"Funny, I thought MS created the XBOX to move gaming away from PCs."
No. They didn't create the XBOX to move games from PC's, they didn't do it to make Direct3D the de-facto standard, they didn't do it to make Windows a monopoly, they didn't do it to put a set-top box on your tv, they didn't do it to save the whales, and they didn't do it to demand one million dollars from the government. They created the XBOX to tap into the video game market and make money. That's all.
They made the XBOX PC-like so that PC-based developers would have an easy time transitioning to it. What makes a game system successful is a combination of number of games and quality of games. If a cool game for PC is already in development, you wouldn't have to fight too hard to make an XBOX port of it. GC, PS2, DC, etc don't have it so easy.
That's actually a really cool strategy to get a number of games onto a new system. The neat thing is that if MS follows suit with XBOX 2, then all the old games will still work. You could even make new games that work on the old hardware, but suddenly get better with the new hardware. That's brilliant!
I agree. Interface problems make XBOX (or GC, or PS2, or GB...) a silly platform to make FPS games for. It'd be like bumper car racing with a series of light switches as your controls. Heh.
If they were to take Doom III and make it more like Zelda for the N64, they could create more value in the game by making it an adventure game. It'd be cool if they did that with the franchise. It'd be like an action version of Resident Evil.
I doubt that department of MS would even care. Just because it's MS, doesn't mean that the XBOX department has any interest in 'evil plans to take over the world'. The goal of that department is to make money. If they sell a million copies of Doom III on the XBOX, then it doesn't matter if ID uses OPG, D3D, or Logo.
... a drama on IRC that gets people so upset they move on. Heh.
I have a serious question: How come IRC can bring the worst out in people? Is it because of the equality of the internet? I haven't gone to a single IRC channel or forum without having a bad experience of some sort. I've seen people (including myself) get far more infuriated over IRC stuff than real life stuff. It's really hard to imagine blobs of text can do that to anybody, but it does.
I realize I'm drifting off topic a bit, but it seems like 'moving to a new channel' is going to end that type of thing. It might be more worthwhile to figure out how to get these situations defused. I think one major contributor of this type of stuff is that comments made in text are stripped of tone of voice or body langauge. I could say 'YOU SUCK!!' and some people would read that as sarcastic, some would read it as an indication that I'm 12 years old. It is devoid of any of the typical context you get with 1:1 communication in person. That's the nice thing about having a mediator around. That person isn't emotionally involved and can tell somebody if their tone needs adjustment.
"If as a result of pvrs, nobody watches commercials anymore and the bottom falls out of the broadcasting industry..."
When a TV show or Movie is made, extra steps are taken to make sure that the stage hands and cameras aren't visible in the shot. Unfortunately, they don't always do enough. Sometimes cameras are visible in the reflections of metallic objects. Mirrors are turned to avoid revealing the crew. Heck, the planet that Knight Rider was filmed on has 6 suns in the shape of a rectangle!
The reason they go through all this extra baloney to keep camera equipment invisible (even though we ALL know cameras were used...) is because it's distracting to the audience. When they can see the boom mic come down above the camera they get snapped out of the immersiveness of the show it breaks up the flow. Out of comfort, they keep these distractions to a minimum.
Unfortunately, they are aware of this, but they don't understand how commercials really deaden the dramatic impact of a scene. When shows like Quantum Leap really get somebody interested in what's happening, it is a pain in the ass when 2-3 minutes of commercials suddenly break it up.
They shouldn't be surprised that people would actually spend time to find a way to remove these commercials. It's not just about watching content, it's about enjoying it! You can't enjoy it if you have to hop in and out of it like Sam Beckett.
I'll tell you all something, it's startling to watch a TV show with the commercials out. It's a big ehough difference that I spent $15-20 on DVD's that contain a couple of episodes. Too bad DVD's haven't caught up with all the content out there.
Where ya think that content comes from? Does it grow on trees perhaps? Besides, it's not like they phased out analog cable, they provided digital as an alternative. Pay more, get more. It's called 'service'.
If you want to hate digital cable, here's a better reason: Your VCR won't work with it unless it has a digital tuner. I've yet to see one of those at Best Buy. It's for this reason I may go with Satellite, since DirectTV has a Tivo that works with it.
