The reason is memory. There's only so much you can load into RAM at once, and levels allow you to more easily control what assets get used and when. You can also do this with streaming and clever tricks, a-la Metroid Prime, but that requires a lot of planning at the initial design phase. It can lead to crash issues if the player gets too far before you've finished loading everything. Again Metroid Prime is a good example of this.
My switch away from print had nothing to do with a short attention span. I subscribed to PC Gamer from 1994 until 2001. In the end, I dropped my subscription out of disgust. The magazine kept getting thinner and thinner while the ratio of ads versus actual content kept growing, and the editorial quality fell off of a cliff. At the same time, I could get more timely updates from the internet at a comparable level of quality (which speaks only ill about the magazine's writing).
This seems to me to be of philosophical interest. Namely to the frame problem, and objection to artificial intelligence theory which claims that a computer isn't capable of efficiently ignoring information that's not of immediate importance. That's exactly what this robot does, though. It should be interesting to see if any debate comes out of it.
Oh, I forgot to note that the Blu-Ray in the PS3 has a lower average throughput than the 360's DVD drive. This is enough of an issue that a lot of developers have the same data multiple times on one disc to improve read speeds. Even something as simple as taking advantage of higher storage capacity on the PS3 takes extra work for developers.
1) I have a 1080p screen and at that resolution the PS3's graphics are much better.
Define "much better". That term is pretty ambiguous as given, especially considering that both consoles support 1080p.
2) If you play online games the PS3 is much cheaper over several years.
This is somewhat true, but I wouldn't consider Sony's service to be comparable. Xbox Live is, for now, just a better experience and worth the money.
3) Cross platform games are better on the PS3.
Again, you're way too ambiguous. How are they better? Do they have better graphics? Do the controls feel better? From what I've seen of comparisons, the Xbox 360 has actually come out ahead in terms of image quality with games like Armored Core 4. And, D-pad aside, I don't see how anyone can call the SIXAXIS a better controller than the 360's. The analog sticks have about as much tension as a narcoleptic on muscle relaxants, the analog triggers feel like mush and have no travel, and the controller itself has no heft.
4) PS3 games have much more to work with aka a HDD, more processing power etc.
The HDD statement is true, but the comment about processing power is disingenuous. They're both running at comparable clock speeds using a similar architecture. The major difference is that the PS3 has its power distributed over more cores, which can be as much of a liability as an advantage-- thread management becomes more difficult; and because some of the cores aren't general purpose, you can't necessarily take advantage of all the CPU cycles available to you. Then there's the RAM architectures: the PS3 and the 360 have the same amount of RAM, but on the PS3 CPU and GPU memory segregated; whereas on the 360 they use a shared pool. This has a couple of potential advantages: the developer has the ability to allocate RAM in a manner that best suits their game, and the CPU can directly affect texture memory for things like procedural generation.
6) Up scaling DVD's
The 360 does this when connected via VGA or HDMI.
9) The PS3 has a longer lifespan.
That's a mighty nice crystal ball you have there, sir. Do you read palms too?
They've got about as much right to liveblog the game as I do to create my own radio broadcast of an NCAA playoff. This isn't censorship, it's a licensor protecting the exclusivity of its licensees.
I need to travel back in time and file the following patents:
"Abstract: A method for generating heat by rubbing two small pieces of wood against one another"
"Abstract: A method for gathering food by growing it in a field"
"Abstract: A method for easily transporting goods by means of a rounded rock"
All kidding aside, what would have happened to human society if such key advances as fire, agriculture, and the wheel had become jealously and perpetually guarded properties? I see no problem with allowing a limited monopoly on an idea as our copyright and patent systems do, but an idea is too powerful a thing to keep it bound up for eternity.
There are a bunch of reasons. Here are a few:
1) Unsigned code = avenue for cheating
2)The Xbox 360 has been so successful as a digital distribution platform for TV and movies in part because it's so secure. If users can't get at the raw bits, content providers are more likely to work with you.
3) Xbox Live Arcade games aren't compromised yet
Because Apple would never ever ever do anything to abuse their position as the market leader. I mean look at their generous FairPlay licensing program! And that Trusted Platform Module in every computer they make? That's just there for giggles.
