Sony is pretty secret about their business model, but I think their model was to spend a over billion dollars on a chip manufacturing plant. Now a billion dollars spread over 60 million units would mean the manufacturing cost of the chipset is pretty cheap, but they would have lost a lot of money if they had only sold 10 million or so.
alltheweb. why? because they still have kazaa lite, anti-scientology and DeCSS links.
Because they are European
Because they have the biggest index of pages on the web.
In addition, the image search is easier to use, it doesn't use the awkward two frame interface like google does. And there are less broken images.
I remember downloading shakey cam footage of the "Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty" trailer for the PS2 years ago, looked amazing, better than any PC games at the time. It was as good a trailer as some action movies.
I also remember the semi-famous "Into the Shadows" demo from a long time ago. The game was never finished but the demo was sweet, showed skeletons moving around casting multiple shadows on the floor, on a Pentium 90 with no 3d card.
The most logical reply I've heard (from some producer of Babylon 5?) goes: There's no classical music in space, so why is there classical music in 2001:A Space Oddessey?
I guess if I was this guys lawyer, I would say this was no different than a domain registar losing someones domain, like the sex.com case. Verisign tried to argue that domains weren't property, so they shouldn't have to give the guy any compensation.
Not sure I'd buy that if I was judging the case but I can't think of how this is different.
Isn't it concievable that Nintendo weighed the cheaper/easier-to-make pros versus the lose-market-share cons and simply decided to leave the entertainment system out of the console?
Wouldn't basing a system around the established DVD standard be cheaper than using a proprietary system? The only advantage to Nintendo's system I can see is that they can charge developers for manufacturing disks (I'm not sure about this) and that it would make piracy much more difficult and expensive.
Last month, slashdot ran a story saying that U.S. Games Sales Slip Marginally, attributed by some to a weak economy and that it's between console cycles and that the Matrix and Tomb Raider games sucked.
So which is it? Is the game industry doing well or is it just that GameStop is doing well?
I could just be missing the point of the encryption other than a "gee whiz" feature - but that's just me.
Home computers get stolen too. Also you're forgetting the advantage of being able to sell/dispose of your computer without having someone get all your data, you'd be surprised how many people think format c: gets rid of everything.
Nowadays people have so much financial/personal crap on their computers and even a single wipe can take hours.
Would someone please explain this comment to me? I thought Canada was supposed to have a very good health care system. It's socialized, isn't it? I would think that not having to deal with all the HMO crap would lead to more time with paitents and hence better care?
Canada does have a very good health care system. Basically, Canadians have longer lifespans and lower infant mortality than Americans, while Canada spends far less per capita on health care.
Lots of people will give you anecdotal stories about Canadians being denied health care and long waiting lists and incompetent doctors, but stuff like that happens under HMOs too. Some people call it socialized medicine, though I think it's also called a 'single payer' system, where the government is acting as your insurer.
It probably doesn't help that the two biggest selling games last month (according to the article) Enter The Matrix and the new Tomb Raider, were two of the biggest dissapointments in video games in years.
Had those two games lived up to the hype instead of being merely average, I bet overall sales would have been a lot better.
I agree with you that machima is just hype (most of the stuff is terrible) but I do think advancing technology has allowed hobbiests to do some incredible stuff.
For example, the anime DVD Voices of a Distant Star, a half hour anime (with cgi graphics) done by a single person (except for the voices) on a Macintosh G4/400. It was quite incredible looking, better than some professional anime with dozens of people involved.
Q: One of the main complaints people have about the SP is its lack of built-in headphone jack. What was the reason behind removing it?
KS: Well, you can use headphones with the SP if you plug in an adapter, of course. In the beginning we planned to include the jack, but from a purely physical standpoint, we just couldn't get it in. (laughs) If we put the port in, then that's that much cubic volume we can't use for other parts of the GBA. We were worried, of course, how people would respond to that, but when we looked at our research, we found that the percentage of people that use headphones with their GBA is actually pretty low. It's low, but there are people that use them, so we decided to build the system with the majority of users in mind and, at the same time, also accommodate the rest of the people that play it with the adapter. It was a compromise, you could say.
What I find most interesting about this is that the article says that Sheils made over $1000 a week.
Maybe, but really i believe these guys about as much as those guys on late night tv with the yacht selling real estate advice.
If Sheils is really smart he is probably setting himself up so he can sell software/books to wannabe spammers. He can include articles like this and tell people "Work from home, make money like me."
I remember a gamefaqs poll of the day that put them in the order of 7, 6, 10, then 8 ahead just ahead of 9, so the listing isn't that absurd.
I think 8 is interesting in how much it divides gamers, a lot of people hate it but a lot love it and think it's one of the best. I think the problem with 9 is that it came out so late in the Playstation's so it got ignored by a lot of people.
S Soldier support is the #1 priority. N Never say, "it can't be done." A Accept risk, and allow soldiers to make mistakes. K Know your soldiers' problems. E Exact high standards and lead by example.
E Earn your keep - use initiative. A Acknowledge good deeds publicly; discipline privately. T Training is not only everything - it is the only thing. E Encourage employer and family interest and involvement. R Respect all soldiers, regardless of their rank.
Heck, don't even change the dialog - just subtitle it. It'll be cheaper, and anyways, have you listend to English voice-overs in most games? Ugh! And people think dubbed anime is bad!
