Microsoft: "Welcome Mr. Moore -- it's a pleasure to meet you in person. What's that? You want a hug?"
*they hug*
Moore: "Well, I must be going"
*he leaves*
Microsoft: "...wait a minute... HE STOLE OUR WALLETS!"
I should repackage Dreamcasts in aluminum ovals -- "Hey, what'cha got there?"
"Oh, this? Noooothing... just... FUTURE-BOX-STATION -- it's only the most amazing game machine ever....from the future."
"Ohhhh shiny, I WANT!"
A 750 mhz PIII? Please, I got an 850 mhz PIII machine for FREE (craigslist). How much did you pay for your Xbox? Try comparably priced machines and the results get much better (plus on a PC you have internet / media capabilities [not forced to buy Xbox remote to watch DVDs] / etc). Am I ripping on consoles? No, I love consoles -- I can't wait for the Wii to come out and I thought about the 360 (if I wasn't a poor college student). Spend thousands on a machine they're going to play games on? Please, try less than $600 --
$499.99 decent compy http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82 E16883102668 + $89.99 decent graphics card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82 E16814131007 = less than 600 bucks (cheaper than a PS3)
Now tell me -- if you're a college student (I am), wouldn't it be smarter to buy a computer than can play games AND be productive (and it has a DVD burner so you can copy your roommates' movie collections)? Plus, when you get out of college and get a full-time job, having a PC you can upgrade (not like it's a bad PC: 64-bit AMD 3200 + ATI x850 = some good stuff) seems like a better idea than being stuck with a never-changing console.
That machine will play games with better peformance and graphics than the Xbox-360 (I have a 2.8 Ghz P4 Northwood and an ATI Radeon X700 -- a machine inferior to the one I priced up - it beats the 360).
Would I still buy a 360 if I wasn't on a tight budget? Of course! There are some very fun games for it (plus Halo 3 will be an exclusive) -- but I don't have the means to buy everything I want (otherwise I'd beat Japan to that moonbase).
For my money, PC gaming trumps console gaming.
My post was angrily toned towards MBraynard's accusation that the 360 is better than a PC. I don't hate FPS games on consoles, I will reference my two favorite console games of all time: Goldeneye and Perfect Dark. Both great games; innovative, fun multiplayer, interesting weapons (I love the Farsight in PD), and overall full of wholesome goodness....but not all console FPS games are like that -- "tactical" FPS games like Counterstrike on Xbox feel cumbersome and like a bastard-child of the PC version. I play Halo and Halo 2 with friends and I enjoy the multiplayer -- it's a great way to have an 8 person gaming session without requiring a LAN party (I like Halo on PC better for single player -- the multiplayer is fun [plus more levels/weapons/vehicles than Xbox], but it's more difficult to play in a room full of your friends). Some games just "work" on the console; others are atrocious (especially most ports). Equally, I've played Farcry: Instincts on Xbox and was horribly dissappointed (I am still completely pleased with Farcry on the PC, which came out roughly 2 years, I believe, prior to "Instincts") -- "Instincts" was suppossed to be a step-up from the original Farcry, but it failed to please me as much as good 'ol regular-Farcry could. Consoles don't work for every game, just as PC's don't (can you imagine Katamari Damacy on the PC?).
I pledge allegiance to the united "gahhhh, stop hurting my brain by being so stupid" foundation, that if I ever see someone with one of these I will take it from them, insert it into their... dirty orifice, and open the umbrella.
It's one thing to invent a neat tech gadget or even a bizarre tech gadget with no real purpose... but an iPod-brella is niether neat nor bizarre... they've come out with so many stupid iPod accessories that this is just another piece of crap. Worse than Segway-polo!
Wow -- if ignorance is bliss, you must be quite happy. If you would have read my post, you would have seen that I actually enjoy consoles.
Fact: A PC is much more powerful than a console. Fact: Something doesn't have to have ultimate processing power to be fun (case-in-point, I am looking forward to the Wii coming out... even the the PS3 is "ohmygodsopowerful").
