I didn't realize that the XBOX played PC games. Or are your referring to the XBOX using PC-like components even though the games have a LOT more similarity to PS2 or GC games?
"You have the option of being punched on November 2nd, or shot on November 2nd. One IS going to happen, no matter how much you don't like it, so choose which you want."
If it were really like your analogy here, then the country wouldn't be so evenly divided. No matter who wins, half the country's going to be pissed.
"Such childish references to sex can only appeal precisely to kids. Older gamers dont need sex in advertisements because they can have real sex any time."
Actually, being a gamer has a negative affect on one's ability to get real sex at any time.
"it's strange how a few people that actually put some posts here saying that this is a dupe and even made links to original slashdot discussion are being modded into zeros as redundant."
As it should be.
A.) Multiple whinings about it are redundant. Big ol karma grab here if theyr'e modded up.
B.) Posting that it's redundant does more harm than good. Want dupes to go away? Don't comment in that thread. More comments == more ad hits for Slashdot.
C.) It's not like Slashdot is killing puppies when they dupe a story.
If you don't want stories duped, best thing to do is just to ignore the thread.
"What sales company wouldn't like the idea of permanent commercials on a DVD?"
Heh probably the companies worried about customers avoiding DVDs with commercials in them. But, that's not really what I wanted to reply to. Right now, there's a business model in place where you pay more to have your commercials shown at a certain time. If they lost time slot value, they could stand to lose money.
Now, whether or not this would actually happen is up in the air, if you ask me. I can't tell you what would in fact happen. I'm not sure that's all that relevent, really. All these companies have to do is be afraid they'd lose money and that would be sufficient to stop them.
Frankly, I think there's some room for innovation here. I cooked up an advertising scheme once that I thought might be a nice "meetcha half way" alternative. The idea is to give away episodes of TV on the web. To watch them, you have to answer 3 multiple choice questions. "Who makes this particular car? a.) VW b.) Honda c.) Cowboy Neal" If you answer it wrong, it shows ya a quick vid advertising it. Then the show is unlocked for unlimited viewings. New shows would have new questions added.
So what's the idea? The idea is that recognition of a product is tested, and once passed the audience doesn't have to deal with it again, at least for that particular file. If they kept it short and unobnoxious, it could get their point across without having to use the current SPAM approach.
I could see this adapted to PVR use as well. If the cost of a show is to know the difference between a Civic and an Accord, what the heck? Beats 15 minutes of noise per hour of television.
"I got a better idea. Why don't people not get so fat that they can't fit in a single seat?"
There are people with disorders etc that make this more less simple than you're making it sound. I know somebody who gained a bunch of weight because she was taking steroids for a medical problem. From what I understand, steroid weight is harder to lose than normal Bic Mac weight. (Clarification or corrections invited.)
"The Advance Wars games, for example, are extremely challenging and lengthy, and kept my friends occupied for many months."
The Advance Wars games can also be easily and quickly put down. That's the only reason I've been able to play them. If I had to sit in front of my GB for an hour or risk losing progress, I wouldn't play them.
"Is there really room for 2 portable systems? It has proven time and time again there is not."
I wouldn't say it's been 'proven'. In ANY of those examples, one could point out reasons other than 'can the market support it?' to explain their failures.
I think two portables could end up coexisting if a strategy were put into place. Right now (i.e. pre DS or PSP), portable gaming is pretty much "short simple fun little games". To put it another way, it's difficult to imagine many people playing a Game Boy for as much time as they'd play a PS2, GameCube, or XBOX. The DS seems like a perfect next gen platform for that style of market. Question is, though, would anybody buy a GBA or DS in lieu of having a home console like the PS2/3 etc? Probably not. However, I'd say the PSP has some potential to do just that. There are a lot of ifs here that'd have to work out for this to happen, but who knows?
To put it another way, so long as both systems fulfill gaming needs, they can coexist.
"The psychologists also found that male and female students with a smaller difference between their index and ring finger lengths tended to do better on their Java programming exams."
Gee, imagine finger length being correlated to programming skills.
