Re:Lemme break it down for you...
on
Will the Wii Work?
·
· Score: 2, Funny
Agreed in full.
Games like Zelda and Mario are going to be million-sellers on the Wii, no doubt, but the Wii will probably get its first "general consumer" surge once a Star Wars lightsaber game comes out. While a good deal of people know who Mario is, EVERYONE knows what Star Wars is. All it will take is seeing someone in a game store swinging the Wiimote wildly, seeing that their actions are being reflect on screen with a lightsaber, and their next thought will be "Holy shit, I have to get this".
Lightsabers are one of the many "Man Items", right beside a trained monkey and a robot suit. It just oozes "cool".
While living forever might sound neat, giving humans neigh immortality (excusing other causes of death) really doesn't sound like a good idea to me. Letting us live 200 years, sure, but forever? No.
The mortality rate would drop drastically, but the infant rate would keep its steady rate of increase, and then we have a massive overpopulation crisis. We would reach a point where we wouldn't be able to produce enough food to support everyone, and then more people just start dying of starvation. (What a fun way to go.)
Of course, it might be the kick needed to actually get us to colonize the moon and Mars, so maybe it's not such a bad thing in the end. It would also help with space travel as multi-year missions could be covered by the same group of people.
Whether or not the Wii succeeds is not the point in the long run; the Wii is going to have a massive impact on Gen 8 and beyond, regardless.
Because of this new interface and these "gimmicky" controls, people are going to realize that we've been using basically the same pad we have been since the NES, only with more buttons and joysticks. The Wiimote is an almost radical redesign of what gaming input is, and it's going to create one hell of a wave. We can already see the tide rising as Sony hauled ass to offer some sort of tilt technology within its "DualShake" mere months, if not weeks, before E3.
Because of the Wii, as well as the DS, consumers will be less and less content with your basic "sit on a couch and press buttons" formula. Even if the motion technology isn't used in the future, something else will replace it- a built in camera, a light sensor, a frikken' laser beam, or something else.
The Wii, as with the DS, is also going to extend gaming into the homes of non-gamers. As the DS got female gamers and parents interested with games like Nintendogs and Brain Age, the Wii will become inticing as an "alternative" workout, with games like Wii Sports. (We will see some sort of work-out "game" before the end of 2007, mark my words.) At the very least, it will chip away at the gamer stereotype as lazy blobs that sit on the couch while playing.
So, even if the Wii fails, its footprint will stay for a long time.
Re:Time For All the Baby-Boomers to Stand Up!
on
The Engine of US Jobs
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
While a fast track for those who actually want to come and support the country with their work isn't a bad idea, it would defeat their purpose in coming here.
If the illegal immigrants suddenly become legal, then most, if not all, will lose their jobs because their employers don't want to hire at a minimum/living wage. So we wind up with a new wave of illegal immigrants, who are willing to fork out an extra $50 if they can be guaranteed work (even if it's below minimum wage, because that's still more than they make in their own country).
In the end, we wind up back where we started, but now with an extra five million citizens collecting unemployment and welfare. Yes, some will be able to go on to good jobs, and others will find work at local fast food chains, but not all of them.
I have yet to see a single company pissing so many people off in such a short period of time
You obviously haven't been paying attention to Sony's PS3 announcements.
$499 minimum price, the games will be between $60 and $90, Europe and Australia have to wait until Spring '07 for their consoles, Japan and Nintendo only get 500K units between them, and those are just the bigger things off the top of my head.
I'm miffed with the pricing scheme and some of the decisions Nintendo has made, but they still pale in comparison to the PS3's issues, and I still plan on buying one.
Bring in new talent by showing them a bunch of great things, offering bonuses and potential raises and Nerf gun fights.
Then, once they've moved and settles and worked for a year or two, you break out the slave labor and burn them endlessly, paying bonuses in Snickers and raises in Food stamps, and only giving them a rubber-band gun.
This is cool, as it makes importing that much better. It looks like Nintendo has realized that while there may not be mass-market appeal of a "crazy" game in the states, there is enough interest to import the title. Rather than have their users mod the hardware and be forced to buy another unit, they give them the chance to import what they like.
