I just started using Gizmo because I was looking for a VoIP service and they had one of the cheapest Call-In numbers (free if you use 775 otherwise as low as $3 a day for select area codes). It also helps that they have builds for all my operating systems (OS X, Windows, and Linux). Anyway... Gizmo supports multi-user chat with audio, but so far I haven't seen anything about video chat so I'm assuming that's not part of the deal. I don't really know about the answers to your other questions but I don't know about the decentralization issue. Voice quality is pretty good though and the interface is nice and that with the low prices are what made me choose it (at least for now) over the competitors.
Even if it's decentralized though, it's not like the packets can't be intercepted... I don't think they encrypt the packets (but I could be wrong--and even if they did the NSA would be able to encrypt it). So if you're looking at general secured communication then I recommend meeting face to face.
By load screens I mean all of those annoying credits that you see when turning on the system/starting a new game for the first time. So the various companies that helped make the game and such and their fancy animated logos and such. Normally they're skippable, but not until you've gone through a couple of them. I just want to go straight to the main screen. But, hey, at least they don't have 5-15 min. of previews/commercials before you get to the actual game (the movie industry can go to hell...)
It's in the summary--you calibrate teh Wiimote by pointing it at two seperate locations on the screen (probably top left and bottom right--or top right and bottom left). Also, the summary (I haven't read TFA) made it seem like you may need to calibrate the controller every time a game is loaded to take into account environmental variables (such as a receiver that's been moved, mirrors, plastic, lighting changes, etc.) If you're changing games a lot in a short time frame this could be annoying, but otherwise it shouldn't take too long to point the controller at one corner and then the other corner--especially since you no longer have to go through the trouble of powering on the system since it's "always on"... now if they would just get rid of all of those damn load screens...
I'm in the same boat as you (regarding the last generation)--had all 4 of them and the Dreamcast was by far my favorite. I STILL own more games for it than I do on any of the other 3 consoles--almost 30 games on the Dreamcast and just under 20 for the next closest console (either XBox or Gamecube--they both had really close counts and I don't remember which one had a game or two more than the other). I ended up selling my PS2 to my younger brother after not finding a 'must own' game on it for 2 years and only having about 10 games on it anyway (2 of which were actually his).
There was a lot of innovation going on for the Dreamcast launch (a lot of it from Sega), but after the Dreamcast died it seemed to fizzle out--Sega is now a shell of what it used to be (Naka and Suzuki both left to form their own development groups--or at least that was the last rumor I heard). PowerStone was never ported to the other consoles and has yet to see a sequel (although I heard something about them being re-released...) Shenmue is MIA now and Crazy Taxi died off after being ported to the other systems and maybe one more sequel after that. And what happened to the sequel for Skies of Arcadia?
I've haven't had a virus or even spyware (that stayed on my system for more than 5 min.) in more than 4 years. I don't leave the browsers unupgraded forever--I just don't make a special effort to upgrade them. I use a hardware and software firewall and only open pages in browsers that aren't my primary browser if they're a page I created myself or if I know its a legitimate page (e.g. a government web site that only works in IE). I use both hardware and software firewalls, keep my virus definitions updated (and scan the system at LEAST once per month), and scan for spyware once every 3 months (mostly because the only thing I've ever found are IE tracker cookies from the times I access IE through Firefox's IE tabs). I'm a bit more lacks on my OS X and Linux systems, but I haven't had a problem (as long as I'm the only person using the system) keeping XP secure. If I let anybody else touch it though... well, then I would make sure it was locked down more. Although my girlfriend has actually managed to keep her system virus and spyware free for the past 2 years at least (which amazes me since she uses IE and goes to a lot of web sites I wouldn't trust--like MySpace). She has had problems in the past when she used to download games and art and stuff, but after she had a problem and I kept insisting she stop doing that stuff she stopped and hasn't had a problem since.
That's what I did with the shared family PC. I got sick of having to get rid of viruses/spyware every visit (whether my last visit was 2 months before or 2 weeks...) So I installed firefox and got rid of all references to IE on all XP profiles (after doing a complete reinstall of XP). It's been over 8 months, and not one problem since that time. In fact, last time somebody in my family got a new PC (about Feb. or March) they asked me specifically to install Firefox on it after seeing the advantages (especially in terms of fewer viruses/pop-ups/spyware/etc. compared to IE). Of course since that time Firefox has gotten a lot more pop-ups and I've switched over to Opera 9 (no pop-ups... as opposed to both Firefox and Safari which both allow pop-ups through on occasion), but my family still uses Firefox and appears to be quite content with it (and the automatic update feature was a godsend).
