What part of "BETA" don't you understand? You expect a beta version for three platforms INSTEAD of someone using their head and putting together a beta for the most popular platform while they work out the kinks?
And yes, I'm a linux user, but I have common sense.
Anyone besides me think it's interesting to note that even though the music industry keeps bitching about new ways to distribute their music, they keep putting out the same old crap? Spending millions on a "star" personality marketing them to everyone and their dog seems to be the only way they expect to make money, while history shows that its the small-time surprise artists that make the enduring impact on the industry? If they would quit manufacturing superstars and start focusing on bringing GOOD music to the masses, I think we'd all be a little happier.
You're nuts... Batman would obviously be a Slackware guy, he wants control over everything. Spidey I can see as an Ubuntu user, nerdy enough to use Linux, but he doesn't have the OCD to want to tweak everything in his distro. Plus, I'd bet money he dual-boots.
From one Slashdotter to another, give Ubuntu a shot. It's gotten so user-friendly, I've debating putting it on my parent's computer. I've given it to a few friends with zero linux experience, and they love it.
IANAP, but isn't the notion of using "files" and "folders" and a "desktop" analogous to how an normal person would work WITHOUT a computer, hence the concepts being transferred to a tool used to speed up and improve the efficiency of a person's work? How are these referred to as antiquated concepts? We use compartmentalized words because of the balance of efficiency with modularity. Our brains inherently compartmentalize, so why should we try to move away from that in a new OS (that I'm betting will be on the vaporware list in the near future)?
I've come to terms with the fact that our government has no conscious about spending ever increasing amounts of taxpayers' hard earned money. What I don't understand is how this could be considered economic stimulus. Sure, it'll help in certain marginal ways, but the only thing that can fix the US economy is if the government quits taking half of what everyone earns and lets the earners of the money figure out the best way to spend it.
If you give tax breaks to the lowest earners, they buy more tv's and mcdonald's... give the tax breaks to the middle and upper class, and they end up investing in new business and current business expansion. If the greedy bastards in DC would quit thinking of tax revenue as their "income" and just cut taxes across the board, including corporate and capital gains taxes, I'd bet you a non-free beer that you would see IMMEDIATE stock market growth, followed by strong GDP growth, dropping unemployment, and REAL opportunity.
The govt can't grow the economy by spending tax revenue on infrastructure (the most deserving of tax dollars). If you allow more of those tax dollars to stay in circulation, the private sector CAN create real, sustainable growth.
Not even that. The average tax-payer in the US is hit for 35-40% of earned income. How much more do they need before they realize that they're wasting money. Most of the US tax dollar is already going to non-military spending. We're a federalist republic, the federal government SHOULDN'T be paying for every program, it should be up the states on anything other than a certain couple of programs.
I honestly don't know what you're smoking. I submit the following example:
Running World of Warcraft + Firefox (and system monitor) in Vista = 15 frames per second, over 2gb RAM usage
same hardware, WoW (under WINE, no less) + Firefox (and system monitors) in (a fresh install, no tweaking) of Ubuntu = 60 frames per second, only 700MB total RAM usage.... WoW for x86 isnt really meant to run in OpenGL mode, and like I said, under WINE, and I'm getting four TIMES the performance?
It's interesting to think about this from the backend, really. Think of how rare we get true creativity in games these days, and how much of it just *flowed* from the developers when video games were new. How many old classics are there that were come up with as a truly original idea when you didn't have all the graphics and physics crap we have today...
Re:Asheron's Call already had this quest...
on
Torture in Games
·
· Score: 1
~ Ding fries are done! Ding fries are done! Ding fries are done! Ding fries are done! ~
Eh, it was an interesting degree. I never had the patience to code (little too ADD) so no Comp Sci for me, and other than that I had no clue what I wanted to be when I grew up. I'm not gonna say what I do now, but I'm very comfortable and love my job, which is about as 180 degrees from what I got my degree in.
