Hrmm, were you trying to be funny by misspelling "finash" and "infinate" in your reply? At first glance it does look like you were intentionally misspelling them, but on second thought I'm not so sure.
If you look on this page: http://www.apple.com/imac/design.html
They discuss how they did put a lot of effort into designing it so that the stand connects to it's center of gravity so it should be pretty stable (knowing Apple, this is the kind of thing they probably spent a tremendous amount of time on).
Generally it primarily takes a moron to continue insisting on the same thing even after evidence shows it not to be true, and to continue doing the same thing anyway. Morons show an incapacity to learn from their mistakes, or admit when they were wrong about something. It is more difficult to listen to new evidence and admit you are wrong about something.
I'm not sure about this Dell, or what it's for, but I will say I used to also not like the idea of a front door on the drive bays....... but I recently bought an Antec SLK-3700BQE (which is supposed to be a "quiet" case)..... I was sure I would just remove the front drive bay door, but as it turns out, it really does work to cut the noise level down. It's not a big deal to keep it open when I want, but when I do close it, it results in a noticeable decrease in the noise from the drives, so I am now a fan of this idea.
Whatever happened to them anyway? I know they haven't had any new albums in a while, and last I checked they seemed to be doing various solo things. But are they permanently broken up, or just taking a long break, or what?
You bring up some good points, but you failed to mention one of the most critically important things when it comes to a hard drive music player........ the hardware and software user interface.
So many people seem to assume that if you have a built in radio and other features, or better battery life, that it "kills" the iPod. But it isn't enough for everyone.
Not everyone buys iPods and loves them because of just the style. I personally love the iPod because of the brilliant hardware interface for controlling and navigating through a ton of music, and I also love the integration with iTunes, which I prefer much more over the various software packages (or none at all) that I would use with other players.
I only bring this up because you seem to be saying that the iPod is only "winning" because it is stylish and sexy, and that you can't seem to grasp why some people still like the iPod and aren't all rushing out to buy the Creative Zens or iRiver iHP's or whatever other devices.
Actually, isn't it the other way around? I think Apple has made it clear that the iTunes Music Store itself is barely, if at all, profitable..... I always got the impression that they saw it as a way to drive sales of the iPod (same with giving away the iTunes player for free).
Apple makes a lot more money selling iPods than they do selling songs on the iTMS.
-Tom
Re:bad music . . . dominates the airwaves
on
TMBG on DRM
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· Score: 1
Hrm, is this supposed to be flamebait? Or are you just one of those people who assumes that all of TMBG's music is along the lines of songs like Particle Man and Istanbul (Not Constantinople)? For what it's worth, TMBG is one of the most musically and creatively diverse bands around. Granted, their novelty songs have been pretty popular (and those two songs in particular brought a lot of attention from their use in that Tiny Toons episode).......... but they have a lot more variety than that....... in fact, some of their best songs are not "funny" songs...... and some of the best of their recent stuff has been very emotional and touching stuff (like "Memo to Human Resources").
Seems like just about everyone is assuming that this is going to be just like Morrowind. Read the posts linked in the article above, and you'll see that Bethesda is making it clear that they aren't just going to be sticking Fallout stuff into the Morrowind engine. It's way too early to tell what they're going to do with it, and until we know more, it would be a good idea to avoid jumping to all these conclusions.
True, but then again, this has ALWAYS been the case, and it is not unique to anime. For every really good movie that is made, 10 or more crappy ones come out. For every good comic book, 10 or more crappy ones come out. For every good book, probably 100 crappy ones are published.
And in terms of the decisions of business and marketing guys.... this has been true for a while too....... even in the 60's and 70's a lot of anime was made just to sell toys and merchandise. But what is notable are the gems that do pop up.
What you'll find is that there's a lot of junk made, but then the shining gems from the top talents.......... often these don't make the kind of money (although the boom in "otaku anime" in other countries has helped a lot, as it creates more of a market).
-Tom
I won't touch the comment about Cowboy Bebop (everyone's free to their opinion)......... but the larger point is right..... there's still plenty of good anime being made. In very recent memory, I would point to recent stuff like Kaze no Yojimbo (an anime re-imaging of Kurosawa's Yojimbo movie), Kino no Tabi, Macross Zero, Kaleidostar, etc. There's a lot of quality stuff still being done, and I think there always will be..... it will be in the minority compared to a lot of crap and junk being made, but this is true of pretty much everything, not just anime.
You know, it IS possible to have originality within an existing franchise. It doesn't seem fair to me to see people instantly dismiss any game as unoriginal just because it happens to use existing characters, stories, settings, etc. Just as an example, Metroid Prime was part of a "franchise", but that doesn't mean that particular game wasn't original in many ways. Not to say that all of these games will be completely groundbreaking...... the Animal Crossing and Mario Kart games look to be pretty similar to what we've seen from those franchises, and the new Mario games look more like extensions on existing ideas (although the SMB game looks like it might be doing some pretty unique stuff).
