obviously, the average customer isn't concerned about security. the average customer is, for the most part, an idiot. as such, microsoft doesn't provide a product i need, so this is also a contributing factor to my not using their software.
second, 3 service packs, in general, isn't bad software. bugs after release are to be expected, as are enhancements. however, as mentioned, this has taken how long? 2 YEARS. 2 years to reach a semi-quality product that the public has been buying and using over that span of time, with confidence. to me, this is like buying a discman, and waiting two years for it to support the use of batteries.
in any case, i hardly think i've spread any falsehoods. it's obvious for all to see that microsoft consistently releases sub-par product in an attempt to meet deadlines. if you deny that, *you're* the one spreading falsehoods. microsoft does, as you noted, touch nearly everything. with that in mind, doesn't it seem like they should be making a more concentrated effort to improve their software, within a reasonable amount of time? like i said, when i buy software, i don't want an extended beta test for the next 2 years, and i'm sure companies that rely on their software don't either. for a company their size, there's simply no excuse for releasing such poor quality.
as for my conclusion that microsoft = bad software, you're right, to an extent. however, my opinion of their business *tactics* is only one of the reasons i dislike them.
to finish this up, your quote is correct. however, your usage is not. i did, in fact, say that i hate how they do business. multiple portions of my post mention *other* reasons that i dislike their software. it's only happenstance, taking into account recent events, that their business tactics are foremost on my mind.
that said, did you even read me original reply? or did you just pick out that one line and assume that you could overlook the rest of it in an attempt to prove that i'm some kind of microsoft-hating linux zealot without any particular reasoning for my opinion?
while i'd love to change the nature of corporations, i'm doubtful it'll happen on a large scale. i do, however, have the choice not to use something that i don't feel is a quality product. that alone is ample justification to boycott their products; my disgust with how they do business is only one of many reasons behind that justification.
i think you've missed the point of why some of us dislike microsoft products so much.
yes, part of the issue is security. i think it's great that they take steps to patch it, but here's where the problem comes in, as far as i'm concerned:
if microsoft was concerned with putting out a quality product, and satisfying it's customers, they wouldn't need to go through *3* service packs just to reach a level of semi-acceptable security. doing that only proves that microsoft cares very little about providing quality product, and more about shipping as quickly as possible in order to fill their pockets faster. after all, why bother spending time on making a secure, stable product, when you can make more money by releasing a whole new operating system every few years?
i realize that to make money, you've got to be ahead of the other guys. however, i hardly think this is a good excuse for shipping low-quality, unstable software. if i'm spending money on software (which i rarely do), it'd better not be an extended beta test that takes 2+ years to reach full completion.
personally, i don't hate microsoft solely because of security. more than my qualms with the registry, software stability, or the childish interface, i hate how they do business. at some point, a person takes a side in this little "war', and i'm firmly on the side of open-source. does that mean i believe commercial software is inherently bad? not at all, which is why i don't particularly think the GPL is a good idea. however, i think that in many instances, the sharing of code between companies, commercial or otherwise, is integral to the growth of technology. without that kind of cooperation between companies, we're stuck in a constant tug-of-war, and nobody benefits from that.
my greatest fear, however, is that unix-based operating systems will merely end up going the way of windows. more gaudy, childish interfaces, more "help wizards", more shit that i don't need. i've always felt that open-source should strive to innovate; not emulate. like any ideology or skill, people who use windows learned it somewhere along the way. they can unlearn it, too.
total agreement over here. personally, i'm kind of sick of seeing so much of it everywhere, not to mention the side-effect crap that's associated with it, like cosplay.
personally, i've ignored a lot of the newer series. this is partially to a lack of funds lately, but also because so many of them seem dull as hell, or just a rehashing of other greats. i do, however, have a huge love for cowboy bebop..easily some of the best stuff to come along in awhile, and not just because of faye valentine.
it will crash, though, like every other fad..but when the dust settles, i think we'll see a resurgence of genuinely good anime. if anything, i can use that bit of time to play catch-up on the series i'm behind on. i haven't even started picking up evangelion dvds!
better yet, have them design weaponry. i know i'd buy a semi-automatic suitcase!
i can already see a slew of ad campaigns like "for the postal worker on the go!"
unfortunately, we *can't* change providers. at&t is the only company (that i'm aware of) that provides cable service to midtown sacramento. i would've greatly preferred dsl, but my girlfriend wanted cable instead. believe me, i would've been quite happy to call the shots on how it was installed. despite specifying our requirements, as well as outright asking the tech if he could just hand us the modem and info and be on his merry way, we were refused, and given the "i have to install this" line. when i asked him if he was aware that we weren't going to be hooking up a windows machine, he tried arguing with us about it until i pulled one out of the closet.
