For what it's worth, I don't think Nintendo's been saying that we don't "need" more powerful hardware, better graphics, physics, AI, etc. The general point I've seen in some of their speeches, etc. has been that there needs to be MORE than those things. That is, just having more powerful hardware or more advanced physics isn't necessarily as important as coming up with new game ideas, etc.
It's not to say you can't do both...... Nintendo isn't saying they're going to go backwards on hardware or something. Just that their philosophy is that a focus should be on fun and enjoyable games, rather than just purely on hardware, etc. used to do more advanced versions of the same basic game types.
Regarding the second comment...... just because something is a sequel to an existing franchise doesn't mean it can't be something new. And conversely, something can be a "new" brand but still basically be just a rehash of old ideas. For the most part, when you look at some of the recent Zelda and Metroid sequels, for example, you see something where they take elements and brands that have existed before, but do pretty new things with them. I don't think I'd blame them though for doing something in the vein of an existing franchise though, rather than creating a completely new franchise, because it can make it a lot easier for someone to pay attention to a completely new game if it is part of a universe and history that people like.
Have you ever been to a Mac-user's forum? A quick glance at how rabid Mac users will get when something is bad or goes wrong (i.e. white spots on PowerBook screens, an OS X update that screws up their computers, etc.), they will go notally nuts with the criticism. In fact, I think they can be much harsher critics of Apple than anything else I've seen.
Fanboys will certainly defend Apple from generic "MACS SUXOR"-style bashing, but they seem to be more than willing to criticize Apple themselves on things they have legitimate beefs about.
If I recall correctly, George Lucas let his son come up with the character name, which might explain part of it. And frankly, given Star Wars' roots in classic sci-fi serials, the name does sort of it.
Right, I know he had done that before. But I think he did it again after the NeXT acquisition by Apple, selling all but one share of the stock he got in that deal.
To clarify, Jobs has received a significant amount of Apple stock as part of the acquisition of NeXT. Jobs sold all of the stock (when it was trading around $14 a share.......... I think he sold it for around $120 million), except for one share, which he kept. This was a while ago though, and was in between the time that Apple acquired NeXT, and when Apple brought him on as a strategic advisor..... and the rest is history (with Jobs eventually taking over Apple, bringing in his NeXT people, ousting the old Apple guard, etc.). It's probably the most interesting thing about all of that.......... even though Apple was the one acquiring NeXT, the end result was essentially NeXT overtaking what Apple was at the time.
There could be something to that actually. I remember a really good DS9 episode where Jake and Nog get picked up by the USS Valiant, a Defiant-class ship that has essentially been taken over by Red Squad, a group of elite cadets, since the regular officers were killed (they were given field commissions). They had been behind enemy lines for 8 months or so.
It would perhaps be a pretty interesting approach, and I remember watching that episode thinking that there could be potential for a Trek show based around it (which would have more potential for action than a show actually set at Starfleet Academy).
Huh? This whole thing would have never happened if Apple had decided to support Linux? Is that supposed to be some kind of thread? Any company who doesn't support Linux will be faced with threats and attempts to hurt their business?
For anyone curious, the lyrics to "XTC vs. Adam Ant" (might help clarify why it was chosen as a department title for this story):
XTC versus Adam Ant Content versus form Fighting for their place in rock and roll There is no right or wrong Just when you think it's finished With XTC on top Ant music, like a phoenix Flies back up the charts XTC versus Adam Ant Only one will survive Beatle-based pop versus new romantic History will decide XTC versus Adam Ant I can't tell you why Even the singer from Bow Wow Wow Can't make up her mind XTC versus Adam Ant Time is marching on XTC versus Adam Ant There is no right or wrong There is no right or wrong There is No right Or wrong
That and RTS and other types of strategy games. I just saw something that they are working on an Age of Empires game. The touchscreen, aside from being a gimmick, would be genuinely useful for these kinds of games as well, and are a unique feature that would make it an ideal platform for them.
Umm, right, that's what I'm talking about. They even use the term "Lego blocks" in their "about the film" section, but it's also clear they were using C3 Construction Blocks, at least partially.
I don't doubt they also bought lego blocks and used them for research and to aid in design, but they were clearly also using the C3 model sets for a lot of the Batman stuff.
Fair enough. I am probably looking at this more from the perspective of the company that makes LEGO blocks, but also the people that make the C3 Construction Blocks. I guess the C3 folks are used to people referring to their products as legos or whatever, but even so.
I wasn't so sure if marketing had much to do with it or not. As near as I can tell from reading the "about the film" thing, it didn't seem like they had any special arrangement with the people that make those Batman toys (which was what I originally assumed, that this student film was done perhaps with the idea of being a promotional video for the Batman C3 toyline).
