Oh, I agree that a solid product is worth the wait, but I just don't like being told one date, only to have them push it back so far. Release dates that can't be certain shouldn't be stated in the first place.
I read about this yesterday. Crushed my little Nintendo-fanboy heart.
How could they do this? I was okay with a four or five month delay, as it meant they were just polishing it off.
But pushing it back to the fall? That's just insane. That means I'll have had the game on reserve for around a year when it finally comes out. And for what? More polishing?
I don't think so. I, and many gamers I talked to, agreed that this a sneeky launch game tactic. They are pushing Twilight Princess back to the fall so it can be released alongside the Revolution. Even if it doesn't have any Revolution control features (despite the rumor), having a Zelda game as a launch title would be a huge boost to sales. All they'd need to do is slap a sticker or something on it that states that it can be played in both the Gamecube AND the Revolution. (If we're right, that also means the Revolution has a fall launch date.)
I'm still going to buy it and a Revolution (if I have enough money at the time for both), but this just ticks me off.
Might as well rename it Legend of Zelda: Duke Nukem Forever.
The only thing worse than this might be that we had to hear about it through SpikeTV. (At least it wasn't G4.)
Protect me from rape, from robbery, from bodily assault.
Protect me from corporations swindling me.
Protect me from bodily damage from others.
But, please, stop protecting me from myself. I can protect me from myself just fine without the government jumping in with a few choice words.
If you're so concerned about those too incompetent to protect themselves from themselves, find a way to either educate them or allow them to continue down their self-destructive path without taking out others along the way.
It's good that you care for those types. (Someone has to.) However, restricting me because a small minority can't restrict themselves is not right.
And if you're doing this because of some moral high ground, go jump off a bridge.
So what you're saying is, you are more than willing to supplement those site's income with a monthly stipent, since you are unwilling to view their ads, right? I mean, you must already have a paid subscription to Slashdot, right?
If not, shame on you. While we make not like them, ads are usually a necessary evil to help keep sites afloat, if only for the hosting costs. By shutting off the regular side/top banner ads, you're depriving them of necessary income.
Unless you're willing to pay the site directly, banner ads has the same rule as P2P and BT with sharing content: 56K is no excuse not to do it. You want the content, you have to deal.
(layover and pop up ads are another story- those are too evil to let stay)
I note the article talks about Windows XP Media Center.
My question to Slashdot is: How good is MythPC? Since I don't have the ability right now to build a media box, I haven't really looked into it. I've heard some people say it's good, some say it's bad. Which is it?
What alternatives are there to MythPC (free or not)? Are they any good?
Many a/.er are probably weeping at the thought of Apple dumping MacOS in favor of Windows.
Dry your eyes, dear friend, and listen to my tale.
How many people switched over to MacOS because they couldn't stand Windows, but wanted more than Linux has to offer?
After being used to MacOS for so long, how well do you think they'd adapt to Windows?
I believe that, should this happen (and, really, I don't see that), you'd get a mostly even three way split. One third would stick with MacOS as long as they could. One third would jump to Windows.
One third would jump to Linux.
Granted, the Mac user base isn't much larger than Linux's, but anything would help. If someone can create a GUI to put over a Linux Distro (maybe call it OrangeOS?) that acted much like the MacOS GUI, you'd be able to pull over a lot of users. Double bonus points if they can move without having to dump their hardware.
(Okay, that wasn't really a tale. But you're happy now, right?)
I can tell you exactly why the holiday season 'sucked':
1) XBox 360 is crap and was hard-to-stock
Despite how much I dislike it, I worked on the retail side during the 360 launch, and the demand was there. I don't know if it was a large demand, in terms of other launches, but it certainly exceeded the units we received (which only happened twice while I worked there, and both times they were small shipments.) As most know, the story was similar just about everywhere.
I think Microsoft is mainly to blame for this: while something may have gone wrong with their manufacturer, they seemed to know the demand the system would elicit, but neglected to consider that when comensing production. I think they should have known that the capacity they had wouldn't meet demands (and I think they even said as such,) and increased production in some fashion. Certainly, there would have been a far larger number of 360s available under Christmas trees had their been sufficient inventory.
