Not just Intel, AMD did the same thing back when the first athlons came out. They aren't ripping the customer off. The customer decides they will pay X amount of $ for Y performance. The chip dealer agrees to sell you a chip guaranteed for that performance. You got exactly what you paid for, if you happen to get something that is potentially better, consider yourself lucky. There are a number of reasons companies do this. - If their yields skew a little towards the high end, they may run out of mid-level chips to meet demands, so they sacrifice some of the high-end ones to meet the difference. - Quality. Remember those old 5 1/4" floppys, some were double sided, some were single sided. You just put a notch in the single sided floppy and you had instant double sided. 99% of the time it was fine, but the other 1% you could have data errors or bad sectors on that other side. - Mass Production. Its cheaper to have one design and disable the unneeded/untested parts. 64-bit is on existing prescott chips just disabled. Does it work 100%? maybe, maybe not. Intel may not have been comfortable with it, so its disabled until they do more testing. The only reason its there is because its potentially cheaper to just flip a switch and turn it on if the design is good.
From the article the numbers actually represent clock cycles not nanoseconds. 1 clock cycle on 450 is 2.2ns, while 1 clock cycle on 667 is 1.5ns. 2-2-2-6 @ 450 is ~30% faster than 4-4-4-12 @ 667. The hard drive analogy is a good one since geeks have been debating SCSI vs ATA for decades:)
However, you are restricted to one server, which seems to be designated as the freebie server (which somewhat brings up memories of eating at the kids' table) Imagine if you are a total newbie and log into a non-noob server and see a warrior in shiney armor. You might ask "Where did you get that great stuff," the reply "Grind it out for 1000 more hours and then you'll be able to camp this stuff." You also have issues with low and mid-level zones empty(since alot of people powerlevel past them). This creates a barrier to newbie advancement since there is nobody to group with and EQ is all about group play.
MMORPGs are just like horror movies: most are derivative of the first one to come out, and have gotten quite stale. This is exactly like television, everything is derivative to the point of annoyance. How many "multiple choice your way to millionare shows" were there, now we have reality TV on every single channel. There are like 6 shows with hot chick/guy picks who they want to marry out of a group of hot chicks/guys. 10 reality dating shows, one even hosted by a loser in one of those marriage shows! Oops sorry went on my reality show rant there. Friends was a seinfeld clone, and law & order or one of its siblings is on every night it seems. I once told someone if you took the character generation and gameplay of City of Heroes and combined it with the content, world, and economy of FFXI, you'd have a fantastic game. The problem is would combining just those two things make people decide to leave the games they are playing? We are talking about people who have invested several thousand hours in a game, have a bunch of friends who may or may not leave. Just look at UO, a 2D sprite game that is still popular because people don't want to leave. The MMO market is saturated, the cost to get a customer has gone way up, thats why some companies are cancelling their games. Although many are still making the gamble because once you get somebody hooked they are in it for years, providing steady revenue. With the dozens of generic MMOs coming out most of them are going to fail miserably.
Actually, I'm surprised that no one here has suggested an open community development effort These games exist, there's MUDs & MUSHs that are open sourced. The underlying concepts of MMOs are based on what goes on in MUDs/MUSHs. Where things get complex is when you throw a 3D world graphics engine, artists, support staff for couple hundred thousand users, and equipment on top of everything. The business model the companies have is to gamble and try and get a hit game. If you get one you're in the money for a good 5-6+ year run. A $15 game with 200,000 subscribers is $36 million a year, not including expansion packs, and only incurring upkeep costs.
So is my Wi-Fi going to be telling me...
on
Broadband Blimps
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
"A new life awaits you in the Off-World colonies. The chance to begin again in a golden land of opportunity and adventure. New climate, recreational facilities.....absolutely free. Use your new friend as a personal body servant or a tireless field hand--the custom tailored genetically engineered humanoid replicant designed especially for your needs. So come on America, let's put our team up there...."
"This annoucement is brought to you by the Shimato Dominguez"
Corporation - helping America into the New World."
