Here's a thought:
When are people going to stop focusing on kids playing violent video games and start focusing on kids that are "violent"?
Or more to the point. Why not encourage them to be violent since the government will be sending them to Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Syria, North Korea anyway. If games make them more violent, the government should be all for it. Afterall, are you going to send somebody who's had a steady diet of the Sims and Dance Revolution to go find Zarqawi in Fallujah?
I thought this guy was supposed to be a practicing attorney. Does he ever do any real work? How is it he has so much time to squander on this childish crusade of his?
Looking up the hardware without knowing what all the specs mean is useless. Going to Tom's Hardware only clarifies things somewhat. You guys must really think the planet is inhabited soley by geeks. No doubt it's easy for you to put together a computer, but could you also rebuild a transmission, whip up a souffle, or grow award winning roses? If you can do all these things, than good for you. If you can't, then you maybe you really do understand the plight of the computer noob.
I know emough about computers to keep them running and no more. Where I work, that makes me the "computer expert". I get questions about how to cut and paste, why is a website loading so slow, how to do I configure my email, etc. These are not questions from dumb people, these are questions from your average everyday computer users who really don't know enough to keep a computer running and need somebody around to make sure it all keeps running. God forbid they should get a virus.
Now what you're suggesting is that people like this can build their own computers with just a little bit of research. You are dead wrong. They wouldn't even know where to begin, and more importantly, they would know better than to try rather than end up like those idiots in the hardware forums.
I never said anything about INSTALLING computer games. I was talking about the upgrading and patching you will have to do when you get some of the games. Let's face it, most computers you buy have integrated graphics which are not nearly good enough for most of the games out there. That's means buying a video card, and unless you speak technobabble, the only facts about the various cards that are going to be understandable is the price. Again, you guys are unable to look at it from the non-techie viewpoint. Even of those who THINK they know how to build a computer often find themselves lost. The internet message boards are full of complaints about their mobo melting down and other problems. You'll say those people didn't know what the hell they were doing, and that's the whole point. They don't get it so how could a noob? Screw it up and it could easily be hundreds of dollars down the drain, especially if you want that AMD64 processor or GeForce 7800GT card or such. Afterall, if you're building your own rig, you want the latest and greatest, right?
No, consoles will not disappear because they just work with no patching, upgrading, etc.
Yeah and most of what you just said comes from somebody who knows about computers. My point was and is that consoles are better for non-technical people. You buy the game, you put it in and it plays. It not always so simple with a PC, and if you don't know what to do, you'd best be reaching for the Tylenol even while you get on the gamer bulletin boards looking for answers because oftentimes the game companies themselves don't even know why a game is having problems on a particular set of hardware.
I suspect like most Slashdotters you expect that all gamers are as tech smart as you are. You have to put aside everything you know for a minute and pretend you have just bought your first computer knowing squat.
Consoles no longer have any hope of matching a PC's performance, at least not getting dramatically more expensive.
Couple of problems here. I have 19" monitor and 25" tv. I should get a 25" monitor? Not likely. There's also the matter of affording a top end video card which is necessary for some PC games and certainly if you want those impressive graphics. Almost puts you over the top by itself over the price of the new consoles. That doesn't include that new processor you're going to want to make that machine really hum. A lot of people spend $1000 or more on a gaming rig these days. If you go cheap, you'll not only get less impressive effects, but you're also more likely to have hardware difficulties which brings about the final problem. If you're going to be a serious PC gamer, you better know about hardware. Nothing can be worse than a $650 or so computer not running a $20 game because this card or that chipset is not compatible. Then you patch, then you patch on top of that patch. PC gaming can be sheer madness and really only for real geeks.
Thanks for clearing that up. I don't remember KOTOR 1 ever freezing or crashing on me, but I did have some problems wit KOTOR 2 after I'd put many hours into it.
Slashdot Mirror
I'll second that.
Or more to the point. Why not encourage them to be violent since the government will be sending them to Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Syria, North Korea anyway. If games make them more violent, the government should be all for it. Afterall, are you going to send somebody who's had a steady diet of the Sims and Dance Revolution to go find Zarqawi in Fallujah?
Well, for the record Scooby did $153 Million. Not exactly a bomb.
KOTOR was game of the year, and the Battlefront series is highly sucessful as well.
I thought this guy was supposed to be a practicing attorney. Does he ever do any real work? How is it he has so much time to squander on this childish crusade of his?
Looking up the hardware without knowing what all the specs mean is useless. Going to Tom's Hardware only clarifies things somewhat. You guys must really think the planet is inhabited soley by geeks. No doubt it's easy for you to put together a computer, but could you also rebuild a transmission, whip up a souffle, or grow award winning roses? If you can do all these things, than good for you. If you can't, then you maybe you really do understand the plight of the computer noob. I know emough about computers to keep them running and no more. Where I work, that makes me the "computer expert". I get questions about how to cut and paste, why is a website loading so slow, how to do I configure my email, etc. These are not questions from dumb people, these are questions from your average everyday computer users who really don't know enough to keep a computer running and need somebody around to make sure it all keeps running. God forbid they should get a virus. Now what you're suggesting is that people like this can build their own computers with just a little bit of research. You are dead wrong. They wouldn't even know where to begin, and more importantly, they would know better than to try rather than end up like those idiots in the hardware forums.
No, consoles will not disappear because they just work with no patching, upgrading, etc.
Or we are still okay with people/corporations squandering our tax dollars on frivolous lawsuits.
Yeah and most of what you just said comes from somebody who knows about computers. My point was and is that consoles are better for non-technical people. You buy the game, you put it in and it plays. It not always so simple with a PC, and if you don't know what to do, you'd best be reaching for the Tylenol even while you get on the gamer bulletin boards looking for answers because oftentimes the game companies themselves don't even know why a game is having problems on a particular set of hardware. I suspect like most Slashdotters you expect that all gamers are as tech smart as you are. You have to put aside everything you know for a minute and pretend you have just bought your first computer knowing squat.
Consoles no longer have any hope of matching a PC's performance, at least not getting dramatically more expensive. Couple of problems here. I have 19" monitor and 25" tv. I should get a 25" monitor? Not likely. There's also the matter of affording a top end video card which is necessary for some PC games and certainly if you want those impressive graphics. Almost puts you over the top by itself over the price of the new consoles. That doesn't include that new processor you're going to want to make that machine really hum. A lot of people spend $1000 or more on a gaming rig these days. If you go cheap, you'll not only get less impressive effects, but you're also more likely to have hardware difficulties which brings about the final problem. If you're going to be a serious PC gamer, you better know about hardware. Nothing can be worse than a $650 or so computer not running a $20 game because this card or that chipset is not compatible. Then you patch, then you patch on top of that patch. PC gaming can be sheer madness and really only for real geeks.
It's been reported that there's room for both PC and Console gamers on this planet...
You're going to need a much more expensive video card than that if you want to compare to the XBox360.
I'd add the KOTORs to that.
Ah, but there are an awful lot of us waiting for KOTOR 3. They'd better come up with it.
Thanks for clearing that up. I don't remember KOTOR 1 ever freezing or crashing on me, but I did have some problems wit KOTOR 2 after I'd put many hours into it.