I've seen the random-access bit used tons of times. I've seen it used to show people the "good part", to start the disc at episode x (from TV collections), and other similar things. As for the extras, I guess it depends on how you watch movies. Fans will generally watch the special features and/or turn the commentary on. People who enjoyed a movie might want to watch a few minutes of a "making of" extra or a little featurette that has the writers, directors, etc talking about various things.
As for scratches, well, VHS tapes have their downfalls as well.
First off, they are spelled/capitalized 'iPod' and 'iTunes'.
PROTIP: perpetuating idiotic marketspeak doesn't make you appear smart.
Anyway, let's look at what seems to be your main point: Apple knows better than me how I want to organize my music, and they could have done worse, so let's just get on our knees at the altar of Jobs. Um, sorry, but you're basically proving my case for me.
File naming and organizing is not something that needs to be delegated to some program that is less powerful than the file browser and file utilities I already have. This is a problem that's been solved for years. You either know this already and don't want to admit it, or simply have your head up your ass.
Sure, you might claim that Itunes makes things easier for people, but when it comes down to it and something goes wrong, being coddled by a nanny program works against you. People will have no idea what happened. If, however, they had learned some basic computer skills, they would be able to troubleshoot and figure out the problem.
Of course, the obvious rebuttal to this is "well, since we can make it easy, we should". This is not valid. The easy solution to a problem is not always a good one. If I spill a drink on the floor, an "easy" solution would be to pay someone to demolish my house and rebuild it. Is this a good solution?
Then we get to the "Apple could have done worse" aspect. This is pure bullshit. It's like saying Al Capone was a great guy because he could have done worse.
Welcome to the Microsoft World (TM, pat. pend). They've been doing this crap for years, but mostly in the business market with Windows/Office. Why do you think there's so much news about governments and businesses trying to get out of the lock (see Massachusetts, Ernie Ball, etc)?
The thing is, I don't understand why they're going after gamers like this. Most PC gamers are as pro-MS as you get, and have no doubt bought several PCs, Windows tax included. The only theory I can really entertain seriously is that they see a tough future in the OS market (tweakers moving to Linux and the other free Unixes, etc), and are trying to lock it down as best they can.
Halo did do something very nice that every FPS game should copy. Give grenades their own controls so you can throw them with your main weapon equipped. Brilliant.
*THWAK* Don't forget they did the same thing with melee strikes. The dedicated grenade/melee buttons really add some complexity to the game. They also make watching a good Halo player a lot of fun; it's like watching some sort of deathmatch symphony. It also makes casual FPSers (ahem, like me) horrible at multiplayer.
I agree that the Ipod takes control away from you, but for a slightly different reason, and that is the fact that it is completely proprietary. Apple releases no source code, no public APIs, and no documentation whatsoever so that you can tinker with it. When you copy songs to it from Itunes, your filenames are mangled and put into random folders for absolutely no reason at all, other than inconveniencing people who want to use the device in ways big daddy apple doesn't want you to.
I think the problem with your reasoning here is that, while lots of slashbots rail against the focus on HD by Sony and MS, most of them know HD is going to happen sooner or later. When that time comes, your $500 PS3 is a lot less useful.
Re:PS2 will likely be Sony's "Next-Gen" console
on
How the PS3 Hit $600
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· Score: 4, Insightful
I'm 25, I have a decent professional job... yet even I can't justify $600 for a next gen console. If people in my position aren't going to buy it, who will?
I think you're forgetting that there are a lot of people in situations similar to yours who have no problem paying $600 for the newest shiny toy, even if said toy has no games available for it. These are the ones who have bought the 360, and they will be buying the PS3 as well.
People who couldn't see their potential thought "why the hell would people buy DVDs over VHS when the only advantage is picture quality, and you can't even record on them"
If this were true, your argument would be a slam-dunk. Unfortunately, DVD brought a lot more advantages than just picture quality.
The physical format of the media was a big improvement. Optical discs are smaller and don't degrade like tape (sure, degradation can be lumped into "picture quality", but I don't think that's what you were talking about). The media also has the advantage of being random-access, allowing you to go to any point in the disc without hitting fast forward and waiting for five minutes.
Several other advantages have been realized as well. Multiple audio streams allow several languages and/or subtitles on the same disc, as well as allowing director commentary. "Special features" existed before DVD, but the linear nature of tape made them a lot less palatable; once again, random-access media makes things better.
These advantages were due to the realities of random-access media and multiplexed data streams. The HD disc formats are nearly identical to DVD, save for increased data capacity and improved codecs. They definitely do not have the same amount of advantages that the tape-to-DVD transition brought.
Um, do you seriously believe this? A single shard of an MMO has thousands of people playing on it. A game on Live has, at most, a few dozen. In MMOs, connections must remain persistent for hours at a time. Games on Live last a few minutes. An MMO has to have servers up and waiting at ALL times. Live servers can queue up a new server thread when demand spikes, and scale back the same way.
Then take into consideration the fact that most console games don't offer much new content after they are released. MMOs add lots of things after release.
You specifically mention how WoW has difficulty supporting the load. This is a bullshit point, because it is an anecdote. Not all MMOs have difficulty supporting similar loads.
So basically, what I've pointed out here (which is the tip of the iceberg, really) invalidates pretty much all of your points. Please try again when you have a coherent argument.
I think a larger number of us used our reasoning skills to deduce the meaning from the surrounding words. It's a component of something called "reading comprehension".
[Sony's fallen into] a black hole where people resent a company so much that they believe anything bad they hear about it.
When you say it like that, it sounds pretty bad. But is it really all that different from entities like Microsoft, EA, or even the Bush Administration? I don't think it is.