Re:Asheron's Call already had this quest...
on
Torture in Games
·
· Score: 3, Informative
Yeah, don't forget the entire PREMISE of Knights of the Old Republic (and sequel) were predicated on how you decided to act in-game. In order to go dark side (evil), you had to do some pretty rotten things.
We play games the same reason that bear cubs play-fight, just like every other animal in the world, we teach ourselves through playing. I have a COMMUNCATIONS degree and I figured this out... you'd think the PhD's could put it together without making such a big deal of it.
Sure it's a lot of work, in the sense that practicing for a sport is work, or building a ship in a bottle, or reading up and learning new programming language is... This isn't aimed at you, but I get frustrated when people bitch about the grind and the workd. It's a game, if you you don't like it, don't play it, go find a new one. Do those same people keep watching the same shitty TV show they don't like??
Yeah, the player base is growing, the just hit 11 million subscribers recently. Market saturation (IMO) is only as big as the marketing makes it. I play in a casual guild with people of age 13-60 of all different ethnicities and locations.
As far as the "new stuff"... isn't it all going to be new to you? Even remembering to before the first expansion pack, I remember being absolutely awestruck when I walked into Ironforge for the first time, and feeling the age of the elves from the music in their starting zones. I also felt the struggle of the orcs to survive in the new world, the bitterness of the Forsaken towards the Alliance and the Scarlet Crusade....You can get the sense of calm and serenity that the Tauren wish they could have again, but it is a world at war, sometimes colder, sometimes warmer, depending on the situation... The reason there is no communication between the Horde and the Alliance is because they really don't like each other as a whole. You never have to listen to someone whine or moan or bitch because you had a bad day at work and decided to murder anyone entering or leaving Southshore... Coming from City of Heroes and Star Wars Galaxies, I was floored when I saw how rich the world was. Blizzard managed to created a more rich, deeper, and immersive world than Lucasarts had with SWG, and they had 25 years of Star Wars history and mythos. I also remember being thoroughly impressed that there was no loading times between zones... it is like walking from forest to forest to grassland to marsh to jungle to another forest. The only load screen you will see is going between the major continents and into instanced content. Pretty impressive, in my opinion.
I'd say if it sounds interesting, give it a shot, what do you have to lose besides $25USD and your time? I never thought I was an MMO kinda guy until my friends made my play one rainy weekend. I love it now. You can be the guy who studies the math in order to make your character most efficient and grind for gear constantly, or you can play socially, try all the different classes and zones you didn't get to finish on your last character... despite what a lot of people seem to be saying on here (Nerd Capital of the Interwebs, so the demographic is skewed), there ARE different ways to enjoy the game.
All of the Patriot Act, Wiretapping, whatever is pointless and moot if we're poor as hell and forced into a full-blown socialism "to save the country."
Simply listening to what the guy says he wants to do to the economy has me terrified... + 12% increase in income tax for any business making over $250K. How many small businesses do you know that employ more than 1-2 people are out there that make less than $250K? JOBS WILL BE LOST ON A MASSIVE SCALE.
+ Nearly double the capital gains tax: Stocks plummetting = Retirement funds plummetting
+ By his own admission, he wants energy prices to "skyrocket" and he wants to "bankrupt" anyone who wants to build a coal plant. (quotes are used because they are his words, not mine)
The USA just elected a guy who says he is not a socialist, but uses all the words and ideas of a socialist.
You can mod me however you want, I don't care. I've lost hope for the Slashdot community (after 8 years)... everyone on here seems incapable of thinking beyond their own nose. What good is it to have free speech on the interwebs but have no real opportunity in RL? We're screwed.
"A government big enough to give you everything you want is also big enough to take away everything you have." - Thomas Jefferson.
a. MMO's all but demand a keyboard, if you've ever played one for any period of time, you know why you don't want to be forced to communicate via voice with 99% of the people in the game.
2. if you *EVER* buy/play another MMO run by Sony/SOE, you deserve what you get.
