"If you want to see real shilling, you have to look at the comments on any Microsoft-related story. "
Can't say I've seen much of that. Considering however that BSOD jokes are still 'funny' around here even though BSOD's more or less disappeared in 2000, it isn't the least bit surprising that the anti-MS trolling has finally hit some resistance.
"But then, you live for trolling on Slashdot, don't you?"
Mmmm hmmm. I'd be offended by that if you could demonstrate that you knew the difference between a shill and somebody who doesn't share your delusions.
"There were no stories and now all of the sudden there are like 5 in a row!"
I think they set the story to post at 7:32 pm instead of am. As a result, we had to wait for the clock to roll around before the stories behind it would show up. Of course, I could be wrong, but I did 'back' a few times and noticed the time hasn't changed on it.
"What are the advertisements on the page doing for us? Where does this money go?"
Keeping the server up so you can bitch and people can spend mod points.
"Fuck slashdot. (This is not a troll. This is a serious rant of someone who wanted to spend Sunday afternoon catching up on tech news.)"
Yeah, yeah. The Sunday after Thanksgiving and April Fool's day was mostly garbage. I can't believe we're only getting new stories 363 days a year. Fuckin slackers.
"They have beta-tes^H^H customers out there that willingly PAY THEM $400+ to do it for them. Literally fighting each other at stores for the oppurtunity."
"Other than that, I really don't see a use for it myself."
I dunno if I'm going to rush out and buy one, but I wouldn't mind having this particular mouse. I frequently walk past my desk and have a quick look to see if I have any messages. Since my monitor goes off after 20 minutes or so, I have to wiggle the mouse to get it back. If the mouse (or the keyboard) were to blink when I recieved a message, it'd save me that little step.
I agree with the 'ho-hum' feelings towards it, but I wouldn't say it's useless.
"from the article and if the ps3 cell cpu is even half the processor than this monster is i say that game companies will need a lot of real programmers to make real good games (as if they cared)."
I'm not so worried about the programming aspect of it. Yeah, it'll cost more, and in the beginning it'll be nerve wracking to get adjusted, but I expect that in the end it'll be the least of their concerns. Not only will the techniques be laid down, but I imagine there'll be a lot of engine licensing going on. I imagine they'll even get to a point where it's less about the technical aspects and more about the the technique. But.. I really am babbling about something I know little about so I'll let it rest there. Mainly I'm replying because I remember hearing comments about this with the PS2 and today you never really hear about it anymore other than the occasional developer comment that the XBOX and GameCube are easier to develop for. It's not like its game library suffered badly for it.
I imagine the big increase in spending will go towards the artists, designers, and the sound people. In summary, I mean content / assets. Lotsa RAM to fill up there with visuals. I'm seriously wondering if we're going to see a 100 million dollar game in the next 10 years.
"I just want to draw a flowchart and have the compiler and realtime scheduler distribute processes and data among the hardware resources. If we are getting a new architecture and new "programming models", and therefore new compilers and kernels, how about a new IDE paradigm."
"Apart from the Gameboy! It's screen was taller than wide and that was a total failiure!"
Huh? The original Game Boy had a resolution of 160 by 144. It was NOT taller than it was wide. The DS is as close as you could get on that, and that would be a weak argument despite the its success.
"I declared it a failure back in 2003! Why did it take a big company like Nokia so long to figure out what I was able to surmise immediately?"
Because, Nostradamus, you didn't know you were right until it played out.
Look, I realize that the N-Gage had several devastating flaws. But you're talking about a segment of the market who aren't necessarily hard-core gamers. It was cheap, it was a cell phone, and it had better games than you can typically get on a cell phone. Heck, I almost bought one to replace my crapp-ass Motorola. Never got around to it, but it actually did have some appeal.
I'm not the least bit surprised they tried to stay the course on it and waited a year after they built the new version of it before declaring failure.
"I dont use firefox (I use opera), but how many times does this happen to people who use IE? I bet a lot more than firefox"
For me personally (and across 3 or 4 machines over the years...) IE has been decidedly more stable than Opera or FireFox. I've found that visiting lots of image heavy sites wit Opera or FireFox will either crash or become so slow that they need to be restarted. I've never had this problem with IE 5 and newer. In FireFox's defense, though, I haven't updated in a few months, so I cannot say that problem exists today. Once in a great great while, IE will crash if it's been open for several days and I run across flash or a movie file. (I think that's happened a whopping 3 times in the last year.)
