There's just too many product types out there to expect any site to track the feedback of, well, the entire market of stuff that's out there. For stuff I've looked for recently, garden equipment and robotic vacuums (ends up there's a bit more than just Roomba out there), I've found specialist forums and even commercial ads to be useful in tracking down details to search further on.
As far as generalist sites - I've found the eclectic community over at Slickdeals.net to be fairly useful in getting a quick grip on what to look for - but forum-goers there are intentionally against bad-mouthing products (thread-crapping), so you have to take a large variety of recommendations there with much due skepticism. Great place for leads though.
Then, of course, there's the Resellerratings-style sites. Once you've scoped product details, it's quite important to get feedback on who you're buying from. Again - due skepticism in all regards will help you in various ways, but large negatives or fake praise for rarely-rated stores can be an important part of an investigation for a large purchase.
If it's not a big purchase though, I'm usually comfortable just hitting Froogle, Amazon, or NewEgg and being done with it.
JUST when I get to the point where I can conveniently buy my favorite violent games, *BAM*, I get arthritis!
Related jokes:
Oh, violent games? I thought you were talking about Brain Age, Sudoku, etc.
Or
A PC game shelf with over 30 games on it in stores these days - that's quite an improvement!
Or
Yes! Finally! I can discover that the immature jerks playing games are NOT actually just angsty teens, and can be further disappointed by humanity! It's like a whole new flavor of misanthropy!
Thanks! Good night - I'll be here all week. Enjoy the veal!
I say we let the MythBusters team test this one out, before the congress votes on it.
Adam: On this episode of MythBusters, we test if terrorists can use the signal from a missile-jamming laser system to actually track the plane more accurately than would otherwise be possible.
Jamie: Yes, this is one of those stories we've been getting a lot of email about, and we've gotten special support from the folks at Northrop Grumman. I'm really looking forward to trying this one out.
[20 minutes of footage of tinkering with rocket guidance systems and guest rocket scientists advice, with several shots of rockets missing a watermelon with a simple modulated laser on it, and at last some splattered fruit.]
Adam: This is so cool - I think we're ready for the real test.
Jamie: Yeah, I'm really happy with how this came out. I'm surprised how easy it was to change the laser guidance on these missiles to track towards our laser masking system. We'll just have to see how the real system pans out.
Announcer: Coming up next: Will the airplane defense work against the modified missile? [Video of a missile heading towards an airplane] See what happens, after this break!...
Hey - at least it would be better standards than the folks who currently test our voting equipment, and likely many of our governmentally-mandated military expenditures.
A pity - the video is listed as "This video has been removed by the user." Self-censorship?
I actually DID want to see the content - any possible mirrors for the video? I won't try and 'justify' wanting to see it - I mean, come on, it's a kid doing something really stupid. I'm just going to want to see that, especially when presented as something that might be censored.
...depending on their favored theory of personal identity.
Player: Out of ammo? Damn. Nothing left... Kamikaze! DM: You 'heroically' charge the civilian spacecraft, ending many lives including your own. Player: Cool - when I wake up, I want to go get another ship. DM: You WERE the ship. Anyway, you don't wake up. Player: Huh? But we have a resurrection ship right there! You never said it was toasted, and even if it was, I would only lose a couple days memories since my last major network synch. DM: It's not that. It's just that personal identity doesn't end up working like that. Another Cylon has just awakens, sure, and with your memories, but it isn't you. That's gone now.
Or, alternatively:
DM: Alright, you've successfully climbed the wall, escaping the rising algae pool. That's you number 128. Next up, [shuffles papers]... you number 129 is nearing the window of the space station...
Or, alternatively:
DM: You awaken to the sound of marching and the cries of the dying. There is a loud explosion to your left. You are marching with a large group of identical Cylon Centurions. Player: Oh wow - um, I'm going to break off from the group. I want to investigate that explosion. DM: I'm sorry, but God won't let you do that. Player: Uh, really? I - ah, I want to wave my arm in front of my face. DM: Your programming will not allow you such choice. You decide to follow the group to......plus others.
Good comment, but the George Bush comment on atheists was a bit off - that was George H. W. Bush, the former president, not George W. Bush, the current President.
Well, regardless of what you think of his intellectual capacity, Kerry was pushed as the intellectual choice during the election by both sides. His 'flip-flopper' label was intended to take his willingness to change his position and push it as if it were a weakness. Indeed, both candidates graduated from Yale, but Bush was certainly not playing the card. My 'intellectual vs. authoritarian' argument is about the publics perception, not the dubious distinction of which is actually the most clever or curious.
