But I...uh, Lo Pan...uh, my friend wanted a 5'4" Asian girl with GREEN eyes. Oh well. Another 6 years isn't so bad after a 3000 year wait. Also, if you have something in there that can kill a truck driver with a big, bad ass mullet and attitude to match, I'd also be much obliged.
Geeks love tech. Geeks love sci-fi. But a lot of geeks also break the mold of the shutin nerd with no social life. Friday nights have traditionally been "family nights" (TGIF comes to mind) when the programming generally skews younger because the family with kids is actually home watching TV. If you gear a show in the 18-35 range, generally we're not at home Friday - you're competing against movie openings, bar nights, shows, poker games, etc. So is it really a surprise that all us tech loving geeks are the biggest group recording shows for later? Moving BSG to Sunday was a good move, and Sci-Fi should do it with the rest of their "prime" content if they want better live ratings.
Yeah, I totally remember taking my camera and dropping it on the screen of my home workstation I flipped horizontally to serve as a coffee table. My pictures popped out in ASCII form and I was able to change the red color to blue and brown (only 8 colors, so not too much of a choice) and eliminate redeye. Ahhhhh, memories.
Well, I guess we're about done here then. I don't think you've been to some of the poorer parts of America (hint, not NYC - try again). You also don't understand some of the basic lack of medical support we have here - its not that its available, its that people can't afford it i.e. no insurance.
But I'll leave you with some fun reading instead:
``At this festive season of the year, Mr Scrooge,'' said the gentleman, taking up a pen, ``it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the Poor and destitute, who suffer greatly at the present time. Many thousands are in want of common necessaries; hundreds of thousands are in want of common comforts, sir.''
``Are there no prisons?'' asked Scrooge.
``Plenty of prisons,'' said the gentleman, laying down the pen again.
``And the Union workhouses?'' demanded Scrooge. ``Are they still in operation?''
``They are. Still,'' returned the gentleman, `` I wish I could say they were not.''
``The Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigour, then?'' said Scrooge.
``Both very busy, sir.''
``Oh! I was afraid, from what you said at first, that something had occurred to stop them in their useful course,'' said Scrooge. ``I'm very glad to hear it.''
Sure, things like foods and crops (we don't need corn/rice seed) - but what about medicine, education, and (on topic) educational computer equipment. Surely those aren't "wasted" - Teach For America, Operation Smile, etc. all work within the US.
The fact that you used the word "wasted" goes towards the GP's post. I'm sure the kid in W.Va who gets his facial deformity repaired or gets to use a PC won't consider it a "waste". While you're right that they'll have more of an impact in a worse off place, the implication is that the poor and starving living in a 1st world country are somehow less needy than those in a 3rd. "Come now, Pull yourself up young lad! You've got everything you need! There's starving Africans out there!" People are people and just because their neighbors are doing better than they are doesn't mean they can't use the help.
True story: When I was a younger lad I got around that by taking my friends manual to the xerox machine at the library and for a couple bucks had the whole thing cracked. Much later on in life I ended up working for the same company I stole the game from. I took my boss out to lunch one day (he was the original programmer on the game in question), and as he offered payment I said "No no, its alright. I figure this ought to cover the royalties of the game I prirated:)" Guilt free am I!
