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I'm pretty sure that ubisoft is a french based company. I think it was something about suing france that reminded me.

http://www.penny-arcade.com/images/2005/20050427l. jpg

But will it guest star New Found Glory? http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2005/04/27

Harlan Ellison's best work!

TechBoy wrote:

10 Real SATs, just a big book of old SAT tests with answers and short explanations on why that answer is the right one. I'm not sure how useful this book will be since the new SAT is different, but some parts from the old SAT remain and really the KEY is to take as many practice tests as you can so you get a feel for the test. Nothing in the SAT is challenging in terms of difficulty, but there's a whole slew of traps and tricks that the SAT employs to get people to answer incorrectly. More practice just helps you identify them and not fall for them.

I took a PSAT/SAT class for three summers and ended up with A++ scores on both. We had two materials - one was the above book, which was awesome. The other was a 4~ inch binder of worksheets covering all aspects of the tests -- succint explainations of the "objectives", practice problems in increasing difficulty, and then a page full of page numbers and problem numbers of similar problems in the 10 SATs book. From this, which was seriously one of the best classes I've taken in my life, I would recommend dividing SAT/PSAT prep into two parts:

1) Get familiar with the test's structure. The optimum situation here is to do practice tests in a classroom with bright lights, total silence, other students, a proctor, etc. Even if you think you can't do this, DO THIS. Your school offers something like this, and if it doesn't it wouldn't be crazy hard to make it happen. Find a cool teacher who is willing to help, put the word out on which days you'll do the test (assuming you split it into separate days), get a copy of a recent SAT test (probably from a book) and run photocopies (or everyone buy their own if they can afford it), have the teacher be the proctor, have everyone grade each other's or scantron it or something. It's either already offered or doable.

If you have to go this part alone, make sure that, at the very least, you sit in one chair for several hours and do the entire test, with every section timed, in one go. Everyone's at least a little nervous when they walk into the testing room, but if you know what to expect, you'll be ahead of 95% of the people in the room already.

2) Know the specific objectives of the tests. I'm not sure if the actual test is formally divided into objectives, but there is a great consistency in the types of questions from year to year...hard to explain, but...an example!

On the Verbal portion, there is almost always a question which requires proper gender pronouns in an ambiguous situation. I assume everyone goes into this one like I did: "Ok, cool, we'll just use 'he or she' or 'they' and be done with it." And by the test authors, that is incorrect! The correct way to refer to a singular ambiguous person is with the masculine pronoun:

Wrong: Whoever painted this dropped their brush.
Wrong: Whoever painted this dropped his or her brush.
Wrong: Whoever painted this dropped her brush.
Correct: Whoever painted this dropped his brush.

Ridiculous? PERHAPS! But this is how every question I saw was scored. The class I was in argued with our teacher for 30 minutes before she had the sense to yell "I don't like it either, but that's how they score it and that's that!"

/ end example>

You can always get faster at math and learn more vocab words, but the quickest way to get the most reliable benefit from your study time is to find the common question topics broken down and explained. That example stuck with me because it seemed so odd and caused a big to-do in our class...they aren't all that foreign-seeming, and you'll probably know the majority of them backwards and forwards already. Once you take several practice tests, you might be able to find these consistently addressed topics yourself, but having them spelled out will be so easy.

---

Rockstar did do that.(http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2005/07/20 /) Unfortunatley, you'd think after Hot Coffee, the guy who did oblivion would have the common sense to stfu about it.

Remakes of a good game can last forever, too! And thus, Nintendo goes on and on and on...

(Don't stop believin'!)

Oh yes, and they do it over and over and over.

The entire premise of this legislation is bullshit because it doesn't address the issues that got us to this stage in the first place. Regardless of whether you think the current system is insufficient, no solution we can propose would appease these critics. Even if it were humanly possible to play through %100 of the material available in a game to give an accurate appraisal of its content, there is no way to account for material that can be added or unlocked by third party mods. And the conflict of interest argument doesn't fly with me either, because we've seen how much trouble you can get into if you do attempt to mislead the ESRB and fake a lower rating for your game, and most companies would want to avoid that. I would say that this is all a conspiracy to eventually hand control of game-censorship over to the government (see penny-arcade http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/10/02 ), but frankly that seems like giving these incompetent government hacks a bit too much credit.

On the very small plus side, if this does pass, the ESRB is going to have to do some serious hiring to handle all the game content they'll have to review, which means the non-competetive professional gamer career just became a possibility.

Censorship made easy

Won't be getting a PS3 for KH3.

Two words for you, son. White Knights.

If I wasn't getting a PS3 before, I sure as hell am getting one now.

"I guess, you know, a lot of young frogs experiment. I'm sure its nothing"

See Panel 1 for an explanation.

(Warning: Offensive language)
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/1999/04/14

Agreed. But I think Tycho put it best.

The same as it ever was.

