I plan on taking a wait and see approach for the iPhone, not because I don't like my xv6700 but for the biggest drawback I can see: AT&T Wireless. From what I have seen, aside from international coverage, that wireless network seems to be the weakest of the big guys. This has NOTHING to do with the iPhone which I believe will, at a minimum, force other carriers to improve the quality of their devices. The primary function of the iphone hinges on the subpar carriers and with no external antenna AT&T's coverage may appear worse again.
Anybody on here who disagrees with the DMCA should not agree that bricking consoles is a good thing in any way. I own my original xbox and LOVE XBMC. I have no problem, however, with the concept that you get to pick whether you want your 360 (or even the original for that matter) 'customized' or if you want to play on a fair level on MS's network.
I don't think there really is an arguement, or even a discussion, about whether or not the 360's graphics are an order of magentude better than the Wii's. They simply are. I can't speak for everyone on this, but I do have a 50" Panasonic plasma and the graphics aren't the reason why I bought the Wii....
He also said that Ep1 didn't suck. Yeah, I believe him, sure. Like another poster said, the clone wars cartoon was good, but Lucas did little more than watch it after the real talent finished making it.
Why would Bliz drop the price or give you a free month??? You paid the expansion fee and are still paying the monthly fee. If they released an upgrade tomorrow, you would probably pay whatever they asked. Their model is working, why would they change it?
Hmmmmmm..... Forget the impact on GTA and Rockstar in this, that won't be the big news. The big news will be that/.ers will be forced to either back Jack or root for Microsoft in this battle.
Wow.. Does anyone remember the classroom scene in Better Off Dead where Lane draws the picture of a pregnant woman when he is supposed to be figuring out a complex math problem? Just before that the teacher jokingly rattles off an explanation to a difficult mathematical quandry and it sounds soooo easy that if you didn't get it you were stupid. After reading that last post, I felt like a moron for not having a freaking clue.
I am glad there are smart people out there, because I know that if it were up to my intelligence only, I wouldn't have lasted this long.
What is the motivation for this kind of change??? In other words, why should Blizzard care? They are making money hand over fist with the current model, why change? Yes, some people are getting tired and leaving, but it seems like they are being replaced with new people just as fast.
http://www.tomandemily.com/
That hasn't stopped current legistlation from being passed. If we can support bigotry through legislation, the powers that be can certainly condemn a game that supports the hated minority du jour....
It is somewhat interesting though, that this is coming out around the same time as US mid term elections.
I don't play any MMOs, so please excuse this question if it makes no sense. I am confused as to why people who spend exhorbant amounts of real money to get cards to get stuff in games are OK, while people who just outright buy those things (or ingame currency to buy things) on eBay are considered the scum of the earth.
It seems like if you are taking the 'high' road and earning all of your stuff, then getting an object through a WoWCard is not that different from just paying realworld $$ outright.
Please help me to understand. To me it appears that the people who just go out and eBay buy their loot are more efficient than the people who buy 20 or so boxes of the cards to get something similar.
All I can say to that is--- "Good", there needs to be more people like you out there. However, you are in the minority. Everything I have seen recently (and what my wife has seen as a person who deals with children and their parents every day) is that MOST parents would rather just blindly spend the money on what their child "wants" than figure out what they are spending it on. This is the same downward spiral of parental involvement that the ESRB is having trouble with: disinterested parents finding cheap babysitters in $600 devices without understanding what they are spending their money on. When it comes down to it, it really is a cheap form of childcare.
As far as you and your parenting goes, you read slashdot so that kinda takes you out of the general population pool: you're informed new technology.
