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I don't think PC gaming will die. After all, consoles are basically just PCs that have restricted operating systems.
The Playstation 3 is an example of how the gap between PCs and consoles is closing - its price was very high, despite having more features.
Basically, the more features consoles are given, the more they will be like a PC, and the higher their price will be.
Consoles are entirely dependent on development of the same components as PCs are - e.g. chipsets etc. Id rather spent $1000 on a quad-core PC with a nVidia 8800 or 9800 graphics card.
I've just installed Digsby, and I think it's excellent!
It is really easy to set up, looks good, and is synced with all my mail and messenging accounts, plus my social networking accounts! Mem usage is 130,000K, with 0 CPU usage if you're not typing in it.
There don't seem to be any bugs or problems with it so far, but as far as i can see, it's a must-have. 4.5/5 rating (it doesnt have skype or xfire compatibility yet, or not as far as i know). I'm logged into AIM, Google Talk, MSN, Yahoo, ICQ, Myspace and Facebook simultaneously.
I thought I might post an update, because there's been quite alot of progress made in this particular area of software design.
Trillian Astra is in invite-only Alpha testing (I haven't been able to get myself invited...) and is designed for cross-platform and multi-protocol use. I.e. on different devices (including the iPhone) and on difference IM protocols (e.g. MSN, AIM etc.). I use Trillian Pro at the moment, which is pretty decent. I connect to my MSN, Gmail and XFire accounts simultaneously. Astra will permit connections to: IRC, MSN, AIM, Yahoo!, Google Talk, Jabber, XFire, MySpace IM and more.
PlayXpert is designed as an alternative to xfire with multi-protocol support (currently for MSN, AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, Google Talk and XFire), including built-in Voip and also in-game chat. This looks pretty decent to me, and I've already signed up to be notified of its release. I do suspect, however, that it will hog resources.
I reckon America's Army is pretty accurate for what it is. Once you're injured, you're injured for the entire round, unlike COD4 where you regenerate within a few minutes. Moreover, the weapon damage is realistic - a couple of bullets to anyone will render them dead.
The most unrealistic thing about AA is that it always seems to be a "storm-and-enter" or "get-to-the-objective" style of gameplay, which does not really suit the US Army's tactical style. For most soldiers in the US Army, they will be involved in urban patrols, reconstruction, demolition and security. The maps in AA reflect the nature of the work of certain tactical elements within the US Army - Special Forces groups and military police, which would specialise in seizing structures.
BF2 is probably more realistic when it comes to the actual nature of war, with its larger area of engagement, and a more realistic "take-and-hold" approach. IRL, soldiers in battle will probably be fighting for a strategic location, e.g a small town, rather than battling terrorist cells in a remote power station without air support, special forces, or even vehicles (as is the case in AA).
The next stage in realism is going to be the realism of the bullet damage. E.g. if you shoot someone in the head, their skull is split and their brain is demolished. This stage of realism will probably not be reached for most games, as they would force a large percentage of gamers (little kiddies and pansies) out of the market, as the games would be far too gruesome.
I'm a PC gamer through and through. Consoles can be fun, but, as the article says, they just don't match up against Quad Cores with nvidia 8800s and 3.5GB RAM
I installed Ubuntu properly (using the old version) and mucked around with it for hours. Then I reformated the whole drive with Windows XP, because I got bored of Vista.
Basically, I can't boot Vista either from my HDD or from the Vista DVD.
I tried out Ubuntu 6.06 on my Vista Home Premium laptop, and was halfway through installation when I decided to cancel it. When I restarted the laptop, Vista would not load - it would simply be stuck on the boot screen (with the
green loading bar).
When I press F12 and try to boot from the CD, it says that it is loading from the CD, then the screen changes to the boot screen (green loadingbar), then the screen goes blank.
I have left it for over 30 minutes in this blank-screen-state.
When I press F8 to try a repair, it goes to the boot screen, then goes black.
After each attempt I must hold the power button to turn the laptop off. When I turn it on again, and select Startup Repair as my startup option, it goes to the boot screen, then goes black.
I’ve also reset the BIOS to the default factory settings.
This laptop is new, and Vista was functioning perfectly before I tried out Ubuntu. I have read about restoring the MBR with a bootsect thing, but I don’t know how to access the Command Prompt before actually booting up.
I played the demo and found it to be pretty underwhelming. It just felt like the older CoDs reskinned.
It had the same get-to-the-next-objective feel.
It doesn't seem to add many new features. It would have been more fun if the weaponry was customisable, and for the player to be given squad/fire team control... Having said that, I do like the class customisation!
In short, it feels like a console game on PC. All you do is walk around, and the other guys just follow and run around knocking doors down whenever your player activates a scripted trigger. The game does not allow the player to make their own decisions, nor does it allow the player to really lead their squad. Instead of giving players the actual ability to lead the US Marine squad in the demo mission, the game makers have given players the illusion of leadership.
They should have made it more like Rainbow Six or Ghost Recon - this would have been very good for the squad-based urban-warfare-style street-fighting that real wars (modern ones, at least) are all about.
It's not really "Modern Warfare" if the player (who is an NCO) is unable to command his squad/fire team. Squad combat is the key to fighting a war with guerillas, yet this doesn't really exist in CoD4.
If you liked the older CoD games and are looking for exactly the same thing with better graphics, buy this game.
If you liked the older CoD games but are looking for something different with better graphics and cooler gameplay, buy Crysis.
OK, I'm going be buying a new laptop to use at school, and I need a decent organiser/calendar application to record important dates etc.
A friend of mine uses Mozilla Sunbird, which is decent. However, I wouldn't mind using one that can be kept on the desktop (i.e. as a widget in Vista), so that I can keep an eye on my calendar at all times, without having to open the software. I would prefer a "lighter" piece of software, although the laptop will have 4GB of RAM, so it doesn't really matter.
