Region coding is more of an issue (well outside of the US anyway). While a lot of Blu Ray discs are not region locked a fair number of them are. Meanwhile HDDVD discs are currently region free (would this change if the format became dominant?). Interestingly Blu Ray exclusive studios tend to be the ones with region codes, Warner and Paramount are region free.
So if you own an HDDVD player you are more likely to be able to watch imported movies - useful if a film is not yet released in your region and for shopping around on the net for cheaper priced movies.
There is also road tax which must be paid for every car/bike owned (unless it is declared off road with a SORN declaration). Tax varies according to engine size of the vehicle. The UK government have also shown interest in a "pay by the mile" system where a driver's mileage is measured via GPS and he/she is taxed accordingly (obviously this has implications for civil liberty as a government agency will be able to track someones movements).
Taking this just a little further, rather than having an uninstall routine that then contacts the vendor/server and frees the license (like Adobe Acrobat and others now do which is a PITA if a hard disk gets corrupted), have a license file on the server that allows for a set number of concurrent users (like Autodesk's License Manager).
You then can simply make the installation part of the standard build (if necessary), although you may get the problem of someone forgeting to log out of the software hogging a license and no one knowing his screen saver password!
Very true but Arnie's actions have a certain hipocracy about them considering his portrayal of violent characters in movies and the use of his likeness in the inevitable video game tie-in (has the state Senator ever played a violent killing machine from the future too?).
A shame really because his movies are good fun and I hate to think of him as selling out.
I see no problem with this, in fact I would have no problem if the police wanted to collect everything from my bathroom for forensic tests because boy does it need cleaning!
"The other case of this was "Dr" Gillian McKeith a "nutritionist" who sells a lot of books about how you should eat less chips and more salad. This is all very well, but of course it also includes a bunch of quakery about eating leaves so that their photosynthesis can oxegenate your gut. As the article I link points out, that wouldn't work too well unless you had a torch up your arse."
Isn't it obvious? She is telling people to eat light meals, that way the photosynthesis will work of course. Duh!
Yes when one of the big studios is owned by the same company that makes the discs/players.
The move by Paramount and Dreamworks may have more to it than just the $150 million payout - Because Sony controls the entire process from making the movie, making the disc, the player and owning stores for distribution too (although it will sell through as many other retailers as possible of course), this gives it incredible power to say to other studios you do it our way or no one sees your movies (or at least an advantage to their studio arm over their competitors). The move by Paramount and Dreamworks could be to counter this (or lessen the effect). But if that is truly the case I think that they have left it too late and the move may in fact alienate movie-goers against them instead, especially if those people have already bought a blu ray player or a PS3.
"God, I'd love to see somebody use that tactic against the RIAA. Something tells me it wouldn't work so well the other way around."
I don't know about that, surely if they get away with this they have set a legal precedent that could be used from the other side too? In weaseling out of paying here they might find cases where they win result in no payment of fines either.
Depends what has been done with the material. Sure it may be just another carbon copy sequel or it could be a worthy addition to the series. I'm not a Twisted Metal fan myself but for the franchise to keep going there must be quite a number out there.
Personally I believe that a well crafted game could one day succeed as a piece of "art".
Look at a painting for example, it is 2D and shows one thing only from the perspective of the artist. Ebert would presumably argue this is art. OK I can agree with him.
Now look at sculpture, it is 3D and shows what the artist wants from different views. Still art? I think so.
Finally look at games, they are 3 dimensional in the sense that they can be approached from different angles and perspectives much the same as a work of art. The "experience" of the viewer or gamer is crafted by the artist, the degree of interactivity does not define whether it is art for me personally.
As to whether any games currently in existence are art, I would say probably not but then I do not feel that Ebert's field is art either in the strictest sense. Both games and movies are predominently entertainment, he is just arguing for his team (movies) over the competition (games).
Perhaps, or he may have been trying to demonstrate the double standards that exist between those who create the laws and the general population.
How many "moral crusades" have we seen over the years by politicians of all political colours who have turned out to be "corrupt" themselves in some way? I would say too many.
"Beyond that, there isn't much Vista does better than XP. At some point, businesses will HAVE to upgrade, of course, but didn't Microsoft say that Vista's successor is only 2 years away? That's not a very long time. I imagine most businesses are just going to stick with XP until they just can't make it work on new hardware anymore."
We originally said the same thing about XP - that we would stick with 2000 and skip a version then Microsoft released Vista and we're upgrading to XP while we can.
Slashdot Mirror
Hmm, new vs "classic"? Anyone else get a feeling of deja-vu?
Don't worry, if it is like the show it will get cancelled after one short season and we will all be safe!
Region coding is more of an issue (well outside of the US anyway). While a lot of Blu Ray discs are not region locked a fair number of them are. Meanwhile HDDVD discs are currently region free (would this change if the format became dominant?). Interestingly Blu Ray exclusive studios tend to be the ones with region codes, Warner and Paramount are region free.
