>>GBA SP: No standard headphone jack. Cannot listen to headphones while charging.
While I agree that a headphone jack should have been standard, there are adaptors that allow you to connect both headphones and the power cord. I got one in a $10 accessories pack with some other stuff that I bought when I got my SP.
>>>What I really want is a Nintendo DS with full backwards compatibility, including using the wireless link to replace the standard link cable for GBA games. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like this is going to be a reality.
Something like that might happen. Nintendo has said repeatedly that the DS isn't a part of the game boy line, and they're making a gba 2 or whatever it will be called. That will probably have X + Y buttons, wireless, and be fully backwards compatable. So, it won't be a DS, but it will probably have most of what you want.
A new console every year? What are you talking about? A console's lifecycle is 5 years, so even if you for some reason have to buy every console that ever comes out, you'ld still have a hard time finding a new console to buy every year.
I didn't mean it would be expensive to develop for it, I meant it would be expensive to make a game multiplatform so that it would take advantage of motion-sensing on the Revolution and dual analog and extra buttons on PS3/Xbox360. I don't think that developing for motion sensing would be more expensive (at least by much) than developing for dual analog, but developing for both and then testing both scemes? I think that's going to make multiplatform games on the Revo even more rare than they've been on other nintendo systems.
It has less buttons. The PS3 controller will have 2 d-sticks, 4 face buttons, and probably 4 shoulder buttons like the PS2, while this has 1 d-stick, one face button, and 3 shoulder buttons. Granted, it does have the motion sensing, which makes up for it in useablility and coolness, but it's going to be very expensive for developers to make their multiplatform games use motion sensing for the revo version and extra buttons on the PS3 and 360 versions. I like that they're being innovative, but I think a lot of games are going to use the cube controller instead.
>>>I think the experience will be totally different if the graphics are as real as we see in real world, and if the AI are as intelligent as human. We have tremedous progress but we're no where near it.
The fact that we're nowhere near it is what's pretty much the reason for Nintendo being creative istead of just jumping on the graphics bandwagon. In order to really enjoy the new graphics of the 360 and PS3, you pretty much need HDTV, and then it's still not going to be much more realistic. Or you can keep your old TV and buy a Revolution for the rumored price of $200 and have a whole new experience from current games. I know which one I'm getting.
Actually, it doesn't, which is why I imported a digital gamecube controller. Analog control does not work well on 2d games, and the gamecube's d-pad is way too small, also it lacked a select button. I assume my digital controller will work fine with SNES games, and the regular gamecube controller should work with N64 games, but it would just be kinda wierd to have 3 controllers to play games on one system. I guess since it plays games from 5 different generations it makes sense, though I'ld probably be more annoyed if I didn't already have my gamecube controllers.
I guess everyone's different, but my right hand gets much more of a workout on standard controllers than my left. Moving up and down, left and right, isn't nearly as taxing or complicated in my opinion as many of the button combos in console games, also, the event buttons seem to require much more timeing than the directional pad/stick does. Again, everyone's different, but I think that the console controllers were made correctly for right-handed people.
>>>Take a close look at the controller. See the d-pad? See the small 'a' and 'b' buttons at the bottom? Turn it sideways and you've got an NES controller.
Yeah, though this controller might actually be more uncomfortable than the original NES controller. And how exactly are you to play SNES games? Guess everyone will have to import digital gamecube controllers to play SNES games.
It's strange that a console that's promoting backwards compatibility so much has a controller that's so radically incompatible with older games. Maybe they'll have different types of controllers availible that are more normal.
My big problem with this is that it's not saying that M rated games shouldn't be sold to minors, it's saying that "violent" video games can't be sold to minors. How do they define violent? ""Violent video game" means any video game or any copy of
an electronic game that may be played using a portable electronic
device or hand-held gaming device using a television or computer,
that, taken as a whole, to the average person, applying contemporary
statewide standards, appeals to minors' morbid interest in violence,
that enables the player to virtually inflict serious injury upon
human beings or characters with substantially human characteristics
in a manner that is especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel, and
that, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political,
or scientific value for minors."However!"This paragraph shall not apply to a game in which the visual
depiction of violence occurs as a result of simultaneous competition
between two or more players"link to bill
I'm not quite sure what games exactly are covered, but I guess gory fighting games and shooters aren't, as long as they're two-player! Seriously, I used to work at a game store, and I feel bad for anyone who has to figure out which games this actually covers, and if they get it wrong, it's a $1000 fine. Now you could say that they just shouldn't sell M-rated games to minors and they should be fine, but then why doesn't the bill just say M-rated games shouldn't be sold to minors if that's what it's supposed to mean?!?
