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#581 Re: GNRevolution Madness » GnREvolution Arcade Madness - Discussion and Results Thread » 863 weeks ago
That's a fair point, the Gamecube era was actually profitable for Nintendo.
I think part of the reason I especially like to defend Nintendo is they are the only REAL games company left i.e. one that makes both hardware and software. Microsoft and Sony are just companies that wanted a piece of the pie. Nintendo's sole company aim if you will is games.
Very good point!
#582 Re: GNRevolution Madness » GnREvolution Arcade Madness - Discussion and Results Thread » 863 weeks ago
As for the Genesis vs SNES thing... it's not as straight forward as it seems. SNES had a lot going for it near the end of its life cycle (was still selling well after PS1 was released), but Genesis beat it pretty good by being early to the market and outselling it the first two years they were available together.
In the end, Genesis outsold SNES slightly in Europe (well, Mega Drive did, as we call it), SNES outsold Genesis slightly in the US but wiped the floor with Sega's 16 bit entry in Japan.
Figures were about as follows:
Genesis
* Japan: 3.5 million
* USA: 22 million
* Europe: 9 million
SNES:
* Japan: 20 million
* USA: 24 million
* Europe: 6 million
But this doesn't take the third party hardware capable of playing Genesis games into account, that should count for something in Japan where that type of thing was popular (you know VCR/game consoles, Laserdisc systems capable of playing Genesis games as well, etc...).
N64 vs PS1, not even close... PS1 outsold N64 three to one.
#583 Re: GNRevolution Madness » GnREvolution Arcade Madness - Championship Battle » 864 weeks ago
Sonic is going to get slaughtered in this one, but it still got my vote. I'm glad it got this far to begin with.
#584 Re: GNRevolution Madness » GnREvolution Arcade Madness - Discussion and Results Thread » 864 weeks ago
Based on these four, I think Sonic should win this.
#585 Re: The Garden » To be, or not to be an expat... that is the question » 865 weeks ago
Yeah, San Diego is probably not an option, to be honest. It's not something I can put my finger on, but I haven't heard anyone actually recommend the place 
.
Silicon Valley is tempting based on it's reputation in the industry alone. If you can put employment for a tech company in Silicon Valley (especially in a project manager type role) on your CV that's a big boost for the rest of your career. Especially in Europe. Tax and cost of living does play a big role though, I'm not leaving Belgium to spend the extra dollars I can earn on day-to-day life in the States. I need to be able to put a reasonable amount of that aside for when I return. And the current position of the USD is not really helping me in that regard. I think 1USD is about 0.68EUR these days. When you consider that an average home (in the countryside) in Belgium costs around €350.000 ($520.000) these days, that gives you an idea of what I need to be earning to make this a sweet deal.
Vancouver just seems like it's an extremely cool place to live. A bit more "European" than California I would guess, lots of young people and like you say Slashfro, the universal health care is a big plus as well. People do tell me that I have more of an American attitude (whatever that means). Dunno, Vancouver is definitely tempting and the Northwest is a beautiful region IMHO.
I'll just have to wait and see what the offer holds. I'm not really looking or anxious to leave Belgium, but an adventure like that does seem tempting. Let alone the fact that it's definitely good for my ego that they are willing to recruit and move me just to work for them.
#586 Re: The Garden » To be, or not to be an expat... that is the question » 865 weeks ago
I've never lived in either place, but if you like winter sports, they've got the olympics in February. That and lots and lots of drugs.
I heard it was a liberal place . I get the impression that Vancouver is a bit more "posh" than the mid-west, dunno... keep hearing very good things about it though.
#587 Re: The Garden » To be, or not to be an expat... that is the question » 865 weeks ago
James lives near San Jose somewhat he could tell you more. I think it's expensive, but very high tech area. Many companies are located there (Adobe, yahoo, Google etc). San Diego is beautiful, sunny all year round. Also expensive though, but I'm sure you'd get paid well so I wouldn't let that deter you from either area.
My cousin was sent to Australia about 10 years ago for 6 months. He didn't really want to go, but he was one of the few young & single people there. He went, loved it, stayed another 6 months, stayed another year, then a 3rd year until finally his visa expired. I would do it. San Diego seems a little too Laguna Beach/The Hills for me, isn't really my thing. I think I'd get annoyed. If you love the beach though, that's for you. I love it, for about a week in Jersey then I'm good for the year. Silicon Valley is near Lake Tahoe for skiing & boarding, which is a beautiful area if you like winter sports. As BS said, Vancouvers a nice town too, I don't know much about it but hear it's great.
Yeah, I guess I would've jumped at the opportunity to go to Silicon Valley a couple of years ago, but I've just turned 30 this year and I'm single again for the first time in 6 years. I probably wouldn't be going to the States or Canada for a short period of time, I would actually start working for an American company so that seems rather indefinite to me. Suppose I do this for 4 or 5 years, that makes me 35 by the time I'm back and ready to start settling down and start a family...
But on the other hand, if I don't do it know that I've got the chance I'll probably never do it and might end up regretting it later on...
Can anyone tell me about the tax situation in California (I guess this is a state-specific thing) or Canada? On average, how much do you lose going from your gross to net salary?
#588 Re: GNRevolution Madness » GnREvolution Arcade Madness - Round 3, Battle 6 » 865 weeks ago
Thank god for the way this is turning out... I'm crossing my fingers for a Sonic/Mario stand-off somewhere down the line .
#589 The Garden » To be, or not to be an expat... that is the question » 865 weeks ago
- TheMole
- Replies: 9
So, the company I'm working for is about to file for bankruptcy. Luckily, here in Belgium, we have a new law that allows "innovative technology" companies to sell certain assets before the actual bankruptcy settles in, to allow the tech to live on. In our case this means IPR, know-how and employee contracts, so I've got a new job for (at least) the same conditions if I want it.
Now, the company that is bidding for our assets is a large Belgian multinational (Option International) so going from a start-up to that is a good deal, but they seem to be running into some financial problems themselves lately. To make it somewhat concrete, they are the company that build the new Sidekick that T-Mobile took off the market yesterday because of the fuck-up by Microsoft/Danger.
In addition to that, their largest competitor, an American/Canadian company (Sierra Wireless), is quite interested in my services as an employee. This would mean that I would have to move to either North America (Vancouver, Silicon Valley or San Diego) or France (Toulouse or Paris). They are currently putting together an offer for both options, so the financial and practical stuff surrounding it is a little hazy for the moment.
So as it stands, my current options are:
1. Stay in Belgium, work for Option
2. Move to France, come home for the week-ends, work for Sierra
3. Move to North America for a couple of years, come home for the holidays, work for Sierra
Question to all you Americans and Canadians on here: any experience with living in Vancouver, the Valley (San Jose, I guess) or San Diego? Things I need to know about those places that might persuade my one way or the other?
#590 Re: GNRevolution Madness » GnREvolution Arcade Madness - Round 3, Battle 6 » 865 weeks ago
Batman. I recently played all the Sonic games on Xbox Live, they havent aged well.
Come on, they've aged extremely well, much better than most platformers of the day (e.g. the mario series)
