I'm contemplating using a standard paintball gun for that very situation. Maybe a water-balloon launcher would be treated less harshly by the police when that very cell phone is brought to bear on me in retaliation. The paint would be a good visible sign to other drivers though too and would probably make a good loud noise inside the car when it strikes the vehicle's body panel or a window. I think it should be totally legal to have paintball wars on freeways. I bet drivers would pay more attention and little real harm would be done (especially when compared with zombie drivers or shooting metal bullets).
Whiners and graffiti elitists and ghetto wannabes suck more than corporate (i.e., consentual) graffiti. The businesses agreed to host advertisements on their walls. Whether it was spray cans or posters portraying the message, Sony is just spending its advertising dollars. As much as you hate to admit it, ballerz and poserz and playaz and playa-hataz all want Sony's PSP. They all already have PS2's and talk shit about how badass they are at Madden or Soul Calibur or Gran Turismo and they're all eager to buy PS3 next year.
I can understand if you were crying because Sony defaced your personal property illegally but retards like you don't deserve the floor just because you were "deceived" by Sony's attempt at cool advertising. Sony is a cool company that makes lots of cool products. It's a huge company with divisions all over the planet doing tons of different things. All of Sony does not suck because one advertising campaign offended some weakling's fragile sensibilities. Similarly, Sony (as a whole) does not suck just because a tiny portion of the company decided to put rootkit-laden copy-protection on some audio CD's. Maybe Microsoft is more evil than good. Maybe Sony is too. Even still, there could be quite a bit of good therein considering their similar enormity.
I wish more of the/. group-think (or knee-jerk) would stop demonizing entire huge companies for admittedly noteworthy poor decisions made by some middle managers... especially because the decisions are highly unlikely to even have an adverse effect directly on the person posting how much they hate X. Hardly anybody here really got rooted or suffered a breakdown due to graffiti. I agree it's crappy some music CD's had rootkits on them. It does appear some Sony music executives (just like all other major recording industry executives) are willing to bend or break laws to attempt to put the MP3 cat back in the bag. That doesn't mean PlayStation sucks. Similarly, PlayStations are sweet gaming machines even if some advertising is cheesy or campy or tries too hard to be cool. Microsoft's J Allard is all about pandering to the "Remix Generation" with custom skins and themes and tunes and configs and how ultra-hip the "HD Era" is. What an astonishing surprise it is that cutting-edge hardware is advertised as the coolest stuff ever!
So to all the Sony haters using this as more ammo: Why don't you first think a little about what matters before whining about what doesn't? PSP is a fscking cool gaming device. Sony can (and should) spend their advertising dollars how they want to and private businesses that want to host them should similarly do what's in their interest. How are your sports heroes telling you what products to buy any different?
...since you proudly proclaim your own systematic use/abuse (what's the difference?) of the mod and metamod system in your sig.
-Pip
-- I don't systematically moderate down people who describe their uses/abuses of the mod and metamod system in their sigs... but I am inclined to reply to their posts in an attempt to engage their logic for doing so. --
I've watched G4 whenever I could stand to for over a year. The channel consistently deteriorates with few spikes of hope for improvement.
Victor Lucas is a gem (on Judgement Day and Electric Playground [the only two G4 shows I TiVo]). He carries the network in my opinion. He has obviously played (and beaten) tons of games throughout his life. He understands compelling gameplay and the trappings of genres. He is occassionally cynical and witty but the vivid contrast with Tommy Tallarico's flamboyance is grating. Tommy just sets himself up for both blatant and subtle ridicule. I don't mean to idolize Lucas or be some lame fanboy but my only fault with him is he's consistently too generous with his scores for crappy games. Victor finds and focuses on the best parts of the worst games so his typical spectrum of rating scores rarely diverges from something between 6 and 9. When he recommends a game because of its gameplay though (even if I've never heard of it), I've heeded his advice and not yet been disappointed. Ikaruga is the best example.
I guess it makes for good contrast and conflict but Tommy in particular (and Julie, Jade etc. to a lesser extent) comes off as a gaming retard compared to Victor. I give Tommy the benefit of the doubt that he's probably a cool guy to hang out with who plays lots of games and has fun cocaine parties with strippers and enjoys life. He enthuses on about hot virtual game chicks and games being good because of breasts first (constantly making base sex and masturbation puns). His secondary focus is audio (as he has been a sound designer on many good games). I guess his tertiary focus is simplistic gameplay. I can understand all of those but I don't respect them as appropriate priorities from a reviewer who should have integrity to be intelligent, consistent, and critical in his evaluations and advice.
I guess I feel Victor is a connoisseur of video games (and a respectable authority on solid gameplay) while Tommy is an infantile moron who is more excited by shiny things and splashy noises than substance. Tommy regularly says games are no fun because he couldn't be bothered to learn their most basic play controls or mechanics. He gives great games poor scores because of bad sound effects or voice-overs. I don't respect or value his opinion on games.
G4TV.Com was a decent show. Tina Wood and Laura Foy are obviously capable gamers and even though they would often rely on tedious and campy sketches to pepper their show with flat humor, they at least had some well reasoned arguments about the relative strengths and merits of relevant game titles and platforms.
Icons has a few treasures. Some of the history of the game industries that have developed around the world is fascinating and even poignant as it relates to present-day industry events. Usually the show is merely interesting but barely relevant to anything current.
Some of the best segments G4 has ever aired were something I think they called "Screenshots". There were only a handful of them but they were some of the greatest game TV I have ever seen. There's one of a guy commentating over the video of his record time completing Tomb Raider's training challenge. He talks about inspiration from Bruce Lee and preparation. It is a remarkable performance and should be thoroughly impressive to anyone who's ever run that course. An even better one is of a guy who plays 18-Wheeler's Parking Challenge Number 5 about 8 hours a day. Those videos are amazing. The geeks who performed them and their explanations are awesome. I don't remember any more off-hand but those segments were great.
G4 should show a million exhibitions of the very best gameplay performances. Reviewers should be critical thinkers. They should not be struggling actors who care more about some movie debut's red-carpet event than E3. Don't show retarded rookie gameplay. Don't show airheads. There are many intelligent and talented gamers out there. Their voices would be totally interesting. Be more like
Have you heard of texture-mapped three-dimensional graphics where millions of polygons are rendered at 30 frames-per-second? How about an analog control stick, a direction-pad && familiar action buttons? PDA's && cellular phones are garbage for games. Sure, you can make do if they're all you've got or you barely play anyway. If, however, you are a gamer that's anything beyond casual, PSP is the atom-bomb! Do you see it personally now?
As someone else pointed out, there need not be significant overlap between the groups of SlashDotters who say infringing GPL == bad && infringing (RI|MP)AA == okay... but let's assume that there is sufficient overlap that we can generalize && say there is one group regularly putting forth both of those seemingly contradictory memes... since I argue from the union of these sets myself on occassion. =)
The unifying issue is free exchange of data (remember that code is data too). The GPL (copyleft) takes the laws && system that enforces monopolies on copy rights && subverts it. So freely exchanging code via GPL'd Free Software is done purposefully to remain free to use && modify... permanently. Violating this means closing it up && hiding the source && marketing it as a commercial product illegitimately... while violating music/movie copyrights means sharing them freely.
There is no contradiction in thinking that data (&& code) are ideas by nature... chunks of thought && culture && society... which should be freely copied && shared && improved upon by all of humanity. HTH.
I recently was facing an upgrade dilemma. Get two new or used flat-panels or CRTs? After evaluating all four options, I decided to try buying two Dell 21" P1110 Trinitron CRTs from AccurateIT.Com for $179 each... figuring they're refurbished so maybe only one will work well but at least these monitors have two regular video inputs each && can handle 2048x1536 no prob. Even a single refurbished equivalent quality flat-panel would be significantly more expensive than both those CRTs.
They came well packaged with no visible damage to the housing && they both have performed indistinguishably from a new monitor for like a month now. Great refresh rates, contrast, multiple resolutions without scaling, multiple inputs... yeah they're heavy or whatever but it's not like I lift them or move them every day && I have plenty of desk space so I'm totally happy with them. I'd recommend other people try this route since it worked out so well for me.
I started calculating situational odds... exhausting some of the combinatorics. I wanted to do this as Free Software so that other GNU/Linux geeks could be helped to calc odds && make bots too. I figured I'd be able to make a simple CGI or ptk interface to the data which would be natural to use while playing online.
But then I actually broke the ice && started playing. I played against friends a bunch of times && sat down at a nearby casino table once. I quickly realized that it's fscking boring to me. Even if I know a lot already && have an aptitude to learn how to become great... all the time I'd have to spend to weather the storms... all the time I'd have to just sit there "playing" would not be fun for me. I'd rather play PS2 or code or read.
So, in my case, the computational challenge was fun && I hope my code can benefit others (let me know if you'd like additions to Poker.pm or if you'd like my CGI or ptk code... as I'd be glad to share it under GPL) but the time investment to actually make money doesn't seem worth it since I don't like the activity. I don't get paid all that much but I work on a job I love. Even if I could make a bit more playing Hold'Em, so far, I'd rather not.
On another interesting note: There's been an emergent topic in this thread which I find perpetually interesting. Are programmers (or middle-class people in general) generally smarter than others, the majority, the masses, the lower-class? It seems to me that we know we are. We read more, study more, learn more, analyze, criticize, calculate, etc. because we constantly need to solve new && different problems. We're more on our toes... we're more savvy... progressive. We often identify with the intelligent Nipponese (through video games, anime, gadgets, sport bikes, sushi, manga, etc.) more than the bumbling drunken Mtv Madden war-minded pro-violence repressed-sex consumer sheeple attitude that is so prevalent around us.
