Since you are doing the voice of Aqualad on Cartoon Network's Teen Titans, how different is that experience (voice acting) compared to in-the-flesh acting? Are all the other actors voicing their characters at the same time you are? Is there a lot of experimentation, ad-libbing?
And did you have a choice of characters to play? If so, Aqualad? I mean, come on, his power is to swim and talk to fish.:)
For example, if I have a character named Ferro Man, who wears an armored suit, am I infringing on Iron Man? Okay, what version of Iron Man, then, is Marvel preventing me from copying? The gray suited one? The red and gold armored one? The one who flies and blasts things? What if I change the name and sex to Ferro Woman and Marvel later comes out with a character named Iron Woman?
And how is Marvel planning on preventing users of their own future game from creating a BattyMan or a Green Lamp character? Will DC sue Marvel when Marvel releases their game?
Cryptic does police as much as they can, but is a character named the Uncredible Bulk a problem? What if the character is a skinny white girl?
What if I have an Asian character with claws named "The China Wolf"? Am I infringing? What if Marvel decides next week to change Wolverine into an Asian girl?
Anyhow, just things that pop into my mind. I currently have a character on CoH whose name was just used on the Cartoon Network's Justice League Unlimited show and was previously not used for a superhero. If DC changes her costume or powers to look like my character, can I sue them (or rather, can Cryptic sue them, since they own that character now)?
Yep: those were my feelings, as well. Realize, though, that the game was hyped as being so much more than it ended up being: your creature was trainable, but rarely did it do anything unexpected, as was hyped by the game. The micromanagement of the towns turned the game into a standard RTS.
I mean, I did enjoy it, much like I enjoyed Dungeon Siege: played it for the hour or so it took to exhaust the actual gameplay, then moved on.
I was amused that Peter Molyneux apologized AFTER the game had come out for a couple of weeks. He needed to come clean before people had plopped down their money on it. Having been burned by B&W, I wasn't going anywhere near Fable.
"Countless times playing City of Heroes, I've wanted to hear SOMETHING other than blips and zaps and pows. Hearing the enemies call out and taunt you, or hear NPCs thanking you for rescuing them, or even screams of terror when people run around... voice beats no voice, hands down."
You may thing this is true, but my experience would be different. They recently added voice into EQ: things that other players can trigger like "Follow me" and "Run."
My wife was playing with that particular "feature" and after about 5 seconds, I told her that if she didn't turn that off, I would. It was the most annoying thing.
CoH is a fun enough game, but they still haven't given us the ability to turn OFF specific repeating sounds (try playing with Fortitude on, and you'll know what I mean). I shudder to think of having villains and (gah) other players being able to spam me with spoken messages. I recall on the test server they had upped the volume of the "breathing while running" sound. They wisely did not continue with that.
So, if any game has sounds, make sure they can be turned off without detriment to the gameplay.
"He describes it as the 'spiritual successor to Fallout', which sounds good to me."
Yeah, just like UFO: Aftermath was a spiritual successor to the UFO games. Usually, that means that the game will really suck and we'll still be waiting for a real successor to the game in question.
Have there ever been any "spiritual successors" to any good game that have been worthy?
"The new thumb buttons, though, are a disappointment. The idea is great: two buttons above and below the dpad on the right of the controller. However, the round orange button above the dpad is extremely difficult to press without"
Ooops. Cut off a section:
However, the round orange button above the dpad is extremely difficult to press without pushing the whole unit to the left. The speedpad does have some weight to it, but not enough to remain stable when pressing the thumb buttons.
Rejected from about a year ago, even, so who says Slashdot doesn't keep up with the times?:)
Here's my old review, in plain text glory:
Review of the Belkin Nostromo Speedpad n52
The Belkin Nostromo Speedpad n52 is a reworked version of the n50: both are gaming peripherals that combine a small keyboard, a D-pad, and a scroll wheel into a small, ergonomic package. Using the included software, you can bind keys and macros to the Speedpad for use in games and applications. So, for example, instead of using the typical WASD layout on your keyboard, you can map those keys to the Speedpad, along with keys for throwing grenades, switching weapons, etc.
With macros, you can initial multiple actions, such as targeting the nearest enemy, following him, and going into attack mode, all with a single keypress.
The n50 is probably the best gaming peripheral I've ever owned: I find it indispensible for FPS and MMORP games. When news of the n52 began to filter out, I was hoping that many of the flaws of the n50 would be eliminated, but that the core utility of the device would be maintained. I'm happy to say that I was not disappointed.
