Definitely not. The way I figure is that it should be at least relatively intuitive, and it usually is. Although I hate when games have an undisableable tutor mode in the front when you already pretty much know how to play the game type.
Why is this in the apple section? I'm no apple fanboy but the windows DRMs cut battery life by 25% and apple's cut it 7%, seems like this should be in some other category cuz it's actually a bigger issue with plays-for-sure files...
People miss the point. This is not a feature by feature analysis issue. I don't care if you like the latest features of IE, or if IE does something a little bit better than firefox. This is a true test. Mozilla is an open source browser. This type of software is fundamentally more sound. It's not about whether you like IE7's current working model, because in 6 months when all the features are outdated and security problems emerge, you have to have an alternative. Microsoft doesn't care about keeping its products current, it's more concerned on keeping market share. If you switch from an open source solution to a closed one then you now again have no say in when and how new features are added. An open source browser with support is important for everyone.
It's got a head start, it's always running for christ sakes. You can't get rid of the thing any way on windows. If you type a web address into the path bar after uninstalling, IE still pops up its ugly head.
I'd always assumed that Satan was a capitalist. Either way I know I feel his presence when I walk into walmart... Maybe he just likes the cheap lighter fluid.
...with the MP3 version right on the CD itself. That way you can transfer the songs onto MP3 if you are using a computer, or you can listen to the CD if you don't have an MP3 player. I had been doing this when I was still burning regular music CDs using CD-Extra, and I think it's quite a pleasant idea. If you include DRMed MP3s even, this would probably deter people from ripping it themselves. I'd love to just have the MP3s totally, but I think that's a nice compromise at least.
Now as far as whether CDs will last or not, I think a lot of people only have a CD player and not much else still. I do believe there should be more in the MP3 CD player market. Such as "Get all of Eminem's albums on 1 CD" and such in stores, because a lot of people have MP3 CD players (some don't even know that they do). You could charge a little less for this type of album maybe.
Another thing I think would be nice is if MP3 players could maybe have an input port for media of some kind. Then offer some type of downloadable cartridge or something (I guess like they did with those song things you can buy at the toy store), and allow the user to copy it to the device and still retain a physical backup, so that you don't have to worry about losing the information if the player stops working
I definitely am not in the market for a copy of a song in downgrade quality with no physical backup and without real convenience over other types of online downloading. Simply put, in most cases it's easier to bittorrent than itune an album, and also cost effective. Until the industry provides attractive options that in some way enhance the end user's quality, CDs will continue to drop in sales, Itunes (being as it is the only alternative, or just about the only alternative) will continue to rise, and a lot of people will continue to download illegally. Now you can punish all the people, or give them what they want. Pass the savings on, it doesn't cost as much to do digital distribution, so don't charge as much... Either way, I hope CDs hang around at least a little while longer.
And yet, the vast majority of people are not interested in these classic films, preferring instead the lastest and greatest blockbuster hits. Just like classic video games, only a relatively small group of people regularly enjoy classic films, this small group having a "deeper appreciation" for the art form.
I think part of the problem with 100 year old films is the quality =P. I'd honestly probably watch more old films if they weren't so grainy and washed out or all black and white, etc. I think as far as film goes, we've reached the point of "good enough" in that the movies created today (or perhaps 10-20 years ago) will continue to look fine in the future. They are no longer the product of limited technology, but rather an expression of work in media that is without limitation. This is why I think that a lot of people still like older 70-90s movies and watch them. We are more in touch with movies from previous generations now I think than we would be in the past. Games have not yet met the "good enough" point, people are still expanding the technology base. give it 5 or 10 years.