however, having previously worked retail, i *do* share your opinion about elitist fucknecks who think that employees of whatever company they're going through, for any kind of product, should know EVERYTHING. in this case, i don't think the tech should know anything about non-windows and/or mac operating systems. even if he did, i wouldn't let him touch my non-windows systems, simply because i'm an anal retentive geek:p
when i purchase a product, i do not want extraneous bullshit. this includes software. i run freebsd, thus i do not NEED the software, nor am i going to install vmware or wine just to "let the installer do his job".
we spent nearly an hour waiting for that jackass to "do his job", while he fiddled with software he barely knew how to install, when we could've set the whole damned thing up without him even touching anything. if we'd been given the option to configure it ourselves, we would've gladly taken it. i'll give the installer a break when he can display at least a minimal level of competence, not waste my time, and the company he/she works for stops being so pro-active towards windows morons.
we had to pull out a shit windows machine from the closet so he could do his job. the point is, we shouldn't have to. companies (in this case, at&t) need to start having a little more of a broad view when it comes to who their customers are. they need to realize that not only do many people know more about their product than their installers do, and that they aren't all running windows. we shouldn't have to handhold their employees, and make special accomodations for them, just to get the product we're paying for.
so fuck your rant. it isn't my job to give the installer a break; it's to help provide them with a paycheck, in exchange for a service. christ, it took 2 minutes just for the dipshit to understand what i was talking about when i asked him how much cat5 he needed. to me, this indicates two things:
1. that they believe 99.9% of their customers to be idiots. in northern california (where i live), i hardly think this is an appropriate stance to take.
2. that their employees don't need to have at least a BASIC understanding of what they're doing, because they have a little instruction booklet that says how to do it.
maybe it's just me, but i find all of the above to be pretty high on the bullshit meter.
personally, i think the whole article is bullshit... if anything, i find it somewhat amusing, if only because these jerkoffs are spending thousands upon thousands of $$$ on equipment they don't even really know how to use and/or hookup.
"ooh, i have a zaurus and two computers in my trailer!"
big deal. we've got 2 amd athlon xp's running freebsd, a previously decomissioned SGI box running IRIX, and an older 900mhz athlon running windows xp. the difference in bragging rights is that we BUILT THEM. we didn't hire someone to put it all together for us so we could *pretend* we know more than fuck-all about computers and electronics.
it's really sad when the rich are termed "geeks" simply because they have money to buy shit they don't need, and don't know how to actually use or put together any of it. most of these setups are just dick-waving over who spent the most money, anyway. even if i *were* rich, i'd stick with a dj mixer, studio monitors, and computer. stock the system with mp3's, wire everything you need to (which really isn't much), and you're good to go.
also, to joeflies: you're right about catherine bell. i've got a setup that's 10 times more interesting than hers, but you don't see me and my girlfriend gracing the pages of wired.
i think her show sucks, though, so to me, she's just another dumbshit who thinks they're hot shit because of what they own.
right friggin' on.
while i do agree that neither is "right", i will say that i find something rather..disgusting..about someone who finds that the most enjoyable elements in life consist of getting laid and getting drunk.
maybe it's just me, but i find it difficult to have much respect for someone who's creative/intellectual interests are so devoid.
of course, a good balance is to drink *while* geeking. you'd be amazed at the interesting irc logs that can come out of an entire channel being utterly blasted. i fondly recall a strange little "presentation" someone gave a couple years ago called "c00k1ng w17h h4x0r".
"f1r57 y0u h4x0r 7h3 ch1k1n..7h3n j00 pu7 17 1n 7h3 m1Cr0w4v3 4nd 3xpl0d0r 7h3 ch1k1n"
"3457 ch3357 l3370! h4h4h4h4h4!"
err..something like that. you had to be there.
i totally lost track of what the hell i was trying to say, didn't i?
in terms of research and development/setting the standard, i'd say that's very true. still, i can't help but wonder realistically what this translates to in terms of revenue for manufacturers. there are still a large number of mainstream types who consider themselves "hardcore gamers", even if they don't even know what overclocking is.. they do know, however, that if you want framerates that will burn a hole through your retinas, you need hot-shit hardware.
real hardcore gamers would build their own system, as far as i'm concerned..even so, i'd be willing to bet the people buying those crappy systems from the likes of dell and hp aren't all stay-at-home mom's and webtv converts.
optimistically, hardcore types will boycott palladium, but realistically, they can only hold out so long before the games start to rely on uber-ninja gear (at least in their minds).
What this does mean, however, is hardware fiends going crazy to pick up "old" hardware. It's an OCP paradise, and should help breathe new life into hardware that's been moved to the "obsolete" pile..those of us who know hardware, however, know that even a 486 can be useful. This is immensely true for hardware that's slightly pre-Palladium. It's also a very good way to strip money from the hands of AMD and Intel..the more people boycotting this technology means a larger chance that the manufacturers will rethink this decision.
It's unlikely to work, of course, due to the huge line between a hardware geek and mainstream user.. but I think it could make some kind of dent. Certainly one that could last until someone is able to bypass/crack/trick Palladium.
