Seriously, you all go ahead and not play. Make your protest and stand up and shout about how lame it is that you need to be online. The rest of us (or maybe it's just me and my friends) are having a TON of fun playing.
If you don't like it, that's fine. But don't tell me that *I* don't like it. 'Cause I do.
I just bought a hybrid car. When I drive, it shows me my current MPG, and when I get to my destination, it shows me the MPG for the trip. If I get over 35 MPG, I get a little "Excellent!" message that flashes.
It's not much, but I'm surprised at the effect this has had on my driving. I notice myself driving differently when I have this feedback.
Now imagine we all had cars that published (tweeted, for example) our total MPG, and some sort of public leaderboard/ranking system. I think that alone would change the way a lot of people drove, and save a lot of fuel.
"This content has been blocked in accordance with (my company) Webfilter Policies. URL: jonathanwstokes.com/2011/02/14/chess-music/ Category: Pornography"
When I looked more closely at the box, it had small print that said something like "Arcade-version images shown. PC images may be different", or something to that effect.
On a certain Anonymous web image board, someone posted an image of a female rear end with a sharpie sticking out of it (aka "sharpie in the pooper").
Enterprising individuals examined the EXIF data on the picture, and saw that it was taken with an iPhone, including lat/long data. This was quickly plugged into Google maps, and all sorts of hilarity ensued.
I've been playing computer games for about 30 years now, and RDR has grabbed me like few other games before it. Very few games would compel me to take time out of my day to write a post about it.
I don't like or dislike Western movies/games any more than the next guy, but they really nailed the atmosphere and setting. The game is beautiful. I've stopped to admire the vistas by starlight, and watched the sunrise from the porch of the general store while I waited for it to open. Riding through the wilderness in a thunderstorm, I was struck at just how wet and miserable everything looked. At atmosphere is great.
The writing and voice acting in the game is superb. Seriously, top notch. The writing is especially smart and poignant, and very engaging.
I really enjoyed both GTA:SA and GTA IV. I'm a big fan of the open world, where you can choose to follow the story line missions, or do side missions, or simply go out and explore. RDR has this in spades. It's so fun to load up your game and decide "what do I want to do today?" You always have a list of jobs to do, and they are all optional, so you can choose your own adventure. Hunting animals for skins (to sell for money), playing poker and other mini games, deciphering and following treasure maps, getting in shootouts with bandits, to say nothing of advancing the storyline by doing the set missions.
I haven't set foot in multiplayer yet, but I hear that is a lot of fun as well. I feel like I could go on and on. I'm completely smitten by this game.
A brief caveat is that there are some bugs. I've only seen one or two myself, but lots of people are reporting lots of issues.
If you've watched or read any reviews and the game sounds at all interesting, I can't recommend it enough.
At some point, I got fed up with running anti-virus software on my Windows XP PC. The benefits never appeared to outweigh the hassle. And AV software IS a hassle.
After a year, I can't see any downside to this.
Note that I'm a smart computer user who keeps everything patched and up to do, as well as knows how to configure a hardware router/firewall.
The problem is (and someone figured this out), John Smith might ALSO have a IMDB account. And if we compare the date and star ratings from his IMDB account with his Netflix accout, we can accurately figure out who 1122113 is. Some people actually did this.... that is, took the completely anonymous ratings, and used those ratings to match up with an unanonymous source, and figure out information.
So Netflix is doing it right, I think. It's just that the Netflix data can be used IN COMBINATION with other sources to reveal identities.
As I suggested in the linked XKCD forum, now that the puzzle is solved, it would be really nice to have a full write-up of the entire thing, including the unsolved puzzles themselves and a little more detail and background about the whole thing. That would have made for a much more interesting story to the general public.
Direct linking to an unorganized web-forum thread isn't really much of a story. Oh well.
For what it's worth, the puzzles in the XKCD book were really fun. They ranged from pretty simple (ROT-13, etc) to fiendishly clever. Even though every comic is available online for free, I'm glad I spent the money on the book.
I was lucky enough to solve the final puzzle myself, and therefore happened to be the first person to have all eight keys and decrypt the message. As lame as this might sound, it was pretty thrilling.
Someone posted a picture of their girlfriend's rear end with a sharpie sticking out of it to a popular anonymous image-sharing web board.
Unfortunately, the image contained EXIF data, including latitude and longitude. It was quick work to come up with a name and address and all sorts of other information...
Slashdot Mirror
I liked Diablo 3 before it was cool to hate it.
Seriously, you all go ahead and not play. Make your protest and stand up and shout about how lame it is that you need to be online. The rest of us (or maybe it's just me and my friends) are having a TON of fun playing.
If you don't like it, that's fine. But don't tell me that *I* don't like it. 'Cause I do.
What are you using your connection for?
If you're sending emails, then 300 is perfectly fine.
Turn based games would be fine. Real time games would be rough.
I just bought a hybrid car. When I drive, it shows me my current MPG, and when I get to my destination, it shows me the MPG for the trip. If I get over 35 MPG, I get a little "Excellent!" message that flashes.
It's not much, but I'm surprised at the effect this has had on my driving. I notice myself driving differently when I have this feedback.
Now imagine we all had cars that published (tweeted, for example) our total MPG, and some sort of public leaderboard/ranking system. I think that alone would change the way a lot of people drove, and save a lot of fuel.
