"So we should just ignore how Sony behaves, shut up, and buy their products, like the good little consumers that we are?"
no, but this story has nothing to do with the rootkit, other than the fact that both divisions are a part of the sony umbrella. everytime i hear rootkit brought up, i think to myself "uhm, but wasnt it exploiting a known microsoft security flaw? as always, if it wasnt for the rootkit MS would have never patched it."
way i see it, there were two wrongs done here. how can you hold one company in contempt and then push for the other one? they are both at fault here.
personally i liked castlevania: lament of innocence. it reminded me of a B-level cross between ninja gaiden on xbox, metroid, god of war and devil may cry.
the camera sucks at times, but its easily the best 3d castlevania. unless you can get a serious bargain on it i wouldnt suggest buying it, but give it a rent if youre interested.
sony is now charging nearly the same amount as MS for an equivalent system. since sony has finally opened their eyes and decided to go with open standards, you save by not paying MS tax for every peripheral you want to use. [memory cards, harddrives, headsets]
speaking as someone whose xbox360 has been away being repaired for the last four weeks, sometimes the extra money is worth it for peace of mind. xbox360s are still being manufactured using the same faulty fabrication, and the 3 year warranty only covers red light issues, not any of their other problems. so at best, you only have to send back your console once. but who wants to knowingly send back their console ever? now, the extra money for a ps3 is 'near' equal to its' main competitors price [499 vs 479], so now that stupid HD format is free in comparison.
so exactly how are they shoving it down your throat again? its the same price as its competitors system that does not include an HD format, allows you to stream your digital formats from your home server, upscales your old content, and is backwards compatible with all of your DVDs and old playstation software. im sure for someone that does a lot of streaming media, dont you HATE having MS' WMV-HD jammed down your throat. you dont have to own multiple systems to see the value here.
resistance is a great game, but there are other games as well. take a look at the actual software for yourself, dont just blindly believe the internet meme about the ps3 not having any games.
kids have different taste than your average cultured adult gamer. there are plenty of B to A titles that game reviewers recommend.
since your son is 12, i guess the real decision lies in whether you feel comfortable with your kid playing M-rated games, since the majority of ps3 titles [at this moment] are rated M.
it isnt just the write. often times in parallel applications it also matters during the read.
1. p1 reads c1 2. p2 reads c1 3. p1 writes to c2 4. p2 performs function x(c1) = d
in theory p3 [which has dependencies on p1 and p2] has to wait for p1 and p2s output before writing c3, but in this case p2 could be performing function x() and may need c1 or c2 as a proper argument to produce a valid d.
this happens in the db world, or better yet an atm where c1 would have to be locked during #1.
--
either way, parallel programming will catchup and become much more simpler. some systems have required parallel programming for a long time, but most CS curriculums only mildly touch on the subject. now that multicore/ multi processors PCs are more mainstream and wildly available for your average user to hack around on, you will see new paradigms emerge and eventually see courses tailored towards it. of course its hard to program parallel apps when only 2% of your formal education concerns it.
why do people troll? why do people read and comment on stories that they "claim" not to have any interest in? why do people comment without reading the articles? why do slashdotters karma-whore? why does slashdot UID matter, when being wrong still means youre wrong? why do companies try to get away with astroturfing? why doesnt MS fix the red lights of death problem permanently? why doesnt the ps3 have more games? why does IE7 suck so horribly? why are most wii games just collections of minigames? how many years in a row can EA sell madden before making any major changes? how many games does it take on xbox live to play without any profanity, lil kids or racial slurs? why do people cheat?
these are great mysteries. if you can ever solve them, you will reach enlightenment and presumably drop dead right there on the spot.
the article talks about making "blue light HD DVD" for walmart. blue light? as in blu-ray?!?!?
furthermore, it goes on to talk about a partnership with TDK. everyone knows that TDK is a blu-ray-only partner. they developed the durabis coating that protects the discs. to my knowledge, they dont even offer hd-dvd products. http://www.tdk.com/consumer/bluray/index.html
walmart is going to flood the market with blu-ray players, NOT HD DVD players!!!!
true, but now HDTV adoption rates are up. there are alot of consumer electronics, game industry and motion picture studio lobbyists that need the date to stick this time.
