"Yet I'm still a crazy sports fan that was devastasted on Sunday after the AFC Championship game"
You must spend a considerable amount of your life devastated since Cowher alone has now honked 4 AFC championshp games at home. (And if memory serves correctly, lost an away one as well.)
Since I am also a sports fan (video, real-life spectator, and the occasional playing in a real amateur game): "coincidence in the two areas"++
"I was an early adopter of cellphones, my first was the old flip phone."
No, no, no. I was an "early adopter" of cell phones. Mine was the size fo a VCR and came with its own handy carrying case that was bigger than my wife's purse.
Back to your point though, most cellular contracts have a backout period. I know I had 15 days with Nextel to bring my phones back if I wanted to back out of the contract. Seeing as Nextel didn't pick up at my house, I dropped them and went to Cingular within that timeframe. The Nextel salesman did tell me that I couldn't do that, but I calmly pointed out where it was written in the contract and after some arguing he gave in and cancelled our contracts. It might already be too late for you, but check your contract and see if you have a way to back out.
"Oddly, the story states that the games in the works for the new console will also be developed for the current iteration of the Xbox. This may partially confirm the lack of backwards compatibility discussed previously on Slashdot and seems to pit Microsoft's new console against the old one for sales dollars."
Maybe not. You can actually get a copy of Madden 2005 for the original Playstation, even though PS2 is backwards compatable. I would imagine that EA is betting that there will still be a signifigant portion of XBox owners who will not own an XBox2 any time soon and they'd like to continue to make money off of XBox owners.
The saddest part is that the poor, unimaginative youth can't even come up with a decent super hero to rip off. Of course, that's because Marvel has decided to kill off all non-X-Men/Spiderman comics long ago. How I miss the days of Nick Fury, Doctor Strange, Cloak and Dagger, Alpha Flight, GI Joe, Transformers, the NAM, etc.
I thought that Madden 64 did a good job without NFL logos or player names. I'm pretty sure that most people buying an American fooball game know that Red, Back, and White team called "Atlanta" is the Atlanta Falcons. They also have a pretty good idea that the "7" guy lined up at quarterback is Michael Vick. You can keep the strategies, teams and players without the logos.
The cold war was a big part of the Watchmen. That kind of makes it hard to adapt. You can try a few of things:
1. Use something else (war on terror?) to take its place.
2. Set the story back during the cold war.
3. Ignore the serious cold war themes entirely.
IMHO, Options 1 and 3 will ruin the movie. I like Option 2 but that's going to bring up parts of the 70's and 80's that are not glamorized today (i.e. There isn't an "I Love the Cold War"). This would mean that either the majority of the younger audience will be alienated or there will be entirely too much of the movie devoted to explaining the nuances of the cold war.
In short, I think that Watchmen will be screwed up seriously. That's very sad because it is one of my favorite comic book series (or do you call that a mini-series?).
I think your standards are a little high. I've got some old parts to use for CPU, RAM, etc. They'll do for what I need them for. And as far as quiet components are concerned, that's why my stereo goes up to 11.
Sorry I wasn't clear. I was referring to the actual DVD, not the player. I'm sure the player generates enough heat that it probably can't handle much more, but if you put a DVD and a VHS tape both in the front seat of a car for a few hot days, the DVD will probably be fine when you take it inside to play it. The VHS tape will be ruined.
I don't fear the word "hack", but my area of hacking expertise is getting arcade components, TVs and computers to behave well together. It's mostly a matter of time. I don't want to spend the time to hack a DVD player. I'll have to take a look at the ones you mention that can be modified by pressing a combination of buttons from the remote. Thanks for the info.
1. How often do you rent? I watch the occasional DVD over at my brother's house and we do often find the need to put the DVD in the player, do something else for 10 - 15 minutes, and then come back to watch the movie. This does not happen on DVDs he buys but it certainly does still happen on DVDs he rents. Considering I rent far more than I buy, this would still seem to apply to me. I really don't have a desire to fast-forward through chapters as long as the movie picks up where I left off when I stop it and most DVD players do this just fine.