So, I say let them do whatever. Last I checked, my Athlon XP 1500 ran FreeBSD very smoothly.
as with tessach, i'll give you that original point..i've never heard of rogers video, though.
however, i don't agree at all that gamers make up such a small segment of the population. the video game industry, over the last 10 years, has gone from being predominantly a niche market, to a multi-billion dollar industry that rivals hollywood. you can't tell me that revenue and marketing of that magnitude is an isolated business. hell, even my mom's 50-year old boyfriend plays them..albeit crappy games, but he still plays:p
conceded:>
i personally don't even go to Blockbuster anymore. my girlfriend and i only rent from www.greencine.com now, since we're so close to the bay area, and we watch virtually nothing but anime/foreign/horror/indie/etc stuff.
kay-bee was the only one i wasn't sure about, since i don't shop there..most of their stores in the area i'm from have gone out of business rather quickly.
to answer your second question, no, i didn't just mean wal-mart..but i also didn't just mean GTA3. violence and obscenity is nothing new in video games..it's been an issue since the early days of mortal kombat, thrill kill, and splatterhouse. with the exception of thrill kill, i haven't seen any of these games hit any real, significant roadblocks in distribution or sales.
to add to that, people do seem to get sick of a game based on a gimmick sooner or later..mortal kombat started to really lose people's interest around MK3 and definitely Mk4.. despite the interest it carried to both consumers and politicians, people eventually forget and move on. so it will be with GTA3 and so it will be with this BMX game.
of course, i'm one of those people who still thinks games like Fallout 2 and System Shock 2 are some of the greatest games ever made, and the public at large probably never even knew about them..
if that's the case, then why have multiple claims been made over the years about not carrying games that largely feature vulgarity and violence? i dunno about the wal-mart stores in your area, but i've never really gotten the "wholesome family image" from them..mostly just an overwhelming urge to vomit, based on the sheer density of morons, rednecks, and white trash that populate the store.
you are right about one thing, though, in that their goal seems to be to *try* to attract the "happy housewives" and families. however, this goes hand in hand with making more money, because a large percentage of gamers consists of kids between age 13 all the way up for people in their 40's. fathers and kids play the games.
sure, they're free to stand behind morality in an attempt to keep customers happy..but i don't see it happening anywhere except for their commercials. if they really stood behind it, they wouldn't carry games like GTA3. this goes back to my original point, though: as long as standing against the game is more profitable than actually selling it, they'll stick by it.
i worked in retail for about 2 1/2 years as an assistant manager at blockbuster.. i dealt with more "unhappy" customers in that period of time than i ever care to again. however, i can also tell you that no matter how pissed a customer got, regardless of the reason..they still came back, time and time again..but why? many of them were so angry, there were instances of the following:
1.) a customer kicked, and broke, our out-door, all because of a late fee.
2.) a customer threw a movie at one of my clerks, because of a late fee.
3.) a customer screaming at me that i'm a fucking idiot, because our VCR units were all rented out. in turn, i screamed something back at him, and told him to get the fuck out until he could act like a rational person.
each and every single one of them came back again, despite their previous displeasure.
through all of this, NO ONE complained about our rather large selection of soft porn and violent video games. even soccer moms.
while it's very true that bad press can hurt a company, it's all short term. the average customer does just that: they consume. their thirst for product or a good deal is greater than their personal code of ethics and morality, and in the end, their wallet determines where they shop..not their conscience.
interestingly enough, each and every one of these retailers comes out as a hypocrite in this.
just yesterday, i walked into wal-mart and bought a copy of GTA3 for PS2. no ID, no huge warning label, nothing. here we have a game that caused such a huge furor, with it's mass amounts of violence and criminal themes, not to mention hookers, pimps, and drugs..purchased from a company that has, time and again, supposedly "put their foot down" on this kind of thing.
$10 bucks says that if this game gets popular, you can expect to see retailers who once claimed they would never tolerate that kind of thing, stocking it in droves to get a slice of the profit. this whole issue comes down to profitability and giving a good marketing face. if the game doesn't look like it's going to be a big seller, it's easy to say "we won't carry this!", because nobody gives a shit either way. turn the tables, though, and not carrying it means a large loss of potential profits.
i can't think of a single retailer who would actually stand behind a claim of morality even at the risk of losing a lot of money.
to finish this, though: i don't think the game looks all that entertaining, nor does the prospect of full nudity really appeal to me. if i want to look at naked women, i'll rent a frickin' porno..not a BMX game.
The RIAA may not dictate terms of performance, but a subsidiary of the RIAA, called SoundExchange, *does* dictate payment for copyright fees. It doesn't matter whether or not the artist is indie/underground/whatever. The purpose of SoundExchange is to collect fees on *all* copyright holders, whether they're affiliated with the RIAA or not. Somehow, they're actually able to get away with this.
