What game really got music stuck in my head (besides M.U.L.E.) was Master of the Lamp on the C64. Now there was a catchy tune. I can still hum the tune for traveling to the djinn's to hit the gongs. Fun and sometimes frustrating game.
The one Amiga game, besides the obvious games from Pysgnosis, was "7 Gates of Jambala." The 3rd level, or so, the music got really strange, but in a catchy way....I miss those old games.:) Time to fire up the emulator....
I have to agree to a certain extent, but I think the characterization is not solely the problem of the user. Microsoft spends TOO much time "dumbing" down the interface and leaving too many things open, rather than fixing the problems and making sure the user is aware of the problems.
Microsoft isn't doing that, and by making OE and IE "uninstallable", the user is vulunerable. They won't fix problems fast enough, and they won't address the fundamental flaws in the IE/OE/Windows architecture. It's time they fixed the code out in the wild before promising "we'll fix the security holes, but it'll cost you $99 to get them..."
Oh, and they won't let you download and save the fixes on their "windowsupdate" site, thereby sealing the shelf life of a microsoft OS. Getting patches should NOT be a hassle for the website. I know a couple of people who got Blaster while getting the patch from Windowsupdate. That's uncalled for, and wrong on microsoft's part. They need a "save to disk" feature, like Mac patches have. (Or like mac patches have, they can be downloaded from Apple's servers without some lame "update" server)
Guess if they were REALLY intent on getting the Republicans in, they'd not have wasted $800K on Democrats. And if you'll notice, they give large blocks to the DNC.... so that the Microsoft taint won't be immediately seen when the candidates take the cash....
It was Jackson's BIG MOUTH that stopped the breakup proceeding as ordered. The ruling was overturned because of comments he made to the PRESS. Now, if he hadn't, and it still was overturned.... well, we'll never know.
Let's just say that Microsoft hedges its bets like ALL corporations do. Just look at the top contributors to Kerry's campaign. (Lots of lawyers.... and we know how much we love THEM around here....)
that wasn't my point. I know what the Draft fills up. What I'm saying is women are already in combat positions (a fighter pilot is a combat position...they got that waived a few years ago so women could be fighter pilots.)
My point is, if they're doing that...the daughters can pick up a gun and stand next to my drafted son. Simple. They asked for it. Now they should reap what they sow. "Playing war" isn't the same as real war. Women need to learn this, in order to know the full price of equality.:)
I do. I work for a defense contractor. So in a way, I'm already working for the Department of Defense.
Get over it. Show your loyalty to the US by joining up. Pretty damn typical of EVERYONE. Bitch about others, but do nothing yourself. It's like rich people asking me to give money to their pet cause. "do as I say, not as I do..." Bull.
How THIS coward got modded insightful is BEYOND me.
1. How can you estimate how many people actually download the game and play it to completion any more than you can estimate how many people would've bought it if it hadn't been available for free on warez sites?
2. There IS no demo for Halo on the Mac. Sorry.
3. Macsoft IS THE ONLY developer that makes big-ticket games. Who the hell else can anyone trust on the Mac? Don't get self-righteous about the quality of your game and expect everyone to just "know it works well and is great". You act like you're giving kidneys for $30. It's a game. That's it.
4. I tried that FOR YEARS. It sure has worked well. Safedisc not working on my CD-Rom, bad master disks, trying to play the game when the CD keeps spinning up and pausing the game. Yeah, works great to write to them. Even in a civil tone, they're not listening.
And before you get all bent out of shape, I don't pirate software. I buy what I like, and avoid what I don't like. I don't get burned more than once by a deceptive demo or a crappy game. Make one shitty game and I'm no longer a customer. Sorry, there are too many players in the market to worry if a game company has gotten better at it or not.
I'm sorry there was an idiot from the UK requesting a game from you for free. The world's full of idiots... I no more condone that audacity than I would piracy. Game copying sucks for us all. I agree, but I also think the companies have not learned what is necessary to make games sell more. It certainly isn't $55 a copy. I don't even pay $49 for new PS2 games. I wait for a used copy or a "Greatest Hits title." If I don't find one, well, the game must've sucked.
Bottom line: Gaming is still a luxury, even in the "go-go 21st Century." Some people who desire to play games cannot or will not pay for them. The only way to eliminate that is to start shooting them.:)
Having to pay $3K for a system to play the latest FPS (which is what I suspect the Mac version of Halo requires from the posts about it) is just asinine.
I never bought my Mac to play games (sure I play Nethack on it and a few puzzle games that are fun, plus the Exile Trilogy), and I probably cannot run Halo acceptably anyway (G4-733/Geforce 2MX). I truly don't think there are tons and tons of Mac gamers just waiting for the next scrap from the PC gaming table. It has nothing to do with "pride" or "pc envy." It's just a shame that games come to the Mac on the end of their lifespan (even Halo), and people wonder why they don't sell more?
