Blizzard has a pretty good plan for success in the PC game industry. 1) Make some good games. 2) Harass and sue anyone who tries to interoperate with your games (bnetd). 4) Harass and sue anyone who tries to clone your games (Freecraft). 5) Make a mediocre MMORPG with a very polished interface. 6) Profit.
I don't think this is true. If you look at the number of US video gamers as a percentage of the population, it hasn't changed dramatically over the years. Most of the increased money has come from population growth and falling production cost (CDs, etc).
I'm pretty sure it was called "Warcraft III". Seriously though, I don't think much could be added to Starcraft without changing what made it great. You could certainly improve the graphics and UI, but lots of fundamental gameplay changes would make it "not Starcraft".
I find PS2 games very blurry, jerky and low-res these days, an emulator on the PS3 that runs Shadow of the Colossus in HD at a stable frame rate would be worth the exorbitant price of the PS3 IMHO.
Yeah, that would be nice. The graphics in that game are really good, but the PS2 is slightly less powerful than what (IMO) it needs.
Reading your post made me think about the Wii. With the two consoles reportedly having similar architectures, I wonder if the emulation will allow better graphics/framerate as well.
I have been a gamer all my life. I currently have an NES, Super NES, N64, Gamecube, Genesis, Dreamcast, and PS2. Having all of these machines hooked up at the same time requires a lot of space, as well as a lot of extra connectors and power strips. Backwards compatability reduces a lot of clutter. (It also allowed me to get some PS1 games that I would have never played otherwise.)
The "Christian Right" is largely the project of a few rich people. They are able to slip legislation like this by because of all the noise they generate on non-issues (gay marraige, etc). Sure, copyright legislation sounds like it's something disconnected, but look at it this way: it's one more law that benefits the rich.
Another cool site is Etree.org, which has lossless recordings of live shows. These are all in the clear, as they are all recordings of artists and bands that allow recording of their shows.
Expensive "gaming PC" components are almost always launched before there are any games to take advantage of them. They sell to the people willing to pay 2 * $500 for the latest e-penis enhancement, not the people who just want to play some games. Like when programmable shaders appeared in videocards (five years ago), it took a long time until the majority of games used them at all.
So we have the story of Doom: aliens are invading (through portals). Let's go back to a really old sci-fi story: aliens are invading. Now let's go back to a really, really, old story: Grog's clan is invading.
This is the nature of the "hardcore" (or "enthusiast", or whatever they call it these days) PC game market. Unless you spend several hundred dollars every few years, you get way behind the curve. It's really unfortunate, as I'd love to play more PC games, but the total cost of upgrades (versus what you get out of it) is way too much.
Um, no. If you had bothered to read the thread, you would see a bunch of Sony bashing (as well as other people rightly going "WTF? this can't be right"). But don't let reality get in the way of your ideology.
What is this 'local memory'? On-die cache? How the fuck can you screw that up to make it 16Mbit?
I'm wondering the same thing. I simply cannot believe that the cache in this processor would be this slow (at least for read ops). I'm betting on this having something to do with the Cell architecture that got lost in translation.
I'm not from the UK, but a US version of this needs to happen. I also think this needs to be instituted for all types of media: audio, video, and even video/computer games. We need a nice big sticker that says something about how this media contains technology designed to prevent you from copying it. And how the DMCA makes that illegal. And how you won't be able to make a backup (too bad if your kids scratch it). And how it's not going to play on your car stereo. Et cetera, et cetera.
Oh, I'm sorry. There's no way this passage could've been editorialized, changed by someone, made up, or anything like that. Nope, it must be read literally, with no context or anything like that.
Well, you definitely understand one of the limits that we have in science. If we keep going along on the same track, little additions and proofs to the current system get more and more difficult to do as we go along.
However, most branches of science do not go along the same track forever. If I remember correctly, physicists in the 18th or 19th century were telling people to not go into physics, because all that needed to be done was some cleaning up of the things they already knew, and they would be done. Of course, we know how that turned out.
The reality here is that every once in a while, someone comes along with a theory or something that is radically different from the accepted system. Things change. New things become "possible". Look at the development of electronics, for another example.
Yep, so because there's some anecdote that disagress with the OP, let's just throw the baby out with the bathwater. Newsflash: literal reading of the Bible is stupid. The fact that you use this method of criticism (if you can call it that) to lay the groundwork for your argument reduces you to the level of the reactionary, GodHatesFags (tm) Christian fundamentalists. But don't let that stop you from trolling.
Re:The only way to fight the DMCA
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Death By DMCA
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So you claim that flaming is always counter-productive, yet you flame against people who have a different political philsophy than you do. Way to be consistent.
Re:When the masses awaken, corporations will liste
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Death By DMCA
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The average person does have experience with DRM, though. People can't play DVDs in their computer without paying for a decoder program. People have to buy RF modulators and splitter cables because they've been locked out by Macrovision.
The solution here (and it isn't unique) is simply education. Getting the message out that the evil corporations are taking "your rights" (and they are) is a message that Joe Voter will listen to.
Re:more proof the RIAA/MPAA are insane
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Death By DMCA
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Have you never once wondered why almost no one objects to Google's ubiquitous ads?
It's because most people don't realize that they're ads. The average, non-critical website reader sees a bunch of links that look relevant, so they happily click on them thinking they'll find what they're looking for. I remember some studies being done that confirm this; I've also witnessed it firsthand.
