I don't really know about the 5MP Concord camera mentioned in the article, but i did witness some photos taken with a 3.1MP (can't recall the model) and i was impressed with their quality. The build quality of the camera was quite nice as well, plastic, but sturdy.
Both Concord and BenQ have nice digital cameras for cheap - and they have some awful stuff as well; you just got to inform yourself a bit. Just in case anyone decided to steer clear from Concord after reading the article.
I don't mind sequels for games, just like i don't mind sequels for movies - as long as they're quality products and no driven-by-cash atrocities. I enjoyed Doom 3 (seems like i'm pretty much the only one who did:), liked the little of what i've seen of HL2, same with FarCry. But those are exceptions, rather than rules.
Anyway, you're right, it's all about hype. And we consumers are as guilty as the publishers, if not even more - we're the ones paying for them.
Graphics adventures are as dead as Latin these days, and Lucasarts were (arguably) the best in that buissnes: Grim Fandango, Maniac Mansion, DOTT, Loom, Full Throttle, The Dig, the Monkey Island series, you name it. I can't think of a lot of companies that published excellent titles, one after the other, like they used to.
Sequels or not, i expected th S&M and FT sequels to be QUALITY products, not rehashes. That would be something new for a change. That Lucasarts canned the games (which were in advanced stages of developing, IIRC) is so retarded that i can't even understand it - yes, graphic adventures are not a popular genre in this days of glitz and 3D, but c'mon, people were expecting those games, the same people that loved the first ones. There was (is?) a market for it. I don't want to play Jedi Knight 17.
Gish is a riot! One of the best platform games for PC, of all time, if you ask me, and certainly one of the most creative. The game is even available for Linux and OSX, so OSS zealots and Mac fans can enjoy it as well;)
The problem is that when a new entertainment market starts creating serious money it becomes bastardized. Happened to music, happened to TV, happened to movies and rest assured, it will happen to games.
Hell, you could argue that it has already happened. A sign? All of the games in the list are sequels; which almost guarantees a base of sales. Some of them are good, some of them aren't, but there's hardly anything new or fresh offered in games nowadays; since seen genres with newer graphics are easy to sell we still see FPS, MMORPGs, GTA (which WAS fun, but i don't want to play the same game for the third time), sport simulations and so. Publishers simply go for the quick buck. I died a bit when Lucasarts canned the sequels for Sam & Max and Full Throttle to concentrate on Star Wars licences.
The only innovative thing i've seen from a major games publisher was Nintendo with it's DS; i haven't tried one yet but it looks good on paper and the touch screen and onboard WiFi are potentially great gaming aids. That could be a gateway to some interesting games, which knowing Nintendo, won't be too far away.
Well, this is what i don't get. If grinding to get best weapons and items is so tedious and boring, why doing it on the first place? Weren't games supposed to be fun? What's the sense of "winning" something in a game if you had to pay to get it instead of earning it yourself?
What's the killer application that needs a 64-bit desktop PC???
Anything that uses over 4GB of memory. If you think that's a lot, think what used to be "a lot" of memory not too long ago. Systems carrying 512mb are an everyday thing, and 1 or 2gb of memory is not an uncommon sight.
It's not a matter of mistakes; right now, Intel is playing catch up with AMD in the 64-bit segment. AMD also has better 32-bit hardware, running cooler, faster and cheaper; Intel's brand name recognition, IMHO, is the only thing that stopped AMD from doing even better than it did lately.
I'm not a fanboy, and i'm not suggesting that Intel will dissapear, but AMD is in an enviable position right now, which i think they will exploit to the fullest.
AMD did the smart move of extending the x86 platform with their new CPU architecture (complete with backward compatibility), and covering with it a lot of price segments. Never mind the and great performance and bang-for-the-buck value. I expect AMD to become bigger than Intel in the next 10 years, when 64-bits become mainstream. They already have the edge there.
Anyway, the Itanium was too expensive, too incompatible and too slow compared to the rest. The only surprise here is that HP took so long to realize it was a money drain.
I thought of the very same. It's kinda shooting themselves in the foot, because they wouldn't be able to deattach themselves from security problems as easily as before. It wouldn't surprise me to see a major company using this product suing them for this very reason...