Maybe it is haughty. Maybe our responsibility is to our country && the world. We should strive to educate && illuminate our fellow United Statesians (apologies to all non-USians but I suffer as/. does from US-centricity because it is where I live && what I primarily know... shit && because we constantly reach all over && impact the whole rest of the world more than any other country). Some of our "intelligence" is of course rote knowledge like C++ object syntax or underlying problem-solving principles like design patterns or search/sort algorithms but people with a propensity for such things spend time cultivating those skills at the expense of others. So while we know how to map sometimes devastatingly enormous && complex spaghetti code into our minds completely, others are social virtuosos. They can be much better managers or salespeople etc. because they are good at appearing to be your friend. They're not so systematic && analytical... they have intuition about feelings, emotions, underlying motivations... they can encourage you to work hard for something you hardly care about or believe in... maybe they believe themselves if not just for a bigger paycheck. They are (generally) more adept than coders at human interaction / manipulation. Salespeople can convince customers that they need to buy products they hardly need for way more than they're worth with some crazy high interest loan that more than doubles the end cost.
So who's smarter could be a matter of perspective. Geeks with few social skills might not relate well to each other or society because their affinity is for powerful &&/or optimized &&/or clever
If you look in the first rows of several of the stats, you'll see >=X, <Y which suggests all rows include the bottom number && exclude the top one. HTH.
I didn't read it that way but you have a much more sensible interpretation (albeit by adding a word that wasn't there). Regardless, interleaving scan lines is a lot less likely to have a load balancing problem than separating top && bottom halves of your resultant frame buffer. SLI does sacrifice the ability to load balance but interleaving is not likely to result in one card waiting on the other with any regularity so the complaint still doesn't make much sense.
Of course any "hardcore gamer" knows about the history of their "patents pending technology" as their Director of Marketing calls it. Too bad he doesn't.
In the article, this guy says: "SLI stood for Scan Line interface where each card drew every other line of the frame and my understanding was that the major challenge was to keep the image in sync. If one line's longer than another, then tearing, artifacts, and keeping the two cards in sync was a real issue. The benefits of doing it half and half is we can take advantage of the load balancing and the synchronization challenge can be overcome."
Alright... I'm sure the technology they've developed over there is some hot fscking shit. I'm sure they have a top R&D team that knows what they're doing && this custom motherboard + pre-driver thing is a good idea. Once developed fully, it could let you keep adding as many video cards as your case can hold, even potentially from different manufacturers, to improve total rendering capacity. That is great. Alienware has some very talented people to solve all the associated problems with accomplishing this. I respect their achievement.
That said, what the hell do they have a Director of Marketing for who doesn't know what he's talking about? He gets the SLI acronym wrong. How the fsck could one scan line be longer than the other resulting in tearing or cards getting out-of-sync? Come on! I know he's not a technical guy but then he should just stick to his hype buzzwords && patents && shit like that because he totally ruins Alienware's credibility when he shows no understanding of the most prominent attempt at this type of endeavor in the past. At least he said "my understanding" in there but he should've said "I don't know or understand the history so I'll just talk about what I do know."
Although I hold Alienware in high regard for making really fast gaming computers (that are arguably worth the premium price if you can't be bothered to build your own), I lose substantial respect for them when they allow their cool new technology to be represented by a marketing turd who couldn't be bothered to understand the history of what his company has done or what he's talking about. Buy a clue if you care to succeed. I want to like Alienware... I really do. TTFN.
Well of course anonymous online gaming is a different beast than fighting or tennis games in an arcade or living room because of the face-to-face element.
The answer is you don't distinguish between aimbots && spawn camping. They are both physical possibilities. Neither violates the rules of the game. If you go to a LAN party though or a big FPS competition... well you have face-to-face again && they'd be able to enforce a "no aimbots" rule.
Maybe the answer often boils down to the community standards but if that community is not engaged in regular competition, their opinion is worthless since the game is a competitive one which means there is a winner. If everyone agrees that something about a game is so good (namely that nothing but this tactic wins tournaments repeatedly) that the whole rest of the game would be better off if this thing were banned, then it is reasonable to consider it. That doesn't mean it's easy to enforce such bans though which is another major factor.
Sure... the rules of real sports change to say some new thing is unfair && will be penalized going forward (or some old off-limits tactic is now legal && should be abused). The rules of video games are not just what people say they are. The nature of game rules is different. Sometimes there are bugs or emergent situations the designers never envisioned yet they are totally reasonable to perform in the game. It's ok for "rules" of video games to be amended by the community if that community constitutes the majority of competitive players.
There are a lot of uninformed highly-rated posts already so hopefully I can shed some light.
Regarding shooting Pete Sampras to win in tennis: You wouldn't win the match! That's not legal within the limits of the game. Spawn camping is legal in several FPS games. Maybe the games were designed so poorly that this is the best tactic. If that's the case, you should do it better than your opponent if you want to win. If that means the game is not "fun" anymore, then play a better game. Possible within the rules of a game by definition DOES mean allowable (including exploiting bugs). Competitive games are about winning within the rules of the game... if you make up your own rules about honor, you are playing a different game that you've made up && you have no basis in reality or even agreeable reason. Scrubs cry "unfair!" but they just need an excuse to soften the blow that they can't defeat a simple tactic or that their game does not stand up well to serious competition. Do you want to win or whine?
Regarding Soul Calibur II requiring very little skill: Think again. Soul Calibur II was designed to have a more gradual learning curve than most other fighters on purpose to be easy to pick up but don't kid yourself in thinking your "beginner attacks" could in any dreamworld be "more powerful than any advanced player's most complex combo attack". You are way off base. If this is your opinion, I know I could defeat you 63/0 with one hand. Enter a competition to test your theory rather than replying with some anecdotal evidence about your living room experiences.
Regarding "cheese" practitioners having the capacities of "script kiddies": What do you say to someone who wins tournaments against the best players in the world with your so-called "cheese"? That they have no skill? They may have the best execution skill of anyone on the planet && also the best understanding of the game to know the greatest tactic (which could be a simple one). You're right that a simple tactic is often easily defeated so anyone wishing to win should figure it out but just because a tactic seems simple doesn't mean it's not the best thing (which you should do too && do better if you want to win).
Regarding fighting a "cheeser" isn't going to increase your skill in the least: Of course it will increase your skill if you constantly experiment with all the tools (moves) at your disposal in order to find the best counter. In Soul Calibur II particularly, almost every move in the game (including throw attempts) can be parried (called Guard Impact in SC2 terminology) which was designed in as a balancing feature. If you know when someone will attack next, you have the advantage. Studying even a simple tactic in order to either emulate or defeat it does make you a better player. You explore areas of the game you might not have needed to otherwise. Isn't this obvious?
Regarding "riding a move or two all the way to victory" as the same thing as "exploiting flaws in games": If a game has a design flaw, then it is not a good game. Get over it. If there are moves in a game that are arguably the best tactics, you will learn, practice, && execute them consistently if you want to win. Your fake morality about some arbitrary realism element in FPS (players not getting tired from jumping) is foolish. Jumping is a fair part of those games. If you think games should penalize jumpers with noticable fatigue, write such a game && play it. Otherwise, you're just making up your own weird rules that most reasonable people wouldn't even agree are right. Are you playing a game? What are the rules of THAT game? I'm not asking what you think the rules SHOULD be or what you wish they were. Nobody knows your made up rules except you && I bet your rules change even on you once you start getting beat by some other tactic. Learn to play the real game.
My close friend, David Sirlin, has written four popular articles on this
I'm no expert... hope to become one someday... but I've worked on a console fighting game (Celebrity Deathmatch which should be available in two weeks... it's always two weeks away;P ) && I am a fighting-game afficionado.
I disagree with you. Animation systems are not the heart of the problem when developing online twitch games. It may seem like a good answer to cut animation duration in the name of synchronization but this is infuriating to experience. You grow accustomed to precisely how long it takes to perform animations, jumps, movements... && disturbing these to compensate for lag would only appease button-mashers who don't even notice 56k lag anyway.
I would say the heart of the problem goes up the design chain of responsibility. Online play must be designed in! This may seem obvious but think of how many games are in development right now && are going to have online play bolted on midway (or 11th hour) into development. Designers, producers, publishers, && the platform company (Sony,Nin,MS) must agree on this issue early while the game design is being formulated. Sony came back to Celebrity Deathmatch as we were supposed to be entering beta saying they wouldn't approve it unless we incorporated online multiplayer. I understand why they wanted that && would try to require it (hell, I would have loved good online options too)... but adding something fundamental to the core of a game engine which is over 2 years into development as it readies for release is evil && cruel. So the heart of the problem is the decision makers who are not forthcoming about including online play (or any other fundamental feature) into the early design phases of development.
The next problem is most definitely lag! Lag is not a whipping boy or scapegoat for no reason. Competitive (primarily head-to-head) games have been enjoyed in arcades && living rooms for over a decade with sub-frame (less than 1/60th-of-a-second) latency. Predictability works in FPS && RTS because there can be momentum, trajectory, fudge-factor in the game model... but games which depend on exacting execution where animation activation begins the same frame of the input cannot be easily messed with. The game would feel squishy to discerning players if single-player animations shrank or stretched for lag compensation. This would give hiccups in latency the power to permit crazy bogus things to happen.
Is there hope? Yes. Uncongested internet routes can support sub-frame latency. As latency (ping times are what matter... how long it takes any data to get to the server && back... as opposed to throughput which is how much data can be sent continuously) improves through adoption of better connections, equipment, protocols, etc., sub-frame latency will become reliably available at least between a time zone or two (although the requirements to cross oceans approaches light speed which may never be feasible).
