Actually, as much as I love the little guy - er, girl - er, bird - the whole cross-dressing thing was merely a product of a bored localization staff. The original, Japanese manual for the game (which was Dokidoki Panic instead of SMB2 over there) had no such oddity; as such, the later "sex change" for poor Birdo was not a reneging so much as a return to the actual character.
On the contrary, the third person perspective is far more realistic than first person. Once you've stopped being bothered by looking over the player's shoulder - it barely even gives me pause after hundreds of hours of GTA3 & GTA:VC - the information this view presents is far more representative of actually "being" the character. It allows a greater range of vision, avoiding the disconcerting "tunnel vision" FPS' can sometimes create, and it let's you know immediately where you're standing, if you're touching anything, what stance your body is in, etc - all things you'd know in real life, but which aren't usually communicated in first person.
Ideally, I'd like screens or headsets that finally take advantage of the full field of human vision coupled with some sort of seperate HUD detailing the current stance of the player character (assuming full-body tactile feedback and/or neural interfaces aren't feasible in the near future ^_^). Until then, I'll crank my suspension of disbelief up a notch to believe I'm the guy whose back I'm staring at, and I'll continue to enjoy being able to actually see that demon coming at me from the side.
"Postal2 is fun if you play it for what it is (a virtual violence sandbox)."
No. GTA is fun if you play it for what it is (a virtual violence sandbox), and that game was a critical success. Postal 2 is liquid shit in a box.
Remember, kiddies: "Dark humor" requires both the "dark" AND the "humor" to work; simply peeing on dead people is not immediately amusing in and of itself.
I recall plans to make these using a modified Radioshack strobe light in the old Anarchist's cookbook. I _almost_ talked my Dad into making one, but we ultimately decided it wasn't worth the time: we would have to sit at stoplights until an ambulance passed then videotaped their lights to get that city's strobe pattern, according to the directions.
Hmmm... This looks neat, but I wonder how well it'll work in action. I've got an Archos 20GB Recorder, and it kicks ass (looks cool, sturdy as hell, acts like a portable hard drive). However, when I first got it, I almost returned it due to it's horrible firmware (buggy, slow, unwieldy, hardly any useful features). I have only kept it - and grown to love it - thanks to open-source Rockbox firmware, which whips the llama's ass hardcore.
So, with the AV300, I worry whether or not we'll see a version of Rockbox or something similar, or whether the firmware that comes in box will be at least serviceable this time around. If not, at that price tag, this device will try and fail to compete with both the smaller laptops and the portable DVD players.
(I hesitate to respond, as I suspect this is some sort of weird reverse-psychology troll, but WTF)
OK, so when you, as an American (I'm assuming), are assassinated for our actions overseas by a random terrorist, I certainly hope your relatives feel the same way. We certainly hope they won't go crying that you were just an innocent civilian/working stiff who just happened to belong to the organization/country with which the killers had a problem. After all, if you had problems with the conduct of the organization as a whole, you'd have moved/quit.
The simple fact is that corporations the size of DOW employ tens of thousands of people, the vast majority of which are not only innocent, but most likely completely unaware of any corporate misconduct. There are people here who deserve to have biological waste shoveled down their pants, but the chance of them being the same people who have to accept this crap when it's dropped on their workplace doorstep are very slim.
I'm two quarters shy of a degree in English Lit. It's correct as is, or it's at least as correct as a casually composed Internet message need be.
And, oh yes, please be so kind as to go fuck yourself. Thank you so much. ^_^
In all seriousness, I can see the argument for it being spelled "Dammit," given that it's only a phonetic representation of a commonly used spoken contraction, and not an "official" combination of the words "damn" and "it." But I'll need to see some pretty convincing arguments before I'll agree it should be "I" and "She" instead of the far more common "Me" and "Her."
There. I've taken the low ground _and_ the high ground in this argument. Yee-hah.
Hmmm... They certainly did seem conspicuous in their absense, but I wonder if they consciously decided to leave them out? Such high-speed vehicles may make it impossible to load the terrain fast enough on the PS2. Alternately, they could make them the same speed as the other cars, but that kind of kills the point.
Hunh... An interesting idea, but what if someone had their fingerprints burned off? I guess we could go to retinal scanners, but I've never liked sticking my eye up to some random machine. DNA scanners would need blood, voice recognition differs too much with attitude and health, and facial recognition is in its infancy.
Maybe, if someone could develop a system with, say, a two by three inch plastic card with someone's name on it, we could circumvent the whole deal. Yeah, it would be great! No more worrying about whether the machine would work, or your fingers were dirty, or someone had your prints - just slide the card and go through. We could even put a strip with bumps or - no, I've got it - a _magnetic strip_ with information identifying that person! As long as you didn't lose it - a far easier eventuality to avoid than, say, accidentally leaving your fingerprints on something - security would be perfect.
Slashdot Mirror
So now we can NIETHER prick our fingers NOR finger out pricks!?
Actually, as much as I love the little guy - er, girl - er, bird - the whole cross-dressing thing was merely a product of a bored localization staff. The original, Japanese manual for the game (which was Dokidoki Panic instead of SMB2 over there) had no such oddity; as such, the later "sex change" for poor Birdo was not a reneging so much as a return to the actual character.
On the contrary, the third person perspective is far more realistic than first person. Once you've stopped being bothered by looking over the player's shoulder - it barely even gives me pause after hundreds of hours of GTA3 & GTA:VC - the information this view presents is far more representative of actually "being" the character. It allows a greater range of vision, avoiding the disconcerting "tunnel vision" FPS' can sometimes create, and it let's you know immediately where you're standing, if you're touching anything, what stance your body is in, etc - all things you'd know in real life, but which aren't usually communicated in first person.
