Halo wasn't original, it was a 'slightly' modified Larry Niven set with a terrible storyline and repetative, boring, levels. If it's seminal because they stole Niven's (admittedly cool) idea, or because they wrote a graphics engine that delivers lower fps at lower effects levels than more modern games on hardware that didn't even exist back then!
Hell, Bungie was biting on it's own style with a lot of Halo. Cyborg super-soldiers, egotistical AIs, SPNKR rockets (still one of the coolest names for a weapon in any game), etc. the whole thing had quite the "Marathon 3" feel to it. Which I loved. Plus the Space Marines were straight outa Aliens.
If it had come out 3 years ago I would have been impressed with the graphics, but even then... 'eh'.
You're not too far off there; Jobs demo'ed Halo three years ago at MWNY...then Microsoft bought out Bungie...yadda yadda yadda.
And yes, I also thought that the Library was an exruciating level. I also wasn't fond of the last level either, I hate timed levels.
Does anyone else think that Bungie was going for some sort of circular symbolism with the game ending where it started and taking place on a giant ring?
You'd think apple would at least sell G5's to VT without SuperDrives and Radeon 9600s. I seriously doubt those things (especially the video cards) will get a lot of use in a giant cluster.
I believe that it would have taken more time(money?) to remove 1100 SuperDrives and Radeon cards than to just ship them with the units. I am also under the impression that VT wanted to roll this thing out fast, hence their lack of concern about these pieces of frippery. That or they want to make lots and lots of dvds...
-sam
Dell entering a market is huge irrespective of the quality of the product they sell. When Dell enters the market all their competitors can kiss their fat margins goodbye. Sure people will pay a premium for quality products but they wont pay anything more than 15-20%.
Now Apple has to significantly reduce their prices. No matter how good their product is (most of them care just for the hard drive anyway, which is a commodity)
Expect price drops in all mp3 players
b'uh? There have always been lower-cost HD-based alternatives to the iPod. Nomad3, Zen, Archos etc, and those all came out either at the same time or before the iPod. Hasn't affected the pricepoint apple's set for their units
This new Dell unit looks to be a smidge better than most of the USB2 players, but I don't think it'll cut too heavily into iPod sales.
-sam
I might have the money, but I have work and family commitments now - I'm lucky to get in a few hours of gaming (GameCube or PC) each week. And I did grow up playing a lot of NES and SNES, so I'm partail to the big N.
I knew I should of added single. I come home from work and will quite happily drop down on the couch and play some Kotor, or Madden, or SSX Tricky, or what have you to unwind. Of course I haven't fired up the ole Xbox in a couple of weeks, but that's mostly because Kotor is a bit played out with me, and I finally picked up a copy of Civ III and that's consuming my gaming time.
"They chose to pick a certain segment of the demographic, and Microsoft is having a heck of a time expanding out of that. That's their niche, the older guy."
uhm, correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't "older" guys (and when I say older I'm talking twenties and thirties) the ones with the most disposable income and the time to actually play games? It seems to me that Microsoft is, or is trying to at least, steal away the "Nintendo" generation. The kids who grew up playing NES and SNES. Worked with me at least. It might be a niche, but it's a hell of a niche to have cornered.
I think I heard that Unca Steve and company have stated that their goal is 100 million songs sold by the end of this year.
Actually it's by the end of the first year of iTMS's existence, so by late April of next year. I suspect that Pepsi promotion is going to help pad Apple's numbers if it looks like they're going to be a little short.;)
AAC->CD is lossless, as AAC is 44KHz 16 bit, and the CD can encode that perfectly.
Uhm, no AAC is still a lossy compression scheme, just like mp3 (which, i believe, is also 16/44.1). There's going to be some sound degredation going from AAC -> CD -> mp3 because the sound already took a hit from the master -> AAC conversion Apple did in the first place. However, for most of the uses of mp3 players you're hardly going to notice the difference.
I take umbrage to that statement. There is plenty of good American beer. It just happens to come from the Pacific Northwest.
That's funny, I thought Bell's brewed their beer in Kalamazoo MI and that's just down the road from me.:)
I've done the Skittlebrau thing with Zima because I like to see the skittles fizz. I do the same with sprite. Currently though I'm on a bit of a hard alchohol kick, rum and coke all the way.
