And how much did the browsers on the Xbox 360 and the PS3 cost? Nothing. To bill yourself as a cheap console and nickel and dime your users is a bit hypocritical I think.
From TFA :
The final version of the Opera browser will be released at the end of March 2007 and will be free for all Wii owners until the end of June 2007.
Can you get back to your game at the same place, though?
I doubt it. The web browser will probably be just another channel, and you can't access the other channels without quitting the game altogether. It would be very cool though... play a game, "suspend" it, launch the browser and head to gamefaqs, then back in the game...
According to TFA, he's guilty because he had the power to stop the exchange of copyrighted materials. He must be one powerful guy, to be able to do what governments around the world are trying to do and failing.
Well, guess what, yes, he is that powerful. A handful of people control most of the servers that host torrent seeds to copyrighted material. If those people actually decided to play good and remove the.torrent files who obviously point to copyrighted music or copyrighted software that whoever is distributing it obviously doesn't have permission from the copyright holder, then that handful of people could indeed stop the exchange of a whole lot of copyrighted materials.
Instead, they prefer to let it happen, almost encouraging it. And they love it whenever such a story arise, and the general public get all angry because they somehow think it's morally acceptable to infringe on all the copyright they can.
Yes, I know, there are legitimate use of.torrent files, but those legitimate uses are usually located on legitimate websites. Places like The Pirate Bay are willfully linking to thousands upon thousands of copyrighted material, and they are just as crooked as whoever is actually hosting the files.
Remember, a link takes you to a location - if a user can follow the link, so can the investigator.
Torrent links have a tendency to point to another location when one location gets taken down... how convenient. Taking down the location solves nothing, the problem is the link.
There is *no* valid reason to hold a torrent link to a music file or software for which you don't own the copyright (or have not the permission from the copyright holder). None, other than encourage people to infringe on the copyright.
Absolutely. What would be interesting if there was a certain minimum performance (say, 40fps average, never dropping below 30fps for more than a second) required for a minimum hardware spec. So if your hardware is GFW-certified and the game is GFW-certified, you know it won't run/look like crap. That would be worth doing.
That couldn't work. On a Windows PC, the hardware is not the only thing that detemines the FPS you get in the game. You musn't forget the horde of spyware, viruses and other malware running in the background eating up memory and CPU.
This is yet another tactic from Microsoft to discourage the development of multi-platform titles by tying games to Windows even more.
Which, of course, is a Good Thing (TM)! If games today weren't made both for the PC and the consoles, maybe they would be a bit less retarded..Or maybe even have usable interfaces!
I do believe the parent was talking about Windows/Mac/Linux type of multi-platform, not PC/console.
The issue is not that people are blaming Nintendo for the wild n crazy gesturing of the players (which would be silly), the issue is that Nintendo knew they were emphasizing the wild n crazy movements, and didn't say "oh, maybe we should use thicker straps for that..."
However, Nintendo was emphasizing the wild n crazy movements while keeping the Wiimote in your hand. It is possible that they actually never though "Many people will not use the product as instructed and we should use thicker straps for them".
I play tennis and badminton, and never have I thrown my racket into my opponent's face. That's because I know how to hold on to something. Heck, nobody can swing a tennis racket faster and stronger than professional tennis players, and I've never seen them throw a racket across the court at mach 2.
You should really try it before asking all those questions. VLC is one of the few players that can handle most types of media out of the box.
I was not commenting on the quality of the software, I even said I never used it and therefore can't judge the quality of the thing. What I was wondering about is why all the fuss about the update from 0.8.5 to 0.8.6 for a pre-1.0 software. Version numbering for FOSS seems pretty much random. What does it need to get to 0.9, and when will it be "good enough" for 1.0?
I guess I'll have to wait a bit before I can try it.
I haven't tried previous versions, so I can't judge the overall quality of the thing, but why are we all happy about the release of a third-level-version-number (0.8.5 to 0.8.6) of a software that's barely in beta? I mean come on, it's version zero point eight.
If it's really that good, why don't they make a 1.0 version anytime soon? If it's not, why is this even news? What is it with all those free software project that must always be version zero point something?
because as a Linux user, even as a totally novice user, you can get all of your software from direct from whoever provided the distribution you are using, and it becomes less likely that you would want to install some random screen saver or other application that you find on the web.
If Jane Sixpack wants those bouncy smileys for her email, and the "official distribution channel" doesn't provide them, she will download them from a random website and install them, and if installing them requires the root password, then the root password it will get.
The typical Windows user knows not to open random email attachments and not to execute software downloaded from random websites, but the "need" for smileys and other flashy-flashies trumps any security education.
The problem is not the OS, it's the user. And I'd rather those users keep away from Linux.
A) Ship a remote with no rubber grips, so it's slippery when player sweats
B) Ship a baseball game that encourages the player to throw the remote hard to get a fast ball C) ??? (Remote smashes into wall breaking into 30 pieces)
D) Profit!!! (user buys another remote)
Of all the stories I've seen so far where people threw the Wiimote and broke something, that something was never the Wiimote. Nintendo's hardware is bulletproof, it's always the object on the receiving end that breaks first. Nintendo doesn't profit from those mishaps.
