Ditto - wierdest part is they show up with no sender or recipient names in addition to no message or subject. I think the list-cleaning explanation makes the most sense. They can remove all the bounces while knowing that every other email is good to go.
Another really great read on Einstein's life and work is "Einstein's Cosmos: How Albert Einstein's Vision Transformed Our Understanding of Space and Time (Great Discoveries)" by Michio Kaku. My brother picked that up and I read it after he finished. It has a lot of information similar to the article, but much more detailed.
I'm not in game testing, but I am in technical support for a software company. Testing for bugs is very strenuous - it's way more than just playing the game. In fact, it is unlikely that the testers get to play the game through. To properly test they would have to repeat certain small sections over and over keeping track of exactly where, when, what, and why a bug occurred. (Otherwise you get the kind of report to development that reads "the graphic sucks" -- which helps no one and only upsets people.)
As an example, I remember finding a handful of bugs in the "Ratchet and Clank" series. One only occured if you died while piloting a ship through an asteroid at a certain location. Another only occured if you walked off a magnetic platform at a specific point. Most of the time these would not happen or would cause death. But in these rare cases, the screen stayed wrongly colored and I got stuck in an area where I couldn't leave and couldn't die. Now, most people playing through the game would never find those bugs. In fact, even the testers didn't find them. Consider how "fun" it would be to replay the same few actions or areas over and over, dying repeatedly and never finishing the game. That's what testing can be like.
in my county at the point that that the precinct was reported as 100% counted. In our case, the Sequoia e-voting machines were counted immediately, but the sheer unexpected volume of paper votes (which were optional) and mail-in absentee ballots exceeded the personnel available. So while the precinct was called 100% counted, the reality was that less than 60% actually were. In our case, however, this is a solidly liberal county and Kerry won - so you won't read about our troubles anywhere but locally.
Aside from listening to the noise of the alarm going on constantly and the body bags piling up, I didn't see a drawback either. It might have affected training negatively or slowed down construction work. At least the agents were never smart enough to grab the briefcases of ill-gotten loot and leave the island (speaking of which, what kind of moronic agent parachutes onto an island with no way off? I had guys wandering around all over the island one time - for what?)
I did try the demo a while back and this article lets me know that my first impression wasn't too far off. As the AC parent mentions, being an evil genius should be fun - not a bunch of waiting and micro-managing. I'd guess that the demo was really not much more than the tutorial with limitations. It never accessed the 2D world part of the game - only the island - but it got quickly boring having to watch for and deal with every invading agent. Neither henchman would pro-actively defend the base. I had to tag every agent. Early on I was tagging them all for killing, but the body bags pile up way too fast - and there just isn't enough space available.
Perhaps it is a sign of how evil I really am that I had more fun tagging my minions for death or not buying bunks so they couldn't sleep (I had quite a few dying of "heart attacks" while training to be guards). Now that was kinda fun.
I get the impression from the article that the developer is the problem in this case. The actions - locking the thread and setting up a "debate" while having no intention of changing - indicate that this developer is not going to listen to these complaints. Bottom line might make a difference, but as I said, they may gain other players because of the behavior. I am curious what the outcome of the riot was -- were the majority of the players rioting in protest or were most rioting with only a few actually protesting?
How many players are going to choose to be female in the game if that sort of event is common? Such belittling attitudes will attract one crowd and drive away another. "Archie Bunker" is a poor comparison, since any offensive topics or behavior exist only within the pages and are not directed at the reader. This game directed the offense at the players - simply based on the character they had chosen to play. In such a context, they might wind up with a mostly male set of character (and a few female "slaves" played by individuals who take pleasure in such a role).
There is another possibility, I suppose, that would depend on how many players (not just female) found the action offensive. A large band of players working in concert could force a change through actions in the game. A small band of players complaining in a forum - sometimes incoherently - isn't going to change the mind and behavior of the developer.
