"...nothing he or Jon Stewart does is funny, and you idiots only think it's funny because you mistake smarminess for humor"
mmm hmm. So... basically you're saying there's a massive delusion that a couple of guys are funny that you are completely unaffected by. How does one guy about massively de-frauding people of laughter?
"Also, with PS/3 being a fully functional computer with a keyboard/mouse/blueray, its more than just a console. And Xbox live with internet access to media is more than a console. The Wii is a console and priced like it."
The same could have been said about the PSP. Built in web browser, UMD, plays media off of Memory Stick, and the DS is priced like a console. Etc. So, to answer this question: "But is this new game play interaction something that can keep the wii going in the longterm?"... my answer is 'Demonstratably, yes.'
"I think that it's high time that Slashdot come clean and publicize how much they're being paid."
Nintendo must be paying off nearly every game site out there. Good thing they've got deep pockets and a competitor that has a high price, low supply, half-assed controller, and the death of Lik-Sang under their belt.
"Same here. I find it amusing that they're giving this Anti-Piracy shit to the people who've either bought their DVD or are watching their movie in the cinema... I've already paid for your shit! Leave me alone!"
On more than one occasion I've gone to a movie that had one of these ads. I heard several people whisper "You can download movies on-line? How?!?"
It was ill-advised to show them something like that while their wallet is still sore.
"This begs the now cliche question: Why not just go outside and play the actual sport?"
Mainly because it's not the most convenient thing in the world to arrange a sport. More than one person is needed to play. Where I work, for example, half my coworkers have a minimum of an hour long drive home AND they have family to go home to. It's not easy to arrange an hour or two to go somewhere and play a sport. On top of this, this time of year, the only way they could do this when there's daylight is to arrange it on the weekend. For our type of work, weekends often mean catching up on chores.
Thanks to the Wii everybody can just go home and play. Two of my coworkers have arranged to play via the net (which, btw, I didn't know was possible...) *and* they've gotten their wives involved. Where I work, the Wii has proven to be both a workout advice and a social event. I don't know if that'll last, but man, it's sure looking encouraging so far.
"And you're saying choice #2 is the wise, sane choice?"
Welp, if I had to choose between that and your suggestion of only reporting the good news and sugar coating the bad (lying), then yes, #2 is a saner choice. Sony screwed up a lot this year. They're accountable for it. Sorry. I'm not claiming that Slashdot isn't biased, but dude, these are the same stories making their rounds all over the place. It's hard to call it a 'hate campaign' when there's little but bad news to report.
"Fortunately, us stoopid Brits do understand enough statistics to know that drawing conclusions about the whole population from a sample of one is unlikely to give reliable results.:-)"
That's interesting to hear considering a lot of the "Americans are stupid" and "Americans are fat" comments I've heard here came from Brits.
"I'm just not a big fan of hate campaigns. Also, there's no real explanation for this one that I can see. What's the motivation supposed to be?"
Are you serious? You should go back through Slashdot's "hate-campaign" and click on the linkies. You'll find that Sony has made some real stupid and/or nasty moves in the last year. This "hate-campaign" isn't Zonk's invention, it's a reflection of how the media has responded to Sony's misadventures. Here's a little teaser of Sony's fall from common sense:
- UMD. "Less video for more money!" - Rootkit. "We need root level acess to your machine to prevent piracy." - $599. "If it's too expensive, you can get a second job." - Sixaxis. "The DS is a gimmick, the Wii is a gimmick, but our half-assed attempt is revolutionary." - Batteries. "Oops. We shipped out so many dangerous batteries it's insane!" - Launch games. "The next generation of sequels is here!" - Supply. "Um.. yeah, sorry. We're not going to come close to meeting our promised number of shipments. Even those of you who have pre-paid for the machine will not be getting a PS3 for Christmas."
I'm not saying Zonk isn't biased against Sony. But dude, seriously, don't behave as though they haven't monumentally err'd this year. They actually pulled off a worse launch than Microsoft last year. How the heck do you do that? People complained that the 360 was too expensive? Sony topped it! Few people actually got their hands on a 360 last year. Sony topped that! People complained of the launch games for the 360... SONY TOPPED THAT!! This didn't happen because Slashdot decided it hated Sony and tried to run its name through the mud!
