Slightly OT, but just so you know, Reeves handed out $82 million of his own money to the various crew members who worked on the three Matrix movies. So while he may be making a lot more money than what his talent is worth, at least he sees the value in everyone else working on the project.
I'm not sure I understand the point you're trying to make. Journalism entails the publishing of facts and opinions to a wide audience. Blogging does the same thing. Just because the "journalist" is trained and being paid in no way makes that piece of writing any more valuable than the amateur blogger. Writing is writing, and the source should not matter, only the quality of the content and the effect it has on the audience.
The "Bow, Nigger" article is fabulous. It does a good job of providing some insight into the game, is funny at the same time, and also tackles some of the more pressing issues in online gaming (cheating, harrassment, etc). By labelling it as "blogging" and refusing to call it "journalism" by your standards, are you trying to devalue it? Would you not go and see an indie band because they burned their CD's at home, and aren't played on the radio? Are they not still considered musicians?
I'm tired of people being so down on blogging. Writing is writing, and it makes no difference whatsoever in what forum it's being presented. Please start judging it by its quality, and not its source. That's what art is all about.
I'd just like to point out, it's funny that you used a code for "Contra" that gets you 30 lives, as a Republican cheat. It seems like they never run out of lives...
Because in that space of time they can show 5 shorter movies. Charge $13 for each of those and they're looking at $75. Not too many LOTR fans are going to spend that much cash for a marathon, or at least not enough of them to justify using an entire theatre.
I agree that it would be great to be able to see the full extended set on a large screen, but I don't necessarily agree that it's in the theatre's best interests.
I don't have too much to say on this topic, except for the fact that I can only play HL2 for about an hour or so before having to stop from motion sickness. A good 30 or 40 minute break and I'm all good to go.
The strange thing is that I have never experienced this in all my years of gaming. From Wolfenstein to Doom, Quake, Unreal, and the original HL and CS, I have never had any motion sickness problems. I have heard reports that it's to do with the narrow FOV, but I'm still unsure how to change that (anyone?) and other people say it has to do with jitters in the gfx, but from what I can see it's running silky smooth.
Anyway, this does at least make me feel better, that I'm not the only one with the problem. Any suggestions would be helpful (anything is better than the post on the steampowered forums: "Grow some balls and stop getting sick from playing video games" great advice.. thanks)
I'm sick of hearing all you folks complaining about Steam activation. You act as if it's your god-given right to play this game, without any restrictions whatsoever. Until you suggest a better solution, a better way to combat rampant game piracy, a better way to make sure the developers don't lose money, then keep your mouth shut.
Valve had to make a decision, and I think they made the right one. Is it easy to get HL2 working right away? No, it's a bit complicated. But with a little bit of time, it's not a big deal at all.
So please, stop your anti-Valve rant. We should be supporting game developers, they do great work! Their support for the modding community is without precedent, the game is remarkably bug free, and I know I'll be enjoying it for years to come. If you can't take a simple activation scheme in order to enjoy one of the best games ever, then you obviously don't really care about playing the game in the first place. And if that is the case, you've got no argument.
I like Steam. I love HL2. I think Valve deserves our support, not these holier-than-thou attitudes.
I pre-loaded the game last month, to avoid the rush that *everyone* knew was going to happen. It's not a secret this is one of the biggest games ever. Anyone who expected this to run perfectly smoothly (gamers and publishers alike) were fooling themselves. All in all, I think it's gone well. At least, for me...
I wasn't able to connect to steam for about 3 hours last night (release day) but once I could connect, I was up and ready to play in 10 minutes.
I realize that people have trouble with the mandatory online registration, and all that. But personally I've found Steam to be a very useful, stable, and innovative service. It also means more money in the hands of the developers and less to the distributors. For those of you that still can't play HL2, relax... You will be able to soon enough, and the wait is well worth it.