outside of the tv manufacturers, the date didnt need to "stick" because they didnt have their products prepared at the time.
considering the fact that they bundled 500,000 units with the consoles in the UK, if they were including those as sales wouldnt the number be alot higher? if you want to finagle the numbers, 500K sounds alot more impressive than 100,000.
secondly, they reported substantial numbers in the US and have not mentioned UK or european sales yet.
finally, if you are so convinced that they are embellishing their numbers, why is the 100,000 figure noteworthy for them when they also bundled talledega nights with the US release of the PS3. in fact, considering that there are over a million US PS3 sales all of the free bundles would be sold by now. however if you reference the figures, sony is only reporting ~20,000 total sales of talledega nights.
i know alot of slashdotters seem to be weary of sony and all, but its hard to see a lie where there isnt one. in fact, the point of this article was sony is admitting to the huge gap in sales figures; you have a few blockbusters selling tens of thousands, but half of the libraries titles are selling only a few hundred.
by that point, i can imagine HDTV adoption rates doubling or tripling; just like the release of HD-optimized gaming systems and movie players have increased HDTV adoption thusfar.
thats assuming a steady rate. dont forget the FCC broadcast changeover is coming up pretty soon.
while it doesnt necessitate people being required to buy new TVs, alot of consumers will buy new TVs because they "think" they need to. that and the fact that salesmen will try to capitalize on those consumers that walk into a store and dont know any better.
play em on the ps2 or ps3. those are both still being made. unless you are in europe right now, you can grab one off the shelf of nearly any electronics store and enjoy 98% BC.
i wont sweat it. people can drink the kool-aid all they want, facts are facts. i've owned every playstation and xbox console. if i am not allowed to criticize the xbox BC, who is?
we cant bury our heads in the sand. a promise was made, and now they are backing away from it and telling us that we dont know what we are talking about. i just want what was promised to me as an investor into the xbox brand. i dont want to hear criticism of a company that [even at their worst] has provided BC for 2300 more titles than MS has been capable of.
instead, how about more proof? these from MS itself.
--
"Our goal remains to get every game to be backward compatible. The only things influencing what games we're working on are how popular the title is, and how easy it is to make backward compatible. Several original Xbox games on the list already have Xbox 360 counterparts." http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/backwardcompatibil ityfaq.htm
"Xbox.com: What criteria do you use in choosing which Xbox games will be backward compatible on Xbox 360? How far back into the Xbox game library are you going to go? Todd: When we say Xbox library, we mean the entire Xbox library. This ranges all the way from our launch in 2001 up to games that haven't even shipped yet.
Xbox.com: By what date do you plan to have all original Xbox games backward compatible? Todd: We're continuing to work hard to certify as many original Xbox games to work on Xbox 360 as possible; we'll be adding to the list regularly." http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/backwardcompatibil ityqa.htm
with the 1.6 firmware download, is the software emulation included in the US distribution as well?
personally, if they ever get to the point where they can upscale the ps2 games via software emulation, i would love the ability to toggle between hardware and software BC.
"the difference being MS never advertised full compatibility whereas Sony did so unless this list improves fast, full backwards compatibility as promised feels like a big fat lie from Sony - at least with the European console."
since my xbox broke, i would really like to finally finish my copies of mercenaries, jet set radio future, xmen legends, TES: morrowwind, and mechassualt. not to mention the fact that unless i buy a new xbox, i'll never be able to play "top" games i always "wanted to get around to playing" like panzer dragoon orta, otogi and chronicles of riddick. [they DEFINITELY promised that the "top" games would work]. i own a xbox360 and my original xbox no longer works, so outside of buying an used xbox, what options do i have left?
the xbox360's 10-20% BC is really not cutting it for a gamer like me. i dont mind playing the older titles. 72% BC out of the gate, with room for much improvement is not a "shame", as you put it; it actually looks like sony may be better at keeping the BC promise than MS.
i would call that a slam. nearly every disc based console deserves that slam though.
my ps2 is still kicking, but my original xbox gives me DREs on every single disc i put into it. out of all of the ps2 owners i know off the top of my head [~20, +/-], no one has had laser problems, but this is just my limited experience.