I think Macsoft (and other porting houses) should consider making more games that aren't available on other platforms (Honestly, how many people who wanted Halo waited for the Mac port?). Personally, I'd like to see more hex-based wargames come to the Mac. I'd enjoy that much more than Halo. I like "War! Age of Imperialism" very much, but I am sure it didn't sell well enough to warrant more games like it.
I also enjoy immensely games from SpiderWeb. Those old school RPG style games are great. That's proof positive that a gaming house can be successful (certainly not millionaires, but able to do it for a living), without getting steeped in damn FPS framerates and 3-D nonsense.
As you probably can infer, I am very tired of the eye-candy games coming out lately. What we need is a better model for both Linux and Mac games. Waiting 6 months for a half-assed port from the PC (which has sometimes dropped in price to $20 or less) and paying $50 for it is NOT what is going to make the Mac a great gaming platform. I for one am not falling into the trap of the constant upgrade cycle to play the latest rehash. I did that for years with my PC, and I've nothing to show for it but a bunch of spare parts and a current PC that couldn't run Halo if it tried.:)
Regarding the Amiga, it died as a gaming platform when the PC caught up with it graphically. Piracy was rampant, but that didn't stop games from being churned out left and right when the Amiga was the king of the graphics/sound hill. When the Amiga stagnated and was surpassed, it died off. Thanks to Commodore and its board for that.:)
I also find the Mac Halo conclusions regarding piracy suspect, no matter who espouses them. It's the conveninent boogey man of our generation. It's been beaten to death by the RIAA/MPAA, even when their industries rake in billions. The fundamental problem with this "piracy loss" is the HUGE assumption that people would buy the game/song/movie if no other "free" alternative source was available. That's simply too much of a logical leap for anyone. That's why when someone starts mentioning losses due to piracy, I tune them out.:)
Sorry Halo isn't selling well in the Mac community, but being last in line for a game that's been out for years is just plain a waste of time. Despite the fanboy love, Halo wasn't that innovative or great. It was an above-average FPS.
Marching a Korgoth through an Arm base.:)...Or playing a Total Annihilation game and only giving the computer players 200 energy and metal.:)...Oh and giving myself 10000:D
Stops the computer from a rush strategy:D
Even in 2004, TA is among the 3 or 4 games with permanent spots on my hard disk.
I think we can trace this sort of behavior to the availabilty and lack of stigma attached to owning formerly 'geek' tools like consoles and computers. The more we tap into the general populace, the more we can see that morons outnumber us.:)
Just go to a local Wal-Mart and you can see who populates XBox Live.:)
That's why I play games on a PC, PS2, or Gamecube. The online "experience" that Xbox Live gives you is something I can do without.
I think it will eventually saturate itself to the point of the retards losing interest when no one but people like them are online, or it will kill off the momentum of online gaming. Either way, I'm fine with it. I play online games only with people I know in person, and I do not use my consoles for online gaming.
More sane people will begin to adopt similar attitudes as the adolescent idiots who use online services to act out because their lunch money was stolen continue to increase.
Who knows? Perhaps Nintendo will be proven right about online gaming after all.:)
But OS X is polished, and is leagues better than XP. Sorry. That's my opinion from having two XP boxes, a Slackware box and an OS X box.
You're confusing "commercial" with "proprietary", it seems. They're not always the same. WMA is proprietary and commercial. AAC is commercial but not proprietary.
Just a thought....and before you reply...no, I am not an Apple marketing rep either.
There are some apps that have less in the way of choice on the Mac, but with Fink and the now built-in X11, there's much more choice than say OS9.
In regards to browsers, there's Mozilla, Firebird, OmniWeb, iCab, Opera, Safari, Konqueror, and Camino. (My favorite being Camino...)
Mail apps? Plenty. Editors? Plenty. I have 6 right now, not including TextEdit (only two cost money.)
I'm glad to hear you're moving to the Mac. I did it a couple of years ago, and my Linux box has become a server....I won't go back to Desktop Linux for the foreseeable future.
Fear not, though....there's plenty of choice. (With the exception of Window Managers..but you can run your favorite X WM fullscreen if you wish)...:D
I don't think Apple will have to peddle very hard to charge for their OS, though. It's indeed superior in many ways to what's available for free, and it also encompasses choice, something that was Linux's sole domain before OSX. I like linux too, but my OS of choice is worth every penny. Forget Windows...:D
OSX just works....I can spend hours twiddling with it, or I can set up and go with no troubles at all. That's the beauty of OSX. ---
I admit there are quite a few sycophants on this forum (Apple, Linux, AMD, nVidia...you name it, there's a fanboy...weird...I used to be an Atari fanboy when I was in Jr. high...but sheesh....), but in this case the article leaves out GOBS of details about the supposed attempt at self-replacement (and an issue about the timing of the domain registration and the iPod battery replacement offer by Apple stated earlier in the thread).
