Doctor Bathkin was the first to come up with the answer to the puzzle of death -- keep the cells energized -- keep them in the game by teaching them new mitochondrial tricks!
Unfortunately, the development and production of a functioning Cellular Regeneration and Entertainment Machine has been continuously thwarted by the soulless minions of orthodoxy.
The machine would transmit biogenic energy on a chromoelectric wavelength and send uplifting and entertaining messages to every nuclei of every cell in your body. Spend eight hours a day a day in one of these machines and your cells will never get bored, you'll never grow old... and most importantly, you'll never die.
The same game that deletes your character after your account is cancelled for 3 months?
That alone ensured that I'd never be going back to the game.
FF11 is an excellent game in many respects, but a few things just kill it:
* The absolute worst user interface of any MMO I've played (aside from the very early EQ interface). Very little customizability, stupid smooth scroll induced chat lag, no alt+tab capability. Just
horrible. Square-Enix seriously needs to take a lesson from SoE or Blizzard in this department.
* The fact that you'd have an excruitating time finding acceptable groups. This is where the real challenge of FF11 was... finding a static party that's on your schedule. I played a Red Mage, which at level 41+ is was one of the most sought after classes in the game, and I played my character very well (received my fair share of compliments), had all my spells, fully leveled WHM/BLM subjobs, always wrote a descriptive LFG message using the translated text. And still I'd have trouble finding groups for hours on end sometimes.
* The inability to do anything really meaningful in a 30 minute or so play session.
* Terrible first generation MMO style trade skill and item drop timesinks. Seriously, camping the Valkurm Emperor for 2 hours? Man, that's like something out of pre-Kunark EverQuest.
* Very annoying inventory system that basically would necessitate that you pay for an extra character slot for a mule... having to keep equipment sets not only for your main job, but also any subjobs you actively play, and also keep lower level gear for level capped BCNM events... ugh.
* Despite having North American and Japanese players playing on the server, no *kana input method editor was included for the North American client. I learned a few Japanese phrases, and might have pursued a more serious attempt to learn to speak the language more generally, but when I can't be assured that all of the Japanese players will be able to understand my Romanji... eh, what's the point?
Besides, you can get to the level cap in a month of play time in FF11 -- you just need a static group. In a solid static group, you can simply blaze through the levels.
And while it's cool that the game rewards player competency and the ability to form a good group, it's lousy because it means your advancement without a static group is very streaky. You can blaze through a few levels in day or two, then get stalled on one level for a week. With subjobs, the almost constant need to farm, etc. it makes keeping within a viable grouping range (which is notoriously narrow) with your friends very difficult.
Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of things about FF11 that I think they did and still do better than any other game on the market, but there's just too many things about this game that add up to ever allow me to consider going back to the game (and starting from scratch, no less).
While playing WoW, I often wonder if there's anybody left playing FF11, because it's just hard to imagine there is.:\ But I guess there is. It's good that someone is still enjoying it though.
One of the things I hated about Final Fantasy XI is that they seemed intent on keeping the PC client crippled to keep it in line with the PS2 client. If porting WoW to a console means making the same compromise, I'd rather leave consoles out. Final Fantasy XI has (or at least had, at the time I quit) the absolute worst interface of any MMO I've played or investigated, probably due in part to the fact that it's a console game.
The system requirements for WoW aren't really that bad, which is one of the reasons a lot of my friends I decided to move to it instead of EQ2. From their FAQ:
* 800 MHz or higher CPU
* 256 MB or more of RAM
* 32 MB 3D graphics card with hardware transform and lighting, such as GeForce 2 or better
* 4 GB or more of available hard drive space
* DirectX® 9.0c or above
* A 56k or higher modem with an Internet connection
That's pretty modest. A friend of mine who got in on the open beta told me that when he tried to install the client, it warned him that his system may not meet the requirements (I'm not sure what his system specs are). He installed it anyway, and found that frame rates were very tolerable, said the only time it was bad was during the opening cutscene. He said he didn't notice any of the graphics lag that he noticed in many areas of EverQuest.
I think it would be cool of someone could figure out some way to use the Nintendo DS as an interface device for a PC. I've been playing a lot of iSketch lately, and now I want a drawing tablet. I also want a Nintendo DS. It would be a nice way to kill two birds with one stone if I could use the Nintendo DS as a sketchpad to play iSketch.
Heck, with the right drivers, you specify the drawing area only as a certain portion of the screen (the tablet I'm looking at buying supports this), and configure the D-Pad and other buttons to switch drawing tools or colors. It'd make for a neat little toy/tool.
EverQuest (the original) has offered free trials in the past (with a free download or by including an installation CD in magazine advertisements), so it's apparently it's viable in some form. I think they let you play your trial on a "newbie only" server and the trial was relatively short (14 days or something). It could give you a taste for the game and at least give you an idea if you consider the game a "must buy" or a "must avoid".
Also, I don't see why an offline demo/tutorial for an MMO couldn't work. EQ originally offered a rudimentry offline tutorial that was helpful in introducing the nevigation of the user interface and basic interface, and did a good job of whetting my appetite to play the actual game.
These days, EQ actually includes a superior online tutorial (where you are essentially introduced to the basics of navigating, quests, combat, spellcasting, communication and tradeskills) and can level your character to a point, earn a few items and a limited amount of money before leaving. Other new players/new characters play with you in this small "tutorial world". When you reach a certain level, or when you decide you've had enough of the tutorial, your character is transferred, along with all of their possessions, to the "real world".
