Re:Blu Ray & HD-DVD, two solutions to a non pr
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CNN On The $500 PS3
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· Score: 1
My first reaction was to disagree with you, but after I thought about it, Gran Turismo looks about the same in 480p as it does in 1080i (my TV doesn't support 720p). I would imagine that all things being equal there wouldn't be much of an improvement over current HDTV owners.
But, I don't think that most gamers are going to be looking at it that way (going from current-gen systems on an HDTV to next-gen systems on an HDTV). It's going to be more like going from current-gen systems on a normal TV to next-gen systems on an HDTV. How many people with HDTV's have component cables for their current-gen systems? I do, but gamers I talk to don't even realize that their current-gen systems would look better with a component cable (most Xbox games are progressive scan and several PS2 and GC games are as well).
The difference between composite video to s-video is definately noticable on any decent TV over 25 inches, and the difference between s-video and a 480p signal is even more noticable on my HDTV. Basically, I think (for gamers) this IS the equivalent jump as the VCR -> DVD transition was for movie-watchers.
This assumes of course that most next-gen consoles will be played on HDTV's.
In addition to other posters comments about OWA, MS has also just released their new "Atlas" platform which is basically bringing AJAX tech to the "average programmer". See http://atlas.asp.net/. It's still in the alpha stages, but some people are doing some cool stuff with it already. One of the MS guys has put up a site that demos some of the interesting things you can do: http://apps.nikhilk.net/VirtualPlaces/ (still not working in Firefox). Sure it's just another AJAX'y mapping site, but it seems MS is committed to this project.
They are also coming around in the standards-compliance area (Visual Studio 2005 is leaps and bounds ahead of their previous product) and the ASP.NET team seems to be committed to adhering to web standards.
Yeah, and those of us that aren't - and where do we sign up? I mean, getting PAID to read and post on Slashdot? I am all over that.
Re:Does anyone else find myth busters annoying?
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Archimedes Death Ray
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· Score: 1
Oh, my gosh - don't get me started.
I mean, the shows are fun, but I get severely annoyed when people I know point to Mythbusters as "proof" that it is indeed a myth.
Someone should send these (special effects people BTW) a copy of the scientific method...
Did anyone ever play Douglas Adams' Starship Titanic?
http://www.starshiptitanic.com/
From what I understand (I never got a chance to play it), it was an adventure game with similar humor. It even had Douglas Adams in the title. One of those pointy-clicky games though. Maybe I should do a little eBaying and pick it up.
I'm not sure if they even offer this package anymore, but I pay $20 a year for IGN Insider (just renewed last month). You don't get the popups or most of the annoying flash interstitial ads. I am not saying that IGN is the greatest site, but they do have a wide variety of "extras" for the Insiders, and I think that $20 a year is worth it.
I WOULD still be using mine except some bastard stole it. The Pocket Concert was really a gem. it had great music quality, a well-amplified output (drove my larger headphones with ease), and large amount of memory (for the time). It seemed to take a hit pretty well too. I dropped it about 4 ft onto a concrete floor and thought it was a goner - nothing happened to it.
I did by an iRiver 390T later and have been very pleased with its performance, I just wish it had a little more memory (only 256MB). Oh, well, time for an iPod (although if iRiver makes a larger HD based model I would get that).
I would like to second this argument. While I completely disagree with the idea that "Games make you kill", you don't need to experience something to realize it's a bad thing.
I am sick of this being thrown in my face by people. When I try to even enter a discussion about women's rights (yeah, I know that's stupid) I get shot down because "I am not a woman". Or maybe I want to talk about racism, well my opinion doesn't count because I am white.
What have we come to? I would have thought we were above this kind of "straw man" type of argument.
The real problem is that there is no definitive research that indicates violent media (games included) influences people one way or the other. I believe current research shows that violent people consume violent media, but that does not imply a causal relationship. Of course the fundies have their anecdotal evidence and we have ours. I personally believe ours (millions of gamers playing violent games haven't caused any crimes), but our evidence doesn't seem to be any better than theirs, unfortunately.
I know the parent was joking, but I WOULD like to see a newer spaceballs DVD - one that at least has an anamorphic transfer (so I can watch it properly on my widescreen (HD)TV). It would be nice to have an anamorphic "Office Space" too.
