"It's Roland Piquepaille, what did you expect, he's a fucktard and the only reason he's on Slashdot so much is that he has a business relationship with them."
So long as people keep bitching about him and more ads get served as a result, the business relationship will continue.
"or how about a phone that just rings? I don't get why people want their phones to start playing "can you take me to funky town" when they get a call."
Question: Do you have custom wallpaper on your desktop?
"We understand the concept when the "new thing" is actualy in some significant way "better" than what came before..."
It is, it's a lot smaller. A PSP, for example, is a LOT more portable than a portable DVD player. I agree, it's a crappy medium for standard playback on a TV. For a portable media, other than being a little pricey, it's fine.
"Double the price of a DVD for what, 1/4 the quality?"
Again, it's a lot smaller. A lot of people just don't seem to get this. (Which is fine, that says to me the market here isn't so interesting. I don't think UMDs will be all that successful, just not for the reasons you're citing.) This thing will actually fit in your front pocket. Other discs will fit in your other pocket. For somebody who really wants to watch movies on the go, the PSP is nearly perfect. At least from a 'form' point of view.
"What's going to happen when somebody announces a standardized 3" or 2.5" blue-ray or HD-DVD disk that holds 3 or 4 times as much data? Now that would be cool..."
Sad thing is, they don't even need to do that. 1.8 gigs is plenty. The movies aren't small because of disc limitations, it's so they work perfectly with the PSP display. That's an unfortunate side effect. If they optimized it for TV display, then it'd look 'crunched' on the PSP. They optimized it for the PSP, but it wouldn't look its best on TV.
I'm annoyed about the lack of features. As I said before, they have enough room. If they used something like XVid, for example, they'd be able to put 3 full-length movies at roughly DVD quality on one disc. They don't have much excuse for not putting extras there.
It all depends on how bad people want mobile movies. Obviously, you don't care as much. It's only interesting to you if you can buy one copy of movies instead of two. In other words, mobility isn't your cup of tea. You wouldn't be a target customer for this. I'll be honest, I share your view. If I had a PSP, it'd be for gaming. I do like the idea of buying the occasional UMD for it (i.e. just before a plane trip...) but I don't see myself making monthly or weekly trips for discs. Why? Because I mainly want to watch on my TV.
I don't think we entirely disagree. Mainly what I'm nitpicking is that it isn't the technical specs that are the problem. If I still had my old job where I'd travel for a couple of weeks at a time, I'd probably have a PSP by now. (Although I'd probably just get a large memory stick instead of UMDs... hehe.)
"Selling them hardware, much less helping them implement it (like they did in China) makes them equally culpable. Shit like that should not be legal."
I love it. The USA isn't supposed to interfere with other countries. Yet, the USA is supposed to enforce it's ways on other countries. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
"Only if there's enough oil there to make it worthwhile."
Serious question: Has the whole 'blood for oil' thing actually panned out? Is there any actual evidence, now that we've gone in and set up camp, that GWB or the USA itself is actually benefitting from some sort of oil related event? Is Bush recieving a bigger check now or something substantial?
I realize this is off-topic, and no hard feelings for moderating as such. But I still don't understand how this 'blood for oil' theory is supposed to play out without raising the scandal flag.
"If Sony absolutely TANK the price of UMD disks to half that of a regular DVD, it'll becoming a real contender."
Maybe, but in reality all it really needs to do is be a little cheaper than DVDs. Again, though, that depdends on if there is a mobile movie market.
"Until then, UMD continues to get bad press at record breaking level. And bad press is really hard to shake off."
Heh. I hate to break it to ya, but UMD isn't breaking any bad-press records. Slashdot's boo-hooing about it, but the PSP news sites aren't. Nobody cares. DVDs were overpriced, too, nobody's still whining about that. I doubt anybody remembers.
