Ian Lee may be biased towards the 360, (as I am), but to give the man his due he has hosted various TV programs for gamers here in the UK and was instrumental in setting up the largest exhibition on computer games here which lead to a proper archive being setup. Unfortunately he's also the person that launched Ricky Gervais' career. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iain_Lee
I have a HD cable PVR and a 720p HDTV. My SD feed is greatly improved by the HD PVR solely because it's a better specced box than the standard cable box provided by Virgin Media in the UK.
I believe it is the same here in the UK with the Sky (Fox) satellite boxes; the "HD Ready PVR" has far better decoders than the standard sat receivers on the SD channels as well as the superior digital out HDMI. [Shame its encumbered by the usual DRM]
So a phone poll asking users would be flawed if this is the case in the polls geographiocal catch area.
And they didn't show any footage of the "vintage" comic book characters (i.e. the first generation Watchmen) so bummer on that.
http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/Images/moviestills/w/watchmen/17.jpg
"A look at the Minutemen from 1940 in Watchmen. Fans of the comic will appreciate this one much more, that's APOLLONIA VANOVA as Silhouette, NIALL MATER as Mothman, DAN PAYNE as Dollar Bill, CLINT CARLETON as the original Nite Owl, DARYL SCHEELER as Captain Metropolis, CARLA GUGINO as the original Silk Spectre, GLENN ENNIS as Hooded Justice and (kneeling) JEFFREY DEAN MORGAN as The Comedian."
No it's incredibly shoddy coding that could be done on any platform.
Here's an example on how to encrypt URL data in ASP:
Using this encryption, you can transform a standard QueryString like: /SomePage.asp?SL=ActiveServerPages&N1=4GuysFromRolla.com&N2=FreeURL.com
to utter goobledegook, something that the web surfer will have no idea what variables and values are being passed along through the QueryString: /SomePage.asp?crypt=w%96%9Ei%7D%9D%AE%91%B7%ACf%86%C4%AC%CA%90%96c%A1%9D%8F%89%B2z%92U%87Z%95%CF%A6%A5i%BE%96%9C%91%B9%AA%A5%97d%BE%BF%95gwb%8C%93%B7%8A%88%A7%A2%94h%B8%A9%AA
...I will urinate myself while convulsing with laughter if a new blade appears on xbox live offering a very, very similar virtual environment. Well at least they have the servers to run such a venture.
One year after release and the xbox360 is still a secure console. With hacks falling into two categories: 1) Flashing the BIOS on the optical drive to report back home copied media is shop bought. 2) Buying an old 360, and upgrading the firmware to a certain out of date version and installing linux.
Nobody has got anywhere near hacking the actual OS on the machine to subvert features.
There was also TAOS released in 1992 by the Tao Group which advocated an OS that was based on a Virtual Machine, with emulators for this virtual processor available for a plethora of platforms including the 680x0, x86, ARM, MIPS (for Sony's PS1) and Inmos transputers.
Further reading here
Another interesting take on this idea was the Nuon from VM Labs who developed a games machine on a chip that could be added to DVD players. Around eight Nuon DVD decks were released but only Jeff Minter's Tempest 3000 and the VLM-2 lightsynth were ever released along with a handful of Nuon enhanced DVD titles. (Both these titles migrated to the xbox360)
"Agreed... after Googling it, you're right, it does look like a pretty nice phone, and only about 50% heavier than the iPhone."
That's funny because it's only 27.1% heavier than the iPhone.
And the final insult is you are stuck paying for a crappies online experience with Microsoft's weak online service that can't handle dedicated servers and free modding like the PS3 and PC online does.
Actually XboxLive can handle third party dedicated servers, EA for instance runs their own servers on Live. And here lies the problem...
EA have actually shutdown online support for a few of their xbox360, (and a lot of xbox), titles whereas Microsoft continue supporting all Live titles on their servers. http://arstechnica.com/journals/thumbs.ars/2007/08 /03/ea-shuts-the-door-on-online-play-for-even-more -catalog-games
"The hardware isn't as good as PCs can be. You are limited to the hardware the console company can afford to put in there rather then what you can afford to buy. You don't get the cutting edge graphics that you do on PCs and until recently the resolution wasn't even close either."
Not many PCs around with the processing power of the PS3 or even the xbox360. Both have very high end graphic cards on dedicated buses. The only thing PCs excel in hardware against the current two nextgen consoles is memory and storage, but even then the memory on the consoles is incredibly fast.
I will grant you that console users can't turn off every feature to grab more FPS, but hey they don't need to as everyones playing on an equal footing.
The xbox360 hardrive issue is surmountable. Multiple discs or compressed data gets round 'problems' with DVD storage.
The PS3 has a problem that can't be solved as easily: half the RAM. This will affect titles, in fact already has as Ubisoft have pulled Splinter Cell Conviction. Now the PS3 cell architecture with the right progarmming team can work wonders with the physics model this title has, but there isn't enough RAM on the PS3 to implement it. http://mygen.com.au/article.php?page_id=9696017911 0181074&format=2&se_id=29
(Australian translation of Finnish magazine with interview)
As I said the xbox360 hardrive and DVD issues are surmountable, unfortunatly the PS3 memory issue isn't.
