"Unless you have a high-end rig, you're probably going to want to go with the 360 version."
I disagree...you overlooked one of the greatest parts of the Oblivion experience...the mods. These are user created changes to the game that enhance, alter, add to, or "fix" the game as it came out of the box.
Already there are over 100 mods available that do things from altering the leveling of the npcs, adding battles to the arena, and changing the UI to be less "console'ish"
That is one of the great reasons for going for the PC. The 360 will only have official patches or updates and will miss out on this entire wonderful area of the game.
My opinion is that is the fault of the DM, not the rules or the game. Some people want that game, so the DM should be able to deliver that, but if you want a hack and slash sort of game, then that's what you should be able to play.
As an example, in a game I started recently within 10 minutes of sitting down (character creation was done via email before the session) the characters had been in a bar brawl, were falsly accused of murder, and were on the run from the law trying to clear their names. The session ended 4 hours later with them having a massive fight against flayed monks and an evil cleric in a long forgotten tomb they uncovered.
Either look for a new DM or explain to your current one what you would like to try for just one session. It can be a blast if you play the game that fits you. There is alway room for the other stuff here and there (investigating, contact building, negotiating) but if you want hack and slash, d20 can certainly do that.
For one thing, it is a significant investment for a company like mine (medium size, about 1200 systems, 100 servers) to make a move like that. Current enterprise software runs in the millions of dollars for us, so to do a complete switchover would be unbelievably expensive.
Then you have to hire/retrain all of the support staff (currently about 25 of us).
Then you have to retrain all 1200 end users.
Somewhere in there you have to find solutions to fill the roles that you currently use such as tablet computers with broadband wireless access for certain users.
All in all it is very easy for Linux idealists to sit back in their chair and preach about the evils of Microsoft (which I don't necessarily disagree with) and call any company using Windows a bunch of idiots, but that sort of migration would probably cost a company like mine tens of millions of dollars and months, if not years, of headaches.
Certainly the Baldur's Gate/Icewind Dale series should work. The single player of either of those is better than the main campaign in NWN (although the followups to NWN were quite good).
Rather than RPGs on the laptop, I prefer the Civ games. Rather than using Civ to keep me awake until 4AM when I have to work the next day, I like to take it along to play in airports or on planes. You don't have the security risk of playing FPS (hint - yelling "SET THE BOMB" may be ok when you are playing Counter Strike at home, but it is frowned upon when in an airport), plus the "one more turn" addictiveness of Civ makes those layover go by quickly.
Agreed.
Considering their market penetration, try to imagine how evil they COULD be and compare that to the rather mild things they are doing. You can't compare them to MS. They aren't trying to forcibly take over your computer. They aren't trying to dictate what you can and can't do on your computer.
They may not be angelic, but they sure as hell are far from evil.
It is an interesting site and one that I'm going to spend more time reading. But from the little I've been able to see so far, it seems to grasp tightly on to a problematic method just like Intelligent Design as a whole:
The lack of understanding does not equal God's hand. I've read a few articles on everything from anthropology to astronomy and they frequently do this...scientist such and such admits that they have no good explanation for this. We don't understand. That's fine! As humans, I feel our primary mission is to learn, to figure out those questions that sick in the back of your skull and you can't get past. That is what drives us.
We don't know where the solar system's angular momentum came from. We don't know where the pre-Big Bang material came from. We don't know exactly how neandertal related to homo erectus. But that doesn't necessarily mean that God, G_d, YWHW, Allah, Vishnu, Zeus, Odin, or PeeWee Herman is the cause of those things. It only means we don't understand them yet.
I disagree. Evolution is a scientific theory which is based on evidence, an ever expanding amount of evidence. While it may never be 100% proven, all of our observations for 150 years have supported evolution.
Creationism is a belief system based on faith and traditional teachings which works in absense of evidence. They don't care for external evidence, in fact Intelligent Design is built upon the lack of evidence as proof.
They are fundamentally different in how they work. One is science based, one is faith based. One should be in a science class and the other in a philosophy class.
By no means is this shady.
MS has been called the devil for years for having an unsecure OS (well deserved, IMO). They finally get the guts to secure XP as best they can, fully telling people that they will hate it and that it will break old apps. They do it, and still the crowds yell.
Yes, Windows Update Services will auto-download this to your system, but only if you have Windows Update set to Auto. If you don't want it, disable it. If you are in a corporate environment, use Group Policy to disable Windows Update Services.
If you do not know what I am talking about or how to disable it, then you are the exact person that SP2 is aimed at. Install it!
How can it be? You can sue anyone for anything these days. All it costs is your soul.