Sony knows that their price is high, that is probably one of the reasons they have not yet started manufacturing the PS3, it costs them too much. Every day that passes means that the already expensive components of the PS3 drop just a little bit in price. When they feel that they will be able to produce enough units to meet their outrageous price, they will start production. It will minimize their losses on the devices. Regardless of price or number of units able to be sold, they need to just RELEASE their system before holiday 2006. Otherwise little Timmy (or 30yr old lives in his mothers basement Timmy) will give up and get the 360. If they come out, even in limited numbers, the demand will still be there and for many people out there the 360 is not considered a substitute. Those people will just end up waiting until a PS3 becomes available and won't spend their money on a 360 or Wii. Right now, the PS3 is just a concept, when it is released it becomes real in consumers minds.
I haven't decided where I'm going yet with the next gen systems. I am certainly not going to spend $600 on a console. My options are a refurbished 360 or a Wii. Maybe a refurb PS3 after the first price drop. It all depends on the content.
I wouldn't buy this piece of shit if it was only $10.00 USD - just because of the offensive nature of BluRay
Maybe you wouldn't, but outside of/.ers and other hardcore techies and videophiles, no one cares about what BluRay represents to our fair use. They just see that little Timmy wants one more than anything else and that he won't be happy until then. If they can afford to drop $750-800 (PS3+2nd controller plus 2 games) then they will. Otherwise, they will wait on the first price drop or just move on. People with children don't typically buy based upon principle, they buy based upon what that kid wants.
Just out of curiousity (since I really don't know), how do accelerometers handle being dropped on the floor, thrown on the floor in disgust, dragged across the livingroom and other things that currently happen to all controllers out there (doesn't everyone remember a controller from one of their systems that just rattles a little when you shake it)? I know we all try and take care of our toys, but if one of these gets misaligned, doesn't it kill functionality?
I know someone is going to say that buttons and dpads and analog sticks can also break too, but those don't seem like they would be as fragile.
It would be in Nintendo's best interests to build in a locator into their remote/controller. Press a button on the console and it beeps. Kinda like a cordless phone.
Jive Magazine got an interview (and a custom magazine cover) with the PA guys a few months ago that I submitted but was rejected. Has some interesting stuff on the origin of their names. Check near a third of the way down when they explain how Mike became Gabrial after being called Deadly Peach....
People getting worked up by things like the above mentioned happens because that's what is supposed to happen . It helps to divert your attention from the REAL things we should be getting upset about.
Solving famine, disease, tyranny, rape and murder are all impossible. However, bringing down a video game is within the realm of possibility. It makes people feel better.
There are two potential paths this mod could have come from.
First Path - Bethesda "floated" this VERY insignificant mod out there at an arbitrarily set price to see how it fared. How many people decided that spending $2.60 was a good idea for a prettier picture for their horse will determine if they keep the same pricing structure. If this was their intent, it worked wonderfully. Everyone now knows that there is and probably will be downloadable content for Oblivion. As far as the backlash and bad publicity goes, there is no such thing as bad publicity; they got their word out and didn't even have to spend a dime on the advertising. I don't have a 360, but is there any way to tell how many people have forked over the points for this???
Second Path - Plain and simple, Bethesda screwed up; not by pricing this so high but by making this their first downloadable content mod. They would have been smarter (unless they followed the first path and intended to do this) if they had released a somewhat productive, game impacting, mod first. After that one was released send out the insignificant mods to nickle and dime those willing to pay. The price of this wasn't the problem, it was the timing. The first one always gets the public notice, especially so close to the game's release.
It will be interesting to see where this goes, I plan on buying the 360 and this game but still have too much to play on the original xbox. Besides, as we get closer to the Revolution and PS3 release, the price of both the console and the game should have dropped.
In addition to the public humiliation of your character for a week, it would seem to make sense to handicap them in other ways for a limited time which would increase in severity for each 'conviction'. Off the top of my head, here are a couple of things I could think of. For 1 month after the crucifixion:
- Add a surcharge of 25% for any financial transaction. The recipient of the transaction would still only get the requested amount, but the payor would pay the requested amount + 25% tax to the game.
- Slow the character movement across the gamespace by 25%. This would REALLY hit the player since it would be a pain in the ass to get from A to B. It would also hurt them when attacking, even worse for retreating.