This also removes just about any excuse for the installation of modchips (which tend to be viewed as always allowing play for "backup" games, but also have modchips that serve just to turn off region locking), so it will be much harder for anyone hocking a Wii modchip to justify such a thing.
This will also be a boon for publishers in Japan, as they can let their games be region free and see what the import demand is; if it looks like a good number of people are picking it up, it's more likely to get a regular localization.
Alternatively, more companies might develop games in multiple languages. Popular Japanese games that only trickle into the states can get English subtitles, and vice versa.
But does the Wii allow you to select a default language? That would be helpful for the games, as they could default to display/playing in one language unless the user chooses something else.
I'd have to say that this is a good move. Didn't Sony go "Region Free" for the PS3, as well?
I caught that, but I'm thinking multi-player games.
If everyone that will be playing the game has their own Wii, that's great, they can bring their own Ninchuck as well. But if you want to buy extra controllers for use by friends, you have to shell out $60+tax/person- hardly a small sum.
While I'm still psyched for the release of the Wii, these announcements left me a bit underwhelmed. I was, as most others were, expecting a $199 price point. I would have been fine with a $229 price point. But a $250 price point, even if only $20 more, just seems a little out there. I realize that the conversion factor between the Dollar and Yen has changed in the last five years, but it seems to me like they set a higher price point because their competitors were yet higher still.
Also was the fact that they had previously stated that the release price would be below $250. Using $249.99 is, if you ask me, them just weaseling out of it. "But it's a penny less, so we kept our promise!"
I think the hardest part, though, was hearing that not only would the Wiimote and Ninchuck come seperately, but would cost $40 and $20, respecitvely. Some sort of combo pack at $50 would be great, but this seems like way too much for an extra controller. The Gamecube controller, for some time, was only $20-25. Granted, the Wavebird was a bit heftier at $35, but then it wasn't a standard piece of equipment. I was planning to buy a Wii for myself at launch, then another for my family (with a Wiimote for each member, five in all) for Christmas, but the higher-than-expected prices for both the console and the controllers pretty much destroys this thought.
Considering the difference in technology, we aren't going to see a third party Wiimote for some time (if ever!). They would probably be less friendly than the real Wiimote, but they would be cheaper.
I think packaging the two pieces seperately is going to hurt developers, too. From what I had seen, I expected that the Wiimote/Ninchuck were basically one unit, with the option of replacing the Ninchuck with another peripheral should a game call for it. With only a stardard Wiimote, you lose two buttons and the joystick, not to mention the motion censors in the Ninchuck itself. A lot of the demo games seemed to make use of the Ninchuck, and I wonder how they'll be able to perform without it.
Did we get pricing for the Classic Controller?
I wonder why the Gamecube version of Zelda is coming out later than the Wii version. They're probably hoping to push more Wii units by only offering the Wii version for a short time, but I think it alienates those that have been waiting for the Gamecube version for over a year now (I still have my pre-order slip from August 2005).
The Japanese one is tonight? Hot damn! I thought it was tomorrow, and that the three were taking place at the same time (but technically on different days, thanks to time zones).
Riddles are good at proving problem solving skills, but don't necessarily show prgramming or IT eptitude. Someone who solves a riddle fast is more likely to be able to fix an unknown problem with little background, and while that is good a better employee would be able to keep the problem from happening in the first place.
Riddles are a good test and gauge a person better than "you went to this school for this time period, got these grades, and then went on to do this job for a few years", but they don't make the other information useless.
In case you don't want to go to IGNorant.com, here's the list:
Ecco the Dolphin
Altered Beast
Toe Jam & Earl
Golden Axe
Columns
Sonic the Hedgehog
Ristar
Most of these have seen releases in compilations and as extras for other games, so there would be interest if you only wanted one or two of them. However, I believe both Ristar and Toe Jam & Earl (hell yeah!) haven't had a re-release yet.
Once has to wonder, though, why we haven't seen more titles. Perhaps the ESRB is keeping a tighter lid on Nintendo and Turbografix titles (though there were some expected titles listed at E3), or Sega applied for their ratings earlier.
This is not phishing. This is cracking, pure and simple.
Phishing implies that they have to set out "bait" to get what they want, but hacking into a site to capture passwords involves no bait.
