What if the idiot running the magnet gun doesn't get his aim right? If they don't put any alternate propulsion source on the craft, how would they make course corrections? Careening off into space at 26000 miles an hour doesn't sound very fun to me.
Why does it matter if it has the hard drive in it coming from the factory? Odds are that if it has a DVD or other optical media drive, it will still run on some kind of IDE interface, making it easy to add a hard drive yourself if you're the kind of person who wants to hack the box to do the things you want to do with it.
Let's be honest - who actually uses the standard 8 gig hard drive when they're hacking their xbox anyway? Sure, for Linux it would be fine, but if you're serious about this, dropping another $40 on a cheap IDE drive is not going to be a big deal.
This is no different from any other phone system. As long as you're smart enough to put your switches and router on a UPS, you will have no problems.
You see, the Cisco IP phone system relies pretty heavily on the use of Cisco powered ethernet switches.
The wired models all get their power from the switches, and the Aironet access points you'll need for the WiFi phones also get their power from the switch.
So, as long as you're smart enough to put your switches and router on a UPS, you will not have a problem.
Windows Update Privacy Statement (Last Updated 10/15/2002) Windows Update is committed to protecting your privacy. To provide you with the appropriate list of updates, Windows Update must collect a certain amount of configuration information from your computer. None of this configuration information can be used to identify you. This information includes:
* Operating-system version number * Internet Explorer version number * Version numbers of other software for which Windows Update provides updates * Plug and Play ID numbers of hardware devices * Region and Language setting The configuration information collected is used only to determine the appropriate updates and to generate aggregate statistics. Windows Update does not collect your name, address, e-mail address, or any other form of personally identifiable information.
Windows Update also collects the Product ID and Product Key to confirm that you are running a validly licensed copy of Windows. A validly licensed copy of Windows ensures that you will receive on-going updates from Windows Update. The Product ID and Product Key are not retained beyond the end of the Windows Update session.
To provide you with the best possible service, Windows Update also tracks and records how many unique machines visit its site and whether the download and installation of specific updates succeeded or failed. In order to do this, the Windows operating system generates a Globally Unique Identifier (GUID) that is stored on your computer to uniquely identify it. The GUID does not contain any personally identifiable information and cannot be used to identify you. Windows Update records the GUID of the computer that attempted the download, the ID of the item that you attempted to download and install, and the configuration information listed above.
Hardly "We can scan your computer for any information we want, and there's not a damned thing you can do about it!" as you've implied.
As a part-time employee of a hobby shop, I can tell you that model rocketry as a hobby is practically dead. In a community of ~200,000 potential customers, I can count on one hand the number of times anyone purchased model rockets as a hobby. However, many area teachers still purchase bulk orders (we're talking hundreds of dollars worth) of rockets and engines for their science classes.
Yeah, this'll be secure, and I bet the ping times will rock my socks, too.
On the one hand, it will be nice for extending reasonable (ie, better than StarBand or something) broadband and cable TV services into rural areas where cabling is annoying at best. On the other hand, even Cisco Aironet wireless gear has frequent hiccups (and by hiccups I mean 4ms pings jumping to 600ms for a couple seconds every 5-10 minutes).
Maybe I'm wrong, and I hope I am, but every wireless option I've ever seen leaves a lot to be desired in terms of both security and latency.
That's what IP QoS is for. You just prioritize the bandwidth so that the (very minimal) requirements of your voice devices are easily met, regardless of any upstream cap...at least, any upstream cap I've ever seen. A cap under 12k would be pretty sick and wrong.
I absolutely see your point and won't argue against it at all...from a single-player perspective Halo has no replay value whatsoever. The difficulty settings just make it tougher to kill the monsters, they don't change the plot or the number of enemies.
To be honest though, getting everyone together to play Halo is more of a logistics problem than a financial one. Who has enough room on any given night, who is coming that has a TV that isn't too big for their car, etc. It's kind of a PITA to get everyone all in one place and playing, but once you do the fun goes on..and on...and on...
I don't know why I'm even replying to this...probably won't even get read, but oh well.
"that's rediculous, of course you can, the history of a game series isn't relevant when it comes to sales figures, you could compare how many where sold vs. how many consoles and get a percentage, that could be used for compariason, and essentaily eliminates the "history" part of it."
Obvious grammatical problems aside, by that "logic" it is utterly pointless for a movie studio to waste time making a sequel to a successful movie hoping to get more ticket sales, after all they would be just as successful making a brand new unrelated movie with a completely different plot! As for the comparing game vs console sales, did you even read the part of my post where I mentioned that since the PS2 has probably (at least) 6 times as many units in use as the XBox it would stand to reason that PS2 games would sell 6 to 1 to XBox games?