For the record, I doubt UMDs will be all that successful. Not because they're too spendy, but because I don't think many people want to watch them on their PSPs for any price. What irks me about UMDs is similar to other complaints about them. 1.5 gigs or so there, but they aren't making them like DVDs, more like VHS both in terms of quality and in features. If I had a PSP (not bloodly likely until the price goes way down), sure, I might buy the occasional UMD. Maybe once per plane trip. I can't imagine starting a collection. Maybe if they sold porn for it, heh.
"Meta moderation is a way to police the stupid-ass moderations you speak of."
No. It's a way to police the stupid ass moderators. The difference? Meta Moderations doesn't affect moderations, they kick moderators out of the pool.
I was kicked out. Two or three years ago, a couple of my posts were metamodded as unfair. They didn't agree with 'public opinion'. I would argue that my moderations were fair, but I never got a chance to defend myself. I haven't gotten a mod point since.
Yet, still, stupid moderations fly around here like it was an airport. Maybe some people do get blacklisted from ever being a mod, but since the general public is 'lotteried' to make more mods, then really all that's happening is that moderations happen as a matter of public opinion, and not from any real fairness. Result? Somebody was spreading FUD about MS. The FUD was bought by everybody around here. I modded it as troll. *Blam* bye bye mod points. Admittedly, I should have replied instead of moderated, but that comment would still have sat thre at +5.
Sorry, I just don't buy that meta-moderation works the way its supposed to. And frankly, the idea of meta-modding patents gives me the heebie jeebies. Everything Microsoft applies for would be m2'd as unfair, and everything Google applies for would be 'fair'.
"I thought that we were shunning this approach at standards wrangling? Whenever MS or Sony tries this we are against it what is different this time?"
The difference is that we like the Blackberry, but we don't like Windows or the Memory Stick. We just babble about standards wrangling because it makes our biases sound like they're based within objective reason.
I'll give you an example: Tabs in Mozilla. Good! Tabs in IE. BAD!
I find it funny that everybody talks about switching to Mozilla/Firefox because of things IE doesn't support, but when MS finally gets around to updating IE it's bitch bitch bitch.
The Slashdot group-think has a grudge against Microsoft. That, in and of itself, I don't have a problem with. We're all human. We all have our opinions. (I certainly shouldn't be casting any stones.) But what really irks me is that nobody is willing to admit it. All these "It's stupid because it comes from Microsoft" rants are paraded around with a flag of 'Insightful', 'Informative', and 'Intesting'. Microsoft's proud of its work, that's twisted into false hype citing other browsers that have that functionality. (Never mind that only about 10 million or so people on the net are using browsers with that functionality and that MS is introducing it into a much broader market.) Microsoft adds new features with a few additions of their own, that's twisted into predictions of insecurity and buggery. (Possible, but I'm talking elaborate works of fiction here.) Microsoft doesn't announce a particular feature or adherence to a standard (not to be confused announcing that it WON'T do either), it's twisted into more Microsoft arrogance and some Dr. Evil'ish plot to monopolize the internet.
It's very difficult to take any story about Microsoft here seriously. They're not 'news for nerds', they're pitchfork-waving parties. Hardly more respectable than an epic Babylon 5 vs. Star Trek debate.
I expect this comment to be modded down. Fine, no prob. Please, at least do me the courtesy of reflecting on some of the behaviour around here and attempt to see where I'm coming from. I'm not pro-Microsoft, I'm anti-hypocrite.
"Why are they expecting consumers to pay more for less?"
A.) Prices will go down. DVDs started out at $30ish. Heck, I saw UMDs for $15 at Walmart yesterday.
B.) It depends on if there really is a market for mobile movies.
C.) We won't know if consumers really will adopt this or not for another year or two.
I've yet to understand the sticker-shock reactions around here. You'd think a web-site populated by tech-heads would understand the whole concept of new things launching at high prices.
"That's probably only part of it. The other part of it was that the Wachowski Brothers originally wanted to make only one movie."
Also consider that their motivation here was to do a live-action 'anime', not a mind-bending sci-fi intrigue-a-thon. It was a loose plot intended to tie together some strange kung-fu scenes. They said almost as much in the Matrix Revisited DVD.
