nobody owes you a perfect environment, especially when you are born with a rare allergy. Take it far enough, and babies that are born virtually incapable of living will be a litigious crutch for parents who want to make everyone else responsible for the success of their baby with no recall that NATURE IS SUPPOSED TO TRIM THE UNFIT OUT. Don't fight nature and don't assume that just because you're a failed mutant that everyone owes you money for your troubles. How about we offer nature for your troubles? Check Darwin for answers. We civilized people have fought nature so hard that when the time comes for nature to push back, she will push HARD. You're talking about sentient people here, not vegetables. You've got me curious, though: What's nature going to do? Wipe us out with a tidal wave because we don't euthanize some kids?
"People don't buy video games for an actor in the same way they go see a movie for an actor in it."
While what you have said as it has stated does apply to me, I just wanted to point out that I did buy GTA4 for the complete package. I mean that I didn't just buy it as a sandbox game to drive around, I wanted to see the story, too. I wasn't hyped about the game until they released the trailers featuring Niko Bellic. Judging from all the talk I started seeing after those trailers were released, I would say the voice actor had something to do with the success of the game in much the same way that putting a famous actor in a movie brings in the dollars.
Since when was this a problem in Windows? I've used anywhere from 2-4 monitors over the past couple of years and Windows (XP and Vista) has no issues accommodating them. Like another poster, I simply plugged them in.
Windows ain't perfect, but if you're going to unleash an uninformed Mac fanboygasm, at least pick a better target. Nah, not a Mac fan. Just somebody who went through a bunch of silliness to hook up two different monitors at two different resolutions and get the apps to run right. Maybe it's not a general thing. Whatever.
Yeah, mac design is really superiour. FYI: Last time I checked one could choose between a blue-gray and a gray-blue color scheme. Great ! Yeah, that's a muUUUuch bigger problem than the fun you have setting up dual monitors in Windows.
It would be substantially cheaper using Blender to render than it would using Maya or Mental Ray. Actually that depends on your team of artists, their command of the app in question, and the app's pros and cons when related to the specific project at hand. You can use a less-than-ideal app for a project and end up spending a good deal more money on artist time than you would on the render farm. But I'm just being nitpicky.
In related news, researchers have concluded that 14.4 percent of CO2 emissions contributing to global warming are being disproportionately generated by people like Jack Thompson.
The truth is there is no such thing as a spooky or scary weapon. A non-naive look at the world shows that human beings really don't care about what happens to the rest of the world, as long as the effects aren't felt at home.
We could annihilate 5 billion people on the planet, but the average person (at least in North America) would little more than flinch, so long as their own city or state is not affected.
Or maybe I've just lost all faith in humanity. Either way, society already turns a blind eye to the atrocious acts of mankind. A little more torture and murder won't change the way those in power control the planet and its inhabitants. I cannot say I agree with you. I was in downtown Portland when the Iraq war protests were at their peek. I had never seen so many people out and about in that town, not even at the waterfront when festivals were taking place. I couldn't even drive home until after 9 because the streets were so thick with the protestors. From what I've heard, San Francisco was even worse. Lots of people cared.
And making them analog is worthy of a patent? No. Making them analog is obvious. Uh.. yeah.. that's why the PS2, Dreamcast, and Sega Saturn '3d controller' systems came along without putting the button at the end of the analog lever. It was sooOOoOooo obvious. It's a pity they didn't have your hindsight.
"By that logic every video game should just be a rainbow of enemies..."
Yeah, but that's not the logic being used, here. The logic is: "If we do this, will a really noisy group make a bunch of noise?" The fact is there are groups of people out there that are sensitive to certain things. Some of those groups have strong reasons that recently came about for being sensitive to them. The problems aren't equal, so the proportion of offensiveness isn't equal.
I agree with you that PC has gone overboard, but the reality is that lots of shit happens in this world. I wish people weren't so sensitive but it's not like you can draw a line and say "Okay, this is where your problems stop."
"Oh, hey, The original Playstation controller did the exact same thing, STILL DOES. Why isn't this patent troll suing Sony?"
