So allow me to illustrate an apples to apples comparison. Friend of mine orders a new PC. It's "Vista Capable" so it comes with the damned system pre-installed. 3.4GHz CPU and 512MB RAM.
Who runs a machine with 512 megs of ram these days? Your "friend" would have had the same problem if he tried running Windows XP on 64 megs of ram or Windows 95 on 8 megs of ram. Every OS release has an optimal memory size. Vista will work on 512 megs of ram, but it is not optimal. Windows 95 will work on 8 megs of ram, but 16 megs is considered the minimum optimal amount of installed memory. Windows 2000 will work on 64 megs of ram, 128 megs of ram is considered the minimum optimal amount of installed memory.
Yeah, it sucks your friend got duped. But, that has always been the case with computers for as long as I can remember. Manufacturers have always sold machines with less memory than they should to keep costs down. You should have sucked it up and spent the $30 on a 512 meg memory module and left Vista on the machine. Instead, 3-4 years from now he'll want XP back on it. By then, it will have been a decade since Xp was released.
Now, were YOU using Windows 95 in 2005, just 2 years ago? Think about it. 10 years is too long between OS releases in this day and age, for ANY operating system.
It's too fucking unstable, slow and DRM ladened to the point that you can't manipulate files without waiting for days to finish.
I think this is highly subjective and system dependent. I run 64-bit Vista on my desktop and 32-bit Vista on my laptop and they both work well, although the 64-bit version is clearly superior.
Now, both machines have dual core processors and at least 1 gig of ram. So, maybe that's it.
And, by the way, your ridiculous inclusion of the curse "fuck" so many times does nothing but highlight the fact you are an immature child (whether in reality, or at heart).
Seriously, an operating system release is just not worth invoking such strong emotions.
And MS gives out Virtual PC for free - which is a fine product. They even made decent "tools" for OS/2.
I have a few older DOS, Windows 3.1, and OS/2 apps I like to poke around with. I have Windows 98 and OS/2 installed under Virtual PC for this purpose, all under Vista 64-bit Edition and they work perfectly.
I think MS just realizes that virtualization is the key for perfect legacy support. Processors are now fast enough that this is more than feasible.
Blueray is a choice and not a standard at this point, as a consumer I object to paying for technology that may or may not emerge as the prevailing format simply because sony thinks it's best. In addition sony's drive quality is not what it used to be (PS2 spin of death).
Considering how the top 4 movie studios, who release the vast majority of major movies, are part of the Blueray consortium, I think it is a standard. Blueray is not Sony's exclusive deal. It is not betamax. The major movie studios have chosen the format and that is what they are going to sell their shit on.
Like it or not, HD-DVD is simply not a choice for people who want to buy movies in HDTV. Maybe it's a choice for video games or storage media, but that's it. At this point, the game is really over. Blueray is the standard.
Re:The industry doesn't seem to get it
on
AMD's New DRM
·
· Score: 1
I think you are overestimating the average consumer, and not accurately portraying how this scheme will be marketed.
AMD isn't going to say "Now with DRM!". They are going to say "Capable of playing those new Blue Ray movies you can display on youre new 1080p monitor!".
And that's the truth. Most consumers won't give a shit about DRM, but will care if they can't play the latest movie in 1080p.
Yes yes, these same HDTV people are still probably watching regular 4:3 televsion broadcasts stretched on their HDTV screens, but still...
Yeah, I'm a bit of a cynic - I hope you're right, but I'm dubious.
I don't know how old you are, but I'm 27, and I think these titles are marketed squarely at me. I grew up with Mario, and Mario Kart. I'm going to guess that you're perhaps a bit younger, since you singled out Final Fantasy to defend. Perhaps a PS1 was your first system? Perhaps I'm wrong, it's just a hunch.
Nahh, I'm 29. I spent my entire childhood playing those nintendo games. Final Fantasy II and III were probably my favorite games for the SNES. Never got a PS1 or PS2, although I have a Gamecube, I got primarily to play Zelda and F-Zero. F-Zero GX is an awesome game, Windwaker sucked IMHO.
I'm not averse to Nintendo franchises completely, but I first played Zelda when I was like 8. That was a long time ago. Also, there are some interesting non-Nintendo characters on the PSP, like Mega Man Powered Up. A great game.
I'll agree, the PSP is no failure in terms of units shipped. I wish I could disagree with that. But If the DS weren't overshadowing it, the PSP would look like a success. I just don't know of any decent titles besides LocoRoco and Luminens. Nor do I know anyone excited about the PSP.
There are quite a few out there. Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops is a perfect game. I don't have F-zero anymore, but Wipeout Pure is just as good. Ace Combat X is also a very good game. The GTA games aren't revolutionary but have provided tons of fun. Sid Meier's Pirates! brings back fond memories of one of the best computer games from the 1980s.
The funny thing is, Sony is marketing teens, that's all I ever saw buy the damn thing when I worked at Best Buy. The PSP had a set in stone demographic: Thugged out teen and early twenties males. It would always be the 16 year old kid with the eight foot t-shirt and the "bling". Who picks up 3-6 Mafia and a PSP. Maybe the cheapest subwoofer allowable by law too so he can rattle the paint off of his civic.
I will admit that is a large cross section of the buyers, but I think it has to do with the many sports games available on the PSP.
