I don't know about you, but when I freshly format my PC the second thing I do (after security software), is to go download google desktop, google toolbar, google talk, and the gmail notifier (notifier's mail notes rock more than talk's...).
On the other hand... I hate the peripheral software other applications try to install. Y! Messenger, AOL Messenger, Winamp, Real (ugggh).
Sure, there's 100 millionish PS2s. How many are still functional, though? I know at least 7 PS2s that have been decommissioned because of broken optical drives.
Wow. Can you say flame? All hostilities aside, though.
Games that span several Gb are either poorly coded or rely too heavily on expensive photoshop and 3d studio artists. True game programers can reproduce all of the pretty graphics with the some clever coding. I have no respect for Squaresoft's everspanning FMV RPGs. You want to watch a movie, buy a movie. I want to play the game.
And speaking of movies. $25 for a UMD movie. The same movie I can buy on DVD in the next aisle for half the price. Mmmm. No.
And GTA. Am I the only one who's sick of this game? I bought GTA3. I admit it. I played it for 20 minutes. Then I got bored. Now there's the coffee mod scandel, and the new cities, and the... Wake me up when Rockstar makes a game that's original again.
Ok. Java on a PSP. Lame. Lame. Lame. I have a Java based cell phone. Sure I can play Java Bejeweled, and Java Tetris. But you know what... this is the first time I've had a cell phone that takes 40 seconds to boot up. Am I suggesting Java's counterproductive to the advent of portable technology... maybe not, but it's painfully slow. That's what I know.
oGMo, you're bashing Nintendogs again. You're right. It's an overstuffed Tomagotchi. Yup. I have no interest in it either. But my niece does. Still don't understand that one. I do wonder, though... What PSP games are actually worth owning after Wipeout, Twisted Metal, and Lumines.
/shrug. Do I want a PSP? Sure. Do I have any reason to buy one? A couple. Do I have enough reasons to pay $250 for it? No. When the price hits $100, I'll find my motivation.
There are several different options for relational databases, and despite what the slashdot community thinks, MySQL isn't necessarily the right one.
Let's first assume that you're devoted to the Oracle platform. Oracle has some nice advantages compared to some of the other RBDMS. It handles triggers very well, it supports a java based client for end user applications (programmed via PL/SQL), and it's damned fast (when it's setup up very well). Notably, you will need a dedicated Oracle server with pretty robust specs fi you want it to run well.
Now, a brief comparison of other products in case you are not devoted to Oracle.
Access is relatively cheap and easy to use if you're not going to be doing a lot concurrent operations on the DB.
MySQL is one of the most efficient databases I've worked with in terms of speed, assuming you've got a well normalized database. You can also run MySQL from a nondedicated machine for quite some time before you need a dedicated box (your results may vary). MySQL does have some limitations, though.
As best as I can tell, MS SQL Server runs pretty well, but seems like an oversized version of Access. This can be a good or a bad thing, depending on how you look at it. It does offer decent performance, an easy user interface, and it's a Microsoft product, which of course comes with positives and negatives.
There's also IBM's DB2 platform which (last I used it) had a fast db engine, and a horribly slow front end.
Wikipedia has a nice article that distinguishes between the different RDBMS out there. If you haven't yet picked a platform, I would suggest that you start there.
There are several things you can do, once you've picked a RDBMS, however, your best approach is to learn SQL. SQL is pretty standard amongst the DB engines, and if you can use it well, you'll be golden. This has been my favorite reference manual, although I must it admit if you're first learning SQL, the reading is quite dry. I would also recommend that you find a good resource for whichever database engine you end up using, because each of them has specific functions and keywords that you might need to look up from time to time.
Finally, one last question, if you don't mind me asking... If you've got a computer science background, why don't you have a good basic understanding of RDBMS? I mean, when it comes down to it they're all basically the same. Maybe I'm wrong, but it makes me wonder...
Consequentially, if you're boss is willing to hire me, I might just be looking for a job.:)
If Sony hands me a video game system and claims it can throw down 84 Million Polygons per Second doesn't mean it will.
Not that it makes it right, but gross exaggerations aren't limited to just Atari.
Sony: Polygon counts.
Sega: the "Blast Processing"
Nintendo: Revolutionary?
Microsoft: Basically, anything they say.
