Already, violent sex acts between consenting adult individuals are banned in the UK - look up the Spanner case. All this bill does is make an illegal act in the UK illegal to possess pictures of.
The PS3 (with the exception of Blu-Ray) is pretty open. It's all Bluetooth/USB (including support for the plug and play standard for keyboards, mice, USB keys, external hard disks, and so on). The ones with MemoryStick slots don't care if you use it or not - you are free to do things that you would do with external storage (backing up game saves, copying media, and copying firmware updates) on USB keys, MemorySticks, SD cards, or whatever, depending upon your fancy. The only case in which it overtly favors something proprietary is that certain features (DVD upscaling, for example) are limited or not available unless you're using the HDMI port for video. However, it doesn't complain if you simply switch out for a HDMI to DVI cable and run audio on RCA cables.
In fact, it's downright weird to find proprietary things on the PS3 - GHIII's proprietary wireless dongles just make no sense in the context of how the system operates.
Even though I don't really agree with them, they're technically and legally in the right.
The Charter of Rights and Freedoms (what governs this sort of stuff across Canada) is separated into two sections: responsibilities, and rights. You don't get your rights until you live up to your responsibilities, and you definitely don't get them if you're infringing on someone else's rights.
Basically, legally, in Canada, other peoples' human rights trump your right to expression (not to speech; we don't have a right to free speech). So, he's doing his job the right way, as crazy as it may seem.
Whoops! A bit of clarification: "HDTV *displays* aren't expensive." and I found out that my $400 monitor/TV displayed 1080i as a bonus. I didn't get an extra TV as a bonus.
HDTV players aren't expensive. I spent $400 CAD on a new monitor/TV for my dorm room (had to be small, had to do both, because it's a dorm room) and got a 1080i TV as a bonus.
I would never have bought a blu-ray player independently, but having one in my PS3 is getting me to start picking up movies in Blu-Ray, as it simply looks better. One thing I find really stunning is the presence of texture - the resolution on Blu-Ray discs is high enough that the material in clothing is visible, making for a far more vivid image that really makes me want to reach out and touch it.
Oh, and I'm living on student loans. I got the TV and the PS3 from saved loan money and birthday cash. If I can buy HD equipment, many others can.
Something is very wrong if you're *trying* to reach level 43 on those beaches - they're bad spots for you to grind at that level, and if you're questing, there isn't really much trying involved.
Let me add another qualifier to that. It's not just that they integrate it, it's that they integrate it *badly*. Have you broken Active Desktop on XP recently? (you know, where your desktop background gets replaced with a white "windows has turned off active desktop for your safety due to an error, please click here to restart it" page?)
On IE7, the restart page doesn't work. Let me rephrase this: they did not bother to check if the most prominent error message in the entire OS worked right with the new browser.
You know, the PS3 supports USB keyboards and mice. I don't know if it does so for games, but considering how remappable the control scheme is (anyone else with a Sixaxis, GHIII guitar, and remote who has literally drowned in controllers before knows what I mean), it isn't too much of a stretch. And considering that Sony's gone to great lengths to make the Sixaxis just like a mouse (try actually using the analog sticks in the web browser sometime), it would be even less of a stretch to put optional mouse and keyboard support in for a game. There are already an absurd amount of optional boxes on a PS2/PS3 game - one more won't hurt any one.
A lot of students use family computers in high school and get their own laptops as presents going into university. Vista is rampant in my class of freshfolk.
Just like your fabled N64 controller, the PS controller is modal: you don't need the second [right-hand] analog stick and the X/Circle/Square/Triangle pad. Instead, game designers are free to switch which set they want you to use out of the two halves of the controller: left-hand (direction pad, analog stick) and right-hand (button pad, analog stick). Any two of these works (witness Katamari Damacy for the beauty of the two, equally-spaced analog sticks), and the way the controller is shaped makes any combination of these equally easy to work with (one minor adjustment, and your fingers are situated directly on either pad or stick, either side). There's never too much for one person to control; the PS controller often gives them options on how to control it. Also, press X/Circle/Triangle/Square isn't any worse than press Z or A or B, all of which the new player will need a little time to find.
One of the things that makes it so good is that it's basically the perfect controller for the RPGs the PS has excelled at: it has just the right keys (menu, cancel, and select, plus an option key or five or seven) and just the right control system (the analog stick versus the d-pad is crucial in 3D RPGs).
The only problem with the PS controller is that reaching Select and Start can occasionally be a pain.
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I hope you enjoy being "That Guy".
Already, violent sex acts between consenting adult individuals are banned in the UK - look up the Spanner case. All this bill does is make an illegal act in the UK illegal to possess pictures of.
The PS3 (with the exception of Blu-Ray) is pretty open. It's all Bluetooth/USB (including support for the plug and play standard for keyboards, mice, USB keys, external hard disks, and so on). The ones with MemoryStick slots don't care if you use it or not - you are free to do things that you would do with external storage (backing up game saves, copying media, and copying firmware updates) on USB keys, MemorySticks, SD cards, or whatever, depending upon your fancy. The only case in which it overtly favors something proprietary is that certain features (DVD upscaling, for example) are limited or not available unless you're using the HDMI port for video. However, it doesn't complain if you simply switch out for a HDMI to DVI cable and run audio on RCA cables.
