Actually, Gecko, clerics DO get experience from healing people when they're in a group (and, particularly at higher levels, ONLY from healing with perhaps a little stunning thrown in). The problem is that while the higher levels are entirely a grouping game, the lowest levels are very much a solo "race for levels."
If you really want to have a cleric that has never killed anything (personally), the best way to do it is to do some roleplaying. Walk around the starting area, offering help to those in need around your level, and eventually you'll hook up with somebody. At that point, you can start healing the people you're grouped with and suck up those fancy XP. Further, if you're having trouble getting cash for a spell, take donations. You're a cleric and people should bloody well be tithing to you!
Ouch...I'm a reformed EQ half-man warrior and what I've just described sounds hella fun. Does this mean that I have to start paying again???
The answer is that Paul Allen (of Microsoft fame; also the owner of the Seattle Seahawks and Portland Trailblazers) owns TechTV...Nobody is going to sue him for fear of him buying their company and firing them.:)
I think the biggest problem capturing the AC3 tracks from LD is that they, as I recall, used an odd RF interface to transmit the audio which is incompatible with the current optical/75-ohm RCA connectors. I would imagine that you would probably need some kind of transcoder, perhaps built from tearing apart an old receiver/prepro that has both types of inputs?
You could also, I suppose, somehow capture the 5.1 channel audio from a receiver/prepro with 5.1 outs. Unfortunately, I can't think of a consumer-grade device that would take those inputs and make it digital again. It should be possible to capture the six channels separately via analog and then remix and re-encode them via DVD/audio authoring software, ending up with an MPEG audio track that you could then resync and save on the video (of course, you've just added another D/A->A/D conversion to the mix, degrading the quality, probably by a not insignificant margin).
Whew, all of that sounds like a helluva lot of work for a relatively small number of titles that might be worth it (like the Indiana Jones movies, which still haven't made it to DVD). I'd probably just wait for the DVDs.:)
I think the main reason we don't have a solid micropayment system on the Internet already in place is simple corporate (mainly bank) greed. Companies that trade stocks make tons of money on margins (per stock) of less than a penny, often down to 1/32 of $0.01, and these margins often don't even depend upon which direction the stocks are going, rather just that they are in motion. There's no good reason that similar accounting/business systems can't be adopted by a bank to allow (and profit from) individuals moving pennies around, but no bank or credit card service has been forward-thinking enough to attempt it...The one that does is going to be a nearly overnight sensation and is going to make buckets of cash.
Given that I believe all the above, I'm in favor of an Internet that is mostly fee-based. Whether I'm enjoying dancing hamsters or researching a paper on quasars, the providers of those services should be getting something (at the very least the cost of the transfer between their server and my computer) for their trouble.
You're assuming that the ISP is going to get a cut of the revenues of the porn site AND that the porn on the site is free of copyright problems (i.e., owned by the website). For an ISP to make money off porn, they have to have a separate contract with the website [company] which involves a lot more than the website concepts discussed here so far (read: requires lawyers, YUCK).
In fact, considering the above, I wouldn't be at all surprised if the main reason most ISPs won't host porn on personal websites is that most porn sites contain copyrighted materials to which they have no legal claim. After all, a lot more porn gets "pirated" than does other types of software.
You can head over to AVSForum and get all the information you could want about HDTV cards in PC (especially the HiPix, for which software/driver development is being done by some of the members of the forum) in their "Home Theater Computers (HTPC)" area. Very worthwhile for learning about what components work best in a truly multimedia PC.
Actually, there shouldn't be any heat problem at all. The apparent purpose of the device (besides just being a great hack) is to have all the devices in one easy-to-place case and use one at a time. Since there would only be one unit on at any given time, no more heat would be generated/collected than would be the case in the original case. In fact, each system could probably run much cooler than original *because* you could put a PC fan in with little trouble.
With all due respect, that is the point. If game reviewers are getting perks and gifts from game companies, then could that be influencing the reviews of games? I too have been "burned" by seemingly inaccurate reviews of video games, and at $50 a pop that's not small change. It's gotten to the point where unless it's a sequel from a company I trust to put out a good product, I have to just wait until I can either try it out (via rental or a friend) or hear from several friends about the game.
Have you ever noticed that nearly all games (especially from the major companies) get reviews of average or better? Does this mean that no games actually just purely suck? I don't think so. It's pretty rare when a major mag or site gives a review that says something like "Don't buy this game," and why not? We all know that reviews like those are subjective.
Movie reviewers, on the other hand, are willing to step up to the plate and tell you when they think a movie blows chunks...and a movie costs $10 or less.
