Well, it's obvious what gamers have to do to get "these clowns up in Redmond" out of the gaming market: stop buying their consoles and games. But since that doesn't seem to be happening, you must be wrong that no one wants them around. You seem to be wrong about a lot of things though...
The N64 controller was truly awful, but as far as original controllers go, I'd say the Intellivision "disc" controller takes the rotten cake.
Did these things come defective from the factory, or what? I don't think I ever used one that didn't have difficulty registering at least one direction.
Speaking of digital/analog controls in cars, my factory Infinity car stereo has an analog "joystick" for setting the balance between left/right and front/rear. It's the most awkward thing ever. It's almost impossible to set to centre because it's so touchy. And because it's so touchy, it always gets knocked out of whack whenver you put a drink in the holder, or brush against it while adjusting the volume (which, go figure, happens to be a digital control).
Check out StarDock Central. It offers online purchases and instant downloads. You can download any game you've purchased as many times as you want. It updates all those games for you as well.
In short, it's just like Steam, except:
It doesn't run all the time, hogging resources. It only runs when you tell it to. Update your game, then close it. Buy a game, close it. You don't need it if you just want to play a game. So if StarDock ever goes out of business, there's no chance of you being screwed like with Steam.
There's no ridiculous "offline" mode that breaks and locks you out of your games. It's not required to run the games you've purchased or the demos you've downloaded. Single player games don't require Internet access.
It doesn't force updates on you. You can choose to update or not, you can choose to apply beta updates. You can make an archive any installed game you have, update it, roll it back if you don't like the update. You can burn the archive to a CD (it's basically just a zip file of the game directory).
StarDock Central is the way Steam SHOULD have worked. Too bad Valve got greedy. I know where my money's going to be spent. To a company that trusts their customers and treats them with respect, that's where.
I too, have never had a hard drive fail on me. I always leave my system running and I use a UPS. When I hear the drive start to make that tell-tale sound of a bearing approaching failure, I buy a new one and replace it before it dies.
My guess is that very few people know about things like this. I didn't know that Claritin and Clarinex were essentially the same, did you?
I doubt doctors have much time to investigate the drugs to much extent either. They get the pamphlets that say "hey, it's better than the last one" and start prescribing it instead. Unless patients complain about it, it'll probably keep getting preference. Until the patent on it expires and the pharamas start pushing a newly patented replacement.
Finally someone with some common sense in this thread.
Almost every other post is someone knee-jerking the phrase "you're not supposed to let it go" and "these people are morons".
People are not DELIBERATLY letting go of the controller. It can slip, it can be an accident. When you repeat an action thousands of times, there is a chance that you will screw it up at some point, no matter how simple it may seem. Have you never dropped something by accident? Knocked a drink off a table? By these people's standards, I guess you're an idiotic moron if you do.
Nintendo realises this too. That's why there's a friggen strap on the device in the first place! In case you accidentally let go, the thing won't go flying. They just misjudged how strong the strap needed to be.
However, I think this class action suit is pure and simple greed. Nintendo offered to replace the straps. What more do you want them to do? Class action is supposed to exist for the cases where companies know there's a problem but they refuse to do anything about it.
Wouldn't World of Warcraft be on a 2004/2005 list since the release date was Nov, 2004? They haven't really done anything this year. Even the Burning Crusade expansion isn't scheduled for release until 2007.
So they should list people for achievements they MIGHT make? What if spore is released and it's a total turd? I doubt that'll be the case, but you can't make lists that way.
I really enjoy Oblivion (still playing through it). However, a friend of mine bought it before I did and told me about the goofy "levelling" system they have and it really turned me off of the game. When I heard there was a patch available (Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul) I picked up the game and installed the patch before even playing. I'm glad I did. The game is a lot of fun.
On the other hand, I didn't care too much for Morrowind. Wander, wander, wander, nothing happens.. yawn... Maybe I'll give it another shot again some time, but it seems like the world of Morrowind was just far too big for the amount of content in it.