I wasn't aware Slashdot's traffic was decreasing, just that Digg's was increasing. Personally, I look at them both. Digg I look at for more recent stories--the conversations tend to be at a very low intellectual level (high school or lower). Slashdot, while there are quite a few really dumb comments, still has quite a few "field experts" browsing and commenting on stories, which is why I read Slashdot. I spend maybe 2 min. on Digg with each visit (glance at the stories--open the ones I'm interested in and then close the Digg tab); while I spend at least 10-15 min. each time I go to Slashdot glancing through the conversations (from stories that interested me) for intelligent/interesting comments. I will say that I like the fact that I can post a blog entry to Digg and only get 10 diggs, but get 60+ readers for a blog entry that would have only gotten maybe 3 reads (MacBook and OS X Review...
As for the web statistics, these were only posted because they're relevant to the story about increased Firefox usage. I want to try the 2.0 Beta, but last time I tried a Firefox beta I couldn't use any of my extensions and I therefore wasn't able to use Firefox in the way I like using Firefox (since without the extensions its only an okay browser). I don't know if I'll switch to Firefox 2.0 when it comes out though, as currently I'm really fond of Opera 9.
My Firefox is out of date because I switched to Opera when Beta 9 came out. I still use Firefox on occassion for testing my web site and for the ocassional page that just refuses to play nicely with Opera (or when I need to use the IE tab for one of the few pages that STILL refuses to work in anything except for IE). So I just don't bother to stay current on the latest updates. Of course then there's the version of Firefox I'm using now at work (version 1.0.7) and that's pretty out of date... but I'm not the person who originally installed Firefox (and this is a multi-user computer) so I don't know if they need the older version of Firefox for some reason...
You can find Edge on newstands in the US? Where'd you go? My options are kind of limited to Borders and Barnes and Nobles (currently located in rural Iowa...) but neither of those appear to have it. However, I go back to Chicago every so often so if you know of a retailer that carries them on the newstands, please let me know.
Part of it already implemented
on
Talking iPods
·
· Score: 1
University of North Carolina's Dr. Peter Parente implemented something like this. Admittedly, his audio interface for the iPod only reads off the songs and doesn't do the menu, but it's similar technology that may call the patent into question.
In case anybody is wondering, I only know about that because I'm currently doing audio interface research, and I had read one of his papers so I had looked up what other work he's currently working on. I have no affiliation with him or UNC, but I thought some Slashdotter's may find that project interesting.
I did it more out of protest against how bad 8 was than anything against 9. Plus at that point FF had begun to really show it's age, I mean they didn't even bother getting voice actors or changing the battle system at all (7 was sort of my introduction into RPGs and by the time 9 came out I had played enough to know that the FF way was not a very fun way). I picked up 10 because they had FINALLY gotten voice actors and supposedly had revamped some of the play (it had changed, but it was still a bit too slow for me... Grandia II is a great example of a semi-turned based battle system that works well). Any way, it was just my way of protesting. Now I have little time for RPGs and the FF series seems to have gone even further down the tubes in terms of playability (at least if its true that the battles more or less fight themselves...) Plus FF X-2 was so much of a cheap tactic to milk the franchise I need to sit out at least 2 or 3 installments in protest. I'll probably play the Crystal Chronicles for Wii though because my girlfriend liked playing the first one with me on the GameCube (although the first CC was really annoying due to that chalice or whatever it was that you had to carry all the time...)
So when endless, uninspired sequels make it to other consoles then we should wake you up?
Don't get me wrong, I loved the first MGS for PS1 and thought it was extremely innovative (switching the controller when fighting Pscyho Mantis was simple but BRILLIANT), but MGS2 lacked these clever tricks and had too many long CG cutscenes which kind of turned me off from it (didn't even pick up MGS3). Final Fantasy has always been hit and miss for me (enjoyed VII and X, but hated 8 so refused to play 9 and then DESPISED X-2 so won't be picking up XII), while GT is just another racing game (albeit a VERY nice looking one).
