To be fair, the platforms he's worked on were already underdogs when he started on them - it's not like he hopped on board a popular platform and it suddenly fell apart.
Besides, I don't think there's going to be any way the 360 is going to flop - as long as there aren't any critical flaws in the hardware, it will definitely be bigger than the Xbox was.
Of course, if it does end up flopping, then I think it will be quite clear he does have that touch of death - but I'm hoping not!
As opposed to the open source version, which actually only comes as a set of plans. You have to build the coffeemaker yourself, at which point you realize it only fits GM cars, and you have to tweak the plans to make it fit your Mazda.
Of course, once you build it and install it, you realize it only looks like it makes coffee, and you actually have to create the final part of the functionality yourself.
Interesting... I remember that I had fun during my day of interviews. Seriously - my nervousness disappeared pretty quickly, and I enjoyed most of the day, talking to people, solving problems, and all that.
It's the only interview I've ever had where I didn't hate the whole thing afterwards.
Sometimes, I think that MS should just try and hire all the people with a Slashdot account. With the comments that invariably come up every time MS is the topic, apparently every single Slashdotter is smarter than every person at Microsoft and can single-handedly solve all problems that MS has ever had in their software.
You know, it's not just about the money. If that's all that matters, find somewhere else. I don't want to see such people in MS.
I love working here. The people are amazing, the area is beautiful, it's easy to get excited about what you're working on, and the culture can be incredible. (more so in some places than others though - I absolutely LOVE hanging out over with the Xbox guys, cause there's always an atmosphere of fun over there)
And yes, I used to bash MS a few years back. Not anymore though.
Don't bother. The interview has changed substantially since that book was written, and you won't be prepared if you expect all those odd brainteasers and "abstract reasoning" questions or whatever they heck they were. You won't get asked how to move Mt. Fuji, why manhole covers are round, or any of those other things anymore. You might get some puzzles - both work related and non-work related - but nothing like before.
Instead, be prepared to talk about past experiences and how you've handled various job situations. Behavioral interviewing. That's where it is now.
Yeah, with those WMDs that were found all over Iraq, right?
Perhaps Gore would be busy trying to find Osama Bin Laden and the actual terrorists, instead of invading countries that had nothing to do with terrorism.
Just because a few women gamers milk the whole attention thing in those types of games, and the guys are busy trying to impress them, doesn't mean we all need to stop playing such games!
I love it when guys try and "impress" me when I'm playing Halo 2, cause usually I'm on a team with other girls in my clan, and we just make them look silly when we're 0wning them in the process.
Yeah, we're chatty, but it's because we're having fun. And just as often the "chatter" is game-related as we're communicating about where enemies are located and who has what weapons.
And yes, I hate the girls that come in and aren't really interested in playing, just like I hate the guys that come in and don't really play either. The only thing worse is the guys that start insulting me for being a Halo-playing girl, ESPECIALLY when they're on my team.
Well, part of the reason you're hearing about it is because us gaming girls are getting louder and louder about it, now that more girls are playing, and they're getting into all-female clans to play together.
We're also sick of the treatment we get by many of the guys, and drawing more positive attention to ourselves seems like a way to offset the negative comments and crap we get on a regular basis.
Hey there Mistletoe! You've even got your PMS tag in your slashdot account.:) Considering I've been here for, well, MUCH longer than I've been in PMS, I couldn't do that.:)
It is a disappointment to see that the entire thread here has totally neglected to mention PMS, even though it was in the article. Instead, it's full of guys spitting out ridiculous stereotypical stuff, and some even complaining because people are talking about "women and games" and they don't want to hear about it (because apparently it means we're not in the kitchen where we should be or some crap like that).
Dude, think again. There are plenty of us that not only play such games, we play them seriously and competitively.
There's not any game that us girls don't play. Ok, except for maybe the game where we try and pretend our gaming skills somehow translate into making us cooler than other people. That game we'll gladly leave for you guys to play.
Judging from the general level of comments in this thread, your average Slashdotter knows only a couple stereotypes about women and assumes them to be the truth. And when they actually talk about such stereotypes, they make themselves look like neanderthals.
To put bluntly, a lot of idiots are making blatant sexist comments which reminds me exactly why I enjoy kicking guys' asses on Halo 2 with my clanmates. Let's see someone explain why women aren't wired for video games while I'm either sniping them in the face from across the map, or shoving my energy sword in places they don't want it.
