'Being so enthusiastic that they want things to be good.'
This just dosen't make sense...a desire for 'things to be good' surely is natural. I've not read a game or movie preview that stated that their not too enthusiastic and hope that it will bomb. Nobody wants to read that, nor would it be the place of any press (consider an item they haven't seen/played) to make such a comment. It seems an excuse for a lousy game...what you read a preview and then you expected the product to actually be GOOD?! And to think you probably paid money for it too...How is showing an incomplete game different to a movie trailer, a music track or a couple of pictures? Surely you generate interest, public enthusiasm and use that to assit the sale of your product.
What the game industry is plagued with is fanboy/ameturish journalism in mainstream press, which dosen't help the image of videogame critics.
I sort of follow the point that the article makes, and I agree at least that there probably shouldn't be an expectation of immediate media access from bloggers. But, and I may be confused here, I don't understand his notion of being 'bound by rules'. Surely the only rules that really stand against a free press are laws (libel/slander etc.), sure the company might say 'if you print this then we'll stop giving you information', that isn't really a rule, and could just as easily apply to information supplied for a blog post.
Really? The problem I'd have with this is does the brain really collerate holding a controller to driving with a real steering wheel? I guess if you play with a real wheel then there could be some confusion, but to be honest there are so many differences between getting in a real car and playing a video game, I have to manually change gears, have mirrors to check, indicators to turn on....
I can see how playing GTA plants the 'what if...?' seed in my mind...'this traffic is bad, if only I drive on the curb?' But this is no different to thinking 'I could rob this bank...' I wouldn't and I suspect those that do are predisposed to it anyway.
I bought a second hand 360 about a month ago, it failed stright off but got a replacement no problem the next day. Needless to say I was a little suprised when the guy in the shop told his collegue 'We really should test these systems when we buy them off customers'. That dosen't sound like a great system...
My new 360 works fine but I'm little puzzled over disc read errors that it picks up sometimes (and the awful sounds coming from the drive when I use it vertically). I thought it might be my drive but most games run fine and the ones the don't (Dead Rising, for example) seem to have a history of this problem...is there a good reason for this? Is the manufacturing for the disc different for this game?
I too find it difficult to believe that even if Windows was free that they'd ever put it on these machines. Hasn't the OLPC programme already made a stance on this sort of thing already, with the rejection of Jobs' free OS X offer? It would seem odd to me if they suddenly made a reversal and stuck Windows on these machines.
I suspect, as others have already said, that we're talking about Microsoft offering a version of Windows for the laptop, not trying to get it pre-installed.
I'm not quite sure what the BPI were thinking in rolling out Cliff Richard in defense of this law...it smacks heavily of greed and dosen't exactly pull at the heart-strings. Am I expected to believe that not extending copyright will ruin his life? Put him out on the streets? I don't think so. Show me artist who will be really effected by not changing this law and I'll start considering a real argument here...but they don't appear to be producing one.
The Reg article is clearly biased but does raise the obvious suspicion I have about the government survey. More than anything it highlights the ignorance of the British public towards IP-related matters.
How is this different from the Interactive Fiction programming languages that are already out there?
The limitations of these languages have generally always been with the developer not in the chosen language, so I'm a little unclear how this will make inherently more immersive games. I'm not even sure it looks easier to use (this is a little unfair as I'm judging on screenshots), but the language 'Inform' has made leaps forward in this area with a natrual language system. Or designers can use 3rd party GUI tools to assist with construction in many of the IF languages. I'm skeptical of how this will compete with the games developed with other languages and made freely accessiable in the IF archive.
First off, I'm not an American so I'm not as clued up on the political standings as other here. But what I am sure of is that if I was presented with this level of evidence (and it seems from some of the references that we are dealing with real, substanial evidence here) the very last thing I would want anyone to do is: "stop bitching and moaning about past elections".
It's nonsense to suggest that just because something happened in the past we should all simply accept the outcome and move on...past elections were rigged? Ah, well...better luck next time!