While Assasin's Creed may not be a "great" game, it also probably won't be a terrible game, and at least its new. Besides, it's not like MGS won't (after 2-3 years) end up on the other systems any way (MGS1 and MGS2 did...) GT never will as Sony makes it themselves, FF is just a matter of SquareEnix deciding they want to put their eggs in more than one basket (or choosing to jump ship like they did from Sony to Nintendo back in the day).
Any way, the important thing is that in order for Sony to win over consumer's wallets with a $500-600 system and games ranging from $60-(no more than) $100 they need as much exclusive content as they can get and not just a small handful of "exclusive" games (exclusive is in quotes because 3rd party titles are never guaranteed to remain exclusive unless the contract specifically states that). So if some of the big publisher's (Ubisoft is in the top 5) are reconsidering the exclusivity of titles then that does not bode well for the PS3.
I agree with my sibling. While, I personally, won't be upgrading to Vista because I don't see enough advantage to it for me, I think it is a huge improvement over XP (plus I also have a MacBook with OS X and my desktop has Ubuntu and Linspire on it--so I have all the modern OS features I need) in terms of what's included out of the box and everything else. I don't think it's anything new--in that regard I agree with the parent (it's all just stuff borrowed from OS X and Linux). Since many home users (and business users) are unlikely to switch operating systems any time soon, I think this is great for people planning to buy a new PC. And as for not including an Office suite by default--I am totally agreed on that as that is THE most annoying thing about propietary operating systems (including OS X, which also does not come with anything more than a demo of an Office suite).
In conclusion, Vista isn't all that bad and if you don't already have a modern operating system (i.e. if your only operating system is XP) and you're in the market for a new PC any way, then it's worth waiting the half year to a year for Vista to come out and buying it then.
For a my more complete analysis of Vista, click the link in my sig as I just did a write up on it (I also have a write up on Symphony OS there and in a week or two I'll do a write up on OS X).
If I were them, I would use it to trade rights with MS, as MS recently obtained a patent on filtering voice chat to bleep out unwanted terms. Nintendo being family oriented (and the Wii almost certainly deploying some type of voice chat--as well as the DS at some point in the future) the rights to implement similar technology is invaluable to Nintendo. They should just make an agreement with MS to not sue each other over their respective patents in this area (and then they can both sue Sony when Sony implements the same thing). As a side note, X-fire wouldn't be threatened by the patent as X-fire is not for video game consoles, just PCs.
The American Revolution (and several other successful revolutions on that list) were initiated and run by, not peasants, but the wealthy middle class/merchant class. Most "peasants" tend to lack the education, training, experience, funding, etc. to successfully start and sustain a revolution. The wealthy that are not in power use the grumblings of the poor/peasantry to entice them to battle, and thus putting the wealthy people who weren't in power into power. There's a reason there are pieces called "pawns" in chess games...
Agreed, it is very interesting but is 99.99% unlikely to happen. A much more likely (and beneficial to both Apple and Nintendo) scenario would be a partnership similar to Microsoft's "Live Anywhere" only Nintendo would integrate their online features with OS X, iPod, and the upcoming Apple cell phone.
I read yesterday though that they were trying to strike a deal with Adobe to include Adobe Flash player, Acrobat (viewer), and one other Adobe product by default in Vista in exchange for the Adobe allowing MS to include a "print to PDF" function as a default in Office (and Vista--as a print driver). Technically, MS is in the right with the whole allowing people to save to PDF since its an open format and a feature that their customers want... But then how could Adobe sell their PDF print driver (I forget the name of it...)
That's why I use my MP3 player for long trips (enough songs on it so that I don't have to hear the same song more than once as long as I'm not driving more than 8 hours a day or so)--and this way I'm not trying to take a CD out and put a new one in while driving. I'll normally flip over to the normal radio every so often though just to get a feel of the local music/listen to stuff I haven't heard before.
I sold my PS2 to my younger brother and I am playing his copy of God of War at the moment. I agree it's a pretty good game, although it's repetitive and I find myself walking away from it easily after 30-60 min. spurts (would be sooner but it doesn't let you save often enough). Still, the story is compelling and the gameplay is fun (despite ridiculously easy puzzles)--easily a 4, maybe 4.5 out of 5 though. But really the only thing I was "dissing" in the previous posts were that the graphics weren't as good as those of the XBox and GameCube. I don't care either way about graphics though, so I don't see that as an issue--it was more a slam at Sony for making huge claims about graphics capabilities and then not delivering quality that's even as good as the "underpowered" GameCube.