Besides, Phishing exploits can be uncovered by normal users with a little education. Cracking attempts are far harder for the basic user, or even an experience user, to recognize client-side unless the cracker is stupid and changes the layout and functionality of the website.
I know that the US is getting 400K units, and if that's what the article was referring to (this is/., of course I DRTFA before I posted), then it isn't nearly as periless as I thought. However, the quote talks about final production for 400K units, so unless the U.S. and Japanese units are being made in different places, that still leaves 100K unaccounted for.
Final assembly will apparently begin at the end of this month, with some 400K units planned for the November 17th launch.
That... that doesn't seem right...
In an extraordinary public statement of regret and despair over having to postpone his company's PlayStation 3 debut in Europe and Australia until March, and to limit availability elsewhere to only 500,000 units come November[...] (Source)
Uh oh.
Either someone has their numbers wrong, or Sony is planning to have an extra 100K units available by the end of November. Either way, this means there will be even less units than recently stated, which was also less units than previously promised.
Sony should just hurry up and use a shotgun on their foot instead of a pistol. At least, if they are shipping more units in November but after launch, this is better than the 360, where they didn't send out additional shipments for a few weeks after initial release.
I'm calling the core system a 'dumbed-down version' of the premium package, which is all they've been selling since releasing the 360 in Japan.
It's selling just fine here in the US, and (at the moment) it's the best thing out there.
What holds true for one nation does not hold true for another. I don't know if you've seen the sales numbers, but the 360 is doing about as hot as the regular XBox did in Japan, which wasn't good to begin with. The 360 sold only half as much in the first two days as the original XBox did (and the original XBox only sold 130K units in the first two days)
Personally, there are some games on the 360 I would like to have, and if I had the money I would get one, but the 360 is doing horrible in Japan (only slightly outpacing Gamecube sales, which are dwindling in the face of the Wii release).
If you can patent business models, and Netflix can sue Blockbuster for renting movies by mail/internet, can't Blockbuster sue Netflix for renting movies period? (I suppose if they had a business model patent that expressly stated brick & mortar businesses, they couldn't.)
Posted this in a related Fark thread, and I believe it still holds:
I think that, somewhat ironically, TotalFark shows how websites will survive in the future.
Even with the increase in ads and ad revenue, consumers are wisening up and finding ways to block them, and soon that well will go dry. So you can either overload your site with ads (which, ironically, means none of them get exposure since the overload causes the user to ignore them all), or you find another method of income.
The solution? Payable accounts. Take Fark as the main example. The majority of users enjoy a few hand-selected odd stories surrounded by ads. These ads are actually targeted towards the general Fark demographic, so they get a better CTR.
Then there's TotalFark. A verifiable anarchy of submitted stories, good, bad, and ugly. There are dozens of threads a day from people whining about the mose inane shit. Half of the links are repeats. Once a day we get a headline telling us to Google "miserable failure". But you know what?
A few thousand people pay $5/month to see that stuff, myself included. And all it really boils down to is getting more of the same stuff that the free people do.
This is how most internet sites will eventually turn. You have free stuff and then you have better stuff that costs money.
YouTube could offer high quality videos to paying customers. Offer the ability to help "distribute" content for indie producers. They pay a fee (probably more than those that just get the higher quality stuff), and they get content featured on pages, more options for uploading, and other goodies. YouTube could even offer a service where producers can have made-to-order DVDs of their work for purchase by regular users. YouTube and the producers would split the profits.
It would cost about $2 to make a custom DVD and package of something an hour or two hours long. Sell it for $5-$10 + S&H, and there you go.
They could get started by allowing uploaders to "share" their stuff, and a regular user could pick clips adding up to, say, an hours worth and pay $10 total for a DVD of all that. You would have an issue with people uploading shows and what not, but they would be able to either hire people full time to police copyrighted stuff or have a volunteer network, where the volunteers get free DVDs/free upgraded accounts for helping to report copyrighted stuff.
A lot of sites are already heading this way. LiveJournal has a pay service. You get a bunch of extra features, but mainly it's more of the same. MySpace will probably start locking some features behind a pay barrier, like streaming music, if ads don't make enough.
