Studies show that videogames create a sense of athletic competence. Which means that there could be a danger of replacing athletics completely *if* VGs are played in lieu of sports.
At the same time, you could say that some kids (esp. obese ones) seek videogames because they can master them and win, whereas they always get their ass kicked in PE. Thus, bringing videogames in PE class would help them get back a bit by actually winning for once in a while (or at least leveling the chances). So even obese kids won't feel as out of the loop as before. Furthermore, sports games would help kids explore some aspects of the rules, if the game is realistic.
This is a great plan, too bad videogames have such a bad reputation that political luddites cannot see beyond their own stereotypical views.
Communism is an economic structure. Democracy is a political one. This is explained in detail over at the Political Compass website. They have a fun quiz too.:)
There is a social difference here, but it's not about the importance of the group versus individual. The difference is how games (and all other kinds of technology) are accepted socially.
In the West, until the past few years, home gamers were generally considered to be either kids or geeks. That image exists still today, however games are all over the place. Yet nobody calls themselves a "gamer". People will deny playing any kind of videogames and sometimes be militant against them when they may spend hours playing solitaire or minehunt on their work computers.
In Asia, generally, videogames have been much more accepted. Look at how popular DDR has become over there. Here too, but to a much lesser extent. Lineage is the most played MMORPG in the world (it has more than five times more active players than Everquest, half of them from South Korea), and so forth. Videogames are so popular in Asia that some of my Korean friends told me that their respective mothers like to watch virtual soccer matchs on TV (I don't know which game it is, or how long it has aired) because it's much more exciting than real soccer.
So of course we will see a lot of weird things, because there is much, much more social exposure and much more people are awaredly connected to videogames in some ways (i.e. not in denial). We will probably get there one day.
IMHO this really depends in what's covered by a brand. If it's just a product (a commodity), then there has been misdirection. But not if there's more than that.
This is what tipped everybody at first: T1 - The MR9000 and MR9200 present different Chip IDs to the system. The ones in the HP/C laptops are the same as the MR9000. T2 - some users opened their laptops and found a MR 9000 chip on the graphics card.
ATI-related facts: A1 - There are two distinct GPU chips. A1.1 - The MR9000 has a rv250 core. A1.2 - The MR9200 has a rv280 core. A1.3 - Both chips have same specifications except for AGP 8x. A1.4 - AGP 8x is actually an optional feature for the 9200 (small print in ATI's product comparison matrix). A1.5 - a graphics card is made putting together these GPU chips with more hardware. A2 - There is apparently a difference between the "Mobility Radeon 9200 brand" and the actual chip (which is only a part of the brand, according to ATI and HP). A3 - The companies don't seem to be denying that there is a 9000 chip inside. A4 - ATI's product portfolio quotes that the 9200 is slightly faster than the 9000 (10x vs. 9x, when compared to the slowest Mobility Radeon [1x]). A5 - Apparently (reviews) the only difference between cores is that the 280 is cheaper to manufacture, everything else being equal. A6 - Most claims on the web regarding the 9200 as a better product are copies from a press release available around March 13th 2003. All of these do not contain benchmarks. The reviews that have benchmarks show no difference in performance. A7 - ATI's disclaimer on their terms of sales: "Performance tests and ratings of ATI products as presented on this Site are measured using specific computer systems and/or components and reflect the approximate performance of ATI products as measured by those tests. Any difference in system hardware or software design or configuration may affect actual performance. Buyers should consult other sources of information to evaluate the performance of systems or components they are considering purchasing."
HP-related facts: H1 - HP's Terms of sale "Some newly manufactured HP Products may contain and HP Support may use remanufactured parts which are equivalent to new in performance." H2 - They also seem to acknoledge there's a 9000 inside (see other post for their official response).
Software-related facts: S1 - HP/C is using the same drivers for the "9200" as with the MR9000 with just a.inf change S2 - Most users' (non-review) benchmarks show no performance difference of a 9200 over a 9000 clocked at the same speed. The X1000 have higher Futuremark.com scores than every other latpop though, but that's probably because of the hardware environment, not the chip itself.