Oh Lordy Lords...can we please just be done with that old "Gameplay vs. Graphics" chestnut? I love playing the Wii and all, but I really hate the spineless doublethink that gets brought up as soon as someone mentions something from another platform. "Ugh, probably just some pretty pictures on some $10,000 HDTV no one owns - I for one prefer GAMEPLAY in my GAMES over GRAPHICS, but maybe that's just ME and not some beer-guzzlin sheeple - sniff sniff"
I've worked in game development for a while now, and have done programming and project management. Let me assure you, we do not have a column with dollar signs that says "Graphics" and one that says "Gameplay" and add money to one and subtract it from another. You know what makes great games? Great ideas, great designers, great execution. You really can't polish a turd, but you can take a great idea and make it a steaming pile by not executing on it. Execution means polish, and polish a lot of the time means a high graphic standard (not photorealistic - Okami anyone?) Here's another fun fact: Artists are cheap. The real cost in HD game devlopment is still what it always was - engine development, tuning, optimization, getting that 60 fps so you don't look like a chump (well, that's a programmers point of view:). So all those "skyrocketing prices of next gen game development!" FUD pieces you read, well, no one around here suddenly went "oh shit, HD, we need twice as many artists, and we need to shudder our windows with $100 bills so the HD looks really good!" Game development hasn't changed because suddenly the resolution doubled. Hell, HD was passed a while back on the PC, and you never saw any "oh shit, now we're totally screwed" pieces in the PC world.
The fact of the matter is, a good game is a good game. Graphics can and do make a game more enjoyable. The two aren't mutually exclusive, no matter what the Nintendo PR (is it even them saying that?) machine would have you believe. After all, where was that talk when the Gamecube was putting out equal or better quality graphics as the Xbox/PS2?
A non-obvious patent granted to an inventor in order to allow them a short-term monopoly in exchange for releasing the invention to the common domain at the end of the patent cycle, thus encouraging the inventor to release the idea with the understanding they'll be able to take full financial advantage of it?
This is BS! When oh when are they going to fix the system!
Sorry sir, the "NOT" joke is copyrighted material and we're going to have to file a DMCA takedown notice as you've apparently bypassed the MS Customer Laughter Enablement System, which is a clear violation...
Oh, I'm sorry. Apparently my lawyers have informed me that the copyright for that joke has expired and is now public domain. Carry on!
Being that stressed and medically obese is going to send you to an early grave. You're probably going to get diabetes and have heart issues at a young age. How does that help with prioritization? Or does that cause even more stress? Try boxing or running (fast walking if need be) or something that gets the tension out but in a non-sedentary way.
I could be wrong but don't a lot of race cars use automatic/manual shifters these days? Are F1 drivers still pushing a clutch? After all, the stick/clutch is just another way of telling the car what you want to do at that moment. It seems like there could be better ways of doing it when cost isn't an issue.
I think the exception here is a topical show or comedy that doesn't rely too much on plotlines or drama. I'm thinking of South Park, which seems to get better every single year, and The Office. The UK version seemed way too short for me, and there was obviously a long ways to go in terms of topics - the US version is consistantly hilarious. The problem is if you make the central love story - well, central. In the US version they've flushed out a lot of characters a lot better, and had other story archs outside of the two main characters.
That of course depends on what system they're using, how old it is, etc. All of it relies on obscurity, so of course its going to be cracked. It depends on the individual developer and how much effort they think its worth to put in the time to lock down the title. A lot of the systems today rely on sprinkling your code with various calls that rely on the CD sector being there. The smarter and craftier you are about it, the harder it is for the cracker to take the calls out. They will of course figure them all out, but in the meantime (assuming they don't have advanced access) you have a small window of time. Also, if you make the checks less uniform, you can do stuff like have a game work the first few levels but break later on. A lot of cracker groups break DRM just as a hobby, so nothing is more damaging to their rep than releasing a partial crack. You have to recall it, and then it sows confusion into the mix as to what is the "good" crack, and what isn't.
Again, all of this is throwing sandbags trying to hold back a flood, but if the percieved value of integrating the DRM > cost of integrating the DRM, publishers will still try it. (And again, how you come up with how much it costs you or even what the sales would be on a DRM-free title is pretty much an exercise in BS).
Because the name of the game is _delaying_ the inevetible. Eventually its going to be cracked - that's a given. No one today is selling a game expecting that a No-CD patch won't make it out. What they don't want to do is have a Day-0 crack out. They want you to at least consider buying the game before you download it from your buddy, depending on how badly you want it.