If you continue that analogy even further, what is the user going to do? Not drive for a week until he finds out whether the unknown problem is one that affects him. Unless he is told that the brakes are potentially bad at +80mph, he doesn't know whether he can drive safely at all. But he needs to drive to get where he's going.
Same with these corporations. Being told that there is a bug / security risk without adequate detail doesn't help. Unless they are told the exact circumstances of the vulnerability, their choice is to use a potentially unsafe system or pull the system offline. Not a very good choice, especially if it turns out the security risk is only an issue under certain circumstances (like running more than 5 copies of IE simultaneously).
ET (gak! Was that game ever frustrating?) Superman (didn't get very far since it was borrowed) Olympics (balls and paddles -- up to four players) Surround (man did we waste hours with that one) Tank Plus (tanks, planes, more hours of fun)
I have to wonder what games my kids will think of with nostalgia in 20 years. Sadly, the first five or six that came to mind are all franchises that they've never played the original for.
The altered state can last beyond the time playing the game. There have been times when I have played a game like Tetris (wonderfully addictive) for long hours on end. After turning it off and going about other activities, I find myself trying to fit thoughts into place - turning them this way and that. It's the "Gaming Zone" in which things are done almost without conscious thought.
One thing that makes this more obvious is to take someone who is used to playing alone and talk to them as they try to accomplish the same task in a game. Chatter can bring a gamer out of that altered state and frustrate the living daylights out of them. Unbelievable how hard it is to jump from platform to platform if someone is demanding some of your attention.
or did I miss the newsflash that manned shuttle trips were back in business? This is just the current government-funded agency. It is not the various space ports from which privately-funded attempts are preparing (or have) launched.
BTW, one ultimate goal is to locate and return resources to the earth -- in the way of mining asteroids, for example. As we are currently going, humanity will use up much of earth's resources even without a space program (manned or not). Read up on consumption and overpopulation, choosing your own sources so you don't accuse me of bias. Check the numbers. You might just find that our space program can not possibly use up earth's resources at the volume necessary -- but typical American consumption can.
"We want to offer content providers a variety of compression codecs to suit their various needs. With the addition of Microsoft's VC-1, we extend that option in a package that makes Blu-ray Disc's capacity advantage even more substantial while still delivering the picture quality that consumers demand from high-definition technology."
Notice "A VARIETY OF COMPRESSION CODECS". VC-1 is merely one of several and is being added for those who want better images on high definition displays.
Off the eastern seaboard of the U.S. there is a tiny dot in the ocean. I've never heard of an island - let alone one large enough and populated enough to be lit up that visibly. Anyone know?
Except that Jar Jar did not exist in the original trilogy - only in this "prequel" trilogy. He should not be in a "sequel" trilogy at all.
The problem is similar to Star Trek -- if you've killed off all the "most evil and powerful" bad guys, who do you deal with now? Star Trek threw in Q and the Borg and a wormhole to widen the available space. What is Star Wars going to throw in? Some descendant of Darth Maul, perhaps. The force behind the emperor and Darth Vader?
For the same reason we can now get hundreds of TV channels... with a similar downtrend in content. Of course, a large part of the problem (IMHO) is that more people want to be content consumer than content creators. Where is that quality and quantity of content supposed to come from? Someone else. There are too few "someone elses" out there compare to all the wanna-be critics who chew up the content that exists and spit it out.
They can't do much about it upfront. However, as soon as it involves withdrawals from customer's accounts it moves over into fraud... which they can do something about (via usual legal means). Neither Citibank, nor any of the others (I've seen BofA, Wells Fargo, and others) are going to acknowledge all the emails they get reporting these scams. Instead, the data is accumulated and those that report they lost money this way will be prioritized because these can be used for prosecution.
Personally, I'm waiting for the point where we can have a Darwin's Award for the idiots who answer those emails... y'know the point when one of them loses every last dime in a scam and commits suicide, dies from a badly produced batch of V@l1um or V1agr@, or tries to gain or lose inches and has an accident with the means thereto. When this garbage produces 0 results, no matter how many millions are sent out, it will self-destruct.
