IMHO YouTube just plain sucks. On Google Video you can at least download the damn things... You know, so you can bring funny videos to friends without a broadband connection (or no internet connection at all) or just plain stop wasting bandwidth watching the funniest ones over and over again. Not to mention the picture quality is better downloaded than streamed.
While I'll most probably get Zelda: TP myself, I'm more of a Metroid fan. Can't wait for Prime 3! Finally a good ("natural"?) way to control the movements and the aiming!
A bit off-topic of our discussion, but Metroid Prime 2 in progressive mode is 480p right? Well, if the Wii has the same resolution in pixels but the graphics are 3 times better in quality (without dropping the framerate) then I'll be more than happy.
On a last note, I find it funny that the Xbox 360 was supposedly made for 480p but now Microsoft is asking developpers to push it to 720p at the price of a good framerate. Good graphics means nothing if you have to watch them under 30 fps. If the 480p story is true, that means the Wii isn't that far behind the Xbox 360 as far as graphics go. Not to mention that we supposedly haven't seen the real Wii graphics yet (or so I've heard).
If properly encoded, H.264/AAC beats DivX/MP3 hands down. H.264 is "part 10" of MPEG-4, so it's like the latest version of MPEG-4. You wouldn't believe the difference if you're using the same bitrate for both.
There's also the fact that nobody uses DivX/MP3 in the media, but H.264/AAC is being used today by broadcasters and the television industry. Never mind the fact that there's a lof of DVD players compatible with DivX, they exists only because people illegally download movies from the net.
Not to mention the fact that most DivX.avi files aren't even valid as far as specs are concerned (VBR MP3 breaks the specs, or so I've heard). Trying to play most.avi files (DivX/XviD) on OS X is like trying to play Quicktime on Linux (I guess). Too many CODECs, too many versions of DivX, etc.
I'll stick with H.264/AAC.mp4 files, even though it can take about 12 hours to rip a 2 hours movie from DVD to H.264/AAC (quality setting 60 in HandBrake) on my G4/1.42GHz. I don't care about the encoding time, in the end it's the playback quality that matters.
Except we're not talking about Microsoft here. I'm not asking an OS X port of Microsoft Flight Simulator. We're talking about 3rd party titles.
I can understand that Zelda and Metroid are Nintendo titles, Halo is pretty much locked to Xbox (and Windows).... and I can't find a Sony-only title for my analogy... and no, Final Fantasy isn't made by Sony.
What I find strange is that a "business OS" also became a "gaming OS". Apple isn't a proprietary walled garden. My OS can use GIFs, JPEGs, PNGs, PSDs and PDFs directly. It can also write PDF files directly via "print to PDF". iTunes can rip to MP3 instead of DRM-less AAC. My OS also came with Apache and PHP (and mySQL, I think) all pre-installed and pre-configured. The whole GUI runs with the help of OpenGL. How is that for a proprietary OS, mister BMP, XPS, WMA, IIS and Direct X?
Hey, I can troll too if needed. Too bad what I wrote above is all true and contains zero FUD, unlike your post.
As for your (brown) Zune, simply burn your iTS-bought tunes to a CD, then rip again in feel-good-happy WMA for additionnal vendor lock-in goodness.
I do already have a Wii on pre-order (funny how a lot of Mac users are also Nintendo gamers... quality above quantity?), and it's nice to know we'll have Sam & Max on the Wii too.
As for the PS3 price being the same as a Mac mini on sale, you're close enough. In Canada, the 20GB PS3 will be 500$CAD and the 60GB will be 600$CAD. The Mac mini is 600$CAD here. Except that the 20GB PS3 is usable, unlike the core model of the Xbox 360 (can't install FF XI on it, for example).
One month and one day until the Revolution, Wii iiiiiiii!
MP3 players, iPods, media centers (and the soon-to-arrive Apple "iTV")... We don't want to handle media. When I buy a DVD, I rip it in H.264/AAC and add it to my "movies hard drive". The last thing I want is a media that makes me handle it twice to watch its content, not to mention the software compatibility issues (I run OS X, not Windows).
Another case of "just because you can doesn't mean you should".
Submitter take the time to explain the basics of the article: 30 seconds.