I don't buy it that a software only Apple could not survive. It's not like BeOS: BeOS had no software...Macs have thousands of apps. The problem most probably lies with Microsoft: Apple can't be a direct competitor to Microsoft, propably because of some deal under the table made when Apple was in need of cash.
Yes, thousands of apps that would have to be ported to work on OSX/x86. Do you really think that software companies would port their mac apps to the new platform? Especially when most of them also maintain windows versions of their stuff and they don't want to piss off Microsoft.
Actually I don't think he did. Soundsource -> computer/recording software would require you to run into the audio-in on your soundcard. Really though it's six of one, half-dozen of the other.
I think you might be overstating the "nobility" of scientists a tad. They're people too, and just as prone to rigid zealotry as much as anyone else. The history of science is filled with the visionary laboring against the staid old guard. People's reputations and place in history are often on the line so it's a bit more complex than just "the numbers all add up it must be right."
What I find is an interesting exercise is to read all AC posts as coming from the same person. It makes for a person who probably comes close to the mental state required to post anonymous flames on slashdot.:)
The worst placement for the reset button was on the PowerMac 601 (pizza box "G1" if you wish), where the front-mounted reset (and power) switch was at the same height of the (then much) thick keyboard. Pushing the keyboard against the machine could switch it off. Outright stupid it was.
You got that right, i taped over the reset and debugger buttons on my 7100 after reaching for something, hitting the reset button, and loosing a paper. I was so glad when I ditched that 7100 for an 8600, which I still own to this day.
I'm not sold on lossless audio (and don't really see the reason for a flawless representation of all the cracked voices and feedback of a live show recorded on some amateur's microphone), but it seems obvious that the whole Flac trading community is sold on its illusion of quality. Take a look at the accompanying text file with any live show you get on etree...it will contain the exact equipment used to record the show, including the type of digital tape and the manufacturer of the DAC and ADC. (Then, many of them convert the 48k source to 44.1, which destroys the whole process as the two do not convert cleanly).
Well, I won't argue the 48 > 44.1 thing. If you plan on doing up CD audio why add the extra step? Though there are people who listen to their recordings at the higher sample/bit rate and let other people do the dither/src stuff. Me, I record 44.1 exclusively because I can't do 24 bit playback yet and it's not worth my while.
As for the quality of the recordings...well, if "soundboard" style recordings are your thing the Dave Matthews/Tim Reynolds shows from this winter sound amazing, especially the north carolina shows where they taped off the side-stage monitors. And really just about any "stack" DMB tape this year is also going to sound just about as good as a commerical live release. If you're more of a stereo fan then the on-stage Steve Kimock Band stuff will be a sonic delight.
Sure, far-field recording of a rock PA by "amatuers" --I'll assume you were talking about the hobbyist tapers and not their gear, which on the whole is anything but amatuer -- can sound like ass, lord knows I've recorded enough of those. But you also can get some really good recordings if you know what you're doing and you get a bit lucky.
Correspondingly, I like having shn/flac copies of my shows because it's easier than ripping from source cd's, transfering from DAT, or loosing bits by repeated mp3 conversion. As such it would be nice if my iPod supported shn/flac just to make my life easier. I can convert shows to aac or mp3 and then copy them over, but that's an extra step, and I strive to remove the extra steps from my life.
G5. Not really an Apple innovation. Also known as IBM's PPC 970 chip.
The G5 processor is IBM's baby sure, but the PowerMac G5 is more than just the G5 processor. And the PowerMac G5 is definately an innovative design. As is the LCD iMac, and the TiBook, and the 17" Powerbook. Apple takes good technology that by an large already exists but isn't widely used and pushes it hard. USB, Firewire, and Airport, are all standards that Apple has lead the way in utilizing. And that is innovative.
