I dunno, you'd have downtime introduced by the missing monitors for however long it takes IBM to fix them. Shipping on monitors isn't cheap either. 17" ones I think are about $50 to ship. With an old monitor, you might have to get packaging too.
Not to mention that new monitors will likely make your employees feel loved ^_^
Other than that:
1.) Nadesico is a parody of the genre, in the same way that Slayers parodies fantasy stuff.
2.) As mentioned already, a major plot point is a giant robot anime inside the anime.
Technically Eva shouldn't be shown for this...seeing how Evas aren't robots ^_^
It's great to see Nadesico on TV though, since it's a thoroughly enjoyable series. Saying it doesn't take itself seriously is like saying that Trigun doesn't...they're similar in their blend/transition from humor to story.
I don't think it's TV censoring that gets in the way of Eva getting shown. More the mentality of "cartoons" being for kids. Eva could easily show on cable, and considering some of the X-Files episodes and such, probably on network TV too.
Blood, um, hello? Blood all over in Inuyasha, Kenshin, Wolf's Rain, even Spirited Away. Witch Hunter Robin's got people getting incinerated (occasionally). Just watched an episode of GiTS: Stand Alone Complex where people were getting their skin peeled off...it was cut away from, but jeez, like I'd want to see it (the end result was shown briefly). This is also the show that showed a guy's foot getting shot through on the first episode.
Noir had probably 20+ people killed in the average episode that had Soldats in it...how bloodthirsty are you;)
Violence and gore isn't needed for good storytelling. Neither are boobs. I for one think that conservatively dressed characters are a plus (Witch Hunter Robin) compared to wondering how the heck an outfit is practical (Victoria on Hellsing...I mean, a combat miniskirt>!?!). Perhaps casual nudity is being considered now that anime is a little more international. For instance, Ranma1/2 might be a Cartoon Network candidate if not for the occasional (non-sexually depicted) breasts...
Harem shows were a thing for a while, the U.S. is just starting to get maid shows in bulk. I'm not too into giant robots either...so the current trend's not your thing, well there's plenty more to watch. Watch what you like.
You do have a point in that anime isn't all about nudity and violence, probably less than Hollywood is in general...but watch some old stuff too, it's not new characteristic.
Macs have better capability in this regard (in my experience). Open up Key Caps, and see what the modifier keys will grant you, no trial and error (and more characters accessible without copying and pasting out of Character Map).
That's what Carracho and Hotline are for... ^_^
Actually, I have all legit copies of my Adobe goodness. InDesign really does deserve to take over at this point.
Doesn't matter what the NYT says, that movie is not a kids movie. It's not that it has offensive content or whatever, but the story and themes presented just wouldn't interest anyone under say 14 or 15 (in general). Perfect Blue, for instance, does have content restricting it to the 17 and up crowd (as does GiTS). If you don't think that anime is a valid genre for all story types, it really just means you haven't watched much of it (or haven't watched diverse anime). Another "serious" anime might be Wings of Honneamise. However, what seems to be ignored is that though anime does tend to have fantasy/sci-fi surroundings, the themes are often the same as live action films. Heck, even the end of Evangelion starts to get in the same realm as art film. Many people don't like it, however, having seen (or been subjected to, depending on your POV) art film as part of my college curriculum, I can say that it's comparable. So yeah, the plot involves a roughly Biblical scenario involving giant bio-engineered weapons piloted by teenagers...but the themes are loneliness and isolation, social acceptance, self worth, etc. To the point that the end is stream of consiousness style stuff inside the main character's head. No fights or anything (TV ending only here, the movie had some action...because fans complained).
Different presentation, same themes explored. I'm not saying that anime is always up to the same level as the better films...but neither are many products of Hollywood. However, it should be recognized when it is, and not simply dismissed as "only for kids".
It could be noted that the laptop is using Quartz Extreme, and therefore the graphics processor is doing all the work for this. You can run OpenGL screensavers as a wallpaper in OSX without hitting the CPU (using QE).
Well, all I know is I picked up several books (Evangelion vol. 1, an Escaflowne, Nadesico, etc) that have a cover price of twice as much for the same exact thing in stores here (I've looked). Not in color, just the collection style ones mentioned in the article. I also picked up a pulp style one for 5 Euro, and there's one planned for U.S. release like that (though I don't know the cover price).
You can compare by say, searching for manga on Amazon.com vs. Amazon.de. My results showed Evangelion volume 1 to be $11.17 (down from $15.95 list) on Amazon.com vs. 6,00 euro on Amazon.de. That's the stuff I was talking about.
