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Comment Re:cue the skeptics (Score 1) 128

I'm not sure why there should not be an expectation of skepticism. I'd like to see an example of something that's universally liked by everyone.

I'm skeptical of this service, but not because of lag. I always make the assumption that they somehow solved the lag issue. My concern is the games themselves. When OnLive was first announced many people seemed to predict that this would be the end of game consoles. Why? What kind of games will be available on this service? PC games? I know that there are plenty of console/PC ports, but there are some games that are on consoles that are not on PCs. Most of the are on the Wii, and most of them have the name Mario somewhere in the title.

Comment Cramped cases... (Score 1) 127

Maybe there's a really good reason for it that I'm not fully aware of, but why are PC cases, motherboards, add-on cards etc. all seen to be designed around such limited amounts of space? Is there a such thing a s PC case that size of a mini-fridge or bigger? A motherboard with freaking 10 or 12 slots with enough space between them? A video card the size of a motherboard? Anything but a cramped little box with limited expansion? Is that such a bizarre thing to want?
Games

Epic Releases Free Version of Unreal Engine 217

anomnomnomymous writes "Just a week after Unity announced its engine is now available for free to indie users, Epic Games has revealed a free version of its popular Unreal Engine technology. Called the Unreal Development Kit (UDK), it is a free edition of UE3 that allows community, modder and indie users more access to the engine's features and is available for all. Epic said game developers, students, hobbyists, researchers, creators of 3D visualizations and simulations plus digital filmmakers can all take advantage of the UDK for non-commercial use. The UDK site also offers detailed product features, technical documentation, commercial licensing terms and support resources."

Comment Touchscreen Vs Styus (Score 1) 257

I see the whole movement of everything going multitouch a little disappointing. Don't get me wrong, I love the idea of multitouch and I love my iPhone, but I also like using the stylus, mostly because I like drawing on screen. I bought a TabletPC, not to take notes, but as an alternative to a $2000 Wacom Cintiq. The tablet cost me $1000 and came with a computer attached. (Although it would be nice to use the tablet portion on my Mac.) Even on my PDA I'll whip out a sketch or two.

The mutlitouch on the iPhone is nice and all, but it makes drawing a little awkward. I know that there are people can draw well enough on a iPhone to make covers of magazines, but I've never been I to finger painting. I would hope that there would still be some cheap stylus based tablets coming soon. Or that the Wacom would seriously lower the price on the Cintiq.

Comment Is this really a big deal? (Score 1) 125

Every since I've read about OnLive I've wanted to know why this is big deal. I've wanted to know what is it that their little box can do that is SO impossible to do on an existing game console. What is it that will make Nintendo, Sony, and MS suddenly stop innovating?

People get caught up on the latency issue, and as far as I know if OnLive licks is that will be a bigger deal than the gaming aspect. But latency aside, what does OnLive offer that can't be don't by the Big 3? Is it a cheaper console? I imagine that with the low hardware requirement for OnLive that the Wii could run a similar program with just an update. How OnLive anyone compete that? MS and Sony can't.

Then there's the matter of games. The Big 3 have them, OnLive needs them. In fact what on live is likely to have are PC games, which are cool in there on right, but according to the "popular believe" PC gaming is dead, or dying or whatever. Apparently everyone is in to consoles these days. If OnLive is to succeed does that mead everyone will drop their consoles and start playing PC games en mass? I would like to see that, honestly being a PC gamer myself.

If the Big 3 somehow loses to OnLive the they deserve to lose. That means that they did nothing to activly compete. But I don't that that they won't stop competing.

Comment Re:Latency (Score 1) 125

I've often wondered this myself. Even if latency was not an issue, what is so unique about Onlive that no game console can offer. If all you need is a browser, both the Wii and the PS3 offer one. It wouldn't be such a stretch for MS to include one on the 360. And just like that OnLive has no real advantage, besides, maybe patents, but good luck with that. One big advantage all console makers have is a huge pre-exsiting library of games, games meant for a TV screen. OnLive has just PC games that must be modified for TVs.

Comment Re:sigh (Score 1) 251

I don't think that the whining is 100% unjustified, as annoying as whining can be. Sometimes the "new and improved" has a tendency to displace the old and traditional. There's the idea that if it's new and popular it must be better than the old so let's slow down with the old stuff and focus on the new. Which is the way it should be, that's how progress works. But sometimes the old works just as well, if not better, for some people.

Comment The Game Genie (Score 2, Interesting) 275

When we first got the NES SMB was the only game we played for it for a while. So with all the frustration of playing the damned game we did eventually beat it. And that was that. The we got a Game Genie and played it again but we kicked the games ass. In a game where getting touched once or twice by any enemy kills you It felt good to get a permanent invincibility and plow through the game. That's how I uses cheating now days, beat the game at least once, then cheat. I extends the life of the game IMHO.

Comment Re:Nostalgia (Score 1) 249

If Billboard existed back then and Beethoven always number one, who was number two, or ten? Every one brings up Beethoven as the pinnacle of classic music but no one talks about the all of the mediocre and awful one as if the never existed. As if there was never a bad piece of classical music written back then. There are those who simple wish to point out the crappy ones, they existed along with the good ones.

Comment Re:Nostalgia (Score 2, Insightful) 249

One of the things that kill me about people who say stuff like "games where better back in the day" is that they only talk about all the good (and popular) games. They seem to filter out or forget all off the crappy ones. They will talk about how games were more unique back then, never mind all of the Mario clones, the countless shoot-em-up, and beat-em-ups, and the RPGs. Don't forget the movie tie ins and the other licensed crap that was invented back the. These are not some new recent ideas. There are folks out there that make a living on dissing old games like the Angry Videogame Nerd and Seanbaby. I'm just saying for every criticism about new games you can come up with can easily be applied to a game from 20 years ago. History has reruns.

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