Sega Dreamcasts Cause of Death?
May 23, 2007
What ever happened to that game console we used to call the Sega Dreamcast? Why did it suddenly disappear after 2 years of production? Was the government involved in brainwashing our minds like in George Orwell’s 1984? All these questions will be answered as I investigate the Dreamcast’s devastating decline.
Introduction
In the beginning it was good. Sega released a solid piece of hardware called the Dreamcast that was easy to develop games for and kicked the competition’s rear ends in terms of graphics and sound. It entered the market with a strong start, selling quite well upon its release. Although the Dreamcast lacked 3rd party support, Sega’s games were aplenty and the very best in quality. Sega seemed to be heading in the right direction, but two years later the company abruptly discontinued the Dreamcast.
There were 3 main causes to the downfall of the Dreamcast.
1. Piracy Issues
The Dreamcast had a serious hardware flaw which gave it the ability to play copied games and downloaded ones from the internet. Many people chose to play the pirated versions of the games rather than shell out $40-$50 at a local gaming store for the real thing. As a result, Sega was losing money on the games that its developers had spent hours designing. I call that a sad waste of talent.
Best of British: Gizmondo Doomed To Fail?
May 22, 2007
The Gizmondo combined media player, phone and gaming gadget went on sale in the last month for £229. The device sports an impressive spec: - It can be used to play games, music tracks and movies, it can take and store digital photos and can send SMS, MMS and emails, GPS, GPRS and Bluetooth for multi-player gaming.
From April 22nd you’ll be able to buy a Gizmondo for £100 less - a cool 44% saving. In return, for this discount, Gizmondo users will have to watch three "Smart Adds" per day.
The Smart Adds will mainly consist of video clips and small games that come with redemption codes or barcodes that are wirelessly delivered to your Gizmondo over its GPRS connection.
I’m not so sure that this option is cheaper….Ok, 44% less but who pays the data cost for downloading the ad? Even if each ad is only 100Kb (I’m guessing they’ll be more but I’m being generous) then on my network (Vodafone) at £2.35/Mb these ads would cost me £257!!!
Other reasons why I think the Gizmondo is destined for failure are:
Aerial Blimp Refueling of UAVs
May 21, 2007
Aerial refueling from blimps might be easier than we think. Currently we use C-130s to fuel Boeing Attack helicopters and Large Cargo Type helicopters, which can be a dangerous operation. The C-130 must slow down to very slow speeds and the helicopters are flying at high rates of speed. The problems occur when there is turbulence and the fully loaded with fuel C-130 is in the middle of a transfer of fuel. There are ways to slow down a C-130 and reduce it’s turbulent airflows:
http://worldthinktank.net/wttbbs/index.php?showtopic=325
http://worldthinktank.net/wttbbs/index.php?showtopic=328
But when we are taking about refueling a swarm of UAVs it maybe very difficult to do so by use of a large aircraft. Small UAVs or MAVs will be quite adversely affected by even the slightest vortex or turbulence. Our solution is to provide a lighter than air slow moving craft with very mild and predictive induced airflows, slower speeds and a way to block wind while refueling a fleet or swarm of UAVs or MAVs without loss of aircraft or failure to complete refueling.
UAV GeoBat Balloon Radar Decoy Strategies
May 20, 2007
A GeoBat small UAV might be the perfect platform for an enemy radar decoy and disruption balloon concept. A swarm of GeoBat UAVs could be hand launched and sent into enemy territory and travel using tiny amounts of fuel. Please read this report first:
http://worldthinktank.net/wttbbs/index.php?showtopic=387
The GeoBat would fly into the enemy’s area and land in water or land. If it landed in water it would sink itself using a small hook and fishing line to take it below the surface of the water and anchor itself floating in the water. In the wings of the GeoBat would be a deployable balloon, which would inflate via satellite command and the GeoBat would surface in the water and float up into the sky or arise from the land where it last landed. The balloon would be made of thin aluminum foil and contain a gas which was used to inflate the GeoBat stored in a small compressed tube on board.
