Actually Daniel, having had this happen to me on Arctic before, bash is a bad idea. If you're a warrior and some thief decides to play this little running game with you the best thing you can do is kick. It engages him without knocking you to the ground plus it'll do a bit of damage. Thieves generally suck without stab plus this is also allows you to duel wield. Generally speaking warrior weapons hit harder. So see there is even more strategy:)
"In most of the MMORPGs, battles have almost predetermined conclusions based on the level and abilities of those player avatars involved in the fight and the creatures they're fighting against."
*Stares dumbfounded at the author of this editorial* For the past eight years I've been playing a mud called Arctic (http://mud.arctic.org/) and the fact of the matter is level/skills/spells make a difference in the outcome of the fight, there are elements that can tip the scales in other directions. Smart players, who understand the mechanics of the game, can offset a mage who has some very powerful spells. The fact is, it takes intelligence and a good battle plan to win in PvP, level has less to do with it than one would think.
You haven't seen "formidable" prose until you've attempted to read Hegel's Phenomonology of Spirit(Mind in some translations). That redifines "formidable" because I've read the whole thing four times and I still don't know what the f*ck Hegel is trying to say, at least specifically.
Re:I'm sure it's going to be asked
on
Dell's Gaming Monster
·
· Score: 2, Informative
I read an article from PC-World (I'm not sure where the slashdot article pointed because I had already read a story on it) and they said it gets an hour to an hour and a half, aka it's worthless.
I was the same way, but I got so sick of the bullshit math classes and there syntax laiden garbage that I switched to philosophy, now I spend my time studying even more abstract bullshit but at least it's all in metaphors!:)
I do not pretend to believe that my view on this subject is at all representative of the gaming populace in general but my favorite hero has always been that of the ordinary hero. Phillip K. Dick was the master at creating these characters, these ordinary-to-sub-ordinary heros are what made Dick's stories so wonderful. It wasn't superman, it wasn't "the one", it was just an ordinary individual placed in an extraordinary situation. Dick did this so incredibly well, look at books like "Do Andriods Dream of Electric Sheep", the book Total Recall was based off of (I forgot it's name, but he was not supposed to be good ole Arnie, if my memory serves me he was a hair stylist... just an ordinary man), "The Three Stigmata's of Palmer Eldrich" and a variety of Dick's other stories. These heroes were often amoral, they did not have some cause of moral righteousness to fight for, rather they were besieged with the existential question of how do I make life authentic and to survive.
To me these are the fascinating stories that compel me to continue reading/watching, unfortantely I can think of no games that transfer this notion over and quite possibly it's not indicative of the medium but mono-shade characters are boring. They do not force me to contemplate the nature of the character and understand who they are and why they do what they do. I've always been fascinated by what makes us human, and what constitutes humanity. Are we merely the sum of our parts or is there a greater unseen entity that influences who and what we are. These characters offer an opportunity to explore the intricacies of human nature and I believe to come to a better understanding of who we are.
That being said, the unfortante truth is I do not believe the majority of video game players agree with me, a game of this nature would be slow to develop and focused on story and not flashy effects. There's nothing wrong with this, I often play games such as FFX-2 just to see the cut scenes and where the story goes even if the characters do not interest me. But I would love a game that delved into the plight of an average individual struggling to survive, something that stimulated me intellectually and forced me to take a look at what makes us all human. If any one can think of a game like this, please respond with the title.
The American Constitution is designed with the idea that it's weakest point is also it's strongest point. Although it takes forever to get a law change that's positive, it also makes it near impossible for draconian laws to be put into the constitution.
I like going with the ambiguous "I don't know man, it could be a lot of things", it seems to work really well for getting people off my case about fixing their computers. Some people think this is being dick but personally I've done enough "friends and family tech support" to no longer care. My parents learned and now they *PAY* someone to do their tech support, my friends are slowly learning too, they'll offer me a case of beer or a small monetary reward. I used to enjoy trouble shooting but as you start doing it people get accustomed to having you do it and start to take advantage of it. If they have to pay you in some way they're not nearly as likely to feel as if its a service that they deserve. Also you avoid situations where your roommates mother calls you for tech support:-p
I just realized that you already mentioned Dan Brown but
The Da Vinci Code
and
Angels & Demons
are such good books that I had to mention it. If you have any interest in symbollogy, the history of Catholicism, the death of the mother goddess with the advent of the religions of the book I strongly suggest reading those two books. They're very entertaining to read with interesting characters and a good story with a ton of historical information. Here's a little tidbit, go search for Da Vinci's "Last Supper" and take a close look at the person sitting to Jesus's left... take a close look at the various aspects... it makes one think.
