The truth is, all games were once like this. And I don't mean checkers and badminton. I mean hockey and basketball. What changed? Marketing through TV and merchandice. This could very well happen to gaming, and in fact it already has in other countries like Korea. Check out this interesting article that mentions a dedicated channel for video gaming from Wired.
In Japan you can take classes on smiling. The theory is: if you force yourself to smile even when you aren't happy, the positive emotions will kick in later.
I worry about playing negative characters for the same reason. When truly embracing the character of a game (and play it for hours!), why wouldn't we expect it to carve neural pathways. It might guide our actions only subtlely in day-to-day life, but isn't that a bit disturbing, regardless?
TiVo is still not available in Canada. What is the cost associated with expanding their market? Any idea how many units they would need to sell to turn a profit? These stories are just a sad reminder of what I can't have.
I like to tear down corporate America as much as the next person, but companies are obligated to stop us from duplicating their work. If they don't, it sets a legal precedence that says FOR PROFIT companies can do the same.
This isn't specific to software. Take the humble rock group Phish, for example. They hate doing it, but they cannot allow fans to use the Phish logo on concert merchandise. Once they KNOWINGLY allow one person to use it, the door is wide open.
So don't act like we're hard done by because we can't use other people's ideas for our own purposes. Anyone that's invested their own lifesavinging into building a company should understand that.
I had to delete Tribes 2 from my PC because I was becoming addicted to it (handle: Pus of the North). Reading these posts makes me pine for the old game, but now that the weather is improving I really don't want this amazing game back on my machine...it's the best multi-player fps game I've played, bar-none.
However, once UT2k3 came out I found the quality of player in T2 dropped considerably, and I got frustrated.
With all the chat about new releases needing good plot and game play to differentiate themselves, why do we still feel the need to drool over bleeding-edge screenshots? I still prefer Tribes2 to any recent games like UT2k3 or RtCW-ET, but damn if these new shots aren't great. Gotta hate human nature.
Yes, when I was officially given root access at work I lost all interest of playing on the system. What's the fun in cycling your buddy's colormap when you could just abuse your official root access! There's no pride in that.
I have few close friends that buy CDs. They are mostly over 30 with well-paying jobs and extensive CD collections from the pre-Napster era, yet they do not buy CDs anymore. Instead they download (bootleg) all their tunes, including entire albums. Tell me you're surprised.
I recognise that the existing entertainment sales model is a dinosaur, but to suggest that music downloading hasn't affected the industry's bottom line is absurd. Granted, they may have made MORE by switching to a different model, but that says nothing about the source of their current state in this transition period. I don't believe the hype.
Faked corporate press releases draw immediate attention (hence the/. article) but in the long-run only make publishers hesitant to post your legitimate stories. I suspect that upper management might be getting (or giving) an earful for this incident.
Number of takes used to be something you would keep low because of film costs. You'd have a budget for a certain number of feet of film. With digital shooting now, you really worry more about the cost of personnel and post-processing labour...number of takes not as critical a number, so not an apples & oranges comparison.
It's a catch 22. Piracy would really promote DVD-burner adoption if the cost of the media would drop first. Right now, a blank DVD runs around $25 (Canadian), which is more than the cost of DVD movies at the store. Why take the time and guilt of pirating a DVD when you can buy it for cheap.
I think it's fair to say that heirarchy or not, people in high demand will leave an organization if they can get a job elsewhere and are unhappy with their current position. This instability make the idea of a chain-of-command suspect. I've encountered this in science, where post-docs can get paid much more outside academia...I have to attract them through stimulating work and a good work environment. It's probably true of the computer industry (years ago if not now): anger your employee and they walk.
Imagine how this translates now to a group of talented, well-paid coders donating their time to a project. Sometimes (often?) these projects lack anyone with formal management training, and strong words fly quickly when personal contact doesn't exist between group members...digital relationships can be broken so cleanly. Look to online communities like MU* for solutions.
Don't overlook the donation of time, such as working the line at a food bank. It can be a great way to stay connected to your community. Better yet, donate time and money!
The original "War of the Worlds" radio broadcast that created chaos as listeners thought the earth was under invasion. From an era when radio information was gospel, this changed broadcast regulations forever.
I must point out that this is not the first work showing brain connectivity. In fact, people have been doing this for a decade with MRI, and before that with more invasive means. For example, Douek et al. (Journal of Computer Assisted Tomography, 16(6),923-929:1991) colour mapped myelin fiber orientation in the brain using diffusion weighted MRI.
Brain connectivity is important because specific regions of the brain must communicate to achieve higher functions (see Broca's area, for example). Coupling this information with functional information (regional metabolic activity in the brain also measurable with MRI or PET or SPECT) can provide valuable insight into brain function and dysfunction.
Slashdot Mirror
The truth is, all games were once like this. And I don't mean checkers and badminton. I mean hockey and basketball. What changed? Marketing through TV and merchandice. This could very well happen to gaming, and in fact it already has in other countries like Korea. Check out this interesting article that mentions a dedicated channel for video gaming from Wired.
yeah, windows media with shockwave interface to alot of it...handy provided you are compatible. :|
CBC has archives back to 1938 online HERE. The radio broadcasts from the front line of WW II are really something.
cached here.