Since posting the comment, I read further and indeed you're right. But that doesn't change the fact that the song was important to AIDS activits in the early eighties. Go read up on how the Softcell version of the song has been re-interpreted before talking about reading too much into something.
As far as "hidden meanings" go, this is the entire point of art. To have the audience find his or her own interpretation, and take from it what they will. This is a good thing, not a bad thing and shouldn't be discouraged.
Tainted Love was pretty much the first pop song that tackled AIDS, which was a taboo subject in 1981 when it was released.
Even if you don't appreciate the music itself, at least give it some credit for having a message. Music these days wouldn't dare to touch a subject that could make people angry, it would mean an even further drop in sales.
But it does have to do with the right of internet users to use whatever form of file transfer they like. Making industry aware of BT, and characterizing it as a dangerous piece of software, has the potential to destroy it altogether. ISP's have the right to filter whatever they like, illegal or not.
So future actions taken by the MPAA, RIAA, and various ISP's may very well have an affect on my rights to use BT for legitimate purposes.
1) If you have your bookmarks in a toolbar folder, just right click on it and choose "Open in tabs". It's what I do first thing in the morning to get all my sites and admin tools open.
2) You're right that there isn't a button as far as I know, but ctrl-T works just great.
I predict that in 20 years, a Chinese OS is dominating market share in eastern countries. There's no way that a workforce of that size, with increasing technological skill, won't be able to compete with a floundering US economy. China is not about to bind itself to a major western corporation, at least not in a way that involves shipping product IN to the country, rather than the traditional OUT.
I'm Canadian, and I hardly see floppies anywhere these days. But I'm willing to bet that in developing nations, floppy disks continue to be used as the primary portable media. They're cheap, small, light, and relatively reliable. I doubt that the (as an example) Romanian government hands out USB keychains to its employees.
The article may have wanted to take that into account.
We may have similar geography to the US (larger country, actually)
Just to clarify for those who are interested:
1. Russia (17,075,200 sq. km) 2. Canada (9,976,140 sq. km) 3. USA (9,629,091 sq. km) 4. China (9,596,960 sq. km)
So the difference is small, but Canada is still the larger nation. But since the US has never acknowledged our sovereignty over the northern archipeligo, by official US numbers it may be different.
You're right on legal grounds, of course. But there are several reasons why I don't think this should be a big deal:
1) The show is no longer on the air 2) The Mr.Sinus group is playing at a theatre, not distributing to a wide audience 3) The concept, while obviously funny, already owes a great deal of its success to the fact that it used someone else's material to parody
Although the MST3K group has a right to their concept, this looks more to me like a group grabbing for money instead of taking pride in their work and letting it go. After all, imitation is the most sincere form of flattery (or some such cliche). And I'm willing to bet the Mr.Sinus productions will only increase the demand for DVD releases of MST3K, etc.
Oh, sue this sue that. Everyone thinks they're entitled to it all.
Indeed, parent post is correct. Besides, the article doesn't say that he uses FireFox exclusively by any means. In fact he only mentions FireFox to prove that all browsers are susceptible to attacks.. Here's hoping he also uses NS, Opera, Safari, and whatever browser he can to do testing and research.
Yet more spin by/. zealots who don't take the article at face value.
Is a handheld drug-tester, that can develop results on the spot and uses a tiny blood sample. Using it directly before the start of every competition will be the only way to determine the real winners... not the high-speed cameras.
(I realize that kind of technology is far away, but at this rate, we've got no choice but to continue to invest more and more money to catch these "athletes")
This quip really made my day. Now I know that accents vary over North America, but the idea that the "Canadian" accent is distinctly different from an "American" accent is really laughable.
Compare a New England accent to a Southern accent to a Maritime, to an Ottawa valley, to who knows what other region. Accents vary by much greater degrees within the two countries than they do between them. Or do most Americans feel like Canadians all talk the same, and that is somehow different from all Americans? I'd love to hear opinions on this... Cue South Park quotes now...
