My kids and I are gamers. We've seen games come and go with a few that remain fun for a decent amount of time. But TA? I bought the game in 1997 by recommendation from a friend, and it is still played to this day.
The original with the Core Contingency and Battle Tactics was great. Loved it. I don't know about you TA games out there, but I think my favorite unit was the Brawler (or bee as I liked to call it). The AI was terrific, the units looked great, the multiplayer gameplay was a lot of fun. In 2001 or so, I introduced it to my kids (6 and 7 at the time) who immediately were hooked. No killing people or anything. Units. My kids would play head to head with me all of the time. Now they can kick my ass in it (which really sucks!).
Later - some mods were independently released. New units, some cheats & stuff, etc. etc.. Then more - huge units bigger than the Krogoths.. some for the Arm (man am I a TA geek or what). It just kept getting better. Mods and TA sites are still in action today:
Examples of great mods (my son asked me to list these!!):
UTASP Absolute Annihilation Uberhack a Starwars mod etc. etc...
There's even a program called TA: Mutation which allows you to switch between the many mods, change AI's, change units, etc. etc..
If you have TA still - you must check out the mods. They completely renew the game, which you may be able to still buy in bargain bins for $5 - $10.
So - my point is - which has nothing really to do with Stardock with a Sims + TA game - is that TA was probably one of the best games that came along in a LONG time. A computer game that people still play after 8 years?!?!? Name me another one that is that good.
And now - my kids have both taken to modifying the units themselves - messing with the build times, unit speed, etc. etc...
OK - my kids both have a DS now, and I've been ridiculously interested in the wireless functionality of it.
Anyone been able to do something with it?
I have an 802.11g access point at home, and I was really hoping that I could see the DS do something with it. I'm also using WEP encryption on the network, so I'm curious how the DS will handle it.
On another related topic are there any interesting diagnostics that you can put the DS through, maybe by holding a key down at startup or something?
I have lots of questions about it - very interested here. I'd love to start a discuss about this.
Another thing - how could I forget - the EchoNet I think it was called. Kinda like newsgroups "echoed" from BBS to BBS - I believe FidoNet was the same thing. I had my board sync up at certain times during the day.
Lets see - I went through a number of BBS software packages before the Internet became popular:
WWIV
RBBS
Renegade - this was great
Maximus/2 - also great
OS/2 ended up being the platform I stuck with because of its decent multitasking ability. It was neat being able to watch users in a little window while I was working on something else in another. That was such a big deal back then! =)
Doors - here are my favorites (the ones I can remember!):
LORD - Legend of the Red Dragon
LOD - Land of Destruction
GWARS - Global Wars - Risk-like game - real fun
Tradewars
Chess
Foodfight
Favorite terminal emulators:
Telix - was my DOS favorite for a LONG time
Terminate - this was, hands down, the absolute best.
Procomm was OK not the greatest - I mention it only because I remember it
Hosting a BBS was such a gratifying experience for some reason. It actually was rewarding for me to give a free service to the public.
ANSI art - that was fun... Wish I could remember the name of my favorite ANSI art package.... Something with a "T" I think... Can't remember.
Well, thanks to all for bringing back those good memories!
I'm one of those geeks that stood in line at 2am Sunday morning to make sure I got a Gamecube at 8am at the local Target. I was primarily buying it for the kids (an excuse), but I am a gamer myself, having bought the PS2 the year before in the same manner.
Well, I got one and damn it kicks serious ass. Very happy with it. When I got the PS2, I was happy because the graphics were pretty nice, but I wasn't too pleased with the games. Not too exciting. The Gamecube on the other hand - I bought two games - Luigi's Mansion and Star Wars - Rogue Squadron 2, and both of the games are instant classics for me.
SWRS2 - My fave so far. Drop dead gorgeous. It sounds funny, this game really puts you in the Star Wars atmosphere. The details are incredible, and the sound is awesome. Most of the game looks as good or better than the movies!
Luigi's Mansion - The kid's and wife's favorite, I love it though too. It's in that Mario-esque atmosphere, and is another terrific game. I wish I was playing it now. Extremely addictive. Lots of puzzles and good humor. This is one damn good game.
There's a theme here though - Nintendo's secret to success isn't in hardware - it's in producing top quality games. I don't give a damn about whose system has more horsepower than whose. I just want good games. Sadly, I have to say the only game in my PS2 library that I really really enjoy is Gran Turismo 3 and well maybe the Star Wars Star Fighter I rented... But at release, the PS2 kinda had a less than stellar software lineup. Only now are the hot games coming and it's been quite awhile. FF10 and Metal Gear Solid 2 I have high hopes for, but I have to say I may be digging into my pocket more for the Gamecube games if the PS2 lineup doesn't get better. I must say though - it is extremely handy having an extra DVD player around. Don't get me wrong - I think it still is a great box - it just needs some games. On the other hand, Luigi and SWRS2 are awesome release games for the Gamecube. 5 out 5 stars.