Not all privately funded research is focussed on immediate short-term profits. Some people / businesses do look much further. First of all, it would validate the feasibility of the process. Second, it would help show up any issues that could be serious problems in a "real" application. Third, in the longer term it is clear that travel outside our solar system would require some energy source beside packing that much more fuel (which adds weight increasing the amount of fuel needed...)
The problem is not really with the lawyers. Yes, I'm serious. Take a look at Jewish law if you want an example of this (the book of Leviticus in the Bible). No lawyers involved, but "thou shalt not kill/murder" wound up with a number of variations - depending on the circumstances. Laws become convoluted as the worst offenders find loopholes and those are sealed. Lawyers have added to that problem by making a career of "definitions" (as in "the definition of murder is..., therefore this is not murder"). But the initial problem lies with the criminal element which will break laws and seek ways to avoid the repercussions of breaking those laws.
Never mind the criminals, who do you think gets the tax code rewritten regularly? Those who regularly seek out loopholes, which must then be closed (more tax law). Any simplified tax code would likely mean the top few percent would pay more than they do now... completely unacceptable to them. Of course, they can't make it obvious that they are shifting the burden to those below them on the income scale, so highly complex and confusing laws are born.
(All this should not be taken to mean I think lawyers are worthwhile, or that they should become politicians, but it does mean they don't hold full responsibility for the state of law in the U.S.)
There are so many possible factors involved. These are the three most important, IMHO:
1) up-front cost. Donations are always going to be of the computer used by the donor (and with the market size of PC vs Mac we know how that will go). Otherwise, the school will look at which system will cost them less upfront. Schools don't need top-of-the-line systems, so compare an average Mac with an average PC. Keep the hardware approximately equivalent. Which costs less?
2) ongoing maintenance. How do you get a Mac serviced? How long does it take? How much does it cost? How do you get a PC serviced? How long does it take? How much does it cost? How much of the service can be done in-house or locally?
3) applicability. If you are training in CAD (drafting), legal admin, document preparation, computer programming, or accounting, the largest volume of software and that used in many businesses is on the PC. If you are training in CGI, marketing, and other graphic fields, it may be more Mac-friendly. What are the computers in the school used for? What file formats need to be transfered to and from them?
Based on these and other issues, your school may have made what it considered the best possible choice. What alternative(s) do you have? Find out who is actually in charge of requesting new computers. If they are opposed to Macs, you have your answer and may as well give up until they are replaced. If not, find out their concerns and see if you can find workable solutions. For example, if you can demonstrate that software exists for the Mac that does the task better and (very important) is compatible with the existing PCs, you may see Macs start showing up again. You could seek out other Mac users who are alumni and encourage donations of older machines. Schools don't generally turn their noses up at donations.
I had that same sort of thought. Confirmation that flowing water existed on Mars, even if none remains today, coupled with the number of asteroids / comets that have ice does tend to imply water is reasonably common in our universe. Two planets within a certain size range and within a certain distance of their star both having had water seems a better argument for the existence of water on other planets around other stars. (No Overlord comment - it would just confuse the puny humans I am controlling.)
Superficiality
on
Game with God
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· Score: 4, Interesting
Why is it any surprise that games only portray religion on a superficial level? The vast majority of people I know are only superficially religious. Christians may say they are such, but they don't live every day as if they were following the path Christ laid out for them. Rather, they attend church once in a while - usually on major holidays - and wear crosses. At most, they slap a bumpersticker on their car or a sign in their window proclaiming their faith.
Many games include an aspect of religion or spirituality - though it is seldom Christian. An underlying theme of good vs. evil is spiritual in nature. Most RPGs have the idea of heroes guided by destiny often based on a prophecy. Many adventure games like Tomb Raider delve into the spiritual beliefs of ancient cultures.
