The thing is, the review isn't even all that long winded. It's mostly screenshots of stuff we've all seen before, less than a page of actual text, and the remaining space taken up by a metric assload of advertising.
I swear, Tom's is becoming the fracking EGM of the Internet. More annoying ads than actual content. And what content IS there, is laughably substandard...
I'm inclined to think the article itself is trash. Twenty-nine damned pages pages that are all exceedingly short on content, no printer-friendly single page, and oh yeah, ads EVERYWHERE, even when using AdBlock.
Twenty-nine ad-infested non-pages on top of a site run by one of the most arrogant blowhards on the entire net. Give me a fracking break. I clicked next to go to page two, thinking that MAYBE there would be more content on each following page. Boy was I wrong. After seeing that the second page was similarly lacking, I gave up on TFA. No way in hell will I give that web design abortion any more page views (and thus ad impressions).
As for cases, who the hell needs flashy cases with funky designs and lights all over the place? Certainly not me. I like to keep things simple, understated, and little an eyesore as possible. Having an outrageous case design with flashing lights and all sorts of useless readouts is a surefire way to tell an prospective mate that you care more about your computer than human companionship.
No, what I really want to see in a case are some simple improvements. A completely tool-free design (I don't want to have to pick up a single screwdriver to use the case), a design that's as much at home on the desk as it is tucked somewhere out of the way, and maybe even a power supply with a small battery source connected to some ultrabright white LED's that I can switch on only when I open the case so that I can see what I'm doing. Or better yet, something that can be placed basically anywhere, such as the Shuttle X100. Unfortunately, the price for that system has become far too high ($899) for something that has been gimped from a dual-core to a single-core system.
Bottom Line: Tom can take this article (all 29 pages of it), along with the rest of the site, and shove them up his ass.
The video is interesting, but could the narration be any worse?? That has to be the driest, most disinterested voice-over I've ever heard! I guess now we know why he writes for a newspaper instead of working as a TV reporter...
"That said the blurb mentions that "wii" is not a sound in the Japanese language (which I've heard elsewhere). I've heard that "revolution" is similarly unpronounceable because it also contains sounds not in Japanese. Is that true?
"Wii" is not pronouncable in modern Japanese. There is a character for "wi" in both Hiragana and Katakana, (as well as "we"), but it is obsolete and no longer used. In that fashion, "Wii" would be written with the symbol for "wi" along with the symbol for "i". And since there is no support for UTF-8, I can't paste examples of what it would look like.
That being said, the closest you can get in modern Japanese would be the symbol for "u" followed by an "i". The name for Revolution would be entirely in Katakana, written with "re" "vo" (one of the katakana added for use in loanwords), "ru" "shi" "o", and "n". My romanization skills suck somewhat, but I think it would end up being spelled "Revorushion" when copied back from the Japanese pronunciation.
I saw this story on FoxNews.com what, two days ago? *dons an asbestos suit in preparation for the inevitable flames from the "FoxNews = t3h s4t4n" crowd...*
However, they said their data support the conclusion that use of devices like cell phones "will, in all likelihood, someday cause an accident by interfering with critical cockpit instruments such as GPS receivers."
Since when is GPS a "critical" cockpit system? Is it nice to have as a supplement to your standard instruments? Yes. However, any pilot who relies completely on it shouldn't be responsible for the lives of 200+ people. GPS is there to make things easier for the pilot, but they should ALWAYS have the skills to fall back to altimeter, airspeed indicator, artificial horizon, compass, and navigational radios.
I'm with the other poster in the thought that it's all just trying to scare you enough that you're willing to pay $2-$3/minute for the phones built into the seats.
But you see, that's WAR. That's meant to show everyone not to screw with us. Horrific violence is ok as long as you don't have a controller in your hand. [/sarcasm]
Now, back to reality. Why the hell do people get all bent out of shape over virtual violence, when you can see PLENTY of the real thing just by turning on CNN every night? "Oh my! Won't someone please think of the children!?!?!?!?!?!" If you don't let your kids play violent games, you shouldn't let them watch the evening news either.
