...people whose servers get slashdotted? Does she counsel those people too?
Also, I keep trying to read the headline as "Psychologist CONsoles..." instead of "Psychologist conSOLES..." Like she turns them into Gamecubes or something.
Apparently, they got the Samurai Jack / Dexter's Laboratory guy to do the shorts. Who the hell made that decision? His goofy style is totally inappropriate, imo. I'll watch them, but I'm not too optimistic.
If they had to pick someone totally out of left field, they should have gotten the Sealab 2021 guys to do it.:D
Original Video Animation. This refers to an anime (usually a mini-series) that goes straight to video. There isn't the stigma attached to it as with American direct to video releases, and most of it is somewhere between theatrical releases and TV anime, as far as the animation is concerned.
Chunsoft (the people who make DragonQuest / Dragon Warrior) have a series of "Mysterious Dungeon" games that are rogue / nethack games, with spiffy graphics. The purists out there probably cringe at the thought of bitmaps (the latest ones are in 3d!) but the gameplay is basically the same.
It's really amazing how much strategic and tactical complexity you can get out of simple rules and a huge number of items and monster types.
The most famous one in the US is probably Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon, published by Square. Typically, these games get ripped apart in reviews by idiot videogame writers who don't understand the first thing about good gameplay. They have a really loyal following in Japan, though.
Check them out if you have a PS1. Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon and Toruneko's Escape are available in the US.
I had the opposite reaction to those two games. *shrug*
I liked NWN a lot. The D&D 3rd Edition rules are a really nice mix of a skill-based and level-based system. The story is long and involving, and yes the combat can get tedious at times, but you're free to ignore the non-essential quests.
Dungeon Siege, OTOH, is an inferior copy of Diablo II. It's just killing things over and over without, imo, the style of DII.
Also, the toolkit for NWN is much more robust than the DS toolkit. It pretty much lets you create a module / campaign the way you would with a P&P RPG and *play* it that way as well. With DM controlled NPCs.
Though I do agree that DS, overall, is a better looking game. The environments are stunning. The character models in NWN are much nicer, though.
Just a few more years and the transition to featureless games with cool graphics but no game play will be complete.
I always think the same thing when I play Mario 64, Zelda: OoT, Metal Gear Solid, Vagrant Story, Neverwinter Nights, Pikmin, Final Fantasy [whatever], Klonoa, Gunvalkyrie, Gran Turismo, or Resident Evil.
And don't get me started on Warcraft III. That actually requires you to *think*. What's up with that? Give me gameplay, dammit, not a frickin' math test.
Re:Knowing your limitations
on
Social Robot?
·
· Score: 3, Funny
"solicited drama students to teach GRACE how to act like a human so it will make people feel comfortable"
You have to give the builders points for knowing their limitations.
I went to CMU and the drama students are the *last* people I'd go to if I wanted to teach a robot to act "human."
...only people with children should have to pay taxes that go into education.
I don't think it's unreasonable to expect people to pay for things that benefit society as a whole, even if those things don't affect them personally. If we're agreed that NASA benefits us all (please, no Tang jokes), we should all pay for it.
We use an in-house IM-like client at work and it's really useful for getting quick feedback.
Typically, we'll use it if we want someone to run a test program or look at some screenshots. It's quicker than email, and easier than using the phone, where dictating a full *nix path could be difficult. The recipient can just paste the command into their shell.
Also, it makes it really easy to get a lunch posse together.:)
"That point being that most web designers don't think as much about how people will use the interface as much how good it will look." That would be the one thing that I agree with him on. But, have you ever seen his website [jakobnielsen.net]?
Wrong Jakob Nielsen. As it says in the summary, the Jakob Nielsen we're talking about has his website at www.useit.com.
Your point is valid, though. It's a very boring site, visually.:) He has a rule-of-thumb that webpages can't be any bigger than 3k, because it takes a second to download 3k on a 28.8 modem. He might have realized that no one uses 28.8 modems anymore, though, because his homepage seems to be bigger than 3k.
