Brian

I would be interested in a caddilac if they could get the interiors up to par. $26k Audis (and BMWs, and Lexus', and Acuras, and even Lincoln) are blowing the doors off even the most expensive Cadillacs in terms of interior quality. I can't imagine buying one until they put some serious money and effort into the stuff I have to look at while driving it. Otherwise, I just know I would kick myself every time I got in it.

Has anyone actually seen this on TV? The font used at the end makes me think this isn't an official Audi ad, but a design exercise by someone (perhaps a student).

...and now that I go digging a bit:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tvg2_-eSq4

"Unsigned French director Mathieu Wothké dreams up a strong FX-heavy spec spot for Audi."

"spec spot" being the key phrase there. I thought so...

"However I find it funny how everyone thinks this marketing tactic is soooooo cool- compared to when sony used "assets" in a cg commercial or presentation and how everyone felt scammed and “lied” to. Not to mention - than went on rants about how sony should die and and so on."

I think the difference is that this commercial isn't pretending to be actual game play, its just cinematical. The "render targets" Sony showed off were supposed to be indicative of actual gameplay, which they obviously weren't. That's why it was taken as deceptive, while this H3 scene is not.

I've been running it for a while too - RC1 runs BF2 much smoother than Beta 2 did.

I'm running it on an Athlon 1.9ghz, and a GeforceFX 6600GT and 1GB of ram. Not top of the line specs these days, but it's quite snappy, and I've noticed no slowdowns from XP. I'm pretty impressed actually.

Not sure how this is comparable to the PS2 launch.

Microsoft has established a really high bar for online gaming that I'm not convinced Sony can match, plus all the excitement around the Wii, plus the $200-400 price premium for the PS3. There is NO positive press for the PS3 at this point, and there hasn't been for months. It's appearing to be a perfect storm that will dethrone the gaming console leader.

No doubt, they'll sell everything they ship this holiday season, but I think MS and Nintendo will outsell them by a factor of 5. When the year ends and they have managed a meager 5% market share in the US, and 0% in Europe, they're going to have a huge uphill battle to survive this generation outside of Japan.

It all boils down to blu-ray. That blue laser is going to be Sony's albatross for at least the next year or 2, and if BR loses the format war it'll be weighing them down for the whole life of the product. They're betting the whole company on a single technology, and a single product, and it's just not something people want bad enough to save them.

Perhaps those of you who want to change american's perception of diesel engines, and encorage manufacturers to sell more of them here, should stop calling them "oil burners" :)

Race drivers will not recommend a 5 point belt system on a car without a rollcage, because in the event of a rollover, you want to be able to lean over and out of the way of a collapsing roof. Belts like this one that hold you upright put you in danger of a head-crushing injury.

The submarining issue is a good point as well, as is the pregnancy. While 4 sounds better than 3, in the case of consumer vehicles I think the 3 point may actually be better all around, both in safety and comfort.

Perhaps a better 4-point belt system would be a 'cross your heart' design, where the shoulder straps make an X on your chest, and connect on the sides instead of the middle. That would solve the breast and pregnancy issues. Also, it's effectively a double 3-point system, so the lap belt would tighten with the shoulder straps, and should secure you better than the 4-point system pictured.

So what happens when the bacteria die?

Building a 3D concept on a computer for show is easy, actually designing a car that works, works well, has good handling dynamics, comfortable seats, intuitive controls, meets street and safety regulations for a dozen countries and still manages to look attractive is incredibly hard. There's a lot more to it than knowing 3dsmax, and what carmakers need are people who understand complex engineering so that their customers don't die. I'm sure they could do worse than this artist, but this doesn't really demonstrate any real car design skills. It's just high tech doodling.

Wouldn't be the first time an RC plane with a camera was flying over an urban area...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_f86TlQ84NQ

Just need to keep it lower than the nearby buildings :P