If it's a particularly good one, you bite your tongue open in a few places and can't talk for a week.
But yeah, other than that, you just come out of it dazed and confused. I have one about every two years. And no, it has never been while playing videogames.
When Symantec support (Eugene, OR) outsourced its legacy product support, that support went to Stream in Beaverton. I got picked to go train the new hires. By the end of the one week training session, I was still trying to convince a few of them that they would, at some point, have to learn how to edit the Windows registry (they had all had one week of Windows training before I arrived).
While I had one or two people in the group experienced with computers, some were paralegals or people who were laid off from manufacturing jobs. Their re-education was woefully inadequate, and I can only imagine how frustrating it must have been for the customers.
I should mention, however, that this was in '94, so I have no idea what the process or hiring pool is like these days.
I ran into this problem when I first started DDR as a workout. To fix it, I ran out to the local Pep Boys and picked up some interlocking padded shop floor squares - they come in a pack of four and are a perfect size for a DDR pad (leaving room all around the edges for missteps).
Since using those, I have had no problems with sore feet. They absorb nearly all of the shock and have held up well over the past two months.
Soft pads are typically rated at a max weight of 200 pounds. This isn't to say it won't work, but the pads will wear out quickly (some anecdotal evidence to confirm this exists over at the DDRFreak forums).
Anyone above 300 pounds who is looking to exercise with DDR can do one of three things:
1) Purchase a Cobalt Flux hard pad - their claim to faim is that they ran over their pad with an SUV and it still worked just fine
2) Purchase a knock-off hard pad (MyMyBox, Red Octane's hard pads) or build your own (Google for DDRHomepad).
3) Dance with DDR, but not on the pad itself. Throw the game into Workout or Training mode, where you can't fail out of a song. Then, while the song is playing, do the moves on your floor but not on the pad until such time as your weight comes down enough to use the pad itself. This isn't as fun, and makes DDR more like an aerobics video, but it works.
I've been using DDR for a workout for only two months now and while I haven't lost a ton of weight, my health overall has improved (I used to get frequent back pain, but that has gone away).
I don't even really see the point with the name. Mythic is a common word. Sucks that they chose it as their company name, but that's the way it goes.
Adding an 'a' to a common word doesn't make it an infringement of anything. Besides, their company name is "Mythic Entertainment", so unless Microsoft creates a game called "Mythica Entertainmenta", I'm not sure that Mythic should hope to win this case.
I'm curious as to why the studios who are upset over this don't just dump the MPAA. What benefits do they get in being a member, other than the ability to use the commonly known rating system (of which the MPAA holds all rights)?
Is it fair to say that master/slave originated far in advance of its technological connotation?
Is it also fair to say that people would be offended had the arrangement of hard drives been labeled Nazi/Jew?
No, they aren't quite the same, but I can understand where some might take offense. In my years of working with computing devices, I never actually equated master/slave with actual, historical slavery. But I can empathize with those who do.
It warms my heart, however, to see the usual gaggle of responses that decry political correctness without spending a second on perspective.
Agreed. A coworker recently decided he was going to get a game console for his kids, so he asked which one would have a library more geared towards non-adult titles. My response was along the lines of "Xbox is mostly adult, PS2 straddles the line, and GameCube is mostly kids. Plus, the GameCube is only $99 right now."
That and a demo of Rebel Strike pretty much sealed the deal for him.
However, at home, my Xbox gets the most play of any of my consoles, because it has the games I enjoy most.
There is soooo much less polution from nuclear reactors given the probability of worst case scenarios versus the diesel they are currently using. Why are we still burning fossel fuels!@!#@#!@!#
Because neighboring countries don't typically have to worry about diesel clouds killing them after an explosion? Remember Chernobyl when the media was warning the world that floating clouds of radiation would come and kill them or at least disfigure them in a Toxic Avenger sort of way?
Yeah, that's why we're still burning fossil fuels.
I'm not saying it's rational, but I am saying that you pump enough people full of enough FUD for a long enough time and they'll quickly learn to reject some concepts out of hand.
That's why I've always preferred the title 'quality assessment' when it comes to software QA. It rather honestly represents the situation - the testing team is there to tell you how bad things are and where they're broken, but they don't have the power to actually assure the quality of the product.