The xbox360 features 512 MiB of GDDR3 RAM clocked at 700 megahertz with an effective transmission rate of 1.4 GHz on a 128-bit bus.
The PS3 has 256 MiB GDDR3 VRAM clocked at 550 MHz with an effective transmission rate of 1.3 GHz and the XDR main memory via the
CPU.
A) He's only ever had one game cancelled. "Unity". And that was because it was over ambitious for a console which had reached the end of it's life. (Read the article, it's all there)
B) Space Giraffe is going to be released within a matter of weeks. His blog and others have vid of the beta working, details of the main code being done, just more levels being added, and the code has been in M$s hands for a month now. (And that info is all available from the wiki link above too)
I'd point out ASCII Corporation/Brøderbund's Lode Runner. On several of the platforms it was published on it came with a level editor built in. The Famicom version even supported a floppy disk drive to share with friends.
It's all about playability, and changing the game mechanics to fit the game. And fluffy animals.
Jeff is one of the few people who will take a classic game gendre and make his version play different. For instance Sheep in Space for the C64 was a Defender clone. Until you pushed the joystick upwards and your sheep flipped upside down and the gravity started pulling him towards the land speeding above.
This is the step he's taken with Space Giraffe. Underneath it looks like his past work on Tempest, but the gameplay is different. Try playing it like Tempest and you'll get swamped in no time at all, learn the new method and you'll be hooked for life.
Fluffy animals?
Well that's his life, and in the games he gets off with it because it's cute, he's eccentric, and his coding is so good that your fluffy animal is the best thing you've flown!
Slashdot Mirror
Ian Lee may be biased towards the 360, (as I am), but to give the man his due he has hosted various TV programs for gamers here in the UK and was instrumental in setting up the largest exhibition on computer games here which lead to a proper archive being setup. Unfortunately he's also the person that launched Ricky Gervais' career.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iain_Lee
Yes. It's just called RAGE internally. Table Tennis on the 360 was the first use, then GTA4 and Midnight Club LA
I have a HD cable PVR and a 720p HDTV. My SD feed is greatly improved by the HD PVR solely because it's a better specced box than the standard cable box provided by Virgin Media in the UK.
I believe it is the same here in the UK with the Sky (Fox) satellite boxes; the "HD Ready PVR" has far better decoders than the standard sat receivers on the SD channels as well as the superior digital out HDMI. [Shame its encumbered by the usual DRM]
So a phone poll asking users would be flawed if this is the case in the polls geographiocal catch area.
Mixed feelings sums it up for me as well!
And they didn't show any footage of the "vintage" comic book characters (i.e. the first generation Watchmen) so bummer on that.
http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/Images/moviestills/w/watchmen/17.jpg
"A look at the Minutemen from 1940 in Watchmen. Fans of the comic will appreciate this one much more, that's APOLLONIA VANOVA as Silhouette, NIALL MATER as Mothman, DAN PAYNE as Dollar Bill, CLINT CARLETON as the original Nite Owl, DARYL SCHEELER as Captain Metropolis, CARLA GUGINO as the original Silk Spectre, GLENN ENNIS as Hooded Justice and (kneeling) JEFFREY DEAN MORGAN as The Comedian."
I remember saving up to buy a secondhand Vectrex. And apart from a broken controller and a hefty electric shock, loved the system.
No it's incredibly shoddy coding that could be done on any platform.
/SomePage.asp?SL=ActiveServerPages&N1=4GuysFromRolla.com&N2=FreeURL.com
/SomePage.asp?crypt=w%96%9Ei%7D%9D%AE%91%B7%ACf%86%C4%AC%CA%90%96c%A1%9D%8F%89%B2z%92U%87Z%95%CF%A6%A5i%BE%96%9C%91%B9%AA%A5%97d%BE%BF%95gwb%8C%93%B7%8A%88%A7%A2%94h%B8%A9%AA
Here's an example on how to encrypt URL data in ASP:
Using this encryption, you can transform a standard QueryString like:
to utter goobledegook, something that the web surfer will have no idea what variables and values are being passed along through the QueryString:
Code sample is here:
http://www.4guysfromrolla.com/webtech/code/qs.enc.asp.html
...I will urinate myself while convulsing with laughter if a new blade appears on xbox live offering a very, very similar virtual environment. Well at least they have the servers to run such a venture.
I'll take your cash.
One year after release and the xbox360 is still a secure console. With hacks falling into two categories:
1) Flashing the BIOS on the optical drive to report back home copied media is shop bought.
2) Buying an old 360, and upgrading the firmware to a certain out of date version and installing linux.
Nobody has got anywhere near hacking the actual OS on the machine to subvert features.
There was also TAOS released in 1992 by the Tao Group which advocated an OS that was based on a Virtual Machine, with emulators for this virtual processor available for a plethora of platforms including the 680x0, x86, ARM, MIPS (for Sony's PS1) and Inmos transputers.