Because the patent troll knows something you don't about the difference between the GC and the PS1 controller. Odd that somebody like you that has read the patent so very thoroughly doesn't quite get the difference.
Oh well. Anyway, the PS1 controller doesn't contain the mechanism discussed in the patent. The PS2 doesn't. The Dreamcast doesn't. The 3DO doesn't. The Saturn doesn't. The '3d controller' for the Saturn doesn't. The Nintendo 64 doesn't. The Wii doesn't. The XBOX doesn't, but I'm not sure about the 360. The Atari 2600 doesn't. Etc. If that doesn't make it any clearer to you, then I prescribe Googlin for your ignorance. Maybe look up the first reviews of the GameCube after it was publically playable in 2001.
That's nice. Anyway, read the f'n patent. It specifically mentions the SNES controllers and how it's built. It also mentions why pinball machines aren't prior art for this thing, etc. Imagine how much more you'd know right now if you spent 5 minutes clicking a link instead of arguing with me and continuing to be wrong.
The SNES buttons do indeed click. I'm holding my controller right now and pressing the buttons. They have a tactile "click" you can feel. Take it apart and you'll find the membrane switch making that soft tactile 'click' The SNES/Genesis/Pinball buttons do are not analog sensors that click at their extents. The patent is not as broad as you are describing it and does not include the controllers you're talking about. One of the other posters posted a link to the patent. You and the dudes wasting their mod-points on your posts need to go read it. Heck, just read the frickin abstract.
Good grief people are quick to spout nonsense around here.
I suppose those who did were expecting something genre defining and ground-breaking. No, I wasn't, for the very reason you described. However, I did expect something at least a bit more interesting than "kid with medical scans that say he's special accidentally saves a planet from a trade blockade led by aliens that would have been criticized in a Godzilla movie for being unconvincing." You don't need to hold the prequels up to really good movies to see how terrible they were.
w3d rendering is done on computer farms. microsoft doesn't sell "a" copy of the os to do rendering. they sell thousands of "licenses" to a company to do rendering. As I said before, I work in 3d. I'm aware of the various uses of 3d apps. (Incidentally, the variety of what can be done in 3d is one of the reasons none of the companies making the software to do it has hit a home run with the UI. Each app has a different working philosophy behind it aimed at a specialization. Yadda yadda yadda.) I still have doubts that it represents a huge number of machines in comparison to all the machines out there. Don't forget that Microsoft sells tons of licenses to companies with huge network infrastructures. In the United States, if you start heading outside of California, you'll find there are very few render farms but there are lots and lots corps out there using lots and lots of machines. Marketshare wise, it's not very big.
Or did you not elaborate on purpose because it is common knowledge what large files get downloaded on fast connections? Hmm? Umm like YouTube videos, game demos, or... oh, wait, you're talking stereotypes here.
It's unthinkable that a story posted on/. should ever receive anything but careful, reasoned analysis. This story implies that most/. commenters are knee-jerk hypercritical dorks who don't read anything or like anything. Some people. Pftft. Make several hundred "flying chair" jokes and suddenly everybody's a comedian.
The thing that gets to me is how can a *proprietary* company ask an *open source* community to help make the *open source* work better on the *proprietary platform*. I mean doesn't that strike people as... stupid? Not as stupid as... say... hiring a bunch of guys to pore over the code and try to come up with guesses as to what problems they may have encountered.
Why do they think that people who provide their own free time should work to support their *proprietary* platform... Umm.. yeah.. why would they think that? I couldn't fathom that at all. I mean, these dudes are writing code, not getting paid for it, trying to make something work... Hmm... I agree, I can't figure out why somebody would even bother offering feedback as to how MS could do things better. Nope, that makes no sense at all, not in this crazy black and white world.
What, it's ok for MS to charge people to use their software, but it's not ok to expect MS to shell out some money for other people's software? Strictly speaking, if somebody's offering a product without charge, then it shouldn't matter whether it's Microsoft, Apple, or Darth Vader. But that's beside the point. I don't blame anybody one iota for being cautious considering Microsoft's embrace/extinguish behaviour in the past. The project should be protected. It's as simple as that, really. Whether or not Open Source developers should take advantage of benefits some proprietary systems offer is an entirely different discussion that should not be limited to this context. Microsoft asked for feedback and that was reasonable to do. (Plus it didn't mean having a bunch of guys on their payroll sifting through code first!)