This is not true - you tip if the service is worth it. The triade from Mr. Pink in the start of Resevoir Dogs is right in most of the world - you don't tip because it's expected - you tip because someone deserves it. If the service you get is higher than you expect and feel you deserve, then you tip. If this means that you tip everywhere you go abroad, then tip. If this means that you don't tip anywhere, then don't tip. Fairly simple In Southeast Asia I've tried tipping for extra service and the person will politely decline. Even when they helped me with directions, or restaurants, and I offered them a tip to thank them they will reply, obviously uncomfortable with the offer, with "No no no, please." This is multiple times in different countries (same region though). Its strange when the hardest part of giving a tip is convincing the person that they earned it. In those situations I call downstairs and let the manager know about the excellent service I received.
Its customary to leave tips at any "sit down" restaurant. Its something that you are expected to do, most people don't question it. As long as the person isn't totally inept you leave a tip. Please don't tell me "those poor waitresses..." Nobody leaves tip at fastfood places, even when they bring you your food and kindly ask you "how many ketchup". People at fast food restaurants make minimum wage, people in "sit down" restaurants make less than minimum wage because part of their income is expected to come from tips.
There is a great scene in Reservoir Dogs that discusses the issue.
The execs are learning the differences between single player games and MMOs are similar to those of movies and TV shows. Single player games are 1-time experiences similar to movies, you play the game, you enjoy it, then the next game with better graphics and physics comes along and you play that. You can have tons of titles co-exist. Far Cry isn't killing the customer base for Doom 3 or half life 2, in fact people look forward to see how can they one-up what far cry did. Contrast this with the persistant experience of MMOs. Its more like a TV series like Friends or the Simpsons. People invest lots of time, they form relationships with the characters, they even alter their life to accomadate the schedule. In this scenario there are limited titles that can co-exist. By their nature you can't have a bunch of "hit" MMOs. Once an MMO has claimed a consumer base, its very difficult to convert them. Even followups to popular MMOs can fail (much like TV spinoffs) AC2 wasn't able to fully capitalize on the popularity of AC1. I have a number of friends who will quit MMOs altogether, or take a break, when EQ1 gets shutdown. They don't consider EQ2 to be a continuation of their EQ1 experiences. Just like every TV exec came up with their own version of Survivor, most of which have been cancelled, most of the MMOs that will come out are doomed to cancellation.
Its a cultural thing, as an American I really never noticed the way customers are treated in the states until I travelled abroad. People in the states all feel they are equal and won't let themselves feel subservant. Its that sense that, "yes I'm a waitress, I'll get your food, but you're not better than me." Except, like you said, fancy places, where people will cater to you since you will pay the extra it takes. That gets combined with the sense that the job is what counts mentality, your plane ticket just entitles you to get from point A to point B, whether the stewardesses like you or not doesn't matter. I don't think your experiences are uncommon, Americans are used to and expect that kind of treatment. The perception from American customers is basically "I don't care how nice you are to me, as long as the food doesn't suck." There is a level of service expected, but its below what I've experienced in foreign countries. I can understand how foreigners are shocked by customer service in the US. On the flip side, many Americans feel uneasy and even guilty at the extra level of service they get in foreign countries. When I travel I feel bad that I'm not supposed to tip the bellhop, or the waiter in some countries no matter how good the service. Just write off your experience to cultural differences As for taxi drivers, they will rip you off in any country, I think its part of the test to get their license. The Atkins craze is because everybody has a friend who dated this person who knew somebody who lost 50lbs on the diet.
If they had sharks with frickin' access points strapped to their head so they could get their pr0n everywhere in the ocean, THAT would be a tech success story.
A bit OT, but Greenpeace's extremism seems to push away the majority of people. There will always be 20% who truly believe your message, 20% who will never believe your message, and then 60% who can be swayed either way. When you tell people everything they do is "evil" you alienate them. Mothers who want to protect their children from car accidents by driving SUVs... evil, nerds using their computers which suck huge amounts of power and use dangerous chemicals to manufacture... evil, nuclear powered space vehicles... evil. By the time I finished talking to a Greenpeace person in college, I was so pissed off I wanted to make my car run on whale oil, and run over baby seals for fun.
