I started listing to SomaFM's Groove Salad a year or so ago, and it's tipped me off to several artists I wouldn't have otherwise known existed.
If I lived in a larger city, maybe there'd be enough of an independent music scene that this wouldn't be necessary, but in South Texas, it just isn't there (unless you're into Tejano).
Fair enough. I was really just trying to give a broad overview, not step by step instructions.
I just see a lot of people on Slashdot who don't seem to know how far DS development has gotten, is all.
Oh, he's certainly allows to have an opinion. What I had an issue with was his assuming that his opinion was right, and that everyone who enjoyed the game didn't do so for the game's actual merits:
...a lot of people were desperate for a Metroid game, and a lot of other people will lap up any piece of crap that is first person.
That right there is what I have a problem with - he doesn't like Prime, fine, but trying to discredit anyone who did like it is too much.
Or you get a GBA or DS and use a homebrew kit with a Flash cart.
Less than $100 depending on size, and some of the legal, non-Nintendo-owned devkits are actually quite complete. Plus, commercial game companies often hire the better homebrew people on handhelds; I've known several who were picked up.
Or maybe you just can't stand first person games, and all the Metroid fans who like it genuinely liked it. I certainly did.
I love 2D metroid, and have thoroughly enjoyed Zero Mission and Fusion (though Fusion was too linear), but Prime was also a blast, and for me, really captured the feeling of Metroid - isolation, exploration, atmosphere.
Maybe you're just projecting your dislike onto everyone else?
You have that completely backwards. It only became a breach of contract case after everything else was dropped.
For one, this consultant was hired in 2002 - it's not a recent development. The email just got unsealed recently.
Originally, SCO made the broad, sweeping claims, and they started their Linux licensing program before the IBM suit was even started. Breach of contract is one of the few things that hasn't been dropped from the case, but it's not how this started, and it's not the only suit SCO is involved in over it.
The history is quite well documented on several sites; it's not hard to verify.
Actually, some fairly significant major studios (Dreamworks, Weta) use Linux to handle video editing and composition. You can see several KDE desktops in the LotR behind the scenes features.
Remember, innovation doesn't just happen at the consumer level.
For one, if you're a big production house, you'd be suprised how useful those "nifty scripting languages" are for doing batch processing overnight.
I wonder how long before google flexes legal muscle to shut down googlebar.
How 'bout never?
Not only are they aware of googlebar, but they are apparently appreciative of the product and have been modestly supporting it with a link from the official Google bar page:
It works on everything post-IE4, and if you're talking about browsers that old, you don't even have the assurance of Javascript being turned on at the client end.
Plus, you only end up with one version of the page.
I'm not sure I'd say MS was the most honest. They weren't bad at all but Nintendo didn't lie about a thing - they just basically said "wait". I don't see how either is really more honest than the other.
Forthcoming, I'll give you - Nintendo doesn't seem ready to share much just yet.
As far as the PS3 goes - well, I wouldn't make a judgement until I can actually look at the hardware. Until we've seen what the CPU and video hardware can do for real, it's all just guesswork (if intelligent guesswork) to a greater or lesser degree.
If you're talking about console gamers who are also online, yes - you're probably right.
However, a huge number of people still trust print magazines and never really keep up with stuff like this - and GamePro has already put up articles calling the PS3 as the winner. It was a terrible article, but it is there, and I'm sure their print magazine will carry the same stuff.
Actually, while there were demo XBox models there, the games were actually playing on G5 units tucked under the kiosks. You can find pictures of them online in various places.
Note, I'm not bashing Microsoft here - at least they were shoing realtime gameplay instead of prerendered stuff - but it was apparently running on tweaked G5 devkits, not final hardware.
Not all of its cores are full blown processors - many are just glorified vector units. That doesn't mean it'll perform poorly, but you should not expect the performance multiple you would from, say, a 5-cored Athlon 64 - and there's still a finite limit on its resources.
The simple fact of the matter is that a good DSP handles sound very well, and wouldn't add much to the cost. They're certainly not the only way to go, but just because a system uses a cell processor doesn't mean that you won't ever need another, specialized processor in the system.
And of course, a ton of very recent games that uses copy protection. I can't tell you how irritated I was when I found out I couldn't play Deus Ex 2 without being administrator.
Slashdot Mirror
And it'll apparently allow you to slice zombies with your knife via the stylus. Should be right up his alley. :P
There are still a handful of interesting musicians, but really, we're close enough to Austin that almost anyone with talent has already moved.
