I worked at EB for a few years and this is the way their business model is setup. Someone decides/predicts how well a game or product will sell and order a certain number of them for each store. If a game does not have alot of buzz around it, then they'll usually only order 1 or 2 copies for each store, if that many... The preorder system works somewhat independant of this, and any games preordered are guarenteed to come in...blah,blah,blahh... I'm sure you've heard the shpeel before. Anyway, if a great game comes out yet no one pre-orders it and there's not a whole lot of buzz for it, they'll only bring in one copy usually, and because of this it sells poorly and it's a downward spiral/vicious cycle from there. As for extremely popular stuff, because there are limited quantities they require a pre-order so the stores that have more customers wanting one will get one, which actually makes sense...but most shoppers are unaware of this system and get screwed like the guy who submitted this article...
How come this article is not on the front page!?...luckily, being a registered user, I can set all games articles to show up on my page, but shouldn't this count as one of the better game articles? I'm willing to bet a large portion of Slashdot readers don't log in and just see whatever's put on the front page is the reason that this is a problem... Maybe Slashdot should let it's users moderate whether or not an article is good or not (front page worthy) too?
I see Video Games as potentially being the ultimate storytelling platform. It takes all previous forms of storytelling and rolls them into one, then lets you participate. This is the number one reason I am interested in creating video games. It really does have a little bit of everything, cinematic (movie) elements, music, reading, and speech. Not only do you get to see the universe, it's characters, and events... You get to be part of it! I could probably ramble on for hours like this, but I guess I'll cut myself off here.
They can use WMV all they want, it works fine with Linux+Firefox+Mplayer-plugin....yet for some reason the damn Launch site still doesn't work. When you go to watch a video it says something of the extent: "Netscape users, please download this plugin". This probably means that it's Active X infested, and the only way to get other browsers to run it is for some awful plugin to be installed...
Well, with the new retractment, I'm gonna bet that they keep on developing the way they have been for years, and then spend like half an hour trying to get it to run on firefox properly too. If they can't get it working in less than half an hour...oh well, maybe next time Firefox. Yahoo's Launch.com music video service will probably never work with FF:(
It seems that all the "automatic" updates do is download the lastest installer, and reinstall it on top of the old one. Notice how (in Windows) they leave a copy of the installer on your desktop? Or if you goto the add/remove program options it still lists both FF 1.0 and 1.0.1? Of course my main 'automatic update service' doesn't tend to have these problems;)
Well, for one thing, the slashdot article had the numbers listed wrong. It's 1.0.2 not 1.02. As for them skipping 1.0.1 with Thunderbird, since it's just one number off in the third spot, I doubt anyone will really notice except us geeks...
Re:Still no word from the pr0n industry
on
Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD
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· Score: 2, Interesting
I seriously doubt they weren't "allowed" to use CD technology...lol. And last time I checked the Gamecube uses mini-DVDs. It's all just a matter of money...
Re:Still no word from the pr0n industry
on
Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD
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· Score: 3, Informative
No, if I'm remembering correctly, the HD-DVD's are encoded in such a way that they will still play in most old DVD players too
Hmmm...Sony's obviously going to use Blu-Ray, and MS has decided to stick with plain old DVD instead of picking sides.....what's Nintendo going to use?
You'd just have to put two different lasers in the player is all. I think the blu-ray people have already said this, when talking about having the ability to play regular old DVDs.
Re:Still no word from the pr0n industry
on
Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD
·
· Score: 1
Well, being that in the US (the current largest gaming market) all TV sets will be required by law to include HDTV capabilities starting in 2006, and the Xbox2 is most likely coming out this fall...it sounds like perfect timing to me. Most people are going to be buying new televisions over the next couple years, and getting a new console to show it off will definitely be a selling point. I do agree that all 3 systems will most likely have the same standards for HD resolutions though. And it's not a surprise to see a DVI port on the back of one of the new systems since most new DVD players already come with them, if not a HDMI port. HDMI will probably be standard on all 3 systems as well.
