well, counter-strike is being spun off into its own game, so that will saturate a large part of the market probably. My question is: will CS being sold standalone make HL2 irrelevant? To play CS, people either had to buy Half-Life and download the mod or buy the retail box, which was essentially Half-Life with the mod preinstalled.
In the end this furthered the brand of Half-Life and kept it important as the engine behind the most popular online game in the world. Now that CS is separate I'm afraid that more n00bs will just buy that so they can get out on the internet and start wallhacking ASAP.
The original half-life was my first taste of having to upgrade my video card. I always figured that my old 2mb 3dlabs card would do it forever. Then I got Half-Life for X-Mas, loaded it up on the old K6-2 333, and wondered what all the fuss about graphics and stuff was.....all I saw was grey boxes everywhere: no textures, no nothing.
So I saved up all my money and bought a TNT2 that summer. That kicked ass for about 6 months:)
For about half a year I worked at a video store in my hometown and the clerks were totally clueless when it came to shelving the movies. They get a stack of "Bourne Identity"'s or whatever, look at the rental wall and just stick them behind whatever looks empty. There was never any careful placement, mostly because they didn't give a rat's ass if it was in the wrong place: they were pulling a paycheck and didn't understand why anybody would ever want those frigging black bars either.
If you are a movie nut and like your quality I think that we can all agree that the worn-out copy at Blockbuster is not only overpriced but hopelessly shelved in the wrong places. Sign up for NetFlix or just buy the damn things.
Not a single online resource that I use is tied into Microsoft resources that use Windows technologies.
Passport? Never signed up, almost every site that uses Passport also has another login method except Starbucks....so I'll buy from Peet's:)
Windows Media? Realplayer, MPEG, Quicktime are some other options you may recall...
On my Mac, with Safari I have no problem using the Internet or other "Web Features" like XML, RSS, or other technologies. On my WinXP PC I use Firebird and have zero problems as well.
The people that microsoft constantly tout that the DRM features are designed to integrate security with the hardware and the software. How the hell can I trust a company that consistently falls down on security with their software products to "protect" my hardware?
I don't have a big problem with Windows being insecure, because data can be backed up and restored painlessly, but if their brand of "security" extends to my hardware then I may have to be forced to constantly replace hard drives that spin at 40,000 RPM because of "security" flaws befor a patch can be released.
The whole Palladium/DRM issue is about trust. They don't have it for me and I don't have it for them.
I don't think that there is anything wrong with a small business going online, as long as they don't get bilked by some web hosting provider that uses a bunch of acronyms to convince them of the benefits of their "cheap" $30/month hosting package while knowing full well that the site will probably get about 10 hits per month.
Also, I've seen very often where a small business will go all out and get a web page set up, looking good (or bad), and have all the great stuff about their business. Somebody's son designed it, or the bizness hired the same company that is hosting it to design the site too. The problem comes with updating it.
Often the owners of the business are far too concerned with actually taking care of their business and they either don't know how to or forget to update their web site. In the end, when people go to "grandmasflowerstore.biz" they see the site from early 2001 when the site first launched. It looks dated, and people get a bad impression from the old content and prices/specials.
When I dropped by the Aple Store in Dallas last week to get my iBook serviced I was talking to the mac genius about the iTMS, iPod, and other stuff. He said that they have been getting calls literally all day from independent artists that want to get their music on the service.
I think it'd be great if that did happen: if people could get their music on the service by bypassing the record companies and the RIAA. It would practically make Apple into a music company without having to buyout Universal.
that's the kicker...what's "properly encoded?" For microsoft it probably means WMA and ASF or WMV, but I have a large part of my music collection in mp3 (like 90% of the world), ogg people will be left out in the rain as usual probably, and all these nifty new music purchases that I've made with iTune's Music Store are totally DOA.
If this service sees that light of day (and it prolly will), would you consider convertying your collection to WMA just to use the xbox with it? For me it wouldn't be an option because I rip FIRST on my iBook, then xfer to the PC, but what about everybody else?
Hell, call Microsoft for yourself and ask them...I talked to the Xbox tech support people once a while back and asked them that exact same question.