In game related QA, also keep in mind that the salaries paid to game testers are severely sub-standard. The mentality typically is, "Hey, they get to play games all day, so we don't need to pay them much," and it works for them because to somebody who had no job, $25K a year playing video games sounds pretty good. If you want really involved, really dedicated, really detailed QA staff, you might just have to pay more for them.
VMware might be great for general coding work. But what if you want to actually test something you've written? Good luck getting VMware to run your advanced 3D engine that requires a hardware accelerator (hint: it won't).
I've been playing multiplayer since Doom. I have been hosting LAN parties for three years now. And, I suck at games.
Yet, I keep getting back in time and time again to get my ass handed to me because I don't equate my position on the ladder with how much fun I'm having.
Sure, it's exciting to get near or at the top, but even when I'm dead last, chances are that I had a good time when playing. Being a sucky player, I live for the individual kills - those times when I was able to pick off the guy who's clearly owning the game. Even if I only do it once (and, at LAN parties, get to hear him yell, "Dammit!"), it's all worth the fact that I'll inevitably lose.:)
So, if the GameSpy guy (I'll admit at this point that I haven't read the article yet) feels bad because he sucks, maybe he should find some new metric by which to guage his fun.
I guess so, sure. But people have to tie sentience with social mores, and this happens through the consumption of sensory input.
Over time, we learn, we grow, we determine what society deems acceptable and we begin to pattern our behavior to it (or not, in which case society tries to correct it).
However, I don't know if we should necessarily expect a seven year old to have the same understanding of that system. That's why parents are so great, because they are the ones who are there to provide context for their children. If no context is provided, then children are free to interpret as they will.
This is not to say that this excuses children from shooting at passing vehicles because, they claim, they got the idea from a videogame (children at that age are also smart enough to transfer blame), but some parental reinforcement of what is okay to do in a virtual environment and what is okay to do in reality would be handy.
Unfortunately, that means parents need to take at least a passing interest in videogames. Most parents can handle teaching kids that film and TV are "make believe" because they, themselves, have an interest in film and TV. But if there is no interest in videogames, they are likely purchasing games for their children in order to pacify them or keep them busy while the parents engage themselves in an activity that *does* interest them.
We are, however, on the cusp of a change over to parents who were raised on games, or, at least, with games as a regular presence. From Pong to Breakout to Dungeons & Dragons to Donkey Kong to Impossible Mission to Shadow of the Beast to Wolfenstein 3D to Quake, I have built a history of videogame context with which I can guide my child as he gets to gaming age. Even now, when he's under two years old (and, in the case of my child, developmentally disabled), he enjoys watching me play Q3A. It will be my job to make sure he understands that videogames are "make believe" and should no more be re-enacted in the real world than jumping off a building to pretend one is Superman.
I enjoyed the DOA3 and DOAXBV commercials. They were funny and surprisingly honest, plus they showed actual game footage.
The commercials I really hate? The ones that show gameplay footage but then show the sections of the game where the framerate drops to the 10-20 FPS range. If you're trying to sell me a game, for goodness sake, don't show me how it sucks!
Valve did survey the hell out of people over the past few years, it's probably pretty apparent to them who the money generators are (and it unfortunately isn't going to be people on dial-up or ISDN).
It would be interesting, though, to know if only 'gamers' responded to that survey, which might skew things a bit. There's also a mass market out there that likely would not have responded to that survey and whose answers might have changed things a bit.
I guess I'm John Q. Casual Gamer or somesuch. Before reading the GameGirlAdvance Article of Infamy, I hadn't heard of REZ at all (other than a really horrible lite metal band from the 80's).
However, in doing some reading in relation to this aticle, it sounds like something I'd really enjoy.
Then again, so does Vib Ribbon, but it isn't as though I can get that game without importing.
The funny thing is that I did hear all about Space Channel 5 and was able to find that relatively easily. So maybe it isn't that I'm too casual of a gamer (I'm building a room in my house for LAN parties), maybe it's just that I missed that game amidst the hubbub of everyday life.
Slashdot Mirror
Maybe now it's time to leave that damned bandicoot behind and get back to Naughty Dog's roots - Way of the Warrior.
