Because I'm not psychic and didn't know that I wouldn't like it as much this year as I did previous years, duh.
Actually, both PA panels were awesome (as well as the one where they showed us how they make the cartoons and we gave out suggestions for today's strip) Also, Beat the Pros, where you get to watch random guys who were standing in like take on pros at Soul Calibur III and Halo 2 was pretty fun to watch. They also showed a guy who got over 3 million points in geometry wars before he purpousfully died so we could get on with the rest of the show.
Should be a lot better next year because it'll be in a much bigger venue so it might be possible to move around a little.
While I realize it's probably way near the bottom of the "to do list" and will probably never be added to the BC list, that'd sure be nice. The controller takes up enough space, I don't also need a box that takes up space to play just a few of my favorite games that still aren't compatible with the 360.
Xbox controllers are esentially USB, so it wouldn't be too hard to get it to work with the 360, right?
What, nobody mentions the real reason to go to PAX, The Wizard? Unfortunately, the audience participation this year and last were nowhere near as good as it was in '04. Hell, back in 04 I skipped a chance to play Halo 2 to see The Wizard. It was so worth it.
The panels, tournaments (I'm not that good) and freeplay rooms were good, I suppose, but just hanging out with a DS was awesome. There were so many DSes being used, in fact, that it was hard to play without getting a connection error even if you were right next to the other people you were playing, unfortunately. Pictochat was awesome if you could get past the aformentioned connection issues and you were lucky enough not to be chatting at a time when ten people all think it's the height of comedy to draw dicks.
I brought my PSP but never really had a chance to use it. Maybe if the number of PSP games that supported single disc play was anywhere near the number of DS games that support single cart play, that'd be different.
The Omegathon (6 or so game contest spread over all 3 days among a handpicked few lucky contestants) ended anticlimactically. I waited in line at least an hour to see the final, and it was just a guy who wasn't that good at tetris (Tengen, baby!) vs. a guy who absolutely sucked. The prize was a car. I really thought it should be game related like the last two years, but I suppose the car manufacturer paid them or something.
Also, the Guitar Hero II omegathon round was weird. They started demonstrating Trippin' on a hole in a paper heart on expert and said the contestants were FUCKED. The contestants then preceded to play games on medium difficulty. Boring! (Then again, seeing them miss every note probably wouldn't be that exciting either)
As for the concerts, same old, same old. The videogame pianist (guy who played the mario theme in a blindfold), Optimus Rhyme, the NESkimos, MC Frontalot, and the Minibosses. Hell, I don't think they even played a single song I haven't heard before. In one of the panels, they said they're trying to get Freezepop, so let's see how that goes.
I didn't like the expo room that much. I was expecting a PS3 or Wii or something. There was a few good things (Guitar Hero II, the DS holiday linup), but there was also a lot of stuff I just didn't care about, like some guy promoting Fury with a mic turned up so high that you could hear it just about anywhere in the room. Also, the Army made a big appearance. I really don't see what they think that game'll do, though. "Gee, looks like fighting a war is really hard, and you can't respawn!"
The worst part: They ran out of Bawls bottles near the end of the second day, and the Snobawls (like Bawls slurpees) took like an hour to make, and each time they would run out in like five minutes. How am I supposed to stay up three days for no reason without Caffeine?
Thank god it'll actually be somewhere in civilisation next time. Bellevue? Bah!. Downtown Seattle's where it's at.
I've been a subscriber for just under three years, and I've only noticed problems on maybe 5-10 discs. Either you've been incredibly unlucky in that they're sending you all the bad discs they have (Who knows, maybe the area your distribution center serves has a lot more people who don't know how to handle DVDs than mine) or your DVD player isn't up to the task.
As to not wanting their members to clean the discs themselves, on the back of every disc envelope it advises you to "try gently washing with liquid soap or window cleaner". if it skips No mention of avoiding circular action and instead going inside to outside, though, How odd.
Still, even though it rarely happens for me, sitting down to watch a movie and finding out that it refuses to play halfway through can really ruin your day. It's a lot worse with Netflix where you have to wait a day or two for a replacement (at least they don't wait for the defective DVD to get to them before they send the replacement) then it would be with a local store.
Wow, The guide says a shot to the corners is unhittable. Never knew that, but then again, I never played Pong that much. Seems like that would be really irritating, but maybe it adds a bit of extra strategy to the game. Did that only apply to the arcade, or to the various versions of home Pong, too?
Oh, and Flap-Ping does look interesting. Never thought I'd spend $20 on a 2600 game, but I guess that shows how young I am.
Ah, but of course the problem with that: Sitting at the computer all day slowly inserting new discs. Granted, I do spend quite a bit of time in front of a computer, but it's irritating to constantly have "when will this one be done so I can put the next disc in" on your mind.
