I bet that's an intentional limitation in the player itself (which is software based). Hasn't happened yet, but someone will put out a mod to enable full resolution over component eventually. It'll be right up there priority-wise with mods to disable region coding.
I definitely have to agree there. One time I was looking through the classifieds, and I saw an ad for a big Chevy truck...dual rear end, 1-ton capacity, full towing package, everything. In the description: "Physician owned...never towed or hauled anything". My first thought was wtf, why did they even have it? Trucks like that are useful vehicles for some people. There are people who legitimately need to drive something like that for towing and hauling purposes (construction workers come to mind). But buying something like that and not using it for its intended purpose is just blatant waste. I personally own a 2004 Prius, though I definitely wouldn't mind having a small pickup truck also (not to drive back and forth to work, but to use to carry stuff during the times I need to). I'm actually surprised at how much I can fit in the back of my car if I put the seats down...but it wasn't intended for cargo, and if I need to move something like a washer and drier, I can't do it without renting a Uhaul or something.
I have a 2004 Prius, and I have to say the new MPG ratings are pretty accurate overall. The whole 60/51/55 numbers are just plain not even remotely possible unless you're talking 70-80F temperatures, low wind, near perfect outdoor conditions, and little traffic. I live 3.8 miles from work, my drive to work involves going on roads with 35mph speed limits and lots of stop and go. The highest average (even for pure city driving) I've ever gotten consistently over a week is around 56mpg. This week (70-80 degree temps, near perfect outdoor conditions)...thus far I'm averaging 53mpg. That's about 50% city/50% highway (I've been some places other than work). All fine so far, sounds at least close to the original EPA estimates. However, these numbers do not continue throughout the year. In wintertime I'm extremely lucky if I can get 45mpg. Last winter when we had snow, my average dropped to 37mpg. So yes, Prius's CAN get 55mpg, but you have to drive them right and the conditions have to be perfect. If it's raining outside I drop about 5mpg (water on the road adds resistance). So the original EPA numbers are basically the theoretical maximum based on perfect conditions that don't always exist, thus I agree with revising them. In 20-degree clear conditions, I'm happy if I can get 40-45mpg. In 70-80 degree clear conditions I expect 50+ and usually average around 52-53. I've always done all the maintenance the car needs when it needs it, and I always keep an eye on my tire pressure.
Yeah, that's true...I was thinking of the Dreamcast when I made that comment. But yeah, the reason most Wii titles look "last-gen" isn't because of the system, it's because of lazy developers. The complete Wii devkits weren't ready in time for most developers to use them for launch titles...so Nintendo basically modified the Gamecube devkit so that they could use the Wiimote with it, and that ended up getting used for pretty much the whole first wave of games. The low licensing price compared to the other two systems also makes it very easy for a developer to make cheap games.
> He specifically looked at recent comments by Microsoft's Robbie Bach saying that 'the video graphics on it aren't very strong; the box itself is kind of underpowered
I stopped reading there. The *Gamecube* was on par with the Xbox, and the Wii is at least 2x the Gamecube (maybe even 3x due to increased efficiency on top of increased clock speeds). Just because most of the Wii launch titles used Gamecube dev kits doesn't mean the system is underpowered. Look at the PS2 launch titles, they looked far worse than anything else out at the time.
WOW, as soon as I figure out how to get the aforementioned internet access there. Barring that, probably Zelda: Twilight Princess (due to all of the stuff to find).
You need to separate Pokemon the game from Pokemon the media phenomenon. The media phenomenon is certainly aimed at children...the games are not. The games are pretty much standard console RPG's reminiscent of the 8/16 bit era (and early 32-bit era when 2D graphics were still common)...they just give you a lot more characters to choose from in battle than most. Anyone that likes console JRPG's will enjoy these, especially if they want a little 8/16 bit nostalgia.