Why is it console players think their consoles are more powerful than computers? My desktop which I built 3 and a half years ago for just under $1,000 has much better graphical and processing power than the 360 (I spent $135 on a new graphics card last winter). Why do I like gaming on a desktop? Well, aside from the better graphics/physics allowed; one reason is loading time! Consoles go "oh oh optical disk reading yeah oh so good yeah uh uhhhh"... my computer goes "Go 10,000 rpm raptors, read that data!". Control -- yes, you CAN hook up a standard 103-key keyboard and a crappy mouse to a 360... but I have a nice desktop keyboard and mouse -- efficient buttons, macro-enabled, just plain AWESOME.
Game controllers are great for action/arcade style games... but for FPS and RTS games, extreme precision is needed -- the kind of precision that is impossible with a gamepad. Auto-aim is a ridiculous concept that exists because console controls are so sub-par at controlling First Person Shooters.
Now for the meat of the point -- computers are superior to consoles in power (even budget-build computers). Look at Halo (probably the game you're referring to when you say that computers suck because a console FPS outsold a couple PC FPS games -- console FPS games do NOT "routinely" sell out PC games, hell, there aren't half as many FPS games for the console as their are for PC) -- originally slated to be a PC/Mac game, MS bought Bungie and said "Hey, that awesome Halo game you're developing? You're going to throw it away it and rebuild it half as good as it was before for our upcoming Xbox gaming system"... the result? Many things were scrapped because consoles can not perform as well as their PC cousins (even elements they thought would still be possible weren't -- look at the flamethrower [you can obtain it in Xbox using noclip hacks]), when they ported the game over to PC, it was beautiful (better graphics, better multiplayer, features impossible with the xbox [like the flamethrower]).
Consoles are INFERIOR to computers -- you have to get that through your head. Now, all that said, I still play consoles -- because some games types work so well with consoles (Smash Brothers Melee -- you couldn't have a game like that be as fun on a PC).
My favorite 2 games were "Ouch: my eyes hurt from looking at blurry red lines" and its sequel "Ouch 2: my neck hurts from uncomfortably sitting in front of this infernal machine". Those were the days... they just don't make classic games like those anymore.
The reason RealPlayer has 2 million downloads per day? Because people download it, install it, use it for what they need... then get it hell off their machine! RealPlayer is worse than a virus! Mozilla, why?! That's like partnering with cocaine dealers because they distribute to 2 million people a day. Ughhh! I feel DIRTY!
I've learned things from myspace. Like that 15 year olds think I'm "so hawt".
Really though, myspace is a learning tool -- communication is a way to learn. In addition to learning via communicating, social networking is extremely important in this world since it's not what you know, but who you know (I'm surprised more politicians don't have myspaces so they can easily meet lobbyists to receive money and fame for passing idiotic legislation).
It gets very little credit for what it's done? Well... what has it done? I've played the 360 and the gaming experience (what video game consoles are all about) was par to a regular xbox. Same controller, same game-play, better graphics (but it's not like the xbox's were horrible). Why were all the other consoles so amazing when they came out?... because they were different! Going from a SNES to an N64? Fantastic 3D, analog stick, trigger, 4 player awesomeness. Leaps and bounds were had, but now it's just gradual steps (xbox => 360 is mostly just increased graphical capability [and HD], wireless controllers [which they had before from 3rd parties], and xbox live content [which I am not too fond of... except for the ping pong game]). I'm not knocking the 360, if anything I'm praising the original xbox, but the reason people give attention to things is because of change... the 360 seems to be just more of the same from Microsoft (yes, it's new/better/different, but in no radical ways).
Superior? I actually prefer the vertical scrolling bar -- just hold your thumb in various places to get it to scroll slower or faster... I fail to see how a wheel is superior to an up and down bar for going... up and down!
