Oh for the love of God I hope they put this in a caddie of some sort to protect it. I'm still upset that DVDs are bare media.
CDs get bad enough skipps, DVDs are worse, what's going to happen to this next generation media when it gets scratched? Will a scratch obliterate several hundred megs? At some point error correction just doesn't cut it, a protective caddie is a necessity here.
As for HD-DVD or Blu-ray or this e-beam stuff, if one doesn't use a caddie, don't support it. We shouldn't have our media ruined if they don't get treated perfectly. If I was one for conspiracy theories, I'd think DVD is one to get us to buy the same thing over and over since the discs are so fragile.
It's been said before in this thread, but:
It's a safe bet that the MS's new console won't have backwards compatability. Here's why: 1) Different cpu architecture, Intel PIII->IBM G5. 2) Different graphics chipset nVidia->ATI 3) A hard drive is pretty much out of the picture 4) No black and white buttons on the new controller
Now, even if the new cpu is sufficiantly powerfull to emulate a 700-odd MHz PIII, there is a lot of proprietary nVidia graphics whiz-bang that won't translate to the new ATI chip, increasing the cpu's software emulation load significantly. If the new CPU manages to handle all that, there is still the matter of no hard drive, which many games relied upon. Using 256 or 512MB memory cards to fool the games doesn't seem economically feasible at the rate they would need to be used. Now finally, the lack of the black and white buttons on the new controller: They were a bad aspect of a crappy controller, good riddance! But, they could just use the same controller port and have you use the old Xbox controllers, or add them back into the new controller design.
If anything, (considering the specs) it will be easier for the new MS console to emulate Gamecube games than Xbox games. Hell, given the shellacing they endured this round (3rd overall world, $Billions$ lost), and the fact that they are now essentially COPYING Nintendo's design, MS should just try to co-brand the new Nintendo.
Honestly, think about how good this partnership could be: Nintendo will make a good console that won't sell at a huge loss and will sell in Japan (an important point), with great 1st party games - it's what they do best. MS can do what they do best - market to the "If I can't kill hookers or blow up convents, it's a kiddy game" demographic that Nintendo sorely lacks, and use their mountains of cash to buy companies that make good 2nd party games (ie Rare). God, even though I don't have much love for MS, I would love it if that happened. That console would have Sony in the brown trousers.
Plus, the Russians already have plenty of experience building rockets in Cuba!
That and closer to the equator = cheaper launch costs. Even though it's not much farther south than Florida, any physics buffs want to calculate the difference in launch energy?
BTW, what's the count on Russian space failures? I know they've had their accidents, but I can't think of when and where. It's not like we've got a spotless record anyhow.../insomnia
How are(were) you supposed to get the data back off the discs? Do you play them like a record and get back dictated information? Or is it microfiche-like?
I know there are some projects around the net looking to preserve obsolete data storage devices and media. The logic being that if we ever need to recover important/interesting data off an old format, we won't be out of luck. That, and the sheer geek-value of tons of old equipment. Unfortunately, some devices are already lost in the cogs of time. If you ever want to get rid of them, I'm sure one of these places would LOVE to have them.
People keep complaining about the triggers on the ps2 or xbox, but I think the Gamecube triggers are great.
They are analogue, have a good range of motion and they have a digital click when you fully depress them and then push just a little more. It's great for precisely controlling speed in games like Rogue Leader so you can get behind a ship and tail them or boost away if you're in trouble. I don't understand why one would make an analogue trigger like the ps2's triggers. The range of motion would be so short fine controll would be way to hard.
Also, the Gamecube triggers are nice and comfortably curved so you fingers don't slide off or cramp while trying to hold them in place, it just kind of cradles your fingers where they should be. That, and Nintendo obviously made the right choice in putting the left joystick under the thumb's natural rest. I absolutely hate the left joystick on the ps2 controller, you have to angle your hand all janky, or the joystick sits under the joint of the thumb instead of under the nailbed like it should. Using both joysticks on the ps2 requires me to rotate both hands into an uncomfortable position, ugh. The triggers suck and those afterthought joysticks HAVE to move!
Yes, the game got some rather high marks in some quarters - but equally, many people voiced disagreements with these high scores.
Some people might not have liked it, but the overwhelming majority of players and critics love it. Like people who don't like chocholate or sex, they are a small minority.
