You know, like they do already...cartels formed in conjunction with the computer and home electronics manufacturers?
You're very naive if you think that removing power from government would cause that power to return to the people. In fact, real power in this country is being handed over to large multinational corporations. And the normal justification for robbing people of their power is 'smaller government'.
Why can't, say, Dell or Gateway make a PC in a home-theater-PC case for 599 US dollars and call it the new fourth console?
Have you heard of this new thing called "Microsoft Xbox"? That's what you're looking for.
The reason that no one is duplicating Microsoft's efforts:
1)Microsoft is losing billions on their own console. Most of the few remaining PC manufacturers are deep in the red, and they don't have billions to burn.
2)They don't want to piss off Microsoft.
3)Developers are already doing the "Games for Windows" thing with the 360 controller, why would they want to increase costs by retrofitting their system to yet another control scheme?
And before somebody comes in with random examples of mature Wii games: I know they exist. But they aren't the norm, and you have to wade through the family stuff and the junk in order to find them.
Well, you see, there's this thing called the internet now, and you can use it to find any type of games you like. Might I suggest a Google search for 'Mature Wii titles' or is that too much effort for you?
Or are you still 'wading' through the aisle at your local Blockbuster like it's 1995?
You'll never see vodka-doused tits on a Nintendo console, that's for sure!
Guess you forgot about BMX XXX, which was released uncensored on Xbox and Gamecube, but censored on the "adult-oriented" PS2.
Not to mention the extreme violence on Wii games such as Madworld, No More Heroes, etc. Do yourself a favor and stop repeating the "Nintendo is for kiddies only" meme. It's just not true anymore.
Hey Xadelus! We're on the way to fight a revolution to get the oppressive British government off our backs!
Spare me your indignant moral outrage and nihilistic desire to watch the world burn.
Well, all right, how about if we pass a law requiring inspections of meat processing plants so that we can assure that workers are in humane conditions and-
Spare me your indignant moral outrage and nihilistic desire to watch the world burn.
Oh. Okay. Well, some guys and I are getting together to help Europe and Asia out from the threat posed by fascist governments, and we were wondering if-
Spare me your indignant moral outrage and nihilistic desire to watch the world burn.
I'm not a film expert, but "Inception" seemed both ground breaking and Hollywood.
In what way was Inception 'groundbreaking'? It was navel-gazing dreck with zero memorable characters. The dreamworlds weren't even that nice to look at; in fact, one of them may as well have been someone playing Call of Duty. In fact, I would have rather watched someone play Call of Duty than watch cardboard characters get shot and 'die' within a dream within a dream within a dream...or did they? Ooh man, that's like, soooo deep!
The next MS console will not have a Blu-Ray drive. You don't honestly think Microsoft is going to pay its number one competitor for every unit shipped, do you? I doubt it will even have a disc drive at all. Say goodbye to bringing games to your friends' house and the second hand game market.
Honestly, it sounds like you would do better with a PC, what with all the modern high res MMO playing you do. Don't look for love in a coffin, and don't play games with no true ending on a console, I always say!
So, no Wii 2 for 2010 or 2011 -- meanwhile, the PS3 and Xbox consoles get motion control support and other content enhancements. ...motion control add-ons that cost hundreds and don't support current games. Thus, they will get minimal support from users and developers. Remember, the most successful add-on of all time was the Sega CD, which only sold 500,000 units. Microsoft and Sony would probably be thrilled to get even half that in this economy.
While people have fun on the physical Wii games, PlayStation and Xbox owners are enjoying the option of HD playback, IP TV, music, video recording, social networking and even Foxtel.
Besides Netflix, the online video offerings available are a pretty bad deal. Hey Sony-do you seriously think I'm going to pay $7 to rent a $15 DVD? And the side effect of all these is that the interface becomes increasingly cluttered with ads for video. The Xbox 360 dashboard has more ads than the freaking mall, and they seriously detract from actually playing video. I myself have gone through constant frustration with Time Warner, ESPN, and MS all pointing fingers at each other instead of getting ESPN3.com to actually work on my 360.
Nintendo is an innovative company, but in the modern converged world of gaming and entertainment devices consumers will begin to demand more and more from their console.
Actually, the success of the Wii proves the exact opposite. Sony and MS poured billions into making stuff like Playstation Home that have met with collective yawns from their customers. More importantly, neither of the HD consoles seems to be able to last 2 years without overheating-so many of the sales from the PS3 and 360 are actually repeat buyers.
The only thing Nintendo really needs to do is make their console more online-friendly. Most people don't care about HD, but they would like to be able to play Animal Crossing with their friends without having to type in the Microsoft Office 2007 product key.
Honestly, I think an MMORPG remake of an 80's arcade game was doomed from the start! Although, now that I think of it Frogger MMORPG would be pretty cool.