I know how it works. I implied DRM because why would anyone get a video iPod other than to "buy" movies from iTunes? I know people who think that the only way to get videos on their iPod is through iTunes -- they don't understand the concept of ripping movies they already own, so they pay again to view it on a tiny little screen. They're the same kind of people who would buy this "HD" viewer. Don't "Think Different" like everyone else, think "Creative"ly and be yourself.
It's worth it because then you can spend another $200 to $250 on your overpriced iPod to watch non-DRM video when you could've done the same by buying a Creative Vision: M (+longer battery life +higher signal to noise decibel ratio) for less money.
They would make excellent motivational speakers. Although personally, I'd rather use them in a zoo: "And if you look to your left, you'll see the RIAA-lawyer-sapien; a distant relative of man, the RIAA-laywer-sapien lives to feed maliciously and violently on the weak and wounded. Uh oh, hold on to your hats, it looks like a 13 year old girl just downloaded a Britney Spears song in the RIAA-layer-sapiens' pen... there they go folks... look at the way they swarm and strike with a spring in their step, it is certainly a fearsome sight -- thankfully they can't get through the inch of bulletproof glass on the bus, so there's no need to be worried."
Yes, but you see, the RIAA owns those songs (well, the artists do, but the RIAA is like a big strong pimp that keeps the artist-hoes in their place)... it is the principle of it... you see, the... it......VICTORY IS MINE *runs to secret RIAA-funded escape pod* You'll never catch us!
Yeah, but why do they have to open a video game clinic? Why not an "Addiction clinic" that attacks all forms of addiction. They usually all stem from the same underlying roots.
I may be 21 but sometimes I feel like an "old fogey" -- what happened to self control?! This isn't crack or nicotine or anything physically addiction, it's a video game. I play a LOT of video games when I have free time, but all it takes to stop is a little thing called will power. I don't understand why so many people can't just put down their damn controllers. You know, while they're in the game clinic, they should at least ship me their game library.
His program just analyzes the spam words and then makes pretty pictures from them. It's not like the spam message says "dog" so the program draws a dog... the word dog might make the program create a blue line for example, but nothing really dog-related. It's an interesting concept, especially how it "grows".
Now if only it compiled the images as large bitmaps, distributed them globally through a shared system of thousands of computers, then bombarded the offending spammer's IP with lots of pretty pictures that he/she helped create.
Congress knows that you're wrong and evil -- trying to get kids to come to your pornsite (don't try to hide behind it being a "business" and you "charging" people, they know you have a magical internet-powered scanner that forces kids to see porn for free!). You think 20 years is "too harsh"? What, you think there's some law or bill (like a... a bill of rights?) against "cruel and unusual punishment"? We'll teach YOU to meta-tag. As John Romero would say, Congress will make you its bitch!
I'm glad to see Congress focusing on the important things -- I'm tired of having to protect my children from improper meta-tags. They need to go after Playboy and Playgirl next... I mean, come on, it has "Play" right in the name! They're trying to get children to think it's fun! Damn greedy bastards, not like those in Congress -- they always look out for our best interests and do it all out of the goodness of their hearts.
Not to mention it's not like Blu-Ray is the GPU/CPU/RAM/controller -- it's just the media that the game comes on. DVD's already offer hefty storage, I have yet to own a game that takes more than 1 DVD (not counting bonus materials)... so having a Blu-Ray drive in a VIDEO GAME SYSTEM doesn't seem very important to me, or anyone who actually cares about gaming, considering it increases the price by $200 while increasing the level-o-fun by zero.
I have a way to stop the MPAA/RIAA's gruesome assaults on the public -- fire, and lots of it. True, if you killed them, another slimy and wretched organization would take their place... and if you killed them, another nasty, vile, scum-of-the-Earth association would move onto the field... and if you killed them... well, that would probably be the end of it. See, violence DOES solve problems.
Slashdot Mirror
well, it took place at the "fancy Palms Hotel" -- so maybe he'd at least get a reacharound out of the deal.
