I generally just watch "let's plays" on YouTube, however there's a lot of decent stuff at http://vodo.net/ (Pioneer One, Zenith, various documentaries, etc.). Another good place for free shows is http://revision3.com/ - my particular favorites are Scam School, The Ben Heck Show and Hak5.
As for games, try Urban Terror, Xonotic (not a huge number of online players though) and fs2_open (updated Freespace 2 engine, needs FS2 files though which are available legally if you know where to find them).
I used to think like that but then I realized that the amount of data I've got on my hard drive that I actually NEED or couldn't live without, is actually quite small. The bulk of my data is used up with movies and videos. I like having a lot of them, but I certainly wouldn't mind getting rid of some of it if it meant cleaning up the crud.
The more shit you have, the less likely you are to remember what you have. The treasures go unnoticed unless/until you go examine everything you've got. I still delete stuff off my HDD to make way for new stuff because it encourages me to not keep crap in my inventory.
True. But there seems to be this acceptance that it's OK if you are unable to fix things yourself, and that simply throwing money at a new revision of the product (or throwing money at someone to fix things) is a virtue. I know someone who had to call in an electrician because one of their household lights had blown (nothing special, just a regular old incandescent globe). Not because she was too busy, but because she simply didn't know HOW to replace a globe. To me that's rather sad.
I think it's very important that people have a least some ability to try to fix things themselves before spending extra money they don't have to. It's incredibly empowering to know you have the skills necessary to fix things either quicker than it takes to book a tradesman to come out, or cheaper than buying it new. Of course you can't fix everything, but there's tons of information on the net on how to self-fix things that really help also develop your ability to rely on yourself rather than be helpless and wait on others.
Sometimes I'm amazed at the compatibility which DOES exist in LibreOffice for reading MS Office files. As an example, at work we have a travel budget calculator in the form of an.xls (Excel spreadsheet) file. Out of curiosity I loaded it in LibreOffice 3.5.1 and it worked almost perfectly - it even understood all the macros. The only stuff wrong were some slight misalignment of some labels but I doubt anyone would notice or care since it's an internal document. Of course I have MS Office here as well but it was still an interesting test of the capability for reading such files in LibreOffice.
A personal computer (PC) is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator.
Note there's also a section in the contents regarding Tablet PCs. You might argue that Wikipedia is not the definitive source for what the definition of a PC is (and you're be right), but neither are you. As far as the quoted above definition goes, I think the iPad fits it pretty well. It's a personal device that runs programs - it being a walled garden doesn't by definition make it no longer a PC.
We're on the cusp of a redefinition of what typical computers are for people. I'm happy to go along with it simply because I don't want to be a grouch who is unable to accept that definitions are malleable. Otherwise I'd continually be incensed by the media's use of the word "hacker" all the time.
An XBox or PS3 is a powerful computer that can do some impressive things. And yet many people would also consider them a toy.
Sure - they're customised computers though, designed for playing games. iPhones are multipurpose devices, which can play games, but also browse the web, listen to music, launch a remote terminal service to your machine, book flights, whatever you want. Are you deliberately trying to be obtuse just because it's an Apple product and well liked?
I'm not an Apple fan, but an iPhone is not overpriced for the amount of quality design and hardware you get for it, and it's not a toy - it's a powerful portable computer that can do some impressive and useful things. A Tonka truck is an example of a toy, in case you've forgotten how to describe things without hyperbole.
All this move will do is spur further innovation in darknet technology.
Eh. If Darknet is the only way of keeping the net free then we've already lost. The Internet is suppose to be an open network to anyone; it shouldn't require a knowledge of a geek to be able to enjoy this privilege - it should be available to anyone including the layman. Clearly the Internet as we know it is on its way to destruction, being locked down and censored as best as Governments can. There will always be ways to communicate via darknet of course, but it will be harder and harder and the end result will see what was a nice mainstream networking technology become a shellf of its former self.
You can fight human nature, but you can't win.
Likewise, since greed and power is also a component of human nature, you can try to fight those in power who control the ISPs and the pipes, but you can't win the war. Just the occasional battle. It fucking sucks how this great technology is now something that we have to fight for.