The single player is appalling. There is no sense of continuity between the levels and there are only about three decent ones. They all feel as if they were designed by different people in different rooms who never spoke to each other
And the single player in Halo is better? There sure is a sense of continuity there, it's called "I've seen this room a hundred times allready" and "I have to play the whole thing again?" Halo has some good levels, but they frikin 'cut and paste' to get the game done faster. At least TS2 has variety
The weapons are totally feeble sounding (when reloading the shotgun, it sounds like I am shaking a rattle)
So you've loaded tactical assault shotguns before eh? I've slapped shells in pump-action shotguns before, and the sound didn't bother me. BUT, Video games are not real life. VERY few have ever come close to the real sounds of the weapons being simulated. Halo (and most others) does no better here; the pistol and rifle sound fake, and the other weapons are mostly imaginary. Even movies and TV fake the sounds of weapons; nitpicking on this is retarded.
Multiplayer was very lightweight as well, thanks in part to the weedy weapons and poor AI of the CPU characters
Weedy weapons? There are more of them, and thus more ways to play - plus you can define weapon sets to your liking, and I can't think of any big imbalances. I just don't understand why you think the weapons are bad. If anything, the pistol in Halo is overpowered: sniper accuracy and zoom with massive ammo, no aim drift, light recoil yet more powerfull than the rifle shot per shot? Hell, once you're good enough, you can practically forgo the other weapons. Some of my friends do, and they still kill like fiends against other good players. The pistol by definition shouldn't be that good a weapon.
Lastly, calling the multiplayer lightweight is like calling the Sistine Chapel a nice drawing: It might not meet your particular artistic taste, but to deny its merit is to declare yourself a fool.
For instance: I can't stand Bjork, I think she's a whiney freak, but I won't deny her talent.
What are you smoking? I don't know about Timesplitters 1, but Timesplitters 2 is one of the best console FPSs out there. I'm not alone in thinking this either: It averaged like 9/10. What more does it take to make a game not "poor"
It's the true heir to Goldeneye in all the ways that count: Good single player, ridiculously fun multiplayer, and high replay value keeps it fresh. Hell, it's twice the game Halo is: Better/more weapons, tons of gameplay options and characters to play as, map editor...
I can go on, but since you probably thought Diakatana was great, I'll stop here
I bought timesplitters 2 because I heard it was made by the remnants of the Goldeneye team. I'll buy what they come out with next (even if it's not Goldeneye 2 or Timesplitters 3) because these guys have shown they can make great games.
My brother (in our loving tradition of buying each other crappy outdated video games for all occasions), once gave me Bible Adventures for Christmass. The game itself is quite rare (and bad), and it took me a long time to find something its equal in suckitude. Untill one day I found Shaq-FU!
Without so much as glancing at the instructions, we nearly beat it in one try, but we had to stop because we were laughing too hard. As a fighting game, it's so bad I tend to think they shipped a beta. But the Shaq-part, no amount of gameplay could make that less painfull. It makes KAZAM look good. The joke was Shaq needed a KAZAM sequel to undo the damage caused by Shaq-fu.
Ah Powell's. Not just a good online shop, but a truly mind blowing brick & mortar store.
If you're ever state-side in Portland OR, be sure to check out the main downtown store. Many times I've intended to sneak in and out with just one book in mind, and ended up camping out for 4-5 hours just browsing and reading. It's like your favorite neighborhood used book store, only it's bigger than New Hampshire.
Plus, Powell's gives me that warm fuzzy feeling that you just don't get from faceless corporate behemoths like Amazon and Barnes & Noble. I'd order more textbooks from them, they don't usually have the niche Bio-chem books I need./Powell's uber-fan
I would have hoped by now that we had moved past the obsession with "oooh shiny disk" and come to realize that even though a caddy adds bulk, protecting the disk is damn important. As data density goes up, scratches become more and more detrimental
With CDs, It was understandable. The tech was new, and caddies were an additional cost on top of that newness. Plus, the "shiny disk" was a novelty. -Scratches were not that much of a problem, the music would hiccup, but rarely skip badly unless the scratch was bad.
We should have learned our lesson with DVDs. "shiny disks" were no longer so novel, and a minor scratch can send the movie wildly skipping. This is made worse by the fact that movies are singular entities, not broken up in to songs like on a CD, so restarting where you left of is more annoying. Renting DVDs is hell because one goober can fuxxor the disk. - We ship/sell DVDs in cases anyhow, why the hell didn't we make the case the caddy?
Now we want to up the density even more, and still leave the data surface exposed?? Now will a fingerprint cause a skip? Will a scratch render a whole min. or more unviewable by obscuring the data? This is un-freaking acceptable. I treat all my disks with extreem care, but It seems these would need clean rooms and machine loading to avoid any scratches.
Screw HD-DVD, Blu-Ray has a caddy (IIRC) to protect my investment in a HD movie. I'll go with it, even if it costs more, because loosing a $25 movie to one scratch is more expensive in the long run by far, and not having to treat the disk like a fabrege(sp?) egg to keep it playing well is worth the extra cost.