Well, fortunately for you, I place no restraints upon what I say here. This isn't a intellectual forum, it is the cess pool of humanity, where the physically inferior and mentally moderate go to pretend they are worth something in life. You mock nihilism, but you pathetically manifest the most base form of the will to power. For that brief moment after you vomitted this crap, I'm sure you felt good about yourself. But such feelings are of course misplaced.
Your pathetic attempt to insult me has done nothing but remind me how pleasurable it will be when our fragile civilization collapses and we can finally exterminate wretches like you from the face of the earth.
Your very existence is an affront to any conception of value. Remember that when you look in the mirror and see that fat, disgusting, subhuman monster.
Your point is amusing, but you are separating goals that are really relating. The goal of education is to raise children to conform with society's expectations and values. As your sig indicates, we live in a highly nihilistic society today - never the less, we have a pressing need to control overpopulation, prevent criminal behavior, and limit unemployment.
Certainly, the education establishment could be argued it is in and of itself an scheme to employ morons, but it does exist to education children such they can get a job, don't have 10 children, and don't become criminals.
The whole system has certainly become corrupt, but so to has our society become corrupt - the more important question is which came first?
Get almost any dual cpu motherboard that supports 4GB+ of ram and see how well windows supports stuff versus linux.
I have a dual core Athlon 64 X2 with 4 gigs of ram. Vista 64 is much faster than XP was. I have a low end ATI X300 video card, as I don't really play games - but it works fine.
Overall, Vista 64 is a big improvement over XP on my system. So, I think the problem must be the high-end video cards - it definitely is not Vista's support for multiple processors or large amounts of ram.
Well, incredibly, New York City's last functioning farm just sold out last year. A very stubborn farmer in Queens refused to sell out in the post-depression housing boom and continued to run the thing well into his elderly years.
But it is important to discuss infrastructure. New York City is actually a prime example of a huge problem in the United States: Deferred Maintenance of capital assets.
New York City's infrastructure was largely built in another era, where quality was valued and public works projects were not considered a form of welfare. The subway system is a prime example of this. It would be impossible to construct the subway system today - they have spent 50 years working to finish the 2nd Avenue line in Manhattan. The switching system is controlled by 100-year old relay boxes that take up whole rooms when today they could fit in the size of a laptop. For subway lines that go under rivers, the water pumps were acquired from the company that built the Panama Canal!.
Anyway, infrastructure is crumbling. I read a study by the Institute of Civil Engineers or something - they claim there is almost $2 trillion of deferred maintenance in this country. When you consider how much everyone - companies, citizens, governments - is in debt, it becomes painfully clear that until we eliminate usury as the basis of financial activity, we will never have the money to repair any of this infrastructure. I'll try and dig of that civil engineer estimate....
mean look, they haven't even gotten rid of Ballmer yet. As long as he's on top it's going to remain the same stodgy old company it is now. MSFT reminds me of some 40 year old guy who thinks he's cool hitting on his daughter's college friends. He's the only one who doesn't realize he's creepy and pathetic.
Well, at least he's not hitting on his daughter. Seriously though - I don't know what things are like in your part of the country, but most men have children well into the 30s. I think most men are well in their 50s, when their kids are in college.
Huh? Why would I do that? Are you claiming that there are no adults who have a fanatical devotion to Pokémon or Nintendogs? If so, you are probably somewhat insane. Pokémon, by the way, is an RPG with a rather complex fighting mechanism, and it is played by many adult gamers. Nintendogs is played by adults as well, especially females. Yes, I know several women who did play that game for months and months when it came out.
Oh yeah, when you know you can't win an argument, just attack the premise as insane. Ok.
I did not argue that it was a failure (although that would be quite an easy argument to make). I argued that it was not targeted at adults, and that the DS was a better console for adults.
Why don't you read your original post - you didn't make any such claim. I was attempting to suggest the premise that the PSP and the DS cater to different markets (in light of the article that is the subject of this entire discussion). You claimed, using a source I found interesting and novel, that the DS sells many more games than the PSP. While this is true, most of the games seemed oriented towards children. As further support, I noted how few PC related games were on that list - most were very old and genre defining, like Doom II. Your entire original post was defeatist, suggesting the PSP is failing to compete with the DS. But I just don't think there is much of a comparison to make. Are PC game makers failing to compete against the DS as well? They have even FEWER games than the PSP.
Again, I'm not sure what you mean by that comment. Are you saying that adults playing DS games are less mainstream than adults playing PSP games? If so, then again, I would be inclined to question your sanity:-)
No, I am saying that far fewer adults are playing the DS than the PSP. I've seen it myself across all races and classes.
It's entirely possible that, from your personal experience, adults are more likely to own PSPs than DSs. However, worldwide sales numbers of consoles as well as of games, and of the particular genres of games that are doing well, should tell you that you are, in fact, the one outside the mainstream here.
You still seem to be missing the market segment concept I'm suggesting is very possible. The mainstream DS user is a child. The mainstream PSP user is an adult. The worldwide sales statistics you cited I believe support that. I simply refuse to believe the majority of people playing Nintendogs and Pokemon are adults. You can certainly continue along that premise, but let's face it. This is a slashdot meme.
Craigslist gives the illusion of anonymity that is just too strong for the average nitwit.
What if Craigslist did something like gmail does for new accounts? Use a text message to verify a cell phone account. 99% of users would understand at that point it is NOT anonymous and they might make better choices.