If you bother to go to the ipodbattery.com site, the replacement pictures are simple and detailed, not requiring specialized parts or a degree in brain surgery. I have not tried myself, but I can see it is simple enough for non-techies who have patience.
It is not just a "pretty" device. It's functional. I've used other HD mp3 players, (see elsewhere in the thread) and by far the iPod is seamless, has excellent battery life (for me and many others, despite the trolling by some), and is durable. Mine's almost two years old and works fine. I assume I'll replace the battery soon, and I won't bother listening to people who claim I bought a "disposable" player that looks "good."
Apple screws up, and often. This is not one of those times....
I can mirror that situation, yet with a Nomad Jukebox on my Mac. I thought iPods were quite expensive when I bought my Jukebox (10gb at the time) was 2x as much as the iPod and cheaper. The Mac figured out what it was as soon as I plugged it into the keyboard. Nice work, Apple. Anyway, I started transferring songs to it (an album at a time), and it would lock up the Jukebox. I finally tweaked it enough that I could do two songs at a time and it would be happy.
Nomad Jukebox + Mac == flaky.
The firmware fix (of 3) didn't help the problem, but made it so I could only transfer one at a time. Needless to say, I didn't feel like moving my music collection to my tiny PC laptop hard drive just to be able to transfer more than one song at a time. It was a click and drag nightmare.
The final firmware release I tried did fix that problem, but Creative took so long to release an Apple installer for the firmware, I had to use my PC to update the Nomad. I truly don't know if they ever offered a Mac installer for the last firmware, which I can't figure out why. 2 out of 3 isn't bad, I guess.
Latest firmware Jukebox + Mac == usb goodness.
Battery life was atrocious, which was mostly why I kept it plugged in...of course all your settings were kept on the batteries, so you lost settings if you ever unplugged it. And it ran HOT. I mean HOT HOT. With playlists even. Not recommended for a fanny pack.:)
So, when the 2nd gen iPods came out, I bought a 10gb. one and haven't looked back since. I plan to replace the battery myself (doesn't look too hard)...and if this one ever gives up the ghost for another reason, I'm going to buy another one. I just don't have that much faith in other hard drive mp3 players. (Which is why I didn't get the Nomad Zen....despite its obvious "iPodness")
I love my iPod as well, and wouldn't trade it for a 100mb archos.:D I don't need anything more than 10 or 20 gb....and the form factor is perfect for what I use it for. Casual listening to music when I'm on the go. Nothing's perfect, but the iPod's been a good deal for me.
As for battery replacement issues, I think the people in the article were less than genuine when it came to replacement of the battery. It shows clearly on the ipodbattery.com site how to replace it....simple as pie. Even for non-techs like those fellows.:D
Nope, and that is one minor missetep in an otherwise great console compilation.
Apparently, according to the developers, it was pulled at the last minute (along with online components that would allow you to get more games...hence the empty spaces in the rotating rack). Poor marketing decision, but not mind-numbingly terrible, considering the only way to save your highscores in the good ol' days was to take a photo of your screen.
Crumudgeongamer had an interview with the fellow who worked on the Activision Anthology, as well as the current "Atari 80 Classics" for the PC, and the other Atari revival titles that came out for the PC a couple of years ago. The link escapes me at the moment, but that's where I got the info about online and highscores.
I still play Activision Anthology almost once a week now after 2 years, and ironically, that's the only PS2 title that's ever kept my interest for that long (I even got frustrated by SSX Tricky on the Level 5 trickbooks. Insane.)
Not only is it fiction, it's funny. The Haitians in the game are a GANG. So when the Cubans say "Let's go kill some Haitians"...he's talking about the GANG.
This is getting ridiciulous. Lousy whiners. They can't even get the CONTEXT right for the "offensive" phrase. JEEZ, this is SUCH a bunch of crap.
Sure, neither one is really looking out for anyone but their shareholders. I don't consider either company's online efforts much of anything, personally. Nintendo has it right, despite the Live! fanboys. Let the game companies decide what they want to do. It worked for the PC. Heck, it worked with FREE servers from Blizzard. Amazing how the dollar signs keep flashing over the heads of Sony and Microsoft when it comes to this sort of "experience." Bah.
I mean, let's pay for the online service AND pay for add-ons too! That'll go over like a fart in church, Microsoft. I guess the fine print under "get exclusive online content" was "at additional cost to you."