Or here's an idea. Actually spend time with your kids instead of using video games or the TV as a damn babysitter! Not only will you be able to bond with them, you will also know if they can handle certain imagery or not. If they don't understand something, you will be there to explain it to them! Wow! Parental Involvement....What a concept!
It was like someone had taken a regular controller and stung it repeatedly by bees, and was taken as a sign that Microsoft didn't know what it was doing. It was also symbolic of how generally huge the Xbox was.
Interesting side-note on the whole "XBox Is Teh Hueg!" bit: In one of the included videos on the 360 they mention the design process for the physical look of the systems (some of the earlier designs for the 360 seemed a hell of a lot cooler, btw). One of the quotes that made me laugh my ass off was something to the effect of, "The original XBox design was all about all this energy that was just barely contained..."
I laughed at that statement for a good 5 minutes. Talk about a marketdroid excuse for the ugliness of that thing. Most people had PC's at the time with comparable or better specs than the XBox, and they're talking about barely contained power?
To be fair, I do like the design of the 360 (but why white?) and they actually got the controller right the first time around for this one. But wow... that whole "Behind the XBox 360" segment was the biggest bunch of corporate/marketing department wanking ever put to video. And why include that on the hard drive to advertise to people who already own the system? I was hoping that a behind the scenes video would have included more about what the hardware can do if you really push it, and all the stuff that went into it. Instead, it was a 15 minute commercial for those who needed to see it the least...
The list is on IGN's XBox 360 section. Any bets on wether or not they're going to come out with a "10 Best Controllers" list, with the 360 controller on top?
I'm sick of going to sites that allow me to submit my resume in (insert document type here) only to have to re-enter the entire thing manually because they screw it all up trying to parse the document into their pre-defined form fields. Either tell me I need to make my resume manually, or just take the damn.doc (or whatever) and learn how to parse it properly.
nvidia cards advertised the capability, but nvidia does not manufacture their own cards. This is a vendor fault on that front. ATi, on the other hand, does make their own boards. Add to this the fact that when questioned about the issue on a FiringSquad article, ATi basically danced around the issue. Nvidia was fairly upfront and said that there was no way to enable support retroactively, and the board must have the decoder chip built in.
From the article: An ATI representative said: "People will not be able to turn on HDCP through a software patch since the HDCP keys need to be present during the manufacturing. We are rolling out HDCP through OEMs at this time but we have not finalized our retail plans yet."
As I pressed for more information about potential retail plans (i.e. trade-in programs, whether existing boards already have traces for the HDCP hardware where it can be plugged in), I got only a vague response:
"We cannot get into more detail at this time, as any further discussion would get into our trade secrets. However, we do promise to give you a full update on our retail plans once they are finalized."
I'm not going to speculate on whether ATI's reticence is because they're trying to downplay a big fiasco, or if they're trying to keep their super generous solution secret to throw off the competition. There's actually no way to know.
Well, what about NVIDIA? They were actually very direct: "The boards themselves must be designed with an extra chip when the board is manufactured. The extra chip stores a crypto key, and you cannot retrofit an existing board after the board is produced."
Any way you look at it, however, this whole situation reeks of Hollywood interference. Neither company would be in this situation if the MPAA didn't see fit to treat their customers like criminals, and pass along the cost of "anti-piracy" measures to their crimin.....err.....customers.
Correct. The maps where the advertising appeared were first-party maps created by valve for CS: Source. Example, a very large Subway ad by the window in cs_office, and another one at the CT spawn. IGA can take their adds and shove them up their collective asses.
That's actually their tip line. It would probably be easier to call their general number, which is (215)-878-9700. Burn a few cell-phone minutes and tell them how wrong they are.
I've already sent them a nice little email picking their story apart completely. Hopefully if enough people point out their fearmongering BS, they will suck it up and admit to their ignorance (preferrably on the air).
CRTs, on the other hand, generally either drift to red or green as they die in my experience.
Off-topic, but also watch out for random distortions. Had a 17" CRT that I used as a backup when I was home from school that started to have random distortions on boot, and sometimes in Windows. Thought it was just an issue with a wonky cable or possibly some form of interference. Well, started the box up one day, monitor kicks on, and as I'm about to log in, I hear a horrible sizzling/squealing noise. I ripped the plug from the wall and the video card, and carted the monitor outside, but the horrible acrid stench of ozone had already permeated the room.