It is the fault of craigslist in they make it too easy for assholes to sign up.
Hmm. How about this, why don't you find me the personal website of an adult, even a college student, that proclaims fanatical devotion to Pokemon and Nintendogs. Especially in light of the sales figures you cited, I just din't believe it.
The PSP is not marketed towards adults. Really. I own both a DS and a PSP. The DS gets the "adult" games like Hotel Dusk: Room 215. The PSP gets the "I wish I were an adult and need to pretend to be one by plaing violent games" games like GTA.
I was thinking more along the lines of Metal Gear Portable Ops or Ace Combat X - these games, while they are easily played by children, have a more serious tone and artistic style that isn't insulting.
Both are nice consoles, but unfortunately, the recent games on the PSP have underwhelmed me. I do play and love fun games like New Super Mario or Mario Kart, but on the PSP, there's just too much stuff targeted at teens and pre-teens who need to prove how grown-up they are by playing games they think grown-ups play. By now, I mostly use the PSP to watch TV shows and movies while riding the train.
Ahh, and there's the rub. Your personal views are of course yours and I won't dispute them - but seriously, does that translate into the console being a failure? I won't even bother to name the dozens of excellent and popular PC based games that didn't even make that list. They weren't failures, and are enjoyed by many today. If the PSP can outperform that market, how is it a failure?
All I simply saying is don't apply your personal views, which given the data you cited and based on my personal experience appear to be outside the mainstream, to a business that is otherwise doing well. Maybe it is not well enough for you, but it is enough for the hundreds of thousands of PSP owners who are quite happy with their systems.
As far as the game sales numbers go, the PSP is having a terrible time. The best selling PSP game in North America is GTA:LCS at just shy of 1.5 million units, which is behind several DS titles.
So I never heard of VGCharts before. It's an interesting site. It does list SHIPPING quantities, not actual sales figures - which is an important difference. But anyway... I was curious which DS titles sold more than GTA:LCS. I live in NYC and see plenty of portable gaming systems on the subway. I'd say the PSP outsells the DS by at least a factor of 10 to 1 for subway riders. I almost never see an adult with the thing.
Looking at the VGCarts site, it makes sense. The only DS games to outsell GTA:LCS include stuff like Nintendogs, Mario, Pokemon, Braintraining, and Animal Crossing. Outside of Braintraining, which does sound remotely interesting, would an adult play any of these games?
I don't think so. Isn't it possible the DS is just marketed and oriented towards children while the PSP simply is not? I mean, let's look at all the DS games that have shipped over 1MM units:
Nintendogs Nintendo 1.55 4.96 5.58 12.09
New Super Mario Bros Nintendo 4.54 2.62 2.23 9.39
Brain Training Nintendo 3.52 1.53 2.28 7.33
Animal Crossing: Wild World Nintendo 4.32 1.29 1.69 7.30
Mario Kart DS Nintendo 2.26 2.43 2.01 6.70
Pokemon Diamond / Pearl Nintendo 5.13 0.00 0.00 5.13
Super Mario 64 DS Nintendo 1.12 2.14 1.39 4.65
Brain Training 2 Nintendo 4.48 0.00 0.00 4.48
Big Brain Academy Nintendo 1.46 0.99 0.81 3.26
Pokemon Mysterious Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team Nintendo 0.82 1.15 0.97 2.94
English Training for Adults Nintendo 1.94 0.25 0.29 2.48
Warioware: Touched Nintendo 1.20 0.50 0.45 2.15
Tetris DS Nintendo 1.22 0.43 0.28 1.93
Yoshi Island 2 Nintendo 0.49 0.81 0.37 1.67
Sonic Rush Sega 0.06 0.49 0.96 1.51
Final Fantasy III Square 1.04 0.47 0.00 1.51
Common Knowledge Training Nintendo 1.46 0.00 0.00 1.46
Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time Nintendo 0.48 0.70 0.27 1.45
Pokemon Ranger Nintendo 0.77 0.67 0.00 1.44
Kirby Squeak Squad Nintendo 1.00 0.37 0.00 1.37
Tamogotchi Connection: Corner Shop Bandai 1.13 0.12 0.10 1.35
Dragon Quest Monsters Joker Enix 1.33 0.00 0.00 1.33
Mario Hoops 3 on 3 Nintendo 0.51 0.62 0.16 1.29
Clubhouse Games Nintendo 0.71 0.19 0.14 1.04
Love and Berry DS Collection Sega 1.01 0.00 0.00 1.01
I dunno. It just seems like most of these games are not oriented towards my age group. Tons of cutsie games. Final Fantasy III excluded of course. 90% of them are Nintendo games. Who knows what kind of draconian sales agreements they have with vendors. These shipments could have been FORCED.
If we assume these numbers are accurate, I think we can only assume that what people say about Nintendo is true: The company markets their products to children. That's fine, but I just don't quite understand why it inspires such fanatical loyalty amongst Slashdot readers.
Anyway, I digress... I guess it doesn't matter that the same list has about 5 times as many PC games having sold over 1 million units than the PSP. That sounds great until you realize the list includes ancient titles like Doom, Sim City 2000, Theme Park, Myst, and The 7th Guest. The PSP list is modest, but it really isn't so bad when compared to the PC list.
