At least this time, no one will release a horrible movie tie-in game to try to either take advantage of the movie's hype or to increase the level of hype around the movie.
And yes, while FFXIII will certainly HELP convince people to buy a PS3, I don't think that it'll be a system seller by itself. Think about it. Would you spend nearly US$700 for just one game? Ok, so say Sony dropped the price of the PS3 to US$500. Would you spend nearly US$600 for just one game?
I've been considering getting a PS3, but there aren't enough games I think I would like to justify $600. The games that are out now are pieces of straw on the back of that $600 camel... when the new Final Fantasy comes out, that's a whole bale full of straw, and it might very well shatter the back of the price camel.
Witness the case of a friend of mine. I've been trying to convince him to get a Nintendo DS for a while, trying to tempt him by telling him about some of the good games the system has available (Final Fantasy 3, which we both looked forward to; the Castlevania games; a few other titles.) Some of his other friends have been trying to convince him to buy one as well. He's always chosen not to buy, saying that while he's tempted, he probably wouldn't use it that much.
Two days after I sent him a link to the (warning: link may be hazardous to your free time) Puzzle Quest demo and told him it was only for PSP and DS, he bought a DS Lite and a couple of games after spending a couple of hours driving around looking for Puzzle Quest and a good price on a DS Lite.
There are also plenty of ways they could keep the 12 regeneration limit and still continue the show. The Doctor could give the TARDIS to a companion, like Christopher Eccleston did (temporarily) at the end of his run, as a farewell gift. The Doctor could discover he has a son or daughter that he didn't know about, who takes over when the Doctor finally dies. He could get separated in time from the TARDIS and a companion, who then spend a season or two searching through history and the universe for him. There's always the old clone standby.
Why is it fair for artists to have a permanent revenue stream based on their copyrights? If copyright is extended permanently, then every year you should have to pay the architect and builders who constructed your house for their work. You should have to pay the company that built your car a fee for their work on your car. If you've ever bought anything from a fast food restaurant, you guessed it, you should have to pay.
Note too that the artist with the perpetual copyright would in fact need to pay a fee to the manufacturer of the paint he or she used. After all, the work that the paint company went through to create the paint needs to be recognized.
I heard Vista's successor was named Microsoft Windows Forever. It was supposed to be out last month, but they decided to rewrite it to use a new engine. Shouldn't be long now...
I doubt George Bush would fire Gonzales unless he felt Gonzales was going to bring him down in the ratings, and with his current approval rating, that would be a tough feat, even given Gonzales's performance before Congress.
The real question is, why didn't the committee tell him to answer the questions or face a contempt of Congress charge? There's precedent that the Attorney General can be the target of a contempt citation -- just ask Janet Reno.
Barring getting fired or cited for contempt, I wonder why more reporters and comedians haven't been poking fun at the Attorney General -- asking him if he's seen his doctor to get his memory tested, or offering Gonzales ginkgo biloba, for instance.
Prepare for big companies like Microsoft to make an "arrangement" with someone to live out in the middle of nowhere, days away from anyone else by car. If they find out they are infringing on a patent before the patent holder, they will disclose it to that person. and if no one else finds out about it in two weeks, well Microsoft now has "a form of permission to use the patented technology". Given that the person will live days away from everyone, it would be hard for them to share the disclosed knowledge in time for the patent holder to file suit.
The character you're describing, Cyan Garamonde, wasn't the king of Doma, but was a knight in service to the king. But yes, in FF6 (the game was released as Final Fantasy 6 in Japan and originally as Final Fantasy 3 in the US; the Nintendo DS remake and Final Fantasy Anthology name it Final Fantasy 6) there's a lot of character development, a good story, an enemy you really start to hate (if you were to play Kefka's laugh on a repeating soundtrack, I think you could drive people mad in about a day of continuous play), and an overall fun game.
I'd rather wait and watch the DVD than miss even 30 seconds of it.
That's part of the problem. You're not watching the show now (for a legitimate reason, granted) which means that you're not included in the viewership figures they show to advertisers, which affects how much they can charge those advertisers for commercials. This makes it easier for the network to say "Well, we can make more money showing 'Chimp Wrestling' than 'Battlestar Galactica', so goodbye BSG."