Can't complain, though. Was a damn good monitor. Six years of constant use (and abuse...dropped it on at least 3 different occasions over the years) and it still worked flawlessly.
There's an entry in the mappings for "Duplicate Tab." Mine is currently set to down-up-down, but you can change it to whatever is most convenient for you.
The only example I really think is needed to prove Nintendo's widespread appeal should be quite obvious. Ocarina of Time had something for everyone: A fairly good story, lots of exploring, easy but enjoyable combat (the boss battle in the Shadow Temple was insanely fun), and the game explained enough that the younger crowd could understand what was going on. Ignoring the fact that Navi was the most irritating sidekick known to mankind, the rest of the game was absolutely outstanding from start to finish.
Moving to a non-Nintendo example of a more "mature" game that didn't require copious amounts of blood would be Freelancer. It was somewhat open ended, also had a decent plot (not the best, but enjoyable), and there was a lot to do between major story points. The game was easy to play without insulting your intelligence, and if you find a good server online, it's actually a lot of fun to get 5 or 6 people together and do some mercenary or trade runs (having to protect the one guy hauling a crapload of moneymaking goods through extremely hostile territory while trusting that whatever friend is hauling the goods isn't gonna do something stupid, like run off and get killed, makes for some intense gameplay).
Either way, the point remains as the previous poster stated. Games don't have to have gallons of blood, giant breasts, or be horrifically violent to be "mature." Shadow of the Colossus is a mature game more for it's dark atmosphere and moral ambiguity than any amount of violence. Indigo Prophecy (or Fahrenheit to those on the other side of the pond) has elements that would bore younger gamers because there's not enough "action". It all goes to show that too many people equate "mature" games with things that children shouldn't be allowed to see, rather than gameplay that engages the individual on a level where being older and wiser is an advantage.
It is. However, there are a lot of instances where the "n" sound (the only sound in the language not accompanied by a vowel, as opposed to others such as "na", "ni", "nu", "ne", and "no") is pronounced more like "m." For example, "shinjiru" (to believe/trust) often sounds more like "shimjiru."
Same case with "shinbun." Technically, they spelled it wrong in the summary, but it could be explained by saying they simply romanized the spelling. A similar parallele would be something like "Watashi no namae wa Takashi desu" where the "wa" is written as "ha," but most people who don't study the language are confused by the difference.
Might you be willing to share some of the "groovy pharmaceuticals" you are partaking in? If your writings are any indicator, they seem to be of exceptional quality and potency.
I know this, you know this, everyone here knows this. Unfortunately, the Congrescritters won't know this, and neither will John Q. Public. They just see the words "piracy" and "terrorism", and will automatically assume that Little Johnny is supporting Al Qaeda by downloading Episode III. Just like laws to "protect the children," laws passed to "fight terrorism" will go through much quicker due to the general ignorance of the population. Plug in either phrase anymore if you want your bill steamrolled through. Hell, I'd bet if you simply said it's a bill to "protect children from the evil, drug abusing, communist nazi terrorists" you could get it passed without it ever being read. Scary indeed...
You assume that most people in this country can do that kind of math in their head. If this were Korea or Japan, then maybe. But sadly, the majority of Americans are decidedly horrible at anything more mathematically complex than 2+2. My roommate this past semester was having trouble in Math 109, which is stuff I learned in my junior year of HS. Square roots might as well be Greek to most people here (pardon the pun).
Slashdot Mirror
The thing is, the review isn't even all that long winded. It's mostly screenshots of stuff we've all seen before, less than a page of actual text, and the remaining space taken up by a metric assload of advertising.
I swear, Tom's is becoming the fracking EGM of the Internet. More annoying ads than actual content. And what content IS there, is laughably substandard...
I'm inclined to think the article itself is trash. Twenty-nine damned pages pages that are all exceedingly short on content, no printer-friendly single page, and oh yeah, ads EVERYWHERE, even when using AdBlock.