At least with in game ads they aren't stopping you from playing. You can just walk right past them. And if this helps the companies put out better games cause they can afford to spend more time in devel becaues they are making X more per month per person - well great. (And Frankly, I'd rather see adverts than pay more than 15$ a month per MMOG)
It won't lead to better games, I can almost guarantee that much. And as far as being able to walk past them, yeah, that's true. But the way I look at it is that it's another place they've taken from us. Another form of entertainment that isn't ours anymore. Another form of advertising that they can use to force brand names on you. People never seem to mind, they always say "well advertising is everywhere else, why not?" And my question is, why is it everywhere else? Why do we tolerate things like the "Tostitos Fiesta Bowl" when the taxpayers paid for the stadium and the fans paid for tickets? We shouldn't. When I hear complacent comments like this one it just makes me sad and it reminds me of a Matthew Good Band song called "advertising on police cars."
It was only a matter of time before advertising and subscription fees both hit you in a package. Cable has been doing this for years with little justification in my eyes. One of the major points in signing up for cable was to get rid of the advertisments, but that idea has been tossed by most cable networks decades ago. Now they are doing the same thing with online stuff. I hope they finally bump into a wall here. I hope this greedy sales model falls right on its face. It's one thing to get us to accept advertising for free services, but when you are paying, and you are online. It just feels so slimy and unnecessary. I hope this project falls flat on its face and serves as a lesson that online, people don't want to pay to be marketed to like everywhere else where they had no choice.
By the way, it is the same for other debt. If they see that you hate feeding them they will leave you alone. This of course means that you have to leave in a fashion that is proportionate to your income and the average "consumer-producer" hates that. And the credit card companies love him for that.
My mother pays her stuff consistently and still gets these offers. I'm just wondering why this isn't an opt-in instead of opt-out list, because I clearly did not want these things and I don't recall being given a choice. (Maybe I didn't read some papers closely enough, but seriously, it should be opt-in). You are correct, people hate living within their means, but I on the other hand hate owing my soul to the company store. You know, it's hilarious how in America they couldn't get the company store to fly after the advent of labor unions, and now credit card companies have turned themselves into the new company store. The amazing amount of debt people have because of a lifestyle obsession is amazing. I can't even imagine wanting 10,000 dollars worth of crap, let alone owing that much with 17% interest.
...that they want to prevent identity theft. I'm a young guy (22) and I recently paid off my credit card debt from college. This has resulted in an outpouring of credit card companies looking to add my name to a card of theirs. On a daily basis I probably get 3 credit card applications in the mail. And the whole time I'm wondering, how did I get on this list, how do I get off, and what the hell happens if someone fills one of these out for me. Relying on common sense, I usually tear them up or burn them. Now I hear that maybe the tearing isn't enough. It's clear that credit card companies want you to sign up for another card so bad they don't even care if you are the one signing up anymore. Here's a way to help prevent identity theft: less unsolicited credit card applications in the mail. People are worried about spam and phishing when they haven't even solved the problems dealing with real world spam...
It's called a gamesupposed to be a waste of time. If it wasn't a waste of time then it would be called "work" or "chores", because other than work, chores, eating, and sleeping, everything you do in life is a "waste of time", since it's only purpose is to entertain you.
Actually, some things done in real life are of more worth than entertainment value and they don't involve any of the things you just mentioned. Being involved in your community, for instance, might provide entertainment, but it is my contention that it is probably a) not like work to the person doing it, otherwise they wouldn't, and b) not a waste of time because it is helping others. Reading is also another good form of education that some may find not to be work or a waste of time. All of these things (and the millions I haven't mentioned) get pushed to the fringe by people who think along your lines: that there's work, then there's entertainment which is your reward for work, and that's probably why we are where we are in American home life and society right now. People would rather not get involved in anything other than television and video games.
Some of what could be today's future innovators, thinkers and problem solvers are wasting all of their time on meaningless activities such as WoW. I agree that you can't be doing something constructive all of the time, but it wouldn't hurt to try once in a while instead of playing WoW all day and constructing a larger ass. Games are for downtime and are not supposed to make up your whole life. This pattern we are in is sad as more and more people get sucked into this entertainment trap.
"One can only hope that Alienware support and hardware won't be ill effected by this acquisition."