Am I the only one who is getting tired of reading all kinds of "Microsoft DRM is evil!" posts, and then seeing a post the very next day talking about how awesome Apple is? One company is buckling to industry pressure and including DRM, the other has a fricking Trusted Platform Module in every new computer it makes. The double standard is infuriating.
I don't think it has anything to do with a lack of understanding. It has everything to do with a lack of firepower over there. Depreciated though their market perception may be, Sony holds a lot of sway over Japanese devs. Add to that the fact that one of Microsoft's biggest Japanese-centric titles, Blue Dragon, was very late to the party, it's easy to see how they ended up so where they are.
Honestly, though, I'm not sure that the Japanese market is all that important to Microsoft. Until the DS came along, the Japanese market was in a major slump. Judging from the phenomenal performance of the DS, the strong sales of the Wii, and the lackluster performance of the PS3 and 360 thus far, it's readily apparent that Japanese gamers are clamoring for something different.
That being said, all is not lost for Microsoft when it comes to Japanese developer relations. Considering the fact that Dead Rising has become a million seller, it should be pretty clear to Japanese developers that there's money to be made selling games abroad, even when they don't sell well at home. I wouldn't be shocked at all to see a lot of Japanese developers working on the 360, even with its tiny Japanese marketshare. They've got enough presence in other territories to make worth working with anyway.
How is the 360 not relevant? It's got a solid installed base, a lot of great games, strong sales, and a great upcoming lineup. If you think Microsoft is somehow out of the fight, you're either A) a fanboy B) hopelessly misinformed or C) being disingenuous.
The problem is that it's awful. Just one viewing evokes a strong desire to do physical harm to yourself. If Apple or Nintendo made this, they would be mocked.
Video phones failed because people have come to realize that they DON'T WANT to be seen. In his novel Infinite Jest, David Foster Wallace puts it very nicely: "It turned out that there was something terribly stressful about visual telephone interfaces that hadn't been stressful about voice-only interfaces. Videophone consumers seemed suddenly to realized they've been subject to an insidious buy wholly marvelous delusion about conventional voice-only telephony. They'd never noticed it before, the delusion --- it's like it was so emotionally complex that it could be countenanced only in the context of its loss. Good old traditional audio-only phone conversations allowed you to presume that the person on the other end was paying complete attention to you while also permitting you to not have to pay anything close to complete attention to her."
The first use could maybe be defended that way, but even that would be shaky. There was no proof that he was an immediate threat, so they have to work for it to be seen as justified. And the 4 subsequent shocks? There's no way to justify them. How the do you expect someone to get up under their own power when you just shot a couple hundred volts of electricity through his nervous system? Screaming like he did was probably about all the motor control he could muster.
As for not complying with the student's request, there wasn't much immediate danger there, either. They were lucky they didn't have a riot on their hands, but it didn't look like one was going to break out. Threatening a bystander was much more likely to spark one than complying with his request.
A) You don't need "beyond reasonable doubt" in a civil suit. B) There were a couple dozen witnesses on the scene, most of whom appeared angry enough to testify in court. C) You get clear views of several of the officers' faces. D) The officers' voices can probably be identified.
On a side note, it'll be interesting to see how the officers justify their refusal to give their badge numbers (which was reportedly followed up with a threat to the person who asked). It makes it appear that they knew what they did was an excessive use of force, and were trying to hide their identities. That will look EXTREMELY bad to a judge and/or jury.
I can imagine tilting the old controller in the air and the tiredness one would feel.
Are you, perhaps, an invalid? If tilting a controller, even something weighty like the 360 controller, tires you out, there's something wrong. It's not like they weigh that much, especially considering that the weight is evenly distributed between your hands. Sony took out the rumble because they lost their lawsuit. End of story.
I could actually see a pretty awesome game made out of Romeo & Juliet's vision of Verona (not the DiCaprio movie version). A city divided up into factions loyal to one side or the other. Rather than battling in your typical MMO's generic fields, you could have street fights and turf wars. It'd definitely have to be a PVP oriented, but it could be really cool.
Slashdot Mirror
The reason is memory. There's only so much you can load into RAM at once, and levels allow you to more easily control what assets get used and when. You can also do this with streaming and clever tricks, a-la Metroid Prime, but that requires a lot of planning at the initial design phase. It can lead to crash issues if the player gets too far before you've finished loading everything. Again Metroid Prime is a good example of this.