Accusing the Democrats of sour grapes seems within the realm of possibility but to suggest that even if this were all true just to ignore it undermines the very foundation of your democratic process. Like it or not (and I'm guessing not - as it is a clear and present threat to your obvious political alligence) free and fair voting for everyone matters in a democracy.
You don't like that because your side won't always win?
What on earth gave you that idea? United Kingdom != Great Britain
There's a reason why it's called the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Great Britain = England, Wales, Scotland + outlying islands. United Kingdom = Great Britain + Northern Ireland. And the British Islands = United Kingdom + Crown Dependences (e.g Channel Islands, Isle of Man).
It often seems to me that American English (as opposed to British English) is usally more adaptive to incorporating trademarks into its language. I'm not saying this is always the case (espically seeing that this article comes from a British newspaper, and Oxford English tried to add the word in June) but there seems to be a higher frequency of trademarks turn household names in American usage.
There's probably a reason for this maybe legally or the dominance of the inventing brand at first release.
The Windows Search thing does puzzle me though...I'm unclear how he knew that Apple wasn't working on it before MS annouced it, but merely annouced it after them?
I'm not sure I really care though.
This simple fact is Apple delivered through on their tech promise. People seem critical of the 'cards close to the chest' attitude at times from Apple but it seems to work out a lot better than the MS Vista approach. Lots of promises, fewer in the delivery, stuff to come later (i.e more promises). Spotlight/Windows search is a perfect example, if they were talking about it in Jan 2004, why aren't we using it now or why isn't it shaping up to be better than Spotlight?
"I get a lot of flak from the Mac community and no doubt this article will start another round of name-calling. (See how Apple's childish behavior rubs off on its fans?)"
Nice get out.
So, anyone who disagrees is going to be a Mac fanboy so we can ignore what they say.
Here's the deal: I'm a consumer end-user, I'm using Spotlight, Expose, Aqua....right now. I couldn't care less if Microsoft promised me they'd release these features in 5 years.
If this is successful I guess it finally kills of those few of us still playing PPC OS X ports. Means I may have to make the Intel switch sooner than I thought...
Also anyone wonder whose going to support these games? The orginal publisher? I find this hard to believe...are they going to jump to support a platform they have no experience in and know nothing about? Surely supporting OS X is a very different situation to providing help to Windows users?
Floyd staggers to the ground, dropping the mini card. He is badly torn apart, with loose wires and broken circuits everywhere. Oil flows from his lubrication system. He obviously has only moments to live.
You drop to your knees and cradle Floyd's head in your lap. Floyd looks up at his friend with half-open eyes. "Floyd did it... got card. Floyd a good friend, huh?" Quietly, you sing Floyd's favorite song, the Ballad of the Starcrossed Miner:....
As you finish the last verse, Floyd smiles with contentment, and then his eyes close as his head rolls to one side. You sit in silence for a moment, in memory of a brave friend who gave his life so that you might live."
I get the strong feeling that if the IAU decide against Pluto there will be a minor outcry from the general population. When the idea hit the main media last time it was hit with a couple of 'Save Pluto' campaigns. Besides it strikes me that regardless of the scientific 'definition' that we're given Pluto will always be a planet to most people for many generations. Every likes the underdog!
Presumably, based upon history, it's a case of will be obsolete not could, but that's not the issue. This argument could applied to any form of digital media collection: why store stuff on CDs/MP3s/vinyl etc. after all they could become obsolete and then you wouldn't have any mean to play them sucker! This is nonsense, we'd never have any collections of music based on this kind of insight (or indeed films or even data files). It's an ill-founded argument at best and scaremongering at worst.
Here's something that could shock Mr. Hawk too, I like buying music from iTunes and because of the way I use it I don't find the DRM constrictive. Now, I appreciate that some people do and some people make a reasonable choice not to purchase from iTMS because it is right for them. What I haven't done is created an argument name calling the people that don't agree with my choice and stick it on the front page of slashdot. I have tons of personal views on the computer industry, why aren't they worthy of the same attention?
If I've done nothing wrong - I've nothing to fear - therefore you have no need to monitor me. And surely you should assume from the outset that I have done nothing wrong.
