Sure, but go look at the system requirements for Skyrim on PC. It requires 2GB of system memory, and 512MB of video memory. It recommends 4GB of system memory, and 1GB of video memory. Even if the PC version was identical to the 360 version in visual quality, there's no way you're going to get that to run on a PC with 512MB of memory shared between CPU and GPU. The 360 OS has a much smaller footprint than desktop Windows, and it's designed to allow developers to have lower level access to components.

That's an interesting idea, but I can imagine many situations in which buggy code hacked together over 48 hours would be detrimental to the operations of a small business or non-profit.

And if the 360's OS was as large as a normal desktop version of Windows, there would be no way you could play modern AAA games on it when it only has 512MB of RAM shared between CPU and GPU. Once again, you've completely failed to refute any of my points.

Why don't you tell that to John Carmack.

And despite that, it will likely let developers work closer to the metal than is possible on a PC, still eliminating much of the overhead of running games on a PC OS. And like I said before, the total memory footprint of that additional software is still likely far smaller than that of a modern desktop OS. You've only managed to (attempt to) dispute one of my three arguments. So nope, you're still the stupid one.

You are an idiot. I have a 'moderate range' gaming PC with only 4GB of RAM, an aging first-gen i7 CPU, and a 2-year-old video card I purchases for just a little over $200. I'm still able to play new PC games on at least high settings. 8GB of RAM on a console is huge. Granted this new platform has a lot of software to run in addition to your game, but I imagine the footprint of all of that stuff is still going to be significantly lower than a modern desktop OS. Blu-Ray can't be obsolete when there is no superior solution out right now.

I lived in the South for nearly four years, and returning to the North was like entering paradise. Sure, it's cold during the winter, but spring through fall is fantastic and we have a nearly non-existent bug problem.

And probably 10 times as much on dental care and orthodontics. ;)

As a married Senior Airman (E-4), I was probably making a bit over $40k per year after base pay and allowances. Taking into account a lack of healthcare premiums, free tuition for my college courses, and the fact that my wife worked nearly full-time as a waitress, and we were definitely in the middle class. Neither of us had second jobs, and we always had money to blow foolishly on entertainment.

My salary as a civilian in the private sector is amazingly better when you just look at the raw numbers, but it's not that much better once you account for all of the things I pay for now that I didn't have to pay for in the military. There are a lot of overlooked benefits in the military that allow you to stretch out a dollar much further than you can as a civilian.

I did an enlistment in the USAF between 2008 and 2012, and while I don't believe the $99,000 value is correct, it was certainly a middle class level of compensation that I received. Just looking at base pay, most enlisted members poor, but then you have to account for monthly non-taxed BAH (monthly money for rent), BAS (monthly money for food/hygienics), no healthcare premiums or deductibles for yourself, and very small premiums and deductibles for your family, cheap food at the commissary on base, non-taxed general goods at the PX/BX/NEX, free education (plus a significant amount of college credits for your training - I think I got 20-something), no life insurance costs, and yearly uniform allowances. I'm sure I'm missing some benefits, too. Overall, aside from deployments, it's a pretty comfortable lifestyle. And the idea that military is almost exclusively drawn from the ranks of the poor is misleading. That's more true for services like the Army and the Marines. The Air Force provides extremely lucrative job training and experience, and tends to attract a lot of middle-class kids who don't want to go the college route (many of which have some college experience prior to enlisting).

That means nothing. You could have been a janitor or cafeteria worker at both companies.

I wish I had mod points; that was the perfect response.

I didn't RTFA, but I don't think the story is about programmers. I believe this guy is saying that any college grad regardless of major should know how to program.

There were already a lot of people that were kicked out or forced into retirement after that. There were also some pretty significant structure reorganizations that followed.

That is a very specialized segment of military you're referring to. I've been involved in enterprise software development in the military, and their standards weren't anything like that.