A modded XBox is a better choice if you're looking to emulate old systems. Throw in a big hard drive, all the emulators you want and go to town. You don't have to worry about which titles will be released, when, and how much they'll cost.
It's not just Norway. In Canada, the price of the BD-P1000 at Future Shop is $1300 compared to the PS3 at $650 and the rewriters at $900 for the Sony or the LG model.
If I were even remotely interested in Blu-Ray (I don't have an HDTV), I'd seriously consider the PS3.
Ubi's produced some pretty amazing games though, like the Splinter Cell and Prince of Persia series.
Plus, SecuROM's a much better choice than that StarForce bullshit they were using before. I actually buy some of their games now rather than just immediately ignore them.
I'm absolutely apalled that you can turn this around on the people that were duped in this situation. I really don't know what to say...
So I share something with you in good faith, you turn around and now try to charge me for the very thing I gave you, *I* am the one in the wrong because I am upset with your actions???
If you ask me to pass you a knife at the dinner table, you're damned right I expect you not to stab me in the back with it. I don't think things like this need to be spelled out in contract ahead of time.
That's a very twisted set of morals you have, there.
"if you use uncompressed (or barely compressed MPEG-2) video instead of CPU-hungry VC-1 type codecs, you have more horsepower left over for everything else."
Well, if you're playing a cut-scene (not sure what else you'd be doing with MPEG2/VC-1) then the system probably isn't doing much else at the same time, so it doesn't matter.
Reminds me of the SegaCD. All the devs got ahold of a storage medium that was near-unlimited for the period and they didn't know how what to do with it.
So we got a bunch of crappy FMV games because that was the only thing capable of taking advantage of CD-ROM at the time.
They're doing the same with the PS3. They feel like they HAVE to fill it, or people will feel ripped off. They'll jack the resolution on cut-scenes that 5% of the gaming population care about. They'll crank the audio sampling rate to 192kHZ for the seven people who will detect the difference. They'll stop using compression on video and audio even though there isn't any noticable benefit to doing so. In fact, they'll probably just aggravate load times by doing this. Wonderful.
Seems like they just want to fix all the mistakes they made with WinXP. You know, the ones that allow you to do what you want, instead of what Microsoft wants?
Unless the DRM itself is still copyrighted by some entity, like Macrovision. I'm not sure if they could take you to court in this situation and win, but they could sure try. And they'd likely bankrupt you in the process regardless of the verdict.
The point stands though: You wouldn't legally be permitted to break the DRM in order to get to the now-copyright-expired material.
And what if the situation were so grim that the DRM was not (or could not be?) cracked by anyone? The public is cheated by the previous copyright owner of the source material. Remember, copyright is a trade off. To not give something back to the public after X years of protection is to renege on the contract of copyright.
Longer? Are you comparing the PC's version which is the "Lost Chapters" against the original XBox game? The XBox also has the platinum hits version which is Fable: The Lost Chapters and should include the same content.
I'd rather have a device that will work 10 years from now when those batteries have gone tits-up and can't be recharged anymore.
Plus, with standard AA/AAA size batteries, I'd get to take advantage of any new battery technology that may appear. Can't do that with a proprietary pack.
Big ticket software is sorta like this. You can download it for free, they'll send you media kits for free or next-to-free. It's the license and associated keys that'll cost you money.
I'm talking about stuff that costs in the tens to hundreds-of-thousands of dollars to buy (or license, or whatever..)
I just played SMB on the xSnes9x emulator on the Xbox and you're right, it still looks good. The graphics are sharp, colourful, simple, and overall well done.
That said, good games are timeless, regardless of graphics. Hell, I still like a good game of Pitfall on the Atari2600 every now and then.
No one was forced to take the bus either. They could always walk or get a ride with someone else. But if they took the bus, they must understand that they had to follow certain rules.
I don't believe that "this is the way it is, so get in line and comply" is a good excuse for wronging people.
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Well, it's obvious what gamers have to do to get "these clowns up in Redmond" out of the gaming market: stop buying their consoles and games. But since that doesn't seem to be happening, you must be wrong that no one wants them around. You seem to be wrong about a lot of things though...
