Does anyone here remeber Gamer's Republic? It was a fantastic magazine that catered to the hardcore gamer. It was probably my all time favorite video game magazine, and it makes me sad that it's gone while crap like Game Informer is pushed at Game Stop.
The creator of the replicants was one of the most fascinating movie scientists ever shown on the bigscreen. He was utterly amoral and less human than his ceations.
Perfect Tommy: Emilio Lizardo. Wasn't he on TV once?
Buckaroo Banzai: You're thinking of Mr. Wizard.
Reno: Emilio Lizardo is a top scientist, dummkopf.
Perfect Tommy: So was Mr. Wizard.
Ive got tons of "hardcore gamer" friends and none of them have an xbox360. Minimal interest in the xbox360 and ps3. Both are just rehashes of older consoles. Nothing really new. The same games weve been playing for 5 years, just shinier.
The "hardcore gamer" is a very small segment of the game market. Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo certainly would be pleased if the hardcore gamers embraced their respective consoles, but they're going to be concentrating on designing and marketing the consoles to meet the demands of what they see as their core audiences. The hardcore gamer might shuck out big dollars for Panzer Dragoon Saga, Valkyrie Profile, or some dating sim that was only released in Japan, but the Big Three are going to be concerned with mass market appeal. Sony will want to make sure that gamers can play EA sports games, Square-Enix RPGs, Gran Turismo and Grand Theft Auto. Microsoft will make sure that they have a Halo follow-up, some nice conversions of PC titles, and the same EA sports games that Sony has. Nintendo will make serious coin with their stable of incredible properties like Mario, Zelda, Donkey Kong, Metroid and Pokemon. They're the Disney of the gaming world with IP that appeals to children and nostalgic adults. It's very cool when you see a video game maker do something cool and different, but it usually doesn't translate to market dominance. Seaman was an interesting new idea in what you could do with a video game, but it didn't save the poor Dreamcast. Sega and Microsoft's online services were well implemented, but it didn't save either of them from being whipped like a red-headed stepchild by the PS2. Speaking personally, I'm a hardcore gamer and have owned every console since the NES, except for Microsoft's consoles. I will be purchasing both a PS3 and a Revolution, and expect to enjoy them both for their individual strengths, but I really doubt that Nintendo's new controller will spark a new paradigm shift. It will be a nifty new thing for the hardcore game to enjoy, but the odds of the new controller allowing Nintendo to retake the console crown is slim. Quality and innovation don't always lead to profit or marketshare. Blade Runner was a brilliant movie, but it did poorly at the box office. Same with Donnie Darko. The new Star Wars movies sucked ass, but George Lucas' accountants would beg to differ. OS X and Linux are arguably superior to Windows, but they're at both around 5% of the market with Windows cleaning up the remaining 90%.
Nice try dumbass, but OS X does have preemptive multitasking. OS 9 and earlier used cooperative multitasking, but OS X does implement preemptive multitasking. Go and troll somewhere else.
It's very cool that the BBC struck a deal to get Docto Who shown here in the States, but has anyone discussed the possibility of offering episodes as downloads from the iTunes Music Store? The SciFi Channel has made Battlestar Galactica available, and this could be a great way to help boost viewership. Granted, it's a different situation from Battlestar Galactica and all of the other shows offered for download, as Doctor Who is owned by the BBC, not the SciFi channel. Still, it would be cool if they could reach an agreement to make it available for legal download.
The Dreamcast DVD player was announced by Sega and was shown at E3, but it was killed off before it was released to market. You can view a picture of the prototype unit at http://www.sega-dc.de/bilder/zubehor/dvd_gross.jpg
The list from the article was pretty good, but the game that is most in need of a sequel is Panzer Dragoon Saga. Sega did release Panzer Dragoon Orta for the Xbox, but Orta was a rail shooter like the first two PD games. PDS was one of the most amazing RPGs ever released, and it deserves a sequel.
Sony collaborated with IBM and Toshiba on the design of the Cell processor, but If I remember correctly, they will be manufacturing the Cell processors for the PS3 in one of their own factories.
Profit margins on Macintoshes are somewhere in the 20-30% range, depending on the model. Aside from Apple and Dell, no major computer manufacturer has profit margins that are over 10%. In the future, I wouldn't be surprised if Apple allows a select few to license OS X, under very strict guidelines, but I doubt it will happen until Apple is firmly established in the x86 world and they have a solid plan for making up the lost revenue.
