Yes, I fear you've got a point... but we'll see how they handle the 2nd Amendment fight this year (should know by June, I think)... and then we'll know if the Supremes are simply a bunch of puppets for the new Federal Oligarchy, or if they're serious about upholding the Constitution.
Their ruling on the Imminent Domain (or lack thereof) was also troubling... considering their answer was not one... rather than kicking it back to the States... they specifically gave states their own "out"... by claiming it wasn't the Fed's business (even though the Constitution doesn't provide for the redistribution of property from one private party to another...) in so many words...
Bleh... States aer getting the shaft again and again... and with the financial "incentives" tied to every compliance, states are held over a barrel by the Feds at every turn.
I realize you're being absurdly funny, but still...
A Federal "Real ID" stomps all over the Constitutionally protected rights of States _and_ citizens. It's been a while since the feds have done such a bangup job stomping on _that_ much liberty.
Remember, the SS# was "never to be used as a means of personal identification..." And now look where we are. The Real ID is nothing more than a power grab and a consolidation of yet more Federal power... that the Congress complied with happily. Time to take the DHS to court... and let the Supremes decide if they can usurp authority that is _NOT_ enumerated to the Federal government.
I didn't think I would see such a reading comprehension problem with our government when it comes to the Constitution. Seems clear to me what it says... they may not like it, but I don't care. It's not their position to like it... it's their position to uphold it and keep it from becoming... well... Orwell's nightmare.
"Any "Bill of Rights" or "Constitution" will eventually become outdated and in need of change."
Absolute hogwash. Our Bill of Rights aren't GRANTED by the government... they exist outside any government. It's that simple. Why is it so hard to understand? Europe may believe that they aren't, but the United States does not. You mean to tell me there aren't any universal, basic human rights? So I could just kill you at some point, and because the right to live free is not universal and in need of change, and it'd be okay? Since universal rights aren't there.
C'mon... I'd think better of someone in an enlightened country like Sweden... The very idea that there _AREN'T_ basic rights the are universal to all humans is why tyrants are allowed to exist.
Our Founding Fathers stopped that trend... shame no one else has adopted the idea...
It's been said before in this thread, but I'd like to repeat it for the cheap seats.
If having a majority of movie studios supporting your format exclusively (through money or whatever... since both sides bribed studios) is somehow a viral "marketing" campaign... I'm not sure you know what the definition of that is... Timing the press releases to come out one after another following Warner's switch is merely a good strategy.... hardly viral.
While I agree the spin is atrocious regarding the format war... having 75% (a number that could be exaggerated) of the movie studios behind your format (like Blu-Ray does) is quite a significant amount...and if nothing else, gives good mindshare boosts to Blu-Ray... and when HD-DVD looks as if it is scrambling (as a group) to find the positives, the consumer will catch on that one is winning over the other, and then late-comers will catapult Blu-Ray forward at the expense of the HD-DVD section. With Blu-Ray snagging the big titles like LOTR and others, we're going to see people abandon HD-DVD when their favorite trilogy (or whatever) hits the competing format...
There are escape clauses in the "exclusive" deals Toshiba bought with Paramount, etc... and if they invoke them, HD-DVD's toast. Am I happy about that? Of course not.. I really don't have a personal loyalty either way... I own a PS3 and a few movies, but it's not because I bought the PS3 as a blu-ray player either.:)
The format war is indeed not good for anyone but the studios. They've been chomping at the bit to figure out a way to make you re-buy your movies... and voila! Hi-Def! Bah. Most movies suck anyway... seeing them suck with a more clear picture is pointless to me.
If the RIAA could figure out a way to make you re-buy your music again, they'd be pushing that format harder than even the movie studios are Hi-Def.
Amendments to the Constitution are hard for a reason... it's not up to a few people to tell me that my gun is illegal... it has to be a MAJORITY... A law passed by DC is NOT a negotiation of my rights. I understand the process, moron. Amendments (like Prohibition) were repealed... and laws that are unconstitutional are struck down by the process the founders set up from the beginning. It's simple to twist words... but let me make myself clear... PEOPLE who are UNDERMINING THE CONSTITUTION ARE SUBJECT TO the HARSHEST of punishments because they are trying to take YOUR and MY rights away that they cannot take, legislate, or negotiate out of existence. See the difference?
You do not have the right to tell me that I can't own a gun. Telling someone they can't own a gun is a command... saying someone shouldn't be allowed to own one is another matter. It'd be like me saying you can't have your opinions on the constitution. Who's right?
THe courts have refined the interpretation of "keep and bear arms" stuff you can carry... that's pretty much it. Anti-handgun laws passed by cities and states are unconstitutional... period. They just haven't been taken to the court to have them declared as such...
Crimes? Like I said, read Jefferson... the citizenry has the right GRANTED BY THE CONSTITUTION to form a new government at any point they wish. The government of the United States was set up specifically to be the will of the people.. and ALL the founding fathers understood that if it no longer represented the will of the people, we could start over... The government has lost that little bit of knowledge because people like you have argued little things to death and have believed the stupid line that the government is a benevolent entity... Specifically, Alex De Tocqueville (sp?) Said in so many words "america as a nation would be finished in its grand experiment of democracy when the government realizes it can bribe the people with their own money."
I'm done... everyone misses the point... These RIGHTS are not granted by the government... they ARE our rights... they CANNOT be sold, bought, traded, or removed. THEY EXIST OUTSIDE the realm of government and politics. They are NOT subject to negotiation.... and they are not "compromises" or "clarifications" of specific granted powers (why by the way, THE PEOPLE grant to the government, and as such CAN TAKE IT AWAY AT ANY TIME)... or amendments that prevent 5 term presidents...
It's not illegal to eliminate government that no longer represents the people... Sorry, it's codified in the very fabric of what the founders were after... a government that was NOT lording over the people, but the OTHER way around. So, it's illegal for the Army to go defend the constitution at the behest of the Congress and kill those who are enemies of the US and the Constitution? Get a new schtick.
Seriously.. you go right ahead and believe what you want... you're entitled to wallow in ignorance... but you aren't taking me with you... have a nice trip.
In short. You're full of it. (except the electronic device part... spot on!)
In detail (with respect to the 2nd Amendment)... you are completely full of shit, so much so that if someone squeezed your head, you'd become a chocolate fountain.:)
The RIGHT OF THE PEOPLE TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED. In deference to the militia? Sure, make me muster once a month in the town square with my shotgun and.357... I don't care... but goddamnit, THE GOVERNMENT CANNOT INFRINGE ON MY RIGHT TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS. End of story. There is no debate... there is no room to wiggle... there is no reason to try to take my guns in order to nanny-fy the US and "think of the children" or other nonsense. You have the personal liberty NOT to own a gun. You have neither the right nor the privilege to tell _ME_ that I cannot. That's the beauty of the Bill of Rights... RIGHTS... not "suggestions"... not "would be nice to have..." RIGHTS... rights that exist IRRESPECTIVE of any government... rights that are in the Constitution to remind those in power where THEIR boundaries are... WE THE PEOPLE, damnit!
Read some Jefferson, you'll come away with a different perspective on most everything regarding personal liberty...
As you can see, this is a very personal issue with me, considering all the mamby-pamby mushmouths trying to take my right away, that they clearly have NO authority or ability to do... but they still try. The Constitution is sacred... the Bill of Rights is sacred... that means I will defend it with my life if need be... and if it means eliminating people who are trying to undo that... so be it.
I am flexible on just about everything (but Disney... fuck them in the ass with a big rubber dick)... but the Constitution is not up to "negotiation" in my book. And I will not surrender my rights for ANY reason... my freedom is too precious to give away so someone can feel better about themselves.
As a gun owner, anti-gun people can march on the White House steps for all I care... it doesn't change MY RIGHT to KEEP and BEAR arms. Sorry... case closed.
They did advertise Leopard as "Unix certified".... (or something like that) but no, they don't flaunt the cli to most people.... (at least not in marketing rags or anything I've seen..)
