Actually there's nothing in OpenGL that prevents you from making fast, game-style graphics. Heck I'm about as amature as you can get and I can push out a half decent 3d tile based game without speed issues, that runs just fine on a 3 year old, low end Macbook with Intel graphics.
As a better example of what OpenGL can do, correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't WoW have (or had?) an OpenGL mode? DX11 is a fine beast, but completely inappropriate in this context as it's not cross platform. Forget about Windows vs Linux, what about my phone? The iPhone supports OpenGL I believe, as does Android.
Should also add that although I don't agree with what you said, I also don't agree with your current Flamebait ranking.
Extremist? I'd love to hear your definition of that word. I know several that would probably consider themselves that, and I don't live in fear of my life. You and I must have very different definitions of said word.
Also, I think we need a term to designate when a/. discussion goes from topic A to topic Religion.
Galactic Civ 2 eh? I know it exists, but after MOO3 got burned out by space style games like that. BOTF was, to me, an amazing game, equalled only by it's amazing flaws. Even with the bugs spent a lot of hours playing with a buddy.
A new engine concerns me... a bit. Although my favorite game in the series is Civ4, it did have some growing pains with the new 3D engine. Hex is a welcome addition if used properly, and who knows what other tweaks they have in store.
One feature I'd love is (and maybe it exists) being able to have someone host the game, and then call in when your ready to make your turn. Basically a dedicated server you can come and go (password protected or something like that)
Bad news for my sleeping patterns and forgoing having any sort of life this fall...
How does any of this refute his orignal statement: "What laws exist that prohibit you from designing, building and selling your own cellphone complete with an appstore service?"
None is the answer. You may be muscled out by the Carriers if you don't play by their rules, but that's not the same as being illegal, which is what his statement quoted. Apple doesn't control the smartphone market. Ask RIM if they have to bow before Apple before releasing a new product.
I would guess that both you and I are not qualified enough to answer the reason as to why, however I'm rather confident the reason wasn't because it added "a few seconds" of compile time. Supporting legacy systems isn't just a matter of how long it takes code to compile, there's issues with maintainability, as well as speed and performance. Which DOES affect the end user.
I imagine that the userbase that uses Firefox with 10.4 is small enough, and the issues with supporting it big enough, that it makes sense to drop support.
Besides, isn't BLOAT one of the biggest complaints with Firefox on here? Worst case if 10.4 support is really that huge of an issue someone will fork it.
Well.. the news in question is from over 2 decades ago, from an article over 5 years old. Not really sure the relevance here... It was also during the height of a (Cold) War. This happened a lot back then.
Ummm maybe they're singling out China because of, as the Summary points out, recent events?
If the US government (or ANY government) was strongly suspected of doing the same thing, and that country was a leading supplier of xyz goods, you'd see a similar article posted. It's how news works.
I love your assumption that I'm American lol. I also love how you feel that, now that it's 2010, we'd never redo the mistakes of the past. We're more enlightened I guess? lol...
You should brush up on your history, say, between WW1 and WW2. It's almost like talking to one of the world leaders back then.. "oh, nobody would every want to redo THAT!"
At least we have good people like you who see the Real Truth. It's almost like I'm listening to a Fox News broadcast. Here's a hint: Truth rarely lies at either extreme.
Oh and how does talking about the Evil US of A make your argument that world leaders are smart and good people, exactly? Your a funny troll, I like you!
Insightful? Really? Are you saying Leaders of nations only make rational decisions? Explain Hitler.. or Stalin, or half the Monarchy in Europe back during the dark ages. Just because your in power doesn't mean it's because your smart. Hell isn't the next leader of North Korea going to be his son? It isn't because the guy is smart enough. A LOT of leaders of countries in the past are both fools and madmen.
Sorry.. but no.. Expecting the other guy to play nice / civilized is nice in a perfect world, but this most definitely is not.
Wow, someone else that has played this game.. I consider it one of my all time favorites for back in the day. It was pretty advanced for it's time, big leap from Crescent Hawks Inception. too bad it was also the last.
