But Microsoft has their hands in so many things right now, it might be difficult to justify spending so much money on something that isn't going to make them any money
I don't know... Open IE which I have homepaged to http://update.microsoft.com/ since I use Firefox for everything else.
Click the Custom Button
Select the updates I want, normally all of them, click the download/install button.
Do other things as the updates download and install.
Normally a reboot after the process is complete
What is so hard about that? Or if you're a confused home user just leave the automatic updates turned on. It will automatically download the updates and install them for you. It will then tell you when it needs to reboot.
If people aren't running Windows how will the geeks get easy money from their neighbors or get a chance to go to a woman's house. You never know she might know how to cook and you can eat something other than ramen. Of course going over to old people's houses are best. Nothing beats some warmy tasty cookies.
Is there any question that the Xbox 360 will suck? Microsoft doesn't get thing right until the 3rd version. Win95, Win98 (Me was just a slighty upgrade to 98), WinXP. NT3.1, NT4, Win2k.
The issue I see with this generation is that many people will be under welmed. We had the 8bit generation -> 16bit with more colors and better sound -> 32bit with amazing 2d and primative 3d -> current gen which just makes the 3d look sharper. The next gen games will have better graphics, but the main draw to them is higher resolution. We've had that on the PC for years and we have it now.
People will get bored as game creators try to make games look more an more realistic. I can only hope the revolution Nintendo is trying to head will give us more games like Shadow of the Colasis and Okami. Shadow is the next game from the team that make ICO for the PS2 which had a beautiful environment and simple but fun gameplay, Shadow looks like more of the game. You have to experience the game before you pass judgement on it from just screenshots. And if you can't solve the simple puzzles in it, go back to Halo or some other mindless drival. The other game Okami is made by Capcom and is using the Viewtiful Joe engine which was a sweet game in its own right. The graphics in Okami look like tradional Japanese brush art, and the gameplay of being able to draw with the controls like with a brush looks unique and fun. Too bad the masses will just buy the next Halo and Madden and never expand there experiences into these new areas.
Yes and at the time of Morrowinds release I had a P3-1Ghz/w Geforce 256 and the game was choppy. Unless you had a top of the line PC at it didn't run that well. For Oblivian to run on a P4-2.6Ghz/w 9800Pro in "debug" and I'm assuming it's not a slideshow. That is impressive, and they optimized their engine a bit.
But then you'd be paying for the game more than once and probably waiting for the expansions just like with the Xbox version of Morrowind. Also Oblivion is supposed to work much better on older hardware than Morrowind. One of the main developers is running it in debug mod on a P4-2.6GHz/w a Radeon 9800Pro. If the game will fun ok on this type of machine on release I don't have any worries about running it.
I'd skip Oblivion on the Xbox 360. ES3: Morrowind was released on both the PC and original Xbox, and the PC verion came with modding tools and had a nice community behind it. The Xbox version was hacked to support some (maybe all I don't know) mods if you had a modded Xbox and played the game off the hard drive.
Reading about all of the features with AI and such in Oblivion I cannot wait to see what cool things the community will bring out. Sure the 360 might support the downloading of some mods over Live, but it won't be the same as on the PC.
Maybe that's why they got hard to find. This one also looks cool.
Dual CPU core, 2d Hardware, Linux OS, 8 buttons, Digital control, full media support, SD card support, 32M+64M internal memory, open source, numerous emulators, Price to be lower than current GP32!
I haven't kept up with too much information on the game; however, I did experience motion sickness playing. I also heard of other people that were having the same problem. I guess this explains it, maybe I'll have to put a fov hack in and complete the game now.
Not that I've seen when I've ever purchased anything. As for the French comment every game in Canada must come with at least a French manual, and sometimes they even include French in the game at times. It has something to do with that wierd Quebec region. Thankfully while visiting the majority of Canada is sane, and hates them just as much as everyone else.
Because we don't want any freaking French anywhere with our games. I got screwed with French stuff in my copy of Two Towers which I bought from a Canadian online store since it was cheaper. I would have gladly paid full price not to have the French.
It sounds like Sony is just adding a few more titles to the Platinum series of games. In the US these are called Greatest Hits and retail for $20. Expect Jax 3 to hit these price. I'm not sure about Eyetoy Play 2 over here. The Eyetoy has done extremely well in Europe, but hasn't caught on in the US.
Yes a perfect example to back you up is Azureus. It saves all of its configuration data to.config files in \Application Data\Azereus. And this is with a multiplatform java application.
