When I buy a game it's usually based upon a review, which in turn will be based upon the content available out of the box. If after playing the game for a bit I decide I like it, I'd be quite willing to pay a bit extra to expand it and prolong it's life - rather than taking a chance on a whole new game.
Up until now I felt that the possibilities of Live were being completely overlooked other than the odd bonus level here and there. How about introducing try before you buy for games? You pick up a game for $5-10 which features the first few levels - then pay the rest of the retail price to unlock the full thing. Rather than trying to choose the 'perfect' game for me, I'd much prefer to bring a few home and see which one I actually enjoyed more. This would hopefully widen the market with parent taking the chance to offer them something other than Tombraider and Fifa for Christmas.
they just realised that the voodoo was shafting them so they quickly licensed and produced clones of the PowerVR card (which as you mention was superior to the Voodoo). I think the Matrox version was called m3d.
Best trilogies have superior 2nd part. First self contained film is so good it gets sequels, 2nd film allows proper story to be built, thrid just ties up the loose ends. i.e. Empire Strikes Back and Godfather II.
MusicMatch was a completely awful program. I'm reasonably computer literate and I just gave up on it half an hour after buying my iPod and found Ephpod. For my own personal needs, synching correctly filed MP3s with my iPod, Ephpod was perfect and as I don't want yet another 'media centre' is still better than iTunes. iTunes and Ephpod work quite happily together though so I use both. Disabling Musicmatch is boon to all.
We do have unmetered dialup, usually costing around 12 a month - but this is tied to a particular landline. If you manage to get your hands on an AOL CD (harder than you think when you actually want on) you can sign up for unlimited access via an 0800 number (1-800) which'll allow you to dialup from any line. Better still they usually give you a free months trial so that's a free month for each credit card you own.
Apple users tend to confine themselves to the standard (and usally good) Apple offerings and iTunes is a good 'media hub' product. However, most PC users tend to accumulate their own bespoke set of programs for tasks as they have a far larger choice of software out there. For example I use CDeX to rip and encode my CDs, Winamp2 to play them on my PC and Ephpod to transfer them to my iPod. I should, as a windows using iPod owner be the target for Apple's Windows iTunes release, but for a number of reasons I'm not happy with it.
e.g. If I copy a new set of MP3s into my 'music' directory Ephpod automatically detects this and puts it on my iPod. With iTunes if I haven't ripped the CD through it then I have to reselect my music folder everytime for iTunes to rescan it and find the 10 out of 5000 new tracks. Whilst I applaud the efforts of Apple, they have to realise on the x86 platfrom their 'hub' prodcuts must be best of breed in the majority of tasks, or they simply won't be used at all. Windows users are curious, rather than hostile towards the Apple platform (the reverse being true for Apple users towards windows) - We will install the Apple software, but if you want to sway us the next piece is going to have to be better than the freeware we can already get.
I believe the licence is for equipment 'capable of receiving' the TV signal. I doubt very much that a detuned TV would prevent prosecution - but suspect they wouldn't (as your conversation shows).
but it's 3.67TFlops - which if you insist on taking to the nearest TF is 4. Anyway, read all about the 'LoneStar' system here http://www.tacc.utexas.edu/resources/hpcsystems/
You're probably right. I never had the ability to do anything major with 3D Studio, so heard about it only by repute. Seemingly there is the support log knocking about for people who phoned up Autodesk reporting 'the bug'
Autodesk had a lovely double protection system on one of their old DOS 3D Studio. The initially released crack allowed the program to be run without the attached dongle and was widely released and used. What the crackers had missed was the second level of protection, which caused people's models to slowly 'melt' every time they were saved.
It's current US retail is $99 (not that much more). It's had the greatest success of piracy protection of any console in the last decade and they're got warehouses full of the damn things. Surely the production costs of the actual disks can't be that high (and if you're tapping the chinese market you could easily justify a fab plant for them there).
the large multinational labels and they artists they represent from the people who being prosecuted. I cannot imagine a single artist turning up on the doorstep of a housing project, walking in and taking $2000 from somebody who can little afford it before climbing back in their stretch and heading back to their penthouse. The PR would be disastrous - but it's OK for the RIAA to do it. They're just a big faceless kill-joy. I'm not going to start saying we should boycott the labels of all artists represented by labels who fund the RIAA, but a good start would be those who've been pro-active in their support for them. (The only flaw with my plan is that all the artists appearing the anti-piracy adverts are shit and it's hard to boycott something you weren't going to buy anyway).
it would just make a long more sense when you sign up to the ISP to just have an option, with the default set to the ports being blocked. If you know what the question means, then you can with a single mouse click you can open up all your ports. Only problem I can forsee is that the inexperienced user might try to use a program that relies on the blocked ports at some stage in the future. Maybe trigger a popup from their ISP when they try to use these ports saying "You have tried to access a port currently blocked by your ISP Firewall. If you were attempting to utilise an internet program before seeing this popup, please click here to have the port opened." Can't see a downside myself, might even provide a useful warning when some interesting beastie on your PC springs to life and tries to phone home.