It's been years since we've had a fighter with characters filmed entirely in garages and hallways.
Sure, it was a crappy game, but there wasn't much else to play on the 3DO.
If it's a particularly good one, you bite your tongue open in a few places and can't talk for a week.
But yeah, other than that, you just come out of it dazed and confused. I have one about every two years. And no, it has never been while playing videogames.
When Symantec support (Eugene, OR) outsourced its legacy product support, that support went to Stream in Beaverton. I got picked to go train the new hires. By the end of the one week training session, I was still trying to convince a few of them that they would, at some point, have to learn how to edit the Windows registry (they had all had one week of Windows training before I arrived).
While I had one or two people in the group experienced with computers, some were paralegals or people who were laid off from manufacturing jobs. Their re-education was woefully inadequate, and I can only imagine how frustrating it must have been for the customers.
I should mention, however, that this was in '94, so I have no idea what the process or hiring pool is like these days.
I'm aware of "pain in the ass" RealPlayer and RealPlayer "adware for your spyware only", but I haven't seen the "popular" one yet.
And I haven't tired of putting "things" in "quotes", either.
I ran into this problem when I first started DDR as a workout. To fix it, I ran out to the local Pep Boys and picked up some interlocking padded shop floor squares - they come in a pack of four and are a perfect size for a DDR pad (leaving room all around the edges for missteps).
Since using those, I have had no problems with sore feet. They absorb nearly all of the shock and have held up well over the past two months.
So keep a scale right next to your dance pad.
Problem solved?
Anyone above 300 pounds who is looking to exercise with DDR can do one of three things:
1) Purchase a Cobalt Flux hard pad - their claim to faim is that they ran over their pad with an SUV and it still worked just fine
2) Purchase a knock-off hard pad (MyMyBox, Red Octane's hard pads) or build your own (Google for DDRHomepad).
3) Dance with DDR, but not on the pad itself. Throw the game into Workout or Training mode, where you can't fail out of a song. Then, while the song is playing, do the moves on your floor but not on the pad until such time as your weight comes down enough to use the pad itself. This isn't as fun, and makes DDR more like an aerobics video, but it works.
I've been using DDR for a workout for only two months now and while I haven't lost a ton of weight, my health overall has improved (I used to get frequent back pain, but that has gone away).
Good luck to anyone who decides to go for it.
Isn't that the definition of average? If most had special abilities and knowledge, then they'd be average.
I don't even really see the point with the name. Mythic is a common word. Sucks that they chose it as their company name, but that's the way it goes.
Adding an 'a' to a common word doesn't make it an infringement of anything. Besides, their company name is "Mythic Entertainment", so unless Microsoft creates a game called "Mythica Entertainmenta", I'm not sure that Mythic should hope to win this case.
... for some time?
How long has that service been around that one can make it sound like they've been a subscriber to iTunes from way back when it was just a local band?
I'm curious as to why the studios who are upset over this don't just dump the MPAA. What benefits do they get in being a member, other than the ability to use the commonly known rating system (of which the MPAA holds all rights)?
Is it fair to say that master/slave originated far in advance of its technological connotation?
Is it also fair to say that people would be offended had the arrangement of hard drives been labeled Nazi/Jew?
No, they aren't quite the same, but I can understand where some might take offense. In my years of working with computing devices, I never actually equated master/slave with actual, historical slavery. But I can empathize with those who do.
It warms my heart, however, to see the usual gaggle of responses that decry political correctness without spending a second on perspective.
Not dying?
Who is proofreading the filings over at W3C these days?
Agreed. A coworker recently decided he was going to get a game console for his kids, so he asked which one would have a library more geared towards non-adult titles. My response was along the lines of "Xbox is mostly adult, PS2 straddles the line, and GameCube is mostly kids. Plus, the GameCube is only $99 right now."
That and a demo of Rebel Strike pretty much sealed the deal for him.
However, at home, my Xbox gets the most play of any of my consoles, because it has the games I enjoy most.
Because neighboring countries don't typically have to worry about diesel clouds killing them after an explosion? Remember Chernobyl when the media was warning the world that floating clouds of radiation would come and kill them or at least disfigure them in a Toxic Avenger sort of way?
Yeah, that's why we're still burning fossil fuels.