One last note - I had NO idea how *small* the Gamecube is! I'm very impressed. And the controllers are great. They took a lesson from Sony and did them even better.
I have to agree with you. I am very impressed with CNN's decision to limit the content to the important events. Cut off all access to the high bandwidth pages, because what people need is information right now. By making the pages small in size, more people can access them and do it reasonably fast.
Also worth noting - I'm betting that MSNBC is running Microsoft webservers. Looks like that site is pretty much out of commission. Goes to show that CNN either has a real team of thinkers (RE: switching the site to the important topic only), or just has done great planning. I now think of MSNBC as an entertaining news source only - not an emergency/primary news source. I also wouldn't trust a Microsoft product to run my webserver based on this situation (I'm not trying to start a flame war).... not that I did before.
Look everyone - by definition - you're not going to get privacy in the public. It's no different than police officers walking around public places - scanning for criminals. What's the difference?
Of course, this would be a privacy issue if people were using cameras to look at my home. But public places - I think you're stretching it a bit when you say its a privacy issue.
Personally, I'd be glad if the cameras were up on say the boardwalk in my area or the street corners. If they help law enforcement agencies protect my family from criminals, then that's fine with me.
Re:Who plays arcade games anymore anyway?
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Killing Video Games
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· Score: 1
I'd agree with you guys that this is the easy solution if it weren't for the fact that in my area these games are in every movie theater. Of course, your next argument is going to be - "Wait for the rental", right?
First of all, I don't see who the heck still goes to the arcade to play these games anyway. Where I live (NJ), arcades pretty much seem to be a thing of the past. You go home to play games. My PC, Sony PS/2, Dreamcast, N64 all have games on them that I'd much rather be playing. And as a parent, I like that better because I can control the games my children can play.
Now, as an avid gamer and a father, I must say that I really REALLY dislike going to the movies with my kids only to see games like The House of the Dead or others openly displayed so my kids CAN'T miss it unless I blindfold them. That ticks me off. I don't want my 5 or 6 year olds seeing blood and guts at the same place they come to see a Disney movie.
Maybe this bill instead should make a point of just moving graphically violent games out of public view. Personally, I wouldn't mind if the point and shoot games were gone from public view. Put it in the homes if you want where parents can make the choice what they want their kids to see and not businesses.
Just because there were two mindless idiots out there that went berserk and also played Doom doesn't mean that games like Doom were the cause. I have extreme sympathy for the families of the students at Columbine. Being a parent of two kids myself, I can't even begin to imagine how horrified and emotionally destroyed the parents and friends must feel. However, I don't think placing blame on Doom or other violent computer games is the right way to approach this issue.
Do you really think that Doom somehow "possessed" these dorks to kill people? Sorry - I think not - they had their own psychological problems before that.
If people suing win this case, they should try to sue the movie makers too - because there are some pretty damn violent movies out there that I'm sure the two dorks saw. And why stop there? Go for the nightly News channels. I see lots of clips of violence on there.
When is it going to end? When are people going try to work on the source of the problems instead of the peripheral issues?
Take a bullied kid, and give him a videogame system. After awhile, he starts to get pretty good at it, and his self-esteem rises to the point that when somebody picks on him, he thinks, "I'm not going to take this crap any more!"
Dude, you've been watching too many Scooby Doo mysteries. The games can make you feel good and raise your self esteem, but is being good at The Sims, Pokemon, or even Quake, going to make you run out and feel as though you're invincible? I think not.
I kind of agree with you about Judo or karate or some other martial art though.
You should be modded up for this one, because I firmly believe you are completely correct here. The concept of the traditional family has done a complete about-face. Like you said, everyone's on their own. No one wants to spend time together. It's very harmful, and a lot of parents don't like to take resposibility for keeping the family together, when in fact, your family is the most important thing in life. Yeah - you have to be there for them financially, but let's remember - family is first.
This is going to sound corny, but watch Disney's "Hook". It tells a good story about a father who places too much emphasis on his career and not his family then learns an important lesson from it.
I have to laugh because you and I seem to be reading the same posts...
I see the connection - the arts can be an outlet for the kids. With your feelings about politics and politicians aside - don't you think that it might be good for kids to have an outlet at school? Extra-curricular activities in general are great for this. I think the arts could be too.
I think he was being sarcastic BadlandZ. No need to harp on his country's origins either. To both of you - this issue isn't about whose country is better than whose. It's about what's up with the kids. Maybe there is something that we can learn from other countries. Keep an open mind.
BadlandZ, I respect your opinion, but I'm sorry - I really tend to agree with M@T here.