Also, oddly enough, the bill doesn't have an exception for family members. So technically, if I gave my (future potential) 17 year old daughter GTA, I could get fined $1000. Wouldn't that be great?
Maybe you need to try an easier distro. I use Ubuntu, and in many ways I find it easier than windows. It's easier to install most programs and in general it tends to make more sense to me than windows, even though I've used windows since 3.1 and I've only been using Ubuntu for about 2 months. Also, my husband and my best friend, who are far from computer geeks, have had no problems using my computer since I made the switch. Maybe you should try Ubuntu as see how easy it is?
>>I am new to Ubuntu, and even to Synaptic. If all I want is Stable (5.04), plus GNOMEv2.12 and Evolutionv2.3.7, but not to upgrade the whole dist to Breezy, can I do that?
Breezy should be stable in another month or so. As a newbie, the easiest thing you can do is just wait that month. I know, that's not as fun, but that's what I'm doing.:)
Except a console's life span is 5 years, not 2. I paid $75 for my PS2 in 2002. New games will be coming out for it until at least 2006, if not later, besides, there are many more games for the PS2 than for the PC. Have you ever paid $75 for a PC upgrade that had you playing new games for the next 4 years? No? Then I guess PCs aren't as cheap as consoles.
Yes, you can do a lot more things with a PC than you can with a console, and if that's your reason for paying more, then good for you. But don't delude yourself into thinking you're spending less.
>> Midway's "Blitz: the League" is coming out this fall and it has a lot of stuff that's never been seen in a football game like a storyline. Also hookers.
Yes, because that's what games need, more hookers!
>>I don't know. What I do know is that playing simple little web-based flash animation games made by amateurs (like the stumbling drunk or the sliding penguin) can be way more fun then the latest knockoff FPS.
I don't believe games have to be big buget or high graphics either, but could you have named a game a little better than the stumbling drunk of all things? I don't know much about indi games in general, but please tell me there are more elaborate indi games than that.
It's interesting that the author chose to write an article with a main point that games shouldn't have to be all about the pretty graphics, and then put said article on top of pretty graphics that make it hard to read.
Black on white: it works. White on peacock? Not so much.
>>But I suppose if you are that insecure about your argument.....
It's not even my argument. It's your argument that we should take pity on Windows because it's old and therefore can't possibly be patched as much as Linux. So, ok, it's unfair even to compare SP2, which came out, what, a year or so ago, with the version of the distro I'm using, which came out in May. But, my question is, why should I care? If I want to install a new OS on my computer, should I spend $179 on the latest from Microsoft, which is older and has more vulnerbilities than an OS I can get for free? Fresh installs are just one way to compare the two systems, a way which is particularly striking when you hear about people getting their windows systems hacked while they try to patch it right after installation, while linux systems can survive for months, unpatched and unfirewalled. If you want to see linux and windows security compared in other ways, here's an article for you.
Ok, let's assume for a second that the release dates account for all the difference in vulnerbilities of the two systems. A vulnerbility is a vulnerbility, irregardless of the reason. So, why should I pay hundreds of dollars for an OS that is 4 years old and thus has bunches of vulnerbilities when I can download a brand new OS for free with much fewer vulnerbilities?
>>I'm perfectly okay when people use either (though I am accustomed to hearing 'he'). What irks me is when people switch constantly back and forth in one document. That's irritating.
Hee, I actually saw someone switch in the middle of a sentence! Talk about confusing...
>>"Centuries of use... neutered the male[sic] pronoun". "She" doesn't have that.
When someone says "he" do you ever think of a woman? Have you ever use "he" to refer to a woman? It's far from "neuter", and a D&D manual is far from being an authority on this. If someone wants to use "he" for simplicity, that's fine, but don't freak out when someone wants to use something else.