We have a permanent station in Antarctica, where it gets fairly cold if I recall, and NASA builds things to work in the cold of space, which is a fair spot colder than -76F. The ISS isn't an icebox, they float around in relatively thin clothing. That's in space, with the same tech on mars it's comparatively warm.
The problem isn't staying warm so much as shipping / building the habitat. ISS is only in earth orbit. Sending similarly sized modules to Mars... YIKES!
Don't knock the Cube man, What about Plus #1: Massively improved graphics over PS1, even better than PS2. Nice for the numerous people who didn't buy the original, and want to play a metal gear game instead of watching a pseudo-retarded movie (I.E. MGS2 Plot?).
Plus #2: Being able to enjoy better MG graphics without being clobbered by the big stick of a Shitbox controller.
Nintendo has always had comfortable controllers, Sony pretty much cloned Nintendo's. Microsoft must have tried copying the dreamcast controller while on PCP or something. The type-s, though better, is still poorly designed. The buttons just aren't easy to use like PS2 or GC. I've played enough Halo to acclimatize myself to it, but it is never comfortable or easy to use./rant
I think it's a mostly valid point, but if Windows 2009 YQ only runs on a Trusted Computer (as it most certainly will), then companies will be forced to eat that markup for TC (as everything older will be EOLed), or spend even MORE money to switch their entire systems to linux, mac or whatever (which will all probably be TC enabled as well). If it works for Microsoft, they will have tightened the screws once more. On the other hand, it could be the straw that breaks the camels back and spur mass migration.
And Bud? Bud's a luxury for poor students like me. Try PBR, Keystone, or (shudder) the Beast.
"...[The spokesman] noted that future N-Gage releases are more likely to take advantage of platform-specific features..."
Ha ha ha, FUTURE releases! That's a good one. He he he! I laughed so hard I think I peed a little.
Seriously, even if a publisher had something nearly finished, releasing it for the n-gage would probably bring the company more PR damage than profit.
If you're still interested in the n-gage, check out some totaly awesome pictures at www.sidetalkin.com
Is Xbox live profitable? Given that the xbox in general is hemorrhaging money like a fire hydrant, I'd say not. Is Sony making money off of PS2 online gaming? I don't know, but I don't think they are. Many of the MMORPGs are consistantly profitable (Sony, but on PC), but Nintendo isn't opposed to facilitating that, as evidenced by PSO I/II. When there is money to be made for Nintendo, Nintendo will offer an online service. Right now, they'll let others throw money at online console gaming. The next generation of consoles will be out before online=sound investment, and by then Nintendo says they will be ready. I think they realize the importance of online play, but they see that the market just isn't ready.
In general, I think many Nintendo fans are the type of people who like to sit down with friends and play together, not play by themselves against some dweeb named HaX0rURbraIN who's half way around the world. There is something in 4-way social gaming that is unreproducible online, like high fiving a partner, or gloating after a win. That something = more fun and Nintendo is catering to that demographic just fine: Gamecube has the best party games by FAR. Monkeyball, Smash and Mario Party are enough to keep a crowd entertained near indefinately. Time splitters 2, while not exclusive, has huge replay value. Throw in the obligitory Madden and FIFA, and with Kart ariving, the Cube is the perfect party machine.
Personally, I like the Mario Kart take on online play: make it network playable, and then if people want to play on the internet, just fake the local network. No investment from N, but online none the less. I wish Nintendo had done this from the start with a lot of games, and hope they make it standard.
Nintendo isn't the one button mouse, [loose analogy] they're the trusty CD-ROM while others spend tons of money on unprofitable DVD drives. Once profitable uses of DVD drives appear, they'll start using them. People who sunk $1000 into a drive that didn't do much untill 2 years later (when it cost $40 and was actually usefull) wasted their money.
Don't give MS too much credit for throwing money into a hole untill it fills up. Get some friends, get a 'cube and get ready to have a shit-ton more fun than playing GTA-3 by yourself for 5 hours like a hermitt, and more variety than Halo, and uhh... Halo2 for group gaming.
Friends are like cheese, they make everything better...
With compartmentalization and protection, it wouldn't be any worse than crashing with 25 gallons of gasoline. We (well, SANE people) don't drive around with unprotected fuel tanks in the passenger compartment, so why wouldn't batteries also be compartmentalized away in a steel container outside (in this case, underneath) the passenger compartment? That's right, they are!
Accident wise, I think this would be better than gasoline/desiel, as lead-acid batteries, while corrosive, pose less of a threat than a car flambe. Think of a car that rolled a few times and people are stuck inside. One small leak in the battery container, some acid (more viscous than gas/desiel) gets out = possible acid burn, fatality unlikely. A small leak in the gasoline tank = possible fire, fatality likely. We're pretty good at protecting the gas tank, so I think that would translate over to batteries as well.
