anybody care to tell me what browser actually can handle slashdot moderation without crashing?
Huh? Opera 5.10 (and older) handle Slashdot Moderation fine. Infact, I've used NetPositive (the FAST BeOS browser that support practically nothing, yet does almost everything i need...) to moderate even.
I had that with my upgrade to Opera 5.10 (in Windows).
Do you have the GetRight plugin installed? The old one is incompatible with 5.10, and kills Opera on startup. Delete the GetRight plugins in the../Opera/Plugins directory. Also, I think there might be a new version of the plugin avalable too.
Then again, you could be using a Linux preview release... which, if it is having problems, is most likely due to the fact it's only a preview...
Well, if the moderator actully read the site (or previous comments), they would have been aware of the fact that when the story was first posted, on the front pages the entire thing was showing.
It looked to me like the/. equivalent of an IRC excess flood.
It was a joke. Perhaps not the funniest thing ever to grace a/. post, but an ontopic joke all the same.
Sad day when you have to explain why your post is not offtopic...
"today's MP3 playing, DVD viewing, CD burning, cable modem screaming, 3D graphics slinging supercomputers we all now have sitting on our desks."
We all have cable modems? We do?! Unfortunately, not everyone can access cable or other high-speed forms of internet access. The majority of people still connect via dialup, and isn't going to change for years yet. The infrastructure just doesn't exist for everyone to be able to connect at 'decent' speeds.
Yes, I know dialup is obsolete. Yes, I know it's awful to use. But it's not going away, because a lot of people that want it can't get it, and a lot of people that can get it won't pay for it.
Slowly and sadly posted via a 56k modem by someone that would happily pay for something better...
The main site was down for a few hours, as we maxed out our bandwidth for the month. We've transfered over 12GB in the last two weeks! I've worked out a way to make sure that if we max out our bandwidth in the future, we just pay more, instead of the site going down... I've also moved the movies and most of the images to a seperate server.
As always, please use one of our mirrors if possible.
And this was back at late January...
This time the Slashdot effect isn't just funny or stupid. It is going to cost a fan that is dedicating their own money for no profit.
For the love of god, do them a favour, and use theirmirrors!
Linux-Mandrake started off simply as basically a copy of Red Hat Linux with KDE installed (which was the most advanced desktop environment at that time). However since 'growing' from Red Hat, it has become a distibution of it's own, with a incredibly simple install, more features/applications (ReiserFS, more intergrated Gnome/KDE menu...), Pentium optimised applications, and generally is more 'bleeding edge'.
How do you feel about the fact that Red Hat Linux was 'the womb' of what would now have to be considerer one of the strongest Linux distros for the desktop, and a major competitior to Red Hat on the desktop with it's claimed "99% Red Hat compatibility"?
Yes, it does suck that Be has moved away from the OS to the IA market. But unfortunatly, they really didn't have a choice. They were going under, and targeting the IA market is/was their last stab at making a profit...
And I also have a few versions of BeOS too (infact I bought R4.5 after the free R5 announcement because I didn't want to wait to get a new version, and the discount I got on R5 was pretty weak).
This might shock you, but when commercial companies develope software for their proprietory hardware they don't want to show it all to their competitors. In a perfect world it would be different, but unfortunatly people will avoid using GPL'ed software to do commercial work so they can keep their so-called 'intelectual property'.
All Be have done is state that their IA platform is not licensed in such a way it requires it's customer to open their source, which, believe it or not, is a selling point to Be's market. So many people have called BeOS 'a Linux' or 'Linux-like' that Be has to combat the myth that they BeIA is under the same restrictive (to commercial interests) license as Linux.
Like this article shows, Be is going broke. Of course they are advertising every single feature of BeIA that they can - this is a company trying desperatly (almost in vain) to keep afloat. It's just one of these 'features' goes against the beliefs of alot of open-source hackers.
Open source hackers don't sell IA's. Big companies do. Be has to make their customers happy.
And the BeOS developers couldn't read the Open Source code to LinuxPPX and MKLinux?
Did you actully READ what Pheersum said: "Since that info is GPL'd, Be couldn't use it, so they were still screwed"
There, explained in one sentance why they can't just read the Linux PPC ports code. However, you could explain it in three letters 'GPL'. And they call it the license of freedom...