Here it is, another intellectual, versus another incumbent authoritarian in a major election. I completely agree with John Dean, in his book Conservatives without Conscience, that there is a very pathological aspect to modern conservative authoritarians, but what can change the nature of the electorate? Intellectuals will continue to be perceived as wishy-washy no matter how bad the existing authoritarian, and the defense of increasingly authoritarian rule will not have a real challenge unless that changes. It seems that the only challenge to modern authoritarian rule is catastrophic failure across the whole society.
Will the honest questions of an intellectual ever not be a liability? Or will politicians always continue to have to be liars wearing masks of false confidence, grabbing all power available in order to hold onto any power at all? Must the functional brains of our society continue to be the most cruel amongst us?
From the article: "This is not about stifling or suppressing our science, or politicizing our science in any way,'' Barbara Wainman, the agency's director of communications, said Wednesday. "I don't have approval authority. What it was designed to do is to improve our product flow.''
They aren't even trying to justify their actions anymore. They're just filtering science from public view, and insisting that it is improvement.
If you're trying to be honest about the statistics, avoid harping too much about relative increases in rates - that's like bragging about your brother growing richer faster at a rate faster than Bill Gates.
Keep in mind that organic does NOT = life, just a precursor to life. Organic molecules/matter are generally just molecules containing carbon and hydrogen making a chainlike skeleton of atoms, with oxygen and/or nitrogen depending on if it is a protein. (Source). This DOES back up the hypothesis that organic molecules can form just as well outside of early earth, as in. It'll be interesting to hear just what the molecules were, but I doubt this will spawn any new theories about the extra-solar genesis of life on earth. It doesn't take special space-dust to provide organic compounds in the early earth - just the atoms from the life cycle of stars spreading heavier elements.
In the world of politics, in ANY nation, this is a very understandable result. Computers can and do change the world every day, including enriching the imagination and lives of many, many children - but for all the wonders of the world of computers, they are quite simply NOTHING in the face of basic education needed to allow them to both exist and be useful to a society. Not that such education isn't present in Thailand, or that computers couldn't elevate or create new possibilities if made more common - but against the political landscape of the same resources being used for more basic education, even the cheapest electronic computing tools would appear as naive pie-in-the-sky fixes to a important set of problems. The importance of making technology available to everyone is a huge step towards advancing a nation towards excellence - but politically most people everywhere will vote first for the basic health and happiness of the everyday people around them, before striving for technological excellence.
Also, this isn't a permanent dynamic in a variety of ways. With a GDP of around $8,600 per person, both the affordability of more and more capable computers and the income per person can reach further towards eachother in a rather quick order. Also, despite the slight blow to open source in government, the growing private and educational sectors can pursue the technological excellence that the government at large cannot politically take up.
$100 computers will offer hope, and widespread open source adoption will bring deep innovation and economic improvement anywhere - but weigh that against $100 spent in many other ways, or the concentrated organized effort and political costs needed to push open source over commercial software wherever possible, and you don't end up with something politically possible now. That shouldn't be a shock.
I do think it sucks if anyone sees this as a blow against open source - but I don't see it that way. I do think it hopeful in a sense that governments can see the ideal behind open source development and emerging cheap technologies that can improve people's lives - but I don't think we should expect such things to be used as more than leverage in debates until there are no other cultural issues seen in competition against action other than just commercial value V. open source values. And at that point, no legislation will really be needed.
The machine is actually very simple - in appearance, it's just a CD drive with power and eject button, plus the chord to the TV. The only unique aspect on the outset is the sensor bar and Wii remote+nunchuck. You put those together, and it's a VERY portable party gaming unit. The only vulnerable aspect is the chord on the sensor bar's wire that plugs into the back of the Wii - it's thinner than most chords I've ever seen, so would have to be kept out of reach of kids or animals that would be tempted to pull on or bite it, or out of an area where someone may trip on it - it would snap quite easily in such a situation.