I think when you consider the numbers in context, the DS probably is doing really well, but the PSP is hardly a failure and has done as well or better than the PC game market.
However, add to that the fact that the guy who was arguing *for* Vista's stability also acknowledges that there is a "relatively common" sound driver bug that causes crashes -- I think with this evidence, you could reasonably conclude that Vista is unstable
Yet, because no OS is immune from a flawed driver, I guess the final conclusion is ALL operating systems are unstable. Such a conclusion, while interesting, doesn't really help anyone and certainly has little to do with this article, which seems to imply that Vista is uniquely unstable.
No. I should be directing these comments to you, because you are making logic errors in your argument.
How could I possibly have made a logical error when I have not made an argument?
Your story doesn't make him wrong, any more than his would make yours wrong.
I didn't claim he was wrong.
Irrelevant. What we are talking about is how stable Vista is for the general public, on common hardware in typical scenarios. You claim never to have had a crash with any OS aside from DOS 6 -- so what? Does that mean no OS has ever crashed, except DOS 6?
I think you are reading a bit too much into my words, and you are making ridiculous claims. We are talking about an article, an article that does not cite any useful data to ascertain whether ot not Vista is stable for the general public. I think are simply being argumenative.
Further, read my post again - data corruption on a vast scale is pretty serious. You dig up a story about how Windows ME caused this, it's the first I've heard of it. As well, this article is the first I've heard of Vista causing data loss for anyone. Extraordinary claims require a bit more proof in this age of the internet.
You have said yourself that there is a *common* problem with sound card drivers. We both agree that faulty drivers cause problems. But should it be a *common* problem, especially for MS' flagship product, released to the public? Shouldn't MS make better drivers, or only allow well-tested, signed drivers? If faulty drivers are a *common* problem, doesn't that show some problem in MS' development or distribution methods?
I said moderately common - common enough that Microsoft acknowledges the problem. I'm sorry. I've just been using computers long enough that I don't expect any PC based OS to have perfect driver compatibility. There are simply too many vendors with too many types of products. If you want perfectly supported hardware, get a Mac.
"I'm not having problems; therefore, nobody else could be having any, either."
Your trite response misses the point - I'm providing anecdotal evidence to refute the anecdotal story presented by the author of the article that is the subject of this slashdot discussion. Don't you think you should be directing these comments towards the article, and not me?
He was using it as a common user with OEM hardware. You're telling me that Joe Six-pack can troubleshoot a driver problem in any timeframe? Remember, MS is marketing this as a retail, for-the-masses OS. The review chose to review the machine as a typical end-user.
I think you are mistaken, but the article is slashdotted so I can't check. But it doesn't matter, I know two peple who got brand new laptops with Vista on them and they work fine. I use my girlfriend's dell all the time and it works great, and hasn't crashed once.
So now you admit sound card drivers are a common problem? You're right, it's not the end of the world, but the reviewer did claim it was the end for a lot of his data -- which goes against the whole reason to use a computer in the first place -- to store your data.
Why don't you name me a single OS that won't become unstable with faulty drivers. In any event, it's been my experience that serious data corruption is the result of a hardware problem. I've never lost data from running any operating system, EVER, except for when I used a beta version of DOS 6 and the hard disk compression software got fucked. I'd also say that many people use computers for non-data storage tasks.
Except for the fact of this relatively common sound card driver bug causing crashes. You have openly admitted as much yourself. Sounds like 1994 all over again.
I'll address this when you find me the OS that never crashes because of faulty drivers...
The two are not mutually exclusive. All operating systems crash with poorly written drivers. This has nothing to do with whether or not the OS is stable.
Compared to previous versions of Windows however, the OS really was unstable, irrespective of the driver issue. Software really could take down the OS and it commonly did.
What do you mean by resource intensive? Does it require moderately high end hardware? Yes. Windows 95 was considered resource intensive for a 386 with 4 megs of ram when it came out in 1995. Who cares?
The menu latency is total bullshit though. Whatever else they have done in Vista, the interface is much more responsive and smooth. The author of your cited article must have had some lousy video drivers. The Aero interface is very fast on well supported hardware.
I've been running the 64-bit version of Vista since it was released and it hasn't crashed on me once. This guy couldn't figure out which driver/piece of hardware was causing this instability in a MONTH?
Btw, chances are it was a sound card driver - this is a moderately common problem, but it sure isn't the end of the world.
This isn't 1994 anymore. The arguments against MS for making unstable operating systems ended when NT was released. Since Windows 2000, MS has made stable operating systems that really are usable by the average joe without difficulty.
Due, you really need some practice. For someone with such a low UID, there's no excuse for such a shoddy and transparent troll attempt.
Actually, I have used this UID for 6 years. My excellent karma alone should be indicative that this posting does NOT come from a new user. And, while I do love trolling, this one is assuredly not a troll. Meanwhile, if you think are "MS fanboys" why don't you post a few links to them.
1) Wipeout Pure 2) GTA: Liberty City Stories 3) GTA: Vice City Stories 4) Air Combat X: Skies of Deception 5) Lumines II 6) Metal Gear Solid: Porable Ops (amazing game) 7) Sid Miers Pirates! (such nastalgia) 8) Sega Classics 9) Mega Man Powered Up
These are all excellent games and are well worth the money.
