It's time to make the Console Wars into an U.S. vs. Japan conflict? Hot damn boy, I will go buy a few XBoxes right now and tell everyone I know that they should not buy a PS3! (I think the PS2 has pretty much gotten into everyone's home already.) Those Japanese don't know what's coming! I will only buy from American gaming companies! Let's see...well, EA is based out of L.A., right? Who else?
The console wars just got a whole lot more exciting.
650 compared to 35,000??? Those are not good numbers. My first reaction to seeing that was to wonder why Microsoft wasn't pulling out of the Japanese market. But I suppose that the Microsoft thinking is that you've got to get the name associated with console hardware so that XBox2 has a better shot. Of course, I think that could really backfire on them. It seems that once you have a console that doesn't do well, you've got a stigma attached. Look at Atari, they reigned supreme but then fell off the face of the planet with the 5600 and that stigma stuck with them as can be seen by the Jaguar. I don't think many consumers took the Jaguar seriously. Likewise with Sega - their SegaCD and 32X hurt sales of the Saturn and subsequent sales of the Dreamcast. Obviously there were more issues involved in these instances but it seems like once a company is seen as a hardware loser, it is very hard to get back in the game on the next go-round. So what can Microsoft do to sell the XBox2 in Japan? Anything?
It's a tough question. Of course, maybe someone at Microsoft will see this post and say, "Uh oh, this Acidic_Diarrhea guy on Slashdot thinks we're in trouble in Japan! I better call Bill."
The same people who are using Linux and Mac are watching indie movies? Wow - that's quite a generalization. Of course this should be distributed in a format that can be played under a multitude of operating systems but if this is the company's first foray, catering to Windows-only (although as another poster pointed out, mplayer can play these files) is not a bad business strategy. Frankly, I'm not sure how you know that most people using Linux and Mac watch indie movies more than the public at large. Perhaps your friends who run Linux or Mac watch indie movies but as any basic statistics book will teach you - examples do not statistics make.
Yes but your statement was that MK2 would require less data to be sent than a newer fighter. In any fighting game you're still going to have to send the same "certain things" to make sure the clients are in sync.
Let's just say we want to compare Soul Caliber II to MK2. The same type of data must be sent - character position, client actions and received - damage. If I move Johnny Cage forward 2 units and I move Link forward 2 units, the data sent is going to be the same. (Vastly oversimplifying things here but you get my point, right?)
DVD-Rs are not the same thing as a pressed DVD. And while a DVD-R, to burn, would be $3, in order to get a DVD pressed (which is the only acceptable commercial solution - burned products are not products at all) the cost per DVD is lower BUT there's a certain amount of money up front that you have to pay for a run. I don't know what the average minimum run is but it is substantial. Furthermore, DVDs need to be shipped and that introduces more cost to the consumer in which that cost in not going to the creator of the intellectual property. I would much rather have indie films stick to download only and have all my money (at a lower price as well) go to the crew. Also, as this becomes a more popular way to view movies - those without broadband will see the benefit of having broadband. The more people who want broadband, the lower the price becomes and the more broadband is laid.
Video games, movies, and music are all a reflection of human civilization. I don't think humans have gotten more violent, looking back at the Crusades and the constant wars the Romans fought. We should consider the fact that humans were violent before video games. Obviously, video games that are created by people will reflect this. So the real question is why are humans violent?
In the past, we had to be in order to survive. To an extent and for some people, that is still true. The next step in evolution of our society would be to remove this rather negative mark on our characters. And then, we could all gather round the N7 and play some Animal Crossing 3.
Why do you think an older game like MK2 would have less data to send than a newer fighter? Character position, action - oversimplified but that's about it. The graphics of the game don't have to be send over the pipe, as I think you're alluding to. Just because MK2 has less graphical data, does not mean it would send less data to an online competitor. Think about it.
Exactly. I love how they announce that it is time to make profit. Like they weren't trying to make a profit before.
