I'll give you the answer that Larry would never tell:
Larry Niven sucks at sequels.
Really, look at his work. He sets up these extremely interesting situations, leaves plenty of room for a direct sequel, and screws it up every time. It's like he knows how to create worlds, but then has no idea what to do with them.
He's best at short stories and one-off novels. There's no such thing as a good series by Larry Niven.
Holy run-on sentences, Batman!
on
HDTV via GNU Radio
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· Score: 2, Funny
"High Definition TV has been successfully captured in its native data stream from an over the air broadcast by a software defined radio that is Free and open source from the GNU Software Defined Radio project."
Don't go to the grocery store with your mother on July 16th, 1990. The car will get hit from the passanger side while crossing the intersection in front of Lincoln Plaza. Although Mom survives the accident regardless, you will be killed a split second after impact. So yeah, just stay home and play on your Atari 7800 that day.
Could this be a move by Microsoft to buy up the rights to Connectix's Virtual Game Station (a PSX emulator) and port it to the Xbox? I'm not sure if it'd be an advantage or a disadvantage, but they *could* conveniently not get the PSX copy protection to work properly.
Connectix VGS was once the best and most promising of the Playstation emulators, until Sony bought up the company and squashed the project. Does anyone else think this is a factor in MS's decision?
Most of us think of pachinko as non-interactive pinball and think "WTF? Why would anyone want to play that??"
But that's the wrong way to think about it. It's not non-interactive pinball, it's like a more-elaborate slot machine. I never understood the appeal of gambling myself, but if I had to throw my money to the winds of chance, I'd rather play packinko than a slot machine any day of the week.
But actually... I think the Japanese do consider it interactive on some level. They place a high societal value on luck, and presumably your luck is what influences the outcome.
It seems that comics in the U.S. peaked in the 1940's. They seemed to be rapidly picking up popularity, and branching out in strange new (often gross, but hey) directions. I truly believe that comic books would have bloomed into a much large industry, if it weren't for the dastardly deeds of Concerned Parents(tm), and their puppeteers Big Media(tm).
But seriously, it was the ridiculous public outcry (comic books are warping out kids' minds!) that led to the censorship and neutering of our fledgling comic book industry. Let me show a quote from The Media Violence Myth:
"If it were my task, Mr. Chairman, to teach children delinquency," he [psychiatrist Frederic Wertham] testified before a Congressional committee in 1954, "to tell them how to rape and seduce girls, how to hurt people, how to break into stores, how to cheat, how to forge, how to do any known crime, if it were my task to teach that, I would have to enlist the crime comic book industry. Formerly to impair the morals of a minor was a punishable offense. It has now become a mass industry. I will say that every crime of delinquency is described in detail and that if you teach somebody the technique of something you, of course, seduce him into it. Nobody would believe that you teach a boy homosexuality without introducing him to it. The same thing with crime."
Listen to that fucker go. Can you believe this was a man who defined public policy? Can you believe he even had a degree in psychiatry? If I didn't believe in free speech, I'd want all perpetrators of this incessant Blame Game hanged, drawn, and quartered.
Everyone should check out the Seven Myths about Literacy in the United States. Turns out that the perception of American literacy rates rapidly sliding downhill is largely due to (surprise surprise) media frenzy.
But I guess the hackneyed old tradition of U.S. bashing is still in vogue. Will it ever go out of style?
Initial expense too high...
on
Sim-Dud?
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· Score: 5, Insightful
Why pay $30, $40, or even $50 for a game which you then have to start paying for monthly? I don't have anything against subscription-based games, but I would think that the continuous payments might somehow offset the initial purchase price of the product.
I know most of these MMORPG games give you X months free, but that price sticker on the box in the store contributes a lot to their purchasing decision. It'd be a great deal if they charged $200 for the game and gave you 40 months free, but do you think that such a package would sell?
The cost of entry for an MMORPG should be low-to-free. What about development costs, you say? Raise the monthly rate a dollar or two. Yeesh.
He wasn't blaming mIRC for people downloading worms (though I'm surprised he didn't). Just for it's usage within DDOS worms. That is to say, you could open a bad attachment in your e-mail, and would contain (among other things) a copy of mIRC which it would use to log on to a private IRC server and recieve instructions. Even if you're never downloaded mIRC or even been on IRC in your life.
And yes, by default mIRC prompts for confirmation on DCC transfers. It's been a while, but I think you even have to change two or even three settings to allow auto-get on DCCs. It's really not a *bad* client, otherwise it wouldn't be so popular.
Who modded this up? It's just a nonsensical rant about how much this guy hates mIRC, and tries to blame it for it's usage in DDOS zombie packages.
Does this poor, misguided fool really think that if all copies of mIRC just suddenly vanished (ha!) script kiddies wouldn't just use another IRC client for their means?
