Furthermore, there are rumors buzzing about that Netflix is working on a way to stream to the 360. My Netflix subscription is already a near mandatory service for me, I don't know what would happen if I could get their digital distribution to my TV as easily as via my Xbox.
Well, it's C|Net's fault for letting rumors fill the void of missing truth. Maybe they're foolish enough to not have any PR or Communications professionals over there, but it's pretty easy to see that if C|Net/Gamespot only denies that any wrongdoing happened rather than providing their own version of the story (even if it's heavily edited), only the rumor will prevail and after long enough (which isn't very long on the internet) the rumors supplant truth.
I'm just bringing this up as an example of what you're saying here. When I played Indigo Prophecy/Fahrenheit, there were segments in the game where the player, as a part of the game mechanic of improving the character's mental well-being, was expected to have their character shower, use the bathroom, and perform other function of normal life. I thought it was a fine element of gameplay and fit well into the immersion effect. On the other hand, many reviewers dinged the game for those sections, citing them as slow or boring. Those tasks didn't take that long and weren't mandatory, but it just goes to show that even when designers make those elements of RPG immersion available, that it's not always rewarded.
The problem is more that we fear the day that dumb people collectively become smart enough to vote, but still remain sufficiently dumb that they don't know that they don't know anything.
It's fairly common that projects are halted due to their "environmental impacts", either outright or halted because the cost to rework the project to reduce impact would be too much. However, I think many of these impact reports are spawned not by environmentalists, but by NiMBYs. That's why wind power is happening in corridors where there aren't any people, not just wherever there's consistent wind.
Also, saying that Greenpeace represents all environmentalists is just about as crazy as being a member of Greenpeace.
It just reminds me about the running issue/joke on The West Wing about how whenever a WH character ran into someone from North Dakota, the issue of changing N. Dakota's name to some thing less "cold-sounding" would come up.
I keep hearing about this "hard deadline" in 2010 for the grounding of the shuttle. What makes it a "hard deadline"? I don't think there's an expiration date on the shuttle, like milk. What needs to happen is that the people who want to get the AMS up to the ISS need to lobby Congress to give NASA some cash in 2010 (which might happen if the Dems are still in power at that point) to have one more shuttle flight. Isn't the only reason there's a deadline is that they wants to divert funding to Orion earlier to meet Bush's space dreams?
This may be the first time that it ever occurred to me to think of astronauts as cheap labor... Maybe while they're up there I could get them to build me a (space) deck?
I think the air leak is small enough that any movement of the dye is more likely to be influenced by the movements of the astronauts or the station's life support system. This is even more likely if the leak is hidden behind some plate or components, which seems to be the case if they haven't found the leak with their current detection methods.
Would the change matter much? We assume people are ignoring ESRB ratings because they aren't as recognizable as MPAA's ratings. I went and saw American Gangster a couple weeks ago and saw more than a few young children and pre-teens in the audience, escorted by their parents. I know introducing children to adult content is at the parent's discretion, but maybe the issue is not that the ratings are insufficiently informative, but that there are many parents who simply don't care to regulate the content that their child comes across.
Maybe the people/groups who get riled at the idea of young children viewing adult material should turn some of their attention from regulating the content to regulating parents.
Even if Dreamhost did fail, wouldn't the parent still have his original copy and the copy on his server? The likeliness of failure for three levels of redundancy is very low. Though, it would of course be better to have a personally owned offsite backup. Make friends with someone who has FIOS.
Well, they did release it on its own. Just go look it up on Steam and it's there for individual purchase. Alhough I think you'd be crazy to do so because Portal and TF2 are fantastic.
If you use speakers with your desktop mic, you'll blow out the eardrums of your teammates with sound from your speakers. I use a headset with my setup, but my brother uses Sennheiser HD580s with a desktop mic. Either method is preferred because it prevents feedback.
Transcoder360, the program that does on the fly conversion of assorted file formats to something the 360MC can play, works well enough for me. Though I would prefer native DivX and XviD support because processes like Transcoder360 just add those two extra steps that make it that much more unusable for anyone in the household but me to get a movie or TV show going. I want devices that everyone can use, not ones that are reliant on me doing the button pushes.