I guess the bigger thing would be that with as much as LEGO wants to protect their trademark, they might have some issues with the terminology. But again, I guess it's natural that it's going to happen.
I remember seeing something on the "making of" that White Stripes video (actually, I think it might have been that VH1 "Pop-Up Videos" thing), and they pointed out that there were a couple of sequences in that video that were actually done with some type of animation other than stop-motion with real legos.
It's odd, they keep mentioning LEGOs, but these are using the C3 Construction Blocks (they even have a banner link to them). I know "LEGO" as a term has probably gone the way of kleenex and xerox as brand names that are now used to refer to just about anything that is at all like them, but it seems like since they are actually utilizing a specific company's products and model kits here, they would not refer to them as LEGOs.
Just off the top of my head, some of the more recent stuff that I would recommend and that I think has been very good (I won't go into long explanations here, google can help to explain more about a lot of these, and get a sense of whether they'd interest you):
Blankets by Craig Thompson BOP (Box Office Poison) by Alex Robinson Breakfast After Noon, Geisha, Slow News Day, Love Fights by Andi Watson Astro City by Kurt Busiek Superman: Secret Identity by Kurt Busiek Promethea by Alan Moore League of Extraordinary Gentlemen by Alan Moore Planetary by Warren Ellis Powers by Brian Michael Bendis Daredevil by Brian Michael Bendis Alias by Brian Michael Bendis Stray Bullets by David Lapham Queen & Country by Greg Rucka Gotham Central by Greg Rucka and Ed Brubaker Adam Strange by Andy Diggle The Losers by Andy Diggle Y: The Last Man by Bryan K. Vaughan Ex Machina by Bryan K. Vaughan Runaways by Bryan K. Vaughan Fables by Bill Willingham Lucifer by Mike Carey (especially if you were a Sandman fan) Fallen Angel by Peter David Madrox by Peter David Birds of Prey by Gail Simone JSA, Teen Titans, The Flash, Green Lantern by Geoff Johns Seven Soldiers of Victory (Grant Morrison's latest megaproject) We3 by Grant Morrison 100 Bullets by Brian Azzarello Astonishing X-Men by Joss Whedon The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman Invincible by Robert Kirkman Demo by Brian Wood Street Angel DC: The New Frontier by Darwyn Cooke Scurvy Dogs Ultra by the Luna Brothers
Just off the top of my head, some of the more recent stuff that I would recommend and that I think has been very good (I won't go into long explanations here, google can help to explain more about a lot of these, and get a sense of whether they'd interest you):
Blankets by Craig Thompson
BOP (Box Office Poison) by Alex Robinson
Breakfast After Noon, Geisha, Slow News Day, Love Fights by Andi Watson
Astro City by Kurt Busiek
Superman: Secret Identity by Kurt Busiek
Promethea by Alan Moore
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen by Alan Moore
Planetary by Warren Ellis
Powers by Brian Michael Bendis
Daredevil by Brian Michael Bendis
Alias by Brian Michael Bendis
Stray Bullets by David Lapham
Queen & Country by Greg Rucka
Gotham Central by Greg Rucka and Ed Brubaker
Adam Strange by Andy Diggle
The Losers by Andy Diggle
Y: The Last Man by Bryan K. Vaughan
Ex Machina by Bryan K. Vaughan
Runaways by Bryan K. Vaughan
Fables by Bill Willingham
Lucifer by Mike Carey (especially if you were a Sandman fan)
Fallen Angel by Peter David
Madrox by Peter David
Birds of Prey by Gail Simone
JSA, Teen Titans, The Flash, Green Lantern by Geoff Johns
Seven Soldiers of Victory (Grant Morrison's latest megaproject)
We3 by Grant Morrison
100 Bullets by Brian Azzarello
Astonishing X-Men by Joss Whedon
The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman
Invincible by Robert Kirkman
Demo by Brian Wood
Street Angel
DC: The New Frontier by Darwyn Cooke
Scurvy Dogs
Ultra by the Luna Brothers
The reason for the name is that the original Podcasting software was designed with the idea of synching the files to your iPod. Of course, it works with other mp3 players, but that is where the original name comes from, and it's just happened to stick.
And re: the first person's comment, this isn't a webcast. A webcast would be the idea of something broadcast over the web. The "unique" aspect of the podcasting stuff is supposed to be using the iPodder software to automatically subscribe to podcasts and sync them up to your portable mp3 player to listen to whenever. Which is different than just listening to a webcast online.