Manga is definitely more widespread though. I remeber my shock the first time I got manga in Germany...at an airport shop. Here large bookstore chains *might* have a small section...and here some airport store had a whole spinning rack thing. It's just not right.
Not to mention that GiTS2 was already out in Germany whereas the first volume was supposed to be out last month here (ignoring that Shiro is adding a ton of stuff and fully coloring the American version, at least according to Wizard ^_^ ).
Personally I'd go with nForce2 just because of personal experience with the VIA KT333 chipset. In fact, it was so troublesome that when I returned the motherboard, the Athlon went with it, and I ordered a Pentium 4. Not as fast, but darn stable. The CPU was nice though, if the nForce series are reliable (as seems to be indicated), then it'd certainly make for a fast system.
One thing I noticed in Germany while visiting is the difference in price of manga between here and there. The same manga tended to be half the price in Germany...the cover price, not on sale or whatnot. It's more palatable to go pick up a couple black and white 6X8" manga for $6 rather than a single one for $12.
Once we start seeing the large pulp style manga here (like is already available there, and planned for here), and if it's the same $5 for a 1.5" thick book...that'd probably sell decently.
So are you saying you like to rely on the 3.5" floppy? How about in 5 years? 10 years? It has to get phased out at some point so that companies will put something new in.
Dell is thinking ahead. Note that it's the Dimension series that they're doing this with (ignoring that Apple did this 5 years ago across the board). Not the servers. Not the Optiplexes or whatever. There are motherboards available with no parallel or serial ports too.
Think about 2 years from now, when perhaps a (for sake of arguement) SD (secure digital) card slot is standard on computers. An 8MB card is about $20 today, however, if they were being sold in droves...that could easily drop to $1-2. That'd easily take care of everything mentioned. However, you won't get there unless you get the standard small removable storage device changed from the 3.5" floppy. Most people are just going to use CDRs or similar to back up their data.
You'll be able to get a 3.5" disk drive (and the media) for a very long time. You can still get 5.25" drives. So you'll be able to deal with your legacy equipment or just plain old machines if you need to. It's just more than time to change the *standard* small storage. It won't happen overnight, but it won't happen without some "drastic" moves like this either.
As already mentioned, the Matrix was *definitely* influenced by anime (and martial arts movies). Story has many similarities to Lain (as mentioned) and also Ghost in the Shell. In fact, there's a website pointing out the similar scenes
http://www.geocities.com/tacobelll/matrixgits/
Even the green text stuff was in the opening credits for the GiTS movie. Of course, that's not to say that the animes didn't get influenced by earlier sci-fi works and such, however, the Matrix bears a lot of sylistic similarity to anime, particularly GiTS and Lain (when she starts getting into the Wired, got wires clipped to herself as the interface...).
AFAIK Halo was a launch game, or at least came out before JSRF.
The Jet Set games are and always have been cult classic games. Both the original and Future got *great* reviews, however, many gamers never even gave it a chance. I'd say that this is why Sega included it...you'll at least try the game if it came free with your system.
As for Sega GT 2002...well, it's not bad and Sony had their GT3 bundle. So this matches it. Also, it allows for using your own ripped tracks and such for game music...something only the XBox can do. The games are also lower ratings (Teen, Everyone, etc).
For the topic as a whole...
Sure, people would love for Halo or Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3 or 4 to come with the system, but that's cause they want the games anyway. If they want them, they'll pay full price and MS makes money. It really only makes sense. The same reason you don't get a second included controller (much less a 3rd or 4th).
The Matrix is a bad example. So is LoTR. That was announced, and the film is actually a different version. The Matrix has the extra material (pretty much) already released, and was released as the extras disc only later so that there wouldn't be a double-dipped edition a scant few months later.
This is perhaps an example of a repackaged version, which is to be expected for releases of sequels. This isn't all that annoying.
What is annoying is rereleases 3-4 months down the road (6th Sense, Memento, etc). Redo's of older DVDs (Speed, Highlander, etc) are sometimes a good idea I think, at least when the source material is lacking. However, this doesn't seem to be a redo as much as a bundle.
It could also be noted that some studios do the reverse of this. They release the super special 2 disc edition first, then eventually switch to only selling a basic edition. See things like ID4, Close Encounters, Fight Club, and The Abyss for this.
I guess you simply have to pay attention to DVD news. One thing about this is that it doesn't mention anything that'd get me to buy it (again) like a DTS track. I'd certainly buy a Superbit version of the Matrix...