I think they won't touch anything else Nintendo. Generally with these things they say 'Miyamoto', and they think Nintendo is covered.
Gumpei Yoko (also spelling?, I'm not sure either) also created the Game Boy, which is Nintendo's biggest console ever. He also made the Virtual Boy, and left Nintendo after that and started his own software house. But then he tragically died in a car accident, in I believe late 1999.
Gumpei Yoko is literally a legend in the world of gaming, and you are right, how could they miss him?
Re:Oh for God's sake: Rand and Robyn Miller
on
Godfathers Of Gaming
·
· Score: 3
Myst, only the best-selling game of all time
Umm, it may have been the best selling PC game of all time, but it has nothing on heaps of console games. Console games sell more then PC games, that is a fact. This isn't PC vs Console flamebait, that's just how things are.
Also, in Myst's help it came out #1: When CD technology was new, and was still pretty spectacular, and #2: CD Burners wouldn't hit bigtime for another 4 or-so years, so if people wanted to game (and they did, it looked great) they had to pay for it.
Not to say Myst wasn't a game that changed things, and i'd be surprised if Gamespot doesn't mention it in future updated to this Godfathers thing.
I think his hightlight to them was the fact he made Starwing/StarFox, a game which I still totally love. I've been playing Starwing and Lylat Wars (StarFox/StarFox 64 to those in the USA) a alot in the last few days, and I still love them.:-)
However, I totally agree that he doesn't deserve gotfather stauts. His success with Starwing was really due to Miyamoto (another reason why he should be #1), and even Gamespot say in not so many words that Croc is just a Super Mario 64 clone.
Anyway, I'm going to rant about Miyamoto now because I can't be bothered to post in the main thread. This man not only caused a revolution with Donkey Kong, but has hung around for the 20 years since and still changes the industry every few years. Most people would be happy just making the change that Donke Kong did, and Donkey Kong ALONE would get someone one of these 'godfather awards'. But Miyamoto has done so much more.
Mario Bros (the single screen, flip the turtles and crabs one) set the standard for single screen platformer, and as Gamespot said, spawned clones such as the infamous Bubble Bobble.
Super Mario Bros made the 'true' platformer. Massive (in it's time) side scrolling levels, heaps of weird enemies (koopa troopers, goombas:) and secrets like the warp zone. And, who remembers the super-'secret' 'Zero World' (if anyone want to know how to find it, respond to this post). SMB created, like Gamespot said, Alex Kid and Wonder Boy, and in the long-term Sonic. I still play SMB on my SNES with the Mario All-Stars game fairly often.
The there is the original Legend of Zelda. This made the adventure/'rpg' genre for consoles. Anyone who has played it on their Nintendo would know how much of an adventure that game is. Miyamoto wanted to live out a childhood dream of exploring and adventure, and Zelda achived that perfectly.
Super Mario Bros 3, this is, inho, Miyamoto's first massivly crafted to perfection game, the way he makes games totally PERFECT and will spend years doing it. Mario 3 took forever, but it was worth it. No other platform came near it, and really, none now really do either. Even Super Mario World could only be called it's equal at best. Super Mario 3 was huge, so much to do, so many powerups, it was the ultimate 2D platformer. If you don't have it, go get a SNES and Mario All-Stars now!
I love my SNES, probably my favorite console. Miyamoto gave it a new Zelda game, Super Mario World, Yoshi's Island, Super Mario Kart, and Starwing/Starfox just to name a few. Sure, there is SO much more I could say, but these are what springs to mind. Basically anything Miyamoto touched in the 16-bit days turned to gold, probably why I play it more then any other console...
And, the Nintendo 64 days. Super Mario 64 created a new genre of game, and the Ocarina of Time is a well crafted masterpiece. Miyamoto was more spread across alot of games on the N64 (apart from OoT), so while not massivly chaging them all he just 'touched' them with his magic;) F-Zero X, Mario Kart, Lylat Wars/StarFox 64 and ExciteBike spring to mind...
The man is flat out with GameCube stuff at the moment, and when that thing is released the world will get a new batch of 'Miyamoto Magic'. I personally can't wait.
(And sorry to hooded1, I didn't mean to turn my reply into a Miyamoto rant;)
Japan first and six to twelve months later in the US even though the US constitutes a significantly larger portion of the market.