Lag is a real problem which can be solved over time (at least within your own country). I can't imagine future games needing to be more accurate time-wise than a frame to be fun but it is possible. Nearly every modern fighting game has JustFrames (JF) which require frame precision on input. Soul Calibur II, Guilty Gear XX, Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution, Tekken 4, etc. all do. With practice, people can press the right buttons on exact 60ths. These abilities can be integral to fighting strategy so fudging animations would disturb this performance precision && would be unacceptable at high levels of serious play (ie. competitions). Online gaming likely has a bright future but I find the social atmosphere && camaraderie of an arcade or even competitive living room more fun. In my opinion, either hanging out && playing casually
I have worked in the commercial game industry whenever possible (which has thankfully included several high-profile titles) && have observed that there are regularly 3 or 4 times as many artists (modelers, animators, texture artists, etc.) as programmers on any given project.
Clearly myriad programmers are already onboard with the benefits / ideals of Open Source && Free Software... many of us run GNU/Linux wherever we can. So the answer is this: We need to develop Free Software art tools that are so powerful && expressive that commercial artists take note && even prefer using them. I'm not persuing this course right now but might someday be interested in coding on such an ambitious project as could compete with 3DSMax or Maya.
The cool part is that many programmers are remarkably artistic if they care to be. If we can realize powerful texture, model, level, animation, etc. creation tools which utilize fully open data formats, script systems, yada yada... then even the placeholder art we make will be that much better. Imagine if a good portion of an art-tool's user-base fully understood the entire open scripting system... how to write plug-ins or other exporters whenever useful. I imagine SDL would be a good candidate for the foundation of this dream.
We could collectively develop huge free asset repositories where any FreeSoftware game could draw textures, models, brushes, characters, sound effects, music, fonts, etc. from. There is a beautiful future for FreeSoftware GNU Games once the standard formats are in place && artistry tools begin to compete with commercial offerings. I'm anxious to participate, appreciate, && benefit from such a fun, creative, collaborative potential future.
So to sum up: I think the art problem can be solved by the coders if we put our minds to flexible engines, standard data formats, && powerful tools. TTFN.
sorry if this bursts your bubble or something but...
Capcom is in the business of making money by selling video games.
Capcom had the most impressive showing at E3 this year with probably 7 new titles that are poised to be great fun. Only Nintendo could be reasonably argued to be better. This is quite normal. The unfortunate part is that Capcom is not making a new fighting game (that anyone knows is more than rumor). Gamers are being desensitized to think that movies or fighting a bunch of AI baddies while struggling with right-analog-stick-controlled-cameras is good game play. It's true that some games have great story or great single-player challenges or both... but few people internalize the profoundly different fun that is had when games are directly competitive && social. Even the smartest, most challenging AI (ps. I am employed as an AI programmer at this moment) is hardly compelling when compared with competing against another person with similar skill. In sports games, racing, RTS, FPS, && (my favorite) fighting... it is fun because it is social. Even geeks need friends, physical interaction, honed dexterity, practice strategizing, etc.. Competitive games are exciting.
Many people don't know, couldn't understand, wouldn't care by thinking that Def Jam Vendetta / Mortal Kombat / Killer Instinct / Dead or Alive games have good fighting systems. I know that it's extremely difficult to create a good fighting game especially due to the horrendous management && communication skills of many in power at game companies but I'm just referring to the end products from a hardcore gamer's standpoint. Many games may have been created efficiently but were designed poorly or were designed well but coded badly. The result is a game which cannot survive serious competition (which includes the titles I just mentioned as well as Celebrity Deathmatch which I'm working on now). If you don't play seriously (ie. you don't play to win... rather you play to veg out, be a button masher, don't care to get better) then those games may be fine for you since you are not serious... you are bored && listless. If, however, you do care to get good or great at the things you do, you need competition. Intense competition can only exist for games designed && implemented well enough to support it. The goal of games is to be good... which is usually not innovative. They've refined && iterated. Just because many games have "vs" in the title does not mean they even have similar game play (which may have eluded you since you probably haven't played them). Those games are good because they have actual game play. They are not all the same game. Most of the similarities are a good thing. The bad thing is that Capcom does not think fighting games have much of a future that will impact their bottom line. I hope gamers remember that games aren't supposed to be stupid. There is no greater competitive fighting challenge I've found (except for Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in the real world) than learning the depths of a fighting game in arcades. It is also fun to play against friends at home but most people cannot fathom how much higher the bar in competitive arcades has been raised above the local big-fish guys who dominate friends in living rooms. I don't mean to rag on competing seriously with friends in local circles though. That camaraderie can come from the same source but seeking out other gamers or attending arcade competitions is where you can begin to appreciate how much you stand to improve.
Capcom was smart to capitalize on basically their single-handed invention / popularization of the fighting game genre with SF2. Since then, Capcom fighting games have done crazy fscking stuff. Tekken has grown as a story? wtf! Fighting games are about fighting. Story is token as it should be. You should make your own story as your epic battles play out with your friends / acquaintances / strangers / enemies (all four but particularly last tw
ShoRyuKen.com's upcoming Evolution2002 Internation
on
Bang The Machine
·
· Score: 4, Informative
SRK is putting on an International Tournament! Check out http://evolution.shoryuken.com/
The best fighters from every continent are coming to LA this summer to battle. My friend (Sirlin) did a lot of the narration for Bang The Machine && we're working to make Evol2k2 great this year (it was called B5 last year). Please show up to compete or spectate. TTFN.
e v o l u t i o n International Fighting Game Championships
August 9 - 11:: UCLA Ackerman Union
This year, SRK's national leaves the warm nest of Folsom, CA., to take the action downtown. It's Los Angeles, CA, and the going has never been rougher. Last year's event showed that the only guarantee is that there ARE no guarantees in these events. With a powered-up Japanese contingent and new faces from around the world, this will be the premier event of the North American calendar. From rickshaw to junk, from the junk to a trunk, from your moped to MOPAR, find a way to get there. Start planning NOW to catch all the action and take your place alongside the true world warriors.
This is where the legends are born. Old-school? New-school? Doesn't t matter. It's time to put the hype down, and your fists up. Because Evolution is all about the basics: Fight. Survive. Win.
It seems that way too many posters are being pessimistic about.ogg's opportunity. If most people here are geeks who agree with freedom && openness, we should support.ogg even if it's chances of widespread acceptance are nil (which they're obviously not even bad at all). It's the principle. Let us support free formats as much as possible. It is good for free && open software users worldwide. Please don't bag on it just because.mp3 was first. If.ogg is better (for freedom or quality or size or all of the above) then embrace it as much as you are capable. Compare if you care about quality or size or both. Talk about the freedom. Most of us geeks are totally respected by our families && non-puter-nerd friends for our technical opinions. If we believe in ideals, in human (aka consumer) freedom, && purchasing decisions && encoding decisions etc. make a difference, people around us will take note. Don't leave "good enough" alone! Please.
Maybe the name doesn't "flow" or "roll" quite like.mp3... maybe it sounds too geeky or whatever. Maybe it can be renamed to something goofy like.goo which is similar, easily pronouncable, && actually conjures an image. A cute little booger mascot or something =). Anyways, that's not a big deal. The numerous merits are far more crucial (AFAICT).
Regarding the killer app, it's very simple: First the library needs to be finalized && stabilize. Then gnutella/freenet/gnapster/aimster etc. just need to be as easy as napster was for Joe to use. If ripping to Vorbis can be easily incorporated into the client, it will take off. It's better in crucial ways. You all already know. The best is that once it's decent, it cannot even be slowed. Fraunhoffer could stifle the stagnating.mp3 format's usage with more prohibitive licensing restrictions at any time. Vorbis is not susceptible like this. Once tons of coders have the source to a stable Vorbis encoder on their puters, the project cannot be stopped. It's a beautiful example of the free software future blooming. Please don't transcode (or whatever it's called) directly from.mp3 over to.ogg but re-rip straight && clean. Always rip the highest quality you have space for unless you're cramming for a portable (which won't be an issue for.ogg until some firmware upgrades come out [soon]). Vorbis can overtake.mp3 but geeks need to appreciate it's value && basically bring it down off the mountain to our families && friends && in articles && on forums. It is better. Help it to win so that we can have a growable free music format forever. If you love or even just kinda like free or open software, please don't say ".mp3s have too much clout" or "the difference is negligible". These aren't true. It matters.
I think that there are enough people out there who absolutely hate reading for long periods of time from a computer screen. Its hard on the eyes for one thing.
It doesn't have to be. The biggest problem with reading for long periods of time on a monitor is that most people can't come to terms with the idea that the electron-beaming, glaring, radiating monitor is NOT paper. The vast majority of interfaces (from Operating Systems, websites, email programs, games, etc.) assume that dark text on a bright background is the way people were meant to read (just like paper).
Well human eyes are good at focusing ON light rather than the absence of it. When the monitor is radiating, if your whole screen is a deep color (ie. nearly black) && all your text is even half of standard maximum intensity, it will be completely visible, legible, && far more comfortable to read for extended (nearly indefinite?) periods. I used to constantly moan about this glaring problem, pun intended, but then I lerned Perl && routed around it. Check here for a prime example.
If some people prefer dark on white, I can live with that, but don't enforce (assume) dark text. Configurability is the name of the game. TTFN.
I'm confident that nearly every/daughter can appreciate the myriad advantages of exhaustive searchability of any datafied text (&& crossreferenceability, etc.) however, Shabbat is a particularly special case.
Shabbat (Shabbos/Sabbath) is an eternal rememberance of G-d's creation of the werld. It is a day set apart every week to remember the holiness of the 7th day as G-d has commanded His people to do. As such, things are supposed to be done simpler but different than the (relatively) mundane remainder of each week. A good example might be toilet paper. Obviously the perforations into each square are convenient && arguably the "right way" (|| most efficient way) to separate an appropriate section for rectal stool cleansing... but on Sabbath, it is better to tear the paper in-between the perforations in order to purposefully, consciously, && (ultimately) eternally acknowledge that it is an entirely special day. A believing Jew cannot leave her Deity outside of anything (including the bathroom) on Shabbat.