"No, the same couldn't have been said about DVDs at their [in]ception since DVD was an open format with many manufacturers on board."
DVD is not an open format. It's a widely accepted format, but it's not an open format.
"No, it's not like saying Nintendo shouldn't have released the Game Boy because of the Super Nintendo because GB had significantly different games from the SNES and vice versa, and there was no handheld SNES system."
I really didn't understand that. Heh. Considering that the GB weathered all sorts of competition, I'm puzzled as to why you think this is a strong argument.
" First off, good ones (ones available for $200) aren't significantly bigger than a CD player (which has been considered "conveniently" portable for a long time)"
PSP is half the size. It's also worth mentioning that a lot of people replaced their CD players with iPods and other MP3 players because of the significantly smaller size.
"but I would still submit that the size advantage is insignificant when either can be EASILY popped into a carry-on."
Insignificant? Have you ever tried to retrieve anything from carry-on? Have you ever tried cramming too much stuff into a carry-on bag? It's very easy to do on a long trip.
" You're also wrong about portable DVD players not playing music."
You're right, I should have used the word 'conveniently'.
"... making MP3 CDs costs pennies while playing a similar amount of music in a PSP will require a LARGE expenditure for memory cards."
A 512 meg card holds almost as much as a CD. True, you could cheaply bring more CDs, but you are also carrying significantly more stuff around. CDs are big and easy to scratch.
"Wouldn't it be even more of a space savings just to skip both the PSP and portable DVD player and play DVDs on that?"
Yes, that's why I'm not the slightest bit interested in a PSP. Unfortunately, even using a laptop on a plane is a pain the ass. Too cramped on planes. Fortunately, though, I have a TabletPC. I don't have to unfold the thing to watch it. That and its batteries last for about 3 hours.
"1. Anyone who is spending "weeks at a time" on the road is probably doing so carrying a lot of stuff for the ride. A portable DVD player and some discs (and access to innumerable rental outlets) wouldn't be a huge burden."
That door swings both ways. If somebody's carrying a lot of junk, luxuries suddenly become too luxurious if they're too much. As somebody who has been on that sort of trip before, I can tell you that a portable DVD player is a pain in the ass if you're already carrying a heavy shoulder bag. At least a PSP fits in your front pocket.
"2. I can't believe that spending an extra $150-200 on a PSP, and an extra $5-10 per UMD, is worth the difference in size if you want movies on the go - especially considering, again, the easy availability of DVDs."
There's a reason I used the word 'niche'. However, we're talking a pretty serious difference in size. It doesn't matter what UMD movies aren't available, only what is. If there aren't any movies you care about, then problem solved. Also factor in that the PSP plays music and games. Your DVD player does NOT. If you really gotta have mobile entertainment, the PSP makes a ton more sense than a portable DVD player. If you're really desperate to watch a particular movie, dump it to a media stick.
"3. The number of movies available for UMD is so small that anyone choosing a PSP for that purpose would have to possess VERY narrow tastes and a desire to watch the same things over and over and over again."
There are still movies coming out. The same argument could have been made for DVD players at their conception.
"4. The chances of Sony really pushing UMD as any kind of true DVD alternative, and, of course, the chances of the movie industry at large adopting UMD as a common format, seem slim and none to me. Sony is going to be pushing hard for people to adopt Blu-Ray next year (with other companies doing the same, or pushing HD-DVD) and it sure would be foolish to try to convince people to adopt two new formats...especially when one (UMD) is demonstrably inferior to even OLDER technology."
That's like saying Nintendo shouldn't have released the Game Boy because it had the Super Nintendo coming along.
"Of course, the inability to see what harm it did you might be a symptom of the harm it did you."
Perhaps, but I doubt it. Movie/Video game violence, to me, is entertaining. Seeing it for real isn't. I witnessed a car accident once. I think if you had seen my reaction to it, you wouldn't worry too much about the desensitization of video games.