Way to squeeze every last dollar out of the fanboys, Bill.
I don't understand why any game, "realistic" (no game can be realistic unless you feel the bullets hit you) or abstract can, or needs to, give us an impression of what a battlefield is like.
Make no bones about it, war is not pretty. I just think Jenkins needs to lay off moralizing a genre that is not meant to teach but to entertain. Games are supposed to be fun, escapist fantasy. The fact that the game deals with a relatively new war is irrelevant. The "artists" who made such things like "Velvet Strike" and the other mentioned in the article are doing nothing but making themselves look humorless and intolerant. It's a game. It's not a training tool (even "America's Army" isn't a training tool.... despite what people may think. It's a "Top Gun" for the FPS generation. In other words: a recruiting tool.) Anyone who thought "Top Gun" reflected actual military life was sorely disappointed after enlisting. The same holds true for people who enlist solely after playing America's Army.:)
Games do not shape my opinions about war, and they never have. Just like "Sands of Iwo Jima" doesn't shape my view of WWII soldiers, I do not look to a game for explanation of world events or political opinion. I think Jenkins reads too much into a game. Moral consequences? I don't get it. It's just a game. The fact that it isn't a bunch of X's and O's (or hex maps) doesn't change the fact that it's JUST a game.
Jenkins' last quote is very telling of his limited view. "Can you really make a kickass game about what has been a less than kickass war?" Yes, you can. Just keep your political opinions in the real world. Games are not the real world. Despite what marketeers and game opponents want you to think.
Jenkins' mention of the following is puzzling as well:
** "videogame designer and theorist Gonzala Frasca argued that today's games are an inappropriate medium for dealing with such serious matters. He cites two reasons: first, video games focus on winning and losing but not the deeper ethical implications of modern warfare." **
So? These games are not, will not, have not, and never will be a way of dealing with the matters he mentions.
Repeat after me:
"It's just a game." If someone begins to think otherwise, they need to turn off the console and go outside for a while.
Heh. I wished my PS2 had failed in the warranty period, and I could've had 2 free games.
The XBox did, which got a new controller for my PS2 and a 2nd S-Controller for my XBox with the price difference.:)
It took 3 weeks for the check to get to my house (which is just east of their corporate HQ...but their financing/insurance company is up north somewhere....heh)
So far, I've only had trouble with my XBox (it's been replaced after only 1 year), and my cube/Ps2 have been fine. To a point, I think the Cube is the sturdiest, followed by the PS2, with the hard-drive equipped XBox being the most fragile. My Ps2 is just over 3 years old and gets the lion's share of game time with my Gamecube coming a close second. (I only have Halo and Soul Calibur II for my XBox....heh.)
The only problem I've had with my Ps2 has been with Blue discs. Most notably, NBA Street and Romance of the 3 Kingdoms 8. NBA Street takes forever to load, and ROTK does not want to load at all (funny that ROTK 7 plays fine and it is blue and a used copy.) Until this phenomenon spreads to further blue disc games, I am not concerned.
While I do think some people are unbelievably hard on their consoles (and games for that matter), there is a kernel of truth in the durability of all 3 consoles. With the exception of the weak loading tray for the PS2, it is a solid unit.
Controllers, on the other hand, are a different story. I've been pretty unlucky with both XBox and PS2 controllers lasting. The XBox controller I wore out playing a rented copy of SSX Tricky, and the 2 PS2 controllers I've had thus far are just plain dying of old age.:) heh.
Since the demise of the Atari 2600, I haven't had a controller that is as quite as durable as that system's joystick.
Hahahah.
Ok ok....that's just TOO funny. No, really. Why would any AC desire to post how pisspoor their "G5" is compared to their vaunted PPro? See how many people bite, I guess.:) Oh well..I took the bait. I just want to commend you on THE most clever bit of parody since Weird Al's "Amish Paradise"
Oh MAN, that whole post should be modded +2 funny.
Slashdot Mirror
What game really got music stuck in my head (besides M.U.L.E.) was Master of the Lamp on the C64. Now there was a catchy tune. I can still hum the tune for traveling to the djinn's to hit the gongs. Fun and sometimes frustrating game.
...I miss those old games. :) Time to fire up the emulator....
The one Amiga game, besides the obvious games from Pysgnosis, was "7 Gates of Jambala." The 3rd level, or so, the music got really strange, but in a catchy way.
I have to agree to a certain extent, but I think the characterization is not solely the problem of the user. Microsoft spends TOO much time "dumbing" down the interface and leaving too many things open, rather than fixing the problems and making sure the user is aware of the problems.