If Gateway couldn't even keep itself from becoming a serviceless company with lack of any real care or support in just a decade, what makes people even hope that a corporate giant like Dell, who is already in the sell, sell, sell, culture, would be able to buy Alienware and not adversely affect it. If they will/did buy it, they will use the name to full advantage, while not giving a crap about what it used to meant. I give it about 2 years and all the support will be done by Indians with muddled accents as well.
I don't understand why we _have_ to use RFID at all. I understand it may make some things easier, but aren't we efficient enough? In these days where security is becoming more and more of an issue, why even creating another security issue when the old way still works. Is tracking something via a barcode scanning system really so inefficient that we need RFID? I don't understand, we seem to be pretty efficient in most industries already, why do we need to squeeze another cent an hour out by using some new and relatively unproven technology when the old way works just fine?
Waiting for care for a month is still better than no care at all, which is what a large number of people many of whom take on the majority of the tax burden have to deal with. We pay more in taxes every year it seems, despite the promises otherwise, and yet we don't get much back for our money. State run health care, no matter how bad, is a step up from none, and I believe we pay enough to receive it. Health care is so bad in this country we have movies about it (John Q.). The private sector has ultimately failed in its attempt to provide whole health care, they are simply too greedy. Why not give state-run health care at least a partial shot?
The problem I see with Spore is that it may not be so open ended as a game like GTA. In GTA you could go anywhere and play any sub-game at any time. Although you still had to progress and open things up. Spore looks like the player will be forced to leave the "Sim-City" and move on to the next sub-game whether they like it or not. What if a player wants to focuse on the Sim-City aspect? Or come back to it after colonizing other planets? Things I'd like to know.
I'm not 100% on this but from my understanding, initially you may be forced to leave areas of the game. However, once the main goals of the game are accomplished, it is my understanding that the sandbox portion of the game is most of it. That is to say that basically put: the player is forced to go through the game in order to understand how to use the creation toys along the way. After that, it looks like it's pretty freeform.
There was a sega genesis game like this as well which I found entertaining. I'm not saying that this is the first time that evolution has been tried before. Nothing I've ever seen does this to any depth even similar. You aren't just following a linear path, you design from the ground up, leg by leg, arm by arm, brain by brain, each new incarnation of the creature. And once you get into the whole balanced eco-system and online database bit, it's just, it's definitely an achievement if it turns out anything like the demo would have you believe.
and, by the way in case you think I'm joking about the Analog distribution method...
I *am* old enough to remember programs & games distributed on audio cassette (I had a Radio Shack/Tandy MC-10 which used a cassette interface for storing programs...early 1980s)
Ah but there is a flaw in your logic as well. Digital, in the true sense of a word is just a method of storing 1s and 0s, tape can easily be as digital of a format as anything else. Now if you think digital even implies random access, you'd be wrong there as well. Many things are digital and sequential. You could store digital with a sequence of anything on any device. Hell, you could use morse code like dots and slashes to indicate digital information over a wire if you could build the interpreter. Digital is simply a concept, a method of storing info regardless of format. That's why modems are so popular =).
But your overall point is correct, PS1 and 2 games are already digital.
It's really something new. If you watch the demonstration, this game is basically many games in one. You start off as a microbe basically eating other micro-organisms in order to gain strength or points or whatever and trying not to get killed by other microbes. As you evolve you eventually go from bacteria->sea creature->land creature, then after you are finished that evolution, tribes form allowing you to have control over the tribe. After this cities form and a civ like game goes on. After you have populated the whole world you can leave your home planet and populate others. Magnificent. The most impressive bit had to have been when I saw him drop a creature from one planet onto a moon and the creature simply exploded because the moon had no atmosphere. Then there's the fact that this will use an online database to link up everyone's creatures and try to maintain an eco system. I mean, I honestly think this game is a little bit more than a "sim" something. It's more like a computer incarnation of the living breathing thing, maybe a little sillier looking, but very scaled and nice otherwise.
And MS will offer backwards compatibility (IE windows XP classic mode) again, and everyone will remain satisfied. (That is, if vista succeeds to begin with). Either way, right now it works.