>>>You seriously don't think Linux is rabidly tendriously mind boggling complex compared to Windows or Mac OS X?
No way. I used windows for the previous 12+ years prior to discovering ubuntu linux about a month ago, and I wish I had switched years ago, it's been so easy. Installing it was simpler than installing windows, I haven't had to hunt for any drivers, installing programs is much easier, and it comes with so many useful programs. Under windows, for example, I never found a good cd ripper that I really liked, however, ubuntu comes with one that is absolutly perfect. Also, under windows, sometimes videos wouldn't play under windows media player, sometimes I'ld have to use divx or something else, or spend hours looking for codecs, but in ubuntu everything plays under totem. Maybe the distro you tried might be harder or more complex?
The author alternating between using 'she' and 'he'. I think it was nice that he (and no, I'm not assuming a gender; I clicked on author's bio to find out) noticed that women do play games. *cue whining that 'he' is a gender neutral pronoun* Tell me all you want that 'he' is gender-neutral, but if you do, please explain why 'she' can't be used as gender-neutral as well. If I complained about every article that that only used 'he' for gender-neutral, well, first of all I'ld have that would probably take up my entire life, and second, I'ld never here the end of how I'm a crazy feminist who needs a life. So how about I don't complain when people use 'he for gender-neutral, and you don't complain when people use 'she for gender-neutral?
>>> I think the best thing we could do is come up with a set of new, gender-neutral-only pronouns, as some have suggested in the past. Good luck with that, though.
Yeah, good luck. People have come up with gender-neutral words ('ze' for he/she, 'per' for him/her, short for 'person') but the day I hear them used outside of a politically-correct discussion group designed to talk about this stuff, well, I think I'll just have a heart attack. Personally, I take the route that I won't complain if you always use 'he' as a gender-nonspecific pronoun if you don't complain that I always use 'she'.
Slashdot Mirror
>>GBA SP: No standard headphone jack. Cannot listen to headphones while charging.
While I agree that a headphone jack should have been standard, there are adaptors that allow you to connect both headphones and the power cord. I got one in a $10 accessories pack with some other stuff that I bought when I got my SP.
>>>What I really want is a Nintendo DS with full backwards compatibility, including using the wireless link to replace the standard link cable for GBA games. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like this is going to be a reality.
Something like that might happen. Nintendo has said repeatedly that the DS isn't a part of the game boy line, and they're making a gba 2 or whatever it will be called. That will probably have X + Y buttons, wireless, and be fully backwards compatable. So, it won't be a DS, but it will probably have most of what you want.
A new console every year? What are you talking about? A console's lifecycle is 5 years, so even if you for some reason have to buy every console that ever comes out, you'ld still have a hard time finding a new console to buy every year.
Also, it's $400, not $500.
I didn't mean it would be expensive to develop for it, I meant it would be expensive to make a game multiplatform so that it would take advantage of motion-sensing on the Revolution and dual analog and extra buttons on PS3/Xbox360. I don't think that developing for motion sensing would be more expensive (at least by much) than developing for dual analog, but developing for both and then testing both scemes? I think that's going to make multiplatform games on the Revo even more rare than they've been on other nintendo systems.
It has less buttons. The PS3 controller will have 2 d-sticks, 4 face buttons, and probably 4 shoulder buttons like the PS2, while this has 1 d-stick, one face button, and 3 shoulder buttons. Granted, it does have the motion sensing, which makes up for it in useablility and coolness, but it's going to be very expensive for developers to make their multiplatform games use motion sensing for the revo version and extra buttons on the PS3 and 360 versions. I like that they're being innovative, but I think a lot of games are going to use the cube controller instead.
>>>I think the experience will be totally different if the graphics are as real as we see in real world, and if the AI are as intelligent as human. We have tremedous progress but we're no where near it.
The fact that we're nowhere near it is what's pretty much the reason for Nintendo being creative istead of just jumping on the graphics bandwagon. In order to really enjoy the new graphics of the 360 and PS3, you pretty much need HDTV, and then it's still not going to be much more realistic. Or you can keep your old TV and buy a Revolution for the rumored price of $200 and have a whole new experience from current games. I know which one I'm getting.