A great example of that I think is when I fired up Red Alert 3 for the first time..seeing the intro bit and reading "EA Studios West (or whatever it was) presents.." Felt a slight bit of sadness. It should have said Westwood there.
I think a lot of the problems some of us old timers have with EA is the death sentence they gave to a lot of good studios of old like Westwood, Maxis or Origin. I agree that I remember a time when EA wasn't top dog, but I also can't remember anything I liked out of them.. must have been something. I'm waiting for EA to create a "new" studio called Westwood to win some of us over.. but it won't be the same.
Funny, I remember Activision back in the Mechwarrior days and some other stuff they did. Now they're just another EA.
Um from my understanding, the DRM is in the username... No I think the reason is far more likely that they have an exclusive agreement for the 360. Remember Sony AND Netflix has said the Disc is a temporary solution. I'm assuming it's temporary for the Wii as well, temporary until the end of the agreement with MS.
Why am I still relying on optical media? The only viable alternative is online. However not only can my ISP not sustain the Bitrate for audio and video that Blu supports (or even HD-DVD supported), but they'd cut me off within a week for going over my usage. The solid state media you talk about is more expensive (compared to a disc) to produce, and honestly doesn't last any longer then an optical disc would, especially if they had to mass produce them to replace every single DVD/BR disc sold. I can get a recordable BR disc for a few bucks, but a 64g stick goes for more then that.
Natal sounds cool, and might just be what i'm looking for for a reason to buy a 360 to compliment my PS3. I'm still concerned about the complete lack of buttons, and am wondering if MS is going to be releasing a controller you can strap to your arm or hold with 1 hand for when you need a button to say change weapons. Also the lag issue remains to be seen. This is one possible advantage Sony's motion MIGHT have.
But in the end it's all about the games. Both techs have the potential I think to be fun, just need to see the actual implementation. And I wonder what Nintendo has in their R&D to combat this (other then that Vitality Sensor) All very interesting, although I don't see this gameplay replacing old fashioned "sitting down with a controller in your hand" gaming, just another form of entertainment.
All of this talk makes me pretty excited for what comes after this current gen...
I've heard this argument a lot, but it doesn't seem to make a lot of sense to me. Is not the iPhone $200 on contract, and $600-$700 off contract (if you can get it?)
I bought a Treo 650 back in the day unlocked, and it seet me back about $600.. doesn't seem unreasonable to me (although likely out of my budget)
I think the question is at what point do the imagined gains outway the risks?
One (crazy) idea I had was have everyone wear pre approved jumpsuits that you put on at the airport. Well except you can sneak something up his butt.
What if we mandated full body cavity searches when entering? Well a terrorist could open up his skin, put some explosives inside him, sew him up. Maybe some sort of mix those new machines can't detect.
While doing said searches a terrorist could bomb up the security line. Should we have a pre-security line?
At what point do you say screw it, out of the several billion people that have flown in the past decade, and about 700 of em dead, I'm willing to accept that risk (which is less then getting struck by lightning 20x)
Driving a car I am willing to accept a risk that I could be killed by another driver. Should we outlaw driving?
Maybe beside the puke bag they could add a bathroom bag so you don't have to worry about someone doing something terroristy in the bathroom on the plane.
Anyone that thinks life should be 100% safe, is a moron. Accept risk, and live. Don't live in fear.
Ya know the day we don't change our security laws when a plane is unsuccessfully (or even successfully) bombed, and don't freak out and read about it in the media for 2-3 months... I believe that is the day the terrorists would lose.
To be honest I think the point your making is hurting your argument. Saying that ONLY the United States (and parts of England) are stupid enough to believe that global warming isn't happening shows you aren't paying enough attention to the non English speaking parts of the world, and even those countries that do speak English (such as Canada where I am). It is quite likely that you only hear about views coming out of the US because either your from it or because thats where a lot of media comes from. I get some news from Japan and I'd say that there's some differing opinions there, too. Thats just one example. Also note, telling me to look at my thermometer, when here it's currently -30C, isn't going to help much.