Once it's connected and running, it's a very simple yet effective user interface. The only configuration choice at the outset involving the remote is if the sensor bar is above/below the TV. The controller doesn't have to be aiming at the TV, it just has to be 'seen' by the sensor bar to register movement - orientation and other aspects seem to work wonderfully relative to having the remote in front of the TV. Intuitively, any user of the remote can quickly learn the 'sweet spot' of having the remote in the right place to get the cursor where they want. You can go into the console's options menu to get to sensitivity options, and even see a sensor-bar's eyes-view of where the remote is, which helps to set a single 'sensitivity' value from 1 to 5. Once you've set that, the remote settles into the role of an extra-special mouse, with attachments. Like a mouse, there are certain movements that are natural, certain pixel-perfect aimings that are hard to get just right at times, but in general it works to get fairly accurate relative movement and aiming working for software. It is inherently more three-dimensional than a mouse movement (in games, you will 'thrust' it forward, rotate it, etc.), but the mouse analogy is the most common metaphor in common usage.
The games, subjectively, are extremely well-crafted for launch games. They offer a quantum leap beyond the advanced tech-demo feel of the Dreamcast release set. The interactivity of the Wii-remote demands a certain ability to explore the world you are presented, and in the games I've tried so far (only Zelda in a really full exploration so far), the meat is there, unlike the rather dry and selectively-interactive environments of the Dreamcast games. As an example, one of the most expansive games on the Dreamcast was Skies of Arcadia - and while it was a good game, it had a lot of non-interactive environments, which for me, really hurt the exploration aspect of the game between plot points and isolated side-quests. Wii games in general, so far, seem to offer that kind of interactivity - but we'll have to see how many games are released, and how third party and ported games fit into the overall picture of what ends up being the Wii games landscape.
I've been playing quite a bit exploring the landscape of the latest Zelda game. As long as I hold my wrists strait while playing, I've found it a much lighter stress than using a mouse. The closest thing to an ache I've gotten was while playing a precision flying minigame for more than a half-hour - having to hold the pointer perfectly still to pop these stationary balloons as the camera pans around your character's flying figure is akin to trying to hold your hand out in front of your body for a similar time... extremely easy at first, but your muscles do tense from the focus on a position. Sitting cross-legged on a chair, and occasionally resting my elbow on my leg pretty much fixes that issue with me though. Swinging both controllers, almost an endless number of ways and times though, hasn't itself been much of a stress at all, even now at the end of the game, and after going through a 50-floor optional battle-fest.
Nintendo has done a very good job so far making a comfortable and light controller. Players concerned about wrist or arm stress should compare against mouse usage, and be willing to take breaks if they have to do the same when using a mouse. Don't be afraid to rest your arm on something while playing, or to be creative with 'lazy' ways of performing the same action if it must be repeated. And, if it's really an issue, consider getting some cheap light weights (1-5lbs) and do some light exercise while watching TV at night or something - this works for even the oldest or the youngest people out there, from my experience.
Can't know what to truly recommend to you, actually - but I do think that most people I know would enjoy both the story and the gameplay, so long as they can accept 'video game role playing' conventions in the first place.
Each of the Final Fantasy games have a drastically different enough story that you can really try any of them without ruining the others, in any order.
Ultimately, there are no games that everyone 'needs' to play, they're only there for you to enjoy if it is something you want to explore, just like movies. If you're short on cash or time, new games, and long RPGs may not be the most practical choices.
But if you're just looking for some nice leisure time, FF12 is a fine game in the series. You might not take much from it, long term, but it offers nice moments of interesting challenges that you can learn to plan for, then excel at, without the instant-all-or-nothing feel of an action game.
If you want an RPG you can play once, and take something from, more long term, try Planescape: Torment, if you can find it. A wonderful game, with a fascinating range of philosophies and captivating stories threaded through it. The Final Fantasy series has some interesting philosophy on occasion, but it's never explored in meaningful terms beyond allowing a big fight or sacrifice from story-related characters.
I've been playing this one on-and-off for the past few weeks, and I've really been loving it. My main complaint about many of the recent Final Fantasy games has been what I think of as the 90210-teen style use of emotions at the core of the character interaction and story.
Thankfully, FFXII has done away with that. There's still deep emotions, angst even, but it's more than showing a dozen characters with emotional hangups and occasional epileptic fits, and calling these annoying mishmash of shortcomings mixed with superpowers a story. Perhaps it is just my taste for use of emotions in stories - but I do find the determined use of emotions driving, while avoiding cliches, in the FFXII storyline.
The only downside is the music - not that it is bad, but it is intentionally ambient while being well-orchestrated. That same ambience, though, means that you never really remember or anticipate the music except in the rare cases where the music is an allusion to previous games. The reasoning for this musical shift was to allow the sounds and many well-done voices in the game to be clear throughout, never drown out by music that is too strong. It's a bit of a shame for my tastes - I loved the strong music in some of the games. But it's certainly a lesser concern than the gameplay and the storyline, which are overwhelmingly good in comparison.