99.99999% of the sun's energy output flows, wasted, into the interstellar depths. A tiny fraction of this energy falls on our planet's surface and is used by us (either in stored form as fossil fuels, or more or less directly as solar, wind, etc...)
Does anyone else remember a page on reality that had the details of an SGI employee purchasing an insanely large magnifying lens and using it to melt stuff? I thought I saw it about 3 years ago. That story was the basis for most of my opinions about SGI as a company.:-)
Yeah, that was a fresnel lens. They had photos of aluminum cans they burned. Though I don't think they tried this, the guy said that you could use the lens to melt concrete (!!)
Another cool thing they had on the site was dry ice bombs. You take a 2 liter soda bottle, put some crushed dry ice into it, pour in some water, cap it tightly, shake, and throw.
The art critics there claimed that computer-generated art was not a 'fine art' but more of a graphic design, regardless of the quality of the work.
As a graphic designer, I'm offended by this remark.
Seriously though, I don't see how the medium should be any consideration in whether or not something is art. Any sort of self-expression is art, IMO. While it may be a valid criticism that computers and the net have made it easier for random morons to create and distribute bad art, I can't imagine how any reasonable person can argue that something created on a computer isn't art at all.
The graphic design remark is just asinine. Design is about problem solving. Art is about self-expression. The distinction has nothing to do with quality, and everything to do with purpose.
Most new media go through this. It took a while for photography to be accepted as fine art. And today, very few people would argue that point. Computer art should have an easier time getting acceptance, given that it doesn't steal your soul they way photography does.
Coincidentally, there's an article on CNN today about digital vs cel animation. They quote Jules Engel, who worked on Bambi and Fantasia, and he seems to look down on computer animation. He seems to imply that computer animators can't draw, which is ridiculous, and even if it was true, he doesn't seem to recognize CG as a medium onto itself. ("Sure, McGwire can hit, but he sucks on clay courts." WTF?)
Geocaching.com doesn't have a leg to stand on. IANAL, but as I understand it, you can't copyright information. What you can copyright is a specific expression of information. So if Mr Hall was copying maps from the Geocaching site and putting them up on his own, that'd be one thing. But he's not doing that as far as I can tell--the maps are his own.
Presumably, they did this in the hopes that he'd cave under the threat of a lawsuit. Too bad for them he actually got some counsel.
I saw this article on CNN this morning and was a little confused. Given that Sega had announced Phantasy Star Online for PS2 (and Gamecube) a while back, wasn't it always implied that there would be cross-platform play?
Or was I assuming too much? Was it understood (until today) that each console would have its own servers, with no interaction between the user groups?
Well, great news in any case. My only peeve is that I probably won't be able to transfer my existing PSO chars to the PS2 (Gamecube) version, which will probably probably have nicer graphics. ^_^
It is quite clear that the software itself is can be free, and benefit from code sharing, peer review, and all the other advantages of open development, without damaging the revenue model.
I was thinking the same thing the other day--why don't the people who publish these MMORPGs give away the games for free? I imagine most of their income is from the monthly fee anyway, and it seems like they'd get a lot more people hooked if they just gave you the software. (The drug dealer model.)
I'm really excited about Anarchy Online (www.anarchyonline.com) and I've had to resort to offers of buying people software in order to get them to play.:P
Slashdot Mirror
You linked to NPR. Did you get permission?
...people whose servers get slashdotted? Does she counsel those people too?
Also, I keep trying to read the headline as "Psychologist CONsoles..." instead of "Psychologist conSOLES..." Like she turns them into Gamecubes or something.
I'll shut up now.
The character designs look TERRIBLE. :(
:D
Apparently, they got the Samurai Jack / Dexter's Laboratory guy to do the shorts. Who the hell made that decision? His goofy style is totally inappropriate, imo. I'll watch them, but I'm not too optimistic.
If they had to pick someone totally out of left field, they should have gotten the Sealab 2021 guys to do it.
So just what is OVA?
Original Video Animation. This refers to an anime (usually a mini-series) that goes straight to video. There isn't the stigma attached to it as with American direct to video releases, and most of it is somewhere between theatrical releases and TV anime, as far as the animation is concerned.