- Make the player mute for a shorter time than 1 month (10 - 20 hours of non idle PLAYTIME). Can't talk but can hear everyone.
I don't play MMOs, but controlling convicted griefers in-game seems like it is possible
You guys don't get it when it comes to Sony and Linux. Go ahead and mark this a troll. Sony is MORE abusive than MS when it comes to their interactions with their customers, but slap the words Linux on it and many people on Slashdot become instant supporters. I use Windows and Linux (depending on which workstation I am currently working on) and to me, Sony defies everything that Linux originally stood for. We have DRM that limits YOUR rights with your media. The PSP has not 1 but 2 proprietary media formats. Does anyone remember ATRAC3, another proprietary DRMed format we didn't need. Also, please keep in mind that the version of Linux that will be bundled with the PS3 will have to conform to ALL of Sony's vices, and won't be the garden variety that we can do what we please with. Linux compatibility doesn't make it all better.....
The most that all three companies care about is your money, its the underlying current that differs. MS cares about the profit of their system while forcing you to have their desktop system to use all of the functions. Sony cares about the profit of their system while forcing you to give up your fair use rights in music and movies. Nintendo seems to be the biggest straight shooter of them all, they just want to make money (maybe I am just missing their subversion)
None of the three companies are doing ANYTHING here because they think it is the right thing to do, but rather because it suits their profit model in the long term
Slashdot Mirror
I plan on taking a wait and see approach for the iPhone, not because I don't like my xv6700 but for the biggest drawback I can see: AT&T Wireless. From what I have seen, aside from international coverage, that wireless network seems to be the weakest of the big guys. This has NOTHING to do with the iPhone which I believe will, at a minimum, force other carriers to improve the quality of their devices. The primary function of the iphone hinges on the subpar carriers and with no external antenna AT&T's coverage may appear worse again.
www.tomandemily.com
Anybody on here who disagrees with the DMCA should not agree that bricking consoles is a good thing in any way. I own my original xbox and LOVE XBMC. I have no problem, however, with the concept that you get to pick whether you want your 360 (or even the original for that matter) 'customized' or if you want to play on a fair level on MS's network.
www.tomandemily.com
I don't think there really is an arguement, or even a discussion, about whether or not the 360's graphics are an order of magentude better than the Wii's. They simply are. I can't speak for everyone on this, but I do have a 50" Panasonic plasma and the graphics aren't the reason why I bought the Wii....
Email came from reconstructer.org NOT reconstruction.org. The latter is a religious site.
www.tomandemily.com
He also said that Ep1 didn't suck. Yeah, I believe him, sure. Like another poster said, the clone wars cartoon was good, but Lucas did little more than watch it after the real talent finished making it.
http://www.tomandemily.com/
Why would Bliz drop the price or give you a free month??? You paid the expansion fee and are still paying the monthly fee. If they released an upgrade tomorrow, you would probably pay whatever they asked. Their model is working, why would they change it?
Hmmmmmm..... Forget the impact on GTA and Rockstar in this, that won't be the big news. The big news will be that /.ers will be forced to either back Jack or root for Microsoft in this battle.
Wow.. Does anyone remember the classroom scene in Better Off Dead where Lane draws the picture of a pregnant woman when he is supposed to be figuring out a complex math problem? Just before that the teacher jokingly rattles off an explanation to a difficult mathematical quandry and it sounds soooo easy that if you didn't get it you were stupid. After reading that last post, I felt like a moron for not having a freaking clue.
I am glad there are smart people out there, because I know that if it were up to my intelligence only, I wouldn't have lasted this long.
