What are telemarketers contributing to society? Why do we need to keep them employed? It is an unfortunate side-effect of our screwey economic system that everyone must be employed somewhere even if they are not doing anything productive.
I would have been perfectly happy with just a Gamecube. Unfortunately I bought a PS2 first because everyone (non-gamecube owners) was telling me how the Gamecube sucked. I kind of feel like I threw the money down the toilet on the PS2 since there are not very many games that I want to play on it. The only saving graces have been the Final Fantasy Games and the fact that I can play DVD's with it. I think I use it more as a DVD player than a console.
I am really getting tired of this argument. Telemarketing firms may be providing people with jobs but they are not producing abything or providing a valuable service to society. Hopefully, once these people get shutdown their employees can find meaningful work that will actually benefit others. Probably not. It is unfortunate that our economy is structured in such a way that everyone must have some kind of job to support themselves since there are so many people toiling away in jobs that detract from the rest of society's quality of life (a telemarketing career is the perfect example).
"D00d, KOTOR is teh sux!!!!111 U can't battle enemies, you just watch. This game is teh ghey!!!!111"
I thought it was pretty funny since it is the only game for the Xbox that looks like I'd like it but it is definitely not a fit with the current Xbox demographic.
You do know that there is open source pdf writing software right? You can set up everyone so that they can create pdfs for free. I use it at work and it works almost exactly like Adobe's pdf writer. The file sizes tend to be slightly larger but not enough to make much of a difference.
Please let Powerpoint die a violent death. If I see another professor whose sole lecturing ability is reading stupid slides, I am going to puke. Don't even get me started on the people at work who spend hours getting their stupid powerpoint sound effects and animations just right. Powerpoint is a tool created by Satan.
Market driven from a development standpoint. Microsofts first party strategy is market driven. Nintendo seems to be driven solely by what game they want to make. Alot of Nintendo games are like niche movies (great, if you are into it, but most ain't). Microsoft shoots for mainstream hits every time.
Mainstream hits like Halo and...... ummm Halo.
Personally, I don't see a way Microsoft could lose with their gaming strategy in the long run. They are going to own gaming, it's just a matter of time. The machine is just too well oiled and has that immense bank to fall back on.
If they are going to "own" gaming they will need to figure out somewhere along the line how to make it profitable. Marketshare isn't the goal of a company, profitability is. Right now, the Xbox is hemmorhaging money and getting fleeced in the marketshare competition too. They need to really turn things around if they want the Xbox to be a success.
and there is not one game out there that offers the immersion and playability of Metroid Prime.
I can think of plenty - Halo, PC Medal of Honor, Splinter Cell and Eternal Darkness are a few.
I think that selection of games is pretty telling. They are pretty much straight FPS games (I don't know about Eternal Darkness, never played it). If that is the kind of game that you like, it makes sense that you would not be all that impressed by Metroid prime. I'm not saying that is a bad thing, it just comes down to personal preference. I really don't think, however, that Halo or Medal of Honor have the same immersive quality that Metroid Prime does. What people like about Metroid Prime is the story, pacing and well-chosen music in addition to the gameplay characteristics. The action is only part of the game and that is what sets it apart from the sea of FPS games that you can buy.
I found that somewhat irritating as well but it was mostly made up for by the ability to lock onto enemies. Until some kind of keyboard/mouse setup is widely supported for console games, we are going to be stuck with awkward controls. Of the console FPSs that I have played (which is not that many) I thought the controls in Metroid Prime were the best.
Even without a standard headphone jack, the Gameboy Advance SP is one of the absolute most badass things I have ever owned. The size is perfect. It is light. It has a rechargeable battery that lasts 10 hours. I thought the regular Gameboy Advance was pretty decent but the SP completely blew it out of the water.
IMO they where stupid when they didn't embrace the online market like mircosoft and to a lesser extent sony.
I actually think this is one of their wiser moves. I really doubt that there are really that many console game players that want to play online all that much. Microsoft is going to have a hard time making their online service profitable. It requires a lot of extra infrastructure and money that could be spent on other things and really does not add all that much value to the console. I am betting that we will not see a very large base of paying Xbox Live players anytime soon. The games are not very compelling and the experience is irritating as often as it is fun. It appeals to a specific subset of gamers and most of those people are signed up already.
