I'm going to be leery of any game that interrupts gameplay to deliver a commercial. If Max Payne 3 has some cutscene where Max stands still for 20 seconds and watches a TV commercial for Mountain Dew, I'm not going to like it. If my kids racing game on the PS2 makes them watch a 30 second commercial for lunchables to unlock one of the cars, I'm probably not going to buy it for them.
But if a company can deliver ads without screwing up gameplay, I don't think I'd have a problem with it. Somone mentioned billboards in GTA3 already, though I think the whole GTA series is too controversial for most major companies. When I play UT2004, the game throws up a static screen every time the level changes, and I have to stare at it for 10-15 seconds. There are only about six different screens, and they old pretty quick. If the publishers wanted to toss some advertisements up there instead, I wouldn't mind... heck, I might even welcome it.
And contrary to some what people are saying, it is quite possible that in-game advertising could lead to reduced game prices. If advertising becomes a major revenue stream for game companies, then it would make sense for them to reduce their prices to get more viewers for their ads. That might make games with advertising a little cheaper then those without, at least for the short haul. We might see more patches, bonus packs, and expansion sets for popular games... buying ad space in a free Doom3 expansion set would almost be the gaming equivilant of buying commercial time in the Super Bowl.
Actually, it's fairly common for people to live through a head-on collision with another vehicle, even at highways speeds. If the two vehicles are fairly equal in mass, then the force of the collision is also distributed evenly. However, if a lightweight solar-powered vehicle collides with a big, heavy minivan, then the solar car is going to get folded up like an accordian, and the minivan will probably just get a dent.
My phones and my computer network don't seem to be aware that the other exists. Which is a shame, because I'd *really* like to be able to use my computer to set up or modify all of my phone/answering machines features. Typing in names and accessing menus through an keypad and a couple of arcane buttons is a PITA. It'd be nice if I had a simple, clear menu-driven interface on my computer that would allow me to just type everything in. Then when I'm done, I can hit send and it'll program my phone.
There is a direct, demonstrable link between video quality, frame rate, and the amount of fun you're having playing a game. If you don't have video quality and frame rate pushed to the max, you're simply cheating yourself. And since you "can't put a price on a good time", it only makes sense to spend whatever it takes to have the latest and absolute greatest hardware. I, for one, am thankful that all these hardware sites are helping us pick out the best new hardware, rather then spreading the ridiculous rumor that peoples current system will likely be good enough.
I'm sure they do, but there's always a chance that the problem could be a faulty cord or power brick. It's just more effecient to have everything shipped at the same time.
No, if a company today decided to manufacture and market brand-new hard drives with a 1 GB capacity, they'd still have to charge $15.00 or $20.00 at least. Price doesn't increase or decrease in direct proportion to the capacity of the drive. A 1 gig drive is still going to need controlling electronics and platters and have to be tested and packaged and shipped.
I've looked at the drives on EBay, but once you add in shipping, they're really no bargain either. Looking over there just now, I saw a 10 GB Maxtor drive about to go for $21.00 with 6 bids. Shipping is another $6.00. So I can spend $27.00 for a used 10 gig drive with no warranty, or I can go to Frys and spend $49.99 (after rebate) for a brand new 120 gig drive with a 3 (or 5) year warranty.
Hmmm.... pretty much a coin flip there.
I'd buy the old drives for some simple system if I could get them for a reasonable price. Maybe somebody should start buying up all the old 10 and 20 gig drives that are being retired and start selling them in lots of 10.
Yeah... wake me up when they have a robot that can put books back on the shelf when people are done reading them. And put them in the proper place, oriented correctly, and without damaging the adjacent books.
You are, as you said, a solitary representative. Do you think every person who downloaded those files went out and bought the album the first week it came out? Probably not.
Probably quite a few of them intended to buy the album, but they didn't quite have the money, or they saw something in the store they liked better, or they decided that the songs really weren't that great after all... for whatever reason, because they were able to download the songs before they were able to buy them, Rush lost a sale.
Why didn't Rush complain? They probably didn't want to let everyone know that the songs were available on P2P.
You're not alone. I've watched Python through the years with various friends and family members, and most of them found it either just slightly funny, or downright boring.