This reaffirms advice that states that when the robot uprising finally comes, you should always aim your rocket launcher at the head (or brain nexus)."
That's why any robot worth any title of 'overlord' needs to design itself to use redundant parts, preferably modular and rapidly configurable.
The StarGate creators had a good (if redundant in itself) idea with their 'replicator' race as the main bad guy for a while - only problem is such an enemy quickly forces the need for a, well, deus ex machina as its power grows.
Earlier, the show Lexx had a bad guy using a series of robotic arms that acted in a similar manner, which got so powerful as to entirely destroy one of the two 'universes' that the show took place in. It was impressive, because of the lack of a deus ex machina to fix the, um, daemos ex machina problem. I'm sure countless shows and novels have taken a similar idea before that too.
The future of this idea? Perhaps a Resident Evil game using cyborgs with a shared AI rather than zombies, complete with altering movement for damage? Hey, if everyone can steal ideas from the Thief series, more companies should steal some ideas from System Shock series too!
Ah redundancy - it's everywhere! Likely the mod for this post too.
So far, in the close Senate races (Tester Vs Burns in Montana and Webb Vs Allen in Virginia), the vote counts all favor the Democrats, leaving the incumbant Republicans in the position of legal challenger. In percentage terms, the advantage for the Democrats is much higher than in Florida 2000's presidential election, so the benefit of the doubt before the votes are checked will be very high for the Democrats taking the Senate.
I'm actually very glad that we have such close races in this election - this makes for one of the best possible cases for both parties to demand drastic changes in the standards needed for the voting process. Especially in the case of the 'electronic' voting machines and optical scanners using software like GEMS, and with extremely lax enforcement of standards across the board. Even without the expected cases of shennanigans, I hope we can expect some level of bi-partisan smackdown of these dangerously flawed voting systems.
Before the "It's your right to not vote/It doesn't matter" proponents insert muddly the water too much, I'd like to join in encouraging people to go vote regardless. Really - even if you hate the candidates, there are a lot of voter initiatives and state constitution issues out there that deserve serious consideration. Google 'Sample Ballot [County name] [State Name]' for your state and county and you should be able to find a sample ballot including the initiatives. Regardless of your stance, I encourage everyone in the US to exersize their right to vote today.
The only realistic hope for security through obscurity is if your product never actually comes in contact with a customer. Doesn't matter what kind of black box you put things in - if it comes in contact with a customer, it should not be considered secret or secure.
If you can package it to put it into a black box, someone's either going to open it, poke at it for a response, or figure out how to replace it. And especially with computers, they'll figure out how to use it in a more general way than you intended.
If you cannot accept that your ideas, no matter how big or well-crafted, are just a part of the greater ocean of ideas, then as long as your ideas can be used, your ideas are going to be swept away against your wishes. Until the nature of humanity is changed, that is the nature of the way we deal with ideas (and thus software/hardware). I personally find much more comfort in that dynamic than pain - there are many more ways to use that dynamic rather than fight against the ocean, so to speak.
Ah, but what prevents something from tampering with Code (CI)?
An incomplete DRM system can be ignored if there's still enough of a real computer (tm) left that doesn't have to jump through the DRM hoops. If you can run code in a way that doesn't HAVE to check the DRM for permission to run, then all the DRM becomes is a necissary bootstrap you need before your real software starts running.
And from what I've seen so far, a completely protected system simply isn't worth the inconvenience for a general computer. Game consoles, sure - I'll play in a sandbox, but no way would I allow Microsoft to have veto power over what I run on a real computer (tm) - it just isn't worth the costs, in all respects. And I don't think most people would want to play in a truly fully protected sandbox, once the cat-and-mouse game of patches and hacks plays out fully - it won't be a pretty sandbox.
Slashdot Mirror
There's just too many product types out there to expect any site to track the feedback of, well, the entire market of stuff that's out there. For stuff I've looked for recently, garden equipment and robotic vacuums (ends up there's a bit more than just Roomba out there), I've found specialist forums and even commercial ads to be useful in tracking down details to search further on.
As far as generalist sites - I've found the eclectic community over at Slickdeals.net to be fairly useful in getting a quick grip on what to look for - but forum-goers there are intentionally against bad-mouthing products (thread-crapping), so you have to take a large variety of recommendations there with much due skepticism. Great place for leads though.