I've seen enough cars catch fire VERY quickly (not in movies, in real life) that I would rather risk acid burn than death.
Plus, as I understand it, with Li or NiMH batteries, there is much less liquid involved, so acid burns are even less likely. (Someone who knows better, correct me if I'm wrong)
The problem with the GP32 is, even if the SNES emulators ever get up to snuff, it lacks two buttons. One could hack it so that select+A/B = X/Y, but that would be a pain in the arse, since you would have to take your finger off the d-pad. Plus, many games make use of the select button.
If the emulators ever get done (I'm not to optimistic, given what I've read), AND they find a solution to the button problem (one that doesn't suck), I'd import a GP32 that very day. I doubt both of them will happen, and the homebrew scene isn't enough for me to justify buying one.
I'm still wishing that nintendo had made the GBA 6-button, and used a better sound chip like the SNES had. SNES Ports could have been effortless and near perfect. Regardless, I love the thing. I filled my flash cartridge with NES and SMS roms and I'm reliving the 8-bit glory days. I don't even bother with piracy, GBA games are cheap enough to buy, then they don't take up room on the flash cart. Plus you get the manual and the warm fuzzy new toy feel.
I comtemplated taking japanese, which meets at 8AM five days a week, thus blowing my no-class-before-10 schedual, just so I could play japanese games.
The good samaritan rule does still apply, but there are provisions:
I'm fairly sure you have to try and get the person to professional care. If you have the chance to call 911 etc. and you don't, and consequently EMS never shows up--->person dies, you might be in for a lawsuit, since you failed to do the obvious.
The Big One though, is don't do anything beyond your training. If you scew up something you shouldn't have been doing in the first place (E.G. Joe 6-pack tries to intubate), you'll be a hunk of meat in the lawyer shark-tank.
Unfortunatly, even though the good samaritan rule still applies, there are so many blood sucking personal injury lawyers out there that lawsuits are practically the rule instead of the exception.
The problem with the Heimlich maneuver is that people who don't know what they are doing will often perform it on people who don't need it. For example, they might have something in the wrong tube, but are still breathing. If someone is making noise, coughing etc, they aren't choking and the heimlich won't do squat except damage organs.
When someone is actually choking, it is often the only way to re-establish an airway, short of cricing them.
To my knowledge, NO respected US first aid course ever taught the cut and suck method. Common sense should inform that if the snake bites in a II shape, then cutting a II shape would expose the venom, whereas X cutting would miss the spots where venom entered, and just make a really nasty wound.
It's pretty much stupid Hollywood "heroes" in movies that have propagated this idiocy. John Wayne's buddy gets bitten by a rattlesnake (99.8% non-lethal), the Duke starts field surgery, then everyone thinks it's the thing to do. Don't even get me started on the people who think they can cric someone (put an airway through the cricoid membrane) with a pen because they saw it on TV.
I don't think the US has many differences in official First-Aid guidlines, unless they apply to things like native plants and animals (Australia does have some nasty critters). Red Cross first aid is the defacto standard here, and they are an international org./Speaking as an EMT
- My great uncle Cal used to be the lead engineer for REI. He was responsible for testing all the equipment. Lab equipment was used to test things like the breaking force of carabiners, but a lot of the time he tested stuff in the field i.e. go backpacking or mountaineering with some new gear and abuse the hell out of it. In the attempt to push things to the limit, he often came up with crazy ways to test things, e.g. one time he set up a tent, affixed it to the top of his car and hit the highway to simulate 70mph winds on the tent.
CNN did a spot on him a few years ago before he retired (I need to dig up that tape), profiling him and his job. He invented a few climbing gadgets (I can't remember which now) and improved many others, climbed a load of mountains with some of the more famous mountaineers, and got paid to play outside. Now THAT's a cool job. Last time I talked to him (`02) he was still backcountry skiing out to yurts. He's in his 70s.
(Needless to say: our family's co-op numbers were LOW)
Chicken Catchers allready mechanized
on
On the Gripping Hand
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· Score: 2, Funny
Remember this one? http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/06/05/125920 6 If you could integrate the two... Imagine a school full of ADHD kids: Spitballs and paper-airplanes intercepted in mid air, offending kids automatically sucked up into a "cage" for "time out". (Remembering what an ass I was in Junior High)
Slashdot Mirror
Oh for the love of God I hope they put this in a caddie of some sort to protect it. I'm still upset that DVDs are bare media.
CDs get bad enough skipps, DVDs are worse, what's going to happen to this next generation media when it gets scratched? Will a scratch obliterate several hundred megs? At some point error correction just doesn't cut it, a protective caddie is a necessity here.
