I've noticed an extremely alarming trend that I think may eventually lead to world wide war. Last week there were no crows in my back yard. Then one morning there were 5, the next morning 10, then 20, then 40, now 80. 80 crows. And they call it a "murder" of crows.
I sat down and calculated this out, and at the rate the crows are multiplying we're going to be living with Alfred Hickcock's The Birds in no time. This is going to result in mass migration of humans, food shortages, and contention over limited resources. This will *clearly* and inevitably lead to war.
I plan on publishing my Murder of Crow manifesto in early November, to make it clear to all about this impending and unavoidable danger to humanity. If things go well, I hope to be able to save the world, win the Peace Prize, and maybe even become US president if I play my cards right. Wish me luck!
When it comes to game design, experience is most important.
Most gamers have totally unrealistic expectations when it comes to game design. What they teach in schools and colleges just doesn't capture the realities of....well, of anything really.
The best possible way to figure out the madness that is the game development industry is to work in it and witness that madness first-hand. Only once you've done that, do you have a chance of convincing someone that you "get it".
If busting your ass as a QA tester, working long hours for low pay, gives you an opportunity to help out in some small way with an aspect of game design, you're a helluva lot more qualified then the other 10 million clueless folks out there who are convinced game design is easy and they have all the answers.
"You've obviously never seen the devastation caused by slurry "dams" breaking and flooding valleys with the muck. Or never had to deal with the dust generated by the mining or the pollution to the groundwater. I can guess you've never had to meet a coal truck on small country road at night in a blind curve."
You've obviously never seen Black Adder:
Rum: aah-ahhh! [strokes his hand] You have a woman's hand, milord! I'll wager these dainty pinkies never weighed anchor in a storm. Blackadder: Well, you're right there. Rum: Ha ha ha. -Aah! Your skin milord. I'll wager it ne'er felt the lash of a cat 'o' nine tails, been rubbed with salt, and then flayed off by a pirate chief to make fine stockings for his best cabin boy. Blackadder: How uncanny, I don't know how you do it, but you're right again. Rum: Why should I let a stupid cockerel like you aboard me boat? Blackadder: Perhaps for the money in my purse [holding it up] Rum: Ha. -Aah! You have a woman's purse! [takes it from him and examines it daintily] I'll wager that purse has never been used as a rowing-boat. I'll wager it's never had sixteen shipwrecked mariners tossing in it. Blackadder: Yes, right again, Rum. I must say when it comes to tales of courage I'm going to have to keep my mouth shut. Rum: Oh! You have a woman's mouth, milord! I'll wager that mouth never had to chew through the side of a ship to escape the dreadful spindly killer fish. Blackadder: I must say, when I came to see you, I had no idea I was goingt o have to eat your ship as well as hire it. And since you're clearly as mad as a mongoose I'll bid you farewell [gets up] Rum: Aaah, courtiers to the Queen, you're nothing but lapdogs to a slip of a girl. Blackadder: Better a "lapdog to a slip of a girl", than a... Git. Rum: So you do have some spunk in you! Don't worry, laddie, I'll come, I'll come [holds out his hand] Blackadder: Well, let us set sail as soon as we can. [they shake] I will fetch my first mate, and then I'll return as fast as my legs will carry me. Rum: Ah! [pointing] You have a woman's legs, my lord! I'll wager those are legs that have never been sliced clean off by a falling sail, and swept into the sea before your very eyes. Blackadder: [crossly] Well, neither have yours. Rum: That's where you're wrong
"In my view there is no incentive for third parties to develop exclusively for a single platform, unless there is some form of financial inducement from the hardware manufacturer. If you want the largest potential user base, you go multi-platform." - Ed Baron
This pretty much sums up the issue. Until such time as the platforms themselves provide such differentiation factors that affect core game design, developers are much better off by releasing products on as many platforms as possible.
The Wii Remote is one example of the type of thing that can differentiate platforms. If the core design of your game is one that hinges upon a feature that is only available on a single platform, then you almost de facto exclusivity. If the core elements of game play can't be pulled off if you port to another platform, then it makes no sense to do that port.