What's important isn't the marketing hype. It's definitely the fun factor of the games. Some may call it a crappy ass camera, but everyone and their mom has a camera phone these days.
Re:You don't need processor power for speed
on
Satisfying Sequels
·
· Score: 1
I think I might go to Wal-mart to buy Sonic Gems... just so I can play Sonic CD...:D (Yeah, I've got the Sega CD Version, but the battery backup in my Sega CD is dying, so it's kind of disappointing.)
Yes, we Have been complaining. I, for one, hate most SIMPLE FSKING FILE SHARING!!!!!!!!!1111!1!1111 Off the top of my head... the list of differences look something like this.
I'm not going to start a flame here, but I would like to detail my experience with Cingular.
When I first signed up for Cellular service, I got Verizon, and again and again I was disappointed with poor service.
About three years ago, I switched to Cingular, and instantly I saw service in all of Verizon's Dead zones.
Now before anyone assumes I'm nestled in a Cingular service area... The Cingular coverage area maps show approximately the same coverage as Verizon's maps. Not only that, but I live in extremely rural Indiana, so I don't have the benefit of living near a populated region.
I've had several friends with similar experiences coming from Nextel, Centennial, Verizon, Spring, and AT&T (although now Cingular and AT&T have merged).
On a side note, I'd rather own an iPod Nano and a regular cell phone than an *shutters* iPhone.
I consider myself a relatively "hardcore" gamer, yet I still prefer the DS to the PSP. The DS has some amazing games that seem to cater to me, as well as the ones designed to attract new crowds.
Nintendogs, though, sparks little interest on my part, and I doubt other people in my demographic will be too interested either.
For the record, I fit the stereotypical/. bill... age 18-35 male with a relatively large tech budget and the "knack".
First, Nintendogs and Advance Wars are great games. Do not discard them because they aren't targetted to you. I don't understand it, but my niece and all of her friends want Nintendogs this year. And Advance Wars... My cousin has loved the series since inception. Just because the game isn't oGMo friendly, doesn't mean they're lousy games. People buy them because they want them.
Comparing Twisted Metal and Wipeout to Mario Kart isn't even fair. I love all three, but Twisted Metal is not Mario Kart. They are very different experiences, and each is fulfilling in it's own way.
I agree with you, though. The PSP has not seen it's first Christmas, and it's not yet "lost" the handheld war.
However, the problem with your analysis is this: the PSP is not in direct competition with the Nintendo DS. The PSP is selling the "adult" games... the Twisted Metals, the Wipeouts, and the (coming soon) GTAs. The DS, however is focusing on something entirely different; it is trying to attract a new crowd of gamers... types like the girlfriends, the less "hardcore" gamers, or the extremely casual gamer.
The PSP is instead more directly competing with the GBA, although you have a point that it's more "last gen vs. next gen" here. I guess we'll just have to wait and see... Nintendo claims the true succesor to the GBA line is still to come.
Just because Bruce Willis is gay, doesn't mean all Bruces are gay...
And most people who work with computers (while they may appear uninterested in women), aren't gay... Asexual would probably be a better term for it...;)
The Sega CD Add on for the Sega Master System? I must have missed that one. Let me tell you, though. The rerelease of the Sega CD on the Genesis rocked though!;)
I made no endorsements of the product whatsoever. In fact, I've got a handful of complaints about it already.
1.) It forces MSN desktop search upon you, and short of uninstalling it, there seems to be no way to turn this service off.
2.) I've also noticed the poor GUI that's presented by the MSN toolbar... refreshing, availability of buttons, etc.
3.) It's still IE. Hehe.
I just figured I'd point this... "revolution" out to slashdot. hehe.
Slashdot Mirror
I don't know about you, but when I freshly format my PC the second thing I do (after security software), is to go download google desktop, google toolbar, google talk, and the gmail notifier (notifier's mail notes rock more than talk's...).
On the other hand... I hate the peripheral software other applications try to install. Y! Messenger, AOL Messenger, Winamp, Real (ugggh).
The PSP has the DS for platformers and probably racers, you instantly get that if you ever play Mario 64, but that's about it.
I was frustrated by the DS controls for Mario 64 at first, but the wriststrap (very bottom of the webpage) that comes with the DS comes with a nub that you can secure to your thumb. You can then use to navigate using the touchscreen, somewhat similar to an analog joystick. You may wish to try this out.
