Have you ever been to republican caucus? At the beginning of the meeting they read a few paragraphs that were their platform agenda. It was, besides long and boring, an eye opener as to how the republican mind thinks. Every single delegate, the new chair, vice chair, secretary, etc. started their platform speech with words along the lines of "I agree with everything in the platform." The different nominees would then argue over nothing (literally, they were always arguing the same point, but with slightly different words), and one would get voted in.
Although the people were very interested in the voting mechanism, as always is with politics, they were more interested in getting themselves voted in to be a delegate for the county or state caucus. It's never about policies, or even politics, but rather always about people.
I was appalled when I first heard that here in Utah we too were going to be subjected to overpriced election machines with the sole ability to malfunction.
I heard it at a Republican caucus. What was amazing was that almost everyone there was equally appalled as me. Here I thought that only the super-left, like myself, would be interested in vote integrety, but here were 50+ middle aged men and women all just as angry that we were installing systems that other states are thinking of getting rid of.
I'm personally looking forward to election day where all the machines at my district mysteriously malfunction when I try to "vote" (wink wink, nudge nudge). I'm also thinking of getting stickers made to place on the machines. Something on the order of "WARNING! Election may be rigged by computer. Ask for a paper receipt to verify your vote."
Prior art does not apply...especially since DC and Marvel were themselves using the superhero term long before they trademarked it, so that particular example isn't even prior. All that applies is the idea that they were the only ones using the term. I think that if they'd trademarked superhero within a year of the start of the term, it'd be legit, but almost 40 years? That's bollocks.
By "their war, fighting on their terms", do you mean us killing them? The modern warfare techniques you suggest are indeed very good at killing the enemy. Also, do you not suppose that fighting a geurrilla war is not a modern fighting technique? If anything, they're more modern and more ingenious in their fighting that we are. We might have better weapons, better training, better equipment, and better doctors, but somehow we aren't winning in any significant way...now who's modern?
You also seem to forget, as most people and media often do, the overall casualty count, not just the KIA count. Thousands upon thousands of soldiers, sailors, and marines have returned home with grevious injuries such as loss of limb, nerve damage, paralysis, etc. Mostly all we've gotten better at doing is keeping them alive. They're still hitting us good, we just bandage people up better nowadays.
I don't like the idea of only getting to download part of the game at a time...
Well, let's think about this. Suppose you want to you want to buy game X. You have the choice of either going to the store, buying a physical disc, and playing that, or downloading the game. Option A has obvious good points such as 1) the physical disc, and 2) it's ready to play as soon as you pop it in your console. Option B is missing the physical disc, and missing the ability to play it now. Well, why not give the ability to play it now, rather than wait for 3 days and 3 nights while you download 5 gigs of data to your hard drive? Obviously this won't work for some games very well, but for RPGs or adventure games (with a beginning, middle, and end) why not be able to play through beginning while downlaoding middle and end?
I, for one, don't like the idea mostly because of the lack of a physical disc. What if you get bored of the game? Instead of being able to hauk it off for five bucks, you just delete it. What if you run out of hard drive space? Will you be able to redownload the game if your hard drive crashes? Obviously a physical disc isn't indestructable, but they tend to still work even if your console dies.
In the days of several hundred gig games^H^H^H^H^Hhard drives, this never becomes a real issue. If I'm playing one game and get stuck or bored with it, sometimes I never have to uninstall everything but the save-games to make room for something else.
Alright, maybe not everyone has 600 gb of hard disk space, but for me, even when weighing in 5+ gb per game (9+ for command and conquer: the last decade), I've got room for about an hundred games. I currently own roughly 20 games. Each one is installed in full, and each one will remain installed in full until windows craps out on my again, at which point I reinstall the games as I want to play them. I've still got room for Alcohol 120 images of each game disc and dvd for more than treble the amount of games I own.
Given that games will, over time, only increase in install size, all I have to do is every couple of years add in another (expentionally larger) hard drive.
Seriously though, if a game is worth $50 to buy, I'm not likely to be uninstalling it anytime soon.
