... although I am not as schooled on the big N franchises as others...
However I take exception to the PS3 comparison. That launch looks pretty damn good as well. (There are 30 titles confirmed.)
What sticks out for me (personally) in the Wii launch: Far Cry, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, Red Steel, Super Monkey Ball, Metroid Prime 3. Thats a great list, and makes the Wii probably worth buying day one.
But... the PS3 list is also quite good: Metal Gear Solid 4, Final Fantasy PS3, Possession, Killzone PS3, Tekken PS3, Warhawk, Gran Turismo Vision. Those are all launch titles as well.
This is good news across the board. From what we know currently, both of these launches look to wipe the floor with the Xbox360 launch. (Which is really too bad. I say, the more the merrier.)
* First Commandment: We shall establish our game's creative direction.
Check. Marathon: great art direction, a cogent storyline with development potential. Myth: also great art direction, compelling gameplay mechanic for RTS, fantastic atmospheric storyline.
* Second commandment: We shall own our intellectual property.
Check. All original development done by Bungie, with in-house artists and designers. They even bought the company that composed the music for Myth.
* Third commandment: We shall not let a third party determine our success, such as the publisher who's doing (or not doing) the marketing, or the funding source (likely a publisher) making demands that are not in-line with our goals.
Aaaaand here's his mea culpa. Microsoft buys Bungie, dramatically alters scope of Halo, makes it a one-platform-launch. Delays game for years. Alters art direction, ends up being a pale shadow of the Marathon design. Myth is sold to a 3rd party developer who produces a lacklustre sequel. Halo is a great success - the only success, really - for Xbox. Crawls onto other platforms much later, the last of which is the Mac - four years after it was demo'd on a blue and white G3 tower at Macworld.
* Fourth Commandment: We shall have a small manageable team. We don't want 50 employees making one game over three years in house (we want low overhead), and we don't want to suffer the churn of ramping up and down for projects.
While I agree with TFA that people simply aren't ready to turn PCs into TVs and vice versa, maybe they're overly harsh on the Mac. It doesn't have video in/out features...
They don't ship with video-outs, but the dongles are reallycheap. Like, $12. Lot of people don't know that, forgive me if you did.
nor do any Macs have integrated TV tuners... The remote is the only media-center-esque feature on the Macs, but that hardly means Apple meant to make it a media center machine.
Front Row is absolutely, totally intended for a television at standard def resolution. I can't see how you can look at that interface and decide anything else. Sure, its nice to be able to see it from across the room, but the fonts and design of the entire thing smacks of graphic design for NTSC video. I always figured we'd see some equivalent of AirPort for video streaming (little surprised it hasn't happened yet).
The tuner is a no-brainer, Apple wants you to download your tv.:)
I can think of one hell of a lot of gadgets more popular and indispensible than an iPod.
Heck, I can open a kitchen drawer and pull out a whole fistfull of them.
Now, if you confine your scope to electronic adolescent fetish items, you may have a point.
Aren't you clever. I'm sorry that you missed the context; I'll try harder to spell out things for the children in the audience next time.
Hm, glomming them all into one device seems, at best, a very mixed deal even for someone who does want to be carrying around exactly that combination of devices at all times. The lack of modularity means that you can't choose, say, a camera with the features that you want and a music player with the features you want; you just get stuck with whatever ones happen to be offered glued to one another. And if you want to upgrade your camera next year, you're stuck upgrading your phone and music player as well.
Thanks for the reply. I agree, this is a shortcoming of the all-in-one approach - although the camera is one exception to this. Phones don't really need 'upgrading' beyond the firmware patches they already get. Music playing capabilities can be upgraded through the use of removable memory cards, which is what the newer phones do now. The only thing you can't change is a camera lens.
Phones and music players are both ubiquitous enough that combining just those two things does make sense. The camera I'll give you. I hasten to mention that, I have mixed feelings about this as well. My phone is a Sony Ericsson W600. Its camera is not very good, but I don't use it for things I necessarily use my 'good' camera for... more like a daytimer annotation. For instance I use it to remember hotel room #s, which level I parked on, that sort of thing. Its handy for that. Another thing I'll mention: 8 megapixels does me no good sitting at home on my shelf, when I need it. At least the mutant all-in-one is practically always with me. Something to be said for that.