all of the consoles have had laser issues. the original xbox has gone through three different dvd brands due to laser issues; so its not only sony. the gamecube seems to be the most sturdy in terms of drive lasers, but that may be attributed to a smaller distribution of consoles. all of the consoles seem to have problems.
in terms of next gen consoles, my xbox360 [bought in nov] gives me DREs on my brand new copy of gears of war around every fourth time i fire the game up. MLB2k7 has issues consistently as well. the rest of my games are fine; its more likely that the discs are defective, but regardless its cause for concern to me.
my launch ps3 has worked 100% reliably though. knock on wood.
there is an option to use a playstation card to purchase downloadable content. since i use my credit card, i havent been specifically looking for any of the reloadable PSN cards, but i am sure there are a few out there in the wild.
i agree, tekken: dr is pretty light on the modes. the missing practice mode is definitely a loss.
i cant agree with you about the graphics being barely better then the psp version though. the psp version looks great, but the ps3 version easily looks better in HD; plus it ditches the handheld "motion blur" effect.
nonetheless, its still a deal at only $20. pound for pound, so far the PS store beats their peers in terms of pricing. sony just lacks the content and needs a better layout.
actually they havent gone with hd-dvd. there are several releases on blu-ray and several on hd-dvd. one distributor came out to say that they were having trouble getting houses to press their discs, but that was about it. one studio seems to have had problems and that is being spread as gospel FUD. vivid and several other companies have had blu-ray discs pressed with little to no issue. something is amiss. the industry hasnt banded together to make any sweeping announcements.
hd-dvd supporters also mention that since their industry like to press cheap discs quickly, they are most likely to go with hd-dvd since it is the cheaper alternative, but even that is a widely accepted fallacy. the reason blu-ray discs are usually the same price or cheaper than hd-dvd releases is due to the fact that despite the widely held myth, blu-ray movies are actually cheaper per GB to produce than hd-dvd releases, since most hd-dvd releases require dual layer discs.
actually, that would make for a great game! the elder gods are back on a mission for revenge.
the catch is... you fail early on and are made into a mortal [again] and you therefore have to fight the elder gods [again], but the reason you have to save your fellow gods in order to restore your own immortality.
if nothing else, it would make for some interesting character and set designs to develop an older set of mythic gods.
i understand the wishful thinking on everyone's part, but god of war is first party sony; wholely developed internally. it will always be exclusive unless sony sells its entire gaming division.
gears of war was second party: funded and published by microsoft, but developed and created by epic. not saying that it will, but gears of war has a greater chance to go cross platform before god of war would.
nice choice of platforms to support your argument. what about the n64 and gamecube?
he is simply an artist working on a masterpiece and wants a bigger canvas to work on. nothing new here. this is the exact same argument people complain about every generation: "the ps2 doesnt have enough ram", "the NES only supports x amount of colors at once", "this gamecube's disc size is too small". developers need resources. you arent going to make developers happy by limiting what they are capable of creating.
as for nintendo game sales... lets say you have 20 million consoles available, but you only release two games a year. as long as every consumer buys one game a year, you have one game thats guaranteed to be at least a 10 million seller.
in reality, you are dealing with consumers that buy ~4-10 games a year. if there are only 50 or so games available, you get some tremendous overlap and high sales, because of the lack of options.
right now wii releases have been throttled [whether deliberatly or not, i dunno] so whats happening? vc sales are skyrocketing. nintendo is making nearly [guesstimation here] 80% profit off of virtual console sales. they are selling to a captive audience. 5 million wii owners dont have anything new to buy, so why not push them to buy virtual games that are basically instant profit for nintendo? its crappy that consumers get the short end of the stick and less options, but either way... its good business.
Slashdot Mirror
"So we should just ignore how Sony behaves, shut up, and buy their products, like the good little consumers that we are?"
no, but this story has nothing to do with the rootkit, other than the fact that both divisions are a part of the sony umbrella. everytime i hear rootkit brought up, i think to myself "uhm, but wasnt it exploiting a known microsoft security flaw? as always, if it wasnt for the rootkit MS would have never patched it."
way i see it, there were two wrongs done here. how can you hold one company in contempt and then push for the other one? they are both at fault here.
personally i liked castlevania: lament of innocence. it reminded me of a B-level cross between ninja gaiden on xbox, metroid, god of war and devil may cry.