And did anyone read the part about how he wants the RIAA/MPAA to sue the makers of mIRC, thereby setting a nasty precident for all other IRC clients? Not to mention newsreaders, FTP clients, web browsers, and anything else that could conceivably be used for copyright infringement.
Whatever you're high on, mods, can I have some? Just for *ahem* scientific analysis. : )
These seem to be dated last month. They seem to indicate that most of the pulling ahead happened Christmas 2002.
I still think that Europe is a severely underrated game market, though god forbid I be able to find *any* sales figures comparing sales per region. Darn internet.
I don't know much about Australia, though I do know Slashdot did a story about their Game Developers Conference recently.
> It is because XBox is no where near #2 -- worldwide. It may very well be #2 in the USA, but with Japan's big gaming market, that doesn't mean dick. Take a look at the hardware console charts half way down the page.
Europe.
Europe, Europe, Europe. Why does everyone forget about Europe? There's only around 300 million people there, give or take. Xbox is #2 in Europe, though I forget by what margin. Plus, there are plenty of talented developers over there too.
I'm not European, and don't own an Xbox, but why does everyone forget about the game market over there? I bet a good number of your all-time favorite games have been made by European companies. Just check.
The Heroes of Might and Magic Series (3DO) is a damn good PC game now.. They are a great software house as well.
3DO is a *HORRIBLE* software house. These are the people responsible for the Army Men franchise, remember. Also all those lousy Might and Magic spinoffs (Warriors, Legends). Plus they drove the main Might and Magic series into mediocrity after reviving it with 6/7.
How they manage to maintain the excellent Heroes of Might and Magic series is beyond me, though I do notice that they shove out a lot of expansions for it.
Actually, the "Army Men: Air Attack" sub-series isn't bad either. 3DO still isn't a good developer, though.
Slashdot Mirror
...is the recreation of the battle for Helm's Deep done in the Serious Sam engine.
I'll give you the answer that Larry would never tell:
Larry Niven sucks at sequels.
Really, look at his work. He sets up these extremely interesting situations, leaves plenty of room for a direct sequel, and screws it up every time. It's like he knows how to create worlds, but then has no idea what to do with them.
He's best at short stories and one-off novels. There's no such thing as a good series by Larry Niven.
Sprit?
The true American spirit really shines through...
You mean trolling?
"High Definition TV has been successfully captured in its native data stream from an over the air broadcast by a software defined radio that is Free and open source from the GNU Software Defined Radio project."
Huh?
But you do realise that magic doesn't exist in any way, shape, or form, right?
Don't go to the grocery store with your mother on July 16th, 1990. The car will get hit from the passanger side while crossing the intersection in front of Lincoln Plaza. Although Mom survives the accident regardless, you will be killed a split second after impact. So yeah, just stay home and play on your Atari 7800 that day.
Thanks, I appreciate it.
Exactly how does irradiated meat "affect" anybody? I mean, other than being safer than non-sterilized meat.
Generally, only negative aspects of a product need to be labeled, not positive ones. It's up to the manufacturer to advertise it's own positives.
Could this be a move by Microsoft to buy up the rights to Connectix's Virtual Game Station (a PSX emulator) and port it to the Xbox? I'm not sure if it'd be an advantage or a disadvantage, but they *could* conveniently not get the PSX copy protection to work properly.
Connectix VGS was once the best and most promising of the Playstation emulators, until Sony bought up the company and squashed the project. Does anyone else think this is a factor in MS's decision?
I don't need the karma, but people might find this useful, which is why I'm leaving the bonus on.
Smithsonian Folkways Dusts Off Titles With New Technology
Or buy the GBA games that you want, download (or rip) the game ROM, and play it on an emulator.
Hm...
> the input devices must make an evolutionary leap
I disagree. I think they should make a revolutionary step.
Most of us think of pachinko as non-interactive pinball and think "WTF? Why would anyone want to play that??"
But that's the wrong way to think about it. It's not non-interactive pinball, it's like a more-elaborate slot machine. I never understood the appeal of gambling myself, but if I had to throw my money to the winds of chance, I'd rather play packinko than a slot machine any day of the week.
But actually... I think the Japanese do consider it interactive on some level. They place a high societal value on luck, and presumably your luck is what influences the outcome.
> I bet you get lotsa chicks being able to create jokes like that.
Well, I did get one, but that was during my vow of silence.
I've been mining asteroids at home for the past twenty years! How is this "News for Nerds, Stuff that Matters"?
Wait... hemmaroids are the ones in space, right?
BTW: The article you cite is only -- ONLY -- about US schoolchildren.
I don't see the issue - school is where people learn to read for the most part.
Not that you'll be reading this anyway, Mister AC.
hackneyed
adj : repeated too often; overfamiliar through overuse; "bromidic sermons"; "his remarks were trite and commonplace"; "hackneyed phrases"; "a stock answer"; "repeating threadbare jokes"; "parroting some timeworn axiom"; "the trite metaphor `hard as nails'" [syn: banal, commonplace, shopworn, stock(a), threadbare, timeworn, tired, trite, well-worn]
It seems that comics in the U.S. peaked in the 1940's. They seemed to be rapidly picking up popularity, and branching out in strange new (often gross, but hey) directions. I truly believe that comic books would have bloomed into a much large industry, if it weren't for the dastardly deeds of Concerned Parents(tm), and their puppeteers Big Media(tm).