Actually, as I read that article I realized that the author is more interested in seeing games that make Christianity the emphasis. That might appeal to some people, but there would be a fairly good-sized market it would turn away UNLESS the gameplay and story were otherwise engaging. Most people don't listen to Christian music for the lyrics if the music and singing are poor. Likewise, few would play a game just because it involve Christian beliefs and activities if the gameplay and story were so-so.
Sony isn't just sitting back and trying to put out a system that is only a little better. They have been seriously developing (in conjunction with Toshiba and IBM) a processor that could revolutionize computing in more areas than just gaming. However, just for gaming it could pull off something that MS has no chance against. Why? Because MS builds their console out of existing hardware. Sony develops their console by innovation.
One of the reasons the Playstation rocked was that it was "easy" to program for. This filled the shelves with games -- not all of them worth anything, but a lot of variety. Things a major publishing company would not have funded were released and found to be major fun. PS2 has a problem in that it is harder to program for, but Sony does publish a lot of quirky games anyway. And, yes, quite a bit of that is full-fledged garbage. But there are gems in there that don't pass critics muster while being wonderfully fun to play.
Looking at the current crop of games for either Xbox, you don't have that kind of wild variety. Nintendo has held onto a niche market by having a much stronger control over the games that get published, but what that did to the N64 they thankfully didn't repeat with the GameCube.
Finally, MS is so focused on Sony as the competition, they seem likely to ignore Nintendo as "not a threat". However, Nintendo did turn around from N64 to produce the GameCube -- which has held its own, staying neck and neck with Xbox in a market dominated by Sony. I think this is their biggest mistake.
"Turns out they're cost effective as well!"
on
Robots in Hospitals
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· Score: 1
Therein lies the greatest potential for future trouble. One of the greatest fears of robots and machines in general, aside from them going out of control, has been that they are cheap labor and take away jobs. Yes, the same fears abounded when computers were first being introduced into the marketplace. Fortunately the shift was smoother than expected (though certainly not complete yet). Hopefully society can make the transition to increased robotics with as much ease as that one.
Slashdot Mirror
Ditto - wierdest part is they show up with no sender or recipient names in addition to no message or subject. I think the list-cleaning explanation makes the most sense. They can remove all the bounces while knowing that every other email is good to go.
Another really great read on Einstein's life and work is "Einstein's Cosmos: How Albert Einstein's Vision Transformed Our Understanding of Space and Time (Great Discoveries)"
by Michio Kaku. My brother picked that up and I read it after he finished. It has a lot of information similar to the article, but much more detailed.
I'm not in game testing, but I am in technical support for a software company. Testing for bugs is very strenuous - it's way more than just playing the game. In fact, it is unlikely that the testers get to play the game through. To properly test they would have to repeat certain small sections over and over keeping track of exactly where, when, what, and why a bug occurred. (Otherwise you get the kind of report to development that reads "the graphic sucks" -- which helps no one and only upsets people.)
As an example, I remember finding a handful of bugs in the "Ratchet and Clank" series. One only occured if you died while piloting a ship through an asteroid at a certain location. Another only occured if you walked off a magnetic platform at a specific point. Most of the time these would not happen or would cause death. But in these rare cases, the screen stayed wrongly colored and I got stuck in an area where I couldn't leave and couldn't die. Now, most people playing through the game would never find those bugs. In fact, even the testers didn't find them. Consider how "fun" it would be to replay the same few actions or areas over and over, dying repeatedly and never finishing the game. That's what testing can be like.
in my county at the point that that the precinct was reported as 100% counted. In our case, the Sequoia e-voting machines were counted immediately, but the sheer unexpected volume of paper votes (which were optional) and mail-in absentee ballots exceeded the personnel available. So while the precinct was called 100% counted, the reality was that less than 60% actually were. In our case, however, this is a solidly liberal county and Kerry won - so you won't read about our troubles anywhere but locally.
