The Florida Attorney General should be removed. No matter how you slice it, it's protected speech.
Correct me if I'm wrong (which I know someone will), but wasn't there a big stink about six to ten months ago when some judge, in his infinite wisdom, declared video games not to be protected speech?
Oddly enough, I never noticed the load times in FF1 on Origins. They weren't any worse than, say, Xenogears' load times for the battles or status screen...
Too damn many good games lately! I still haven't finished the main campaign, I haven't even touched Shadows of Undrentide, and that's only part of the problem... FFXI is sucking me in, Sword of Mana is good eatin' (especially if you played the original), and a friend desperately wants me to play through WC3 so he can whomp me... At least whatever I don't finish now will pull me through the next big slump.
Mel Brooks, eat your heart out...
on
Online! The Book
·
· Score: 5, Funny
Merchandising, merchandising! Online! The Book, Online! The Movie, Online! The Breakfast Cereal... Online! The Flamethrower! (The kids love that one.)
There is a free version of DivX underneath the "ad supported" download links. You just need to actually read the page instead of clicking the big shiny "DOWNLOAD NOW!!1" button.
I work for an ISP, and we received advance warning of this about two days ago. The reason we're concerned is because our policy generally states that if it's not a problem with the cable modem, then it's a problem with the computer and thus the customer needs to call the manufacturer. Spyware falls into the category of "problem with the computer". I've been recommending the use of SpybotS&D for about four months now and haven't been blasted by the managers, but other techs are undoubtedly going to get the "but Dell said spyware was something you guys could fix since it uses the internet" song and dance from customers.
Not that Dell or my company has the right answer either way, but I just wish the weaselly fucks who write spyware would just stop.
He was probably scratching the wrong side, then. The fastest way to destroy a disc is to scratch the label side. If you get under the label and bang up the data layer, the disc is totally hosed.
...You know, I can't believe I missed that one. I've only been playing it for (checks play time figure) four days. That's four days that I've been logged in-- I've had the game for a month now... Thanks for reminding me.
Added into this discussion is the fact that as of right now MechAssault is available for $20 (and under if bought used).
Precisely. The game is budget-priced and likely not making too much more money for the developers. Why not extend the profitability a little bit? I certainly don't see the problem with this.
You realise of course that those terms include such third-party-friendly gems as 'you cannot host games on your own servers',
Let's see what Sega has to say about that, shall we? Sega Sports/ESPN College Hoops' PS2 servers have been down since launch due to a server bug of some sort. The XBox ones have been running flawlessly. (reference: Gamespot)
'all players must pay a subscription fee to the platform vendor',
This already happens. Not a subscription fee-- but the platform vendor ALWAYS gets a cut of online gaming because the platform vendor is the one selling the network adapter. XBox has a built-in Ethernet port but you still have to pay extra for Live-- thus putting them in the same position as Sony and Nintendo (if N were to ever officially offer online play).
and 'you cannot make Xbox Live games interoperable with other platforms'?
I could be wrong here, but so far I know of no online-capable console that could allow multi-platform online play. The DC was supposed to allow this with Half-Life and Unreal Tournament (I think) but that never panned out (and HL was never released).
EA may be right for avoiding Live, but it certainly isn't for the reasons you bring up.
Another game that I've heard very little about but that looks cooler the more I hear about it is this crossplatform thingy from Namco called "I-Ninja". Has anyone heard anything about this?
Not as such. There was a favorable preview in this past month's OPM but that's not saying much. All things considered, though, it'll probably fall into the same category as Metal Arms-- cool game but underappreciated because of some unfair quirk (in I-Ninja's case, because the graphics are "too cutesy"). Ah well. Too much good stuf these days.
Metal Arms doesn't have XBL support because it's a multi-platform game.
I agree that multiplayer-- online or otherwise-- can significantly extend the hours a game is played, but it's not the sole reason to buy or not buy a title. Hell, FFXI is the first Final Fantasy title to have true multiplayer, so would you say that's the only Final Fantasy game worth buying?
If you're that concerned about "wasting the 50", as you say, just wait until Metal Arms hits the bargain bin or the Greatest Hits/Platinum/Player's Choice lists. If the reviews say $50 is worth it, then $20 some six months down the road is a steal.
Maybe it's just me, but I really think that if Konami would actually release a few of those "obscure" Bemani games over here, like Pop'n Music, they'd be pleasantly surprised. Then again, they're content with cramming Castlevania after Castlevania down our collective throat, so...