PvP wasn't even in the game initially, and seems to have been added as an afterthought
Correction, *artificial* PVP wasn't in the game. From day one, you could form a raid party and take out Astranaar or Crossroads. As it turns out, people wanted arenas and PVP-related games (AV, AB, WSG), so they added them. The original idea of sandbox PVP didn't work as well as they'd planned, so they changed it. World-PVP is still alive and well, unless you're on a PVE server, then you lose the right to complain;)
IANAGP, but to my understanding, until the game engine (specifically in 3d games) is finalized and tuned and tweaked, the frames per second sucks ass, so its not a surprise the showing the game off in lower res so that it runs smoother. Judging only from WoW, they have a firm understanding on large resolutions, and wide-screen, God bless 'em.
Oooooh noes... don't forget that ever wind power generator I've ever seen has a gasoline/diesel engine in it to turn the turbine in those times that the wind isn't blowing... look up a little thing called "load balancing"... you'll see what I mean.
Even if we stopped using ever internal combustion engine in the USA at midnight tonight, we'd still need over 5 million barrels of petroleum tomorrow and ever day after...
Short answer... if there was some wondrous green technology that could save us, it hasn't been invented yet, or some guy would be making a million dollars a day on it. Yay Capitalism!
"Self-awareness" is kind of a misnomer, isn't it? My dog knows what she sees when she sees her reflection, but does that that she "realizes" that she exists?
I had a great communication theory class once where it was explained that the duality of our mind is what creates our self-awareness. The "I" experiences things, just as animals do, but the "me" is the part that realizes symbolically "I'm hungry," "I'm cold," or "I exist."
Slashdot Mirror
Fair enough, but "beta" is the key word, which was kinda my point.
What part of "BETA" don't you understand? You expect a beta version for three platforms INSTEAD of someone using their head and putting together a beta for the most popular platform while they work out the kinks?
And yes, I'm a linux user, but I have common sense.
J
Anyone besides me think it's interesting to note that even though the music industry keeps bitching about new ways to distribute their music, they keep putting out the same old crap? Spending millions on a "star" personality marketing them to everyone and their dog seems to be the only way they expect to make money, while history shows that its the small-time surprise artists that make the enduring impact on the industry? If they would quit manufacturing superstars and start focusing on bringing GOOD music to the masses, I think we'd all be a little happier.
J
You're nuts... Batman would obviously be a Slackware guy, he wants control over everything. Spidey I can see as an Ubuntu user, nerdy enough to use Linux, but he doesn't have the OCD to want to tweak everything in his distro. Plus, I'd bet money he dual-boots.
J
For the love of God someone mod this as funny. Silliest episode of ST:Voyager I ever saw.
J
From one Slashdotter to another, give Ubuntu a shot. It's gotten so user-friendly, I've debating putting it on my parent's computer. I've given it to a few friends with zero linux experience, and they love it.
J
IANAP, but isn't the notion of using "files" and "folders" and a "desktop" analogous to how an normal person would work WITHOUT a computer, hence the concepts being transferred to a tool used to speed up and improve the efficiency of a person's work? How are these referred to as antiquated concepts? We use compartmentalized words because of the balance of efficiency with modularity. Our brains inherently compartmentalize, so why should we try to move away from that in a new OS (that I'm betting will be on the vaporware list in the near future)?
Capt Negativity here,
J
I've come to terms with the fact that our government has no conscious about spending ever increasing amounts of taxpayers' hard earned money. What I don't understand is how this could be considered economic stimulus. Sure, it'll help in certain marginal ways, but the only thing that can fix the US economy is if the government quits taking half of what everyone earns and lets the earners of the money figure out the best way to spend it.
If you give tax breaks to the lowest earners, they buy more tv's and mcdonald's... give the tax breaks to the middle and upper class, and they end up investing in new business and current business expansion. If the greedy bastards in DC would quit thinking of tax revenue as their "income" and just cut taxes across the board, including corporate and capital gains taxes, I'd bet you a non-free beer that you would see IMMEDIATE stock market growth, followed by strong GDP growth, dropping unemployment, and REAL opportunity.
