I know enough Japanese people to know that a lot of western media is very difficult to come by in Japan via conventional mediums. You'd be surprised at the number of videogames, movies and the likes that are commonplace in the US, Europe, etc, but not in Japan.

Companies like Capcom and Square Enix actually localize some western games in there, with usually tacky, poorly translated scripts, bottom-of-the-barrel voice acting (if any) and overly inflated prices. Most videogame players that like western-style stuff such as FPSs and the likes, usually have to deal with importing. I bet this situation sounds familiar to any fans of Japanese gaming.

Knowing this little, apparently obscure fact, also shows a lot about the gaming tastes in Japan. A lot of them are only exposed to the big stuff like Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy, that get a lot of publicity, while other classic titles that shaped our gaming culture are practically unheard of except by the most hardcore gamers.

And now they will be punished for liking those already obscure, hard-to-obtain and overpriced games and movies. It sucks to be into anything lately. I am pretty sure someone I know will hate this with a passion, and it might get in the way of our mailing each other "common-here-but-rare-there" stuff.

This seems to exist in Spain already, though. Receiving mail from the US/Japan with multimedia stuff on it (in my case it was multiple separated copies of a regular $25 DVD of a popular show and random stuff without special value or hazard, and one game from also a popular franchise, was a budget edition so it wasn't worth that much) has a mysterious unnamed customs tax of 60â to be paid or your mail was to be "disposed of". I was told by the all the six mailmen that came after this mysterious, unheard of tax appeared, and all said the same thing: It was a thing to discourage importing. However I haven't seen anyone else mention it, although I don't read many forums in Spanish and none of my local acquaintances is into importing, so I can't confirm this is an actual thing. The mailmen seemed annoyed by the extra steps so I don't think they were making it up, though. (and I was of course screaming for paying more in taxes than in the actual content of the mail..., but there isn't really nowhere I found to go complain to, so...I guess I gotta suck it and pay ransom anytime I want to get something unobtainable here. As usual, legit customers suffer more than pirates)

Oh, please. Everybody knows that all the good officers die on duty a few days before retirement.
Only bad and/or corrupt cops outlive those fatal few days, and shape the system accordingly.

I use Deadbeef. It has a playlist (well, multiple if you like), it plays all formats I use, and it doesn't try to be more than a music player. Audacious used to do the trick too, might still work fine.
I prefer the winamp-style approach than the slow, bloated nature of "library" music managers. I prefer to organize music in folders, I guess I am old.

It is too late for them to get me to buy it. Then again I don't buy EA or Ubisoft games. I don't play them either. I don't even pirate them. They just aren't my thing.

>Wanna bet that all google glass apps are going to want full access to your current location, your vision, your hearing, what you say, and who you are with?

Oh come on Slashdot, why do I keep hearing this FUD from your "geeks"? You think network transfers come magically and for free? And I talk in the middle of a storm that is blocking all my wireless connections. So I don't think that's possible, sorry. Either they have a dedicated broadband connection exclusively for you to connect Glass to, and unlimited storage space, or this is just not possible, and that's as long as the weather is nice.
Be realistic, now. You won't find permanent open wifi in every point of your region for starters, not even 3G. Secondly, wireless connections like 3G are too expensive for multiple simultaneous streaming of video data, remember the data caps and that stuff. Even fiber lines have difficulty streaming footage depending on various factors. Third, not even the NSA has a recording of all voice/video calls, only metadata on them, because that storage space doesn't come for free and there aren't enough eyes to spy on so much real-time video. Come on now.

Yeah, Google and all the advertisers sure wish what you say was possible, but as long as the tendency is towards restricting downloads/bandwidth and network connections are low-quality at best, this is just a dream for the mighty GOOG. Not even them can, unless every citizen is given a high-bandwidth low-latency 4G network for free, and storage becomes 10x cheaper and bigger. Then maybe your fantasy will be possible.

Or then maybe the solution to "oh no robots will steal my jobs" is to make everyone work as "google video reviewers". Review everything for copyright, sex, and whatever crazy censorship laws your country has. Slashdot's surveillance fantasies can become true, there will be jobs for everyone, and everyone will be a little more miserable after the first few dozen penis videos.

>there are no hello kitty robots on shop shelves
And we need to fix that. It's about time Kitty and Keropi and whatnot start joining Super Robot Wars.

I see your point but really, drop the "womyn-born-womyn" thing, it's...weird to read. I assume you must be transgendered? (which is totally fine by me, it's not like you got a choice) .
In that case I get why you say it, but really, women since birth are still the norm, it's off to make the distinction in this context.

Nah, it just took a space marine to fix that the first time it happened. Something about demons and the moons of mars and certain doom. All the footage is strangely low-resolution, though.

I don't specially dislike Chrome other than the fact that I don't use it, but whenever something web hits slashdot it's almost always Chrome-only. Any explanation for this?

Come to Spain, the power bill is just ludicrous. Don't increase the cost of energy any longer, I don't even have AC or electric heating, I just run a computer, a fridge and a washing machine, and my power bill tripled in the latest few months. Gimme a break with taxing energy for more than its real cost.

