Comcast employs thousands of people in Philadelphia (their headquarters) and Pittsburgh. As a Pittsburgh resident, I feel like it's my social responsibility to buy cable from Comcast.
Also, Verizon has dicked me around more times than I could possibly recount in this post.
As per the article, I, for one, think that this is a case of patent abuse.
Don't know the difference between correlation and causation, do you?
nbritton: "Thankfully religion is on a rapidly declining trend[1]:
* 23% of 18-34 year olds label them self's as 'Secular' or 'Somewhat Secular', compared to 10% of people 65 years old and up."
That doesn't necessarily imply that religion is 'on a rapidly declining trend'. It probably just implies that people get more religious as they get older. It doesn't necessarily imply either.
I am in a strikingly similar situation. Been out of school for 3 years, but have only been programming for about a year.
The problem is that, where I live, a developer with no experience is worth about $30k/year, however, once you get just a little bit of experience you can ask for a lot more money. Furthermore, if you are a good programmer, your salary will skyrocket up. For me, I started about a year ago getting paid next-to-nothing and being the best programmer in the department. I switched jobs after 6 months to a job that paid me %150 what I was making at that first job. Now, after 6 months (and a raise) at this job, I have started wondering whether or not I could be making even more...
I like Microsoft because they employ millions of people around the world and treat their employees well. I can't believe that all of you programmers can overlook this fact!
Think of the biggest companies in the world. Now trim off anyone on that list that employs foreign labor at a wage below what we would call a "living wage". Who is left?
There certainly aren't many companies left, but Microsoft is one of them.
Forget about their products (Yes, their products are imperfect)! Many companies that get as big as microsoft have to rely on cheap foreign labor to see Microsoft-esque profits, but Microsoft doesn't. Microsoft treats their employees fairly, and for that reason alone, they are a good company.
I wish some of you would spend less time thinking about the inferiority of ActiveX controls and focus more on some of the world's more important issues.
I have a Wii, I have Twilight Princess, but I am not a Zelda fanboy (I only played the first Zelda and Majora's Mask).
This game is good, but it is not the best game ever made. Period. All these fanboy reviews that say the game is the second coming are seriously blinded by the (Nintendo) label on the front. Furthermore, the main problems with it aren't the ones that all the fanboys talk about.
The main problems are these: 1. Awkward camera control. There are times when you get some awkward camera angles. I, for one, have stared at epona's ass through the entirety of more than one NPC conversation. 2. Awkward traditional controls. The new Wii controls work great, but the traditional control scheme can be clunky at times. 3. Sloooooooooow story. If you don't enjoy exposition, you won't like this game. The story is good... in fact, it may be the best video game story this year, however, it develops at a snail's pace. 4. Poor graphics. The look of the game is awesome; the art design really hangs together. Nonetheless, some of the models have a very low poly count. Yeah, it's forgivable in a game with such a consistent art direction, but after playing RE4 on the cube, I have a hard time putting up with some of these models (like most of the terrain in the game).
None of these are huge issues, but they are issues. I would still give the game a 8/10, but anyone who argues that this game is the best game of the year is taking things too far.
IANAL, but for IP to remain IP, doesn't the IP's owner have the reponsibility of protecting that IP? If the aforementioned IP owner fails to protect his IP, doesn't he lose it? Like in the case of Kleenex, and in the case of Google trying to prevent people from using Google as a verb? Does that just apply to trademarks? I am confused.
Some lawyer please correct me.
Yeah, you can set the sensitivity of it, and you need to tell it whether the sensor strip is above the TV or below it. You NEED to set those two things properly, but Nintendo makes that pretty transparent, IMO.
Admittedly, playing an FPS with the Wiimote takes some getting used to, but once you do, you will never want to go back to dual-analog. I played through CoD3 over the last two days, and it took me a solid 90 minutes to get accustomed to using the Wiimote as is necessary to get through the game. However, once I did, the experience became so much more immersive and satisfying than it would have been otherwise (CoD3 is a pedestrian game saved by a cool control scheme).
I have played most of the major FPSs ever to come out. From Wolfenstein, Doom, Goldeneye, Half-Life (and mods), Halo, HalfLife2...etc... On some, I have used a console controller, on others, I have used a PC. IMO, for FPSs, the wiimote is far better than dual-analog, but not quite as good as wasd+mouse.
Personally, I won't ever go back to using archaic dual analog... even for Gears of War. In fact, I think that in 4 years, all the next-next gen consoles will be sporting Wiimote-like controls.