The govt can't grow the economy by spending tax revenue on infrastructure (the most deserving of tax dollars). If you allow more of those tax dollars to stay in circulation, the private sector CAN create real, sustainable growth.
J
I'm assuming you mean Ritalin... hard to take you serious when you misspell the name of the widely used medication.... sorry.
Not even that. The average tax-payer in the US is hit for 35-40% of earned income. How much more do they need before they realize that they're wasting money. Most of the US tax dollar is already going to non-military spending. We're a federalist republic, the federal government SHOULDN'T be paying for every program, it should be up the states on anything other than a certain couple of programs.
J
I honestly don't know what you're smoking. I submit the following example:
Running World of Warcraft + Firefox (and system monitor) in Vista = 15 frames per second, over 2gb RAM usage
same hardware, ... WoW for x86 isnt really meant to run in OpenGL mode, and like I said, under WINE, and I'm getting four TIMES the performance?
WoW (under WINE, no less) + Firefox (and system monitors) in (a fresh install, no tweaking) of Ubuntu = 60 frames per second, only 700MB total RAM usage.
J
It's interesting to think about this from the backend, really. Think of how rare we get true creativity in games these days, and how much of it just *flowed* from the developers when video games were new. How many old classics are there that were come up with as a truly original idea when you didn't have all the graphics and physics crap we have today...
~ Ding fries are done! Ding fries are done! Ding fries are done! Ding fries are done! ~
Eh, it was an interesting degree. I never had the patience to code (little too ADD) so no Comp Sci for me, and other than that I had no clue what I wanted to be when I grew up. I'm not gonna say what I do now, but I'm very comfortable and love my job, which is about as 180 degrees from what I got my degree in.
Yeah, don't forget the entire PREMISE of Knights of the Old Republic (and sequel) were predicated on how you decided to act in-game. In order to go dark side (evil), you had to do some pretty rotten things.
We play games the same reason that bear cubs play-fight, just like every other animal in the world, we teach ourselves through playing. I have a COMMUNCATIONS degree and I figured this out... you'd think the PhD's could put it together without making such a big deal of it.
J
Sure it's a lot of work, in the sense that practicing for a sport is work, or building a ship in a bottle, or reading up and learning new programming language is... This isn't aimed at you, but I get frustrated when people bitch about the grind and the workd. It's a game, if you you don't like it, don't play it, go find a new one. Do those same people keep watching the same shitty TV show they don't like??
Yeah, the player base is growing, the just hit 11 million subscribers recently. Market saturation (IMO) is only as big as the marketing makes it. I play in a casual guild with people of age 13-60 of all different ethnicities and locations.
As far as the "new stuff"... isn't it all going to be new to you? Even remembering to before the first expansion pack, I remember being absolutely awestruck when I walked into Ironforge for the first time, and feeling the age of the elves from the music in their starting zones. I also felt the struggle of the orcs to survive in the new world, the bitterness of the Forsaken towards the Alliance and the Scarlet Crusade....You can get the sense of calm and serenity that the Tauren wish they could have again, but it is a world at war, sometimes colder, sometimes warmer, depending on the situation... The reason there is no communication between the Horde and the Alliance is because they really don't like each other as a whole. You never have to listen to someone whine or moan or bitch because you had a bad day at work and decided to murder anyone entering or leaving Southshore... Coming from City of Heroes and Star Wars Galaxies, I was floored when I saw how rich the world was. Blizzard managed to created a more rich, deeper, and immersive world than Lucasarts had with SWG, and they had 25 years of Star Wars history and mythos. I also remember being thoroughly impressed that there was no loading times between zones... it is like walking from forest to forest to grassland to marsh to jungle to another forest. The only load screen you will see is going between the major continents and into instanced content. Pretty impressive, in my opinion.
