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is it a prank? rebranded furries? an ironic hipster meme collapsed under its own weight and is now self aware? inquiring minds want to know!

True Art Is Angsty, so anything lighthearted and well-written is likely to sell like ice water in Sahara and for the same reason.

The fall of Arthas has been the main story arc of since the Warcraft III. With the death of the lich king, that arc is not done. And yes, Deathwing was a character in Warcraft II, but they were nothing like the one in Cataclysm, who was really a "giant space flea from nowhere" character. And the rest of the plot was a swiss cheese mess. The king of the water elementals gets kidnapped and because the dungeon resolving that plotlin got cut, it's like he fell out of the game through a trap door, because no one ever mentions him again. There's all these plot hooks for an ancient god they never bothered to implement. And the different areas of the game are so disjointed they literally couldn't come up with anything better than your character hanging around in the capital looking for "Help Wanted" ads on a bulletin board to get you from one zone to the next.

I see what you did there.

Space Battleship Yamato (Uch Senkan Yamato, also called Cosmoship Yamato) is a Japanese science fiction anime series featuring an eponymous spacecraft. It is also known to English-speaking audiences as Space Cruiser Yamato; an English-dubbed and heavily edited version of the series was broadcast on North American and Australian television as Star Blazers. The first two seasons ("Quest for Iscandar" and "The Comet Empire") of this version were broadcast in Greece in 1981-82 as Diastimóploio Argó ("Spaceship Argo"). An Italian-language version was also broadcast under the name Star Blazers in Italy, and a Portuguese-language version was successfully shown in Brazil under the title Patrulha Estelar ("Star Patrol") and Viaje a la Ultima Galaxia ("Voyage to the Final Galaxy") or Astronave Intrepido ("Starship Intrepid") in Spain and Latin America.

It is a seminal series in the history of anime, marking a turn towards more complex serious works and influencing works such as Mobile Suit Gundam and Neon Genesis Evangelion; Hideaki Anno has ranked Yamato his favorite anime and credited it with sparking his interest in anime.

Yamato was the first anime series or movie to win the Seiun Award, a feat not repeated until the 1985 Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind.

The show starts on a post-apocalyptic Earth, with humanity trying to survive a war with an alien race. The titular ship is actually the wreck of the World War II battleship Yamato, rebuilt and converted into an FTL starship. The engine that allows supraluminal travel also powers a planet-busting spinal mount beam weapon, the Wave Motion Gun.

They recently did a live-action film, which had a pretty awful script. I found it entertaining in a cheesy/campy/back-to-childhood way. YMMV :)

Don't forget features like uncrop, infinite data due to impossible upsampling, and reflect off anything. Gotta love the "enhance" button: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EnhanceButton

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUFkb0d1kbU

A decade ago I would have laughed at this. These days, it just makes me sad how many people cannot explain why this is impossible, when I already figured it would never be possible, even when I was a kid.

I know perfectly well what that means, here is something for you.

No, you ride them

People have their underwear in a bunch over the fact that "OpenWRT" has become an artifact title. It no longer supports the appliance after which it was named (the WRT54G).

Sulphur (however spelled, correctly or Americanly) hasn't been called "brimstone" since we have a scientifically useful concept of "element".

True, but people familiar with the Bible only through pop-cultural osmosis might have heard of the expression "fire and brimstone" but not have actually read modern translations of Revelation that refer to "sulfur"/"sulphur".

Sulphur (however spelled, correctly or Americanly) hasn't been called "brimstone" since we have a scientifically useful concept of "element".

True, but people familiar with the Bible only through pop-cultural osmosis might have heard of the expression "fire and brimstone" but not have actually read modern translations of Revelation that refer to "sulfur"/"sulphur".

Always use Scotty time when making estimates.
Please have your ad blocker up before visiting the website.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ScottyTime

In Fact, TVTropes has an entire section of Flanderization dedicated to Futurama.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Flanderization/WesternAnimation

(Sorry in advance for your lost productivity.)