So electronic books may soon have wonderful advantages over older powerless (as in electricity) media && even an electronic study of the Torah could be particularly convenient, but the tree-based tomes of Hebrew wisdom shall remain for they have been && will be needed every week forever.
I hope that clarifies a bit. I'd be glad to engage in further intelligent discourse (which may be asking unrealistically much from/.) as Judaism is a very personal fascination of mine. I hope to convert in the near future (once I can readily move into an observant neighborhood && keep kosher more strictly etc.) TTFN && Shalom.
-PipTigger
p.s. If you've been too lazy to lookup || ask about werds in the past, you're likely to forsake even simpler mechanisms. Knowledge must be sought even if it is more accessible (easier to find) than it has been.
...which means that it probably is! I don't know about my fellow/daughters but the whole hype of.NET seems like a snare. All the benefits of what Java promised && couldn't deliver in an enticing open standard??? This is MS we're talking about here. This seems quite likely to be a masterful ploy to slurp up Sun && most of the GNU/Linux/BSD threat in one fell swoop. If the whole werld can be unified under the (MS authored).NET architecture, it can be cinched up at the right moment... even if it has been open for a long time.
If it becomes as ubiquitous as tcp/ip or html, it may be nearly impossible to fork away from MS's new platform for "innovation" (term used cynically). I imagine it's a gamble. Will geeks of the werld be able to dodge MS's bullets && pry this new gun away from this behemoth of a software-industry-by-itself && point said weapon in a globally beneficial direction should it's creator decide to turn the barrel against the standard's developers && supporters? [Please excuse me if that sounded Katzey. At least I didn't mention Colum... oops! =) ] I'm not sure. This is a big red flag to me. Maybe DirecTV outsmarted many right before the big game... maybe geeks werldwide aren't dumber than MS strategic planners && devious technology usurpers...
Hey, I want global open wonderful magical powerful standards as much as the next nerd but I don't want to unwittingly end up ultimately in MS's pocket again. The ONLY thing that's ever tied me to MS was gamez! Linux is increasingly viable as an excellent gaming platform and (as a coder) I love the ability to tweak anything about my tools or interface or preferences or whatever. It's still a joy to dive into neat tools just to see how they do things to manipulate my computer in ways I've taken for granted && never had access to until now. I don't know if MS can have a secret weapon or a plan to regain control of the computing werld (&& thus the future) but this sure seems to be it if they do. Please be vigilant fellow nerds. It is the price of freedom. Watch this fox like a hawk. TTFN.
-PipTigger
p.s. Initiate Nail Removal Immediately!
I don't know you Jon but I doubt you understand code. I'm not trying to be an asshole or anything but this issue is relatively simple: People who haven't slaved over code have no place in "Software Engineering" discussions!
I know that everyone uses software && I'm sure it bothers you that you have to reboot constantly because of a changed network name || hardware configuration && you see blue screens. I understand that it is bothersome to lose unsaved documents... however, non-coders (&& to an extent even casual coders) clamoring to bring about "sound engineering principles" to software design && construction are not helping anything. You couldn't understand what coding is like... what being buried in code is like... what getting vertigo from falling into a screen of code is like. Let me tell you that it's not like building a bridge. Can you understand that? It's not like designing a house. It's not like repairing a car. Your antiquated analogies are like sand in the vaseline.
There are also very logical reasons why a CS || IT || CE degree can be completely worthless. Your "standing offer" proves it's own foolishness: You don't have hobbyist architects || surgeons || engineers because they necessarily lack the skills to perform the position's responsibilities professionally!
Coding on the other hand can be lerned by a janitor teaching herself at home every night for free. She can rapidly become proficient enough to be indistinguishable from any programmer with a CS degree because there is very little hidden programming knowledge. If she can read (&& she's willing to be utterly geeky) then she can lern to hack Perl. There are cadavers everywhere to train on (so to speak) which you won't get arrested for cutting up && experimenting && lerning on.
Software development is not classifiable yet because it is not like anything created (|| engineered) which we've had to deal with on a large scale before. First of all, software is soft! It changes after it's deployed. It changes constantly. Why is that (you might ask)? Well the ultimate purpose of a particular software project is rarely (if ever) accurately foreseen. This means that you must design something without knowing what it will be (admittedly there is a spectrum of haziness). When a civil engineer approaches say an overpass, she already knows the exact friction coefficient of concrete, the tensile strength of rebar, the average speed a car will be going which determines the acceptable range the turn can bank, etc. etc. This stuff is rigorous because it is constant. It is successful because it is universally applicable. Here's a good example: All buildings need a stable foundation. What can be said of all software like this? All software needs an interface? GUI || CLI? Neither! The only things common to all software are code && coders!
Now all buildings do have components && builders but they all obey other rules too. Physical properties && characteristics of being constructed in real space. Software isn't like that tangible stuff. It's actually imaginary. The way you design a language compiler may have absolutely nothing in common with the design of an email client even if done by the same designer so why do people assume that there must be rules that could be followed to make all code better? It's because they don't know what coding is like. Yeah you can learn design principles && apply them sometimes. They even are very helpful sometimes but there aren't answers! There's no right way to design code. There's no right way to write code. It is an oddity of the digital era that the world is unprepared to accept the volatility of software. Software can be dependable && stable. The process to making it so has never been for any non-trivial task.
You trust in top-tier universities because they make hoops for people to jump through? Well they've been reliable in the past right? Well they do research so they should know better than others right? I know several excellent coders who lost interest in college because of the misguided "specification" && militant enforcement of "accepted software engineering principles" which were obviously asinine. Graduates don't necessarily know how to solve programming problems any better than anyone else (especially if the only problems they can solve are the ones that were taught). Someone who likes to do it will do it much better.
You ask how to judge someone's skills... simple: run what they've done. I'm done. TTFN.
how it's not possible to place another single character, "2", where the year is represented in that date as a single character "1".
I would assume that the month is the "01" since that field will be going to "10" in decimal far sooner than we'll need two characters to correctly represent the unique year. What the hell are you talking about?
Is it so hard to understand? Nerds are competitive too. Just because we don't wear football helmets (typically) doesn't mean we don't like to demonstrate superior understanding of technology. I really don't want to sound as retarded as Katz with this rant but it may be inevitable so please bear with me (if you can stand to).
The whole AlphaGeek syndrome is real. The problem is your analogy. CLI geeks don't generally rag on GUI users because they're light years apart. They don't compete. The "standard" GUI today exists on top of (and has even maimed) it's own CLI. It's devolved interaction to the point of brutish pointing && grunting. Now calculator users OTOH, particularly graphing calculator users preparing for... oh, say the AP Calculus test in a typical college-preparatory high... these are not typically dunder-head AOL'ers. These are users of competitive platforms (basically summarized as): HP vs. TI vs. Casio. These are geek users here so when a subset indeed possesses the "More Efficient" devices && is automagically elited by their knowledge of "How To Use It"... well it ceases to be just a "damn calculator" any longer. It is a defining facet of the multi-dimensional intellectualism commanded by the average nerd.
This may all be thoroughly foreign to you because you dated a cheerleader (who didn't have something about her like Mary) || you've actually never competed for anything in your entire life but these "damn calculators" are very personal and meaningful to a great many people && I am one of them. HewlettPackard's graphing calculator changed my life and has epitomized my love for obscure gadgetry. !since high school have I been as taken by a device... my PalmIII && Glock22C come close but I digress. I have met many friends because RPN was a common language. The feel of the keys on my 48GX... my engraved nameplate lovingly adhered to the backside. All the nights studying User && Sys RPL. The first machine code I ever wrote was for that little Saturn proc. I wrote a touch-typing program (palms overlayed) so that I could code faster while sitting in class, Street Fighter II, Rubik's cube, a piano program, 2-player Tetris (over Infrared)... this machine captured me. It captivated me && the fact that 99% of my classmates have always owned TI || Casio's inferior offerings has always bolstered a staunch pride && appreciation for the wonderful tool itself but also for the company that made it great.
The "X" (in 48GX) was for eXpandable because it has two slots for flash memory upgrades... This device came out some 7 years ago for goodness sakes! It is a magnet for fellow participants and companions on the quest for incredibly functional, powerful, dependable, usable, && alterable computational tools. Now I know I'm crazy to most people. Most people don't solve real Rubik's cubes in less than 2 minutes && wouldn't even care to if they could. Even most nerds don't want to understand registers && stacks && instruction queues, etc. but those who do... well let me just say that I hope we never "get over [our]selves" because this rabid love for that which seems ridiculous && dorky to most people is what drives our determination to lose sleep over software && gadgetry && even digital copyright issues. I am indebted forever to HewlettPackard && I am verily grateful to Mr. Bill Hewlett (may he truly rest peacefully) for the enrichment && confidence he has (indirectly) empowered me with.
I'm sorry if you don't choose to use the best tools available to you but you're not alone so you can't be totally wrong. I know this is so much more 'flamebait' than 'interesting' or anything else but it (obviously) struck a chord in me && sometimes it's important to confrontationally reject misplaced superiority (eg. How can you sniff at somebody who doesn't do the "real" or "right" thing like you. I would never do that!). I guess I've said my shalom. TTFN.
-*BBC*PipTigger p.s. Has it occurred to anyone that moderators have been receiving a lot of instruction from the comment contents themselves lately (eg. 'Don't mark this as a "troll" because...'). I wonder how effective that is? The art of comment writing with the goal of eliciting appreciable moderation... instead of even caring about communication with the larger (ie. non-moderating) audience... hmmm...
Slashdot Mirror
I'm contemplating using a standard paintball gun for that very situation. Maybe a water-balloon launcher would be treated less harshly by the police when that very cell phone is brought to bear on me in retaliation. The paint would be a good visible sign to other drivers though too and would probably make a good loud noise inside the car when it strikes the vehicle's body panel or a window. I think it should be totally legal to have paintball wars on freeways. I bet drivers would pay more attention and little real harm would be done (especially when compared with zombie drivers or shooting metal bullets).