I personally use RhythmBox; it's really improved over the last few versions, though it does still have a way to go.
If I lived in a larger city, maybe there'd be enough of an independent music scene that this wouldn't be necessary, but in South Texas, it just isn't there (unless you're into Tejano).
Fair enough. I was really just trying to give a broad overview, not step by step instructions. I just see a lot of people on Slashdot who don't seem to know how far DS development has gotten, is all.
Arbitrary code does run fairly easily on a DS. A $20 passme and a GBA flash cart are all you need.
Heck, if you've got a compatible wifi card, a GBA flash cart is all you need. And for small homebrew roms, you can make do with just a wifi card.
Of course, if you want to run the just released Heretic port or ScummVM, you'll need a cart.
That right there is what I have a problem with - he doesn't like Prime, fine, but trying to discredit anyone who did like it is too much.
Less than $100 depending on size, and some of the legal, non-Nintendo-owned devkits are actually quite complete. Plus, commercial game companies often hire the better homebrew people on handhelds; I've known several who were picked up.
Honestly, the DC version was by far the best console port (beat the PS2 soundly). Keyboard and mouse control, to boot.
I love 2D metroid, and have thoroughly enjoyed Zero Mission and Fusion (though Fusion was too linear), but Prime was also a blast, and for me, really captured the feeling of Metroid - isolation, exploration, atmosphere.
Maybe you're just projecting your dislike onto everyone else?
You're probably one of those people who thinks the technical requirements for something like Echelon mean it doesn't exist, either.
For one, this consultant was hired in 2002 - it's not a recent development. The email just got unsealed recently.
Originally, SCO made the broad, sweeping claims, and they started their Linux licensing program before the IBM suit was even started. Breach of contract is one of the few things that hasn't been dropped from the case, but it's not how this started, and it's not the only suit SCO is involved in over it.
The history is quite well documented on several sites; it's not hard to verify.
I'm not saying you're wrong - I'm just saying that innovation happens in more than the consumer space.
Remember, innovation doesn't just happen at the consumer level.
For one, if you're a big production house, you'd be suprised how useful those "nifty scripting languages" are for doing batch processing overnight.
Even if they did, though, it would be within their rights; hardly "evil".
How 'bout never?
Not only are they aware of googlebar, but they are apparently appreciative of the product and have been modestly supporting it with a link from the official Google bar page:
Letter from Google to googlebar
The Valero refinery down here uses VAX machines to monitor the gauges on the equipment all over the plant.
Think about it - refineries don't have "downtime"...pretty much ever. Even when they're doing work on one part of the plant, the rest keeps going.
And they can't miss data - for both safety and environmental reasons.
It works on everything post-IE4, and if you're talking about browsers that old, you don't even have the assurance of Javascript being turned on at the client end.
Plus, you only end up with one version of the page.
Forthcoming, I'll give you - Nintendo doesn't seem ready to share much just yet.
As far as the PS3 goes - well, I wouldn't make a judgement until I can actually look at the hardware. Until we've seen what the CPU and video hardware can do for real, it's all just guesswork (if intelligent guesswork) to a greater or lesser degree.
However, a huge number of people still trust print magazines and never really keep up with stuff like this - and GamePro has already put up articles calling the PS3 as the winner. It was a terrible article, but it is there, and I'm sure their print magazine will carry the same stuff.
Note, I'm not bashing Microsoft here - at least they were shoing realtime gameplay instead of prerendered stuff - but it was apparently running on tweaked G5 devkits, not final hardware.
Not all of its cores are full blown processors - many are just glorified vector units. That doesn't mean it'll perform poorly, but you should not expect the performance multiple you would from, say, a 5-cored Athlon 64 - and there's still a finite limit on its resources.
The simple fact of the matter is that a good DSP handles sound very well, and wouldn't add much to the cost. They're certainly not the only way to go, but just because a system uses a cell processor doesn't mean that you won't ever need another, specialized processor in the system.
And of course, a ton of very recent games that uses copy protection. I can't tell you how irritated I was when I found out I couldn't play Deus Ex 2 without being administrator.
I'm not sure it's fast enough to emulate the ARM7 at full speed. I'm not saying it can't be done - just that the specs don't suggest it is to me.
There has been some fairly impressive work done on PS2 and XBox emulation, but it would definitely still be early to call them well emulated.