Also, problems that ran around the social circles soon afterwards probably turned off some of those who hadn't yet got one but were still interested, until that point. (Look, I can boil an egg on my power unit!)
2) Lack of new hit games
While I'm certain there were some gems, there were no "must have AAA games" that I can think of that were released around the time (and, again, I worked in electronics retail at the time, so I had an idea of what was "must have".) So there was no rush to get this game or that game.
The only game I can think of that would have been THE title of the season is Twilight Princess, and we know they moved that back to [April|June|November] (depending on where you get your information.) (Curse you, Nintendo!)
3) New Systems
We've already touched that the XBox 360 lacked the quantity to fill demand, but the demand for two yet-produceds system also slowed sales. People who already knew about the PS3 and Revolution (and, now, DS Lite) but didn't have a PS2 or Gamecube (or DS), respectively, most likely decided to save their money for the "new system right around the corner". With waivering release dates, most people were thinking mid-year. A six month wait to get the latest and greatest as opposed to getting now what will by then be old beans? They could wait.
Also, the release of Twilight Princess would have created a large surge of new Gamecube owners. I've talked to many who said they would get a GCN when Twilight Princess came out; now most are saying that they'll wait for the Revolution.
So, yes, the game industry is indeed throttling itself. Sequals of the Day and Cookie Cutter FPSes aren't helping, either.
Depending on how fine tuned the spacial sensors are, the controller may not even have gyroscopes.
You can look at it two ways:
1) Spacial sensor positioned near the center of gravity for the remote. Two gyroscopes measure pitch and yaw, respectively.
2) Four spacial sensors are on (or near) the four corners of the controller, one per corner. Their position relative to the sensors connected to the cube tell its spacial position, and their position relative to each other tell the pitch/yaw.
However, I think that 1 would be easier, as you'd have to do less calculations on the fly.
I don't know why I thought of this (I can assure you that if I hadn't, someone else will,) but this could be shifted to make Portable Outdoor Projector. Program a cellphone to automatically accept/answer a call/image from a certain number, and attach it and one of these thingers to a remote-controlled car (either by Duct Tape or actually affixing it, depending on how quick you want to throw this together.) Then you can drive it around a convention center or park, and have it throw an advertisement for your booth or some random image/video on a wall (or someone's back side, or on another booth...). When you feel that enough people have seen it, or those in the area start staring at it too much, simply drive it to another area to project in.
Two main worries: 1) Leg movements and bodies getting in the way of projection 2) Someone stealing it.
You can take care of 1 by getting one of those new "wall climber" remote control cars (uses suction to hold on to the wall- not so sure about ceiling use) to get above the crowd, assuming it can handle the extra weight/modifications.
You can take care of two with a taser. (Just hook it up to go off when you press a certain button on your cell phone! I suggest the pound key.)
"Pornography", huh? So that's what you kids are calling it these days?
Back in my day, it was either "political unrest" or "down with the man"! We didn't have to make up no fancy words for it, just said it as it is, and people were alright with that, yup.
Crazy kids. I swear, there's no telling what they will come up with next!
For the conspiracy theorists among us, this chip can be turned on to a "high-power" mode with the press of a button, which will also eject the hard drive into its direct vacinity, erasing any and all data on it.
Let's see the RIAA sue me when I have a useless hard drive, haha!
(Yes, I know that the magnets wouldn't be powerful enough to do anything to the hard drive.)
And before you ask, the Revolution is not included here because it wasn't really a factor last year and we're hearing that even with the console hitting this year, it won't be Nintendo primary focus at E3.
Are you freaking kidding?
You're telling me that the Revolution, Nintendo's stop gap console with a radically new controller, 20 years of backwards compatability, and easier developer programming (or so I've heard), which is coming out sometime this year is not going to be a primary focus?
Can we revoke the gaming journalism liscense for these guys?
The Revolution wasn't a focus last year because Nintendo like to keep things under wraps until the last possible moment. The used E3 last year to show off Twilight Princess and the GBM.
Even Nintendo knows that you have to have a big showing before the release to get people fired up and interested (well, those that aren't already.) Nintendo's main focus will most likely be the Revolution. I'm sure we'll have some DS and GBA goodies, as well as TP, but the Revolution will be pretty much all anyone will be interested in, especially because they will have playable demos on E3.
