My two young boys love Treasure Planet. It feels like so much of the stuff put out by Disney lately is aimed at girls. Perhaps that's just the paranoid, overly-macho aspect of me, but I can't help but feel that Disney is more interested in entertaining little girls than boys lately (excluding Pixar). Treasaure Planet was a total boy movie. It dealt with the struggles of a young man entering adulthood. It wasn't perfect, but it was better than most of the other Disney films I've watched lately. I loved the soundtrack too:-)
There are two major types of DRM offered by Microsoft. The first allows a user to purchase a song to play for as long as they like. I believe this license doesn't require a "phone home" at all to work. It's a permanent license generated for that system that should work indefinitely.
The second type is the subscription/rental type we're talking about here. This does require a phone home every so often to make sure the subscription is still active. Microsoft was able to revoke Winamp's ability to play subscription-based DRM files to close the loophole offered before. I believe it was still able to play songs that were purchased.
Frankly, as far as I'm concerned, it's just another subscription service, which is something consumers have repeatedly told the industry they would not accept. (Both with their pocketbooks and in surveys).
But do you really own your music when you purchase from iTunes? What if in 10 years, Apple goes under and there are no more servers giving out licenses to reauthorize your computer, and your only system with your files crashes. As far as I know, you've lost your music since you couldn't have just backed up your files like you would with any other data.
Personally, I've really enjoyed my subscription music service from Yahoo. There are quite a few areas for improvement, but dropping $60 for an entire year of free legal music works much better for me. I don't care about keeping any of this music for long term, mostly because my music listening habbits changed. I'll usually listen to an album or a song a whole bunch, get bored with it and not want to listen to it again. For the stuff I know I'll enjoy longterm, I'll usually just buy the used CD. Perhaps I'll try "purchasing" the song for $.79 from Yahoo, but I probably won't, for the same reasons mentioned above about Apple.
Clearly some remote server stores hardware hashes or some other form of identification for each "authorized" computer. They ought to let you log in to a web-based service and deauthorize a machine without having to be logged on to it. That could solve that problem.
I'm going to guess that this wouldn't work. It's based on a few assumptions on my part that I think are correct, but take what I say with a grain of salt. And I invite anyone who knows better to correct me:-)
With that disclaimer out of the way, I don't think your system would work. I think what happens with Apple's DRM is that when you authorize a computer to play a file, it only needs to happen once. So, if you were to authorize a computer, then go to the web interface and say it is now no longer authorized, the files would still play on said computer, at least if that computer didn't hook back up to iTunes. I believe when you actually deauthorize from the computer you are removing the license files or whatever is present that makes it possible to play those tunes. If you did it from a web interface, there is probably no way that it can remotely disable playing files on those computers.
This is probably why the original poster said they won't do it again. If they allowed it over and over again, you could just continue to authorize computers and claim they "crashed" or whatever so that you could authorize more than 5 computers.
Err, if you read again, you'll see that I don't believe that PC gaming sales are going to disappear. I understand that there will probably always be a market. However, we can see that in the last few years, that demand has been steadily declining and will probably continue to do so.
Will it go all the way to zero? Most definitely not.
If a console is an electric drill, then a PC is the entire tool chest. I'll take the tool chest, thank you.
Is there some reason that people always have to treat this as an either/or issue? In case you hadn't heard, you can actually keep your PC even if you buy a console! I've done it:-)
However, I have gotten sick of spending ridiculous amounts of money to keep my PC spec's up to be able to play the latest and greatest PC games without problems. And even then, I have to deal with install issues, driver issues, etc. With my consoles, I can stick the game in and play. And I have a great time too. Now I don't feel the need to keep "up" on my PC because I do most of my gaming on my consoles.
I guess the next gen of consoles having standard USB ports will probably help the adoption of support for these types of input.
The only sad part of that is the possiblilty that you're going to have to keep up with the best of devices in order to compete if you do online multiplayer. One of the nicer aspects to playing Halo 2 on Live is that you can be pretty sure that everyone is on the same playing field.