Its clear they need better choices though. I suspect with cameraphones being verboeten in certain areas, we may see more stripped-down models that appeal to people who don't want (or can't have!).
The primary problem with cellphones these days is that they're all maniacally throwing in additional crap like cameras and music players. The last thing the world needs is one more "feature"-laden monstrosity that's five times the size it should be.... If Apple were to enter this market, I think they would have the sense to see that what's really lacking is a simple, elegant telephone. That does its job with grace and speed, and doesn't try to be everything else in the world.
While I applaud the sentiment, and do indeed think that there should be models of elegant telephone without crap that are available to buy...
I do think that the most inelegant solution is to carry a separate device for every single thing you need.
If I need/want a music player, camera, and a phone, you should be able to get that in one device. If you do NOT want anything but a phone, that should be available as well. So I sympathize, but I don't want multifunctiond evices to go away, I just want the market to mature and understand that a great many people do indeed just want a phone that works well.
Back to the point, Apple introduces a phone that replaces my current one AND my iPod -- I'm picking it up.
That is precisely why I do think Apple will do a phone platform. The only gadget in the entire world that is more popular than an iPod is a cell phone. Its their only competition (see the new Chocolate phone by LG; that thing IS a nano).
Call me Machiavellian, but I'd wager this goes across party lines. Self interest of those in power to maintain said power. Just as gerrymandering isn't a one party phenomenon, neither is vote-rigging. (1968 democrats, possibly 2000 and 2004 republicans)
You're Machiavellian. And it still needs fixing, no matter who's doing it.
It may sound ridiculous, but the reason that the PS2's backwards compatibility was so good was because Sony actually built a miniaturized version of the PS1 hardware into the PS2. The PS2 firmware would simply run PS1 games off of that hardware when the time came.
Not ridiculous at all - I am familiar with this technique (the sound controller chip in the PS2 is a PS1, basically).
There is reason to be concerned when it comes to the PS3. There is no indication that Sony is taking the same approach with regards to minaturized PS1/PS2 architectures inside the PS3. This would leave any backwards compatibility to be handled in software- just like the XBox360. And as we've seen, that hasn't been very complete or very robust.
Well to be fair, 'no indication' literally means we have no idea one way or the other; they simply haven't said.
What we do know is that the PS2 has been miniaturized to a single chip quite some time ago (I believe the ill-fated "PSX" DVR mutant they released in Japan used this, as well as the 'slim' PS2). But even if they go the software route, we always have firmware updates to look forward to... weee.
Xbox360 had a bit of a unique problem in that they were not just changing chip architectures radically but also going to multiproc. You could say the same thing about PS3. It is this reason, and the single-chip approach mentioned above, that makes me think they'll go with a hybrid; an updateable (EPROM-like) hardware emulation that can be patched to iron out compatibility wrinkles. Microsoft actually *ported* those Xbox games; I really doubt Sony will go to that trouble. Thanks for the reply.
This kind of underscores the link between surprise, fear, and humor. I thought it was pretty funny until the very end. Then I just felt bad for the kid, and kind of angry at the person behind the camera.
I agree. And it was a shitty thing to do. But props to the kid - his first reaction (besides screaming) was to bash the zombie in the face multiple times. He'll turn out just fine.
Considering that a modern x86 PC can emulate just about any gaming hardware, from arcade games of the 1970's up through PSone and N64, plus native PC games, I would imagine that it wins the "largest game library" crown hands-down.
Fair point. I guess there's no PS2/N64/Xbox emulation though.
It's also yet to be seen how comprehensive the PS3's backwards compatibility will be. My hopes aren't too high there.
Er, why? Sony's track record for backwards compatibility is outstanding. There were perhaps four PS1 games that did not play on a PS2, out of several hundred.