But if I do play tennis (I don't), my natural instinct would be to swing the way I do in actual games. Same with bowling, same with baseball and golf (I played baseball before).
Yep, however, if you swing your tennis racket real hard, and let go of it, and the racket goes flying and breaks the referee's chair, would it be the racket's manufacturer's fault?
If you throw something and that something breaks something else because it got thrown, it's your fault, no matter what it is you threw.
3. No matter how many people "came up" with the idea, it does not matter. The patent definition of obviousness is not the human definition. It might seem obvious to place a button in such a location, but did anyone file a patent or design such an item before them? If not, then was it really that obvious for someone to do it?
Sometimes, you can come up with an idea (putting a button under a device instead of over it) that is so obvious that you don't consider it worthy of your time to apply for a patent. Putting a button on a device is obvious, and *where* on the device you put it really shouldn't matter. Every monitor I've seen have the on/off button on the right-hand side. That doesn't mean I can get a patent on a monitor that has a on/off button on the left.
But the problem with your statement is this: Once you've modded your Xbox, you've broken your warranty and Microsoft is under no obligation whatsoever to do fix anything for you. Period. That's the entire issue summed up in a single sentence.
Besides, even if MS wanted to, how could they QA software running on possibly-modded hardware? Once you've modded, if you're half-intelligent, you realize you're now outside MS's standard QA process and it's likely you'll have problems.
That is all true as long as the breaking happens truly accidentally. Cue conspiracy theories where Microsoft bricked the modded boxes on purpose. That would also be worthy of a lawsuit. Even if you void your warranty by modding your box, Microsoft still has no right to purposefully destroy the hardware you bought from them.
And what is with the 90 day warentees? As I understand it this is becoming industry standard for consoles.
My Wii came with a 1-year warranty, and by registering it online, Nintendo extends that warranty by an extra 90 days, so I got a 15 months warranty on the console.
Maybe it's because Nintendo is quite confident in the quality of its hardware, or they simply have a better customer service, or both. I don't know about the warranties of the other systems.
I'm sorry but I can't describe that behavior as anything less than ridiculous. Particularly since optical drive technology is hardly new.
DVD players have been around for a while indeed, but how many times have you moved your DVD player (either the one under your TV or the one in your computer) from a horizontal position to a vertical one, while a movie was playing at the same time? I bet those devices would also damage the disc the same way the xbox does.
When the disk starts spinning at high speed inside the device, it basically becomes a gyroscope, and rotating its axis requires (relatively) tremendous force.
Even with all the money in the world, Microsoft can't fight the physics of our universe.
The rental place (Video Thunder) was great, didn't give me a hard time, and just sent the disc out to be resurfaced. I wonder what my options would have been had it been my disc, short of plunking down $60 for a new copy.
You options would have been to send the disc out to be resurfaced... If they did it, why can't you?
Nintendo may call it "even more excited", but the UK Sale Of Goods Act calls it "not fit for the purpose intended" and would entitle the consumer to their money back from the retailer.
The "intended purpose" is "Player holds the remote and moves it around while keeping hold of the remote". If player throws the remote around, it's not that the device is not fit for the purpose intended, it's that the player is too stupid to realize he shouldn't throw a remote at his TV.
Also, none of the games that I know of require a player to use their full arm strength to play a game. Again, using bowling as an example - it's not a matter of how fast you swing your arm, it's more dependant on timing. In other words, you don't need to be able to tear a phone book in half to chuck the ball any faster.
Then you haven't been playing the same Wii Sports as I have. If I swing my arm really slow, the character will throw the ball very, very slow. If I swing my arm strong and fast, then the character will throw a power shot. There *is* a limit to how fast you swing your arm, after which there is no difference in the game, but you can't say that it's not a matter of how fas you swing.
Those little thingies inside the Wiimote aren't called accelerometers for nothing... they measure acceleration.
...but can someone post some details on how to physically read the Wiimote from a PC or Mac? Is the controller connected via USB? (I don't own a Wii so I've no idea how things plug together.)
I might be wrong, but I do believe the Wiimote communicates with Bluetooth, so it's basically just a bluetooth device that your Mac or PC deals with, like a mouse or any other device.
Ya gotta love standard interfaces when stuff like that happens:-)
Online is good and all but with out a solid online platform having to share friends codes is more than a little annoying. Especially if we are forced to both be on at the same time.
How do you expect to play online with your friends if you are not all online at the same time? Does Xbox Live somehow manage to let you play online with people that are offline?!?
Slashdot Mirror
From TFA :
I guess I'll have a free web browser then.
I doubt it. The web browser will probably be just another channel, and you can't access the other channels without quitting the game altogether. It would be very cool though... play a game, "suspend" it, launch the browser and head to gamefaqs, then back in the game...
Well, guess what, yes, he is that powerful. A handful of people control most of the servers that host torrent seeds to copyrighted material. If those people actually decided to play good and remove the .torrent files who obviously point to copyrighted music or copyrighted software that whoever is distributing it obviously doesn't have permission from the copyright holder, then that handful of people could indeed stop the exchange of a whole lot of copyrighted materials.
