Crap. That's very discouraging. I was pretty much set on ordering one tonight, until they changed the "Delivered by 1/22/05" to "3-4 weeks" and now I might have to pay $75 for 256MB more RAM. I wonder if CompUSA will have any available on the 22nd. I'd say "Apple Store," but the closest one is a 3 or 4 hour drive from here. Hm.
While this isn't quite the same, there's a particular game in which the President has been kidnapped by ninjas. In playing, you answer the question of whether you're a bad enough dude to save him.
All WMP versions that I've encountered through the current one have given a choice on whether to enable DRM at install. I've never tried installing with DRM enabled, so I don't know if it would request DRM on all files, or just makes sure to verify DRM on protected files, but with DRM turned off, I've not had a problem with playback of other files or portability of WMP-created media (e.g. CDs I've ripped to WMA. Yeah, I know, I should have used MP3 or Ogg, but CDex wasn't working for me at the time, and I was lazy; I've since rectified the transgressions).
I wonder how long until you're no longer given the choice to opt out of DRM at install, though.
Gah, I can never tell whether my sarcasm transmits well over the Internet. I was actually referencing Microsoft's decision to completely disable DVD playback on the XBox unless you purchase their $30 (very limited functionality) remote+IR receiver. The PS2 will play DVDs without purchasing an extra remote, and I find that the standard PS2 controller provides similar or better features (e.g. L3 and R3 buttons on the PS2 controller cycle through subtitles and audio tracks) than Microsoft's remote, and what I've seen of Sony's $15 PS2 remote looks to be far superior in functionality to Microsoft's. Playback quality is for another debate.
Anyway, my post, to some degree, was intended to point out that Nintendo isn't the only company that releases peripherals that some games, features, etc. require.
Yeah, but you know how much Nintendo likes to screw over the loyal consumer by selling a pointless, reduced-function gewgaw to enable functionality already in the system, like their "DVD Playback Kit" that's just a barebones remote and IR receiver that takes up a controller port. No, wait.
I know. I was just saying that the 30% value might not apply to all light spectra. It will obviously convert some amount of most incident light energy, but maybe not the stated 30%. Not knowing the wavelengths that it converts, and not knowing the spectra of all light sources, I was just saying that since the given 30% value referenced the sun, its conversion rate for other light might not be the same.
In an earlier post, someone noted that, for instance, fluorescent lights emit less light in the IR wavelengths. That would reduce the amount of energy delivered to the material in a portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that it apparently converts. One would assume that the conversion rate would therefore be different than that for light that does include substantial IR light.
That reminds me of paint company Sherwin-Williams' logo and motto: a giant paint can tipped over a representation of Earth, half covered in paint, accompanied by the phrase "COVER THE EARTH"
That always struck me as amusingly ominous. I think I also saw a local-ish paving company whose vehicles were painted with the phrase, "Pave the Earth"
A quick Googling later, and voila! The logo is prominently and proudly displayed on their front page with updated art.
Converts 30% of the incident solar light energy to electricity
I'd imagine that the sun's spectrum is reasonably unique among other spectra on Earth, and that the new material reacts differently to different wavelengths, so that while it converts 30% of the solar spectrum that hits it, the incident energy from, say, an incandescent bulb might be converted at a different efficiency, as its spectrum would differ from that of the sun.
Ah, alright, then. I thought it was probably issues with memory or cache size and unwillingness to pause between shots to build the scene. Interesting to know.
Look at the crazy texture and geometry loading in Halo 2 cutscenes and tell me that there's no desire for improved hardware. Unless there's some dank grotto deep within the XBox in which resides hitherto undiscovered graphical potential--I'm not saying there's not; it's a big system--I'd say that there's still room for improvement in the next generation of consoles, and generations after. And that's not to say that the current systems aren't still viable; there's always room for more excellent games, and you don't need photorealism for gameplay.
Also, wasn't there mention a while back of different price points for the next Xbox, depending on included features? Their basic gaming-only model might be a loss leader of sorts, but the models with PVR, web browsing (in HD, of course), and so on might be more expensive.
I suppose as has been pointed out countles times, PSP is aimed at a significantly different market than the GBA is. And the DS is kind of floating out there in some weird other market that probably intersects with the GBA and the PSP in some areas.
At $200 with $50 games, the PSP is in more of a luxury range than is the $80 GBA SP with games ranging from $10 to $35. I've not made the following comparison before, and it still might not be valid, as there are several orders of cost magnitude difference in this parallel, but it's like assuming that since some manufacturer is introducing a line of luxury cars, Ford will start losing buyers of its Taurus. Obviously, the market size and selection is significantly larger than the handheld gaming market, which, again, is why I'm still not sure I'm making a valid comparison.
