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14476047 canine hearing aids 2006-03-13 20:10:50 http://www.listen-up.org/
14476047 harlem globetrotters.com 2006-03-22 21:39:33
14476047 harlem globetrotters.com 2006-03-22 21:39:47
14476047 splinter cell 2006-03-22 21:45:41 http://www.splintercell.com/
14476047 pacreas 2006-03-27 05:19:27
14476047 ounces to quarts 2006-04-06 16:09:39 http://www.metric-conversions.org/
14476047 ounces to quarts 2006-04-06 16:09:39 http://www.metric-conversions.org/
14476047 ounces to quarts 2006-04-06 16:09:39 http://www.free-gourmet-recipes.com/
14476047 roy rogers 2006-04-08 09:33:37 http://www.roy-rogers.com/
14476047 portuguese fireman. com 2006-04-21 21:35:01 http://www.portuguesefireman.com/

that we need Sam Fisher on the job. http://www.splintercell.com/

Yeah, I was looking for someone else saying that. As soon as you broadcast that signal, Sam Fisher is gonna show up, grab you from behind, and hold a knife to your throat until you tell him the four-digit password to the computer controlling the transmissions.

Hey, that should be a mission in the next Splinter Cell. Instead of shutting it down, readjust it so it actually augments the real GPS signal.

...Pardon, been playing a bit too much Chaos Theory lately. :P

Loved the previous 2 iterations, and this one looks to be getting a nice new engine to go along with the great gameplay.

http://www.splintercell.com/us/splintercellchaosth eory/index.php

Why doesn't Ubisoft just send Sam Fisher to take care of EA for them? :)

Personally, I'll always have a soft spot for Atari Force.

There has in fact already been a game that people bought for the sound. Friends of mine actually went out and upgraded their PC sound purely to get a better play experience out of Thief: The Dark Project (1998). It was one of the first games that used positional sounds as an integral part of the game, making for an innovative play style that spawned the stealth genre which now also includes games like Metal Gear Solid and Splinter Cell. Thief works slightly differently to the other Stealth games, since you are very weak in open confrontation. Not paying attention to certain important sounds (like a guard's footsteps for example) can lead to a swift and painful death. This new genre is very successful at the moment, with sequels for all three games mentioned coming out this year - Thief 3: Deadly Shadows, Metal Gear Solid 3 and Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow, all of which have received good to excellent reviews.

There has in fact already been a game that people bought for the sound. Friends of mine actually went out and upgraded their PC sound purely to get a better play experience out of Thief: The Dark Project (1998). It was one of the first games that used positional sounds as an integral part of the game, making for an innovative play style that spawned the stealth genre which now also includes games like Metal Gear Solid and Splinter Cell. Thief works slightly differently to the other Stealth games, since you are very weak in open confrontation. Not paying attention to certain important sounds (like a guard's footsteps for example) can lead to a swift and painful death. This new genre is very successful at the moment, with sequels for all three games mentioned coming out this year - Thief 3: Deadly Shadows, Metal Gear Solid 3 and Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow, all of which have received good to excellent reviews.

You make a good point - if the human face is not perfectly real but has an appealling artistic style to it, the emotional response is still strong. The example game in the Slate article is Alias; a look at the screens shows us a fairly boring series of images - the character mimics Jennifer Garner's well-known face but doesn't do it perfectly, nor does it do so stylistically. There's nothing dramatic or impressive about her 3D model or her environment.

A perfect contrast is the Splinter Cell series. Sam Fisher does not look like a real human, though he's very close. He should be at the drowning point of the Uncanny Valley. Yet Splinter Cell elicits some very strong responses from players - why? Because the game is rife with style.

I think Half Life 2 is about to prove this article wrong as well ;o)

You make a good point - if the human face is not perfectly real but has an appealling artistic style to it, the emotional response is still strong. The example game in the Slate article is Alias; a look at the screens shows us a fairly boring series of images - the character mimics Jennifer Garner's well-known face but doesn't do it perfectly, nor does it do so stylistically. There's nothing dramatic or impressive about her 3D model or her environment.

A perfect contrast is the Splinter Cell series. Sam Fisher does not look like a real human, though he's very close. He should be at the drowning point of the Uncanny Valley. Yet Splinter Cell elicits some very strong responses from players - why? Because the game is rife with style.