"I don't care if in a year from now the X-box may or may not have a better library at 2 then the PS2 did at 2. fact is when the X-box is 2 the PS2 will be 3 and have even more games. I want the one that gives me the most choice, and the best selection of good games."
Please quote the part of my post where I said the XBox has a bigger/better library than the PS2. What's that, you can't? It isn't there? I didn't think so. If you want to do a real comparison to find out which system is the winner regardless of how long they've existed, you should include ALL systems. You know what will win? Probably the GAME BOY. Does that mean I shouldn't buy an XBox OR a PS2 just because the Game Boy has been around for 13 years and has a library of hundreds upon hundreds of games?
"This is stupid point, yeah the market fluctuates, so what? you want to compare both completely independantly of several key variables! like release date, market conditions, disposable income..."
Again, did you even READ the part of my post that you QUOTED? Market conditions and disposable income BOTH fall under economy and/or consumer preferences (either one will fit almost any case, not to mention "along with everything else on this planet") and release date is directly addressed in my entire post!
As for which system is better, it's up to each individual to decide. I personally chose the XBox. I have owned both, and I went with the one that: Looks GREAT on my HDTV (where the PS2 just looked "okay"). Has optical audio output (yes I know the PS2 does too) and does surround sound realtime in games (Does the PS2? I can hear those crickets chirping). Has a much better controller design (maybe I'm in the minority here, I'm 6'1 and have huge hands). Has built-in broadband support and a lot better multi-system support than any console I know of. That's only a few of the reasons I made my choice.
Anyway like I said before, make love, not war, and let whoever wants an XBox get an XBox, and whoever wants a PS2 get a PS2.
I said prompted gatherings, as in, we all went to one place with the specific purpose of playing Halo. You can't assume every reader is high-school or college aged and has easy access to a ready-made network of PC's.
Yes, it's similar to a lan party or playing (insert favorite RTS/FPS here) at your high school, or in a college lab, but that's much different than when you're all packed into one living room. With a console game it's a much more social experience than if you have 12 PC's scattered around a house (or spaced 5 feet apart in a lab) and everybody's staring intently at their own screen with headphones on.
All I can say is once you've had 6-8 (or more) of your closest friends all packed in your apartment playing halo on 2+ XBoxes on 2+ TV's, you'll question it's replay value no longer.
From the weekend we first got XBoxes (first one in December) until the first weekend in March, every weekend at least one night was a Halo marathon. No other game in the history of gaming has prompted that many gatherings...not an electronic game, anyway.
You can't compare Halo sales to FFX sales, and you really shouldn't compare PS2 sales to XBox sales. I keep thinking this should be common sense but here are just a few reasons:
First, to refute your example, the Final Fantasy games are a best selling series that have been around for 15+ years. Halo is a single game with nowhere near that amount of history behind it. Lots of hype, and quite a few more TV spots than I've seen for any Final Fantasy game, but that doesn't go anywhere near as far, IMO.
Second, to be honest it's pointless from either perspective to compare current PS2 and XBox sales. If they'd had anywhere near the same launch date it would be an entirely different story, but the fact is they didn't. The PS2 has been on the market for well over a year longer than the XBox. How many XBoxes have been produced and purchased by consumers versus PS2's? When you probably have at least 5-6 times as many consoles in use as the competition, wouldn't it stand to reason that you'd sell about that many more copies of a (popular, well-hyped) new game?
I definitely don't disagree with your argument that the XBox needs more than just Halo. (Rallisport Challenge ROCKS but that's beside the point.) Yes, there are a lot more "Must-have" titles for the PS2 right now. But how many of them were available within 5 months of launch? The absolute first I can remember for the PS2 was Gran Turismo 3, and that was nearly a year after launch.
Bottom line, if the world were perfect and people wanted to compare PS2 to XBox, they'd need to compare PS2's library and sales figures from last year to XBox's from this year. Unfortunately the economy and consumer preferences (along with everything else on this planet) are in a constant state of flux.
So let's make love, not war, and let Sony sell PS2's and Microsoft sell XBoxes.:-)
Slashdot Mirror
How about the little card you get?
Right at the bottom it says "Not to be used as a form of identification".
Two words: Rainbow Six 3.
3 is not a word. 3 is a number.
Technically, so is Six. So, one word.
Rainbow Six 3, to make my original point, is playable in 16x9 widescreen.
How about another question:
What if the idiot running the magnet gun doesn't get his aim right? If they don't put any alternate propulsion source on the craft, how would they make course corrections? Careening off into space at 26000 miles an hour doesn't sound very fun to me.