The two crowds on the forums divided by this issue have two opposing views of brand: one claim it is only a physical product (the chip) regardless of everything else, so they claim misdirection. The other side claims that the brand entails more than just the chip and so the actual part is irrelevant. It all depends on a single definition... Google defines brand as "the name of a product or service".
Subject: ATI Mobility(tm) Radeon(tm) 9200 graphics solution used in select HP notebooks.
Effected models:
Compaq Presario X1000 family
HP pavilion zt3000 family
HP compaq nx7000 family
Statement: It has come to the attention of HP that there is some confusion regarding the graphics solution in certain HP notebooks that are sold with ATI MOBILITY(tm) RADEON(tm) 9200 graphics.
The effected notebooks, when advertised and sold with MOBILITY RADEON 9200 graphics do correctly include the graphics solution specified.
The particular brand applied to a graphics solution is based on several elements, including the silicon, video memory, electrical implementation on the system board including clock frequencies, the drivers, and the video graphics BIOS. The brand is determined by a number of factors and is not solely limited to the silicon or ASIC used.
In the case of the notebooks in question, HP and ATI designed a solution inclusive of all of the above elements that are branded and sold as MOBILITY RADEON 9200 graphics in the selected notebooks. This solution was created for supply flexibility, and it has been fully tested by HP and certified by ATI to ensure that performance consistency and parity of the MOBILITY RADEON 9200 brand are achieved with these models.
The ATI chip itself contains the MOBILITY RADEON 9000 family designator, which is only one factor in determining the graphics controller brand in a notebook computer.
We apologize for any inconvenience this confusion may have caused.
----------- Q&A
Q: Doesn't the MOBILITY RADEON 9200 graphics solution include AGP8X? Why isn't this enabled on the Presario X1000?
A: HP never advertised or made any claims the notebook or graphics controller supports AGP 8X. In the case of the Presario X1000, 8X AGP operating mode is not supported due to the feature not being present on the Intel(r) 855pm chipset which is used on the Compaq Presario X1000 notebook PC. Also, AGP 8X mode operation is not a requirement for the MOBILITY RADEON 9200 brand. More information on the Intel 855 Chipset family can be found at: http://intel.com/design/chipsets/mobile/855_f am.ht m?iid=ipp_browse+chpsts_fe
Q: How does the graphics performance of HP's MOBILITY RADEON 9200 graphics solution compare with other ATI 9200-based graphics solutions?
A: The MOBILITY RADEON 9200 graphics solution provided on the Compaq Presario X1000 provides equivalent features and performance to other notebooks with MOBILITY RADEON 9200 graphics solutions.
Q: Is the practice of using a graphics ASIC physically marked or identified differently than the brand name for the graphics solution commonplace, or is this a unique case?
A: While not extremely common, this practice is not unusual or unique. The graphics ASIC or chip alone does not determine the final brand for the part.
Q: Why is the ATI graphics ASIC marked, "9000", if the solution is branded "9200"?
A: The "ATI MOBILITY(tm) RADEON(tm) 9200" brand comprises a complete graphics solution, including graphics ASIC, video bios, video driver, and system board implementation. The actual label on the chip doesn't in this case communicate specific features to customers.
-------------
WW Escalations Engineering HP Mobile Computing Global Business Unit
I don't buy the fact that simpler games means better. They may be fun and have a lot of "twitch factor", but after some time you get tired of them. I think rather that games should only *start* simply. A lot of games (especially on PC) throw you with full control of the interface and drive you through a tutorial so that you can learn how it all works. Sure, its cool to have a lot of options, but it takes a lot of fun of discovery away.
Compare with, for instance, Super Metroid. You can do some basic stuff (run around, shoot some monsters) with the D-pad and one button, but to finish the game, you need to learn the rest of the commands. However, you learn them slowly as needed... I noticed that this "simple-to-harder" gameplay seems to be a design choice in a lot of big N games.
