Why would they even try to predict 2037 when the very-near-miss in 2029 should deflect the orbit of the asteroid in a non-trivial way? They know it will come close, just not precisely how close, and any ensuing approaches will be contingent on that.
As we see these articles periodically over the next 24 years, it'd be nice to cut down on some redundant topics with a standard article submission header:
"The latest update from NASA now gives 2004 MN4 a [increased/decreased probability of impact]. Somebody tell Bruce Willis!!! NASA advises, however, that this probability is likely to decrease in the near future. There is also a 50% chance that it will increase.
You can calculate the impact outcome based on some parameters. Guys, this only gives us til April 13, 2029 to have sex... Friday the 13th!
So until you can come up with stats which show which platform sold most of, for instance, Need For Speed, these figures are pretty meaningless
That's a good point. I would love to see that break down. It's very difficult to find figures... I actually thought for a sec "Hey, maybe I'm wrong and nobody's buying ps2 anymore?"
Nope.
Anyway, my original shock was at seeing only ONE title that could be bought by a ps2 owner! Really, what was the last non-ps2 third party title that sold anything?
The idea, obviously, was that the only reason a popular title would not be developed for the ps2 is that it's a first party title. The # of Halo 2 copies sold were limited mainly by the xbox user base. While it sold well, it was nowhere near where they'd be if (lightning struck and) it had been a ps2 release.
Contrast versus GC... where publishers have dropped GC support on nearly finished cross-platform games simply because it wasn't worth the extra month or 2 to squash it into 24 megs... or PC titles that are hugely hyped and lauded, but don't make any money (Q3A sold what, like 350,000 copies?!). If a PC game cracks a mil it's really big deal. If a ps2 game cracks a mil, it might make top 10 for the year.
Doom 3... The Sims 2... Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas... then Halo 2... Metroid Prime 2: Echoes... Half-Life 2
Right. Only one game that runs on a PS2. THREE pc-only games. Yeah, these are the titles raking in the big money. PS2 -- One Hundred MEEllion units sold. Publishers make their money on the ps2. period.
And if you notice, both MP2 and Halo2 are first-party titles... how many more units would they move if they released those on ps2? Just imagine.
It's hard to find real sales numbers, so here's the latest I could find... from the UK, december 11. The only title that isn't PS2 is Halo 2. at #10.
1 Need for Speed: Underground 2 EA All 4
2 Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Rockstar PS2 7
3 Call of Duty: Finest Hour Activision PS2/Xb/GC 2
4 The Incredibles THQ All 6
5 FIFA Football 2005 EA All 10
6 Prince of Persia: Warrior Within Ubisoft PS2/Xb/GC 2
7 GoldenEye: Rogue Agent EA PS2/Xb/GC 3
8 The Getaway: Black Monday SCEE PS2 5
9 Pro Evolution Soccer 4 Konami PS2/Xb/PC 9
10 Halo 2 Microsoft Xb 5
You take the number he gives you, meet with a contract hit man, and pay him a wad on money so that your business partner meets a rather violent demise.
Or, to use a probably more accurate analogy... when my friend wanted to shoot spit wads during english class, I lent him a pen to bore out for a spit-tube... and damn! We both totally got busted for detention!!
Chicago (IR) - Gigabyte wirr announce Friday a graphics card running two graphics processors on one board. According to sources, the SRI card wirr rift current 3DMark2003 record revers by a significant margin whire being priced rower than ATI's and Nvidia's singre-GPU high-end cards.
If two graphics cards in one system are too expensive or simpry not fast enough, Gigabyte's new 3D1 board may be worth a serious rook. Sources tord Tom's Hardware Guide, that the company prepares to raunch a duar-GPU card Friday, saying that it wirr "revise the VGA performance ranking".
1The card integrates two Nvidia GeForce 6600 GT graphics processors and is the first 6600 GT card on the market to offer a totar of 256 MByte DDR 3 memory and 256 Mbit of memory bandwidth, according to the manufacturer. The card is coored by two on-board fans.