The input point is moot, and really favors the consoles when they have the primary input device games care for - the controller. Mice and keyboards can be supported for the things that need them like FPS's.
Right, but if the game doesn't properly support the input device, then having the device won't help a whole lot. Read the reviews of the mouse adapters available for the current batch of consoles. From what I've read, they don't feel the same as using them on the PC, largely because the game is designed to take input from a controller.
In PC land, it is the opposite, for games that best utilize mice and keyboards, the programmer of the game can expect that as the standard input.
Consoles will take over PC gaming when they get the advantages of PC Gaming like bigger harddrives, better memory, better quality graphics...
If by "take over" you mean "have more players", you're way too late. Console gaming already has overtaken PC gaming in terms of the # of gamers. It did a long time ago:-)
If by "take over" you mean completely destroy, I doubt this will ever happen. I disagree why though. A "bigger" hard drive does nothing to enhance the gaming experience. Especially considering the next generation looks to start at a 20GB size. What more does one need if you don't have to install the game like you do on a PC? Better memory? What does that buy you other than perhaps your next point of "better quality graphics"? Yeah, the PC will probably continue to stay slightly ahead in the graphics arena, but it comes at a hefty price. For me, the graphics I get on my XBox and GameCube are pretty much "good enough".
The real reason I think that consoles will never compltely destroy the PC market is the input. Real-time strategy games are an example of this. It's gonna be difficult to play one without a mouse. Now, a DS hooked up wirelessly to a Revolution is a possiblility, but ultimately it requires purchase of two hardware devices, which means game manufacturers aren't likely to create many games in that genre.
This game is pretty fun, even just on your own, but the real greatness comes through on co-op multiplayer. Rather than just blasting your way through levels, you have to work together to solve puzzles on how to proceed. I hear many people complain about the lack of co-op in multiplayer. Well, this game definitely fills that niche.
I also love it because I can play it with my young son. It somehow manages to be accessible and fun for little kids and adults. You can adjust various difficult settings to make the game as hard or as easy as you like. Also, there are collectible pieces through each level that aren't required to advance, but can make the game more challenging.
All in all, this is definitely a great game and deserves 8.5/10 at least.
Um, where did you get that I'm "so persuaded by anecdotes"?
What exactly do you think I am "persuaded" of?
I swear, I think people get more religious over their gaming consoles than their... religions these days. I admitted that my story was anecdotal. I wasn't trying to prove anything, just replay a story of what happened to my Nintendo.
I am concerned with the fact that my XBox comes with a 3-month warranty and my Nintendo came with a 12-month warranty. Why such a huge difference? This, combined with the fact that my brother-in-law has had to send his XBox in twice (bad DVD drive and a bad network card) gets me a little concerned. I know that there are going to be a ton of people out there that have had no problems. This doesn't mean that I don't have concerns of the reliability of my new toy.
One of my children pulled on the GC controller too hard and ended up pulling the GC off the top of my entertainment center (about 5 feet off the ground). Yet after the fall, the thing still works perfectly.
I just bought my XBox and noticed the 3-month warranty, and now I'm getting worried.
The thing was a HOAX. The guy who did it, admitted as much. There is absolutely NO WAY Nintendo is making this device anytime soon. It ain't gonna happen. Period.
Repeat after me: The Nintendo Revolution IS NOT A VR HELMET.
Very nice. Although, that screen is obviously tiny. It's about 2/3rds the width of the cartriadge. They did say it was the best screen they've put on a handheld though.
I unsubbed from XBL because I didn't feel like paying good money each month to hear 13 year olds call me gay over voice chat.
Heh, great quote. It appears as if Microsoft is going to try to deal with this issue with the next version of Live by giving people a sort of reputation. I'd like to have the ability to only play with other adults, for the same reason. Although I do admit I have found a few mature kids who haven't resorted to A) screaming into the headset for no reason and B) swearing like a sailor. Generally, I've expanded my list of friends slowly to include only those who like to play games and don't take themselves too seriously.
