games obey, I'll play regardless. They are all great. The problem with PC gaming is not PC gaming, but the fact that in the past 10 years (most) developers, publishers and costumers completely forgot what PC gaming is about. "Hardcore" PC gaming nowadays feels much more like they are trying to emulate the console experience, but with prettier graphics, than actually taking full advantage of the PC "gimmicks". If I want a console experience, I'll play on a console. I don't need bleeding edge high-end graphics to enjoy a good game, and a bad game will be a bad game regardless of how much eye-candy it has.
Do you know why the Vita and PSP sold an order of magnitude LESS than the DS and 3DS, regardless of having much better hardware and decent libraries? Because they were trying to emulate the console experience on a handheld game device. Do you know why handheld ports on iOS/Android do so poorly? Because they are trying to emulate the handheld experience on a mobile phone. The same crap is happening to the high-end PC gaming scene. When you develop a game to a certain platform you must understand the philosophy behind the platform.
LoL/Dota-like games, some MMORPGs like WoW and FF11/14, Blizzard games in general, Civilization(and strategy/empire building games in general) and the Sims are so popular not because they have the greatest graphics or no-DRM(they are pretty much the opposite of those two things), but because they keep active and interactive communities, make excellent and most logical use of the standard mouse+keyboard input, multi-tasking works great(simultaneous media consumption/ internet browsing and even work). It actually makes sense to use a computer for those games, even if it's weakest computer you can find. Similarly, indie games take advantage of the freedom(for game play experimentation) and excess hardware power (they really don't have the resources to fully optimize the game), so it makes sense to have those games on the PC(two of my favorite games, Touhou and MineCraft, is a prime example of that).
There is also the modding argument. But I don't count it as for me modding is not gaming. Modding is modding. The act of modifying a product is it's own category of entertainment.(as a purist gamer modding is something I actually don't enjoy myself but I understand the appeal, so instead of badmouth it I just put it aside)
People in this discussion are forgetting the real reason Nintendo got angry: Trademarks.
If that guy had released the exactly same software, but instead of calling it Super Mario, called it something else (like the tons of "clones" that already exist on Android and Chrome app stores), I doubt Nintendo would've even bothered.
On the other hand, if this was called something else, most likely nobody would have cared at all, even if was ten times more innovative than it actually is.
I don't play MMORPGs, but I've tried both of them when they were released. From my couple days experience, the grind amount is the same. It's just what are you mainly grinding for. In FF11, for XP. In WoW, gold. And that is why those bots are so important in WoW. Because, differently from XP in FF, you can give or better yet SELL virtual gold for real money in WoW. I'm pretty sure every other major MMORPG has bot problems too, but not as significant as in WoW.
Seriously that is all I see in this article. Flaming for the sake of clicks/views. Android fragmentation was a problem back in the version 1.5~2.1 days. Back when OEMs were experimenting and the software was maturing. Nowadays, save for a handful of tweaks, all decent Androids devices are pretty much equal. As for the UI tools, maybe not having tons of options will make that guy happy, but removing them will make a lot more people angry. What does he want? A Google branded iPhone?
Even though I subscribe to the Apple/BlackBerry/GameConsole idea of one optimal OS for one or two device types, I'm still mostly a windows and android user. Trying to make everybody happy with the "one OS for them all" strategy is just impossible plus there are many marketing and development problems associated to it for platform providers, OEMs, developers and users. However to say that the Android(and by extension windows) experiences are crap, is pure BS. Like it or not, Android gets the job done, and the experience is without a doubt what I would call very reasonable . At least that is from my experience with Galaxy and Xperia phones as well as a Transformer Tablet. If you got a $0 chinese phone with a shitty firmware that is your problem, not Android.
Sure if I could get my way, each company would have it's own OS and ecosystem, assuming that all tech companies had a interesting and unique vision for themselves. Too bad that is just unrealistic plus there are plenty of practical problems associated to this philosophy as well, but that is a discussion for another time.
1) Delay the PS4 release and brush up the software, until it's "complete". But lose hype and marketshare to the WiiU and XBone (and maybe even Steam Machines if they delay too much.)