I'm sure that Sony wil have a big showing, but everyone will want to at least give the Revolution a try, just to see what it will be like.
Here's hoping they have cover a good number of genres with their setups, even if the games are just demos. I think that, right now, getting people in on the idea of using the remote in different ways is really important.
I've not been paying attention to this piece of government legislature, and I don't feel like pouring through news archieves to get the whole store.; can someone get me (and those in the same situation) up to speed on exactly what this is all about? The article stated some sides, and that people are protesting, but not what exactly they found bad about the ID cards.
Personally, I don't see a government ID as a bad thing; while it would be another piece of information to worry about, it would allow people to dissassociate themselves with their SSN (at least, in the states,) to companies. This would greatly decrease identity theft; if someone got your National ID number and went to town getting credit cards, there would be some process where they'd have to prove to the government (perhaps through the companies, perhaps not) that they are who they claim, using the SSN (and, upon failing, would be arrested). If someone did swipe your NID, then you'd prove that you're you, get a new NID, and have the old one invalidated.
While it wouldn't be impossible for someone to get both the National ID and SSN, it would add an extra layer of personal protection, and be that much harder. To add to this, SSNs would only go on important government documents; non-public military files, tax forms, FBI records, etc.
Unless they're implanting RFID tags or something into these cards, I don't see where the great harm is coming from. It would be no different than having your drivers liscense or SSN now.
Since Rare was, if I recall correctly, a second party developer, I'm not sure where liscensing rights fall. Obviously, they were able to take creations such as Perfect Dark and Conker to the XBox, but Nintendo may still have distrobution rights to the games made on the N64.
Besides, Zonk didn't mention that the wanted lists had to be realistic.:P
I'm hoping these kinds of anti-piracy actions work, and work well.
Things like the DRM and DMCA were put into place to fight piracy, and wound up just hurting regular consumers while the pirates just snickered as they continued along their merry way.
With these kinds of things, regular users will still be able to do what they like with their own copy, be it back it up or transfer it to another medium for personal use. At the same time, it will allow those tracking piracy to find the source and press charges only against that person, and not the random multitude.
I'm sure the pirates will figure out some way to work around this (be it to randomly change the volume slightly throughout an entire MP3, or brightening/dithering an entire picture), as they have everything else, but if this kind of technology can prevail and advance, it will allow those of us legally using our own purchased goods to do so without worry, while punishing those who deserve it.
When I tried to get Linux working on a machine at work to get some custom programming, I was forced to work with the hardware and spare computers we had. (It was a non-profit, so there was definately no money to get a new system for on-the-side programming.)
I had to go through three or four different systems, and then a half dozen video cards before I finally got a stable install of FC3.
Granted, that's just one distro, but from what I've heard, it isn't just that. From my understanding, a lot of the less popular or older cards aren't supported in Linux. Whether this is because of the card developers or Linux programmers is beyond me, but I would think there could be some way for OSDL, or some other company, to try and make pacts with hardware developers to support Linux.
I'm not part of any of the active ARGs right now, but I heavily got into ILB during its campaign, to the point that it could have been classified as an addiction. Unfortunatly, school and work got in the way of leading the forefront, but I still made sure to keep up on discoveries and hypothesises (hypothesii?).
One of the big reasons ARGs create such fervor is that it's more like virtual reality than playing a game console. Instead of manipulating a character in the game, you are in the game. Your personal reactions can change or advance the story, but so can the actions of millions of other people around the world.
However, I think ARGs more easily attract non-gamers than gamers. Because of the non-physical and low-visial environment that ARGs take, there's no fighting, adventuring, sword-swinging, racing, or gun shootng- in short, 70% of the gaming world wouldn't quite understand.
"Regular" people would get into it more because it's closer to an interactive novel than a video game. You still read along and try to think ahead, but now you actually do things instead of placidly sitting to the side, which would excite home-making housewives everywhere. You don't need anything more than a keyboard and mouse (and maybe a cellphone), things that most people are comfortable, if not really adept, with.