The computer game sections in stores are often misleading. True, a lot of games are Windows-only, but there are not very many Mac-only or Linux-only games. A lot of companies are doing what Blizzard does (put all versions of the game on the same CD in the same box). Take WOW for instance...you aren't going to find it in the Mac section, because the "Windows" boxed version has both Windows and Mac versions on the same CD. I think this makes a lot more sense than having separate "Mac-only" and "Linux-only" sections...most retailers don't have space for that. This does mean that people will have to look at the system requirements a lot more closely though, rather than walking to the Mac section and grabbing something. I do agree though, that "Games for Windows" is a very bad thing. Say WOW was certified for that...it would be in the "Games for Windows" section even though there is a Mac version. Sure the smarter people would just look at the requirements on the box, but what average person would think to look in that section for a Mac game? It wouldn't surprise me if M$ attempts to undermine that by making "Games for Windows" certification mean that there can't be any non-Windows versions included. But if they do, and say Blizzard doesn't get the cerfitication, where would they stock the game? This is just an example, I don't know if WOW has that certification or if Blizzard has any interest in it.
Also keep in mind...that the PS2 is a "mature" system (over 6 years old), half the price of a Wii, with an absolutely massive game library. The fact that the Wii is getting close to the PS2 sales (being double the price) is definitely something to brag about.
In some ways, the old way was better, in some ways not. You'd get the story by reading the manual, then with little dialog or cut scenes in the game, filling in the story was left up to the imagination. They're just different styles...compare it to reading a book vs. watching a movie. There are very good and very bad examples of both...and they can't really even be compared. Think of something like Zork that has no graphics at all...and yet when I played it I visualized these incredible environments in my head. Playing something like Half-Life the imagination isn't there, but it's more immersive in its own way. If a game presents the story directly in such a way that there isn't anything left up to the imagination, it had better be damn good and very well presented. Games like Half-Life get this right, others don't. It's not that old games are more creative than new games...good games (whether old or new) are creative regardless, just in different ways. Look at something like WOW, where there is an in-game story but the majority of the story is backstory from many many different sources (a lot of which are books).
Urban legend. The first console to ever be sold at a loss was the Sega Saturn (it lost around $100 IIRC). The Playstation was profitable from day 1. The Dreamcast followed the Saturn model in an attempt to recapture market share...even though it was successful it lost a ton of money and drove Sega out of the hardware business. The PS2 was profitable from day 1. The Xbox followed the Sega model (only difference is that Microsoft could afford to write off the loss). The 360 lost money at first (not sure how it's doing now). The PS3 is losing more money per console than any manufacturer has ever done before. The Wii is profitable on hardware. Before the Saturn, the concept of "selling hardware at a loss and making it up on the games" was absolutely unheard of. This rumor got started because when Sony announced the launch price of the PS1 in the US, it was quite a bit cheaper than in Japan at the time (but the launch was still months away and costs dropped in the meantime - they were thinking ahead). Atari accused Sony of "dumping", claiming that the PS1 was going to be sold below cost when it actually wasn't...due to costs dropping significantly before the launch. Sega dropped the price of the Saturn to $299 when the PS1 launched, thus they were the first to start losing money.
Columbus OH here...I got mine on launch day from Toys 'R Us. Showed up there an hour before opening. They got 150 systems, and I managed to get the next to the last one. I got really really lucky though, as most stores started getting campers the Tuesday before (system came out on Sunday). I originally went to Target, but there was a huge line. A police officer happened to drive by and said that there were only a few people at Toys 'R Us (it was hidden behind some other buildings so I guess not a lot of people knew the store was there). They handed out vouchers an hour before the store opened, and I managed to get the next to the last one (out of 150). My roommate has been trying to get one since a week after that, and noone has ever had them. When stores around here get them in they always sell out within 15 minutes, no matter how many they get.
I can't tell if the stupidity is in the article writer (most likely) or the researcher. But yeah, FPGA's are NOT new technology, they've been around for a long time. They are definitely useful in development, but an FPGA used to design a part is orders of magnitude slower than the ASIC that they produce from the design. I can see them being useful in very limited applications, but if the article writer or researcher thinks that we'll be replacing our CPU's or GPU's with FPGA's anytime soon they're pretty dumb.
I agree...if someone sells WOW items/gold/etc in the real world for real-world money, then it should be taxed just as anything else is. However...since this is a violation of the game's EULA (and Blizzard bans people for it), it shouldn't really be an issue. But there are a lot of people making lots of real money from Second Life, and I don't see any reason for them not to be taxed on that just the same as everyone else is.