Aside from listening to the noise of the alarm going on constantly and the body bags piling up, I didn't see a drawback either. It might have affected training negatively or slowed down construction work. At least the agents were never smart enough to grab the briefcases of ill-gotten loot and leave the island (speaking of which, what kind of moronic agent parachutes onto an island with no way off? I had guys wandering around all over the island one time - for what?)
I did try the demo a while back and this article lets me know that my first impression wasn't too far off. As the AC parent mentions, being an evil genius should be fun - not a bunch of waiting and micro-managing. I'd guess that the demo was really not much more than the tutorial with limitations. It never accessed the 2D world part of the game - only the island - but it got quickly boring having to watch for and deal with every invading agent. Neither henchman would pro-actively defend the base. I had to tag every agent. Early on I was tagging them all for killing, but the body bags pile up way too fast - and there just isn't enough space available.
Perhaps it is a sign of how evil I really am that I had more fun tagging my minions for death or not buying bunks so they couldn't sleep (I had quite a few dying of "heart attacks" while training to be guards). Now that was kinda fun.
I get the impression from the article that the developer is the problem in this case. The actions - locking the thread and setting up a "debate" while having no intention of changing - indicate that this developer is not going to listen to these complaints. Bottom line might make a difference, but as I said, they may gain other players because of the behavior. I am curious what the outcome of the riot was -- were the majority of the players rioting in protest or were most rioting with only a few actually protesting?
How many players are going to choose to be female in the game if that sort of event is common? Such belittling attitudes will attract one crowd and drive away another. "Archie Bunker" is a poor comparison, since any offensive topics or behavior exist only within the pages and are not directed at the reader. This game directed the offense at the players - simply based on the character they had chosen to play. In such a context, they might wind up with a mostly male set of character (and a few female "slaves" played by individuals who take pleasure in such a role).
There is another possibility, I suppose, that would depend on how many players (not just female) found the action offensive. A large band of players working in concert could force a change through actions in the game. A small band of players complaining in a forum - sometimes incoherently - isn't going to change the mind and behavior of the developer.
If you continue that analogy even further, what is the user going to do? Not drive for a week until he finds out whether the unknown problem is one that affects him. Unless he is told that the brakes are potentially bad at +80mph, he doesn't know whether he can drive safely at all. But he needs to drive to get where he's going.
Same with these corporations. Being told that there is a bug / security risk without adequate detail doesn't help. Unless they are told the exact circumstances of the vulnerability, their choice is to use a potentially unsafe system or pull the system offline. Not a very good choice, especially if it turns out the security risk is only an issue under certain circumstances (like running more than 5 copies of IE simultaneously).
ET (gak! Was that game ever frustrating?)
Superman (didn't get very far since it was borrowed)
Olympics (balls and paddles -- up to four players)
Surround (man did we waste hours with that one)
Tank Plus (tanks, planes, more hours of fun)
I have to wonder what games my kids will think of with nostalgia in 20 years. Sadly, the first five or six that came to mind are all franchises that they've never played the original for.
The altered state can last beyond the time playing the game. There have been times when I have played a game like Tetris (wonderfully addictive) for long hours on end. After turning it off and going about other activities, I find myself trying to fit thoughts into place - turning them this way and that. It's the "Gaming Zone" in which things are done almost without conscious thought.
One thing that makes this more obvious is to take someone who is used to playing alone and talk to them as they try to accomplish the same task in a game. Chatter can bring a gamer out of that altered state and frustrate the living daylights out of them. Unbelievable how hard it is to jump from platform to platform if someone is demanding some of your attention.
or did I miss the newsflash that manned shuttle trips were back in business? This is just the current government-funded agency. It is not the various space ports from which privately-funded attempts are preparing (or have) launched.
BTW, one ultimate goal is to locate and return resources to the earth -- in the way of mining asteroids, for example. As we are currently going, humanity will use up much of earth's resources even without a space program (manned or not). Read up on consumption and overpopulation, choosing your own sources so you don't accuse me of bias. Check the numbers. You might just find that our space program can not possibly use up earth's resources at the volume necessary -- but typical American consumption can.
