|That's actually one of the thing that pisses me off on Xbox, Xbox 360 (PS2/PS3 too perhaps, I don't know): games push the consoles so much that they sacrifice FRAMERATE for higher-quality graphics. I'd rather see the quality drop and have a constant framerate. I don't want to play a high-resolution slideshow.
The framerate seems to be more constant on Nintendo consoles, for the most part.
Well that's my point exactly. If "old movies" (let's take Terminator 2 as an example since two decades is an eternity in computer terms) are still better than what today's consoles can do (not to mention that only parts of the movie were CGI, not to mention only parts of the scene), imagine how long it will take before a consumer console can make something better than Spiderman 3, which as you say "still looks like CGI", in real-time and full-screen renders.
To whoever modded me "troll": Go watch the "Killzone 2" video then watch a real PS3 in action. Anyone who's not blind will see Sony lied to everyone, again. Remember the "Emotion Engine" of the PS2? It's the same thing all over again, except that a lot less people fell for it this time.
I'm not saying the PS3 is a pile of crap, I'm saying it's not what Sony told us we were gonna get.
And that's the problem right there. The closer you get to photorealism, the more people feel like "it's not photorealistic enough".
Case in point: when you watch old movies, you sometimes think to yourself "those are computer graphics", and they're still better-looking than today's consoles (and yes I'm talking about the Xbox360 and PS3 in this case, or even the most expensive consumer-grade 3D card). So if your brain can make the difference between real things and 3D things in movies that took months to render, imagine how long it will be until 500$ consoles can do it in real-time.
Nintendo are smart to stay away from that "photorealistic 3D graphics" race. The finish line is still decades away.
of the most intriguing things I read was a comment from a Nintendo engineer who said something to the effect of: "We saw a trend that if we gave people X, people wanted X + Y, you give them that and then they still want more.
In Sony's case it's even worst. Since the beginning of the PS3 marketing they kept throwing fake pre-rendered videos at us (Killzone 2 anyone?). then once it's out their console can't even match their fake videos.
From what I've read, albums will be DRM-free, AAC@256kbps, for the same price as before. You'll be able to upgrade your current albums for free, if available in DRM-free/256kbps format.
The higher price only affects single tracks and you'll be able to upgrade your current tracks for 30 cents. Or if you have an almost complete album you could buy the missing tracks for 99 cents, then upgrade the whole album to 256kbps for free.
So for albums, yes it's better. AAC is much better than MP3, so if it's the same price for DRM-free AAC@256kbps, the whole "it's lossy and I can hear it" argument can't really hold anymore. No you don't get a shiny plastic disc, but you also get the benefit of getting your music RFN.
Besides, most people who buy music online are the ones who take a new CD home, rip it, then store the CD somewhere. How is buying online any different from a listening point of view?
I've heard about Neo-Geo games for the Wii in Japan, but no mention of this for the rest of the planet. Why?
It's not like the Neo-Geo games were never made in anything other than Japanese...
You can also blame Nintendo for not releasing enough games every week. If they release five or six games a week, what's the probability there's gonna be a game you want in that lot?
And of course sales are down. Just like for CDs and DVDs, people are simply buying the games they used to have/play at first, then buy a lot less after that. It's not that "sales are down", it's just that "sales are now at their normal level now that most people bought their favorite games".
They're sitting on so much cash, I don't understand why they don't take all the amazingly brilliant talent they supposedly hired and set them loose to build a new O/S ground up, fix the flaws, ignore backwards compatibility, and do something like Apple did with Rosetta where you just use virtualization/emulation to get old apps to run inside the new system.
Isn't it what Vista was supposed to be in the first place?
In Costco stores (Canada), there is an HP Laserjet (forgot which model) that's currently being sold for about 100$CAD. Yes it's black and white and yes the cost/page is very low.
We have to start filling out overwhly broad stupid patents just so we can finally make that matter public.
How about something along the lines of "using 1's and 0's in order to do automated tasks and/or store data via branching and/or decoding processes." Of course that's ANY digital device (CPU, GPU, software, hardware, etc). But inflate that simple sentence into the usual 500-pages patent application, keeping it as broad and inclusive as possible, then send the news everywhere that you've just been able to patent everything that makes up modern technology. Either you'll become the richest man in history or you'll finally be able to start the patent reform process along with the abolition of software patents.
If we could convince our friends and colleagues that closed formats were unacceptable, and collectively send that message to MS (and Apple, and...), then things would change.
Then I guess you haven't worked with a Mac in over 8 years. Yes, the "old Apple" of pre-OS X was as bad as Microsoft. But IMHO they woke up and started working with the industry instead of trying to force it into proprietary, closed-format crap.
The "new Apple" has: - dropped their own proprietary ports in favor of industry standards (ADB replaced by USB, ADC replaced by DVI, etc) - OS X with a built-in PDF printer, screenshots saved in PNG, Apache and PHP pre-installed - iCal which can work with standard.ical and.vcal files - Address Book which can work with standard.vcf files - iTunes can import.wav and encode to MP3 (granted it's not OGG, but still, they don't force you to use AAC, which isn't even an Apple proprietary format anyway) - Pages which can export to PDF, MS-Word, HTML, RTF or plain text - Keynote which can export to Quicktime, PowerPoint, PDF, Images (JPEG/PNG/TIFF), Flash, DVD or even HTML pages
Sure they have FairPlay for DRM, but that's another matter altogether tied to the music and movie industries. Apple's not adding DRM to your own stuff.
So, from the list above, I don't see how Apple is "locking you up" like Microsoft does. If I ever want to switch to Linux, my data's not locked into any proprietary Apple format. Yes I ommited iMovie and iDVD from the list because I don't use either so I'm not in any position to talk about formats nor if the formats in questions are open or not.