Microsoft: "Welcome Mr. Moore -- it's a pleasure to meet you in person. What's that? You want a hug?"
*they hug* Moore: "Well, I must be going"
*he leaves*
Microsoft: "...wait a minute... HE STOLE OUR WALLETS!"
I should repackage Dreamcasts in aluminum ovals -- "Hey, what'cha got there?" ...from the future."
"Oh, this? Noooothing... just... FUTURE-BOX-STATION -- it's only the most amazing game machine ever.
"Ohhhh shiny, I WANT!"
A 750 mhz PIII? Please, I got an 850 mhz PIII machine for FREE (craigslist). How much did you pay for your Xbox? Try comparably priced machines and the results get much better (plus on a PC you have internet / media capabilities [not forced to buy Xbox remote to watch DVDs] / etc). Am I ripping on consoles? No, I love consoles -- I can't wait for the Wii to come out and I thought about the 360 (if I wasn't a poor college student). Spend thousands on a machine they're going to play games on? Please, try less than $600 --2 E16883102668
2 E16814131007
$499.99 decent compy http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N8
+ $89.99 decent graphics card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N8
= less than 600 bucks (cheaper than a PS3)
Now tell me -- if you're a college student (I am), wouldn't it be smarter to buy a computer than can play games AND be productive (and it has a DVD burner so you can copy your roommates' movie collections)? Plus, when you get out of college and get a full-time job, having a PC you can upgrade (not like it's a bad PC: 64-bit AMD 3200 + ATI x850 = some good stuff) seems like a better idea than being stuck with a never-changing console.
That machine will play games with better peformance and graphics than the Xbox-360 (I have a 2.8 Ghz P4 Northwood and an ATI Radeon X700 -- a machine inferior to the one I priced up - it beats the 360).
Would I still buy a 360 if I wasn't on a tight budget? Of course! There are some very fun games for it (plus Halo 3 will be an exclusive) -- but I don't have the means to buy everything I want (otherwise I'd beat Japan to that moonbase).
For my money, PC gaming trumps console gaming.
My post was angrily toned towards MBraynard's accusation that the 360 is better than a PC. I don't hate FPS games on consoles, I will reference my two favorite console games of all time: Goldeneye and Perfect Dark. Both great games; innovative, fun multiplayer, interesting weapons (I love the Farsight in PD), and overall full of wholesome goodness. ...but not all console FPS games are like that -- "tactical" FPS games like Counterstrike on Xbox feel cumbersome and like a bastard-child of the PC version. I play Halo and Halo 2 with friends and I enjoy the multiplayer -- it's a great way to have an 8 person gaming session without requiring a LAN party (I like Halo on PC better for single player -- the multiplayer is fun [plus more levels/weapons/vehicles than Xbox], but it's more difficult to play in a room full of your friends). Some games just "work" on the console; others are atrocious (especially most ports). Equally, I've played Farcry: Instincts on Xbox and was horribly dissappointed (I am still completely pleased with Farcry on the PC, which came out roughly 2 years, I believe, prior to "Instincts") -- "Instincts" was suppossed to be a step-up from the original Farcry, but it failed to please me as much as good 'ol regular-Farcry could. Consoles don't work for every game, just as PC's don't (can you imagine Katamari Damacy on the PC?).
I pledge allegiance to the united "gahhhh, stop hurting my brain by being so stupid" foundation, that if I ever see someone with one of these I will take it from them, insert it into their... dirty orifice, and open the umbrella.
It's one thing to invent a neat tech gadget or even a bizarre tech gadget with no real purpose... but an iPod-brella is niether neat nor bizarre... they've come out with so many stupid iPod accessories that this is just another piece of crap. Worse than Segway-polo!
Wow -- if ignorance is bliss, you must be quite happy. If you would have read my post, you would have seen that I actually enjoy consoles.
Fact: A PC is much more powerful than a console. Fact: Something doesn't have to have ultimate processing power to be fun (case-in-point, I am looking forward to the Wii coming out... even the the PS3 is "ohmygodsopowerful").