Firstly, some of the flaws with the n50:
* Lame "scroll" wheel was really not a scroll wheel, but more like a throttle: it did not have full 360 degree motion.
* Shift state indicators in a bad spot: the n50 (and n52) has three "shift modes" that you can switch between, allowing each key to have more than one use, depending on the shift mode. However, the n50's shift mode indicators are on the left side of the unit: when you are using it, your hand blocks the ability to see those indicators.
Minor problems, really: the scroll wheel was easy to just disable, and after a while, you didn't worry about the shift mode indicators.
The n52, though, fixes both problems: it has a 360 degree scroll wheel (that also can act as a button when pressed, just like many mouses) making it actually useful. The shift indicators have been movies to the right side of the controller, near one of the new thumb buttons. Now you can see the shift state at a glance.
There's a new row of keyboard buttons, adding 4 more buttons in good positions. Your pinky will now be able to trigger death and destructions much more easily.
The new thumb buttons, though, are a disappointment. The idea is great: two buttons above and below the dpad on the right of the controller. However, the round orange button above the dpad is extremely difficult to press without
Pros:
* Great ergonomics * More buttons * Better positioning of shift indicators
Cons:
* New thumb buttons are a little annoying in placement and use
"Maybe this issue is limited to Toshiba, but my graphics card's drivers have not been updated once by Toshiba since I bought my laptop a year ago."
Generally, the Nvidia drivers for the same model number will work with the laptop graphics cards. I've got a Toshiba with a GeForce Go 460, and I am currently using the latest GeForce 460 MX drivers with no problems. Mileage, of course, may vary. Looks like that the more recent Toshiba laptops might not have that luxury, by your example.
One of the newer features of some gaming laptops (Dell and Alienware, at least) is a replaceable video card. I know that I'd definitely get that were I buying a new laptop. That would be worth spending more money to me.
Something to keep in mind, generally, as well: since the laptop has limited upgrade options (normally) you should not skimp on getting as much as you can afford. I've had my laptop for about 2 years now, and it still tends to play the majority of games fairly well. Sure, I can't play Doom 3 on it, but UT2004 plays very well, as does City of Heroes and Everquest. And it'll still be useful for work related activities for another couple of years (heck, it's still twice as powerful as my new work desktop, damn budget cuts).
So, my opinion is a lot like it was last time this topic surfaced: buy the best you can afford, and if possible, get a laptop with a replaceable video card.
"Man I loved that game, and I sucked at it! I used to play on my ][gs. I couldn't get past the apendectomy. The game didn't like my sutures or something."
"But man, if I ever had to perform an emergency apendectomy, i could. Oh sure, you'd bleed to death later because aparently I can't sew, but at least you wouldn't die from apendicitis."
Screw that. From television, I've learned that all you need to do is finish the main part of the operation, then tell someone standing around to "close this up for me." Then it's off to the golf course.
The problem I have with those games is one of freedom: Yes, I do really need to perform an amputation on your right arm before getting to the appendix. Got a problem with that? I was always the kid who purposely screwed up removing the wrenched ankle.
"Space Ship One will temporarily leave the earth's atmosphere, and the pilot (yet to be announced) will experience about three minutes of weightlessness."
"Yet to be announced" eh? Cool, that means I'm still in the running.:)
Slashdot Mirror
"What can you say about the fictional LCARS that would be applicable to real operating systems and graphical user interfaces?"
Well, I'm not Wil Wheaton, but if the Star Trek games are any indication, LCARS needed some serious usability testing.
Here's a tip for Star Trek game developers: basing your game's mouse based GUI off a Hollywood version of a touch-based GUI is a bad bad move.
Since you are doing the voice of Aqualad on Cartoon Network's Teen Titans, how different is that experience (voice acting) compared to in-the-flesh acting? Are all the other actors voicing their characters at the same time you are? Is there a lot of experimentation, ad-libbing?
:)
And did you have a choice of characters to play? If so, Aqualad? I mean, come on, his power is to swim and talk to fish.
"they can figure out how to stop creating sinkholes that open up under minivans with children inside."
I think I'd pay extra to have this happen in my neighborhood. Where do I sign up?
Yep: Ferro Man being just a grown up version of Ferro Lad, from DC's Legion of Super Heroes.
That brings up the whole Plastic Man vs. Elongated Man vs. Mr. Fantastic.
What makes the character a rip off?
