Which is why I'm holding out hope that OLED TVs will be cheap enough in 5 years when I need to replace my DLP. From everything I'v read, they can produce perfect black levels along with incredible color.
That way you get the XMas shows in mid-summer, the halloween specials during easter and the in-jokes about elections about 2 years after the election is done and forgotten.
Does not sound much better then Sci-Fi and Dr. Who. Somehow Sci-Fi does not manage to get the X-Mas specials out within 6 months of X-Mas and the show is in ENGLISH. They also cut out a decent ammount of show just to make it fight all nice and neat in the timeslot. And STILL **AA wonder why I download Dr. Who 24-hrs after it aired on BBC.
Agreed. While Voyager was the worst Star Trek series (Enterprise gets points for just trying to not completely cannon) it did have it's moments. I really liked Scorpion 2 parter Species 8472 felt like a viable threat, hell they Death Star-ed a planet.
While I enjoy HL2 and the Episodes that follow, Halo 1-3 still win in my book.
I guess it could be because the one thing I CAN NOT STAND in a game that is supposed to have a story is a mute protagonist. On top of that you are forced to watch all the events from the same first person perspective.
Gorden Freeman just felt so empty. I would not even know what he looks like if it were not for the box art.
Both Halo and HL's story is fairly typical. Aliens invade earth. Some aliens are good, some are evil. However the way it is presented in Halo is much better. I actually disappointed with Halo 3 and not being able to see things from the Arbiter's point of view. It really added some perspective to the series in Halo 2.
I had to force myself to get through the water boat parts in HL2. It just felt extremely pointless. At least in the backtracking parts of Halo Cortana would sometimes reveal some more story (intercepting a transmission or what ever).
Personally, HL2:Episode 1 and 2 were much more fun then HL2 and I'm looking toward Episode 3 but not nearly as much as I was looking forward to Halo 3.
I'v used steam alot, and still do (I wanted to get Left 4 Dead a few weeks back an no local store had it so I bought it from steam instead).
When Stardock launched their Impulse I was a little bit annoyed that I had to download another application just to update Galactic Civilizations 2. However, I am quickly becoming a fan of it. I pre-ordered Sins of a Solar Empire and was able to play the beta immediately. When the full version was released the Impulse client took care of everything for me. I recently bought the Sins of a Solar Empire expansion, Entrenchment, and the whole process was hassle free.
The best thing about Impulse is: 1) No DRM. I think everyone here at/. will agree that this is the #1 reason steam is not as good as it should be.
2) You dont have to launch it to play your games. How much time do you waste when trying to play Left 4 Dead while steam launches and decides that not only steam needs to update but 5 other games need to update and start to all by them self.
3) You dont have to update a game if you just want to play single player. I cant remember how many times I wanted to play Portal real quick and I had to wait for it to update before playing a SINGLE PLAYER game.
4) It automatically detects if you have a Impulse game installed. I picked up a copy of The Political Machine 2008 in BestBuy because I had some gift cards to blow. I installed it and played it for a while then forgot about it. It was not until I wanted to check my GalCiv 2 and SoaSE games for updates that I remembered I had Political Machine installed.
Currently Steam is more popular because everyone who plays HL2 or Portal has to use it. However, if a game is ever released on both Steam and Impulse I'll take the Impulse version any day.
How about getting DX9 games to run with the same performance in Wine/Crossover as they do in native WinXP. I could care less about DX10. None of the games that have came out with DX10 support have had good performance for the small increase in graphical effects to be worth running them in DX10.
Currently DX9 is the de facto standard for gaming. There should be a push to getting it running as smoothly as possible rather then adding support for something no one really uses anyways.
I would like nothing more then to see the day when I can run Linux while enjoying all the games I currently enjoy, however I just dont see it happening.
Mod parent up! Really, why did we evolve (or were created) to only see a limited portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. I want to hear X-rays and see Gama-rays!
I agree with the OP's rules and dont find anything contradicting of them. You need to either a) save up for 10 years to get a house or b) get a mortgage and pay it off in 15 years. If you really need to get the house now (because your getting married or haveing a kid) then getting a mortgage for something YOU CAN AFFORD would be ok.