The tech told me that it was one of their most asked questions, and that the debate about the fees was pretty tight-lipped around Microsoft.
Think about it though: if the new services are part of Xbox live, then that can be how they will justify the increased rates, i.e. "Pay more and now get voice chat world wide included in your monthly fee!" Could be a nice point if two people has xboxes to just use those to talk over state lines rather than get mired in long-distance fee structures
Well, but I bought the core components of my system about 1 year ago and just incrementally upgrade things like the graphics card, RAM, proc, etc...
Hell, carmack has said that they are targeting Doom 3 at the GeForce 3-level of graphics technology. I don't think that having 2 year old tachnology really kills all your options for games.
A lot of places have been talking about how cool the game is but IMHO, based upon looking at the screenshots and the video clips on TechTV, the game looks like it was made about 2 years ago.
Sure the animation may be kickass, but the polygon count just looks really low and the characters aren't that detailed in the shots I've seen.
While the gameplay is important and obviously focused on more with this title than other movie/game ports, I hope that they haven't dumbed down or forgotten about the graphics in the process
And what's preventing my band from recording a new album, mixing it down, then encoding it out to mp3 to distribute on the internet...only to have RIAA BuzzKill(TM) delete them first?
And what is an illegal file type anyways? I could take every one of my mp3's, rename them to.txt, then change the mapping around in Windows and just open up the.txt files. (rough example)
I'd say that the virusscan companies (Symantec, McAffee, etc.) have a vested interest in being impartial; i.e. if one company can pay them off then that means that there is at least one way to circumvent their software through the front door.
If they refuse to detect the RIAA CompuKiller(TM) then within a week there will be compariable free or paid software to do the same thing. They would lose credibility for caving in to the "legal" virus makers and not ship as many units, compounded with having to compete with free software to kill the RIAA/MPAA worms.
It seems like about 10% of the people on here have actually used the new iTunes Music Store before they posted and I'm just another one of them:) Here's what I thought:
- If you tried using the service anytime from the announcement until around 5 or 6 it was pretty useless. Everybody was hammering it from work and pretty much nothing would load. Now, however it's really speedy and works like it should.
- Signup is painless: (1) It explains the terms of the service in plain language, (2) you agree to the standard agreement that nobody reads, (3) you enter your credit card info....and you're ready to buy!
- To test out the service I wanted to download some White Stripes. (I've listenend to them before but seeing them on Conan all last week has got me more interested) To my dismay, however, The White Stripes aren't on the service at all.
- Lots of artists are on the service, but not necessarily with all of their albums. Some of the Michael Jackson albums are listed as "partial," meaning that there is about half of the actual tracks avaliable for download. (No word on if the rest will come down the pipe at a later date)
- I wanted my first track to be something distinctive...I picked "Blister in the Sun" by the Violent Femmes. It downloaded fast and sounds flawless.
Overall, I like the service and have downloaded a few more tracks since the first. I think they need to have some type of "Billboard top 200" chart showing what peopel are hearing on the radio with direct purchase links, because right now it can still be a bit tricky to find something if all you've heard is some lyrics on the radio.
that not only does the Sony camcorder use moving parts but that also any device in the past that involved burning discs sucked the juice fast and furiously
get ready for 30 minute family outings, tops(hey....that doesn't sound that bad:)
We have a unique backup method that is solid-state and faster than tapes.
What we do is plug a digital camera into the server, and copy everything to its flash media card inside. When we go on vacation we just take the backup "off-site" to the Bahamas.
And in the event of failure we also have a 256MB backup of the first bit of stuff on the hard drive, and a picture of the server room so we know what to order after it melts in a fire.
Slashdot Mirror
well, counter-strike is being spun off into its own game, so that will saturate a large part of the market probably. My question is: will CS being sold standalone make HL2 irrelevant? To play CS, people either had to buy Half-Life and download the mod or buy the retail box, which was essentially Half-Life with the mod preinstalled.
In the end this furthered the brand of Half-Life and kept it important as the engine behind the most popular online game in the world. Now that CS is separate I'm afraid that more n00bs will just buy that so they can get out on the internet and start wallhacking ASAP.
