It's "moral" to punish people because of the sins of the company - people, who through no fault of their own, have responsibilities and cannot simply walk away from a paying job? That's moral??? Wow, morality sure has changed a lot.
And you're right - expecting people to walk out on jobs for moral reasons is naive and foolish. Of course, Damage Studios doesn't appear to be that big a force in any industry so I'm pretty apathetic about it. And I would also say that this type of behavior and poor business saavy, does not bode well for the future of Damage Studios. Advocating employees walking out when the suits start doing something that is wrong will not make your company run well. Most companies have acts that aren't condoned by all the staff. If McDonalds slaughters cows in an inhumane manner, should the fry cook walk out?
That type of thinking might work if you're a hippie and want to live alone in the forest but in the real world, it doesn't. This chrisd character should be taken to task for his behavior.
Yeah, that's it. Because Nintendo signed a promotional deal with AOL, the types of games that are going to come out for Gamecube is affected. Sure thing!
Did you know that when you buy the PS2 network adapter, the "recommended" ISP is Earthlink. AOL is more of a broadband service than Earthlink due to the Time Warner part of the company name - yet, (here's a shocker), the PS2 has first person shooters out! In fact, they've got some games out that require broadband only and won't let dial-up players in!
Some promotional deal for AOL to get a few coasters into Gamecube boxes and for Nintendo to get Gamecube games shown to AOL subscribers is not going to affect what online games are developed for the Gamecube. What will affect the Gamecube's online applications is Nintendo's desire to make money from online gaming and, as you can find out with a little research, Nintendo probably won't make a serious commitment to online gaming till the next console release.
Honestly, this story and deal is just fluff. It doesn't mark a change in strategy for either company. When Nintendo signs deals to have commercials on NBC, you don't expect the Gamecube to start playing television feeds.
The last time I looked at the mail aspects of AOL, mail that was stored on AOL's servers was deleted after a certain number of days but the default option was that once you read your mail it went into your "filing cabinet" on your hard drive, and was not deleted until you deleted it. Maybe that's not the default option...but you might want to check into setting that up. I don't think the deletion of mail should be a problem. When I check the e-mail account that I use in conjunction with Outlook, all mail is downloaded and then deleted off the server - this works just fine for me. Also, there used to be a way to turn off all pop-ups with exciting offers from AOL. I don't remember the keyword (it's been a long time since I've had to help people with AOL) but it might be "Marketing Preferences" or "Marketing". Try it out.
Why don't I have to pay any toll if I get on the MassPike entering from NY and get off on any one of the first four exists? YOUR FORMULA IS CAPUT! (sic) CAPUT (sic) I TELL YOU!
The fact that you're not a fan of consoles is showing - no one who's followed a generation or two of console hardware expects the Phantom to be any type of success. If it ever does come out, I'd expect 3DO or CDI like sales of it. Frankly, the specs that are being touted are purely made up in, what I believe, is an attempt to get funding. Releasing a console is expensive and doing it well is even more expensive.
When the government is funding the artist, the distribution method ceases to matter. Distribution matters when you are charging for individual experiences. When sculptures are put on public display, everyone can see them because the artist has already been paid. Likewise, artists who produce music have already been paid once the piece is completed - and then distribution is much easier because you can rely on P2P networks and such instead of having to hire security guards and builds galleries. I continue to be sickened by your posts because you are failing to think on a grand enough scale. You've got certain ideas so set in your mind that you can't think beyond them, even a little. So why don't you go back to being practical - innovation isn't easy.
Do you realize how much bandwidth those transmissions would take?
Health: A percentage. 0-100 can be stored in 7 bits. Combo Meter: A number less than 100, 7 bits. Positions of Weapons: X,Y,Z coordinates assuming a 1000 x 1000 x 1000 plane, 30 bits. So we've got a very low number of bits. Basically the reason for lag in an online fighting game isn't the amount of data being sent but the overall speed of the pipe.
I wouldn't be embarassed playing Mario Golf or Mario Party. I'm not looking for "girls" in my video games. I go to bars for that. As far as "action" and "fighting" go, Mario Golf and Mario Party have "action" in them - if by action you mean some type of movement. Fighting? Soul Caliber 2? Whatever.