Yeah, it's extra cool that you can spell it FORWARDS and BACKWARDS. Just the name itself is TWOAXIS
(for those two slow S I X A X I S = S I X A X I S backwards)
What is the motivation for this kind of change??? In other words, why should Blizzard care? They are making money hand over fist with the current model, why change? Yes, some people are getting tired and leaving, but it seems like they are being replaced with new people just as fast. http://www.tomandemily.com/
That hasn't stopped current legistlation from being passed. If we can support bigotry through legislation, the powers that be can certainly condemn a game that supports the hated minority du jour....
It is somewhat interesting though, that this is coming out around the same time as US mid term elections.
I don't play any MMOs, so please excuse this question if it makes no sense. I am confused as to why people who spend exhorbant amounts of real money to get cards to get stuff in games are OK, while people who just outright buy those things (or ingame currency to buy things) on eBay are considered the scum of the earth.
It seems like if you are taking the 'high' road and earning all of your stuff, then getting an object through a WoWCard is not that different from just paying realworld $$ outright.
Please help me to understand. To me it appears that the people who just go out and eBay buy their loot are more efficient than the people who buy 20 or so boxes of the cards to get something similar.
All I can say to that is--- "Good", there needs to be more people like you out there. However, you are in the minority. Everything I have seen recently (and what my wife has seen as a person who deals with children and their parents every day) is that MOST parents would rather just blindly spend the money on what their child "wants" than figure out what they are spending it on. This is the same downward spiral of parental involvement that the ESRB is having trouble with: disinterested parents finding cheap babysitters in $600 devices without understanding what they are spending their money on. When it comes down to it, it really is a cheap form of childcare.
As far as you and your parenting goes, you read slashdot so that kinda takes you out of the general population pool: you're informed new technology.
Sony knows that their price is high, that is probably one of the reasons they have not yet started manufacturing the PS3, it costs them too much. Every day that passes means that the already expensive components of the PS3 drop just a little bit in price. When they feel that they will be able to produce enough units to meet their outrageous price, they will start production. It will minimize their losses on the devices. Regardless of price or number of units able to be sold, they need to just RELEASE their system before holiday 2006. Otherwise little Timmy (or 30yr old lives in his mothers basement Timmy) will give up and get the 360. If they come out, even in limited numbers, the demand will still be there and for many people out there the 360 is not considered a substitute. Those people will just end up waiting until a PS3 becomes available and won't spend their money on a 360 or Wii. Right now, the PS3 is just a concept, when it is released it becomes real in consumers minds.
I haven't decided where I'm going yet with the next gen systems. I am certainly not going to spend $600 on a console. My options are a refurbished 360 or a Wii. Maybe a refurb PS3 after the first price drop. It all depends on the content.
I wouldn't buy this piece of shit if it was only $10.00 USD - just because of the offensive nature of BluRay
/.ers and other hardcore techies and videophiles, no one cares about what BluRay represents to our fair use. They just see that little Timmy wants one more than anything else and that he won't be happy until then. If they can afford to drop $750-800 (PS3+2nd controller plus 2 games) then they will. Otherwise, they will wait on the first price drop or just move on. People with children don't typically buy based upon principle, they buy based upon what that kid wants.
Maybe you wouldn't, but outside of
Just out of curiousity (since I really don't know), how do accelerometers handle being dropped on the floor, thrown on the floor in disgust, dragged across the livingroom and other things that currently happen to all controllers out there (doesn't everyone remember a controller from one of their systems that just rattles a little when you shake it)? I know we all try and take care of our toys, but if one of these gets misaligned, doesn't it kill functionality?
I know someone is going to say that buttons and dpads and analog sticks can also break too, but those don't seem like they would be as fragile.
It would be in Nintendo's best interests to build in a locator into their remote/controller. Press a button on the console and it beeps. Kinda like a cordless phone.
Well, me (age 29) and wife (age 29 and gasp!! a physician!) both have nintendo DSs... We must be immature for our ages.
My mother regularly plays Tetris (offline, no wifi at her house) and I wouldn't be surprised if she ended up getting one of the brain games.
Sometimes you just want to pick up the "toy" and play 5 minutes of Mario Kart DS and then put it down.