"Well, we have done some research and decided that we need to move in a different direction, our 'don't make profit' business plan seems not to work. So now we're on a 'make profit' business plan. We feel that this will help the company a lot." -Eidos guy
They clearly need to make changes but if they came out with an announcement which recognized that their games have been sub-par and that they are going to make change1, change2, and change3 in an attempt to make better games rather than saying it's PROFIT TIME, I might raise an eyebrow. As it is, I avoid their releases like I avoid a hooker with an Adam's apple.
Since all recordings are deleted after 31 days, it seems like I can't go on vacation for more than 30 days (assuming that I need one day to watch all the material I record)
I am thinking of it that way. Let's say I don't want television for two weeks and I sit down to watch some. There are probably four or five hours of shows that I would be interested in. And if I watch television for a bit of time every week, I don't need to store that much data. One could have an entire season's worth of episodes of a show stored BUT after 31 days, the shows are deleted with this model so that's out the window. If it weren't for that, I could see the great benefit in this amount of space.
I hate to be the horse and buggy guy BUT I don't need 2 weeks of television recorded. There are very few shows which I actually enjoy and would like to watch. Furthermore, once I've seen a show, I don't often want to go back and watch it over again.
On the other hand, pushing the envelope further and further makes the lesser powered models come down in price - which makes everyone happier.
Although, I am a Time Warner subscriber and there OnDemand service does quite enough for me IF they expand it to more channels. I can start and stop shows all I want.
Why can't you just give a URL out to your friends? Why would you want to publicize a site which will only be of interest to people you know AND sick perverts that want to look at your child in a much different way than you intended? I understand the desire to share pictures of your new child with family and friends but you might want to reconsider sharing it with the whole world. If I were to create a Internet photo album, I would keep it low-key. Why pay bandwidth bills so strangers can look at your kid?
I believe the thinking may be that many current owners of the XBox already also own a PS2 and, as you stated, would probably already have both of the GTA games for it. So by bundling the games, you may be able to lure in an audience that does not own any video game console. If Rockstar released the games separately for the XBox, then their $50 versions are competing against $20 versions on the PS2 - this won't drive people to buy an XBox to play GTA. I think bundling makes a lot of sense - especially since they are older games and won't break any huge sales records on the XBox, given the installed user base and the assumption that a significant portion of that installed user base also owns a PS2.
Okay, are you disagreeing with me because you want to argue with me or do you not think that having a device that does a number of things (as long as it does them well) is a good thing?
I'm assuming you don't have a CD player or a radio in your car, right? I mean, you've got a car to allow you to travel from point A to point B, not entertain you with music and/or political discussion. You want your car to do one thing and one thing only! No extra crap needed, right?
How is this a weapon? It's a battery that has a similar shape and size as a lighter. I'm thinking that you must have misread and thought it had some lighter-like functionality. Beyond opening the fuel cell up and throwing it at someone, I don't think it's much of a weapon. And they let standard alkaline batteries on planes these days.
How much of a pain in the ass are service providers when you tell them you want to use a different phone model that you are providing? For instance, I have a Verizon Account. If I were to go out and buy an N-Gage or PSP, will Verizon slap me around with hefty service charges in order to have my phone changed? I am new to the Cellular Revolution and therefore haven't had any experiences with this. I assume that it's not a big deal from the technical side BUT it seems like the cell phone service companies have some of the slimiest business practices.
I'd be interested in getting a PSP and if I did get one, it would make sense to have it serve as my phone as well.
Yes, you pull the material - which is exactly why this is a good method of subscribing to an e-mail newsletter. Rather than the author attempting to send out e-mails to all the list subscribers (which often are going to bounce back because of blacklisting and such) the user pulls the material using an RSS agent. You select what material to pull.
The possible problems with this is that spammers may set up fake sites that you might want to subscribe to for a newsletter, and then feed you spam. Of course, you can stop pulling from that site and I would think that would solve this problem. Anyone see any other problems or holes or inaccuracies in what I've said?