Re:They're improving the file dialogs...
on
GTK 2.6.0 Released
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
Agreed. Windows, for example, opens a window slightly bigger and with less space dedicated to the directories shortcuts, which improve usability a great deal. It could work well with the new GTK dialog.
Like i said earlier, it's just a matter of polish. Generally speaking, i like the new file dialog.
I really enjoyed the single player of Alien Swarm when it came out. The game is great, looks great, and has the claustrophobic feeling of the Alien movies quite well. It reminds me of an old top-view alien shooter from the 386 days, but i can't recall it's name.
Anyway, thanks for the multiplayer tip. I'll definitely have to try that.
Re:They're improving the file dialogs...
on
GTK 2.6.0 Released
·
· Score: 1
Well, i hate to bitch, but let's see... the basic idea for the new GTK file chooser is quite good, and makes browsing directories much easier, but i still feel too much window space is taken by widgets and empty space, which sometimes makes hard to read directories and filenames. Still, i really like the buttons with the path separated in directories.
Better keyboard control would be nice too; that they added typeahead support is a bless and well welcome.
Re:They're improving the file dialogs...
on
GTK 2.6.0 Released
·
· Score: 1
Absolutely. Something weird was that Gkrellm2 rendered with glitches, but ran just fine, albeit slower, just like the rest of the desktop.
Anyway, i want Composite on:) I'll dig on it tonight.
Re:They're improving the file dialogs...
on
GTK 2.6.0 Released
·
· Score: 1
Nonono, don't get me wrong; i have nothing but praise for the work the X.Org team is doing! It just strikes me as odd that it would run so slow, and thought perhaps GTK had a problem with Composite.
I've been following the project closely, and i think it's becoming to be all that XFree should've been by now.
Re:They're improving the file dialogs...
on
GTK 2.6.0 Released
·
· Score: 1
That's a video driver issue, unfortunately. There's only one driver for Xorg at the moment that accelerates the necessary operations for translucency. (the non-free nNivia driver).
Yes, i'm aware. I'm running the latest binary drivers from nVidia, and even "experimental" extensions like XRenderAccel desktop works just fine, and gives a nice speed boost to my desktop. OpenGL renders great as well, but for some reason, Composite + XFCE work awfully slow, like it's working on software mode. I though perhaps GTK had something to do with it.
They're improving the file dialogs...
on
GTK 2.6.0 Released
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
...which is good. The file chooser improved a lot on GTK2, but it could still use some polish.
BTW, does anyone knows if GTK supports the Composite render extension available on X.ORG? Or perhaps it has nothing to do with it and doesn't need it? I tried enabling compositing on XFCE 4.2rc2, and while the desktop looked MUCH better (with true transparency, window shadows and the works), it slowed my system to a crawl.
... this appeared in a strip on Penny Arcade a while ago; the site is awfuly slow today and i can't find the exact link.
"I just want to talk to all the ****** out here. So, you spend real money in order to get pretend money (or items) in your online games. Then, for the privilege of spending (or using) that pretend money (or item) in a pretend world on pretend things (or trading for other pretend items), you pay more real money, every month.
What a bunch of ******* brain surgeons."
I don't have a problem with a guy selling virtual items (though it'd most certainly give him problems with the company hosting the game server), but that he has a market of people willing to buy him scares me.
I don't know... i remember some early DX:IW screenshots that looked incredible and NOTHING like the final product; it made my mouth salivate (perhaps someone has the link; it had a couple of aliens and persons in what semeed a basement with stone walls). The interface looked the same of DX, with minor diferences.
Thing is, the game, despite some technical flaws, was dumbed down just for consoles, and the same interface was kept in the PC version. I don't know, like console players get headaches when they think or something. Unified ammo? Please. I seriously doubt Warren Spector had much saying in the final form of the game.
Oh well, it's all water under the bridge now; i'm waiting for BioShock to be published.
I liked Doom 3. It's a very basic FPS shooter with state of the art graphics, not the second coming of Christ:) As long as you're fine with that, it's a fun game.
