The reason MS was subject to antitrust trials is that there really ISN'T much choice regarding OSes if you want to run most consumer-grade software (especially videogames).
To be fair the PS3 price cut wasn't too long ago and before that the Euro and dollar prices matched 1:1. Not that the price difference was tolerable before that but 1:1 seems to be the standard ripoff rate for videogame hardware (for software it seems to be 1$:0.8€).
Yeah but currently buying all three would run you 1150$ (assuming a 360 Premium). I don't know about you but I don't have that kind of money (in my entertainment budget) and if I did I'd prefer spending it on the actual games instead of the hardware I need to play them.
Apples is the right keyword, Apple users often insist that in order to compare the price the other system has to offer the exact same functionality but few users actually want or need everything that's in the box. I, for example, only have a crappy old TV that blurs so much it's like free anti-aliasing so I don't want a HD player but I would be interested in a current gen console*. I doubt many people are actually looking for a BRD player and a game console at the same time, BRDs aren't ubiquitous yet and by the time they are the players will be 50$ a piece so paying 200$ extra now for a player will be a waste of money.
*=Also keep in mind that many people (especially children) don't plug a console into their main TV because that one's reserved for the family watching TV together, if your console is plugged into that because it acts as your movie player you either have to move it to a side room or stop playing when the family wants to watch something. Secondary TVs tend to be crappier than the main TVs (we have a main TV that's widescreen, sharp and does 100Hz but my consoles aren't plugged into that one) so HDTV penetration doesn't equal access to HDTVs for gaming.
I often see Castlevania mentioned. Has there EVER been a good 3d Castlevania game? From what I read so far all 3d versions sucked and the only good ones are on the handhelds these days.
Exclusive titles is really what the consumers should want. When a game goes exclusive they tailor the game to the console it's being written for with all the extra bells and whisles. When they're developing for all consoles, there is lots of console specific programming that gets lost, so in the end, the consumer suffers.
Yeah but there'as also a high chance of that exclusivity being towards a platform I don't own which makes all that optimization useless to me.
Basically Oblivion didn't have the enemies placed by level designers or even their type determined that way but it looked at your level and just spawned enemies of a matching level. So if you go from level 1 to level 2 all monsters will be replaced with stronger ones. As a level up does not necessarily mean an increase in combat power you're screwed if you level more than you get stronger (as suddently all dungeons will be filled with huge dragons just because you trained your cooking skills a bit) and people had to devise specific strategies to gain as few levels as possible while gaining a maximum amount of power.
Makes me wonder what the parking lots look like then, those trolleys aren't going to teleport elsewhere so if everyone just left his trolley where it was wouldn't that block large parts of the lot?
One problem is with non-dedicated servers like for RTS games, where one of the players hosts the server. You really have to trust that player not to cheap by manipulating the server.
On the other hand you can just pick another server since only the host can ruin it, not a random player who joins.
Also some RTSes use pretty much P2P, i.e. each player's computer simulates the gamestate by itself and only the player's inputs get sent to the other players and since it's deterministic the gamestate won't differ (baring hardware or software errors). It's impossible to cheat anything beyond an information cheat like that since changing your gamestate only makes you desync but doesn't apply your changes to everyone else's gamestate. You could still maphack or automate stuff but in a well designed game you can automate stuff without invoking cheat programs.
Sounds like the GPL is moving away from a distributor and developer license and closer to an EULA. What's next, FSF DRM that forces all your code open?
WW2 would have been won by the Soviets either way. The difference would have been that all Nazi-occupied territories would have been taken in by Russia instead of released to join the NATO and the Soviets would have had a huge technological advantage over the US.
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The reason MS was subject to antitrust trials is that there really ISN'T much choice regarding OSes if you want to run most consumer-grade software (especially videogames).
To be fair the PS3 price cut wasn't too long ago and before that the Euro and dollar prices matched 1:1. Not that the price difference was tolerable before that but 1:1 seems to be the standard ripoff rate for videogame hardware (for software it seems to be 1$:0.8€).
Yeah but currently buying all three would run you 1150$ (assuming a 360 Premium). I don't know about you but I don't have that kind of money (in my entertainment budget) and if I did I'd prefer spending it on the actual games instead of the hardware I need to play them.