The N64 controller was truly awful, but as far as original controllers go, I'd say the Intellivision "disc" controller takes the rotten cake.
Did these things come defective from the factory, or what? I don't think I ever used one that didn't have difficulty registering at least one direction.
Speaking of digital/analog controls in cars, my factory Infinity car stereo has an analog "joystick" for setting the balance between left/right and front/rear. It's the most awkward thing ever. It's almost impossible to set to centre because it's so touchy. And because it's so touchy, it always gets knocked out of whack whenver you put a drink in the holder, or brush against it while adjusting the volume (which, go figure, happens to be a digital control).
Worst stereo control I've ever used.
Check out StarDock Central. It offers online purchases and instant downloads. You can download any game you've purchased as many times as you want. It updates all those games for you as well.
In short, it's just like Steam, except:
It doesn't run all the time, hogging resources. It only runs when you tell it to. Update your game, then close it. Buy a game, close it. You don't need it if you just want to play a game. So if StarDock ever goes out of business, there's no chance of you being screwed like with Steam.
There's no ridiculous "offline" mode that breaks and locks you out of your games. It's not required to run the games you've purchased or the demos you've downloaded. Single player games don't require Internet access.
It doesn't force updates on you. You can choose to update or not, you can choose to apply beta updates. You can make an archive any installed game you have, update it, roll it back if you don't like the update. You can burn the archive to a CD (it's basically just a zip file of the game directory).
StarDock Central is the way Steam SHOULD have worked. Too bad Valve got greedy. I know where my money's going to be spent. To a company that trusts their customers and treats them with respect, that's where.
I too, have never had a hard drive fail on me. I always leave my system running and I use a UPS. When I hear the drive start to make that tell-tale sound of a bearing approaching failure, I buy a new one and replace it before it dies.
A bit pricey, no? $300 for a flashlight? A $3600 capaccino machine?
Maybe I'm just poor or cheap, but most of these are outrageous. Who is their target audience? Fortune 500 execs?
My guess is that very few people know about things like this. I didn't know that Claritin and Clarinex were essentially the same, did you?
I doubt doctors have much time to investigate the drugs to much extent either. They get the pamphlets that say "hey, it's better than the last one" and start prescribing it instead. Unless patients complain about it, it'll probably keep getting preference. Until the patent on it expires and the pharamas start pushing a newly patented replacement.
Finally someone with some common sense in this thread.
Almost every other post is someone knee-jerking the phrase "you're not supposed to let it go" and "these people are morons".
People are not DELIBERATLY letting go of the controller. It can slip, it can be an accident. When you repeat an action thousands of times, there is a chance that you will screw it up at some point, no matter how simple it may seem. Have you never dropped something by accident? Knocked a drink off a table? By these people's standards, I guess you're an idiotic moron if you do.
Nintendo realises this too. That's why there's a friggen strap on the device in the first place! In case you accidentally let go, the thing won't go flying. They just misjudged how strong the strap needed to be.
However, I think this class action suit is pure and simple greed. Nintendo offered to replace the straps. What more do you want them to do? Class action is supposed to exist for the cases where companies know there's a problem but they refuse to do anything about it.
Wouldn't World of Warcraft be on a 2004/2005 list since the release date was Nov, 2004? They haven't really done anything this year. Even the Burning Crusade expansion isn't scheduled for release until 2007.
So they should list people for achievements they MIGHT make? What if spore is released and it's a total turd? I doubt that'll be the case, but you can't make lists that way.
You talking about Grid Wars 2?
I really enjoy Oblivion (still playing through it). However, a friend of mine bought it before I did and told me about the goofy "levelling" system they have and it really turned me off of the game. When I heard there was a patch available (Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul) I picked up the game and installed the patch before even playing. I'm glad I did. The game is a lot of fun.
On the other hand, I didn't care too much for Morrowind. Wander, wander, wander, nothing happens.. yawn... Maybe I'll give it another shot again some time, but it seems like the world of Morrowind was just far too big for the amount of content in it.