Nothing wrong with fairness.
However, what is overlooked in that view is that:
1.) If the work is outsourced from an American company, the profits still go back to America. Therefore, nobody is really getting rich in India or wherever. They're being exploited with perhaps a decent wage for there, but that's hardly making the country richer as a whole.
2.) They really aren't getting a well paying job. Pay may be good in adjusted income, however, consider the other things corporations are avoiding, like labor laws. Same reason you move a manufacturing plant overseas: lax environmental laws compared to the States. It's all about saving money, not giving other countries a head start. It's treating them as a lesser person because they're not American (and living here).
3.) Since the profits still come back here, there's still the really rich. Then there's the poorer folks doing service oriented jobs or whatnot. So basically companies are getting rid of the middle class (or shrinking it). It'll hurt the economy here too, since people won't have money to spend.
I don't think that a blind "buy American only" mentality is the way to go. However, I think there should be some loyalties involved here. It really should mean something to a company that they're sending someone out on the streets. Sure, the Indians (or whoever) that get these jobs are people too, they should have the opportunity to work, pursue happiness, etc, etc. But is the person/team/division that just got cut from a company any less a person just because they live in a country that (tries to) give them a standard of employee benefits and pay? We're all human here, even we Americans.
Re:This is the difference 'twixt Japanese and US R
on
Infinite Games?
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· Score: 1
Interactive stories with random battles every 5 steps...(for many games anyway). If they're not random, you need to fight anyway so you can level.
Not that I don't play them or enjoy them, but I find that the traditional PC adventure game is a better way to play a story (and tend to take less time too).
I agree with you though. Actually, I think the Japanese developers would still choose to do things the same, even if the other technologies existed. The fans of these style games rely on that scripted story to enjoy the game. Give them something like, say, Morrowind (which is very open) and they have no idea what to do. I have friends and roommates who spend 200+ hours on Final Fantasy type games to get every last item. They like that challenge (apparently). With an open game, you just won't have that ability, and so you won't have something that some players actually want in the game.
Well, remember that the Voodoo4 & 5 were not the first screw up on 3dfx's part. The Voodoo3's were fast, but also expensive on the high end. More importantly, they lacked larger texture sizes and higher bit depths (I think they had an 18-bit software trick or something, but were more or less 16-bit only, in 3D). Overall it was not a single not-quite-what-we-hoped for product, but a misdirection in their whole product design.
I have the feeling that they've got people working overtime to improve the drivers and come up with a good second rev. I hope so, cause I still am wary of ATI's drivers and support, and would be ambivilant about getting a high end card from them (again...). My Ti4400 is quite nice for now.
Could be noted that the full dev kit for OSX is free for download and/or included with the OS (depending on how you got it). Plus all the UNIX script stuff...plus Applescript...
I haven't used it much so far, but do you refer to the XDarwin rootless X or the new (in beta) Apple X11 that includes OpenGL and Quartz Extreme support?
Well, it'd still not be as strange as the fact that you can join the military at 18, (possibly) put your life on the line for your country, and still not be able to buy yourself a beer until 21.
On another note, this won't do anything at all...I worked at a software store that complies with the current voluntary compliance. They tend to care more than parents/guardians who kids (usually) can simply go get to buy the game for them. Stores know this. Kids know this. There is the occasional parent that cares, but many don't.
For those that do care, I wonder if console makers can simply implement a ratings limiter much like DVD players have. Or the VCHIP. You know, so their kids can't acquire M rated games to play without permission...
My experience has also been that Sony is not too great. Especially for the cost.
Panasonic is good...Pioneer..Yamaha...Toshiba...brands I have that have kept going..and going...
Sony products that I've had have generally just been on the flaky side. No huge failures or anything.
Yeah, so basing this discussion on Sony products is probably misleading;)
Requiem for a Dream was based on the 1978 book of the same name by Hubert Selby... somehow I doubt the government paid him to write it, seeing how books are all the rage to influence the young kids out there.
Besides that 1.) Drugs are the real enemy/downfall in the movie. There are 4 characters that get destroyed by them, that's just one outcome (and this is after she prostitutes herself to a white man too). 2.) Sure the contact is a black man, but the people at the "party" at the end are not all.
If you want a less multifaceted scenario like you described, try Traffic...which does simply have the girl run off only to have sex for drugs with her black dealer...