Slashdot Mirror
My two young boys love Treasure Planet. It feels like so much of the stuff put out by Disney lately is aimed at girls. Perhaps that's just the paranoid, overly-macho aspect of me, but I can't help but feel that Disney is more interested in entertaining little girls than boys lately (excluding Pixar). Treasaure Planet was a total boy movie. It dealt with the struggles of a young man entering adulthood. It wasn't perfect, but it was better than most of the other Disney films I've watched lately. I loved the soundtrack too :-)
Actually, I think you are confusing two issues.
There are two major types of DRM offered by Microsoft. The first allows a user to purchase a song to play for as long as they like. I believe this license doesn't require a "phone home" at all to work. It's a permanent license generated for that system that should work indefinitely.
The second type is the subscription/rental type we're talking about here. This does require a phone home every so often to make sure the subscription is still active. Microsoft was able to revoke Winamp's ability to play subscription-based DRM files to close the loophole offered before. I believe it was still able to play songs that were purchased.
Hope that clears things up.
But do you really own your music when you purchase from iTunes? What if in 10 years, Apple goes under and there are no more servers giving out licenses to reauthorize your computer, and your only system with your files crashes. As far as I know, you've lost your music since you couldn't have just backed up your files like you would with any other data.
Personally, I've really enjoyed my subscription music service from Yahoo. There are quite a few areas for improvement, but dropping $60 for an entire year of free legal music works much better for me. I don't care about keeping any of this music for long term, mostly because my music listening habbits changed. I'll usually listen to an album or a song a whole bunch, get bored with it and not want to listen to it again. For the stuff I know I'll enjoy longterm, I'll usually just buy the used CD. Perhaps I'll try "purchasing" the song for $.79 from Yahoo, but I probably won't, for the same reasons mentioned above about Apple.
I'm going to guess that this wouldn't work. It's based on a few assumptions on my part that I think are correct, but take what I say with a grain of salt. And I invite anyone who knows better to correct me :-)
With that disclaimer out of the way, I don't think your system would work. I think what happens with Apple's DRM is that when you authorize a computer to play a file, it only needs to happen once. So, if you were to authorize a computer, then go to the web interface and say it is now no longer authorized, the files would still play on said computer, at least if that computer didn't hook back up to iTunes. I believe when you actually deauthorize from the computer you are removing the license files or whatever is present that makes it possible to play those tunes. If you did it from a web interface, there is probably no way that it can remotely disable playing files on those computers.
This is probably why the original poster said they won't do it again. If they allowed it over and over again, you could just continue to authorize computers and claim they "crashed" or whatever so that you could authorize more than 5 computers.
W
T
F??
But even I know that Dvorak is an idiot. Like the cliche says, "Even a stopped clock is right twice a day."
Err, if you read again, you'll see that I don't believe that PC gaming sales are going to disappear. I understand that there will probably always be a market. However, we can see that in the last few years, that demand has been steadily declining and will probably continue to do so.
Will it go all the way to zero? Most definitely not.
Is there some reason that people always have to treat this as an either/or issue? In case you hadn't heard, you can actually keep your PC even if you buy a console! I've done it :-)
However, I have gotten sick of spending ridiculous amounts of money to keep my PC spec's up to be able to play the latest and greatest PC games without problems. And even then, I have to deal with install issues, driver issues, etc. With my consoles, I can stick the game in and play. And I have a great time too. Now I don't feel the need to keep "up" on my PC because I do most of my gaming on my consoles.
I guess the next gen of consoles having standard USB ports will probably help the adoption of support for these types of input.
The only sad part of that is the possiblilty that you're going to have to keep up with the best of devices in order to compete if you do online multiplayer. One of the nicer aspects to playing Halo 2 on Live is that you can be pretty sure that everyone is on the same playing field.
Right, but if the game doesn't properly support the input device, then having the device won't help a whole lot. Read the reviews of the mouse adapters available for the current batch of consoles. From what I've read, they don't feel the same as using them on the PC, largely because the game is designed to take input from a controller.
In PC land, it is the opposite, for games that best utilize mice and keyboards, the programmer of the game can expect that as the standard input.