Somehow the current state of the desktop in most people's minds is as inflexible as it gets. It seems as if people can not think about a different desktop. It is, as if they take it as granted. And for linux to make a breakthrough this mindset has first to be broken.
Why would they want the state of the desktop to change? It works. Linux, in a lot of the same ways, doesn't for the average user. There's definitely a larger learning curve (yes even for Ubuntu). Most people are simply not willing to have to learn new stuff when the old way works fine and is cheap enough.
Wow, people are way too paranoid. Sides, hack my box, you get to look at a whole big nothing. Nothing is even on my linux box of any importance. That's probably why it's running linux =P
My root password is "go", and I use Ubuntu at home. By my tally most people using Ubuntu are home users probably, and so they probably know their own root password. If you are letting random strangers in your house to poke around your files and try to gain root, this is probably an issue. The way I see it, is if someone somehow got in my house and into my room to use my computer, I think I'd notice. Most Windows users run as administrators too anyway.
Maybe this is just a sting to your egos that linux systems have issues too.
If you wanted a secure corporate environment linux distro, I don't know why you'd be using Ubuntu anyway.
To quote it in brick's words "I DONT KNOW WHAT WE'RE YELLING ABOUT"
...even provided that everyone that bought the CD does all three of these things, I doubt that Sony is really even losing money on the initial sale to begin with. This penalty they are paying may wind up not even costing them any money at all.
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Definitely not. The way I figure is that it should be at least relatively intuitive, and it usually is. Although I hate when games have an undisableable tutor mode in the front when you already pretty much know how to play the game type.
Why is this in the apple section? I'm no apple fanboy but the windows DRMs cut battery life by 25% and apple's cut it 7%, seems like this should be in some other category cuz it's actually a bigger issue with plays-for-sure files...
People miss the point. This is not a feature by feature analysis issue. I don't care if you like the latest features of IE, or if IE does something a little bit better than firefox. This is a true test. Mozilla is an open source browser. This type of software is fundamentally more sound. It's not about whether you like IE7's current working model, because in 6 months when all the features are outdated and security problems emerge, you have to have an alternative. Microsoft doesn't care about keeping its products current, it's more concerned on keeping market share. If you switch from an open source solution to a closed one then you now again have no say in when and how new features are added. An open source browser with support is important for everyone.
It's got a head start, it's always running for christ sakes. You can't get rid of the thing any way on windows. If you type a web address into the path bar after uninstalling, IE still pops up its ugly head.
I'd always assumed that Satan was a capitalist. Either way I know I feel his presence when I walk into walmart... Maybe he just likes the cheap lighter fluid.
...with the MP3 version right on the CD itself. That way you can transfer the songs onto MP3 if you are using a computer, or you can listen to the CD if you don't have an MP3 player. I had been doing this when I was still burning regular music CDs using CD-Extra, and I think it's quite a pleasant idea. If you include DRMed MP3s even, this would probably deter people from ripping it themselves. I'd love to just have the MP3s totally, but I think that's a nice compromise at least.
Now as far as whether CDs will last or not, I think a lot of people only have a CD player and not much else still. I do believe there should be more in the MP3 CD player market. Such as "Get all of Eminem's albums on 1 CD" and such in stores, because a lot of people have MP3 CD players (some don't even know that they do). You could charge a little less for this type of album maybe.
Another thing I think would be nice is if MP3 players could maybe have an input port for media of some kind. Then offer some type of downloadable cartridge or something (I guess like they did with those song things you can buy at the toy store), and allow the user to copy it to the device and still retain a physical backup, so that you don't have to worry about losing the information if the player stops working
I definitely am not in the market for a copy of a song in downgrade quality with no physical backup and without real convenience over other types of online downloading. Simply put, in most cases it's easier to bittorrent than itune an album, and also cost effective. Until the industry provides attractive options that in some way enhance the end user's quality, CDs will continue to drop in sales, Itunes (being as it is the only alternative, or just about the only alternative) will continue to rise, and a lot of people will continue to download illegally. Now you can punish all the people, or give them what they want. Pass the savings on, it doesn't cost as much to do digital distribution, so don't charge as much... Either way, I hope CDs hang around at least a little while longer.