This is awesome, except I only have a 20GB HDD. MSFT needs to make it possible for consumers to get more than 1 or 2 of these games at a time. Sure they might do a permanent purchase system and allow swapping of purchased goods, like the Wii does. On the other hand, why don't they just come out with cheaper external storage that isn't crippled? I know the cost of 2.5'' drives are partially what's keeping the 120GB 360 HDD's cost so high, so why don't they come out with their own branded external 3.5'' USB2.0 drive?
Except whenever I hear nuclear breeder reactors discussed in the news, such as NPR, someone always brings up the threat of nuclear proliferation and terrorism. Until we have a sufficient security for the transport of this recycled material, these people who fear nuclear holocaust (and there seems to be a lot of them) will always strike down this incredibly useful technology.
And yet on the otherside of the world, the administration's wide definition of wiretapping means that the "components inside your computer monitor YOU" TOO!
I'm fine with Playboy becoming more of a well-rounded (pun intended) men's magazine. I'm more likely to read the stuff in Playboy (who surprisingly has a decent journalistic history) rather than the drivel seen in adolescent-targeted mags like Maxim or Blender.
It seems to me that Gamestop's preorder and lack of games on launch day is to create an artificial supply problem-- they aren't amateurs, they're cons working their marks. If their clerk can say to the multitude of idiots that walk through their doors that "there's going to be a shortage" or "it's going to sell out" and make sure it does, at least in Gamestops, they can habituate consumers into preordering. Only stocking enough games for preorders reduces overstocking costs for Gamestop and encourages consumers (who are afraid of not getting the product on launch day) to preorder at MSRP rather than comparison shop.
I have friends who preorder habitually because rather than waiting and saving themselves some cash, they want to make sure that they have the game the instant it comes out. I waited until the day of the launch of Orange Box and got it for 40% off. I got Halo 3 four days after launch for 25% off. Money in my pocket > Launch day mania.
How depressing, because I share very similar opinions to the parent. I loved Starcraft and WC2, but didn't like AoE or WC3. I'm frustrated by RE4, but I'm dying for a sequel to Eternal Darkness. I haven't played Okami, but I really liked Windwaker, even the sailing parts!
But then again, I read reviews for content, not for scores. My method is to go to either gamerankings.com or metacritic.com and read a selection of reviews from the entire range, usually one from the top end of the range, one from the middle, and one that scored at the bottom of the pack. This gives me a range of opinions from people who loved the game to people who thought the game had problems.
Read the synopsis of the previous two games or try playing them. Jumping into the third game and expecting to know the backstory between Master Chief (the guy in armor) and Cortana (the hologram) or to know the origins of the Flood is a bit silly.
This just in, Peter Jackson signed Willem Defoe as the first member of the Halo movie cast. Although not officially confirmed, rumors point to Defoe playing the Prophet of Truth.
Shouldn't this mean that we simply should have our candidates for elected office take an exam similar to the new naturalization exam, rather than the voters?
And, if possible, NASA will be able to take broken joint after it is replaced and bring it down with the Shuttle for examination. A full deconstruction of the broken piece would allow them to figure out what's going on, determine whether it's a manufacturing or engineering problem, and devise a fix.
I've been excited about this offer since I heard an inkling of it. I'm already a full bore subscriber to Netflix and would be all over the digital distribution if I could easily watch the movies on my TV. Even if I had to pay up to get Netflix digital distribution on my TV (especially if it were unlimited), I'd be all over it like a cheap two dollar suit.
Personally, I think Microsoft would like this plan. One would suppose that most of the money from their current XBLM à la carte sales goes to the licensing, not to MSFT's pockets. So whether or not Netflix's plan would give them a cut of the money from digital distribution to the 360, they should embrace it. It might help convince a few more people out there to buy an Xbox 360. It helps the 360 nullify the PS3's planned PVR features. It makes up for the continually flawed execution of Windows Media Center. It's win-win for MSFT, Netflix, and the consumer.