It's fucking Baseball. Seriously, not News for Nerds *or* Stuff that Matters.

Ahem.

In the meantime, the truly gifted are hitting the library, doing their own thing, and pretty much don't need no stinking program.

In the pre-World War II era when Linus Pauling and Albert Einstein grew up, it was believed acceptably safe for a child to walk the streets unaccompanied. Nowadays kids are kept indoors over public hysteria over "stranger danger" and over poorly laid out, cul-de-sac-heavy street hierarchies that discourage getting from one place to another in anything but a passenger vehicle.

But do people buy the kinds of games that run in DOSBox anymore? One Slashdot regular has repeatedly told me that developers of new games with retro style 2D graphics are living in the past.

I disagree, and so (to a certain extent, when done right) does tvtropes: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OverlyLongGag

See also: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AntiHumor

On the other hand, telling 25 *different* jokes, none of which are very funny, is way worse.

I disagree, and so (to a certain extent, when done right) does tvtropes: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OverlyLongGag

See also: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AntiHumor

On the other hand, telling 25 *different* jokes, none of which are very funny, is way worse.

The Pentateuch appears to have been compiled from four documents under the guidance of holy spirit: J (Jehovist), E (Elohist), P (Priestly), and D (prologue and epilogue of Deuteronomy). I'm under the impression that J and E were based on manuscripts by Moses, possibly at different points in his life, P by Aaron, and D by Joshua. Genesis 1 comes from P and 2-11 from J. You can recognize P by the arc number seven and J by its use of YHWH before Exodus 3.

Why is this? Other than 'muricans are dim fucks that put up with any shit?

The problem is that one can't just start his own cell phone network, with blackjack and hookers, because an oligopoly of four companies have snapped up effectively all the spectrum in the cellular bands. One must either put up with what the spectrum cartel offers or do without cellular service. If you believe I've presented a false dilemma, please feel free to explain your third option.

Why is this? Other than 'muricans are dim fucks that put up with any shit?

The problem is that one can't just start his own cell phone network, with blackjack and hookers, because an oligopoly of four companies have snapped up effectively all the spectrum in the cellular bands. One must either put up with what the spectrum cartel offers or do without cellular service. If you believe I've presented a false dilemma, please feel free to explain your third option.

It's worse if you are driving...

http://www.xkcd.com/161/

Also, everyone, knock yourself out, there is plenty of trolling material:

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EarWorm

Whenever, the subject of vinyl comes up on Slashdot I am reminded of this: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WhatAreRecords The joke is that old people make jokes about young people not recognizing vinyl.

I almost did -- I actually went to look at it, I figured it went to an older, archived discussion.

Speaking of which, have you heard about TvTrope's forray into producing a TV/Podcast series? http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/JustForFun/AvatarAndTheAirbendingFellowshipOfVampireSlayers

It's actually several years old now, with spin-off "books" and "comics" (web-based, of course)

Inuit are generally considered to be northern Asians

I guess that's why the Ice Climbers from Super Smash Bros. series don't look much different from the default "stateless" race of Japanese cartoon characters.

I say this with all sincerity, and as a father of a 3-year-old daughter.

Your post is a CMOH.

Posted anonymously cause I'm actually a little embarrassed about it.

"Why aren't they writing really original stuff?"

It's easier said than done. To understand why, see: The Tropeless Tale

Lots of things that look like they shouldn't fly, do in fact fly.

My favourite is the Blohm & Voss BV 141.

While we're talking about those wacky nazis, the Me 323 is just too ugly to be allowed to fly.

Admit it, we want to tag people (things too, but mostly people).

So we see someone whom we perceive to be a douchebag, we can tag him as #AbsoluteDouche and every body will know, when they view that person, that he has been tagged as such, and be prepared to deal him pre-emptively.

