it sure hasnt stopped them from raising rates recently. Ive seen my cable bill jump about ten to fifteen dollars a month in the past few years with time warner. they really shouldnt complain about having to do things that they already do.
But on my XBOX 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii (yes, I have all three of them), I buy a game, put it in the system, and it plays! Imagine that! No installation, no drivers, no graphics settings, no hardware conflicts.
And the cost of all three of those systems is less than half the cost of a decent gaming PC.
No installation? I seem to recall an uproar because of certain PS3 games requiring an installation. An another uproar when GTA4 launched then many people couldn't get past the opening screen because of a bug.
And $4000 is a little extreme, I just built a perfectly good gaming box for less than your three consoles. Dual core, 3 gigs ram, 8500 GT, and 500 gig hard drive. Around $800. Plus I dont have to worry about my computer going all RRoD and having to be shipped back to M$ for a month (which appears to be happening to everyone i know)
Forword: Mod me flamebait if you want, this will make the second time in a week that its happened over this arugement.
Some people dont like to eat/drink/fuck around with their coffee while driving.
Say I pick up a cup a joe while driving to work in the middle of winter. It gonna be cold outside so I would expect that coffee to be able to maintain the warm temperature associated with coffee. Would I stop at McDonalds for coffee that was cold by the time I got to work? Hell no.
Suppose Grandma Angus got into an accident because she was driving while eating her Big Mac and killed 2 out of 3 people in the other car. Should that other person sure Mcdonalds for making their food "too tasty" that Grandma couldnt wait to get home to eat her food. No, that should would get laughed out of a courtroom.
Bottom line, if you spill hot coffee on yourself (and then sit in a pool of it for a minute and a half) its gonna fucking burn. Thats just common sense. Should McDonalds reduce their coffee temperatue for this, maybe 180-190 F is a bit warm, but by the time I get to work the coffee has cooled down to a very pleasant temperature. Why should McDonalds lose my business because some dumb cunt spilled her coffee and them fucking sat in it?
You, jackass, are the exact reason why we have so many warning labels on EVERYTHING today.
Oh wow, this coffee I spilled on my lap burned me, I wonder why that happened.
Oh wow, I threw my Wiimote at the TV screen like it was a baseball and this strap broke and now so did my TV, I wonder why that happened.
If you dont think taking risks are not essentail to life than you have led a very sheltered life. You obviously have never: flown, drove or rode in a car, done any sort of physical activity, or left the bubble that you call home.
As for your providing a safe environment arguement, it should be known that neither the TV nor the game console are a safe environment.
I guarantee the kid that is given a risk/mistake free life until he hits 18 does a helluva lot worse in life than the kid who actually gets a chance to fuck up and learn shit like "damn, if i stick my finger in that electrical outlet its not gonna feel too good". Have you ever heard the expression "That which doesn't kill you only makes you stronger"? Didnt think so
Maybe Im just too old school.
No, Im sorry but you are wrong on this one, but only because you are too much of an idealist. The elections might be "run" by local governments but the federal government has a much larger hand in them than you think. For the 2004 presidental election a man named Kenneth Blackwell was the Secretay of State and the Chief Elections official in the state of ohio as well as an honorary co-chair to the "Committee to re-elect George W. Bush" That seems to be a serious conflict of interest if you ask me. Oh yeah, Diebold machines are used in many counties in Ohio, since 2004, and Ill bet you can guess who won Ohios 20 electoral college votes that year....
Sorry for the lack of grammer and spelling, im tired and and to get to bed....
you have to understand how American politics work, basically party number one (in this case the Republican one) says to party number two (Diebold) "hey, help us stay in power and we'll make sure you get this FATASS contract that'll keep you hooked up right yo" to which diebold says, "word homey." Election gets rigged, rinse, repeat.
I for one also cannot wait to see what Matt does about it, I remember when he made a Butterfinger crack on one Simpsons episode and Butterfinger didn't like it too much. Within a few weeks during the beginning of one episode Bart was writing (IIRC) "I will not bite the finger that feeds me" on the chalkboard. Hilarity indeed!
The $100 dollar threshold you speak of really could mean next to nothing to a multi billion dollar company. I dont see microsoft having any real concerns about losing terrific amounts of money. If xbox had more quality games the $100 would mean less than nothing. I do own an xbox and i definetly wish that there were more good games for it.
I like this idea, lets change one thing though. Make it a gamble, if you complete the area and make it to the next save point you get the item back. If you dont, then you have to beat some sort of "special" boss to get it back, or its just lost forever.
