If there is any one lesson I've learned in game development, it's that you never have to actually produce what you want the scenario to be. Much like a movie or TV set, the only things that have to be right are what the user sees.
As computers have gotten more and more complex, its required more and more complex thinking to reproduce even the things that we would assume to be so simple. I remember listening to a talk on Epic Games and how much effort they put into Particle Effects in their engine. The reason being that while particles themselves are usually not much more than a sprite or a model, that look unrealistic, its how you use them to produce an effect. With the same entity - you can create a convincing firefly, or a spark from ricochet, depending on how you move it and what lighting you use.
Not to mention that games are designed to be flexible in what can happen with them now. Force Unleashed would be an example where glass or wood can shatter differently almost everytime, depending on even the slightest nuances. For something like this - it's difficult to asssing premade sound effects - you can record various ones for big, medum, and small fracturing, but you run the risk of exploding your game filesize by adding more sound effects, or you are leaving the sounds a little bland as they will get repeated many times.
So for games, and other simulations, this kind of thing works well.
But we do have solar power, and engines that run on hydrogen, etc etc.
The idea is that harvesting energy has to be practical - and one of the ways to do that is to reduce the transportation costs. There are millions of asteroids and planets out there but their distance from where they would be used is too far to be practical. Same with anything floating out in space - its not practical to launch something up there to harvest it.
As far as whats here on Earth: We have come up with ways to harvest solar energy and use available resources on the planet - we are having trouble finding ways to make it all balance with the environment though. Covering the planet in solar collectors would leave nothing for plant life and end up killing us in the log run. So at what point do we stop? We do not have a set limit for the amount of energy we need. The more energy we harvest, the more we figure we have to burn.
At what point did you deduce that humans were rare energy sources?
We've already started with abundant energy sources - Oil and Gas, and now Solar and other green projects are taking off. DARPA is always trying to do the next big thing - in this case, efficiency through a closed energy system.
Try not to think of it as an ecological disaster. Think of it as unproactive redistribution of wealth by giving some of the worlds unwealthiest wildlife a large sum of one of the worlds most sought after resources. They should be able to increase their underwater infrastructure a great deal if they use it all wisely.
It's still a form of DRM. Essentially, some people find it within their "digital rights" to share a purchased game with a friend, and so they can play against each other online. Most games that require a code to unlock are built in this measure to say "This registration code is already in use by another user".
If it were a simple matter of just needing a registration code, that same code would be distributed with every second-hand copy of the game, thus completely circumventing the need for a registration system in the first place (making the DRM useless) - or if there is any reason why your game cannot run multiple copies at once, thats a form of DRM.
I've heard that many programmers have issues coding for 2 and 4 core processors.
Or even multiple processors, for that matter.
That in and of itself is almost an entirely new section of programming - if you were an Ace 15 years ago, your C++ skills might still be sharper than most new graduates, but most post secondaries are now teaching students how to properly thread for parallel programming. If you don't know how to code for 2 or 4 core processors, you really should jump on board. Almost every computer and laptop I can think of being sold brand new today has more than 1 core or processor.
I'd like to see how they'll addapt to running "run hundreds of threads" in parallel.
It requires a slightly more abstract design pattern, designed to be flexible. Kind of like moving from older structured program to object oriented - you just have to approach it differently. I haven't had to deal with any of it myself, but I imagine it'll boil down to knowing what calculations in your program can be done simultaneously, and then setting up a way to dump it off onto the next available core. That way, instead of stopping a core to wait and synch with another, you are synching the thread conceptually as it simply waits for the data, not the processors the next step might need.
Even though this article tries to make me blame our Oriental cousins for pulling a talk about them, how many times has the States tried to brush things like Gitmo under the rug to the rest of the world, with reasoning along the line of "We know its bad, but it's a necessary evil in this day and age".
Even if they are right that it's necessary, its still two faced to think other countries shouldn't have their own skeletons.
You don't compete with WoW. But Star Wars Galaxies was easily comparable to World of Warcraft - until the developers went and changed EVERYTHING and basically killed the game. They were exclusive in that one was the futuristic sci-fi and the other one was the mystical fantasy type.
The thing that spurs good MMO's is a successful game before it. In WoW's case, it was Warcraft 3 that really spurred it's growth. In SWG, it was every Star Wars game and Movie to date.
If there is anything capable of taking WoW off of its throne as top MMO, it'll be a Star Wars MMO. However, that just means that there will be 2 big MMO's, not just one.