#1: The Japanese market is bigger.
#2: They are JAPANESE companies. How would you feel if some US company launched in Japan first?
#3: 12 Months? What console was that?!
Believe it or not, the US market isn't the most important to Nintendo, Sega and Sony just because you are in it. If you really want to stick up for the American way, for apple pie, fight off the east, then buy an Xbox, and prey it fares better then every other console out of the USA.
I feel especially sorry for those in Europe who sometimes have to wait even longer.
Yeah, I'm in Australia, and we have around the same release dates as Europe. Yes, it sucks. But I know a country of 19 million with a TV format different (*cough* superior *cough*) to the big two markets that I have to wait, and I also know they are in buiness to make money. Yes, it really sucks. But I guess I'm used to it now, and anyway, I can import if I REALLY want to. Just remember, some of us would love to get US release dates...
The GameCube optical disks are 1.5G each. Your beloved Dreamcast GD-ROMs are 1G each. Who has the space problem exactly. Yes, in the previous generation Nintendo had problems due to an expencive and small medium, however, now, 1.5G is not small, espically from a company that doesn't particularly like FMV. However, if a developer needs more space they can use more then one disk. Simple!
I haven't actually seen a real advantage of Mini-DVDs over regular DVDs
One of the advantages of the GCN's optical disks are, as you said, less piracy. It's not a mini-DVD, it's a proprietory format developed by Matushita(sp?), and, yes, will be difficult top copy. Do you think 3rd parties will be happy with Nintendo for making their console use a medium that cannot easily be pirated? Of course they will, less piracy is more profit to them. The PS1 was very much the pirates toy, and give it two years and the PS2 will be the same.
And then, there is size. It's a GAME console. Smaller disks are easier to hold around, move around, and smaller to package. There has already been talk long-term of the NEXT Game Boy being theoretically able to use a format similer to the GNC disks due to their portible size. Size does matter:-)
The whole fact that only a few games will come out for N64 this year, while games *continue* to come out for PS1
Perhaps, but I don't LIKE any of the games on the PS1... at all. I love the 12 or so games I have on my N64. When I bought a CD-RW a few months back, my youngest sister (12 year old) actully half-jokingly said to me that I should buy a PS just to copy the games. Nice to see 12 year olds with that mentality... Anyway, like I said to her, what's the point on spending $100 on a console with no games we'd want, even if they were 'free'? She loves the N64, spends more time on it then me now (and she's not really into the Pokemon scene, I own no Pokemon games).
Sure, alot of people like the hundreds of games on the PS, well, you can have them, I'm much happier with what Nintendo has to offer.
I bought a Nintendo 64 the day it came out for close to $400 (with a game and controller)
Same, and 2 months later when the price dropped $100 Nintendo Australia offered me a free game. I got a copy of Mario Kart 64 for free. That is a company that cares about their customer satisfaction!
Today, I own a Dreamcast, which I love.
And you're complaining about the software support of the Nintendo 64? At least is wasn't DOA. The DC was doomed from the beginning, the only people that don't agree with that were the people that wasted their money on them. You lost. Deal with it. No-one would have guessed that the N64 would outlive the DC, would they...
Now I feel burned.
Why, because they didn't make their console the #1 seller for you?
and I'm selling my N64 and game collection on eBay.
Oh well. I was happy with the two Zelda games, and the classic Super Mario 64 just to name a couple of games I have, and still have alot of fun with 4 player Goldeneye, Mario Kart, F-Zero X, Perfect Dark and more, but if that's what you'd like that's fine.
Enjoy your future with the Dreamcast. If you like new console software you'll be buying a PS2, a GCN, or a Xbox within 12 months.
Also, comparing Sega's impact to the impact Microsoft will make is not a valid comparison. Sega doesn't have a few billion to blow and a dominant market share in the computer industry.
Sega took Nintendo from a virtual monopoly with the NES to a 50/50 split with the GenesisMegaDrive/SuperNintendo. The pain from that will be much worse that anything Microsoft will dish out. Just because Sega didn't have a huge wallet and a PC operating system monopoly doesn't mean they didn't cause damange to Nintendo, infact, I doubt Microsoft will even inflict anything as harsh and what Sega did- break Nintendo's stranglehold.