the camera sucks at times, but its easily the best 3d castlevania. unless you can get a serious bargain on it i wouldnt suggest buying it, but give it a rent if youre interested.
sony is now charging nearly the same amount as MS for an equivalent system. since sony has finally opened their eyes and decided to go with open standards, you save by not paying MS tax for every peripheral you want to use. [memory cards, harddrives, headsets]
speaking as someone whose xbox360 has been away being repaired for the last four weeks, sometimes the extra money is worth it for peace of mind. xbox360s are still being manufactured using the same faulty fabrication, and the 3 year warranty only covers red light issues, not any of their other problems. so at best, you only have to send back your console once. but who wants to knowingly send back their console ever? now, the extra money for a ps3 is 'near' equal to its' main competitors price [499 vs 479], so now that stupid HD format is free in comparison.
so exactly how are they shoving it down your throat again? its the same price as its competitors system that does not include an HD format, allows you to stream your digital formats from your home server, upscales your old content, and is backwards compatible with all of your DVDs and old playstation software. im sure for someone that does a lot of streaming media, dont you HATE having MS' WMV-HD jammed down your throat. you dont have to own multiple systems to see the value here.
resistance is a great game, but there are other games as well. take a look at the actual software for yourself, dont just blindly believe the internet meme about the ps3 not having any games.
kids have different taste than your average cultured adult gamer. there are plenty of B to A titles that game reviewers recommend.
since your son is 12, i guess the real decision lies in whether you feel comfortable with your kid playing M-rated games, since the majority of ps3 titles [at this moment] are rated M.
it isnt just the write. often times in parallel applications it also matters during the read.
1. p1 reads c1
2. p2 reads c1
3. p1 writes to c2
4. p2 performs function x(c1) = d
in theory p3 [which has dependencies on p1 and p2] has to wait for p1 and p2s output before writing c3, but in this case p2 could be performing function x() and may need c1 or c2 as a proper argument to produce a valid d.
this happens in the db world, or better yet an atm where c1 would have to be locked during #1.
--
either way, parallel programming will catchup and become much more simpler. some systems have required parallel programming for a long time, but most CS curriculums only mildly touch on the subject. now that multicore/ multi processors PCs are more mainstream and wildly available for your average user to hack around on, you will see new paradigms emerge and eventually see courses tailored towards it. of course its hard to program parallel apps when only 2% of your formal education concerns it.
why do people troll?
why do people read and comment on stories that they "claim" not to have any interest in?
why do people comment without reading the articles?
why do slashdotters karma-whore?
why does slashdot UID matter, when being wrong still means youre wrong?
why do companies try to get away with astroturfing?
why doesnt MS fix the red lights of death problem permanently?
why doesnt the ps3 have more games?
why does IE7 suck so horribly?
why are most wii games just collections of minigames?
how many years in a row can EA sell madden before making any major changes?
how many games does it take on xbox live to play without any profanity, lil kids or racial slurs?
why do people cheat?
these are great mysteries. if you can ever solve them, you will reach enlightenment and presumably drop dead right there on the spot.
whats hilarious, is that it seems that no one read the translation of the article.0 343838&&#post10343838
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=1
the article talks about making "blue light HD DVD" for walmart. blue light? as in blu-ray?!?!?
furthermore, it goes on to talk about a partnership with TDK. everyone knows that TDK is a blu-ray-only partner. they developed the durabis coating that protects the discs. to my knowledge, they dont even offer hd-dvd products.
http://www.tdk.com/consumer/bluray/index.html
walmart is going to flood the market with blu-ray players, NOT HD DVD players!!!!
true, but now HDTV adoption rates are up. there are alot of consumer electronics, game industry and motion picture studio lobbyists that need the date to stick this time.
outside of the tv manufacturers, the date didnt need to "stick" because they didnt have their products prepared at the time.
considering the fact that they bundled 500,000 units with the consoles in the UK, if they were including those as sales wouldnt the number be alot higher? if you want to finagle the numbers, 500K sounds alot more impressive than 100,000.
secondly, they reported substantial numbers in the US and have not mentioned UK or european sales yet.
finally, if you are so convinced that they are embellishing their numbers, why is the 100,000 figure noteworthy for them when they also bundled talledega nights with the US release of the PS3. in fact, considering that there are over a million US PS3 sales all of the free bundles would be sold by now. however if you reference the figures, sony is only reporting ~20,000 total sales of talledega nights.