Well, part of what you said is already happening. My father is in the construction industry and has said over the past year or so lumber products have tripled or quadrupled in price. I would imagine that is caused partially by the massive increase in new housing in the nation (intrest rates were the lowest in 40-50 years, so people are building) as well as changing environmental/forest management policies.
Yes, but when Spielberg changed ET (replaced guns with walkie-talkies) you could still watch the original. My brother has the ET special edition DVD set released a few years back and it has 2 full-length movies - one with the guns and one with the walkie-talkies.
I doubt that Lucas will release the version of ANH with Han shooting first.
Saw this posted somewhere - probably here on Slashdot - but this guy seems to get pretty good pictures out of his: http://www.wireless-doc.com/treoportfolio.htm
He has a few tips on his website, hope that helps.
Whoops - someone already did that. There was a game for the Super NES called "Cool Spot" featuring the "spot" from 7-up. There was also a game in Chex boxes based on the Doom engine that was Chex themed. I am sure there are more examples.
Hmm.. Despite the rhetoric around here, the entertainment industry only makes pennies to the tech industries dollar. Sony (the maker of CD and DVD burners) is much much larger than Sony (the publisher of DVDs and PS2 games) - hence the 'paradox' that protects us.
Uhh, care to back that up? I fail to see how making millions of copies of things that have actual cost (DVD players, TV's) makes more money than making millions of copies of things that essentially have no cost (DVD's, Music CD's).
Yes, consumer electronics have development costs, just like music and movies have "development costs".
This is true, but why do I have to pay for the game AND the subscription?
BTW - I just noticed that Lineage was a free download. (not that any of this matters - I don't play MMORPG's - leave me the single-player console RPG's)
Thats a great game, but you can get similar "typing tutor" games on any flash-game site for free in your browser. I like popcap.com (TyperShark), but I am sure that other sites have them. I showed this to my mom when she wanted to brush up on her typing skills and she had a blast!
Slashdot Mirror
My first reaction was to disagree with you, but after I thought about it, Gran Turismo looks about the same in 480p as it does in 1080i (my TV doesn't support 720p). I would imagine that all things being equal there wouldn't be much of an improvement over current HDTV owners.
But, I don't think that most gamers are going to be looking at it that way (going from current-gen systems on an HDTV to next-gen systems on an HDTV). It's going to be more like going from current-gen systems on a normal TV to next-gen systems on an HDTV. How many people with HDTV's have component cables for their current-gen systems? I do, but gamers I talk to don't even realize that their current-gen systems would look better with a component cable (most Xbox games are progressive scan and several PS2 and GC games are as well).
The difference between composite video to s-video is definately noticable on any decent TV over 25 inches, and the difference between s-video and a 480p signal is even more noticable on my HDTV. Basically, I think (for gamers) this IS the equivalent jump as the VCR -> DVD transition was for movie-watchers.
This assumes of course that most next-gen consoles will be played on HDTV's.
In addition to other posters comments about OWA, MS has also just released their new "Atlas" platform which is basically bringing AJAX tech to the "average programmer". See http://atlas.asp.net/. It's still in the alpha stages, but some people are doing some cool stuff with it already. One of the MS guys has put up a site that demos some of the interesting things you can do: http://apps.nikhilk.net/VirtualPlaces/ (still not working in Firefox). Sure it's just another AJAX'y mapping site, but it seems MS is committed to this project.
They are also coming around in the standards-compliance area (Visual Studio 2005 is leaps and bounds ahead of their previous product) and the ASP.NET team seems to be committed to adhering to web standards.
Yeah, and those of us that aren't - and where do we sign up? I mean, getting PAID to read and post on Slashdot? I am all over that.
Oh, my gosh - don't get me started. I mean, the shows are fun, but I get severely annoyed when people I know point to Mythbusters as "proof" that it is indeed a myth. Someone should send these (special effects people BTW) a copy of the scientific method...
Did anyone ever play Douglas Adams' Starship Titanic? http://www.starshiptitanic.com/ From what I understand (I never got a chance to play it), it was an adventure game with similar humor. It even had Douglas Adams in the title. One of those pointy-clicky games though. Maybe I should do a little eBaying and pick it up.
I'm not sure if they even offer this package anymore, but I pay $20 a year for IGN Insider (just renewed last month). You don't get the popups or most of the annoying flash interstitial ads. I am not saying that IGN is the greatest site, but they do have a wide variety of "extras" for the Insiders, and I think that $20 a year is worth it.
