Nope. There's almost always been exp and "something else", except in FFX. FF7 you got points which levelled up materia. FF6 your points earned points toward learning spells (much like FF9).
Experience makes you tougher. LP lets you learn new abilities/use new armor.
I know this is not the historical answer, but they're in no way continuous. No shared characters or ability systems. Each one is the "Final" one in their given universe. Like reading novels by the same author.
"My only major gripe at this point is that all of the "augmentation" slots are contiguous on the license board. Wouldn't it make more sense to scatter them according to the other things in the area? They should have stuck with FFX's sphere grid system, IMO."
Unlike FFX, you actually get levels so your stats go up naturally. Now, there's a choice to be able to choose between learning a cure or adding 200 pts to your HP. If you decide you want to 200 HP at some point, just buy it later (not possible in the sphere grid, you'd have to go all the way back if I recall correctly). In FFX, there were maybe 2 choices between possibilities I have at any one time (most of the time, there was no choice, unless I used an exceedingly rare item). FFXII gives me more choices the more stuff I've bought. Much more. I have 100 choices right now with each character. My fighter can become paladin-like and I don't have to use a mega-rare item to do it.
There's a lot more interesting choices in the FFXII system that rely much less on mega-rare items.
The advantage of having a PC in the '70s vs using a mainframe was accessibility. You didn't have to be at work/school to access your documents. You could have a floppy disk and carry around your document to different computers. Now the situation is different.
It's a lot easier to get access to the internet than it is to get to your PC. I didn't bring a floppy disk to the coffee shop, but I can show someone I just met my document. Why carry around a disk?
Additionally, there's new opportunities. What if I want to collaberate with multiple people? Pass the disk around? I recently coordinated a party with my girlfriend by sharing the invite spreadsheet over google docs. Would you rather have your document stored on your hard drive or backed up on the google server farm?
As the internet becomes more and more ubiquitous, I see internet apps becoming more commonplace especially for tasks where bandwidth is unimportant such as word processing, but not as much so for say photo editing.
I don't see how the chart does this; it appears to me that both modern German, Dutch, and English all have the same common root in West Germanic language family. While dutch is no farther from English than German, it is also no closer (according to the chart).
The problem is that they're extremely slow where your app isn't multithreaded (some algorithms just aren't multithreadable) as the Itanium is just dog slow. Also, despite the high memory, the limitation of inferior (at the time) ATI graphics cards on a non-PCI-express bus didn't help either. So you could have a massive ammount of data in memory, but once you tried to display it, it was slower than on a Sun/IBM/HP opteron box. Lastly, one single byte of data failing within the box causes very fun/hard to debug problem and is not uncommon.
At least the Prisms run a modified version of Redhat (and not Irix). And yes, they've let everyone in the Prism group go except some people for support as far as I'm aware. Long live SGI, the uh...disk storage solution.
You're assuming microsoft's goal is to make money.
It's not (XBox division still posts losses). Apple is using iPod $ to develop computers and MS is (1) trying to dry up that cash fountain and/or (2) dominate the market via undercutting (i.e. IE).
With deep pockets, Microsoft's goal is about keeping their position secure and by conquering the iPod market, they eliminate/cripple a competitor in their biggest market.
The 18-25 demographic is the "most important" demographic in marketing right now. As you point out, the age group has little money, but the current wisdom is that from 18-25 people form "brand loyalties" that they'll carry for the rest of their lives.
Also IGN's audience is primarily male and tech-oriented. They probably visit other websites. There's kids out there who *only* use the web for myspace, sad as it is, and it covers both genders.
I got a piece of toast and it had black stripes on it, dating from its creation as toast. Surely those were "marks of the toaster"!
Therefore, toasters are sentient beings who design toast! For my next trick, I will not only prove that the toaster is sentient, but also lead the Jews out of Egypt!
From TFA (playmag.com): But there are a few key differences [from the iPod]: Microsoft plans to use the same transaction system as Xbox Live, its video game console's online service, which will allow consumers to pay for music using prepaid cards they can buy in retail stores -- saving some the hassle of needing to use a credit card.
