The good: I have my team on hand so I can communicate freely and make sure everyone is on task. The work environment works as a reminder of the achievements I've gained to get here and feels a bit more "pro". Good days go amazingly and there's high-fives all around.
The bad: People yapping on the phone, resounding office sounds, uncomfortable temperatures due to finicky H-VAC, and all the rest of that good stuff that comes with an environment you can't control.
The ugly: I'm seated in a cubicle right next to the break room with my back to the door so my monitors are visible. My co-workers are constantly going back and forth right behind me all day. I run a professional ship when I'm in the office and yet that odd feeling of eyes peeking at my screen as people pass by is starting to get to me. It's making me one very paranoid android.
So much for being senior. The only people who have worse seats are the management staff next to the colour printer.
The noble and majestic Crabspy is an endangered semi-aquatic species known to occupy the waterways of 2Fort, Well, Hydro, and other exotic locations such as Barn.
These beautiful creatures can be easily recognized by their claws held proudly at a sharp angle over their heads. In one pincer they carry a cigarette case which they display to attract potential mates and ward off predators. The Crabspy employes a full 360 degree range of scuttling motion and moves at approximately the same pace as the theme song to Ulysses 31.
Sadly the Crabspy is an endangered creature often hunted for their luxurious free points. If you spot a poacher please report them to the proper authorities. Keep our waterways safe and clear for the Crabspy!
(Considering how the article is nothing but YouTube links, I think I'll roll with the trend)
For all the fancy, flashy games I've played this year with their high budgets and their great gameplay the one that wins for me is 6 Days A Sacrifice. After hearing about the Chzo Mythos series of adventure games by Yahtzee I decided to give them a try. Two days later I had marathoned all the games in two late nights. I was sucked in by the themes, and there was a simple pleasure to be had in the point-and-click interface. As the games sit in the mystery and horror genre there are a couple really good scares to be had.
6 Days A Sacrifice itself caps off the Chzo Mythos games by building on existing precepts then giving them a quick snap to turn everything on its' ear, revealing a thrilling "big picture". As I played the games in succession I got the maximum effect of the interlinking plot points which really improved my experience. I'd review it but I wouldn't want to spoil any of the story for any new players. That's what Wikipedia is for.
I'm working on a Tall Man papercraft to put up next to my paper Weighted Companion Cube, TF2 Spy, and Bee Mario. It will serve as a kind of visual hallmark to what a great year of gaming its' been. Good times!
Man I'd love to see what Valve would come up for "moral" Achievements for Team Fortress 2. Benevolent actions in a purely competitive FPS can get mighty esoteric.
One I could think of offhand is "Avenger" which would be gained through getting revenge kills against an opposing team member who just dominated one of your team members. I know I'd like to see something like "Career Medic". It would show the player is a dedicated Medic who can put out a high average of healing per round. Likely the sign of a benevolent team-mate and handy to know.
The flipside is it wouldn't show all the horribly antisocial Bonesawing I do. All the Spy Checks and intentional team damage to trigger Ubercharge at mission start could be construed in a negative light, despite the advantages. And what of the Bonesawing just for the heck of it? If they manage to measure my TF2 morality, I'll raise a glass to them.
Not Ottowa; Edmonton. The Alberta Legislature Building is just down the hill from where I work. Very convenient if I ever need to actually go there. I may just visit again anyways because the legislature is visited with song thanks to choirs and carollers around the Christmas holidays.
Nothing quite like stepping into the bizzaro world of Canadian politics with a real smile on your face.
-it's an ingrained part of Canadian culture. If the freedom to parodize copyrighted works is removed, then there's going to have to be a multi-billion dollar "cleanup" of existing parody material. The worst hit would be Canadian comedy as a whole. Shows like Air Farce, political cartoons, and the like would abruptly be susceptible to malevolent lawsuits. And what of the perennial short story/animated NFB classic "The Hockey Sweater"? If the copyright holders for the Leafs or the Habs was feeling mean it could be locked away never to be seen again. This even concerns me directly as I like to make parody comics. I don't want to be threatened with a legal drubbing for making a joke that happens to make fun of a copyrighted work.