Something is rotten in the state of Denmark, and now we all know why. Unfortunately, I don't think it's likely to change. Movie reviews have a modicum of independence because they aren't directly funded by movie studios (in most cases, though I know Shalit's in somebody's pocket). Even if this "playola" is stopped, there's still the simple fact that game magazines and websites (the majors at least) are funded by advertising of video games. Perhaps we need a "Consumer Reports" for the video game world to give us honest takes and give us the real scoop without endangering someone's source of income.
This certainly does finally put into perspective why game magazines drool and gush over beta builds of games that turn into crap festivals when they are finally released. How many times have we read in a preview that a game looked great and "once they iron out a few small bugs" it's going to be the next big thing?
At a minimum, these activities surely dilute the pen's proverbial poison when games are finally reviewed. Now I know why magazines like Gamepro, EGM, etc. rarely give a score under 6 on a scale of 1-10...If they give low scores to games from a big company they might not be invited to hang out with Heidi Klum at the Namco mountain retreat.
Van-freaking-tastic. I was sitting on my butt playing PS for about four weeks after surgery and my time was split between FFVII and FFT, with FFT winning more of my time. That game was bee-yoo-tiful.
Playing any game for that many (10+) hours in a row, or any repetitive motion exercise like that, is a horrible thing to do to your hands. Even allowing for 15- to 20-minute breaks in there, that's still just too much time and the hands are going to hurt, PS2 controller, XBox controller or nice keyboard. Since I *do* heavy typing 10 hours a day (four days a work) I know the pain, but it certainly isn't a good idea with an entertainment product (after the first couple days of course; we all have that bug).:)
Actually, I think it's more likely that if you are using a handheld you probably don't know what OS is running on it at all. You probably just know that it's called a Palm or a Jornada or an iPAQ, etc. I'm sure there are many people out there with Clies who, when looking for software, look until they find something that says Clie in big, bold letters while passing over a ton of Palm stuff...
-Aaron
Not to mention that there are PC cards with this functionality (except for controlling outboard boxes so far) like this for analog-type cable and this which will timeshift HDTV content (terrestrial only so far). The latter's software is even open source for the OSS-heads out there.
Just thought I'd drop in here the comment that if you already have cable in your "townhome" it's possible to hook up DirecTV (or Dish) to the coaxial already in the place, meaning that you don't have to put in coax for rooms that already have cable access.
As far as dual-tuner PVRs, I think it's going to be a while. The added complexity of the software combined with the necessity (for most of the new digital sources) of having multiple receivers hooked up to one box makes dual tuners a bit difficult, both in terms of programming and marketing. You're better off in any case just having multiple Tivos (or Replays) on multiple TVs. Not only do you get the benefit of recording two shows at the same time but you can watch two different things.
Besides restraint of trade, in the US this should be considered "price-fixing." Unfortunately, since US law doesn't protect people living in other countries it has no reach there. Now, if the US had been broken into two or more regions, then interstate commerce would have been affected, federal laws would have been brought into play and region-coding might have been stopped before it started...Just imagine the outcry if someone bought a DVD from a BestBuy in New York and couldn't play it in the DVD player they bought from BestBuy in California - more lawsuits than you could shake a stick at.
I hate to respond to such silly hippy tripe, but since you got modded up...
You mentioned Switzerland and Iceland as countries that have "tried peace," with the implication that they have been enlightened and successful in this endeavor. It's worth pointing out that Switzerland has been avoided as a target for a couple of reasons: First, their geographic location is a very difficult for occupation; and second, virtually every male citizen of Switzerland is not only required to be a member of the military (militia) but is required to keep their equipment (read guns) in their home for rapid mobilization.
Iceland, on the other hand, is a barely noticeable strategic target except in terms of its possible use as a base in an "east versus west" war. It's also worth noting that Iceland is NOT really neutral in that they are a member of NATO for Heaven's sake!
Finally, being intelligent, educated and compassionate as a nation should never have anything to do with defending oneself or initiating military action. Violence is unfortunately sometimes necessary. Most of us don't like it, but if we ever forget it I'm sure that someone will come along to remind us (you may remember 9/11?).
You're focusing too much on pre-existing AI systems in computer games. A good AI in a game has to be able to play to lose to some extent, especially in the early phases, while a good AI in a simulation will simply act realistically. I don't know if you've played any of the Close Combat series, but you find out very quickly (assuming you haven't been in the Army or Marine Corps) that you don't know jack about tactics and you get your butt kicked because the computer DOES have decent tactics in its code. Not perfect, but certainly a good way to refine the fundamentals.
Of course, it's even easier if you just ignore programming the AI altogether. Since the Army already has a supply of people who are well-trained and experienced, they can just have those people play opponents to the people being trained. While you don't have the "perfect" opponent, you have the most realistic intelligence possible in control of all aspects.