Reasonable logic? I can kind of see the point, but as the top level poster mentioned, the people who are pirating probably aren't going to buy it anyways. But at least they'll have to wait a little longer than the honest guy. Kind of like hardback/paperback I guess.
I think his point is that there are better cars for dealing with weather, cargo transport, people transport, etc. SUVs don't address any of those problems in a particularly good way. Another problem is that people in SUVs tend to think they're safer in storms when pretty much any car has about the same stopping power on ice - none. Yet they drive in more of an unsafe manner because of it.
Actually, if you look at the focus of previous PS2 only publishers (Square, Rockstar), the shift has been to choosing both platforms and not doing PS3 exclusives. Then there's the fact that the Wii (which really is old hardware) has caught the eye of the whole industry and they have the driving buzz this go round. So in reality, I think there's a more balanced approach this cycle than the previous "make it for PS2 and we'll port some crap over to the rest". All 3 platforms are being looked at seriously. In other words - Get used to it. The future is all, PS3 faboy:)
Well, it should be very easy to show prior art, as all you have to do is bust out the debugger that makes use of this functionality. Open and shut case. But the whole knee-jerk "they are now patenting all breakpoints, we will all be sued" (you'll have to imagine the drool on your own" is rediculous in this case.
Except that they're not patenting breakpoints. Try reading a little more than the inflamatory summary next time. Think about it, how could you patent something and use the word in the patent? By using the word "breakpoint" they've already exposed prior art, as the reader is expected to know what it is they're patenting. If you read a little more, you'll see they're patenting a new method of setting breakpoints.
Ah, but then you have something to hide. And they know it and will soon be picking you up to have a chat about it. After all, if you weren't doing anything wrong, why would you care if your Big Brother knew about it? He just wants to make sure you're living a comfortable and safe existence!
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But I...uh, Lo Pan...uh, my friend wanted a 5'4" Asian girl with GREEN eyes. Oh well. Another 6 years isn't so bad after a 3000 year wait. Also, if you have something in there that can kill a truck driver with a big, bad ass mullet and attitude to match, I'd also be much obliged.
Geeks love tech. Geeks love sci-fi. But a lot of geeks also break the mold of the shutin nerd with no social life. Friday nights have traditionally been "family nights" (TGIF comes to mind) when the programming generally skews younger because the family with kids is actually home watching TV. If you gear a show in the 18-35 range, generally we're not at home Friday - you're competing against movie openings, bar nights, shows, poker games, etc. So is it really a surprise that all us tech loving geeks are the biggest group recording shows for later? Moving BSG to Sunday was a good move, and Sci-Fi should do it with the rest of their "prime" content if they want better live ratings.
Yeah, I totally remember taking my camera and dropping it on the screen of my home workstation I flipped horizontally to serve as a coffee table. My pictures popped out in ASCII form and I was able to change the red color to blue and brown (only 8 colors, so not too much of a choice) and eliminate redeye. Ahhhhh, memories.
Its also worth nothing that I can make up any "facts" I want and assert them as true, but that doesn't make them so.
But only the bits set to 0. Those are the naught-y bits.
Well, I guess we're about done here then. I don't think you've been to some of the poorer parts of America (hint, not NYC - try again). You also don't understand some of the basic lack of medical support we have here - its not that its available, its that people can't afford it i.e. no insurance.
But I'll leave you with some fun reading instead:
``At this festive season of the year, Mr Scrooge,'' said the gentleman, taking up a pen, ``it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the Poor and destitute, who suffer greatly at the present time. Many thousands are in want of common necessaries; hundreds of thousands are in want of common comforts, sir.''
``Are there no prisons?'' asked Scrooge.
``Plenty of prisons,'' said the gentleman, laying down the pen again.
``And the Union workhouses?'' demanded Scrooge. ``Are they still in operation?''
``They are. Still,'' returned the gentleman, `` I wish I could say they were not.''