While a SciFi story tells of something that cannot happen in the real world (at least as of the time it is written), it will first set the rules, define what can and cannot be done. This can include adding technology that doesn't exist in the real world, yet-undiscovered scientific discoveries or even completely imaginary impossible concepts such as magic or the force.
I have to disagree with your definition of Science Fiction, it is correct for Fantasy but not for Science Fiction. The best definition I've heard was in a speech given by Phillip Dick (The most prolific SciFi writer in the 20th century in my opinion). Dick stated that Science Fiction is a story in an alternatre reality that could possibly happen but did not necessarily have to occur. Look at Blade Runner, nothing in that movie is outside the realm of possibility but it is not currently where we are in the timeline.
Then Take a story like Star Wars, this isn't science fiction. Yes it has space ships and hyperspace and giant moving ships that blow entire planets up yet manage not to mess with the planets gravitational forces at all, but this is all fantasy and bad fantasy to boot. The common misconception among people is that SciFi and Fantasy are virtually the same genre, they are not. They deal with two completely different set of criteria, although they can APPEAR similar.
These predictions are really pointless because they don't factor in the intangible aspects of a team. One of my friends is from New England so I've watched most of the games that the Patriots have played this season. This is a team that, most of the time, does just what they have to do to win. They've done shootouts (first game against the colts), they've done low scoring defensive bouts (Miami game in the snow) and everything in between. I haven't had the pleasure of watching the panthers so I don't know much about them, I just know that a video game can never capture the essence of a sport. Human will and determination goes a lot farther then you'd think.
I remember getting a Turbo Express for Christmas. It came with Bonks Adventure and I also got some game that was somewhat similar to contra but for the life of me I don't remember what it was called. I remember the thing was damn heavy too, although I think I was in 4th Grade at the time so I doubt I was very strong... not to mention it was also really thick especially compared to the gameboy, although the gameboy was a piece of crap:) I'm sure I still have the old thing stashed away somewhere in my parents house, I forgot about it until I read about this. Great system...
Continuing this off topic theme, I just read a similar article he was refering to off of news.google.com and they believe that Neanderthals were not our ancestors in any way, their skull shape is too much different. Also it seems that it was there inability to deal with the extreme cold that killed them off, plus Cro-Mags had better weapons.
Ahhhh Kali 005569 baby! I wonder if that thing is still around, I remember spending hours upon hours of my youth kicking peoples asses at warcraft 2... it's too bad that there was never a ranking system when I could play 8 hours a day:) Oh wait, I'm over it.
Actually the XBOX has an ethernet card so you can do up to 16 players through various methods. It's the only system with an online system setup and ready to go with various games. 8 on 8 Hockey could be pretty amusing but it seems pretty pointless for football but that's just me.
Save MAYBE Zelda, Metroid and Mario Kart, I wouldn't waste my time on the Gamecube. I hate the bloody controller. They *ALMOST* got me to buy one of those things when they were offering the original NES Zelda's that could play on the gamecube for $99 but I decided a PS/2 and a XBOX were enough, particularly because I never really play either of them anymore.
That's not entirely true, I remember one of the Wing Commanders that had a split tree. If you beat a mission you went one way, if you lost it things got more desperate and you went another (until eventually you go boom). Maybe I'm on crack though.
Back when I used to MUD, there were weeks where I'd be on 17 hours a day, seven days a week, wow those were scary times. Now I just use slashdot to entertain myself at work when I have no work to do. Once I go home I don't really touch the net anymore, it got really boring to me. I think I'd rather go out with friends and drink beer... wait a minute maybe the net WAS healthier
At my work place we use the things, as the AC said they're nothing but a fancy punch-card. Moreover it gives you something fun to do, when you put your hand in the machine it gives you a score, the lower the score the better... 1 to 99 when I first started using the thing I used to always get 50's now I'm always on 10! Got a one once too! Yes, yes my work day is boring.