Capcom did that with Rival Schools for the PS1, they just left in all the Japanese speech and added some subtitles, and it was great. Certainly better than just omitting whole scenes.
As I understand it, when you see a tv ratio image in the theatres the left and right sides are not in use rather than the image being enlarged and cropped.
Normally yes, but Kubrick was unusual in that he shot his films from the Shining on so that nothing important was shown in the top and bottom sixths of the screen. This interview goes into more detail.
Flame all you want, but after the first month, approximately 100% of people who watch any movie will be watching it on a T.V., so why the hell wouldn't you design the movie to be seen on that medium?
A few directors do that, Stanley Kubrick shot most of his films in something closer to a TV ratio (the top and bottom would be cropped off in theatres) and I read an interview with Cronenberg where he stated that he tried to frame his films with the expectation they will be shown in a television ratio.
Slashdot Mirror
Sony is pretty secret about their business model, but I think their model was to spend a over billion dollars on a chip manufacturing plant. Now a billion dollars spread over 60 million units would mean the manufacturing cost of the chipset is pretty cheap, but they would have lost a lot of money if they had only sold 10 million or so.
Because they are European
Because they have the biggest index of pages on the web.
In addition, the image search is easier to use, it doesn't use the awkward two frame interface like google does. And there are less broken images.
I also remember the semi-famous "Into the Shadows" demo from a long time ago. The game was never finished but the demo was sweet, showed skeletons moving around casting multiple shadows on the floor, on a Pentium 90 with no 3d card.
The most logical reply I've heard (from some producer of Babylon 5?) goes: There's no classical music in space, so why is there classical music in 2001:A Space Oddessey?
Not sure I'd buy that if I was judging the case but I can't think of how this is different.
Wouldn't basing a system around the established DVD standard be cheaper than using a proprietary system? The only advantage to Nintendo's system I can see is that they can charge developers for manufacturing disks (I'm not sure about this) and that it would make piracy much more difficult and expensive.
So which is it? Is the game industry doing well or is it just that GameStop is doing well?
They already do have a game like that, ICO. Critics loved it, widely considered the best example of art in a video game, and nearly no one bought it.
Home computers get stolen too. Also you're forgetting the advantage of being able to sell/dispose of your computer without having someone get all your data, you'd be surprised how many people think format c: gets rid of everything.
Nowadays people have so much financial/personal crap on their computers and even a single wipe can take hours.
Canada does have a very good health care system. Basically, Canadians have longer lifespans and lower infant mortality than Americans, while Canada spends far less per capita on health care.
Lots of people will give you anecdotal stories about Canadians being denied health care and long waiting lists and incompetent doctors, but stuff like that happens under HMOs too. Some people call it socialized medicine, though I think it's also called a 'single payer' system, where the government is acting as your insurer.
Had those two games lived up to the hype instead of being merely average, I bet overall sales would have been a lot better.
For example, the anime DVD Voices of a Distant Star, a half hour anime (with cgi graphics) done by a single person (except for the voices) on a Macintosh G4/400. It was quite incredible looking, better than some professional anime with dozens of people involved.
Heck, I'm older than you and I had thousands of colors, stereo sound, multi-tasking... Yup I had an Amiga.
The average income for a programmer over there is about $5,850, might be worth a shot.
From an interview with Kenichi Sugino, the guy behind the design of the GBA SP:
Not sure that I buy that but there you go.Just like Romero.
Maybe, but really i believe these guys about as much as those guys on late night tv with the yacht selling real estate advice.
If Sheils is really smart he is probably setting himself up so he can sell software/books to wannabe spammers. He can include articles like this and tell people "Work from home, make money like me."
I think 8 is interesting in how much it divides gamers, a lot of people hate it but a lot love it and think it's one of the best. I think the problem with 9 is that it came out so late in the Playstation's so it got ignored by a lot of people.
S Soldier support is the #1 priority.
N Never say, "it can't be done."
A Accept risk, and allow soldiers to make mistakes.
K Know your soldiers' problems.
E Exact high standards and lead by example.
E Earn your keep - use initiative.
A Acknowledge good deeds publicly; discipline privately.
T Training is not only everything - it is the only thing.
E Encourage employer and family interest and involvement.
R Respect all soldiers, regardless of their rank.
Heck, don't even change the dialog - just subtitle it. It'll be cheaper, and anyways, have you listend to English voice-overs in most games? Ugh! And people think dubbed anime is bad!
Capcom did that with Rival Schools for the PS1, they just left in all the Japanese speech and added some subtitles, and it was great. Certainly better than just omitting whole scenes.
As I understand it, when you see a tv ratio image in the theatres the left and right sides are not in use rather than the image being enlarged and cropped.
Normally yes, but Kubrick was unusual in that he shot his films from the Shining on so that nothing important was shown in the top and bottom sixths of the screen. This interview goes into more detail.
http://www.dvdtalk.com/leonvitaliinterview.html
Flame all you want, but after the first month, approximately 100% of people who watch any movie will be watching it on a T.V., so why the hell wouldn't you design the movie to be seen on that medium?
A few directors do that, Stanley Kubrick shot most of his films in something closer to a TV ratio (the top and bottom would be cropped off in theatres) and I read an interview with Cronenberg where he stated that he tried to frame his films with the expectation they will be shown in a television ratio.
Prince of Persia was already revamped as a 3d game, but it sucked. Maybe this time around will be better.
Why don't they just put the Japanese dialogue on the secondary audio track?
Looks like it, the colors are pretty.