:)
Microsoft isn't doing that, and by making OE and IE "uninstallable", the user is vulunerable. They won't fix problems fast enough, and they won't address the fundamental flaws in the IE/OE/Windows architecture. It's time they fixed the code out in the wild before promising "we'll fix the security holes, but it'll cost you $99 to get them..."
Oh, and they won't let you download and save the fixes on their "windowsupdate" site, thereby sealing the shelf life of a microsoft OS. Getting patches should NOT be a hassle for the website. I know a couple of people who got Blaster while getting the patch from Windowsupdate. That's uncalled for, and wrong on microsoft's part. They need a "save to disk" feature, like Mac patches have. (Or like mac patches have, they can be downloaded from Apple's servers without some lame "update" server)
That's why I love Mac & Linux.
And how we LOVE lawyers around here:
Trial Lawyers Assoc. of America Donations
Guess my point is, both parties are painfully evil. It's just what level of hell you want to find yourself in...
Microsoft contributions to 2003:
p ?txtName=Microsoft+Corp&txtUltOrg=n&txtCycle=2002& txtSort=name
http://www.opensecrets.org/softmoney/softcomp2.as
Guess if they were REALLY intent on getting the Republicans in, they'd not have wasted $800K on Democrats. And if you'll notice, they give large blocks to the DNC.... so that the Microsoft taint won't be immediately seen when the candidates take the cash....
It was Jackson's BIG MOUTH that stopped the breakup proceeding as ordered. The ruling was overturned because of comments he made to the PRESS. Now, if he hadn't, and it still was overturned.... well, we'll never know.
Let's just say that Microsoft hedges its bets like ALL corporations do. Just look at the top contributors to Kerry's campaign. (Lots of lawyers.... and we know how much we love THEM around here....)
that wasn't my point. I know what the Draft fills up. What I'm saying is women are already in combat positions (a fighter pilot is a combat position...they got that waived a few years ago so women could be fighter pilots.)
:)
My point is, if they're doing that...the daughters can pick up a gun and stand next to my drafted son. Simple. They asked for it. Now they should reap what they sow. "Playing war" isn't the same as real war. Women need to learn this, in order to know the full price of equality.
Most people become "liberal" and "peacenik" when it comes to the threat of being drafted. Funny how that works. :)
:)
:)
I can't stand Ashcroft and want him arrested for crimes against the Constitution, but that isn't on the draft lottery number.
The draft is an equal opportunity employer.
It should include women. Women sign up for the military now, and go into combat positions (pilots, and so forth.)
If women don't want the consequences that go along with "playing war", they shouldn't have bitched so much to be "included."
Israel doesn't discriminate based on gender. ALL citizens have military service.
It's time for the ladies to reap what they have sown. Sorry. You asked for it. Now roll with the consequences of being "just as good as a man."
I do. I work for a defense contractor. So in a way, I'm already working for the Department of Defense.
Get over it. Show your loyalty to the US by joining up. Pretty damn typical of EVERYONE. Bitch about others, but do nothing yourself. It's like rich people asking me to give money to their pet cause. "do as I say, not as I do..." Bull.
How THIS coward got modded insightful is BEYOND me.
Moron.
1. How can you estimate how many people actually download the game and play it to completion any more than you can estimate how many people would've bought it if it hadn't been available for free on warez sites?
:)
2. There IS no demo for Halo on the Mac. Sorry.
3. Macsoft IS THE ONLY developer that makes big-ticket games. Who the hell else can anyone trust on the Mac? Don't get self-righteous about the quality of your game and expect everyone to just "know it works well and is great". You act like you're giving kidneys for $30. It's a game. That's it.
4. I tried that FOR YEARS. It sure has worked well. Safedisc not working on my CD-Rom, bad master disks, trying to play the game when the CD keeps spinning up and pausing the game. Yeah, works great to write to them. Even in a civil tone, they're not listening.
And before you get all bent out of shape, I don't pirate software. I buy what I like, and avoid what I don't like. I don't get burned more than once by a deceptive demo or a crappy game. Make one shitty game and I'm no longer a customer. Sorry, there are too many players in the market to worry if a game company has gotten better at it or not.
I'm sorry there was an idiot from the UK requesting a game from you for free. The world's full of idiots... I no more condone that audacity than I would piracy. Game copying sucks for us all. I agree, but I also think the companies have not learned what is necessary to make games sell more. It certainly isn't $55 a copy. I don't even pay $49 for new PS2 games. I wait for a used copy or a "Greatest Hits title." If I don't find one, well, the game must've sucked.
Bottom line: Gaming is still a luxury, even in the "go-go 21st Century." Some people who desire to play games cannot or will not pay for them. The only way to eliminate that is to start shooting them.
Having to pay $3K for a system to play the latest FPS (which is what I suspect the Mac version of Halo requires from the posts about it) is just asinine.
