Can you say "utterly worthless article"? This goes into only moderate detail on the good points and COMPLETELY skips the bad points! (battery life, anyone?)
This is HARDLY the kind of article that should be reccomended to someone who hasn't heard of the PSP-- this is fanboy press, pure and simple.
Alright, this is kinda-sorta semi-offtopic, but I'm going to ante two modpoints (no karma bonus; this isn't _completely_ related to the topic) on this one just because I'm really curious..
What did I say that was so offensive? I'm merely pointing out that the VAST majority of gamers (I'm going to guess 95% or more) are NOT looking for those options, and thus they're not going to be catered to by reviewers. As a result, I'm suggesting he might have better luck building a new site TO that angle.
You're within an EXTREME minority, on a fringe. Almost no games *period* support what you want to do, which is two local player online from one game. Reviewers play the games as an AVERAGE player would-- as they would themselves.
If you want reviews that meet your odd requirements, you're pretty much going to have to go out and develop them yourself-- you're just not within the norms for reviews.
That's a case where Jabber would come in handy. There happens to be a module that transparently logs all incoming and outgoing messages on the server. The trick is to block at the firewall all other IM connections, so as to enforce the use of the Jabber server plus transports if desired.
Yeah, not the brightest of moves. They might just blow the thing with the voltage difference between the GB and GBA. It's already been confirmed that GB stuff just doesn't WORK on the DS, so the Bridge won't work.
It's nice to see that Nintendo didn't do anything to wreak compatibility on the flash carts, though. I use PocketNES quite a bit with my flash cart since my old NES has gotten flaky in its old age.
It's probably scary to contemplate that the Z-80 still gets a ton of use even today. The Gameboy/GBC/GBA have a slightly modified (not much; it's only one or two added instructions IIRC) Z-80 in them. That chip really did get a lot of use over the years; I can think of only one other CPU that got that kind of widespread use and that would be the 68000.
I confess to still being fond of the 6809, though. My first computer ran off one.
I'm in Atlanta, and I wish I'd known about these guys before. Thanks for the link. I'll have to keep a watch and see if they're coming back out here in the next year or so.
The Universal Service Fund was originally charged against the phone companies themselves. They just didn't close the door on the option of the phone companies charging users to recover their losses on it. All that money you send in on that line-item goes to the phone company.
I have similar issues-- I can actually see monitor refresh rates at even 85hz where there's any white on the screen. What I've had to do to prevent further abuse to my eyes is to switch to a different color scheme. If using Win9x or 2k, I'll use a custom color set where the background is pure black and windows/widgets are blue for edges and dark blue for empty space/buttons, and yellow for text.
This gives a few problems on things that still insist on using white backgrounds, unfortunately, but there's not much you can do about that-- designers insist on using a 'paper-like' background, despite the fact it can be harmful.
On XP I'll use StyleXP to get a similar dark themed design if possible. If that's not an option, it's back to old-style look and the blue theme I always use. Every year or so I'll switch to a similar yellow-on-red theme for a bit to degauss the old eyes, but it's always one of the two. Hopefully this will help; it's about all I've been able to come up with, even having tried changing monitors.
It's in the article. Quoting from the Register article:
"According to staff reports the outage occurred on Monday afternoon, disconnecting staff email, benefits processing and Internet and intranet connectivity. According to one, a limited network upgrade from Windows 2000 to Windows XP was taking place, but instead of this taking place on only a small number of the target machines, all the clients connected to the network received a partial, but fatal, 'upgrade.'"
More fun with patches.. puts any trouble you're having at work today into perspective, doesn't it?
What you're saying is that you want all that *automated*. The physics engine in UT2004 can handle pretty much everything you want, but you'll have to develop any terrain deformation in the actual script rather than say "I want an explosion here, you determine how it affects the terrain."
For that matter, any of the existing game engines will handle things just fine-- the only variable is how much scripting you'll have to do to handle what isn't automated.
Of course, as you build up chunks of script to handle certain types of effect (swaying bridges, perhaps?) you'd end up putting it to a library for future use. This means you could conceivably have all of your special effects automagic within a reasonable timeframe.
I'm hearing rumors of a new Starcube loader that'll push the network adaptor into 100mbit mode. It won't be a full 100mbit since the bus on the bottom of the GC is supposedly rated at 27mbit, but that's still 2.7x the speed, which should cut back on the stuttering a lot.
Well, for one thing you could be coding the software that drives medical hardware, and you could have a bug that kills hundreds before they even realize it.
Your point is valid, but there were TWO Kid Icarus titles. The second was on the monochrome GB back in 1991, released about the same time frame as Metroid 2.
I think your arcade numbers might be a bit off. You should be able to get JAMMA cabinets from anywhere around $500 on up to $2500 depending on the style, and then your arcade boards will run you anywhere from $200 for some classics on up to $2000 or so.