I WOULD still be using mine except some bastard stole it. The Pocket Concert was really a gem. it had great music quality, a well-amplified output (drove my larger headphones with ease), and large amount of memory (for the time). It seemed to take a hit pretty well too. I dropped it about 4 ft onto a concrete floor and thought it was a goner - nothing happened to it.
I did by an iRiver 390T later and have been very pleased with its performance, I just wish it had a little more memory (only 256MB). Oh, well, time for an iPod (although if iRiver makes a larger HD based model I would get that).
I would like to second this argument. While I completely disagree with the idea that "Games make you kill", you don't need to experience something to realize it's a bad thing.
I am sick of this being thrown in my face by people. When I try to even enter a discussion about women's rights (yeah, I know that's stupid) I get shot down because "I am not a woman". Or maybe I want to talk about racism, well my opinion doesn't count because I am white.
What have we come to? I would have thought we were above this kind of "straw man" type of argument.
The real problem is that there is no definitive research that indicates violent media (games included) influences people one way or the other. I believe current research shows that violent people consume violent media, but that does not imply a causal relationship. Of course the fundies have their anecdotal evidence and we have ours. I personally believe ours (millions of gamers playing violent games haven't caused any crimes), but our evidence doesn't seem to be any better than theirs, unfortunately.
I know the parent was joking, but I WOULD like to see a newer spaceballs DVD - one that at least has an anamorphic transfer (so I can watch it properly on my widescreen (HD)TV). It would be nice to have an anamorphic "Office Space" too.
I believe they were referring to changes from the Special Editions (rerelease) not the original movies.
Well, part of what you said is already happening. My father is in the construction industry and has said over the past year or so lumber products have tripled or quadrupled in price. I would imagine that is caused partially by the massive increase in new housing in the nation (intrest rates were the lowest in 40-50 years, so people are building) as well as changing environmental/forest management policies.
"The Thing from another world", or just "The Thing"
Original: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044121/
John Carpender's excellent remake: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084787/
(Sorry - don't know how to make the "html-syle" hyperlinks)
Hmm - I thought I was the only one who realized this. Oh, well, one more reason "I am a unique snowflake" applies less and less to me. 8*)
Yes, but when Spielberg changed ET (replaced guns with walkie-talkies) you could still watch the original. My brother has the ET special edition DVD set released a few years back and it has 2 full-length movies - one with the guns and one with the walkie-talkies.
I doubt that Lucas will release the version of ANH with Han shooting first.
Umm, wouldn't it be best if we waited until it's 1.0? (not 1.0PR)
Oh, come on - the slow scrolling is an ADVANTAGE. You got that whole anticipation thing going for you. *grins*
(OT) Wow - that Pepper Pad looks SWEET! - hopefully your hard work pays off!
Saw this posted somewhere - probably here on Slashdot - but this guy seems to get pretty good pictures out of his:
http://www.wireless-doc.com/treoportfolio.htm
He has a few tips on his website, hope that helps.
Whoops - someone already did that. There was a game for the Super NES called "Cool Spot" featuring the "spot" from 7-up. There was also a game in Chex boxes based on the Doom engine that was Chex themed. I am sure there are more examples.
100 Megs is roughly equivalent to 1 modem year... 8*)
(Yes - I DID download a 100 MB file over a 56K modem a few years back - took about a week with download resume).
Uhh, care to back that up? I fail to see how making millions of copies of things that have actual cost (DVD players, TV's) makes more money than making millions of copies of things that essentially have no cost (DVD's, Music CD's).
Yes, consumer electronics have development costs, just like music and movies have "development costs".
This is true, but why do I have to pay for the game AND the subscription?
BTW - I just noticed that Lineage was a free download. (not that any of this matters - I don't play MMORPG's - leave me the single-player console RPG's)
Yeah. I remember seeing that too somewhere... Oh yeah, here:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0280674/
(I keed, I keed!)
Thats a great game, but you can get similar "typing tutor" games on any flash-game site for free in your browser. I like popcap.com (TyperShark), but I am sure that other sites have them. I showed this to my mom when she wanted to brush up on her typing skills and she had a blast!
A +5 Informative post if I ever saw it! 8*)