Probably we could say that gravitons exists by definition. They are "the unit of whatever makes gravity work". Gravity works, ergo, gravitons exist.:-)
Now the problem still is how to measure them, as that would probably yield all kinds of interesting things. If I'm not mistaken M theory even predicts that gravitons travel accross dimensions, so they could be used to communicate with somebody out there... pretty crazy.
Maybe they can prove existence of waves without having to observe a graviton (although that would be better). In the same way that you can test gravity by throwing an apple in the air, maybe there are some remnants of the impacts of the gravity waves... allowing for indirect observation of the phenomenom. Would this be possible here?
I speak from complete ignorance and wishful thinking, but wouldn't it be possible to calculate the general area where the lander may have fallen and take pictures from orbit? Maybe the resolution of the cameras is not enough though... and the orbiters have probably better things to do than look for the Beagle2 like this.
very little slowdown on the most demanding games. (With the exception of a few N64 titles) Are you using a PCI graphics card? With an Epia M 933 Mhz, its hard to get anything 3D to run decently... 2D is fine though.
don't get one that uses Windows (...) did you know there's a secret "administrator" account and password on every machine? This is kind of misleading actually. AFAIK anybody skilled enough to manually configure Linux is able to find out this on Windows and change the default password. There were some "hidden" accounts in Linux too, but I suppose that new distros now come with a huge "warning: change such and such password now", so maybe even a complete newbie is safer with Linux indeed.
Everquest is not the most popular MMORPG in the world. Let's say that the 500,000 players that it boast is in the US alone, thus, "domestic" players. There's another 2D MMORPG, called Lineage, which boasts 2 Million "domestic" players in South Korea. They are so huge that Sony signed a contract with them to distribute Everquest over their server infrastructure.
There have been previous attempts to make an operating system for the HP48 (I can't recall if it was OSS or not). Anyway some of the people involved in the project were approached by HP and were, at least in part, involved in the creation of the HP49 (which for example lost the Minehunt easter egg for a more hidden Tetris clone, pretty neat).
The HP49 was actually a revolution for many, because it delivered everything that the HP48 didn't for years. And HP got the clue from hobbyists.
So a new OS has great potential for the future of the hardware - just give it some time. At least I expect that this will give the same functions faster - which would be great (TI's spreadsheet program is nice but waaay slow).
Leonardo sold the Mona Lisa to a French king in 1516, and kept it for himself beforehand. There's also rumors that the model actually was a guy Leonardo was infatuated with, which would have been greatly frowned upon then. I guess Leonardo was some kind of Elton John celebrity back in his time...
The "Video game" industry, that you say does not exist, has netted in more than $10 Billion in 2002, surpassing (according to the WSJ) the "Movie" industry...
What the author is trying to say is that people will shift out of videogames towards "house entertainment", in which Nintendo is not currently competing, and Sony is very strong at. It could be true for new customers, people who never played before and want to have integrated machines because they don't see gaming as a main activity. But many existing gamers will not want to update their DVD players every time they get a new console (and pay triple)... so, this business model is unlikely to work in the near future.
even if classical music tried every melody, the existance of new styles and instrumentations means that there will be new complete works.
I fully agree. But if innovation is on style and instrumentation, and those remain constant across songs of a same "pop style", then they're not innovative at all. Maybe the first one of them, but that's it. As for the actual content of the lyrics, most pop songs seem to fall into one of these patterns:
- "boy/girl loves girl/boy" - "angry against the 'system'" - ego trips: "singer is better/wealthier/sexier/more honest than anybody else" (probably more but you see my point...)
That's not a lot of innovation. But it's "pop" for a reason. Those in the know will look to more "unknown" albeit great artists. And "pop" is nice to hear anyway since somewhere there's some cheap composer copying an old good song.
A few years ago I saw an interview of a "composer" (forgot his name). They're guys who are somewhat famous because their name is in a lot of albums, but in very small print: they compose the actual music that the band plays. This is standard practice, apparently.
Anyway the point is that the guy pointed out that most pop tunes were rehashes of older pop hits. Maybe you create a different style with different instruments or beat, but the underlying melody is the same. He then showed some examples, in how some modern R&B titles were lifted off some older Rock titles. It's not that hard to believe though, look at how Puff Daddy makes a living out of talking fast over music of old hits.