UAV; Hunter II and RQ-1A Predator UAVs Needs Additional Modifications
May 20, 2007
Since the Predator has inverted "V" shaped stabilizers these stabilizers should contain wheel pants and wheels underneath to lessen weight and save costs in manufacturing, we need to bring down the costs of these units. Less mechanism will save weight and we can use that savings in weight for increased payload or more fuel to extend loitering time. I propose the rear Landing gear incorporated into this V-Tail assembly. Let’s move Murphy out of these aircraft and keep it simple, cheap to build and efficient.
http://www.danshistory.com/uav.shtml
This is being proposed to reduce costs of future UAV squadrons in manufacturing and to save weight and fuel efficiency for longer missions and greater range to provide eyes in the sky and security to the battlespace and our nations and allied borders. Redesigning UAV choices in your battlespace UAV siumulations and computer games will be necessary to keeping pace with the real world war planners as the technology hyperspaces the world of virtual reality.
Many of the current UAV models are being looked at for improvement in efficiency for added range, additional payload and stealth. Are you designs viable, are they better than actaul? Are you learning from aerospace engineers or are you still teaching them lessons in what works?
Laying Smart Dust With Smart Munitions
May 19, 2007
We believe that we need to make the Smart Munitions even smarter and incorporate their decent to the target to include the release of smart dust. We believe this is important as more often than not the battlespace includes urban areas where non-combatants and citizens not involved in the conflict reside. It is important to be all knowing with real time information available to those involved in the net-centric leadership positions.
We believe that with proper launching point from Aircraft along an artificial rim of the top of an hour-glass within a grid of a giant cylinder whose base is 3 times it’s upper rim; we can provide a perfect smart dust array grid on and close to the ground.
(BTW; we have drawings similar to the artist’s conceptions in Aviation Week and Space Technology when describing and introducing new battlespace EA and Net-centric Systems of Advanced weapon design contractors of this project and concept). The rest of the hard core details are in our minds.
Sapphire Tipped UAVs for Midair Collisions to Defeat Enemy UAV Swarm Threats
May 18, 2007
Defeating enemy UAV Swarms will be a challenge for our Net-Centric Blue Force Team. When our enemy launches 1000 UAVs at our forces in the battlespace, will we be able to shoot them all down? The answer is most likely no. Even if we match each incoming UAV with a rocket intercept response or use a new technology THEL response to focus it’s beam individually to take out each UAV, will we achieve our goal? Is the kill ratio an acceptable answer? In other words is it acceptable to admit we will have UAVs, perhaps single mission UAVs get through to our troops, Aircraft Carrier, encampment or political building? What is in those UAVs? Biological threat, C4, lesser explosive or grenade type munitions? The idea of 1000 incoming model airplane size threats at relatively slow speeds, under 100 Knots is a real problem. In a Carrier Battle Group we have capabilities of defending against such things and perhaps could prevail. But what about "Tent City" in Iraq or along the North Korea Border?
Directional Afterburners for Tighter Turns, Vertical Flight and Agility
May 17, 2007
Directional Thrusters can increase the maneuverability of just about any modern jet fighter.
http://www.f-16.net/modules.php?op=modload…artid=56&page=1 .
Directional thrusters and thrust vectoring can be used to control flight at slow speeds, Orbitor and Space Shuttle Re-entry and vertical take off are some of the unique opportunities and great possibility for further future use and research. Old German Jets of WWII had cones in the back of the exhaust that were in the rear of the engines. A cone can remain within the cavity of the exhaust and be controlled very easy. On the back of the cone could be small flight control surfaces, which stops the vortex from the exhaust and can be used for turning. By doing this it will allow more exhaust to escape under less turbulence, which can cause anomalies in the air and excessive heat thus give away even a stealth aircraft. When using directional thrust systems you will have problems during tight turning which will increase the aircrafts heat signature.
Drawing Hand Held Surface to Air Missile Fire at Night Using UAVs
May 16, 2007
One of the easiest ways to draw shoulder launched missiles at night is to fly UAVs very close and use the simulated sound of an Apache Attach Helicopter, Howling of a jet fighter or a few UAVs flying together the combined sound of a four engine transport. At night you could have a few UAVs with strobe lights or a tint of green glow simulating reflections off the canopy of an attack helicopter along with sound used by a whistler on the UAV, or even a whistler, which mimicked a high frequency sound which caused their equipment to whistler.