Then, of course, there's the Resellerratings-style sites. Once you've scoped product details, it's quite important to get feedback on who you're buying from. Again - due skepticism in all regards will help you in various ways, but large negatives or fake praise for rarely-rated stores can be an important part of an investigation for a large purchase.
If it's not a big purchase though, I'm usually comfortable just hitting Froogle, Amazon, or NewEgg and being done with it.
Ryan Fenton
JUST when I get to the point where I can conveniently buy my favorite violent games, *BAM*, I get arthritis!
Related jokes:
Oh, violent games? I thought you were talking about Brain Age, Sudoku, etc.
Or
A PC game shelf with over 30 games on it in stores these days - that's quite an improvement!
Or
Yes! Finally! I can discover that the immature jerks playing games are NOT actually just angsty teens, and can be further disappointed by humanity! It's like a whole new flavor of misanthropy!
Thanks! Good night - I'll be here all week. Enjoy the veal!
Ryan Fenton
I say we let the MythBusters team test this one out, before the congress votes on it.
Adam: On this episode of MythBusters, we test if terrorists can use the signal from a missile-jamming laser system to actually track the plane more accurately than would otherwise be possible.
Jamie: Yes, this is one of those stories we've been getting a lot of email about, and we've gotten special support from the folks at Northrop Grumman. I'm really looking forward to trying this one out.
[20 minutes of footage of tinkering with rocket guidance systems and guest rocket scientists advice, with several shots of rockets missing a watermelon with a simple modulated laser on it, and at last some splattered fruit.]
Adam: This is so cool - I think we're ready for the real test.
Jamie: Yeah, I'm really happy with how this came out. I'm surprised how easy it was to change the laser guidance on these missiles to track towards our laser masking system. We'll just have to see how the real system pans out.
Announcer: Coming up next: Will the airplane defense work against the modified missile? [Video of a missile heading towards an airplane] See what happens, after this break!...
Hey - at least it would be better standards than the folks who currently test our voting equipment, and likely many of our governmentally-mandated military expenditures.
Ryan Fenton
Could it be, that the poster procrastinated in adding his ?
Ryan Fenton
Snow Crash, by the same author, actually has a floating metal psuedo-nation that acts in much the same way. Great book, by the way.
Ryan Fenton
A pity - the video is listed as "This video has been removed by the user." Self-censorship?
I actually DID want to see the content - any possible mirrors for the video? I won't try and 'justify' wanting to see it - I mean, come on, it's a kid doing something really stupid. I'm just going to want to see that, especially when presented as something that might be censored.
Ryan Fenton
...depending on their favored theory of personal identity.
... you number 129 is nearing the window of the space station...
... ...plus others.
Player: Out of ammo? Damn. Nothing left... Kamikaze!
DM: You 'heroically' charge the civilian spacecraft, ending many lives including your own.
Player: Cool - when I wake up, I want to go get another ship.
DM: You WERE the ship. Anyway, you don't wake up.
Player: Huh? But we have a resurrection ship right there! You never said it was toasted, and even if it was, I would only lose a couple days memories since my last major network synch.
DM: It's not that. It's just that personal identity doesn't end up working like that. Another Cylon has just awakens, sure, and with your memories, but it isn't you. That's gone now.
Or, alternatively:
DM: Alright, you've successfully climbed the wall, escaping the rising algae pool. That's you number 128. Next up, [shuffles papers]
Or, alternatively:
DM: You awaken to the sound of marching and the cries of the dying. There is a loud explosion to your left. You are marching with a large group of identical Cylon Centurions.
Player: Oh wow - um, I'm going to break off from the group. I want to investigate that explosion.
DM: I'm sorry, but God won't let you do that.
Player: Uh, really? I - ah, I want to wave my arm in front of my face.
DM: Your programming will not allow you such choice. You decide to follow the group to
Ryan Fenton
Good comment, but the George Bush comment on atheists was a bit off - that was George H. W. Bush, the former president, not George W. Bush, the current President.
First link on Google for the quote
Ryan Fenton
Well, regardless of what you think of his intellectual capacity, Kerry was pushed as the intellectual choice during the election by both sides. His 'flip-flopper' label was intended to take his willingness to change his position and push it as if it were a weakness. Indeed, both candidates graduated from Yale, but Bush was certainly not playing the card. My 'intellectual vs. authoritarian' argument is about the publics perception, not the dubious distinction of which is actually the most clever or curious.