To avoid the aforementioned fees in a legal manner, you would need to get a waiver from each individual artist/label. Though SoundExchange collects these fees, the people who create that music don't see a dime of the fee you're paying. Cute, isn't it? To contact and gain permission from all those bands/labels is next to impossible, which turns all of this into a pretty sweet deal for the RIAA, and a very sour situation for webcasters who want to go the full legal route.
Jamie Zawinski, likely well-known here for his contributions to Mozilla, XScreensaver, and Lucid Emacs, current runs a nightclub in San Francisco, called the DNA Lounge. Every single performance/dj set is webcast from the club.. so he's been kind enough to do a full write-up of the necessary fees, legalese, etc for potential webcasters, club owners, and the like. Even if you're not interested doing it, it's a good overview of the crap that the RIAA and their ilk put people through. His write-up covers a pretty broad territory, including SoundExchange, associations that you have to pay fees to, and quite a bit more.
you can find his write-up here:
http://www.dnalounge.com/backstage/webcasting.html
well, i can't speak for anyone else.. but i think a lot of the long-lasting appeal that akira has is due largely in part to when it was created, too.
in my case, "akira" was my introduction to anime, along with "vampire hunter d", "a wind named amnesia", and miscellaneous stuff over the next couple years like "silent mobius", "baoh", and "neo-tokyo".
up until "ghost in the shell", "akira" was really one of the only anime films that could really be considered an epic. add on the inclusion of computer-assisted effects and graphics, and that counts for a lot. nowadays, we take that kind of thing for granted, but for people like me, who weren't weaned on cgi as kids, you learn to take those early contributions a lot closer to heart.
the plot, imo, was confusing..but only the first time around. subsequent viewings revealed a little more each time i'd watch it, which is kind of nice. i like the idea that watching a film can be like cutting off layers of an onion. even now, there's still some minute detail that pops out at me, and i wonder, "how the hell did i miss that?"
as for the manga, there is definitely more depth..but that's a given. as you mentioned, there's only so much you can fit into two hours. otomo's graphic novels clocked in somewhere around 80 issues..we're not talking 10-15 page little books, either. i'm being lazy in not going to look through my collection, but i seem to recall most of the books being roughly 60-80 pages in length.
i think if there is a live-action version, they should try to incorporate more detailed elements from the books. a focus on characters that were in the movie, but had meager attention given in comparison to the manga would be a good start. joker (the leader of the clowns) actually bands together with kaneda later in the graphic novels..this isn't even remotely touched upon in the movie. an unfortunate side-effect, but again..only so much in 2 hours.
if you want to track down the manga, i believe they released larger collections of the series. i'm going off memory from over a year ago, but i believe each collection was made up of 5 or 6 issues.
to finish it up, though..akira was put out in '88. i don't know when you first saw it, but i saw it not too long after it came out. anime wasn't nearly as available as it is now, so i tend to look back on it (and still watch it) fondly. i don't think it's a story for everyone, which is why i'm fairly against a live-action version (appealing to the masses will only ruin the film..you can't dilute something like that)..but i do think it's merits, at least as an innovator, are obvious. for the story, though, i think it's stood the test of time very, very well.
now if only the re-dubbing on the 2-disc dvd wasn't so awful, i could walk away truly happy. i usually go with subtitles, but i actually like the dubbing on the original.
shinya tsukamoto. his past credits include tetsuo: the iron man, tetsuo II: body hammer, tokyo fist, bullet ballet, gemini, and a few others.
for those who aren't familiar with him, i highly suggest you go rent "tetsuo". come back, and you'll see why he would be the *perfect* choice for this.
those who are familiar with his work, just think about it. it's already obvious that he knows how to handle bizarre, intense characters. his somewhat post-apocalyptic/industrial future is well presented in both "tetsuo" films, and his imagination could really bring otomo's vision of neo-tokyo to life in ways that this norrington hack could never even dream.
also, while it may seem like stereotyping, he is japanese, which helps to provide a certain insight into japanese technology/culture that most westerners simply don't have. a heavy underlying theme in "akira", imo, dealt with the advancement and decline of technology and the consequences of letting technology rule our lives. as "akira" is set in a fictitious, futuristic tokyo, his experience as a citizen of japan can only be beneficial in the long run, particularly if otomo himself is contributing to the project.
also, to the person who mentioned that norrington worked on "blade", i hardly thing that's a good basis for comparison. while i liked that movie, i don't think i would ever refer to it as a "deep" film. the focus of it was simply action, plain and simple. while "akira" has plenty of it, it wasn't just random acts of violence, nor was the story, for all intents and purposes, entirely driven by those scenes. the whole reason the film is considered to be such a masterpiece and a classic is the story. unfortunately for norrington, he doesn't have the credentials to really give me any kind of confidence that he could pull it off without doing the story a serious injustice.