As for HD-DVD or Blu-ray or this e-beam stuff, if one doesn't use a caddie, don't support it. We shouldn't have our media ruined if they don't get treated perfectly. If I was one for conspiracy theories, I'd think DVD is one to get us to buy the same thing over and over since the discs are so fragile.
It's been said before in this thread, but:
It's a safe bet that the MS's new console won't have backwards compatability. Here's why:
1) Different cpu architecture, Intel PIII->IBM G5.
2) Different graphics chipset nVidia->ATI
3) A hard drive is pretty much out of the picture
4) No black and white buttons on the new controller
Now, even if the new cpu is sufficiantly powerfull to emulate a 700-odd MHz PIII, there is a lot of proprietary nVidia graphics whiz-bang that won't translate to the new ATI chip, increasing the cpu's software emulation load significantly. If the new CPU manages to handle all that, there is still the matter of no hard drive, which many games relied upon. Using 256 or 512MB memory cards to fool the games doesn't seem economically feasible at the rate they would need to be used. Now finally, the lack of the black and white buttons on the new controller: They were a bad aspect of a crappy controller, good riddance! But, they could just use the same controller port and have you use the old Xbox controllers, or add them back into the new controller design.
If anything, (considering the specs) it will be easier for the new MS console to emulate Gamecube games than Xbox games. Hell, given the shellacing they endured this round (3rd overall world, $Billions$ lost), and the fact that they are now essentially COPYING Nintendo's design, MS should just try to co-brand the new Nintendo.
Honestly, think about how good this partnership could be: Nintendo will make a good console that won't sell at a huge loss and will sell in Japan (an important point), with great 1st party games - it's what they do best. MS can do what they do best - market to the "If I can't kill hookers or blow up convents, it's a kiddy game" demographic that Nintendo sorely lacks, and use their mountains of cash to buy companies that make good 2nd party games (ie Rare). God, even though I don't have much love for MS, I would love it if that happened. That console would have Sony in the brown trousers.
Plus, the Russians already have plenty of experience building rockets in Cuba!
/insomnia
That and closer to the equator = cheaper launch costs. Even though it's not much farther south than Florida, any physics buffs want to calculate the difference in launch energy?
BTW, what's the count on Russian space failures? I know they've had their accidents, but I can't think of when and where. It's not like we've got a spotless record anyhow...
How are(were) you supposed to get the data back off the discs? Do you play them like a record and get back dictated information? Or is it microfiche-like?
I know there are some projects around the net looking to preserve obsolete data storage devices and media. The logic being that if we ever need to recover important/interesting data off an old format, we won't be out of luck. That, and the sheer geek-value of tons of old equipment. Unfortunately, some devices are already lost in the cogs of time. If you ever want to get rid of them, I'm sure one of these places would LOVE to have them.
People keep complaining about the triggers on the ps2 or xbox, but I think the Gamecube triggers are great.
They are analogue, have a good range of motion and they have a digital click when you fully depress them and then push just a little more. It's great for precisely controlling speed in games like Rogue Leader so you can get behind a ship and tail them or boost away if you're in trouble. I don't understand why one would make an analogue trigger like the ps2's triggers. The range of motion would be so short fine controll would be way to hard.
Also, the Gamecube triggers are nice and comfortably curved so you fingers don't slide off or cramp while trying to hold them in place, it just kind of cradles your fingers where they should be. That, and Nintendo obviously made the right choice in putting the left joystick under the thumb's natural rest. I absolutely hate the left joystick on the ps2 controller, you have to angle your hand all janky, or the joystick sits under the joint of the thumb instead of under the nailbed like it should. Using both joysticks on the ps2 requires me to rotate both hands into an uncomfortable position, ugh. The triggers suck and those afterthought joysticks HAVE to move!
Some people might not have liked it, but the overwhelming majority of players and critics love it. Like people who don't like chocholate or sex, they are a small minority.
The single player is appalling. There is no sense of continuity between the levels and there are only about three decent ones. They all feel as if they were designed by different people in different rooms who never spoke to each other
And the single player in Halo is better? There sure is a sense of continuity there, it's called "I've seen this room a hundred times allready" and "I have to play the whole thing again?" Halo has some good levels, but they frikin 'cut and paste' to get the game done faster. At least TS2 has variety
The weapons are totally feeble sounding (when reloading the shotgun, it sounds like I am shaking a rattle)
So you've loaded tactical assault shotguns before eh? I've slapped shells in pump-action shotguns before, and the sound didn't bother me. BUT, Video games are not real life. VERY few have ever come close to the real sounds of the weapons being simulated. Halo (and most others) does no better here; the pistol and rifle sound fake, and the other weapons are mostly imaginary. Even movies and TV fake the sounds of weapons; nitpicking on this is retarded.