My switch away from print had nothing to do with a short attention span. I subscribed to PC Gamer from 1994 until 2001. In the end, I dropped my subscription out of disgust. The magazine kept getting thinner and thinner while the ratio of ads versus actual content kept growing, and the editorial quality fell off of a cliff. At the same time, I could get more timely updates from the internet at a comparable level of quality (which speaks only ill about the magazine's writing).
I was wondering why the article was so poorly written and aimless. Then I saw it was from roughly drafted and it all made sense
This seems to me to be of philosophical interest. Namely to the frame problem, and objection to artificial intelligence theory which claims that a computer isn't capable of efficiently ignoring information that's not of immediate importance. That's exactly what this robot does, though. It should be interesting to see if any debate comes out of it.
Oh, I forgot to note that the Blu-Ray in the PS3 has a lower average throughput than the 360's DVD drive. This is enough of an issue that a lot of developers have the same data multiple times on one disc to improve read speeds. Even something as simple as taking advantage of higher storage capacity on the PS3 takes extra work for developers.
1) I have a 1080p screen and at that resolution the PS3's graphics are much better.
Define "much better". That term is pretty ambiguous as given, especially considering that both consoles support 1080p.
2) If you play online games the PS3 is much cheaper over several years.
This is somewhat true, but I wouldn't consider Sony's service to be comparable. Xbox Live is, for now, just a better experience and worth the money.
3) Cross platform games are better on the PS3.
Again, you're way too ambiguous. How are they better? Do they have better graphics? Do the controls feel better? From what I've seen of comparisons, the Xbox 360 has actually come out ahead in terms of image quality with games like Armored Core 4. And, D-pad aside, I don't see how anyone can call the SIXAXIS a better controller than the 360's. The analog sticks have about as much tension as a narcoleptic on muscle relaxants, the analog triggers feel like mush and have no travel, and the controller itself has no heft.
4) PS3 games have much more to work with aka a HDD, more processing power etc.
The HDD statement is true, but the comment about processing power is disingenuous. They're both running at comparable clock speeds using a similar architecture. The major difference is that the PS3 has its power distributed over more cores, which can be as much of a liability as an advantage-- thread management becomes more difficult; and because some of the cores aren't general purpose, you can't necessarily take advantage of all the CPU cycles available to you. Then there's the RAM architectures: the PS3 and the 360 have the same amount of RAM, but on the PS3 CPU and GPU memory segregated; whereas on the 360 they use a shared pool. This has a couple of potential advantages: the developer has the ability to allocate RAM in a manner that best suits their game, and the CPU can directly affect texture memory for things like procedural generation.
6) Up scaling DVD's
The 360 does this when connected via VGA or HDMI.
9) The PS3 has a longer lifespan.
That's a mighty nice crystal ball you have there, sir. Do you read palms too?
"Deadcast" eh? Well I guess you're a completely neutral party.
They've got about as much right to liveblog the game as I do to create my own radio broadcast of an NCAA playoff. This isn't censorship, it's a licensor protecting the exclusivity of its licensees.
I need to travel back in time and file the following patents:
"Abstract: A method for generating heat by rubbing two small pieces of wood against one another"
"Abstract: A method for gathering food by growing it in a field"
"Abstract: A method for easily transporting goods by means of a rounded rock"
All kidding aside, what would have happened to human society if such key advances as fire, agriculture, and the wheel had become jealously and perpetually guarded properties? I see no problem with allowing a limited monopoly on an idea as our copyright and patent systems do, but an idea is too powerful a thing to keep it bound up for eternity.
There are a bunch of reasons. Here are a few:
1) Unsigned code = avenue for cheating
2)The Xbox 360 has been so successful as a digital distribution platform for TV and movies in part because it's so secure. If users can't get at the raw bits, content providers are more likely to work with you.
3) Xbox Live Arcade games aren't compromised yet
I could go on, but I think you get the idea.
Because Apple would never ever ever do anything to abuse their position as the market leader. I mean look at their generous FairPlay licensing program! And that Trusted Platform Module in every computer they make? That's just there for giggles.
Am I the only one who is getting tired of reading all kinds of "Microsoft DRM is evil!" posts, and then seeing a post the very next day talking about how awesome Apple is? One company is buckling to industry pressure and including DRM, the other has a fricking Trusted Platform Module in every new computer it makes. The double standard is infuriating.