Has ATI been coming through here and moderating? I recall when most Slashdotters were almost constantly annoyed by ATI because of their unwillingness to support their cards for more than about a year-and-a-half. NOW, all of a sudden, everybody with a crappy analogy and the ability to say "what's the big deal?" is getting modded up.
Simple break-down:
1) ATI is trying to deceive people.
2) It has been PROVEN that ATI is trying to deceive people.
3) Some people want to be deceived.
Now, all of you who have been defending ATI need to hurry up and run out and get your Quake3-"optimized" Radeons quick. But please don't come crying to us in two years when ATI has stopped writing drivers, and the last two driver releases have a feature that automatically reduces display quality on all OpenGL games in order to increase measured framerates for games in Linux.
Re:Suggested Change to IP Laws
on
Ultima Revived
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· Score: 1
I'm sure that this sounds very nice, especially to the people who might read Slashdot. However, what you're essentially suggesting is that a company (or individual, if he or she wrote the software alone) loses all rights to its CREATION by not doing anything with it. You would put a chill into the creative process by suggesting that after such a short period of time (and believe it or not, anything less than 20 years is still considered by many to be a pretty damn short period of time) companies and individuals lose their rights to their own products.
I myself have pirated software in the past, and in the most recent past it has consisted almost entirely of getting game software that just isn't sold anymore. I too wish that companies would consider updating their quality properties on a regular basis. It would be especially nice if companies would go through their archives, update old games to make them playable in a current OS environment and charge a fee to download them. However, I don't think the lack of this service is an excuse to strip them of ownership of their property.
A lot of things put the encoder to the test, especially when dealing with "real-time" broadcasting (which is one reason that DVDs kick the butt of DSS). It doesn't help when the digital satellite companies have to pick and choose which channels get more bandwidth than others.
One of my favorite reruns is Homicide: Life on the Street, but it's on CourtTV which seems to be allocated the least bandwidth of all the channels. Add the use of the "shaky cam" in that show, and the artifacting is just awful.
Of course, the fact that I put all my TV through another "wash" of encoding/decoding on the ReplayTV doesn't help at all.:-)
Slashdot Mirror
If you really want to have a cleric that has never killed anything (personally), the best way to do it is to do some roleplaying. Walk around the starting area, offering help to those in need around your level, and eventually you'll hook up with somebody. At that point, you can start healing the people you're grouped with and suck up those fancy XP. Further, if you're having trouble getting cash for a spell, take donations. You're a cleric and people should bloody well be tithing to you!
Ouch...I'm a reformed EQ half-man warrior and what I've just described sounds hella fun. Does this mean that I have to start paying again???
-Aaron
-Aaron
You could also, I suppose, somehow capture the 5.1 channel audio from a receiver/prepro with 5.1 outs. Unfortunately, I can't think of a consumer-grade device that would take those inputs and make it digital again. It should be possible to capture the six channels separately via analog and then remix and re-encode them via DVD/audio authoring software, ending up with an MPEG audio track that you could then resync and save on the video (of course, you've just added another D/A->A/D conversion to the mix, degrading the quality, probably by a not insignificant margin).
Whew, all of that sounds like a helluva lot of work for a relatively small number of titles that might be worth it (like the Indiana Jones movies, which still haven't made it to DVD). I'd probably just wait for the DVDs. :)
-Aaron
Pay $20 a year to a website that saves you buying a really bad $50 game...
-Aaron
Given that I believe all the above, I'm in favor of an Internet that is mostly fee-based. Whether I'm enjoying dancing hamsters or researching a paper on quasars, the providers of those services should be getting something (at the very least the cost of the transfer between their server and my computer) for their trouble.
-Aaron
In fact, considering the above, I wouldn't be at all surprised if the main reason most ISPs won't host porn on personal websites is that most porn sites contain copyrighted materials to which they have no legal claim. After all, a lot more porn gets "pirated" than does other types of software.
-Aaron
-Aaron
-Aaron
Have you ever noticed that nearly all games (especially from the major companies) get reviews of average or better? Does this mean that no games actually just purely suck? I don't think so. It's pretty rare when a major mag or site gives a review that says something like "Don't buy this game," and why not? We all know that reviews like those are subjective.
Movie reviewers, on the other hand, are willing to step up to the plate and tell you when they think a movie blows chunks...and a movie costs $10 or less.
Something is rotten in the state of Denmark, and now we all know why. Unfortunately, I don't think it's likely to change. Movie reviews have a modicum of independence because they aren't directly funded by movie studios (in most cases, though I know Shalit's in somebody's pocket). Even if this "playola" is stopped, there's still the simple fact that game magazines and websites (the majors at least) are funded by advertising of video games. Perhaps we need a "Consumer Reports" for the video game world to give us honest takes and give us the real scoop without endangering someone's source of income.