They are in steady decline? Nintendo is still making profit. Nintendo does not have to be the number one console maker in order to remain a viable company. Microsoft's XBox division is a continual money loser. It seems like people should be foretelling the death of the XBox division. Microsoft Bob fans?
"If you don't like it, go to the government, apply for a grant and hope other's people's taxes will cover your needs. This won't work, since there's no way you can add to your earnings once your music is free and concerts are only viable for a limited part of the musical landscape."
There's no way to add to your earnings? You create more music. Once you have no music left to produce, you get a different job. If you think the current system is fair to those who put their time and talent into it, you are misled by the RIAA. Most artists are struggling to make ends meet. On the other hand, government grants help fund sculptors and painters and have for many years now. A sound engineer is part of the recording process.
Honestly, I'm sickened by your post - it's so sad that you can't read for content. Nevermind, go ahead and be ignorant. I'm done trying to convince people who are this short-sighted.
Take a look at how the U.S. government funds artists of different mediums. Many painters who have received government funding over the years have produced religious works and works that are protesting aspects of society - political, etc. The fact that there's a different medium shouldn't change this process at all. I believe you probably can see this so it must be that you're unaware of just how much support the U.S. gives to the arts. Are you a citizen of the U.S.?
"No, given a choice between the system you have set forth and a system based on the current distribution methods, I think I'll take the current system."
Most of what you said in your reply was just nit-picking. It's easy to pick apart ideas when they aren't fully fleshed out. Funding for the arts has worked in the past for painters who produce "controversial" work. Finally, a government funded system gives the average artist enough money to live comfortably. The current system has a few artists living lavioushly while the rest languish at the bottom and starve. You obviously don't care about this. Current distribution methods result in most of the money going to corporate weasals rather than artists. I don't know why anyone would support a system that's going to cost the consumer more per song and result in the artist getting less money.
Don't bother replying. I was unimpressed with your nit-picking and won't read anything further from you.
You're an editor and you don't know what irony means. I suppose you'd call that "ironic", wouldn't you?
Try to think a bit more high-level. ESPN did the right thing and dealt honestly with a product that was theirs in comparing it to another. Can Slashdot editors say the same in regard to business practices by IBM or in suggesting quality merchandise from Thinkgeek? The fact that you were "amused" by the idea of a company acting morally, concerns me.
I'm not suggesting that the government control distribution. I'm suggesting that artists receive funding from the government and distribution stays on P2P networks, only in a much more legal fashion. Part of a government grant could be that you would agree to allow your music to be shared. Artists make money. People aren't forced to pay outrageous prices for CDs. Everyone is happy except the suits who are really just leeching off artists.
Ultimately, what I would like to see is the free distribution of music files through the Internet. The idea of a used copy is silly (I'm sure you know that but the RIAA probably wouldn't get it) and the only cost at that point is the bandwidth required to share files. I would like to see the whole business model that currently exists go the way of the dodo. The government funds the arts. If that were expanded, people could have music for free (by paying taxes) and artists could receive money. Artists can also receive money by giving concerts. I've had enough of people in suits getting money because some guy with long hair who plays a mean guitar is locked into a death grip with the RIAA.
It seems reasonable that you should be able to do this but if Apple were to facilitate this (I'm not sure you were suggesting such a trading feature be built into iTunes or not but it's an interesting subject), the problems become clear. If I were to trade my songs with you, there's no way Apple can check to make sure I haven't made an line-out type recording of the content and re-encoded it into mp3. Basically you need to have a way to ensure that when I trade away my digital goods, my digital goods are really gone. That's tough to do and that's why I think Apple would never consider adding this.
Quite right - even though a company has a stake in the product, if you have a holding which reviews such products, you're supposed to be impartial. simoniker calls this "amusing" for some reason. I don't understand why that is amusing. In this time of corporate shilling and reviews that are really just product ads, isn't it refreshing to see that at least ESPN's reviews aren't based on corporate synergy. This also makes me question what exactly is going on at Slashdot. It would appear that ESPN's policy of honesty is laughable to simoniker. simoniker, why is that amusing to you? Are Slashdot editors going to favor everything from VA-Linux because of the corporate relationship or will the Slashdot editors be sources of opinion that are not based on the stock price of VA-Linux? I am interested in why this would be considered amusing at Slashdot.
Besides that being a complete crap statement because it would not exist in real life
Well, you're rather rude, aren't you?
