I've got to say, Mario Kart would have come up on my list eventually. Personally my situation is a bit different though; my wife beats me at Tekken and i beat her at Street Fighter, Soul Calibur, KOF, etc. needless to say we find common ground and equal playing field on Smash Bros Melee. Mario Kart 64 is the best of the series, hands down, and if you can get past the Playskool-esque controller you'll have tons of fun with it.
my original suggestion when reading this question would have been Tetris. there are enough variations and enough different version that whatever existing console you have, you'll likely find an inexpensive solution in a tetris-like game. my parents have been playing tetris attack against each other for the past 10 years at least, and one is clearly way better. check out Fantavision, Devil Dice, Q*Bert, etc. puzzle games don't require as much 'gamer's skill' as they do thinking skills to get good at.
that poison honk geek fails
this is a hot of link phone keg
thinkgeek photo is on fail
photos on thinkgeek fails
although i think the double entende fools shop at thinkgeek/hail to thinkgeek spoofs is what they intended.
i really can't agree with that. to me, OOT, MM, and WW have all been major disapointments. i'll play the first 4 anytime, and the Oracle games Capcom released for GBC a few years back, but don't give me those 3D ones and call them Zelda. it doesn't feel right and to be perfectly honest, i'm glad that younger gamers have got into Zelda by playing them but they are a dramatically sad departure from the greatness that the series started out.
I've used everything from IE, Netscape, all of Mozilla's browsers, Opera (favourite), Konqueror, Safari, and the IE 'skin apps' like Avant and MYIE2 etc. Now that my fianceé has a decent computer i forbade her from running IE (I set the thing up and i'd be the one to have to get rid of the spyware) because before with her P3 600MHz and 64MB firefox (and firebird) would run too slow.
IE is real simple to use and now finally Moz has created a similar product. the biggest issue will be sites designed specifically for IE. i doubt they'll ever stop making these, which is the biggest stumbling block. the browser is something any user can get used to in an hour tops, but the real switch needs to come from page authors.
I read Playboy, Sound & Vision, Computer Gaming World, Popular Science, and MSN's Slate. each has a different point of view concerning computers and technology (yes, even playboy), and of the four i don't dislike the way any of them writes about the subject. S&V is 99.9% focused on Home Theater rather than PC related tech, but they do the best job in that category.
I've had a Winfast TV2000 Expert for nearly a year now, and i'll tell you something- i haven't had a problem with it yet. lots of people complain about the drivers and stuff not working correctly, but i haven't found this to be the case. the packaged software includes video editing, DVD authoring, tuner, recorder, DVD player, and effects apps. for $50 total you get the card itself, 4 discs, a remote (with batteries), and cables. all in all, not bad. also has pretty good multi display compatibility.
i upgraded from the 'deluxe' model and i'm extremely impressed. DScaler never worked on XP, but works well with my Mandrake box. oh yeah, Mandrake automatically detects TV Tuners, but 99% of the time it detects them as Hauppage (most have the same tuner inside, so it still does work if you keep that setting).
i've used a PCI tuner card for both personal tv viewing and recording as well as professional work. here's what i've found to be the ideal setting:
>2.0GHz chip
>768MB DDR
get a 10,000 RPM SATA drive for your recording destination. don't do anything else with it, just write the recorded video to it. makes a great buffer if you record straight to DVD, and i've never seen the video or sound 'hang' when i do it this way. the only downside is the expense of the drives... but they're getting better.
check out http://www.tv-cards.com
quite simply, the government has grown reliant on it for their own use, so they wish to keep as much control as they can on it without it looking like they have any control at all. when was the last time anyone wrote to their congressperson? (see today's/. poll;) if the phones and internet stopped working, some of us would be lost. for one thing, we'd have to go to stores to buy stuff, we'd have to talk to people in person, and we'd have to remember our manners because a conversation in person is not the same as a flamewar on slashdot.
seriously, the government would be (at least temporarily) crippled without phone, fax, and internet. letting the industry move toward either extremely high prices or services that make sense without a bunch of crap tied onto the end would be bad for said government.