Re:Comment about "web performance" amusing
on
Treo 700w Review
·
· Score: 5, Informative
Having recently programmed a multi-user wireless sync server using a Treo 650 as a test platform, I have to agree with at least some of your post. Yes, blazer sucks big time. It's slow and renders pages oddly at best. Overall though, the phone works great. I never had it crash (my boss crashes his once or twice a week), but my supervisor's 700w crashes once a day.
The 650 is probably an 3/5 star phone, but as a pda it's very impressive. Because of the abundance of third party apps, the ease of syncing (works flawlessly with the open, and easy to program for pilot-link), and the openness of the Palm platform (relative to Windows Mobile at least), ensures that I won't ever let anyone else at my company buy a Treo 700 until the "p" version comes out.
If you need a pda, and a phone, and have to integrate the syncronization with your ERP or CRM applications, Palm or Linux phones are the only way to go. If it crashes, complain to tech support, flash newer firmware, repeat. Much easier than trying to get Microsoft to fix windows.
Having worked on several long-term projects-done-by-small-teams in the past, I can say that my experience differs greatly.
Usually if something is taking a long time, it's not because you haven't polished it enough, or because it's not perfect yet, but rather because it's too broken to sell in its current state. Usually a 3-5 month initial devel, followed by a month or so of in house testing, followed by 3 fscking years of beta tests leads to a very polished terd with lots of useless doodads added on.
Yes, there are examples of projects that have taken a long time, and been good at the end, but you can not correlate the long dev time to the quality in way. The only thing the long time speaks for is that the developers couldn't get everything done in a smaller amount of time. "Everything" of course refers not just to features but also the features working correctly.
Well, listening to the morningradio here one comes to realize that Buttars is pronounced Butters, much akin to the poor chap living in Southpark, CO. He is, of course, not known here for Just the anti-darwin bill, but essentially Every horrible bill that is put before the state legislature. Everything from anti-gay bills to anti-hate crime bills to anti-video games bills all start with, or are strongly supported by, Chris Buttars. If he did not attend, I'd say roughly 50-75% more actual work would get done (note: this of course, would still not be a lot, this is Utah we're talking about).
For more Chris Buttars, please read through his various appearances as a nominee for "Boner of the Day" (morning show, daily moron contest).
Some of his great quotes include:
"A great deal of my political stands come from my faith. I represent
the values that have always been America's morality." - Chris Buttars
"If you read the homosexual rule book, you'll find their greatest
target is your kids." - Chris Buttars
"I don't think the conservative side of the aisle understands
incrementalism and the liberal side does, and that is one way we got
beat." - Chris Buttars
"The [government] has become totally hostile to moral and religious
ideals." - Chris Buttars
"They're everywhere. They're getting into everything, The homosexual
community is going to undermine society." - Chris Buttars
Well, part of the problem with TV/cell phone screens is that they will actually look better in real life than they would viewed in a commercial. Have you ever noticed the weird rainbow effect on newscasters' ties? (if not, Watch CNN for 5 minutes and they will interview someone who's secretary didn't warn him about the problem) The problem stems from the fact that telivision doesn't display things perfectly, it displays them merely okay. Odd artifacts that aren't apparent to the human eye (like screen refresh on a CRT or pixel imperfections and gaps on an LCD) become very apparent when viewed on TV.
Also, how do you honestly expect them to accurately show the benefits of HDTV on a non-HD TV commercial?
</offtopic>
Video games however, differ greatly in that they are easily reproduced pixel-for-pixel on a TV because they were meant to be played on a TV. There is no reason that actual game footage can't be used. If anything, good in-game eyecandy (like COD2 has an commendable amount of) should be seen as perfect for the commercial.
If you aren't going to show actual game play, why not use actors and sets? It will inevitably cost less and look better than CG (unless you're Blizzard or SquareEnix, in which case it will only look better). Look at the SOCOM commercials: they show, with actors and sets, a rendition of SEAL missions that won't be possible for several more years with CG. The SOCOM games aren't about graphics, they're about gameplay (or at least 1 and 2 were, haven't played 3). Good graphics are nice, but if your game is about fun, build an aura in your commercial, not a straw man.
They don't want more sales, they want more profit.