For example, if I have a character named Ferro Man, who wears an armored suit, am I infringing on Iron Man? Okay, what version of Iron Man, then, is Marvel preventing me from copying? The gray suited one? The red and gold armored one? The one who flies and blasts things? What if I change the name and sex to Ferro Woman and Marvel later comes out with a character named Iron Woman?
And how is Marvel planning on preventing users of their own future game from creating a BattyMan or a Green Lamp character? Will DC sue Marvel when Marvel releases their game?
Cryptic does police as much as they can, but is a character named the Uncredible Bulk a problem? What if the character is a skinny white girl?
What if I have an Asian character with claws named "The China Wolf"? Am I infringing? What if Marvel decides next week to change Wolverine into an Asian girl?
Anyhow, just things that pop into my mind. I currently have a character on CoH whose name was just used on the Cartoon Network's Justice League Unlimited show and was previously not used for a superhero. If DC changes her costume or powers to look like my character, can I sue them (or rather, can Cryptic sue them, since they own that character now)?
Just things to thing about.
Yep: those were my feelings, as well. Realize, though, that the game was hyped as being so much more than it ended up being: your creature was trainable, but rarely did it do anything unexpected, as was hyped by the game. The micromanagement of the towns turned the game into a standard RTS.
I mean, I did enjoy it, much like I enjoyed Dungeon Siege: played it for the hour or so it took to exhaust the actual gameplay, then moved on.
I was amused that Peter Molyneux apologized AFTER the game had come out for a couple of weeks. He needed to come clean before people had plopped down their money on it. Having been burned by B&W, I wasn't going anywhere near Fable.
"Countless times playing City of Heroes, I've wanted to hear SOMETHING other than blips and zaps and pows. Hearing the enemies call out and taunt you, or hear NPCs thanking you for rescuing them, or even screams of terror when people run around... voice beats no voice, hands down."
You may thing this is true, but my experience would be different. They recently added voice into EQ: things that other players can trigger like "Follow me" and "Run."
My wife was playing with that particular "feature" and after about 5 seconds, I told her that if she didn't turn that off, I would. It was the most annoying thing.
CoH is a fun enough game, but they still haven't given us the ability to turn OFF specific repeating sounds (try playing with Fortitude on, and you'll know what I mean). I shudder to think of having villains and (gah) other players being able to spam me with spoken messages. I recall on the test server they had upped the volume of the "breathing while running" sound. They wisely did not continue with that.
So, if any game has sounds, make sure they can be turned off without detriment to the gameplay.
I hear the military plan is to create Anti-Matter duplicates of all their targets, the have them meet.
"That was Lucas's perfectly consistent response to someone other than the filmmaker making changes to the films. "
Well, how do we determine who the "filmmaker" is, then? Lucas did not direct Empire or Return, so is he actually the "filmmaker" in those cases?
Is the producer the filmmaker? The executive producer?
Sorta don't get it:
8 /26/412d03afc4a38
http://www.fsunews.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/0
"He describes it as the 'spiritual successor to Fallout', which sounds good to me."
Yeah, just like UFO: Aftermath was a spiritual successor to the UFO games. Usually, that means that the game will really suck and we'll still be waiting for a real successor to the game in question.
Have there ever been any "spiritual successors" to any good game that have been worthy?
So, basically, you are saying it IS a good term to use for video games.
"The new thumb buttons, though, are a disappointment. The idea is great: two
buttons above and below the dpad on the right of the controller. However,
the round orange button above the dpad is extremely difficult to press without"
Ooops. Cut off a section:
However, the round orange button above the dpad is extremely difficult to press without pushing the whole unit to the left. The speedpad does have some weight to it, but not enough to remain stable when pressing the thumb buttons.
Rejected from about a year ago, even, so who says Slashdot doesn't keep up with the times? :)
Here's my old review, in plain text glory:
Review of the Belkin Nostromo Speedpad n52
The Belkin Nostromo Speedpad n52 is a reworked version of
the n50: both are gaming peripherals that combine a small keyboard,
a D-pad, and a scroll wheel into a small, ergonomic package. Using
the included software, you can bind keys and macros to the Speedpad
for use in games and applications. So, for example, instead of using the
typical WASD layout on your keyboard, you can map those keys to the
Speedpad, along with keys for throwing grenades, switching weapons,
etc.
With macros, you can initial multiple actions, such as targeting
the nearest enemy, following him, and going into attack mode, all
with a single keypress.