The gamers that would hop into it naturally are those who are into RTS or Myst. No longer is hack, slash, and headshot part of the formula, but strategy and puzzles rule the day. Critical thinking is necessary if you don't want to get left in the dust, and odd specialities can actually come in handy (we had one guy in ARG who was good with changing voice pitches and the like who was modifying voice recordings to see if there was a hidden message.)
Another big thing is that, unlike msot other games, this all happens in real time. You can't just save and come back later, or restart if something goes wrong. You have to stick with it and check it often, or you might just miss out.
ILB limited itself to one or two sites, e-mail, and a couple dozen public phones. The Beast, IIRC, covered a wild variety of sites, and used many other means of communication to advance the story.
As for people I know personally, not that many. Most of the people involved in ARGs that I know I met through the ARG.
I think that, as people get tired of Sequal of the Year awards, they'll turn towards things like ARG, which can have a much smaller budget, but a lot more user interaction.
It's about time that companies are forced to abide by U.S. law while operating in other countries. After all, most U.S. laws are meant to enhance individual life.
While we're taking care of Google, they're throwing in stuff about manufacturing companies offering below-U.S. minimum wage, work hours, and child labor laws in other countries, right?...No?
So you're telling me that companies like Nike, a highly profitable corporation which can charge $150 for a single shoe because of overhype, can continue to force children to work long hours for little pay, while a corporation like Google, which is providing a much more valuable service of information, and doesn't hinder its employees in foreign nations (to my knowledge), is forced to work by the U.S. laws?
How does that make sense?
Oh, right. Google probably hasn't been keeping up with their bribery stipents to members of congress.
Slashdot Mirror
So you're telling me I can't use my "mallaholic" screenname?
Nuts to you, Yahoo!
Sorry, but the princess is in another castle.
Oh, I agree that a solid product is worth the wait, but I just don't like being told one date, only to have them push it back so far. Release dates that can't be certain shouldn't be stated in the first place.
Reminds me of Half-life 2.
I read about this yesterday. Crushed my little Nintendo-fanboy heart.
How could they do this? I was okay with a four or five month delay, as it meant they were just polishing it off.
But pushing it back to the fall? That's just insane. That means I'll have had the game on reserve for around a year when it finally comes out. And for what? More polishing?
I don't think so. I, and many gamers I talked to, agreed that this a sneeky launch game tactic. They are pushing Twilight Princess back to the fall so it can be released alongside the Revolution. Even if it doesn't have any Revolution control features (despite the rumor), having a Zelda game as a launch title would be a huge boost to sales. All they'd need to do is slap a sticker or something on it that states that it can be played in both the Gamecube AND the Revolution. (If we're right, that also means the Revolution has a fall launch date.)
I'm still going to buy it and a Revolution (if I have enough money at the time for both), but this just ticks me off.
Might as well rename it Legend of Zelda: Duke Nukem Forever.
The only thing worse than this might be that we had to hear about it through SpikeTV. (At least it wasn't G4.)
Sigh.
Protect me from murder.
Protect me from rape, from robbery, from bodily assault.
Protect me from corporations swindling me.
Protect me from bodily damage from others.
But, please, stop protecting me from myself. I can protect me from myself just fine without the government jumping in with a few choice words.
If you're so concerned about those too incompetent to protect themselves from themselves, find a way to either educate them or allow them to continue down their self-destructive path without taking out others along the way.
It's good that you care for those types. (Someone has to.) However, restricting me because a small minority can't restrict themselves is not right.
And if you're doing this because of some moral high ground, go jump off a bridge.
This is all well and good, until every cell reads "Penis".
So what you're saying is, you are more than willing to supplement those site's income with a monthly stipent, since you are unwilling to view their ads, right? I mean, you must already have a paid subscription to Slashdot, right?
If not, shame on you. While we make not like them, ads are usually a necessary evil to help keep sites afloat, if only for the hosting costs. By shutting off the regular side/top banner ads, you're depriving them of necessary income.
Unless you're willing to pay the site directly, banner ads has the same rule as P2P and BT with sharing content: 56K is no excuse not to do it. You want the content, you have to deal.