Hmmm maybe we can justify increased NASA budget to help battle alien terrorists. If they keep cutting NASA's budget how can they ever hope to maintain the criminal alien identification system and support alien smuggling investigations I think the Cassini space probe shows we are taking the battle to the alien terrorists. They can't hide on this planet or on any moon billions of miles away.
Why are we not giving them more funding? Its always hard to justify givng money to pure science. Its a noble endeavour, but how can you calculate the ROI of knowing the composition of rocks on Mars? Would most people care? If Cassini didn't go to Saturn until, 30 years from now, would it make any difference. We should always have a well funded space agency, but don't get outraged when there are cuts to the program. NASA still gets $15.5 billion this year ($91M less than last year). And where is that money going? Well NOAA is getting a $190M increase in funding. Different scientists, but still science research, with more likely more immediate impact.
There is more to space exploration than finding life. Most people are happy to live their lives without caring about the "deep science" of space exploration. Which do you think is easier to sell to the public 1. $2 billion to study the atmosphere and weather on the moon of another planet 2. $2 billion dollars to study how life began and maybe find alien life. It's harder for people, who are not science minded to grasp the value of the first, but it's easier to grasp the value of the second.
City of Heroes is a game that knew what it wanted to be and launched as a very polished product. This is the new gold standard for an MMORPG launch. If you compare it to other MMORPGs it doesn't have all the bells & whistles. It doesn't have player crafting, housing, pvp, an economy, character stats, complex skill trees, or rare uber "mind control mask +10." The devs didn't fall into the trap of providing everything to everbody upfront. The game is very accessable, focused, and stable. The concept (super heroes) brings in the customers, the polished gameplay makes them stay. Contrast this with last year's hyped up Star Wars Galaxies, which has all the bells and whistles, but suffered because it launched in a beta state and alienated its customers. EQ2 and WoW will be judged in relation to CoH at launch. Players now expect a higher level of polish to MMORPG titles at launch.
What do you get after spending 96 straight hours battling in the realms of Norath? A free trip to the afterlife, and a nomination for the darwin award.
These whiskers take time to grow and are fragile, you would need to have a situation where the equipment is undisturbed for a period of time, this allows the whiskers to grow, then when there is a disturbance (ie construction vibration)they break off and can cause shorts. I don't think most people leave their computer undisturbed for long periods of time dendrite growth has a different mechanism can also have similar consequences. This happens in things like old electrical systems, where you can have moisture with high current.
The solution for the gaming industry: go open source. Work with each other, instead of reinventing the wheel with every little detail. Provide game networks at low cost. It will eliminate piracy (nothing to pirate when the source is available), and you will make money on subscription.
So the business model is 1. Go open source 2. ??? 3. Profit! Game developers already work together, thats why games license other game engines, the reason we have halflife is because they had access to the quake engine. The problem if you go open source is that everybody will be able to setup their own networks and refuse to pay. Also, having a flexible pay system for subscriptions doesn't make much sense. Its not like the server goes down if you don't play. Whether you play 500 hours or 5 hours, the cost to run the server isn't going to change much. The last game I bought was Age of Kings in what, 2000? You do know game prices go down over time? You don't have to pay $60 when its released. Game companies release at $40-60 price range to maximize profits, they know there is a certain percentage of people that will buy at that price, then they cut the price later to get the money from another percentage of people, and so on. Another piece of advice: make games that are cinematographically spectacular, yes, but more than that, make games with good gameplay. [sarcasm]On another note, Hollywood should make more movies that are as visually spectacular, yet have very deep and thought provoking themes.[/sarcasm]
Yes, but you're not part of the sheepish majority. Everybody starts buying thanksgiving weekend because Joe down the street, and Jane at work are buying. There's a reason the mall is a nightmare, and its cause everybody is there shopping!
Slashdot Mirror
Not just Intel, AMD did the same thing back when the first athlons came out.
They aren't ripping the customer off. The customer decides they will pay X amount of $ for Y performance. The chip dealer agrees to sell you a chip guaranteed for that performance. You got exactly what you paid for, if you happen to get something that is potentially better, consider yourself lucky.