Yes, the wii will let you play NES games. but you can't plug in your old carts-- you have to buy them from nintendo using the "Virtual console" service. Prices haven't been announced, but I think NES games will be in the sub-$5 range, SNES games sub-$10 and N64 games sub-$20. They're a little high compared to free roms, but if they release in that range I'll probably end up buying my entire collection over again.. over 60 NES games and 30 SNES gams:P
Cripes, dude.... if you're going to spend... $600 (!) on retro gaming, save your money and hit a garage sale. You can get the truly 'authentic' experience by buying the original consoles, with original controllers and games, for a tiny fraction of that.
Or, y'know, buy a PS3. (Put the gun down, I have a point here.) If that console plays PS1 and PS2 games, then you have access to the largest single 'base' of videogames in the history of mankind (save perhaps the PC - not sure actually).
If battery life were longer maybe it would be more useful as a homebrew device but I'm just tethered to an AC outlet with this, and plus you don't want to drop the PSP or else you'll have dead pixels or even break the thing, unlike with the DS. The load times are long and games show slowdown, there aren't many games that really take advantage of the system and make good use of it. For everything Sony wants me to use it for, I don't think it's a very good machine, so I'd like to tinker around with it and see what I can get it to do that benefits me.
Battery life has never been an issue for me. I was pleasantly surprised at this, as I heard horror stories. I wish the iPod battery lasted half as long (when off; iPods just die in 3 days whether you are playing them or not. The PSP seems to hang on to its charge for a week).
Slowdown, really? What game?
Load times bug me a bit but the fact that you can instant-sleep or wake anytime mitigates this somewhat. Its not like I have to boot a game every time I go to play it.
Drivers and DirectX can be removed after I'm done playing Prey. The PSP firmware cannot. That's the difference!
In fact you can downgrade it. Sony doesn't support it, but it is possible. There are a handful of 'downgrader' apps out there that let you flip back and forth.
Are you sure you can downgrade DirectX? Ever tried it?
It doesn't matter what the action is, which is why I wrote it as a variable. Any function that is desirable becomes "broken" if it ceases to work. It's a tautology. This is in contrast to a firmware breaking an $UNDESIRABLE_ACTION, which is called "fixing a bug" and is the legitimate reason to update it.
Ah, I see the confusion now. What I am saying is, nothing has been broken. Now I understand your argument in saying some games will not work without the newer firmware; this is a technical requirement, like your hypothetical DirectX drivers. Saying something is broken is not the same as 'being in an unsupported configuration'. The definition you are using would make all original Windows XP installs, sans service packs, "broken". Its intellectually dishonest.
To reiterate: nothing has ever been broken by a PSP firmware update. Ever. Get it? If you can name something, I'd love it hear it.
If I hack an infrared camera into the bezel of my mac, and Apple's next iChat update somehow stops it from working (for whatever reason) - have they 'broken' my Mac? No, its absurd.
Actually, IIRC the Sony rootkit didn't do that. What it did do was remove functionality from pieces of your computer (e.g. CD burners)... which is essentially the same thing this firmware "update" does!
No it doesn't. I don't know what else to tell you.
Do you own a PSP? Have you ever used one?
You have the right to do so regardless of what Sony says! In contrast, Sony does not have the right to try to break your property by tricking you into installing an "update" under false pretenses!
Man, your fanboy is showing in a big way. "Trick" you! There's a fucking changelog that comes with each update that details exactly what its going to do. I've read every single one of them. There are no false pretenses.
You do indeed have the right to do as you wish with your property; that includes refusing the bloody update. Yes, a consequence of this is that a new game might not work. Welcome to the brave new world of software updates; this has been our reality since at least 1998.
Does, or does not, his unmodified PSP run the new game? Since it does not, because it doesn't have the "updated" firmware, it is incompatible! The fact that it can be made compatible does not change the fact that in its current state it is incapable of running the game.
It does not.
Does, or does not, your Windows machine run Prey without the drivers required by the game? If you had to install ANYTHING, by your argument, both the PC and game are 'broken'. Absurd.