Relevant XKCD: http://xkcd.com/796/

Also, relevant, if you have seen the anime Eden of the East, it revolves around a cellphone app with a similar tagging feature.

Aren't Rodians all gangsters though? There's some Unfortunate Implications there.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PlanetOfCopyhats

The Star Wars Expanded Universe uses this aggressively. With only three movies worth of content to start off with, writers had to create entire races based on minor extras that happened to have unique make-up.

The most Egregious example? The Bothans. Their only appearance in the movies is Mon Mothma's line in Return of the Jedi: "Many Bothans died to bring us this information." From that single, offhand mention, EU writers whipped up an entire species whose entire society is based around spying and espionage.

Star Wars has another Egregious example in Corellians, which is Han Solo's home culture. During the scene in the asteroid field in The Empire Strikes Back, Han says "Never Tell Me The Odds", and from this some EU writer extrapolated that all Corellians hate statistics with a passion.

It's the same in Star Trek. All Ferengi are greedy and unprincipled, all Klingons are violent, all Vulcans are clever but a bit machine like and brittle and so on. Importantly all the non human races are inferior politically and morally to humans in the long run - even the Vulcans start of running things but end up as science officers in a human run and founded Starfleet.

David Irving - who someone once called 'not just a historian of Nazis but a Nazi historian'- said sarcastically he liked Lord of the Rings because it teaches children about race.

Of course like always he's trolling. He knows the people who wrote Star Trek and Star Wars weren't racists or Nazis and that JRR Tolkien loathed the Nazis. Rather he's using the prevalence of lazy "planet of the hats" writing in sci fi and fantasy to make a subversive and rather nasty ideological point that those writers didn't intend to make.

"Press 'X' To Not Die"? WARNING: TVTropes link!

"Press 'X' To Not Die"? WARNING: TVTropes link!

Hello

When I first saw the headline, I thought it was going to be a fossilized bioluminescent sunstone from H. Beam Piper's Little Fuzzy series of science fiction stories.

Still, a fascinating read, albeit not one as exciting as if H. Beam Piper's fictional sunstones had been found to exist in real life.

Regards,
Aryeh Goretsky

There are day 1 DLCs which are basically unlock keys for stuff already on disk.

And there are day one DLCs for stuff that was dummied out of RTM because it couldn't be tested in time but became working after the game's first patch.

Meaning you actually could become a glass cannon...

Well, it looks like it's back to tvtropes for me. There goes the rest of the night.

Actually, it just means less piracy, which in turn will mean more money for the entertainment industry to use to bring us great movies and music. Sure, the mooching parasitic pirates will be upset, but the rest of us, who are willing to pay hard earned money for high quality entertainment, will be much better off.

Now here is a beautiful example of Poe's Law. I genuinely can't tell whether this guy is a RIAA/MPAA shill, or a master of parody.

I mean, I'm pretty sure most intelligent people know that there is more high quality entertainment than the big ticket names and excessive polish which is all the big studios seem to focus on. You know, that mysterious and elusive thing known as originality.

When they stop churning out the nth remake of the same story in the last 10 years and soulless commercial drivel masquerading as music, then I'll start respecting their work. When they produce something new and worth while, well then I'll feel good about rewarding them with my money.

You're right that the word is never said, but that's irrelevent. The word appears in the original ROTJ credits at least twice, in the script and in the novelisation, in both Caravan of Courage and The Battle for Endor, and is also Word of God.

From the relevant Wikipedia page:

G-canon is absolute canon; the movies (their most recent release), the scripts, the novelizations of the movies, the radio plays, and any statements by George Lucas himself. G-canon overrides the lower levels of canon when there is a contradiction. Within G-canon, many fans follow an unofficial progression of canonicity where the movies are the highest canon, followed by the scripts, the novelizations, and then the radio plays.

Yes, the word "Ewok" is canon.