It is a bully tactic...they are betting that the small anti-spyware sites don't have the cash flow to afford the inevitable legal fees. Fortunately, Kyle at [H]ard|OCP was willing to spend a quarter of a million dollars defending his right to have an opinion.
I, unfortunately, play on one of the early Eastern PvP servers which has a very high population. Day 1 and 2 we were seeing queues of 800+ people which translated to a 2 hour wait. As of last night around 8PM queues were roughly 50 or so, which made for a 15-20 minute wait.
We also still have problems with the auction house lagging out, some server crashes, dead mobs still running around, etc. So all is not yet smooth in WoW land.
However, all of that said, it is still an incredibly addictive game with just a purely engaging atmosphere. The problems are minor and are easily overlooked since the game is so wonderful. It is well worth the money.
I ordered my CE a week ago from a local EBGames. I picked it up at lunch. Now if I could just catch ebola or a cold or something so I could go home and play the damn thing...
In my experience, SFR is only annoying. I have yet to see a time when it actually works. More often than not you have to try to manually work around it when you need to change system files.
Another great idea that just doesn't quite pan out.
But a true dilemma. Unless you can make your single checkmark worth 57,000,000 votes, then you have to be aware that most likely your alternate-party candidate cannot win the election. So you are forced to either vote for that person (which is what a blue in a red state or a red in a blue state should do) and throw away your vote, or choose the lesser of the two evils.
While your sarcasm is noted, it is actually a large development for large game developers to embrasse the internet as a means of distribution. Up to now I know of only Stardock (The Political Machine, Galaxy Civilizations) that has used the internet as a major source of software sales. Valve/Steam is getting on board, as is Eagle Dynamics with their Lock On: Modern Air Combat upgrade (v1.1) which will be out soon.
So in my mind, this is actually noteworthy. I will most likely buy one of these modules just to support the concept whether or not I actually get around to playing them.
True, BUT that isn't what I see the question as...the question is WHY ARE WOMEN DRIVEN FROM THE IT INDUSTRY?
Why do women start in the industry, but then are pushed out at a higher rate than men. It may be just a genetic predisposition, but on the other hand, maybe they aren't treated fairly.
We have a young woman who started in our department about 18 months ago. She has a degree in MIS and wants to do project management. She is bright, responsible, and reliable. But she has been passed over for promotions twice because she is also attractive and married to an attorney, so the higherups just assume that she is only working here until she gets pregnant, why bother training/promoting her?
Her drive and thirst to succeed are being crushed because she isn't being taken seriously by managment. Guys who have come in after her with fewer skills are given opportunitys she won't get because they fit the mold.
I see this as the problem. She WANTS to work in the field, but isn't being given the same opportunities as a man.
Agreed. I suddenly had to start wars because I needed saltpeter or horses, or I had to have some spice so I could trade for iron.
It gives wars purpose.
The sky is falling! The sky is falling!
It seems that every month some writer decides to pontificate on the immenent demise of the PC for gaming...it still hasn't happened and I don't see it happening anytime soon.
Why? Show me a good flight sim on any console. Crimson Skies? I think not...it is an arcade game. Show me a good military strategy game (real-time or turn-based) on a console. Anyone try to play Red Alert on the Playstation? It was terrible. For every First-person Shooter on a console (Halo) there are 15 on the PC. The gamepad cannot compete with the mouse/keyboard for quick, intuitive gameplay.
In my opinion, Thief III and Deus Ex 2 are exceptions since neither is a true FPS, they are both about stealth and role-playing as much as they are action.
The future will be decided if/when Doom III and Half-Life 2 hit the PC and consoles this fall. I think you will see the hard core play on the PC while the casual/young gamers tend towards the console.
Consoles will always rule the sports games and platform games, as well as action button masing games and fighting games. But I think there will always be a place for the PC in gaming.
The gaming abilities of a pc still far outreach any console, except perhaps in sports games (NCAA Football 2004 > The only reason I bought an X-Box). I personally hate first person shooters on consoles, give me my mouse and keyboard any day.
And if your system is slowed by a virus scanner to the point where it effects your gaming, do what most gamers do...disable real-time protection while playing. A hardware firewall in no way shape or form effects gaming speeds online.
So yes, you are right about the costs related to each, but it also matters more what you can do with the systems and what kind of games you want to play. Sports and platformers? Go console. Flight sims, First person shooters, Strategy, etc go for a PC.
And I have build a very good gaming machine for less than $600, so the cost question falls even further.
You won't care, but those around you will. Do you care about making your transition to the world of dirt as pain-free for your family?