Ryan Fenton
Here it is, another intellectual, versus another incumbent authoritarian in a major election. I completely agree with John Dean, in his book Conservatives without Conscience, that there is a very pathological aspect to modern conservative authoritarians, but what can change the nature of the electorate? Intellectuals will continue to be perceived as wishy-washy no matter how bad the existing authoritarian, and the defense of increasingly authoritarian rule will not have a real challenge unless that changes. It seems that the only challenge to modern authoritarian rule is catastrophic failure across the whole society.
Will the honest questions of an intellectual ever not be a liability? Or will politicians always continue to have to be liars wearing masks of false confidence, grabbing all power available in order to hold onto any power at all? Must the functional brains of our society continue to be the most cruel amongst us?
Ryan Fenton
Republican War on Science by Chris Mooney
From the article: "This is not about stifling or suppressing our science, or politicizing our science in any way,'' Barbara Wainman, the agency's director of communications, said Wednesday. "I don't have approval authority. What it was designed to do is to improve our product flow.''
They aren't even trying to justify their actions anymore. They're just filtering science from public view, and insisting that it is improvement.
Ryan Fenton
The UK has the fastest growing rate of gun crimes in all of western civilization.
Yes. The reason the rates increase so much, is because the actual numbers are so low.
Gun Death Rates per Nation
If you're trying to be honest about the statistics, avoid harping too much about relative increases in rates - that's like bragging about your brother growing richer faster at a rate faster than Bill Gates.
Ryan Fenton
Keep in mind that organic does NOT = life, just a precursor to life. Organic molecules/matter are generally just molecules containing carbon and hydrogen making a chainlike skeleton of atoms, with oxygen and/or nitrogen depending on if it is a protein. (Source). This DOES back up the hypothesis that organic molecules can form just as well outside of early earth, as in. It'll be interesting to hear just what the molecules were, but I doubt this will spawn any new theories about the extra-solar genesis of life on earth. It doesn't take special space-dust to provide organic compounds in the early earth - just the atoms from the life cycle of stars spreading heavier elements.
Ryan Fenton
In the world of politics, in ANY nation, this is a very understandable result. Computers can and do change the world every day, including enriching the imagination and lives of many, many children - but for all the wonders of the world of computers, they are quite simply NOTHING in the face of basic education needed to allow them to both exist and be useful to a society. Not that such education isn't present in Thailand, or that computers couldn't elevate or create new possibilities if made more common - but against the political landscape of the same resources being used for more basic education, even the cheapest electronic computing tools would appear as naive pie-in-the-sky fixes to a important set of problems. The importance of making technology available to everyone is a huge step towards advancing a nation towards excellence - but politically most people everywhere will vote first for the basic health and happiness of the everyday people around them, before striving for technological excellence.
Also, this isn't a permanent dynamic in a variety of ways. With a GDP of around $8,600 per person, both the affordability of more and more capable computers and the income per person can reach further towards eachother in a rather quick order. Also, despite the slight blow to open source in government, the growing private and educational sectors can pursue the technological excellence that the government at large cannot politically take up.
$100 computers will offer hope, and widespread open source adoption will bring deep innovation and economic improvement anywhere - but weigh that against $100 spent in many other ways, or the concentrated organized effort and political costs needed to push open source over commercial software wherever possible, and you don't end up with something politically possible now. That shouldn't be a shock.
I do think it sucks if anyone sees this as a blow against open source - but I don't see it that way. I do think it hopeful in a sense that governments can see the ideal behind open source development and emerging cheap technologies that can improve people's lives - but I don't think we should expect such things to be used as more than leverage in debates until there are no other cultural issues seen in competition against action other than just commercial value V. open source values. And at that point, no legislation will really be needed.
Ryan Fenton
The machine is actually very simple - in appearance, it's just a CD drive with power and eject button, plus the chord to the TV. The only unique aspect on the outset is the sensor bar and Wii remote+nunchuck. You put those together, and it's a VERY portable party gaming unit. The only vulnerable aspect is the chord on the sensor bar's wire that plugs into the back of the Wii - it's thinner than most chords I've ever seen, so would have to be kept out of reach of kids or animals that would be tempted to pull on or bite it, or out of an area where someone may trip on it - it would snap quite easily in such a situation.
