wamerocity - Slashdot User

Comment Re:im full of jokes today (Score 2, Insightful) 288

by wamerocity on Friday February 06, 2009 @07:47PM (#26759645) Attached to: Intel To Design PlayStation 4 GPU

What I really hope they do is what they should have done with the PS3 in the first place.

I think that they made a huge mistake by not keeping the same architecture with the PS3 as the PS2. If had kept the same architecture, while only increasing the processor speed and the graphics chip (while still adding new opengl lighting and shading effects, etc.), they could have easily made the PS3 FORWARD compatible, like many of the Xbox games are. Not only that, but every developer on earth knows how to program for the PS2. That would have made it so easy for studios to continue designing games in the PS2 fashion, while simply increase polygon count and textures. I think that the familiarity with the system would really have given Sony equality to designing for the 360, which almost all developers say is easier because of Visual Studios as well as the rest of the developers tools that MS provides. Never underestimate familiarity

Example. You can render PS1 games on an old PC (hell my old PocketPC Dell axim could render PS1 games near full speed) at higher resolutions (like 1280x960) while getting rid of the boxiness of the textures, and the games look much better. The PS2 emulator for the PC (which only has a handful of games that run at full speed) can make some PS2 games look better than they did on the PS2, because it's rendered at a higher resolution. The PS3, if they had kept the same architecture as the PS2, could have EASILY upscaled EVERY PS2 game made, breathing new life into people library of old games. Who wouldn't want to replay god of war if the resolution was sharpened at 720p? Seriously, the upscaling the the PS3, (simple image anti-aliasing) doesn't really increase the picture quality much, if at all (some games actually look worse).

Anyways, they didn't do that, and I believe it was a huge mistake. However, I hope they rectify that mistake with the next generation, and make the PS4 FORWARD compatible with my PS3 games. Let me play my PS3 games upscaled at 1080p!. That would be great. I realize that the textures don't get sharper, and that the effects don't increase, but I feel that it would be easier to attract new customer and keep existing customers if they knew all their old games would continue to work forever, and would even look better than they did before!

My 2 cents. If someone who really knows about programming could explain how this idea isn't feasible/cost effective/a good idea, please explain.

Comment Re:Cash (Score 4, Funny) 526

by wamerocity on Thursday January 08, 2009 @11:18AM (#26372135) Attached to: Blu-ray Update Sent To User Via Credit Card Records

That's funny, whenever I give people cash for presents, I refer to it as a "federal reserve gift card". The best part is, it never expires! Though I recommend spending it quick because it seems to lose its value over time....

Submission + - Simple iPhone Ringtone workaround discovered

Submitted by wamerocity on Sunday September 09, 2007 @08:01PM

wamerocity writes: Engadget readers found a simple workaround to the iPhone ringtones in iTunes 7.4, where 30 second .AAC clips could be renamed as as .M4R and imported into iTunes, and subsequently synced to your iPhone.

Well, Apple didn't like this and quickly release iTunes 7.4.1 (the next day) fixing this little bug. Well, another workaround has been discovered where you can rename that .m4r, after importing it into iTunes, as an .m4a. This will allow you to put some much needed ringtones on Apple's favorite device, at least until they release iTunes 7.4.2 in the next day or so.

Submission + - New Cell Phone Bill to Cut ETF's, Help Consumers

Submitted by wamerocity on Sunday September 09, 2007 @07:23PM

wamerocity writes: The Consumerist informs us that Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) recently announced their plans to introduce a new bill in congress, called the Cell Phone Consumer Empowerment Act of 2007, which actually aims to help consumers, not giant Telco's. The bill, if passed, would require that Early Termination Fees (ETF's) be pro-rated, and reduced in price after certain percentages of the contract expire, as well as a complete fee disclosure statement, required maps of cell phone coverage/quality per provider by region (to help consumers make the best choice), make exemptions for military personnel to opt out of contracts if being deployed, and require the FTC to look into the legality and anti-competetive nature of locking down cellphones to certain networks, plus more.

This Bill looks to really help consumers, and Slashdotters should contact their Senator or Representative to tell them what they think about this.

Submission + - Universal PSP Unbricker Released

Submitted by wamerocity on Thursday August 23, 2007 @02:11AM

wamerocity writes: "One of the biggest if not THE BIGGEST development in the PSP hacking scene has just unfolded."

A new homebrew app, lovingly referred to as "Pandora's Battery" has surfaced as a joint effort between the most noted PSP Homebrew devs, team Noobz, C + D, and homebrew god Dark_Alex. This app, allows ANY homebrew enabled PSP to turn any regular PSP battery into the famed "jigkick" battery, (the method Sony uses to unbrick warrantied PSP) and in conjunction with a small program on the memory stick, it can restore it to the celestial homebrew-friendly 1.5 firmware.