MS won't slash away 50% of Nintendo's userbase, that is definate. Microsoft is seriously gunning after Sony's userbase, both the consoles are going to be in direct competition with each other. Microsoft, if sucessful, will be Sony's replacement, just as they replaced Sega.
Give Sega some credit, they changed the industry. Microsoft are just here with their 'PC-in-a-box' to leech from it now.
Not so much 'anti-Microsoft', more so 'pro-Nintendo', maybe 'anti-Xbox'. No, I don't partiularly like Microsoft. Yes, I like Nintendo alot, and I think what they are saying in this letter is the truth. Unfortunatly, in taking Nintendo's letter as the truth I have to be anti-Microsoft this time.
Sorry, I know anti-MS posts on Slashdot really hurt, and are really rare, but sometimes people need to see the truth, as horrible as it may be. I'm sorry that I caused so much pain on my Slashdot brothers and sisters by making a comment that goes against Microsoft, and I hope you can forgive me, I was just trying to do the right thing....
That's the point I think the letter is trying to make. Nintendo want to come across as the guys (and girls) looking out for the retailers and the industry, and big bad 'Company X' are just storming in for the money...
Riding on only Pokemon? Do you think that whole 'iron fist on the handheld market' isn't bringing in profit (and no, the Game Boy is not a Pokemon only platform. The GBC has been a great 'flashback' console with SMBDelux, ZeldaDX and DKC, and the GBA is going to be THE flashback console (Yes! Return to the 16-bit days [and no, that isn't sarcasm, I love my SNES:) ]).
Also, Nintendo have profited on the N64. Sure, hardware sales are lower then the PSX's, but software sales... Zelda was MASSIVE when it came out, and Nintendo has alot less piracy they have to 'compete' with.
Sure, Pokemon has help, but Nintendo were hardly a poor company before it, and would have survived without the fad.
Yeah, that huge handheld market they have and the profits there, and the money they make on first party games like Zelda on the N64 (the huge sales of that one game show that a console hardly needs to be #1 to make alot of profit for it's parent company) shows how fucked Nintendo are.
Of course, profits and a huge bank balance aren't enough to be 'non-fucked' for you? How about the fact that Nintendo have shown that they can be pratically self-sufficiant, almost single-handedly supplying software to the N64 (well, the best of it at least). If all 3rd parties were to dump the GameCube tomorrow (which won't happen) the thing would be successful with Nintendo and the 2nd parties supporting it on their own.
Nintendo are not fucked. Sega didn't fuck them. Sony haven't fucked them. Microsoft won't fuck them. Nintendo are the constant in the industry, it's Nintendo's competition that changes, let it be Atati, Sega, Sony and Microsoft. Microsoft are Sony's replacement this generation. Those 2 are competing for all the 3rd parties they MUST have to survive. Nintendo will keep making their games and bringing in the profit.
Nintendo ain't going to be gone for a LONG time yet....
Yes, that Nintendo letter is legimate, but it says what it says with good reason.
Microsoft currently have a 0% share of the video game console industry, and no product on offer at all, and will not until next year*. Yet, they are still sending out advertising aimed at consumers telling them not to buy products avalable NOW but to wait for their eventual product. What do you think the impact of this will be on stores that sell only video games? In displaying the Xbox advertising a retailer is trying to strangle their cashflow for the following 10 or more months. Obviously it would stop people buying products now, and of course that would be a bad thing for the industry.
But do Microsoft care if that would be bad for the industry now. Hell no! Why not? Look at their current market share: 0%. Do you think Microsoft care if they make 20% less profit from a market share ok 0%. Of course not. 20% of nothing is still nothing. Microsoft are attempting to rape the industry now so things are good when they finally get in.
Yes, Nintendo are somewhat biased, yes they have 2 consoles out trying to make profit at the moment. Yes Nintendo have a next generation console and a new handheld coming up that will be out before the Xbox. Yes it IS in Nintendo's interest for stores not to advertise the Xbox. But Nintendo are the old men of the industry, and they can also see that this will cause it serious damage if sales in consoles, not only theirs but the PS2, grind to a halt due to Microsoft FUD advertising. Nintendo don't want some new compnay just strangling the industry.