There's something terribly wrong if I have to parade in front of a camera in my own home all day to prove that I'm innocent. You can't just preemptivly gather evidence on everyone based on the theory that at least some of them will probably be guilty, at some point, maybe.
I think you're taking the word 'tax' too literary, it is not really a government enforced tax like the traditional standard ones, i.e all of the money I pay goes to the BBC, costs are set by parliament but that's as far as government interference goes. License evasion costs I have no clear evidence for and you have a good argument that too much is spent detecting the 5% of evaders...although perhaps money gained from successful prosecutions is placed back into the system.
Considering 90% of the fee I pay goes directly to BBC programming though I, personally, feel it's worth the system. As to why it isn't included in a general tax it's because to do so would assume that everyone has/wants to own a television set; which although largely true is not completly true. If I didn't own a TV I'd be pissed that my taxes were going to fund those that did.
As for a PC Tax it sounds like one of those brash ideas that comes from peple who have no real idea what's going on..and I believe has already been shot down by those who do.
Not only them! Millions of so called 'web pages' (i.e documents which unsightly individuals have created and then dared to 'share to the rest of us') are breaking this law! It's about time someone paid up for this...
Oh, and don't read this comment...it's not for sharing.
Slashdot Mirror
This just dosen't make sense...a desire for 'things to be good' surely is natural. I've not read a game or movie preview that stated that their not too enthusiastic and hope that it will bomb. Nobody wants to read that, nor would it be the place of any press (consider an item they haven't seen/played) to make such a comment. It seems an excuse for a lousy game...what you read a preview and then you expected the product to actually be GOOD?! And to think you probably paid money for it too...How is showing an incomplete game different to a movie trailer, a music track or a couple of pictures? Surely you generate interest, public enthusiasm and use that to assit the sale of your product.
What the game industry is plagued with is fanboy/ameturish journalism in mainstream press, which dosen't help the image of videogame critics.
Rumour has it an Xbox dies everytime Sony sacrifices a goat....
I sort of follow the point that the article makes, and I agree at least that there probably shouldn't be an expectation of immediate media access from bloggers. But, and I may be confused here, I don't understand his notion of being 'bound by rules'. Surely the only rules that really stand against a free press are laws (libel/slander etc.), sure the company might say 'if you print this then we'll stop giving you information', that isn't really a rule, and could just as easily apply to information supplied for a blog post.
I can see how playing GTA plants the 'what if...?' seed in my mind...'this traffic is bad, if only I drive on the curb?' But this is no different to thinking 'I could rob this bank...' I wouldn't and I suspect those that do are predisposed to it anyway.
My new 360 works fine but I'm little puzzled over disc read errors that it picks up sometimes (and the awful sounds coming from the drive when I use it vertically). I thought it might be my drive but most games run fine and the ones the don't (Dead Rising, for example) seem to have a history of this problem...is there a good reason for this? Is the manufacturing for the disc different for this game?
--Douglas Adams
I suspect, as others have already said, that we're talking about Microsoft offering a version of Windows for the laptop, not trying to get it pre-installed.
The Reg article is clearly biased but does raise the obvious suspicion I have about the government survey. More than anything it highlights the ignorance of the British public towards IP-related matters.
The limitations of these languages have generally always been with the developer not in the chosen language, so I'm a little unclear how this will make inherently more immersive games. I'm not even sure it looks easier to use (this is a little unfair as I'm judging on screenshots), but the language 'Inform' has made leaps forward in this area with a natrual language system. Or designers can use 3rd party GUI tools to assist with construction in many of the IF languages. I'm skeptical of how this will compete with the games developed with other languages and made freely accessiable in the IF archive.
Jobs offered OS X for free, it was turned down because the developers wanted an open source OS.
It's nonsense to suggest that just because something happened in the past we should all simply accept the outcome and move on...past elections were rigged? Ah, well...better luck next time!
Accusing the Democrats of sour grapes seems within the realm of possibility but to suggest that even if this were all true just to ignore it undermines the very foundation of your democratic process. Like it or not (and I'm guessing not - as it is a clear and present threat to your obvious political alligence) free and fair voting for everyone matters in a democracy.
You don't like that because your side won't always win?
