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"Next generation" hardware

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McTaggart:
The problem with physics simulation is that whenever I say, shoot an arrow into a bucket, and it acts like a pendulum I think, hah! the change in momentum of the arrow equals the change in momentum for the arrow and the bucket for a perfectly inelastic collision!

Bastardous Bassist:
So, you don't like physics simulation because you think of physics?  You must hate real life, yes?  Or am I missing something big here.  As a physics major, just looking at stuff such as that is completely wrong.  I remember in Operation: Flashpoint (one of my favorite first person games ever), I put an satchel charge underneath a helicopter.  When I detonated the charge, the helicopter flew up in the air (in one piece, which already started alarms in my brain going off) and upon hitting the ground, it bounced, like a goddamned basketball.

nihilist:
Solid state HDs would be the first thing, for me.  I've got a pretty decent kit right now, and don't think I could justify upgrading till at least 2007, if not later.  Unless, of course, something revolutionary happens.  Solid state HDs being one of them.

I'd never cough up money for a BD-ROM drive (or HD-DVD, for that matter), nor the silly physics chip.  Unless Ageia somehow manages to push their chips at cut-rate prices, no-go.  Sure, some games will take advantage of them, but not in any significant way.  Even if they get 10% market penetration in a year, that's 90% that don't have it.  Game developers cannot optimize a game for such small market-share.  They can do little things with it, but not actually base the engine on having dedicated hardware.

I Am Not Amused:
While you bring up a decent point, you're making the EXACT SAME points people used to make about dedicated video cards and now look at that. You can't buy a game these days that doesn't require a semi-recent video card. I predict the same thing with physics cards, simply because of the similarity of the benefits of the two cards. While, yes, it'll suck now - and for a few years - it'll eventually grow in marketability, decline in price and become as common to a PC rig as a video card.

nescience:
What am I excited about?  Short-term: Boot Camp, Google Wi-Fi, voice recognition for stereo systems (which I have some hand in!).  Midterm: Webtops, increasing complexity of Web-based applications, eventually leading to Web-based OS's that only require a cheap hardware box and a high-speed connection to run.  Somewhat longer term: effective Natural Language processing, advanced musical waveform analysis, abolishment of all copyright law, P = NP, Quantum computers, the destruction of RL society, strong AI, the technological singularity... I'm excited!

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