I bought one of these over a year ago, as part of my tendonitis-triggered moratorium on regular mice. I used it pretty extensively until I got a Kensington Expert Mouse Trackball, which I find gives a better match for my needs while maintaining good ergonomics.
I still pack this one with me whenever I'm going somewhere (e.g. campus computer labs) that has nasty mice in it. It's pretty nice in my experience (i.e. it doesn't make my tendonitis go crazy like regular mice), though the motions required are a bit odd in its own way, leaving me to just put my hand on top of it every now and then and use it like a really tall, funkily-buttoned, regular mouse.
Shouldn't we wait until the game is out to make such outrageous claims? For all we know (though I hope not), the gameplay could suck and the game could disappear into the bargain bin within a few weeks.
The problem is not with games that have cool stuff you have to unlock. Rather, it's with games that have cool stuff that takes a crapload of busywork before you can unlock it.
For example, I dropped Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 after about two days, partially because the gameplay sucked, but also partially because there were only a small handful of tracks available. Further tracks had to be "bought" with a certain amount of points, points that could only be earned by playing a LOT of races on the tracks you already have.
If the game has a worthwhile journey, I don't have a problem with some held-back rewards. If the entire gameplay experience, though, is focused on "this is boring now but wait til later," it really sucks, and, unfortunately, there are a lot of games out there like that.
A bit offtopic, but I find a certain obnoxious ad on a certain obnoxious ad-laden site amusing. It provides a button with which the user is supposed to help Bush beat Schwarzenegger at weightlifting. I always think to myself, "why would anyone click that?"
Make sure that, if the ad server is slow, your page still loads fine. Nothing pisses me off more than a half-loaded page that's stalling because of an overloaded ad server.
Indeed. I can't tell squat from a screenshot, but three seconds of looking at the actual site in action, complete with mousing-over links, gives a very clear picture.
Game movies always try to be "serious" movies at their own right. They try to create worlds that make perfect sense. However, they're based on something that has its whole own set of rules, often completely out of line with physics, human nature, geography, scale, etc.
If a game movie were to embrace the fact that it is, in fact, based on a game, rather than "this is the real world that the game is a gross bastardization of," I think the movies would be far more entertaining.
I'm talking about a Super Mario Bros. movie where Mario can jump 8 feet and kills things by squashing them, a Final Fantasy movie where the characters have random nonsensical battles in which everyone takes turns, or a Doom movie done entirely in first person where characters randomly pull grotesquely-large weapons out of practically nowhere.
Unfortunately, movies that stray from the "we watch persons do things in a world that largely parallels things we're familiar with" paradigm are extremely rare.
This is why I find anime fun to watch... they do oddball things like this more often.
He wasn't complaining about typo domains, but rather of good old-fashioned squatters. People who snatch up domains that perhaps have the same name as your business, with the sole purpose of selling them to you for an outrageous price.
We'd have to stop using "www" for everything. I know there's no technical reason for it, but it just wouldn't seem right. As is, I almost want to replace www with wwecw in my domain.
I think the real problem here is that there is no endgame. When you run out of "content" in an MMORPG, it should say "Congratulations, you've beat the game! Here's the page of high scores." That really doesn't help keep the subscriptions coming, though.
Either that, or "winning" the game could give you access to a more exclusive server or class of character or something.
I really wish people would stop equating entertainment to how much it costs per hour. It really doesn't work that way. It's not like we're filling up the gas tank and shopping around for best miles per gallon. By that logic, nobody should ever do anything except walk outside, because it's free.
Besides, the time of fun from a movie, game, etc., doesn't immediately stop when it's over. I don't see people reminiscing with their friends about Super Mario Bros. 2 (though it does happen) nearly as much as I hear people crying to "Come see the violence inherent in the system!"
"Makes heads asplode" doesn't roll off the tongue as well.
And "causes the few people who are paying attention to get really really pissed off and run down the street naked screaming 'I, Henry the Eighth I am' at the top of their lungs in a display of utter disgust" doesn't bode well with segments of the news-reading public opposed to public nudity.
The article says Mario 64 had "a perfect 3D camera system."
The need to adjust your angle of motion constantly during a tightrope walk and that one jump I could never make because the camera kept panning around during the crucial moment beg to differ.
Scientists know that it is indeed the world's smallest fish, and no smaller one could possibly exist, because "Look at it! It's REALLY small! Smaller even than the now not-quite-smallest fish! That's tiny!"
Note today's story about users judging a website in 50 milliseconds
Indeed. However, when I see a "your browser sucks" message, my judgment is very often "well, screw you too! I didn't really need to look this up anyways." This happens FAR more often than a flaky display.
Slashdot Mirror
Hope? How about less hoping and more writing to congresspersons...
I bought one of these over a year ago, as part of my tendonitis-triggered moratorium on regular mice. I used it pretty extensively until I got a Kensington Expert Mouse Trackball, which I find gives a better match for my needs while maintaining good ergonomics. I still pack this one with me whenever I'm going somewhere (e.g. campus computer labs) that has nasty mice in it. It's pretty nice in my experience (i.e. it doesn't make my tendonitis go crazy like regular mice), though the motions required are a bit odd in its own way, leaving me to just put my hand on top of it every now and then and use it like a really tall, funkily-buttoned, regular mouse.
