1. A member of any of the nine ranks of high public officials in the Chinese Empire. 2. A high government official or bureaucrat. 3. A member of an elite group, especially a person having influence or high status in intellectual or cultural circles.
It's sometimes used in a negative manner, especially with definitions 2 & 3.
* From my standpoint, both the DNC and the RNC are a bunch of posturing hypocritical leeches on society who don't give a shit about anything but gaining power, money and control. Their only real difference is in how they each want these things exerted, and on whom, but their goals are the same so long as they are the ones in charge when the dust settles.
Reminds me of an old joke (it's kind of a shaggy dog story, so apologies in advance):
The Kremlin is getting reports that theft is happening at one of their factories. Unfortunately, it is so disorganized, they aren't even sure what is being stolen, let alone who is taking the State's property. They decide to send some KGB men to the factory to find and punish the thief.
One of the KGB narrows it down to a couple of suspects. His prime suspect is a truck driver. Each day the truck driver goes by the front gate and the KGB guard stops him and searches the truck. Day after day, week after week. Nothing can be found.
The KGB man is getting very frustrated, but continues the daily searches. The truck driver always stands to the side and watches the KGB man search the truck, looking completely at east. (You see, the KGB man knows that the truck driver should be nervous. In Soviet Russia, the innocent are always nervous).
Anyways, this continues for months. Finally, the KGB man can't take it anymore. He pulls the truck driver aside and says, "Look, Comrade. I know you are the thief. I know you are stealing from Mother Russia. But for the life of me, I can't prove it. So I will make you a deal. You tell me what you are stealing and how you are getting away with it, and I will look the other way."
The truck driver thinks about it for a moment, he knows he probably shouldn't agree, but this is a joke, so he has to, and says, "Comrade KGB man, it is very simple. I am stealing the trucks."
Well... It wasn't a decision that I made overnight. I happen to really enjoy MMOs (both playing and designing), the game that Interplay wanted me to work on is extremely important to me, and I'm not the only Interplay vet working here (Jason Anderson, who was one of the people responsible for the bits that made Fallout, well, Fallout, is also here.)
I had many conversations with both Jason and Hervé Caen before signing back up. Hervé wants to make it work and he was passionate about making this work when we spoke. Jason is a flat-out creative guy who I really enjoyed working with in the past and he is leading the team. He told me his vision for the game we're working on, and, generally, I agreed with his direction. The Fallout 1 dev team was by far the best development experience I've ever had (in 15+ years as a game developer) and we've got a small slice of it going here. The vibe is the same.
They opened the dev office about 5 minutes from my home. I get to see more of my family than any other project I've worked on. That's important to me.
Basically, I'm working on a dream project and I'm working with some good people. Hervé is giving us a lot of freedom to make the game that we want. I would have kicked myself in five years if I turned it down. It could crash and burn spectacularly, sure. I went into this with eyes wide open. I wouldn't have done it if I didn't think the chance for success was greater than the chance of it going kerboom.
To be very pedantic, you probably mean publishers not distributors.
Developers make game. Publishers bundle it up with box, manual and crappy DRM to sell to a distributor. Distributor sells to retailers. Retailers sell to unspecting consumer.
Of course, most major retailers are their own distributor these days so they can get even more of the pie.
"When a game is as popular as Earthbound, or SD3 (the sequel of Secret of Mana, I just can't spell the name), I don't quite understand why game companies resist localisation so much"
Well, I can. ^_^
You have many more additional costs besides just paying the translators: 1. QA time to test new localised builds. 2. Marketing costs to sell new product. Both print costs, additional costs associated with art changes for your new market, and the payroll costs of your marketing department. 3. Sales people have to actually go out there and sell it when they could be selling something else. 4. The cost of the physical product. (This is usually non-trivial.) 5. That you're spending money that you could have spent on another product that you think would be more successful (ie, opportunity costs.) 6. Customer service/tech support additional hours. 7. Cash payouts to get better reviews (well, okay, maybe not this one... ^_^ )
They will send you a nice email that looks something like this:
"Your phone number with the last four digits XXXX was registered in the National Do Not Call Registry on 10/13/2003. Most telemarketers will be required to stop calling you 31 days from your registration date. Your registration will (or did) expire on 3/26/2010.