(layover and pop up ads are another story- those are too evil to let stay)
I note the article talks about Windows XP Media Center.
My question to Slashdot is: How good is MythPC? Since I don't have the ability right now to build a media box, I haven't really looked into it. I've heard some people say it's good, some say it's bad. Which is it?
What alternatives are there to MythPC (free or not)? Are they any good?
Many a /.er are probably weeping at the thought of Apple dumping MacOS in favor of Windows.
Dry your eyes, dear friend, and listen to my tale.
How many people switched over to MacOS because they couldn't stand Windows, but wanted more than Linux has to offer?
After being used to MacOS for so long, how well do you think they'd adapt to Windows?
I believe that, should this happen (and, really, I don't see that), you'd get a mostly even three way split. One third would stick with MacOS as long as they could. One third would jump to Windows.
One third would jump to Linux.
Granted, the Mac user base isn't much larger than Linux's, but anything would help. If someone can create a GUI to put over a Linux Distro (maybe call it OrangeOS?) that acted much like the MacOS GUI, you'd be able to pull over a lot of users. Double bonus points if they can move without having to dump their hardware.
(Okay, that wasn't really a tale. But you're happy now, right?)
True, but then they turn right around and talk about dismal sales numbers, skirting the fact that they caused the problem in the first place.
Of course, I guess that could just be more free press, though that seems kind of like it would backfire.
I can tell you exactly why the holiday season 'sucked':
1) XBox 360 is crap and was hard-to-stock
Despite how much I dislike it, I worked on the retail side during the 360 launch, and the demand was there. I don't know if it was a large demand, in terms of other launches, but it certainly exceeded the units we received (which only happened twice while I worked there, and both times they were small shipments.) As most know, the story was similar just about everywhere.
I think Microsoft is mainly to blame for this: while something may have gone wrong with their manufacturer, they seemed to know the demand the system would elicit, but neglected to consider that when comensing production. I think they should have known that the capacity they had wouldn't meet demands (and I think they even said as such,) and increased production in some fashion. Certainly, there would have been a far larger number of 360s available under Christmas trees had their been sufficient inventory.
Also, problems that ran around the social circles soon afterwards probably turned off some of those who hadn't yet got one but were still interested, until that point. (Look, I can boil an egg on my power unit!)
2) Lack of new hit games
While I'm certain there were some gems, there were no "must have AAA games" that I can think of that were released around the time (and, again, I worked in electronics retail at the time, so I had an idea of what was "must have".) So there was no rush to get this game or that game.
The only game I can think of that would have been THE title of the season is Twilight Princess, and we know they moved that back to [April|June|November] (depending on where you get your information.) (Curse you, Nintendo!)
3) New Systems
We've already touched that the XBox 360 lacked the quantity to fill demand, but the demand for two yet-produceds system also slowed sales. People who already knew about the PS3 and Revolution (and, now, DS Lite) but didn't have a PS2 or Gamecube (or DS), respectively, most likely decided to save their money for the "new system right around the corner". With waivering release dates, most people were thinking mid-year. A six month wait to get the latest and greatest as opposed to getting now what will by then be old beans? They could wait.
Also, the release of Twilight Princess would have created a large surge of new Gamecube owners. I've talked to many who said they would get a GCN when Twilight Princess came out; now most are saying that they'll wait for the Revolution.
So, yes, the game industry is indeed throttling itself. Sequals of the Day and Cookie Cutter FPSes aren't helping, either.
Depending on how fine tuned the spacial sensors are, the controller may not even have gyroscopes.
You can look at it two ways:
1) Spacial sensor positioned near the center of gravity for the remote. Two gyroscopes measure pitch and yaw, respectively.
2) Four spacial sensors are on (or near) the four corners of the controller, one per corner. Their position relative to the sensors connected to the cube tell its spacial position, and their position relative to each other tell the pitch/yaw.
However, I think that 1 would be easier, as you'd have to do less calculations on the fly.
I don't know about the rest of you, but I think Uwe Boll really showed his love today.
Oh, and the whole "I'm getting out of video game movies" thing is pretty cool, too.
What a nice after-Valentine's gift.
