I've mentioned this before and was wondering if MSFT has addressed it yet: even if X360 has backwards compatibility, how does MSFT propose that we play those old games?
For example, I have Links200x and purchased additional courses from Xbox Live. How do I get those courses (and all my player stats) onto the new machine so I can continue to play the game?
At least the PS2 could read PS1 memory cards, although the PS3 specs that I've seen don't show support for the PS2/PS1 memory cards -- is that just an oversight in the documentation?
Also, I haven't seen if the new X360 controllers have the "expansion slot" on them that were used for the XBox Live Microphone/Headsets. Can anybody confirm?
Integrate it with Amazon's A9 so we can get not just a satellite view of shopping centers/houses/buildings but a street-level view. That way we can see if 123 Main Street really is the address we want, instead of guessing by the type of air conditioning unit they have on the rooftop.
projectors that can do 1080p "cost several thousand dollars"? They've been available for less than $2k for at least 1.5 years, and are slowly reaching the $1k level now (if they haven't already -- I haven't looked lately).
As for 1080p games vs 720p, you're right -- there need to be more 1080p games on the market considering the only ones that exist now are Syberia, Dragon's Lair, and Enter the Matrix (I don't recall others - there are websites that have complete lists), and there's a small handful of 720p games like Tony Hawk and The Sims.
I probably couldn't tell you the difference between the 720p and 1080p games, but there is definitely a diff below 720p.
It was inevitable that Sony and MSFT would roll out strong HD support. What will be interesting is Sony's use of the Blue-Ray format vs whatever MSFT is using. Could be a mistake on MSFT's part to not go with a better DVD standard.
Almost all of these games were made in the 80's. They are cultural icons and history. They should ALL have been put in public domain by now
This doesn't sound right. Just because something is a 'cultural icon and/or history' doesn't mean that it should be placed in the public domain. As long as the originating company continues to use/update/protect their creation and follow proper trademark protection procedures, they retain the rights to it. (See Disney's on-going protection of Mickey Mouse for more information)
Using your logic, many things -- such as the Coca-Cola bottle shape, or the distinctive sound of a Harley motorcycle -- would have been public domain a long, long time ago. But they're not.
Third, the Dreamcast had no backwards
compatibility (to what? the Sega CD?). The PS2
did, so automatically you had a very nice,
large game library to play with. Edge: Unknown.
Sony, I assume, will have PS1 and PS2
compatability in the PS3. The jury is still out
on Xbox 2 having backwards compatibility.
Sony has already announced that the PS3 will be backwards compatible with the PS2 and PS1. For them, it's just a smart business decision that has already been proven to be successful.
There's no easy way that the XBox2 can be backwards compatible: how would you transfer your games/songs/etc from the hard drive of 1 to the hard drive of the other? Over the home network is feasible... since that's been available from people with mod chips. But it's unlikely that MSFT would open up the system in such a way to let us do it via the home network. Throw in the rumored decision to not have a hard drive in the XBox2 and you really can't have backwards compatibility unless they have some emulator that figures out where to store the game data that would normally be written to the drive.
So TiVo and the NFL reached an agreement regarding TiVo's planned ability to send fully recorded programs across the country so that the NFL maintains their localized blackouts. How can anyone have a problem with this? It's the same thing that the NFL did with DirecTV when the NFL Sunday Ticket was created.
All the NFL is asking TiVo to do is not make recorded programs available for transfer while that program is still being aired. Once the game is finished, feel free to shoot it over. Of course, that would take hours of bandwidth at current speeds, so it's not really an issue anyway.
I'd rather have companies like TiVo work with the content providers to reach agreements rather than have companies sue each other over supposed 'copyright' violations.
what about the transfer of existing X1 games/settings to the X2?
The PS2 used the same memory card inputs for PS1 games, so you could easily transfer your game information from one machine to another. I'm going to guess that the PS3 will have a similar memory card slot. Heck, Sony made a good business decision to require the additional purchase of a memory card to save any of their games.
So we can only hope the following will happen:
- the X2 will have a hard drive
- the X2 will allow the transfer of information from the X1 to the X2 (think of all those custom soundtracks you have loaded up!)
While I can understand that Sony/Microsoft want to head towards online/networked/distributed gaming consoles, there still will be a need for some sort of local data storage. (I'll guess that the PS3 will have a slot for a Memory Stick, allowing you to do digital picture slideshows).
The difference it makes is mostly in distribution. The larger companies have better distribution and visibility in stores. It could be the best game in the world, but if consumers can't find it at their local BesTar*Mart, then how would they ever find out? Just because the magazines may give a game a 10 out of 10 rating doesn't mean that it will end up in your house.