The original half-life was my first taste of having to upgrade my video card. I always figured that my old 2mb 3dlabs card would do it forever. Then I got Half-Life for X-Mas, loaded it up on the old K6-2 333, and wondered what all the fuss about graphics and stuff was.....all I saw was grey boxes everywhere: no textures, no nothing.
:)
So I saved up all my money and bought a TNT2 that summer. That kicked ass for about 6 months
For about half a year I worked at a video store in my hometown and the clerks were totally clueless when it came to shelving the movies. They get a stack of "Bourne Identity"'s or whatever, look at the rental wall and just stick them behind whatever looks empty. There was never any careful placement, mostly because they didn't give a rat's ass if it was in the wrong place: they were pulling a paycheck and didn't understand why anybody would ever want those frigging black bars either.
If you are a movie nut and like your quality I think that we can all agree that the worn-out copy at Blockbuster is not only overpriced but hopelessly shelved in the wrong places. Sign up for NetFlix or just buy the damn things.
It's interesting that a main reason for DRM is because of how inherently insecure Windows is to begin with :)
Never! Wake On LAN h4ck3rz unite!
Not a single online resource that I use is tied into Microsoft resources that use Windows technologies.
:)
Passport? Never signed up, almost every site that uses Passport also has another login method except Starbucks....so I'll buy from Peet's
Windows Media? Realplayer, MPEG, Quicktime are some other options you may recall...
On my Mac, with Safari I have no problem using the Internet or other "Web Features" like XML, RSS, or other technologies. On my WinXP PC I use Firebird and have zero problems as well.
The people that microsoft constantly tout that the DRM features are designed to integrate security with the hardware and the software. How the hell can I trust a company that consistently falls down on security with their software products to "protect" my hardware?
I don't have a big problem with Windows being insecure, because data can be backed up and restored painlessly, but if their brand of "security" extends to my hardware then I may have to be forced to constantly replace hard drives that spin at 40,000 RPM because of "security" flaws befor a patch can be released.
The whole Palladium/DRM issue is about trust. They don't have it for me and I don't have it for them.
I don't think that there is anything wrong with a small business going online, as long as they don't get bilked by some web hosting provider that uses a bunch of acronyms to convince them of the benefits of their "cheap" $30/month hosting package while knowing full well that the site will probably get about 10 hits per month.
Also, I've seen very often where a small business will go all out and get a web page set up, looking good (or bad), and have all the great stuff about their business. Somebody's son designed it, or the bizness hired the same company that is hosting it to design the site too. The problem comes with updating it.
Often the owners of the business are far too concerned with actually taking care of their business and they either don't know how to or forget to update their web site. In the end, when people go to "grandmasflowerstore.biz" they see the site from early 2001 when the site first launched. It looks dated, and people get a bad impression from the old content and prices/specials.
When I dropped by the Aple Store in Dallas last week to get my iBook serviced I was talking to the mac genius about the iTMS, iPod, and other stuff. He said that they have been getting calls literally all day from independent artists that want to get their music on the service.
I think it'd be great if that did happen: if people could get their music on the service by bypassing the record companies and the RIAA. It would practically make Apple into a music company without having to buyout Universal.
properly encoded video
that's the kicker...what's "properly encoded?" For microsoft it probably means WMA and ASF or WMV, but I have a large part of my music collection in mp3 (like 90% of the world), ogg people will be left out in the rain as usual probably, and all these nifty new music purchases that I've made with iTune's Music Store are totally DOA.
If this service sees that light of day (and it prolly will), would you consider convertying your collection to WMA just to use the xbox with it? For me it wouldn't be an option because I rip FIRST on my iBook, then xfer to the PC, but what about everybody else?
Hell, call Microsoft for yourself and ask them...I talked to the Xbox tech support people once a while back and asked them that exact same question.
The tech told me that it was one of their most asked questions, and that the debate about the fees was pretty tight-lipped around Microsoft.
Think about it though: if the new services are part of Xbox live, then that can be how they will justify the increased rates, i.e. "Pay more and now get voice chat world wide included in your monthly fee!" Could be a nice point if two people has xboxes to just use those to talk over state lines rather than get mired in long-distance fee structures
Well, but I bought the core components of my system about 1 year ago and just incrementally upgrade things like the graphics card, RAM, proc, etc...
