Probably because they were shoddy ports and loaded with bugs. I still have never been able to play through my copies of FF7 and FF8 on the PC. FF7 had issues with the movies playing upside down and the video not syncing with the audio.. and FF8 has issues with pretty much any video card out there (I've tried a Rage Pro, Radeon, and GeForce2/3).. the graphics all show up as "tiles". Not even the patch (which is supposed to fix the tiles) fixes the problem.
Pretty lame. I believe FFXI's PC port will be handled by Square themselves, so maybe this time they'll get it right.
Re:The REAL Story... No thanks to SlashDot...
on
Dell Partners with Square
·
· Score: 3, Informative
Since SlashDot doesn't automatically generate HREF's from URLs (wtf?), here's a nice link to the Dell website.
Dell Japan has decided to release two versions of their PCs packaged with Final Fantasy XI. Dell Japan will release the Dimension 8200 and Dimension 4500 with the PC version of Final Fantasy XI. Both PCs will come equipped with an Intel Pentium 4 1.8Ghz processor and a GeForce4 Ti4200 64MB DDR video card. So if you live in Japan and want to get the best performance from Final Fantasy XI this might be a PC you could consider buying.
Here's a link to Dell's website showing off the systems:
http://www.dell.com/html/jp/products/dimen/ff11. ht m
No where do I see that you will be forced to use an nVidia card on the PC version of the game, and no where do I see this deal being in the United States (yet.)
Also, FFXI isn't even out for the PC in the U.S., much less Japan. Squaresoft says November 7th for Japan... with the U.S. version slated for early 2003 release.
No no, I was laying out what I do to contradict your "no huge tivo" argument:) I just let the TiVO do the hard work (actually capturing the MPEG2 video), and then dump it off to my PC for conversion. I have yet to find a PC-based PVR that works reliably (as ATI cards are filth.).. Maybe I'll give Sigma's PVR card a shot someday though.
I do agree that TiVO should use some sort of network attached storage, or be capable of storing it's data across a network.. but I think the Tivo corporation is a little wary of this, as it might make "pirating" video an easier task.
TiVO Series 2 almost completely gets rid of the problems you're describing, and so does upgrading a Series 1 unit with more RAM (actually desoldering the 32 meg chip and upgrading it to a 64 meg one..)
1) I have my TiVO record my favorite shows. 2) I dump the saved programs (over Telnet) to my main computer. 3) I de-interlace and convert the MPEG2 stream to a 452x460 (from a 480x480 source, but with the TV noise trimmed off the sides) DiVX or SVCD. 4) I have a perfect copy of the recorded show.
Having tried an All-in-Wonder Radeon and an All-In-Wonder 8500DV both on two different machines (Athlon 1.4GHz and a P4 1.8GHz), both have failed stability wise. Both boxes were setup to be "dedicated" PVR-type machines, and both would lock up or not record well (even on the P4 1.8, I could not capture full res 720x480.)
ATI sucks. It pays to pay $150 or so for a hardware based encoder/decoder solution, compare to ATI's software crap.
Let me know when ATI fixes their driver/capturing issues, and maybe I can put my super expensive All-In-Wonder Radeon 8500DV to use. Other than that, it's a nice paperweight. Or a door-stop.
Oh yeah, by the way, VCD's suck. SVCD all the way, or DiVX.
I'm sure glad you posted AC! You are so elite! Boy you taught me. I'm going to take all my Microsoft products, even my whole PC, and cover it in lighter fluid! Then set it ablaze, and feel content knowing that I have purged the Microsoft beast from my body, mind and soul.
I don't feel like getting a toop-of-the-line computer every 6 months
No one's forcing you. And regardless of whether you used Windows or Linux or FreeBSD, you're still going to be limited by your hardware in the end. It isn't like FreeBSD has some super-duper-mega code to make your computer run games faster. Give me a break.