Twenty-nine ad-infested non-pages on top of a site run by one of the most arrogant blowhards on the entire net. Give me a fracking break. I clicked next to go to page two, thinking that MAYBE there would be more content on each following page. Boy was I wrong. After seeing that the second page was similarly lacking, I gave up on TFA. No way in hell will I give that web design abortion any more page views (and thus ad impressions).
As for cases, who the hell needs flashy cases with funky designs and lights all over the place? Certainly not me. I like to keep things simple, understated, and little an eyesore as possible. Having an outrageous case design with flashing lights and all sorts of useless readouts is a surefire way to tell an prospective mate that you care more about your computer than human companionship.
No, what I really want to see in a case are some simple improvements. A completely tool-free design (I don't want to have to pick up a single screwdriver to use the case), a design that's as much at home on the desk as it is tucked somewhere out of the way, and maybe even a power supply with a small battery source connected to some ultrabright white LED's that I can switch on only when I open the case so that I can see what I'm doing. Or better yet, something that can be placed basically anywhere, such as the Shuttle X100. Unfortunately, the price for that system has become far too high ($899) for something that has been gimped from a dual-core to a single-core system.
Bottom Line: Tom can take this article (all 29 pages of it), along with the rest of the site, and shove them up his ass.
Since everything bad in the world is, as you know, directly the fault of George Bush...
Allow me to be the first to say, "Nice troll!"
Seriously, with some practice and fine-tuning you could be the darling of the Sony marketing team!
Where's the "-1: Shill" moderation when you need it?
And please don't get me started on the horrible grammar. I've seen 5th graders produce higher quality writing than this.
The video is interesting, but could the narration be any worse?? That has to be the driest, most disinterested voice-over I've ever heard! I guess now we know why he writes for a newspaper instead of working as a TV reporter...
That being said, the closest you can get in modern Japanese would be the symbol for "u" followed by an "i". The name for Revolution would be entirely in Katakana, written with "re" "vo" (one of the katakana added for use in loanwords), "ru" "shi" "o", and "n". My romanization skills suck somewhat, but I think it would end up being spelled "Revorushion" when copied back from the Japanese pronunciation.
I saw this story on FoxNews.com what, two days ago? *dons an asbestos suit in preparation for the inevitable flames from the "FoxNews = t3h s4t4n" crowd...*
I'm with the other poster in the thought that it's all just trying to scare you enough that you're willing to pay $2-$3/minute for the phones built into the seats.
But you see, that's WAR. That's meant to show everyone not to screw with us. Horrific violence is ok as long as you don't have a controller in your hand. [/sarcasm] Now, back to reality. Why the hell do people get all bent out of shape over virtual violence, when you can see PLENTY of the real thing just by turning on CNN every night? "Oh my! Won't someone please think of the children!?!?!?!?!?!" If you don't let your kids play violent games, you shouldn't let them watch the evening news either.
Or here's an idea. Actually spend time with your kids instead of using video games or the TV as a damn babysitter! Not only will you be able to bond with them, you will also know if they can handle certain imagery or not. If they don't understand something, you will be there to explain it to them! Wow! Parental Involvement....What a concept!
I laughed at that statement for a good 5 minutes. Talk about a marketdroid excuse for the ugliness of that thing. Most people had PC's at the time with comparable or better specs than the XBox, and they're talking about barely contained power?
To be fair, I do like the design of the 360 (but why white?) and they actually got the controller right the first time around for this one. But wow... that whole "Behind the XBox 360" segment was the biggest bunch of corporate/marketing department wanking ever put to video. And why include that on the hard drive to advertise to people who already own the system? I was hoping that a behind the scenes video would have included more about what the hardware can do if you really push it, and all the stuff that went into it. Instead, it was a 15 minute commercial for those who needed to see it the least...
The list is on IGN's XBox 360 section. Any bets on wether or not they're going to come out with a "10 Best Controllers" list, with the 360 controller on top?
I'm sick of going to sites that allow me to submit my resume in (insert document type here) only to have to re-enter the entire thing manually because they screw it all up trying to parse the document into their pre-defined form fields. Either tell me I need to make my resume manually, or just take the damn .doc (or whatever) and learn how to parse it properly.
But wait! DRM is supposed to be good for you!
