I would have to agree with this for the most part, but I'd have to add a couple things.
First off
windows XP heck, MS in general deserve a heck of a lot of credit. They have done some amazing things with their os'es in the past 2 decades. sure a little slow, but they have to cater to 80something % of the market. When a market is a couple dozen billion large, 80ish% comes out to be a rather large number of people. And to make something that most people are happy with, that's quite something.
also, the Windows os's have been pretty darn good, however, hardware manufacturers, and 3rd party software vendors, well, they kinda suck. As has been mentioned, buggy drivers suck, that's not ms's fault, thats the fault of the vendors'. i can't count how many times I've seen ATI's dll's kill my poor laptop, or open offices' program crash my desktop, or... you get the idea.
Ok, yeah mac's are better at this, but hey, I have to but new peripherals every time I buy a new mac.. AND new software... Yeah, I'll pass on the mac bus, a little too pricey for me, and apparently too pricey for the most of the rest of the world. And I haven't even started on Intel macs, no compatibility whatsoever. Most printers/Scanners/copiers... that worked on 10.4 ppc don't work on 10.4 intel mac... go figure... but that's a whole other ball game
As for linux, great os's, but as someone else rather smart has said, if they (all the companies, sorry, all the hundreds of companies making linux) would join together to make ONE good solid linux OS, it would kick @$$, untill that point in time, linux is doomed to be just a bunch of beads waiting for the string to join them together to make a beautiful necklace.
first off, I want to say sorry for ranting, but this topic really really bugs me.
[rant] I've played many games, and have gotten addicted to quite a few of them, my roommate and I spent an entire year playing games online together, we also hosted dnd games, and L5R games (another style of dnd game http://www.l5r.com/) and in the past 7+ years, none of my 20+ friends who have played dnd/l5r or anything with us have; committed suicide, tryed to re-enact, re-create anything that we've played out in our games. Now, that being said, I'm sure there were quite a few of us who have thought 'wouldn't it be cool to be able to blink, and turn invisible.' or something along those lines. But than again, who hasn't thought that. AND! to that end, why is it a games fault, look at tv, look at movies. I find it incredibly funny, and insulting as a gamer, that the most graphic/gory/destructive tv show is on every day, at least 3 times a day, on almost every single channel, News. My perspective on games, and their effects on people, is a rather simple one. It goes a little something like this.
A famous mom once said "I don't care what 'Jimmy' said, if little 'jimmy' jumped off a bridge, would you follow him, and jump as well."
sorry if anyone's name here happens to be jimmy. or jim, or anything like that, no reference meant
Now I'm sure almost everyone on these boards has heard this saying at least once, and can appreciate it's meaning. = just because so and so did that, what makes you think you can to.
I'm really quite sick of horrible parents trying to find an easy scapegoat for their own incapabilities.
Lets break something down here
car accidents attribute to the most deaths (aside from accidents, natural, and wartime) in the US (according to disastercentre http://www.disastercenter.com/cdc/ and yet parents/family members/relatives never seem to sue car manufatcurers (aside from when the car actually has a defect). MADD is trying to get stiffer penalties to alcohol makers when their product is found to be the cause of car accidents causing death, but that has so far failed, for a reason, it's not the manufacturers fault, it's the fault of the user.
However, when it comes to kids doing incredibly stupid things, if it can be even remotely related to a game they played, BAM instant lawsuit.
It seems that recently, lawsuits are fast becoming the replacement for good parenting. If a parent has a problem with their child, they immediately blame it on the most recent game that their child played.
I'm shocked that parents of dead soldiers aren't suing makers of games like America's Army, or Battlefield, or Counterstrike? I'm sure that's in the works somewhere.
Anyways.
I really don't see how a Game can force a child/teen/adult, person, to go out and do something incredibly stupid. It really makes you wonder, what happened to good ol common sense.
In the case of WOW vs. flying chinese child, I wonder. Where were the parents, where was the parenting that says, jumping off the balcony is not smart. Where were the parents saying "are you done your homework?" For that matter, where were the parents when this kid bought the game, ignoring the fact that the game is intended for teens (yeah I know T=13 plus) but still, I wonder if the parents know anything about the game, aside from the fact that it's made by that american company that they're suing...???
I'm really quite appalled that soo many parents are turning to the courts to help back them in their failures to parent properly. [/rant]
Where are the good ol days when babysitters were real, cute girls, that every kid loved having over, just for a chance to "cop a feel" not games, or TV that "implants bad thoughts in childrens heads"
I really must ask the question. If games are soo bad, why do so many parents turn a blind eye when their kids go out and get them??? OOPS I forg
keep in mind though, iTunes, and iPod, are not core programs, a computer can run without an iPod, however, a mac computer can't run without it's os. Your statement is kind of like IBM saying that they shouldn't have allowed Mac to use floppy drives, as that would decrease sales on IBM computers. the point made was that an x86 system costs about $800 (cdn) for a decent mid range system, os included a Mac based g4 computer still costs over $1200(cdn) os included. Thats both for about a 2.5 Ghz comp. why would people go out and by mac based computers when they can get a mac based x86 for 3-4 hundred less.
