Makes me wonder how my kids (which I don't have any of yet) will take it when they've got a mother who not only plays video games, but beats them at it. But then again, they may enjoy it when they can invite their friends over, only to watch me beat them too.:)
It's not clear. I don't know exactly what kind of online service the DS has, but I doubt the Wii will have the same features as Xbox Live. Friends list? Text/voice/picture messages? Voice chat during the game, and 1 on 1 voice chat to any friend no matter what each of you are doing? Tracking of your games played and achievements that other people can see - including having a web site with all that information available? Playing against people playing the same game on the PC (which was announced at E3)? Matchmaking for all games, including ranked games which use game results to adjust your skill level to improve future matchmaking? Leaderboards?
Somehow, I don't expect the Wii service to have much more than the basics.
It just so happens that a lot of the more mature people on Xbox Live don't tend to play as many public games, but play more with friends in private games. There are even communities of people (like 2Old2Play where you can find lots of people to add to your XBL friends list so you always have people to play with. I spend most of my online gaming time with friends instead of in public games, and I've had a ton of fun.
And all the foul-mouthed kids are driving their reputations down and having more trouble finding games to play in now.:)
There are even some games - such as Chromehounds - that you don't even have to worry about communicating with your opponents, before, during, or after the game. No chance to get verbally assaulted.
My 360 has replaced my CD changer completely. But I don't put the music on there, I have it on my computer, and use WMC to access it. It's a heck of a lot easier storing my music on my PC instead, as there are much better methods to manage it there.
I doubt that's really a relevant issue. Everyone claimed that size had something to do with the first Xbox's lackluster sales. Now Sony's going to be introducing a very large console too - the PS3 is larger than the 360. Somehow, I don't see that affecting things very much at all.
I've long been of the opinion that any person that won't be around me after I've eaten something with garlic in it is a person I don't want to have around. Garlic is just that important.
Ahh... I remember the Schaumburg GameWorks. I spent about a year going there almost every Tues and Thurs evening to spend a few hours on Dance Dance Revolution. They had it in such a great place, at the curved section, with all that seating right there. I remember countless hours with people taking turns, me grabbing one pitcher of water after another from the bar (and even tipping the bartenders for being so helpful while providing a freebie), and just having fun. (Except for the day that I was there alone and some idiot stole my stuff while I was gone for a minute, including my new glasses with frames that I couldn't replace - c'mon, stealing GLASSES? Why be THAT MUCH of an ass?)
No estate taxes are paid until the estate is over $1.5 million from a single adult, and $3 million from a married couple. Anyone who has a large enough estate to get taxed is not, by any means, considered part of the "middle class", let alone poor. $1.8 million puts the estate into the top %0.05 of the nation. And then there's the fact that family farms and businesses get even more exemptions.
Only the rich are even subject to the estate tax.
Claiming that the estate tax affects poor and middle class folks is completely and totally a baldfaced lie.
If you notice, those that are against welfare and talk about "people being independent", the people that say how everyone should get somewhere by themselves - they're the ones that tend to be better off and already somewhere. And often, they got there through connections and help from others. How many people with big jobs got there without any connections, without any insiders to help them out? Few, if any. They know that "doing it without anyone else's help" doesn't work if you're trying to get anywhere significant. That's why they encourage it - to prevent other people from getting higher up, from getting money and power.
Shhhhh... don't bring facts into this. We can't have anything tainting the "life is so hard for the very wealthy" ranting. I mean... someone somewhere might have to sell their 100-foot yacht and 4th vacation home to pay the estate taxes on the millions that have been passed on to some snotty never-had-to-work-a-day-in-his-life rich brat, and that's UNBEARABLE.
Soon. Just have a little patience. You'll have plenty more reasons to use those points soon.
BTW, ask those reviewers if they played SF2 online. I bet they didn't. Considering the reports of online play issues for Capcom's Xbox 1 games (I never played any myself), I'm glad they're taking more time to work on the online play portion for the 360.
I'm more looking forward to Lumines Live myself...
Oh, you can download while you play games. The only time it stops the downloading is when you're playing online - so you'll be downloading the entire time you play Oblivion, but hop over to COD2 for some online action and the downloads will pause to make sure it doesn't negatively impact your play experience.
And background downloading wasn't there at first because some tradeoffs had to be made to get the console out on time.
You do not need a Media Center PC. All you need is Windows Media Connect, which is a free download. Once you've done that, it's easy to get to music and pictures straight from the 360 dashboard.
The 360 also shipped with support for USB keyboards. I used one when dealing with FFXI Beta installation, and for miscellaneous other things.
As far as the drive goes... remember, it's a very high-speed DVD drive. From my understanding, just about every drive that runs at that speed is that loud. You may not notice it as much with a PC for various reasons, but they're just as loud.