I don't like using a platform where problems cannot be fixed short of a re-install
This may have been true in WinME and previous operating systems, and perhaps I've been lucky, but I've never had to reinstall Windows 2000 or XP because of problems with the OS. It was always something I added on and goofed up, or hardware failure (bad RAM, hard drive)
I refuse to pay huge ammounts of money for the OS.
If $140 is too much for Windows XP Pro, I feel sorry for you man.
I will not defragment! Nor will I spend tons of money just for a reasonably decent defragmenting program.
Now you're aging yourself. This was only really needed with FAT(32). Windows NT4/2K/XP have all used NTFS, a filesystem that is literally hundreds of times better and faster than FAT(32) ever was. And Windows 2k/XP comes with a pretty darn good defragmenting utility.
I don't like rebooting
That's fine, I've had my Windows XP desktop at work running for the past month without downtime. I only reboot when a critical hotfix comes out, and I've been fine.
I will not spend a week just to disable running services, and configure the basics.
I don't know what you're talking about here. In a default Windows XP Pro installation, there should be no services you need to manage. Unless you plan on running a small IIS server or the like. But even that, that's pretty trivial (Add/Remove Components-->IIS) And contrary to popular belief, disabling all of your services except for a "bare minimum" won't give you amazingly higher frame rates (Ooh, you gained 1 3d mark! So fast!)
I could go on, but I'm tired of this.
No, I _could_ go on, but I'm tired of _this_. People who hate Windows just because it's a Microsoft product. Slashdot seems to just orgasm any time it gets to report on something going against Microsoft. I get tired of it.
What's the point of running games on a server/programming-based operating system? I will never understand this fascination. Do you people enjoy pain!?
Windows already has this market cornered, so why try and monkey around with compiling a kernel with new video drivers, new sound drivers, etc... trying to get a game working?
Just install Windows 2000 or XP, load up the latest nVidia DET's, and off you go. Not that difficult.
It's certainly possible that someone could come out with their own set of "non-Microsoft" API calls that emulate the IE/explorer functionality. No one's done it so far though AFAIK. There might be legal issues involved, but I'm not sure.
First off, eat a dick. I've built around 25 systems (outside of my work) in the past 2 years.
He said "I picked off his heatsink to fing he didnt take the sticky protection of the top of the silicon".
He wasn't talking about the sticker to protect the copper insert of a heatsink, nor is he talking about the sticker to cover the heatsink compound. He said "the sticky protection of the top of the silicon". Indicating to me he's talking about the CPU's core/die.
Or maybe he is talking about the heatsink and he just didn't use proper terminology. Either way your response is that of an ass and therefore I am replying as such.
I've noticed that most of the power supply units I get (mostly Enermax) put out a strange odor (smokey smelling) for about the first week of usage. I've been told by Enermax that this is normal and just a "burn in" (no pun intended) period for the electronics inside.
Perhaps this is what you are smelling, and not a motherboard or CPU. I've never had one of those smell. Just my power supply.
Newer Athlons are not hotter, but in fact run cooler. Smaller die processes make this so.
Case in point, my old Athlon 1.4GHz ran at about 140 degrees (with an ambient temp of 85). My new Athlon 2200+ XP runs at around 95 degrees. Beautiful.
Why not just pay the $135 and not worry about it anymore? Sheesh.
Also, if Microsoft decides to do some sort of reinforcing of a valid key outside of Windows Update, then you're screwed (unless of course, someone comes out with a crack/patch past that.)
I don't know where you're purchasing your software from, but here in the U.S. it's $135 for a copy of Windows XP Professional. I'd say that's more than fair.
Slashdot Mirror
And the ports of 7 & 8 didn't sell well, AFAIK
Probably because they were shoddy ports and loaded with bugs. I still have never been able to play through my copies of FF7 and FF8 on the PC. FF7 had issues with the movies playing upside down and the video not syncing with the audio.. and FF8 has issues with pretty much any video card out there (I've tried a Rage Pro, Radeon, and GeForce2/3).. the graphics all show up as "tiles". Not even the patch (which is supposed to fix the tiles) fixes the problem.