The Gamecube really does not suffer from a lack of titles. The reason that it isn't selling well in the U.S. is the perception that there is a lack of titles. The console business is all about marketing and image these days. People will buy what their friends have and what they think is cool. I have both a GC and a PS2. While there are more games that I can purchase for the PS2, there are more games I want to play on the GC, by far. I had been planning on buying a Gamecube because I really wanted to play Metroid Prime and Zelda. Unfortunately I decided to "research" my decision on the web and everything I read said that the GC was inferior to the PS2. I hate to say it but I think the inertia of the market is going to continue for a while longer. Nintendo will wane. Xbox will wax. PS2 will continue to dominate.
Articles like this are a dime-a-dozen these days. I am getting tired of reading about what some dude thinks "linux advocates" should be doing. That really misses the whole point of Open Source. Anyone can do whatever they want with the software and there is no single guiding force that is trying to compete with Microsoft. The Open Source community is just that, a community, not a company that is trying to grab marketshare. Open Source programmers will continue to create what they find to be useful tools. If this talking head wants a standard desktop for Linux, he should put one together and make it so good that nobody wants to use anything else. Otherwise he should just shut up because nobody really cares about what he thinks "linux advocates" should be doing with their time.
I have a really hard time believing that. I have never heard any reports by anyone that indicate the kind of side-effects that you are describing. Are you sure your friends aren't juicing? I have used creatine in the past and it did absolutely nothing for me. It did not make me faster and it didn't produce any side-effects. I may as well have been swallowing sand.
two words:
Metroid Prime
That is why I bought my GC. I bought a Playstation first but never got really into any of the games. The GC has been sucking the hell out of my free time since I got it. It's kind of funny because I had planned on getting a GC in the first place but when I mentioned that on a gaming forum (my first mistake), everyone said something to the effect of "G4m3b0yz is TEH SUX!!11 G3TX0RZ a Pl45t45t4t10n 2". Unfortunately, I listened to the 12 year olds and bought a Playstation so I could play excessively violent and pithy games. I think that if people would base their decision on the quality of the console rather than the stylishness of it, the GC would sell much better.
Slashdot Mirror
What are telemarketers contributing to society? Why do we need to keep them employed? It is an unfortunate side-effect of our screwey economic system that everyone must be employed somewhere even if they are not doing anything productive.
I would have been perfectly happy with just a Gamecube. Unfortunately I bought a PS2 first because everyone (non-gamecube owners) was telling me how the Gamecube sucked. I kind of feel like I threw the money down the toilet on the PS2 since there are not very many games that I want to play on it. The only saving graces have been the Final Fantasy Games and the fact that I can play DVD's with it. I think I use it more as a DVD player than a console.
I am really getting tired of this argument. Telemarketing firms may be providing people with jobs but they are not producing abything or providing a valuable service to society. Hopefully, once these people get shutdown their employees can find meaningful work that will actually benefit others. Probably not. It is unfortunate that our economy is structured in such a way that everyone must have some kind of job to support themselves since there are so many people toiling away in jobs that detract from the rest of society's quality of life (a telemarketing career is the perfect example).
You mean all the kids who were saying
"D00d, KOTOR is teh sux!!!!111 U can't battle enemies, you just watch. This game is teh ghey!!!!111"
I thought it was pretty funny since it is the only game for the Xbox that looks like I'd like it but it is definitely not a fit with the current Xbox demographic.
Why is God's name do you have 3 Xbox's and 2 PS2's? You really should try going outside every once in a while.
If you use 95% of Word, well and good, but how many people out there actually do?
1%
maybe
You do know that there is open source pdf writing software right? You can set up everyone so that they can create pdfs for free. I use it at work and it works almost exactly like Adobe's pdf writer. The file sizes tend to be slightly larger but not enough to make much of a difference.
Please let Powerpoint die a violent death. If I see another professor whose sole lecturing ability is reading stupid slides, I am going to puke. Don't even get me started on the people at work who spend hours getting their stupid powerpoint sound effects and animations just right. Powerpoint is a tool created by Satan.
Market driven from a development standpoint. Microsofts first party strategy is market driven. Nintendo seems to be driven solely by what game they want to make. Alot of Nintendo games are like niche movies (great, if you are into it, but most ain't). Microsoft shoots for mainstream hits every time.
...... ummm Halo.
Mainstream hits like Halo and
Personally, I don't see a way Microsoft could lose with their gaming strategy in the long run. They are going to own gaming, it's just a matter of time. The machine is just too well oiled and has that immense bank to fall back on.