Slashdot Mirror
obviously, the average customer isn't concerned about security. the average customer is, for the most part, an idiot. as such, microsoft doesn't provide a product i need, so this is also a contributing factor to my not using their software.
second, 3 service packs, in general, isn't bad software. bugs after release are to be expected, as are enhancements. however, as mentioned, this has taken how long? 2 YEARS. 2 years to reach a semi-quality product that the public has been buying and using over that span of time, with confidence. to me, this is like buying a discman, and waiting two years for it to support the use of batteries.
in any case, i hardly think i've spread any falsehoods. it's obvious for all to see that microsoft consistently releases sub-par product in an attempt to meet deadlines. if you deny that, *you're* the one spreading falsehoods. microsoft does, as you noted, touch nearly everything. with that in mind, doesn't it seem like they should be making a more concentrated effort to improve their software, within a reasonable amount of time? like i said, when i buy software, i don't want an extended beta test for the next 2 years, and i'm sure companies that rely on their software don't either. for a company their size, there's simply no excuse for releasing such poor quality.
as for my conclusion that microsoft = bad software, you're right, to an extent. however, my opinion of their business *tactics* is only one of the reasons i dislike them.
to finish this up, your quote is correct. however, your usage is not. i did, in fact, say that i hate how they do business. multiple portions of my post mention *other* reasons that i dislike their software. it's only happenstance, taking into account recent events, that their business tactics are foremost on my mind.
that said, did you even read me original reply? or did you just pick out that one line and assume that you could overlook the rest of it in an attempt to prove that i'm some kind of microsoft-hating linux zealot without any particular reasoning for my opinion?
while i'd love to change the nature of corporations, i'm doubtful it'll happen on a large scale. i do, however, have the choice not to use something that i don't feel is a quality product. that alone is ample justification to boycott their products; my disgust with how they do business is only one of many reasons behind that justification.
i think you've missed the point of why some of us dislike microsoft products so much.
yes, part of the issue is security. i think it's great that they take steps to patch it, but here's where the problem comes in, as far as i'm concerned:
if microsoft was concerned with putting out a quality product, and satisfying it's customers, they wouldn't need to go through *3* service packs just to reach a level of semi-acceptable security. doing that only proves that microsoft cares very little about providing quality product, and more about shipping as quickly as possible in order to fill their pockets faster. after all, why bother spending time on making a secure, stable product, when you can make more money by releasing a whole new operating system every few years?
i realize that to make money, you've got to be ahead of the other guys. however, i hardly think this is a good excuse for shipping low-quality, unstable software. if i'm spending money on software (which i rarely do), it'd better not be an extended beta test that takes 2+ years to reach full completion.
personally, i don't hate microsoft solely because of security. more than my qualms with the registry, software stability, or the childish interface, i hate how they do business. at some point, a person takes a side in this little "war', and i'm firmly on the side of open-source. does that mean i believe commercial software is inherently bad? not at all, which is why i don't particularly think the GPL is a good idea. however, i think that in many instances, the sharing of code between companies, commercial or otherwise, is integral to the growth of technology. without that kind of cooperation between companies, we're stuck in a constant tug-of-war, and nobody benefits from that.
my greatest fear, however, is that unix-based operating systems will merely end up going the way of windows. more gaudy, childish interfaces, more "help wizards", more shit that i don't need. i've always felt that open-source should strive to innovate; not emulate. like any ideology or skill, people who use windows learned it somewhere along the way. they can unlearn it, too.
total agreement over here. personally, i'm kind of sick of seeing so much of it everywhere, not to mention the side-effect crap that's associated with it, like cosplay.
personally, i've ignored a lot of the newer series. this is partially to a lack of funds lately, but also because so many of them seem dull as hell, or just a rehashing of other greats. i do, however, have a huge love for cowboy bebop..easily some of the best stuff to come along in awhile, and not just because of faye valentine.
it will crash, though, like every other fad..but when the dust settles, i think we'll see a resurgence of genuinely good anime. if anything, i can use that bit of time to play catch-up on the series i'm behind on. i haven't even started picking up evangelion dvds!
better yet, have them design weaponry. i know i'd buy a semi-automatic suitcase! i can already see a slew of ad campaigns like "for the postal worker on the go!"
unfortunately, we *can't* change providers. at&t is the only company (that i'm aware of) that provides cable service to midtown sacramento. i would've greatly preferred dsl, but my girlfriend wanted cable instead. believe me, i would've been quite happy to call the shots on how it was installed. despite specifying our requirements, as well as outright asking the tech if he could just hand us the modem and info and be on his merry way, we were refused, and given the "i have to install this" line. when i asked him if he was aware that we weren't going to be hooking up a windows machine, he tried arguing with us about it until i pulled one out of the closet. however, having previously worked retail, i *do* share your opinion about elitist fucknecks who think that employees of whatever company they're going through, for any kind of product, should know EVERYTHING. in this case, i don't think the tech should know anything about non-windows and/or mac operating systems. even if he did, i wouldn't let him touch my non-windows systems, simply because i'm an anal retentive geek :p
unfortunately, i hardly think it's that simple.