Some of the people involved in the war crimes never actually _did_ the damning things to the Jews,gypsies,etc... Goering (who escaped the gallows through suicide) didn't fire up the ovens himself.... he and the other Nazi elite orchestrated (or for the $2 word.. "conspired") the whole thing. Most of the time, their defense was "we did as we were told", or "we didn't know." Throwing their beloved, and dead, leader under the bus to save their own asses at Nuremberg. They were just as guilty as those who put the Jews in ovens by their idealogical slant to enforce/coerce underlings to do so... Not because they had those ideas, but because they expressed them as "the thing to do" in germany.:)
There were some Nazis in the lower echelon who did some of the day to day work, but nothing really on the order of "the Nazis who had the stupid ideas were okay, but those who acted on their stupid ideas got the gallows." Other than the controversial use of Nazis in administrative duties (rather former Nazis) by Patton, most of them were either tried for being a Nazi and having either a hand in, or by their inaction allowing, the war crimes and atrocities to continue. And prisons were full at the time for this purge. Getting the "masterminds" was the key, and the Allies running the court did so to great success (even if some escaped their fate through suicide.)
Albert Speer, who was "just" an architect for the Reich, spent a huge amount of time in Spandau (sp?) prison (I forget how long), for his ideas and following that nutjob into global conflict and destruction. (and not doing anything about the atrocities, I'd wager... not that he could, really... but that's not the point of the trials...)
So, my point still stands... I am not defending the Nazis or their policies, actions, or whatever. I was just pointing out to the OP that they did hang people for the same ideas Fischer had... mental illness or not. (I don't know if anyone at the Nazi trials after WWII did use "crazy" as an excuse...)
As disgusting or hateful or idiotic someone's ideas are, I never advocate killing/silencing/oppressing anyone until they act on those ideas (and or incite others directly to do the same). Freedom of ideas is what separates us from the lesser life forms. Individuality is not something to suppress... no matter how much you or I would want to (Fischer and the Nazis were some stupid assed moronic anti-Semites.. for whatever origin... mental or otherwise.)
Bobby Fischer was either mentally ill or just an evil bastard... and since we know our history (and I've thought about it more), I'm leaning towards evil bastard.... Anyone who thinks otherwise is entitled to their opinion... just as I'm entitled to mine. Great chess player or not, he had some stupid, insensitive, hateful, and downright evil ideas...
Doesn't matter really... some people just don't get good humor...;) offtopic?:P bah.
And as a Mac user who knows how to fix his computers... (even the macs)... I'm doing just fine myself... Of course one of my macs runs Fedora... so that probably isn't technically a "mac" in the religious sense of the word...
Remember, though... guns don't kill people... windows computers do.
I submit that before interconnectivity of computers (ARPANET/Milnet/internet) there wasn't a substantial need for data exchange. (The big iron did it, the military already had exchanges of data, and the personal computing world was far from the corporate offices at IBM... recall their purchase of DOS from Microsoft for their own PC, which was licensed to the 'clone' makers... for reference. By far they were all late-comers to the game.) And since Microsoft dismissed the internet as a fad (remember Bill Gates' "The Road Ahead" 1.0?), they had zero to do with standardization and interconnectivity that moved us from separate machines to a common-threadwork. They merely moved themselves into indispensable roles in computing. Sort of like a really annoying middleman who tries to get involved with everything, but seemingly never innovates or implements standards correctly, causing havoc between him and the rest of the computing world (Which I submit is very different than "unifying" anything.) They didn't eliminate the connectivity problems between Apple and IBM machines, they didn't bring the various flavors of unix to the common ground we have today. If anything, the Intel corporation had more to do with that standardization than Microsoft ever did. (They just rode the software 'wagon' as far as it would take them before the government let the hammer fall on their illegal practices).
The internet itself moved the world to intercommunicate, first by protocol, then by data exchange. And Microsoft latched on for the ride... fighting kicking and screaming that the "standards" they proposed were falling off the radar because no one wanted locked into their vendor-specific view of the the interconnected world.
So, no, Microsoft still didn't make the world a better place for your data. It still attempts to balkanize the internet with its own subpar standards that violate interconnectivity outside of Windows to disastrous effect. (run Windows or go dark is their goal... thank God it won't happen...)
But your argument sounds like the proverbial "if your only tool is a hammer" mentality of "business" computing. Microsoft is convicted of abusing monopoly power to push out competition. They didn't bring anything to the masses, they crushed their rivals so it seemed like there _was_ no alternative. And they were convicted of it, too.
We should really tell all those Apple Macintosh users that wondering which platform to use is gone the way of CP/M. Or perhaps all the Linux users should consider the battle over and head to the Best Buy to get their Compaq Vista machines ASAP.:)
So, basically, your argument is hogwash and Microsoft's history (and current position) is nothing about moving computing forward... If anything, as others in this thread have stated, they have retarded innovation to the point of absurdity in some areas of development simply to maintain their 95% marketshare. The machines we use, the operating systems we use, and the devices we use don't matter... the ability to read others' documents and data is the key.. and Microsoft has been actively trying to stomp that out of existence even with their own formats. (Thank God they didn't have anything to do with the Internet...)
I really didn't clarify that percentage statement well... I should've left off the percentages and asked what would be considered high... which is what drove my original reply... (I misconstrued all around, of course.)
You have made some excellent points... don't worry about "dickhead" mode... we're all guilty of that from time to time.:-) Your point about parts and pieces is very insightful... and with the "dead" console threads floating around the net, you'd think the root cause was the same. I have no way of knowing that. (And by the way, the only console in the last 3 generations that have failed on me was my original XBox... not the hard drive, but the DRE issue that caused it to stop reading anything, including movies and CDs.) That doesn't make me hate MS any more, and I don't want others to consider that a thorn in my side that I'm trying to lash out in forums to alleviate. (I hate them for their OS more than their games... and I used to love their original Natural Keyboards...)
I did a recent scan of youtube, and there's a bunch of clips on how to fix a magnetic piece that flies off the DVD drive on the 360... Another third party item that had a bad batch, I assume. (the infamous "scratched disc" threads... at least those who didn't turn or nudge their xboxes while running)
I think after two tries MS is learning. They will not stop trying, of course (even in Japan)... and I think Sony's fumbles early on have caught them off guard (not really feeling the original XBox a threat) and they are learning too. Next gen ought to be fun to watch... in spite of Sony's "10 year plan" for their PS3... (the Ps2 is still around, so I tend to believe them...)
I really love the new consoles (I can't say about the Wii, since I've never seen a box for sale around here since launch) and I hope they both succeed... that means more games for me.;) Until I get too old and feeble to use the controllers (when the dualshock 3 gets over here, I might have to stick with the Sixaxis.... heheh.)
I tend to use defect and flaw interchangeably. I really should just pick one.... "design flaw" in the heat sinks is what I think the biggest weakness (and the only thing I have any empirical evidence of with the redesigned heatsinks). I don't think it's the cause of all the warranty repairs... just a larger than normal percentage. (There are some real idiots fiddling with electronics these days). I really shouldn't imply that is the only reason for warranty work. That's my fault... The "defect rate" as it specifically relates to the consoles sent to McAllen TX, is something we'll probably never get a handle on... unless it hits the courts for some reason (there are a couple of class-action suits in California, iirc, flowing through the system... dunno their outcomes or progress... I hate class-action suits personally... they only make lawyers rich.)