Devices such as these can be bought at Wal-mart for five dollars, the faster the UAV travels the more sound or high frequency sound is made. We also use these on cars in deer country, but certain ones screw with your radio reception you know? Every time a shoulder missile is launched they have one less. Chances are it will not even hit the target anyway, they will launch it into the sky and nothing will happen, may not even come close, they will probably launch it too far in front of the UAV assuming a rate of speed for an aircraft, which is not even there. A UAV could also go into an area near a border crossing using electric battery power or glide in after turning off the motor and crash 300 feet from the enemy troops. Have a small glow and cigarette smell and a small set of voices talking about getting laid in English and the newest corvette model the enemy would sneak up on the crashed model plane and give away their positions and could be seen by night vision goggles.
You Dont Have To Be Rich To Be A PC Gamer
May 15, 2007
There is a common misconception that you have to take out a second mortgage on your house if you want to get a computer that will run all of the latest and greatest games. I don’t know who started the rumor that you need to spend $3000 to get a gaming computer. The truth is, if you are smart about it, you can easily afford to get a high-end gaming computer. Here are a few simple rules to follow to put a gaming computer within reach. Rule 1. Never buy the newest technology. I know we all want to be the guy or girl with the newest toy, but you will never be able to keep up with technology. That top-of-the-line graphics card that came out today will be old news in just a couple of months and a new one will be released that is “so much better”. Guess what happens to the price of the new graphics card you just broke the bank on? It dropped by about 50%. If you would have just been patient you could have purchased it for a fraction of the cost. Rule 2. You only have to keep up with the software. Rule 2 closely correlates to Rule 1. It usually takes software companies two years, give or take, to develop a new game. During this time there are new technology breakthroughs. If they went back and re-engineered the game every time a new processor or a new graphics card came out, the game would never be released. Another important factor is that they want the game to be available to the largest number of consumers. For this reason they do their best to make sure the game can be played on a wide variety of systems. Check out the system requirements for some of the more popular games. A 1.8GHz processor and a Direct X 9 compatible graphics card will run just about everything out there. Granted you might have to turn some of the settings down but it will run it. Once you reach a certain point the added performance of the new technology is noticeable. For example, the Athlon 64 chip has been out for more than a year, yet there are very few applications that require a 64 bit processor. If you check out benchmarks on the new PCI Express graphics cards you will see that they are running games at 300+ frames per second. When you watch a movie it runs at roughly 60 frames per second. A game will still run relatively smoothly at 20 frames per second. Basically anything over 60 frames per second likely will not be perceived while playing the game. You will only see the difference in your benchmark programs. Rule 3. Build Your Own Computer This is important for two reasons. First, you can be assured of better quality components when you pick everything out on your own. When you buy an off-the-shelf system, chances are you are getting a big name CPU and everything else is most likely generic. Do you know what motherboard, power supply, or type of RAM you are getting? This of course, is my personal opinion, I’m not saying every manufacturer builds sub standard machines, but from experience I’ve had greater longevity from the computers I’ve built myself. I’ve also noticed that you will often get little system memory, unless you pay a great deal more for it. You will often get 256MB of RAM with these base system. Windows XP will run, but likely with problems, on 256MB of RAM. It seems to be the most stable with 512MB or more. Other areas they cut costs is by using integrated graphics chips. This saves them having to put in a graphics card, but you will pay the price for it when you try to play a game. The second reason to build your own computer is that you can cut your costs by stealing parts from your old computer. You can save hundreds of dollars by reusing the drives, case, monitor, keyboard and mouse. Plus, you don’t have to worry about calling a technician to install RAM or a new graphics card because you’ll already know how to do it. How Much Can You Build A Computer For? I just checked out some pricing and you can build a very nice midrange gaming computer for around $600-$700 using an AMD Athlon 64 3000+. If you can steal a DVD drive from your old computer and maybe the case, you can bring the cost down even more. You can build a high-end machine for under $1000. The internet is full of useful websites about how to build computers. Look around and you’ll find all the information you need. There are several books published about the topic as well. If you follow these simple rules and do a little research you can enjoy all of the best computer games even if you are on a shoestring budget.