Multiplayer was very lightweight as well, thanks in part to the weedy weapons and poor AI of the CPU characters
Weedy weapons? There are more of them, and thus more ways to play - plus you can define weapon sets to your liking, and I can't think of any big imbalances. I just don't understand why you think the weapons are bad. If anything, the pistol in Halo is overpowered: sniper accuracy and zoom with massive ammo, no aim drift, light recoil yet more powerfull than the rifle shot per shot? Hell, once you're good enough, you can practically forgo the other weapons. Some of my friends do, and they still kill like fiends against other good players. The pistol by definition shouldn't be that good a weapon.
Lastly, calling the multiplayer lightweight is like calling the Sistine Chapel a nice drawing: It might not meet your particular artistic taste, but to deny its merit is to declare yourself a fool. For instance: I can't stand Bjork, I think she's a whiney freak, but I won't deny her talent.
What are you smoking? I don't know about Timesplitters 1, but Timesplitters 2 is one of the best console FPSs out there. I'm not alone in thinking this either: It averaged like 9/10. What more does it take to make a game not "poor"
It's the true heir to Goldeneye in all the ways that count: Good single player, ridiculously fun multiplayer, and high replay value keeps it fresh. Hell, it's twice the game Halo is: Better/more weapons, tons of gameplay options and characters to play as, map editor...
I can go on, but since you probably thought Diakatana was great, I'll stop here
I bought timesplitters 2 because I heard it was made by the remnants of the Goldeneye team. I'll buy what they come out with next (even if it's not Goldeneye 2 or Timesplitters 3) because these guys have shown they can make great games.
My brother (in our loving tradition of buying each other crappy outdated video games for all occasions), once gave me Bible Adventures for Christmass. The game itself is quite rare (and bad), and it took me a long time to find something its equal in suckitude. Untill one day I found Shaq-FU! Without so much as glancing at the instructions, we nearly beat it in one try, but we had to stop because we were laughing too hard. As a fighting game, it's so bad I tend to think they shipped a beta. But the Shaq-part, no amount of gameplay could make that less painfull. It makes KAZAM look good. The joke was Shaq needed a KAZAM sequel to undo the damage caused by Shaq-fu.
Ah Powell's. Not just a good online shop, but a truly mind blowing brick & mortar store.
/Powell's uber-fan
If you're ever state-side in Portland OR, be sure to check out the main downtown store. Many times I've intended to sneak in and out with just one book in mind, and ended up camping out for 4-5 hours just browsing and reading. It's like your favorite neighborhood used book store, only it's bigger than New Hampshire.
Plus, Powell's gives me that warm fuzzy feeling that you just don't get from faceless corporate behemoths like Amazon and Barnes & Noble. I'd order more textbooks from them, they don't usually have the niche Bio-chem books I need.
I would have hoped by now that we had moved past the obsession with "oooh shiny disk" and come to realize that even though a caddy adds bulk, protecting the disk is damn important. As data density goes up, scratches become more and more detrimental
With CDs, It was understandable. The tech was new, and caddies were an additional cost on top of that newness. Plus, the "shiny disk" was a novelty. -Scratches were not that much of a problem, the music would hiccup, but rarely skip badly unless the scratch was bad.
We should have learned our lesson with DVDs. "shiny disks" were no longer so novel, and a minor scratch can send the movie wildly skipping. This is made worse by the fact that movies are singular entities, not broken up in to songs like on a CD, so restarting where you left of is more annoying. Renting DVDs is hell because one goober can fuxxor the disk.
- We ship/sell DVDs in cases anyhow, why the hell didn't we make the case the caddy?
Now we want to up the density even more, and still leave the data surface exposed?? Now will a fingerprint cause a skip? Will a scratch render a whole min. or more unviewable by obscuring the data? This is un-freaking acceptable. I treat all my disks with extreem care, but It seems these would need clean rooms and machine loading to avoid any scratches.
Screw HD-DVD, Blu-Ray has a caddy (IIRC) to protect my investment in a HD movie. I'll go with it, even if it costs more, because loosing a $25 movie to one scratch is more expensive in the long run by far, and not having to treat the disk like a fabrege(sp?) egg to keep it playing well is worth the extra cost.
We have a permanent station in Antarctica, where it gets fairly cold if I recall, and NASA builds things to work in the cold of space, which is a fair spot colder than -76F.
The ISS isn't an icebox, they float around in relatively thin clothing. That's in space, with the same tech on mars it's comparatively warm.