Slashdot Mirror
So allow me to illustrate an apples to apples comparison. Friend of mine orders a new PC. It's "Vista Capable" so it comes with the damned system pre-installed. 3.4GHz CPU and 512MB RAM.
Who runs a machine with 512 megs of ram these days? Your "friend" would have had the same problem if he tried running Windows XP on 64 megs of ram or Windows 95 on 8 megs of ram. Every OS release has an optimal memory size. Vista will work on 512 megs of ram, but it is not optimal. Windows 95 will work on 8 megs of ram, but 16 megs is considered the minimum optimal amount of installed memory. Windows 2000 will work on 64 megs of ram, 128 megs of ram is considered the minimum optimal amount of installed memory.
Yeah, it sucks your friend got duped. But, that has always been the case with computers for as long as I can remember. Manufacturers have always sold machines with less memory than they should to keep costs down. You should have sucked it up and spent the $30 on a 512 meg memory module and left Vista on the machine. Instead, 3-4 years from now he'll want XP back on it. By then, it will have been a decade since Xp was released.
Now, were YOU using Windows 95 in 2005, just 2 years ago? Think about it. 10 years is too long between OS releases in this day and age, for ANY operating system.
Long live Windows XP
It's too fucking unstable, slow and DRM ladened to the point that you can't manipulate files without waiting for days to finish.
I think this is highly subjective and system dependent. I run 64-bit Vista on my desktop and 32-bit Vista on my laptop and they both work well, although the 64-bit version is clearly superior.
Now, both machines have dual core processors and at least 1 gig of ram. So, maybe that's it.
And, by the way, your ridiculous inclusion of the curse "fuck" so many times does nothing but highlight the fact you are an immature child (whether in reality, or at heart).
Seriously, an operating system release is just not worth invoking such strong emotions.
And MS gives out Virtual PC for free - which is a fine product. They even made decent "tools" for OS/2.
I have a few older DOS, Windows 3.1, and OS/2 apps I like to poke around with. I have Windows 98 and OS/2 installed under Virtual PC for this purpose, all under Vista 64-bit Edition and they work perfectly.
I think MS just realizes that virtualization is the key for perfect legacy support. Processors are now fast enough that this is more than feasible.
Blueray is a choice and not a standard at this point, as a consumer I object to paying for technology that may or may not emerge as the prevailing format simply because sony thinks it's best. In addition sony's drive quality is not what it used to be (PS2 spin of death).
Considering how the top 4 movie studios, who release the vast majority of major movies, are part of the Blueray consortium, I think it is a standard. Blueray is not Sony's exclusive deal. It is not betamax. The major movie studios have chosen the format and that is what they are going to sell their shit on.
Like it or not, HD-DVD is simply not a choice for people who want to buy movies in HDTV. Maybe it's a choice for video games or storage media, but that's it. At this point, the game is really over. Blueray is the standard.
I think you are overestimating the average consumer, and not accurately portraying how this scheme will be marketed.
AMD isn't going to say "Now with DRM!". They are going to say "Capable of playing those new Blue Ray movies you can display on youre new 1080p monitor!".
And that's the truth. Most consumers won't give a shit about DRM, but will care if they can't play the latest movie in 1080p.
Yes yes, these same HDTV people are still probably watching regular 4:3 televsion broadcasts stretched on their HDTV screens, but still...
Yeah, I'm a bit of a cynic - I hope you're right, but I'm dubious.
I don't know how old you are, but I'm 27, and I think these titles are marketed squarely at me. I grew up with Mario, and Mario Kart. I'm going to guess that you're perhaps a bit younger, since you singled out Final Fantasy to defend. Perhaps a PS1 was your first system? Perhaps I'm wrong, it's just a hunch.
Nahh, I'm 29. I spent my entire childhood playing those nintendo games. Final Fantasy II and III were probably my favorite games for the SNES. Never got a PS1 or PS2, although I have a Gamecube, I got primarily to play Zelda and F-Zero. F-Zero GX is an awesome game, Windwaker sucked IMHO.
I'm not averse to Nintendo franchises completely, but I first played Zelda when I was like 8. That was a long time ago. Also, there are some interesting non-Nintendo characters on the PSP, like Mega Man Powered Up. A great game.
I'll agree, the PSP is no failure in terms of units shipped. I wish I could disagree with that. But If the DS weren't overshadowing it, the PSP would look like a success. I just don't know of any decent titles besides LocoRoco and Luminens. Nor do I know anyone excited about the PSP.
There are quite a few out there. Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops is a perfect game. I don't have F-zero anymore, but Wipeout Pure is just as good. Ace Combat X is also a very good game. The GTA games aren't revolutionary but have provided tons of fun. Sid Meier's Pirates! brings back fond memories of one of the best computer games from the 1980s.
The funny thing is, Sony is marketing teens, that's all I ever saw buy the damn thing when I worked at Best Buy. The PSP had a set in stone demographic: Thugged out teen and early twenties males. It would always be the 16 year old kid with the eight foot t-shirt and the "bling". Who picks up 3-6 Mafia and a PSP. Maybe the cheapest subwoofer allowable by law too so he can rattle the paint off of his civic.
I will admit that is a large cross section of the buyers, but I think it has to do with the many sports games available on the PSP.
Well, fortunately for you, I place no restraints upon what I say here. This isn't a intellectual forum, it is the cess pool of humanity, where the physically inferior and mentally moderate go to pretend they are worth something in life. You mock nihilism, but you pathetically manifest the most base form of the will to power. For that brief moment after you vomitted this crap, I'm sure you felt good about yourself. But such feelings are of course misplaced.