Back in 1984 with the NES, Nintendo brought the video game market back from the death Atari had caused it, and turned home video games from a fad into an international multibillion dollar industry. Something tells me that they might have SOME idea about what they are talking about.
Before you tell me that this is all bullshit, just ponder this: In the 'Linux Myths' Microsoft said that Linux did not have USB support at a time when their current business operating system was Windows NT 4.0 (also USBless), but said "Windows 2000 will have it, it'll be out soon". They wanted to stop people using Linux because of a product they had not shipped yet. Now they are doing the same to the video game industry.
Also, have a look over at IGNcube here for an interview with Nintendo's vice president of marketing George Harrison all about this very letter. He states that Nintendo won't being in-store advertising of the GameCube until August- two months before it's release. Much better then a year.
Microsoft Xbox: Bringing the blue screen to the living room. With a FREE copy of Photoshop for those post-game touch-up...
-----
* The Xbox will be delayed, the thing doesn't even have final dev kits out yet. People say that Nintendo's GameCube will delay even though 3rd parties have had final dev kits for months, but have blind faith in Microsoft shipping on time, a company well known for delays and FUD in the past ("Don't get a PS2 or GCN, look what will be out... eventually...").
Slashdot Mirror
Huh? Opera 5.10 (and older) handle Slashdot Moderation fine. Infact, I've used NetPositive (the FAST BeOS browser that support practically nothing, yet does almost everything i need...) to moderate even.
Do you have the GetRight plugin installed? The old one is incompatible with 5.10, and kills Opera on startup. Delete the GetRight plugins in the ../Opera/Plugins directory. Also, I think there might be a new version of the plugin avalable too.
Then again, you could be using a Linux preview release... which, if it is having problems, is most likely due to the fact it's only a preview...
It looked to me like the /. equivalent of an IRC excess flood.
It was a joke. Perhaps not the funniest thing ever to grace a /. post, but an ontopic joke all the same.
Sad day when you have to explain why your post is not offtopic...
*** timothy (timothy@monkey.org) Quit (Excess Flood)
Umm, what?! What do you mean IRC is not the real world?!
Isn't the GPL free enough for you?
We all have cable modems? We do?! Unfortunately, not everyone can access cable or other high-speed forms of internet access. The majority of people still connect via dialup, and isn't going to change for years yet. The infrastructure just doesn't exist for everyone to be able to connect at 'decent' speeds.
Yes, I know dialup is obsolete. Yes, I know it's awful to use. But it's not going away, because a lot of people that want it can't get it, and a lot of people that can get it won't pay for it.
Slowly and sadly posted via a 56k modem by someone that would happily pay for something better...
1/30/01
The main site was down for a few hours, as we maxed out our bandwidth for the month. We've transfered over 12GB in the last two weeks! I've worked out a way to make sure that if we max out our bandwidth in the future, we just pay more, instead of the site going down... I've also moved the movies and most of the images to a seperate server.
As always, please use one of our mirrors if possible.
And this was back at late January...
This time the Slashdot effect isn't just funny or stupid. It is going to cost a fan that is dedicating their own money for no profit.
For the love of god, do them a favour, and use theirmirrors!
Incase you missed that:
MIRRORS!!
How do you feel about the fact that Red Hat Linux was 'the womb' of what would now have to be considerer one of the strongest Linux distros for the desktop, and a major competitior to Red Hat on the desktop with it's claimed "99% Red Hat compatibility"?
Or, perhaps you could use BOTH the monitors AT ONCE with the same hardware...
Apple's notebooks do multiple monitors, i'd expect the iMac does too...
My god this got old quickly...
And I also have a few versions of BeOS too (infact I bought R4.5 after the free R5 announcement because I didn't want to wait to get a new version, and the discount I got on R5 was pretty weak).
All Be have done is state that their IA platform is not licensed in such a way it requires it's customer to open their source, which, believe it or not, is a selling point to Be's market. So many people have called BeOS 'a Linux' or 'Linux-like' that Be has to combat the myth that they BeIA is under the same restrictive (to commercial interests) license as Linux.
Like this article shows, Be is going broke. Of course they are advertising every single feature of BeIA that they can - this is a company trying desperatly (almost in vain) to keep afloat. It's just one of these 'features' goes against the beliefs of alot of open-source hackers.
