Playstation Home: What is LL going to do about it?

Ask & Ye shall receive:

Wikipedia-DirectX

Ars Technica

I got more somewhere if I can dig 'em up. Can't find the hardcore technical one. HEH! Couldn't figure out the math anyways

the whole point of DIRECT X is to give total and direct access to your hardware

[story]
in 1995 mircosoft introduced the first 32 bit version of windows worldwide (some of us had it as soon as early 94 in beta but whatever)

this was a revolutionary OS and one of its major features was the complete and total domination of your hardware, becuase before then you had to litterly set up each and every program to run with your hardware and OS enviroment

but soon it was noticed that a BRAND NEW pentium 60-66 or even 90 mhz computer running windows 95 would get about the same performance as a much inferior 386 running at 40 mhz and the previous generation like a 486dx2-66 runnign dos would be more than 8x faster on the exact same programs, mostly games yes but also cad and art programs too, anything that required direct communication to the hardware

while sales of 95 went tru the roof for home and office applications, at the time most serious users, and gamers just couldnt stand the fact that their computer is now as slow as the one they bought a few years ago

the problem, which is still a fundimental part of the windows OS, is that nifty feature where all hardware is controled by the systems kernel, all communication is sent tru countless layers of software, finally winding up in the hardware manager, and then direct hardware functions were then emulated to enshure compatibility, eventho industry standards already took care of that years ago within hardware design

in order to attract game developers, cad designers and anyone else who developed serious horsepower software MS needed a solution to this horrible bottle neck

they settled on a subsystem that when accessed, bypassed all that crap and once again allowed direct access to hardware resources when it was needed, and when it wasnt the system delt with it all to enshure total compatibility and the higest possible stability

they named that subsystem DIRECT X
[/story]

so yea direct x is basicly a bastard child patch to windows to regain funcionality that has been a major part of pc design since day one, and eventho they keep adding new stuff to it, and making it better its still a patch to fix the fact that windows by itself doesnt allow direct hardware access

Thats for sure, LLABS can`t even get their ASSET servers In proper working order. Until they invest more monies in updated computer systems There is noway LLABS is going to beable to handle the next influx of users with out cutting back on some other parts of the game. Nomatter what those coders things they maqically pull out of the hat with their skills they have.............

1.) Better Hardware/Updated Hardware

2.) A better Support system other then JIRA

3.) Better coders with better skills (If they want LLABs to around another 2 years if that).

4.) Better PR not this mess they have tried to do during the past few years

5.) And last but not least a Blog that doesnt look like it been designed by a drunken person that forgot you need more then a shoe width to write comments within.

Sony is now gearing itsself to a more large scale gaming world. The playstation 3 version of Second Life is only the first step in the direct to a High user volume, High Graphic Version around the world 360 days 24 hours a day game. What Sony is learning from LLABS is HOW NOT to run a game platform. Within 2 years Sony will release its own Windows/Mac/Lin Game/Platform. Sony is not stupid ( well then they make beta ) But Sony has restructured they enertainment div but dumping its robotics Div and beefed up ther AV Div.......As you know Disney has come out or has been out with their ONLINE Game. So its natural Sony wil follow soon. Hitachi also in gaming. You will see more and more electrical device company(s) get deeper and deeper in 360 day 24 hour gaming business.

Thank you For Reading

Usagi

Wouldnt want total access anyways. Bad idea letting people have access to hardware in that fashion. People are already dumb enough to open unknown email attachements, visit un-safe websites, etc.

I dont wanna have to fix another AOL'ers mistakes.

As far as SOny's "home" catching on? Bleck! Read the reviews, the fan sites, Sony's hurting from the PS3. Nintendo's Wii is beating 'em!

Dont know why either? I always keep $600 laying around for buying a game-playing machine. Its small change! Any Minimum Wage earner or college kid can EASILY cough that up!!!

Another DX10 link: TomsHardware
(page 8 is how SL should look! )

I don't think it's a bad idea because of security reasons. It's a bad idea to access the hardware because your program wont work on different hardware.

Oh, look at the bountiful data that link has on DIRECTDX10!

DirectX 10

For the list of games that will support DirectX 10, see List of games with DirectX 10 support and List of Microsoft Vista game compatibility for DirectX 9 games.