So in short, one way to predict if a music will be a hit is by creating a database of previous hits and test the correlation...
[and then of course, there's those who say that Classical music tried every combination possible, so nothing can be new afterwards - but that's maybe a little extreme].
- By "non-Japanese game" do they mean "game from overseas", or "game which language is not Japanese"? The term applies for both but it makes a difference. Some European countries are very heavy on localization and consumers won't buy English titles, but would happily buy the same game translated. - There's another question in the survey: "which console would you like to buy next" and the X-Box ranks second, after the Gamecube. Maybe they think the X-Box has potential but haven't seen good software for it yet.
You can also consider the differences in games. Most American titles are FPS, RTS, Sports or "Life Sim" games... every other genre seems to come mainly from overseas. And why does American companies mostly release those genres? Well, safety... they know the genre will work. But in doing so they risk alienating every other market.
Most MMORPG seem to look only at the US for their numbers. However, Lineage I and II are now not only in South Korea (a country with an Internet broadband penetration, as per last year, in 60% of the total households, compared with 30% in the US), but also in Japan and China. The server infrastructure that runs Lineage, owned by a company named NCSoft, is so huge that Sony partnered with them to distribute Everquest over there.
Now although it is true that many of their subscribers are through Cybercafes, or "PC Rooms" as they call them there, the main selling point is the home subscription. Most people will want their own characters and for those they require providing your unique National ID number (kind of like the social security number in the US). So NCSoft can know how many "real" players are out there, regardless of how many accounts they have.
The last count was 4 Million players, although half of it are players in South Korea. Still it's pretty impressive.
Slashdot Mirror
All this commotion for a dead pixel on the CCD???
...a beachball?
Studies show that videogames create a sense of athletic competence. Which means that there could be a danger of replacing athletics completely *if* VGs are played in lieu of sports.
At the same time, you could say that some kids (esp. obese ones) seek videogames because they can master them and win, whereas they always get their ass kicked in PE. Thus, bringing videogames in PE class would help them get back a bit by actually winning for once in a while (or at least leveling the chances). So even obese kids won't feel as out of the loop as before. Furthermore, sports games would help kids explore some aspects of the rules, if the game is realistic.
This is a great plan, too bad videogames have such a bad reputation that political luddites cannot see beyond their own stereotypical views.
Communism is an economic structure. Democracy is a political one. :)
This is explained in detail over at the Political Compass website. They have a fun quiz too.
I had forgotten about Smashing Pumpkins Into Small Pieces of Putrid Debris. Was some kind of mod ever mad from that FAQ?
There is a social difference here, but it's not about the importance of the group versus individual. The difference is how games (and all other kinds of technology) are accepted socially.
In the West, until the past few years, home gamers were generally considered to be either kids or geeks. That image exists still today, however games are all over the place. Yet nobody calls themselves a "gamer". People will deny playing any kind of videogames and sometimes be militant against them when they may spend hours playing solitaire or minehunt on their work computers.
In Asia, generally, videogames have been much more accepted. Look at how popular DDR has become over there. Here too, but to a much lesser extent. Lineage is the most played MMORPG in the world (it has more than five times more active players than Everquest, half of them from South Korea), and so forth. Videogames are so popular in Asia that some of my Korean friends told me that their respective mothers like to watch virtual soccer matchs on TV (I don't know which game it is, or how long it has aired) because it's much more exciting than real soccer.
So of course we will see a lot of weird things, because there is much, much more social exposure and much more people are awaredly connected to videogames in some ways (i.e. not in denial). We will probably get there one day.
And all that only to find out that the right archive was in another disk.
Apparently the performance was delivered in this case (i.e. Futuremark.com benchmark scores).
IMHO this really depends in what's covered by a brand. If it's just a product (a commodity), then there has been misdirection. But not if there's more than that.
.inf change
This is what tipped everybody at first:
T1 - The MR9000 and MR9200 present different Chip IDs to the system. The ones in the HP/C laptops are the same as the MR9000.
T2 - some users opened their laptops and found a MR 9000 chip on the graphics card.