Can't you see that there's a problem in the US lately? We are doing something wrong. If you make guns less accessible, that's one thing to rule out as a possible deadly option.
Now of course, there are other issues at stake here, like dealing with the reason children want to use the gun in the first place. That issue is just as important, if not more important.
Don't criticize M@t for his country's choice to be strict on gun control. I think it's a wise one.
Thanks for the response BadlandZ. I appreciate the comments. You are probably one of the few who took time to read it! =) Here's my response.
Just a guess... Did you vote for Nader? Sound like you should have. Oh. BTW. I disagree, I think you may be trying to controling behavior by regulation and policy rather than preventing it through education and knowing your children... Your way may very likely lead to rebelion in children. Just a note since you do have kids. I've seen it happen to others.
I might've sounded a little more controlling that I really am suggesting. What I really am discussing here is building a moral and social foundation at the beginning. I'm not talking about policy or regulation outside the home. Quite the opposite actually. You may have noticed this later, given your second post - I know I jumped around a little bit about the topic and might've been a little confusing. See, what I wish would happen is for parents to be more involved. Regulation and policy?.... I don't think that's going to do anything really. We need parents to be parents, not just other people living in the same home.
As for voting for Nader - no, I didn't. I really don't know much about his views on parenting (or other topics quite honestly).
It's just the "I wouldn't let this happen" tone that strikes me wrong... Teens tend to push limits, and when you give them too many, they push harder... It's a balancing act, I'm sure you know. You have to be the enforcer, but somehow keep from being the enemy. Tough thing to do (and frankly, since your interested in doing it, your probably in the top 10% of parents by todays standards).
I understand what you mean about the "wouldn't let this happen" statement. But what I'm saying I guess more applies to children, not teens. If you haven't involved yourself in your kid's life until he/she is a teen, well, this may not apply. I can see how a sudden cracking down on them can cause rebellion. I don't have a teen yet, and I know rebellion is going to be something tough to deal with. Hopefully my kids will respect me enough to be able to appreciate what I enforce when they're teens. If not, well I'll have to figure something out. I definitely cannot say that I wouldn't let this or that happen - but what I CAN do is my best to prevent it, and not just sit around waiting for someone else to.
I don't know how my boys are going to grow up, but I do know I'm going to try my hardest to do my job as being a parent that is involved. And I really wish I could see more of that in others. I see mostly mothers at my kid's soccer and baseball practices. Where are the dad's? I see some mothers letting their kids get away with anything - like hitting another one or calling him names. And all when the kids are only 3-6 years old! That's ridiculous! If I saw my kid doing that to some other kid - there'd be some sort of punishment - like take the Gameboy away (a BIG punishment for my kids believe me!) for 2 days.
Well, like I said, I'm definitely not claiming to be a perfect person or parent, but I really wish that there were more parents out there that took parenting seriously. It isn't easy, and you can't just hope that your kids will grow up well-adjusted if you don't get involved in their life. It's easy to get caught up in your own life these days, but people need to remember - you took the responsibility of having children upon yourself - you must carry through with the rest of the job - RAISING THEM.
Law-abiding citizens use (not necessarily fire) guns millions of times each year to protect themselves from criminals. (As someone correctly pointed out above, the police can usually only respond after the crime.) States with concealed-carry laws tend to have lower crime rates, since a criminal has to consider the possibility that the little old lady he's thinking of mugging may be armed.
Oh and you think that your wonderful statements about crime rate will have ANY influence on how little kids gain access to guns? If a gun is in the house - a child can potentially find it. If the child finds it, he could play with it, kill himself, bring it school and kill someone else, or whatever.
Keep something else for defense - carry a stun gun or something - regular guns kill. If you care about the safety of your kids, think HARD - is a gun REALLY necessary?
OK - I'm one of many replies here, but I don't care. This is an issue that really bothers me and I hope somebody sees it. It is a very complex issue when you think about it because there are SO many factors involved in kids suddenly "snapping".
I am a father. I won't pretend to have all of the answers, but I do tend to be very opinionated when it comes to raising kids because I am annoyed with the lack of parental guidance that I've seen. That being said, I think what many kids are lacking these days is RESPECT. No, not just for parents and "elders", I'm talking about for anyone/anything.
How does one person's disrespect affect others? It's simple - you show disrespect for one's feelings, space, or property, that person becomes angry. Anger leads to many things - and in the right person, could lead to harm (didn't intend on this to sound like Yoda's spiel in Star Wars Episode 1 =). I really don't need to explain that further. I remember seeing this all the time when I was in school. In fact, I remember doing it to a couple of kids myself - and I regret it, because when I think back of them I think - what was I mocking them for - they looked different? talked different? weren't as strong? couldn't kick the ball in kickball? It's not right. It doesn't get you anywhere.