Python never had an especially broad appeal. I think the remarkable thing about their comedy is how well it's held up over time. Most funny stuff wears out its welcome pretty quickly - heard anyone say "Let's get small!" lately? How about "I'm Gumby, damnit!"? Most comedy doesn't even get it's federally mandated 15 minutes of fame before it's swept out the door. The fact that people are still quoting Python 30 years later, and laughing about it, is just kinda mind-boggling.
Yeah, he made a series of incredibly boneheaded moves. No big deal there, I think most humans do something like that at least once in their life.
However, he was smart enough to write an article and make some money off of his mistakes. Hell, he can probably deduct the cost of the dead hardware as a business expense. I never managed that.
Basically it's an extended warranty. It takes effect after the manufacturers warranty expires. and covers you for an additional number of years.
Electronics retailers push them hard because they're incredibly profitable. I have a relative who worked for one of the major electronics chains. The company spent a lot more time training their sales people on selling those extended warranties and overcoming customer objections then they spent on teaching them about the hardware they were selling.
And that "no commission" line might be true, but you can bet that there's something on the line. Maybe the sales person just gets a flat bonus for every warranty they sell. Maybe the store is having a sales contest, and the top seller in the region gets a paid vacation or a new car or some other nifty prize.
Oddly enough, had something like that happen to one of our agents. He called in to complain that he couldn't get any work done. Every few seconds, his PC would pop up a little window saying "Scanning outgoing EMail" and lock up for a moment. Then the window would disappear and everything would be back to normal. Until the window reappeared.
Turned out he'd picked up a mass mailing virus. He had Norton AV installed, but hadn't wanted to pay to keep his virus defs updated. Norton was scanning every outgoing EMail, but didn't see anyting it recognized and let them all pass through.
I told the guy he'd have to pay to update his virus defs in order to fix the thing. Actually, Norton offers a free remover for that particular virus, but I didn't want the guy calling me back in another two weeks with a different virus.
Hell, not just the writer. The article had to be approved by a few editorial types. They're the ones who will get the axe if heads do indeed roll.
But it probably won't happen. I'm betting that Slate took a page from the old Browser Wars handbook. Only this time, it's IE that won't render the page correctly. People who use 'zilla or Firefox will read about how great their browser is, and how bad Microsoft is, and think "Wow, what honest, unbiased journalism!". People who use IE will get a broken page, or maybe some tripe about how IE is totally secure, and if you get a virus it's your own damn fault.
Later on today, I'm going to buy an expensive video camera, wrap it in a little duct tape and bubble wrap, the throw it out of the tallest building I can find. I should get some REALLY cool pictures on the way down. Not to mention the impressive crash footage.
I doubt anything bad will happen, but just in case... I'll have my PayPal link set up and ready.
The other scenario which could cause game prices to fall would occur if the in-game ads turned out to be extraordinarily effective. Then the game publisher might drop the price of the game to get more viewers for the ads, offsetting the lower profit from game sales with higher advertising revenue.
Doom is still my favorite game evar. It was SO far ahead of its time. I remember playing it for the first time, muttering "Holy shit!" every few seconds as I saw something else new and totally cool. And the first time the imps started throwing fireballs at me, I was twisting and dodging in my seat, hoping they'd miss.
Quake was a disappointment initially. Single player just wasn't all that great. Does anybody remember the plot that was outlined in the manual? It had absolutely nothing to do with the game itself.
Then I realized that I could get on this internet thingy, and play Quake deathmatch for FREE, with people from all over, any time day or night. And just when I was getting bored of deathmatch, Quakeworld came out, then CTF was released, and Quake was here to stay.
The other problem occurs if every financial institution starts using them. Pretty soon people with multiple accounts are carrying around half-a-dozen smart cards, and can never remember which one to use where.
Is there any reason you couldn't use the same smart card for multiple sites? That would make the economics a little more reasonable. Heck, you could even combine a smart card and a cell phone. The added cost there would be trivial, I would think.
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I'm going to be leery of any game that interrupts gameplay to deliver a commercial. If Max Payne 3 has some cutscene where Max stands still for 20 seconds and watches a TV commercial for Mountain Dew, I'm not going to like it. If my kids racing game on the PS2 makes them watch a 30 second commercial for lunchables to unlock one of the cars, I'm probably not going to buy it for them.