-Aaron
At a minimum, these activities surely dilute the pen's proverbial poison when games are finally reviewed. Now I know why magazines like Gamepro, EGM, etc. rarely give a score under 6 on a scale of 1-10...If they give low scores to games from a big company they might not be invited to hang out with Heidi Klum at the Namco mountain retreat.
-Aaron
Aaron
Bonk rocked though, and Klax was a perfect port of a great game (better than Tetris, I thought). I wish my TG16 would have worked out. **sigh**
-Aaron
-Aaron
Getting hit on the head with satellite debris certainly would be something to forget to tell your grandchildren about....
Actually, I think it's more likely that if you are using a handheld you probably don't know what OS is running on it at all. You probably just know that it's called a Palm or a Jornada or an iPAQ, etc. I'm sure there are many people out there with Clies who, when looking for software, look until they find something that says Clie in big, bold letters while passing over a ton of Palm stuff... -Aaron
-Aaron
As far as dual-tuner PVRs, I think it's going to be a while. The added complexity of the software combined with the necessity (for most of the new digital sources) of having multiple receivers hooked up to one box makes dual tuners a bit difficult, both in terms of programming and marketing. You're better off in any case just having multiple Tivos (or Replays) on multiple TVs. Not only do you get the benefit of recording two shows at the same time but you can watch two different things.
-Aaron
Besides restraint of trade, in the US this should be considered "price-fixing." Unfortunately, since US law doesn't protect people living in other countries it has no reach there. Now, if the US had been broken into two or more regions, then interstate commerce would have been affected, federal laws would have been brought into play and region-coding might have been stopped before it started...Just imagine the outcry if someone bought a DVD from a BestBuy in New York and couldn't play it in the DVD player they bought from BestBuy in California - more lawsuits than you could shake a stick at.
Outsiders who harp on American ignorance probably just watch too much TV. One night of "Must See TV" must make an awful impression...
You mentioned Switzerland and Iceland as countries that have "tried peace," with the implication that they have been enlightened and successful in this endeavor. It's worth pointing out that Switzerland has been avoided as a target for a couple of reasons: First, their geographic location is a very difficult for occupation; and second, virtually every male citizen of Switzerland is not only required to be a member of the military (militia) but is required to keep their equipment (read guns) in their home for rapid mobilization.
Iceland, on the other hand, is a barely noticeable strategic target except in terms of its possible use as a base in an "east versus west" war. It's also worth noting that Iceland is NOT really neutral in that they are a member of NATO for Heaven's sake!
Finally, being intelligent, educated and compassionate as a nation should never have anything to do with defending oneself or initiating military action. Violence is unfortunately sometimes necessary. Most of us don't like it, but if we ever forget it I'm sure that someone will come along to remind us (you may remember 9/11?).
Good luck with Utopia ("no place").
Iridium continues putting up satellites while DirectTV and DishNetwork continue over-compressing their channels...Ouch.
Of course, it's even easier if you just ignore programming the AI altogether. Since the Army already has a supply of people who are well-trained and experienced, they can just have those people play opponents to the people being trained. While you don't have the "perfect" opponent, you have the most realistic intelligence possible in control of all aspects.
Simple break-down: 1) ATI is trying to deceive people. 2) It has been PROVEN that ATI is trying to deceive people. 3) Some people want to be deceived.
Now, all of you who have been defending ATI need to hurry up and run out and get your Quake3-"optimized" Radeons quick. But please don't come crying to us in two years when ATI has stopped writing drivers, and the last two driver releases have a feature that automatically reduces display quality on all OpenGL games in order to increase measured framerates for games in Linux.
I myself have pirated software in the past, and in the most recent past it has consisted almost entirely of getting game software that just isn't sold anymore. I too wish that companies would consider updating their quality properties on a regular basis. It would be especially nice if companies would go through their archives, update old games to make them playable in a current OS environment and charge a fee to download them. However, I don't think the lack of this service is an excuse to strip them of ownership of their property.
A lot of things put the encoder to the test, especially when dealing with "real-time" broadcasting (which is one reason that DVDs kick the butt of DSS). It doesn't help when the digital satellite companies have to pick and choose which channels get more bandwidth than others.
:-)
One of my favorite reruns is Homicide: Life on the Street, but it's on CourtTV which seems to be allocated the least bandwidth of all the channels. Add the use of the "shaky cam" in that show, and the artifacting is just awful.
Of course, the fact that I put all my TV through another "wash" of encoding/decoding on the ReplayTV doesn't help at all.