I look at the achievements to see if there are any fun ones I can get quickly
I used to find achievements fun until it occurred to me that they are pretty much worthless UNLESS you are showing them off to others and that others are actually impressed by them. So you need friends, not randoms, who are playing the same games and aren't as good as you. Not always possible. I know achievements can also promote various meta-games that can have an intrinsic value, but we've been able to do that for ages without requiring a little popup telling us so (e.g. non-lethal playthroughs of the original Deus Ex was, and still is, a favorite of mine).
Absolutely. The most recent game I've played which does this is Mafia II. Drive here, do this, drive here, shoot that, drive drunk friend home, drive yourself home, sleep. Man some of the missions were boring as hell and a lot of the driving felt like clear padding instead of something more meaty. GTA 4 has plenty of driving of course, but at least the city had a bit more life in it and didn't feel empty.
tl;dr, the dlc is really not that important whatsoever (in the case of mass effect 3's day one DLC).
I think it's more the principal of the thing, as well as the anger of EA and Bioware lying about how the DLC is a 600MB download, even though it's been shown recently that the entire DLC content (character as well as requisite mission) already exists in the core game files.
The DLC might not be that important here, but with another game, another case of zero-day DLC, who knows whether it'll be considered core content or just extra fluff. People shouldn't have to put up with this shit, is what I think the OP is saying.
Re:The problem is the length of the games
on
Can $60 Games Survive?
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
When I stopped buying video games, the average game took me about 60-80 hours to finish.
My friends now regularly finish games in as little 12-15 hours.
So where I paid $40 for my games, about $0.50/hour play time at best, my friends are now paying about $2-4/hour, and that's not even ten years later.
Three things:
(1) Good games are generally replayable. I don't like buying games that I play only once and then shit on the shelf. A good game for me is one that has enough depth and variety that I can replay it in a number of different ways and get different outcomes. For recent titles, Deus Ex: Human Revolution is one that comes to mind. I can play stealth only, or entirely non-lethal, rambo style, undetected by anyone, and so on. Or I can just take more time at exploring the world and finding hidden entrances/praxis kits. Whatever works, so long as I can keep playing the same game until I'm bored. It certainly saves me money and extends the time I can enjoy the one game.
(2) I generally don't want to take 60-80 hours to finish one game. Make a game too long and you run the risk of the player becoming a bit bored and wanting to move onto something different. This is where (1) comes in handy - a shorter game with greater replayability means you won't have to wait too long for the game to reach its conclusion, then you can replay with different tactics/a new character build. If the game was crazy long, you might end up restarting with a new build before it even ends (or worse, abandon it for something fresh).
(3) $2-4/hour, not taking into account (1) and (2) is still a lot better value than most hobbies.
Not sure why the first commenter in this thread "despises Linux on the desktop at home" (but then likes it at work - go figure). Maybe they installed a different distro at home vs. work?
OP here - I like it at work because in a work environment I'd paid to spend as much time as I need to get things to work. Also, Linux is used in things such as servers and embedded devices - purposes which Linux is known to excel in. However once I get home, the last thing I want to deal with is Linux because after 10 or so years of playing around with it, I'm just tired of how many problems I'm STILL having with it. Windows 7 does everything I want on the desktop, Linux has many deficiencies and simply doesn't reach the same level of performance (yes I said it, performance - shit you can't even live resize windows in Linux yet without noticeable lag of the window elements). I also despise it because I've been promised by teenage zealots that Linux is somehow superior to Windows and will take over the world. It hasn't happened, and I've wasted so much time trying to convert I've over it. I just don't' want to play sysadmin at home any longer.
No, Jimminy Cricket, no. Why would I want my kids to vegetate in front of Disney movies over and over, and why would I want to spend $400 to make that happen? I could buy two decent kids' bikes for that money.
The world isn't black and white, there are many shades of gray. Who says you can't enjoy both?
You sure? I installed CentOS 6.2 this week (I selected the "Desktop" set of packages), and it booted into GNOME 2. Unless you're thinking of something else.
It's not primarily a mainstream desktop Linux distro but you're in a work environment dealing with a embedded Windows -> Linux transition, so it doesn't matter. For this reason you don't have to deal with the bullshit UI fucking around that seems to be going on in the Linux ecosystem right now, plus it's a very stable and clean distro given its relationship with RHEL. It's our distro of choice for our VME single-board computers.