Before the update, it could perform $SOME_DESIRABLE_ACTION. After the update, it could not. Therefore, it is broken because the desired functionality stopped working. It is irrelevant whether that was a "supported" action or not.
Please specify what $DESIRABLE_ACTION you are thinking of, that was "broken"?
Wrong. Unless installing DirectX permanantly removes the ability to downgrade, this is entirely different.
Removing the DirectX update will prevent you from playing that game that requires it. Same with the PSP. They are no different. Either you are not understanding, or you are being deliberately obtuse.
Boo fucking hoo! Their difficulties with their business plan do not give them the right to screw with other people's private property!
I understand. But that's not what we are talking about here.
Let me give you another example: they advertise the PSP as having a web browser. If you bought an old model that had been sitting on a shelf, and didn't have the later firmware which provided this, is that false advertising? No, of course not. It is simply a technical reality.
I get that you don't want Sony to, as you put it, 'screw with other people's property', but that is simply not the case here.
You want to make an analogy about this? This is not like DirectX; what it is exactly like is that rootkit everyone got so pissed about.
Spare me. You think Sony is deliberately hiding software inside the PSP that spies on you, NOT reporting this, NOT making obvious what each firmware update does, but trojaning it into your PSP. Go back and read up on what the rootkit actually was. You don't know what you are talking about, you're just yet another frothing fanboy of some stripe who thinks this is some egregious manipulation. Sony has never said you could run homebrew software, ever. That's the end of the story. Move on.
The Hell he isn't! Sony is trying to break his property by disabling functionality in what they claim is an "update," and is also lying by saying the new games are compatible with his device when they clearly aren't. Therefore, he absolutely is a victim of either fraud or vandalism, depending on whether his firmware got updated or not.
Put down the gun and read for a second. NOTHING is 'incompatible', that is false. NOTHING is 'broken' by a firmware update, false. He simply does not want to run a firmware update, because he has hacked his PSP in an unsupported manner.
To clarify: this is nothing more than MS requiring a newer version of DirectX for some new game. Yes, Sony tries to secure the firmware progressivly each time because, surprise, you can play ripped commercial games with a hacked PSP. Shocking that they'd react this way, isn't it.
I want them to support home dev as much as you do, but you are spouting a bunch of nonsense.
I received a PSP as a gift a few months ago. When I received it, I was well aware of Sony's DRM issues. However I took a radical position - I decided that the unit, as-is, was something I still wanted.
Crazy idea huh? It had 3 games I really liked (Lumines, Wipeout, GTA). It plays all my audio files from iTunes, AAC and MP3. I could rip DVDs and videos to it fairly effortlessly with software like Handbrake or PSPWare.
So what's the big deal?
Well, the big deal as we all know, is that the potential for the device is much more than what Sony can throw at it. And I think this rankles a lot of users. Not the majority, mind you, not even close... but enough to create a homebrew scene.
However I look at that scene with a sort of detatched interest. I've never been tempted by any of the homebrew software enough to downgrade the firmware. I'm simply... happy with it. Crazy I know.
Since I received it, the thing has gained major abilities at a regular pace. Web browsing, RSS feeds, Flash lite, WMA support, better wireless security, etc. None of this stuff was really promised or advertised, but we get it all for free. Now I do cool stuff like stream from my G5 to the PSP (MyTunesRSS - kicks ass).
I dunno. Call me quaint. I am happy with the thing because I was satisfied with its capabilities as it was presented. So I can't really feel jilted. (Of course, it was free for me. But if I dropped mine in the lake tomorrow, I'd probably go get another.)
It's odd to me that some Slashdotters take "the parents should be responsible" to mean "the parents should do all parenting alone". Parents are responsible for the behavior of their children, but if the behavior surpasses the parents ability to moderate/fix/heal, then why on earth should we mock the parents for seeking specialist help? Are we going to make fun of all youth counselors and child psychologists now because "You're the parent, you make the rule?" Part of holding parents responsible for their own children should be allowing them access to the tools they need to do that job right.
WTF? Parent said nothing disparaging - or anything at all - about professional counsellers. Where did you get that?