Similarly, the amateur scientist article from SciAm: here
In Japan you can take classes on smiling. The theory is: if you force yourself to smile even when you aren't happy, the positive emotions will kick in later.
I worry about playing negative characters for the same reason. When truly embracing the character of a game (and play it for hours!), why wouldn't we expect it to carve neural pathways. It might guide our actions only subtlely in day-to-day life, but isn't that a bit disturbing, regardless?
so does the airbag deploy when your mouth opens wide and you throw your hands in front of your face in horror?
TiVo is still not available in Canada. What is the cost associated with expanding their market? Any idea how many units they would need to sell to turn a profit? These stories are just a sad reminder of what I can't have.
I like to tear down corporate America as much as the next person, but companies are obligated to stop us from duplicating their work. If they don't, it sets a legal precedence that says FOR PROFIT companies can do the same.
This isn't specific to software. Take the humble rock group Phish, for example. They hate doing it, but they cannot allow fans to use the Phish logo on concert merchandise. Once they KNOWINGLY allow one person to use it, the door is wide open.
So don't act like we're hard done by because we can't use other people's ideas for our own purposes. Anyone that's invested their own lifesavinging into building a company should understand that.
I had to delete Tribes 2 from my PC because I was becoming addicted to it (handle: Pus of the North). Reading these posts makes me pine for the old game, but now that the weather is improving I really don't want this amazing game back on my machine...it's the best multi-player fps game I've played, bar-none.
However, once UT2k3 came out I found the quality of player in T2 dropped considerably, and I got frustrated.
All BT links offline :(
Similar to a /. article on HERF not long ago:
here.
With all the chat about new releases needing good plot and game play to differentiate themselves, why do we still feel the need to drool over bleeding-edge screenshots? I still prefer Tribes2 to any recent games like UT2k3 or RtCW-ET, but damn if these new shots aren't great. Gotta hate human nature.
Yes, when I was officially given root access at work I lost all interest of playing on the system. What's the fun in cycling your buddy's colormap when you could just abuse your official root access! There's no pride in that.
I have few close friends that buy CDs. They are mostly over 30 with well-paying jobs and extensive CD collections from the pre-Napster era, yet they do not buy CDs anymore. Instead they download (bootleg) all their tunes, including entire albums. Tell me you're surprised.
I recognise that the existing entertainment sales model is a dinosaur, but to suggest that music downloading hasn't affected the industry's bottom line is absurd. Granted, they may have made MORE by switching to a different model, but that says nothing about the source of their current state in this transition period. I don't believe the hype.
Faked corporate press releases draw immediate attention (hence the /. article) but in the long-run only make publishers hesitant to post your legitimate stories. I suspect that upper management might be getting (or giving) an earful for this incident.
Forget this archaic date syntax of MM/dd/YYYY. Get with the program and use one of the more international formats:
YYYY/MM/dd (2003/08/26)
dd MMM YYYY (26 Aug 2003)
It makes life less confusing.
Number of takes used to be something you would keep low because of film costs. You'd have a budget for a certain number of feet of film. With digital shooting now, you really worry more about the cost of personnel and post-processing labour...number of takes not as critical a number, so not an apples & oranges comparison.
It's a catch 22. Piracy would really promote DVD-burner adoption if the cost of the media would drop first. Right now, a blank DVD runs around $25 (Canadian), which is more than the cost of DVD movies at the store. Why take the time and guilt of pirating a DVD when you can buy it for cheap.
PS: I'm a strong believer in benevalent dictatorship. The buck stops somewhere.
I think it's fair to say that heirarchy or not, people in high demand will leave an organization if they can get a job elsewhere and are unhappy with their current position. This instability make the idea of a chain-of-command suspect. I've encountered this in science, where post-docs can get paid much more outside academia...I have to attract them through stimulating work and a good work environment. It's probably true of the computer industry (years ago if not now): anger your employee and they walk.
Imagine how this translates now to a group of talented, well-paid coders donating their time to a project. Sometimes (often?) these projects lack anyone with formal management training, and strong words fly quickly when personal contact doesn't exist between group members...digital relationships can be broken so cleanly. Look to online communities like MU* for solutions.
Lust
Don't overlook the donation of time, such as working the line at a food bank. It can be a great way to stay connected to your community. Better yet, donate time and money!
The original "War of the Worlds" radio broadcast that created chaos as listeners thought the earth was under invasion. From an era when radio information was gospel, this changed broadcast regulations forever.
I must point out that this is not the first work showing brain connectivity. In fact, people have been doing this for a decade with MRI, and before that with more invasive means. For example, Douek et al. (Journal of Computer Assisted Tomography, 16(6),923-929:1991) colour mapped myelin fiber orientation in the brain using diffusion weighted MRI.
Brain connectivity is important because specific regions of the brain must communicate to achieve higher functions (see Broca's area, for example). Coupling this information with functional information (regional metabolic activity in the brain also measurable with MRI or PET or SPECT) can provide valuable insight into brain function and dysfunction.
Yet another article.