Standbying is near unavoidable given halo 2's setup (ie, not dedicated servers at all). This makes me hope they are considering dedicated servers for ranked games for Halo 3.
This really boggles my mind. If I'm paying $50 per annum for Live, I would expect dedicated servers.
I believe he also, at one point, used LAME to compress samples of his music. He uses Realplayer now. Is this a coincidence, or did Fraunhoefer come a-knocking for some protection money?
Slashdot Mirror
As for scratches, well, VHS tapes have their downfalls as well.
PROTIP: perpetuating idiotic marketspeak doesn't make you appear smart.
Anyway, let's look at what seems to be your main point: Apple knows better than me how I want to organize my music, and they could have done worse, so let's just get on our knees at the altar of Jobs. Um, sorry, but you're basically proving my case for me.
File naming and organizing is not something that needs to be delegated to some program that is less powerful than the file browser and file utilities I already have. This is a problem that's been solved for years. You either know this already and don't want to admit it, or simply have your head up your ass.
Sure, you might claim that Itunes makes things easier for people, but when it comes down to it and something goes wrong, being coddled by a nanny program works against you. People will have no idea what happened. If, however, they had learned some basic computer skills, they would be able to troubleshoot and figure out the problem.
Of course, the obvious rebuttal to this is "well, since we can make it easy, we should". This is not valid. The easy solution to a problem is not always a good one. If I spill a drink on the floor, an "easy" solution would be to pay someone to demolish my house and rebuild it. Is this a good solution?
Then we get to the "Apple could have done worse" aspect. This is pure bullshit. It's like saying Al Capone was a great guy because he could have done worse.
Welcome to the Microsoft World (TM, pat. pend). They've been doing this crap for years, but mostly in the business market with Windows/Office. Why do you think there's so much news about governments and businesses trying to get out of the lock (see Massachusetts, Ernie Ball, etc)?
The thing is, I don't understand why they're going after gamers like this. Most PC gamers are as pro-MS as you get, and have no doubt bought several PCs, Windows tax included. The only theory I can really entertain seriously is that they see a tough future in the OS market (tweakers moving to Linux and the other free Unixes, etc), and are trying to lock it down as best they can.
*THWAK* Don't forget they did the same thing with melee strikes. The dedicated grenade/melee buttons really add some complexity to the game. They also make watching a good Halo player a lot of fun; it's like watching some sort of deathmatch symphony. It also makes casual FPSers (ahem, like me) horrible at multiplayer.
I agree that the Ipod takes control away from you, but for a slightly different reason, and that is the fact that it is completely proprietary. Apple releases no source code, no public APIs, and no documentation whatsoever so that you can tinker with it. When you copy songs to it from Itunes, your filenames are mangled and put into random folders for absolutely no reason at all, other than inconveniencing people who want to use the device in ways big daddy apple doesn't want you to.
Rockbox has a bunch of games. Unfortunately, the Ipod port isn't very polished yet.
I think the problem with your reasoning here is that, while lots of slashbots rail against the focus on HD by Sony and MS, most of them know HD is going to happen sooner or later. When that time comes, your $500 PS3 is a lot less useful.
I think you're forgetting that there are a lot of people in situations similar to yours who have no problem paying $600 for the newest shiny toy, even if said toy has no games available for it. These are the ones who have bought the 360, and they will be buying the PS3 as well.
I dunno man, this strategy seems to work pretty well for software companies like Microsoft.
If this were true, your argument would be a slam-dunk. Unfortunately, DVD brought a lot more advantages than just picture quality.
The physical format of the media was a big improvement. Optical discs are smaller and don't degrade like tape (sure, degradation can be lumped into "picture quality", but I don't think that's what you were talking about). The media also has the advantage of being random-access, allowing you to go to any point in the disc without hitting fast forward and waiting for five minutes.
Several other advantages have been realized as well. Multiple audio streams allow several languages and/or subtitles on the same disc, as well as allowing director commentary. "Special features" existed before DVD, but the linear nature of tape made them a lot less palatable; once again, random-access media makes things better.
These advantages were due to the realities of random-access media and multiplexed data streams. The HD disc formats are nearly identical to DVD, save for increased data capacity and improved codecs. They definitely do not have the same amount of advantages that the tape-to-DVD transition brought.
I have an idea, why don't you read my entire post?
Apple.
I didn't realize that the average MySpace user knows how to install Greasemonkey and scripts for it, let alone even knows what the hell CSS is.
Then take into consideration the fact that most console games don't offer much new content after they are released. MMOs add lots of things after release.
You specifically mention how WoW has difficulty supporting the load. This is a bullshit point, because it is an anecdote. Not all MMOs have difficulty supporting similar loads.
So basically, what I've pointed out here (which is the tip of the iceberg, really) invalidates pretty much all of your points. Please try again when you have a coherent argument.
I think a larger number of us used our reasoning skills to deduce the meaning from the surrounding words. It's a component of something called "reading comprehension".
When you say it like that, it sounds pretty bad. But is it really all that different from entities like Microsoft, EA, or even the Bush Administration? I don't think it is.
Guild Wars is a single universe, as well. However, it's not really a "massive" game, as everything is instanced...
This guy has posted another comment literally identical to this one. Check it out.
This really boggles my mind. If I'm paying $50 per annum for Live, I would expect dedicated servers.
Just release the source already. It's not like Picasa is a cornerstone of Google's revenue stream and has to stay closed.
Have you heard of a little app called iPhoto?
Yeah, look at all the pro-Google-bundling posts in this thread. Oh wait, you're full of shit.
Ever wonder why Dells are so cheap?
I believe he also, at one point, used LAME to compress samples of his music. He uses Realplayer now. Is this a coincidence, or did Fraunhoefer come a-knocking for some protection money?
I'm not really sure, but I heard there's rumors on them.