Why does it matter if it has the hard drive in it coming from the factory? Odds are that if it has a DVD or other optical media drive, it will still run on some kind of IDE interface, making it easy to add a hard drive yourself if you're the kind of person who wants to hack the box to do the things you want to do with it.
Let's be honest - who actually uses the standard 8 gig hard drive when they're hacking their xbox anyway? Sure, for Linux it would be fine, but if you're serious about this, dropping another $40 on a cheap IDE drive is not going to be a big deal.
Why would you want to use WiFi over Bluetooth?
Yes, I suppose you can queue your print job from 300 feet away instead of 30, but you still have to walk to the printer to get it.
This is no different from any other phone system. As long as you're smart enough to put your switches and router on a UPS, you will have no problems. You see, the Cisco IP phone system relies pretty heavily on the use of Cisco powered ethernet switches. The wired models all get their power from the switches, and the Aironet access points you'll need for the WiFi phones also get their power from the switch. So, as long as you're smart enough to put your switches and router on a UPS, you will not have a problem.
And where did you find that piece of info?
:
Direct from About Windows Update
Windows Update Privacy Statement (Last Updated 10/15/2002)
Windows Update is committed to protecting your privacy. To provide you with the appropriate list of updates, Windows Update must collect a certain amount of configuration information from your computer. None of this configuration information can be used to identify you. This information includes:
* Operating-system version number
* Internet Explorer version number
* Version numbers of other software for which Windows Update provides updates
* Plug and Play ID numbers of hardware devices
* Region and Language setting
The configuration information collected is used only to determine the appropriate updates and to generate aggregate statistics. Windows Update does not collect your name, address, e-mail address, or any other form of personally identifiable information.
Windows Update also collects the Product ID and Product Key to confirm that you are running a validly licensed copy of Windows. A validly licensed copy of Windows ensures that you will receive on-going updates from Windows Update. The Product ID and Product Key are not retained beyond the end of the Windows Update session.
To provide you with the best possible service, Windows Update also tracks and records how many unique machines visit its site and whether the download and installation of specific updates succeeded or failed. In order to do this, the Windows operating system generates a Globally Unique Identifier (GUID) that is stored on your computer to uniquely identify it. The GUID does not contain any personally identifiable information and cannot be used to identify you. Windows Update records the GUID of the computer that attempted the download, the ID of the item that you attempted to download and install, and the configuration information listed above.
Hardly "We can scan your computer for any information we want, and there's not a damned thing you can do about it!" as you've implied.
As a part-time employee of a hobby shop, I can tell you that model rocketry as a hobby is practically dead. In a community of ~200,000 potential customers, I can count on one hand the number of times anyone purchased model rockets as a hobby. However, many area teachers still purchase bulk orders (we're talking hundreds of dollars worth) of rockets and engines for their science classes.
Yeah, this'll be secure, and I bet the ping times will rock my socks, too.
On the one hand, it will be nice for extending reasonable (ie, better than StarBand or something) broadband and cable TV services into rural areas where cabling is annoying at best. On the other hand, even Cisco Aironet wireless gear has frequent hiccups (and by hiccups I mean 4ms pings jumping to 600ms for a couple seconds every 5-10 minutes).
Maybe I'm wrong, and I hope I am, but every wireless option I've ever seen leaves a lot to be desired in terms of both security and latency.
That's what IP QoS is for. You just prioritize the bandwidth so that the (very minimal) requirements of your voice devices are easily met, regardless of any upstream cap...at least, any upstream cap I've ever seen. A cap under 12k would be pretty sick and wrong.
I absolutely see your point and won't argue against it at all...from a single-player perspective Halo has no replay value whatsoever. The difficulty settings just make it tougher to kill the monsters, they don't change the plot or the number of enemies.
To be honest though, getting everyone together to play Halo is more of a logistics problem than a financial one. Who has enough room on any given night, who is coming that has a TV that isn't too big for their car, etc. It's kind of a PITA to get everyone all in one place and playing, but once you do the fun goes on..and on...and on...
I don't know why I'm even replying to this...probably won't even get read, but oh well.
"that's rediculous, of course you can, the history of a game series isn't relevant when it comes to sales figures, you could compare how many where sold vs. how many consoles and get a percentage, that could be used for compariason, and essentaily eliminates the "history" part of it."