Some sites, like general news sites or just general all around sites will meet some problems with this, but they will just do this in bits and pieces rather than the entire site (Yahoo! and MSN have already started on this path, and I wouldn't be surprised if Google starts charging for some new extra goodies).
The way of the web, most media, will eventually decrease advertising as people are able to pick and choose what they want instead of being forced into packages.
Slashdot's own pay-for service is another example of the trend, though the features you get with it are lacking. (Sorry, guys, but seeing a dupe a bit eariler than someone else, removing ads, and getting a nice * next to my name is not really worth the money.)
Jumping ship is the worst way to deal with a situation. Sure, you personally might benefit with not having to deal with the problem, but the problem remains and won't get any better just because you're there.
If everyone held up the notion of jumping ship when things got too hot, there would eventually be no ship to jump to, because they would all sink. A lot of people think that the current political and economic situation in the U.S. sucks, but if we just jumped ship to Canada or Europe, we'd eventually have a country full mainly of religious fundies who would start going after other countries, anyway. Better to stand and fight.
While you may think it's a "miniscule" problem, and Igor could focus on world hunger or something, this is something that more directly affects Igor, and if he wants to protest the mini-feed, more power to him.
Considering how technologically concious the Japanese seem to be, I doubt they'd be more willing to buy a dumbed-down version of a console that no one wants already. It will sell units because it's cheaper, but it won't be enough to give Microsoft a real boost in the market.
And even with this core console's price, it could still cost too much. The Wii is set to release with the price tag of, at most, 25,000 yet ($225 or so, I believe), and those Japanese have been eating up the DS, so there's no reason the same won't happen for the Wii.
On the flip side, this man aided and abbeted criminal activities in the U.S.
I don't necessarily agree with the gambling laws, but hear me out.
While this man and his website are located in the U.K., he accepted money from people in the U.S. Another comment has pointed out that it would have been very simple for him to deny all credit cards with billing addresses inside the U.S., at least to the point of plausible deniability. So he is guilty of facilitating a criminal act, Americans involved in online gambling, according to the law.
I'm not sure yet if I'm okay with this, but they arrested him because of what he did in our country, not what he did in another one.
If some big meth dealer who could be connected to meth distribution in the U.S., came to the U.S. from brazil, should he not be arrested because his enterprise originated in another country?
If either man took steps to hinder the import of their services to the U.S., then I would be more negative towards their arrest.
And, frankly, you're an idiot for going into a country in which you've broken the law. Not a reason for arrest, but still.
Slashdot Mirror
Agreed in full.
Games like Zelda and Mario are going to be million-sellers on the Wii, no doubt, but the Wii will probably get its first "general consumer" surge once a Star Wars lightsaber game comes out. While a good deal of people know who Mario is, EVERYONE knows what Star Wars is. All it will take is seeing someone in a game store swinging the Wiimote wildly, seeing that their actions are being reflect on screen with a lightsaber, and their next thought will be "Holy shit, I have to get this".
Lightsabers are one of the many "Man Items", right beside a trained monkey and a robot suit. It just oozes "cool".
While living forever might sound neat, giving humans neigh immortality (excusing other causes of death) really doesn't sound like a good idea to me. Letting us live 200 years, sure, but forever? No.
The mortality rate would drop drastically, but the infant rate would keep its steady rate of increase, and then we have a massive overpopulation crisis. We would reach a point where we wouldn't be able to produce enough food to support everyone, and then more people just start dying of starvation. (What a fun way to go.)
Of course, it might be the kick needed to actually get us to colonize the moon and Mars, so maybe it's not such a bad thing in the end. It would also help with space travel as multi-year missions could be covered by the same group of people.
...or some BS like that.
Whether or not the Wii succeeds is not the point in the long run; the Wii is going to have a massive impact on Gen 8 and beyond, regardless.
Because of this new interface and these "gimmicky" controls, people are going to realize that we've been using basically the same pad we have been since the NES, only with more buttons and joysticks. The Wiimote is an almost radical redesign of what gaming input is, and it's going to create one hell of a wave. We can already see the tide rising as Sony hauled ass to offer some sort of tilt technology within its "DualShake" mere months, if not weeks, before E3.
Because of the Wii, as well as the DS, consumers will be less and less content with your basic "sit on a couch and press buttons" formula. Even if the motion technology isn't used in the future, something else will replace it- a built in camera, a light sensor, a frikken' laser beam, or something else.