Before you're able to collect the lint from the dryers (even though you'll have had access to the dryers, with the lint inside, since the beginning of the game) you'll have to take this shirt to the owner who mistakenly picked up someone else's shirt. You'll then have to take the shirt they took and return it to its owner, and take the shirt _that_ person took, and *skipping the stories of a few dozen people who each took someone else's shirt and then moved to different cities or countries* you'll finally get to the last person, who hands you your shirt (which they took) that contains the Brush of Lint Retrieval that will allow you to collect the lint.
Mmmm... oh yeah, the oh-so-enjoyable "errand boy" quest.
No, in order to reach the general population, we need people to realize they will be affected directly. It's too eacy to say "Well, I don't pirate music or movies, so why should I care about the RIAA or MPAA?" [Yes, I know it's copyright infringement, but the RIAA and MPAA have tried their damndest to tie the behavior to the word 'pirate'.]
I'd love to see an ad showing a guy trying to record a baseball, football, or some other sporting event and getting a message on his TV that says "In order to record this program, you must provide a letter demonstrating express written consent from the Commissioner of Major League Baseball." and then a caption that reads "Thanks, Congress, for your work to 'improve' copyright".
Certain branches of government asking* for the information without warrents is pretty sleazy, but net illegal (that I know of).
Really? Let's take a look at Amendment 4 of the Constitution:
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
Now Congress created the FISA court, which slightly relaxes this by allowing investigators to receive warrants retroacively in certain specific situations, but there's still a warrant involved with the FISA court. To me (and IANAL) the telcos sharing data with the government without a warrant is an unreasonable search of my papers and effects. [The Founding Fathers had no idea there would be such a device as the telephone, but I think papers would serve the same type of purpose for them -- if you wanted to talk to someone in a city more than a few days away, the Founders would send them a letter. Now we call them.]
So Simonetta, what exactly do you do for a living? If you refuse to pay my company what we ask you to pay for our software, then why should anyone pay you and/or your company for the work you do? After all, saving money by not paying you for your product or service increases my personal productivity, right? "I'm ripping you off and taking food out the mouths of your children? I don't care."
If you don't agree with the price my company wants to charge for our software, you have exactly one choice: don't buy it and don't use it. Try "I don't like your price so I'm not going to pay you for your work" on your plumber, mechanic, doctor, lawyer, etc. and see what happens.
Individual computers are buildings -- homes, business, etc. The roads connecting those buildings are the wires and cables that carry data around the Internet. Each building (computer) knows how to directly communicate with some or all of its neighbors (you can walk next door) but data needs to travel on the roads to communicate with more distant buildings (computers).
There are lots of different types of vehicles (protocols) that are used to send data along the Internet -- regular cars (HTTP), buses (FTP), trucks (other protocols), etc. Often computers will send data piecemeal in multiple vehicles. These vehicles often need to get directions (routing) at various buildings (computers) to reach their destinations. When one road is blocked (network downtime) the vehicles with the data can find their way along other routes to reach their destinations, or the source of the data will write the stuck vehicle(s) as lost and resend them on new vehicles.
That's true, until or unless some lawyer decides the "poor artists" have a case and offer to represent them on contingency, like a share of any damages won.
Right let's assume that PS3 owners don't have HDTVs but suddenly everyone shopping at walmart does?
Yes, let's assume that -- since Wal-Mart will probably bundle an HD-DVD player with an HDTV for a small discount off the total price for the two (or maybe just some discount on the TV when you buy the player at the same time.) If there's some way they can entice people to spend more money, they'll find it.
No, tell the RIAA. They'll send their technicians to the sun to install DRM, and when their technicians come back radiation-blasted to report that they failed, they'll send in the lawyers. Two for one deal!
Are you volunteering to put all your personal information in this database? When (not if) someone hacks into this database and steals your identity using the information the government has so conveniently collected for them, remember that you volunteered for it. To identity thieves, this database would be the Holy Grail -- anyone who could compromise it would basically be able to name their price.