Note, I'm not saying I disagree that global warming/change isn't happening, I'm saying your argument isn't helping your case. Please stop assuming that outside of the US is some enlightened wondrously great world. People are people anywhere you go, being American doesn't make people naturally smart or naturally dumb.
Your statement makes no sense. On the one hand your asking for proof that it's crippled because of policies and not the device itself, and the next your saying maybe it's only crippled because... Apple doesn't have a sanctioned API for it and they don't allow you to work around that. I must be missing something.
For my iPhone to properly sync with my car I have to disable A2DP. Maybe it's the car's fault, maybe the phone. Regardless in order to make it work I have to jailbreak my phone and install an app that lets me do just that. The phone is capable, the software exists, but Apple won't allow it officially.
Misunderstood what I said, but I didn't write it very well. What I'm saying is a core feature for one isn't for another. I have ZERO problems with the Awesome Bar, I rather like it. I have zero use for RSS, wouldn't miss it if it was gone. However it being there doesn't hurt me any more then Minesweeper being on my computer when I install Windows.
What I'm tired of is people saying that Firefox is as bloated as Netscape Communicator or Mozilla was in the day. We're not even remotely near that. When they make Thunderbird a mandatory part of Firefox, I'll be concerned.
Tired of reading these sorts of comments. Sure there's some "bloat", but what that bloat is varies by opinion. I've read where supporting CSS is "bloat". Graphics are "bloat". tabs are "bloat". RSS. etc.
My understanding (and please tell me if I'm wrong) is the point of Firefox was to supply a WEB BROWSER. Back then when you downloaded it you also got an email program, news reader, wysiwyg website builder, etc. Firefox was JUST a browser. Still is.
If you REALLY want where everything is an option go build it yourself. Have something where you choose which renderer you want (Moz's, Webkit, etc), whether or not to have tabs, allow plugins, command line version, etc. Hit next a few times and presto your very own browser.
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Actually there's nothing in OpenGL that prevents you from making fast, game-style graphics. Heck I'm about as amature as you can get and I can push out a half decent 3d tile based game without speed issues, that runs just fine on a 3 year old, low end Macbook with Intel graphics.
As a better example of what OpenGL can do, correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't WoW have (or had?) an OpenGL mode? DX11 is a fine beast, but completely inappropriate in this context as it's not cross platform. Forget about Windows vs Linux, what about my phone? The iPhone supports OpenGL I believe, as does Android.
Should also add that although I don't agree with what you said, I also don't agree with your current Flamebait ranking.
Extremist? I'd love to hear your definition of that word. I know several that would probably consider themselves that, and I don't live in fear of my life. You and I must have very different definitions of said word.
Also, I think we need a term to designate when a /. discussion goes from topic A to topic Religion.
Galactic Civ 2 eh? I know it exists, but after MOO3 got burned out by space style games like that. BOTF was, to me, an amazing game, equalled only by it's amazing flaws. Even with the bugs spent a lot of hours playing with a buddy.
I may have to check out GC2.
I knew about the email thing, but PitBoss.. hmmm I'll have to check into this. Thanks for the tip!
A new engine concerns me... a bit. Although my favorite game in the series is Civ4, it did have some growing pains with the new 3D engine. Hex is a welcome addition if used properly, and who knows what other tweaks they have in store.
One feature I'd love is (and maybe it exists) being able to have someone host the game, and then call in when your ready to make your turn. Basically a dedicated server you can come and go (password protected or something like that)
Bad news for my sleeping patterns and forgoing having any sort of life this fall...
What the hell? Seriously.. WHAT? I hope I'm missing the sarcasim tag.
How does any of this refute his orignal statement: "What laws exist that prohibit you from designing, building and selling your own cellphone complete with an appstore service?"
None is the answer. You may be muscled out by the Carriers if you don't play by their rules, but that's not the same as being illegal, which is what his statement quoted. Apple doesn't control the smartphone market. Ask RIM if they have to bow before Apple before releasing a new product.
I would guess that both you and I are not qualified enough to answer the reason as to why, however I'm rather confident the reason wasn't because it added "a few seconds" of compile time. Supporting legacy systems isn't just a matter of how long it takes code to compile, there's issues with maintainability, as well as speed and performance. Which DOES affect the end user.
