I guess you would drag the XboxPC to the desk when you need to use the stable keyboard and mouse to get higher accuracy, and then drag it back to the lounge room when you need to play four player games with some friends.
I'm guessing users would eventually get pissed off with this idea and buy two. At that point, what is the one in the lounge room for, again? And wouldn't a more powerful computer (but which can't play Xbox games) cost less than $600?
There are probably a few cases where the lounge room might be acceptable for a PC game, but there can't be many. At risk of being sued by Penny Arcade, calling something a "console which plays PC games" really is like calling something an "apple orange".
Microsoft must just be testing the water to see if anyone took the Phantom seriously on launch. Personally, they can do whatever they want with the next Xbox, as long as it can be hacked to become a media player and has significant improvements over the original, I will buy one.
Yeah, in a way I wish Microsoft were more like Nintendo, and had exclusive titles which were both actually exclusive (Halo is reaaaal "Xbox exclusive" when you can buy it for PC!), unique, and fun to play at the same time.
Didn't Microsoft already say the next Xbox would be based on PowerPC? When they say a "standard" OEM PC, are they talking about an Intel-compatible PC? If that's the case, do they intend to emulate it, or ship with two processors? Or are they talking about the possibility to run a full copy of OSX on the thing, which would actually be cool?
Nevertheless it's still a great crime to skim 1 hour each from 1,000,000 people.
Not only is it a great crime, but it's also a pretty pointless crime since the user probably gets no direct benefit out of it. At least stealing money gives you something you can use.
I prefer using Linux. Whenever I have to use an XP machine, I find I miss the relative efficiency of KDE's user interface, and find myself wishing the machine were running SuSE 9.1 instead:)
Alternatively, the Qt-Win32 project could work harder (or more people could join it, I guess) and get Qt, and eventually KDE, running on Windows natively. I know I would use it, at work, where I'm forced to run Windows.
They should have a pluggable codec architecture. Because let's face it, in a few years there will be a format which nobody had heard of before, which storms the market and everyone wants to put on their device.
Nobody gave a flying fuck about AAC until the iPod showed up and started using it. Move back to before iPod, and see what people on Slashdot say when you ask for a player which supports it. I would expect the same sort of anti-OGG troll which you get at present to be bagging out AAC in exactly the same way. Yet where are we now?
In another couple of years some other audio codec which nobody gives a shit about right now will appear on another player, and everyone who buys these non-upgradeable pieces of shit will be incapable of playing it.
Well it looks like the damn thing doesn't even play AVI, it has to convert everything to MPEG4 to play it. I guess if they "supported" OGG in the future then it would be by the same crock of this they call "supporting" AVI.
Even without bugs in the implementation, the XML format won't work to a general enough degree. Let's see... we already have a format which many programming languages translate to, and which can be translated back to a limited degree, and that's object code. Translating object code back to a programming language may work, sure, but it doesn't generate the same level of semantics which were there in the original.
Now translate the object code to XML. Is it any better? Probably not. It's now readable, but so is machine code, if you have the right program. And this guy is proposing to use a program which renders the XML in a familiar format anyway, which is really only one jump from using a program which renders the machine code in a familiar format.
Allowing multiple languages in the whole thing seems to naively ignore the fact that different languages have different features. What does the guy with his editor configured for Java, see when viewing a file that some C++ developer put operator overloading into?
The whole thing smacks of "if it starts with X, it must be good."
I say fuck it in the eye. We don't need source code which translates to other source code, we need source code which compiles to a module which can reliably use, and be reliably used by, modules written in any other language, and we need all these modules to be crashproof and crackproof when they run. They should save the research for the things which matter, and stop misusing XML.:-/
Or the sites could just all use the browser's language flags to determine what not to display. For instance, if you have English set, then display the page in Swahili.
The fact of the matter remains that once HDTV becomes the rule rather than the high-end exception you will accept DRM or do without TV.
I guess in many cases this means waiting for the DVDs to be released, assuming they ever are...
Or alternatively, wait for someone to make a little black box which the TV signal passes through that decrypts and un-DRMs the stream. I'm sure all those HDTV owners are going to be screaming if DRM did start being the only way to watch TV. I mean, even non-HDTV owners would be screaming at that point. There would be more than enough demand for that little black box to justify going into manufacture.
I was thinking the same thing when that other article about Sony putting the same Cell processor in both their TVs and the PS3. PS3 will be a popular target for modchipping, and for sure if they try to pull any DRM stunt with the TV, that will be as well.
Who cares what processor they use... the problem with Sony is that they then go and write an API which is impossible to use. A good API on a crap processor would still be acceptable, but knowing Sony...
The game editor is absolutely amazing. I like how you can have multiple players in there, tweaking the level while they run around. I'm sure there are some serious productivity benefits to doing level design that way. I guess in theory you could have people running around as non-editors, playing the game and giving feedback like "this corridor feels too tight/too wide", and the editor could run in and move the wall in or out. It would be amazing.:-)
Slashdot Mirror
Dude, there is a fine line between hard, and ninjas busting in your door and killing your best friend while you're playing the game.
Minesweeper is ideal for botting!
What's the expected usage pattern like?
I guess you would drag the XboxPC to the desk when you need to use the stable keyboard and mouse to get higher accuracy, and then drag it back to the lounge room when you need to play four player games with some friends.
I'm guessing users would eventually get pissed off with this idea and buy two. At that point, what is the one in the lounge room for, again? And wouldn't a more powerful computer (but which can't play Xbox games) cost less than $600?
