It's not insulting, anymore than calling someone a cunt or a dick is degrading to someone of the applicable sex. It's how the English language has evolved. There's something to mock about everybody (nerd, geek, fatso), gays really need to get over themselves and realize that there has been bashing of a non-gay type for way, way longer.
You're going to run into a hardware bottleneck, mostly because of the PCI bus. You simply can't throuhput more than your 10MBit card can handle, and you'll be lucky if you get that much through. No non-dedicated machine is going to be as fast (and by dedicated, I'm referring to something specifically designed to be a router/switch), they just aren't designed that way. Bus limitations aren't as important in a machine that will be limited by external factors such as a broadband connection.
Go invest in a good Cisco box...a router or a switch of some kind...that will do this for you. If you want, hook this box up internally to do some monitoring, though last time I checked Cisco boxen do most of that for you. Really, you're moving from a homebrew, college dorm room solution to the real world.
Why do they think this will work? Has digital DRM worked yet? All it takes is one person to design a digital filter, post the instructions on the internet, and they've just lost the ability to control content. This is gonna make cable descrambling look like a side project.
But FF:CC was still an RPG. Animal Crossing is still a simulation game mixed with a puzzle, effectively. The Sims is an RPG mixed with a simulation game. I haven't played Cubivore or Pikmin, so let's limit my disagreement to the (arguably more mainstream) games you've mentioned.
None of these games are 'innovating', per se, they're just improving on previous games or mixing genres. MMORPG was the last new genre, but that isn't to say that more won't be created. What really needs to happen to open up more categories is a technological breakthrough. Think about it...modems revolutionized gaming by allowing two people to play one game simultaneously; faster processors/video cards spawned FPS's; the internet made MMORPGs possible. When technology allows someone to build a machine capable of bringing what's in their imagination to life, you'll see a new genre open up.
All of us in college used it for this purpose...i worked tech support (think rigging lights and speakers, not ethernet) in college for the university union, and we all carried leathermans or schrades (my personal favorite). At the parties after shows, people would yank out their multitools for all sorts of useful stuff...roach clips, shotgunning beers, etc.
One afternoon at Cheers, Cliff Clavin was explaining the Buffalo Theory to his buddy Norm. Here's how it went:
"Well ya see, Norm, it's like this... A herd of buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest buffalo. And when the herd is hunted, it is the slowest and weakest ones at the back that are killed first. This natural selection is good for the herd as a whole, because the general speed and health of the whole group keeps improving by the regular killing of the weakest members. In much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fast as the slowest brain cells. Excessive intake of alcohol, as we know, kills brain cells. But naturally, it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells first. In this way, regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker brain cells, making the brain a faster and more efficient machine. That's why you always feel smarter after a few beers."
So you should be allowed to cork your bat in baseball in order to make yourself a better hitter? I call bullshit.
Find another server. There are approximately a gazillion games out there (plus or minus a bazillion) and they all have different skill levels. Or, as an alternative, find some friends who want to play that aren't Gods among men. Or, play against bots and set their skill level down. I used to routinely practice Quake Arena with 5-10 bots at varying skill levels...it was great practice, and I slowly improved.
In short, because you don't have uber l337 sk1llz or what not, doin't ruin the game for other people.
Let's assume a car drives 100,000 miles, at 50 mph, that makes a lifetime of just 2000 hours
I know you're trying to make a point, but I want any car I buy to go quite a bit beyond 100k miles. I've BOUGHT cars that had 100k on them, only to drive them another 100k.
You *all* are wimps. Back in college, we would have marathons of drinking and football watching. Get a case of beer and a pair of Depends...first one to stand up loses.
The closest thing I can think of for Sony is Grand Theft Auto. If Microsoft had the market share I'd split it between the two, but the fact remains that the PS line is kicking, and will kick, the crap out of the XBox.
The GTA line is probably going to be Sony's most popular series for some time coming, especially if they do a good job with GTA:SA. GTAIII was huge, VC was a slight improvement. If they can continually improve this line of games, it will be a huge moneymaker for them. I don't quite understand why the Gamecube hasn't picked up GTA, or does the decision reside with Rockstar not to produce for that platform? I would think you'd want your title on as many platforms as possible.