It's really great way just to educate new players, and that alone justifies the resources devoted to developing it, but with just a few small tweaks, it could also serve as a "free trial zone" for prospective players. Just don't let players leave the tutorial zones until they pony up the cash for a copy of the game itself. The extremely limited amount of content leads me to believe that the strain on their servers that would be produced by offering such a trial wouldn't be in any way unmanagable.
There are just too many MMOs out there right now for me to make drop $50 on a game that I may end up hating right off the bat. Back when it was just EQ and UO, not offering a free trial was fine. However, now it would be nice if there were some way to size up the different games and make a decision about which one is the best fit for you. The only way I'll start playing a new MMO now is if I have at least a couple friends who share similar tastes with me who are playing and enjoying that MMO.
Unfortunately, a limited demo/tutorial, or even a full 30 day unrestricted trial only tells you so much about an MMO. The real long term flaws and strengthes usually don't become apparent until after a few months of play. However, if you drop $50 on a game (and maybe $25-30 on subscription fees) and it gives you 3 months of solid entertainment, that's not such a bad deal, even if you eventually decide the game isn't for you.
It would be nice if more MMOs dropped the price for the game itself from the standard $50 to something like $30 or less. Maybe they could offer a "free" trial, at the end of which you could either pay the standard monthly rate for the trial you just played, and start a regular subscription, or you could say "no thanks" and not be charged anything beyond the $30. If you choose to keep playing, you end up paying $43 or so dollars compared to the $50 you would have paid for the game + trial. If you stop playing, then the $30 you paid for the game should easily cover the expense for any load you placed on the game servers, customer service staff, ect.
The older MMOs have an advantage here, actually. They don't cost $50, because they don't include all of the expansions. You can buy the EverQuest "Trilogy" (original game plus the first two expansions) for $10, or the EQ "Platinum", which includes the original and all expansions (7 of them) except the most recent one for $30. The latest expansion costs $30.
This very reasonable, and with some adaptation, they could probably do pretty much the same thing with newer games. Just sell a "basic" (crippled) version of the game for $15-20, with certain features disabled, features which any long term player is bound to want... and sell a "deluxe" version for $40-
First, let me admit that I'm something of a Nintendo fanboy. So take what I'm about to say with a grain of salt.
I hope it will (fo once) be a battle where the better alternative comes out on top. Unlike the VHS - Beta battle, WordPefect - Word Battle, OS/2 - Windows battle.... --nordicfrost
I share this concern and hope. In the perfect capitalist system, the better product always wins out, but we know that isn't always the case. A lot is determined by marketing and market influence, timing and other factors not directly related to value or the quality of the customer experience.
Personally, I'm not that impressed by what I've heard of the PSP. I'm sure it's a techinically impressive system, but then so is the DS, which seems to me to be at least as innovative and exciting a product, with a far superior battery life. Sony may present a somewhat more polished, adult-seeming product, but that doesn't mean it'll be a better toy (which is what a video game console really is and is supposed to be).
Nintendo has an excellent track record for building durable, quality products at a reasonable price. From what I can tell, the opposite is true for Sony, or at least Sony game consoles. Without particularly mistreating them, I had two PlayStation 1's die on me. I probably would have bought a PS2 by now, except I keep hearing about disk read errors and other problems that have caused me to keep my distance.
I really hope that the PSP isn't plagued by these sorts of problems though, and that it exerts some good, healthy competitive pressure on Nintendo to drive both companies to produce even better products at attractive price points. My worry is, however, that Sony characteristically market (and hype) the hell out of their new toy and eventually steer development resources away from a superior product.
Fortunately, Nintendo is strong enough in this market at present and has a new product of seemingly high quality, so it should take more than marketing and market pressure to squeeze them out of the market unless they really deserve it.
Yeah, that seems to be what it is. It happens a lot though. The page shows the loading progress as "Done" but apparently it's not completely done. Reloading usually fixes the problem, but it's still as irritating as hell.
Though I agree with you to a certain extent, that there aren't enough quality sidescrollers out there, I really do think that the jump to 3D has greatly improved the Metroid Series. There have already been several good sidescrolling Metroid games (although I never was really a fan of the series until MP), I think it's good that they continue to experiment and take the game in a somewhat different direction.
Metroid Prime is probably overall favorite console game to date. I guess it might be "blasphemy" to a die hard veteren of the classic series, the same way the Ocarina of Time was for many Zelda fans. I myself have always been a great Zelda fan, however, and OoT was my favorite console game until Metroid Prime dethroned it. So obviously the decision is not an entirely bad one, since Metroid Prime and the Ocarina of Time are two of the most critically acclaimed games of all time, and are often cited as favorites in their respective franchises even by people who have been fans of those franchises since their inception.
Others have pointed out a host of games that have been done in 2D. They aren't all classic franchises, but what does that matter? I think they did a 3D/mostly sidescrolling Contra a while back that I haven't seen anybody mention yet, too.
One franchise that I don't think has as gracefully entered the third dimension is the Mario series. Yoshi's Island is still my favorite Mario game. However, Mario 64 wrote the book on 3D platformers, so even if it isn't my favorite game, I respect the fact that it helped usher in the age of a genre that quite a lot of people enjoy. Maybe it's just that I'm frustrated by the fact that I seem to lack the skill to beat Super Mario Sunshine.
