EricBall
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Blog Comments posted by EricBall
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Personally, I'd be impressed with just playing 60+ games to completion, much less 100%-ing them.
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gbatemp period net
You can probably still buy a slot 1 flash cart if you look hard enough.
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As I said on my blog, my error in assuming it couldn't be changed was forgetting it's all software - and MS is still a software company.
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I have to admit I was shocked at the news. I guess the pre-E3 discontent to the vague messages wasn't enough to make them change their minds. So something must have occurred after the E3 announcements. Maybe it was the pre-orders, or maybe they got some analyst feedback which would have impacted their stock outlook.
And I was obviously wrong thinking it couldn't be changed. I had forgotten that it's just software, and software can be changed.
Manuel, you're probably right. MS needs to bring the price of the XB3 in line with the PS4 and dropping the Kinect would likely allow them to do that.
Given the two consoles are so similar, I suspect there will be little difference between non-exclusive games. Which means the "winner" will be determined by the exclusive games - especially the launch games. I should try to do some analysis.
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Yep, they couldn't have said, "Buy a PS4 or a Wii U - they don't require Internet for DRM; and they're cheaper to boot!" although I suspect that's what will happen. The guys in camo will buy the PS4 and the families at the cottage will get the Wii U.
I predict the PS4 will outsell the Xbone 2:1 this November - January, especially if MS doesn't drop the price or otherwise change the status quo.
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I hope TG paid you for the effort you did put in, even if they decided to axe the project.
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Thanks. It's all about starting from a positive which everything else can be linked to and trying to cast any negatives as positives.
Another idea I had is for the discs to include a free demo in addition to the full install. So you could borrow the disc from the library and play the demo, then install the full version & pay the download price.
But as I said in another thread, I think the Internet requirement and $100 price difference are going to have a much greater impact on sales than the used game restrictions.
I'm not sure I could have made the RROD into a positive. IIRC in the beginning the cause wasn't well understood, then it wasn't known how widespread the problem was. Maybe at the end when you could spin it as a a free upgrade...
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I don't think MS will change their tune - they've built the Xbone around "downloads on disc" and I suspect there's no way to install a game without the Xbone authorizing with XBL. However, I think the bigger problem is they've excluded anyone who doesn't have broadband Internet. People may squawk about the ownership restrictions & privacy conspiracy theories, but they will still buy their favorite games. But if you can't play to start with, then that's a lost sale forever.
The interesting question is whether Sony considered going this route with the PS4, but made the opposite decision. Maybe someday there will be an insiders article from one of the two camps.
IMHO Sony also won big on price as now MS has to justify why their console costs US$100 more.
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Completely reasonable answer. You want to make music which sounds like it was made by a 2600, so you've made a MIDI controlled TIA.
My disconnect was if you made this expecting to get anything sounding like standard pitches. Or if you weren't prepared to work within the limited boundaries of the TIA.
Does your software allow for more complex sounds than simply playing the different AUDC/AUDF combinations? i.e. "envelopes" which change the TIA registers automatically.
Note: for people who just want to play AUDC/AUDF on a synth, I did a set of WAV file samples: http://atariage.com/...0/#entry2127668
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I'm trying to understand what you have done. The TIA's musical abilities are less than spectacular - mostly due to the limited frequencies provided by the 5 bit frequency divisor. So what would be the point in controlling it via MIDI (unless you want to use it as a part of a "chip tune" piece)?
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It will be interesting to see how sales of this next generation play out. However, I suspect that while people may scream "never, ever" now, they will still buy 'em for Christmas. Because, in the end, used games aren't as important as playing the games. I have to assume that MS has run all of the numbers and it it's a good business decision in their eyes.
Personally, I will buy both used (not Gamestop, 'cause GS prices are close enough to new that I might as well buy new) and new. However, I will not buy a console on first release. There has to be several "must have" games.
I bought the N64 when it first came out to play SM64, and then had to wait forever for the next "must have" game. I didn't buy a GameCube until much later, and might have even bought the console used. My son bought the Wii, so that doesn't count. Even the PS3 wasn't bought until the slim came out. I don't have a WiiU (yet) and will wait & see on the Xbone & PS4.
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I wouldn't bother trying to optimize your website for Google PageRank unless you're trying to push traffic in order to make $$. And even then, you should be able to determine whether the time & effort is worth the increased revenue.
Rather than delete it, make it as static as possible so you're not having to actively manage it. Links come and go, this has long been the curse of the WWW - so don't worry about it. But as Gorfy says, your page is a great resource and it would be a shame if it disappeared entirely.
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@Nateo, spend some time with TVfool.com to figure out what stations & directions you can probably receive.
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Remember that the Propeller knows zero about how to make pixels appear on the Microvision screen. The Propeller only knows about it's own hardware - everything outside of that requires programming. For some stuff (e.g. serial I/O) someone else might have written code which you can re-use. (Much of this code is in the Object Exchange: http://obex.parallax.com/ ) But even that code may require some tweaking (or at least some effort to use). (Note: you'd have the same issue with other microcontrollers - including the Arduino family.)
