That's funny I have been to many Game and EB's stores and I never seen a second hand PS3 for sale. I have however seen lots of Xbox360's and even Wii's not to mention PS2 and Xbox's. I have even seen second hand DS's and PSP's for sale as well. Still you took back your PS3 to early if you really wanted you could have swapped it for the new 120GB Xbox360 and AU$99 what a bargain.:-)
Well I have a PS3 and if I play a PS1 or PS2 game that support rumble my DualShock with PS3 adaptor rumbles. I have found that rumble can improve the atmospheric quality of some games and on other games rumble IMHO is not necessary and annoying. The nice thing about the PS1/2 games that support rumble is the fact that you can turn it off if you really don't want it. I am pleased that Sony is going to bring out a sixaxis shock controller especially if they bring out their new patented force-feedback which IMHO looks interesting, now I will be able (if I buy the controller) to have the option of leaving it on for some games and off for others so IMHO rumble is an optional thing while motion sensing in a game that requires this is essential and can't be turned off.
Actually I rather like the lightness of the sixaxis controller over my heavier DualShock controller since I prefer RPG's and Action adventure games and a lighter controller enables me to play a lot more comfortably.
Look at the following chart http://vgchartz.com/hwcomps.php?cons1=X360®1=All&cons2=PS3®2=All&cons3=Wii®3=All&align=1 and you can see that if you align the launches the PS3 and the Xbox360 are tracking each other, how long this will go on remains to be seen. What is significant is the massive take-up of the Wii which is not really that surprising considering the Wii is less than half the price of a PS3, whether this translates into good game sales remains to be seen. What Microsoft and Sony are trying to do is to position their consoles as a home entertainment hub with an empathise on gaming, Nintendo on the other hand have positioned the Wii as a fun game machine so it really is not in the same category as the PS3 and the Xbox360.
One of reasons why Microsoft brought out the Xbox360 early was Nvidia stopped producing graphics cards for the Xbox since Microsoft wanted them at a much cheaper price rather than bleed money (approx US5 billion) on the original Xbox, so basically they did not have to much choice but to bring out the Xbox360 early although they did not do a very good job on reliability testing and this is costing them still.
Re:Really not that bad
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Lair Review
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· Score: 1
Take a look at the following http://youtube.com/watch?v=Ex1F6vRasNU for the fluid control of the dragon. There is another video which I can't seem to find now of what not to do such a going ballistic (I assume the Author did this) with the controller which does not get you very far and in the same video it shows you haw to control your dragon, which really does look impressive.
Some of the major reviewers have not been overly impressed with this game and while I have not played the game myself I have played the demo of Folkelaw and I have been very impressed with the PS3 sixaxis controller. IMHO using the motion sensing capability of the sixaxis does take a little getting use to but it really is fun. It will be interesting to see how the new sixaxis shock controller handles, keeping in mind that if the rumble gets annoying and IMHO it can get that way then you can turn it off just like the Dual Shock.
I don't think anyone would arrest you on the moon but it would be interesting to see what happens assuming you return to Earth. Anyway as far as space flight goes the astronaut is really only along for the ride and it is up to the country or consortium to fill out the requisite paperwork. I can't see the US, China, Russia, India or Europe arresting anyone if the person concerned takes an "unlicensed" space craft and blasts off to the moon (aka Star Wars) since this is not like hopping in a light aircraft and in the majority of cases "blasts" usually means being scattered all over the landscape.:-)
Even if this craft can reach speeds of 10% the speed of light we would still be limited to interplanetary exploration and exploitation (human nature dictates this). As far as interstellar travel goes it would still take about 45 years to send a spacecraft to the nearest star, not to mention the 4.5 year transmission delay. Still interplanetary travel is a big breakthrough if this article can be believed.
The real breakthrough would be an interstellar spacecraft (the realm of Science Fiction at the moment) and this would really open up our galaxy, however a person would have to live for thousands of years to visit each solar system in our galaxy for just one day even assuming travel between each solar system is almost instantaneous. Think "Star gate technology. Well I did say in the realm of Science Fiction:-)
No you don't need to rush out an buy the sixaxis shock controller unless you feel that you "positively have" to have rumble in the game your playing (assuming it supports rumble). Even if you go back to the PS1 and PS2 games that support rumble you normally had the option to turn the rumble feature off. With the PS3 games that support sixaxis functionality you wont have any option to turn this feature off, so sixaxis on the PS3 is essential while rumble will become optional which it always has been.
Since the PS3 can work with 1 to 7 controllers you most likely only need one new sixaxis shock controller (well maybe two) but only if you feel you absolutely need it, still it's your money and Sony is not the only company "nickel and diming" you with peripherals. Actually the winner would be Nintendo since I never seen so many options for the Wii.