Just as a counterpoint, the same subject matter was covered recently in the darkly satirical technocentric series "Black Mirror" in the UK, most especially in "The Entire History of You". Definitely worth a watch if you enjoyed Strange Days.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Series/BlackMirror

Personally, I think ritual recording of memories is a terrible idea; most of us can already remember the good stuff pretty well, and not forgetting the bad stuff would be... well, pretty bloody traumatic.

[A shotgun] is incapable of killing targets at any long range

You are a moron and your knowledge of firearms comes exclusively from video games.

There are no other firearms a civilian has ANY valid use case to own. Any. Ever. Period.

EVERY use case that does not involve unwarranted harm to other people or their property is valid. Every. Always. Period.

That one molecule in the water won't let it happen because of the exponential power it has from being the sole piece left of the original substance.

So what you're saying is that molecules are ninja, and thus must obey the Conservation of Ninjutsu law.

Not only are they still almost completely untargeted

That's the fault of people using "do not track" and other similar privacy measures. I leave tracking on so that the ads I see are more likely to interest me. But it appears that a lot of advertisers don't care, as they continue to serve SWF ads that neither my laptop (which runs SWF in click-to-play) nor my tablet (which doesn't support SWF at all) can play.

why not tell me the name of the product at the start of the video?

For the same reason infomercials don't show you the price in minute one: the brand name might turn some people off. They want to show you the attributes to make you want the product, and then they tell you what product has those attributes.

Why can't I click a "I want to see more"?

That's called clicking the ad.

Maybe there is some reason for ads sucking so much, maybe that's what makes them stick in my mind.

Apart from the Super Bowl, ads that are actually well-produced entertainment would probably result in viewers being distracted by the production and remembering what happens in the ad rather than what product it was selling. Quick: Without using a search engine, which restaurant's commercial introduced the phrase "Where's the beef?"

Not only are they still almost completely untargeted

That's the fault of people using "do not track" and other similar privacy measures. I leave tracking on so that the ads I see are more likely to interest me. But it appears that a lot of advertisers don't care, as they continue to serve SWF ads that neither my laptop (which runs SWF in click-to-play) nor my tablet (which doesn't support SWF at all) can play.

why not tell me the name of the product at the start of the video?

For the same reason infomercials don't show you the price in minute one: the brand name might turn some people off. They want to show you the attributes to make you want the product, and then they tell you what product has those attributes.

Why can't I click a "I want to see more"?

That's called clicking the ad.

Maybe there is some reason for ads sucking so much, maybe that's what makes them stick in my mind.

Apart from the Super Bowl, ads that are actually well-produced entertainment would probably result in viewers being distracted by the production and remembering what happens in the ad rather than what product it was selling. Quick: Without using a search engine, which restaurant's commercial introduced the phrase "Where's the beef?"

More like $450 for that PC side, maybe $600.

$600? In the console market, an MSRP of "five hundred and ninety-nine U.S. dollars" is fodder for stupid statement dance mixes like this one

Dang summary made me go look at various Miranda/phone call pages on tvtropes!

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MirandaRights

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bat-signal.jpg

PC game companies write their products for the lowest common denominator: keyboard and mouse. Gamepad support is an afterthought, and it often shows.

Are you talking major developers or indie developers? And are you talking about games in mouse-heavy genres (FPS/RTS) or games in other genres?

even using a simple gamepad in Windows means mucking about with drivers.

How so? The drivers for both my Xbox 360 controller and my Logitech controller installed automatically when I plugged them into my PC's front USB ports.

What you are referring to are essentially custom order items through specialty boutiques. Meanwhile, I can think of at least half a dozen retail shelves that have consoles on them within ten miles of where I sit.

So your argument, as I understand it, is that products on brick-and-mortar shelves are inherently superior to mail-order products. What did I misunderstand?

The GBA was sold concurrently with the DS and DS Lite

And the PSOne was sold concurrently with the PS2. And the gaming PC was sold concurrently with homework-and-Facebook PCs with Intel GMA (Graphics My Ass) and with netbooks containing a Pentium 4-equivalent Atom CPU. It's called the daddy system. An advantage of PC games is that many support scalable detail levels, which is like getting the PS2 and PS3 versions of a game in one box: when you upgrade your PC, your game will grow with you.