``The Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigour, then?'' said Scrooge.
``Both very busy, sir.''
``Oh! I was afraid, from what you said at first, that something had occurred to stop them in their useful course,'' said Scrooge. ``I'm very glad to hear it.''
Sure, things like foods and crops (we don't need corn/rice seed) - but what about medicine, education, and (on topic) educational computer equipment. Surely those aren't "wasted" - Teach For America, Operation Smile, etc. all work within the US.
The fact that you used the word "wasted" goes towards the GP's post. I'm sure the kid in W.Va who gets his facial deformity repaired or gets to use a PC won't consider it a "waste". While you're right that they'll have more of an impact in a worse off place, the implication is that the poor and starving living in a 1st world country are somehow less needy than those in a 3rd. "Come now, Pull yourself up young lad! You've got everything you need! There's starving Africans out there!" People are people and just because their neighbors are doing better than they are doesn't mean they can't use the help.
True story: When I was a younger lad I got around that by taking my friends manual to the xerox machine at the library and for a couple bucks had the whole thing cracked. Much later on in life I ended up working for the same company I stole the game from. I took my boss out to lunch one day (he was the original programmer on the game in question), and as he offered payment I said "No no, its alright. I figure this ought to cover the royalties of the game I prirated :)" Guilt free am I!
Oh Lordy Lords...can we please just be done with that old "Gameplay vs. Graphics" chestnut? I love playing the Wii and all, but I really hate the spineless doublethink that gets brought up as soon as someone mentions something from another platform. "Ugh, probably just some pretty pictures on some $10,000 HDTV no one owns - I for one prefer GAMEPLAY in my GAMES over GRAPHICS, but maybe that's just ME and not some beer-guzzlin sheeple - sniff sniff"
:). So all those "skyrocketing prices of next gen game development!" FUD pieces you read, well, no one around here suddenly went "oh shit, HD, we need twice as many artists, and we need to shudder our windows with $100 bills so the HD looks really good!" Game development hasn't changed because suddenly the resolution doubled. Hell, HD was passed a while back on the PC, and you never saw any "oh shit, now we're totally screwed" pieces in the PC world.
I've worked in game development for a while now, and have done programming and project management. Let me assure you, we do not have a column with dollar signs that says "Graphics" and one that says "Gameplay" and add money to one and subtract it from another. You know what makes great games? Great ideas, great designers, great execution. You really can't polish a turd, but you can take a great idea and make it a steaming pile by not executing on it. Execution means polish, and polish a lot of the time means a high graphic standard (not photorealistic - Okami anyone?) Here's another fun fact: Artists are cheap. The real cost in HD game devlopment is still what it always was - engine development, tuning, optimization, getting that 60 fps so you don't look like a chump (well, that's a programmers point of view
The fact of the matter is, a good game is a good game. Graphics can and do make a game more enjoyable. The two aren't mutually exclusive, no matter what the Nintendo PR (is it even them saying that?) machine would have you believe. After all, where was that talk when the Gamecube was putting out equal or better quality graphics as the Xbox/PS2?
A non-obvious patent granted to an inventor in order to allow them a short-term monopoly in exchange for releasing the invention to the common domain at the end of the patent cycle, thus encouraging the inventor to release the idea with the understanding they'll be able to take full financial advantage of it?
This is BS! When oh when are they going to fix the system!
Sorry sir, the "NOT" joke is copyrighted material and we're going to have to file a DMCA takedown notice as you've apparently bypassed the MS Customer Laughter Enablement System, which is a clear violation...
Oh, I'm sorry. Apparently my lawyers have informed me that the copyright for that joke has expired and is now public domain. Carry on!
Being that stressed and medically obese is going to send you to an early grave. You're probably going to get diabetes and have heart issues at a young age. How does that help with prioritization? Or does that cause even more stress? Try boxing or running (fast walking if need be) or something that gets the tension out but in a non-sedentary way.