My point, though, is that the PSP may draw away a few older gamers that didn't have much other choice than to buy Nintendo (you know they don't want an nGage), but its larger effect is more likely that it will draw a new group of people into the handheld gaming market. I doubt the new influx of consumers will be enough to dethrone Nintendo's dominance, but I guess we'll have to wait and see.
Does anyone know what the previous record was? I'm not at all familiar with hamming, though it strikes me as quite interesting based on this and the recent tsunami-related story (primarily the ensuing comments).
They're apparently introducing TVs and projectors, too. According to a mini-article on Wired, 17 TVs and "TV projectors" in addition to the mentioned media hub. They're just coming a bit late to the wired living room scene, but apparently with a not insubstantial product line. If they integrate the product features well, the line might end up successful. Having an all-in-one HP remote would be a nice incentive, though I guess the one-remote-for-every-device (if you don't want to sacrifice functionality) situation is fairly well accepted at this point.
I think it might be more that EA has been reviled of late for apparent monopolistic ambitions (and assumed overcommercialization, common-denominator pandering, and stifling of creativity as a result--all unproven but potentially valid fears) and poor treatment of its direct employees. The rumored takeover plans for Ubisoft I think are opposed out of distrust for EA and a feeling that they might not, at the moment, deserve the increased revenues that the acqusition of another major developer would bring. That and the fact that Ubisoft is one of few commercially known studios still operating outside of the umbrella of the likes of EA or Vivendi-Universal.
Hm. Maybe, but the game experience itself here is very largely dependent on the player base. If you can substantially increase the number of dedicated players on a server, then the play experience is likely to improve as conflicts might grow in scope to seem more epic than small warring factions. It's not just spreading the brand; the people promoting it are attempting to improve their own in-game experience and maybe delay the potential eventual shutdown of the servers.
Grain of salt needed, as I've not actually played the game due to cost and time considerations. The game's concept has always struck me as interesting and innovative, though.
It does have both CF and SDIO slots, so sticking in a CF phone card isn't out of the question and wouldn't leave you without other expansion venues (though I guess it would prevent scavenging the 2GB CF card from that Creative MuVo player).
I was disappointed to find that this one is 320x240. There's apparently a comparable 4700 model with VGA, but it only has 64MB of RAM.
Makes perfect sense. I've also seen a few single-tier (yeah, probably a bad term. I just mean a light with no yellow or green levels) 4-way lights flashing all red accompanying 4-way stops, and the occasional flashing yellow at dangerous or partially hidden intersections.
I had a friend in Civil Engineering in college, focusing on transportation. I know at least one of his classes involved studying intersections, and I'd assume traffic light theory of some sort was at least a portion of the class. It's definitely a practical area of study.
Traffic lights in non-heavy hours around here (midsouth US) tend to flash yellow in the directions with larger volumes, and red in the lighter-volumed directions. E.g. if there's a 5-lane road with a 3-lane intersecting it, after a certain time (say midnight or something) lights facing the 5-lane road flash yellow, indicating caution, and lights facing the 3-lane directions flash red, functionally acting as stop signs. I'm not sure if they revert to this action during error conditions or not, though.
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Crap. That's very discouraging. I was pretty much set on ordering one tonight, until they changed the "Delivered by 1/22/05" to "3-4 weeks" and now I might have to pay $75 for 256MB more RAM. I wonder if CompUSA will have any available on the 22nd. I'd say "Apple Store," but the closest one is a 3 or 4 hour drive from here. Hm.
While this isn't quite the same, there's a particular game in which the President has been kidnapped by ninjas. In playing, you answer the question of whether you're a bad enough dude to save him.
This sounds more ominous in print that I think was its intention. It's the pod people! Or iPod people, maybe?
I call it... a meatsink!
I wonder how long until you're no longer given the choice to opt out of DRM at install, though.
Anyway, my post, to some degree, was intended to point out that Nintendo isn't the only company that releases peripherals that some games, features, etc. require.
It's now a card battle game.
Yeah, but you know how much Nintendo likes to screw over the loyal consumer by selling a pointless, reduced-function gewgaw to enable functionality already in the system, like their "DVD Playback Kit" that's just a barebones remote and IR receiver that takes up a controller port. No, wait.
Out of curiosity, did anyone notice that the parent's post IS a top-level reply to the main article?