He wouldn't actually sit down. He would stand next to the table.
"This content has been blocked in accordance with (my company) Webfilter Policies.
URL: jonathanwstokes.com/2011/02/14/chess-music/
Category: Pornography"
Hmmm....
Holy crap. Control K. And here I was using my mouse like a sucker. Thank you!
Totally.
"I sort of hate having to tell him 'no' when he wants to explore a computer."
This set off a red flag in my head. Learning how to say no is important. Otherwise they'll walk all over you.
Was this your first encounter with a PC and/or a computer game - and thus you have an excuse for being pissed?
It was my first and last lesson in the subject.
This video exactly describes my situation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlMc0jQbuBw
I remember buying Ikari Warriors for the PC, way back in the day. The box had killer screenshots... the game looked exactly like the arcade game!
I loaded it up, and was met with horrific 4-color (white/black/cyan/magenta) graphics.
http://www.giantbomb.com/ikari-warriors/61-1619/all-images/52-164216/1029683900_00/51-803378/
When I looked more closely at the box, it had small print that said something like "Arcade-version images shown. PC images may be different", or something to that effect.
I was pissed. :(
Touche.
On a certain Anonymous web image board, someone posted an image of a female rear end with a sharpie sticking out of it (aka "sharpie in the pooper").
Enterprising individuals examined the EXIF data on the picture, and saw that it was taken with an iPhone, including lat/long data. This was quickly plugged into Google maps, and all sorts of hilarity ensued.
Beware, indeed.
"PLZ water my farm 4me, being raped IRL!!! BRB? :'-("
I'm so ashamed that I find this as funny as I do...
*shame*
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euler's_identity
e^(pi*i) = -1
I've been playing computer games for about 30 years now, and RDR has grabbed me like few other games before it. Very few games would compel me to take time out of my day to write a post about it.
I don't like or dislike Western movies/games any more than the next guy, but they really nailed the atmosphere and setting. The game is beautiful. I've stopped to admire the vistas by starlight, and watched the sunrise from the porch of the general store while I waited for it to open. Riding through the wilderness in a thunderstorm, I was struck at just how wet and miserable everything looked. At atmosphere is great.
The writing and voice acting in the game is superb. Seriously, top notch. The writing is especially smart and poignant, and very engaging.
I really enjoyed both GTA:SA and GTA IV. I'm a big fan of the open world, where you can choose to follow the story line missions, or do side missions, or simply go out and explore. RDR has this in spades. It's so fun to load up your game and decide "what do I want to do today?" You always have a list of jobs to do, and they are all optional, so you can choose your own adventure. Hunting animals for skins (to sell for money), playing poker and other mini games, deciphering and following treasure maps, getting in shootouts with bandits, to say nothing of advancing the storyline by doing the set missions.
I haven't set foot in multiplayer yet, but I hear that is a lot of fun as well. I feel like I could go on and on. I'm completely smitten by this game.
A brief caveat is that there are some bugs. I've only seen one or two myself, but lots of people are reporting lots of issues.
If you've watched or read any reviews and the game sounds at all interesting, I can't recommend it enough.
Adman
Talk about... what, exactly?
At some point, I got fed up with running anti-virus software on my Windows XP PC. The benefits never appeared to outweigh the hassle. And AV software IS a hassle.
After a year, I can't see any downside to this.
Note that I'm a smart computer user who keeps everything patched and up to do, as well as knows how to configure a hardware router/firewall.
You owe me one new Sarcasm Detector. My current one just overloaded.
My wife and I just rented it, too. Just to see.
I stopped watching at the vampire softball scene. Ugh, so bad.
This is exactly what they do.
The problem is (and someone figured this out), John Smith might ALSO have a IMDB account. And if we compare the date and star ratings from his IMDB account with his Netflix accout, we can accurately figure out who 1122113 is. Some people actually did this.... that is, took the completely anonymous ratings, and used those ratings to match up with an unanonymous source, and figure out information.
So Netflix is doing it right, I think. It's just that the Netflix data can be used IN COMBINATION with other sources to reveal identities.
Yes... I use the word "first" in a very loose sense. :)
As I suggested in the linked XKCD forum, now that the puzzle is solved, it would be really nice to have a full write-up of the entire thing, including the unsolved puzzles themselves and a little more detail and background about the whole thing. That would have made for a much more interesting story to the general public.
Direct linking to an unorganized web-forum thread isn't really much of a story. Oh well.
For what it's worth, the puzzles in the XKCD book were really fun. They ranged from pretty simple (ROT-13, etc) to fiendishly clever. Even though every comic is available online for free, I'm glad I spent the money on the book.
I was lucky enough to solve the final puzzle myself, and therefore happened to be the first person to have all eight keys and decrypt the message. As lame as this might sound, it was pretty thrilling.
Ha! Can you imagine!
"Boss, we decrypted the message! They key was 0x0000...01!"
Someone posted a picture of their girlfriend's rear end with a sharpie sticking out of it to a popular anonymous image-sharing web board.
Unfortunately, the image contained EXIF data, including latitude and longitude. It was quick work to come up with a name and address and all sorts of other information...
Good times.
My, what a yummy slime mold!
Low Bastard Ping? I think you mean LPB... :)
Ahh, I remember those days. I had a shirt with a network jack on it that said "LPB", and my DSL was the envy of my friends.