Yes, there are other languages for the Propeller - FORTH is another popular one. The problem with other languages is they can have problems living in the limited RAM and taking advantage of all eight processors. Thus I'd recommend trying to learn SPIN and PASM, because those are the native languages and can take best advantage of the Propeller. (Although I believe one of the Propeller Basics compiles to PASM and shows the translation in the listing, which can be helpful.)
Just like programming in assembly, you need to break your project down into baby steps. You now have the tools to start to learn how to program the Propeller, so focus on that.
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Not a good way to start your education (maybe send Parallax a note and let them know). From http://www.parallax.com/tabid/832/Default.aspx download Propeller/Spin Tool Software v1.3.2 which includes the driver, the IDE and the manuals. Then have a look at http://learn.parallax.com/KickStart and http://www.parallax.com/Store/Microcontrollers/PropellerDevelopmentBoards/tabid/514/CategoryID/73/List/0/SortField/0/Level/a/ProductID/748/Default.aspx for KickStart specific information.
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The Propeller has an onboard 32K ROM containing the bootloader, SPIN interpreter, and some hardcoded data like a font and sine table. The 64K EEPROM (which is kinda like flash memory) is where your game would be stored when the game is turned off. The bootloader automatically loads the onboard 32K RAM from the EEPROM.
From my perspective there are two "do first" tasks:
1. Start reading up on the Propeller documentation and spend some time experimenting with the Quickstart board. There are sample projects explicitly for the Quickstart. Try to make a game which uses the 8 touch-buttons and 8 LEDs along with terminal I/O (via the USB serial connection). Your objective is to learn the new programming languages you will need to use to create your game.
2. Learn to read Dan B's schematics, then spend some time probing the Microvision LCD controller with your mulitmeter to determine the input & output voltage levels. Your objective is to determine whether it will be easy / safe to connect the Propeller directly to the LCD controller, or if you will need additional parts. (The Propeller has 3.3V inputs & outputs).
This then will lead you to the next step which is to use the Propeller to capture the input to the LCD so you can reverse engineer it and write a driver for the Propeller.
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I wonder if battery life has improved most due to lower power electronics / screens, higher power batteries, or larger batteries. White LEDs have obviously helped a lot.
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I had a thought this morning. My main gripe with GT5 (note - I've never played any of the previous versions) isn't the grinding for experience levels - it's the car shopping process. So not only do I have to play the same license test or race multiple times to try to get a better result - I need to do it to get enough money to buy the right car to access another set of races.
My thought is to turn the bonuses on their head. When I successfully complete a license test or race set I get a car which I can then use in the next race set. The car should be competitive - allowing me to complete the race set with a reasonable skill to tuning trade-off. This then allows the majority of purchasers to play through the majority of the contents.
But for the obsessive-compulsive completists, you make the gold trophy bonuses some of the worst performing cars - then have special races & achievements just for them. Can you win the K-car challenge in an unmodified pre-1980 car? Or online races only for steam powered vehicles.
There will still be the supercars, exotics, prototypes, performance parts and decorative paint schemes to buy with race winnings - but the real measure of racing ability will be how bad the cars in your garage are.
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I really hoped HD would be the end of this endless cycle of format changes... but it's just the tip of the iceberg.At least DCSS locks down the format and compression to a reasonable number of options.
One thing that will help a lot, I think, is that SSDs will ultimately achieve price per gigabyte parity with hard drives. I'm pretty terrible at predicting technology anymore, but I think within 10 years, we'll see 64 TB SSDs for under $500 each.
The Crucial M500 is 960GB for $600 - so you're looking for 2^6 over 120 months, or a doubling every 20 months. That might happen, although I think there will be some physical density challenges.
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It sounds like your turntable has standard line-out jacks, which you could record with your VCR. You could probably find the correct adapter so you could plug them into the 1/8 jack on your computer.
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That may happen at some point, but at the moment broad support for the codec (or XYZ color space) just isn't there. Plus, our need for DCPs is (currently) too minimal to make that sort of a shift. The whole Film School standardized on ProRes 422 (HQ) a few years ago, since it's a good balance between file size and image quality, and has modest CPU requirements for playback. But I think that will change, as Final Cut Pro fades away into irrelevance.
I'm sure you're right. Assuming you can avoid generation losses during production, then you only take a minor hit on the final conversion. What's more likely is your workflow will become uncompressed as increases in CPU, network and disk space capacity make compression less relevant (just like DCSS uses uncompressed audio). So again the video will only be compressed once. Colorspace conversion will probably still be required unfortunately.
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There will always be some generation loss, but I sure couldn't detect it last night. All of the flaws of the original source material came through completely intact.
Seems to me if your workflow output video to JPEG 2000 as per the DCSS spec that you would avoid any loss.
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DCP sounds like a great deal for you guys, especially when you can do it (and watch it) in-house and avoid any generation losses.
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I've been replaying GT5 as the fire wiped out any progress I had made, and I'm even less impressed with it now than I was before. I guess I'm just not the target audience - I'm not willing to grind.
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Thinking inside the box
in (Insert stupid Blog name here)
A blog by Nathan Strum
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According to http://gamasutra.com/view/news/193162 , for Microsoft it's all about boxes. In summary, Microsoft limits publishers to one digital release for every two retail releases.