Luckily, as a Canadian I'm good at writing strongly worded yet polite letters. I'm even willing to risk walking down the icy hill and visit the legislature. This will not stand.
An RPG with a turn-based system that has a traditional heroic character and an antihero? Been there, played that. Just one similar game that comes to mind is Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits. But these are preliminary details at best. How the characters are presented could be different than this wide brush-stroke of an explination.
The sentiment the anti-hero is "for" the western gamers is an interesting one. From what I've seen fan response-wise on this side of the sea antiheroes are preferred.
The "ring" was originally, well balls. It was re-named in the North American release to "ring" but the image was never changed so you could still tell what it was. Especially considering all the other items like the heart and rib were body parts.
As nasty as carrying around the heart of a vampire is, there was something far worse you were toting around with you.
You're not stupid, the direction for where to go in Dragon Warrior II pretty much drops off once you get seabound. This is actually common in Dragon Quest titles, even for the recent Dragon Quest VIII. In fact, the game often has benefits for exploring everywhere before proceeding to the next story objectives.
For example, once you get to the outer ring ocean in Dragon Quest VI you can get to the Slime Arena for monster battling. In Dragon Quest VIII you can get plenty of tiny medals, elixirs, and sweet free equipment if you do some island-hopping before proceeding to the next reachable town across the sea. The sea-venturing periods are often pretty dangerous as you tend to go through areas that have high-level monsters but the benifits and levels gained are fantastic.
The biggest challenge is trying not to die, being so far away from civilization, inns, and save points.
How would an increase in the game marketplace not be good for the Slashdot community do you figure? I know you must have a reason or two in your mind. Please elaborate (so I can decide whether I'm intrigued by your thoughts and want to subscribe to your newsletter).
This is a particularly interesting bit from TFA: "That's hard to say...after all, the games that came out in the last two years were made in the last five years"
Inaba makes a good point about quality of games being released at any given time by a company. What I get from this is due to long-term development cycles on games it becomes very difficult to trace the "good game" decisions at a granular level. That can make for risky business if a sequel is developed before it's determined the original game is popular enough to turn profit.
I was actually imagining the scenario of Apple moving their hardware business to another company for a little while there. Then I saw "Dell" and had to double check the calendar. Nope, not April 1st.
Even if it is possible that moving away from hardware would be a good future move for Apple somehow, the recommendation of Dell seems quirious to me. Yes, Intel is indeed closely partnered with Dell but there's got to be other options. Even just one "or Apple could partner with ______" would have sufficed and kept me reading. Would there even be an advantage outside of manufacturing and infrastructural communication cost savings to be had? And what of the design teams behind Apple's hardware?
All I know is I sure as hell wouldn't let Dell try to do what Apple does so well.
It's probably for the best he doesn't get involved in online distribution. An unresolveable issue of attitude from a major decision maker would negatively impact the method of distribution. He thinks online distribution is a rathole? He may just be inclined to let the distribution method clamp down on users like a rat trap.
On one hand I'd like to see Sonmay go down because it takes away profits from legal retailers by making the packaging look similar to a legit copy. On othe other hand, where am I supposed to get copies of the long out-of-print Orchestral Game Concert CDs now?
I'm currently with Telus and I've been looking to upgrade my phone. It's a good thing you posted, reminding me of the fact that Telus tries to slap on data transfer fees for even using a data cable. I'm planning on getting a nice, feature-rich phone like the Motorola v710 or E815. I like the MP3 ringtone support and I want the first field theme from Crystalis on my phone and the first field theme from Crystalis I SHALL HAVE!