You are still missing the point. Let me try one more time to explain it to you. (And if you don't get it this time, I'll throw my hands up.) The original poster was claiming that the 16-bit era was the golden age of video gaming and the reason that the GBA has sold well is because those are the types of games people want - not GTA3 or GT3 or Halo or Metroid Prime. I made a hypothetical example up (yes, hypothetical situations don't have to be possible in order to show a point, it's true!) to point out that people will take the best graphics they can get for their money and if you could have either Super Mario World or Super Mario Sunshine on your handheld, most people would select the handheld that allowed Super Mario Sunshine level graphics.
The rest of your post was very rude as well. Why do you feel the need to put me down because of a post I made? Calling people retards is not a socially accepted practice in polite and money-making society - consider giving that up. I think I won't respond to you any further as it appears you're not capable of having a courteous dialogue. I read your statement in an attempt to understand your point of view but when you call what I say "complete crap" and use the word "retards", I'm a little put-off. Good luck with your life.
It is not "all marketing." I will grant that marketing plays a huge role in it. But if you think that the Sony Playstation beat the Sega Saturn purely due to marketing, you are mistaken. The games that showed off the 3D power of the PSX helped to push that machine. To say that it is "all marketing" is a rather naive view of the matter. Another issue is the games available for the particular console.
My point, which you obviously had a hard time grasping, was that the original poster was making the jump that the GBA was selling well due to the harkening back to the 16-bit generation and that that was what the consumer wanted. I was pointing out, hypothetically, that if the consumer can have SNES graphics or PS2 graphics, for the same price (and I also assumed all other things equal) the consumer would take the PS2 type graphics. You are rather obtuse for missing this. Try reading comments in context in the future.
People who are directed to your site by Google by means of a search query that is entirely unrelated to your website, will not give you must positive feedback at all. It will not be constructive or helpful. Getting your website mentioned on Slashdot is a means of driving traffic where interested people may check it out. Getting your website listed high within a google search through a search term that is not related to your site is a means of driving traffic to your site of an audience that you cannot predict or even expect to be interested. BIG DIFFERENCE.
You read my statement backwards. The original poster seemed to be proclaiming that the reason the GBA sold so well was because of the fact that the games harken back to the 16-bit generation of games. I was refuting this by saying that if a handheld were released where all others things were equal but the graphic capabilities of this new handheld were equal to the PS2, the more capable model would sell well. Nowhere did I mention the GBA player BUT since you brought it up, it has decent sales as is but your belief that it would sell "decently well" is, from what I can surmise, unfounded and has no backing of actual marketing studies or even informal polls. Furthermore, "decently well" is quite a vague measure of how well a consumer electronics item has sold. You might want to be a bit more clear in the future.
You think that if the GBA hardware were offered up in a home console it would have sold 15 million units? There are plenty of games on the XBox/PS2/GC that have great gameplay. If the GBA were up against a platform that had PS2 level graphics, at the same price point, the GBA would get crushed. The fact is that people have a certain idea of how much a handheld should cost - they want the best graphics they can get for that price. Posts like yours are very perplexing - I can't believe people actually believe this type of stuff.
PARODY: You know, back in the great days of the NES - gameplay was king. With the release of the Genesis and SNES, graphics got so much better that people became obsessed with them and didn't care about the gameplay.
If I place my car on said property line, do you have the right to come along and deface the side that is on the public property line? You're the one that sounds like a liberal to me.
Slashdot Mirror
It's "moral" to punish people because of the sins of the company - people, who through no fault of their own, have responsibilities and cannot simply walk away from a paying job? That's moral??? Wow, morality sure has changed a lot.
And you're right - expecting people to walk out on jobs for moral reasons is naive and foolish. Of course, Damage Studios doesn't appear to be that big a force in any industry so I'm pretty apathetic about it. And I would also say that this type of behavior and poor business saavy, does not bode well for the future of Damage Studios. Advocating employees walking out when the suits start doing something that is wrong will not make your company run well. Most companies have acts that aren't condoned by all the staff. If McDonalds slaughters cows in an inhumane manner, should the fry cook walk out?
That type of thinking might work if you're a hippie and want to live alone in the forest but in the real world, it doesn't. This chrisd character should be taken to task for his behavior.