There are a number of reasons companies do this.
- If their yields skew a little towards the high end, they may run out of mid-level chips to meet demands, so they sacrifice some of the high-end ones to meet the difference.
- Quality. Remember those old 5 1/4" floppys, some were double sided, some were single sided. You just put a notch in the single sided floppy and you had instant double sided. 99% of the time it was fine, but the other 1% you could have data errors or bad sectors on that other side.
- Mass Production. Its cheaper to have one design and disable the unneeded/untested parts. 64-bit is on existing prescott chips just disabled. Does it work 100%? maybe, maybe not. Intel may not have been comfortable with it, so its disabled until they do more testing. The only reason its there is because its potentially cheaper to just flip a switch and turn it on if the design is good.
From the article the numbers actually represent clock cycles not nanoseconds. 1 clock cycle on 450 is 2.2ns, while 1 clock cycle on 667 is 1.5ns. 2-2-2-6 @ 450 is ~30% faster than 4-4-4-12 @ 667. :)
The hard drive analogy is a good one since geeks have been debating SCSI vs ATA for decades
However, you are restricted to one server, which seems to be designated as the freebie server (which somewhat brings up memories of eating at the kids' table)
Imagine if you are a total newbie and log into a non-noob server and see a warrior in shiney armor. You might ask "Where did you get that great stuff," the reply "Grind it out for 1000 more hours and then you'll be able to camp this stuff." You also have issues with low and mid-level zones empty(since alot of people powerlevel past them). This creates a barrier to newbie advancement since there is nobody to group with and EQ is all about group play.
Since these are unreimbursed Employee Business Expenses you can write them off on your taxes.
Ok, where are the next generation Iraq M*A*S*H and Gulf War vet A-Team shows
We have CNN... its even better.
If you don't rebuild, how can you blow it up again?
Spammers will just move to places like this or setup a boat that can connect wirelessly from international waters.
MMORPGs are just like horror movies: most are derivative of the first one to come out, and have gotten quite stale.
This is exactly like television, everything is derivative to the point of annoyance. How many "multiple choice your way to millionare shows" were there, now we have reality TV on every single channel. There are like 6 shows with hot chick/guy picks who they want to marry out of a group of hot chicks/guys. 10 reality dating shows, one even hosted by a loser in one of those marriage shows! Oops sorry went on my reality show rant there. Friends was a seinfeld clone, and law & order or one of its siblings is on every night it seems.
I once told someone if you took the character generation and gameplay of City of Heroes and combined it with the content, world, and economy of FFXI, you'd have a fantastic game.
The problem is would combining just those two things make people decide to leave the games they are playing? We are talking about people who have invested several thousand hours in a game, have a bunch of friends who may or may not leave. Just look at UO, a 2D sprite game that is still popular because people don't want to leave.
The MMO market is saturated, the cost to get a customer has gone way up, thats why some companies are cancelling their games. Although many are still making the gamble because once you get somebody hooked they are in it for years, providing steady revenue. With the dozens of generic MMOs coming out most of them are going to fail miserably.
Actually, I'm surprised that no one here has suggested an open community development effort
These games exist, there's MUDs & MUSHs that are open sourced. The underlying concepts of MMOs are based on what goes on in MUDs/MUSHs.
Where things get complex is when you throw a 3D world graphics engine, artists, support staff for couple hundred thousand users, and equipment on top of everything.
The business model the companies have is to gamble and try and get a hit game. If you get one you're in the money for a good 5-6+ year run. A $15 game with 200,000 subscribers is $36 million a year, not including expansion packs, and only incurring upkeep costs.
"A new life awaits you in the Off-World colonies. The chance to begin again in a golden land of opportunity and adventure. New climate, recreational facilities.....absolutely free. Use your new friend as a personal body servant or a tireless field hand--the custom tailored genetically engineered humanoid replicant designed especially for your needs. So come on America, let's put our team up there...."
"This annoucement is brought to you by the Shimato Dominguez" Corporation - helping America into the New World."