Thanks for clarifying... and now we're on the same page (relatively speaking... miniscule details aside)... it's good to end 2007 officially with a great exchange. Thanks for the point of view. It is worth all the chest-thumping sometimes...:)
While I agree (even if you did call me a dipshit... even though if you'll take your own advice and read the thread, I didn't claim any percentage, but hey... what's facts these days? I asked specificially "what is a big deal? 20% not high? 30%? Where exactly did I say "published reports have the failure rate a x%" I used the original AC's number as a jumping off point to question the hyperbole of "high" in terms of failure. Because I got the impression that you were intent on minimizing the issue with the 3RR. If we are on the same page (and for the most part, I think we are), I apologize for misconstruing your post as a defense of the Big Redmond Monster. I did not, will not, and do not, take that percentage as gospel. Since MS is the only one who knows for sure, no one has a % handy.) So, I put this up at the top so your ADHD doesn't miss it. *grin*
I do agree that certain causes of the 360's problems can be attributed to misuse (and misuse could get the 3 RRoD)... the fact that you seem to keep ignoring is the "PR" (or because as you so eloquently put it "monkey see monkey do") stunt that cost MS $1 billion in warranty work stems from the thing I've said it was (and I'm not the only one) all along. a _design_ flaw, or a flaw introduced to cut corners. It's a flaw. It affects 100% of the consoles designed before the heatsink change (that we know of... because we don't know if the redesigned heatsink will fix the problem), and it will not go away this generation, even if they _do_ fix it, because there are so many out there produced in the first two years of the console's life that are just waiting to fail on them. Sorry, Indiana Jones warehouse or not, the consoles are not all fixed by any means... that'd be TONS of sold worldwide... after two years, how many had they sold? And I can safely say that March-April 2006 was the first time anyone had seen any design changes to the heatsinks. So up to that point, there were _quite_ a few flawed ones still on the shelf. Any specific number is all speculation. I might be missing where you're going with your argument. I do say this is FAR more damaging a flaw than some idiot who tosses his Wiimote at the TV. That is user idiocy, coupled with a strap that didn't plan for the morons using the console. Applying the reasonable man test exonerates the Nintendo people, and any suits brought are just silly. The PS2's problem, which had a PR meltdown (but didn't affect sales of the PS2 for some reason, overall) because it refused to admit there's a problem. Guess what? Microsoft has _never_ admitted officially that there's a problem. They won't confirm or deny a flaw exists, nor will they commit to how many have been fixed under warranty for the 3 Red rings, and they will not tell you which ones have the "new" solution to the problem that they refuse to admit exists. It's all very secret hush-hush with them, because of what I stated in a previous post w/r/t recalls.
So, in terms of PR... simply throwing money out the window is the same as Sony... the only difference is, there are far too many people who don't pay attention (not as astute as you or I) sending their Xboxes back in a vacuum. Because like the PS2 flaw, many people will deny it existed because their console's fine. And as many 360 owners unwrapped their bundle of off-white joy recently will attest... theirs is fine too... So in come the deny-o-trons, scoping out threads like this and crapping them with their anecdotal "MS rulez" nonsense, and we're back at the original PS2 issue... with a bit more press.;) We can agree on one thing (or more, if you squint a little)... there are FAR too many fanboys this generation. WAY more vocal than before... attesting to the democratization of the internet and the proliferation of cheap access for morons who can't spell.:)
Ah, you have a good one too... I'm going to enjoy New Year's.;)
woohoo... glad you could spend some maturity points, AC. I really don't know why I'm still responding... but here goes..;0
$1 billion hit was to prevent a class-action recall... simple as that. They're not benevolent. Maybe in your world... but not the real one.
You admitted it was pretty darned high... that's all I asked. It's not a small problem, an "isolated" problem, nor is it a problem that will go away if you post enough AC fanboyisms to stem the tide of reality. It's as simple as that.
I don't know the actual percentage (thanks for harping on that like some OCD sufferer), but anything over 5% is a systemic flaw that can lead to a recall... simply put, if you've got 10% of the cars shorting out on the freeway from a particular line or manufacturer, there's a substantial recall process that they go through to fix the _DESIGN_ flaw (that's key here... it's not misuse, it's not humidity, gremlins, or the Pope). If Microsoft made cars, we'd have already seen a recall and replacement/fix for each and every console they sold up to the point that they updated their heatsinks. Does it fix the problem? Who knows?)
So, my friend, you can spend your mommy's college fund arguing nebulous percentages (and whether or not I'm psychic and guessed the right one)... If you recall, I asked you how high was too high? (I didn't quote 30% as gospel... I was asking rhetorically, since you're some AC nut, if it would take 20% or 30% to make it seem like a really big deal... in so many words...) If it came from Sony's PR firm, I don't give two monkeys... the facts remain... Microsoft has a flawed console... they take a hit to extend EVERYONE's warranty _for a particular flaw_ to 3 years... they have massive PR flak for not admitting the flaw or even admitting it (even if you think it was a gesture of good faith or actively fixing a problem... more like to me actively covering their asses), with the exception of the now-probably-fired employee who mentioned 100% of the consoles in the wild _at that time_ suffered from the particular weakness and will most likely fail. They _have_ updated the console's GPU heatsink... and they are actively reducing the mfgr. size of the chips to avoid heat related issues in the future... (and to bring costs down... but you get the idea...)
Grow up? Wise words you could possibly heed yourself.... Do have a pleasant day, though....
You're worth a giggle or two... but that's about it. Back to mom's basement you go! I kid... I kid... lighten up AC... this is the internet... no one's civil here.
Surprise! I have a 360 Elite. Got it in August... sold my original Premium... and I have a PS3... that must make me schizophrenic! Or a fanboy torn between two loyalties! It'd make for a good Lifetime movie, though....
You've got a point (actual values are a mystery...)
I don't think MS would have taken the hit and extended the warranty for the flaw in the 360 if it were _only_ 5%. Sony never acknowledged the flaw in the PS2 launch unit's laser, yet they fixed them within a normal warranty (and charged for outside of it)... and I'd say that was a good % of units (my launch unit was unaffected.) Microsoft (in spite of being a publicly held company) does not disclose their failure rate, so we're all left to speculate the number of units. But when it's on television, not to mention newspapers... it's not a bunch of vocal bloggers and people on enthusiast websites making the news. I've always said it was to avoid a full-scale recall of the affected systems.... but only Bill Gates knows for sure.;)
I've been moderated harshly for having contrary opinions, but mostly I get a load of morons replying to my posts with mostly nonsense.;)
Additionally, while I take most failure issues with a grain of salt, including the PS2's laser issue, the fact that Microsoft is extending the warranty for a specific failure in the 360 lends credence to the fact that this flaw isn't simply something we take with a healthy dose of skepticism. (A little is good.. considering the actual % of failures... but the issue still exists..)
I try to avoid the fanboys (on both sides).... I still enjoy my 360... no dispute there... so it's not like I have a personal vendetta against the system.... I just feel MS is misleading the public to prevent slumps in sales (it appears to be working... well, with the game stable they have these days, it's hard to avoid it.)
AC... you're all the same to me. You underestimate the flaw as much as most people overestimate it. Fanboy? No, but if it walks like a duck....
My 360 is fine. It's not a launch system, but it still works. Sounds like _you_ need to lighten up.
Only a fanboy would defend the flaw of a system as not as bad as it was, when the warranty _for_ the specific flaw cost MS $1 billion. Quite a big hit for a "small" flaw....
Post with your real name if you're so certain of your opinion... if not... blather on... no one's listening.
Good point.... I really didn't want to imply that I was thinking the OP was correct in his assumptions, just that tempered with a bit of pragmatism, we're seeing less of a "doom and gloom" scenario than we saw for any console at any point in its lifecycle (Dreamcast included). We're both on the same page, and I've enjoyed the discussion...
Yeah, I forgot N.D. was a Sony owned developer... explains why the game is fairly flawless... it's their own house.;) Insomniac I would assume had the same arrangement (for longer) that we saw with Bioware (if I had to guess.)
What MS and Sony need to do is court more situations like Insomniac and the pre-Christmas Bioware so that they can gain an edge... but I'm no mogul.;)
I really should be playing the new DLC for Bioshock...;) heh. Or maybe Folklore.;)
I suspect we'll see Bungie jumping onto either the Wii or the PS3 sooner rather than later... they can't let revenue slip away because of brand loyalty..... I'm just speculating.;) It was still a bit vague, although more negative towards other consoles than some of the summaries I read.