ATI-related facts:
A1 - There are two distinct GPU chips.
A1.1 - The MR9000 has a rv250 core.
A1.2 - The MR9200 has a rv280 core.
A1.3 - Both chips have same specifications except for AGP 8x.
A1.4 - AGP 8x is actually an optional feature for the 9200 (small print in ATI's product comparison matrix).
A1.5 - a graphics card is made putting together these GPU chips with more hardware.
A2 - There is apparently a difference between the "Mobility Radeon 9200 brand" and the actual chip (which is only a part of the brand, according to ATI and HP).
A3 - The companies don't seem to be denying that there is a 9000 chip inside.
A4 - ATI's product portfolio quotes that the 9200 is slightly faster than the 9000 (10x vs. 9x, when compared to the slowest Mobility Radeon [1x]).
A5 - Apparently (reviews) the only difference between cores is that the 280 is cheaper to manufacture, everything else being equal.
A6 - Most claims on the web regarding the 9200 as a better product are copies from a press release available around March 13th 2003. All of these do not contain benchmarks. The reviews that have benchmarks show no difference in performance.
A7 - ATI's disclaimer on their terms of sales:
"Performance tests and ratings of ATI products as presented on this Site are measured using specific computer systems and/or components and reflect the approximate performance of ATI products as measured by those tests. Any difference in system hardware or software design or configuration may affect actual performance. Buyers should consult other sources of information to evaluate the performance of systems or components they are considering purchasing."
HP-related facts:
H1 - HP's Terms of sale
"Some newly manufactured HP Products may contain and HP Support may use remanufactured parts which are equivalent to new in performance."
H2 - They also seem to acknoledge there's a 9000 inside (see other post for their official response).
Software-related facts:
S1 - HP/C is using the same drivers for the "9200" as with the MR9000 with just a
S2 - Most users' (non-review) benchmarks show no performance difference of a 9200 over a 9000 clocked at the same speed. The X1000 have higher Futuremark.com scores than every other latpop though, but that's probably because of the hardware environment, not the chip itself.
The two crowds on the forums divided by this issue have two opposing views of brand: one claim it is only a physical product (the chip) regardless of everything else, so they claim misdirection. The other side claims that the brand entails more than just the chip and so the actual part is irrelevant. It all depends on a single definition... Google defines brand as "the name of a product or service".
Copied from the forum:
f am.ht m?iid=ipp_browse+chpsts_fe
Subject: ATI Mobility(tm) Radeon(tm) 9200 graphics solution used in select HP notebooks.
Effected models:
Compaq Presario X1000 family
HP pavilion zt3000 family
HP compaq nx7000 family
Statement:
It has come to the attention of HP that there is some confusion regarding the graphics solution in certain HP notebooks that are sold with ATI MOBILITY(tm) RADEON(tm) 9200 graphics.
The effected notebooks, when advertised and sold with MOBILITY RADEON 9200 graphics do correctly include the graphics solution specified.
The particular brand applied to a graphics solution is based on several elements, including the silicon, video memory, electrical implementation on the system board including clock frequencies, the drivers, and the video graphics BIOS. The brand is determined by a number of factors and is not solely limited to the silicon or ASIC used.
In the case of the notebooks in question, HP and ATI designed a solution inclusive of all of the above elements that are branded and sold as MOBILITY RADEON 9200 graphics in the selected notebooks. This solution was created for supply flexibility, and it has been fully tested by HP and certified by ATI to ensure that performance consistency and parity of the MOBILITY RADEON 9200 brand are achieved with these models.
The ATI chip itself contains the MOBILITY RADEON 9000 family designator, which is only one factor in determining the graphics controller brand in a notebook computer.
We apologize for any inconvenience this confusion may have caused.
-----------
Q&A
Q: Doesn't the MOBILITY RADEON 9200 graphics solution include AGP8X? Why isn't this enabled on the Presario X1000?