That said, neither are so unstable that I won't use them. Opera recovers nicely by bringing the pages I was on back up and FireFox takes considerably longer to give me any trouble. In either case, the browsers have to be open for days at a time. I honestly don't think the stability of either app will cause people to stay with IE.
"I haven't picked up the game yet (I intend to), but it looks great. The only thing I wish is I hear the online races are only four players. It would be nice if it was 8 (even if each DS supplied one computer player). But that is a minor gripe."
Internet play on Mario Kart is a little disappointing. Yes, you only get four players. Yes, you cannot chat with them. Yes, it can take a while to connect. Yes, you cannot play the battle mode on the net. (GRR.)
That said, it's still quite fun. Though the CPU players aren't bad, you really can tell when you're playing against humans. I'll tell ya something: That makes all the difference. There's a great level of satisfaction when you narrowly defeat somebody who's demonstratably quite talented at the game.
After having this for a few days, I find it rather sad that it took this long to get Mario Kart on-line. Don't get me wrong, I'm quite happy, but the balance and workings of this game are ideal for a wonderful net-play experience. I can't get my girlfriend to play Quake, but she'll happily whoop my ass at MK. (which is why she's not getting her own DS.)
I really wish there would be a rule that advertisers must have a single phone number that will show up on caller ID. It really pisses me off when the ID says 'private' when getting a call from Comcast.
"No. The market already exists. This is the cost of doing things the Microsoft way - push your way into an established market because you have billions of dollars to cover the losses."
" I wonder why Sony takes it's time developing their console as opposed to rushing it out the door to try to gain marketshare like some other greedy corporation does..."
Oh please. You've never heard of the upside-down playstation trick? Nobody ever really thought about game consoles being defective until Sony came into the market. I should know, I was a video game salesman during the launch of the original Playstation.
There's an episode where myths about how to sit properly on an airplane during a crash were tested. At one point, they built a 'crash rig' where everybody piled on and... well... crashed. I remember Kari talking about promising her parents she wouldn't do anything dangerous. Well, that made me curious: Which episodes have gotten any of you into trouble with your family/loved ones?
"My Dell laptop seemed full of crud. I know that I had installed quite a few systems just to test them over the first year that I had the laptop. And now it was showing mysterious symptoms - Programs would seem to just hang when I started them. The responsiveness seemed down."
Ditto. I've basically gotten in the habit of reinstalling every 6 months to a year or so. I don't have problems with Windows stability, but the 'spring cleaning' bit is something I am not thrilled with at all. I have done a few things to minimize the down time, though:
1. I maintain a drive letter on every install of Windows I use. Either I format a partition to that drive letter, or I use the dos 'subst.exe' command to make the drive letter based on a folder. (depends on if I have a free partition or not.)
2. Since I have a constant drive letter, I keep folder around that has copies of the software I use. Most of the apps I use don't need to muck with the registry to be installed, so I can just fire up the app right away. For other apps like Office, I keep the installer around as well.
3. I have a 'Shortcuts' folder where I put shortcuts to these apps. When Windows is done installing, I set up the quicklaunch bar to look in that folder. (I rarely use the Start Menu.)
4. I'm using GMail now so my email's never interrupted.
5. Since I have so much giggage on my computer, I usually keep 10-20 gigs of partition space around so that when I do reinstall Windows, I can install it to that partition instead of having to blow away what I have. In an 'oh shit!' emergency, I can get it going again. (funny, I haven't needed that in a while.. hopefully I didn't just jinx myself.)
6. I also keep a running tally of drivers I need on this partition. Once I need the scanner or something, getting it going doesn't take long because I know where I kept my files.
The added benefit of my approach here is that I can mirror this setup to my laptop or to a new computer just by getting things hooked up to the network. Plus it simplifies backups by a considerable margin.
"Try giving a 10-year-old who loved Ocarina of Time a copy of the original Zelda (or, god forbid, Adventures of Link), and they most likely wouldn't find it fun at all. First off, it'd be amazingly difficult, (simply due to the fact that newer games utilize different skillsets and strategies) and secondly, the audial/graphical downgrade would also be a big turnoff."
Possibly true. However, I saw some games in there that I've never actually played that I'm curious about. With 20 games and a couple that I've played before that I'd like to play again, I'd file it under "what the heck?"
