I too loathed using ATI's drivers back when they released the first Radeon. Nothing worked whereas Nvidia's always did.
Since then ATI has recognized this as a huge obstacle to people using their products and did a complete 180. They now release drivers in a timely manner that work extremely well as well as adding cool new features. 3.8 let you make use of Shaders in games that originally weren't programmed with them.
Granted 3.8 have been reported as causing problems. But I never got around to upgrading and am still with 3.7 and am totally happy. 3.8 seemed like a big change as they combined what used to be seperate packages of drivers and control panel into one file.
Please PLEASE note that no matter what card you have, UNINSTALL YOUR OLD DRIVERS you will hose your box by not doing so. If you complete this simple task of Uninstall Control panel, reboot, uninstall drivers reboot, don't let XP automatically install drivers, and then run the installer for the new drivers you'll be fine.
Some people bitch and moan about this, and I never undestood why. You want something easier than that go get a Mac.
You're right FLAC is only about 1/2 the space. A 256 VBR MP3 is about a 1/6th I've found. I find those to be the point where it's too hard on my cheap headphones to distinguish a difference.
My ideal would be an option to download 128 AAC or some very high quality file.
Not everyone cares about the crust on the bread of their sandwhiches, but I do::)
I gotta give those Audio DVDs, SACDs a try. They sound intriguing.
That's a lot of stores, but you can always just order it. Or ask them to hold it for you if they get it in stock.
I've found iTunes has about 40% of what I want anyway. Better chance of finding my albums in the used store than on iTunes.
It still comes down to quality though, it's not present in the AAC's.
Maybe some day bandwith will be cheap enough they'll give us FLAC downloads or something. But then people will bitch that it takes too long to download.
I'm sorry, I'm not even an audiophile and I can hear a difference between a 128Kbps AAC and a FLAC. Yeah you can buy one song at a time. But that's only good for those pop singles.
So for $10/album I get no media, no notes, and less quality. Or I can get a used CD for the same price/cheaper and rip to 256Kbps myself.
Yeah I guess it saves me the trip into the hated sun world, but are people really finding this worth it?
In other news iTunes is a great program. Some flaws, and it eats RAM, but still fun to use.
Last I checked there weren't millions of people playing CS.
Can't wait for the TV studios to get wind of bittorrent.
I know what the real cause is of falling ratings. These things called books! They capture a potential TV victim for hours without even one advertisement! How fucking dare they. They are stealing money that is ours.
I swear I'll get one song and then it's onto commercials. Scanning through stations, every one that is playing mainstream, pop, rock, alt, hiphop, rap, classic rock has commercials on.
I guess I shouldn't expect much under the sports category since if you're a serious gamer you can't play sports games. Only stupid jocks play them. But comeon:
COMPUTER GAMES--Sports John Madden Football
That's it? Tecmo bowl anyone? RBI Baseball? NHL on Genesis?
Have you read the comments most people post on these things, anyway? They're even more asinine than the weblogs themselves...
Yeah I mean who reads these comments anyway? Can you imagine a site full of these asinine people writting about stuff they don't even know the first thing about?
Apparently, the adapter cartridge doesn't have a decoding chip of any form. Using a technology called ACTIMAGINE, the Game Boy Advance's ARM7 CPU is able to handle all the decoding on its own,:-0
Amazing, I gotta see just how good this video is for myself.
I find it hard to believe that GBA's 12MHz ARM7 CPU can handle decoding well enough when a GP32 clocked at 166Mhz with an ARM9, while able to do video can't really give clear DiVX 4 video at 24fps or greater.
That's just it, there's no RPG. The only RPG part of it is that you can build up relationships with others and form bands to fight the demons.
Not everyone enjoys spending time fighting rats and leveling up. A lot of people would just like to kick ass, and kicking ass in a huge world would be great fun.
This way you can just jump in and play, no huge learning curve. Some people don't need to be a level 99 mage to feel good::)
OK here's my idea, if anyone develops it I'd love to get a call from you.
My problem and other people's problems with MMORPG is that they don't end and are tedius and boring. I know a lot of gamers who don't like the RPG elemennt, but like MM.
So here's what I propose. A FPS like Doom II co-op. The developers make a world, let's say, Mars is invaded, you have to fight back the demons. There are several seperate areas in this world that are just packed with AI demons. It is your job and the job of several thousand others to fight and defeat this area. You might secure it but once defeated it will still come under attack so players will always have to stay and keep it secure.
Perhaps there are a few behind the scenes people who direct demon advances, but for the large part it's just AI. You don't have one character that you play over and over, it's more like you can chose a character like Battlefield 1942 every time you respawn.