Pretty lame. I believe FFXI's PC port will be handled by Square themselves, so maybe this time they'll get it right.
Since SlashDot doesn't automatically generate HREF's from URLs (wtf?), here's a nice link to the Dell website.
This is the REAL story (courtesy of RPG Warehouse):
. ht m
Dell Japan has decided to release two versions of their PCs packaged with Final Fantasy XI. Dell Japan will release the Dimension 8200 and Dimension 4500 with the PC version of Final Fantasy XI. Both PCs will come equipped with an Intel Pentium 4 1.8Ghz processor and a GeForce4 Ti4200 64MB DDR video card. So if you live in Japan and want to get the best performance from Final Fantasy XI this might be a PC you could consider buying.
Here's a link to Dell's website showing off the systems:
http://www.dell.com/html/jp/products/dimen/ff11
No where do I see that you will be forced to use an nVidia card on the PC version of the game, and no where do I see this deal being in the United States (yet.)
Also, FFXI isn't even out for the PC in the U.S., much less Japan. Squaresoft says November 7th for Japan... with the U.S. version slated for early 2003 release.
Why do I have to do your job for you, SlashDot?
For the UHF reference, you get 20 points!
"Nothing! Absolutely nothing!"
No no, I was laying out what I do to contradict your "no huge tivo" argument :) I just let the TiVO do the hard work (actually capturing the MPEG2 video), and then dump it off to my PC for conversion. I have yet to find a PC-based PVR that works reliably (as ATI cards are filth.).. Maybe I'll give Sigma's PVR card a shot someday though.
I do agree that TiVO should use some sort of network attached storage, or be capable of storing it's data across a network.. but I think the Tivo corporation is a little wary of this, as it might make "pirating" video an easier task.
TiVO Series 2 almost completely gets rid of the problems you're describing, and so does upgrading a Series 1 unit with more RAM (actually desoldering the 32 meg chip and upgrading it to a 64 meg one..)
1) I have my TiVO record my favorite shows.
2) I dump the saved programs (over Telnet) to my main computer.
3) I de-interlace and convert the MPEG2 stream to a 452x460 (from a 480x480 source, but with the TV noise trimmed off the sides) DiVX or SVCD.
4) I have a perfect copy of the recorded show.
My TiVO was less than that ($80) from ubid.com
Having tried an All-in-Wonder Radeon and an All-In-Wonder 8500DV both on two different machines (Athlon 1.4GHz and a P4 1.8GHz), both have failed stability wise. Both boxes were setup to be "dedicated" PVR-type machines, and both would lock up or not record well (even on the P4 1.8, I could not capture full res 720x480.)
ATI sucks. It pays to pay $150 or so for a hardware based encoder/decoder solution, compare to ATI's software crap.
Let me know when ATI fixes their driver/capturing issues, and maybe I can put my super expensive All-In-Wonder Radeon 8500DV to use. Other than that, it's a nice paperweight. Or a door-stop.
Oh yeah, by the way, VCD's suck. SVCD all the way, or DiVX.
I'm sure glad you posted AC! You are so elite! Boy you taught me. I'm going to take all my Microsoft products, even my whole PC, and cover it in lighter fluid! Then set it ablaze, and feel content knowing that I have purged the Microsoft beast from my body, mind and soul.
Thanks for showing me the light, brother!
Halleluah!
At this point I'm not even going to respond since you're choosing to stoop to personal attacks against me to "win" your arguement.
By the way, you just lost.
Have a nice day.
I don't feel like getting a toop-of-the-line computer every 6 months
No one's forcing you. And regardless of whether you used Windows or Linux or FreeBSD, you're still going to be limited by your hardware in the end. It isn't like FreeBSD has some super-duper-mega code to make your computer run games faster. Give me a break.
I don't like using a platform where problems cannot be fixed short of a re-install
This may have been true in WinME and previous operating systems, and perhaps I've been lucky, but I've never had to reinstall Windows 2000 or XP because of problems with the OS. It was always something I added on and goofed up, or hardware failure (bad RAM, hard drive)
I refuse to pay huge ammounts of money for the OS.
