They do? Last time I looked, IBM processors were inside all the current "next generation" consoles. To me, it looks like IBM is the surest winner in the next/current/upcoming (pick your perspective) round of console wars. As an AC already pointed out, Apple mus have been a really low-volume customer for IBM, and probably a picky one at that.
Try playing Stuntman! One mistake, and you get to watch the loading screen for 20 seconds. A repetitive death animation or two wouldn't have hurt there...
... isn't it nice that, for a change, people (at least one person) don't go totally moral-panic, demanding censorship and warning labels on everything?
The way I understood it bullet time won't just show up when you kill someone, that was just an example. I can imagine it kicking in when someone's executing various important/hard hitting moves, thus giving the opponent more time to react, I.E. make really cool counters or evasive moves. Since it's not a beat-em-up with a pad having a little more time to react probably won't hurt anyone. Just my ideas as spurred by the interview.
I was thinking about the same thing myself. Feels like either very few games will take advantage of this, or many games will and people will be forced to make a $99 upgrade. I wonder if games will require the HDD or just take advantage of it. And if they go the second route, will they suffer worse than average load times and stuff because they're really meant to be played from/with help from the HDD?
Such thoughts aside, I find this a good thing. After all, it's been said that the Xbox 2 will only come with a HDD if the PS3 does. And I like my storage space:-)...
So it's not bad enough when developers release games unoptimised for three home console systems at once instead of optimising for one of them, now they should spread their resources even thinner and try to cram in totally different platforms as well? Isn't it hard enough to come up with meaningful content for the GC-GBA connection to show that this won't hold up?
That's the real deal! I don't get all that impressed when people don't integrate the screen into a machine like this. Sure, it's good work getting everything into an enclosure of specific dimensions, but if you don't get a screen in it's still just that: an odd box.
Correct me if I'm wrong here, but didn't people consider the Playstation 2 to have a pretty weak launch, without enough compelling games? People bought it for the promise of coming games, belief in the brand, and a secondary feature - DVD playback.
But then, as someone commented about the time the first Playstation came out, nobody would say the competition put up much of a fight or had stronger launches when they did launch. It's all relative I suppose...
I remember reading one of those nice long Gamespot features (is/was it "the final hours of..."?) about Black & White, and you're pretty much correct from what I recall. The single player game was started on late, and took a lot more effort than they thought (surprise!).
Maybe they should have started creating the game earlier in development...
I don't know, somehow I can't help making connections between Mozilla and B&W. Huge, ambitious, aiming to include everything and do it all well. Only Mozilla eventually reached the quality state it's in now, while B&W never quite got there. Maybe if we count B&W 2 as B&W 2.0 it'll be closer...
"We'll see his philosophies in action when Fable and Black & White 2 his store shelves soon."
Anyone else who automatically thought "yeah, right" when reading that? As much as I hope Fable and B&W 2 will be fantastic games, this time I'll wait for more reviews. I really wanted B&W to be fantastic, I gave it plenty of time. But nope, I never finished it, and I doubt I ever will.
That's strange, because it... uh, how do I say this... works well in Safari, here, for me. Perhaps you're not using the latest version of Safari? After all, I'd expect this particular situation to be the fault of Safari rather than the page involved. Nobody has called Safari the most standard-following browser in the world yet, have they? I mean, I don't even recall iSteve saying so, and I'm sure he'd be the first...
I'm over in Sweden, and all I can say is that we've got the same problem here, for many people programming is the main stumbling block in their informatics studies. On the other hand, you can "get away" with very little programming here if you pick the right courses. Basically someone studying informatics at my uni only really has to learn and use programming for a total of maybe 10 weeks during the first semester, after that it's entirely possible to pick courses that don't include programming all the way to your degree. You do miss other good things that come in those courses though, so many people get stuck with more programming than they'd really like because other things in the same course are valuable. But I know this varies a lot between universities as well, around here we get a lot of science philosophy and similar stuff that people at more technically oriented unis are spared (no I didn't like it much at first:-).
They write "Many times the tasks themselves took just some hours or days worth of effort, but researching and learning to understand the backgrounds and making the right choices took much, much longer." in relation to underestimating the e-commerce costs. But if you've taken the time to understand and evaluate before you make those quick-to-implement choices you've surely won a lot compared to an on-the-spot decision.