Apples is the right keyword, Apple users often insist that in order to compare the price the other system has to offer the exact same functionality but few users actually want or need everything that's in the box. I, for example, only have a crappy old TV that blurs so much it's like free anti-aliasing so I don't want a HD player but I would be interested in a current gen console*. I doubt many people are actually looking for a BRD player and a game console at the same time, BRDs aren't ubiquitous yet and by the time they are the players will be 50$ a piece so paying 200$ extra now for a player will be a waste of money.
*=Also keep in mind that many people (especially children) don't plug a console into their main TV because that one's reserved for the family watching TV together, if your console is plugged into that because it acts as your movie player you either have to move it to a side room or stop playing when the family wants to watch something. Secondary TVs tend to be crappier than the main TVs (we have a main TV that's widescreen, sharp and does 100Hz but my consoles aren't plugged into that one) so HDTV penetration doesn't equal access to HDTVs for gaming.
You realize a 360 Elite + HDDVD add-on isn't the only HD-DVD player out there?
I often see Castlevania mentioned. Has there EVER been a good 3d Castlevania game? From what I read so far all 3d versions sucked and the only good ones are on the handhelds these days.
Exclusive titles is really what the consumers should want. When a game goes exclusive they tailor the game to the console it's being written for with all the extra bells and whisles. When they're developing for all consoles, there is lots of console specific programming that gets lost, so in the end, the consumer suffers.
Yeah but there'as also a high chance of that exclusivity being towards a platform I don't own which makes all that optimization useless to me.
VAT doesn't explain the difference, especially on game pricing. Plus PC hard and software doesn't get similar markups.
Google Earth proves that quite a few things can be seen from space if you zoom in enough.
Because if it was all legal they wouldn't have to circumvent US laws by using a prison in Cuba?
Oh great and the box where you make the tick looks like goatse then?
Isn't that for going into the virtual world? The term we're looking for is
DELETED!!
Well, once the robots need no human intervention anymore it's inevitable that society switches to communism or goes down in chaos.
How do you deport someone in the program if one of the requirements is U.S. citizenship? Where do you deport them TO?
Cuba?
My 19" CRT cost 150€ and does 720p at 85Hz (or more, haven't checked). A 720p HDTV would cost a lot more and only do 50Hz.
Oh, they made it more two-dimensional, except that change is limited to the characters, story and gameplay.
Basically Oblivion didn't have the enemies placed by level designers or even their type determined that way but it looked at your level and just spawned enemies of a matching level. So if you go from level 1 to level 2 all monsters will be replaced with stronger ones. As a level up does not necessarily mean an increase in combat power you're screwed if you level more than you get stronger (as suddently all dungeons will be filled with huge dragons just because you trained your cooking skills a bit) and people had to devise specific strategies to gain as few levels as possible while gaining a maximum amount of power.
Makes me wonder what the parking lots look like then, those trolleys aren't going to teleport elsewhere so if everyone just left his trolley where it was wouldn't that block large parts of the lot?
Here I go again restating stuff that was already in the original post because of my habit to hit Reply before reading the post in its entirety...
One problem is with non-dedicated servers like for RTS games, where one of the players hosts the server. You really have to trust that player not to cheap by manipulating the server.
On the other hand you can just pick another server since only the host can ruin it, not a random player who joins.
Also some RTSes use pretty much P2P, i.e. each player's computer simulates the gamestate by itself and only the player's inputs get sent to the other players and since it's deterministic the gamestate won't differ (baring hardware or software errors). It's impossible to cheat anything beyond an information cheat like that since changing your gamestate only makes you desync but doesn't apply your changes to everyone else's gamestate. You could still maphack or automate stuff but in a well designed game you can automate stuff without invoking cheat programs.
Sounds like the GPL is moving away from a distributor and developer license and closer to an EULA. What's next, FSF DRM that forces all your code open?
WW2 would have been won by the Soviets either way. The difference would have been that all Nazi-occupied territories would have been taken in by Russia instead of released to join the NATO and the Soviets would have had a huge technological advantage over the US.
Doesn't sound that much worse than voting for people who have been approved by Republicans or Democrats.
What would the answer look like if he had asked MySQL instead?
Opensource games only seem to get done if their mission statement is essentially "We'll make a clone of game X but better!".