Since they are trying to maximize profit, they will (correctly) charge as much as the market is willing to bear. Unless they difference in the number of sales more than offsets the loss in profit-per-unit, other publishers won't follow suit. Given that they are experimenting with lower prices it seems to be that they think they can indeed get a larger return from more sales.
However, since not all games are created equal, it seems silly to try to sell them all at the same price. Each product will have a specific price point that maximizes its profit. Perhaps this is the conclusion they are coming too.
There isn't anything inherrently wrong with cutscenes. They help progress plot, they (hopefully) have aesthetical appeal, and they can give the player a short break from the game. The problem lies in when there are too many of them, or when they don't serve any purpose (no plot advancement, no flashy cg, etc).
Also, problems arise when the ratio of game content to cutscene gets too high. Players don't want to watch their games, they want to play them.
I find it rather difficult to use a joystick (of the type pictured) with only one hand. Usually the second hand is used to press the button. Of course, the innovation of putting the button on top would fix that problem.
What's stopping the "cool" kids (who are already active) from preventing the obese kids (mostly uncool due to aforementioned obesity) from playing?
I say instead give a standalone DDR like machine to every obese kid. That way they can sweat to the oldies (or techno or whatever) in the comfort of their own home.
There is a significant problem with the assumption that placing a warranty on it will somehow benifit the consumer. The cost to the consumer will rise because either a) better craftsmanship costs more to the manufacturer, who passes on the cost, or b) the retail price will include the price of replacements. Just because the warranty is "free" to the consumer, does not mean it is free to the manufacturer, who will, when faced with profit loss, raise prices.
I don't see how this will be better for the consumer than the current situation. Right now if you don't like a product's reliability, then don't buy it without a warranty.
Slashdot Mirror
Although the people were very interested in the voting mechanism, as always is with politics, they were more interested in getting themselves voted in to be a delegate for the county or state caucus. It's never about policies, or even politics, but rather always about people.
I heard it at a Republican caucus. What was amazing was that almost everyone there was equally appalled as me. Here I thought that only the super-left, like myself, would be interested in vote integrety, but here were 50+ middle aged men and women all just as angry that we were installing systems that other states are thinking of getting rid of.
I'm personally looking forward to election day where all the machines at my district mysteriously malfunction when I try to "vote" (wink wink, nudge nudge). I'm also thinking of getting stickers made to place on the machines. Something on the order of "WARNING! Election may be rigged by computer. Ask for a paper receipt to verify your vote."
Prior art does not apply...especially since DC and Marvel were themselves using the superhero term long before they trademarked it, so that particular example isn't even prior. All that applies is the idea that they were the only ones using the term. I think that if they'd trademarked superhero within a year of the start of the term, it'd be legit, but almost 40 years? That's bollocks.
...and then they subpoena the key, and you either give it, or they hold you in contempt.
You also seem to forget, as most people and media often do, the overall casualty count, not just the KIA count. Thousands upon thousands of soldiers, sailors, and marines have returned home with grevious injuries such as loss of limb, nerve damage, paralysis, etc. Mostly all we've gotten better at doing is keeping them alive. They're still hitting us good, we just bandage people up better nowadays.
Well, let's think about this. Suppose you want to you want to buy game X. You have the choice of either going to the store, buying a physical disc, and playing that, or downloading the game. Option A has obvious good points such as 1) the physical disc, and 2) it's ready to play as soon as you pop it in your console. Option B is missing the physical disc, and missing the ability to play it now. Well, why not give the ability to play it now, rather than wait for 3 days and 3 nights while you download 5 gigs of data to your hard drive? Obviously this won't work for some games very well, but for RPGs or adventure games (with a beginning, middle, and end) why not be able to play through beginning while downlaoding middle and end?
I, for one, don't like the idea mostly because of the lack of a physical disc. What if you get bored of the game? Instead of being able to hauk it off for five bucks, you just delete it. What if you run out of hard drive space? Will you be able to redownload the game if your hard drive crashes? Obviously a physical disc isn't indestructable, but they tend to still work even if your console dies.