You are not forced to use the registy. You can easily use text files if you desire. The registry is just a quick and efficient way of storing data. But your more than welcome to do it whatever way floats your boat.
1) Believe what you want but there wasn't some huge major conspierancy with the creation of the registry. It was created to produce and easy location for settings saving. Before the registry everything was stored in.ini files within the/Windows directory.
2) I'm not sure about saving it in My Documents. Using the standard "Application Data" would make more sense. Also your not forced to use the registy. Azureus use.config files stored in user home\Application Data\Azureus.
3) You better make sure they are unicode files. You can also dump binary data into the registry if you want though.
4) I personally wouldn't want the OS to be automatically attempting to remove all traces of registy entries when I uninstall something. If the uninstaller is written correctly all of the key will be deleted. If it's not they won't be. Having written installers which also did clean uninstalls I know it can be done. The developers are just lazy.
5) How much freaking space do you want your configuration data taking up? If your that paranoid just write your programs to use custom config files so you don't have to worry about the user or another using easily messing with the settings in the registry. Of course the user could still modify the config file, but isn't that what a user should be able to do?
6) This would cause a huge number of programs to fail. Using permissions which are built into Windows you can limit damage that could be done to the system registry though.
7) The main not user registry trees can be locked by using a limited account. The ability to give write permission by entering a root password could be handled within the application but it would be a pain in the ass if you were attempting to update several values.
Don't leave Guild Wars without trying out the PVP content. I hit the level cap of 20 and was nearing the end of the game. I was stuck on a hard mission and I was getting frustrated and thinking about quiting for a bit. I then created a PVP character and used some of the combos I thought up while playing the PVE side of the game.
I had a ton of fun for the next few days which let me get back to my character and get through the mission I was stuck on. I've since created two more PVE characters to unlock the skills for all of the various jobs.
As for winning the favor of the gods. That is winning 5 times in a row in the Hall of Heroes. Those are just normal people playing together. As long as you have a good combination of skills unlocked you can join them and do the same. The key to HoH is to not do a pickup party, but to join a guild and work together as a team. Using Teamspeak or Ventrilo for voicechat really helps out, and you can get free versions of both servers. But give it a try, the PVP isn't about who played the longest, it's about what type of strategy you can think to trump the other team.
But you'd have to have some emulation for the Xbox 1's shader which aren't standard DirectX shaders. So why couldn't a Xbox 360 emulator be built? If the PC hardware is fast enough you could do realtime emulation of the CPU opcodes, and if the games are coded using XNA there could be just minimal emulation needs to get it to work with DirectX.
You can also save money on shipping from Hongkong and hit Radioshack and pickup one of the adapters there for $20. Worked great in FFXI when I used to play it.
Microsoft is supposed to make the Xbox 360s control a default layout for PC gaming as well by releasing controllers for the PC or they might just work on either I'm not sure yet.
This controller is also supposed to be a default for DirectX 10 I believe it was though it might be properly supported in 9.0c. This could mean more games are programmed that support controllers better. Unlike what you have now days. I could see gaming PC from Dell and Gateway shipping with these standard MS controllers for gaming on. Who knows what the future will bring.
But an MMORPG is a Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game. What is the point of playing the fee to play a game like this solo? Goto the store and pickup a copy of the Elder Scrolls 3 boxset for $30. You'll have several hundred hours of gameplay for less than the intial box purchase of WoW or what someone would pay for 2 months of service.
If I was going to be spending money to play a game like that, I would want to get the experience that you can't get in a solo game.
In Guild Wars you can have two different types of characters. Roleplaying characters start a level one and follow a story where you progress and unlock new skills for PvP. PvP characters automatically start at level 20 with the beginning skills for their class. To unlock new skills you need to play a roleplaying character in PvE and either quest them, or purchase them from skill trainers with skill points which become harder and harder to get as you use them up.
The whole level thing in Guild Wars is mainly to allow roleplaying characters a chance to play the game and advance while learning how to use multiple skills effectively.
Also in Guild Wars you start with 100HP and 20SP (skillpoints, thing mana). Mages get armor that increases their SP to 30, while Rangers get 25. Mages and Rangers also get faster SP regen than Warriors, but Warriors have stonger armor. When you level in GW you get an additional 20HP per level up to the cap of level 20, and you also get attribute points which you place into your attributes. I.E. a Warrior has Strength (give armor pentration for additional dmg), Swordmanship (hit harder with a sword, and skills that use swords are more powerful), Hammer (like swords but hammers), Axe (more of the same), and Tatics (special abilities of the warrior, these are things like shouts which modify things like armor on yourself and others.