One interesting aspect of the 360 that may help it fare well is with a DVD drive instead of a newer drive like HD-DVD or Blu-Ray, piracy will be simpler - so more peeople may actually buy the console for that reason. Even pirates end up buying some games so it might help it out.
When I worked out Funcoland, we had a few regular customers who would never buy games for the Dreamcast, but would come in once in a while to but a new VMU. They needed plenty of memory cards for the dozens of games that they downloaded over their broadband connections. If there is as much game piracy on the 360 as there was on the Dreamcast, Microsoft will hemorrhage money like you wouldn't believe. Considering that almost no one has any burners for the next-gen DVD media, Microsoft should have gone with HD-DVD or BluRay just to keep the pirates at bay for a while, even if they don't care about giving developers extra storage space for games.
Personally, I look forward to seeing the benchmarks between G5's and x86 Macs
I've been reading reports from people who have been working on the Developer Preview boxes from Apple, and they kick the shit out of the G5 machines. The IBM/Motorola chips had really nice advatages with the Altivec intruction set, but SSE3 has bridged that particular gap. I've been using Macs for a dozen years, I have about 15 of them, love them like they were my children, and I'm absolutely stoked that they're transitioning to Intel chips. Apple was too small a player for IBM to concentrate enough of their resources on to bring top performance (although the new dual core G5s are very sweet). Long term, I think it's a great move. I felt weird about it when it was first announced, but I think it was a great decision.
I'm going to look into my crystal ball and predict which of the features you want make it into the first revision of the Intel iBook:
2gHz Pentium M:yes
512mb RAM:yes
2 or 4gb maximum RAM: 2GB yes, 4GB, hell no
6600 go w/128mb VRAM: maybe, but in an iBook, you're probably looking at 64MB
60-80GB hard drive:yes
combo drive, upgradable to SuperDrive: yes
WXGA resolution: yes
$1000 pricetag: yes
I'm guessing that the Intel iBooks will mostly fit the bill for what you're looking for, but there is no way that it'll support 4GB of RAM, and I really doubt that the Ibook will sport 128MB of VRAM. Apple needs to differntiate between it's iBook and PowerBook models, and I'm guessing that the extra main and video RAM that you're looking for would be reserved for the PowerBooks. I hope that the iBook is as powerful as you're suggesting, because I have $1000 in my checking account that is waiting for them to hit the street.:-) I was going to pick up a 12" iBook this fall, but then Apple announced the shift to Intel...
We think that the Xbox 360 could be selling at half the price of PS3 in the latter half of 2006."
Yes, the Xbox 360 could be selling for half of the PS3's cost in the latter half of 2006. It's also a possibility that the Xbox 360 will come with a free pony for every person that buys one. Microsoft could do that, but somehow I think that they won't. What a load of horseshit. There was an article in Famitsu where they got a tip from a very reliable source that the PS3 is expected to retail for $300 to $400 American. Sony will most likely be very willing to incur losses on early sales of the console to make sure that they move units. There is no way that Microsoft is going to discount the price of the 360 all the way down to less than $200. Not in the first year. That being said, Sony needs to let people know specifics on the price and release dates for the PS3. It's getting very close to the launch date for the 360, and they need to give people who are considering purchasing a 360 something to think about.
Won't happen. Graphic design software on Linux isn't quite ready for primetime. The GIMP (horrible name) has steadily been getting better and better, but there are still issues with CMYK printing and the layout. Inkscape is looking pretty good, but it still has a ways to go before it can catch up with Illustrator. Before graphic design on Linux can take off in the professional world, there need to be some changes. You need corporate sponsorship. You need someone who is going to provide guaranteed technical support. Linux has made awesome inroads in this area when it comes to enterprise applications, but there hasn't been a company that has stepped up to become the equivalent of Adobe in the Linux world. You need a company that is going to hire a full time staff to support and extend the programs. You can't rely on the kindness of some random stranger on a discussion forum providing you with a work-around for whatever technical issue you might be having. You need good documentation. You need nice, big, easily to read manuals for the individual programs. Most graphic artists are not going to spend their valuable time pouring over discussion boards trying to figure out how to do something in GIMP, when they can just open up their Photoshop manual get the answer right away. That's fine if you're making some graphics for your hobby web page and you don't have the money for Photoshop, but time is money in the professional world. Also, while the usability of Linux has become much better, but it doesn't hold a candle to OS X. In OS X, you drag the application into the Applications folder. Done. No problems with dependencies, no conflicts because each application is a self-contained application directory. Great approach. Granted, it uses a bit more space, but hard drive space is not at a premium these days. I've been following PC-BSD with much interest as they use they same method of installing applications, while leaving in the traditional FreeBSD ports system. Linux's day as a viable platform for graphic design may come, but it's still at least a few years away.