Personally, I wouldn't switch over. For one simple reason. There is far more software support for the PC, and PC's are far easier, and cheaper to upgrade. Although Mac is doing quite well in that department.
Clothing. Can you imagine what would come out of the ability to change characteristics in clothing? Automatically cleans its self. Shrinks, or grows, to fit anyone (one size fits all...) changes colour depending on what you want. goes from a teeshirt to a long sleeved shirt. Man That would be quite wierd.
you know those security things they have at the library. The ones that say, make sure you keep your diskettes out of the open. Because they generate an electro-magnetic field, I wonder what would happen if you walked through one of those with these shoes on?
I wonder if they're running any sort of Microsoft Operating system. Constant crashes, and the need to download new patches as you encounter new terrain types found outside of the concrete jungles you normally walk/run in.
yes that's true but don't most games revolve around the same theory, point and click. I mean seriously look at diablo (1/2) point at bad guy. click mouse. repeat. quake, requires a few more rudementary commands, such as using a seperate hand to move, but basically the same thing. hell the most dificult game i've played recently was Magic the gathering online. (yes i'm a true nerd)and i mean seriouslly that's not that hard of a game. the next most difficult would definately have to be baldurs gate, (1 ex/2 ex take your pick) most games are very simple ("here let me hold your hand and walk you to the place you need to go, point out the guys you need to kill and then give you some extremely powerfull item" midaswell be all the text for every single quest in most RPG's) While i agree that some games (homeworld, max payne, the matrix, starwars (pick an FPS any FPS of the jedi)) do require some learning to understand what exactly you can do, but it's all the same. the most complex FPS I've played (Jedi Knight II) took me roughly 10 mins to figure out everything i needed to know. Don't shoot the chick, shoot everything else, use funky powers every now and again to toss bad guys over cliff, hit button and shoot some more. If you find these things hard to do you don't deserve to be playing games on a computer. Go pick up a console, get an FPS and learn the fact that every one uses one button to shoot/switch weapon, one to look, and one to reload/use/open doors/etc... it's not that hard to figure out.
sorry for the rant. but i've been looking and looking for a game that revolves around story and interaction more than fighting and such and so far the closest i've come is Septerra Core, possibly Baldurs Gate II (w/o expansion). (any sugghestions for a good game are welcome)
God with the statement nintendo made we should be expecting people coming out stating that they found quake to be a "difficult" game that requires too much "thinking"
Slashdot Mirror
I would have to agree with this for the most part, but I'd have to add a couple things. First off windows XP heck, MS in general deserve a heck of a lot of credit. They have done some amazing things with their os'es in the past 2 decades. sure a little slow, but they have to cater to 80something % of the market. When a market is a couple dozen billion large, 80ish% comes out to be a rather large number of people. And to make something that most people are happy with, that's quite something. also, the Windows os's have been pretty darn good, however, hardware manufacturers, and 3rd party software vendors, well, they kinda suck. As has been mentioned, buggy drivers suck, that's not ms's fault, thats the fault of the vendors'. i can't count how many times I've seen ATI's dll's kill my poor laptop, or open offices' program crash my desktop, or... you get the idea. Ok, yeah mac's are better at this, but hey, I have to but new peripherals every time I buy a new mac.. AND new software... Yeah, I'll pass on the mac bus, a little too pricey for me, and apparently too pricey for the most of the rest of the world. And I haven't even started on Intel macs, no compatibility whatsoever. Most printers/Scanners/copiers... that worked on 10.4 ppc don't work on 10.4 intel mac... go figure... but that's a whole other ball game As for linux, great os's, but as someone else rather smart has said, if they (all the companies, sorry, all the hundreds of companies making linux) would join together to make ONE good solid linux OS, it would kick @$$, untill that point in time, linux is doomed to be just a bunch of beads waiting for the string to join them together to make a beautiful necklace.
[rant] I've played many games, and have gotten addicted to quite a few of them, my roommate and I spent an entire year playing games online together, we also hosted dnd games, and L5R games (another style of dnd game http://www.l5r.com/) and in the past 7+ years, none of my 20+ friends who have played dnd/l5r or anything with us have; committed suicide, tryed to re-enact, re-create anything that we've played out in our games. Now, that being said, I'm sure there were quite a few of us who have thought 'wouldn't it be cool to be able to blink, and turn invisible.' or something along those lines. But than again, who hasn't thought that. AND! to that end, why is it a games fault, look at tv, look at movies. I find it incredibly funny, and insulting as a gamer, that the most graphic/gory/destructive tv show is on every day, at least 3 times a day, on almost every single channel, News. My perspective on games, and their effects on people, is a rather simple one. It goes a little something like this.
A famous mom once said "I don't care what 'Jimmy' said, if little 'jimmy' jumped off a bridge, would you follow him, and jump as well."
sorry if anyone's name here happens to be jimmy. or jim, or anything like that, no reference meant
Now I'm sure almost everyone on these boards has heard this saying at least once, and can appreciate it's meaning. = just because so and so did that, what makes you think you can to.