i know alot of slashdotters seem to be weary of sony and all, but its hard to see a lie where there isnt one. in fact, the point of this article was sony is admitting to the huge gap in sales figures; you have a few blockbusters selling tens of thousands, but half of the libraries titles are selling only a few hundred.
by that point, i can imagine HDTV adoption rates doubling or tripling; just like the release of HD-optimized gaming systems and movie players have increased HDTV adoption thusfar.
thats assuming a steady rate. dont forget the FCC broadcast changeover is coming up pretty soon.
while it doesnt necessitate people being required to buy new TVs, alot of consumers will buy new TVs because they "think" they need to. that and the fact that salesmen will try to capitalize on those consumers that walk into a store and dont know any better.
"I'm still confused why this is such a big deal to do. What is holding MS back from making it work?"
Microsoft's profit margins!
read my second post; the one right above yours. that set of quotes are definitely not out of context and are located directly on microsoft sites.
play em on the ps2 or ps3. those are both still being made. unless you are in europe right now, you can grab one off the shelf of nearly any electronics store and enjoy 98% BC.
i wont sweat it. people can drink the kool-aid all they want, facts are facts. i've owned every playstation and xbox console. if i am not allowed to criticize the xbox BC, who is?
l ityfaq.htm
l ityqa.htm
8 .html
we cant bury our heads in the sand. a promise was made, and now they are backing away from it and telling us that we dont know what we are talking about. i just want what was promised to me as an investor into the xbox brand. i dont want to hear criticism of a company that [even at their worst] has provided BC for 2300 more titles than MS has been capable of.
instead, how about more proof? these from MS itself.
--
"Our goal remains to get every game to be backward compatible. The only things influencing what games we're working on are how popular the title is, and how easy it is to make backward compatible. Several original Xbox games on the list already have Xbox 360 counterparts."
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/backwardcompatibi
"Xbox.com: What criteria do you use in choosing which Xbox games will be backward compatible on Xbox 360? How far back into the Xbox game library are you going to go?
Todd: When we say Xbox library, we mean the entire Xbox library. This ranges all the way from our launch in 2001 up to games that haven't even shipped yet.
Xbox.com: By what date do you plan to have all original Xbox games backward compatible?
Todd: We're continuing to work hard to certify as many original Xbox games to work on Xbox 360 as possible; we'll be adding to the list regularly."
http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/backwardcompatibi
"...the company eventually plans to support the entire catalog for the original Xbox on the Xbox 360."
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20051112-555
with the 1.6 firmware download, is the software emulation included in the US distribution as well?
personally, if they ever get to the point where they can upscale the ps2 games via software emulation, i would love the ability to toggle between hardware and software BC.
they left in the ps1 chip, so all ps1 titles are supposedly compatible.
i guess my question now is, when and how often will they update the backwards compatibility list?
"the difference being MS never advertised full compatibility whereas Sony did so unless this list improves fast, full backwards compatibility as promised feels like a big fat lie from Sony - at least with the European console."
5 /20/rumours_of_xbox_360_nonbackwards_compatibility _explained.htmly ou-do-not-need-to-recompile-your-xbox-games.aspx
r iority-says-moore/
-- not quite... --
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/games/archives/2005/0
http://www.majornelson.com/archive/2005/05/19/no-
"Our goal is to have every Xbox game work on Xbox 360. You will NOT need to purchase a new 'version' -- your original games will work on Xbox 360."
http://www.joystiq.com/2006/06/01/xbox-bc-not-a-p
here they claim that they underpromised and overdelivered and are going to slow down their BC push.
