Split-screen multiplayer was a hack to enabled multiplayer gaming before consoles were networked, sure some people actually liked it but most people are glad it's gone.

The original PlayStation had a link cable that allowed two consoles to be connected, and software that used it, before the N64 was even released. Very few people used it and the number of games supporting it was always low, and Sony removed it from later units in order to bring down the price of the console.

Older PS2 models could link up over Firewire, but this was also removed in later units for the same reasons.

My point is that split screen multiplayer flourished because networked multiplayer on consoles was impractical, not because it didn't exist. Today it's more practical, but it still doesn't have the same pick-up-and-play quality as many split-screen games.

Hadrian's Firewall?

Old people now might be afraid of this kind of thing. It's the old people fifty years in the future who have been flying all their lives and don't see why they should stop who will be the problem.

There wouldn't have been a computer on every desk in the 1970s. I think it's more down to the fact that there's a lot less paper being shuffled in your average 2010 office than there was back then, which would take up a lot of desk space.

Personally, I would manage perfectly well with a desk half the size of what I have. I don't manage the extra space well; it just tends to accumulate clutter.

Heh, right now I have yo mamma's ass band. I.e. cheap and readily available.

I'm torn. On the one hand, I remember when 512 kb/s down and 256 kb/s up was considered to be 'broadband', and seemed pretty damn fast. The idea that a connection can be broadband one day, and not broadband the next, because a bureaucrat somewhere changed a definition seems absurd to me.

On the other hand, coming up with a new name for each bump in speed also seems absurd to me. (I can't wait until super-duper-even-broader-band internet comes to my area!)

You're using the word 'would' a lot, as if people weren't already playing games on their smartphones. The largest single category in the iOS app store is the gaming section. I think we're past the point where we're asking, do people want to play games on their smartphones? Yes. Yes they do.

A keyboard and mouse will always be better than a controller for FPS games, and a steering wheel will always be better for racing games, yes, we know. And light gun games will always work better with a bloody light gun.

No console designer in their right mind would make any of these the default controller for their console, because they are all poor all-rounder controllers compared to the ones that come bundled with consoles right now.

Consoles have had USB ports since the PS2, and you can use a keyboard and mouse with them if you want. The Dreamcast had keyboard and mouse accessories that IIRC worked with the DC version of Quake 3. The original PlayStation even had a mouse for Command and Conquer. Nobody used or uses them, because using a keyboard and mouse in your living room is a pain in the arse.

Wii Sports Resort, which came bundled with more recent consoles and uses the MotionPlus accessory, is much better in this regard.

I think the extent to which the syntax is a barrier to entry for new developers is exaggerated. Square brackets denote method calls - easy. It might take a wee while before typing out method declarations in the right order is second nature, but I think that's acceptable because you gain (forced) named parameters.

I like the fact that the syntax is different, because the chances of getting caught out are reduced. There are already too many languages with similar but subtly different syntaxes out there.

Syntax and implementation. I willingly go the extra mile to avoid using Obj-C anywhere except for UI code.

Isn't syntax just a personal preference? I actually quite like ObjC's syntax. What don't you like about it?

Not in my experience, eg: All the documentation presumes the developer is using IB when no serious developer I know will touch it.

As long as you understand what Interface Builder is doing under the bonnet/hood, then it's really not that hard. And is there any particular reason why a serious developer wouldn't touch IB? I find it to be quite a useful tool, much better than the equivalent in Qt Creator.

XCode is such utter shit that it's not funny.

Agreed. Xcode 4 is available as a developer preview and I'm hoping that it solves a lot of the issues I have with the current version, but I haven't had a chance to play with it properly yet.

I didn't mind it when developers strived for photorealism, while it was still nowhere near achievable. I think that the original Metal Gear Solid looks great, for example, but I'm not such a big fan of the later games, because they lost the stylistic element that the original had as a consequence of the PlayStation not being able to deliver all that much.

As long as you don't swing too hard. You wouldn't look very threatening holding a cork.

When did asking a question cease to be a valid method of finding things out?

I mean, it's great that you can find information like this from Google or Wikipedia, but it can be a risky strategy, and you might end up following a howto that results in a non-optimal implementation, or lacks crucial information, or doesn't adequately detail the pitfalls of a particular method. Or maybe you're like me, and sometimes you just can't think of the right search terms to use.

I would have thought that Slashdot would be a good place to come for someone looking to learn from others' knowledge and experience, and perhaps to find out the pros and cons of different ways of solving the problem. I've got this far down the page and I'm sad to say that this hasn't been the case.

I'm typing this on a tram from a netbook tethered to my Android phone. How good is your tethering app?

It does the job. When my office's broadband connection went down a few weeks, tethered my iPhone and was back up and running in a few minutes. Fortunately there's a 3G Vodafone mast right outside the building.