That is what a will is about. It isn't about you making sure your stuff is taken care of, it is taking as many decisions as possible out of the hands of those who will be hurting the most.
What if your financial data is kept on your computer? What if you have a business run from a website? If there are no provisions in place for giving access to these things in the event of your untimely visit to Deadville, then there may be serious problems for those left behind.
I attribute the top-dog buying to the hardware geeks (I include myself in this category somewhat).
What I have seen, unsupported by anything but anecdotal evidence, is that a geek goes out and gets a top-notch video card, say the ATI 9800XT a month or so ago. For every geek who knows hardware in and out, there are probably 5 normal people who rely on geeks to suggest hardware to them. Whether it is due to brand loyalty or a desire to support hardware that they are familiar with, many geeks will then recommend if not the same card they have, then often the same brand. So the geek who has a 9800XT will often recommend a 9600 or some other ATI product.
By pleasing the geeks with good hardware, support, and drivers, the manufacturer can sell many more products due to this effect. AMD saw the same thing when they released unlocked, powerful, and cheap cpu's 4 or 5 years ago while Intel was locking theirs down tighter and tighter. The geeks started supporting AMD more and more, so non-geeks began to buy non-Intel cpu's.
I would disagree that the desktop is locked up. Over the past 7 years I have bought 5 video cards, only 2 of them from the same company. 2 of the makers no longer exist at least in the market (Sierra and Voodoo) and I have gone back and forth over the past few years between Nvidia and ATI depending on who has the better product at the time.
And as mentioned in the article, the desktop market is now decided in large part by who controls the high end segment, which is a constant battle between the two (although ATI has had the advantage for the past 12-18 months).
It is far from decided yet. Remember Voodoo went from market leader to bankrupt in about a year and a half.
Slashdot Mirror
"Unless you have a high-end rig, you're probably going to want to go with the 360 version."
I disagree...you overlooked one of the greatest parts of the Oblivion experience...the mods. These are user created changes to the game that enhance, alter, add to, or "fix" the game as it came out of the box.
Already there are over 100 mods available that do things from altering the leveling of the npcs, adding battles to the arena, and changing the UI to be less "console'ish"
That is one of the great reasons for going for the PC. The 360 will only have official patches or updates and will miss out on this entire wonderful area of the game.
My opinion is that is the fault of the DM, not the rules or the game. Some people want that game, so the DM should be able to deliver that, but if you want a hack and slash sort of game, then that's what you should be able to play.
As an example, in a game I started recently within 10 minutes of sitting down (character creation was done via email before the session) the characters had been in a bar brawl, were falsly accused of murder, and were on the run from the law trying to clear their names. The session ended 4 hours later with them having a massive fight against flayed monks and an evil cleric in a long forgotten tomb they uncovered.
Either look for a new DM or explain to your current one what you would like to try for just one session. It can be a blast if you play the game that fits you. There is alway room for the other stuff here and there (investigating, contact building, negotiating) but if you want hack and slash, d20 can certainly do that.
For one thing, it is a significant investment for a company like mine (medium size, about 1200 systems, 100 servers) to make a move like that. Current enterprise software runs in the millions of dollars for us, so to do a complete switchover would be unbelievably expensive.
Then you have to hire/retrain all of the support staff (currently about 25 of us).
Then you have to retrain all 1200 end users.
Somewhere in there you have to find solutions to fill the roles that you currently use such as tablet computers with broadband wireless access for certain users.
All in all it is very easy for Linux idealists to sit back in their chair and preach about the evils of Microsoft (which I don't necessarily disagree with) and call any company using Windows a bunch of idiots, but that sort of migration would probably cost a company like mine tens of millions of dollars and months, if not years, of headaches.
Keep in mind that this will disable thumbnail previews. Some have experienced problems opening any image file after unregistering this dll.
It isn't a bad idea to do, but before you do it in an enterprise environment, be sure you test it and are ready for the calls it will cause.
Certainly the Baldur's Gate/Icewind Dale series should work. The single player of either of those is better than the main campaign in NWN (although the followups to NWN were quite good). Rather than RPGs on the laptop, I prefer the Civ games. Rather than using Civ to keep me awake until 4AM when I have to work the next day, I like to take it along to play in airports or on planes. You don't have the security risk of playing FPS (hint - yelling "SET THE BOMB" may be ok when you are playing Counter Strike at home, but it is frowned upon when in an airport), plus the "one more turn" addictiveness of Civ makes those layover go by quickly.
Agreed. Considering their market penetration, try to imagine how evil they COULD be and compare that to the rather mild things they are doing. You can't compare them to MS. They aren't trying to forcibly take over your computer. They aren't trying to dictate what you can and can't do on your computer. They may not be angelic, but they sure as hell are far from evil.