Once it's connected and running, it's a very simple yet effective user interface. The only configuration choice at the outset involving the remote is if the sensor bar is above/below the TV. The controller doesn't have to be aiming at the TV, it just has to be 'seen' by the sensor bar to register movement - orientation and other aspects seem to work wonderfully relative to having the remote in front of the TV. Intuitively, any user of the remote can quickly learn the 'sweet spot' of having the remote in the right place to get the cursor where they want. You can go into the console's options menu to get to sensitivity options, and even see a sensor-bar's eyes-view of where the remote is, which helps to set a single 'sensitivity' value from 1 to 5. Once you've set that, the remote settles into the role of an extra-special mouse, with attachments. Like a mouse, there are certain movements that are natural, certain pixel-perfect aimings that are hard to get just right at times, but in general it works to get fairly accurate relative movement and aiming working for software. It is inherently more three-dimensional than a mouse movement (in games, you will 'thrust' it forward, rotate it, etc.), but the mouse analogy is the most common metaphor in common usage.
The games, subjectively, are extremely well-crafted for launch games. They offer a quantum leap beyond the advanced tech-demo feel of the Dreamcast release set. The interactivity of the Wii-remote demands a certain ability to explore the world you are presented, and in the games I've tried so far (only Zelda in a really full exploration so far), the meat is there, unlike the rather dry and selectively-interactive environments of the Dreamcast games. As an example, one of the most expansive games on the Dreamcast was Skies of Arcadia - and while it was a good game, it had a lot of non-interactive environments, which for me, really hurt the exploration aspect of the game between plot points and isolated side-quests. Wii games in general, so far, seem to offer that kind of interactivity - but we'll have to see how many games are released, and how third party and ported games fit into the overall picture of what ends up being the Wii games landscape.
Ryan Fenton
I've been playing quite a bit exploring the landscape of the latest Zelda game. As long as I hold my wrists strait while playing, I've found it a much lighter stress than using a mouse. The closest thing to an ache I've gotten was while playing a precision flying minigame for more than a half-hour - having to hold the pointer perfectly still to pop these stationary balloons as the camera pans around your character's flying figure is akin to trying to hold your hand out in front of your body for a similar time... extremely easy at first, but your muscles do tense from the focus on a position. Sitting cross-legged on a chair, and occasionally resting my elbow on my leg pretty much fixes that issue with me though. Swinging both controllers, almost an endless number of ways and times though, hasn't itself been much of a stress at all, even now at the end of the game, and after going through a 50-floor optional battle-fest.
Nintendo has done a very good job so far making a comfortable and light controller. Players concerned about wrist or arm stress should compare against mouse usage, and be willing to take breaks if they have to do the same when using a mouse. Don't be afraid to rest your arm on something while playing, or to be creative with 'lazy' ways of performing the same action if it must be repeated. And, if it's really an issue, consider getting some cheap light weights (1-5lbs) and do some light exercise while watching TV at night or something - this works for even the oldest or the youngest people out there, from my experience.
Ryan Fenton
Can't know what to truly recommend to you, actually - but I do think that most people I know would enjoy both the story and the gameplay, so long as they can accept 'video game role playing' conventions in the first place.
Each of the Final Fantasy games have a drastically different enough story that you can really try any of them without ruining the others, in any order.
Ultimately, there are no games that everyone 'needs' to play, they're only there for you to enjoy if it is something you want to explore, just like movies. If you're short on cash or time, new games, and long RPGs may not be the most practical choices.
But if you're just looking for some nice leisure time, FF12 is a fine game in the series. You might not take much from it, long term, but it offers nice moments of interesting challenges that you can learn to plan for, then excel at, without the instant-all-or-nothing feel of an action game.
If you want an RPG you can play once, and take something from, more long term, try Planescape: Torment, if you can find it. A wonderful game, with a fascinating range of philosophies and captivating stories threaded through it. The Final Fantasy series has some interesting philosophy on occasion, but it's never explored in meaningful terms beyond allowing a big fight or sacrifice from story-related characters.
Ryan Fenton
I've been playing this one on-and-off for the past few weeks, and I've really been loving it. My main complaint about many of the recent Final Fantasy games has been what I think of as the 90210-teen style use of emotions at the core of the character interaction and story.
Thankfully, FFXII has done away with that. There's still deep emotions, angst even, but it's more than showing a dozen characters with emotional hangups and occasional epileptic fits, and calling these annoying mishmash of shortcomings mixed with superpowers a story. Perhaps it is just my taste for use of emotions in stories - but I do find the determined use of emotions driving, while avoiding cliches, in the FFXII storyline.