And if he decides to be the angry child he normally is, I have no doubts the government will cease to function in Washington over this next nomination.
Given the current state of things, this might not be a bad thing at all.
Of course, the whole media circus will give the press another excuse to ignore the Downing St. memos - not like they care about that at all. Perhaps if the memos showed the administration lied about somethign concerning sex instead of the war, then they might care... or considering the corporate handouts the media companies are getting, likely not.
Umm, no. Backward compatibility in the Xbox 360 is based on emulation. They are not recompiling the games and giving people new binaries - as one of the Xbox folks here put it, "the idea of a hard drive loaded with individual executables for each Xbox game is ridiculous".
And if you're wondering about my sources, I'm a Microsoft employee (and not ashamed to admit it), and I'm involved on mailing lists and Outlook folders regarding various Xbox console and game topics, and regularly go over and play Halo 2 with the Xbox guys. (In case you want proof, my 1UP page has a pic of me with the Master Chief statue in the building lobby.)
The biggest games on the Xbox also happen to frequently be the ones that push the system the hardest. So once they get those running, a lot of the others will pretty much be working by default. And since Halo 2 is probably the most demanding game on the Xbox, getting it to work is a high priority.
I won't worry about games being incompatible - it'll probably only be a handful, if any, that won't work.
I won't even consider a MMORPG until they reach the point where players can have big impacts on the world they're playing in. I want to be able to make a lot of money, build my own army, and go build a town in the wilderness and a big castle for myself, and proclaim it a soverign nation. I want to get myself elected mayor of a town, and start changing the laws and getting those people I don't like arrested. I want to be part of a special-ops team that goes in and assassinates the head of the big crime cartel in the city.
As long as MMORPGs are too heavily scripted, and consist of little more than a leveling treadmill that just is in the same place as a bunch of other people, then it's no fun. A MMORPG should be an environment that we all get to play in and change. Where's the urban MMORPG where one player can play GTA style, jacking cars and selling drugs, while another player can join the police and try to capture criminals, while another can get into politics and try and convince players to vote for them, while another can play it like a business sim and buy and sell real estate and build condos and malls, and another can get into street racing and try and get the rep for the best driver? All in the same game, so they can collide when the street racer almost crashes into and kills the politican, where the politican can get busted for getting into business deals with the crime lord? THAT'S an MMORPG I'll play.
Can someone explain why people think Tekken is a GOOD fighting game? I swear, I've tried it multiple times, and every time I walk away thinking "What a load of crap!". It's jerky, button-mashing, and completely unfun. (But to be honest, not as bad as that horrific abomination that was "Killer Instinct" and it's 724 hit Super-Hyper-Mega-Xtreme-Ultimate-STOOPID combos!)
I much prefer the Virtua Fighter games or Soul Calibur.
TW2002 wasn't nearly as good as Trade Wars 1000. The whole mutliple ship classes, Ferengi, and ANSI-intensive thing just ruined the simplicity and magic that was TW1000.
Discovering girls doesn't mean gaming has to die. However I did go from being a top notch FPS player to a barely okay one.
Aah, then you just need to find a girl that can challenge you in that category.:)
Then again, finding a gamer girl is, I believe, the holy grail of most guy gamers out there. At least the ones that don't get a bruised ego by being beat by one of us.:)
This doesn't work for games like Halo 2 - there are no "servers" in the traditional sense. You get matched up with a bunch of people based on level and such, then one of the machines with the best connection is chosen as server.
Of course, you can just play with people on your friends list, which eliminates most of the problem, but then you don't get to enjoy the challenges of ranked play.
I can't believe they used that as an example. Anything like that is completely NOT cheating. Grenade jumps, jumping on another player, fancy trick jump, etc - those are all completely valid techniques and anyone who considers them cheating is full of crap.
Level glitches - like the superjumps on various maps, the old trick of pulling flags/weapons through walls, those are also not really cheating, since anyone can do them. People who abuse them to grief people are not cheating, but still deserve negative feedback.
Standbying (the modem glitch mentioned), and now the whole problem with hacked files - now that's cheating, and those people need to get their asses banned like NOW.
Slashdot Mirror
To be fair, the platforms he's worked on were already underdogs when he started on them - it's not like he hopped on board a popular platform and it suddenly fell apart.
Besides, I don't think there's going to be any way the 360 is going to flop - as long as there aren't any critical flaws in the hardware, it will definitely be bigger than the Xbox was.