Instead, they prefer to let it happen, almost encouraging it. And they love it whenever such a story arise, and the general public get all angry because they somehow think it's morally acceptable to infringe on all the copyright they can.
Yes, I know, there are legitimate use of .torrent files, but those legitimate uses are usually located on legitimate websites. Places like The Pirate Bay are willfully linking to thousands upon thousands of copyrighted material, and they are just as crooked as whoever is actually hosting the files.
Torrent links have a tendency to point to another location when one location gets taken down... how convenient. Taking down the location solves nothing, the problem is the link.
There is *no* valid reason to hold a torrent link to a music file or software for which you don't own the copyright (or have not the permission from the copyright holder). None, other than encourage people to infringe on the copyright.
I do believe the parent was talking about Windows/Mac/Linux type of multi-platform, not PC/console.
That's quite funny, but it's the evidence we've all been looking for: Videogames make people violent.
However, Nintendo was emphasizing the wild n crazy movements while keeping the Wiimote in your hand. It is possible that they actually never though "Many people will not use the product as instructed and we should use thicker straps for them".
I play tennis and badminton, and never have I thrown my racket into my opponent's face. That's because I know how to hold on to something. Heck, nobody can swing a tennis racket faster and stronger than professional tennis players, and I've never seen them throw a racket across the court at mach 2.
Wikipedia is your friend.
I was not commenting on the quality of the software, I even said I never used it and therefore can't judge the quality of the thing. What I was wondering about is why all the fuss about the update from 0.8.5 to 0.8.6 for a pre-1.0 software. Version numbering for FOSS seems pretty much random. What does it need to get to 0.9, and when will it be "good enough" for 1.0?
I haven't tried previous versions, so I can't judge the overall quality of the thing, but why are we all happy about the release of a third-level-version-number (0.8.5 to 0.8.6) of a software that's barely in beta? I mean come on, it's version zero point eight.
If it's really that good, why don't they make a 1.0 version anytime soon? If it's not, why is this even news? What is it with all those free software project that must always be version zero point something?
If Jane Sixpack wants those bouncy smileys for her email, and the "official distribution channel" doesn't provide them, she will download them from a random website and install them, and if installing them requires the root password, then the root password it will get.
The typical Windows user knows not to open random email attachments and not to execute software downloaded from random websites, but the "need" for smileys and other flashy-flashies trumps any security education.
The problem is not the OS, it's the user. And I'd rather those users keep away from Linux.
Never played one of the recent Zelda titles?
Yep, however, if you swing your tennis racket real hard, and let go of it, and the racket goes flying and breaks the referee's chair, would it be the racket's manufacturer's fault?
If you throw something and that something breaks something else because it got thrown, it's your fault, no matter what it is you threw.
Sometimes, you can come up with an idea (putting a button under a device instead of over it) that is so obvious that you don't consider it worthy of your time to apply for a patent. Putting a button on a device is obvious, and *where* on the device you put it really shouldn't matter. Every monitor I've seen have the on/off button on the right-hand side. That doesn't mean I can get a patent on a monitor that has a on/off button on the left.
Or just put the Wiimote upside-down... now the trigger is on the top of the remote and the suit is moot...
That is all true as long as the breaking happens truly accidentally. Cue conspiracy theories where Microsoft bricked the modded boxes on purpose. That would also be worthy of a lawsuit. Even if you void your warranty by modding your box, Microsoft still has no right to purposefully destroy the hardware you bought from them.
My Wii came with a 1-year warranty, and by registering it online, Nintendo extends that warranty by an extra 90 days, so I got a 15 months warranty on the console.
Maybe it's because Nintendo is quite confident in the quality of its hardware, or they simply have a better customer service, or both. I don't know about the warranties of the other systems.
DVD players have been around for a while indeed, but how many times have you moved your DVD player (either the one under your TV or the one in your computer) from a horizontal position to a vertical one, while a movie was playing at the same time? I bet those devices would also damage the disc the same way the xbox does.
When the disk starts spinning at high speed inside the device, it basically becomes a gyroscope, and rotating its axis requires (relatively) tremendous force.
Even with all the money in the world, Microsoft can't fight the physics of our universe.
The "intended purpose" is "Player holds the remote and moves it around while keeping hold of the remote". If player throws the remote around, it's not that the device is not fit for the purpose intended, it's that the player is too stupid to realize he shouldn't throw a remote at his TV.
Then you haven't been playing the same Wii Sports as I have. If I swing my arm really slow, the character will throw the ball very, very slow. If I swing my arm strong and fast, then the character will throw a power shot. There *is* a limit to how fast you swing your arm, after which there is no difference in the game, but you can't say that it's not a matter of how fas you swing.
Those little thingies inside the Wiimote aren't called accelerometers for nothing... they measure acceleration.
I might be wrong, but I do believe the Wiimote communicates with Bluetooth, so it's basically just a bluetooth device that your Mac or PC deals with, like a mouse or any other device.
Ya gotta love standard interfaces when stuff like that happens :-)
How do you expect to play online with your friends if you are not all online at the same time? Does Xbox Live somehow manage to let you play online with people that are offline?!?