Ultimately, the issue of exclusivity remains in the hands of the hardware manufacturers. If they design new hardware with unique and compelling features that ultimately support unique design elements on their platform, they will win the exclusivity they so desire. On the other hand, they can simply resort to the checkbook and buy their way into exclusivity.
More and more of today's games, on all platforms, are being designed with online components. Microsofts's Live, Sony's Home, Blizzard's World of Warcraft, Linden Lab's Second Life, and even Wizard's of the Coast Magic: The Gathering Online all seem to be pointing towards the future of PC and Console entertainment.
What happens when almost every game that comes out includes core design functionality that requires online play, and therefor, online registration?
Does this put an end to piracy or are there some new and clever forms that will emerge?
Would an electronic entertainment world that requires online registration ultimately be a bad thing for gamers in some way?
I like your theory, but I don't think you're seeing the full picture.
What about sports and news? Did everyone Tivo the Superbowl and then watch it hours later so they could skip the commercials? Are people going to record breaking news on CNN so they can review it at their leisure?
You may be right with regards to a lot of the content that is produced for TV. However, there will always be room for ads in programming that people are compelled to watch live.
Let's not forget the "'Global Cooling' crowd" and the "'Population Explosion Causing the End of Civilization by 2000' crowd." We narrowly dodged those bullets!
We've had quite a few unseasonably warm days this winter. What more proof do we need?
Of course, that fact that we're getting to the point where we compare Global Warming to the Holocaust speaks volumes in and of itself.
The original article here, and slashdot's summation, might have been intentionally provocative and not entire accurate, but people are so religious about Global Warming that they certainly wish people would stop saying it doesn't exist. For anyone who can step back and take an honest unbiased view of this debate, do you really think that proponents of the Global Warming theory really want to have a debate on the issue, or do they just want everyone to believe as they do and stop disagreeing?
I liked Ryzom. It had some very interesting design elements that I've not seen spiritually make their way into other games, at least not yet. But the game engine definitely wasn't where you need to be. It was more or less a 2D world, very much like Guild Wars, where you're unable to really jump or leave the ground in anyway. This was pretty clear the moment you played the game, and I think that's what turned so many folks off.
But trying to blame Jessica for Ryzom's demise seems a little far fetched. The game had problems right from the get-go. And while you could maybe argue that Jessica wasn't able to turn it around and make it a success, I think you could also make a case that maybe no one could have.
Ya know, just to be safe, why don't we sacrifice a few virgins each year to the global Climate Gods.
The way I figure it, maybe we're wrong, and there are no Climate Gods. If so, then all we did was kill a few virgins.
But shit man, what if we're right and the Climate Gods are going to destoy the earth unless they get their virgins? Seriously, think about what's at stake here.
"Actually, the phrase "rife with claims and counter-claims" is making more of the counter-claims then they are; the vast body of the evidence indicates climate change is real; Lomborg is the only serious counter-claimaint that I am aware of."
Santa Claus is real! *jumps up and down* He's real! Stop saying he isn't real, because...well you're wrong! He's real!
I'm pretty tired of you right-wing anti-environmentalists always trying to throw a wet blanket over our moral panic.
Consensus has been reached. No further debate is possible. We've figured it all out. All of it. The earth is going to end in a matter of years if we don't immediately stop all progress and revert to living in trees. I've already picked out mine. If you're smart, you'll stop arguing and pick out yours before all the good ones are claimed.
As much as fun as O'Rielly is to kick around, he's not wrong, and we all know it.
Folks aren't "creating their own" reality, they are just living in one created by Blizzard or someone else. Gaming, almost by definition, is about escaping, and MMOs are the ultimate in escape: an entire world that you can spend your entire waking life in, if you want.
As awesome as the South Park episode was about World of Warcraft, alot of of my "under-employed" wow-playing friends who saw the episode commented with a grunt that it was funny, "...but it kinda hit close to home."
Part of the reason MMOs are so popular, especially for males, is because they satisfy some very basic needs. People like to feel like they have some control over their destiny. They like to be confronted with problems they can solve. They like to feel like they are making measurable progress. They like to feel productive. They like to feel important.