Did you know that when you buy the PS2 network adapter, the "recommended" ISP is Earthlink. AOL is more of a broadband service than Earthlink due to the Time Warner part of the company name - yet, (here's a shocker), the PS2 has first person shooters out! In fact, they've got some games out that require broadband only and won't let dial-up players in!
Some promotional deal for AOL to get a few coasters into Gamecube boxes and for Nintendo to get Gamecube games shown to AOL subscribers is not going to affect what online games are developed for the Gamecube. What will affect the Gamecube's online applications is Nintendo's desire to make money from online gaming and, as you can find out with a little research, Nintendo probably won't make a serious commitment to online gaming till the next console release.
Honestly, this story and deal is just fluff. It doesn't mark a change in strategy for either company. When Nintendo signs deals to have commercials on NBC, you don't expect the Gamecube to start playing television feeds.
The last time I looked at the mail aspects of AOL, mail that was stored on AOL's servers was deleted after a certain number of days but the default option was that once you read your mail it went into your "filing cabinet" on your hard drive, and was not deleted until you deleted it. Maybe that's not the default option...but you might want to check into setting that up. I don't think the deletion of mail should be a problem. When I check the e-mail account that I use in conjunction with Outlook, all mail is downloaded and then deleted off the server - this works just fine for me. Also, there used to be a way to turn off all pop-ups with exciting offers from AOL. I don't remember the keyword (it's been a long time since I've had to help people with AOL) but it might be "Marketing Preferences" or "Marketing". Try it out.
Who's been drinking?
The fact that you're not a fan of consoles is showing - no one who's followed a generation or two of console hardware expects the Phantom to be any type of success. If it ever does come out, I'd expect 3DO or CDI like sales of it. Frankly, the specs that are being touted are purely made up in, what I believe, is an attempt to get funding. Releasing a console is expensive and doing it well is even more expensive.
When the government is funding the artist, the distribution method ceases to matter. Distribution matters when you are charging for individual experiences. When sculptures are put on public display, everyone can see them because the artist has already been paid. Likewise, artists who produce music have already been paid once the piece is completed - and then distribution is much easier because you can rely on P2P networks and such instead of having to hire security guards and builds galleries. I continue to be sickened by your posts because you are failing to think on a grand enough scale. You've got certain ideas so set in your mind that you can't think beyond them, even a little. So why don't you go back to being practical - innovation isn't easy.
Health: A percentage. 0-100 can be stored in 7 bits.
Combo Meter: A number less than 100, 7 bits.
Positions of Weapons: X,Y,Z coordinates assuming a 1000 x 1000 x 1000 plane, 30 bits. So we've got a very low number of bits. Basically the reason for lag in an online fighting game isn't the amount of data being sent but the overall speed of the pipe.
They are in steady decline? Nintendo is still making profit. Nintendo does not have to be the number one console maker in order to remain a viable company. Microsoft's XBox division is a continual money loser. It seems like people should be foretelling the death of the XBox division. Microsoft Bob fans?
Honestly, I'm sickened by your post - it's so sad that you can't read for content. Nevermind, go ahead and be ignorant. I'm done trying to convince people who are this short-sighted.
Take a look at how the U.S. government funds artists of different mediums. Many painters who have received government funding over the years have produced religious works and works that are protesting aspects of society - political, etc. The fact that there's a different medium shouldn't change this process at all. I believe you probably can see this so it must be that you're unaware of just how much support the U.S. gives to the arts. Are you a citizen of the U.S.?
Don't bother replying. I was unimpressed with your nit-picking and won't read anything further from you.
The ACLU steps in. Honestly, government funding for the arts has gotten money to some pretty outrageous people in the past. Look it up some time.
Try to think a bit more high-level. ESPN did the right thing and dealt honestly with a product that was theirs in comparing it to another. Can Slashdot editors say the same in regard to business practices by IBM or in suggesting quality merchandise from Thinkgeek? The fact that you were "amused" by the idea of a company acting morally, concerns me.
I'm not suggesting that the government control distribution. I'm suggesting that artists receive funding from the government and distribution stays on P2P networks, only in a much more legal fashion. Part of a government grant could be that you would agree to allow your music to be shared. Artists make money. People aren't forced to pay outrageous prices for CDs. Everyone is happy except the suits who are really just leeching off artists.