I particularly liked Ape Escape for the original PS myself, but while they do have some good games (I'm not denying that)--none of the games are unique/good/appealing enough for me to justify buying a $500-600 machine (or even a $300 machine). I've been gaming since the Atari 2600 and the only system I ever sold was the PS2 (both out of a need for money and out of boredom with the system--my gaming money had been going to the XBox and GC because they simply had better exclusive games on them--I hadn't bought a PS2 game in 2+ years...) It's just my personal opinion about their first party though--just as I'm sure there are some people out there who argue that Nintendo and Microsoft have crappy first parties (the original XBox first party lineup did kind of suck--with the exception of Halo--but the 360 first party lineup is slowly beginning to shape up... maybe in a year or two after a 360 price drop I'll pick one up).
But that was true about the PS2... Just because it was successful, doesn't mean it wasn't underpowered for its "powerhouse" status. I've been playing God of War recently and while it's a fun game and all, its graphics are clearly not as smooth as the graphics on XBox and GC games. If Sony expects me to pay $500-600 they better have either: a) an undeniably awesome first party (as 3rd party exclusives will quickly no longer be exclusive if a system doesn't sell--even Square will jump ship) or b) a demonstrable superiority in gaming (graphics, gameplay, the whole nine yards).
Sony has a handful of good first party IP, but nothing nearly good enough to make me buy a console just for their games (nothing like a Zelda). And from what I've been hearing about the second part, they don't have the a clear superiority in anything but market share at the moment. My hope is that MS or Nintendo (preferrably both--as a monopoly in the game industry is a bad thing) will eat up good chunks of Sony's market share and force the loyal 3rd parties to develop for somebody other than Sony--thus exposing Sony/PlayStation for the joke it is...
I'm not saying Reagan did nothing right, but I just think overall (like you said) he started too many wars, fucked around with other nations too much (contras, Iran-Iraq), started the money pit that is Star Wars (although I learned the other day that one research lab actually got this working... and that the software is the real problem with Star Wars because there's no way to test it in real life without missiles being fired), and just increased the defecit to astronomical proportions (something Bush has decided to do again...) It's just my own personal rating system, not necessarily what I think should be the norm (as I'm not a political scientist). Incidentally, FDR was my favorite president and I think he was a dictator (he controlled Congress and tried to get controll of the Supreme Court), but he was a brilliant leader and helped this country through several rough periods.
As for McCain, I agree that recently he has been "flipping" or "selling out" but as he has said in interviews: look at his overall record, not what he's doing during the run up to primaries. In American politics, you sometimes have to sell out for the votes, but after you get those votes you can do whatever the hell you want. I can forgive him a few years of being a dumbass as long as his overall record is good and as long as he returns to those principles after winning the election.
I agree with that, especially since everything he said about Reagan was true. Reagan is on my list of worst US Presidents right up there with Dubya (although Dubya takes the prize). Carter is up there too as while he's a great selfless guy, he wasn't a very good president and lacked backbone (big time).
On another note, John McCain is a great mix of qualities from both parties while being independent enough to avoid the sheep speak of the parties--minus right now (as he's campaigning for the primaries and doesn't want to lose the primaries again). I wish he would take the strong science approach that Bloomberg did, but at least he did speak up against the Republicans catering to the conservative Christians (although, again, during the primary season he's playing nicely with that group).
Not necessisarily. They're just gamers who play all types of games and don't see a game as being "beneath them". If somebody is too much of a snob to pick up and play a game like Kirby Canvas Curse, Super Princess Peach, Nintendogs etc. (those examples are aimed at male gamers since they're normally the ones talking smack about perfectly good games while also purporting to be "hardcore gamers"--and I chose them because they feature things like a rainbow colored line, virtual pet, etc. that these jocks pretending to be gamers would look at and say "that's not hardcore") because they think they're a "hardcore" gamer and only play FPS, racing, and sports games then they're all talk.