After all areas on the planet are defeated. The game ends! THat's the best part you can actually win.
Now here's where the developers earn their salary, when that first world is defeated, there's a new storyline/new world. In the meantime, while the new world is being setup, players can play normal 64/32 player deathmatch.
The advantages are many, you can jump right in and enjoy yourself for an hour a week and feel fulfilled. Or you can play with a group and really battle to take these areas and win.
I'm sure we can add so much more to this type of game and it'd require crazy amounts of server power, but in 5 years who knows.
In my mind though even if it was only $240 vs $310 it'd be far better to save an extra $70 to get the Zodiac. THe GP32's software can't hold a candle to the tweaked PalmOS on Zodiac and the hardware is still heads and shoulders above GP32.
I was about to get a GP32 when I learned about Zodiac. In the end I got a GBA:SP. But would love a Zodiac next year when they drop in price.
The Tapwave Zodiac which is just shipping now in the states blows the GP32 out of the water as it'll do everything the GP32 does and a ton more all for about the same price.
(Yes the non FLU GP32 is cheaper, but you get the FLU unit, some recharable batteries, a SMC, etc and you're not looking at much of a difference at all)
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I too loathed using ATI's drivers back when they released the first Radeon. Nothing worked whereas Nvidia's always did.
Since then ATI has recognized this as a huge obstacle to people using their products and did a complete 180. They now release drivers in a timely manner that work extremely well as well as adding cool new features. 3.8 let you make use of Shaders in games that originally weren't programmed with them.
Granted 3.8 have been reported as causing problems. But I never got around to upgrading and am still with 3.7 and am totally happy. 3.8 seemed like a big change as they combined what used to be seperate packages of drivers and control panel into one file.
Please PLEASE note that no matter what card you have, UNINSTALL YOUR OLD DRIVERS you will hose your box by not doing so. If you complete this simple task of Uninstall Control panel, reboot, uninstall drivers reboot, don't let XP automatically install drivers, and then run the installer for the new drivers you'll be fine.
Some people bitch and moan about this, and I never undestood why. You want something easier than that go get a Mac.
Just make sure to back up your AAC's to CD, otherwise your one time downloads are going to become two time purchases when your HDD crashes ::)
#616, damn, old school.
You're right FLAC is only about 1/2 the space. A 256 VBR MP3 is about a 1/6th I've found. I find those to be the point where it's too hard on my cheap headphones to distinguish a difference.
::)
My ideal would be an option to download 128 AAC or some very high quality file.
Not everyone cares about the crust on the bread of their sandwhiches, but I do
I gotta give those Audio DVDs, SACDs a try. They sound intriguing.
That's a lot of stores, but you can always just order it. Or ask them to hold it for you if they get it in stock.
I've found iTunes has about 40% of what I want anyway. Better chance of finding my albums in the used store than on iTunes.
It still comes down to quality though, it's not present in the AAC's.
Maybe some day bandwith will be cheap enough they'll give us FLAC downloads or something. But then people will bitch that it takes too long to download.
Ah well. If ya like it more power to you.
I'm sorry, I'm not even an audiophile and I can hear a difference between a 128Kbps AAC and a FLAC. Yeah you can buy one song at a time. But that's only good for those pop singles.
So for $10/album I get no media, no notes, and less quality. Or I can get a used CD for the same price/cheaper and rip to 256Kbps myself.
Yeah I guess it saves me the trip into the hated sun world, but are people really finding this worth it?
In other news iTunes is a great program. Some flaws, and it eats RAM, but still fun to use.
Just like there was no Alien 4 thankfully.
Last I checked there weren't millions of people playing CS.
Can't wait for the TV studios to get wind of bittorrent.
I know what the real cause is of falling ratings. These things called books! They capture a potential TV victim for hours without even one advertisement! How fucking dare they. They are stealing money that is ours.
When I actually chuckled out loud and was asked by a co-worker what was so funny. I immediately felt like the biggest nerd on the face of the planet.
Anyone else been watching those NOVA specials on String Theory? I've been taping but haven't had a chance to watch.
Stop blaming your pollution woes on us!
Sooo, when a engineered weapon only kills 80% of its victims and maims another 15% it's ok.
100% DEATH RATE?????? WHAT YOU THINKING YOU INHUMAN BASTARDS.
Gimme a break. It's all evil.
I swear I'll get one song and then it's onto commercials. Scanning through stations, every one that is playing mainstream, pop, rock, alt, hiphop, rap, classic rock has commercials on.
Probably all clear channel stations.
Just really annoying.