I don't really have any solid reasoning for why 50 years is good, but then you don't really suggest what a valid period would be or what your reasoning for said period would be, so I guess that's okay.
In the Constitution, it's 14 years with one option to renew, with a maximum of 28 years. Personally, I think that is more than generous for copyright, especially in the modern world. Your great-great-grandchildren should not be able to lock down your work 150 years later. Of course, intellectual property is one of the few areas where the US is not being completely undercut by foreign competitors, so that might not be good for the country as a whole.
Using the old "Who's to say" routine, without evidence, is ridiculous.
You might want to familiarize yourself with the Domesday Project before you say my apprehension is without evidence.
Formats change very quickly, computer companies blossom and fade. Even popular companies can be bought out, their formats jettisoned. What if Apple decided to buy Steam and turn it into a Mac-exclusive game distribution channel? If you want to be sure that you'll be able to play the game in 10 years, the disc is the best way to go. If you don't care, then Steam is the best distribution system out there.
Part of my job involves archiving old documents, so maybe I'm a bit more sensitive about this kinda thing.
You could, in theory, have a seperate Steam account for each game.
That's against the Steam TOS and it could cause you to lose access to all your games. Don't forget, as with all DRM schemes, Steam is the true owner of all your games, and they could choose to boot you off for any reason. They are an awesome service so far, but who's to say if you'll actually be able to access your games in 10 years? If that's important to you, then you should probably go old-fashioned and get a disc.
The Obama Administration announced today that the next Palestine-Israel peace talks will be held in Cobber's Butcher Shop, Dayton, Ohio! "We welcome the opportunity of the Israelis and Palestianians to gaze on calming meat and embrace a new era of cooperation," the President said Wednesday.
Perhaps you'd like to, you know, *read* the comment I make before you assume it's baseless praise? You know, the qualifiers like:
Oh, so you're hedging. "Nothing will replace Facebook, but something might replace Facebook." Way to step out on a limb there.
Please name a company or service that exists today - of any size - which you feel is a *legitimate* threat to Facebook's dominance?
Google and Microsoft are threats today. And if they ever got their shit together, media cartels like the MPAA and cell phone providers could be threats as well. I'm sure people within Facebook recognize this and are acting accordingly.
"New features would have to be incredibly compelling, and there just isn't anything that compelling about any of its competitors at this point, or even on the horizon."
There are no horizons on the Internet. Apple wasn't in the smartphone business 4 years ago. Now they're calling the shots. Facebook itself was a novelty for college kids at this time 4 years ago. Now they're integrated into your TV set. And they can fall just as quickly.
Sarcasm and "people said that about Myspace" don't make your point more valid, it just makes you sound like somebody trying to be clever, and missing the point by a mile.
I don't need to try to be clever. Especially if we're grading on the curve with your posts.
There simply isn't a legitimate contender to Myspace's supremacy at this point. Something MAY come along to displace them someday, but your prediction that they'll be supplanted by the "next hot social thing of the moment" is pretty hard to swallow in any timeframe approximating "soon". As Myspace signs up more people (500+ million so far?), it'll be even harder to convince people to move away from "the place I've already got an account" to something new. The new features would have to be incredibly compelling, and there just isn't anything that compelling about any of its competitors at this point, or even on the horizon. You can only "connect to your friends" so many ways over the web.
FTFY. You could say the same thing about Livejournal or Friendster...and yet, they're nearly dead now as well. Some new hotness will pop up to kill Facebook, too.
Heh. For those of you that don't know, he is referencing "Runaway," a terrible sci-fi movie starring Kirstie Alley, Tom Selleck and Gene Simmons. One of Michael Crichton's worst stories...the idea is that in the future, people use robots for everything. But the robots constantly screw up, in horrible and unintentionally hilarious ways. Like the robot that cooks your spaghetti has a gun built into it for some reason, and somehow its programming gets confused and it shoots you dead.
Also, they have 'robot drivers' for cars, but instead of being just a computer built into the car, they use mechanical mannequins that actually manipulate the steering wheel, gas, brakes, etc. MST3k-quality dreck.
There has always been good games that were ruined by game breaking bugs.
Name one console game that fits in that category.
PC games weren't even that bad until about 10 years ago. Since then, it's been a race to the bottom. And really, who can blame the game publishers? I will give credit to EA for cancelling NBA Live though. That looked atrocious!
Slashdot Mirror
You know, like they do already...cartels formed in conjunction with the computer and home electronics manufacturers?
You're very naive if you think that removing power from government would cause that power to return to the people. In fact, real power in this country is being handed over to large multinational corporations. And the normal justification for robbing people of their power is 'smaller government'.
Why can't, say, Dell or Gateway make a PC in a home-theater-PC case for 599 US dollars and call it the new fourth console?