Your pathetic attempt to insult me has done nothing but remind me how pleasurable it will be when our fragile civilization collapses and we can finally exterminate wretches like you from the face of the earth.
Your very existence is an affront to any conception of value. Remember that when you look in the mirror and see that fat, disgusting, subhuman monster.
Your point is amusing, but you are separating goals that are really relating. The goal of education is to raise children to conform with society's expectations and values. As your sig indicates, we live in a highly nihilistic society today - never the less, we have a pressing need to control overpopulation, prevent criminal behavior, and limit unemployment.
Certainly, the education establishment could be argued it is in and of itself an scheme to employ morons, but it does exist to education children such they can get a job, don't have 10 children, and don't become criminals.
The whole system has certainly become corrupt, but so to has our society become corrupt - the more important question is which came first?
Get almost any dual cpu motherboard that supports 4GB+ of ram and see how well windows supports stuff versus linux.
I have a dual core Athlon 64 X2 with 4 gigs of ram. Vista 64 is much faster than XP was. I have a low end ATI X300 video card, as I don't really play games - but it works fine.
Overall, Vista 64 is a big improvement over XP on my system. So, I think the problem must be the high-end video cards - it definitely is not Vista's support for multiple processors or large amounts of ram.
Well, incredibly, New York City's last functioning farm just sold out last year. A very stubborn farmer in Queens refused to sell out in the post-depression housing boom and continued to run the thing well into his elderly years.
But it is important to discuss infrastructure. New York City is actually a prime example of a huge problem in the United States: Deferred Maintenance of capital assets.
New York City's infrastructure was largely built in another era, where quality was valued and public works projects were not considered a form of welfare. The subway system is a prime example of this. It would be impossible to construct the subway system today - they have spent 50 years working to finish the 2nd Avenue line in Manhattan. The switching system is controlled by 100-year old relay boxes that take up whole rooms when today they could fit in the size of a laptop. For subway lines that go under rivers, the water pumps were acquired from the company that built the Panama Canal!.
Anyway, infrastructure is crumbling. I read a study by the Institute of Civil Engineers or something - they claim there is almost $2 trillion of deferred maintenance in this country. When you consider how much everyone - companies, citizens, governments - is in debt, it becomes painfully clear that until we eliminate usury as the basis of financial activity, we will never have the money to repair any of this infrastructure. I'll try and dig of that civil engineer estimate....
mean look, they haven't even gotten rid of Ballmer yet. As long as he's on top it's going to remain the same stodgy old company it is now. MSFT reminds me of some 40 year old guy who thinks he's cool hitting on his daughter's college friends. He's the only one who doesn't realize he's creepy and pathetic.
Well, at least he's not hitting on his daughter. Seriously though - I don't know what things are like in your part of the country, but most men have children well into the 30s. I think most men are well in their 50s, when their kids are in college.
Huh? Why would I do that? Are you claiming that there are no adults who have a fanatical devotion to Pokémon or Nintendogs? If so, you are probably somewhat insane. Pokémon, by the way, is an RPG with a rather complex fighting mechanism, and it is played by many adult gamers. Nintendogs is played by adults as well, especially females. Yes, I know several women who did play that game for months and months when it came out.
:-)
Oh yeah, when you know you can't win an argument, just attack the premise as insane. Ok.
I did not argue that it was a failure (although that would be quite an easy argument to make). I argued that it was not targeted at adults, and that the DS was a better console for adults.
Why don't you read your original post - you didn't make any such claim. I was attempting to suggest the premise that the PSP and the DS cater to different markets (in light of the article that is the subject of this entire discussion). You claimed, using a source I found interesting and novel, that the DS sells many more games than the PSP. While this is true, most of the games seemed oriented towards children. As further support, I noted how few PC related games were on that list - most were very old and genre defining, like Doom II. Your entire original post was defeatist, suggesting the PSP is failing to compete with the DS. But I just don't think there is much of a comparison to make. Are PC game makers failing to compete against the DS as well? They have even FEWER games than the PSP.
Again, I'm not sure what you mean by that comment. Are you saying that adults playing DS games are less mainstream than adults playing PSP games? If so, then again, I would be inclined to question your sanity
No, I am saying that far fewer adults are playing the DS than the PSP. I've seen it myself across all races and classes.
It's entirely possible that, from your personal experience, adults are more likely to own PSPs than DSs. However, worldwide sales numbers of consoles as well as of games, and of the particular genres of games that are doing well, should tell you that you are, in fact, the one outside the mainstream here.
You still seem to be missing the market segment concept I'm suggesting is very possible. The mainstream DS user is a child. The mainstream PSP user is an adult. The worldwide sales statistics you cited I believe support that. I simply refuse to believe the majority of people playing Nintendogs and Pokemon are adults. You can certainly continue along that premise, but let's face it. This is a slashdot meme.
DS good. PSP bad.
Craigslist gives the illusion of anonymity that is just too strong for the average nitwit.
What if Craigslist did something like gmail does for new accounts? Use a text message to verify a cell phone account. 99% of users would understand at that point it is NOT anonymous and they might make better choices.
It is the fault of craigslist in they make it too easy for assholes to sign up.