"Selling out" is a term I'm more accustomed hearing from the arena of music, strangely you never hear about it from movie productions. Regardless, it's a silly and immature term coined by people who are lost in the past or determined to demonstrate their superiority over other people because they "knew about something first" or some such bullshit. After all folks let's face it, we live in a consumer society so in essence we are all sell outs. You like that car of yours? Great you're a sell out! Did you put an abit mother board in your computer? AWESOME! You get to be a sell out as well. Consumer society's are funded by profits, they had a chance to make a good game and make profits. If Halo had blown, then you could say they sold out because they took the money to produce a subpar product, clearly the product was not subpar. It's the best console FPS I've ever played, the story is fun and innovative and multiplayer is a blast.
In response to Edwdig, does being a citizen of the United States make me an unethical person because clearly the US government has done things that none would call ethical. Get off your high horse and stop living in fairy-tale land. Microsoft has always been an inferior operating system that was marketed to the masses better. That's not MS's fault, that's BeOS, OS/2, GEOS, GEM etc's fault because they didn't see how to make the money that MS did. Did the consumer lose out? Yes but it was the consumer who voted, not Gates.
Why because you think it is not a word? The following is from http://www.m-w.com/
Irregardless originated in dialectal American speech in the early 20th century. Its fairly widespread use in speech called it to the attention of usage commentators as early as 1927. The most frequently repeated remark about it is that "there is no such word." There is such a word, however. It is still used primarily in speech, although it can be found from time to time in edited prose. Its reputation has not risen over the years, and it is still a long way from general acceptance. Use regardless instead.
Words are merely symbollic representations of ideas, thus they can be created at any time by any person, I don't need a PhD in Linguistics to declare "bloaahph" a word which means "To stop whining about stupid shit".
Slashdot Mirror
Actually Daniel, having had this happen to me on Arctic before, bash is a bad idea. If you're a warrior and some thief decides to play this little running game with you the best thing you can do is kick. It engages him without knocking you to the ground plus it'll do a bit of damage. Thieves generally suck without stab plus this is also allows you to duel wield. Generally speaking warrior weapons hit harder. So see there is even more strategy :)
Alex/Palerin
"In most of the MMORPGs, battles have almost predetermined conclusions based on the level and abilities of those player avatars involved in the fight and the creatures they're fighting against."
*Stares dumbfounded at the author of this editorial* For the past eight years I've been playing a mud called Arctic (http://mud.arctic.org/) and the fact of the matter is level/skills/spells make a difference in the outcome of the fight, there are elements that can tip the scales in other directions. Smart players, who understand the mechanics of the game, can offset a mage who has some very powerful spells. The fact is, it takes intelligence and a good battle plan to win in PvP, level has less to do with it than one would think.
You haven't seen "formidable" prose until you've attempted to read Hegel's Phenomonology of Spirit(Mind in some translations). That redifines "formidable" because I've read the whole thing four times and I still don't know what the f*ck Hegel is trying to say, at least specifically.
I read an article from PC-World (I'm not sure where the slashdot article pointed because I had already read a story on it) and they said it gets an hour to an hour and a half, aka it's worthless.
I was the same way, but I got so sick of the bullshit math classes and there syntax laiden garbage that I switched to philosophy, now I spend my time studying even more abstract bullshit but at least it's all in metaphors! :)
I do not pretend to believe that my view on this subject is at all representative of the gaming populace in general but my favorite hero has always been that of the ordinary hero. Phillip K. Dick was the master at creating these characters, these ordinary-to-sub-ordinary heros are what made Dick's stories so wonderful. It wasn't superman, it wasn't "the one", it was just an ordinary individual placed in an extraordinary situation. Dick did this so incredibly well, look at books like "Do Andriods Dream of Electric Sheep", the book Total Recall was based off of (I forgot it's name, but he was not supposed to be good ole Arnie, if my memory serves me he was a hair stylist ... just an ordinary man), "The Three Stigmata's of Palmer Eldrich" and a variety of Dick's other stories. These heroes were often amoral, they did not have some cause of moral righteousness to fight for, rather they were besieged with the existential question of how do I make life authentic and to survive.
