I'm all for a skewering of authority, whoever happens to be at the helm. But, after viewing the whole video, while some of it has got to make some of the audience decidedly uncomfortable (note the camera cutting to Joe Wilsonand his wife Valerie Plame!) I got the feeling that this is de rigeur for this kind of event, simply that we're paying more attentino because it's featured on Slashdot, BoingBoing, and wherever the hell else.
So, how accurate is that perception?
Has anyone seen one of these from years past? Even last year, with the war in full swing, there would have been sufficiently biting grist for a ballsy comic. Is older video of these annual press club dinners on C-Span or somewhere else? How biting is that commentary? How was it during Clinton's run? Or Nixon's?
That's what the 'net is so great for... putting something like this into a very broad context, not just believing that Steven Colbert doing a bang up job here is the first and last time it's ever happened.
You're saying that Microsoft is making a vaporware sales pitch for the XBox 360, due out in about 60 days?
And the PS3 launch date is when? And Blu-ray "50 GB" disks which can't be produced outside of the lab are going to be ready when? And what's the game lineup for the PS3 launch?
I don't own a game console, and I'm neither a Microsoft nor a Sony fanboy, but your comment fails to realize that like it or not, Microsoft is about ready to ship a product. HD-DVD is coming out early next year, probably with 30GB disks. We're talking less than six months. Whenever the PS3 ships, it's completely reasonable to suppose 360's could have an HD-DVD drive by next Christmas.
This seems closer to a paper-launch than to vaporware.
Setting aside the myriad stabilty and interface problems of the multiplayer Civ experience, and the fact that it has been perceived as an extra feature which your customers have to pay for in the form of an expansion... set that aside and take a game like Starcraft:
* A maximum map size of 256x256.
* Up to 8 players.
* Hundreds of units, with maybe a dozen attributes per unit, with many units spawning ammunition which subsequently needs tracking.
* Everything being controlled in realtime by the computer.
* Playable on an old computer, and you still get a good framerate.
So, why does Civ slow to a crawl on a large map with lots of cities and units?
You'd think there would be plenty of time between turns to let the AI do it's thing, so that the next turn could happen almost instantaneously.
(Note: I submitted this quesiton anonymously to Sid the other day.)
My gut feeling is I'd buy something that cost 50% less that gave me >50% less capacity. Blu-ray is 23GB per disk, HD-DVD: 15. Both numbers per layer. It seems the price point sets itself, but is this likely to happen? Sony has a history of premium pricing. Is there any indication that's changed here?
DVD Dual-layer media is still expensive and rare after ~2 years. How common and cheap will next generation media be? The cheaper, more available media could be the deciding factor.
A lot of articles quote 'cost-saving' as a factor in HD-DVD over Blu-ray. Where exactly are those cost savings? In media or player production? Factory retooling? R&D?
At least one glaring inaccuracy...
on
Basics of RAID
·
· Score: 1
RAID 5 may be the most powerful RAID configuration for the typical user, with three (or five) disks required.
Raid 5 can be configured with a minimum of three drives.
Slashdot Mirror
I'm all for a skewering of authority, whoever happens to be at the helm. But, after viewing the whole video, while some of it has got to make some of the audience decidedly uncomfortable (note the camera cutting to Joe Wilson and his wife Valerie Plame!) I got the feeling that this is de rigeur for this kind of event, simply that we're paying more attentino because it's featured on Slashdot, BoingBoing, and wherever the hell else.
So, how accurate is that perception?
Has anyone seen one of these from years past? Even last year, with the war in full swing, there would have been sufficiently biting grist for a ballsy comic. Is older video of these annual press club dinners on C-Span or somewhere else? How biting is that commentary? How was it during Clinton's run? Or Nixon's?
That's what the 'net is so great for... putting something like this into a very broad context, not just believing that Steven Colbert doing a bang up job here is the first and last time it's ever happened.
so it'd be obsolete by now anyway.
It's enough to give me a little hope.
You're saying that Microsoft is making a vaporware sales pitch for the XBox 360, due out in about 60 days?
And the PS3 launch date is when? And Blu-ray "50 GB" disks which can't be produced outside of the lab are going to be ready when? And what's the game lineup for the PS3 launch?
I don't own a game console, and I'm neither a Microsoft nor a Sony fanboy, but your comment fails to realize that like it or not, Microsoft is about ready to ship a product. HD-DVD is coming out early next year, probably with 30GB disks. We're talking less than six months. Whenever the PS3 ships, it's completely reasonable to suppose 360's could have an HD-DVD drive by next Christmas.
This seems closer to a paper-launch than to vaporware.
So, why does Civ slow to a crawl on a large map with lots of cities and units?
You'd think there would be plenty of time between turns to let the AI do it's thing, so that the next turn could happen almost instantaneously. (Note: I submitted this quesiton anonymously to Sid the other day.)
DVD Dual-layer media is still expensive and rare after ~2 years. How common and cheap will next generation media be? The cheaper, more available media could be the deciding factor.
A lot of articles quote 'cost-saving' as a factor in HD-DVD over Blu-ray. Where exactly are those cost savings? In media or player production? Factory retooling? R&D?
Raid 5 can be configured with a minimum of three drives.
Interested in RAID? Google, or check out: Storage Review's excellent information.