Xenosaga came down in price recently (I saw it at Wal-Mart for $30), which averages out to a dollar per two hours of cutscene. Good choice.
Also worth checking out is Gungrave for PS2-- should be $20 by now. Excellent "shoot the hell out of everything" game. Perfect if you liked Trigun.
You might have to hunt through the used bin for this, but Skygunner for PS2 really turned out to be a good deal. Think Star Fox with a more cutesy atmosphere and without the corridor-style or space missions. Frenetic dogfights and the like.
Game Boy Advance games, well, you're not limiting yourself to much if you want to go $30; however, I'd spring for the e-Reader and three or four game sets for that. If not, well, Phantasy Star Collection, Advance Wars, and Golden Sun should all be under $20 now.
I can't really think of too many bargain games for Xbox or Gamecube right now, primarily because I haven't had those for as long as I've had the PS2. However, Spy Hunter (Xbox), Tetris Worlds (XBox), Sonic Mega Collection (GC), and Hunter: The Reckoning (GC) all seem like good buys.
One day in Computer Architecture class, the professor announced the name of the program we're going to be using for our introduction to assembly. About ten seconds later, Matt D. shouts out in his best old-crone voice, "But I don't like SPIM!" The other four of us in the crew started immediately chanting "SPIM, SPIM, SPIM, SPIM..."
The vast majority of personal websites suck. This is a fact. The ones that don't suck are really only useful to a handful of people.
When was the last time you wandered through Google results for "personal website"? If I had to venture a guess, not until you clicked through to that link. Yet when was the last time you visited someone's personal website? Again, this is only a guess, but probably within the last twenty-four to forty-eight hours. This is because the content on that site was, at some point, useful to you-- even if you were the one who created it.
I use my personal website (here, if you dare) primarily as a collection of links that I use daily and also as a way to get my PHP and HTML work out there, on exhibit. I have, probably, ten consistent viewers world-wide. Three of them are my mom, dad, and sister. And this is fine for me! Because I know that the content on my site (with the exception of maybe one or two areas explicitly for display) is of relevance to absolutely nobody.
People here are talking about how in the old days of the Internet (which can't be that damned old if I remember them), personal websites contained a diverse variety of information on just about anything, and that these websites formed the backbone of how people did research; some scientist in Alameda's paper on nuclear vessels, posted on his website, was just as valuable as, say, a fan-page devoted to Evangelion by some kid from Buffalo. Nowadays, everything has a website. You can get any information you want about anything straight from the manufacturer, and personal sites be damned; they're only opinions.
Both points are valid. In the "old days" the information you got was still people's opinions, which meant you had to find three or four correlating opinions before you could really judge. Now, personal websites allow us to cut through marketing and P.R. bullcrap, but we still need three or four correlating opinions before we can really judge.
I'm straying from my point. Does anyone here follow anime? Stupid question, right? How do you learn about new releases in Japan? Sure, if you know Japanese, you can check out TV Tokyo or TBS's websites and get the info from them. But odds are you don't (and this is not a slander against those of you who do-- statistically, however, you're in the minority, OK?). So how would you know about releases like (and I'm dating myself here, as the only reference I have handy is a copy of Newtype that's about three months old*) Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, Scrapped Princess, or Sora no Stellvia? Personal sites do allow "niche" sectors like anime (ha ha) and, I dunno, latex doll painters a way to spread information. The personal site is the next step in "word of mouth".
(* Newtype USA is only a year old. Hardly enough basis to say that anime is mainstream now; but that's not what's at issue here. You could just as easily do a google search on latex doll painters and find out more than you ever wanted to know. The point is that Newtype is only one source of information. The internet, and personal websites, provide about fifty zillion other points of view.)
Just to state it clearly here: Less need for personal websites != no need for personal websites.
Slashdot Mirror
Let's not forget the Japanese delegates who were pissed that their proposed 4,000-tile kanji expansion was turned down.
You can't make everybody happy. Deal with it.
The Florida Attorney General should be removed. No matter how you slice it, it's protected speech.
Correct me if I'm wrong (which I know someone will), but wasn't there a big stink about six to ten months ago when some judge, in his infinite wisdom, declared video games not to be protected speech?
Not really. The biggest problem lay in NTSC -> PAL conversion.
Oddly enough, I never noticed the load times in FF1 on Origins. They weren't any worse than, say, Xenogears' load times for the battles or status screen...