I despise Linux on the desktop at home but at work, for our embedded work, I haven't found anything that works better or more reliably (and still remains free).
Democracy doesn't work. But it's the best out of a shit selection of (tried) options for ruling a country. Sometimes I'm not saddened if normal folks aren't aware of such laws - why would they care? At this stage they'd only seem like trivialities compared to the actual problems most people have in their lives.
As a MLZ, I'm surprised you'd even be using the proprietary drivers in the first place. Most zealots I know believe it's FOSS or nothing and do not understand the word "compromise", so they generally deal with overheating laptops and problems most other people don't have.
Anyway, I would have argued that in Windows you don't even need to worry about this BS in the first place, but I can't because even the latest NVIDIA drivers occasionally stall in Windows 7 and automatically reload themselves, particularly when using Firefox but sometimes in general stuff. It's a known issue with the drivers but they haven't been fixed yet. It's a shame video drivers aren't perfectly stable anywhere.
The powerful already have all the tools they need to eliminate your privacy. This is a tool for us to eliminate their privacy.
Why is it always an "us" vs. "them" scenario? What happens if I, a lowly geek, eventually through career progression and knowing the right people, finds myself in a position of corporate power? Will you come after me too?
I'm aware of the (correctly-quoted) saying "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely", but just going after those in power just because they ARE in power seems foolish. Not everyone in power is a dick. I admit the list of those who aren't is extraordinary low but still...
I swear the GNOME development team follows the logic that if they're creating controversy, this must mean they're on the right track. No, this does not follow at all my friends. It means you're ignoring the complaints from your fucking userbase.
Maybe they think they know better and that it will pay off in the future. I've heard such things about the Linux desktop for years, and nothing has happened and if history is suppose to be nature's greatest teacher, nothing will happen. Smartphones and tablets are likely to be the best destination for these new UIs, but why the fuck are these braindead developers (Unity developers included) thinking that everyone wants convergence with their UIs, as if having the same interface for both smartphones and desktops makes any sense. Shit, at least Microsoft will allow you to switch to a full, non-gimped* traditional GUI in Windows 8 without additional tinkering or installing extra software.
* Then again the "start" button was removed in the latest builds, so who knows what'll happen.
Slashdot Mirror
I generally just watch "let's plays" on YouTube, however there's a lot of decent stuff at http://vodo.net/ (Pioneer One, Zenith, various documentaries, etc.). Another good place for free shows is http://revision3.com/ - my particular favorites are Scam School, The Ben Heck Show and Hak5.
As for games, try Urban Terror, Xonotic (not a huge number of online players though) and fs2_open (updated Freespace 2 engine, needs FS2 files though which are available legally if you know where to find them).
I used to think like that but then I realized that the amount of data I've got on my hard drive that I actually NEED or couldn't live without, is actually quite small. The bulk of my data is used up with movies and videos. I like having a lot of them, but I certainly wouldn't mind getting rid of some of it if it meant cleaning up the crud.
The more shit you have, the less likely you are to remember what you have. The treasures go unnoticed unless/until you go examine everything you've got. I still delete stuff off my HDD to make way for new stuff because it encourages me to not keep crap in my inventory.
Doesn't she know that she's now dependent on Neuropozyne for the rest of her life?
True. But there seems to be this acceptance that it's OK if you are unable to fix things yourself, and that simply throwing money at a new revision of the product (or throwing money at someone to fix things) is a virtue. I know someone who had to call in an electrician because one of their household lights had blown (nothing special, just a regular old incandescent globe). Not because she was too busy, but because she simply didn't know HOW to replace a globe. To me that's rather sad.
I think it's very important that people have a least some ability to try to fix things themselves before spending extra money they don't have to. It's incredibly empowering to know you have the skills necessary to fix things either quicker than it takes to book a tradesman to come out, or cheaper than buying it new. Of course you can't fix everything, but there's tons of information on the net on how to self-fix things that really help also develop your ability to rely on yourself rather than be helpless and wait on others.
