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From: scott
Subject: Re: Alan Wake, AAARGH!
Date: 11 Jun 2010 05:08:43
Message: <4c11fd1b$1@news.povray.org>
> I mean they've probably got all the connections in one of those big block 
> terminals to prevent you from knowing which connection is which. (That's 
> assuming there even *is* an input to the amplifier other than the tuner 
> and CD DAC inside the head unit itself...)

I would imagine all the electronics are in the same box, it will simply have 
speaker output on the back, plus some connector for the optional CD changer. 
The CD changer probably has analogue inputs there, but you'd also need to 
supply the correct signals to allow the head unit to switch to it.

> Just courious now, but... Does a Renault Megane actually *have* an ECU?

Probably a good dozen or two for various stuff, like controlling the 
emissions and fuel consumption, the antilock brakes, the onboard diagnostics 
(OBD) etc.  All cars have been been required by law to have an OBD port for 
about the last 10 years, which kind of requires they have a CAN bus and 
associated ECUs to generate and collect the data.


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From: Phil Cook v2
Subject: Re: Alan Wake, AAARGH!
Date: 11 Jun 2010 06:42:50
Message: <op.vd4tdpugmn4jds@phils>
And lo On Thu, 10 Jun 2010 17:52:07 +0100, Darren New <dne### [at] sanrrcom>  
did spake thusly:

> Darren New wrote:
>> Is that what it's called? I'll have to see if I can get that for the  
>> xbox.
>
> Neat.
> http://www.xbox.com/en-us/games/b/burnoutparadise/default.htm
>
> For those who don't know what we're talking about:
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-RjsMdOG6E
>
> Imagine that where one of the sub-games is seeing how much destruction  
> you can cause in a busy intersection.

Yup that be the one; going dirt-cheap too. Better yet you don't need to  
imagine that bit about the sub-game - it is a sub-game! It's called  
"Showtime".

One of the unofficial sub-games is - the accelerator must be held down,  
boost must be used when available, pass the controller when you crash; so  
much fun in company "Ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod, owwwww. My turn"

-- 
Phil Cook

--
I once tried to be apathetic, but I just couldn't be bothered
http://flipc.blogspot.com


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From: nemesis
Subject: Re: Alan Wake, AAARGH!
Date: 11 Jun 2010 07:35:00
Message: <web.4c121eb7fb36904da4659c30@news.povray.org>
Patrick Elliott <sel### [at] npgcablecom> wrote:
> It has jack to do with the "difficulty of optimizing for a PC". The
> consoles **are** PCs, and the hardware they are running is usually 3
> generations older than the shit they "optimize" the PC version to run
> on. This is **de-optimization**.

That is the catch:  it's not "difficulty of optimizing for a PC", it's "who
cares when you can just throw more hardware?"  Why should the developers care
when they can both save time and give hardware makers a sales boost?

Not such with consoles, which sport amazing tech at release time that remains
the same throughout all its usual 5-years cycle.  They just gotta optimize it so
it's always shiny on the old hardware and sells well.  Game-focused machines
also tend to get better sales, less piracy and better marketing than their PC
counterparts, which is why developers tend to focus on them during their
lifetime than on edgy PC hardware... which in turn just gets console ports
running at 256FPS and 2160p to justify the hardware...


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From: Mike Raiford
Subject: Re: Alan Wake, AAARGH!
Date: 11 Jun 2010 08:37:25
Message: <4c122e05$1@news.povray.org>
On 6/11/2010 3:19 AM, Invisible wrote:

> I'm sure you can take it out. The problem is that you can't put anything
> else in its place, because it won't be the right shape and won't have
> the custom Renault-specific connectors. (They're probably different on
> every model of Renault too, just to stop you taking the stereo from an
> expensive car and putting it into a cheap car.)
>

I said it before: You can get an aftermarket dash panel to fit the new 
radio in the car. Sometimes even the manufacturer supplies a suitable 
panel (expect to pay through the nose for it)

and, yes, the radio will usually have a custom wiring harness. You can 
get an adapter from any shop that sells head units. Just match your 
model with the selection available. They're usually model specific, 
sometimes they'll have the same for 3 models.

The times you'll run into problems is when the audio system has an 
external amplifier, as these are usually adjusted specifically to the 
head unit's output power and sometimes won't even work with an 
aftermarket unit. (Bose systems are notorious for this...)