Personally, one thing I'd like to see is a 3D modelled, sidescrolling Castlevania, something which has controls like Symphony of the Night, but perhaps has more of a RPGish element, like Simon's Quest for the NES (since the SOTN formula has been done to death, albeit done masterfully, with the Castlevania GBA titles, and Simon's Quest is often mentioned as a favorite Castlevania title).
By and large, I happen to like 3D games better than 2D games. They usually look better, they usually feel more immersive, and in some ways they may be more flexible from a gameplay/design perspective. Sidescrolling still holds a special place in my heart though. One thing I do honestly fear is that the new crop of 3D capable handheld consoles kill off virtually all new, good 2D game development.
A computer network isn't an AI, so I'm not sure what the problem is. The Internet and other computers/machines/devices have already pervaded modern society to such an extent that a malicious, sufficiently advanced AI could cause serious problems for us no matter what.
Things like missle launch controls ideally should not be connected directly to the outside world in any manner, and hopefully that's not what's happening with this military network (I haven't RTFA yet). But this idea is useful, the only question to me, is if it's not terribly wasteful and if it's really necessary. A more closed, security-conscious network for global communications for use by the military makes sense, whether you are trying to protect yourself from human hackers or AI hackers. Though I would assume that an AI hacker would probably be able to defeat just about any highly digital security system.
I had AdBlock installed, though in some previous builds the only rendering problem I had on slashdot with AdBlock installed was some of the text margin on the left intersecting with some of the graphics slightly.
I've since disabled, and then uninstalled AdBlock, along with with uninstalling every other extension not disabled (due to their being out of date/incompatible with the current version of Firefox) and I'm still encountering a problem when I click to open a set of replies in the comments section, though some of the rendering problems still occur. Sometimes it's minor, like the text slightly intersection the margins on the right, but sometimes it's serious, severely offsetting all of the comment text so that the comments themselves don't begin until about 4/5 of the way across the horizontal length of the display (where it continues, requiring that I use a horizontal scrollbar to read all the text... and even then, it is all overlapping and ugly).
It still seems to be a fairly major bug to me, even if it is caused by extensions. Disabling all extensions should get rid of any rendering problems that might be caused by them.
Another missing feature: the ability to render Slashdot properly.
Seriously, with 1.0 that I can't even post a reply using Firefox, and the comment pages are all out of whack.
I think Firefox is great overall, but it's got a serious problem if it can't render one of the most popular sites that evangelizes it. It's really embarassing.
I'm not sure who's fault this is, slashdot's for bad design or Firefox for not handling the code properly, but either way, if it's not fixed soon, I'm going to have to switch back to IE with some sort of third party UI improvement thrown on top (like AvantBrowser).
I think Microsoft badly needs some competition, but so far, the 1.0 release of Firefox produces a markedly inferior browsing experience for me than what a 3rd party IE mod could provide.
It sucks, because I just today converted someone else to Firefox, but I'm beginning to wonder if that's really a great idea. Can I really continue to recommend Firefox when IE is more likely to render pages in the manner the designers intend, knowing that the the spyware/security advantage of Firefox is probably not that great if you browse smart and keep IE updated, while 3rd party tools that run on top of IE can be used to garner most of the UI advantages of Firefox?
At least conversations with the cowardly Spemin and the Veloxi.
Some choice Veloxi quotations:
The you aliens trespassing in ours the space. Most gracious grossness of august queen perhaps forgiving if you are pay tribute of 9 Arth energy crystals right away, by Jove. Agreeing?
I guess us is best friend. Perhaps we will eat together the slimy nodules a many the most delicious.
We is making you honorary Veloxi. Of course still the inferior alien but much the better I think so.
Best idea I have. We is exchange the many dirty joke and then much the laughing activity.
Not trying the funny stuff alien tresspassers, superior Veloxi the most powerful.
If you is showing proper respect for distinguished Veloxi charming then every-one is happy as a bivalve mollusk.
Zounds! I flabbergast! I not believing my sensory apparatus! Barbarian aliens is not recognize Veloxi are too much the superior.
You is try Veloxi patience. So much the secreting the many fluids and gnashing of the mandibles. Last chance a warning.
Greatest idea I have! I am make suggestion. The you aliens are not destroy ours the pretty spaceship. Yes, I think this is best idea certainly.
Actually, you're supporting his point. The reason you get so attached to a character is that you are allowed to get attached. If the game had included permanent death, you would never have a character for 8 months unless you were really really good. Now, because you've grown accustomed to having non-permanent death, you demand it in all of your games. When he talks about players that reject short-term-bad, long-term-good features, he's talking about you, and the fact that you disagree with him actually supports his argument.
He never really proves his point, though. He says attachment is bad, but never really gives a satisfactory explanation why he thinks that. He says permadeath would encourage and improve roleplaying, for example, but he never really illustrates why he thinks so.
I don't know how he roleplays, but for me, it takes me a while to really settle into a character and roleplay them naturally. As a roleplayer, I feel obligated to generate some semblance of a backstory for my character... this takes a fair amount of time and energy, and it's not something I have the will to do every few months. It often takes time to form meaningful or interesting relationships between characters... unless you make permadeath extremely rare or extremely easy to avoid, permadeath makes it virtually impossible for characters to grow to like, love or hate each other. Permadeath would remove many layers of depth from the roleplaying equation.
All for what? To force people to experience the game from a different perspective, because their characters grow "stale"? But there's nothing to prevent a player who wants to try something new from creating a new character (except perhaps an additional fee).
Sounds like you want your cake and to eat it too. So how do you want to use my money to make your live a little more comfortable?