The Wii, as with the DS, is also going to extend gaming into the homes of non-gamers. As the DS got female gamers and parents interested with games like Nintendogs and Brain Age, the Wii will become inticing as an "alternative" workout, with games like Wii Sports. (We will see some sort of work-out "game" before the end of 2007, mark my words.) At the very least, it will chip away at the gamer stereotype as lazy blobs that sit on the couch while playing.
So, even if the Wii fails, its footprint will stay for a long time.
While a fast track for those who actually want to come and support the country with their work isn't a bad idea, it would defeat their purpose in coming here. If the illegal immigrants suddenly become legal, then most, if not all, will lose their jobs because their employers don't want to hire at a minimum/living wage. So we wind up with a new wave of illegal immigrants, who are willing to fork out an extra $50 if they can be guaranteed work (even if it's below minimum wage, because that's still more than they make in their own country). In the end, we wind up back where we started, but now with an extra five million citizens collecting unemployment and welfare. Yes, some will be able to go on to good jobs, and others will find work at local fast food chains, but not all of them.
It's the basics of how corporations work.
Bring in new talent by showing them a bunch of great things, offering bonuses and potential raises and Nerf gun fights.
Then, once they've moved and settles and worked for a year or two, you break out the slave labor and burn them endlessly, paying bonuses in Snickers and raises in Food stamps, and only giving them a rubber-band gun.
Only a rubber-band gun...
This is cool, as it makes importing that much better. It looks like Nintendo has realized that while there may not be mass-market appeal of a "crazy" game in the states, there is enough interest to import the title. Rather than have their users mod the hardware and be forced to buy another unit, they give them the chance to import what they like.
This also removes just about any excuse for the installation of modchips (which tend to be viewed as always allowing play for "backup" games, but also have modchips that serve just to turn off region locking), so it will be much harder for anyone hocking a Wii modchip to justify such a thing.
This will also be a boon for publishers in Japan, as they can let their games be region free and see what the import demand is; if it looks like a good number of people are picking it up, it's more likely to get a regular localization.
Alternatively, more companies might develop games in multiple languages. Popular Japanese games that only trickle into the states can get English subtitles, and vice versa.
But does the Wii allow you to select a default language? That would be helpful for the games, as they could default to display/playing in one language unless the user chooses something else.
I'd have to say that this is a good move. Didn't Sony go "Region Free" for the PS3, as well?
I caught that, but I'm thinking multi-player games.
If everyone that will be playing the game has their own Wii, that's great, they can bring their own Ninchuck as well. But if you want to buy extra controllers for use by friends, you have to shell out $60+tax/person- hardly a small sum.
While I'm still psyched for the release of the Wii, these announcements left me a bit underwhelmed. I was, as most others were, expecting a $199 price point. I would have been fine with a $229 price point. But a $250 price point, even if only $20 more, just seems a little out there. I realize that the conversion factor between the Dollar and Yen has changed in the last five years, but it seems to me like they set a higher price point because their competitors were yet higher still.
Also was the fact that they had previously stated that the release price would be below $250. Using $249.99 is, if you ask me, them just weaseling out of it. "But it's a penny less, so we kept our promise!"
I think the hardest part, though, was hearing that not only would the Wiimote and Ninchuck come seperately, but would cost $40 and $20, respecitvely. Some sort of combo pack at $50 would be great, but this seems like way too much for an extra controller. The Gamecube controller, for some time, was only $20-25. Granted, the Wavebird was a bit heftier at $35, but then it wasn't a standard piece of equipment. I was planning to buy a Wii for myself at launch, then another for my family (with a Wiimote for each member, five in all) for Christmas, but the higher-than-expected prices for both the console and the controllers pretty much destroys this thought.
Considering the difference in technology, we aren't going to see a third party Wiimote for some time (if ever!). They would probably be less friendly than the real Wiimote, but they would be cheaper.
I think packaging the two pieces seperately is going to hurt developers, too. From what I had seen, I expected that the Wiimote/Ninchuck were basically one unit, with the option of replacing the Ninchuck with another peripheral should a game call for it. With only a stardard Wiimote, you lose two buttons and the joystick, not to mention the motion censors in the Ninchuck itself. A lot of the demo games seemed to make use of the Ninchuck, and I wonder how they'll be able to perform without it.