I'd imagine it only has a couple more years left in it before some other MMO will take its place. And I have a gut instinct that it will be Blizzard will be the creator of that new game.
That's not really a change - at all - from the current system.
And I could see World of Warcraft continuing for another decade or more. I don't really see why not, its still slowly growing in player base, not shrinking.
The problem is that "Fully voiced games, professional actors, impressive game worlds, fleshed out storyline, excellent writers" is not the blockbuster success formula. Especially as Dragon Age was not fully voiced. But either way, games like Halo 3 and Grand Theft Auto have been considered blockbusters without being fully voiced with professional actors, (And one might say that GTA doesn't have an impressive game world or a fleshed out storyline, but w/e). And games like Oblivion, which also featured professional actors and such, didn't quite fair as well as Fallout 3, despite having pretty much the same formula.
What similarities they might have between them, the only thing constant is that they are all Sequels. There are rarely any blockbusters for original ideas, and thats something he touches slightly. When you aspire to make a blockbuster, what you're really aspiring to is being locked into a sequel of a well selling game, and that chokes any creativity you might have in mind.
Wouldn't it be great if you could log into all of your Google accounts at the same time if you have multiple?
Who has multiple google accounts, and for what?
I mean, don't get me wrong, I have lots of email addresses, but I be sure to spread them around. Gmail, Hotmail, and Yahoo are the ones I check frequently.
I wouldn't want to put all my eggs in one basket, you know?
Slashdot Mirror
If there is any one lesson I've learned in game development, it's that you never have to actually produce what you want the scenario to be. Much like a movie or TV set, the only things that have to be right are what the user sees.
As computers have gotten more and more complex, its required more and more complex thinking to reproduce even the things that we would assume to be so simple. I remember listening to a talk on Epic Games and how much effort they put into Particle Effects in their engine. The reason being that while particles themselves are usually not much more than a sprite or a model, that look unrealistic, its how you use them to produce an effect. With the same entity - you can create a convincing firefly, or a spark from ricochet, depending on how you move it and what lighting you use.
It's all quite impressive.
But we've already researched those!
Not to mention that games are designed to be flexible in what can happen with them now. Force Unleashed would be an example where glass or wood can shatter differently almost everytime, depending on even the slightest nuances. For something like this - it's difficult to asssing premade sound effects - you can record various ones for big, medum, and small fracturing, but you run the risk of exploding your game filesize by adding more sound effects, or you are leaving the sounds a little bland as they will get repeated many times.
So for games, and other simulations, this kind of thing works well.
Tower, this is Ghost Rider requesting a flyby.
That's a negative, Ghost Rider, the pattern is full.
WHOoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooosh!
But we do have solar power, and engines that run on hydrogen, etc etc.
The idea is that harvesting energy has to be practical - and one of the ways to do that is to reduce the transportation costs. There are millions of asteroids and planets out there but their distance from where they would be used is too far to be practical. Same with anything floating out in space - its not practical to launch something up there to harvest it.
As far as whats here on Earth: We have come up with ways to harvest solar energy and use available resources on the planet - we are having trouble finding ways to make it all balance with the environment though. Covering the planet in solar collectors would leave nothing for plant life and end up killing us in the log run. So at what point do we stop? We do not have a set limit for the amount of energy we need. The more energy we harvest, the more we figure we have to burn.
When he figures out how to get the energy out of Dark Matter or the Vaccumm of space - I'll jump right on board and ask why we're wasting our time.
I'm in the 18 - 24 Demographic and ultimately have more hipness than anyone over 40 could ever possibly achieve.
It's not something thats up for debate or competition, thats just the way it is.
It's kind of like ketchup on eggs you know?
Yeah, I'm sure, you get it now, that was a great analogy.
I STILL can't find the Euro on my computer, and you'll be lucky if you can convince me to look at an ASCII table.
Come on, he's 42 and she's a young hipster. He probably thought it was a bar of soap, not an iPod.
At what point did you deduce that humans were rare energy sources?
We've already started with abundant energy sources - Oil and Gas, and now Solar and other green projects are taking off. DARPA is always trying to do the next big thing - in this case, efficiency through a closed energy system.
Try not to think of it as an ecological disaster. Think of it as unproactive redistribution of wealth by giving some of the worlds unwealthiest wildlife a large sum of one of the worlds most sought after resources. They should be able to increase their underwater infrastructure a great deal if they use it all wisely.