I was just responding to a factually incorrect statement. The notion that you can get broadband pretty much everywhere is just wrong.
But yeah, I would like to have a reasonable broadband option without having to move. I really don't pretend to know what the government should do to help make that a reality, I'm not an expert on these things... but not everything they can do necessarily involves money directly coming out of your pocket to pay for it.
The FCC and FTC are already meddle in the way broadband providers do business. Chances are, they could probably act a bit more effectively to encourage better broadband coverage.
Or tax incentives could be implemented... rewards for being the first to reach X number of residents with broadband, or perhaps drastically reduce (or eliminate, for a period of time) the taxes that would normally apply to servicing a customer with broadband if they build out the infrastructure to service customers within that area who don't currently have a viable broadband options. Again, I'm not an expert economist, so I don't know how viable this kind of idea is.
Or local governments could foot part of the bill, as a part of improving the infrastructure... that way the citizens (and many of the businesses) paying for it would actually be benefiting from it. This has already been done in some areas, and it's the topic of discussion in one of the articles. Personally I don't think it's a bad idea at all.
I'm not saying that the federal government should make it a #1 priority to wire everyone in the country with broadband (though it would probably be money more well spent than a lot of the stuff taxpayer dollars is used to pay for and subsidize). However, I do think the Internet is increasingly becoming a vital part of the national and international infrastucture, and having greater a greater portion of the population able to access the Internet in its "true form", unhampered by a terribly anemic narrowband pipe is a very good thing. Ultimately, the investment we might make in improving broadband availability can pay for itself.
I can't see what's wrong with the current situation. If you want broadband, you can get it pretty much wherever.
No, you can't.
Unless by "pretty much anywhere" you're including huge stretches of inhabited (albeit rural) land throughout the country, or unless you consider satellite Internet a legitimate form of broadband (which I don't think it is... I haven't talked to a single person who's bought into satellite Internet who doesn't regret it).
I built a 60 foot tower on my property to receive fixed wireless "broadband" (386 kbps) service and it's extremely flaky (sometimes it works fine, often it doesn't work at all, or I timeout a lot.... I think I need a 70 or 80 foot tower). I'm paying double, triple or quadruple what a lot of people are paying for DSL or cable.
Nothing is wrong with all of this, if you don't consider broadband an important aspect of the national communications infrastructure. If you do think that broadband availability in rural areas should be much better than it is, then the government certainly does have a role to play. Not necessarily running the whole show, but perhaps in mandating improved broadband coverage, paying for part of it and implementing better regulation or deregulation of the industry.
This topic is getting posted on the tail end of the 11 day farscape marathon that the
Sci-Fi channel just finished. That was better news for me, as I was (mostly) able
to catch up on the series by Tivo'ing the episodes.
Oh, damn. That is painful to hear. I wish someone had told me.:( I still haven't seen all of the 3rd/4th season episodes, it would have been really nice to catch up on them before the miniseries. That sucks.
You say "..."perfect" human for soldiers" you seem to forget that you would need to find a mother to carry the child and then raise it for 18 years and then train it! I think the training part would "make" the soldier, not the lab!
Yeah, but the Dominion could create Jem'Hadar warriors that didn't need a mother to give birth to them, and they aged at an accelerated rate to adulthood, and were genetically engineered to be obedient, effective soldiers a week or so after their creation.
No, since a lot of games never get ported to Mac, or get ported later.
I generally prefer console gaming, but there are a few games I enjoy that only are available for the PC, or play best on the PC. Windows isn't the greatest, but I'm not going to use one PC for my general computing tasks, and keep another around purely for gaming. I guess I could set the system up to dual boot, but that's a pain, and I'm not going to pay for two operating systems.
If I wasn't a gamer, I'd probably just get a Mac. It wouldn't have to be too fast if I didn't play games, and Macs don't seem all that expensive... plus, the machines themselves look cool without a lot of absurd case-modding. Why run Mac OS on a beige box when you could run it on a stylin' real Mac?
I don't have a problem with slashdotters insulting this guy for what he did on a blog. I have a problem with his ex-boss insulting in him the media. It's just stupid and unprofessional.
It sounds like this guy saw it as an oppurtunity to have his 15 minutes of fame, and did a little stand up routine. Don't quit your day job, Tom.
And as others have pointed out, it's different if you're a politician or celebrity and intentionally put yourself in the public spotlight. You shouldn't have to expect to see this sort of thing in the media if you're just a programmer who made a single error in judgement.
You're right, and I think Badnarik would have been wiser to keep his mouth shut than to say (paraphrased) "they have no right to erect a barricade like that." I think a police barricade in front of a building that the President is currently inhabiting is an acceptable security precaution.
But I don't think there's essentially anything wrong with what they did, even if the cries of "police state" are over the top.
Their antics effectively drive home a very simple and important message: Presidental candidates that are on the ballot in most states get arrested when they try to enter the building that's hosting a presidential debate. Ignoring all the details of went went on, that is pretty fucked up. FUD?
Yeah, it's FUD. But I genuinely fear that the vast majority of Americans won't get to hear a meaningfully different point of view on many important issues. I am uncertain that most voters know that Cobb, Badnarik (and Pertouka) exist, let alone know their stance on the issues. I doubt that these sanitized, lame excuses for debates will be adequate to really help an undecided voter make up their mind, or more importantly, help illustrate to non-voters why it is important for them to participate in the election.