But if a company can deliver ads without screwing up gameplay, I don't think I'd have a problem with it. Somone mentioned billboards in GTA3 already, though I think the whole GTA series is too controversial for most major companies. When I play UT2004, the game throws up a static screen every time the level changes, and I have to stare at it for 10-15 seconds. There are only about six different screens, and they old pretty quick. If the publishers wanted to toss some advertisements up there instead, I wouldn't mind... heck, I might even welcome it.
And contrary to some what people are saying, it is quite possible that in-game advertising could lead to reduced game prices. If advertising becomes a major revenue stream for game companies, then it would make sense for them to reduce their prices to get more viewers for their ads. That might make games with advertising a little cheaper then those without, at least for the short haul. We might see more patches, bonus packs, and expansion sets for popular games... buying ad space in a free Doom3 expansion set would almost be the gaming equivilant of buying commercial time in the Super Bowl.
You say that like it's a bad thing.
Actually, it's fairly common for people to live through a head-on collision with another vehicle, even at highways speeds. If the two vehicles are fairly equal in mass, then the force of the collision is also distributed evenly. However, if a lightweight solar-powered vehicle collides with a big, heavy minivan, then the solar car is going to get folded up like an accordian, and the minivan will probably just get a dent.
My phones and my computer network don't seem to be aware that the other exists. Which is a shame, because I'd *really* like to be able to use my computer to set up or modify all of my phone/answering machines features. Typing in names and accessing menus through an keypad and a couple of arcane buttons is a PITA. It'd be nice if I had a simple, clear menu-driven interface on my computer that would allow me to just type everything in. Then when I'm done, I can hit send and it'll program my phone.
Robin is a girl? Well, that takes care of the homosexual overtones, old chum.
No, blinking text is obnoxious.
You hid the "But seriously" too well.
It shoulda been capped.
And bolded.
And italicized.
And in 32 point font.
A different color wouldn't hurt, either.
I'm glad to see someone agrees with me.
There is a direct, demonstrable link between video quality, frame rate, and the amount of fun you're having playing a game. If you don't have video quality and frame rate pushed to the max, you're simply cheating yourself. And since you "can't put a price on a good time", it only makes sense to spend whatever it takes to have the latest and absolute greatest hardware. I, for one, am thankful that all these hardware sites are helping us pick out the best new hardware, rather then spreading the ridiculous rumor that peoples current system will likely be good enough.
I'm sure they do, but there's always a chance that the problem could be a faulty cord or power brick. It's just more effecient to have everything shipped at the same time.
No, if a company today decided to manufacture and market brand-new hard drives with a 1 GB capacity, they'd still have to charge $15.00 or $20.00 at least. Price doesn't increase or decrease in direct proportion to the capacity of the drive. A 1 gig drive is still going to need controlling electronics and platters and have to be tested and packaged and shipped.
I've looked at the drives on EBay, but once you add in shipping, they're really no bargain either. Looking over there just now, I saw a 10 GB Maxtor drive about to go for $21.00 with 6 bids. Shipping is another $6.00. So I can spend $27.00 for a used 10 gig drive with no warranty, or I can go to Frys and spend $49.99 (after rebate) for a brand new 120 gig drive with a 3 (or 5) year warranty.
Hmmm.... pretty much a coin flip there.
I'd buy the old drives for some simple system if I could get them for a reasonable price. Maybe somebody should start buying up all the old 10 and 20 gig drives that are being retired and start selling them in lots of 10.
Yeah... wake me up when they have a robot that can put books back on the shelf when people are done reading them. And put them in the proper place, oriented correctly, and without damaging the adjacent books.
You are, as you said, a solitary representative. Do you think every person who downloaded those files went out and bought the album the first week it came out? Probably not. Probably quite a few of them intended to buy the album, but they didn't quite have the money, or they saw something in the store they liked better, or they decided that the songs really weren't that great after all... for whatever reason, because they were able to download the songs before they were able to buy them, Rush lost a sale. Why didn't Rush complain? They probably didn't want to let everyone know that the songs were available on P2P.
Why is everyone always making fun of Duke Nukem? Look at how long it took id to go from Doom 2 to Doom 3! And nobody ever complains about that.
Minimum specs are a 286 processor, 640K of RAM (620 free), and 12 megabytes of hard drive space.