To me these are the fascinating stories that compel me to continue reading/watching, unfortantely I can think of no games that transfer this notion over and quite possibly it's not indicative of the medium but mono-shade characters are boring. They do not force me to contemplate the nature of the character and understand who they are and why they do what they do. I've always been fascinated by what makes us human, and what constitutes humanity. Are we merely the sum of our parts or is there a greater unseen entity that influences who and what we are. These characters offer an opportunity to explore the intricacies of human nature and I believe to come to a better understanding of who we are.
That being said, the unfortante truth is I do not believe the majority of video game players agree with me, a game of this nature would be slow to develop and focused on story and not flashy effects. There's nothing wrong with this, I often play games such as FFX-2 just to see the cut scenes and where the story goes even if the characters do not interest me. But I would love a game that delved into the plight of an average individual struggling to survive, something that stimulated me intellectually and forced me to take a look at what makes us all human. If any one can think of a game like this, please respond with the title.
The American Constitution is designed with the idea that it's weakest point is also it's strongest point. Although it takes forever to get a law change that's positive, it also makes it near impossible for draconian laws to be put into the constitution.
I like going with the ambiguous "I don't know man, it could be a lot of things", it seems to work really well for getting people off my case about fixing their computers. Some people think this is being dick but personally I've done enough "friends and family tech support" to no longer care. My parents learned and now they *PAY* someone to do their tech support, my friends are slowly learning too, they'll offer me a case of beer or a small monetary reward. I used to enjoy trouble shooting but as you start doing it people get accustomed to having you do it and start to take advantage of it. If they have to pay you in some way they're not nearly as likely to feel as if its a service that they deserve. Also you avoid situations where your roommates mother calls you for tech support :-p
- The Da Vinci Code
and- Angels & Demons
are such good books that I had to mention it. If you have any interest in symbollogy, the history of Catholicism, the death of the mother goddess with the advent of the religions of the book I strongly suggest reading those two books. They're very entertaining to read with interesting characters and a good story with a ton of historical information. Here's a little tidbit, go search for Da Vinci's "Last Supper" and take a close look at the person sitting to Jesus's leftWhile a SciFi story tells of something that cannot happen in the real world (at least as of the time it is written), it will first set the rules, define what can and cannot be done. This can include adding technology that doesn't exist in the real world, yet-undiscovered scientific discoveries or even completely imaginary impossible concepts such as magic or the force.
I have to disagree with your definition of Science Fiction, it is correct for Fantasy but not for Science Fiction. The best definition I've heard was in a speech given by Phillip Dick (The most prolific SciFi writer in the 20th century in my opinion). Dick stated that Science Fiction is a story in an alternatre reality that could possibly happen but did not necessarily have to occur. Look at Blade Runner, nothing in that movie is outside the realm of possibility but it is not currently where we are in the timeline.
Then Take a story like Star Wars, this isn't science fiction. Yes it has space ships and hyperspace and giant moving ships that blow entire planets up yet manage not to mess with the planets gravitational forces at all, but this is all fantasy and bad fantasy to boot. The common misconception among people is that SciFi and Fantasy are virtually the same genre, they are not. They deal with two completely different set of criteria, although they can APPEAR similar.
Just my two cents, flameaway
These predictions are really pointless because they don't factor in the intangible aspects of a team. One of my friends is from New England so I've watched most of the games that the Patriots have played this season. This is a team that, most of the time, does just what they have to do to win. They've done shootouts (first game against the colts), they've done low scoring defensive bouts (Miami game in the snow) and everything in between. I haven't had the pleasure of watching the panthers so I don't know much about them, I just know that a video game can never capture the essence of a sport. Human will and determination goes a lot farther then you'd think.
I remember getting a Turbo Express for Christmas. It came with Bonks Adventure and I also got some game that was somewhat similar to contra but for the life of me I don't remember what it was called. I remember the thing was damn heavy too, although I think I was in 4th Grade at the time so I doubt I was very strong ... not to mention it was also really thick especially compared to the gameboy, although the gameboy was a piece of crap :) I'm sure I still have the old thing stashed away somewhere in my parents house, I forgot about it until I read about this. Great system ...