Sure, there's 100 millionish PS2s. How many are still functional, though? I know at least 7 PS2s that have been decommissioned because of broken optical drives.
Wow. Can you say flame? All hostilities aside, though.
/shrug. Do I want a PSP? Sure. Do I have any reason to buy one? A couple. Do I have enough reasons to pay $250 for it? No. When the price hits $100, I'll find my motivation.
Games that span several Gb are either poorly coded or rely too heavily on expensive photoshop and 3d studio artists. True game programers can reproduce all of the pretty graphics with the some clever coding. I have no respect for Squaresoft's everspanning FMV RPGs. You want to watch a movie, buy a movie. I want to play the game.
And speaking of movies. $25 for a UMD movie. The same movie I can buy on DVD in the next aisle for half the price. Mmmm. No.
And GTA. Am I the only one who's sick of this game? I bought GTA3. I admit it. I played it for 20 minutes. Then I got bored. Now there's the coffee mod scandel, and the new cities, and the... Wake me up when Rockstar makes a game that's original again.
Ok. Java on a PSP. Lame. Lame. Lame. I have a Java based cell phone. Sure I can play Java Bejeweled, and Java Tetris. But you know what... this is the first time I've had a cell phone that takes 40 seconds to boot up. Am I suggesting Java's counterproductive to the advent of portable technology... maybe not, but it's painfully slow. That's what I know.
oGMo, you're bashing Nintendogs again. You're right. It's an overstuffed Tomagotchi. Yup. I have no interest in it either. But my niece does. Still don't understand that one. I do wonder, though... What PSP games are actually worth owning after Wipeout, Twisted Metal, and Lumines.
There are several different options for relational databases, and despite what the slashdot community thinks, MySQL isn't necessarily the right one.
:)
Let's first assume that you're devoted to the Oracle platform. Oracle has some nice advantages compared to some of the other RBDMS. It handles triggers very well, it supports a java based client for end user applications (programmed via PL/SQL), and it's damned fast (when it's setup up very well). Notably, you will need a dedicated Oracle server with pretty robust specs fi you want it to run well.
Now, a brief comparison of other products in case you are not devoted to Oracle.
Access is relatively cheap and easy to use if you're not going to be doing a lot concurrent operations on the DB.
MySQL is one of the most efficient databases I've worked with in terms of speed, assuming you've got a well normalized database. You can also run MySQL from a nondedicated machine for quite some time before you need a dedicated box (your results may vary). MySQL does have some limitations, though.
As best as I can tell, MS SQL Server runs pretty well, but seems like an oversized version of Access. This can be a good or a bad thing, depending on how you look at it. It does offer decent performance, an easy user interface, and it's a Microsoft product, which of course comes with positives and negatives.
There's also IBM's DB2 platform which (last I used it) had a fast db engine, and a horribly slow front end.
Wikipedia has a nice article that distinguishes between the different RDBMS out there. If you haven't yet picked a platform, I would suggest that you start there.
There are several things you can do, once you've picked a RDBMS, however, your best approach is to learn SQL. SQL is pretty standard amongst the DB engines, and if you can use it well, you'll be golden. This has been my favorite reference manual, although I must it admit if you're first learning SQL, the reading is quite dry. I would also recommend that you find a good resource for whichever database engine you end up using, because each of them has specific functions and keywords that you might need to look up from time to time.
Finally, one last question, if you don't mind me asking... If you've got a computer science background, why don't you have a good basic understanding of RDBMS? I mean, when it comes down to it they're all basically the same. Maybe I'm wrong, but it makes me wonder...
Consequentially, if you're boss is willing to hire me, I might just be looking for a job.
If Sony hands me a video game system and claims it can throw down 84 Million Polygons per Second doesn't mean it will.
Not that it makes it right, but gross exaggerations aren't limited to just Atari.
Sony: Polygon counts. Sega: the "Blast Processing" Nintendo: Revolutionary? Microsoft: Basically, anything they say.
What's important isn't the marketing hype. It's definitely the fun factor of the games. Some may call it a crappy ass camera, but everyone and their mom has a camera phone these days.
Khhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannn nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!!!!!!!!!!111111!o ne
Now I feel dirty...