I believe there was a video game simulating a sport (I can't recall which one but it might be the new NBA Live from EA) where you could transfer a photograph from your PC to EA's servers and then download that photo to your PS2 to create a new character in the game to use on your team. That's my hazy recollection of it - although I'm hoping this jogs someone's memory and they can fill in the details. The long and short of it is that from what I recall this was a software based solution without the inclusion of any camera. You supplied the picture and EA (or whatever company it was) formatted it to be received by your PS2. The Eye Toy, on the other hand, is an actual camera that you plug into your PS2. I suppose more game companies could use the Eye Toy as a means to getting your face onto a character, like the situation described above, but it seems like it will be a niche market and the method of sending a picture to a server seems like it would be more customer-friendly.
In London it is 9 but I merely said most major cities. My statistics are coming from an average across many major cities. You may also want to note that when you say "Wrong.", you are being rude and I would suggest you learn how to converse more pleasantly for the future.
The average speed of a car in a major city is 6 mph. A segay can do 10 - 12, at least. Think about the population of major cities and then consider whether or not this is a limited market. Before you go criticizing someone or something, you should consider if you have thought through all possibilities.
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See how poorly it sold! I don't even remember the number! Thanks for the correction.
It's time to make the Console Wars into an U.S. vs. Japan conflict? Hot damn boy, I will go buy a few XBoxes right now and tell everyone I know that they should not buy a PS3! (I think the PS2 has pretty much gotten into everyone's home already.) Those Japanese don't know what's coming! I will only buy from American gaming companies! Let's see...well, EA is based out of L.A., right? Who else?
The console wars just got a whole lot more exciting.
It's a tough question. Of course, maybe someone at Microsoft will see this post and say, "Uh oh, this Acidic_Diarrhea guy on Slashdot thinks we're in trouble in Japan! I better call Bill."
Or maybe not...
The same people who are using Linux and Mac are watching indie movies? Wow - that's quite a generalization. Of course this should be distributed in a format that can be played under a multitude of operating systems but if this is the company's first foray, catering to Windows-only (although as another poster pointed out, mplayer can play these files) is not a bad business strategy. Frankly, I'm not sure how you know that most people using Linux and Mac watch indie movies more than the public at large. Perhaps your friends who run Linux or Mac watch indie movies but as any basic statistics book will teach you - examples do not statistics make.
Let's just say we want to compare Soul Caliber II to MK2. The same type of data must be sent - character position, client actions and received - damage. If I move Johnny Cage forward 2 units and I move Link forward 2 units, the data sent is going to be the same. (Vastly oversimplifying things here but you get my point, right?)
DVD-Rs are not the same thing as a pressed DVD. And while a DVD-R, to burn, would be $3, in order to get a DVD pressed (which is the only acceptable commercial solution - burned products are not products at all) the cost per DVD is lower BUT there's a certain amount of money up front that you have to pay for a run. I don't know what the average minimum run is but it is substantial. Furthermore, DVDs need to be shipped and that introduces more cost to the consumer in which that cost in not going to the creator of the intellectual property. I would much rather have indie films stick to download only and have all my money (at a lower price as well) go to the crew. Also, as this becomes a more popular way to view movies - those without broadband will see the benefit of having broadband. The more people who want broadband, the lower the price becomes and the more broadband is laid.
In the past, we had to be in order to survive. To an extent and for some people, that is still true. The next step in evolution of our society would be to remove this rather negative mark on our characters. And then, we could all gather round the N7 and play some Animal Crossing 3.
Why do you think an older game like MK2 would have less data to send than a newer fighter? Character position, action - oversimplified but that's about it. The graphics of the game don't have to be send over the pipe, as I think you're alluding to. Just because MK2 has less graphical data, does not mean it would send less data to an online competitor. Think about it.
"Well, we have done some research and decided that we need to move in a different direction, our 'don't make profit' business plan seems not to work. So now we're on a 'make profit' business plan. We feel that this will help the company a lot." -Eidos guy
They clearly need to make changes but if they came out with an announcement which recognized that their games have been sub-par and that they are going to make change1, change2, and change3 in an attempt to make better games rather than saying it's PROFIT TIME, I might raise an eyebrow. As it is, I avoid their releases like I avoid a hooker with an Adam's apple.