when i purchase a product, i do not want extraneous bullshit. this includes software. i run freebsd, thus i do not NEED the software, nor am i going to install vmware or wine just to "let the installer do his job".
we spent nearly an hour waiting for that jackass to "do his job", while he fiddled with software he barely knew how to install, when we could've set the whole damned thing up without him even touching anything. if we'd been given the option to configure it ourselves, we would've gladly taken it. i'll give the installer a break when he can display at least a minimal level of competence, not waste my time, and the company he/she works for stops being so pro-active towards windows morons.
we had to pull out a shit windows machine from the closet so he could do his job. the point is, we shouldn't have to. companies (in this case, at&t) need to start having a little more of a broad view when it comes to who their customers are. they need to realize that not only do many people know more about their product than their installers do, and that they aren't all running windows. we shouldn't have to handhold their employees, and make special accomodations for them, just to get the product we're paying for.
so fuck your rant. it isn't my job to give the installer a break; it's to help provide them with a paycheck, in exchange for a service. christ, it took 2 minutes just for the dipshit to understand what i was talking about when i asked him how much cat5 he needed. to me, this indicates two things:
1. that they believe 99.9% of their customers to be idiots. in northern california (where i live), i hardly think this is an appropriate stance to take. 2. that their employees don't need to have at least a BASIC understanding of what they're doing, because they have a little instruction booklet that says how to do it.
maybe it's just me, but i find all of the above to be pretty high on the bullshit meter.
personally, i think the whole article is bullshit... if anything, i find it somewhat amusing, if only because these jerkoffs are spending thousands upon thousands of $$$ on equipment they don't even really know how to use and/or hookup. "ooh, i have a zaurus and two computers in my trailer!" big deal. we've got 2 amd athlon xp's running freebsd, a previously decomissioned SGI box running IRIX, and an older 900mhz athlon running windows xp. the difference in bragging rights is that we BUILT THEM. we didn't hire someone to put it all together for us so we could *pretend* we know more than fuck-all about computers and electronics. it's really sad when the rich are termed "geeks" simply because they have money to buy shit they don't need, and don't know how to actually use or put together any of it. most of these setups are just dick-waving over who spent the most money, anyway. even if i *were* rich, i'd stick with a dj mixer, studio monitors, and computer. stock the system with mp3's, wire everything you need to (which really isn't much), and you're good to go. also, to joeflies: you're right about catherine bell. i've got a setup that's 10 times more interesting than hers, but you don't see me and my girlfriend gracing the pages of wired. i think her show sucks, though, so to me, she's just another dumbshit who thinks they're hot shit because of what they own.
actually 3, if you want to count chain smoking.
right friggin' on. while i do agree that neither is "right", i will say that i find something rather..disgusting..about someone who finds that the most enjoyable elements in life consist of getting laid and getting drunk. maybe it's just me, but i find it difficult to have much respect for someone who's creative/intellectual interests are so devoid. of course, a good balance is to drink *while* geeking. you'd be amazed at the interesting irc logs that can come out of an entire channel being utterly blasted. i fondly recall a strange little "presentation" someone gave a couple years ago called "c00k1ng w17h h4x0r". "f1r57 y0u h4x0r 7h3 ch1k1n..7h3n j00 pu7 17 1n 7h3 m1Cr0w4v3 4nd 3xpl0d0r 7h3 ch1k1n" "3457 ch3357 l3370! h4h4h4h4h4!" err..something like that. you had to be there. i totally lost track of what the hell i was trying to say, didn't i?
in terms of research and development/setting the standard, i'd say that's very true. still, i can't help but wonder realistically what this translates to in terms of revenue for manufacturers. there are still a large number of mainstream types who consider themselves "hardcore gamers", even if they don't even know what overclocking is.. they do know, however, that if you want framerates that will burn a hole through your retinas, you need hot-shit hardware. real hardcore gamers would build their own system, as far as i'm concerned..even so, i'd be willing to bet the people buying those crappy systems from the likes of dell and hp aren't all stay-at-home mom's and webtv converts. optimistically, hardcore types will boycott palladium, but realistically, they can only hold out so long before the games start to rely on uber-ninja gear (at least in their minds).
What this does mean, however, is hardware fiends going crazy to pick up "old" hardware. It's an OCP paradise, and should help breathe new life into hardware that's been moved to the "obsolete" pile..those of us who know hardware, however, know that even a 486 can be useful. This is immensely true for hardware that's slightly pre-Palladium. It's also a very good way to strip money from the hands of AMD and Intel..the more people boycotting this technology means a larger chance that the manufacturers will rethink this decision.