You do realise that if you play PS1 and PS2 games on your PS3 that you can use a Dualshock controller with a PS2 to USB adaptor and if the the game supports rumble the controller will vibrate accordingly. Of course you should have firmware 1.8 or greater.
As far as battery life goes I have a Logitech 2 wireless PS2 controller that supports rumble and I can get well over 50 hours out of 2 AA batteries so I would not be surprised if the new "sixaxis-shock controller" has a battery life of 24 or more hours with charging via the same USB cable which if you did not know can be used on any live USB port (PS3 or PC it does not matter and when the leds stop flashing the battery is charged). If Sony uses their new shock patent which looks very interesting then it may draw even less current than the original DualShock motors.
Personally I play more PS2 games on my PS3 than native PS3 games because IMHO there are plenty (read too many) of PS2 games that I like with more coming out so I am quite happy to wait till next year for native PS3 games that I can really like. Since the PS3 will upscale and smooth PS2 games to a HDTV playing that PS2 game is almost, but not quite like playing a first generation PS3 game.
When I picked up the 6 axis for the first time I was surprised how light it was and for games such as adventure and RPG's I found the controller excellent to the point I don't miss the relatively heavy DualShock. I won't deny that for some games rumble can be atmospheric and for some people it is a must. Still if you play for long periods of time a heavy controller with rumble can lead to sore hands.
In FFX if you had the time you can teach everyone the same magic, skills and strength although their weapons are different. I do prefer the active turn base which you got in FF6 (US FF3) although it was configurable over just turn-base. Personally I never liked FF8 although I did like FF7 (there very few "full-motion cut-scenes" that I noticed) although I never had the time to play FF9 since it came out very late in the PS1's life. Still what one person likes another may agree or disagree on and this is fine by me.
I have used many commercial compilers over the years and I don't remember the being told that if I use a particular compiler that the code I wrote is now subject to the licensing of that compiler. If you read the GPL 2 or even GPL 3 properly it does not say that you have to license any software you wrote (assuming from first principles) to the GPL unless the original software that you are modifying or collaborating on is licensed under the GPL.
Basically if you write software from first principles and use any compiler such gcc or commercial compiler for that matter you can license that software under any license you want. You can even give it away if you want but don't expect anything back from people who use and modify it or even make it proprietary, I am afraid that sort of expectation and nievity died in the mid 1980's.
Well you just made the comment "If I didn't play PC games that needed Windows". Once you have made this comment then all I can recommend is stick with MS Windows because Wine will only help you in a limited way if you are willing to learn. Basically once you lock yourself into a MS Windows solution as (at least to me) you appear to have done then you going to have a hard time getting out of it.
In case you are wondering I am posting from Firefox which is running under the Fedora 7 OS on my laptop (my family uses this machine as well) and I don't miss MS Windows since I mainly play console games. I still like some of the old Nintendo and Sega games and I have have native Linux emulators to play the roms. Please note I am not recommending Fedora since unless you are willing to really learn Linux administration you would be better off with Ubuntu or PSLinuxOS (what I use at work). If you are really serious about learning Linux I would only recommend a dual boot for a month or two and then make a decision to pick one or the other because I know that unless you go "cold turkey" which I did with Linux you will backslide to MS Windows.
If you have a work PC only I would be surprised if you would be allowed to run any version of Linux (dual boot or native) so you are effectively locked into MS Windows.\on a work Laptop or PC.
From what I have read Linus appears quite accepting of GPL2 otherwise the Linux kernel would not have it, but he does not think the GPL3 is warranted. Of course that is his opinion and I respect him for it. Like it or not Law becomes a matter of precedent (INAL) and ruthless companies are always looking at ways of bending or circumventing but not actually breaking the Law, hence the need for laws to be expanded and hopefully improved on and because of this we now have the GPL3. In a few more years I would not be surprised if a GPL4 appears since companies like Microsoft have a bevy of very highly skilled lawyers on retainer and they would be very astute at finding a loop hole in the GPL3 if there is one.
People may think why has not a ruthless company found a way of circumventing the GPL3 as well. This is actually quite complex and from what I can gather they have not, but all that is needed is a small but significant change in Law and a loophole may appear then watch said company pounce.
It is good that Linux is trademarked so that unscrupulous companies cannot steal or subvert it, however you still have to be vigilant otherwise I would not be surprised that a company or even a person trying to show good faith provides code that is not open or is under copyright or patent which then brings Linux into disrepute. Maybe I am getting cynical in my old age but I do think these words attributed to Thomas Jefferson (1779) sum it up "The price of liberty is eternal vigilance". I hope that is out of trademark or copyright otherwise I am in trouble:-)
I live in Australia and other posters live in the UK and Europe and we don't get subsidised like that. While I cannot speak for the UK or Europe I do know that HDTV sales are huge over here to the predicted tune of AU$2.5 billion (approx US$2.1 billion) over this year, http://blogs.smh.com.au/fastforward/archives/2007/09/where_do_your_digital_dollars.html. I can make a reasonable guess that (just on this years spending) means about 10% to 30% HDTV adoption by the average householder.