While I agree the tone of the original response was a overtly harsh, and the person's obviously frustrated with the 360 (perhaps his/her unit died on them right at Christmas time).... I still think that MS is potentially losing future goodwill and mindshare with how the console has been even less reliable than their first attempt... (the only console I've had fail since my 2600 has been my first gen XBox... even my launch PS2 is still working, beating the odds there I suspect..) Still, their attempt to avoid a recall was at least a positive step (something Sony never did...) If their redesign helps, and their new 65nm systems come around to mass quantities, the goodwill lost might not be permanent... but I'm not sure how to know, without seeing the sales for the XBox 720..;)
Ace Combat 6 sold well in Japan... for a week... bringing up 360 system sales to a respectable level... but the next week, the blip was off... and I suspect that might've had something to do with the eventual PS3 port of the game coming next year... (That's Japan... Microsoft might as well abandon trying there... it's hopeless...) But with the exception of the US, the PS3 has seen much better overall sales in Europe and Japan, which is nice but still behind the 360 with its head of steam. We're seeing the Wii break all records, but not having the attach rate the 360/Ps3 has in terms of software sales (more important to Sony and MS who lose on the hardware, but still...) So I think the 360 will do fine, but it's not all rosy.;) It's much better than the AC's painting of it, to be sure... and that we can agree on. I just don't have as positive a picture as some do... probably because I'm old.:)
If you distill AC's focus down to the failure rate... I would agree that the 360's a mess because of it. (It creates bad press at the least, but pissed-off customers are harder to let slide into obscurity than an article decrying the QA at Redmond.) The billion dollar slice out of the pie for repairing a particular flaw is really cutting their overall success (since they've not really made a hefty Nintendo-esque profit on their VG venture since they started), but they have made up for it with at least great games (so far... albeit FPS heavy this generation for some reason...) I still suspect that things will be stinging over there for a while in the division that handles the 360.
The Orange Box did finally come out for Christmas on the PS3... but the sales lead for the 360 was substantial (not to mention Valve's asinine port handoff to some no-name company). I think the PS3 had a great lineup too... Folklore (a bit older, but a good game) Heavenly Sword (short, but VERY good), Ratchet & Clank (everyone owes it to themselves to try that one... superb), and Uncharted were all top notch releases the PS3 didn't have last year... and with a $400 console in the pipeline, we're finally going to see some decent competition for Microsoft's lead... (competition's great for the gamer...) Devil May Cry 4 is on the horizon... along with some other neat titles... should be a good year for both systems... (I don't own a Wii, so I cannot speculate on how the library stacks up...)
As for exclusivity... I think the AC was harsh about that, but considering everyone in the press and online gave Sony so much shit for not having any exclusives, or timed exclusives, saying they were doomed because of it has finally come back full circle to Microsoft... But the tune's not the same anymore for some reason. Losing some 3rd party supporter exclusivity (at least in the short term) will look bad more than actually _be_ bad, but if the games keep coming for both systems, we can see
As for this first claim, I cannot back the new consoles vs. original design because Microsoft is _hiding_ that information. You can't even tell which ones on the shelf have the flaw and which do not without a pad and paper (where it was made, when, what "team" put it together....etc.) So we'll never get anywhere trying to decide if the flaw was fixed or not until this generation is over, I suspect (if ever.) And without a screwdriver or a flashlight, you can't tell if your console on the shelf is "flawed" or "fixed".... so that's moot, but a good point that it's probably anecdotal.
As for Bioware being bought, yes... they were a Microsoft "partner" (read: got big bags of money to make a few MS exclusive games)... but Bungie WAS microsoft's pride and joy and they LEFT. Bioshock and Mass Effect should be heading for the PS3 next year (I'd wager... and the Bioware PR guy basically hinted that the PS3 was getting Mass Effect in the next year). IIRC, Bungie has never publicly stated they were not going to develop for other consoles, and neither did they say they were... it's someone reading between the lines, I suspect... because their PR-like statement made it sound like all was wonderful in MS-land, and they hated to leave the big nest...;) If you have a more specific quote, I'd appreciate the link...
From someone who played Mass Effect, the slowdown and popup can be unbearably bad... particularly during the oft-overdone battle sequences. It is _NOT_ "cinema quality", unless you count the grain filter addition (which you can turn off) as an "aspect of compelling cinema"... When you're looking at stills and statics, the game is superb. It's when you move around too much or have too many things on the screen that we see the flaws. It was a good effort by Bioware, but I think it fell short... combat was too problematic, the rover was a pitiful thing to _attempt_ to drive... and the story was, in effect, a bit too linear to be such an "open" game. Some people liked it though.
Let's talk Halo 3. It's not even 720p. Good? Sure, but not great... certainly not the 2nd coming (as the article mentions). But why was it not up to the hype MS marketing had for it? I'd consider that little gem to be a bit of a PR disaster, rather than a graphics disaster (but when you couple that with the hyperbole from Redmond regarding their console, it really does seem like a gfx disaster.) Does it make for an un-fun game? I don't think so... but then again, I never liked Halo... Sure it sold millions... MS counted on that. But if it represents the epitome of "next gen" gaming... they should really stop and take a deep breath... and maybe play Bioshock or Gears of War... (the latter being not an FPS, but very graphically impressive, IMO.)
Third party exclusiveness isn't ANYONE's strong point this generation, if you hadn't noticed. And Sony still has a lock on MANY developers that won't do an XBox title... or if they do, it'll be long after the PS3 title has moved to the bargain bin... Nintendo never has had a lock on third party anything (that's for another post, though).... but this generation has seen the death knell of 'third party exclusives'. If you want to play a Sony game, you have to buy a Sony... if you want to play a MS game, you have to buy an Xbox, and so on... but for Namco, Capcom, Bioware, etc etc... you can pick any of the offerings.;)
As you may have guessed.. I own a 360 and a PS3. So, I'm neither one's fanboy... I just want to balance both ends of the anecdotal spectrum with a bit of my own.;) And a few additional factoids to make the process all the more complicated.:)
They took a billion dollar hit to their bottom line to STOP the bleeding of consoles... they admitted (in no uncertain terms) that EVERY console they sold (up to that point) was potentially destined to fail... and fail for the SAME FLAW.
20% not high? 30%? How many consoles have to go back to Microsoft (and how many times), before you admit there's a flaw in the 360 that is VERY troubling and VERY problematic for their goodwill and future as a gaming company.
The failure rate of the PS3 is infinitesimal. Google is your friend. The Wii's also a solid performer. Compared to the 360 the PS2 launch console is more reliable.
You've been nursing Bill Gates' ballsack too long to notice the facts DO support his statement... and it's NOT fanboy rhetoric when the VERY company extends the warranty for a _SPECIFIC_ failure to 3 YEARS, for FREE. That had "class action dodge" written ALL over it, chum.
AC, indeed. Sometimes your asinine insinuations really get to me.
Too true.. and the only reason that Texas and Florida (dunno about others) don't have a state tax is that it's in the Constitution that the people have to vote one in... drives the politicians batty that they cannot pass a state tax without the people's consent.:)
Taxing things to pay for other things works when everyone uses that particular thing, or the revenue generated is 100% from the users of it (like a gas or cigarette tax) and non-users are not incidentally taxed as a result. (school taxes are _not_ among those because people with no children contribute to the system's coffers even though they do not use the schools...), but charging Video game taxes is particularly grasping at a revenue source (or potential revenue source) to fund a problem that is not of Video game's making. It forces people who do not have anything to do with the problem to pay for those who do (and frequently would not contribute to the tax itself, if you believe statistics.) I'm sure other taxes people pay in Wisconsin cover the expense in question, but like all political issues, it's never enough money... "new" fees and taxes are always preferable to raising existing ones.
A similar analogy would be to tax people who don't use gasoline a similar use-based tax for riding the bus (in spite of other taxes they pay, in addition to fees to ride pay for their minor use of the road that the state is missing because they don't have a car). It spreads "equity" if you consider being a resident the barometer. It does not, however, address the inequity of burden on the infrastructure.
Slashdot Mirror
Yes, I fear you've got a point... but we'll see how they handle the 2nd Amendment fight this year (should know by June, I think)... and then we'll know if the Supremes are simply a bunch of puppets for the new Federal Oligarchy, or if they're serious about upholding the Constitution.