I had always heard that Matshusita (Panasonic, JVC, et al) made more batteries for 3rd parties than Energizer/Duracell did. But maybe it's just more of the OEM stuff, like the Black & Decker rechargables, instead of the consumer packaged packs.
If people can pop some songs onto their phone, why pay a dollar or two for a 10 second clip that sounds like it was recorded on an 8-trak?
Or... pop over to Xingtone and upload your own music clip to your phone to act as your ringer. No reason to download music from iTunes to your phone when you can throw together your own custom track.
...to give HMO (home media option) subscribers a way to archive saved programs off of the TiVo Series 2 units by allowing the transfer of a specially-coded file to a PC that contained a dongle.
Then you would burn the file to DVD and it would include some TiVo-like menu system for accessing the files and selecting/fast-forwarding/rewinding the shows on the disc.
You already can transfer programs from one registered TiVo to another registered TiVo on the same account and network. The article states:
"Our concern is grounded in the fact that the remote access is not limited to the recipient's summer home or boat or office," said Fritz Attaway, the MPAA's Washington legal counsel. "The people that can receive the programming can be totally unrelated in any place on the globe."
I haven't gone back to see if TiVo has changed their plan for burning saved programs to DVD, but this doesn't sound like what I remember the original plan to be.
I'm hoping that the NFL will re-broadcast each week's set of games over the course of the following week with all blackout restrictions lifted, so that way folks who do live in an area with a blacked-out game or a televised game of some crappy matchup instead of the one they wanted to watch will have a chance to catch it (even if that means that they need to record the game at 2:30a on Wed)
On the other hand, if you're that desperate to see a game that's not broadcast locally, just head to your local area sports bar and watch it there.
in case nobody mentioned it, Sunday Ticket (now featuring more High-Def games) costs around $250 per season.
I agree about wanting to buy just one team's worth of games for a fraction of the price.
Heck, even going to the local sports bar every week to catch the game, I end up spending less than $250 over the course of the season (compared to what I *would* spend watching at home... since I'd have to add in the cost of a case of beer/snacks each week to supply the mooching friends/family)
But when the tequila started to flow on the set and the talk got a little racy in recent episodes, Cingular backed away from the table. The wireless company said it was yanking its sponsorship of the program, effective with Thursday's show. Although Cingular had no problem with the gambling elements, it was shocked - shocked - to find the kind of drinking and trash-talking that generally go hand in hand with poker.
I'd rather have the show go on without the title sponsor than see the show not aired at all. Sure, NBC/Bravo may lose a little bit of money if they have to front the the $250,000 "prize pool" themselves instead of from [insert company name here], but that money is going to charity. So the celebs have a little drink along the way? What's the big deal -- it's cable!! As Dave Navarro and Richard Kind said on last week's episode: it's good TV.
A followup article was just posted that states... The launch date was given by Ken Kutaragi, the chief executive of Sony Computer Entertainment. Speaking at a briefing for developers, suppliers and media in Tokyo, Kutaragi said that the new player would be ready in time for the E3 show, but he gave no indication of when the product might ship either in Japan or elsewhere.
Nothing new here (just confirming the E3 information), but it clarifies Kutaragi's quote that the previous article mentioned. Who knows? They may still intro the PS3 to the press in March to build hype for the E3 show itself, making both articles right.
Double-checked the article just to be sure, and I can see where you think it's misleading, but I still think that they're talking PS3.
The picture accompanying the article is of a PSP, but the text refers to "the next generation Playstation" along with a later sentence that says "Kutaragi also said Sony would start selling PlayStation Portable, dubbed PSP...". Why would they include this statement at the end of the article if the PSP is what they were referring to at the beginning of the piece regarding the March 2005 announcement/release?
They're saying that the PS3 is coming out in March 2005.
If confirmed, that timeline would mean Sony's new game console will be out before the E3 convention in Los Angeles, scheduled for May. Sony and other video game makers have used E3, which draws game developers, fans and industry officials, for major product launches.
If this isn't accurate, I'm sure it will be corrected here shortly.
Back in the early 90's, I ran into a nut^h^h^h guy who was visiting every individual Disney Store in the country.
At the time, Disney had individualized the stores as much as possible (within a given template), so each store would have unique front window displays and different character figures scattered throughout the stores. He had a large photo album with photos of all the different stores he had been in, documenting the differences.
Of course, this was before The Disney Stores started to...
suck, by changing their merchandise mix from adults/kids clothing/housewares/art to strictly kids merch with the occasional adult sweatshirt thrown in
suck, by being implanted in every single mall across the country, instead of isolating to a single storefront in the larger, more touristy-oriented cities making a trip to a Disney Store less of a special thrill and something routine
suck, by diluting the brand that The Disney Store had achieved by failing to stock merchandise that folks couldn't also get at their local J.C.Sears-Mart.