"No current criminal law punishes a person for the actions of someone else, with a few slim "
Actually there are such laws in some parts of America. If a student is found criminally truant some places will punish the parent as well as the student. There are other such laws (I believe vandalism also) but this one comes to mind because this almost happened to a friend of mine when she wanted to drop out of school last year: The city threatened her dad because she missed two weeks of school with no excuse.
Us "damn punk kids" are smarter than we are given credit for but no one wants to hear what we are trying to say. I did not get insulted at the fact that someone pointed anything out to me, I merely resent the fact that someone believes its easier for a parent to tell that a kid is smoking a little pot or drinking a little alcohol than it is to tell if a kid if planning to blow up his fucking school. I'm sorry but there is a huge difference between a kid who goes out to a party and has a few beers before catching a ride home with a friend and a kid who sits alone in his basement and makes bombs to blow up his school. I'm sick of this goddamn arguement and the fact that you goddamn people do not seem to understand the fact that I am trying to get across. I'm simply starting that it is easier to tell if your kid is planning to commit multiple counts of homicide at school than it is to tell if he smoked a bowl after work.
Has the shit we do been done before? Hell yes it has, for years and years, but why do we still use it, because it still works. But I dont remember kids building bombs to blow up his classmates ever working out quite too well before the early-90's school shootings. Either the kids have gotten smarter or the parents have gotten lazy/dumber. Personally I do NOT believe that it's the first one...
Yes, my second post should have made this more clear but damn, for a bunch of smart people you sure can be fuckin ignorant when you want to be.
Thanks for taking the high road and attacking my parents, just because I know how to act sober when I'm a bit messed up doesn't mean my parents are idiots. I've come up with ways to cover every possible way of getting caught. We're a new breed these days, we think ahead before we go to a party or smoke a bowl or something.
The kids have gotten smarter. We use Visene these days. A few drops of Visene in the eyes will clear up that whole red-eye look. The smell can be covered by doing shots, making mixed drinks, or even using some of those new breath freshener strip deals that actually kill other smells. Walk a straight line? I can walk a straight line even if I can't even tell which line is the one I should be walking on, it's called practice and balance.
Your whole building a bomb in the garage is just as easy to tell if a kid is going out and partying is bullshit, plain and simple. If a kid is spending time alone in his garage with the door locked and won't let anyone come in no matter what, there is a problem. If a kid goes and hangs out with some friends for a little while, he is being a teenager with friends. "Hey dad im going to the movies then grabbin a bite to eat with Johnny" That alone gives 3 hours, enough time to hammer down a few shots at a party, sober up, and go home.
As for the drinking and drug use not being a part of having a social life. You obviously don't go to high school now. Drinking and drug use (or partying as we call it now) has become the number one way to become one of the "in crowd". A social life can mean many things, does a person who sits online all day and plays everquest have a social life? Its quite the paradox, they are sitting on a computer not seeing another real person, but they are still being social in a way.
A decade is a long time Jeremy, I don't mean to insult but the times are changing fast, and now kids like me can think up ways to cover just about anything. You obviously were one of those kids who were afraid to come home messed up and would act afraid. Hell, after writing this I should write a book about how easy it is to be messed up and do anything. I've even talked to an officer of the law after smoking a good amount of pot and drinking my fair share of screwdrivers and he simply said "Make sure you are home before curfew, son." It's easier than many people want to think, but we know what we're doing, we're not completely stupid.
When you bring drugs into this is becomes a totally different ballgame. Its not hard to act normal infront of parents when drunk or stoned. As a 17 year old who actually got a social life this year, I've come home too fucked up to walk correctly but I managed to get into my basement just fine because parents cant always tell whats happening in a teenagers life.
I do agree about building bombs and playing with shotguns though, that is completely obvious. When your teenager is alone in a locked garage (basement, attic, bedroom, etc.) there may be a problem there.
I do agree about the growing up and maturing part, but I will never have kids, the world does not need another me running around...
Spoken like someone whos never been a parent to a 17 year old kid. As a 17 year old kid I can honestly say its the worlds most difficult thing...More difficult than typical slashdotter trying to find a date late on a friday night.
Sure, I could build you all of that for free actually. Hell, I get a top of the line computer (It'll be outdated in 2 years but thats not the point) for free. It's called theft, what you are doing is very similar. The XBox standalone cannot play DVDs without the remote, this is only one example.