Who's going to buy GTA3 on Xbox when they realise that if they wait a bit longer they could get Vice City (and be happy about seeing the double pack a few feet to the left on the PS2 shelf)?
I assume the thinking is that this is a great chance to make a very large pile of cash in the runup to Christmas. They get to mop up the few remaining people who don't own the games for the PS2 (I suspect there are quite a few more PS2's in circulation than copies of PS2 GTA3 still). They can also offer something to the drooling Xbox owners who've been waiting so long and not let them feel they've been palmed off with an ancient game. After this all the decks will have been cleared and they'll be ready to launch their next title simultaneously across all platforms (which is very good thing as it avoids duplicating advertising expenditure and doesn't leave whiners who don't have the correct console).
I realised the other day, I hadn't touched for months. I tend to listen to music whilst I'm working or travelling so winamp and my iPod have me covered. Physical CDs are a pain in the arse to lug about with you - probably just give them away/sell them.
that telcos would love to be able to sell to people. There's a lot of people who'd be prepared to pay for this fibre. The problem we have is the 'last leg', somehow getting some fibre running through your city into the back of your PC. The copper phone system can be used, as with ADSL and also cable networks, but these both have a problem with contention and balancing.
Allows them to track your reading habits and if you seem interested in articles on flying lessons, high buildings, presidential movements and bathtub biochemistry a flashy light goes off somewhere.
Slashdot Mirror
*unimpressed*
When I buy a game it's usually based upon a review, which in turn will be based upon the content available out of the box. If after playing the game for a bit I decide I like it, I'd be quite willing to pay a bit extra to expand it and prolong it's life - rather than taking a chance on a whole new game.
Up until now I felt that the possibilities of Live were being completely overlooked other than the odd bonus level here and there. How about introducing try before you buy for games? You pick up a game for $5-10 which features the first few levels - then pay the rest of the retail price to unlock the full thing. Rather than trying to choose the 'perfect' game for me, I'd much prefer to bring a few home and see which one I actually enjoyed more. This would hopefully widen the market with parent taking the chance to offer them something other than Tombraider and Fifa for Christmas.
$15 million on thinkgeek.com
they just realised that the voodoo was shafting them so they quickly licensed and produced clones of the PowerVR card (which as you mention was superior to the Voodoo). I think the Matrox version was called m3d.
I sneaked my DV camera into the cinema and have hosted a grab of it here
Best trilogies have superior 2nd part. First self contained film is so good it gets sequels, 2nd film allows proper story to be built, thrid just ties up the loose ends.
i.e. Empire Strikes Back and Godfather II.
MusicMatch was a completely awful program. I'm reasonably computer literate and I just gave up on it half an hour after buying my iPod and found Ephpod. For my own personal needs, synching correctly filed MP3s with my iPod, Ephpod was perfect and as I don't want yet another 'media centre' is still better than iTunes. iTunes and Ephpod work quite happily together though so I use both. Disabling Musicmatch is boon to all.
shamefully neglected by Apple's Switch Campaign.
Tomorrow: $500k reward for writers of Linux or Apple viruses
We do have unmetered dialup, usually costing around 12 a month - but this is tied to a particular landline. If you manage to get your hands on an AOL CD (harder than you think when you actually want on) you can sign up for unlimited access via an 0800 number (1-800) which'll allow you to dialup from any line. Better still they usually give you a free months trial so that's a free month for each credit card you own.
to make a tasty nutrious nacho meal.
Apple users tend to confine themselves to the standard (and usally good) Apple offerings and iTunes is a good 'media hub' product. However, most PC users tend to accumulate their own bespoke set of programs for tasks as they have a far larger choice of software out there. For example I use CDeX to rip and encode my CDs, Winamp2 to play them on my PC and Ephpod to transfer them to my iPod.