All of this is much more easily attained via an MMO than in the real world. So is it any wonder that a lot of people "opt out" of a world filled with non-stop news about a solution-less Iraq, a no-win Israeli conflict, and the "inconvienent truth" about impending world disaster?
It's enough to make a guy want to roll a human hunter and be just done with all.
All fun and games til they mocked MY religion....
on
An Inconvenient Truth
·
· Score: 1
I know what the show is supposed to be, but how dare they mock my personal moral panic?
Commander Buck Murdock: Irony can be pretty ironic sometimes.
*waves hand* There was no medieval warming Period
on
An Inconvenient Truth
·
· Score: 1
Last I heard, they were still arguing over the existence of the medieval warming period and a hundred other possible oddities in recent climatological history.
I'm sorry, but that period doesn't support the conclusion we all want to see, so we've had it stricken from the record.
Stormtrooper: Let me see your identification. Obi-Wan: [with a small wave of his hand] You don't need to see his identification. Stormtrooper: We don't need to see his identification. Obi-Wan: These aren't the droids you're looking for. Stormtrooper: These aren't the droids we're looking for. Obi-Wan: He can go about his business. Stormtrooper: You can go about your business. Obi-Wan: Move along. Stormtrooper: Move along... move along.
Choosing your battles also means picking battles you can win. There was no way the administration could claim to want to work with the Democrats while still defending Rumsfeld, who had become as much the lightening rod for liberal wrath as Bush himself.
Blackadder: Percy, this is a very difficult situation.
Percy: Yes, my lord.
Blackadder: Someone's for the chop. You or me in fact.
Slashdot Mirror
I can't believe they edited this version to make it so the Replicas always fired first... Is nothing sacred?!
I've noticed an extremely alarming trend that I think may eventually lead to world wide war. Last week there were no crows in my back yard. Then one morning there were 5, the next morning 10, then 20, then 40, now 80. 80 crows. And they call it a "murder" of crows.
I sat down and calculated this out, and at the rate the crows are multiplying we're going to be living with Alfred Hickcock's The Birds in no time. This is going to result in mass migration of humans, food shortages, and contention over limited resources. This will *clearly* and inevitably lead to war.
I plan on publishing my Murder of Crow manifesto in early November, to make it clear to all about this impending and unavoidable danger to humanity. If things go well, I hope to be able to save the world, win the Peace Prize, and maybe even become US president if I play my cards right. Wish me luck!
When it comes to game design, experience is most important.
Most gamers have totally unrealistic expectations when it comes to game design. What they teach in schools and colleges just doesn't capture the realities of....well, of anything really.
The best possible way to figure out the madness that is the game development industry is to work in it and witness that madness first-hand. Only once you've done that, do you have a chance of convincing someone that you "get it".
If busting your ass as a QA tester, working long hours for low pay, gives you an opportunity to help out in some small way with an aspect of game design, you're a helluva lot more qualified then the other 10 million clueless folks out there who are convinced game design is easy and they have all the answers.
"You've obviously never seen the devastation caused by slurry "dams" breaking and flooding valleys with the muck. Or never had to deal with the dust generated by the mining or the pollution to the groundwater. I can guess you've never had to meet a coal truck on small country road at night in a blind curve."
You've obviously never seen Black Adder:
Rum: aah-ahhh! [strokes his hand] You have a woman's hand, milord! I'll wager these
dainty pinkies never weighed anchor in a storm.
Blackadder: Well, you're right there.
Rum: Ha ha ha. -Aah! Your skin milord. I'll wager it ne'er felt the lash of a cat 'o' nine tails,
been rubbed with salt, and then flayed off by a pirate chief to make fine stockings for his best
cabin boy.
Blackadder: How uncanny, I don't know how you do it, but you're right again.
Rum: Why should I let a stupid cockerel like you aboard me boat?
Blackadder: Perhaps for the money in my purse [holding it up]
Rum: Ha. -Aah! You have a woman's purse! [takes it from him and examines it daintily]
I'll wager that purse has never been used as a rowing-boat. I'll wager it's never had sixteen
shipwrecked mariners tossing in it.