-Pip
Whiners and graffiti elitists and ghetto wannabes suck more than corporate (i.e., consentual) graffiti. The businesses agreed to host advertisements on their walls. Whether it was spray cans or posters portraying the message, Sony is just spending its advertising dollars. As much as you hate to admit it, ballerz and poserz and playaz and playa-hataz all want Sony's PSP. They all already have PS2's and talk shit about how badass they are at Madden or Soul Calibur or Gran Turismo and they're all eager to buy PS3 next year.
/. group-think (or knee-jerk) would stop demonizing entire huge companies for admittedly noteworthy poor decisions made by some middle managers... especially because the decisions are highly unlikely to even have an adverse effect directly on the person posting how much they hate X. Hardly anybody here really got rooted or suffered a breakdown due to graffiti. I agree it's crappy some music CD's had rootkits on them. It does appear some Sony music executives (just like all other major recording industry executives) are willing to bend or break laws to attempt to put the MP3 cat back in the bag. That doesn't mean PlayStation sucks. Similarly, PlayStations are sweet gaming machines even if some advertising is cheesy or campy or tries too hard to be cool. Microsoft's J Allard is all about pandering to the "Remix Generation" with custom skins and themes and tunes and configs and how ultra-hip the "HD Era" is. What an astonishing surprise it is that cutting-edge hardware is advertised as the coolest stuff ever!
I can understand if you were crying because Sony defaced your personal property illegally but retards like you don't deserve the floor just because you were "deceived" by Sony's attempt at cool advertising. Sony is a cool company that makes lots of cool products. It's a huge company with divisions all over the planet doing tons of different things. All of Sony does not suck because one advertising campaign offended some weakling's fragile sensibilities. Similarly, Sony (as a whole) does not suck just because a tiny portion of the company decided to put rootkit-laden copy-protection on some audio CD's. Maybe Microsoft is more evil than good. Maybe Sony is too. Even still, there could be quite a bit of good therein considering their similar enormity.
I wish more of the
So to all the Sony haters using this as more ammo: Why don't you first think a little about what matters before whining about what doesn't? PSP is a fscking cool gaming device. Sony can (and should) spend their advertising dollars how they want to and private businesses that want to host them should similarly do what's in their interest. How are your sports heroes telling you what products to buy any different?
-Pip
...since you proudly proclaim your own systematic use/abuse (what's the difference?) of the mod and metamod system in your sig.
-Pip
-- I don't systematically moderate down people who describe their uses/abuses of the mod and metamod system in their sigs... but I am inclined to reply to their posts in an attempt to engage their logic for doing so. --
I've watched G4 whenever I could stand to for over a year. The channel consistently deteriorates with few spikes of hope for improvement.
Victor Lucas is a gem (on Judgement Day and Electric Playground [the only two G4 shows I TiVo]). He carries the network in my opinion. He has obviously played (and beaten) tons of games throughout his life. He understands compelling gameplay and the trappings of genres. He is occassionally cynical and witty but the vivid contrast with Tommy Tallarico's flamboyance is grating. Tommy just sets himself up for both blatant and subtle ridicule. I don't mean to idolize Lucas or be some lame fanboy but my only fault with him is he's consistently too generous with his scores for crappy games. Victor finds and focuses on the best parts of the worst games so his typical spectrum of rating scores rarely diverges from something between 6 and 9. When he recommends a game because of its gameplay though (even if I've never heard of it), I've heeded his advice and not yet been disappointed. Ikaruga is the best example.
I guess it makes for good contrast and conflict but Tommy in particular (and Julie, Jade etc. to a lesser extent) comes off as a gaming retard compared to Victor. I give Tommy the benefit of the doubt that he's probably a cool guy to hang out with who plays lots of games and has fun cocaine parties with strippers and enjoys life. He enthuses on about hot virtual game chicks and games being good because of breasts first (constantly making base sex and masturbation puns). His secondary focus is audio (as he has been a sound designer on many good games). I guess his tertiary focus is simplistic gameplay. I can understand all of those but I don't respect them as appropriate priorities from a reviewer who should have integrity to be intelligent, consistent, and critical in his evaluations and advice.
I guess I feel Victor is a connoisseur of video games (and a respectable authority on solid gameplay) while Tommy is an infantile moron who is more excited by shiny things and splashy noises than substance. Tommy regularly says games are no fun because he couldn't be bothered to learn their most basic play controls or mechanics. He gives great games poor scores because of bad sound effects or voice-overs. I don't respect or value his opinion on games.
G4TV.Com was a decent show. Tina Wood and Laura Foy are obviously capable gamers and even though they would often rely on tedious and campy sketches to pepper their show with flat humor, they at least had some well reasoned arguments about the relative strengths and merits of relevant game titles and platforms.
Icons has a few treasures. Some of the history of the game industries that have developed around the world is fascinating and even poignant as it relates to present-day industry events. Usually the show is merely interesting but barely relevant to anything current.
Some of the best segments G4 has ever aired were something I think they called "Screenshots". There were only a handful of them but they were some of the greatest game TV I have ever seen. There's one of a guy commentating over the video of his record time completing Tomb Raider's training challenge. He talks about inspiration from Bruce Lee and preparation. It is a remarkable performance and should be thoroughly impressive to anyone who's ever run that course. An even better one is of a guy who plays 18-Wheeler's Parking Challenge Number 5 about 8 hours a day. Those videos are amazing. The geeks who performed them and their explanations are awesome. I don't remember any more off-hand but those segments were great.
G4 should show a million exhibitions of the very best gameplay performances. Reviewers should be critical thinkers. They should not be struggling actors who care more about some movie debut's red-carpet event than E3. Don't show retarded rookie gameplay. Don't show airheads. There are many intelligent and talented gamers out there. Their voices would be totally interesting. Be more like
Hello Mr. Self-Described Non-Troll,
Have you heard of texture-mapped three-dimensional graphics where millions of polygons are rendered at 30 frames-per-second? How about an analog control stick, a direction-pad && familiar action buttons? PDA's && cellular phones are garbage for games. Sure, you can make do if they're all you've got or you barely play anyway. If, however, you are a gamer that's anything beyond casual, PSP is the atom-bomb! Do you see it personally now?
-Pip
As someone else pointed out, there need not be significant overlap between the groups of SlashDotters who say infringing GPL == bad && infringing (RI|MP)AA == okay... but let's assume that there is sufficient overlap that we can generalize && say there is one group regularly putting forth both of those seemingly contradictory memes... since I argue from the union of these sets myself on occassion. =)
The unifying issue is free exchange of data (remember that code is data too). The GPL (copyleft) takes the laws && system that enforces monopolies on copy rights && subverts it. So freely exchanging code via GPL'd Free Software is done purposefully to remain free to use && modify... permanently. Violating this means closing it up && hiding the source && marketing it as a commercial product illegitimately... while violating music/movie copyrights means sharing them freely.
There is no contradiction in thinking that data (&& code) are ideas by nature... chunks of thought && culture && society... which should be freely copied && shared && improved upon by all of humanity. HTH.
-Pip
I recently was facing an upgrade dilemma. Get two new or used flat-panels or CRTs? After evaluating all four options, I decided to try buying two Dell 21" P1110 Trinitron CRTs from AccurateIT.Com for $179 each... figuring they're refurbished so maybe only one will work well but at least these monitors have two regular video inputs each && can handle 2048x1536 no prob. Even a single refurbished equivalent quality flat-panel would be significantly more expensive than both those CRTs.
They came well packaged with no visible damage to the housing && they both have performed indistinguishably from a new monitor for like a month now. Great refresh rates, contrast, multiple resolutions without scaling, multiple inputs... yeah they're heavy or whatever but it's not like I lift them or move them every day && I have plenty of desk space so I'm totally happy with them. I'd recommend other people try this route since it worked out so well for me.
I got interested in Hold'Em several months ago. My natural inclination was to read books && write code. The result was this:
http://Search.CPAN.Org/~pip/Games-Cards-Poker-1.2. 46QD4ax/Poker.pm
I started calculating situational odds... exhausting some of the combinatorics. I wanted to do this as Free Software so that other GNU/Linux geeks could be helped to calc odds && make bots too. I figured I'd be able to make a simple CGI or ptk interface to the data which would be natural to use while playing online.
But then I actually broke the ice && started playing. I played against friends a bunch of times && sat down at a nearby casino table once. I quickly realized that it's fscking boring to me. Even if I know a lot already && have an aptitude to learn how to become great... all the time I'd have to spend to weather the storms... all the time I'd have to just sit there "playing" would not be fun for me. I'd rather play PS2 or code or read.
So, in my case, the computational challenge was fun && I hope my code can benefit others (let me know if you'd like additions to Poker.pm or if you'd like my CGI or ptk code... as I'd be glad to share it under GPL) but the time investment to actually make money doesn't seem worth it since I don't like the activity. I don't get paid all that much but I work on a job I love. Even if I could make a bit more playing Hold'Em, so far, I'd rather not.
On another interesting note: There's been an emergent topic in this thread which I find perpetually interesting. Are programmers (or middle-class people in general) generally smarter than others, the majority, the masses, the lower-class? It seems to me that we know we are. We read more, study more, learn more, analyze, criticize, calculate, etc. because we constantly need to solve new && different problems. We're more on our toes... we're more savvy... progressive. We often identify with the intelligent Nipponese (through video games, anime, gadgets, sport bikes, sushi, manga, etc.) more than the bumbling drunken Mtv Madden war-minded pro-violence repressed-sex consumer sheeple attitude that is so prevalent around us.