"We want to offer content providers a variety of compression codecs to suit their various needs. With the addition of Microsoft's VC-1, we extend that option in a package that makes Blu-ray Disc's capacity advantage even more substantial while still delivering the picture quality that consumers demand from high-definition technology."
Notice "A VARIETY OF COMPRESSION CODECS". VC-1 is merely one of several and is being added for those who want better images on high definition displays.
Off the eastern seaboard of the U.S. there is a tiny dot in the ocean. I've never heard of an island - let alone one large enough and populated enough to be lit up that visibly. Anyone know?
Except that Jar Jar did not exist in the original trilogy - only in this "prequel" trilogy. He should not be in a "sequel" trilogy at all.
The problem is similar to Star Trek -- if you've killed off all the "most evil and powerful" bad guys, who do you deal with now? Star Trek threw in Q and the Borg and a wormhole to widen the available space. What is Star Wars going to throw in? Some descendant of Darth Maul, perhaps. The force behind the emperor and Darth Vader?
For the same reason we can now get hundreds of TV channels ... with a similar downtrend in content. Of course, a large part of the problem (IMHO) is that more people want to be content consumer than content creators. Where is that quality and quantity of content supposed to come from? Someone else. There are too few "someone elses" out there compare to all the wanna-be critics who chew up the content that exists and spit it out.
They can't do much about it upfront. However, as soon as it involves withdrawals from customer's accounts it moves over into fraud ... which they can do something about (via usual legal means). Neither Citibank, nor any of the others (I've seen BofA, Wells Fargo, and others) are going to acknowledge all the emails they get reporting these scams. Instead, the data is accumulated and those that report they lost money this way will be prioritized because these can be used for prosecution.
... y'know the point when one of them loses every last dime in a scam and commits suicide, dies from a badly produced batch of V@l1um or V1agr@, or tries to gain or lose inches and has an accident with the means thereto. When this garbage produces 0 results, no matter how many millions are sent out, it will self-destruct.
Personally, I'm waiting for the point where we can have a Darwin's Award for the idiots who answer those emails
Not all privately funded research is focussed on immediate short-term profits. Some people / businesses do look much further. First of all, it would validate the feasibility of the process. Second, it would help show up any issues that could be serious problems in a "real" application. Third, in the longer term it is clear that travel outside our solar system would require some energy source beside packing that much more fuel (which adds weight increasing the amount of fuel needed ...)
The problem is not really with the lawyers. Yes, I'm serious. Take a look at Jewish law if you want an example of this (the book of Leviticus in the Bible). No lawyers involved, but "thou shalt not kill/murder" wound up with a number of variations - depending on the circumstances. Laws become convoluted as the worst offenders find loopholes and those are sealed. Lawyers have added to that problem by making a career of "definitions" (as in "the definition of murder is ..., therefore this is not murder"). But the initial problem lies with the criminal element which will break laws and seek ways to avoid the repercussions of breaking those laws.
... completely unacceptable to them. Of course, they can't make it obvious that they are shifting the burden to those below them on the income scale, so highly complex and confusing laws are born.
Never mind the criminals, who do you think gets the tax code rewritten regularly? Those who regularly seek out loopholes, which must then be closed (more tax law). Any simplified tax code would likely mean the top few percent would pay more than they do now
(All this should not be taken to mean I think lawyers are worthwhile, or that they should become politicians, but it does mean they don't hold full responsibility for the state of law in the U.S.)
There are so many possible factors involved. These are the three most important, IMHO:
1) up-front cost. Donations are always going to be of the computer used by the donor (and with the market size of PC vs Mac we know how that will go). Otherwise, the school will look at which system will cost them less upfront. Schools don't need top-of-the-line systems, so compare an average Mac with an average PC. Keep the hardware approximately equivalent. Which costs less?
2) ongoing maintenance. How do you get a Mac serviced? How long does it take? How much does it cost? How do you get a PC serviced? How long does it take? How much does it cost? How much of the service can be done in-house or locally?