Granted, this isn't DDR or any other dedicated cabinet design, but the cabinet purchase is a one-time thing and you can swap in games relatively cheaply.
Also, if you're purchasing cabinets in bulk, you're likely to get a good discount on them.
So, all in all your numbers are considerably higher than what would be considered industry norm-- Froogle isn't where you'd be looking for this kind of hardware unless you're a hobbyist.
Where you are, sure, but I've seen three arcades shut down within six months of opening back in Arizona. Even the youth center didn't last more than a year or two before there was howling to have it shut down for the dangers of letting kids congregate..
Isn't that the truth? I've NEVER seen the Ms. Pac-Man/Galaga 20th Anniversary machine set under 50 cents, and either of those games were a simple quarter back in the day. Greed, pure and simple.
...except it seems he removed the analog buttons from the design, which will make it impossible to play MGS2, MGS3, or Ridge Racer 5 properly, and probably a few more games I can't think of off the top of my head.
He probably didn't realize how potentially bad a move it was considering he only has two GTA titles.
Don't think that'll work.. it's probably something that's not part of the actual print driver but part of the logic in the print head itself, meaning you can't actually get the output any way but actual physical print.
Switching to something 'better' would mean that that 'better' option would have to run all their existing apps. Can't switch to Mac as a result, and WINE isn't quite there yet (plus Linux is still a little tough for the average user)..
Microsoft has one big advantage here in that everyone has invested so heavily into the applications they're running. Switching platforms is truly expensive in terms of relearning and in terms of application cost (either time in the case of FINDING free alternatives, or money in terms of commercial replacements.)
Not too bad, all in all, but you could stand a little work with the shieldgun and minelayer-- especially the minelayer.
Wow, you play a little too much Deck 17. That explains the lack of decent vehicle stats and likely the poor minelayer performance as well-- I'm only seeing a few Onslaught matches.
Probably want to play a bit more Onslaught to even out the numbers a little. You've actually got a positive win-loss there, after all.;)
(Since this is kinda offtopic, I'm modding myself down-- no karma bonus.)
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Can you say "utterly worthless article"? This goes into only moderate detail on the good points and COMPLETELY skips the bad points! (battery life, anyone?)
This is HARDLY the kind of article that should be reccomended to someone who hasn't heard of the PSP-- this is fanboy press, pure and simple.
Alright, this is kinda-sorta semi-offtopic, but I'm going to ante two modpoints (no karma bonus; this isn't _completely_ related to the topic) on this one just because I'm really curious..
What did I say that was so offensive? I'm merely pointing out that the VAST majority of gamers (I'm going to guess 95% or more) are NOT looking for those options, and thus they're not going to be catered to by reviewers. As a result, I'm suggesting he might have better luck building a new site TO that angle.
I'll take that Metroid one any day..
"Hey, Boss! Come on into my office.. I've got something to show you. You'll love it!"
Yeah.. I can see some great possibilities....
You're within an EXTREME minority, on a fringe. Almost no games *period* support what you want to do, which is two local player online from one game. Reviewers play the games as an AVERAGE player would-- as they would themselves.
If you want reviews that meet your odd requirements, you're pretty much going to have to go out and develop them yourself-- you're just not within the norms for reviews.
I'd say Planetside more than Tribes. It's a smaller, faster playing Planetside without the massive balance issues Sony still has with PS.
That's a case where Jabber would come in handy. There happens to be a module that transparently logs all incoming and outgoing messages on the server. The trick is to block at the firewall all other IM connections, so as to enforce the use of the Jabber server plus transports if desired.
Yeah, not the brightest of moves. They might just blow the thing with the voltage difference between the GB and GBA. It's already been confirmed that GB stuff just doesn't WORK on the DS, so the Bridge won't work.
It's nice to see that Nintendo didn't do anything to wreak compatibility on the flash carts, though. I use PocketNES quite a bit with my flash cart since my old NES has gotten flaky in its old age.
It's probably scary to contemplate that the Z-80 still gets a ton of use even today. The Gameboy/GBC/GBA have a slightly modified (not much; it's only one or two added instructions IIRC) Z-80 in them. That chip really did get a lot of use over the years; I can think of only one other CPU that got that kind of widespread use and that would be the 68000.
I confess to still being fond of the 6809, though. My first computer ran off one.
I'm in Atlanta, and I wish I'd known about these guys before. Thanks for the link. I'll have to keep a watch and see if they're coming back out here in the next year or so.
Yup. I had the same thing occur about a year ago when I picked up UT2004 at Best Buy-- I'm in my late 20s (even obviously so) and I was still carded.
Looks like 90% of shops are doing that with PC software these days. At least within the US.