Did we get pricing for the Classic Controller?
I wonder why the Gamecube version of Zelda is coming out later than the Wii version. They're probably hoping to push more Wii units by only offering the Wii version for a short time, but I think it alienates those that have been waiting for the Gamecube version for over a year now (I still have my pre-order slip from August 2005).
Nice to see that someone else mentioned that.
The Japanese one is tonight? Hot damn! I thought it was tomorrow, and that the three were taking place at the same time (but technically on different days, thanks to time zones).
It sounds right for the cost of a new PC, which is what Sony claims that the PS3 is.
I didn't misspell nothing. I made up a word. Shakespear did it, so can I!
"eptitude" means "idiot shouldn't work here".
(Actually, I'm rather drowsy from some new meds, so burn away.)
Riddles are good at proving problem solving skills, but don't necessarily show prgramming or IT eptitude. Someone who solves a riddle fast is more likely to be able to fix an unknown problem with little background, and while that is good a better employee would be able to keep the problem from happening in the first place.
Riddles are a good test and gauge a person better than "you went to this school for this time period, got these grades, and then went on to do this job for a few years", but they don't make the other information useless.
In case you don't want to go to IGNorant.com, here's the list:
- Ecco the Dolphin
- Altered Beast
- Toe Jam & Earl
- Golden Axe
- Columns
- Sonic the Hedgehog
- Ristar
Most of these have seen releases in compilations and as extras for other games, so there would be interest if you only wanted one or two of them. However, I believe both Ristar and Toe Jam & Earl (hell yeah!) haven't had a re-release yet.Once has to wonder, though, why we haven't seen more titles. Perhaps the ESRB is keeping a tighter lid on Nintendo and Turbografix titles (though there were some expected titles listed at E3), or Sega applied for their ratings earlier.
I was going to reply with the same thing.
This is not phishing. This is cracking, pure and simple.
Phishing implies that they have to set out "bait" to get what they want, but hacking into a site to capture passwords involves no bait.
Besides, Phishing exploits can be uncovered by normal users with a little education. Cracking attempts are far harder for the basic user, or even an experience user, to recognize client-side unless the cracker is stupid and changes the layout and functionality of the website.
I know that the US is getting 400K units, and if that's what the article was referring to (this is /., of course I DRTFA before I posted), then it isn't nearly as periless as I thought. However, the quote talks about final production for 400K units, so unless the U.S. and Japanese units are being made in different places, that still leaves 100K unaccounted for.
Uh oh.
Either someone has their numbers wrong, or Sony is planning to have an extra 100K units available by the end of November. Either way, this means there will be even less units than recently stated, which was also less units than previously promised.
Sony should just hurry up and use a shotgun on their foot instead of a pistol. At least, if they are shipping more units in November but after launch, this is better than the 360, where they didn't send out additional shipments for a few weeks after initial release.
What holds true for one nation does not hold true for another. I don't know if you've seen the sales numbers, but the 360 is doing about as hot as the regular XBox did in Japan, which wasn't good to begin with. The 360 sold only half as much in the first two days as the original XBox did (and the original XBox only sold 130K units in the first two days)
Japanese figures for the 14th-20th
Personally, there are some games on the 360 I would like to have, and if I had the money I would get one, but the 360 is doing horrible in Japan (only slightly outpacing Gamecube sales, which are dwindling in the face of the Wii release).
If you can patent business models, and Netflix can sue Blockbuster for renting movies by mail/internet, can't Blockbuster sue Netflix for renting movies period? (I suppose if they had a business model patent that expressly stated brick & mortar businesses, they couldn't.)
Posted this in a related Fark thread, and I believe it still holds:
I think that, somewhat ironically, TotalFark shows how websites will survive in the future.
Even with the increase in ads and ad revenue, consumers are wisening up and finding ways to block them, and soon that well will go dry. So you can either overload your site with ads (which, ironically, means none of them get exposure since the overload causes the user to ignore them all), or you find another method of income.