I never bought my Mac to play games (sure I play Nethack on it and a few puzzle games that are fun, plus the Exile Trilogy), and I probably cannot run Halo acceptably anyway (G4-733/Geforce 2MX). I truly don't think there are tons and tons of Mac gamers just waiting for the next scrap from the PC gaming table. It has nothing to do with "pride" or "pc envy." It's just a shame that games come to the Mac on the end of their lifespan (even Halo), and people wonder why they don't sell more?
:)
:)
:)
I think Macsoft (and other porting houses) should consider making more games that aren't available on other platforms (Honestly, how many people who wanted Halo waited for the Mac port?). Personally, I'd like to see more hex-based wargames come to the Mac. I'd enjoy that much more than Halo. I like "War! Age of Imperialism" very much, but I am sure it didn't sell well enough to warrant more games like it.
I also enjoy immensely games from SpiderWeb. Those old school RPG style games are great. That's proof positive that a gaming house can be successful (certainly not millionaires, but able to do it for a living), without getting steeped in damn FPS framerates and 3-D nonsense.
As you probably can infer, I am very tired of the eye-candy games coming out lately. What we need is a better model for both Linux and Mac games. Waiting 6 months for a half-assed port from the PC (which has sometimes dropped in price to $20 or less) and paying $50 for it is NOT what is going to make the Mac a great gaming platform. I for one am not falling into the trap of the constant upgrade cycle to play the latest rehash. I did that for years with my PC, and I've nothing to show for it but a bunch of spare parts and a current PC that couldn't run Halo if it tried.
Regarding the Amiga, it died as a gaming platform when the PC caught up with it graphically. Piracy was rampant, but that didn't stop games from being churned out left and right when the Amiga was the king of the graphics/sound hill. When the Amiga stagnated and was surpassed, it died off. Thanks to Commodore and its board for that.
I also find the Mac Halo conclusions regarding piracy suspect, no matter who espouses them. It's the conveninent boogey man of our generation. It's been beaten to death by the RIAA/MPAA, even when their industries rake in billions. The fundamental problem with this "piracy loss" is the HUGE assumption that people would buy the game/song/movie if no other "free" alternative source was available. That's simply too much of a logical leap for anyone. That's why when someone starts mentioning losses due to piracy, I tune them out.
Sorry Halo isn't selling well in the Mac community, but being last in line for a game that's been out for years is just plain a waste of time. Despite the fanboy love, Halo wasn't that innovative or great. It was an above-average FPS.
Marching a Korgoth through an Arm base. :) ...Or playing a Total Annihilation game and only giving the computer players 200 energy and metal. :) ...Oh and giving myself 10000 :D
:D
Stops the computer from a rush strategy
Even in 2004, TA is among the 3 or 4 games with permanent spots on my hard disk.
I think we can trace this sort of behavior to the availabilty and lack of stigma attached to owning formerly 'geek' tools like consoles and computers. The more we tap into the general populace, the more we can see that morons outnumber us. :)
:)
:)
Just go to a local Wal-Mart and you can see who populates XBox Live.
That's why I play games on a PC, PS2, or Gamecube. The online "experience" that Xbox Live gives you is something I can do without.
I think it will eventually saturate itself to the point of the retards losing interest when no one but people like them are online, or it will kill off the momentum of online gaming. Either way, I'm fine with it. I play online games only with people I know in person, and I do not use my consoles for online gaming.
More sane people will begin to adopt similar attitudes as the adolescent idiots who use online services to act out because their lunch money was stolen continue to increase.
Who knows? Perhaps Nintendo will be proven right about online gaming after all.
Proprietary != excellence, I'll grant you that.
...and before you reply...no, I am not an Apple marketing rep either.
But OS X is polished, and is leagues better than XP. Sorry. That's my opinion from having two XP boxes, a Slackware box and an OS X box.
You're confusing "commercial" with "proprietary", it seems. They're not always the same. WMA is proprietary and commercial. AAC is commercial but not proprietary.
Just a thought.
There are some apps that have less in the way of choice on the Mac, but with Fink and the now built-in X11, there's much more choice than say OS9.
:D
:D
In regards to browsers, there's Mozilla, Firebird, OmniWeb, iCab, Opera, Safari, Konqueror, and Camino. (My favorite being Camino...)
Mail apps? Plenty. Editors? Plenty. I have 6 right now, not including TextEdit (only two cost money.)
I'm glad to hear you're moving to the Mac. I did it a couple of years ago, and my Linux box has become a server....I won't go back to Desktop Linux for the foreseeable future.
Fear not, though....there's plenty of choice. (With the exception of Window Managers..but you can run your favorite X WM fullscreen if you wish)...