Dont get me wrong, I'm all about the search for knowledge (or whatever the current excuse for hacking the XBox is now) but hacking is still against the law. There's a reason the XBox can't play DVDs, its some licensing bullshit but it's still a reason. Theft and hacking are different things, but at the same time they share a very similarities...
This post is exactly accurate. As mentioned earlier the correct thign to do was done: When the child started imitating the Power Ranger kicks and such, the movies were taken away. Good parenting, now if only other parents would follow example and try actual parenting.
As for the Columbine thing, I've got a message to all parents: When your son/daughter spends hours upon hours in the garage building something and won't let you see it, view it, for the love of all things good see what your offspring is doing...
Yes, but you see. YOUR SON WAS THREE YEARS OLD AT THE TIME. There is a huge difference between 3 and 18 (yeah, a lot parents might disagree but thats not the point). A three year old will use a much different reasoning process then your average 18 year old.
I used to and in some cases still do: watch those evil Power Rangers (and many other violent shows/movies), play Doom (and many other violent video games), and listen to Ozzy Osbourne (and many other bands with satanic and/or non-conformist themes). I haven't killed anyone I don't plan on it.
The problem with today's society is parents. Pardon me for quoting Eminem (a violent rapper!) but he puts it quite well with, "Quit tryin to censor music, this is for your kid's amusement (The kids!) / But don't blame me when lil' Eric jumps off of the terrace / You shoulda been watchin him - apparently you ain't parents."
Almost all of my friends are the same way as me, hell, I've even got friends that take medication for depression, bipolar, etc. The point is it takes more than just violence in video games/movies/music, to breed a killer. A killer is bred at home...
And don't blame the drugs either, my friends and I have done enough to last us each a few lifetimes, we haven't killed anyone even with access to daddy's shotgun...
Maybe its the illegal drugs, or the horrible forced public education. But am I the only one who things that The Sims: Command and Conquer could be a good idea? I mean come on, play the general and actualy watch the poor suckers you command die with the birds eye view that the Sims has perfected. And dont forget the online expansion pack: play General with and against all your friends and enemies. And no one actually gets hurt (except for the little kids i have to knock over to buy the game). Yeah? Yeah? Can't beat the same old recycled garbage that most companies are releasing lately...
Wait...if they're going to try to sue to get IP addys why not just go for the gusto: Sue Microsoft for allowing it's operating system to run Kazaa and other "piracy" software. Don't forget about harddrive makers, after all without them we wouldn't have enough space to store those MP3s for very long. Oh hell, why not just go after the makers of computers in general? Without those damn computers the software to pirate music is useless. Here's a better idea, dont charge goddamn $20 for a CD with 2 good songs on it and maybe we'd be willing to buy them a bit more often. Dont get me wrong support the artist, go see a concert or something. But $20 for a half hour of music? Thats insane. I'd be willing to pay about $12 for a CD, you can't tell me that you can't make a profit on $12 a CD. Maybe if the record companies fired a few lawyers they would realize that the problem comes from within.
Slashdot Mirror
it sure hasnt stopped them from raising rates recently. Ive seen my cable bill jump about ten to fifteen dollars a month in the past few years with time warner. they really shouldnt complain about having to do things that they already do.
But on my XBOX 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii (yes, I have all three of them), I buy a game, put it in the system, and it plays! Imagine that! No installation, no drivers, no graphics settings, no hardware conflicts.
And the cost of all three of those systems is less than half the cost of a decent gaming PC.
No installation? I seem to recall an uproar because of certain PS3 games requiring an installation. An another uproar when GTA4 launched then many people couldn't get past the opening screen because of a bug.
And $4000 is a little extreme, I just built a perfectly good gaming box for less than your three consoles. Dual core, 3 gigs ram, 8500 GT, and 500 gig hard drive. Around $800. Plus I dont have to worry about my computer going all RRoD and having to be shipped back to M$ for a month (which appears to be happening to everyone i know)
I, for one, miss the arcade.
Some people dont like to eat/drink/fuck around with their coffee while driving.
Say I pick up a cup a joe while driving to work in the middle of winter. It gonna be cold outside so I would expect that coffee to be able to maintain the warm temperature associated with coffee. Would I stop at McDonalds for coffee that was cold by the time I got to work? Hell no.
Suppose Grandma Angus got into an accident because she was driving while eating her Big Mac and killed 2 out of 3 people in the other car. Should that other person sure Mcdonalds for making their food "too tasty" that Grandma couldnt wait to get home to eat her food. No, that should would get laughed out of a courtroom.