He's so right. I paid for my Wii, DS, and PDA with Experience Points. I mean, that's what they give you for each hour of grinding... err, work... right?
I just wanted to say that neither myself, nor my friends that bought Wiis, have had any problems getting the updates, getting online, and downloading VC games. Also, although the download speed isn't necessarily super fast, no downloads have taken more than 5 minutes.
Of course, I have a more expensive wireless router, and experience networking Nintendo devices (DS)... I can see how your average soccer mom might have some trouble setting up the wireless network properly (after all, "WEP key" means absolutely nothing to most of them)
I was also able to get right online and start downloading. Total elapsed time from plugin to playing virtual console was about 30 minutes. Including setup/credit card... etc.
This is most definitely NOT the soccer mom and grandpa crowd
In our line of 41, outside of a Target in Pittsburgh, PA, here's how our group broke down, roughly:
There were about 10 nintendo fanboys. Most were really only there for the new Zelda. These were mostly high school and college aged boys.
There were about 15 gamers/hardcore gamers. Guys aged 20-30 with multiple consoles who were clearly veteran gamers.
Finally, there were about 15 parents and grandparents. They were either there with their kids or there for their kids. I am including a couple of wives who were there for their husbands in this category.
So, I disagree with your statement that these were definitely not soccer moms. Really, it was quite a diverse crowd, where pretty much everyone was represented. A more interesting comparison might be between this crowd and the crowd lined up for PS3s... I think that the PS3 crowd was comprised of only hardcore gamers and profiteers.
First the number of consoles actually shipped to NA appears to be dramatically lower than promised.
On what information are you basing this? I visited three targets (the third still had a spot at 3:15am) and each one of those targets got EXACTLY the allocation of Wiis that they were promised.
Second, the Wii appears to be having huge numbers of problems.
What is this based on? I have heard, online, of 2 dead consoles from all of the US. None of my friends had any problems (nor did I), and all of us have seamlessly connected to the internet, bought virtual console titles, and played GC titles.
Third, Wii games are getting slammed in reviews
Yep, the launch titles aren't that great (discounting Zelda, whose gameplay is classic zelda, but the graphics are decidedly last gen). Still, the Nintendo launch lineup is FAR better than the launch lineups of the PS3 or X360.
Will you please get a valid source of information before posting your #$%* again?
Yeah, that was basically what I said to about a hundred wii-seeking-parents who showed up between 4:30am (when our line filled up) and 8am (when target opened). Some of them stuck around to talk to us nerds about why we were in line and when they could expect more to come in. All nice people.
Of course, after they left, we secretly mocked them, for thinking they were really good parents for showing up 30 minutes before the store opened (while the seriously dedicated moms got there at 6:30pm the previous day... )
The original half life set the absolute gold standard for multiplayer games. So many mods for half-life were really great, and I'm surprised that more people haven't mentioned them.
The list of great HL1 mods includes Counter-Strike, Day of Defeat (cool before WWII shooters were cool), and the unbeatable Team Fortress Classic... not to mention good old Death Match play. The combination of these games totally consumed me during college (as well as pretty much every other college guy I knew).
I have played a lot of Diablo II, a lot of WoW (and City of Heroes/Villains) and a good bit of Halo... none of it really compares with the experience of HL mods at the time. And lets not forget that Half-Life 1 mods were free when they first came out. If you bought the original game, you could download and play all the mods for free. Since a lot of people pirated HL1 in the first place, this meant hundreds of hours of playtime for basically nothing.
One final comment on the longevity of those games. People are still playing them. The HL1 mods had such longevity that by the time people were switching games, the HL1 engine had become an antique. The only game with greater longevity then the HL mods is Diablo II, which is STILL on store shelves, nearly 7 years after it's release.
Anyway, I'm not sure that the HL1 mods are worth checking out TODAY, and the HL2 mods don't quite have the same magic, however, I am still really excited for the new version of Team Fortress that's going to be released in 2007.
What are the chances that many people are interested in that list of games? There are a lot of people who want red steel/zelda/Alliance, and I'm sure there's a lot of crossover there. However, is there seriously much of a crossover between people buying Madden 07 and Super Monkey Ball?! Oy.
I would think that the PS's success is due to the kind of games they had and relationships Sony made with developers/publishers.
Right, and the reason they were able to craft these relationships was that they had the biggest installed user base. Bushnell wisely points out that even if Sony's current production estimates are accurate, and they instantly sell every one that they ship (highly unlikely), then they won't be the market leader until mid 2007. That's assuming that Microsoft doesn't sell a single other 360.