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Even if it's decentralized though, it's not like the packets can't be intercepted... I don't think they encrypt the packets (but I could be wrong--and even if they did the NSA would be able to encrypt it). So if you're looking at general secured communication then I recommend meeting face to face.
By load screens I mean all of those annoying credits that you see when turning on the system/starting a new game for the first time. So the various companies that helped make the game and such and their fancy animated logos and such. Normally they're skippable, but not until you've gone through a couple of them. I just want to go straight to the main screen. But, hey, at least they don't have 5-15 min. of previews/commercials before you get to the actual game (the movie industry can go to hell...)
It's in the summary--you calibrate teh Wiimote by pointing it at two seperate locations on the screen (probably top left and bottom right--or top right and bottom left). Also, the summary (I haven't read TFA) made it seem like you may need to calibrate the controller every time a game is loaded to take into account environmental variables (such as a receiver that's been moved, mirrors, plastic, lighting changes, etc.) If you're changing games a lot in a short time frame this could be annoying, but otherwise it shouldn't take too long to point the controller at one corner and then the other corner--especially since you no longer have to go through the trouble of powering on the system since it's "always on"... now if they would just get rid of all of those damn load screens...
There was a lot of innovation going on for the Dreamcast launch (a lot of it from Sega), but after the Dreamcast died it seemed to fizzle out--Sega is now a shell of what it used to be (Naka and Suzuki both left to form their own development groups--or at least that was the last rumor I heard). PowerStone was never ported to the other consoles and has yet to see a sequel (although I heard something about them being re-released...) Shenmue is MIA now and Crazy Taxi died off after being ported to the other systems and maybe one more sequel after that. And what happened to the sequel for Skies of Arcadia?
I've haven't had a virus or even spyware (that stayed on my system for more than 5 min.) in more than 4 years. I don't leave the browsers unupgraded forever--I just don't make a special effort to upgrade them. I use a hardware and software firewall and only open pages in browsers that aren't my primary browser if they're a page I created myself or if I know its a legitimate page (e.g. a government web site that only works in IE). I use both hardware and software firewalls, keep my virus definitions updated (and scan the system at LEAST once per month), and scan for spyware once every 3 months (mostly because the only thing I've ever found are IE tracker cookies from the times I access IE through Firefox's IE tabs). I'm a bit more lacks on my OS X and Linux systems, but I haven't had a problem (as long as I'm the only person using the system) keeping XP secure. If I let anybody else touch it though... well, then I would make sure it was locked down more. Although my girlfriend has actually managed to keep her system virus and spyware free for the past 2 years at least (which amazes me since she uses IE and goes to a lot of web sites I wouldn't trust--like MySpace). She has had problems in the past when she used to download games and art and stuff, but after she had a problem and I kept insisting she stop doing that stuff she stopped and hasn't had a problem since.
That's what I did with the shared family PC. I got sick of having to get rid of viruses/spyware every visit (whether my last visit was 2 months before or 2 weeks...) So I installed firefox and got rid of all references to IE on all XP profiles (after doing a complete reinstall of XP). It's been over 8 months, and not one problem since that time. In fact, last time somebody in my family got a new PC (about Feb. or March) they asked me specifically to install Firefox on it after seeing the advantages (especially in terms of fewer viruses/pop-ups/spyware/etc. compared to IE). Of course since that time Firefox has gotten a lot more pop-ups and I've switched over to Opera 9 (no pop-ups... as opposed to both Firefox and Safari which both allow pop-ups through on occasion), but my family still uses Firefox and appears to be quite content with it (and the automatic update feature was a godsend).
As for the web statistics, these were only posted because they're relevant to the story about increased Firefox usage. I want to try the 2.0 Beta, but last time I tried a Firefox beta I couldn't use any of my extensions and I therefore wasn't able to use Firefox in the way I like using Firefox (since without the extensions its only an okay browser). I don't know if I'll switch to Firefox 2.0 when it comes out though, as currently I'm really fond of Opera 9.
My Firefox is out of date because I switched to Opera when Beta 9 came out. I still use Firefox on occassion for testing my web site and for the ocassional page that just refuses to play nicely with Opera (or when I need to use the IE tab for one of the few pages that STILL refuses to work in anything except for IE). So I just don't bother to stay current on the latest updates. Of course then there's the version of Firefox I'm using now at work (version 1.0.7) and that's pretty out of date... but I'm not the person who originally installed Firefox (and this is a multi-user computer) so I don't know if they need the older version of Firefox for some reason...