Heh, I forgot the tags, there tends to be an undercurrent amoungst gamers to dislike thos who play sports titles.
I guess I shouldn't expect much under the sports category since if you're a serious gamer you can't play sports games. Only stupid jocks play them. But comeon:
COMPUTER GAMES--Sports
John Madden Football
That's it? Tecmo bowl anyone? RBI Baseball? NHL on Genesis?
Had to replace my motorola v60 vlip cell phone. Got a new ericsson t2260 something on the new AT&T GSM network.
KNow what? Fuck all the bells & whistles give me an intelligent UI and let it do the damn basics of what a phone should do.
Until the cell phone companies get the basics of making and receiving calls down to a science don't start throwing in a thousand useless extras.
Pictures and MMS? Sounds? Useless. Color screen? again, useless eats up batterylife
There are wrappers to run NVidia's vaunted demos out there on ATI cards (Better too)
The D3D wrapper might make this game playable with few tweaks.
Have you read the comments most people post on these things, anyway? They're even more asinine than the weblogs themselves...
::)
Yeah I mean who reads these comments anyway? Can you imagine a site full of these asinine people writting about stuff they don't even know the first thing about?
What a stupid stupid idea
What a great way for me to know who I can cold-call and sell absolutely nothing of value!!!
Heck I'd like to see the numbers on who plays and pays in There and who pays for stuff from infomercials. It's gotta be a high percentage.
From the article:
:-0
Apparently, the adapter cartridge doesn't have a decoding chip of any form. Using a technology called ACTIMAGINE, the Game Boy Advance's ARM7 CPU is able to handle all the decoding on its own,
Amazing, I gotta see just how good this video is for myself.
I find it hard to believe that GBA's 12MHz ARM7 CPU can handle decoding well enough when a GP32 clocked at 166Mhz with an ARM9, while able to do video can't really give clear DiVX 4 video at 24fps or greater.
Maybe the software is really that good?
That's just it, there's no RPG. The only RPG part of it is that you can build up relationships with others and form bands to fight the demons.
::)
Not everyone enjoys spending time fighting rats and leveling up. A lot of people would just like to kick ass, and kicking ass in a huge world would be great fun.
This way you can just jump in and play, no huge learning curve. Some people don't need to be a level 99 mage to feel good
OK here's my idea, if anyone develops it I'd love to get a call from you.
My problem and other people's problems with MMORPG is that they don't end and are tedius and boring. I know a lot of gamers who don't like the RPG elemennt, but like MM.
So here's what I propose. A FPS like Doom II co-op. The developers make a world, let's say, Mars is invaded, you have to fight back the demons. There are several seperate areas in this world that are just packed with AI demons. It is your job and the job of several thousand others to fight and defeat this area. You might secure it but once defeated it will still come under attack so players will always have to stay and keep it secure.
Perhaps there are a few behind the scenes people who direct demon advances, but for the large part it's just AI. You don't have one character that you play over and over, it's more like you can chose a character like Battlefield 1942 every time you respawn.
After all areas on the planet are defeated. The game ends! THat's the best part you can actually win.
Now here's where the developers earn their salary, when that first world is defeated, there's a new storyline/new world. In the meantime, while the new world is being setup, players can play normal 64/32 player deathmatch.
The advantages are many, you can jump right in and enjoy yourself for an hour a week and feel fulfilled. Or you can play with a group and really battle to take these areas and win.
I'm sure we can add so much more to this type of game and it'd require crazy amounts of server power, but in 5 years who knows.
I'd love playing this game.
It's waayyy too big for a cellphone I think.
I guess it could fit in my jacket pocket, but it'd be nice to have in my pants...
Heyo!
This is for the entire quarter. The Cube price drop was too recent.
It's more like they're reaching a market saturation point.
Lik-sang just dropped the price. But let's flesh it out anyway.
$210 + $22shipping + $40 SMC card + $30decent rechargable batteries/charger + $15 case = $317
$300 + $8 shipping = $308
In my mind though even if it was only $240 vs $310 it'd be far better to save an extra $70 to get the Zodiac. THe GP32's software can't hold a candle to the tweaked PalmOS on Zodiac and the hardware is still heads and shoulders above GP32.
I was about to get a GP32 when I learned about Zodiac. In the end I got a GBA:SP. But would love a Zodiac next year when they drop in price.
The Tapwave Zodiac which is just shipping now in the states blows the GP32 out of the water as it'll do everything the GP32 does and a ton more all for about the same price.
(Yes the non FLU GP32 is cheaper, but you get the FLU unit, some recharable batteries, a SMC, etc and you're not looking at much of a difference at all)