Sometimes I'm amazed at the compatibility which DOES exist in LibreOffice for reading MS Office files. As an example, at work we have a travel budget calculator in the form of an .xls (Excel spreadsheet) file. Out of curiosity I loaded it in LibreOffice 3.5.1 and it worked almost perfectly - it even understood all the macros. The only stuff wrong were some slight misalignment of some labels but I doubt anyone would notice or care since it's an internal document. Of course I have MS Office here as well but it was still an interesting test of the capability for reading such files in LibreOffice.
Doesn't she know that she's now dependent on Neuropozyne for the rest of her life?
I hate to reference Wikipedia, but anyway:
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_computer)
Note there's also a section in the contents regarding Tablet PCs. You might argue that Wikipedia is not the definitive source for what the definition of a PC is (and you're be right), but neither are you. As far as the quoted above definition goes, I think the iPad fits it pretty well. It's a personal device that runs programs - it being a walled garden doesn't by definition make it no longer a PC.
We're on the cusp of a redefinition of what typical computers are for people. I'm happy to go along with it simply because I don't want to be a grouch who is unable to accept that definitions are malleable. Otherwise I'd continually be incensed by the media's use of the word "hacker" all the time.
Sure - they're customised computers though, designed for playing games. iPhones are multipurpose devices, which can play games, but also browse the web, listen to music, launch a remote terminal service to your machine, book flights, whatever you want. Are you deliberately trying to be obtuse just because it's an Apple product and well liked?
I'm not an Apple fan, but an iPhone is not overpriced for the amount of quality design and hardware you get for it, and it's not a toy - it's a powerful portable computer that can do some impressive and useful things. A Tonka truck is an example of a toy, in case you've forgotten how to describe things without hyperbole.
Eh. If Darknet is the only way of keeping the net free then we've already lost. The Internet is suppose to be an open network to anyone; it shouldn't require a knowledge of a geek to be able to enjoy this privilege - it should be available to anyone including the layman. Clearly the Internet as we know it is on its way to destruction, being locked down and censored as best as Governments can. There will always be ways to communicate via darknet of course, but it will be harder and harder and the end result will see what was a nice mainstream networking technology become a shellf of its former self.
Likewise, since greed and power is also a component of human nature, you can try to fight those in power who control the ISPs and the pipes, but you can't win the war. Just the occasional battle. It fucking sucks how this great technology is now something that we have to fight for.
At which point you'll be gunned down by the Government's far superiorly trained/armed army. Good work.
I used to find achievements fun until it occurred to me that they are pretty much worthless UNLESS you are showing them off to others and that others are actually impressed by them. So you need friends, not randoms, who are playing the same games and aren't as good as you. Not always possible. I know achievements can also promote various meta-games that can have an intrinsic value, but we've been able to do that for ages without requiring a little popup telling us so (e.g. non-lethal playthroughs of the original Deus Ex was, and still is, a favorite of mine).
PC gaming is dying. Well bugger, better switch to consoles then.
Oh wait... consoles are dying. Well shit, at least I can still amuse myself with music and 3D development software on my desktop.
Oh wait... desktops are dying. Well fuck...
Better blow my brains out and find another hobby. Probably not in that order.
Absolutely. The most recent game I've played which does this is Mafia II. Drive here, do this, drive here, shoot that, drive drunk friend home, drive yourself home, sleep. Man some of the missions were boring as hell and a lot of the driving felt like clear padding instead of something more meaty. GTA 4 has plenty of driving of course, but at least the city had a bit more life in it and didn't feel empty.
I think it's more the principal of the thing, as well as the anger of EA and Bioware lying about how the DLC is a 600MB download, even though it's been shown recently that the entire DLC content (character as well as requisite mission) already exists in the core game files.
The DLC might not be that important here, but with another game, another case of zero-day DLC, who knows whether it'll be considered core content or just extra fluff. People shouldn't have to put up with this shit, is what I think the OP is saying.
Three things:
(1) Good games are generally replayable. I don't like buying games that I play only once and then shit on the shelf. A good game for me is one that has enough depth and variety that I can replay it in a number of different ways and get different outcomes. For recent titles, Deus Ex: Human Revolution is one that comes to mind. I can play stealth only, or entirely non-lethal, rambo style, undetected by anyone, and so on. Or I can just take more time at exploring the world and finding hidden entrances/praxis kits. Whatever works, so long as I can keep playing the same game until I'm bored. It certainly saves me money and extends the time I can enjoy the one game.