I'm really quite sick of horrible parents trying to find an easy scapegoat for their own incapabilities.
Lets break something down here
car accidents attribute to the most deaths (aside from accidents, natural, and wartime) in the US (according to disastercentre http://www.disastercenter.com/cdc/ and yet parents/family members/relatives never seem to sue car manufatcurers (aside from when the car actually has a defect). MADD is trying to get stiffer penalties to alcohol makers when their product is found to be the cause of car accidents causing death, but that has so far failed, for a reason, it's not the manufacturers fault, it's the fault of the user.
However, when it comes to kids doing incredibly stupid things, if it can be even remotely related to a game they played, BAM instant lawsuit.
It seems that recently, lawsuits are fast becoming the replacement for good parenting. If a parent has a problem with their child, they immediately blame it on the most recent game that their child played.
I'm shocked that parents of dead soldiers aren't suing makers of games like America's Army, or Battlefield, or Counterstrike? I'm sure that's in the works somewhere.
Anyways.
I really don't see how a Game can force a child/teen/adult, person, to go out and do something incredibly stupid. It really makes you wonder, what happened to good ol common sense.
In the case of WOW vs. flying chinese child, I wonder. Where were the parents, where was the parenting that says, jumping off the balcony is not smart. Where were the parents saying "are you done your homework?" For that matter, where were the parents when this kid bought the game, ignoring the fact that the game is intended for teens (yeah I know T=13 plus) but still, I wonder if the parents know anything about the game, aside from the fact that it's made by that american company that they're suing...???
I'm really quite appalled that soo many parents are turning to the courts to help back them in their failures to parent properly. [/rant]
Where are the good ol days when babysitters were real, cute girls, that every kid loved having over, just for a chance to "cop a feel" not games, or TV that "implants bad thoughts in childrens heads"
I really must ask the question. If games are soo bad, why do so many parents turn a blind eye when their kids go out and get them??? OOPS I forg
keep in mind though, iTunes, and iPod, are not core programs, a computer can run without an iPod, however, a mac computer can't run without it's os.
Your statement is kind of like IBM saying that they shouldn't have allowed Mac to use floppy drives, as that would decrease sales on IBM computers.
the point made was that an x86 system costs about $800 (cdn) for a decent mid range system, os included
a Mac based g4 computer still costs over $1200(cdn) os included. Thats both for about a 2.5 Ghz comp. why would people go out and by mac based computers when they can get a mac based x86 for 3-4 hundred less.
Personally, I wouldn't switch over. For one simple reason. There is far more software support for the PC, and PC's are far easier, and cheaper to upgrade. Although Mac is doing quite well in that department.
Clothing. Can you imagine what would come out of the ability to change characteristics in clothing? Automatically cleans its self. Shrinks, or grows, to fit anyone (one size fits all...) changes colour depending on what you want. goes from a teeshirt to a long sleeved shirt. Man That would be quite wierd.
you know those security things they have at the library. The ones that say, make sure you keep your diskettes out of the open. Because they generate an electro-magnetic field, I wonder what would happen if you walked through one of those with these shoes on?
I wonder if they're running any sort of Microsoft Operating system. Constant crashes, and the need to download new patches as you encounter new terrain types found outside of the concrete jungles you normally walk/run in.
yes that's true but don't most games revolve around the same theory, point and click. I mean seriously look at diablo (1/2) point at bad guy. click mouse. repeat. quake, requires a few more rudementary commands, such as using a seperate hand to move, but basically the same thing. hell the most dificult game i've played recently was Magic the gathering online. (yes i'm a true nerd)and i mean seriouslly that's not that hard of a game. the next most difficult would definately have to be baldurs gate, (1 ex/2 ex take your pick) most games are very simple ("here let me hold your hand and walk you to the place you need to go, point out the guys you need to kill and then give you some extremely powerfull item" midaswell be all the text for every single quest in most RPG's) While i agree that some games (homeworld, max payne, the matrix, starwars (pick an FPS any FPS of the jedi)) do require some learning to understand what exactly you can do, but it's all the same. the most complex FPS I've played (Jedi Knight II) took me roughly 10 mins to figure out everything i needed to know. Don't shoot the chick, shoot everything else, use funky powers every now and again to toss bad guys over cliff, hit button and shoot some more. If you find these things hard to do you don't deserve to be playing games on a computer. Go pick up a console, get an FPS and learn the fact that every one uses one button to shoot/switch weapon, one to look, and one to reload/use/open doors/etc... it's not that hard to figure out. sorry for the rant. but i've been looking and looking for a game that revolves around story and interaction more than fighting and such and so far the closest i've come is Septerra Core, possibly Baldurs Gate II (w/o expansion). (any sugghestions for a good game are welcome)
God with the statement nintendo made we should be expecting people coming out stating that they found quake to be a "difficult" game that requires too much "thinking"