But seriously, it was the ridiculous public outcry (comic books are warping out kids' minds!) that led to the censorship and neutering of our fledgling comic book industry. Let me show a quote from The Media Violence Myth:
"If it were my task, Mr. Chairman, to teach children delinquency," he [psychiatrist Frederic Wertham] testified before a Congressional committee in 1954, "to tell them how to rape and seduce girls, how to hurt people, how to break into stores, how to cheat, how to forge, how to do any known crime, if it were my task to teach that, I would have to enlist the crime comic book industry. Formerly to impair the morals of a minor was a punishable offense. It has now become a mass industry. I will say that every crime of delinquency is described in detail and that if you teach somebody the technique of something you, of course, seduce him into it. Nobody would believe that you teach a boy homosexuality without introducing him to it. The same thing with crime."
Listen to that fucker go. Can you believe this was a man who defined public policy? Can you believe he even had a degree in psychiatry? If I didn't believe in free speech, I'd want all perpetrators of this incessant Blame Game hanged, drawn, and quartered.
Everyone should check out the Seven Myths about Literacy in the United States. Turns out that the perception of American literacy rates rapidly sliding downhill is largely due to (surprise surprise) media frenzy.
But I guess the hackneyed old tradition of U.S. bashing is still in vogue. Will it ever go out of style?
Why pay $30, $40, or even $50 for a game which you then have to start paying for monthly? I don't have anything against subscription-based games, but I would think that the continuous payments might somehow offset the initial purchase price of the product.
I know most of these MMORPG games give you X months free, but that price sticker on the box in the store contributes a lot to their purchasing decision. It'd be a great deal if they charged $200 for the game and gave you 40 months free, but do you think that such a package would sell?
The cost of entry for an MMORPG should be low-to-free. What about development costs, you say? Raise the monthly rate a dollar or two. Yeesh.
He wasn't blaming mIRC for people downloading worms (though I'm surprised he didn't). Just for it's usage within DDOS worms. That is to say, you could open a bad attachment in your e-mail, and would contain (among other things) a copy of mIRC which it would use to log on to a private IRC server and recieve instructions. Even if you're never downloaded mIRC or even been on IRC in your life.
And yes, by default mIRC prompts for confirmation on DCC transfers. It's been a while, but I think you even have to change two or even three settings to allow auto-get on DCCs. It's really not a *bad* client, otherwise it wouldn't be so popular.
Who modded this up? It's just a nonsensical rant about how much this guy hates mIRC, and tries to blame it for it's usage in DDOS zombie packages.
Does this poor, misguided fool really think that if all copies of mIRC just suddenly vanished (ha!) script kiddies wouldn't just use another IRC client for their means?
And did anyone read the part about how he wants the RIAA/MPAA to sue the makers of mIRC, thereby setting a nasty precident for all other IRC clients? Not to mention newsreaders, FTP clients, web browsers, and anything else that could conceivably be used for copyright infringement.
Whatever you're high on, mods, can I have some? Just for *ahem* scientific analysis. : )
Some links from news.google.com:
Gamespot news
TotalVideoGames(don't ask me)
These seem to be dated last month. They seem to indicate that most of the pulling ahead happened Christmas 2002.
I still think that Europe is a severely underrated game market, though god forbid I be able to find *any* sales figures comparing sales per region. Darn internet.
I don't know much about Australia, though I do know Slashdot did a story about their Game Developers Conference recently.
> It is because XBox is no where near #2 -- worldwide. It may very well be #2 in the USA, but with Japan's big gaming market, that doesn't mean dick. Take a look at the hardware console charts half way down the page.
Europe.
Europe, Europe, Europe. Why does everyone forget about Europe? There's only around 300 million people there, give or take. Xbox is #2 in Europe, though I forget by what margin. Plus, there are plenty of talented developers over there too.
I'm not European, and don't own an Xbox, but why does everyone forget about the game market over there? I bet a good number of your all-time favorite games have been made by European companies. Just check.
The Heroes of Might and Magic Series (3DO) is a damn good PC game now.. They are a great software house as well.
3DO is a *HORRIBLE* software house. These are the people responsible for the Army Men franchise, remember. Also all those lousy Might and Magic spinoffs (Warriors, Legends). Plus they drove the main Might and Magic series into mediocrity after reviving it with 6/7.
How they manage to maintain the excellent Heroes of Might and Magic series is beyond me, though I do notice that they shove out a lot of expansions for it.
Actually, the "Army Men: Air Attack" sub-series isn't bad either. 3DO still isn't a good developer, though.