Yeah. I was more referring to some of the crazy stuff that happened during the 90's, where things like the debut issue of X-Men sold millions of copies, etc. Granted, a lot of those comics selling in the millions were largely to speculators who were buying tons of copies, never reading them, and hoping they'd be worth a lot of money (what they didn't count on, I guess, was the idea that the reason all those old comic books like the first appearance of Superman are worth so much, is because they are so rare. When you have millions of copies of something in circulation, you end up with stuff where a copy of that X-Men comic today is worth less than a buck.
Regarding your second comment though, I'd really disagree with that. I've been reading comics for a while, and I really think that this is actually an amazing period of time in regards to the number of really high quality comic books being put out. It's a shame that there aren't the sales to go along with it, but I really think that there is some excellent work being done in comic books right now in all sorts of genres.
Yeah. Although it is nice to see some more recent comics work getting turned into movies, hopefully based more just on the merits of the story itself. Just as an example, Bendis' "Jinx" crime comic is being turned into a movie starring Charlie Theron, and apparently a movie based on his "Powers" comic has been in the works for a while too. Paramount just acquired the rights to make a movie out of Robert Kirkman's new "Invincible" comic. And then some of the older stuff is being turned into movies again based more on the merits of the story than commercial recognizability (i.e. Alan Moore's "V for Vendetta").
Wait, comic books "flying of the shelves" year after year? Have you seen the current state of comic book sales? It's not like the 90's any more when people were buying millions of copies of comic books. These days, frankly, a comic book that sells 100,000 copies is considered a best seller.
I'm pretty sure the sales of comic books, in and of themselves, are not a major factor in Hollywood execs deciding to make movies out of them.
Excellent points. Actually, if I recall correctly, MS at the time, and MS to this day, makes a pretty nice amount from sales of Office for the Mac. Definitely much more than that $150 million "investment". And of course, when you think about it, that $150 million investment turned out pretty nicely for MS as well with as much as Apple's stock has gone up since those days.
Huh? I burn a lot of the songs I've bought to CD to listen to on my car all the time. It's incredibly easy and built into iTunes. I'm not sure why you'd compare it to being able to bypass the DVD region code system, as that is something that isn't encouraged or normally allowed without the end user going out of their way to get special software to do it.... whereas in iTunes it's built in, and it's part of the license terms to have permission to burn your music to CD. I don't see why this is something worth criticizing Apple for. They have to maintain SOME sort of DRM or they wouldn't be able to get the rights to sell the music in the first place.
You do realize that the purpose of that agreement (with the $150 million in non-voting stock, etc.) was actually related to an agreement on Apple's part not to sue Microsoft over illegally using QuickTime source code in MS Video for Windows (which MS had obtained from a third party company that had helped Apple with porting QuickTime to Windows). Apple realized, correctly, that suing MS would be pointless, and so instead got MS to agree to show a public sign of support for the company, and commit to developing Office and IE for the platform, which was very important (since it avoided the constant fear that MS could destroy the platform by simply ending support for it).
And how is MS using Apple to attack Linux by saying OS X is a better Unix than Linux? I've seen a variety of individuals say something to this effect, but I've never really seen it as an official company line from either MS or Apple.
The Gmini seemed like an OK device to me, but from playing around with it at the store, I didn't like the interface for navigating it. It seemed to be a lot less intuitive and require a lot more clicking and work. I still prefer the iPod over most of the other HD devices just because I much prefer it's physical hardware interface and it's actual on-screen display and appearance. The size of the Gmini is impressive though. But I don't think Apple's devices are overpriced......... there are cheaper devices out there, but I haven't generally found them to be as well designed or engineered.
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It's not to say you can't do both...... Nintendo isn't saying they're going to go backwards on hardware or something. Just that their philosophy is that a focus should be on fun and enjoyable games, rather than just purely on hardware, etc. used to do more advanced versions of the same basic game types.
Regarding the second comment...... just because something is a sequel to an existing franchise doesn't mean it can't be something new. And conversely, something can be a "new" brand but still basically be just a rehash of old ideas. For the most part, when you look at some of the recent Zelda and Metroid sequels, for example, you see something where they take elements and brands that have existed before, but do pretty new things with them. I don't think I'd blame them though for doing something in the vein of an existing franchise though, rather than creating a completely new franchise, because it can make it a lot easier for someone to pay attention to a completely new game if it is part of a universe and history that people like.
-Tom
Fanboys will certainly defend Apple from generic "MACS SUXOR"-style bashing, but they seem to be more than willing to criticize Apple themselves on things they have legitimate beefs about.
-Tom
If I recall correctly, George Lucas let his son come up with the character name, which might explain part of it. And frankly, given Star Wars' roots in classic sci-fi serials, the name does sort of it.