I think I would trust the following http://www.vgchartz.com/ re overall console sales. Actually the Nintendo Wii is doing exceptionally well compared to the PS3 and Xbox360, however since it is around half the price it is no wonder that this is the case.
An interesting comparison is to look at is "match the console launch" and the PS3 almost shadows the Xbox360 sales but when you look at the Wii sales they are exceptional.
The dilemma game developers are in now is if they are actually going to support Wii because if you look at Wii game hits nearly all them come from Nintendo. For good game support on the Wii it is essential that game companies make good sales although this requires good games, otherwise all you will see is one or two token games from each developer. Obviously Nintendo does have their own game producers and the Wii will be still supported but gaming companies can only do so much before you start to see games that are just a minor variation on a theme and IMHO that is what I am seeing now on all systems with hardly any interesting or innovative games.
I would not count 20+ million for the Gamecube as bad although if you compare it against the PS2 it looks like it is but Nintendo actually did make money on the Gamecube and its games so they did make a reasonable profit although I don't know how the game manufacturers went. What pissed of some people was its short support life although to be fair the Xbox had an even shorter one and I am glad I never bought one.
Basically it is a bit like comparing the DS (approx 49 million) and the PSP (approx 23 million) both companies are making quite a profit from the machines and games although Nintendo is making more. For the Nintendo fanboys you can now say "Nintendo rulz!" but what is the point both companies are doing well and IMHO competition is good for everyone.
Actually one thing that Nintendo did for the first time (IMHO a good move) with the Wii was to make it backwards compatible with the Gamecube and allow for the download of NES and SNES games. I personally still like some of the old NES, SNES, Sega and other old games but I can play the roms on my PC and I run Linux (Fedora 7). My son on the other hand has a home-brew PSP and can also play those games as well. While the Wii's success is great for Nintendo and its own game companies will other game companies do well out of making games for it? I am quite sure many game companies are not sure what to do it could be a gold mine or they could loose money.
If you subscribe to cable you normally have a set-top box that can take either analogue or digital. That same set-top box will then output an AV (composite) or component signal to your TV and most TV's that are at least under 20 years old can take at least one of these signals. Sound from your set-top box on the other hand can be connected to your TV or stereo system. Basically if you subscribe to cable it does not matter if your TV is Standard Definition or High Definition.
Broadcast TV can be digital or analogue and this is were the problem occurs since if the broadcast is digital only then people who have a Standard Definition TV with an analogue tuner will not be able to display digital transmissions unless they have a set-top box that can do the conversion. I think the next question to ask is how much does a set-top box cost in the US (since this is were the issue has been raised)? I can even answer that from the following article http://www.digitaltvdesignline.com/news/198100146 which is US$60 with a Government rebate of US$40. Now that is a good deal.
To those people against the switch to digital because it is going to cost them US$20 it may be a good idea to start saving (all-right I have not covered portables). Crying poor does not help since my next question is how did you afford a SD TV in the first place? Of course I assumed the SD TV as not stolen but if it was then why did you get a SD TV instead of a HD TV?:-)
Calling a six thousand page document "superb" on a proposed standard is nothing sort of loosing the plot IMHO, especially when you have what could be called "ballot stuffing" by Microsoft (of course they would not call it that). But selling out for five digits? where is your dignity, that's only 99,999 and you may get that in Yen, I would not do it for less than a seven digit number in British pounds (exclusive of tax of course).:-)
My sentiments exactly. When I read the article one would assume the small inventor would be hurt by this bill but I would like to know how this is the case. When I see high profile patent infringement cases the main part of the infringement is normally some minor part and in many ways "obvious" of the of the overall product yet this can net the patent holder millions if they win in a patent law case.
I tend to keep from commenting on patents other than software ones which IMHO should never exist however I am quite capable of understanding technical ones once I get past the legal jargon and from the limited but more high profile ones I have seen, many of these patents are just a "variation on a theme", "prior art" or "obvious" and are not even deserving of a patent in the first place.
The following is a snippet from the Article:
The patent system "is getting near broken," said Representative Howard Berman, a California Democrat and primary sponsor of the bill. "Doing nothing is not a good answer for a Congress that wants the economy strong."
Opponents argued the bill favors tech giants at the expense of small inventors. "The legislation... helps a small group of powerful people," said Representative Dana Rohrabacher, a California Republican.
