I am so proud of this thread. I like reading Joystiq a lot, but I am tired of the ranting about anyone that has any negativity towards games. If Thompson is at one end of the spectrum as an irrational anti-game zealot, Joystiq, when responding to any critisism of games and gaming, is at the other end -- just as irrational, but safe, since they are "preaching to the choir."

I would have thought this thread would have been filled with folks blasting the clinic, but instead there are a wealth of people that are achknowledging that, hey, maybe this is a real problem.

Not all games deserve respect. Games, just like all modern culture (TV, movies, art, books [ha!] can instill poor values and desensitize people to hate and violence. They can also increase reflexes, provide a sense of community, entertain and educate.

I think we all need to realize that, yes, there are some objectionable aspects of games and gaming. Very few things in life are all good or all bad; most stuff falls into those grey areas...

They'll show off some hardware like an Intel iBook, but it won't ship until mid-year. No DVR, no FrontRow 2, no Apple Plasma. Maybe a peek at 10.5, but since that is more a developer thing, I can't imagine Apple spoiling it before WWDC. I'd imagine a new iLife and iWork update, but all told, this one is going to be kind of boring.

The one more thing ... how about an Airport express-like device that allows video streaming? Jobs has said repeatedly that he doesn't believe in the "computer in the living room" type of media center. That would fulfill his vision of content being stored on the computer while being enjoyed in the living room...

I was thinking the same thing. I can't afford a $10,000 TV, but that seems like a pretty good price for an LCD that nice (assuming, of course, all the other specs work out - response time, contrast ratios, etc). I'm going with #1 - did you forget a "0"?

Lon - check out the DViCo Fusion 5 & the MYHD 130. They can also record unencrypted QAM over digital cable. Apparently the DViCo software sucks, and MCE won't recognize QAM channels (only OTA), so MyHD *might* be the only real option, but there are other hardware options out there that handle QAM.

Yeah, I don't like the idea of addons like this and the hard drive. Ultimately I think it makes them under utilized, like SegaCD or the 32X. if I am a game developer, and I am going to spend $10 million making and marketing a game, I want that release to go to the widest possible audience. If I look out at the market and see that, yeah, 75% of the people have the hard drive, but 25% don't, am I going to make the game require a hard drive and alienate that 25% (or 10 or 5) or do I scale my game to the widest possible audience and not require the hard drive?

Same thing for the HD-DVD drive. Let's say it runs another $200 on top of the 360 Premium System. Do I, as a developer, spend more time and money developing high res textures to fill the space and then market the game only to the small segment that bought the HD-DVD drive?

And now, with two seperate add-ons, I have more choices to make. Do I make a game that requires HDDVD and not the hard drive? Use Both and limit my market even more?

As a gamer, do I now have to study the box to make sure my Xbox meets the system requirements (currently the domain of PC games and one of the reasons consoles are tempting to me - true plug n play).

It just seems to confuse the product. Microsoft either should have waited and sold the system with the HD-DVD drive (which would have lost them even more money per box) or decided that the XBox doesn't need to be everything and let it stand with the DVD drive.

My cent and a half, anyway :-)