Slashdot Mirror
"If you want to see real shilling, you have to look at the comments on any Microsoft-related story. "
Can't say I've seen much of that. Considering however that BSOD jokes are still 'funny' around here even though BSOD's more or less disappeared in 2000, it isn't the least bit surprising that the anti-MS trolling has finally hit some resistance.
"But then, you live for trolling on Slashdot, don't you?"
Mmmm hmmm. I'd be offended by that if you could demonstrate that you knew the difference between a shill and somebody who doesn't share your delusions.
I wonder why these articles don't shut up the "Slashdot is shilling for Microsoft" whiners.
"There were no stories and now all of the sudden there are like 5 in a row!"
I think they set the story to post at 7:32 pm instead of am. As a result, we had to wait for the clock to roll around before the stories behind it would show up. Of course, I could be wrong, but I did 'back' a few times and noticed the time hasn't changed on it.
"and then they come in and there's a dupe!"
Dupe! Ready pitchforks!!!
"What are the advertisements on the page doing for us? Where does this money go?"
Keeping the server up so you can bitch and people can spend mod points.
"Fuck slashdot. (This is not a troll. This is a serious rant of someone who wanted to spend Sunday afternoon catching up on tech news.)"
Yeah, yeah. The Sunday after Thanksgiving and April Fool's day was mostly garbage. I can't believe we're only getting new stories 363 days a year. Fuckin slackers.
"How hard is it to remember: you have "loose" change in your pocket; you "lose" money."
How hard is it to remember a username and password?
"It's payback for those licences on latops and packaged computers that I and others don't use but have to pay for because they enforce a monopoly."
It's also a reason for Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo to keep restricting their hardware. Thanks a lot.
"They have beta-tes^H^H customers out there that willingly PAY THEM $400+ to do it for them. Literally fighting each other at stores for the oppurtunity."
So... Microsoft ripped off a Sony innovation.
"Other than that, I really don't see a use for it myself."
I dunno if I'm going to rush out and buy one, but I wouldn't mind having this particular mouse. I frequently walk past my desk and have a quick look to see if I have any messages. Since my monitor goes off after 20 minutes or so, I have to wiggle the mouse to get it back. If the mouse (or the keyboard) were to blink when I recieved a message, it'd save me that little step.
I agree with the 'ho-hum' feelings towards it, but I wouldn't say it's useless.
"from the article and if the ps3 cell cpu is even half the processor than this monster is i say that game companies will need a lot of real programmers to make real good games (as if they cared)."
I'm not so worried about the programming aspect of it. Yeah, it'll cost more, and in the beginning it'll be nerve wracking to get adjusted, but I expect that in the end it'll be the least of their concerns. Not only will the techniques be laid down, but I imagine there'll be a lot of engine licensing going on. I imagine they'll even get to a point where it's less about the technical aspects and more about the the technique. But.. I really am babbling about something I know little about so I'll let it rest there. Mainly I'm replying because I remember hearing comments about this with the PS2 and today you never really hear about it anymore other than the occasional developer comment that the XBOX and GameCube are easier to develop for. It's not like its game library suffered badly for it.
I imagine the big increase in spending will go towards the artists, designers, and the sound people. In summary, I mean content / assets. Lotsa RAM to fill up there with visuals. I'm seriously wondering if we're going to see a 100 million dollar game in the next 10 years.
"I just want to draw a flowchart and have the compiler and realtime scheduler distribute processes and data among the hardware resources. If we are getting a new architecture and new "programming models", and therefore new compilers and kernels, how about a new IDE paradigm."
Bingo, sir.
"Apart from the Gameboy! It's screen was taller than wide and that was a total failiure!"
Huh? The original Game Boy had a resolution of 160 by 144. It was NOT taller than it was wide. The DS is as close as you could get on that, and that would be a weak argument despite the its success.
"I declared it a failure back in 2003! Why did it take a big company like Nokia so long to figure out what I was able to surmise immediately?"
Because, Nostradamus, you didn't know you were right until it played out.
Look, I realize that the N-Gage had several devastating flaws. But you're talking about a segment of the market who aren't necessarily hard-core gamers. It was cheap, it was a cell phone, and it had better games than you can typically get on a cell phone. Heck, I almost bought one to replace my crapp-ass Motorola. Never got around to it, but it actually did have some appeal.