You sir, are a complete fucking moron. Based on your comments, it looks like you only read one goddamn sentence in the parent post. If you bothered reading the entire post, you would notice these little tidbits:
I think PS3 games are going to be a lot of fun to write code for - for bit fiddlers and premature optimization freaks.
And immediately following the part you quoted from the parent post:
But the rewards will probably be much higher with the PS3. I read something about being able to drop code sequences onto a SPU stream for scheduling execution, I thought that was a nifty idea. There's all these nifty buses on the Cell processor, connecting SPU's, for data sharing. Complicated, but allows for sophisticated designs.
The gist of the parent post is that although coding for the PS3 might require extra effort, it's completely worth it because the finished product will allow for superior results. The parent seemed stoked by the complexity of the PS3 development kit because any drawbacks that it might have are far outweighed by the advantages it offers.
I'm going to call bullshit on this one. I live in downtown Madison, and the "riots" during the Halloween bash are blown way out of proportion. Last year it was a group of about five jackasses visiting from some other Big 10 school (Purdue, IIRC) that got a little rowdy. The other 80,000 - 100,000 people behaved themselves just fine.
At the place where I work (insurance company), they just replaced my trusty workstation (1.6gHz P4 desktop) with a Toshiba M3 laptop. From time to time I have to head out on the road, so it's nice to have a laptop. Also, I occasionally give PowerPoint presentations, so I can just remove my laptop from the docking station and set it up in the conference room, rather than requisitioning equipment from IS for the meeting. At work I use Access, Excel, Word, Outlook, Visio, Business Objects, Oracle, and a few custom written applications, so I don't need a lot of horsepower in my computer (although the Toshiba is fairly decent). The VAST majority of people who use computers in their jobs do not need the latest and greatest hardware to accomplish their tasks. Most people could probably get by using Pentium IIs or IIIs. On the point of employers issuing laptops in an effort to squeeze out extra work hours from their employees, that is a valid concern. In my own situation, my manager is super cool and doesn't expect me to slave away on my own personal time. There are times when I'll put in overtime or do some work from home, but it's complete optional and well-rewarded. I'm looking forward to the day when I don't need to leave the apartment to do my job. A company issued laptop and a WiMax connection would be very cool. No dress code, no commute, no putting up with the co-workers that I despise.
Some of the other replies to the parent singled out FF VIII as the low-point of the series, blah, blah, yadda, yadda. First of all, the low point of the series was either FF IX or the very first FF. Second, from the comments in the parent post, it just sonds like the parent doesn't care for console style RPGs. Sounds like he or she is more of Neverwinter Nights PC style RPG player. I
First off, the original iPod does indeed have the horsepower for Ogg
The rebuttaal was written by Monty from xiph.org. Monty is he author of the Tremor codec and OGG itself. I agree that Apple should offer support for OGG Vorbis on the iPod, or allow a third party to add support, because choice is a good thing. However, there is no technical reason that the iPod would be unable to play OGG Vorbis files.
Sega's hardware sales never rose enough to convince game makers to release A list titles for it. The fact that you could run pirated games sans mod chip made it way too easy for people to copy games rather than buy them. Video game consoles enjoy margins less than the cost of a budget title, so increased hardware sales, while nice, aren't going to do much for a company's bottom line unless there is a corresponding increase in the sales of software. Also, I doubt that there has been a huge increase in sales of PS2 or XBox units due to copied media. The average Slashdotter might be eager to play old NES or Super Nintendo games on his/her modded console, but the average consumer doesn't want to risk fucking up their machine by soldering in a mod chip.
Although, non-terrestrial can refer to something that does not originate on planet earth, another definition would be anything relating to the air or sea, as opposed to something that is land based. Non-terrrestrial doesn't always mean outer space.
