Roy Schestowitz wrote:
> If you're shopping, remember the Xbox 360
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
> | By Ken Smith
> | MSNBC contributor
> | Updated: 1:21 p.m. ET Nov. 17, 2006
> |
> | SEATTLE - While you're out looking at video game consoles this
> | holiday season, don't forget to check out Microsoft's
> | Xbox 360.
> |
> | (MSNBC is a joint Microsoft - NBC Universal venture.)
> `----
>
> http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15757514/
>
> Internet Explorer, a Windows component that cannot be removed, is
> channeling every Windows user to this 'news' site by default.
>
> Related:
>
> Corporate Propaganda Still On the News: Study Finds Local Stations
> Overwhelmingly Fail to Disclose VNRs
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
> | A new study by the Center for Media and Democracy says Americans are
> | still being shown corporate public relations videos disguised as news
> | reports on newscasts across the country.
> `----
>
> http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/11/14/1518200
>
>
> Should MSNBC really be "reviewing" (Microsoft's) Gears of War?
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
> | MSNBC recently reviewed Gears of War, calling it the Xbox 360's first
> | killer app.... Nowhere on the page is any indication of the possible
> | ethical issue MSNBC is "Microsoft-NBC", and the site is hosted as a
> | subdomain of msn.com (a major Microsoft portal). Is this really balanced
> | journalism?
> `----
>
>
http://www.thisisby.us/index.php/content/should_msnbc_really_be__quot_reviewing_quot__gears_of_war_
>
>
> Wrong Yesterday Wrong Today Wrong Tomorrow
>
> ,----[ Quote ]
> | I just got through watching a segment on the Today Show on NBC
> | highlighting the launch of the Microsoft Zune.
> |
> | First of all, I thought journalists were suppose to reveal their
> | affiliations with any product if such an affiliation exists.
> | Microsoft owns a stake in NBC ie MSNBC News Network.
> |
> | [...]
> |
> | Second, all the side by side product comparisons showed 4th Gen iPods
> | with monochrome screens with no song selected or playing, while the
> | Zune was playing a video.
> |
> | [...]
> |
> | This isn't the first time NBC has misled its morning viewers with
> | puff pieces about the Zune.
> `----
>
> http://fixyourthinking.com/2006/11/wrong-yesterday-wrong-today-wrong.html
My view. When I saw the picture on the xbox360 compared to the other games
machines in the shop, the xbox360 had a much better crisp clear picture.
The kids loved it, then got bored, then ignored it.
The reason is the games themselves. As I've said before in here the games
load very slowly, then between portions of the games even if you are
playing the same section of the game, you go through a long long long
reload process. I don't program for the xbox, but I know with absolute
certainty that this doesn't have to be This way, when you have control of
the device and the medium from which the game is loading, you can stream
what you need from the DVD straight into the block where it is needed as
quickly as the drive can read. CDs and DVDs can both read much more quickly
than they do when buffering music or video, in fact because the format was
designed for streaming, on a games machine they should be no noticeable
delay between game parts.
It can only be decryption or poor programming that has it this slow. Even
then its a dual core system, two processes spending all of this time just
setting up the data so the game can play, I can not believe they have
thought this through properly.
Hand that to a systems team used to working in asm/C and I bet your left
sock they could have this machine flying.
But even beyond that, we are talking about nieces and nephews ranging from
four to ten. Almost every game you can get for it is the same. A few
shoot-em-ups, all with the same basic pattern. A few driving ones, all with
the same basic pattern. A flight one, the kids do alright on that one but I
can't land on a piggin diddy little aircraft carrier, why oh why don't they
make aircraft carriers bigger!!! the number of times I've crashed into it
its a wonder Mr Bush hasn't written to me asking me to stop because I'm
putting his arms budget too high, and that piggin copilot gets on my bloody
nerves '*What* *are* *you* *doing* !!', just because I happen to shoot one
of our own down, an I work his ejector seat from the pilot's possition?
Anyway, the games are really too similar, do one of one type and you can say
you have done all of that type. Hardly anything available that doesn't
involve killing people, creatures or blowing stuff up.
|
|