The only downside is the music - not that it is bad, but it is intentionally ambient while being well-orchestrated. That same ambience, though, means that you never really remember or anticipate the music except in the rare cases where the music is an allusion to previous games. The reasoning for this musical shift was to allow the sounds and many well-done voices in the game to be clear throughout, never drown out by music that is too strong. It's a bit of a shame for my tastes - I loved the strong music in some of the games. But it's certainly a lesser concern than the gameplay and the storyline, which are overwhelmingly good in comparison.
Ryan Fenton
This reaffirms advice that states that when the robot uprising finally comes, you should always aim your rocket launcher at the head (or brain nexus)."
That's why any robot worth any title of 'overlord' needs to design itself to use redundant parts, preferably modular and rapidly configurable.
The StarGate creators had a good (if redundant in itself) idea with their 'replicator' race as the main bad guy for a while - only problem is such an enemy quickly forces the need for a, well, deus ex machina as its power grows.
Earlier, the show Lexx had a bad guy using a series of robotic arms that acted in a similar manner, which got so powerful as to entirely destroy one of the two 'universes' that the show took place in. It was impressive, because of the lack of a deus ex machina to fix the, um, daemos ex machina problem. I'm sure countless shows and novels have taken a similar idea before that too.
The future of this idea? Perhaps a Resident Evil game using cyborgs with a shared AI rather than zombies, complete with altering movement for damage? Hey, if everyone can steal ideas from the Thief series, more companies should steal some ideas from System Shock series too!
Ah redundancy - it's everywhere! Likely the mod for this post too.
Ryan Fenton
So far, in the close Senate races (Tester Vs Burns in Montana and Webb Vs Allen in Virginia), the vote counts all favor the Democrats, leaving the incumbant Republicans in the position of legal challenger. In percentage terms, the advantage for the Democrats is much higher than in Florida 2000's presidential election, so the benefit of the doubt before the votes are checked will be very high for the Democrats taking the Senate.
I'm actually very glad that we have such close races in this election - this makes for one of the best possible cases for both parties to demand drastic changes in the standards needed for the voting process. Especially in the case of the 'electronic' voting machines and optical scanners using software like GEMS, and with extremely lax enforcement of standards across the board. Even without the expected cases of shennanigans, I hope we can expect some level of bi-partisan smackdown of these dangerously flawed voting systems.
Ryan Fenton
Before the "It's your right to not vote/It doesn't matter" proponents insert muddly the water too much, I'd like to join in encouraging people to go vote regardless. Really - even if you hate the candidates, there are a lot of voter initiatives and state constitution issues out there that deserve serious consideration. Google 'Sample Ballot [County name] [State Name]' for your state and county and you should be able to find a sample ballot including the initiatives. Regardless of your stance, I encourage everyone in the US to exersize their right to vote today.
Ryan Fenton
The only realistic hope for security through obscurity is if your product never actually comes in contact with a customer. Doesn't matter what kind of black box you put things in - if it comes in contact with a customer, it should not be considered secret or secure.
If you can package it to put it into a black box, someone's either going to open it, poke at it for a response, or figure out how to replace it. And especially with computers, they'll figure out how to use it in a more general way than you intended.
If you cannot accept that your ideas, no matter how big or well-crafted, are just a part of the greater ocean of ideas, then as long as your ideas can be used, your ideas are going to be swept away against your wishes. Until the nature of humanity is changed, that is the nature of the way we deal with ideas (and thus software/hardware). I personally find much more comfort in that dynamic than pain - there are many more ways to use that dynamic rather than fight against the ocean, so to speak.
Ryan Fenton
Haikus are too long. I'm happy.
Ryan Fenton
Ah, but what prevents something from tampering with Code (CI)?
An incomplete DRM system can be ignored if there's still enough of a real computer (tm) left that doesn't have to jump through the DRM hoops. If you can run code in a way that doesn't HAVE to check the DRM for permission to run, then all the DRM becomes is a necissary bootstrap you need before your real software starts running.
And from what I've seen so far, a completely protected system simply isn't worth the inconvenience for a general computer. Game consoles, sure - I'll play in a sandbox, but no way would I allow Microsoft to have veto power over what I run on a real computer (tm) - it just isn't worth the costs, in all respects. And I don't think most people would want to play in a truly fully protected sandbox, once the cat-and-mouse game of patches and hacks plays out fully - it won't be a pretty sandbox.
Ryan Fenton
Now, that's a little embarrasing - posted a link as a fix, and it had the same problem. You'll have to click hybrid/satellite to make both links work.
Ryan Fenton