I don't think Apple will have to peddle very hard to charge for their OS, though. It's indeed superior in many ways to what's available for free, and it also encompasses choice, something that was Linux's sole domain before OSX. I like linux too, but my OS of choice is worth every penny. Forget Windows...
OSX just works....I can spend hours twiddling with it, or I can set up and go with no troubles at all. That's the beauty of OSX.
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I admit there are quite a few sycophants on this forum (Apple, Linux, AMD, nVidia...you name it, there's a fanboy...weird...I used to be an Atari fanboy when I was in Jr. high...but sheesh....), but in this case the article leaves out GOBS of details about the supposed attempt at self-replacement (and an issue about the timing of the domain registration and the iPod battery replacement offer by Apple stated earlier in the thread).
If you bother to go to the ipodbattery.com site, the replacement pictures are simple and detailed, not requiring specialized parts or a degree in brain surgery. I have not tried myself, but I can see it is simple enough for non-techies who have patience.
It is not just a "pretty" device. It's functional. I've used other HD mp3 players, (see elsewhere in the thread) and by far the iPod is seamless, has excellent battery life (for me and many others, despite the trolling by some), and is durable. Mine's almost two years old and works fine. I assume I'll replace the battery soon, and I won't bother listening to people who claim I bought a "disposable" player that looks "good."
Apple screws up, and often. This is not one of those times....
I can mirror that situation, yet with a Nomad Jukebox on my Mac. I thought iPods were quite expensive when I bought my Jukebox (10gb at the time) was 2x as much as the iPod and cheaper. The Mac figured out what it was as soon as I plugged it into the keyboard. Nice work, Apple. Anyway, I started transferring songs to it (an album at a time), and it would lock up the Jukebox. I finally tweaked it enough that I could do two songs at a time and it would be happy.
:)
:D I don't need anything more than 10 or 20 gb....and the form factor is perfect for what I use it for. Casual listening to music when I'm on the go. Nothing's perfect, but the iPod's been a good deal for me.
:D
Nomad Jukebox + Mac == flaky.
The firmware fix (of 3) didn't help the problem, but made it so I could only transfer one at a time. Needless to say, I didn't feel like moving my music collection to my tiny PC laptop hard drive just to be able to transfer more than one song at a time. It was a click and drag nightmare.
The final firmware release I tried did fix that problem, but Creative took so long to release an Apple installer for the firmware, I had to use my PC to update the Nomad. I truly don't know if they ever offered a Mac installer for the last firmware, which I can't figure out why. 2 out of 3 isn't bad, I guess.
Latest firmware Jukebox + Mac == usb goodness.
Battery life was atrocious, which was mostly why I kept it plugged in...of course all your settings were kept on the batteries, so you lost settings if you ever unplugged it. And it ran HOT. I mean HOT HOT. With playlists even. Not recommended for a fanny pack.
So, when the 2nd gen iPods came out, I bought a 10gb. one and haven't looked back since. I plan to replace the battery myself (doesn't look too hard)...and if this one ever gives up the ghost for another reason, I'm going to buy another one. I just don't have that much faith in other hard drive mp3 players. (Which is why I didn't get the Nomad Zen....despite its obvious "iPodness")
I love my iPod as well, and wouldn't trade it for a 100mb archos.
As for battery replacement issues, I think the people in the article were less than genuine when it came to replacement of the battery. It shows clearly on the ipodbattery.com site how to replace it....simple as pie. Even for non-techs like those fellows.
Nope, and that is one minor missetep in an otherwise great console compilation.
Apparently, according to the developers, it was pulled at the last minute (along with online components that would allow you to get more games...hence the empty spaces in the rotating rack). Poor marketing decision, but not mind-numbingly terrible, considering the only way to save your highscores in the good ol' days was to take a photo of your screen.
Crumudgeongamer had an interview with the fellow who worked on the Activision Anthology, as well as the current "Atari 80 Classics" for the PC, and the other Atari revival titles that came out for the PC a couple of years ago. The link escapes me at the moment, but that's where I got the info about online and highscores.
I still play Activision Anthology almost once a week now after 2 years, and ironically, that's the only PS2 title that's ever kept my interest for that long (I even got frustrated by SSX Tricky on the Level 5 trickbooks. Insane.)
You wouldn't say that if it was your son, father, uncle or friend shown dead on TV.
Trust me. You have no idea.
Not only is it fiction, it's funny. The Haitians in the game are a GANG. So when the Cubans say "Let's go kill some Haitians"...he's talking about the GANG.
This is getting ridiciulous. Lousy whiners. They can't even get the CONTEXT right for the "offensive" phrase. JEEZ, this is SUCH a bunch of crap.