Why is it console players think their consoles are more powerful than computers? My desktop which I built 3 and a half years ago for just under $1,000 has much better graphical and processing power than the 360 (I spent $135 on a new graphics card last winter). Why do I like gaming on a desktop? Well, aside from the better graphics/physics allowed; one reason is loading time! Consoles go "oh oh optical disk reading yeah oh so good yeah uh uhhhh"... my computer goes "Go 10,000 rpm raptors, read that data!". Control -- yes, you CAN hook up a standard 103-key keyboard and a crappy mouse to a 360... but I have a nice desktop keyboard and mouse -- efficient buttons, macro-enabled, just plain AWESOME.
Game controllers are great for action/arcade style games... but for FPS and RTS games, extreme precision is needed -- the kind of precision that is impossible with a gamepad. Auto-aim is a ridiculous concept that exists because console controls are so sub-par at controlling First Person Shooters.
Now for the meat of the point -- computers are superior to consoles in power (even budget-build computers). Look at Halo (probably the game you're referring to when you say that computers suck because a console FPS outsold a couple PC FPS games -- console FPS games do NOT "routinely" sell out PC games, hell, there aren't half as many FPS games for the console as their are for PC) -- originally slated to be a PC/Mac game, MS bought Bungie and said "Hey, that awesome Halo game you're developing? You're going to throw it away it and rebuild it half as good as it was before for our upcoming Xbox gaming system"... the result? Many things were scrapped because consoles can not perform as well as their PC cousins (even elements they thought would still be possible weren't -- look at the flamethrower [you can obtain it in Xbox using noclip hacks]), when they ported the game over to PC, it was beautiful (better graphics, better multiplayer, features impossible with the xbox [like the flamethrower]).
Consoles are INFERIOR to computers -- you have to get that through your head. Now, all that said, I still play consoles -- because some games types work so well with consoles (Smash Brothers Melee -- you couldn't have a game like that be as fun on a PC).
My favorite 2 games were "Ouch: my eyes hurt from looking at blurry red lines" and its sequel "Ouch 2: my neck hurts from uncomfortably sitting in front of this infernal machine". Those were the days... they just don't make classic games like those anymore.
The reason RealPlayer has 2 million downloads per day? Because people download it, install it, use it for what they need... then get it hell off their machine! RealPlayer is worse than a virus! Mozilla, why?! That's like partnering with cocaine dealers because they distribute to 2 million people a day. Ughhh! I feel DIRTY!
Or a sticker placed on the units given to enemy nations:
"Happy fun neck massager!: Place on neck for good-timey massage!"
I've learned things from myspace. Like that 15 year olds think I'm "so hawt".
Really though, myspace is a learning tool -- communication is a way to learn. In addition to learning via communicating, social networking is extremely important in this world since it's not what you know, but who you know (I'm surprised more politicians don't have myspaces so they can easily meet lobbyists to receive money and fame for passing idiotic legislation).
It gets very little credit for what it's done? Well... what has it done? I've played the 360 and the gaming experience (what video game consoles are all about) was par to a regular xbox. Same controller, same game-play, better graphics (but it's not like the xbox's were horrible). Why were all the other consoles so amazing when they came out?... because they were different! Going from a SNES to an N64? Fantastic 3D, analog stick, trigger, 4 player awesomeness. Leaps and bounds were had, but now it's just gradual steps (xbox => 360 is mostly just increased graphical capability [and HD], wireless controllers [which they had before from 3rd parties], and xbox live content [which I am not too fond of... except for the ping pong game]). I'm not knocking the 360, if anything I'm praising the original xbox, but the reason people give attention to things is because of change... the 360 seems to be just more of the same from Microsoft (yes, it's new/better/different, but in no radical ways).
Superior? I actually prefer the vertical scrolling bar -- just hold your thumb in various places to get it to scroll slower or faster... I fail to see how a wheel is superior to an up and down bar for going... up and down!