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Furthermore, there are rumors buzzing about that Netflix is working on a way to stream to the 360. My Netflix subscription is already a near mandatory service for me, I don't know what would happen if I could get their digital distribution to my TV as easily as via my Xbox.
Well, it's C|Net's fault for letting rumors fill the void of missing truth. Maybe they're foolish enough to not have any PR or Communications professionals over there, but it's pretty easy to see that if C|Net/Gamespot only denies that any wrongdoing happened rather than providing their own version of the story (even if it's heavily edited), only the rumor will prevail and after long enough (which isn't very long on the internet) the rumors supplant truth.
I'm just bringing this up as an example of what you're saying here. When I played Indigo Prophecy/Fahrenheit, there were segments in the game where the player, as a part of the game mechanic of improving the character's mental well-being, was expected to have their character shower, use the bathroom, and perform other function of normal life. I thought it was a fine element of gameplay and fit well into the immersion effect. On the other hand, many reviewers dinged the game for those sections, citing them as slow or boring. Those tasks didn't take that long and weren't mandatory, but it just goes to show that even when designers make those elements of RPG immersion available, that it's not always rewarded.
The problem is more that we fear the day that dumb people collectively become smart enough to vote, but still remain sufficiently dumb that they don't know that they don't know anything.
It's fairly common that projects are halted due to their "environmental impacts", either outright or halted because the cost to rework the project to reduce impact would be too much. However, I think many of these impact reports are spawned not by environmentalists, but by NiMBYs. That's why wind power is happening in corridors where there aren't any people, not just wherever there's consistent wind.
Also, saying that Greenpeace represents all environmentalists is just about as crazy as being a member of Greenpeace.
It just reminds me about the running issue/joke on The West Wing about how whenever a WH character ran into someone from North Dakota, the issue of changing N. Dakota's name to some thing less "cold-sounding" would come up.
I keep hearing about this "hard deadline" in 2010 for the grounding of the shuttle. What makes it a "hard deadline"? I don't think there's an expiration date on the shuttle, like milk. What needs to happen is that the people who want to get the AMS up to the ISS need to lobby Congress to give NASA some cash in 2010 (which might happen if the Dems are still in power at that point) to have one more shuttle flight. Isn't the only reason there's a deadline is that they wants to divert funding to Orion earlier to meet Bush's space dreams?
This may be the first time that it ever occurred to me to think of astronauts as cheap labor... Maybe while they're up there I could get them to build me a (space) deck?
I think the air leak is small enough that any movement of the dye is more likely to be influenced by the movements of the astronauts or the station's life support system. This is even more likely if the leak is hidden behind some plate or components, which seems to be the case if they haven't found the leak with their current detection methods.
Would the change matter much? We assume people are ignoring ESRB ratings because they aren't as recognizable as MPAA's ratings. I went and saw American Gangster a couple weeks ago and saw more than a few young children and pre-teens in the audience, escorted by their parents. I know introducing children to adult content is at the parent's discretion, but maybe the issue is not that the ratings are insufficiently informative, but that there are many parents who simply don't care to regulate the content that their child comes across.
Maybe the people/groups who get riled at the idea of young children viewing adult material should turn some of their attention from regulating the content to regulating parents.
Even if Dreamhost did fail, wouldn't the parent still have his original copy and the copy on his server? The likeliness of failure for three levels of redundancy is very low. Though, it would of course be better to have a personally owned offsite backup. Make friends with someone who has FIOS.
Well, they did release it on its own. Just go look it up on Steam and it's there for individual purchase. Alhough I think you'd be crazy to do so because Portal and TF2 are fantastic.
If you use speakers with your desktop mic, you'll blow out the eardrums of your teammates with sound from your speakers. I use a headset with my setup, but my brother uses Sennheiser HD580s with a desktop mic. Either method is preferred because it prevents feedback.
Transcoder360, the program that does on the fly conversion of assorted file formats to something the 360MC can play, works well enough for me. Though I would prefer native DivX and XviD support because processes like Transcoder360 just add those two extra steps that make it that much more unusable for anyone in the household but me to get a movie or TV show going. I want devices that everyone can use, not ones that are reliant on me doing the button pushes.