2. "haven't you seen VHS tapes strewn across roadways by rowdy teenieboppers?" Um, no. Maybe DVDs are tougher than a CD but from all I have heard they are not. My basis of comparison is what my toddler can do to a CD. She is FAR more destructive to CDs than she ever has been to a VHS tape (10 CDs destroyed vs. 0 VHS is the current count). Now if what I've heard is wrong and DVDs are a lot strudier than CDs, then I stand corrected. Apparently, the means of destruction to the VHS tape you describe have not occured to my daughter at this time. If they do, I'll re-evaluate my position.
I know you don't want to believe that somebody would possibly pass up on the digital revolution for the two reasons I gave. These issues may not be "valid" to you but they certainly are to me. Otherwise, I would have a DVD player especially since I can get one for $30 now.
"Use xine or mplayer. Neither bothers to implement this flag. (you could file a bug report as a missing feature if you want...)"
Are there any standalone DVD players that do this? I'd be more interested in that.
"Are you telling me the prying fingers of a toddler couldn't open the flap on a VHS tape and rip out the magnetic tape? I'm sure at least one of mine ent that way."
I don't think my toddler knows it's a flap. Maybe she'll discover it someday, but even if she does, it'll be nothing compared to what's been done to some of the CDs at my house. "Pry open flap and mess with tape inside" is not nearly as likely a reaction as "Throw or step on disc."
I'm still waiting for two features they never brought over from VHS:
1. A format that will ALWAYS fast forward when I hit the fast forward button. (same with rewind) 2. A format that will withstand the destructive force of a toddler. (Though I do applaud the DVD's resistance to heat from a car.)
If this new-fangled DRM standard player would provide me with those things (and have a low cost), I'd look into buying one. I'm not holding my breath.
"The result is that now people don't trust elections whose outcomes are NOT in serious dispute."
If by "people" you mean "a small faction of Democrats," then you are correct. Most people from both parties believe there was no foul play in Ohio (at least not enough to turn the tide of the election). The biggest problem faced in the 2004 Presidential election was the exit polls being leaked. Though they were within the margin of error, they all gave Kerry most of the margin.
If you're SERIOUS about fighting games, you'll go out and hack your favorite console's controller to handle arcade parts. That'll be a lot harder to do with analog directional pads. Or you might just wait until you can afford the arcade board to plop into your arcade cabinet of choice.
It's because most newer games have adandoned any notion of simple, addictive gameplay. When's the last time you played a game that could be played with one or two buttons and a joystick? These classic games are a nice diversion to showcase what's missing from today's games. I'm not saying that gaming should revert to its one-button-plus-joystick glory, but it's nice to have a few fast, simple games to play from time to time.
I had a $6000000 man as a hand-me-down in the 80's so he was the Fall Guy as far as I was concerned. I even found a miniature cowboy hat and a pickup truck he could fit in.
You (and me and countless others) taking them apart is what made them valuable for everybody who didn't. That's why 70's - 80's action figures still in the box are worth something. What kid kept their action figure in the box (or kept up with accessories for that matter)?
If I have time I'll set up a website.
The controls are all wire-compatible. The ones I've opened up even color code the wires. I cheated on Pole Position (it uses an odd auto-centering pot setup I've never seen). I use a stereo knob off of my old stereo. It doesn't auto-center this way, but I'm working on a system for that.
All of these gadgets I've seen are fairly hackable
on
Commodore 64 DTV Hacked
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· Score: 3, Informative
I've been hacking the Pac and Ms. Pac controllers to use real arcade parts for a while now for friends. Their innards are also pretty well labelled and hackable. Granted, on the Ms. Pac the soldering is so poor that you might feel inclined to redo it, but if you're careful you can hack on of those just by cutting and stripping a few wires and using your wire conector of choice. I hope this trend keeps up.
Slashdot Mirror
"Yet I'm still a crazy sports fan that was devastasted on Sunday after the AFC Championship game"
You must spend a considerable amount of your life devastated since Cowher alone has now honked 4 AFC championshp games at home. (And if memory serves correctly, lost an away one as well.)