It could happen -- if SNL weren't in their dreadful summer hiatus when all the cool stuff happens, Will Ferrel could come back to host while he promoted ANCHORMAN.
(disclaimer: I haven't watched any of these episodes, so I don't know if this has been addressed or been made obvious in any way)
I know that normally, game shows are filmed weeks/months in advance before they're aired. For exampls, WWTBAM's daytime edition takes something like 2-3 months between taping and airdate.
What timeframes are we looking at for the current Jeopardy episodes? These certainly aren't being taped for same-day or next-day broadcast, are they? Certainly, if Jeopardy is taped ahead of time, wouldn't it have already been leaked somewhere that there was a guy whose streak went for x episodes?
But issuing a cheap whitebox PC to each student doesn't address the problem, and from the school's perspective it takes away another learning experience for students -- the very reason why kids are in school in the first place.
Besides, the schools aren't saying that the kids can't put their computer on the network -- they're saying that they can't put them on the network unless specific software is installed. Repeating the car analogy: you can drive whatever car you want, but you have to follow the rules of the road.
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For example, I have Links200x and purchased additional courses from Xbox Live. How do I get those courses (and all my player stats) onto the new machine so I can continue to play the game?
At least the PS2 could read PS1 memory cards, although the PS3 specs that I've seen don't show support for the PS2/PS1 memory cards -- is that just an oversight in the documentation?
Also, I haven't seen if the new X360 controllers have the "expansion slot" on them that were used for the XBox Live Microphone/Headsets. Can anybody confirm?
Integrate it with Amazon's A9 so we can get not just a satellite view of shopping centers/houses/buildings but a street-level view. That way we can see if 123 Main Street really is the address we want, instead of guessing by the type of air conditioning unit they have on the rooftop.
As for 1080p games vs 720p, you're right -- there need to be more 1080p games on the market considering the only ones that exist now are Syberia, Dragon's Lair, and Enter the Matrix (I don't recall others - there are websites that have complete lists), and there's a small handful of 720p games like Tony Hawk and The Sims.
I probably couldn't tell you the difference between the 720p and 1080p games, but there is definitely a diff below 720p.
It was inevitable that Sony and MSFT would roll out strong HD support. What will be interesting is Sony's use of the Blue-Ray format vs whatever MSFT is using. Could be a mistake on MSFT's part to not go with a better DVD standard.
Using your logic, many things -- such as the Coca-Cola bottle shape, or the distinctive sound of a Harley motorcycle -- would have been public domain a long, long time ago. But they're not.
There's no easy way that the XBox2 can be backwards compatible: how would you transfer your games/songs/etc from the hard drive of 1 to the hard drive of the other? Over the home network is feasible... since that's been available from people with mod chips. But it's unlikely that MSFT would open up the system in such a way to let us do it via the home network. Throw in the rumored decision to not have a hard drive in the XBox2 and you really can't have backwards compatibility unless they have some emulator that figures out where to store the game data that would normally be written to the drive.
I just don't see it happening.
All the NFL is asking TiVo to do is not make recorded programs available for transfer while that program is still being aired. Once the game is finished, feel free to shoot it over. Of course, that would take hours of bandwidth at current speeds, so it's not really an issue anyway.
I'd rather have companies like TiVo work with the content providers to reach agreements rather than have companies sue each other over supposed 'copyright' violations.
The PS2 used the same memory card inputs for PS1 games, so you could easily transfer your game information from one machine to another. I'm going to guess that the PS3 will have a similar memory card slot. Heck, Sony made a good business decision to require the additional purchase of a memory card to save any of their games.
So we can only hope the following will happen:
- the X2 will have a hard drive
- the X2 will allow the transfer of information from the X1 to the X2 (think of all those custom soundtracks you have loaded up!)
While I can understand that Sony/Microsoft want to head towards online/networked/distributed gaming consoles, there still will be a need for some sort of local data storage. (I'll guess that the PS3 will have a slot for a Memory Stick, allowing you to do digital picture slideshows).
The difference it makes is mostly in distribution. The larger companies have better distribution and visibility in stores. It could be the best game in the world, but if consumers can't find it at their local BesTar*Mart, then how would they ever find out? Just because the magazines may give a game a 10 out of 10 rating doesn't mean that it will end up in your house.
I had always heard that Matshusita (Panasonic, JVC, et al) made more batteries for 3rd parties than Energizer/Duracell did. But maybe it's just more of the OEM stuff, like the Black & Decker rechargables, instead of the consumer packaged packs.