If they are going to "own" gaming they will need to figure out somewhere along the line how to make it profitable. Marketshare isn't the goal of a company, profitability is. Right now, the Xbox is hemmorhaging money and getting fleeced in the marketshare competition too. They need to really turn things around if they want the Xbox to be a success.
You conservative dudes sure like to put words in other people's mouth's.
I think that selection of games is pretty telling. They are pretty much straight FPS games (I don't know about Eternal Darkness, never played it). If that is the kind of game that you like, it makes sense that you would not be all that impressed by Metroid prime. I'm not saying that is a bad thing, it just comes down to personal preference. I really don't think, however, that Halo or Medal of Honor have the same immersive quality that Metroid Prime does. What people like about Metroid Prime is the story, pacing and well-chosen music in addition to the gameplay characteristics. The action is only part of the game and that is what sets it apart from the sea of FPS games that you can buy.
I found that somewhat irritating as well but it was mostly made up for by the ability to lock onto enemies. Until some kind of keyboard/mouse setup is widely supported for console games, we are going to be stuck with awkward controls. Of the console FPSs that I have played (which is not that many) I thought the controls in Metroid Prime were the best.
Even without a standard headphone jack, the Gameboy Advance SP is one of the absolute most badass things I have ever owned. The size is perfect. It is light. It has a rechargeable battery that lasts 10 hours. I thought the regular Gameboy Advance was pretty decent but the SP completely blew it out of the water.
Actually, if you hold down L you will strafe.
Zelda and Metroid were the hooks that got me. You don't need a ton of games, just a few high quality ones that people know about.
I actually think this is one of their wiser moves. I really doubt that there are really that many console game players that want to play online all that much. Microsoft is going to have a hard time making their online service profitable. It requires a lot of extra infrastructure and money that could be spent on other things and really does not add all that much value to the console. I am betting that we will not see a very large base of paying Xbox Live players anytime soon. The games are not very compelling and the experience is irritating as often as it is fun. It appeals to a specific subset of gamers and most of those people are signed up already.
Actually it is a fact. We are discussing the Gamecube game library not what Mike Mentalist is interested in.
The Gamecube really does not suffer from a lack of titles. The reason that it isn't selling well in the U.S. is the perception that there is a lack of titles. The console business is all about marketing and image these days. People will buy what their friends have and what they think is cool. I have both a GC and a PS2. While there are more games that I can purchase for the PS2, there are more games I want to play on the GC, by far. I had been planning on buying a Gamecube because I really wanted to play Metroid Prime and Zelda. Unfortunately I decided to "research" my decision on the web and everything I read said that the GC was inferior to the PS2. I hate to say it but I think the inertia of the market is going to continue for a while longer. Nintendo will wane. Xbox will wax. PS2 will continue to dominate.
Articles like this are a dime-a-dozen these days. I am getting tired of reading about what some dude thinks "linux advocates" should be doing. That really misses the whole point of Open Source. Anyone can do whatever they want with the software and there is no single guiding force that is trying to compete with Microsoft. The Open Source community is just that, a community, not a company that is trying to grab marketshare. Open Source programmers will continue to create what they find to be useful tools. If this talking head wants a standard desktop for Linux, he should put one together and make it so good that nobody wants to use anything else. Otherwise he should just shut up because nobody really cares about what he thinks "linux advocates" should be doing with their time.
It is considerably more productive than sitting on your ass and complaining about it on Slashdot.
I have a really hard time believing that. I have never heard any reports by anyone that indicate the kind of side-effects that you are describing. Are you sure your friends aren't juicing? I have used creatine in the past and it did absolutely nothing for me. It did not make me faster and it didn't produce any side-effects. I may as well have been swallowing sand.
two words: Metroid Prime That is why I bought my GC. I bought a Playstation first but never got really into any of the games. The GC has been sucking the hell out of my free time since I got it. It's kind of funny because I had planned on getting a GC in the first place but when I mentioned that on a gaming forum (my first mistake), everyone said something to the effect of "G4m3b0yz is TEH SUX!!11 G3TX0RZ a Pl45t45t4t10n 2". Unfortunately, I listened to the 12 year olds and bought a Playstation so I could play excessively violent and pithy games. I think that if people would base their decision on the quality of the console rather than the stylishness of it, the GC would sell much better.