You have misinterpreted my point. The point is that if "they" are forced to kill you if they want to take you, they guys on the ground may decide that killing you is not acceptable and refuse to follow orders.
That's what I thought you meant. The sticking point for me is 'may decide'.
You make a fine argument, I just disagree. Can I recommend a book to you?
For a second I thought the Warhammer series had turned into a manga, with a title like that...
Alas, no. Just monday morning slashdot posts pre-coffee.
Bullshit, but it's nice that way you phrase it, because it only takes a single counterexample to disprove your broad generalization.
The chance of a burglar going to jail is EQUAL to the chance of a burglar getting shot if he breaks into an occupied home. You're suggesting that removing the more severe of the these two consquences is going to have no effect. Come on, use some common sense.
That might be common sense if I believed your 50% claim, but I'm not sure I do. Cite something, don't just assert it and call me nonsensical.
Are you going to bust into the home of someone with an NRA sticker on their door and a car in the driveway?
I might, if I'm a desperate junkie. I also might if I think a sticker's cheaper than a gun to buy. But I really can't speculate - because its pointless to do so.
(People also seem to forget that no gun would leave people who live in the boonies with their ass hanging in the wind.)
I didn't say NO GUN - jesus, go read my other posts! - I said, handguns. You overplayed. I never once said I think there should not be guns.
It may come as a shock to you, but the primary cause of gun deaths is not that someone HAS a gun, but that they have a desire to use it.
No, I agree with that. But I am also aware that a 4-year-old can kill someone with a found handgun. Shocking, ain't it.
But it does mean that you won't be taken peacefully. They may even have to kill you. That is a check on tyrany.
Interesting argument. I don't entirely disagree. Although, it is a bit of a samurai seppuke situation isn't it. I mean, its great and all to make such a strong point posthumously, but it doesn't do much to help you in the meantime, does it?
As long as there are real humans doing it, they are going to have some level of emotional conflict over their actions. If things get out of hand and government forces start to routinely maim and kill their fellow citizens, especially ones that don't look the part of nefarious evil-doers like their neighbors and former classmates, most of those forces will have a crisis of conscience that will eventually cause them to stop obeying orders.
But that's no kind of strategy at all, and moreover - its not a right at all. You should not have to die to prove your point. I'm quite sure this is not the particular mechanism the founding fathers of the united states had in mind.
The idea is beautiful, but has been made impractical in modern times. As I pointed out in another post, I love the concept; fact is, your nation (assuming you are in the U.S.A. for the moment) happens to have the most powerful military on earth, by an order of magnitude depending on how you measure it, to its next closest potential foe. But this bit about the citizenry holding on to guns to protect the republic; I just don't buy it.
Now your example is one that occurs after you have made your Custer-like last stand. I appreciate the point you are trying to make, but don't you think going down in a blaze of glory and then counting on your opponent to realize your heroism is a bit.. dodgy? Is it not more logical to assume that guns were a part of life and existance (human enemies notwithstanding! they had bears!) at the time that the Constitution was drafted? Why do we assume they got every part of that document Perfect, rather than simply Very Good?
Slashdot Mirror
Perhaps. If its all the same to you, I'll take the opinion of someone tagged 'WindWalker' with a pinch of salt. We know you've made up your mind. :)
However I take exception to the PS3 comparison. That launch looks pretty damn good as well. (There are 30 titles confirmed.)
What sticks out for me (personally) in the Wii launch: Far Cry, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles, Red Steel, Super Monkey Ball, Metroid Prime 3. Thats a great list, and makes the Wii probably worth buying day one.
But... the PS3 list is also quite good: Metal Gear Solid 4, Final Fantasy PS3, Possession, Killzone PS3, Tekken PS3, Warhawk, Gran Turismo Vision. Those are all launch titles as well.
This is good news across the board. From what we know currently, both of these launches look to wipe the floor with the Xbox360 launch. (Which is really too bad. I say, the more the merrier.)
Check. Marathon: great art direction, a cogent storyline with development potential. Myth: also great art direction, compelling gameplay mechanic for RTS, fantastic atmospheric storyline.