Hrmm, and how is that different from the typical IRC experience?
-Tom
To clarify, Jobs has received a significant amount of Apple stock as part of the acquisition of NeXT. Jobs sold all of the stock (when it was trading around $14 a share.......... I think he sold it for around $120 million), except for one share, which he kept. This was a while ago though, and was in between the time that Apple acquired NeXT, and when Apple brought him on as a strategic advisor..... and the rest is history (with Jobs eventually taking over Apple, bringing in his NeXT people, ousting the old Apple guard, etc.). It's probably the most interesting thing about all of that.......... even though Apple was the one acquiring NeXT, the end result was essentially NeXT overtaking what Apple was at the time.
It would perhaps be a pretty interesting approach, and I remember watching that episode thinking that there could be potential for a Trek show based around it (which would have more potential for action than a show actually set at Starfleet Academy).
Huh? This whole thing would have never happened if Apple had decided to support Linux? Is that supposed to be some kind of thread? Any company who doesn't support Linux will be faced with threats and attempts to hurt their business?
For anyone curious, the lyrics to "XTC vs. Adam Ant" (might help clarify why it was chosen as a department title for this story):
XTC versus Adam Ant
Content versus form
Fighting for their place in rock and roll
There is no right or wrong
Just when you think it's finished
With XTC on top
Ant music, like a phoenix
Flies back up the charts
XTC versus Adam Ant
Only one will survive
Beatle-based pop versus new romantic
History will decide
XTC versus Adam Ant
I can't tell you why
Even the singer from Bow Wow Wow
Can't make up her mind
XTC versus Adam Ant
Time is marching on
XTC versus Adam Ant
There is no right or wrong
There is no right or wrong
There is
No right
Or wrong
That and RTS and other types of strategy games. I just saw something that they are working on an Age of Empires game. The touchscreen, aside from being a gimmick, would be genuinely useful for these kinds of games as well, and are a unique feature that would make it an ideal platform for them.
I don't doubt they also bought lego blocks and used them for research and to aid in design, but they were clearly also using the C3 model sets for a lot of the Batman stuff.
-Tom
I wasn't so sure if marketing had much to do with it or not. As near as I can tell from reading the "about the film" thing, it didn't seem like they had any special arrangement with the people that make those Batman toys (which was what I originally assumed, that this student film was done perhaps with the idea of being a promotional video for the Batman C3 toyline).
I guess the bigger thing would be that with as much as LEGO wants to protect their trademark, they might have some issues with the terminology. But again, I guess it's natural that it's going to happen.
-Tom
I remember seeing something on the "making of" that White Stripes video (actually, I think it might have been that VH1 "Pop-Up Videos" thing), and they pointed out that there were a couple of sequences in that video that were actually done with some type of animation other than stop-motion with real legos.
It's odd, they keep mentioning LEGOs, but these are using the C3 Construction Blocks (they even have a banner link to them). I know "LEGO" as a term has probably gone the way of kleenex and xerox as brand names that are now used to refer to just about anything that is at all like them, but it seems like since they are actually utilizing a specific company's products and model kits here, they would not refer to them as LEGOs.
Ergh, sorry for no linebreaks..... I'm reposting:
Just off the top of my head, some of the more recent stuff that I would recommend and that I think has been very good (I won't go into long explanations here, google can help to explain more about a lot of these, and get a sense of whether they'd interest you):
Blankets by Craig Thompson
BOP (Box Office Poison) by Alex Robinson
Breakfast After Noon, Geisha, Slow News Day, Love Fights by Andi Watson
Astro City by Kurt Busiek
Superman: Secret Identity by Kurt Busiek
Promethea by Alan Moore
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen by Alan Moore
Planetary by Warren Ellis
Powers by Brian Michael Bendis
Daredevil by Brian Michael Bendis
Alias by Brian Michael Bendis
Stray Bullets by David Lapham
Queen & Country by Greg Rucka
Gotham Central by Greg Rucka and Ed Brubaker
Adam Strange by Andy Diggle
The Losers by Andy Diggle
Y: The Last Man by Bryan K. Vaughan
Ex Machina by Bryan K. Vaughan
Runaways by Bryan K. Vaughan
Fables by Bill Willingham
Lucifer by Mike Carey (especially if you were a Sandman fan)
Fallen Angel by Peter David
Madrox by Peter David
Birds of Prey by Gail Simone
JSA, Teen Titans, The Flash, Green Lantern by Geoff Johns
Seven Soldiers of Victory (Grant Morrison's latest megaproject)
We3 by Grant Morrison
100 Bullets by Brian Azzarello
Astonishing X-Men by Joss Whedon
The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman
Invincible by Robert Kirkman
Demo by Brian Wood
Street Angel
DC: The New Frontier by Darwyn Cooke
Scurvy Dogs
Ultra by the Luna Brothers
Just off the top of my head, some of the more recent stuff that I would recommend and that I think has been very good (I won't go into long explanations here, google can help to explain more about a lot of these, and get a sense of whether they'd interest you): Blankets by Craig Thompson BOP (Box Office Poison) by Alex Robinson Breakfast After Noon, Geisha, Slow News Day, Love Fights by Andi Watson Astro City by Kurt Busiek Superman: Secret Identity by Kurt Busiek Promethea by Alan Moore League of Extraordinary Gentlemen by Alan Moore Planetary by Warren Ellis Powers by Brian Michael Bendis Daredevil by Brian Michael Bendis Alias by Brian Michael Bendis Stray Bullets by David Lapham Queen & Country by Greg Rucka Gotham Central by Greg Rucka and Ed Brubaker Adam Strange by Andy Diggle The Losers by Andy Diggle Y: The Last Man by Bryan K. Vaughan Ex Machina by Bryan K. Vaughan Runaways by Bryan K. Vaughan Fables by Bill Willingham Lucifer by Mike Carey (especially if you were a Sandman fan) Fallen Angel by Peter David Madrox by Peter David Birds of Prey by Gail Simone JSA, Teen Titans, The Flash, Green Lantern by Geoff Johns Seven Soldiers of Victory (Grant Morrison's latest megaproject) We3 by Grant Morrison 100 Bullets by Brian Azzarello Astonishing X-Men by Joss Whedon The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman Invincible by Robert Kirkman Demo by Brian Wood Street Angel DC: The New Frontier by Darwyn Cooke Scurvy Dogs Ultra by the Luna Brothers
And re: the first person's comment, this isn't a webcast. A webcast would be the idea of something broadcast over the web. The "unique" aspect of the podcasting stuff is supposed to be using the iPodder software to automatically subscribe to podcasts and sync them up to your portable mp3 player to listen to whenever. Which is different than just listening to a webcast online.
-Tom
Regarding your second comment though, I'd really disagree with that. I've been reading comics for a while, and I really think that this is actually an amazing period of time in regards to the number of really high quality comic books being put out. It's a shame that there aren't the sales to go along with it, but I really think that there is some excellent work being done in comic books right now in all sorts of genres.
Yeah. Although it is nice to see some more recent comics work getting turned into movies, hopefully based more just on the merits of the story itself. Just as an example, Bendis' "Jinx" crime comic is being turned into a movie starring Charlie Theron, and apparently a movie based on his "Powers" comic has been in the works for a while too. Paramount just acquired the rights to make a movie out of Robert Kirkman's new "Invincible" comic. And then some of the older stuff is being turned into movies again based more on the merits of the story than commercial recognizability (i.e. Alan Moore's "V for Vendetta").
I'm pretty sure the sales of comic books, in and of themselves, are not a major factor in Hollywood execs deciding to make movies out of them.
-Tom
Excellent points. Actually, if I recall correctly, MS at the time, and MS to this day, makes a pretty nice amount from sales of Office for the Mac. Definitely much more than that $150 million "investment". And of course, when you think about it, that $150 million investment turned out pretty nicely for MS as well with as much as Apple's stock has gone up since those days.
Huh? I burn a lot of the songs I've bought to CD to listen to on my car all the time. It's incredibly easy and built into iTunes. I'm not sure why you'd compare it to being able to bypass the DVD region code system, as that is something that isn't encouraged or normally allowed without the end user going out of their way to get special software to do it.... whereas in iTunes it's built in, and it's part of the license terms to have permission to burn your music to CD. I don't see why this is something worth criticizing Apple for. They have to maintain SOME sort of DRM or they wouldn't be able to get the rights to sell the music in the first place.
iTunes Music Store purchases can of course be burnt to CD, at which point they can play on just about anything.
And how is MS using Apple to attack Linux by saying OS X is a better Unix than Linux? I've seen a variety of individuals say something to this effect, but I've never really seen it as an official company line from either MS or Apple.
The Gmini seemed like an OK device to me, but from playing around with it at the store, I didn't like the interface for navigating it. It seemed to be a lot less intuitive and require a lot more clicking and work. I still prefer the iPod over most of the other HD devices just because I much prefer it's physical hardware interface and it's actual on-screen display and appearance. The size of the Gmini is impressive though. But I don't think Apple's devices are overpriced......... there are cheaper devices out there, but I haven't generally found them to be as well designed or engineered.