A child's social skills need to be developed right away to alleviate some of these problems. Parents need to play more active roles in the kids' lives. These are things we hear all the time, but do parents really heed the advice? I don't know. Unfortunately, our society (I speak of my American society, others may be different) seems to be very $money$ oriented nowadays. Everyone wants to make more money than everyone else so they can have more stuff. Of course, this is all at the expense of a home life. Whatever happened to the 9-5 job? This might seem like a tangent, but it's not - parents work late they don't see their kids - and for what? An extra buck? Granted, there are a lot of us out there who need to work late to support our families because the money just isn't there, but others - where are your priorities? If you have a family - what comes first - the job or the family? Corporations need to see this too.
Videogames aren't to blame - although there is absolutely no way I am letting my 5 or 6 year olds play Quake or Unreal Tournament or any of the "blood" games. I guess part of me feels that they show a "disrespect" for life, and kids first need a foundation that helps them understand to respect life. To be honest, I don't know when I'm letting them play the blood games. I'm sure the issue will arise in the next 5 years or so, but until then - forget it. I don't let the kids see them or play them. Me, I enjoy the games thoroughly, but I've got my moral foundation and won't let something like a fictional frag screw with my real life. With kids - let's work on the social and moral traits first. Again, it's not the games themselves that are to blame for kids pulling a Columbine. There are so many other factors it isn't funny.
Of course, here's another thing that'll really get a rise out of everyone, and I'm honestly not trying to throw flamebait here - gun control and other potential weapon control. No one, absolutely NO ONE is going to tell me that it is safe to keep a gun in the same house as a child. Regardless of whether or not you've got it locked up or hidden kids can find a way. You can't make assumptions.
I know I kinda jumped around a bit, but the bottom line is - parents need to put their priorities in order and be positive influences on their kids. How the heck are they going to learn? You shouldn't expect a school to do everything for you. YOU teach them respect. Teach them that it is wrong to put other kids down. Ask them how they'd like it if that was done to them. Let's stop being REACTIVE and become PROACTIVE. You can't just hope that your kid won't be like the one that just shot another one on TV. One of your roles as parents is to raise our children the right way and you can't do that if you don't take an active role in their lives.
"Ummm..." right back at you. And tell me how many Dreamcast's were sold - total? Look at it from a percentage point of view real quick.
Let's say that there are about 8 million Dreamcasts out there right now - giving you the benefit of the doubt that there could be less.
And how many people are using the modems? I'll give you even more benefit of the doubt again and say there are 1,000,000 people worldwide using the Sega modem (and I'm sure that's stretching it quite a lot). That's 1/8 or 12.5% . Only 12.5%!!! Was the modem worth it? Nope - it should've been an optional accessory OR at the very least, a freebie given out if you signed up for SegaNet for a year. That way you'd only get the people who'd use it. They wouldn't need to produce as much.
Ummm.... I don't think the modem should've been in it.
Again - I'm not trying to bash the machine. In my non-expert opinion, it was poor decision-making on Sega's behalf. Did they really think that they were going to get enough people to use the modem?
I don't know why this post I'm replying to is modded to 3, Interesting. The poster sounds like an uninformed kid who just can't stay open-minded for a moment.
Here's my take on everything. For reference, I have the Dreamcast, PS2, N64, and had most of the consoles previous to those dating back to the Atari/Odyssey2/Intellivision days.
Sega didn't need to put in the modem. How many people actually used it? It was wasted money.
Sega released the Dreamcast at a bad time. They should've released it much earlier. People had just gotten over buying the N64 and spent their $250 (or whatever). On top of that, N64 games were coming out at a greater rate and the system was establishing a good foothold on the video gaming industry. Of course, I didn't mention the Sony PS which was already around too, with tons of great games. Why then should a consumer go out and spend more on a new system (Sony, Sega, or otherwise) when they just bought something?!? There wasn't a need for a new system because the one's that were out were still good. I don't know about you, but not everyone out there is going to be able to buy 2 systems in such a short span of time. This was a big flaw in their Dreamcast plan.
This I don't know the facts on - was it released in the US right away or in Japan first? I think it should've hit the US right away.
Poor advertising & marketing - they should've taken the money that they were spending on that stupid modem and put it towards putting the Dreamcast in front of people's faces more.
The technology is good, but it isn't going to be able to keep up with the PS2, Xbox, and GameCube. Again - bad timing - it is 3.5 generation while the PS2, Xbox, and GameCube are 4th generation machines (1 being - Atari, SNES & etc, 2 - Sega Genesis, Turbo Grafx, Super Nintendo, 2.5 -Saturn, 3 - Sony Playstation, N64 sort of). The Saturn suffered the same fate - bad timing to me.
Sony is huge - Sony has a LOT more resources to work with. They don't just make video games. Sega had all their eggs in one basket pretty much. So, Sony can take a hit in one area and stick with it if it wants. Sega isn't getting revenue from other sources - just video games. Nintendo has other products out there that has really kept it afloat - the Game Boy is one example and the Pokemon franchise is another.