Actually, it doesn't, which is why I imported a digital gamecube controller. Analog control does not work well on 2d games, and the gamecube's d-pad is way too small, also it lacked a select button. I assume my digital controller will work fine with SNES games, and the regular gamecube controller should work with N64 games, but it would just be kinda wierd to have 3 controllers to play games on one system. I guess since it plays games from 5 different generations it makes sense, though I'ld probably be more annoyed if I didn't already have my gamecube controllers.
I guess everyone's different, but my right hand gets much more of a workout on standard controllers than my left. Moving up and down, left and right, isn't nearly as taxing or complicated in my opinion as many of the button combos in console games, also, the event buttons seem to require much more timeing than the directional pad/stick does. Again, everyone's different, but I think that the console controllers were made correctly for right-handed people.
>>>Take a close look at the controller. See the d-pad? See the small 'a' and 'b' buttons at the bottom? Turn it sideways and you've got an NES controller.
Yeah, though this controller might actually be more uncomfortable than the original NES controller. And how exactly are you to play SNES games? Guess everyone will have to import digital gamecube controllers to play SNES games.
It's strange that a console that's promoting backwards compatibility so much has a controller that's so radically incompatible with older games. Maybe they'll have different types of controllers availible that are more normal.
FFV was released in the US. It's on Final Fantasy Anthology for Playstation.
My big problem with this is that it's not saying that M rated games shouldn't be sold to minors, it's saying that "violent" video games can't be sold to minors. How do they define violent? ""Violent video game" means any video game or any copy of an electronic game that may be played using a portable electronic device or hand-held gaming device using a television or computer, that, taken as a whole, to the average person, applying contemporary statewide standards, appeals to minors' morbid interest in violence, that enables the player to virtually inflict serious injury upon human beings or characters with substantially human characteristics in a manner that is especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel, and that, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors." However! "This paragraph shall not apply to a game in which the visual depiction of violence occurs as a result of simultaneous competition between two or more players" link to bill
I'm not quite sure what games exactly are covered, but I guess gory fighting games and shooters aren't, as long as they're two-player! Seriously, I used to work at a game store, and I feel bad for anyone who has to figure out which games this actually covers, and if they get it wrong, it's a $1000 fine. Now you could say that they just shouldn't sell M-rated games to minors and they should be fine, but then why doesn't the bill just say M-rated games shouldn't be sold to minors if that's what it's supposed to mean?!?
Also, oddly enough, the bill doesn't have an exception for family members. So technically, if I gave my (future potential) 17 year old daughter GTA, I could get fined $1000. Wouldn't that be great?
And stickers annoy me.
Maybe you need to try an easier distro. I use Ubuntu, and in many ways I find it easier than windows. It's easier to install most programs and in general it tends to make more sense to me than windows, even though I've used windows since 3.1 and I've only been using Ubuntu for about 2 months. Also, my husband and my best friend, who are far from computer geeks, have had no problems using my computer since I made the switch. Maybe you should try Ubuntu as see how easy it is?
>>I am new to Ubuntu, and even to Synaptic. If all I want is Stable (5.04), plus GNOMEv2.12 and Evolutionv2.3.7, but not to upgrade the whole dist to Breezy, can I do that?
:)
Breezy should be stable in another month or so. As a newbie, the easiest thing you can do is just wait that month. I know, that's not as fun, but that's what I'm doing.
...and taking it up the arse every two years.
Except a console's life span is 5 years, not 2. I paid $75 for my PS2 in 2002. New games will be coming out for it until at least 2006, if not later, besides, there are many more games for the PS2 than for the PC. Have you ever paid $75 for a PC upgrade that had you playing new games for the next 4 years? No? Then I guess PCs aren't as cheap as consoles.
Yes, you can do a lot more things with a PC than you can with a console, and if that's your reason for paying more, then good for you. But don't delude yourself into thinking you're spending less.
Wow, I never knew Alien Hominid was an indie game! It's great to know that indie games can actually make it to the consoles.
>> Midway's "Blitz: the League" is coming out this fall and it has a lot of stuff that's never been seen in a football game like a storyline. Also hookers.
Yes, because that's what games need, more hookers!