I was an employee for two years when I was in high school, and I have heard many of the same complaints before. The fact is, LQ is not the same as paintball by any stretch of the imagination. It's a much simpler game, and that is so kids of ALL ages can play. I would not expect anyone over 15 or 16 to really enjoy LQ, it's the little ones that get a kick out of it. To respond to a few of your points:
The incentive to not getting shot is points Well, the ONLY goal of the game to win, and winning is based on points... So losing points is bad, therefore one should avoid being hit
No running or ducking Again, this is a game for kids AND teens. Imagine a fourteen year old running top speed with his hard plastic laser out front, and turning a corner. Smack into the head of an eight year old. Switch that to an eight year old running full speed, smack into the crotch of an adult. It hurts. Trust me. As for ducking, it's a dark maze, and we want to avoid injuries as much as possible. You may think it's lame, but again, this is not a hardcore game.
Electrodes on the vest Again, see above points. We wouldn't have too many birthday parties coming back if all the kids were bawling their eyes out because of electrical shocks, whether they hurt or not.
The fact is, LQ and Paintball have thier own audiences, and you should be aware of that before slamming the game. If you want something fast paced, mature, and semi-dangerous, then play paintball. If you want to take 30 ten year olds to a birthday party game that all of them can enjoy safely, go to LaserQuest. These points of course also apply to the original posted question.
As a final point, if you want to win at LaserQuest, then move slowly, and stay quiet. Sound is the single most important factor in that game. You may note the hardcore players covering the speaker on their gun...
Slashdot Mirror
Slightly OT, but just so you know, Reeves handed out $82 million of his own money to the various crew members who worked on the three Matrix movies. So while he may be making a lot more money than what his talent is worth, at least he sees the value in everyone else working on the project.
Here's a source for that information, btw
This isn't journalism. It's blogging.
I'm not sure I understand the point you're trying to make. Journalism entails the publishing of facts and opinions to a wide audience. Blogging does the same thing. Just because the "journalist" is trained and being paid in no way makes that piece of writing any more valuable than the amateur blogger. Writing is writing, and the source should not matter, only the quality of the content and the effect it has on the audience.
The "Bow, Nigger" article is fabulous. It does a good job of providing some insight into the game, is funny at the same time, and also tackles some of the more pressing issues in online gaming (cheating, harrassment, etc). By labelling it as "blogging" and refusing to call it "journalism" by your standards, are you trying to devalue it? Would you not go and see an indie band because they burned their CD's at home, and aren't played on the radio? Are they not still considered musicians?
I'm tired of people being so down on blogging. Writing is writing, and it makes no difference whatsoever in what forum it's being presented. Please start judging it by its quality, and not its source. That's what art is all about.
I'd just like to point out, it's funny that you used a code for "Contra" that gets you 30 lives, as a Republican cheat. It seems like they never run out of lives...
(Nevermind the Contra scandal itself)
In Ottawa, Canada. All the major theatres charge $13 for a movie, which I suppose works out to somewhere around $10 US.
BTW, my math of course was wrong, and 5 x 13 is $65. Ooops.
Because in that space of time they can show 5 shorter movies. Charge $13 for each of those and they're looking at $75. Not too many LOTR fans are going to spend that much cash for a marathon, or at least not enough of them to justify using an entire theatre.
I agree that it would be great to be able to see the full extended set on a large screen, but I don't necessarily agree that it's in the theatre's best interests.
I don't have too much to say on this topic, except for the fact that I can only play HL2 for about an hour or so before having to stop from motion sickness. A good 30 or 40 minute break and I'm all good to go.
The strange thing is that I have never experienced this in all my years of gaming. From Wolfenstein to Doom, Quake, Unreal, and the original HL and CS, I have never had any motion sickness problems. I have heard reports that it's to do with the narrow FOV, but I'm still unsure how to change that (anyone?) and other people say it has to do with jitters in the gfx, but from what I can see it's running silky smooth.