Bottom line, if you spill hot coffee on yourself (and then sit in a pool of it for a minute and a half) its gonna fucking burn. Thats just common sense. Should McDonalds reduce their coffee temperatue for this, maybe 180-190 F is a bit warm, but by the time I get to work the coffee has cooled down to a very pleasant temperature. Why should McDonalds lose my business because some dumb cunt spilled her coffee and them fucking sat in it?
You, jackass, are the exact reason why we have so many warning labels on EVERYTHING today. Oh wow, this coffee I spilled on my lap burned me, I wonder why that happened. Oh wow, I threw my Wiimote at the TV screen like it was a baseball and this strap broke and now so did my TV, I wonder why that happened. If you dont think taking risks are not essentail to life than you have led a very sheltered life. You obviously have never: flown, drove or rode in a car, done any sort of physical activity, or left the bubble that you call home.
As for your providing a safe environment arguement, it should be known that neither the TV nor the game console are a safe environment. I guarantee the kid that is given a risk/mistake free life until he hits 18 does a helluva lot worse in life than the kid who actually gets a chance to fuck up and learn shit like "damn, if i stick my finger in that electrical outlet its not gonna feel too good".
Have you ever heard the expression "That which doesn't kill you only makes you stronger"? Didnt think so Maybe Im just too old school.
That's about where I stopped reading...
I thought the same thing after I RTFA...
"It doesn't have anything to do with playing guitar," Mr. Einziger says. "It's all rhythmic."
I never cared for Incubus but I didn't think they were that bad until after I read that statement....
No, Im sorry but you are wrong on this one, but only because you are too much of an idealist. The elections might be "run" by local governments but the federal government has a much larger hand in them than you think.
For the 2004 presidental election a man named Kenneth Blackwell was the Secretay of State and the Chief Elections official in the state of ohio as well as an honorary co-chair to the "Committee to re-elect George W. Bush"
That seems to be a serious conflict of interest if you ask me. Oh yeah, Diebold machines are used in many counties in Ohio, since 2004, and Ill bet you can guess who won Ohios 20 electoral college votes that year....
Sorry for the lack of grammer and spelling, im tired and and to get to bed....
you have to understand how American politics work, basically party number one (in this case the Republican one) says to party number two (Diebold) "hey, help us stay in power and we'll make sure you get this FATASS contract that'll keep you hooked up right yo" to which diebold says, "word homey." Election gets rigged, rinse, repeat.
I for one welcome our new Fox News overlords.
I for one also cannot wait to see what Matt does about it, I remember when he made a Butterfinger crack on one Simpsons episode and Butterfinger didn't like it too much. Within a few weeks during the beginning of one episode Bart was writing (IIRC) "I will not bite the finger that feeds me" on the chalkboard. Hilarity indeed!
The $100 dollar threshold you speak of really could mean next to nothing to a multi billion dollar company. I dont see microsoft having any real concerns about losing terrific amounts of money. If xbox had more quality games the $100 would mean less than nothing. I do own an xbox and i definetly wish that there were more good games for it.
I cant believe no one has mentioned the trailer for Fable yet, XBox or no the game looks amazing and I, for one, and eagerly awaiting its release.
I like this idea, lets change one thing though. Make it a gamble, if you complete the area and make it to the next save point you get the item back. If you dont, then you have to beat some sort of "special" boss to get it back, or its just lost forever.
Actually there are such laws in some parts of America. If a student is found criminally truant some places will punish the parent as well as the student. There are other such laws (I believe vandalism also) but this one comes to mind because this almost happened to a friend of mine when she wanted to drop out of school last year: The city threatened her dad because she missed two weeks of school with no excuse.
Has the shit we do been done before? Hell yes it has, for years and years, but why do we still use it, because it still works. But I dont remember kids building bombs to blow up his classmates ever working out quite too well before the early-90's school shootings. Either the kids have gotten smarter or the parents have gotten lazy/dumber. Personally I do NOT believe that it's the first one...
Yes, my second post should have made this more clear but damn, for a bunch of smart people you sure can be fuckin ignorant when you want to be.
I dont want to play Mario and watch some actor whos been digitally captured, I wanna see some goddamn animation.
Likewise, I don't want to play Manhunt and see animation, then I want motion capture...
The kids have gotten smarter. We use Visene these days. A few drops of Visene in the eyes will clear up that whole red-eye look. The smell can be covered by doing shots, making mixed drinks, or even using some of those new breath freshener strip deals that actually kill other smells. Walk a straight line? I can walk a straight line even if I can't even tell which line is the one I should be walking on, it's called practice and balance.