I found myself the proud recipient of... a bobble head doll of the company CEO!
You work for Oracle?
If the more popular links are shown first, doesn't it just reinforce their popularity? Once a link becomes popular, is there any way to vote it down?
Chunsoft (the people who make DragonQuest / Dragon Warrior) have a series of "Mysterious Dungeon" games that are rogue / nethack games, with spiffy graphics. The purists out there probably cringe at the thought of bitmaps (the latest ones are in 3d!) but the gameplay is basically the same.
It's really amazing how much strategic and tactical complexity you can get out of simple rules and a huge number of items and monster types.
The most famous one in the US is probably Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon, published by Square. Typically, these games get ripped apart in reviews by idiot videogame writers who don't understand the first thing about good gameplay. They have a really loyal following in Japan, though.
Check them out if you have a PS1. Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon and Toruneko's Escape are available in the US.
Choosing a big and bulky inappropriate PC has become an obsolete way of thinking.
Back in my day, all we had was inappropriate PCs. They'd show up for dinner in shorts, and make lewd comments about the hostess.
Seriously though, there was a time when choosing an inappropriate PC was, er, appropriate? Don't marketing people take English classes anymore?
From the article:
R2D2 operates on eight batteries...
Sheesh. What *kind* of batteries? AA? Car? Anti-aircraft? What?
I had the opposite reaction to those two games. *shrug*
I liked NWN a lot. The D&D 3rd Edition rules are a really nice mix of a skill-based and level-based system. The story is long and involving, and yes the combat can get tedious at times, but you're free to ignore the non-essential quests.
Dungeon Siege, OTOH, is an inferior copy of Diablo II. It's just killing things over and over without, imo, the style of DII.
Also, the toolkit for NWN is much more robust than the DS toolkit. It pretty much lets you create a module / campaign the way you would with a P&P RPG and *play* it that way as well. With DM controlled NPCs.
Though I do agree that DS, overall, is a better looking game. The environments are stunning. The character models in NWN are much nicer, though.
YMMV.
Just a few more years and the transition to featureless games with cool graphics but no game play will be complete.
I always think the same thing when I play Mario 64, Zelda: OoT, Metal Gear Solid, Vagrant Story, Neverwinter Nights, Pikmin, Final Fantasy [whatever], Klonoa, Gunvalkyrie, Gran Turismo, or Resident Evil.
And don't get me started on Warcraft III. That actually requires you to *think*. What's up with that? Give me gameplay, dammit, not a frickin' math test.
"solicited drama students to teach GRACE how to act like a human so it will make people feel comfortable"
:)
You have to give the builders points for knowing their limitations.
I went to CMU and the drama students are the *last* people I'd go to if I wanted to teach a robot to act "human."
...only people with children should have to pay taxes that go into education.
I don't think it's unreasonable to expect people to pay for things that benefit society as a whole, even if those things don't affect them personally. If we're agreed that NASA benefits us all (please, no Tang jokes), we should all pay for it.
This guy's a kook.
We use an in-house IM-like client at work and it's really useful for getting quick feedback.
:)
Typically, we'll use it if we want someone to run a test program or look at some screenshots. It's quicker than email, and easier than using the phone, where dictating a full *nix path could be difficult. The recipient can just paste the command into their shell.
Also, it makes it really easy to get a lunch posse together.
Actually, I can't remember what the game was, but I remember hearing that some Japanese people were killing each other in cybercafes over some MMORPG
4 0
The game is Lineage and it was Koreans, not Japanese. The article was slashdotted here:
Taking Games Seriously in Korea
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/06/04/17562
From the article:
Angie said her live-in boyfriend spends at least 30 hours a week playing "EverQuest" as a female elf...
This is supposed to be an example of compulsive behavior? 30 hours a week?! What a fucking lightweight.
When I was a kid, we used to play 30 hours a day. And we didn't have no live-in girlfriend either.
:)
"That point being that most web designers don't think as much about how people will use the interface as much how good it will look." That would be the one thing that I agree with him on. But, have you ever seen his website [jakobnielsen.net]?