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This is just how I see it
Blizzard has a pretty good plan for success in the PC game industry. 1) Make some good games. 2) Harass and sue anyone who tries to interoperate with your games (bnetd). 4) Harass and sue anyone who tries to clone your games (Freecraft). 5) Make a mediocre MMORPG with a very polished interface. 6) Profit.
I don't think this is true. If you look at the number of US video gamers as a percentage of the population, it hasn't changed dramatically over the years. Most of the increased money has come from population growth and falling production cost (CDs, etc).
O RLY?
I'm pretty sure it was called "Warcraft III". Seriously though, I don't think much could be added to Starcraft without changing what made it great. You could certainly improve the graphics and UI, but lots of fundamental gameplay changes would make it "not Starcraft".
DOS and consoles were around in 1889?
I haven't seen anything like you claim, so I can't really comment on that. However, I remember the PS1 being shrunk down to one chip for the PS2.
I find PS2 games very blurry, jerky and low-res these days, an emulator on the PS3 that runs Shadow of the Colossus in HD at a stable frame rate would be worth the exorbitant price of the PS3 IMHO.
Yeah, that would be nice. The graphics in that game are really good, but the PS2 is slightly less powerful than what (IMO) it needs.
Reading your post made me think about the Wii. With the two consoles reportedly having similar architectures, I wonder if the emulation will allow better graphics/framerate as well.
I have been a gamer all my life. I currently have an NES, Super NES, N64, Gamecube, Genesis, Dreamcast, and PS2. Having all of these machines hooked up at the same time requires a lot of space, as well as a lot of extra connectors and power strips. Backwards compatability reduces a lot of clutter. (It also allowed me to get some PS1 games that I would have never played otherwise.)
The "Christian Right" is largely the project of a few rich people. They are able to slip legislation like this by because of all the noise they generate on non-issues (gay marraige, etc). Sure, copyright legislation sounds like it's something disconnected, but look at it this way: it's one more law that benefits the rich.
Another cool site is Etree.org, which has lossless recordings of live shows. These are all in the clear, as they are all recordings of artists and bands that allow recording of their shows.
Expensive "gaming PC" components are almost always launched before there are any games to take advantage of them. They sell to the people willing to pay 2 * $500 for the latest e-penis enhancement, not the people who just want to play some games. Like when programmable shaders appeared in videocards (five years ago), it took a long time until the majority of games used them at all.
Some magazine gave a bad review to something? OMG! It must suck!
So we have the story of Doom: aliens are invading (through portals). Let's go back to a really old sci-fi story: aliens are invading. Now let's go back to a really, really, old story: Grog's clan is invading.
Point: not many stories are original.
No, my problem is that I'm impatient. I want to play Oblivion at 1280x1024 (native res for my monitor) with high textures and all that.
This is the nature of the "hardcore" (or "enthusiast", or whatever they call it these days) PC game market. Unless you spend several hundred dollars every few years, you get way behind the curve. It's really unfortunate, as I'd love to play more PC games, but the total cost of upgrades (versus what you get out of it) is way too much.
Um, no. If you had bothered to read the thread, you would see a bunch of Sony bashing (as well as other people rightly going "WTF? this can't be right"). But don't let reality get in the way of your ideology.
What planet are you on, man? (bonus points for relevant joke) Anyway, here's the real ultimate man tool.
I'm wondering the same thing. I simply cannot believe that the cache in this processor would be this slow (at least for read ops). I'm betting on this having something to do with the Cell architecture that got lost in translation.
I'm not from the UK, but a US version of this needs to happen. I also think this needs to be instituted for all types of media: audio, video, and even video/computer games. We need a nice big sticker that says something about how this media contains technology designed to prevent you from copying it. And how the DMCA makes that illegal. And how you won't be able to make a backup (too bad if your kids scratch it). And how it's not going to play on your car stereo. Et cetera, et cetera.
Oh, I'm sorry. There's no way this passage could've been editorialized, changed by someone, made up, or anything like that. Nope, it must be read literally, with no context or anything like that.
Well, you definitely understand one of the limits that we have in science. If we keep going along on the same track, little additions and proofs to the current system get more and more difficult to do as we go along.
However, most branches of science do not go along the same track forever. If I remember correctly, physicists in the 18th or 19th century were telling people to not go into physics, because all that needed to be done was some cleaning up of the things they already knew, and they would be done. Of course, we know how that turned out.
The reality here is that every once in a while, someone comes along with a theory or something that is radically different from the accepted system. Things change. New things become "possible". Look at the development of electronics, for another example.
Yep, so because there's some anecdote that disagress with the OP, let's just throw the baby out with the bathwater. Newsflash: literal reading of the Bible is stupid. The fact that you use this method of criticism (if you can call it that) to lay the groundwork for your argument reduces you to the level of the reactionary, GodHatesFags (tm) Christian fundamentalists. But don't let that stop you from trolling.
So you claim that flaming is always counter-productive, yet you flame against people who have a different political philsophy than you do. Way to be consistent.
The solution here (and it isn't unique) is simply education. Getting the message out that the evil corporations are taking "your rights" (and they are) is a message that Joe Voter will listen to.
It's because most people don't realize that they're ads. The average, non-critical website reader sees a bunch of links that look relevant, so they happily click on them thinking they'll find what they're looking for. I remember some studies being done that confirm this; I've also witnessed it firsthand.