Go check any of the gaming news sites and you'll read the same stories. If anything, Slashdot's playing catch-up.
Question: Is there ANY reason to think Google is even remotely working on their own OS (in any of the forms you mentioned...?) or is this one of those things where the rumor came up enough times it's taken a life of its own?
"Bob: I'm fascinated by my wee! I played with it all night!"
Ugh. That joke is over 6 months old. Sorry.
I did hear an unexpected outburst at the office yesterday, though. Last week, my coworker Richard told everybody how he was going to get a Wii over the weekend. Monday came. Anxious to find out if he had succeded, I heard somebody blurt out from across the cube-farm: "Dickie! How's your Wii??!"
I wish I could have seen the look on female coworkers' faces.
"the sad part is your way off.. sony makes 8$ per copy of 3rd party games.. at a 306$ loss they need 38.25 3rd party games sales to break even.. i don't know anyone with that many games for one consol.."
Well, it's not as bad as that.
a.) They make a killing on controllers and accesories. (Cables, too.)
b.) The price of the PS3 will go down. They may not break even within the first 500k, but over time the actual loss amount will be lower. (It'll eventually make a profit.)
c.) If micro-transactions ever take off, they'll generate revenue from that, too. But I'll admit I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel, there.
"The anti-Sony and PS3 crap that has littered Slashdot over the past year and a half has done absolutely nothing to change anyones mind."
The anti-Sony crap wasn't something Slashdot created. It was born from Sony's missteps over the last year.
"And Slashdot is still trolling the Net looking for someone 'saying something bad about teh PS3' articles."
Haven't you noticed that Slashdot doesn't have to travel very far to find these stories? Face it: It's a bad year to be a Sony fanboy. That's not Slashdot's fault. Zonk didn't price it at $599. Zonk didn't tell everybody they could go get a second job if they didn't like the price of the machine. Zonk didn't cut their production ridiculously low. Zonk didn't toss rumble functionality in favor of a ripped-off/band-aided motion sensor. Zonk didn't even make mediochre launch games for the system. You cannot blame Slashdot for Sony's lousy PR this year.
Sony tripped over their own feet. They set the tone for how the PS3 would be recieved and the media has responded. Just give it a fucking rest.
Ever been outside? On a hot day? And had a cloud drift over. Ever felt the blessed relief as you race your bicycle up a 12km, 7% incline, maxing at 22% and felt the cooling effect as the sky becomes more overcast, shielding you from the burning rays of the sun and providing a UV protection of up to 50% compared with clear skies?
Please forgive my ignorance, but isn't the reason that Venus's surface is so hot because of the excessive cloud layer? (Or am I just missing an important detail?)
"Poor Zonk could not bear some positive press about the PS3 having tremendous demand at launch."
Heh. I'm sorry, I just find it amusing that you're STILL insisting that this is strictly Zonk bias here. Maybe he does, but it's hard to tell since Sony's PR has tumbled like Homer Simpson crashing down Springfield Gorge. There just plain hasn't been any real good news from Sony's camp. The price sucks. Supply sucks. The launch games suck. The controllers suck. Etc. None of this is of Zonk's invention. What's he supposed to do? Post a headline story about how the battery indicator on the PS3 controller works perfectly?
Slashdot Mirror
"Whatever happened to the iBrator??"
It never made it to market for fears of chipped teeth being a Mac stereotype.
"...nothing he or Jon Stewart does is funny, and you idiots only think it's funny because you mistake smarminess for humor"
mmm hmm. So... basically you're saying there's a massive delusion that a couple of guys are funny that you are completely unaffected by. How does one guy about massively de-frauding people of laughter?
"Also, with PS/3 being a fully functional computer with a keyboard/mouse/blueray, its more than just a console. And Xbox live with internet access to media is more than a console. The Wii is a console and priced like it."
... my answer is 'Demonstratably, yes.'
The same could have been said about the PSP. Built in web browser, UMD, plays media off of Memory Stick, and the DS is priced like a console. Etc. So, to answer this question: "But is this new game play interaction something that can keep the wii going in the longterm?"