I'd rather the jail system reserve the cells for violent criminals, like murderers or rapists. Put the spyware distributors under house arrest (with the ankle bracelet) and forbid them from having a computer or any other device that can access the Internet (no cell phone with web access, no game system, etc.) in their house or from working with computers or Internet-capable devices for the duration of the house arrest. The courts can determine what's allowed and what's forbidden. Any violations nets the distributor a significant fine and an extension on their house arrest.
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At least this time, no one will release a horrible movie tie-in game to try to either take advantage of the movie's hype or to increase the level of hype around the movie.
Or, to put it another way, "Let me go to hell in my own way, and you go to hell. In your own way."
Witness the case of a friend of mine. I've been trying to convince him to get a Nintendo DS for a while, trying to tempt him by telling him about some of the good games the system has available (Final Fantasy 3, which we both looked forward to; the Castlevania games; a few other titles.) Some of his other friends have been trying to convince him to buy one as well. He's always chosen not to buy, saying that while he's tempted, he probably wouldn't use it that much.
Two days after I sent him a link to the (warning: link may be hazardous to your free time) Puzzle Quest demo and told him it was only for PSP and DS, he bought a DS Lite and a couple of games after spending a couple of hours driving around looking for Puzzle Quest and a good price on a DS Lite.
There are also plenty of ways they could keep the 12 regeneration limit and still continue the show. The Doctor could give the TARDIS to a companion, like Christopher Eccleston did (temporarily) at the end of his run, as a farewell gift. The Doctor could discover he has a son or daughter that he didn't know about, who takes over when the Doctor finally dies. He could get separated in time from the TARDIS and a companion, who then spend a season or two searching through history and the universe for him. There's always the old clone standby.
"No, that was not Zathras, that was Zathras. There are 10 of us, all of family Zathras, each one named Zathras. Slight differences in how you pronounce. Zathraas, Zathras, Zathras.. You are seeing now?"
Why is it fair for artists to have a permanent revenue stream based on their copyrights? If copyright is extended permanently, then every year you should have to pay the architect and builders who constructed your house for their work. You should have to pay the company that built your car a fee for their work on your car. If you've ever bought anything from a fast food restaurant, you guessed it, you should have to pay.
Note too that the artist with the perpetual copyright would in fact need to pay a fee to the manufacturer of the paint he or she used. After all, the work that the paint company went through to create the paint needs to be recognized.
I heard Vista's successor was named Microsoft Windows Forever. It was supposed to be out last month, but they decided to rewrite it to use a new engine. Shouldn't be long now ...
Ask Todd Goldman and Dave Kelley (aka Shmorky).
I doubt George Bush would fire Gonzales unless he felt Gonzales was going to bring him down in the ratings, and with his current approval rating, that would be a tough feat, even given Gonzales's performance before Congress.
The real question is, why didn't the committee tell him to answer the questions or face a contempt of Congress charge? There's precedent that the Attorney General can be the target of a contempt citation -- just ask Janet Reno.
Barring getting fired or cited for contempt, I wonder why more reporters and comedians haven't been poking fun at the Attorney General -- asking him if he's seen his doctor to get his memory tested, or offering Gonzales ginkgo biloba, for instance.
Prepare for big companies like Microsoft to make an "arrangement" with someone to live out in the middle of nowhere, days away from anyone else by car. If they find out they are infringing on a patent before the patent holder, they will disclose it to that person. and if no one else finds out about it in two weeks, well Microsoft now has "a form of permission to use the patented technology". Given that the person will live days away from everyone, it would be hard for them to share the disclosed knowledge in time for the patent holder to file suit.
The character you're describing, Cyan Garamonde, wasn't the king of Doma, but was a knight in service to the king. But yes, in FF6 (the game was released as Final Fantasy 6 in Japan and originally as Final Fantasy 3 in the US; the Nintendo DS remake and Final Fantasy Anthology name it Final Fantasy 6) there's a lot of character development, a good story, an enemy you really start to hate (if you were to play Kefka's laugh on a repeating soundtrack, I think you could drive people mad in about a day of continuous play), and an overall fun game.