to me it was much simpler 6 months ago: if you wanted DSL you needed a phone line, and if you wanted Cable you needed, well, cable. now it's still most of that way but since there seems to be a lot of interest in naked lines (ooh so sexy) i began to follow that. after all, i don't watch tv much nor do i talk on the phone (at home) enough to justify having cable tv or local phone. naked lines would suit me just fine, if i did need a landline i could
a) wait for VoIP to work (yeah, right)
b) pay Vonage
c) find one of the ~10 programs that will do it on Mandrake & SuSE (LindowsOS 4.5 installs with a fully working phone program)
d) use an IM/chat service that allows dialing
so to me you don't really need to get anything as a package. does it cost (a lot) less to get it that way? in 70% or more cases, yes. but you're forced to pay for useless or 'extra' services to get the options you want.
i know all this seems off topic, but think about it. the more we move toward digital technology, the more obsolete the current phone system becomes. digital phones run on ethernet cables, and even though they're too expensive to be widely used in homes yet, they will relatively soon replace the existing system. you can set up a 'local phone company' for your house/small office using a server and a single phone line now, i'm eager to see the time when any service that comes into a home will be digital and have all the content you want to pay for, with nothing more or lacking, regardless of the company you choose to provide it.
while i mainly use (and understand, and like to some extent) XP Pro, i've downloaded the ISO files for Lindows 4.5 and Mandrake 10. i don't feel the need to switch per se, but i do want to expand my abilities and resume. never really had any interest in Red Hat products after hassling with a crappy RH8 server at work last year. i'm planning on getting a new hard drive to try out both of these distros, as i'm new to desktop based Linux. a friend who swears by SuSE told me i'm competent enough to just go for Debian or SuSE, and thinks i'll uninstall Lindows in 5 mins. i pretty much agree, i'll probably stick with Mandrake unless/until something really awesome comes out to make me want to change. the really interesting thing about this shootout is you only get the basic distros without support. if they included a subscription to CNR then it might make a big difference, (with MandrakeClub excluded to make it even more one sided) THEN it would be a deal at $40.
Slashdot Mirror
I've got to say, Mario Kart would have come up on my list eventually. Personally my situation is a bit different though; my wife beats me at Tekken and i beat her at Street Fighter, Soul Calibur, KOF, etc. needless to say we find common ground and equal playing field on Smash Bros Melee. Mario Kart 64 is the best of the series, hands down, and if you can get past the Playskool-esque controller you'll have tons of fun with it. my original suggestion when reading this question would have been Tetris. there are enough variations and enough different version that whatever existing console you have, you'll likely find an inexpensive solution in a tetris-like game. my parents have been playing tetris attack against each other for the past 10 years at least, and one is clearly way better. check out Fantavision, Devil Dice, Q*Bert, etc. puzzle games don't require as much 'gamer's skill' as they do thinking skills to get good at.
that poison honk geek fails
this is a hot of link phone keg
thinkgeek photo is on fail
photos on thinkgeek fails
although i think the double entende fools shop at thinkgeek/hail to thinkgeek spoofs is what they intended.
stupid formatting...
that poison honk geek fails this is a hot of link phone keg thinkgeek photo is on fail photos on thinkgeek fails although i think the double entende fools shop at thinkgeek/hail to thinkgeek spoofs is what they intended.
i really can't agree with that. to me, OOT, MM, and WW have all been major disapointments. i'll play the first 4 anytime, and the Oracle games Capcom released for GBC a few years back, but don't give me those 3D ones and call them Zelda. it doesn't feel right and to be perfectly honest, i'm glad that younger gamers have got into Zelda by playing them but they are a dramatically sad departure from the greatness that the series started out.
I've used everything from IE, Netscape, all of Mozilla's browsers, Opera (favourite), Konqueror, Safari, and the IE 'skin apps' like Avant and MYIE2 etc. Now that my fianceé has a decent computer i forbade her from running IE (I set the thing up and i'd be the one to have to get rid of the spyware) because before with her P3 600MHz and 64MB firefox (and firebird) would run too slow. IE is real simple to use and now finally Moz has created a similar product. the biggest issue will be sites designed specifically for IE. i doubt they'll ever stop making these, which is the biggest stumbling block. the browser is something any user can get used to in an hour tops, but the real switch needs to come from page authors.