Willing to leak any details about what sorts of things are coming? I gotta get all prepared on how to help beta test it, ya know.:)
(And will us auto-mods there get some more cool new abilities? I feel so... useless now with my orange symbol that only means I can play with artist images)
Put some people working on managing the various game assets and everything properly for the release disc, and I'm sure you can gain conserable room on those discs.
You can use Xbox Live at no cost for much of it's functionality (with the 360). You'll get game updates, be able to download content from marketplace (free and paid), and be able to view and get on the leaderboards for various games. Claiming you need to pay for such things is completely and totally incorrect.
It's only a limited subset of features that require paying - and really, $50 is a bargain for what you get. Cheater free online play (try THAT on a PC), a voice communication system integrated in, etc. Really - if you can afford a high-speed internet connection, Xbox 360, and games, then the cost of Xbox Live is negligable.
(Note, yes, there are a few games that have had issues with cheating, but that's been due to flaws in the game itself - not Xbox Live)
All the talk has been about the PS3 doing PS2 compatibility via software, just like the 360's emulation of original Xbox games. And you know all the issues that there have been with the 360's emulation, right? Games having bugs, only partial compatibility (which is growing via updates).
Sony's going to have all the same fun, and get to deal with all of the bashing from users about why game X and Y aren't compatible, but Z is...
From what I've heard from game devs, with the sheer amount of art assets that exist in games today, it's near impossible for them to keep track of which ones are being used and which aren't, and that combing through them all to make sure everything is good beforehand would be a very mind-numbing, time-consuming, gargantuan task.
So not only was there this art that was not intended to be shown ever, it's likely that nobody there even knew it was present, and sure if they had known, it would have been removed.
I think it's totally ridiculous that a rating would be changed because of the presence of one image that required third-party modification to even view.
Shhh, stop it! Don't give things away... remember, the reason we tell people it rains so much here is to keep down the number of people moving to the area. If we stop doing that, word may get out that this is one of the best places to live in the country, and next thing you know, we're flooded with people!
I actually used to think people joked when they'd tell me that... then I kept hearing it from so many people, I think there's truth to it. The stories about the rain are deceptive - and one trip here in late May/early June will convince you just how wonderful this place can be.
Slashdot Mirror
Yes, this has been observed, multiple times, at least as far back as 1905.
Makes me wonder how my kids (which I don't have any of yet) will take it when they've got a mother who not only plays video games, but beats them at it. But then again, they may enjoy it when they can invite their friends over, only to watch me beat them too. :)
It's not clear. I don't know exactly what kind of online service the DS has, but I doubt the Wii will have the same features as Xbox Live. Friends list? Text/voice/picture messages? Voice chat during the game, and 1 on 1 voice chat to any friend no matter what each of you are doing? Tracking of your games played and achievements that other people can see - including having a web site with all that information available? Playing against people playing the same game on the PC (which was announced at E3)? Matchmaking for all games, including ranked games which use game results to adjust your skill level to improve future matchmaking? Leaderboards?
Somehow, I don't expect the Wii service to have much more than the basics.
It just so happens that a lot of the more mature people on Xbox Live don't tend to play as many public games, but play more with friends in private games. There are even communities of people (like 2Old2Play where you can find lots of people to add to your XBL friends list so you always have people to play with. I spend most of my online gaming time with friends instead of in public games, and I've had a ton of fun.
:)
And all the foul-mouthed kids are driving their reputations down and having more trouble finding games to play in now.
There are even some games - such as Chromehounds - that you don't even have to worry about communicating with your opponents, before, during, or after the game. No chance to get verbally assaulted.
I'm using a wireless network, and I've never had any problems with my audio at all.
My 360 has replaced my CD changer completely. But I don't put the music on there, I have it on my computer, and use WMC to access it. It's a heck of a lot easier storing my music on my PC instead, as there are much better methods to manage it there.
I doubt that's really a relevant issue. Everyone claimed that size had something to do with the first Xbox's lackluster sales. Now Sony's going to be introducing a very large console too - the PS3 is larger than the 360. Somehow, I don't see that affecting things very much at all.
I've long been of the opinion that any person that won't be around me after I've eaten something with garlic in it is a person I don't want to have around. Garlic is just that important.
Ahh... I remember the Schaumburg GameWorks. I spent about a year going there almost every Tues and Thurs evening to spend a few hours on Dance Dance Revolution. They had it in such a great place, at the curved section, with all that seating right there. I remember countless hours with people taking turns, me grabbing one pitcher of water after another from the bar (and even tipping the bartenders for being so helpful while providing a freebie), and just having fun. (Except for the day that I was there alone and some idiot stole my stuff while I was gone for a minute, including my new glasses with frames that I couldn't replace - c'mon, stealing GLASSES? Why be THAT MUCH of an ass?)
Do you have any clue what you're talking about?