Ok. Maybe Praedon's comment doesn't deserve to be highly rated, but I don't see how the first comment can be listed as a redundant comment.
Would someone help me understand this?
It was a me... Mario!
I think I might go to Wal-mart to buy Sonic Gems... just so I can play Sonic CD... :D (Yeah, I've got the Sega CD Version, but the battery backup in my Sega CD is dying, so it's kind of disappointing.)
Right Click My Computer, then click Manage?
... but... but... but... I was so close to catchin' 'em all. Hell. I've even leveled Windows ME up so far that it finally forgot BSoD!
I choose you!
While I've heard this before, and I believe it to be true, do you have any sales figures showing this?
50% Overrated. Did someone high up in the /. heirachy not like my comment?
AfterLife has got to be ported. Sure with Populous, you can play God, but in AfterLife, you can play Satan. :)
And the DS is a platform that cries out for the different variations of SimCity. No SimCity 4, though. It's starting to get that "EA owns me" feel.
n.
1. The sensation that you've read this very article before.
2. The sensation that slashdot is losing it's edge.
I'm not going to start a flame here, but I would like to detail my experience with Cingular.
When I first signed up for Cellular service, I got Verizon, and again and again I was disappointed with poor service.
About three years ago, I switched to Cingular, and instantly I saw service in all of Verizon's Dead zones.
Now before anyone assumes I'm nestled in a Cingular service area... The Cingular coverage area maps show approximately the same coverage as Verizon's maps. Not only that, but I live in extremely rural Indiana, so I don't have the benefit of living near a populated region.
I've had several friends with similar experiences coming from Nextel, Centennial, Verizon, Spring, and AT&T (although now Cingular and AT&T have merged).
On a side note, I'd rather own an iPod Nano and a regular cell phone than an *shutters* iPhone.
Since when is /. a family-oriented website?
I'm a nerd. And by that... I mean my family has disowned me.
I consider myself a relatively "hardcore" gamer, yet I still prefer the DS to the PSP. The DS has some amazing games that seem to cater to me, as well as the ones designed to attract new crowds.
/. bill... age 18-35 male with a relatively large tech budget and the "knack".
Nintendogs, though, sparks little interest on my part, and I doubt other people in my demographic will be too interested either.
For the record, I fit the stereotypical
There a few things I'd like to point out.
/shrug.
First, Nintendogs and Advance Wars are great games. Do not discard them because they aren't targetted to you. I don't understand it, but my niece and all of her friends want Nintendogs this year. And Advance Wars... My cousin has loved the series since inception. Just because the game isn't oGMo friendly, doesn't mean they're lousy games. People buy them because they want them.
Comparing Twisted Metal and Wipeout to Mario Kart isn't even fair. I love all three, but Twisted Metal is not Mario Kart. They are very different experiences, and each is fulfilling in it's own way.
I agree with you, though. The PSP has not seen it's first Christmas, and it's not yet "lost" the handheld war.
However, the problem with your analysis is this: the PSP is not in direct competition with the Nintendo DS. The PSP is selling the "adult" games... the Twisted Metals, the Wipeouts, and the (coming soon) GTAs. The DS, however is focusing on something entirely different; it is trying to attract a new crowd of gamers... types like the girlfriends, the less "hardcore" gamers, or the extremely casual gamer.
The PSP is instead more directly competing with the GBA, although you have a point that it's more "last gen vs. next gen" here. I guess we'll just have to wait and see... Nintendo claims the true succesor to the GBA line is still to come.
Just because Bruce Willis is gay, doesn't mean all Bruces are gay...
;)
And most people who work with computers (while they may appear uninterested in women), aren't gay... Asexual would probably be a better term for it...
The Sega CD Add on for the Sega Master System? I must have missed that one. Let me tell you, though. The rerelease of the Sega CD on the Genesis rocked though! ;)
I made no endorsements of the product whatsoever. In fact, I've got a handful of complaints about it already.
1.) It forces MSN desktop search upon you, and short of uninstalling it, there seems to be no way to turn this service off. 2.) I've also noticed the poor GUI that's presented by the MSN toolbar... refreshing, availability of buttons, etc. 3.) It's still IE. Hehe.
I just figured I'd point this... "revolution" out to slashdot. hehe.
I don't use IE, but did you know that the MSN toolbar now includes a tabbed interface...
That once caught me by surprise...