Maybe it is haughty. Maybe our responsibility is to our country && the world. We should strive to educate && illuminate our fellow United Statesians (apologies to all non-USians but I suffer as /. does from US-centricity because it is where I live && what I primarily know... shit && because we constantly reach all over && impact the whole rest of the world more than any other country). Some of our "intelligence" is of course rote knowledge like C++ object syntax or underlying problem-solving principles like design patterns or search/sort algorithms but people with a propensity for such things spend time cultivating those skills at the expense of others. So while we know how to map sometimes devastatingly enormous && complex spaghetti code into our minds completely, others are social virtuosos. They can be much better managers or salespeople etc. because they are good at appearing to be your friend. They're not so systematic && analytical... they have intuition about feelings, emotions, underlying motivations... they can encourage you to work hard for something you hardly care about or believe in... maybe they believe themselves if not just for a bigger paycheck. They are (generally) more adept than coders at human interaction / manipulation. Salespeople can convince customers that they need to buy products they hardly need for way more than they're worth with some crazy high interest loan that more than doubles the end cost.
So who's smarter could be a matter of perspective. Geeks with few social skills might not relate well to each other or society because their affinity is for powerful &&/or optimized &&/or clever
If you look in the first rows of several of the stats, you'll see >=X, <Y which suggests all rows include the bottom number && exclude the top one. HTH.
-Pip
I didn't read it that way but you have a much more sensible interpretation (albeit by adding a word that wasn't there). Regardless, interleaving scan lines is a lot less likely to have a load balancing problem than separating top && bottom halves of your resultant frame buffer. SLI does sacrifice the ability to load balance but interleaving is not likely to result in one card waiting on the other with any regularity so the complaint still doesn't make much sense.
-Pip
What the hell is up with this Brian Joyce guy?!?
Of course any "hardcore gamer" knows about the history of their "patents pending technology" as their Director of Marketing calls it. Too bad he doesn't.
In the article, this guy says: "SLI stood for Scan Line interface where each card drew every other line of the frame and my understanding was that the major challenge was to keep the image in sync. If one line's longer than another, then tearing, artifacts, and keeping the two cards in sync was a real issue. The benefits of doing it half and half is we can take advantage of the load balancing and the synchronization challenge can be overcome."
Alright... I'm sure the technology they've developed over there is some hot fscking shit. I'm sure they have a top R&D team that knows what they're doing && this custom motherboard + pre-driver thing is a good idea. Once developed fully, it could let you keep adding as many video cards as your case can hold, even potentially from different manufacturers, to improve total rendering capacity. That is great. Alienware has some very talented people to solve all the associated problems with accomplishing this. I respect their achievement.
That said, what the hell do they have a Director of Marketing for who doesn't know what he's talking about? He gets the SLI acronym wrong. How the fsck could one scan line be longer than the other resulting in tearing or cards getting out-of-sync? Come on! I know he's not a technical guy but then he should just stick to his hype buzzwords && patents && shit like that because he totally ruins Alienware's credibility when he shows no understanding of the most prominent attempt at this type of endeavor in the past. At least he said "my understanding" in there but he should've said "I don't know or understand the history so I'll just talk about what I do know."
Although I hold Alienware in high regard for making really fast gaming computers (that are arguably worth the premium price if you can't be bothered to build your own), I lose substantial respect for them when they allow their cool new technology to be represented by a marketing turd who couldn't be bothered to understand the history of what his company has done or what he's talking about. Buy a clue if you care to succeed. I want to like Alienware... I really do. TTFN.
-Pip
Well of course anonymous online gaming is a different beast than fighting or tennis games in an arcade or living room because of the face-to-face element.
The answer is you don't distinguish between aimbots && spawn camping. They are both physical possibilities. Neither violates the rules of the game. If you go to a LAN party though or a big FPS competition... well you have face-to-face again && they'd be able to enforce a "no aimbots" rule.
Maybe the answer often boils down to the community standards but if that community is not engaged in regular competition, their opinion is worthless since the game is a competitive one which means there is a winner. If everyone agrees that something about a game is so good (namely that nothing but this tactic wins tournaments repeatedly) that the whole rest of the game would be better off if this thing were banned, then it is reasonable to consider it. That doesn't mean it's easy to enforce such bans though which is another major factor.
Sure... the rules of real sports change to say some new thing is unfair && will be penalized going forward (or some old off-limits tactic is now legal && should be abused). The rules of video games are not just what people say they are. The nature of game rules is different. Sometimes there are bugs or emergent situations the designers never envisioned yet they are totally reasonable to perform in the game. It's ok for "rules" of video games to be amended by the community if that community constitutes the majority of competitive players.
There are a lot of uninformed highly-rated posts already so hopefully I can shed some light.
Regarding shooting Pete Sampras to win in tennis: You wouldn't win the match! That's not legal within the limits of the game. Spawn camping is legal in several FPS games. Maybe the games were designed so poorly that this is the best tactic. If that's the case, you should do it better than your opponent if you want to win. If that means the game is not "fun" anymore, then play a better game. Possible within the rules of a game by definition DOES mean allowable (including exploiting bugs). Competitive games are about winning within the rules of the game... if you make up your own rules about honor, you are playing a different game that you've made up && you have no basis in reality or even agreeable reason. Scrubs cry "unfair!" but they just need an excuse to soften the blow that they can't defeat a simple tactic or that their game does not stand up well to serious competition. Do you want to win or whine?
Regarding Soul Calibur II requiring very little skill: Think again. Soul Calibur II was designed to have a more gradual learning curve than most other fighters on purpose to be easy to pick up but don't kid yourself in thinking your "beginner attacks" could in any dreamworld be "more powerful than any advanced player's most complex combo attack". You are way off base. If this is your opinion, I know I could defeat you 63/0 with one hand. Enter a competition to test your theory rather than replying with some anecdotal evidence about your living room experiences.
Regarding "cheese" practitioners having the capacities of "script kiddies": What do you say to someone who wins tournaments against the best players in the world with your so-called "cheese"? That they have no skill? They may have the best execution skill of anyone on the planet && also the best understanding of the game to know the greatest tactic (which could be a simple one). You're right that a simple tactic is often easily defeated so anyone wishing to win should figure it out but just because a tactic seems simple doesn't mean it's not the best thing (which you should do too && do better if you want to win).
Regarding fighting a "cheeser" isn't going to increase your skill in the least: Of course it will increase your skill if you constantly experiment with all the tools (moves) at your disposal in order to find the best counter. In Soul Calibur II particularly, almost every move in the game (including throw attempts) can be parried (called Guard Impact in SC2 terminology) which was designed in as a balancing feature. If you know when someone will attack next, you have the advantage. Studying even a simple tactic in order to either emulate or defeat it does make you a better player. You explore areas of the game you might not have needed to otherwise. Isn't this obvious?
Regarding "riding a move or two all the way to victory" as the same thing as "exploiting flaws in games": If a game has a design flaw, then it is not a good game. Get over it. If there are moves in a game that are arguably the best tactics, you will learn, practice, && execute them consistently if you want to win. Your fake morality about some arbitrary realism element in FPS (players not getting tired from jumping) is foolish. Jumping is a fair part of those games. If you think games should penalize jumpers with noticable fatigue, write such a game && play it. Otherwise, you're just making up your own weird rules that most reasonable people wouldn't even agree are right. Are you playing a game? What are the rules of THAT game? I'm not asking what you think the rules SHOULD be or what you wish they were. Nobody knows your made up rules except you && I bet your rules change even on you once you start getting beat by some other tactic. Learn to play the real game.
My close friend, David Sirlin, has written four popular articles on this
I'm no expert... hope to become one someday... but I've worked on a console fighting game (Celebrity Deathmatch which should be available in two weeks... it's always two weeks away ;P ) && I am a fighting-game afficionado.
I disagree with you. Animation systems are not the heart of the problem when developing online twitch games. It may seem like a good answer to cut animation duration in the name of synchronization but this is infuriating to experience. You grow accustomed to precisely how long it takes to perform animations, jumps, movements... && disturbing these to compensate for lag would only appease button-mashers who don't even notice 56k lag anyway.
I would say the heart of the problem goes up the design chain of responsibility. Online play must be designed in! This may seem obvious but think of how many games are in development right now && are going to have online play bolted on midway (or 11th hour) into development. Designers, producers, publishers, && the platform company (Sony,Nin,MS) must agree on this issue early while the game design is being formulated. Sony came back to Celebrity Deathmatch as we were supposed to be entering beta saying they wouldn't approve it unless we incorporated online multiplayer. I understand why they wanted that && would try to require it (hell, I would have loved good online options too)... but adding something fundamental to the core of a game engine which is over 2 years into development as it readies for release is evil && cruel. So the heart of the problem is the decision makers who are not forthcoming about including online play (or any other fundamental feature) into the early design phases of development.
The next problem is most definitely lag! Lag is not a whipping boy or scapegoat for no reason. Competitive (primarily head-to-head) games have been enjoyed in arcades && living rooms for over a decade with sub-frame (less than 1/60th-of-a-second) latency. Predictability works in FPS && RTS because there can be momentum, trajectory, fudge-factor in the game model... but games which depend on exacting execution where animation activation begins the same frame of the input cannot be easily messed with. The game would feel squishy to discerning players if single-player animations shrank or stretched for lag compensation. This would give hiccups in latency the power to permit crazy bogus things to happen.
Is there hope? Yes. Uncongested internet routes can support sub-frame latency. As latency (ping times are what matter... how long it takes any data to get to the server && back... as opposed to throughput which is how much data can be sent continuously) improves through adoption of better connections, equipment, protocols, etc., sub-frame latency will become reliably available at least between a time zone or two (although the requirements to cross oceans approaches light speed which may never be feasible).