A: HP never advertised or made any claims the notebook or graphics controller supports AGP 8X. In the case of the Presario X1000, 8X AGP operating mode is not supported due to the feature not being present on the Intel(r) 855pm chipset which is used on the Compaq Presario X1000 notebook PC. Also, AGP 8X mode operation is not a requirement for the MOBILITY RADEON 9200 brand. More information on the Intel 855 Chipset family can be found at:
http://intel.com/design/chipsets/mobile/855_
Q: How does the graphics performance of HP's MOBILITY RADEON 9200 graphics solution compare with other ATI 9200-based graphics solutions?
A: The MOBILITY RADEON 9200 graphics solution provided on the Compaq Presario X1000 provides equivalent features and performance to other notebooks with MOBILITY RADEON 9200 graphics solutions.
Q: Is the practice of using a graphics ASIC physically marked or identified differently than the brand name for the graphics solution commonplace, or is this a unique case?
A: While not extremely common, this practice is not unusual or unique. The graphics ASIC or chip alone does not determine the final brand for the part.
Q: Why is the ATI graphics ASIC marked, "9000", if the solution is branded "9200"?
A: The "ATI MOBILITY(tm) RADEON(tm) 9200" brand comprises a complete graphics solution, including graphics ASIC, video bios, video driver, and system board implementation. The actual label on the chip doesn't in this case communicate specific features to customers.
-------------
WW Escalations Engineering
HP Mobile Computing Global Business Unit
I also noticed that Futuremark.com does not list the Mobility Radeon 9200 in its Online Result Broswer, but only the 9000... does anybody knows why?
I don't buy the fact that simpler games means better. They may be fun and have a lot of "twitch factor", but after some time you get tired of them. I think rather that games should only *start* simply. A lot of games (especially on PC) throw you with full control of the interface and drive you through a tutorial so that you can learn how it all works. Sure, its cool to have a lot of options, but it takes a lot of fun of discovery away.
Compare with, for instance, Super Metroid. You can do some basic stuff (run around, shoot some monsters) with the D-pad and one button, but to finish the game, you need to learn the rest of the commands. However, you learn them slowly as needed... I noticed that this "simple-to-harder" gameplay seems to be a design choice in a lot of big N games.
Probably we could say that gravitons exists by definition. They are "the unit of whatever makes gravity work". Gravity works, ergo, gravitons exist. :-)
Now the problem still is how to measure them, as that would probably yield all kinds of interesting things. If I'm not mistaken M theory even predicts that gravitons travel accross dimensions, so they could be used to communicate with somebody out there... pretty crazy.
Maybe they can prove existence of waves without having to observe a graviton (although that would be better). In the same way that you can test gravity by throwing an apple in the air, maybe there are some remnants of the impacts of the gravity waves... allowing for indirect observation of the phenomenom. Would this be possible here?
I speak from complete ignorance and wishful thinking, but wouldn't it be possible to calculate the general area where the lander may have fallen and take pictures from orbit? Maybe the resolution of the cameras is not enough though... and the orbiters have probably better things to do than look for the Beagle2 like this.
very little slowdown on the most demanding games. (With the exception of a few N64 titles)
Are you using a PCI graphics card? With an Epia M 933 Mhz, its hard to get anything 3D to run decently... 2D is fine though.
don't get one that uses Windows (...) did you know there's a secret "administrator" account and password on every machine?
This is kind of misleading actually. AFAIK anybody skilled enough to manually configure Linux is able to find out this on Windows and change the default password. There were some "hidden" accounts in Linux too, but I suppose that new distros now come with a huge "warning: change such and such password now", so maybe even a complete newbie is safer with Linux indeed.
Everquest is not the most popular MMORPG in the world. Let's say that the 500,000 players that it boast is in the US alone, thus, "domestic" players. There's another 2D MMORPG, called Lineage, which boasts 2 Million "domestic" players in South Korea. They are so huge that Sony signed a contract with them to distribute Everquest over their server infrastructure.
There have been previous attempts to make an operating system for the HP48 (I can't recall if it was OSS or not). Anyway some of the people involved in the project were approached by HP and were, at least in part, involved in the creation of the HP49 (which for example lost the Minehunt easter egg for a more hidden Tetris clone, pretty neat).