In an earlier post, someone noted that, for instance, fluorescent lights emit less light in the IR wavelengths. That would reduce the amount of energy delivered to the material in a portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that it apparently converts. One would assume that the conversion rate would therefore be different than that for light that does include substantial IR light.
That always struck me as amusingly ominous. I think I also saw a local-ish paving company whose vehicles were painted with the phrase, "Pave the Earth"
A quick Googling later, and voila! The logo is prominently and proudly displayed on their front page with updated art.
Converts 30% of the incident solar light energy to electricity
I'd imagine that the sun's spectrum is reasonably unique among other spectra on Earth, and that the new material reacts differently to different wavelengths, so that while it converts 30% of the solar spectrum that hits it, the incident energy from, say, an incandescent bulb might be converted at a different efficiency, as its spectrum would differ from that of the sun.
Ah, alright, then. I thought it was probably issues with memory or cache size and unwillingness to pause between shots to build the scene. Interesting to know.
Also, wasn't there mention a while back of different price points for the next Xbox, depending on included features? Their basic gaming-only model might be a loss leader of sorts, but the models with PVR, web browsing (in HD, of course), and so on might be more expensive.
At $200 with $50 games, the PSP is in more of a luxury range than is the $80 GBA SP with games ranging from $10 to $35. I've not made the following comparison before, and it still might not be valid, as there are several orders of cost magnitude difference in this parallel, but it's like assuming that since some manufacturer is introducing a line of luxury cars, Ford will start losing buyers of its Taurus. Obviously, the market size and selection is significantly larger than the handheld gaming market, which, again, is why I'm still not sure I'm making a valid comparison.
My point, though, is that the PSP may draw away a few older gamers that didn't have much other choice than to buy Nintendo (you know they don't want an nGage), but its larger effect is more likely that it will draw a new group of people into the handheld gaming market. I doubt the new influx of consumers will be enough to dethrone Nintendo's dominance, but I guess we'll have to wait and see.
Does anyone know what the previous record was? I'm not at all familiar with hamming, though it strikes me as quite interesting based on this and the recent tsunami-related story (primarily the ensuing comments).
They're apparently introducing TVs and projectors, too. According to a mini-article on Wired, 17 TVs and "TV projectors" in addition to the mentioned media hub. They're just coming a bit late to the wired living room scene, but apparently with a not insubstantial product line. If they integrate the product features well, the line might end up successful. Having an all-in-one HP remote would be a nice incentive, though I guess the one-remote-for-every-device (if you don't want to sacrifice functionality) situation is fairly well accepted at this point.
I think it might be more that EA has been reviled of late for apparent monopolistic ambitions (and assumed overcommercialization, common-denominator pandering, and stifling of creativity as a result--all unproven but potentially valid fears) and poor treatment of its direct employees. The rumored takeover plans for Ubisoft I think are opposed out of distrust for EA and a feeling that they might not, at the moment, deserve the increased revenues that the acqusition of another major developer would bring. That and the fact that Ubisoft is one of few commercially known studios still operating outside of the umbrella of the likes of EA or Vivendi-Universal.
On a similar note, I'd best put on my peril-sensitive sunglasses before seeing my comment's final score.
Grain of salt needed, as I've not actually played the game due to cost and time considerations. The game's concept has always struck me as interesting and innovative, though.
I was disappointed to find that this one is 320x240. There's apparently a comparable 4700 model with VGA, but it only has 64MB of RAM.
Yeah, that's actually what I was trying to decribe. I guess I wasn't clear enough that the flashing bit is generally just during non-peak times.
Makes perfect sense. I've also seen a few single-tier (yeah, probably a bad term. I just mean a light with no yellow or green levels) 4-way lights flashing all red accompanying 4-way stops, and the occasional flashing yellow at dangerous or partially hidden intersections.
Also, I like the term "borked."
I had a friend in Civil Engineering in college, focusing on transportation. I know at least one of his classes involved studying intersections, and I'd assume traffic light theory of some sort was at least a portion of the class. It's definitely a practical area of study.
Traffic lights in non-heavy hours around here (midsouth US) tend to flash yellow in the directions with larger volumes, and red in the lighter-volumed directions. E.g. if there's a 5-lane road with a 3-lane intersecting it, after a certain time (say midnight or something) lights facing the 5-lane road flash yellow, indicating caution, and lights facing the 3-lane directions flash red, functionally acting as stop signs. I'm not sure if they revert to this action during error conditions or not, though.