""The nanofabric belongs to the family of fullerene molecules, which were discovered during the last two decades, but is the first two-dimensional fullerene." Two-Dimensional? Surely a molecule has at least three dimensions..."
That depends on what your smallest unit of measurement is.
"One could argue economies of scale, that they will sell so many more units of the DVD than the CD soundtrack, but that really doesn't work for a product with a relatively low marginal cost of production."
Cost of production has little to do with the cost of content. You're not selling a 2 cent piece of plastic, you're selling minutes of entertainment. People pay $15 for a CD or a DVD. So that price is good. What drives costs lower towards the cost of the production is competition. I'll let you ponder the reason why costs aren't being driven down that low.
"And doesn't the DVD already include these songs somewhere during the movie??"
Few entire songs make it to the theatrical release. Even then, there is dialog etc on top of it.
"I truly can't understand why a blockbuster Hollywood movie with the world's most famous actors, thousands of special effects created by the world's most powerful supercomputers, and a credits list that takes 5-10 minutes just to scroll by on the screen normally costs about $15, while a CD, often with already-released songs, and requiring only a singer, guitarist, drummer, etc., and a sound technician, costs the same amount. *What is up with that?!*"
Movies you watch one or twice, music you listen to virtually daily. That's why porn vids cost so much more!
Slashdot Mirror
" I hate PC games."
I didn't realize that the XBOX played PC games. Or are your referring to the XBOX using PC-like components even though the games have a LOT more similarity to PS2 or GC games?
"You have the option of being punched on November 2nd, or shot on November 2nd. One IS going to happen, no matter how much you don't like it, so choose which you want."
If it were really like your analogy here, then the country wouldn't be so evenly divided. No matter who wins, half the country's going to be pissed.
"Such childish references to sex can only appeal precisely to kids. Older gamers dont need sex in advertisements because they can have real sex any time."
Actually, being a gamer has a negative affect on one's ability to get real sex at any time.
"it's strange how a few people that actually put some posts here saying that this is a dupe and even made links to original slashdot discussion are being modded into zeros as redundant."
As it should be.
A.) Multiple whinings about it are redundant. Big ol karma grab here if theyr'e modded up.
B.) Posting that it's redundant does more harm than good. Want dupes to go away? Don't comment in that thread. More comments == more ad hits for Slashdot.
C.) It's not like Slashdot is killing puppies when they dupe a story.
If you don't want stories duped, best thing to do is just to ignore the thread.
"Windows really sucks, I hope they burn in the afterlife!" == (Score: 5, Insightful)
"Linux could use a little bit of improvement." == (Score -1, Troll)
"What sales company wouldn't like the idea of permanent commercials on a DVD?"
Heh probably the companies worried about customers avoiding DVDs with commercials in them. But, that's not really what I wanted to reply to. Right now, there's a business model in place where you pay more to have your commercials shown at a certain time. If they lost time slot value, they could stand to lose money.
Now, whether or not this would actually happen is up in the air, if you ask me. I can't tell you what would in fact happen. I'm not sure that's all that relevent, really. All these companies have to do is be afraid they'd lose money and that would be sufficient to stop them.
Frankly, I think there's some room for innovation here. I cooked up an advertising scheme once that I thought might be a nice "meetcha half way" alternative. The idea is to give away episodes of TV on the web. To watch them, you have to answer 3 multiple choice questions. "Who makes this particular car? a.) VW b.) Honda c.) Cowboy Neal" If you answer it wrong, it shows ya a quick vid advertising it. Then the show is unlocked for unlimited viewings. New shows would have new questions added.
So what's the idea? The idea is that recognition of a product is tested, and once passed the audience doesn't have to deal with it again, at least for that particular file. If they kept it short and unobnoxious, it could get their point across without having to use the current SPAM approach.
I could see this adapted to PVR use as well. If the cost of a show is to know the difference between a Civic and an Accord, what the heck? Beats 15 minutes of noise per hour of television.
"Keeping computers warm? I am personally more concerned about the problem of keeping computers cool, even in winter."
Unless you find unplugging your computer to be a good solution to the heat problem...