This is not true - you tip if the service is worth it. The triade from Mr. Pink in the start of Resevoir Dogs is right in most of the world - you don't tip because it's expected - you tip because someone deserves it. If the service you get is higher than you expect and feel you deserve, then you tip. If this means that you tip everywhere you go abroad, then tip. If this means that you don't tip anywhere, then don't tip. Fairly simple
In Southeast Asia I've tried tipping for extra service and the person will politely decline. Even when they helped me with directions, or restaurants, and I offered them a tip to thank them they will reply, obviously uncomfortable with the offer, with "No no no, please." This is multiple times in different countries (same region though).
Its strange when the hardest part of giving a tip is convincing the person that they earned it. In those situations I call downstairs and let the manager know about the excellent service I received.
Its customary to leave tips at any "sit down" restaurant. Its something that you are expected to do, most people don't question it. As long as the person isn't totally inept you leave a tip.
Please don't tell me "those poor waitresses..." Nobody leaves tip at fastfood places, even when they bring you your food and kindly ask you "how many ketchup".
People at fast food restaurants make minimum wage, people in "sit down" restaurants make less than minimum wage because part of their income is expected to come from tips.
There is a great scene in Reservoir Dogs that discusses the issue.
The execs are learning the differences between single player games and MMOs are similar to those of movies and TV shows.
Single player games are 1-time experiences similar to movies, you play the game, you enjoy it, then the next game with better graphics and physics comes along and you play that. You can have tons of titles co-exist. Far Cry isn't killing the customer base for Doom 3 or half life 2, in fact people look forward to see how can they one-up what far cry did.
Contrast this with the persistant experience of MMOs. Its more like a TV series like Friends or the Simpsons. People invest lots of time, they form relationships with the characters, they even alter their life to accomadate the schedule. In this scenario there are limited titles that can co-exist. By their nature you can't have a bunch of "hit" MMOs. Once an MMO has claimed a consumer base, its very difficult to convert them.
Even followups to popular MMOs can fail (much like TV spinoffs) AC2 wasn't able to fully capitalize on the popularity of AC1. I have a number of friends who will quit MMOs altogether, or take a break, when EQ1 gets shutdown. They don't consider EQ2 to be a continuation of their EQ1 experiences.
Just like every TV exec came up with their own version of Survivor, most of which have been cancelled, most of the MMOs that will come out are doomed to cancellation.
Its a cultural thing, as an American I really never noticed the way customers are treated in the states until I travelled abroad.
People in the states all feel they are equal and won't let themselves feel subservant. Its that sense that, "yes I'm a waitress, I'll get your food, but you're not better than me." Except, like you said, fancy places, where people will cater to you since you will pay the extra it takes. That gets combined with the sense that the job is what counts mentality, your plane ticket just entitles you to get from point A to point B, whether the stewardesses like you or not doesn't matter.
I don't think your experiences are uncommon, Americans are used to and expect that kind of treatment. The perception from American customers is basically "I don't care how nice you are to me, as long as the food doesn't suck." There is a level of service expected, but its below what I've experienced in foreign countries.
I can understand how foreigners are shocked by customer service in the US. On the flip side, many Americans feel uneasy and even guilty at the extra level of service they get in foreign countries. When I travel I feel bad that I'm not supposed to tip the bellhop, or the waiter in some countries no matter how good the service.
Just write off your experience to cultural differences
As for taxi drivers, they will rip you off in any country, I think its part of the test to get their license.
The Atkins craze is because everybody has a friend who dated this person who knew somebody who lost 50lbs on the diet.
If they had sharks with frickin' access points strapped to their head so they could get their pr0n everywhere in the ocean, THAT would be a tech success story.
Don't kid yourself Jimmy. If a cow ever got the chance, he'd eat you and everyone you care about!
A bit OT, but Greenpeace's extremism seems to push away the majority of people. There will always be 20% who truly believe your message, 20% who will never believe your message, and then 60% who can be swayed either way.
When you tell people everything they do is "evil" you alienate them. Mothers who want to protect their children from car accidents by driving SUVs... evil, nerds using their computers which suck huge amounts of power and use dangerous chemicals to manufacture... evil, nuclear powered space vehicles... evil.