Whatever the answer, the advance of smaller (physically) but larger (storage) has arrisen from perpendicular recording [hitachigst.com] on the discs, which is itself a cool find.
Ah, but of course, you can fit even more on a 3.5" PR drive than a 2.5" PR drive.
I do have to wonder if that "10 times more storage density" was a "we'll eventually figure out how to get 10 times more storage", or if they're purpously making drives smaller than they can so they can sell us drives over and over on the upgrade treadmill. 750GB is obviously nowhere near 10x 500GB (same with the 40 single platter/80GB double 1.8" PR drives vs. the 30/60 1.8" drives.)
The average person who knows what he's doing, sure. If that gets in the official mag, I bet there'll be at least a few "I want to try that too" types who completely screw up.
But that wouldn't be flashy enough! Hide the power supply in some dark corner where it can't get any ventilation, and make the console itself look nicer. That's what I always say!
Nice rant on fans on video cards (if incorrect), but the only real drawback of fans is the extra noise they make. Obviously most people see that as better than being limited by the amount of GPU power that can be cooled passively.
The power plug on a video card isn't for the fan, it's for the GPU. Modern video cards use what, 120 watts, 5 of which are used to power the fan?
Each console generation is using more and more power than the last. 25 years from now, will there be an article complaining about consoles that use 1.5KW?
Obviously there's a limit to how much you can draw on a US 120V socket, but I doubt many would be happy if their console used as much power as a space heater.
Unfortunately, it doesn't come with a wrist strap/thumb pad. Of course, they're selling one on store.nintendo.com but it looks like it's the exact same as the old DS's strap.
I've been trying to get the strap from my old DS into the lite for a while, but the holes on the DS are pretty small. Getting it in the first hole isn't that tough, but I push and push and it won't come out the other end. Think I'm going to have to find a needle.
Forgetting for the moment that all videogame consoles are computers...
What else could be upgraded besides the hard drive? I really doubt you'll be able to swap in a new CPU or GPU. Maybe RAM like you could upgrade on the N64. (though I have my doubts) Or, does he mean that new PS3s will be more powerful than the old ones and that the old ones won't be upgradable?
What would be the point of continuing to call it a PS3 then? People who bought a PS3 for $600 in 2006 would be homicidal if a "PS3" game was released a couple years down the line that couldn't be played (or maybe it could only be played at a low resolution/framerate) on their old PS3. People expect a game for a console to just work in that console.
Also, wasn't the PS2's official title "computer entertainment system"? Look how that worked out.
It is possible for MS to start shipping 360s with HD-DVD (or Blu-Ray if they wanted to) built in if that's what the market decides is necessary, you know. Of course, they wouldn't be able to put games on the new format unless they wanted to say "screw you" to the previous 360 owners, but I doubt people would be saying "Xbox 360 sucks because its games are on DVD!"
In six years, Blu-Ray will either still be a niche market, in which case the average person won't care, or it'll be popular enough that you can get players cheaper than the PS3.
As for the PS3 being more powerful, even if true, it won't matter. Did anyone in the history of gaming say "I'm getting Xbox because it's more powerful than PS2"? Well, somebody probably did, but not many.
As to which will have better games, guess we'll just have to wait and see which one attracts more devs in the long run.
With Live you pay one flat fee for all the games you wish you play.
You mean except for games like PSO and FF XI? It seems to me that with Live, you have to pay a monthly fee for the same types of games that you'd have to pay a monthly fee on PS2. Only difference is that Live has an extra $50/year on top of it.
I don't see what the problem with music rental services as they exist, for the cost of less than album a month you get access to a few million tracks. If you spent that much in your lifetime on CDs, that would be less than 10k songs that you would eventually buy and you get the opportunity to sample music that you wouldn't have risked buying a CD.
Ah, but of course the problem is that you have no idea how the service will change over the years. I suppose it's possible it won't change much at all, in which case it might be an okay deal, but I would expect at least some change. If 30 years from now it's significantly more expensive, will you continue to pay, or will you stop paying, call the amount of money you put into it already a wash, and have nothing to show for it? What if the music industry decides they don't like that model anymore and cancels it altogether?
The rental services are also limited in what players they use. While this might not be a huge deal, it's further limiting choice. I like Rockbox, dammit.
Also, what about gapless playback? Do any of the music rental places offer albums that'll play continuously without irritating gaps between the tracks? While the average person might not care, I absolutely can't stand albums that have gaps where they shouldn't.
If lots of third party developers make exclusive games for PS3 that people want to play, people will buy a PS3. If a lot of people buy the PS3, Third parties will make lots of games that people want to play.