*sigh*
>>I don't know. What I do know is that playing simple little web-based flash animation games made by amateurs (like the stumbling drunk or the sliding penguin) can be way more fun then the latest knockoff FPS.
I don't believe games have to be big buget or high graphics either, but could you have named a game a little better than the stumbling drunk of all things? I don't know much about indi games in general, but please tell me there are more elaborate indi games than that.
It's interesting that the author chose to write an article with a main point that games shouldn't have to be all about the pretty graphics, and then put said article on top of pretty graphics that make it hard to read.
Black on white: it works. White on peacock? Not so much.
>> ...they will use DVD-Rom disks. Which hold roughly 15 gigs per layer.
Are you confusing DVD with HDDVD? Your point is still true though, just the numbers are wrong.
>>But I suppose if you are that insecure about your argument.....
It's not even my argument. It's your argument that we should take pity on Windows because it's old and therefore can't possibly be patched as much as Linux. So, ok, it's unfair even to compare SP2, which came out, what, a year or so ago, with the version of the distro I'm using, which came out in May. But, my question is, why should I care? If I want to install a new OS on my computer, should I spend $179 on the latest from Microsoft, which is older and has more vulnerbilities than an OS I can get for free? Fresh installs are just one way to compare the two systems, a way which is particularly striking when you hear about people getting their windows systems hacked while they try to patch it right after installation, while linux systems can survive for months, unpatched and unfirewalled. If you want to see linux and windows security compared in other ways, here's an article for you.
Ok, let's assume for a second that the release dates account for all the difference in vulnerbilities of the two systems. A vulnerbility is a vulnerbility, irregardless of the reason. So, why should I pay hundreds of dollars for an OS that is 4 years old and thus has bunches of vulnerbilities when I can download a brand new OS for free with much fewer vulnerbilities?
>>I'm perfectly okay when people use either (though I am accustomed to hearing 'he'). What irks me is when people switch constantly back and forth in one document. That's irritating.
Hee, I actually saw someone switch in the middle of a sentence! Talk about confusing...
>>"Centuries of use... neutered the male[sic] pronoun". "She" doesn't have that.
When someone says "he" do you ever think of a woman? Have you ever use "he" to refer to a woman? It's far from "neuter", and a D&D manual is far from being an authority on this. If someone wants to use "he" for simplicity, that's fine, but don't freak out when someone wants to use something else.
>>>You seriously don't think Linux is rabidly tendriously mind boggling complex compared to Windows or Mac OS X?
No way. I used windows for the previous 12+ years prior to discovering ubuntu linux about a month ago, and I wish I had switched years ago, it's been so easy. Installing it was simpler than installing windows, I haven't had to hunt for any drivers, installing programs is much easier, and it comes with so many useful programs. Under windows, for example, I never found a good cd ripper that I really liked, however, ubuntu comes with one that is absolutly perfect. Also, under windows, sometimes videos wouldn't play under windows media player, sometimes I'ld have to use divx or something else, or spend hours looking for codecs, but in ubuntu everything plays under totem. Maybe the distro you tried might be harder or more complex?
The author alternating between using 'she' and 'he'. I think it was nice that he (and no, I'm not assuming a gender; I clicked on author's bio to find out) noticed that women do play games. *cue whining that 'he' is a gender neutral pronoun* Tell me all you want that 'he' is gender-neutral, but if you do, please explain why 'she' can't be used as gender-neutral as well. If I complained about every article that that only used 'he' for gender-neutral, well, first of all I'ld have that would probably take up my entire life, and second, I'ld never here the end of how I'm a crazy feminist who needs a life. So how about I don't complain when people use 'he for gender-neutral, and you don't complain when people use 'she for gender-neutral?
>>> I think the best thing we could do is come up with a set of new, gender-neutral-only pronouns, as some have suggested in the past. Good luck with that, though.
Yeah, good luck. People have come up with gender-neutral words ('ze' for he/she, 'per' for him/her, short for 'person') but the day I hear them used outside of a politically-correct discussion group designed to talk about this stuff, well, I think I'll just have a heart attack. Personally, I take the route that I won't complain if you always use 'he' as a gender-nonspecific pronoun if you don't complain that I always use 'she'.