You can find Edge on newstands in the US? Where'd you go? My options are kind of limited to Borders and Barnes and Nobles (currently located in rural Iowa...) but neither of those appear to have it. However, I go back to Chicago every so often so if you know of a retailer that carries them on the newstands, please let me know.
In case anybody is wondering, I only know about that because I'm currently doing audio interface research, and I had read one of his papers so I had looked up what other work he's currently working on. I have no affiliation with him or UNC, but I thought some Slashdotter's may find that project interesting.
I did it more out of protest against how bad 8 was than anything against 9. Plus at that point FF had begun to really show it's age, I mean they didn't even bother getting voice actors or changing the battle system at all (7 was sort of my introduction into RPGs and by the time 9 came out I had played enough to know that the FF way was not a very fun way). I picked up 10 because they had FINALLY gotten voice actors and supposedly had revamped some of the play (it had changed, but it was still a bit too slow for me... Grandia II is a great example of a semi-turned based battle system that works well). Any way, it was just my way of protesting. Now I have little time for RPGs and the FF series seems to have gone even further down the tubes in terms of playability (at least if its true that the battles more or less fight themselves...) Plus FF X-2 was so much of a cheap tactic to milk the franchise I need to sit out at least 2 or 3 installments in protest. I'll probably play the Crystal Chronicles for Wii though because my girlfriend liked playing the first one with me on the GameCube (although the first CC was really annoying due to that chalice or whatever it was that you had to carry all the time...)
Don't get me wrong, I loved the first MGS for PS1 and thought it was extremely innovative (switching the controller when fighting Pscyho Mantis was simple but BRILLIANT), but MGS2 lacked these clever tricks and had too many long CG cutscenes which kind of turned me off from it (didn't even pick up MGS3). Final Fantasy has always been hit and miss for me (enjoyed VII and X, but hated 8 so refused to play 9 and then DESPISED X-2 so won't be picking up XII), while GT is just another racing game (albeit a VERY nice looking one).
While Assasin's Creed may not be a "great" game, it also probably won't be a terrible game, and at least its new. Besides, it's not like MGS won't (after 2-3 years) end up on the other systems any way (MGS1 and MGS2 did...) GT never will as Sony makes it themselves, FF is just a matter of SquareEnix deciding they want to put their eggs in more than one basket (or choosing to jump ship like they did from Sony to Nintendo back in the day).
Any way, the important thing is that in order for Sony to win over consumer's wallets with a $500-600 system and games ranging from $60-(no more than) $100 they need as much exclusive content as they can get and not just a small handful of "exclusive" games (exclusive is in quotes because 3rd party titles are never guaranteed to remain exclusive unless the contract specifically states that). So if some of the big publisher's (Ubisoft is in the top 5) are reconsidering the exclusivity of titles then that does not bode well for the PS3.
In conclusion, Vista isn't all that bad and if you don't already have a modern operating system (i.e. if your only operating system is XP) and you're in the market for a new PC any way, then it's worth waiting the half year to a year for Vista to come out and buying it then.
For a my more complete analysis of Vista, click the link in my sig as I just did a write up on it (I also have a write up on Symphony OS there and in a week or two I'll do a write up on OS X).
If I were them, I would use it to trade rights with MS, as MS recently obtained a patent on filtering voice chat to bleep out unwanted terms. Nintendo being family oriented (and the Wii almost certainly deploying some type of voice chat--as well as the DS at some point in the future) the rights to implement similar technology is invaluable to Nintendo. They should just make an agreement with MS to not sue each other over their respective patents in this area (and then they can both sue Sony when Sony implements the same thing). As a side note, X-fire wouldn't be threatened by the patent as X-fire is not for video game consoles, just PCs.
Great book (and one of my personal favorites).
The American Revolution (and several other successful revolutions on that list) were initiated and run by, not peasants, but the wealthy middle class/merchant class. Most "peasants" tend to lack the education, training, experience, funding, etc. to successfully start and sustain a revolution. The wealthy that are not in power use the grumblings of the poor/peasantry to entice them to battle, and thus putting the wealthy people who weren't in power into power. There's a reason there are pieces called "pawns" in chess games...