And that's really the main ones to me.
Is the Dreamcast a crappy system? Absolutely not. I think it is great, or I should say WAS great. The technology just wasn't timed right. It SHOULD'VE been out at the same time the N64 came out.
But I honestly won't buy any more games for it because I don't have the time to play it or the money to spend on it. My kids love their N64, so we keep buying games for that, and I love my PC (which can be upgraded when new technology arrives) and the PS2. I know the PS2 games will keep getting better. The Dreamcast is sadly not going to be played often except for Crazy Taxi and Soul Calibur every once in a blue moon.
It may not sound believable, but I really liked the Sega games. They were good. Sonic looked like it was a little rough around the edges at times, but basically the games were terrific for the Dreamcast. It just won't be able to compete.
Now, the PS2, that is a VERY forward looking machine. All that crap about the developers having a tough time with it - well give them a little time. All they needed to do is create their own development kits/libraries. Most probably have done that already, so you should see the games getting cranked out much faster now. I don't know what the poster's basis is behind saying that the Dreamcast is way better than the PS2 crap.
Well, I've said enough. I really think Sega's timing was the big factor with marketing and advertising close behind.
They made the right decision to go software only though. They need to become lean and mean right now. And as everyone knows - building consoles is a losing proposition - it's the software you make money on.
Slashdot Mirror
My kids and I are gamers. We've seen games come and go with a few that remain fun for a decent amount of time. But TA? I bought the game in 1997 by recommendation from a friend, and it is still played to this day.
The original with the Core Contingency and Battle Tactics was great. Loved it. I don't know about you TA games out there, but I think my favorite unit was the Brawler (or bee as I liked to call it). The AI was terrific, the units looked great, the multiplayer gameplay was a lot of fun. In 2001 or so, I introduced it to my kids (6 and 7 at the time) who immediately were hooked. No killing people or anything. Units. My kids would play head to head with me all of the time. Now they can kick my ass in it (which really sucks!).
Later - some mods were independently released. New units, some cheats & stuff, etc. etc.. Then more - huge units bigger than the Krogoths.. some for the Arm (man am I a TA geek or what). It just kept getting better. Mods and TA sites are still in action today:
http://www.planetannihilation.com
http://www.tauniverse.com
http://www.tafansite.com
http://www.tadesigners.com
http://www.fileuniverse.com (for some files)
Examples of great mods (my son asked me to list these!!):
UTASP
Absolute Annihilation
Uberhack
a Starwars mod
etc. etc...
There's even a program called TA: Mutation which allows you to switch between the many mods, change AI's, change units, etc. etc..
If you have TA still - you must check out the mods. They completely renew the game, which you may be able to still buy in bargain bins for $5 - $10.
So - my point is - which has nothing really to do with Stardock with a Sims + TA game - is that TA was probably one of the best games that came along in a LONG time. A computer game that people still play after 8 years?!?!? Name me another one that is that good.
And now - my kids have both taken to modifying the units themselves - messing with the build times, unit speed, etc. etc...
Check it out again!!!
OK - my kids both have a DS now, and I've been ridiculously interested in the wireless functionality of it.
Anyone been able to do something with it?
I have an 802.11g access point at home, and I was really hoping that I could see the DS do something with it. I'm also using WEP encryption on the network, so I'm curious how the DS will handle it.
On another related topic are there any interesting diagnostics that you can put the DS through, maybe by holding a key down at startup or something?
I have lots of questions about it - very interested here. I'd love to start a discuss about this.
Chris
Ah yes! That was it!
Thanks!
Damn I miss those days.
Oh yeah - another favorite door - Operation Overkill!
- WWIV
- RBBS
- Renegade - this was great
- Maximus/2 - also great
OS/2 ended up being the platform I stuck with because of its decent multitasking ability. It was neat being able to watch users in a little window while I was working on something else in another. That was such a big deal back then! =)Doors - here are my favorites (the ones I can remember!):
- LORD - Legend of the Red Dragon
- LOD - Land of Destruction
- GWARS - Global Wars - Risk-like game - real fun
- Tradewars
- Chess
- Foodfight
Favorite terminal emulators:- Telix - was my DOS favorite for a LONG time
- Terminate - this was, hands down, the absolute best.
- Procomm was OK not the greatest - I mention it only because I remember it
Hosting a BBS was such a gratifying experience for some reason. It actually was rewarding for me to give a free service to the public.ANSI art - that was fun... Wish I could remember the name of my favorite ANSI art package.... Something with a "T" I think... Can't remember.
Well, thanks to all for bringing back those good memories!