The problem isn't staying warm so much as shipping / building the habitat. ISS is only in earth orbit. Sending similarly sized modules to Mars... YIKES!
"Horrific, deplorable violence is OK, as long as people don't say any naughty words." /Broflovsky
Oh wait, shouldn't that be "Naughty words are ok, as long as Michael Jackson doesn't play Grand thef..."
AW Screw it, I'm confused.
Is anything going to shock us in 10 years?
Don't knock the Cube man,
/rant
What about Plus #1: Massively improved graphics over PS1, even better than PS2. Nice for the numerous people who didn't buy the original, and want to play a metal gear game instead of watching a pseudo-retarded movie (I.E. MGS2 Plot?).
Plus #2: Being able to enjoy better MG graphics without being clobbered by the big stick of a Shitbox controller.
Nintendo has always had comfortable controllers, Sony pretty much cloned Nintendo's. Microsoft must have tried copying the dreamcast controller while on PCP or something. The type-s, though better, is still poorly designed. The buttons just aren't easy to use like PS2 or GC. I've played enough Halo to acclimatize myself to it, but it is never comfortable or easy to use.
I think it's a mostly valid point, but if Windows 2009 YQ only runs on a Trusted Computer (as it most certainly will), then companies will be forced to eat that markup for TC (as everything older will be EOLed), or spend even MORE money to switch their entire systems to linux, mac or whatever (which will all probably be TC enabled as well). If it works for Microsoft, they will have tightened the screws once more. On the other hand, it could be the straw that breaks the camels back and spur mass migration.
And Bud? Bud's a luxury for poor students like me. Try PBR, Keystone, or (shudder) the Beast.
"...[The spokesman] noted that future N-Gage releases are more likely to take advantage of platform-specific features ..."
Ha ha ha, FUTURE releases! That's a good one. He he he! I laughed so hard I think I peed a little.
Seriously, even if a publisher had something nearly finished, releasing it for the n-gage would probably bring the company more PR damage than profit.
If you're still interested in the n-gage, check out some totaly awesome pictures at www.sidetalkin.com
Is Xbox live profitable? Given that the xbox in general is hemorrhaging money like a fire hydrant, I'd say not.
Is Sony making money off of PS2 online gaming? I don't know, but I don't think they are.
Many of the MMORPGs are consistantly profitable (Sony, but on PC), but Nintendo isn't opposed to facilitating that, as evidenced by PSO I/II.
When there is money to be made for Nintendo, Nintendo will offer an online service. Right now, they'll let others throw money at online console gaming. The next generation of consoles will be out before online=sound investment, and by then Nintendo says they will be ready. I think they realize the importance of online play, but they see that the market just isn't ready.
In general, I think many Nintendo fans are the type of people who like to sit down with friends and play together, not play by themselves against some dweeb named HaX0rURbraIN who's half way around the world. There is something in 4-way social gaming that is unreproducible online, like high fiving a partner, or gloating after a win. That something = more fun and Nintendo is catering to that demographic just fine: Gamecube has the best party games by FAR. Monkeyball, Smash and Mario Party are enough to keep a crowd entertained near indefinately. Time splitters 2, while not exclusive, has huge replay value. Throw in the obligitory Madden and FIFA, and with Kart ariving, the Cube is the perfect party machine.
Personally, I like the Mario Kart take on online play: make it network playable, and then if people want to play on the internet, just fake the local network. No investment from N, but online none the less. I wish Nintendo had done this from the start with a lot of games, and hope they make it standard.
Nintendo isn't the one button mouse, [loose analogy] they're the trusty CD-ROM while others spend tons of money on unprofitable DVD drives. Once profitable uses of DVD drives appear, they'll start using them. People who sunk $1000 into a drive that didn't do much untill 2 years later (when it cost $40 and was actually usefull) wasted their money.
Don't give MS too much credit for throwing money into a hole untill it fills up. Get some friends, get a 'cube and get ready to have a shit-ton more fun than playing GTA-3 by yourself for 5 hours like a hermitt, and more variety than Halo, and uhh... Halo2 for group gaming.
Friends are like cheese, they make everything better...
Desiel=diesel
It's 4:32 in the AM, I have dyslexia. Spelling is the enemy
With compartmentalization and protection, it wouldn't be any worse than crashing with 25 gallons of gasoline. We (well, SANE people) don't drive around with unprotected fuel tanks in the passenger compartment, so why wouldn't batteries also be compartmentalized away in a steel container outside (in this case, underneath) the passenger compartment? That's right, they are!
