You can get a new Garmin system for under $90. Hook it up to your PDA, Laptop, or (with a little work) your GBA.
Cool idea, but unless they cut the price in half and start making cool games for it (and, I think GPS games will have their day in the sun soon...) this isn't going to fly.
Okay, this ties into my sig so I guess I should say something.;)
In C/C++ etc, we index things from zero. So, if you had an array of 50 IndieJams (indieJam[50]) you would access the first jam like so: indieJam[0];
So, do we start counting with 0? That isn't the point really. I guess it is all a matter of context. Is it funny? Well that depends on your humor. If you laugh at the punchline to the "Two strings walk into a bar.." joke, then the answer is yes.;)
The system has since slipped from that schedule - which also called for an unveiling of the specification at GDC, at the high-profile press conference which the company eventually used for the launch of the XNA development platform -
For anybody who went to this years GDC and saw the XMA demo, maybe now you can sleep at night knowing what *that* was all about.;)
Nobody I talked to could figure out *what* Microsoft was try to say. It looked poorly rehersed and slapped together at the last moment (like my comments;)). Now it makes sense, they planned on announcing the XBox2, and ATG had a bunch of cool looking tech-demos for it, but they couldn't talk about the hardware so they "created" XMA.
If you are targeting people too lame to buy software (i.e. college age males) maybe you should think about switching markets? It is easier (technically and morally) for punks to warez your new FPS or GTA clone that you spent years on, but housewives will gladly pay $10 to buy a cardgame you put together in a couple of weeks.:)
If you want a bigger challenge, check out the hardcore "sim" market (think tanks and flight-sims, not "Those Darn Sims";)). Flight sim enthusiast will spend tens of thousands of dollars to get just the right setup. Instead of dealing with thousands of kids who don't want to "play nice", you can spend your time catering to people who appreciate your work.
"Since the disc is made out of paper, and the current number of optical discs is about 20 billion per year, it is easy to use even more trees."
20 billion plastic disks filling up landfills or ~20 million "presto-logs" for home fireplaces (or used to generate energy, or made into paper bags, books, newsprint, toliet paper, etc...).
The lines were RED not green. But, given enough time using the VR-Gameboy, you would end up seeing green lines too (it really did mess with your vision).
I kind of got the idea that playing the same games on the XBox2 and PC was the idea behind XNA. Either that, or then had to find *something* to talk about at this year's GDC.;)
Guess what, if your wife is due in 3 days you are going to have to miss seeing "Hellboy" in the theaters. Small price to pay when you think about the nights of sleep you will be losing over the next couple of months.;)
Don't Run, but Inline Skate (i.e. Rollerblading)
on
Running for Geeks
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· Score: 1
Sort of the middle ground between running and biking I guess.:)
I use a Timex GPS/HeartRate watch. Gives me my heart rate, speed, distance, pace, and split time. All sorts of geeky goodness. Just make sure to look at the road from time to time.;)
Just my short review of GDC04 (this is my first "drunk slashdot post" so excuse the misspsellings). It 'felt' better then last year. Mostly because there where more employeed developers around (last year it seamed that half the people there were looking for work). But I didn't see much new technology/ideas. Maybe I just went to the wrong classes but there wasn't anything really "gee-wiz" this year. Microsoft's XNA is mostly just market hype as far as I can tell, and Sony was very quiet about their PS3 (although I talked to a lot of people making PSP titles).
All and all, not bad but not a year to remember. To use a sports term, it feels like a "Building year".;)
"More often than not someone just downloads the cracked copy from their favorite P2P network and bypasses the whole mess. That's what I started to do when I got one too many game with a completely broken CD-check. Pay less money, get a non-broken product."
If saying that makes you sleep better at night then good luck with that. You are still ripping people off.
If your are having problems with CD-check then 1) call tech support, 2) return the product (don't take no for an answer, they will take it back if you talk in the right ear), and 3) post which games are using broken CD-checks on the web. Doing this will cost the company money and, in time, they may actually learn not to treat their customers like thieves.
I hate CD-checks myself, waste of everybody's time, but I'm not going to hurt random people just because some idiots don't get it.
Okay, first off, I don't cheat (at least not in multiplayer games) but I think I understand the mentality of cheaters. Different people cheat for different reasons but the majority do it because of the "win at any cost" mentality. Some people enjoy the godlike power.
It is the hardware, not the software, that does the actual damage. But, that is a lot like saying that a 100 story fall does not kill a person, it is the sidewalk that does the damage.;)
They said they "will have" a both at the 2003 GDC, E3, and even the "Xtream Dev Conf" (for the 50 people that showed up I guess;)). I'm not ready to write them off 100%, but they are always "about to show" us something great but never do. It is hard to trust them.