Note that with the minimum configuration, Doom 3 will only run in "text mode".
You're not alone. I've watched Python through the years with various friends and family members, and most of them found it either just slightly funny, or downright boring.
Python never had an especially broad appeal. I think the remarkable thing about their comedy is how well it's held up over time. Most funny stuff wears out its welcome pretty quickly - heard anyone say "Let's get small!" lately? How about "I'm Gumby, damnit!"? Most comedy doesn't even get it's federally mandated 15 minutes of fame before it's swept out the door. The fact that people are still quoting Python 30 years later, and laughing about it, is just kinda mind-boggling.
Open up a sixth.
Actually...
Yeah, he made a series of incredibly boneheaded moves. No big deal there, I think most humans do something like that at least once in their life.
However, he was smart enough to write an article and make some money off of his mistakes. Hell, he can probably deduct the cost of the dead hardware as a business expense. I never managed that.
Basically it's an extended warranty. It takes effect after the manufacturers warranty expires. and covers you for an additional number of years.
Electronics retailers push them hard because they're incredibly profitable. I have a relative who worked for one of the major electronics chains. The company spent a lot more time training their sales people on selling those extended warranties and overcoming customer objections then they spent on teaching them about the hardware they were selling.
And that "no commission" line might be true, but you can bet that there's something on the line. Maybe the sales person just gets a flat bonus for every warranty they sell. Maybe the store is having a sales contest, and the top seller in the region gets a paid vacation or a new car or some other nifty prize.
Oddly enough, had something like that happen to one of our agents. He called in to complain that he couldn't get any work done. Every few seconds, his PC would pop up a little window saying "Scanning outgoing EMail" and lock up for a moment. Then the window would disappear and everything would be back to normal. Until the window reappeared.
Turned out he'd picked up a mass mailing virus. He had Norton AV installed, but hadn't wanted to pay to keep his virus defs updated. Norton was scanning every outgoing EMail, but didn't see anyting it recognized and let them all pass through.
I told the guy he'd have to pay to update his virus defs in order to fix the thing. Actually, Norton offers a free remover for that particular virus, but I didn't want the guy calling me back in another two weeks with a different virus.
Hell, not just the writer. The article had to be approved by a few editorial types. They're the ones who will get the axe if heads do indeed roll.
But it probably won't happen. I'm betting that Slate took a page from the old Browser Wars handbook. Only this time, it's IE that won't render the page correctly. People who use 'zilla or Firefox will read about how great their browser is, and how bad Microsoft is, and think "Wow, what honest, unbiased journalism!". People who use IE will get a broken page, or maybe some tripe about how IE is totally secure, and if you get a virus it's your own damn fault.
Unless, of course, they use the GC to buy a gift for someone else. Which I've done more then once.
Later on today, I'm going to buy an expensive video camera, wrap it in a little duct tape and bubble wrap, the throw it out of the tallest building I can find. I should get some REALLY cool pictures on the way down. Not to mention the impressive crash footage.
I doubt anything bad will happen, but just in case... I'll have my PayPal link set up and ready.
The other scenario which could cause game prices to fall would occur if the in-game ads turned out to be extraordinarily effective. Then the game publisher might drop the price of the game to get more viewers for the ads, offsetting the lower profit from game sales with higher advertising revenue.
Doom is still my favorite game evar. It was SO far ahead of its time. I remember playing it for the first time, muttering "Holy shit!" every few seconds as I saw something else new and totally cool. And the first time the imps started throwing fireballs at me, I was twisting and dodging in my seat, hoping they'd miss.
Quake was a disappointment initially. Single player just wasn't all that great. Does anybody remember the plot that was outlined in the manual?
It had absolutely nothing to do with the game itself.
Then I realized that I could get on this internet thingy, and play Quake deathmatch for FREE, with people from all over, any time day or night. And just when I was getting bored of deathmatch, Quakeworld came out, then CTF was released, and Quake was here to stay.
The other problem occurs if every financial institution starts using them. Pretty soon people with multiple accounts are carrying around half-a-dozen smart cards, and can never remember which one to use where.
Is there any reason you couldn't use the same smart card for multiple sites? That would make the economics a little more reasonable. Heck, you could even combine a smart card and a cell phone. The added cost there would be trivial, I would think.