I can walk into Walmart and buy a prepaid iTunes card with cash. The only I ever "bought" from iTunes was with a code from Pepsi. So please playmag.com, tell me how iTunes requires a credit card again? iTunes already has an allowance system too.
As someone who went to college with over 30 credits, and being friends with someone who went into college with over 70 credits, I can say the college "experience" was a good social learning experience for both of us. I took my sweet time, taking stuff I enjoyed, rather than just persuing my major. I managed to get a 2nd degree I hadn't planned on (BA in philosophy of all things) as well as my BS, since it "turned out" I almost had the courses for it a semester before I was to graduate. I also managed to put 12+ hours a week into music performance classes (just for fun again) a semester, maintain a part-time job, spent a semester abroad, while finding the majority friends I still have today. I took 4 years and I don't regret it -- I also don't regret takign the courses in high school to allow me to do what I did.
Some naysayers may say some of my courses were wasteful (Calc C, as it turned out, didn't help in any of graduation reqs), but all in all the "academic environment" is a very important thing -- and I'm very glad this specific student chose to stay there.
I don't think slashdot's politics are necessarily left-leaning.
Bush has a ~34% approval rating and is even less popular abroad. And even less popular among the college-educated (in the last election anyway). So when thinking about what's "centrist" among international, probably college-educated, internet users, it's going to be something that's considered left-wing radical among, say, Texans (I say this as someone living in Texas).
So slashdot's policies are centrist, where the center is defined via its audience.
In my personal opinion, if the right drops the hill-billy homophobic tripe and finds itself a better spokesperson than Cowboy Cronyism, it may find a message that plays in Paris as well as Peoria -- and center will move right.
Schmuck5000: Modding is not an unfair advantage. There is just as much chance that there will be a modder on the other team. I am there to even things out. Halo 2 is beginning to get old, us modders are just making it more funner.
Bad grammar, immaturity, poor spelling...Quick Taco! You've found a new Slashdot editor!
I've seen the video. It shows the game taking place in various epochs (single-cell,multi-cell, small animal, intelligent life, etc) where one epoch doesn't really seem to clearly impact the other. I don't care about my killing the first orc having an effect on later game. I'm talking about the class I choose, skills I choose to learn, and whatnot having a late game effect however smallish. In FF7, that cure materia I start with may still be equipped late game, and will have improved (vs choosing a lightning materia to build up). That +2 stregnth bonus I got in FFX is still useful late game -- and I could've moved along the skill grid otherwise.
Also, sandbox games are different than RPGs since there's only a storyline in one. In a sandbox game, the gameplay must stand alone.
My concern is that for a sandbox game to be fulfilling/addictive, my late game state needs to be influenced somehow by my earlier decisions: I don't just "pass through" the protist: the decisions I make need to impact the later game or else be meaningless. Why not just start out with a later organism, since what I do earlier doesn't matter? Or is that the point?
In SimCity, the very first building that was ever built still exists in the later game and I'm still left with its consequences. The decision to break the game into distinctive "zones" as I see it makes this more of an issue than SimCity.
I've only seen Cars, Nemo, and Toy Story (1 and 2). So you're right in that sense.
However, the stereotypes describes all characters except the main ones (according to my original post). I can count 3 characters for whom the stereotype isn't accurate in Cars (main char, female, and his hero). While we learned more about many of the characters, is cow-tipping not best example of a hick pasttime?
How about hero (who is known to be great) has something happen to question/forces him to reprove that greatness, meets and marries the only cute single female in the movie, and ultimately refinds his greatness while meeting a bunch of characters who are flat one-word cultural stereotypes (hick, surfer, alcoholic, bimbo, etc) and acting as an affirmation of those biases rather than acknowledging that deeper personalities exist.
Changing the windowdressing doesn't change the story.
C'mon folks. I know that it's really hard to click through to the article, but can we at least read the summary?
One or two installments of "The Hobbit," which Sloan hopes will be directed by Peter Jackson
Looks like it's the studio that wants two in installments. Since Jackson hasn't even been hired onto the project, he can't be making decisions about it. I'm not a Jackson fan, but please, give credit to the formulaic movie execs where credit is due.