>
> Just courious now, but... Does a Renault Megane actually *have* an ECU?
>

If it's been built in the last 2 decades and doesn't have a carburetor, 
then it probably has an ECU. If it's been built in the last 15 years, 
then it most definitely has an ECU due to OBD requirements. (Actually, I 
don't know if the European countries have a mandate for OBD II or not)

-- 
~Mike


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From: Warp
Subject: Re: Alan Wake, AAARGH!
Date: 11 Jun 2010 12:21:11
Message: <4c126277@news.povray.org>
nemesis <nam### [at] gmailcom> wrote:
> That is the catch:  it's not "difficulty of optimizing for a PC", it's "who
> cares when you can just throw more hardware?"  Why should the developers care
> when they can both save time and give hardware makers a sales boost?

  Also, since typically the console version sells about 10 times as many
copies and the PC version, there really isn't very much incentive in
concentrating on the latter.

-- 
                                                          - Warp


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From: Darren New
Subject: Re: Alan Wake, AAARGH!
Date: 11 Jun 2010 12:25:25
Message: <4c126375$1@news.povray.org>
scott wrote:
> Then you probably need to re-optimise your vector math code for PC CPUs 
> (or maybe the compiler does this automatically, IDK).

I don't know about vector math, but I thought it was cool that the XNA 
compiler would hoist loop constants out of the shader code and onto the CPU 
side. I never heard of a compiler doing cross-CPU optimization like that before.

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
    Eiffel - The language that lets you specify exactly
    that the code does what you think it does, even if
    it doesn't do what you wanted.


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From: Warp
Subject: Re: Alan Wake, AAARGH!
Date: 11 Jun 2010 12:29:09
Message: <4c126455@news.povray.org>
Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
> I've heard a number of people say this. (E.g., there are certain people 
> where every time we have a CSS match, they have to restart their PC a 
> dozen times before CSS will launch without crashing.) I find this rather 
> baffling. I have *never* seen CSS crash, even once.

  The most irritating thing is that it's almost impossible to know what
ultimately is the cause for the crashes and hangups. Is it a bug in the
game itself? Is it a bug in the display driver, or perhaps in some other
driver? Is it a bug in Windows? Could it be the hardware overheating? Is
the game simply somehow slightly incompatible with my precise brand of
graphics card (yeah, it does happen sometimes even though DirectX should
make sure it doesn't)? Maybe some combination of any of the previous, which
when they just happen to coincide causes the game to crash?

> >   Of course there are drawbacks too. For one, games deliberately have no
> > support for mouse and keyboard.

> And this is the main reason why I will never, ever buy a console.

  There are many games which are actually more enjoyable to play with a
game controller than with keyboard+mouse. I have a Logitech Rumblepad 2,
and eg. Batman Arkham Asylum for Windows was a delight to play with it.
I really didn't miss the keyboard+mouse at all. It's just that kind of game.

  Of course first-person shooters are a completely different story.

-- 
                                                          - Warp


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From: Warp
Subject: Re: Alan Wake, AAARGH!
Date: 11 Jun 2010 12:30:11
Message: <4c126493@news.povray.org>
Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
> Warp wrote:
> >   Ok, this is a bit hard to confess, but I sold myself out, so to speak,
> > kind of. I went and bought an Xbox 360.

> But the big question is... IS ALAN WAKE ANY GOOD??? ;-)

  Didn't buy it yet. I'm still undecided whether I'm going to pay the full
price for it (especially given that Xbox 360 games are significantly more
expensive than the same games for the PC) or if I'll wait for the price to
drop a bit.

-- 
                                                          - Warp


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From: Darren New
Subject: Re: Alan Wake, AAARGH!
Date: 11 Jun 2010 13:29:24
Message: <4c127274$1@news.povray.org>
Warp wrote:
> Batman Arkham Asylum for Windows was a delight to play with it.

Yeah. It needed a couple more buttons tho. I never did get used to the 
"double-tap to do this, single-tap to do something completely different." If 
I have to think about how to trigger an action even while I'm fighting the 
end boss, the control layout needs work.

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
    Eiffel - The language that lets you specify exactly
    that the code does what you think it does, even if
    it doesn't do what you wanted.


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From: Darren New
Subject: Re: Alan Wake, AAARGH!
Date: 11 Jun 2010 13:32:40
Message: <4c127338$1@news.povray.org>
Warp wrote:
>   Didn't buy it yet. 

You know it's going to be expensive when they're not selling it online yet.

-- 
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
    Eiffel - The language that lets you specify exactly
    that the code does what you think it does, even if
    it doesn't do what you wanted.


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