Ideally, I'd like screens or headsets that finally take advantage of the full field of human vision coupled with some sort of seperate HUD detailing the current stance of the player character (assuming full-body tactile feedback and/or neural interfaces aren't feasible in the near future ^_^). Until then, I'll crank my suspension of disbelief up a notch to believe I'm the guy whose back I'm staring at, and I'll continue to enjoy being able to actually see that demon coming at me from the side.
Um... How much did you pay for a pen that checks the validity of 12 dollar bills? 'cause, I'll bet I can beat that price... ;)
"Postal2 is fun if you play it for what it is (a virtual violence sandbox)."
No. GTA is fun if you play it for what it is (a virtual violence sandbox), and that game was a critical success. Postal 2 is liquid shit in a box.
Remember, kiddies: "Dark humor" requires both the "dark" AND the "humor" to work; simply peeing on dead people is not immediately amusing in and of itself.
Yeah! I mean, after all, Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory is FREE. It may not be 1942, but it's a damn good play.
^_*
They need 10 monkeys to dance...
Remote tabletop RPG'ing! Yay!
(yes, I know the table described in the article wouldn't quite work for this. But that's THEIR design flaw, not mine...)
Q: How do we determine who gets the Turing award?
A: By finding a geek who can pass the Turing test.
I recall plans to make these using a modified Radioshack strobe light in the old Anarchist's cookbook. I _almost_ talked my Dad into making one, but we ultimately decided it wasn't worth the time: we would have to sit at stoplights until an ambulance passed then videotaped their lights to get that city's strobe pattern, according to the directions.
I had an interesting childhood...
So, with the AV300, I worry whether or not we'll see a version of Rockbox or something similar, or whether the firmware that comes in box will be at least serviceable this time around. If not, at that price tag, this device will try and fail to compete with both the smaller laptops and the portable DVD players.
A decreased drive towards reproduction brought on by decreasing space and an absense of the offspring-inducing fear of mortality?
Why would this make me not want to make a MMOLRPG Haiku?
Now I can run all those Linux- and Mac-exclusive games in Windows! Gosh! I mean, now I can play... er... hmm...
It was sarcasm. Read the parent (by Anonymous Coward, unless I've screwed up my reply). Read my reply. Take an English class. Realize we agree.
(I hesitate to respond, as I suspect this is some sort of weird reverse-psychology troll, but WTF)
OK, so when you, as an American (I'm assuming), are assassinated for our actions overseas by a random terrorist, I certainly hope your relatives feel the same way. We certainly hope they won't go crying that you were just an innocent civilian/working stiff who just happened to belong to the organization/country with which the killers had a problem. After all, if you had problems with the conduct of the organization as a whole, you'd have moved/quit.
The simple fact is that corporations the size of DOW employ tens of thousands of people, the vast majority of which are not only innocent, but most likely completely unaware of any corporate misconduct. There are people here who deserve to have biological waste shoveled down their pants, but the chance of them being the same people who have to accept this crap when it's dropped on their workplace doorstep are very slim.
I'm two quarters shy of a degree in English Lit. It's correct as is, or it's at least as correct as a casually composed Internet message need be.
And, oh yes, please be so kind as to go fuck yourself. Thank you so much. ^_^
In all seriousness, I can see the argument for it being spelled "Dammit," given that it's only a phonetic representation of a commonly used spoken contraction, and not an "official" combination of the words "damn" and "it." But I'll need to see some pretty convincing arguments before I'll agree it should be "I" and "She" instead of the far more common "Me" and "Her."
There. I've taken the low ground _and_ the high ground in this argument. Yee-hah.
"Hey Bobby! Come check this out! When I push the B button, Grandpa starts twitching!"
"Cool! Lemme try!"
Her: Hello?
Me: *pant* *pant* *pant*
Her: Ew! Pervert! *click*
Me: *pant* Wait! *pant* Damnit!
Maybe this isn't a good thing...
Of course the statistic was bogus. 47.2% of all statistics are made up.
I'm sorry, what did you say? I can't hear you over the sound of this repeatedly clicking button.
Hmmm... They certainly did seem conspicuous in their absense, but I wonder if they consciously decided to leave them out? Such high-speed vehicles may make it impossible to load the terrain fast enough on the PS2. Alternately, they could make them the same speed as the other cars, but that kind of kills the point.
Hunh... An interesting idea, but what if someone had their fingerprints burned off? I guess we could go to retinal scanners, but I've never liked sticking my eye up to some random machine. DNA scanners would need blood, voice recognition differs too much with attitude and health, and facial recognition is in its infancy.
Maybe, if someone could develop a system with, say, a two by three inch plastic card with someone's name on it, we could circumvent the whole deal. Yeah, it would be great! No more worrying about whether the machine would work, or your fingers were dirty, or someone had your prints - just slide the card and go through. We could even put a strip with bumps or - no, I've got it - a _magnetic strip_ with information identifying that person! As long as you didn't lose it - a far easier eventuality to avoid than, say, accidentally leaving your fingerprints on something - security would be perfect.
You think it'll catch on?
Yeah, and as we all know, radio as a format failed horribly. Oh, wait...
Ahhhh! You took the byte out of my rabid flying monkeys!
The other seven bits, incidentally, were my secret backdoor for any programs written in "MWoodylazium." I mean... Uh... Look! Monkey!