(2) I generally don't want to take 60-80 hours to finish one game. Make a game too long and you run the risk of the player becoming a bit bored and wanting to move onto something different. This is where (1) comes in handy - a shorter game with greater replayability means you won't have to wait too long for the game to reach its conclusion, then you can replay with different tactics/a new character build. If the game was crazy long, you might end up restarting with a new build before it even ends (or worse, abandon it for something fresh).
(3) $2-4/hour, not taking into account (1) and (2) is still a lot better value than most hobbies.
OP here - I like it at work because in a work environment I'd paid to spend as much time as I need to get things to work. Also, Linux is used in things such as servers and embedded devices - purposes which Linux is known to excel in. However once I get home, the last thing I want to deal with is Linux because after 10 or so years of playing around with it, I'm just tired of how many problems I'm STILL having with it. Windows 7 does everything I want on the desktop, Linux has many deficiencies and simply doesn't reach the same level of performance (yes I said it, performance - shit you can't even live resize windows in Linux yet without noticeable lag of the window elements). I also despise it because I've been promised by teenage zealots that Linux is somehow superior to Windows and will take over the world. It hasn't happened, and I've wasted so much time trying to convert I've over it. I just don't' want to play sysadmin at home any longer.
The world isn't black and white, there are many shades of gray. Who says you can't enjoy both?
You sure? I installed CentOS 6.2 this week (I selected the "Desktop" set of packages), and it booted into GNOME 2. Unless you're thinking of something else.
I'd go with CentOS.
It's not primarily a mainstream desktop Linux distro but you're in a work environment dealing with a embedded Windows -> Linux transition, so it doesn't matter. For this reason you don't have to deal with the bullshit UI fucking around that seems to be going on in the Linux ecosystem right now, plus it's a very stable and clean distro given its relationship with RHEL. It's our distro of choice for our VME single-board computers.
I despise Linux on the desktop at home but at work, for our embedded work, I haven't found anything that works better or more reliably (and still remains free).
Democracy doesn't work. But it's the best out of a shit selection of (tried) options for ruling a country. Sometimes I'm not saddened if normal folks aren't aware of such laws - why would they care? At this stage they'd only seem like trivialities compared to the actual problems most people have in their lives.
As a MLZ, I'm surprised you'd even be using the proprietary drivers in the first place. Most zealots I know believe it's FOSS or nothing and do not understand the word "compromise", so they generally deal with overheating laptops and problems most other people don't have.
Anyway, I would have argued that in Windows you don't even need to worry about this BS in the first place, but I can't because even the latest NVIDIA drivers occasionally stall in Windows 7 and automatically reload themselves, particularly when using Firefox but sometimes in general stuff. It's a known issue with the drivers but they haven't been fixed yet. It's a shame video drivers aren't perfectly stable anywhere.
Why is it always an "us" vs. "them" scenario? What happens if I, a lowly geek, eventually through career progression and knowing the right people, finds myself in a position of corporate power? Will you come after me too?
I'm aware of the (correctly-quoted) saying "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely", but just going after those in power just because they ARE in power seems foolish. Not everyone in power is a dick. I admit the list of those who aren't is extraordinary low but still...
I swear the GNOME development team follows the logic that if they're creating controversy, this must mean they're on the right track. No, this does not follow at all my friends. It means you're ignoring the complaints from your fucking userbase.
Maybe they think they know better and that it will pay off in the future. I've heard such things about the Linux desktop for years, and nothing has happened and if history is suppose to be nature's greatest teacher, nothing will happen. Smartphones and tablets are likely to be the best destination for these new UIs, but why the fuck are these braindead developers (Unity developers included) thinking that everyone wants convergence with their UIs, as if having the same interface for both smartphones and desktops makes any sense. Shit, at least Microsoft will allow you to switch to a full, non-gimped* traditional GUI in Windows 8 without additional tinkering or installing extra software.
* Then again the "start" button was removed in the latest builds, so who knows what'll happen.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinnamon_(user_interface)
Wikipedia solves everything. EVERYTHING!