Since I am also a sports fan (video, real-life spectator, and the occasional playing in a real amateur game):
"coincidence in the two areas"++
"I was an early adopter of cellphones, my first was the old flip phone."
No, no, no. I was an "early adopter" of cell phones. Mine was the size fo a VCR and came with its own handy carrying case that was bigger than my wife's purse.
Back to your point though, most cellular contracts have a backout period. I know I had 15 days with Nextel to bring my phones back if I wanted to back out of the contract. Seeing as Nextel didn't pick up at my house, I dropped them and went to Cingular within that timeframe. The Nextel salesman did tell me that I couldn't do that, but I calmly pointed out where it was written in the contract and after some arguing he gave in and cancelled our contracts. It might already be too late for you, but check your contract and see if you have a way to back out.
"Oddly, the story states that the games in the works for the new console will also be developed for the current iteration of the Xbox. This may partially confirm the lack of backwards compatibility discussed previously on Slashdot and seems to pit Microsoft's new console against the old one for sales dollars."
Maybe not. You can actually get a copy of Madden 2005 for the original Playstation, even though PS2 is backwards compatable. I would imagine that EA is betting that there will still be a signifigant portion of XBox owners who will not own an XBox2 any time soon and they'd like to continue to make money off of XBox owners.
"It's just that, when major transitions occur, the dominant forms of life do not remain dominant. And that would mean us."
I for one welcome our new warmer-climate overlords.
The saddest part is that the poor, unimaginative youth can't even come up with a decent super hero to rip off. Of course, that's because Marvel has decided to kill off all non-X-Men/Spiderman comics long ago. How I miss the days of Nick Fury, Doctor Strange, Cloak and Dagger, Alpha Flight, GI Joe, Transformers, the NAM, etc.
I thought that Madden 64 did a good job without NFL logos or player names. I'm pretty sure that most people buying an American fooball game know that Red, Back, and White team called "Atlanta" is the Atlanta Falcons. They also have a pretty good idea that the "7" guy lined up at quarterback is Michael Vick. You can keep the strategies, teams and players without the logos.
...makes a game review a Game Review.
It's Canyonero time!
I guess I'll just have to spend more time raping and pilliaging. Too bad. Cheating on computer games was such a fun diversion.
The cold war was a big part of the Watchmen. That kind of makes it hard to adapt. You can try a few of things:
1. Use something else (war on terror?) to take its place.
2. Set the story back during the cold war.
3. Ignore the serious cold war themes entirely.
IMHO, Options 1 and 3 will ruin the movie. I like Option 2 but that's going to bring up parts of the 70's and 80's that are not glamorized today (i.e. There isn't an "I Love the Cold War"). This would mean that either the majority of the younger audience will be alienated or there will be entirely too much of the movie devoted to explaining the nuances of the cold war.
In short, I think that Watchmen will be screwed up seriously. That's very sad because it is one of my favorite comic book series (or do you call that a mini-series?).
Yeah, they'll have to do some sort of relettering because 802 already goes up to 11.
I think your standards are a little high. I've got some old parts to use for CPU, RAM, etc. They'll do for what I need them for. And as far as quiet components are concerned, that's why my stereo goes up to 11.
Sorry I wasn't clear. I was referring to the actual DVD, not the player. I'm sure the player generates enough heat that it probably can't handle much more, but if you put a DVD and a VHS tape both in the front seat of a car for a few hot days, the DVD will probably be fine when you take it inside to play it. The VHS tape will be ruined.
"a little lithium button battery on the board"
Cool. A suicide battery!
I don't fear the word "hack", but my area of hacking expertise is getting arcade components, TVs and computers to behave well together. It's mostly a matter of time. I don't want to spend the time to hack a DVD player. I'll have to take a look at the ones you mention that can be modified by pressing a combination of buttons from the remote. Thanks for the info.