"I pity anyone that actively buys UMD discs. Just get a portable DVD player and use the DVDs you already have instead of forking out another $20.00 for a substandard version..02"
Ugh. You're talking about a device that's substantially bigger than a PSP. If I really had to have movies on the go, a PSP would be a much better choice simply for its size. As for movies, I saw a rack of them for $15 each over at Wal Mart.
The thing is, though, I don't totally disagree with you. I think this is really a niche market. I know a guy who spends weeks at a time on the road. I could see him doing the PSP + UMD movie thing and being quite happy. I don't see it being all that appealing mass-market wise. It's a pity that Sony wasn't thinking a little farther ahead. 1.5 gigs will hold two near-DVD quality movies using a codec like Xvid. They could have made DVD players with a UMD slot for a nice pleasant DVD alternative.
"... but parents tend to 'divorce themselves' from active involvement in deciding what their children play."
My dad didn't have any problem with me seeing R rated movies or playing violent video games at a young age. Was he 'divorced' from it? Eh, maybe. On the other hand, I never gave him a reason to worry.
So what bearing does my anecdote have on anything? Nothing terribly substantial, other than GTA3 sold over 30 million copies yet there has been like 2 incidents blamed on it.
Slashdot Mirror
"It's Roland Piquepaille, what did you expect, he's a fucktard and the only reason he's on Slashdot so much is that he has a business relationship with them."
So long as people keep bitching about him and more ads get served as a result, the business relationship will continue.
"Just a quick comment on the wirelessness of controllers: DON'T DO IT."
I wonder how many people with Wavebird controllers are shaking their heads.
"or how about a phone that just rings? I don't get why people want their phones to start playing "can you take me to funky town" when they get a call."
Question: Do you have custom wallpaper on your desktop?
"Oh wait, I forgot. Slashdot is all about beating a dead horse."
I, for one, welcome our dead horse overlords.
In Soviet Russia, dead horse rides you!
Blah. Sometimes I think the people that write jokes around here have a dream of writing for SNL.
"We understand the concept when the "new thing" is actualy in some significant way "better" than what came before..."
It is, it's a lot smaller. A PSP, for example, is a LOT more portable than a portable DVD player. I agree, it's a crappy medium for standard playback on a TV. For a portable media, other than being a little pricey, it's fine.
"Double the price of a DVD for what, 1/4 the quality?"
Again, it's a lot smaller. A lot of people just don't seem to get this. (Which is fine, that says to me the market here isn't so interesting. I don't think UMDs will be all that successful, just not for the reasons you're citing.) This thing will actually fit in your front pocket. Other discs will fit in your other pocket. For somebody who really wants to watch movies on the go, the PSP is nearly perfect. At least from a 'form' point of view.
"What's going to happen when somebody announces a standardized 3" or 2.5" blue-ray or HD-DVD disk that holds 3 or 4 times as much data? Now that would be cool..."
Sad thing is, they don't even need to do that. 1.8 gigs is plenty. The movies aren't small because of disc limitations, it's so they work perfectly with the PSP display. That's an unfortunate side effect. If they optimized it for TV display, then it'd look 'crunched' on the PSP. They optimized it for the PSP, but it wouldn't look its best on TV.
I'm annoyed about the lack of features. As I said before, they have enough room. If they used something like XVid, for example, they'd be able to put 3 full-length movies at roughly DVD quality on one disc. They don't have much excuse for not putting extras there.
It all depends on how bad people want mobile movies. Obviously, you don't care as much. It's only interesting to you if you can buy one copy of movies instead of two. In other words, mobility isn't your cup of tea. You wouldn't be a target customer for this. I'll be honest, I share your view. If I had a PSP, it'd be for gaming. I do like the idea of buying the occasional UMD for it (i.e. just before a plane trip...) but I don't see myself making monthly or weekly trips for discs. Why? Because I mainly want to watch on my TV.
I don't think we entirely disagree. Mainly what I'm nitpicking is that it isn't the technical specs that are the problem. If I still had my old job where I'd travel for a couple of weeks at a time, I'd probably have a PSP by now. (Although I'd probably just get a large memory stick instead of UMDs... hehe.)