Tough.
Only found that out about 10 years later.
Sure, you have definitive proof then?
How does believing in a whole load of speculative replies to this article make me less gullible?
What on earth gave you that idea? United Kingdom != Great Britain
There's a reason why it's called the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Great Britain = England, Wales, Scotland + outlying islands. United Kingdom = Great Britain + Northern Ireland. And the British Islands = United Kingdom + Crown Dependences (e.g Channel Islands, Isle of Man).
There's probably a reason for this maybe legally or the dominance of the inventing brand at first release.
I'm not sure I really care though.
This simple fact is Apple delivered through on their tech promise. People seem critical of the 'cards close to the chest' attitude at times from Apple but it seems to work out a lot better than the MS Vista approach. Lots of promises, fewer in the delivery, stuff to come later (i.e more promises). Spotlight/Windows search is a perfect example, if they were talking about it in Jan 2004, why aren't we using it now or why isn't it shaping up to be better than Spotlight?
Nice get out.
So, anyone who disagrees is going to be a Mac fanboy so we can ignore what they say.
Here's the deal: I'm a consumer end-user, I'm using Spotlight, Expose, Aqua....right now. I couldn't care less if Microsoft promised me they'd release these features in 5 years.
Also anyone wonder whose going to support these games? The orginal publisher? I find this hard to believe...are they going to jump to support a platform they have no experience in and know nothing about? Surely supporting OS X is a very different situation to providing help to Windows users?
Floyd staggers to the ground, dropping the mini card. He is badly torn apart, with loose wires and broken circuits everywhere. Oil flows from his lubrication system. He obviously has only moments to live.
You drop to your knees and cradle Floyd's head in your lap. Floyd looks up at his friend with half-open eyes. "Floyd did it ... got card. Floyd a good friend, huh?" Quietly, you sing Floyd's favorite song, the Ballad of the Starcrossed Miner: ....
As you finish the last verse, Floyd smiles with contentment, and then his eyes close as his head rolls to one side. You sit in silence for a moment, in memory of a brave friend who gave his life so that you might live."
I get the strong feeling that if the IAU decide against Pluto there will be a minor outcry from the general population. When the idea hit the main media last time it was hit with a couple of 'Save Pluto' campaigns. Besides it strikes me that regardless of the scientific 'definition' that we're given Pluto will always be a planet to most people for many generations. Every likes the underdog!
Presumably, based upon history, it's a case of will be obsolete not could, but that's not the issue. This argument could applied to any form of digital media collection: why store stuff on CDs/MP3s/vinyl etc. after all they could become obsolete and then you wouldn't have any mean to play them sucker! This is nonsense, we'd never have any collections of music based on this kind of insight (or indeed films or even data files). It's an ill-founded argument at best and scaremongering at worst.
Here's something that could shock Mr. Hawk too, I like buying music from iTunes and because of the way I use it I don't find the DRM constrictive. Now, I appreciate that some people do and some people make a reasonable choice not to purchase from iTMS because it is right for them. What I haven't done is created an argument name calling the people that don't agree with my choice and stick it on the front page of slashdot. I have tons of personal views on the computer industry, why aren't they worthy of the same attention?
If I've done nothing wrong - I've nothing to fear - therefore you have no need to monitor me. And surely you should assume from the outset that I have done nothing wrong.
There's something terribly wrong if I have to parade in front of a camera in my own home all day to prove that I'm innocent. You can't just preemptivly gather evidence on everyone based on the theory that at least some of them will probably be guilty, at some point, maybe.
Considering 90% of the fee I pay goes directly to BBC programming though I, personally, feel it's worth the system. As to why it isn't included in a general tax it's because to do so would assume that everyone has/wants to own a television set; which although largely true is not completly true. If I didn't own a TV I'd be pissed that my taxes were going to fund those that did.
As for a PC Tax it sounds like one of those brash ideas that comes from peple who have no real idea what's going on..and I believe has already been shot down by those who do.
Tea? Smoking jackets? They won't complain...remember British people never complain, it's part of their sterotype.
Oh, and don't read this comment...it's not for sharing.