Have you heard of this new thing called "Microsoft Xbox"? That's what you're looking for.
The reason that no one is duplicating Microsoft's efforts:
1)Microsoft is losing billions on their own console. Most of the few remaining PC manufacturers are deep in the red, and they don't have billions to burn.
2)They don't want to piss off Microsoft.
3)Developers are already doing the "Games for Windows" thing with the 360 controller, why would they want to increase costs by retrofitting their system to yet another control scheme?
And before somebody comes in with random examples of mature Wii games: I know they exist. But they aren't the norm, and you have to wade through the family stuff and the junk in order to find them.
Well, you see, there's this thing called the internet now, and you can use it to find any type of games you like. Might I suggest a Google search for 'Mature Wii titles' or is that too much effort for you?
Or are you still 'wading' through the aisle at your local Blockbuster like it's 1995?
You'll never see vodka-doused tits on a Nintendo console, that's for sure!
Guess you forgot about BMX XXX, which was released uncensored on Xbox and Gamecube, but censored on the "adult-oriented" PS2.
Not to mention the extreme violence on Wii games such as Madworld, No More Heroes, etc. Do yourself a favor and stop repeating the "Nintendo is for kiddies only" meme. It's just not true anymore.
Hey Xadelus! We're on the way to fight a revolution to get the oppressive British government off our backs!
Spare me your indignant moral outrage and nihilistic desire to watch the world burn.
Well, all right, how about if we pass a law requiring inspections of meat processing plants so that we can assure that workers are in humane conditions and-
Spare me your indignant moral outrage and nihilistic desire to watch the world burn.
Oh. Okay. Well, some guys and I are getting together to help Europe and Asia out from the threat posed by fascist governments, and we were wondering if-
Spare me your indignant moral outrage and nihilistic desire to watch the world burn.
I'm not a film expert, but "Inception" seemed both ground breaking and Hollywood.
In what way was Inception 'groundbreaking'? It was navel-gazing dreck with zero memorable characters. The dreamworlds weren't even that nice to look at; in fact, one of them may as well have been someone playing Call of Duty. In fact, I would have rather watched someone play Call of Duty than watch cardboard characters get shot and 'die' within a dream within a dream within a dream...or did they? Ooh man, that's like, soooo deep!
Excuse me, miss, would you like to come home and listen to my integrated sound card while I cry about my ex-girlfriend and prematurely ejaculate?
You might be surprised at the response you get. After all, someone's got to be buying those emo albums!
Do you really think that "Asian's" are different from any other humans in this respect? Did you just get here from Alpha Centuari?
Oops. Really need to update my console add-on facts, don't I?
Be careful what you wish for.
The next MS console will not have a Blu-Ray drive. You don't honestly think Microsoft is going to pay its number one competitor for every unit shipped, do you? I doubt it will even have a disc drive at all. Say goodbye to bringing games to your friends' house and the second hand game market.
Honestly, it sounds like you would do better with a PC, what with all the modern high res MMO playing you do. Don't look for love in a coffin, and don't play games with no true ending on a console, I always say!
So, no Wii 2 for 2010 or 2011 -- meanwhile, the PS3 and Xbox consoles get motion control support and other content enhancements. ...motion control add-ons that cost hundreds and don't support current games. Thus, they will get minimal support from users and developers. Remember, the most successful add-on of all time was the Sega CD, which only sold 500,000 units. Microsoft and Sony would probably be thrilled to get even half that in this economy.
While people have fun on the physical Wii games, PlayStation and Xbox owners are enjoying the option of HD playback, IP TV, music, video recording, social networking and even Foxtel.
Besides Netflix, the online video offerings available are a pretty bad deal. Hey Sony-do you seriously think I'm going to pay $7 to rent a $15 DVD? And the side effect of all these is that the interface becomes increasingly cluttered with ads for video. The Xbox 360 dashboard has more ads than the freaking mall, and they seriously detract from actually playing video. I myself have gone through constant frustration with Time Warner, ESPN, and MS all pointing fingers at each other instead of getting ESPN3.com to actually work on my 360.
Nintendo is an innovative company, but in the modern converged world of gaming and entertainment devices consumers will begin to demand more and more from their console.
Actually, the success of the Wii proves the exact opposite. Sony and MS poured billions into making stuff like Playstation Home that have met with collective yawns from their customers. More importantly, neither of the HD consoles seems to be able to last 2 years without overheating-so many of the sales from the PS3 and 360 are actually repeat buyers.
The only thing Nintendo really needs to do is make their console more online-friendly. Most people don't care about HD, but they would like to be able to play Animal Crossing with their friends without having to type in the Microsoft Office 2007 product key.
Actually, it's an MMORPG so there are hundreds of other people driving their slow cars in a straight line as well!