:)
Hell, carmack has said that they are targeting Doom 3 at the GeForce 3-level of graphics technology. I don't think that having 2 year old tachnology really kills all your options for games.
Fun is fun, but good looking fun is funner
A lot of places have been talking about how cool the game is but IMHO, based upon looking at the screenshots and the video clips on TechTV, the game looks like it was made about 2 years ago.
Sure the animation may be kickass, but the polygon count just looks really low and the characters aren't that detailed in the shots I've seen.
While the gameplay is important and obviously focused on more with this title than other movie/game ports, I hope that they haven't dumbed down or forgotten about the graphics in the process
....with my obligatory pr0n reference:
I'd like to use that system to organize and search my pr0n collection!
I'm sure I'm not alone in having an ass load of misc "sounds" and such on my computer.
eeek! I couldn't live without that little "ding" sound when I have new mail!
Exactly.
.txt, then change the mapping around in Windows and just open up the .txt files. (rough example)
And what's preventing my band from recording a new album, mixing it down, then encoding it out to mp3 to distribute on the internet...only to have RIAA BuzzKill(TM) delete them first?
And what is an illegal file type anyways? I could take every one of my mp3's, rename them to
All I can do is pray to god that the porn industry doesn't hear about this....then get a whiff of my computer...
I'd say that the virusscan companies (Symantec, McAffee, etc.) have a vested interest in being impartial; i.e. if one company can pay them off then that means that there is at least one way to circumvent their software through the front door.
If they refuse to detect the RIAA CompuKiller(TM) then within a week there will be compariable free or paid software to do the same thing. They would lose credibility for caving in to the "legal" virus makers and not ship as many units, compounded with having to compete with free software to kill the RIAA/MPAA worms.
I guess that Hillary Rosen can finally get that cute little Miata that she's had her eye on. /nod to Norm MacDonald and Weekend Update
It seems like about 10% of the people on here have actually used the new iTunes Music Store before they posted and I'm just another one of them :) Here's what I thought:
- If you tried using the service anytime from the announcement until around 5 or 6 it was pretty useless. Everybody was hammering it from work and pretty much nothing would load. Now, however it's really speedy and works like it should.
- Signup is painless: (1) It explains the terms of the service in plain language, (2) you agree to the standard agreement that nobody reads, (3) you enter your credit card info....and you're ready to buy!
- To test out the service I wanted to download some White Stripes. (I've listenend to them before but seeing them on Conan all last week has got me more interested) To my dismay, however, The White Stripes aren't on the service at all.
- Lots of artists are on the service, but not necessarily with all of their albums. Some of the Michael Jackson albums are listed as "partial," meaning that there is about half of the actual tracks avaliable for download. (No word on if the rest will come down the pipe at a later date)
- I wanted my first track to be something distinctive...I picked "Blister in the Sun" by the Violent Femmes. It downloaded fast and sounds flawless.
Overall, I like the service and have downloaded a few more tracks since the first. I think they need to have some type of "Billboard top 200" chart showing what peopel are hearing on the radio with direct purchase links, because right now it can still be a bit tricky to find something if all you've heard is some lyrics on the radio.
4/5 stars
this better really be Steve Jobs and not porno ...on second thought the porno would be ok too
that not only does the Sony camcorder use moving parts but that also any device in the past that involved burning discs sucked the juice fast and furiously
:)
get ready for 30 minute family outings, tops(hey....that doesn't sound that bad
We have a unique backup method that is solid-state and faster than tapes.
What we do is plug a digital camera into the server, and copy everything to its flash media card inside. When we go on vacation we just take the backup "off-site" to the Bahamas.
And in the event of failure we also have a 256MB backup of the first bit of stuff on the hard drive, and a picture of the server room so we know what to order after it melts in a fire.
p34r my sk1llz with the "gaussian blur" filter
and I think that Arnold is the only person that could ever pull off the hilarious notion of a Cop....In KINDERGARDEN!!!