I'm not the least bit surprised they tried to stay the course on it and waited a year after they built the new version of it before declaring failure.
"I dont use firefox (I use opera), but how many times does this happen to people who use IE? I bet a lot more than firefox"
For me personally (and across 3 or 4 machines over the years...) IE has been decidedly more stable than Opera or FireFox. I've found that visiting lots of image heavy sites wit Opera or FireFox will either crash or become so slow that they need to be restarted. I've never had this problem with IE 5 and newer. In FireFox's defense, though, I haven't updated in a few months, so I cannot say that problem exists today. Once in a great great while, IE will crash if it's been open for several days and I run across flash or a movie file. (I think that's happened a whopping 3 times in the last year.)
That said, neither are so unstable that I won't use them. Opera recovers nicely by bringing the pages I was on back up and FireFox takes considerably longer to give me any trouble. In either case, the browsers have to be open for days at a time. I honestly don't think the stability of either app will cause people to stay with IE.
"Does anyone else find it odd that in practically all the benchmarks, the single core processors beat out the dual core processors?"
No more odd than say a pickup truck beating a sports car in a race to move from one apartment to another.
"I haven't picked up the game yet (I intend to), but it looks great. The only thing I wish is I hear the online races are only four players. It would be nice if it was 8 (even if each DS supplied one computer player). But that is a minor gripe."
Internet play on Mario Kart is a little disappointing. Yes, you only get four players. Yes, you cannot chat with them. Yes, it can take a while to connect. Yes, you cannot play the battle mode on the net. (GRR.)
That said, it's still quite fun. Though the CPU players aren't bad, you really can tell when you're playing against humans. I'll tell ya something: That makes all the difference. There's a great level of satisfaction when you narrowly defeat somebody who's demonstratably quite talented at the game.
After having this for a few days, I find it rather sad that it took this long to get Mario Kart on-line. Don't get me wrong, I'm quite happy, but the balance and workings of this game are ideal for a wonderful net-play experience. I can't get my girlfriend to play Quake, but she'll happily whoop my ass at MK. (which is why she's not getting her own DS.)
"Nowaday, Sony is leading, Microsoft and Nintendo aren't far behind. Nintendo cannot really afford too loose too much terrain"
Considering their profitability, Nintendo has more leg room than the other two.
"What the hell would you tell the doctor?" ... my ass has a crack in it. ....
I'm serious.
I really wish there would be a rule that advertisers must have a single phone number that will show up on caller ID. It really pisses me off when the ID says 'private' when getting a call from Comcast.
"No. The market already exists. This is the cost of doing things the Microsoft way - push your way into an established market because you have billions of dollars to cover the losses."
Gee that sounds an awful lot like Sony.
" I wonder why Sony takes it's time developing their console as opposed to rushing it out the door to try to gain marketshare like some other greedy corporation does..."
Oh please. You've never heard of the upside-down playstation trick? Nobody ever really thought about game consoles being defective until Sony came into the market. I should know, I was a video game salesman during the launch of the original Playstation.
"Can anyone explain who this guy is?"
In layman's terms, he's the audio file that goes along with the Goatse pic.
There's an episode where myths about how to sit properly on an airplane during a crash were tested. At one point, they built a 'crash rig' where everybody piled on and... well... crashed. I remember Kari talking about promising her parents she wouldn't do anything dangerous. Well, that made me curious: Which episodes have gotten any of you into trouble with your family/loved ones?
Ditto. I've basically gotten in the habit of reinstalling every 6 months to a year or so. I don't have problems with Windows stability, but the 'spring cleaning' bit is something I am not thrilled with at all. I have done a few things to minimize the down time, though:
The added benefit of my approach here is that I can mirror this setup to my laptop or to a new computer just by getting things hooked up to the network. Plus it simplifies backups by a considerable margin.
"Try giving a 10-year-old who loved Ocarina of Time a copy of the original Zelda (or, god forbid, Adventures of Link), and they most likely wouldn't find it fun at all. First off, it'd be amazingly difficult, (simply due to the fact that newer games utilize different skillsets and strategies) and secondly, the audial/graphical downgrade would also be a big turnoff."
Possibly true. However, I saw some games in there that I've never actually played that I'm curious about. With 20 games and a couple that I've played before that I'd like to play again, I'd file it under "what the heck?"