Blackadder: Yes, right again, Rum. I must say when it comes to tales of courage I'm going to
have to keep my mouth shut.
Rum: Oh! You have a woman's mouth, milord! I'll wager that mouth never had to chew through
the side of a ship to escape the dreadful spindly killer fish.
Blackadder: I must say, when I came to see you, I had no idea I was goingt o have to eat your
ship as well as hire it. And since you're clearly as mad as a mongoose I'll bid you farewell
[gets up]
Rum: Aaah, courtiers to the Queen, you're nothing but lapdogs to a slip of a girl.
Blackadder: Better a "lapdog to a slip of a girl", than a... Git.
Rum: So you do have some spunk in you! Don't worry, laddie, I'll come, I'll come [holds out his
hand]
Blackadder: Well, let us set sail as soon as we can. [they shake] I will fetch my first mate,
and then I'll return as fast as my legs will carry me.
Rum: Ah! [pointing] You have a woman's legs, my lord! I'll wager those are legs that have
never been sliced clean off by a falling sail, and swept into the sea before your very eyes.
Blackadder: [crossly] Well, neither have yours.
Rum: That's where you're wrong
From the Article:
"In my view there is no incentive for third parties to develop exclusively for a single platform, unless there is some form of financial inducement from the hardware manufacturer. If you want the largest potential user base, you go multi-platform." - Ed Baron
This pretty much sums up the issue. Until such time as the platforms themselves provide such differentiation factors that affect core game design, developers are much better off by releasing products on as many platforms as possible.
The Wii Remote is one example of the type of thing that can differentiate platforms. If the core design of your game is one that hinges upon a feature that is only available on a single platform, then you almost de facto exclusivity. If the core elements of game play can't be pulled off if you port to another platform, then it makes no sense to do that port.
Ultimately, the issue of exclusivity remains in the hands of the hardware manufacturers. If they design new hardware with unique and compelling features that ultimately support unique design elements on their platform, they will win the exclusivity they so desire. On the other hand, they can simply resort to the checkbook and buy their way into exclusivity.
More and more of today's games, on all platforms, are being designed with online components. Microsofts's Live, Sony's Home, Blizzard's World of Warcraft, Linden Lab's Second Life, and even Wizard's of the Coast Magic: The Gathering Online all seem to be pointing towards the future of PC and Console entertainment.
What happens when almost every game that comes out includes core design functionality that requires online play, and therefor, online registration?
Does this put an end to piracy or are there some new and clever forms that will emerge?
Would an electronic entertainment world that requires online registration ultimately be a bad thing for gamers in some way?
She got off easy!
That makes things...um...slightly embarassing now...
...when Slashdot has nothing but articles about Global Warming.
What more could any of us need?
I would never leave the house! (well...this is assuming I left it now)
I like your theory, but I don't think you're seeing the full picture.
What about sports and news? Did everyone Tivo the Superbowl and then watch it hours later so they could skip the commercials? Are people going to record breaking news on CNN so they can review it at their leisure?
You may be right with regards to a lot of the content that is produced for TV. However, there will always be room for ads in programming that people are compelled to watch live.
Let's not forget the "'Global Cooling' crowd" and the "'Population Explosion Causing the End of Civilization by 2000' crowd." We narrowly dodged those bullets!
We've had quite a few unseasonably warm days this winter. What more proof do we need?
Of course, that fact that we're getting to the point where we compare Global Warming to the Holocaust speaks volumes in and of itself.
The original article here, and slashdot's summation, might have been intentionally provocative and not entire accurate, but people are so religious about Global Warming that they certainly wish people would stop saying it doesn't exist. For anyone who can step back and take an honest unbiased view of this debate, do you really think that proponents of the Global Warming theory really want to have a debate on the issue, or do they just want everyone to believe as they do and stop disagreeing?
...anyone who dares to disagree with them or who tries to offer an alternative viewpoint.
Oh, and on the other side of the Global Warming coin, I am tired of the religious right as well.