This is exactly why MUDs had newbie, or level restricted, areas. One area might restrict PvP for level 5 or above characters. Other areas may not allow anyone in who hasn't reached level 10 yet. Others may not allow level 20 and above characters in because they'll walk in, cast "Blazing Death Cloud of Might" and kill everything, including players, without thinking twice.
Frankly, there *should* be a penalty to being somewhere you shouldn't, whether you're too high or too low level. The trick is how to communicate that to players without affecting the roleplaying aspect.
Agreed. While I'm not particularly enamored of it, Outlook is relied upon by my entire project. If your leave isn't noted in Outlook's Calendar, you're in trouble. Likewise meetings, room reservations, design reviews, etc., are all kept neatly and viewable by all through Outlook. Add in reminders, local/remote storage options, and, oh yeah, email, and you can see why most corporate employees, especially managers, would like it.
Okay, I'm typically open minded when it comes to the CCG genre, especially when merged with all things Cthulhu, but this just sounds frickin ridiculous.
Not true. RPGs involve leveling up because, as you play the game and your characters experiences more and more of the game world, it's a natural tendency that he/she would improve in his/her skills. It's like any other experience you would have in real life...if you practiced baseball as much as your character practices magic or fighting or stealing, you'd become more proficient at it. The fact that your character 'levels' is most games device to inform you you have improved. Getting drafted by a team is the real world equivalent. RPGs are supposed to model the real world experience system.
Remember, also, there are two types of RPGs...linear and non-linear. Linear I differentiate from Quake/Doom only by the combat; Quake is user-dexterity based, linear RPGs are test a players problem solving abilities.
Non-linear, on the other hand, is a vastly different story. Half the time, combat isn't required and, in fact, is the second choice if you're playing with a non-combat character. Exploration is the objective of many of these games. Take Morrowind. That game is frickin huge, my goal in playing it was to explore as much of it as possible because the back story intrigued me. I played through it with 3 separate characters, each completely different from one another with different armor and weapons. Whereas Quake type games provide me with about a week's worth of playing, I played Morrowind for between 6 months and a year without getting bored of it. I'm still not bored with it as I haven't explored enough of the game to satisfy myself. I haven't even installed the expansions yet, God forbid those will suck another year of my life away.
Uh, nearly every card game is based on luck. Poker being the classic example that ISN'T based on luck, but it still is. You can be the world poker champion playing against a newbie and still lose because your cards weren't good enough to beat his and he never folds. Poker is based on luck because:
1) You don't know what cards you're going to get 2) You don't know what cards your opponent is going to get 3) You don't know how your opponent is going to play his/her hand
Does skill make a difference? Yes, ofcourse, but skill will lose out to luck.
So lemme get this straight...there are no bad guy players? Everyone's good? That sucks! The idea of being a Dr. Octopus or Riddler or Lex Luther or something and trying to orchestrate crimes without getting caught, not to mention trying to kill the do-gooders, would have been a blast! I think they're seriously missing out on a demogrphic here.
Amen. To paraphrase a Dilbert strip, "How did people look busy at before computers were around?". Those long days sitting around waiting for work to be assigned after releases would have been pretty horrid had it not been for web news and popcap.
Well, I've got news for you: most people vote for whoever they hate the least.
True, true, and absurd. I think the Democratic candidates on the ticket have based their campaigns around ousting Bush from the White House. I'll always vote for the person I like the most, and it's not the guy saying "Vote for me, I'm better than him", it's the guy with the good ideas that I think can get passed.
Java is a statically typed, compiled language with enormous libraries and messy, complicated development environments. That makes it a poor choice for an introductory course.
On the contrary, that makes it an excellent language to learn with because you don't suffer from the "shooting yourself in the foot" syndrome. This is the exact reason why CS classes in nearly every high school while I was that age taught programming in Pascal...the compiler will catch the programmer assigning an int to a string then testing it like a boolean. Beginning programmers shouldn't have to worry about these things, they should be grasping the larger concepts language structure and the first algorithms.
What have CS courses switched to? Java. Why? First off, Javadoc. You head over to Javas resource page and you have an easily indexed hierarchy of all the base Java classes. Secondly, Java reads like English. Sadly, System.out.println is probably the most useful and complicated statement a beginner will learn, but look for any Java source and you can practically read, in English, what the code is doing.