If by "take over" you mean "have more players", you're way too late. Console gaming already has overtaken PC gaming in terms of the # of gamers. It did a long time ago :-)
If by "take over" you mean completely destroy, I doubt this will ever happen. I disagree why though. A "bigger" hard drive does nothing to enhance the gaming experience. Especially considering the next generation looks to start at a 20GB size. What more does one need if you don't have to install the game like you do on a PC? Better memory? What does that buy you other than perhaps your next point of "better quality graphics"? Yeah, the PC will probably continue to stay slightly ahead in the graphics arena, but it comes at a hefty price. For me, the graphics I get on my XBox and GameCube are pretty much "good enough".
The real reason I think that consoles will never compltely destroy the PC market is the input. Real-time strategy games are an example of this. It's gonna be difficult to play one without a mouse. Now, a DS hooked up wirelessly to a Revolution is a possiblility, but ultimately it requires purchase of two hardware devices, which means game manufacturers aren't likely to create many games in that genre.
I found the acting better than the movie. And the characters more likeable. And... :-)
Frankenstein mad!!!
This game is pretty fun, even just on your own, but the real greatness comes through on co-op multiplayer. Rather than just blasting your way through levels, you have to work together to solve puzzles on how to proceed. I hear many people complain about the lack of co-op in multiplayer. Well, this game definitely fills that niche.
I also love it because I can play it with my young son. It somehow manages to be accessible and fun for little kids and adults. You can adjust various difficult settings to make the game as hard or as easy as you like. Also, there are collectible pieces through each level that aren't required to advance, but can make the game more challenging.
All in all, this is definitely a great game and deserves 8.5/10 at least.
Um, where did you get that I'm "so persuaded by anecdotes"?
What exactly do you think I am "persuaded" of?
I swear, I think people get more religious over their gaming consoles than their... religions these days. I admitted that my story was anecdotal. I wasn't trying to prove anything, just replay a story of what happened to my Nintendo.
I am concerned with the fact that my XBox comes with a 3-month warranty and my Nintendo came with a 12-month warranty. Why such a huge difference? This, combined with the fact that my brother-in-law has had to send his XBox in twice (bad DVD drive and a bad network card) gets me a little concerned. I know that there are going to be a ton of people out there that have had no problems. This doesn't mean that I don't have concerns of the reliability of my new toy.
Totally anectodal:
One of my children pulled on the GC controller too hard and ended up pulling the GC off the top of my entertainment center (about 5 feet off the ground). Yet after the fall, the thing still works perfectly.
I just bought my XBox and noticed the 3-month warranty, and now I'm getting worried.
Come on folks. Give it up. JUST GIVE IT UP.
The thing was a HOAX. The guy who did it, admitted as much. There is absolutely NO WAY Nintendo is making this device anytime soon. It ain't gonna happen. Period.
Repeat after me: The Nintendo Revolution IS NOT A VR HELMET.
... bastion of journalism. From the first paragraph: (emphasis mine)
I see the editorial control on NewsForge is similar to Slashdot's.
I already have a DS. This thing is a lot more portable than the DS. I could slide that thing in my pocket and take it with me for a quick game.
Very nice. Although, that screen is obviously tiny. It's about 2/3rds the width of the cartriadge. They did say it was the best screen they've put on a handheld though.
If it's cheap enough, I'll probably pick one up.
Heh, great quote. It appears as if Microsoft is going to try to deal with this issue with the next version of Live by giving people a sort of reputation. I'd like to have the ability to only play with other adults, for the same reason. Although I do admit I have found a few mature kids who haven't resorted to A) screaming into the headset for no reason and B) swearing like a sailor. Generally, I've expanded my list of friends slowly to include only those who like to play games and don't take themselves too seriously.
http://www.firstadopter.com/fa/archives/000988.ht
Yeah, that's it exactly.
"Oh no, the RIAA isn't going to give me their maximum donation of $3,000 (or whatever the hell it is now)! I might lose my re-election!"
The difference is that Microsoft is a convicted monopollist!!!!111oneoneelevenonehundredeleven
They'll probably become googleaires.