It's unlikely to work, of course, due to the huge line between a hardware geek and mainstream user.. but I think it could make some kind of dent. Certainly one that could last until someone is able to bypass/crack/trick Palladium.
So, I say let them do whatever. Last I checked, my Athlon XP 1500 ran FreeBSD very smoothly.
as with tessach, i'll give you that original point..i've never heard of rogers video, though. however, i don't agree at all that gamers make up such a small segment of the population. the video game industry, over the last 10 years, has gone from being predominantly a niche market, to a multi-billion dollar industry that rivals hollywood. you can't tell me that revenue and marketing of that magnitude is an isolated business. hell, even my mom's 50-year old boyfriend plays them..albeit crappy games, but he still plays :p
conceded :>
i personally don't even go to Blockbuster anymore. my girlfriend and i only rent from www.greencine.com now, since we're so close to the bay area, and we watch virtually nothing but anime/foreign/horror/indie/etc stuff.
kay-bee was the only one i wasn't sure about, since i don't shop there..most of their stores in the area i'm from have gone out of business rather quickly. to answer your second question, no, i didn't just mean wal-mart..but i also didn't just mean GTA3. violence and obscenity is nothing new in video games..it's been an issue since the early days of mortal kombat, thrill kill, and splatterhouse. with the exception of thrill kill, i haven't seen any of these games hit any real, significant roadblocks in distribution or sales. to add to that, people do seem to get sick of a game based on a gimmick sooner or later..mortal kombat started to really lose people's interest around MK3 and definitely Mk4.. despite the interest it carried to both consumers and politicians, people eventually forget and move on. so it will be with GTA3 and so it will be with this BMX game. of course, i'm one of those people who still thinks games like Fallout 2 and System Shock 2 are some of the greatest games ever made, and the public at large probably never even knew about them..
if that's the case, then why have multiple claims been made over the years about not carrying games that largely feature vulgarity and violence? i dunno about the wal-mart stores in your area, but i've never really gotten the "wholesome family image" from them..mostly just an overwhelming urge to vomit, based on the sheer density of morons, rednecks, and white trash that populate the store.
you are right about one thing, though, in that their goal seems to be to *try* to attract the "happy housewives" and families. however, this goes hand in hand with making more money, because a large percentage of gamers consists of kids between age 13 all the way up for people in their 40's. fathers and kids play the games.
sure, they're free to stand behind morality in an attempt to keep customers happy..but i don't see it happening anywhere except for their commercials. if they really stood behind it, they wouldn't carry games like GTA3. this goes back to my original point, though: as long as standing against the game is more profitable than actually selling it, they'll stick by it.
i worked in retail for about 2 1/2 years as an assistant manager at blockbuster.. i dealt with more "unhappy" customers in that period of time than i ever care to again. however, i can also tell you that no matter how pissed a customer got, regardless of the reason..they still came back, time and time again..but why? many of them were so angry, there were instances of the following:
1.) a customer kicked, and broke, our out-door, all because of a late fee.
2.) a customer threw a movie at one of my clerks, because of a late fee.
3.) a customer screaming at me that i'm a fucking idiot, because our VCR units were all rented out. in turn, i screamed something back at him, and told him to get the fuck out until he could act like a rational person.
each and every single one of them came back again, despite their previous displeasure.
through all of this, NO ONE complained about our rather large selection of soft porn and violent video games. even soccer moms.
while it's very true that bad press can hurt a company, it's all short term. the average customer does just that: they consume. their thirst for product or a good deal is greater than their personal code of ethics and morality, and in the end, their wallet determines where they shop..not their conscience.
interestingly enough, each and every one of these retailers comes out as a hypocrite in this.
just yesterday, i walked into wal-mart and bought a copy of GTA3 for PS2. no ID, no huge warning label, nothing. here we have a game that caused such a huge furor, with it's mass amounts of violence and criminal themes, not to mention hookers, pimps, and drugs..purchased from a company that has, time and again, supposedly "put their foot down" on this kind of thing.
$10 bucks says that if this game gets popular, you can expect to see retailers who once claimed they would never tolerate that kind of thing, stocking it in droves to get a slice of the profit. this whole issue comes down to profitability and giving a good marketing face. if the game doesn't look like it's going to be a big seller, it's easy to say "we won't carry this!", because nobody gives a shit either way. turn the tables, though, and not carrying it means a large loss of potential profits.
i can't think of a single retailer who would actually stand behind a claim of morality even at the risk of losing a lot of money.
to finish this, though: i don't think the game looks all that entertaining, nor does the prospect of full nudity really appeal to me. if i want to look at naked women, i'll rent a frickin' porno..not a BMX game.