I don't know why I thought of this (I can assure you that if I hadn't, someone else will,) but this could be shifted to make Portable Outdoor Projector. Program a cellphone to automatically accept/answer a call/image from a certain number, and attach it and one of these thingers to a remote-controlled car (either by Duct Tape or actually affixing it, depending on how quick you want to throw this together.) Then you can drive it around a convention center or park, and have it throw an advertisement for your booth or some random image/video on a wall (or someone's back side, or on another booth...). When you feel that enough people have seen it, or those in the area start staring at it too much, simply drive it to another area to project in.
Two main worries:
1) Leg movements and bodies getting in the way of projection
2) Someone stealing it.
You can take care of 1 by getting one of those new "wall climber" remote control cars (uses suction to hold on to the wall- not so sure about ceiling use) to get above the crowd, assuming it can handle the extra weight/modifications.
You can take care of two with a taser. (Just hook it up to go off when you press a certain button on your cell phone! I suggest the pound key.)
"Pornography", huh? So that's what you kids are calling it these days?
Back in my day, it was either "political unrest" or "down with the man"! We didn't have to make up no fancy words for it, just said it as it is, and people were alright with that, yup.
Crazy kids. I swear, there's no telling what they will come up with next!
Now get the hell off my lawn!
For the conspiracy theorists among us, this chip can be turned on to a "high-power" mode with the press of a button, which will also eject the hard drive into its direct vacinity, erasing any and all data on it.
Let's see the RIAA sue me when I have a useless hard drive, haha!
(Yes, I know that the magnets wouldn't be powerful enough to do anything to the hard drive.)
And before you ask, the Revolution is not included here because it wasn't really a factor last year and we're hearing that even with the console hitting this year, it won't be Nintendo primary focus at E3.
Are you freaking kidding?
You're telling me that the Revolution, Nintendo's stop gap console with a radically new controller, 20 years of backwards compatability, and easier developer programming (or so I've heard), which is coming out sometime this year is not going to be a primary focus?
Can we revoke the gaming journalism liscense for these guys?
The Revolution wasn't a focus last year because Nintendo like to keep things under wraps until the last possible moment. The used E3 last year to show off Twilight Princess and the GBM.
Even Nintendo knows that you have to have a big showing before the release to get people fired up and interested (well, those that aren't already.) Nintendo's main focus will most likely be the Revolution. I'm sure we'll have some DS and GBA goodies, as well as TP, but the Revolution will be pretty much all anyone will be interested in, especially because they will have playable demos on E3.
I'm sure that Sony wil have a big showing, but everyone will want to at least give the Revolution a try, just to see what it will be like.
Here's hoping they have cover a good number of genres with their setups, even if the games are just demos. I think that, right now, getting people in on the idea of using the remote in different ways is really important.
I meant that you'd prove you're you with your SSN card/number, which would become much more private than it is now.
I didn't know that the UK ID card would include biometrics. That makes me think twice about it.
I've not been paying attention to this piece of government legislature, and I don't feel like pouring through news archieves to get the whole store.; can someone get me (and those in the same situation) up to speed on exactly what this is all about? The article stated some sides, and that people are protesting, but not what exactly they found bad about the ID cards.
Personally, I don't see a government ID as a bad thing; while it would be another piece of information to worry about, it would allow people to dissassociate themselves with their SSN (at least, in the states,) to companies. This would greatly decrease identity theft; if someone got your National ID number and went to town getting credit cards, there would be some process where they'd have to prove to the government (perhaps through the companies, perhaps not) that they are who they claim, using the SSN (and, upon failing, would be arrested). If someone did swipe your NID, then you'd prove that you're you, get a new NID, and have the old one invalidated.
While it wouldn't be impossible for someone to get both the National ID and SSN, it would add an extra layer of personal protection, and be that much harder. To add to this, SSNs would only go on important government documents; non-public military files, tax forms, FBI records, etc.
Unless they're implanting RFID tags or something into these cards, I don't see where the great harm is coming from. It would be no different than having your drivers liscense or SSN now.
Since Rare was, if I recall correctly, a second party developer, I'm not sure where liscensing rights fall. Obviously, they were able to take creations such as Perfect Dark and Conker to the XBox, but Nintendo may still have distrobution rights to the games made on the N64.