Chris
Well, I got one and damn it kicks serious ass. Very happy with it. When I got the PS2, I was happy because the graphics were pretty nice, but I wasn't too pleased with the games. Not too exciting. The Gamecube on the other hand - I bought two games - Luigi's Mansion and Star Wars - Rogue Squadron 2, and both of the games are instant classics for me.
SWRS2 - My fave so far. Drop dead gorgeous. It sounds funny, this game really puts you in the Star Wars atmosphere. The details are incredible, and the sound is awesome. Most of the game looks as good or better than the movies!
Luigi's Mansion - The kid's and wife's favorite, I love it though too. It's in that Mario-esque atmosphere, and is another terrific game. I wish I was playing it now. Extremely addictive. Lots of puzzles and good humor. This is one damn good game.
There's a theme here though - Nintendo's secret to success isn't in hardware - it's in producing top quality games. I don't give a damn about whose system has more horsepower than whose. I just want good games. Sadly, I have to say the only game in my PS2 library that I really really enjoy is Gran Turismo 3 and well maybe the Star Wars Star Fighter I rented... But at release, the PS2 kinda had a less than stellar software lineup. Only now are the hot games coming and it's been quite awhile. FF10 and Metal Gear Solid 2 I have high hopes for, but I have to say I may be digging into my pocket more for the Gamecube games if the PS2 lineup doesn't get better. I must say though - it is extremely handy having an extra DVD player around. Don't get me wrong - I think it still is a great box - it just needs some games. On the other hand, Luigi and SWRS2 are awesome release games for the Gamecube. 5 out 5 stars.
One last note - I had NO idea how *small* the Gamecube is! I'm very impressed. And the controllers are great. They took a lesson from Sony and did them even better.
Chris
I just had to say that.
=)
Chris
Also worth noting - I'm betting that MSNBC is running Microsoft webservers. Looks like that site is pretty much out of commission. Goes to show that CNN either has a real team of thinkers (RE: switching the site to the important topic only), or just has done great planning. I now think of MSNBC as an entertaining news source only - not an emergency/primary news source. I also wouldn't trust a Microsoft product to run my webserver based on this situation (I'm not trying to start a flame war).... not that I did before.
Chris
Of course, this would be a privacy issue if people were using cameras to look at my home. But public places - I think you're stretching it a bit when you say its a privacy issue.
Personally, I'd be glad if the cameras were up on say the boardwalk in my area or the street corners. If they help law enforcement agencies protect my family from criminals, then that's fine with me.
What ever happened to my rights?
Now, as an avid gamer and a father, I must say that I really REALLY dislike going to the movies with my kids only to see games like The House of the Dead or others openly displayed so my kids CAN'T miss it unless I blindfold them. That ticks me off. I don't want my 5 or 6 year olds seeing blood and guts at the same place they come to see a Disney movie.
Maybe this bill instead should make a point of just moving graphically violent games out of public view. Personally, I wouldn't mind if the point and shoot games were gone from public view. Put it in the homes if you want where parents can make the choice what they want their kids to see and not businesses.
Chris
Do you really think that Doom somehow "possessed" these dorks to kill people? Sorry - I think not - they had their own psychological problems before that.
If people suing win this case, they should try to sue the movie makers too - because there are some pretty damn violent movies out there that I'm sure the two dorks saw. And why stop there? Go for the nightly News channels. I see lots of clips of violence on there.
When is it going to end? When are people going try to work on the source of the problems instead of the peripheral issues?
Chris
Dude, you've been watching too many Scooby Doo mysteries. The games can make you feel good and raise your self esteem, but is being good at The Sims, Pokemon, or even Quake, going to make you run out and feel as though you're invincible? I think not.
I kind of agree with you about Judo or karate or some other martial art though.
This is going to sound corny, but watch Disney's "Hook". It tells a good story about a father who places too much emphasis on his career and not his family then learns an important lesson from it.
Thinking that ghosts are chasing them. Don't forget that occasional fruit or pretzel!
I see the connection - the arts can be an outlet for the kids. With your feelings about politics and politicians aside - don't you think that it might be good for kids to have an outlet at school? Extra-curricular activities in general are great for this. I think the arts could be too.
Chris
Can't you see that there's a problem in the US lately? We are doing something wrong. If you make guns less accessible, that's one thing to rule out as a possible deadly option.
Now of course, there are other issues at stake here, like dealing with the reason children want to use the gun in the first place. That issue is just as important, if not more important.
Don't criticize M@t for his country's choice to be strict on gun control. I think it's a wise one.
Just a guess... Did you vote for Nader? Sound like you should have. Oh. BTW. I disagree, I think you may be trying to controling behavior by regulation and policy rather than preventing it through education and knowing your children... Your way may very likely lead to rebelion in children. Just a note since you do have kids. I've seen it happen to others.