Since all recordings are deleted after 31 days, it seems like I can't go on vacation for more than 30 days (assuming that I need one day to watch all the material I record)
I am thinking of it that way. Let's say I don't want television for two weeks and I sit down to watch some. There are probably four or five hours of shows that I would be interested in. And if I watch television for a bit of time every week, I don't need to store that much data. One could have an entire season's worth of episodes of a show stored BUT after 31 days, the shows are deleted with this model so that's out the window. If it weren't for that, I could see the great benefit in this amount of space.
On the other hand, pushing the envelope further and further makes the lesser powered models come down in price - which makes everyone happier.
Although, I am a Time Warner subscriber and there OnDemand service does quite enough for me IF they expand it to more channels. I can start and stop shows all I want.
Why can't you just give a URL out to your friends? Why would you want to publicize a site which will only be of interest to people you know AND sick perverts that want to look at your child in a much different way than you intended? I understand the desire to share pictures of your new child with family and friends but you might want to reconsider sharing it with the whole world. If I were to create a Internet photo album, I would keep it low-key. Why pay bandwidth bills so strangers can look at your kid?
I believe the thinking may be that many current owners of the XBox already also own a PS2 and, as you stated, would probably already have both of the GTA games for it. So by bundling the games, you may be able to lure in an audience that does not own any video game console. If Rockstar released the games separately for the XBox, then their $50 versions are competing against $20 versions on the PS2 - this won't drive people to buy an XBox to play GTA. I think bundling makes a lot of sense - especially since they are older games and won't break any huge sales records on the XBox, given the installed user base and the assumption that a significant portion of that installed user base also owns a PS2.
Okay, are you disagreeing with me because you want to argue with me or do you not think that having a device that does a number of things (as long as it does them well) is a good thing?
You insensitive clod, I trimmed my nails too short today and now they really sting!
I'm assuming you don't have a CD player or a radio in your car, right? I mean, you've got a car to allow you to travel from point A to point B, not entertain you with music and/or political discussion. You want your car to do one thing and one thing only! No extra crap needed, right?
How is this a weapon? It's a battery that has a similar shape and size as a lighter. I'm thinking that you must have misread and thought it had some lighter-like functionality. Beyond opening the fuel cell up and throwing it at someone, I don't think it's much of a weapon. And they let standard alkaline batteries on planes these days.
I'd be interested in getting a PSP and if I did get one, it would make sense to have it serve as my phone as well.
The possible problems with this is that spammers may set up fake sites that you might want to subscribe to for a newsletter, and then feed you spam. Of course, you can stop pulling from that site and I would think that would solve this problem. Anyone see any other problems or holes or inaccuracies in what I've said?
I believe there was a video game simulating a sport (I can't recall which one but it might be the new NBA Live from EA) where you could transfer a photograph from your PC to EA's servers and then download that photo to your PS2 to create a new character in the game to use on your team. That's my hazy recollection of it - although I'm hoping this jogs someone's memory and they can fill in the details. The long and short of it is that from what I recall this was a software based solution without the inclusion of any camera. You supplied the picture and EA (or whatever company it was) formatted it to be received by your PS2. The Eye Toy, on the other hand, is an actual camera that you plug into your PS2. I suppose more game companies could use the Eye Toy as a means to getting your face onto a character, like the situation described above, but it seems like it will be a niche market and the method of sending a picture to a server seems like it would be more customer-friendly.
In London it is 9 but I merely said most major cities. My statistics are coming from an average across many major cities. You may also want to note that when you say "Wrong.", you are being rude and I would suggest you learn how to converse more pleasantly for the future.
The average speed of a car in a major city is 6 mph. A segay can do 10 - 12, at least. Think about the population of major cities and then consider whether or not this is a limited market. Before you go criticizing someone or something, you should consider if you have thought through all possibilities.
Who said Microsoft shouldn't make a wireless adapter?