2) Release now and patch the non-essential software holes as time goes, as their hype/momentum is at maximum.
One the biggest issues with the PS3 for most part of it's life time was the fact sony delayed it to much. The PS3 finally surpassed the 360 in sales only last year. Because of that, nowadays, in the game console world, as long as the device can play games, the companies are trying to release as soon as possible. The 3DS, for example, didn't have video recording/playback capabilities nor access to Nintendo e-shop for the first 6 months or so, if I'm not mistaken.
Isn't this a feature pretty much taken for granted?
Now, a bit off-topic, but now that you mention that. I'm pretty sure the Xbox 360(and probably the new XBone) doesn't let you do that. The only compatible wireless headset is some proprietary and low quality headset by MS(maybe they have a proprietary high-end version, but I'm not sure). AFAIK, the only way to use a wireless headset with the xbox is if you connect the wired sound output to an external transmitter.
Obscure as in not a main feature in the consumer market. MIPS, along side many other embedded architectures, are still present everywhere. The thing is that they're just yet another component and not something developers and engineers are whiling to spend money and time on(hence your couple of bucks PIC). You don't choose a microwave because it has a 64 bit quadcore ARM SoC with 2 GB RAM and and 64 CUDA cores, you choose it because it heats. The cheapest controller that can satisfy the specification is the one that will be used.
I think it partially invalidates your argument. If you're an owner of an old iDevice and accessories, if you want to upgrade you'll if you want to rebuild an inventory of accessories using another proprietary interface or a standard one.
In my opinion, while adopting a standard and open may attract a handful of tech-savy and/or "open-sourced minded" costumers, if the population of costumers that are willing to spend money on your product because it's "cool"/"cheap"/"just works"/whatever other random reason is much bigger, then open-standards just doesn't matter at all(unless they are required by law). I could make everything proprietary and changes with every generation, people will buy it as long as it's a desirable product.
I don't own a single pure EV yet, but for the same reasons you mention. I think the Tesla and the Leaf are both great cars. And I'm positive that EVs are the future. However until the price becomes reasonable and there is a decent throughout the Nation, they are not a practical investment yet. They are great if you're an enthusiast, but not so great if you need to do some real driving. Hybrids are the best option we can get nowadays, thanks to the overall balance that exists between technology, price and infrastructure. If you think about it, they are the logical step that exists between a gas powered vehicle and an electricity powered vehicle. Each new generation they'll become more and more electric as the necessary components get cheaper, until in maybe 5~7 years they become the first mainstream full-blown EVs.
It's nice that Valve is bringing a, what seems to be, good controller for point and click and turn based games. But I still believe that if you're a PC gamer you'll have to couple it with a Xbox/PS4 controller(both supposed work on PCs out of the box) and a m+kb set as well.
Portal, unless you're doing a speed-run, you don't need to rush while still being accurate. So any controller could deliver a good experience. The counter-strike demo wasn't a real match, so it's hard to make a judgement. Don't get me wrong, it's very usable and if every person in the match is using the same controller, I see no issues whatsoever. But given that you'll be playing these games on a PC or Steam Machine, it's very likely that lot's of players will be using mouse+keyboards, and that could be a huge disadvantage for steam controller users.
Then there are the "console" type of games: 2/3D platformers, JRPGS, SHUMPS(my favorite genre on the PC), action/adventure, etc, I have the feeling that the console controllers will be better. And for racers and fighters, people using console controllers or wheels/sticks will have the better advantage/experience.
I think the CPUs on phones are already powerful for most office work and even some basic creative and scientific work. They just need to stop with the eye-candy. If people that were working with computers were capable of writing complex and useful documents on devices such as the Apple 2 or Amiga 500 before I was even born, imagine what an Xperia Z/Galaxy Note 3/iPhone 5s can do. Just give those guys a bluetooth kb+mouse combo, HDMI monitor and you have a fully functional office computer. Biggest issue here is not the hardware but the large software overhead and touchscreen centric UI.