Check. All original development done by Bungie, with in-house artists and designers. They even bought the company that composed the music for Myth.
* Third commandment: We shall not let a third party determine our success, such as the publisher who's doing (or not doing) the marketing, or the funding source (likely a publisher) making demands that are not in-line with our goals.
Aaaaand here's his mea culpa. Microsoft buys Bungie, dramatically alters scope of Halo, makes it a one-platform-launch. Delays game for years. Alters art direction, ends up being a pale shadow of the Marathon design. Myth is sold to a 3rd party developer who produces a lacklustre sequel. Halo is a great success - the only success, really - for Xbox. Crawls onto other platforms much later, the last of which is the Mac - four years after it was demo'd on a blue and white G3 tower at Macworld.
Can't comment. Maybe Stubbs suffered from this.
They don't ship with video-outs, but the dongles are reallycheap. Like, $12. Lot of people don't know that, forgive me if you did.
Front Row is absolutely, totally intended for a television at standard def resolution. I can't see how you can look at that interface and decide anything else. Sure, its nice to be able to see it from across the room, but the fonts and design of the entire thing smacks of graphic design for NTSC video. I always figured we'd see some equivalent of AirPort for video streaming (little surprised it hasn't happened yet).
The tuner is a no-brainer, Apple wants you to download your tv. :)
Aren't you clever. I'm sorry that you missed the context; I'll try harder to spell out things for the children in the audience next time.
Thanks for the reply. I agree, this is a shortcoming of the all-in-one approach - although the camera is one exception to this. Phones don't really need 'upgrading' beyond the firmware patches they already get. Music playing capabilities can be upgraded through the use of removable memory cards, which is what the newer phones do now. The only thing you can't change is a camera lens.
Phones and music players are both ubiquitous enough that combining just those two things does make sense. The camera I'll give you. I hasten to mention that, I have mixed feelings about this as well. My phone is a Sony Ericsson W600. Its camera is not very good, but I don't use it for things I necessarily use my 'good' camera for... more like a daytimer annotation. For instance I use it to remember hotel room #s, which level I parked on, that sort of thing. Its handy for that. Another thing I'll mention: 8 megapixels does me no good sitting at home on my shelf, when I need it. At least the mutant all-in-one is practically always with me. Something to be said for that.
Its clear they need better choices though. I suspect with cameraphones being verboeten in certain areas, we may see more stripped-down models that appeal to people who don't want (or can't have!).
While I applaud the sentiment, and do indeed think that there should be models of elegant telephone without crap that are available to buy...
I do think that the most inelegant solution is to carry a separate device for every single thing you need.
If I need/want a music player, camera, and a phone, you should be able to get that in one device. If you do NOT want anything but a phone, that should be available as well. So I sympathize, but I don't want multifunctiond evices to go away, I just want the market to mature and understand that a great many people do indeed just want a phone that works well.
That is precisely why I do think Apple will do a phone platform. The only gadget in the entire world that is more popular than an iPod is a cell phone. Its their only competition (see the new Chocolate phone by LG; that thing IS a nano).
You're Machiavellian. And it still needs fixing, no matter who's doing it.
Not ridiculous at all - I am familiar with this technique (the sound controller chip in the PS2 is a PS1, basically).
Well to be fair, 'no indication' literally means we have no idea one way or the other; they simply haven't said.
What we do know is that the PS2 has been miniaturized to a single chip quite some time ago (I believe the ill-fated "PSX" DVR mutant they released in Japan used this, as well as the 'slim' PS2). But even if they go the software route, we always have firmware updates to look forward to... weee.
Xbox360 had a bit of a unique problem in that they were not just changing chip architectures radically but also going to multiproc. You could say the same thing about PS3. It is this reason, and the single-chip approach mentioned above, that makes me think they'll go with a hybrid; an updateable (EPROM-like) hardware emulation that can be patched to iron out compatibility wrinkles. Microsoft actually *ported* those Xbox games; I really doubt Sony will go to that trouble. Thanks for the reply.