"Besides, the truth about the Iraq war and the lies it was/is based upon is clearly evident to anyone who is not a Dubya fanboy."
I might buy that if the Dubya haters weren't so fanatical. Both extreme sides have a warped definition of 'truth'.
"Selling them hardware, much less helping them implement it (like they did in China) makes them equally culpable. Shit like that should not be legal."
I love it. The USA isn't supposed to interfere with other countries. Yet, the USA is supposed to enforce it's ways on other countries. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
"Only if there's enough oil there to make it worthwhile."
Serious question: Has the whole 'blood for oil' thing actually panned out? Is there any actual evidence, now that we've gone in and set up camp, that GWB or the USA itself is actually benefitting from some sort of oil related event? Is Bush recieving a bigger check now or something substantial?
I realize this is off-topic, and no hard feelings for moderating as such. But I still don't understand how this 'blood for oil' theory is supposed to play out without raising the scandal flag.
"If Sony absolutely TANK the price of UMD disks to half that of a regular DVD, it'll becoming a real contender."
Maybe, but in reality all it really needs to do is be a little cheaper than DVDs. Again, though, that depdends on if there is a mobile movie market.
"Until then, UMD continues to get bad press at record breaking level. And bad press is really hard to shake off."
Heh. I hate to break it to ya, but UMD isn't breaking any bad-press records. Slashdot's boo-hooing about it, but the PSP news sites aren't. Nobody cares. DVDs were overpriced, too, nobody's still whining about that. I doubt anybody remembers.
For the record, I doubt UMDs will be all that successful. Not because they're too spendy, but because I don't think many people want to watch them on their PSPs for any price. What irks me about UMDs is similar to other complaints about them. 1.5 gigs or so there, but they aren't making them like DVDs, more like VHS both in terms of quality and in features. If I had a PSP (not bloodly likely until the price goes way down), sure, I might buy the occasional UMD. Maybe once per plane trip. I can't imagine starting a collection. Maybe if they sold porn for it, heh.
"Meta moderation is a way to police the stupid-ass moderations you speak of."
No. It's a way to police the stupid ass moderators. The difference? Meta Moderations doesn't affect moderations, they kick moderators out of the pool.
I was kicked out. Two or three years ago, a couple of my posts were metamodded as unfair. They didn't agree with 'public opinion'. I would argue that my moderations were fair, but I never got a chance to defend myself. I haven't gotten a mod point since.
Yet, still, stupid moderations fly around here like it was an airport. Maybe some people do get blacklisted from ever being a mod, but since the general public is 'lotteried' to make more mods, then really all that's happening is that moderations happen as a matter of public opinion, and not from any real fairness. Result? Somebody was spreading FUD about MS. The FUD was bought by everybody around here. I modded it as troll. *Blam* bye bye mod points. Admittedly, I should have replied instead of moderated, but that comment would still have sat thre at +5.
Sorry, I just don't buy that meta-moderation works the way its supposed to. And frankly, the idea of meta-modding patents gives me the heebie jeebies. Everything Microsoft applies for would be m2'd as unfair, and everything Google applies for would be 'fair'.
"Once he's tired of the location, the Federation can buy it, because it is located on the grounds of the future Star Fleet Headquaters."
Heh. Funny thing is, ILM made Starfleet headquarters.
"I like the idea of patent meta-moderation."
I like the theory of it, but I still see some stupid-ass moderations around here.
"I thought that we were shunning this approach at standards wrangling? Whenever MS or Sony tries this we are against it what is different this time?"
The difference is that we like the Blackberry, but we don't like Windows or the Memory Stick. We just babble about standards wrangling because it makes our biases sound like they're based within objective reason.
I'll give you an example: Tabs in Mozilla. Good! Tabs in IE. BAD!
"Don't hold Microsoft to a double-standard."