Okay. I'm sorry. It was me. Now its your turn.
*Shades*
Yyyyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh
I'm beginning this document isn't meant to be as secretive as Geist makes it sound. There's been a leak about every 2 weeks for like months...
It's still a form of DRM. Essentially, some people find it within their "digital rights" to share a purchased game with a friend, and so they can play against each other online. Most games that require a code to unlock are built in this measure to say "This registration code is already in use by another user".
If it were a simple matter of just needing a registration code, that same code would be distributed with every second-hand copy of the game, thus completely circumventing the need for a registration system in the first place (making the DRM useless) - or if there is any reason why your game cannot run multiple copies at once, thats a form of DRM.
I've heard that many programmers have issues coding for 2 and 4 core processors.
Or even multiple processors, for that matter.
That in and of itself is almost an entirely new section of programming - if you were an Ace 15 years ago, your C++ skills might still be sharper than most new graduates, but most post secondaries are now teaching students how to properly thread for parallel programming. If you don't know how to code for 2 or 4 core processors, you really should jump on board. Almost every computer and laptop I can think of being sold brand new today has more than 1 core or processor.
I'd like to see how they'll addapt to running "run hundreds of threads" in parallel.
It requires a slightly more abstract design pattern, designed to be flexible. Kind of like moving from older structured program to object oriented - you just have to approach it differently. I haven't had to deal with any of it myself, but I imagine it'll boil down to knowing what calculations in your program can be done simultaneously, and then setting up a way to dump it off onto the next available core. That way, instead of stopping a core to wait and synch with another, you are synching the thread conceptually as it simply waits for the data, not the processors the next step might need.
Okay. Why does the US need a strong cyber offensive capability?
It gets plenty of attention - notice how the US government is pushing for killswitches for their half of the internet?
Indeed. I think it deserves a golf clap.
Even though this article tries to make me blame our Oriental cousins for pulling a talk about them, how many times has the States tried to brush things like Gitmo under the rug to the rest of the world, with reasoning along the line of "We know its bad, but it's a necessary evil in this day and age".
Even if they are right that it's necessary, its still two faced to think other countries shouldn't have their own skeletons.
Intuitively, could you agree that people are generally happier when they are NOT at work?
They said Early morning and Late evening.
You don't compete with WoW. But Star Wars Galaxies was easily comparable to World of Warcraft - until the developers went and changed EVERYTHING and basically killed the game. They were exclusive in that one was the futuristic sci-fi and the other one was the mystical fantasy type.
The thing that spurs good MMO's is a successful game before it. In WoW's case, it was Warcraft 3 that really spurred it's growth. In SWG, it was every Star Wars game and Movie to date.
If there is anything capable of taking WoW off of its throne as top MMO, it'll be a Star Wars MMO. However, that just means that there will be 2 big MMO's, not just one.
I'd imagine it only has a couple more years left in it before some other MMO will take its place. And I have a gut instinct that it will be Blizzard will be the creator of that new game.
That's not really a change - at all - from the current system.
And I could see World of Warcraft continuing for another decade or more. I don't really see why not, its still slowly growing in player base, not shrinking.
The problem is that "Fully voiced games, professional actors, impressive game worlds, fleshed out storyline, excellent writers" is not the blockbuster success formula. Especially as Dragon Age was not fully voiced. But either way, games like Halo 3 and Grand Theft Auto have been considered blockbusters without being fully voiced with professional actors, (And one might say that GTA doesn't have an impressive game world or a fleshed out storyline, but w/e). And games like Oblivion, which also featured professional actors and such, didn't quite fair as well as Fallout 3, despite having pretty much the same formula.
What similarities they might have between them, the only thing constant is that they are all Sequels. There are rarely any blockbusters for original ideas, and thats something he touches slightly. When you aspire to make a blockbuster, what you're really aspiring to is being locked into a sequel of a well selling game, and that chokes any creativity you might have in mind.
Wouldn't it be great if you could log into all of your Google accounts at the same time if you have multiple?
Who has multiple google accounts, and for what?
I mean, don't get me wrong, I have lots of email addresses, but I be sure to spread them around. Gmail, Hotmail, and Yahoo are the ones I check frequently.
I wouldn't want to put all my eggs in one basket, you know?
“Mozilla Sniffer”
Seriously?
With the evil and nefarious scheme of stealing login info, this was their best attempt at hiding the true nature of the add-on?