I agree. And it was a shitty thing to do. But props to the kid - his first reaction (besides screaming) was to bash the zombie in the face multiple times. He'll turn out just fine.
Fair point. I guess there's no PS2/N64/Xbox emulation though.
Er, why? Sony's track record for backwards compatibility is outstanding. There were perhaps four PS1 games that did not play on a PS2, out of several hundred.
Cripes, dude.... if you're going to spend... $600 (!) on retro gaming, save your money and hit a garage sale. You can get the truly 'authentic' experience by buying the original consoles, with original controllers and games, for a tiny fraction of that.
Or, y'know, buy a PS3. (Put the gun down, I have a point here.) If that console plays PS1 and PS2 games, then you have access to the largest single 'base' of videogames in the history of mankind (save perhaps the PC - not sure actually).
Battery life has never been an issue for me. I was pleasantly surprised at this, as I heard horror stories. I wish the iPod battery lasted half as long (when off; iPods just die in 3 days whether you are playing them or not. The PSP seems to hang on to its charge for a week).
Slowdown, really? What game?
Load times bug me a bit but the fact that you can instant-sleep or wake anytime mitigates this somewhat. Its not like I have to boot a game every time I go to play it.
In fact you can downgrade it. Sony doesn't support it, but it is possible. There are a handful of 'downgrader' apps out there that let you flip back and forth.
Are you sure you can downgrade DirectX? Ever tried it?
Ah, I see the confusion now. What I am saying is, nothing has been broken. Now I understand your argument in saying some games will not work without the newer firmware; this is a technical requirement, like your hypothetical DirectX drivers. Saying something is broken is not the same as 'being in an unsupported configuration'. The definition you are using would make all original Windows XP installs, sans service packs, "broken". Its intellectually dishonest.
To reiterate: nothing has ever been broken by a PSP firmware update. Ever. Get it? If you can name something, I'd love it hear it.
If I hack an infrared camera into the bezel of my mac, and Apple's next iChat update somehow stops it from working (for whatever reason) - have they 'broken' my Mac? No, its absurd.
Actually, IIRC the Sony rootkit didn't do that. What it did do was remove functionality from pieces of your computer (e.g. CD burners)... which is essentially the same thing this firmware "update" does!
No it doesn't. I don't know what else to tell you.
Do you own a PSP? Have you ever used one?
Man, your fanboy is showing in a big way. "Trick" you! There's a fucking changelog that comes with each update that details exactly what its going to do. I've read every single one of them. There are no false pretenses.
You do indeed have the right to do as you wish with your property; that includes refusing the bloody update. Yes, a consequence of this is that a new game might not work. Welcome to the brave new world of software updates; this has been our reality since at least 1998.
I think we're done here.
It does not.
Does, or does not, your Windows machine run Prey without the drivers required by the game? If you had to install ANYTHING, by your argument, both the PC and game are 'broken'. Absurd.
Please specify what $DESIRABLE_ACTION you are thinking of, that was "broken"?
Removing the DirectX update will prevent you from playing that game that requires it. Same with the PSP. They are no different. Either you are not understanding, or you are being deliberately obtuse.
I understand. But that's not what we are talking about here.
Let me give you another example: they advertise the PSP as having a web browser. If you bought an old model that had been sitting on a shelf, and didn't have the later firmware which provided this, is that false advertising? No, of course not. It is simply a technical reality.
I get that you don't want Sony to, as you put it, 'screw with other people's property', but that is simply not the case here.
Spare me. You think Sony is deliberately hiding software inside the PSP that spies on you, NOT reporting this, NOT making obvious what each firmware update does, but trojaning it into your PSP. Go back and read up on what the rootkit actually was. You don't know what you are talking about, you're just yet another frothing fanboy of some stripe who thinks this is some egregious manipulation. Sony has never said you could run homebrew software, ever. That's the end of the story. Move on.
Once we get past this 1920-film era of video games, I'm sure we'll have some more emo.