Submiter does not take the time to explain the basics of the article: 50 000 slashdotters wasting 2 minutes (since they don't know what it is, need time to search for it, read it, understand it.) Total time wasted: 69 days, 10 hours and 40 minutes.
On the web, a single person being lazy ends up wasting time for thousands of people. Simple enough to understand.
That still means no native support and I have to buy Parallels too. Not to mention that I'm on a Mac mini G4, on which Parallels won't work. Given the price of OS X vs the price of a Mac mini, I will only upgrade once Leopard is released.
Re:No luck yet again for us OS X or Linux users
on
Sam and Max Hit the Road
·
· Score: 3, Informative
Well, there is this small note at the bottom of the requirements page: "GameTap is also currently unavailable for download on Apple Macintosh systems but will be available at a later date so please be sure to check back often."
I guess there's hope after all.
No luck yet again for us OS X or Linux users
on
Sam and Max Hit the Road
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
Another game we'll have to skip, I guess.
Aside from the office, Windows lock-in is all about games. Am I the only one who thinks it's insane to keep a 2nd computer with a different OS only to play some games? Even if you dual-boot, that means you have to pay 200$US (or whatever the price is) to buy and install a different OS only to play games? How about the maintenance of that OS, given that it's Windows we're talking about?
We need some kind of "Universal Game engine" that runs on any platform, kinda like Java (in spirit) but that doesn't suck. Most of the older AGI/SCI games from Sierra and SCUMM games from LucasArts, for exemple, can run on any platform, all you need is an interpreter/engine program. There's even people making such engines for the GBA and PDAs these days.
Shouldn't the cutscenes be rendered real-time with the game engine anyway? Isn't the PS3 supposed to have "near photo-realistic graphics"? That's not good enough for cutscenes?
You can backup the files an unlimited number of times. The DRM is in the file, who cares where you put it and how many places you put it.
You can record a specific playlist a maximum number of 3 (or is it 5?) times. Want the same playlist again? Delete it, make it again, you can now burn that same playlist a new 3 (5?) times. There's no counter in the file that counts the number of times it's been burned to an audio CD.
As for the parent above you, there's no "additionnal loss" by going from an AAC file to an audio CD. It's the same audio that's output by your computer when playing, send to the CD instead of the speakers/headphones.
The parent said "You would be surprised if I told you how many people I know that make decisions based on the result of a Google Fight." not "You would be surprised if I told you how many people I know that make decisions based on the result of a Google."
Apple released the iPod shuffle because most people with iPods were already listening to their music in that exact same mode: shuffle. I know that I use my 10GB iPod in shuffle 99% of the time. The other 1% is when I get new tracks (which is maybe once a month).
The tape walkman didn't have any display. Never stopped people from using them either. The CD walkman was just barely more usable as far as displays were concerned. Telling me that "track 02" is playing doesn't help much unless I've memorized the tracks list of the CD.
So, in short, music players don't require a display to be usable. And given the size of the new iPod shuffle, the screen would be too small to be readable anyway.
Well, I didn't knew game companies looked at it like that, though it makes perfect sense.
But for the general public, the artificial installed user base from dead consoles still helps Microsoft and Sony. When you see "50 millions PS2 sold world-wide", it's not false advertisting but most people will (wrongly) deduce there is 50 millions PS2 owners world-wide. We'll keep hearing "Hey dude, there's only 10 millions Gamecube owners, we're 5 times as many as you" when in fact there's only maybe two or three times as many PS2 owners.
Oh well, that's what marketing and advertising is all about, I guess.
Publishers will look at consoles marketshare when deciding what platform to go for. If the Gamecube sold 100 units (100 users), the Xbox sold 150 units (100 users, 50 of which had to buy a new Xbox because their old one just died*) and the PS2 sold 300 units (100 users, all of which had to buy a new PS2 twice because their 1st and 2nd ones died*), they'll think the Xbox and PS2 have more marketshare than the Gamecube.
Selling crap really does wonders for both Microsoft and Sony.
* All statistics have been pulled out of thin air and may not represent actual console failure rates. All I know is that I know a lot of PS2 owners and a most Xbox owners have had problems with their console(s).
Slashdot Mirror
We didn't take the boat, we took the mystery box... HOP IN!
Because the usual "500 games available" marketing crap doesn't require good games.