Lag is a real problem which can be solved over time (at least within your own country). I can't imagine future games needing to be more accurate time-wise than a frame to be fun but it is possible. Nearly every modern fighting game has JustFrames (JF) which require frame precision on input. Soul Calibur II, Guilty Gear XX, Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution, Tekken 4, etc. all do. With practice, people can press the right buttons on exact 60ths. These abilities can be integral to fighting strategy so fudging animations would disturb this performance precision && would be unacceptable at high levels of serious play (ie. competitions). Online gaming likely has a bright future but I find the social atmosphere && camaraderie of an arcade or even competitive living room more fun. In my opinion, either hanging out && playing casually
I have worked in the commercial game industry whenever possible (which has thankfully included several high-profile titles) && have observed that there are regularly 3 or 4 times as many artists (modelers, animators, texture artists, etc.) as programmers on any given project.
Clearly myriad programmers are already onboard with the benefits / ideals of Open Source && Free Software... many of us run GNU/Linux wherever we can. So the answer is this: We need to develop Free Software art tools that are so powerful && expressive that commercial artists take note && even prefer using them. I'm not persuing this course right now but might someday be interested in coding on such an ambitious project as could compete with 3DSMax or Maya.
The cool part is that many programmers are remarkably artistic if they care to be. If we can realize powerful texture, model, level, animation, etc. creation tools which utilize fully open data formats, script systems, yada yada... then even the placeholder art we make will be that much better. Imagine if a good portion of an art-tool's user-base fully understood the entire open scripting system... how to write plug-ins or other exporters whenever useful. I imagine SDL would be a good candidate for the foundation of this dream.
We could collectively develop huge free asset repositories where any FreeSoftware game could draw textures, models, brushes, characters, sound effects, music, fonts, etc. from. There is a beautiful future for FreeSoftware GNU Games once the standard formats are in place && artistry tools begin to compete with commercial offerings. I'm anxious to participate, appreciate, && benefit from such a fun, creative, collaborative potential future.
So to sum up: I think the art problem can be solved by the coders if we put our minds to flexible engines, standard data formats, && powerful tools. TTFN.
-PipTigger
sorry if this bursts your bubble or something but...
... but few people internalize the profoundly different fun that is had when games are directly competitive && social. Even the smartest, most challenging AI (ps. I am employed as an AI programmer at this moment) is hardly compelling when compared with competing against another person with similar skill. In sports games, racing, RTS, FPS, && (my favorite) fighting... it is fun because it is social. Even geeks need friends, physical interaction, honed dexterity, practice strategizing, etc.. Competitive games are exciting.
Capcom is in the business of making money by selling video games.
Capcom had the most impressive showing at E3 this year with probably 7 new titles that are poised to be great fun. Only Nintendo could be reasonably argued to be better. This is quite normal. The unfortunate part is that Capcom is not making a new fighting game (that anyone knows is more than rumor). Gamers are being desensitized to think that movies or fighting a bunch of AI baddies while struggling with right-analog-stick-controlled-cameras is good game play. It's true that some games have great story or great single-player challenges or both
Many people don't know, couldn't understand, wouldn't care by thinking that Def Jam Vendetta / Mortal Kombat / Killer Instinct / Dead or Alive games have good fighting systems. I know that it's extremely difficult to create a good fighting game especially due to the horrendous management && communication skills of many in power at game companies but I'm just referring to the end products from a hardcore gamer's standpoint. Many games may have been created efficiently but were designed poorly or were designed well but coded badly. The result is a game which cannot survive serious competition (which includes the titles I just mentioned as well as Celebrity Deathmatch which I'm working on now). If you don't play seriously (ie. you don't play to win... rather you play to veg out, be a button masher, don't care to get better) then those games may be fine for you since you are not serious... you are bored && listless. If, however, you do care to get good or great at the things you do, you need competition. Intense competition can only exist for games designed && implemented well enough to support it. The goal of games is to be good... which is usually not innovative. They've refined && iterated. Just because many games have "vs" in the title does not mean they even have similar game play (which may have eluded you since you probably haven't played them). Those games are good because they have actual game play. They are not all the same game. Most of the similarities are a good thing. The bad thing is that Capcom does not think fighting games have much of a future that will impact their bottom line. I hope gamers remember that games aren't supposed to be stupid. There is no greater competitive fighting challenge I've found (except for Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in the real world) than learning the depths of a fighting game in arcades. It is also fun to play against friends at home but most people cannot fathom how much higher the bar in competitive arcades has been raised above the local big-fish guys who dominate friends in living rooms. I don't mean to rag on competing seriously with friends in local circles though. That camaraderie can come from the same source but seeking out other gamers or attending arcade competitions is where you can begin to appreciate how much you stand to improve.
Capcom was smart to capitalize on basically their single-handed invention / popularization of the fighting game genre with SF2. Since then, Capcom fighting games have done crazy fscking stuff. Tekken has grown as a story? wtf! Fighting games are about fighting. Story is token as it should be. You should make your own story as your epic battles play out with your friends / acquaintances / strangers / enemies (all four but particularly last tw
Sorry... Here's that link the right way: http://evolution.shoryuken.com/
TTFN.
-PipTigger
SRK is putting on an International Tournament! Check out http://evolution.shoryuken.com/
:: UCLA Ackerman Union
The best fighters from every continent are coming to LA this summer to battle. My friend (Sirlin) did a lot of the narration for Bang The Machine && we're working to make Evol2k2 great this year (it was called B5 last year). Please show up to compete or spectate. TTFN.
e v o l u t i o n
International Fighting Game Championships
August 9 - 11
This year, SRK's national leaves the warm nest of Folsom, CA., to take the action downtown. It's Los Angeles, CA, and the going has never been rougher. Last year's event showed that the only guarantee is that there ARE no guarantees in these events. With a powered-up Japanese contingent and new faces from around the world, this will be the premier event of the North American calendar. From rickshaw to junk, from the junk to a trunk, from your moped to MOPAR, find a way to get there. Start planning NOW to catch all the action and take your place alongside the true world warriors.
This is where the legends are born. Old-school? New-school? Doesn't t matter. It's time to put the hype down, and your fists up. Because Evolution is all about the basics: Fight. Survive. Win.
just some humble thoughts:
.ogg's opportunity. If most people here are geeks who agree with freedom && openness, we should support .ogg even if it's chances of widespread acceptance are nil (which they're obviously not even bad at all). It's the principle. Let us support free formats as much as possible. It is good for free && open software users worldwide. Please don't bag on it just because .mp3 was first. If .ogg is better (for freedom or quality or size or all of the above) then embrace it as much as you are capable. Compare if you care about quality or size or both. Talk about the freedom. Most of us geeks are totally respected by our families && non-puter-nerd friends for our technical opinions. If we believe in ideals, in human (aka consumer) freedom, && purchasing decisions && encoding decisions etc. make a difference, people around us will take note. Don't leave "good enough" alone! Please.
.mp3 ... maybe it sounds too geeky or whatever. Maybe it can be renamed to something goofy like .goo which is similar, easily pronouncable, && actually conjures an image. A cute little booger mascot or something =). Anyways, that's not a big deal. The numerous merits are far more crucial (AFAICT).
.mp3 format's usage with more prohibitive licensing restrictions at any time. Vorbis is not susceptible like this. Once tons of coders have the source to a stable Vorbis encoder on their puters, the project cannot be stopped. It's a beautiful example of the free software future blooming. Please don't transcode (or whatever it's called) directly from .mp3 over to .ogg but re-rip straight && clean. Always rip the highest quality you have space for unless you're cramming for a portable (which won't be an issue for .ogg until some firmware upgrades come out [soon]). Vorbis can overtake .mp3 but geeks need to appreciate it's value && basically bring it down off the mountain to our families && friends && in articles && on forums. It is better. Help it to win so that we can have a growable free music format forever. If you love or even just kinda like free or open software, please don't say ".mp3s have too much clout" or "the difference is negligible". These aren't true. It matters.
It seems that way too many posters are being pessimistic about
Maybe the name doesn't "flow" or "roll" quite like
Regarding the killer app, it's very simple: First the library needs to be finalized && stabilize. Then gnutella/freenet/gnapster/aimster etc. just need to be as easy as napster was for Joe to use. If ripping to Vorbis can be easily incorporated into the client, it will take off. It's better in crucial ways. You all already know. The best is that once it's decent, it cannot even be slowed. Fraunhoffer could stifle the stagnating
-Pip
I think that there are enough people out there who absolutely hate reading for long periods of time from a computer screen. Its hard on the eyes for one thing.
It doesn't have to be. The biggest problem with reading for long periods of time on a monitor is that most people can't come to terms with the idea that the electron-beaming, glaring, radiating monitor is NOT paper. The vast majority of interfaces (from Operating Systems, websites, email programs, games, etc.) assume that dark text on a bright background is the way people were meant to read (just like paper).
Well human eyes are good at focusing ON light rather than the absence of it. When the monitor is radiating, if your whole screen is a deep color (ie. nearly black) && all your text is even half of standard maximum intensity, it will be completely visible, legible, && far more comfortable to read for extended (nearly indefinite?) periods. I used to constantly moan about this glaring problem, pun intended, but then I lerned Perl && routed around it. Check here for a prime example.
If some people prefer dark on white, I can live with that, but don't enforce (assume) dark text. Configurability is the name of the game. TTFN.
-*BBC*PipTigger
I'm confident that nearly every /daughter can appreciate the myriad advantages of exhaustive searchability of any datafied text (&& crossreferenceability, etc.) however, Shabbat is a particularly special case.
/.) as Judaism is a very personal fascination of mine. I hope to convert in the near future (once I can readily move into an observant neighborhood && keep kosher more strictly etc.) TTFN && Shalom.