Looks like I'll probably be changing my service provider as well if I can't skirt the data transfer (gouge) fees. Also: as Telus head office is on a regular bus route I take I regular see the tortured faces of Telus employees. Huge turnover rate. An ongoing strike that caused my brother to switch to Shaw Extreme-I for internet because there was nobody available to fix his Telus connection. The stories I've heard from poor IT college grads just trying to get anything for their first job and ending up there. Not a company I feel I should be shilling dollars to.
Any suggestions/hints as far as other celluar phone providers go?
...That something I had a hand in made 380 million. Especially for a piece of entertainment I helped to produce. Entertainment, not a necessity or valuable tool. Just to think of it; coming home after work, flopping down into my diamond-studded AOL CD throne and sighing "oh honey, the film only made 380 million at box office!".
If I were complaining about that then I'd have to say my life is pretty damn good.
How much were they projecting the film to make in the box office anyways? 500 million? A billion? The entire nation of Guatemala as a goods-for-cash exchange? I mean there's projecting profits and then there's expecting every man, woman, child, and household pet to go see a PG sci-fi movie.
For the record I saw it. I might not have if I hadn't seen enough clips to pique my interest though after the previous two movies which I didn't really enjoy.
I'm curious as to how I might be able to tell that things are really "gone" off my hard drive.
Not so much for the "be sure before sending it to the computer parts recycling program so nobody swipes it" aspect, much more for the "unstable/mostly borked hard drive that had an accidental formatting done on it with some files I'd really like to get off there but don't want to pay a ton to have forensically removed".
Slashdot Mirror
Now I have to go read some Castle Vidcons to satisfy my craving for modern technology in an medevial allegory.
I wish I had mod points to give you. After reading the embarassing mess of a summary at the top of this article your post made me smile again.
Work is both the best and worst place for me.
The good: I have my team on hand so I can communicate freely and make sure everyone is on task. The work environment works as a reminder of the achievements I've gained to get here and feels a bit more "pro". Good days go amazingly and there's high-fives all around.
The bad: People yapping on the phone, resounding office sounds, uncomfortable temperatures due to finicky H-VAC, and all the rest of that good stuff that comes with an environment you can't control.
The ugly: I'm seated in a cubicle right next to the break room with my back to the door so my monitors are visible. My co-workers are constantly going back and forth right behind me all day. I run a professional ship when I'm in the office and yet that odd feeling of eyes peeking at my screen as people pass by is starting to get to me. It's making me one very paranoid android.
So much for being senior. The only people who have worse seats are the management staff next to the colour printer.
The noble and majestic Crabspy is an endangered semi-aquatic species known to occupy the waterways of 2Fort, Well, Hydro, and other exotic locations such as Barn.
These beautiful creatures can be easily recognized by their claws held proudly at a sharp angle over their heads. In one pincer they carry a cigarette case which they display to attract potential mates and ward off predators. The Crabspy employes a full 360 degree range of scuttling motion and moves at approximately the same pace as the theme song to Ulysses 31.
Sadly the Crabspy is an endangered creature often hunted for their luxurious free points. If you spot a poacher please report them to the proper authorities. Keep our waterways safe and clear for the Crabspy!
(Considering how the article is nothing but YouTube links, I think I'll roll with the trend)
For all the fancy, flashy games I've played this year with their high budgets and their great gameplay the one that wins for me is 6 Days A Sacrifice. After hearing about the Chzo Mythos series of adventure games by Yahtzee I decided to give them a try. Two days later I had marathoned all the games in two late nights. I was sucked in by the themes, and there was a simple pleasure to be had in the point-and-click interface. As the games sit in the mystery and horror genre there are a couple really good scares to be had.
6 Days A Sacrifice itself caps off the Chzo Mythos games by building on existing precepts then giving them a quick snap to turn everything on its' ear, revealing a thrilling "big picture". As I played the games in succession I got the maximum effect of the interlinking plot points which really improved my experience. I'd review it but I wouldn't want to spoil any of the story for any new players. That's what Wikipedia is for.