I know, I don't know what they're talking about, though. I routinely go 2-3 days without charging and with moderate use; my phone hasn't run out of juice yet.
cellphones are almost all available for free, depending on the plan
So are ours, but we also typically get locked into a 1-2 year plan when we buy phones. In my case, I lost my phone 6 months into the plan and didn't have a warranty on it, so I had to replace it. All the prices you see on the Verizon Wireless site are with a plan...the price jumps by about $200 without a plan. I could get a considerably better phone than the one I have with a plan, but already having plan, that wasn't an option. Speaking of 'better' phones, that leads me to...
but why not get the camera and color screen(s) and radio's as well when you can?...another post I just wrote was about where I work. The firm I subcontract to won't let any phones with cameras into secure areas (which, in most cases, is the entire building). As a company policy, you must check your camera phone with the guard *every day* on non-secure contracts. This is a pain, I'd rather just have a good, dependable telephone, sans camera + frills, that I don't have to routinely check with the guard.
Already, where I work we can't carry phones that have cameras on them without declaring them to the guards when we come in *every day*. I happen to work in a government facility, but it's not cleared...this policy is standard throughout the contracting firm that I'm sub'd to. In SCIF'd environments, no cell phones at all.
If I may make a suggestion...I'm on Verizon and just picked up the LG VX3100. It's about as vanilla as they come, dirt cheap (I picked up mine off ebay for $70), stores addresses, has a scheduler and an alarm that you can use or ignore, has a great battery life, is tiny/sleek and looks great.
I don't see a category that Morrowind would fall under. Granted, it's a new(er) game, but without a doubt one of the most open ended, longest, replayable and fun RPGs I've ever played.
--trb
Re:Oh for christ's sake
on
Singularity Sky
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
Agreed. While I would never give out an award for the writing in the Xanth series, it was creative and entertaining. Not every movie will receive an Oscar, but that doesn't mean that they aren't great in their own respect. Let me guess, you think heavy metal is 'lots of noise and stuff' too?
Slashdot Mirror
It's not insulting, anymore than calling someone a cunt or a dick is degrading to someone of the applicable sex. It's how the English language has evolved. There's something to mock about everybody (nerd, geek, fatso), gays really need to get over themselves and realize that there has been bashing of a non-gay type for way, way longer.
--trb
You're going to run into a hardware bottleneck, mostly because of the PCI bus. You simply can't throuhput more than your 10MBit card can handle, and you'll be lucky if you get that much through. No non-dedicated machine is going to be as fast (and by dedicated, I'm referring to something specifically designed to be a router/switch), they just aren't designed that way. Bus limitations aren't as important in a machine that will be limited by external factors such as a broadband connection.
Go invest in a good Cisco box...a router or a switch of some kind...that will do this for you. If you want, hook this box up internally to do some monitoring, though last time I checked Cisco boxen do most of that for you. Really, you're moving from a homebrew, college dorm room solution to the real world.
--trb
Why do they think this will work? Has digital DRM worked yet? All it takes is one person to design a digital filter, post the instructions on the internet, and they've just lost the ability to control content. This is gonna make cable descrambling look like a side project.
--trb
But FF:CC was still an RPG. Animal Crossing is still a simulation game mixed with a puzzle, effectively. The Sims is an RPG mixed with a simulation game. I haven't played Cubivore or Pikmin, so let's limit my disagreement to the (arguably more mainstream) games you've mentioned.
None of these games are 'innovating', per se, they're just improving on previous games or mixing genres. MMORPG was the last new genre, but that isn't to say that more won't be created. What really needs to happen to open up more categories is a technological breakthrough. Think about it...modems revolutionized gaming by allowing two people to play one game simultaneously; faster processors/video cards spawned FPS's; the internet made MMORPGs possible. When technology allows someone to build a machine capable of bringing what's in their imagination to life, you'll see a new genre open up.
--trb
All of us in college used it for this purpose...i worked tech support (think rigging lights and speakers, not ethernet) in college for the university union, and we all carried leathermans or schrades (my personal favorite). At the parties after shows, people would yank out their multitools for all sorts of useful stuff...roach clips, shotgunning beers, etc.
--trb
Ahem...
