Ask questions to The Digital Bits team (Bill Hunt, Jeff Kleist et.al.)

[kefrank]

Originally Posted by PeterTHX

A repackaged GameCube (which was $99 at the time I believe) with different controllers and wifi.

Overpriced.

It's fine to have that opinion, but as noted, it does not negate my original point.

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by kefrank

It's fine to have that opinion, but as noted, it does not negate my original point.

but his original point that it was more or less using the same tech from the previous gen at a $150 cost increase, while the other systems all had new tech and had (some) justification for price increases.

The Wii was new, but it wasnt "new"

[kefrank]

Originally Posted by merrick97

but his original point that it was more or less using the same tech from the previous gen at a $150 cost increase, while the other systems all had new tech and had (some) justification for price increases.

The Wii was new, but it wasnt "new"

I've made a thread elsewhere to continue this discussion, since it doesn't really belong in the Digital Bits thread.

[Jeff Kleist]

Yet their stock price continues to soar while the hammer looms.

There's a lot of companies whose stock goes up even though they're in trouble. People correctly assume that at least in the short term that people are still going to buy iPods. Like I said, Apple will reluctantly be forced into making billions on royalties worst comes to worse. The only person that will upset is Steve Jobs becuase he can no longer control people, and because someone might make something he finds "ugly" or "thick"

5-10 years I think an industry that hates their guts (aka pretty much everyone) standardizing on Droid is a real possibility, which will leave them in the dust. Apple has no content if people don't renew their contracts, and if a Droid DRM system offers mass portability (which is quite plausible) and wide acceptance (which is also quite plausible), people don't need to play their games any more. I'm far from a Droid booster at this point mind you, my few hours with my friend's phone I found unsatisfying, the app store anemic. But I also think a year from now that will be different.

Apple will always have the Church of Jobs who will buy whatever he puts out at whatever price point he sets anyway. That is, unless that temper tantrum triggers a heart attack

[chris0]

Droid is the phone, Android is the platform.

[Shand754]

What's up with the digital bits site Jeff? I get a new homepage entitled Sarah Hunt Design but the picture does not display and I can't move on from there.

[Jeff Kleist]

Sarahs site is hosted in the same space. Seems fixed now

[MerrickG]

Hey Jeff,

I came across this gaming article and I wonder what you think of it.
It basically comments that deep and long FPS games can no longer be made due to the costs and resources.

It uses the original No One Lives Forever as an example
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/no...-retrospective

I do agree that most games these days are just too short and there are a lot of dumb things being done to extend the length of games that seem to serve no purpose. Alan Wake for instance, what purpose did coffee thermos collecting serve other than to give you more time to ???

[PeterTHX]

http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/28/t...one-os-on-tap/

The sound of Mac users not getting native Blu support for a LONG time...

[Penton-Man]

Originally Posted by Robert Harris

I'm not attempting to shame anyone into anything. I'm merely making the point that the disc does not represent the film, and is not a worthy addition one's library. This entire situation may be beyond Universal.

Robert, I now notice that your ‘campaign’ regarding Spartacus, isn’t getting that much traction anymore on HTF, despite the fact that you’ve cross-promoted AVS’s screenshot analysis of that Blu-ray now onto HTF. (As an aside, I must say that you do seem to be rather selective in your endorsement of which particular screenshot analyses you decide to use as illustrations in aid of your point of view, because I don’t see you linking xylon’s Dr. Zhivago screenshot analysis onto HTF ).

Since you don’t have any influential contact at Uni to make the changes you desire and there is indeed money to be found, when the issue is of enough importance, maybe you can recruit Arnold as an advocate for your cause also…
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/..._news#37388170

[Jeff Kleist]

It basically comments that deep and long FPS games can no longer be made due to the costs and resources.

Pretty much. The higher the res, the cost goes up exponentially

The sound of Mac users not getting native Blu support for a LONG time...

I really have no idea where this whole "cloud" crap is coming from either. I do not, nor will I ever, want my stuff in the "cloud".Apple is hardly the only one guilty of this mind you. And typical of apple, no messy external ports that might make it look ugly for say, plugging in a hard drive to make the thing useful. I'll put money right now that it won't play avi or MKV right now to boot. The whole purpose of this is to not have to have my computer on, and I don't have a NAS set up.