Anyway, this does at least make me feel better, that I'm not the only one with the problem. Any suggestions would be helpful (anything is better than the post on the steampowered forums: "Grow some balls and stop getting sick from playing video games" great advice.. thanks)
I'm sick of hearing all you folks complaining about Steam activation. You act as if it's your god-given right to play this game, without any restrictions whatsoever. Until you suggest a better solution, a better way to combat rampant game piracy, a better way to make sure the developers don't lose money, then keep your mouth shut.
Valve had to make a decision, and I think they made the right one. Is it easy to get HL2 working right away? No, it's a bit complicated. But with a little bit of time, it's not a big deal at all.
So please, stop your anti-Valve rant. We should be supporting game developers, they do great work! Their support for the modding community is without precedent, the game is remarkably bug free, and I know I'll be enjoying it for years to come. If you can't take a simple activation scheme in order to enjoy one of the best games ever, then you obviously don't really care about playing the game in the first place. And if that is the case, you've got no argument.
I like Steam. I love HL2. I think Valve deserves our support, not these holier-than-thou attitudes.
I pre-loaded the game last month, to avoid the rush that *everyone* knew was going to happen. It's not a secret this is one of the biggest games ever. Anyone who expected this to run perfectly smoothly (gamers and publishers alike) were fooling themselves. All in all, I think it's gone well. At least, for me...
I wasn't able to connect to steam for about 3 hours last night (release day) but once I could connect, I was up and ready to play in 10 minutes.
I realize that people have trouble with the mandatory online registration, and all that. But personally I've found Steam to be a very useful, stable, and innovative service. It also means more money in the hands of the developers and less to the distributors. For those of you that still can't play HL2, relax... You will be able to soon enough, and the wait is well worth it.
I think the simple answer is ice buildup on wings, or rotor blades, making it extremely dangerous to fly (if not impossible).
Since posting the comment, I read further and indeed you're right. But that doesn't change the fact that the song was important to AIDS activits in the early eighties. Go read up on how the Softcell version of the song has been re-interpreted before talking about reading too much into something.
As far as "hidden meanings" go, this is the entire point of art. To have the audience find his or her own interpretation, and take from it what they will. This is a good thing, not a bad thing and shouldn't be discouraged.
Tainted Love was pretty much the first pop song that tackled AIDS, which was a taboo subject in 1981 when it was released.
Even if you don't appreciate the music itself, at least give it some credit for having a message. Music these days wouldn't dare to touch a subject that could make people angry, it would mean an even further drop in sales.
Point taken.
But it does have to do with the right of internet users to use whatever form of file transfer they like. Making industry aware of BT, and characterizing it as a dangerous piece of software, has the potential to destroy it altogether. ISP's have the right to filter whatever they like, illegal or not.
So future actions taken by the MPAA, RIAA, and various ISP's may very well have an affect on my rights to use BT for legitimate purposes.
1) If you have your bookmarks in a toolbar folder, just right click on it and choose "Open in tabs". It's what I do first thing in the morning to get all my sites and admin tools open.
2) You're right that there isn't a button as far as I know, but ctrl-T works just great.
I hope that helps.
Can we please stop posting directly to stories on this guy's weblog? It's embarassing for Slashdot. The real news link you're looking for is:
here
I predict that in 20 years, a Chinese OS is dominating market share in eastern countries. There's no way that a workforce of that size, with increasing technological skill, won't be able to compete with a floundering US economy. China is not about to bind itself to a major western corporation, at least not in a way that involves shipping product IN to the country, rather than the traditional OUT.
But I'm only a history major...
I'm Canadian, and I hardly see floppies anywhere these days. But I'm willing to bet that in developing nations, floppy disks continue to be used as the primary portable media. They're cheap, small, light, and relatively reliable. I doubt that the (as an example) Romanian government hands out USB keychains to its employees.
The article may have wanted to take that into account.