My TV DOES support 4:3 zoom. However, it cannot do zoom when using component inputs (which I am using with my Wii)...it only works with S-video and composite. And I'm not about to use an inferior connection just to zoom RE4. If it's a widescreen game, it should have anamorphic support.
The Prius only gets 55mpg in "perfect" conditions...meaning 70-80 degree temp, no heater or A/C, mostly level roads, max speed of around 45mph, and as little stop-and-go as possible. In the winter (the colder it is outside the less efficient the electric portion becomes), expect it to drop significantly, especially if the heater is on. When it gets down to about 20 F, the electric engine is almost never used, the gas engine starts up with even the slightest pressure on the gas pedal. I have achieved 55mpg average in my Prius, but it's difficult to do...the environment has to be perfect for it. I've only managed it in the summer, in very cold conditions I'm lucky to see 40mpg and it's usually closer to 35. Hybrids are extremely temperature dependent compared to normal cars. As far as topping 100mpg on a Prius...unless they modified the car with larger batteries (converting it into a plug-in hybrid)...I just don't buy it. There's no way to get that much mileage out of one. I've owned one for 3 years now.
Mirrors normally only reflect visible light...they don't do much to infrared or UV unless they're specifically designed to reflect those. Reflecting IR and UV requires vastly different construction and materials than a standard visible-light reflecting mirror.
This is a huge problem if you have a widescreen TV. Since the game is 16:9 but doesn't support widescreen, you have to set the TV to 4:3 and have black borders on all 4 sides. It isn't that the Gamecube can't do it...the much earlier Eternal Darkness (along with F-Zero GX) both have anamorphic support. I assume that since the Wii is much easier to get component cables for (and all Wii's have them whereas later model GC's had the port removed), that they will correct this for the Wii version. That alone would get me to get the new version.
Slashdot Mirror
I bet that's an intentional limitation in the player itself (which is software based). Hasn't happened yet, but someone will put out a mod to enable full resolution over component eventually. It'll be right up there priority-wise with mods to disable region coding.
I definitely have to agree there. One time I was looking through the classifieds, and I saw an ad for a big Chevy truck...dual rear end, 1-ton capacity, full towing package, everything. In the description: "Physician owned...never towed or hauled anything". My first thought was wtf, why did they even have it? Trucks like that are useful vehicles for some people. There are people who legitimately need to drive something like that for towing and hauling purposes (construction workers come to mind). But buying something like that and not using it for its intended purpose is just blatant waste. I personally own a 2004 Prius, though I definitely wouldn't mind having a small pickup truck also (not to drive back and forth to work, but to use to carry stuff during the times I need to). I'm actually surprised at how much I can fit in the back of my car if I put the seats down...but it wasn't intended for cargo, and if I need to move something like a washer and drier, I can't do it without renting a Uhaul or something.
I have a 2004 Prius, and I have to say the new MPG ratings are pretty accurate overall. The whole 60/51/55 numbers are just plain not even remotely possible unless you're talking 70-80F temperatures, low wind, near perfect outdoor conditions, and little traffic. I live 3.8 miles from work, my drive to work involves going on roads with 35mph speed limits and lots of stop and go. The highest average (even for pure city driving) I've ever gotten consistently over a week is around 56mpg. This week (70-80 degree temps, near perfect outdoor conditions)...thus far I'm averaging 53mpg. That's about 50% city/50% highway (I've been some places other than work). All fine so far, sounds at least close to the original EPA estimates. However, these numbers do not continue throughout the year. In wintertime I'm extremely lucky if I can get 45mpg. Last winter when we had snow, my average dropped to 37mpg. So yes, Prius's CAN get 55mpg, but you have to drive them right and the conditions have to be perfect. If it's raining outside I drop about 5mpg (water on the road adds resistance). So the original EPA numbers are basically the theoretical maximum based on perfect conditions that don't always exist, thus I agree with revising them. In 20-degree clear conditions, I'm happy if I can get 40-45mpg. In 70-80 degree clear conditions I expect 50+ and usually average around 52-53. I've always done all the maintenance the car needs when it needs it, and I always keep an eye on my tire pressure.