Their ruling on the Imminent Domain (or lack thereof) was also troubling... considering their answer was not one... rather than kicking it back to the States... they specifically gave states their own "out"... by claiming it wasn't the Fed's business (even though the Constitution doesn't provide for the redistribution of property from one private party to another...) in so many words...
Bleh... States aer getting the shaft again and again... and with the financial "incentives" tied to every compliance, states are held over a barrel by the Feds at every turn.
Sure. If you got the cash....
I realize you're being absurdly funny, but still...
A Federal "Real ID" stomps all over the Constitutionally protected rights of States _and_ citizens. It's been a while since the feds have done such a bangup job stomping on _that_ much liberty.
Remember, the SS# was "never to be used as a means of personal identification..." And now look where we are. The Real ID is nothing more than a power grab and a consolidation of yet more Federal power... that the Congress complied with happily. Time to take the DHS to court... and let the Supremes decide if they can usurp authority that is _NOT_ enumerated to the Federal government.
I didn't think I would see such a reading comprehension problem with our government when it comes to the Constitution. Seems clear to me what it says... they may not like it, but I don't care. It's not their position to like it... it's their position to uphold it and keep it from becoming... well... Orwell's nightmare.
"Any "Bill of Rights" or "Constitution" will eventually become outdated and in need of change."
Absolute hogwash. Our Bill of Rights aren't GRANTED by the government... they exist outside any government. It's that simple. Why is it so hard to understand? Europe may believe that they aren't, but the United States does not. You mean to tell me there aren't any universal, basic human rights? So I could just kill you at some point, and because the right to live free is not universal and in need of change, and it'd be okay? Since universal rights aren't there.
C'mon... I'd think better of someone in an enlightened country like Sweden... The very idea that there _AREN'T_ basic rights the are universal to all humans is why tyrants are allowed to exist.
Our Founding Fathers stopped that trend... shame no one else has adopted the idea...
It's been said before in this thread, but I'd like to repeat it for the cheap seats.
If having a majority of movie studios supporting your format exclusively (through money or whatever... since both sides bribed studios) is somehow a viral "marketing" campaign... I'm not sure you know what the definition of that is... Timing the press releases to come out one after another following Warner's switch is merely a good strategy.... hardly viral.
While I agree the spin is atrocious regarding the format war... having 75% (a number that could be exaggerated) of the movie studios behind your format (like Blu-Ray does) is quite a significant amount...and if nothing else, gives good mindshare boosts to Blu-Ray... and when HD-DVD looks as if it is scrambling (as a group) to find the positives, the consumer will catch on that one is winning over the other, and then late-comers will catapult Blu-Ray forward at the expense of the HD-DVD section. With Blu-Ray snagging the big titles like LOTR and others, we're going to see people abandon HD-DVD when their favorite trilogy (or whatever) hits the competing format...
:)
:)
There are escape clauses in the "exclusive" deals Toshiba bought with Paramount, etc... and if they invoke them, HD-DVD's toast. Am I happy about that? Of course not.. I really don't have a personal loyalty either way... I own a PS3 and a few movies, but it's not because I bought the PS3 as a blu-ray player either.
The format war is indeed not good for anyone but the studios. They've been chomping at the bit to figure out a way to make you re-buy your movies... and voila! Hi-Def! Bah. Most movies suck anyway... seeing them suck with a more clear picture is pointless to me.
If the RIAA could figure out a way to make you re-buy your music again, they'd be pushing that format harder than even the movie studios are Hi-Def.
It's fun to watch them scramble, though.
Amendments to the Constitution are hard for a reason... it's not up to a few people to tell me that my gun is illegal... it has to be a MAJORITY... A law passed by DC is NOT a negotiation of my rights. I understand the process, moron. Amendments (like Prohibition) were repealed... and laws that are unconstitutional are struck down by the process the founders set up from the beginning. It's simple to twist words... but let me make myself clear... PEOPLE who are UNDERMINING THE CONSTITUTION ARE SUBJECT TO the HARSHEST of punishments because they are trying to take YOUR and MY rights away that they cannot take, legislate, or negotiate out of existence. See the difference?
You do not have the right to tell me that I can't own a gun. Telling someone they can't own a gun is a command... saying someone shouldn't be allowed to own one is another matter. It'd be like me saying you can't have your opinions on the constitution. Who's right?
THe courts have refined the interpretation of "keep and bear arms" stuff you can carry... that's pretty much it. Anti-handgun laws passed by cities and states are unconstitutional... period. They just haven't been taken to the court to have them declared as such...
Crimes? Like I said, read Jefferson... the citizenry has the right GRANTED BY THE CONSTITUTION to form a new government at any point they wish. The government of the United States was set up specifically to be the will of the people.. and ALL the founding fathers understood that if it no longer represented the will of the people, we could start over... The government has lost that little bit of knowledge because people like you have argued little things to death and have believed the stupid line that the government is a benevolent entity... Specifically, Alex De Tocqueville (sp?) Said in so many words "america as a nation would be finished in its grand experiment of democracy when the government realizes it can bribe the people with their own money."
I'm done... everyone misses the point... These RIGHTS are not granted by the government... they ARE our rights... they CANNOT be sold, bought, traded, or removed. THEY EXIST OUTSIDE the realm of government and politics. They are NOT subject to negotiation.... and they are not "compromises" or "clarifications" of specific granted powers (why by the way, THE PEOPLE grant to the government, and as such CAN TAKE IT AWAY AT ANY TIME)... or amendments that prevent 5 term presidents...
It's not illegal to eliminate government that no longer represents the people... Sorry, it's codified in the very fabric of what the founders were after... a government that was NOT lording over the people, but the OTHER way around. So, it's illegal for the Army to go defend the constitution at the behest of the Congress and kill those who are enemies of the US and the Constitution? Get a new schtick.
Seriously.. you go right ahead and believe what you want... you're entitled to wallow in ignorance... but you aren't taking me with you... have a nice trip.
In short. You're full of it. (except the electronic device part... spot on!)
:)
.357... I don't care... but goddamnit, THE GOVERNMENT CANNOT INFRINGE ON MY RIGHT TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS. End of story. There is no debate... there is no room to wiggle... there is no reason to try to take my guns in order to nanny-fy the US and "think of the children" or other nonsense. You have the personal liberty NOT to own a gun. You have neither the right nor the privilege to tell _ME_ that I cannot. That's the beauty of the Bill of Rights... RIGHTS... not "suggestions"... not "would be nice to have..." RIGHTS... rights that exist IRRESPECTIVE of any government... rights that are in the Constitution to remind those in power where THEIR boundaries are... WE THE PEOPLE, damnit!
In detail (with respect to the 2nd Amendment)... you are completely full of shit, so much so that if someone squeezed your head, you'd become a chocolate fountain.
The RIGHT OF THE PEOPLE TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED. In deference to the militia? Sure, make me muster once a month in the town square with my shotgun and
Read some Jefferson, you'll come away with a different perspective on most everything regarding personal liberty...
As you can see, this is a very personal issue with me, considering all the mamby-pamby mushmouths trying to take my right away, that they clearly have NO authority or ability to do... but they still try. The Constitution is sacred... the Bill of Rights is sacred... that means I will defend it with my life if need be... and if it means eliminating people who are trying to undo that... so be it.
I am flexible on just about everything (but Disney... fuck them in the ass with a big rubber dick)... but the Constitution is not up to "negotiation" in my book. And I will not surrender my rights for ANY reason... my freedom is too precious to give away so someone can feel better about themselves.
As a gun owner, anti-gun people can march on the White House steps for all I care... it doesn't change MY RIGHT to KEEP and BEAR arms. Sorry... case closed.
No, WMP11 may not stop you from using pro tools, but the Vista approved DRM infested video drivers WILL.
:)
Seriously... stop using apple software... it's obvious you hate it..
They did advertise Leopard as "Unix certified".... (or something like that)
but no, they don't flaunt the cli to most people.... (at least not in marketing rags or anything I've seen..)