By the time I finished talking to a Greenpeace person in college, I was so pissed off I wanted to make my car run on whale oil, and run over baby seals for fun.
Hmmm maybe we can justify increased NASA budget to help battle alien terrorists.
If they keep cutting NASA's budget how can they ever hope to maintain the criminal alien identification system and support alien smuggling investigations
I think the Cassini space probe shows we are taking the battle to the alien terrorists. They can't hide on this planet or on any moon billions of miles away.
Why are we not giving them more funding?
Its always hard to justify givng money to pure science. Its a noble endeavour, but how can you calculate the ROI of knowing the composition of rocks on Mars? Would most people care? If Cassini didn't go to Saturn until, 30 years from now, would it make any difference.
We should always have a well funded space agency, but don't get outraged when there are cuts to the program.
NASA still gets $15.5 billion this year ($91M less than last year). And where is that money going? Well NOAA is getting a $190M increase in funding. Different scientists, but still science research, with more likely more immediate impact.
There is more to space exploration than finding life.
Most people are happy to live their lives without caring about the "deep science" of space exploration. Which do you think is easier to sell to the public
1. $2 billion to study the atmosphere and weather on the moon of another planet
2. $2 billion dollars to study how life began and maybe find alien life.
It's harder for people, who are not science minded to grasp the value of the first, but it's easier to grasp the value of the second.
City of Heroes is a game that knew what it wanted to be and launched as a very polished product. This is the new gold standard for an MMORPG launch.
If you compare it to other MMORPGs it doesn't have all the bells & whistles. It doesn't have player crafting, housing, pvp, an economy, character stats, complex skill trees, or rare uber "mind control mask +10."
The devs didn't fall into the trap of providing everything to everbody upfront. The game is very accessable, focused, and stable. The concept (super heroes) brings in the customers, the polished gameplay makes them stay. Contrast this with last year's hyped up Star Wars Galaxies, which has all the bells and whistles, but suffered because it launched in a beta state and alienated its customers.
EQ2 and WoW will be judged in relation to CoH at launch. Players now expect a higher level of polish to MMORPG titles at launch.
What do you get after spending 96 straight hours battling in the realms of Norath?
A free trip to the afterlife, and a nomination for the darwin award.
These whiskers take time to grow and are fragile, you would need to have a situation where the equipment is undisturbed for a period of time, this allows the whiskers to grow, then when there is a disturbance (ie construction vibration)they break off and can cause shorts. I don't think most people leave their computer undisturbed for long periods of time
dendrite growth has a different mechanism can also have similar consequences. This happens in things like old electrical systems, where you can have moisture with high current.
The solution for the gaming industry: go open source. Work with each other, instead of reinventing the wheel with every little detail. Provide game networks at low cost. It will eliminate piracy (nothing to pirate when the source is available), and you will make money on subscription.
So the business model is
1. Go open source
2. ???
3. Profit!
Game developers already work together, thats why games license other game engines, the reason we have halflife is because they had access to the quake engine.
The problem if you go open source is that everybody will be able to setup their own networks and refuse to pay. Also, having a flexible pay system for subscriptions doesn't make much sense. Its not like the server goes down if you don't play. Whether you play 500 hours or 5 hours, the cost to run the server isn't going to change much.
The last game I bought was Age of Kings in what, 2000?
You do know game prices go down over time? You don't have to pay $60 when its released. Game companies release at $40-60 price range to maximize profits, they know there is a certain percentage of people that will buy at that price, then they cut the price later to get the money from another percentage of people, and so on.
Another piece of advice: make games that are cinematographically spectacular, yes, but more than that, make games with good gameplay.
[sarcasm]On another note, Hollywood should make more movies that are as visually spectacular, yet have very deep and thought provoking themes.[/sarcasm]
Yes, but you're not part of the sheepish majority. Everybody starts buying thanksgiving weekend because Joe down the street, and Jane at work are buying.
There's a reason the mall is a nightmare, and its cause everybody is there shopping!