Same here. L4D for $24.99. First time using Steam. Made it really easy to connect and chat with a couple 40-something buddies. We've been killing zombies a couple times a week ever since. Good times.
To clarify my own post, machine guns must be registered with BATF, which may deny permission. It is illegal to carry fully automatic firearms on one's person in public. wiki link
In practice an Army Command Sergeant Major is the same as a Navy Command Master Chief Petty Officer. They both report directly to an O-5 or above, depending on what level of command they serve. And nobody has authority over them except that CO. Sounds the same to me.
I don't know about Navy warrants, but you can theoretically be an Army warrant officer right out of high school if you're accepted into the aviation program. Army helicopters are primarily flown by non-prior service warrant officers. Other technical fields require prior-service at the junior NCO level like you said.
Interesting that Navy WO candidates must be senior NCOs before applying. That's a steep entrance requirement. I assume the number of Navy warrants is pretty small relative to the Army.
1. Serve on a fishing ship, in the military or... as a professional gamer. 2. Endure austere conditions, long hours, harsh discipline. 3. There is no step 3 4. Profit!
The attention Miyamoto's after is the kind of "notice" that hopefully means, in the future, that when I say, "I like video games" to my co-workers, they take that in the same vain as they take it when I say, "I have a film degree,"
If the vain they're taking is thinking that you're probably unemployed, I'd say it's already the same.
My reply was aimed at the Gen X+ generations, not you specifically. Clearly you're an exception. And clearly I'm an insensitive clod. It's easy to forget that there are many veterans and would-be veterans in the ranks of/.
It makes me sick, knowing my ancestors have fought and died for her for 400 years.
Your anscestors, but not you, right? Part of the problem is that very few today think there's anything worth fighting and dying for. Men of Ford's generation understood service. Today it's a punchline.
Bah! It was Star Wars itself that introduced the concept of distressed vehicles and equipment, and the awesome whining and straining sound effects. Before that every spaceship was perfect. Take Star Trek and Space:1999 (please!). If you can design an elaborate ship with CG, you can design it to look like a smelly 400 lb guy spent a few parsecs in the cockpit.
And it supports all of Vista's features according to the upgrade test. Most I'll do with this one is double the RAM (cheap) and upgrade the AGP video card (currently a FX5600) before they become completely obsolete. Don't expect to spend more than $200 total.
Normally at the 2-3 year point I'm budgeting upwards of $1500 for a complete rebuild. Instead that money will go to a NAS, game console (first ever), games, and updating my wife's PC so it runs quieter.
Certainly, and I allowed for that in my post. But I have a hunch that at least 16 hours of that level-grind to 60 were not as enjoyable as coding an app, configuring a server/network, or building a PC. From that perspective the $500 he might make on his character is less impressive.
Put another way, what are you getting paid per hour to grind (i.e. the times your game is more like a job than a fun pastime)?
Don't forget to place a value on your time. Unless you enjoyed every moment of the game grinding to 60 and getting gear you need to factor in the opportunity cost (i.e. what did you give up to grind?) for that $500. For example, an IT pro can easily make that much in one weekend's moonlighting.
I think most of the fanboy-ism comes from the same forces which cause "right vs. left" political hating... It's the sports-fan mentality of "our side" vs. "your side." The urge to rally for the "home team" is overpowering to most people. Just about everybody has fallen in to that trap at one time or another, even with debates about things which cost you nothing, such as BSD vs. GNU licenses. It's just a natural (irrational) element of human behavior.
Even "home team" loyalty is questionable when few, if any, of the players on the team are from the "home" their "team" claims to represent. That doesn't stop the sheep from defending their assigned heroes.