Kinda morbid, if you ask me. But still slightly amusing.
I'm disturbed at just how many famous people died on my birthday... Jim Henson, Douglas Adams... it's like May 16th is cursed or something...
The Voodoo Extreme article stated that Mayor Bloomberg said Rockstar and Take Two would be investigated for human rights violations.
Which would be really interesting to see, considering Rockstar North developed the game. In Scotland.
A mouse should be enough. Scroll wheels-- or perhaps even a four-directional switch near the scroll wheel-- could be used for additional axis control.
Too damn many good games lately! I still haven't finished the main campaign, I haven't even touched Shadows of Undrentide, and that's only part of the problem... FFXI is sucking me in, Sword of Mana is good eatin' (especially if you played the original), and a friend desperately wants me to play through WC3 so he can whomp me... At least whatever I don't finish now will pull me through the next big slump.
Merchandising, merchandising! Online! The Book, Online! The Movie, Online! The Breakfast Cereal... Online! The Flamethrower! (The kids love that one.)
There is a free version of DivX underneath the "ad supported" download links. You just need to actually read the page instead of clicking the big shiny "DOWNLOAD NOW!!1" button.
I work for an ISP, and we received advance warning of this about two days ago. The reason we're concerned is because our policy generally states that if it's not a problem with the cable modem, then it's a problem with the computer and thus the customer needs to call the manufacturer. Spyware falls into the category of "problem with the computer". I've been recommending the use of SpybotS&D for about four months now and haven't been blasted by the managers, but other techs are undoubtedly going to get the "but Dell said spyware was something you guys could fix since it uses the internet" song and dance from customers.
Not that Dell or my company has the right answer either way, but I just wish the weaselly fucks who write spyware would just stop.
He was probably scratching the wrong side, then. The fastest way to destroy a disc is to scratch the label side. If you get under the label and bang up the data layer, the disc is totally hosed.
Funny, I was just going to listen to BT. Now, thanks to Slashdot, I don't need to! ...
Be warned, linger on that page and music will play. Good music, mind you, but music nonetheless.
I guess you could call this an attempt to squeeze blood from a stone...
...You know, I can't believe I missed that one. I've only been playing it for (checks play time figure) four days. That's four days that I've been logged in-- I've had the game for a month now... Thanks for reminding me.
Added into this discussion is the fact that as of right now MechAssault is available for $20 (and under if bought used).
Precisely. The game is budget-priced and likely not making too much more money for the developers. Why not extend the profitability a little bit? I certainly don't see the problem with this.
You realise of course that those terms include such third-party-friendly gems as 'you cannot host games on your own servers',
Let's see what Sega has to say about that, shall we? Sega Sports/ESPN College Hoops' PS2 servers have been down since launch due to a server bug of some sort. The XBox ones have been running flawlessly. (reference: Gamespot)
'all players must pay a subscription fee to the platform vendor',
This already happens. Not a subscription fee-- but the platform vendor ALWAYS gets a cut of online gaming because the platform vendor is the one selling the network adapter. XBox has a built-in Ethernet port but you still have to pay extra for Live-- thus putting them in the same position as Sony and Nintendo (if N were to ever officially offer online play).
and 'you cannot make Xbox Live games interoperable with other platforms'?
I could be wrong here, but so far I know of no online-capable console that could allow multi-platform online play. The DC was supposed to allow this with Half-Life and Unreal Tournament (I think) but that never panned out (and HL was never released).
EA may be right for avoiding Live, but it certainly isn't for the reasons you bring up.
OK, female genius mathematician, and the word "Hilbert". Anyone else make this free-associative long-jump?
Another game that I've heard very little about but that looks cooler the more I hear about it is this crossplatform thingy from Namco called "I-Ninja". Has anyone heard anything about this?
Not as such. There was a favorable preview in this past month's OPM but that's not saying much. All things considered, though, it'll probably fall into the same category as Metal Arms-- cool game but underappreciated because of some unfair quirk (in I-Ninja's case, because the graphics are "too cutesy"). Ah well. Too much good stuf these days.
And it joins the ranks of Wild ARMs (all of them), Grandia, and Skygunner in the pantheon of good games that were released at crappy times.
Heh. Wild ARMs, and Metal Arms. Just noticed that.
Metal Arms doesn't have XBL support because it's a multi-platform game.