Open source hackers don't sell IA's. Big companies do. Be has to make their customers happy.
Did you actully READ what Pheersum said: "Since that info is GPL'd, Be couldn't use it, so they were still screwed"
There, explained in one sentance why they can't just read the Linux PPC ports code. However, you could explain it in three letters 'GPL'. And they call it the license of freedom...
Gumpei Yoko (also spelling?, I'm not sure either) also created the Game Boy, which is Nintendo's biggest console ever. He also made the Virtual Boy, and left Nintendo after that and started his own software house. But then he tragically died in a car accident, in I believe late 1999.
Gumpei Yoko is literally a legend in the world of gaming, and you are right, how could they miss him?
Umm, it may have been the best selling PC game of all time, but it has nothing on heaps of console games. Console games sell more then PC games, that is a fact. This isn't PC vs Console flamebait, that's just how things are.
Also, in Myst's help it came out #1: When CD technology was new, and was still pretty spectacular, and #2: CD Burners wouldn't hit bigtime for another 4 or-so years, so if people wanted to game (and they did, it looked great) they had to pay for it.
Not to say Myst wasn't a game that changed things, and i'd be surprised if Gamespot doesn't mention it in future updated to this Godfathers thing.
However, I totally agree that he doesn't deserve gotfather stauts. His success with Starwing was really due to Miyamoto (another reason why he should be #1), and even Gamespot say in not so many words that Croc is just a Super Mario 64 clone.
Anyway, I'm going to rant about Miyamoto now because I can't be bothered to post in the main thread. This man not only caused a revolution with Donkey Kong, but has hung around for the 20 years since and still changes the industry every few years. Most people would be happy just making the change that Donke Kong did, and Donkey Kong ALONE would get someone one of these 'godfather awards'. But Miyamoto has done so much more.
Mario Bros (the single screen, flip the turtles and crabs one) set the standard for single screen platformer, and as Gamespot said, spawned clones such as the infamous Bubble Bobble.
Super Mario Bros made the 'true' platformer. Massive (in it's time) side scrolling levels, heaps of weird enemies (koopa troopers, goombas :) and secrets like the warp zone. And, who remembers the super-'secret' 'Zero World' (if anyone want to know how to find it, respond to this post). SMB created, like Gamespot said, Alex Kid and Wonder Boy, and in the long-term Sonic. I still play SMB on my SNES with the Mario All-Stars game fairly often.
The there is the original Legend of Zelda. This made the adventure/'rpg' genre for consoles. Anyone who has played it on their Nintendo would know how much of an adventure that game is. Miyamoto wanted to live out a childhood dream of exploring and adventure, and Zelda achived that perfectly.
Super Mario Bros 3, this is, inho, Miyamoto's first massivly crafted to perfection game, the way he makes games totally PERFECT and will spend years doing it. Mario 3 took forever, but it was worth it. No other platform came near it, and really, none now really do either. Even Super Mario World could only be called it's equal at best. Super Mario 3 was huge, so much to do, so many powerups, it was the ultimate 2D platformer. If you don't have it, go get a SNES and Mario All-Stars now!
I love my SNES, probably my favorite console. Miyamoto gave it a new Zelda game, Super Mario World, Yoshi's Island, Super Mario Kart, and Starwing/Starfox just to name a few. Sure, there is SO much more I could say, but these are what springs to mind. Basically anything Miyamoto touched in the 16-bit days turned to gold, probably why I play it more then any other console...
And, the Nintendo 64 days. Super Mario 64 created a new genre of game, and the Ocarina of Time is a well crafted masterpiece. Miyamoto was more spread across alot of games on the N64 (apart from OoT), so while not massivly chaging them all he just 'touched' them with his magic ;) F-Zero X, Mario Kart, Lylat Wars/StarFox 64 and ExciteBike spring to mind...
The man is flat out with GameCube stuff at the moment, and when that thing is released the world will get a new batch of 'Miyamoto Magic'. I personally can't wait.
(And sorry to hooded1, I didn't mean to turn my reply into a Miyamoto rant ;)
#1: The Japanese market is bigger.
#2: They are JAPANESE companies. How would you feel if some US company launched in Japan first?