I dont understand how the RIAA could make a case. How is the ISP violating copyright? The ISP is a non-descriminant transport vehicle. They shouldn't have to know what's in the packets and then police them. The RIAA shouldn't get special powers to get sites blocked for such a silly offense.
This is a serious problem with the digital world. The more digital things become, the more individual things can be blocked. Imagine if the power-grid was digital. Your computer would need a form of address to get the appropriate amount of power for your device. Then imagine the power company could specifically disallow power to that device. In a case like that, I could see the RIAA suing an electric company to not provide power to computers that go to an offending site. It's ridiculous that the RIAA could win, but if a case like this one goes the right way, it could establish a bizarre precedant.
I guess what I'm saying is: Just because somebody has the power to block this type of thing, doesn't mean they are obligated to. The RIAA has laws in their favor to go after somebody who does something like Listen4Ever has. The ISP's shouldn't have to pay because the RIAA isn't willing to do the necessary investigation to find out how to shut that server down. They're not the ones committing the crime, they are not even aiding them in copyright infractions. If the ISP's aren't treating them any differently than they are treating anybody else, I don't see how they can be held accountable if somebody breaks the law.
"Why do they need an autonomous grass-cutting machine in NZ? Can't you just tie a sheep to a pole in the center of your yard and have him eat the grass for you?"
"It has been my understanding that Wil would be in about a dozen or so episodes of Enterprise over the next 2 years. I was hearing he would be part of the whole Temporal Cold War storyline. I wonder if he will be getting cut from this too? "
So what you're really asking is 'How will the change of plot affect it's sequal?'.
I think it's funny that you mentioned the 'm' at the end of the name, I could have sworn that was his name too. I recently bought TotTL and watched it a couple of times. I got a little confused by that.
Novelization any good?
Re:Is this front page material?
on
GCC 3.2 Released
·
· Score: 0, Offtopic
"Use overrated.. that way it is still marked as humor (even if poor humor), but has a low rating. "
That works too. (he's referring to my sig...)
It's a pain in the butt when I post something to be funny, but it's not clear if the moderator understood my joke or not. I can be a little obscure sometimes.
Re:Is this front page material?
on
GCC 3.2 Released
·
· Score: 2
"Without GCC, free *NIX systems would have nowhere near the importance they have now."
So let's celebrate by giving front page space to a version update!
My sudden drop in karma may be proof of your hypothesis. I apologize to the moderators that I offended! It wasn't my intention to kick you while you're down.
... link Microsoft into this article in some crude way. I'd love to get a +1 Funny, but I can't think of a way to make 'Bill Gates is evil', 'Windows BSOD', or 'Microsoft has a monopoly' relate to the bot patent.
"I want to patent ass slapping while having sex. I know people have been doing it for a long time, but I am the first to patent, so I am going to enforce my patent!"
I really hope you're not expecting the Slashdot community to be a goldmine then. You're gonna be seriously let down!
Well: What LW does internally is it generates a cage of plane-old polygons. If this magical format supports metanurbs, all it has to do is know what number of subdivisions to do, and it generates the necesary polygons for the program that's opening the file.
MAX has a similar problem in that it uses modifiers, which LW has no support for. But if you could re-import the file and change those modifiers you could get it to work again.
There'll probably be situations this won't work, but I think the format can take a heatlhy stab at making it work.
"Well, what if New York was destroyed by a nuclear device, it might take a while before anyone could even step foot in the area without some sorta protection."
He's right. This one unlikely circumstance could happen. Cancel the proeject immediately!
Slashdot Mirror
"Funny, I thought MS created the XBOX to move gaming away from PCs."
No. They didn't create the XBOX to move games from PC's, they didn't do it to make Direct3D the de-facto standard, they didn't do it to make Windows a monopoly, they didn't do it to put a set-top box on your tv, they didn't do it to save the whales, and they didn't do it to demand one million dollars from the government. They created the XBOX to tap into the video game market and make money. That's all.
They made the XBOX PC-like so that PC-based developers would have an easy time transitioning to it. What makes a game system successful is a combination of number of games and quality of games. If a cool game for PC is already in development, you wouldn't have to fight too hard to make an XBOX port of it. GC, PS2, DC, etc don't have it so easy.