Maybe this will be the second coming of home entertainment, but until I see a dev machine with my own eyes (hey, I signed up as a developer over a year ago!) they are not worth my time.
Oh, and game headhunters suck IMHO. I wasted 3 years with them. Unless you are a programming god in a field they need, they are not going to pay the 5% (or whatever) to the headhunter. They will hire one of the several dozen wannabees offering them free blowjobs.
Just a guess, but if I was Microsoft I would roll around in all that cash and...um, wait. Let me start again.;)
If I was Microsoft I would make the hard drive an add-on. Bundle it with a network adapter or something. The original XBox tried to be "everything for everyone" which means that, even if you didn't want to play online, or use your own music in games, or have downloadable content you still ended up paying for it. If Microsoft makes the hard drive an add on it can have the best of both worlds.
It is kind of like when Nintendo stopped shipping their consoles with a game. People still complain "You mean I spent $300 on a system and I still have to buy a game!!!" but most people get it.
Slashdot Mirror
Cool idea, but unless they cut the price in half and start making cool games for it (and, I think GPS games will have their day in the sun soon...) this isn't going to fly.
In C/C++ etc, we index things from zero. So, if you had an array of 50 IndieJams (indieJam[50]) you would access the first jam like so: indieJam[0];
So, do we start counting with 0? That isn't the point really. I guess it is all a matter of context. Is it funny? Well that depends on your humor. If you laugh at the punchline to the "Two strings walk into a bar.." joke, then the answer is yes. ;)
For anybody who went to this years GDC and saw the XMA demo, maybe now you can sleep at night knowing what *that* was all about. ;)
Nobody I talked to could figure out *what* Microsoft was try to say. It looked poorly rehersed and slapped together at the last moment (like my comments ;)). Now it makes sense, they planned on announcing the XBox2, and ATG had a bunch of cool looking tech-demos for it, but they couldn't talk about the hardware so they "created" XMA.
If you want a bigger challenge, check out the hardcore "sim" market (think tanks and flight-sims, not "Those Darn Sims"
20 billion plastic disks filling up landfills or ~20 million "presto-logs" for home fireplaces (or used to generate energy, or made into paper bags, books, newsprint, toliet paper, etc...).
I say bring on the paper disks!
I use a Timex GPS/HeartRate watch. Gives me my heart rate, speed, distance, pace, and split time. All sorts of geeky goodness. Just make sure to look at the road from time to time. ;)
All and all, not bad but not a year to remember. To use a sports term, it feels like a "Building year". ;)
The Phantom "Built by gamers for gamers."
From the Interplay site:
Interplay, the Interplay logo, and ?By Gamers. For Gamers.? are trademarks of Interplay Entertainment Corp.
Maybe somebody should wake up the Interplay lawyers. ;)
If saying that makes you sleep better at night then good luck with that. You are still ripping people off.
If your are having problems with CD-check then 1) call tech support, 2) return the product (don't take no for an answer, they will take it back if you talk in the right ear), and 3) post which games are using broken CD-checks on the web. Doing this will cost the company money and, in time, they may actually learn not to treat their customers like thieves.
I hate CD-checks myself, waste of everybody's time, but I'm not going to hurt random people just because some idiots don't get it.
I would suggest avoiding movie previews for the next 1-2 years then. ST2 looks twice as bad.
Maybe this will be the second coming of home entertainment, but until I see a dev machine with my own eyes (hey, I signed up as a developer over a year ago!) they are not worth my time.
Oh, and game headhunters suck IMHO. I wasted 3 years with them. Unless you are a programming god in a field they need, they are not going to pay the 5% (or whatever) to the headhunter. They will hire one of the several dozen wannabees offering them free blowjobs.
If I was Microsoft I would make the hard drive an add-on. Bundle it with a network adapter or something. The original XBox tried to be "everything for everyone" which means that, even if you didn't want to play online, or use your own music in games, or have downloadable content you still ended up paying for it. If Microsoft makes the hard drive an add on it can have the best of both worlds.
It is kind of like when Nintendo stopped shipping their consoles with a game. People still complain "You mean I spent $300 on a system and I still have to buy a game!!!" but most people get it.
www.virtualworld.com
I don't know how many BT Centers there are left (sadly the ones in San Diego and Seatle are both gone) but you can still find them at places like D&B.
They've updated themselves many times since the old boxes. The game is less of a sim then a shoot-em-up now...but it still kicks butt (IMHO). :)