Assuming that 360 sales continue to at the pace they are at now (an underestimate, to be sure), then we're looking at January 2008ish as the earliest that Sony can feasibly be the market leader.
So, for developers to cling to Sony like they did with the PS1 and PS2, they will need to take a pretty big leap of faith that MS is going to stumble and Sony is going to surge. Bushnell sees how unlikely this outcome is, hence his prediction.
I think that if you change his number to 2 million, then it will be an accurate estimate.
Nicely put. I feel the same way. I feel terrible that more and more American youths are being wasted in Iraq (not to mention the horrendous number of civillian casualties on the Iraqi side), and yet our leaders seem more obsessed with how they look on TV. What a load of bullshit.
Our voting system is mostly broken, but the one thing it does allow for is the overthrowing of a government that has not represented the people, so I hope that everyone here will be out there voting next week.
Everyone is pointing out that the parent poster is wrong, and he is a bit confused, but let's not forget one simple fact: the first console to hit 5 million in sales has led every generation of game consoles. This is simply because once video game publishers see that a console will have a market, they start orienting their business plan in that direction. This generation, Microsoft has hit 5 million in sales even before the other consoles have launched.
So, the parent is right in a way; the XBOX360 is doing well. The follow-up posts are also right; the XBOX360 is not setting any sales records.
With that in mind, it becomes obvious that this delay probably has little to do with either console's dev kits. I think that if either version were going to be ready next week, they would release it. Since the budget for this game is ginormous (see the article in gameinformer), each launch delay is probably very costly.
I am sad that I won't be able to play this game for a while (Gears should hold me over), but I am also glad that it's not being rushed out.
Oh, and if anyone wants a good book about the time period that this game is set in, they should read Warriors of God, which is a great narrative history of the 3rd Crusade.
Slashdot Mirror
Comcast employs thousands of people in Philadelphia (their headquarters) and Pittsburgh. As a Pittsburgh resident, I feel like it's my social responsibility to buy cable from Comcast.
Also, Verizon has dicked me around more times than I could possibly recount in this post.
As per the article, I, for one, think that this is a case of patent abuse.
That's exactly what I was thinking.
Yes, the system could easily be broken on a case by case basis, but if enough people ran it, general trends would start to emerge.
Some slashdotter should write an app to do this (maybe when I get home), and we could all run it... Slashdot could take on the telcos FTW!
I'll highlight all you need to know about this article:
"The article gets its data from a study by CNW Marketing"
Don't know the difference between correlation and causation, do you?
nbritton: "Thankfully religion is on a rapidly declining trend[1]:
* 23% of 18-34 year olds label them self's as 'Secular' or 'Somewhat Secular', compared to 10% of people 65 years old and up."
That doesn't necessarily imply that religion is 'on a rapidly declining trend'. It probably just implies that people get more religious as they get older. It doesn't necessarily imply either.
I am in a strikingly similar situation. Been out of school for 3 years, but have only been programming for about a year.
The problem is that, where I live, a developer with no experience is worth about $30k/year, however, once you get just a little bit of experience you can ask for a lot more money. Furthermore, if you are a good programmer, your salary will skyrocket up. For me, I started about a year ago getting paid next-to-nothing and being the best programmer in the department. I switched jobs after 6 months to a job that paid me %150 what I was making at that first job. Now, after 6 months (and a raise) at this job, I have started wondering whether or not I could be making even more...
"factor of almost 2:1"
Actually, 989,118 : 466,716 is OVER that 2:1 ratio that you mention.
I like Microsoft because they employ millions of people around the world and treat their employees well. I can't believe that all of you programmers can overlook this fact!
Think of the biggest companies in the world. Now trim off anyone on that list that employs foreign labor at a wage below what we would call a "living wage". Who is left?
There certainly aren't many companies left, but Microsoft is one of them.
Forget about their products (Yes, their products are imperfect)! Many companies that get as big as microsoft have to rely on cheap foreign labor to see Microsoft-esque profits, but Microsoft doesn't. Microsoft treats their employees fairly, and for that reason alone, they are a good company.
I wish some of you would spend less time thinking about the inferiority of ActiveX controls and focus more on some of the world's more important issues.
I have a Wii, I have Twilight Princess, but I am not a Zelda fanboy (I only played the first Zelda and Majora's Mask).
This game is good, but it is not the best game ever made. Period. All these fanboy reviews that say the game is the second coming are seriously blinded by the (Nintendo) label on the front. Furthermore, the main problems with it aren't the ones that all the fanboys talk about.