It was an act of civil disobedience, one that I don't think anybody should be ashamed of (except the Commission on Presidential Debates and anybody else who tries to exclude 3rd party candidates from the process.)
Yeah, for all the praise and hype that surrounded it, Morrowind failed to impress me (except with some of its visuals).
The problem is that the core gameplay mechanics just sucked. Combat could be trivialized way too easily, and it was too easy to steal and sell things without reprecussion, even without having the skillset of a thief.
Also, dialog was not adequately changed in many instances to reflect your character's deeds... which is pretty lame, considering the fact that NPC dialog is pretty much the only thing that changes about the game world, no matter what you do. What's really weak is that the storyline suggests at points that you may be given the choice to try to confront the bad guy, join him, or take his place, but when you get to that point in the game, you are pretty much forced to confront him (at least from what I recall, it's been a while).
I really like Deus Ex, because it had fun gameplay, and the open-endness truly felt open-ended. When I was trying to figure out how to complete a mission, I really felt as if I was the one devising methods to overcome an obstacle, instead of merely feeling like I was given a choice about how to proceed. And Deus Ex does actually give you the choice on how to complete the main quest, the choice that Morrowind teases you with, but fails to deliver.
Yeah, damn those democrats for attempting to appeal to the age group that composes the bulk of our active military. Damn them for appealing to the age group that comprises the majority of college students.
And as far as I can tell, this particular story has nothing more to do with democrats than it does republicans. It's essentially a voter registration drive, why even bring up the democratic party? While it may be that a young person who's not yet decided to vote, is more likely to vote democrat... that just tells me the republican party, for whatever reason, has lost touch with the nation's youth.
Besides, is there anybody who really thinks that voting democrat is some sort of act of rebellion? Give me a break. Maybe if their parents are die-hard republicans, but that's about it. As a 24 year old, voting for Kerry for me will be more of an act of resignation... as I won't be voting for the candidate on the ballot who most accurately represents my political views. It's too bad, maybe a true rebellious attitude is what's needed among the populace to allow people to allow people to vote their conscience.
And at 25 years old, you shouldn't be a dumb kid. At that age you've been (biologically) a fully functioning adult long enough that you should be capable of figuring out what your opinions are and acting on them. Just because your political opinions changed from your youth doesn't mean the views of other adult citizens should be less represented.
Slashdot Mirror
You are correct. "In the Cards", one of the best DS9 and Trek episodes ever, in my opinion.
Unfortunately, the development and production of a functioning Cellular Regeneration and Entertainment Machine has been continuously thwarted by the soulless minions of orthodoxy.
The machine would transmit biogenic energy on a chromoelectric wavelength and send uplifting and entertaining messages to every nuclei of every cell in your body. Spend eight hours a day a day in one of these machines and your cells will never get bored, you'll never grow old ... and most importantly, you'll never die.
The same game that deletes your character after your account is cancelled for 3 months?
That alone ensured that I'd never be going back to the game.
FF11 is an excellent game in many respects, but a few things just kill it:
* The fact that you'd have an excruitating time finding acceptable groups. This is where the real challenge of FF11 was
* The inability to do anything really meaningful in a 30 minute or so play session.
* Terrible first generation MMO style trade skill and item drop timesinks. Seriously, camping the Valkurm Emperor for 2 hours? Man, that's like something out of pre-Kunark EverQuest.
* Very annoying inventory system that basically would necessitate that you pay for an extra character slot for a mule
* Despite having North American and Japanese players playing on the server, no *kana input method editor was included for the North American client. I learned a few Japanese phrases, and might have pursued a more serious attempt to learn to speak the language more generally, but when I can't be assured that all of the Japanese players will be able to understand my Romanji... eh, what's the point?
Besides, you can get to the level cap in a month of play time in FF11 -- you just need a static group. In a solid static group, you can simply blaze through the levels.
And while it's cool that the game rewards player competency and the ability to form a good group, it's lousy because it means your advancement without a static group is very streaky. You can blaze through a few levels in day or two, then get stalled on one level for a week. With subjobs, the almost constant need to farm, etc. it makes keeping within a viable grouping range (which is notoriously narrow) with your friends very difficult.
Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of things about FF11 that I think they did and still do better than any other game on the market, but there's just too many things about this game that add up to ever allow me to consider going back to the game (and starting from scratch, no less).
While playing WoW, I often wonder if there's anybody left playing FF11, because it's just hard to imagine there is. :\ But I guess there is. It's good that someone is still enjoying it though.
The system requirements for WoW aren't really that bad, which is one of the reasons a lot of my friends I decided to move to it instead of EQ2. From their FAQ:
* 800 MHz or higher CPU
* 256 MB or more of RAM
* 32 MB 3D graphics card with hardware transform and lighting, such as GeForce 2 or better
* 4 GB or more of available hard drive space
* DirectX® 9.0c or above
* A 56k or higher modem with an Internet connection
That's pretty modest. A friend of mine who got in on the open beta told me that when he tried to install the client, it warned him that his system may not meet the requirements (I'm not sure what his system specs are). He installed it anyway, and found that frame rates were very tolerable, said the only time it was bad was during the opening cutscene. He said he didn't notice any of the graphics lag that he noticed in many areas of EverQuest.
Heck, with the right drivers, you specify the drawing area only as a certain portion of the screen (the tablet I'm looking at buying supports this), and configure the D-Pad and other buttons to switch drawing tools or colors. It'd make for a neat little toy/tool.