Further reading here
Another interesting take on this idea was the Nuon from VM Labs who developed a games machine on a chip that could be added to DVD players. Around eight Nuon DVD decks were released but only Jeff Minter's Tempest 3000 and the VLM-2 lightsynth were ever released along with a handful of Nuon enhanced DVD titles. (Both these titles migrated to the xbox360)
480p isn't HD capable. By that reasoning my old Atari Jaguar is HD capable as my HDTV can display it.
"Agreed... after Googling it, you're right, it does look like a pretty nice phone, and only about 50% heavier than the iPhone."
That's funny because it's only 27.1% heavier than the iPhone.
The quote is from here for everyone who cannot believe he'd actually make such a comment: http://gamepolitics.com/2007/08/15/dr-phil-invited -me-says-jack-thompson/#comment-144717
And the final insult is you are stuck paying for a crappies online experience with Microsoft's weak online service that can't handle dedicated servers and free modding like the PS3 and PC online does.8 /03/ea-shuts-the-door-on-online-play-for-even-more -catalog-games
Actually XboxLive can handle third party dedicated servers, EA for instance runs their own servers on Live. And here lies the problem...
EA have actually shutdown online support for a few of their xbox360, (and a lot of xbox), titles whereas Microsoft continue supporting all Live titles on their servers.
http://arstechnica.com/journals/thumbs.ars/2007/0
"Jaffe who?"
Look very carefully at the name of the FBI agent in that piece....
"The hardware isn't as good as PCs can be. You are limited to the hardware the console company can afford to put in there rather then what you can afford to buy. You don't get the cutting edge graphics that you do on PCs and until recently the resolution wasn't even close either."
Not many PCs around with the processing power of the PS3 or even the xbox360. Both have very high end graphic cards on dedicated buses. The only thing PCs excel in hardware against the current two nextgen consoles is memory and storage, but even then the memory on the consoles is incredibly fast.
I will grant you that console users can't turn off every feature to grab more FPS, but hey they don't need to as everyones playing on an equal footing.
The xbox360 hardrive issue is surmountable. Multiple discs or compressed data gets round 'problems' with DVD storage.
1 0181074&format=2&se_id=29
The PS3 has a problem that can't be solved as easily: half the RAM. This will affect titles, in fact already has as Ubisoft have pulled Splinter Cell Conviction. Now the PS3 cell architecture with the right progarmming team can work wonders with the physics model this title has, but there isn't enough RAM on the PS3 to implement it.
http://mygen.com.au/article.php?page_id=969601791
(Australian translation of Finnish magazine with interview)
As I said the xbox360 hardrive and DVD issues are surmountable, unfortunatly the PS3 memory issue isn't.
The xbox360 features 512 MiB of GDDR3 RAM clocked at 700 megahertz with an effective transmission rate of 1.4 GHz on a 128-bit bus.
The PS3 has 256 MiB GDDR3 VRAM clocked at 550 MHz with an effective transmission rate of 1.3 GHz and the XDR main memory via the CPU.
Finnish magazine has an interview with Ubisoft saying Splinter Cell Conviction has been pulled from the PS3.1 0181074&format=2&se_id=29
English translation and some lovely scans of the screenshots.
http://mygen.com.au/article.php?page_id=969601791
Won't be the only title that gets dropped due to having half the ram of the xbox360.
Considering the amount of Americans who registered a 2nd account to get Gran Turismo HD which Sony ended up releasing worldwide...
One original programmer from Elliot Automation.
/. and sees me trying to pimp him out.
Only one previous owner.
Has wear and tear.
I am so dead if my Dad finds
It's not a new controller its a keyboard that fits snugly into your existing controller http://www.joystiq.com/media/2007/04/xbox360-qwert y-07-425px.jpg
A) He's only ever had one game cancelled. "Unity". And that was because it was over ambitious for a console which had reached the end of it's life. (Read the article, it's all there)
B) Space Giraffe is going to be released within a matter of weeks. His blog and others have vid of the beta working, details of the main code being done, just more levels being added, and the code has been in M$s hands for a month now. (And that info is all available from the wiki link above too)
I'd point out ASCII Corporation/Brøderbund's Lode Runner. On several of the platforms it was published on it came with a level editor built in. The Famicom version even supported a floppy disk drive to share with friends.
It's all about playability, and changing the game mechanics to fit the game. And fluffy animals. Jeff is one of the few people who will take a classic game gendre and make his version play different. For instance Sheep in Space for the C64 was a Defender clone. Until you pushed the joystick upwards and your sheep flipped upside down and the gravity started pulling him towards the land speeding above. This is the step he's taken with Space Giraffe. Underneath it looks like his past work on Tempest, but the gameplay is different. Try playing it like Tempest and you'll get swamped in no time at all, learn the new method and you'll be hooked for life. Fluffy animals? Well that's his life, and in the games he gets off with it because it's cute, he's eccentric, and his coding is so good that your fluffy animal is the best thing you've flown!
Tempest 2000 on the Atari Jaguar, (or the version for the Nuon), which is what Space Giraffe in the article has evolved from.