Of course, if it does end up flopping, then I think it will be quite clear he does have that touch of death - but I'm hoping not!
Um, yeah, I'd definitely recommend against hiring you.
As opposed to the open source version, which actually only comes as a set of plans. You have to build the coffeemaker yourself, at which point you realize it only fits GM cars, and you have to tweak the plans to make it fit your Mazda.
Of course, once you build it and install it, you realize it only looks like it makes coffee, and you actually have to create the final part of the functionality yourself.
Interesting... I remember that I had fun during my day of interviews. Seriously - my nervousness disappeared pretty quickly, and I enjoyed most of the day, talking to people, solving problems, and all that.
It's the only interview I've ever had where I didn't hate the whole thing afterwards.
Sometimes, I think that MS should just try and hire all the people with a Slashdot account. With the comments that invariably come up every time MS is the topic, apparently every single Slashdotter is smarter than every person at Microsoft and can single-handedly solve all problems that MS has ever had in their software.
You know, it's not just about the money. If that's all that matters, find somewhere else. I don't want to see such people in MS.
I love working here. The people are amazing, the area is beautiful, it's easy to get excited about what you're working on, and the culture can be incredible. (more so in some places than others though - I absolutely LOVE hanging out over with the Xbox guys, cause there's always an atmosphere of fun over there)
And yes, I used to bash MS a few years back. Not anymore though.
Don't bother. The interview has changed substantially since that book was written, and you won't be prepared if you expect all those odd brainteasers and "abstract reasoning" questions or whatever they heck they were. You won't get asked how to move Mt. Fuji, why manhole covers are round, or any of those other things anymore. You might get some puzzles - both work related and non-work related - but nothing like before.
Instead, be prepared to talk about past experiences and how you've handled various job situations. Behavioral interviewing. That's where it is now.
Yeah, with those WMDs that were found all over Iraq, right?
Perhaps Gore would be busy trying to find Osama Bin Laden and the actual terrorists, instead of invading countries that had nothing to do with terrorism.
Just because a few women gamers milk the whole attention thing in those types of games, and the guys are busy trying to impress them, doesn't mean we all need to stop playing such games!
I love it when guys try and "impress" me when I'm playing Halo 2, cause usually I'm on a team with other girls in my clan, and we just make them look silly when we're 0wning them in the process.
Yeah, we're chatty, but it's because we're having fun. And just as often the "chatter" is game-related as we're communicating about where enemies are located and who has what weapons.
And yes, I hate the girls that come in and aren't really interested in playing, just like I hate the guys that come in and don't really play either. The only thing worse is the guys that start insulting me for being a Halo-playing girl, ESPECIALLY when they're on my team.
Well, part of the reason you're hearing about it is because us gaming girls are getting louder and louder about it, now that more girls are playing, and they're getting into all-female clans to play together.
We're also sick of the treatment we get by many of the guys, and drawing more positive attention to ourselves seems like a way to offset the negative comments and crap we get on a regular basis.
Hey there Mistletoe! You've even got your PMS tag in your slashdot account. :) Considering I've been here for, well, MUCH longer than I've been in PMS, I couldn't do that. :)
It is a disappointment to see that the entire thread here has totally neglected to mention PMS, even though it was in the article. Instead, it's full of guys spitting out ridiculous stereotypical stuff, and some even complaining because people are talking about "women and games" and they don't want to hear about it (because apparently it means we're not in the kitchen where we should be or some crap like that).
What, you think women don't play FPS games?
Dude, think again. There are plenty of us that not only play such games, we play them seriously and competitively.
There's not any game that us girls don't play. Ok, except for maybe the game where we try and pretend our gaming skills somehow translate into making us cooler than other people. That game we'll gladly leave for you guys to play.
"Pretty stereotypical"? How about extremely so?
Judging from the general level of comments in this thread, your average Slashdotter knows only a couple stereotypes about women and assumes them to be the truth. And when they actually talk about such stereotypes, they make themselves look like neanderthals.
To put bluntly, a lot of idiots are making blatant sexist comments which reminds me exactly why I enjoy kicking guys' asses on Halo 2 with my clanmates. Let's see someone explain why women aren't wired for video games while I'm either sniping them in the face from across the map, or shoving my energy sword in places they don't want it.
The judicial branch is supposed to be above partisan politics.