In fact, it's downright weird to find proprietary things on the PS3 - GHIII's proprietary wireless dongles just make no sense in the context of how the system operates.
And those of us left and north of the pond will easily pick McCain's over Lays, being familiar with both. ;)
I'm *19* and this whole thing is making me feel positively *ancient*.
Even though I don't really agree with them, they're technically and legally in the right. The Charter of Rights and Freedoms (what governs this sort of stuff across Canada) is separated into two sections: responsibilities, and rights. You don't get your rights until you live up to your responsibilities, and you definitely don't get them if you're infringing on someone else's rights. Basically, legally, in Canada, other peoples' human rights trump your right to expression (not to speech; we don't have a right to free speech). So, he's doing his job the right way, as crazy as it may seem.
Whoops! A bit of clarification: "HDTV *displays* aren't expensive." and I found out that my $400 monitor/TV displayed 1080i as a bonus. I didn't get an extra TV as a bonus.
HDTV players aren't expensive. I spent $400 CAD on a new monitor/TV for my dorm room (had to be small, had to do both, because it's a dorm room) and got a 1080i TV as a bonus.
I would never have bought a blu-ray player independently, but having one in my PS3 is getting me to start picking up movies in Blu-Ray, as it simply looks better. One thing I find really stunning is the presence of texture - the resolution on Blu-Ray discs is high enough that the material in clothing is visible, making for a far more vivid image that really makes me want to reach out and touch it.
Oh, and I'm living on student loans. I got the TV and the PS3 from saved loan money and birthday cash. If I can buy HD equipment, many others can.
Something is very wrong if you're *trying* to reach level 43 on those beaches - they're bad spots for you to grind at that level, and if you're questing, there isn't really much trying involved.
You need to start playing better games.
Sure, there's a shit ton of bad console shooters and action rpgs like that, but there are some recent gems, too.
Actually, it's pretty damn Canadian. I can't believe you're at one of our universities and you're still conflating our values and the USA's.
If I had mod points, you would so get them all for that. Best reference ever.
That's because we are the English majors.
I don't use it either. Yet, for some reason, that error message comes up without fail every time Windows freezes and I have to reboot.
Firefox 3 line wraps instead of cutting the text off...I wonder if this was changed just for xkcd?
Let me add another qualifier to that. It's not just that they integrate it, it's that they integrate it *badly*. Have you broken Active Desktop on XP recently? (you know, where your desktop background gets replaced with a white "windows has turned off active desktop for your safety due to an error, please click here to restart it" page?)
On IE7, the restart page doesn't work. Let me rephrase this: they did not bother to check if the most prominent error message in the entire OS worked right with the new browser.
You know, the PS3 supports USB keyboards and mice. I don't know if it does so for games, but considering how remappable the control scheme is (anyone else with a Sixaxis, GHIII guitar, and remote who has literally drowned in controllers before knows what I mean), it isn't too much of a stretch. And considering that Sony's gone to great lengths to make the Sixaxis just like a mouse (try actually using the analog sticks in the web browser sometime), it would be even less of a stretch to put optional mouse and keyboard support in for a game. There are already an absurd amount of optional boxes on a PS2/PS3 game - one more won't hurt any one.
Maybe it's just me, but I wouldn't pay for a guy with one eye to work on my eyes.
A lot of students use family computers in high school and get their own laptops as presents going into university. Vista is rampant in my class of freshfolk.
Doom 3 shipped with textures for cards with 512MB of VRAM, when the cards of the day had 256MB at most.
It's ABROGATES. You've said it three, four times inside of two posts, and each time, you've introduced new errors to the word!
Just like your fabled N64 controller, the PS controller is modal: you don't need the second [right-hand] analog stick and the X/Circle/Square/Triangle pad. Instead, game designers are free to switch which set they want you to use out of the two halves of the controller: left-hand (direction pad, analog stick) and right-hand (button pad, analog stick). Any two of these works (witness Katamari Damacy for the beauty of the two, equally-spaced analog sticks), and the way the controller is shaped makes any combination of these equally easy to work with (one minor adjustment, and your fingers are situated directly on either pad or stick, either side). There's never too much for one person to control; the PS controller often gives them options on how to control it. Also, press X/Circle/Triangle/Square isn't any worse than press Z or A or B, all of which the new player will need a little time to find.
One of the things that makes it so good is that it's basically the perfect controller for the RPGs the PS has excelled at: it has just the right keys (menu, cancel, and select, plus an option key or five or seven) and just the right control system (the analog stick versus the d-pad is crucial in 3D RPGs).
The only problem with the PS controller is that reaching Select and Start can occasionally be a pain.
Why bother checking the other versions: after all, anything that matters is on Windows 2000 already!
There is a difference between arguments and aphorisms.
And then Quebec will get it all twice! Gotta love "equalization" payments!