But anyway, the point being.... an existing franchise can still be the basis for very innovative games.
As much as people complain about all the sequels, the reality is, it is infinitely easier to sell a game, new ideas or not, if it builds on a franchise people already like. Just as with movies, when you have a built-in fanbase, it makes sense to use it. As unfortunate as it is, it becomes a lot more difficult to be successful with a wildly new game if the characters and setting and world are completely known..... certainly not impossible, but it IS more difficult.
If it means that Nintendo develops some very cool new game but puts Mario in it, rather than some unknown character, in order to help make sure it does well, I say more power to them.
So wait, you actually mail a dollar to every artist whose albums you download? Which artists have you sent those dollars to, and to whom do you send them (i.e. their managers, someone in the band directly, what?)?
Regarding the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The guys who came up with the original comic book (that later spurned the cartoons, games, etc.) were huge fans of the comic book "Daredevil" and the Frank Miller comic book "Ronin". They sort of combined various elements of those stories and came up with the Mutant Ninja Turtles idea (some of the references in the show were a bit more obvious than others.... i.e. Daredevil was trained by a guy named "Stick", so the Ninja Turtles' sensei was named "Splinter"..... Daredevil fought against a group called "The Hand", so the Ninja Turtles went up against "The Foot").
Hrmm....... somehow I really doubt you've actually READ the full text that the Machiavelli quote comes from (more likely you found the quote and figured it met your purposes).
But as far as Machiavelli goes, that particular quote is one of the most commonly taken out of context. If you do ever bother to read the rest of the text, you'll find that Machiavelli goes on to say that, on balance, it is still good to try and be loved, and to not go out of your way to do things that make you feared, as it is much easier to rule and get what you want if people at least generally like you. There's a lot more complexity to a lot of what Machiavelli wrote, including that one, than can be gleened from a simple one line quote.
Hrmm, I agree screwing up astrology is always a good thing. But what if this HELPS them? What if now astrologers defend all their false "predictions" by explaining that it was in fact Sedna's influence that skewed the results?
Umm, I didn't say he was "less important".... I said that the fact that he would disown his son over these movies reflects very poorly on him. Disowning your own son is very serious, and I think it makes Christopher Tolkien look pretty bad to have done it.
No, Pixar has their own directors, writers, etc. They are smart enough to know that technology is only part of making a good movie, and so they focus on good stories and writing too..... something Disney once also knew long ago.
The main reason the prices have generally stayed the same is that they have been upping the capacity considerably (while also making some design changes, etc..... i.e. the original iPod had a moving scrolling wheel, whereas newer iPods have replaced this moving part with a solid state scroll wheel that won't get loose or let anything into the internals). Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I actually think when the 5 gig iPod FIRST debuted it might have actually been at the $499 price. However, even if it started out at $299, it's definitely pretty different from what you get for the same amount now.
Overpriced compared to WHAT? The Rio Nitrus with the same kind of mini 4gig HD also costs $250. Why is everyone jumping down Apple's throat? It seems like there is this assumption that this device should cost $150, and that it's just Apple adding on a huge price sticker for the hell of it. But I haven't heard anyone bash Rio for the same thing.
Fair enough......... I was just mainly getting at the basic idea that "original" implies a game not part of an existing franchise or story..... even if it's a prequel and therefore the "first"........ I wouldn't describe it as original any more than I would say that Episode 1: The Phantom Menace was "original" just because it was the first in the story.
Anyway, this is just nitpicking anyway, and I don't mean to since I did love Xenosaga quite a bit....... and it's probably goofy of me to even bring this up since they have gone out of their way to try and say it is still a "new" series (even if it is more just for legal reasons).
Viewtiful Joe and Ikaruga for the GameCube are clearly 2D (although with some fancy visual effects, including some 3d effects). The GBA has also been home to some great original 2D games (i.e. Advance Wars 2 and Fire Emblem, and plenty of other stuff)
I can't speak on the PS2 since none of the PS2 games I bought this year were 2D.
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Hrmm, were you trying to be funny by misspelling "finash" and "infinate" in your reply? At first glance it does look like you were intentionally misspelling them, but on second thought I'm not so sure.
They discuss how they did put a lot of effort into designing it so that the stand connects to it's center of gravity so it should be pretty stable (knowing Apple, this is the kind of thing they probably spent a tremendous amount of time on).
-Tom
Generally it primarily takes a moron to continue insisting on the same thing even after evidence shows it not to be true, and to continue doing the same thing anyway. Morons show an incapacity to learn from their mistakes, or admit when they were wrong about something. It is more difficult to listen to new evidence and admit you are wrong about something.
I'm not sure about this Dell, or what it's for, but I will say I used to also not like the idea of a front door on the drive bays....... but I recently bought an Antec SLK-3700BQE (which is supposed to be a "quiet" case)..... I was sure I would just remove the front drive bay door, but as it turns out, it really does work to cut the noise level down. It's not a big deal to keep it open when I want, but when I do close it, it results in a noticeable decrease in the noise from the drives, so I am now a fan of this idea.