That was proven to be a myth back in 2000.
And if he decides to be the angry child he normally is, I have no doubts the government will cease to function in Washington over this next nomination.
Given the current state of things, this might not be a bad thing at all.
Of course, the whole media circus will give the press another excuse to ignore the Downing St. memos - not like they care about that at all. Perhaps if the memos showed the administration lied about somethign concerning sex instead of the war, then they might care... or considering the corporate handouts the media companies are getting, likely not.
Umm, no. Backward compatibility in the Xbox 360 is based on emulation. They are not recompiling the games and giving people new binaries - as one of the Xbox folks here put it, "the idea of a hard drive loaded with individual executables for each Xbox game is ridiculous".
And if you're wondering about my sources, I'm a Microsoft employee (and not ashamed to admit it), and I'm involved on mailing lists and Outlook folders regarding various Xbox console and game topics, and regularly go over and play Halo 2 with the Xbox guys. (In case you want proof, my 1UP page has a pic of me with the Master Chief statue in the building lobby.)
The biggest games on the Xbox also happen to frequently be the ones that push the system the hardest. So once they get those running, a lot of the others will pretty much be working by default. And since Halo 2 is probably the most demanding game on the Xbox, getting it to work is a high priority.
I won't worry about games being incompatible - it'll probably only be a handful, if any, that won't work.
I won't even consider a MMORPG until they reach the point where players can have big impacts on the world they're playing in. I want to be able to make a lot of money, build my own army, and go build a town in the wilderness and a big castle for myself, and proclaim it a soverign nation. I want to get myself elected mayor of a town, and start changing the laws and getting those people I don't like arrested. I want to be part of a special-ops team that goes in and assassinates the head of the big crime cartel in the city.
As long as MMORPGs are too heavily scripted, and consist of little more than a leveling treadmill that just is in the same place as a bunch of other people, then it's no fun. A MMORPG should be an environment that we all get to play in and change. Where's the urban MMORPG where one player can play GTA style, jacking cars and selling drugs, while another player can join the police and try to capture criminals, while another can get into politics and try and convince players to vote for them, while another can play it like a business sim and buy and sell real estate and build condos and malls, and another can get into street racing and try and get the rep for the best driver? All in the same game, so they can collide when the street racer almost crashes into and kills the politican, where the politican can get busted for getting into business deals with the crime lord? THAT'S an MMORPG I'll play.
Can someone explain why people think Tekken is a GOOD fighting game? I swear, I've tried it multiple times, and every time I walk away thinking "What a load of crap!". It's jerky, button-mashing, and completely unfun. (But to be honest, not as bad as that horrific abomination that was "Killer Instinct" and it's 724 hit Super-Hyper-Mega-Xtreme-Ultimate-STOOPID combos!)
I much prefer the Virtua Fighter games or Soul Calibur.
TW2002 wasn't nearly as good as Trade Wars 1000. The whole mutliple ship classes, Ferengi, and ANSI-intensive thing just ruined the simplicity and magic that was TW1000.
Discovering girls doesn't mean gaming has to die. However I did go from being a top notch FPS player to a barely okay one.
:)
:)
Aah, then you just need to find a girl that can challenge you in that category.
Then again, finding a gamer girl is, I believe, the holy grail of most guy gamers out there. At least the ones that don't get a bruised ego by being beat by one of us.
They didn't come close to covering nearly everything. Odyssey 2? Intellivision? 5200? 7800? Jaguar? Sega Master System? Neo Geo? 3D0?
And that damn coffee theme got obnoxious and stuff REALLY quick.
This doesn't work for games like Halo 2 - there are no "servers" in the traditional sense. You get matched up with a bunch of people based on level and such, then one of the machines with the best connection is chosen as server.
Of course, you can just play with people on your friends list, which eliminates most of the problem, but then you don't get to enjoy the challenges of ranked play.
I can't believe they used that as an example. Anything like that is completely NOT cheating. Grenade jumps, jumping on another player, fancy trick jump, etc - those are all completely valid techniques and anyone who considers them cheating is full of crap.
Level glitches - like the superjumps on various maps, the old trick of pulling flags/weapons through walls, those are also not really cheating, since anyone can do them. People who abuse them to grief people are not cheating, but still deserve negative feedback.
Standbying (the modem glitch mentioned), and now the whole problem with hacked files - now that's cheating, and those people need to get their asses banned like NOW.