I could be wrong but don't a lot of race cars use automatic/manual shifters these days? Are F1 drivers still pushing a clutch? After all, the stick/clutch is just another way of telling the car what you want to do at that moment. It seems like there could be better ways of doing it when cost isn't an issue.
I think the exception here is a topical show or comedy that doesn't rely too much on plotlines or drama. I'm thinking of South Park, which seems to get better every single year, and The Office. The UK version seemed way too short for me, and there was obviously a long ways to go in terms of topics - the US version is consistantly hilarious. The problem is if you make the central love story - well, central. In the US version they've flushed out a lot of characters a lot better, and had other story archs outside of the two main characters.
That of course depends on what system they're using, how old it is, etc. All of it relies on obscurity, so of course its going to be cracked. It depends on the individual developer and how much effort they think its worth to put in the time to lock down the title. A lot of the systems today rely on sprinkling your code with various calls that rely on the CD sector being there. The smarter and craftier you are about it, the harder it is for the cracker to take the calls out. They will of course figure them all out, but in the meantime (assuming they don't have advanced access) you have a small window of time. Also, if you make the checks less uniform, you can do stuff like have a game work the first few levels but break later on. A lot of cracker groups break DRM just as a hobby, so nothing is more damaging to their rep than releasing a partial crack. You have to recall it, and then it sows confusion into the mix as to what is the "good" crack, and what isn't.
Again, all of this is throwing sandbags trying to hold back a flood, but if the percieved value of integrating the DRM > cost of integrating the DRM, publishers will still try it. (And again, how you come up with how much it costs you or even what the sales would be on a DRM-free title is pretty much an exercise in BS).
Because the name of the game is _delaying_ the inevetible. Eventually its going to be cracked - that's a given. No one today is selling a game expecting that a No-CD patch won't make it out. What they don't want to do is have a Day-0 crack out. They want you to at least consider buying the game before you download it from your buddy, depending on how badly you want it. Reasonable logic? I can kind of see the point, but as the top level poster mentioned, the people who are pirating probably aren't going to buy it anyways. But at least they'll have to wait a little longer than the honest guy. Kind of like hardback/paperback I guess.
I think his point is that there are better cars for dealing with weather, cargo transport, people transport, etc. SUVs don't address any of those problems in a particularly good way. Another problem is that people in SUVs tend to think they're safer in storms when pretty much any car has about the same stopping power on ice - none. Yet they drive in more of an unsafe manner because of it.
Sorry, your post does not fit the 5-7-5 haiku format. Close though!
Actually, if you look at the focus of previous PS2 only publishers (Square, Rockstar), the shift has been to choosing both platforms and not doing PS3 exclusives. Then there's the fact that the Wii (which really is old hardware) has caught the eye of the whole industry and they have the driving buzz this go round. So in reality, I think there's a more balanced approach this cycle than the previous "make it for PS2 and we'll port some crap over to the rest". All 3 platforms are being looked at seriously. In other words - Get used to it. The future is all, PS3 faboy :)
These cars you speak of had feet?
Well, it should be very easy to show prior art, as all you have to do is bust out the debugger that makes use of this functionality. Open and shut case. But the whole knee-jerk "they are now patenting all breakpoints, we will all be sued" (you'll have to imagine the drool on your own" is rediculous in this case.
Except that they're not patenting breakpoints. Try reading a little more than the inflamatory summary next time. Think about it, how could you patent something and use the word in the patent? By using the word "breakpoint" they've already exposed prior art, as the reader is expected to know what it is they're patenting. If you read a little more, you'll see they're patenting a new method of setting breakpoints.
But sorry, continue on with the FUD!
...5/100?
Ah, but then you have something to hide. And they know it and will soon be picking you up to have a chat about it. After all, if you weren't doing anything wrong, why would you care if your Big Brother knew about it? He just wants to make sure you're living a comfortable and safe existence!