This is awesome, except I only have a 20GB HDD. MSFT needs to make it possible for consumers to get more than 1 or 2 of these games at a time. Sure they might do a permanent purchase system and allow swapping of purchased goods, like the Wii does. On the other hand, why don't they just come out with cheaper external storage that isn't crippled? I know the cost of 2.5'' drives are partially what's keeping the 120GB 360 HDD's cost so high, so why don't they come out with their own branded external 3.5'' USB2.0 drive?
Except whenever I hear nuclear breeder reactors discussed in the news, such as NPR, someone always brings up the threat of nuclear proliferation and terrorism. Until we have a sufficient security for the transport of this recycled material, these people who fear nuclear holocaust (and there seems to be a lot of them) will always strike down this incredibly useful technology.
And yet on the otherside of the world, the administration's wide definition of wiretapping means that the "components inside your computer monitor YOU" TOO!
I'm fine with Playboy becoming more of a well-rounded (pun intended) men's magazine. I'm more likely to read the stuff in Playboy (who surprisingly has a decent journalistic history) rather than the drivel seen in adolescent-targeted mags like Maxim or Blender.
It seems to me that Gamestop's preorder and lack of games on launch day is to create an artificial supply problem-- they aren't amateurs, they're cons working their marks. If their clerk can say to the multitude of idiots that walk through their doors that "there's going to be a shortage" or "it's going to sell out" and make sure it does, at least in Gamestops, they can habituate consumers into preordering. Only stocking enough games for preorders reduces overstocking costs for Gamestop and encourages consumers (who are afraid of not getting the product on launch day) to preorder at MSRP rather than comparison shop.
I have friends who preorder habitually because rather than waiting and saving themselves some cash, they want to make sure that they have the game the instant it comes out. I waited until the day of the launch of Orange Box and got it for 40% off. I got Halo 3 four days after launch for 25% off. Money in my pocket > Launch day mania.
How depressing, because I share very similar opinions to the parent. I loved Starcraft and WC2, but didn't like AoE or WC3. I'm frustrated by RE4, but I'm dying for a sequel to Eternal Darkness. I haven't played Okami, but I really liked Windwaker, even the sailing parts!
But then again, I read reviews for content, not for scores. My method is to go to either gamerankings.com or metacritic.com and read a selection of reviews from the entire range, usually one from the top end of the range, one from the middle, and one that scored at the bottom of the pack. This gives me a range of opinions from people who loved the game to people who thought the game had problems.
Read the synopsis of the previous two games or try playing them. Jumping into the third game and expecting to know the backstory between Master Chief (the guy in armor) and Cortana (the hologram) or to know the origins of the Flood is a bit silly.
This just in, Peter Jackson signed Willem Defoe as the first member of the Halo movie cast. Although not officially confirmed, rumors point to Defoe playing the Prophet of Truth.
Shouldn't this mean that we simply should have our candidates for elected office take an exam similar to the new naturalization exam, rather than the voters?
And, if possible, NASA will be able to take broken joint after it is replaced and bring it down with the Shuttle for examination. A full deconstruction of the broken piece would allow them to figure out what's going on, determine whether it's a manufacturing or engineering problem, and devise a fix.
I've been excited about this offer since I heard an inkling of it. I'm already a full bore subscriber to Netflix and would be all over the digital distribution if I could easily watch the movies on my TV. Even if I had to pay up to get Netflix digital distribution on my TV (especially if it were unlimited), I'd be all over it like a cheap two dollar suit.
Personally, I think Microsoft would like this plan. One would suppose that most of the money from their current XBLM à la carte sales goes to the licensing, not to MSFT's pockets. So whether or not Netflix's plan would give them a cut of the money from digital distribution to the 360, they should embrace it. It might help convince a few more people out there to buy an Xbox 360. It helps the 360 nullify the PS3's planned PVR features. It makes up for the continually flawed execution of Windows Media Center. It's win-win for MSFT, Netflix, and the consumer.