I might've sounded a little more controlling that I really am suggesting. What I really am discussing here is building a moral and social foundation at the beginning. I'm not talking about policy or regulation outside the home. Quite the opposite actually. You may have noticed this later, given your second post - I know I jumped around a little bit about the topic and might've been a little confusing. See, what I wish would happen is for parents to be more involved. Regulation and policy?.... I don't think that's going to do anything really. We need parents to be parents, not just other people living in the same home.
As for voting for Nader - no, I didn't. I really don't know much about his views on parenting (or other topics quite honestly).
It's just the "I wouldn't let this happen" tone that strikes me wrong... Teens tend to push limits, and when you give them too many, they push harder... It's a balancing act, I'm sure you know. You have to be the enforcer, but somehow keep from being the enemy. Tough thing to do (and frankly, since your interested in doing it, your probably in the top 10% of parents by todays standards).
I understand what you mean about the "wouldn't let this happen" statement. But what I'm saying I guess more applies to children, not teens. If you haven't involved yourself in your kid's life until he/she is a teen, well, this may not apply. I can see how a sudden cracking down on them can cause rebellion. I don't have a teen yet, and I know rebellion is going to be something tough to deal with. Hopefully my kids will respect me enough to be able to appreciate what I enforce when they're teens. If not, well I'll have to figure something out. I definitely cannot say that I wouldn't let this or that happen - but what I CAN do is my best to prevent it, and not just sit around waiting for someone else to.
I don't know how my boys are going to grow up, but I do know I'm going to try my hardest to do my job as being a parent that is involved. And I really wish I could see more of that in others. I see mostly mothers at my kid's soccer and baseball practices. Where are the dad's? I see some mothers letting their kids get away with anything - like hitting another one or calling him names. And all when the kids are only 3-6 years old! That's ridiculous! If I saw my kid doing that to some other kid - there'd be some sort of punishment - like take the Gameboy away (a BIG punishment for my kids believe me!) for 2 days.
Well, like I said, I'm definitely not claiming to be a perfect person or parent, but I really wish that there were more parents out there that took parenting seriously. It isn't easy, and you can't just hope that your kids will grow up well-adjusted if you don't get involved in their life. It's easy to get caught up in your own life these days, but people need to remember - you took the responsibility of having children upon yourself - you must carry through with the rest of the job - RAISING THEM.
Chris
Oh and you think that your wonderful statements about crime rate will have ANY influence on how little kids gain access to guns? If a gun is in the house - a child can potentially find it. If the child finds it, he could play with it, kill himself, bring it school and kill someone else, or whatever.
Keep something else for defense - carry a stun gun or something - regular guns kill. If you care about the safety of your kids, think HARD - is a gun REALLY necessary?
Chris
I am a father. I won't pretend to have all of the answers, but I do tend to be very opinionated when it comes to raising kids because I am annoyed with the lack of parental guidance that I've seen. That being said, I think what many kids are lacking these days is RESPECT. No, not just for parents and "elders", I'm talking about for anyone/anything.
How does one person's disrespect affect others? It's simple - you show disrespect for one's feelings, space, or property, that person becomes angry. Anger leads to many things - and in the right person, could lead to harm (didn't intend on this to sound like Yoda's spiel in Star Wars Episode 1 =). I really don't need to explain that further. I remember seeing this all the time when I was in school. In fact, I remember doing it to a couple of kids myself - and I regret it, because when I think back of them I think - what was I mocking them for - they looked different? talked different? weren't as strong? couldn't kick the ball in kickball? It's not right. It doesn't get you anywhere.
A child's social skills need to be developed right away to alleviate some of these problems. Parents need to play more active roles in the kids' lives. These are things we hear all the time, but do parents really heed the advice? I don't know. Unfortunately, our society (I speak of my American society, others may be different) seems to be very $money$ oriented nowadays. Everyone wants to make more money than everyone else so they can have more stuff. Of course, this is all at the expense of a home life. Whatever happened to the 9-5 job? This might seem like a tangent, but it's not - parents work late they don't see their kids - and for what? An extra buck? Granted, there are a lot of us out there who need to work late to support our families because the money just isn't there, but others - where are your priorities? If you have a family - what comes first - the job or the family? Corporations need to see this too.
Videogames aren't to blame - although there is absolutely no way I am letting my 5 or 6 year olds play Quake or Unreal Tournament or any of the "blood" games. I guess part of me feels that they show a "disrespect" for life, and kids first need a foundation that helps them understand to respect life. To be honest, I don't know when I'm letting them play the blood games. I'm sure the issue will arise in the next 5 years or so, but until then - forget it. I don't let the kids see them or play them. Me, I enjoy the games thoroughly, but I've got my moral foundation and won't let something like a fictional frag screw with my real life. With kids - let's work on the social and moral traits first. Again, it's not the games themselves that are to blame for kids pulling a Columbine. There are so many other factors it isn't funny.