Also, I don't see why an offline demo/tutorial for an MMO couldn't work. EQ originally offered a rudimentry offline tutorial that was helpful in introducing the nevigation of the user interface and basic interface, and did a good job of whetting my appetite to play the actual game.
These days, EQ actually includes a superior online tutorial (where you are essentially introduced to the basics of navigating, quests, combat, spellcasting, communication and tradeskills) and can level your character to a point, earn a few items and a limited amount of money before leaving. Other new players/new characters play with you in this small "tutorial world". When you reach a certain level, or when you decide you've had enough of the tutorial, your character is transferred, along with all of their possessions, to the "real world".
It's really great way just to educate new players, and that alone justifies the resources devoted to developing it, but with just a few small tweaks, it could also serve as a "free trial zone" for prospective players. Just don't let players leave the tutorial zones until they pony up the cash for a copy of the game itself. The extremely limited amount of content leads me to believe that the strain on their servers that would be produced by offering such a trial wouldn't be in any way unmanagable.
There are just too many MMOs out there right now for me to make drop $50 on a game that I may end up hating right off the bat. Back when it was just EQ and UO, not offering a free trial was fine. However, now it would be nice if there were some way to size up the different games and make a decision about which one is the best fit for you. The only way I'll start playing a new MMO now is if I have at least a couple friends who share similar tastes with me who are playing and enjoying that MMO.
Unfortunately, a limited demo/tutorial, or even a full 30 day unrestricted trial only tells you so much about an MMO. The real long term flaws and strengthes usually don't become apparent until after a few months of play. However, if you drop $50 on a game (and maybe $25-30 on subscription fees) and it gives you 3 months of solid entertainment, that's not such a bad deal, even if you eventually decide the game isn't for you.
It would be nice if more MMOs dropped the price for the game itself from the standard $50 to something like $30 or less. Maybe they could offer a "free" trial, at the end of which you could either pay the standard monthly rate for the trial you just played, and start a regular subscription, or you could say "no thanks" and not be charged anything beyond the $30. If you choose to keep playing, you end up paying $43 or so dollars compared to the $50 you would have paid for the game + trial. If you stop playing, then the $30 you paid for the game should easily cover the expense for any load you placed on the game servers, customer service staff, ect.
The older MMOs have an advantage here, actually. They don't cost $50, because they don't include all of the expansions. You can buy the EverQuest "Trilogy" (original game plus the first two expansions) for $10, or the EQ "Platinum", which includes the original and all expansions (7 of them) except the most recent one for $30. The latest expansion costs $30.
This very reasonable, and with some adaptation, they could probably do pretty much the same thing with newer games. Just sell a "basic" (crippled) version of the game for $15-20, with certain features disabled, features which any long term player is bound to want... and sell a "deluxe" version for $40-
I hope it will (fo once) be a battle where the better alternative comes out on top. Unlike the VHS - Beta battle, WordPefect - Word Battle, OS/2 - Windows battle.... --nordicfrost
I share this concern and hope. In the perfect capitalist system, the better product always wins out, but we know that isn't always the case. A lot is determined by marketing and market influence, timing and other factors not directly related to value or the quality of the customer experience.
Personally, I'm not that impressed by what I've heard of the PSP. I'm sure it's a techinically impressive system, but then so is the DS, which seems to me to be at least as innovative and exciting a product, with a far superior battery life. Sony may present a somewhat more polished, adult-seeming product, but that doesn't mean it'll be a better toy (which is what a video game console really is and is supposed to be).
Nintendo has an excellent track record for building durable, quality products at a reasonable price. From what I can tell, the opposite is true for Sony, or at least Sony game consoles. Without particularly mistreating them, I had two PlayStation 1's die on me. I probably would have bought a PS2 by now, except I keep hearing about disk read errors and other problems that have caused me to keep my distance.
I really hope that the PSP isn't plagued by these sorts of problems though, and that it exerts some good, healthy competitive pressure on Nintendo to drive both companies to produce even better products at attractive price points. My worry is, however, that Sony characteristically market (and hype) the hell out of their new toy and eventually steer development resources away from a superior product.
Fortunately, Nintendo is strong enough in this market at present and has a new product of seemingly high quality, so it should take more than marketing and market pressure to squeeze them out of the market unless they really deserve it.
Yeah, that seems to be what it is. It happens a lot though. The page shows the loading progress as "Done" but apparently it's not completely done. Reloading usually fixes the problem, but it's still as irritating as hell.
Metroid Prime is probably overall favorite console game to date. I guess it might be "blasphemy" to a die hard veteren of the classic series, the same way the Ocarina of Time was for many Zelda fans. I myself have always been a great Zelda fan, however, and OoT was my favorite console game until Metroid Prime dethroned it. So obviously the decision is not an entirely bad one, since Metroid Prime and the Ocarina of Time are two of the most critically acclaimed games of all time, and are often cited as favorites in their respective franchises even by people who have been fans of those franchises since their inception.
Others have pointed out a host of games that have been done in 2D. They aren't all classic franchises, but what does that matter? I think they did a 3D/mostly sidescrolling Contra a while back that I haven't seen anybody mention yet, too.
One franchise that I don't think has as gracefully entered the third dimension is the Mario series. Yoshi's Island is still my favorite Mario game. However, Mario 64 wrote the book on 3D platformers, so even if it isn't my favorite game, I respect the fact that it helped usher in the age of a genre that quite a lot of people enjoy. Maybe it's just that I'm frustrated by the fact that I seem to lack the skill to beat Super Mario Sunshine.