In addition, if you notice, Apple's design philosophy has been eliminating external storage as much as possible. I'll also bet money that getting an optical drive on anything other than the high end models will require external within 2 years.

EDIT- NBC has also pulled all of their classic shows from their website that used to exist in iPod format after telling Apple to stuff it on the HTML 5 thing. That's the way to do it, deny them content till they cave.

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Pretty much. The higher the res, the cost goes up exponentially

AT this point we kind of have to be reaching somewhat of a saturation point as far as resolution. 1440p isnt even being thought about right now and I doubt developers would go out of their way to support it.

I cant remember which FPS had the longest length, but I would guess that the first Half Life and first Unreal had a long length.

[DenonCI]

Originally Posted by merrick97

AT this point we kind of have to be reaching somewhat of a saturation point as far as resolution. 1440p isnt even being thought about right now and I doubt developers would go out of their way to support it.

I cant remember which FPS had the longest length, but I would guess that the first Half Life and first Unreal had a long length.

Merrick,

Did you get the message I sent you?

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by DenonCI

Merrick,

Did you get the message I sent you?

Yeah. Thanks. The built-in HD-DVD drive was a fanboy dream.

However, I wouldnt be surprised if an HD-DVD derivative made a comeback as the format for the next gen console for the xbox. Obviously that wont happen for the PS4.

Think about it. Much higher storage capacity. Piracy would be VERY difficult since HD-DVD drives are virtually non-existant.

[MerrickG]

Jeff,

There is all this talk of a Mass Effect movie.

Will it actually happen?

Im hedging my bets that they wont be able to get it done and I use the cancellation of the Bioshock and Halo films as my justification of my opinion.

From what Im hearing is that the new Prince of Persia film isn't that terrible. Not great, but not terrible.

[Jeff Kleist]

However, I wouldnt be surprised if an HD-DVD derivative made a comeback as the format for the next gen console for the xbox. Obviously that wont happen for the PS4.

Extremely unlikely. Supporting custom production lines is highly expensive, and they'll want to have BD playback as a selling point. Will they have a custom disc layout on the Blu-ray physical medium, just like they do with DVD on 360? Absolutely

eff,

There is all this talk of a Mass Effect movie.

Will it actually happen?

ME is certainly strong enough to easily make a great movie. Will it happen? No clue. Out of the recent aquisitions, it certainly will be the easiest to adapt to film because the writing is so strong, and it's already paced and structured like a movie

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Extremely unlikely. Supporting custom production lines is highly expensive, and they'll want to have BD playback as a selling point. Will they have a custom disc layout on the Blu-ray physical medium, just like they do with DVD on 360? Absolutely



ME is certainly strong enough to easily make a great movie. Will it happen? No clue. Out of the recent aquisitions, it certainly will be the easiest to adapt to film because the writing is so strong, and it's already paced and structured like a movie

I cant see how they could do it in only one movie, but I do agree completely. But I thought Halo would be easy to adapt to a movie, too

When does Mass Effect come to PS3? PS3 exclusive owners need to check out that great series. Its worth buying a 360 over.

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Extremely unlikely. Supporting custom production lines is highly expensive, and they'll want to have BD playback as a selling point. Will they have a custom disc layout on the Blu-ray physical medium, just like they do with DVD on 360? Absolutely

Well 360 games are ripped and pirated quite easily though. PS3 games dont appear to have that problem.

Although Wii has it real bad.

[Jeff Kleist]

When does Mass Effect come to PS3? PS3 exclusive owners need to check out that great series. Its worth buying a 360 over.

Not till long after the 360 version. Right now I think it's more likley that ME: 2nd generation or whatever the second trilogy is called will

[MerrickG]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Not till long after the 360 version. Right now I think it's more likley that ME: 2nd generation or whatever the second trilogy is called will

Im finally able to put down Alan Wake. All I have left to do is complete Nightmare mode, but that will wait for a while.

Its now time for RDR.

How much of this do I have to look forward to?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfbwx...layer_embedded