Put down the gun and read for a second. NOTHING is 'incompatible', that is false. NOTHING is 'broken' by a firmware update, false. He simply does not want to run a firmware update, because he has hacked his PSP in an unsupported manner.
To clarify: this is nothing more than MS requiring a newer version of DirectX for some new game. Yes, Sony tries to secure the firmware progressivly each time because, surprise, you can play ripped commercial games with a hacked PSP. Shocking that they'd react this way, isn't it.
I want them to support home dev as much as you do, but you are spouting a bunch of nonsense.
Crazy idea huh? It had 3 games I really liked (Lumines, Wipeout, GTA). It plays all my audio files from iTunes, AAC and MP3. I could rip DVDs and videos to it fairly effortlessly with software like Handbrake or PSPWare.
So what's the big deal?
Well, the big deal as we all know, is that the potential for the device is much more than what Sony can throw at it. And I think this rankles a lot of users. Not the majority, mind you, not even close... but enough to create a homebrew scene.
However I look at that scene with a sort of detatched interest. I've never been tempted by any of the homebrew software enough to downgrade the firmware. I'm simply... happy with it. Crazy I know.
Since I received it, the thing has gained major abilities at a regular pace. Web browsing, RSS feeds, Flash lite, WMA support, better wireless security, etc. None of this stuff was really promised or advertised, but we get it all for free. Now I do cool stuff like stream from my G5 to the PSP (MyTunesRSS - kicks ass).
I dunno. Call me quaint. I am happy with the thing because I was satisfied with its capabilities as it was presented. So I can't really feel jilted. (Of course, it was free for me. But if I dropped mine in the lake tomorrow, I'd probably go get another.)
WTF? Parent said nothing disparaging - or anything at all - about professional counsellers. Where did you get that?
That's what I thought you meant. The sticking point for me is 'may decide'.
You make a fine argument, I just disagree. Can I recommend a book to you?
Alas, no. Just monday morning slashdot posts pre-coffee.
Now, work am off to I do time no more waste.
That might be common sense if I believed your 50% claim, but I'm not sure I do. Cite something, don't just assert it and call me nonsensical.
Are you going to bust into the home of someone with an NRA sticker on their door and a car in the driveway?
I might, if I'm a desperate junkie. I also might if I think a sticker's cheaper than a gun to buy. But I really can't speculate - because its pointless to do so.
(People also seem to forget that no gun would leave people who live in the boonies with their ass hanging in the wind.)
I didn't say NO GUN - jesus, go read my other posts! - I said, handguns. You overplayed. I never once said I think there should not be guns.
It may come as a shock to you, but the primary cause of gun deaths is not that someone HAS a gun, but that they have a desire to use it.
No, I agree with that. But I am also aware that a 4-year-old can kill someone with a found handgun. Shocking, ain't it.
Interesting argument. I don't entirely disagree. Although, it is a bit of a samurai seppuke situation isn't it. I mean, its great and all to make such a strong point posthumously, but it doesn't do much to help you in the meantime, does it?
But that's no kind of strategy at all, and moreover - its not a right at all. You should not have to die to prove your point. I'm quite sure this is not the particular mechanism the founding fathers of the united states had in mind.
The idea is beautiful, but has been made impractical in modern times. As I pointed out in another post, I love the concept; fact is, your nation (assuming you are in the U.S.A. for the moment) happens to have the most powerful military on earth, by an order of magnitude depending on how you measure it, to its next closest potential foe. But this bit about the citizenry holding on to guns to protect the republic; I just don't buy it.
Now your example is one that occurs after you have made your Custer-like last stand. I appreciate the point you are trying to make, but don't you think going down in a blaze of glory and then counting on your opponent to realize your heroism is a bit.. dodgy? Is it not more logical to assume that guns were a part of life and existance (human enemies notwithstanding! they had bears!) at the time that the Constitution was drafted? Why do we assume they got every part of that document Perfect, rather than simply Very Good?
Indeed. This is an excellent point; the way to fight a superpower is guerilla warfare.
However, I think you make a fatal mistake in expecting average americans to behave like wartorn iraqis.