It is an interesting site and one that I'm going to spend more time reading. But from the little I've been able to see so far, it seems to grasp tightly on to a problematic method just like Intelligent Design as a whole:
p ter7.asp - "...a well-known solar system scientist, Dr Stuart Ross Taylor, has said in a recent book, 'The ultimate origin of the solar system's angular momentum remains obscure.'
- http://www.answersingenesis.org/home/area/re1/cha
The lack of understanding does not equal God's hand. I've read a few articles on everything from anthropology to astronomy and they frequently do this...scientist such and such admits that they have no good explanation for this. We don't understand. That's fine! As humans, I feel our primary mission is to learn, to figure out those questions that sick in the back of your skull and you can't get past. That is what drives us.
We don't know where the solar system's angular momentum came from. We don't know where the pre-Big Bang material came from. We don't know exactly how neandertal related to homo erectus. But that doesn't necessarily mean that God, G_d, YWHW, Allah, Vishnu, Zeus, Odin, or PeeWee Herman is the cause of those things. It only means we don't understand them yet.
I disagree. Evolution is a scientific theory which is based on evidence, an ever expanding amount of evidence. While it may never be 100% proven, all of our observations for 150 years have supported evolution.
Creationism is a belief system based on faith and traditional teachings which works in absense of evidence. They don't care for external evidence, in fact Intelligent Design is built upon the lack of evidence as proof.
They are fundamentally different in how they work. One is science based, one is faith based. One should be in a science class and the other in a philosophy class.
By no means is this shady. MS has been called the devil for years for having an unsecure OS (well deserved, IMO). They finally get the guts to secure XP as best they can, fully telling people that they will hate it and that it will break old apps. They do it, and still the crowds yell. Yes, Windows Update Services will auto-download this to your system, but only if you have Windows Update set to Auto. If you don't want it, disable it. If you are in a corporate environment, use Group Policy to disable Windows Update Services. If you do not know what I am talking about or how to disable it, then you are the exact person that SP2 is aimed at. Install it!
How can it be? You can sue anyone for anything these days. All it costs is your soul.
It is a bully tactic...they are betting that the small anti-spyware sites don't have the cash flow to afford the inevitable legal fees. Fortunately, Kyle at [H]ard|OCP was willing to spend a quarter of a million dollars defending his right to have an opinion.
Unless you don't mind if it shows up in court. This guy may very well have written that memo knowing that it would become a piece of evidence. CYA.
I, unfortunately, play on one of the early Eastern PvP servers which has a very high population. Day 1 and 2 we were seeing queues of 800+ people which translated to a 2 hour wait. As of last night around 8PM queues were roughly 50 or so, which made for a 15-20 minute wait.
We also still have problems with the auction house lagging out, some server crashes, dead mobs still running around, etc. So all is not yet smooth in WoW land.
However, all of that said, it is still an incredibly addictive game with just a purely engaging atmosphere. The problems are minor and are easily overlooked since the game is so wonderful. It is well worth the money.
I ordered my CE a week ago from a local EBGames. I picked it up at lunch. Now if I could just catch ebola or a cold or something so I could go home and play the damn thing...
In my experience, SFR is only annoying. I have yet to see a time when it actually works. More often than not you have to try to manually work around it when you need to change system files. Another great idea that just doesn't quite pan out.
But a true dilemma. Unless you can make your single checkmark worth 57,000,000 votes, then you have to be aware that most likely your alternate-party candidate cannot win the election. So you are forced to either vote for that person (which is what a blue in a red state or a red in a blue state should do) and throw away your vote, or choose the lesser of the two evils.
While your sarcasm is noted, it is actually a large development for large game developers to embrasse the internet as a means of distribution. Up to now I know of only Stardock (The Political Machine, Galaxy Civilizations) that has used the internet as a major source of software sales. Valve/Steam is getting on board, as is Eagle Dynamics with their Lock On: Modern Air Combat upgrade (v1.1) which will be out soon.
So in my mind, this is actually noteworthy. I will most likely buy one of these modules just to support the concept whether or not I actually get around to playing them.
It worked for me once I reinstalled in 2 or 3 times. Try it again; you have to get rid of the default theme asap.
True, BUT that isn't what I see the question as...the question is WHY ARE WOMEN DRIVEN FROM THE IT INDUSTRY?
Why do women start in the industry, but then are pushed out at a higher rate than men. It may be just a genetic predisposition, but on the other hand, maybe they aren't treated fairly.
