People taking the extreme too far

[Lord Krunk]

20 years with nothing but sheer incompetence and, Microsoft is still one of the richest most powerful companies in the world. They must be doing something right.

lol, now that funny.

3 Letters.

D.O.S.

They only needed to get 1 thing right, and they did it.

'Nuff Said.

 

[shadow skill]

20 years with nothing but sheer incompetence and, Microsoft is still one of the richest most powerful companies in the world. They must be doing something right.

lol, now that funny.

3 Letters.

D.O.S.

They only needed to get 1 thing right, and they did it.

'Nuff Said.

You mean a messed up clone of Unix?

 

[poleboy]

I think MS has good intentions, seriously. But trying to cater to every person who owns a PC (okay, 90%) is bound to fail. The problem is that they're trying to make something everyone can use, which is also shiny and new and pretty and idiot-proof but still highly customizable for an advanced user. They're trying to go in 15 directions at once, and fails to get anything but the shiny part right.

 

[neems]

(by my computer i can run crysis on all high, i can't go onto very high because i don't have directX10 because i have windows XP and windows XP only goes up to directX9)

Google for Crysis Ultra settings config or somesuch (or check www.tweakguides.com), Crysis can be run at max on XP, it just needs a bit of fiddling. You wouldn't believe the difference between high and ultra, it'll knock your socks off.


I would also like to point out that -

a) Crysis is a great game, and
b) I do not live in my mum's basement. We don't have one, I sleep in the loft.

 

[lewa nua]

Technically they didn't even get DOS right. Bill gates bought DOS and the NT Kernel and Office and... you get the picture. They have a grip on gamers for DX, even though openGL IS BETTER (Loves ID games) I use vista but only for DX10. I miss MAC being the Leader "sniff" anyone who owned one back then will know what I'm talking about.

 

[Geoffrey42]

It's like how Xbox gets you with the wireless network adapter. *shakes fist*

The solution to this is referred to as "ethernet cable". For static installations (like desktops and consoles), it is:
1. Cheaper
2. Faster

I am honestly irritated that the Wii short-changed me on the ethernet adapter, and wants me to pay 24.99 just to plug it in.

I find flaws in your argument. First, demand for RAM will not make it cheaper, in fact it could go up in price. Second, I don't care if graphics improve drastically every 2 years. Graphics do not make a game any more or less fun, I'd rather they made games longer, more enjoyable, and actually beta-tested rather than new and improved visuals which cost a fortune to display.

This is just my theorizing (I don't actually recall this from any of my time in economics), but isn't there a minimum level of demand to encourage cost-reduction? Essentially, there has to be enough demand to create a market with multiple suppliers, so that competition between the suppliers makes them look for ways to lower costs, and subsequently undercut their competitor and steal market share. In the monopoly, all cost savings go directly to the manufacturer. Agreed entirely that increased demand for RAM will raise the price in general.

On the note of graphics though: more RAM, and more powerful processors, do enable certain things that have an impact on gameplay. It is just a shame that most developers spend it all on graphics, instead of gameplay. I'd rather see those cycles spent on AI, Physics, and level of interactivity with the environment.

It pleases me that technology continues on this forward march, and that there is always software out there pushing the boundaries. The market just shouldn't focus/exist on that boundary. Similar to what you are saying, I think.