We all know where Crystal Chronicles lead us... http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2003/08/25

Tomb Raider: Legends is one of the easiest games I've played recently. I beat it on the hardest difficulty setting in about 20 hours of total playtime, and that was with me exploring around to find all the little artifacts.

Go try out Ninja Gaiden: Black on the XBox and you'll see what hard is.

I just wish I had a chance (and time enough) to play DW VII.

Microsoft bought out Hironobu's or payed them a truckload of cash

No, they gave him fat sacks full of money, so he can use it to make himself some money hats.

Oh, wait, except you're getting a console, a game, and four wireless controllers for that price. For my Xbox, that would run a grand total of $600 + a game. $700+ for a PS3 and controllers.

$60 is $60, but seriously people, at launch a Gamecube + 3 controllers would have run, what $320 for system + four corded controllers? It's not that bad. Get over it.

Are you seriously saying you couldn't get by on $300 for a Wii + Twilight Princess? Because I know that's going to tide me over for a while. I'm reminded of two Penny-Arcade comics:

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/09/15

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2003/08/25

Unlike the low-end 360 and PS3, a Wii is actually functional right out of the box. You can even *gasp* save your games without buying anything else.

Oh, wait, except you're getting a console, a game, and four wireless controllers for that price. For my Xbox, that would run a grand total of $600 + a game. $700+ for a PS3 and controllers.

$60 is $60, but seriously people, at launch a Gamecube + 3 controllers would have run, what $320 for system + four corded controllers? It's not that bad. Get over it.

Are you seriously saying you couldn't get by on $300 for a Wii + Twilight Princess? Because I know that's going to tide me over for a while. I'm reminded of two Penny-Arcade comics:

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/09/15

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2003/08/25

Unlike the low-end 360 and PS3, a Wii is actually functional right out of the box. You can even *gasp* save your games without buying anything else.

Myes... welcome to the brave new world of buying your games one strip at a time I think the simplest and most elegant way of making this fad die amongst developers is also the best way of getting back at them for ramming this down our throats in the first place. Now... it'll take a bit of coordination... and a very very small degree of work... bah.. fuck it

I'm hittin IHOP...

The internet is the most remarkable device ever invented for allowing idiots to find each other. Good luck!

Also, the following penny arcade is apropos:

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/03/19

Maybe it's just me, but I don't think so:

When I hear the word "micropayments", I reach for my revolver.

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/03/19

My thoughts exactly. My only hope is that the relatively large and powerful (read: spends lots of money) "core gamer" or "dedicated gamer" marketshare doesn't look at the Wii and say "oh, it's a stupid toy, it's not serious about serious video games like my 360/PS3 is." To people who play video games, "dedicated gamer" can mean something very different than what it means in the marketplace.

Have you read this Penny Arcade? http://www.penny-arcade.com/2006/09/15 At the bottom of Tycho's first post, he makes an interesting point and links to a video of some people at a game show playing Metroid Prime with the controllers. The interesting part is that you can hear them talking about the controls as they play and essentially complaining that it's not what they're used to.

I have a feeling that what the "dedicated gamers" may see is something that essentially isn't a games console because it doesn't have a console controller. You can't play games on it like you can play games on an Xbox, PS1/2/3, SNES, or any other console that has come out before it. A dedicated gamer suddenly feels not so dedicated and not such an expert when they pick up the newest toy that's branded as a games console and they have to relearn much of what they knew about video games, and especially for those who care about "asserting their pwnership over the medium" as Tycho puts it, this will likely lead to lots of "elitist" video game players shrugging their shoulders and passing off the Wii like it was a new DDR dance pad: a toy related to video games, but not an actual game.

I think a greater concern for Nintendo, who is trying to shift the idea of gaming into the average joe's spotlight, is that over the past few years, the ways that video games have developed may leave the average joe feeling this way too. Everyone and their dog has played Halo, and that to them is a video game. Look at what has happened in the development of the ridiculous "PC vs. Mac" arguments: any average guy can jump into the flamewar and say "The Mac is just a toy, it can't run my games and doesn't do what *I* want it to," and more or less be right, because it doesn't do what he wants it to, which is look, sound, act and feel like Windows, which is what he has grown accustomed to over the past x years of working with computers. "A 'computer' runs Windows, and anything else is a stupid imitation and a waste of time." Well, the technically inclined among us know that that simply isn't the case, and the same goes for the Wii: truly dedicated gamers, the ones who enjoy playing games for what they are and that rate low on the fanboy scale, will agree with what you've said and will embrace the new console because it offers the potential of something different. The average person that is not overly concerned or interested in the video games marketplace, that in actuality makes up much of the "core gamer" or "dedicated gamer" demographic that market analysts refer to, may act similarly and write the Wii off as a pale imitation.