And they've changed the name from 'APB.' It will now be known as 'Commute.'
Honestly, I think an MMORPG remake of an 80's arcade game was doomed from the start! Although, now that I think of it Frogger MMORPG would be pretty cool.
I guess he'd never heard "Fool in the Rain."
I don't really have any solid reasoning for why 50 years is good, but then you don't really suggest what a valid period would be or what your reasoning for said period would be, so I guess that's okay.
In the Constitution, it's 14 years with one option to renew, with a maximum of 28 years. Personally, I think that is more than generous for copyright, especially in the modern world. Your great-great-grandchildren should not be able to lock down your work 150 years later. Of course, intellectual property is one of the few areas where the US is not being completely undercut by foreign competitors, so that might not be good for the country as a whole.
"The thing about 'Run For Your Life' is, I always hated that song..." - John Lennon
Whoops, replying to erase bad moderation.
Using the old "Who's to say" routine, without evidence, is ridiculous.
You might want to familiarize yourself with the Domesday Project before you say my apprehension is without evidence.
Formats change very quickly, computer companies blossom and fade. Even popular companies can be bought out, their formats jettisoned. What if Apple decided to buy Steam and turn it into a Mac-exclusive game distribution channel? If you want to be sure that you'll be able to play the game in 10 years, the disc is the best way to go. If you don't care, then Steam is the best distribution system out there.
Part of my job involves archiving old documents, so maybe I'm a bit more sensitive about this kinda thing.
You could, in theory, have a seperate Steam account for each game.
That's against the Steam TOS and it could cause you to lose access to all your games. Don't forget, as with all DRM schemes, Steam is the true owner of all your games, and they could choose to boot you off for any reason. They are an awesome service so far, but who's to say if you'll actually be able to access your games in 10 years? If that's important to you, then you should probably go old-fashioned and get a disc.
The Obama Administration announced today that the next Palestine-Israel peace talks will be held in Cobber's Butcher Shop, Dayton, Ohio! "We welcome the opportunity of the Israelis and Palestianians to gaze on calming meat and embrace a new era of cooperation," the President said Wednesday.
Perhaps you'd like to, you know, *read* the comment I make before you assume it's baseless praise? You know, the qualifiers like:
Oh, so you're hedging. "Nothing will replace Facebook, but something might replace Facebook." Way to step out on a limb there.
Please name a company or service that exists today - of any size - which you feel is a *legitimate* threat to Facebook's dominance?
Google and Microsoft are threats today. And if they ever got their shit together, media cartels like the MPAA and cell phone providers could be threats as well. I'm sure people within Facebook recognize this and are acting accordingly.
"New features would have to be incredibly compelling, and there just isn't anything that compelling about any of its competitors at this point, or even on the horizon."
There are no horizons on the Internet. Apple wasn't in the smartphone business 4 years ago. Now they're calling the shots. Facebook itself was a novelty for college kids at this time 4 years ago. Now they're integrated into your TV set. And they can fall just as quickly.
Sarcasm and "people said that about Myspace" don't make your point more valid, it just makes you sound like somebody trying to be clever, and missing the point by a mile.
I don't need to try to be clever. Especially if we're grading on the curve with your posts.
There simply isn't a legitimate contender to Myspace's supremacy at this point. Something MAY come along to displace them someday, but your prediction that they'll be supplanted by the "next hot social thing of the moment" is pretty hard to swallow in any timeframe approximating "soon". As Myspace signs up more people (500+ million so far?), it'll be even harder to convince people to move away from "the place I've already got an account" to something new. The new features would have to be incredibly compelling, and there just isn't anything that compelling about any of its competitors at this point, or even on the horizon. You can only "connect to your friends" so many ways over the web.
FTFY. You could say the same thing about Livejournal or Friendster...and yet, they're nearly dead now as well. Some new hotness will pop up to kill Facebook, too.
Stargate video game? No, no, no! It is a FARGATE!
Heh. For those of you that don't know, he is referencing "Runaway," a terrible sci-fi movie starring Kirstie Alley, Tom Selleck and Gene Simmons. One of Michael Crichton's worst stories...the idea is that in the future, people use robots for everything. But the robots constantly screw up, in horrible and unintentionally hilarious ways. Like the robot that cooks your spaghetti has a gun built into it for some reason, and somehow its programming gets confused and it shoots you dead.
Also, they have 'robot drivers' for cars, but instead of being just a computer built into the car, they use mechanical mannequins that actually manipulate the steering wheel, gas, brakes, etc. MST3k-quality dreck.
There has always been good games that were ruined by game breaking bugs.
Name one console game that fits in that category.
PC games weren't even that bad until about 10 years ago. Since then, it's been a race to the bottom. And really, who can blame the game publishers? I will give credit to EA for cancelling NBA Live though. That looked atrocious!