Representative Marcy Kaptur, an Ohio Democrat, noted that between 1993 and 2005, four major tech vendors supporting the bill paid out US$3.5 billion in patent infringement settlements. But those same unnamed tech vendors had revenues of $1.4 trillion during that time period, she said.
The first paragraph is a statement of the obvious or in non legal talk "The current patent system is stuffed".
The second and third is the usual grandstanding from opposing parties. In fact the third paragraph shows us how this person thinks in regard to the large corporations such as "Oh it is ok for these corporation to loose $3.5 billion since they can afford it". Well my question to that is "Who eventually pays for all this in the long term?" and the answer is not the so called "unnamed tech vendors".
Because the 60GB and now the 80GB PS3 has WiFi why would you want to move your PS3? If you have a second TV just get a Component/Composite stereo transmitter and take your controller in the room you have your second TV and play any PS1/2/3 game. Of course a second HDTV (say 26") is almost a must but it would leave the rest of the family free to watch the large screen HDTV in your living room, unless they want to watch a Bluray movie on the PS3 (sigh!). Having the ability to play the PS3 game on your PSP (if you have one) is nice but this capability depends on the actual game.
I have played on many game machines and with regard to analogue sticks I don't really have any issues with the Gamecube, Xbox or even the PS controllers. I normally adjust my hands to accommodate the sticks and I can play for hours without getting sore hands. The exception to this was the N64 controller which I found IMHO to be horrible since I could only play an hour and my hands would cramp. Still what works for me may not work for others.
You do know that it's a near-certainty that the 80GB PS3 will go down in price by the end of the year, right?
Well if you are willing to wait another one, two or three years (how about 10 years) you will get a much better deal. Sort of stating the obvious don't you think.
Getting the 60GB or 80GB disk is not that much of a difference and if you want you can always put in a much larger off the self 2.5" disk (120Gb through 250GB plus) if you want. If you are genuinely looking at getting a PS3 then look around for a deal. I actually got mine (Australian version) for the equivalent of US$407 (AUD$499) at the time with a trade in of my 5 year old PS2 and 10 old PS2 games. Try doing a deal (if you have the money) on a reasonable size HDTV and stereo system. Many stores are willing to negotiate if you approach them the right way. Of course you need to have the fortitude to walk away if the deal is not reasonably acceptable.
From the Article "Ubisoft has told GameSpot that First Radical's sci-fi first-person shooter Haze is now being planned solely for Sony's PlayStation 3 platform".
Actually this is an excellent move by the companies concerned since who wants to bring out another FPS for the Xbox360 when they would be going head to head with Halo which would most likely result in poor sales until the Halo buying frenzy is over. So why not bring out an exclusive for the PS3 which by then will have well over 5 million owners and you have a very good chance of selling over one million copies or more if the game is that good. Later on you can bring out an Xbox360 and PC version (more potential profit) since many FPS games have similar engines so porting is fairly easy although the same can be said if you go the other way.
Before we get troll's saying "But the PS3 is hard to program for!", most games computer graphics artists don't program down to the metal they normally use a games development engine and it is up to the developer of that engine to optimise it for the particular hardware and operating system it is going to run on. For the PS3 the lowest level programming languages are C and C++ with a suite a libraries that talk to the hardware. Programming for the PS3 is no harder or easier than programming for the Xbox360 it is just different.
What is annoying IMHO is that we are seeing too many games that are just minor variations from each other and very little innovation, although I can understand why game and even movie companies do this but there is the saying "milking a cash cow" and conversely "flogging a dead horse" and it is up to the consumer to decide. Who knows if Haze or even Halo 3 does well we may yet see a Haze 2 or a Halo 4.
Is 70 plus native PS3 games or 2000 plus PS1/2 games good enough. Although why blame the console manufacture when it is the gaming companies that produce the games (yes I know Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony have their own gaming studios).
If you said "There are not enough native PS3 games for the PS3 that I like", I would agree with you but then again I can equally say the same for the Wii and the Xbox360. Todays games IMHO seem almost to be a marginal change from previous games.
As for "the PS3 is hard to develop for" that is an Urban Myth since the basic programming language is C and C++ which have been around for well over 20 years. In addition multi-processor machines have been around that long as well, so programming for them is well understood. I can understand that type of comment coming from a programmer that is in their own comfort zone and is too lazy to get out of it, but not a professional programmer. Anyway most game developers just use a game development system which does not involve low level programming. It is normally left up to the vendor of the development system to optimize their product.
Programming is only one aspect of game development there are many other factors involved and a gaming company has to get it all together otherwise they are going to loose money if their game is bad or is mediocre which in many ways is what we are seeing with many games today. To much of the same types of game results in poor sales which will hurt a gaming company as much as a bad game.