Underwhelmed ... ?
on
iPod Mini Ships
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· Score: 5, Insightful
I find it interesting that we all (and that includes me) seemed to be underwhelmed, as the article mentions, by the iPod Minis when they were introduced. Certainly nobody gasped in sheer awe at the introduction. Anyway, the connection I want to make: wasn't it all just the same when the iPod itself was introduced? People had expected something much more, as usual, and "all" they got was an expensive mp3 player. Now, this writer and many others (again, including me) just can't stop loving our iPods, and he rewrites history to say we've all been impressed by the full three generations of iPods. A testament to the convincing power of actually getting to use a device?
And right now, I "just" feel the iPod Mini is cool. A few steps up since the introduction. But then, I haven't held one in my hand yet:-)...
For some reason, I've never felt any draw to the PS2 itself as a console. The Gamecube is cool (and these days ridiculously cheap too) and the Xbox... well, the fact that I bought one says it all I think... Guess the specs appealed to the geek in me and the games I wanted were available.
But the PS2, nope. Never any attraction. And that's despite the fact that I've played several great games on a friend's unit over the years. It's just never felt purchase-worthy. And I don't think it will even if it drops to 'Cube prices, but I'm always toying with the idea of picking up a 'Cube just to play Zelda and Metroid.
Perhaps it's simply that the PS2 has a lot of good and great games, just nothing that's a total drool-causer for me. Especially not drool-causers that don't show up on the other consoles if you're just a little patient...
Oh I remember reading about this game... It seemed like a totally wonderful idea. Except for costing money to suscribe to (I'm not making that one up, right?), and me being on a nice and slow modem connection... I imagine it would stand much more of a chance being released today.
Um, and coincidentally it's just had its source released... Perhaps I should make a large download someday soon, when someone's got things set up nicely for non-compiler-savy people like me...
What I started wondering right away: would advertisers notice this in any way if researchers weren't talking about how people with DVRs skip commercials? Like others have said, did anyone lose sleep over VCRs or people using the ad breaks for bathroom visits? Is there any research actually proving benefits of TV commercials in the first place? Perhaps TV ads have been a big black hole to pour money in all along?
Am I the only one who feels a bit weird when reading something like this and see 30-something being considered old? It can't be that hard to find some older gamers, and that would seem much more interesting to me. After all, people who already had children of their own before they even heard of computer games should have quite different insights into the topic.
I keep thinking of a friend's mom here. She's a retired mother of four, owns three generations of Nintendo consoles and has played through most adventure games (the Zelda and Myst kinds) she can get her hands on. There's an interesting interview subject, and a slightly more unique one too I'd think.
Is it Apple who pushes restarts after updates just to be sure, or are other OSs much better at updating themselves without needing a restart? I even like how Windows lets me dismiss the prompts to restart until I decide to do so on my own better than Apple's approach. Sure, it may not make much practical difference, but the Windows way feels friendlier. Except when it reboots without warning of course...
I tried purchasing one, going as far in the process as I dare without actually buying anything. On the billing page a big green text pops up asking you to provide a US billing address. Still, no clues to what would happen if you send a certificate to someone outside the US. There is a clause in the small-print terms and conditions saying you need to use iTMS in the US to redeem the certificate though, so I guess we shouldn't be too hopeful...
"Women... in essence are more of a gatherer/collector more than they are a visceral hunter-killer. They tend to be more detail oriented, preferring subtlety and complexity over overt skull-crushing over-the-top carnage and mayhem."
Classic adventure games anyone? Is it just me, or does that seem like a perfect match to the above description? I know a whole bunch of male gamers who wouldn't mind the comeback of adventure games anyone.
Then it can of course be argued what is an adventure game and what isn't, but I'm associating straight to the classic point-and-click style of inventory based games now.
One wonders if the new Sam n Max will try to market itself to take advantage of this (yeah, I feel making more noise about adventure games is a great part of it. People need to hear about a game they will love playing to be able to consider it.)?
Didn't someone mention something like this in that Ars Technica forums' discussion about the "automatic defragmentation" in Panther a few days back?
Ah yeah, it's in there! Go to the discussion and search for Firewire. In short, the poster sees the automatic defragmentation very possibly being the root of the problem.