Eventually all the other Unices will disappear too, Sun will be the last one to go.
Sun might disappear, but they won't be the last. Mac OS X isn't going anywhere, anytime soon. Apple's sales have been on the rise, and OS X has become the geek platform of choice (for those who aren't committed to open source operating systems).
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Does anyone here remeber Gamer's Republic? It was a fantastic magazine that catered to the hardcore gamer. It was probably my all time favorite video game magazine, and it makes me sad that it's gone while crap like Game Informer is pushed at Game Stop.
The creator of the replicants was one of the most fascinating movie scientists ever shown on the bigscreen. He was utterly amoral and less human than his ceations.
Perfect Tommy: Emilio Lizardo. Wasn't he on TV once?
Buckaroo Banzai: You're thinking of Mr. Wizard.
Reno: Emilio Lizardo is a top scientist, dummkopf.
Perfect Tommy: So was Mr. Wizard.
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/28812/
Nice try dumbass, but OS X does have preemptive multitasking. OS 9 and earlier used cooperative multitasking, but OS X does implement preemptive multitasking. Go and troll somewhere else.
It's very cool that the BBC struck a deal to get Docto Who shown here in the States, but has anyone discussed the possibility of offering episodes as downloads from the iTunes Music Store? The SciFi Channel has made Battlestar Galactica available, and this could be a great way to help boost viewership. Granted, it's a different situation from Battlestar Galactica and all of the other shows offered for download, as Doctor Who is owned by the BBC, not the SciFi channel. Still, it would be cool if they could reach an agreement to make it available for legal download.
The Dreamcast DVD player was announced by Sega and was shown at E3, but it was killed off before it was released to market. You can view a picture of the prototype unit at http://www.sega-dc.de/bilder/zubehor/dvd_gross.jpg
The list from the article was pretty good, but the game that is most in need of a sequel is Panzer Dragoon Saga. Sega did release Panzer Dragoon Orta for the Xbox, but Orta was a rail shooter like the first two PD games. PDS was one of the most amazing RPGs ever released, and it deserves a sequel.
Sony collaborated with IBM and Toshiba on the design of the Cell processor, but If I remember correctly, they will be manufacturing the Cell processors for the PS3 in one of their own factories.
Profit margins on Macintoshes are somewhere in the 20-30% range, depending on the model. Aside from Apple and Dell, no major computer manufacturer has profit margins that are over 10%. In the future, I wouldn't be surprised if Apple allows a select few to license OS X, under very strict guidelines, but I doubt it will happen until Apple is firmly established in the x86 world and they have a solid plan for making up the lost revenue.
I'm going to look into my crystal ball and predict which of the features you want make it into the first revision of the Intel iBook:
:-) I was going to pick up a 12" iBook this fall, but then Apple announced the shift to Intel...
2gHz Pentium M:yes
512mb RAM:yes
2 or 4gb maximum RAM: 2GB yes, 4GB, hell no
6600 go w/128mb VRAM: maybe, but in an iBook, you're probably looking at 64MB
60-80GB hard drive:yes
combo drive, upgradable to SuperDrive: yes
WXGA resolution: yes
$1000 pricetag: yes
I'm guessing that the Intel iBooks will mostly fit the bill for what you're looking for, but there is no way that it'll support 4GB of RAM, and I really doubt that the Ibook will sport 128MB of VRAM. Apple needs to differntiate between it's iBook and PowerBook models, and I'm guessing that the extra main and video RAM that you're looking for would be reserved for the PowerBooks. I hope that the iBook is as powerful as you're suggesting, because I have $1000 in my checking account that is waiting for them to hit the street.