No estate taxes are paid until the estate is over $1.5 million from a single adult, and $3 million from a married couple. Anyone who has a large enough estate to get taxed is not, by any means, considered part of the "middle class", let alone poor. $1.8 million puts the estate into the top %0.05 of the nation. And then there's the fact that family farms and businesses get even more exemptions.
Only the rich are even subject to the estate tax.
Claiming that the estate tax affects poor and middle class folks is completely and totally a baldfaced lie.
If you notice, those that are against welfare and talk about "people being independent", the people that say how everyone should get somewhere by themselves - they're the ones that tend to be better off and already somewhere. And often, they got there through connections and help from others. How many people with big jobs got there without any connections, without any insiders to help them out? Few, if any. They know that "doing it without anyone else's help" doesn't work if you're trying to get anywhere significant. That's why they encourage it - to prevent other people from getting higher up, from getting money and power.
Shhhhh... don't bring facts into this. We can't have anything tainting the "life is so hard for the very wealthy" ranting. I mean... someone somewhere might have to sell their 100-foot yacht and 4th vacation home to pay the estate taxes on the millions that have been passed on to some snotty never-had-to-work-a-day-in-his-life rich brat, and that's UNBEARABLE.
We must support American oligarchy!
Soon. Just have a little patience. You'll have plenty more reasons to use those points soon.
BTW, ask those reviewers if they played SF2 online. I bet they didn't. Considering the reports of online play issues for Capcom's Xbox 1 games (I never played any myself), I'm glad they're taking more time to work on the online play portion for the 360.
I'm more looking forward to Lumines Live myself...
Oh, you can download while you play games. The only time it stops the downloading is when you're playing online - so you'll be downloading the entire time you play Oblivion, but hop over to COD2 for some online action and the downloads will pause to make sure it doesn't negatively impact your play experience.
And background downloading wasn't there at first because some tradeoffs had to be made to get the console out on time.
You do not need a Media Center PC. All you need is Windows Media Connect, which is a free download. Once you've done that, it's easy to get to music and pictures straight from the 360 dashboard.
The 360 also shipped with support for USB keyboards. I used one when dealing with FFXI Beta installation, and for miscellaneous other things.
As far as the drive goes... remember, it's a very high-speed DVD drive. From my understanding, just about every drive that runs at that speed is that loud. You may not notice it as much with a PC for various reasons, but they're just as loud.
Update? *drool, drool, drool*
:)
Willing to leak any details about what sorts of things are coming? I gotta get all prepared on how to help beta test it, ya know.
(And will us auto-mods there get some more cool new abilities? I feel so... useless now with my orange symbol that only means I can play with artist images)
Damn, I screwed the link...
Arctic Fox?
Arctic Fox?
To hell with that - Atari's Hard Drivin' hit arcades in 1989. I, Robot was out in 1983.
Both were true polygonal 3D games. But yet Sony invented it in 1994. Because they are SONY.
Bloat.
Put some people working on managing the various game assets and everything properly for the release disc, and I'm sure you can gain conserable room on those discs.
You can use Xbox Live at no cost for much of it's functionality (with the 360). You'll get game updates, be able to download content from marketplace (free and paid), and be able to view and get on the leaderboards for various games. Claiming you need to pay for such things is completely and totally incorrect.
It's only a limited subset of features that require paying - and really, $50 is a bargain for what you get. Cheater free online play (try THAT on a PC), a voice communication system integrated in, etc. Really - if you can afford a high-speed internet connection, Xbox 360, and games, then the cost of Xbox Live is negligable.
(Note, yes, there are a few games that have had issues with cheating, but that's been due to flaws in the game itself - not Xbox Live)
Wii60!
Based on the fact that you can get BOTH of the other consoles for the price of the PS3.
All the talk has been about the PS3 doing PS2 compatibility via software, just like the 360's emulation of original Xbox games. And you know all the issues that there have been with the 360's emulation, right? Games having bugs, only partial compatibility (which is growing via updates).
Sony's going to have all the same fun, and get to deal with all of the bashing from users about why game X and Y aren't compatible, but Z is...
From what I've heard from game devs, with the sheer amount of art assets that exist in games today, it's near impossible for them to keep track of which ones are being used and which aren't, and that combing through them all to make sure everything is good beforehand would be a very mind-numbing, time-consuming, gargantuan task.
So not only was there this art that was not intended to be shown ever, it's likely that nobody there even knew it was present, and sure if they had known, it would have been removed.
I think it's totally ridiculous that a rating would be changed because of the presence of one image that required third-party modification to even view.
Shhh, stop it! Don't give things away... remember, the reason we tell people it rains so much here is to keep down the number of people moving to the area. If we stop doing that, word may get out that this is one of the best places to live in the country, and next thing you know, we're flooded with people!
I actually used to think people joked when they'd tell me that... then I kept hearing it from so many people, I think there's truth to it. The stories about the rain are deceptive - and one trip here in late May/early June will convince you just how wonderful this place can be.