As a sidenote, the newly-created jigkick battery can no longer be used as a normal battery, so a new one should be purchased first.

Submission + - PS3 Price cut raises Amazon sales 2800%

Submitted by wamerocity on Tuesday July 10, 2007 @11:44PM

wamerocity writes: The recently announced PS3 price cut seems to have achieved one objective, if only temporarily. Reports are up that the price cut, effective July 10th, has raised the PS3's sales rank on Amazon up 2800% , even outranking the Nintendo Wii, the long-time #1 seller. This deal has combined with the recent Blu-ray Disc promotion of 5 free movies with any Blu-ray player as well as Amazon's deal to include a free bluetooth remote might just be the injection needed to gain developers confidence in the systems future, as well to raise its last-place standing among next-gen consoles.

Submission + - Lawsuit Fears Prompts Dark_Alex to Leave PSP Scene (dark-alex.org)

Submitted by wamerocity on Tuesday July 03, 2007 @09:55AM

wamerocity writes: Dark_Alex, the PSP Homebrew God who has been delivering his "Open-Edition" firmware upgrades to the PSP has decided to leave the homebrew scene for fear of retaliation from Sony, reminiscint of what happened the the PS3 Hackers who found a way to load games from ISO images.

Rumors are beginning to arise on forums whether he was paid to leave or has already been threatened by Sony. Regardless he will be sorely missed.

Submission + - PSP Homebrew Scene Marks Major Milestone (qj.net)

Submitted by wamerocity on Wednesday June 27, 2007 @11:12PM

wamerocity writes: Despite Sony's efforts to lock down the PSP with each new firmware in lieu of adding desired functionality, it seems that PSP Homebrew god "Fanjita" has released a downgrader for firmware 3.50 (Yes, Sony's most current firmware for the PSP) that requires a new Illuminati exploit as well as a legitimate copy of the game Lumines. This means ANYONE can now put homebrew on their PSP despite their current firmware. This news recently sent the game Lumines to the top selling video game item on Amazon, second only to the Wii.

For those who wonder why they should care, the PSP has open firmware such as the DarkAlex 3.40 OE that allows you to play PS1 games (at full speed), SNES, NES, Sega, MAME, GB/GBC/GBA, N64 games, all while retaining the ability to use Sony's "intended features". The homebrew scene has other programs that allow you to watch any video type, use it as a remote control, get RSS feeds, listen to internet radio, use VNC service, use an IR keyboard, as well as a dozen other programs. There's even a new version of Vista some have released for it, as a proof of concept I'd hope, since Vista really blows.

Submission + - Harry Potter publisher supposedly hacked 1

Submitted by akahige on Thursday June 21, 2007 @02:34PM

akahige writes: Monsters & Critics (and other sites) are reporting that hackers used milw0rm exploits to penetrate Bloomsbury Publishing and obtain a digital copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows a month before it is scheduled to hit bookstores. A hacker known as gabriel posted supposed spoilers to the Full Disclosure list. While the veracity of spoilers (or the breach itself) have not been acknowledged by the publishers, fans have expressed great disgust with the reports. Naturally, this raises serious concerns about network security and the fallibility of those both designing and using it — even moreso when the climax of a multi-billion dollar franchise is on the line.

Submission + - What to do with lots of old computers? 3

Submitted by talentless geek on Thursday June 21, 2007 @12:40PM

talentless geek writes: I recently started a new Network Admin job and came to discover that I have no fewer than 60 old Pentium 2s and Pentium 3s that are doing nothing. It seems to me there has to be something better than filling up land (i.e. take them to the dump) that all these machines can do. I looked into a few donations sites, but I'm not even sure they would take computers this old. I've thought about building a cluster or 2, but I can't come up with any reason why i would want to do that other than the coolness factor (although, the coolness factor is a pretty good reason...). So, i guess my question is, what would you do with 60 really old computers?

Submission + - PS3 Firmware adds DVD upscaling available on May 2

Submitted by

wamerocity

on Wednesday May 23, 2007 @01:09PM

wamerocity writes: "It's time for the next update to the PS3 firmware, and this time around it's performing magic on your old DVDs. Version 1.80 of the firmware adds upscaling to DVDs so that they can be viewed in 1080p HD, and even your old PS1 and PS2 games will look better. (You have to have an HDMI compatible TV, of course.)

The update has a few other features, too, including the ability to stream media from DLNA3 enabled devices (PCs and suchlike), and Remote Play via the 'net, which lets players connect their PSP to their PS3 from any broadband connection. Not sure why you'd want to do that, exactly, but I suppose it's pretty neat, just the same. You should be able to download the new update starting tomorrow.

Check it Here: http://blog.wired.com/games/2007/05/ps3_firmware_u p.html"

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