"If I'm going to be treated like a copyright infringer, I'll just wait for the crack."
I wanna know why some companies out there think they'll make more money when they provide less of what a customer wants?
"I got a better idea. Why don't people not get so fat that they can't fit in a single seat?"
There are people with disorders etc that make this more less simple than you're making it sound. I know somebody who gained a bunch of weight because she was taking steroids for a medical problem. From what I understand, steroid weight is harder to lose than normal Bic Mac weight. (Clarification or corrections invited.)
"Oh come on, everyone knows there's no weight in space :P"
Mass, ass.
"Huh?"
My dad always told me "Don't piss me off, I can make another one that looks just like you." Her parents must have made good on that threat!
"The Advance Wars games, for example, are extremely challenging and lengthy, and kept my friends occupied for many months."
The Advance Wars games can also be easily and quickly put down. That's the only reason I've been able to play them. If I had to sit in front of my GB for an hour or risk losing progress, I wouldn't play them.
"Is there really room for 2 portable systems? It has proven time and time again there is not."
I wouldn't say it's been 'proven'. In ANY of those examples, one could point out reasons other than 'can the market support it?' to explain their failures.
I think two portables could end up coexisting if a strategy were put into place. Right now (i.e. pre DS or PSP), portable gaming is pretty much "short simple fun little games". To put it another way, it's difficult to imagine many people playing a Game Boy for as much time as they'd play a PS2, GameCube, or XBOX. The DS seems like a perfect next gen platform for that style of market. Question is, though, would anybody buy a GBA or DS in lieu of having a home console like the PS2/3 etc? Probably not. However, I'd say the PSP has some potential to do just that. There are a lot of ifs here that'd have to work out for this to happen, but who knows?
To put it another way, so long as both systems fulfill gaming needs, they can coexist.
Ew. I'm a victim of misreading that word.
"I wonder how it's possible to check a digital image to see if it's real or not."
I can see the extra JPG compression on the landscape versus the analemma.
"IT'S A GAME!!"
It's just a post on Slashdot! Why are you exclaiming?
"The psychologists also found that male and female students with a smaller difference between their index and ring finger lengths tended to do better on their Java programming exams."
Gee, imagine finger length being correlated to programming skills.
""The nanofabric belongs to the family of fullerene molecules, which were discovered during the last two decades, but is the first two-dimensional fullerene." Two-Dimensional? Surely a molecule has at least three dimensions..."
That depends on what your smallest unit of measurement is.
"Well, I try. It's really up to her though."
You sure she's a she?
"Then someone will finally be able to see your penis."
The neat thing about the internet is that you don't need to have a big penis to tell somebody else they have a small one.
"One could argue economies of scale, that they will sell so many more units of the DVD than the CD soundtrack, but that really doesn't work for a product with a relatively low marginal cost of production."
Cost of production has little to do with the cost of content. You're not selling a 2 cent piece of plastic, you're selling minutes of entertainment. People pay $15 for a CD or a DVD. So that price is good. What drives costs lower towards the cost of the production is competition. I'll let you ponder the reason why costs aren't being driven down that low.
"And doesn't the DVD already include these songs somewhere during the movie??"
Few entire songs make it to the theatrical release. Even then, there is dialog etc on top of it.
"Would some people then try to drive longer thinking they have a safety net/alarm clock to wake them up if they drift off?"
Next year's Darwin Awards should be exciting!
"I truly can't understand why a blockbuster Hollywood movie with the world's most famous actors, thousands of special effects created by the world's most powerful supercomputers, and a credits list that takes 5-10 minutes just to scroll by on the screen normally costs about $15, while a CD, often with already-released songs, and requiring only a singer, guitarist, drummer, etc., and a sound technician, costs the same amount. *What is up with that?!*"
Movies you watch one or twice, music you listen to virtually daily. That's why porn vids cost so much more!
" and the publishers would be fucked."
Damn you supply and demand!
"think about how exciting this would be if you replace the word Microsoft in that article with any number of other companies..Sony, Apple, Viacom."
Why people think Sony is any better than Microsoft in terms of greed and desire for control is really beyond me.