One afternoon at Cheers, Cliff Clavin was explaining the Buffalo Theory to his buddy Norm. Here's how it went:
"Well ya see, Norm, it's like this... A herd of buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest buffalo. And when the herd is hunted, it is the slowest and weakest ones at the back that are killed first. This natural selection is good for the herd as a whole, because the general speed and health of the whole group keeps improving by the regular killing of the weakest members. In much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fast as the slowest brain cells. Excessive intake of alcohol, as we know, kills brain cells. But naturally, it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells first. In this way, regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker brain cells, making the brain a faster and more efficient machine. That's why you always feel smarter after a few beers."
So you should be allowed to cork your bat in baseball in order to make yourself a better hitter? I call bullshit.
Find another server. There are approximately a gazillion games out there (plus or minus a bazillion) and they all have different skill levels. Or, as an alternative, find some friends who want to play that aren't Gods among men. Or, play against bots and set their skill level down. I used to routinely practice Quake Arena with 5-10 bots at varying skill levels...it was great practice, and I slowly improved.
In short, because you don't have uber l337 sk1llz or what not, doin't ruin the game for other people.
--trb
Let's assume a car drives 100,000 miles, at 50 mph, that makes a lifetime of just 2000 hours
I know you're trying to make a point, but I want any car I buy to go quite a bit beyond 100k miles. I've BOUGHT cars that had 100k on them, only to drive them another 100k.
--trb
You *all* are wimps. Back in college, we would have marathons of drinking and football watching. Get a case of beer and a pair of Depends...first one to stand up loses.
--trb
The closest thing I can think of for Sony is Grand Theft Auto. If Microsoft had the market share I'd split it between the two, but the fact remains that the PS line is kicking, and will kick, the crap out of the XBox.
The GTA line is probably going to be Sony's most popular series for some time coming, especially if they do a good job with GTA:SA. GTAIII was huge, VC was a slight improvement. If they can continually improve this line of games, it will be a huge moneymaker for them. I don't quite understand why the Gamecube hasn't picked up GTA, or does the decision reside with Rockstar not to produce for that platform? I would think you'd want your title on as many platforms as possible.
--trb
This is exactly why MUDs had newbie, or level restricted, areas. One area might restrict PvP for level 5 or above characters. Other areas may not allow anyone in who hasn't reached level 10 yet. Others may not allow level 20 and above characters in because they'll walk in, cast "Blazing Death Cloud of Might" and kill everything, including players, without thinking twice.
Frankly, there *should* be a penalty to being somewhere you shouldn't, whether you're too high or too low level. The trick is how to communicate that to players without affecting the roleplaying aspect.
--trb
Agreed. While I'm not particularly enamored of it, Outlook is relied upon by my entire project. If your leave isn't noted in Outlook's Calendar, you're in trouble. Likewise meetings, room reservations, design reviews, etc., are all kept neatly and viewable by all through Outlook. Add in reminders, local/remote storage options, and, oh yeah, email, and you can see why most corporate employees, especially managers, would like it.
--trb
Okay, I'm typically open minded when it comes to the CCG genre, especially when merged with all things Cthulhu, but this just sounds frickin ridiculous.
--trb
Not true. RPGs involve leveling up because, as you play the game and your characters experiences more and more of the game world, it's a natural tendency that he/she would improve in his/her skills. It's like any other experience you would have in real life...if you practiced baseball as much as your character practices magic or fighting or stealing, you'd become more proficient at it. The fact that your character 'levels' is most games device to inform you you have improved. Getting drafted by a team is the real world equivalent. RPGs are supposed to model the real world experience system.
Remember, also, there are two types of RPGs...linear and non-linear. Linear I differentiate from Quake/Doom only by the combat; Quake is user-dexterity based, linear RPGs are test a players problem solving abilities.
Non-linear, on the other hand, is a vastly different story. Half the time, combat isn't required and, in fact, is the second choice if you're playing with a non-combat character. Exploration is the objective of many of these games. Take Morrowind. That game is frickin huge, my goal in playing it was to explore as much of it as possible because the back story intrigued me. I played through it with 3 separate characters, each completely different from one another with different armor and weapons. Whereas Quake type games provide me with about a week's worth of playing, I played Morrowind for between 6 months and a year without getting bored of it. I'm still not bored with it as I haven't explored enough of the game to satisfy myself. I haven't even installed the expansions yet, God forbid those will suck another year of my life away.