I find it funny that everybody talks about switching to Mozilla/Firefox because of things IE doesn't support, but when MS finally gets around to updating IE it's bitch bitch bitch.
The Slashdot group-think has a grudge against Microsoft. That, in and of itself, I don't have a problem with. We're all human. We all have our opinions. (I certainly shouldn't be casting any stones.) But what really irks me is that nobody is willing to admit it. All these "It's stupid because it comes from Microsoft" rants are paraded around with a flag of 'Insightful', 'Informative', and 'Intesting'. Microsoft's proud of its work, that's twisted into false hype citing other browsers that have that functionality. (Never mind that only about 10 million or so people on the net are using browsers with that functionality and that MS is introducing it into a much broader market.) Microsoft adds new features with a few additions of their own, that's twisted into predictions of insecurity and buggery. (Possible, but I'm talking elaborate works of fiction here.) Microsoft doesn't announce a particular feature or adherence to a standard (not to be confused announcing that it WON'T do either), it's twisted into more Microsoft arrogance and some Dr. Evil'ish plot to monopolize the internet.
It's very difficult to take any story about Microsoft here seriously. They're not 'news for nerds', they're pitchfork-waving parties. Hardly more respectable than an epic Babylon 5 vs. Star Trek debate.
I expect this comment to be modded down. Fine, no prob. Please, at least do me the courtesy of reflecting on some of the behaviour around here and attempt to see where I'm coming from. I'm not pro-Microsoft, I'm anti-hypocrite.
"Why are they expecting consumers to pay more for less?"
A.) Prices will go down. DVDs started out at $30ish. Heck, I saw UMDs for $15 at Walmart yesterday.
B.) It depends on if there really is a market for mobile movies.
C.) We won't know if consumers really will adopt this or not for another year or two.
I've yet to understand the sticker-shock reactions around here. You'd think a web-site populated by tech-heads would understand the whole concept of new things launching at high prices.
"Terminator was a horror film. in a sci-fi setting."
I'm kind of curious how you'd re-tell Terminator or Short Circuit in a non sci-fi setting.
I don't really mean this as a bitterly sarcastic jab, I am genuinely curious.
"That's probably only part of it. The other part of it was that the Wachowski Brothers originally wanted to make only one movie."
Also consider that their motivation here was to do a live-action 'anime', not a mind-bending sci-fi intrigue-a-thon. It was a loose plot intended to tie together some strange kung-fu scenes. They said almost as much in the Matrix Revisited DVD.
"In other words, both you and the fellow below are just playing devil's advocate. "
:)
Pretty much. I used to have a really big interest in portable media players, so I've got some pretty strong opinions about what's good and what's bad.
Have a good weekend.
"No, the same couldn't have been said about DVDs at their [in]ception since DVD was an open format with many manufacturers on board."
DVD is not an open format. It's a widely accepted format, but it's not an open format.
"No, it's not like saying Nintendo shouldn't have released the Game Boy because of the Super Nintendo because GB had significantly different games from the SNES and vice versa, and there was no handheld SNES system."
I really didn't understand that. Heh. Considering that the GB weathered all sorts of competition, I'm puzzled as to why you think this is a strong argument.
" First off, good ones (ones available for $200) aren't significantly bigger than a CD player (which has been considered "conveniently" portable for a long time)"
PSP is half the size. It's also worth mentioning that a lot of people replaced their CD players with iPods and other MP3 players because of the significantly smaller size.
"but I would still submit that the size advantage is insignificant when either can be EASILY popped into a carry-on."
Insignificant? Have you ever tried to retrieve anything from carry-on? Have you ever tried cramming too much stuff into a carry-on bag? It's very easy to do on a long trip.
" You're also wrong about portable DVD players not playing music."
You're right, I should have used the word 'conveniently'.
"... making MP3 CDs costs pennies while playing a similar amount of music in a PSP will require a LARGE expenditure for memory cards."
A 512 meg card holds almost as much as a CD. True, you could cheaply bring more CDs, but you are also carrying significantly more stuff around. CDs are big and easy to scratch.