Yeah, that's true...I was thinking of the Dreamcast when I made that comment. But yeah, the reason most Wii titles look "last-gen" isn't because of the system, it's because of lazy developers. The complete Wii devkits weren't ready in time for most developers to use them for launch titles...so Nintendo basically modified the Gamecube devkit so that they could use the Wiimote with it, and that ended up getting used for pretty much the whole first wave of games. The low licensing price compared to the other two systems also makes it very easy for a developer to make cheap games.
> He specifically looked at recent comments by Microsoft's Robbie Bach saying that 'the video graphics on it aren't very strong; the box itself is kind of underpowered
I stopped reading there. The *Gamecube* was on par with the Xbox, and the Wii is at least 2x the Gamecube (maybe even 3x due to increased efficiency on top of increased clock speeds). Just because most of the Wii launch titles used Gamecube dev kits doesn't mean the system is underpowered. Look at the PS2 launch titles, they looked far worse than anything else out at the time.
WOW, as soon as I figure out how to get the aforementioned internet access there. Barring that, probably Zelda: Twilight Princess (due to all of the stuff to find).
I think you missed the joke entirely. It was a movie quote:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057012/
WOW players have a term for what he does: "QQ" Fits him perfectly.
The Blizzard downloader uses Bittorrent to download patches.
You need to separate Pokemon the game from Pokemon the media phenomenon. The media phenomenon is certainly aimed at children...the games are not. The games are pretty much standard console RPG's reminiscent of the 8/16 bit era (and early 32-bit era when 2D graphics were still common)...they just give you a lot more characters to choose from in battle than most. Anyone that likes console JRPG's will enjoy these, especially if they want a little 8/16 bit nostalgia.
The computer game sections in stores are often misleading. True, a lot of games are Windows-only, but there are not very many Mac-only or Linux-only games. A lot of companies are doing what Blizzard does (put all versions of the game on the same CD in the same box). Take WOW for instance...you aren't going to find it in the Mac section, because the "Windows" boxed version has both Windows and Mac versions on the same CD. I think this makes a lot more sense than having separate "Mac-only" and "Linux-only" sections...most retailers don't have space for that. This does mean that people will have to look at the system requirements a lot more closely though, rather than walking to the Mac section and grabbing something. I do agree though, that "Games for Windows" is a very bad thing. Say WOW was certified for that...it would be in the "Games for Windows" section even though there is a Mac version. Sure the smarter people would just look at the requirements on the box, but what average person would think to look in that section for a Mac game? It wouldn't surprise me if M$ attempts to undermine that by making "Games for Windows" certification mean that there can't be any non-Windows versions included. But if they do, and say Blizzard doesn't get the cerfitication, where would they stock the game? This is just an example, I don't know if WOW has that certification or if Blizzard has any interest in it.
My guess would be the fact that it's launched in Japan and Europe during that time period. Those numbers are too low to be worldwide.
Also keep in mind...that the PS2 is a "mature" system (over 6 years old), half the price of a Wii, with an absolutely massive game library. The fact that the Wii is getting close to the PS2 sales (being double the price) is definitely something to brag about.
Sure can...it's very easy too.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/59
In some ways, the old way was better, in some ways not. You'd get the story by reading the manual, then with little dialog or cut scenes in the game, filling in the story was left up to the imagination. They're just different styles...compare it to reading a book vs. watching a movie. There are very good and very bad examples of both...and they can't really even be compared. Think of something like Zork that has no graphics at all...and yet when I played it I visualized these incredible environments in my head. Playing something like Half-Life the imagination isn't there, but it's more immersive in its own way. If a game presents the story directly in such a way that there isn't anything left up to the imagination, it had better be damn good and very well presented. Games like Half-Life get this right, others don't. It's not that old games are more creative than new games...good games (whether old or new) are creative regardless, just in different ways. Look at something like WOW, where there is an in-game story but the majority of the story is backstory from many many different sources (a lot of which are books).