The second step I would say is to create interesting AI personalities. If the AI is able to "act" effectively, you can create a storyline.
See Civ 4 for example. It's possible to talk about religious wars, grudges, xenophobia, and tributes without needing to refer to a static storyline.
If there were events going on in the background and each AI agent were to react to events, it would be possible to create an interesting RPG sans storyline writers. (This is personal interest of mine, and I'd love to write it someday).
Because I hate the clicking so much, I play smaller maps and give them a few more AI players (and put resources on "balanced" so there's one iron/bronze/oil/etc per player). Really, controlling about 5-6 cities is about the level of micromanagement I like. I finished a whole game last night in a couple hours (Space Race victory in 2005; almost won by domination). With 10-20 cities (standard map), you really need automation in order to make the game fun.
The traditional problem with strategy games is late game there's just too many units/cities. Limiting map size limits the latter variable which limits the former.
The most interesting approach I've seen to micro was Crusader King where you larger landowners gain titles and are forced to delegate land to vassals or else their empire becomes inefficient. Of course, vassals can revolt/etc but it's a great way to own half of europe without a lot of micro as your controlling 15 dukes rather than 80 pieces of land. It makes the automation aspect part of the game rather than trying to build a wizard around it which I appreciate.
Most people don't realize how useful the windows key is! My two favorites:
Windows key+D == Minimize all windows. You've got 100 things open and want to get to something on your desktop? Use this! Also, if you don't do anything, it's a toggle!
Windows key+E == Open windows explorer (!=Windows explorer). Much bettter for navigating filesystems than double clicking my computer!
On Linux: I bind it to the meta key! How else am I supposed to use the goto line keyboard shortcut (Meta+G) without editing my emacs preferences?
Slashdot Mirror
Nope. There's almost always been exp and "something else", except in FFX. FF7 you got points which levelled up materia. FF6 your points earned points toward learning spells (much like FF9).
Experience makes you tougher. LP lets you learn new abilities/use new armor.
Nice attempt at humor;)
I know this is not the historical answer, but they're in no way continuous. No shared characters or ability systems. Each one is the "Final" one in their given universe. Like reading novels by the same author.
"My only major gripe at this point is that all of the "augmentation" slots are contiguous on the license board. Wouldn't it make more sense to scatter them according to the other things in the area? They should have stuck with FFX's sphere grid system, IMO."
Unlike FFX, you actually get levels so your stats go up naturally. Now, there's a choice to be able to choose between learning a cure or adding 200 pts to your HP. If you decide you want to 200 HP at some point, just buy it later (not possible in the sphere grid, you'd have to go all the way back if I recall correctly). In FFX, there were maybe 2 choices between possibilities I have at any one time (most of the time, there was no choice, unless I used an exceedingly rare item). FFXII gives me more choices the more stuff I've bought. Much more. I have 100 choices right now with each character. My fighter can become paladin-like and I don't have to use a mega-rare item to do it.
There's a lot more interesting choices in the FFXII system that rely much less on mega-rare items.
The advantage of having a PC in the '70s vs using a mainframe was accessibility. You didn't have to be at work/school to access your documents. You could have a floppy disk and carry around your document to different computers. Now the situation is different.
It's a lot easier to get access to the internet than it is to get to your PC. I didn't bring a floppy disk to the coffee shop, but I can show someone I just met my document. Why carry around a disk?
Additionally, there's new opportunities. What if I want to collaberate with multiple people? Pass the disk around? I recently coordinated a party with my girlfriend by sharing the invite spreadsheet over google docs. Would you rather have your document stored on your hard drive or backed up on the google server farm?
As the internet becomes more and more ubiquitous, I see internet apps becoming more commonplace especially for tasks where bandwidth is unimportant such as word processing, but not as much so for say photo editing.
I don't see how the chart does this; it appears to me that both modern German, Dutch, and English all have the same common root in West Germanic language family. While dutch is no farther from English than German, it is also no closer (according to the chart).
I believe German is.
Consider:
Ich trinke Bier.
Ich tranke Bier.
Ich habe Bier getrunken.
(I drink beer.
I drank beer.