Sure, neither one is really looking out for anyone but their shareholders. I don't consider either company's online efforts much of anything, personally. Nintendo has it right, despite the Live! fanboys. Let the game companies decide what they want to do. It worked for the PC. Heck, it worked with FREE servers from Blizzard. Amazing how the dollar signs keep flashing over the heads of Sony and Microsoft when it comes to this sort of "experience." Bah.
I mean, let's pay for the online service AND pay for add-ons too! That'll go over like a fart in church, Microsoft. I guess the fine print under "get exclusive online content" was "at additional cost to you."
Way to squeeze every last dollar out of the fanboys, Bill.
I don't understand why any game, "realistic" (no game can be realistic unless you feel the bullets hit you) or abstract can, or needs to, give us an impression of what a battlefield is like.
:)
Make no bones about it, war is not pretty. I just think Jenkins needs to lay off moralizing a genre that is not meant to teach but to entertain. Games are supposed to be fun, escapist fantasy. The fact that the game deals with a relatively new war is irrelevant. The "artists" who made such things like "Velvet Strike" and the other mentioned in the article are doing nothing but making themselves look humorless and intolerant. It's a game. It's not a training tool (even "America's Army" isn't a training tool.... despite what people may think. It's a "Top Gun" for the FPS generation. In other words: a recruiting tool.) Anyone who thought "Top Gun" reflected actual military life was sorely disappointed after enlisting. The same holds true for people who enlist solely after playing America's Army.
Games do not shape my opinions about war, and they never have. Just like "Sands of Iwo Jima" doesn't shape my view of WWII soldiers, I do not look to a game for explanation of world events or political opinion. I think Jenkins reads too much into a game. Moral consequences? I don't get it. It's just a game. The fact that it isn't a bunch of X's and O's (or hex maps) doesn't change the fact that it's JUST a game.
Jenkins' last quote is very telling of his limited view. "Can you really make a kickass game about what has been a less than kickass war?" Yes, you can. Just keep your political opinions in the real world. Games are not the real world. Despite what marketeers and game opponents want you to think.
Jenkins' mention of the following is puzzling as well:
**
"videogame designer and theorist Gonzala Frasca argued that today's games are an inappropriate medium for dealing with such serious matters. He cites two reasons: first, video games focus on winning and losing but not the deeper ethical implications of modern warfare."
**
So? These games are not, will not, have not, and never will be a way of dealing with the matters he mentions.
Repeat after me:
"It's just a game." If someone begins to think otherwise, they need to turn off the console and go outside for a while.
Heh. I wished my PS2 had failed in the warranty period, and I could've had 2 free games.
:)
The XBox did, which got a new controller for my PS2 and a 2nd S-Controller for my XBox with the price difference.
It took 3 weeks for the check to get to my house (which is just east of their corporate HQ...but their financing/insurance company is up north somewhere....heh)
So far, I've only had trouble with my XBox (it's been replaced after only 1 year), and my cube/Ps2 have been fine. To a point, I think the Cube is the sturdiest, followed by the PS2, with the hard-drive equipped XBox being the most fragile. My Ps2 is just over 3 years old and gets the lion's share of game time with my Gamecube coming a close second. (I only have Halo and Soul Calibur II for my XBox....heh.)
:) heh.
The only problem I've had with my Ps2 has been with Blue discs. Most notably, NBA Street and Romance of the 3 Kingdoms 8. NBA Street takes forever to load, and ROTK does not want to load at all (funny that ROTK 7 plays fine and it is blue and a used copy.) Until this phenomenon spreads to further blue disc games, I am not concerned.
While I do think some people are unbelievably hard on their consoles (and games for that matter), there is a kernel of truth in the durability of all 3 consoles. With the exception of the weak loading tray for the PS2, it is a solid unit.
Controllers, on the other hand, are a different story. I've been pretty unlucky with both XBox and PS2 controllers lasting. The XBox controller I wore out playing a rented copy of SSX Tricky, and the 2 PS2 controllers I've had thus far are just plain dying of old age.
Since the demise of the Atari 2600, I haven't had a controller that is as quite as durable as that system's joystick.
Hahahah. Ok ok....that's just TOO funny. No, really. Why would any AC desire to post how pisspoor their "G5" is compared to their vaunted PPro? See how many people bite, I guess. :) Oh well..I took the bait. I just want to commend you on THE most clever bit of parody since Weird Al's "Amish Paradise"
Oh MAN, that whole post should be modded +2 funny.
how this was modded insightful, I'll never know.
First, I'm not going to explain the obvious to you....go look it up on Apple's website before you make any more tinfoil hat accusations.
Trust me, when MS gets done, you'll wonder why you didn't buy an Apple when you had the chance.