That's actually a really cool strategy to get a number of games onto a new system. The neat thing is that if MS follows suit with XBOX 2, then all the old games will still work. You could even make new games that work on the old hardware, but suddenly get better with the new hardware. That's brilliant!
I agree. Interface problems make XBOX (or GC, or PS2, or GB...) a silly platform to make FPS games for. It'd be like bumper car racing with a series of light switches as your controls. Heh.
If they were to take Doom III and make it more like Zelda for the N64, they could create more value in the game by making it an adventure game. It'd be cool if they did that with the franchise. It'd be like an action version of Resident Evil.
I doubt that department of MS would even care. Just because it's MS, doesn't mean that the XBOX department has any interest in 'evil plans to take over the world'. The goal of that department is to make money. If they sell a million copies of Doom III on the XBOX, then it doesn't matter if ID uses OPG, D3D, or Logo.
If you need to burn off your underwear with a cigarette, then yes you do need to change it.
... a drama on IRC that gets people so upset they move on. Heh.
I have a serious question: How come IRC can bring the worst out in people? Is it because of the equality of the internet? I haven't gone to a single IRC channel or forum without having a bad experience of some sort. I've seen people (including myself) get far more infuriated over IRC stuff than real life stuff. It's really hard to imagine blobs of text can do that to anybody, but it does.
I realize I'm drifting off topic a bit, but it seems like 'moving to a new channel' is going to end that type of thing. It might be more worthwhile to figure out how to get these situations defused. I think one major contributor of this type of stuff is that comments made in text are stripped of tone of voice or body langauge. I could say 'YOU SUCK!!' and some people would read that as sarcastic, some would read it as an indication that I'm 12 years old. It is devoid of any of the typical context you get with 1:1 communication in person. That's the nice thing about having a mediator around. That person isn't emotionally involved and can tell somebody if their tone needs adjustment.
"If as a result of pvrs, nobody watches commercials anymore and the bottom falls out of the broadcasting industry..."
When a TV show or Movie is made, extra steps are taken to make sure that the stage hands and cameras aren't visible in the shot. Unfortunately, they don't always do enough. Sometimes cameras are visible in the reflections of metallic objects. Mirrors are turned to avoid revealing the crew. Heck, the planet that Knight Rider was filmed on has 6 suns in the shape of a rectangle!
The reason they go through all this extra baloney to keep camera equipment invisible (even though we ALL know cameras were used...) is because it's distracting to the audience. When they can see the boom mic come down above the camera they get snapped out of the immersiveness of the show it breaks up the flow. Out of comfort, they keep these distractions to a minimum.
Unfortunately, they are aware of this, but they don't understand how commercials really deaden the dramatic impact of a scene. When shows like Quantum Leap really get somebody interested in what's happening, it is a pain in the ass when 2-3 minutes of commercials suddenly break it up.
They shouldn't be surprised that people would actually spend time to find a way to remove these commercials. It's not just about watching content, it's about enjoying it! You can't enjoy it if you have to hop in and out of it like Sam Beckett.
I'll tell you all something, it's startling to watch a TV show with the commercials out. It's a big ehough difference that I spent $15-20 on DVD's that contain a couple of episodes. Too bad DVD's haven't caught up with all the content out there.
Where ya think that content comes from? Does it grow on trees perhaps? Besides, it's not like they phased out analog cable, they provided digital as an alternative. Pay more, get more. It's called 'service'.
If you want to hate digital cable, here's a better reason: Your VCR won't work with it unless it has a digital tuner. I've yet to see one of those at Best Buy. It's for this reason I may go with Satellite, since DirectTV has a Tivo that works with it.
I dont understand how the RIAA could make a case. How is the ISP violating copyright? The ISP is a non-descriminant transport vehicle. They shouldn't have to know what's in the packets and then police them. The RIAA shouldn't get special powers to get sites blocked for such a silly offense.
This is a serious problem with the digital world. The more digital things become, the more individual things can be blocked. Imagine if the power-grid was digital. Your computer would need a form of address to get the appropriate amount of power for your device. Then imagine the power company could specifically disallow power to that device. In a case like that, I could see the RIAA suing an electric company to not provide power to computers that go to an offending site. It's ridiculous that the RIAA could win, but if a case like this one goes the right way, it could establish a bizarre precedant.
