The ISS, as we all know, is incomplete. And while I haven't studied the matter extensively, I would not be surprised if we're also still working out what kinds of experiments might be better served by being performed in microgravity. Don't shoot down the ISS before it's complete and a full assessment can be done. Even the ability to better determine the effects of longer term near zero-G environments on the human body alone could be considered priceless to the effort to break out of this solitary egg basket...:)
I'm not saying the ISS is guaranteed to have a good ROI, but it might very well be one of those things where you need a high initial investment to get the long term gains. And when you're talking about such subjects as the potential survival of the human race (if you're of the belief that we need to get enough of us off this rock for the species to withstand the potential destruction of its cradle), sometimes such prices can be considered "cheap".
I don't know if that's how I think about it, but I'm not ready to write the ISS off just yet. And the sci-fi geek in me hopes it lives up to all the promise it has and more...:) Who knows, maybe the ISS *is* just one more step towards Jupiter Station and the Utopia Planetia...:)
It depends on your metric.
If you're thinking of dollars per game, then yeah, MMOs are expensive.
If you're thinking of dollars per year, then it depends on your gaming habits. If you're one of those people that would otherwise be buying 2 or more games a month, then MMOs are cheap - 50 or so bucks for the first month, 15 or less for the rest per MMO, as opposed to 50 bucks a month per regular game. So, even with the initial box price, it's still cheaper. Not that I would argue with lowering the box price, of course...:)
If you were only going to buy a couple games over the year, then it's probably cheaper that way.
Depends entirely on your perspective. For me - if I wasn't playing MMOs, I'd be playing tons of other games. Maybe it'd be Counterstrike for years on end, in which case I wouldn't be spending more money - but it would just as easily be the next great CRPG every month. Even with three MMOs active for me right now, I'm spending the equivalent of buying ONE game box a month. If a server is down, I go play a different one. And I end up getting play time that's measured in weeks or months, not hours.
Heaven knows I'd LOVE to do that were I in that sort of situation. Thankfully, I work with and for a great bunch of people, and have no reason to believe they'd pull this sort of crap if I were to give notice (and they've always been great about other people who have left for other opportunities).
However, to my real point....
What to do if company policy forbids recording devices of that nature (cameras, microphones, etc)? Or worse, it's actually illegal in your work place? (I work for a naval subcontractor, as you can imagine you can get slapped with espionage charges and what not if you even forget you had your record-capable mp3 player in your pocket). Manual documentation is always possible I suppose, but less useful as evidence since it's so easy to doctor, and you're sure as hell not going to get a belligerent manager to sign it proving he was being a dick...:)
Thing is, it's already showing up. I've seen the PXA270 as the processor in a number of PDAs already, including ones I was showing some interest in. And yet there's NO mention of any special DRM functionality in the processor in the advertising or even during the process of purchasing one (examples include Dell's new x50 and x30 series, and a number of HP's iPAQs). I haven't seen mention of DRM functionality in any reviews yet either, which makes this the first I've heard of it.
Good to know, though. Time to go look into it a little closer and see if anyone plans on putting out a PDA with a VGA screen and a different processor. Today, AFAIK, the only VGA capable models all use the PXA270.
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The ISS, as we all know, is incomplete. And while I haven't studied the matter extensively, I would not be surprised if we're also still working out what kinds of experiments might be better served by being performed in microgravity. Don't shoot down the ISS before it's complete and a full assessment can be done. Even the ability to better determine the effects of longer term near zero-G environments on the human body alone could be considered priceless to the effort to break out of this solitary egg basket ... :)
... :) Who knows, maybe the ISS *is* just one more step towards Jupiter Station and the Utopia Planetia... :)
I'm not saying the ISS is guaranteed to have a good ROI, but it might very well be one of those things where you need a high initial investment to get the long term gains. And when you're talking about such subjects as the potential survival of the human race (if you're of the belief that we need to get enough of us off this rock for the species to withstand the potential destruction of its cradle), sometimes such prices can be considered "cheap".
I don't know if that's how I think about it, but I'm not ready to write the ISS off just yet. And the sci-fi geek in me hopes it lives up to all the promise it has and more
It depends on your metric. If you're thinking of dollars per game, then yeah, MMOs are expensive.
... :)
If you're thinking of dollars per year, then it depends on your gaming habits. If you're one of those people that would otherwise be buying 2 or more games a month, then MMOs are cheap - 50 or so bucks for the first month, 15 or less for the rest per MMO, as opposed to 50 bucks a month per regular game. So, even with the initial box price, it's still cheaper. Not that I would argue with lowering the box price, of course
If you were only going to buy a couple games over the year, then it's probably cheaper that way.
Depends entirely on your perspective. For me - if I wasn't playing MMOs, I'd be playing tons of other games. Maybe it'd be Counterstrike for years on end, in which case I wouldn't be spending more money - but it would just as easily be the next great CRPG every month. Even with three MMOs active for me right now, I'm spending the equivalent of buying ONE game box a month. If a server is down, I go play a different one. And I end up getting play time that's measured in weeks or months, not hours.
Heaven knows I'd LOVE to do that were I in that sort of situation. Thankfully, I work with and for a great bunch of people, and have no reason to believe they'd pull this sort of crap if I were to give notice (and they've always been great about other people who have left for other opportunities). However, to my real point ....
What to do if company policy forbids recording devices of that nature (cameras, microphones, etc)? Or worse, it's actually illegal in your work place? (I work for a naval subcontractor, as you can imagine you can get slapped with espionage charges and what not if you even forget you had your record-capable mp3 player in your pocket). Manual documentation is always possible I suppose, but less useful as evidence since it's so easy to doctor, and you're sure as hell not going to get a belligerent manager to sign it proving he was being a dick ... :)
Thing is, it's already showing up. I've seen the PXA270 as the processor in a number of PDAs already, including ones I was showing some interest in. And yet there's NO mention of any special DRM functionality in the processor in the advertising or even during the process of purchasing one (examples include Dell's new x50 and x30 series, and a number of HP's iPAQs). I haven't seen mention of DRM functionality in any reviews yet either, which makes this the first I've heard of it.
Good to know, though. Time to go look into it a little closer and see if anyone plans on putting out a PDA with a VGA screen and a different processor. Today, AFAIK, the only VGA capable models all use the PXA270.