So if you own an HDDVD player you are more likely to be able to watch imported movies - useful if a film is not yet released in your region and for shopping around on the net for cheaper priced movies.
There is also road tax which must be paid for every car/bike owned (unless it is declared off road with a SORN declaration). Tax varies according to engine size of the vehicle. The UK government have also shown interest in a "pay by the mile" system where a driver's mileage is measured via GPS and he/she is taxed accordingly (obviously this has implications for civil liberty as a government agency will be able to track someones movements).
Taking this just a little further, rather than having an uninstall routine that then contacts the vendor/server and frees the license (like Adobe Acrobat and others now do which is a PITA if a hard disk gets corrupted), have a license file on the server that allows for a set number of concurrent users (like Autodesk's License Manager).
You then can simply make the installation part of the standard build (if necessary), although you may get the problem of someone forgeting to log out of the software hogging a license and no one knowing his screen saver password!
Paying for added features is ok so long as those features are not deliberately omitted from the game so you have to buy them.
Very true but Arnie's actions have a certain hipocracy about them considering his portrayal of violent characters in movies and the use of his likeness in the inevitable video game tie-in (has the state Senator ever played a violent killing machine from the future too?).
A shame really because his movies are good fun and I hate to think of him as selling out.
When it comes to hard drives wouldn't McAfee be more helpful?
Wow mine only had 48k!
I see no problem with this, in fact I would have no problem if the police wanted to collect everything from my bathroom for forensic tests because boy does it need cleaning!
"The other case of this was "Dr" Gillian McKeith a "nutritionist" who sells a lot of books about how you should eat less chips and more salad. This is all very well, but of course it also includes a bunch of quakery about eating leaves so that their photosynthesis can oxegenate your gut. As the article I link points out, that wouldn't work too well unless you had a torch up your arse."
Isn't it obvious? She is telling people to eat light meals, that way the photosynthesis will work of course. Duh!
"Is it that big of a deal to master two discs?"
Yes when one of the big studios is owned by the same company that makes the discs/players.
The move by Paramount and Dreamworks may have more to it than just the $150 million payout - Because Sony controls the entire process from making the movie, making the disc, the player and owning stores for distribution too (although it will sell through as many other retailers as possible of course), this gives it incredible power to say to other studios you do it our way or no one sees your movies (or at least an advantage to their studio arm over their competitors). The move by Paramount and Dreamworks could be to counter this (or lessen the effect). But if that is truly the case I think that they have left it too late and the move may in fact alienate movie-goers against them instead, especially if those people have already bought a blu ray player or a PS3.
"God, I'd love to see somebody use that tactic against the RIAA. Something tells me it wouldn't work so well the other way around."
I don't know about that, surely if they get away with this they have set a legal precedent that could be used from the other side too? In weaseling out of paying here they might find cases where they win result in no payment of fines either.
All depends on the judge in the end.
I thought that it was the Maoris that discovered New Zealand - oh well, my mistake.
Depends what has been done with the material. Sure it may be just another carbon copy sequel or it could be a worthy addition to the series. I'm not a Twisted Metal fan myself but for the franchise to keep going there must be quite a number out there.
Personally I believe that a well crafted game could one day succeed as a piece of "art".
Look at a painting for example, it is 2D and shows one thing only from the perspective of the artist. Ebert would presumably argue this is art. OK I can agree with him.
Now look at sculpture, it is 3D and shows what the artist wants from different views. Still art? I think so.
Finally look at games, they are 3 dimensional in the sense that they can be approached from different angles and perspectives much the same as a work of art. The "experience" of the viewer or gamer is crafted by the artist, the degree of interactivity does not define whether it is art for me personally.
As to whether any games currently in existence are art, I would say probably not but then I do not feel that Ebert's field is art either in the strictest sense. Both games and movies are predominently entertainment, he is just arguing for his team (movies) over the competition (games).
I thought that ring thing was only in the first Halo.
Perhaps, or he may have been trying to demonstrate the double standards that exist between those who create the laws and the general population.
How many "moral crusades" have we seen over the years by politicians of all political colours who have turned out to be "corrupt" themselves in some way? I would say too many.
"Beyond that, there isn't much Vista does better than XP. At some point, businesses will HAVE to upgrade, of course, but didn't Microsoft say that Vista's successor is only 2 years away? That's not a very long time. I imagine most businesses are just going to stick with XP until they just can't make it work on new hardware anymore."
We originally said the same thing about XP - that we would stick with 2000 and skip a version then Microsoft released Vista and we're upgrading to XP while we can.
Probably just increased hardware costs for Vista capable PCs rather than Linux on the desktop but we can still hope.
Just a wild guess but I'd say that relates to Watergate.
Don't forget Bullfrog.
"once we have 10 guys doing this, we will have 100 following them, and 10,000 following the first 110"
Are you counting in decimal or binary?
It is still safe this was just a lucky strike.
...of torture.
Supporting certain sales laptops seems like that anyway!