Depends, games like Risk of Rain are much better off played with a gamepad, but your mileage may vary. You only list a minimal number of genres that have been traditionally mouse-driven, though.
But as much as I like playing with pad (where convenient: fighting games like Skullgirls, sidescroller action games like Risk of Rain or Rogue Legacy, console emulation, etc), I wouldn't play, say... Doom, with one.

As for RPGs, depends. Skyrim with a pad is a bit of a pain, but there used to be games like Legend of Mana (say what you want about JRPGs, but that one sure isn't Final Fantasy crap, for sure) that played really well with a pad (by virtue of being a half-brawler).

Strategy games, mouse all the way, although the only example of pad-designed strategy game is Herzog Zwei for the megadrive/genesis, where your "hero" unit, a transforming robot, carried units from the base to wherever you needed them to be, or engaged in pewpew combat. (That game is considered the precursor to stuff like Dune that shaped modern strategy games, so don't look down on it for being console, Japanese and old. Just saying.)

Since nowadays console/PC gaming is kind of entering a singularity, and I believe all modern consoles have some form of keyboard add-on, I don't think you should worry much about this. It'll sort itself out eventually, I think the keyboard is going to win and the pad will become accessory for old-school genres only. Alas.
Unless the steam pad turns out to be some sort of miraculous revolution, but I need to see it happen first.

I can't take your post seriously if the first thing you say about the device is "camera that streams data to the mothership". Get real now. Still you didn't address the battery/storage/bandwidth limitations, you only made a few remarks about google spying on you, the NSA spying on you, calling users glassholes, being unrealistic.

Also, your last paragraph...dude, that is too much fantasy to process. A guy filming me with glass in a "less common viewpoint"? Should I be seeing guys appearing from under my crotch now?

And you didn't even challenge my point of the device needing some form of visible activation. If I see some guy touching buttons on his glass or saying "ok glass, record" then I'll have reasons to suspect.

This is just a wearable HUD, why is people so obsessed about people with glass being on a 24/7 stream of whatever the user is seeing?

First, nobody has the mobile bandwidth for a 24/7 stream. Nor the storage space. Nor the battery.
Second, you aren't that interesting when you are outside. No. Really, you really aren't. On the street every one of you, myself included, is as notorious as a gray pixel in a perlin noise image. Unless you live in a village where everyone knows each other, and even so, they already know you.

I have never seen a device creating such a level of paranoia and stupidity. You are supposed to be the smart guys, not the ones crying around like old men fearing something new. Stupidity like "hold your phone in front of them durrrr" or "punch them!" . Are you serious? Why not burn them at the stake, since you are talking unreasonable bravado, why not go the extra mile. Let's burn them all!
Fearing that magical device that surely records you without any action from the wearer. I assume that to take a picture you gotta press a button or say a keyword aloud or something, it's not gonna read your mind and turning you into a magical cyborg spy.

Of all people the people of slashdot should know the limits of technology better. You are just disappointing, I'd expect this from pitchfork villagers, not readers of "news for nerds", some hardware developers or hobbyists that know how stuff is supposed to work. You know how much taking photos and video drains the battery of a cell phone. This is a mere attachment to a cell phone, and is subject to the same limitations. Imagine a Pebble watch.

Sure, consider me a troll for being realistic, I got karma to spare. But if you want to believe in the magical device that will record you indefinitely, with an infinite battery, storage and network bandwidth so google can specifically see you scratch your crotch at a public place, sure, go ahead.
And, no, my privacy when I am outside doesn't bother me at all. I look my BEST when I am outside, please record me like that. I am precisely ready to be seen. And I am already being recorded at work, and my behavior is pretty impeccable.

And, besides, if google actually managed to produce magic to have a full stream of you talking to the glass user...you really want to be recorded being a little douchebag pointing your phone at him/her thinking you are making some heroic statement for freedom, but in reality just being a rude guy? I seriously doubt you do.

As for me, I like the idea, specially for potential AR stuff, but sounds like it will induce headaches easily. I might want to wait for an advanced second version or similar.

Nah, not related. In-game AI is written specifically with that game in mind, often knowing more than the eye can see. This is a general-purpose thing that attempts to learn only with visual input, without direct access to the program itself.

Put down the phone and go out!
Come back before X, we dine extra early today because I HAD PLANS DAMNIT.
Don't talk to anyone on the way back. Don't go shopping or anything, let me check your pockets for cash so you don't go out buying soda or shit.
I'll call every few hours to check if you are alright. If you don't pick it up I'll call the police.
Are you hanging out with David? I think he's doing drugs, better stay at home today.
I told you you can't go out with David, so go to your room while I do mother stuff! And quiet!

Jokes aside, my mother didn't let me do anything until I was like 18. I could only go out for like one hour every week, always supervised and staying at home to play with my brother that was older and had more freedoms and thus didn't want to play with a kid.
My father was more lenient but since he was also a pastry baker, his schedule wasn't very compatible with a kid's, so my mother was the one in charge.
When social media came (well, the early version of it at least), it was a boon. I was able to talk to people without that witch monitoring me out. And of course I took it. I am a loner, but not that much.

This was years ago, some of my friends "enjoyed" similar treatments as well. But from what I hear from younger kids or adults younger than myself, it seems to be much worse now.
Anecdotal evidence yeah, but I don't think I am some unique snowflake, it surely happened to many, many more.