WOW! We just slashdotted Yahoo! lol... if you don't get a denial when trying to goto it, it tells you the game is temporarily unavailable for "maintanence"...lol
Slashdot Mirror
I'm sure Walmart will have a few, and they don't do preorders... Have fun fighting people for one though ;)
I worked at EB for a few years and this is the way their business model is setup. Someone decides/predicts how well a game or product will sell and order a certain number of them for each store. If a game does not have alot of buzz around it, then they'll usually only order 1 or 2 copies for each store, if that many... The preorder system works somewhat independant of this, and any games preordered are guarenteed to come in...blah,blah,blahh... I'm sure you've heard the shpeel before. Anyway, if a great game comes out yet no one pre-orders it and there's not a whole lot of buzz for it, they'll only bring in one copy usually, and because of this it sells poorly and it's a downward spiral/vicious cycle from there. As for extremely popular stuff, because there are limited quantities they require a pre-order so the stores that have more customers wanting one will get one, which actually makes sense...but most shoppers are unaware of this system and get screwed like the guy who submitted this article...
How come this article is not on the front page!? ...luckily, being a registered user, I can set all games articles to show up on my page, but shouldn't this count as one of the better game articles? I'm willing to bet a large portion of Slashdot readers don't log in and just see whatever's put on the front page is the reason that this is a problem... Maybe Slashdot should let it's users moderate whether or not an article is good or not (front page worthy) too?
I see Video Games as potentially being the ultimate storytelling platform. It takes all previous forms of storytelling and rolls them into one, then lets you participate. This is the number one reason I am interested in creating video games. It really does have a little bit of everything, cinematic (movie) elements, music, reading, and speech. Not only do you get to see the universe, it's characters, and events... You get to be part of it! I could probably ramble on for hours like this, but I guess I'll cut myself off here.
The price is far to high and not worth it. These people are looking to screw you over, plain and simple.
Works fine with Mozilla 1.7.5. If you click the thumbnails you should see a full size pic.
Until Minimo 1.0 is released ;)
Here are some pictures of Minimo already running on cellphones.
They can use WMV all they want, it works fine with Linux+Firefox+Mplayer-plugin....yet for some reason the damn Launch site still doesn't work. When you go to watch a video it says something of the extent: "Netscape users, please download this plugin". This probably means that it's Active X infested, and the only way to get other browsers to run it is for some awful plugin to be installed...
Well, with the new retractment, I'm gonna bet that they keep on developing the way they have been for years, and then spend like half an hour trying to get it to run on firefox properly too. If they can't get it working in less than half an hour...oh well, maybe next time Firefox. Yahoo's Launch.com music video service will probably never work with FF :(
yeah...there's maybe like 4 games with nudity in them, and time they all clearly state "Rated M - Age 17+"
Yes. Need an invite? :)
It seems that all the "automatic" updates do is download the lastest installer, and reinstall it on top of the old one. Notice how (in Windows) they leave a copy of the installer on your desktop? Or if you goto the add/remove program options it still lists both FF 1.0 and 1.0.1? Of course my main 'automatic update service' doesn't tend to have these problems ;)
...like play Ogg files?
Well, for one thing, the slashdot article had the numbers listed wrong. It's 1.0.2 not 1.02. As for them skipping 1.0.1 with Thunderbird, since it's just one number off in the third spot, I doubt anyone will really notice except us geeks...
Ok, here's a link
I seriously doubt they weren't "allowed" to use CD technology...lol. And last time I checked the Gamecube uses mini-DVDs. It's all just a matter of money...
No, if I'm remembering correctly, the HD-DVD's are encoded in such a way that they will still play in most old DVD players too
Hmmm...Sony's obviously going to use Blu-Ray, and MS has decided to stick with plain old DVD instead of picking sides.....what's Nintendo going to use?
You'd just have to put two different lasers in the player is all. I think the blu-ray people have already said this, when talking about having the ability to play regular old DVDs.
I guess you never watched Orgasmo?
I bet that the porn industry goes for the HD-DVD because of it's backwards compatability....
I'd rather go for this tech though. Non moving parts would be great for power saving and have less chance of failure.
Well, being that in the US (the current largest gaming market) all TV sets will be required by law to include HDTV capabilities starting in 2006, and the Xbox2 is most likely coming out this fall...it sounds like perfect timing to me. Most people are going to be buying new televisions over the next couple years, and getting a new console to show it off will definitely be a selling point. I do agree that all 3 systems will most likely have the same standards for HD resolutions though. And it's not a surprise to see a DVI port on the back of one of the new systems since most new DVD players already come with them, if not a HDMI port. HDMI will probably be standard on all 3 systems as well.
Maybe Slashdot was smart and is trying to block any readers using AdBlock on their site...lol
WOW! We just slashdotted Yahoo! lol... if you don't get a denial when trying to goto it, it tells you the game is temporarily unavailable for "maintanence"...lol