Now thinking about what you can get a level 18 has 40 less HP and a few less attribute points than a level 20. This gives the level 20 a slight edge but not much. Compare this to WoW there you can get to level 60 and complete kill a level 20. Sure a 57 could give a 60 a good battle, but in GW you can reach level 20 very quickly to face others if you want.
Overall I find the game very fun. I was getting a little bored near the need of the roleplaying with my first character and then I finally tried PvP and I had a blast. I'm not running two other characters through the roleplaying game to unlock skills for other jobs, and the game is still fun the second time though. And coming off FFXI the no monthly fee and no grinding makes this game a breath of fresh air.
If they are going to trash it you should see if they will let you have it or if you can buy it for cheap. Every area should have a company that does support for arcade machines where you could get it repaired. Then you can save all of the quarters.
You can always poke around some free music sites and checkout indies that way. Of course this doesn't help you get out of the house, but it is cheaper.
Slashdot Mirror
Click the Custom Button
Select the updates I want, normally all of them, click the download/install button.
Do other things as the updates download and install.
Normally a reboot after the process is complete
What is so hard about that? Or if you're a confused home user just leave the automatic updates turned on. It will automatically download the updates and install them for you. It will then tell you when it needs to reboot.
Well.. the short and easy answer is "YES!!!". PS1 CDs and even PS2 DVDs are just normal disks that are reable in your PC.
If people aren't running Windows how will the geeks get easy money from their neighbors or get a chance to go to a woman's house. You never know she might know how to cook and you can eat something other than ramen. Of course going over to old people's houses are best. Nothing beats some warmy tasty cookies.
The issue I see with this generation is that many people will be under welmed. We had the 8bit generation -> 16bit with more colors and better sound -> 32bit with amazing 2d and primative 3d -> current gen which just makes the 3d look sharper. The next gen games will have better graphics, but the main draw to them is higher resolution. We've had that on the PC for years and we have it now.
People will get bored as game creators try to make games look more an more realistic. I can only hope the revolution Nintendo is trying to head will give us more games like Shadow of the Colasis and Okami. Shadow is the next game from the team that make ICO for the PS2 which had a beautiful environment and simple but fun gameplay, Shadow looks like more of the game. You have to experience the game before you pass judgement on it from just screenshots. And if you can't solve the simple puzzles in it, go back to Halo or some other mindless drival. The other game Okami is made by Capcom and is using the Viewtiful Joe engine which was a sweet game in its own right. The graphics in Okami look like tradional Japanese brush art, and the gameplay of being able to draw with the controls like with a brush looks unique and fun. Too bad the masses will just buy the next Halo and Madden and never expand there experiences into these new areas.
Yes and at the time of Morrowinds release I had a P3-1Ghz /w Geforce 256 and the game was choppy. Unless you had a top of the line PC at it didn't run that well. For Oblivian to run on a P4-2.6Ghz /w 9800Pro in "debug" and I'm assuming it's not a slideshow. That is impressive, and they optimized their engine a bit.
But then you'd be paying for the game more than once and probably waiting for the expansions just like with the Xbox version of Morrowind. Also Oblivion is supposed to work much better on older hardware than Morrowind. One of the main developers is running it in debug mod on a P4-2.6GHz /w a Radeon 9800Pro. If the game will fun ok on this type of machine on release I don't have any worries about running it.
Reading about all of the features with AI and such in Oblivion I cannot wait to see what cool things the community will bring out. Sure the 360 might support the downloading of some mods over Live, but it won't be the same as on the PC.
Dual CPU core, 2d Hardware, Linux OS, 8 buttons, Digital control, full media support, SD card support, 32M+64M internal memory, open source, numerous emulators, Price to be lower than current GP32!
And it already runs Linux.
I haven't kept up with too much information on the game; however, I did experience motion sickness playing. I also heard of other people that were having the same problem. I guess this explains it, maybe I'll have to put a fov hack in and complete the game now.
Blah, I'm still waiting for Billy Graham's Bible Blasters to come out. Quick convert the heathens.
Not that I've seen when I've ever purchased anything. As for the French comment every game in Canada must come with at least a French manual, and sometimes they even include French in the game at times. It has something to do with that wierd Quebec region. Thankfully while visiting the majority of Canada is sane, and hates them just as much as everyone else.
Because we don't want any freaking French anywhere with our games. I got screwed with French stuff in my copy of Two Towers which I bought from a Canadian online store since it was cheaper. I would have gladly paid full price not to have the French.