The solution? Payable accounts. Take Fark as the main example. The majority of users enjoy a few hand-selected odd stories surrounded by ads. These ads are actually targeted towards the general Fark demographic, so they get a better CTR.
Then there's TotalFark. A verifiable anarchy of submitted stories, good, bad, and ugly. There are dozens of threads a day from people whining about the mose inane shit. Half of the links are repeats. Once a day we get a headline telling us to Google "miserable failure". But you know what?
A few thousand people pay $5/month to see that stuff, myself included. And all it really boils down to is getting more of the same stuff that the free people do.
This is how most internet sites will eventually turn. You have free stuff and then you have better stuff that costs money.
YouTube could offer high quality videos to paying customers. Offer the ability to help "distribute" content for indie producers. They pay a fee (probably more than those that just get the higher quality stuff), and they get content featured on pages, more options for uploading, and other goodies. YouTube could even offer a service where producers can have made-to-order DVDs of their work for purchase by regular users. YouTube and the producers would split the profits.
It would cost about $2 to make a custom DVD and package of something an hour or two hours long. Sell it for $5-$10 + S&H, and there you go.
They could get started by allowing uploaders to "share" their stuff, and a regular user could pick clips adding up to, say, an hours worth and pay $10 total for a DVD of all that. You would have an issue with people uploading shows and what not, but they would be able to either hire people full time to police copyrighted stuff or have a volunteer network, where the volunteers get free DVDs/free upgraded accounts for helping to report copyrighted stuff.
A lot of sites are already heading this way. LiveJournal has a pay service. You get a bunch of extra features, but mainly it's more of the same. MySpace will probably start locking some features behind a pay barrier, like streaming music, if ads don't make enough.
Some sites, like general news sites or just general all around sites will meet some problems with this, but they will just do this in bits and pieces rather than the entire site (Yahoo! and MSN have already started on this path, and I wouldn't be surprised if Google starts charging for some new extra goodies).
The way of the web, most media, will eventually decrease advertising as people are able to pick and choose what they want instead of being forced into packages.
Slashdot's own pay-for service is another example of the trend, though the features you get with it are lacking. (Sorry, guys, but seeing a dupe a bit eariler than someone else, removing ads, and getting a nice * next to my name is not really worth the money.)
Jumping ship is the worst way to deal with a situation. Sure, you personally might benefit with not having to deal with the problem, but the problem remains and won't get any better just because you're there.
If everyone held up the notion of jumping ship when things got too hot, there would eventually be no ship to jump to, because they would all sink. A lot of people think that the current political and economic situation in the U.S. sucks, but if we just jumped ship to Canada or Europe, we'd eventually have a country full mainly of religious fundies who would start going after other countries, anyway. Better to stand and fight.
While you may think it's a "miniscule" problem, and Igor could focus on world hunger or something, this is something that more directly affects Igor, and if he wants to protest the mini-feed, more power to him.
Considering how technologically concious the Japanese seem to be, I doubt they'd be more willing to buy a dumbed-down version of a console that no one wants already. It will sell units because it's cheaper, but it won't be enough to give Microsoft a real boost in the market.
And even with this core console's price, it could still cost too much. The Wii is set to release with the price tag of, at most, 25,000 yet ($225 or so, I believe), and those Japanese have been eating up the DS, so there's no reason the same won't happen for the Wii.
On the flip side, this man aided and abbeted criminal activities in the U.S.
I don't necessarily agree with the gambling laws, but hear me out.
While this man and his website are located in the U.K., he accepted money from people in the U.S. Another comment has pointed out that it would have been very simple for him to deny all credit cards with billing addresses inside the U.S., at least to the point of plausible deniability. So he is guilty of facilitating a criminal act, Americans involved in online gambling, according to the law.
I'm not sure yet if I'm okay with this, but they arrested him because of what he did in our country, not what he did in another one.
If some big meth dealer who could be connected to meth distribution in the U.S., came to the U.S. from brazil, should he not be arrested because his enterprise originated in another country?
If either man took steps to hinder the import of their services to the U.S., then I would be more negative towards their arrest.
And, frankly, you're an idiot for going into a country in which you've broken the law. Not a reason for arrest, but still.
Remember, Remember, That week of September
When gaming and PCs ran hot
I see no reason why those PCs and gaming
Should ever be forgot...