A modded XBox is a better choice if you're looking to emulate old systems. Throw in a big hard drive, all the emulators you want and go to town. You don't have to worry about which titles will be released, when, and how much they'll cost.
It's not just Norway. In Canada, the price of the BD-P1000 at Future Shop is $1300 compared to the PS3 at $650 and the rewriters at $900 for the Sony or the LG model.
If I were even remotely interested in Blu-Ray (I don't have an HDTV), I'd seriously consider the PS3.
Ubi's produced some pretty amazing games though, like the Splinter Cell and Prince of Persia series.
Plus, SecuROM's a much better choice than that StarForce bullshit they were using before. I actually buy some of their games now rather than just immediately ignore them.
I'm absolutely apalled that you can turn this around on the people that were duped in this situation. I really don't know what to say...
So I share something with you in good faith, you turn around and now try to charge me for the very thing I gave you, *I* am the one in the wrong because I am upset with your actions???
If you ask me to pass you a knife at the dinner table, you're damned right I expect you not to stab me in the back with it. I don't think things like this need to be spelled out in contract ahead of time.
That's a very twisted set of morals you have, there.
"if you use uncompressed (or barely compressed MPEG-2) video instead of CPU-hungry VC-1 type codecs, you have more horsepower left over for everything else."
Well, if you're playing a cut-scene (not sure what else you'd be doing with MPEG2/VC-1) then the system probably isn't doing much else at the same time, so it doesn't matter.
Reminds me of the SegaCD. All the devs got ahold of a storage medium that was near-unlimited for the period and they didn't know how what to do with it.
So we got a bunch of crappy FMV games because that was the only thing capable of taking advantage of CD-ROM at the time.
They're doing the same with the PS3. They feel like they HAVE to fill it, or people will feel ripped off. They'll jack the resolution on cut-scenes that 5% of the gaming population care about. They'll crank the audio sampling rate to 192kHZ for the seven people who will detect the difference. They'll stop using compression on video and audio even though there isn't any noticable benefit to doing so. In fact, they'll probably just aggravate load times by doing this. Wonderful.
Seems like they just want to fix all the mistakes they made with WinXP. You know, the ones that allow you to do what you want, instead of what Microsoft wants?
Unless the DRM itself is still copyrighted by some entity, like Macrovision. I'm not sure if they could take you to court in this situation and win, but they could sure try. And they'd likely bankrupt you in the process regardless of the verdict.
The point stands though: You wouldn't legally be permitted to break the DRM in order to get to the now-copyright-expired material.
And what if the situation were so grim that the DRM was not (or could not be?) cracked by anyone? The public is cheated by the previous copyright owner of the source material. Remember, copyright is a trade off. To not give something back to the public after X years of protection is to renege on the contract of copyright.
Longer? Are you comparing the PC's version which is the "Lost Chapters" against the original XBox game? The XBox also has the platinum hits version which is Fable: The Lost Chapters and should include the same content.
I'd rather have a device that will work 10 years from now when those batteries have gone tits-up and can't be recharged anymore.
Plus, with standard AA/AAA size batteries, I'd get to take advantage of any new battery technology that may appear. Can't do that with a proprietary pack.
Big ticket software is sorta like this. You can download it for free, they'll send you media kits for free or next-to-free. It's the license and associated keys that'll cost you money.
I'm talking about stuff that costs in the tens to hundreds-of-thousands of dollars to buy (or license, or whatever..)
I just played SMB on the xSnes9x emulator on the Xbox and you're right, it still looks good. The graphics are sharp, colourful, simple, and overall well done.
That said, good games are timeless, regardless of graphics. Hell, I still like a good game of Pitfall on the Atari2600 every now and then.
No one was forced to take the bus either. They could always walk or get a ride with someone else. But if they took the bus, they must understand that they had to follow certain rules.
I don't believe that "this is the way it is, so get in line and comply" is a good excuse for wronging people.