*sigh*... Why can't the **AA just realize they not as important as they would like to believe...
Correct. The maps where the advertising appeared were first-party maps created by valve for CS: Source. Example, a very large Subway ad by the window in cs_office, and another one at the CT spawn. IGA can take their adds and shove them up their collective asses.
That's actually their tip line. It would probably be easier to call their general number, which is (215)-878-9700. Burn a few cell-phone minutes and tell them how wrong they are.
I've already sent them a nice little email picking their story apart completely. Hopefully if enough people point out their fearmongering BS, they will suck it up and admit to their ignorance (preferrably on the air).
Can't complain, though. Was a damn good monitor. Six years of constant use (and abuse...dropped it on at least 3 different occasions over the years) and it still worked flawlessly.
Mouse Gestures 1.0.4
There's an entry in the mappings for "Duplicate Tab." Mine is currently set to down-up-down, but you can change it to whatever is most convenient for you.
The only example I really think is needed to prove Nintendo's widespread appeal should be quite obvious. Ocarina of Time had something for everyone: A fairly good story, lots of exploring, easy but enjoyable combat (the boss battle in the Shadow Temple was insanely fun), and the game explained enough that the younger crowd could understand what was going on. Ignoring the fact that Navi was the most irritating sidekick known to mankind, the rest of the game was absolutely outstanding from start to finish.
Moving to a non-Nintendo example of a more "mature" game that didn't require copious amounts of blood would be Freelancer. It was somewhat open ended, also had a decent plot (not the best, but enjoyable), and there was a lot to do between major story points. The game was easy to play without insulting your intelligence, and if you find a good server online, it's actually a lot of fun to get 5 or 6 people together and do some mercenary or trade runs (having to protect the one guy hauling a crapload of moneymaking goods through extremely hostile territory while trusting that whatever friend is hauling the goods isn't gonna do something stupid, like run off and get killed, makes for some intense gameplay).
Either way, the point remains as the previous poster stated. Games don't have to have gallons of blood, giant breasts, or be horrifically violent to be "mature." Shadow of the Colossus is a mature game more for it's dark atmosphere and moral ambiguity than any amount of violence. Indigo Prophecy (or Fahrenheit to those on the other side of the pond) has elements that would bore younger gamers because there's not enough "action". It all goes to show that too many people equate "mature" games with things that children shouldn't be allowed to see, rather than gameplay that engages the individual on a level where being older and wiser is an advantage.
***Extreme Offtopic Reply Warning***
It is. However, there are a lot of instances where the "n" sound (the only sound in the language not accompanied by a vowel, as opposed to others such as "na", "ni", "nu", "ne", and "no") is pronounced more like "m." For example, "shinjiru" (to believe/trust) often sounds more like "shimjiru."
Same case with "shinbun." Technically, they spelled it wrong in the summary, but it could be explained by saying they simply romanized the spelling. A similar parallele would be something like "Watashi no namae wa Takashi desu" where the "wa" is written as "ha," but most people who don't study the language are confused by the difference.
You're probably thinking of something like the La Palma Wave that scientists say could be caused by the collapse of the Cumbre Vieja volcano.
Might you be willing to share some of the "groovy pharmaceuticals" you are partaking in? If your writings are any indicator, they seem to be of exceptional quality and potency.
I know this, you know this, everyone here knows this. Unfortunately, the Congrescritters won't know this, and neither will John Q. Public. They just see the words "piracy" and "terrorism", and will automatically assume that Little Johnny is supporting Al Qaeda by downloading Episode III. Just like laws to "protect the children," laws passed to "fight terrorism" will go through much quicker due to the general ignorance of the population. Plug in either phrase anymore if you want your bill steamrolled through. Hell, I'd bet if you simply said it's a bill to "protect children from the evil, drug abusing, communist nazi terrorists" you could get it passed without it ever being read. Scary indeed...
You assume that most people in this country can do that kind of math in their head. If this were Korea or Japan, then maybe. But sadly, the majority of Americans are decidedly horrible at anything more mathematically complex than 2+2. My roommate this past semester was having trouble in Math 109, which is stuff I learned in my junior year of HS. Square roots might as well be Greek to most people here (pardon the pun).