The n50 is probably the best gaming peripheral I've ever owned: I
find it indispensible for FPS and MMORP games. When news of the
n52 began to filter out, I was hoping that many of the flaws of
the n50 would be eliminated, but that the core utility of the
device would be maintained. I'm happy to say that I was not disappointed.
Firstly, some of the flaws with the n50:
* Lame "scroll" wheel was really not a scroll wheel, but more like
a throttle: it did not have full 360 degree motion.
* Shift state indicators in a bad spot: the n50 (and n52) has three
"shift modes" that you can switch between, allowing each key to have
more than one use, depending on the shift mode. However, the n50's
shift mode indicators are on the left side of the unit: when you are using
it, your hand blocks the ability to see those indicators.
Minor problems, really: the scroll wheel was easy to just disable, and after
a while, you didn't worry about the shift mode indicators.
The n52, though, fixes both problems: it has a 360 degree scroll wheel (that also
can act as a button when pressed, just like many mouses) making it actually
useful. The shift indicators have been movies to the right side of the
controller, near one of the new thumb buttons. Now you can see the shift
state at a glance.
There's a new row of keyboard buttons, adding 4 more buttons in good positions.
Your pinky will now be able to trigger death and destructions much more easily.
The new thumb buttons, though, are a disappointment. The idea is great: two
buttons above and below the dpad on the right of the controller. However,
the round orange button above the dpad is extremely difficult to press without
Pros:
* Great ergonomics
* More buttons
* Better positioning of shift indicators
Cons:
* New thumb buttons are a little annoying in placement and use
"Maybe this issue is limited to Toshiba, but my graphics card's drivers have not been updated once by Toshiba since I bought my laptop a year ago."
Generally, the Nvidia drivers for the same model number will work with the laptop graphics cards. I've got a Toshiba with a GeForce Go 460, and I am currently using the latest GeForce 460 MX drivers with no problems. Mileage, of course, may vary. Looks like that the more recent Toshiba laptops might not have that luxury, by your example.
One of the newer features of some gaming laptops (Dell and Alienware, at least) is a replaceable video card. I know that I'd definitely get that were I buying a new laptop. That would be worth spending more money to me.
Something to keep in mind, generally, as well: since the laptop has limited upgrade options (normally) you should not skimp on getting as much as you can afford. I've had my laptop for about 2 years now, and it still tends to play the majority of games fairly well. Sure, I can't play Doom 3 on it, but UT2004 plays very well, as does City of Heroes and Everquest. And it'll still be useful for work related activities for another couple of years (heck, it's still twice as powerful as my new work desktop, damn budget cuts).
So, my opinion is a lot like it was last time this topic surfaced: buy the best you can afford, and if possible, get a laptop with a replaceable video card.
"Man I loved that game, and I sucked at it! I used to play on my ][gs. I couldn't get past the apendectomy. The game didn't like my sutures or something."
"But man, if I ever had to perform an emergency apendectomy, i could. Oh sure, you'd bleed to death later because aparently I can't sew, but at least you wouldn't die from apendicitis."
Screw that. From television, I've learned that all you need to do is finish the main part of the operation, then tell someone standing around to "close this up for me." Then it's off to the golf course.
The problem I have with those games is one of freedom: Yes, I do really need to perform an amputation on your right arm before getting to the appendix. Got a problem with that? I was always the kid who purposely screwed up removing the wrenched ankle.
"Perhaps read something Orson Scott Card wrote on this subject once and you would change your mind."
You mean he wrote something that doesn't have "Ender" in the title? Surely you jest.
"An hour later I'm at some other neighbors with my TiVo, and my own VCR trying to fend off their cat, "
How did you train your VCR to fend off the cat?
Anyhow, is TV really that important to people that missing a few days of it would be unbearable? I'd have just curled up with a book.
If you can drink a beer while doing it, it isn't a sport. Therefore, Golf and Bowling and Math are NOT sports.
Fortean Times
Skeptic
Cooking Light
Video Watchdog
Tranya for all! This would actually be the "fake" Balok, from "The Corbomite Manuever." The real one was played by good old Clint Howard.
This should be extremely useful for the various governmental and private groups needing to monitor Godzilla.
Watch out for Rodan and Jet Jaguar, though. Their jetwash can do some serious damage!
"Space Ship One will temporarily leave the earth's atmosphere, and the pilot (yet to be announced) will experience about three minutes of weightlessness."
:)
"Yet to be announced" eh? Cool, that means I'm still in the running.
Knoppix lets you save onto USB as well.