Agreed, it is very interesting but is 99.99% unlikely to happen. A much more likely (and beneficial to both Apple and Nintendo) scenario would be a partnership similar to Microsoft's "Live Anywhere" only Nintendo would integrate their online features with OS X, iPod, and the upcoming Apple cell phone.
I read yesterday though that they were trying to strike a deal with Adobe to include Adobe Flash player, Acrobat (viewer), and one other Adobe product by default in Vista in exchange for the Adobe allowing MS to include a "print to PDF" function as a default in Office (and Vista--as a print driver). Technically, MS is in the right with the whole allowing people to save to PDF since its an open format and a feature that their customers want... But then how could Adobe sell their PDF print driver (I forget the name of it...)
That's why I use my MP3 player for long trips (enough songs on it so that I don't have to hear the same song more than once as long as I'm not driving more than 8 hours a day or so)--and this way I'm not trying to take a CD out and put a new one in while driving. I'll normally flip over to the normal radio every so often though just to get a feel of the local music/listen to stuff I haven't heard before.
I sold my PS2 to my younger brother and I am playing his copy of God of War at the moment. I agree it's a pretty good game, although it's repetitive and I find myself walking away from it easily after 30-60 min. spurts (would be sooner but it doesn't let you save often enough). Still, the story is compelling and the gameplay is fun (despite ridiculously easy puzzles)--easily a 4, maybe 4.5 out of 5 though. But really the only thing I was "dissing" in the previous posts were that the graphics weren't as good as those of the XBox and GameCube. I don't care either way about graphics though, so I don't see that as an issue--it was more a slam at Sony for making huge claims about graphics capabilities and then not delivering quality that's even as good as the "underpowered" GameCube.
I particularly liked Ape Escape for the original PS myself, but while they do have some good games (I'm not denying that)--none of the games are unique/good/appealing enough for me to justify buying a $500-600 machine (or even a $300 machine). I've been gaming since the Atari 2600 and the only system I ever sold was the PS2 (both out of a need for money and out of boredom with the system--my gaming money had been going to the XBox and GC because they simply had better exclusive games on them--I hadn't bought a PS2 game in 2+ years...) It's just my personal opinion about their first party though--just as I'm sure there are some people out there who argue that Nintendo and Microsoft have crappy first parties (the original XBox first party lineup did kind of suck--with the exception of Halo--but the 360 first party lineup is slowly beginning to shape up... maybe in a year or two after a 360 price drop I'll pick one up).
Sony has a handful of good first party IP, but nothing nearly good enough to make me buy a console just for their games (nothing like a Zelda). And from what I've been hearing about the second part, they don't have the a clear superiority in anything but market share at the moment. My hope is that MS or Nintendo (preferrably both--as a monopoly in the game industry is a bad thing) will eat up good chunks of Sony's market share and force the loyal 3rd parties to develop for somebody other than Sony--thus exposing Sony/PlayStation for the joke it is...
As for McCain, I agree that recently he has been "flipping" or "selling out" but as he has said in interviews: look at his overall record, not what he's doing during the run up to primaries. In American politics, you sometimes have to sell out for the votes, but after you get those votes you can do whatever the hell you want. I can forgive him a few years of being a dumbass as long as his overall record is good and as long as he returns to those principles after winning the election.
On another note, John McCain is a great mix of qualities from both parties while being independent enough to avoid the sheep speak of the parties--minus right now (as he's campaigning for the primaries and doesn't want to lose the primaries again). I wish he would take the strong science approach that Bloomberg did, but at least he did speak up against the Republicans catering to the conservative Christians (although, again, during the primary season he's playing nicely with that group).
Not necessisarily. They're just gamers who play all types of games and don't see a game as being "beneath them". If somebody is too much of a snob to pick up and play a game like Kirby Canvas Curse, Super Princess Peach, Nintendogs etc. (those examples are aimed at male gamers since they're normally the ones talking smack about perfectly good games while also purporting to be "hardcore gamers"--and I chose them because they feature things like a rainbow colored line, virtual pet, etc. that these jocks pretending to be gamers would look at and say "that's not hardcore") because they think they're a "hardcore" gamer and only play FPS, racing, and sports games then they're all talk.