We may have similar geography to the US (larger country, actually)
Just to clarify for those who are interested:
1. Russia (17,075,200 sq. km)
2. Canada (9,976,140 sq. km)
3. USA (9,629,091 sq. km)
4. China (9,596,960 sq. km)
So the difference is small, but Canada is still the larger nation. But since the US has never acknowledged our sovereignty over the northern archipeligo, by official US numbers it may be different.
You're right on legal grounds, of course. But there are several reasons why I don't think this should be a big deal:
1) The show is no longer on the air
2) The Mr.Sinus group is playing at a theatre, not distributing to a wide audience
3) The concept, while obviously funny, already owes a great deal of its success to the fact that it used someone else's material to parody
Although the MST3K group has a right to their concept, this looks more to me like a group grabbing for money instead of taking pride in their work and letting it go. After all, imitation is the most sincere form of flattery (or some such cliche). And I'm willing to bet the Mr.Sinus productions will only increase the demand for DVD releases of MST3K, etc.
Oh, sue this sue that. Everyone thinks they're entitled to it all.
He also reveals that he runs Firefox
/. zealots who don't take the article at face value.
Indeed, parent post is correct. Besides, the article doesn't say that he uses FireFox exclusively by any means. In fact he only mentions FireFox to prove that all browsers are susceptible to attacks.. Here's hoping he also uses NS, Opera, Safari, and whatever browser he can to do testing and research.
Yet more spin by
Is a handheld drug-tester, that can develop results on the spot and uses a tiny blood sample. Using it directly before the start of every competition will be the only way to determine the real winners... not the high-speed cameras.
(I realize that kind of technology is far away, but at this rate, we've got no choice but to continue to invest more and more money to catch these "athletes")
Remind anyone of that scene in the movie 'Wild Wild West' ...
No. I have absolutely no memory of that movie. It had something to do with jabbing my eyes and ears repeatedly.
speak English with nearly American accents
This quip really made my day. Now I know that accents vary over North America, but the idea that the "Canadian" accent is distinctly different from an "American" accent is really laughable.
Compare a New England accent to a Southern accent to a Maritime, to an Ottawa valley, to who knows what other region. Accents vary by much greater degrees within the two countries than they do between them. Or do most Americans feel like Canadians all talk the same, and that is somehow different from all Americans? I'd love to hear opinions on this... Cue South Park quotes now...
I was an employee for two years when I was in high school, and I have heard many of the same complaints before. The fact is, LQ is not the same as paintball by any stretch of the imagination. It's a much simpler game, and that is so kids of ALL ages can play. I would not expect anyone over 15 or 16 to really enjoy LQ, it's the little ones that get a kick out of it. To respond to a few of your points:
The incentive to not getting shot is points
Well, the ONLY goal of the game to win, and winning is based on points... So losing points is bad, therefore one should avoid being hit
No running or ducking
Again, this is a game for kids AND teens. Imagine a fourteen year old running top speed with his hard plastic laser out front, and turning a corner. Smack into the head of an eight year old. Switch that to an eight year old running full speed, smack into the crotch of an adult. It hurts. Trust me. As for ducking, it's a dark maze, and we want to avoid injuries as much as possible. You may think it's lame, but again, this is not a hardcore game.
Electrodes on the vest
Again, see above points. We wouldn't have too many birthday parties coming back if all the kids were bawling their eyes out because of electrical shocks, whether they hurt or not.
The fact is, LQ and Paintball have thier own audiences, and you should be aware of that before slamming the game. If you want something fast paced, mature, and semi-dangerous, then play paintball. If you want to take 30 ten year olds to a birthday party game that all of them can enjoy safely, go to LaserQuest. These points of course also apply to the original posted question.
As a final point, if you want to win at LaserQuest, then move slowly, and stay quiet. Sound is the single most important factor in that game. You may note the hardcore players covering the speaker on their gun...
Am I missing something? Why would an inflatable craft need to reach orbital velocity? Wouldn't it just float?
This has been debated a few times here at slashdot. I learned everything I needed to know from the following NASA report:
PDF file here