I once had a roommate that managed to convince an entire Half-Life free for all that violence wasn't necessary. He maanged to get the the whole group to stop shooting, and dance on the extra-large table in the 'Rats' map. It was hilarious watching a dozen people swat their crowbars in a strange ritualistic dance.
Of course, my roommate proceeded to simultaneously blow them all to hell with a single rocket 2 minutes later. But it was funny while it lasted.
It should be noted that consoles in general have a higher market share than high-end gaming rigs. So it's much more enticing to release your game for a console. Not so much that all the talent is being used to up on the XBox persay, but just that developers aren't willing to spend the effort on their PC releases.
Deus Ex II was a perfect example of this. The abysmal PC release interface was obviously built for the XBox controller, just as level design was for the XBox architecture. But the part that really killed the PC version was the complete and utter lack of effort to make it anything less than a port. v1.0 included.ini settings from the XBox for Pete's sake ! (and were clearly labelled so) It didn't require a top-notch developer to clear this up -- a $5/hr QA trainer and 15 minutes of effort would have done a LOT.
Of course, the crappy sales figures for the PC version then led to the circular conclusion that it's not worth developing for the PC.
...people don't need new 3GHz Dells just to run word processors and internet explorer (at least until MS Longhorn comes out...)?
This pretty much sums up the crux of the matter. PC Hardware has been advancing faster than (Microsoft) applications can bloat up. It's harder to justify an upgrade for the average user than it was five or so years ago.
Another article I read mentioned decomissioning a lot. NASA needs to attach some sort of engine to hubble to be able to crash it safely where it wont kill anyone.
If we're going to go through the effort of attaching a rocket to Hubble, we might as well make it crash where it will kill someone. As long as it hits someone no one likes, it's nothing but good PR for NASA !
And you can't say you don't want to see the pinnacle of deep space exploration come crashing into Redmond at seven times the speed of sound...
The whole point of the Wired article was that the Army is redesigning the entire set of gear that a grunt carries. It mentions how the current setup is a piecemeal patchwork of upgrades and addons. The idea behind the FFW project was to get the total carry weight down, and have a soldier's gear designed with the entire package in mind.
Now, it wouldn't appear as though this deals with weapon technologies like the scopes you mentioned, but harnesses and body armor certainly are.
The SlashDot blurb (unsurprisingly) focuses only on that which deals with Microsoft & Open Source.
--LordPixie
Slashdot Mirror
PCI-X being the server standard.
No, not that it really matters. And yes, I'm being overly anal.
--LordPixie
I once had a roommate that managed to convince an entire Half-Life free for all that violence wasn't necessary. He maanged to get the the whole group to stop shooting, and dance on the extra-large table in the 'Rats' map. It was hilarious watching a dozen people swat their crowbars in a strange ritualistic dance.
Of course, my roommate proceeded to simultaneously blow them all to hell with a single rocket 2 minutes later. But it was funny while it lasted.
--LordPixie
It should be noted that consoles in general have a higher market share than high-end gaming rigs. So it's much more enticing to release your game for a console. Not so much that all the talent is being used to up on the XBox persay, but just that developers aren't willing to spend the effort on their PC releases.
.ini settings from the XBox for Pete's sake ! (and were clearly labelled so) It didn't require a top-notch developer to clear this up -- a $5/hr QA trainer and 15 minutes of effort would have done a LOT.
Deus Ex II was a perfect example of this. The abysmal PC release interface was obviously built for the XBox controller, just as level design was for the XBox architecture. But the part that really killed the PC version was the complete and utter lack of effort to make it anything less than a port. v1.0 included
Of course, the crappy sales figures for the PC version then led to the circular conclusion that it's not worth developing for the PC.
--LordPixie
...people don't need new 3GHz Dells just to run word processors and internet explorer (at least until MS Longhorn comes out...)?
This pretty much sums up the crux of the matter. PC Hardware has been advancing faster than (Microsoft) applications can bloat up. It's harder to justify an upgrade for the average user than it was five or so years ago.
--LordPixie
Another article I read mentioned decomissioning a lot. NASA needs to attach some sort of engine to hubble to be able to crash it safely where it wont kill anyone.
If we're going to go through the effort of attaching a rocket to Hubble, we might as well make it crash where it will kill someone. As long as it hits someone no one likes, it's nothing but good PR for NASA !
And you can't say you don't want to see the pinnacle of deep space exploration come crashing into Redmond at seven times the speed of sound...
--LordPixie
The whole point of the Wired article was that the Army is redesigning the entire set of gear that a grunt carries. It mentions how the current setup is a piecemeal patchwork of upgrades and addons. The idea behind the FFW project was to get the total carry weight down, and have a soldier's gear designed with the entire package in mind. Now, it wouldn't appear as though this deals with weapon technologies like the scopes you mentioned, but harnesses and body armor certainly are. The SlashDot blurb (unsurprisingly) focuses only on that which deals with Microsoft & Open Source. --LordPixie