Whatever happened to them anyway? I know they haven't had any new albums in a while, and last I checked they seemed to be doing various solo things. But are they permanently broken up, or just taking a long break, or what?
-Tom
So many people seem to assume that if you have a built in radio and other features, or better battery life, that it "kills" the iPod. But it isn't enough for everyone.
Not everyone buys iPods and loves them because of just the style. I personally love the iPod because of the brilliant hardware interface for controlling and navigating through a ton of music, and I also love the integration with iTunes, which I prefer much more over the various software packages (or none at all) that I would use with other players.
I only bring this up because you seem to be saying that the iPod is only "winning" because it is stylish and sexy, and that you can't seem to grasp why some people still like the iPod and aren't all rushing out to buy the Creative Zens or iRiver iHP's or whatever other devices.
-Tom
Apple makes a lot more money selling iPods than they do selling songs on the iTMS.
-Tom
Hrm, is this supposed to be flamebait? Or are you just one of those people who assumes that all of TMBG's music is along the lines of songs like Particle Man and Istanbul (Not Constantinople)? For what it's worth, TMBG is one of the most musically and creatively diverse bands around. Granted, their novelty songs have been pretty popular (and those two songs in particular brought a lot of attention from their use in that Tiny Toons episode).......... but they have a lot more variety than that....... in fact, some of their best songs are not "funny" songs...... and some of the best of their recent stuff has been very emotional and touching stuff (like "Memo to Human Resources").
Seems like just about everyone is assuming that this is going to be just like Morrowind. Read the posts linked in the article above, and you'll see that Bethesda is making it clear that they aren't just going to be sticking Fallout stuff into the Morrowind engine. It's way too early to tell what they're going to do with it, and until we know more, it would be a good idea to avoid jumping to all these conclusions.
True, but then again, this has ALWAYS been the case, and it is not unique to anime. For every really good movie that is made, 10 or more crappy ones come out. For every good comic book, 10 or more crappy ones come out. For every good book, probably 100 crappy ones are published. And in terms of the decisions of business and marketing guys.... this has been true for a while too....... even in the 60's and 70's a lot of anime was made just to sell toys and merchandise. But what is notable are the gems that do pop up. What you'll find is that there's a lot of junk made, but then the shining gems from the top talents.......... often these don't make the kind of money (although the boom in "otaku anime" in other countries has helped a lot, as it creates more of a market). -Tom
-Tom
But anyway, the point being.... an existing franchise can still be the basis for very innovative games.
As much as people complain about all the sequels, the reality is, it is infinitely easier to sell a game, new ideas or not, if it builds on a franchise people already like. Just as with movies, when you have a built-in fanbase, it makes sense to use it. As unfortunate as it is, it becomes a lot more difficult to be successful with a wildly new game if the characters and setting and world are completely known..... certainly not impossible, but it IS more difficult.
If it means that Nintendo develops some very cool new game but puts Mario in it, rather than some unknown character, in order to help make sure it does well, I say more power to them.
-Tom
-Tom
-Tom
-Tom
But as far as Machiavelli goes, that particular quote is one of the most commonly taken out of context. If you do ever bother to read the rest of the text, you'll find that Machiavelli goes on to say that, on balance, it is still good to try and be loved, and to not go out of your way to do things that make you feared, as it is much easier to rule and get what you want if people at least generally like you. There's a lot more complexity to a lot of what Machiavelli wrote, including that one, than can be gleened from a simple one line quote.
-Tom
-Tom
Umm, I didn't say he was "less important".... I said that the fact that he would disown his son over these movies reflects very poorly on him. Disowning your own son is very serious, and I think it makes Christopher Tolkien look pretty bad to have done it.
-Tom
-Tom
The main reason the prices have generally stayed the same is that they have been upping the capacity considerably (while also making some design changes, etc..... i.e. the original iPod had a moving scrolling wheel, whereas newer iPods have replaced this moving part with a solid state scroll wheel that won't get loose or let anything into the internals). Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I actually think when the 5 gig iPod FIRST debuted it might have actually been at the $499 price. However, even if it started out at $299, it's definitely pretty different from what you get for the same amount now.
Overpriced compared to WHAT? The Rio Nitrus with the same kind of mini 4gig HD also costs $250. Why is everyone jumping down Apple's throat? It seems like there is this assumption that this device should cost $150, and that it's just Apple adding on a huge price sticker for the hell of it. But I haven't heard anyone bash Rio for the same thing.
Anyway, this is just nitpicking anyway, and I don't mean to since I did love Xenosaga quite a bit....... and it's probably goofy of me to even bring this up since they have gone out of their way to try and say it is still a "new" series (even if it is more just for legal reasons).
-Tom
I can't speak on the PS2 since none of the PS2 games I bought this year were 2D.
-Tom