Laptop shell fitted for a phone? You mean a hardware shell, i.e. chassis, like the one on the ASUS Pad phone? The first time I heard of this concept I was really excited but reading reviews and watching videos it just sounds too trouble some. Also the whole concept fells too complex for the minimalism ideology that Apple usually follows.
If you mean a software shell as in desktop and command line, than I think Apple is actually planning the opposite: They'll bring the iPhone GUI to the Mac. Each OS X update makes it closer and closer to iOS.
Whether this is brilliant or stupid, if I need to use a Apple computer, as long as it gets the job done, I don't care.
I'm not sure how it works on other countries, but here in Japan there are two types of licenses for "normal" vehicles. One for auto transmission and the other for manual transmission. If you have only an AT license you can only drive AT cars. If you have a MT license you can drive both.
Similarly, in the future, I believe there will be multiple types of licenses based on the level of automation you want your car to have. If you have a license for fully automatic cars, you may only drive those. If your license semi-automatic, self-parking only, you may drive your car but the parking must be automatic. If you have a normal license, you can do whatever you want. So basically learning these "old-chool" techniques will grant the right to manually drive cars (or drive old cars), if necessary. If you don't care about driving, than you may get an easier test, but if you need to do a maneuver you either ask someone else or upgrade your license.
How to enforce this system? I suspect as cars become more intelligent, coupled with our increasing world wide surveillance state, future license cards will also have ID chips and biometrics so that the car recognizes who can or cannot drive.
From my engineering and therefore amateur physicist POV, their works look very well written, have a HUGE impact and is the experiments confirm their hypothesis giving birth to a very solid theory. They deserve their recognition. Plus Peter Higgs is already 84 years old and he doesn't look in shape either, who knows how many years he will be with us. Better give his Nobel prize now than never. Even if there are some holes left, he deserves the Nobel prize more than certain politicians.
For such an event it won't be a vocaloid. It would be Miku (unless someone come up with a even more popular character).
Just a few very well known samples. That is not even the tip of the iceberg. http://www.geek.com/science/robot-swarms-self-assemble-into-flying-units-of-any-shape-or-size-1562961/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkvpEfAPXn4
http://naturalrobotics.group.shef.ac.uk/research.html
(Pay-walled articles) http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/login.jsp?tp=&arnumber=4108264&url=http%3A%2F%2Fieeexplore.ieee.org%2Fxpls%2Fabs_all.jsp%3Farnumber%3D4108264
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11431-012-4748-2
This is a pretty popular research topic nowadays. I have no idea why this MIT news is literally in every tech-blog on the net(other than their excellent PR department, I wished the PR guys in my university had the same enthusiasm...). I'm not trying to discredit them or anything, but while their approach is somewhat novel, similar results have been achieved in many different ways.
$400? Source please. The Piston already costs $1000. While I think steamOS will make it cheaper, I doubt it will come even close a proprietary similar spec'd game console. The only company that can make a SteamMachine with a competitive price and "modern" specs is Valve itself, simply because they can recoup the costs with the software sales. But if they do that, 3rd party hardware makers won't stand a chance, so what is the point of making an open architecture?
Hardware doesn't make money in the game business unless you have either compelling exclusive like nintendo or a unique device with no competition like OculusVR, as they sell the rift for nearly 2 times production costs, let's see what will happen when sony releases the heavily RUMORed PS VR googles. Sony seems to recently be breaking even with PS3(and futurely 4) and Vita sales, but they usually are sold at a loss in order to stay competitive as they can sustaining themselves by mainly selling content.
Consumer market is a harsh mistress. Unless you can "distort reality" and convince costumers to pay premium extra, unique features of your product, your doomed to fight the lowest price war. Most consumers don't care about features, brand, specs, just price. Many great products die because they are perceived as over-priced by the mainstream.
IMO, Steam Machines are not really Home consoles, but a complement to the PC gaming experience. PC gaming and Console console gaming are two completely different things with different needs, audience and expectations. While there is some overlap between both types of gaming, it's not enough to call it competition and the fact there are plenty of PC and console gamers(like me) is more than enough proof of that. At least not for the immediate future. Steam Machines are devices to expand your PC gaming experience beyond your Man cave/battlestation setup. Not to replace console gaming.