I agree that multiplayer-- online or otherwise-- can significantly extend the hours a game is played, but it's not the sole reason to buy or not buy a title. Hell, FFXI is the first Final Fantasy title to have true multiplayer, so would you say that's the only Final Fantasy game worth buying?
If you're that concerned about "wasting the 50", as you say, just wait until Metal Arms hits the bargain bin or the Greatest Hits/Platinum/Player's Choice lists. If the reviews say $50 is worth it, then $20 some six months down the road is a steal.
Maybe it's just me, but I really think that if Konami would actually release a few of those "obscure" Bemani games over here, like Pop'n Music, they'd be pleasantly surprised. Then again, they're content with cramming Castlevania after Castlevania down our collective throat, so...
Xenosaga came down in price recently (I saw it at Wal-Mart for $30), which averages out to a dollar per two hours of cutscene. Good choice.
Also worth checking out is Gungrave for PS2-- should be $20 by now. Excellent "shoot the hell out of everything" game. Perfect if you liked Trigun.
You might have to hunt through the used bin for this, but Skygunner for PS2 really turned out to be a good deal. Think Star Fox with a more cutesy atmosphere and without the corridor-style or space missions. Frenetic dogfights and the like.
Game Boy Advance games, well, you're not limiting yourself to much if you want to go $30; however, I'd spring for the e-Reader and three or four game sets for that. If not, well, Phantasy Star Collection, Advance Wars, and Golden Sun should all be under $20 now.
I can't really think of too many bargain games for Xbox or Gamecube right now, primarily because I haven't had those for as long as I've had the PS2. However, Spy Hunter (Xbox), Tetris Worlds (XBox), Sonic Mega Collection (GC), and Hunter: The Reckoning (GC) all seem like good buys.
Hope that helps some.
One day in Computer Architecture class, the professor announced the name of the program we're going to be using for our introduction to assembly. About ten seconds later, Matt D. shouts out in his best old-crone voice, "But I don't like SPIM!" The other four of us in the crew started immediately chanting "SPIM, SPIM, SPIM, SPIM..."
True story.
...to paraphrase.
The vast majority of personal websites suck. This is a fact. The ones that don't suck are really only useful to a handful of people.
When was the last time you wandered through Google results for "personal website"? If I had to venture a guess, not until you clicked through to that link. Yet when was the last time you visited someone's personal website? Again, this is only a guess, but probably within the last twenty-four to forty-eight hours. This is because the content on that site was, at some point, useful to you-- even if you were the one who created it.
I use my personal website (here, if you dare) primarily as a collection of links that I use daily and also as a way to get my PHP and HTML work out there, on exhibit. I have, probably, ten consistent viewers world-wide. Three of them are my mom, dad, and sister. And this is fine for me! Because I know that the content on my site (with the exception of maybe one or two areas explicitly for display) is of relevance to absolutely nobody.
People here are talking about how in the old days of the Internet (which can't be that damned old if I remember them), personal websites contained a diverse variety of information on just about anything, and that these websites formed the backbone of how people did research; some scientist in Alameda's paper on nuclear vessels, posted on his website, was just as valuable as, say, a fan-page devoted to Evangelion by some kid from Buffalo. Nowadays, everything has a website. You can get any information you want about anything straight from the manufacturer, and personal sites be damned; they're only opinions.
Both points are valid. In the "old days" the information you got was still people's opinions, which meant you had to find three or four correlating opinions before you could really judge. Now, personal websites allow us to cut through marketing and P.R. bullcrap, but we still need three or four correlating opinions before we can really judge.
I'm straying from my point. Does anyone here follow anime? Stupid question, right? How do you learn about new releases in Japan? Sure, if you know Japanese, you can check out TV Tokyo or TBS's websites and get the info from them. But odds are you don't (and this is not a slander against those of you who do-- statistically, however, you're in the minority, OK?). So how would you know about releases like (and I'm dating myself here, as the only reference I have handy is a copy of Newtype that's about three months old*) Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, Scrapped Princess, or Sora no Stellvia? Personal sites do allow "niche" sectors like anime (ha ha) and, I dunno, latex doll painters a way to spread information. The personal site is the next step in "word of mouth".
(* Newtype USA is only a year old. Hardly enough basis to say that anime is mainstream now; but that's not what's at issue here. You could just as easily do a google search on latex doll painters and find out more than you ever wanted to know. The point is that Newtype is only one source of information. The internet, and personal websites, provide about fifty zillion other points of view.)
Just to state it clearly here: Less need for personal websites != no need for personal websites.