There's a lot of MMORPGs with free servers that are hugely popular (mostly outside USA, granted) - i know a few admins for local MU servers that run it as a hobby and they're fairly competent.
I know it's a money thing, but it shouldn't. It's easier to cash in a monthly fee though.
Slashdot Mirror
Santa, is that you?
Yes. Not in a Kate Beckinsdale style of hot, but she is pretty good looking. Cutest pic ever (computer fans over 20 will understand!).
Heheh, thanks for the link. Those side comments for each car made me laugh really hard :)
I don't really know about the 5MP Concord camera mentioned in the article, but i did witness some photos taken with a 3.1MP (can't recall the model) and i was impressed with their quality. The build quality of the camera was quite nice as well, plastic, but sturdy.
Both Concord and BenQ have nice digital cameras for cheap - and they have some awful stuff as well; you just got to inform yourself a bit. Just in case anyone decided to steer clear from Concord after reading the article.
I don't mind sequels for games, just like i don't mind sequels for movies - as long as they're quality products and no driven-by-cash atrocities. I enjoyed Doom 3 (seems like i'm pretty much the only one who did :), liked the little of what i've seen of HL2, same with FarCry. But those are exceptions, rather than rules.
Anyway, you're right, it's all about hype. And we consumers are as guilty as the publishers, if not even more - we're the ones paying for them.
Graphics adventures are as dead as Latin these days, and Lucasarts were (arguably) the best in that buissnes: Grim Fandango, Maniac Mansion, DOTT, Loom, Full Throttle, The Dig, the Monkey Island series, you name it. I can't think of a lot of companies that published excellent titles, one after the other, like they used to.
Sequels or not, i expected th S&M and FT sequels to be QUALITY products, not rehashes. That would be something new for a change. That Lucasarts canned the games (which were in advanced stages of developing, IIRC) is so retarded that i can't even understand it - yes, graphic adventures are not a popular genre in this days of glitz and 3D, but c'mon, people were expecting those games, the same people that loved the first ones. There was (is?) a market for it. I don't want to play Jedi Knight 17.
Gish is a riot! One of the best platform games for PC, of all time, if you ask me, and certainly one of the most creative. The game is even available for Linux and OSX, so OSS zealots and Mac fans can enjoy it as well ;)
Highly reccomended.
Mod parent up, please.
The problem is that when a new entertainment market starts creating serious money it becomes bastardized. Happened to music, happened to TV, happened to movies and rest assured, it will happen to games.
Hell, you could argue that it has already happened. A sign? All of the games in the list are sequels; which almost guarantees a base of sales. Some of them are good, some of them aren't, but there's hardly anything new or fresh offered in games nowadays; since seen genres with newer graphics are easy to sell we still see FPS, MMORPGs, GTA (which WAS fun, but i don't want to play the same game for the third time), sport simulations and so. Publishers simply go for the quick buck. I died a bit when Lucasarts canned the sequels for Sam & Max and Full Throttle to concentrate on Star Wars licences.
The only innovative thing i've seen from a major games publisher was Nintendo with it's DS; i haven't tried one yet but it looks good on paper and the touch screen and onboard WiFi are potentially great gaming aids. That could be a gateway to some interesting games, which knowing Nintendo, won't be too far away.
Well, this is what i don't get. If grinding to get best weapons and items is so tedious and boring, why doing it on the first place? Weren't games supposed to be fun? What's the sense of "winning" something in a game if you had to pay to get it instead of earning it yourself?
What's the killer application that needs a 64-bit desktop PC???
Anything that uses over 4GB of memory. If you think that's a lot, think what used to be "a lot" of memory not too long ago. Systems carrying 512mb are an everyday thing, and 1 or 2gb of memory is not an uncommon sight.
It's not a matter of mistakes; right now, Intel is playing catch up with AMD in the 64-bit segment. AMD also has better 32-bit hardware, running cooler, faster and cheaper; Intel's brand name recognition, IMHO, is the only thing that stopped AMD from doing even better than it did lately.
I'm not a fanboy, and i'm not suggesting that Intel will dissapear, but AMD is in an enviable position right now, which i think they will exploit to the fullest.