"I think that it's high time that Slashdot come clean and publicize how much they're being paid."
Nintendo must be paying off nearly every game site out there. Good thing they've got deep pockets and a competitor that has a high price, low supply, half-assed controller, and the death of Lik-Sang under their belt.
"Same here. I find it amusing that they're giving this Anti-Piracy shit to the people who've either bought their DVD or are watching their movie in the cinema... I've already paid for your shit! Leave me alone!"
On more than one occasion I've gone to a movie that had one of these ads. I heard several people whisper "You can download movies on-line? How?!?"
It was ill-advised to show them something like that while their wallet is still sore.
"and they're way more expensive than the latest video game system"
I bought a PS3, you insensitive clod!
"This begs the now cliche question: Why not just go outside and play the actual sport?"
Mainly because it's not the most convenient thing in the world to arrange a sport. More than one person is needed to play. Where I work, for example, half my coworkers have a minimum of an hour long drive home AND they have family to go home to. It's not easy to arrange an hour or two to go somewhere and play a sport. On top of this, this time of year, the only way they could do this when there's daylight is to arrange it on the weekend. For our type of work, weekends often mean catching up on chores.
Thanks to the Wii everybody can just go home and play. Two of my coworkers have arranged to play via the net (which, btw, I didn't know was possible...) *and* they've gotten their wives involved. Where I work, the Wii has proven to be both a workout advice and a social event. I don't know if that'll last, but man, it's sure looking encouraging so far.
"I AM A FISH!"
Mr. Rimmer, this is the 11th time you've failed the astro-navigation exam. Don't you think you're just not cut out to be an officer?
"And you're saying choice #2 is the wise, sane choice?"
Welp, if I had to choose between that and your suggestion of only reporting the good news and sugar coating the bad (lying), then yes, #2 is a saner choice. Sony screwed up a lot this year. They're accountable for it. Sorry. I'm not claiming that Slashdot isn't biased, but dude, these are the same stories making their rounds all over the place. It's hard to call it a 'hate campaign' when there's little but bad news to report.
"Fortunately, us stoopid Brits do understand enough statistics to know that drawing conclusions about the whole population from a sample of one is unlikely to give reliable results. :-)"
That's interesting to hear considering a lot of the "Americans are stupid" and "Americans are fat" comments I've heard here came from Brits.
"How about ... not yelling at students?"
Heh. I like how you bolded that. What happened to decorum and self-control?
"I'm just not a big fan of hate campaigns. Also, there's no real explanation for this one that I can see. What's the motivation supposed to be?"
Are you serious? You should go back through Slashdot's "hate-campaign" and click on the linkies. You'll find that Sony has made some real stupid and/or nasty moves in the last year. This "hate-campaign" isn't Zonk's invention, it's a reflection of how the media has responded to Sony's misadventures. Here's a little teaser of Sony's fall from common sense:
- UMD. "Less video for more money!"
- Rootkit. "We need root level acess to your machine to prevent piracy."
- $599. "If it's too expensive, you can get a second job."
- Sixaxis. "The DS is a gimmick, the Wii is a gimmick, but our half-assed attempt is revolutionary."
- Batteries. "Oops. We shipped out so many dangerous batteries it's insane!"
- Launch games. "The next generation of sequels is here!"
- Supply. "Um.. yeah, sorry. We're not going to come close to meeting our promised number of shipments. Even those of you who have pre-paid for the machine will not be getting a PS3 for Christmas."
I'm not saying Zonk isn't biased against Sony. But dude, seriously, don't behave as though they haven't monumentally err'd this year. They actually pulled off a worse launch than Microsoft last year. How the heck do you do that? People complained that the 360 was too expensive? Sony topped it! Few people actually got their hands on a 360 last year. Sony topped that! People complained of the launch games for the 360... SONY TOPPED THAT!! This didn't happen because Slashdot decided it hated Sony and tried to run its name through the mud!
Go check any of the gaming news sites and you'll read the same stories. If anything, Slashdot's playing catch-up.
Question: Is there ANY reason to think Google is even remotely working on their own OS (in any of the forms you mentioned...?) or is this one of those things where the rumor came up enough times it's taken a life of its own?