Yes, but given that is a really "new tech", that is a really short-sighted point of view. If they at least make sure that it is stable, it works and can somewhat be easily manufacturable, then I think that is more than enough for now. Why? Because they will show that the tech has a future. They will attract government and private investors. They will have the resources to develop better products and eventually, who knows, this tech might become a game changer in the battery market we've been all looking for.
Remember, first iterations of new technologies usually suck. Especially if they are target at the consumer market. The first consumer grade PCs sucked. The first EVs sucked. The first solar panels sucked. The first VR devices sucked(and still kind of suck). Look how great things are eventually turning up nowadays.
The PSP (and probably PS3) firmware is also BSD based. At least that is what I remember from the good old DarkAlex custom firmware days...
Since this is the perfect opportunity to answer a question I had for aeons: Why do media companies have to register trademark for their numbered sequels of their already registered franchises?
It makes sense for a company like Square to trade mark a game like Chrono Cross (Chrono Trigger sequel) because its a different name. But for games like Half-Life, Final Fantasy, GTA, MGS, I just don't get it. If I, or anyone else no matter how rich, tried to independently release a game called Half-Life 3 I'm sure I'd taste GabeN's wrath, so why to spend money on that?
As a Xperia Android user myself, I think there is a few critical difference between Android and SteamOS and why Android success may not transfer to Steam:
1)Smartphones are a necessity. Game consoles are a luxury.
2)A smartphone is useful without buying any app. A game console is a paper weight without a game.
3)Smartphones can be sold for cheap/free because they are subsidized thanks to the 2-year monthly payments. High end proprietary game consoles are also subsidized in the early years thanks to game sales and subscription services. How are the SteamBoxes going to compete against that?
How device makers are going to make money? PC hardware is already sold for razor thin profit margins. Game console costing more than $400 either fail(3DO) or have to drop the price(PS3, and probably the XBOX ONE in the near future). Game sales profits go to Steam, not Samsung/Huawei and there is no monthly fee. Will they fill up the console with bloatware like they do with their pcs/smartphones? I hope not.
4)Game developers don't like to support too many different hardware configuration(see gaming on iOS vs Android or the fact that the PC is usually a lower priority platform compared to consoles)
5)The Android user interface hardware experience is fairly "standard" compared to iOS and other mobile systems. The SteamOS official controller is a monstrosity compared to gamepads so far. Yeah, its "different, innovative, etc" but that doesn't necessarily make it good or even wanted. The closest thing I know of is the PS4 controller. It has motion capture(6-axis, LED marker) and also a touch panel along side the standard buttons/sticks and no one cares.
6)Patents. This is actually not a difference, but a similarity. Who is going to pay for the proprietary codecs, etc, they put on SteamOS. The digital multimedia business is an IP minefield. Android already suffered a lot from this.
7)Maybe easier piracy?
There are other issues and I could go on forever, but that is fruitless. There is a significant chance SteamOS could be the next big thing. There is a huge chance it's going to survive as a niche product. There is a very small change it could be the end for Valve. I don't care about it's success, but I won't bad mouth it because regardless of how it turns out, Linux will get something out of it(how much depending on how really "open" Valve is).
As an European guy who lives in Japan I disagree with most of what you said. While my hands are bigger than all my colleagues, the PS2/3 controllers fit perfectly in my hands. The Xbox360 controller also fits greatly. I can, however, sympathize with the need of multiple sizes for handheld and wearable electronics. Just like we have a multitude of mouses, keyboards and headphones as different people have different needs, we should have variety of controllers and VR headsets. I know sony lets 3rd party manufactures like Razer, Logitech and MadCatz build their own controllers but to be honest most of them suck in my opinion.
My biggest issue with all this SteamOS/Gabecube project is simply marketing and later, maybe a, fragmentation problem. I believe that it will be a successful product (especially for the HTPC crowd) but I don't think it's going to be industry game changer.