#3: 12 Months? What console was that?!
Believe it or not, the US market isn't the most important to Nintendo, Sega and Sony just because you are in it. If you really want to stick up for the American way, for apple pie, fight off the east, then buy an Xbox, and prey it fares better then every other console out of the USA.
I feel especially sorry for those in Europe who sometimes have to wait even longer.
Yeah, I'm in Australia, and we have around the same release dates as Europe. Yes, it sucks. But I know a country of 19 million with a TV format different (*cough* superior *cough*) to the big two markets that I have to wait, and I also know they are in buiness to make money. Yes, it really sucks. But I guess I'm used to it now, and anyway, I can import if I REALLY want to. Just remember, some of us would love to get US release dates...
The GameCube optical disks are 1.5G each. Your beloved Dreamcast GD-ROMs are 1G each. Who has the space problem exactly. Yes, in the previous generation Nintendo had problems due to an expencive and small medium, however, now, 1.5G is not small, espically from a company that doesn't particularly like FMV. However, if a developer needs more space they can use more then one disk. Simple!
I haven't actually seen a real advantage of Mini-DVDs over regular DVDs
One of the advantages of the GCN's optical disks are, as you said, less piracy. It's not a mini-DVD, it's a proprietory format developed by Matushita(sp?), and, yes, will be difficult top copy. Do you think 3rd parties will be happy with Nintendo for making their console use a medium that cannot easily be pirated? Of course they will, less piracy is more profit to them. The PS1 was very much the pirates toy, and give it two years and the PS2 will be the same.
And then, there is size. It's a GAME console. Smaller disks are easier to hold around, move around, and smaller to package. There has already been talk long-term of the NEXT Game Boy being theoretically able to use a format similer to the GNC disks due to their portible size. Size does matter :-)
The whole fact that only a few games will come out for N64 this year, while games *continue* to come out for PS1
Perhaps, but I don't LIKE any of the games on the PS1... at all. I love the 12 or so games I have on my N64. When I bought a CD-RW a few months back, my youngest sister (12 year old) actully half-jokingly said to me that I should buy a PS just to copy the games. Nice to see 12 year olds with that mentality... Anyway, like I said to her, what's the point on spending $100 on a console with no games we'd want, even if they were 'free'? She loves the N64, spends more time on it then me now (and she's not really into the Pokemon scene, I own no Pokemon games).
Sure, alot of people like the hundreds of games on the PS, well, you can have them, I'm much happier with what Nintendo has to offer.
I bought a Nintendo 64 the day it came out for close to $400 (with a game and controller)
Same, and 2 months later when the price dropped $100 Nintendo Australia offered me a free game. I got a copy of Mario Kart 64 for free. That is a company that cares about their customer satisfaction!
Today, I own a Dreamcast, which I love.
And you're complaining about the software support of the Nintendo 64? At least is wasn't DOA. The DC was doomed from the beginning, the only people that don't agree with that were the people that wasted their money on them. You lost. Deal with it. No-one would have guessed that the N64 would outlive the DC, would they...
Now I feel burned.
Why, because they didn't make their console the #1 seller for you?
and I'm selling my N64 and game collection on eBay.
Oh well. I was happy with the two Zelda games, and the classic Super Mario 64 just to name a couple of games I have, and still have alot of fun with 4 player Goldeneye, Mario Kart, F-Zero X, Perfect Dark and more, but if that's what you'd like that's fine.
Enjoy your future with the Dreamcast. If you like new console software you'll be buying a PS2, a GCN, or a Xbox within 12 months.
Sega took Nintendo from a virtual monopoly with the NES to a 50/50 split with the GenesisMegaDrive/SuperNintendo. The pain from that will be much worse that anything Microsoft will dish out. Just because Sega didn't have a huge wallet and a PC operating system monopoly doesn't mean they didn't cause damange to Nintendo, infact, I doubt Microsoft will even inflict anything as harsh and what Sega did- break Nintendo's stranglehold.
MS won't slash away 50% of Nintendo's userbase, that is definate. Microsoft is seriously gunning after Sony's userbase, both the consoles are going to be in direct competition with each other. Microsoft, if sucessful, will be Sony's replacement, just as they replaced Sega.