Visit www.donotcall.gov to do any of these things: -- to renew your registration before it expires -- to file a complaint
Print this email and keep it for your records."
I'm not exactly sure why the expiration date is more than 5 years in my case. Something to explore!
I don't quite understand why your think the Do Not Call list will stop you from getting calls from political groups. They have an exception and do not abide by the Do Not Call registry:
Did anyone seriously think the writers of that law would harm their own cash flow?
Personally, it's been very successful for me. I can't remember the last telemarketer I had to hang up on. Unfortunately, my kids have aged and can actually speak now. It was much more fun when they were still babies and I passed the receiver off to them. "Goo-goo-ga-ga" pretty much ends any solicitation.
A police officer once told me: "You can outrun my Chevy, but you can't outrun my Motorola." I thought it was humourous. Fortunately, this was at a social setting and he was just making small talk.
Different Steve Jackson. There are two in the hobbyist game industry: one in Texas, and one in England. The English SJ did the Fighting Fantasy books (plus was involved in Games Workshop there at the very beginning, IIRC).
Slashdot Mirror
Well, the dictionary definition is:
1. A member of any of the nine ranks of high public officials in the Chinese Empire.
2. A high government official or bureaucrat.
3. A member of an elite group, especially a person having influence or high status in intellectual or cultural circles.
It's sometimes used in a negative manner, especially with definitions 2 & 3.
* From my standpoint, both the DNC and the RNC are a bunch of posturing hypocritical leeches on society who don't give a shit about anything but gaining power, money and control. Their only real difference is in how they each want these things exerted, and on whom, but their goals are the same so long as they are the ones in charge when the dust settles.
I like the cut of your jib. Please continue.
It's just a scam to get people to scan documents and email them so they can get sued...
Like we needed another reason?
The lights are on, but noorbodies home?
Reminds me of an old joke (it's kind of a shaggy dog story, so apologies in advance):
The Kremlin is getting reports that theft is happening at one of their factories. Unfortunately, it is so disorganized, they aren't even sure what is being stolen, let alone who is taking the State's property. They decide to send some KGB men to the factory to find and punish the thief.
One of the KGB narrows it down to a couple of suspects. His prime suspect is a truck driver. Each day the truck driver goes by the front gate and the KGB guard stops him and searches the truck. Day after day, week after week. Nothing can be found.
The KGB man is getting very frustrated, but continues the daily searches. The truck driver always stands to the side and watches the KGB man search the truck, looking completely at east. (You see, the KGB man knows that the truck driver should be nervous. In Soviet Russia, the innocent are always nervous).
Anyways, this continues for months. Finally, the KGB man can't take it anymore. He pulls the truck driver aside and says, "Look, Comrade. I know you are the thief. I know you are stealing from Mother Russia. But for the life of me, I can't prove it. So I will make you a deal. You tell me what you are stealing and how you are getting away with it, and I will look the other way."
The truck driver thinks about it for a moment, he knows he probably shouldn't agree, but this is a joke, so he has to, and says, "Comrade KGB man, it is very simple. I am stealing the trucks."
I'd be more worried about the kitten's nails than mine.
I'd rather it was $1 per email. That might cut down on all those forwarded chain emails my relatives keep sending me.
Dear Polizia,
You're a bunch of idiots.
Thanks,
-The Internet
You mean like Doom or Quake? Wow. I'm a lot more interested in Spore now.
Well... It wasn't a decision that I made overnight. I happen to really enjoy MMOs (both playing and designing), the game that Interplay wanted me to work on is extremely important to me, and I'm not the only Interplay vet working here (Jason Anderson, who was one of the people responsible for the bits that made Fallout, well, Fallout, is also here.)