I imagine that the userbase that uses Firefox with 10.4 is small enough, and the issues with supporting it big enough, that it makes sense to drop support.
Besides, isn't BLOAT one of the biggest complaints with Firefox on here? Worst case if 10.4 support is really that huge of an issue someone will fork it.
Well.. the news in question is from over 2 decades ago, from an article over 5 years old. Not really sure the relevance here... It was also during the height of a (Cold) War. This happened a lot back then.
Ummm maybe they're singling out China because of, as the Summary points out, recent events?
If the US government (or ANY government) was strongly suspected of doing the same thing, and that country was a leading supplier of xyz goods, you'd see a similar article posted. It's how news works.
I love your assumption that I'm American lol. I also love how you feel that, now that it's 2010, we'd never redo the mistakes of the past. We're more enlightened I guess? lol...
You should brush up on your history, say, between WW1 and WW2. It's almost like talking to one of the world leaders back then.. "oh, nobody would every want to redo THAT!"
At least we have good people like you who see the Real Truth. It's almost like I'm listening to a Fox News broadcast. Here's a hint: Truth rarely lies at either extreme.
Oh and how does talking about the Evil US of A make your argument that world leaders are smart and good people, exactly? Your a funny troll, I like you!
Insightful? Really? Are you saying Leaders of nations only make rational decisions? Explain Hitler.. or Stalin, or half the Monarchy in Europe back during the dark ages. Just because your in power doesn't mean it's because your smart. Hell isn't the next leader of North Korea going to be his son? It isn't because the guy is smart enough. A LOT of leaders of countries in the past are both fools and madmen.
Sorry.. but no.. Expecting the other guy to play nice / civilized is nice in a perfect world, but this most definitely is not.
Also enjoyed it, even the mini hacking game that was never fully utilized. I thought it was the closest way of getting "into" the movie.
Granted the on rails shooting sections were beyond stupid, but the gameplay itself was decent.
Wow, someone else that has played this game.. I consider it one of my all time favorites for back in the day. It was pretty advanced for it's time, big leap from Crescent Hawks Inception. too bad it was also the last.
A great example of that I think is when I fired up Red Alert 3 for the first time..seeing the intro bit and reading "EA Studios West (or whatever it was) presents.." Felt a slight bit of sadness. It should have said Westwood there.
I think a lot of the problems some of us old timers have with EA is the death sentence they gave to a lot of good studios of old like Westwood, Maxis or Origin. I agree that I remember a time when EA wasn't top dog, but I also can't remember anything I liked out of them.. must have been something. I'm waiting for EA to create a "new" studio called Westwood to win some of us over.. but it won't be the same.
Funny, I remember Activision back in the Mechwarrior days and some other stuff they did. Now they're just another EA.
Um from my understanding, the DRM is in the username... No I think the reason is far more likely that they have an exclusive agreement for the 360. Remember Sony AND Netflix has said the Disc is a temporary solution. I'm assuming it's temporary for the Wii as well, temporary until the end of the agreement with MS.
Why am I still relying on optical media? The only viable alternative is online. However not only can my ISP not sustain the Bitrate for audio and video that Blu supports (or even HD-DVD supported), but they'd cut me off within a week for going over my usage. The solid state media you talk about is more expensive (compared to a disc) to produce, and honestly doesn't last any longer then an optical disc would, especially if they had to mass produce them to replace every single DVD/BR disc sold. I can get a recordable BR disc for a few bucks, but a 64g stick goes for more then that.
Natal sounds cool, and might just be what i'm looking for for a reason to buy a 360 to compliment my PS3. I'm still concerned about the complete lack of buttons, and am wondering if MS is going to be releasing a controller you can strap to your arm or hold with 1 hand for when you need a button to say change weapons. Also the lag issue remains to be seen. This is one possible advantage Sony's motion MIGHT have.
But in the end it's all about the games. Both techs have the potential I think to be fun, just need to see the actual implementation. And I wonder what Nintendo has in their R&D to combat this (other then that Vitality Sensor) All very interesting, although I don't see this gameplay replacing old fashioned "sitting down with a controller in your hand" gaming, just another form of entertainment.