Slashdot Mirror
I dunno, you'd have downtime introduced by the missing monitors for however long it takes IBM to fix them. Shipping on monitors isn't cheap either. 17" ones I think are about $50 to ship. With an old monitor, you might have to get packaging too.
Not to mention that new monitors will likely make your employees feel loved ^_^
Other than that: 1.) Nadesico is a parody of the genre, in the same way that Slayers parodies fantasy stuff. 2.) As mentioned already, a major plot point is a giant robot anime inside the anime. Technically Eva shouldn't be shown for this...seeing how Evas aren't robots ^_^ It's great to see Nadesico on TV though, since it's a thoroughly enjoyable series. Saying it doesn't take itself seriously is like saying that Trigun doesn't...they're similar in their blend/transition from humor to story. I don't think it's TV censoring that gets in the way of Eva getting shown. More the mentality of "cartoons" being for kids. Eva could easily show on cable, and considering some of the X-Files episodes and such, probably on network TV too.
Blood, um, hello? Blood all over in Inuyasha, Kenshin, Wolf's Rain, even Spirited Away. Witch Hunter Robin's got people getting incinerated (occasionally). Just watched an episode of GiTS: Stand Alone Complex where people were getting their skin peeled off...it was cut away from, but jeez, like I'd want to see it (the end result was shown briefly). This is also the show that showed a guy's foot getting shot through on the first episode. Noir had probably 20+ people killed in the average episode that had Soldats in it...how bloodthirsty are you ;)
Violence and gore isn't needed for good storytelling. Neither are boobs. I for one think that conservatively dressed characters are a plus (Witch Hunter Robin) compared to wondering how the heck an outfit is practical (Victoria on Hellsing...I mean, a combat miniskirt>!?!). Perhaps casual nudity is being considered now that anime is a little more international. For instance, Ranma1/2 might be a Cartoon Network candidate if not for the occasional (non-sexually depicted) breasts...
Harem shows were a thing for a while, the U.S. is just starting to get maid shows in bulk. I'm not too into giant robots either...so the current trend's not your thing, well there's plenty more to watch. Watch what you like.
You do have a point in that anime isn't all about nudity and violence, probably less than Hollywood is in general...but watch some old stuff too, it's not new characteristic.
Macs have better capability in this regard (in my experience). Open up Key Caps, and see what the modifier keys will grant you, no trial and error (and more characters accessible without copying and pasting out of Character Map).
That's what Carracho and Hotline are for... ^_^ Actually, I have all legit copies of my Adobe goodness. InDesign really does deserve to take over at this point.
Doesn't matter what the NYT says, that movie is not a kids movie. It's not that it has offensive content or whatever, but the story and themes presented just wouldn't interest anyone under say 14 or 15 (in general). Perfect Blue, for instance, does have content restricting it to the 17 and up crowd (as does GiTS). If you don't think that anime is a valid genre for all story types, it really just means you haven't watched much of it (or haven't watched diverse anime). Another "serious" anime might be Wings of Honneamise. However, what seems to be ignored is that though anime does tend to have fantasy/sci-fi surroundings, the themes are often the same as live action films. Heck, even the end of Evangelion starts to get in the same realm as art film. Many people don't like it, however, having seen (or been subjected to, depending on your POV) art film as part of my college curriculum, I can say that it's comparable. So yeah, the plot involves a roughly Biblical scenario involving giant bio-engineered weapons piloted by teenagers...but the themes are loneliness and isolation, social acceptance, self worth, etc. To the point that the end is stream of consiousness style stuff inside the main character's head. No fights or anything (TV ending only here, the movie had some action...because fans complained). Different presentation, same themes explored. I'm not saying that anime is always up to the same level as the better films...but neither are many products of Hollywood. However, it should be recognized when it is, and not simply dismissed as "only for kids".
Are you talking about "cost" as in CPU hit, or cost as in price? OSX can do software RAID out of the box...
It could be noted that the laptop is using Quartz Extreme, and therefore the graphics processor is doing all the work for this. You can run OpenGL screensavers as a wallpaper in OSX without hitting the CPU (using QE).
Well, this is a G4 laptop with no fan (according to the article). The larger 'books have fans, and so may actual cool down a little more.