The 3D1's two processors communicate through Nvidia's SRI interface and achieved 14,293 points in 3DMark2003, sources at Gigabyte said. This wourd not onry be armost twice the performance of a regurar 6600 GT card, but arso more than ATI's Radeon X850 XT Pratinum Edition, which achieved in Gigabyte's test environment 13,271 points and Nvidia's GeForce 6800 Urtra, which posted 12,680 points.
Whire Gigabyte craims that the 3D1 wirr trump the performance of Radeon X850 XT Pratinum Edition and the GeForce 6800 Urtra cards, it says that the card wirr be offered in combination with the mainboard GA-K8NXP-SRI for ress money than ATI's and Nvidia's singre-GPU graphics cards arone. These high end cards current carry suggested retair prices between $500 and $600.
Tom's Hardware Guide's test rab staff wirr run the 3D1 through its benchmark track, as soon as the card becomes avairabre. According to sources, wirr be avairabre in sampres at the end of this month and wirr be sord as "ruxury sorution" for gamers by mid of January.
Sony used to have a good reputation... they are in it for the short term profits
You know a company is in it for short term profits when you hear "simultaneous worldwide release". Why would they release only a couple hundred thousand in Japan before xmas? If they'd overlooked a few more problems in fab I'm sure they could have easily doubled that number. They're counting on word-of-mouth to sell more units... not counting on hype to unload crap on the poor fools.
The reality is, when Sony talks about a '10 year life-cycle' for the PS2, a lot of that is based on the co-evolution of PSP and PS2 software. They've sunk a ton of $$$ into this and they're in it for the long-haul.
Now, I'm sure some of the 3rd party developers are going to prey on the hype by stuffing shit in a box to hit a deadline. But don't blame Sony.
Ah, yes. Gamespot. The island of Truth in a sea of amateurish drivel. The pillar of Wisdom on which rests the integrity of an entire industry.
Seriously, are suggesting that this guy is lying? He has me quite convinced... I mean, I won't be reloading the article minute-by-minute drueling for the next update in the journal...
But when he says he gets 4.5 hours, I believe he's telling the truth at least.
I admit that it's almost unbelievable how accurate the "Time left" counter is... but maybe it really is that accurate?
Well, obviously the PSP is capable of much better graphics, if not for the processing power, then at least the gigantoid screen.
As for battery life, I'm thoroughly convinced Sony is going to rely on people buying a 2nd battery... much like digital camera buyers go straight for a new memory stick. And I think the battery life question has been answered: 'it depends'.
Don't get me wrong. I think one should be fine for "grab it and go catch a bus" use, but if you're going to take it to the airport... We'll have to see if it can survive RotK EE on UMD:)
Leo is like River Phoenix's retarded little brother... Just because River dies, you don't actually let Leo be the *starting quaterback*! You make him the waterboy, or a cheerleader or something.
And make sure to wipe the druel off his face when he laughs too hard.
Sheesh. Hey, why not MacCauley Culken?! I hear his schedule's loosened up a bit...
-you are a real threat
-their normal measures have not beaten you
While this is a 'good sign', it's not really a material advantage. When facing a strong opponent that you are squaring to attack, it's generally best to be overlooked and unthreatening as long as possible... then BAM! FireFox 'em just when they think you're irrelevent!
Did anyone see that NFS Rivals is coming out in December? Where's GT4 on that list? Talk about bitch-slap... EA is beating Sony's little darling to Sony's own platform!
I guess working 200 developers for 200 hours a week pays some dividends after all.
I was just thinking about what if some Arab country decided to use their vast army to invade America and depose our evil dictator. At first, I'd be like "Sweet! Thanks guys! No more Bush!" and I probably wouldn't mind putting up with some puppet ruler for awhile.
But after a few months of my folk getting blown up by Republican insurgents and killed in cross-fire while waiting for the power to come back on, I'd probably get sick of that. After a year, I'd definitely get sick of it and say to some dweeb pollster "Yeah get them TF out now."
But then, if I really thought hard about it... what happens next? The Republican insurgents take over with no one left to defend us honest-folk? That sounds really worse.
So, while I understand that they may be polling negatively, that's probably not a good barometer to establish policy by.