The main problems are these: ... in fact, it may be the best video game story this year, however, it develops at a snail's pace.
1. Awkward camera control. There are times when you get some awkward camera angles. I, for one, have stared at epona's ass through the entirety of more than one NPC conversation.
2. Awkward traditional controls. The new Wii controls work great, but the traditional control scheme can be clunky at times.
3. Sloooooooooow story. If you don't enjoy exposition, you won't like this game. The story is good
4. Poor graphics. The look of the game is awesome; the art design really hangs together. Nonetheless, some of the models have a very low poly count. Yeah, it's forgivable in a game with such a consistent art direction, but after playing RE4 on the cube, I have a hard time putting up with some of these models (like most of the terrain in the game).
None of these are huge issues, but they are issues. I would still give the game a 8/10, but anyone who argues that this game is the best game of the year is taking things too far.
IANAL, but for IP to remain IP, doesn't the IP's owner have the reponsibility of protecting that IP? If the aforementioned IP owner fails to protect his IP, doesn't he lose it? Like in the case of Kleenex, and in the case of Google trying to prevent people from using Google as a verb? Does that just apply to trademarks? I am confused. Some lawyer please correct me.
Yeah, you can set the sensitivity of it, and you need to tell it whether the sensor strip is above the TV or below it. You NEED to set those two things properly, but Nintendo makes that pretty transparent, IMO.
Admittedly, playing an FPS with the Wiimote takes some getting used to, but once you do, you will never want to go back to dual-analog. I played through CoD3 over the last two days, and it took me a solid 90 minutes to get accustomed to using the Wiimote as is necessary to get through the game. However, once I did, the experience became so much more immersive and satisfying than it would have been otherwise (CoD3 is a pedestrian game saved by a cool control scheme).
I have played most of the major FPSs ever to come out. From Wolfenstein, Doom, Goldeneye, Half-Life (and mods), Halo, HalfLife2...etc ... On some, I have used a console controller, on others, I have used a PC. IMO, for FPSs, the wiimote is far better than dual-analog, but not quite as good as wasd+mouse.
Personally, I won't ever go back to using archaic dual analog ... even for Gears of War. In fact, I think that in 4 years, all the next-next gen consoles will be sporting Wiimote-like controls.
He's so right. I paid for my Wii, DS, and PDA with Experience Points. I mean, that's what they give you for each hour of grinding ... err, work... right?
I just wanted to say that neither myself, nor my friends that bought Wiis, have had any problems getting the updates, getting online, and downloading VC games. Also, although the download speed isn't necessarily super fast, no downloads have taken more than 5 minutes.
Of course, I have a more expensive wireless router, and experience networking Nintendo devices (DS)... I can see how your average soccer mom might have some trouble setting up the wireless network properly (after all, "WEP key" means absolutely nothing to most of them)
I was also able to get right online and start downloading. Total elapsed time from plugin to playing virtual console was about 30 minutes. Including setup/credit card ... etc.
This is most definitely NOT the soccer mom and grandpa crowd
In our line of 41, outside of a Target in Pittsburgh, PA, here's how our group broke down, roughly:
There were about 10 nintendo fanboys. Most were really only there for the new Zelda. These were mostly high school and college aged boys.
There were about 15 gamers/hardcore gamers. Guys aged 20-30 with multiple consoles who were clearly veteran gamers.
Finally, there were about 15 parents and grandparents. They were either there with their kids or there for their kids. I am including a couple of wives who were there for their husbands in this category.
So, I disagree with your statement that these were definitely not soccer moms. Really, it was quite a diverse crowd, where pretty much everyone was represented. A more interesting comparison might be between this crowd and the crowd lined up for PS3s... I think that the PS3 crowd was comprised of only hardcore gamers and profiteers.
First the number of consoles actually shipped to NA appears to be dramatically lower than promised.
On what information are you basing this? I visited three targets (the third still had a spot at 3:15am) and each one of those targets got EXACTLY the allocation of Wiis that they were promised.
Second, the Wii appears to be having huge numbers of problems.
What is this based on? I have heard, online, of 2 dead consoles from all of the US. None of my friends had any problems (nor did I), and all of us have seamlessly connected to the internet, bought virtual console titles, and played GC titles.
Third, Wii games are getting slammed in reviews
Yep, the launch titles aren't that great (discounting Zelda, whose gameplay is classic zelda, but the graphics are decidedly last gen). Still, the Nintendo launch lineup is FAR better than the launch lineups of the PS3 or X360.