I think part of the problem with 100 year old films is the quality =P. I'd honestly probably watch more old films if they weren't so grainy and washed out or all black and white, etc. I think as far as film goes, we've reached the point of "good enough" in that the movies created today (or perhaps 10-20 years ago) will continue to look fine in the future. They are no longer the product of limited technology, but rather an expression of work in media that is without limitation. This is why I think that a lot of people still like older 70-90s movies and watch them. We are more in touch with movies from previous generations now I think than we would be in the past. Games have not yet met the "good enough" point, people are still expanding the technology base. give it 5 or 10 years.
It won't lead to better games, I can almost guarantee that much. And as far as being able to walk past them, yeah, that's true. But the way I look at it is that it's another place they've taken from us. Another form of entertainment that isn't ours anymore. Another form of advertising that they can use to force brand names on you. People never seem to mind, they always say "well advertising is everywhere else, why not?" And my question is, why is it everywhere else? Why do we tolerate things like the "Tostitos Fiesta Bowl" when the taxpayers paid for the stadium and the fans paid for tickets? We shouldn't. When I hear complacent comments like this one it just makes me sad and it reminds me of a Matthew Good Band song called "advertising on police cars."
Burning down billboards is funner in real life...Until the cops come that is.
It was only a matter of time before advertising and subscription fees both hit you in a package. Cable has been doing this for years with little justification in my eyes. One of the major points in signing up for cable was to get rid of the advertisments, but that idea has been tossed by most cable networks decades ago. Now they are doing the same thing with online stuff. I hope they finally bump into a wall here. I hope this greedy sales model falls right on its face. It's one thing to get us to accept advertising for free services, but when you are paying, and you are online. It just feels so slimy and unnecessary. I hope this project falls flat on its face and serves as a lesson that online, people don't want to pay to be marketed to like everywhere else where they had no choice.
My mother pays her stuff consistently and still gets these offers. I'm just wondering why this isn't an opt-in instead of opt-out list, because I clearly did not want these things and I don't recall being given a choice. (Maybe I didn't read some papers closely enough, but seriously, it should be opt-in). You are correct, people hate living within their means, but I on the other hand hate owing my soul to the company store. You know, it's hilarious how in America they couldn't get the company store to fly after the advent of labor unions, and now credit card companies have turned themselves into the new company store. The amazing amount of debt people have because of a lifestyle obsession is amazing. I can't even imagine wanting 10,000 dollars worth of crap, let alone owing that much with 17% interest.
...that they want to prevent identity theft. I'm a young guy (22) and I recently paid off my credit card debt from college. This has resulted in an outpouring of credit card companies looking to add my name to a card of theirs. On a daily basis I probably get 3 credit card applications in the mail. And the whole time I'm wondering, how did I get on this list, how do I get off, and what the hell happens if someone fills one of these out for me. Relying on common sense, I usually tear them up or burn them. Now I hear that maybe the tearing isn't enough. It's clear that credit card companies want you to sign up for another card so bad they don't even care if you are the one signing up anymore. Here's a way to help prevent identity theft: less unsolicited credit card applications in the mail. People are worried about spam and phishing when they haven't even solved the problems dealing with real world spam...
If Gateway couldn't even keep itself from becoming a serviceless company with lack of any real care or support in just a decade, what makes people even hope that a corporate giant like Dell, who is already in the sell, sell, sell, culture, would be able to buy Alienware and not adversely affect it. If they will/did buy it, they will use the name to full advantage, while not giving a crap about what it used to meant. I give it about 2 years and all the support will be done by Indians with muddled accents as well.
I don't understand why we _have_ to use RFID at all. I understand it may make some things easier, but aren't we efficient enough? In these days where security is becoming more and more of an issue, why even creating another security issue when the old way still works. Is tracking something via a barcode scanning system really so inefficient that we need RFID? I don't understand, we seem to be pretty efficient in most industries already, why do we need to squeeze another cent an hour out by using some new and relatively unproven technology when the old way works just fine?