I think Half Life 2 is about to prove this article wrong as well ;o)

Nobody's ever done that before! How original! It's creativity like this that fuels the gaming industry.

You prolly mean Splinter Cell.

Also, it was quiet interesting Americas Army came out before UT2K3 using the UT2K3 engine. So the engine does look good on other non-bouncy fps games. (Any other U2K3 engine based games out?)

From the Unreal Wiki, released UT2k3 engine games:

America's Army
Devastation
Raven Shield
Splinter Cell
Unreal 2
Unreal Championship
Postal 2 ...and of course itself, and any others I have forgotten.

Notable upcoming Unreal Engine games include:
Deus Ex 2
Thief 3
XIII

Unreal Warfare, Epic's worst-kept secret, is next-generation (from UT2003's engine) and is said to rival Doom 3s and Half Life 2s. Speculation I have heard is that is seems to be a large scale combat game (either that or i'm getting this confuesd with Digital Extreme's Stargate game), perhaps in the style of BF1942 or PlanetSide (yes, there are games in development (unannounced) that are using the Unreal Engine as a platform for a MMORPG, so it is a possibilty).

Well it's ATI (Gamecube) versus Nvidia (X-Box). They do different things better. Compare a Radeon to a Ge-Force of the same generation to get some idea on what each is good at and bad at.

IIRC the Gamecube does something like texturing or bump-mapping better than the X-box, but the X-box handles lighting and particle affects better (which is why a lot of games look slightly washed out for the GC). Both of them are better overall then the aging PS2, but for most of the games that hit the X-Box the differences will be most noticable (IE: FPSes) due to their relying on dynamic lighting and particle effects.

Here's an example:

Splinter Cell
PS2 screenshot
Game cube screenshot
X-Box Screenshot

Now, what do we see in these screenshots?

The X-Box obviously has better anti-aliasing (best shown here), it's smoothest, but the X-Box and GC are even on the texture quality (native X-Box game), legacy effects are visible in the PS2 screenshot (look at the edge of objects) but not in either of the other consoles. Textures are less crisp in the PS2 screen.

There are better examples, and I'd love to find links to various sites/etc for you, but I don't have the time.

Well it's ATI (Gamecube) versus Nvidia (X-Box). They do different things better. Compare a Radeon to a Ge-Force of the same generation to get some idea on what each is good at and bad at.

IIRC the Gamecube does something like texturing or bump-mapping better than the X-box, but the X-box handles lighting and particle affects better (which is why a lot of games look slightly washed out for the GC). Both of them are better overall then the aging PS2, but for most of the games that hit the X-Box the differences will be most noticable (IE: FPSes) due to their relying on dynamic lighting and particle effects.

Here's an example:

Splinter Cell
PS2 screenshot
Game cube screenshot
X-Box Screenshot

Now, what do we see in these screenshots?

The X-Box obviously has better anti-aliasing (best shown here), it's smoothest, but the X-Box and GC are even on the texture quality (native X-Box game), legacy effects are visible in the PS2 screenshot (look at the edge of objects) but not in either of the other consoles. Textures are less crisp in the PS2 screen.

There are better examples, and I'd love to find links to various sites/etc for you, but I don't have the time.

Well it's ATI (Gamecube) versus Nvidia (X-Box). They do different things better. Compare a Radeon to a Ge-Force of the same generation to get some idea on what each is good at and bad at.

IIRC the Gamecube does something like texturing or bump-mapping better than the X-box, but the X-box handles lighting and particle affects better (which is why a lot of games look slightly washed out for the GC). Both of them are better overall then the aging PS2, but for most of the games that hit the X-Box the differences will be most noticable (IE: FPSes) due to their relying on dynamic lighting and particle effects.

Here's an example:

Splinter Cell
PS2 screenshot
Game cube screenshot
X-Box Screenshot

Now, what do we see in these screenshots?

The X-Box obviously has better anti-aliasing (best shown here), it's smoothest, but the X-Box and GC are even on the texture quality (native X-Box game), legacy effects are visible in the PS2 screenshot (look at the edge of objects) but not in either of the other consoles. Textures are less crisp in the PS2 screen.

There are better examples, and I'd love to find links to various sites/etc for you, but I don't have the time.

Yeah...but Splinter Cell kicks ass, dude! Don't give up on 'em until you play it!