Which has to come first though? I say it's the people buying the system. Would PS2 have so many games today if there wasn't that initial craze for it? Will PS3 be anywhere near as popular initially as the PS2? From what I'm hearing there aren't a huge number of people who are interested in it at that price, but I could be wrong.
Slashdot Mirror
If I remember correctly, all PS3 games will be on Blu-ray whether they need the extra space or not. Can't seem to find a link to back that up, though.
That's not even a real number
Because I'm not psychic and didn't know that I wouldn't like it as much this year as I did previous years, duh.
Actually, both PA panels were awesome (as well as the one where they showed us how they make the cartoons and we gave out suggestions for today's strip) Also, Beat the Pros, where you get to watch random guys who were standing in like take on pros at Soul Calibur III and Halo 2 was pretty fun to watch. They also showed a guy who got over 3 million points in geometry wars before he purpousfully died so we could get on with the rest of the show.
Should be a lot better next year because it'll be in a much bigger venue so it might be possible to move around a little.
While I realize it's probably way near the bottom of the "to do list" and will probably never be added to the BC list, that'd sure be nice. The controller takes up enough space, I don't also need a box that takes up space to play just a few of my favorite games that still aren't compatible with the 360.
Xbox controllers are esentially USB, so it wouldn't be too hard to get it to work with the 360, right?
What, nobody mentions the real reason to go to PAX, The Wizard? Unfortunately, the audience participation this year and last were nowhere near as good as it was in '04. Hell, back in 04 I skipped a chance to play Halo 2 to see The Wizard. It was so worth it.
The panels, tournaments (I'm not that good) and freeplay rooms were good, I suppose, but just hanging out with a DS was awesome. There were so many DSes being used, in fact, that it was hard to play without getting a connection error even if you were right next to the other people you were playing, unfortunately. Pictochat was awesome if you could get past the aformentioned connection issues and you were lucky enough not to be chatting at a time when ten people all think it's the height of comedy to draw dicks.
I brought my PSP but never really had a chance to use it. Maybe if the number of PSP games that supported single disc play was anywhere near the number of DS games that support single cart play, that'd be different.
The Omegathon (6 or so game contest spread over all 3 days among a handpicked few lucky contestants) ended anticlimactically. I waited in line at least an hour to see the final, and it was just a guy who wasn't that good at tetris (Tengen, baby!) vs. a guy who absolutely sucked. The prize was a car. I really thought it should be game related like the last two years, but I suppose the car manufacturer paid them or something.
Also, the Guitar Hero II omegathon round was weird. They started demonstrating Trippin' on a hole in a paper heart on expert and said the contestants were FUCKED. The contestants then preceded to play games on medium difficulty. Boring! (Then again, seeing them miss every note probably wouldn't be that exciting either)
As for the concerts, same old, same old. The videogame pianist (guy who played the mario theme in a blindfold), Optimus Rhyme, the NESkimos, MC Frontalot, and the Minibosses. Hell, I don't think they even played a single song I haven't heard before. In one of the panels, they said they're trying to get Freezepop, so let's see how that goes.
I didn't like the expo room that much. I was expecting a PS3 or Wii or something. There was a few good things (Guitar Hero II, the DS holiday linup), but there was also a lot of stuff I just didn't care about, like some guy promoting Fury with a mic turned up so high that you could hear it just about anywhere in the room. Also, the Army made a big appearance. I really don't see what they think that game'll do, though. "Gee, looks like fighting a war is really hard, and you can't respawn!"
The worst part: They ran out of Bawls bottles near the end of the second day, and the Snobawls (like Bawls slurpees) took like an hour to make, and each time they would run out in like five minutes. How am I supposed to stay up three days for no reason without Caffeine?
Thank god it'll actually be somewhere in civilisation next time. Bellevue? Bah!. Downtown Seattle's where it's at.
I've been a subscriber for just under three years, and I've only noticed problems on maybe 5-10 discs. Either you've been incredibly unlucky in that they're sending you all the bad discs they have (Who knows, maybe the area your distribution center serves has a lot more people who don't know how to handle DVDs than mine) or your DVD player isn't up to the task.
As to not wanting their members to clean the discs themselves, on the back of every disc envelope it advises you to "try gently washing with liquid soap or window cleaner". if it skips No mention of avoiding circular action and instead going inside to outside, though, How odd.
Still, even though it rarely happens for me, sitting down to watch a movie and finding out that it refuses to play halfway through can really ruin your day. It's a lot worse with Netflix where you have to wait a day or two for a replacement (at least they don't wait for the defective DVD to get to them before they send the replacement) then it would be with a local store.
Semprini!
Oh yeah? All I had to do was grab a shovel and I got a hundred thousand copies of E.T. for free!