--trb
Uh, nearly every card game is based on luck. Poker being the classic example that ISN'T based on luck, but it still is. You can be the world poker champion playing against a newbie and still lose because your cards weren't good enough to beat his and he never folds. Poker is based on luck because:
1) You don't know what cards you're going to get
2) You don't know what cards your opponent is going to get
3) You don't know how your opponent is going to play his/her hand
Does skill make a difference? Yes, ofcourse, but skill will lose out to luck.
--trb
So lemme get this straight...there are no bad guy players? Everyone's good? That sucks! The idea of being a Dr. Octopus or Riddler or Lex Luther or something and trying to orchestrate crimes without getting caught, not to mention trying to kill the do-gooders, would have been a blast! I think they're seriously missing out on a demogrphic here.
--trb
Amen. To paraphrase a Dilbert strip, "How did people look busy at before computers were around?". Those long days sitting around waiting for work to be assigned after releases would have been pretty horrid had it not been for web news and popcap.
--trb
Well, I've got news for you: most people vote for whoever they hate the least.
True, true, and absurd. I think the Democratic candidates on the ticket have based their campaigns around ousting Bush from the White House. I'll always vote for the person I like the most, and it's not the guy saying "Vote for me, I'm better than him", it's the guy with the good ideas that I think can get passed.
--trb
Java is a statically typed, compiled language with enormous libraries and messy, complicated development environments. That makes it a poor choice for an introductory course.
On the contrary, that makes it an excellent language to learn with because you don't suffer from the "shooting yourself in the foot" syndrome. This is the exact reason why CS classes in nearly every high school while I was that age taught programming in Pascal...the compiler will catch the programmer assigning an int to a string then testing it like a boolean. Beginning programmers shouldn't have to worry about these things, they should be grasping the larger concepts language structure and the first algorithms.
What have CS courses switched to? Java. Why? First off, Javadoc. You head over to Javas resource page and you have an easily indexed hierarchy of all the base Java classes. Secondly, Java reads like English. Sadly, System.out.println is probably the most useful and complicated statement a beginner will learn, but look for any Java source and you can practically read, in English, what the code is doing.
--trb
The link provided says it has short battery life
...another post I just wrote was about where I work. The firm I subcontract to won't let any phones with cameras into secure areas (which, in most cases, is the entire building). As a company policy, you must check your camera phone with the guard *every day* on non-secure contracts. This is a pain, I'd rather just have a good, dependable telephone, sans camera + frills, that I don't have to routinely check with the guard.
I know, I don't know what they're talking about, though. I routinely go 2-3 days without charging and with moderate use; my phone hasn't run out of juice yet.
cellphones are almost all available for free, depending on the plan
So are ours, but we also typically get locked into a 1-2 year plan when we buy phones. In my case, I lost my phone 6 months into the plan and didn't have a warranty on it, so I had to replace it. All the prices you see on the Verizon Wireless site are with a plan...the price jumps by about $200 without a plan. I could get a considerably better phone than the one I have with a plan, but already having plan, that wasn't an option. Speaking of 'better' phones, that leads me to...
but why not get the camera and color screen(s) and radio's as well when you can?
--trb
Already, where I work we can't carry phones that have cameras on them without declaring them to the guards when we come in *every day*. I happen to work in a government facility, but it's not cleared...this policy is standard throughout the contracting firm that I'm sub'd to. In SCIF'd environments, no cell phones at all.
--trb
If I may make a suggestion...I'm on Verizon and just picked up the LG VX3100. It's about as vanilla as they come, dirt cheap (I picked up mine off ebay for $70), stores addresses, has a scheduler and an alarm that you can use or ignore, has a great battery life, is tiny/sleek and looks great.
--trb
Okay, did anyone else see what should have been the obvious option under Pokemon? I didn't see "None of the Above" anywhere.
--trb
I don't see a category that Morrowind would fall under. Granted, it's a new(er) game, but without a doubt one of the most open ended, longest, replayable and fun RPGs I've ever played.
--trb
Agreed. While I would never give out an award for the writing in the Xanth series, it was creative and entertaining. Not every movie will receive an Oscar, but that doesn't mean that they aren't great in their own respect. Let me guess, you think heavy metal is 'lots of noise and stuff' too?
--trb