Will you please get a valid source of information before posting your #$%* again?
Yeah, that was basically what I said to about a hundred wii-seeking-parents who showed up between 4:30am (when our line filled up) and 8am (when target opened). Some of them stuck around to talk to us nerds about why we were in line and when they could expect more to come in. All nice people.
Of course, after they left, we secretly mocked them, for thinking they were really good parents for showing up 30 minutes before the store opened (while the seriously dedicated moms got there at 6:30pm the previous day ... )
"All this makes Final Fantasy XII that much more enjoyable in aggregate"
Exactly what are we aggregating here? I thought it was just a single game... Or did you pull out your thesaurus on the word 'sum'?
The original half life set the absolute gold standard for multiplayer games. So many mods for half-life were really great, and I'm surprised that more people haven't mentioned them.
The list of great HL1 mods includes Counter-Strike, Day of Defeat (cool before WWII shooters were cool), and the unbeatable Team Fortress Classic ... not to mention good old Death Match play. The combination of these games totally consumed me during college (as well as pretty much every other college guy I knew).
I have played a lot of Diablo II, a lot of WoW (and City of Heroes/Villains) and a good bit of Halo ... none of it really compares with the experience of HL mods at the time. And lets not forget that Half-Life 1 mods were free when they first came out. If you bought the original game, you could download and play all the mods for free. Since a lot of people pirated HL1 in the first place, this meant hundreds of hours of playtime for basically nothing.
One final comment on the longevity of those games. People are still playing them. The HL1 mods had such longevity that by the time people were switching games, the HL1 engine had become an antique. The only game with greater longevity then the HL mods is Diablo II, which is STILL on store shelves, nearly 7 years after it's release.
Anyway, I'm not sure that the HL1 mods are worth checking out TODAY, and the HL2 mods don't quite have the same magic, however, I am still really excited for the new version of Team Fortress that's going to be released in 2007.
What are the chances that many people are interested in that list of games? There are a lot of people who want red steel/zelda/Alliance, and I'm sure there's a lot of crossover there. However, is there seriously much of a crossover between people buying Madden 07 and Super Monkey Ball?! Oy.
I would think that the PS's success is due to the kind of games they had and relationships Sony made with developers/publishers.
Right, and the reason they were able to craft these relationships was that they had the biggest installed user base. Bushnell wisely points out that even if Sony's current production estimates are accurate, and they instantly sell every one that they ship (highly unlikely), then they won't be the market leader until mid 2007. That's assuming that Microsoft doesn't sell a single other 360.
Assuming that 360 sales continue to at the pace they are at now (an underestimate, to be sure), then we're looking at January 2008ish as the earliest that Sony can feasibly be the market leader.
So, for developers to cling to Sony like they did with the PS1 and PS2, they will need to take a pretty big leap of faith that MS is going to stumble and Sony is going to surge. Bushnell sees how unlikely this outcome is, hence his prediction.
I think that if you change his number to 2 million, then it will be an accurate estimate.
bwahahahaha! funniest comment on slashdot in months! I've got coffee coming out my nose. new sig!
applause
Nicely put. I feel the same way. I feel terrible that more and more American youths are being wasted in Iraq (not to mention the horrendous number of civillian casualties on the Iraqi side), and yet our leaders seem more obsessed with how they look on TV. What a load of bullshit.
Our voting system is mostly broken, but the one thing it does allow for is the overthrowing of a government that has not represented the people, so I hope that everyone here will be out there voting next week.
Good point. I totally missed that.
Everyone is pointing out that the parent poster is wrong, and he is a bit confused, but let's not forget one simple fact: the first console to hit 5 million in sales has led every generation of game consoles. This is simply because once video game publishers see that a console will have a market, they start orienting their business plan in that direction. This generation, Microsoft has hit 5 million in sales even before the other consoles have launched.
So, the parent is right in a way; the XBOX360 is doing well. The follow-up posts are also right; the XBOX360 is not setting any sales records.
With that in mind, it becomes obvious that this delay probably has little to do with either console's dev kits. I think that if either version were going to be ready next week, they would release it. Since the budget for this game is ginormous (see the article in gameinformer), each launch delay is probably very costly.
I am sad that I won't be able to play this game for a while (Gears should hold me over), but I am also glad that it's not being rushed out.
Oh, and if anyone wants a good book about the time period that this game is set in, they should read Warriors of God, which is a great narrative history of the 3rd Crusade.