I would really like to get a house, however I'm single and I have about 40k of student loans I need to pay off first so I'm ok with waiting a few years and getting down to 0 dept before getting a house.
Cliff hangers can be good if you know for 100% there will be a sequal. The first Halo ended with no cliff hanger and it ended well. However, when they were makeing Halo 2 they were sure there was gona be a Halo 3 so it was permissible to have as big of a cliff hanger as it was.
While I am not glad BSG is ending because it is the best Sci-Fi show sence Babylon 5 I am glad that is is going to be a planed ending unlike so many other Sci-Fi Channel's shows (anyone remember Farscape).
I have not needed to download HD shows recently but the few I did download were around the 1GB mark. As a general rule for me 700MB for a 1.5hr movie and 300-400MB for a 1hr show. Granted 700MB might now be a perfect DVD quality but if I really cared about the quality I would go buy the Blu-Ray version.
Wish I could mod informative. I dont have the exact times but going off of feeling I think that Terminator: Sara Connor Chronicles and BSG also are going back to longer shows. At least it feels like I have to hit the fast forward on my DVR less often.
"And what about really wacky opinions? What if the neo-Nazis want to run a candidate or air their views? If your Fairness Doctrine were really "fair", they'd have to allow that. It'd be a mess, and no one would bother to watch the media."
Actually, that would make the political media alot more entertaining to me. Instead of just laughing at the Rep and Dem dumb ass ideas I could listen to 10 other dumb ass ideas and maybe be able to find one that is not so dumb.
I hope there is a way to turn off the "needy state". If I have 6 different programs running I dont want to be constantly bothered when one of them finishes the task I told it to. If it errored, maybe make a sound but dont sit there flashing saying "I'm done, I'm done please give me something to do".
Mozilla has the biggest problem with it. I tell it to start downloading something then I tab back to web browsing. 5 min later the task bar pops up with a big flashing orange box just to let me know the download is done. Yes, the download is done, that's GREAT! Thank you SO MUCH for interrupting my enjoyment of this YouTube video just to tell me YOU DID WHAT I WANTED YOU TO DO. FINE! I'll click on you once if it will make you happy and GO AWAY.
If we were living under natural selection pressures then I would have been selected out years ago. I cant see clearly more then 6-in from my face, I am distracted easy and lazy. If there was a way to filter my bad eyesight out of my DNA then I would feel much better about my childern not being another step backward.
If you don't like the DRM in Windows 7/Vista/XP/whatever then vote with your feet and wallet. It's not like there aren't alternatives available.
As a gamer who plays everything from Crysis to Civ2 there are no alternatives unless you can show me that Wine can give me the performance and compatibility that I get from the same machine under WinXP (or even Vista).
Personally I would love to move to Linux however, gaming comes first to me so I cant. Mac is also out of the question for the same reason.
Also, what about useing VoIP like Venterilo or TeamSpeak? Will I have degraded sounds when I try to transmit? (Assuming I am useing a non-USB mic and speakers connected to the same sound card)
Personally, I would be more then willing to take a drug that would remove the negative emotions I feel in social encounters (I'm talking about the real world ones, I get along with people on the internet just fine). If it were not for the negative connotations my brain associates with social interactions I might actually get out of the house for a reason other then going to work or buying food.
I have to try really hard to remember a social encounter that did not leave me feeling like an outsider or someone unworthy of having friends. Still, my first reaction to a new social encounter is to try and disappear and save my self the pain of another social disaster.
What is wrong with DivX? I'v been watching movies/trailers/fan videos encoded in DivX/Xvid for as long as I'v had high speed internet and I'v never had a problem. However, the new formats like H.264 and AVCHD have been problematic for me recently. I cant find a codex that works with Media Player Classic correctly and I refuse to install yet another media player on my machine.
Slashdot Mirror
Which is why I'm holding out hope that OLED TVs will be cheap enough in 5 years when I need to replace my DLP. From everything I'v read, they can produce perfect black levels along with incredible color.
However, Stargate went 10 seasons strait, whereas Dr. Who has had how many restarts to the series with how long of a break between them?