-credit: jackson98
since my xbox broke, i would really like to finally finish my copies of mercenaries, jet set radio future, xmen legends, TES: morrowwind, and mechassualt. not to mention the fact that unless i buy a new xbox, i'll never be able to play "top" games i always "wanted to get around to playing" like panzer dragoon orta, otogi and chronicles of riddick. [they DEFINITELY promised that the "top" games would work]. i own a xbox360 and my original xbox no longer works, so outside of buying an used xbox, what options do i have left?
the xbox360's 10-20% BC is really not cutting it for a gamer like me. i dont mind playing the older titles. 72% BC out of the gate, with room for much improvement is not a "shame", as you put it; it actually looks like sony may be better at keeping the BC promise than MS.
i would call that a slam. nearly every disc based console deserves that slam though.
my ps2 is still kicking, but my original xbox gives me DREs on every single disc i put into it. out of all of the ps2 owners i know off the top of my head [~20, +/-], no one has had laser problems, but this is just my limited experience.
all of the consoles have had laser issues. the original xbox has gone through three different dvd brands due to laser issues; so its not only sony. the gamecube seems to be the most sturdy in terms of drive lasers, but that may be attributed to a smaller distribution of consoles. all of the consoles seem to have problems.
in terms of next gen consoles, my xbox360 [bought in nov] gives me DREs on my brand new copy of gears of war around every fourth time i fire the game up. MLB2k7 has issues consistently as well. the rest of my games are fine; its more likely that the discs are defective, but regardless its cause for concern to me.
my launch ps3 has worked 100% reliably though. knock on wood.
there is an option to use a playstation card to purchase downloadable content. since i use my credit card, i havent been specifically looking for any of the reloadable PSN cards, but i am sure there are a few out there in the wild.
i agree, tekken: dr is pretty light on the modes. the missing practice mode is definitely a loss.
i cant agree with you about the graphics being barely better then the psp version though. the psp version looks great, but the ps3 version easily looks better in HD; plus it ditches the handheld "motion blur" effect.
nonetheless, its still a deal at only $20. pound for pound, so far the PS store beats their peers in terms of pricing. sony just lacks the content and needs a better layout.
actually they havent gone with hd-dvd. there are several releases on blu-ray and several on hd-dvd. one distributor came out to say that they were having trouble getting houses to press their discs, but that was about it. one studio seems to have had problems and that is being spread as gospel FUD. vivid and several other companies have had blu-ray discs pressed with little to no issue. something is amiss. the industry hasnt banded together to make any sweeping announcements.
o n-costs-revealed/111/
hd-dvd supporters also mention that since their industry like to press cheap discs quickly, they are most likely to go with hd-dvd since it is the cheaper alternative, but even that is a widely accepted fallacy. the reason blu-ray discs are usually the same price or cheaper than hd-dvd releases is due to the fact that despite the widely held myth, blu-ray movies are actually cheaper per GB to produce than hd-dvd releases, since most hd-dvd releases require dual layer discs.
source: http://wesleytech.com/blu-ray-vs-hd-dvd-replicati
actually, that would make for a great game! the elder gods are back on a mission for revenge.
the catch is... you fail early on and are made into a mortal [again] and you therefore have to fight the elder gods [again], but the reason you have to save your fellow gods in order to restore your own immortality.
if nothing else, it would make for some interesting character and set designs to develop an older set of mythic gods.
i understand the wishful thinking on everyone's part, but god of war is first party sony; wholely developed internally. it will always be exclusive unless sony sells its entire gaming division.
gears of war was second party: funded and published by microsoft, but developed and created by epic. not saying that it will, but gears of war has a greater chance to go cross platform before god of war would.
nice choice of platforms to support your argument. what about the n64 and gamecube?
he is simply an artist working on a masterpiece and wants a bigger canvas to work on. nothing new here. this is the exact same argument people complain about every generation: "the ps2 doesnt have enough ram", "the NES only supports x amount of colors at once", "this gamecube's disc size is too small". developers need resources. you arent going to make developers happy by limiting what they are capable of creating.
as for nintendo game sales... lets say you have 20 million consoles available, but you only release two games a year. as long as every consumer buys one game a year, you have one game thats guaranteed to be at least a 10 million seller.
in reality, you are dealing with consumers that buy ~4-10 games a year. if there are only 50 or so games available, you get some tremendous overlap and high sales, because of the lack of options.
right now wii releases have been throttled [whether deliberatly or not, i dunno] so whats happening? vc sales are skyrocketing. nintendo is making nearly [guesstimation here] 80% profit off of virtual console sales. they are selling to a captive audience. 5 million wii owners dont have anything new to buy, so why not push them to buy virtual games that are basically instant profit for nintendo? its crappy that consumers get the short end of the stick and less options, but either way... its good business.