I'd say if it sounds interesting, give it a shot, what do you have to lose besides $25USD and your time? I never thought I was an MMO kinda guy until my friends made my play one rainy weekend. I love it now. You can be the guy who studies the math in order to make your character most efficient and grind for gear constantly, or you can play socially, try all the different classes and zones you didn't get to finish on your last character... despite what a lot of people seem to be saying on here (Nerd Capital of the Interwebs, so the demographic is skewed), there ARE different ways to enjoy the game.
J
I'm so proud of the /. community... even almost ten years later, I still spotted the "beowulf" and "doom" references :) *tear*
J
Holy shnikes! Women *do* post on /. ... always thought that was an urban legend.
J
"Wasn't this already known?" is now modded as +1 Redundant.... ...~ Iiiirony ~
J
pew pew lazerz
All of the Patriot Act, Wiretapping, whatever is pointless and moot if we're poor as hell and forced into a full-blown socialism "to save the country."
Simply listening to what the guy says he wants to do to the economy has me terrified...
+ 12% increase in income tax for any business making over $250K. How many small businesses do you know that employ more than 1-2 people are out there that make less than $250K? JOBS WILL BE LOST ON A MASSIVE SCALE.
+ Nearly double the capital gains tax: Stocks plummetting = Retirement funds plummetting
+ By his own admission, he wants energy prices to "skyrocket" and he wants to "bankrupt" anyone who wants to build a coal plant. (quotes are used because they are his words, not mine)
The USA just elected a guy who says he is not a socialist, but uses all the words and ideas of a socialist.
You can mod me however you want, I don't care. I've lost hope for the Slashdot community (after 8 years)... everyone on here seems incapable of thinking beyond their own nose. What good is it to have free speech on the interwebs but have no real opportunity in RL? We're screwed.
"A government big enough to give you everything you want is also big enough to take away everything you have." - Thomas Jefferson.
Two things....
a. MMO's all but demand a keyboard, if you've ever played one for any period of time, you know why you don't want to be forced to communicate via voice with 99% of the people in the game.
2. if you *EVER* buy/play another MMO run by Sony/SOE, you deserve what you get.
-J ...and yes, the a->2 was a joke.
Correction, *artificial* PVP wasn't in the game. From day one, you could form a raid party and take out Astranaar or Crossroads. As it turns out, people wanted arenas and PVP-related games (AV, AB, WSG), so they added them. The original idea of sandbox PVP didn't work as well as they'd planned, so they changed it. World-PVP is still alive and well, unless you're on a PVE server, then you lose the right to complain ;)
J
Two sad things here:
1. He said it was an executable *RUNNING* on his system that he didn't like.
2. This is +5 Funny? Poster or moderator, who's worse?
J
IANAGP, but to my understanding, until the game engine (specifically in 3d games) is finalized and tuned and tweaked, the frames per second sucks ass, so its not a surprise the showing the game off in lower res so that it runs smoother. Judging only from WoW, they have a firm understanding on large resolutions, and wide-screen, God bless 'em.
J
Oooooh noes... don't forget that ever wind power generator I've ever seen has a gasoline/diesel engine in it to turn the turbine in those times that the wind isn't blowing... look up a little thing called "load balancing"... you'll see what I mean.
Even if we stopped using ever internal combustion engine in the USA at midnight tonight, we'd still need over 5 million barrels of petroleum tomorrow and ever day after...
Short answer... if there was some wondrous green technology that could save us, it hasn't been invented yet, or some guy would be making a million dollars a day on it. Yay Capitalism!
J
"Self-awareness" is kind of a misnomer, isn't it? My dog knows what she sees when she sees her reflection, but does that that she "realizes" that she exists?
I had a great communication theory class once where it was explained that the duality of our mind is what creates our self-awareness. The "I" experiences things, just as animals do, but the "me" is the part that realizes symbolically "I'm hungry," "I'm cold," or "I exist."
J