I should, as a windows using iPod owner be the target for Apple's Windows iTunes release, but for a number of reasons I'm not happy with it.
e.g. If I copy a new set of MP3s into my 'music' directory Ephpod automatically detects this and puts it on my iPod. With iTunes if I haven't ripped the CD through it then I have to reselect my music folder everytime for iTunes to rescan it and find the 10 out of 5000 new tracks.
Whilst I applaud the efforts of Apple, they have to realise on the x86 platfrom their 'hub' prodcuts must be best of breed in the majority of tasks, or they simply won't be used at all. Windows users are curious, rather than hostile towards the Apple platform (the reverse being true for Apple users towards windows) - We will install the Apple software, but if you want to sway us the next piece is going to have to be better than the freeware we can already get.
I believe the licence is for equipment 'capable of receiving' the TV signal. I doubt very much that a detuned TV would prevent prosecution - but suspect they wouldn't (as your conversation shows).
but it's 3.67TFlops - which if you insist on taking to the nearest TF is 4. Anyway, read all about the 'LoneStar' system here http://www.tacc.utexas.edu/resources/hpcsystems/
Here
You're probably right. I never had the ability to do anything major with 3D Studio, so heard about it only by repute. Seemingly there is the support log knocking about for people who phoned up Autodesk reporting 'the bug'
Autodesk had a lovely double protection system on one of their old DOS 3D Studio. The initially released crack allowed the program to be run without the attached dongle and was widely released and used. What the crackers had missed was the second level of protection, which caused people's models to slowly 'melt' every time they were saved.
It's current US retail is $99 (not that much more). It's had the greatest success of piracy protection of any console in the last decade and they're got warehouses full of the damn things. Surely the production costs of the actual disks can't be that high (and if you're tapping the chinese market you could easily justify a fab plant for them there).
the large multinational labels and they artists they represent from the people who being prosecuted. I cannot imagine a single artist turning up on the doorstep of a housing project, walking in and taking $2000 from somebody who can little afford it before climbing back in their stretch and heading back to their penthouse. The PR would be disastrous - but it's OK for the RIAA to do it. They're just a big faceless kill-joy.
I'm not going to start saying we should boycott the labels of all artists represented by labels who fund the RIAA, but a good start would be those who've been pro-active in their support for them. (The only flaw with my plan is that all the artists appearing the anti-piracy adverts are shit and it's hard to boycott something you weren't going to buy anyway).
it would just make a long more sense when you sign up to the ISP to just have an option, with the default set to the ports being blocked. If you know what the question means, then you can with a single mouse click you can open up all your ports. Only problem I can forsee is that the inexperienced user might try to use a program that relies on the blocked ports at some stage in the future. Maybe trigger a popup from their ISP when they try to use these ports saying "You have tried to access a port currently blocked by your ISP Firewall. If you were attempting to utilise an internet program before seeing this popup, please click here to have the port opened." Can't see a downside myself, might even provide a useful warning when some interesting beastie on your PC springs to life and tries to phone home.
Who's going to buy GTA3 on Xbox when they realise that if they wait a bit longer they could get Vice City (and be happy about seeing the double pack a few feet to the left on the PS2 shelf)?
I assume the thinking is that this is a great chance to make a very large pile of cash in the runup to Christmas. They get to mop up the few remaining people who don't own the games for the PS2 (I suspect there are quite a few more PS2's in circulation than copies of PS2 GTA3 still). They can also offer something to the drooling Xbox owners who've been waiting so long and not let them feel they've been palmed off with an ancient game. After this all the decks will have been cleared and they'll be ready to launch their next title simultaneously across all platforms (which is very good thing as it avoids duplicating advertising expenditure and doesn't leave whiners who don't have the correct console).
this evening, I'll just borrow it off your drive and take it for a spin.
If you create something, it's yours. You don't owe the world anything.
I realised the other day, I hadn't touched for months. I tend to listen to music whilst I'm working or travelling so winamp and my iPod have me covered. Physical CDs are a pain in the arse to lug about with you - probably just give them away/sell them.
that telcos would love to be able to sell to people. There's a lot of people who'd be prepared to pay for this fibre. The problem we have is the 'last leg', somehow getting some fibre running through your city into the back of your PC. The copper phone system can be used, as with ADSL and also cable networks, but these both have a problem with contention and balancing.
Allows them to track your reading habits and if you seem interested in articles on flying lessons, high buildings, presidential movements and bathtub biochemistry a flashy light goes off somewhere.