Slashdot Mirror
They do? Last time I looked, IBM processors were inside all the current "next generation" consoles. To me, it looks like IBM is the surest winner in the next/current/upcoming (pick your perspective) round of console wars. As an AC already pointed out, Apple mus have been a really low-volume customer for IBM, and probably a picky one at that.
Try playing Stuntman! One mistake, and you get to watch the loading screen for 20 seconds. A repetitive death animation or two wouldn't have hurt there ...
... isn't it nice that, for a change, people (at least one person) don't go totally moral-panic, demanding censorship and warning labels on everything?
The way I understood it bullet time won't just show up when you kill someone, that was just an example. I can imagine it kicking in when someone's executing various important/hard hitting moves, thus giving the opponent more time to react, I.E. make really cool counters or evasive moves. Since it's not a beat-em-up with a pad having a little more time to react probably won't hurt anyone. Just my ideas as spurred by the interview.
I was thinking about the same thing myself. Feels like either very few games will take advantage of this, or many games will and people will be forced to make a $99 upgrade. I wonder if games will require the HDD or just take advantage of it. And if they go the second route, will they suffer worse than average load times and stuff because they're really meant to be played from/with help from the HDD?
:-) ...
Such thoughts aside, I find this a good thing. After all, it's been said that the Xbox 2 will only come with a HDD if the PS3 does. And I like my storage space
So it's not bad enough when developers release games unoptimised for three home console systems at once instead of optimising for one of them, now they should spread their resources even thinner and try to cram in totally different platforms as well? Isn't it hard enough to come up with meaningful content for the GC-GBA connection to show that this won't hold up?
That's the real deal! I don't get all that impressed when people don't integrate the screen into a machine like this. Sure, it's good work getting everything into an enclosure of specific dimensions, but if you don't get a screen in it's still just that: an odd box.
Correct me if I'm wrong here, but didn't people consider the Playstation 2 to have a pretty weak launch, without enough compelling games? People bought it for the promise of coming games, belief in the brand, and a secondary feature - DVD playback.
...
But then, as someone commented about the time the first Playstation came out, nobody would say the competition put up much of a fight or had stronger launches when they did launch. It's all relative I suppose
I remember reading one of those nice long Gamespot features (is/was it "the final hours of ..."?) about Black & White, and you're pretty much correct from what I recall. The single player game was started on late, and took a lot more effort than they thought (surprise!).
...
...
Maybe they should have started creating the game earlier in development
I don't know, somehow I can't help making connections between Mozilla and B&W. Huge, ambitious, aiming to include everything and do it all well. Only Mozilla eventually reached the quality state it's in now, while B&W never quite got there. Maybe if we count B&W 2 as B&W 2.0 it'll be closer
"We'll see his philosophies in action when Fable and Black & White 2 his store shelves soon."
Anyone else who automatically thought "yeah, right" when reading that? As much as I hope Fable and B&W 2 will be fantastic games, this time I'll wait for more reviews. I really wanted B&W to be fantastic, I gave it plenty of time. But nope, I never finished it, and I doubt I ever will.
That's strange, because it ... uh, how do I say this ... works well in Safari, here, for me. Perhaps you're not using the latest version of Safari? After all, I'd expect this particular situation to be the fault of Safari rather than the page involved. Nobody has called Safari the most standard-following browser in the world yet, have they? I mean, I don't even recall iSteve saying so, and I'm sure he'd be the first ...
I'm over in Sweden, and all I can say is that we've got the same problem here, for many people programming is the main stumbling block in their informatics studies. On the other hand, you can "get away" with very little programming here if you pick the right courses. Basically someone studying informatics at my uni only really has to learn and use programming for a total of maybe 10 weeks during the first semester, after that it's entirely possible to pick courses that don't include programming all the way to your degree. You do miss other good things that come in those courses though, so many people get stuck with more programming than they'd really like because other things in the same course are valuable. But I know this varies a lot between universities as well, around here we get a lot of science philosophy and similar stuff that people at more technically oriented unis are spared (no I didn't like it much at first :-).
They write "Many times the tasks themselves took just some hours or days worth of effort, but researching and learning to understand the backgrounds and making the right choices took much, much longer." in relation to underestimating the e-commerce costs. But if you've taken the time to understand and evaluate before you make those quick-to-implement choices you've surely won a lot compared to an on-the-spot decision.