Waiting for care for a month is still better than no care at all, which is what a large number of people many of whom take on the majority of the tax burden have to deal with. We pay more in taxes every year it seems, despite the promises otherwise, and yet we don't get much back for our money. State run health care, no matter how bad, is a step up from none, and I believe we pay enough to receive it. Health care is so bad in this country we have movies about it (John Q.). The private sector has ultimately failed in its attempt to provide whole health care, they are simply too greedy. Why not give state-run health care at least a partial shot?
I'm not 100% on this but from my understanding, initially you may be forced to leave areas of the game. However, once the main goals of the game are accomplished, it is my understanding that the sandbox portion of the game is most of it. That is to say that basically put: the player is forced to go through the game in order to understand how to use the creation toys along the way. After that, it looks like it's pretty freeform.
There was a sega genesis game like this as well which I found entertaining. I'm not saying that this is the first time that evolution has been tried before. Nothing I've ever seen does this to any depth even similar. You aren't just following a linear path, you design from the ground up, leg by leg, arm by arm, brain by brain, each new incarnation of the creature. And once you get into the whole balanced eco-system and online database bit, it's just, it's definitely an achievement if it turns out anything like the demo would have you believe.
Ah but there is a flaw in your logic as well. Digital, in the true sense of a word is just a method of storing 1s and 0s, tape can easily be as digital of a format as anything else. Now if you think digital even implies random access, you'd be wrong there as well. Many things are digital and sequential. You could store digital with a sequence of anything on any device. Hell, you could use morse code like dots and slashes to indicate digital information over a wire if you could build the interpreter. Digital is simply a concept, a method of storing info regardless of format. That's why modems are so popular =).
But your overall point is correct, PS1 and 2 games are already digital.
It's really something new. If you watch the demonstration, this game is basically many games in one. You start off as a microbe basically eating other micro-organisms in order to gain strength or points or whatever and trying not to get killed by other microbes. As you evolve you eventually go from bacteria->sea creature->land creature, then after you are finished that evolution, tribes form allowing you to have control over the tribe. After this cities form and a civ like game goes on. After you have populated the whole world you can leave your home planet and populate others. Magnificent. The most impressive bit had to have been when I saw him drop a creature from one planet onto a moon and the creature simply exploded because the moon had no atmosphere. Then there's the fact that this will use an online database to link up everyone's creatures and try to maintain an eco system. I mean, I honestly think this game is a little bit more than a "sim" something. It's more like a computer incarnation of the living breathing thing, maybe a little sillier looking, but very scaled and nice otherwise.
And MS will offer backwards compatibility (IE windows XP classic mode) again, and everyone will remain satisfied. (That is, if vista succeeds to begin with). Either way, right now it works.
Why would they want the state of the desktop to change? It works. Linux, in a lot of the same ways, doesn't for the average user. There's definitely a larger learning curve (yes even for Ubuntu). Most people are simply not willing to have to learn new stuff when the old way works fine and is cheap enough.
Wow, people are way too paranoid. Sides, hack my box, you get to look at a whole big nothing. Nothing is even on my linux box of any importance. That's probably why it's running linux =P
My root password is "go", and I use Ubuntu at home. By my tally most people using Ubuntu are home users probably, and so they probably know their own root password. If you are letting random strangers in your house to poke around your files and try to gain root, this is probably an issue. The way I see it, is if someone somehow got in my house and into my room to use my computer, I think I'd notice. Most Windows users run as administrators too anyway.
Maybe this is just a sting to your egos that linux systems have issues too.
If you wanted a secure corporate environment linux distro, I don't know why you'd be using Ubuntu anyway.
To quote it in brick's words "I DONT KNOW WHAT WE'RE YELLING ABOUT"
...even provided that everyone that bought the CD does all three of these things, I doubt that Sony is really even losing money on the initial sale to begin with. This penalty they are paying may wind up not even costing them any money at all.