Personally, one thing I'd like to see is a 3D modelled, sidescrolling Castlevania, something which has controls like Symphony of the Night, but perhaps has more of a RPGish element, like Simon's Quest for the NES (since the SOTN formula has been done to death, albeit done masterfully, with the Castlevania GBA titles, and Simon's Quest is often mentioned as a favorite Castlevania title).
By and large, I happen to like 3D games better than 2D games. They usually look better, they usually feel more immersive, and in some ways they may be more flexible from a gameplay/design perspective. Sidescrolling still holds a special place in my heart though. One thing I do honestly fear is that the new crop of 3D capable handheld consoles kill off virtually all new, good 2D game development.
At least that's how I see it.
I've since disabled, and then uninstalled AdBlock, along with with uninstalling every other extension not disabled (due to their being out of date/incompatible with the current version of Firefox) and I'm still encountering a problem when I click to open a set of replies in the comments section, though some of the rendering problems still occur. Sometimes it's minor, like the text slightly intersection the margins on the right, but sometimes it's serious, severely offsetting all of the comment text so that the comments themselves don't begin until about 4/5 of the way across the horizontal length of the display (where it continues, requiring that I use a horizontal scrollbar to read all the text... and even then, it is all overlapping and ugly).
It still seems to be a fairly major bug to me, even if it is caused by extensions. Disabling all extensions should get rid of any rendering problems that might be caused by them.
Seriously, with 1.0 that I can't even post a reply using Firefox, and the comment pages are all out of whack.
I think Firefox is great overall, but it's got a serious problem if it can't render one of the most popular sites that evangelizes it. It's really embarassing.
I'm not sure who's fault this is, slashdot's for bad design or Firefox for not handling the code properly, but either way, if it's not fixed soon, I'm going to have to switch back to IE with some sort of third party UI improvement thrown on top (like AvantBrowser).
I think Microsoft badly needs some competition, but so far, the 1.0 release of Firefox produces a markedly inferior browsing experience for me than what a 3rd party IE mod could provide.
It sucks, because I just today converted someone else to Firefox, but I'm beginning to wonder if that's really a great idea. Can I really continue to recommend Firefox when IE is more likely to render pages in the manner the designers intend, knowing that the the spyware/security advantage of Firefox is probably not that great if you browse smart and keep IE updated, while 3rd party tools that run on top of IE can be used to garner most of the UI advantages of Firefox?
Some choice Veloxi quotations:
The you aliens trespassing in ours the space. Most gracious grossness of august queen perhaps forgiving if you are pay tribute of 9 Arth energy crystals right away, by Jove. Agreeing?
I guess us is best friend. Perhaps we will eat together the slimy nodules a many the most delicious.
We is making you honorary Veloxi. Of course still the inferior alien but much the better I think so.
Best idea I have. We is exchange the many dirty joke and then much the laughing activity.
Not trying the funny stuff alien tresspassers, superior Veloxi the most powerful.
If you is showing proper respect for distinguished Veloxi charming then every-one is happy as a bivalve mollusk.
Zounds! I flabbergast! I not believing my sensory apparatus! Barbarian aliens is not recognize Veloxi are too much the superior.
You is try Veloxi patience. So much the secreting the many fluids and gnashing of the mandibles. Last chance a warning.
Greatest idea I have! I am make suggestion. The you aliens are not destroy ours the pretty spaceship. Yes, I think this is best idea certainly.
Enough the talking.
He never really proves his point, though. He says attachment is bad, but never really gives a satisfactory explanation why he thinks that. He says permadeath would encourage and improve roleplaying, for example, but he never really illustrates why he thinks so.
I don't know how he roleplays, but for me, it takes me a while to really settle into a character and roleplay them naturally. As a roleplayer, I feel obligated to generate some semblance of a backstory for my character... this takes a fair amount of time and energy, and it's not something I have the will to do every few months. It often takes time to form meaningful or interesting relationships between characters... unless you make permadeath extremely rare or extremely easy to avoid, permadeath makes it virtually impossible for characters to grow to like, love or hate each other. Permadeath would remove many layers of depth from the roleplaying equation.
All for what? To force people to experience the game from a different perspective, because their characters grow "stale"? But there's nothing to prevent a player who wants to try something new from creating a new character (except perhaps an additional fee).
I was just responding to a factually incorrect statement. The notion that you can get broadband pretty much everywhere is just wrong.
But yeah, I would like to have a reasonable broadband option without having to move. I really don't pretend to know what the government should do to help make that a reality, I'm not an expert on these things... but not everything they can do necessarily involves money directly coming out of your pocket to pay for it.
The FCC and FTC are already meddle in the way broadband providers do business. Chances are, they could probably act a bit more effectively to encourage better broadband coverage.
Or tax incentives could be implemented... rewards for being the first to reach X number of residents with broadband, or perhaps drastically reduce (or eliminate, for a period of time) the taxes that would normally apply to servicing a customer with broadband if they build out the infrastructure to service customers within that area who don't currently have a viable broadband options. Again, I'm not an expert economist, so I don't know how viable this kind of idea is.
Or local governments could foot part of the bill, as a part of improving the infrastructure... that way the citizens (and many of the businesses) paying for it would actually be benefiting from it. This has already been done in some areas, and it's the topic of discussion in one of the articles. Personally I don't think it's a bad idea at all.