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That's funny I have been to many Game and EB's stores and I never seen a second hand PS3 for sale. I have however seen lots of Xbox360's and even Wii's not to mention PS2 and Xbox's. I have even seen second hand DS's and PSP's for sale as well. Still you took back your PS3 to early if you really wanted you could have swapped it for the new 120GB Xbox360 and AU$99 what a bargain. :-)
Well I have a PS3 and if I play a PS1 or PS2 game that support rumble my DualShock with PS3 adaptor rumbles. I have found that rumble can improve the atmospheric quality of some games and on other games rumble IMHO is not necessary and annoying. The nice thing about the PS1/2 games that support rumble is the fact that you can turn it off if you really don't want it. I am pleased that Sony is going to bring out a sixaxis shock controller especially if they bring out their new patented force-feedback which IMHO looks interesting, now I will be able (if I buy the controller) to have the option of leaving it on for some games and off for others so IMHO rumble is an optional thing while motion sensing in a game that requires this is essential and can't be turned off.
Actually I rather like the lightness of the sixaxis controller over my heavier DualShock controller since I prefer RPG's and Action adventure games and a lighter controller enables me to play a lot more comfortably.
Look at the following chart http://vgchartz.com/hwcomps.php?cons1=X360®1=All&cons2=PS3®2=All&cons3=Wii®3=All&align=1 and you can see that if you align the launches the PS3 and the Xbox360 are tracking each other, how long this will go on remains to be seen. What is significant is the massive take-up of the Wii which is not really that surprising considering the Wii is less than half the price of a PS3, whether this translates into good game sales remains to be seen. What Microsoft and Sony are trying to do is to position their consoles as a home entertainment hub with an empathise on gaming, Nintendo on the other hand have positioned the Wii as a fun game machine so it really is not in the same category as the PS3 and the Xbox360.
One of reasons why Microsoft brought out the Xbox360 early was Nvidia stopped producing graphics cards for the Xbox since Microsoft wanted them at a much cheaper price rather than bleed money (approx US5 billion) on the original Xbox, so basically they did not have to much choice but to bring out the Xbox360 early although they did not do a very good job on reliability testing and this is costing them still.
Take a look at the following http://youtube.com/watch?v=Ex1F6vRasNU for the fluid control of the dragon. There is another video which I can't seem to find now of what not to do such a going ballistic (I assume the Author did this) with the controller which does not get you very far and in the same video it shows you haw to control your dragon, which really does look impressive.
Some of the major reviewers have not been overly impressed with this game and while I have not played the game myself I have played the demo of Folkelaw and I have been very impressed with the PS3 sixaxis controller. IMHO using the motion sensing capability of the sixaxis does take a little getting use to but it really is fun. It will be interesting to see how the new sixaxis shock controller handles, keeping in mind that if the rumble gets annoying and IMHO it can get that way then you can turn it off just like the Dual Shock.
I don't think anyone would arrest you on the moon but it would be interesting to see what happens assuming you return to Earth. Anyway as far as space flight goes the astronaut is really only along for the ride and it is up to the country or consortium to fill out the requisite paperwork. I can't see the US, China, Russia, India or Europe arresting anyone if the person concerned takes an "unlicensed" space craft and blasts off to the moon (aka Star Wars) since this is not like hopping in a light aircraft and in the majority of cases "blasts" usually means being scattered all over the landscape. :-)
Even if this craft can reach speeds of 10% the speed of light we would still be limited to interplanetary exploration and exploitation (human nature dictates this). As far as interstellar travel goes it would still take about 45 years to send a spacecraft to the nearest star, not to mention the 4.5 year transmission delay. Still interplanetary travel is a big breakthrough if this article can be believed.
:-)
The real breakthrough would be an interstellar spacecraft (the realm of Science Fiction at the moment) and this would really open up our galaxy, however a person would have to live for thousands of years to visit each solar system in our galaxy for just one day even assuming travel between each solar system is almost instantaneous. Think "Star gate technology. Well I did say in the realm of Science Fiction
No you don't need to rush out an buy the sixaxis shock controller unless you feel that you "positively have" to have rumble in the game your playing (assuming it supports rumble). Even if you go back to the PS1 and PS2 games that support rumble you normally had the option to turn the rumble feature off. With the PS3 games that support sixaxis functionality you wont have any option to turn this feature off, so sixaxis on the PS3 is essential while rumble will become optional which it always has been.
Since the PS3 can work with 1 to 7 controllers you most likely only need one new sixaxis shock controller (well maybe two) but only if you feel you absolutely need it, still it's your money and Sony is not the only company "nickel and diming" you with peripherals. Actually the winner would be Nintendo since I never seen so many options for the Wii.