I find it interesting that we all (and that includes me) seemed to be underwhelmed, as the article mentions, by the iPod Minis when they were introduced. Certainly nobody gasped in sheer awe at the introduction. Anyway, the connection I want to make: wasn't it all just the same when the iPod itself was introduced? People had expected something much more, as usual, and "all" they got was an expensive mp3 player. Now, this writer and many others (again, including me) just can't stop loving our iPods, and he rewrites history to say we've all been impressed by the full three generations of iPods. A testament to the convincing power of actually getting to use a device?
:-) ...
And right now, I "just" feel the iPod Mini is cool. A few steps up since the introduction. But then, I haven't held one in my hand yet
For some reason, I've never felt any draw to the PS2 itself as a console. The Gamecube is cool (and these days ridiculously cheap too) and the Xbox ... well, the fact that I bought one says it all I think ... Guess the specs appealed to the geek in me and the games I wanted were available.
...
But the PS2, nope. Never any attraction. And that's despite the fact that I've played several great games on a friend's unit over the years. It's just never felt purchase-worthy. And I don't think it will even if it drops to 'Cube prices, but I'm always toying with the idea of picking up a 'Cube just to play Zelda and Metroid.
Perhaps it's simply that the PS2 has a lot of good and great games, just nothing that's a total drool-causer for me. Especially not drool-causers that don't show up on the other consoles if you're just a little patient
Oh, looks like it's already available for download. Shame on me for not checking around first!
Oh I remember reading about this game ... It seemed like a totally wonderful idea. Except for costing money to suscribe to (I'm not making that one up, right?), and me being on a nice and slow modem connection ... I imagine it would stand much more of a chance being released today.
... Perhaps I should make a large download someday soon, when someone's got things set up nicely for non-compiler-savy people like me ...
Um, and coincidentally it's just had its source released
A real statement instead of pretending giving away free songs while hawking sugar water is in any way changing the system.
What I started wondering right away: would advertisers notice this in any way if researchers weren't talking about how people with DVRs skip commercials? Like others have said, did anyone lose sleep over VCRs or people using the ad breaks for bathroom visits? Is there any research actually proving benefits of TV commercials in the first place? Perhaps TV ads have been a big black hole to pour money in all along?
Am I the only one who feels a bit weird when reading something like this and see 30-something being considered old? It can't be that hard to find some older gamers, and that would seem much more interesting to me. After all, people who already had children of their own before they even heard of computer games should have quite different insights into the topic.
I keep thinking of a friend's mom here. She's a retired mother of four, owns three generations of Nintendo consoles and has played through most adventure games (the Zelda and Myst kinds) she can get her hands on. There's an interesting interview subject, and a slightly more unique one too I'd think.
Is it Apple who pushes restarts after updates just to be sure, or are other OSs much better at updating themselves without needing a restart? I even like how Windows lets me dismiss the prompts to restart until I decide to do so on my own better than Apple's approach. Sure, it may not make much practical difference, but the Windows way feels friendlier. Except when it reboots without warning of course ...
I tried purchasing one, going as far in the process as I dare without actually buying anything. On the billing page a big green text pops up asking you to provide a US billing address. Still, no clues to what would happen if you send a certificate to someone outside the US. There is a clause in the small-print terms and conditions saying you need to use iTMS in the US to redeem the certificate though, so I guess we shouldn't be too hopeful ...
"Women... in essence are more of a gatherer/collector more than they are a visceral hunter-killer. They tend to be more detail oriented, preferring subtlety and complexity over overt skull-crushing over-the-top carnage and mayhem."
Classic adventure games anyone? Is it just me, or does that seem like a perfect match to the above description? I know a whole bunch of male gamers who wouldn't mind the comeback of adventure games anyone.
Then it can of course be argued what is an adventure game and what isn't, but I'm associating straight to the classic point-and-click style of inventory based games now.
One wonders if the new Sam n Max will try to market itself to take advantage of this (yeah, I feel making more noise about adventure games is a great part of it. People need to hear about a game they will love playing to be able to consider it.)?
Didn't someone mention something like this in that Ars Technica forums' discussion about the "automatic defragmentation" in Panther a few days back?
Ah yeah, it's in there! Go to the discussion and search for Firewire. In short, the poster sees the automatic defragmentation very possibly being the root of the problem.
... that plush cover is one of the coolest (hrm, no pun intended) ways to decorate a computer I've ever seen!
Yeah, I know I'm weird, but I like it that way.