I'm working on a Tall Man papercraft to put up next to my paper Weighted Companion Cube, TF2 Spy, and Bee Mario. It will serve as a kind of visual hallmark to what a great year of gaming its' been. Good times!
Man I'd love to see what Valve would come up for "moral" Achievements for Team Fortress 2. Benevolent actions in a purely competitive FPS can get mighty esoteric.
One I could think of offhand is "Avenger" which would be gained through getting revenge kills against an opposing team member who just dominated one of your team members.
I know I'd like to see something like "Career Medic". It would show the player is a dedicated Medic who can put out a high average of healing per round. Likely the sign of a benevolent team-mate and handy to know.
The flipside is it wouldn't show all the horribly antisocial Bonesawing I do. All the Spy Checks and intentional team damage to trigger Ubercharge at mission start could be construed in a negative light, despite the advantages. And what of the Bonesawing just for the heck of it?
If they manage to measure my TF2 morality, I'll raise a glass to them.
Not Ottowa; Edmonton. The Alberta Legislature Building is just down the hill from where I work. Very convenient if I ever need to actually go there. I may just visit again anyways because the legislature is visited with song thanks to choirs and carollers around the Christmas holidays.
Nothing quite like stepping into the bizzaro world of Canadian politics with a real smile on your face.
-it's an ingrained part of Canadian culture. If the freedom to parodize copyrighted works is removed, then there's going to have to be a multi-billion dollar "cleanup" of existing parody material. The worst hit would be Canadian comedy as a whole. Shows like Air Farce, political cartoons, and the like would abruptly be susceptible to malevolent lawsuits. And what of the perennial short story/animated NFB classic "The Hockey Sweater"? If the copyright holders for the Leafs or the Habs was feeling mean it could be locked away never to be seen again.
This even concerns me directly as I like to make parody comics. I don't want to be threatened with a legal drubbing for making a joke that happens to make fun of a copyrighted work.
Luckily, as a Canadian I'm good at writing strongly worded yet polite letters. I'm even willing to risk walking down the icy hill and visit the legislature. This will not stand.
Reduce objects to lines and voila. Finally, the world can look like the video for Take On Me by Ah-ha!
An RPG with a turn-based system that has a traditional heroic character and an antihero? Been there, played that. Just one similar game that comes to mind is Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits. But these are preliminary details at best. How the characters are presented could be different than this wide brush-stroke of an explination.
The sentiment the anti-hero is "for" the western gamers is an interesting one. From what I've seen fan response-wise on this side of the sea antiheroes are preferred.
The "ring" was originally, well balls. It was re-named in the North American release to "ring" but the image was never changed so you could still tell what it was. Especially considering all the other items like the heart and rib were body parts.
As nasty as carrying around the heart of a vampire is, there was something far worse you were toting around with you.
Sooooo, how do you think they'll handle the collection of Dracula's "Ring"? That could seriously bump up the maturity rating alone.
I do look forward to when it comes out. When I go out in the evening for pleasure I'll get to say "What a horrible night to see a movie!".
You're not stupid, the direction for where to go in Dragon Warrior II pretty much drops off once you get seabound. This is actually common in Dragon Quest titles, even for the recent Dragon Quest VIII. In fact, the game often has benefits for exploring everywhere before proceeding to the next story objectives.
For example, once you get to the outer ring ocean in Dragon Quest VI you can get to the Slime Arena for monster battling. In Dragon Quest VIII you can get plenty of tiny medals, elixirs, and sweet free equipment if you do some island-hopping before proceeding to the next reachable town across the sea. The sea-venturing periods are often pretty dangerous as you tend to go through areas that have high-level monsters but the benifits and levels gained are fantastic.
The biggest challenge is trying not to die, being so far away from civilization, inns, and save points.
How would an increase in the game marketplace not be good for the Slashdot community do you figure? I know you must have a reason or two in your mind. Please elaborate (so I can decide whether I'm intrigued by your thoughts and want to subscribe to your newsletter).