You do realise that if you play PS1 and PS2 games on your PS3 that you can use a Dualshock controller with a PS2 to USB adaptor and if the the game supports rumble the controller will vibrate accordingly. Of course you should have firmware 1.8 or greater.
As far as battery life goes I have a Logitech 2 wireless PS2 controller that supports rumble and I can get well over 50 hours out of 2 AA batteries so I would not be surprised if the new "sixaxis-shock controller" has a battery life of 24 or more hours with charging via the same USB cable which if you did not know can be used on any live USB port (PS3 or PC it does not matter and when the leds stop flashing the battery is charged). If Sony uses their new shock patent which looks very interesting then it may draw even less current than the original DualShock motors.
Personally I play more PS2 games on my PS3 than native PS3 games because IMHO there are plenty (read too many) of PS2 games that I like with more coming out so I am quite happy to wait till next year for native PS3 games that I can really like. Since the PS3 will upscale and smooth PS2 games to a HDTV playing that PS2 game is almost, but not quite like playing a first generation PS3 game.
When I picked up the 6 axis for the first time I was surprised how light it was and for games such as adventure and RPG's I found the controller excellent to the point I don't miss the relatively heavy DualShock. I won't deny that for some games rumble can be atmospheric and for some people it is a must. Still if you play for long periods of time a heavy controller with rumble can lead to sore hands.
What is annoying is the fact that a company like Immersion (backed behind the scenes by Microsoft when they litigated against Sony - http://www.techshout.com/gaming/2007/20/microsoft-sues-immersion-for-its-share-in-sony-patent-settlement/) patented rumble in 2000 when it was used by Nintendo and Sony two years before that and I am sure there would have been a one to two years lead up to the final product. What could be interesting is if Sony actually bring out their own rumble or force-feedback patented technology which is different to Immersion's off-centered motor (see Sony's patent 20070180910 http://www.latestpatents.com/2007/08/09/sony-patent-applications-published-on-09-august-2007/).
In FFX if you had the time you can teach everyone the same magic, skills and strength although their weapons are different. I do prefer the active turn base which you got in FF6 (US FF3) although it was configurable over just turn-base. Personally I never liked FF8 although I did like FF7 (there very few "full-motion cut-scenes" that I noticed) although I never had the time to play FF9 since it came out very late in the PS1's life. Still what one person likes another may agree or disagree on and this is fine by me.
I have used many commercial compilers over the years and I don't remember the being told that if I use a particular compiler that the code I wrote is now subject to the licensing of that compiler. If you read the GPL 2 or even GPL 3 properly it does not say that you have to license any software you wrote (assuming from first principles) to the GPL unless the original software that you are modifying or collaborating on is licensed under the GPL.
Basically if you write software from first principles and use any compiler such gcc or commercial compiler for that matter you can license that software under any license you want. You can even give it away if you want but don't expect anything back from people who use and modify it or even make it proprietary, I am afraid that sort of expectation and nievity died in the mid 1980's.
Well you just made the comment "If I didn't play PC games that needed Windows". Once you have made this comment then all I can recommend is stick with MS Windows because Wine will only help you in a limited way if you are willing to learn. Basically once you lock yourself into a MS Windows solution as (at least to me) you appear to have done then you going to have a hard time getting out of it.
In case you are wondering I am posting from Firefox which is running under the Fedora 7 OS on my laptop (my family uses this machine as well) and I don't miss MS Windows since I mainly play console games. I still like some of the old Nintendo and Sega games and I have have native Linux emulators to play the roms. Please note I am not recommending Fedora since unless you are willing to really learn Linux administration you would be better off with Ubuntu or PSLinuxOS (what I use at work). If you are really serious about learning Linux I would only recommend a dual boot for a month or two and then make a decision to pick one or the other because I know that unless you go "cold turkey" which I did with Linux you will backslide to MS Windows.
If you have a work PC only I would be surprised if you would be allowed to run any version of Linux (dual boot or native) so you are effectively locked into MS Windows.\on a work Laptop or PC.
From what I have read Linus appears quite accepting of GPL2 otherwise the Linux kernel would not have it, but he does not think the GPL3 is warranted. Of course that is his opinion and I respect him for it. Like it or not Law becomes a matter of precedent (INAL) and ruthless companies are always looking at ways of bending or circumventing but not actually breaking the Law, hence the need for laws to be expanded and hopefully improved on and because of this we now have the GPL3. In a few more years I would not be surprised if a GPL4 appears since companies like Microsoft have a bevy of very highly skilled lawyers on retainer and they would be very astute at finding a loop hole in the GPL3 if there is one.