It is in the truly dedicated gamer's interest that the Wii is a massive success. Actually, I take that back: it is in the greatest interest of every single person who has ever even picked up or tried a video game, or ever will. Why? If the Wii fails, it may fully drive home the notion that although small ragged bands of true gamers here and there complain about stagnating gameplay and the lack of innovation, their voice really doesn't matter, and what will sell is sequels and rehashes and new graphics. Sure, people have tried innovative stuff before, but in my memory at least, this is the first time in the video games industry that an industry juggernaut has jumped into the fray to directly compete with the market dominators with something truly unique and different (I don't count the Virtual Boy: I don't believe it was ever designed to directly compete with the other major consoles. Maybe I'm wrong).

If the Wii is an abysmal failure, Nintendo will be kaput, regardless

Oh yeah? Well I bet every single one of your predictions is wrong. Your talk about it being too expensive is off base seeing as how it's still going to be the cheapest console on the market when it comes out. The controllers are what, $10 bucks more than the competitor's controllers? So a new XBox360 - just the core system, plus 3 more controllers comes out to $450 and that doesn't even include the game. Add the game and that's $510 for the total. With your estimate of the console with 3 more controllers coming to $430, that's still $80 bucks less than the 360 for pretty much the same package (although you could argue you're getting a technically better system with the 360, I'll argue that the controller functionality on the Wii makes for a better system). Let's also not forget that that $430 is still $170 less than a bare bones PS3 with 1 controller and no games. I don't understand how it's news to you that you have to buy extra peripherals and games with your console these days, being a Sony tester and gamer. I remember being disappointed that the N64 came with only 1 controller and I had to buy more, but that's just how it goes these days, and that's how it's been since the PS1 came out.

Also, your argument that Nintendo has some nerve admitting to actually making a profit off the console is ridiculous. Nintendo doesn't have a music and electronic division that could subsidize their game division for years while they gain marketshare. They also don't have a monopoly on operating systems and office products on desktop computers. They're a pure game company and as such don't have the money to spend losing hundreds of dollars on every console when they're ALREADY the lowest priced in the group. For a more detailed discussion on how ludicrous your argument is, I'll bring your attention to this post.

Well, there's really only one thing to say about Brian Herbert's "work"... http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2003/10/15

Sometimes i wonder if people who casts opinions about consoles on the net are retarded (Exibit A, with a very nice comment by the Penny Arcade guys).

    People, this is Nintendo. The company that has been making profit on every single console they sold since the NES days, even with the "flop" the N64 was. They've consistently been in the spotlight of console gaming while other companies appeared and dissapeared, and, to this day, have a virtual monopoly in the portable gaming market. And most important, they are the only company with a product in the works that has people geniunely interested in, instead being more of the same with flashier graphics. I don't like consoles, and i'm genuinely considering getting a Wii, specially at the price it has been announced.

I think Penny Arcade summed it up quite nicely

I think the best Special Edition commentary can be found on Penny Arcade. I think for those of us who loved the original series it sums up what we think of Lucas's 'improvements' pretty well.

Oh why, WHY doens't Penny Arcade have searchable transcripts of their comics?!

Stupid, stupid name: http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/04/28

Yeah, it's funny. I'm over it. The thing about the Wii, *for me*, is that I *do* have a high def set, which I would really like to take advantage of. It looks like most Wii games will at least support widescreen, though.

PS3 is just too expensive at launch, and the 360 just doesn't have the games I'm interested in. So, the only thing I can do is wait and see. And in the meantime, I'm using my PC with my HD set for gaming, which is really, really nice. Playing Half-Life 2 with a wireless KB/mouse on a 50" widescreen HD set just can't be beat.

But PC gaming has a real dearth of games in certain genres, eg., platformers, JRPGs, action adventure, etc. So, I still use the ol' PS2, and am looking forward to the new console generation.

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2005/04/06

Penny Arcade tells it like it is..

Penny Arcade still has my favorite take on this:

I hate to break it to you, but this is _very_ old news. As much as I despise AICN: http://www.aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=23493

I'm not generally in the "how is this news?" camp, but if something was the topic of a Penny Arcade rant more than three months ago ( http://www.penny-arcade.com/2006/06/07 ), how is this news?

He taped over them. Duh...

No, the originals were definitely destroyed!

Here is a simple explanation with pictures of the observed phenomenon.

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2000/03/01 Penny Arcade settled this shit back in 2000.

Secret questions can be troubling.

Crazy awesome!
He's got a gun!

Crazy awesome!
He's got a gun!

It's a well documented fact that the dark lord was at least consulted.

Will I be able to do a lip trick off a giant human skull into a burning vagina?

Luckily computer parts don't have sharp claws.

Since you will probably get a lot of crappy replies to your post, I feel I should make a public service announcement by showing Penny Arcade's Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory.

http://www.penny-arcade.com/images/2004/20040319h. jpg

As far as how a guy breaks into a mostly female clique, I suspect most Slashdotters would desperately love to know that one. So if anyone has more insight into that general conundrum, tey should post it. ;-)

what's the korean word for "easy"?