And for the record, I still have yet to see an mp3 player that's as elegant as my 10gb iPod. It's a brilliant little piece of tech and probably the best purchase I've made this year. Too bad i now want one of the new ones;)
The poll in the following article indicate that 40% of people believe in literal creation as described in the bible: http://www.cnn.com/2000/US/03/08/creationism.vs.ev olution/
And lord knows a poll is always accurate. "We polled 500 people, here's what all Americans think." There's lies, damn lies, and polling. *sigh*
Tell that to the 250,000 people that bought Knights of the Old Republic in the first 4 days. KOTOR isn't all that much different than Final Fantasy, except that it has the Star Wars name attached (which doesn't mean much, thanks to Jar Jar).
The only real similarities between Kotor and FF is that they're both called role playing games. Other than that they're quite different, both in style and execution. If you ask me kotor is the best console rpg i've played since Square's SNES glory days of FF6 and Chrono Trigger.
Now having said that it is also worth pointing out that Kotor has sold a metric shitload of copies, proving that there's a market for more than ports of FPS games on the XBox. Of course you could say that Kotor is merely a port of a Windows RPG. Still, if Square-Enix was to release a FF game for Xbox it would sell quite a bit since I'd wager there are a lot of Xbox users like me, people in their 20's and 30's who cut their teeth on NES and SNES and look back on the old Square games with fondness.
FF5 officially came to the states as part of the Final Fantasy Anthology. Also included was FF6. FF4 and Chrono Trigger were bundled together as Final Fantasy Chronicles. And finally FF1 and FF2 were recently released as Final Fantasy Origins. Keen huh?
-sam
Slashdot Mirror
Hell, Bungie was biting on it's own style with a lot of Halo. Cyborg super-soldiers, egotistical AIs, SPNKR rockets (still one of the coolest names for a weapon in any game), etc. the whole thing had quite the "Marathon 3" feel to it. Which I loved. Plus the Space Marines were straight outa Aliens.
If it had come out 3 years ago I would have been impressed with the graphics, but even then... 'eh'.
You're not too far off there; Jobs demo'ed Halo three years ago at MWNY...then Microsoft bought out Bungie...yadda yadda yadda.
And yes, I also thought that the Library was an exruciating level. I also wasn't fond of the last level either, I hate timed levels.
Does anyone else think that Bungie was going for some sort of circular symbolism with the game ending where it started and taking place on a giant ring?
-sam
I believe that it would have taken more time(money?) to remove 1100 SuperDrives and Radeon cards than to just ship them with the units. I am also under the impression that VT wanted to roll this thing out fast, hence their lack of concern about these pieces of frippery. That or they want to make lots and lots of dvds...
-sam
Well what else was he going to do with all that free time? :)
-sam
Now Apple has to significantly reduce their prices. No matter how good their product is (most of them care just for the hard drive anyway, which is a commodity)
Expect price drops in all mp3 players
b'uh? There have always been lower-cost HD-based alternatives to the iPod. Nomad3, Zen, Archos etc, and those all came out either at the same time or before the iPod. Hasn't affected the pricepoint apple's set for their units
This new Dell unit looks to be a smidge better than most of the USB2 players, but I don't think it'll cut too heavily into iPod sales.
-sam
I knew I should of added single. I come home from work and will quite happily drop down on the couch and play some Kotor, or Madden, or SSX Tricky, or what have you to unwind. Of course I haven't fired up the ole Xbox in a couple of weeks, but that's mostly because Kotor is a bit played out with me, and I finally picked up a copy of Civ III and that's consuming my gaming time.
-sam
uhm, correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't "older" guys (and when I say older I'm talking twenties and thirties) the ones with the most disposable income and the time to actually play games? It seems to me that Microsoft is, or is trying to at least, steal away the "Nintendo" generation. The kids who grew up playing NES and SNES. Worked with me at least. It might be a niche, but it's a hell of a niche to have cornered.
-sam
Actually it's by the end of the first year of iTMS's existence, so by late April of next year. I suspect that Pepsi promotion is going to help pad Apple's numbers if it looks like they're going to be a little short. ;)
-sam
Uhm, no AAC is still a lossy compression scheme, just like mp3 (which, i believe, is also 16/44.1). There's going to be some sound degredation going from AAC -> CD -> mp3 because the sound already took a hit from the master -> AAC conversion Apple did in the first place. However, for most of the uses of mp3 players you're hardly going to notice the difference.
