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Comment Re:I thought that was Nintendo's failure... (Score 1) 153

CD burners that cheap didn't come out until years after the Dreamcast was already dead.

Sorry, but you're wrong on that, or didn't know how to shop. By the time Dreamcast came out CD-R's had been available for 10 years and had dropped in price significantly. I already had a CD burner (actually my second one) in my computer when I went to college the same year Dreamcast was released. It was less than $100 - bought on a part time minimum wage teenager's earnings.

And someone won the Powerball last week. Extraordinarily rare anecdotes do not a median make.

The point was that it wasn't extraordinarily rare. Broadband was very much available at the time the Dreamcast came out. Certainly not at the speeds available today (my current connection is 50x faster than what I had back then), but it was still broadband and downloading a single ISO wasn't all that bad.

Comment Re:Sounds good (Score 1) 599

1. The USA is near the bottom when it comes to internet service among 1st world countries, so what we have isn't working well at all.

In all fairness though, the US has one of the lowest population densities among 1st world countries as well.

Japan: 873 people per sq mile
UK: 662 people per sq mile
France: 301 people per sq mile
Germany: 583 people per sq mile
China: 373 people per sq mile
India: 988 people per sq mile

The United States has 89 people per sq mile.

Its a lot easier to service bigger chunks of your population with broadband when they're closer together.

Comment Re:Sounds good (Score 3, Interesting) 599

Party support isn't the same. I'm a Republican myself - I'm against Obamacare, and every other Republican I know is too.

Compare that with Net Neutrality. I completely support Net Neutrality, as does almost every other Republican I know that is younger and/or understands the internet. The only ones really against it are the old guys who don't even understand it but simply say "Regulation is bad, mmmkay.".

Like it or not, everything doesn't boil down to corporate donations and dollars. Popular support weighs in too, and the right just isn't as united in this position vs Obamacare.

Comment Re:Too many consoles in a short period of time (Score 1) 153

Interesting, but no CD drive and it was never actually released.

A 32X CD system for technical specifications wasn't quite in the same league as the Saturn - but it was close. Close enough that I'd wager they could still have done most of the same games on that setup and started with an installed userbase that could either upgrade their system, or buy a Saturn if needed.

I ended up with both a Sega CD and 32x eventually - after they hit clearance shelves. I think both of them were like $30 each brand new at the time.

Comment Re:I thought that was Nintendo's failure... (Score 3, Interesting) 153

Dreamcast had some issues that were hard to overcome that weren't just marketing related.

1. The proprietary "GD-ROM" disc format. 1GB of storage space which was a fraction of what PS2 had with DVD's. It also didn't let people play DVD movies at a time when DVD movie players were still expensive.

2. Incredibly easy piracy. Most of the games targeted for GD-ROM's were capable of fitting on a regular CD, and people figured out how to make easily burnable pirated games without even needing a modchip.

#2 was a fluke, but #1 was just a bad decision in general. I honestly think if Dreamcast had shipped with a DVD drive Sega would still be making hardware.

Comment Re:Would French not have worked? (Score 1) 132

Was about to say the same. In most parts of the US (I think it's a state-level thing) you need 2 years of a foreign language to enter college. At the college I went to you had to take another 2 semesters of foreign language if you were are liberal arts major. Math/science majors didn't have to take anything over what they had in high school.

I took 3 years of French in high school (didn't do anymore in college) because it was the only foreign language my high school offerred (which is a bit insane - Spanish IMHO should be the required language these days with others optional). I got to where I could carry on a conversation in French - albeit a basic one.

Problem is in the US you're not exposed to that language in a natural setting - pretty much ever. ~15 years later now I still remember a decent amount of French words but all the grammar and structure is almost completely gone.

At this point I'm thinking I may go to the local technical school and take some Spanish classes actually. My love of taco stands has me exposed to that a decent amount. On my own I've gotten to where I can count, place an order, etc in Spanish, but occasionally someone who speaks only Spanish will hear that little bit and try to spark up a conversation and I'm left unable to understand or communicate.

Comment Re:Another silly decision (Score 1) 480

Probably because I'm not installing hot tubs and the like.

My home costs less than renting. Like everything I shopped around. I paid $115k on my house as a foreclosure in a neighborhood where most of the houses are $150-160k. Rent is typically $1100-1200 per month though my house payment is $700. The "bursting" of the housing bubble may have been bad for some but it was a great time to BUY a house.

There are certainly some upkeep costs associated with owning the home, but they don't come anywhere near that difference between buying and rent (but then again I worked in construction as a teenager and am pretty handy. Most basic stuff I can handle myself). In say, 5 to 10 years, if I wanted to move, as a renter I'd just be leaving the home with nothing. As a home owner, even though I wouldn't have the entire house paid off, I still would have a decent part of it out of the way and that is my staked interest in selling. If I still owe $80k but can sell the house for $140k then I've made a lot of money.

And that's IF I even sell it - ever. I have no desire to leave the area. In 20 years while the insurance and tax escrow portion of my payment may go up, the actual principal/interest part that I'm paying will still be the same - it doesn't scale with inflation. A very old mortgage payment is an even bigger savings over rent. After 30 years if I'm still here that payment goes away completely.

Financially, I home out FAR ahead as a home owner. Yes making payments depends on having a job, but realistically I have to make payments SOMEWHERE or I'm homeless. Homeless vs homeless with a bad credit rating doesn't make that much difference to me.

Comment Re:NAS / torrent (Score 2) 155

I'm guessing you're younger. I was there once too - perpetually broke and willing to tolerate anything to save $10.

A lot of people aren't there anymore. The cost for these services is trivial, and far worth saving the hassle of downloading stuff for sketchy websites that may or may not even be accurately labeled. Plus you get well maintained clients or professional devices. XBMC on a Raspberry Pi might work OK, but its a lot more hassle and far less polished than Netflix's app on Roku/FireTV/etc.

Eventually there comes a point when the hassle of piracy outweighs the monetary cost of just going the legitimate route.

Comment Re:"renting" digital is an archaic, illogical conc (Score 1) 155

Sorry, but none of this stuff is "renting" anything - you don't pay for a specific show on Netflix or the like. You pay a flat rate for "all you can eat" content. I have no qualms with DRM applied to such content because I'm not buying it.

If you go to a chinese buffet you don't get to take extra plates home for dinner (not without paying for them anyways). Same concept.

Frankly, the "unlimited" access model works very well for me. It's far easier to budget for (non-variable monthly cost) and I can watch as much or as little as I want without having to worry about racking up a bill.

Comment Don't lock it to their devices (Score 1) 155

I'm pretty open to trying out their service if it's good - but not if it means having to buy an Apple TV. Netflix, HBO Go, etc, seem to have the right idea: offer the service and build the client for just about anything with an internet connection.

I typically use an Amazon FireTV downstairs and my PS4 in my bedroom to run my other video services. I have no interest in replacing them.

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