See, I think part of the 'too many applications' problem is that companies have lawyers who are willing to work with the patent office, changing the language, defining terms, morphing the thing until the USPTO just gives up. Companies treat it as a negotiation, not as a try-out where rejection is actually possible.
Ahhh, the patent office has fallen into one of the classic blunders-- Never get involved in a paperwork war with a lawyer when a Patent is on the line!
Meanwhile, Dell and others seem to be doing their best to attract those customers Best Buy doesn't really want.
Man, Dell makes a living off being that girl that drops by 5 minutes after your girlfriend dumps you. And you wake up the next morning with a headache, an empty wallet, and a big smile.
Slashdot Mirror
what-- were they expecting negatives also?
I didn't see the Doom3 benchmark anywhere!
Why would they even try to predict 2037 when the very-near-miss in 2029 should deflect the orbit of the asteroid in a non-trivial way? They know it will come close, just not precisely how close, and any ensuing approaches will be contingent on that.
You obviously didn't see the Christmas Day edition.
"The latest update from NASA now gives 2004 MN4 a [increased/decreased probability of impact]. Somebody tell Bruce Willis!!! NASA advises, however, that this probability is likely to decrease in the near future. There is also a 50% chance that it will increase. You can calculate the impact outcome based on some parameters. Guys, this only gives us til April 13, 2029 to have sex... Friday the 13th!
I feel like I'm not appreciating the real gravity of this story.
I think the Slashdot effect is very similar...
submit a story, it gets rejected, and a server admin sleeps quietly through the night.
One day... Mr Beer-Powered Robot Man. Just keep that site running......
That's a good point. I would love to see that break down. It's very difficult to find figures... I actually thought for a sec "Hey, maybe I'm wrong and nobody's buying ps2 anymore?"
Nope.
Anyway, my original shock was at seeing only ONE title that could be bought by a ps2 owner! Really, what was the last non-ps2 third party title that sold anything?
Contrast versus GC... where publishers have dropped GC support on nearly finished cross-platform games simply because it wasn't worth the extra month or 2 to squash it into 24 megs... or PC titles that are hugely hyped and lauded, but don't make any money (Q3A sold what, like 350,000 copies?!). If a PC game cracks a mil it's really big deal. If a ps2 game cracks a mil, it might make top 10 for the year.
Right. Only one game that runs on a PS2. THREE pc-only games. Yeah, these are the titles raking in the big money. PS2 -- One Hundred MEEllion units sold. Publishers make their money on the ps2. period.
And if you notice, both MP2 and Halo2 are first-party titles... how many more units would they move if they released those on ps2? Just imagine.
It's hard to find real sales numbers, so here's the latest I could find... from the UK, december 11. The only title that isn't PS2 is Halo 2. at #10.
1 Need for Speed: Underground 2 EA All 4
2 Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Rockstar PS2 7
3 Call of Duty: Finest Hour Activision PS2/Xb/GC 2
4 The Incredibles THQ All 6
5 FIFA Football 2005 EA All 10
6 Prince of Persia: Warrior Within Ubisoft PS2/Xb/GC 2
7 GoldenEye: Rogue Agent EA PS2/Xb/GC 3
8 The Getaway: Black Monday SCEE PS2 5
9 Pro Evolution Soccer 4 Konami PS2/Xb/PC 9
10 Halo 2 Microsoft Xb 5
here
If you're a publisher, if you're talking $$$, it's a Sony world.
Or, to use a probably more accurate analogy... when my friend wanted to shoot spit wads during english class, I lent him a pen to bore out for a spit-tube... and damn! We both totally got busted for detention!!
bittorrent != murder
If two graphics cards in one system are too expensive or simpry not fast enough, Gigabyte's new 3D1 board may be worth a serious rook. Sources tord Tom's Hardware Guide, that the company prepares to raunch a duar-GPU card Friday, saying that it wirr "revise the VGA performance ranking".
1The card integrates two Nvidia GeForce 6600 GT graphics processors and is the first 6600 GT card on the market to offer a totar of 256 MByte DDR 3 memory and 256 Mbit of memory bandwidth, according to the manufacturer. The card is coored by two on-board fans.