Well, all I know is I picked up several books (Evangelion vol. 1, an Escaflowne, Nadesico, etc) that have a cover price of twice as much for the same exact thing in stores here (I've looked). Not in color, just the collection style ones mentioned in the article. I also picked up a pulp style one for 5 Euro, and there's one planned for U.S. release like that (though I don't know the cover price). You can compare by say, searching for manga on Amazon.com vs. Amazon.de. My results showed Evangelion volume 1 to be $11.17 (down from $15.95 list) on Amazon.com vs. 6,00 euro on Amazon.de. That's the stuff I was talking about. Manga is definitely more widespread though. I remeber my shock the first time I got manga in Germany...at an airport shop. Here large bookstore chains *might* have a small section...and here some airport store had a whole spinning rack thing. It's just not right. Not to mention that GiTS2 was already out in Germany whereas the first volume was supposed to be out last month here (ignoring that Shiro is adding a ton of stuff and fully coloring the American version, at least according to Wizard ^_^ ).
Personally I'd go with nForce2 just because of personal experience with the VIA KT333 chipset. In fact, it was so troublesome that when I returned the motherboard, the Athlon went with it, and I ordered a Pentium 4. Not as fast, but darn stable. The CPU was nice though, if the nForce series are reliable (as seems to be indicated), then it'd certainly make for a fast system.
One thing I noticed in Germany while visiting is the difference in price of manga between here and there. The same manga tended to be half the price in Germany...the cover price, not on sale or whatnot. It's more palatable to go pick up a couple black and white 6X8" manga for $6 rather than a single one for $12. Once we start seeing the large pulp style manga here (like is already available there, and planned for here), and if it's the same $5 for a 1.5" thick book...that'd probably sell decently.
So are you saying you like to rely on the 3.5" floppy? How about in 5 years? 10 years? It has to get phased out at some point so that companies will put something new in.
Dell is thinking ahead. Note that it's the Dimension series that they're doing this with (ignoring that Apple did this 5 years ago across the board). Not the servers. Not the Optiplexes or whatever. There are motherboards available with no parallel or serial ports too.
Think about 2 years from now, when perhaps a (for sake of arguement) SD (secure digital) card slot is standard on computers. An 8MB card is about $20 today, however, if they were being sold in droves...that could easily drop to $1-2. That'd easily take care of everything mentioned. However, you won't get there unless you get the standard small removable storage device changed from the 3.5" floppy. Most people are just going to use CDRs or similar to back up their data.
You'll be able to get a 3.5" disk drive (and the media) for a very long time. You can still get 5.25" drives. So you'll be able to deal with your legacy equipment or just plain old machines if you need to. It's just more than time to change the *standard* small storage. It won't happen overnight, but it won't happen without some "drastic" moves like this either.
As already mentioned, the Matrix was *definitely* influenced by anime (and martial arts movies). Story has many similarities to Lain (as mentioned) and also Ghost in the Shell. In fact, there's a website pointing out the similar scenes http://www.geocities.com/tacobelll/matrixgits/ Even the green text stuff was in the opening credits for the GiTS movie. Of course, that's not to say that the animes didn't get influenced by earlier sci-fi works and such, however, the Matrix bears a lot of sylistic similarity to anime, particularly GiTS and Lain (when she starts getting into the Wired, got wires clipped to herself as the interface...).
AFAIK Halo was a launch game, or at least came out before JSRF. The Jet Set games are and always have been cult classic games. Both the original and Future got *great* reviews, however, many gamers never even gave it a chance. I'd say that this is why Sega included it...you'll at least try the game if it came free with your system. As for Sega GT 2002...well, it's not bad and Sony had their GT3 bundle. So this matches it. Also, it allows for using your own ripped tracks and such for game music...something only the XBox can do. The games are also lower ratings (Teen, Everyone, etc). For the topic as a whole... Sure, people would love for Halo or Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3 or 4 to come with the system, but that's cause they want the games anyway. If they want them, they'll pay full price and MS makes money. It really only makes sense. The same reason you don't get a second included controller (much less a 3rd or 4th).
The Matrix is a bad example. So is LoTR. That was announced, and the film is actually a different version. The Matrix has the extra material (pretty much) already released, and was released as the extras disc only later so that there wouldn't be a double-dipped edition a scant few months later. This is perhaps an example of a repackaged version, which is to be expected for releases of sequels. This isn't all that annoying. What is annoying is rereleases 3-4 months down the road (6th Sense, Memento, etc). Redo's of older DVDs (Speed, Highlander, etc) are sometimes a good idea I think, at least when the source material is lacking. However, this doesn't seem to be a redo as much as a bundle. It could also be noted that some studios do the reverse of this. They release the super special 2 disc edition first, then eventually switch to only selling a basic edition. See things like ID4, Close Encounters, Fight Club, and The Abyss for this. I guess you simply have to pay attention to DVD news. One thing about this is that it doesn't mention anything that'd get me to buy it (again) like a DTS track. I'd certainly buy a Superbit version of the Matrix...