The Universal Service Fund was originally charged against the phone companies themselves. They just didn't close the door on the option of the phone companies charging users to recover their losses on it. All that money you send in on that line-item goes to the phone company.
I have similar issues-- I can actually see monitor refresh rates at even 85hz where there's any white on the screen. What I've had to do to prevent further abuse to my eyes is to switch to a different color scheme. If using Win9x or 2k, I'll use a custom color set where the background is pure black and windows/widgets are blue for edges and dark blue for empty space/buttons, and yellow for text.
This gives a few problems on things that still insist on using white backgrounds, unfortunately, but there's not much you can do about that-- designers insist on using a 'paper-like' background, despite the fact it can be harmful.
On XP I'll use StyleXP to get a similar dark themed design if possible. If that's not an option, it's back to old-style look and the blue theme I always use. Every year or so I'll switch to a similar yellow-on-red theme for a bit to degauss the old eyes, but it's always one of the two. Hopefully this will help; it's about all I've been able to come up with, even having tried changing monitors.
It's in the article. Quoting from the Register article:
"According to staff reports the outage occurred on Monday afternoon, disconnecting staff email, benefits processing and Internet and intranet connectivity. According to one, a limited network upgrade from Windows 2000 to Windows XP was taking place, but instead of this taking place on only a small number of the target machines, all the clients connected to the network received a partial, but fatal, 'upgrade.'"
More fun with patches.. puts any trouble you're having at work today into perspective, doesn't it?
What you're saying is that you want all that *automated*. The physics engine in UT2004 can handle pretty much everything you want, but you'll have to develop any terrain deformation in the actual script rather than say "I want an explosion here, you determine how it affects the terrain."
For that matter, any of the existing game engines will handle things just fine-- the only variable is how much scripting you'll have to do to handle what isn't automated.
Of course, as you build up chunks of script to handle certain types of effect (swaying bridges, perhaps?) you'd end up putting it to a library for future use. This means you could conceivably have all of your special effects automagic within a reasonable timeframe.
I'm hearing rumors of a new Starcube loader that'll push the network adaptor into 100mbit mode. It won't be a full 100mbit since the bus on the bottom of the GC is supposedly rated at 27mbit, but that's still 2.7x the speed, which should cut back on the stuttering a lot.
Well, for one thing you could be coding the software that drives medical hardware, and you could have a bug that kills hundreds before they even realize it.
Your point is valid, but there were TWO Kid Icarus titles. The second was on the monochrome GB back in 1991, released about the same time frame as Metroid 2.
I think your arcade numbers might be a bit off. You should be able to get JAMMA cabinets from anywhere around $500 on up to $2500 depending on the style, and then your arcade boards will run you anywhere from $200 for some classics on up to $2000 or so.
Granted, this isn't DDR or any other dedicated cabinet design, but the cabinet purchase is a one-time thing and you can swap in games relatively cheaply.
Also, if you're purchasing cabinets in bulk, you're likely to get a good discount on them.
So, all in all your numbers are considerably higher than what would be considered industry norm-- Froogle isn't where you'd be looking for this kind of hardware unless you're a hobbyist.
Where you are, sure, but I've seen three arcades shut down within six months of opening back in Arizona. Even the youth center didn't last more than a year or two before there was howling to have it shut down for the dangers of letting kids congregate..
Isn't that the truth? I've NEVER seen the Ms. Pac-Man/Galaga 20th Anniversary machine set under 50 cents, and either of those games were a simple quarter back in the day. Greed, pure and simple.
...except it seems he removed the analog buttons from the design, which will make it impossible to play MGS2, MGS3, or Ridge Racer 5 properly, and probably a few more games I can't think of off the top of my head.
He probably didn't realize how potentially bad a move it was considering he only has two GTA titles.
Don't think that'll work.. it's probably something that's not part of the actual print driver but part of the logic in the print head itself, meaning you can't actually get the output any way but actual physical print.
Switching to something 'better' would mean that that 'better' option would have to run all their existing apps. Can't switch to Mac as a result, and WINE isn't quite there yet (plus Linux is still a little tough for the average user)..
Microsoft has one big advantage here in that everyone has invested so heavily into the applications they're running. Switching platforms is truly expensive in terms of relearning and in terms of application cost (either time in the case of FINDING free alternatives, or money in terms of commercial replacements.)
You should have been able to do a quick repair booting from an XP CD and have it back up in less than 5 minutes.
Not too bad, all in all, but you could stand a little work with the shieldgun and minelayer-- especially the minelayer.
;)
Wow, you play a little too much Deck 17. That explains the lack of decent vehicle stats and likely the poor minelayer performance as well-- I'm only seeing a few Onslaught matches.
Probably want to play a bit more Onslaught to even out the numbers a little. You've actually got a positive win-loss there, after all.
(Since this is kinda offtopic, I'm modding myself down-- no karma bonus.)