Jive Magazine got an interview (and a custom magazine cover) with the PA guys a few months ago that I submitted but was rejected. Has some interesting stuff on the origin of their names. Check near a third of the way down when they explain how Mike became Gabrial after being called Deadly Peach....
Here
People getting worked up by things like the above mentioned happens because that's what is supposed to happen . It helps to divert your attention from the REAL things we should be getting upset about.
Solving famine, disease, tyranny, rape and murder are all impossible. However, bringing down a video game is within the realm of possibility. It makes people feel better.
Is it stupid? Yes. Does it make sense? No.
There are two potential paths this mod could have come from.
First Path - Bethesda "floated" this VERY insignificant mod out there at an arbitrarily set price to see how it fared. How many people decided that spending $2.60 was a good idea for a prettier picture for their horse will determine if they keep the same pricing structure. If this was their intent, it worked wonderfully. Everyone now knows that there is and probably will be downloadable content for Oblivion. As far as the backlash and bad publicity goes, there is no such thing as bad publicity; they got their word out and didn't even have to spend a dime on the advertising. I don't have a 360, but is there any way to tell how many people have forked over the points for this???
Second Path - Plain and simple, Bethesda screwed up; not by pricing this so high but by making this their first downloadable content mod. They would have been smarter (unless they followed the first path and intended to do this) if they had released a somewhat productive, game impacting, mod first. After that one was released send out the insignificant mods to nickle and dime those willing to pay. The price of this wasn't the problem, it was the timing. The first one always gets the public notice, especially so close to the game's release.
It will be interesting to see where this goes, I plan on buying the 360 and this game but still have too much to play on the original xbox. Besides, as we get closer to the Revolution and PS3 release, the price of both the console and the game should have dropped.
I had forgotten what day it was until I looked at it and saw the:
aprilfools, gay, straight, dnf, vaporware (tagging beta)
tags... Ruin a perfectly good joke...
In addition to the public humiliation of your character for a week, it would seem to make sense to handicap them in other ways for a limited time which would increase in severity for each 'conviction'. Off the top of my head, here are a couple of things I could think of. For 1 month after the crucifixion:
- Add a surcharge of 25% for any financial transaction. The recipient of the transaction would still only get the requested amount, but the payor would pay the requested amount + 25% tax to the game.
- Slow the character movement across the gamespace by 25%. This would REALLY hit the player since it would be a pain in the ass to get from A to B. It would also hurt them when attacking, even worse for retreating.
- Make the player mute for a shorter time than 1 month (10 - 20 hours of non idle PLAYTIME). Can't talk but can hear everyone.
I don't play MMOs, but controlling convicted griefers in-game seems like it is possible
You guys don't get it when it comes to Sony and Linux. Go ahead and mark this a troll. Sony is MORE abusive than MS when it comes to their interactions with their customers, but slap the words Linux on it and many people on Slashdot become instant supporters. I use Windows and Linux (depending on which workstation I am currently working on) and to me, Sony defies everything that Linux originally stood for. We have DRM that limits YOUR rights with your media. The PSP has not 1 but 2 proprietary media formats. Does anyone remember ATRAC3, another proprietary DRMed format we didn't need. Also, please keep in mind that the version of Linux that will be bundled with the PS3 will have to conform to ALL of Sony's vices, and won't be the garden variety that we can do what we please with. Linux compatibility doesn't make it all better.....
The most that all three companies care about is your money, its the underlying current that differs. MS cares about the profit of their system while forcing you to have their desktop system to use all of the functions. Sony cares about the profit of their system while forcing you to give up your fair use rights in music and movies. Nintendo seems to be the biggest straight shooter of them all, they just want to make money (maybe I am just missing their subversion)
None of the three companies are doing ANYTHING here because they think it is the right thing to do, but rather because it suits their profit model in the long term
This has to be correct because Lucas has been spot-on lately when it comes to understanding what the public wants...