Some of the people involved in the war crimes never actually _did_ the damning things to the Jews,gypsies,etc... Goering (who escaped the gallows through suicide) didn't fire up the ovens himself.... he and the other Nazi elite orchestrated (or for the $2 word.. "conspired") the whole thing. Most of the time, their defense was "we did as we were told", or "we didn't know." Throwing their beloved, and dead, leader under the bus to save their own asses at Nuremberg. They were just as guilty as those who put the Jews in ovens by their idealogical slant to enforce/coerce underlings to do so... Not because they had those ideas, but because they expressed them as "the thing to do" in germany. :)
There were some Nazis in the lower echelon who did some of the day to day work, but nothing really on the order of "the Nazis who had the stupid ideas were okay, but those who acted on their stupid ideas got the gallows." Other than the controversial use of Nazis in administrative duties (rather former Nazis) by Patton, most of them were either tried for being a Nazi and having either a hand in, or by their inaction allowing, the war crimes and atrocities to continue. And prisons were full at the time for this purge. Getting the "masterminds" was the key, and the Allies running the court did so to great success (even if some escaped their fate through suicide.)
Albert Speer, who was "just" an architect for the Reich, spent a huge amount of time in Spandau (sp?) prison (I forget how long), for his ideas and following that nutjob into global conflict and destruction. (and not doing anything about the atrocities, I'd wager... not that he could, really... but that's not the point of the trials...)
So, my point still stands... I am not defending the Nazis or their policies, actions, or whatever. I was just pointing out to the OP that they did hang people for the same ideas Fischer had... mental illness or not. (I don't know if anyone at the Nazi trials after WWII did use "crazy" as an excuse...)
As disgusting or hateful or idiotic someone's ideas are, I never advocate killing/silencing/oppressing anyone until they act on those ideas (and or incite others directly to do the same). Freedom of ideas is what separates us from the lesser life forms. Individuality is not something to suppress... no matter how much you or I would want to (Fischer and the Nazis were some stupid assed moronic anti-Semites.. for whatever origin... mental or otherwise.)
Bobby Fischer was either mentally ill or just an evil bastard... and since we know our history (and I've thought about it more), I'm leaning towards evil bastard.... Anyone who thinks otherwise is entitled to their opinion... just as I'm entitled to mine. Great chess player or not, he had some stupid, insensitive, hateful, and downright evil ideas...
They hanged Nazis for the same ideas... the only difference is Fischer didn't act out his hatred. (That we know of...)
Doesn't matter really... some people just don't get good humor... ;) offtopic? :P bah.
And as a Mac user who knows how to fix his computers... (even the macs)... I'm doing just fine myself... Of course one of my macs runs Fedora... so that probably isn't technically a "mac" in the religious sense of the word...
Remember, though... guns don't kill people... windows computers do.
You should find better friends....
I submit that before interconnectivity of computers (ARPANET/Milnet/internet) there wasn't a substantial need for data exchange. (The big iron did it, the military already had exchanges of data, and the personal computing world was far from the corporate offices at IBM... recall their purchase of DOS from Microsoft for their own PC, which was licensed to the 'clone' makers... for reference. By far they were all late-comers to the game.) And since Microsoft dismissed the internet as a fad (remember Bill Gates' "The Road Ahead" 1.0?), they had zero to do with standardization and interconnectivity that moved us from separate machines to a common-threadwork. They merely moved themselves into indispensable roles in computing. Sort of like a really annoying middleman who tries to get involved with everything, but seemingly never innovates or implements standards correctly, causing havoc between him and the rest of the computing world (Which I submit is very different than "unifying" anything.) They didn't eliminate the connectivity problems between Apple and IBM machines, they didn't bring the various flavors of unix to the common ground we have today. If anything, the Intel corporation had more to do with that standardization than Microsoft ever did. (They just rode the software 'wagon' as far as it would take them before the government let the hammer fall on their illegal practices).
The internet itself moved the world to intercommunicate, first by protocol, then by data exchange. And Microsoft latched on for the ride... fighting kicking and screaming that the "standards" they proposed were falling off the radar because no one wanted locked into their vendor-specific view of the the interconnected world.
So, no, Microsoft still didn't make the world a better place for your data. It still attempts to balkanize the internet with its own subpar standards that violate interconnectivity outside of Windows to disastrous effect. (run Windows or go dark is their goal... thank God it won't happen...)
Sorry to venture off topic,
:)
But your argument sounds like the proverbial "if your only tool is a hammer" mentality of "business" computing. Microsoft is convicted of abusing monopoly power to push out competition. They didn't bring anything to the masses, they crushed their rivals so it seemed like there _was_ no alternative. And they were convicted of it, too.
We should really tell all those Apple Macintosh users that wondering which platform to use is gone the way of CP/M. Or perhaps all the Linux users should consider the battle over and head to the Best Buy to get their Compaq Vista machines ASAP.
So, basically, your argument is hogwash and Microsoft's history (and current position) is nothing about moving computing forward... If anything, as others in this thread have stated, they have retarded innovation to the point of absurdity in some areas of development simply to maintain their 95% marketshare.
The machines we use, the operating systems we use, and the devices we use don't matter... the ability to read others' documents and data is the key.. and Microsoft has been actively trying to stomp that out of existence even with their own formats. (Thank God they didn't have anything to do with the Internet...)
I really didn't clarify that percentage statement well... I should've left off the percentages and asked what would be considered high... which is what drove my original reply... (I misconstrued all around, of course.)
:-) Your point about parts and pieces is very insightful... and with the "dead" console threads floating around the net, you'd think the root cause was the same. I have no way of knowing that. (And by the way, the only console in the last 3 generations that have failed on me was my original XBox... not the hard drive, but the DRE issue that caused it to stop reading anything, including movies and CDs.) That doesn't make me hate MS any more, and I don't want others to consider that a thorn in my side that I'm trying to lash out in forums to alleviate. (I hate them for their OS more than their games... and I used to love their original Natural Keyboards...)
;) Until I get too old and feeble to use the controllers (when the dualshock 3 gets over here, I might have to stick with the Sixaxis.... heheh.)
:)
;)
You have made some excellent points... don't worry about "dickhead" mode... we're all guilty of that from time to time.
I did a recent scan of youtube, and there's a bunch of clips on how to fix a magnetic piece that flies off the DVD drive on the 360... Another third party item that had a bad batch, I assume. (the infamous "scratched disc" threads... at least those who didn't turn or nudge their xboxes while running)
I think after two tries MS is learning. They will not stop trying, of course (even in Japan)... and I think Sony's fumbles early on have caught them off guard (not really feeling the original XBox a threat) and they are learning too. Next gen ought to be fun to watch... in spite of Sony's "10 year plan" for their PS3... (the Ps2 is still around, so I tend to believe them...)
I really love the new consoles (I can't say about the Wii, since I've never seen a box for sale around here since launch) and I hope they both succeed... that means more games for me.
I tend to use defect and flaw interchangeably. I really should just pick one.... "design flaw" in the heat sinks is what I think the biggest weakness (and the only thing I have any empirical evidence of with the redesigned heatsinks). I don't think it's the cause of all the warranty repairs... just a larger than normal percentage. (There are some real idiots fiddling with electronics these days). I really shouldn't imply that is the only reason for warranty work. That's my fault... The "defect rate" as it specifically relates to the consoles sent to McAllen TX, is something we'll probably never get a handle on... unless it hits the courts for some reason (there are a couple of class-action suits in California, iirc, flowing through the system... dunno their outcomes or progress... I hate class-action suits personally... they only make lawyers rich.)
Thanks for clarifying... and now we're on the same page (relatively speaking... miniscule details aside)... it's good to end 2007 officially with a great exchange. Thanks for the point of view. It is worth all the chest-thumping sometimes...
Now if only the fanboys could learn that....