Slashdot Mirror
"People don't buy video games for an actor in the same way they go see a movie for an actor in it."
While what you have said as it has stated does apply to me, I just wanted to point out that I did buy GTA4 for the complete package. I mean that I didn't just buy it as a sandbox game to drive around, I wanted to see the story, too. I wasn't hyped about the game until they released the trailers featuring Niko Bellic. Judging from all the talk I started seeing after those trailers were released, I would say the voice actor had something to do with the success of the game in much the same way that putting a famous actor in a movie brings in the dollars.
"I'd support that if I didn't hate you so much. ~"
I support it too, jerkface.
Windows ain't perfect, but if you're going to unleash an uninformed Mac fanboygasm, at least pick a better target. Nah, not a Mac fan. Just somebody who went through a bunch of silliness to hook up two different monitors at two different resolutions and get the apps to run right. Maybe it's not a general thing. Whatever.
In related news, researchers have concluded that 14.4 percent of CO2 emissions contributing to global warming are being disproportionately generated by people like Jack Thompson.
"Never mind that there are zillion people out there who don't have Firefox on Linux crashing at all. Must be that it's Firefox, not you."
The same goes for Windows XP.
We could annihilate 5 billion people on the planet, but the average person (at least in North America) would little more than flinch, so long as their own city or state is not affected.
Or maybe I've just lost all faith in humanity. Either way, society already turns a blind eye to the atrocious acts of mankind. A little more torture and murder won't change the way those in power control the planet and its inhabitants. I cannot say I agree with you. I was in downtown Portland when the Iraq war protests were at their peek. I had never seen so many people out and about in that town, not even at the waterfront when festivals were taking place. I couldn't even drive home until after 9 because the streets were so thick with the protestors. From what I've heard, San Francisco was even worse. Lots of people cared.
"By that logic every video game should just be a rainbow of enemies..."
Yeah, but that's not the logic being used, here. The logic is: "If we do this, will a really noisy group make a bunch of noise?" The fact is there are groups of people out there that are sensitive to certain things. Some of those groups have strong reasons that recently came about for being sensitive to them. The problems aren't equal, so the proportion of offensiveness isn't equal.
I agree with you that PC has gone overboard, but the reality is that lots of shit happens in this world. I wish people weren't so sensitive but it's not like you can draw a line and say "Okay, this is where your problems stop."
I was referring to the original XBOX, not the 360. But I could be mistaken about its shoulder button layout, I've never actually had one.
"Oh, hey, The original Playstation controller did the exact same thing, STILL DOES. Why isn't this patent troll suing Sony?"
Because the patent troll knows something you don't about the difference between the GC and the PS1 controller. Odd that somebody like you that has read the patent so very thoroughly doesn't quite get the difference.
Oh well. Anyway, the PS1 controller doesn't contain the mechanism discussed in the patent. The PS2 doesn't. The Dreamcast doesn't. The 3DO doesn't. The Saturn doesn't. The '3d controller' for the Saturn doesn't. The Nintendo 64 doesn't. The Wii doesn't. The XBOX doesn't, but I'm not sure about the 360. The Atari 2600 doesn't. Etc. If that doesn't make it any clearer to you, then I prescribe Googlin for your ignorance. Maybe look up the first reviews of the GameCube after it was publically playable in 2001.
That's nice. Anyway, read the f'n patent. It specifically mentions the SNES controllers and how it's built. It also mentions why pinball machines aren't prior art for this thing, etc. Imagine how much more you'd know right now if you spent 5 minutes clicking a link instead of arguing with me and continuing to be wrong.
Good grief people are quick to spout nonsense around here.
Heh. So... 'slashdtards' make a minor typo. What do you call somebody that mangles grammar as bad as you have?
P.S. Thanks for proving my point!
P.s. Before you hit reply, consider the ramifications of if you deny being one.