Of course, here's another thing that'll really get a rise out of everyone, and I'm honestly not trying to throw flamebait here - gun control and other potential weapon control. No one, absolutely NO ONE is going to tell me that it is safe to keep a gun in the same house as a child. Regardless of whether or not you've got it locked up or hidden kids can find a way. You can't make assumptions.
I know I kinda jumped around a bit, but the bottom line is - parents need to put their priorities in order and be positive influences on their kids. How the heck are they going to learn? You shouldn't expect a school to do everything for you. YOU teach them respect. Teach them that it is wrong to put other kids down. Ask them how they'd like it if that was done to them. Let's stop being REACTIVE and become PROACTIVE. You can't just hope that your kid won't be like the one that just shot another one on TV. One of your roles as parents is to raise our children the right way and you can't do that if you don't take an active role in their lives.
Chris
Let's say that there are about 8 million Dreamcasts out there right now - giving you the benefit of the doubt that there could be less.
And how many people are using the modems? I'll give you even more benefit of the doubt again and say there are 1,000,000 people worldwide using the Sega modem (and I'm sure that's stretching it quite a lot). That's 1/8 or 12.5% . Only 12.5%!!! Was the modem worth it? Nope - it should've been an optional accessory OR at the very least, a freebie given out if you signed up for SegaNet for a year. That way you'd only get the people who'd use it. They wouldn't need to produce as much.
Ummm.... I don't think the modem should've been in it.
Again - I'm not trying to bash the machine. In my non-expert opinion, it was poor decision-making on Sega's behalf. Did they really think that they were going to get enough people to use the modem?
Chris
Here's my take on everything. For reference, I have the Dreamcast, PS2, N64, and had most of the consoles previous to those dating back to the Atari/Odyssey2/Intellivision days.
- Sega didn't need to put in the modem. How many people actually used it? It was wasted money.
- Sega released the Dreamcast at a bad time. They should've released it much earlier. People had just gotten over buying the N64 and spent their $250 (or whatever). On top of that, N64 games were coming out at a greater rate and the system was establishing a good foothold on the video gaming industry. Of course, I didn't mention the Sony PS which was already around too, with tons of great games. Why then should a consumer go out and spend more on a new system (Sony, Sega, or otherwise) when they just bought something?!? There wasn't a need for a new system because the one's that were out were still good. I don't know about you, but not everyone out there is going to be able to buy 2 systems in such a short span of time. This was a big flaw in their Dreamcast plan.
- This I don't know the facts on - was it released in the US right away or in Japan first? I think it should've hit the US right away.
- Poor advertising & marketing - they should've taken the money that they were spending on that stupid modem and put it towards putting the Dreamcast in front of people's faces more.
- The technology is good, but it isn't going to be able to keep up with the PS2, Xbox, and GameCube. Again - bad timing - it is 3.5 generation while the PS2, Xbox, and GameCube are 4th generation machines (1 being - Atari, SNES & etc, 2 - Sega Genesis, Turbo Grafx, Super Nintendo, 2.5 -Saturn, 3 - Sony Playstation, N64 sort of). The Saturn suffered the same fate - bad timing to me.
- Sony is huge - Sony has a LOT more resources to work with. They don't just make video games. Sega had all their eggs in one basket pretty much. So, Sony can take a hit in one area and stick with it if it wants. Sega isn't getting revenue from other sources - just video games. Nintendo has other products out there that has really kept it afloat - the Game Boy is one example and the Pokemon franchise is another.
And that's really the main ones to me.Is the Dreamcast a crappy system? Absolutely not. I think it is great, or I should say WAS great. The technology just wasn't timed right. It SHOULD'VE been out at the same time the N64 came out.
But I honestly won't buy any more games for it because I don't have the time to play it or the money to spend on it. My kids love their N64, so we keep buying games for that, and I love my PC (which can be upgraded when new technology arrives) and the PS2. I know the PS2 games will keep getting better. The Dreamcast is sadly not going to be played often except for Crazy Taxi and Soul Calibur every once in a blue moon.
It may not sound believable, but I really liked the Sega games. They were good. Sonic looked like it was a little rough around the edges at times, but basically the games were terrific for the Dreamcast. It just won't be able to compete.
Now, the PS2, that is a VERY forward looking machine. All that crap about the developers having a tough time with it - well give them a little time. All they needed to do is create their own development kits/libraries. Most probably have done that already, so you should see the games getting cranked out much faster now. I don't know what the poster's basis is behind saying that the Dreamcast is way better than the PS2 crap.
Well, I've said enough. I really think Sega's timing was the big factor with marketing and advertising close behind.
They made the right decision to go software only though. They need to become lean and mean right now. And as everyone knows - building consoles is a losing proposition - it's the software you make money on.
Chris
Chris