While I agree (even if you did call me a dipshit... even though if you'll take your own advice and read the thread, I didn't claim any percentage, but hey... what's facts these days? I asked specificially "what is a big deal? 20% not high? 30%? Where exactly did I say "published reports have the failure rate a x%" I used the original AC's number as a jumping off point to question the hyperbole of "high" in terms of failure. Because I got the impression that you were intent on minimizing the issue with the 3RR. If we are on the same page (and for the most part, I think we are), I apologize for misconstruing your post as a defense of the Big Redmond Monster. I did not, will not, and do not, take that percentage as gospel. Since MS is the only one who knows for sure, no one has a % handy.) So, I put this up at the top so your ADHD doesn't miss it. *grin*
;) We can agree on one thing (or more, if you squint a little)... there are FAR too many fanboys this generation. WAY more vocal than before... attesting to the democratization of the internet and the proliferation of cheap access for morons who can't spell. :)
;)
I do agree that certain causes of the 360's problems can be attributed to misuse (and misuse could get the 3 RRoD)... the fact that you seem to keep ignoring is the "PR" (or because as you so eloquently put it "monkey see monkey do") stunt that cost MS $1 billion in warranty work stems from the thing I've said it was (and I'm not the only one) all along. a _design_ flaw, or a flaw introduced to cut corners. It's a flaw. It affects 100% of the consoles designed before the heatsink change (that we know of... because we don't know if the redesigned heatsink will fix the problem), and it will not go away this generation, even if they _do_ fix it, because there are so many out there produced in the first two years of the console's life that are just waiting to fail on them. Sorry, Indiana Jones warehouse or not, the consoles are not all fixed by any means... that'd be TONS of sold worldwide... after two years, how many had they sold? And I can safely say that March-April 2006 was the first time anyone had seen any design changes to the heatsinks. So up to that point, there were _quite_ a few flawed ones still on the shelf. Any specific number is all speculation. I might be missing where you're going with your argument. I do say this is FAR more damaging a flaw than some idiot who tosses his Wiimote at the TV. That is user idiocy, coupled with a strap that didn't plan for the morons using the console. Applying the reasonable man test exonerates the Nintendo people, and any suits brought are just silly. The PS2's problem, which had a PR meltdown (but didn't affect sales of the PS2 for some reason, overall) because it refused to admit there's a problem. Guess what? Microsoft has _never_ admitted officially that there's a problem. They won't confirm or deny a flaw exists, nor will they commit to how many have been fixed under warranty for the 3 Red rings, and they will not tell you which ones have the "new" solution to the problem that they refuse to admit exists. It's all very secret hush-hush with them, because of what I stated in a previous post w/r/t recalls.
So, in terms of PR... simply throwing money out the window is the same as Sony... the only difference is, there are far too many people who don't pay attention (not as astute as you or I) sending their Xboxes back in a vacuum. Because like the PS2 flaw, many people will deny it existed because their console's fine. And as many 360 owners unwrapped their bundle of off-white joy recently will attest... theirs is fine too... So in come the deny-o-trons, scoping out threads like this and crapping them with their anecdotal "MS rulez" nonsense, and we're back at the original PS2 issue... with a bit more press.
Ah, you have a good one too... I'm going to enjoy New Year's.
woohoo... glad you could spend some maturity points, AC. I really don't know why I'm still responding... but here goes.. ;0
$1 billion hit was to prevent a class-action recall... simple as that. They're not benevolent. Maybe in your world... but not the real one.
You admitted it was pretty darned high... that's all I asked. It's not a small problem, an "isolated" problem, nor is it a problem that will go away if you post enough AC fanboyisms to stem the tide of reality. It's as simple as that.
I don't know the actual percentage (thanks for harping on that like some OCD sufferer), but anything over 5% is a systemic flaw that can lead to a recall... simply put, if you've got 10% of the cars shorting out on the freeway from a particular line or manufacturer, there's a substantial recall process that they go through to fix the _DESIGN_ flaw (that's key here... it's not misuse, it's not humidity, gremlins, or the Pope). If Microsoft made cars, we'd have already seen a recall and replacement/fix for each and every console they sold up to the point that they updated their heatsinks. Does it fix the problem? Who knows?)
So, my friend, you can spend your mommy's college fund arguing nebulous percentages (and whether or not I'm psychic and guessed the right one)... If you recall, I asked you how high was too high? (I didn't quote 30% as gospel... I was asking rhetorically, since you're some AC nut, if it would take 20% or 30% to make it seem like a really big deal... in so many words...) If it came from Sony's PR firm, I don't give two monkeys... the facts remain... Microsoft has a flawed console... they take a hit to extend EVERYONE's warranty _for a particular flaw_ to 3 years... they have massive PR flak for not admitting the flaw or even admitting it (even if you think it was a gesture of good faith or actively fixing a problem... more like to me actively covering their asses), with the exception of the now-probably-fired employee who mentioned 100% of the consoles in the wild _at that time_ suffered from the particular weakness and will most likely fail. They _have_ updated the console's GPU heatsink... and they are actively reducing the mfgr. size of the chips to avoid heat related issues in the future... (and to bring costs down... but you get the idea...)
Grow up? Wise words you could possibly heed yourself.... Do have a pleasant day, though....
You're worth a giggle or two... but that's about it. Back to mom's basement you go! I kid... I kid... lighten up AC... this is the internet... no one's civil here.
Surprise! I have a 360 Elite. Got it in August... sold my original Premium... and I have a PS3... that must make me schizophrenic! Or a fanboy torn between two loyalties! It'd make for a good Lifetime movie, though....
You've got a point (actual values are a mystery...)
;)
;)
I don't think MS would have taken the hit and extended the warranty for the flaw in the 360 if it were _only_ 5%. Sony never acknowledged the flaw in the PS2 launch unit's laser, yet they fixed them within a normal warranty (and charged for outside of it)... and I'd say that was a good % of units (my launch unit was unaffected.) Microsoft (in spite of being a publicly held company) does not disclose their failure rate, so we're all left to speculate the number of units. But when it's on television, not to mention newspapers... it's not a bunch of vocal bloggers and people on enthusiast websites making the news. I've always said it was to avoid a full-scale recall of the affected systems.... but only Bill Gates knows for sure.
I've been moderated harshly for having contrary opinions, but mostly I get a load of morons replying to my posts with mostly nonsense.
Additionally, while I take most failure issues with a grain of salt, including the PS2's laser issue, the fact that Microsoft is extending the warranty for a specific failure in the 360 lends credence to the fact that this flaw isn't simply something we take with a healthy dose of skepticism. (A little is good.. considering the actual % of failures... but the issue still exists..)
I try to avoid the fanboys (on both sides).... I still enjoy my 360... no dispute there... so it's not like I have a personal vendetta against the system.... I just feel MS is misleading the public to prevent slumps in sales (it appears to be working... well, with the game stable they have these days, it's hard to avoid it.)
AC... you're all the same to me. You underestimate the flaw as much as most people overestimate it. Fanboy? No, but if it walks like a duck....
My 360 is fine. It's not a launch system, but it still works. Sounds like _you_ need to lighten up.
Only a fanboy would defend the flaw of a system as not as bad as it was, when the warranty _for_ the specific flaw cost MS $1 billion. Quite a big hit for a "small" flaw....
Post with your real name if you're so certain of your opinion... if not... blather on... no one's listening.
Good point.... I really didn't want to imply that I was thinking the OP was correct in his assumptions, just that tempered with a bit of pragmatism, we're seeing less of a "doom and gloom" scenario than we saw for any console at any point in its lifecycle (Dreamcast included). We're both on the same page, and I've enjoyed the discussion...
;) Insomniac I would assume had the same arrangement (for longer) that we saw with Bioware (if I had to guess.)
;)
;) heh. Or maybe Folklore. ;)
:-)
Yeah, I forgot N.D. was a Sony owned developer... explains why the game is fairly flawless... it's their own house.
What MS and Sony need to do is court more situations like Insomniac and the pre-Christmas Bioware so that they can gain an edge... but I'm no mogul.
I really should be playing the new DLC for Bioshock...
It was a great Christmas..
I suspect we'll see Bungie jumping onto either the Wii or the PS3 sooner rather than later... they can't let revenue slip away because of brand loyalty..... I'm just speculating. ;) It was still a bit vague, although more negative towards other consoles than some of the summaries I read.