I read Playboy, Sound & Vision, Computer Gaming World, Popular Science, and MSN's Slate. each has a different point of view concerning computers and technology (yes, even playboy), and of the four i don't dislike the way any of them writes about the subject. S&V is 99.9% focused on Home Theater rather than PC related tech, but they do the best job in that category.
I've had a Winfast TV2000 Expert for nearly a year now, and i'll tell you something- i haven't had a problem with it yet. lots of people complain about the drivers and stuff not working correctly, but i haven't found this to be the case. the packaged software includes video editing, DVD authoring, tuner, recorder, DVD player, and effects apps. for $50 total you get the card itself, 4 discs, a remote (with batteries), and cables. all in all, not bad. also has pretty good multi display compatibility. i upgraded from the 'deluxe' model and i'm extremely impressed. DScaler never worked on XP, but works well with my Mandrake box. oh yeah, Mandrake automatically detects TV Tuners, but 99% of the time it detects them as Hauppage (most have the same tuner inside, so it still does work if you keep that setting). i've used a PCI tuner card for both personal tv viewing and recording as well as professional work. here's what i've found to be the ideal setting: >2.0GHz chip >768MB DDR get a 10,000 RPM SATA drive for your recording destination. don't do anything else with it, just write the recorded video to it. makes a great buffer if you record straight to DVD, and i've never seen the video or sound 'hang' when i do it this way. the only downside is the expense of the drives... but they're getting better. check out http://www.tv-cards.com
quite simply, the government has grown reliant on it for their own use, so they wish to keep as much control as they can on it without it looking like they have any control at all. when was the last time anyone wrote to their congressperson? (see today's /. poll;) if the phones and internet stopped working, some of us would be lost. for one thing, we'd have to go to stores to buy stuff, we'd have to talk to people in person, and we'd have to remember our manners because a conversation in person is not the same as a flamewar on slashdot.
seriously, the government would be (at least temporarily) crippled without phone, fax, and internet. letting the industry move toward either extremely high prices or services that make sense without a bunch of crap tied onto the end would be bad for said government.
to me it was much simpler 6 months ago: if you wanted DSL you needed a phone line, and if you wanted Cable you needed, well, cable. now it's still most of that way but since there seems to be a lot of interest in naked lines (ooh so sexy) i began to follow that. after all, i don't watch tv much nor do i talk on the phone (at home) enough to justify having cable tv or local phone. naked lines would suit me just fine, if i did need a landline i could a) wait for VoIP to work (yeah, right) b) pay Vonage c) find one of the ~10 programs that will do it on Mandrake & SuSE (LindowsOS 4.5 installs with a fully working phone program) d) use an IM/chat service that allows dialing so to me you don't really need to get anything as a package. does it cost (a lot) less to get it that way? in 70% or more cases, yes. but you're forced to pay for useless or 'extra' services to get the options you want. i know all this seems off topic, but think about it. the more we move toward digital technology, the more obsolete the current phone system becomes. digital phones run on ethernet cables, and even though they're too expensive to be widely used in homes yet, they will relatively soon replace the existing system. you can set up a 'local phone company' for your house/small office using a server and a single phone line now, i'm eager to see the time when any service that comes into a home will be digital and have all the content you want to pay for, with nothing more or lacking, regardless of the company you choose to provide it.
while i mainly use (and understand, and like to some extent) XP Pro, i've downloaded the ISO files for Lindows 4.5 and Mandrake 10. i don't feel the need to switch per se, but i do want to expand my abilities and resume. never really had any interest in Red Hat products after hassling with a crappy RH8 server at work last year. i'm planning on getting a new hard drive to try out both of these distros, as i'm new to desktop based Linux. a friend who swears by SuSE told me i'm competent enough to just go for Debian or SuSE, and thinks i'll uninstall Lindows in 5 mins. i pretty much agree, i'll probably stick with Mandrake unless/until something really awesome comes out to make me want to change. the really interesting thing about this shootout is you only get the basic distros without support. if they included a subscription to CNR then it might make a big difference, (with MandrakeClub excluded to make it even more one sided) THEN it would be a deal at $40.