IMHO YouTube just plain sucks. On Google Video you can at least download the damn things... You know, so you can bring funny videos to friends without a broadband connection (or no internet connection at all) or just plain stop wasting bandwidth watching the funniest ones over and over again. Not to mention the picture quality is better downloaded than streamed.
While I'll most probably get Zelda: TP myself, I'm more of a Metroid fan. Can't wait for Prime 3! Finally a good ("natural"?) way to control the movements and the aiming!
A bit off-topic of our discussion, but Metroid Prime 2 in progressive mode is 480p right? Well, if the Wii has the same resolution in pixels but the graphics are 3 times better in quality (without dropping the framerate) then I'll be more than happy.
On a last note, I find it funny that the Xbox 360 was supposedly made for 480p but now Microsoft is asking developpers to push it to 720p at the price of a good framerate. Good graphics means nothing if you have to watch them under 30 fps. If the 480p story is true, that means the Wii isn't that far behind the Xbox 360 as far as graphics go. Not to mention that we supposedly haven't seen the real Wii graphics yet (or so I've heard).
If properly encoded, H.264/AAC beats DivX/MP3 hands down. H.264 is "part 10" of MPEG-4, so it's like the latest version of MPEG-4. You wouldn't believe the difference if you're using the same bitrate for both.
.avi files aren't even valid as far as specs are concerned (VBR MP3 breaks the specs, or so I've heard). Trying to play most .avi files (DivX/XviD) on OS X is like trying to play Quicktime on Linux (I guess). Too many CODECs, too many versions of DivX, etc.
.mp4 files, even though it can take about 12 hours to rip a 2 hours movie from DVD to H.264/AAC (quality setting 60 in HandBrake) on my G4/1.42GHz. I don't care about the encoding time, in the end it's the playback quality that matters.
There's also the fact that nobody uses DivX/MP3 in the media, but H.264/AAC is being used today by broadcasters and the television industry. Never mind the fact that there's a lof of DVD players compatible with DivX, they exists only because people illegally download movies from the net.
Not to mention the fact that most DivX
I'll stick with H.264/AAC
Except we're not talking about Microsoft here. I'm not asking an OS X port of Microsoft Flight Simulator. We're talking about 3rd party titles.
I can understand that Zelda and Metroid are Nintendo titles, Halo is pretty much locked to Xbox (and Windows).... and I can't find a Sony-only title for my analogy... and no, Final Fantasy isn't made by Sony.
What I find strange is that a "business OS" also became a "gaming OS". Apple isn't a proprietary walled garden. My OS can use GIFs, JPEGs, PNGs, PSDs and PDFs directly. It can also write PDF files directly via "print to PDF". iTunes can rip to MP3 instead of DRM-less AAC. My OS also came with Apache and PHP (and mySQL, I think) all pre-installed and pre-configured. The whole GUI runs with the help of OpenGL. How is that for a proprietary OS, mister BMP, XPS, WMA, IIS and Direct X?
Hey, I can troll too if needed. Too bad what I wrote above is all true and contains zero FUD, unlike your post.
As for your (brown) Zune, simply burn your iTS-bought tunes to a CD, then rip again in feel-good-happy WMA for additionnal vendor lock-in goodness.
I do already have a Wii on pre-order (funny how a lot of Mac users are also Nintendo gamers... quality above quantity?), and it's nice to know we'll have Sam & Max on the Wii too.
As for the PS3 price being the same as a Mac mini on sale, you're close enough. In Canada, the 20GB PS3 will be 500$CAD and the 60GB will be 600$CAD. The Mac mini is 600$CAD here. Except that the 20GB PS3 is usable, unlike the core model of the Xbox 360 (can't install FF XI on it, for example).
One month and one day until the Revolution, Wii iiiiiiii!
MP3 players, iPods, media centers (and the soon-to-arrive Apple "iTV")... We don't want to handle media. When I buy a DVD, I rip it in H.264/AAC and add it to my "movies hard drive". The last thing I want is a media that makes me handle it twice to watch its content, not to mention the software compatibility issues (I run OS X, not Windows).
Another case of "just because you can doesn't mean you should".
Submitter take the time to explain the basics of the article: 30 seconds.