I'm not saying that the federal government should make it a #1 priority to wire everyone in the country with broadband (though it would probably be money more well spent than a lot of the stuff taxpayer dollars is used to pay for and subsidize). However, I do think the Internet is increasingly becoming a vital part of the national and international infrastucture, and having greater a greater portion of the population able to access the Internet in its "true form", unhampered by a terribly anemic narrowband pipe is a very good thing. Ultimately, the investment we might make in improving broadband availability can pay for itself.
No, you can't.
Unless by "pretty much anywhere" you're including huge stretches of inhabited (albeit rural) land throughout the country, or unless you consider satellite Internet a legitimate form of broadband (which I don't think it is... I haven't talked to a single person who's bought into satellite Internet who doesn't regret it).
I built a 60 foot tower on my property to receive fixed wireless "broadband" (386 kbps) service and it's extremely flaky (sometimes it works fine, often it doesn't work at all, or I timeout a lot.... I think I need a 70 or 80 foot tower). I'm paying double, triple or quadruple what a lot of people are paying for DSL or cable.
Nothing is wrong with all of this, if you don't consider broadband an important aspect of the national communications infrastructure. If you do think that broadband availability in rural areas should be much better than it is, then the government certainly does have a role to play. Not necessarily running the whole show, but perhaps in mandating improved broadband coverage, paying for part of it and implementing better regulation or deregulation of the industry.
I don't know about you, but if my software source has a backdoor, I'd rather keep it Closed.
Oh, damn. That is painful to hear. I wish someone had told me. :( I still haven't seen all of the 3rd/4th season episodes, it would have been really nice to catch up on them before the miniseries. That sucks.
Yeah, but the Dominion could create Jem'Hadar warriors that didn't need a mother to give birth to them, and they aged at an accelerated rate to adulthood, and were genetically engineered to be obedient, effective soldiers a week or so after their creation.
Could we be going down the same road?
Think about it.
I generally prefer console gaming, but there are a few games I enjoy that only are available for the PC, or play best on the PC. Windows isn't the greatest, but I'm not going to use one PC for my general computing tasks, and keep another around purely for gaming. I guess I could set the system up to dual boot, but that's a pain, and I'm not going to pay for two operating systems.
If I wasn't a gamer, I'd probably just get a Mac. It wouldn't have to be too fast if I didn't play games, and Macs don't seem all that expensive... plus, the machines themselves look cool without a lot of absurd case-modding. Why run Mac OS on a beige box when you could run it on a stylin' real Mac?
It sounds like this guy saw it as an oppurtunity to have his 15 minutes of fame, and did a little stand up routine. Don't quit your day job, Tom.
And as others have pointed out, it's different if you're a politician or celebrity and intentionally put yourself in the public spotlight. You shouldn't have to expect to see this sort of thing in the media if you're just a programmer who made a single error in judgement.
But I don't think there's essentially anything wrong with what they did, even if the cries of "police state" are over the top.
Their antics effectively drive home a very simple and important message: Presidental candidates that are on the ballot in most states get arrested when they try to enter the building that's hosting a presidential debate. Ignoring all the details of went went on, that is pretty fucked up. FUD?
Yeah, it's FUD. But I genuinely fear that the vast majority of Americans won't get to hear a meaningfully different point of view on many important issues. I am uncertain that most voters know that Cobb, Badnarik (and Pertouka) exist, let alone know their stance on the issues. I doubt that these sanitized, lame excuses for debates will be adequate to really help an undecided voter make up their mind, or more importantly, help illustrate to non-voters why it is important for them to participate in the election.
It was an act of civil disobedience, one that I don't think anybody should be ashamed of (except the Commission on Presidential Debates and anybody else who tries to exclude 3rd party candidates from the process.)
The problem is that the core gameplay mechanics just sucked. Combat could be trivialized way too easily, and it was too easy to steal and sell things without reprecussion, even without having the skillset of a thief.
Also, dialog was not adequately changed in many instances to reflect your character's deeds... which is pretty lame, considering the fact that NPC dialog is pretty much the only thing that changes about the game world, no matter what you do. What's really weak is that the storyline suggests at points that you may be given the choice to try to confront the bad guy, join him, or take his place, but when you get to that point in the game, you are pretty much forced to confront him (at least from what I recall, it's been a while).
I really like Deus Ex, because it had fun gameplay, and the open-endness truly felt open-ended. When I was trying to figure out how to complete a mission, I really felt as if I was the one devising methods to overcome an obstacle, instead of merely feeling like I was given a choice about how to proceed. And Deus Ex does actually give you the choice on how to complete the main quest, the choice that Morrowind teases you with, but fails to deliver.
And as far as I can tell, this particular story has nothing more to do with democrats than it does republicans. It's essentially a voter registration drive, why even bring up the democratic party? While it may be that a young person who's not yet decided to vote, is more likely to vote democrat... that just tells me the republican party, for whatever reason, has lost touch with the nation's youth.
Besides, is there anybody who really thinks that voting democrat is some sort of act of rebellion? Give me a break. Maybe if their parents are die-hard republicans, but that's about it. As a 24 year old, voting for Kerry for me will be more of an act of resignation... as I won't be voting for the candidate on the ballot who most accurately represents my political views. It's too bad, maybe a true rebellious attitude is what's needed among the populace to allow people to allow people to vote their conscience.
And at 25 years old, you shouldn't be a dumb kid. At that age you've been (biologically) a fully functioning adult long enough that you should be capable of figuring out what your opinions are and acting on them. Just because your political opinions changed from your youth doesn't mean the views of other adult citizens should be less represented.