"Wouldn't it be even more of a space savings just to skip both the PSP and portable DVD player and play DVDs on that?"
Yes, that's why I'm not the slightest bit interested in a PSP. Unfortunately, even using a laptop on a plane is a pain the ass. Too cramped on planes. Fortunately, though, I have a TabletPC. I don't have to unfold the thing to watch it. That and its batteries last for about 3 hours.
"1. Anyone who is spending "weeks at a time" on the road is probably doing so carrying a lot of stuff for the ride. A portable DVD player and some discs (and access to innumerable rental outlets) wouldn't be a huge burden."
That door swings both ways. If somebody's carrying a lot of junk, luxuries suddenly become too luxurious if they're too much. As somebody who has been on that sort of trip before, I can tell you that a portable DVD player is a pain in the ass if you're already carrying a heavy shoulder bag. At least a PSP fits in your front pocket.
"2. I can't believe that spending an extra $150-200 on a PSP, and an extra $5-10 per UMD, is worth the difference in size if you want movies on the go - especially considering, again, the easy availability of DVDs."
There's a reason I used the word 'niche'. However, we're talking a pretty serious difference in size. It doesn't matter what UMD movies aren't available, only what is. If there aren't any movies you care about, then problem solved. Also factor in that the PSP plays music and games. Your DVD player does NOT. If you really gotta have mobile entertainment, the PSP makes a ton more sense than a portable DVD player. If you're really desperate to watch a particular movie, dump it to a media stick.
"3. The number of movies available for UMD is so small that anyone choosing a PSP for that purpose would have to possess VERY narrow tastes and a desire to watch the same things over and over and over again."
There are still movies coming out. The same argument could have been made for DVD players at their conception.
"4. The chances of Sony really pushing UMD as any kind of true DVD alternative, and, of course, the chances of the movie industry at large adopting UMD as a common format, seem slim and none to me. Sony is going to be pushing hard for people to adopt Blu-Ray next year (with other companies doing the same, or pushing HD-DVD) and it sure would be foolish to try to convince people to adopt two new formats...especially when one (UMD) is demonstrably inferior to even OLDER technology."
That's like saying Nintendo shouldn't have released the Game Boy because it had the Super Nintendo coming along.
"Of course, the inability to see what harm it did you might be a symptom of the harm it did you."
Perhaps, but I doubt it. Movie/Video game violence, to me, is entertaining. Seeing it for real isn't. I witnessed a car accident once. I think if you had seen my reaction to it, you wouldn't worry too much about the desensitization of video games.
"I pity anyone that actively buys UMD discs. Just get a portable DVD player and use the DVDs you already have instead of forking out another $20.00 for a substandard version. .02"
Ugh. You're talking about a device that's substantially bigger than a PSP. If I really had to have movies on the go, a PSP would be a much better choice simply for its size. As for movies, I saw a rack of them for $15 each over at Wal Mart.
The thing is, though, I don't totally disagree with you. I think this is really a niche market. I know a guy who spends weeks at a time on the road. I could see him doing the PSP + UMD movie thing and being quite happy. I don't see it being all that appealing mass-market wise. It's a pity that Sony wasn't thinking a little farther ahead. 1.5 gigs will hold two near-DVD quality movies using a codec like Xvid. They could have made DVD players with a UMD slot for a nice pleasant DVD alternative.
Oh well.
"Ever get rooked into going to a website with perpetual Javascript pompts?"
Not since I switched to P2P for porn!
I can't believe the negative moderations you got. Good thing I caught it in meta-mod.
"... but parents tend to 'divorce themselves' from active involvement in deciding what their children play."
My dad didn't have any problem with me seeing R rated movies or playing violent video games at a young age. Was he 'divorced' from it? Eh, maybe. On the other hand, I never gave him a reason to worry.
So what bearing does my anecdote have on anything? Nothing terribly substantial, other than GTA3 sold over 30 million copies yet there has been like 2 incidents blamed on it.