3) applicability. If you are training in CAD (drafting), legal admin, document preparation, computer programming, or accounting, the largest volume of software and that used in many businesses is on the PC. If you are training in CGI, marketing, and other graphic fields, it may be more Mac-friendly. What are the computers in the school used for? What file formats need to be transfered to and from them?
Based on these and other issues, your school may have made what it considered the best possible choice. What alternative(s) do you have? Find out who is actually in charge of requesting new computers. If they are opposed to Macs, you have your answer and may as well give up until they are replaced. If not, find out their concerns and see if you can find workable solutions. For example, if you can demonstrate that software exists for the Mac that does the task better and (very important) is compatible with the existing PCs, you may see Macs start showing up again. You could seek out other Mac users who are alumni and encourage donations of older machines. Schools don't generally turn their noses up at donations.
I had that same sort of thought. Confirmation that flowing water existed on Mars, even if none remains today, coupled with the number of asteroids / comets that have ice does tend to imply water is reasonably common in our universe. Two planets within a certain size range and within a certain distance of their star both having had water seems a better argument for the existence of water on other planets around other stars. (No Overlord comment - it would just confuse the puny humans I am controlling.)
Why is it any surprise that games only portray religion on a superficial level? The vast majority of people I know are only superficially religious. Christians may say they are such, but they don't live every day as if they were following the path Christ laid out for them. Rather, they attend church once in a while - usually on major holidays - and wear crosses. At most, they slap a bumpersticker on their car or a sign in their window proclaiming their faith.
Many games include an aspect of religion or spirituality - though it is seldom Christian. An underlying theme of good vs. evil is spiritual in nature. Most RPGs have the idea of heroes guided by destiny often based on a prophecy. Many adventure games like Tomb Raider delve into the spiritual beliefs of ancient cultures.
Actually, as I read that article I realized that the author is more interested in seeing games that make Christianity the emphasis. That might appeal to some people, but there would be a fairly good-sized market it would turn away UNLESS the gameplay and story were otherwise engaging. Most people don't listen to Christian music for the lyrics if the music and singing are poor. Likewise, few would play a game just because it involve Christian beliefs and activities if the gameplay and story were so-so.
He has to bring two shrubs (matching set for a nice lane) BEFORE he gets to cut down the tree.
Three points:
Sony isn't just sitting back and trying to put out a system that is only a little better. They have been seriously developing (in conjunction with Toshiba and IBM) a processor that could revolutionize computing in more areas than just gaming. However, just for gaming it could pull off something that MS has no chance against. Why? Because MS builds their console out of existing hardware. Sony develops their console by innovation.
One of the reasons the Playstation rocked was that it was "easy" to program for. This filled the shelves with games -- not all of them worth anything, but a lot of variety. Things a major publishing company would not have funded were released and found to be major fun. PS2 has a problem in that it is harder to program for, but Sony does publish a lot of quirky games anyway. And, yes, quite a bit of that is full-fledged garbage. But there are gems in there that don't pass critics muster while being wonderfully fun to play.
Looking at the current crop of games for either Xbox, you don't have that kind of wild variety. Nintendo has held onto a niche market by having a much stronger control over the games that get published, but what that did to the N64 they thankfully didn't repeat with the GameCube.
Finally, MS is so focused on Sony as the competition, they seem likely to ignore Nintendo as "not a threat". However, Nintendo did turn around from N64 to produce the GameCube -- which has held its own, staying neck and neck with Xbox in a market dominated by Sony. I think this is their biggest mistake.
Therein lies the greatest potential for future trouble. One of the greatest fears of robots and machines in general, aside from them going out of control, has been that they are cheap labor and take away jobs. Yes, the same fears abounded when computers were first being introduced into the marketplace. Fortunately the shift was smoother than expected (though certainly not complete yet). Hopefully society can make the transition to increased robotics with as much ease as that one.