Urban legend. The first console to ever be sold at a loss was the Sega Saturn (it lost around $100 IIRC). The Playstation was profitable from day 1. The Dreamcast followed the Saturn model in an attempt to recapture market share...even though it was successful it lost a ton of money and drove Sega out of the hardware business. The PS2 was profitable from day 1. The Xbox followed the Sega model (only difference is that Microsoft could afford to write off the loss). The 360 lost money at first (not sure how it's doing now). The PS3 is losing more money per console than any manufacturer has ever done before. The Wii is profitable on hardware. Before the Saturn, the concept of "selling hardware at a loss and making it up on the games" was absolutely unheard of. This rumor got started because when Sony announced the launch price of the PS1 in the US, it was quite a bit cheaper than in Japan at the time (but the launch was still months away and costs dropped in the meantime - they were thinking ahead). Atari accused Sony of "dumping", claiming that the PS1 was going to be sold below cost when it actually wasn't...due to costs dropping significantly before the launch. Sega dropped the price of the Saturn to $299 when the PS1 launched, thus they were the first to start losing money.
emerge --sync
emerge -uDNv world
Columbus OH here...I got mine on launch day from Toys 'R Us. Showed up there an hour before opening. They got 150 systems, and I managed to get the next to the last one. I got really really lucky though, as most stores started getting campers the Tuesday before (system came out on Sunday). I originally went to Target, but there was a huge line. A police officer happened to drive by and said that there were only a few people at Toys 'R Us (it was hidden behind some other buildings so I guess not a lot of people knew the store was there). They handed out vouchers an hour before the store opened, and I managed to get the next to the last one (out of 150). My roommate has been trying to get one since a week after that, and noone has ever had them. When stores around here get them in they always sell out within 15 minutes, no matter how many they get.
I can't tell if the stupidity is in the article writer (most likely) or the researcher. But yeah, FPGA's are NOT new technology, they've been around for a long time. They are definitely useful in development, but an FPGA used to design a part is orders of magnitude slower than the ASIC that they produce from the design. I can see them being useful in very limited applications, but if the article writer or researcher thinks that we'll be replacing our CPU's or GPU's with FPGA's anytime soon they're pretty dumb.
I agree...if someone sells WOW items/gold/etc in the real world for real-world money, then it should be taxed just as anything else is. However...since this is a violation of the game's EULA (and Blizzard bans people for it), it shouldn't really be an issue. But there are a lot of people making lots of real money from Second Life, and I don't see any reason for them not to be taxed on that just the same as everyone else is.
My TV DOES support 4:3 zoom. However, it cannot do zoom when using component inputs (which I am using with my Wii)...it only works with S-video and composite. And I'm not about to use an inferior connection just to zoom RE4. If it's a widescreen game, it should have anamorphic support.
The Prius only gets 55mpg in "perfect" conditions...meaning 70-80 degree temp, no heater or A/C, mostly level roads, max speed of around 45mph, and as little stop-and-go as possible. In the winter (the colder it is outside the less efficient the electric portion becomes), expect it to drop significantly, especially if the heater is on. When it gets down to about 20 F, the electric engine is almost never used, the gas engine starts up with even the slightest pressure on the gas pedal. I have achieved 55mpg average in my Prius, but it's difficult to do...the environment has to be perfect for it. I've only managed it in the summer, in very cold conditions I'm lucky to see 40mpg and it's usually closer to 35. Hybrids are extremely temperature dependent compared to normal cars. As far as topping 100mpg on a Prius...unless they modified the car with larger batteries (converting it into a plug-in hybrid)...I just don't buy it. There's no way to get that much mileage out of one. I've owned one for 3 years now.
Mirrors normally only reflect visible light...they don't do much to infrared or UV unless they're specifically designed to reflect those. Reflecting IR and UV requires vastly different construction and materials than a standard visible-light reflecting mirror.
Because it *did* happen that long ago. It just took the light from the supernova that long to reach us, so that we could see it.
This is a huge problem if you have a widescreen TV. Since the game is 16:9 but doesn't support widescreen, you have to set the TV to 4:3 and have black borders on all 4 sides. It isn't that the Gamecube can't do it...the much earlier Eternal Darkness (along with F-Zero GX) both have anamorphic support. I assume that since the Wii is much easier to get component cables for (and all Wii's have them whereas later model GC's had the port removed), that they will correct this for the Wii version. That alone would get me to get the new version.