Give Sega some credit, they changed the industry. Microsoft are just here with their 'PC-in-a-box' to leech from it now.
Sorry, I know anti-MS posts on Slashdot really hurt, and are really rare, but sometimes people need to see the truth, as horrible as it may be. I'm sorry that I caused so much pain on my Slashdot brothers and sisters by making a comment that goes against Microsoft, and I hope you can forgive me, I was just trying to do the right thing....
That's the point I think the letter is trying to make. Nintendo want to come across as the guys (and girls) looking out for the retailers and the industry, and big bad 'Company X' are just storming in for the money...
Also, Nintendo have profited on the N64. Sure, hardware sales are lower then the PSX's, but software sales... Zelda was MASSIVE when it came out, and Nintendo has alot less piracy they have to 'compete' with.
Sure, Pokemon has help, but Nintendo were hardly a poor company before it, and would have survived without the fad.
Of course, profits and a huge bank balance aren't enough to be 'non-fucked' for you? How about the fact that Nintendo have shown that they can be pratically self-sufficiant, almost single-handedly supplying software to the N64 (well, the best of it at least). If all 3rd parties were to dump the GameCube tomorrow (which won't happen) the thing would be successful with Nintendo and the 2nd parties supporting it on their own.
Nintendo are not fucked. Sega didn't fuck them. Sony haven't fucked them. Microsoft won't fuck them. Nintendo are the constant in the industry, it's Nintendo's competition that changes, let it be Atati, Sega, Sony and Microsoft. Microsoft are Sony's replacement this generation. Those 2 are competing for all the 3rd parties they MUST have to survive. Nintendo will keep making their games and bringing in the profit.
Nintendo ain't going to be gone for a LONG time yet....
Microsoft currently have a 0% share of the video game console industry, and no product on offer at all, and will not until next year*. Yet, they are still sending out advertising aimed at consumers telling them not to buy products avalable NOW but to wait for their eventual product. What do you think the impact of this will be on stores that sell only video games? In displaying the Xbox advertising a retailer is trying to strangle their cashflow for the following 10 or more months. Obviously it would stop people buying products now, and of course that would be a bad thing for the industry.
But do Microsoft care if that would be bad for the industry now. Hell no! Why not? Look at their current market share: 0%. Do you think Microsoft care if they make 20% less profit from a market share ok 0%. Of course not. 20% of nothing is still nothing. Microsoft are attempting to rape the industry now so things are good when they finally get in.
Yes, Nintendo are somewhat biased, yes they have 2 consoles out trying to make profit at the moment. Yes Nintendo have a next generation console and a new handheld coming up that will be out before the Xbox. Yes it IS in Nintendo's interest for stores not to advertise the Xbox. But Nintendo are the old men of the industry, and they can also see that this will cause it serious damage if sales in consoles, not only theirs but the PS2, grind to a halt due to Microsoft FUD advertising. Nintendo don't want some new compnay just strangling the industry.
Back in 1984 with the NES, Nintendo brought the video game market back from the death Atari had caused it, and turned home video games from a fad into an international multibillion dollar industry. Something tells me that they might have SOME idea about what they are talking about.
Before you tell me that this is all bullshit, just ponder this: In the 'Linux Myths' Microsoft said that Linux did not have USB support at a time when their current business operating system was Windows NT 4.0 (also USBless), but said "Windows 2000 will have it, it'll be out soon". They wanted to stop people using Linux because of a product they had not shipped yet. Now they are doing the same to the video game industry.
Also, have a look over at IGNcube here for an interview with Nintendo's vice president of marketing George Harrison all about this very letter. He states that Nintendo won't being in-store advertising of the GameCube until August- two months before it's release. Much better then a year.
Microsoft Xbox: Bringing the blue screen to the living room. With a FREE copy of Photoshop for those post-game touch-up...
-----
* The Xbox will be delayed, the thing doesn't even have final dev kits out yet. People say that Nintendo's GameCube will delay even though 3rd parties have had final dev kits for months, but have blind faith in Microsoft shipping on time, a company well known for delays and FUD in the past ("Don't get a PS2 or GCN, look what will be out... eventually...").
-----
US English is like Microsoft. Embrace and Extend (or in this case, just make incompatible/different to the 'standard').
Don't take too much offence anyone, it's a joke ok :-)