No, Paul Hogan is Crocodile Dundee. SHAWN is the first name of the Hogan we're talking about here.
Shouldn't we wait until the game is out to make such outrageous claims? For all we know (though I hope not), the gameplay could suck and the game could disappear into the bargain bin within a few weeks.
The problem is not with games that have cool stuff you have to unlock. Rather, it's with games that have cool stuff that takes a crapload of busywork before you can unlock it.
For example, I dropped Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 after about two days, partially because the gameplay sucked, but also partially because there were only a small handful of tracks available. Further tracks had to be "bought" with a certain amount of points, points that could only be earned by playing a LOT of races on the tracks you already have.
If the game has a worthwhile journey, I don't have a problem with some held-back rewards. If the entire gameplay experience, though, is focused on "this is boring now but wait til later," it really sucks, and, unfortunately, there are a lot of games out there like that.
A bit offtopic, but I find a certain obnoxious ad on a certain obnoxious ad-laden site amusing. It provides a button with which the user is supposed to help Bush beat Schwarzenegger at weightlifting. I always think to myself, "why would anyone click that?"
15 seconds? Wow, you're nice. I'd say 5.
Make sure that, if the ad server is slow, your page still loads fine. Nothing pisses me off more than a half-loaded page that's stalling because of an overloaded ad server.
Indeed. I can't tell squat from a screenshot, but three seconds of looking at the actual site in action, complete with mousing-over links, gives a very clear picture.
Game movies always try to be "serious" movies at their own right. They try to create worlds that make perfect sense. However, they're based on something that has its whole own set of rules, often completely out of line with physics, human nature, geography, scale, etc.
If a game movie were to embrace the fact that it is, in fact, based on a game, rather than "this is the real world that the game is a gross bastardization of," I think the movies would be far more entertaining.
I'm talking about a Super Mario Bros. movie where Mario can jump 8 feet and kills things by squashing them, a Final Fantasy movie where the characters have random nonsensical battles in which everyone takes turns, or a Doom movie done entirely in first person where characters randomly pull grotesquely-large weapons out of practically nowhere.
Unfortunately, movies that stray from the "we watch persons do things in a world that largely parallels things we're familiar with" paradigm are extremely rare.
This is why I find anime fun to watch... they do oddball things like this more often.
He wasn't complaining about typo domains, but rather of good old-fashioned squatters. People who snatch up domains that perhaps have the same name as your business, with the sole purpose of selling them to you for an outrageous price.
We'd have to stop using "www" for everything. I know there's no technical reason for it, but it just wouldn't seem right. As is, I almost want to replace www with wwecw in my domain.
I think the real problem here is that there is no endgame. When you run out of "content" in an MMORPG, it should say "Congratulations, you've beat the game! Here's the page of high scores." That really doesn't help keep the subscriptions coming, though.
Either that, or "winning" the game could give you access to a more exclusive server or class of character or something.
Erm, I meant walking outside as a form of entertainment. But yeah, that works.
I really wish people would stop equating entertainment to how much it costs per hour. It really doesn't work that way. It's not like we're filling up the gas tank and shopping around for best miles per gallon. By that logic, nobody should ever do anything except walk outside, because it's free.
Besides, the time of fun from a movie, game, etc., doesn't immediately stop when it's over. I don't see people reminiscing with their friends about Super Mario Bros. 2 (though it does happen) nearly as much as I hear people crying to "Come see the violence inherent in the system!"
Sorry, not quantifiable like that.
Who watches Olympic hockey?
Call me old-fashioned, but don't actions speak louder than words? They're also often less expensive to maintain.
"Makes heads asplode" doesn't roll off the tongue as well.
And "causes the few people who are paying attention to get really really pissed off and run down the street naked screaming 'I, Henry the Eighth I am' at the top of their lungs in a display of utter disgust" doesn't bode well with segments of the news-reading public opposed to public nudity.
I would refuse to work on the patents, and if that led to quittery/fireditude, then so be it.
/naive idealist
Frankly, though, I don't know if my job search would include companies that engage in such practices.
Yeah, and we all know how excellent the OTHER "Star Wars 3" was.
Oh, if only my C64 still worked. Emulators don't do Space Taxi justice.
The article says Mario 64 had "a perfect 3D camera system."
The need to adjust your angle of motion constantly during a tightrope walk and that one jump I could never make because the camera kept panning around during the crucial moment beg to differ.
Left out of the article:
Scientists know that it is indeed the world's smallest fish, and no smaller one could possibly exist, because "Look at it! It's REALLY small! Smaller even than the now not-quite-smallest fish! That's tiny!"
And I'd be very inclined to play more per-month MMOs if they didn't also require an initial plonk of $50.
Note today's story about users judging a website in 50 milliseconds
Indeed. However, when I see a "your browser sucks" message, my judgment is very often "well, screw you too! I didn't really need to look this up anyways." This happens FAR more often than a flaky display.