;)
;) It's much better than the AC's painting of it, to be sure... and that we can agree on. I just don't have as positive a picture as some do... probably because I'm old. :)
While I agree the tone of the original response was a overtly harsh, and the person's obviously frustrated with the 360 (perhaps his/her unit died on them right at Christmas time).... I still think that MS is potentially losing future goodwill and mindshare with how the console has been even less reliable than their first attempt... (the only console I've had fail since my 2600 has been my first gen XBox... even my launch PS2 is still working, beating the odds there I suspect..) Still, their attempt to avoid a recall was at least a positive step (something Sony never did...) If their redesign helps, and their new 65nm systems come around to mass quantities, the goodwill lost might not be permanent... but I'm not sure how to know, without seeing the sales for the XBox 720..
Ace Combat 6 sold well in Japan... for a week... bringing up 360 system sales to a respectable level... but the next week, the blip was off... and I suspect that might've had something to do with the eventual PS3 port of the game coming next year... (That's Japan... Microsoft might as well abandon trying there... it's hopeless...) But with the exception of the US, the PS3 has seen much better overall sales in Europe and Japan, which is nice but still behind the 360 with its head of steam. We're seeing the Wii break all records, but not having the attach rate the 360/Ps3 has in terms of software sales (more important to Sony and MS who lose on the hardware, but still...) So I think the 360 will do fine, but it's not all rosy.
If you distill AC's focus down to the failure rate... I would agree that the 360's a mess because of it. (It creates bad press at the least, but pissed-off customers are harder to let slide into obscurity than an article decrying the QA at Redmond.) The billion dollar slice out of the pie for repairing a particular flaw is really cutting their overall success (since they've not really made a hefty Nintendo-esque profit on their VG venture since they started), but they have made up for it with at least great games (so far... albeit FPS heavy this generation for some reason...) I still suspect that things will be stinging over there for a while in the division that handles the 360.
The Orange Box did finally come out for Christmas on the PS3... but the sales lead for the 360 was substantial (not to mention Valve's asinine port handoff to some no-name company). I think the PS3 had a great lineup too... Folklore (a bit older, but a good game) Heavenly Sword (short, but VERY good), Ratchet & Clank (everyone owes it to themselves to try that one... superb), and Uncharted were all top notch releases the PS3 didn't have last year... and with a $400 console in the pipeline, we're finally going to see some decent competition for Microsoft's lead... (competition's great for the gamer...) Devil May Cry 4 is on the horizon... along with some other neat titles... should be a good year for both systems... (I don't own a Wii, so I cannot speculate on how the library stacks up...)
As for exclusivity... I think the AC was harsh about that, but considering everyone in the press and online gave Sony so much shit for not having any exclusives, or timed exclusives, saying they were doomed because of it has finally come back full circle to Microsoft... But the tune's not the same anymore for some reason. Losing some 3rd party supporter exclusivity (at least in the short term) will look bad more than actually _be_ bad, but if the games keep coming for both systems, we can see
As for this first claim, I cannot back the new consoles vs. original design because Microsoft is _hiding_ that information. You can't even tell which ones on the shelf have the flaw and which do not without a pad and paper (where it was made, when, what "team" put it together....etc.) So we'll never get anywhere trying to decide if the flaw was fixed or not until this generation is over, I suspect (if ever.) And without a screwdriver or a flashlight, you can't tell if your console on the shelf is "flawed" or "fixed".... so that's moot, but a good point that it's probably anecdotal.
;) If you have a more specific quote, I'd appreciate the link...
;)
;) And a few additional factoids to make the process all the more complicated. :)
As for Bioware being bought, yes... they were a Microsoft "partner" (read: got big bags of money to make a few MS exclusive games)... but Bungie WAS microsoft's pride and joy and they LEFT. Bioshock and Mass Effect should be heading for the PS3 next year (I'd wager... and the Bioware PR guy basically hinted that the PS3 was getting Mass Effect in the next year). IIRC, Bungie has never publicly stated they were not going to develop for other consoles, and neither did they say they were... it's someone reading between the lines, I suspect... because their PR-like statement made it sound like all was wonderful in MS-land, and they hated to leave the big nest...
From someone who played Mass Effect, the slowdown and popup can be unbearably bad... particularly during the oft-overdone battle sequences. It is _NOT_ "cinema quality", unless you count the grain filter addition (which you can turn off) as an "aspect of compelling cinema"... When you're looking at stills and statics, the game is superb. It's when you move around too much or have too many things on the screen that we see the flaws. It was a good effort by Bioware, but I think it fell short... combat was too problematic, the rover was a pitiful thing to _attempt_ to drive... and the story was, in effect, a bit too linear to be such an "open" game. Some people liked it though.
Let's talk Halo 3. It's not even 720p. Good? Sure, but not great... certainly not the 2nd coming (as the article mentions). But why was it not up to the hype MS marketing had for it? I'd consider that little gem to be a bit of a PR disaster, rather than a graphics disaster (but when you couple that with the hyperbole from Redmond regarding their console, it really does seem like a gfx disaster.) Does it make for an un-fun game? I don't think so... but then again, I never liked Halo... Sure it sold millions... MS counted on that. But if it represents the epitome of "next gen" gaming... they should really stop and take a deep breath... and maybe play Bioshock or Gears of War... (the latter being not an FPS, but very graphically impressive, IMO.)
Third party exclusiveness isn't ANYONE's strong point this generation, if you hadn't noticed. And Sony still has a lock on MANY developers that won't do an XBox title... or if they do, it'll be long after the PS3 title has moved to the bargain bin... Nintendo never has had a lock on third party anything (that's for another post, though).... but this generation has seen the death knell of 'third party exclusives'. If you want to play a Sony game, you have to buy a Sony... if you want to play a MS game, you have to buy an Xbox, and so on... but for Namco, Capcom, Bioware, etc etc... you can pick any of the offerings.
As you may have guessed.. I own a 360 and a PS3. So, I'm neither one's fanboy... I just want to balance both ends of the anecdotal spectrum with a bit of my own.
I hate responding to trolls.... but.
They took a billion dollar hit to their bottom line to STOP the bleeding of consoles... they admitted (in no uncertain terms) that EVERY console they sold (up to that point) was potentially destined to fail... and fail for the SAME FLAW.
20% not high? 30%? How many consoles have to go back to Microsoft (and how many times), before you admit there's a flaw in the 360 that is VERY troubling and VERY problematic for their goodwill and future as a gaming company.
The failure rate of the PS3 is infinitesimal. Google is your friend. The Wii's also a solid performer. Compared to the 360 the PS2 launch console is more reliable.
You've been nursing Bill Gates' ballsack too long to notice the facts DO support his statement... and it's NOT fanboy rhetoric when the VERY company extends the warranty for a _SPECIFIC_ failure to 3 YEARS, for FREE. That had "class action dodge" written ALL over it, chum.
AC, indeed. Sometimes your asinine insinuations really get to me.
Too true.. and the only reason that Texas and Florida (dunno about others) don't have a state tax is that it's in the Constitution that the people have to vote one in... drives the politicians batty that they cannot pass a state tax without the people's consent. :)
:)
Taxing things to pay for other things works when everyone uses that particular thing, or the revenue generated is 100% from the users of it (like a gas or cigarette tax) and non-users are not incidentally taxed as a result. (school taxes are _not_ among those because people with no children contribute to the system's coffers even though they do not use the schools...), but charging Video game taxes is particularly grasping at a revenue source (or potential revenue source) to fund a problem that is not of Video game's making. It forces people who do not have anything to do with the problem to pay for those who do (and frequently would not contribute to the tax itself, if you believe statistics.) I'm sure other taxes people pay in Wisconsin cover the expense in question, but like all political issues, it's never enough money... "new" fees and taxes are always preferable to raising existing ones.
A similar analogy would be to tax people who don't use gasoline a similar use-based tax for riding the bus (in spite of other taxes they pay, in addition to fees to ride pay for their minor use of the road that the state is missing because they don't have a car). It spreads "equity" if you consider being a resident the barometer. It does not, however, address the inequity of burden on the infrastructure.
I need a beer.