Alright, maybe not everyone has 600 gb of hard disk space, but for me, even when weighing in 5+ gb per game (9+ for command and conquer: the last decade), I've got room for about an hundred games. I currently own roughly 20 games. Each one is installed in full, and each one will remain installed in full until windows craps out on my again, at which point I reinstall the games as I want to play them. I've still got room for Alcohol 120 images of each game disc and dvd for more than treble the amount of games I own.
Given that games will, over time, only increase in install size, all I have to do is every couple of years add in another (expentionally larger) hard drive.
Seriously though, if a game is worth $50 to buy, I'm not likely to be uninstalling it anytime soon.
The 650 is probably an 3/5 star phone, but as a pda it's very impressive. Because of the abundance of third party apps, the ease of syncing (works flawlessly with the open, and easy to program for pilot-link), and the openness of the Palm platform (relative to Windows Mobile at least), ensures that I won't ever let anyone else at my company buy a Treo 700 until the "p" version comes out.
If you need a pda, and a phone, and have to integrate the syncronization with your ERP or CRM applications, Palm or Linux phones are the only way to go. If it crashes, complain to tech support, flash newer firmware, repeat. Much easier than trying to get Microsoft to fix windows.
Well, the third Golden Sun doesn't, and probably never will, exist. It definitely tops my list of games never released.
Of course, since this is talking about games that got started, announced, and then cancelled, the much anticipated Golden Sun 3 doesn't quite fit.
Usually if something is taking a long time, it's not because you haven't polished it enough, or because it's not perfect yet, but rather because it's too broken to sell in its current state. Usually a 3-5 month initial devel, followed by a month or so of in house testing, followed by 3 fscking years of beta tests leads to a very polished terd with lots of useless doodads added on.
Yes, there are examples of projects that have taken a long time, and been good at the end, but you can not correlate the long dev time to the quality in way. The only thing the long time speaks for is that the developers couldn't get everything done in a smaller amount of time. "Everything" of course refers not just to features but also the features working correctly.
At last! A real-world use for the internet.
For more Chris Buttars, please read through his various appearances as a nominee for "Boner of the Day" (morning show, daily moron contest).
Some of his great quotes include:
Also, how do you honestly expect them to accurately show the benefits of HDTV on a non-HD TV commercial?
</offtopic>
Video games however, differ greatly in that they are easily reproduced pixel-for-pixel on a TV because they were meant to be played on a TV. There is no reason that actual game footage can't be used. If anything, good in-game eyecandy (like COD2 has an commendable amount of) should be seen as perfect for the commercial.
If you aren't going to show actual game play, why not use actors and sets? It will inevitably cost less and look better than CG (unless you're Blizzard or SquareEnix, in which case it will only look better). Look at the SOCOM commercials: they show, with actors and sets, a rendition of SEAL missions that won't be possible for several more years with CG. The SOCOM games aren't about graphics, they're about gameplay (or at least 1 and 2 were, haven't played 3). Good graphics are nice, but if your game is about fun, build an aura in your commercial, not a straw man.
Go back to watching Sesame Street.
Since they are trying to maximize profit, they will (correctly) charge as much as the market is willing to bear. Unless they difference in the number of sales more than offsets the loss in profit-per-unit, other publishers won't follow suit. Given that they are experimenting with lower prices it seems to be that they think they can indeed get a larger return from more sales.
However, since not all games are created equal, it seems silly to try to sell them all at the same price. Each product will have a specific price point that maximizes its profit. Perhaps this is the conclusion they are coming too.
However, when pressed, the company acknowledged the new device would be ineffective against pieces of broccoli and spinach.
Also, problems arise when the ratio of game content to cutscene gets too high. Players don't want to watch their games, they want to play them.
I find it rather difficult to use a joystick (of the type pictured) with only one hand. Usually the second hand is used to press the button. Of course, the innovation of putting the button on top would fix that problem.
Where's my "it was all a dream" from mario brothers 2?
What about Bill Clinton?
Oh, come on, you ruined it. Now I actually have to (feign) RTFA before posting...
I say instead give a standalone DDR like machine to every obese kid. That way they can sweat to the oldies (or techno or whatever) in the comfort of their own home.
I don't see how this will be better for the consumer than the current situation. Right now if you don't like a product's reliability, then don't buy it without a warranty.