I have beer drunk
(ge + verb + t is like the english verb + ed. "Bier" btw is pronounced "Beer".))
It's no accident that English and German have irregular verbs in common. Dutch is similar to German, but I believe German is more similar.
The problem with Prism isn't that it's expensive.
The problem is that they're extremely slow where your app isn't multithreaded (some algorithms just aren't multithreadable) as the Itanium is just dog slow. Also, despite the high memory, the limitation of inferior (at the time) ATI graphics cards on a non-PCI-express bus didn't help either. So you could have a massive ammount of data in memory, but once you tried to display it, it was slower than on a Sun/IBM/HP opteron box. Lastly, one single byte of data failing within the box causes very fun/hard to debug problem and is not uncommon.
At least the Prisms run a modified version of Redhat (and not Irix). And yes, they've let everyone in the Prism group go except some people for support as far as I'm aware. Long live SGI, the uh...disk storage solution.
(Posted as AC for my own protection;))
You're assuming microsoft's goal is to make money.
It's not (XBox division still posts losses). Apple is using iPod $ to develop computers and MS is (1) trying to dry up that cash fountain and/or (2) dominate the market via undercutting (i.e. IE).
With deep pockets, Microsoft's goal is about keeping their position secure and by conquering the iPod market, they eliminate/cripple a competitor in their biggest market.
Bush is an "average joe" the same way Paris Hilton is.
The 18-25 demographic is the "most important" demographic in marketing right now. As you point out, the age group has little money, but the current wisdom is that from 18-25 people form "brand loyalties" that they'll carry for the rest of their lives.
Also IGN's audience is primarily male and tech-oriented. They probably visit other websites. There's kids out there who *only* use the web for myspace, sad as it is, and it covers both genders.
I got a piece of toast and it had black stripes on it, dating from its creation as toast. Surely those were "marks of the toaster"!
Therefore, toasters are sentient beings who design toast! For my next trick, I will not only prove that the toaster is sentient, but also lead the Jews out of Egypt!
From TFA (playmag.com):
But there are a few key differences [from the iPod]: Microsoft plans to use the same transaction system as Xbox Live, its video game console's online service, which will allow consumers to pay for music using prepaid cards they can buy in retail stores -- saving some the hassle of needing to use a credit card.
I can walk into Walmart and buy a prepaid iTunes card with cash. The only I ever "bought" from iTunes was with a code from Pepsi. So please playmag.com, tell me how iTunes requires a credit card again? iTunes already has an allowance system too.
As someone who went to college with over 30 credits, and being friends with someone who went into college with over 70 credits, I can say the college "experience" was a good social learning experience for both of us. I took my sweet time, taking stuff I enjoyed, rather than just persuing my major. I managed to get a 2nd degree I hadn't planned on (BA in philosophy of all things) as well as my BS, since it "turned out" I almost had the courses for it a semester before I was to graduate. I also managed to put 12+ hours a week into music performance classes (just for fun again) a semester, maintain a part-time job, spent a semester abroad, while finding the majority friends I still have today. I took 4 years and I don't regret it -- I also don't regret takign the courses in high school to allow me to do what I did.
Some naysayers may say some of my courses were wasteful (Calc C, as it turned out, didn't help in any of graduation reqs), but all in all the "academic environment" is a very important thing -- and I'm very glad this specific student chose to stay there.
I don't think slashdot's politics are necessarily left-leaning.
Bush has a ~34% approval rating and is even less popular abroad. And even less popular among the college-educated (in the last election anyway). So when thinking about what's "centrist" among international, probably college-educated, internet users, it's going to be something that's considered left-wing radical among, say, Texans (I say this as someone living in Texas).
So slashdot's policies are centrist, where the center is defined via its audience.
In my personal opinion, if the right drops the hill-billy homophobic tripe and finds itself a better spokesperson than Cowboy Cronyism, it may find a message that plays in Paris as well as Peoria -- and center will move right.
Schmuck5000: Modding is not an unfair advantage. There is just as much chance that there will be a modder on the other team. I am there to even things out. Halo 2 is beginning to get old, us modders are just making it more funner.
Bad grammar, immaturity, poor spelling...Quick Taco! You've found a new Slashdot editor!