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|That's actually one of the thing that pisses me off on Xbox, Xbox 360 (PS2/PS3 too perhaps, I don't know): games push the consoles so much that they sacrifice FRAMERATE for higher-quality graphics. I'd rather see the quality drop and have a constant framerate. I don't want to play a high-resolution slideshow.
The framerate seems to be more constant on Nintendo consoles, for the most part.
So in some way it's like someone who's trying to make a substitute for Splenda?
Well that's my point exactly. If "old movies" (let's take Terminator 2 as an example since two decades is an eternity in computer terms) are still better than what today's consoles can do (not to mention that only parts of the movie were CGI, not to mention only parts of the scene), imagine how long it will take before a consumer console can make something better than Spiderman 3, which as you say "still looks like CGI", in real-time and full-screen renders.
To whoever modded me "troll": Go watch the "Killzone 2" video then watch a real PS3 in action. Anyone who's not blind will see Sony lied to everyone, again. Remember the "Emotion Engine" of the PS2? It's the same thing all over again, except that a lot less people fell for it this time.
I'm not saying the PS3 is a pile of crap, I'm saying it's not what Sony told us we were gonna get.
Case in point: when you watch old movies, you sometimes think to yourself "those are computer graphics", and they're still better-looking than today's consoles (and yes I'm talking about the Xbox360 and PS3 in this case, or even the most expensive consumer-grade 3D card). So if your brain can make the difference between real things and 3D things in movies that took months to render, imagine how long it will be until 500$ consoles can do it in real-time.
Nintendo are smart to stay away from that "photorealistic 3D graphics" race. The finish line is still decades away.
Thank you, Ted, that was the joke.
(with apologies to Family Guy)
Your computer has internet access?
Rain and snow gets in and fry your computer. Then you're back to pen and paper, where there's no GUI and swapping to slow you down.
Creativity wins!
It explodes on the launching pad?
From what I've read, albums will be DRM-free, AAC@256kbps, for the same price as before. You'll be able to upgrade your current albums for free, if available in DRM-free/256kbps format.
The higher price only affects single tracks and you'll be able to upgrade your current tracks for 30 cents. Or if you have an almost complete album you could buy the missing tracks for 99 cents, then upgrade the whole album to 256kbps for free.
So for albums, yes it's better. AAC is much better than MP3, so if it's the same price for DRM-free AAC@256kbps, the whole "it's lossy and I can hear it" argument can't really hold anymore. No you don't get a shiny plastic disc, but you also get the benefit of getting your music RFN.
Besides, most people who buy music online are the ones who take a new CD home, rip it, then store the CD somewhere. How is buying online any different from a listening point of view?
I've heard about Neo-Geo games for the Wii in Japan, but no mention of this for the rest of the planet. Why?
It's not like the Neo-Geo games were never made in anything other than Japanese...
You can also blame Nintendo for not releasing enough games every week. If they release five or six games a week, what's the probability there's gonna be a game you want in that lot?
And of course sales are down. Just like for CDs and DVDs, people are simply buying the games they used to have/play at first, then buy a lot less after that. It's not that "sales are down", it's just that "sales are now at their normal level now that most people bought their favorite games".
Cool, now I can add a 800$ drive to my 600$ Mac mini.
Ok, it's a Blu-Ray burner, but still.
I know you were (half-) joking, but I wonder if we'll see drops once popular PS3 games ship (think Final Fantasy, Grand Theft Auto, etc).
Indeed, it is the HP 1020. And as you say, there is no support on OS X but using the driver for the HP 1022 seems to work with no problem.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joke
Thompson's Teeth - The only teeth strong enough to eat other teeth.
In Costco stores (Canada), there is an HP Laserjet (forgot which model) that's currently being sold for about 100$CAD. Yes it's black and white and yes the cost/page is very low.
Forget inkjet printers.
We have to start filling out overwhly broad stupid patents just so we can finally make that matter public.
How about something along the lines of "using 1's and 0's in order to do automated tasks and/or store data via branching and/or decoding processes." Of course that's ANY digital device (CPU, GPU, software, hardware, etc). But inflate that simple sentence into the usual 500-pages patent application, keeping it as broad and inclusive as possible, then send the news everywhere that you've just been able to patent everything that makes up modern technology. Either you'll become the richest man in history or you'll finally be able to start the patent reform process along with the abolition of software patents.
Super Mario to the rescue once again!
Tell your boss that Internet Explorer is only available for Windows. It's not available on Linux and the Mac version is about 2 versions old.
Unless he also thinks that "Windows has a strong enough presence that forcing users to purchase Windows is acceptable."
The "new Apple" has:
- dropped their own proprietary ports in favor of industry standards (ADB replaced by USB, ADC replaced by DVI, etc)
- OS X with a built-in PDF printer, screenshots saved in PNG, Apache and PHP pre-installed
- iCal which can work with standard
- Address Book which can work with standard
- iTunes can import
- Pages which can export to PDF, MS-Word, HTML, RTF or plain text
- Keynote which can export to Quicktime, PowerPoint, PDF, Images (JPEG/PNG/TIFF), Flash, DVD or even HTML pages
Sure they have FairPlay for DRM, but that's another matter altogether tied to the music and movie industries. Apple's not adding DRM to your own stuff.
So, from the list above, I don't see how Apple is "locking you up" like Microsoft does. If I ever want to switch to Linux, my data's not locked into any proprietary Apple format. Yes I ommited iMovie and iDVD from the list because I don't use either so I'm not in any position to talk about formats nor if the formats in questions are open or not.