Ultimately, what I would like to see is the free distribution of music files through the Internet. The idea of a used copy is silly (I'm sure you know that but the RIAA probably wouldn't get it) and the only cost at that point is the bandwidth required to share files. I would like to see the whole business model that currently exists go the way of the dodo. The government funds the arts. If that were expanded, people could have music for free (by paying taxes) and artists could receive money. Artists can also receive money by giving concerts. I've had enough of people in suits getting money because some guy with long hair who plays a mean guitar is locked into a death grip with the RIAA.
It seems reasonable that you should be able to do this but if Apple were to facilitate this (I'm not sure you were suggesting such a trading feature be built into iTunes or not but it's an interesting subject), the problems become clear. If I were to trade my songs with you, there's no way Apple can check to make sure I haven't made an line-out type recording of the content and re-encoded it into mp3. Basically you need to have a way to ensure that when I trade away my digital goods, my digital goods are really gone. That's tough to do and that's why I think Apple would never consider adding this.
Quite right - even though a company has a stake in the product, if you have a holding which reviews such products, you're supposed to be impartial. simoniker calls this "amusing" for some reason. I don't understand why that is amusing. In this time of corporate shilling and reviews that are really just product ads, isn't it refreshing to see that at least ESPN's reviews aren't based on corporate synergy. This also makes me question what exactly is going on at Slashdot. It would appear that ESPN's policy of honesty is laughable to simoniker. simoniker, why is that amusing to you? Are Slashdot editors going to favor everything from VA-Linux because of the corporate relationship or will the Slashdot editors be sources of opinion that are not based on the stock price of VA-Linux? I am interested in why this would be considered amusing at Slashdot.
Well, you're rather rude, aren't you?
You are still missing the point. Let me try one more time to explain it to you. (And if you don't get it this time, I'll throw my hands up.) The original poster was claiming that the 16-bit era was the golden age of video gaming and the reason that the GBA has sold well is because those are the types of games people want - not GTA3 or GT3 or Halo or Metroid Prime. I made a hypothetical example up (yes, hypothetical situations don't have to be possible in order to show a point, it's true!) to point out that people will take the best graphics they can get for their money and if you could have either Super Mario World or Super Mario Sunshine on your handheld, most people would select the handheld that allowed Super Mario Sunshine level graphics.
The rest of your post was very rude as well. Why do you feel the need to put me down because of a post I made? Calling people retards is not a socially accepted practice in polite and money-making society - consider giving that up. I think I won't respond to you any further as it appears you're not capable of having a courteous dialogue. I read your statement in an attempt to understand your point of view but when you call what I say "complete crap" and use the word "retards", I'm a little put-off. Good luck with your life.
My point, which you obviously had a hard time grasping, was that the original poster was making the jump that the GBA was selling well due to the harkening back to the 16-bit generation and that that was what the consumer wanted. I was pointing out, hypothetically, that if the consumer can have SNES graphics or PS2 graphics, for the same price (and I also assumed all other things equal) the consumer would take the PS2 type graphics. You are rather obtuse for missing this. Try reading comments in context in the future.
People who are directed to your site by Google by means of a search query that is entirely unrelated to your website, will not give you must positive feedback at all. It will not be constructive or helpful. Getting your website mentioned on Slashdot is a means of driving traffic where interested people may check it out. Getting your website listed high within a google search through a search term that is not related to your site is a means of driving traffic to your site of an audience that you cannot predict or even expect to be interested. BIG DIFFERENCE.
You read my statement backwards. The original poster seemed to be proclaiming that the reason the GBA sold so well was because of the fact that the games harken back to the 16-bit generation of games. I was refuting this by saying that if a handheld were released where all others things were equal but the graphic capabilities of this new handheld were equal to the PS2, the more capable model would sell well. Nowhere did I mention the GBA player BUT since you brought it up, it has decent sales as is but your belief that it would sell "decently well" is, from what I can surmise, unfounded and has no backing of actual marketing studies or even informal polls. Furthermore, "decently well" is quite a vague measure of how well a consumer electronics item has sold. You might want to be a bit more clear in the future.
PARODY: You know, back in the great days of the NES - gameplay was king. With the release of the Genesis and SNES, graphics got so much better that people became obsessed with them and didn't care about the gameplay.
Come on...
If I place my car on said property line, do you have the right to come along and deface the side that is on the public property line? You're the one that sounds like a liberal to me.
I bet you would!