Windows Vista ships with DirectX 10 and is the only version of Windows for which it is offered, and it has a large number of changes: DirectInput will be deprecated in favor of XInput, from the Xbox team. Likewise, DirectSound will also be deprecated in favor of XACT. DirectX 10 has also dropped support for hardware accelerated audio, opting instead to render sound in software on the CPU. DirectPlay is deprecated in favor of Games for Windows - LIVE whereas DirectShow will be deprecated in favor of Media Foundation, a different set of APIs debuting with Windows Vista to handle audio and video playback. DirectMusic will probably remain the only component intact.[citation needed]

In other words, useless to the point of "The main reason for DX10 is total access to your video card's capabilities." I.E. it doesn't say.



And that one just explained why it's Vista-only. Doesn't say anything about "total access to your video card's capabilities."

Try again.

the opensource client is bloated enough not to add the directx api , and for directx10 its just Microsoft's last card to shove windows vista up our asses.

I prefere OpenGL even if the sole reason is that it's not tieing us to one platform.

and who still use DirectSound? i thought every coders where using openAL

Can I make stuff? No? Not interested

Do I have to buy a very expensive console? Yes? Not interested

Am I going to face more censorship over there than with anything the crybabies whine about here? You betcha. Totally not interested.

its not about security and its nothing that the user does or even interacts with its how windows software is made

lets order a pizza !

using windows hardware manager:
you pick up the phone and place an order for a pizza hut pizza with the FDA, the FDA then holds an conferance to determine the most generic way to make that pizza using uniform blend of all the possible ingredients from every food provider, to enshure the most uniform product possible

they then send this standard out to your local pizza hut, who inturn has to take inventory of their ingrediants, figure out what they need to meet the FDA's regulations, and how to make it the pizza hut way while keeping with the FDA's regulation

pizza hut then sends back their proposal for approval, pending the approval they are then allowed to send your pizza back to the FDA so they can then send it to your house

FOR EACH PIZZA ORDERED!

using Direct X:
you pick up the phone and order a pizza, the FDA gets this order and noticed its addressed to the pizza orders division

that division then looks at the proposed pizza and decides if it is possible to make with a pre provided list of pizza hut ingrediants, if everything is A-OK they then place the order with pizza hut for you

pizza hut then makes the pizza, and then sends it to your house

using direct access:
you pick up the phone and place an order with pizza hut, and pizza hut sends it to your house

Any potential 'contender' can only be really considered if:

It incorporates all the many facets and layers within SL, including commerce, trading freedom, build freedom, inporting/exporting through the game, links to the internet, open source client, cross platform abilities...

For my money, those that come close, have only a minor comparrasion factor and do not exeed any single set of functions available in SL.. I dislike the 'spoon fed' parental attachments, designed entirely on commerce that only points back to the creators, Sony and the ilke. SL is a framework, not a closed box.

I point at it and laugh. "Thou shalt never have our level of sheer customizeability."

DirectX 10 libraries for XP (unofficial of course)

http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/DirectX_10_Compatibility_Libraries/1177263412/1

I totally agree. And those early problems become 10x harder to solve when the user doesn`t speak good english, sometimes, not even a word.
For what I´ve been reading in other non SL gamming forums, like 90% of the people try SL and quit SL same day.
I think Lindens should develop an efficient newbies-help structure. Maybe a program with REAL multilingual presential help? volunteers?.
Websites help, Blog, Forums, F1 help... are all ok, but has been proved they are not enough and obviously newcomers don't know what and where are the resources to look for help, lol!

I will.
I will buy a playstation 3 the same day this Home thing is out.
And I´ve not bought a toy for myself since long, long time ago.

Have you thought of getting a Wii? I believe that the Wii (with no games) comes with effectively the same thing as PS Home.

Believe it or not, I see some little differences:

Wii = Interactivity. Getting off that couch potato ass & moving. I like it! Graphically, its not as good as XB360 or PS3.

PS3 = Expensive. No real "killer" titles for it. Slow start out of the gate (ie, slow sales). Graphically its as good as a console can get.

I'd take the Wii just for the fun part. If I wanted to sit on my ass all day with a controller in hand, I'd play SL

Again, just like all systems, more games will start coming out for the PS3, just like they did for the 360. It was poorly marketed initially, but it may very well bounce back and become as popular as it's predesessor. The wii does rock though.

I'm on the fence about Home being a major competitor... SL has a lot of problems, for sure, but I support the Lindens. A lot of them are working very hard to make this game enjoyable... It's not exactly an easy task to complete.