Global warming is all our fault. But this other stuff, yeah. We live in on an amazingly complex planet.
I liked Ryzom. It had some very interesting design elements that I've not seen spiritually make their way into other games, at least not yet. But the game engine definitely wasn't where you need to be. It was more or less a 2D world, very much like Guild Wars, where you're unable to really jump or leave the ground in anyway. This was pretty clear the moment you played the game, and I think that's what turned so many folks off.
But trying to blame Jessica for Ryzom's demise seems a little far fetched. The game had problems right from the get-go. And while you could maybe argue that Jessica wasn't able to turn it around and make it a success, I think you could also make a case that maybe no one could have.
This is just great news. Simpsons and Family guy are good and all, but the world hasn't been the same without the old Planet Express crew.
Bender: You know, I was God once.
God: Yes, I saw. You were doing well until everyone died.
Right. Thus the whole "sacrifice some virgins" comment, which clearly went over some mod's head.
Ya know, just to be safe, why don't we sacrifice a few virgins each year to the global Climate Gods.
The way I figure it, maybe we're wrong, and there are no Climate Gods. If so, then all we did was kill a few virgins.
But shit man, what if we're right and the Climate Gods are going to destoy the earth unless they get their virgins? Seriously, think about what's at stake here.
"Actually, the phrase "rife with claims and counter-claims" is making more of the counter-claims then they are; the vast body of the evidence indicates climate change is real; Lomborg is the only serious counter-claimaint that I am aware of."
Santa Claus is real! *jumps up and down* He's real! Stop saying he isn't real, because...well you're wrong! He's real!
I'm pretty tired of you right-wing anti-environmentalists always trying to throw a wet blanket over our moral panic.
Consensus has been reached. No further debate is possible. We've figured it all out. All of it. The earth is going to end in a matter of years if we don't immediately stop all progress and revert to living in trees. I've already picked out mine. If you're smart, you'll stop arguing and pick out yours before all the good ones are claimed.
You know he secretly plays a female Night Elf hunter...
As much as fun as O'Rielly is to kick around, he's not wrong, and we all know it.
Folks aren't "creating their own" reality, they are just living in one created by Blizzard or someone else. Gaming, almost by definition, is about escaping, and MMOs are the ultimate in escape: an entire world that you can spend your entire waking life in, if you want.
As awesome as the South Park episode was about World of Warcraft, alot of of my "under-employed" wow-playing friends who saw the episode commented with a grunt that it was funny, "...but it kinda hit close to home."
Part of the reason MMOs are so popular, especially for males, is because they satisfy some very basic needs. People like to feel like they have some control over their destiny. They like to be confronted with problems they can solve. They like to feel like they are making measurable progress. They like to feel productive. They like to feel important.
All of this is much more easily attained via an MMO than in the real world. So is it any wonder that a lot of people "opt out" of a world filled with non-stop news about a solution-less Iraq, a no-win Israeli conflict, and the "inconvienent truth" about impending world disaster?
It's enough to make a guy want to roll a human hunter and be just done with all.
I know what the show is supposed to be, but how dare they mock my personal moral panic?
Commander Buck Murdock: Irony can be pretty ironic sometimes.
Last I heard, they were still arguing over the existence of the medieval warming period and a hundred other possible oddities in recent climatological history.
e ws/2006/11/05/nosplit/nwarm05.xml
I'm sorry, but that period doesn't support the conclusion we all want to see, so we've had it stricken from the record.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/n
Stormtrooper: Let me see your identification.
Obi-Wan: [with a small wave of his hand] You don't need to see his identification.
Stormtrooper: We don't need to see his identification.
Obi-Wan: These aren't the droids you're looking for.
Stormtrooper: These aren't the droids we're looking for.
Obi-Wan: He can go about his business.
Stormtrooper: You can go about your business.
Obi-Wan: Move along.
Stormtrooper: Move along... move along.
Blackadder: Percy, this is a very difficult situation.
Percy: Yes, my lord.
Blackadder: Someone's for the chop. You or me in fact.
Percy: Ah yes.
Blackadder: Let's face facts Percy....it's you!