Propaganda & marketing are as effective as ever, even in our enlightened information age. The soap opera called professional wrestling is a good example, with today's heroes becoming tomorrow's villains at the drop of a folding chair. What's scary is how quickly and easily the public will shift its loyalties. At many public events with staged/scripted competitions (e.g. a joust at a Renaissance fair, or an animated video of a race shown during a break at a pro-sports game) the crowd is encouraged to root for a champion based arbitrarily on where they sit. It's amazing how stupid crowd members become, to the point of violence, against people who, ten minutes ago, were on the same side.
If the military doesn't show 'a minimum of self control and professionalism' and required me to 'get up most every day to go', I don't know what does.
I was enlisted active duty for four years. I enjoyed serving, but the experience convinced me that I needed to get a degree to advance and reach my goals. Military service is a direct benefit for many types of jobs, and in my opinion is a distinguishing characteristic among otherwise similar job candidates. But it is not a substitute for a degree in the business world.
The winter olympics rely heavily on equipment (e.g. skates, skiis) which evolves over the years. And there are events based on skill, not strength or endurance. Thus video-gaming could be a winter event. It's no lamer than curling.
Wish I had mod points for you. I share that mindset and have attempted to implement it on my network and devices over the years. Open file formats on a central data depository seems like the best way to collect and manage your media. Someday it could be a NAS device that does nothing but serve files to any kind of device, but network appliances don't seem robust enough yet to provide synching capability for all the different handheld devices. So today there still needs to be a PC/server to provide the interface.
Exactly. The current high cost of HDTV is just a temporary barrier to entry for Joe six-pack.
How many people bought microcomputers (Apple, IBM) 30 years ago? Only the affluent and the geeks (who sacrificed other things like transportation and hygiene products to afford them). Now everybody can get a sufficiently powerful PC for peanuts.
Slashdot Mirror
Same here. L4D for $24.99. First time using Steam. Made it really easy to connect and chat with a couple 40-something buddies. We've been killing zombies a couple times a week ever since. Good times.
To clarify my own post, machine guns must be registered with BATF, which may deny permission. It is illegal to carry fully automatic firearms on one's person in public.
wiki link
In the US having a automatic weapon (usually) doesn't make you a criminal, so they don't need to be caught.
Yes, it does. Automatic weapons, aka machine guns, have been banned since the National Firearms Act of 1934.
In practice an Army Command Sergeant Major is the same as a Navy Command Master Chief Petty Officer. They both report directly to an O-5 or above, depending on what level of command they serve. And nobody has authority over them except that CO. Sounds the same to me.
I don't know about Navy warrants, but you can theoretically be an Army warrant officer right out of high school if you're accepted into the aviation program. Army helicopters are primarily flown by non-prior service warrant officers. Other technical fields require prior-service at the junior NCO level like you said.
Interesting that Navy WO candidates must be senior NCOs before applying. That's a steep entrance requirement. I assume the number of Navy warrants is pretty small relative to the Army.
1. Serve on a fishing ship, in the military or... as a professional gamer.
2. Endure austere conditions, long hours, harsh discipline.
3. There is no step 3
4. Profit!
The attention Miyamoto's after is the kind of "notice" that hopefully means, in the future, that when I say, "I like video games" to my co-workers, they take that in the same vain as they take it when I say, "I have a film degree,"
If the vain they're taking is thinking that you're probably unemployed, I'd say it's already the same.
Indeed.
You're thinking of Connect Four.
MILF!
My reply was aimed at the Gen X+ generations, not you specifically. Clearly you're an exception. And clearly I'm an insensitive clod. It's easy to forget that there are many veterans and would-be veterans in the ranks of /.
It makes me sick, knowing my ancestors have fought and died for her for 400 years.
Your anscestors, but not you, right? Part of the problem is that very few today think there's anything worth fighting and dying for. Men of Ford's generation understood service. Today it's a punchline.
When you have someone close to you do all those things and still die young from cancer you might think more before you type.
The WiMansierre
Bah! It was Star Wars itself that introduced the concept of distressed vehicles and equipment, and the awesome whining and straining sound effects. Before that every spaceship was perfect. Take Star Trek and Space:1999 (please!). If you can design an elaborate ship with CG, you can design it to look like a smelly 400 lb guy spent a few parsecs in the cockpit.