I guess what I'm saying is: Just because somebody has the power to block this type of thing, doesn't mean they are obligated to. The RIAA has laws in their favor to go after somebody who does something like Listen4Ever has. The ISP's shouldn't have to pay because the RIAA isn't willing to do the necessary investigation to find out how to shut that server down. They're not the ones committing the crime, they are not even aiding them in copyright infractions. If the ISP's aren't treating them any differently than they are treating anybody else, I don't see how they can be held accountable if somebody breaks the law.
No organization should have that kind of power.
"If this suit passes in the favor of the RIAA, then you can kiss The Constitution goodbye."
.... Uuh... shit you guys got all the good ones. Why couldn't you let me go first?
If this suit passes in favor of the RIAA, then you can kiss
"Why do they need an autonomous grass-cutting machine in NZ? Can't you just tie a sheep to a pole in the center of your yard and have him eat the grass for you?"
. .
Must...resist...propagating..NZ....stereotype..
"...I want the linux powered wristwatch"
Not as a status symbol, I hope. Every time I use my Indiglo light people assume my watch is running Windows.
Ah bummer. Heh. Funny thing is, the credits just decided to put the dude's last name without the fisrt. Nice, eh?
:)
Well I'll quit buggin ya. I appreciate the response! Doctor Who fans seem to be dwindling lately.
Cheers man
What about those of us who like to look at po^H^H^H^Hanatomy pics?
"It has been my understanding that Wil would be in about a dozen or so episodes of Enterprise over the next 2 years. I was hearing he would be part of the whole Temporal Cold War storyline. I wonder if he will be getting cut from this too? "
:)
So what you're really asking is 'How will the change of plot affect it's sequal?'.
You're a Star Wars fan, arentcha?
That's cool!
I think it's funny that you mentioned the 'm' at the end of the name, I could have sworn that was his name too. I recently bought TotTL and watched it a couple of times. I got a little confused by that.
Novelization any good?
"Use overrated.. that way it is still marked as humor (even if poor humor), but has a low rating. "
That works too. (he's referring to my sig...)
It's a pain in the butt when I post something to be funny, but it's not clear if the moderator understood my joke or not. I can be a little obscure sometimes.
"Without GCC, free *NIX systems would have nowhere near the importance they have now."
So let's celebrate by giving front page space to a version update!
"I'd risk my karma to say he is right. "
My sudden drop in karma may be proof of your hypothesis. I apologize to the moderators that I offended! It wasn't my intention to kick you while you're down.
Wow, I'm actually a big enough Doctor Who fan to know who you're referring to heh.
Got an interesting insight into that choice of name? Or didja pick it cos it sounded cool? (Your previous message implies the first...)
"The Day The Music Died: Windows Media and DRM"
I don't think anybody ever thought of Windows Media as a vital organ to music. That's like saying "The Day Movies Died: The Cinema Hotdog"
... link Microsoft into this article in some crude way. I'd love to get a +1 Funny, but I can't think of a way to make 'Bill Gates is evil', 'Windows BSOD', or 'Microsoft has a monopoly' relate to the bot patent.
:(
Damn. My karma's dipping a bit today.
"I want to patent ass slapping while having sex. I know people have been doing it for a long time, but I am the first to patent, so I am going to enforce my patent!"
I really hope you're not expecting the Slashdot community to be a goldmine then. You're gonna be seriously let down!
Good question. :)
Well: What LW does internally is it generates a cage of plane-old polygons. If this magical format supports metanurbs, all it has to do is know what number of subdivisions to do, and it generates the necesary polygons for the program that's opening the file.
MAX has a similar problem in that it uses modifiers, which LW has no support for. But if you could re-import the file and change those modifiers you could get it to work again.
There'll probably be situations this won't work, but I think the format can take a heatlhy stab at making it work.
"Just make sure that if you do move to California, don't file for divorce there. "
Yeah, like anybody reading this is going to need that advice. Heh.
"Well, what if New York was destroyed by a nuclear device, it might take a while before anyone could even step foot in the area without some sorta protection."
He's right. This one unlikely circumstance could happen. Cancel the proeject immediately!