Then you would burn the file to DVD and it would include some TiVo-like menu system for accessing the files and selecting/fast-forwarding/rewinding the shows on the disc.
You already can transfer programs from one registered TiVo to another registered TiVo on the same account and network. The article states:
I haven't gone back to see if TiVo has changed their plan for burning saved programs to DVD, but this doesn't sound like what I remember the original plan to be.I'm hoping that the NFL will re-broadcast each week's set of games over the course of the following week with all blackout restrictions lifted, so that way folks who do live in an area with a blacked-out game or a televised game of some crappy matchup instead of the one they wanted to watch will have a chance to catch it (even if that means that they need to record the game at 2:30a on Wed)
On the other hand, if you're that desperate to see a game that's not broadcast locally, just head to your local area sports bar and watch it there.
I agree about wanting to buy just one team's worth of games for a fraction of the price.
Heck, even going to the local sports bar every week to catch the game, I end up spending less than $250 over the course of the season (compared to what I *would* spend watching at home... since I'd have to add in the cost of a case of beer/snacks each week to supply the mooching friends/family)
But when the tequila started to flow on the set and the talk got a little racy in recent episodes, Cingular backed away from the table. The wireless company said it was yanking its sponsorship of the program, effective with Thursday's show. Although Cingular had no problem with the gambling elements, it was shocked - shocked - to find the kind of drinking and trash-talking that generally go hand in hand with poker.
I'd rather have the show go on without the title sponsor than see the show not aired at all. Sure, NBC/Bravo may lose a little bit of money if they have to front the the $250,000 "prize pool" themselves instead of from [insert company name here], but that money is going to charity. So the celebs have a little drink along the way? What's the big deal -- it's cable!! As Dave Navarro and Richard Kind said on last week's episode: it's good TV.
Nothing new here (just confirming the E3 information), but it clarifies Kutaragi's quote that the previous article mentioned. Who knows? They may still intro the PS3 to the press in March to build hype for the E3 show itself, making both articles right.
The picture accompanying the article is of a PSP, but the text refers to "the next generation Playstation" along with a later sentence that says "Kutaragi also said Sony would start selling PlayStation Portable, dubbed PSP...". Why would they include this statement at the end of the article if the PSP is what they were referring to at the beginning of the piece regarding the March 2005 announcement/release?
And in related news, rumors are that Microsoft may introduce XBox2 at the X04 trade show in September 2004, with their launch in October 2005.
They're saying that the PS3 is coming out in March 2005.
If confirmed, that timeline would mean Sony's new game console will be out before the E3 convention in Los Angeles, scheduled for May. Sony and other video game makers have used E3, which draws game developers, fans and industry officials, for major product launches.
If this isn't accurate, I'm sure it will be corrected here shortly.
At the time, Disney had individualized the stores as much as possible (within a given template), so each store would have unique front window displays and different character figures scattered throughout the stores. He had a large photo album with photos of all the different stores he had been in, documenting the differences.
Of course, this was before The Disney Stores started to...
- suck, by changing their merchandise mix from adults/kids clothing/housewares/art to strictly kids merch with the occasional adult sweatshirt thrown in
- suck, by being implanted in every single mall across the country, instead of isolating to a single storefront in the larger, more touristy-oriented cities making a trip to a Disney Store less of a special thrill and something routine
- suck, by diluting the brand that The Disney Store had achieved by failing to stock merchandise that folks couldn't also get at their local J.C.Sears-Mart.
... prompting Disney to negotiate to sell the stores to a different company. It will be interesting to see, if this deal goes through, if The Disney Stores can reclaim the magic that they had when they first opened.Easy -- I liked it the first time it was done. In Neil Simon's MURDER BY DEATH.
(actually, I enjoyed Clue... but MBD just did the whole 'murder at a mansion' bit better)
It could happen -- if SNL weren't in their dreadful summer hiatus when all the cool stuff happens, Will Ferrel could come back to host while he promoted ANCHORMAN.
I know that normally, game shows are filmed weeks/months in advance before they're aired. For exampls, WWTBAM's daytime edition takes something like 2-3 months between taping and airdate.
What timeframes are we looking at for the current Jeopardy episodes? These certainly aren't being taped for same-day or next-day broadcast, are they? Certainly, if Jeopardy is taped ahead of time, wouldn't it have already been leaked somewhere that there was a guy whose streak went for x episodes?
Remember Balance of Power? There's a REAL war game for ya.
Besides, the schools aren't saying that the kids can't put their computer on the network -- they're saying that they can't put them on the network unless specific software is installed. Repeating the car analogy: you can drive whatever car you want, but you have to follow the rules of the road.
Blade Runner The Terminator