We have a young woman who started in our department about 18 months ago. She has a degree in MIS and wants to do project management. She is bright, responsible, and reliable. But she has been passed over for promotions twice because she is also attractive and married to an attorney, so the higherups just assume that she is only working here until she gets pregnant, why bother training/promoting her?
Her drive and thirst to succeed are being crushed because she isn't being taken seriously by managment. Guys who have come in after her with fewer skills are given opportunitys she won't get because they fit the mold.
I see this as the problem. She WANTS to work in the field, but isn't being given the same opportunities as a man.
Agreed. I suddenly had to start wars because I needed saltpeter or horses, or I had to have some spice so I could trade for iron. It gives wars purpose.
If anyone really cares, this is how it breaks down:
Population of Germany, France and UK: 203,119,530
Population of US: 293,027,571
Which gives us
3.94 downloads per 1000 people for Europe
8.53 downloads per 1000 people for the US
This assumes 800,000 downloads for Gr, Fr, and UK compared to 2.5 mil for the US.
Populations are the 2004 Estimates from The CIA World Factbook
The sky is falling! The sky is falling!
It seems that every month some writer decides to pontificate on the immenent demise of the PC for gaming...it still hasn't happened and I don't see it happening anytime soon.
Why? Show me a good flight sim on any console. Crimson Skies? I think not...it is an arcade game. Show me a good military strategy game (real-time or turn-based) on a console. Anyone try to play Red Alert on the Playstation? It was terrible. For every First-person Shooter on a console (Halo) there are 15 on the PC. The gamepad cannot compete with the mouse/keyboard for quick, intuitive gameplay.
In my opinion, Thief III and Deus Ex 2 are exceptions since neither is a true FPS, they are both about stealth and role-playing as much as they are action.
The future will be decided if/when Doom III and Half-Life 2 hit the PC and consoles this fall. I think you will see the hard core play on the PC while the casual/young gamers tend towards the console.
Consoles will always rule the sports games and platform games, as well as action button masing games and fighting games. But I think there will always be a place for the PC in gaming.
Yes and no...
The gaming abilities of a pc still far outreach any console, except perhaps in sports games (NCAA Football 2004 > The only reason I bought an X-Box). I personally hate first person shooters on consoles, give me my mouse and keyboard any day.
And if your system is slowed by a virus scanner to the point where it effects your gaming, do what most gamers do...disable real-time protection while playing. A hardware firewall in no way shape or form effects gaming speeds online.
So yes, you are right about the costs related to each, but it also matters more what you can do with the systems and what kind of games you want to play. Sports and platformers? Go console. Flight sims, First person shooters, Strategy, etc go for a PC.
And I have build a very good gaming machine for less than $600, so the cost question falls even further.
You won't care, but those around you will. Do you care about making your transition to the world of dirt as pain-free for your family? That is what a will is about. It isn't about you making sure your stuff is taken care of, it is taking as many decisions as possible out of the hands of those who will be hurting the most. What if your financial data is kept on your computer? What if you have a business run from a website? If there are no provisions in place for giving access to these things in the event of your untimely visit to Deadville, then there may be serious problems for those left behind.
Yeah, sorry...3dfx. Need more coffee.
I attribute the top-dog buying to the hardware geeks (I include myself in this category somewhat).
What I have seen, unsupported by anything but anecdotal evidence, is that a geek goes out and gets a top-notch video card, say the ATI 9800XT a month or so ago. For every geek who knows hardware in and out, there are probably 5 normal people who rely on geeks to suggest hardware to them. Whether it is due to brand loyalty or a desire to support hardware that they are familiar with, many geeks will then recommend if not the same card they have, then often the same brand. So the geek who has a 9800XT will often recommend a 9600 or some other ATI product.
By pleasing the geeks with good hardware, support, and drivers, the manufacturer can sell many more products due to this effect. AMD saw the same thing when they released unlocked, powerful, and cheap cpu's 4 or 5 years ago while Intel was locking theirs down tighter and tighter. The geeks started supporting AMD more and more, so non-geeks began to buy non-Intel cpu's.
I would disagree that the desktop is locked up. Over the past 7 years I have bought 5 video cards, only 2 of them from the same company. 2 of the makers no longer exist at least in the market (Sierra and Voodoo) and I have gone back and forth over the past few years between Nvidia and ATI depending on who has the better product at the time.
And as mentioned in the article, the desktop market is now decided in large part by who controls the high end segment, which is a constant battle between the two (although ATI has had the advantage for the past 12-18 months).
It is far from decided yet. Remember Voodoo went from market leader to bankrupt in about a year and a half.