Yes. Next question?
Hmm. How about this, why don't you find me the personal website of an adult, even a college student, that proclaims fanatical devotion to Pokemon and Nintendogs. Especially in light of the sales figures you cited, I just din't believe it.
The PSP is not marketed towards adults. Really. I own both a DS and a PSP. The DS gets the "adult" games like Hotel Dusk: Room 215. The PSP gets the "I wish I were an adult and need to pretend to be one by plaing violent games" games like GTA.
I was thinking more along the lines of Metal Gear Portable Ops or Ace Combat X - these games, while they are easily played by children, have a more serious tone and artistic style that isn't insulting.
Both are nice consoles, but unfortunately, the recent games on the PSP have underwhelmed me. I do play and love fun games like New Super Mario or Mario Kart, but on the PSP, there's just too much stuff targeted at teens and pre-teens who need to prove how grown-up they are by playing games they think grown-ups play. By now, I mostly use the PSP to watch TV shows and movies while riding the train.
Ahh, and there's the rub. Your personal views are of course yours and I won't dispute them - but seriously, does that translate into the console being a failure? I won't even bother to name the dozens of excellent and popular PC based games that didn't even make that list. They weren't failures, and are enjoyed by many today. If the PSP can outperform that market, how is it a failure?
All I simply saying is don't apply your personal views, which given the data you cited and based on my personal experience appear to be outside the mainstream, to a business that is otherwise doing well. Maybe it is not well enough for you, but it is enough for the hundreds of thousands of PSP owners who are quite happy with their systems.
As far as the game sales numbers go, the PSP is having a terrible time. The best selling PSP game in North America is GTA:LCS at just shy of 1.5 million units, which is behind several DS titles.
So I never heard of VGCharts before. It's an interesting site. It does list SHIPPING quantities, not actual sales figures - which is an important difference. But anyway... I was curious which DS titles sold more than GTA:LCS. I live in NYC and see plenty of portable gaming systems on the subway. I'd say the PSP outsells the DS by at least a factor of 10 to 1 for subway riders. I almost never see an adult with the thing.
Looking at the VGCarts site, it makes sense. The only DS games to outsell GTA:LCS include stuff like Nintendogs, Mario, Pokemon, Braintraining, and Animal Crossing. Outside of Braintraining, which does sound remotely interesting, would an adult play any of these games?
I don't think so. Isn't it possible the DS is just marketed and oriented towards children while the PSP simply is not? I mean, let's look at all the DS games that have shipped over 1MM units:
Nintendogs Nintendo 1.55 4.96 5.58 12.09
New Super Mario Bros Nintendo 4.54 2.62 2.23 9.39
Brain Training Nintendo 3.52 1.53 2.28 7.33
Animal Crossing: Wild World Nintendo 4.32 1.29 1.69 7.30
Mario Kart DS Nintendo 2.26 2.43 2.01 6.70
Pokemon Diamond / Pearl Nintendo 5.13 0.00 0.00 5.13
Super Mario 64 DS Nintendo 1.12 2.14 1.39 4.65
Brain Training 2 Nintendo 4.48 0.00 0.00 4.48
Big Brain Academy Nintendo 1.46 0.99 0.81 3.26
Pokemon Mysterious Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team Nintendo 0.82 1.15 0.97 2.94
English Training for Adults Nintendo 1.94 0.25 0.29 2.48
Warioware: Touched Nintendo 1.20 0.50 0.45 2.15
Tetris DS Nintendo 1.22 0.43 0.28 1.93
Yoshi Island 2 Nintendo 0.49 0.81 0.37 1.67
Sonic Rush Sega 0.06 0.49 0.96 1.51
Final Fantasy III Square 1.04 0.47 0.00 1.51
Common Knowledge Training Nintendo 1.46 0.00 0.00 1.46
Mario and Luigi: Partners in Time Nintendo 0.48 0.70 0.27 1.45
Pokemon Ranger Nintendo 0.77 0.67 0.00 1.44
Kirby Squeak Squad Nintendo 1.00 0.37 0.00 1.37
Tamogotchi Connection: Corner Shop Bandai 1.13 0.12 0.10 1.35
Dragon Quest Monsters Joker Enix 1.33 0.00 0.00 1.33
Mario Hoops 3 on 3 Nintendo 0.51 0.62 0.16 1.29
Clubhouse Games Nintendo 0.71 0.19 0.14 1.04
Love and Berry DS Collection Sega 1.01 0.00 0.00 1.01
I dunno. It just seems like most of these games are not oriented towards my age group. Tons of cutsie games. Final Fantasy III excluded of course. 90% of them are Nintendo games. Who knows what kind of draconian sales agreements they have with vendors. These shipments could have been FORCED.
If we assume these numbers are accurate, I think we can only assume that what people say about Nintendo is true: The company markets their products to children. That's fine, but I just don't quite understand why it inspires such fanatical loyalty amongst Slashdot readers.
Anyway, I digress... I guess it doesn't matter that the same list has about 5 times as many PC games having sold over 1 million units than the PSP. That sounds great until you realize the list includes ancient titles like Doom, Sim City 2000, Theme Park, Myst, and The 7th Guest. The PSP list is modest, but it really isn't so bad when compared to the PC list.
I think when you consider the numbers in context, the DS probably is doing really well, but the PSP is hardly a failure and has done as well or better than the PC game market.