That way you get the XMas shows in mid-summer, the halloween specials during easter and the in-jokes about elections about 2 years after the election is done and forgotten.
Does not sound much better then Sci-Fi and Dr. Who. Somehow Sci-Fi does not manage to get the X-Mas specials out within 6 months of X-Mas and the show is in ENGLISH. They also cut out a decent ammount of show just to make it fight all nice and neat in the timeslot. And STILL **AA wonder why I download Dr. Who 24-hrs after it aired on BBC.
Agreed. While Voyager was the worst Star Trek series (Enterprise gets points for just trying to not completely cannon) it did have it's moments. I really liked Scorpion 2 parter Species 8472 felt like a viable threat, hell they Death Star-ed a planet.
My thoughts exactly. Actually...might want to add a few 3's just to mix things up a little. But yes, 8's...lots of 8's.
Thank you OP!
While I enjoy HL2 and the Episodes that follow, Halo 1-3 still win in my book.
I guess it could be because the one thing I CAN NOT STAND in a game that is supposed to have a story is a mute protagonist. On top of that you are forced to watch all the events from the same first person perspective.
Gorden Freeman just felt so empty. I would not even know what he looks like if it were not for the box art.
Both Halo and HL's story is fairly typical. Aliens invade earth. Some aliens are good, some are evil. However the way it is presented in Halo is much better. I actually disappointed with Halo 3 and not being able to see things from the Arbiter's point of view. It really added some perspective to the series in Halo 2.
I had to force myself to get through the water boat parts in HL2. It just felt extremely pointless. At least in the backtracking parts of Halo Cortana would sometimes reveal some more story (intercepting a transmission or what ever).
Personally, HL2:Episode 1 and 2 were much more fun then HL2 and I'm looking toward Episode 3 but not nearly as much as I was looking forward to Halo 3.
I'v used steam alot, and still do (I wanted to get Left 4 Dead a few weeks back an no local store had it so I bought it from steam instead).
When Stardock launched their Impulse I was a little bit annoyed that I had to download another application just to update Galactic Civilizations 2. However, I am quickly becoming a fan of it. I pre-ordered Sins of a Solar Empire and was able to play the beta immediately. When the full version was released the Impulse client took care of everything for me. I recently bought the Sins of a Solar Empire expansion, Entrenchment, and the whole process was hassle free.
The best thing about Impulse is: /. will agree that this is the #1 reason steam is not as good as it should be.
1) No DRM. I think everyone here at
2) You dont have to launch it to play your games. How much time do you waste when trying to play Left 4 Dead while steam launches and decides that not only steam needs to update but 5 other games need to update and start to all by them self.
3) You dont have to update a game if you just want to play single player. I cant remember how many times I wanted to play Portal real quick and I had to wait for it to update before playing a SINGLE PLAYER game.
4) It automatically detects if you have a Impulse game installed. I picked up a copy of The Political Machine 2008 in BestBuy because I had some gift cards to blow. I installed it and played it for a while then forgot about it. It was not until I wanted to check my GalCiv 2 and SoaSE games for updates that I remembered I had Political Machine installed.
Currently Steam is more popular because everyone who plays HL2 or Portal has to use it. However, if a game is ever released on both Steam and Impulse I'll take the Impulse version any day.
How about getting DX9 games to run with the same performance in Wine/Crossover as they do in native WinXP. I could care less about DX10. None of the games that have came out with DX10 support have had good performance for the small increase in graphical effects to be worth running them in DX10.
Currently DX9 is the de facto standard for gaming. There should be a push to getting it running as smoothly as possible rather then adding support for something no one really uses anyways.
I would like nothing more then to see the day when I can run Linux while enjoying all the games I currently enjoy, however I just dont see it happening.
Mod parent up! Really, why did we evolve (or were created) to only see a limited portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. I want to hear X-rays and see Gama-rays!
Anyway, Oklahoma sounds like a terrible place for the progressive and diverse.
There is only one place worst: Utah.
Wow, I just felt like I just had my official welcome to Utah.