I know how it works. I implied DRM because why would anyone get a video iPod other than to "buy" movies from iTunes? I know people who think that the only way to get videos on their iPod is through iTunes -- they don't understand the concept of ripping movies they already own, so they pay again to view it on a tiny little screen. They're the same kind of people who would buy this "HD" viewer. Don't "Think Different" like everyone else, think "Creative"ly and be yourself.
It's worth it because then you can spend another $200 to $250 on your overpriced iPod to watch non-DRM video when you could've done the same by buying a Creative Vision: M (+longer battery life +higher signal to noise decibel ratio) for less money.
And all along I thought that whine was from the users of the computers :]
They would make excellent motivational speakers. Although personally, I'd rather use them in a zoo: "And if you look to your left, you'll see the RIAA-lawyer-sapien; a distant relative of man, the RIAA-laywer-sapien lives to feed maliciously and violently on the weak and wounded. Uh oh, hold on to your hats, it looks like a 13 year old girl just downloaded a Britney Spears song in the RIAA-layer-sapiens' pen... there they go folks... look at the way they swarm and strike with a spring in their step, it is certainly a fearsome sight -- thankfully they can't get through the inch of bulletproof glass on the bus, so there's no need to be worried."
Yes, but you see, the RIAA owns those songs (well, the artists do, but the RIAA is like a big strong pimp that keeps the artist-hoes in their place)... it is the principle of it... you see, the... it... ...VICTORY IS MINE *runs to secret RIAA-funded escape pod* You'll never catch us!
Yeah, but why do they have to open a video game clinic? Why not an "Addiction clinic" that attacks all forms of addiction. They usually all stem from the same underlying roots.
I may be 21 but sometimes I feel like an "old fogey" -- what happened to self control?! This isn't crack or nicotine or anything physically addiction, it's a video game. I play a LOT of video games when I have free time, but all it takes to stop is a little thing called will power. I don't understand why so many people can't just put down their damn controllers. You know, while they're in the game clinic, they should at least ship me their game library.
His program just analyzes the spam words and then makes pretty pictures from them. It's not like the spam message says "dog" so the program draws a dog... the word dog might make the program create a blue line for example, but nothing really dog-related. It's an interesting concept, especially how it "grows".
Now if only it compiled the images as large bitmaps, distributed them globally through a shared system of thousands of computers, then bombarded the offending spammer's IP with lots of pretty pictures that he/she helped create.
Congress knows that you're wrong and evil -- trying to get kids to come to your pornsite (don't try to hide behind it being a "business" and you "charging" people, they know you have a magical internet-powered scanner that forces kids to see porn for free!). You think 20 years is "too harsh"? What, you think there's some law or bill (like a... a bill of rights?) against "cruel and unusual punishment"? We'll teach YOU to meta-tag. As John Romero would say, Congress will make you its bitch!
I'm glad to see Congress focusing on the important things -- I'm tired of having to protect my children from improper meta-tags. They need to go after Playboy and Playgirl next... I mean, come on, it has "Play" right in the name! They're trying to get children to think it's fun! Damn greedy bastards, not like those in Congress -- they always look out for our best interests and do it all out of the goodness of their hearts.
Not to mention it's not like Blu-Ray is the GPU/CPU/RAM/controller -- it's just the media that the game comes on. DVD's already offer hefty storage, I have yet to own a game that takes more than 1 DVD (not counting bonus materials)... so having a Blu-Ray drive in a VIDEO GAME SYSTEM doesn't seem very important to me, or anyone who actually cares about gaming, considering it increases the price by $200 while increasing the level-o-fun by zero.
I have a way to stop the MPAA/RIAA's gruesome assaults on the public -- fire, and lots of it. True, if you killed them, another slimy and wretched organization would take their place... and if you killed them, another nasty, vile, scum-of-the-Earth association would move onto the field... and if you killed them... well, that would probably be the end of it. See, violence DOES solve problems.