I completely disagree with you on your point about OnLive and Gakai being useless. For existing PC gamers, yes, they are entirely useless. But existing PC gamers aren't the target audience of those services. Instead, those services are designed for those who either (a) can't afford or (b) aren't interested in maintaining hardware.
It speaks volumes that their demos so far centered around putting their tech in cable boxes (something usually made as cheaply as possible) or as client software for thin & light laptops (I think the exact demo unit was a MacBook Air). The devices are far outside of the usual "gaming hardware" group.
Also, its not so much DRM on an item you own as a monthly service. Slashdot, in general, needs to realize when things aren't necessarily DRM. You enter into the agreement knowing that you're paying for a limited time use of their system, which they maintain, and are limited to the titles they offer. You enter the agreement knowing that you haven't bought the game and therefore aren't allowed the usual rights that come with owning a product. Such services can exist without DRM as we know it (software or hardware copy protection) because the actual software is running remotely and they serve a stream -- and if you don't pay, they just simply kill the stream. Its roughly equivalent to your local power station killing your service if you don't pay your electricity bill.
The European Union has always existed.
Well, the European Community has existed since the 50s; this one's more of a technicality.
The formal body of the European Union (not the general European community) was formed in 1993.
Christopher Columbus has always been getting a bad rap.
I imagine this has been true since the 60s, at least.
As someone only a few years younger (mid-'80s birth), CC got a good rap in grammar school, but got progressively worse as I got older.
There have always been flat screen televisions.
I don't think there were any flat-screen TVs in 1991 - unless you count those flat-glass CRTs, which don't really count.
The first HDTVs and plasmas started coming out in the late 1990s (1997 IIRC). They were "flat", but I still remember my family's first TV set.
Britney Spears has always been heard on classic rock stations.
Hah! I doubt that happens very often.
*shudder* I'm with you on that.
Vice presidents of the United States have always had real power.
Quayle had power? Biden has power?
The VP has the tiebreaking vote in the Senate; although, I'm not sure if thats in an amendment or in the Constitution.
Migration of once independent media like radio, TV, videos and compact discs to the computer has never amazed them.
That only became blase in the late 90s, as far as I'm concerned
Media didn't really start to go online until 1997, or at around age 6 for this group. They might have recognized a computer, but not that their news was online (if they were even old enough to comprehend the news).
Here's a big one to add: For this age group, Bill Clinton always had an unfortunate dry-cleaning incident with a Gap dress.
Little titles like Audiosurf do a far better job of using new hardware to make a new gameplay experience.
Or Mirror's Edge, using the PhysX engine on nVidia cards to provide a much more vibrant and beautiful world to run around in (due to the tattered, bullet-ridden curtains/flags flapping in the wind, or the way that glass windows shatter when shot/jumped through).
That is more what I didn't want to point out-- more hardware just for the sake of graphics that don't impact gameplay. A breaking window is a breaking window. It needs to provide a cathartic satisfaction when it shatters, not do so in the most realistic manner.
To the systems programmer, users and applications serve only to provide a test load.