Setting aside for the moment that we're suddenly living in a world where the steps to play a game are more complicated than "Insert game, turn on,"

Wii has been more complicated than "insert game, turn on" since 2006: you have to use the remote and the Sensor Bar to activate the Disc Channel, even if your game uses GameCube controllers or the Wii Classic Controller.

does the Windows 8 UI even accept a gamepad as input out of the box?

I admit that Windows still requires a bit of tweaking for set-top use. but apparently there's an app for that, more than one in fact. Console UI can't be customized at all.

You won't build a $400 gaming PC that is a) quite and b) as fast as a current gen game console.

Acer makes the Aspire X series of compact PCs that are roughly the size of the original Xbox 360, and anything with an AMD CPU will come with an integrated graphics processor capable of gaming. I have one, and it's been far less noisy than my cousin's original Xbox 360.

It's hell to set up anything else because there's no standard for button numbering.

I'm aware of this, and I've been doing a bit of research toward this. A PC game developer's best bet is to find the most common controllers among users, possibly using some counterpart to Microsoft's Customer Experience Improvement Program, and bundle working presets for those controllers with the game. These would include at least the Gravis/Logitech layout and the Xbox 360 layout.

I've pushed button 1 on my controller and had it show up as button 3 in game.

Then you played defective games. A game seeing a particular brand of controller for the first time should show a list of buttons to press in order. Once the player has pressed Up, Down, Left, Right, Jump, Fire, Special, and Pause, the configuration for that controller is saved. Someone using a Genesis RetroPort, for example, would take eight seconds to press Up, Down, Left, Right, C, B, A, and Start, and that hurdle is surpassed on that machine.

The last GBA game was Final Fantasy IV Advanced, released 2006. So about 5 years, give or take.

You're referring to what some have called "lame duck" games and what others have called the daddy system. Games compatible with old PCs are still being released, just as PS1 games continued to come out during the first several years of the PS2 and PS2 games continued to come out during the first several years of the PS3. So I call this a wash.

Knee of a commie aggressor, meet cap. 8-)

--libman

And what are they supposed to do? Race Penguins in go-carts? Grow things on their Farm and sell them at the Market? Save a Princess from an Ape?

Let me guess: Tux Racer, Harvest Moon/Animal Crossing, Donkey Kong.

But it would be an interesting subversion of expectations to have a "but thou must" moment early in the campaign open up an entirely different game on the same disc that explores what the player character would have done had one decision gone differently. For example, instead of becoming an Enlistee Formerly Known As Space Marine, the character could instead choose to remain on his farm or join a racing league or something. Think of it as being sidetracked by Gold Saucer writ large.

And what are they supposed to do? Race Penguins in go-carts? Grow things on their Farm and sell them at the Market? Save a Princess from an Ape?

Let me guess: Tux Racer, Harvest Moon/Animal Crossing, Donkey Kong.

But it would be an interesting subversion of expectations to have a "but thou must" moment early in the campaign open up an entirely different game on the same disc that explores what the player character would have done had one decision gone differently. For example, instead of becoming an Enlistee Formerly Known As Space Marine, the character could instead choose to remain on his farm or join a racing league or something. Think of it as being sidetracked by Gold Saucer writ large.

No the point is that attrition works, but the writer stupidly called it "math" when it is no such thing.

Well, it is "math", just not complicated math:

(number of missiles that will hit target) - (number of interceptors * interception rate) = (number of explosions you have to explain to the PM in the morning)

Or, in English - it's fantastic that Israel has the ability to tell where a missile will hit and conserve interceptors. The counter to that is to throw a whole *lotta* missiles in the air and see just how fast it can do that math. It's the primitive form of the Macross Missile Massacre.