:-)
People may think why has not a ruthless company found a way of circumventing the GPL3 as well. This is actually quite complex and from what I can gather they have not, but all that is needed is a small but significant change in Law and a loophole may appear then watch said company pounce.
It is good that Linux is trademarked so that unscrupulous companies cannot steal or subvert it, however you still have to be vigilant otherwise I would not be surprised that a company or even a person trying to show good faith provides code that is not open or is under copyright or patent which then brings Linux into disrepute. Maybe I am getting cynical in my old age but I do think these words attributed to Thomas Jefferson (1779) sum it up "The price of liberty is eternal vigilance". I hope that is out of trademark or copyright otherwise I am in trouble
I did supply the link in my post so here it is again http://www.digitaltvdesignline.com/news/198100146. I do agree with you I would be cynical as well.
I live in Australia and other posters live in the UK and Europe and we don't get subsidised like that. While I cannot speak for the UK or Europe I do know that HDTV sales are huge over here to the predicted tune of AU$2.5 billion (approx US$2.1 billion) over this year, http://blogs.smh.com.au/fastforward/archives/2007/09/where_do_your_digital_dollars.html. I can make a reasonable guess that (just on this years spending) means about 10% to 30% HDTV adoption by the average householder.
I think I would trust the following http://www.vgchartz.com/ re overall console sales. Actually the Nintendo Wii is doing exceptionally well compared to the PS3 and Xbox360, however since it is around half the price it is no wonder that this is the case.
An interesting comparison is to look at is "match the console launch" and the PS3 almost shadows the Xbox360 sales but when you look at the Wii sales they are exceptional.
The dilemma game developers are in now is if they are actually going to support Wii because if you look at Wii game hits nearly all them come from Nintendo. For good game support on the Wii it is essential that game companies make good sales although this requires good games, otherwise all you will see is one or two token games from each developer. Obviously Nintendo does have their own game producers and the Wii will be still supported but gaming companies can only do so much before you start to see games that are just a minor variation on a theme and IMHO that is what I am seeing now on all systems with hardly any interesting or innovative games.
I would not count 20+ million for the Gamecube as bad although if you compare it against the PS2 it looks like it is but Nintendo actually did make money on the Gamecube and its games so they did make a reasonable profit although I don't know how the game manufacturers went. What pissed of some people was its short support life although to be fair the Xbox had an even shorter one and I am glad I never bought one.
Basically it is a bit like comparing the DS (approx 49 million) and the PSP (approx 23 million) both companies are making quite a profit from the machines and games although Nintendo is making more. For the Nintendo fanboys you can now say "Nintendo rulz!" but what is the point both companies are doing well and IMHO competition is good for everyone.
Actually one thing that Nintendo did for the first time (IMHO a good move) with the Wii was to make it backwards compatible with the Gamecube and allow for the download of NES and SNES games. I personally still like some of the old NES, SNES, Sega and other old games but I can play the roms on my PC and I run Linux (Fedora 7). My son on the other hand has a home-brew PSP and can also play those games as well. While the Wii's success is great for Nintendo and its own game companies will other game companies do well out of making games for it? I am quite sure many game companies are not sure what to do it could be a gold mine or they could loose money.
If you subscribe to cable you normally have a set-top box that can take either analogue or digital. That same set-top box will then output an AV (composite) or component signal to your TV and most TV's that are at least under 20 years old can take at least one of these signals. Sound from your set-top box on the other hand can be connected to your TV or stereo system. Basically if you subscribe to cable it does not matter if your TV is Standard Definition or High Definition.
:-)
Broadcast TV can be digital or analogue and this is were the problem occurs since if the broadcast is digital only then people who have a Standard Definition TV with an analogue tuner will not be able to display digital transmissions unless they have a set-top box that can do the conversion. I think the next question to ask is how much does a set-top box cost in the US (since this is were the issue has been raised)? I can even answer that from the following article http://www.digitaltvdesignline.com/news/198100146 which is US$60 with a Government rebate of US$40. Now that is a good deal.
To those people against the switch to digital because it is going to cost them US$20 it may be a good idea to start saving (all-right I have not covered portables). Crying poor does not help since my next question is how did you afford a SD TV in the first place? Of course I assumed the SD TV as not stolen but if it was then why did you get a SD TV instead of a HD TV?
Why would Sony have to get permission? It wasn't their game although it does play on their PS3.
Calling a six thousand page document "superb" on a proposed standard is nothing sort of loosing the plot IMHO, especially when you have what could be called "ballot stuffing" by Microsoft (of course they would not call it that). But selling out for five digits? where is your dignity, that's only 99,999 and you may get that in Yen, I would not do it for less than a seven digit number in British pounds (exclusive of tax of course). :-)
I tend to keep from commenting on patents other than software ones which IMHO should never exist however I am quite capable of understanding technical ones once I get past the legal jargon and from the limited but more high profile ones I have seen, many of these patents are just a "variation on a theme", "prior art" or "obvious" and are not even deserving of a patent in the first place.