Submiter does not take the time to explain the basics of the article: 50 000 slashdotters wasting 2 minutes (since they don't know what it is, need time to search for it, read it, understand it.) Total time wasted: 69 days, 10 hours and 40 minutes.
On the web, a single person being lazy ends up wasting time for thousands of people. Simple enough to understand.
That still means no native support and I have to buy Parallels too. Not to mention that I'm on a Mac mini G4, on which Parallels won't work. Given the price of OS X vs the price of a Mac mini, I will only upgrade once Leopard is released.
Well, there is this small note at the bottom of the requirements page:
"GameTap is also currently unavailable for download on Apple Macintosh systems but will be available at a later date so please be sure to check back often."
I guess there's hope after all.
Another game we'll have to skip, I guess.
Aside from the office, Windows lock-in is all about games. Am I the only one who thinks it's insane to keep a 2nd computer with a different OS only to play some games? Even if you dual-boot, that means you have to pay 200$US (or whatever the price is) to buy and install a different OS only to play games? How about the maintenance of that OS, given that it's Windows we're talking about?
We need some kind of "Universal Game engine" that runs on any platform, kinda like Java (in spirit) but that doesn't suck. Most of the older AGI/SCI games from Sierra and SCUMM games from LucasArts, for exemple, can run on any platform, all you need is an interpreter/engine program. There's even people making such engines for the GBA and PDAs these days.
Shouldn't the cutscenes be rendered real-time with the game engine anyway? Isn't the PS3 supposed to have "near photo-realistic graphics"? That's not good enough for cutscenes?
You can backup the files an unlimited number of times. The DRM is in the file, who cares where you put it and how many places you put it.
You can record a specific playlist a maximum number of 3 (or is it 5?) times. Want the same playlist again? Delete it, make it again, you can now burn that same playlist a new 3 (5?) times. There's no counter in the file that counts the number of times it's been burned to an audio CD.
As for the parent above you, there's no "additionnal loss" by going from an AAC file to an audio CD. It's the same audio that's output by your computer when playing, send to the CD instead of the speakers/headphones.
I think a movie is a non-interactive game that consists only of cut scenes.
Yeah, but that's a T3 tube... You can send a lot of intharweb data in that!
The parent said
"You would be surprised if I told you how many people I know that make decisions based on the result of a Google Fight."
not
"You would be surprised if I told you how many people I know that make decisions based on the result of a Google."
Not yet, it seems. The magic 8 ball is still more popular.
Dual screens is nice, but six screens is better.
Last time I checked, LCD displays didn't have an electron gun like CRT displays.
And since you can already read the disc on your toaster, you can also BURN IT!
Apple released the iPod shuffle because most people with iPods were already listening to their music in that exact same mode: shuffle. I know that I use my 10GB iPod in shuffle 99% of the time. The other 1% is when I get new tracks (which is maybe once a month).
The tape walkman didn't have any display. Never stopped people from using them either. The CD walkman was just barely more usable as far as displays were concerned. Telling me that "track 02" is playing doesn't help much unless I've memorized the tracks list of the CD.
So, in short, music players don't require a display to be usable. And given the size of the new iPod shuffle, the screen would be too small to be readable anyway.
Well, I didn't knew game companies looked at it like that, though it makes perfect sense.
But for the general public, the artificial installed user base from dead consoles still helps Microsoft and Sony. When you see "50 millions PS2 sold world-wide", it's not false advertisting but most people will (wrongly) deduce there is 50 millions PS2 owners world-wide. We'll keep hearing "Hey dude, there's only 10 millions Gamecube owners, we're 5 times as many as you" when in fact there's only maybe two or three times as many PS2 owners.
Oh well, that's what marketing and advertising is all about, I guess.
Publishers will look at consoles marketshare when deciding what platform to go for. If the Gamecube sold 100 units (100 users), the Xbox sold 150 units (100 users, 50 of which had to buy a new Xbox because their old one just died*) and the PS2 sold 300 units (100 users, all of which had to buy a new PS2 twice because their 1st and 2nd ones died*), they'll think the Xbox and PS2 have more marketshare than the Gamecube.
Selling crap really does wonders for both Microsoft and Sony.
* All statistics have been pulled out of thin air and may not represent actual console failure rates. All I know is that I know a lot of PS2 owners and a most Xbox owners have had problems with their console(s).