First off what is in for devices manufactures? All the game sale and software profits will be going to Valve. The only way a manufacturer will make a profit is if they sell it for a reasonable price. Too bad for game consoles that doesn't work. No matter how good your game console is, if it costs more than $400, it won't be well received. Not only that but the PC hardware business is already surviving on razor thin profit margins(unless you're Apple). I have trouble imagining that the smart companies you'll go through the troubles to develop a product to a virtually unprofitable niche market. In the best case scenario, a huge ass company that can take advantage of the economics of scaling, like Samsung, may successfully provide a profitable product but that is it. Either that, or manufactures may start adding their own bloatware/ADware alongside rival services(GOG/Origin) to their versions of SteamOS in order to cover up some costs.
Second, some people are comparing SteamOS to Android. And while I agree that they look a lot like, there is a critical difference: smartphones are a necessity nowadays, game consoles aren't. Like it or not you will have to buy a smartphone at some point. Lot's of people just buy the cheapest Android they can get. Furthermore, even though Android has around 75% of the market most of the good commercial software is only on the iPhone. If Steam is the Android of gaming, Playstation/Nintendo are the iPhones. The PS3 alone has more titles available for it than the entire Steam library(not counting BC on the PS3 and not counting 10-year old+ retro PC games on Steam).
Finally, marketing. There is one PS4 and one WiiU. Each one has multiple events and shows all over the world, partnerships with stores and tons of AAA exclusive support. Valve will have dozens of consoles and much of the aforementioned fewer perks. It's going to be much harder to sell a Gabecube to the Average Joe than a WiiU/PS4. And the PC crowd will still be building their own PCs (I doubt a Gabecube is going to be cheaper/better than a similar spec'd homemade PC). It's going to be hard as hell to sell those things.
Anyway, I hope they can do well. We costumers need some extra competition in the console market since MS is dropping the ball.
"O" - A gaming OS
"[O ]" - A box running the gaming OS?
Hard to imagine anything different
"O + O" - A gaming network?
This one is the true mystery. I've seen 6 suggestions so far
-Gaming Network. Looks like the most logical and obvious choice. But the fact Steam is already so networked already and that every other platform also has it's own network makes it a non-brainer feature. Not having it is just not an option. Not really worthwhile the hype.
-Extended Gaming Network. This is my personal bet. If one "O" means the steam system, there is a chance another "O" may mean another system. There is a chance Valve is trying to break away from the walled garden approach and will try to propose cooperation between rival platforms. They already support the PSN through Portal 2. There are also Origin, GOG, Blizzard and Uplay services. There are also foreign services(DLsite/getchu if you like Japanese visual novels, for example). Making sure that the SteamOS supports all them will encourage devs to bring their products to the platform and will destroy pretty much any reason for a gamer to stay with Windows.
-Oculus Rift. Some people say that the O+O look like a pair of googles. There is a chance of that happen but I thing the probability is low. Imagining a service that is trying to be as open as possible to officially support a proprietary 3rd party computer peripheral just doesn't make any sense to me. And to believe that the OR is going to be the only VR headset in the world is just foolish(heck there is already an European competitor called InfinityEye and Sony is planing in making affordable PS compatible VR headsets as well, alongside their already existent high end personal display headsets). Not only that but OR already has Linux drivers, so anyone who wants to use the OR on the SteamOS just have to install it and use it. Same applies to any other piece of gaming hardware in the planet.
-Sharing. They already announced it, I think last week. Don't see the reason to announce it again.
-Multiplayer. Similar to the gaming networking thing, these features are just too de facto standard not for having them. Not sure if its worth having an announcement day just for them.
-New game engine(Source 2). Of course the chance for this announcement exists, and I'm sure there is a new game engine coming soon. The thing is that I just can't see how a symbol like O+O translates in to game engine. Secondly, for most gamers game engines are meaningless, after all they are just middleware. As long as you get to play a game that is all that matters. Finally, this is a platform announcement. Game engines and platforms are two independent things.