4649

I did that in 1986, by aiming a TVcam to a TV.

I am more excited for the posibilities of livebloging and sideboobs. TV is hopefully a dyiing technology, the last people that will abandon it will be sport fans.

4650

I can hope. Since it was my Kinect, not the box itself, they might skip me but I’d sure appreciate it.

4651

I wholeheartedly agree!

I got it on a whim yesterday and am thoroughly enjoying it.

The fact that it’s always making you play against your friends by showing their best drive, best approach, best put, … before each shot is a great idea. It makes even single player courses have an element of online competition. And it’s a good excuse to shower you with more XP.

Speaking of which, I’ve been erasing a few of your flags from the courses today. :)

I’ve also run a Rivals course against unknowns (it didn’t find anyone on my Friends list who had run one) with my level 5 Golfer in case you want to take me on.

Wendelius

4652

Damn you both. Downloading…

4653

Nice! What’s your XBox Live ID? I’ll add you to my friendly opponents list. :)

Wendelius

4654

Yeah, I’m going to grab Powerstar Golf as well. Feel free to add me (Tristero).

4655

Meh, I find it hard to get too worked up over that, and optimizing our power consumption is like a semi-hobby of mine. One $13 Cree bulb will pretty much offset that, and people tend to have lights on for more hours than they watch TV. If I really wanted to reduce power consumption while watching TV, I wouldn’t use a surround receiver and powered subwoofer either, but then it’s really not the same thing is it? In general compute and display devices are taking up higher and higher shares of household power budgets and that is just going to accelerate as people offset the total cost delta by reducing consumption in other areas, either via efficiencies or changes in consumption patterns. This is likely to result in a net reduction to total usage, due to usage patterns and physics.

4656

One $13 Cree bulb will pretty much offset that

Huh? How does a 9W bulb offset a 55W or 65W difference in power consumption?

4657

Because that 9W bulb would otherwise be a 100W incandescent or a CFL (I forget how much those go for)

4658

Oh, I was assuming the energy efficient bulb was already in place. Because, really, get with the programme people. Also, filament GU10s burn out at a ridiculous rate, as I’ve discovered in my latest flat.

4659

Our house, which we bought two years ago last September, was filled with the old bulbs that have all gone out one by one, and I’ve been replacing them with the more expensive energy efficient bulbs. It’s actually made a nice dent in our electric bill compared to last year.

4660

Edit: Never mind. Explained above.

4661

I picked up powerstar golf too after reading this thread, i’d love some golfing buddies: scott dobros

4662

I’ll get the golf game probably

4663

I’m in on PowerStar Golf, though haven’t had time to play it yet: Editer

4664

I watched the Giantbomb Xbox One videos, and while there are some really nice things in the One’s interface, it seems as if it was designed by somebody who didn’t play Xbox 360 on a regular basis. It’s missing too many things we’ve gotten used to: streaming music while we’re playing, a party system that’s workable and easy to use, and universal settings like controller invert. They should consider hiring somebody for the design team who plays games and knows how a 360 works.

4665

This Kotaku interview with Phil Spencer about the new Xbox mentions one concern I have with microtransactions:

And if fans don’t like a micropayment? Don’t buy it. Spencer said that he’s making sure that all of the Xbox One game (sic) include feedback mechanisms that allow Microsoft to closely track what gamers buy. “I want to be able to learn from what we put in,” he said. “So let’s make sure we are crafting the game and the analytics so we can see what the consumers—the gamers—like and don’t—if you assume buying habits are a reflection of what people like. So that we can craft the experience better for the gamer.”

Is that safe to assume? That players are paying for these increasingly aggressive micro-buyables only because they like them? That strikes me as a risky assumption. I can imagine a scenario where a sizable number of players are paying through gritted teeth for the opportunity to experience something they want and think should be free, while harboring a growing sense of resentment toward the responsible companies that could damage future business. I’d like to hear what people who know more about the business model have to say.

4666

The problem is that most Microsoft investors don’t know, and wouldn’t care to know, the difference between people grudgingly buying DLC and enthusiastically doing it when the fiscal reports get published. Profit is profit. If it keeps selling, why stop?

4667

Sure sure. Short term thinking at its finest. But that seems like dumb business to me. It’s hard to believe their thinking is so simple.

4668

You guys really didn’t think games were going to really stay at $60? They might as well have just jacked them up another ten bucks and been done with it. Instead we get endless micro-transactions and day 1 DLC. Yaaaay…