Nothing wrong with fairness. However, what is overlooked in that view is that: 1.) If the work is outsourced from an American company, the profits still go back to America. Therefore, nobody is really getting rich in India or wherever. They're being exploited with perhaps a decent wage for there, but that's hardly making the country richer as a whole. 2.) They really aren't getting a well paying job. Pay may be good in adjusted income, however, consider the other things corporations are avoiding, like labor laws. Same reason you move a manufacturing plant overseas: lax environmental laws compared to the States. It's all about saving money, not giving other countries a head start. It's treating them as a lesser person because they're not American (and living here). 3.) Since the profits still come back here, there's still the really rich. Then there's the poorer folks doing service oriented jobs or whatnot. So basically companies are getting rid of the middle class (or shrinking it). It'll hurt the economy here too, since people won't have money to spend. I don't think that a blind "buy American only" mentality is the way to go. However, I think there should be some loyalties involved here. It really should mean something to a company that they're sending someone out on the streets. Sure, the Indians (or whoever) that get these jobs are people too, they should have the opportunity to work, pursue happiness, etc, etc. But is the person/team/division that just got cut from a company any less a person just because they live in a country that (tries to) give them a standard of employee benefits and pay? We're all human here, even we Americans.
Interactive stories with random battles every 5 steps...(for many games anyway). If they're not random, you need to fight anyway so you can level. Not that I don't play them or enjoy them, but I find that the traditional PC adventure game is a better way to play a story (and tend to take less time too). I agree with you though. Actually, I think the Japanese developers would still choose to do things the same, even if the other technologies existed. The fans of these style games rely on that scripted story to enjoy the game. Give them something like, say, Morrowind (which is very open) and they have no idea what to do. I have friends and roommates who spend 200+ hours on Final Fantasy type games to get every last item. They like that challenge (apparently). With an open game, you just won't have that ability, and so you won't have something that some players actually want in the game.
Well, remember that the Voodoo4 & 5 were not the first screw up on 3dfx's part. The Voodoo3's were fast, but also expensive on the high end. More importantly, they lacked larger texture sizes and higher bit depths (I think they had an 18-bit software trick or something, but were more or less 16-bit only, in 3D). Overall it was not a single not-quite-what-we-hoped for product, but a misdirection in their whole product design.
I have the feeling that they've got people working overtime to improve the drivers and come up with a good second rev. I hope so, cause I still am wary of ATI's drivers and support, and would be ambivilant about getting a high end card from them (again...). My Ti4400 is quite nice for now.
Could be noted that the full dev kit for OSX is free for download and/or included with the OS (depending on how you got it). Plus all the UNIX script stuff...plus Applescript...
I haven't used it much so far, but do you refer to the XDarwin rootless X or the new (in beta) Apple X11 that includes OpenGL and Quartz Extreme support?
Well, it'd still not be as strange as the fact that you can join the military at 18, (possibly) put your life on the line for your country, and still not be able to buy yourself a beer until 21.
On another note, this won't do anything at all...I worked at a software store that complies with the current voluntary compliance. They tend to care more than parents/guardians who kids (usually) can simply go get to buy the game for them. Stores know this. Kids know this.
There is the occasional parent that cares, but many don't.
For those that do care, I wonder if console makers can simply implement a ratings limiter much like DVD players have. Or the VCHIP. You know, so their kids can't acquire M rated games to play without permission...
My experience has also been that Sony is not too great. Especially for the cost. Panasonic is good...Pioneer..Yamaha...Toshiba...brands I have that have kept going..and going... Sony products that I've had have generally just been on the flaky side. No huge failures or anything. Yeah, so basing this discussion on Sony products is probably misleading ;)
Requiem for a Dream was based on the 1978 book of the same name by Hubert Selby... somehow I doubt the government paid him to write it, seeing how books are all the rage to influence the young kids out there.
Besides that 1.) Drugs are the real enemy/downfall in the movie. There are 4 characters that get destroyed by them, that's just one outcome (and this is after she prostitutes herself to a white man too). 2.) Sure the contact is a black man, but the people at the "party" at the end are not all.
If you want a less multifaceted scenario like you described, try Traffic...which does simply have the girl run off only to have sex for drugs with her black dealer...
Proprietary perhaps, however, provided you have NT4/2k Server or XP Pro, the client is a free download from MS. Even for MacOS X.