However, despite any number of people who do quit because of those problems, SL is still a computer game. An MMO, at it's core, and computer gamers aren't always console gamers (though it happens, like me, who tends to be more of a console gamer.) I just can't be sure how popular something like Home would be. It lacks what I love about Second Life, anyway.

Home is going to very homogenized, whereas Second Life has creativity abounding.

Home and Second Life cater to different types of markets.

Okay, My Boy, Here you are:

DX10 & GPUs

TRY to comprehend whats being said instead of reading 1 line & being lost in big words.

And note the 2nd Paragraph:

Direct 3D 10 is an opportunity for Microsoft to start all over again or almost. This means that the remnants of fixed functions inherited from the previous DirectX versions will disappear. This simplification of the API, which makes that D3D 10 will only support D3D10 GPUs, should make it lighter and less resource greedy, especially when driving the GPU which currently consumes a lot of processor time to send commands, data and various verifications. Globally, Microsoft worked a lot in that direction: reducing the processor time used in the API.

If they deliver as promised, and THIS is what to expect, then I think its pretty frickin' sweet. Beats the graphics on SL by miles. And dont watch the "streams". Streaming video is Blah. Get the HD video!

I'm just sitting & waiting for the crap drivers companies pushed out for Vista to get straightened out & these DX10 Games to come out. Crysis will definitely be on my list!! Then maybe UT3?

Yes- that too. I was thinking more of the boneheads that find something "buried" in their OS's, run it & start playing with stuff that they have no idea what it does.

Also, if a user could access hardware directly the first thing that comes to mind is "How hard would it be to trick people into running something to mess up their hardware?"

Well personally I'm glad to see that so many people have pretty much spat at my original posts, suggesting that we indeed have nothing to worry about with Home, although I suspect that some people may have got a little confused about why I think it could be a problem, namely that there are a lot of PS3s out there (less than Sony would like though I admit) which means there are a lot of potential Home users since Sony could shove it down your face as MS do with XBox Live!

There are millions and millions of PCs out there also that have never seen Second Life but there's nobody telling you about it everytime you log on to your OS of choice, so many don't know anything about it. Here in the UK at least I've not seen a single advert for SL. I read more about it on theregister.com where they bash it and us and call it Sad World.

Anyway, in response to those who read my post and understood it as "I have a powerful PC and I want to be able to use that power" well of course I do, what a crazy comment to make! And I know everyone else doesn't have a super-powerful system, which is why Second Life supports Level-of-Detail amongst other things. Chances are that I already see a much better SL than most users in that objects and the ground are smoother, textures are sharper etc and I can experience a heavily lit build with no problems, so the infrastructure to allow some to see a better SL than others is already in place... I'm just asking for more options.

And yes, I know OpenGL can do a lot more than what SL is demonstrating at the moment, so why don't LL look at implementing some of these wonderful features, because every month that they're left out is another month we fall behind. We're already years behind and when I recently fished out my Nintendo 64 I found that a load of games on there look better than SL. So you know, the N64 was launched in 1996.

Oh, and sculpted prims? Nice way to restrict the use of a whole prim type to only those who know how to use an external modelling package. Why would I want to do that? Why can't I create one in Second Life? And does anyone else think that all this means is that there will be more realistic penises flying around very soon?

Exactly. I don't get on Second Life anymore to just stand around and hang out with people. I mean, I do, but usually I am engaged in something while I am hanging out with people, not just showing off how cool my place is. Home looks visually stunning, for sure, but I love the openness of SL. SL is way more creative, to me.

Much better.
And I did read everything, both times previously.



The Wii isn't meant to be graphically intensive, stunning, or impressive. It's about GAMEPLAY.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=uK8CV-mvw5g
"But I'm multilayered, well rounded for multiple players and ready to rule your life with all my multiapplications and multiambitions! I am large and in charge."
Huh. Good for you, PS3. Now. Let me spend the same money and get 3 times the games and have fun.

What good is a graphically rich environment if there's no point in wandering around in it with nothing to do?

Oh, and for the people who don't know, 128 bit color is pointless unless you're doing picture editing and modification. 8 bit color is already 60% more color than the average human can distinguish (10 million colors vs. your screen at 16 million).
Why do we need 340,282,366,920,938,463,463,374,607,431,770,000,000 colors?
(And I think thats per RBG channel, so cube that number for total colors or 3.94 * 10^115)