AMD did the smart move of extending the x86 platform with their new CPU architecture (complete with backward compatibility), and covering with it a lot of price segments. Never mind the and great performance and bang-for-the-buck value. I expect AMD to become bigger than Intel in the next 10 years, when 64-bits become mainstream. They already have the edge there.
Anyway, the Itanium was too expensive, too incompatible and too slow compared to the rest. The only surprise here is that HP took so long to realize it was a money drain.
Yes! That's it! That was a nice little game.
I thought of the very same. It's kinda shooting themselves in the foot, because they wouldn't be able to deattach themselves from security problems as easily as before. It wouldn't surprise me to see a major company using this product suing them for this very reason...
Agreed. Windows, for example, opens a window slightly bigger and with less space dedicated to the directories shortcuts, which improve usability a great deal. It could work well with the new GTK dialog.
Like i said earlier, it's just a matter of polish. Generally speaking, i like the new file dialog.
I really enjoyed the single player of Alien Swarm when it came out. The game is great, looks great, and has the claustrophobic feeling of the Alien movies quite well. It reminds me of an old top-view alien shooter from the 386 days, but i can't recall it's name.
Anyway, thanks for the multiplayer tip. I'll definitely have to try that.
Well, i hate to bitch, but let's see... the basic idea for the new GTK file chooser is quite good, and makes browsing directories much easier, but i still feel too much window space is taken by widgets and empty space, which sometimes makes hard to read directories and filenames. Still, i really like the buttons with the path separated in directories.
Better keyboard control would be nice too; that they added typeahead support is a bless and well welcome.
Absolutely. Something weird was that Gkrellm2 rendered with glitches, but ran just fine, albeit slower, just like the rest of the desktop. Anyway, i want Composite on :) I'll dig on it tonight.
Nonono, don't get me wrong; i have nothing but praise for the work the X.Org team is doing! It just strikes me as odd that it would run so slow, and thought perhaps GTK had a problem with Composite.
I've been following the project closely, and i think it's becoming to be all that XFree should've been by now.
That's a video driver issue, unfortunately. There's only one driver for Xorg at the moment that accelerates the necessary operations for translucency. (the non-free nNivia driver).
Yes, i'm aware. I'm running the latest binary drivers from nVidia, and even "experimental" extensions like XRenderAccel desktop works just fine, and gives a nice speed boost to my desktop. OpenGL renders great as well, but for some reason, Composite + XFCE work awfully slow, like it's working on software mode. I though perhaps GTK had something to do with it.
BTW, does anyone knows if GTK supports the Composite render extension available on X.ORG? Or perhaps it has nothing to do with it and doesn't need it? I tried enabling compositing on XFCE 4.2rc2, and while the desktop looked MUCH better (with true transparency, window shadows and the works), it slowed my system to a crawl.
"I just want to talk to all the ****** out here. So, you spend real money in order to get pretend money (or items) in your online games. Then, for the privilege of spending (or using) that pretend money (or item) in a pretend world on pretend things (or trading for other pretend items), you pay more real money, every month.
What a bunch of ******* brain surgeons."
I don't have a problem with a guy selling virtual items (though it'd most certainly give him problems with the company hosting the game server), but that he has a market of people willing to buy him scares me.
I don't know... i remember some early DX:IW screenshots that looked incredible and NOTHING like the final product; it made my mouth salivate (perhaps someone has the link; it had a couple of aliens and persons in what semeed a basement with stone walls). The interface looked the same of DX, with minor diferences.
Thing is, the game, despite some technical flaws, was dumbed down just for consoles, and the same interface was kept in the PC version. I don't know, like console players get headaches when they think or something. Unified ammo? Please. I seriously doubt Warren Spector had much saying in the final form of the game.
Oh well, it's all water under the bridge now; i'm waiting for BioShock to be published.
I liked Doom 3. It's a very basic FPS shooter with state of the art graphics, not the second coming of Christ :) As long as you're fine with that, it's a fun game.
There's a lot of MMORPGs with free servers that are hugely popular (mostly outside USA, granted) - i know a few admins for local MU servers that run it as a hobby and they're fairly competent.
I know it's a money thing, but it shouldn't. It's easier to cash in a monthly fee though.