And it supports all of Vista's features according to the upgrade test. Most I'll do with this one is double the RAM (cheap) and upgrade the AGP video card (currently a FX5600) before they become completely obsolete. Don't expect to spend more than $200 total.
Normally at the 2-3 year point I'm budgeting upwards of $1500 for a complete rebuild. Instead that money will go to a NAS, game console (first ever), games, and updating my wife's PC so it runs quieter.
My fastest desktop at home, a P4 2.6 GHz w/ 1GB RAM, was built 3 years ago and still works just fine. Why upgrade?
Certainly, and I allowed for that in my post. But I have a hunch that at least 16 hours of that level-grind to 60 were not as enjoyable as coding an app, configuring a server/network, or building a PC. From that perspective the $500 he might make on his character is less impressive.
Put another way, what are you getting paid per hour to grind (i.e. the times your game is more like a job than a fun pastime)?
Don't forget to place a value on your time. Unless you enjoyed every moment of the game grinding to 60 and getting gear you need to factor in the opportunity cost (i.e. what did you give up to grind?) for that $500. For example, an IT pro can easily make that much in one weekend's moonlighting.
I think most of the fanboy-ism comes from the same forces which cause "right vs. left" political hating... It's the sports-fan mentality of "our side" vs. "your side." The urge to rally for the "home team" is overpowering to most people. Just about everybody has fallen in to that trap at one time or another, even with debates about things which cost you nothing, such as BSD vs. GNU licenses. It's just a natural (irrational) element of human behavior.
Even "home team" loyalty is questionable when few, if any, of the players on the team are from the "home" their "team" claims to represent. That doesn't stop the sheep from defending their assigned heroes.
Propaganda & marketing are as effective as ever, even in our enlightened information age. The soap opera called professional wrestling is a good example, with today's heroes becoming tomorrow's villains at the drop of a folding chair. What's scary is how quickly and easily the public will shift its loyalties. At many public events with staged/scripted competitions (e.g. a joust at a Renaissance fair, or an animated video of a race shown during a break at a pro-sports game) the crowd is encouraged to root for a champion based arbitrarily on where they sit. It's amazing how stupid crowd members become, to the point of violence, against people who, ten minutes ago, were on the same side.
Don't blame me. I voted for Kodos.
And let the Gen-Xer's cover games. Generations that didn't grow up on games just don't get them, and don't want to get them.
If the military doesn't show 'a minimum of self control and professionalism' and required me to 'get up most every day to go', I don't know what does.
I was enlisted active duty for four years. I enjoyed serving, but the experience convinced me that I needed to get a degree to advance and reach my goals. Military service is a direct benefit for many types of jobs, and in my opinion is a distinguishing characteristic among otherwise similar job candidates. But it is not a substitute for a degree in the business world.
The winter olympics rely heavily on equipment (e.g. skates, skiis) which evolves over the years. And there are events based on skill, not strength or endurance.
Thus video-gaming could be a winter event. It's no lamer than curling.
Wish I had mod points for you. I share that mindset and have attempted to implement it on my network and devices over the years. Open file formats on a central data depository seems like the best way to collect and manage your media. Someday it could be a NAS device that does nothing but serve files to any kind of device, but network appliances don't seem robust enough yet to provide synching capability for all the different handheld devices. So today there still needs to be a PC/server to provide the interface.
Exactly. The current high cost of HDTV is just a temporary barrier to entry for Joe six-pack.
How many people bought microcomputers (Apple, IBM) 30 years ago? Only the affluent and the geeks (who sacrificed other things like transportation and hygiene products to afford them). Now everybody can get a sufficiently powerful PC for peanuts.
Is bringing these disparate worlds together successfully in one game a point in favor of a Metaversehttp://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid= 06/03/24/1646249?