Before you're able to collect the lint from the dryers (even though you'll have had access to the dryers, with the lint inside, since the beginning of the game) you'll have to take this shirt to the owner who mistakenly picked up someone else's shirt. You'll then have to take the shirt they took and return it to its owner, and take the shirt _that_ person took, and *skipping the stories of a few dozen people who each took someone else's shirt and then moved to different cities or countries* you'll finally get to the last person, who hands you your shirt (which they took) that contains the Brush of Lint Retrieval that will allow you to collect the lint.
... oh yeah, the oh-so-enjoyable "errand boy" quest.
Mmmm
No, in order to reach the general population, we need people to realize they will be affected directly. It's too eacy to say "Well, I don't pirate music or movies, so why should I care about the RIAA or MPAA?" [Yes, I know it's copyright infringement, but the RIAA and MPAA have tried their damndest to tie the behavior to the word 'pirate'.]
I'd love to see an ad showing a guy trying to record a baseball, football, or some other sporting event and getting a message on his TV that says "In order to record this program, you must provide a letter demonstrating express written consent from the Commissioner of Major League Baseball." and then a caption that reads "Thanks, Congress, for your work to 'improve' copyright".
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
Now Congress created the FISA court, which slightly relaxes this by allowing investigators to receive warrants retroacively in certain specific situations, but there's still a warrant involved with the FISA court. To me (and IANAL) the telcos sharing data with the government without a warrant is an unreasonable search of my papers and effects. [The Founding Fathers had no idea there would be such a device as the telephone, but I think papers would serve the same type of purpose for them -- if you wanted to talk to someone in a city more than a few days away, the Founders would send them a letter. Now we call them.]
So Simonetta, what exactly do you do for a living? If you refuse to pay my company what we ask you to pay for our software, then why should anyone pay you and/or your company for the work you do? After all, saving money by not paying you for your product or service increases my personal productivity, right? "I'm ripping you off and taking food out the mouths of your children? I don't care."
If you don't agree with the price my company wants to charge for our software, you have exactly one choice: don't buy it and don't use it. Try "I don't like your price so I'm not going to pay you for your work" on your plumber, mechanic, doctor, lawyer, etc. and see what happens.
Individual computers are buildings -- homes, business, etc. The roads connecting those buildings are the wires and cables that carry data around the Internet. Each building (computer) knows how to directly communicate with some or all of its neighbors (you can walk next door) but data needs to travel on the roads to communicate with more distant buildings (computers).
There are lots of different types of vehicles (protocols) that are used to send data along the Internet -- regular cars (HTTP), buses (FTP), trucks (other protocols), etc. Often computers will send data piecemeal in multiple vehicles. These vehicles often need to get directions (routing) at various buildings (computers) to reach their destinations. When one road is blocked (network downtime) the vehicles with the data can find their way along other routes to reach their destinations, or the source of the data will write the stuck vehicle(s) as lost and resend them on new vehicles.
That's true, until or unless some lawyer decides the "poor artists" have a case and offer to represent them on contingency, like a share of any damages won.
No, tell the RIAA. They'll send their technicians to the sun to install DRM, and when their technicians come back radiation-blasted to report that they failed, they'll send in the lawyers. Two for one deal!
Are you volunteering to put all your personal information in this database? When (not if) someone hacks into this database and steals your identity using the information the government has so conveniently collected for them, remember that you volunteered for it. To identity thieves, this database would be the Holy Grail -- anyone who could compromise it would basically be able to name their price.
That reminds me ... at all costs, we must prevent the robots from watching any Jackie Chan movies.
I'd rather the jail system reserve the cells for violent criminals, like murderers or rapists. Put the spyware distributors under house arrest (with the ankle bracelet) and forbid them from having a computer or any other device that can access the Internet (no cell phone with web access, no game system, etc.) in their house or from working with computers or Internet-capable devices for the duration of the house arrest. The courts can determine what's allowed and what's forbidden. Any violations nets the distributor a significant fine and an extension on their house arrest.
Of course GP doesn't think this is the SCO case. They said Intel could try the truth.