-sam
That's funny, I thought Bell's brewed their beer in Kalamazoo MI and that's just down the road from me. :)
I've done the Skittlebrau thing with Zima because I like to see the skittles fizz. I do the same with sprite. Currently though I'm on a bit of a hard alchohol kick, rum and coke all the way.
-sam
Yes, thousands of apps that would have to be ported to work on OSX/x86. Do you really think that software companies would port their mac apps to the new platform? Especially when most of them also maintain windows versions of their stuff and they don't want to piss off Microsoft.
-sam
Actually I don't think he did. Soundsource -> computer/recording software would require you to run into the audio-in on your soundcard. Really though it's six of one, half-dozen of the other.
-sam
-sam
Probably, and I can't even blame "cough medicine" for my brain fart.
-sam
-sam
-sam
3. if my computer rebooted at that point the post wouldn't show up because i wouldn't have hit the "submit" button yet.
thanks for trying, better luck next time.
-sam
You got that right, i taped over the reset and debugger buttons on my 7100 after reaching for something, hitting the reset button, and loosing a paper. I was so glad when I ditched that 7100 for an 8600, which I still own to this day.
-sam
You must have small hands or only one set of control and alt keys because I can hit control-alt-delete with one hand easy. :)
Here, let me try it kn...
-sam
Well, I won't argue the 48 > 44.1 thing. If you plan on doing up CD audio why add the extra step? Though there are people who listen to their recordings at the higher sample/bit rate and let other people do the dither/src stuff. Me, I record 44.1 exclusively because I can't do 24 bit playback yet and it's not worth my while.
As for the quality of the recordings...well, if "soundboard" style recordings are your thing the Dave Matthews/Tim Reynolds shows from this winter sound amazing, especially the north carolina shows where they taped off the side-stage monitors. And really just about any "stack" DMB tape this year is also going to sound just about as good as a commerical live release. If you're more of a stereo fan then the on-stage Steve Kimock Band stuff will be a sonic delight.
Sure, far-field recording of a rock PA by "amatuers" --I'll assume you were talking about the hobbyist tapers and not their gear, which on the whole is anything but amatuer -- can sound like ass, lord knows I've recorded enough of those. But you also can get some really good recordings if you know what you're doing and you get a bit lucky.
Correspondingly, I like having shn/flac copies of my shows because it's easier than ripping from source cd's, transfering from DAT, or loosing bits by repeated mp3 conversion. As such it would be nice if my iPod supported shn/flac just to make my life easier. I can convert shows to aac or mp3 and then copy them over, but that's an extra step, and I strive to remove the extra steps from my life.
-sam
The G5 processor is IBM's baby sure, but the PowerMac G5 is more than just the G5 processor. And the PowerMac G5 is definately an innovative design. As is the LCD iMac, and the TiBook, and the 17" Powerbook. Apple takes good technology that by an large already exists but isn't widely used and pushes it hard. USB, Firewire, and Airport, are all standards that Apple has lead the way in utilizing. And that is innovative.
And for the record, I still have yet to see an mp3 player that's as elegant as my 10gb iPod. It's a brilliant little piece of tech and probably the best purchase I've made this year. Too bad i now want one of the new ones ;)
-sam
And lord knows a poll is always accurate. "We polled 500 people, here's what all Americans think." There's lies, damn lies, and polling. *sigh*
-sam
Now having said that it is also worth pointing out that Kotor has sold a metric shitload of copies, proving that there's a market for more than ports of FPS games on the XBox. Of course you could say that Kotor is merely a port of a Windows RPG. Still, if Square-Enix was to release a FF game for Xbox it would sell quite a bit since I'd wager there are a lot of Xbox users like me, people in their 20's and 30's who cut their teeth on NES and SNES and look back on the old Square games with fondness.
-sam
I've always been partial to duh-bya, flows better.
-sam
-sam
FF5 officially came to the states as part of the Final Fantasy Anthology. Also included was FF6. FF4 and Chrono Trigger were bundled together as Final Fantasy Chronicles. And finally FF1 and FF2 were recently released as Final Fantasy Origins. Keen huh? -sam