Shabbat (Shabbos/Sabbath) is an eternal rememberance of G-d's creation of the werld. It is a day set apart every week to remember the holiness of the 7th day as G-d has commanded His people to do. As such, things are supposed to be done simpler but different than the (relatively) mundane remainder of each week. A good example might be toilet paper. Obviously the perforations into each square are convenient && arguably the "right way" (|| most efficient way) to separate an appropriate section for rectal stool cleansing... but on Sabbath, it is better to tear the paper in-between the perforations in order to purposefully, consciously, && (ultimately) eternally acknowledge that it is an entirely special day. A believing Jew cannot leave her Deity outside of anything (including the bathroom) on Shabbat.
So electronic books may soon have wonderful advantages over older powerless (as in electricity) media && even an electronic study of the Torah could be particularly convenient, but the tree-based tomes of Hebrew wisdom shall remain for they have been && will be needed every week forever.
I hope that clarifies a bit. I'd be glad to engage in further intelligent discourse (which may be asking unrealistically much from
-PipTigger
p.s. If you've been too lazy to lookup || ask about werds in the past, you're likely to forsake even simpler mechanisms. Knowledge must be sought even if it is more accessible (easier to find) than it has been.
...which means that it probably is! I don't know about my fellow /daughters but the whole hype of .NET seems like a snare. All the benefits of what Java promised && couldn't deliver in an enticing open standard??? This is MS we're talking about here. This seems quite likely to be a masterful ploy to slurp up Sun && most of the GNU/Linux/BSD threat in one fell swoop. If the whole werld can be unified under the (MS authored) .NET architecture, it can be cinched up at the right moment... even if it has been open for a long time.
If it becomes as ubiquitous as tcp/ip or html, it may be nearly impossible to fork away from MS's new platform for "innovation" (term used cynically). I imagine it's a gamble. Will geeks of the werld be able to dodge MS's bullets && pry this new gun away from this behemoth of a software-industry-by-itself && point said weapon in a globally beneficial direction should it's creator decide to turn the barrel against the standard's developers && supporters? [Please excuse me if that sounded Katzey. At least I didn't mention Colum... oops! =) ] I'm not sure. This is a big red flag to me. Maybe DirecTV outsmarted many right before the big game... maybe geeks werldwide aren't dumber than MS strategic planners && devious technology usurpers...
Hey, I want global open wonderful magical powerful standards as much as the next nerd but I don't want to unwittingly end up ultimately in MS's pocket again. The ONLY thing that's ever tied me to MS was gamez! Linux is increasingly viable as an excellent gaming platform and (as a coder) I love the ability to tweak anything about my tools or interface or preferences or whatever. It's still a joy to dive into neat tools just to see how they do things to manipulate my computer in ways I've taken for granted && never had access to until now. I don't know if MS can have a secret weapon or a plan to regain control of the computing werld (&& thus the future) but this sure seems to be it if they do. Please be vigilant fellow nerds. It is the price of freedom. Watch this fox like a hawk. TTFN.
-PipTigger
p.s. Initiate Nail Removal Immediately!
I don't know you Jon but I doubt you understand code. I'm not trying to be an asshole or anything but this issue is relatively simple:
People who haven't slaved over code have no place in "Software Engineering" discussions!
I know that everyone uses software && I'm sure it bothers you that you have to reboot constantly because of a changed network name || hardware configuration && you see blue screens. I understand that it is bothersome to lose unsaved documents... however, non-coders (&& to an extent even casual coders) clamoring to bring about "sound engineering principles" to software design && construction are not helping anything. You couldn't understand what coding is like... what being buried in code is like... what getting vertigo from falling into a screen of code is like. Let me tell you that it's not like building a bridge. Can you understand that? It's not like designing a house. It's not like repairing a car. Your antiquated analogies are like sand in the vaseline.
There are also very logical reasons why a CS || IT || CE degree can be completely worthless. Your "standing offer" proves it's own foolishness: You don't have hobbyist architects || surgeons || engineers because they necessarily lack the skills to perform the position's responsibilities professionally!
Coding on the other hand can be lerned by a janitor teaching herself at home every night for free. She can rapidly become proficient enough to be indistinguishable from any programmer with a CS degree because there is very little hidden programming knowledge. If she can read (&& she's willing to be utterly geeky) then she can lern to hack Perl. There are cadavers everywhere to train on (so to speak) which you won't get arrested for cutting up && experimenting && lerning on.
Software development is not classifiable yet because it is not like anything created (|| engineered) which we've had to deal with on a large scale before. First of all, software is soft! It changes after it's deployed. It changes constantly. Why is that (you might ask)? Well the ultimate purpose of a particular software project is rarely (if ever) accurately foreseen. This means that you must design something without knowing what it will be (admittedly there is a spectrum of haziness). When a civil engineer approaches say an overpass, she already knows the exact friction coefficient of concrete, the tensile strength of rebar, the average speed a car will be going which determines the acceptable range the turn can bank, etc. etc. This stuff is rigorous because it is constant. It is successful because it is universally applicable. Here's a good example: All buildings need a stable foundation. What can be said of all software like this? All software needs an interface? GUI || CLI? Neither! The only things common to all software are code && coders!
Now all buildings do have components && builders but they all obey other rules too. Physical properties && characteristics of being constructed in real space. Software isn't like that tangible stuff. It's actually imaginary. The way you design a language compiler may have absolutely nothing in common with the design of an email client even if done by the same designer so why do people assume that there must be rules that could be followed to make all code better? It's because they don't know what coding is like. Yeah you can learn design principles && apply them sometimes. They even are very helpful sometimes but there aren't answers! There's no right way to design code. There's no right way to write code. It is an oddity of the digital era that the world is unprepared to accept the volatility of software. Software can be dependable && stable. The process to making it so has never been for any non-trivial task.
You trust in top-tier universities because they make hoops for people to jump through? Well they've been reliable in the past right? Well they do research so they should know better than others right? I know several excellent coders who lost interest in college because of the misguided "specification" && militant enforcement of "accepted software engineering principles" which were obviously asinine. Graduates don't necessarily know how to solve programming problems any better than anyone else (especially if the only problems they can solve are the ones that were taught). Someone who likes to do it will do it much better.
You ask how to judge someone's skills... simple: run what they've done. I'm done. TTFN.
*BBC*PipTigger
how it's not possible to place another single character, "2", where the year is represented in that date as a single character "1".
I would assume that the month is the "01" since that field will be going to "10" in decimal far sooner than we'll need two characters to correctly represent the unique year. What the hell are you talking about?
-PipTigger
Is it so hard to understand? Nerds are competitive too. Just because we don't wear football helmets (typically) doesn't mean we don't like to demonstrate superior understanding of technology. I really don't want to sound as retarded as Katz with this rant but it may be inevitable so please bear with me (if you can stand to).
...'). I wonder how effective that is? The art of comment writing with the goal of eliciting appreciable moderation... instead of even caring about communication with the larger (ie. non-moderating) audience ... hmmm ...
The whole AlphaGeek syndrome is real. The problem is your analogy. CLI geeks don't generally rag on GUI users because they're light years apart. They don't compete. The "standard" GUI today exists on top of (and has even maimed) it's own CLI. It's devolved interaction to the point of brutish pointing && grunting. Now calculator users OTOH, particularly graphing calculator users preparing for... oh, say the AP Calculus test in a typical college-preparatory high... these are not typically dunder-head AOL'ers. These are users of competitive platforms (basically summarized as): HP vs. TI vs. Casio. These are geek users here so when a subset indeed possesses the "More Efficient" devices && is automagically elited by their knowledge of "How To Use It"... well it ceases to be just a "damn calculator" any longer. It is a defining facet of the multi-dimensional intellectualism commanded by the average nerd.
This may all be thoroughly foreign to you because you dated a cheerleader (who didn't have something about her like Mary) || you've actually never competed for anything in your entire life but these "damn calculators" are very personal and meaningful to a great many people && I am one of them. HewlettPackard's graphing calculator changed my life and has epitomized my love for obscure gadgetry. !since high school have I been as taken by a device... my PalmIII && Glock22C come close but I digress. I have met many friends because RPN was a common language. The feel of the keys on my 48GX... my engraved nameplate lovingly adhered to the backside. All the nights studying User && Sys RPL. The first machine code I ever wrote was for that little Saturn proc. I wrote a touch-typing program (palms overlayed) so that I could code faster while sitting in class, Street Fighter II, Rubik's cube, a piano program, 2-player Tetris (over Infrared)... this machine captured me. It captivated me && the fact that 99% of my classmates have always owned TI || Casio's inferior offerings has always bolstered a staunch pride && appreciation for the wonderful tool itself but also for the company that made it great.
The "X" (in 48GX) was for eXpandable because it has two slots for flash memory upgrades... This device came out some 7 years ago for goodness sakes! It is a magnet for fellow participants and companions on the quest for incredibly functional, powerful, dependable, usable, && alterable computational tools. Now I know I'm crazy to most people. Most people don't solve real Rubik's cubes in less than 2 minutes && wouldn't even care to if they could. Even most nerds don't want to understand registers && stacks && instruction queues, etc. but those who do... well let me just say that I hope we never "get over [our]selves" because this rabid love for that which seems ridiculous && dorky to most people is what drives our determination to lose sleep over software && gadgetry && even digital copyright issues. I am indebted forever to HewlettPackard && I am verily grateful to Mr. Bill Hewlett (may he truly rest peacefully) for the enrichment && confidence he has (indirectly) empowered me with.
I'm sorry if you don't choose to use the best tools available to you but you're not alone so you can't be totally wrong. I know this is so much more 'flamebait' than 'interesting' or anything else but it (obviously) struck a chord in me && sometimes it's important to confrontationally reject misplaced superiority (eg. How can you sniff at somebody who doesn't do the "real" or "right" thing like you. I would never do that!). I guess I've said my shalom. TTFN.
-*BBC*PipTigger
p.s. Has it occurred to anyone that moderators have been receiving a lot of instruction from the comment contents themselves lately (eg. 'Don't mark this as a "troll" because