It sounds like Sony is just adding a few more titles to the Platinum series of games. In the US these are called Greatest Hits and retail for $20. Expect Jax 3 to hit these price. I'm not sure about Eyetoy Play 2 over here. The Eyetoy has done extremely well in Europe, but hasn't caught on in the US.
You are not forced to use the registy. You can easily use text files if you desire. The registry is just a quick and efficient way of storing data. But your more than welcome to do it whatever way floats your boat.
2) I'm not sure about saving it in My Documents. Using the standard "Application Data" would make more sense. Also your not forced to use the registy. Azureus use .config files stored in user home\Application Data\Azureus.
3) You better make sure they are unicode files. You can also dump binary data into the registry if you want though.
4) I personally wouldn't want the OS to be automatically attempting to remove all traces of registy entries when I uninstall something. If the uninstaller is written correctly all of the key will be deleted. If it's not they won't be. Having written installers which also did clean uninstalls I know it can be done. The developers are just lazy.
5) How much freaking space do you want your configuration data taking up? If your that paranoid just write your programs to use custom config files so you don't have to worry about the user or another using easily messing with the settings in the registry. Of course the user could still modify the config file, but isn't that what a user should be able to do?
6) This would cause a huge number of programs to fail. Using permissions which are built into Windows you can limit damage that could be done to the system registry though.
7) The main not user registry trees can be locked by using a limited account. The ability to give write permission by entering a root password could be handled within the application but it would be a pain in the ass if you were attempting to update several values.
I had a ton of fun for the next few days which let me get back to my character and get through the mission I was stuck on. I've since created two more PVE characters to unlock the skills for all of the various jobs.
As for winning the favor of the gods. That is winning 5 times in a row in the Hall of Heroes. Those are just normal people playing together. As long as you have a good combination of skills unlocked you can join them and do the same. The key to HoH is to not do a pickup party, but to join a guild and work together as a team. Using Teamspeak or Ventrilo for voicechat really helps out, and you can get free versions of both servers. But give it a try, the PVP isn't about who played the longest, it's about what type of strategy you can think to trump the other team.
Do way would I ever use any Frenchware. It's always smelly and ungrateful. But I love this new Freedomware.
But you'd have to have some emulation for the Xbox 1's shader which aren't standard DirectX shaders. So why couldn't a Xbox 360 emulator be built? If the PC hardware is fast enough you could do realtime emulation of the CPU opcodes, and if the games are coded using XNA there could be just minimal emulation needs to get it to work with DirectX.
You can also save money on shipping from Hongkong and hit Radioshack and pickup one of the adapters there for $20. Worked great in FFXI when I used to play it.
This controller is also supposed to be a default for DirectX 10 I believe it was though it might be properly supported in 9.0c. This could mean more games are programmed that support controllers better. Unlike what you have now days. I could see gaming PC from Dell and Gateway shipping with these standard MS controllers for gaming on. Who knows what the future will bring.
If I was going to be spending money to play a game like that, I would want to get the experience that you can't get in a solo game.
OMG!!! Your one of the three people actually playing that game?
The whole level thing in Guild Wars is mainly to allow roleplaying characters a chance to play the game and advance while learning how to use multiple skills effectively.
Also in Guild Wars you start with 100HP and 20SP (skillpoints, thing mana). Mages get armor that increases their SP to 30, while Rangers get 25. Mages and Rangers also get faster SP regen than Warriors, but Warriors have stonger armor. When you level in GW you get an additional 20HP per level up to the cap of level 20, and you also get attribute points which you place into your attributes. I.E. a Warrior has Strength (give armor pentration for additional dmg), Swordmanship (hit harder with a sword, and skills that use swords are more powerful), Hammer (like swords but hammers), Axe (more of the same), and Tatics (special abilities of the warrior, these are things like shouts which modify things like armor on yourself and others.
Now thinking about what you can get a level 18 has 40 less HP and a few less attribute points than a level 20. This gives the level 20 a slight edge but not much. Compare this to WoW there you can get to level 60 and complete kill a level 20. Sure a 57 could give a 60 a good battle, but in GW you can reach level 20 very quickly to face others if you want.
Overall I find the game very fun. I was getting a little bored near the need of the roleplaying with my first character and then I finally tried PvP and I had a blast. I'm not running two other characters through the roleplaying game to unlock skills for other jobs, and the game is still fun the second time though. And coming off FFXI the no monthly fee and no grinding makes this game a breath of fresh air.
You can always poke around some free music sites and checkout indies that way. Of course this doesn't help you get out of the house, but it is cheaper.