1. How often do you rent? I watch the occasional DVD over at my brother's house and we do often find the need to put the DVD in the player, do something else for 10 - 15 minutes, and then come back to watch the movie. This does not happen on DVDs he buys but it certainly does still happen on DVDs he rents. Considering I rent far more than I buy, this would still seem to apply to me. I really don't have a desire to fast-forward through chapters as long as the movie picks up where I left off when I stop it and most DVD players do this just fine.
2. "haven't you seen VHS tapes strewn across roadways by rowdy teenieboppers?" Um, no. Maybe DVDs are tougher than a CD but from all I have heard they are not. My basis of comparison is what my toddler can do to a CD. She is FAR more destructive to CDs than she ever has been to a VHS tape (10 CDs destroyed vs. 0 VHS is the current count). Now if what I've heard is wrong and DVDs are a lot strudier than CDs, then I stand corrected. Apparently, the means of destruction to the VHS tape you describe have not occured to my daughter at this time. If they do, I'll re-evaluate my position.
I know you don't want to believe that somebody would possibly pass up on the digital revolution for the two reasons I gave. These issues may not be "valid" to you but they certainly are to me. Otherwise, I would have a DVD player especially since I can get one for $30 now.
"Use xine or mplayer. Neither bothers to implement this flag. (you could file a bug report as a missing feature if you want...)"
Are there any standalone DVD players that do this? I'd be more interested in that.
"Are you telling me the prying fingers of a toddler couldn't open the flap on a VHS tape and rip out the magnetic tape? I'm sure at least one of mine ent that way."
I don't think my toddler knows it's a flap. Maybe she'll discover it someday, but even if she does, it'll be nothing compared to what's been done to some of the CDs at my house. "Pry open flap and mess with tape inside" is not nearly as likely a reaction as "Throw or step on disc."
...you insensitive clod.
I'm still waiting for two features they never brought over from VHS:
1. A format that will ALWAYS fast forward when I hit the fast forward button. (same with rewind)
2. A format that will withstand the destructive force of a toddler. (Though I do applaud the DVD's resistance to heat from a car.)
If this new-fangled DRM standard player would provide me with those things (and have a low cost), I'd look into buying one. I'm not holding my breath.
"The result is that now people don't trust elections whose outcomes are NOT in serious dispute."
If by "people" you mean "a small faction of Democrats," then you are correct. Most people from both parties believe there was no foul play in Ohio (at least not enough to turn the tide of the election). The biggest problem faced in the 2004 Presidential election was the exit polls being leaked. Though they were within the margin of error, they all gave Kerry most of the margin.
If you're SERIOUS about fighting games, you'll go out and hack your favorite console's controller to handle arcade parts. That'll be a lot harder to do with analog directional pads. Or you might just wait until you can afford the arcade board to plop into your arcade cabinet of choice.
It's because most newer games have adandoned any notion of simple, addictive gameplay. When's the last time you played a game that could be played with one or two buttons and a joystick? These classic games are a nice diversion to showcase what's missing from today's games. I'm not saying that gaming should revert to its one-button-plus-joystick glory, but it's nice to have a few fast, simple games to play from time to time.
I had a $6000000 man as a hand-me-down in the 80's so he was the Fall Guy as far as I was concerned. I even found a miniature cowboy hat and a pickup truck he could fit in.
You (and me and countless others) taking them apart is what made them valuable for everybody who didn't. That's why 70's - 80's action figures still in the box are worth something. What kid kept their action figure in the box (or kept up with accessories for that matter)?
If I have time I'll set up a website. The controls are all wire-compatible. The ones I've opened up even color code the wires. I cheated on Pole Position (it uses an odd auto-centering pot setup I've never seen). I use a stereo knob off of my old stereo. It doesn't auto-center this way, but I'm working on a system for that.
I've been hacking the Pac and Ms. Pac controllers to use real arcade parts for a while now for friends. Their innards are also pretty well labelled and hackable. Granted, on the Ms. Pac the soldering is so poor that you might feel inclined to redo it, but if you're careful you can hack on of those just by cutting and stripping a few wires and using your wire conector of choice. I hope this trend keeps up.