I've seen the video. It shows the game taking place in various epochs (single-cell,multi-cell, small animal, intelligent life, etc) where one epoch doesn't really seem to clearly impact the other. I don't care about my killing the first orc having an effect on later game. I'm talking about the class I choose, skills I choose to learn, and whatnot having a late game effect however smallish. In FF7, that cure materia I start with may still be equipped late game, and will have improved (vs choosing a lightning materia to build up). That +2 stregnth bonus I got in FFX is still useful late game -- and I could've moved along the skill grid otherwise.
Also, sandbox games are different than RPGs since there's only a storyline in one. In a sandbox game, the gameplay must stand alone.
My concern is that for a sandbox game to be fulfilling/addictive, my late game state needs to be influenced somehow by my earlier decisions: I don't just "pass through" the protist: the decisions I make need to impact the later game or else be meaningless. Why not just start out with a later organism, since what I do earlier doesn't matter? Or is that the point?
In SimCity, the very first building that was ever built still exists in the later game and I'm still left with its consequences. The decision to break the game into distinctive "zones" as I see it makes this more of an issue than SimCity.
Fair enough=) Criticism retracted.
I've only seen Cars, Nemo, and Toy Story (1 and 2). So you're right in that sense.
However, the stereotypes describes all characters except the main ones (according to my original post). I can count 3 characters for whom the stereotype isn't accurate in Cars (main char, female, and his hero). While we learned more about many of the characters, is cow-tipping not best example of a hick pasttime?
I haven't seen all their movies but I'll try:
How about hero (who is known to be great) has something happen to question/forces him to reprove that greatness, meets and marries the only cute single female in the movie, and ultimately refinds his greatness while meeting a bunch of characters who are flat one-word cultural stereotypes (hick, surfer, alcoholic, bimbo, etc) and acting as an affirmation of those biases rather than acknowledging that deeper personalities exist.
Changing the windowdressing doesn't change the story.
(Toy Story, I think, is an exception.)
C'mon folks. I know that it's really hard to click through to the article, but can we at least read the summary?
One or two installments of "The Hobbit," which Sloan hopes will be directed by Peter Jackson
Looks like it's the studio that wants two in installments. Since Jackson hasn't even been hired onto the project, he can't be making decisions about it. I'm not a Jackson fan, but please, give credit to the formulaic movie execs where credit is due.
The second step I would say is to create interesting AI personalities. If the AI is able to "act" effectively, you can create a storyline.
See Civ 4 for example. It's possible to talk about religious wars, grudges, xenophobia, and tributes without needing to refer to a static storyline.
If there were events going on in the background and each AI agent were to react to events, it would be possible to create an interesting RPG sans storyline writers. (This is personal interest of mine, and I'd love to write it someday).
Because I hate the clicking so much, I play smaller maps and give them a few more AI players (and put resources on "balanced" so there's one iron/bronze/oil/etc per player). Really, controlling about 5-6 cities is about the level of micromanagement I like. I finished a whole game last night in a couple hours (Space Race victory in 2005; almost won by domination). With 10-20 cities (standard map), you really need automation in order to make the game fun.
The traditional problem with strategy games is late game there's just too many units/cities. Limiting map size limits the latter variable which limits the former.
The most interesting approach I've seen to micro was Crusader King where you larger landowners gain titles and are forced to delegate land to vassals or else their empire becomes inefficient. Of course, vassals can revolt/etc but it's a great way to own half of europe without a lot of micro as your controlling 15 dukes rather than 80 pieces of land. It makes the automation aspect part of the game rather than trying to build a wizard around it which I appreciate.
Let's not forget who owns his studio. Methinks he may not be speaking freely.
Most people don't realize how useful the windows key is! My two favorites:
Windows key+D == Minimize all windows. You've got 100 things open and want to get to something on your desktop? Use this! Also, if you don't do anything, it's a toggle!
Windows key+E == Open windows explorer (!=Windows explorer). Much bettter for navigating filesystems than double clicking my computer!
On Linux:
I bind it to the meta key! How else am I supposed to use the goto line keyboard shortcut (Meta+G) without editing my emacs preferences?