"Bob: I'm fascinated by my wee! I played with it all night!"
Ugh. That joke is over 6 months old. Sorry.
I did hear an unexpected outburst at the office yesterday, though. Last week, my coworker Richard told everybody how he was going to get a Wii over the weekend. Monday came. Anxious to find out if he had succeded, I heard somebody blurt out from across the cube-farm: "Dickie! How's your Wii??!"
I wish I could have seen the look on female coworkers' faces.
"I'm not sure why you declare Sony as evil but relentlessly rally to support Microsoft who's done much worse."
Huh? I didn't support Microsoft or call Sony evil.
Not that it matters. Sony didn't need Microsoft's help in flushing away their PR. You could just as easily blame Nintendo or even the Romulans.
"the sad part is your way off.. sony makes 8$ per copy of 3rd party games.. at a 306$ loss they need 38.25 3rd party games sales to break even.. i don't know anyone with that many games for one consol.."
Well, it's not as bad as that.
a.) They make a killing on controllers and accesories. (Cables, too.)
b.) The price of the PS3 will go down. They may not break even within the first 500k, but over time the actual loss amount will be lower. (It'll eventually make a profit.)
c.) If micro-transactions ever take off, they'll generate revenue from that, too. But I'll admit I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel, there.
"Actually it was born from Microsoft's aggressive catering to blogs and internet media."
Funny that Microsoft would focus on Sony and completely ignore Nintendo.
Pardon me for not buying this leap of logic.
"The anti-Sony and PS3 crap that has littered Slashdot over the past year and a half has done absolutely nothing to change anyones mind."
The anti-Sony crap wasn't something Slashdot created. It was born from Sony's missteps over the last year.
"And Slashdot is still trolling the Net looking for someone 'saying something bad about teh PS3' articles."
Haven't you noticed that Slashdot doesn't have to travel very far to find these stories? Face it: It's a bad year to be a Sony fanboy. That's not Slashdot's fault. Zonk didn't price it at $599. Zonk didn't tell everybody they could go get a second job if they didn't like the price of the machine. Zonk didn't cut their production ridiculously low. Zonk didn't toss rumble functionality in favor of a ripped-off/band-aided motion sensor. Zonk didn't even make mediochre launch games for the system. You cannot blame Slashdot for Sony's lousy PR this year.
Sony tripped over their own feet. They set the tone for how the PS3 would be recieved and the media has responded. Just give it a fucking rest.
Thanks for the clarification. I didn't trust my public school education on that topic. :)
"Don't these scientists learn anything from the movies, Matrix or Highland 2 anyone?"
They did, but the episode of the Simpsons where the rogue comet melted in the layer of pollution over Springfield was far more popular.
Remember: Simpsons reference > Matrix reference.
Please forgive my ignorance, but isn't the reason that Venus's surface is so hot because of the excessive cloud layer? (Or am I just missing an important detail?)
"...but what moron pays $400 (or more??) for a phone?"
An open-minded moron that wants a Treo.
"Poor Zonk could not bear some positive press about the PS3 having tremendous demand at launch."
;)
Heh. I'm sorry, I just find it amusing that you're STILL insisting that this is strictly Zonk bias here. Maybe he does, but it's hard to tell since Sony's PR has tumbled like Homer Simpson crashing down Springfield Gorge. There just plain hasn't been any real good news from Sony's camp. The price sucks. Supply sucks. The launch games suck. The controllers suck. Etc. None of this is of Zonk's invention. What's he supposed to do? Post a headline story about how the battery indicator on the PS3 controller works perfectly?
Speaking of battery indicators, you might find this interesting: Jostiq's own Vladimir Cole says the PS3 controller is flimsy. Sorry I couldn't get Zonk to rewrite the headline to say "The PS3 controller is structurally weak".
Have a good weekend.
"My god, why?"
So they can sneak in topical humor. I remember a spoof of the infamous Elian Gonzales picture within a week of it actually happening.
"What do consumers do about patches if they have no internet?"
They'll bundle the update with a new game. My copy of Liberty City Stories for the PSP has a firmware update with it.