Won't happen. Graphic design software on Linux isn't quite ready for primetime. The GIMP (horrible name) has steadily been getting better and better, but there are still issues with CMYK printing and the layout. Inkscape is looking pretty good, but it still has a ways to go before it can catch up with Illustrator. Before graphic design on Linux can take off in the professional world, there need to be some changes. You need corporate sponsorship. You need someone who is going to provide guaranteed technical support. Linux has made awesome inroads in this area when it comes to enterprise applications, but there hasn't been a company that has stepped up to become the equivalent of Adobe in the Linux world. You need a company that is going to hire a full time staff to support and extend the programs. You can't rely on the kindness of some random stranger on a discussion forum providing you with a work-around for whatever technical issue you might be having. You need good documentation. You need nice, big, easily to read manuals for the individual programs. Most graphic artists are not going to spend their valuable time pouring over discussion boards trying to figure out how to do something in GIMP, when they can just open up their Photoshop manual get the answer right away. That's fine if you're making some graphics for your hobby web page and you don't have the money for Photoshop, but time is money in the professional world. Also, while the usability of Linux has become much better, but it doesn't hold a candle to OS X. In OS X, you drag the application into the Applications folder. Done. No problems with dependencies, no conflicts because each application is a self-contained application directory. Great approach. Granted, it uses a bit more space, but hard drive space is not at a premium these days. I've been following PC-BSD with much interest as they use they same method of installing applications, while leaving in the traditional FreeBSD ports system. Linux's day as a viable platform for graphic design may come, but it's still at least a few years away.
I'm going to call bullshit on this one. I live in downtown Madison, and the "riots" during the Halloween bash are blown way out of proportion. Last year it was a group of about five jackasses visiting from some other Big 10 school (Purdue, IIRC) that got a little rowdy. The other 80,000 - 100,000 people behaved themselves just fine.
At the place where I work (insurance company), they just replaced my trusty workstation (1.6gHz P4 desktop) with a Toshiba M3 laptop. From time to time I have to head out on the road, so it's nice to have a laptop. Also, I occasionally give PowerPoint presentations, so I can just remove my laptop from the docking station and set it up in the conference room, rather than requisitioning equipment from IS for the meeting. At work I use Access, Excel, Word, Outlook, Visio, Business Objects, Oracle, and a few custom written applications, so I don't need a lot of horsepower in my computer (although the Toshiba is fairly decent). The VAST majority of people who use computers in their jobs do not need the latest and greatest hardware to accomplish their tasks. Most people could probably get by using Pentium IIs or IIIs. On the point of employers issuing laptops in an effort to squeeze out extra work hours from their employees, that is a valid concern. In my own situation, my manager is super cool and doesn't expect me to slave away on my own personal time. There are times when I'll put in overtime or do some work from home, but it's complete optional and well-rewarded. I'm looking forward to the day when I don't need to leave the apartment to do my job. A company issued laptop and a WiMax connection would be very cool. No dress code, no commute, no putting up with the co-workers that I despise.
Some of the other replies to the parent singled out FF VIII as the low-point of the series, blah, blah, yadda, yadda. First of all, the low point of the series was either FF IX or the very first FF. Second, from the comments in the parent post, it just sonds like the parent doesn't care for console style RPGs. Sounds like he or she is more of Neverwinter Nights PC style RPG player. I
Does anyone Remember the fake "Switch" ad that highlighted the dearth of games on the Mac? I'm a huge Mac fanatic, but I laughed my ass off when I saw that ad. http://www.ugo.com/channels/games/features/switch/ media/switch.mov
The rebuttaal was written by Monty from xiph.org. Monty is he author of the Tremor codec and OGG itself. I agree that Apple should offer support for OGG Vorbis on the iPod, or allow a third party to add support, because choice is a good thing. However, there is no technical reason that the iPod would be unable to play OGG Vorbis files.
Sega's hardware sales never rose enough to convince game makers to release A list titles for it. The fact that you could run pirated games sans mod chip made it way too easy for people to copy games rather than buy them. Video game consoles enjoy margins less than the cost of a budget title, so increased hardware sales, while nice, aren't going to do much for a company's bottom line unless there is a corresponding increase in the sales of software. Also, I doubt that there has been a huge increase in sales of PS2 or XBox units due to copied media. The average Slashdotter might be eager to play old NES or Super Nintendo games on his/her modded console, but the average consumer doesn't want to risk fucking up their machine by soldering in a mod chip.
Although, non-terrestrial can refer to something that does not originate on planet earth, another definition would be anything relating to the air or sea, as opposed to something that is land based. Non-terrrestrial doesn't always mean outer space.
Eventually all the other Unices will disappear too, Sun will be the last one to go. Sun might disappear, but they won't be the last. Mac OS X isn't going anywhere, anytime soon. Apple's sales have been on the rise, and OS X has become the geek platform of choice (for those who aren't committed to open source operating systems).