Accident wise, I think this would be better than gasoline/desiel, as lead-acid batteries, while corrosive, pose less of a threat than a car flambe. Think of a car that rolled a few times and people are stuck inside. One small leak in the battery container, some acid (more viscous than gas/desiel) gets out = possible acid burn, fatality unlikely. A small leak in the gasoline tank = possible fire, fatality likely. We're pretty good at protecting the gas tank, so I think that would translate over to batteries as well.
I've seen enough cars catch fire VERY quickly (not in movies, in real life) that I would rather risk acid burn than death.
Plus, as I understand it, with Li or NiMH batteries, there is much less liquid involved, so acid burns are even less likely. (Someone who knows better, correct me if I'm wrong)
The problem with the GP32 is, even if the SNES emulators ever get up to snuff, it lacks two buttons. One could hack it so that select+A/B = X/Y, but that would be a pain in the arse, since you would have to take your finger off the d-pad. Plus, many games make use of the select button.
If the emulators ever get done (I'm not to optimistic, given what I've read), AND they find a solution to the button problem (one that doesn't suck), I'd import a GP32 that very day. I doubt both of them will happen, and the homebrew scene isn't enough for me to justify buying one.
I'm still wishing that nintendo had made the GBA 6-button, and used a better sound chip like the SNES had. SNES Ports could have been effortless and near perfect. Regardless, I love the thing. I filled my flash cartridge with NES and SMS roms and I'm reliving the 8-bit glory days. I don't even bother with piracy, GBA games are cheap enough to buy, then they don't take up room on the flash cart. Plus you get the manual and the warm fuzzy new toy feel.
I comtemplated taking japanese, which meets at 8AM five days a week, thus blowing my no-class-before-10 schedual, just so I could play japanese games.
The good samaritan rule does still apply, but there are provisions:
I'm fairly sure you have to try and get the person to professional care. If you have the chance to call 911 etc. and you don't, and consequently EMS never shows up--->person dies, you might be in for a lawsuit, since you failed to do the obvious.
The Big One though, is don't do anything beyond your training. If you scew up something you shouldn't have been doing in the first place (E.G. Joe 6-pack tries to intubate), you'll be a hunk of meat in the lawyer shark-tank.
Unfortunatly, even though the good samaritan rule still applies, there are so many blood sucking personal injury lawyers out there that lawsuits are practically the rule instead of the exception.
The problem with the Heimlich maneuver is that people who don't know what they are doing will often perform it on people who don't need it. For example, they might have something in the wrong tube, but are still breathing. If someone is making noise, coughing etc, they aren't choking and the heimlich won't do squat except damage organs.
/Speaking as an EMT
When someone is actually choking, it is often the only way to re-establish an airway, short of cricing them.
To my knowledge, NO respected US first aid course ever taught the cut and suck method. Common sense should inform that if the snake bites in a II shape, then cutting a II shape would expose the venom, whereas X cutting would miss the spots where venom entered, and just make a really nasty wound.
It's pretty much stupid Hollywood "heroes" in movies that have propagated this idiocy. John Wayne's buddy gets bitten by a rattlesnake (99.8% non-lethal), the Duke starts field surgery, then everyone thinks it's the thing to do. Don't even get me started on the people who think they can cric someone (put an airway through the cricoid membrane) with a pen because they saw it on TV.
I don't think the US has many differences in official First-Aid guidlines, unless they apply to things like native plants and animals (Australia does have some nasty critters). Red Cross first aid is the defacto standard here, and they are an international org.
- My great uncle Cal used to be the lead engineer for REI. He was responsible for testing all the equipment. Lab equipment was used to test things like the breaking force of carabiners, but a lot of the time he tested stuff in the field i.e. go backpacking or mountaineering with some new gear and abuse the hell out of it. In the attempt to push things to the limit, he often came up with crazy ways to test things, e.g. one time he set up a tent, affixed it to the top of his car and hit the highway to simulate 70mph winds on the tent.
CNN did a spot on him a few years ago before he retired (I need to dig up that tape), profiling him and his job. He invented a few climbing gadgets (I can't remember which now) and improved many others, climbed a load of mountains with some of the more famous mountaineers, and got paid to play outside. Now THAT's a cool job. Last time I talked to him (`02) he was still backcountry skiing out to yurts. He's in his 70s.
(Needless to say: our family's co-op numbers were LOW)
Remember this one? http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/06/05/125920 6
If you could integrate the two...
Imagine a school full of ADHD kids: Spitballs and paper-airplanes intercepted in mid air, offending kids automatically sucked up into a "cage" for "time out". (Remembering what an ass I was in Junior High)
Agreed. A joke about the terminator arm != offtopic
Hopefully it will bite said idiot in the ass when meta-moderation comes back unfair.
Dinsdale...
DINSDALE...
DINSDALE!!
Seriously, this guy sounds like he did have his head nailed to a table...