The following is a snippet from the Article:
The first paragraph is a statement of the obvious or in non legal talk "The current patent system is stuffed".
The second and third is the usual grandstanding from opposing parties. In fact the third paragraph shows us how this person thinks in regard to the large corporations such as "Oh it is ok for these corporation to loose $3.5 billion since they can afford it". Well my question to that is "Who eventually pays for all this in the long term?" and the answer is not the so called "unnamed tech vendors".
Because the 60GB and now the 80GB PS3 has WiFi why would you want to move your PS3? If you have a second TV just get a Component/Composite stereo transmitter and take your controller in the room you have your second TV and play any PS1/2/3 game. Of course a second HDTV (say 26") is almost a must but it would leave the rest of the family free to watch the large screen HDTV in your living room, unless they want to watch a Bluray movie on the PS3 (sigh!). Having the ability to play the PS3 game on your PSP (if you have one) is nice but this capability depends on the actual game.
I have played on many game machines and with regard to analogue sticks I don't really have any issues with the Gamecube, Xbox or even the PS controllers. I normally adjust my hands to accommodate the sticks and I can play for hours without getting sore hands. The exception to this was the N64 controller which I found IMHO to be horrible since I could only play an hour and my hands would cramp. Still what works for me may not work for others.
You do know that it's a near-certainty that the 80GB PS3 will go down in price by the end of the year, right?
Well if you are willing to wait another one, two or three years (how about 10 years) you will get a much better deal. Sort of stating the obvious don't you think.
Getting the 60GB or 80GB disk is not that much of a difference and if you want you can always put in a much larger off the self 2.5" disk (120Gb through 250GB plus) if you want. If you are genuinely looking at getting a PS3 then look around for a deal. I actually got mine (Australian version) for the equivalent of US$407 (AUD$499) at the time with a trade in of my 5 year old PS2 and 10 old PS2 games. Try doing a deal (if you have the money) on a reasonable size HDTV and stereo system. Many stores are willing to negotiate if you approach them the right way. Of course you need to have the fortitude to walk away if the deal is not reasonably acceptable.
From the Article "Ubisoft has told GameSpot that First Radical's sci-fi first-person shooter Haze is now being planned solely for Sony's PlayStation 3 platform".
Actually this is an excellent move by the companies concerned since who wants to bring out another FPS for the Xbox360 when they would be going head to head with Halo which would most likely result in poor sales until the Halo buying frenzy is over. So why not bring out an exclusive for the PS3 which by then will have well over 5 million owners and you have a very good chance of selling over one million copies or more if the game is that good. Later on you can bring out an Xbox360 and PC version (more potential profit) since many FPS games have similar engines so porting is fairly easy although the same can be said if you go the other way.
Before we get troll's saying "But the PS3 is hard to program for!", most games computer graphics artists don't program down to the metal they normally use a games development engine and it is up to the developer of that engine to optimise it for the particular hardware and operating system it is going to run on. For the PS3 the lowest level programming languages are C and C++ with a suite a libraries that talk to the hardware. Programming for the PS3 is no harder or easier than programming for the Xbox360 it is just different.
What is annoying IMHO is that we are seeing too many games that are just minor variations from each other and very little innovation, although I can understand why game and even movie companies do this but there is the saying "milking a cash cow" and conversely "flogging a dead horse" and it is up to the consumer to decide. Who knows if Haze or even Halo 3 does well we may yet see a Haze 2 or a Halo 4.
Is 70 plus native PS3 games or 2000 plus PS1/2 games good enough. Although why blame the console manufacture when it is the gaming companies that produce the games (yes I know Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony have their own gaming studios).
If you said "There are not enough native PS3 games for the PS3 that I like", I would agree with you but then again I can equally say the same for the Wii and the Xbox360. Todays games IMHO seem almost to be a marginal change from previous games.
As for "the PS3 is hard to develop for" that is an Urban Myth since the basic programming language is C and C++ which have been around for well over 20 years. In addition multi-processor machines have been around that long as well, so programming for them is well understood. I can understand that type of comment coming from a programmer that is in their own comfort zone and is too lazy to get out of it, but not a professional programmer. Anyway most game developers just use a game development system which does not involve low level programming. It is normally left up to the vendor of the development system to optimize their product.
Programming is only one aspect of game development there are many other factors involved and a gaming company has to get it all together otherwise they are going to loose money if their game is bad or is mediocre which in many ways is what we are seeing with many games today. To much of the same types of game results in poor sales which will hurt a gaming company as much as a bad game.