Sony's 1st party baseball offerings are supposed to be far superior to 2K Games' MLB titles. So they win on that front.
I don't think it has anything to do with a lack of understanding. It has everything to do with a lack of firepower over there. Depreciated though their market perception may be, Sony holds a lot of sway over Japanese devs. Add to that the fact that one of Microsoft's biggest Japanese-centric titles, Blue Dragon, was very late to the party, it's easy to see how they ended up so where they are. Honestly, though, I'm not sure that the Japanese market is all that important to Microsoft. Until the DS came along, the Japanese market was in a major slump. Judging from the phenomenal performance of the DS, the strong sales of the Wii, and the lackluster performance of the PS3 and 360 thus far, it's readily apparent that Japanese gamers are clamoring for something different. That being said, all is not lost for Microsoft when it comes to Japanese developer relations. Considering the fact that Dead Rising has become a million seller, it should be pretty clear to Japanese developers that there's money to be made selling games abroad, even when they don't sell well at home. I wouldn't be shocked at all to see a lot of Japanese developers working on the 360, even with its tiny Japanese marketshare. They've got enough presence in other territories to make worth working with anyway.
How is the 360 not relevant? It's got a solid installed base, a lot of great games, strong sales, and a great upcoming lineup. If you think Microsoft is somehow out of the fight, you're either A) a fanboy B) hopelessly misinformed or C) being disingenuous.
The problem is that it's awful. Just one viewing evokes a strong desire to do physical harm to yourself. If Apple or Nintendo made this, they would be mocked.
Video phones failed because people have come to realize that they DON'T WANT to be seen. In his novel Infinite Jest, David Foster Wallace puts it very nicely: "It turned out that there was something terribly stressful about visual telephone interfaces that hadn't been stressful about voice-only interfaces. Videophone consumers seemed suddenly to realized they've been subject to an insidious buy wholly marvelous delusion about conventional voice-only telephony. They'd never noticed it before, the delusion --- it's like it was so emotionally complex that it could be countenanced only in the context of its loss. Good old traditional audio-only phone conversations allowed you to presume that the person on the other end was paying complete attention to you while also permitting you to not have to pay anything close to complete attention to her."
The first use could maybe be defended that way, but even that would be shaky. There was no proof that he was an immediate threat, so they have to work for it to be seen as justified. And the 4 subsequent shocks? There's no way to justify them. How the do you expect someone to get up under their own power when you just shot a couple hundred volts of electricity through his nervous system? Screaming like he did was probably about all the motor control he could muster.
As for not complying with the student's request, there wasn't much immediate danger there, either. They were lucky they didn't have a riot on their hands, but it didn't look like one was going to break out. Threatening a bystander was much more likely to spark one than complying with his request.
A) You don't need "beyond reasonable doubt" in a civil suit. B) There were a couple dozen witnesses on the scene, most of whom appeared angry enough to testify in court. C) You get clear views of several of the officers' faces. D) The officers' voices can probably be identified.
On a side note, it'll be interesting to see how the officers justify their refusal to give their badge numbers (which was reportedly followed up with a threat to the person who asked). It makes it appear that they knew what they did was an excessive use of force, and were trying to hide their identities. That will look EXTREMELY bad to a judge and/or jury.
Actually, it downscales to 480p on displays that do 480i/p and 1080i, but not 720p.
Check the date stamp on that article. It's from September. This is not relevant to currently announced launch numbers.
I can imagine tilting the old controller in the air and the tiredness one would feel.
Are you, perhaps, an invalid? If tilting a controller, even something weighty like the 360 controller, tires you out, there's something wrong. It's not like they weigh that much, especially considering that the weight is evenly distributed between your hands. Sony took out the rumble because they lost their lawsuit. End of story.
God is dead. More at eleven.
Boy Scouts are in troops. Cub Scouts are the one's that have packs.
I could actually see a pretty awesome game made out of Romeo & Juliet's vision of Verona (not the DiCaprio movie version). A city divided up into factions loyal to one side or the other. Rather than battling in your typical MMO's generic fields, you could have street fights and turf wars. It'd definitely have to be a PVP oriented, but it could be really cool.