However, add to that the fact that the guy who was arguing *for* Vista's stability also acknowledges that there is a "relatively common" sound driver bug that causes crashes -- I think with this evidence, you could reasonably conclude that Vista is unstable
Yet, because no OS is immune from a flawed driver, I guess the final conclusion is ALL operating systems are unstable. Such a conclusion, while interesting, doesn't really help anyone and certainly has little to do with this article, which seems to imply that Vista is uniquely unstable.
No. I should be directing these comments to you, because you are making logic errors in your argument.
How could I possibly have made a logical error when I have not made an argument?
Your story doesn't make him wrong, any more than his would make yours wrong.
I didn't claim he was wrong.
Irrelevant. What we are talking about is how stable Vista is for the general public, on common hardware in typical scenarios. You claim never to have had a crash with any OS aside from DOS 6 -- so what? Does that mean no OS has ever crashed, except DOS 6?
I think you are reading a bit too much into my words, and you are making ridiculous claims. We are talking about an article, an article that does not cite any useful data to ascertain whether ot not Vista is stable for the general public. I think are simply being argumenative.
Further, read my post again - data corruption on a vast scale is pretty serious. You dig up a story about how Windows ME caused this, it's the first I've heard of it. As well, this article is the first I've heard of Vista causing data loss for anyone. Extraordinary claims require a bit more proof in this age of the internet.
You have said yourself that there is a *common* problem with sound card drivers. We both agree that faulty drivers cause problems. But should it be a *common* problem, especially for MS' flagship product, released to the public? Shouldn't MS make better drivers, or only allow well-tested, signed drivers? If faulty drivers are a *common* problem, doesn't that show some problem in MS' development or distribution methods?
I said moderately common - common enough that Microsoft acknowledges the problem. I'm sorry. I've just been using computers long enough that I don't expect any PC based OS to have perfect driver compatibility. There are simply too many vendors with too many types of products. If you want perfectly supported hardware, get a Mac.
"I'm not having problems; therefore, nobody else could be having any, either."
Your trite response misses the point - I'm providing anecdotal evidence to refute the anecdotal story presented by the author of the article that is the subject of this slashdot discussion. Don't you think you should be directing these comments towards the article, and not me?
He was using it as a common user with OEM hardware. You're telling me that Joe Six-pack can troubleshoot a driver problem in any timeframe? Remember, MS is marketing this as a retail, for-the-masses OS. The review chose to review the machine as a typical end-user.
I think you are mistaken, but the article is slashdotted so I can't check. But it doesn't matter, I know two peple who got brand new laptops with Vista on them and they work fine. I use my girlfriend's dell all the time and it works great, and hasn't crashed once.
So now you admit sound card drivers are a common problem? You're right, it's not the end of the world, but the reviewer did claim it was the end for a lot of his data -- which goes against the whole reason to use a computer in the first place -- to store your data.
Why don't you name me a single OS that won't become unstable with faulty drivers. In any event, it's been my experience that serious data corruption is the result of a hardware problem. I've never lost data from running any operating system, EVER, except for when I used a beta version of DOS 6 and the hard disk compression software got fucked. I'd also say that many people use computers for non-data storage tasks.
Except for the fact of this relatively common sound card driver bug causing crashes. You have openly admitted as much yourself. Sounds like 1994 all over again.
I'll address this when you find me the OS that never crashes because of faulty drivers...
The two are not mutually exclusive. All operating systems crash with poorly written drivers. This has nothing to do with whether or not the OS is stable.
Compared to previous versions of Windows however, the OS really was unstable, irrespective of the driver issue. Software really could take down the OS and it commonly did.
What do you mean by resource intensive? Does it require moderately high end hardware? Yes. Windows 95 was considered resource intensive for a 386 with 4 megs of ram when it came out in 1995. Who cares?
The menu latency is total bullshit though. Whatever else they have done in Vista, the interface is much more responsive and smooth. The author of your cited article must have had some lousy video drivers. The Aero interface is very fast on well supported hardware.
I've been running the 64-bit version of Vista since it was released and it hasn't crashed on me once. This guy couldn't figure out which driver/piece of hardware was causing this instability in a MONTH?
Btw, chances are it was a sound card driver - this is a moderately common problem, but it sure isn't the end of the world.
This isn't 1994 anymore. The arguments against MS for making unstable operating systems ended when NT was released. Since Windows 2000, MS has made stable operating systems that really are usable by the average joe without difficulty.
Same here. I ride the NYC subway for 90 minutes a day, and work 60 hours a week. I don't have time to play a home console. PSP ports are fine by me!
Due, you really need some practice. For someone with such a low UID, there's no excuse for such a shoddy and transparent troll attempt.
Actually, I have used this UID for 6 years. My excellent karma alone should be indicative that this posting does NOT come from a new user. And, while I do love trolling, this one is assuredly not a troll. Meanwhile, if you think are "MS fanboys" why don't you post a few links to them.
I have a PSP, and got several great games.
1) Wipeout Pure
2) GTA: Liberty City Stories
3) GTA: Vice City Stories
4) Air Combat X: Skies of Deception
5) Lumines II
6) Metal Gear Solid: Porable Ops (amazing game)
7) Sid Miers Pirates! (such nastalgia)
8) Sega Classics
9) Mega Man Powered Up
These are all excellent games and are well worth the money.