The RIAA may not dictate terms of performance, but a subsidiary of the RIAA, called SoundExchange, *does* dictate payment for copyright fees. It doesn't matter whether or not the artist is indie/underground/whatever. The purpose of SoundExchange is to collect fees on *all* copyright holders, whether they're affiliated with the RIAA or not. Somehow, they're actually able to get away with this.
l
To avoid the aforementioned fees in a legal manner, you would need to get a waiver from each individual artist/label. Though SoundExchange collects these fees, the people who create that music don't see a dime of the fee you're paying. Cute, isn't it? To contact and gain permission from all those bands/labels is next to impossible, which turns all of this into a pretty sweet deal for the RIAA, and a very sour situation for webcasters who want to go the full legal route.
Jamie Zawinski, likely well-known here for his contributions to Mozilla, XScreensaver, and Lucid Emacs, current runs a nightclub in San Francisco, called the DNA Lounge. Every single performance/dj set is webcast from the club.. so he's been kind enough to do a full write-up of the necessary fees, legalese, etc for potential webcasters, club owners, and the like. Even if you're not interested doing it, it's a good overview of the crap that the RIAA and their ilk put people through. His write-up covers a pretty broad territory, including SoundExchange, associations that you have to pay fees to, and quite a bit more.
you can find his write-up here:
http://www.dnalounge.com/backstage/webcasting.htm
well, i can't speak for anyone else.. but i think a lot of the long-lasting appeal that akira has is due largely in part to when it was created, too.
in my case, "akira" was my introduction to anime, along with "vampire hunter d", "a wind named amnesia", and miscellaneous stuff over the next couple years like "silent mobius", "baoh", and "neo-tokyo".
up until "ghost in the shell", "akira" was really one of the only anime films that could really be considered an epic. add on the inclusion of computer-assisted effects and graphics, and that counts for a lot. nowadays, we take that kind of thing for granted, but for people like me, who weren't weaned on cgi as kids, you learn to take those early contributions a lot closer to heart.
the plot, imo, was confusing..but only the first time around. subsequent viewings revealed a little more each time i'd watch it, which is kind of nice. i like the idea that watching a film can be like cutting off layers of an onion. even now, there's still some minute detail that pops out at me, and i wonder, "how the hell did i miss that?"
as for the manga, there is definitely more depth..but that's a given. as you mentioned, there's only so much you can fit into two hours. otomo's graphic novels clocked in somewhere around 80 issues..we're not talking 10-15 page little books, either. i'm being lazy in not going to look through my collection, but i seem to recall most of the books being roughly 60-80 pages in length.
i think if there is a live-action version, they should try to incorporate more detailed elements from the books. a focus on characters that were in the movie, but had meager attention given in comparison to the manga would be a good start. joker (the leader of the clowns) actually bands together with kaneda later in the graphic novels..this isn't even remotely touched upon in the movie. an unfortunate side-effect, but again..only so much in 2 hours.
if you want to track down the manga, i believe they released larger collections of the series. i'm going off memory from over a year ago, but i believe each collection was made up of 5 or 6 issues.
to finish it up, though..akira was put out in '88. i don't know when you first saw it, but i saw it not too long after it came out. anime wasn't nearly as available as it is now, so i tend to look back on it (and still watch it) fondly. i don't think it's a story for everyone, which is why i'm fairly against a live-action version (appealing to the masses will only ruin the film..you can't dilute something like that)..but i do think it's merits, at least as an innovator, are obvious. for the story, though, i think it's stood the test of time very, very well.
now if only the re-dubbing on the 2-disc dvd wasn't so awful, i could walk away truly happy. i usually go with subtitles, but i actually like the dubbing on the original.
screw norrington.
shinya tsukamoto. his past credits include tetsuo: the iron man, tetsuo II: body hammer, tokyo fist, bullet ballet, gemini, and a few others.
for those who aren't familiar with him, i highly suggest you go rent "tetsuo". come back, and you'll see why he would be the *perfect* choice for this.
those who are familiar with his work, just think about it. it's already obvious that he knows how to handle bizarre, intense characters. his somewhat post-apocalyptic/industrial future is well presented in both "tetsuo" films, and his imagination could really bring otomo's vision of neo-tokyo to life in ways that this norrington hack could never even dream.
also, while it may seem like stereotyping, he is japanese, which helps to provide a certain insight into japanese technology/culture that most westerners simply don't have. a heavy underlying theme in "akira", imo, dealt with the advancement and decline of technology and the consequences of letting technology rule our lives. as "akira" is set in a fictitious, futuristic tokyo, his experience as a citizen of japan can only be beneficial in the long run, particularly if otomo himself is contributing to the project.
also, to the person who mentioned that norrington worked on "blade", i hardly thing that's a good basis for comparison. while i liked that movie, i don't think i would ever refer to it as a "deep" film. the focus of it was simply action, plain and simple. while "akira" has plenty of it, it wasn't just random acts of violence, nor was the story, for all intents and purposes, entirely driven by those scenes. the whole reason the film is considered to be such a masterpiece and a classic is the story. unfortunately for norrington, he doesn't have the credentials to really give me any kind of confidence that he could pull it off without doing the story a serious injustice.