:P
Besides, Zonk didn't mention that the wanted lists had to be realistic.
I'm hoping these kinds of anti-piracy actions work, and work well.
Things like the DRM and DMCA were put into place to fight piracy, and wound up just hurting regular consumers while the pirates just snickered as they continued along their merry way.
With these kinds of things, regular users will still be able to do what they like with their own copy, be it back it up or transfer it to another medium for personal use. At the same time, it will allow those tracking piracy to find the source and press charges only against that person, and not the random multitude.
I'm sure the pirates will figure out some way to work around this (be it to randomly change the volume slightly throughout an entire MP3, or brightening/dithering an entire picture), as they have everything else, but if this kind of technology can prevail and advance, it will allow those of us legally using our own purchased goods to do so without worry, while punishing those who deserve it.
True, but there's a difference between controlling a character doing that and actually doing that yourself.
When I tried to get Linux working on a machine at work to get some custom programming, I was forced to work with the hardware and spare computers we had. (It was a non-profit, so there was definately no money to get a new system for on-the-side programming.)
I had to go through three or four different systems, and then a half dozen video cards before I finally got a stable install of FC3.
Granted, that's just one distro, but from what I've heard, it isn't just that. From my understanding, a lot of the less popular or older cards aren't supported in Linux. Whether this is because of the card developers or Linux programmers is beyond me, but I would think there could be some way for OSDL, or some other company, to try and make pacts with hardware developers to support Linux.
I'm not part of any of the active ARGs right now, but I heavily got into ILB during its campaign, to the point that it could have been classified as an addiction. Unfortunatly, school and work got in the way of leading the forefront, but I still made sure to keep up on discoveries and hypothesises (hypothesii?).
One of the big reasons ARGs create such fervor is that it's more like virtual reality than playing a game console. Instead of manipulating a character in the game, you are in the game. Your personal reactions can change or advance the story, but so can the actions of millions of other people around the world.
However, I think ARGs more easily attract non-gamers than gamers. Because of the non-physical and low-visial environment that ARGs take, there's no fighting, adventuring, sword-swinging, racing, or gun shootng- in short, 70% of the gaming world wouldn't quite understand.
"Regular" people would get into it more because it's closer to an interactive novel than a video game. You still read along and try to think ahead, but now you actually do things instead of placidly sitting to the side, which would excite home-making housewives everywhere. You don't need anything more than a keyboard and mouse (and maybe a cellphone), things that most people are comfortable, if not really adept, with.
The gamers that would hop into it naturally are those who are into RTS or Myst. No longer is hack, slash, and headshot part of the formula, but strategy and puzzles rule the day. Critical thinking is necessary if you don't want to get left in the dust, and odd specialities can actually come in handy (we had one guy in ARG who was good with changing voice pitches and the like who was modifying voice recordings to see if there was a hidden message.)
Another big thing is that, unlike msot other games, this all happens in real time. You can't just save and come back later, or restart if something goes wrong. You have to stick with it and check it often, or you might just miss out.
ILB limited itself to one or two sites, e-mail, and a couple dozen public phones. The Beast, IIRC, covered a wild variety of sites, and used many other means of communication to advance the story.
As for people I know personally, not that many. Most of the people involved in ARGs that I know I met through the ARG.
I think that, as people get tired of Sequal of the Year awards, they'll turn towards things like ARG, which can have a much smaller budget, but a lot more user interaction.
It's about time that companies are forced to abide by U.S. law while operating in other countries. After all, most U.S. laws are meant to enhance individual life.
...No?
While we're taking care of Google, they're throwing in stuff about manufacturing companies offering below-U.S. minimum wage, work hours, and child labor laws in other countries, right?
So you're telling me that companies like Nike, a highly profitable corporation which can charge $150 for a single shoe because of overhype, can continue to force children to work long hours for little pay, while a corporation like Google, which is providing a much more valuable service of information, and doesn't hinder its employees in foreign nations (to my knowledge), is forced to work by the U.S. laws?
How does that make sense?
Oh, right. Google probably hasn't been keeping up with their bribery stipents to members of congress.
Fucking politicians.