All of this talk makes me pretty excited for what comes after this current gen...
I've heard this argument a lot, but it doesn't seem to make a lot of sense to me. Is not the iPhone $200 on contract, and $600-$700 off contract (if you can get it?)
I bought a Treo 650 back in the day unlocked, and it seet me back about $600.. doesn't seem unreasonable to me (although likely out of my budget)
I think the question is at what point do the imagined gains outway the risks?
One (crazy) idea I had was have everyone wear pre approved jumpsuits that you put on at the airport. Well except you can sneak something up his butt.
What if we mandated full body cavity searches when entering? Well a terrorist could open up his skin, put some explosives inside him, sew him up. Maybe some sort of mix those new machines can't detect.
While doing said searches a terrorist could bomb up the security line. Should we have a pre-security line?
At what point do you say screw it, out of the several billion people that have flown in the past decade, and about 700 of em dead, I'm willing to accept that risk (which is less then getting struck by lightning 20x)
Driving a car I am willing to accept a risk that I could be killed by another driver. Should we outlaw driving?
Maybe beside the puke bag they could add a bathroom bag so you don't have to worry about someone doing something terroristy in the bathroom on the plane.
Anyone that thinks life should be 100% safe, is a moron. Accept risk, and live. Don't live in fear.
Ya know the day we don't change our security laws when a plane is unsuccessfully (or even successfully) bombed, and don't freak out and read about it in the media for 2-3 months... I believe that is the day the terrorists would lose.
To be honest I think the point your making is hurting your argument. Saying that ONLY the United States (and parts of England) are stupid enough to believe that global warming isn't happening shows you aren't paying enough attention to the non English speaking parts of the world, and even those countries that do speak English (such as Canada where I am). It is quite likely that you only hear about views coming out of the US because either your from it or because thats where a lot of media comes from. I get some news from Japan and I'd say that there's some differing opinions there, too. Thats just one example. Also note, telling me to look at my thermometer, when here it's currently -30C, isn't going to help much.
Note, I'm not saying I disagree that global warming/change isn't happening, I'm saying your argument isn't helping your case. Please stop assuming that outside of the US is some enlightened wondrously great world. People are people anywhere you go, being American doesn't make people naturally smart or naturally dumb.
Your statement makes no sense. On the one hand your asking for proof that it's crippled because of policies and not the device itself, and the next your saying maybe it's only crippled because... Apple doesn't have a sanctioned API for it and they don't allow you to work around that. I must be missing something.
For my iPhone to properly sync with my car I have to disable A2DP. Maybe it's the car's fault, maybe the phone. Regardless in order to make it work I have to jailbreak my phone and install an app that lets me do just that. The phone is capable, the software exists, but Apple won't allow it officially.
Misunderstood what I said, but I didn't write it very well. What I'm saying is a core feature for one isn't for another. I have ZERO problems with the Awesome Bar, I rather like it. I have zero use for RSS, wouldn't miss it if it was gone. However it being there doesn't hurt me any more then Minesweeper being on my computer when I install Windows.
What I'm tired of is people saying that Firefox is as bloated as Netscape Communicator or Mozilla was in the day. We're not even remotely near that. When they make Thunderbird a mandatory part of Firefox, I'll be concerned.
Tired of reading these sorts of comments. Sure there's some "bloat", but what that bloat is varies by opinion. I've read where supporting CSS is "bloat". Graphics are "bloat". tabs are "bloat". RSS. etc.
My understanding (and please tell me if I'm wrong) is the point of Firefox was to supply a WEB BROWSER. Back then when you downloaded it you also got an email program, news reader, wysiwyg website builder, etc. Firefox was JUST a browser. Still is.
If you REALLY want where everything is an option go build it yourself. Have something where you choose which renderer you want (Moz's, Webkit, etc), whether or not to have tabs, allow plugins, command line version, etc. Hit next a few times and presto your very own browser.
So basically your saying that you wish people were killed to prevent the killing of other people. I suppose the irony is lost on you.