Wow, The guide says a shot to the corners is unhittable. Never knew that, but then again, I never played Pong that much. Seems like that would be really irritating, but maybe it adds a bit of extra strategy to the game. Did that only apply to the arcade, or to the various versions of home Pong, too?
Oh, and Flap-Ping does look interesting. Never thought I'd spend $20 on a 2600 game, but I guess that shows how young I am.
Ah, but of course the problem with that: Sitting at the computer all day slowly inserting new discs. Granted, I do spend quite a bit of time in front of a computer, but it's irritating to constantly have "when will this one be done so I can put the next disc in" on your mind.
Ah, but of course, you can fit even more on a 3.5" PR drive than a 2.5" PR drive.
I do have to wonder if that "10 times more storage density" was a "we'll eventually figure out how to get 10 times more storage", or if they're purpously making drives smaller than they can so they can sell us drives over and over on the upgrade treadmill. 750GB is obviously nowhere near 10x 500GB (same with the 40 single platter/80GB double 1.8" PR drives vs. the 30/60 1.8" drives.)
Don't put batteries in laptops! They can explode!
The average person who knows what he's doing, sure. If that gets in the official mag, I bet there'll be at least a few "I want to try that too" types who completely screw up.
But that wouldn't be flashy enough! Hide the power supply in some dark corner where it can't get any ventilation, and make the console itself look nicer. That's what I always say!
Nice rant on fans on video cards (if incorrect), but the only real drawback of fans is the extra noise they make. Obviously most people see that as better than being limited by the amount of GPU power that can be cooled passively.
The power plug on a video card isn't for the fan, it's for the GPU. Modern video cards use what, 120 watts, 5 of which are used to power the fan?
Each console generation is using more and more power than the last. 25 years from now, will there be an article complaining about consoles that use 1.5KW?
Obviously there's a limit to how much you can draw on a US 120V socket, but I doubt many would be happy if their console used as much power as a space heater.
Unfortunately, it doesn't come with a wrist strap/thumb pad. Of course, they're selling one on store.nintendo.com but it looks like it's the exact same as the old DS's strap.
I've been trying to get the strap from my old DS into the lite for a while, but the holes on the DS are pretty small. Getting it in the first hole isn't that tough, but I push and push and it won't come out the other end. Think I'm going to have to find a needle.
I was referring to the fact that the PS2 didn't do much besides play games, not that it didn't sell incredibly well.
Forgetting for the moment that all videogame consoles are computers...
What else could be upgraded besides the hard drive? I really doubt you'll be able to swap in a new CPU or GPU. Maybe RAM like you could upgrade on the N64. (though I have my doubts) Or, does he mean that new PS3s will be more powerful than the old ones and that the old ones won't be upgradable?
What would be the point of continuing to call it a PS3 then? People who bought a PS3 for $600 in 2006 would be homicidal if a "PS3" game was released a couple years down the line that couldn't be played (or maybe it could only be played at a low resolution/framerate) on their old PS3. People expect a game for a console to just work in that console.
Also, wasn't the PS2's official title "computer entertainment system"? Look how that worked out.
That's too bad. The Fruit Fucker would be perfect for AO rated games.
It is possible for MS to start shipping 360s with HD-DVD (or Blu-Ray if they wanted to) built in if that's what the market decides is necessary, you know. Of course, they wouldn't be able to put games on the new format unless they wanted to say "screw you" to the previous 360 owners, but I doubt people would be saying "Xbox 360 sucks because its games are on DVD!"
In six years, Blu-Ray will either still be a niche market, in which case the average person won't care, or it'll be popular enough that you can get players cheaper than the PS3.
As for the PS3 being more powerful, even if true, it won't matter. Did anyone in the history of gaming say "I'm getting Xbox because it's more powerful than PS2"? Well, somebody probably did, but not many.
As to which will have better games, guess we'll just have to wait and see which one attracts more devs in the long run.
You mean except for games like PSO and FF XI? It seems to me that with Live, you have to pay a monthly fee for the same types of games that you'd have to pay a monthly fee on PS2. Only difference is that Live has an extra $50/year on top of it.
The rental services are also limited in what players they use. While this might not be a huge deal, it's further limiting choice. I like Rockbox, dammit.
Also, what about gapless playback? Do any of the music rental places offer albums that'll play continuously without irritating gaps between the tracks? While the average person might not care, I absolutely can't stand albums that have gaps where they shouldn't.
Which has to come first though? I say it's the people buying the system. Would PS2 have so many games today if there wasn't that initial craze for it? Will PS3 be anywhere near as popular initially as the PS2? From what I'm hearing there aren't a huge number of people who are interested in it at that price, but I could be wrong.
Ah yes, found it. Looks like it's called the "Exertainment System"