If $140 is too much for Windows XP Pro, I feel sorry for you man.
I will not defragment! Nor will I spend tons of money just for a reasonably decent defragmenting program.
Now you're aging yourself. This was only really needed with FAT(32). Windows NT4/2K/XP have all used NTFS, a filesystem that is literally hundreds of times better and faster than FAT(32) ever was. And Windows 2k/XP comes with a pretty darn good defragmenting utility.
I don't like rebooting
That's fine, I've had my Windows XP desktop at work running for the past month without downtime. I only reboot when a critical hotfix comes out, and I've been fine.
I will not spend a week just to disable running services, and configure the basics.
I don't know what you're talking about here. In a default Windows XP Pro installation, there should be no services you need to manage. Unless you plan on running a small IIS server or the like. But even that, that's pretty trivial (Add/Remove Components-->IIS) And contrary to popular belief, disabling all of your services except for a "bare minimum" won't give you amazingly higher frame rates (Ooh, you gained 1 3d mark! So fast!)
I could go on, but I'm tired of this.
No, I _could_ go on, but I'm tired of _this_. People who hate Windows just because it's a Microsoft product. Slashdot seems to just orgasm any time it gets to report on something going against Microsoft. I get tired of it.
What's the point of running games on a server/programming-based operating system? I will never understand this fascination. Do you people enjoy pain!?
Windows already has this market cornered, so why try and monkey around with compiling a kernel with new video drivers, new sound drivers, etc... trying to get a game working?
Just install Windows 2000 or XP, load up the latest nVidia DET's, and off you go. Not that difficult.
If it's working with Windows, why not use Windows? Why do you have to show there are "alternatives"? What benefit does this have on the students?
Yeah, because you know, inhaling carcinogens and riding a roller coaster are the same thing.
Ass.
See you at the party, Richter!
It's certainly possible that someone could come out with their own set of "non-Microsoft" API calls that emulate the IE/explorer functionality. No one's done it so far though AFAIK. There might be legal issues involved, but I'm not sure.
First off, eat a dick. I've built around 25 systems (outside of my work) in the past 2 years.
He said "I picked off his heatsink to fing he didnt take the sticky protection of the top of the silicon".
He wasn't talking about the sticker to protect the copper insert of a heatsink, nor is he talking about the sticker to cover the heatsink compound. He said "the sticky protection of the top of the silicon". Indicating to me he's talking about the CPU's core/die.
Or maybe he is talking about the heatsink and he just didn't use proper terminology. Either way your response is that of an ass and therefore I am replying as such.
I've noticed that most of the power supply units I get (mostly Enermax) put out a strange odor (smokey smelling) for about the first week of usage. I've been told by Enermax that this is normal and just a "burn in" (no pun intended) period for the electronics inside.
Perhaps this is what you are smelling, and not a motherboard or CPU. I've never had one of those smell. Just my power supply.
Newer Athlons are not hotter, but in fact run cooler. Smaller die processes make this so.
Case in point, my old Athlon 1.4GHz ran at about 140 degrees (with an ambient temp of 85). My new Athlon 2200+ XP runs at around 95 degrees. Beautiful.
Wtf? Since when does the Athlon come with a "sticky protection" on top of the die?
I've never seen that in either OEM or retail versions.
Yeah, gee, that makes sense. Great solution!
Why not just pay the $135 and not worry about it anymore? Sheesh.
Also, if Microsoft decides to do some sort of reinforcing of a valid key outside of Windows Update, then you're screwed (unless of course, someone comes out with a crack/patch past that.)
I don't know where you're purchasing your software from, but here in the U.S. it's $135 for a copy of Windows XP Professional. I'd say that's more than fair.
Probably yes, since those applications use the Internet Explorer API's. What would you want them to do? Just "not work" ?
I think this is hardly to blame on Microsoft. They're not responsible for other people's programs and the APIs they use, obviously.