I had many conversations with both Jason and Hervé Caen before signing back up. Hervé wants to make it work and he was passionate about making this work when we spoke. Jason is a flat-out creative guy who I really enjoyed working with in the past and he is leading the team. He told me his vision for the game we're working on, and, generally, I agreed with his direction. The Fallout 1 dev team was by far the best development experience I've ever had (in 15+ years as a game developer) and we've got a small slice of it going here. The vibe is the same.
They opened the dev office about 5 minutes from my home. I get to see more of my family than any other project I've worked on. That's important to me.
Basically, I'm working on a dream project and I'm working with some good people. Hervé is giving us a lot of freedom to make the game that we want. I would have kicked myself in five years if I turned it down. It could crash and burn spectacularly, sure. I went into this with eyes wide open. I wouldn't have done it if I didn't think the chance for success was greater than the chance of it going kerboom.
So far, it's been a good experience. Very good.
To be very pedantic, you probably mean publishers not distributors.
Developers make game.
Publishers bundle it up with box, manual and crappy DRM to sell to a distributor.
Distributor sells to retailers.
Retailers sell to unspecting consumer.
Of course, most major retailers are their own distributor these days so they can get even more of the pie.
> According to the articles I have read on it, it is supposed to get around 5 hours.
Unfortunately, that means 2.5 hours under actual real world conditions, right?
"When a game is as popular as Earthbound, or SD3 (the sequel of Secret of Mana, I just can't spell the name), I don't quite understand why game companies resist localisation so much"
Well, I can. ^_^
You have many more additional costs besides just paying the translators:
1. QA time to test new localised builds.
2. Marketing costs to sell new product. Both print costs, additional costs associated with art changes for your new market, and the payroll costs of your marketing department.
3. Sales people have to actually go out there and sell it when they could be selling something else.
4. The cost of the physical product. (This is usually non-trivial.)
5. That you're spending money that you could have spent on another product that you think would be more successful (ie, opportunity costs.)
6. Customer service/tech support additional hours.
7. Cash payouts to get better reviews (well, okay, maybe not this one... ^_^ )
http://giantitp.com/comics/oots0135.html
"One word my elven friend: volume!"
You can verify your registration on the DNC list:
https://www.donotcall.gov/confirm/Conf.aspx
They will send you a nice email that looks something like this:
"Your phone number with the last four digits XXXX was registered in the National Do Not Call Registry on 10/13/2003. Most telemarketers will be required to stop calling you 31 days from your registration date. Your registration will (or did) expire on 3/26/2010.
Visit www.donotcall.gov to do any of these things:
-- to renew your registration before it expires
-- to file a complaint
Print this email and keep it for your records."
I'm not exactly sure why the expiration date is more than 5 years in my case. Something to explore!
I don't quite understand why your think the Do Not Call list will stop you from getting calls from political groups. They have an exception and do not abide by the Do Not Call registry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do_not_call
Did anyone seriously think the writers of that law would harm their own cash flow?
Personally, it's been very successful for me. I can't remember the last telemarketer I had to hang up on. Unfortunately, my kids have aged and can actually speak now. It was much more fun when they were still babies and I passed the receiver off to them. "Goo-goo-ga-ga" pretty much ends any solicitation.
Penny Arcade seizes what? WTF.
A police officer once told me: "You can outrun my Chevy, but you can't outrun my Motorola." I thought it was humourous. Fortunately, this was at a social setting and he was just making small talk.
Different Steve Jackson. There are two in the hobbyist game industry: one in Texas, and one in England. The English SJ did the Fighting Fantasy books (plus was involved in Games Workshop there at the very beginning, IIRC).
Amazon has a mobile site:
www.amazon.com/pocketpc
One half of your worst fears have come true: http://www.vugames.com/product.do?gamePlatformId=7 87/
$15k+ bids require a credit card and ebay verification.
...until I see it on CSI.
:)
"Imagine if a constellation of THESE had been left to decay over the past 4 decades."
We don't have imagine it! Thanks to the Magic of Hollywood , we've seen what happens.