I agree with the OP's rules and dont find anything contradicting of them. You need to either a) save up for 10 years to get a house or b) get a mortgage and pay it off in 15 years. If you really need to get the house now (because your getting married or haveing a kid) then getting a mortgage for something YOU CAN AFFORD would be ok.
I would really like to get a house, however I'm single and I have about 40k of student loans I need to pay off first so I'm ok with waiting a few years and getting down to 0 dept before getting a house.
Cliff hangers can be good if you know for 100% there will be a sequal. The first Halo ended with no cliff hanger and it ended well. However, when they were makeing Halo 2 they were sure there was gona be a Halo 3 so it was permissible to have as big of a cliff hanger as it was.
While I am not glad BSG is ending because it is the best Sci-Fi show sence Babylon 5 I am glad that is is going to be a planed ending unlike so many other Sci-Fi Channel's shows (anyone remember Farscape).
I have not needed to download HD shows recently but the few I did download were around the 1GB mark. As a general rule for me 700MB for a 1.5hr movie and 300-400MB for a 1hr show. Granted 700MB might now be a perfect DVD quality but if I really cared about the quality I would go buy the Blu-Ray version.
Wish I could mod informative. I dont have the exact times but going off of feeling I think that Terminator: Sara Connor Chronicles and BSG also are going back to longer shows. At least it feels like I have to hit the fast forward on my DVR less often.
"And what about really wacky opinions? What if the neo-Nazis want to run a candidate or air their views? If your Fairness Doctrine were really "fair", they'd have to allow that. It'd be a mess, and no one would bother to watch the media."
Actually, that would make the political media alot more entertaining to me. Instead of just laughing at the Rep and Dem dumb ass ideas I could listen to 10 other dumb ass ideas and maybe be able to find one that is not so dumb.
I hope there is a way to turn off the "needy state". If I have 6 different programs running I dont want to be constantly bothered when one of them finishes the task I told it to. If it errored, maybe make a sound but dont sit there flashing saying "I'm done, I'm done please give me something to do".
Mozilla has the biggest problem with it. I tell it to start downloading something then I tab back to web browsing. 5 min later the task bar pops up with a big flashing orange box just to let me know the download is done. Yes, the download is done, that's GREAT! Thank you SO MUCH for interrupting my enjoyment of this YouTube video just to tell me YOU DID WHAT I WANTED YOU TO DO. FINE! I'll click on you once if it will make you happy and GO AWAY.
If we were living under natural selection pressures then I would have been selected out years ago. I cant see clearly more then 6-in from my face, I am distracted easy and lazy. If there was a way to filter my bad eyesight out of my DNA then I would feel much better about my childern not being another step backward.
Wow...so Jason X did predict the future. The "Microsoft Wars".
If you don't like the DRM in Windows 7/Vista/XP/whatever then vote with your feet and wallet. It's not like there aren't alternatives available.
As a gamer who plays everything from Crysis to Civ2 there are no alternatives unless you can show me that Wine can give me the performance and compatibility that I get from the same machine under WinXP (or even Vista).
Personally I would love to move to Linux however, gaming comes first to me so I cant. Mac is also out of the question for the same reason.
Also, what about useing VoIP like Venterilo or TeamSpeak? Will I have degraded sounds when I try to transmit? (Assuming I am useing a non-USB mic and speakers connected to the same sound card)
Personally, I would be more then willing to take a drug that would remove the negative emotions I feel in social encounters (I'm talking about the real world ones, I get along with people on the internet just fine). If it were not for the negative connotations my brain associates with social interactions I might actually get out of the house for a reason other then going to work or buying food.
I have to try really hard to remember a social encounter that did not leave me feeling like an outsider or someone unworthy of having friends. Still, my first reaction to a new social encounter is to try and disappear and save my self the pain of another social disaster.
What is wrong with DivX? I'v been watching movies/trailers/fan videos encoded in DivX/Xvid for as long as I'v had high speed internet and I'v never had a problem. However, the new formats like H.264 and AVCHD have been problematic for me recently. I cant find a codex that works with Media Player Classic correctly and I refuse to install yet another media player on my machine.
This is the one reason I'm glad Hilary is secretary of state, maybe her hands will be too full to worry about video games.