The HP49 was actually a revolution for many, because it delivered everything that the HP48 didn't for years. And HP got the clue from hobbyists.
So a new OS has great potential for the future of the hardware - just give it some time. At least I expect that this will give the same functions faster - which would be great (TI's spreadsheet program is nice but waaay slow).
Besides, Leonardo wasn't French, so why is his master work in Paris? The French looted it from the Italians, who should demand it back.
You obviously need to check your history.
Leonardo sold the Mona Lisa to a French king in 1516, and kept it for himself beforehand. There's also rumors that the model actually was a guy Leonardo was infatuated with, which would have been greatly frowned upon then. I guess Leonardo was some kind of Elton John celebrity back in his time...
[-1 offtopic...]
The "Video game" industry, that you say does not exist, has netted in more than $10 Billion in 2002, surpassing (according to the WSJ) the "Movie" industry...
What the author is trying to say is that people will shift out of videogames towards "house entertainment", in which Nintendo is not currently competing, and Sony is very strong at. It could be true for new customers, people who never played before and want to have integrated machines because they don't see gaming as a main activity. But many existing gamers will not want to update their DVD players every time they get a new console (and pay triple)... so, this business model is unlikely to work in the near future.
even if classical music tried every melody, the existance of new styles and instrumentations means that there will be new complete works.
I fully agree. But if innovation is on style and instrumentation, and those remain constant across songs of a same "pop style", then they're not innovative at all. Maybe the first one of them, but that's it. As for the actual content of the lyrics, most pop songs seem to fall into one of these patterns:
- "boy/girl loves girl/boy"
- "angry against the 'system'"
- ego trips: "singer is better/wealthier/sexier/more honest than anybody else"
(probably more but you see my point...)
That's not a lot of innovation. But it's "pop" for a reason. Those in the know will look to more "unknown" albeit great artists. And "pop" is nice to hear anyway since somewhere there's some cheap composer copying an old good song.
A few years ago I saw an interview of a "composer" (forgot his name). They're guys who are somewhat famous because their name is in a lot of albums, but in very small print: they compose the actual music that the band plays. This is standard practice, apparently.
Anyway the point is that the guy pointed out that most pop tunes were rehashes of older pop hits. Maybe you create a different style with different instruments or beat, but the underlying melody is the same. He then showed some examples, in how some modern R&B titles were lifted off some older Rock titles. It's not that hard to believe though, look at how Puff Daddy makes a living out of talking fast over music of old hits.
So in short, one way to predict if a music will be a hit is by creating a database of previous hits and test the correlation...
[and then of course, there's those who say that Classical music tried every combination possible, so nothing can be new afterwards - but that's maybe a little extreme].
Some things are not crystal clear:
- By "non-Japanese game" do they mean "game from overseas", or "game which language is not Japanese"? The term applies for both but it makes a difference. Some European countries are very heavy on localization and consumers won't buy English titles, but would happily buy the same game translated.
- There's another question in the survey: "which console would you like to buy next" and the X-Box ranks second, after the Gamecube. Maybe they think the X-Box has potential but haven't seen good software for it yet.
You can also consider the differences in games. Most American titles are FPS, RTS, Sports or "Life Sim" games... every other genre seems to come mainly from overseas. And why does American companies mostly release those genres? Well, safety... they know the genre will work. But in doing so they risk alienating every other market.
Most MMORPG seem to look only at the US for their numbers. However, Lineage I and II are now not only in South Korea (a country with an Internet broadband penetration, as per last year, in 60% of the total households, compared with 30% in the US), but also in Japan and China. The server infrastructure that runs Lineage, owned by a company named NCSoft, is so huge that Sony partnered with them to distribute Everquest over there.
Now although it is true that many of their subscribers are through Cybercafes, or "PC Rooms" as they call them there, the main selling point is the home subscription. Most people will want their own characters and for those they require providing your unique National ID number (kind of like the social security number in the US). So NCSoft can know how many "real" players are out there, regardless of how many accounts they have.
The last count was 4 Million players, although half of it are players in South Korea. Still it's pretty impressive.