Continuing this off topic theme, I just read a similar article he was refering to off of news.google.com and they believe that Neanderthals were not our ancestors in any way, their skull shape is too much different. Also it seems that it was there inability to deal with the extreme cold that killed them off, plus Cro-Mags had better weapons.
Ahhhh Kali 005569 baby! I wonder if that thing is still around, I remember spending hours upon hours of my youth kicking peoples asses at warcraft 2 ... it's too bad that there was never a ranking system when I could play 8 hours a day :) Oh wait, I'm over it.
Actually the XBOX has an ethernet card so you can do up to 16 players through various methods. It's the only system with an online system setup and ready to go with various games. 8 on 8 Hockey could be pretty amusing but it seems pretty pointless for football but that's just me.
Save MAYBE Zelda, Metroid and Mario Kart, I wouldn't waste my time on the Gamecube. I hate the bloody controller. They *ALMOST* got me to buy one of those things when they were offering the original NES Zelda's that could play on the gamecube for $99 but I decided a PS/2 and a XBOX were enough, particularly because I never really play either of them anymore.
That's not entirely true, I remember one of the Wing Commanders that had a split tree. If you beat a mission you went one way, if you lost it things got more desperate and you went another (until eventually you go boom). Maybe I'm on crack though.
I just think the creators of FFX-2 watched Charlie's Angels one too many times before starting this game. I mean seriously "Y.R.P.!"
Yep because I garentee you those animals in the ocean would value their lives over ours.
Thanks for posting your other link, I found it to be a rather elucidating read, like many of the masses I had no clue how a nuclear reaction worked.
Back when I used to MUD, there were weeks where I'd be on 17 hours a day, seven days a week, wow those were scary times. Now I just use slashdot to entertain myself at work when I have no work to do. Once I go home I don't really touch the net anymore, it got really boring to me. I think I'd rather go out with friends and drink beer ... wait a minute maybe the net WAS healthier
At my work place we use the things, as the AC said they're nothing but a fancy punch-card. Moreover it gives you something fun to do, when you put your hand in the machine it gives you a score, the lower the score the better... 1 to 99 when I first started using the thing I used to always get 50's now I'm always on 10! Got a one once too! Yes, yes my work day is boring.
"Selling out" is a term I'm more accustomed hearing from the arena of music, strangely you never hear about it from movie productions. Regardless, it's a silly and immature term coined by people who are lost in the past or determined to demonstrate their superiority over other people because they "knew about something first" or some such bullshit. After all folks let's face it, we live in a consumer society so in essence we are all sell outs. You like that car of yours? Great you're a sell out! Did you put an abit mother board in your computer? AWESOME! You get to be a sell out as well. Consumer society's are funded by profits, they had a chance to make a good game and make profits. If Halo had blown, then you could say they sold out because they took the money to produce a subpar product, clearly the product was not subpar. It's the best console FPS I've ever played, the story is fun and innovative and multiplayer is a blast.
In response to Edwdig, does being a citizen of the United States make me an unethical person because clearly the US government has done things that none would call ethical. Get off your high horse and stop living in fairy-tale land. Microsoft has always been an inferior operating system that was marketed to the masses better. That's not MS's fault, that's BeOS, OS/2, GEOS, GEM etc's fault because they didn't see how to make the money that MS did. Did the consumer lose out? Yes but it was the consumer who voted, not Gates.
Why because you think it is not a word? The following is from http://www.m-w.com/
Irregardless originated in dialectal American speech in the early 20th century. Its fairly widespread use in speech called it to the attention of usage commentators as early as 1927. The most frequently repeated remark about it is that "there is no such word." There is such a word, however. It is still used primarily in speech, although it can be found from time to time in edited prose. Its reputation has not risen over the years, and it is still a long way from general acceptance. Use regardless instead.
Words are merely symbollic representations of ideas, thus they can be created at any time by any person, I don't need a PhD in Linguistics to declare "bloaahph" a word which means "To stop whining about stupid shit".
Sierra used to do that crap, I remember Space Quest Four had a really obnoxious one. Then I lost the damn thing so I was stuck ...