:) He has a rule-of-thumb that webpages can't be any bigger than 3k, because it takes a second to download 3k on a 28.8 modem. He might have realized that no one uses 28.8 modems anymore, though, because his homepage seems to be bigger than 3k.
Wrong Jakob Nielsen. As it says in the summary, the Jakob Nielsen we're talking about has his website at www.useit.com.
Your point is valid, though. It's a very boring site, visually.
99.99999% of the sun's energy output flows, wasted, into the interstellar depths. A tiny fraction of this energy falls on our planet's surface and is used by us (either in stored form as fossil fuels, or more or less directly as solar, wind, etc...)
Mmm, dyson sphere...
Does anyone else remember a page on reality that had the details of an SGI employee purchasing an insanely large magnifying lens and using it to melt stuff? I thought I saw it about 3 years ago. That story was the basis for most of my opinions about SGI as a company. :-)
Yeah, that was a fresnel lens. They had photos of aluminum cans they burned. Though I don't think they tried this, the guy said that you could use the lens to melt concrete (!!)
Another cool thing they had on the site was dry ice bombs. You take a 2 liter soda bottle, put some crushed dry ice into it, pour in some water, cap it tightly, shake, and throw.
The art critics there claimed that computer-generated art was not a 'fine art' but more of a graphic design, regardless of the quality of the work.
As a graphic designer, I'm offended by this remark.
Seriously though, I don't see how the medium should be any consideration in whether or not something is art. Any sort of self-expression is art, IMO. While it may be a valid criticism that computers and the net have made it easier for random morons to create and distribute bad art, I can't imagine how any reasonable person can argue that something created on a computer isn't art at all.
The graphic design remark is just asinine. Design is about problem solving. Art is about self-expression. The distinction has nothing to do with quality, and everything to do with purpose.
Most new media go through this. It took a while for photography to be accepted as fine art. And today, very few people would argue that point. Computer art should have an easier time getting acceptance, given that it doesn't steal your soul they way photography does.
Coincidentally, there's an article on CNN today about digital vs cel animation. They quote Jules Engel, who worked on Bambi and Fantasia, and he seems to look down on computer animation. He seems to imply that computer animators can't draw, which is ridiculous, and even if it was true, he doesn't seem to recognize CG as a medium onto itself. ("Sure, McGwire can hit, but he sucks on clay courts." WTF?)
Ok, I've rambled enough.
Geocaching.com doesn't have a leg to stand on. IANAL, but as I understand it, you can't copyright information. What you can copyright is a specific expression of information. So if Mr Hall was copying maps from the Geocaching site and putting them up on his own, that'd be one thing. But he's not doing that as far as I can tell--the maps are his own.
Presumably, they did this in the hopes that he'd cave under the threat of a lawsuit. Too bad for them he actually got some counsel.
Systems are going to be so kool in the future that noone will ever leave their homes.
WTF are you talking about "in the future?" Some of us don't leave our homes TODAY.
Am I just ahead of the curve?
I saw this article on CNN this morning and was a little confused. Given that Sega had announced Phantasy Star Online for PS2 (and Gamecube) a while back, wasn't it always implied that there would be cross-platform play?
Or was I assuming too much? Was it understood (until today) that each console would have its own servers, with no interaction between the user groups?
Well, great news in any case. My only peeve is that I probably won't be able to transfer my existing PSO chars to the PS2 (Gamecube) version, which will probably probably have nicer graphics. ^_^
I guess this is more believable and consequently a better troll, but your post earlier this day in the Japanese gadgets discussion was much funnier.
It is quite clear that the software itself is can be free, and benefit from code sharing, peer review, and all the other advantages of open development, without damaging the revenue model.
I was thinking the same thing the other day--why don't the people who publish these MMORPGs give away the games for free? I imagine most of their income is from the monthly fee anyway, and it seems like they'd get a lot more people hooked if they just gave you the software. (The drug dealer model.)
I'm really excited about Anarchy Online (www.anarchyonline.com) and I've had to resort to offers of buying people software in order to get them to play. :P