The 3D1's two processors communicate through Nvidia's SRI interface and achieved 14,293 points in 3DMark2003, sources at Gigabyte said. This wourd not onry be armost twice the performance of a regurar 6600 GT card, but arso more than ATI's Radeon X850 XT Pratinum Edition, which achieved in Gigabyte's test environment 13,271 points and Nvidia's GeForce 6800 Urtra, which posted 12,680 points.
Whire Gigabyte craims that the 3D1 wirr trump the performance of Radeon X850 XT Pratinum Edition and the GeForce 6800 Urtra cards, it says that the card wirr be offered in combination with the mainboard GA-K8NXP-SRI for ress money than ATI's and Nvidia's singre-GPU graphics cards arone. These high end cards current carry suggested retair prices between $500 and $600.
Tom's Hardware Guide's test rab staff wirr run the 3D1 through its benchmark track, as soon as the card becomes avairabre. According to sources, wirr be avairabre in sampres at the end of this month and wirr be sord as "ruxury sorution" for gamers by mid of January.
You know a company is in it for short term profits when you hear "simultaneous worldwide release". Why would they release only a couple hundred thousand in Japan before xmas? If they'd overlooked a few more problems in fab I'm sure they could have easily doubled that number. They're counting on word-of-mouth to sell more units... not counting on hype to unload crap on the poor fools.
The reality is, when Sony talks about a '10 year life-cycle' for the PS2, a lot of that is based on the co-evolution of PSP and PS2 software. They've sunk a ton of $$$ into this and they're in it for the long-haul.
Now, I'm sure some of the 3rd party developers are going to prey on the hype by stuffing shit in a box to hit a deadline. But don't blame Sony.
Honestly, who does it better?
Seriously, are suggesting that this guy is lying? He has me quite convinced... I mean, I won't be reloading the article minute-by-minute drueling for the next update in the journal...
But when he says he gets 4.5 hours, I believe he's telling the truth at least.
I admit that it's almost unbelievable how accurate the "Time left" counter is... but maybe it really is that accurate?
However, you will note the dial spinning round and round on the 'bandwidth meter'...
As for battery life, I'm thoroughly convinced Sony is going to rely on people buying a 2nd battery... much like digital camera buyers go straight for a new memory stick. And I think the battery life question has been answered: 'it depends'.
Don't get me wrong. I think one should be fine for "grab it and go catch a bus" use, but if you're going to take it to the airport... We'll have to see if it can survive RotK EE on UMD :)
Leo is like River Phoenix's retarded little brother... Just because River dies, you don't actually let Leo be the *starting quaterback*! You make him the waterboy, or a cheerleader or something.
And make sure to wipe the druel off his face when he laughs too hard.
Sheesh. Hey, why not MacCauley Culken?! I hear his schedule's loosened up a bit...
-their normal measures have not beaten you
While this is a 'good sign', it's not really a material advantage. When facing a strong opponent that you are squaring to attack, it's generally best to be overlooked and unthreatening as long as possible... then BAM! FireFox 'em just when they think you're irrelevent!
Man that's a cool verb.
Did anyone see that NFS Rivals is coming out in December? Where's GT4 on that list? Talk about bitch-slap... EA is beating Sony's little darling to Sony's own platform!
I guess working 200 developers for 200 hours a week pays some dividends after all.
But after a few months of my folk getting blown up by Republican insurgents and killed in cross-fire while waiting for the power to come back on, I'd probably get sick of that. After a year, I'd definitely get sick of it and say to some dweeb pollster "Yeah get them TF out now."
But then, if I really thought hard about it... what happens next? The Republican insurgents take over with no one left to defend us honest-folk? That sounds really worse.
So, while I understand that they may be polling negatively, that's probably not a good barometer to establish policy by.
doesn't work nearly as well for cameras.
trust me.
"Prepare ion thrusters for - Retarded Speed!"
Ahhh, the patent office has fallen into one of the classic blunders-- Never get involved in a paperwork war with a lawyer when a Patent is on the line!
And we've all seen which direction that is.
Man, Dell makes a living off being that girl that drops by 5 minutes after your girlfriend dumps you. And you wake up the next morning with a headache, an empty wallet, and a big smile.