I'm not saying it's rational, but I am saying that you pump enough people full of enough FUD for a long enough time and they'll quickly learn to reject some concepts out of hand.
In game related QA, also keep in mind that the salaries paid to game testers are severely sub-standard. The mentality typically is, "Hey, they get to play games all day, so we don't need to pay them much," and it works for them because to somebody who had no job, $25K a year playing video games sounds pretty good. If you want really involved, really dedicated, really detailed QA staff, you might just have to pay more for them.
VMware might be great for general coding work. But what if you want to actually test something you've written? Good luck getting VMware to run your advanced 3D engine that requires a hardware accelerator (hint: it won't).
I've been playing multiplayer since Doom. I have been hosting LAN parties for three years now. And, I suck at games.
:)
Yet, I keep getting back in time and time again to get my ass handed to me because I don't equate my position on the ladder with how much fun I'm having.
Sure, it's exciting to get near or at the top, but even when I'm dead last, chances are that I had a good time when playing. Being a sucky player, I live for the individual kills - those times when I was able to pick off the guy who's clearly owning the game. Even if I only do it once (and, at LAN parties, get to hear him yell, "Dammit!"), it's all worth the fact that I'll inevitably lose.
So, if the GameSpy guy (I'll admit at this point that I haven't read the article yet) feels bad because he sucks, maybe he should find some new metric by which to guage his fun.
I guess so, sure. But people have to tie sentience with social mores, and this happens through the consumption of sensory input.
Over time, we learn, we grow, we determine what society deems acceptable and we begin to pattern our behavior to it (or not, in which case society tries to correct it).
However, I don't know if we should necessarily expect a seven year old to have the same understanding of that system. That's why parents are so great, because they are the ones who are there to provide context for their children. If no context is provided, then children are free to interpret as they will.
This is not to say that this excuses children from shooting at passing vehicles because, they claim, they got the idea from a videogame (children at that age are also smart enough to transfer blame), but some parental reinforcement of what is okay to do in a virtual environment and what is okay to do in reality would be handy.
Unfortunately, that means parents need to take at least a passing interest in videogames. Most parents can handle teaching kids that film and TV are "make believe" because they, themselves, have an interest in film and TV. But if there is no interest in videogames, they are likely purchasing games for their children in order to pacify them or keep them busy while the parents engage themselves in an activity that *does* interest them.
We are, however, on the cusp of a change over to parents who were raised on games, or, at least, with games as a regular presence. From Pong to Breakout to Dungeons & Dragons to Donkey Kong to Impossible Mission to Shadow of the Beast to Wolfenstein 3D to Quake, I have built a history of videogame context with which I can guide my child as he gets to gaming age. Even now, when he's under two years old (and, in the case of my child, developmentally disabled), he enjoys watching me play Q3A. It will be my job to make sure he understands that videogames are "make believe" and should no more be re-enacted in the real world than jumping off a building to pretend one is Superman.
I enjoyed the DOA3 and DOAXBV commercials. They were funny and surprisingly honest, plus they showed actual game footage.
The commercials I really hate? The ones that show gameplay footage but then show the sections of the game where the framerate drops to the 10-20 FPS range. If you're trying to sell me a game, for goodness sake, don't show me how it sucks!
It would be interesting, though, to know if only 'gamers' responded to that survey, which might skew things a bit. There's also a mass market out there that likely would not have responded to that survey and whose answers might have changed things a bit.
Except that, in this case, Windows XP is actually better because you don't have to have a net connection to activate it.
Doesn't sound like there is any such luxury for Steam.
There can't be that many more changes. Steam comes out in two days.
I guess I'm John Q. Casual Gamer or somesuch. Before reading the GameGirlAdvance Article of Infamy, I hadn't heard of REZ at all (other than a really horrible lite metal band from the 80's).
However, in doing some reading in relation to this aticle, it sounds like something I'd really enjoy.
Then again, so does Vib Ribbon, but it isn't as though I can get that game without importing.
The funny thing is that I did hear all about Space Channel 5 and was able to find that relatively easily. So maybe it isn't that I'm too casual of a gamer (I'm building a room in my house for LAN parties), maybe it's just that I missed that game amidst the hubbub of everyday life.