Obvious grammatical problems aside, by that "logic" it is utterly pointless for a movie studio to waste time making a sequel to a successful movie hoping to get more ticket sales, after all they would be just as successful making a brand new unrelated movie with a completely different plot! As for the comparing game vs console sales, did you even read the part of my post where I mentioned that since the PS2 has probably (at least) 6 times as many units in use as the XBox it would stand to reason that PS2 games would sell 6 to 1 to XBox games?
"I don't care if in a year from now the X-box may or may not have a better library at 2 then the PS2 did at 2. fact is when the X-box is 2 the PS2 will be 3 and have even more games. I want the one that gives me the most choice, and the best selection of good games."
Please quote the part of my post where I said the XBox has a bigger/better library than the PS2. What's that, you can't? It isn't there? I didn't think so. If you want to do a real comparison to find out which system is the winner regardless of how long they've existed, you should include ALL systems. You know what will win? Probably the GAME BOY. Does that mean I shouldn't buy an XBox OR a PS2 just because the Game Boy has been around for 13 years and has a library of hundreds upon hundreds of games?
"This is stupid point, yeah the market fluctuates, so what? you want to compare both completely independantly of several key variables! like release date, market conditions, disposable income..."
Again, did you even READ the part of my post that you QUOTED? Market conditions and disposable income BOTH fall under economy and/or consumer preferences (either one will fit almost any case, not to mention "along with everything else on this planet") and release date is directly addressed in my entire post!
As for which system is better, it's up to each individual to decide. I personally chose the XBox. I have owned both, and I went with the one that: Looks GREAT on my HDTV (where the PS2 just looked "okay"). Has optical audio output (yes I know the PS2 does too) and does surround sound realtime in games (Does the PS2? I can hear those crickets chirping). Has a much better controller design (maybe I'm in the minority here, I'm 6'1 and have huge hands). Has built-in broadband support and a lot better multi-system support than any console I know of. That's only a few of the reasons I made my choice.
Anyway like I said before, make love, not war, and let whoever wants an XBox get an XBox, and whoever wants a PS2 get a PS2.
Har. I didn't really think about that when I was writing it, good call.
I said prompted gatherings, as in, we all went to one place with the specific purpose of playing Halo. You can't assume every reader is high-school or college aged and has easy access to a ready-made network of PC's.
Yes, it's similar to a lan party or playing (insert favorite RTS/FPS here) at your high school, or in a college lab, but that's much different than when you're all packed into one living room. With a console game it's a much more social experience than if you have 12 PC's scattered around a house (or spaced 5 feet apart in a lab) and everybody's staring intently at their own screen with headphones on.
All I can say is once you've had 6-8 (or more) of your closest friends all packed in your apartment playing halo on 2+ XBoxes on 2+ TV's, you'll question it's replay value no longer.
From the weekend we first got XBoxes (first one in December) until the first weekend in March, every weekend at least one night was a Halo marathon. No other game in the history of gaming has prompted that many gatherings...not an electronic game, anyway.
You can't compare Halo sales to FFX sales, and you really shouldn't compare PS2 sales to XBox sales. I keep thinking this should be common sense but here are just a few reasons:
:-)
First, to refute your example, the Final Fantasy games are a best selling series that have been around for 15+ years. Halo is a single game with nowhere near that amount of history behind it. Lots of hype, and quite a few more TV spots than I've seen for any Final Fantasy game, but that doesn't go anywhere near as far, IMO.
Second, to be honest it's pointless from either perspective to compare current PS2 and XBox sales. If they'd had anywhere near the same launch date it would be an entirely different story, but the fact is they didn't. The PS2 has been on the market for well over a year longer than the XBox. How many XBoxes have been produced and purchased by consumers versus PS2's? When you probably have at least 5-6 times as many consoles in use as the competition, wouldn't it stand to reason that you'd sell about that many more copies of a (popular, well-hyped) new game?
I definitely don't disagree with your argument that the XBox needs more than just Halo. (Rallisport Challenge ROCKS but that's beside the point.) Yes, there are a lot more "Must-have" titles for the PS2 right now. But how many of them were available within 5 months of launch? The absolute first I can remember for the PS2 was Gran Turismo 3, and that was nearly a year after launch.
Bottom line, if the world were perfect and people wanted to compare PS2 to XBox, they'd need to compare PS2's library and sales figures from last year to XBox's from this year. Unfortunately the economy and consumer preferences (along with everything else on this planet) are in a constant state of flux.
So let's make love, not war, and let Sony sell PS2's and Microsoft sell XBoxes.
Sure hope it came with an upside-down sensor too. ;-)
Why not just hit one of your App buttons? Last I checked they pre-empted pretty much any game I tried.
Or they just hire someone for a lot less to modify some OCR software to turn wingdings into Courier New.