This is a particularly interesting bit from TFA: "That's hard to say...after all, the games that came out in the last two years were made in the last five years"
Inaba makes a good point about quality of games being released at any given time by a company. What I get from this is due to long-term development cycles on games it becomes very difficult to trace the "good game" decisions at a granular level. That can make for risky business if a sequel is developed before it's determined the original game is popular enough to turn profit.
I was actually imagining the scenario of Apple moving their hardware business to another company for a little while there. Then I saw "Dell" and had to double check the calendar. Nope, not April 1st.
Even if it is possible that moving away from hardware would be a good future move for Apple somehow, the recommendation of Dell seems quirious to me. Yes, Intel is indeed closely partnered with Dell but there's got to be other options. Even just one "or Apple could partner with ______" would have sufficed and kept me reading. Would there even be an advantage outside of manufacturing and infrastructural communication cost savings to be had? And what of the design teams behind Apple's hardware?
All I know is I sure as hell wouldn't let Dell try to do what Apple does so well.
Indian ISPs, come on down! You've been selected to compete in "The Price Is Light"!
It's probably for the best he doesn't get involved in online distribution. An unresolveable issue of attitude from a major decision maker would negatively impact the method of distribution. He thinks online distribution is a rathole? He may just be inclined to let the distribution method clamp down on users like a rat trap.
They gave it a really hot fresh cup of tea.
Wait, wrong method of near-instantaneous transportation.
Whatever you do, try not to beam it on to Khan's ship.
I have reliable sources that suggest he's vengeful.
Do any of these raided companies include Sonmay?
On one hand I'd like to see Sonmay go down because it takes away profits from legal retailers by making the packaging look similar to a legit copy. On othe other hand, where am I supposed to get copies of the long out-of-print Orchestral Game Concert CDs now?
Some of us are saints as well!
I harden the brand in five pies or less!
I'm currently with Telus and I've been looking to upgrade my phone. It's a good thing you posted, reminding me of the fact that Telus tries to slap on data transfer fees for even using a data cable. I'm planning on getting a nice, feature-rich phone like the Motorola v710 or E815. I like the MP3 ringtone support and I want the first field theme from Crystalis on my phone and the first field theme from Crystalis I SHALL HAVE!
Looks like I'll probably be changing my service provider as well if I can't skirt the data transfer (gouge) fees. Also: as Telus head office is on a regular bus route I take I regular see the tortured faces of Telus employees. Huge turnover rate. An ongoing strike that caused my brother to switch to Shaw Extreme-I for internet because there was nobody available to fix his Telus connection. The stories I've heard from poor IT college grads just trying to get anything for their first job and ending up there. Not a company I feel I should be shilling dollars to.
Any suggestions/hints as far as other celluar phone providers go?
...That something I had a hand in made 380 million. Especially for a piece of entertainment I helped to produce. Entertainment, not a necessity or valuable tool. Just to think of it; coming home after work, flopping down into my diamond-studded AOL CD throne and sighing "oh honey, the film only made 380 million at box office!".
If I were complaining about that then I'd have to say my life is pretty damn good.
How much were they projecting the film to make in the box office anyways? 500 million? A billion? The entire nation of Guatemala as a goods-for-cash exchange? I mean there's projecting profits and then there's expecting every man, woman, child, and household pet to go see a PG sci-fi movie.
For the record I saw it. I might not have if I hadn't seen enough clips to pique my interest though after the previous two movies which I didn't really enjoy.
I'm curious as to how I might be able to tell that things are really "gone" off my hard drive.
Not so much for the "be sure before sending it to the computer parts recycling program so nobody swipes it" aspect, much more for the "unstable/mostly borked hard drive that had an accidental formatting done on it with some files I'd really like to get off there but don't want to pay a ton to have forensically removed".
"What's that black cracker?"
"A tomato." (crunch)