Your whole building a bomb in the garage is just as easy to tell if a kid is going out and partying is bullshit, plain and simple. If a kid is spending time alone in his garage with the door locked and won't let anyone come in no matter what, there is a problem. If a kid goes and hangs out with some friends for a little while, he is being a teenager with friends. "Hey dad im going to the movies then grabbin a bite to eat with Johnny" That alone gives 3 hours, enough time to hammer down a few shots at a party, sober up, and go home.
As for the drinking and drug use not being a part of having a social life. You obviously don't go to high school now. Drinking and drug use (or partying as we call it now) has become the number one way to become one of the "in crowd". A social life can mean many things, does a person who sits online all day and plays everquest have a social life? Its quite the paradox, they are sitting on a computer not seeing another real person, but they are still being social in a way.
A decade is a long time Jeremy, I don't mean to insult but the times are changing fast, and now kids like me can think up ways to cover just about anything. You obviously were one of those kids who were afraid to come home messed up and would act afraid. Hell, after writing this I should write a book about how easy it is to be messed up and do anything. I've even talked to an officer of the law after smoking a good amount of pot and drinking my fair share of screwdrivers and he simply said "Make sure you are home before curfew, son." It's easier than many people want to think, but we know what we're doing, we're not completely stupid.
I do agree about building bombs and playing with shotguns though, that is completely obvious. When your teenager is alone in a locked garage (basement, attic, bedroom, etc.) there may be a problem there.
I do agree about the growing up and maturing part, but I will never have kids, the world does not need another me running around...
Spoken like someone whos never been a parent to a 17 year old kid. As a 17 year old kid I can honestly say its the worlds most difficult thing...More difficult than typical slashdotter trying to find a date late on a friday night.
Wait...I thought the name of that game was Everquest?
Dont get me wrong, I'm all about the search for knowledge (or whatever the current excuse for hacking the XBox is now) but hacking is still against the law. There's a reason the XBox can't play DVDs, its some licensing bullshit but it's still a reason. Theft and hacking are different things, but at the same time they share a very similarities...
As for the Columbine thing, I've got a message to all parents: When your son/daughter spends hours upon hours in the garage building something and won't let you see it, view it, for the love of all things good see what your offspring is doing...
I used to and in some cases still do: watch those evil Power Rangers (and many other violent shows/movies), play Doom (and many other violent video games), and listen to Ozzy Osbourne (and many other bands with satanic and/or non-conformist themes). I haven't killed anyone I don't plan on it.
The problem with today's society is parents. Pardon me for quoting Eminem (a violent rapper!) but he puts it quite well with, "Quit tryin to censor music, this is for your kid's amusement (The kids!) / But don't blame me when lil' Eric jumps off of the terrace / You shoulda been watchin him - apparently you ain't parents."
Almost all of my friends are the same way as me, hell, I've even got friends that take medication for depression, bipolar, etc. The point is it takes more than just violence in video games/movies/music, to breed a killer. A killer is bred at home...
And don't blame the drugs either, my friends and I have done enough to last us each a few lifetimes, we haven't killed anyone even with access to daddy's shotgun...
Maybe its the illegal drugs, or the horrible forced public education. But am I the only one who things that The Sims: Command and Conquer could be a good idea? I mean come on, play the general and actualy watch the poor suckers you command die with the birds eye view that the Sims has perfected. And dont forget the online expansion pack: play General with and against all your friends and enemies. And no one actually gets hurt (except for the little kids i have to knock over to buy the game). Yeah? Yeah? Can't beat the same old recycled garbage that most companies are releasing lately...
Wait...if they're going to try to sue to get IP addys why not just go for the gusto: Sue Microsoft for allowing it's operating system to run Kazaa and other "piracy" software. Don't forget about harddrive makers, after all without them we wouldn't have enough space to store those MP3s for very long. Oh hell, why not just go after the makers of computers in general? Without those damn computers the software to pirate music is useless.
Here's a better idea, dont charge goddamn $20 for a CD with 2 good songs on it and maybe we'd be willing to buy them a bit more often. Dont get me wrong support the artist, go see a concert or something. But $20 for a half hour of music? Thats insane. I'd be willing to pay about $12 for a CD, you can't tell me that you can't make a profit on $12 a CD. Maybe if the record companies fired a few lawyers they would realize that the problem comes from within.