There are probably a few cases where the lounge room might be acceptable for a PC game, but there can't be many. At risk of being sued by Penny Arcade, calling something a "console which plays PC games" really is like calling something an "apple orange".
Microsoft must just be testing the water to see if anyone took the Phantom seriously on launch. Personally, they can do whatever they want with the next Xbox, as long as it can be hacked to become a media player and has significant improvements over the original, I will buy one.
Yeah, in a way I wish Microsoft were more like Nintendo, and had exclusive titles which were both actually exclusive (Halo is reaaaal "Xbox exclusive" when you can buy it for PC!), unique, and fun to play at the same time.
Didn't Microsoft already say the next Xbox would be based on PowerPC? When they say a "standard" OEM PC, are they talking about an Intel-compatible PC? If that's the case, do they intend to emulate it, or ship with two processors? Or are they talking about the possibility to run a full copy of OSX on the thing, which would actually be cool?
Nevertheless it's still a great crime to skim 1 hour each from 1,000,000 people.
Not only is it a great crime, but it's also a pretty pointless crime since the user probably gets no direct benefit out of it. At least stealing money gives you something you can use.
I prefer using Linux. Whenever I have to use an XP machine, I find I miss the relative efficiency of KDE's user interface, and find myself wishing the machine were running SuSE 9.1 instead :)
Alternatively, the Qt-Win32 project could work harder (or more people could join it, I guess) and get Qt, and eventually KDE, running on Windows natively. I know I would use it, at work, where I'm forced to run Windows.
Well duh, of course the mail system should be fixed. Are you saying you disagree?
Also don't forget...
*Can be used as a convenient paperweight in a hurricane. ^_^
For all you homebound geeks who have never been to a barbeque, I will attempt to translate the above for you:
"Burning dinosaurs? Imagine a Beowulf cluster of those!
They should have a pluggable codec architecture. Because let's face it, in a few years there will be a format which nobody had heard of before, which storms the market and everyone wants to put on their device.
Nobody gave a flying fuck about AAC until the iPod showed up and started using it. Move back to before iPod, and see what people on Slashdot say when you ask for a player which supports it. I would expect the same sort of anti-OGG troll which you get at present to be bagging out AAC in exactly the same way. Yet where are we now?
In another couple of years some other audio codec which nobody gives a shit about right now will appear on another player, and everyone who buys these non-upgradeable pieces of shit will be incapable of playing it.
Well it looks like the damn thing doesn't even play AVI, it has to convert everything to MPEG4 to play it. I guess if they "supported" OGG in the future then it would be by the same crock of this they call "supporting" AVI.
Even without bugs in the implementation, the XML format won't work to a general enough degree. Let's see... we already have a format which many programming languages translate to, and which can be translated back to a limited degree, and that's object code. Translating object code back to a programming language may work, sure, but it doesn't generate the same level of semantics which were there in the original.
Now translate the object code to XML. Is it any better? Probably not. It's now readable, but so is machine code, if you have the right program. And this guy is proposing to use a program which renders the XML in a familiar format anyway, which is really only one jump from using a program which renders the machine code in a familiar format.
Allowing multiple languages in the whole thing seems to naively ignore the fact that different languages have different features. What does the guy with his editor configured for Java, see when viewing a file that some C++ developer put operator overloading into?
The whole thing smacks of "if it starts with X, it must be good."
I say fuck it in the eye. We don't need source code which translates to other source code, we need source code which compiles to a module which can reliably use, and be reliably used by, modules written in any other language, and we need all these modules to be crashproof and crackproof when they run. They should save the research for the things which matter, and stop misusing XML. :-/
It's more than Gish too, they have what looks like the world's only physics-based puzzler.
Or the sites could just all use the browser's language flags to determine what not to display. For instance, if you have English set, then display the page in Swahili.
The fact of the matter remains that once HDTV becomes the rule rather than the high-end exception you will accept DRM or do without TV.
I guess in many cases this means waiting for the DVDs to be released, assuming they ever are...
Or alternatively, wait for someone to make a little black box which the TV signal passes through that decrypts and un-DRMs the stream. I'm sure all those HDTV owners are going to be screaming if DRM did start being the only way to watch TV. I mean, even non-HDTV owners would be screaming at that point. There would be more than enough demand for that little black box to justify going into manufacture.
I was thinking the same thing when that other article about Sony putting the same Cell processor in both their TVs and the PS3. PS3 will be a popular target for modchipping, and for sure if they try to pull any DRM stunt with the TV, that will be as well.
Who cares what processor they use... the problem with Sony is that they then go and write an API which is impossible to use. A good API on a crap processor would still be acceptable, but knowing Sony...
Damnit, you stole the lame-ass joke which I was going to make. Now what am I going to do?!?!
In Soviet Russia, space program lapel pins uncollect YOU?
Or... In SimSovietRussia, the country runs YOU!
I just don't know anymore.
I like his robot. In fact I think there are a few preschools which could do with licensing that robot.
The game editor is absolutely amazing. I like how you can have multiple players in there, tweaking the level while they run around. I'm sure there are some serious productivity benefits to doing level design that way. I guess in theory you could have people running around as non-editors, playing the game and giving feedback like "this corridor feels too tight/too wide", and the editor could run in and move the wall in or out. It would be amazing. :-)
Of course any new phone these days can also play MP3 ringtones, so you have a way to play even more authentic-sounding SNES themes. :-)
How is an iPod "scholarly"? And furthermore, why is this all a big deal now, despite MP3 ringtones having been around for ages?
Because even though Windows overwrites the MBR and destroys whatever else was there, simply calling it a "feature" makes it all okay.